Lero came to with a start, as he was walking down the street towards his house. A moment ago he had been completely oblivious to his surroundings. The cars on the side of the street hadn't bothered him, nor had the kids, playing on the swing set as he walked by. It wasn't until just now that he realized that he was, in fact, walking down his old street. That could only mean one thing.

"Alright, where are you?" he whispered to himself.

This was not the first time that he had found himself walking around in some part of the world he had left behind. The first time it had happened he had been nearly overwhelmed, as joy warred with sorrow at the thought of being back home. That is, until he saw her out of the corner of his eye.

She was an alicorn, similar to Celestia, but not as large as the princess. She had come out of the woods around his house, just as he was about to start crying. Despite her small size, she carried herself with an almost palpable aura of authority. She had seemed mildly curious about him until he turned to regard her, and reached out his hand. Her expression had turned from curiosity, to one of surprise and shock, as she backpedaled away from him.

Lero had woken up in bed shortly thereafter, with no small number of questions. Twilight had explained to him that what he had seen, was none other than the princess of the night, Luna. Apparently, this princess had the ability to enter, and observe the dreams of others. It would seem that she was not used to being detected, while she did so.

Lero had thought he had scared her off for good but, a few weeks later, the same thing had happened again. Third time's the charm. This time he was determined to spot her, before she spotted him.

Lero darted to the nearest car to him, and got into the back seat as quietly as he could. Keeping low, he proceeded to scan the area. She wasn't in the field behind him, and he hadn't seen her come out of any houses across the street, that left only two directions. Glancing left then right, he spotter her out the front-left window. She was making her way towards him down the center of the street, when she paused and squinted at one of the cars on her right, and started straitening her hair.

"Huh, what do you know? She can see herself in that cars wax job. Oh no, don't touch it. Do not touch it, that guy has a vary sensitive-" the sound of sirens, and a blaring horn filled the air "-car alarm."

As Lero watched, the princess reared up on her hind legs and gave a powerful flap of her wings, sending her strait into the car behind her, on the other side of the street. The impact of her backside on the sedan caused a second alarm to ring out into the air. The princess was looking around, franticly trying to find a way to stop the noise. Lero was about to get out to confront her, when he noticed her horn starting to glow. Darn it, so close.

****

Lero opened his eyes to find himself in bed, with Twilight trying to get out of it as gently as she could. Upon seeing that he was awake, she blushed, and grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you up," she apologized.

"You didn't," he replied.

Feeling around in the dark, Lero was suddenly very aware that, aside from himself, the large bed they all slept in was empty. Glancing up at the clock on the wall, and squinting through the darkness, Lero was surprised by the time.

"It's six in the morning, where is everyone?" he said, as he rubbed his eyes.

"Rainbow is out checking the sky, to make sure none of those snow clouds drifted back over town. As for Lyra, she said she was going to help Bonbon clean up the rest of the snow around her shop before it opens," said Twilight.

"Okay, but how did they get out of bed without waking me up?" Lero asked.

"One, you're a heavier sleeper than you think, and two, Rainbow can fly and Lyra is, well, Lyra," replied Twilight.

"Fair enough," he said with a yawn and a stretch ",so what has you up and about so early?"

"Oh, I just couldn't get back to sleep after they left," she said as she made her way over to the dresser, where her hairbrush lay. "What about you, what has you awake so early?"

"She showed up in my dreams again," he said with a sigh.

"Who, Princess Luna?" Twilight asked as she finished up her hair.

"Yep, I don't know why she keeps running off though," he said, as he groggily got to his feet.

"Well she probably isn't ready to join modern society yet, or maybe she's worried that she'll embarrass herself," Twilight offered.

"Gee, I can't imagine where she got that idea," Lero was doing his best to stifle a laugh as he said it, but he couldn't help the grin that was spreading across his face. "Oh well, what do you say we get some breakfast?"

"Sounds good," Twilight agreed.

