The first thing that returned to the young stallion was his hearing. And immediately he knew that what had knocked him out was the flank of a mare. One known for crashing and breaking things. Shockingly, he was the first victim of her "steel flank".

"... I mean it. What do you think will happen when he wakes up? If the first thing he sees is his attacker... he might go into shock..." from the sound of it. Whoever was speaking knew a lot about this kind of stuff.

"I just don't know what went wrong."

'That must have been the one that landed on me.' He thought as feeling started to return to him. It didn't take him long to figure out he was laying on his back in a bed.

After a few moments he heard hoofsteps one pare leaving and what he thought was three approaching.

"So doc. Do you know when he'll wake up?" A new tomboyish voice asked.

"I'm sorry Miss Dash." A male voice. Most likely the doctor replied. "But concussion by Derpy is a hard condition to track. And seeing he's the first case like this I'm afraid he may have..."

Dash cut him off. "You're about to say he might be brain dead. Weren't you?"

The young stallion wrinkled his itchy nose. 'Well. I have some movement now.' He thought. 'Let's see if I can...'

"Princess Twilight! What are you doing here?" The doctor asked.

'Nope. Can't sneeze.'

"I heard one of my friends was helping an injured stallion. So I thought I'd come and see how he was." Twilight replied.

'Wow. Getting checked by a princess? And was helped to the hospital by her friend?' The stallion thought. 'I kinda want to milk this... but...'

The stallion let out a loud moan as he slowly opened his eyes.

"Oh. He's up." A yellow stallion with a brown tail said happily. "I'm Doctor Horse. How are you feeling?"

"Better after my surprise nap." The stallion joked before grabbing his head. "She's not going to land on me again is she?"

The three ponies caught the joke and joined in the laughter. "Don't worry." A purple alicorn said with a smile. Derpy doesn't make it a habit of falling from the sky."

"Ya. She normally runs into you." A rainbow maned mare laughed. "Name's Rainbow Dash. That's my friend Twilight Sparkle. And what's your name?"

"My name?" The stallion repeated. 'Fuck. The old man was right. They don't know me here. Just to be safe though...' he thought. "Name's ummm... Ray... something Ray."

"Ray hu?" Rainbow repeated the name to herself. "Not a bad name. Sounds kinda cool."

Twilight giggled and turned to Ray. "Congrats. It's not everyday she says that about somepony she just met."

"Ya. And that means you now have a cool name to live up to." Rainbow added with a confident smile. "Let's see if you got what it takes to go from cool to awesome like me."

"No promises." Ray sighed, finally looking around the whitewashed medical room. "How long was I out for?"

"Going from what Dash told me... I'd say you slept till noon the next day." Twilight replied. "And judging from my scans. You didn't get much worse than that unexpected nap."

"Thanks....ummm... what happened to my stuff?" Ray asked, noticing he was naked.

"Oh your bag and clothes?" Rainbow asked as she landed next to the bed. "They're at my place. Safe and sound."

Doctor Horse nodded. "I was rather surprised at how protective Dash was about your things."

Rainbow glared at the older stallion. "Have you found that doll yet?"

"Point taken." The doctor sighed. "Now come with me and you can sine him out."

With a groan, Rainbow flew after him. "Why do I have to sign so many papers for one stallion?"

Once they thought Rainbow was out of earshot the two started to laugh. "She reminds me of.... a friend." Ray sighed.

"I had a feeling you were fine." Twilight said happily as she approached the bed. "You want to talk about it?"

Ray shook his head as Twilight helped him into the wheelchair. "Just know my friends and I are here if you need anything."

"Thanks Princess..."

"Please. Just call me Twilight." She giggled. I'm not really big on the whole Princess thing."

"As you wish... lady Twilight." Ray said, receiving a slap to the back of his head from her wing. After a moment passed the two started laughing.

A few minutes and a scheduled check up with Twilight later and the three ponies were outside Ponyville Hospital.

"Not that I didn't enjoy the push." Ray sighed as he hopped off the wheelchair so the nurses could bring it back in. "But I prefer getting around on my own." The three shared a laugh.

"I know what you mean. Be lucky you got away with a sprained wing." Another laugh came from the trio as Rainbow idly rubbed her wing at the memory.

"What are you going to do now?" Twilight asked Ray as they started making their way down the street.

"I'd like to get my things. Pay you girls back for what you did for me. And maybe rent a room at..." Ray was quickly cut off as an energetic looking pink face appeared inches from his.

"Ohmygosh.youmustbenewhere.Imean.ofcourseyou'renew.becauseIdon'tknowyourname.andIknowEVERYPONY.andbecauseIdon'tknowyou.thatmeansyou'rnew.witchmeans." The strange pink pony finally stopped and took a deep breath before vanishing as quickly and strangely as she arrived.

Still staring at where that... pony thing was, Ray only found one thing to say. "What?"

Twilight and Rainbow smirked at each other before Rainbow flew over patting him on the head. "That was Pinkie. I hope you like parties."

Shaking away the shock Ray looked at Rainbow. "Why?"

"Sorry. Pinkie party rules." Rainbow shrugged. "But heads up. You're about to become really popular, really quickly."

