A stretcher sped through the halls of Ponyville General, a cluster of ponies around it, all speaking frantically to each other.

“Magical scan shows that the damaged armor caused a severe hematoma!”

“By Celestia, how thick is the armor?”

“Come on, Magical Barrier, stay with us…”

“Prepare to burn that hole shut when we take this armor off…” the voice tapered off for a moment “And somepony sedate him already!”

Magic Barrier could feel the straps of his armor being severed, the heavy plates falling off as leather parted from metal.

“Steady, steady…” said another heavily distorted voice.

“Where the buck is that sedative!”

The breastplate was levitated off, followed immediately by a bloodcurdling cry ripping itself from Barrier’s throat and the most intense pain he had felt thus far.

“I’m sorry...” The speaker sounded to be nearly crying…

Magical Barrier opened his mouth to reply that it wasn’t the speaker’s fault, but the tube being run down his throat prevented it. He could only gag weakly and fade into the sweet embrace of unconsciousness as his armor-enchantments faded.

“What do you think happened to him? That armor looked sort of like what the royal guards have, didn’t it?” The voice was feminine and right next to him.

“The princess said that he fought Nightmare Moon, so I would imagine the injuries could be attributed to that…the rest, I’m not so sure. That armor has more enchantments than everything in the hospital combined—hay, the princess had to lift it off of him. None of the staff could use magic on it.” That one was masculine and on the opposite side.

“The princess seems certain that he’ll wake up…wish I shar-” the stallion leapt backwards with a rather feminine shriek as Magic Barrier reached out and touched his shoulder.

“He’s awake! Nurse Redheart, get that tube out of his throat!”

Redheart’s eyes widened and she quickly began to slide the tube out of his throat as quickly and gently as she could.

Barrier stayed as still as he could, only coughing as the end of the tube escaped his throat. “Whe-r- a- I?” he managed to croak out in a hoarse and broken voice. Neither of the ponies could understand him.

“Ah. Nurse Redheart, could you get him a glass of water?” The doctor removed the stethoscope from around his neck, saying, “Don’t try to speak, your throat is drier than the Appleloosan Desert. Just wait until the nurse returns with water.” The doctor began checking vital signs. “I’m Doctor Horse and that was Nurse Redheart,” he spoke as he wrote the information down on a clipboard.

Remaining silent, Barrier decided to take stock of himself while he waited for the nurse to return. From what he could feel, his right hind-leg was completely immobilized, though the left seemed to be unrestricted. Glancing down at his barrel, he could see that it was wrapped entirely in bandages and smelled heavily of antiseptic. With a thought, his horn flared dimly to life.

“Ah, I wouldn’t try magic just yet. You had a pretty nasty burnout when you came in and your magic will need tim-” The doctor trailed off as the bedsheet lifted itself. “Or your magic has already recovered enough for you to use it…” He smiled, slightly surprised.

Raising the bedsheet, Barrier could see that his right hind-leg was in a thick cast from the hoof up; it even covered the cutie-mark on his right flank.

“Here you are.” Redheart had returned, a large plastic cup of water balanced on her back.

Taking the cup from Nurse Redheart in a telekinetic grip, much to her surprise, Barrier took several deep sips. “By Sol, water’s never tasted so fine.” While still hoarse and raw, it was understandable. “As I was trying to ask earlier, where am I, and what happened?” He fell silent for a moment, seeming to slip into deep thought before adding, “And what is today’s date?”

The doctor took a moment to think over the questions, returning his stethoscope to his neck; the last one was a bit odd, and he wasn’t actually positive as to what had caused Barrier so much damage, nonetheless, he took them in order. “Well, to begin with, you’re at Ponyville General, a hospital,” a frown settled on his features, “and I’m honestly not positive as to what happened to you. When you were brought in, you were in armor; the whole right side was smashed in, breaking two ribs and tearing your side open. This caused blood to pool around your lungs and heart.Besides that, your right metatarsal -your hind-leg, that is- was broken in three different places.You had various fractures elsewhere, though they are of little note.” Taking a short breath, he continued, “The worst of it was the wound on your side. Your armor was keeping it sealed, and we had to cauterize the wound for lack of time and information. After that, we drained the blood that had pooled, put your leg in a cast, ribs in bandages, and sealed the fractures. You’ll be in a world of hurt when the morphine wears off, but you’ll live.” The doctor took another short breath. “And to answer your last question, this is the first year of Harmony. Princess Celestia declared an end to the Solar Era in the thousandth year with the return of her sister, Princess Luna, only a few days ago.”

Barrier remained silent for the duration of the doctor’s explanation, simply absorbing the information; his location and injuries didn’t really surprise him - he had worked most of that out in his head beforehand. The date on the other hoof, had his head spinning. The last era he remembered -his era- was the Second Equestrian Era, during which Princess Luna had become Nightmare Moon and plunged the world into a short yet brutal war. Head spinning, he only vaguely registered the doctor speaking to Nurse Redheart and then to him before both of them left him alone.

For nearly an hour, he sat in his bed, simply staring down at the bedsheet, futilely attempting to wrap his head around…whatever it was that had happened to him. He remembered being banished alongside Nightmare Moon, and he remembered returning alongside her. How long had he been banished? One thousand years, at least, if the doctor was to be trusted. As the implications of his situation dawned on him, a choked sob escaped his throat, followed by a steady stream of tears, no matter how tightly he closed his eyes. He was alone; his parents, his wife…gods, his daughter… Pulling the bedsheet up over his head, he rolled onto his left side and quietly cried himself to sleep…

Author's Notes:

So yeah, here is chapter 2. Not much to say other than I am going to try and figure out an updates schedule. As it stands, I am going to try and update at least once a week, though I can't promise anything.

Thanks to:
Jack for pushing me to finish this chapter and for making me stop being so self-critical.
Quill Scratch for excellent writing advice that I tried to implement in this chapter as well as Chapter 1
Nopony_Important for again making this legible.
Izanagi for editing.
DerRotSpassvogel for editing as well.

Sorry this one was short. It will be picking up a bit after this one, when I start bringing in more ponies. Have kept the mane-6 away for a reason, I promise.