It has been a few days since the attack with the creature. Twilight was kind enough to bring a book with her so they could point out the creature. Turns out Drak was fighting a manticore. They are fierce and territorial creatures that attack anything that intrudes. Their scorpion tail that was sadly not just a tail did contain venom. The doctors worked day and night to keep the human alive. Luna had to make a room for the friends to stay in since they were unwilling to leave. The doctors weren’t happy about it, but thanks to the alicorn and her lovely yelling they stepped down.

In the beginning it was touch and go for Drak. After about a day of surgery the doctors were able to stabilize his body. The friends wanted to go and see him, but didn’t since he needed his rest. During his sleep Dinky showed up with a grey pegasus mare behind her. She walked elegantly and her mane and tail were a beautiful golden blond. The only thing that made her different were her eyes. Dinky explained that the mare was her mother and her name was Ditzy Doo. She was a very nice mare.

The reason she stopped by the hospital was to see the one that saved her only daughter. Dinky pointed towards Marcus, Luke, Blake, and Ryan, but couldn’t find the other. Luke explained that Drak was the real savior of her daughter. They were just there to support him if he needed it. The mare gave a slight bow and a word of thanks for helping her daughter. She then pulled out a lunch bag and it was filled with assorted muffins.

The pegasus went about handing the muffins to the friends. She asked if she could see Drak, but was sad when they told her that he was still asleep. She was getting ready to leave, but before she did, she handed a slip of paper to Blake. The human looked at the paper and saw that it had a phone number on it. Ditzy asked them to call her when their friend woke up. Blake nodded as she left with her daughter that smiled at the friends.

After a few days of being out cold, Drak finally woke up. His eyes fluttered as he tried to get a look at his surroundings. He tried to get up, but stopped halfway as a surge of pain ran through his body. He tried to fight through the pain, but was pushed back down to the bed. He was able to get his senses straight and what he saw scared him quite a bit. There were a few doctors and nurses in the room with him, checking the various medical equipment. His heart rate increased and the doctors tried to calm him down.

Trying to get the human to calm down only made the situation worse. His heart rate continued to rise and he tried to pull up his hood. As he reached for his hood he saw that he wasn’t wearing his hoodie. He saw his hoodie hanging on a hook on the back of the front door. Without his hoodie he did the next best thing. He grabbed his bed sheets and started to pull them over his head. The doctor tried to stop him, but was only making the situation worse.

Marcus and his friends were sitting in their room as they waited. Andrew saw the doctors running back and forth in the hallway. He walked out of his door and looked at the monitors that kept track of their patients. He saw that one of them was flashing and looked at the room number. He didn’t have to look at the monitor to see who it was. He ran back to the room and told his friends that Drak was having a panic attack. The friends only looked at each other for half a second before running off.

They reached Drak’s room and threw the door open. The started to push through the mass of doctors and nurses trying to reach him. They reached his bed after shoving a few of the staff out of their way. The friends circled around him with their backs turned to him. Ryan walked towards the bed and tapped on the bed sheets. There was a few seconds where he didn’t receive a response, but then Drak poked his head from behind the covers. Ryan smiled as Drak continued to look at him.

Ryan stuck out his hand behind him and Luke handed him the hoodie. He gave it to Drak who quickly put it on. Once he had his hoodie on he pulled up the hood and felt himself starting to relax. His heart rate started to calm down and his breathing became controlled. As Drak focused on calming his nerves, Marcus ushered for the doctors to leave the room so he could relax. The doctors left the room, but not in a very happy mood. Once they were gone he tapped Blake on the shoulder and told him to call Ditzy.

Blake nodded as he walked out of the room to get better reception. They lived in a world of magic and they still couldn’t get a damn signal in a hospital. Granted there was the fact that they shouldn’t have signal to begin with, but what was the point in arguing about it. Last time they argued about the use of magic in this world Blake got a splitting headache. He could still hear Twilight’s voice as she explained some of the uses of magic. He found his good reception and put in Ditzy’s number.

While he was gone the friends didn’t say anything, but just smiled at each other. They never cried much during their hellish years together, but this was enough to elicit a few. The friends were able to get some of their feeling back thanks to Callie, Alex, Brandon, and Jaeden. When they were shown the photos they worked wonders. They talked about the past and how they wanted it to come back. It was true that they would never get the same exact past like before, but it was nice to have something near it.

