The Human Condition

by Gilded Tome

First published 15th of December, 2014

When a human shows up to Equestria, will cooler heads prevail?

When Andrew wakes up in Equestria, he makes a rather large impact. Well, as large an a impact as a normal 20 something guy falling from about 20000 feet can make. Will he make friends in this strange but oddly familiar world? Or will the absence of his sister drive him closer to the edge? Strange things are happening in Equestria, will Andrew be able survive being at the center of them all?

This is my first story, so constructive criticism is always welcome.

I'm pleased to reveal the new cover art, done by the extremely talented Shadow Beam!
(Here's his Deviantart! http://lshadowbeaml.deviantart.com/ )

Impact: 1

Luna took a deep breath, enjoying the smell of roses, lilacs and freshly trimmed bushes. She had always loved that smell, it had always calmed her frazzled nerves and soothed her tired mind. Unfortunately it had been weeks since the last time she had walked through the Canterlot royal gardens, and she had missed it terribly. She made her way along the shoulder high hedges, enjoying the familiar path. Out of the entire city, this was the one place that hadn’t changed dramatically through her thousand year banishment. The water features were all the same, bushes and flowers planted around the small rivers and waterfalls. When she had finally returned, and was purged of her curse, it became an oasis of calm where she could retreat when the skeptical, or even the suspicious looks become too much.

She let out a tired sigh, pausing in front of a hedge that had been crafted into some sort of modern art piece. She tried to focus on deciphering the meaning that the creator was trying to imply in its loops and curves, but other thoughts niggled at the back of her head, vying for attention. To say she had been busy for the past week would be a dramatic understatement, so even this moment of peace was a blessing, one she wish she could enjoy without her responsibilities driving away any relaxation she looked for. After all, the sun was pleasantly warm against her back. While she enjoyed the caress of her sister’s sun, deep down a large part of her wished it was her moon's rays that shined down on her instead.

“Curse those Griffons and their petty squabbles!” she said with a pout, complaining to no one in particular.

Princess Celestia had been away for nearly a week, intermediating a conflict between two of the larger clans that resided in the griffon territories, which of course had left Princess Luna in charge. Normally such things wouldn’t have require the presence of one of Equestria’s rulers, but the tract of land that the conflict was about laid particularly close to a pony village. Thankfully her sister was due back by the end of the day, and she could finally return to her normal sleeping habits. Not to mention pass off the handling of all the nobles that Celestia seemed to love so much.

With another long and fatigued sigh Luna spread her wings and took off, making her way to Celestia’s private study with steady strokes of her wings, deliberately taking her time in a desperate hope that the large tower of paper work waiting for her would simply disappear.

“Seriously Twilight, I think I can handle getting something to eat by myself!” Spike explained with practiced exasperation.

“It's okay Spike, give me a few more minutes and we can go together” Twilight replied, forgetting she said something very similar not twenty minutes before, much to the annoyance of a now mumbling adolescent dragon.

Spike’s remarks of annoyance are lost to the once again engrossed pony, as she buried her face back into her the pages of her book. She was surrounded by stacks of them, reading and researching a subject that would put Spike to sleep if he had bothered to ask about it. To Twilight however, the mapping and tracking of secondary ley lines, which is what her current research topic was, and what the stacks of books were all about, was a fascinating subject. Star Swirl the Bearded attempted to map them out hundreds of years ago but had failed. Twilight hypothesized that his failure was because he hadn’t quite worked out a true understanding of the law of improbability in magical concentrations at that time. She had traveled all the way to Canterlot to scour the royal library for more detailed descriptions of the elusive veins of magic, and had been at all morning.

She had been sad to hear that Princess Celestia wasn’t here to visit with, both because she was looking forward to asking her opinions of her current research topic, and because she hadn’t seen her mentor in months, and she missed her dearly. By now Princess Celestia would have come to the library to convince Twilight to take a break for lunch. As if on cue, her stomach rumbled, as the mere thought of lunch made her realize how hungry she was. She sighed, simultaneously also realizing how unfair she was being to Spike.

“Alright fine Spike, if you stop whistling we can go get lunch.” She said as her ears twitch from the whistling and her back and neck creaking as she stood up. “You know how much that annoys ponies”

“That’s not me Twilight.” Spike remarked, his voice coming from behind Twilight. “But if it means we can eat I’ll stop anyways”

Twilight looked back at him, and then over in the direction of the sound, realizing that he was right, it wasn’t coming from him.

“What? Then what’s making it? Surely they know how annoying that sound is.” She said as she made her way to the southernmost wall and the window it held, following the sound to the opening.

“Great, now I’m never gonna get lunch” Spike mumbled dejectedly, as he reluctantly follows Twilight to the window, knowing that with her curiosity peaked, it was likely he would be hungry until dinner.

“Sshhh Spike, it kinda sounds like it's coming from… above?” She scans the sky confused, looking for what now sounds like a pegasus in a steep dive.

“Look, over there!” Spike points as best he can, standing on the tips of his feet to see over the sill of the window. Twilight followed his pointing, finally seeing a rather quickly descending figure.

“I hope they pull up soon…” Spike says, worry starting to creep into his voice

“Me too, something seems off about the way they are diving…” Twilight said, matching Spikes anxious tone.

As they looked on, the distant pony began to spin and rotate. Twilight’s adrenaline immediately kicked in as she realized the familiar sit, connecting it to a certain flight competition gone horribly wrong.

“That pony isn’t diving, they are falling!” she shouted as her brain jumped into overdrive.

Hurriedly estimating how far away the tumbling pony was, Twilight desperately fired up her magic, her horn glowing as she clenched her jaw and reached with all her might. The strain from the distance quickly grew, she could feel it draining her magic more and more, until finally she managed to latch on to the unfortunate pony. The drain was massive, and she gasped as her spell wavered slightly. She poured more magic into her spell, struggling to keep it going over the massive gap.

The sound of whipping air, and the sensation of falling woke Andrew from his unwilling nap. A deep fog filled his mind as he plummeted past the cloud layer, piercing a rather wet nimbus with a barely audible Poof.

“Wha..?” is all his still muddled brain could come up with, and even that utterance was quickly torn away by the howling wind.

He watched the clouds get further and further away, as his mind slowly creaked into motion. Flailing about his arms he spun around, finally able to see the ground below. Only then did his brain catch up to the situation.

He was falling.

Fast.

Very Fast.

His heart shuddered into overdrive, beating faster than he thought was possible. His mind screamed as he watched the far way ground rush up to greet him.

“What the hell is going on?!” He bellowed as his mouth decided to match what his brain is doing.

He could feel the pure speed of his descent as the wind pulled at his skin, and tore at his clothes. Panic took over as he continued screaming and flailing, fear induced gibberish and nonsensical words of prayer spewed from his mouth as the ground grew closer and closer. With each passing second more and more details revealed themselves, but few are noticed over his adrenaline fueled panic.

“Oh god, fuck this!” He yelled, squeezing his eyes shut and throwing up his hands, as if denying the imminent arrival of the ground would make it go away.

He counted the seconds, morbidly wondering in his panic addled mind if he would die on contact, or if he will linger long enough to feel the damage it will do.

Suddenly a warm sensation covered his body, tingling strangely as it wrapped him up. More important than the sensation of his bones being tickled though, was the blissful feeling of deceleration. He could feel his free fall gradually slow. For a brief moment, relief burst forth and he opened his eyes, expecting… well anything other than what he actually saw. For even though he had slowed, when he opened his eyes, the now purple tinged ground still rushed forward. Without time for a new bout of panic, or even a stray thought, his question of what impact would feel like was rather swiftly answered.

“No!” Twilight shouted, the pained yell echoing through the library as she felt her spell break from the impact.

The pony had been moving too fast for her to completely stop their fall, and despite her best efforts, the crash had still been quite violent. She bit back panic, and whirled around to face her assistant.

“Spike, I need you to go to the hall and tell the first guard you see that there has been an accident in the southern most courtyard, and tell them to hurry. I managed to slow their fall but they still hit the ground hard!” She said, and without waiting for a response, teleported away to see if she could still save the no longer plummeting pony.

In an instant she arrived in the center of the courtyard, her adrenaline still thumping in her veins. Frantically she looked around, looking for where the unfortunate pony had landed. Desperately searching, her ears twitched as she heard a raspy groan. She ran toward the low utterance, hoping beyond all hope the pony was still alive. When she arrived her eyes opened wide and she skidded to a stop.

“What in the world?!” She shouted, suprised to a standstill

It hadn’t been a falling pony at all. In fact, she wasn’t sure what it was. She looked at it in shock, trying to fit the odd creature into a group she could identify. Her brain had just shot down the idea of a minotaur foal when another groan, this one longer and more ragged than the first came from the creature. It was still alive! Whatever it was, she wasn’t going to ignore its pain.

“H-hello? Can you hear me?” she asked as she rushed to the side of the fallen being, although now with much more trepidation. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the wounded creature spoke.

“Hello? Sorry to drop in like this…” The decidedly male creature said through its pain, clenched teeth and eyes.

Twilight was dumbfounded by the words that came out of the broken beings mouth. Not only had it spoken in perfect equestrian, it had chosen this moment to tell a joke. A rather bad one, but a joke none the less. Maybe the creature wasn’t as hurt as it looked.

"Are you ok? I uh… I can’t tell if you’re hurt or not.” Twilight looked over the body of the lanky creature. He was covered in cloths, and his arms and legs seemed to be bent in a few painful looking angles. Were they broken, or where they supposed to bend like that?

“What? Yeah, I’m pretty fucked up” Coughs racked its body as it spoke, an blood speckling its lips “I can’t feel my legs, but I can feel my arms just fine, and I’m pretty sure they’re broken. Sorry, I’m just gonna pass out now. Fingers crossed I don’t die.”

“Wait! You’re not supposed to…” Twilight started, but from the sudden slump she could tell that he was already out before she could finish.

This was bad, very very bad. She had no idea how to treat him, and according to him, he was pretty severely hurt, the quips and sarcasm aside. She started to fire up a basic scanning spell to identify his injuries, hoping that “I can’t feel my legs” didn’t mean a spinal injury when she heard the hooves of ponies rushing to the courtyard.

“Over here!” she shouted, hoping to get their, hoping that Spike had managed to alert the guards and that they had taken him seriously.

To her surprise, around the corner came Princess Luna, as well as a few doctors, Spike, and her friend Fluttershy. Despite her shock at seeing her friend and the Princess she again shouted.

“Quickly! Over here!”

The group rushed to her, and to the credit of the doctors, they only hesitated slightly before beginning to inspect the broken creature. Their expert hooves danced over the now unconscious victim, one doctor applying pressure to a blossoming red spot on the creature’s clothes.

“What happened?” One of the doctors, this one wearing glasses, asked “and uh… what is it?”

“I don’t know what he is.” Twilight replied as she watched with morbid curiosity as the doctors applied tourniquets, bandages, and began to deploy a portable stretcher. “But Spike and I saw him falling out of the sky! I tried to help, but with the distance and how fast he was falling… I just couldn’t get a good enough grip to stop him completely…”

As the doctor nodded and went back to work, tears began to well up in Twilights eyes, until she felt a warm feathered touch on her shoulder. She turned her head to see the dark blue Princess draping her wing over her.

"Peace my friend, for thou arte surely the reason this strange beast is still alive at all. Had you not seen its plummet and tried to stop it, he would never had lived through the impact.” The Princess said, trying to comfort her friend, her sister’s student.
Princess Luna looked back to the doctors, who had finished getting their patient onto the stretcher. She caught the eye of the the lead doctor, the one who was wearing glasses. He nodded, acknowledging that the patient was ready to be transported.

“Now we must quickly get it to the hospital. I shall teleport the doctors, but you three must remain behind.” She said as she looked at Twilight, Spike and Fluttershy “Teleporting three doctors and a patient is complicated enough, anymore and I can’t guarantee accuracy.”

Twilight nodded, wiping away the tears that had formed around her eyes, as Princess Luna walked towards the doctors and fired a spell, disappearing in a flash of blue magic.

Author's Notes:

And so ends the first Chapter. I'd love some feedback guys!

Heavily edited|No Content Change|

Cost: 2

For a moment, Twilight did nothing but stare at the spot were Princess Luna and the doctors had been. This was all moving so fast, one moment she was researching and the next she was watching a battered and broken creature cling to life after falling thousands of feet. Her mind raced at the new developments, until a timid voice broke her reverie.

“Twilight we should um… we should get going… to the hospital…” Fluttershy said in her usual soft voice. She had made her way to Twilight’s side and was nuzzling her gently, trying to comfort her distraught friend.

“Thanks, and you're right, I don’t want to miss any news about the… Oh wait, Fluttershy? What are you doing here?” Twilight asked, finally putting it together that this was her friend, all the way from Ponyville.

“Well, I was visiting Doctor Steady Hoof. He was about to show me something at his office when the Princess suddenly teleported in with Spike, and suddenly teleported all of us out here.”

Fluttershy shivered as she recalled the surprise of Princess Luna’s sudden appearance.

“Yeah! I met her outside the library, and when I explained what happened, POOF! Suddenly we were at the hospital then BAM! We are in the courtyard. Luna is so intense.” Spike explained animatedly, as the trio made their way through the courtyard and into the castle, hurrying through the halls to the hospital.

“Well it was an emergency. And it’s Princess Luna Spike, be respectful” Twilight corrected Spike absentmindedly, as she led the group through the halls to the castles hospital. Her mind was on the creature, guiltily wondering if there was anything else she could have done. “I just hope we were fast enough…”

“Don’t worry Twilight, I know Doctor Hoof is a good doctor, that poor hurt creature is in good hooves.” Fluttershy said, trying to reassure her worried friend, while trying to hide her own worried look.

The creature had been pretty broken and while Fluttershy was no doctor, her veterinary instincts told her that that amount of damage would be hard to fix.

The three friends finally arrived at the castle’s hospital, and were quickly directed to the intensive care waiting room, where they found a rather miffed looking princess. She stood when she noticed the new arrivals.

“Ah, welcome friends. I hope the walk here was not too difficult?” She asked as she looked at each of the younger ponies and to Spike, who had somewhere along the way managed to convince Fluttershy to carry him.

“No, it was fine Princess.” Twilight said trying to remain polite, but the need for news outweigh the want for pleasantries. “How is he?”

Luna looked down at the purple unicorn, a comforting but worried look in her eyes.

“I do not know friend, for the doctors demanded I leave the room.” Clearly she was not used to anything being demanded of her by her subjects. “And how many times must we insist you call us Luna?”

“See! And you always correct me!” Spike says as he hoped of Fluttershy’s back, ignoring Twilights glare and walking towards the exit “I’m going to find something to eat, I’ll be back later.”

"Thanks Spike” Twilight said sarcastically, before looking back to Luna “Oh Celestia I hope he is ok. I felt so useless just watching him fall…”

Once again tears threatened to fall from Twilight's eyes. This time Fluttershy came to her aid, putting a hoof around her and hugging her close.

“Oh no, don’t cry Twilight, everything is going to be okay” she says, trying to reassure her, not liking how guilty her friend felt “You did you’re best and that is all anyone can hope for, right?”

With a sniffle, Twilight shook her head in halfhearted agreement. As she wiped her tears away, she looked back to the Princess.

“Do you recognize what kind of creature it is Pr- uh Luna?” Twilight asked “I think it’s male, at least he sounded male when he talked.”

Luna's eyes widened when Twilight mentioned the poor creature's speech.

“No I don’t recognize it Twilight, in fact I wasn’t aware it could speak at all.” Luna looked to the door, a new burst of worry creasing her face. The fact that the creature was sentient enough to talk made the importance of its survival increase tenfold. “An unknown species, falling from the sky, and speaking equestrian. Strange… Twilight did-”

Whatever Luna had intended to say was interrupted by the swinging doors of the intensive care room. Out of them emerged the bespectacled doctor, whom Twilight now new to be Doctor Steady Hoof. He made his way quickly to the anxious ponies, looking tired and drained. His face was grim, and Twilights heart sank. He stopped in front of the trio.

“We’ve done all we can. He is clinging to life, but I’m afraid he won’t last long.” The doctor looked apologetically to the Princess, bowing slightly. “I’m sorry we can’t do more Princess Luna, but we simply do not know enough about… whatever it is to treat it fully. If he was a pony, we might actually be able to save him. But other than splinting his broken bones and stopping the external bleeding…”
The doctor looked at the gathered ponies, watching the pain in their eyes as he broke the news.
“At the current rate of decline, I would give him a few more hours… at most.”

“What? No! That’s not possible, you couldn’t have tried everything, not so soon! What about magic? I’m sure if we look hard enough we can find something to heal him… right?!” Twilights shouted as her eyes grew wide, panic seeping into her voice. “Luna, please tell the doctor that there is some sort of spell that can fix this!”

The doctor face fell, looking even more sad and defeated than before. The fatigue was clear on his face, and he shook his head.

“I’m sorry Twilight, but the injuries are too severe to treat with magic. Magical healing puts a massive strain on the body. For a broken bone, or a deep wound, it would work, and save the patient the process of healing, or fix the immediate problem before they can die from it. But in this case, there is just too much damage. We can’t possibly fix it all at once, and healing injury by injury would put such a massive strain on the rest of his body that he would surely die from it, no matter how hardy his species is.” He explained, letting out a sigh at the end. “I’m sorry but-”

“That will be enough Doctor. You will gather your team and leave the operating room immediately” Luna said, casually interrupting the doctor with the practice of royalty.

She had been deep in thought while the doctor was explaining the dilemma, wrestling with a moral quandary. Her new determination showed on her face and her stance.

“Excuse me? I understand if you-“

“Thou seem to be confused. My sister may take issue with giving orders to her subject, but we do not! Leave now or we will have the guards drag you away. We do not have time for hurt feelings or petty squabbles!”

Luna’s final threat rang of the royal canterlot voice, literally staggering the stallion. The once tired doctor now moved with the added energy of fear, and soon the doctors and nurses had left, hurriedly walking out with varying degrees of annoyance, frustration and side long glances. Luna motioned Twilight and Fluttershy to follow, making their way into the room where the injured creature lay, wrapped in bandage and splints. After the doors once again shut, Luna’s horn glowed, and the door latched tight.

“I apologize if I startled you two” She said, focusing mostly on Fluttershy “But time is of the essence.”

Again she intoned her head, her horn glowing. This time the equipment surrounding the gurney was pushed to the corner of the room, as Luna walked to the side of the unconscious creature and began to explain

“In truth the doctor was half right. While we do not have a healing spell powerful enough to heal this entire creatures injuries at once… I do know a technique that can fix that.”

Twilights eyes widen with hope and a smile begins to form on her face. Before she can say anything however, Luna cuts her off with a wave of her hoof, her explanation not done.

“However, this technique is not without its risks. It requires a massive amount of magical energy to be held outside of one’s body before casting, therefore dramatically increasing the power of the spell, in this case a healing spell”

“Building up power outside of the body? I’ve never heard of a technique like that…”

This time, Luna cannot stop Twilight from interrupting, confusion evident in her voice.

“Because such practices have been illegal for centuries, for anyone besides my sister and the grand mage and myself. As you know magic is naturally wild, and while not necessarily at Discordian levels of chaos, large amounts of wild magic has a tendency to do the unexpected. Ponies bring order to the naturally wild magic by absorbing it into their bodies where it is used, whether in spells, flying or in overall strength. But there is a maximum that can be used at once without overloading the caster. By storing a large amount outside the body, we will be relinquishing the order and control, in order to perform a much larger task all at once. In short, this technique will allow us to heal all of this creatures injuries at once. But … anything could happen.”

Twilight's mind began to spin wildly as she contemplated what she had just learn. She wanted to ask so many questions about this previously unknown type of magic, but the sight of the injured and bandaged wrapped creature was enough to pull her curiosity back.

“Excuse me, but what do you mean by ‘anything’?” Fluttershy asked, nervous about what “anything” entailed.

“We have seen this technique work perfectly, with no randomness at all. But we have also seen it turn a desolate field into a forest of untamable plants, or…” she paused, clearly uncomfortable. “turn a pony to stone, and then shatter them to dust.”

Both Twilight and Fluttershy swallowed audibly.

“It is a risk, but we believe it to be a necessary one. We do not know who or what this creature is, but according to Twilight it speaks Equestrian. It could be an ambassador, or a dignitary. It’s even possible that this is a child, lost and separated from its parents.” She paused, letting this fact sink in, both of the other ponies eyes widen in horror. “I will and use this technique, and then link it to a healing spell.”

“I would ask you to leave for your own safety, but your skills with animals and magic may come in handy if luck isn’t on our side… I’m sorry for putting you in danger” She says, apologizing.

“It’s ok, I could never leave a pony that’s in need anyway.” Fluttershy said with confidence, surprising Twilight.

“And I can’t leave now, not after hearing you’re going to perform a never before seen special type of magic” Twilight said, giving Luna a tight lipped smile.

With a nod of her head Luna turned to the gurney and to the comatose bundle of bandages that laid there.

“Alright then, let us begin” Luna said, as she spreads her hooves, getting into a more solid stance.

Taking a deep breath, and shutting her eyes, she began to draw on her massive sums of magic, pulling more forth than she had in a very long time.

Twilight watched as the Princess began to cast her spell, she felt the charge of powerful magic in the air. She shivered, once again reminded about just how powerful Princess Celestia and her sister really were. Before her eyes she saw Luna’s horn glow, brighter and brighter until a small sphere of magical energy began to form at the tip. It grew larger and larger, expanding from the size of an apple to a watermelon, then larger still. The air began to crackle, and sparks of blue magic arced around Luna, getting dangerously close to Twilight and Fluttershy. Finally, just before the undulating ball of Luna’s gathered magic grew to be larger than Twilight herself, it ceased its growing. Eyes now clenched shut Princess Luna gritted her teeth, as she held the ball above the broken creature. Tension built as the two ponies waited for the alicorn to begin the next phase.

Secondary strands of magic began to orbit around the hovering sphere, emanating from, and connecting to Luna’s horn. Finally, with a deep breath Luna plunged the ball of magical energy into the creature’s chest. It sank about half way through and stopped, the magic still connected to Luna’s horn. In the single pause she then took, the creature arched his back, bones creaking as every muscle in its body tensed, the broken bones fighting the splints the doctors had put them in. Fluttershy and Twilight gasped, as Luna began pushing the blue sphere deeper into his chest, fractions of an inch at a time, before it finally disappeared altogether. The creature slumped down and the magical static in the room faded down to nothing. Small gasps left the two ponies as the small abrasions on the creatures face began to disappear.

“D-did it work?” Twilight asked, not sure if Luna could hear her or not.

She looked over the alicorn when she did not answer, concerned about her princess. It was then that she noticed it.

The thread of magic remained.

The stream of magic that had linked Luna to her spell hadn’t dissipated. In fact, as Twilight watched, it grew thicker and denser. Suddenly the air felt charged again, and the static slowly started to return.

Except now it was red, and it came from the creature.

The arcing magic crossed from the creature’s body to the room around it, getting louder and more powerful until it was leaving divots and burn marks in the marble of the room.

Twilight cast a shield spell that enclosed her and Fluttershy just in time to stop an arc from slamming into her. When it came in contact with her magenta bubble it almost collapsed it, the amount of power behind it was staggering. Again a strike slammed into Twilights shield, and again it was deflected, smashing into the waiting room doors, shattering them in to so many splinters. She fought back the dizziness and struggled to keep the shield up, only to almost lose her concentration as the beast began to scream.

It was a deep throaty yell that shook Twilight's bones. The creature’s eyes flew open, full red pools glowing the same color of the static that still slammed into Twilight's shield. The creature shook as if it was having a seizure, its neck muscles standing out, corded and bulging. The screaming continued, unaltered by words as it chilled Twilight to her core. The sound made her want to run and run and run as far as she could. The beast thrashed and slammed about, as Luna's magic continued to poor into it. For what felt like an eternity, this continued. Then, as suddenly as it began the stream slowed, petered and disintegrated, freeing Luna.

The princess staggered forward, obviously drained and weak. Her mane was no longer the flowing visage of a midnight sky, it was now a normal light blue mane, matching her now light blue tail. She stumbled again, and only managed to stay standing by putting a hoof on the bed that the still screaming beast laid in. Arcing energy still poured out of the beast and its eyes glowed brighter and brighter. With no warning the creature’s mouth slammed shut, stopping the screams. In the new silence, the creature sat bolt upright and grabbed Luna’s horn with unneeded violence. Twilight could see its muscles bulging and shaking as if carrying a massive weight. She fought the urge to look away in fear as it leaned in, pulling the princesses horn to look directly into her eyes. They stared at each other, Luna’s eyes beginning to glow blue against the beasts blood red.

And then, with a flash of light and a pop, they both disappeared.

Twilight looked at the now quiet room in shock and growing horror. Fluttershy was tucked away in a corner, face covered with her hooves, trembling in fear. At the sound of shuffling feet, Twilight whirled, her frayed nerves almost convincing her to lash out with her magic.

“Whoa, okay… did I miss anything important?” Spike asked, as Twilight's vision swayed and she collapsed.

Author's Notes:

So chapter 2 is done, please let me know what you think! ^_^

thank you to everyone who Favorited this, it means a lot!

see you in the comments!

Heavily Edited | No Content Changes

Boredom: 3

Twilight awoke to the tune of a pounding head and an aching horn. She was familiar with varying degrees of magical overload and in truth, this wasn’t even in her top five worst cases. Unfortunately, knowing that didn’t make the experience any more pleasurable. With her eyes still tightly closed she groaned and buried her head further into her pillow. The persistent pounding continue, despite her best efforts to bury it. With an annoyed grumble she threw off her blanket and propped herself up.

“Spike, any chance that you’ve already made…” She began, stopping mid-sentence as she realized she was not in her home. “Coffee...?”

Confusion ran through her as she scanned the room, quickly realizing that it was her old Canterlot bedroom. While most of her possessions had long ago made their way to the Ponyville library, just enough remained for the room to still hold that nostalgic feeling. A warm breeze blew in from the open terrace near her bed, and she smiled in spite of her confusion. However the confusion quickly overcame the pleasant feeling of slow breeze. Just as she began to get into piecing together what had happened, she heard a knock on the door.

“Uh... who is it?” She asked, grimacing slightly as she raised her voice.

“It’s Applejack, can I come in darlin’?” A muffled voice outside the door said.

“Applejack? Yeah of course, the doors’ unlocked.” Twilight said, wondering what was going on.

“Thanks!” Applejack replied as she pushed the door open, then closed behind her with a quiet creak. “How you feeling Twi, a good night’s rest helpin’ any?”

“I’m ok, just a bit of overload sickness, I’ve had worse” Twilight said, finally making her way out of her bed to meeting Applejack in the middle of the room. “How did you know I wouldn’t be feeling well?”

“Well, the Princess said tha’ after last night you’de be feeling pretty awful”

“Well she’s not wro- Wait… after last night?” Twilights eyes widen in horror as the previous night’s events came flooding back to her. “oh my gosh, Applejack! Princess Luna! And the thing, it fell from the sky! I tried to catch it and but I couldn’t and and and… I really need to talk to Princess Celestia!”

Twilights eyes took a slightly manic glint as she rushed to the door, the previous night’s stress rushing forward.

“Whoa there sugercube, no need to be rushing off!” Applejack managed to intercept Twilight before she could push the door open. “Princess Celestia an Fluttershy explained everythin’ to me. Well they tried to explain everythin’, I think a lot of it wen’ a bit over ma head.”

“Either way, Princess Celestia said there wasn’t a need for panic” Applejack said as she put a reassuring hoof on Twilight’s shoulder.

“No need for panic?! I watched Luna disappear and-“Twilight started, but Applejack stopped her before she could get any deeper into her tirade.

“I know all that a’ready Twi, the Princess knows it too. C’mon hun, take a deep breath with me.”

Applejack took an exaggerated breath and begrudgingly Twilight did the same. She had to admit, it did help ease the ball of stress that had instantly reformed moments after remembering what happened the night before.

“Are you sure I shouldn’t be panicking? It feels like I should be panicking” Twilight asked as her head dipped lower in sad frustration.

“Ah know sugarcube, but Princess Celestia said not to worry. She sent me to wake you up, and to keep you from workin’ yerself up into a tizzy.” Applejacks explained.

She rubbed Twilights back as the stressed mare took a few more deep breaths. When Twilight had fully calmed down Applejack opened the door she had been blocking and walked into the hall.

“Now the Princess Celestia wants to meet us in her study, we should get go’in. Fluttershy should a’ready be there.” The orange mare said, trotting ahead.

Applejack trotted ahead of Twilight, stopping at the first bend in the hall to wait for her. She waved for Twilight to follow, encouraging her with a big smile. Twilights own mouth curled into a grin, unable to resist her friend’s attitude.

“So what are you doing in Canterlot?” Twilight asked when she finally caught up with her friend.

They made their way through the heart of the castle, with only guard ponies and the occasional Canterlot noble populated the halls.

"I was here delivering a shipment of ma apples to the castle chefs. Finished that this morni’n though, an’ Celestia asked if I wanted to stay, said things were happening and you might need ma help.”

“Wow, Thank you Applejack, that means a lot” Twilight said, sincerity and gratitude clear in her voice. “But I can’t take up so much of your time, you’re a busy mare”

“S’ok Twi, I’ve always got time for you. An’ my friends. Ah always got time for my friends.” Applejack assured her companion hastily. “Besides, if this morning was any sign, the princess was right to be worried ‘bout ya.”

Applejack laughed as she teased her friend, bumping into Twilight lightly. Her infectious grin once again grew, making Twilight giggle.

“I suppose I did need someone to keep me from working myself up into a ‘tizzy’” said Twilight, as the two turned the corner into the private section of the castle.

The nobles had long since stopped lingering in the halls, for this area was the personal living space of the two monarchs. Taking the nobles place were the maids and butlers, cleaning and going about the daily business of the castle staff. The two ponies fell into companionable silence as they made their way through the final halls to Princess Celestia’s private study. The door was ajar and the voices of familiar friends making its way into the hall, along with the smell of…

"Is that coffee!?” Twilight asked, pushing the door open and running into the room.

The suddenly energetic pony was already pouring herself a cup before Applejack could even make it into the room. She brought the steaming mug to her face and breathed in the smell of the roasted coffee beans. With an overjoyed sigh she took a long sip of her favorite morning beverage. As she swayed in her java fueled stupor, an awkward cough caused her to look behind her.

“Oh…hello Princess Celestia, Fluttershy. Sorry about that, didn’t see you there…” Twilight said blushing as she slowly put down the mug of coffee. Fluttershy giggled softly to herself and Princess Celestia smiled knowingly to her student.

“Don’t stop on our account Twilight, I would say that after last night you deserve a cup of coffee.” The princess sat behind her desk, a cup of steeping tea in front of her.

The princess’s usual attire, her crown and necklace laid behind her atop a tasseled pillow. Her hair flowed as usual, and the still rising sun was bright behind her as it shone through the balcony door.

“Thank you Princess” Twilight and Applejack made their way next to Fluttershy, sitting in front of the Princesses desk. “And thank you for sending Applejack to get me this morning. Without her I would be running around in a panic”

“Of course Twilight, I know how my student can get” The Princess looked knowingly at Twilight. “But I’m sensing that’s not all you have to say.”

“Well… Princess Celestia… why aren’t we looking for Luna? We should be sending out search parties and setting up locator spells, anything to help us find her! And that creature, what was it? It didn’t seem violent at first but then it attacked Princess Luna! If we don’t find her soon, who knows what it will do to her!” Twilight looked frantically at her mentor, panic rising steadily as she got deeper into her speech, shocked with how calm Princess Celestia was being. “Aren’t you worried about her at all?”

“Of course I’m worried Twilight, she is my sister after all. It’s an older siblings job to worry about her little sister.” Celestia explained, her calming voice and motherly tone soothing Twilight’s anxiety as she spoke “Do you really think I would be so calm I didn’t know she was ok?”

A flash of emotion crossed Celestia’s face. Had Twilight not known her mentor for most of her life, she wouldn’t have caught it at all. Even then, she couldn’t really decipher what the emotion had been. Twilights ruminations were interrupted when Princess Celestia’s horn began to glow. Her jeweled necklace floated over from its spot beside the crown, landing on the desk.

“This is why I know she is ok my dear student. You see, a long time ago Luna and I decided we needed a way to communicate with each other no matter where we were in Equestria.” She explained, her horn glowed again, popping the purple jewel from her necklace and floating it in front of her. “We had the royal craftsman craft a necklace for each of us. I got this jewel here, while Luna got a platinum carving of her cutie mark, the moon. We put a powerful enchantment on both of them, permanently linking them together. With the smallest amounts of magic, the stones are capable of transferring sound”

Celestia put stone back where it had been and with a click as it snapped back into place. Twilight looked at the necklace in surprise, she had always assumed that the necklaces were just part of the royal garb.

“Well ain’t that a handy thing to have.” Applejack said as she watched the monarch slip the necklace back to its usual place around her neck. “So what has Luna said?”

“Well… nothing at this point” Again a flash of emotion played over Princess Celestia’s face, and once again Twilight couldn’t decipher it.

“Princess Celestia, before she disappeared Luna looked completely drained. Even the spell that made her hair flow and sparkle failed. I think she was completely drained of magic by the creature she had just finished healing. Is it possible she doesn’t have enough magic to use her necklace?” Twilight asked her mentor, still unsure how she could be so calm about this. Princess Celestia looked mildly surprised, before quickly regaining her composure.

“While I admit that news is worrying, it doesn’t mean she is in danger. If the situation ever arose and she couldn’t use the necklace, all she would have to do is break it, and mine would break as well.” Princess Celestia explained, quickly hiding her surprise at this new news. “Twilight, my sister is a grown alicorn and I trust her to handle any situation she could find herself in. While I understand you are worried about your friend, I ask you to trust her, as well as me.”

For a moment, it seemed as if Twilight is going to press further. She looks at Princess Celestia, then to her two friends, one on either side. With a defeated sigh, she nodded her head in agreement.

“Okay, I trust you both. I just wish we knew where she was.”

Andrew’s head was absolutely killing him. Well his whole body was killing him, but the pain in his head was particularly heinous. His muscles where sore, his joints ached and his skin felt like he had the worst sunburn imaginable, but oh his aching head. It felt like someone was systematically hammering railroad spikes through his skull. The only consolation to this miserable awakening was that his pillow was relatively comfortable.

And warm.

And breathing.

“Oh Sweet Jesus!” He shouted when his brain finally connected that whatever he had his head on was very much not a pillow, causing him to jump and scramble away.

As he sat there, breathing heavily from the surprise, he laid eyes on what he had been resting on, and was extremely confused by what he saw. He stared, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide with shock.

“You do know it is rude to stare, don’t you?” The dark blue horse said, without lifting its head or opening its eyes.

“Oh…sorry, my bad.” Andrew responded reflexively, looking around as his mind tried to work out what exactly was going on.

As he slowly recalled what had happened, first falling through the sky, then the landing, his thoughts were interrupted by a peculiar drafty feeling. He looked down, and immediately jumped up in surprise.

“Why the fuck am I naked!?” He shouted, looking around for anything to cover himself up with.

With his hands covering danger zones, Andrew saw something lying on the ground. Picking it up he tried in vain to hold what turned out to be the tattered remains of a bed sheet over his unmentionables.

“Why didn’t you tell me I was naked!?”

“It didn’t occur to me that you would react like this, ponies only wear clothes to special ev-”

“I don’t give a fuck what horses do! Humans wear clothes, period! End of discussion!” Andrew’s mind was being overloaded with confusion and embarrassment, all the while this horse insisted that him being naked was no big deal. He felt moments away from a serious mental breakdown.

“It is ‘Pony’, not this ‘horse’ you speak of.” Luna corrected, failing to understand why the human was making such a big deal.

Despite her confusion she could see just how close Andrew was to becoming manic. She made a snap judgment and quickly cast a repairing spell on the mostly destroyed sheet he was holding. Now holding a full size piece of cloth, he quickly draped it over himself.

“Thank Christ, there is no way I was going to go through this hallucination without something to cover myself up with” Andrews mumbled, before closed his eyes and taking deep long breaths, his heartbeat slowly returning to normal. “So uh… what’s going on? I vaguely remember falling, and I unfortunately remember the landing… but I also remember waking up in a lot of pain… I’m sorry, who and what are you?”

The alicorn giggled, confirming for Andrew that she was a she, the sparkling laughter easing some of Andrews building tension.

“I suppose I could go first. I am Princess Luna, co-ruler of Equestria with my sister Princess Celestia. Together we watch over the little ponies that live there. ” She paused and looked at Andrew expectantly, while Andrew looked at her blank faced. “and you are…?”

“uummm well… I’m uh…I’m Andrew… that’s it, still working on the royalty part”

The human rubbed the back of his head, weirdly embarrassed that he couldn’t give a more impressive title. He shrugged slightly before continuing.

“So uh… you come here often?” he asked, once again looking around in an attempt to figure out where he was. This place looked oddly familiar to him, like he had seen it in a photo or maybe a movie.

“I do actually, quite often” Luna said, another giggle on her lips. “This is my moon.”

“I’m sorry, your what now?” Andrew asked incredulously.

“My moon” Luna punctuated her explanation by pointing her wing up.

Andrew followed her pointing, until he was looking straight up at an orb of blue and green. A planet, which was decidedly not Earth. The sight was too much for Andrews mind.

“You’ve got to be shitting me…” was all Andrew could manage before falling back and fainting.

“So you’re telling me that that six pony girls… stopped the lord of chaos, with the power of friendship?” Andrew asked again, still having a hard time believing what Luna had been telling him for the past several hours.
He had awoken from his ‘nap’ to see Luna standing next to him, poking him in the ribs in an attempt to wake him. He repressed the urge to shout ‘Boo!’ to get her back for what was surely going to be several new bruises.

“Indeed. I can attest to the power of friendship. It is a power unmatched when focused by the elements of harmony.”

Luna had had to explain the elements of harmony, as well magic several times before Andrew had finally said that he believed her story, despite witnessing magic only a short while ago. She suspected he was still highly skeptical. Perhaps he was lying for her benefit.

“And Queen Chrysilis, leader of the shape shifting changlings, was defeated by the power of love? Love she herself had been feeding off of for weeks?”

“That is what we have been saying, yes”

“Well shit, according to you I fell from the sky and landed in a Saturday cartoon” Andrew said enthusiastically.

He was still having a very, very hard time believing any of this. He was managing to keep his cool though, a fact that Luna did not miss.

“All things considered, you seem to be taking all of this in stride”

“Yeah, I am, aren’t I? I think it’s mostly ‘cause I’m pretty sure I ate something moldy and its making me trip balls. I’m probably sitting in the closet, muttering to myself about ponies and the moon.”