As they made their way downstairs, Lero spared a glance out one of the windows. Sure enough it was still dark out there. At this time of year the sun didn't start to rise until almost nine in the morning, he figured that winter was when Celestia got to catch up on her sleep. Still he had to wonder just how this Princess Luna ruled the night, if she was off poking around in everyone's dreams. At the thought of it he shook his head, when it came to the princesses, it was usually best not to think too hard about the things they did. Besides, breakfast was waiting.

Breakfast consisted of oatmeal, eggs, toast, grapefruit, and milk. They were almost halfway through it when a knock came from the door.

"I'll get it," Lero said, getting up and taking a piece of toast with him.

At the door, Lero was surprised to find one of the ponies that he knew worked at the hospital. The earth pony stallion, with the brown coat and short cropped grey mane, looked more like a drill sergeant than a hospital attendant.

"Mr. Michealides," the stallion stated, rather than asked.

"Yes," Lero replied, as fear started to seep into him at the thought of why this particular pony was here.

"Doctor Vital Signs requests your presence at the hospital," He stated curtly.

"Has something happened to one of my herd members?" Lero asked, his voice starting to rise.

"No sir, but he says it's very important," with that the stallion, Lero never did get his name, turned and began trudging back into the dark winter morning.

Twilight was just finishing off her toast, when Lero came back into the kitchen. The look of concern on his face did nothing for her appetite, nor did the fact that he was pulling on his coat and gloves.

"Whoa, where are you going, and who was at the door?" Twilight exclaimed.

"One of the ponies from the hospital, said that Doc Vital wants to talk to me," said Lero , as he made his way to the door, and his boots.

In a sudden flash of purple light, Twilight was in front of him.

"Omygosh, did something happen?" worry was painted across her face.

Lero knelt down, and put his hand on her shoulder.

"No, Twilight, nothing bad has happened, he just said the doc wants to see me," he assured.

Twilight let out an exasperated groan.

"Lero, if a doctor wants to see you, and says it's urgent, that’s almost always bad," she huffed. "Now lets get going."

"So, you want to come too?" Lero asked.

"Of coarse I'm coming! I'm not going to let you go off to be diagnosed with some horrible illness, and not be there for emotional support," she replied, while pulling on her hoof covers.

"Twilight, remember the talk we had about jumping to conclusions?" Lero folded his arms.

"I'm not jumping to conclusions, I'm preparing for the worst case scenario, now lets go!"

Twilight's horn suddenly flared with a familiar magical energy. An energy Lero recognized, from the way it made his skin crawl.

"Hey now, your not about to tele-"

****

The receptionist at Ponyville General Hospital, blinked a few times as she looked at the clock.

"Six thirty, and all's well," she muttered to nopony in particular.

The early shift at the hospital was usually the most boring, unless they fell out of bed most ponies weren't active enough at this hour to get hurt. Although there were occasional exceptions, most mornings her only companions where her coffee, the latest news paper, and the hum of the light bulb overhead.

The room was suddenly filled with a bright flash, and loud bang. As coffee sprayed from her mouth, she was startled back in her chair, which wobbled a few times before tipping back, and dumping her, unceremoniously, onto the floor.

"-Port are yoaack!" Lero jumped at the sudden change in scenery.

"Of course I'm teleporting, what did you think we were going to do?" Twilight retorted. "Now where is everypony?"

A slight scuffling behind the front desk caught their attention, as the receptionist got to her hooves.

"I'm right here. Who may I ask is... Oh it's you, mister Lero," she said with a smile upon seeing the tall, bipedal form of the human, "Doctor Signs is expecting you. Wait right here, and I'll go get him."

"There, see how calm she is Twilight? I told you there was nothing to worry about," Lero gestured after the mare.

"Fine, but if there's nothing wrong, then why did the messenger make it sound so urgent," asked twilight.

"Because, it is."

Twilight and Lero both turned to the sound of the voice. There in the doorway, was the familiar form of Doctor Vital Signs. His appearance, however, struck them as a bit off. The usually well groomed stallion's mane was frazzled, his tie was undone, and if the bags under his eyes were any indication, he had been awake for quite some time.