Marcus, Luke, Andrew, and Blake promised to try their best to become the ones they once were. They talked and laughed somewhat during the old times. It wasn’t much at first, but it was a good start. The past still haunted them but they could feel some of the pain lift from their shoulders. Blake came back into the room and was followed by the grey mare. Dinky ran into the room and jumped onto the bed hugging Drak. The human sat still as the little filly hugged him. After a few awkward moments he lifted up his arms and wrapped the filly in a hug.

“Excuse me, I’m not sure you remember, but we did meet before,” Drak looked up at the mare and tried to meet her gaze somewhat. She held out her hands and she had a blueberry muffin. He looked at it for a few seconds before taking it.

“You are the same pegasus that I met during my first time here,” Drak said as he took a small bite from the muffin. His friends could only stare in shock as he finally spoke after four years.

“Yes, I am. My name is Ditzy Doo and the little one there is Dinky, my daughter. I just wanted to come by and say thank you for saving my daughter. She explained everything that happened and I felt terrible. I knew that I shouldn’t have sent my daughter to that forest, but I needed an herb from there. Now thanks to my stupidity it got a newcomer hurt and endangered my daughter,” Ditzy apologized as tears fell from her eyes. The friends took this chance to leave the room so they could talk it out.

“I don’t blame you for what happened to me. I wasn’t careful when I was fighting the manticore. If anything I should apologize that you had to worry about me. I am glad that your daughter is okay and well. As long as she made it out okay then I think that I did my job well,” Drak said in a caring tone.

Ditzy gave a slight nod as she tried to compose herself. “If you don’t mind me asking, what is your name?”

“My name is Drakalian but my friends call me Drak for short,” Drak was feeling comfortable around this mare.

She had a nice figure and she spoke in an enticing voice. He was always scared of meeting new people and hated being in crowds. Being alone with this mare did give him slight anxiety at first but as they talked he was able to calm down.

Ditzy stayed for a couple of hours just talking with him. It was simple things that were more about Ditzy than him. He was able to learn how the pegasus came to be with the filly. After her mail delivery she came home to find a basket outside her door. When she pulled the blanket aside she saw the pink little filly. There was no note except a piece of paper with her name. The pegasus took in the filly and treated her like her own daughter. She wanted to wait a few years before telling the filly about where she came from, but the unicorn filly was very adventurous.

She found the piece of paper with her name and the basket. She brought it to Ditzy and she explained everything to her. The filly was upset and infuriated with the pegasus for lying to her. The filly didn’t talk to her for several weeks before she finally calmed down. She apologized to the mare for her behavior, but the pegasus told her there was no need. The filly had every right to feel that way and that she was sorry for hiding it.

Dinky was grateful to have such a caring pony like Ditzy. Even though she wasn’t her real mother she cared for her like she was her own. They were able to put the incident behind them and continue to live like a family. Drak had his hood pulled back slightly and the pegasus was able to get a better look at him. He was giving her a big smile as he stroked the filly’s mane. The filly just laughed as he stroked her. Ditzy smiled as she watched the human smile down at her daughter.

“Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but we were able to get Drak signed out of the hospital. We have somewhere we need to be and need to head out now,” Alex said as he walked into the room. Ditzy gave Drak a quick hug before leaving the room with Dinky in tow.

“So where do we have to go?” Drak asked as he pulled his hood up.

“We are heading back to the castle so we can talk with Celestia. She is going to try and give us a chance at living here, but she wants to hear our stories. After that she is going to decide what she will do with us,” Alex said in an irritated tone.

“So there is much that could happen that we don’t know yet?” Drak asked.

“Pretty much, so get out of bed and let’s go,” Drak got out of the bed and followed his friend.

They took the back exit out of the hospital. It was morning and the other ponies were walking about. Luna showed the friends the path Alex and Drak were on so they could return to the library. It was a secluded path that not many of the ponies knew about. They were to stay out of sight of the ponies until Celestia reached a decision with the friends. The walk was long and quiet, but they finally reached the library. Alex opened the door to see the others waiting and talking with Spike.

