It was the day after he was submitted to the hospital after he was jumped by the three stallions and he was getting the twentieth lecture about how important it was to stay off his still broken ankle. Though he wasn't listening mostly because he was thinking about what his friends if they still wanted to be called that, would think of him now. He knew he would find out today because of the fact he was being released.

"So do you have any questions?" The doctor asked.

"Huh? Oh, um, how did you get crutches that would fit me?" He asked that is the only thing he could think of.

"Ah, well we sometimes have to treat Minotaur's who are bipedal like you. So we have some supplies like crutches for them." The doctor explained.

"Oh, okay guess that make sense." He replied.

"So if there's nothing else, then if you would follow me to the front desk to sign some forms then we can get you out of here." The doctor said with a smile.

"Okay, lead the way." He said tossing his legs over the edge of the bed and grabbing the crutches before fully getting off the bed.

As they made their way through the hospital he couldn't help but notice that for a small town hospital it was oddly busy. Staff ran by in a blur and he could see other patients walking around, though while he was distracted he almost tripped over something. When he looked down he saw a stuffed doll that kind of looked like a donkey, and if he remembered Twilight had a similar one called Smarty Pants.

Though there were a few differences, like this one seemed to be a newer one that looked like it was just bought. Also, its clothes seemed to be different a little, and when he bent down to pick up the doll he saw that it was actually dressed in what he knew was a Wonder Bolts uniform. As he picked it up he couldn't help but be reminded that he would most likely get sent back here by Rainbow for not letting them visit. He stood back up and looked around until he spotted a small pink Pegasus filly peeping at him from behind a corner.

"Hey, is this your's?" He asked putting on a smile and speaking in a friendly tone.

"Um, uh, y-yes it is." The filly replied ducking behind the corner a little more.

"Well, here you go then." He said holding the doll out for her to take, and she slowly came around and took the doll and tucked it under her one wing.

"Thanks, mister!" She said with a big smile her nervousness gone.

"You're very welcome, now you take care." He said giving her another big smile and then walking back towards where his doctor was now waiting.

"So it looks like you made a new friend over there." The doctor said with a small but professional smile.

"I guess, but I was just returning her doll to her." He replied.

"Well, you know that doll actually means a lot to her." The doctor said.

"Really, so what makes it special?" He asked a bit curious.

"Now you didn't hear this from me you got that?" The doctor asked in a hushed and serious tone, and he just gave a nervous nod. "I know you saw that she only had one wing, well about two weeks ago when she and her family returned from Cloudsdale her house caught on fire. Both her parents died in that fire, and she lost a wing. The only thing that the fire ponies could recover from that wasn't burnt to a crisp was that doll, it was a miracle that it didn't even get touched by the fire. That's why it still looks brand new."

"Oh, I-I see." He replied looking back to where the filly had gone with a sad stare.

"Look, I think it's time for us to move on and get all of your paperwork filled out. Then you can come by and visit her any time you want, and before you ask her name is Grace Falls." The doctor answered the question he was actually about to ask, and they continued on.

"So can you tell me why she didn't suffer from any burns?" He asked.

"Well her mother was a Unicorn, and that's how we also believe the doll survived as well. Though unfortunately, we think the mother only had enough magical strength to create a shield big enough for her, the shield only covered a majority of her body hence why she only has one wing. Now, remember you didn't hear that from me." The doctor reminded him and he again nodded in agreement.

As they approached the front desk he grew a bit nervous as he expected to see his friends in the lobby area waiting for him. Though he knew normally that would be a good thing he still didn't know what they now thought about him. But the more he thought about his friends the more he thought about Grace's family, and how they actually had a little in common. They both would never see their family's again, even if there was a small chance that he could go back to his world.

"So if you sign these then you'll be able to go." The doctor said breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Oh, alright." He replied taking the papers and quill that was floating in front of him.

He quickly looked over the papers and started to fill them out which didn't take him to long. After finishing filling them out the doctor told him to wait a moment. As he was waiting he looked over to where the lobby was to see if his friends were there, and to his fears, they were but to his relief they didn't seem to have noticed him.

