“Spike!” Twilight called from the door of the library. “I’m going out for a bit. I want those books on shelves when I get back!”

“I’m on it. Have fun doing whatever it is you’re doing,” Spike replied, placing a book on a low shelf.

Twilight stepped outside to find that she couldn’t see but a meter in front of her. Well this is weird. I didn’t know we had fog planned for today. Walking forward, watching for anything in front of her, she headed in the direction of her business. The hospital. At the careful pace she was going, it took about six minutes to get there. And to her surprise, Rainbow Dash was already there, sitting on a chair in the lobby.

“Hey, Rainbow. Is there supposed to be fog scheduled today?” Twilight asked, pushing through the glass door of the hospital.

“Actually, no. But the weather team couldn’t cut the fog over the Everfree Forest yesterday. And I couldn’t cut this fog either. Somepony up top said something about it being unicorn magic, but I don’t know,” she responded with a sheepish grin. “The night patrol said that they saw the fog expanding outwards from the hospital. I have a feeling that new pony has some idea of what’s going on.”

“My gut agr—” Twilight attempted to say, before being interrupted by a loud explosive boom.

“DID SOMEPONY SAY THERE’S A NEW PONY IN TOWN?!” a pink mare shouted, everypony’s eyes glaring at her.

Saw that one coming. Twilight thought, facehoofing. “Yes, there’s a new pony in town. But judging by the fact that said pony is in the ICU, I don’t think they want a party so soon.”

Pinkie ignored Twilight, firing a few shots from her party cannon, making the hospital lobby look like the sight of a small foal’s birthday party. “Nonsense! I’ve never met anypony that didn’t want a welcome party!”

“But you met me, and I didn’t want a welcome party,” Twilight countered.

“But now you look back on it and wish you’d enjoyed it more!” Pinkie replied, instantly deflecting Twilight’s logic. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but was silenced by Pinkie shoving a cupcake in her mouth. “Just go with it, Twilight.”

Pinkie, somehow carrying the party cannon without carrying it, was now bouncing down the hall towards the room with the new pony. Rainbow Dash simply shrugged and followed at a hover. Twilight spat out the cupcake, and followed closely behind.

Another loud thump from the party cannon signaled that Pinkie had found the new pony. The small hospital room now decorated for a party. The sleeping unicorn in the bed did not stir, though. Pinkie looked at the sleeping unicorn, wondering how her party cannon didn’t wake said pony up.

Though, in truth, the pony was wide awake, and very unpleased with the disturbance. It glared at the one that was nudging it, and thus ruining any chance of it returning to rest again. Pinkie’s face faltered, not comprehending how the pony could still be sleeping after a well placed nudge. Nopony could sleep through one of her nudges. But, this pony was able to do so.

“That’s weird. This pony is still sleeping. How?” Pinkie wondered aloud, not understanding.

“I don’t know, Pinkie. Maybe this pony is unconscious. As in, can’t wake up?” Twilight suggested.

The sleeping pony twitched, unfortunately, just enough for Pinkie and the heart-rate monitor to notice.

Pinkie gasped in much the same manner as when she had first encountered Twilight, and looked at the black unicorn that was pretending to sleep through Pinkie’s onslaught.

“Wakey wakey!” Pinkie said softly, her face a mere inch from the unicorn’s. Her eyes were more open than usual, and she seemed to be staring into its soul.

The unicorn, as if knowing that Pinkie was directly in front of it, moved a hoof up from under the covers, pushing Pinkie away with considerable force, managing to give it enough room to turn and sit up. Its eyes remained closed.

Somehow, Pinkie was right in front of it again, staring at it with much more enthusiasm than before. Somehow knowing, it shoved Pinkie off its bed, giving Twilight just enough room to see that it was a male unicorn. With virtually unmatchable speed, the unicorn moved its right forehoof, blocking Pinkie’s attempt to get on the bed again.

“Whoa. How did it know where Pinkie was?” Rainbow Dash wondered out loud.

Eyes still closed, the black unicorn placed Pinkie down on the floor, hooves tied together with her own streamers. The unicorn turned his head, seeming to look around the room. It eventually stopped to face Twilight. It cocked its head a little, curiosity somehow shown on his face. Its horn glowed, a dark purple aura emanating from his horn. The same aura made itself apparent on Twilight’s right forehoof, forcing a step forward. The magic stopped, but Twilight, now more curious than a monkey, continued walking forward. She stopped at his bedside, her own head cocked slightly to the side.

