Connection

by Xela

First published 7th of January, 2012

A brony ends up in Equestria, and is ready to share his knowledge in the time ahead.

A brony is taken by some mysterious force to Equestria.
He will have to share his knowledge of the world and use his new found abilities in his adventures that are to come.

This is my first fic, and overall first real free writing thing. Feel free to comment and criticize.

Chapter 1: Arrival

It was around 3, and the sun was already setting. Damn, days end so early this time of year. I thought to myself.

As I walked down the street, I looked up at the sky, the clouds were giving off wonderful colors. A very deep purple, a brighter purple, and a vibrant pink.

"Huh, reminds me of Twilight" I said to myself. It had the same colors as her mane. I got excited as I realized it was Friday and there would be a new episode tomorrow. I've been into the show for a couple of months now. Nobody was around, as I was in a smaller neighborhood. It was calm, peaceful, I enjoyed listening to the sounds of the city in the distance.

I'm 23. Just got out of college, and live in a simple house in Boston. I had just been through a bad relationship, and wanted to be alone for a while. Most of my friends were away on vacation, and my parents lived some 400 miles away. Not to mention I had developed a pretty bad head-ache earlier that day, which was only getting worse. I thought maybe a walk with myself would help relieve me of it.

I continued on, watching the sunset as it got darker and darker. The colors in the clouds getting brighter. I marveled even more. It was by far the most amazing sunset I had seen in a long time.

My head-ache continued to get worse, and at a seemingly faster rate.

I need to get home and take some aspirin or something, this is getting awful. I picked up the pace, but then I started to get dizzy. I held my hand to my head, as I let out small grunts and whines of pain. It became hard to see as I started squinting my eyes.

The sun was almost set, and all of a sudden it really jumped on me.

I fell to my knees, my hands clamped against the sides of my head. I almost started yelling in pain. It was incredible at that point. My mind started racing on what may be going on. I could see the sun just setting over the horizon of the ocean through my watery and squinting eyes.

Then, something very, very different happened. Bright flashes of deep blue but very bright light appeared all around me. I could feel something, something that seemed to combine with the head-ache into something new.

This new feeling, it was the strangest thing I had ever felt.

It was now pulsing, in rythm with the flashing light. It sped up, getting faster and faster, and brighter and brighter, as the sun got closer and closer to dissapearing.

With just a sliver left, it was like a deep blue strobe, flashing at my body and mind.

What is happening? The first sensible thought I had in the past 15 or so seconds.

The sun was finally gone, and there was one final flash, much brighter than any of the others. I suddenly felt like I had just sprinted a mile as fast as possible. I couldn't see for several seconds, and I felt like I was going to puke. About to pass out, I started to get small slips of my vision back. Just before falling on my back, I noticed I was not in the same place. I was not on some street in Boston anymore.

All I could see were books.

What...the...hell? Was my final thought before hitting my head against the floor and slipping away.

I started to come back, I could hear a girl above me.

"Hey, wake up! Come on, please wake up!"

I couldn't move. I could barely open my eyes I felt so weak. It was hard to hear, but something about her voice seemed familiar. I opened my eyes and looked up at whoever was above me.

What I saw was the last thing I expected.

Someone, something, I never thought I would ever see was glaring down at me.

"Twilight...Sparkle?..." I muttered under my breath. I couldn't think. My mind started jumping all over the place trying to comprehend who and what was looking at me. I got excited, I could suddenly feel my heartbeat as clearly as someone punching me in the chest. That excitement was enough to use up my energy, and I fell back under.

Twilight gained a look of shock and let out a small gasp. "Wait! Come on, stay awake!" The purple pony shook me, but it was no use, I was already out.

She looked up and sighed. She thought about what was going on.
Who is this? What is it? Where did it come from? All of these questions shot through her mind. However there was one that stood out far beyond the rest.

How did it know my name?...

Chapter 2: A Real Dream

I could hear two voices talking as I started to come to again.

"What do you think it is?" One asked the other, I could recognize that voice too.

"I don't know, but we need to be careful. It could be dangerous."

I finally opened my eyes to look at them. Again I was in shock. I could barely understand what was going on. I couldn't comprehend who I was actually looking at.

Twilight and Spike were both staring at me with wide eyes. They both took a small step back as they noticed I was waking up.

There was about a minute of us looking at each other. My eyes were getting wider and wider. I couldn't think, my brain was a mash of oatmeal or something.

Twilight was the first to break the lasting silence. "Umm...Hello?" She said with great uncertainty.

Her voice was able to make me think a little bit. I slowly was able to piece together words as a response. "Oh my god..."

"Umm...what...er, who are you?" She asked, turning her head slightly to the side.

I suddenly took in a huge breath as I sat up on the couch I was now laying on.

"Holy..........Jesus..........Christ on a cracker! This is incredible! How is this is even?! Wow! Oh my God!..."

"Uhh, Spike? Go get the girls." Twilight whispered to Spike as I was still freaking out.

"That's probably a good idea." He replied, and ran out the door.

"This is amazing. I can't believe I'm here. I can't believe this is actually happening." I said calmer now. I was starting to gain back my composure.

"Who are you?" She asked again.

"I'm sorry. My name is Alex." I finally replied.

"What are you? Where are you from?"

"Umm, I'll explain all that when he gets back." I nodded my head towards the door, implying Spike.

"What is going on?"

"That is a great question, Twilight." I answered with a little bit of breath in my voice.

"And just how do you know me?" She said with a very confused look on her face.

"That is a long story. I'd rather explain it to you alone, when we have a little more time."

"Why, what's so special about me?"

"I don't know, I just have a feeling you will absorb the information a little better than the others."

"Spike, where are we off to in such a hurry? You barely explained anything." Rainbow Dash asked the purple and green dragon. Gliding right behind him, and above the rest.

"The library, something has happened." He replied quickly.

"Oh my gosh! Is Twilight hurt?!" Rarity seemed scared.

"No, no. Something has...appeared."

"W-what kind of thing?" Fluttershy seemed to be worried, as usual.

"I don't know, but Twilight told me to come get all of you. You'll probably all want to see this."

"I'm sorry, can I get some water? I'm feeling extremely tired and a little sick." I finally asked Twilight after thinking to myself for about a minute.

"...Oh, umm, yeah. Just a second." She walked off into the kitchen.

Ever since I got here, something inside has felt...different. Something I can't explain. Meh, must just be the fact that I just somehow cross-dimensionaly teleported. I shrugged it off. This is unbelievable. This seriously can't be happening. Am I dreaming? This must be a dream. Ooh...but I hope it's not.

I looked down at the back of my left hand. There were three circles making up a triangle drawn on it with a Sharpie. I had drawn them there a few days ago as an experiment. I looked at it, and then looked over at a little statue on a counter. I looked away from the statue with a bit of worry. I looked back...

...nothing changed.

Then this is likely all real. If it were a dream, then something about the statue would have changed. I thought to myself, as I only got more excited.

Twilight walked back in with the water, her magic aura surrounding it.

That looks so much more incredible than on the show. I thought.

"Here" she said, levitating it to me.

"Thank you" I said as I grabbed the glass, the aura disappearing around it. I downed the glass in around 20 seconds.

"That was just what I needed, thank you again."

"Oh...umm...my pleasure?" She seemed to ask.

"Oh, you don't need to worry."

"I'm sorry, what did you say your name was again?" She asked me, the look of confusion still there.

"Alex. Oh, looks like they're back." I said as I saw 5 ponies and a baby dragon approaching through the window.

"What'n tarnation is that?!" Applejack asked, very surprised.

"Twilight! Get away from that thing! We don't know what it is! It could be dangerous!" Rainbow Dash rushed up to Twilight and started dragging her away from me. I should have expected this sort of reaction.

"Calm down girls! He seems...alright, just give him a chance to talk." She said with a bit of impatience in her voice at Rainbow Dash, who then let go of her and gave me an uneasy stare.

"Please, everyone, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." I said out loud. Trying to give everyone the friendliest face I could.

"What are you? Some sorta weirdo-weirdy alien?" Pinkie Pie asked in her usual excited tone while hopping up and down. That was even more amusing than on the show.

"Well uhh...yeah. I guess I am, to you all anyway. My name is Alex. I'm from...umm...I guess would be another Earth. I'm a human." I explained.

"And just how did you get here? Why are you here?" Rarity asked.

"That...I don't know. I was walking down the street with a bad head-ache. And then there were bright flashes of blue light all around me, and I ended up here and passed out."

"Wait, you're from 'another' Earth?" Twilight was confused.

"Yes, in another universe, but it's not like this one. There isn't any Equestria there."

Rainbow Dash suddenly gained a look of concern and suspicion. She pulled Twilight off to the side. "Already told him quite a bit, huh Twi? How do you know we can trust this guy?" She whispered in her ear.

"I didn't tell him anything! He somehow knows a lot about everything!" Twilight whispered back, louder than she intended.

"But how can he know all of that if he doesn't even know how he got here? I don't trust him. This seems all way to fishy to me."

"I don't know. Maybe we should just listen to him."

"Umm...hello? I can hear you two clear as day." I said, slightly embarrassed.

"Oh, uh sorry." Twilight realized.

"I know you're probably confused on how I know so much, I will get to that. But first let me gather my thoughts. This is by far the most crazy and amazing thing that has ever happened to me, and I've only had about a minute to myself." I then took another big breath and thought to myself for a few seconds.

That feeling...it's still there. What is that? It's not bad or anything. It's just different... I thought. Again, I looked up, knowing they were waiting.

"Rainbow Dash, I know you probably don't trust me. I wouldn't in your situation. And right now I know there probably isn't anything for me to tell you to get you trust me, not right now anyway."

"How about you tells us how you know so much?! Are you a spy?!" She retorted.

"I want to talk to Twilight alone about that. I feel like she may...umm...understand it best, and if I can get her to, it may be easier with the rest of you all."

"Again, what's so special about me?" She asked again.

"I figure you may be the most studied in this sort of thing, considering you actually do the most studying of most things."

Twilight looked at the others, "Girls, why don't you come back tomorrow. I'm interested in what he has to say." They each looked at each other, and seemed to nod in agreement.

"Alright Twilight, I hope you know what you're doing." Rarity looked back and said, then went on to walk out the door.

"Um...okay Twilight. Whatever you think is best." Fluttershy said in her gentle voice, then did the same.

"Alright sugarcube. Just be careful." Applejack left.

"Okey-dokey-lokey! I have to go set up a welcoming party for Alex!" Pinkie Pie bounced out the door.

"Wait! Pinkie Pie! Don't-" But it was to late, she was already long gone.

Rainbow Dash still looked uncertain, but finally said, "Hmmf. Fine." She then flew up face to face with me. "But I got my eye on you!" She stared. I just put my hands up and looked back innocently as I could, and I was. She then glided out the door, which Twilight then closed. "Sorry about her. She's just being...well...loyal." She gave a joking yet slightly annoyed look.

"I know." I said with a smirk.

"I think it's about time you start on that." She said, and seemed very interested.

"Alright."

Chapter 3: Explanation and Realization

Twilight sat down in a chair across from me as I thought of the best way to start this.

"Your world, or more specifically, your lives, are a TV show back on my world."

"What's a TV show?" Was her first question, kind of surprisingly to me.

Oh, right. "It's a type of story done with moving pictures and sound. We watch them usually through boxes that show these pictures called televisions. That's not important. The thing is, what Rainbow Dash asked me isn't entirely untrue, depending on how you look at it. To you all, I very well may be considered a 'spy'."

"Wait...So you watched our lives back in your world?" She looked like she was getting creeped out. "You were spying on us?"

"No, I wasn't spying. The show was a form of entertainment. And it wasn't just me, there were tens of thousands of people who enjoyed it."

"So you all watch us? That's creepy! Why would you be watching us?!" Twilight was

"I don't know! You all have very interesting lives! This is a very interesting place. It makes for a good show. It's a great fantasy. Plus, you're all pretty funny." I said defensively.

"So all of those people know about us?"

This is where I knew it might get bad. How am I supposed to say that there world was just some made up story? "No, that's the thing. The story was supposedly fictional, no one knew they were actually watching some other world."

Twilight suddenly looked confused, and something else made her seem, upset.

"Fictional? You mean someone in some other universe just made everything up?"

"Yeah, people just enjoyed it as a story. They didn't think they were actually watching someone else's lives, the events of some other world."

I could tell what she was probably thinking. That her world was just a made up story, and that it was all just for the amusement of aliens in some other place.

"Enjoyment?..." Was the only thing she said, with a disappointed tone to it, but she obviously was more than just disappointed. She looked down at the floor, her ears lowering. I felt horrible, maybe it was a bad idea to tell her all of this. What would I feel like if some alien came in and told me my world was just a fictional story for some aliens?

But then an idea hit me right in the face.

Something was very off about all of this. How could this even be really happening if it was all just some story? If this is all based on fiction, how am I really here?

"Wait a minute..." She said, she looked back up at me. "How can you be here if it's just some story?" Her ears perked back up. She lost her frown.

"That's just what I was thinking. I've got something of an...idea. Tell me...What did you do after you left the Grand Galloping Gala?"

"Umm...My friends and I went to the donut shop." She replied.

"And after that, what did you do after that?"

"We all went home and went to bed, it was a pretty crazy night." She chuckled. She started wondering what I might be getting onto.

"You're sure? That's what definitely happened?"

"Umm...yeah..." She said with a sarcastic tone.

"Well, that is interesting. That never happened on the show, and I doubt they ever thought of putting that in the show."

"Umm...What are you trying to say?" Twilight was now very intrigued. Most of these ideas were new to her.

"If something happened here that never happened on the show, than maybe the show is based on this world, rather than this world being based on the show!"

"But I thought you said someone made up the story? That it was fictional."

"I don't know. Maybe this world is somehow the...inspiration for the show, without the makers even knowing. Me being here in enough itself shows that this universe and my universe have some sort of...connection. Or something."

"So you think that our worlds are connected for entertainment?" She said with an unconvinced tone.

"Well it seems to be more than just the show. Don't you think it's weird that we speak the same language? That you call the ground what I call my planet? I feel that our worlds may be connected for a lot of things, and that has made many aspects of them the same."

Twilight got up and went to the bookshelf, she started looking around for anything on other worlds. However, came up with nothing. "There is nothing on other worlds or universes. I've never even heard of such a thing."

"Well, back home, there was this idea called the 'Multiverse'. That there were other universes next to ours on a dimensional plane, or something like that. However, I don't think certain ones being connected was part of it."

"Wait...How do you know that this world is the original, and not the show?"

"It doesn't really make sense for me to be sent to some fictional story world, does it? I feel like if that were the case, then it wouldn't be as significant."

Twilight now felt some sense of relief. She looked back down at the ground and sighed. What I was saying seemed to make sense, and it made her feel better about everything.
Well, at least my whole life, every ponies lives aren't just made up. She thought, and then looked back at me.

"So...what makes this place such a great 'fantasy'?"

"Well, in my world, we have no magic. There really is no such thing, at least not like the magic here. Back home, it's just simple tricks and illusions." Twilight looked stunned. This idea made almost no sense to her at all. How can they have no magic? How do they even survive without magic?

"No magic? But...how do you do anything? How do you raise the Sun and the Moon? How do you get anything done?"

"Well, we don't raise the Sun or Moon. The Sun doesn't revolve around the Earth. The Earth goes around the Sun, and the Moon goes around the Earth, which just makes it look like they go up and down. I guess with some aspects the same, others had to be different."

Twilight could barely comprehend what I was telling her. It was almost as bad as trying to explain algebra to a 5-year-old. How could they understand? It would be even weirder than saying to us that some being on our planet moved the Sun and Moon up and down to create day and night.

"I don't really understand. How do you move the Earth then?"

This was going to be harder than I thought. There was going to be a lot to talk about.

"We don't, it moves by itself as an effect of gravity and motion, and I'd rather not get into that. Just forget about it for now." I said rather quickly, as the topic was getting old. I knew that it would get way too complicated, for me to explain, or for her to understand.

I got up to stretch, since I had been either sitting or laying down the whole time I had been here. Then I realized I still had that strange feeling inside me. It's hard to explain. It's kind of like having you're whole internal temperature be much warmer, but that it was supposed to feel like that, and you didn't feel like you were overheating or sweating or anything. It felt nice. I went over to see what books she had. Maybe there would be something on effects of teleportation on the body.

"Do you always walk like that?" Twilight was surprised, since she hadn't seen me stand up yet.

"What? Oh! Yeah. Our bodies don't have the same structure as yours. It's not normal...well, actually, it's extremely awkward for us to walk on all four. We're more similar to Spike." I explained. I chuckled at the idea of humans walking on all fours all the time. "We wear shoes to protect our feet. They're not as tough as your hooves." I explained, then turning back to the bookshelf. I found one book that looked promising, but it didn't seem to have anything useful in it.

Of course not. Why would it have information on something that has probably never happened before?

"What are you looking for?" Twilight asked.

"I'm not entirely sure. Ever since I got here, I've felt...different...warmer...I guess..."

"Is it too warm in here? I could open a window if you'd like?" She started to head over to the window.

"No, it's not that. It's not the room. It's...me. It feels like I'm warmer on the inside, but it feels normal somehow." Wow, that sounded way cheesier coming out.

"Well maybe Princess Celestia will know some more about all of this. I'm sure she would want to meet you anyway. This is definitely one of the weirdest things to happen around hear in a while. I guess you know about her too?" Twilight asked, lightly joking about it.

"Oh yeah. I know about her and Luna. And that is probably a good idea. I'd like to figure out what is going on." Plus it would be amazing to meet the real Princess Celestia and Luna. Not that any of this wasn't amazing enough.

"Spike!" She yelled upstairs. He had gone to take a nap right after everyone left. Typical

We heard some rustling noises from his bedroom, and then he walked out "Oh... What is it Twilight? I had the weirdest dream." He then looked at me. "AAH! IT WASN'T A DREAM?! IT WAS ALL REAL?!" Twilight just rolled her eyes.

"Spike, I need you to send a letter to the princess. Tell her that I need to see her immediately, and that we will be over there soon, we have something to show her. We need to ask her about what's going on."

Spike pulled out a pen and quill and quickly wrote down the message, rolled it up and blew it off. "Can I go back to bed now? I'd rather let you take care of all of this."

Twilight let out a sigh. "Yes, Spike." And that's what he did.

"We best leave as soon as possible." She said. I nodded my head. And we were soon to walk out the door.

We were right about to head off when we saw a chariot pulled by a few pegasus guards come down to us.

"Oh, thank you." She said politely. That was quick I thought, but wasn't really surprised. The guards gave me this very strange look, despite the fact that they were supposed to keep a straight face.

We climbed in, and in no time, we were off to Canterlot.

Chapter 4: Knowing

We arrived right at the feet of the front door of Canterlot Castle. I was relieved. I didn't have to walk through town and have ponies looking at me and maybe be frightened. The guards escorted me and Twilight through the enormous halls to the main chamber. I was bewildered at the wonder of it all. However, none of it could amount to what I saw next.

There she stood, all of godly majesty. Her white coat gleamed. Her bright rainbow mane flew with that of no wind as it sparkled. She had a look of slight shock, but as it was Princess Celestia, she could not be put off by me.

I walked suddenly slower, and came to a stop as I kneeled. "Princess Celestia... I'm and so honored to meet you. I'm sorry but this is amazing!" Twilight looked back at me wondering what I was doing.

Celestia's look of slight shock changed to that of great confusion.

"Twilight, who might this be?" Was the first thing she asked. I had stood up at that point. Twilight turned back to Celestia.

"This is Alex. He's apparently a 'human' from some other world, also called Earth. He also said that it is in supposedly another universe? It's kind of confusing. We though that you might be able to sort this all out."

Celestia's look of confusion vanished, and was replaced again with a look of utter shock, which disappeared after a second when she spoke.

"Another universe?" Was her only question. "Twilight, you stay here, I want to talk to him alone for now." She seemed very serious, this wasn't like anything I had seen on the show before, and yet she still had her kindness with her. "Alex, come with me." She turned and walked to her quarters. I followed slowly, looking back at Twilight, who simply had a stunned look on her face.

