(The Present)

The journey from the Everfree Forest took quite a bit of time since they had to slow down and walk beside Applejack. After all, she was the one pulling the cart with an unconscious stallion in the back. The mood was a little somber and tense, the sight of the dead and charred ponies was still fresh in the group of pony's mind.

Every once and awhile, some of them would cast a glance at the black stallion. Rarity, who was walking behind the cart, just stared at the pony. Every time she studied the pegasus, she got an overwhelming sense of deja-vu, like she has seen the pony before. She couldn't quite put her hoof on it, but something about his dark colors of black, silver and red just seemed to stir up an old memory that was just out of her reach. This feeling was shared along with the other mares.

“Uuugghhh, why can't I shake this feeling?! Why does he look familiar?!” All eyes turned to Rainbow Dash, who was currently hovering over the black, fedora wearing stallion with her hooves pressed against her head and an annoyed look on her face. Apparently, she had decided to voice what everypony else was thinking. “I'm not the only pony who thinks this pegasus looks familiar, right?”

“I know what you mean Dash. It feels like I've met him before.” Twilight spoke. “But I just can't remember where.”

“Oh my, have we all met him before?” Fluttershy spoke in her quiet voice.

Applejack glanced back at the yellow pegasus. “Ah think we have, but Ah just can't remember where.”

Twilight then shook her head. “It doesn't matter right now if we've met him before or not, let's just get him to the hospital before.”

“Right!” The rest of the group spoke.

XXXX

The rest of the journey to Ponyville was rather uneventful, except for the occasional groan or mumble from the unconscious black coated pegasus.

As they walked through the town square to get to the hospital, they began to catch the attention of a few ponies who were there, since most stands were in the square. Some merely looked at the group and then continued on with their business, others actually tried to get close to the cart to get a good look at the stallion before Rarity and Pinkie Pie shooed them away.

As they were approaching the Ponyville Hospital, a white Earth pony mare with a pink mane rolled into a bun with a matching tail and blue eyes that was wearing a nurse's hat stood at the opened entrance. Her cutie mark was a red cross that had a pink heart in each angle and the mark was also on her hat.

The nurse pony immediately went over to the group of ponies and began to question them while examining the stallion.

“How long has he been out?”

Twilight shook her head. “I don't know, he was out cold when we found him.”

Nurse Redheart began to unwrap the now slightly red stained gauze around the stallion's wings.

“Oh dear.”

The charred skin on the wings was beginning to flake off and the nurse swore that she could see some shattered bone fragments sticking out. How this pony was so calm in his sleep was lost on her.

“I'm going to need some help moving him.”

She called over a stallion and a mare that were standing at the hospital's entrance.

The stallion was a unicorn who was a faint tan color with a brown and light brown colored mane. He had on a stethoscope and a doctor's coat, which nearly covered his cutie mark, which was a picture of an syringe that had a red cross on it.

Next to him was a Earth pony mare that had a powder blue coat and a mint green mane that was also rolled into a bun underneath a nurse's hat. The hat carried her cutie mark, which was a simple red cross.

“Dr. Booster Shot and Nurse Tenderheart, I need your help moving this pegasus.”

They both nodded.

Dr. Booster Shot's horn began to glow and a stretcher came through the doorway. Nurse Redheart and Tenderheart, with help from Rainbow Dash and Twilight, managed to get the stallion off of the cart and onto the stretcher, where he was properly strapped onto and was quickly carried into the hospital and towards the Emergency Room.

XXXX

They sat in the lobby waiting for the news on the mysterious stallion's condition. Each one tried to find a way to pass the time.

Twilight was busy writing a letter to Princess Celestia about finding the black pegasus, Rainbow Dash, being the active mare she was, was flying circles around the lobby's ceiling with Pinkie Pie watching her, Rarity was reading a fashion magazine and discussing the fashion tips it possessed with Fluttershy, and Applejack had her stetson pulled over her eyes and was lightly dozing.

When Nurse Redheart came with a clipboard in her mouth, they all stopped what they were doing and gave her their attention, waiting for her to tell them the stallions current state.

Twilight spoke first. “How is he Nurse Redheart?”