“Who are you?” she asked, barely audible.

The black unicorn opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by another three ponies entering the room. He turned, eyes still closed, to face the three.

“Oh, hey girls. What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, shaking her head slightly.

“We were wonderin’ the same thing,” Apple Jack replied. “We were gonna visit the library today, but you were out, an’ Spike poin’ed out yer checklist fer today.”

“‘Visit hospital’ caught our eye, dear. That’s not a usual thing, you know,” Rarity added. “And who is this…” her words were silenced. “Who is this handsome young stallion?”

Fluttershy, somehow more curious than scared, was already flying over the group, hovering over the black unicorn. He, in turn, looked at Fluttershy, eyes closed. His head was cocked to the side again, a soft smile just barely beginning to appear. “Um… H-hi there…”

The unicorn’s horn glowed with its dark purple aura, gently picking Fluttershy out of the air, and setting her on the floor next to Rainbow Dash, earning a slight squeak from Fluttershy. Rarity, who had somehow gotten directly next to the pony, was dragged backwards, until she was next to Apple Jack. Twilight was given one more step from the unicorn’s magic, before the aura faded once more.

She stopped at the side of the bed, looking directly at the male unicorn’s face. Somehow, his eyes just would not open, and that intrigued her. And how he had made her walk towards him just by forcing one step from her filled her mind to the brim with questions.

“Who are you?” she asked again, barely audible.

The dark unicorn opened its mouth for the second time, this time, uninterrupted. “I am known as Darq,” he answered simply. “And you?”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she replied with about as much confidence as Fluttershy.

“This place is… Strange… Where am I?” he asked, ‘looking’ around.

“You’re in Ponyville Hospital, dear,” Rarity interjected. “The ICU, to be more specific.”

The dark unicorn growled, “Hath ye not learned to not interrupt one’s conversation?”

Rarity’s eye twitched, and she hid behind Fluttershy, like Fluttershy would when meeting somepony new.

“However, I must thank thee for the answer to my inquiry,” he started again, “young gem.”

And with that, Rarity fainted at the compliment of being called a gem, a smile on her face. Rainbow Dash simply facehoofed at her friend’s reaction, but turned back to pay attention to the stranger she had rescued but a day ago.

“Now… The real question is, how did I get here?” Darq inquired.

“I flew you here. You were out cold in the middle of the fog, so I brought you here. You were really cut up,” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Hmm… Well. I must thank thee for your quick thinking and swift wings,” he said with a curt bow.

“No problem,” Rainbow Dash smiled.

The black unicorn ‘looked’ himself over, finding no scratches on him. He nodded to himself, and removed the electrodes tracking his heart rate and pulse, and pulled the IV out of his arm. The machines threw a fit, but a tiny spell from the unicorn silenced the infernal beeping that they projected. He lifted the covers, rolling out of the bed, and standing on his hooves. He was a bit bigger than Twilight, being about the size of Big Mac. But his muscles were a bit less bulky. He was lean, like a runner, but big like a guard. His horn was more pointed, and about an inch longer than Twilight’s. But the most notable feature of this pony wasn’t what he did have, but what he didn’t. In this case, a Cutie Mark.

“Whoa…” Twilight gasped out loud. “How old are you?”

“I am quite old. I was old enough to know what the Sonic Rainboom was when it happened, though I was still young,” he replied, ‘looking’ at Rainbow Dash. “Congratulations on achieving such a feat. It’s a shame the Wonderbolts haven’t offered you a position with them.”

Rainbow Dash instantly fumed at the comment, unable to give a response.

“And yes, I know you asked because of my Cutie Mark,” he growled. “Or rather, lack thereof.”

“Sorry for asking about that… I’ve jus—” Twilight began.

“Never met a blank-flank as old as me? That’s because I am the oldest pony without one,” he chuckled. He turned, and walked out the door of the small hospital room, leaving six thoroughly confused, one of them unconscious, ponies in his wake.

Author's Note

Well. This is two days without proper mood-fitting music. The next chapter is already typed up, but I'm really not proud of it. It really doesn't flow well. I'll be editing that, a bit. Anyway, I finally did find some mood fitting music for chapters 4 and 5. And for those of you that don't quite see the plot yet, it's coming in in Chapter 4. So be patient, and I'll type up some more interesting problems to solve. (Beware. Lots of science-y stuff in Chapter 5.)