I entered the large bedroom. There was a table at one side that Celestia was standing near. "Please, take a seat." She said kindly. I walked over and sat in a chair facing the center of the room. She was still standing, looking at me.

"Well...this is quite a surprise."

I didn't understand. "You're telling me." I said jokingly, though this was obviously important. I knew she would probably take it the right way.

"How did you get here?"

"I don't know, it wasn't willingly. Though, I'm no where near opposed to being here. This is by far the most amazing thing to happen to me. I'm just so honored to meet you!" I started getting excited again. I'm actually talking to the real Princess Celestia!

"So how do you know who I am?"

"You are part of a story back on my world. I was hoping you would know something about it."

"I do." She answered. At first I was stunned, but that went away after a bit.

"But...how do you know about it?"

She walked towards a large book shelf, looking at it.

"Not the story, but your world. I feel it. I've felt it there my entire life. Ever since I can remember, I could feel something there, but I didn't know what it was. Until a few years ago, when I started having strange dreams. In these dreams, I could see small flashes of another world. But only from what seemed like space. I couldn't see any more, but it explained my feelings."

"So...you only knew it was there? Nothing else?"

"No, and now I'm hoping you can explain the rest. What is this 'story'?"

I quickly gathered my thoughts and knowledge of the show. "It is a television show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. It is mostly about Twilight and her friends, and much of what has happened ever since she moved to Ponyville."

"So, who wrote the story? Who knew about everything in our world?"

"Well, the current version of the story, which I guess is also the correct one, was created by a women named Lauren Faust. The thing is, she didn't actually know about this. It was all supposedly fictional. But since I'm here, I guess it actually isn't, and I think that maybe this world is somehow the inspiration for the show."

"That seems reasonable. There is definitely a connection between these two worlds, with you being here, me knowing about it, and the story."

"That's what I was thinking. But why am I here? What is going on?"

"I don't know. Has this 'show' said anything about this sort of thing?"

"No. How long ago was the Grand Galloping Gala?"

Celestia looked confused for a second. "10 months. Why do you ask?"

"Well, that episode happened about 8 months ago. So I'm guessing that our times are somewhat in sync, considering it takes I guess about 2 or so months to make one of the episodes. Which means that we can't see into your future."

"This connection seems to be stronger than I thought. However, we still don't know why you're here. Is there anything else weird that happened in the story?"

"Nope...uhh...nothing I can think of. Well, Pinkie Pie broke the fourth wall a couple times, but I don't think that's something that actually must have happened here, rather something they just decided to put in, to be funny, I guess."

"Anything useful?" She said with a joking and annoyed tone.

"No."

"Well then we won't know until something happens. There is no recorded history on this other world or things like this happening. Absolutely none, anywhere."

"Do you think that maybe something is happening to cause this? Maybe some sort of event has brought me here?"

"Maybe, but we can't know for sure. For now though, you will have to stay here. There is no such spell or magic that can send ponies, or 'humans', to other universes. What brought you here must be very, very, special. I hope there is no trouble with that."

"Absolutely! I'm actually very excited to be here. I loved the show."

"Well then, I'm glad." She smiled as she walked toward the door beckoning for me to come with her.

"Princess Celestia? There is one other thing."

"Yes?"

"Ever since I got here, I've felt different. I've felt warmer physically on the inside, but it feels normal. I don't understand."

"Does it bother you?"

"Well, no. I feel better than I did on my world, actually." And I did. I felt very good ever since I got here, besides being sick at first.

"Shrug it off then, don't fix what isn't broken, right?" She smiled. Then I did too.

"Heh, right."

We both walked back out to the main chamber. Twilight was sitting on a bench, but quickly got up and walked over to us. "What did you talk about? What is going on?"

"We don't know." Was the only thing she said. Twilight gave a heavy sigh, she was obviously disappointed.

"Well what now? What are we supposed to do about this then?"

"Nothing. We can only wait to see what happens. Alex will just have to stay here in Equestria."

"About that Princess, where am I supposed to stay? I don't want to intrude anywhere, but I'd rather not live on the street." I asked, I was hoping I could stay with one of the mane 6.

"Of course not! You will be staying with Twilight, obviously." She answered shocked.

"What? Why with me?" Twilight asked, she didn't sound upset, but confused.

"Why obviously?" Was my question.

"I would like for Twilight and you to keep me up to date on everything that has happened. Along with any friendship reports. I hope she will end up maybe making a new friend out of this." Celestia said.

I hope so too. I thought. I really wanted to get on everyones good side, which I figured shouldn't be too hard. I'm a much nicer guy than many of the people I knew.

"Well, okay. As long as he doesn't do any weird alien things. I don't want Spike growing huge again or something." She was joking around, but was still slightly worried.

I rolled my eyes. "Don't worry, there isn't really a big difference between the way we live."

"Just be sure both of you to tell me anything important." Celestia said.

"We will." Twilight said as she started walking out of the hall.

"Thank you Princess" I said as I followed Twilight back out to the carriage.

Chapter 5: Welcome to Equestria

We arrived back at the library. Twilight was the first to jump out of the carriage.

"So, should I show you around town? Oh wait, I guess you don't really need that do you?" She joked, and gave a chuckle.

"Well, actually, it's not really clear where anything is on the show. That sounds pretty good." She was shocked.

"Wow, something you don't know!" She joked again. "Well then, why don't we get started."

We started heading toward the middle of town. Ponies all around me were staring and whispering. It didn't bother me. I knew this was going to happen. I also knew that being with Twilight would make them hopefully be less afraid of me.

"So, here is Sugar Cube Corner!" Twilight pointed out to me. Though it was obvious with how it looked.

"I figured as much. It's pretty crazy."

"Heh, yeah, but still pretty normal for most of us anyway. Don't you have anything like this in your world?"

"Maybe in amusement parks, but not in normal towns. People would probably be scared of it otherwise."

"Why, what's scary about it?"

"I don't know, maybe not scared, just put off." Though it would be slightly creepy to see a building like Sugar Cube Corner in a normal town on Earth.

"Well, anyway. This is the way to Rarity's Carousel Boutique. I guess you know about it."

"Yep. She lives there too, right?"

"Uh-huh." We walked up to it. It sounded like there was crashing going on inside.

"Oh how am I going to get this done?! What with all that is going on?! There is just no time! No time!" We heard her yelling from inside.

"Better leave her alone for now." I said to Twilight.

"Good idea. She probably needs to concentrate."

We then arrived on the edge of town. Where we saw Fluttershy's cottage surrounded by animals of all sorts. I was eager to go see her, but then all of the animals started to go into a panic when they saw me. The birds began flying in random directions, letting out dismaying shrieks. All of the land animals rushed away to hide in trees, holes, anything. I was at complete loss. I wasn't expecting the animals to react this way. Though to say, I wasn't expecting anything from them at all.

"Woah! What's going on?!" I asked Twilight with a shock. It was hard to hear over the screams of the animals.

"I don't know! They must be afraid of you! We better get out of here quick, before something really bad happens!"

"Aah! Angel, put that down! Oh dear! Please, everyone! Please, calm down!" We could here Fluttershy yelling inside, before quickly sprinting back the other way.

Walking through town, Twilight pointed out everything to me. It was much easier to get an idea of Ponyville by actually being there. Needless to say, I was a little disappointed I didn't get to talk to any of the others yet. I knew there would be time for that with explanations later, still.

On the other side of town, we arrived just under Rainbow Dash's cloud home. I hadn't gotten a chance to really look at the clouds before when I got here. They were so much brighter and fluffy looking than at home. I wish I could see what they felt like. Rainbow's home gleamed in the sunlight as rainbow water fell gracefully. I was happy it was as close to the ground as it was as to get a better look.

"Hey Rainbow!" Twilight called out. I was both excited and not, as she was the one who had the most distrust in me.

Nothing happened for about 10 seconds.

"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight yelled again, louder now.

"Uuuhh...Yeah Twilight?" Rainbow said meekly as she walked out her front door. "I had this crazy dream last night. Some alien was..." She than looked at me, "...You!"

I looked at Twilight amused, "That's been happening quite a bit hasn't it?"

"Heh, yeah." She then looked at Rainbow who was down at ground level now, and marching up to me. She had a stern look. I knew I shouldn't mess with her right now. She still didn't trust me.

"I hope you're not planning anything funny. Because it won't end well for you!"

"Rainbow, calm down." Twilight stepped in front of me. "I'm showing Alex around town. We already went and talked to the Princess, and even she trusts him." Twilight stated. Rainbow was trying to get around her, until her last few words.

"What?!" She had finally stopped and was now only looking at me, with Twilight still in front of her. Twilight was now whispering to her.

"Come on Rainbow, the least you can do is give him a chance." Twilight said respectively.

Out loud, "Ugh...Fine." She finally said. I felt much better now. If I wanted to be on anyones good side, it would need to be Rainbow Dash's.

"So what did you say you were doing, a tour? I thought you already knew everything or something." She seemed annoyed.

"Well, not entirely where things are, only what they are. But I must say, you're house is way cooler in person." Rainbow lost her stern look, and gained a grin.

"D'you build it?" I asked.

"Heh, uh yeah." She finally started talking to me. "All by my self! I even did the rainbows. I think they're a nice touch. You ever seen 'em where you come from?" She asked with pride behind everything she said.

I was gazing up at the cloud home. "Yeah, but none like this. They're so bright and so vivid here. Back home they were pretty rare, and never as impressive. And never...liquid...y." I really was impressed by it all.

"Well, if you could walk on clouds like me I'd show you around. But, looks like that won't be happening." She joked me around.

"Hmm...guess not." I was slightly disappointed with my realization.

"Hey, maybe you can!" Twilight said behind me "You know about that spell that lets ponies walk on clouds?"

"Yeah, you used it so that you and the others could watch Rainbow at the Young Flyers Competition." I said. I realized what she was getting at, and got excited.

"Right. I may be able to use it on you."

"Hey. You still need to explain why you know so much!" Rainbow said.

"We'll get to that eventually Rainbow." Twilight looked back at her.

"But I'm not even from this universe. How would that work?" I asked.

"Oh, magic isn't that complicated. When you got here, and were passed out on the couch, I wanted to know what I was dealing with, and, surprisingly, you didn't actually feel any different than anypony else."

That's weird, I feel different, but apparently it's normal to everyone?

"Well, not exactly like everypony. Each different pony has a slightly different magical aura they give off. Earth ponies have a deep one, pegasus ponies have one that is both light and hard, and unicorn ponies have a strong one, because we have pure magic. But every different aura has great similarities.. It is part of the reason I trusted you so quickly. You have those similarities, but there is no distinction."

"Probably because I'm not a pony." I thought about what she was saying, it did make sense, since different types of ponies have different types of magic, unicorns being the most obvious. Rainbow Dash looked slightly confused, but she knew what Twilight was talking about.

"Right, but since there is any sort of aura, it should work. Wanna try?"

"YES!" I yelled almost immediately. I was very excited. I had a big smile. To be able to walk on clouds, that would be incredible.

"Alright, calm down, just stand still."

"Right."

She closed her eyes and her horn started to glow. I could see the same color surround me. Then there was a bright flash, and it was all over.

"Umm...Did it work? I don't feel any different."

"You shouldn't, that means it worked."

"Awesome! But, why didn't you just give me wings?" That would have been even cooler.

"That spell is hard enough on ponies. I probably wouldn't be able to do it on anything else. I didn't want something bad to happen."

"Riiiight. But...uhh...how do I get up there?"

"Rainbow Dash, obviously." Twilight looked at her.

"WHAT?!" I heard behind me. "Why me?"

"Why do you think?" Twilight said. Giving her a raised eyebrow.

"Uggghhhh...Fine." She wasn't happy. She walked up to me and grabbed under my arms. She then flapped her wings a few times, she rose, and then I did. "Woah, you're actually pretty light, compared to a pony."

"Heh, thanks. Just don't drop me okay?"

"No promises." She joked. But in no time at all, we were just above the landing. She started gently setting me down to see if I would actually stick. I felt my feet touch it. Even though I was wearing shoes, it was the softest things ever. Like being placed on a loose trampoline with pillows on it. Except not so saggy.

"It worked!" We both yelled at the same time. She then let go and I was able to stand there. No problem.

"I told you it would!" We heard from below. I looked over the edge and saw Twilight with a smirk. as she was looking back up at me.

I sat down to take off my shoes. I don't usually like sitting on the ground, but this time was different. It was very soft, very easy.

"Why do you wear so much clothes?" Rainbow looked at me questioning my get-up. I was just wearing jeans and a nice light jacket over my t-shirt.

"We have too. It's considered very inappropriate to not wear clothes in public. Plus it's embarrassing." Understandable question. I didn't want to think about it though.

"Sure you're not hiding anything suspicious on you?" She joked, again.

"No. Well...just these, but they're not 'suspicious'." I stood up and pulled out my phone, my wallet, and a knife.

"What are these?" She looked at them.

"Well, this is my wallet. Just a wallet. ID, money, and credit cards." I held it up to her and showed her what was inside.

"What are credit cards?" She knew what the other stuff I was talking about was, though the green paper confused her.

"Oh, we use these as forms of paying for stuff. It's really complicated though. Let's not get into it."

"What's this then? Looks weird." She held up my cell phone, inspecting it closely.

"Hey! Can I maybe get up there also?" We heard Twilight yell from the ground outside.

"Oops! Hang on a sec. Don't do anything alien!" She then quickly zoomed outside and went straight down.

I looked at my phone. I pushed a button on the top and the screen lit up. Still works, even in another universe. I thought to myself, I wasn't really that surprised though. I didn't expect it to get any service though.

Rainbow came back up with Twilight in her arms. "...he was just showing me some of his stuff." She was explaining to Twilight.
They both came over to me and looked at my phone I was holding.

"What is that?" Twilight asked. She looked at it closely.

"This is my cell phone. We use them to talk to each other from far away. Like how you send messages to the Princess through Spike." I clicked the button again and showed them the home screen.

"But I thought you said there was no magic in your world?" Twilight looked up at me with confusion.

"It's not magic. It's technology. They are getting pretty advanced nowadays. Though I don't think I can use it here. Nope. See? No service." I showed them the little sign in the top corner. They looked at it, and then looked at each other, neither of them understood.

"What does 'no service' mean?" Twilight asked.

"It's not receiving the signal it needs to be able to communicate, since I'm not on the same planet anymore." They still looked completely confused. "Don't think about it too much. Even we don't really understand how they work. Only the people who make them do, the rest of us just buy, use, and enjoy them."

"Fine. But then, what is this?" Twilight was pointing at my knife.

"It's just a fold up knife. I carry it around in case something bad happens, or might happen on my world."

"Why? What might happen?" She looked worried. Why would someone need to carry a knife with them?

"Let's just say that my world, or the town I lived in wasn't exactly the safest place. It wasn't really dangerous. It's just a small precaution. Not entirely necessary. Again, don't worry about it. I did like it there." I quickly folded it open and showed it to them. They looked at it for a bit, then I folded it up again and put it back on the table.

"Do you need it though? Why not just use your...um...what are those?" Rainbow asked. Looking at my hands.

"Hands. Or they would be fists, like this when fighting. I think it's better to avoid a fight. Having a knife is more threatening, and it might ward off and attacker. If I have to fight though, this makes it much easier to defend myself. I don't think I'll be needing it here though."

I looked out the window. The sun was starting to go down. I hand't really gotten a chance to look at anything yet, but it was getting kind of late.

"Well I guess we should get going. Still need to show you Sweet Apple Acres." Twilight noticed the Sun also.

"Oh, right!" I had no idea where that was. It was all over the place in the show. I felt disappointed I didn't get to see more of Dash's home though. I walked back out onto the front patio where I left my shoes. I sat to put them on.

"Maybe a tour some other time then, hey Dash?" I looked up at her as I tied my right shoe.

She gave a smirk. "Yeah, yeah. We'll see."

I smiled. I felt glad that she was beginning to relax around me, surprisingly enough.

I finished up my other shoe. Then stood up, and looked over the edge. It was about an 80 foot drop to the ground.

"Oh, hey! Don't forget your stuff." Rainbow said. She walked back over to the table. Twilight behind me, watching her collect my things.

I just kept standing there. Looking over the edge. It was such a far way down. Yet, for some reason, I didn't feel like it was a very long way down. I just stood there. Time seemed to stand still as I just gazed at the ground. Rainbow had turned around and was walking back to me and Twilight.

Such a long way down...yet...not.

Long way down...

Not a long way down...

I stepped over the edge.

Rainbow Dash gasped as she dropped my things. "WAIT!" She yelled, but I was already over the edge, and falling. Twilight spun around and saw that I wasn't there. She too gasped. And they both looked over the edge quickly.

Wind was rushing past my ears. My mind was thinking only of the ground, just the ground. I saw it approaching, quickly at that, but not as quickly as I thought it would. I was accelerating ever so slowly. Something was holding me.

That warm feeling inside grew a bit.

I hit the ground and rolled. It felt like it was an 8 foot drop, not an 80 foot one. I was breathing deeply. Then my mind came back to me. How did I do that? That should have at least broken both of my legs, if not killed me. I looked back up to see Twilight and Rainbow looking down. It was hard to see, but I could tell they had wide eyes. I now felt normal again, or at least,here normal.

Rainbow Dash picked up Twilight after a few seconds of us looking at each other. They both came down slowly.

"Hey, how come you didn't want me to drop you earlier if you knew you would be fine?" Rainbow asked. She thought at that point that a fall like that was supposed to be normal for humans or something.

"I...I didn't. That fall should have killed me, or at least broken my legs." I was bewildered.

"How did you do that?" Twilight asked. She too was thinking what I was thinking. "That fall would have hurt anypony, maybe not pegasus ponies, but still..."

"I don't know. I just...jumped. Something...I dunno...compelled me to do it. Like I knew I would be fine, but at the same time, I knew I could die." Thinking about it scared me. Although, something about it was also very awesome.

"Well, just don't go scaring us like that again!" Rainbow said. She was joking around, but was also serious. She punched me in the shoulder, which hurt quite a bit.

"OW! Alright!" I clenched my shoulder, and rolled it around a little. Rainbow then gave me my things.

"Welp, should we head off to Applejack's?" I asked Twilight.

"Uh...yeah! I guess so! Since were all on the ground now!" She punched me in the same shoulder. That hurt like hell.

"OWWW!!! Stop that!" They both just laughed. I gave an annoyed face. Then we finally started heading down the path.

"Hey! I'm coming with you." Said Rainbow behind us. Who was now hovering over our heads. "I still got my eye on you." She said looking down at me. I knew this time she was being lighter about it.

"Alright. Just no more hitting okay?" I looked up at her.

"Fine." Was the only thing she said, then gave a chuckle.

Chapter 6: All the Best

"So, what do you humans do?" Rainbow was the first to say something after we set off down the path.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"What do you do, you know, for fun?"

"Oh, uhh, I dunno, lots of different things. Play sports, go hang out with friends, watch TV, play video games..."

"What?" She asked, "What's TV? What are video games?"

"Oh God...uhh...Well, TV is short for television. It's like a box which shows stories or news in like, an...uh...I don't know. It's really hard to explain. It's a box which shows you images of stuff. Umm...Like my phone. It has a screen which can show you things. TV's are usually much bigger though."

"Okaaaay..." She through her front leg up over her head while giving a confused face showing that this stuff was just blowing right past her.

"Yeah I know. It's harder to get than to explain."

"No. It just sounds really boring."

"Well you can fly! If I could fly I would probably be doing it all the time. Most people would love to be able to fly."

"Do you read?" Twilight asked.

"Had a feeling you'd ask that. Yes, we read. Some more than others. Usually people just read stories. It's just like watching TV or movies or stuff."

"Booooring!" Rainbow said very out loud. "Come on! Isn't there anything you can do in the air?"

"Yeah! We just can't fly without some sort of vehicle or thing we wear. People go skydiving, hang gliding, base jumping, all sorts of things." I said matter-of-factly.

"What's skydiving? Sounds fun!"

