The former human had been sitting in one place for quite some time before deciding to stand up and continue the ordeal. He collected his thoughts and made a choice.

He set a clear goal for himself — reach a settlement, ask for help and shelter, and then search for a way to permanently end his own existance. This morbid goal was still unfulfilled, he realized. And it was the only one he could strive towards. Putting the thoughts away for later, he chose to focus more on more trivial and important matters at hand. Survival, for once.

He took a random direction and set out, carrying the red leaf and the basket.

***

In a couple of hours, he stumbled upon a railroad. Thanking the lady luck, he looked at it. It has been abandoned for many years: plant life had surrounded the barely seen rails; they were deeply corroded by time, taking a brownish-red hue, and most of the wooden ties were completely rotten or moss-grown. There was also a tiny stream of water running between the rails, solidifying the feel of abandonment.

But maybe those rails led to a settlement? The young man was pretty sure that they either connected to the working railroad or reached a town or passed by a village. Chances were high that the tracks were his only way out of the forest.

Not wasting the chance, he decided to go along the railroad. It must've led somewhere, after all.

***

The young man walked and walked, the tracks seemed to have no end. To his relief, they didn't split, but it didn't help him in any way. There were some signs along the railroad, albeit they were far too rusty to be comprehensible or readable in any way. And even if they were, the man wouldn't be able to understand the writings.

Suddenly, the man came into a clearing. A big concrete warehouse-like building stood at the end of the tracks. A train was there, half of it inside the building and the other half sticking out of it. While everything was in the state of disrepair, the building was intact, even the windows were whole. It was very strange, especially considering the nature of the building. Has no animal ever wandered in? Has no sapient being ever been there? Not even some teenagers that would have smashed a window or two just for fun? Something wasn't right...

The young man didn't realize it, however. His mind was too focused on finding food, water, and shelter that he didn't think twice about going into that abandoned building.

As he walked to it, he saw a warning sign of some sort. Without the ability to understand the language, he couldn't read the sign. It was probably there to warn visitors of building's poor condition. It would be nothing too dangerous as long as you didn't purposefully start breaking walls. Made of concrete, the building could definitely hold a small pony that the young man has become.

The wooden doors at the entrance were opened. The young man sighed in relief, knowing that he wouldn't have to bother with other, more complicated and hard to get entrances.

It was pretty dark on the inside. Some moss had grown over the years, patches of dull grass were showing on the previously wooden floor, the paint was almost completely gone, lying on the ground in pieces and rolls. A typical sight one would expect to see inside an abandoned building.

The young man passed a few rooms until he saw one that was in more or less good condition. It even had a couple of wooden crates to rest on. It also wasn't overgrown with flora at all. Having a heavy wooden door, the room would be perfect for rest.

Content with what he found, the young man decided to walk around the building some more. Perhaps there were eatable berries somewhere. He could have some of them for a snack.

He exited the building and went along its walls. And here they were, big patches of raspberries. His stomach grumbled lowly, telling him that it needed much more food than it had gotten in the past few hours.

Seeing no harm in it, the young man nibbled on the berries. But as he swallowed the first one, his mouth started to burn in sharp pain.

He coughed, and then spat out whatever was left inside his mouth. But the pain didn't cease. In fact, it travelled down his throat! If only he could make himself vomit to get rid of the bad berry he's just eaten. He had no fingers to press at the base of his tongue. He quickly used his hoof to try it, but it simply wouldn't go past his teeth. Unfortunately, he cut his lips, adding to the pain.

He coughed violently, his eyes filled with tears as he tried to get the poison out of his system! Blinking a couple times, he could see that those berries weren't raspberries at all! Now, it was clear to him — it was a poisonous plant that he ate. Instead of red raspberries, he saw some sort of white berries on a thorny bush. He coughed and coughed, feeling his throat tighten, shortening his air flow, suffocating him!

He fell to the ground, dropping everything he had. The basket was already lying aside, dropped as he first started coughing.

The pain inside him grew to an unbearable level, and yet his body refused to shut down! He felt every centimeter of his insides burning, melting, vaporizing, disintegrating. He could do nothing about it as he lost control over his body.

"Here he is!" a muffled voice shouted from behind him. He didn't register the sound as he was still fighting a lost battle. "Quick, put the spell on him!"

Everything went black.

Later.

*Beep. Beep. Beep.*

The sound of a heart monitor was like thunder to young man's ears. It was like elephants stomped on his head, trying to pop it like a watermelon.