"And here you go, this prescription is for pain. You can have it filled out at either the Ponyville Pharmacy, or you could go to Zecora's to get more of a natural herb remedy." The doctor said again floating over a small piece of paper to him.

"Um, thanks. I guess I'll be going now." He said giving his doctor a smile of gratitude before using his crutches to walk off.

Though he didn't want to sneak around his friends his fear still had a hold of his mind. But being taller than the other ponies and being a completely different species made him stick out like a sore thumb, and yet somehow he managed to not be spotted by the six of his friends that were waiting. It struck him hard that Lyra wasn't there with them, but he expected that after what she witnessed him do, even if it was self-defense triggered by a fight or flight situation.

When he finally got to the front door's he looked back to make sure that none of them had seen him and seeing how they hadn't he let himself out. He slowly made his way back to his house thinking about the best way to confront them after not only refusing to let any of them in the day before but now intentionally avoiding them. That and he also wanted to confront Lyra and Bon Bon to see how they felt, but he knew that would be impossible as his fear and nerves would never let him.

"Hmmphh!" His thoughts shattered as he felt something suddenly knocking him off balance making him fall to the ground.

"Ooohh, what did I hit?" He heard the familiar voice ask. "Oh, no Brandon I'm so very sorry. The wind current I was flying on took a sudden drop, I'm so very sorry!"

"I-it's fine Derpy, are you okay though?" He asked as he sat up, and grabbed his crutches to stand.

"Uh, yeah just some bumps and bruises. Wait, what happened to you?" She asked concern in her tone and eyes.

"You haven't heard?" He asked a little shocked, in a small town he would have figured that every residence would have heard about what happened.

"Well I've been in Canterlot the past week, so I haven't heard anything. So what happened?" She asked again.

"I-it's nothing I rather talk about, and I'm sure you'll hear about it when you get back into town anyway." He said, a hint of sadness in his tone.

"Come on, if I'm going to hear about it I might as well hear about it from the source." She said with determination to get him to talk.

"Fine, but you have to promise to listen. That and I would prefer if I told you in the privacy of my home." He replied.

"Okay, let's go then." She said with a winning smile, and he let out a sigh.

The only reason why he gave in so easy was that Derpy would never give up on something she set her mind out to do. He remembered when he first met her as well, though it did bother Twilight quite a bit. Shortly after he moved in with Twilight the rumors had started about how there was a strange creature in the library now.

When Derpy heard about him through the rumors she decided that she wanted to see him. But it wasn't until after he got back from Applejack's after his first party here, and she ended up following him without him knowing. When he got back to Twilight's she ended up accidentally going through a window, and almost knocked over an entire bookshelf.

He remembered that day clearly because Twilight made him and Spike clean up the books while Derpy sat there and asked a thousand questions. It had been an interesting first meeting, to say the least, and he could consider Derpy one of his friends. Though they weren't that close or anything, it was still good to see her. And again his fear and nerves started up about if he told her what she would think, and it bothered him that he was so worried about what others thought of him.

Normally he didn't care what other's thought of him, and why should he? He had friends that actually seemed to care about him and he even considered them family now. But he remembered the feeling of them watching him, and he knew that's where most of his fear was steaming from.

"So you gonna let me in or what?" She asked breaking him out of his thoughts, which seemed to be happening a lot that day.

"Yeah, yeah come on let's go inside." He replied getting the key from out from under a rock.

"So what happened to you, and why were you looking so sad?" She asked as they entered his home and she hoped on his couch.

"Um, well let me see." He said trying to stall a little and sat down letting out a stressed and nervous sigh. "Well, you see about a day or two ago three stallions, um, uh, jumped me."

"They what?! If I get my hooves on those stallions I'll send them to the hospital!" Her sudden outburst both started and touched him a little as they never were that close and to know that she would still say something like made him a little at ease.

"Just calm down Derpy, and let me finish." He said getting her attention again, and he swallowed nervously. "You see, they were already sent to the hospital and then to a jail cell."

"Oh, that's good but how did they get sent to the hospital in the first place? Did somepony, like a guard or something see them attacking you and saved you?" She asked with a bit of curiosity.