"You jump out of a plane thousands of feet high and just fall, and then you deploy a parachute to slow yourself down before you hit the ground. You've done it, just without the plane, or parachute. When you saved Rarity in the Young Flyers Competition? Yeah, that was pretty much a sort of skydiving, just way faster."

"Oh. Hey, how do you know about that?"

"Same way I know about everything else."

"We'll explain later, with everypony else, Rainbow." Twilight said.

We finally arrived at Applejack's farm. Of course, it was too late for anyone to be doing anything.

We walk up to the front door and Twilight knocked. After a few moments it opened and there stood Apple Bloom.

Twilight started, "Hey, Apple Bloom! Is Applej-"

"AAAH!" Apple Bloom let out a scream, slammed the door, and we could hear her run off.

"Eh-heh-he." Twilight let out a sorrowful laugh. Rainbow rolled her eyes. I felt sort of bad. I didn't mean to scare her.

"Applejack! There's a monster at the door!" She yelled. "Oh, and Twilight and Rainbow Dash are here too." She suddenly said calmly.

"What?!" Which sounded like Applejack. We could then hear running hooves approach the door. It opened quickly.

"Woah! You! You almost don' gave me a heart attack!" She said in her heavy southern accent.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to scare anyone. Twilight and Rainbow were just showing me around."

"There's no need to worry Applejack. Alex is fine, he won't do anything bad." Twilight said.

"Oh! Uhh...Nah, it's alright! No harm done! Come on in. We're just about'a eat. Could always use a few more guests!" She seemed to catch on to the whole alien thing fairly quickly. She knew I was telling the truth, she is the element of honesty after all.

"Sounds great!" Twilight spoke out.

"Yeah. I'm starving!" Rainbow said. They both immediately walked in. I just stood there looking inside.

"Well come on! No need'a stand out there all by yerself!"

"Alright, as long as it's okay. I don't mean to intrude." I was happy to be invited in like this, and getting to meet more of the mane 6 was incredible. But it seemed pretty weird at the same time.

"Nonsense! I love meetin' new folk!" She said as I stepped inside and she closed the door behind me. "Apple Bloom! It's alright! You can c'mout! It ain't no monster."

Apple Bloom stepped out slowly, first peeking her head around the corner, "You sure sis?"

"It's the thing ah was telling' you 'bout earlier. The alien. Alex."

"Oh yeah!" She said as she jumped back out. She then ran up to me, with a big smile on her face. "Sorry 'bout that! You just startled me, is all." She looked up at me. I seriously towered over her. She was only 2 feet tall or so.

"I'm the one who should be sorry. I didn't mean to scare you. You're really brave, though. I mean, I was worried something worse might happen." I kneeled down and pat her on the head. She smiled.

"Heh, thanks!" And then she ran off into the next room. I looked back, Applejack was smiling. She started walking into the dining room. I followed behind her.

Twilight and Rainbow had already sat down. Rainbow was already eating. Twilight looked us, then Rainbow, then us again, then rolled her eyes and shrugged her shoulders. Apple Bloom was sitting next to Twilight, with an open seat next to her. Apple Jack went to sit down.

Neither Big Macintosh or Granny Smith were there. I would have asked why, but it was probably a better idea to explain everything first. I sat on the other side of the table from the others. They had all started eating too. I figured with that, they didn't care too much about manners. It didn't bother me.

"So, what's been goin' on? Have you figured out why yer here?" Applejack looked at me after taking a few bites out of some sort of apple treat.

"No. Not even the Princess knows what's going on." Twilight said.

"She said we'll just have to see what happens, and that I'll just have to stay here with Twilight until it does."

"How about you explain why you know so much now?" Rainbow asked. I figured it was about to get to that subject with the rest of them.

"Alright. This world was a story back on mine." I started.

"Apparently it was supposed to be fictional, no one knew that it actually exists. Alex thinks that this world was somehow the inspiration for the story. And that our two worlds have some sort of connection." Twilight continued.

"Right. I was really into the story. It was mostly about you three..." I pointed to Applejack, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash, "...Along with Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy, since your all best friends. You're all called the 'mane 6'. Spelled M-A-N-E, as a joke."

"Was I in the story?" Apple Bloom asked me.

"Yep! You even had a couple of your own episodes." I smiled.

"Cool! What are episodes?" She asked, giving a cute, confused face.

"Oh, they're kinda like chapters in a book. But the story is actually in the form of moving pictures and sound, called a TV show."

"Why were you into it?" Rainbow asked. "Seems kinda creepy if you ask me. You watching us all the time."

"Well, to be honest, the show was really intended for little girls. But, the thing is, it was so good that there were lots people of both genders and many ages that were really into it." I explained.

"Why?" Twilight asked.

"Well, mostly cause of you all. You're all such great characters. Everyone thought you were all really great." That's at least my main reason for liking the show. I thought.

"There weren't any, ya know, private moments in it. Were there?" Applejack asked.

I thought for a second. "Um, no. None that I can think of. I mean, there were times where some of you would be alone. But nothing embarrassing. Heh, don't worry, I don't know any secrets you might have." I chuckled, and gave a smile.

Applejack sighed, "Few... Ah was worried there for a second. I can tell you're telling the truth. I am the..."

"...Element of Honesty, right?" I finished for her, then took a bite out of some apple pie, which tasted amazing.

"...Right. So...how much do you know?" She was still creeped out after that.

"I dunno. Ask me something."

"Who else lives here?" Applejack asked.

"Umm...Granny Smith and Big Macintosh. Where are they, by the way?" I finally asked, since we got to the topic.

"Darn." She swore under her breath. "Uh, they're in town. I dunno what they're doin', though." She answered back.

"Where did I used to live?" Twilight asked.

"Canterlot. The show actually starts with you moving to Ponyville." I answered.

"What's my favorite thing?" Rainbow asked.

"Napping." I teased her. The others laughed. Rainbow glared at me, then at them. I chuckled.

"Hardy-har." She said with sarcasm, while rolling her eyes, and waving her head back and forth.

"How'd I get my cutie mark?" Twilight asked me. She seemed to be more serious about this question, like maybe I wouldn't know.

"You were trying to hatch Spike, as an entrance exam. Then Rainbow did the Sonic Rainboom, which created a...I don't know...magical surge in you or something. It was then easy. You freaked out, Celestia calmed you down, and made you her protégé."

"Wow. That is...exactly right." She was just stunned.

"What about mine?" Applejack asked next.

"You were homesick in Manehatten, and a rainbow from the same Sonic Rainboom went back on your farm. And you knew to go back home." She also just looked sort of stunned. "All of your cutie marks were actually explained in one episode."

"Heh, then you know that I was the cause of them all." Rainbow said out loud with great pride.

"Yeah, yeah Rainbow." I said with sarcasm. "You were just a part of it. It was still pretty cool. By the way, you're going to have to show me the Sonic Rainboom at some point. I bet it's way more impressive in person." I was pretty eager to see it.

"Alright!" She said with enthusiasm.

"Just not right now, it's getting pretty late." Twilight said. It was pretty late too. It was almost completely dark out. Most of everyone had finished eating at that point and were just talking.

"Applejack, thank you so much, for everything. That was great. Best food I've had in a while. Best apple food I've had...well...ever." I said to her. It was too. I didn't do too much fancy cooking for myself back home. I knew a few things though.

"Not a problem, sugarcube. Ah was happy to have ya over so we could talk about all this. Glad to know we have...heh...fans." She chuckled. Then I did too.

We all stood up and started walking to the door. "Thanks AJ!" Rainbow Dash said to her. "I'm heading home guys, it is pretty late. Looks like we'll have some stuff to do tomorrow." She said to me and Twilight. She did seem to have faint circles under her eyes.

"Alright. We'll see you tomorrow!" Twilight replied, with a smile.

"See ya, Rainbow." I said.

"See ya." She gave a quick little teasing salute, then flew off. She left a faint rainbow trailer behind her, even though it was dark out.

I looked back at Applejack, "Thanks again!" I gave a quick wave to her.

"Yes, thanks Applejack." Twilight also looked back.

"Not a problem! I'll be seein' ya!" She waved as we walked out the door.

I was just about to start walking down the path, then a bright light surrounded me and Twilight, and we were back in the library.

Chapter 7: Night

I felt a little dizzy. This teleport wasn't as bad as the one that brought me here, but it was still a bit of a doozy.

"Woah...A little warning next time?" I said to Twilight, after grabbing onto the edge of the couch. My head was spinning.

"Oh, sorry. Didn't think it would be that bad for you." She replied. Teleporting for her was second nature, obviously. The other magic she had done hadn't done anything to me. This was a little different though. It feels like someone grabs and shakes you around violently, but instantly.

"It's okay. I just need to get used to it, I guess."

"Yeah, my first teleport was a little like that too. First times the worst, by quite a bit. I actually took it a little worse then you did, and I was the one who cast it."

"Well, I had worse. From what brought me here." It was true too. Whatever force that brought me here made me feel much worse than that.

"Let me fix up the guest room for you." She started walking up the stairs.

"Oh, thank you." I said.

She suddenly stopped halfway up. "Oh! Here, read this." She levitated a book up off the shelf and brought it to me. "It has information on the history of Equestria. Or do you know all that?" She asked.

"No, only a little. Thanks."

She smiled, "No problem!" And continued up the stairs.

I started on the first chapter. I decided to skim through most of it. I figured I wasn't going to be taking a test on any of it. It was still fairly interesting some of the stuff I saw though.

I finger flipped through to the last page, something I do with a lot of books to get a simple idea of how long it is. I wasn't expecting anything to be written on it though, since the very last page of most books don't ever have anything on it.

However, I was given a bit of a surprise.

Write in the middle page, in simple font, no different then that in the rest of the book, was written...

7

I wonder what that means? I thought, but shrugged it off.

Spike walked out of the kitchen.

"Oh! Umm...you, you're back. W-where's Twilight?" He was surprised, and seemed a little nervous to be around me with Twilight not around.

"Hi Spike! She's up in the guest room. Celestia said I'd be staying here for now."

"Really..." He said suspiciously. Then he walked up the stairs and went into the guest room.

"Oh, hi Spike. Did you see Alex down there?" Twilight asked him.

"Yeah, he said he was staying here. Is that true? Why?" He seemed disappointed, or suspicious, or worried, or all three.

"Yep! Celestia wants him to stay here so that he and I can report anything that happens to her."

"I don't know Twilight..." He said softly.

"Don't worry about him, Spike. He's been really nice to everypony so far, and he already knows a lot."

"But how? How does he know so much?"

Twilight explained to him everything that I had talked about earlier, with her, and at Applejack's. She simplified it a bit, but still got all the important stuff across. Spike was confused at first. Nothing about it made much sense to him, but he eventually absorbed the information. He is a smart little guy.

"Alright...As long as he doesn't do any weird alien stuff. I don't want to clean up any green goo or something." He said jokingly.

"Heh, he hasn't really done anything weird so far." Except fall 80 feet with no injuries at all. She thought to herself.

"He isn't on with Rarity, is he?!" The idea suddenly got into his head.

"No, Spike." She said. "At least I don't think so." Much less surely. "We didn't get to go see her. Only Rainbow and Applejack. They both trust him, and you know how hard it is with Rainbow Dash."

Spike wasn't convinced about Rarity. He looked out the door and over the balcony. I was looking at books on the shelf, after finishing up A History of Equestria.

"We'll see..." Spike said to Twilight silently. She just rolled her eyes and sighed, and went back to making the bed with her magic, as he walked out the door and back down the stairs.

He seemed serious when I looked at him, "Hey, Uhh...Alex..."

"No, Spike. I'm not 'on' with Rarity." I laughed.

He gained a shocked look, "But, h-how did you...?" He started, very confused.

"It was pretty much the only thing I heard from all of that. It was louder than the rest." I said, putting a book I had just skimmed through back on the shelf. Spike blushed. He was a little embarrassed.

"Look, Spike, I only want to be friends with you all. Rarity is great, but I'm not interested in anything like that." I said, now turned to him and with a serious face. Somehow, the way I said it all hit just the way I wanted it to. Spike looked much more relaxed.

"Oh...okay. Sorry about...suggesting it." He said softly.

"Hey, no problem! I know you're really into her. I understand." I smiled. It's not like it was a big deal or anything.

Spike yawned, "It's getting late. I'm going to bed." He turned and went back up the stairs.

"Phew, that went better than I hoped." I said quietly to myself.

I looked back at the shelf. Looking through more of the books. I figured being here, it would be one of the only things to do in my free time. Many of the books looked interesting, but there wasn't enough time that day to go through them all. I was getting tired. The whole day took most of the energy out of me, and my mind was a little crazed the entire time.

I went and sat on the couch, and started thinking about everything that happened today. Especially on what happened at Rainbow's.

How did I do that? What is going on with this feeling? It felt stronger when I was falling. Why did I suddenly want to jump? What made me know I would be fine? Was it the fact that I was fine in the end? These and many more questions bounced around in my head. I should tell Celestia about this.

"Spike?" I said right before he closed the door.

"Yeah?" He said, opening the crack that was left.

"Can you send a letter to Celestia?"

"Oh, uhh, yeah." He pulled out a quill and some paper.

"Princess Celestia," I started, "Something very strange happened today. I jumped off Rainbow's house, and was fine, something slowed down my fall."

"Wait, what?!" Spike stopped writing, "You jumped off of Rainbow's house?!" He was utterly shocked.

"Don't worry about it. It's okay." I told him. He looked at me with wide eyes, then shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the paper.

I continued, "An 80 foot drop is something that is not exactly very survivable for humans. And when it happened, that feeling I told you about got stronger, only to go back to normal after I landed. I don't know if this will mean anything, but I though I should let you know. Alex." I finished.

"Is that it?" Spike asked. We suddenly heard moving furniture coming from the guest room. We glanced at the door, then looked back at each other.

"Yep, that should be good." I said. Spike then rolled up the piece of paper and blew on it. It disintegrated into ash, smoke and green light, and flew out the window.

"Thanks." I said.

"Not a problem. Kinda my job anyway. But, you knew that." He joked. I gave a quick laugh. He grinned, then closed the door.

"Good idea. I didn't even think of telling the Princess about that." Twilight said stepping out of the guest room.

"It was just something so weird. I felt it was appropriate." I said back up at her.

"The rooms done." She smiled.

"Oh, thank you." I stood up as I said it.

"I made the bed longer, it was only around 5 feet, I figured your feet would be hanging over the edge." She laughed.

"Oh, ha! Right. Thanks." I said aloud. "I wish we had magic back home. Things would be so much easier."

"I just don't get how you can get along without it." She teased me. "Well, I'm going to bed. You can stay up to read if you'd like though." She looked at the shelf.

"No. You're right. I'm really tired, and this has been the craziest day of my life. We'll figure out more tomorrow." I said honestly, with a bit of a yawn in the middle.

"Yeah, one of the craziest days of my life too." She said. I walked up the stairs. She walked over to her room, and took a few steps inside. Then turned around to close the door.

"Well, uhh, good night! Do you say that?" She asked, which seemed funny to me.

"Oh, heh, yeah! Good night." I started to close the door. "Oh! And Twilight?" She paused in the middle of closing her door also, "Thank you, again. What you're doing for me is very kind, and I just wanted to say it again."

She blushed, "Oh! It's no trouble! I'm happy to help. Just get some sleep, alright?" She smiled.

"That won't be hard." I joked. We both laughed a bit, and then closed our doors.

I took off my jacket and shoes, and got in bed in just my jeans, shirt, and socks. At that point, I was exhausted. I looked up at the ceiling for a bit, then closed my eyes, I didn't even take time to think, something I usually do in bed.

"Heh, best...day...ever." I said silently to myself, before quickly falling asleep.

Chapter 8: New Day

"Hmmmm...Oooohh...What a crazy day..." Twilight moaned as she started waking up, the events of yesterday coming back to her. She could smell something from downstairs. "Oh, Spike must be making breakfast. That's nice of him." She said to herself.

She got up and went to the mirror, where she brushed her hair. Being content, she trotted out the door, and walked along the balcony, happy that Spike had gotten right on this.

As she walked, though, she noticed something weird, Spike's door was still closed. My door was open just a bit. She looked inside and saw that I wasn't there. "I wonder if he's up also?" She asked herself. She walked past Spike's door and went down the stairs. Quickly to round the corner to the kitchen.

"Oh! Hey Twilight!" I was cooking eggs, while some pancakes were sitting on a hot plate. "I thought you'd be up a little later, I was just making breakfast for all of us, as a way of saying thanks." I had quite a bit of energy. I got more sleep last night than I usually do, and being here along with the Warmth (that's what I'll call it for now) seemed to really get me going.

Twilight looked a little shocked, "Wait, you know how to cook this?"

"Yep! We eat the same stuff. Except we usually also...oh...uhh...never mind." I thought I'd leave out the part about bacon and sausage and other meat. I didn't want to scare them, gross them out, offend them, or something. I knew that animals here are generally much more intelligent, and no one eats meat.

"What?" She looked intrigued.

"Nothing! We usually...uhh...also have orange juice! But I couldn't find any in the fridge." I put on the best poker face I could, apparently it was enough. Luckily, there actually wasn't any.

"Oh, I guess I'll go get some later. Thank you, by the way. You really didn't have to." She said sincerely, smiling.

"I know. But it makes me feel better about all of this." It did too. I had woken up really early. I figured I might as well, since they would have done it otherwise.

Twilight then noticed the black circles on the back of my hand. The ones that I used to make sure none of this was a dream.

"Hey, what is that?" She pointed and looked at my hand, but I didn't get it.

"What is what?" I looked at her, moving the eggs around.

"Those marks on your hand. What are they?"

Wow, how has no one noticed those yet? I thought. "Oh, they were an experiment. I wanted to try to remember my dreams more. So I drew these on the back of my hand. Whenever I notice them, I look at something, look away, and look back. If the thing changed, then I'm most likely dreaming, if not, then no. Dreams are usually too unstable for things you aren't looking at to stay the same. I actually did that when I first got here, because at first I thought there was no way this could be real. I was ecstatic when that statue on the table over there didn't change." I explained.

"Wow, that's really smart." She was a little mezmarized by the idea.

"Well it wasn't my idea, I got it offline...Um...Don't ask me what that is." I realized I didn't want to have to make myself look dumb again trying to explain the internet.

She just stared for second. "Why those marks though? Why the circles?"

"Hmmm...I dunno. It was just something I came up with. It only said to put something on the back of your hand. I don't remember how I got the idea, it was just something that intrigued me."

"Huh. Well, looks like you're almost done, I'll go wake up Spike." She turned, and started to walk, when Spike came around the corner.

"Uhhh...Twilight, you're making breakfast?" He was still half asleep.

"Oh, you're up. Nope! Alex is! He said he wanted to say thanks for letting us stay here." She said enthusiastically.

"Huh...hmm...okay." He said quietly, rubbing his eye.

"You've got good timing, it's all done." I then quickly set up two plates. "Here you both go."

Twilight took one plate with her magic. "Thanks!" She said with a smile, then walked off into the main room. Spike slowly walked up to me and grabbed the other plate. "Yeah, thanks." He said slightly groaning, but he did seem grateful. After he walked off into the room, I grabbed my plate and followed behind.

"Oh, this is pretty good!" Twilight said after taking a few bites.

"Thanks, I usually make a similar breakfast every day for myself, not always with pancakes, but you know." I said, then took a few bites. Oh, it really did turn out pretty good. Better than I usually do. I thought to myself as I chewed.

"Mmm...Yeah." Spike said, mouth full. I let out a small laugh.

"So how well have those marks been working?" Twilight asked after swallowing a bite of egg.

"It's really weird actually. I only started a little while ago. And nothing had really happened that much. But last night, it was seriously one of the most vivid dreams I've had in a while. I don't know if it's me being here, or this feeling I've had since I've gotten here, or what."

"You said that you felt warmer when you were falling. Do you think it means anything?" She asked.

"I don't know." I said simply, shaking me head a little. I really wanted some answers though.

"Well, want to go see the others?" Twilight asked.