"Doctor, is everything alright?" Twilight asked.

Vital Signs rubbed his eyes before speaking, "I'm afraid I have something quite important to discus with the two of you, please follow me."

Lero and Twilight shared a concerned glance at each other before following. Vital Signs led the couple through the halls of the hospital, and eventually to the stairs. As they climbed one flight, and then started on the second, Lero's patience finally started to wear down.

"So Doc, you wanna tell us why we're here?" Lero tried to sound firm without being pushy. He knew it was early, and the doctor had obviously had a long night, but he didn't like being led around like this without knowing what was going on.

Signs stopped on the next landing they came to. He hadn't been looking forward to this talk, and had hoped to put it off just a little bit longer, but he realized that he was just fooling himself by thinking that there would be a better time. So, waiting until they were all off the stairs and on the landing, he turned and steeled himself.

"Okay, Lero, something happened last night," as he began he could see the concern wash over Lero, and Twilight's face. "A patient was brought in, in a very bad state, we only recently managed to get her out of critical condition."

"Who is it, Doctor, somepony we know?" asked Twilight.

Lero couldn't help but notice that the doctor seemed to be speaking to him specifically. Why is he looking at me like that?

"That's just it," Signs continued, "It isn't a pony."

"Excuse me," Lero's words were barely a whisper.

"Lero..." Signs took a deep breath, "We have found another human."

The words were slow, soft, and deliberate, but they seemed to hit Lero like a hammer to the back of the head. His knees nearly buckled on the spot, as his breathing started coming in short gasps, and his eyes looked like they were trying to go in two directions at once. Finally it was too much, his legs gave out and he felt himself falling. Fortunately, Signs was ready, and a pale green aura enveloped Lero and gently lowered him to his knees. As he stepped back to give Lero a little time to catch his breath he turned his attention to Twilight, whom hadn't fared much better. Her hind legs had slipped out from under her, and while her mouth was moving, the only sounds coming from it were small gasping noises. Vital Signs was beginning to wonder who would recover first, when Lero finally managed to speak.

"Where... how..." the words came between deep breaths.

"The same place they found you, Lero, the Everfree," Signs said calmly. "That zebra mare, Zecora, brought her in last night at about nine o'clock.

"And you didn't tell us sooner!?" yelled Twilight, having finally regained her composure.

"No, I did not," replied Signs.

"Why not, don't you think that's important news!?" Twilight blared.

"Miss Sparkle, please calm down," Signs said raising his own voice a little, "I made sure that you were not informed before now because until recently we weren't sure if she would make it. Mister Lero is one of my patients, I was hopping to spare him the heartache if the worsts were to happen."

"She?"

Both ponies turned to see Lero getting back to his feet, apparently having gotten over his near-fainting.

"Yes, Lero, I'm fairly certain it is a mare of your species," Signs replied.

"Take me to her," Lero stated flatly.

Vital Signs didn't move, "Lero, are you sure you are ready?" In response to the confused look Lero gave him he continued, "She is still in intensive care, I can only imagine what you must be feeling right now, and I can't let you near her if that is going to be a problem."

Lero was angry, at first, but it quickly gave way to common sense. Signs was right, Signs always seemed to be right, it was a fact for which Lero was suddenly immensely grateful. So Lero closed his eyes, and for a few moments practiced one of the breathing exercises he had picked up from Lyra. Deep in, deep out, find the point of balance. He doubted that he would ever be as good at it as she was, but he still managed to drive away the last vestiges of panic. The only problem was that now they were being replaced by a deep-seated longing that he thought he had been getting over, but was now rushing right back to seize his heart in a grip so tight, it nearly took his breath from him.

Lero spoke as evenly as he could, "Please Doctor"- he opened his eyes, only to feel them fill with tears -"please let me see her."

Both Vital Signs, and Twilight Sparkle, felt something catch in their throats. Neither one of them could imagine the turmoil that the man in front of them must be enduring, but that did not mean that they could not sympathize, and signs could tell that Lero had reined in anything that might have been dangerous.

