(Flash's POV)

We had run back to the house. Once inside, we shut the door tight, bolting it with the one lock available. I moved the curtains slightly, peering out the windows.

"I don't think she followed us." I concluded, dropping the curtain back in place to cover the window.

"She knows. It'll make sense for me to come here." Jake shook a bit, still recovering.

I slid out the drawer on the stand next to the door and retrieved my guns. I passed Derpy her rifle from the side of the table. She hesitated, but reached out. At the back of the drawer there was a small handgun, a USP with a sticky note attached 'In case of emergency'. If anything, this counted. I pulled off the tape and held out the gun for Jake. I took a look at his hoof. He wouldn't be able to hold a gun without a lot of pain or falling over. I put the gun back, reattached the sticky, and closed the drawer.

Derpy looked at me, her face was one of disbelief. "Y-you aren't gonna kill her... are you?"

I sheathed my handguns. "Not if I don't have to." I turned to my friend "Are you sure it was Celestia?"

He gave me a blank stare. Jake spoke slowly and carefully, his voice could not be more serious. "I'm sure."

I nodded. I trusted my friend, and if he thought Celestia was a threat I... I wasn't sure what I'd do. This was serious, and I needed to be prepared for any possible situation.

I eyed my backpack as it leaned on the wall. The last thing I wanted was to use it again. I laid the tent I had to it's side and my carbine on the other side, balancing it. My weapon had new rounds and clean magazines; it looked like I could walk out the door and be fine.

Which is what I was prepared to do. It had been a while since I was in a situation like this, someplace in the Loxahatchee district of survivors. You had to pass a test to stay, and for whatever reason I didn't. I also don't remember much about how I got out, not much other than that bullets were flying everywhere.

How did I remember this? So many pieces of my brain were missing, so many blank spots in my head. I couldn't get over it! Bits and pieces flew around. I could remember little things, but not specific details. I knew BM was a friend of mine, and a good one too. But… how good was he? I didn't… no, couldn't remember. How many groups had I been with? Had I killed anyone? Did I have a life? Where the hell where my parents?

I shook my head, disengaging from the thought process entirely. I'd figure it out, I'd figure it all out. One day, just not today. I looked at the backpack once more before I swung my head to Derpy. "You... you don't have to come if you don't want to."

"I want to see Celestia. I deserve to know what's going on too." she put forward. I sighed, "Everyone does." I thought.

We left the house and headed for the hospital. We trudged along, Jake had most of his weight in the arm over my shoulder. Slowly we moved along, at some points I was supporting more of my friend's body mass than I would have liked.

As we neared the hospital, he looked to me. Strewn across his face was a combination of fear and confusion.

"What?! Why are we going here?! She'll know to look here!" he said rapidly. I realized that he was in no condition to put up a fight. Hell, he could barely stand.

"Exactly. If she comes here it's neutral territory. Plus you can get that healed up." I replied, gesturing to his lopsided hoof.

He pulled away from my shoulder and recoiled back, shaking his head rapidly. "Nonononono... we're not going in there."

"Yeah we are, come on." I looked over my shoulder to the hospital. Not that far now.

"How do I know you're the real Flash?" he turned from scared to a glare.

Wow, didn't expect that one. "Wha..?"

"You could be put in my brain to look like Flash and lead me in her to... to..." he rambled even faster. Something wasn't right.

"Dude. Don't go all paranoid on me, not now." I tried to be sympathetic... somewhat.

"Why are we going here?! If she knows we'll be here it's... it's insane! Ludicrous! Bonkers!"

"That's exactly why. She knows we're logical, so she knows that we know she's waiting. More the reason to surprise her by showing up."

"That's ridiculous!" Jake's eyes darted left and right, his breathing quickened "What's something only Flash would know?! Something how I know it's you!"

"That you're a little shit in Call of Duty."

He relaxed. Somewhat.

"Alright, so you're for-real-Dean."

I sighed, glad that my buddy was done weird-ing out on me.

"Wasn't ever not. Now, are you gonna come in or am I gonna have to drag you?" I chuckled, trying to deal with this via humor.

"Alright. Just... just make sure everything's secure." my friend finally giving in.

"That's what we're doing." I smiled, reaching out my arm. He grabbed it and put his arm around my neck, adjusting to the support.