The friends met the drake when Twilight would bring them books to read or just come for a chat. At first the little drake was scared of them, but after a little talk and some bribing with some rubies he grew comfortable around them. For his young age he was really intelligent and mature. He was still naïve to some things especially when it came to his little crush. He did a poor job with hiding it and they were all able to guess who he was crushing on. He tried to play it off like he didn’t know what they were talking about but they had him cornered. The drake gave in to their incessant probing.

Drak could only stare wide eyed at the dragon as he tried to join the others on the couch. When he took his seat Marcus yelled for Twilight that they were all present. The unicorn came walking down the stairs with the alicorn right behind her. She smiled at Drak and gave him a wave good morning. He gave his own wave back and continued to look off into the distance. They all waited for a few seconds as Twilight’s friends came in through the front door. Now that everyone had arrived they got ready to leave. The friends put on their cloaks and grabbed the bags.

“Why are you brining those bags with you?” Luna asked as she looked at the bags in different angles.

“Well, since you are willing to possibly give us a chance then it is best to not have many secrets. What we have in these bags we will explain when we talk with Celestia,” Brandon answered.

Luna nodded as her horn flared to life. There was a flash but nothing noticeable happened. Marcus asked what that was and she explained that it was a cloaking spell. Jaeden asked what the point was in wearing the cloaks were if she was going to do that. The alicorn said that them wearing the cloaks helped her to focus her magic so that the cloaking spell worked effectively. Ryan was about to ask how it worked that way but Twilight’s lecture hit him in full force.

They walked towards the train station, avoiding running into the ponies that were milling about. They reached the train station and there were no ponies in sight. The alicorn dispelled her magic and got the tickets for everyone. The train arrived on time and they all boarded one of the empty cars. They all took their seats as they waited for their long trip to begin. The train whistle sounded and they were off for Canterlot. Some of the friends and Twilight’s friends fell asleep as the train moved off.

Marcus was busy looking off into the distance as he thought about the upcoming conversation with Celestia. There were many ways that this conversation could go, but he couldn’t find any positives. He knew that there were some, but just couldn’t find them. Every negative that came to his mind he looked down at his bag. He was debating if he should tell Celestia about their weapons because he may need that advantage.

The blue alicorn continued to watch the human as he was deep in thought. She was listening in on his thoughts and she felt worried. She could hear the different scenarios that were running through his head and the end result of each one. They all fell down into one pattern where he would fight to the death with Celestia if she tried to hurt his friends. The princess sighed as she got up from her sear and walked over to him. She put a shoulder on his shoulder and he jumped from her touch.

“You have nothing to fear, Marcus. Celestia may be a little hard at times, but she knows what she is doing. Your friends will be fine and you won’t have to fight back against her,” Luna said in a sisterly tone.

“How do you know that with certainty?” Marcus asked with a hint of doubt.

“Well, I couldn’t help but see your nervousness. So I used my magic to listen in on your thoughts,” Luna said as she averted her gaze.

“So you listened in on my thoughts without my permission?” Marcus asked accusingly.

“Yes, I did. I am sorry, but I just want to make sure that you were alright. Although I will give you this set of advice. I can listen in on your thoughts, but it is less about listening than it is communication. My sister will most likely use it to get a better read on you.”

“Thanks for the heads up, Luna. Also next time, please ask permission before probing around my head for things.”

“I will next time, but I did find some interesting things in there,” Luna said with a sly grin.

“Well, if you tell anyone then I am going to have to hurt you,” Marcus said jokingly.

The princess couldn’t help but laugh at the joking threat. Marcus and Luna used the train ride to talk about each other. Most things he kept hidden so that she could hear it at the same time as her sister. He got to learn about what she and her sister did as rulers of Equestria. She also mentioned that she raises the moon and her sister raises the sun. He called her out on that and she retorted that she would prove it to him. They shook hands as they agreed on their little fun bet.

The train ride ended and as they exited they were met by a group of guards. Drak pulled his hood up more as he joined his friends. The guards gestured with their heads for the friends to follow them. They followed the guards as they were led through a different series of paths towards the castle. There were no ponies in sight, but they were all entertained by Rarity’s incessant whining. She complained during the whole walk how dirty the path was. They reached the castle and were standing outside the throne room. The guards pushed the doors open and the friends were greeted by Celestia.