"Alright, Lero, this way." Signs turned and motioned for them to follow him.

The trio finished climbing the final staircase, and arrived on the third and topmost floor of the hospital. The bulk of the floor was taken up by the intensive care units, private rooms, filled with magically powered life support equipment. Despite its importance, the floor had a distinct air of loneliness about it. Between the skill of the staff, and the general safety of Ponyville, the third floor of the hospital sat mostly empty much of the time.

As Signs led he and Twilight down the main hall, Lero quickly noticed a pattern. Each door they passed was flanked by a large window on the right side, presumably to allow whoever was on duty to check on the patients as they walked by, and in every case the blinds on the inside of the room were shut. Each door also had a small sign affixed to it, at pony-eye level, that read unoccupied. It continued like this all the way down the hall, on either side of them, until they reached the final door on the right.

The blinds were closed, there was no sound coming from inside, and the sign simply read: Unknown.

For a moment they just stood in the hallway, in front of the window, until Lero took one last deep breath, then nodded to Vital. Vital Signs' horn lit up, as did the blind on the window, and in a moment it was raised from view. Lero's breath left him in a sort of half-gasp cough, as his hand came up to cover his mouth. I thought I'd never see another.

There on the bed lay a young woman, no older than himself. Her brunette locks hung to her shoulders in loose curls, framing a soft face, a wool blanket was pulled up to her chest, and a cannula wound over her ears and attached to her nose. From where Lero was looking her left side was facing him, and on the wall across the room a single window looked out into the still dark winter morning. The only light in the room came from a tall standing lamp on the right side of her bed. She appeared to be asleep.

Twilights' eyes lit up, as countless questions raced through her head she found herself asking the most obvious one.

"So that's a human... woman?" she asked, pausing to remember the word.

"Yes, that's a woman," Lero replied.

Remembering his own arrival into Equestria, in bloodstained tattered clothing, Lero could not stop the next question from escaping his lips.

"How bad was it when she got here?" he said turning once again to Vital Signs.

"Bad." The word fell flatly from Signs' mouth as he turned to regard his latest patient. "One broken arm, several fractured ribs, and multiple lacerations, one on the side deep enough to cause organ damage."

"What did this to her?" Twilight asked.

"We haven't the slightest idea," Signs replied.

"How did she get into town?" Lero asked.

"Your zebra friend, Zecora, found her laying in the forest," Signs explained.

"When do you think she'll wake up?" Lero, and Twilight asked simultaneously.

"That's the thing," Signs began hesitantly, "we don’t know."

"Can you give us a ball park?" asked Twilight.

"No, I'm afraid I can't." Signs was starting to look nervous, and neither of them liked it.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Lero was getting frustrated, it was obvious the doctor was beating around the bush about something again.

"You have to understand, we did everything we could for her. But between the trauma, and the amount of blood she lost-"

"What are you saying, Doctor!" Lero snapped.

Vital Signs let out a long sigh before continuing, "She is not just unconscious, Lero, she is in a coma."

Author's Note

Hi there.

Let me go ahead and answer a few questions that are bound to keep popping up.

First of all, I am aware that my grammar isn't the best. I just wanted to put this first little bit of the story up to see what the general reception would be, before going through the trouble of finding an editor. Now that I've seen that it is mostly positive, getting an editor is now officially on my to do list.

Second, the story takes place after the events of Xenophilia, and shortly before/during the second season of the show. If you are wondering why the story starts off in winter, I'm taking a little creative liberty with the timeline and saying that another winter falls between season one and two of the show, with season two starting in early spring the following year. The reason for this is that a lot of time passes, series wise, between Winter Wrap-Up and Hearth's Warming Eve. If anyone has a serious issue with this not making sense in the timeline, then I'd like to point out that Fall Weather Friends takes place two episodes after Winter Wrap-Up, just some food for thought.

I hope that this clears a few things up, if you have any other questions please remember that the story is just starting.