“I am quite certain this is real” Luna assured him yet again. “Although I must admit I question how the place you describe could be real as well.”

Luna had listened intently as Andrew described his home and his species. She was shocked by the violence that humans were capable of. Ponies were certainly not guiltless of such violence themselves, but never so consistently.

“Surely you exaggerated your species tendency to resort to violence.”

“I’m afraid not, if anything I downplayed it” Andrew looked saddened by the truth of his description. “Don’t get me wrong though, separately we aren’t that bad. But when we get into big groups, sometimes we can be jerks.”

Luna dropped the subject when she realized how uncomfortable Andrew felt talking about his fellow man.

“I can understand the allure of fear and greed, no creature is perfect.” Luna gave Andrew and reassuring smile.

“Of course not, that would be reeeallly boring!” Andrew exclaimed returning his gaze to the planet hovering above the moon.

“Goddammit I’m so bored!” Andrew exclaimed.

The two had been on the moon for six more hours, waiting for Luna’s magic to recharge. Luna had been sleeping for most of that time, but the adrenaline from learning he was on the moon, along with all the shock from learning what had happened had kept Andrew awake. “How the hell did you do this for a thousand years?!”

“We would like to point out that this is taking longer because of your demand for clothing” Luna pointed out, having also given up on sleep around the time Andrew had started loudly complaining. “And are you always this antsy, or can we add that to the list of symptoms?”

After both of them had gotten tired of talking about their respective homelands, they had tried to figure out what had happened in the hospital. Unfortunately they hadn’t gotten very far, for Luna was abstaining from using magic in an attempt to help it recharge faster, and Andrew knew next to nothing about the matter, apart from a witty reference or two about a "Criss Angel".

“Shut up, you’re just mad because I rock this sheet” Andrew posed, as if modeling the piece of cloth to an invisible camera. “And yes, I’m always this antsy”

Andrew plopped down beside Luna, leaning up against her, looking up at the stars. Luna looked at him as if she was going to reprimand him, something about not being his personal pillow, but decided against it.

“I really shouldn’t be complaining though, a lot of humans would give an arm and a leg to see this view, even more so in the company of a royal alien horse.” He elbowed her gently to let her know he was teasing.

“It is quite a lovely view, isn’t it?”

“Are you kidding me? I mean it’s nice but the view is second fiddle to the fact that I’m on the goddamn moon! Well a moon but semantics hardly matter after a near death experience.”

Andrew shook his hand at the last part, as if he was brushing of a frivolous addendum, rather than the fact that he almost died. He got back onto his feet, a feat that still amazed Luna. She had met a few minotaur in her time, but somehow the human seemed much more fluid. It almost made her jealous. Or perhaps that was nausea.

“Really? Most ponies would see being sent to the moon as a punishment” She said, her voice dropping slightly, despite her best efforts. The lack of love for her moon, as well as her night was still a sore subject for her.

“I mean I wouldn’t want to be stuck up here… No offense” he looked back at her sheepishly, momentarily forgetting her tale of banishment. “But I’m a bit of an astronomy buff so this is like a dream come true.”

“Really? You enjoy our nights?”

“Weeelllll, back where I’m from they don’t really belong anyone, and they certainly aren’t controlled or arranged by magic. But to be honest I’m pretty excited to see what ‘your night’ looks like. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve fallen asleep under the summer night sky, it will be interesting to do that under one that changes night to night.”

“We… we will try to live up to your expectations.” Luna looked away as she blushed slightly. She was not used to such an unbiased appreciation for the stars and moon.

“Good” Andrew said simply.

“Regardless of what you night looks like, one thing is for sure” He said after a long pause, wriggling his shoulders. “You make a shitty head rest.”

With a harrumph Luna stood up, and walked away from the human, who was now propped up on his own hands after falling back against the ground.

“-and then he said ‘get the fuck off her, that’s my wife!’” Andrew shouted, hardly able ontain his mirth while he told his joke, and after squeaking it out, he devolved into a roiling pile of guffaws and gasping laughs.

“We do not get it” Luna looked at her giggling companion with skepticism, she hadn’t even realized he was telling a joke until the final line. His laughter slowly died down, and after he had wiped the tears from his eyes, he looked at the princess with mild annoyance.

“Damn, who knew princesses were such a tough crowd.”

Finally, after much waiting, and even more pacing by the human, Luna stood. “Andrew, I am ready to return.”

“Aww just five more minutes?” Andrew whined, doing his best imitation of an annoying brat. He had sat down a few feet away from where Luna had laid, and was half way through building a mini moon castle, complete with empty moat. “I just want to finish the-“

“Andrew, we must return now, stop imitating a foal and get over here.” Luna directed with a scolding tone

Begrudgingly Andrew got up from his creation, mumbling and groaning all the way. When he reached her, he put his hand on her back.

“Alrighty, beam me up Scotty!” With a flash, and a pop, the duo disappeared from the moon.

Author's Notes:

Ok this chapter just didnt want to come out! i kept at it though, so fingers crossed that doesnt show! >_<

as you have hopefully seen, if not then spoilers, i left a lot of the "oh what is this place, whats a pony, OHEMGEE MAGIC! to inference. i feel like you have to re-read that every time a human in equestria story comes out, so there isn't anything i could do to make that new or exciting, so why bother writing it all out. hopefully that was the right choice! other than that it felt great to finally write for the main character!

oh and because of the holidays it might be a while before the next chapter comes out.

thanks for all the comments guys!

Heavily Edited | No Content Change!

Arrival: 4

Teleporting was one of the most bizarre sensations Andrew had ever felt. The only way he could describe it was suddenly being nowhere, everywhere and specifically at two separate points all at the same time. This of course ignored the sensation of stretching and compacting, as if the very space he was in was being pulled and squished, rather than his actual body. His mind was overloaded by the strange sensations for a single mentally cacophonous moment. And then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped. He felt his ears pop as he stumbled slightly into the new location. Nausea flowed through him as he looked around. The room they had ended up in was a complete mess, and judging by the papers still fluttering down, this was a rather new development.

“Damn Luna, you could have told me it would feel like that! I feel all mixed up and… off.” He said, failing to find the words to describe how he felt.

It wasn’t overt, but he felt so… different. Now that he thought about it, the feeling was so subtle he couldn’t even be sure if it was the teleporting that had done it.

“And jeez, you’d think royalty would be able to hire a maid, this place is a disas-“ He stopped mid rib as he looked around to find Luna. “Oh crap oh crap!”

Luna was next to him, partially collapsed and struggling to stay vertical. He rushed to her side as she tried to rise to her full height. He sat down beside her and put his hand on her back.

“Luna its ok, relax. Take it easy and stay down, no reason to strain yourself further.” He urged gently. “What happened? Something tells me that’s not how that’s supposed to work”

Hearing the wisdom in his words, she stopped struggling and sat down, breathing deeply as she struggled to catch her breath. Andrew looked around the damaged room as Luna caught her breath. Many of the pieces of furniture were broken or thrown back, and almost all of the room’s glass had been shattered. Even the massive bed frame was pitched at an awkward angle. Considerably more foreboding was the black burn mark encircling the duo.

“I… miscalculated. You were… more difficult to move… than I had imagined.” Luna finally answered as her breath slowly began to return to normal.

“Luna! Did you just call me fat?!” Andrew gasped with mock indignation, wrapping his impromptu toga tighter around himself.

His farce got a quiet chuckle from the exhausted alicorn. Glad to get a humorous reaction from her, he continued.

“Well despite the impressive property damage, it wasn’t too bad” He said as he gave Luna a reassuring pat on her back.

“I was aiming for my office.” She said, breath finally resuming its normal pace.

Andrew’s face dropped at her remark, and he audibly gulped.

“I’m going to take a shot in the dark and assume that could have gone a lot, lot worse then?”

“Indeed” Luna said simply, and once again struggling to get to her hooves, barely succeeding in getting to her knees.

Andrew now got up from his sitting position and kneeled beside the princess, steadying her swaying.

“Luna, stop struggling, you’re only going to hurt yourself. I’m going to see if I can find someone to he-” his words were cut off by the loud slam of the bedroom door being thrown open.

A hinge snapped on one half of the ornately carved door, causing that side to tilt. Standing in the now open doorway were three ponies, colored orange, light yellow and purple, and the purple one looked particularly upset as it observed the situation.

“Get away from Princess Luna!” the purple mare shouted at him as she saw him leaning over the princess.

In his surprise he put his hand on Luna, and his other toward the new arrivals. The purple pony immediately lowered her head, her horn glowing as she charged a spell. The two ponies behind her watched in shock as their friend strained, charging a blast of magical energy.

“Whoa there, don’t go jumping to-” Andrew didn’t get time finish his sentence before Twilight fired her spell.

Time seemed to slow as a magenta beam formed, shooting from her horn, heading directly for Andrew. He could feel Luna struggling to stand next to him. He knew she was going to trying and push him out of the way. He knew that doing so would put her directly into the path of the spell. And, he knew that if she did that, with her magic drained as much as it was, the damage would be major. He didn’t know how he knew these things. His knowledge of magic was obviously miniscule, and for all he knew about it, the beam that was flying toward him was as gentle as a hug. But somehow, something was telling him that this beam, while not intended to kill, was very dangerous. He knew he was in danger, and that Luna was moving to put herself in the path of destruction to spare him.

And he couldn’t let that to happen.

The hand he had placed on Luna moved down to her shoulder and he gave her a good hard shove. As shaky as she had been, the shove from the human was enough to send her sprawling away from him, well out of the danger zone. His hand still outstretched toward the ponies, he closed his eyes in the instant it took for the beam to reach him.

“NO!” Luna still managed to shout, despite her exhausted state.

Now sprawled on the floor a good distance away, Luna instantly recognized the simple and familiar combat spell the second Twilight had cast. The spell was a simple heat and impact spell, but even that would do massive damage to an unshielded pony, or in this case human. On instinct Luna had tried to protect Andrew from it, despite knowing that in her state she couldn’t have possibly conjured a shield strong enough to block or deflect it. Andrew’s quick reaction was amazing in and of itself, almost as if he recognized the spell forming as well. Part of her wanted to look away from what sure to be a brutal impact. But she couldn’t, or more precisely, she refused to. In all honesty it mattered little if she wanted to see it or not, it happened so fast she couldn’t have turned away at all.

In a split second the beam reached the closest part of his body, the hand outstretched to the usually peaceful pony. Just before it impacted, which should have broken the humans arm and covered it with burns, there was a spark, and a reddish glow of magic as a translucent disk of the same color was spawned. It hovered directly in front of the outstretched limb, expanding to about a meter wide. Luna instantly identified it as a very crude shield spell. The beam slammed into the disk, which in turn slammed against the human, throwing him back. He was blasted completely clear of the blackened ring that marked the duo’s arrival point, directly into the partially broken husk of what was probably a china cabinet, smashing it to even less recognizable bits. The top of the cabinet collapsed down onto the launched human, covering him completely. Luna gasped as the human tumbled through the air, wincing as he made contact with the furniture. She spun her head to the new arrivals.

“Twilight Sparkle, cease your violence immediately!” She yelled, trying to halt any follow up attacks.

Twilight seemed startled at the harsh tone of the dark blue alicorn, but her stance remained combative.

“Don’t worry princess, I got him. He won’t be able to hurt y-“

“He wasn’t hurting me, he was trying to help me!” Luna shouted, cutting of the unicorns attempts at reassuring her.

“What? Don’t be ridiculous, he was standing over you maliciously!” Twilight replied, now becoming seriously confused. She had just saved the Princess Luna from the bipedal beast, why was she getting yelled at? She moved to rush to Luna’s side, but was stopped half way.

“No, I am fine! Go find my sister before you cause any more harm!” Luna insisted.

The venom in her voice was clear, and it shocked both Twilight and princess herself.

“I’m already here my sister. Are you alright?” said Princess Celestia, as she walked in from the terrace.

The doors had been blown open by the miss calculated teleportation, and now rested haphazardly on the balcony. She seemed oblivious to the destruction of her sister’s bedroom, instead trotting up to her fallen sibling.

“Yes, I am fine! Please, just make sure Andrew is alright!” Luna shout in obvious frustration.

She wanted desperately to get up and check on him herself, but her legs were not following any of her directions. A quiet groan came from the pile of debris formally known as a cabinet, and the wood pieces shifted slightly.

“I’m okay!” Andrew said, his voice muffled, as he poked his hand through the top layer of fragmented wood. “Well… mostly okay…kinda dark…”

“Princess Celestia wait!” Twilight shouted, as the princess of the sun began to make her way to the pile of debris. “Don’t go near it, it’s dangerous!”

“No, no I’m not! I’m uh… Just a little claustrophobic…” a small amount of panic began to creep into Andrews’s voice.

Celestia continued on to the pinned human, after giving her student a reproachful look.

“Twilight Sparkle, you should know better than to jump to conclusions.” Celestia’s horn glowed as she moved the pile up off of the human, revealing a singed, but relatively undamaged human underneath. “Especially when using such a violent spell.”

As Princess Celestia chastised her, Twilights expression went from confused to hurt in mere moments. Twilight was stunned by her teacher scolding, completely thrown off guard. She couldn’t remember the last time her teacher had reprimanded her with such conviction.

“But… Princess there was an explosion, and when we got here, it was standing over her holding her down.” Her hurt expression remained, she was truly convinced Andrew had been attacking Luna.

“Twilight Sparkle.” Luna interjected. “The explosion was from my miscalculated teleportation, and he was trying to help me, not hold me down.”

“Oh…” Her she said quietly, shocked face quickly turned to embarrassment then panic as she realized she had just attacked an innocent creature. “Oh no, I’m so sorry! Here, let me help you!

She started to walk over to the human, but Princess Celestia waved her off.

“No Twilight, why don’t you go wait in my office and we will discuss your hasty actions when I am done here.” The white alicorn said, her tone still disapproving.

Her student looked heartbroken, and began to walk away, head hung in shame. She exited the room, slowly walking out of view, obviously distraught about what had happened. Her friends followed behind her, completely speechless at what had happened. The room was quiet except for the quiet groans Andrew was making as he dragged himself out of the pile of rubble.

"Thank you Princess Celestia” Andrew said, leaned on her for a moment before sitting on a night stand that had been tipped on its side.

He looked at his hand, which looked remarkably normal for all the glowing and sparking he had just witness it give off.

“So, not that I’m not thrilled to finally meet you Princess, but uh… the fuck was that?” He asked, holding his hand up to the sisters, pointing to it as if he had never seen it before.

The sisters looked at each other, then back to the bewildered human.

“Well Andrew…I believe that was…magic” Luna answered, looking almost as confused as he did.

She remembered the hours it took for Andrew to take her explanation of magic seriously, despite the improbability sitting on the moon without it. And yet what she had just saw him do was clearly magic, albeit very crude. Andrew once again studied his hand, turning it over and back again, brain clearly struggling with this brand new concept.

“Seriously?” Andrew finally said words full of intense skepticism. Had he not seen it with his own eyes, and felt the magic itself, he would have laughed in Luna’s face for what she just said. “Well…shit.”

“What is it?” Luna asked, worried her new friend was on the verge of repeating the outburst on her moon.

“Well…I would make a joke about not being in Kansas anymore, but I don’t think that would quite cover this.”

Luna shook her head, while Princess Celestia just looked at the human in confusion.

“Andrew, we still don’t understand your references”

“I know, it’s freaking terrible!” His head sagged and he let out a loud, irritated sigh. Luna wasn’t sure if he was more concerned about his sudden ability to use magic, or that his jokes were going on unappreciated.

It took some time for Luna to get her strength back, or at least enough to make it to Princess Celestia’s bedroom for some proper rest. As drained as she was, she refused to be carried either by the guards or by Princess Celestia’s magic. She even went so far as to refuse her sister’s offer to teleport her there, saying “I shall move by my power or not at all.” Eventually, through coaxing by Andrew and Celestia, she agreed to lean on her sister for support. They began making their way through the halls, while Luna explained what had happened since her and Andrew disappeared from the hospital.

Andrew followed behind them, oblivious to their conversation. To the sisters, he was silent, but in his head buzzed thousands of questions. It felt like every time he managed to come to terms with whatever crazy thing was being thrown at him, another curve ball would come up and hit him out of nowhere. He felt himself hovering on the edge of breaking down, and he struggled to calm himself. He was brought out if his wallowing by Luna.

“Andrew” She said softly, managing to get the human’s attention. “I know you must be frantic right now, but stay strong. We will find answers, I promise.”

Luna’s voice was gentle and reassuring, despite her obvious exhaustion. The two sisters stopped in front of an ornate door, marked by a sun. Andrew leaned up against the door jam, his racing mind calmed by Luna’s promise.

“Thank you Luna. Now go get some rest, you look like a crap” He said with a smile.

“You don’t look much better.” Luna shot back, making Andrew laugh as the two sisters left the hall to put Luna to rest.

When Princess Celestia returned a few minutes later, Andrew sat up quickly from his leaning.

“Andrew was it?” Princess asked, receiving a nod from Andrew in confirmation.

“Yeah, that’s right. So…she really okay?” Andrew asked, smile still lingering after Luna’s fast retort.

“How quickly you understand my sister’s tendency to embellish her wellbeing.” The white princess said with a quiet laugh. “Yes, she will be fine, though I’ll admit this is the most drastic case of magic overdraw I’ve ever seen.”

The Princess began walking toward her office, a few corners down the hall. Andrew followed behind, rubbing the back of his head, a look of embarrassment on his face.

“Yeah… about that… as far as we can tell, that’s kinda my fault” He admitted awkwardly

“I have heard the story several times. Did you mean to do it?” she asked, her gaze heavy on him as she studied his face.

“No! I mean no. I’m not even sure I was conscious at that point.”

“Then do not worry, I will not hold you responsible for something you didn’t do on purpose.”
A smile finally showed on the white alicorn’s face, and Andrew let a breath out he hadn’t even known he was holding.

“Thanks” he said simply, his eyes returning to the hall as his mind wandered over what had happened in the last few hours. “You wouldn’t have any idea what is going on, would you?”

Andrew looked at the princess hopefully, waiting for her response. The hall was silent for a while, save for the clop of hooves and the pad of bare feet. The Princess appeared to be deep in thought.

“I have several… possibilities in mind” she finally said. “But I think it’s best if we wait until we can examine you properly before we delve into speculation and guessing.”

Even after she answered, Princess Celestia’s face remained contemplative, and they continued to walk in silence. Andrew let out a quite sigh, wanting to push her for more answers, despite her trepidation about it. He took a deep breath, forcing his mind to relax. She was right after all, he should be resting and coming to terms with what has happened, not running towards figuring everything out. He focused on calming down while they walked, taking deep breaths and following the Princess.

As the two finally make it to Celestia’s study, they pause before the large wooden doors. They could hear the sounds of three ponies animatedly talking, albeit in hushed tones. Next to the door were two saluting guards, clad in golden armor. He noticed they were both virtually identical, at least they looked that way to him. The guards eyes fell on him almost immediately, but quickly returned to their stare to the wall opposite them. He resisted the urge to shout “boo!” in an attempt to make them move. He wasn’t quite ready to pester ponies armed with swords and clad in metal. The Princess looked to the guard on the right.

“Stalwart, is that Twilight and her friends I hear inside?”

“Yes your Highness.” The guard rigid stance loosened slightly as the Princess talked to him in an unofficial tone.

“Thank you. Hold any visitors until we are done please.

“Of course you Highness”

“Thank you Stalwart” After assuring they wouldn’t be interrupted, the Princess pushed the door open. The guards gave her a final salute as the two walked inside, the door closing behind them.

Inside, three ponies talked amongst themselves, looking over a familiar pile of cloth.

“My clothes!” Andrew hurried to the three ponies, who quickly got out of his way.

Fluttershy disappeared behind a chair, while Applejack, who was still unsure of how to act around the biped, simply stood next to Twilight.

“Hey, these are in pretty good shape.” Andrew said, kneeling beside the pile, as he picked up his shirt and turned it side to side. “I’m surprised whoever patched me up didn’t have to cut me out of them”

“Actually, they did.” Twilight walked to the human, looking slightly mortified, which Andrew assumed was from the incident in Luna’s bedroom. “I collected them from the hospital and cast a repair spell on them… as an apology”

Twilight looked d down at her hooves, as if expecting he wouldn’t accept her attempt at making amends .

“Oh thanks Twilight, you didn’t have to do that, I would have forgiven you anyway. Not that I don’t appreciate this.” Andrew said, clearly ecstatic with being able to get out of his ridiculous toga.

“Wait, seriously? Forgiven, just like that?” She asked, her eyebrow raised, clearly skeptical that he could really just brush off the incident.

“Yeah, it’s no biggie. I mean from what I heard from Luna, you’re the only reason I’m here and not being scrapped off the ground with a shovel”

Andrew saw Applejack wince at his description, and a whimper behind him. He turned to see Fluttershy peaking around the edge of her chair

“Oh, hello there. You must be Fluttershy.” He said, giving her a small smile, before turning back to the orange pony who stood behind Twilight. “Which would make you Applejack.”

He dropped his clothes back into a pile, and stood, and gestured to himself.

“Names Andrew Dike, it’s nice to meet you all.”

Author's Notes:

Hey guys, hope you had a good holiday/new year :)

This chapter took longer than I though, so I hope you all like it.

oh and before you ask, I am not Andrew.

Next chapter im really going to focus on not rushing things, cause i seem to be doing that quite alot >_< fingers crossed

Edit: i just went through and did some proper spacing at the request of some readers. hopefully this makes it easier to read and more enjoyable :) no story changes though, so no need to re-read it :)

Autumn: 5

The group was silent, save for a single awkward cough. Andrew posed with his hands on his hip, forgetting the ever crucial fact that you can’t look cool while wearing a bed sheet.

“Hold on just a minute there…your name is decay?” Applejack asked, finally ending the quiet spell. “As in rottin’? That’s an awfully forebodin’ name…” she said, eyeing up the human. She had once again made her way to Twilights side.

“No no no, that’s just how it’s pronounced, its actually spelled D-I-K-E.” he explained, his shoulders slumping slightly as he stopped posing. “Besides, humans don’t pick names the same way as you guys. At least that’s what I gathered from what Luna said. Our names identify us, but they have very little underlying meaning, save for a few of the really old ones.”

“Really? That’s quite interesting, it sounds similar to how griffons choose their names” Twilight said, thinking out loud. Her eyes had slowly widened as he explained the simple difference in human culture. Even this small tidbit of information was enough to kick start her academic mind. “Are children named at birth or later? Is there reasoning behind which name is first or second? Do you-”

“Twilight, I believe we were discussing something else?” Celestia interrupted, halting her student’s oncoming torrent of questions. The Princess had made her way behind her desk, and now was observing the others.

“Oh, right. Sorry” Twilight said, looking embarrassed for almost letting her inquisitive mind run loose while such an important subject waited. She began again, her face turning quite serious. “Andrew, while I do appreciate you forgiving me, don’t you think this is more serious than that? I could have seriously hurt you. Just as bad is that I *wanted* to seriously hurt you.” Twilight looked extremely upset by this admission, shame and disappointment in herself plain on her face. It was clear she expected to be in trouble.

"Woah ok, serious time I guess” Andrew said, sitting down on one of the chairs. He leaned forward and his mood changing noticeably. “You’re right, I’m letting you off the hook pretty easily. But in the grand scheme of things, it’s pretty fair. You saved my life after all. That and I know you didn’t do it maliciously, you were just trying to protect Luna. I can’t hold that against you, it wouldn’t be just” he paused, looking at Twilights expression.

“I guess that makes sense” she said, thinking and nodding slowly. She seemed to be buying what he was saying, but clearly still had some reservations.

“Tell you what, if your still feel guilty about it, help me figure out how I managed to block your spell. That sound fair?”

“Fine, that’s fair enough I suppose” Twilight agreed. “Although I was going to do that either way.”

“Well now you have my permission, which I’m sure will help speed things up” Andrew said, scratching the back of his head. “So before we talk about this, mind if I put my clothes back on? This thing is a bit draftier than I’d like” He pulled at the sheet as if to show how thin it was.

“Uh yeah sure, I was beginning to wonder why you hadn’t changed yet.”

“Well we were in the middle of a conversation, I didn’t want to just leave” He explained, wondering why she hadn’t expected that.

“Uh… why would you need to leave?” Twilight asked, openly confused.

“Oooh right, Luna was the only one there…” Andrew said, mostly to himself . he shook his head, a smile spawned from embarrassment on his face. “Humans always wear clothes, nudity is a cultural taboo” he explained hoping they wouldn’t ask past his simple explanation.

“‘Cultural Taboo’? That’s the silliest thing a’ve heard in a long time” Applejack said. “iffen ya ask me, wearing clothes is what’s taboo”

“Uh ok first, not what taboo means” Andrew said, giving Applejack a skeptical look. “Second, we don’t have fur, so we get cold a lot easier.”

“It’s the summer, its plenty warm out”

“uh yeah but…” Andrew looked imploringly from Twilight to Princess Celestia. Twilight shrugged, equally curious as to why the human was so interested in privacy, and Princess Celestia just looked back in curious silence.

“Come on guys, it’s not that hard to figure out! If I was a stallion, and my arms where my front legs” he explained, waving his arms about. “and my actual legs were my back legs…” he let the sentence hang, hoping someone would get the memo and save him the trouble. When he nobody did, an irritated sigh exploded out of him

“Jesus Christ, really? Fine, humans have exposed genitalia! It just hangs out in front of us! So we cover ourselves in clothing to keep our privates private!” He ended, annoyance and embarrassment clear in his voice. “I was kinda hoping I wouldn’t have to explain it word for word, but fuck me right?”

All three of the visible ponies blushed noticeably, and he could only assume that Flutteryshy was blushing as well behind her chair. Applejacks mouth hung open in shock and Twilight struggled to keep a semblance of professionalism but only partially succeeding. To her credit the Princess’s blush quickly faded and she cleared her throat.

“The door over there is a bathroom, I believe that will be satisfactory.” She said, pointing to the door on the corner of the room.

“Thank you” Andrew said simply, a hint of annoyance still in his voice. He picked up his clothes and walked to the door, pushing it open. Once inside he looked around, taking in the opulent bathroom. He made his way to a massive mirror on the wall much taller than him, and at least that wide. He sighed, stretching and removing the sheet. He rubbed his shoulder, which was stiff and sore from his earlier one sided scuffle with Twilight. He checked his back out, which had more than a few new bruises. “I’m going to be so sore tomorrow” He murmured an sighed to himself. “should probably be sore already”

He quickly got dressed, focusing on doing it quickly to keep his mind off everything. After he had finished pulling down his shirt, he ruffled his hair to get it back to how he liked it. It seemed lighter than before, blonde instead of his usual dirty blonde. With a shrug he washed his hands and walked to the door. He opened it and walked out, all eyes were immediately on him. He sat down in the same chair and was happy to see Fluttershy had come out from her hiding spot.

“A’m sorry ‘bout that Andrew, ah didn’t realize…” Applejack faltered mid apology, blush returning to her face.

“Yeah, well next time take the hint. But I guess no harm no foul, I was beating around the bush for you three’s benefit more than anything anyways. No reason to go tainting young minds.”

“Um… I’m actually twenty-two.” Fluttershy whispered, the first thing she had said in Andrew’s presence.

“And both Applejack and I are twenty-one” Twilight added.

“Seriously? Wow, I wouldn’t have guessed that… not that I have much to go off of I guess.” Andrew said, surprise coloring his face. “I would have put you down for seventeen, maybe eighteen tops.”

“Uh… thanks?” Twilight responded, not sure if she should be insulted or flattered. Andrew waved off her dilemma. He started to say something, but was interrupted by a long yawn.

Perhaps we should take a break, and continue this conversation tomorrow. You’ve been through a lot in the past day, surely you would like to rest. I’m sure Twilight would be happy to examine you fully tomorrow” Princess Celestia said, getting a agreeing nod from her pupil.

“Yeah, sleeping sounds great right now. Before that though, can I ask a question?” Andrew asked, wiping his eyes. He continued when the Princess nodded. “How long do you think Luna will be laid up for?”

“She will likely be asleep for a day or so before she is recovered enough to be mobile. Worse though, is that because she extensively overdrew her magic so many times, it is likely to be weeks before it returns to normal.”

“What?! It was that bad?” Twilight asked, nearly shouting in shock.

“Yes, while her magical reserves will likely be full by the end of the week, such repeated drains will most likely have strained her horn, making even simple spells very difficult for her to perform by herself.” Celestia explained, even her usually controlled façade breaking, letting her worry for her younger sibling through.

“Umm… Andrew are you ok?” Fluttershy asked, as timid as ever. She had seen him grow more and more upset as Celestia explained the severity of Luna’s condition. His head had slumped and his fist clenched. It took him a long moment to speak.

“I’m fine, and that’s the problem. This is my fault, but I’m not the one getting hurt for it, she is. She’s getting shafted because of me. That’s not ok.” He said quietly, guilt evident in his voice. “Is there anything I can do to help her get better? It’s not fair for her to be suffering because of me.” He asked the Princess, a faint hope in his eyes.

“I’m afraid not, otherwise I would already be doing it.”

“I figured as much.” His shoulders slumped, reluctantly accepting that all he will able to do is wait. “Well I know I’m not much use for anything, but if I can do anything to help please let me know.”

“I will, you have my word Andrew.” The regal alicorn promised. “But before you go, understand this. My sister would have done this for every single creature in this world. While your presence may have caused this unfortunate series of events, you are not responsible for them. You may see her suffering as your fault, but I assure my sister sees it as a perfectly acceptable payment for the life and health of an innocent being.”

Andrew’s eyes watered a bit as the Princess’s word washed over him. While he still felt guilty for what had happened, he was now able to think more clearly.

“Now” The Princess continued “go get some rest, like we agreed, Twilight will start her research tomorrow. Stalwart?” Princess Celestia raised her voice to call the guard standing outside the door. When he walked in, she continued.

“Take Andrew to a spare bedroom, one with a bed large enough for him. Oh and make sure that someone will be there in the morning in case he needs anything.”

“As you wish your highness” Stalwart said with salute, then motioning for Andrew to follow. Andrew turned to the other four.

“I guess I’ll see you all tomorrow?”

He got a few nods and agreements, before turning to follow the guard out into the hall.

As Stalwart and Andrew made their way through the hallways, Andrews had a hard time keeping up with him. Andrew certainly wasn’t out of shape, but the guards gait was awkwardly in between a walk and a slow run for the human, so he found himself alternating between the two, and his tired and lightly battered body wasn’t liking it very much. None the less he followed through the white marble halls, finally reaching a nondescript but well-crafted door. Stalwart stopped in front, pushing it open.

“Here you are sir, this room should suit you fine.”

Andrew walked in to the simple yet spacious room, glad to see the bed was plenty large enough for him, though sleeping on the same level as the floor would be a new experience.

“Thanks, but my names Andrew” said said, remaining near the door. “Any idea who’s gonna be helping me tomorrow morning?”

“No sir, but someone will be here before you wake up” the guard replied tersely. Andrew took the hint, and nodded. He was way too tired to call out the pony’s bad attitude. He shut the door with a simple ‘goodnight’, and made his way to the bed, losing his shoes and shirt on the way there. As he lay down, his head on the pillow, he looked out of the window that lay on the opposite side of the room. It held a great view of the quickly darkening sky, and the silver disk that he had been walking on not three hours before. He fell asleep like that, staring at the impossibly large moon.

Andrew awoke to the sounds of birds chirping and muffled conversations. Having lived in one city or another for the majority of the back end of his life, the muffled conversations of people in the streets or in the halls was nothing new to him. The songs of birds however was a new waking experience, one he found himself enjoying greatly while laying in the comfortable bed.

Eventually boredom overtook him though, so he got up slowly. His arm was sore, and he could feel the bruises on his back as he rolled out of the bed and onto floor. He pushed himself up off the ground and stretched, noticing quite a few new pops and squeaks as he did this. He took a deep breath after releasing his stretch, and the smell of pastries made its way into his nose. He turned, noticing a cart near the bedroom door for the first time. Upon inspection it revealed numerous breakfast goods, ranging from some sugary treats to what appeared to be some sort of oat cereal. His stomach growled and he resisted the urge to shovel whole plates into his mouth. He finally settled on a pastry, an apple and two muffins, eating them as he made his way to the small balcony attached to his room, opening the doors to a warm early morning.

Below he could make out ponies as they made their way through the streets, the conversation they were having drifting up to him. He at his breakfast in peace, enjoying the clean air and fluid singing of more than a few song birds. After cleaning the last bit of sugar off his fingers, he made his way to the bathroom and completed his morning rituals as best he could considering the circumstances and the things provided to him. He felt refreshed, despite the hay flavored toothpaste. He could feel his nervous energy bubbling through the whole time, this only becoming more obvious after he completed his routine and began wearing a hole in the floor as he paced around. Finally, unable to take it any longer, he headed to the door, grabbing one last pastry as he did. He opened the door, and stuck his head out into the hall. A reddish brown earth pony with a long golden mane sat outside, across from him. She looking up, somehow managing to keep almost all of the shock from her face at her first sight of the human.

“Oh! Good morning sir, did you sleep well?” She said cheerfully, but not annoyingly so.

“Uh yeah, pretty well actually” he replied “and the names Andrew. Seriously, just Andrew. My ego doesn’t need any help inflating itself.”

“Well alright Andrew, I’m Autumn Song, but you can call me Autumn. I’ll be your guide for today!” She said, smiling a contagious smile that Andrew soon found himself copying.

“Alright Autumn, that sound’s good. Are you the one who got me breakfast?” Andrew asked, nodding his head to the cart, which was now behind the closed door.

“Mhmm! Since I’ve never met a Huymaan before” she replied, struggling slightly with the new word “I kinda got a bit of everything. Did you find something you liked?”

“Oh yeah, good call on the pastries” he said, showing her the one he was holding before taking a bite. The flavor was tainted a bit from the hay toothpaste, but it was still good.

“Great! I was worried you wouldn’t like it.” she said, happiness clear on her face. “Now, according to what I’ve been told, you’re supposed to meet Twilight Sparkle in the library at noon. But since you got up relatively early, we have a few hours before then. Anything you would like to do or see around the castle in the meantime?”

“Well… I actually wanted to go to the library anyway, do some reading before I met Twilight and her friends.”

“Oh… well that’s fine, makes my job much easier!” The auburn pony said, seemingly undeterred by the unexciting wish of her charge. “Just follow me!”

Andrew couldn’t help but smile at the peppy pony’s enthusiasm as he followed her .

“So Andrew, Where you from?” Autumn asked, making friendly conversation as they made their way through the halls. There weren’t many ponies in the castle this early, but those who were were friendly, saying hello and trying not to stare at the lanky biped.

“Well right now home is in Boston, but I bounced around a lot when I was younger.” He absentmindedly answered as he absorbed the view that was passing them by. The windows beside them looked out over the Royal gardens, an impressive expanse of hedges, flower bushes and statues.

“Boston huh? Is that up near Manehattan?” she asked, trying to remember if she had heard that name before.

“Uhh, not quite…” Andrew replied, suddenly realizing he had no idea how much information Princess Celestia was ok with him sharing. He didn’t have to worry though, because before she could inquire further, they arrived at the library.

“Here we are! The Canterlot library, also known as the National Library of Equestria. It contains at least one copy of every book and scroll written from 250 A.D till now!” Autumn said as she slipped back into tour guide mode.

The she walked into the main room, with Andrew tailing behind her, looking at all the books. A dulled orange unicorn, who Andrew assumed was the librarian, sat at the desk next to the entrance. She was busily working, organizing stacks and stacks of books, checking each on before placing it in another pile.

“So what kind of books are you looking for?” Autumn asked as they reached the center of the room.

“One on basic magic, and another on general equestrian history. I’m getting a bit tired of not having any idea what anyone is talking about.”

“Alright, if I’m not mistaken history would be over there!” Autumn said, heading off to a section of the library. Pretty soon they had found some books, and had returned to the reading area. Andrew placed his small pile of book on the table with a quiet thud. He sat down, again surprised that chairs designed for ponies were at all comfortable. Autumn sat across the table from him, and placed her own book down.

“Are you sure you don’t mind me reading?” she asked. While the two had been searching for books, she had spotted one on display she had been meaning to read.

“Absolutely not, I want you to sit there and stare at the ceiling for the next three hours.” he demanded, words dripping in sarcasm. “Of course you can read, who am I to say you couldn’t anyway?”

“Okay, okay, just making sure. To you it might sound ridiculous, but you would be surprised what can insult foreign nobles”

“Oh I don’t doubt that in the least” Andrew replied, already cracking into his first book. It was titles Simple Magic Concepts, and was adorned with a simplistic silhouette of a unicorn, a pegasus and a earth pony. With a content smile, he settled in for a few hours of reading.

It took him the better part of three hours to make his way through his first book, much longer than he had intended. His plan had been to skim a few books and hopefully absorb some information that would let him be a bit more than just a quiet specimen in Twilights coming investigation. What he hadn’t expected was to be drawn in so much by the magic of… well magic. While the book talked very little about the methods of casting spells, it talked in length about magical phenomena as well as the innate magic of all pony breeds. Many of the concepts were still a bit fuzzy, but he understood a surprising amount as well.

“How was it so far?” Autumn asked, having put her own book down upon seeing Andrew do the same to his. Her voice dragged him from his thoughts, and he looked at her questioningly

“Hmm? I’m sorry, you say something?

“I asked how it was so far” She repeated.

“Oh! Yeah it was fine, and I understood a lot of it, which was a welcome surprise. It’s done though, so I should start reading the history book now” he answered, as he reached for the next book in his stack.

“Whoa, you finished it already? You must be a fast reader!” She said, surprise written on her face.

“Yeah I guess. I mean I’m a pretty solid reader, nothing to write home about though” he said nonchalantly. “I just hope I have some time to read this one before-”

“Hey Twi’ he’s over here!”

Andrew turned towards his name and the already familiar twang filled voice. Sure enough, the orange pony was making her way to him, followed by Twilight, who was in turn followed Fluttershy.

“There ya are partner, we stopped by your room but ya weren’t there.” Applejack said when the trio arrived.

“Oh, sorry, I wanted to do some reading, maybe learn a bit about magic before Twilight started trying to figure what’s going on”

“S’alright, we just didn’t want you to get lost on your way here” She explained. She leaned over to get a closer look at some of the books. “That’s some mighty heavy readin’ your do’in”

Twilight picked up the book Andrew had just finished, and gasped.

“You reading Concepts? How do you like it so far? It’s one of my favorite beginners’ books!” She gushed as she gripped the book against herself. “did you make it to the part on alchemy? They describe it so well!”

“Yeah, I actually finished it. I’m just glad I understood most of it” he said, shaking his head with a smile over how enamored Twilight was with what was a essentially ‘Magic for dummies’”

“Wow, that’s pretty impressive Andrew! If you have any questions, feel free to ask! Magic is uh kinda my thing.” She said, the last part with no small amount of modesty and embarrassment.