"Oh! Yeah. I was pretty excited about that. I hope we have better timing."

"Heh, yeah. I'm actually gonna go tell them were gonna stop by. Hopefully they will be more ready than the others." She pointed out. It was a good idea. I didn't want to scare Fluttershy. Nor her animals again.

"Good idea. I'll wait for you to get back." I said. At that point, she had finished eating.

"I'll take that." Taking her plate from her. "I'll get this stuff."

"Oh! Thanks. I'll be right back. Come on Spike." She said, looking down at him. He finished his last gulp of food, and handed me the plate.

"Here you go. Looks like we may need for you to make breakfast again sometime, heh." He said simply, but politely. He then jumped up on Twilight's back, and they both disappeared from the room in a flash of purple light.

I brought the plates over and rinsed them off, then left them in the sink. I wasn't sure what to do with them next, there weren't any washing machines here.

Better just stay here. I don't need or want to scare anyone by going outside. I thought. It was still very strange for me to be here.

I walked back into the main room and looked at the shelves. Searching again for something interesting, and there was quite a bit. I took a book out simply called Magic, which made me laugh. I took the book and went to sit down on the couch. From the show, it seemed like there wasn't much of a limit on the types of things they could do with it, but I thought some examples would be good.

Most of what was in the book wasn't really any surprise. It explained the difficulties of more advanced spells, most of the types of things it's used for, and things that can't really be done at all.

Here's some examples. The farther the teleport, the harder it is to pull off. More complicated or more massive objects are harder to conjure. However, a full understanding of such an object is not always needed to do such. I guess that's why they don't just conjure food or gems or things like that. I though as I read. I even read a little bit about how to do some of the things, but it was really hard to understand, most of them seemed to require specific complicated thought processes.

I read through a lot of the book, not realizing what time it was. I looked at my watch.

"What? They've been gone for an hour. Has it really been that long?" I asked myself. I noticed how far I had gotten into the book. I wondered why it may be taking this long. There wasn't anything I could do though. I would just have to wait.

After several more minutes, I heard knocking at the door. They finally walked in.

"Oh, there you are." I closed the book, and smiled. I didn't want to seem impatient, and wasn't really.

"I'm sorry! I didn't think it would take that long." She said as Spike jumped off her back.

"Yeah. Heh, she ended up explaining everything to each of them. Rarity got it pretty quickly. Fluttershy just sort of nodded. Pinkie Pie wasn't exactly paying attention.

"Oh, thank you. And it's alright. I was a bit pre-occupied with this." I held up the book to them for them to glance at what it was.

"Oh, that's actually more advanced stuff." She realized, after seeing the title.

"Yeah. There didn't seem to be many limitations on types of magic that could be done on the show. So I wanted to see what was and wasn't actually possible for you to do." I explained. Some of the best things I saw on the show convinced me they could do most anything.

"Usually a unicorn is just limited by their skill and strength, and usually their magic has mostly to do with their specialties. There really are few other limits." She walked up and took the book with her magic after I held it up to her.

"And you're specialty is magic." I said as I stood.

"Yep! So, ready to go?"

"Yeah. I'm anxious to actually meet and talk to the others. Who first?" I asked excitedly.

"Alright, heh, calm down. We're going to see Rarity, she was intrigued by all of this, and she got the order for her client done." She told me. It really didn't matter who was first, I think they're all awesome.

"I'm ready when you are." I said smiling.

She nodded, then closed her eyes. I saw her horn glow for a second, and there was a bright flash of light around us again.

I was much more ready for it that time. Only ended up taking one balance step. Then shook my head a bit. We were now in front of Rarity's boutique again.

"Here we are!" She said happily, walking up to the door. She knocked.

"Come in!" We heard Rarity from inside. She sounded much more calm this time around. Twilight opened the door, Spike right behind her. I heard the bell above the door ring. Then stepped inside.

"Alex! Hello. Come! Sit. Twilight told me a lot." Rarity said excitedly. She was standing in the middle of the room, with a big, happy look on her face. I wasn't really expecting her to be so welcoming like this. Applejack I could see, Rarity, it was a little weirder.

"Thank you! You're...umm...really taking to this well." I pointed out.

"Oh, but of course! Who wouldn't be interested? Especially when you seemed so kind!" She was definitely excited, which I wasn't expecting.

Spike seemed to be jealous, and I noticed, when he looked at me, I shrugged back. I walked over to the table. We all sat down with her.

"So, Twilight told me that you know about everything through this 'story'. What's it like?"

I spent the next few minutes explaining. She seemed to understand clearly. Twilight had already gotten a lot through.

"So what do you think is going on? Someone like you, into the 'show', gets taken away to it's origin. Why do you think that has happened?" She asked after I finished.

"Not even Celestia knows. However, she told me she knew that my world was there, but nothing else about. She could feel it, and she recently started having dreams of seeing it from space or something like that."

"Really? She never told us about it." Twilight said.

"I don't know. Maybe she felt it wasn't important, or maybe it didn't mean much to her. But now that I'm here, it changes a lot." I realized as I said it.

"And what of this other thing? This 'feeling' you have?" Rarity asked.

"Well, ever since I got here, I've felt something like I'm warmer internally, but normal. When I jumped off of Rainbow Dash's house, I was slowed down by something, and the feeling grew stronger until I landed."

"Well, we'll just have to see what happens from this point on I suppose." Rarity said. It was true too, we could only wait.

"Yeah." I agreed. The thought of magic came to me again. "So...uh...Rarity, what kind of magic can you do? I know it has mostly to do with your profession, but what do you think you could do if you really tried?" I wanted to know.

She looked a little stunned, "Well, that's not something I was expecting. It's not very likely, but I suppose if I tried hard enough, I could teleport some short distance. That kind of magic isn't really within my abilities though."

"Oh Rarity, I'm sure it would be easy for you!" Spike said appreciatively.

"So it's possible right? It's possible for any unicorn to do any type of magic that any other could do, with enough effort?" I asked.

"Oh! Yes, of course. It's just easier for me because magic is my specialty." Twilight said.

"So, you just don't take interest in learning new magic?" I asked Rarity.

"Well, no. My interest is in what I do. Fashion, not magic tricks." She said, with a small amount of distaste.

"But, don't you think it would be useful to know more? If I could do it, I'd probably be more like Twilight. Most people back home would probably do the same." Twilight blushed a little. No one noticed though.

"But magic here is common place. It's not something that everyone finds to be all and only fascinating." Twilight pointed out to me. I hadn't really though of it that way. It made sense, but it was still an amazing thing to me.

"I guess that makes sense." I said.

"Oh! Wow, is that the time?" Rarity said after glancing at the clock. "I'm so sorry everyone. But I actually have some work I must get to.

"Oh, not a problem, I think we were about to get going anyway. We still need to see Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie." Twilight said.

"Right. Thank you so much for having me over. I'm glad you're taking to all of this so well."

"Any time darling! Please come over some time so we can maybe discuss those close you're wearing. They seem...interesting."

"Heh, sure." I said smiling, as we all started walking out the door.

We all walked a little ways away from her house.

"Man, she really did take that all well." I said.

"Of course she did! She's...Rarity." Spike said with love in her name.

Twilight rolled her eyes, then looked at me, "She's usually good with new people. As long as, you know, it isn't someone like Photo Finish." She joked. "So! Ready to go to Fluttershy's?"

"Yes. Definitely." I answered. Fluttershy was going to be great, I just knew it.

"Alright." She said, and in no time at all, she had taken us all to the front of Fluttershy's cottage.

The animals did not freak out this time.

"She really is good at what she does." I said as we all approached the front door.

"Well you should know. You've seen what she's capable of." Twilight said.

"Heh, right."

Twilight knocked on the door. "Fluttershy? We're here." She said through the door.

"Oh! Umm...Please, come in." We heard her say timidly from inside.

CRASH!

There was sound of something toppling over.

"AAH! No! Angel, get off of there!" We heard, and quickly opened the door to step inside.

Angel was sitting stubbornly on top of a tall cupboard. A small table had been knocked over with a plant in a vase. There was dirt everywhere.

"Oh!" Twilight was the first to do something. She walked up to the broken vase, and collected all of the broken pieces into a pile with her magic. She then swept up the dirt into another.

"Thank you, Twilight." Fluttershy said, ignoring Angel after that point, she knew she probably wouldn't get him down.

"Not a problem!" She said happily, as she levitated the pieces of the vase into the air. They all started darting around each other quickly back into a formation the seemed like a 3D puzzle taken apart. Slowly, they moved towards one another, and when they touched, they seemed to fuse. The vase was good as new.

"Wow." I said, watching it with great interest. "Good job" I said as I looked at her.

"Heh, thanks. Not too hard." She replied as she picked up the dirt and plant and put them back into the vase.

"How did you know where each piece went so quickly?" Fluttershy asked. It was true too, it was like she had fixed a hundred times before this.

"I used a spell I just recently learned. It allows me to quickly understand simple things." She said as she finally put it back on the table which Fluttershy had put back upright.

"Simple things?" I asked.

"Well, the more complicated, the longer it usually takes to understand."

"Ha! That's like cheating." I laughed. It was a really cool concept to me though.

"No it isn't! I wouldn't use it for something like that!"

"I'm only teasing." I laughed again. I looked over at Fluttershy, who chuckled to herself.

"Hi Fluttershy!" I said to her kindly.

"Oh! Uhh...Hello." She was still shy. However, she was good with animals, so she would probably be good with aliens. I acted the same as everyone else though.

"Don't be so worried, Fluttershy. Alex has been good so far." Spike said. It was nice to know he also warmed up a bit to me.

"Oh, I know. It's just weird, you know, with an alien...um...in your house."

"Yeah. It would be weird to me too. It seems you handled your...uhh...friends pretty well." I looked at some of the animals outside through the window.

"Oh, yes. They just had a bit of a fright before. They had never seen something like you."

"I figured." I said. "It's amazing to actually meet you! I thought you were awesome in the show." I really was excited. I could hear myself breathing. The whole situation with the vase caught me off guard a bit.

"Heh, thanks." She said, in her normal voice now, which of course still seems small.

"What were you doing?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, just waiting." Fluttershy looked at Angel with an annoyed face. He was asleep on top of the cupboard. He obviously wasn't interested in any of this.

"What was he doing?" I asked. I knew Angel was a hassle, but also unpredictable.

"I don't know. He must've not been happy that you were coming over."

"That's okay. I know he's like that."

Fluttershy smiled weakly, then she looked at my hand. "Hey, what are those markings?" She noticed them much faster than anyone else.

Twilight answered for me, "They were to try to dream more, apparently."

"Yeah. It's been an ongoing experimental...thing."

She just sort of nodded like she understood, then looked at Twilight. "Hey, can you help me with something...umm...alone?"

"Uh, yeah! What do you need?" She said as she approached her.

"Just some help with an animal upstairs." She said, as she turned to the stairs and started walking with Twilight.

"Can I help?" I asked.

"Oh! Uhh, no. I haven't gotten a chance to tell him about you. Spike, you can come though." She looked at him.

"Alright. I'm good with these guys." He said kind of proudly.

"Okay, I'll just wait down here." I said to the three of them. They just quickly looked back and nodded.

I stood there for about 5 minutes. I looked outside at some of the animals, who were watching me closely. I just waved with a smile. I didn't really know how to act, but they didn't do anything but keep staring.

Suddenly...

"Oh my goodness!" I heard Fluttershy from upstairs, "I forgot what time it was! Oh dear! Oh no!" She yelled as she ran down the stairs. "Sorry Alex! I need to go somewhere!" She said as she flew past me quickly and out the door.

Twilight and Spiked came down. "What was that about?" I asked.

"Dunno." Spike said, looking at Twilight.

"Yeah, no clue." She said back.

"What now?" I asked.

"Pinkie Pie?" She jogged my memory.

"Oh, yeah. I'm ready when you both are."

They both seemed to smile a bit, which confused me.

"Alright, here we go." She said in a weird tone. Then she closed her eyes and there was a flash.

When it dissipated, it was now dark, very dark. It was a little unnerving. Had the spell gone wrong that time?

"Umm...Hello?" I called out.

"SURPRISE!"

Chapter 9: Major Discoveries

The lights turned. There the mane 6 and Spike stood. There were balloons and streamers and other decorations all over Sugar Cube Corner.

"D'AAAH! Oh my God!" I almost had a heart attack as they yelled. It was almost as startling as arriving in this world. They then all had big Smiles.

"Welcome to our world!" Everyone then shouted. They were happy that it had worked. I had completely forgotten Pinkie said she as going to go set up a welcoming party.

I was breathing heavily. I took a second to let sink in what was going on.

"You...You did all of this...for me?" I finally put out words.

Pinkie laughed, "Of course silly! I said I was going to set up a welcoming party! Don't you remember?"

"Well, heh, now I do." I laughed back. "But, why?"

Twilight walked forward a bit, "It is Pinkie Pie, you know that! And, after you had been so kind to us, I wanted to help out. Me and Spike went around to everypony's and planned it out. That's why it took us so long this morning!" She was smiling.

"So...you were all in on it?" I asked, with a huge smile.

"Ya darn tootin'! Ah wanted to say thanks for being so nice at dinner!" Applejack said.

"Heh, yeah. You seemed pretty cool at my place." Rainbow Dash then told me. "And jumping off without a scratch, while it scared me at first, I thought it was pretty radical afterwards." She added. I didn't think exactly the same of it, but I was impressed with myself. I still wanted to know how I did it.

"Twilight told me about you, and asked that I be part of this. I was surprised at first, and quite unsure about it. But after you came in and we talked, I knew it was a good idea." Rarity said.

"Umm...I was pretty scared too. I didn't think it was a good idea after you tried to come the first time, after all my animals were so frightened. But they were just fine the second time around, and it wasn't that hard to convince most of them. You know, except for Angel, but he's always like that." Fluttershy next explained. I thought it went pretty bad the first time. Apparently it wasn't so horrible.

This was unbelievable. To have them all, pretty much accept me as a friend. I felt so overwhelmed.

"I...don't know what to say, but...just...thank you. Thank you all. I knew you would all be great, but this is unbelievable. You really didn't have to do this." I swear I almost had a tear, and I haven't cried in a while.

"Oh silly! You should know, this is what I do best! Now, come on, let's get this party started!" Pinkie started bouncing up and down as she turned on the record player. I smiled even bigger. It was the classic song played during Gummy's birthday.

"Heh, alright. I'm not much for dancing though." I said as I started walking to them. I'm not horrible, it's just not something I'm too into.

"Nonsense! Ah'm sure we can get ya going, pony or not!." Applejack said as she started swaying back and forth with the music. The others smiled as they were all dancing around each other.

"We'll see." I smiled as I grabbed a cane near by. This was one way it would go better, it made it feel like I had a partner, which made dancing always easier, and I was pretty good when I had something to twirl around.

After about and hour of dancing and laughing, I finally sat down at the table, the others did the same soon after.

"Phew-y! Not too bad, Alex. Though, I don't know what humans are suppose' to dance like." Applejack complimented.

"How you might dance on just your back hooves. That should be right, heh." I laughed while breathing heavily. It got pretty crazy towards the end. "But no more for now. That's more than enough for me in one day." They all laughed and nodded.

"How's this party compared to other ones?" Pinkie asked. Most parties I'd been to just involved drinking, and not too much dancing or really anything else. That was much more fun than I had had at a party before.

"This was way more fun. It definitely lived up to it's name." I said happily.

"Ha! I knew it would, they always do! And you said you couldn't dance! It was great!"

"I didn't say I couldn't, I just don't...usually." I shot back playfully.

We just sat there for a few moments, all breathing and drinking punch, which was really good.

"Thank you again, everyone." I looked around, everyone calmed down, "I do really appreciate it."

"Not like we didn't get to have some fun too!" Rainbow said.

"Definitely. A party for one is a party for all, especially with Pinkie Pie." Twilight said happily.

I laughed, then just thought for a bit. I didn't want the situation to get awkward, but I just wanted to think about everything.

Somepony broke the silence with a question I did not expect.

"Alex, where did those marks on your hand go?" Twilight was looking at it.

"What?" I asked looking at my hand. She was right, they weren't there anymore. Where did they go?! I thought. I was suddenly full of shock. "What! Where did they go?!" I was very shocked. It was drawn in Sharpie, and they were definitely there when I was at Fluttershy's.

"Did it, maybe come off when we were'a dancin'?" Applejack asked.

"No chance of that. It was drawn in permanent marker. It wouldn't've come off just like that." I said, looking at where they were.

"But, what happened?" Rainbow asked.

"I don't..." I started. I quickly examined my hand, looking all around it. Then, when I finally looked at my palm,

"What the hell?" Was the only thing I said. There it was. The markings had moved to my palm, but they were different now. They were perfect circles, aligned into a perfect triangle. It was also much more clear, Like it was pure black ink on paper.

"How?..." I was baffled. How could this have happened? "Twilight, did you do this?" I asked, it was the only thing I could think of possibly being the answer.

"What? No. Why would I do that?" She said back.

"I'm sorry, it...just seemed like the only thing..."

"Don't worry, it's understandable. Is there really a problem though?" She asked.

"Well, no. I was only wond-..." I started. I had thrown my hands lowly in the air to show it was a sort of shrug, but I then noticed my right palm out of the corner of my eye. I quickly looked at it.

"What?! It's on this one too!" I held it up to everypony. They all looked confused.

"Rarity?" Twilight looked at her.

"Of course not. I've talent with fashion. Not this kind of thing." She said back.

"Oh, Alex. I don't think you have to worry too much. I think it's fine like that." Fluttershy said to me kindly. Something about her voice, it was very calming. She really did have a way with animals, I guess everyone else too.

This is a world of magic. It could be anything. Don't get too worked up about it. I thought to myself. However, while this may be true, that is not to say there is usually an explanation for things, magic of some sort.

I started rubbing at it, to see if maybe it would start to fade and eventually come off. However, nothing happened at all, not the slightest bit rubbed onto my thumb.

"It's...like it's not ink anymore. Very weird." I said, with a voice much calmer now.

Then a feeling hit me. It all started to seem like it was normal. It was like the Warmth. Even though it was completely different, I felt like it was supposed to be like this. My face changed to that of less confusion, to one more of acceptance. I still knew it was strange, but I came to accept it quickly. I shrugged.

"Anyway." I said happily and suddenly smiled. I was not delusional. I still had the same level of sanity. However, everyone looked up at me.

"Alex? Umm...Are you alright?" Twilight asked, she was worried, they suddenly all were in varying degree.

"Yeah! Woah....." A wave of realization hit me, "I...don't know. It's like the Warmth thing. It just suddenly feels...normal. Like it's supposed to be like that." I said.

They all looked at each other. Applejack nodded. "Alright. If you say so." She would always know I wasn't lying.

"We should still try to figure it out at some point at least." Twilight looked sternly, but not scarily. I knew it too, and nodded.

"So!" I started, throwing my arms up cheerfully, and leaning back, "What have you been doing lately?" I asked everyone smiling. I wanted to keep everything going well.

"Ooh! I was setting up this party!" Pinkie Pie said first. Everyone stared at her, including me.

"I meant, what was going on before I first arrived here?"

"Oh, I was baking with the Cake's!" She said happily.

"Um, I was studying more magic. I now know 39 different types of spells!" Twilight said proudly.

I was a little stunned, that seemed ridiculous.

"Ah was just workin' on the farm for the past couple days." Applejack said.

"Oh! Fluttershy and I went into the forest to get a rare plant." Rarity said.

"Oh, yes. I needed it for a special sickness some of the chickens were getting."

"And I wanted it for a dress I was working on. It makes for a great fabric that shines in such a way, it went beautifully." Rarity added.

"What plant is it?" I asked.

"It's called Helixrias. It's very rare, but it makes for an incredible universal quick cure for many illnesses." Fluttershy explained.

"Sounds useful." Was the only thing I said. It did too, but I wasn't so into plants.

"Nothing much has been going on for me lately, so I've been practicing the Rainboom. It's getting much easier to do now. I think pretty soon I'll be doin' em likety-split!" Rainbow told me. She was very proud too.

