Equestria, Sweet Equestria...

“Just make sure you don’t do any heavy work for a while,”

Nurse Redheart gave the blue earth pony with a hind leg wrapped in bandages a pat on the back before seeing him off. She let out a sigh as she turned around to go back into Ponyville Hospital as she had done so many times before when a patient was in stable condition to leave. She went through the front doors into the lobby with a single nurse pony at the reception desk.

“Oh, Nurse RedHeart, one of the doctors needed your assistance in west wing,” She said before returning to the pony she had been addressing.

Nurse RedHeart quickened her pace towards the double doors into the farther interior of the hospital. She took a turn down one of the hallways without hesitation knowing where she was heading like the back of her hoof.

“NURSE REDHEART!”

Before she even had a chance to turn around, she heard the double doors from the lobby slam open and the sound of something rushing quickly towards her. She stopped dead in her tracks as a rush of blue stoped right in front of her.

“Rainbow Dash, what is it?” Nurse RedHeart began before taking notice, “Oh my…”

Held by the collar of a stripped dress was an earth pony probably no taller than her...but with a bent front leg. Giving it a quick examination, she noted the bend was natural but found when applying pressure for slight movement there was restrictiveness in the bent area.

“Bring him in here,” Nurse RedHeart ordered as she led Rainbow Dash toward one of the rooms lining the hallway.

They entered a simple room with a single wide window and two hospital beds, however one was already taken. Nurse RedHeart motioned for Rainbow to set the pony down on the bed next to the window, which she did without hesitation. Nurse RedHeart immediately went to work. She ran out of the room and went over to one of the karts in the hallway. She pulled a small bag out with her mouth before filling it with ice. Once the bag was full, she picked it up and ran back into the room.

“…once you wake up you’ve got explaining to do…”

Nurse RedHeart raised an eyebrow but didn’t press the issue as she tossed the ice bag to Rainbow Dash, whom caught it in her mouth.

“Apply that to his leg but don’t try to move it,” Nurse RedHeart explained before leaving the room once again.

She returned to the same kart and retrieved a roll of cast wrapping before making her way back once again. She motioned for Rainbow to move aside as she began to apply the casting. She used a single hoof to gentle keep one end of the cast on the pony’s leg. She wrapped it around the pony’s neck then around the leg and then around the neck again. Once she had applied all the cast to the injury, she made sure the wrapping was tight and would hold the leg in place.

“There we go, as long as that doesn’t move, he’ll be fine” She commented while turning from her handy work to Rainbow, “Now do you know how exactly this happened?...and Rainbow your bleeding…”

“I was bringing him back to the center of town to explain how he caused that crater,” Rainbow explained, “He tried wiggling free…”

“Wait…wait…crater in the center of town,” Nurse RedHeart asked while taking a second to look at the pony but remembered the earthquake, as most of the ponies in the hospital had called it when it happened despite how quickly it came and went.

“He tried wiggling free and even though I said it wasn’t a good idea,” Rainbow continued, “When he slipped, I was going a decent speed that I over shot the area and I wasn’t able to catch him.”

“I see, and what caused your nose to bleed,” Nurse RedHeart questioned.

She got her response when Rainbow Dash lowered her eyebrows and frowned while pointing a single hoof at the pony in the hospital bed. Nurse RedHeart had a lot of questions come to her as she took everything into account. Her thoughts were cut off when she heard the door of the room slam open.

“Nurse RedHeart, we need your assistance stat!”

She recognized the voice of one of the various doctors and immediately turned around to face him.

“Yes. Sorry Doctor,” She said while walking towards the door, “Dealing with a paitent's broken leg.”

Nurse RedHeart exited the room alongside the doctor as she heard Rainbow Dash leave as well.

“He’ll need some rest so it is best you take care of Winter Wrap Up then come back,” Nurse RedHeart said to her taking one last moment to look at her.

“I will.” Rainbow replied before letting out a sigh, “I’d better hurry. We’re behind as is.”

Nurse RedHeart turned back and followed the doctor to the west wing just as Rainbow Dash took off towards the lobby.

“Alright everypony, back to work. We’re losing daylight.”