“Twi’s just be’in modest. She’s the element of magic, ain’t nobody better at it than her, save maybe the Princesses” Applejack bragged, obviously deeply proud of her friends accomplishments. “Why just the other day she-“

“Why don’t we get going to the spell room? I’d like to start setting up some magical probes” Twilight cut her friend off, the telltale blush of embarrassment creeping up her face. She hurriedly rushed away from the group toward a rather large door in the very far end of the library. It was marked by images of unicorns, as well as what Andrew now recognized as magical runes.

As the group got to the door, Twilight pushed it open, revealing a large room on the other side. It was lined with dozens of shelves containing vials and vessels filled with various liquids, old books stacked on even older desks and a multitude of important looking objects.

“Princess Celestia had this room refurbished when I was just a filly, turning it into it a place where unicorns could go to practice the minor spells that they were studying in the library.” She explained. “It’s sound proof and lined with metal to keep any out of control spells inside this room. I must have spent half my time in here when I was living in Canterlot.”

“Wow! I never knew this room was back here!” Autumn said, surprising both Andrew and Fluttershy. She walked further into the room, sticking her hoof out to Twilight.

“Hi, my names Autumn Song, I’m supposed to be Andrews guide for today, you don’t mind if I sit in and watch do you?” She continued.

“N-no, of course not. It might get a little boring though.” Twilight warned, shaking the cheerful earth ponies hoof. She was thrown for a bit of a loop by the red-brown pony, she hadn’t expected her to follow them.

“That’s no problem, still got plenty left of my book.” she said, her smile as big as ever. She made her way to one wall of the room, sitting down and opening up her book. Fluttershy eyed the new pony nervously before walking over to Twilight.

“Um… Twilight, is it alright if I um… go find a book to read?” she asked. “I’m afraid I won’t be much help with the magic…”

“Of course Fluttershy, that’s fine.”

The light yellow pony mumbled a thank you before walking out the door they came in through, shutting it behind her.

“You might want to find one as well Applejack, this might take a while.” Twilight advised her farmer friend.

“That’s a’right sugarcube, I like watching all that magic stuff you do.” Applejack replied. “Besides, if I get bored I could always just take a nap.” She walked to one of the walls as well, laying down and getting comfortable.

“Well alright then, that takes care of them, let’s get to this Andrew, I can’t wait to find out what’s going on.” Twilight said, a bounce in her step, put there by the chance to study a part of magic she had never seen before. She made her way to the center of the room, and using her magic, levitated a few pillows to them. She laid them out and took a seat, motioning that Andrew do the same.

“Are you ready Andrew?” she asked. “It won’t hurt, there isn’t enough energy in this spell to hurt, but some unicorns do feel a bit off when they are consistently exposed to another ponies magic, and this is nothing if not consistent.”

“What are you going to do?” Andrew asked, moving around to find a position that was comfortable.

“First, I’m going to cast a simple scanning spell. This will allow me to take a nice and close look at the magic around and attached to your body. With any luck we will find some sort of residual energy associated with what brought you here.” Twilight explained, clearly enjoying the opportunity to flex her intellectual muscle. “After that I’ll cast a much more complex probing spell that will allow me to see the magic inside you.”

“Magic inside me? I shouldn’t have any magic inside me, humans don’t have magic!” Andrew said, emphasizing the last bit. This frequent disregard for what he thought was possible was starting to really make him doubt his own sanity.

“I know, I gathered that from your reaction, plus what from what Princess Celestia passed along from her and Princess Luna’s short chat.” Twilight said, trying to show the human that she understood his confusion. “Regardless though, that magic that stopped my erm… attack… it certainly seemed to emanate from you. As improbable as it may seem, we need to work from what we have seen.”

Andrew slumped slightly, muttering his agreement.

“So I’ll ask again, are you ready to begin?” Twilight asked the human, who nodded in confirmation. “Great. Now breathe normally, and remember that it’s just a scanning spell, so no need to panic or anything.” Her horn began to glow and Andrew saw, and felt the magic envelope his body

“Oh, and you might want to lay down, this will take a while.”

Author's Notes:

Chapter five, complete! this was tough, i rewrote over half of it before i was happy with it.

in other news over 100 thumbs up, and over a thousand views! (that is if I'm reading that right >_< ) I'm so happy, i had no idea so many people would see this story! i hope you are all enjoying it!

Examination: 6

About two and a half hours later, Andrew had a full appreciation for what Twilight had meant when she had claimed it would “take a while“. He was thankful for the cushions beneath him, he didn’t even want to imagine how sore he would be by now if they hadn’t been there. What he was even more thankful for was the chance to stretch he had gotten before Twilight had begun her more in depth magical scan. She had paused after releasing her first spell and written down a page or so of notes while he cracked his back and stretched, before casting the second. While the first spell had created a less dense cloud of magic around him, the second spell created a thin film across his whole body, one that squeezed and pulsed around him. Even more disconcerting than that was the occasional probes of magic he felt, as she scanned deeper. However, even these bizarre sensations became boring after the first thirty minutes.

He stared at the ceiling, his eyes following the intricate pattern for what felt like the thousandth time. Eventually he turned his head, making sure to move slowly so he wouldn’t incur Twilight’s wrath. He had made that mistake earlier, resulting in a few very stern words from the purple unicorn. Unfortunately boredom wasn’t something he dealt with very well, so before long he was once again getting antsy. As he looked around he spied Autumn sitting in a corner, her face in the same book as before. Although before it had been because she was enjoying the story, now it was because she had fallen asleep and had face planted into the book. As if to erase any doubt that she was sleeping, she was beginning to snore quietly into the pages. Andrew suppressed a laugh at that, and instead looked to the two the other two ponies in the room. Fluttershy had chosen a different corner, as far away from the new pony as she could manage, and was reading book rather intently. It was marked by the image of a hawk-like bird, as well as a bear. Occasionally she would look at the human, or cringe as she read something. The last pony, Applejack, was clearly enthralled by the magic Twilight was performing, because she watched it closely, alternating from a wonderful expression to one of a pony deep in thought as she watched her unicorn friend. He was about to speak up and ask her what was so interesting when he felt the magic that had been encasing him start to lessen and finally disperse. He took a deep breath, not realizing how… restricted he had felt while Twilights magic was encompassing him.

“Alright, that should do it” The unicorn declared, letting out a tired sigh as the spell dispersed. Both the pony and the human stretched, joints creaking loudly. Andrew got up and sat in a chair close to Autumn, who had been awoken by Twilights declaration.

“Give it to me straight Doc, am I gonna make it?” Andrew joked, trying to hide his nervousness with humor. Twilight just looked at him, rolling her eyes at his dramatics.

“Yes, you’re going to be fine. There was no sign of magical corruption or-

“Wait that was a possibility?!”

“any remaining spells.” Twilight continued, ignoring Andrews interruption. By now the rest of the group had gathered around the two and were listening to the unicorn. “That’s the good news from your first scan. The bad news is that I can’t pick up any unexplained magic around you. Either it never existed, or all the magic you’ve been exposed to over the past few days has erased it. Personally I think it’s the latter, mostly because I can’t imagine a natural occurrence explaining what happened.”

“So no leads on how I got here?” Andrew asked, wanting clarification.

“No. I’m sorry, but whatever spell or magic that brought you here is long gone” Twilight explained. She looked at the human apologetically, sad that she couldn’t help him. “If you hadn’t been on the moon, or hadn’t been blasted by Luna when she healed you…”

Andrew rubbed his face, a sigh breaking through his hands as Twilight's explanation trailed off. The group was silent for a while, no one really sure what to say or to. Finally, Autumn put her hoof on Andrews back, rubbing it comfortingly.

“I’m sorry Andrew” she said quietly. Andrew looked back at her, thanking her with a look and a nod.

“Now hold on just a second, Just cause we don’t know exactly how ya got here, don’t mean we can’t send ya back! I’m sure Twi and the Princesses will come up with somethin’ to get you home! Just have some faith!” Applejack said, trying to keep the mood from slipping into despair.

“That’s right! It may take a while, but we won’t stop working on it until we find a way to get you home!”

Andrew looked at the group, and couldn’t help but smile at the determination he saw. They all had drawn closer, as if to support him by proximity. Even Fluttershy was close, going so far as to put her hoof on his shoulder.

“Thanks you guys, I really appreciate that. I’m okay with waiting, not like I have anything going on at home anyway.” Andrew’s smile grew bigger and more genuine, before realizing that Twilight had only gotten through half of her findings.

“So…what else did you find?”

“Ah, well...” She said, once again looking at her notes. “you have magic.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Andrew blinked, staring at the purple pony, emotion shocked from his face, leaving it blank and unbelieving. “That’s absolutely ridiculous, I don’t have magic.”

“I know it’s unbelievable, but you absolutely do” The unicorn insisted. “I could see the mana pathways throughout your entire body. They aren’t exactly like the ones in a unicorn, but they are similar enough that I could easily identify them. Not only that, but I was able to locate your focus point. It’s your right hand, the same hand you reached out with to block my spell when I… uh attacked you yesterday”

Another silence fell over the group, all eyes on the human’s blank face as he stared at Twilight. Finally he spoke.

“so you’re saying… that I… Andrew Dike…”

“Mhmm”

“have magic?”

“Yes, that is exactly what I’m saying.”

Andrew leaned back in his chair, absorbing what Twilight said. He looked at his hand, then back to Twilight, and again back to his hand. He did this numerous times before Applejack finally had enough.

“Andrew, you okay? Yer actin’ like confused puppy” she said, a mildly worried look on her face. He looked at her intensely.

“Okay? Am I okay? You’re asking me… if I’m okay?” Andrew said, his voice getting steadily louder. “Okay?! I just learned that I’m a FUCKING WIZARD! I’M FAN-FUCKING-TASTIC!”

Andrew jumped out of his chair and began dancing around the room, yelling and screaming in delight. He jumped and spun and shouted curse filled phrases of excitement, only stopping when Twilight managed to snag him with her telekinesis and placed him back into his chair.

“Andrew. Andrew… Andrew!” Twilight said, having to shout in order to finally get his attention. “While I understand your excitement about magic, this poses a particular problem.”

Andrew finally calmed down upon hearing this, although he still has a very large smile on his face.

“Oh come on, don’t go ruining this with your common sense and logic!” he said looking at Twilight in mock indignation.

“I’m not going to ‘ruin’ it for Celestia’s sake!” She started, raising her voice to emphasize how serious she was. “But you need to understand how dangerous this can be. You have the power of a full grown unicorn, maybe even a bit more! But on the other hand, you have the control of new born foal. That’s a dangerous combination to have! You need to be taught control as soon as possible, before you perform a foals spell more dangerous than a half formed bubble shield.”

“Foals spell?”

“It’s a spell that a foal casts instinctually when they get emotional. They can be really unstable, but generally not very powerful” Autumn answered automatically, before getting slightly embarrassed as everyone turned to stare at her, as if she hadn’t meant to talk out loud. “Uh… my little brother is a unicorn?”

“Um… Yeah, that exactly right Autumn, and therein lies the problem.” Twilight explained, after her surprise at earth ponies interjection passed. “For an ordinary unicorn, foal spells are nothing more than an occasional annoyance for the parents. But a foals spell instability combined with a fully grown unicorns power… it could have some poor results.” She paused again, gathering her thoughts as she paced back and forth. “Deeper than that though, is the fact that unicorns are born with an innate understanding of magic, one that keeps foal spells to a minimum, in both frequency and severity. We foster this innate knowledge through practice and tutelage until we can cast conscious, stable spells. We have no idea if a human who is given magic will have that foundation. Which means that instead of foal spells activating in “dire” circumstances, you could cast them whenever you aren’t paying attention, or whenever you get excited past a certain point, regardless if its excitement because you’re scared or any other emotion.” She took a deep breath, her speech almost frantic by the end of her explanation.

The group paused looking at the human anxiously. Both Applejack and Fluttershy took a full step back from the shocked human.

“Oh thanks guys, that’s reeaaaal helpful” Andrew said, giving annoyed looks to both offending ponies. “and Twilight, what part of that exactly didn’t ruin the whole human with magic thing? Cause the way you describe it, I’m one jump scare away from turning everyone into freakin’ frogs.”

“Oh, right. I suppose that does sound pretty severe.” Twilight answered apologetically. “Well…with the proper training, you could learn how to use it, which in turn should curb your tendency to use foal spells.”

“Ah, okay… so I can still be a wizard?”

“I get the feeling you aren’t understanding the severity of the situation or how difficult the training will be, but yes… you can still be a wizard.” Twilight said after letting out a rather loud sigh. “The important thing is that we’ve identified that the magic was coming from you and that there aren’t any spells still connected to you.”

“Huh… well that’s awesome… almost as awesome as being a wizard!” Andrew shouted, once again getting up and dancing around the room, this time making weird arcane gestures and vaguely magic whooshing sounds as he did. This continued for a good moment, while the ponies watched, expressions ranging from the bemusement on Applejacks face, to the exasperation that was practically oozing of Twilight. Suddenly, in a particularly grandiose movement, a spark of red magic flared from his hand, and a book across the room glowed. It jerked towards him at an incredible velocity, smashing into his chest and throwing him back onto the floor. The book ricocheted off to the side and smacked into the wall, leaving Andrew a groaning pile of hurt.

The ponies rushed to his side, most of them shouting various concerned words. Fluttershy was the fastest, rushing to his side, checking him for any serious injuries until he waved her off. She sat back as he got up into a sitting position, swearing heavily and rubbing his chest.

“God dammit Twilight, that’s what you call ‘poor results’?” He finally said after he was done cursing. He was looking at Twilight as he spoke. “Maybe next time you lay a little heavier on that one?”

“You mean like it going ‘terribly, terribly wrong’?” Twilight responded, looking at the human reproachfully, even when helping him up.

“Again with the logic and …” he groaned, trailing off as he got to his feet. He leaned heavily on Autumn as he did. “…you know what, I’ll let it slide this time. I’m in too much pain to be snarky or sarcastic.”

“Are you sure you’re ok Andrew?” Fluttershy asked, her face worried.

“Yeah, I’m ok. Just gonna walk it off…” Andrew said, as he made his way to the door, still holding his chest.

“Good idea, we should go talk to Princess Celestia about what we’ve learned anyway” Twilight said, following him out the door, with the rest of the entourage following behind.

“No. I need a drink. Then we can see Celestia.”

Andrew leaned against the ornately carved railing of the dining room balcony, holding an opaque bottle. Next to him, balanced on the rail, laid an apple core, as well as two empty bottles identical to the one he held. He stood there, occasionally taking sips from the mostly full bottle, admiring the view. In front of him lay a white and golden city, with mountains, rivers and forests beyond that. Far in the distance, in a small plain, he could see a town, barely visible in the distance. He watched the town, until his silent reverie was broken by the not entirely unwelcome return of a pair of ponies.

“We’re back Andrew” Autumn called, accompanied by an ever quiet Fluttershy.

Andrew had been surprised when Fluttershy had agreed to stay with them when Twilight and Applejack had announced they were going off to find Spike. Andrew could only assume was a friend of theirs. He turned around, now leaning against the balcony rail to great the two of them.

“Hey you two, enjoy your lunch?” He asked. The two ponies had elected to eat indoors, both out of preference and because they could both sense the human wanted some alone time to think about everything that was happening.

“Umm yeah, the hay salad was good.” Fluttershy whispered, looking from Andrew to Autumn.

“I suppose I’ll have to take your word for it.” Andrew replied, after chuckling quietly. “I’m pretty sure humans can’t eat hay, we can’t digest it.”

“Really? Well I’m glad I didn’t put that in your breakfast this morning” Autumn said, a smirk on her face. “Although it might have made the past three hours a bit more exciting”

“You’re telling me that meeting the first Equestrian human, watching said human learn he is the first human wizard, then watch him knock himself on his ass wasn’t entertaining?”

“You’re forgetting the three hours we watched you just lay on the ground.” She said teasingly

“Oh please, don’t pretend you weren’t asleep for most of that.” Andrew shot back, enjoying the distracting banter. “I saw you, I hope the librarian wasn’t angry for you drooling all over her book.”

“I do not drool!” Autumn said, a bit flabbergasted. “I am the image of a lady, even when I’m asleep.” Autumn tossed her head at the last part, mimicking exasperation.

“Oh, so do all girls snore here?”

“Okay, I know I don’t snore!”

“Umm… Autumn, can I uh… can I ask my question?” Fluttershy said, her quiet voice still managing to cut into the bickering banter of the other two.

“What? Oh yes, that’s right. Andrew, Fluttershy has an interesting question for you.” Autumn said, as both her and Andrew turn to the yellow pegasus. Fluttershy shied back a bit as they both looked to her.

“Uh yeah okay, sure. What’s up?” He said in the gentlest voice he could manage.

“Well… The thing is…” She started, standing a bit straighter upon hearing his tone. “Well I take care of the animals in Ponyville, so I have experience with lots of different kinds, including… well… meat eaters.” This got a wince out of Andrew. He looked over at Autumn, who simply nodded her head back to Fluttershy.

“I uh… kinda noticed that you have canines, and from what I’ve seen and read, those only show up in animals that eat meat.” She continued, looking nervously at the human. “So do you uh… do you eat meat?”

Andrew looked at the nervous pony, and then to Autumn. The auburn pony looked that the human knowingly, but still nodded back to Fluttershy, encouraging him to explain.

“I suppose that hoping this just wouldn’t come up was a bit of a stretch anyway” He sighed, sitting down against the railing. He took a long drink from the bottle, before beginning. “The truth is that humans are omnivores. We eat both meat and plants, balancing between the two to stay healthy. Now, from what I understand, in this world even the small animals are smart and like... alive in an emotional sense. Where I'm from that's not the case, even remotely. We aren't bloodthirsty monsters torturing our food either. I would never, and will never eat anything that is even remotely conscious on our level. Or even close for that matter.”

“Well than what are you going to do?” Autumn asked.

“I was getting to that Autumn, chill” he said, sticking his tongue out at her. “Luckily, I happen to have dated a vegetarian at one point, so I know what kind of changes I would have to make in order to survive without meat. So, I promise I will not be eating any of your woodland friends.”

As he looked at the two ponies, he was surprised to find Fluttershy wasn’t shying away from fear. In fact, if anything she seemed worried about him!

“Are you sure that’s healthy? It’s important to eat healthy, even if that means… eating meat” She asked, the last part coming out barely a whimper.

“As long as I eat a variety of vegetables, and plenty of protein from nuts and soy, I should be fine.” He explained, keeping to himself how much he would miss eating meat.

“Oh really? that’s good to hear. Should we tell Twilight and Applejack that when they get back?” Fluttershy asked. Andrew winced at that suggestion, not wanting to go through this again. Fluttershy was being very understanding, but he was worried that others wouldn’t be.

“I’m willing to bet that the Princess already explained this to Twilight and.... well I would rather not go into it if I don’t have to, especially if I’m changing what I eat to vegetarian already. But I promise not to hide it if it comes up in the future.”

“Oh I don’t know, I think…” Fluttershy started, but was quickly waved off by the human.

“I understand your concern, but this is my secret to tell, so please keep it between us.” He said the last part while looking at both Autumn and Fluttershy and they both nodded, albeit a bit hesitantly. Andrew took a long swig of his bottle, effectively ending the discussion. He turned back around to the view behind him, once again watching the small town in the distance. The two ponies made their way to the edge, and joined him.

“Hey, you can kinda see Ponyville from here!” Fluttershy said excitedly, grateful for a new subject. “It looks so small.”

“Ponyville? Seriously?” Andrew asked, holding back a laugh at the rather on the nose name.

“Yes, it’s where we live. Well me Twilight and Applejack.” She explained with a smile. “our other friends too.”

“You live in that small town, waaaayy over their?” he asked, pointing in the vague direction of the town. “What are you doing in Canterlot then?”

“Oh I was visiting a family friend, Doctor Steady Hooves. He’s actually the one who stabilized you after your… arrival. Whenever I see him, I share some of my natural remedies with him and he shares some stuff like bandages and more modern medicine.”

“Ah, gotcha. So I guess you’re kinda like a vet?”

“uhh… yeah, but not officially, I just like taking care of the animals.”

“Holy shit, is that a midget dragon?!” Andrew practically shouted, pointing dramatically. Spike had come in behind Applejack, munching on a red gem. He looked surprised and offended by Andrews outburst.

“Hey! I’m not a midget dragon, I’m a young dragon!” he shouted back indignantly. “and you don’t have the right to call someone a midget, you’re the runtiest minotaur I’ve ever seen!”

“Ooo, I like him!” Andrew said, breaking into a huge smile, and walked over to the young dragon and crouching in front of him. “Sorry about that little buddy, you’re the first dragon I’ve ever met!”

He offered the dragon his hand, which Spike reached out and shook.

“That’s okay, you’re the first human I’ve ever met. Sorry about the minotaur comment, I know that’s not what you are.”

“No harm no foul little dude” He reached out after the hand shake and rubbed the top of Spike’s head, as if he was mussing his hair. “So where have you been, I could have used another guy to talk to.”

“Oh, sorry, I know how that can be” Spike said, wincing. “I was out buying comic books, and getting a snack” the dragon held up his partially eaten gem, sticking the rest in his mouth and crunching.

“Woah, that’s metal.” Andrew said when Spike started crunching his snack, holding up a semi sarcastic horn sign.

“No, it’s a ruby actually. I don’t like metal, it gets stuck in my teeth.”

“Right.” Andrew said, more than a bit flummoxed by Spikes completely serious response. Instead he stood and turned to Twilight. “So introductions are done, shall we go talk to the Princess?”

“Uh, maybe we should wait a little while.” Twilight responded, looking at the bottle Andrew was holding, as well as the few empties.

“What? Oh, this?” he asked, shaking the still half full bottle before tipping it up and draining the whole thing in one go. “I’ll be fine”

“Andrew, take it easy!” Twilight said admonishingly “I understand you’re under a lot of stress right now, but drinking isn’t the solution to that. Self medica-”

“Whoa nelly, your certainly a stick in the mud! Lighten up Twilight!” Andrew said, smile evident and shared by Autumn and even Applejack. “Look, you don’t even know the drinking limits of a human, how could you know that I should ‘take it easy’? I’ll have you know that ‘this’” he said while shaking the now empty bottle “is very good for a human, especially if it’s all natural.”

“W-well that’s too bad. You’re in Equestria now, so you’ll follow our rules. From now on no drinking like this in public!”

“Damn. Fine, if you’re sure.” Andrew said, a small smile still on his face. He pushed off from the railing, grabbing two of the empty bottles and the apple core before walking to the balcony door. “I promise I’ll be on my best behavior, despite how much I’ve drank.”

With an aggravated sigh, Twilight relented.

“Fine, let’s get going, but don’t come crying to me when Princess Celestia gets mad at you.”

“Oh I’m sure I won’t have to worry about that. Oh and Twilight, mind grabbing that last bottle?” he asked, reaching the door and pushing it open. With another sigh, Twilight levitated the bottle, pulling it closer. Out of curiosity she brought it to her nose and took a tentative sniff.

“Hey! Wait a minute, this is apple juice!”

“You know” Twilight said, talking to Applejack as the group made its way to Celestia’s office. The two ponies were hanging back, with Autumn Song leading the rest of the group further along. “you could have told me it was just apple juice”

“ah know hun, but it was some harmless fun. Besides, ah had only jus’ recognized the bottle before ya started to talk about it.” The farm-mare said, trying to keep her friend from being to hurt. “Besides that, ya could have asked just asked him what it was, as opposed to jumping to conclusion…”

“Yeah, you right.” Twilight admitted with a sigh. “I suppose I should apologize at some point for jumping to conclusions like that”

Applejack nodded in agreement, before bumping her friend.

“Cheer up sugarcube. Next time ah promise to keep ya in the loop, okay?

“Thanks Applejack” Twilight said, leaning over to nuzzle against her friend for a moment.

“Uh it ah, no p-problem sugarcube” Applejack said, a slight tremor in her voice. “so you said the Archmage will be there to hear what you found?”

“Mhmm! The last time I met an Archmage was when I was a little filly. But back then it was Comet Light, and she retired a year or so ago.” Twilight said, following Applejacks attempt to distract her. “I’m excited to meet her replacement.”

The group re-formed in front of the familiar door, with familiar guard standing next to it. Stalwart simply nodded and opened leaned to open the wooden door, and the group filed in. Celestia was waiting inside, sitting behind her desk in full regalia. She looked the same, if not a bit happier. Twilight realized how much her sister’s disappearance must have been weighing on her for the relief to be visible even now.

“Welcome my little ponies, and Andrew as well! I hope your day has been productive?” The Princess asked. Her soothing, motherly voice put everyone at ease as they found places to sit. Spike chose to sit in the back of the room, opening up one of his new comics to read.

“To a degree Princess. Before I go any further though, shouldn’t we wait for the Archmage?” Twilight asked, not seeing any new ponies.

“Ah yes, that’s right.” Princess Celestia said, looked at the group in front of her. “unfortunately it seems she is unable to make it. She’s a busy mare after all. But do not worry, I will make sure she is kept in the loop.”

Upon hearing this the purple unicorn sagged noticeably.

“Well that’s kinda rude” Applejack said, mostly to herself. Her words weren’t missed by Autumn Song, who couldn’t help but giggle.

“Well in that case, I suppose we should just get into it” Twilight started. “My preliminary scan showed no signs of any still attached spells, so he is clean of anyone’s influence. Unfortunately, it also showed no sign of residual magic. I believe that whatever happened in the hospital, as well as the subsequent teleports overwhelmed and erased any signs of whatever spell might have brought him here.”

“So that means that we have no leads on how to return him to his world?” The Princess asked, looking for clarification.

“Unfortunately, that’s exactly it.”

The white alicorn turned to the human, who seemed intent on making sure his fingernails were clean.

“Andrew, you have my word that we will find a way to get you home. While this is a setback, we will not give up.”

“Thank you Princess” Andrew replied, finally meeting the Princesses eyes. “I really appreciate that.”

“You’re very welcome Andrew.” Celestia nodded, before again looking to her student. “and what about your more in depth scan Twilight? What did that turn up?”

Before Twilight could begin Andrew cut her off.

“Ooooo ooo pick me!” Andrew shouted, his hand raised as he rocked side to side in his seat. He looked hopefully at the Princess, until she motioned to him with her hoof. “I’m a wizard!”

“Really? Twilight, is that true?” Princess Celestia asked, after the rather surprised look passed from her face.

“It is. My in depth scan showed mana pathways very similar to those of a unicorn. We also witnessed it in a rather… spectacular way.” Twilight explained, a small smile working its way to her face. “So far it has been nothing but foal spells. Unfortunately, they have been backed by the same amount of power that a full grown unicorn could wield. Earlier he attempted telekinesis but only succeeded in launching a book into himself.”

“That is a very dangerous combination indeed…” The Princess said, thinking out loud.

“Very much so” Twilight agreed. “He needs a proper mentor to teach him control and soon, before he casts something very dangerous.”

“That seems like the best course of action. I will send out word for teachers who could tackle this amount of… unique circumstances.” The Princess said, looking to Andrew. “is that acceptable?”

“Of course, that’s great!” Andrew said earnestly. “Anything to keep my magic from hurting anyone.”

“Good, I’m glad to hear that Andrew” The Princess Celestia said with a smile.

“That just leaves figuring out how he suddenly has magical talent.” Twilight said, checking a list that seemingly appeared from nowhere.

“Actually, I believe I have an idea as to how this all fits together” Princess Celestia started. “Learning that he has magic is the final piece of the puzzle. As you all know Princess Luna used a rather unpredictable technique to heal our new friend after he was… damaged by his arrival.”

Nods and murmurs of varying levels of understanding went through the group as they listened to white alicorn. Twilight flipped over her list and almost instinctually began taking notes.

“I believe that that the wild magic used in that spell not only healed him, but also gave him magic.” The Princess continued, easily slipping back into lecture mode. “But while it gave him the ability to use magic, it did not fill his magical storage. This essentially created a vacuum, at least in terms of magic.”

“And nature abhors a vacuum!” Twilight almost shouted, excited to have figured out what her teacher was getting at so quickly.

“Exactly my student. And because a spell already connected this vacuum with a rather large amount of magic, namely Luna’s, it just pulled more and more of it in, causing resonance cascade of sorts. That is until Luna managed to cut it off.”

“But he had already absorbed too much. So even after she managed to sever the connection, he was in danger of…” Twilight let her sentence trail off as she turned to look at Andrew. “You must have been in incredible pain!”

“I don’t really remember anything in between impact and waking up on the moon” Andrew said with a shrug. “but by the sounds of it that may be a good thing.”

“Magical overload is one of the most painful things that can happen to a unicorn, and you were drawing from one of the largest pools of magic in Equestria!” Twilight exclaimed. “how you didn’t just explode is a miracle!”

“I think I might have actually, but after I got to the moon.” Andrew said, clearly not happy with himself. “There was a rather large crater not far from where Luna and I were. I checked it out while she was sleeping.”

“Ah, my sister was hoping you hadn’t noticed that.” Princess Celestia said, a rather sad look on her face.

“Wait just a minute here. You blew up?” Applejack said, thoroughly confused by this point. “that doesn’t make any sense”

“He didn’t explode per say, but all that energy would have had to have gone somewhere ” Twilight said, trying to explain to her friend. Behind applejack was an equally confused Fluttershy. Autumn Song on the other hand seemed to be having no trouble keeping up, either that, or she wasn’t paying attention at all.

Through all this Andrew didn’t know what to say. He couldn’t believe that he had been this close to causing that much damage. That crater had been massive, and if it had gone off in canterlot who knows how many peop-ponies may have gotten hurt. Now not only did he feel guilty for hurting Luna, but for almost destroying a castle! This was terrible, horrible, inexcusable and…

“Andrew Dike. Are you listening?”

The Princesses voice managed to cut into Andrews emotional spiraling, and he jerked his head up to meet her gaze.

“As I was sayingAndrew, you are in no way to be held responsible for what *could* have happened” Princess Celestia insisted. “in fact, you should be commended.”

“Commended? Commended for what?” Andrew asked, clearly confused.

“Somehow you managed to communicate with my sister that you needed to be far away from anyone you could harm” She explained. “You were in so much pain that you couldn’t speak, and yet you managed to communicate through
my sister’s horn that you needed to be far far away. That is extremely commendable.”

“Thank you Princess.” Andrew said, forcing a smile onto his face. “I’m just glad I don’t have to worry about that happening again.”

Celestia was about to reply when the stone on her necklace began to glow. She placed her hoof against the stone, murmuring something under her breath. A smile sprouted on her face, and she looked at her ponies with obvious happiness.

“I have good news everyone. Luna is awake, and she would like to see you all!”

Author's Notes:

Hey guys!

So im starting school again tomorrow, so things might slow down for awhile. :/
that being said, I'm having a lot of fun, so this isn't going to just disappear!

and for en extra surprise! i had some free time earlier to i present to you...
(trumpets)

Autumn Song!
http://imgur.com/8Jkw9lb,RNPO0gg,WW3nEFz#0

This is how i see her in my head, so i figured ide share it with you so you can picture her the same way. let me know what you think, i might end up doing this for every OC pony i make.

thanks for your support guys!

Edit: alright, I've been convinced. I need some editors, anyone want to volunteer as tribute?

Healing: 7

The group of excited ponies, along with Spike and Andrew hurriedly made their way through the halls to Celestia’s bedroom, where Luna was waiting. They were led by Princess Celestia, though at this point they had spent so much time walking the castle halls the past few days, even Andrew could have lead the group there. The Princess walked with a spring in her step and a smile on her face. She was obviously glad that her sister was finally awake and had no problem showing her happiness. In fact, almost the whole group was in good spirits as they walked the marble halls. Autumn chatted with Fluttershy, talking about some of the people she had met while working at the castle. The auburn pony had integrated into the group remarkably well, aside from the occasional slight frown that would form on Applejack's face when she thought no one was looking. The happy chatting continued down the line, but petered out at the final pony in the group, Twilight. Andrew noticed this, and slowed down to walk beside her.

“You’re afraid she’ll still be angry for attacking me, aren’t you?” He asked. She looked at the human, worry and guilt plain as day.

“Yes, of course I’m still worried. I don’t know how you managed to forgive me so easily, but Princess Luna is…”

“Stubborn, spiteful and unforgiving?” Andrew finished nonchalantly. Twilight practically stumbling over her own legs from shock as Andrew so easily insulted one of her Princesses.

“Andrew! You cannot say things like that about-” she started, her voice angry and chastising despite it being a whisper.

“Alright, alright, just calm down.” He said, cutting off her tirade. “Look, the point is that Luna is a pony just like you. Her job may be important and she may be a bit taller than you, but she is still capable of getting agitated and saying things she doesn’t really mean, just like everyone else. I bet you anything that she is supremely distraught over how she spoke to you.”

Twilight looked at the human in surprise, not used to him being so… insightful. She mulled over his words as he patted her back and hurried to rejoin the group. Ignoring his oddly worded reassurance, she continued to look worried and nervous, though she didn’t hang her head nearly as low.

The group reached the door to the Princesses room not long after Twilight and Andrews conversation, and Princess Celestia hurriedly pushed the door open, ignoring the guards on either side. As they followed the white alicorn inside, Andrew got his first look inside her room. It was surprisingly simple, with an artistically shaped fireplace off to the side, a few tapestries hung from the wall and stacks of books and scrolls placed here and there. In the middle of the room was a large, circular bed where Luna sat. Immediately Princess Celestia swooped to hold her sister. The dark blue alicorn stood easily, happily returning her sisters hug. They separated after a long moment and Luna turned to the group, soon focusing her gaze on Twilight. Everyone was quiet as she walked to the nervous unicorn and stood in front of her for a long tense moment. Twilight looked at the ground, too nervous to meet Luna’s gaze. Suddenly Luna leaned in and wrapped her in tight hug, surprising her friend who let out a yelp at the sudden embrace.

“Oh Twilight, please forgive us for what we said. We were angry and surprised at what you had done, but it doesn’t excuse us for being so harsh.” Luna said, sadness and shame in her voice.

“Princess…” Twilight trailed off, shocked that Luna was apologizing to her, while not seconds ago she had been afraid she wouldn’t accept her apology. “but I was the one who acted so hastily.”

“Yes, that is true” Luna agreed. “but we don’t think you deserved such harsh words.”

“Well…of course I forgive you Princess Luna, as long as you forgive me for being so hasty.”

“Thank you friend.” Luna said, letting out a relieved sigh “Ever since we awoke we have been supremely distraught. We thought you may not forgive us.”

Twilight gave an odd look from the Luna to Andrew, but remained silent.

“We assume that you two have also made peace?” Luna, catching Twilight’s look but missing any meaning.

“Of course!” Andrew beamed, walking to the two and ruffling Twilights hair. She looked very annoyed, but Andrew pretended not to notice. “We’re best buddies now! She even helped figure out what happened when she tried to kill me.”

“Really?” Luna asked, looking to the pair, her curiosity peaked. “And what has thou learned?”

“I’m a-

“It seems that the spell you used to heal him gave him magic. He has mana pathways similar to a unicorns running through his whole body.” Twilight said, cutting off the human. She smirked when he turned to stare at her, his mouth agape at her betrayal.

“Next time tell me its apple juice first.” She said to him under her breath.

“Truly? You can perform magic?” Luna asked, her eyes wide. “We saw you cast your crude shield when we first arrived home, but we had not imagine thou was mage.”

“Wizard, I prefer wizard.” Andrew said with his arms crossed, still grumpy from Twilights revenge. “not that I have any control over it.”

“Control isn’t all he lacks at this point. He doesn’t have a unicorn’s instinctual understanding of magic.” Twilight explained. “Earlier today he attempted to levitate a book and only succeeded in knocking himself over with it.”

“It really hurt too” Andrew complained as rubbed his chest, wincing.

“That does sound most serious, levitation is one of the most basic spells and many foals learn how to do it safely at a few years of age.” Luna said, deep in thought. “We suppose he would need a rather good teacher to compensate for that…”

“Indeed sister, we decided upon that earlier. Word has already been sent to the Canterlot’s unicorn school, as well as Manehattan’s.” Celestia interjected. “We will have him a proper tutor in several days.”

“That long huh?” Andrew said, slight disappointment on his face. He had been looking forward to learning how to control his magic as soon as possible. “Well that kinda sucks. At least I can hang out with you guys.”

He looked happily to his new friends, only to find all four of them looking awkward and guilty.

“Seriously guys? You didn’t tell him?” Spike asked admonishingly. He had been sitting against the wall, finishing his comic book when he had heard Andrew.

“We were workin’ on it Spike” Applejack replied, looking a bit guilty. She turned back to the human. “Andrew we all gotta get home tomorrow. Ma brother needs help with the cider makin’, Fluttershy needs to get home fer the animals an’ Twilight needs to run the town library.”

“And I have work to take care of as well, I’m going to be real busy for the next few days.” Autumn Song added, while all four of them muttered apologies.

“It’s okay guys, don’t worry about it.” Andrew said, rubbing his face. “it just hadn’t occurred to me yet. I should have guessed as much when Fluttershy mentioned you all live in Ponyville.”

Fluttershy walked to the human, looking up at him worriedly.

“Are you sure you’re going to be alright by yourself? I would hate for you to be lonely.” She asked. “Maybe if I could find another babysitter for a day I could stay a bit longer?”

“No that’s alright Fluttershy, I can’t ask you to do that. I’ll be fine, I promise” Andrew assured her. She was about to tell him it wouldn’t be any trouble when Princess Celestia spoke.

“Actually Fluttershy, I have a better idea. What if Andrew went with you three, back to Ponyville?” She suggested. “Then you can introduce him to your other friends.”

.

“But what about learning about magic?” Andrew asked, looking back at Celestia curiously.

“Most likely we can find a tutor who will be willing to travel to Ponyville as a favor to the Princesses” she said, smiling. “and if not, then you can consider it a short trip.”

Andrew began to speak, but had the urge to look back at Luna, who had walked around the room, and seemed to be pacing, still deep in thought.

“Something on your mind Luna?” he asked, everyone turning to look at the alicorn. She returned the look, and she seemed to make up her mind.

“Yes, but we would prefer to have that conversation in private, between yourself, my sister and I.” she started, looking very serious. “My apologies friends, perhaps you could go and await us in the dining hall and we shall join you for an evening meal.”

The group of ponies looked at each other in surprise, before Twilight spoke up.

“Of course Princess Luna. C’mon everypony.”

As the group left, they cast curious glances back, while both Andrew and Princess Celestia looked at Luna quizzically.

“What is it Luna?” she asked. “I can’t imagine anything about this that we should keep private from Twilight or her friends.