We finished the home stretch and stood at the hospital door. With difficulty I opened it and stepped inside. It suddenly dawned on me that I hadn't appreciated just how 'big' this place was. A large atrium made up the lobby, with the main counter at the back of the room. To the left and right of the desk were two well lit hallways. Before I could marvel further, the cold night air brought me back to my senses.

The three of us neared the front desk and I called out "Hey! Can we get a doctor over this way?"

No answer. No one was at the receptionist desk, and I began to freak out.

'Chill Dean, just chill. What the hell happened? You used to be great at handling this type of stress.'

My mind was getting to me. 'That was before I had just my life on the line. Now I have Derpy, Jake... maybe even that Ranger Trails guy counting on me.'

I let out a deep breath, blowing out most of my anxiety with it. Good thing too, as I saw somepony walking down the hallway with a notepad. She looked up and saw the three of us.

"Sorry. Other patients, we're a bit short staffed right now." she called. I figured she meant she couldn't take him in, that we were SimplyOutaLuck.

"What seems to be the-" she began, then her eyes drifted to BMs limp hoof "...Oh. Oh my... I... follow me."

She proved my thoughts wrong. The earth pony led us through a clean hallway. White tiles matched the ceiling, and I couldn't help but marvel at it. It just seemed so… cliche. We followed her further and through the incomprehensible maze of a hospital, turning this way and that, over and over, finally into an examination room. Inside, she asked asked a series of short, obvious questions. With those out of the way, she said that their main doctor on staff would be in shortly. She turned tail and walked out, not saying another word.

With her gone, I looked to BM. "You alright man?"

He nodded. I felt a tap on my shoulder and turned to see Derpy. I felt bad, I had nearly forgotten she was here.

"I... I don't know what to think..." she began, resting her head on my shoulder.

"I just want to get to the bottom of this." I told her. I pulled her close and whispered "I'm not sure how Jake is handling all this... he could have been imagining the whole thing."

She shook her head yes. "I hope that's what it is. Celestia isn't a bad... she's not a bad pony."

"But we gotta think about what to do if she is dangerous." I backed up, speaking a bit louder.

She cocked her head out of confusion. "I thought we were whispering to keep him from hearing!" she squeaked.

"Meh, he knows that there's a possibility that she's not dangerous. That it might have been a look alike."

I prayed that she realized what I was doing. I was trying to be on my friend's side, and prepare for such. Yet I was also not sure how he was adapting to a bunch of colorful ponies.

And being one.

I looked down to myself, my light blue forelegs contrasting the white tile flooring. What exactly was I? A pegasus? A human? Hell of a time for an identity crisis...

I broke out of my thoughts when we all heard a knock. The door cracked open and an earth pony slipped in. His grey coat nearly hid his head mirror, and his yellow and red pill cutie mark was half covered by a white lab coat. He said nothing when he walked in, just looked to a notepad, to BM, to the pad, and then to all of us. Finally he spoke.

"Broken sesamoid in the wrist, cuts and bruises, head trauma... that's quite a list Mr..."

"Call me Jake."

"Well Jake, there's a couple options. We could set your wrist and let it heal naturally, use magic to heal most of it, or heal it all right now. I should let you know that healing drains both the doctor and patient of energy, and that if we heal it a little bit you're looking at a day in a room here."

"And what of the complete heal? How long would that be?"

"About five days. You'd be unconscious for three of them."

"Five days! Holy crap!" BM physically recoiled "That's way too long!"

The doctor pony only shrugged. "If you don't want that, that leaves you with the two day or the natural options."

"Can we have a moment? I don't think we were prepared for something like this." Derpy asked. The doctor nodded and walked out, the doors shutting behind him.

"It's been forever since I haven't been able to move for longer than a day..." my friend began.

"Look, chances are we aren't gonna be kicked out or nothing, so go with the better option." I threw in.

"I see what you're saying..." BM eyed the ground below "But I think I want the safe option."

I shrugged "I was just tossing around ideas."

Jake looked from me to the doors. "Doc!" he called out. The pony hadn't gone far and must have been waiting outside the doors, because he walked through them in less than a couple seconds.

"I think I'll take the set and natural heal. I wanna be somewhat mobile."

The doctor gave him a weird look, then X'd some box or another on his notes.

"It'll take a few minutes to set up, maybe half an hour for the procedure." It took a moment for my brain to realize the comment was directed at me.

