"Oh my gosh, please don't eat me!" With those words, Hokey Smokes started to try to escape. It wasn't a run, her tapping having made him quickly roll over. His movement would be better described as trying to move away while also trying to get back on his feet. The words were not spoken in jest, or sarcasm, or in any way with malice. Not only was he deranged, having just come from accusing Twilight Sparkle of assaulting him, but this was a particularly intimidating pony. It likely didn't make sense to anypony. His words did, however garner a reaction from the bizarre looking pony.

She facehoofed.

This wasn't he first time that she had fielded that sort of accusation. Her thoughts went back to that night, Nightmare Night, and the many ponies that were afraid of her. Hokey Smokes should have known this pony, she was in one of the many books that he had read. A this point, however, he simply knew that he thought that she might gobble him up. His eyes were still wide, panicked, thinking of what he cold do to get away. If he had a horn, and knew whatever it wad that Twilight Sparkle had done, he could do the same thing. That wold have been an easy way to get away, if only he knew what it was that she had done, and had the capability to replicate it.

He had neither, though, so he was stuck with more traditional methods of escape.

"We had hoped that we had shed that rumor. But it seems as if nopony can forgive us for what happened."

"I knew it! You really do eat ponies!" Hokey Smokes still had no idea who this was, or why he was so intimidated by her,but he knew that everything fit. If she said this'll then she had obviously devoured a pony. It didn't matter that he was natively too big for her to devour. His mind still told him that it was entirely possible for her to take him down in bites, or maybe even do something to where she could gobble him up in one huge bite. He wasn't sure how this pony, the assumed pony, ate anything. He just knew that she was different from any other pony that he had seen, and thus he was afraid.

"Tis a lie! We have never eaten a pony!" The idea seemed vulgar to her, but it didn't matter if it made any sense. Hokey Smokes was still going to be afraid. She saw it in his eyes, saw that he didn't know what to think of her. At the same time, she didn't know what to think of the deranged pony that Celestia had sent her to deal with. She didn't even know why it was that her sister had sent her to deal with an obviously crazy pony. To top it all off, she didn't know what t was that she cold do to help him out. If Twilight hadn't been able to do anything, it was likely that she wild be unable.

-Right before Luna left-

The two princesses, Luna and Celestia, read the letter. While it was normal for Celestia to read them, her younger sister had started to become curious. She wanted to know more about friendship, having enjoyed what came of it on Nightmare Night, and wanted to mow more. It as bad luck, or good luck, that this letter didn't turn out to have anything to do with friendship at all. This one was something that Celestia wasn't sure how to respond to, at first. When she looked at her sister, though, she was reminded of a time when something similar happened.

"I am going to need you to go check on this pony. I don't know why, but I think you can help him."

"How?"

"I don't know yet, but you have to go out there and try. He is lost, alone, confused."

"I'll try, big sister."

"Whatever you do, don't mention anything that might make him afraid of you. No mentioning me, or Twilight, or that you move the moon. The last thing you want to do is get him to attack you..."

-In the present, with Hokey Smokes and Luna-

Those words echoed in her mind as she looked at the panicked pony. She didn't know what to think, what to do, or how she could help. Luna was still unsure why her sister had sent her there, why she hadn't come herself. Out of the two of them, one of them was more intimidating by appearance. The other one was the princess that raised the sun. "We would like if we could start again. We do not mean you any harm. We just wish to offer you our help."

That was another thing that didn't make sense to him. Hokey Smokes was certain that there was one pony, or at least he hoped. The fact that she was speaking as if there were multiple ponies, which would mean there were some that he didn't see. It was either that, or it was that she was completely crazy. Either way, he was starting to get more worried. This time, however, he had a small voice in his head that told him that it wold be better if he figured it out before he started to run. After all, he needed to stop being such a coward.

"Who is this other person? Why would you guys, whoever the others might be, want to help me? Why shouldn't I just just away right now?"

That got another facehoof. It seemed strange to her, everypony always knew what it was that she had meant. It didn't make any sense that she would have to explain herself. This was a pony with a problem, though, so she knew that she might have to. No, no, she actually would have to explain why it was that she referred to herself as the royal 'we'. If he was a normal pony, none of this would be necessary. Of course, if he was a normal pony then none of this would actually be necessary.

"We are alone. We must refer to ourselves in that way. Do you not know who we are?"

The shake of his head was enough to make Lina chuckle. She thought that he might not, but there was still something about this that seemed funny. It seemed to be almost beyond belief that there would be a pony that wouldn't know anything about Princess Luna. "What's so funny? Did I say stoking to amuse you?"