She was hesitant in answering. “Um, well Ms. Sparkle, his wings have suffered terrible burns and his right wing has three fractures in it, his torso only has minor cuts and bruises, his left shoulder was dislocated, and his front right foreleg and right hindleg only have a bad gash on them. He shouldn't have any permanent after effects when he fully recovers, but it will take him some to heal. But even with these injuries, I can say that he will make a full recovery, though his wings might gain some scarring.”

Twilight and her friends were about to sigh in relief when Nurse Redheart spoke up again.

“But Ms. Twilight, I need your assistance with something.”

Twilight looked confusingly at the still uneasy looking nurse.

“What's wrong, isn't he going to be alright?”

“Oh don't worry Ms. Sparkle, it's nothing serious....At least I hope not.” The nurse mumbled the last part.

“Then what is it?”

Nurse Redheart waved all of them to follow her.

After the short walk to a room located near the ER, the nurse led the group of Element bearers to what could only be described as being a head tilter.

On a medical table, Dr. Booster Shot was holding the still unconscious black pegasus down with all of his weight while Nurse Tenderheart had her hindlegs on the tables edge with the pegasus's head between her rear hooves while the her fore hooves gripped onto the stallion's black fedora. She was yanking on the hat, which for some very strange reason, wasn't coming off of the stallion's head.

“Nurse Tenderheart! Please stop doing that!”

She stopped pulling on the hat.

“But Nurse Redheart, it won't come off. And I can't think of any other way to get it off.”

Nurse Redheart sighed. “Just refrain from trying to forcefully remove it from his head. You're going to add a hurt neck to his injury list.”

She then turned her gaze towards the unicorn stallion that stood silently by the table's side.

“Dr. Shot, why didn't you simply use your magic to get the hat off.”

The stallion shrugged. “I can't.”

“You mean magic can't get it off?”

Dr. Booster Shot shook his head. “No. I mean that I can't even get magic near it without getting repelled.”

Twilight and the others, meanwhile, were busy studying the black pegasus until what Dr. Shot said caught their attention.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean by that?”

Dr. Shot looked at the unicorn. “Whenever I try to levitate the hat or try to scan, it feels as though there is some sort of wall blocking it.”

Rarity's eyes suddenly widened as a realization came to her. “Wait, let's see if I got this right. The hat won't come off by any physical force, correct?”

Dr. Shot nodded.

“And it feels as though there is some sort of barrier around it?”

Again, Dr, Shot nodded.

Rarity's eyes began to sparkle with giddiness. “Then I know exactly why his fedora won't come off.”

She then cantered quickly trotted over to the black stallion's form and placed a hoof on his fedora.

“Although the practice is not very well known and not used very often, it has been a fashion trend for unicorns to put an enchantment on their clothes, specifically headwear, in order to keep them from falling off. It also allows you to add a colored glow and change the clothing's color.”

She then gave a small confused look at the fedora.

“But it shouldn't be hard to remove the enchantment if you're a unicorn. Especially since this stallion is a pegasus. Let me see...”

Rarity's horn began to glow as a tendril of energy began to form and cover the fedora. Only after a few seconds, the horn stopped glowing and Rarity's confused look increased.

“That's strange, the enchantment is a lot stronger than a normal one, and there are a lot of other spells woven into the hat. I can't seem to identify them.”

“She was taken from me...”

Rarity jumped back in surprise as the stallion began to talk in his sleep again. Everypony's eyes were now trained on him.

“I will get her back...Charon...if its the last thing I do...”

Rarity tsked. “Poor dear. I hope he'll be alright.”

The black pegasus then rolled over in his sleep until his hooves were now pointed towards the main group.

The movement gave them all a good view of his cutie mark, which was no longer covered in mud. It made a few of them look on with their heads tilted.

His cutie mark was a pendant of silver with a ruby in the middle. There were small holes around the ruby in a circle.

Applejack gave a low whistle. "Never seen a cutie mark like that before. Ah wonder wha' his special talent is.”

Twilight stepped forward towards the stallion. “We can figure that out later Applejack. Right now, we need to figure who he is first.”

“You might just get your chance.”

Twilight faced Nurse Redheart, who was just entering the room. She didn't even notice that the nurse had left.