“In short, we agree with you sister. We cannot think of a better place for Andrew than Ponyville” Luna said, jumping straight into what was on her mind.

“…That’s good Luna, but why-”

“But there is no need to find him a tutor, for we shall be his mentor.” Luna stated in no uncertain terms. “We trust no other in this task”

“…While I don’t disagree that you would be a great teacher dear sister, this matter requires near constant attention, which you cannot do from Canterlot.” The elder sister pointed out after pausing to consider what she had said.

“Once again we agree. That is why we shall be accompanying him until he is fully trained.”

Both Princess Celestia and Andrew looked at the dark blue mare in surprise. The room was silent, so much so that they could hear the sound of clinking metal at the guards outside in the hall shifted positions.

“Luna, I appreciate your enthusiasm for our new arrival, but you cannot-”

“But we must. For we caused his new predicament, so we shall be the ones to instruct him until he can control his magic.” Luna said, interrupting her sister.

“Luna you cannot just drop everything to go on another adventure, you have responsibilities here.” Princess Celestia replied.

“This has naught to do with adventure, it is about dealing with the repercussions of our actions.”

“I understand that Luna, but what of the night court? What of the ambassador from Saddle Arabia? You have responsibilities here that you must attend to.”

“No sister, we have busy work! Things you decided are easy enough for your little sister, and that won’t drag us out of your sight for more than a few hours.” Luna said, her voice rising slightly. Andrew simply looked back and forth between the two sisters, shocked at how this was developing.

“I’ve only been trying to ease you back into the world Luna, a process that would take much less time if you took it seriously instead of-”

“We are not a foal! While we may still not fit perfectly into this world, we do not require hoof holding!”

“Luna why must everything be an argument with you? I am only trying to help, but you refuse to change or accept your full responsibilities!” Princess Celestia said, matching her sister rising volume.

“We resort to arguments because you are oblivious to the more subtle attempts at explaining-”

“I am not oblivious Luna, you have just never-”

“Uh guys, why don’t we calm-” Andrew started, trying to diffuse the situation, but quickly being overridden by the rapidly escalating argument.

“You are! If you would stop working and listen to us you might understand that-”

“I understand just fine, you refuse to accept the responsibilities of being a leader, and-”

“Responsibilities as you define them sister, you know very well we disagree about our role-”

“C’mon you two, arguing won’t-”Andrew said as he tried again to interrupt, only to be completely drowned out by the rising volume. He could feel his frustration rise alongside theirs.

“Do not start that again! We are both leaders, we cannot just shirk our responsibilities-”

“It is not shirking responsibility to let our subjects take a more active role in governing-”

“It is when it leads to chaos!“

“Freedom is more important than-“

“Order leads to freed-“

“Oh for fucks sake shut up!” Andrew shouted, a spark of magic dancing across his throat for barely an instant. The two sisters were buffeted by his yell, their hair whipped around by its force. Stacks of books fell down behind them and scrolls were blown this way and that. The sisters stood in stunned silence, both staring at the clearly aggravated human.

“Both of you just shut up for one second!” He shouted again, after a loud cough. “Your arguing is pointless, so both of you just chill the fuck out and take some deep breaths.”

He waited and watched as the two alicorns looked at each other, faces still surprised. After a minute or so of silence, and once he was satisfied that they had done as he asked Andrew turned to Princess Celestia.

“Princess, you have no right to tell Luna what she can and can’t do. For one thing, she is her own woman and for another, she is the co-ruler of Equestria. You are equals and therefore you can’t demand anything from her.”

Celestia glumly nodded, seeming to realize how embarrassing their little argument had been. Luna began to smirk, until Andrew turned to her.

“However Luna, by that fact you cannot pretend you don’t have responsibilities. Whether you like it or not you are co-leader of this place, to jump up and run off to some quest, no matter how important the quest may be, is blatantly irresponsible.”

Luna’s smirk fell, and she looked as if she might balk at Andrews lecture. Thankfully however, she nodded in agreement after a moment or two. Once again Andrew turned to Princess Celestia and continued.

“Next up, Princess you need to realize just because you have her best interests at heart, doesn’t mean you know what’s best for her. Yes she seems to be having a hard time fitting back in, but you need to realize that your way of helping her back into the world isn’t necessarily the way she wants to be helped. Let her help herself, or ask how you can help”

Andrew immediately looked back to Luna, not even waiting for Princess Celestia to agree.

“And Luna, you need to understand that while it’s an older sibling’s job to help their sisters, they don’t always know how. So take her wanting to help as its intended, instead of focusing on the fact that she doesn’t know what she’s doing. Cause last time I checked, there wasn’t exactly a handbook on how to rehabilitate a sibling that you banished to the moon for a thousand years.”

He paused, taking a deep breath. He closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to solve this conflict before it sparked up again. Both Princess Celestia and Luna watched the human, still in shocked silence.

“Since you guys clearly need to work on compromising only a small amount less than a ton, I’ll show you how it’s done. Tomorrow I’m going to join Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy and go to Ponyville. Luna, you are going to spend the next four or so days getting everything in order here, then you can join us. You’ll spend two weeks with us, then return to Canterlot for a week, taking care of all the work that has built up, and getting ahead of the curve. Then you can come back, and we rinse and repeat. Princess Celestia will make a list of events that you absolutely need to attend so you don’t miss anything important. And finally, because this is undoubtedly put your sister under even more stress, you have to promise to work harder on fitting back in Luna. Step one should be to try and stop switching your pronouns back and forth, it’s beginning to get a bit old.”

Again he paused, looking to the two alicorn expectantly. When they didn’t immediately respond, he impatiently asked “Hello? Thoughts? Opinions? Concerns?”

“We… I think it shall suffice…” Luna managed to get out after Andrew’s prodding. “it is… fair.”

“I… agree. While Andrews negotiations where a bit… brutal, the compromise is fair.” Celestia agreed. “If Luna takes her weeks here seriously, then I see no problem.”

“Great!” Andrew exclaimed with a loud sigh of relief. “Now, since you two have had plenty of time to calm down, anything you want to say?”

The alicorn’s looked at each other, embarrassment at having gotten so angry clear on their faces. Instead of talking they simply crossed the distance between them and hug, fully embracing one another. Their apologies wrapped over each other’s, and when they finally separated they both wore tired smiles, drained but content.

“Shall we join the others for dinner?” Luna asked her sister.

“You both go ahead. I find myself not very hungry at the moment. Please let Twilight and her friends know that I will see them off tomorrow.” The Princess said, turning to the door off to the side of her room. “And Andrew… thank you for your help”

They both nodded, Luna a bit sadly and Andrew in acknowledgment. Luna turned and walked to the door, with Andrew following close by. As they both walked through the door, Luna turned to Andrew and asked. “When did you learn how to use the royal Canterlot voice?”

As the turned the corner, Princess Celestia heard Andrew reply.

“The what now?”

Luna and Andrew were silent while they made their way to dining hall. The silence was awkward and oppressing, with Luna casting furtive glances at Andrew as she tried to figure out what he was thinking. As they reached an intersection Luna made to follow the path to the dining hall, but Andrew cut her off, continuing to walk until he reached a relatively familiar door. He pushed it open, entering his temporary room, and motioned for Luna to follow. As she walked past him into the room, he shut the door behind her and made his way to a chair. He spun it around and sat down, leaning against the back with his arms crossed. Luna stood not far away, trying very hard not to seem as shaken as she was.

“So…” Andrew began, clearly not sure what to say. “Want to explain what that was?”

“A simple spat between siblings.” Luna said dismissively “they are common enough that it shouldn’t be surprising.”

“Yes, I’m aware that small fights between siblings are pretty common, lord knows I had plenty with...” Andrew said, quickly starting again. “The point is that I sure as hell know wasn’t some simple spat.”

Luna’s eyes widened with surprise and she asked “Andrew, do you have a sibling?”

“Uh… kinda.” he answered with a wince. He hadn’t meant to say that.

“Why have you never spoke of them? And for that matter, why have you never mentioned your family at all?” Luna said, realizing it was true as she tried to recall any time he had mentioned them.

“Because I don’t talk about them.” Andrew explained. “and besides, we aren’t talking about me, we are talking about you. What was that about?”

“But Andrew, to not talk of your own family is-” Luna began, before the words died in her throat. The look on Andrews face was pleading, desperate for Luna to drop the subject. “Alright, I shall not pry”

“Thank you.” Andrew said, before rubbing his face and letting out a tired sigh. “Will you tell me what is happening between you and your sister?”

“We have been… at odds lately. When I returned from my banishment and was separated from Nightmare, my sister believed the problem to be solved.” Luna began to explain, as she walked around the room. “She never expected how broken I would be.”

Luna’s tone grew heavy, a slight waver in her voice that Andrew almost missed.

“In the beginning of our exile all we did was sleep. So deep was our slumber that we did not dream or notice the passage of time.” Luna said, her voice tight as she recalled painful memories. “But, during the end of our banishment the bonds weakened, to the point that eventually we were able to escape. But before we could manage that, our deep slumber ended. I awoke fifty five years before the spell that held Nightmare finally broke down, and she regained control. During that time all I could do was wait.

“Luna, I had no idea-”

“Tis alright Andrew, while the memory are not pleasant, the healing has been long in the making.” Luna said reassuringly. “When I returned, my sister wished to keep me close. For one month I stayed in the castle, trying to entertain myself. By the end of that first month, I almost cracked into insanity. I felt trapped, like I was back on the moon, counting the minutes and seconds with no end in sight. So I left.”

“Left were?” Andrew asked.

“Everywhere. In disguise I traveled all over Equestria, even outside of it. I would raise the moon from were ever I was and I would return to the castle to assuage my sister’s worries and to attend some important events. But mostly I tried to fill the void I felt in my heart for the many years I spent alone. When I finally returned to stay, not even a full year ago, I tried to fit into my sister’s world as a true co-ruler of Equestria, but by then…”

“Your heart wasn’t in it?” Andrew finished for her.

“Yes.” Luna confirmed. “During the almost two years I was traveling I connected with so many ponies. Some of them I trusted so much that I revealed who I truly was. I still correspond with quite a few of the ones that I did. But when I returned, and took a seat on the throne next to Celestia, I felt so disconnected. I was unapproachable, to be revered and respected. I do not blame them for it, but I do not enjoy it. Celestia understands this, but to her it does not matter. To her, it is our duty to rule and guide our little ponies and to maintain… order.”

“I can understand why that would cause some friction.” Andrew said, scratching his chin in thought. “Thank you for sharing all of this with me Luna.”

“Nay Andrew, thank you for listening, and for treating me like an actual pony, rather than an idol to put on the shelf.”

“Oh now that’s not a problem” Andrew said “I was never one for hero worship. I do have one question though.”

“What is it?”

“You spoke of nightmare as if she was a tangible being, but when others have mentioned it, and when you talked about it when we were on the moon, you explained it like it was part of yourself.”

Luna thought deeply on his question, and Andrew got the sense she wasn’t thinking of the answer, but deciding how much of the answer to tell him.

“Nightmare is a separate being. She took advantage of a time of weakness to convince me to merge with her in order to get what I wanted.” She explained. “I regret that weakness every moment of every day.”

“Why the smoke and mirrors then? And where is she now?” Andrew asked.

“My sister and I felt it was best to leave that part of the story out, in order to protect other secrets, as well as to prevent panic. As for where she is, we do not know and not for lack of looking.” Luna said, pausing over her words as she chose them carefully. “I am sorry, it is not that I don’t trust you, but there are some things that…”

“Don’t worry, I understand. You’re a princess, which means sometimes you just can’t share some things.”

“Thank you for being so understanding Andrew. And thank you for helping settle our argument. You handled it very well, even if you were a bit… loud.”

“No problem, I hate seeing siblings fight. Besides, seeing both sides of an argument is something I’ve always been good at.” Andrew said as he stood up and looked at the clock hung on the wall. “So, should we go meet the others?

“Yes, I believe that is a good-” Luna started, before being interrupted by a loud rumbling from her stomach. “-idea.”

Andrew laughed as he opened up the door and followed the dark blue alicorn through.

“We’d better hurry or I’m gonna end up having to carry you there.”

When the two finally arrive at the dining hall, Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike had all sat down on one corner of the large main table. When Applejack caught sight of them, she sat up and waved to the duo.

“Over here!” She shouted, easily getting their attention in the quiet hall. The two made their way to the group of three ponies and a dragon.

“Hey guys, what happened to Autumn?” Andrew asked as he plopped into the seat next to Spike, who’s head was still buried in his comic book. Luna sat beside him, getting comfortable before getting the attention of the waiter with a wave of her hoof.

“She left not too long ago, said she had some work to do.” Twilight answered as the waiter came around. “What about Princess Celestia, is she on her way?”

“No, she claimed she wasn’t very hungry.”

“Oh… well that’s okay, maybe I’ll see her tomorrow.” Twilight said, more than a little downtrodden.

“As a matter of fact, you will. Celestia asked for us to inform you she will be present to see you off” Luna said to the crestfallen unicorn. Before Twilight could respond, the waiter arrived and began taking everyone’s orders. He made his way around the group, spending extra time once he arrived at Luna.

“May I interest you in the chef’s special Princess Luna? The chef has created a lovely cabbage salad with-”

“No thank you, I will have the grilled cheese sandwich with tomato soup.” Luna said, cutting off the waiter’s extravagant description.

“Ooo make that a two, I haven’t had that in forever!” Andrew included excitedly. “Oh and flour only in the bread, no oats for me. Gotta keep my girlish figure!”

The waiter gave the human a rather blank expression of annoyance before leaving to give the chef their orders. An awkward silence fell over the group, and both Luna and Andrew could tell that the others desperately wanted to ask about the private meeting. Applejack was the first to break the silence.

“Ah know you asked fer privacy but…”

“… Is everything alright?” Twilight asked, finishing Applejacks sentence before she could end it with something more intrusive.

“Yes, everything is fine, thanks in no small amount to Andrew.” Luna answered, momentarily brushing Andrews shoulder with her wing.

“Oh… well that’s good.” Twilight said, looking at Andrew with a raised eyebrow, who discretely waved off any more questions once again the group settled into silence, this time slightly less heavy.

“Are you still coming to Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked Andrew, breaking the silence again.

“We will both be going to Ponyville.” Luna answered for him.

“Really?! That exciting news Princess.” Twilight said after she recovered from her surprise, an emotion that her fellow Ponyville citizens shared. “Why is that though?”

“We… I shall be Andrews’s new teacher, until he has mastered his new abilities.” Luna explained “and that would be difficult to do from Canterlot.”

“That’s… fair enough I suppose” The lavender unicorn said. “Well… I’m sure Ponyville will be glad to host a Princess for a while. Celestia knows Rarity will love every minute that royalty graces our town.”

“Yer gonna get a lot of attention ma’am” Applejack said, a worried tinge to her voice. “not every day a Princess comes to town.”

“I am aware, it is something that I have grown… more used to over the years. I do not overly enjoy such treatment and I am hoping that over time it will subside.”

“You… you don’t enjoy being a Princess?” Fluttershy asked quietly.

“I…do not enjoy the separation from everyone else.” Luna explained simply after a pause. Again silence fell over the group, this time a thoughtful pause instead of awkward.

“Which is why you always insist I call you just Luna.” Twilight mumbled, having put it together in her head.

“I told you so!” Spike shouted, having put down his comic for a second. “See Luna, I’ve got your back.”

“Thank you young Spike, I appreciate your candidness” Luna said with a smile. “In all honesty I understand why our subjects treat us as they do. We-”

Her next words were cut off by the arrival of their food and drinks. The waiters quickly placed the sandwiches and salads around, placing drinks for each of them. Andrew took his sandwich and dipped it into his soup, before taking a large bite.

“Where are you going to be staying?” Fluttershy asked as she poked at her food.

“Uhh… good question”

“We keep a small house maintained in Ponyville for when ponies stay there on official business.” Luna answered. “It should suit our needs quite well.”

“That’s good, ah thought I was gonna have ta put him up in our barn” Applejack said with a grin, obviously kidding.

“Seriously? That was an option?” Andrew asked a tad worried.

“Of course not, you would have stayed in my spare bed” Twilight assured him. “Though I should point out Spike snores very loudly.”

“You’re not exactly quiet yourself!” Spike shot back, taking a break from gorging himself on a rather large plate of gem salad.

“I-I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Twilight shouted, a rather obvious blush on her cheeks.

“Well thanks anyway, I think I prefer it this way” Andrew said through a choked back laugh. “Though it’s gonna make paying for it a bit difficult.”

“Pay for it?” Luna insisted. “We already own the building, there is no need to pay rent.”

“Then I’ll pay for our food. I may be lazy but I’m not a freeloader. I’m sure I can find a job eventually… hopefully. And besides, it will give me something to do when you’re back here.”

“Well worse comes to worst, you can work at Sweet Apple Acre’s, I’m sure we can find something for you to do.” Applejack offered

“Thanks Applejack, I may have to take you up on that sometime soon.”

“Wait, what do you mean ‘back here’? Twilight asked out of curiosity.

“Luna is gonna have to commute back and forth every two weeks.” Andrew explained. “She may be my new teacher, but she still has responsibilities here.”

“For now, I shall remain here, while Andrew goes with you all tomorrow.” Luna said, continuing on Andrews’s explanation. “After a few days I shall join you.”

“Wow, this is exciting” Fluttershy said with as much enthusiasm as her quite nature allowed. “I can’t wait to introduce you to everyone!”

“And I can’t wait to meet them.” Andrew agreed. “Although I’m not sure how much more new stuff I can take.”

Author's Notes:

Here you go, Chapter 7!

i had some help editing from 'The rainbow explosion' so thanks to them, though i admit im impulsively posting this before it *technically* done editing. but ive gone over it several times, so it should be ok.

Im still looking for another editor, and I'm also looking for a better cover art picture. any volunteers will receive my immense gratitude!

Goodbye: 8

The group continued to chat, long after they had all finished their meals. Eventually Twilight, Applejack and Fluttershy decided to hit the hay, which left Luna and Andrew looking over the same balcony that he had eaten at earlier in the day. They watched the moon and stars in amicable silence for quite a while.

“I like your sky Luna, it looks amazing” Andrew finally said. “So do you control every star or...?”

“Not all, but quite a few.” Luna replied. “I would show you, but my horn is far from recovered.”

“Yeah, how’s that doing?”

“Imagine knowing you could pick up something, but not being able to because your arms are tied behind you back. And trying to move your arms causes no small amount of pain”

“Ah, so pretty good?” Andrew.

The two chuckled to themselves, before once again falling into a friendly quiet.

“I never did get to properly thank you for sparing me from Twilight's spell when we first returned” Luna said a few minutes later.

“Eh, it was nothing. I knew you were exhausted so I took one for the team.”

“Never the less, it was very selfless of you.”

“What can I say, I’m kinda an awesome person”

“I believe we should be the judge of that.” Luna said, teasing the human. “You are definitely losing marks for your less than clean language.”

“Hey, I’m an adult! I’ve earned the right to curse through years of being yelled at and grounded for cursing.”

“One would think that would dissuade you from foul language.” Luna said in between her laughter.

“What can I say, I’m a stubborn ass.”

Instead of replying, the princess of the night let out a loud yawn, accented by ruffling her feathers.

“Alas, it seems I am still recovering, else I would stay with you until you retired.”

“It’s okay, I should probably head to bed as well. It sounds like tomorrow is gonna be a hell of a busy day.”

“Sound reasoning my new student.” Luna agreed. “I trust you can find your way to your room?”

“Yeah, I got it. Goodnight.”

“Goodnight, I shall see you tomorrow before you leave. Someone has to make sure Celestia makes it to the station in time.” The dark blue alicorn said as she walked through the balcony doors, giving the human one more wave before heading off. The human stayed for a few minutes after, before sighing to himself and heading to his room.

The next day, Andrew stood next to an anxious Twilight Sparkle, who was once again going through the contents of her saddle bag for what seemed like the hundredth time. They were at the railroad station, and head been there for the past two hours. She listed off supplies as she floated them back into the bag, while a bored Spike checked them off of a list, or at least pretended to.

“-Quills, ink, and parchment in case I want to make a list on the train, my coin purse to pay for the ticket, back up quills and ink, a few books from the royal library-”

Twilight continued to drone on, packing a surprising amount of things into her saddlebags, all while Andrew looked around the railroad station. Quite a few ponies were walking around, especially for this early in the morning. Many of them stared at the human, a few even cringing when he let out a rather large and deep yawn.

“I still don’t understand why you thought it was necessary to get here two hours before we can even buy tickets.” Andrew said, rather annoyed as he turned back to the lavender unicorn, who seemed to be poised to begin another re-check. “Clearly no one else thought that necessary.”

“Hmm? Oh, well you can never be too careful.” She said. “Besides, you didn’t complain when I woke you up.”

“That’s ‘cause I assumed you were a decent person and weren’t getting me up two hours early!” Andrew complained. “C’mon Spike, back a brotha up.”

“You probably shoulda mentioned we were going early Twi’” The young dragon agreed.

“Oh stop being such foals” Twilight said, rolling her eyes at the both of them.

“Twilight, if we are going to be friends you need to understand how seriously I take my sleep” Andrews said, his tone mockingly serious. “I’m a night person, so waking me up before nine is pretty dangerous.”

“Wow, you’re gonna get along great with Rainbow Dash” Spike said.

“Probably, if either of you stay awake long enough for me to introduce you.” Twilight said, as she rolled her eyes. “And by the way, the reason why no one else is here is because I volunteered to get here early to get everyone’s tickets.”

“So why did you bring me then!?” he said, clearly exasperated with her. Before she could answer him, a shout came from one of the many booths.

“Twelve-thirty south, now selling tickets for the twelve-thirty southbound train, Las Pegasus, Appleloosa, Ponyville and Dodge Junction!” The smartly uniformed stallion shouted.

“That’s us! I hope that not all of the private cars have been reserved.” Twilight said hopefully, as the trio got into line. A few ponies managed to get there before them, but they were still very close to the booth. Better yet, the line was moving relatively fast, and soon they were only behind two ponies.

“How much am I gonna owe you by the way?” Andrew asked Twilight as the couple in front paid for their tickets. “I can’t pay you now, but I want to eventually.”

“A private car is a lump sum, so you won’t have to worry if…” Twilight trailed off as two ponies walked down the line, heads held high, as they cut into the line right in front of them. As the couple before them walked away, tickets in hoof, the new duo walked up to the booth. Twilight shook her head and looked away, while Andrew looked from her to the new members of the line.

“Uhhh, am I missing something?” Andrew asked, wondering if there was some sort of cultural reason behind the two fancily dressed ponies cutting in front of them.

“Hush Andrew, don’t worry about it.” Twilight said under her breath.

“Oh, so they are just cutting? Fuck that, I ain’t havin’ it.” Andrew said, stepping closer to the booth, holding his hand up to stall the ticket vendor. “What are you-“

Andrew’s complaint was quickly cut out by a magenta glow around his head. The offending ponies looked back at the shouting human, as he attempted to be heard outside of the bubble Twilight had cast.

“I’m sorry about that, please go on ahead.” Twilight said as her magic expanded around him and pull him back to his original place next to her.

“Keep better control of your… pet” one of the two ponies, a mare, said before turning back to the booth. “Really, what use is a malformed minotaur anyway, so uncouth.”

Andrew looked at Twilight through the bubble that surrounded him. He crossed his arms, clearly upset with her. The unicorn ignored him however, patiently waiting for the line cutters to get their tickets and leave before releasing him. She half expected him to immediately shout at her, or even to go after the two fancily dressed ponies as they walked away. Instead he just stood there looking annoyed, his arms crossed.

“Oh don’t be so upset Andrew. I understand why you wanted to say something, but they were obviously part of the Canterlot nobility.” She explained. “They’re more trouble than they’re worth.”

“That doesn’t mean someone shouldn’t put them in their place. It’s not fair to let them get away with shit ‘cause they think their special!”

“It wasn’t worth the trouble Andrew, trust me. I used to live here, I know how trying to reason with them goes.”

“It has nothing to do with trouble Twilight, I just don’t like letting people off the hook like that. It isn’t fair.”

‘ “I know, I know.” Twilight said, clearly trying to placate him. “But that’s just how it is.”

Twilight talked with the vendor, who eyed Andrew warily as Twilight made her order. He gave her the ticket for their private car, and shouted “Next!”

The trio made their way to a nearby bench and Andrew plopped down on it. He stretched out wide, and yawned before slumping slightly. Spike hopped up next to him, while Twilight stood in front of them, putting the tickets into her saddle bag. Andrew still seemed annoyed at Twilight, and the silence quickly drove her to apologize again.

“Alright Andrew, I’m sorry I kept you from arguing with those ponies. But I was only trying to save you from making a scene.”

Andrew sighed loudly and rubbed his face, almost as if to work the tiredness from it. When he finally finished he looked at Twilight, his expression very serious.

“Twilight, I understand you wanting to help, and I appreciate it.” Andrew began. “but please don’t use magic on me like that again. I’m an adult and I’m perfectly capable of listening to reason, even when I’m angry. There is no need to force me to stop, just explain to me. If I choose to ignore you, that’s my choice and I’ll have to deal with the consequences myself.”

Twilight was once again shocked by Andrew’s the seriousness. Between his sage advice about Luna the day before, and the glimpses she was occasionally catching, Twilight was beginning to realize that there might be more to Andrew other than his sarcasm, humor and tendency to shout.

“Alright, I promise.” She replied simply. After a long pause she walked away from Andrew and Spike, giving the human some space. Spike looked at the human as he leaned forward, once again cupping his face in his hands. Twilight was soon out of sight, and the human sat up and turned to dragon sitting beside him.

“I wasn’t too harsh, was I?” he asked.

“Ummm… I don’t think so?” Spike said after tapping his chin in thought. “In all honesty, you probably had the right to be even angrier with her. Using magic like that on another pony is kinda frowned on. And on top of that Twilight can be… a bit pushy at times.”

“Yeah… I’ll bring it up later, when I’ve cooled down a bit.

“Good call” Spike agreed. “Twilight will probably bring it up again anyways.”

“Fair enough” Andrew said, before changing the subject. “So how long before everyone else shows up?”

“Well…” Spike looked at the notebook he was still carrying from earlier. “According to Twilight’s list, in an hour.”

“Perfect, wake me up when they get here.” Andrew instructed, as he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes.

Andrew sat on a bench, in the middle of a long hallway. His hands shook from anxiety and he felt a lump in his throat, as if he was about to burst into tears. He no idea why he felt this way, just like how he had no idea why this hallway looked so familiar, or why that terrified him. The urge to get up and run screamed throughout his brain, but it felt like the air around him had thickened and was keeping him from doing so. He looked down the hallway, his head slowly turning as if in slow motion.

“Hello? Is anyone there?” He shouted down the hallway, but his voice sounded muted. The end of the hall was dark, and he couldn’t tell how far away it was. Suddenly he heard the sound of footsteps coming from the other end of the hall. Each thunderous step seemed to shaking him to his core, a sense of inescapable dread building with each one. A sudden realization flooded through him

It was happening again.

“NO! Go away, I can’t do this again! Please, I’m begging you, leave me alone!” He screamed, the muffled words doing nothing to slow the approaching horror. The footsteps got closer and closer, until finally they stopped, barely a foot away from Andrew. He struggled to turn his head, fighting the invisible bonds that held him still as a statue. Finally he managed to turn his head just enough to see the man standing beside him. He was clad in a dark blue uniform, a badge on his chest. He placed his hand on his shoulder and Andrew screwed his eyes shut, awaiting the words that would destroy his world all over again.

“Andrew, wake up!”

Andrew’s eyes shot open and practically leapt off of the bench. The sun was bright in his eyes and he was no longer in that terrible, terrible hallway. Instead he stood in a busy railroad station, surrounded by three concerned ponies and a rather confused looking dragon.

“You a’right big guy? You were mumblin’ and tossin’ somthin’ fierce.” Applejack asked from beneath her Stetson.

“Uh yeah.. sorry, just a bit of a bad dream” Andrew explained as he tried to slow his deep breaths. “No big deal.”

“Oh no, a nightmare? That’s terrible!” Fluttershy said, clearly very concerned. She put her hoof on his hand in an attempt to comfort him. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“No it’s alright, I get them sometimes, I can handle it.”

“Wait, you get them often?” Twilight asked. “That’s awful. Maybe you should ask Princess Luna for help, she-”

“No!” Andrew shouted, surprising all of them, including himself, with his volume. “Uh sorry, No that’s not necessary. They aren’t that bad, and they don’t happen very often. I’ll be fine.”

By the look on their face, he could tell that Fluttershy and Twilight wanted to ask more, Applejack cut them off before they could.

“Well a’right sugarcube, if that’s how ya feel about it, we can’t force ya to.”

“I suppose that true.” Fluttershy reluctantly agreed. “But let us know if you change your mind.”

“I will.” Andrew agreed before changing the subject. “So how long was I out?”

“About an hour and a half.” Spike answered. “Twilight felt bad for getting you up so early, so we let you sleep.”

“Oh, well that’s nice I suppose” Andrew. “I’ll consider your apology complete if you get me something to eat”

Twilight sighed while rolling her eyes, but never the less she reached into her saddle bag and pulled out and apple, dropping it into Andrews outstretched hand. He took a large bite, and chewed hungrily.

“thish wone of yoursh?” He asked Applejack with a full mouth. The farmer pony leaned over and sniffed the apple.

“Yup, and ya got lucky! That ones from the northwest field, it came out pretty good this last harvest if I do say ma’self.”

Andrew’s only reply was a groan of enjoyment. He quickly finished the apple and threw it in a nearby trash bin.

“Apology accepted.” He told Twilight, after he patted her head. “So, when are we boarding?”

“Actually, boarding started a few minutes ago.” Twilight said, as she looked around anxiously. “We are waiting for-”

Twilight’s explanation was cut off by a commotion at the opposite end of the station. Gasps and mutterings of amazement made their way through the crowd as Princess Celestia and Luna made their way to the group. Ponies hurried out of their way, kneeling out of respect once they had.

“Friends!” Luna shouted as she increased her pace, making it to the group ahead of her sister. “I hope you are all well this afternoon?”

The quintet responded with agreements and greeting as Luna stopped to stand next to Andrew, who smiled at the alicorn. Twilight looked to her mentor as she made her way to the group at a much more… regal pace. Behind her walked three guards, all walking with rigid attention.

“Princess Celestia, I’m so glad you came to see us off.” Twilight said, smiling ear to ear.

“Of course I came my faithful student, I could not let you leave without saying goodbye” Princess Celestia assured her. “Especially after I missed eating with you all yesterday.”

“It’s a’right Princess, I’m sure you were busy.” Applejack said.

“Indeed I was, I had a rather urgent meeting.” She explained. “Though it still saddened me to miss the meal.”

“There’s always next time Princess” Andrew said.

“I suppose there is.” The Princess said with a warm smile. “Well, as always I am sad to see you all go, but I am sure I will see you again soon.”

Twilight walked to the Princess and gave her a hug. The Princess returned her embrace, wrapping her student in her large wings. She held her like this for a moment, before letting her go. Twilight made to return to the group, but Princess Celestia stopped her with a touch.

“Be safe my student, I shall see you soon.”

“I will Princess.” Twilight responded before returning to the group. Celestia turned, and made her way through the crowd, her guards following closely behind.

“I should take my leave as well, my next few days are going to be very busy.” Luna said, giving Andrew a slight shove to tease him.

“Hey, don’t blame me!”

“I jest Andrew, your compromise was fair and just.” Luna said, before turning to the others. “I shall see you all very soon, expect me in four or five days, depending on how much my control over magic improves over the next few days.”

To prove her point, she attempted to levitate a nearby piece of rubbish. The empty cup glowed, and lifted off the ground, but the spell sputtered out as she tried to move it to the trash bin.

“By the Creator is it annoying!” She muttered through a wince as her spell failed.

“Well, good luck” Twilight said. “And go easy, straining yourself will only make it take longer.”

“Listen to the mare” Andrew ordered, looking at Luna seriously. “Slow and steady wins the race.”

Luna opened her mouth to say something, probably a witty retort, when the train whistle blew, and a conductor shouted “All aboard the twelve-thirty southbound trip! Train leaves in ten minutes.”

“Oh no, that’s our train!” Twilight said anxiously. “I thought we had more time than that!”

“Relax, ten minutes is plenty of time” Andrew said, as he gave Luna a pat on the back. “See you soon Luna.”

“Goodbye Andrew, and goodbye my friends, I look forward to seeing you all in Ponyville.”

The homeward bound group said their goodbyes, before the Princess of the night spread her wings and flew away toward the castle. They all watched her go, before making their way onto the train.

Andrew sat in the private car, watching as trees whizzed by the window. The chairs inside the train were a bit different from what he had seen so far during his stay in Equestria. They were long with a sloping artistic back that made it impossible for him to sit on the inside row and lean back. In fact, he wasn’t sure there was an “inside row”, it seemed like everyone had their own seat. There was plenty of room for a pony to lay down on their stomach, which he now realized was really akin to sitting down to them. Spike was dozing in the corner and while he had tried to join him, Andrew had given up sleeping about an hour ago because the steady jostling of the tracks had kept him awake. So far though, he hadn’t minded much. The view was amazing, every inch of landscaped that passed his window was pristine and beautiful, like it was created from someone’s idea of paradise. Every plain was filled with flowers and every forest filled with greenest healthiest tree’s he had ever seen. Even the track itself seemed to avoid damaging the wilderness, avoiding the hills and forests and yet somehow remaining relatively straight.

“Hey Andrew, mind if ah ask you somethin’?” Applejack asked. She sat in the space across from him, and had been watching the human for a while now.

“Sure, what’s up?”

“Do ya really have no idea how you got here?” Applejack asked after chewing her words for a moment or two. “So far ya seem like a nice enough… human, but you seem awfully fine fer someone stranded in a totally different world. If ah were in your place… ah imagine ah would really be freakin’ out”

“Huh. You’re smarter than you let on, aren’t you?” Andrew said with smile.

“Ah don’t know about that…”

“Well to answer your question I did freak out, you guys just missed a lot of it. Luna did a good job calming me down before we came back.” He explained. “Also, I have some… experience being uprooted and thrown into new places. I’ve never reached terminal velocity during the throwing, but I have learned that it doesn’t help anyone to deny reality. I’m here, so I need to make the best of it.”

“Experience?” Applejack asked, raising her eyebrow. “What do ya mean experience?”

“I… moved around a lot when I was younger.”

“oh, ah gotcha.” The orange earth pony looked satisfied with that answer and she turned to stare out the window.

Andrew looked around the relatively empty car, and observed the other ponies. Twilight sat in the seat behind Applejack and was either asleep or doing a fairly good impression of it. Fluttershy sat in the same section and she was intently reading a book, which Andrew recognized as the same one she had been reading while she waited for Twilight to do her scans the other day. He decided to let the pony read in peace, and instead joined Applejack’s vigil. After a long while Applejack once again looked to the human.

“Do ya miss yer family?”

A long pause followed her question, and Andrew’s gaze remained on the passing scenery. After a while, long enough for Applejack to wonder if she should repeat her question, Andrew answered.

“Every day.”

Time seemed to be going in slow motion for Andrew. He resisted the urge to sigh loudly and instead started to drum his fingers against the side of the booth. The girls were all awake, with Twilight reading a book and Applejack talking to Fluttershy about a new rash of animals that had been eating her crops. So far neither of them had been able to figure out what kind of animal it could have been.

“How much longer Twilight?” Andrew asked at a wine, finally giving into the urge of boredom.

“About three more hours” Twilight said, without looking up from her book.

“What? You said three hours last time I asked!”

“Well, you asked about ten minutes ago.” Twilight shot back, finally looking up to fix Andrew with an annoyed look. “Ask again in ten more minutes and I’ll say ‘about two and a half hours’”

Andrew sighed and crossed his arms, sinking back into his seat.

“Ah know how ya feel Andrew, I don’t like sittin’ still fer so long either.” Applejack said, as she retook her seat across from Andrew. It seemed like her and Fluttershy had finished their conversation, and were now both looking at the human.

“It’s not the sitting still part that bothers me, it’s the freaking boredom!"

“Would you like to borrow a book then?” Twilight asked from behind Applejack. “I’ve got a Daring Do book that I’m bringing back for Rainbow Dash.”

“Nah. I like reading and all but I don’t feel like I could get into a book right now.” Andrew responded as he got up. He stretched his arms up and back, bending backwards as he did. The girls winced as way too many bones cracked and clicked back into place.

“Well, then what would you like to do?” She asked, watching the human walk to the seat across the aisle from hers.

“Why don’t you tell me about Ponyville?”

“Oh, that’s a great idea! Some back ground knowledge never hurt anyone!” Twilight said, easily slipping into lecture mode. “Ponyville was founded in-”

“No no no, not that kinda stuff.” Andrew said, cutting of Twilight. “Like, what are the ponies like, are strangers welcome? Am I gonna have to worry about pitchforks and torches? ‘Cause I’ll warn you now, not so good at running from angry mobs.”

“Oh! Yes, everyone is very nice. I mean, you may get some stares for a while, but they will warm up to you... uh… eventually.”

“Oh well that’s reeaally encouraging...”

“Don’t ya worry Andrew. It’s true that everyone may take some time to get used to ya, but ah can promise that we’ll keep you company until they do.” Applejack assured the worried human.

“And don’t forget about Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. I’m sure they will be your friends too!” Fluttershy said, joining in to support Applejack’s assurances.

“Exactly. Don’t worry Andrew, everything will be fine.” Twilight finished.

“…Thank you guys. I really appreciate all you’ve done for me the past few days.”

“Oh hush ya softie, what else are friends for?”

“I suppose that’s fair enough” Andrew said with a laugh. “So much has been going on, it will be nice to have some time to unwind and digest everything. I feel like my head might explode if anything new happens in the next few days.”

“Well I think you are doing an amazing job dealing with everything.” Fluttershy complimented. “Not everyone could say they calmly made friends after waking up in a new world.”

“It’s certainly ah one of a kind achievement” Applejack agreed.

Twilight slowly closed her book, suddenly looking a bit worried.

“What’s up?” Andrew asked.

“Well… not to change the subject, but I just had a thought. We haven’t warned you about Pinkie Pie. ” Twilight said, looking nervously at her other friends. “She may be a bit… excited to meet you.”

“Oh shoot… ah hadn’t thought of that” Applejack agreed. “I hope she doesn’t ambush you immediately off the train.”

“Wait ambush? The hell are you guys talking about?” Andrew asked, clearly confused.

“Pinkie throws huge parties for everyone new to Ponyville.” Fluttershy explained. "But she can be a bit… intense.”

“I can handle intense, but I’m not a big fan of big parties. I prefer small gatherings.”

