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// Prologue Part 1 
// Story: Atari Anne Mash 
// by Atari-Mash 
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	A midnight stroll with your family should be a peaceful thing, just like walking in the park should be. But not tonight, not for this family. The moon didn't peek through the dark clouds, and without a light of some sort, you couldn't see your own muzzle in the dark. Rain and wind hit Ponyville with a force that made the stone under your hooves want to shiver and wince in pain, if it was possible. Lightning lit up the sky from time to time, but revealed only the silhouette of things. From the tree's lining the paths, to the town in the distance, to the silhouettes of three ponies running to the Ponyville hospital. Once of the ponies was a large brown earth pony stallion, his already wild mane whipping his face with a force that stung, as he carried his white unicorn wife on his back. Just short behind the stallion and mare was a young colt, he was five. His horn sparked a bit as he struggled to keep what little light he could conjure up alight. The stallion, on the other hand, plunged into the seemingly eternal darkness without sight. He couldn't see his muzzle in front of him, but living in this small town since birth, he somehow knew were has going, like the area was a map in his mind. Through the booming thunder, the stallion managed to hear a thud on the stone path. He skidded to a halt and whipped around, to have the lightning light up his line of sight for him. There he saw his son, scrambling to get up and a soft call emit from the growing darkness.
"Keep going, dad! I'll catch up!" The colt screamed, straining his vocal cords.
The stallion looked at the colt then hollered back. "Alright! Be careful!"
The stallion stepped through the automatic glass doors at the entrance of the Ponyville hospital, only to stop in the warmth and shudder. He gasped for breath, as the only nurse in the area shot up from her chair. The nurse barked a few orders into a phone, the galloped over to the stallion with a mobile bed, the white mare still on his back.
"Its alright, sir. Please, follow me." The nurse murmured as she got the mare onto the bed.
"Sh-she." The stallion started before the nurse put her hoof over her muzzle.
"I see the wound, and I can promise we will help her." The nurse said before wheeling the mare into a room. "Feel free to sit behind the glass window, the doctor will begin right away."
The small light brown colt stumbled into the hospital, his knee's bleeding, but not enough to bother the colt. He shook his head, freeing a bit of rain water from his wild mane. With a sigh, he stopped his magic, and walked up to the nearest nurse.
"Excuse me, miss?" The colt said, with a soft tug on the nurses apron.
The nurse turned and looked down at the colt with a soft smile. "Hey there. Where are your parents?"
"My mom is hurt. My dad brought her in a few minutes ago. I don't know where they are." The colt replied, his eyes tearing a bit.
"Well no need to worry, kiddo. I'll call another nurse, but in the meantime, lets get you a band-aid for your knees."
The colt nodded and allowed the nurse to lead him to the check-in area, where she patched the colt up and called administration.
"Whats your name, honey?" The mare asked, holding the phone to her ear.
"My name? My name's Sega Jake Mash." Sega said, introducing himself.
"Ah. I'm nurse Red Heart." The older nurse said, smiling as her pink locks slipped from her nurse cap.
Red Heart returned the phone to its proper place, then turned towards Sega with a smile. The colt was rubbing on his band-aid onto his knee as the mare walked over. She took off her stethoscope and handed it to the colt. Sega looked at it with a curious gaze, then looked at the mare, puzzled.
"Its called a stethoscope. You listen to heartbeats with it." Red Heart said, allowing Sega to take the red stethoscope. 
"Is that why its red and has white hearts on it?" Sega asked with a small smile.
"Sure is. Your parents are busy right now, so that means me and you can play for a little while. Wanna hear your heartbeat?"
"Sure do!"
Sega looked at Red Heart in awe as he listened to the small thumps his heart made. He grinned wildly then noticed his stomach grumble. He rubbed it a bit then looked at the mare.
"Hungry?"
Sega nodded and took the stethoscope out of his ears. "Can I have something to eat, please?"
"Sure. Lets go to the cafeteria, I'll get you something. My treat."
Sega hopped down from the black chair he had been resting on and followed the white mare. "Your coat looks like mine! Only I have more brown."
"That's right! Your mane has a bit of pink and brown too. That reminds me of somebody... hmm. Can't put my hoof on it, but you certainly have that jump in your step that I know from somewhere." The mare thought for a moment as they walked, and smiled. "Almost like a small white filly that would come in here once in a while with her friends. Hyper little kiddo's but they sure were a help with playing with the foals, along with her older sister."
"Really? My mom has a white coat, and a older sister. She also has two friends, but they are always busy." Sega said, thinking of his mother and her two friends.
"That's too bad, friends are a great thing. Old Zecora will tell you the same thing!"
"Who's Zecora?"
"Oh, she's a potions master. A zebra that lives in the everfree. She comes in here once in a while and helps with medicine in exchange for bits every once in a while. We always use her remedies first, as they work much better then normal medicine. What would you like?" The mare asked once they entered the cafeteria.
"Can I have a bowl of oatmeal? The kind with apple?"
"You sure can."
Sega finished his oatmeal at the same time a second nurse trotted into the cafeteria, to where Red Heart and Sega were sitting. The cream mare pushed her red mane back and bit and looked at Red Heart with a relieved sigh.
"I was startin' to worry i'd neveh find yah." The mare said in a country accent.
"Ah, Liberty Belle, this is Sega. I assume Doctor Horse has given the okay to see them?"
"That'd be correct, miss."
"What wing are they in?"
"The birthing wing."
"Oh! Alright, well could you take care of Sega's bowl please? Its empty so just throw it with the other dishes, I'll bring him over immediately."
"Did the griffons bring my baby sister?" Sega asked with a smile.
"They sure did." Red Heart said, helping Sega from his chair and leading him through the hospital.