“I just got a letter from Cloudsdale. It seems that an accident at the weather factory has seriously injured a lot of pegasi. Apparently the supports for a few of the vats containing some highly concentrated rainbow failed and caused the vats to tip over, spilling the rainbow on some workers and pedestrians, giving them severe burns. Cloudsdale Hospital is nearly full after that near-tornado incident, so they will be sending them here by emergency ambulance carriages. I'm afraid that do to the...limited space, we might have to discharge this pegasus you brought in.”

Fluttershy, usually timid and quiet, spoke up with urgency in her voice. Whenever it was a pony's health involved, she wasn't afraid to speak her mind. “But i-is that wise?”

Nurse Redheart gave Fluttershy a reassuring smile. “Don't worry Ms. Fluttershy. I can guarantee that he doesn't have any serious injuries right now. In fact, I'm sure that once the anesthesia wears off, he'll be right as rain. He just needs to keep off of his legs for a few weeks.”

Rainbow Dash then flew up and looked at the white coated nurse. “But he'll out for a while, and who'll take care of him till then?”

“I will.”

Everypony turned to Twilight. “There's more than enough room at the library, and I need to keep an eye on him till Princess Celestia gets here, since she told us to find and present anything we think might of caused that magical surge in the Everfree Forest.”

“Ah agree with Twilight. 'Sides, Ah can't have Applebloom and her friends pokin' him with a stick every time Ah leave the room.”

Every one of the Element Bearers nodded in agreement.

(The Past)

A scowling Revenant Hunter with an equally scowling Fleur de Lis stood in front of a line of very sheepish looking colts and fillies.

The black colt closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and quietly counted to ten before reopening his eyes.

“Okay, now I want you to tell me why you guys disappeared for the entire day, before finally reappearing , only to spy on me and Fleur again while we were enjoying a nice dinner.”

Eclipse suddenly stood up. “We just wanted to see if you two actually had feelings for each other. That's all~.”

Fleur de Lis gave a large sigh before addressing the red and gold colored filly.

“Eclipse, how many times are Rev and I going to tell you silly ponies that we are not in love with each other?”

Sky Runner smirked, his vermillion eyes now filled with mirth. “Why don't you two prove that you are not in love?”

Rev faced the colt. “And how do you expect us to prove that?”

Sky Runner's eyes were now twinkling.

“Why don't you two just kiss each other.”

Fleur blushed slightly, her attention now on the pegasus. “...What?”

“If you don't have feelings for each other, then this shouldn't be a problem.”

“But it's just so...improper-”

“Proper-shmoper, just do it.”

Fleur looked at Rev. Even though it couldn't be seen, he was blushing as badly as she was. They both knew that if they didn't do it, their friends wouldn't be satisfied, but if they did, it would their first kiss for both of them.

Rev, quickly discovering a loophole in Sky's demand, decided to make the first move, leaned forward and kissed Fleur on her soft cheek.

Fleur, with wide open eyes, became rigid for a second, before repeating Rev's action, though her movements were more stiff and hesitant.

They gazed into each others eyes before Rev finally shook his head and looked back at the somewhat awestruck group in front of them.

“Satisfied?”

They nodded in unison.

“Then scatter.”

Maverick, Rain Dance, and Star Searcher immediately left. Eclipse flashed an apologetic smile before also getting up and leaving. Sky Runner gave them both a suspicious look, then nodded and left.

Rev and Fleur watched as their friends left, their stances radiating endless confidence and a little bit of indifference.

But once Sky disappeared around the corner and was out of sight, they both gave huge sighs of relief and sat down, large blushes on their faces.

Fleur looked at Rev. “I hope we never have to do that again.”

Rev gave her an unreadable look with a brow raised.

Fleur de Lis, realizing her mistake, began to stutter an apology as she waved her hooves.

“I-I mean, I hope we don't kiss again, I mean, not that there is anything wrong with kissing, but I-”

Revenant dropped the look and gave a small laugh. “No worries, Fleur, I know what you meant.”

Fleur de Lis sighed in relief.

“Though I gotta say, you're cute when you become a stuttering mess.”

Fleur, with a burning blush on her face, lightly smacked Rev on the shoulder.

“Quiet you.”

to be continued