“Well I’m sure that she’ll take that into account. She may be intense, but she really is a sweet…” Twilight paused, looking at Andrew, or more specifically the empty seat behind him. “What is that?”

“What is what?” Andrew said as he followed her eyes and looked behind him. There, behind him on his seat was a rather large cupcake on a plate. The cupcake was chocolate and it was adorned with pink frosting, with sprinkles and a few cherry on top. He carefully picked up the plate, holding it as he looked at the others.

“Uhh…that was not here when I sat down.” He said simply, not exactly sure what to think.

All three of the mares looked at each other and simultaneously said “Pinkie Pie.”

“What?”

“Pinkie Pie is ah bit… random.” Applejack said, as if that explained everything.

“Random?” He questioned, clearly not expecting such a simple explanation. “By random do you perhaps mean she sometimes breaks the laws of reality? Cause the seat was empty, and then it wasn’t. That doesn’t happen.”

“Pretty much” They all said together.

Andrew stared at the others, before shrugging and taking a large bite of the pastry. His eyes grew wide and he immediately took another bite. “thish ish amashiing!

“She does have a way with baking.” Twilight said as she levitated the tray to herself. “Huh, now what is this?”

She levitated an envelope that had been under the cupcake, opening it up and pulling out the card within. After putting the tray and the now empty envelope down, she began reading.

“‘Dear Andrew Dike. You are invited to a party to celebrate your arrival at Ponyville! The party will be at the Golden Oaks library at six o’clock tonight. Food and drink will be served, and then there will be cake. And party games, can’t forget the party games! Yours truly, Pinkemania Pie. P.S. I’m glad you like the cupcake, I’ve never put cherries on one before! P.P.S It will be a small party, I promise! P.P.P.S Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Spike, you guys are invited too! ”

The train was quiet after she finished reading, and the human sat there, his mouth hanging open full of the best cupcake he had ever tasted. He swallowed it loudly, pink frosting still at the corners of his mouth.

“Now that just seems like cheating.”

Three hours later Andrew could finally see Ponyville off in the distance. It was getting late, the sun set made it look like a scene out of a movie as the town got closer and closer. The buildings definitely had the ‘small village’ look, with thatched roofs and visible beamed walls. But small town looks aside, it was surprisingly big. As they got closer to the station, he lost count of how many houses they passed.

“Wow, this place is pretty big.” Andrew said as he turned to the girls. They were getting up and stretching, working the kinks caused by the five hour trip. Fluttershy nearly fell over as the train began to slow down in preparation for the stop.

“So” Andrew started after he helped steady the pegasus. “What’s the game plan for tonight? How long do Pinkie Pie’s parties usually last for?”

“Until the last person leaves usually” Twilight said, before giving Andrew a sly look. “Why, I thought you were a ‘night person’”

“I am, I’m just curious how I’m going to get into were I’m staying.” He said, which caused Twilights eyes to widen.

“I hadn’t thought of that…” She confessed. “Well… I suppose you’ll have to stay at my house and we can visit the mayor tomorrow. She will have the key for the house and it wouldn’t hurt to introduce you to her either way.”

As she talked, the train finally came to a stop, the brakes screeching. Spike, who was still asleep, rolled slightly from the stop and would have fallen off of his seat if Twilight hadn’t reached out with her magic and caught him, placing the slumbering dragon on her back.

“Alright, solid plan.” Andrew agreed. “Just please for the love of all that is holy, don’t wake me up until you have to.”

“No promises.” Twilight said as she walked away, a mischievous tint to her voice.

Andrew shook his head, following the three ponies as they made their way to the end of the car. On the other side of the door was another car, this one filled with random ponies, all headed to a different stations. They made their way through the populated car, all the while ignoring stares and the pointing hooves of ponies who had inevitably noticed Andrew. Eventually they made their way out onto the station. The Ponyville station was very small, especially when compared to the canterlot station they had left many hours before.

“Welcome to Ponyville!” Applejack said, bumping into Andrew teasingly as he looked around. “It may not be as pretty as Canterlot, but the people are friendlier, an’ the food is ah heck of ah lot cheaper.”

“It looks… quaint.” Andrew said. “I’ve never stayed long in a small town, I’m not sure how ill deal with no hustle and bustle.”

“I‘m sure you’ll love it here, just give it a chance.” Fluttershy said as she stretched her wings.

“I’m sure I will.” Andrew said as followed the three ponies down the ramp of the station.

As they walked he listened to the three talk about the shops and homes they passed, pointing to the best places to get this and that. The streets were mostly empty, which made sense considering it was around dinner time. However there were a few ponies walking the streets, and almost all of them stopped to stare at the group walked by. One of the ponies even tried to hide behind a row of shrubs.

“Ok, that’s it.” He muttered under his breath as he broke away from the group. He made his way to were the pony was hiding, walking around to squat behind the shrub next to him. From there he could see the pony’s cutie mark, a golden based hourglass.

“It didn’t see me, it didn’t see me, it didn’t-” the scared pony repeated to himself.

“I don’t think it saw us thankfully! Such a weird looking creature!” Andrew whispered to the pony.

“Uh…yeah, I think it might have been a minotaur, but I’m not-” The pony stopped mid-sentence as he turned to look at Andrew. The pony’s mouth dropped open and stayed there as he seemed to freeze in fright.

“Okay, I can tell by that look that you’re pretty terrified. But here’s the thing. I’m actually a nice guy, and I’m kinda new to… well the planet I think, so if you could just give me a chance to show you there is…” -The pony sprinted away at top speed, stumbling and tripping over himself until he rounded the corner- “…okay good talk, see-ya around.”

Andrew let out a loud sigh and returned to the road, shaking his head. When he finally made it to the dirt path and looked around, and saw the three ponies further down the road.

“Hey, wait up!”

“I can’t believe you guys almost left me behind” Andrew complained for the fifth time. “I would have been completely lost!”

“Well maybe you shouldn’t have gone off to scare Time Turner like that.” Twilight retorted as they rounded the final corner. In front of them stood the impressive library. The lights were on, and a large sign saying “Welcome to Ponyville!” was hung in the front.

“I wasn’t trying to scare him, I swear!” Andrew said. “He just flipped out and ran away.”

“Ah’ve gotta agree with Andrew, Turner has always been a bit of a chicken.” Applejack added.

“He’s very nice though. He helped me set up a clock that lets me know when it’s time to feed the animals.” Fluttershy said, defending her fellow meek pony.

The trio arrived at the front door, and Twilight turned to Andrew.

“So… Are you ready?” She asked.

“Nope, not even close.” He answered as he pushed past her. Without hesitation he threw the door open and walked into the room, throwing up his hands and shouting “Andrew is in the house!”

The once buzzing room turned completely silent as the entire group focused on the new arrival. The ponies, who had moments before been chatting happily amongst themselves, now stood in shock at Andrew’s sudden entrance. Eyes grew wide and jaws dropped and one pony, who Andrew would later learn was Rarity, fainted onto a couch. Twilight pushed her way in, and stood beside Andrew.

“Real smooth Andr-”

“Twilight, look out!” A light blue pony shouted, cutting off Twilight. The pegasus took off at incredible speed, aimed directly for Andrew.

“Oh for fucks s-!” Andrew shouted, before Rainbow Dash punched him in the chest at high speed, sending him flying right back out the door.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 8 !

I really hope i caught all the Google doc errors!

WOOT, 200 Thumbs up
Thank you so much everyone, im having a blast writing this so far!

Hello: 9

Andrew landed with a thud outside the library and the red disc that had appeared in front of his chest just in time faded. Rainbow Dash stood on top him, her two front hooves on his chest as she looked down at him. She stared at the human intently, her face cast in a nasty snarl.

“Why are you here and why were you attacking Twilight!” She shouted at the human. “Talk you hairless minotaur, talk!

“I wasn’t attacking her you crazy dumbass!” Andrew yelled back as he shoved the pegasus off of himself. “I wasn’t even touching her!”

“But you were going to! Don’t try and deny it!” Rainbow Dash fired back after a quick roll back onto her hooves.

“No I fucking wasn’t!”

Twilight, who had only barely managed to get out of the way of the two previously airborne agitators, ran outside and stood between them. Applejack and Fluttershy, who had until then been staring in shock, rushed to mitigate the shouting match. Both Andrew and Rainbow Dash stood in combative stances, ready to go at it again at the drop of a hat.

“Whoa there Andrew, let’s just calm down!” Applejack said, trying to keep Andrew in check as Fluttershy did the same to Rainbow Dash.

“I was calm, until a psychotic technicolor pegasus came out of nowhere and sucker punched me!”

“Shut up minot-”

“Rainbow Dash, Stop! This is Andrew! He is our friend and he isn’t a minotaur.” Twilight shouted over Dash’s rebuttal. “He’s the one who Pinkie Pie is throwing the party for!”

“That’s right!” Pinkie pie shouted, appearing from behind the human.

“Holy shit!” Andrew screamed as he jumped away from the pink earth pony. “Where the hell did you come from?!”

“From behind you silly filly!” Pinkie replied.

“That’s- but you- and I-” Andrew stuttered and stopped over his words. “You know what, fuck it, I don’t care.”

“Aww, that’s no fun” Pinkie said, mostly to herself.

By now the remaining party members had made their way to the street, seven or so ponies in total. They all watched the developing scuffle with shock and interest, even Rarity had levitated her couch to the street and cracked her eyes just enough to watch.

“Minotaur’s are nothing but trouble, you know that Fluttershy!” Rainbow said as she attempted to fly over her, but Fluttershy just followed her into the air. “Let me at him, I’ll get rid of him! When I’m done-”

“Rainbow Dash stop this instance!” Fluttershy shouted at her friend as she stared her down. “Andrew is our friend and we don’t hurt friends!”

“Wait… you’re serious?” Rainbow asked, looking to each of her friends in shock. “He’s your friend?”

“Yes and he is the one Pinkie is holding the party for, and you just punched him for no reason.” Twilight added, as she walked up to Andrew. “You okay?”

“Yeah, though I think I did some magic though, so… whoops.”

“Well it’s better than the alternative I suppose.”

Rainbow Dash drifted to the ground and Andrew stood up out of his lower stance, his hands now by his side. Rainbow Dash looked around at her friends confusedly before looking to the human.

“Dashie, maybe you should apologize?” Fluttershy suggested

“But I don’t understand… you look like…” She said clearly very confused, before desperately looking to Twilight. “Twilight he was going to attack you!”

“No Rainbow Dash, he wasn’t.” She responded gently, at least partly sympathetic to her pegasus friend due to her encounter with the human a day or so ago. “He is a friend, he wouldn’t hurt me, or any of us for that matter.”

“Unfortunately, it seems like most of them agree with Rainbow Dash.” Andrew said quietly, looking around the street.

As the group followed his eyes, they saw that the commotion had drawn the attention of quite a few ponies. The vast majority of them whispered and pointed, all of them looking at the now slouching human. He sighed and turned to Pinkie Pie.

“I’m sorry Pinkie Pie, I’m not in the mood for parties anymore.” He said as he turned around and walked down the street past her.

“But… what about the party games?” Pinkie asked, but not receiving an answer.

“Where are you going Andrew?” Twilight asked. “You’re going to get lost and its getting dark.”

“Don’t worry about it.” He said without turning around. “Don’t look for me, I’ll be fine.

And with that, Andrew walked away from the group, the ponies watching him walk down the street and out of sight.

“Consarn’ it Rainbow Dash, what possessed you to attack him like that?!” Applejack shouted at her friend, who was now sitting on the floor of the library. “He didn’t do nothing to make you act like that!”

Rainbow traced patterns in the floor with her hoof, avoiding eye contact with her friends. It had been an hour or so since Andrew had walked off into the night, and Applejack had yet to let up. The farm pony paced in front of her friend, with Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Big Macintosh sitting behind her. Big Mac had been at the party and had elected to stay when it had broken up. Twilight and Fluttershy were explaining things the crowd that had formed during the commotion outside.

“I don’t know really… when I saw him so close to Twilight I just assumed he was attacking her because…” Rainbow Dash explained trailing off at the end. “So I tackled him.”

“Darling I may not be much for a scrap, but I know enough that that was not just a tackle.” Rarity corrected.

“Fine okay! I jumped to conclusions and I sucker punched the mino-”

“For the last time Rainbow Dash he isn’t a minotaur, he’s a human.” Twilight corrected as she returned, shutting the door behind her and Fluttershy. “And he is Princess Lunas personal student.”

“Fine I sucker punched the hu-Wait what?!” Rainbow Dash yelled, jumping up. “I sucker punched Princess Luna’s personal student!?”

“Yes you did, but that isn’t all. Andrew doesn’t have full control of his magic yet. He said managed to cast an incomplete shield spell, but that spell could have easily been a lot less defensive and a lot more offensive.”

Rainbow Dash gulped audibly and shivered before looking back at the ground.

“…I really messed up huh?”

“Ya sure did.” Applejack said as she made her way to the door. “C’mon everypony, we’ve got human to find.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t look for him.” Fluttershy said, stepping in front of the door. “He seemed to want some alone time.”

“I agree with Fluttershy” Twilight said. “I’ve seen him… upset before. He is an adult, he can take care of himself until he feels like coming back.”

“Are you two serious? You want to leave Andrew out there by himself?!” Applejack yelled, flabbergasted. “It’s getting dark out there an’ he’s all alone. He could be out there all night!”

“I’m… I’m not sure…” Twilight said indecisively as she chewed her lip. “Alright, maybe we should go make sure if he is ok. But don’t try and force him to come back, he really will not like that… just let me leave a note for Spike in case he wakes up.”

“Finally yer makin’ sense!” Applejack said before turning to address everyone. “Alright, so Big Mac and Rarity are with me, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy with Twilight. We will check from here to the Sugarcube corner, then down around the town hall and then the park. Twilight, take your group back down the railroad station, then make your way to the park, where we will be waitin’. Hopefully one of us will find him. Rainbow Dash, you go on home. I suggest ya spend this time thinking of a proper apology.”

The teams split up and lefts the library, with Rainbow Dash moping her way out after. She took off into the night sky, heading towards her cloudominium at an unusually slow pace.

Applejack led her group away from the library and away from Twilight’s group. Soon the Golden Oak library was out of their immediate sight, as they all walked through town looking for the human.

“So Applejack, I think it may be time for a proper explanation?” Rarity asked as they walked. “While Dash’s actions were indeed rude, I must admit I found myself quite shocked by this ‘Andrew's’ appearance.”

“Ah suppose ah can’t argue there.” Applejack agreed after a pause. “Well… According to Twi’ he fell right out of the sky ah few days ago. Got pretty badly banged up in the process, an’ almost died. Luckily fer him Princess Luna was there to heal him, cept in the process he gained the ability to use magic… somethin’ called mana tracks…?”

“You mean mana pathways.” Big Mac corrected, receiving a surprised look from Applejack and Rarity. “We all got em.”

“Uhhh yeah, that’s the one. In the process of healing him he got those mana pathways, but he also drained the Princess’s magic somethin’ fierce. Apparently it destroyed ah whole hospital room…” Applejack paused as she looked down between two houses. “Anyway the princess managed to teleport them both to the moon, were they had a heart to heart. They came back half ah day later, which is when he and Twilight had a bit of a scuffle.”

“He got in a fight with Twilight?” Rarity asked, shocked. “That doesn’t inspire my confidence darling!”

“She jumped to conclusions just like Rainbow Dash, but he forgave her pretty quick for that one. He even admitted it looked pretty bad ‘cause he was leanin’ over the princess and all. She had collapsed from exhaustion and he was tryin’ to help her.”

“Oh no! Is she well?” Rarity asked worriedly.

“Yeah, she’s on the mend now, spent a whole day in bed.”

“Well I suppose that’s a relief...this story is quite astounding, I don't think I would believe it if it wasn't you telling me Applejack”

The group walked past Sugarcube corner, the smell of baked goods permeating the area even at that time of night. Applejack’s stomach rumbled, in all the commotion she hadn’t thought of eating, which meant her last meal was a small breakfast before they headed to the train.

“Anywho, after they came back, we spent some time hanging out. He’s a nice stallion, a bit of a joker, but a good stallion either way. Not to mention both of the Princesses seem to like him.”

“Well I suppose if Princess Luna and Princess Celestia both approve of him, I don’t see how I could think differently, despite his clashing wardrobe.”

“Oh, about that. He doesn’t wear clothes to be fancy.” Applejack said, very glad that the quickly darkening street hid her blushing. “He comes from ah place where clothes are worn all the time. It’s considered a cultural taboo to be seen without them on.”

“Really? That it is quite interesting.” Rarity “Maybe I shall make him an outfit more suited for a personal student of Princess Luna!”

“I’m sure ide like that.” said a voice off to the side of a street. “Just as long as it’s not gem encrusted, not a big fan of bedazzled jeans”

The three made their way to the bench the voice had come from, to find Andrew staring at the night sky. He had laid back on the bench, his arms folded behind his head.

“Thought I asked you guys not to look for me? Can’t a guy get some alone time?”

“We were worried about ya Andrew, It’s getting late an’ we weren’t sure if ya could make it back to Twi’s.”

Instead of answering Andrew pointed over the ponies without turning his head. The ponies followed his finger, which pointed in between two buildings on the other side of the street. There, plain as day, was the top of Twilights home cresting over a fence.

“Oh…well shoot.” Applejack said, muttering most of it. “I could’a sworn we were farther away than that.”

“Nope” Andrew answered simply before sitting upright. “So you must be Rarity, right?”

“That is correct, and may I say you certainly know how to make a first impression.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t exactly plan on being attacked by the world’s most adorable psychopath.” Andrew explained with a scowl. “I hope that didn’t color your opinion too much.”

“No darling, you don’t have to worry. I won’t lie, your arrival was indeed a shock, but I’m quite used to Rainbow Dash’s tendency to jump to conclusions, despite this instances severity.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” Andrew said as he stood up and walked to the largest pony in the group and stuck out his hand. “And you must be Big Mac?”

“Eyup.” Big Mac replied, reaching out to shake Andrew hand with his hoof.

“I’ve heard you don’t talk much.”

“Eyup.”

“Cool, some of the smartest people I know are silence enthusiasts.” Andrew laughed when Big Mac’s only reply was to lift an eyebrow. “So. You guys here to drag me back to the party?”

“Not quite, we sent everyone else home, including Rainbow Dash.” Applejack answered. “Twilight and Fluttershy even explained what was going on to everyone who was watching outside.”

“Well that was awfully nice of them.” Andrew said. “Alright fine, I’ll come back. But only ‘cause I’m starving.

“Sure Sugarcube, whatever you say.”

“Where are the others anyway?” Andrew asked as he looked around.

“Oh they’re makin’ their way through the town lookin’ fer you” Applejack answered before turning to her brother. “You mind Big Mac?”

“Nope” He responded simply as he walked away.

“You can prob’ly meet them at the station if ya hurry, otherwise the park is yer best bet.”

“Eyup.”

“So you’ll stop by soon for to be measured?” Rarity asked as the group entered the front door of the library. It was still covered in decorations, with streamers hanging from the wall and balloons tied to the furniture.

“Probably tomorrow, if that works.” Andrew replied. “This is the only outfit I have and I only trust Twilights magical cleaning so far.”

“That would be lovely dear, tomorrow is completely free. Now are you sure I can’t use jewels, I think a few Onyx gems will go great with-”

“Sorry Rarity, no jewels. Guys don’t wear jewels where I come from.”

“A pity, though I’ll admit a similar trend seems to be arising here as well. Why just the other day I had a stallion come in requesting to have the gemstones removed from a rather dashing outfit, so unfortunate. I almost couldn’t do-”

“Oh Rarity, stop torturing the poor stallion, he doesn’t want to hear about all your boring fancy fashion right now.” Applejack said before Rarity could get any deeper. “C’mon Andrew, let’s get somethin’ to eat while we wait fer the others to get back”

“Hmph! I seem to remember a different tune last time I had to repair your hat.” Rarity shot back as Andrew and Applejack made there was to a table laden with sweets and pastries. “Maybe next time I’ll be much too busy to fix it ‘Lickity split like’ while you wait.”

“Aw don’t be like that Rarity, you know ah appreciate yer talents, but maybe eight hours after our last decent meal isn’t the best time for it?”

“Oh my, I hadn’t realized it had been so long, my apologies Andrew”

“itsh okay you coul’nt hab known” Andrew replied, a rather large éclair hanging from his mouth.

Rarity looked disgusted at Andrew’s poor manners, but Applejack only laughed.

“Now yer speakin’ my language!” Applejack shouted excitedly before digging into the plate she had made for herself.

Rarity turned her head away from the confectionary slaughter as the two scarfed down cookies, sweets and pastries.

“So” Andrew asked in between bites. “Do you guys ever eat healthy here, or have I just been really lucky?”

“Healthy? At a party? Now that’s just silly!” Pinkie Pie shouted, jumping from behind the table that Andrew was sitting at.

“Holy shit!” Andrew shouted after spewing the cup of punch he had just sipped from. “Jesus Christ on a crutch Pinkie Pie! Don’t do that!”

“Aww, your no fun!” Pinkie complained after wiping her face of punch.

“I’m plenty fun, I just don’t enjoy heart attacks.”

Before she could counter, Twilight burst in the front door, breathing deeply and looking around anxiously

“Andrew watch out-” She started before noticing that Pinkie Pie was already standing next to the table. “-She’s already here. Did she…?

“Yup”

“Celestia help us, Pinkie Pie did you listen to anything I said? You can’t surprise Andrew like that, his magic is too unstable to be testing his self-control!”

“Oh don’t worry Twilight, he won’t do anything bad, he’s the good guy!”

The group looked at each other in confusion at Pinkie Pie’s declaration. Twilight’s reprimand stopped short as she tried to parse Pinkie’s meaning. Before she could manage that Fluttershy and Big Mac walked through the still open door, which Fluttershy quietly shut behind herself.

“Oh I’m so glad you’re safe Andrew.” she squeaked out. “We weren’t sure if we should go find you or let you have some alone time…”

“To be honest I’m kinda glad you guys found me. Now I’ve had some alone time and I still get dinner. Well if you call two and a half pounds of the best pastries and candy I’ve ever had dinner. Seriously Pinkie Pie, this stuffs amazing.”

“Thank you! The Cake’s helped me with the cakes, and Bon Bon helped me with the bon bons, but I made everything else myself!”

“You mean Punch didn’t help you with the punch?” Andrew joked, still finding the ponies naming conventions funny.

“Don’t be silly… She’s away on vacation!” Pinkie replied, oblivious to Andrew’s surprise. “But I’m glad you like it!”

“I- I do, thanks. I’m sorry your party got kinda ruined…”

“Oh that’s ok, it just means that I get to throw another one to make up for it! And cause getting ready for the part is half the fun, I’ll get a whole one and a half times as much fun from one event!”

A few ponies rolled their eyes at Pinkies excitement, but they kept their thoughts to themselves. Andrew recovered from his surprise and thanked the perky earth pony before excusing himself to wash up.

“The kitchen is around the corner, on your left.” Twilight explained when he asked. She watched him go before turning back to her friends. “So girls, what are we going to do about him and Rainbow Dash?”

“Ah don’t rightly know.” Applejack said as she sat back from the table, her plate clean. “But my guts say to leave it be. Rainbow Dash seems ta understand she did somethin’ wrong, an’ I trust Andrew not be stubborn about it.”

“I agree with Applejack.” Rarity added. “While I don’t know Andrew as well as you three, he seems like a nice enough stallion. I say we let them work it out at their own pace.”

“Yeah, and he would never do anything unfair” Pinkie Pie agreed rather
resolutely, drawing another weird look from Twilight.

“Alright… I suppose that’s fair enough.” Twilight said after seeing Fluttershy nod her head in agreement. “And lets all try and help him fit in over the next few days, he’s a long way from home and I’m worried his easy going attitude is hiding his real anxiety.”

They all agreed wholeheartedly, talking about what activities they could include human in. Rarity was considering if he would enjoy a trip to the spa when he returned, shaking water droplets from his hands.

“So, what I miss?” He asked as he sat down next to Applejack. “You guys figured out what you’re gonna do about me and Rainbow Dash?”

The girls looked at each other anxiously as they tried to bluff their way out, doing a variety of impressions from flabbergasted to shocked that he would assume they would talk behind his back. Rarity had immediately jumped to hurt, openly wondering how he could think they would do such a thing like talk behind his back when he held up his hand.

“It’s okay guys, I caught the beginning from the kitchen. I think it’s a pretty fair question.”

“We decided to leave it alone for the time being. You’re both reasonable ponies.” Twilight explained. “Just go easy on her okay? It may be hard to tell from your perspective, but she was just trying to help.”

“She’s been under a lot of stress lately as well.” Fluttershy added. “She applied for the Wonderbolt academy training program, and she still hasn’t heard back from them yet.”

“She did? How long ago was that?” Twilight asked.

“Uhh… a couple weeks ago?” Fluttershy replied uncertainly. “She didn’t mention it to any of you?”

“She never mentioned it me” Applejack answered looking at her friends.

Twilight and Rarity nodded, agreeing with Applejack, while Pinkie Pie scarfed down left over in the back ground, seemingly oblivious.

“Oh no, I hope I didn’t tell a secret.” Fluttershy said, worry and panic creeping into her voice.

“Ah wouldn’t worry about it Fluttershy, she probably just forgot ta mention it.” Applejack said reassuringly. “You know how forgetful she can be.”

Andrew sighed as he rubbed his face. It was beginning to become a habit with all this stress. He was beginning to feel lost among all the problems that just kept popping up.

“Well I’ll keep that in mind.” Andrew promised, leaning back in his chair and stretching. “What are the Wonderbolts anyway?”

“They are a branch of the royal guard, considered the best of the best when it comes to aerial acrobatics and combat.” Twilight explained. “Although the combat part is more or less ceremonial at this point, they mainly put on air shows.”

“Oh, so like the blue angels.” Andrew replied, receiving several curious and confused looks. “They are basically the same thing. Part of the military, but they don’t fight, just put on air shows.”

“I was under the impressions that humans were incapable of flight.” Rarity said curiously.

“You’re right, we can’t fly by ourselves. But we can fly planes.” He explained, only to get even more confused looks. “Planes are basically machines that fly.”

“Machines… that fly?” Applejack asked, obviously very skeptical. “Ya mean like a hot air balloon?”

“No no no, completely different principles. To be honest I’m not sure of all the details, but essentially the wings create differences in pressure that give the plane enough upward lift to stay off the ground.”

“That’s how our wings work” Fluttershy said, unfolding on of her own. “With magic and its natural shape.”

“Right, well we do it artificially. With big honking jet engines and lots and lots of gas.”

“That’s… mighty impressive, iffen yer tellin’ the truth” Applejack said, still clearly skeptical.

“Yeah, it is when you think about it.” Andrew agreed. “To be honest I kinda took it for granted, just another part of everyday life.”

“Ooo tell us another one!” Pinkie Pie begged, having returned from her binge. She was laying on the floor, looking up at Andrew like a child waiting for story time.

“Yes please, go on! This is all incredibly fascinating.” Twilight agreed, having floated over a quill and a stack of paper.

“Uh, ok… we have these things called computers…”

The “party” continued into the night, the group quickly falling into a pattern. Andrew would describe an amazing technology, which the ponies couldn’t understand and usually refused believe. In return the ponies would tell Andrew something about Equestria, an adventure or some amazing creature that Andrew would immediately wave off as impossible. They had just finished telling Andrew about a particularly amazing quest in the Crystal Empire when Spike came down the stairs, rubbing his eyes.

“Uh guys can you keep it down? It almost twelve o’clock.” He complained, letting a big yawn out after he did.

“Oh shoot, is it that late already? Me and Big Mac have ah early morning tomorrow, we’ve gotta go get some sleep.” Applejack said as she got up and made her way to the door, with Big Mac following close behind. “If ya got some time tomorrow Andrew, stop by the farm. I’ll introduce ya to the rest of the family!”

“Sure thing, I’ll stop by after I see Rarity, an hour or so after twelve.”

“Alrighty see ya then, bye everypony!”

“I believe it may be time for all of us to get some sleep” Rarity said after Applejack and her brother left. “I will see you tomorrow Andrew?”

“Yup, sometime around twelve probably. Don’t worry about you schedule, I can wait when I get there.”

“As I said earlier, tomorrow is a free day. Or rather a designing day, but I can pause my drawings long enough to take you measurements and show you some cloth.”

“Alright, see you then.”

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie said their goodbyes as well, with Pinkie Pie promising to come by tomorrow to help clean up the decorations. She left with a few plates stacked with the leftover food, and a hopeful request that Andrew will stop by Sugarcube Corner soon.

“Damn, I don’t know about you, but I’m exhausted.” Andrew said as he stretched out of his seat.

“It has been a crazy day.” She agreed, yawning deeply.

“It’s been a crazy three days, fingers crossed the next few aren’t like that.”

“C’mon, I’ll show you the spare bed, it sounds like you’ve got a busy day tomorrow.” Twilight said with a knowing smile. “But a good night’s sleep will help that be bearable.”

“Amen sister, lead the way.”

Andrew stretched, his back popping a few times before he released he straining muscles. He made his way to the bathroom and checked himself in the mirror. Stubble was starting to form on his chin and as he turned he could see the bruises on his back from his scuffle with Twilight, as well as new ones from his chromatic encounter with Rainbow Dash. He wasn’t overly concerned about the bruises, he had his fair share of them in his life so he knew these were mostly superficial and would be gone in about a week.

After brushing his teeth with a toothbrush Twilight had given him, he hopped into the shower. It was a bit shorter than what he was used to so he had to hunch down slightly to fit. He weathered through it though and soon stepped out feeling refreshed and awake. He got dressed, pausing when he realized that his clothes were literally the only things he owned Equestria. He tied his shoes and mentally promised to change that as soon as he got situated. Taking a deep breath he left the spare bedroom and made his way into main room, looking for Twilight as he went. He found her reading off to the side of the room, which Andrew was surprised to find was devoid of all decorations.

“Hey, you guys took down the streamers already?” He asked. “I would have helped if you had woken me up.”

Twilight looked up and fixed Andrew with a big smile.

“Oh, Good morning Andrew. Don’t worry about it, Pinkie Pie came over earlier and helped me cleanup” She explained. “She says hello by the way.”

“Oh… well I feel bad I wasn’t up to help, you still cou-”

“She was here at six in the morning.”

“-okay feeling a lot less guilty now.”

“I figured as much.” She said as continued reading. The conversation quickly died, leaving Andrew feeling a bit awkward.

“Uh… watcha reading?” He asked, breaking the silence.

“Oh, sorry! I guess I got a bit caught up. It’s a book about teleportation, I figured it was a good place to start in our research in trying to send you home.”

“Oh, well thanks I guess.”

“No need to thank me, we made a promise and I intend to keep it.” She said as she placed a bookmark and closed the book. “Speaking of homes though, we should go see the mayor now so that you can get to Rarity’s on time.”

“Oh, right, I completely forgot about that. I’m supposed to visit Applejacks farm after that as well. You wanna come with?”

“Sure, I haven’t been to Sweet Apple Acre’s in a while.” She said as she put the book on a shelf. “Spikes out doing ‘errands’, so maybe we will run into him along the way.”

The two started to get ready for their trip to the mayor’s office and then to Rarity’s and Applejack’s, which mainly consisted of Andrew watching Twilight pack, empty and then re-pack her saddle bags.

“I really don’t think we’ll need anything Twilight, we aren’t even leaving the town.”

“Well technically Sweet Apple Acre’s is outside the town so…” Twilight trailed off when she saw the rather amused look Andrew was giving her. “…Right, no need for the saddle bags.”

“Yeah, that’s what I thought. Shall we?” He asked while motioning to the door with a wide gesture.

“Alright, let’s go.”

The two made their way through the streets of Ponyville, soon passing the bench were Andrew had laid last night. Unlike the night before the town was fully awake and ponies walked every which way. They all seemed busy as they went about their business, though it seemed like every single one had to stop and stare at the human as he and Twilight passed by.

“I’m beginning to understand why you find this annoying.” Twilight said as a mother pushed her child behind herself as they walked by. “I can’t believe they are so wary of you. You don’t even look that threatening.”

“I’m not.” Andrew replied. “You told me about how they reacted to your Zebra friend, and the only thing different with her is her stripes.”

“A fair point I suppose.” She admitted. “Well give them some time, I promise they will get used to you.”

“I’ll hold you to that.”

The two passed by the final house before the town center, in the middle of which was the town hall. The market filled the far end of the town center, a bustling area filled with produce laden shoppers and fancy market stalls. Luckily for them most of the shoppers seemed focused on their errands, so they made it to the town hall without any incident. Twilight lead the way into the building, heading off to one of the rooms connected to the large center hall.

“You know where you’re going?” Andrew asked, receiving only a reproachful look back. “Alright, dumb question.”

“The mayor’s office is just through here.” Twilight said as she pushed a door open. On the other side a mare sat behind a desk, pecking away at a typewriter.

“Hello, how may I heeeeaaaawwwlp.” The mare said, her final world stretched and pitched into an almost yelp when she saw Andrew.

“We are here to see the mayor, is she in?” Twilight asked, her annoyance at the earth pony’s reaction clear.

“S-she is b-busy at the m-m-moment…” the mare stuttered out. “Would y-you like t-to make an ap-p-pointment?”

“Are you sure? She should have known we were coming…” Twilight said, pressing the secretary.

“S-she is b-busy.”

“Well then… perhaps we will try again later.” Andrew cut in before Twilight could say anything else. “We’ll be back, tell the Mayor Twilight Sparkle and Andrew Dike where here for her.”

“A-all right…”

Andrew pulled Twilight away from the nervous mare, leading the way out of the room and into the main room of the town hall.

“Why did you pull me away, I’m sure the mayor isn’t that busy.”

“Because I would rather not be the pushy new guy, which is exactly what it would look like if you forced her to meet with us, or we decided to sit and wait.” He explained as he made his way back to the town center. “Besides I’ve got other stuff to do today, so let’s go see Rarity and Applejack, then we can check here again after.”

“Well alright, I suppose that’s fair enough.” Twilight admitted. “Though I don’t know how you can be so nonchalant about everything.”

“She was just scared, can’t blame her for that.” He said with a shrug. “Besides I’m not always nonchalant. I’m still kinda pissed with Rainbow Dash.”

“Yeah… I’m still shocked she attacked you so suddenly. I mean she has always been a bit impulsive but never so… violently.”

“Stress does weird things to people. If she is as stressed about that academy thing as Fluttershy thinks she is…”

“I suppose, Celestia knows I’m not exactly the poster child of stress management.” Twilight admitted as she followed Andrew down the stairs of the town hall.

“So I’ve heard.” Andrew said before turning to Twilight. “Alright, which way to Rarity’s?”

“It’s actually right on the other side of the town hall. C’mon, I’ll show you.”

Andrew followed the lavender unicorn as they made their way around the large circular building. As they did Andrew got a much better look at the town market. Ponies of all types walked around, going from stall to stall. The fringes of the crowed noticed the human, who was a full head taller than them. Andrew gave a sarcastic wave as quite a few ponies stared at him, many of who were jostled by their neighboring shoppers as they stopped to get a better look.

“It’s just across this bridge” Twilight said as she stopped to wait for the human, who had fallen behind.

Andrew turned from the crowd and hurried to Twilight. He followed her across the stone bridge, looking over the edge as he did. A lazy stream flowed under the bridge, ducks, frogs and fish swimming almost as lazily as the water flowed.

“You know, I could get used to the small town easy going attitude” Andrew said loud enough for Twilight to hear further ahead.

“It takes a while, but this town grows on you.” She responded as Andrew finally caught up to her. “It grows on everyone.”

“I don’t doubt that.” Andrew said, almost under his breath. “Now what the hell is that?”

“That’s Carousel Boutique, Rarity’s shop.”

“…And I’m gonna have her make my clothes?” Andrew said, beginning to worry. “Maybe I’ll just have you duplicate them a couple times, that would work.”

“We’ve been over this Andrew, duplicating things is tricky. The newly created object can just disappear out of nowhere, not exactly something you want your clothes to be able to do.”

“… Fuck me, I’m so screwed.”

“Relax, if there is anything Rarity is good at other than gemstones, it’s catering to her clients

Andrew and Twilight entered the shop, a series of ringing bells announcing their presence.

“One moment please!” Rarity shouted from the second floor.

“It’s just us Rarity, take your time” Andrew shouted back, as he walked further into the room.

The Boutique was heavily decorated, with sparkling inlayed designs and drapes of frill lined cloth hanging from every available edge. Ribbon bows and gems further decorated the room, turning it into a lavish sanctuary of design. Andrew made his way past a small circular stage that occupied part of the shop, surrounded by mirrors. He stopped by a pony mannequin, which wore what he could only describe as a harness with a simple cloth covering the back.

“Huh…” Andre said as he pulled at one on of the straps that adorned the mannequins head. “Kinky.”

“No, that’s just Saddle Arabian fashion. I could show you much more provocative clothing if you want.” Rarity said as she made her way down the stairs, her joke leaving a sly smile on her face. Andrew spun around to look at the mare, mouth working but no words emerging. “Oh my, I believe that is the first time I’ve seen you speechless.”

“I…I just have no idea how I’m supposed to respond to that.” Andrew eventually said as Rarity finally made it to him and Twilight.

“Oh no worries darling, I was only teasing you.” The white unicorn said with a laugh. “So, are you ready to be measured? It may take a bit.”

“Really? But my measurements only took a few minutes last time you did them.” Twilight asked, following them as Rarity led Andrew to her modeling pedestal.

“Well that’s because I already know your measurements darling, as well as the average pony sizes.” Rarity explained as she levitated her measuring tape from a nearby desk. “I don’t know any of Andrews’s measurements, or the average for his species. I’ll need to make every measurement I can.”

“Oh, I didn’t realize it would be that difficult.”

“Not necessarily difficult darling, just time consuming...” She paused to chew her lip in thought. “…though if you wrote down the measurements for me it would take considerably less.”

“Of course, happy to help!” Twilight said enthusiastically, levitating a nearby scroll of paper and quill to herself. “Ready when you are.”

“Alright, let’s begin with your lower waist.” The fashionista said as she wrapped her measuring tape around Andrew’s waist. “Seems to be about…”

Rarity began to call out numbers for Twilight to copy down, efficiently making her way down Andrew’s lower half. Twilight’s list grew longer and longer as Rarity eventually finished measuring his legs and moved on to his upper half.

“So tell me darling, are you allergic to any kinds of cloth?” She asked as she wrapped her tape around her lower chest.

“Nope. Well none where I’m from at least, for all I know I could be deathly allergic to your equivalence to cotton.”

“Well I certainly hope not. While silk is an elegant material I don’t think I would recommend making an entire daily ensemble out of it. Spread your arms out.”