"Um, no a guard didn't help me, nor did anypony else." He replied.

"Then how..." Her crossed eyes aligned for a moment to widen in surprise. "You mean that you took on three stallions by yourself?"

"Yeah, I ended up blacking out so I don't remember anything that happened, but from what I hear I beat them up just as bad as they did me. If not more so." He answered looking down in fear and shame, and hear's the test that he was hoping for. If Derpy didn't see him as a monster, then there was hope.

"Hey, why are you sad? It sounds to me like they got what they deserved, and then some." She said putting a comforting hoof on his leg, and when he looked up he saw her yellow eyes were full of concern.

"Y-you meant that you don't see me as a monster?" He asked.

"What? Why would I see you as a monster for defending yourself? Anypony would have done the same in your shoes, but is that what's bothering you? That you think you would be seen as a monster because of what happened?" She asked.

"Well, not just that. It's also because I'm not from this world, even if I have been here for seven months." He answered looking down again his eyes starting to blur. "I'm scared that because of this even my closes friends would be too scared to see me, and even if they weren't that scared then they would still see me as a monster." He said closing his eyes taking a deep breath.

"Listen to me, we may not know each other that well but I can tell you that if I can see that you're not a monster just because you defended yourself and you're from another world, then I can guarantee you that your close friends will also see past it as well. After all, you're friends with Twilight and the other Elements of Harmony, and you've been friends with them from the beginning, and I know that they won't judge you just because how different you look or if you had to fight back because you were being attacked." She said in a motherly and comforting tone.

"B-but I'm afraid that I've lost my closest friend because she saw me beat down them." He said trying his best not to break down.

"Look, if Lyra sees you as a monster because you were defending yourself then she wasn't a true friend after all a friend helps a friend in need." She said and upon seeing his expression she surprised him by wrapping her hooves around him in a comforting hug.

At that, he finally let out his fear and nerves and the pain of maybe losing a friend as he cried into Derpy's shoulder. Her words seemingly touching him in a way that he needed to finally once and for all get over his fear. As he calmed down she broke the hug and gave him a small smile.

"There, how do you feel now?" She asked.

"M-much better thank you, and you know you're right. I don't think Lyra or any of my other friends would see me any differently, and I remembered something that the doctor told me." He replied with a weak smile.

"Oh, and what's that?" She asked.

"As I-I said, Lyra and Bon Bon saw what I did and even after that, they helped me to the hospital. After what you said about a friend helping a friend in need, I think there may be hope that our friendship isn't over. So thank you Derpy for at least giving me some hope back, just thank you." He said pulling her in for another hug. "If there is anything I could do to repay your kindness just let me know okay?"

"But you don't have to pay me back at all, I was just trying to help." She replied and he broke the hug to see that she had a light blush.

"Derpy, even if I don't know whether my other friendships are intact I want to at least give you a thank you for giving me a light of hope. Now you don't have to decide what I can do to repay you right now, you can take some time." He said with a smile.

"W-well t-there is one thing..." She trailed off looking down with a deep blush.

"And that would be?" He pressured.

"Um, well you are always so nice to me and the reason why I wanted to see what happened is that I wanted to make sure you were okay, and I wanted to be there for you to repay you for being so nice to me. But since you're asking me what I want from you to repay me..." She was cut off by him chuckling a little.

"Derpy, just tell me what you want and I will do my best to make it happen." He said knowing she was stalling.

"Well, would you um, uh, go..." She was interrupted by his door suddenly swinging open as a cyan followed by a rainbow streak came through and tackled him to the ground.

Author's Notes:

Well hello unexpected character! No seriously, I honestly really hadn't planned on putting Derpy in this story. Okay though, so here's a question to get you all involved a little. What should Brandon's doctor's name be? Now don't say Dr. Stables, or Dr. Whooves, make it a little more original. If someone post a name you like, hit the thumbs up on it so I know that might be it. Also I may be looking for an editor for this story, if interested send a pm to me. I will let the person, or people, if I decide to divide a chapter into different parts know by sending them a message. Hope you all enjoyed the new development in the story, even I'm interested to see where I'm going with this, and remember to smile, smile, smile.