"Good, he has stabilized." a female voice said, barely audible by the former human. His vision was still black, his feelings mostly numb, and his mouth and throat cold. He couldn't even think, his body running automatically, purely on instincts. He breathed. All he could do was breathe. He was afraid that if he stopped thinking about it, it would stop as well. His heart was beating. He couldn't allow it to stop.

"I thought we'd lost him. That plant is fucking terrible..." another voice said, this time male. "It's damn time we burn that whole place to the ground!"

"Language."

"Yeah, and do I care? Fuck no! Do you know how stressful it is?!" the second voice spoke in an accusatory tone.

"Am I not on your team?" the first one replied with a hint of tiredness.

A pause ensued.

"...I'm sorry, it's just... We could've lost the colt there." the second voice sighed. "Alright... Sorry I lashed out on you."

"Don't worry, happens to the best of us." the first voice reassured him in a soft tone. "Now, let's get the doctors. We're not needed here any longer."

The two stood up and left the room. The young man tried to open his eyes. There was nothing but darkness. He inhaled sharply, coughed once. And then his breath became calm again. He couldn't move, he couldn't see. He had to depend on his hearing and sense of smell. His heart was painfully throbbing in his chest as if it was about to violently explode.

His mind was hazy, he heard what was not there, saw flashing images of various origin. And yet it all returned to darkness. The poison still held a tight grip on him, slowly torturing him with something beyond his control.

Sounds. Visions. All were illusions, masterfully crafted by the vile plant. They bore no meaning, no significance, but the pain from them was beyond excruciating.

Memories, hallucinations, sharp flashes of colors, everything was mixed together in an intangible mess inside his badly aching head. He was in the delirium. He couldn't understand anything, he felt like his brain was melting into a sizzling puddle of gray liquid.

He fought for his life. He couldn't allow himself to die, not this way. It was completely terrible. He could do nothing to ease the pain.

Finally, he lost his consciousness, drowning in the welcoming void.

***

"Report is ready, ma'am." a stallion doctor said, standing in front of chief doctor's desk.

"I'm listening." the chief doctor said, frowning slightly.

"There is no record of the colt anywhere in Equestria." the stallion said. "No documents were found. No birth certificate, no passport, nothing. There are a couple of stallions like him but they don't match finer details of his appearance.

"As far as we know, he is approximately twelve to fourteen years old. Judging by the scan, he suffers from malnutrition. His body is developing, his magic reserves filling, and he doesn't have sufficient energy to support himself. He has only eaten some snack in the duration of about three to five days. But the same scan confirms that he's run at least once, which would be almost impossible in his state.

"There are multiple scars on his body that could be seen upon closer inspection: a straight one that widens towards the middle is placed on the back of his left foreleg; a straight scar near his left eye, almost touching it; and another straight one on the right wrist, right above the hoof, approximately one centimeter in length, having somewhat jagged edges.

"I should also notice that a large portion of his tongue is missing, his vocal chords are damaged. The poison from the plant worsened the effect, causing burns on the inside of his mouth and throat. He would need months, maybe a whole year to learn how to speak again. We would also have to use powerful spells and medications to enhance regeneration and allow him go grow his tongue back."

The chief doctor winced. It sounded very painful to her.

"There was a police data file found that described the colt as having stolen a basket of food from the camping family in the same forest he was found in. Honestly speaking, I don't judge him for it." the doctor admitted. "I bet he was too hungry to think straight." the stallion finished, and then sighed. "Poor colt..."

"And what is his status as of now?" the chief doctor asked with worry in her voice.

"He is stable but in coma. The plant really messed him up on the inside... Would it be only ten or fifteen seconds later, he would have suffered irreversible damage. Good thing those good ponies put a spell that signaled them if anypony has gotten close to those forsaken berries.

"Also, a magical item was found near him — a big red leaf. Biologists have taken a look at it, and they say it's unique in nature, they've not seen anything like that before. It seems the leaf is connected to the colt — it greatly speeds up his healing process when near him, as well as ease pain and seemingly calming his inner thoughts. As soon as we placed it near him, his brain activity lowered and he visibly relaxed.

"Perhaps it should be noted that the scan has shown us that his brain has a very different structure from a normal one. Since the plant is still largely unknown, it could've caused that effect." the stallion lowered his head slightly. "In truth, he has little chance of survival..."

"Those are bad news..." the mare sighed, frown deepening. "I'm afraid we would require assistance from at least one of the princesses."

"The letter is ready to be sent, ma'am." the stallion replied. "It has already been prepared in case we need it."

"...Send it." the chief doctor said after some hesitation. "Any of them has a better luck of healing that poor colt than us."