Who are you?

Chapter One - Sleep?

It was a peaceful and sunny evening. Three mares were walking merrily together as they headed for a special place in one of the more remote sections of Ponyville Park, for today was the day they planned to go on a pet play date. One had her face stuck in a book, as was her usual routine, and was oblivious to the events occurring around her; another was hovering on her left, bored with having to go, as she put it, “at a snail’s pace”; the third mare was sporting a Stetson hat, a bit annoyed by her friend’s overt impatience.

"Aw, yeah!" Rainbow cried. Her sudden outburst earned her a quizzical look from Twilight, even though she hardly moved an inch from her book.

"What’s got you so exited Rainbow?" she asked. As curious as she was about why Rainbow was acting like this, her main interest was reading the book.

“She’s probably just goofing off again”, she thought.

"Get your head out of the book, Twilight, and you'd know!" the pegasus replied loudly. Twilight gave a start and jumped in surprise, letting her book drop to the ground. Annoyed that she was so rudely interrupted from her reading, Twilight looked up at her friend. To her dismay, Rainbow Dash was struggling to hold in her laughter, evident by the tears that trickled down her face.

"Rainbow!" Applejack called out in irritation. She shot a quick stare in Rainbow’s direction. Unfortunately for the cowgirl, that only added to Rainbow’s amusement. Unable to hold it in, Rainbow collapsed in a fit of laughter, banging her hoof on the ground.

"Sorry Twilight", Rainbow chuckled as she reached for Twilight’s book, "I didn't scare you did I?" Once more, she tried to suppress her laughter, now that Twilight’s face was a bright red. That was a task more easily said than done, for the more Twilight looked at her, the more her hysteria grew.

"Rainbow, stop teasin’ Twi," Applejack barked, earning her a playful pout from the cyan pegasus. Turning and placing a sympathetic hoof on Twilight’s shoulder, she asked, "You okay?"

"I'm fine", Twilight murmured, "Rainbow just caught me of guard that's all." Before Applejack could reply, Rainbow Dash flew a bit more above and them, now flying a little ahead and above her two friends, yelling out, “What the hay!” Apparently, something – or somepony – caught her attention.

“Whoa, take it easy, there, Rainbow. What’s gotcha so riled up?" Applejack asked. Hearing her voice, Rainbow Dash floated back down, bearing an irate look on her face. Twilight and Applejack knew telling her to take a deep breath whenever she had that look would be pointless, for she would almost always shrug it off; thus, they stood there and waited for her answer.

"Somepony is sleeping in the middle of the grass right were we supposed to meet with the others for our Pony pet play date!" Twilight couldn't believe this for one second. Nopony other than they knew about the spot, for it was near one of the corners of the park.

"Rainbow, I seriously doubt somepony would sleep on the grass in plain sight on a hot day... like.... this...“ Twilight’s words trailed off as she and her two friends rounded the last corner to see what got Rainbow Dash’s attention. Apparently, she wasn’t joking: there was somepony lying in their spot.

"Ha! Ya see that?!" Rainbow shouted, poking Applejack in the chest, "Told ya!"

"Okay, okay, ya proved yer point, Rainbow”, Applejack muttered, annoyed, “No need ta rub it in ma face."

Chuckling, she replied, “Just making sure you sink it all in, cowgirl.”

“Keep talking, featherbrain”, Applejack scoffed, shaking her hoof at her. Turning her head to Twilight, she told her, “Anyway, ah reckon we should do somethin’ about ‘im, Twi. How ‘bout ah gallop on over there and wake ‘im up maself?”

"Don’t bother AJ. I’ll do it. I have a few things to say to a pony who’s dumb enough to sleep out there in the sun like this." Before the orange mare knew it, Twilight galloped away from her and towards the sleeping pony.

“Twi, ah don’t-“ Applejack’s voice became muffled as Rainbow put a hoof in front of her mouth. The cowgirl gave her an annoyed glare, indicating to her she wanted an explanation.

"Oh, put a cork in it, AJ”, Rainbow whispered, her mouth close to her ear, “Let her do this. Trust me… it’s gonna be awesome."

By now, Twilight was right next to the slender earth pony.

"All right, you, time to wake up", she told him calmly. No response. Twilight prodded the earth pony with a hoof and repeated herself.

"Still no response", she thought to herself. She positioned herself in front of the pony to get a better look. The young pony was a white stallion (albeit a cute one) with an unkempt blue mane. His face made it seem as though he was in pain, despite having not a single noticeable injury.