Luckily, Derpy didn't have that delay. "Sure, we'll wait out in the lobby." she told him. I simply nodded in agreement. Jake and the doc walked out the doors, Derpy and I close behind. In the hallway up ahead the tile divided into two. The doctor continued left while while the two of us kept right. Within a minute or so we found ourselves back in the massive atrium they called a lobby.

Again, no nurse at the counter.

It wasn't my place to judge something like that, but it seemed… odd.

"Flash? What is really going on?"

I shook my head, a bit surprised by the question.

"I… I don't believe I'm entirely sure." I muttered, my attention focused elsewhere.

'Brain to Dean. You love this pony, what the hell are you doing? Over.'

'Dean to Brain. I have no fucking clue. I'm trying to figure out what's going on! Some help please?!'

'Brain to Dean. You didn't say over. We're working on it up here, just keep it together, got it? Over.'

'Got it.'

'Brain to Dean. You didn't say over again. Over.'

'Just get on it. …Over.'

'Will do. Over and out.'

"I'm sorry. It's… It's that I don't know. I've normally known what to do and I… I just don't right now." I admitted. Derpy gave me a look of consolation, which did more harm than good.

"It's not realistic to know what to do every time something happens." she said, the warmth of her body sharply contrasting the room. I hadn't noticed this difference until I felt her embrace. I felt a wetness on my shoulder, near to where her head was.

"Why?" she sniffled. Her simple question was also the most difficult one. I knew she was becoming more and more upset as she was given longer and longer to think, just as I was getting more and more frustrated.

"Why do all these things happen? Why can't… all I want… all I need is a safe place for my daughter. For you and me… is that so much?"

I hugged her back. The questions were to me, yet they weren't.

"I don't know. I don't know how we'll find a place, or make a place. But I'm telling you-" I looked into her gaze, still cross-eyed even in tears "-...no, I promise you that I will find a way to make it work. Give your daughter a safe place, give us a safe place. Somehow, somehow we'll make it happen."

She hugged me tighter. Her tears were cold against my back, yet I couldn't care. I had her, and I had purpose.

"Thank you…" Derpy whispered.

Time passed. I don't know how long we held our embrace, and I don't think it matters. However long it was, BM walked out with a small limp.

"You're fixed up, kinda." I pointed out.

"Yeah, turns out they used some healing magic after all. Not that I'm complaining, but I'll be slow going for a day or so." He smiled, dragging himself over. He plopped his behind down in the chair next to me, gesturing to my left.

"You gonna wake her?"

I shook my head. Derpy was curled up on the seat. However uncomfortable it looked, her sleeping face was a happy one.

"Nah, she'll probably wake up soon." I replied. As if on cue, she yawned and stretched out.

'Damn that yawn is cute.'

"Yaaaaaaaaaawwww… hey… i-is it time?" she mumbled, understandably so.

"Looks like it." I told her, running my hoof through her mane. "Now if I had all my strength back, I'd carry you."

Derpy woke up a bit more. "You calling me fat?" she joked.

I smiled. "Not in the slightest."

"Ugh, get a room you two. Seriously." BM coughed rather loudly.

I rolled my eyes. Derpy nudged my stomach with her nose and winked at me. "What do you think we're leaving to go do?"

Jake laughed. "Let's get out of here before you two turn my mind sour."

"Eh, he's got a point." I chuckled. "Come on Derpy, we gotta get dingus here home."

We walked out the doors, the cold night air snapping us all fully awake. I shivered. I was a Florida kid, this weird thing about cold was just… well… weird.

We hit the road, heading down the walkways with nothing but the dim light of the moon to light the way. About a quarter mile away from the hospital, we all turned a corner.

I walked right into a wall. I bounced off and fell to the earth clumsily, rubbing my head.

"Ugh… felt that one…"

Then something clicked in my head.

Walls weren't furry like that.

I looked up to see the white alicorn we were looking for.

"Oh look. Humans. I was wondering where you'd be." she spoke quietly, but with a strength to her voice. BM began to shake behind me and made no effort to hide it.

"Hello Jake. Did you miss me?"

(end)

Sorry for the long wait, had to A-Piece my school grades back together (3.2 is just gonna have to be good enough) and B- reorganize the plotline. I figured you guys would appreciate that cliffhanger, along with this one ;). The next chapter should be along soon enough. Till then, leave a review, give it a favorite, and whatever else you people can think of. I'm out, peace.

Till next sunrise,

-TDL