As we walked along the snow-covered road, we started to talk a bit more about Equestria and its natives, namely the ponies that lived here and what they did to help the community. Along the way I was still seeing ponies look at me and give me strange looks, though it was somehow more comfortable thanks to my hoodie being back on, the hood being pulled over my head. As I continued to look around, I started to wonder how late it was and looking up at the sky, I noticed a rainbow streak flying around, threading through the clouds. Twilight must have noticed me staring at it as well, for I heard her speak up a moment later.

“Rainbow Dash must be practicing some new moves.” She said, the both of us stopping to watch the streak zoom across the sky.

I cocked my head to the side at the name. “Rainbow Dash? Huh, seems to suit her. What is she practicing for though?”

“Why, for the super duper Wonderbolts, the fastest and most daring ponies in all of Equestria!” I winced slightly at the sudden shout before rubbing my head a bit. I looked down at Twilight, wondering why her voice suddenly changed when I noticed that there was another pony standing next to us, looking up at the sky as well.

The first thing that I noticed about this pony, besides obviously being a mare, was that she was pink…very pink. Her coat was a light pink color while her mane and tail were a darker shade of pink. Her mane was also very…puffy, the look on her face was one of excitement and joy and even I could see that she was very happy. As she continued to look up at the colorful streak, Twilight and I just stared at her, both of us with surprised looks on our faces.

“Pinkie Pie, where did you…you know what, never mind that.” Said the purple unicorn, shaking her head a bit to clear it. “So, what are you up to now?”

“Oh nothing much, just watching Dashie practice her moves while I think of a new kind of party to make.” Said the pink mare, keeping her gaze on the flying streak in the sky for a few seconds before looking at the librarian, a huge smile on her face. “It has honestly been a bit boring as of recent since there hasn’t been that many new ponies coming here. I really miss…” Suddenly, she stopped in mid speech, her mouth open as if about to say something. It took me a few seconds before I realized she was staring at me, her eyes not even blinking as I started to feel even more uncomfortable.

I cleared my throat before I carefully raised my hand to waved at her. “Uh, hi…Pinkie Pie? I’m Drakalian, a new…well, I guess a new resident here now.” I was about to say some more, but before I could, the pony whom I assume was Pinkie jumped up high into the air with a huge gasp before, in a sudden burst of snow, she galloped off, leaving a snow cloud shaped like her in her wake for a few seconds before a small breeze blew it away.

I blinked a few times before I turned towards Twilight with a confused look still on my face. “Um…what just happened?”

Twilight gave a small giggle before turning to face me, a sheepish smile on her face. “Oh, that? That’s just Pinkie being Pinkie. She…does stuff like that daily. You get used to it after a while, though.”

I was quiet for a few seconds before I gave a small nod. “Well, she is an…interesting per…um, pony.”

Twilight nodded in agreement and opened her mouth to say some more, but before she did, her eyes went wide as she seemed to stare in the far off distance.

I scratched my head slightly, a bit confused with the sudden change in her expression. The last time I saw that was on Trixie when there was a Basilisk be-

“LOOK OUT!” With a sudden *Omph!* I was launched into the air a few inches off of the ground by something hitting me in the back very fast, knocking the wind out of me, my staff flying out of my grasp. Twilight was able to jump out of the way before she hit me, but I was taken along for the ride, flying through the air from the force of the impact. The moment I realized that I was hit from behind, however, I was already hitting the ground, face first into the snow.

I gave a strangled gurgle as I was plowed into the snow, struggling to get some air back into my lungs. I struggled a bit to try and get up, but there was something heavy lying on my back preventing me from doing so. After what felt like an eternity, I felt the object stir and then get lifted off of me before I felt something else carefully pick me up, turning me around and placing me on my back against the ground face up, still gasping for air.

A few moments later, two ponies appeared in my view, the first one was Twilight, a very worried look on her face. The second pony was a cyan Pegasus mare; her mane and tail were a rainbow color, wild and unkempt like she rarely combs it. To be honest, I would say it was an opposite of the mane style I saw from Rarity. The Pegasus also had a worried look on her face, her eyes wide with shock and worry.

“Oh my gosh, I’m so, so sorry! I didn’t see you there. I was just working on my latest trick when a small gust of wind knocked me slightly off course. I was flying too low to the ground to correct myself and-” She started to say, looking all over me to make sure that I was ok. However, in the middle of looking over me, she was suddenly lifted up into the air and moved a few feet away before being placed back down onto the snow.

“Rainbow Dash, do you have any idea what you might have done?! He was just released from the hospital and your little stunt that you just pulled most likely placed him back in there.” She said, sounding rather angry at the cyan pony.

At this the mare called Rainbow Dash gave an even bigger shocked look, glancing at me before looking back at the unicorn. “I had no idea…Oh my gosh, I just…I didn’t know, honest. It was a mistake, I-”

I gave a small cough, getting both of their attention as I slowly got back to my feet. After a few more seconds I was able to get standing once again, finally breathing properly. As I looked at the two, I noticed that they were staring at me with surprise.

I raised an eyebrow, a bit confused with what was so surprising. “What?”