“I’ll take your word for it.” Andrew agreed, lifting his arms up as Rarity asked him to do so. “I should point out I don’t like tight clothing, or neon colors.”

“Hmm, well I suppose I can work with that” Rarity said, now measuring his arm length. “Any preferences in color, other than ‘not neon?’”

“Uh… red? Maybe blue? Oh and green. Shirts and pants tend to be one color each as well.”

“My word, for creatures that wear clothes so much you are very boring about it.” Rarity complained. “You can lower your arms dear.”

“Right, thanks.” Andrew lowered his arm, and the three once again went back to a steady rhythm of measurements and notes.

“Rarity, have you seen Spike today? Twilight asked, looking up from her list.

“Yes dear, he stopped by earlier to see if I needed anything from the market.” Rarity answered as lowered her tape, rolled it up and levitated it back to its spot on her desk. “But that was an hour or so before you got here.”

“Does he do that a lot?” Andrew asked. “Just get up and go?”

“Yeah, he has been really flexing his independence these last few months.” Twilight said with a sigh. “He’s growing up so fast.”

“I for one am glad to see him becoming more independent.” Rarity said with a smile. “He’s been my wittle Spikey Wikey for such a long time, it’s only natural for him to grow out of it eventually.”

“I suppose…” Twilight agreed reluctantly. “I’m just so used to having him around constantly. It’s … making me anxious how often he just goes off alone.”

“How old is he?” Andrew asked as he stretched out the kinks he had gotten from standing in the same poses for so long.

“He’s seventeen, eighteen in a few months. He may look young but it’s about this age that dragons hit their first real growth spurt.”

“Damn, dragon puberty must be a bitch and a half if it takes that long to hit.”

“Well dragons don’t age the same way we do, or how humans do from what I gather.” Twilight explained. “They can essentially live forever if they aren’t killed, getting larger and larger over time. Their first growths spurt marks the first of a half a dozen or so before they reach the continual growing stage.”

“Damn… note to self. Stay on Spikes good side.” Andrew said.

“Oh it will be hundreds of year before he get any larger than a carriage.” Twilight assured him. “Unless he get caught up in his own greed again, then he might get bigger than a house by the end of tomorrow.”

“Oh well in that ca-Wait seriously? There is no way that’s possible!”

“Oh it’s more possible dear” Rarity assured him. “One too many birthday gifts and he was bigger than the biggest building in Ponyville.”

“I did some research after it happened and apparently” Twilight said, beginning to explain before Andrew could even ask. “it’s an ingrained magical reaction that’s part of every baby dragons instincts. It’s in case a child’s parents are killed or go missing. The child goes through a magically enhanced growth spurt so it can either protect their parents hoard until they return, or protect its new inheritance.”

“Jesus Christ seriously?” Andrew asked, shaking his head. “You know what, I’m just gonna give up on being surprised by what magic can do from now on.”

“Well dragons are special. They wield wild magic like no other species can.” Twilight explained, as if that sentence made it all clear. Rarity picked up on Andrews growing anxiety over the complexities of magic and cleared her throat.

“Alright darling, let’s not confuse the new apprentice before his mentor even get here.” She said, further cutting of anymore of Twilights lecture. “Speaking of which, I should get back to work. I would like to get this draft done before Princess Luna arrives so I can present it to her in person. Perhaps I shall stop by later with some sketches for you Andrew?”

“Sure thing, if its not to much trouble.” Andrew said as Twilight escorted him to the door. “Thanks again for all this, I owe you one.”

“Oh don’t concern yourself with that darling, a chance to work on clothes for an entirely new species is payment in and of itself.”

The two left the boutique, with Andrew walking backwards out of the door, waving goodbye as he did. He closed the door behind himself and turned around, nearly bumping into Twilight as he did.

“Whoa Twilight, why did you-” Andrew began as he looked at the lavender pony. She wasn’t paying attention though, and Andrew quickly realized why.

“Uh… Hey you guys…” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing her right leg nervously. “Fancy running into you here…”

Andrew crossed his arms, looking rather annoyed at the light blue pegasus. Twilight looked from one to the other, worried there might be another fight. Thankfully when Rainbow Dash spoke again, she sounded distinctly embarrassed, not confrontational.

“Um Twilight, could I uh… could I talk to Andrew in private for a while?” She asked, before looking to Andrew. “If you don’t mind…”

“Sure Rainbow Dash. We were on our way to Sweet Apple Acres, so just show him the way there when you’re done.” Twilight said before shooting a look at Andrew and whispering “Be nice! I'll see you in bit.” before walking away, heading off to see Applejack.

The two remained standing, with Rainbow Dash refusing to make direct eye contact with the human and Andrew tapping his fingers in annoyance. Finally Rainbow Dash gave up and looked to the annoyed human.

“Walk and talk?” she asked simply.

After a long moment of pause, Andrew let out a sigh.

“Fine, but this had better be good.”

Author's Notes:

Whew, Chapter 9!

I'm sorry the wait is getting longer, but the story is getting longer and with work and school I have a hard time finding writing time.

That being said i have no plans to stop writing, so never fear!

Have a nice day!

Apology: 10

Andrew followed Rainbow Dash as she hovered a few feet over the dirt road. He watched the light blue mare as she stubbornly avoided eye contact, attempting to disguise her glances as exaggerated stretches. They reached the top of a small hill and as they broached the crest Andrew saw a small park, complete with fountains and benches in the distance. A simple bench sat at the top of the hill a few feet from the road, overlooking that park. From their spot they could see ponies as they went about various activities, from walking their pets to having picnics. Rainbow Dash made to continue further down the road, but Andrew spoke up.

“Alright, that’s enough walking, time for the talking part.”

“Oh… right.” Rainbow Dash said awkwardly, clearly wishing she could have put it off longer. “Um… So how was your first night in Ponyville?”

“Sore” Andrew responded simply, his arms now crossed in annoyance.

“Right… I’m really am sorry about that…” Rainbow Dash apologized as she drifted down to the side of the road.

“I’m sure you are.” He responded, his arms still crossed.

“I don’t know what came over me… I just kinda…” Rainbow Dash began, struggling to find the words, but struggling with something else as well...

“Just stop, I’m not buying it.” Andrew loudly cut off. He was beginning to notice something, and acting on a hunch, he took a rather menacing step toward her. “Clearly something is up and I’m not buying your bullshit.”

“W-what?” She asked, taking a few rapid steps back. She looked nervously around, her wings ruffling as if preparing to take off. “I don’t k-know what you mean.”

“Well for one thing when you attacked me, you reacted immediately. No shock, no questions, just immediate violence. Now according to your friends you can be a bit impulsive. But that wasn’t impulsive. That was like… instinctual violence.”

Rainbow Dash just looked back at the human worriedly, but remained silent.

“And second… you’re absolutely fucking terrified of me.” He finished, taking a step back from the practically shaking pony. “Which again, from what I understand, is really weird for you.”

“N-no I’m not!” She denied, indignation overriding her obvious alarm. “Why would I be scared of a-”

“BOO!” Andrew shouted, interrupting her and jumping forward while waving his hands around.

“AHHHH!!!” Rainbow Dash screamed, rocketing up into the air as her wings beat furiously. She shot straight up, traveling a few hundred feet into the air before coming to her sense. She regained control of herself and stopped, slowly gliding back down to Andrew, landing a couple feet further away than before.

“Have I made my point?” Andrew asked, raising his eyebrow when she finally reached the ground.

“…Yeah, but you could have been a bit nicer about it…” She mumbled to herself.

“…You may be right” Andrew concede with a sigh. “But you could have just come clean when I asked.”

Rainbow Dash shrugged and looked to the sky, watching the clouds as the drifted past, the occasional pegasus fluttering around to push them this way or that. She still seemed extremely tense, so Andrew took a few more steps away, sitting on the nearby bench. He wanted to prove his point, not give the poor pony a heart attack. He gave her a few minutes of quiet contemplation before he spoke again.

“Will you tell me what’s going on?”

She sighed rather explosively, as if finally giving up a breath she had been holding in.

“Only if you promise never to tell anyone, ever!”

“Uhhh…No?” Andrew said with a humorless laugh, shaking his head, “I’m not gonna promise you anything. But… you do have my word that I will keep this between us, unless I feel like it could hurt someone.”

“…Fine.” She said as she chewed her lip. “I’ll tell you.”

She paused, her eyes once again watching the sky, like she wanted nothing more than to fly away from this conversation. Andrew finally grew impatient and cleared his throat to break her gaze.

“Oh relax, I was just thinking.” She complained. She took a deep breath and let it out before beginning. “I’ve been having nightmares for the past couple of months. And they’ve all been about you.”

“Wait… what?” Andrew asked, very confused. He wasn’t exactly sure what he had expected, but certainly it hadn’t been this. “Nightmares… about me?”

“Well not you exactly… you as in humans… I think…I’m not entirely sure what you’re supposed to look like.”

“You’ve been having nightmares about humans, even though you don’t know what we are supposed to look like?” Andrew asked to rhetorically . “I don’t see how that could be possible…”

“Well until last night they were just… nightmare things.” She explained. “Then suddenly you walk in the door and...”

Once again Andrew adopted a now very familiar pose. He cradling his face in his hands, rubbing his eyes as he sighed.

“Why can’t anything be simple?” He asked under his breath, before looking back to Rainbow Dash. “You realize how insane that sounds, right?”

“You’re telling me! Imagine chatting with a friend, waiting for the guest of honor to show up to a party then BAM! Literally your worst nightmare walks in the front door.”

“Well…I can see how that would be terrifying… and you attacking me would make a bit more sense … if you can claim anything in this place makes sense…” Andrew relented with a second sigh of exasperation. “But I don’t understand how you could be dreaming about something you’ve never seen before.”

“Like I said, before last night you… they were just nightmare things.” Rainbow Dash repeated.

“How much did they look like me?”

“I don’t know… their tall, they stand on two legs, have two arms and hands like yours… but they were all greyish. And they didn’t have faces…and they are always cold.” Rainbow Dash said as she described her nightmares, struggling to recall specific traits. “It’s hard to remember, I mean have you ever been able to describe a nightmare days after it happened?”

“Well… yeah but I understand what you mean.” Andrew agreed. “I just don’t know what to make of this.”

“But do you at least understand why I attacked you?”

“… If you’re telling the truth? Yeah I can understand it.”

“So you accept my apology?”

“Begrudgingly, yeah.”

“Thank you Andrew, maybe you’re more awesome than you look!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, oblivious to her insult.

“How often do you have these nightmares anyway?” Andrew asked

“Uh, kinda randomly actually, sometimes once a month, sometimes a couple times a week” Rainbow Dash explained. “So… will you keep this between us?”

“…Yeah I guess I will, mostly because I have no fucking clue what to make of it. But only on one condition.” Andrew said, his voice growing stern at the end. “Luna is coming to stay here in Ponyville. Apparently dreams are kinda her thing, she never really explained it to me personally. Anyhow, you’re gonna ask for advice about your nightmares, and you’re gonna follow it.”

Rainbow Dash thought about his terms for a moment, looking like she might try and worm her way out it.

“Fine, but this better stay between us until then!”

“You have my word I won’t tell anyone, unless it’s important.” Andrew agreed, shrugging as she began to complain. “Rainbow Dash it’s the best you’re gonna get. Get over it.”

“Ugh fine, whatever.” She said, spreading her wings once again. She took off at a much more leisurely pace, stopping after a couple dozen feet to look back at Andrew. “Thanks for… understanding and whatever.”

“No problem.” He said with a smile and a wave, continuing until she was out of ear shot. “Goddammit, this place is completely fucking insane.”

Andrew shook his head in bewilderment as he turned back down the road they had come from, his head hung low. He reached the bottom of the hill and kept walking, passing trees and a few ponies, with stares still aplenty, only now he was too wrapped up in his growing problems to notice.

“I honestly can’t keep up with all of this shit anymore.” He lamented to himself. “I swear to god if one more thing goes wrong…”

His muttering complaint drifted off as he reached an intersection.

“…Oh you sonovabitch!”

Andrew sat at the bottom of a tree, wedged in between too large roots, watching ponies trot by. After Rainbow Dash had left him to his own devices, he had spent a while fruitlessly trying to find his own way to Sweet Apple Acres. He had even tried to find the boutique again, but by then he had lost the road he had been on. Finally he had sat down for a break, both annoyed and tired. He was finding that the town was unexpectedly and frustratingly large. He had even tried to find someone who would talk to him long enough to give him directions, but everyone gave him a wide berth so he soon grew tired of that. So there he sat at the bottom of the tree, relaxing in the shade, ignoring the stares and points. He was musing at the variety of colors ponies seemed to come in while watching a particularly vibrantly shaded pegasus when he heard a voice from beside him.

“Umm… Hello…?” said the clearly male voice. Andrew whipped his head around, slightly startled by the newcomer.

“Woah! What? Huh?” Andrew said, surprised. His surprise only increased when he recognized the pony. “Oh wait, you’re Time Turner, aren’t you?”

“Uhh yeah… wait how did you know my name?”

“Twilight and Applejack recognized your description from last night… which reminds me, sorry for scaring you so much last night.”

“Oh…” Time Turner said, embarrassed by the subject. “I actually came over to uhhh… apologize for running away…”

“Seriously?” Andrew questioned, surprise still rampant. He pushed off the tree to stand up and stuck out his hand to the stallion. “Well, don’t worry about it, it was a lot better than some of the other greetings I’ve gotten so far.”

Time Turner hesitated before sticking out his hoof, which Andrew quickly wrapped in his hand and shook.

“Names Andrew Dike. Yes it sounds like decay, but it isn’t spelt that way I promise” Andrew said, continuing after releasing his hoof. “Just call me Andrew.”

“Umm, well I guess you already know my name. Just call me Turner” He said, taking a look up and down the tree Andrew had been sitting against. “So uhh…what are you up to? You uhhh…looked a bit lost…”

“That’s ‘cause I am. I was supposed to have someone to show me how to get to Sweet Apple Acres, but the dumbass left!” Andrew explained, shouting at the sky as if Rainbow Dash was up there listening. “And they aren’t helping ‘cause their all too scared to spare five seconds to help a stranger.”

Turner wasn’t exactly sure how to react to the Andrews outburst, or his wide gesture at the now staring Ponyville citizens. He nervously rubbed the back of his head and gave an awkward smile to those who noticed him, before looking back to Andrew. Andrew was giving the nearest pony, who was sneering at him, some sort of one fingered hand signal.

“Well I uhhh….could lead you to the main road, which goes to the apple orchard.” Turner offered. “I can’t show you all the way though… I’ve got plans to meet someone.”

“Oh man seriously?! That would be so helpful!” Andrew said, perking up considerably. “Are you sure you have time though?”

“Yeah, it uhhh… shouldn’t be a problem. It’s on the way and umm… Doo will understand if I’m a few minutes late. C’mon, it’s this way.”

Andrew followed behind the tan earth pony, quickly catching up to walk beside him. He was silently hoping that this olive branch was the beginning of acceptance in Ponyville.

“So who’s Doo?” He asked after they had walked for a while.

“Uhh… Doo is my marefriend.” He said, with only a hint of shyness.

“Marefrie-?” Andrew said slowly, before snapping his fingers in recognition. “Oh! You mean girlfriend.”

“Uhhh no… I mean marefriend.”

“Right right, no I gottcha” Andrew said, waving off the Time Turners weird look. “A date with your marefriend, sounds like fun.”

“It always is, she is uhhh…an amazing mare.” Time Turner said, getting a bit dreamy eyed. “We’ve been dating for four months, but it still feels brand new.”

“Well that’s always a good sign!” Andrew said with a smile, giving the pony a pat on the back. “Good for you dude!”

“Uhhh thanks Andrew. It’s funny, she’s uhhh… the one who said I should apologize if I see you again.” He explained. “She was one of the ponies at your party and she felt bad for you after Miss Sparkle explained your situation.”

“Oh really? Well then please thank her for me, I would still be sitting under that tree if you hadn’t.” Andrew said happily. “It’s nice to know not everyone is avoiding me right off the bat.”

“So… all that stuff Miss Sparkle said was true?” Time Turner asked, surprised.

“Well probably, I’m not exactly sure what she said though.”

“So you’re from another planet and you uhhh… fell from the sky, almost died and ummm… got taken to the moon? And you have magic?”

“Yeah, that pretty much covers it. Though to be honest not sure about the whole other planet thing, could be anything.” Andrew said, shaking his head. “After all I’ve seen and heard the past few day, anything is possible.”

“Sweet Celestia that’s… that’s… that’s insane.”

“Oh trust me, preaching to the choir.”

The two continued to walk through the town, passing houses and shops, making small talk as they went. Finally Time Turner stopped at a seemingly random street.

“Uhh alright. If you follow this street that way.” Time Turner said pointing down the road. “It will lead you out of the town and uhhh… eventually to Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Finally! Thank you so much Turner, you really saved my ass there.” Andrew said with a smile.

“Umm… don’t mention it, consider it making amends for running away the first time.” The tan earth pony said, sticking out his hoof which once again Andrew grabbed and shook.

“Right, well I’m sure I’ll see you around, it looks like I may be staying here awhile.” Andrew said after releasing his grip on Turners hoof. “You’ll have to introduce me to your girl- marefriend at some point.”

“Uhhh… sure! I’m sure she would love to meet you.”

“Alright see ya! Oh and have fun on your date!” Andrew said as he turned to walk down the road, waving as he went

Andrew was quite enjoying his leisurely walk down the relatively empty road. A few ponies walked past him on the way, but most were too wrapped up in their own business to even notice him. What’s more, as he got further and further from the town, less and less ponies populated the dirt path. Finally, awhile after the town slid out of sight behind a hill, the road began to run along a white fence. Row upon row of apple trees, broken only by a scattering of other crops, sat planted on the other side. Andrew resisted the urge to lean over the fence and pluck one of the lower hanging apples, remembering the amazing apple had had had the other day. Before long he reached opening in the pristine fence, a vine laden arch and an apple sign hanging down the middle. Somehow apples were growing from the tangled vines, a fact that would have flabbergasted Andrew if he couldn’t already clearly imagine Twilights explanation of “magic” without even having to asking her. As he walked through the arch, he could see Twilight and Applejack in the distance as they walked along the edge of the apple trees.

“Hey guys! I’m here!” He shouted to get their attention, waving as he did.

“Andrew, there ya are! We’ve been waitin’ forever!” Applejack shouted back as the two made their way to human. “We almost went lookin’ fer ya.”

“Yeah well, Rainbow Dash left without showing me how to get here.”

“Ha! That’s five bits Twi’, ah told ya she’d forget!” Applejack boasted, giving her friend a playful shove. “thats what ya get fer betting along with that mares memory!”

“Seriously?” Andrew questioned with an annoyed look at Applejack. “You bet Twilight that Rainbow Dash would leave me behind to get horribly lost in a town where most of the people are scared of me?”

“Well when you say it like that…” Applejack trailed off rubbing the back of her head, embarrassed.

“I can’t believe she left you all alone!” Twilight said as she shook her head. “Even after I explicitly told her she needed to show you how to get here.”

“Yeah well, I’m sure you can give her an earful next time you see her.”

“I will…” Twilight agreed. “So other than that… how did it go?”

“She apologized and I accepted her apology.” Andrew answered simply.

“That’s… it?” Twilight responded, surprised. “Somehow I don’t think it was that simple.”

“Twi’s right, no way it was that simple.” Applejack agreed. “Dash is too stubborn and your… well… you.”

“Normally I’d agree with you, but ‘simple’ is in short supply these days, so I intend to enjoy it.” Andrew added. “We had a heart to heart and I forgave her. Done and done.”

“Well a’right, if you insist.” Applejack said, turning away from the other two. “Let’s get go’in, family’s inside. Apple Bloom’s been dyin’ ta meetcha since Big Mac told her she couldn’t go to last nights party.”

“And Apple Bloom is your…. younger sister?” He asked, looking for confirmation as he followed behind.

“Mhmm, she’s got ah heart of gold, even if she can have ah bit of ah one track mind at times.” Applejack said with a proud smile. “Just uh… don’t mention her blank flank, it’s ah bit of a sore subject if ya catch ma drift.”

“Oh, is that a thing? Ponies not getting their marks?” Andrew asked as they made their way to the barn like house.

“Nah, she’s still young enough that it’s not unusual. Besides, Apples have a history of being late bloomers.” Applejack explained. “She just feels left out cause of it, both her an’ her friends, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle.”

“Ah, gotcha.” Andrew said as they arrived at the front door of Applejacks home. Applejack pushed the door in and motioned the other two to come in.

“Hey yall, I’m back! And guess who ah brought with me!” She shouted.

As Andrew walked through the front door, he looked around with interest. The interior was simple and rustic, with pictures hanging from the wall and the amazing smell of apple pie flowing through the air. If it wasn’t for the two ponies standing in front of him he could have mistaken it for a southern farm house. His inspection was cut off by the clip clopping of a small filly running through the house and stopping in the kitchen doorway. The filly, who Andrew assumed was Apple Bloom, stared at him, eyes wide and legs frozen to the spot.

“… Yo.” Andrew finally said, looking to Applejack for help.

“Apple Bloom, wipe that look of yer face and say hello, starin’ is impolite.” Applejack said, lightly admonished her sister.

“Umm… sorry.” She said quietly. Her words carried the same southern accent her sister and brothers did, but with a lot less intensity. “So, you’re the human Applejack's been talking about?”

“Yup, names Andrew.” He replied, dropping down to sit on his haunches and sticking out his hand. “Nice to meet you.”

The little mare made her way to Andrew, placated by his good mood. She shook his hand, before taking a step back.

“Welcome to Ponyville I guess…” She said as stepped back. “You look kinda weird. Do all humans look weird?”

“Apple Bloom!” Applejack started to shout, but Andrew waved her off with a laugh.

“Well I’m not sure, depends on what you find weird.”

“You’ve got no fur on your coat!” Apple Bloom replied before her sister could cut her off.

“In that case, yes, all humans look weird. Not that we don’t have hair, it’s just not very thick.” He answered, extending his arm to show her. “See, same as you.”

“Riighhhttt…” Apple Bloom said, looking at the human skeptically. “So what are you doing in Ponyville Mr. Andrew?”

“Just Andrew Apple Bloom, and I’m going to be staying here for a while.”

“Oh, that’s cool, were ya from?”

“Uhh…. I’m from-” Andrew began, trying to think of a way to explain it to her when a light green pony hobbled into the room.

“Applejack? Whats takin’ y’all so long? Me and Bloom had lunch on the table fer an half an hour a’ready!” The white hared mare stopped when she noticed their guests, specifically the bipedal one. “Oh heavens me! If you aren’t the queerest looking minotaur this side of the Palomino Desert!”

“He isn’t a minotaur Granny, he’s a human.” Apple Bloom corrected, walking past her grandmother into the kitchen. “He’s Applejack and Twilight’s friend, pretty sure she already told ya that.”

“Well ah don’t quite know what a human is, but if he wants his apple pie still warm, he’d better get his butt to the table!”

The group quickly moved into the kitchen, Andrew following Apple Bloom, listening her describe her day at school. Big Mac was already seated at the large table, which was laden with more apple themed food than Andrew new existed. He took in a deep breath as they all sat down.

“This all smells amazing!” He praised. “It’s been way to long since I’ve had a good home cooked meal. Thank you for having me.”

“Oh it’s no problem Andrew, Granny always makes too much anyway.” Applejack assured him. “We’ll probably have you and Twi’ leave with a big bag of left overs!”

“Oh, Spike would love that!” Twilight said happily as she served herself an apple turnover. Soon everyone’s plates were full of aromatic apple-ly goodness.

“Were is Spike anyway?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Oh he was around doing errands.” Twilight answered, her anxiety on the subject clear in her voice. “He may even be home by now.”

“Awww, I haven’t seen him in a while.” She complained, poking at her food. “He stopped coming by the clubhouse when the Cutie Mark Crusaders tried to get our cutie marks in dragon taming.”

“Gee, ah wonder why…” Applejack said under her breath, but loud enough for Andrew to laugh to himself.

“Well maybe you three should visit him instead” Twilight suggested. “But uh… no nets in the library.”

This got the rest of the table laughing, minus of course Apple Bloom, who just looked around the table, very confused.

The meal continued for an hour or so, before Applejack and Big Mac had to excuse themselves to get back to work.

“Sorry about this, usually I’d at least walk you off the farm, but we’re mighty busy today.” She apologized before leaving, shouting at Big Mac to hurry up over her shoulder. After they left Granny Smith packed Twilight and Andrew a hefty bag of leftovers.

“Thanks again Granny Smith, that was some of the best food I’ve eaten in years.” Andrew praised.

“Oh hush ya flatterer, it was just some everyday fixin’s, stop by some other time with some warnin’ an’ I’ll make ya a real meal!”

“I might just take you up on that.” Andrew said before looking to Apple Bloom. “It was nice meeting you short stuff, I’m sure I’ll see you around town.”

“It was nice meeting you too, I can’t wait to tell Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo about it!”

And with that she ran out the door, no doubt in search of her friends. Andrew and Twilight followed her out after once again thanking Granny Smith. The two made their way off the farm, leaving under the same baffling apple laden arch that Andrew had gone through on his way in. They traveled down the road quite a ways, passing by the end of the white fence before Andrew broke the amicable silence.

“Nice family.” He said simply.

“You’de be hard pressed to find a kinder group of ponies.” Twilight agreed with a nod. “They’ve been through some tough times, and in the end it only brought them closer together.”

“I noticed. When did they lose their parents?” He asked solemnly.

“I’m… not sure to be honest, a long before I came to Ponyville I think. They never really talk about, and of course it feels wrong to ask. All I know is that they were gone at the same time.” Twilight explained, the amicable atmosphere gone, replaced by sadness that at the both of them. “How did you know?”

“I had Applejack pegged for an orphan five minutes into when we first met.” He said quietly. “We aren’t hard to identify when you know what to look for.”

“You... You’re an orphan?” Twilight asked, eyes wide as she stumbled a bit in surprise. She increased her pace to catch up.

“……Yeah.” He said simply, waving off her condolences before they could start. “My mother died ten years ago. Left me and my sister.”

“Oh, that’s terrible! What about your father?”

“He was never in the picture, bailed when he learned my mother was pregnant.” He rubbed his face. Twilight was shocked by how much older, how much more haggard he looked. “It was ten long years ago, I’m doing alright now.”

“What about your sister?”

“Alice is… Alice is the only reason I care about going home now.” He said, more than a bit cryptically.

“We will get you home, I promise.” Twilight said solemnly before stopping and wrapping Andrew in a hug, one that he saw no reason to avoid. They parted after a moment or two, and continued down the road. Ponyville was once again visible in the distance, looking quiet and peaceful.

“How did she die?” Twilight asked, before hastily adding “If that’s ok, I’ll understand if you don’t want to talk about it.”

“Its alright, I’m used to explaining it. She uh… she was killed in a mugging gone wrong. A group of punks tried to steal her money but she put up a fight, so they killed her.”

Twilight stopped again, this time not bothering to try and catch up and instead just stood, rooted to the spot.

“Oh Celestia Andrew that’s terrible! I’m so sorry I brought it up! I-I-”

“Relax Twilight, I said it was ok. It’s been ten years, I can talk about it without melting into a puddle of sadness.” He assured her, managing to look relatively unfazed. “I had my sister to focus on, keeping her safe and happy, that helped. That, and watching every single one of the bastards getting locked up.”

“Still… I’m sorry you had to go through that…”

“Yeah, me too.”

Silence fell over the two as Andrew began walking again, forcing Twilight to catch up. Andrew looked stonily at road ahead. Twilight, sensing the need for a different topic, racked her brain for a new subject.

“So… how did you manage to find your way to Sweet Apple Acres?” Twilight asked, finally breaking the solemn silence that had grown between them. “I’d be really impressed if you managed to do it by yourself.”

“Oh, I tried to find it on my own for a while, but I just got myself even more lost.” He explained. “This town is surprisingly large and confusing.”

“Well it’s grown a lot in the past couple of years, especially after the Canterlot Invasion.” Twilight replied, referring to the wedding mishap two years previous. “A lot of ponies moved from the city to smaller towns.”

“Makes sense I suppose. Well I was hopelessly lost when Time Turner stopped to say hello and apologize for running off last night.” He explained as they finally reached the town, crossing a bridge into the pony filled streets. “When I told him I was lost he led me to this road and pointed me in the right direction.”

“Time Turner? See I told you guys he was a nice pony, apologizing after you scared him so baldy.” Twilight gloated. “Though next time you should just not scare him at all.”

“I told you I wasn’t trying to scare him!”

“Right, okay sure, I totally believe you.” Twilight said sarcastically before pointing to the Town Hall, which had just appeared from behind another building. “C’mon, we are almost there, let’s get the keys to the house and get you situated.”

“Oh…. I completely forgot about that…” Andrew admitted.

Twilight led the way through the streets to the town hall, the afternoon hustle and bustle making the town a lively gathering of ponies. They walked through the town center and once again climbed the stairs into the building. Surprisingly there were quite a few ponies inside this time, going about their business, all of them watching him with shock. Andrew didn’t even notice them as he followed Twilight into the familiar office. The same mare sat behind her desk, this time reading a piece of parchment, a quill in her mouth.

“Hello again, we are here for-” Twilight began, but was immediately cut off when the mare behind the desk.

“Oh thank goodness you are back!” The mare practically jumped from her seat to stand in front of Andrew, even going as far to give him a small bow. “I want to sincerely apologize for how rude I was before Ambassador, it was totally unacceptable behavior.”

“Uhh… it’s okay, don’t worry about it?” He replied, looking to Twilight in confusion. She shrugged in response, equally confused. “But I’m not a-”

“Thank you Ambassador Andrew, you are too kind. Now I’m sure you’re anxious to see the mayor, so please come this way…” She motioned for them to follow as she walked to the largest door in the office, stopping with a hoof on the door handle and pushing it open. “Here you are, she is right inside, and once again I apologize for my behavior this morning.”

“Yeah… thanks…” he replied as he passed through the open door, Twilight right behind him. Inside the room sat a grey haired, tan hide earth pony. She sat behind a desk that put the desk outside the door to shame, covered in stacked documents and important looking binders. The mare looked up at the two as the door clicked shut behind them

“Oh hello there, Ambassador Andrew I presume?”

“Uh… Yeah, I think so?” Andrew responded, uncertain.

“Welcome back, I do hope Ink Well properly apologized for her earlier behavior. It was in extremely poor taste but you must understand we only just received word of your arrival this afternoon!” The mayor left her seat to greet the two, shaking Andrew’s hand and gesturing them both to sit. “Please, you must be tired, take a seat.”

“Thank you for seeing us Mayor Mare, but we are a bit confused.” Twilight said, Mayor Mare returned to her spot behind the behemoth of a desk. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

“Ah, the letter said that there may be some confusion. Well, not more than an hour ago, a rather tired royal messenger dropped off a letter marked by not one, but two royal seals. It’s not every day we see piece of parchment signed by both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. It explained that Andrew Dike has been recently elevated from a temporary visa all the way to foreign Ambassador. As befitting his new position, as long as he is in Equestria, which of course includes Ponyville, he shall receive all the benefits that position entails. That includes the use and temporary ownership of the Grand Home, our living space for important ponies and foreign dignitaries.”

“Ambassador, really?” Andrew said, complaining as he rubbed his face. “I didn’t want that kind of attention.”

“That was also mentioned in the letter.” The mayor said with a pleasant laugh “It is merely a formality in case of emergencies or, heavens forbid, you are harmed in anyway. Rest assured Ambassa-err… Andrew, You shall be treated the same as everypony else.”

“Thanks, I appreciate that.” He said, relief clear in his voice. “I just don’t want to create any trouble, you know?”

“I completely understand Andrew and I appreciate the effort. Now I’m sure your anxious to see your new accommodations, so is there anything you would like to ask before we make our way to them?”

Andrew began to stand, shaking his head no when Twilight spoke up.

“Actually Mayor Mare, I believe there is something you could help Andrew with. Nopony is interacting with Andrew, save the girls and a few others. Is there anything you can do to help?” She asked.

“Oh I was worried about that.” She said, looking to Andrew. “Please don’t take offense, I’m sure they don’t mean any harm.”

“Don’t worry about it, I understand how hard it can be to accept new and strange things.” He assured the mayor. “But I wouldn’t say no to any help you can offer.”

“Hmmm… Well I shall endeavor to come up with something to break the ice, so to speak. Perhaps a town meeting, or a small interview? Either way I shall see what I can think of, and let you know.”

“Thank you, I appreciate all the help you’re giving me, I know you must be a busy lady.” Andrew said.

“Don’t mention it, anything to help the new pony- erm, human in town.” She reassured him, before standing and opening up a cabinet next to her desk, fishing out a set of keys. “Now, let’s get you to your new home.”

Twilight and Andrew followed Mayor Mare through the town, walking behind the grey haired earth pony as she weaved through the streets. The mayor pointed to this and that, mentioning where important stores were, and where to get the best cauliflower soup in the town as they walked. Eventually the reached a quiet dead end lane, filled with some of the larger houses in Ponyville. At the far end of the street stood the largest of these homes, three stories tall and more windows than Andrew cared to count. The front gate bore Princess Celestia’s royal seal, carved into the wooden panel and inlayed with gold and silver. Mayor Mare pushed the gate open, walking along the stone pathway to the front door.

“Well here we are, a rather beautiful home don’t you think?” She asked with a radiant smile.

The home followed the half-timbered style of most Ponyville homes, with flower laden windows placed generously over the walls. The roof was not the town standard thatch, but instead sported a terracotta style, with orange red clay shingles tightly interlaced. The grounds were covered with green grass and a variety of flowers, with vines and bushes artfully covering almost all of the houses foundation. A large chimney dominated one corner of the house.

“It looks amazing, I really get to live in that?” He asked, doubtful.

As if to answer Mayor Mare held out the key to the front door, which Andrew reverently took. He turned to the door and slid the key into the lock, twisting it with a resonant “clack clunk”.

“Lucy I’m hooommmeeeee!” Andrew shouted into the house as he pushed the door open and stepped inside, getting odd looks from the mayor and Twilight. “It’s a reference to something… oh just never mind!”

“Right…. well what do you think?” Mayor Mare asked again, gesturing to the interior, which was very well lit by the large windows.

“I think it’s fantastic, certainly a lot better than my apartment.” He quipped, heading to room next to the entrance way. “Yeah, I could get used to this.”

He walked further out of the main hall, into what turned out to be the living room, and quickly putting down the bag of leftovers from lunch, plopping down on the inviting sofa.

“Ooooo comfy.” He said as he put his hands behind his and yawned. “I think I might take a nap.”

“You… You don’t want the tour?” The mayor asked politely.

“No, that’s fine.” he assured her. “I feel bad, I’ve wasted enough of your time today. Besides I like exploring.”

“Well in that case I’ll be off, if you have any question or concerns please be sure to contact me.”

“Alright, and thanks again Mayor Mare. I really appreciate the help.”

“Don’t mention it! Toodles!” She said as she shut the door behind her. A long pause of silence filled the room as Twilight stared at her hooves.

“Hey Twilight, I really think I’m gonna take a nap.” Andrew finally said, his arm now covering his face. “Thanks for showing me around today.”

“It was my pleasure. After all…” she said as she too got up to leave. “What else are friends for?”

Twilight shut the door slowly behind herself and walked away, leaving Andrew alone in his new home. He let out a haggard sigh, slipping into sleep before Twilight could even reach the end of the street.

Author's Notes:

Alright, here's chapter 10!

I've been toying with the idea of re-writing the first chapters, let me know what you guys think!

Okay guys, I'm once again looking for an editor. I'm looking for someone who i can email a copy of the draft, and who will go through and highlight the errors in word. I know its more complicated than just correcting them but hey, what can you do.

Send me a message on her if your interested!

Dream: 11

Andrew awoke a few hours later, just in time to watch the sun set over the houses across the street. He pushed himself upright, stretching his arms out wide as his back cracked several times. For the first time since he had arrived at Equestria, he did not find himself confused as to where he was. With a shrug he mentally decided that this was an improvement and slowly stood up from the couch, stretching more as he did so. He looked around the room, observing the décor with a content eye. The fire place in the far corner of the room was very large, with flat stones covering the simple bricks that it was constructed out of. The furniture that filled it was relatively simple, seeming to focus on comfort rather than fancy designs. The window opposite to where he had laid, where he had seen the sun begin to set, was very large as well, taking up most of the wall. He left the room, exiting into the main hall. Looking away from the front door he saw a stairway to the second floor, as well as an archway into what looked like a kitchen. While he tried to decide which to explore first, his stomach growled loudly.

I guess that answers that question, he thought to himself as he returned to the living room to grab the bag of lunch’s leftovers, then back to the kitchen.

As he walked through the doorway, the first thing he noticed was that the rustic feel from the living room was probably theme for the rest of the house as well. The second thing he noticed was just how… normal the kitchen seemed. For some reason he had expected the kitchen to look different from the ones he was used to, although now that he was thinking about it he couldn’t quite put his finger on what he had expected.

He made his way further into the kitchen, opening random cabinets to see what they contained. Upon opening a standalone wooden box, he discovered that it was in fact the ice box, which was appropriately cold. It was also relatively empty, clashing heavily with the well stock cabinets around it. He put the left overs inside and started looking for something to have as a snack. The first thing he found was a glass bottle filled with brown and possibly carbonated liquid, which he pulled from the fridge and placed on the counter. Further inspection of the bottle found that it was a soda of some sort, potentially carrot if the label meant anything. He shrugged and popped the top, taking a swig. He smacked his lips, enjoying the beverage which he could only describe as cherry cola, but carrots instead of cherries. He began opening cabinets and draws, finding ingredients for cooking, plates, cups, bowls and utensils. Finally, he finally stumbled onto a container of cashews, which he deftly popped open. He grabbed a handful of nuts and his drink and walked around the peninsula and into the dining room.

The dining room seemed even more open than the living room, thanks to floor to ceiling windows that over looked the back yard. He made his way around the wooden table to this wall of glass, quickly realizing that some of it was in fact a door. On the other side was a short path which led to an outdoor patio, complete with a fire pit. Deciding to explore the rest of the house before going outside, he made his through the nearby door, which passed by the stairs to the main hall.

He threw the last few cashews into his mouth as he rounded the corner to the bottom of the stairs. He made his way up the stairs to the second floor, where he hoped the bedrooms would be. The first door he found was a simple yet spacious bathroom, which thankfully had a shower large enough for him to stand upright in. Behind the next door was the first bedroom. While not overly luxurious, it was much fancier than what he was used to living in, with big windows and an even larger bed. The bed was large enough for a real horse, or rather a horse from his home. He decided to check out the other rooms, certain that he wouldn’t know what to do with a bed that large.

