Author's Notes:

So I'll be keeping second-person. I've had many conflicting thoughts about it, seeing as how a lot of people hate it nowadays or generally dislike it, whereas others have said that second-person is not for me at all. But, I should definitely finish what I started. Though, third-person might be a bit more common.

This chapter might be rushed. Trying to get out of the writing style I had been working with for months.

Regardless, enjoy.

Oh, and I know Delaware is a state. I couldn't pass up the opportunity.

You learned so much from these girls in just under an hour. They were intent on bringing you up to date on the world of today - the world as it is.

And the world was so much more different than the world you last lived in - at least, that's what they've said.

From what Twilight Sparkle had informed to you, the land of Equestria was faced with complete catastrophe. In the course of an hour just a month prior to this morning, millions of ponies lost their lives. Entire cities were set aflame and burned to the ground, until the very foundations they were built upon were all that remained.

Ponyville was one of the first towns hit - but at the same time, it was one of the luckiest. Despite most of the houses having been damaged or destroyed - not a single soul had been lost, all of them having evacuated to a nearby farm, the one that the farm mare - Applejack, was it - lives on.

You bet she was definitely surprised.

Out of the twenty or so cities scattered across Equestria - apparently, only two had survived with the least damage - Chicacolt and Delamare. Chicacolt sustained no more than ten casualties - Delamare no more than five. They became popular for a while, or so Twilight heard.

For an hour, back and forth, they asked you questions that you could answer to the best of your abilities for the time being - while you asked them questions of their own, that only they could answer. A few of them were generally who and what they were, but you also wanted to know what was still going on in the world today or what happened, other than what you already knew.

The first thing you wanted to know was how exactly you ended up in a hospital, how long you had been out; the direct questions.

A part of you was glad you got answers.

But another part of you somewhat...regretted it.

It'd been three months ago that you had gone to a coma. At first, you were a bit taken back - you certainly weren't expecting it to have been three months. You hoped at least a few days at best.

But a few months?

Twilight instructed you to stay calm, and you did. It wasn't the type of news that would freak you out - as strange as it was - but it did...shock you, at best.

A second later, you asked her, "Why was I in a coma?"

Then there was the girl with the rainbow hair.

Rainbow Dash; that was her name.

She answered without hesitation.

"It's a long story."

It wasn't the answer you wanted...but - it was an answer nonetheless. And Dash clearly seemed to be uncomfortable the moment you asked.

You stayed out of it for now. You could swear on that, at least.

With a look towards Twilight, you asked her if this was temporary.

She didn't know - not even the doctors or the nurses who have treated you for months knew. For all they knew, for all you knew, you could start remembering things right away or not at all. You feared having been doomed to never remember your life again.

But out of all of the girls there, Twilight seemed to be the most optimistic, the most hopeful. She didn't seem to doubt that eventually, you would start remembering things. Maybe not today or tomorrow - but she didn't believe that it was permanent.

But Spike took it harder than the rest.

When you asked him why the troubled face - all he could say was three words.

"My buddy's gone."

It got quiet for a few moments, and then he suddenly stormed out. That was a while ago. Rarity, the white unicorn, had gone out to find him.

"He'll be okay," Twilight said.

Somehow - you doubted that.

By the time noon had come around, you were very much up to date on recent matter - but you were far from having known everything. But in honesty, you were done learning things for today and just wanted to get some lunch.

Twilight smiled. "That sounds good."

"Ah am pretty hungry myself," Applejack had added.

You looked at Rainbow. She had stopped crying a while ago and was in a more positive mood. It wasn't to say that she was still a bit down, but she was better now.

When she saw you looking back, she smiled just a little.

"I'd like that."

The stallion was granted permission to leave his room, the doctors believing that he was now well enough to at least move about. Stable had definitely been surprised at how quickly and how well he was functioning after only being awake for no more than a few hours. It definitely surprised him, and he became bent on finding out the reasons.

As Stable and Redheart left to assist other patients and look at further data, Cobalt insisted that he eat with Twilight, at least for a bit.

"You should go help them," Twilight implored. "I'm not going anywhere. I'll be here, okay?"

The doctor nodded and gave his sweetheart a brief peck on the lips before heading off with the others. The stallion noticed and asked her a question.

"Did I know him?" he asked her.

"No," she said, "You never met him until today. He's the one that saved you."

"...Is he your husband?"

The question made the unicorn blush. She shook her head.

"She's thinkin' about it," Rainbow had insisted. It was clearly more of a joke towards the unicorn - but at the same time...

Twilight glared at her with a flushed face. Dash looked away, a faint smile on her own - she laughed quietly through her nose and looked to her stallion friend, who showed an even fainter smile, as if he wanted to laugh at Twilight's reaction, but wasn't all too sure of it.

"Hey," she says to him, "You still know what a hayburger tastes like?"

He shook his head after seeming to think for a moment. With a raised eyebrow, he asked her, "Why?"

"So you're trying a hayburger, then."