"You're still going to have to show me one." I smiled at her, then took a sip from my punch. "Twilight, 39 different types of magic? Can you like, fly now, or something?" I teased her. I really wanted to know what types of things she could do.

"What? Of course not. Unicorns can't levitate themselves..." She started.

"Yeah they can." Pinkie interrupted. Twilight stopped, and just looked at her, confused.

"What do you mean? I've never heard of somepony doing that."

"Pumpkin Cake did it when I baby-sat her and Pound Cake a couple months ago! It was crazy! I thought I was going mad for a second. They were both all like 'Shwoo!' and 'Fwaa!' all over the place!" She said with a lot of energy.

"What? Really? Huh...I've never really tried. I didn't think it was possible." She was shocked. It was to her the same logic as picking yourself up without magic to try to fly.

"Well, go on. Give it a go!" I said. She had enough talent to try something like that. Everyone nodded.

"Alright, I'll try."

She stood up and closed her eyes. The purple aura then covered her horn and sparkled brightly. She concentrated a little harder, squeezing her eyes. She had now become surrounded in her glowing magic, and she rose slowly. Everyone was astounded. She was flying right in front of us.

She opened her eyes a little, but when she realized what happened, they shot wide.

"Huh?! Ha! I did it! I'm flying!" She shouted with joy, now hovering 4 feet in the air.

"Wow! Twilight, that's incredible!" Applejack said out with amazement.

"Yeah Twilight! Now we can totally do some tricks together!" Rainbow Dash was thrilled. Fluttershy was a strong flyer when she needed to be, but otherwise, she wasn't all that much to have some real fun with.

Twilight blushed. This was incredible to her, she had no idea she could do something like this. "Haha! This is great!" She flew around the room a little bit. Laughing the whole time. We all watched in amazement laughing with her. After a few moments she finally touched down.

"Ha! Good job!" I laughed and stood up to start clapping...

And after just one I stopped.

There was a small flash of bright light that came from between my hands as they connected, and a high pitched ringing to go with it. An impulse of energy shot from them throughout my body that made the Warmth shoot up for a second. I gasped and shivered. It was the strangest thing I had ever felt.

"Woah..." I fell back into my chair. Everyone then stopped cheering and noticed, rushing over to me.

"What was that?!" Twilight was in shock, there was way too much going on right now. "What was that light and noise?!" She was looking at me closely. Everyone else didn't know what to do or say.

"Wow. That was...weird." I was breathing heavily.

"Alex, what was that?" Rarity then came to ask. "I though Twilight had done something. That seemed like magic." She said.

"It wasn't me." Twilight said to her.

I was confused. What was that? Magic? I'm not a unicorn, how could I do that?

"Alex, really, you said there was no magic on your world." Twilight was stern. Everything got serious, fast.

"Th-there isn't. I don't...I don't know what that was." I was looking at my hands. For a second I thought the marks were glowing, but it seemed not.

"Do it again! Do it again!" Pinkie was excited.

Twilight looked at her seriously, "Pinkie! This is-"

"No...wait." I stopped her. Pinkie was right, I wanted to do it again. Everyone looked at me.

I looked at my hands still. Then slowly brought them towards each other. Everyone took a small step back. Then they connected.

I took a huge deep breath at that and shivered a little. I felt energy pulsing from my hands through my body. My heart started beating faster. We all stared at my hands, where a deep blue glow was breaking through along with consistent ringing.

I pulled them apart, and shivered again. I looked at them, and they were, the marks were now glowing this rich bright blue. Everyone was staring as they faded to their dark black state. They all looked up at me now, with confusion.

*BUUURP!*

"Oh, it's a letter from the princess." Spike said as the green fire in front of him formed into a rolled up piece of paper. Twilight took and unrolled it.

"Weird timing." She started, then read, "Alex, I wasn't sure what to think of what you told me about. However, I have come to realize, what you are feeling is not warmth, but rather magic." She paused, everyones eyes widened a bit, mine a lot. "It is a feeling a unicorn feels most powerfully, increasing at it's use. I'm not sure how, but if you have felt this since you arrived, then it means that this world has triggered something. Tell me anything that happens. Sincerely, Princess Celestia." Twlight finished.

"Oh! That's what you were feeling! I was confused, warmth didn't really make sense to me, but now I get it!" Twilight said. She had lowered the scroll and was looking at me. I however, didn't get it. I just stared at her.

"Magic is something that we're used to, so it isn't significant when we're not doing anything. However, when we do use it, we feel it. That's what you were feeling! Not warmth, magic!" She said with great enthusiasm.

I barely got it. It made sense, but I was just too dumbstruck.

"I have magic?" I asked myself and everypony. However, I couldn't begin to describe how excited I started to feel as I realized it all.

"Looks like it! This is the best party ever!" Pinkie said bouncing.

Chapter 10: Magic Beginnings

I sat there for a good minute, everypony looking at me. All but Pinkie, who was bouncing around the room. I just looked at my hands. Stared at them. I was shaking, and sweating slightly. I put my hands together again, and the same thing happened. The glowing, the ringing, and the pulses of energy. I took in a huge breath at connection. This time it was different though, with the knowledge that it was magic, not heat. It felt now more like power was surging through me, even if I didn't know how to use it. I took them apart and again stared as the Marks dimmed.

"Alex...uh...are you alright?" Twilight asked concerned. She thought that I may suddenly go insane. They were all thinking something similar. I hadn't talked for a while, and had a blank look. Now though, with the sound of her voice, I looked up at her, and a smile appeared on my face.

I exhaled heavily and slowly, then finally, "Yes. I'm fine." I said simply, "No...no I'm more than fine. I'm great! I'm fantastic!" I stood up, smiling ear-to-ear now. If it was possible to be any happier, or more excited, I might as well marry Pinkie Pie.

"Phew, I thought maybe you were upset." Twilight and the others let out relieved sighs.

"Upset? Upset! How could I be upset? This is the best thing ever!" I laughed and jumped up and down as I said it like a child. I stood there grinning at each of them.

"Ha! Great!" Twilight was thrilled. Of course she knew that she would teach me, and it made her excited. To have someone who would be as into magic as her, it was a great concept. Someone who she may be able to study with, and learn with.

"But, why is it like the way it is? Why does touching your hands together do that?" Rainbow asked, which I didn't expect.

I started calming down to answer her, "I don't know. I'm not a pony, maybe it works slightly differently."

"What does it feel like when you do that?" Twilight asked.

"It feels like there are pulses that go through my body of, magic, I guess." I said. It only made sense, but why it did that, I didn't know.

"Why don't you try something simple?" Twilight asked me. I really wanted to also. I had just got very caught up in the moment.

"Okay, um...telekinesis is supposed to be easy right?"

"Yes, it is one of the simplest forms of magic. Here, trying moving this." She said as she closed her eyes. A small steel cube appeared on the table.

"Now, you already feel that the magic is there, so that is a large step you were able to pass. Now, All you have to do is-"

"No, wait." I stopped her. I had a feeling I already knew how to do it. Telekinesis was something I thought about sometimes when I was bored. Plus, I read a little about it in the Magic book.

I looked at the cube, and almost instinctively put my right hand out towards it. I thought. I thought of reaching to it and holding it. That was all I did which I could feel caused a wave of energy to be sent down through my arm to my hand. The Marks glowed, and I could here the ringing. It sounded more like a unicorns now, rather than a high pitched clang. I could see a deep blue aura just like Princess Luna's surround the cube. It sparkled, and I could feel it, I could feel the cube now. It startled me almost, but I kept going. I thought now of moving it, maybe just an inch off the table. I pictured it in my mind. I imagined it lifting off the table just a little. Now then I could feel it's minor weight, and like that, it happened. I had lifted the cube just a bit off the table, before becoming so surprised that I let go. It fell with a small thud. I felt the energy release, and the ringing had stopped.

"You did it! Ha! You did it!" Twilight was ecstatic. However, not as much as I was. I couldn't put out words at first. Everyone else was excited too.

"Alright!" Rainbow patted me on the shoulder.

"Quite impressive." Rarity complimented.

"Way to go!" Fluttershy cheered quietly.

"Heh...woah...I really did it, didn't I." I said. I was a little dumbstruck. The weirdest thing was that it came fairly easily, I only needed to focus.

"How did you know what to do?" Twilight asked.

"I figured I only had to think of how I wanted it to move. Telekinesis was something I liked to pretend I had sometimes. And I read a little on it in the book."

"Well, most other magic isn't so simple. Different spells require different techniques and thoughts, along with different amounts of energy put into them. I started you off with something so small so you didn't have to try too hard. But it seems like you understand the technique."

"Yeah, I definitely felt its weight."

"You're advancing very quickly." She told me. It did seem weird that I was getting this so fast.

"What about Pumpkin Cake?" Pinkie asked. She had stopped bouncing and was watching me.

"Babies often have strange magical surges. It doesn't surprise me that she may have been able to do some of that stuff." Rarity told Pinkie.

"Since you already seem to know how it works, the best thing to do now is to see how heavy of an object you can lift. Come on." Twilight grabbed the cube with her magic and beckoned for us to follow her. It had already begun, she had already become my teacher. I continued smiling as I follow her out the door.

After we went out to an open field, she looked at the cube, and it suddenly grew to be about a cubic foot. She set it down gently on the ground.

"Alright, try and lift it again." She stepped back as I looked at it.

Again I slowly held out my hand to it. The same thoughts, and feelings happened. I felt the weight, now much heavier, but still something I felt I could easily move. I did it again. This time it lifted a foot off the ground. After I held it there for 5 seconds, I gently put it pack down this time, rather than dropping it. I was even happier with myself. This was just too amazing.

"Good job! How did it feel that time?" Twilight asked, standing next to me.

"Heavier, but still easily liftable." I said.

"Gotta step it up, Twilight." Rainbow teased, hovering above her.

"Alright, try doing it without reaching toward it. Unicorns don't always have to point to what they affect, maybe you don't have to either."

"Alright , let's see." I said.

This time I used the same thought process. It was easy enough to know what to do now. However, I was surprised that this time it did feel heavier, despite the fact that it was the same. The Marks from both of my hands glowed this time. It felt now like trying to lift something with less leverage. It was still pretty light, just not so easy.

"Wow, yeah. It is easier for me to reach to it. I don't know if maybe I just need practice or what." I said, but the fact that it wasn't necessary for me to point my hand was reassuring.

"No, it usually is easier for a unicorn to at least somewhat point, or get a better stance." She reassured me. "Alright try this now." She lifted the block, and grew it now to a cubic meter, along with rounding the edges.

She put it back down gently. Again, I lifted it with the same technique, "Much heavier, but still was not bad." I told her.

Twilight seemed shocked, "Really?...Alright, uh, everyone stand back a little." She was stern. She closed her eyes, the cube lifted off the ground, this time though, it didn't grow. From starting in the corner, the cube seemed to start burning. The sparks and flames then quickly moved down like a wave to the other corner, leaving behind it a different color. When that was done the cube was now darker. She set it down, and everyone looked confused, but I had a feeling I knew what she did.

"Twilight, what did you do?" Rarity asked.

"I turned it into lead." She confirmed my thoughts.

Fluttershy, Rarity, and Spike now got it, but Applejack nor Rainbow Dash didn't. "Lead is a much heavier metal than steel. It is also slightly toxic, so don't touch it." She explained to them.

"Oh dear, I don't think I could lift such a thing." Rarity said. That didn't reassure me, she seemed to be very good with telekinesis in the show. She tried anyway, closing her eyes and gaining something of a stance. Horn and cube glowed alike, but it was easy to tell that she was straining herself. It didn't budge. "Oh! No! Absolutely no way!" She said, starting to breathe heavily.

Twilight looked at her blankly with a raised eyebrow. She closed her eyes and got in a stance more reassuring than Rarity's. She lifted the cube a good 4 feet off the ground, with what seemed like little effort. Then dropped it, purposefully.

*THUD!* It came crashing down with a force that felt like an earthquake. The ground indented greatly around it. Rarity was stunned. They all were, not to say I wasn't.

"Wow, Twi. Didn't realize you'd gotten that strong." Applejack had said. With the way Twilight acted, it was easy to say that this thing was probably far heavier than the Ursa, despite its size.

"Alright, Alex. You try." She looked at me with a smirk. I knew she didn't think I would be able to lift it, and neither did I.

"Umm, okay..." I said unsurely.

I reached again. This time when I felt it, I knew it would be much harder. The weight this time was pretty incredible. I thought of something though; I reached now also with my left. The Marks on it glowed also. I closed my eyes to focus. They glowed brighter now, the blue becoming less deep. Finally, with much less trouble I was still able to mimic Twilight and lift it a good few feet off the ground, except I put it down gently. When I did, I took a few breaths. I was really impressed with myself.

When I looked back, everyone's mouths were dropped. Twilight standing next to me, rubbed her eyes. She was in utter disbelief.

"Alex, that was...incredible. Your strength...it's already far beyond what most unicorns have. It took me years to get that strong."

"Well, I'm not a unicorn, maybe that has something to do with it. Still, it's going pretty well! Don't ya think?" I joked. I was getting excited again. It was a dream of mine to have telekinesis, let alone magic in such a form of this. I bet it is for most people too.

"Uh, Yes. Really well. The best thing was that you showed good control. It can sometimes be dangerous to over-exert to something, but you didn't."

"Heh, Ah think I'll leave you two alone for now." Applejack chuckled. "Looks like you've got quite a bit of stuff to do, come on girls." She started to trot off.

"Oh! Applejack, thanks again, for dinner." I lifted my head to her. She smiled, nodded, and went off.

"Have fun with your new...abilities." Rarity said. As she left I thanked her too.

"See you guys later." Rainbow began to leave.

"Hey, don't forget." I stopped her, thinking of the Sonic Rainboom.

"Yeah, yeah, tomorrow. Don't hurt yourselves!" She said after giving a teasing salute and flying off.

"Oh, yes. Please don't. That would be just dreadful." Fluttershy said as she slowly rose and turned.

"Fluttershy, thank you too." I simply smiled at her. I wanted to reassure her, even though I knew she was probably fine.

"Um, you're welcome." She said back, then flew off back toward the forest.

"Okey-dokey! See you guys later! Thanks for helping!" Pinkie yelled to all of them.

"And thank you Pinkie Pie, for having this party for me. I loved it, and couldn't be happier with how it turned out." I told her.

"Well, duh! Obviously! I mean, how could this turn out better? If I suddenly got magic I would be just all over the place! Anyway, I was so super happy to have this party, it turned out awesome!" She talked fast with immense energy. "I'll be off! No distractions on your first lessons in magic!" She turned and bounced away back to her house.

I turned back to Spike and Twilight, "And thank you both. You helped set it all up. I was happy you got them all here for such a great party."

"Heh, don't worry about it. It was fun! And, we got something extremely good out of it right?" Twilight said happily as she made herself float again.

"Right! I got so caught up with all of this I forgot about that." I smiled.

"Oh yeah! Twilight, that's cool! Looks like you've now got a 40th type!" Spike said happily.

Twilight brought herself down slowly, "Ha, new milestone. Well, we should head back to the library before we continue. We don't need to be caught out here doing all this crazy stuff." She giggled at the end.

"Heh, alright." I said. She got rid of the lead cube. Then, once again, a bright flash of light brought us to the library.

"So, we already know that you are very strong, and you showed that you have good control too. So now we will work on precision." Twilight said. We had both now calmed down. I was ready to learn more, so much more.

We sat in chairs across from each other, with a coffee table in between. Spike was on the couch.

"Here." She said looking down at the table. She focused quickly and the wood from the table expanded up into a sort of maze. She then conjured a small steel ball at one end. I was still really astounded at seeing her do things like that.

"I want you to move this ball through this. Now, this seems easy, but it is really where it starts to get more complicated." She instructed me. I nodded. There was no possible way for me to be distracted from something like this. "When trying to do something precise, it is important to focus more. It can be easy to forget or lose attention to what you intend. So, give it a shot."

I looked down at the table. I held my right hand toward the ball, resting my arm though on my knee. I focused. The ball lifted. Easy enough, but I hadn't done much more than that yet. I focused more. I pictured it beginning to move towards the entrance, and it did so immediately. I realized now that things would do as intended right at the thought, no delay. It was now not so much about thinking about what I wanted it to do, but more so just making it do things. I moved it on, through the first few turns, pretty easy.

"There you go, keep it up..." Twilight was almost hovering over it anxiously. I stopped and stared at her annoyed. She noticed. "Oh, us sorry." She sat back in the chair.

I snickered lightly then continued. I had made it about halfway through, when anxiety and excitement started getting to me. The ball nudged one of the walls. I swore softly under my breath. Twilight noticed and looked up at me, but I didn't lose it any more than that. I had finally got it through to the end.

"Yes! Very well done. First try is pretty impressive." She complimented.

"Heheh, I thought I was going to really mess up at that one point."

"True, but you didn't let it get to you, which is something that can often happen and cause somepony to lose it entirely. You're really good at all of this. Incredible strength and good precision at the same time are not something that comes often." She complimented again. I blushed a little. I was very excited to get it so easily. Something about this seemed like second nature, I didn't know why though. I looked at my watch, it had literally only been 30 minutes since we got the message from Celestia.

"Why do you think this is so easy for me?" I asked.

"Well, I don't know how good humans are supposed to be with magic, considering your the first one. But I think it may have to do with your...um...how old are you?" She asked. No one had yet, surprisingly.

"23."

"Yes definitely, the age probably helps. Do humans age similarly to ponies?"

"I think so, what is average age ponies live to?" I hadn't known. In fact I didn't know exactly how old any of them are, only that they were probably each around 20.

"90, I think." She answered.

"Then yeah."

"What about humans?" Spike asked.

I quickly recalled that random fact from a class I took, "In my country, its about 78, I think. Though, most ponies here are probably healthier than a lot of people there, heh. Anyway, what's next?" I got back to what was important.

"Well. That was most of what is important, and usually unicorns use it to learn what they want for what they do. So, what do you want to learn next?" She asked. That was what I hoped for. So much to learn, but I couldn't wait.

"Hmmm..." This is where I started to have fun with it. I looked over at the shelf, reached, and levitated a book called A Beginners Guide to Magic I saw. I smiled as I brought it in front of me, I was having far too much fun.

"Looks like your getting the hang of it." Twilight laughed.

"Well, this has been simple enough like you said. Ha, I'd do everything like this if I could." I chuckled.

I didn't want to accidentally rip the pages, so I brought it to my hand and grabbed it physically, letting go with my magic.

"Alright-y, let's see." I started going through the pages. Chapter one: Controlling Magic. Can skip that I guess. Chapter 2 was on telekinesis, which I figured I'd come back to for some practice. I started flipping through now. This was all interesting, but I had a better idea.

"What about that spell that you said lets you understand something?" I looked at her.

She shook her head slightly, "That one is really advanced." She told me.

"Maybe, but if I can learn that, then learning other forms of magic would become easier, right?"

"Well, that's true. Alright, we'll get to that, but to do so there is another spell I need to teach you first."

"Only thing I want to do right now is learn more." I smiled.

"Okay, okay. The first thing you need to know how to do is a spell that allows you to focus almost entirely on a single thing."

"There's a spell for that?" I asked. I chuckled as I realized the joke behind it, but she obviously didn't catch it. It sounded very interesting, maybe it helped her learn so much.

"Yes. Usually someone can try to focus very hard on something, but without magic, it is not possible to block out all of everything else. Now be warned, this spell can be dangerous. Done wrong when you're by yourself, you may not be able to lose your focus. This is usually solvable though by having someone do something that is not physically possible to ignore, like shoving something in your face, or getting in your line of sight to the thing. Those types of things can usually stop it." Twilight was very specific about the last part. I swore most of my thoughts were on what she was saying anyway.

"Alright, so what do I do?"

"Heh, now don't get ahead of yourself. I'm going to do it to you first, so that you will know it's like." She said. It was for the best too. I didn't need to die or lose my mind on my second spell.

She looked down at the table and returned it back to normal, the wooden walls shoving back down into the flat surface, no trace left behind. She picked up the ball and placed it in the center.