"Sort of. Everyone else seems to know who we are. They also assume that we are going to eat them. You, however, have never heard of us. You don't know our name. Call me Luna."

Alright, so at least he had a name for her. That still didn't tell him why it was that he shouldn't run.

"As for why you shouldn't run, that is because there is no threat here. As We have already said, we are not here to hurt you. We are here to offer some help."

"How can you help?"

That was a good question, and one that Luna herself had asked. It might have been because of what had happened to her, but her sister assumed the she child help. Bringing up her sister wasn't something that could be done, though. She would have to think of how she cold helps on her own, and she would have to do so in a way that didn't scare this insane pony. "I don't know, you just looked like you might need some help. At the very least, you look like you might need some company. Either of those correct?"

It might be good to spend some time with somepony. And she doesn't seem like she's going to attack me, nor does she seem like she knows anything about Twilight Sparkle. So she might not be a part of the evil plan to do whatever it was that Twilight... did Twilight even have a plan? Alright, come on, focus on right now. There is a bizarre looking pony that says she wants to help you out. At the very least, you could ask her about herself. Maybe it will all start to make sense. All of this depends on her explaining it, though.

"So... I know you aren't a unicorn or pegasus. You seem to be something else, though." That wasn't the most subtle way of telling her that he was confused, but it worked. Once again, there was a chuckle from Luna. It was nice to see somebody have a sense of humor about themselves. Another possibility was that she was mocking his inability to know what she was.

"I am called an Alicorn."

With that question out if his mind, and the knowledge of what an Alicorn was coming to mind, Hokey Smokes stood up. His common sense was coming back, and he remembered the books. "Princess Luna." Those words came out a few moments before they actually hit him. This was a princess, this was royalty. Almost immediately, his eyes went wide with shock. After that, he bowed down out of respect. This was the way that you were supposed to treat royal, after all. He had read more, something about Nightmare Moon, but that didn't seem right. This didn't look like the person from the pictures.

Could she have changed back?

"I thought you didn't know who we were." Luna seemed to be confused by this change of attitude. Why would he suddenly bow? Was there something that made him suddenly know? It had to be the name Alicorn, of which there we only a few. That still didn't explain how he knew. It wasn't as though man ponies read the history of the kingdom, as if many of them knew much about the princesses. "Maybe you aren't as lost as we thought."

"Lost?"

"Out here, alone. Who stays out, on the ground, for the sake of being here?"

Was she really wanting to know what went wrong? He had told Rainbow Dash, and that had turned into a big problem. He had told Twilight, and that turned into a bigger problem. Should he trust her? She hadn't done anything, at least not yet. "You might say that I'm a little lost."

"I might say that? Pray tell, what do you mean?"

"That depends. What do you know about Twilight Sparkle?"

It wasn't easy to lie, but Luna didn't even change in expression. "We know of all of our subjects. We only know the name, but nothing about her. Other than that, we know nothing." There wasn't a reaction, a first, from Hokey Smokes. He wanted to believe her, wanted to know that somebody out there could be trusted. Maybe it was that reason, and that reason alone, that he gave her a smile. He wanted to believe her, even if something told him he shouldn't, and do he did.

"it is a long story. It might be a couple of hours."

"We have time."

-Two hours later-

Every last detail, up until when Luna had shown up, had been laid out. There were details about the dreams, details about Twilight Dash and Rainbow Dash, and about how everything was working out. Luna didn't know what to say about any of it, merely nodding to show that she was listening. There might not have been a lot to say, he might hae just wanted to let somepony know what he was going through. Or, more accurately, he wanted to let somepony know what he thought he was going through. None of it seemed right, none of it fit any of them.

Luna was just so confused.

"If you wild like, we could try to do something." Her horn started to glow, and Hokey started to panic. This was what had happened before. He had even told her that. Almost as if she had realized that, it stopped. "We promise that we are not going to hurt you. We simply want to see what you see, know what you think. We want to understand, and this is the easiest way for us to do that."

All of that made sense, and she hadn't done anything that was aggressive so far. He was starting to feel comfortable around her, so he simply put his head forward to let her know it was alright. Her horn started to glow again, and soon Hokey Smokes felt it on his head. This time, however, he didn't pass out. This time, it felt as though there was somebody with him as everything that had happened started to play again in his mind.