This is what Twilight heard Mayor Mare say to the ponies still looking over the crater in the center of town. Twilight was thinking over the ways of how a single earth pony could have caused a crater the size of a small home. She had various theories come to mind but they were easily disproved in a matter of seconds of thinking them. Her mind then remembered seeing Rainbow Dash taking the pony in question towards the Ponyville Hospital…after the pony had fallen onto the ground from a ways up.

“Everything seems to be back on track,” Mayor Mare announced catching Twilight’s attention.

“Yeah,” Twilight began before tearing her gaze from the crater, “We should be able to make the deadline again and we’ll have to have a few ponies push what dirt we can back in the crater.”

Despite he attempts to take her mind off the incident, Twilight's mind kept going over it exhausting possibility after possibility, all except...She was only able to subside the urge of curiosity by planning to get some answers once everypony was done wrapping up winter. The day went much like it had in previous years despite the setback. However everypony kicked it into a higher gear to make up for lost time. Daylight ticked away in quick secession and by the time everything was said and done, Celestia’s sun was on the verge towards setting. Mayor Mare had congratulated everypony for another successful Wrap Up once they were all gathered at town Hall after the day’s work. Twilight, like previous years, stood off to the side of Mayor Mare's podium during the duration of the speech.

“Thank you all once again and have a good evening everypony,” Mayor Mare announced before giving a wave with one of her hooves

Once Mayor Mare had concluded her speech, she stepped away from the podium in front of the main doors of town hall as the crowd of ponies began to disperse. Twilight’s mind quickly went back to wanting answers to the questions digging at her curiosity. She turned her gaze upward to see the crowd of pegasi dispersing. She was able to spot Rainbow Dash whom was quickly speeding with an angered expression.

“Uh oh…” Twilight whispered as she took notice of Rainbow’s direction.

Quickly channeling her magic to her horn, she surrounded herself in a raspberry colored aura before a bright light flashed and she disappeared from the center of town.

Vision came back in spurts… Rick could feel himself coming too. However this time, he felt he was lying on his back on a nice soft matrass. As he vision cleared, he could see he was in a room and felt he was in a semi sitting position. He looked around with clear vision taking in the room around him. He recognized the décor as out of a simple hospital room. To his left he saw a white curtain and heard the sounds of someone snoring away. Taking a look slightly down, he noticed white covers over his lower body before he finally let out a sigh in relief. He laid his head down as he gave a chuckle shutting his eyes and bringing a hoof to his face.

A hoof….

Opening up his eyes in a flash he was greeted with a white hoof directly in front of his face dressed in the sleeve of his shirt… Darting his eyes to the right, he came across a window and upon closer inspection of what lied outside…he saw…the oh so familiar town…Rick just sat there wide eyed after reality had made itself perfectly clear once more and didn’t speak a single word….

“AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

He leaned back on the hospital back on the hospital bed letting out a scream almost to the top of his lungs while spreading his ‘front legs’ only to find his left one hurting. He choked back his shout wincing at the sudden pain before he looked down at his left leg to see it bounded in a cast just as he took notice to the cast wrapped around the back part of his neck.

“Would you please keep it down?” Someone demanded from the other side of the curtain, “Some of us are trying to heal.”

“sorry…” Rick replied as his brain tried to foolishly combat against the….clear reality, “…uh what happened to you…”

“Construction…on top of the interior structure we had just finished,” The person answered after letting out a sigh as the irritation in their voice faded, “Somepony was messing around with the crane and didn’t pay attention. I get hit and end up falling and breaking a good amount of bone.”

“…ouch…sorry to make you talk about that,” Rick replied, the feeling in his gut sinking lower at the mention of the word pon…

“Yeah, but us earth ponies are built tough,” The person replied with a new found confidence in their voice, “We bounce right back…after a while that is.”

“Oh….that’s good…umm…get well then…” Rick replied as his mind slowly lost its fight.

“What happened to you that’s got ya screamin’?”

Rick, with his fighting mind slowly going to rest, hesitated for a moment taking a look at his injury once more…

“Rainbow!”

The shout was accompanied by a loud crash from somewhere far off. The sound of a scuffle going on far from the room but quickly getting closer filled Rick’s ears as he lifted his gaze from his hoof and drew in a breath. The scuffle came right up next to the room before he heard the door slam open. Before Rick could even blink…that same cyan pony was in his face again but without a nose bleed.