"Okay, now look at this and try to focus on it." She instructed me, and I did so.

As I looked at it I noticed Twilight's horn beginning to glow. Then, all of a sudden, I didn't. It suddenly wasn't something I cared or thought about. I didn't notice this, but I stopped blinking. I kept looking at the sphere. Any other thoughts I had about anything else vanished suddenly in my mind. Though this steel sphere was very simple, I started noticing greatly every single small detail I could see about it. The reflections, shines, color, minor scratches, everything. I didn't notice this either, but I started losing my peripheral vision, everything around this ball went blurry and dark. Not just that, all of my other senses seemed to no longer be there, I couldn't hear, smell, taste, or feel anything. Along with only paying attention to it, I could now only see it, it was the one and only thing in my head now. It seemed to approach me, like I was inspecting it closer now from the same angle, even though I was still sitting in the same position. All of this happened within what was about 3 seconds. Despite that, it was not the spell that allows one to understand quickly, and I could only gain so much.

After 10 more seconds in that state, of which I didn't notice, everything else suddenly slammed back into my head, pouring back to my senses. My thoughts were jabbing at me and flying around now on what had just happened, and I lost my perfect focus. Twilight had stopped the spell.

"How was that?" I had only a second to regain everything before she asked.

"Woah! Oh my God...That was incredible!" I very quickly thought back on what it was like, "It was like the ball was the only thing in my existence."

"Wow. Ha, usually ponies are scared by it the first time." She was stunned.

"Oh my God, yes! It was terrifying at first. I felt like I couldn't do anything else ever, but it was okay. It was amazing!" I shouted at her almost. It really was both scary and incredible.

"Sorry about that, seems it went well though. Alright, do you think you can do it again?" She started to calm me down.

"Yes, please, go ahead." I really wanted to do that again.

Again she had me focus on it. I got serious and looked at the sphere, and soon it all happened again. After she was done this time, I was calm, but still smiled after looking up at her.

"Alright. Since you're used to the feeling, I can now show you how to do it yourself." She said. I only nodded with confidence.

"In order to cast this, while focusing on something, you need to picture in your mind a blank empty space with nothing in it. Imagine yourself being in this space, looking forward at nothing with little emotion. Then put in front of you the image of what you are focusing on, and release your magic onto that thing. Once you do that, those effects that happened before will start, and you wont have to keep thinking about that space anymore, the spell will continue on for you."

"What do you mean by 'release my magic on it'?" I asked.

"Like how you release your magic onto something to levitate it. It is the same thing, only your intentions and spell are different."

"Oh, okay." It made sense to me from the way I remembered reaching and touching those other objects with magic.

"Now, this is important. Make sure that, in this blank area you are in, you also imagine in it next to you some sort of object that you would awake to, like an alarm clock. This acts as the thing to stop the spell when you were originally going to be ready to stop. If you don't do that, it will cause what I talked about earlier." She told me very seriously now.

"Alright, I think I'm ready to try."

"Okay. Remember, Spike and I are here to snap you out in case it goes wrong."

"M-hmm" I nodded. Then looked at the ball to begin.

The hardest thing to start was to both focus on it, and begin picturing the image. Never the less, I pictured in my mind myself being nowhere looking at nothing. I decided that I would have my laptop next to me, as that is what used to be my alarm clock. Now, while looking at the ball, I pictured that in front of my imagined version. With the image in mind, I did as Twilight said, and released magic at the ball.

Sure enough, all of the same things happened. The entire image in my head, along with absolutely everything else, had gone in a flash. There was now only the sphere again.

10 seconds later. It suddenly stopped, surprising me again.

"It worked! Ha! I did it! Wow, that really never gets old, heh." I jumped up after everything again flooded back. I couldn't be more pleased.

Twilight was shocked by my sudden reaction. "By Celestia, Alex, things are going far too well with you. I was sure that I was going to have to bring you out. Most ponies forget about the alarm the first time."

"You know, I was expecting to here something to bring me out, actually."

She shook her head, "Your subconscious hears the alarm you placed, and that stops the spell." She explained.

"Wow, that's pretty incredible." I was amazed out how simply it all worked. Like someone designed the spells and then made them work for everyone. I didn't know much about the mind, but I understood what she was talking about.

"Also, when you intend, you can have the alarm sound when someone calls for you. Try it like that."

"Alright." I said, and again started. The only thing different I did different this time was change how I thought about the alarm, now the way she explained.

Twilight got up and walked around the table to me. I had already cast. She waved her hoof out slightly in front of me, but not enough to get in the way of my direct sight of the ball.

Suddenly the spell stopped again, though I didn't hear her call me, it just worked.

"Alex?" She called again.

"Yep, it worked." I looked at her.

"Excellent. Really excellent." She smiled. "I think at this point you're ready for the next part."

Chapter 11: Something Different

"Hey I just realized, this must be the reason I was fine from jumping from Rainbow's house." I pointed out to Twilight. That event had slipped my mind since discovering this.

"Oh yeah! I forgot about that. It must be. But, uhh, how'd you do it?" She asked.

I shook my head and looked down regretfully, "I don't know, I couldn't think straight when it happened. I don't even remember why I jumped."

"Well, we'll figure it out eventually." She reassured, I knew it too. "Anyway! For this spell it is best to stand and loosen up, this is where it really starts to get complicated." She said now happily as she marched away from my chair and into the middle of the room. Her optimism was very amusing.

However, it didn't prepare me.

I stood up, ready for more, but I got hit by something, one of the most incredible pains of which I was not to expect. "AAARGH!" I screamed, and immediately fell to the floor. It was like the impulses experienced before from the connection of my hands. This time, though, it didn't feel like power, it felt like I had been struck by lightning and it was now crashing around inside me, without stop.

"Alex!" Twilight yelled and rushed over to me.

"Woah! What happened?! What's going on?!" Spike jumped up from the couch and came around the chair to me.

"AAAAAAAAAHHH!!!" I screamed out again, louder now. I laid there cringing. Each pulse was another unimaginable wave. I couldn't think straight, my mind couldn't process anything over this. I breathed heavily and coughed.

"Alex! Alex, what's wrong?!" Twilight asked in horror.

I started hyperventilating, before letting out more moans of pain, "ARGH! I-I don't-AAH!" I couldn't finish before more pulses hit through my lungs and innards. I felt like I was dying. Tears of pain were streaming down my face.

"I don't know what to do!" She cried out. Her heart was beating fast. What was happening? What do I do? Is he dying? Such questions bounced in her brain.

Then, she noticed something that scared her even more.

My Marks were glowing.

Her look worsened, "Spike, get back!" She yelled, as she grabbed him with her magic and zapped them both to the other side of the room. They both gazed on in fear as I continued to let out cries of pain. She felt awful, but there was nothing she realized she could to to help me. This was not something that she, nor I, could control.

As I lay there, near petrified, somehow, I could feel now something familiar. Something now along with the pain. Magic. I couldn't pay attention to it for long though, as it was near completely hidden to me under the tidal wave of agony. It was enough to make someone pass out in seconds, but it was the cause of the pain that was also keeping me from doing so.

My hands now became surrounded in my deep blue aura, and my eyes had burst into a burning pure white. As Twilight feared, I was now letting off charges of magic of which I couldn't control. Books started flying, burning up, or imploding. Other such objects were turning into random other things. I couldn't stop.

"Spike! Send for Celestia! Hurry!" Twilight yelled over the noise of my yells, the magic, and the crashing of objects. Spike quickly grabbed a quill and paper, then jumbled down the most quick and coherent message he could think of at such a time. Without even thinking of tying it off, he blew now on it as fast and hard as he could. The paper exploded into green fire and smoke zooming out the window.

My body now flailed back and forth at each random shot from my hands. I couldn't control my movements anymore. I couldn't do anything except let it all happen. I was scared. I really thought I was maybe about to die. Was this really it? How could this be it?

Why?...

Not a second more occurred of my outbursts, before there was a bright flash that engulfed the room. In the fade of the light, Twilight and Spike could quickly make out what caused it. There Princess Celestia stood, with a look more stern than even at her arrival on the day of Twilight's major freak out.

She hadn't known what to expect when she arrived, but with her wisdom and experience, she had next to no hesitation. After seeing me in my chaotic state and hearing my yells, she jolted over to me with a glowing horn, easily and instinctively stopping a few bolts of magic that flew in her direction. She quickly lowered her head and touched her horn to my forehead.

I hadn't been able to understand what I saw coming to me. But it didn't matter, because in a small flash of white light, it all immediately stopped. However, the experience left its mark, and I very quickly felt myself slip away, with just enough left to get a glimpse of the Princess looking down at me gravely.

"What...happened?" Celestia turned now to Twilight and Spike after the last of a few books fell to the floor. They were both huddled together, a few bolts had just narrowly missed them out of the chaos. The entire library was a mess. Twilight was breathing heavily. This was the scariest thing to happen in a while.

After a while though she came out with an answer, "I...I don't know. W-w-we were practicing magic, and h-he suddenly started freaking out and doing all of these crazy things and-" Twilight spat out the words at speeds incomprehensible.

"CALM" She heard Celestia say, but it was not words that she spoke. She whispered to her through her thoughts into mind, something she had never done before. Hearing Celestia's regal voice in her head did as she heard, calming her beyond belief.

Twilight took in a few deep breaths, in through the nose and out through the mouth. She compiled herself to speak, "You were right, Alex has magic, extremely similar to that of a unicorn. I had him try a few things, to see how strong was. What I saw was unbelievable. He seemed to be almost as strong as me." Celestia's eyebrow rose at that. "He didn't seem to be exerting himself very much. We came back here to learn some new things. I had him get up for one part and he suddenly started screaming in pain and freaking out. Then acting...like...that."

Celestia turned back to my passed out body. She picked me up and laid me down on the couch. "Magical backlash. It is a horrible thing to be experienced. Pure pain."

Twilight looked even more horrified, and yet she was relieved it hadn't happened to her. "Princess, he seemed...to be like me when you and I first met. Was it the same thing? I don't remember it being that bad." Twilight had realized such.

"The only thing similar are the magical outbursts. Everything else is different. The reason, and the feeling. I'm dreadfully sorry you had to witness it. It isn't something that happens very often."

"But why? Why did it happen?" Twilight asked. Nothing made sense to her at the time.

"I'll explain when he wakes."

"So what, he can't use magic now?" Twilight asked disappointedly. Had it really all ended that quickly?

"No, he still has it. I just wish you had told me that you were going to so quickly start this, so that I could be there to more quickly stop it." Celestia chided. Her words made Twilight feel horrible.

"I'm...I'm so sorry, I didn't realize there was such thing."

"I know, and I don't blame you. I'm the one who should apologize to him."

"He seemed so strong. Is it not actually so?" Twilight was only still worried.

"Oh yes, he is. However, his balance is just...off."

Celestia could hear behind her a hard and deep inhale. I sat up quickly, with big eyes. I was breathing heavily, in shock.

Celestia whipped around and placed her hoof on my shoulder and whispered again, "CALM" Into my thoughts. The word worked for me, my breathing slowed, and I looked around at everyone.

"Celestia!...What happened? What was that...that...awful...I don't even know how to describe..." I was petrified by the memory of it. However, there was no trace left of the feelings. I was only tired now.

"Alex, I'm very sorry you had to go through that. What you experienced was a magical backlash, it is the one of the most painful things that someone can endure."

I took in a few more deep breaths. She didn't need to tell me that twice. "Why...why did it happen?"

"Your body is not used to magic. You had used enough of it that a sudden change in position caused it to knock into place with great force. This, I'm afraid, caused a chain reaction which makes the body lash with it. It tries to either fight it or accept it, but it doesn't know which choice is correct. Now, it is not possible for a magical creature to rid itself of magic, it is part of the being. Accepting it, though, is very hard during such a reaction. I hit you with a spell that forces the body out of the lash and accepts it. I'm very sorry I couldn't do so sooner."

I looked away for a second, thinking about what she was saying. "So...what does this mean?" I looked back.

"This can only happen to someone once. However, your body is still not adept, and you may find that if you over-exert, you may pass out without much warning. It will take some time, but it is important that you continue to practice in order to balance yourself."

I looked forward again and slowly took in what she told me. I didn't like remembering it. Thinking about horrified me. I only wished I could put it out of my head. I felt like it was my fault, but deep down, I could only come to realize that it really was no ones fault. Twilight didn't know, I didn't know, and Celestia didn't get any chance.

Still, I felt...angry...infuriated...at something. I couldn't explain it to myself. Maybe it was just the memory of such a feeling.

"Rest for now, Alex. There is much to learn ahead." Celestia said peacefully. Now with a smile, she turned away and began walking out the door.

Celestia closed her eyes and her horn glowed. In another flash of light, the room had suddenly returned to normal. Just before she flew off into a teleport, I looked to her.

"Celestia..."

She looked back, "Yes?"

"Thanks."

Chapter 12: Forget and Learn

I held my head in my hands. After breathing in a out a few more times, I let out a final heavy sigh. I looked up at Twilight.

"Alex, I'm so sorry. I had no idea..." She said walking slowly over to me.

I sniffed lightly, then answered her, "It's...not your fault. It's no one's fault. I'm just...in a little shock now is all. Something that horrible had never happened on the show before. I didn't really think...I just didn't think that something like that would happen...here." I told her. Maybe I should have expected something to occur. Why else would I have been taken to this world? "Whatever, it...it doesn't matter now, right? It's gone, and it was...necessary...right?" I questioned myself in my words. I really hoped that was the truth. What Celestia said made me more comfortable.

Twilight couldn't help but feel extremely guilty. "Do you still want to try to learn that spell?" She asked seemingly as cheerful as possible. I couldn't tell if she was joking or not. The question was very off to me.

"No. Celestia's right. I think I just need a nap right now or something." I said, feeling now for some reason almost depressed by what happened.

It reminded me of something.

I was hesitant to get up, but knowing none of that could happen again eventually compelled me to do so. "Just give me a little while, then we can get started on...something simpler. I don't think it's a good idea for me to try something that complicated...right now." I told her as I started walking slowly up the stairs.

"Oh, right. Umm...Take all of the time you need." She said.

"Thanks..." I said tiresomely. I continued up, but something caught my eye. There was what looked like a burn mark on the wall right above one of the steps. It looked like it said something, and I squatted down to see.

7

"Hmm..." I thought about it for a second, but shrugged it off. Must be some weird coincidence.

"What is it?" I heard Twilight ask.

"Nothing. Something I must've done. Celestia missed it, I guess." I got back up and walked up the rest of the stairs.

"I'll get it later." Spike said. "I think I'm gonna do the same, a nap seems really good right about now. Y'know, after everything thats happened. I'm really sorry too Alex." He walked up behind me, as I now stood in the doorway.

"Alright, I'll get some things set up for us to try when you're ready." Twilight said, as she walked over to the bookshelf. She was happy that Celestia was able to restore everything at least. It would have been a disaster if not.

I nodded to her, then closed the door. I walked over to the window and closed the drapes, then stumbled lazily over to the bed. Without taking anything off, I fell into it. Within a few seconds I found myself already asleep.

I can't say I woke up as good as I did this morning. The room was pitch black. It was dark out now, surprisingly. Being that there were no lights in the room, I couldn't see anything. What happened before then came back to my thoughts, and I shivered. I put it out of my mind though. Let's start practicing, like Celestia said. It will help me forget about it...hopefully. I thought.

I put my palm up in front of my face, and concentrated. I didn't want to affect anything, but wanted my Marks to glow so that I could see at least a little. I wasn't exactly sure on how to do that though. They had only done so when trying out spells. It was about a minute of thinking of different things before I finally saw the circles light up slightly. The thought at the time was simply having them to do so, nothing more. I slapped myself in the face. Though, they could really only get so bright like this.

I got up and went to the door, putting my hand out in front of me to light the way. I stepped out onto the balcony and it was dark everywhere. I looked over and saw that Twilight's door was closed. I held my hand to my watch and looked at it.

"Ten hours?! God damn it..." I cursed to myself. That must have done more to me than I thought. Everyone was asleep. I looked around a little, and saw down on the coffee table that there were now three books on it.

When I got down, I read them: A Beginners Guide to Magic, Tricks and Trades, and Magic.

I wasn't tired anymore, so I figured I might as well start. Twilight was probably going to have me read through these anyway.

I reached down to grab the first one, but stopped myself. I remembered I need to practice, so instead, I sat down on the couch and levitated it to me, where I set it in my lap. Not that I had a problem with that; I still could only have fun doing these things.

I flipped to the table of contents, holding the glowing Marks on my other hand closely as a small light source. I knew I would start on chapter three, but something else caught my eye.

Oh, chapter six has something on creating light. That would be useful right about now. I thought, and chuckled to myself.

I flipped to the page it was on, then read carefully. I found a simple part which pretty much listed how it was done.

Creating light is only as complicated as the creator chooses it to be. Whether they make a simple ball of light, or complicated, bedazzling patterns. First, one needs to think of what they want, and picture it being there, doing what they want. The more complicated, the more energy one will need. Second, now think of a candle. This becomes the base, staying in the subconscious as the spell continues. Now, one may cast.

Oh, well that seems simple enough. I thought, knowing at this point that a cast was the same type of 'release' done before with the other spells.

I held out my hand palm up.

Okay, ball of light, I just need to be able to read. Something not too bright, alright. Candle, candle, candle. Okay, ball of light, candle. Cast now.

A very small sputter of light appeared just above my hands, then going out in a second.

Stronger... I thought.

Again, I tried. Brighter now, but still went out in a quick wimper. Apparently the 'good control' was only most easily applied to telekinesis.

Stronger!

Almost there, it lasted much longer, but still wouldn't sustain.

OH, COME ON, DAMMIT! I yelled in my thoughts.

A blazing ball of light formed in my hand, and rose high into the air. I was blinded by it. Too strong.

"Aah! Shit, uh...Stop! Dim! Turn off!" I tried commanding, but nothing worked, and I couldn't concentrate hard enough for it to change. It continued to fill the entire room with bright light. I was worried I'd wake someone.

I put the book up in front of it, and quickly read the rest: Finally, to end the spell, picture the candle going out while intending for the light to also do so.

After reading those words, it stopped. The sentence made me picture such without thinking.

"Whoa..." I muttered, feeling suddenly dizzy. I fell back into the couch, holding my head, and having a hard time seeing. Celestia was right, trying too hard right now could knock me out. I stopped for a minute, and slowly regained myself. That was close.

I tried again. Finally, this time a small, consistent ball of light came out and hovered right above me. "There we go. Heh, neat." I said. I was slightly mezmerized by it, mostly for what it was, but also that it was mine, something I did.

I shuffled now into a more comfortable position, and levitated the book out in front of me. I tried slowly turning a few pages, to get an idea of how not to rip them. There it floated in front of me, first page. My calm and soothing aura surrounding it. I found it suddenly amusing that it was my favorite color, but I guess that should have been expected.

Okay, focus. What were the steps? Oh, right. Empty space. Me. Book. Alarm; off when done, off if called.

Cast...

The next three hours seemed like no time at all. I had reached the last page of the last chapter. Everything else then again came back to me.

"Wow. I'm already done. Heh, would have loved to have that during school." I joked to myself.

The book was not too long, and Focus also allowed me to read faster and more thoroughly than normally possible. The book and all it talked about was pretty clear in my mind, especially the parts that peaked my interest. Though I didn't understand exactly all that was in it, this was still good. I felt now like I was really getting somewhere. I could now at least have the knowledge of how to do more things. There were all sorts of amazing spells that I would love to try.

Any sort of distraction from what happened before was also satisfying.

That long period of time powering three spells at once really took it out of me though. I felt suddenly dizzy and tired. I fell back in the seat, but didn't fight it. I didn't care if I passed out here, right now. It was late anyway. The book dropped, and the ball of light faded away.

"Alex?"

"Hmm...what?...Oh! Yeah! I'm up." I was startled by Twilight nudging me awake. The light from the windows blinded me when I opened my eyes. It was bright and sunny out, really a beautiful day.