"What is that, exactly?"

She smiled back at him before looking ahead.

"You'll see."

On the third floor, Cobalt, Redheart, and Stable were overlooking the stallion's data. Even after having looked at it for hours already, they were still picking out pieces they missed before, or discussing things they never talked about prior.

"We all know what happened," Redheart mentioned, "We all saw how bad it was back then, when he first got here - Cobalt more than you and me," she finished by pointing to Stable.

She continued. "He gets a bat - a metal bat - swung at his head like a golf club. That's powerful, that would've shattered his skull like an egg. And it did, but enough so that he could still live.

"On top of that, he gets his brain completely bashed, his cortex bent in - like you said. Something like that would have taken more than three months to fix itself. A year, two years, maybe ten - that would seem more likely - but three months?"

Cobalt had to respond. "It's amazing he or it even healed at all."

"What do you mean?" Stable asked.

At first, the doctor seemed a bit afraid to explain, but eventually, he did.

"When he first came in, he flat-lined twice. He lost a damn good amount of blood, pale as he could be. I had to literally pound on his chest just to get that heart beating again. Sure, it wasn't very professional of me, but...

"Part of his brain was just mushed, and half of his skull was bits and pieces. I had to lie to Twilight - lie to the princess - convince her that he was going to be okay. Obviously, he was and...is - but at the time, I didn't think he was going to last a week or even a day. I convinced myself he was going to die, no matter what I did - and I just kept lying to her, trying to keep her spirits up."

He looked away from them, and looked to the board holding the patient's X-rays. Cobalt was quiet for a moment, and the other two doctors just looked at him, waiting for him to speak again.

And he did.

"When you've been working in the medical field for twenty years like I have, you just have these feelings. Everything seems so full of hope - then when you actually look at it, you realize hope won't save anyone.

"That what it felt like for me in those few days. You could sense their hope, but all I saw was nothing but-..."

He stopped and looked towards them.

"Sorry, I'm rambling again, aren't I?"

They didn't answer him, they just looked back and forth to each other, then back to him. He noticed this and laughed quietly, under his breath, before looking back to the board. His eyes darted from one image to the next. Cobalt looked at every image displayed of the patient.

But the most interesting part of the images he observed commonly were his bones.

And that got him talking.

"Three broken ribs. Fractured collarbone and pelvis." He stopped for a moment and looked at another image.

"And a fractured skull."

He grabbed the picture of the patient's skull and talked as he looked at it.

"That was three months ago. Likely chance of surviving was minimal, at best. Yet, three months later, he wakes up with all of his injuries nearly healed - almost like they never happened."

He looked to Stable and asked him, "What exactly has he been eating this whole time?"

It took the doctor a few moments to answer. "Just some vegetables and fruits - all liquefied, why do you ask?"

"Was the food altered or enhanced in any way?"

Redheart spoke up. "Unicorn magic. They said it was meant to nourish the patients all day - so we'd only have to feed them once."

Cobalt nodded. "Yes - I remember a nurse saying that same thing back in Manehattan." With a tilt of his head, he added, "...It could be possible that the unicorn magic is having some form of effect, not just on the food - on the patients too. Accelerating healing processes."

"You're sure of it?" Stable asked him, seemingly indecisive.

But the old doctor simply remarked, "Well - how else could life-threatening injuries manage to fix themselves up in just three months?"

Stable opened his mouth as if to say something, but he was quick to close it, thinking about Cobalt's words. He wondered if he could be right, if the magic in the food really did have that powerful of an effect on a single patient.

Of course, magic has been known to heal the wounded over millennia. It was never a surprise. But the critically wounded, the fatally wounded - something of this severity - no longer a problem in only six fortnights.

...But he had one question to ask.

"Is it possible that the food's had some sort of effect on his brain? Could it be part of the reason for his amnesia?"

Cobalt shook his head, "No. Magic has no known effects on memory - at least, not from what history's shown us."

He was true about that. In all known historical archives and books - the citizens of old would learn and practice their newfound magical powers. The ability to wipe the memories of their foes was one goal - a goal that would always be shrouded in failure. As time grew on, the hope of using memory against an enemy or for even a noble cause was forgotten or abandoned.

And it was unlikely that something like that would start working in their favor today.

Cobalt put the photo he had held in his hoof back on the board and gave a sigh and shook his head. He was a mix of tired and hungry. He hadn't eaten since at least dinner yesterday, and hardly slept more than a couple of hours throughout the night. Stable asked if he was fine. Cobalt assured he was okay - and he was - but he mentioned getting some sleep once he was back home.

Home.

It wasn't really his home. Sure, he and Twilight were together, but - his home was back in Manehattan. A lonely, small apartment that could house three ponies if he chose so.

He wondered if his home was there anymore - still clean and proper as he had left it before he came to Ponyville - or if it had burnt up or collapsed.

Twilight was to visit Manehattan soon, a week or two.

Perhaps he'll ask her if he could come.

Just to see.

He had to see it.

As it is.