To say that it felt strange to have somebody else in his head would be an understatement. This wasn’t like when Twilight Sparkle had done her spell on him, though, whatever it had been. When Hokey Smokes looked back to that moment, it had been something of a battering ram. It had almost been like she was trying to force herself into his mind, at least by comparison. This, if that metaphor was continued, was more of somebody wanting to be invited in to see what was within. He didn’t know her, the Princess that referred to herself as Luna, but there had been something about her that seemed genuine. That was what he told himself, anyway, to make himself feel better for trusting her when he didn’t trust any other pony around him.

When her horn had touched his head, there had been a flash that neither of them had seen. The two of them had their eyes completely closed. Luna closed them to do the spell, to focus on what was needed. Hokey Smokes had closed them when her horn touched his head, though that was completely out of reaction. He wanted her help, but there had been a small part inside of him that had thought that something might go wrong. There had been a small part of him that had still remembered what it was that Twilight Sparkle had done to him. If somebody so innocent looking could do something so wrong, then there was definitely the chance that this new pony could.

The other parts of him hated that thought.

While the two of them were standing there, some things were going on. It was almost comical, really. In his mind, Hokey Smokes was looking in through a window. Luna was standing there, right beside him, looking in to see everything that was happening. The only difference between their experiences, or at least one of the giant ones, was that this was him. He was starting to remember, piece by piece, exactly who it was that he was. There was something different about him right now, though. He was wearing some sort of hood, his entire head covered by it. Even through it, though, he could tell that the pony within was different from him somehow.

That didn’t make sense, though, because he could have sworn that was him.

The sight of snow on the ground was commonplace.

It was winter, after all.

Hokey Smokes picked by a hoof full of snow, packing it into a ball. He threw it, with all his might, at the nearest pony. Winter was his least favorite season, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to try to have fun. It was his friend, the one from before, who go hit by the snowball. Both of them started to laugh, and Hokey soon found himself getting pelted with snow as a counter to his own assault. It was cold, the reason he didn’t care for the season as much as the others, but it was the most fun he was going to have right now.

Outside of the memory, and outside of his mind, the results of the flash were starting to take effect. Hokey Smokes was starting to glow white, starting with his head. At this point, it was only down to his neck, but the fact that it had started with the very top of his head meant that it might not stop there. Neither of them, Luna or Hokey, were aware that this was happening. The only thing that Hokey was aware was that everything was about to change. It wasn’t something that he could put his finger on, but it was a feeling that could almos8t be described as a hope. This entire time, he had been trying to figure out who he was.

Right now, he was going to do just that.

The snowball fight didn’t last all that long, with Hokey soon giving in. He was starting to get cold, and there was only so long that he could ignore it. Summer might not have the snow, which made snowball fighting impossible of course, but it was something that he liked more than this. There was something about the warmth of the sun that just made him feel alive. He looked up at the sky, and with a couple of blinks he went inside. This had been a fun day, but all fun days have to come to an end.

It was a good idea to get some food.

Everything faded away, a sound coming into mind. It was the sound of beeping, something that he had heard before. Hokey Smokes still couldn’t place it, and he didn’t want to try at this point. If it had even been a couple of days prior, he might have done something. If it had even been the prior night, he would have done something. Right now, though, the only thing that he wanted to know was where it was that he was going to fit in. He needed to know who he was, why he was there, and how it was that the pony of his memory was different than the pony that he knew himself to be.

Or was that the real pony?

The glow had moved down his neck, and was almost covering half of him. Whatever was happening, it was going to be over soon. This entire journey was about to come to an end, he could feel it. That knowledge brought with it questions, though. What end was coming? Was it going to be a good one? Would he like how everything turned out in the end? Another sad attempt to push the questions down was temporarily successful, and he was able to move away from the window. He was being led through a hall, windows on both sides showing him things that his mind quickly absorbed in as being memories.

Everything from school with friends to Heart’s Warming Eve, all of it became something that he knew. The beeping had come back, slower as time went on, but he paid no attention to it. This was what he had wanted all along, wasn’t it? Hokey Smokes couldn’t quite remember, with the name Michael still being etched into his mind. Luna looked down at him, aware of his confusion. She could feel everything he was thinking, which would have likely been something that worried him if he knew about it. The change in thoughts brought with it a change in direction, with her stopping for a moment to ask the most difficult question that he could answer.

“Are you sure you want to know what happened? We could show you, we can find it for you. But sometimes, the most important thing is the future. Sometimes, the past holds secrets that are not good to be unearthed. Some things are better forgotten.”

That seemed like a strange thing to say, to ask. The entire reason why he did any of this, any at all, was to know who he was. That had been the entire reason for anything that could be considered a journey. His future was based on his past, or at least that was what he thought. Hokey Smokes was almost afraid now, though, of what it was that he was going to learn. He didn’t want to show it, but there was something holding him back. It was more than fear that held him back, though, there was an unknown sadness that seemed to creep up out of nowhere.