“I…You’re not hurt at all from that?” Asked Twilight, her notebook and quill already being held in her magic, ready to take notes from whatever I was about to say.

“Oh don’t worry, it hurt…quite a bit, I might add, but compared to what I felt from the Basilisk, that was much lower on the pain scale. I still got the wind knocked out, but besides that, I think I’m fine right now.” I said, giving myself a once over to check myself.

Twilight opened then closed her mouth, before repeating it a few more times. Once that was done, she started to write in her notebook rather quickly, the quill just a blur of motion as she wrote. While she was doing this, Rainbow Dash walked carefully up to me before giving me a small poke to my side with her hoof.

I winced a bit from the poke, still feeling a bit tender from the cyan pony’s crash landing before I looked down at her, a single eyebrow raised. “Yes, is there something I can do for you?”

The pony shook her head. “Um, not really, I was just wondering…well, I’ve actually never seen you here before.” She paused as she gave me a once over. “In fact, I’ve never seen anything like you from…well, anywhere. Just who…and what, are you?” She asked, giving me a curious but suspicious stare.

I gave a small smile as I extended my hand to shake her hoof. “The name is Drakalian, and I happen to be a human.” I replied.

Dash hesitated for a few moments before shaking her head to clear it. She then took my hand with her own hoof and shook it before we released each other’s hand/hoof. “You’re a human? Wow, that’s awesome. I’ve thought that they were just myths.”

I let out a small sigh as I looked at my feet. “Yea…myths.” When she mentioned that we were only myths here, I started to feel a bit…alone again. However, that feeling soon vanished when I heard Rainbow speak to herself.

“Wait, that means I owe Lyra 25 bits…damn it.” She said to herself, giving a small stomp of her hoof. I raised an eyebrow at her in slight confusion and when she noticed my look, she just waved her hoof at me. “Uh, I’ll tell you later, ok? Anyways, I’m once again sorry for flying into you like that.”

I gave a small nod of understanding. “It’s fine, I just hope that stuff won’t be happening too much. I can only take so many hits at the moment.”

Dash nodded before flapping her wings as she began to hover in place. “Great, well, I’ll see you later.” With that, she turned around and began to fly back into the sky, but just before she got very far, Twilight caught the mare with her magic, seemingly having finished writing her notes on my physical resilience.

“Not so fast, Rainbow. Even though Drakalian here says he is fine, I’m still worried about his health from the crash. However, I have some studying that I need to catch up on, so since you were the one that crashed into him, I think that you should be the one to bring him back to the hospital to have him checked on just in case he reopens any of his wounds.” Said the unicorn librarian, giving herself a small nod of self-agreement.

“But Twilight, it was an accident. I had no idea that he was recently released from the hospital, nor did I even have time to avoid him when I noticed him there. Please, I have my own practicing that I need to do, as well as promising to help Fluttershy with a few things around the house.” Dash said, hovering close to Twilight as she stated her case.

Twilight simply shook her head, not seeming to be moved by her responses. “I’m sorry Rainbow, but he’s injured and I don’t want anything bad happening to him as he stays here, especially so soon. After all, he will be living at the library for the moment, therefore as a good hostess he is my responsibility.” She reasoned.

This continued along for a good few seconds before I decided to try and stop it, clearing my throat to get their attention. “Girls…er, mares…um…whatever, anyways I’m fine, really I am. I would rather not go to the hospital at such a small thing, especially since I just came from there today.” They were silent as both Dash and I looked at Twilight, awaiting her response.

After a few minutes of thinking, the purple pony gave a small sigh and nod. “Ok, but I would like it if you can bring him with you when you go to Fluttershy. Check up or not, I would still like Drakalian to get a quick look at so we know he didn’t reopen any of his wounds.”

Dash quickly nodded in agreement. “Sure Twi, I can handle that.” She then turned to me with a somewhat questioning look. “So, you ok with this…Drakalian, was it?”

I give a nod to both my name and with being ok with this. “Sure I guess. It would be much better then sitting at the hospital again. I was starting to get a bit tired being in a place like that for a long time.”

Rainbow gave a small chuckle at my comment. “Yea, I know what you mean. That place can drive anypony crazy.” She said, still floating in the air in front of us.

Twilight cleared her throat a bit to get our attention back, causing the both of us to turn to face her. “Now then, with that all cleared out, I’ll be seeing you later Drakalian, ok?” She said, a smile on her face. I gave my own smile and nodded as well. “Remember Rainbow, bring him to Fluttershy’s place now please, then if you want…and if he wants to…you can show him around the place, ok?”

Rainbow gave a quick nod before turning to me. “Don’t worry Twilight, Drakalian and I are going to see her right now. You ready, Drakalian?”

I gave a nod and started to follow behind her, but my glowing purple staff floating in front of me stopped me. With a sheepish smile, I took my staff back in hand and turned to face the purple unicorn, giving her a nod of thanks before turning back to walk with Rainbow, the Pegasus flying close to the ground as she led us to our next destination.

Next Chapter: Chapter 7: A Helping Hoof Estimated time remaining: 10 Hours, 55 Minutes