"This doesn’t look good", Twilight thought. "Hey! Come on, get up!" Overhearing her concerned voice, Applejack trotted over to her side, followed closely behind by Rainbow Dash.  Something was clearly wrong if Twilight was yelling at the pony. As soon as they got close, they could see why.

"Twi?" she asked, looking at the inert stallion, "Do ya think he’s-" Twilight raised a hoof to her face, effectively silencing her. She would normally hate cutting off a pony, but now was not the time for her ethics. Getting the stallion some medical attention was her top priority.

"RAINBOW!" Twilight shouted, "Fly over to Ponyville Hospital and have them bring a doctor here, pronto."

"What?” Rainbow replied, “What do you-"

"NOW!"

"Okay, okay, I’m going!" Why she was doing this was anypony’s guess, but the look on Twilight's face assured Rainbow it was urgent. Under a bit of protest, she flew away from her friends to do as she was told.

"I don't understand, Twi. Is somethin’ wrong with this pony?" Applejack asked Twilight. The sudden shift in the plan had her quite confused and she doesn’t like being left out of the loop.

"Far from it, AJ", the mare replied calmly, “Something weird is going on.” Recollecting her thoughts, Twilight placed the mystery stallion in a position she learned from one of her books. "He’s not responding to me. From the looks of it, I think the guy’s unconscious."

"How can you tell?"

"The look on his face seems to tell me he suffered some sort of cranial trauma." Applejack gave her a puzzled look, for she didn’t understand big words like those.

“Concussion?” The orange mare stayed the same.

“*sigh* He got smacked upside the head.”

“Ah, now ah get it.”

“Tell me she’s joking”, Twilight thought, rolling her eyes in disgust.

"So, uh… is there anything ah can do?" For some strange reason, Applejack seemed somewhat shaken by the stallion. She wasn’t afraid of anypony, but this guy looked about as big and burly as Big Mac… and she knew from experience Big Mac’s hard to beat in a fight. If he were to get medical assistance and find out she hesitated to help him, she feared she would be as good as dead.

"He’ll be fine, Applejack, trust me. He probably just fainted in the sun", Twilight replied, trying to calm her worried friend. "If you could provide a little shade for him, then that would be great." Applejack was more than happy to oblige. She moved herself in front of him to provide him with some shade. Despite her fear of him, she found him rather… cute. His mane may have been scruffy, but his toned body more than made up for it. Except for her brother, she never really paid much attention to other stallions… until now, that is.

“Hm… ah wonder what his name is.”

* * *

"Wait, oh no, please... huh was that, no it couldn't have been"

Fluttershy was quite flustered and confused right now. Apparently, she had elected herself to bring Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack's pets to the play date, a task she found more difficult than expected, considering she was having trouble with her own pet’s needs. She could’ve sworn she saw Rainbow Dash fly away from the park, spying a rainbow from the corner of her eye.

“Okay… now I’m confused”, she thought, “Why is Rainbow Dash flying away? She wouldn’t just leave without telling us, would she?” Shaking herself of that outlandish question, she continued to Carousel Boutique, where she hoped her scheduled meeting with Rarity would make her feel more at ease.

"Coming", Rarity sang as she trotted to the door of her Carousel Boutique. She found Fluttershy standing on the doormat, along with some of the pets.

"Good lord, Fluttershy! You look simply dreadful! What happened?!" Fluttershy's usually strait pink mane was now frazzled and out of place due to having so many pets on her hooves. "Come on, then, get in. I simply can’t let a friend of mine go out with a hairstyle like that."

"Um, Rarity, we’re already late to the meeting. I really don't think we have the time." Unfortunately for Fluttershy, her words meant nothing to Rarity, for she was already being ushered into the building and placed down on a chair, in front of an over-sized vanity mirror.

"Nonsense. It shan’t take five minutes to straighten that mane", Rarity spoke, holding a brush to Fluttershy's mane. Whistling a tune as she worked on the hair, she asked the yellow pegasus, "How in Equestria did you get yourself into this mess, Fluttershy?"

Fluttershy explained she might have been a little over-confident accepting the other ponies’ pets when they mentioned they were busy, even though she was happy her kindness allowed her friends to make time for the pony pet play date; but since then, she was gradually becoming stressed.

"I see. Well, set your mind at ease, Fluttershy, for your sister Rarity will lend a hoof. I think I have an idea."

"Oh?" Fluttershy replied, “And what is that?”

"Well, you are forgetting we have yet to meet Pinkie Pie, darling, so even if we did make it on time, we would still have to wait for her before we do anything. Either way, the whole event will be delayed. Trust me, you have nothing to worry about."