The next room was a cozy study, with a large mahogany desk sat at the back end, adorned with quills, parchment and other seemingly important materials. The walls were lined with book shelves, filled with books and instruments alike. The books were serious and educational, from Equestrian law to foreign economics, while the instruments varied from a rather Galilean looking sextant to a globe, the continents of which Andrew did not recognize. He found more detailed maps and atlases in one cabinet, and upon sitting behind the desk, he spotted rather expensive looking collection of whiskey, complete with glasses and decanters. He checked some of the draws of the desk, and was surprised to find a heavy burlap sack. When he opened it, he found it was filled with what he assumed were Bits. He had seen Twilight use them to buy the train tickets, but he hadn’t realized they came in gold.

A bag of gold coins… This room looks like it belongs to a well-educated mob boss, he thought as he took a whiff of the whiskey, quickly realizing it was much weaker than what he was used to. Or maybe a Bond villain for Christ sake.

Resisting the urge to pull on every book in search of a secret passage, he sat up and exited the room, quietly closing the door behind him. Opposite this door was another, this one marked by an intricately carved griffon. Wondering what that could possibly mean, he pushed the door open and found himself even more confused. Once again he found himself in a rustically themed bedroom, simple but by no means meager. It was normal looking, vaguely unremarkable save for the bed, or rather were a bed would normally located. In place of a bed was a large indentation, surrounded by a large, and heavily cushioned, ridge that ran all around it. Andrew stood in the entrance for a whole minuet and a half, running possibilities through his mind before he arrived at the answer.

“It’s… a bird’s nest?” He asked out loud, not entirely sure if he was correct. Lacking a response to his question he just assumed he was correct, although he was still baffled as to why one would be here. Maybe that’s how pegasus’s sleep… pegasus’s?... pegasi?

He scratched and shook his head, which now rattled around with two new questions instead of one. He left the strange room, again quietly closing the room behind him. He made his way to the last door. Mentally crossing his fingers he entered the room, and let out a relieved sigh. Inside was a bedroom, much simpler than any of the others. The bed was a decent size, just large enough for him to sleep on. It was a simple bed as well, unadorned by hanging blinds or posts and most importantly it lacked any resemblance to a nest big enough for Big Bird. The furniture was well built and utilitarian, and although it all looked fit for any high class home, the room felt much more like a living space than any of the other rooms. He sat on the edge of the bed and after placing his drink on the night stand next to it. After a small internal debate, her crawled into the bed, quickly falling back to sleep.

By the time Andrew awoke for the second time, he had successfully cocooned himself under the comforters in his sleep. Lacking a way to tell what time it was, he sluggishly unwrapped himself and sat up on the corner of his new bed. He was surprised how well he slept, usually it took much longer for him to get used to a new mattresses.

Shows just how tired I really was, he thought to himself as he stood up and stretched.

He made his way to the window, unsurprised to find that the moon had risen high in the now night sky. It was a full moon, or at least close enough to it that he couldn't tell the difference from this angle. It was a particularly beautiful moon and it called forth memories of the past few days, of walking on that very same white circle and of passing the time with Luna. Eventually his neck grew sore from the awkward angle he was forcing it into, so he took a step back. Once again curious about what time actually it was and remembering a large clock down stairs, he shambled out of his room and down the hall. Once he stood at the bottom of the stairs he turned to study the grandfather clock, its pendulum swaying back and forth in time with the clicking hands. The face of the clock was distorted and misshapen, the numbers replaced with random nonsense symbols, the hands twitching in time from one to the other.

Huh... later than I thought it was going to be, Andrew thought to himself, nonplussed by the ridiculous status of the grandfather clock.

As he turned the corner into the living room, he was shocked to find Luna sitting on the large couch, a blue glowing tea cup drifting back down to its place on the tray.

"Luna, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be back in Canterlot?" He asked, confused.

"Indeed I should be, in fact I still am" She explained, floating her tea cup back up to take another sip. Andrew couldn't help but notice the cup seemed to refill itself on the way back down.

"...Uh are you feeling ok? ‘Cause last time I checked this wasn't Canterlot.”

Luna fixed Andrew with a curious look, as if deeply analyzing him.

"That is also correct. You are in Ponyville, while I still reside in Canterlot." She explained, continuing after Andrews confused face remained the same. "Am I to believe that you do not realize what is going on?"

"Uhh… I guess?" Andrew replied.

“Interesting…” Luna said, taking another sip of her tea before placing it back down, this time sliding the saucer away from herself. She seemed content in the silence, while Andrew struggled to catch up to what was happening.

“I’m sure it’s utterly baffling.” Andrew exclaimed after he had had enough of the silent treatment. “Wanna clue me in as to why?”

“Because my student, we are in the dream world. Your dream world to be exact.” Luna explained, once again setting her critical gaze upon Andrew. “And you called me here.”

“Wait… a dream?” Andrew insisted. “Is this what you meant by you being dream queen or whatever it was?”

“Guardian of Dreams, but yes, this is what I meant. Surely I explained this already?”

“Nope, pretty sure you left the part about invading dreams out.”

“I do not invade dreams Andrew, I assist those who ask for help. That is all.” She explained, clearly eager to make that distinction. “I help those in the throes of nightmares, and only when they truly seek the help of others.”

“Well I don’t remember asking for help, and I’m pretty sure this isn’t a nightmare.” Andrew pointed out. “Unless that closet there is full of clowns or zombies or something, then by all means…”

“Which brings us back to what makes it very interesting.” She explained. “When I slipped into my slumber and entered the nexus of dreams, I felt a very distinct sensation of pulling. I followed it and arrived here.”

“I didn’t do any pulling…” Andrew assured Luna.

“Which only adds a level of intrigue…” She murmured, practically to herself. “Andrew, do you have any experience with dream magic?”

“Uhhh no? No magic in my world, remember?”

“Yes, of course, just making sure.” Luna said, tapping her chin with her hoof in thought. Upon noticing Andrew’s continually confused look, she attempted to explain. “Dream magic is not exclusive to myself, despite what many might think. Any creature capable of dreaming has the potential to learn such magic’s.”

“Right, ok, I’ll take your word for it…”

“Well, the ability to pull another into ones dream world, as well as the construction of such a solid and logical dream are some of the more difficult abilities a student of the dream would learn.” The dark blue alicorn explained. “And yet you seem to be capable of it despite your utter lack of understanding even the simplest of principles.”

“Uhhh… sorry?”

“There is no need to apologize, it is merely curious. I wonder why I was pulled here, as opposed to any other pony.” She wondered.

“Uh well I was thinking about our little trip to the moon…?”

“I suppose that could potentially help explain why I am here…” Luna paused to think, closing her eyes. After a moment her horn glowed slightly, and her eyes opened again. “It seems my sister has entered the dream world as well. Why don’t you try focusing on her for a moment?”

“Seriously? C’mon I’m not gonna sit here and ‘focus’ on anything!” He complained, crossing his arms and leaning against entrance to the room. “How do I know you aren’t just messing with me? Maybe I’m not even dreami-”

Before Andrew could even finish his sentence Luna picked her cup of tea off of its plate, grasping the saucer in a magical field as well. With no warning she hurled the impromptu projectile at the window adjacent to her couch. With no time to even cringe, Andrew could only watch as the saucer slammed into the large glass window… only for the window to stretch like a sheet of rubber. The saucer pushed further and further before poking through with an audible pop. The window snapped back flat into place, and the saucer drifted away in a new bubble of glass. Andrew stared at the window, trying to internalize what had just happened. He walked to the window, putting his hand against it. It was cool to the touch, and felt just like any glass pane.

“…Right ok, concentrating on the princess…” Andrew hastily said when he finally pulled his hand away from the window.

“Good idea” Luna agreed, a smug smile on her face.

Andrew sat beside Luna, who shuffled over to make more room for the human. He barely even noticed that as she moved over, the couch seemed to elongate. Instead he closed his eyes and pulled up his memories of the Princess.

“Concentrate on her image, as well as her voice” Luna recommended quietly.

Andrew nodded as he rubbed his temples, deep in thought. He felt ridiculous doing this, especially with the image of the princess floating around in his head. He waited, his eyes screwed shut and thoughts focused on Princess Celestia. After what seemed like a few minutes, and right before Andrew was going to give up, he heard a new voice.

“Dear sister, why have I been summoned?”

Andrew opened his eyes to find Princess Celestia standing before him, in the entrance to the living room. She looked from Luna to him in her usual calm demeanor.

“Uh… did I do that?” He asked, looking back to Luna

“Nay, I summoned her myself once I realized she did not sense your attempts to contact her.” Luna explained.

“Sensed what attempts Luna?” Princess Celestia asked. “All I am aware of is you calling me here during a very relaxing dream.”

“I was testing a theory Tia, one that seems to have failed.” Luna explained. “I thought Andrew may have some sort of innate talent when it came to the dream realm, but it seems I was mistaken.”

“I see… And what made you think he had such a talent?”

“Apparently I ‘summoned’ her to my dream.” Andrew explained. “Unintentionally I might add.”

“That is…. curious…” The princess said to herself, sitting on one of the single chairs. “Were you dreaming about her?”

“Nope. Well I was remembering our stint on the moon, but that’s it.”

“Very curious…” She said again. “And you have no explanation Luna?”

“No I do not, besides maybe a talent for dream magic, but again that theory was discredited by his inability to draw you into this dream.”

“But it’s not like a bad thing… right?” He asked, slightly worried that he may break a rule or do something bad. “I’m not gonna get in trouble or anything like that?”

“No, it is most certainly not a bad thing. Curious, that is for certain, but not really worthy of scorn.” Princess Celestia assured him.

“Indeed. While it is possible to invade a ponies dream, and therefore violate their privacy, there is very little in the way of damage to be done when it comes to dream magic.” Luna explained. “It is nigh impossible to learn a secret through the dreams of an untrained pony due their usually nonsensical and illogical content. Furthermore you cannot effect anypony physically through a dream. The worst you could do without intense training is make a nightmare worse.”

“Oh, well that’s a relief I guess.” Andrew sighed, a short pause hanging over the trio before Princess Celestia stood.

“Well then… if I am no longer needed, I believe I shall return to my own dream.” She said, her horn glowing lightly.

“Dream well Tia, I shall see you when we wake.” Luna said, before the princess disappeared with a muffled puff of air.

Andrew stood, walking to the kitchen to grab a drink, only to find all of the cabinets, including the ice box, completely empty.

“Hey Luna? Is there any way I could get a…” he paused as he walked back to the living room to find Luna levitating a bottle of the odd soda he had been drinking earlier. “…drink. Thanks.”

He twisted the top off the soda off as he sat back down next to the alicorn, looking at the seat in which Princess Celestia had been sitting. He chuckled to himself as he took a sip, drawing Luna’s attention.

“Is there something funny my friend?” She asked, taking a sip of her own drink.

“No, not funny. At least not really, it’s more like humorous disbelief.”

“Please do not revert to insisting this is a drug addled hallucination again, I thought we were past that.”

“No no, not that. Back home I’m so used to being normal. Like less than normal really. No wait, just hold on.” Andrew insisted, holding off Luna’s disagreement at the apparent self-deprecation. “I’m really not that special. I’m one of 7 billion humans, with no special skills or anything. I mean for fucks sake I’m a cashier at a grocery store!”

“I fail to see how such sobering conclusions could be seen as worthy of laughter.”

“Well here I am, a grocery store cashier, sitting next to a princess, in a dream, in a world populated by ponies.” Andrew explained, shaking his head and chuckling. “It’s like a goddam movie. And not even a believable one.”

“I will admit, it does sound like a tall tale, especially when seen from your point of view.” She admitted. “But none the less it is reality. At least until we can send you home…Home to your family.”

“Right.” He agreed simply.

“Do you… still not wish to talk about them?” She asked, obviously curious.

“No. well kinda. It’s complicated. It’s not exactly light conversation.” He warned her, closing his eyes and leaning back in the sofa.

“I know.” She said simply

“You know?”

“What a poor teacher I would be if I couldn’t read my student.” She explained.

“Fair enough I guess.” The human said, pausing for a long moment before starting again. “My mother died when I was fifteen and my sister was ten…about ten years ago. Dad was a deadbeat and had abandoned us completely way before mom died. So with nowhere to we bounced around from foster home to foster home. By some miracle we managed to stay together throughout it all. When I turned eighteen I took my sister out of the system and we scraped a life together in Boston. It was very hard at first, but we managed to get by… barely. My sister Alice… well she’s the only reason I need to get home.”

Luna remained quite as Andrew explained exactly why he didn’t like talking about his family.

“You have my sympathy Andrew.” Luna said. “As well as my respect. Getting by at such a young age is worthy of praise, especially with a younger sister to take care of.”

“More like she took care of me. Alice was a force to be reckoned with when I started slipping into a slump a few years after we struck out on our own. She kept me out of trouble, or worse… an early grave.”

“Things were that dire?” Luna asked.

“…. For a while, yeah. I was just a kid, working every minute so I could to afford to feed myself and my sister. We had some help from the state, but outside that… I wanted to give my sister her childhood back, and I was failing horribly. Things were getting… dark. I was beginning to get desperate, asking around for some… shady loans. I almost found one too, but my sister stopped me in time.”

A smile grew on Andrews’s face as he called forth the old memory. Luna studied his face as she listened. She couldn’t help but notice that the smile was tainted by sadness, as if the memory was happy but recalling it was painful.

“I came home from work one day to find her standing in the kitchen, two piles of cash on the counter, one hell of a serious look on her face.”

“Were did she get the money?” Luna asked, after Andrew paused for a long moment.

“She had pawned everything I had bought her in the past two years, every birthday present and gift I had gotten her in an attempt to make everything seem normal, like we weren’t living from paycheck to paycheck, with food stamps bridging the gap. She said ‘No more pretending, no more trying to make my life perfect when you skip meals at work. We are a team and teams work together’”

“She sounds very strong.” Luna said simply. She was watching Andrew as emotions and memories flowed through him.

“Yeah, a lot stronger than me.”

The solemn silence hung over the room, the oppressive and dark. Andrew felt a warm pressure on his shoulder, when he opened his eyes, Luna had placed her head against his, her own eyes closed and her horn pressing against the side of his head.

“Andrew Dike you are not alone here. My sister has several of our greatest minds trying to figure out how you arrived here. We Will get you home and with your sister. You have my word.”

Andrew stood, walking away from Luna affection, once again lean on the doorway. He looked back at Luna, eyes dimmed by hidden emotions.

“Thanks Luna. Tell your sister I appreciate all the help she has given me so far.” He paused, turning to the hallway as he did. “And please, do not come in my dreams again. It’s been fun but my dreams are my own, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

Luna eyes grew wide as he drew his line in the sand, not understanding why he would say something like that. “That seems overly harsh my student, but I understand. I shall try to give you your priv-”

“No. No trying Luna. Please do not enter my dreams again.” Andrew emphasized, his face hidden as he made his way to the stairs. “No matter what I say in my dream, or nightmares for that matter. Please stay out.”

Andrew walked away, going up the stairs to his bedroom, leaving Luna on the couch, trying to figure out what had gone wrong.

The next morning, Andrew was sitting on the living room coach, resisting the urge to throw his plate at the window. He was enjoying the leftover food from his lunch with the Apple, particularly the prestigious slice of apple pie he had managed to reheat in the stove. He spent twenty minutes trying to figure out how the stove generated heat, and another twenty wondering if Equestrian temperature was Celsius or Fahrenheit. Eventually he gave up, shouting “Fuck it!” and turned the crank to any old number, watching it cook to make sure it didn’t burn. The pie tasted just as good the second day as it did fresh, a feat he found extremely impressive. He was grumbling about the lack of coffee when he noticed a familiar purple and green dragon outside, making his way down the road. He looked lost, so Andrew got up and made his way to the front door, opening it and shouting to the wandering drake.

“Yo Spike, you looking for something?”

Spike turned to his name, his expression changing from confusion to understanding, and waved to the human. He walked to the house, opened the front gate and up to the front steps.

“Hey Andrew, Good morning!” He said, sticking his hand out to shake, which Andrew took.

“Yeah yeah, good morning and whatever…” Andrew greeted, turning to into walk back inside the house, looking back over his shoulder. “C’mon in, shut the door behind you.”

“Twilight warned me you might not be a morning person.” Spike observed, as he followed Andrews instruction.

“It would be easier if I could find the damn coffee.” He said pointing to the kitchen, which looked thoroughly ransacked.

“Uh you might not have any, not many ponies drink it.” Spike said, wincing as Andrew gave him a deadly look. “Uh you can probably borrow some of Twilights until you can get some more…”

“Really? Spike that would be amazing.”

“Yeah, stop by the library later and I’ll get you a bag of beans.” Spike assured Andrew, as he looked around. “So how’s your new house?”

“It’s great, a bit fancy for my taste, but I’ll get used to it I suppose.” He replied. “Want the ten cents tour?”

“Uh… sure I guess, but what does this have to do with sense?”

Andrew sighed and shook his head, turning to walk into the living room.

“You know, the fact that that only happens occasionally somehow makes it so much more annoying…”

Andrew and Spike sat in the back yard, lounging back in reclining chairs and absorbing the sun that had just crested over the top of the house. They had finished the tour, and had decide to explore the patio since Andrew hadn’t had a chance to yet. They sat, occasionally sipping there cold sodas and enjoying the relatively cool air that had yet to burn off. Andrew looked around, admiring the beautiful landscape. They sat on a flagstone patio, an empty fire pit between them, a dozen or so feet from the back of the house.

“I still can’t believe you thought it was a bed for pegasi!” Spike said with a laugh, making fun of Andrew’s earlier confusion. “I mean it had a griffon carved right into the door!”

“Hey, lay off man, I didn’t even know griffons existed until ten minutes ago!”

“Still, pretty funny!” Spike insisted, taking a sip from his drink. An amicable pause reined for a moment or two before Andrew broke it.

“Hey, you never explained why you were looking for me” Andrew recalled, looking over at the teenage dragon. “not that I mind the company.”

“Oh… w-well I was in the neighborhood and… well I thought… and-”

“Twilight sent you to check up on me?” Andrew asked bluntly, interrupting Spike’s excuse.

“Yup.” The drake admitted without hesitating.

“She worries too much. But I appreciate it all the same.” Andrew said, shaking his head and chuckling at his new friends concern. It was a new feeling, having so many people worried about him. He decided he liked it.

“I should really find a way to repay everything you guys have done for me over the past few day.” Andrew said, thinking out loud as he rubbed his stubbly chin. His eyes lit up as an idea came to him.

“Hey buddy, what are you and Twilight up to later tonight?”

“Uh… nothing I think. She was doing research on how you could have got her when I left, but other than that not much else is going on.”

“That’s good! I’m going to cook for you guys, to show my appreciation.”

“You know how to cook?” Spike asked skeptically.

“Yeah I’m a great cook!” Andrew replied excitedly, before changing his mind. “Okay I’m a terrible cook, but I do a few things pretty well.”

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” Spike jokingly said. “You don’t strike me as a chef.”

“Well, prepare to be surprised!” Andrew said, stirred on by Spikes doubt, but faltering when he remembered something. “I’ll have to borrow some of the money I showed you, but it will be worth it, trust me.”

Author's Notes:

Hello!

This chapter took a lot longer that I wanted, but life kept getting in the way. I'm going to work really hard to make sure it doesn't happen again, but I cant make any promises.

Oh, and here is the inspiration for Andrews new home, to help you visualize!
http://imgur.com/f7Y5sVi

Revelations: 12

A few hours after Spike had left, Andrew stood outside the wooden door of the Golden Oaks Library, having just knocked.

“Come on in, no need to knock.” He heard a familiar voice say from inside.

He opened the door, walking into the now familiar main room. Twilight Sparkle sat in off in one corner, a few small piles of books around her. She seemed intent on the one she had open before her.

“I don’t understand why everyone insists on knocking, I mean it’s a public library.” She said, never moving her eyes from her book.

“Because it’s also your home, which makes it kinda awkward to just walk into.” He explained to her, leaning on one of the book shelves.

“Oh, Andrew! Spike said you might stop by to pick up some coffee beans. Gimme a minute and I’ll go get them.” she said, standing from her small pile of books, knocking over one as she did.

The fallen book caught Andrew’s eye and he walked over to pick it up, turning it over in his hand. The title Intricacies of Teleportation: Long Distances and Complex Objects was inscribed on the cover, inlayed with gold leaf. He looked down at the other books in Twilight’s pile, noticing that they are all on teleportation.

“Alright, well here you go...” Twilight said as she returned, levitating a bag of coffee beans to Andrew. “Spike also said something about a house warming party?”

“Yeah, kinda. Part house warming and part thank you to you guys for helping me so much the past few days.”

“Wow Andrew, you don’t need to do that…” Twilight began before being waved off by Andrew.

“It’s ok, it’ll be fun. I just need to tell Applejack, Fluttershy and everyone else when to come over, assuming that they can.”

“I’m pretty sure everyone is free tonight.” She said, tapping her chin in thought. “And as for telling everyone, no need to worry about that. Pinkie Pie is dropping off a cook book later on today. I’ll tell her then, and she can take care of the rest. Celestia knows how she does it, but she has a thing for invitations.”

“Yeah, I’ve experienced that remember?” He said, calling to mind Pinkie Pie’s cupcake invitation. “In that case, tell her it’s just you six, plus Spike and Big Mac if he feels up for it.”

“Sure thing, I can’t wait.” Twilight said, before noticing the book that Andrew was holding. “I guess you noticed what I was researching huh?”

“Yeah, it all seems to be about teleportation, and spike mentioned you were doing research on my… problem.”

“Well of course, I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of massive spell could have brought you here from a different planet, and how to send you back!”

“Right, I gathered as much…” Andrew said, trailing off as he looked at the book, as if he wanted to continue.

“What is it?” Twilight asked curiously, noticing Andrew’s hesitation.

“Well… you just seem to be focused on this whole other planet idea.”

“Well of course I am, it’s our best theory so far… what else would I be focusing on?” She said, her confusion beginning to show.

“I don’t know to be honest, I’m not a scientist or anything so I can’t really say what you should be focusing on, but… I don’t think me being from another planet fits all the evidence?” He said, clearly unsure of himself.

Twilight looked at the human with a raised eyebrow, unable to parse what he was implying. Andrew noticed this and frowned.

“You mean you haven’t noticed?” He asked, his own eyebrows raising in surprise.

“Noticed what?”

Instead of answering Andrew gave a short laugh, shaking his head.

“You seriously haven’t caught on to it? That doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence.” He said lightly as he laughed. “I just hope the people… erm ponies Princess Celestia and Luna have on this have realized it at least.”

“Realized what Andrew?” Twilight asked, confusion beginning to mix with a small amount of annoyance.

“Twilight, this is a book.” He said as he held it up and pointed at it.

Silence fell over the duo, as Andrew let his friend absorb the “revelation”, while Twilight waited, clearly thinking that Andrew was going to elaborate. When he didn’t, her confusion only grew.

“…Yes, that is a book.” She said hesitantly. “I don’t really see how that…”

“No no no, listen to what I’m saying. This… is a book” He heavily enunciated the word “book”, before opening it up and pointing to the words in it. “and these are words.”

Twilight’s eyes followed Andrew’s pointing, clearly very confused and beginning to get worried about Andrew’s nonsense.

“Andrew, are you feeling okay?” She asked.

“Yeah I’m fine, you’re just not thinking far enough outside the box. Actually… maybe that’s not the problem. Maybe you’re already thinking too far outside the box, missing the simple detail that is literally staring you in the face as we speak.”

“Andrew, clearly I am missing something, so could you please explain it to me.” Twilight was beginning to get annoyed again, she didn’t like the idea of new knowledge being dangled in front of her face.

“Okay fine. This… is a book. B-O-O-K- book… but that’s not what’s important.” Andrew said dramatically, holding the book up. “What is important is that two different creatures who have never before interacted with each other, both call it that.”

For a moment Twilight didn’t register what Andrew had said. Then her jaw dropped, and her face went slack. She continued to stare at Andrew, but when he moved, her gaze did not follow him.

“This is a chair, that’s a table, and that’s an apple.” Andrew explained further, pointing to random things in the room. “But the crazy thing isn’t just that we call them the same thing, but that they are also actually the same thing. An apple still tastes like an apple. Hell, you even prepare them in the same ways.”

“Sweet Celestia, Andrew this changes everything!” She shouted, rushing up to him and looking at him intently. “How are you speaking Equestrian?!”

“No, Twilight I think you’re missing the point again. I’m not speaking Equestrian, I’m speaking English. All of this stuff exists in my world, right down to the names of your cities, minus the horse puns. I mean I have no idea what it means but doesn’t that kind of disprove me simply being on another planet?”

Andrew paused in his explanation when he realized Twilight was standing stock still, her mouth agape. He waved his hand in front of her face, with no reaction.

“Uh Twilight? You getting any of th-” Andrew was cut off as Twilight disappeared in a puff of purple magic. “Uhhh… I guess you did?”

Seconds later, Twilight reappeared in another puff, plus an extra dragon. Spike stood next to her, leaning over with his mouth open wide, as if he was about to take a large bite out of something. Realizing he was no longer in the same place he opened his eyes, arms dropping to his sides as he moaned in annoyance.

“Oh come on Twilight! I was just about to eat a gem Rarity gave me! What was so important that-” He began to complain, before Twilight interrupted him by pushing a quill and a roll of parchment into his hands.

“Spike this is extremely important, I need to send a letter to Princess Celestia immediately!”

To Spikes credit, he quickly stood at attention, wielding the quill with practiced ease, preparing to copy down Twilight’s every word. The only hint of annoyance was the quiet muttering of “could have brought the gem with us…”

“Ready?” Twilight asked Spike, waiting until he was ready to start talking. “Dear Princess Celestia. I have very important news concerning Equestria’s newest arrival, our new friend Andrew. While having a conversation about my research on how he arrived here, he brought something to my attention that I believe no one but he realized. At least not well enough to understand its possible importance. All this time, I believed him to be speaking Equestrian, when he is in fact speaking ‘English’.”

Twilight paused to mime air quotes with one hoof before continuing.

“Barring some slang words that seem to be different, this language that he is speaking is identical to our own. But what is even more shocking is that the words in our languages are describing the same things. His word for apple appears to describe the same fruit as our word, and his word for chair describes the same piece of furniture as ours. The more I think about it, the more I find it astounding that I did not recognize it sooner, or that no one else did either. His ability to interact and accurately name the things around him should not be possible, and yet he does it consistently. From recognizing a train to the point of predicting the need for a ticket, to an understanding of local food and fauna that rivals a full time resident’s. He demonstrates knowledge that a creature that is simply from another planet, no matter how intelligent and observant they may be, should not have. My first thought was that he is using some sort of advance translation spell, but then I remembered the magical scans and probes I preformed soon after he first arrived here.”

Twilight paused for a long moment, pacing around the room, mumbling to herself as she went. Spike quickly caught up with her dictation, and he patiently waited for her to continue. She seemed to be pondering what she was about to say. Andrew moved to say something, but Spike quickly caught his eye, waving him off.

“Andrew himself admits he lacks the understanding to actually know what this means… and I am annoyed to say that I am in the same boat as him.” Twilight continued, her pacing continuing as she dictates. “I am truly baffled as to what this new information tells us, though I can firmly say that our previous theory, that he was somehow teleported through space from another planet, is looking severely unlikely. Something else is going on, potentially something even more impressive that trans-planet teleportation. If you have any theories that fit this discovery please let me know, I am truly lost trying to explain it. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle”

Spike finished his writing, quill dancing over the parchment until he caught up, signing it in Twilights name with a flourish. After a quick once over he passed the parchment to Twilight, who spent a minute or so double checking it for errors, before making her way a desk and stamping it with a wax seal. This whole process was done at a panicked pace, Twilight rushing about. The hurried mare handed the rolled parchment back to Spike, who took a deep breath.

“So how are you gonna get it to the princesses, you seem pretty- HOLY SHIT FIRE!” Andrew began to ask, only to shout loudly and jump as Spike let out his breath, spraying green fire onto the parchment, which was immediately burnt to a cinder. “What the fuck was that dude?! Why the hell did you burn it?”

“I didn’t. Well I did actually, but it’s not that simple…” The green and purple dragon said before halting his explanation, instead only shrugging. “uhh… Magic?”

“Seriously Spike? You too?” Andrew said crossly and with a fair extra bit of volume as he came down from his surprise. “Why you gotta be like that?”

Ignoring his question Twilight turned sharply around and began putting away the pile of books she had been studying from. Andrew waited a moment before speaking up.

“So putting aside the scary green dragon fire that I’m assuming didn’t just burn your letter…. What’s gonna happen now?” Andrew asked Twilight.

“I don’t know. Our primary theory that you are an extraterrestrial is assuredly out the window now. Other than that… I just don’t know.” She explained, before adding. “And he didn’t burn it, he sent it to Princess Celestia.”

“Really? You don’t have a follow up theory or anything like that? Don’t scientists like… usually have one?”

“Despite what my friends might think I’m not really a scientist, I’m a mage. While they do cross over quite a bit, and I do love learning and science, my field of study is the arcane arts. But more importantly, like I said in the letter, I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t even know where I would begin to research.”

“Oh… well that sucks…I guess.”

“It’s certainly not a step forward. That being said, any progress we would have made would have been useless if we hadn’t found this out now.” Twilight said as she slid the last book into place, chewing her lip as she thought.

“So what do you think Princess Celestia will do about it?” He asked.

“I don’t know, hopefully she does have a back-up theory.” Twilight replied hopefully. “Barring that, she may be able to find someone who does have a way to explain how a species from a different planet could possibly have so much in common with us.”

“Huh… now I feel kinda bad about raining on your… research parade.” Andrew said, scratching the back of his neck with an awkward laugh.

“It’s ok, really.” Twilight assured him. “I just wish we had known this sooner, I could have discussed this with Princess Celestia in person…”

“Well Luna will be here in a few days, you can talk to her then?”

“Yeah… It’s really not the same thing.” Twilight said absentmindedly, before looking back to Andrew with wide eyes. “Not that there is anything wrong with Princess Luna!”

Andrew felt oddly inclined to defend Luna, but he bit his tongue. Instead he looked at Twilight with an arched eyebrow and waited for her to continue.

“Princess Luna is great, and a good friend. But…” Twilight paused before continuing, chewing her words to keep from digging her hole any deeper. “Princess Celestia is like a second mother to me. When I was younger I spent just as much time in the castle training with the Princess as I did at home.”

“So chatting about magic and whatever is like nostalgic?” Andrew asked.

“Yeah there’s that… and she knows just how to prod me to the right answer without making me feel like she helped me figure it out.”

“Assuming of course she knows the answer to begin with.” Andrew added. “She seemed just as lost as you were.”

“Yeah… That’s more unnerving than anything else that has happened so far.” Twilight admitted. “She has always been the one with all the answers. But now…”

“It’s always hard when idols fall off their pedestals.” Andrew said simply, walking over to Twilight to pat her back. “Unfortunately no one can have all the answers. You-.”

Before Andrew could say anything else, Spike let out a burp behind him. Andrew turned around to find that the dragon was holding another scroll, marked with a golden seal shaped like the sun.

“Twilight, the princess responded!” Spike shouted to get Twilights attention.

“Seriously? That was fast…” Andrew remarked.

“We got lucky, she must have been in her office!” She said excitedly, making her way to him, Andrew following behind.

Twilight grasped the letter with her magic, levitating it over to herself. She popped the seal and unrolled the scroll. She cleared her throat before beginning to read.

“Dear Twilight Sparkle. This is indeed a surprising revelation, one that will change our theories greatly. I am extremely shocked that no one, my sister and I included, noticed this enigma. So, while my sister and I are quite busy today, I will send word to several of our brightest minds, yourself excluded, with directions to come to Canterlot for a brain storming session of sorts, in an attempt figure out what this could possibly mean. I have high hopes that we will have a strong theory by the end of tomorrow, the day after at the latest. In the meantime, I suggest you focus on making sure Andrew is settled in and well adjusted. I shall contact you if we ourselves have any further revelations. Until then, best wishes. With love, Princess Celestia.”

“Well…” Andrew said after a moment or two of pause. “Looks like you really have tonight off now.”

“Twilight, I get it. You don’t like being out of the loop.” Andrew said, overriding the complaint Twilight had repeated for what felt like the thousandths time. “But I asked you to help me shopping because I figured it would help you get over it, not so I could listen to you bitch about it for an hour.”

Twilight, whose mouth was hung open from Andrew’s abrupt interruption, sighed and looked down in consternation.

“It hasn’t been an hour yet…” She said.

“I know, but if I hadn’t cut you off now you would have gotten there eventually, right?” Andrew challenged, continuing when she didn’t argue. “Exactly. Now, can we get back to shopping?”

“Yeah, I guess…” Twilight agreed, still dejected from Andrew’s admonishment. “There is a store over here that always has fresh produce. What do you need anyway?”

“Uh… well for tonight I need a couple of onions, cheese, some green peppers and maybe some black olives to start. It depends on what’s there and what I feel like.” Andrew said, rubbing his chin as he followed Twilight. “I should also get some stuff for myself. Maybe some tofu if they have it…”

“They usually do…” Twilight said as she turned the corner and pushed the door of the shop open. “But would it kill you to make a list next time?”

“Probably” He said as he stopped to examine the storefront.

It was quaint, just like everything else in Ponyville, with a feel just like every other mom and pop place he had ever seen. A sign with the words “Finders Fresh Food” hung over the door, Andrew had to resist the urge to jump and tap it. Instead he walked into the cool store, the door quietly squeaking as he opened it. The room was filled with rows and rows of food. The dry goods were stacked on shelves in the back, visible over the much lower produce displays, which were up to Andrew’s waist. Ponies stared at the human over the vegetables and fruit filled crates, and he stared back, wincing slightly as the door creaked shut, sounding much louder than when he had opened. With a sigh he shook his head, grabbed a basket from beside the door, and turned to find Twilight. He caught up to her as she walked through the store. She was shaking her head in annoyance.

“We really need to do something about all the staring.” She said, her annoyance replacing her earlier downtrodden mood. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“It’s getting better I think.” Andrew said with a shrug. “Nobody is diving to protect their kids anymore, so that’s a plus.”

“Don’t joke, this is not okay” Twilight responded, failing to hold back her smile. “We will go visit the mayor tomorrow and see if she has come up with anything to help.”

“Sounds like a plan I guess… maybe she will know where I can get a job as well, I’m uncomfortable enough using this money, never mind not being able to paying it back.”

Andrew patted his pocket for emphasis, the jingle of a few bits making Twilights ears twitch. He began to walk from display to display, inspecting various fruits and vegetables, placing the ones he wanted in the basket. He brought a few oranges to his nose, smelling them before adding them to his growing collection. Twilight followed the human around, watching him test the freshness of various fruits and vegetables.

"You guys have amazingly fresh food, this stuff puts the food I’m used to too shame.” Andrew said, after resisting the urge to take a bite of a pear.

“And you seem to know just how to tell how fresh it is.” Twilight observed.

“Yeah… I’ve worked at a grocery store for the past two years, among second jobs. You learn a thing or two if you pay attention.” He explained with a smile, moving along to the dry goods aisles. “That and bouncing around in foster care exposes you to a lot. Some of its even good things. I’m kinda a jack of all trades, master of none at this point.”

“That must come in handy…” Twilight said, following behind him.

“It does, it can be a big self-esteem boost too.” He replied.

“How’s that?”

“Well…” Andrew thought for a moment, pausing while holding two jars of olives. “When you break something around your house, you have to call a repair man. I spent a year living with a carpenter’s family, working with the father to make spending money. I can fix anything that doesn’t involve electricity. You know, within reason.”

He put the larger can of black olives into his basket, and followed the cool air to a set of ice filled containers.

“Not having to rely on a repair man is a nice feeling, makes you feel very independent. Cheaper too.” He explained as he fished out a formidable block of cheese from the ice, reading the label with squinted eyes.

“That certainly does sound useful.” Twilight agreed, making small talk. “Maybe you can take a look at one of the doors at home, it’s been getting stuck.”

“Oh, that’s an easy one. If it’s a wooden door then it’s just the humidity. The wood absorbs the moisture in the air it and expands in the door jam.”

“Huh… that makes since. It has been really humid lately.”

The two continued to make comfortable small talk as Andrew finished his shopping and made his way to the cashier, waiting behind the few ponies already in line. He got quite a few stares, but it seemed to be petering out by the time the two were face to face with the cashier. It was an older stallion, crow’s feet marking his eyes.

“Well hello there, never seen anypony like you before…” The stallion said, as Andrew put his full basket on the counter.

“Yeah, I’m kinda new here…” Andrew explained, not sure what else to say.

The aging stallion simply nodded, taking each item out and tapping on the brass register, before putting them into a cloth bag. Twilight and Andrew looked to each other, and shrugged, surprised that the old man was treating Andrew so normally.

“That will be forty six bits.” He said after he had finished packing Andrews food.

Andrew handed the old stallion a gold coin, which he happily accepted. He counted out five silver coins and four copper ones, before closing the register with a loud “ka-ching”. He handed Andrew the change, then slid the bag over the counter, which Andrew picked up by the handle.

“You have a nice day stranger, you as well Twilight!” the old pony said happily, waving as the two walked away.

“That was a nice change of pace.” Twilight said with a smile as the exited the grocery store. “I’m glad that at least Old Finder was nice enough not to treat you differently.”

“He definitely earned a lifetime customer.” Andrew said with a smile. “I’m gonna head straight back home no, I have some prep work to do before tonight.”

“Oh, alright. I need to get back to the library anyway, Pinkie will be there soon.”

“So see you guys tonight?”

“Yup! See you later!”

Andrew stood for a moment as Twilight trotted away, waving to her until she turned the corner. With a content sigh he turned to the opposite direction, pulled a pear out of his bag, and started the walk home.

Quite a few hours later, Andrew's new home smelled like melted cheese and rising dough. He had spent several hours preparing the food, dicing toppings and kneading several clumps of dough. Now three bowls of that dough sat on the counter, while the ovens were slowly cooking two cookie sheets full of cheesy, doughy goodness. He had spent nearly as much time cleaning the kitchen back to its spotless splendor as he had preparing the food itself. The counters had been covered in flour and chunks of sticky dough, and his clothes hadn't faired any better. They were covered in flour as well as several spilt ingredients, a large oil stain the most prominent of the messes. After he had turned the ovens off, leaving it closed to slowly finish the cooking, as well as to keep the pizza's piping hot, he went upstairs to get himself clean.

A quick shower later, he stood staring at his bed, where he had thrown his clothes before getting into the shower. In all the excitement of getting ready he had forgotten that these were the only clothes he had. They were completely soiled, sweaty from the cleaning and dirty from the cooking. With a depressed sigh he put them back on, and went down stairs to check on the pizzas and wait for his guests.