What was there to be sad about?

A shake of his head, he had to get that thought out of his head. The Princess started to look relieved, as if that had been the answer. “I am sure. I have never been surer of anything in my entire life.” Hokey Smokes was going to know what had happened, he was going to see the truth. In his mind, he was going to see the very last detail of what made him into who he was supposed to be. Luna looked down at him, an unsure look on her face. It was almost as if she didn’t want to do this, as if there was something holding her back.

“You’re more than just the sum of all your memories.”

“I know. But I have to know this. I have to figure it out to ever be able to move on with my life.”

“If you’re sure…”

With those last words, the two of them disappeared down the hallway. The two of them appeared almost a hundred feet away from where they had started. Hokey Smokes almost fell down from the sudden teleportation. Part of him wanted to be afraid, this should have been weird, but it was something that didn’t feel weird at all. It felt good to go more than a few feet at a time. Outside of his mind, Hokey Smokes was completely glowing white. Whatever had happened, it was culminating with him being able to finally answer all of those little questions in his head.

Who was he? Why was he there? Had Twilight really attacked him? Who was this Michael pony? He could still remember was had happened before, the journal entries that he had written. Those all felt false, as if they were the dream. The goalpost had moved, the finish line changing to where it was right now. Right here, right now, the final steps of what was the worst two weeks of his life were about to be done. He didn’t know whether to be happy, sad, or afraid. Yet at the same time, he was all of those three things at once.

Why was he sad?

Whatever it was, it was likely within the last window.

There had been a bet, something that no sane pony would take. Hokey Smokes had taken a bet that he could go into the Everfree Forest, and stay for an entire night without anything bad happening. One last look at his home told him where he had come from. The sight of the beautiful castle brought the memories of Canterlot flooding back to him. His mom hadn’t liked the idea of him heading out, especially not to where he had told her he was going. There was no reason to lie, after all.

He had nothing to hide.

By the end of the second day, he was looking at the forest. The hood was still over his head, still covering up what it was made him different. One step after another, and soon he was walking within the forest that everypony feared so much. There was nothing that Hokey Smokes feared nothing that he thought would really do anything to him. The fears of the place were all about superstition, rumors, and other nonsense. He would prove to them that it wasn’t bad, evil, but only different from what any of them understood. It was all just different.

Hokey Smokes blinked his eyes a couple of times, and glanced at Luna. What was it that she was trying to hide? Everything that had happened so far seemed to be mundane. It didn’t answer any questions yet, but there was still the hope that it would.

Night was passing, and Hokey hadn’t found a place to sleep. In the end, he decided to sleep near a tree that he had passed four times. There was nothing wrong with that, right? The only thing he had to do was sleep an entire night in the forest. There was also the need for proof, but that would be easy enough to get. He had chosen where he did because of the fact that he had heard there were beautiful apples there that looked different from anything around them. He would just have to grab hold of one of them, and he would simply have to show it off to all of his friends back at Canterlot.

So far, nothing amazing had happened. Another glance up at Luna, with her motioning for him to look at the window, came with the disbelief that she had even tried to stop him from seeing what was happening within the window.

A loud roar was heard throughout the forest, with Hokey Smokes feeling as though he might as well have been near the epicenter. The problem was that he actually was near it, with the roar only getting slightly louder a few moments later. Panic had overtaken the pony, and he didn’t do anything other than tremble at the sight of what looked at be an Ursa Minor. The problem was that he was somepony who had dealt with one of these before. He only knew of them on an academic level, as he had read a lot during his youth.

A paw swiped for him, and he barely ducked under it. It was around this time that the hood moved, and something was unveiled.

Hokey Smokes was taken aback by the fact that there was a horn. That didn’t make sense at all, he could have sworn that he didn’t have a horn. At the same time, though, something told him that this wasn’t some sort of trick. Why would she do that? Maybe it was something Luna was doing or maybe even her presence alone, but he started to feel happy with this change. He started to feel as though this might be something that was the absolute truth.

His horn started to glow, and the Ursa soon found himself being hit by a tree that had been pulled down. It wasn’t easy, but Hokey thought that he might have defeated it. There was a problem, though, and it was that he hadn’t. This time, he couldn’t move fast enough to deal with the paw that was coming to slam into him. He felt a surge of pain, his head feeling like it was almost snapped clean off, as he went sailing into a nearby tree. At that point, a white Alicorn swooped down. Hokey Smokes tried to move, tried one last time to do something to the Ursa, but nothing happened. No glow from his horn, no feeling of magic, nothing happened.