“Alright now,” It said then somehow pulling him by his shirt with its front hooves, “Your goanna explain how you made that crater in the…woah!”

Rick saw the pony get pulled back and landed on the floor onto its haunches. Standing there with a bit of rainbow tail in its mouth, it was a lavender colored pony…but with a horn on its head and no wings. A unicorn, if he remembered the term correctly.

“Rainbow, settle down and let him have a moment of peace,” The lavender pony said to the cyan one, apparently called Rainbow, before turning to Rick, “I’m sorry about that. Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Twilight Sparkle and this is Rainbow Dash, though from what I could tell you’ve already been acquitted with her…somewhat.”

Rick just stared at the two ponies with a speechless look frozen on his face.

“Yeah…um…well um… My name’s Rick.” He managed to say.

Immediately he felt even more out of place as he could tell there was a slight sense of confusion that came across Twilight’s face.

“Well then Rick... Let me be the first to welcome you to Ponyville, and now that your awake.. we hoped you would …” Twilight began in a polite tone but turned to a tone that meant she was a little unsure how to go forth on the next part of her sentence.

“Explain how you made that crater in the middle of town,” Rainbow Dash continued now back on her hooves.

Rick’s mind flashed the no so long ago memory of coming out of that crater and discovering the reality around him. He tried to recall what had happened or what he had been doing before waking up in that crater…but came up blank.

“Not the answer you want but uh….” Rick began taking a pause while shrugging, “I’m not sure exactly…. I just woke up in there.”

“No way could you of just woke up in a crater,” Rainbow commented with skepticism overtaking her voice, “How do we know you’re not some changeling sent to harm everypony in town?”

“…a what?” Rick asked while raising a single eyebrow.

“Never mind that,” Twilight assured while giving a stern look to Rainbow before turning back, “Do you…remember anything before waking up?”

“uhh…no…but I pretty sure I wasn’t in a place like this…” Rick replied but immediately had a feeling of regret come over him.

Twilight and Rainbow stood there silently with their gazes locked on him. Twilight had peculiar look on her face as if she had just heard something out of the norm or offsetting. Rainbow Dash was reacting the same way but with her eyebrows lowered and the frown still on her face. Rick could feel the wave of uneasiness come over him now knowing he had royally screwed up…somehow.

“Ummm…” Was all that Rick got out thus breaking the silence that had fallen the room.

“Oh!” Twilight replied as if breaking out of a state of mind, “It’s nothing just….you seem to be implying, if we’re hearing you correctly, that you’re not around from here…am I correct?”

Rick gave no response as he just stared back at the two ponies while his brain was rushing to form a response. He could feel the nervous feeling coming over him as Twilight and Rainbow gave a look to each other before turning back to him.

“Well… it was nice meeting you,” Twilight said in her steady polite tone, but hesitation gave more proof to the awkwardness that had settled in, “Hope you feel better soon.”

Rick remained silent but gave a nod as Twilight and Rainbow both walked out of the room shutting the door behind them.

“What kind of exit was that? Now he knows were on to him.”

Twilight turned her questioning gaze from the door to the hospital room to Rainbow, who now hosted a slightly angry on her face.

“Rainbow… please keep it down,” Twilight pleaded in a lower tone then her friend, “And how do you suppose we should have walked out of that conversation? You saw the look on his face and how he replied to our questions.”

Twilight’s brain was calculating and re-calculating the answers from the ‘pony’ in the room, but coming up with the same conclusion while parts of her mind debated it extensively. She also recalled something she felt while in the presence of the pony. An aura….a specific aura that she was able to distinguish in a second…aura of a transformation…

“I’ll look into it,” Twilight finally said collecting her thoughts for further discussion, “And keep this between us for a while. We don’t want everypony going into a panic.”

“Alright…” Rainbow muttered out while lowering her gaze to the floor.

“Promise?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah yeah… cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye,” Rainbow dash replied looking back up at Twilight, “But that doesn’t mean I’m NOT going to keep my eye on him.”

With that, Twilight saw Rainbow take off flying down the hall and towards the lobby in a rush. Twilight took last look at the door remembering everything the ‘pony’ had said before channeling her magic and teleporting out of the hospital.