"*sigh* I guess you’re right, Rarity." As she accepted her wisdom, a pink blur appeared and morphed her mouth into a smile with a hoof. Fluttershy squeaked as she pulled away from the unexpected pony. A real smile swept across her face as she realized who the hoof came from: it was none other than Pinkie Pie.

"There’s the smile I wanted", Pinkie exclaimed, hugging her friend warmly around her neck. She quickly jumped off her and began to explain at hyper-speed.

"I just saw something that made me think ‘WHA-!’ but then I thought Rainbow wouldn't abandon her friends so I rushed over here to tell you we have to rush to the play date so we can *gasp*prove me right, that Dashie would never leave her friends."

"What? Whatever do you mean, Pinkie?" Rarity asked her in confusion. As plain as Pinkie’s dialogue was, she hardly understood a word that shot out of her mouth,

"I think I understand", Fluttershy spoke up, attempting to be assertive.

The two mares looked at the pegasus in confusion.

"You do?" they asked her synchronously.

Fluttershy explained to the two ponies that she, too, had seen Rainbow Dash flying away from the spot where they were scheduled to meet, going on to say she thought the exact same thing Pinkie did. "I wonder why Rainbow would leave like that", she informed them.

"I wonder why she was flying in the wrong direction”, Pinkie mused, “Sugarcube Corner is not that way! Heh heh, silly filly!"

"In which direction did she fly, girls?" Rarity asked them, hoping this information would allow her to deduce why she was leaving. Unfortunately for the unicorn, the information she found was horrid beyond belief.

"What?! She’s going to Ponyville Hospital?!" Rarity shouted, “Something horrible must’ve happened! You’re right, Fluttershy: we must go at once! We have to make sure everypony is alright."

Grabbing their pets, the three ponies rushed towards the park. After what felt like the longest and fastest run of their lives, the meeting place came into view.

"Whew, Twilight and Applejack are okay", Fluttershy spoke as she and the other three mares stood next to Applejack and Twilight. They all looked at the mystery pony with much confusion. They were wondering how in Equestria something like this happen in their favorite meeting place. Rainbow’s sudden flyby was one thing, but an unknown, unconscious stallion was another.

"Why was Dashie flying away? Who's that? Why is he sleeping? That's a silly place to sleep if you-" Pinkie was cut off when Applejack put a hoof to her mouth. This did not stop her from continuing her barrage of questions, though, much to her dismay. The steady hail of words pounded Applejack’s head like foam darts from a toy blaster.

"If y'all shush up for a second me n Twilight can explain" Applejack told her. She gave a stern stare to Pinkie Pie, letting her know now was not the time for meager talk.

"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and I found him like this when we arrived”, Twilight explained to the curious mares, “We all thought he was just sleeping at first."

"Only when Twi went to wake ‘im up, she went all silent for a spell, then she demanded that Rainbow fly to Ponyville Hospital and fetch a doc here", Applejack cut in.

"Indeed. Anyway, when I realized I couldn't wake him, I knew I had to get help and nopony is as fast as Rainbow." Twilight took a deep breath before continuing her explanation. "After a closer inspection of his body, I deducted that this pony probably fainted due to the heat."

"Oh, I agree with you, Twilight”, Fluttershy supported her, “I would’ve arrived at the same conclusion. I do hope he’s okay."

"He’ll be fine, darling”, Rarity consoled her, “If we all know Rainbow, she’s probably on her way back with a doctor right now."

"Yeah, and when the doctor pony wakes him up, I can throw him a ‘hope your well now and welcome to Ponyville’ party”, Pinkie added.

"A welcomin’ party? How can ya tell this pony's not from ‘round here?" Applejack took it back when she remembered this was Pinkie Pie, the one pony who knows everypony here in Ponyville. Of course she’d know he wasn’t from here. Pinkie just gave her a smug grin and raised her eyebrow. "Oh. Right. Ah’ll take it back."

"Good to know you remember, AJ”, Pinkie replied, still keeping her grin. Applejack pouted playfully at her and shifted her gaze back to the fallen stallion.

"Just who is this pony?" Twilight wondered aloud, “and how did he get here?"

Twilight's words rang in their heads. Try as they might, they knew they won’t get any answers until after Rainbow came back with the Doctor. After what seemed like hours to them, they saw Rainbow Dash followed closely behind by a unicorn doctor.

"HEY! GUYS!" Rainbow yelled, "Come on doc, it’s this way."