"Are you alright? You slept much longer than I thought you would yesterday. I had to go to bed." She explained backing up from me. She looked down and noticed the book on the floor. "What were you doing?"

I was laying back in a very seemingly lazy position. It was embarrassing. I sat up quickly, and wiped my face with my hands.

"Oh, I was...um...reading...and practicing, like Celestia said. I read through the first book you had on the table."

She was a little confused and a little shocked. She looked down on the floor and levitated the book back up onto the table. She wasn't fully convinced that someone who had previously not had any magic understood the concepts, despite the fact that they were beginner level. "You read...all of it? And understood all of it?" she asked.

"Most of it. I used the spell you taught me. It worked incredibly well! I even taught myself a simple light spell, with a bit of trouble at first, but I eventually got it to work." I chuckled proudly. I showed her a quick little ball of light as I explained, then after a few seconds remembered again how to make it go out.

She was impressed by it. "Well, just knowing the steps to a spell isn't exactly useful without practice. Did you try anything else?"

"Well, no. I only had time to read it, before...um...I think I blacked out from using three spells for a few hours." It was very quick when it happened. Not something that was easy to realize.

Her eyes widened a bit, making her look concerned. "How are you feeling?"

I actually physically felt much better. "Uhh...good. For what it's worth." I told her. I no longer felt depressed. That was good, too. However, I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was mad at...something.

Damn it...mad...mad... Why? Who? Twilight? Of course not. Celestia? Why would it be? Why do I feel so angry at...something, someone? Is there someone to be mad at? Me? Have I not...?

"We should do some more practicing then. After eating." Twilight interrupted my thoughts.

"Oh, right!" That sounded like a great idea. Despite what happened, I still really only wanted to learn more.

After a quick breakfast, Twilight suddenly teleported us both out to the front of Sweet Apple Acres. I was startled by it.

"Um...What are we doing here?" I asked.

"This is where we will practice for now. Applejack agreed that we could use the South field, where nopony would probably see us."

"But Twilight, some ponies have already seen me. When you showed me around town?" I recalled that event. I remembered that they didn't really react that badly when it happened though. Twilight seemed to give off that impression that anyone around her was okay. Especially with what happened after Luna.

"True, but they may gain more suspicion if they see you learning magic. We can work here in more peace, for now anyway."

"Heh, peace? I might make a tree explode...twice." I added in the joke.

Twilight was confused, she knew she heard something like that before. "Umm...well, hopefully only if you are trying to." She reassured, not understanding what was behind it.

"I wouldn't be trying to make anything explode right now. I'd fall over before it happened." I joked. Twilight let out a laugh. It was really time to get myself and her in a better mood. Worrying wasn't going to help anything. It's over. It happened. Forget about it. "Actually, to be honest, I would hope I didn't have to blow anything up. Even if it would be cool. I don't know how to either."

"True. Only I know how to do that." She teased me. I chuckled, but it didn't surprise me.

"Oh, hey there y'all!" We heard the familiar southern voice behind us. Twilight looked around.

"Hi Applejack. Thanks again for letting us use your field for practice!"

"No problem! Ah'm always happy to help. Y'all get along to it." She said, then began trotting off in the direction of her barn. Twilight and I headed off in the other direction, before an idea got into my mind.

"Hey, Applejack?" I turned and called over to her.

She looked back, "Yeah, sugarcube?"

"If you...um...need any help with anything, I'm more than happy to pay you back for everything that you've done." I told her sincerely. I knew I should be getting along to practicing more, but I couldn't help but feel guilty that I haven't really done anything for her yet. After she had me over for dinner and helped throw the party.

She looked away for a second, then looked back at me interestingly, "Actually, if it's no bother, Ah've been gettin' a little backed up on the buckin'. Y'all wanna give it a try and help me out?" She asked with a smile.

"I dunno Applejack, we really do need to get practicing. The princess said that..."

I stopped Twilight, "Hang on, let's just see where this goes. Maybe I can get some practice in while doing this too." I whispered to her.

"I'd love to!" I looked back up at Applejack.

"Alright, we'all better get to it!"

We walked up the path to where Applejack had been working. There were several trees which had no apples, and then a perfect line separated those from the trees which were full of them.

She walked up to the first one with apples on it, then turned to me.

"Well, you've seen what apple-buckin' is from the show. So, give it a try!" She held up a hoof the tree. I didn't expect that, and wasn't thinking it was the best idea.

"Um, why don't you do it first. Get me motivated." I said shyly after a small gulp.

"Heh, alright." She walked up to the tree. She looked at it for a second before swiftly jumping around onto her front legs with a wind up...

*FWUMP*

Her hind hoofs hit the tree dead on with tremendous force. I could feel the vibrations sent through the ground. The tree shook ferociously, and the apples fell off one after another in very quick succession neatly into the baskets that were below it.

She walked away from it with her head held high and full of pride.

"Give it a try now." She pointed to the next one, a grin on her face.

"Okay..." I walked up to it slowly. I stretched out my right leg, thinking maybe it would help. However, I was no kick boxer. I never really kicked that many things in my life seriously. I wasn't weak, but not strong either.

With a slow wind up, I through my leg forward at the middle of the trunk.

*Fwack*

The bottom of my shoe hit as hard as I could make it. I was surprised, it felt very different then I expected it to. The trees in this world were not like the ones on mine. They felt flimsier, more flexible. Still, with a small few vibrations, only a couple apples fell. I took a few hops back on my other foot to regain my balance. I looked stupidly at the apples that were in the basket. It really was more than I had expected, which was none.

I looked back. Twilight and Applejack both looked like they were about to burst out. Sure enough, an explosion of laughter came from them as they couldn't hold it in any longer and fell on top of each other. I blushed. I had a feeling this would happen.

"Hahaha! Heh, you sure that's the best y'all can do hone? Heheh, I think Applebloom can get more out than that." She chuckled after compiling herself and getting up.

"Yeah...um...I don't think humans are supposed to be as good of kickers as ponies." I tried to explain. I knew it, but I didn't want to give the impression that I did.

"Well, heh, maybe you can help in some other sorta way..." She started.

"No wait, I have a better idea." I interrupted. This was where I could get practice in.

In the book, there was a section on something called magical constructs. It said that they are something made out of pure magical energy as a solid to be used as a sort of force by the caster.

I turned back to the tree.

Okay. Let's see...It's really simple. Simple, simple, simple. Step 1: Picture the thing. What do I want, some sort of large wrecking pillar, or large fist, extension? Seems about right. Step 2: Put energy into forming the thing in reality. Again, pretty simple, casting the spell. Act it out, remember to act it out so it's easier.

I put my hand up, and concentrated. After a few seconds I began to hear ringing, and saw ripples form in the air in front of me. They started swirling around, gaining slowly a deep blue light, very much like my aura. They started to fly around each other. It surely but slowly came around to take the shape of a very large hand, in the same position and gesture as mine. It was slightly transparent, and looked like it was made out of water, with deep blue energy and light outlining it.

"What the hay?!" Applejack burst out, this was something very new to her. Not Twilight though.

"Shh!" She put her hoof in Applejacks mouth. "Just wait a second..."

Okay, got it. Heh, wow, that looks really cool. Okay, come on, keep concentrating. I moved my hand around a little, the construct acted in the same way. I moved my arm around, wanting it to move the same way, and it did. Heh, too cool. Alright, lets see. Umm...A few test swings? Yes, okay.

I moved my hand more, giving a few jabs at the air with a fist, the construct shadowed me instantaneously. With it now, I lightly pushed the tree. I couldn't feel it specifically, put I could feel that there was now something there, in the way, resistance. I brought it back now and punched forward.

*Pong*

The sound that came off was like a crash of the ringing, and echoed a few times. It was very mesmerizing, yet also slightly scary. I felt now the great resistance that it was facing. I could feel myself having a harder time trying to push my arm forward more, as the construct couldn't move forward at all. It was like I was trying to push a spring in to be tighter, and it was pushing back. I pulled away, and punched harder.

*Pong!*

I could see a few wisps of energy detach like liquid and wrap around the tree, only to dissipate after falling off the other side. Several apples fell off the tree. One more, harder now. I pulled back, and punched forward with much more might.

*PANG!*

The sound that came off that time was more like a gong, punch, and a small explosion all in one. The hand exploded around the tree after hitting hard. All of the rest of the apples fell off into the baskets. The final wisps flew off and died out in blue and clear waves of light, as the echo of the ringing died off with them.

I looked back with a smirk, proud of what I had accomplished.

It was too much though, and suddenly I found myself fall to my knees, and then down on my chest.

Chapter 13: Comprehend

My mind was blank for the few seconds I laid there on the ground. I could hear the two above me trying to wake me up. I had very near blacked out again, but I could just barely overcome the dizziness and keep myself with them.

"Alex! Alex, y'alright?" I heard Applejack rush over to me, trying to shake me awake. It was close to incoherent, as my ears were ringing, but I still understood.

I took in some heavy breaths, then mumbled very softly, "Yep...I'm..." They could barely make it out. I slowly put my hands under me and tried to get myself sitting up.

"Hey, not so fast. Here, let me help." Twilight nudged me up. My eyes were still closed. I felt very tired, though now was not the time to sleep yet again.

I breathed a few more times, "Yeah, I'm...I think I'm...okay..." I mumbled some more. I couldn't think very straight, except for one thing I couldn't place.

My head drooped over my lap lazily. With my eyes nearly shut, I could see myself start bringing my hands slowly towards one another. Twilight noticed this and backed up a bit, wondering what I may do. Without thinking, they finally neared, and connected.

With a glow and a sharp ring, I could feel energy rush up through my arms and through my whole body, giving me a chilling wake. I felt the dizziness fade off, and my strength quickly start returning to me. I took in a huge breath, and exhaled slowly as my eyes shot wide open and my head popped back up.

"Wow! Ha!" I burst out as I near flew up on to my feet. My reaction startled both Twilight and Applejack.

"Yikes! Alex, are you alright? You just collapsed." Twilight said.

I had calmed down quickly. I was not hyper, just more so back to normal. "Yeah, I'm fine. I just...don't know what that was."

"You put your hands together, and those things happened. Before you said that made you feel pulses go through your body. What do you think that is?" She asked.

"Maybe, like a recovery type thing? I don't know how it works when I do it, and I don't really think anything either. It just...you know...happens."

"That was mighty impressive, what ya did with that fist thing." Applejack finally said walking back up from behind Twilight.

"Yeah. I hadn't thought of using that spell in such a way." Twilight said.

"Well, you can just pull the apples right out of the trees." I didn't really know if I could focus on so many things all at once like she could. One thing was getting to be very easy, but twenty, or two-hundred things, that was another.

"Do it again." Twilight said suddenly after thinking for a second.

"What?" I asked, not sure of what she meant.

"Do the fist again. If you didn't pass out, maybe it's getting better."

"Umm...alright. It's your fault if something goes wrong." I told her. She smirked, with a 'no it isn't' kind of tone.

I walked up to the next tree and did the same thing. This time after the fist had fully formed, I didn't hold back, and punched the tree harder than I did the last time. This time when it hit, it didn't explode around the tree. I managed to hold it together, only for it to fade after I finally released it once the apples fell into the baskets. My arm dropped lazily to my side, and I fell to my knees again. This time though, before I started falling forward, I connected my hands. The shot of energy rocked through me quickly. However, this time it felt weaker, like it was struggling to get through. Damn, I guess I can't overuse that. I thought while getting up slowly.

"Ah think I'll get back to this on mah own. Don't need ya to hurt yourself. Y'all can get started on yer practicing." Applejack said. I felt the same way.

"Oh, uhh, here." Twilight said. She looked down the line of trees and closed her eyes. With a glow of her horn, all of the apples down the next three rows lifted up and came loose from the trees. They then floated gracefully over to several baskets that were on the ground.

"Thanks Twi. That should be a good start for now." Applejack smiled at her.

"Sorry I couldn't help more. I guess I'm just not ready to do some of this stuff yet." I told Applejack. She just shrugged.

"Not a problem. I understand." She said sincerely. I smiled, but felt a little disappointed. I'd have to help her again some other time.

"Welp, let's get to it." Twilight said happily.

After a quick teleport back to the South field, and a settle in near some trees, Twilight turned back to me.

"Okay! I guess this is the...uhh...second lesson right?" Twilight was enthusiastic.

"Yep." I said simply, but with a near level of enthusiasm, only not to be more by my disappointment in before. I'd let her start. She was the teacher, after all.

"This will be a good place to concentrate; it's nice and peaceful." She was right too. It was a beautiful day; there was not a cloud in the sky, and there was a nice breeze that went through the bright and colorful trees. It was one thing to know that on the show this world was more bright and colorful, but to actually be here, that was another thing. "Now, I thought about it, and I think you're right. The spell used to understand things is called Discere. We'll start with that." I raised an eyebrow at the name. There was some sort of italian pronunciation she put to it. I really wanted to learn it, but still thought it would be too much.

"Are you sure that's the best idea?" I asked.

"Don't worry. It doesn't take all that much energy. It's only complicated." She reassured best she could. It was a double-edged sword though; whether or not it requires a lot of energy, it was still going to be annoying.

"Alright, I'll try." Despite anything, more magic to me was always good. I couldn't wait to learn more.

Twilight had spent half an hour explaining ideas which I hadn't comprehended before. I had only just barely understood most of what she was saying, but still couldn't piece it together into what was supposed to be the thought process for the spell to work. There were so many things that went into this one. The 'base' of it included four different specific ideas, all of which were concepts I doubt anyone in my world had even contemplated thinking about.

"Is there an easier way to do this? I'm not going to be able to remember half of what you talked about by the time I actually try." I said.

She rolled her eyes. Throughout most of the lecture she could tell that she was not really getting through. "Fine. Here, study this." She said. Her horn glowed and a book lifted out of the bag she had with her. It sat itself in my lap and flipped rapidly to the page explaining the spell.

I nodded, then started reading at the beginning.

"Okay, just keep studying. You'll hopefully get it in a bit." She said as I continued on.

Wait...what... The small thought I had went away quickly as she pulled the trick on me again. Everything else flooded away as the words on the page became the only thing to me. What it said was what Twilight had mostly already talked about, but with a little more detail. While the spell felt generally the same at first, I suddenly found myself pausing after every paragraph. I thought about what it said, and unlike before, I understood. It felt like somehow it was being explained to me in such a way that maybe another version of me that knew it would explain it, only in the best way that I could get. I went through three more pages on the subject, and the spell stopped.

I let out a sigh after now realizing what Twilight had done. I looked up at her with a smug face.

"Why didn't you just do that first?" I asked. I knew now everything it talked about. It all made perfect sense to me. The only problem though, was that it was still a lot to remember. That is something, Twilight knows, can't be done as easily.

"Because that took an hour." She said.

"What?!" I was baffled, looking down at my watch. It was true though. I let my head fall back in annoyance "Ugh, seriously?"

"I was hoping we could avoid doing it this way. This spell causes ponies to...lose track of time...even more than...Focus does."

"Hey, whoa, are you alright?" I asked, unnerved by her sudden trailing off and pauses.

"What?...I'm just...a little tired...is all. Using that spell for that long...is quite a bit. Even for me."

"Oh. You probably could have told me. We didn't have to do it that way."

"No, it's not...a problem. You keep studying...I'll...rest..." She suddenly laid down and fell asleep.

I let out a sigh, then looked back at the book. Now what was only needed to be done was remembering the steps, now that I understood them. Being that there were so many of them, it would probably take a while.

I spent the next good twenty minutes going through it in my mind. Maybe the best thing at this point was to try it out on something? Practice makes perfect, right? What should I try it on? What is something that is easy to understand? An apple? Maybe, depending on how much I want to know. I wondered at that point how far the abilities of the spell could stretch. Could I use it on things in my memory? Something someone had explained to me? What could really be done with such a useful spell?

I grabbed an apple out of the tree and brought it down out in front of me, where I looked at it for a good minute. I was almost nervous that I was about to try this.

Alright, alright. First things first, Focus, but really make sure I'm doing so on everything I'm doing here, er, learning here.

I quickly set up the image in my mind, and cast. It was getting easier to set up that spell, and I figured out that it was much more flexible than I thought after using it a few times.

Okay good. I thought, as most other thoughts and observances left me. Now, just set up the base, and think about what I want to learn. However, that was more easily planned than done. It took me about ten minutes to get the consistent idea of all the things that went into this. At long last though, when I felt I had it prepared well enough, I cast.

I was caught off guard by a huge miasma of images and random knowledge that came from this simple little fruit through the spell. I could see flashes of random atomic structures, skeletons of core, images of seeds, and many other things, all within a second. The shock caused me to drop the apple and get knocked out of it. "Holy shit!" I said out loud, though didn't wake Twilight. I hadn't focused hard enough on how much I wanted to learn. I regained myself. Dammit, all that work for nothing.

It wasn't entirely nothing though. Despite the fact that it was a random flash of information for less than a second, the spell somewhat worked in the way it was supposed to, and I had gained at least a few different random bits.

I picked up the apple and spent another ten minutes setting up again. This attempt led to a near same level flow. I wasn't as surprised this time, but I still couldn't really hold it for long before it dropped off, though more subtly this time. I tried several more times. I was slowly getting better, but still needed to both more thoroughly memorize the steps and learn to control it better.

A few hours had passed. Twilight was still asleep under the tree, and I was still trying to "understand" a damn apple. By that time though, surprisingly, the spell had caused me to learn what I had previously thought to probably be an impossible amount of information. How could I know any more about this simple fruit? Things like structure, temperature, consistency, and other very down and precise things were now in my brain, an I understood all of it. I had realized at that point that this was more than just understanding things. This could really be used to learn as much as wanted about almost anything.

Chapter 14: Magic and Light

I had stopped to take a break after having learned near everything about this one apple. Some things about what I learned would relate to others, and other things were about this one in particular.

I looked at it one last time, and sighed in satisfaction of the time spent. At this point, I had fairly well remembered every step that went into the spell. Though, the control was still something that could be improved. I was also glad that I did not pass out. Twilight was right, it really didn't take much energy for this spell, at least not for using it on yourself.

I looked over and saw Twilight still sleeping. I looked at my watch and noticed how long it had been.

"Damn. Ha, took a while."

I got up onto my feet. "Hey, Twilight..." I tried to wake her up. She only rustled around a bit, giving no other reaction. Best give her some more time, I guess.

What can I do now? What was there to do? Well, of course there was an near infinite amount of things to do. However, things still needed to be taken slowly. I still couldn't run around talking to ponies. I would probably scare them. Wasn't there something I was supposed to do...see...today? I tried recollecting, before realizing that Rainbow was going to show me the Rainboom today. Is there still time for that? After what's been going on? I can't leave Twilight, it wouldn't be good if she woke up to find me not here. Does Rainbow know where we are? Did she even remember?

Maybe I could call her. Her house was visible from the farm, maybe something could be done to get her attention. I had read through the beginners book, and through the section on light again. Wonder if I can make her see something from here.

I walked up a nearby hill to where it was easiest to get a view of the cloud building over the other edge of Ponyville. What was the best way to do this? It wasn't likely that she would be looking out of her window at that very moment, so it probably needed to be bright.

I re-thought though. I didn't think I would be able to make something bright enough to get her attention, not without knocking myself out. However, there was another form of light control the section had talked about, controlling already existing light. The simplest thing being a mirror. Creating a reflection disc of energy was able to be done using a form of the magic. A perfect mirror, being that it doesn't have any imperfections, but instead only pure reflection.

I recalled what the book said to do and looked at my hand. I held my fingers out wide, palm up. With a cast, I saw a small disc outlined with blue light form in my hand. It grew to have the same general diameter as my hand, and I could see it now reflecting very vividly the sky. After marveling at it for a good few seconds, I tilted my hand, and the mirror stayed in the same position in relation to it. I moved it around a bit until I could get a good idea of where it was reflecting the sun light, then rotated it to shine on Rainbow's house. This was easy to make out as it caused all of the rainbow waterfalls and cloud walls to glow even brighter.