"Nope." Ray said, stepping back. "No party for me. Not if that's her plan. No thank you."

"Why not?" Twilight asked in concern.

"Because I came here to get away from all that. The parties, the popularity, the...." He shook his head and turned to Rainbow. "Look. You can keep the money. Just give me my things."

"Ray..." Twilight gasped as she watched the two flyers stare each other down.

Twilight gasped as Rainbow nodded. "Rainbow!?"

"You better find Pinkie Twilight." Rainbow said without looking at her friend. "Come on Ray. My place is this way." With that the two pegasi left a shocked and confused Twilight to stand in the middle of the street.

"What just happened?" Twilight took a deep breath and turned down a second street. "Pinkie is not going to like this." She thought.

outside Rainbow's house

Ray looked up at the cloud house that floated overhead. He was amazed. Homes that looked even half decked out as this was expensive.

"Cool right? Hang on. I had something added for the next time I ended up grounded." She said kicking a small rock into a rainbow pool. A few moments later a cloud started to lift up and climb the nearby rainbow waterfall.

Seeing his chance Ray hopped on and watched as Rainbow flew up next to him. "I bet you're hungry. I'll head in and toss something together." She said before flying up and into the house.

As his cloud ride reached the top Ray hopped off and wondered why she was doing all this.

Not wanting to risk angering her, Ray walked in and nodded at the sight. Most everything was made of clouds. Save for a few sheets, the flying tordes flying at him. What. "What?"

Quickly Ray got on his hind legs catching the aerial reptile with his foreleg as one of his hind legs caught a vase it knocked over in its approach. He quickly glanced to the kitchen before looking his would be attacker in the eyes.

"You don't mention what I did. And I won't mention how you knocked it over. Deal?" He hissed. After a moment the tordes gave a slow nod.

"Good." Ray sighed, setting the animal on the couch before sitting next to it so it would be between the two pegasi.

"Hope you like apple juice .because that's all I got." Rainbow laughed as she came out with a plate carrying the food and drinks to find her friend on Ray's lap.

"I swear he got there on his own." Ray said quickly. "I have nothing to do with..."

"It's fine." Rainbow laughed. "It means Tank likes you." She set the plate on the table. "Your clothes are in the wash. Rarity is taking care of your jacket."

"Who's?"

"One of my friends. There's six of us. It's a funny story. But she would kill me if I was to try and wash something like that. How many bits did it cost." Rainbow asked with an eager smile.

"It was a gift... so was the shirt." Ray sighed.

Rainbow winched at hearing that. "Then it really is a good thing I gave her the jacket to take care of."

"Why?" Ray asked as they started to eat.

"It took the blunt of the damage." Rainbow sighed. "I'm..." She stopped short from apologizing when she saw Ray laughing. "What's so funny?"

"My friend that gave me that was protective of me." Ray said as he fought to control his laughter. "To think that big lug is still keeping me safe."

As his words clicked Rainbow joined in as the two doubled over laughing. Their food and drinks were forgotten as they basked in the irony of today's events.

Several minutes later Rainbow whipped a tear from her eye. "Man. I don't think I laughed that much in a single day that wasn't because of Pinkie. Ray. You are the coolest stallion I know."

The two lay on their backs in silence for a minute before Rainbow asked. "Are you really going to leave? Seeing how you are with Tank, how well you dress, and how funny you are. I know my friends would like you."

Ray sighed. "I just don't want to be the center of attention." Rolling onto their stomachs the the two looked at each other before Ray looked over at his saddlebag hanging from the back of a chair. "It's why I have the mask."

"Another gift?" Rainbow asked softly.

"Ya. It was so I can perform and still go to school like a normal kid."

Rainbow looked over at the bag. "You know. A friend of mine has an amazing singing voice. But she's scared of being the center of attention..." Just then an idea popped into her mind. "Maybe you can help her with her fear."

"Why me and how?" Ray asked, watching Rainbow go through his bag before pulling out the mask.

"A little trick my friends showed me." She said putting the mask on with a smile. "You think you can do it if I set the stage?"

"First. I can't fly yet. Second. You wouldn't be allowed to talk. Third we'd need to time every move perfectly. And forth..." He paused to take a deep breath. "We look to different."

Rainbow shrugged. "Well. I have leftover fabric Scootaloo left here from her projects. Maybe you can whip something up." Ray thought for a moment.

"We'd need to have our movements sinked at all times." Ray pointed out. "Sorry. But I don't see it working out."

"Fine." She sighed, putting the mask away. "At least come to the party and meet my friends before you go. Besides, you said you wanted to pay us back."

Sighing they heard their stomachs growl. Looking at the table they see finishing off the food.

"Party it is. And who knows. Maybe... I can start over again." Ray sighed happily before gathering his things and joining Rainbow as they head to find her friends.

Author's Note

Ok. So this chapter didn't really hold so tightly to the song. But let me explain.
1: he's hurt from loosing his friends. In one way or another.
2: he had preformed for his fans and is reminded of how thinking of what you want can have positive outcomes.
3: yes. This is a kinda new leaf type event for him.
Question is. Is the new leaf for him? Or will it be for another? Then again. He might fall back in the old hole and either run or do for others first again.