With a feeling of defeat, he passed out.

Luna glanced down at him; the white light had disappeared with a flash. It had left at the same time that he had passed out. Everything had changed but at the same time it wasn’t new. Everything was now the way that it was supposed to be.

As the memory passed out, the bizarre night of staying up finally took its toll. Hokey Smokes himself passed out, with Luna quickly moving him out of the way of any travelers. He would wake up with him, and then he would finally be the pony that he was meant to be. No dreams came with the sleep; even his mind was too tired to come up with anything. Maybe it was something more than fatigue from the night, though, that did this. He felt new, reborn, as if the pony he had been before wasn’t even him. There was one thing that continued, as he slept, and it was continued beeping.

Eyes opened to see that he was alone in a cottage. How had he gotten there? The last thing he remembered was that final memory. Was it really true? Everything had made sense before, without exception. Now, though, his mind went to tell him that he didn’t have a horn. A hoof moved up, tapping his forehead to make sure that it was all a dream. Yep, he felt a horn, it was- Wait. He felt a horn? Even though he had woken up a few moments prior, he promptly passed out again.

This time, he could hear something.

”Even if he does survive, he will never be the same. A unicorn is unicorn because of their horn, their magic. I don’t know what we’ll tell him.” The voice was that of the doctor that he had woken up to, yet he couldn’t see him. He couldn’t see anything but darkness.

“His name. A pony is more than simply a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony.” The voice sounded regal, yet not in the same way that Luna’s had. Hokey Smokes remembered it, but that didn’t make any sense. Why would Celestia be there? He could remember her being there to stop the Ursa, or more accurately he remembered seeing her right before he went out like a light, but that didn’t mean that she had time to come here.

Royalty was always busy.

“And his life?” The doctor asked again, his voice was filled with uncertainty.

“He’ll make a new one.”

With those final words, the dream faded into nothing. In the end, for the next hour, there was only one sound. Hokey Smokes heard the sound of beeping, and then he woke up again. “I’m sorry Michael.” He said out loud, not knowing why it was that he said it. That was a mystery for another day, though, as he was going to focus more on what happened in the real world. The mysteries of his mind would have to be solved later, he had the time.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

They started to grow quicker for a moment, and everyone around the hospital bed started to get hope. He had started to weaken; there had been the knowledge of his impending demise that had been a couple of weeks coming. Nobody came from the types of injuries that he had sustained. Nobody lived through being on fire for as long as he had been. His mom hadn’t been one that could give up hope, though; she was going to keep fighting until it was completely over. She knew that he was a fighter; she knew that it was just in his blood to never give up or give in.

In her mind, this was the sign that Michael was going to survive.

A hand reached up, grabbing hers. Michael was in the worst pain imaginable, but there was something that he had to say to her. He could feel her hand holding his, could feel the tears that were hitting it as she pulled it up to kiss his hand. She was his mom; she cared so much that he might survive. Things had gotten worse through the last night, with his vitals getting weaker with each passing moment. It had only been luck that they hadn’t stopped completely, or perhaps it was that there was somebody looking out for him from beyond.

“I love you.” It was barely audible, barely able to be understood. If it had to be described, Michael basically croaked it out. Each tear that hit him hurt, but he didn’t try to move his hand at all. There was something about this that felt final, something that made this feel as though he needed to wait and see this through to the end.

“And I love you.”

A smile crept over his face, and then his eyes closed. The beeps started to pick up for a moment, only for a few moments, and then there was a single long beep. A look of panic was on his mom’s face, one of her sons having left the world before she did. Why did she have to be the one that buried her son? Why wasn’t he the one to bury her? Those two questions went through her head as she kissed his forehead one last time, tears still streaming down her face.

In the end, he had been able to tell her that he loved her. In the end, he knew he had his mother’s love.

Hokey Smokes blinked a few times. It had been a week since he had that last memory, with there being no real explanation as to what had happened. There was no way of knowing the truth, no way of knowing if that was anything more than a dream. How could he have known that his journey was dependent on somebody else losing their life? It must have been bad luck, or fate, that had caused his horn to get removed. In the end, that was the catalyst.

What would have happened if he had never lost his horn? What would have happened if he had never gotten his back? Would there still be the death on the other side of the gate? He would never know, maybe he would never understand it, but the truth was that his new life came at a cost. Hokey Smokes got his horn back, got his ability to use magic, got his memories, at a cost. Even though he didn’t know why, he would always be thankful to the man named Michael.

Now it was time for him to start his new life.