At that point, I realized I didn't even know if she was actually home, but it was at least worth a try. Luckily, though, after a little bit of sweeping across her house, I could see a faint and distant new rainbow form, coming in my direction.

"Ha! I can't believe that worked." I said happily. I almost forgot why I even signaled to her. In a quick ten seconds, Rainbow was able to make me out on the hill waving to her.

"Oh, there you are! I was looking for you at the library. Spike said he didn't know where you guys were either. What are you doing here?" She said slowly floating down in front of me. I suddenly remembered the actual event that made us need to train. I shuddered slightly at the thought, but answered her, "We we're training. Learning some new spells."

"Training? Huh." She said. "What was that light?"

"Oh, that was this." I held up the reflecting disc to her, having not yet put it away.

"Whoa, that's actually pretty neat." She stared at it. Magic wasn't new to her, but this thing hovering with my hand just plain looked pretty, I even was looking at it for some time. Though, after another thought, it evaporated away.

"What were you doing that for?"

"Well, you were going to show me the Sonic Rainboom, right?"

"Ah yeah!" She started up, but suddenly noticed Twilight down the hill asleep. "Hey, what happened to her?" She asked.

"She used a spell on me to help me learn something. It's a difficult spell to use for such a long time the way she did. She's just tired. Ha, you can wake her up with the boom." I suggested.

"Humph, alright." She said with a grin at that last idea. She had never really done that much pranking on Twilight, this might make up for that, she thought.

"Come on! Let's see this. I'm eager!" I almost shouted out, the sudden excitement had caught up to me.

"Alright. Just stand back." She said rising up.

"Hey, you said you were getting good at these, right? You're not going to crash?"

"I find that almost insulting. No." She teased. After that, she shot up into the sky, leaving behind her the trail of rainbow.

As she flew off further and further away, I could see that bright trail less and less. After a few seconds, she was just a small little spec in the sky. Though, immediately, I could suddenly see that speck begin to move in my direction. Faster and faster it went.

50, 60, 70...

No, don't think about that...

Very quickly I could see her shape again. Faster still, I could see the mach cone form around her. It grew smaller as she got closer...

BOOM!

The huge crash of sound that passed through everything was accompanied by a brilliant circular rainbow that filled the entire sky and continued to spread. My body shaked from the incredible noise. I had never heard a sonic boom before. It was a huge rush, not to mention that the light was spectacular. Far more than what it looked like on the show.

Though I was smiling huge at that point, there was something else now. I suddenly got this small idea. I wasn't able to place it exactly, but it was still there. This idea that was like a feeling.

"AAAH!" I heard behind me. Twilight had woken as I expected to the crash. She jumped up quickly. I looked back to see her horrified expression. I let out a loud cackle. I felt maybe almost as good as Pinkie Pie did when she first saw this.

One thing I had noticed about myself the past few years was, I'm probably a much happier guy than most people. Not that I had a great life or anything (at this point, yes I did), but I always choose not to let things get to me. When I do, it can never last. I do look at my world for what's there. There is bad and good. I know of the bad, but choose to overshadow it with the good. Call me an optimist, maybe I am. I call myself an optimistic cynic, and life goes by pretty easy that way.

I marveled at the rainbow for several more seconds before noticing Rainbow coming back.

"How was that?" She asked. I only stood and stared for another several seconds with a huge smile. She chuckled, having not seen me do it that big before.

"That was simply incredible! I had seen it on the show before, but it's SO much cooler in real life."

"You could have given me a little warning!" I heard Twilight from behind. I could also hear her heavy breaths.

"Sorry about that." I said, though wasn't so much. It was pretty funny, and I always enjoyed the weird Twilight moments. Also, I could hear Rainbow laughing her tail off up above me. It went better than she had expected.

"Haha, heh, so...what have you been doing?" She finally asked after calming down.

"Twilight's having me learn a new spell."

"You know that one I told you about a few weeks ago Rainbow? Discere?"

"Ummm...Oh! The one that lets you...uhh...learn things, right? You were talking about it quite a lot. Making a big deal out of it, and all."

"Right. Alex came up with this idea that if he learned that one-"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm not really into that whole magic business." She interrupted.

"Well, I am. Although, flying really is a dream for most people from my world. Twilight, have you really done anything? Since you learned you could fly?" I looked at her. She blushed and smiled.

"Yeah actually. While you were asleep yesterday, I tried it out some more."

"Haha! Alright Twi!" Rainbow was happy to hear that. She knew Twilight would immediately be hooked. After all, Rainbow had loved it all her life, despite having been so used to it.

"You're going to have to teach me that too." I told her. I couldn't believe I was holding in my excitement for something like THAT. Flying? Wow, yes.

"Uh, yeah. Sorry to say, that's not really going to be happening for now. It is very complicated, and it's also really dangerous. I found myself getting out of control several times." She explained. I was disappointed to say the least. Hopefully, though, it would eventually happen. The only thing that kept me from really being disappointed was learning more magic.

I gave a goofy frown. "Fine. It better happen though."

"We'll see..." Twilight said. She looked up at Rainbow, giving a small grin. Then she suddenly lost that look as she realized, "Well, Alex and I should probably get back to the library."

I looked at her, slightly confused. Then I realized what she wanted to do. Oh, duh... "Twilight, you can go fly around with Dash if you want."

"Really?" She lit up. "But, what will you do?" She was excited, confirming she only wanted to do more of that. She enjoyed magic, but this was something new. Rainbow also seemed happy, she wanted to see what Twilight could do.

"Oh, I'll think of something. This is my fantasy world, right?"

"You know, I tend to forget that you were a 'fan'. Thinking about it is weird." Rainbow said.

"If you want, I can talk about it more later. For now though, you go do flips and sh-...stuff."

"Thanks, Alex. Meet me back at the library later. We can discuss it then." Twilight said. I nodded. With a turn, Twilight let her head down and closed her eyes to concentrate, and within a few seconds her aura lifted her up from the ground. She and Rainbow were soon far off and beyond some of the hills, laughing the whole way.

I looked around and saw her sack still on the ground under the tree. I didn't know if she left it there on purpose or what, but it didn't matter. I grabbed it and started walking back toward the path.

Where am I even going? Why not Fluttershy's? I want to talk to her about the animals here. I never thought anything about them from before on the show. It was just a cartoon. But, now I know they're REAL.

I stopped. I got hit by a wave of thought. This was very deep. It was far more serious than most of what I had thought about so far.

What is happening? Why and how am I even here? I thought that they gained their inspiration for the show from this world, and they probably do, but how? All of this fits together so perfectly. The show is created, intended for children, and a huge group of guys like me like it. Then, I get taken away to this fantasy world, the main character's HOUSE even. Now I even have magic? Everything is too perfect. Celestia said she saw my world, slightly anyway. She didn't seem very surprised when she first saw me though.

I looked around as I walked down the rows of apple trees. Nearing the front gate, I saw the sign that said "Row 7."

Seven, seven, seven. I keep seeing that show up. Seven? Seven what? Is it really just a coincidence?

My eyes shifted to see a group of three ponies walking up the road towards me. I didn't recognize any of them from the show. "Damn!" I swore under my breath. I didn't want to be seen. They may have not seen me at all before. I might scare them. I jumped behind a tree. Come on, quick. This tree won't keep me hidden. I need to be invisible or something. What do I do? Light. Yes, visibility is light. Quick. Now!

I kept myself as low as possible. Fast as I could I set up Discere, actually ignoring the first step of using Focus, which did make it more difficult. I cast, and saw several images of objects with light bending around them. This I already knew was one way of making something appear invisible, but didn't know exactly what was done, not until now. Okay, I just bend the light around me.

I used the same spell used for the mirror, just in this new way. I cast again. Everything went blurry and distorted, before I could no longer see anything at all. It was pitch black. I didn't expect this. Shit! What's going on? I could still hear the ponies walk past. They didn't seem to notice anything though. They could have well seen me at that point, which meant that it must have worked.

"Whew, that was close." I sighed in relief after they were long gone. After stopping the spell, I could now see everything again. What a cool trick. What went wrong though? I thought. "Oh, wait a minute. If all of the light is bending around me, then my eyes won't perceive any also." I explained to myself.

I got up and walked down the other way.

Again, I can't shake the feeling that, is something wrong? Is something going to happen? I still don't understand what all of the sevens mean.

Also, that. The Sonic Rainboom. I can't place it, but there's something else now.

I put the thoughts out of my head, not wanting to think about it right now. There was no need to get to deep into it, not right now anyway, when things were still going well. It was a ways to Fluttershy's cabin. I spent the next several minutes trying to figure out a better way to make the invisibility trick work. Maybe there was simply another spell for such a thing, rather than using another one. Well, even if there is, I don't know it. So, instead, I thought up something else.

"Okay, I could have the light that hits me from the front not bounce off. Umm...Alone, I think that would make me look like a black silhouette, right? So...I need to have the light from behind me bend around. That way, I guess I'd be able to see, and still be invisible from the front anyway. I don't know about the back." I kept talking to myself.

It proved to work, though, when I tried it going by a few more ponies on the way to Fluttershy's house. After a ten minute walking game of hide and seek, I finally arrived. This make shift method of invisibility took a lot of energy though. Dizzy, I put my hands together again. It kept me up, but this was going to be the last time, at least for a while. I'll have to ask Twilight about a more efficient spell for that.

"Fluttershy?" I called out after knocking on her door a few times. Several of the animals had noticed me when I was walking up, but knew who I was at this point. That was why I was here.

She didn't answer for a while. "Fluttershy?" I called out again, louder now. Still no answer. I could hear what sounded like a chicken squawking around back. I walked around the corner to sure enough see one of them on the ground flapping uncontrollably.

"Oh, shit! What the hell?!" I ran over to it. I looked around to see the others either scared of what was happening to it, or of me, having for the first time ran right up to them like that. "Uhh...What's wrong with him?!" I asked out loud frantically, looking at the others. They all shrugged, to my surprise. Not that I didn't expect that answer, but I wasn't actually prepared mentally for an answer at all. The whole situation caught me very off guard.

I didn't have time to think about it though after feeling stomping on my shin. I looked down, "Oh! Angel." He may have avoided me before, but now he seemed serious, really serious. He was holding a folded piece of paper up to me. I took it from him and started reading.

To anyone visiting, I've gone out to find an herb for one of the chickens. He has become deathly ill, the poor, poor thing.

Did she mean out there? I was looking at the forest. I looked down at Angel who was pointing at it. Fluttershy...went into the Everfree forest? By herself?

"...Damn!"

Chapter 15: Woods

This was not good. I was surprised enough to hear that Fluttershy and Rarity were going into the Everfree Forest willingly like that. Fluttershy alone? Needless to say, I didn't know what it was actually like. Though, it seemed pretty clear that, despite their overreactions to the small things, there were some pretty dangerous things in there.

I stared at the note a few seconds longer before glancing down at Angel again. He was still pointing into the forest, with a look that implied for me to go after her.

"Alright. Shit. Uhh...go tell somepony if I'm not back in a while." He gave a quick nod. I was soon to start off toward the tree line, not knowing what may happen.

I was walking for about a minute before I could no longer look back and see Fluttershy's cottage. Though I did feel worried, something about this forest seemed different. I knew it was different in how things acted, like the clouds and animals, but that made it feel more like my world than anywhere else. Still, it was spooky, dark, and out of place, sending a small chill down my spine.

"Fluttershy!" I called out. There was no answer though. I wasn't sure how deep it went, or how far she may have gone. It seemed from the show that by the time they encountered the enraged manticore that they may have been traveling for quite some time. Who knows how hard Fluttershy would have to look for that plant. Helixrias, I think they said it was called? I thought. Maybe I should have asked them what it looked like at the time. It wasn't in the show. Damn it. Fluttershy would do something like this for one of her animals, wouldn't she? I don't know what may have happened between the last episode and now. For that matter, there is probably a lot that it doesn't show. And of course not, it's supposed to be for children.

"Fluttershy!" I called out again. Still no answer.

The deeper in I went, the darker still it got. I would hear something scamper off every once in a while. Each thing sounded bigger than the last. Most of the things in here would probably run when they saw, being too scared. But others, taking me as a threat, may still instinctively attack. I was keeping myself at least mostly calm by explaining things to myself.

I thought I recognized this area. The two tall cliffs that almost met each other. This was where the first manticore showed up. It was probably around two years ago that actually happened though. It was probably gone by now. Still, who's to say there wasn't something else in this part of the forest?

Some ways past those two cliffs I saw an interesting looking flower. I went to get a closer look at it. The stem at the bottom broke off into two and swirled around each, having segments which reached off and connected every inch or so, resembling a double helix. At the top the two separate stems blossomed out into the two sets of deep red petals. That's an interesting shape. Looks like DNA.

I was stopped in my trail of thinking when I heard rustling in the bushes behind me.

"Oh! Alex!" The startled voice made me turn around faster than I had already started.

"Fluttershy! There you are."

"What are you doing out here, Alex?"

"I was looking for you." I had stood up and walked over to her.

"Oh, that's what that voice was. I thought I heard somepony talking."

"Why didn't you tell anyone that you were coming out here?"

"I...I didn't think there was time. And there still might not be! Poor Stell looked so horrible. Anything I tried didn't seem to work, and I was out of Helixrias. Please, you have to help me find some!" She plead.

"Alright, alright. What's that one over there?" I pointed behind me to the red flower.

"..." She stared at it, dumbstruck it seemed. "OH! You found some!" She cheered, darting past me. She almost knocked me over.

I turned to see her gently put the flower in her sack.

"Can we go back now?" I asked.

"Yes. I have to get this to Stell, right away!" She was already running past me between the two cliffs.

"Good." I was more slowly beginning to trail behind her. "Despite how this place feels, I'm still worried some-"

CRASH!

I stopped just past the cliffs to quickly look back. Fluttershy did the same.

The manticore that had slammed its fist into the cliff side looked both similar and dissimilar to the one from the show. While it had the same shape and general proportions, it was so much more terrifying. It let out a loud roar.

My heart beat faster than it had ever before since I got to this world. It was beating almost faster than ever before in my life. I kept a knife on me incase of encounters with other people, but that never actually happened. I had never been in a real serious fight with someone else, or something else. I didn't know what to do.

I kept staring at it. It with its enraged expression. It only kept an evil glare at me. It dropped its two front feet to the ground and started approaching.

"F-Fluttershy?" I looked back at her, hoping she would know what to do. "W-what do we do? Does it have another thorn?" I was trembling.

"Hmm..." She walked past me slowly. "What's the matter? Do you hurt somewhere?" She approached with her kind hearted face.

ROAR!

It was even louder this time. Fluttershy fell back and curled a little. The large beast swiped its claw at her, only just missing after Fluttershy had ducked. This is not good. The first one they encountered was calm enough to allow her to help it. This one though, it was on another level of angry.

"Eeep!" Fluttershy yelped after frantically hopping back. "I don't know! This one is really mad at something. He won't listen to me!" She began to panic. The others in this kind of situation had summoned bravery from thin air. Fluttershy had too, but it was only because she knew what was really wrong. This time she couldn't find herself with such. She knew this one was different.

I was breathing heavily, looking at it horrified. This thing was trying to kill us. Kill. The first time something was trying to kill me, and it wasn't in my world. It was in the world of fantasy, the world meant to be that much better and safer than mine. I've only been here for three days.

There was no time to think before it charged suddenly. My eyes shot even wider. Shit! What do I do?! Come on. Do something! It was in a second, half the distance. Come on! Think! Move! It leapt up raising its arm. I realized, with such a wind up of an attack, I barely found my opening to leap out of the way.

The claw came down with a loud swish at the space I was no longer in.

"Alex!" Fluttershy yelled. I was on the ground a few feet to the right, scrambling to get back up and look at it again. It darted its eyes around looking for me, and in half a second did so. It growled as it approached slowly. Quick, think. I need to do something!

Magic. It would be the only thing I could do. I can't defend myself in any other way. These ideas went through my head. Was I able to focus in a situation like this to make it happen? I need to give myself an opening.

I stuck out my hand, still on my back scrambling away from this thing. I tried to grab it with my telekinesis. I could feel the energy, and I could see the aura begin to surround the manticore, but something was different. This was a living thing. This large beast. While Twilight was able to move such things around with ease, I was not excepting it to be any different. However, I couldn't keep hold of it. Simply the fact that it was an animal and not an inanimate object meant that the strategy was different, and what I knew was not going to work. I felt my hand get knocked away, physically, as if something was really hitting it. I heard what sounded like a crash of glass as I saw the aura around it disappear in shards of light. It still approached as if nothing happened.

No!, was the only thing I could think before it was about to swipe another claw down on top of me.

"HEY!" The huge burst of sound that came from Fluttershy startled me. The manticore had stopped in its tracks, and swirled around to look at her. I saw her, and for a while she had this great look of confidence. The manticore turned, and began to approach her. Her look quickly began to diminish with each step it took. I quickly got up and realized this was my chance. Now I had the time to focus, with it taking its sweet time to be as threatening as possible. The slight ring in my ears from Fluttershy's shout wasn't enough to break this. Quickly I picture a pillar of energy form in the air away from it. After it spent the second forming, swirling around to become this blue construct, I quickly moved my hand in the direction of the manticore, picturing the large pillar following it.

THUD!

I felt the direct contact. The manticore was knocked back several feet, with the pillar pushing it before dissipating from the shock. It let out another shout as it fell to the ground. I ran over to Fluttershy, standing with her looking at the now even more pissed off manticore. "You sure you can't do anything to calm him down?" I looked at her. She was only as scarred as I was though. She had never had an animal attack her like this.

The dizziness was starting to hit me. Oh God, not now. This is not the time! Putting my hands together wasn't working though. I had to keep myself up.

The manticore was quickly back on its feet, and already charging.

Shield. I need a shield!

Putting out my hands, I imagined a half dome out in front of me and Fluttershy. Quickly it appeared, and with a loud pang and a shockwave of light, the manticore bounced off a few feet.

"AARGH!" I grunted at the feeling of its hit. It was hard to maintain something like this with. I realized it became much harder to maintain a construct when it was under some sort of pressure, or shock.

"Alex!" Fluttershy yelled again. She couldn't understand what was happening. She had never, EVER, had trouble with an animal before. Now, though, here it was. This one didn't have any thought of acting kind. She could sense it's intentions. Why though? She felt sad. She was sad that this thing was like this, but she didn't know why. She also felt something else.

The manticore snarled at me through the shield I was still struggling to maintain. It walked up and brought a fist down on it. Again I felt myself become weaker. Again it hit, again I grunted. Several more bashes. This wasn't going to last long. It would eventually wear me away. This was not good. I couldn't focus hard enough to make the shield do anything else, and each hit made me feel more and more dizzy.

He was about to break through. The last of my strength had left me, and I felt like I was going to vomit from the dizziness.

I saw the manticore raise it's arm one last time, and with a quick downward thrust, the shield shattered into pieces which glowed and evaporated. I fell to my knees.

Before I fell over more though, there was a great noise in my left ear.

"I HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU MISTER!" The thundering roar from Fluttershy was terrifying. The manticore fell back some bit just from the noise. "WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TO ATTACK US!?" Fluttershy let out more.

Oh my god. How is she doing that? Is that the Canterlot voice or something? How can she yell so loud? Despite being scared through this whole thing, and weak beyond belief at that point, that was what I was thinking at the time.

The manticore backed even more. Yet, even though it was scared, it looked only so much so. It looked more like it was trying to get through, rather than fall back. It knew that this pony here was probably all bark and no bite. It was mostly the noise that had him falling back.

Fluttershy knew it too. There was no getting to this guy. No amount of screaming and scolding would do the trick. She could only stall, wait for something to happen, or it to do something.

Something did happen. With a glow of light blue aura, the manticore lifted into the air suddenly, and flew at the cliff. It crashed hard back first and dropped to the ground, leaving some cracks in the rock. It looked up to see what was there, and only ran off wheezing and scarred.

I was on the ground and had nearly gone out. Fluttershy looked back to see her aid.

Thank god.

My thought was that Twilight had arrived. However, who I saw walk into view was not her. Who I saw surprised me only so much before finally falling under.

...Rarity?