Not fifteen minutes later he heard a knock on the door, and he hurried to answer it. A familiar alabaster pony stood on the other side, a neatly tied parcel balanced on her back.

"Rarity, hey!" Andrew's said, slightly surprised. "Welcome, come on in!"

"Why thank you darling, I hope I'm not too early?" She asked, entering into the front hall.

"No no, I never really had a set time." He assured her. "Though to be honest I assumed you would be the last to get here. You know, like fashionably late."

Rarity gave a dazzling laugh, which spread to Andrew's smile infectiously.

"I must admit dear that normally I would be, though never on purpose." She admitted, looking slightly abashed. "But today I had a special purpose. To deliver this!"

She levitated the parcel from her back over to Andrew now outstretched hand. He held the parcel, weighing it in an attempt to figure out what it was.

"When Pinkie Pie stopped by with the invitation, it occurred to me you would need a new outfit." She explained, answering Andrews’s unasked question. "I admit I don't know human customs, but I’d think that wearing an outfit for several day in a row would seem questionable at best."

"And you'd be one hundred percent right." Andrew said, swallowing his nervousness about wearing Rarity's clothes. "I definitely need something to wear other than this."

Andrew pulled at his shirt, showing off the stains and discolorations he had gathered while cooking and cleaning. Rarity cringed as she noticed all of them.

"Well.... make yourself at home, I'll go get changed..." Andrew said as he gestured to the living room.

"Of course! And do hurry back, I'm excited to see how my creations turned out with a proper model!"

Andrew smiled and turned to climb the stairs. He tugged at the twine that held the parcel shut, wondering if had been right to trust Rarity with his clothes. From what he had seen her talent lay in jewels and... being fabulous. Andrew supposed there was a time and place for that, but he couldn't see himself ever being in that place.

"Guess I really didn't have much of a choice..." he mumbled to himself as he closed his bedroom door behind him and pulled out the clothes.

The cloth was extremely fine and soft as he rubbed it with his fingers, but seemed to be a relatively un-extravagant material. It was a maroon color, dark but not to dark. Andrew found himself nodding his head appreciatively as he unfolded the shirt. It was a relatively simple design, no jewels or fancy frills. The stitching was invisible, and the buttons that went up the chest matched the fabric well. If a pony hadn't just handed it to him he would have been hard pressed to distinguish it from any of his old clothes. The shorts were a similar story. The cloth was slightly thicker, which he assumed meant tougher. It had pockets in the same place that his other shorts did, two on each leg. It came with a simple loop belt around it, complete with belt loops to attach it to. She even included some boxer like underwear.

"Wow, how the hell did she do this…?" he asked no one in particular as he pulled off his dirty clothes, and hurriedly pulled on the new ones.

He headed to the bathroom down the hall, so he could see how he looked. He had to admit, they looked good on him. The angles of the collar were perfect, and he wondered how she had gotten those right. He patted down the shirt feeling the fine cloth and its utter lack of uncomfortable stitching or tags. He tightened the belt and smiled, leaving the bathroom behind and heading back down stairs.

When he reached the top of the stairs he was surprised to see Twilight and Spike standing in the hall, chatting with Rarity. Spike noticed him standing there and waved.

"Hey Andrew! Liking your new clothes?" He asked, as Rarity and Twilight turned to look at him.

"Yeah, they're amazing!" He said happily, walking down the stairs to join them. "Rarity is a miracle worker, she got everything perfect!"

"Oh I am so glad to hear that Andrew, I was fretting for hours on the neckline cut!" She said. "Are you sure it's not too tight?"

"No, it’s perfect, not to loose and not too tight." He assured her, running his fingers over the collar again. "Really, I've worn way less comfortable things made by other humans. Thank you so much."

"You're very welcome darling, I enjoyed the opportunity to work on something completely new." She said, her smile dazzling them, especially Spike, who practically fell over. "Now, enough about my work, we were just discussing what you could have made that could be creating this amazing aroma!"

"Oh, I just made some pizza, nothing major." Andrew explained with a shrug. "To be completely honest, it’s all I can really cook. Other than this I could pretty much burn water."

"Don't feel bad dude, Twilight is the same way, only she can’t cook anything. I’ve literally seen her burn cereal" Spike said. "But uhh... what’s pizza?"

Andrew laughed a bit, before noticing that Spike was completely serious, and that both Rarity and Twilight bore the same expressions. He stared at them, mouth agape, his brain momentarily stuck in neutral.

"You guys have never heard of pizza?" He asked clearly, not believing them.

"No, I can’t say I have ever heard of it." Rarity admitted, looking to Twilight and Spike, the latter who shrugged in agreement.

"Sorry Andrew, I've never read about it either" Twilight apologized. "What is it?"

"Of all the things not to have here…" Andrew said, shaking his head as he gestured to kitchen. "You girls are gonna love this.”

Andrew led the three into the kitchen and stood in front of the stove. With a flourish he opened the door, heat and the aroma of melted cheese and tomato sauce flooded out. He grabbed a nearby towel and pulled the trays out, one by one placing the two cooked pizzas on the nearby stove top. He pulled a knife from a nearby knife block, and began slicing it into squares. He struggled a bit, trying to keep the lines straight.

"This part is much easier with pizza scissors." He explained, finally finishing with the cutting. "Then you take a slice like this..."

Andrew pulled a still steaming slice of pizza onto a plate, licking the burning sauce off his fingers as he put the plate down.

"On second thought, we should wait until it cools off for a while” He said, wincing a bit. “I got a bit excited..."

Twilight was about to say something, probably sarcastically, when the doorbell rang. He hurried to answer the door, finding Applejack and Big Mac standing on the other side. Big Mac was balancing a large barrel on his back.

"Hey guys, glad you could come…” Andrew said, eyes drawn the barrel. “How the hell did you balance that all the way here?”

“Practice.” Big Mac said simply, letting the barrel fall off his back, somehow getting it to slide down his leg so that it landed gently.

“It’s ah small barrel of our famous apple cider!” Applejack explained happily. “First one of this season too! Figured it would make ah good house warmin’ present.”

“No shit…” Andrew said under his breath as he walked to the barrel an examined it. “Why does it look like its straight out of a distillery?”

“Cause it is. Well… it will be.” Applejack explained. “We re-use the barrels to make hard apple whiskey later in the year.”

“Damn… I’m glad you didn’t bring a barrel of that.” Andrew said jokingly. “… it would have been an entirely different kind of party.”

“Eyup” Big Mac agreed, pushing the barrel into the house past Andrew.

“You know what…” Andrew started as he followed his new guests inside. “Maybe we could crack it open tonight? I just realized I never got stuff for everyone to drink…”

“I reckon that’s fine by me, iffen ya don’t mind sharin’ your gift”

“Of course not, I couldn’t drink that much cider by myself anyway” He assured them as he cut ahead of the two siblings, guiding them into the kitchen. “Least not before it went bad.”

"Why don't we put it up here?" He suggested, tapping the counter top that looked over the dinning room. "Just pass it here."

Andrew attempted to take the barrel and lift it, heaving and straining at it, only managing to budge it slightly, its contents sloshing inside.

"Whoa... That's heavier than it looks." He remarked, nursing his back dramatically.

"Oh don't be a foal, it's not that heavy" Applejack replied, lifting the barrel with her hooves with seeming ease. "See, light as a feather."

Andrew shook his head in shock, muttering under his breath. He continued muttering as he turned around, opening a cabinet and pulling out several mugs, making a few trips back and forth from the cabinet. Big Mac had begun to fiddle with the tap, attempting to line up the mallet and tap he had brought with him. Applejack was nowhere to be seen.

"Here let me give it a try." Andrew volunteered, putting the cups down and grabbing the spout and the mallet.

Andrew tapped the spout a few times, loosening the seal of the prepared hole, before slamming the mallet against the tap, knocking it almost the whole way in, sealing the tap with minimum spray. He wiped up what cider did leak out, before handing the mallet back to Big Mac.

"Thanks" the farmer said simply, going off to put the mallet by the door so he wouldn't forget it on the way out.

"Alright Mac, let's get that spout-" Applejack said, stopping when she saw the tap already in. "Wow, he's a'ready done?"

"I did it for him" Andrew replied as he tested the pizza to see if it had cooled.

“How did you do it so fast? And with no mess?” Applejack asked, impressed. “It usually takes both of us to do that.”

“I worked as a bartender for a few months when I was living in New York.” He explained. “Plus opposable thumbs help.”

He picked up the trays of pizza and carried them into the dining room, placing them on the table. Rarity, Twilight and Spike had all sat down, shortly joined by Applejack, who sat down next to Twilight. Big Mac took the seat across from them next to Spike, who was happily sitting next to Rarity.

“Okay… The pizzas are almost ready to eat…” Andrew announced. “Let me go throw the next two in and then we can dig in.”

“What about Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?” Rarity asked, trying her hardest to look polite and composed through her hungry eyes.

“Flutters and Rainbow Dash are on their way!” Pinkie Pie said happily, as she took a big sniff of the pizza nearest her, ignoring the startled looks of the others.

“Hey Pinkie Pie.” Andrew greeted nonchalantly as he continued to walk into the kitchen, talking over the peninsula. “Thanks for telling everyone about the party.”

“Aww! Why didn’t you jump?” She asked, in a slightly whining voice, a smile still clear on her face. “It’s much more fun when you jump and yell!”

“I saw you outside peeking in through the back window” Andrew explained, pulling out two more baking pans, and plopping dough on each one. “A big puff of pink is hard to miss next to a green bush.”

“Wait, you were trying to scare him again?!” Twilight asked. “I thought you understood that was a bad idea!?”

“I wasn’t trying to scare him!” Pinkie Pie assured Twilight. “I was just a distraction.”

“A distraction for what dear?” Rarity asked after her and Twilight shared an exasperated look.

Suddenly one of the windows in the kitchen was flung open, a blur bursting into the room. Andrew jumped and yelled, wielding a tomato sauce covered spoon in a valiant attempt to defend himself from whatever vile creature had just busted into his kitchen. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie fell off her seat, laughing hysterically.

“I SMELL APPLE CIDER!” Rainbow Dash shouted as she untangled herself from the curtains she had flown into, immediately running over to the barrel and pouring herself a glass.

Just before Rainbow Dash could take a sip, the glass was surrounded by a light blue aura and floated away from her hooves.

“Hey! Give that back!” The prismatic pony shouted.

“As soon as you apologize to Andrew, and fix those wonderful curtains!” Rarity instructed, hovering the glass to the table. “Honestly, what did either of them do to deserve such treatment?”

Rainbow Dash looked back at the mess she made, including at Andrew, who was leaning against the counter rubbing his face.

“Haha… Oops?” Rainbow Dash said, rubbing the back of her neck nervously. “Sorry about that…”

“Jesus Christ… What the hell was that for?” Andrew said when he finally recovered.

“Well…every year I miss Applejack’s apple cider!” Rainbow dash whined. “It’s so good and I hardly ever get any!”

“So you bust through the window and scare the shit out of me?” Andrew asked incredulously.

“Yeah… maybe wasn’t the best idea…” Rainbow Dash admitted, a bit skittishly, taking the long route around the counter to the window. “I’m sorry.”

“Is anything broken?” He asked with a sigh as she shut the window and rehung the curtains.

“No, not that I can tell at least.”

“Well then go sit down Spaz, we will all eat when I’m done with this.” He explained as he motioned to the half prepared pizza.

Rainbow Dash nodded and headed to the dining room, with Fluttershy right behind her. The yellow pony had come through the front door while they had been talking, looking worried. Andrew threw the finishing touches on the last two pizzas, muttering and shaking his head. He shut the oven a little harder than necessary and went to the cider keg to fill up seven glasses. He carried them to the dining hall, joining his friends.

“Umm… sorry I didn’t stop Rainbow Dash from crashing into your window Andrew.” Fluttershy quietly apologized from her seat next to Big Mac. “I couldn’t catch up to her when she flew off.”

“Don’t worry about it Fluttershy, it wasn’t your fault.” He assured her. “It’s no big deal anyway, I’m just glad I didn’t use magic again. Too many sharp and heavy things in the kitchen for me to do something unintentional.”

Rainbow Dash gulped and looked worriedly from the knife block that sat in the corner of the kitchen, to the pans that hung above the stove top.

“Anyway…” Andrew said, punctuated by a single clap. “It’s time to eat!”

The group dug in, levitating, grabbing and passing square slices of pizza and glasses of cider around until everyone had one. They all sniffed and poked at the pizza, while Andrew immediately took a large bite of his slice, moaning in edible ecstasy.

“I swear I was craving pizza before I even got here. I already miss being able to order it whenever I want.” He said after swallowing his large chunk, before noticing that no one had taken a bite yet. “C’mon guys, just try it.”

Big mac was the first to pony up, taking a bite of his slice. He chewed carefully before his eyes went wide. He immediately took an even larger bite, chewing it enthusiastically. The group collectively shrugged, everyone finally tasting the cheesy food.

“My word… Andrew this is absolutely delicious!” Rarity exclaimed, as she dabbed her face with a napkin. “I cannot believe I have never had this dish before.”

“It’s no apple pie, but it’s mighty tasty.” Applejack agreed, taking another bite.

“I really like the olives” Fluttershy said quietly. “And the mushrooms.”

“Olives and mushrooms huh?” Twilight said curiously. “Maybe I’ll try that one next!”

Words of praise and groans of enjoyment flowing through the dining room, Andrew trying to stay modest among them.

“It isn’t that good, it’s a solid five or six on the pizza scale back home.” He admitted. “Definitely nothing special.”

“Hush Andrew, this is a meal to be proud of!” Rarity assured him, everyone nodding in agreement. “Where did you learn to cook like this?”

“Well it’s kind of a long story…” He said a bit worriedly. “Not a very happy story either.”

“Well we ain’t goin’ anywhere!” Applejack shouted. “What goods a group meal if you can’t tell a story or two anyway?”

“It’s okay Andrew.” Twilight added, a bit more seriously. “We can handle it I’m sure.”

“Well alright, but I warned you.” Andrew looked at their curious faces and sighed. “My mother died when I was fifteen, so my sister and I were in foster care from then until I was eighteen. We stayed with a bunch of people, all over the country.”

The mood took a turn towards somber, but Andrew quickly waved it off, but not before noticing the look shared by Big Mac and Applejack.

“Don’t worry, it was ten years ago. It’s sad yeah but I’ve had a lot of time to heal from it. Besides, this story isn’t about that. I just wanted to explain why I was in foster care.” Andrew explained before continuing. “The first foster home we stayed at didn’t last long. I was lashing out from grief and my sister withdrew so far into herself she hardly responded to anything, or anyone. They couldn’t handle us, so we got shipped away. But the second one, we stayed there for eight months. It was this sweet old Italian lady who cooked the best damn pizza I have ever had. She cooked them with love and empathy and so many good feelings. Our first bite and my sister and I were balling our eyes out. She just held us for an hour until we stopped crying, patted our heads and reheated our food. That house… It was the only foster home that actually felt like a home.”

Andrew shook his head as old bittersweet memories danced through his head. The others respectfully waited through his pause.

“One day she demanded I learn how to cook. I went along with it but my heart wasn’t in it, mostly because it would always go terribly. But she was so patient with me, trying over and over again to teach me. Eventually I gave up even trying, but she never did. Until one day my sister and I come home from school to find a police officer sitting on our front porch.”

Everyone had stopped eating by this point, Rainbow Dash had even put down her glass of cider. They listened with bated breath to Andrew’s story, a worried look on most of their faces. . Twilight bit her lip as if to bite back her growing sense of dread.

“Apparently old Mary had been hiding her poor health from us. She had been diagnosed with cancer about three months after we got there. My sister and I were devastated. I was lost and terrified that my sister would shrink back into herself. So, that night I snuck away from the police station and made my way back to that little ranch house. I spent five hours trying desperately to make an edible pizza. When I was finally happy with it, it was four in the morning, but I walked all the way back to the station. The child services woman found us that morning snuggled together, both of us with pizza sauce all over our faces. I’ve been steadily improving my pizza since then.”

The room was very quiet for a string of long moments, until Fluttershy stood up from her seat and made her way to the human. She wrapped her hooves around him as best she could, giving him a tender hug.

“T-Thanks Fluttershy.” Andrew said as he returned the hug, managing to keep almost all of the tremor from his voice. “But really, it’s ok. It happened a long time ago.”

“Thank you for sharing such an important meal with us.” Big Mac said sagely, the rest of the room only managing to nod.

“Your welcome, it’s a meal I happily make for new friends.”

“A toast then!” Rarity said, lifting her glass high and wiping a small tear from her eye. “To new friends!”

“May they fall from the sky when you least expect it!” Andrew joked, clinking glasses with everyone before taking a long drought of his drink. The group laughed, and with the tension broken a mood of happiness returned.

The jovial atmosphere continued as the sun set and the night sky began to show the first stars. Rarity was the first to excuse herself, saying she needed to finish a few things at work before it got too late. Spike decided to walk Rarity home, claiming he wanted to have an early night. They were soon followed by Fluttershy who was obviously getting tired, drained by Andrew’s story and by keeping up in such a loud environment. The pizzas had long been consumed when Andrew suggested they all go outside to enjoy the cool summer night. Pinkie Pie even supplied marshmallows once the fire had been going for a while.

“This sure is a fancy house Andrew.” Applejack said, looking at the back of the house over the fire pit. “I can’t even imagine livin’ in somethin’ like this.”

“It’s certainly a step above what I’m used to.” He admitted. “I’m just happy one of the rooms wasn’t as decadent as the rest. A four post bed? No thank you.”

“Eyup.” Big Mac said in agreement, rotating a marshmallow tipped stick over the fire.

Andrew poked the fire with a branch he had found earlier, pushing the coals around absentmindedly.

“So what are you guys doing tomorrow?” He asked, making small talk.

“Me and Mac have to finish up summer cider makin’” Applejack said after swallowing a toasted marshmallow.

“Other than waiting for Princess Celestia to get back to us, I’ll just be hanging out.” Twilight said, perking up when she thought of something. “Maybe I’ll stop by and give you a hand Applejack.”

“You don’t have to do that.” Applejack assured her. “But I- we would enjoy your company.”

“I’d help too but I have weather patrol in the morning.” Rainbow chimed in. “Then soccer practice with the kids.”

“Soccer? You guys have soccer here?” Andrew asked, curiously.

“Yeah, I’ve been coaching a team this summer.” Rainbow Dash explained. “Wait, how do you know what soccer is?”

“I don’t know!” Twilight answered for him, suddenly aggravated. “And it’s driving me crazy!”

“Uh… What?” Rainbow Dash asked, clearly confused.

“Uughh! Never mind. I need to use the little filly’s room.” Twilight said, walking off still clearly annoyed.

Pinkie Pie watched attentively, as if waiting for something. She looked to Rainbow Dash, wordlessly telling her to drop her question about Twilight.

“Second floor.” Andrew called out to her as she walked away, before turning back to Rainbow Dash. “So you have soccer…What about baseball?”

“Uh no, never heard of that before…” Rainbow Dash admitted. “What is it?”

“It’s a sport I used to play back home.” He explained. “America’s favorite past time!”

“An’ how do you play?” Applejack asked, interested.

“Well… there are two teams. One is up at bat, and the other is playing the field. The team that’s up at bat hits a baseball and runs around some bases, trying to avoid the other team, who is trying to tag the runner out with the ball they just hit.”

All three of the ponies looked at Andrew, clearly confused by his description.

“It’s a bit less confusing than it sounds, and a lot more fun.” He assured them, standing up from his chair. “I was obsessed with it when I was younger. I remember my mom dropped a pretty penny buying me a professional Marucci bat for my birthday, engraved with my name and everything.”

Andrew took a batting stance, the top of the stick he was holding making small circles as he easily fell into the familiar position.

“Unfortunately it was lost somewhere along the line in foster care. I must have left it at someone’s home. To be honest I can’t really remember what happened to it. It felt like suddenly one day it was gone, without a trace. But boy let me tell you, I knew that bat like the back of my own hand.”

Andrew tightened his grip on the stick, closing his eyes as he envisioned being back on the field.

“Maple wood, with the top half painted black. My name was etched around where the paint ended on the barrel. About a three inch sweet spot, maybe an inch from the top. If you held it so you couldn’t see my name you would have a better grip on it because of a slight curl in the grain. It was perfectly balanced if you held it an inch high.”

Andrew lifted his foot, and swung the stick with all his might. It streaked through the air at an incredible speed, whistling and creaking. Half way through its ark, a red spark trailed around Andrew’s hand. The spark quickly grew into a red aura, covering the stick completely. When he finished his swing, theatrically holding the now glowing stick out in one hand, it disappeared with a loud pop. Almost instantaneously, before his fingers even had time to close around the empty air, there was another loud pop, and a baseball bat filled the void created by the disappearing stick. The three ponies looked on in shock, an emotion shared by Andrew. He stared at the bat intensely, before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed, completely and unequivocally unconscious.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 12!

It took awhile, but i think it turned out alright ^_^

hope you all enjoy!

Drained: 13

Andrew lay face up on a bed, eyes closed and his hair disheveled. His skin was pale, barely a few shades darker than the eggshell painted walls that surrounded him. His breath was slow and raspy, the sound of a man on the precipice of being too weak to breathe. A single pony, Fluttershy, watched him with worry and anxiety clear on her face. Every once in a while she would look around, to the door and then to the window, before returning to her vigil. Finally a second pony, Twilight Sparkle, entered in from the open hospital door, carrying a small stack of books.

“Hey Flutters, I’m back.” The unicorn announced. “Any change?”

“I think he whispered something a few minutes ago.” Fluttershy answered. “But I couldn’t understand it.”

Twilight gave a loud sigh and a shake of her head, before setting the pile of books she was carrying down on a nearby table and making her way to Fluttershy and Andrew.

“Thanks for watching him Flutters, I know you were busy. Me and Applejack watched him all night, and for once Spike couldn’t find Rarity.”

“Oh that’s okay Twilight, the animals understood. But umm… what’s wrong with him… what happened?” Fluttershy asked. “I wanted to ask when I first got here but…”

“Oh! Yeah sorry, I was a bit frantic before I left. I had just realized I hadn’t sent a message to the princess yet. ” Twilight began to explain after she apologized. “He cast an incredibly powerful foal spell, making a branch disappear, replacing it with that.”

Twilight pointed to a baseball bat that was leaning in the corner of the room.

“There was so much energy being thrown around it made me dizzy almost thirty meters away, even though I was inside the house.”

“The spell magically exhausted him way worse than Princess Luna was the other day.” The unicorn explained. “His magical storage is completely empty and his mana pathways are heavily drawn. To be honest if he had been a pony… it might have killed him. The only thing he has going for him is that he didn’t strain his magic focal point like Princess Luna did.”

“Oh no… that’s terrible!” Fluttershy said, worriedly looking back to the frail looking human. “Is he going to be alright?”

“The doctor said there is no reason he shouldn’t make a full recovery…” Twilight said as she put a hoof on her friend’s back, watching the human take shallow breaths. “But he admitted he couldn’t be sure because he had obviously never treated a human before. The princesses replied when I was gone and they agree that he should be fine, but to keep them informed of any changes. Princess Luna is rushing through her tasks to get here as soon as she can.”

A long silence stretched over the three, continuing as Twilight left her friends side to retrieve one of the books she had brought. She sat down by the table and opened up one of the books. Soon the silence was only punctuated by the turning pages of Twilight’s reading and the occasionally deeper than normal breath from Andrew. After a while Fluttershy’s gaze drifted to the bat that was leaning against the corner.

“So umm… Any idea what it is?” she asked while pointing to what she could only see as a peculiar wooden rod.

“Well… on the surface it’s a hunk of maple wood that is filled with so much of Andrew’s magic it practically hurts to levitate.” Twilight responded, looking in the direction of her friends hoof. “Applejack, Big Mac and Rainbow Dash all claimed it’s a ‘Baseball bat’, which apparently is used in a sport Andrew was describing. It has his name inscribed on it, as well as a string of burnt on symbols I don’t recognize on the thicker end. I did some scans and it shows some hallmarks of being magically fabricated, but the interference is making it very hard to pin that theory down for sure.”

“Oh… so you think he made it?”

“Well…It’s the most likely answer, but the question is why did it take so much of his energy? And how is it holding on to it? After it was finished being built, the magic should have dissipated away or returned to him.”

Twilight continued to stare at the human for a minute or so, shaking her head. She re-opened her book, studying up on magical exhaustion and possible complications, while Fluttershy once again returned her gaze to the human.

Time passed, enough so that the sun shone through the west facing window as it began its slow descent. Fluttershy left to return to her cottage after her rabbit, Angel, stopped by to retrieve her. In the end, the small bunny practically dragged Fluttershy away to feed him and the other animals. After she left, Twilight continued to scan through her books, two or three having been set aside, already done. She was half way through one when she heard a long, soft groan from the bed. She quickly hopped to her hooves, rushing to the side of the bed. Andrew was struggling to force himself to a sitting position.

“Whoa Andrew, no reason to get up, take it easy!” She warned, pushing the human back down gently.

Andrew put up very little resistance, falling back from the little progress he had actually made. Twilight helped him slide back, leaning against a stack of pillows. When he was finally propped up, he rubbed his throat and coughed.

“Water?” He asked in a gravely and quiet voice

“Yes of course! Hold on!”

Twilight quickly levitated over a pitcher of water and a cup that had been resting in the corner and poured some of the liquid. She glided the cup to Andrew, who gingerly took it. He took small, paced sips until the cup was empty. Twilight poured another glass, which Andrew drank half of before putting it down on the nightstand beside the bed.

“Ugh… what is going on, where am I?” He asked in a hoarse and quiet voice, clearly confused. “Why do I feel like I got hit by a truck… and it gave me six different kinds of the flu?”

“You had an accident.” Twilight explained, trying to be as comforting as possible. “You’re in the hospital, but you’re gonna be fine.”

“Oh… okay.” He said as he slowly looked around, still a bit dazed. “What happened?”

“You cast another foal spell.”

“What? What did I do!?” He asked, his eyes wide with worry.

“Don’t worry, you didn’t hurt anypony. You didn’t even do any property damage.” She replied quickly, reassuring the human. “As for what you did…”

Twilight trailed of and made her way the corner, picking up the bat with her teeth. She carried it to the wide eyed human, dropping it lightly in his lap. Andrew looked down at the wooden bat, then looked at Twilight.

“Where… Where did you get this?”

“I pulled it out of your hands after you collapsed last night.”

“Collapsed? I don’t remember- oh wait no… now I do.” Andrew shook his head in an attempt to shake out the cobwebs, only succeeding in making himself dizzy. “Jesus Christ I feel like death! What the hell did I do?”

“Well… I’m not sure exactly, but I think you either made this…” Twilight explained, poking the bat with her hoof. “Or something.”

“Or something? Not very specific Twilight.” Andrew asked with a raised eyebrow, before looking back down at the bat “Vagueness aside… It’s my bat, but it also can’t be my bat. It doesn’t make any sense. ”

“Yeah, tell me about it.” Twilight agreed, clearly annoyed. “It seems like you can’t walk out your front door without doing something random and unexplainable. It’s driving me crazy!”

“Well…what can I say, I’m a mystery wrapped in an enig-” Andrew started to joke, absentmindedly putting his hand on the bat, instantly halting his sentence. “Holy shit what was that!?”

Andrew immediately jerked his hand back as if the bat had shocked him. His sudden shout startled Twilight, who quickly recovered.

“What? What’s wrong?”

“The bat… it feels really weird…” Andrew explained as he gingerly reached down and lifted the bat, shaking his head as he held it in his hands. “It’s… me?”

“I’m sorry, what?” Twilight said with a confused shake of her head. “It’s you…?”

“It… feels like me… like an extension of my arm.”

“Huh…. That actually kinda makes sense.” Twilight said, tapping her chin with a hoof.

“Seriously? How the fuck does that make sense?”

“Well it’s holding a large amount of your magic. ” She explained. “It makes sense that it would feel like it’s part of you because when enough magic is stored in something, feeling connected to the pony who’s magic is stored is actually a common phenomenon.”

Twilight had started pacing halfway through her first sentence, walking around in a small oval as she talked. Andrew watched her pace, nodding his head a she began to lecture.

“Because the magic came from you, doubly so because it happened so recently, it’s still your magic. Everyone’s magic is different, like horn spirals or feather angles. Externally projected magic is literally colored by our personalities. So when you put so much of your magic into an object, it’s easy to misinterpret the sensation. ”

“Right, okay. That makes sense I suppose…” Andrew said as he held the bat up right. “So… how much of my magic is inside it?”

“Umm… almost all of it.” Twilight answered with a wince. “Seriously, it almost completely drained you.”

“...I’m gonna go ahead and assume that is really bad?”

“Really, really bad.” Twilight corrected. “Originally I assumed it was just left over charge from an insanely inefficient foal spell, but it hasn’t dissipated at all. Is there anything special about bats? Something that would allow you to store energy in them?”

“No, it’s basically just wood.” Andrew replied. “Why? I thought you said storing magic inside something is normal.”

“It’s primarily only done with gems.” She explained. “And only high quality gems at that. A highly skilled and patient enchanter could store magic inside of some types of precious metals, but not very much.”

“Meaning…?”

“Meaning that what you’re holding shouldn’t be possible. If I funneled that much energy into any type of wood it would either burst into flames, or the magic would leak out… explosively. Probably both. But instead, it’s holding every erg of magic it could take…”

Andrew looked back to the bat, suddenly a lot less happy to be holding it. Twilight was lost in thought for a minute or to, before looking back to the human.

“Is it actually your bat, the one you lost?”

“Not a chance.” Andrew said confidently with a shake of his head. He slid the bat down in his hands to examine the symbols on the end of it. “Ignoring this weird looking stuff at the end, it’s too big. I was pretty young when my mother bought the original, which means I would have grown out of it by now. This is an adult sized bat, perfect for someone my height now, not two feet and ten years shorter.”

“So that means you did make it… probably.” Twilight thought out loud, add the final part unhappily. “I really hope we start getting some answers soon. Hopefully Princess Luna will arrive with some from the brainstorming meeting they had…”

“Any word as to when she is gonna get here?” He asked.

“Nope. Not that you should be focused on that anyway.” Twilight answered. “All you need to worry about is staying calm and resting.”

Andrew groaned under his breath as he leaned forward, pushing himself upright. Twilight once again jumped to keep him from moving, but he waived her off.

“Andrew, you shouldn’t be doing that.”

“I’m fine, a bit tired but fine.” He assured her. “Do me a favor and go get a doctor so I can check out.”

“No Andrew, you shouldn’t be moving around. Lay back down and get-”

Andrew cut her off with a wave of his hand, his feet firmly planted on the floor. He pushed off from the bed, standing slowly. There was a slight wobble in his legs, but he remained upright.

“See? No problem!” He gloated. “Now, let’s get the hell o-”

Andrew was cut off as he took a step forward, and his legs immediately gave out. His hands shot out to stop his fall, but the angle of the fall yanked him out of reach of anything to grab. Instead he slammed onto the ground, smacking his head on the wooden floors. His mind was quickly swallowed by blackness.

Andrew scratched at the bandage that was now wrapped around his head, trying to keep the cloth from tickling his ear every time he turned his head. His main focus, however, was on the book that was resting on his legs. Rainbow Dash, who was now sitting in a chair against the wall reading her own book, had brought it for him. She had arrived around lunch time, placing the book in his lap, and promised it would keep him from getting bored. Andrew was happy to have something to distract him from the headache, and the book wasn’t half bad. His reading was interrupted though, by a nurse knocking on the door.

“Andrew, Mayor Mare is here to see you.” She announced. “Along with Quill Well.”

“Hmmm… well I’m kinda busy but I could probably fit them in.” He joked, putting the book down on the table beside the bed.

The nurse nodded, moving aside to let the two ponies in. Mayor Mare was first, walking past the nurse and smiling at Andrew. Next was a smaller framed unicorn stallion with a short cut mane and an even shorter cut tail. He was light brown clayish color, his hair a golden tan. He had a red saddle bag strapped to his back, which was stamped with a logo of a horseshow and a wrapped up newspaper.

“Hello Andrew, how are you feeling?” Mayor asked, making her way to his bed. “Twilight came by this morning and explained what happened.”

“I’m feeling much better.” He assured her with a smile. “Though the doctor said I’ll probably be bed ridden for at least another day. I was lucky though, I didn’t strain my magical doohickey in my hand, so my magic is fine.”

“Well that’s good, I’m glad you’re feeling better. And Hello Rainbow Dash, I almost didn’t see you there.” She said with a smile and a wave to Rainbow Dash. “Oh, but where are my manners? This is Quill Well. He is a journalist from the Ponyville Express.”

The older pony gestured to the unicorn, who walked forward to the bedridden human.

“Ponyville Express… Isn’t that the name of the rail station?” Andrew asked with a raised eyebrow, lifting his hand to the stallion.

“Yes, but we had it first.” He explained with a grin, shaking the human’s hand. “Now Mayor said that you’d like to get your story around town?”

Andrew looked a bit confused, turning to Mayor Mare. She caught his look and quickly nodded.

“I think the best way for you to be accepted by the ponies of Ponyville is if they all know your story.” She explained. “After all, it’s much harder to be scared of something after you get to know them.”

Andrew thought for a moment, eventually nodding his head in approval.

“I guess that would probably work.” Andrew agreed, a bit hesitantly. “I just don’t want too much attention. I’m not a celebrity, I’m just lost.”

“I think we can definitely get that message across.” Quill Well assured him as he levitated his saddle bag to the table, taking out a notepad, a quill and a camera. “Some simple questions about you, some back ground information about your people, and then some silly stuff like your favorite flavor of ice cream, filler like that. Enough to let everypony know your just like everypony else.”

“Okay, that doesn’t sound too bad.” Andrew agreed. “How much do you know already?”

“Just a few things that Mayor Mare knew….which was surprisingly little…” He whispered to Andrew with a joking grin.

“I heard that Quill.” Mayor Mare said with a roll of her eyes. “If that’s all, I shall leave you two alone to chat. Rainbow Dash?”

“Uhhh… Yes Mayor?” Rainbow Dash responded, hesitantly looking away from her book.

“If you’d come with me, I would like to discuss a certain crater that showed up a few days ago by the bridge…?

Rainbow Dash looked nervous and solemnly got up, neatly closing her book before following the elder mare out. She closed the door behind herself, leaving Andrew alone with the stallion. Quill Well made his was to Andrews bed, now holding his notepad and his quill in his magic.

“Now... Andrew, let’s start off with some background information about yourself. How old you are, where you were born. That kind of stuff.”

“Well… I was born in Austin, Texas.” Andrew started, explaining further when Quill Well looked confused. “I’m not from around here… as in not from this planet… We think. To be honest nobody really has any idea how I got here. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna even Twilight Sparkle were all pretty stumped by it. But yeah, Austin is a city from where I’m from.”

Quill well nodded, scribbling down what Andrew said before looking back up when he had finished.

“These days Boston, Massachusetts is my home, another city on the east coast of America, the country that both Texas and Massachusetts are a part of. I’ve lived there for about 6 months, which is actually pretty long by my standards. I’m kinda a drifter.”

“Why’s that?” Quill Well asked, attempting to pull more information from the usually private human.

“Well a few reasons actually. The biggest one is that no place has really ever felt like home. I lost my mother when I was fifteen, so I was bounced around foster care. Moving around comes naturally I guess.”

Quill Well’s eyes become sad, but Andrew waved his sympathies off before he could voice them.

“It’s okay, really. It was ten years ago, I’ve had plenty of time to recover.”

Quill nodded at Andrews assurances. “So tell me a little about humans in general, a whole new intelligent species is pretty interesting.”

“Well… Humans are just like ponies as far as I can see. Maybe a bit more focused on the individual, rather than the whole picture, but other than that… Just like ponies we are capable of amazing and beautiful things, but there are bad eggs too.”

“Of course, no species is perfect after all.” Quill Well agreed, still writing things down. “Mayor Mare said something about you having magic. Is it true? Are you really Princess Luna’s personal student?”

“Kinda sorta yeah. It has nothing to do with my skill though, not like how Twilight became Princess Celestia’s protégé. My magic is pretty useless on a good day, and Luna doesn’t think anyone else could handle me. I’m uncharted territory I guess.”

“Really?” Quill asked. “I’m sure you’re not that bad.”

“The way Twilight explained it is that I have the power of a full grown unicorn, but the control of a child. Or a foal I guess. So if I’m not paying attention or I get startled I can cast spells by accident. They tend to go pretty wrong to.” Andrew explained, gesturing to the hospital bed he was laying in. “But basically, as long as no one tries to scare me, it will be fine. Hopefully when Luna gets here and we start training that won’t even be a problem. ”

“Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, Twilight Sparkle and the rest of the elements. You have some important friends.”

“Yeah, I’m lucky to have them. I’m obviously having some trouble integrating, so having them here is awesome.”

“Alright Andrew, why don’t we move on from the serious stuff for a bit.” Quill Wells said as he flipped his notepad to a new page. “How about we talk about some stuff you like. For example, what’s your favorite food?”

The questions went on for another hour or so, switching from simple things like whether he preferred orange juice with or without pulp, to more serious questions about his sudden arrival at Ponyville. By the time Quill Well began packing up, the slowly setting sun was visible through the window.

“I’m sorry I took up so much of your time.” Quill Well apologized. “But that was one of the more enjoyable interviews I’ve ever had. Shall we end with a photo for the article?”

“Yeah sure, try and get my good side too.” Andrew joked as Quill Well levitated the camera in front of him.

Andrew neatened his hair, suddenly nervous. He coughed and forced a reasonable smile before nodding to Quill Well, who snapped the photo. The flash was incredibly bright, Andrew rubbed his eyes and blinked.

“Well alright.” Quill Well said as he tucked his camera into his saddle bag. “If nothing goes wrong the article will be out on Wednesday’s publication.”

“Thanks Quill Well, I really appreciate this.”

“It’s my pleasure.” The unicorn walked to Andrew’s side, sticking out his hoof. “And please call me Quill.”

“Will do!” Andrew happily replied, shaking his hoof. “Have a nice night.”

The pony left the room with a final wave, which Andrew returned until the door closed behind him. He had been awake for a while now, considering the condition he was in, and he was beginning to get very tired. With a content sigh he slid down the bed, closing his eyes and quickly falling asleep.

Author's Notes:

Chapter 13 is a bit short, but for good reason. kinda.

I've done some major editing of chapters 1-4. Most of the tense mistakes should be fixed (of which there were absolutely way to many) and i chopped up and fixed a ton of sentence structure problems.

It's far from perfect but it's actually readable now, which is a plus! If you're enjoying the story, I personally suggest that you go back and re-read them. That being said, there are absolutely no content changes , so if you don't feel like it, you wont be missing anything!

Thanks for reading!