As the four traveled down the beaten path, Rainbow Dash and Rarity were talking to each other up ahead while Twilight Sparkle slowed down to be next to the human. She looked at the crescent moon on his torso, then back to the human's face.
"Hey, Skylark...mind if I ask you a few questions while we are on our way?" she asked him, and he smiled, rubbing the back of his head.
"I don't see why not.... I'll answer as best as I can, Miss Twilight." he gave the unicorn permission, although he felt odd about it since he didn't think she'd need permission to ask him questions. Twilight, on the other hoof, began to think about her first question.
"Wow...there are so many things I don't know...I don't even know where to start...lemme see..." she pondered a bit more before finally getting something in her head. "I guess I'll ask this first- what is the meaning of your cutie mark?" she finally asked, prompting Skylark to slightly cover it while rubbing it nervously.
"Oh..." he hesitated before chuckling nervously. "It's not a cutie mark...at least, not in the same way you ponies all have them." he stated before thinking a little. "Although, if I were forced to interpret it...I'd have to say it means that others only see one part of me...At least,those in the same realm from which I came." he explained.
"So other humans don't have them?" She asked, receiving only a nod to verify as she took out her notepad and jotted this little fact down. "So how do humans know their special talents?" she asked the related question, and he shrugged.
"We...don't have special talents." he answered bluntly, a shocked look on Twilight's face. "I mean, not all of us do. While there are some with 'natural talent' was we call it- humans take up jobs based on what they like and what they can learn to do. An example would be a knight-" he tried to explain, but the mare cut him off.
"What does the night time have to do with this?" She asked curiously, misinterpreting what the human said.
"What? Oh- no, not night as in the time of day." He corrected the mare before continuing. "Knights," he spelled out the word for her as she wrote it down. "are incredible warriors under the Queen's command. The process is fairly selective, as almost all knights are of noble birth. From the day they are seven years old, they would train under the tutelage of a veteran knight. It would take usually take them fourteen years to master everything they need to know before they are 'knighted'- as in officially given the title by the Queen." he explained to the mare, who smiled with interest.
"Were you a knight before you got pulled here?" Twilight asked, and he shook his head.
"I was considered for honorary knighthood- but I turned them down. I felt that a commoner like myself wouldn't have fit in among their ranks." He sighed softly, yet contently. "I was a bard before I learned how to fight." he added to explain his hobby. He had fond memories, playing the lute and the ocarina, singing to people to keep them happy or to pass the tales of knights along.
"A bard? You mean you were a musician?" Twilight asked to confirm this, and Sklylark nodded. "What kind of instruments-" She cut herself off. "Sorry, I am getting a bit carried away- there was another question I wanted to ask you before I forget." she smiled, and upon receiving a shrug like motion that said 'go ahead', the unicorn proceeded. "That trick of yours... 'Nacht Jäger', was it?...Can you tell me a bit more about it?" she asked, a rather broad question.
"Oh...I figured you might ask about that little trick." He replied, a little nervous about this. However, this did not stop him from answering. "To put it shortly - it makes me a sort of 'super self'." he summed it up. "Under the right conditions, I can use it to make myself stronger, faster, and more receptive to my senses- for a short period of time that is." he tried to explain as best as he could, although he wasn't very comfortable talking about it.
"How interesting! Can other humans do it to?" She asked whilst writing, much to the dismay of the human. He had hesitated for a noticeable time before he finally answered this one.
"No...Out of the couple who could do it back home- I'm the only one left." he sighed, rubbing his neck.
"What kind of magic is it? I've never seen a spell quite like it." Twilight asked, and the human shook his head.
"I wouldn't call it 'magic'...although I do know a bit of magic..." he trailed off, only then noticing Twilight's excited expression, as if she was expecting him to show her. "But I don't think I can still do this...let's see..." he stopped walking, brought his hands together, took a deep breath to focus. A small, bluish-white orb of light began to form between them. "This is what we back in Athelina call a 'Magic Missile'...I just do this and- GAH!" he shouted as the orb blew up in his hands like a firecracker.
"OH MY GOSH! Are you ok?!" The unicorn asked as Skylark blew on his hands several times, wincing before sighing at the failure of the spell.
"I'll be fine...watch this." he smiled, showing off his burnt palms as the damaged skin slowly began to heal, within a minute, the burns were non-existent. Eyes widening, the purple unicorn stared in shock. "Humans don't usually have this either...I don't know anyone else who has this healing power either." he preemptively explained.
"That's still amazing though...Humans being able to use magic without horns..." the mare mused, but then Skylark pointed ahead with a cocked brow. "I guess that's Sweet Apple Acres, Miss Twilight?" he asked, and the unicorn looked ahead to the farm and nodded.
"That's the one...I'll just have to ask you everything else later, though." She told him, somewhat annoyed he had taken the opportunity to dodge further questions as the four made it to the farm. Applejack had just finished placing the wooden buckets down with a young filly's help.
"We got our work cut out for us today." Applejack told the filly before looking over at the countless trees. "Ah reckon we'll be at this for three hours." she commented before seeing her friends."Well Ah'll be darned!" she smiled, galloping over to her friends, with the filly not too far behind.
"So, he's the Skylark feller you've been talkin' about, sis?" the filly asked, staring up at the human curiously, who in turn looked down with a curious look. She was a filly, yet she was up to his waist in terms of height on four hooves.
"Skylark, Ah want ya to meet mah little sister, Apple Bloom." Applejack introduced the filly to the human, who instinctively offered a handshake. He recoiled when it occurred to him that it'd be difficult to shake a pony's hoof- only to be proven wrong when Apple Bloom got a firm grip on his hand and shook it excitedly.
"It's nice to meet ya, Skylark!" she smiled, letting go of the human's hand while his arm shook up and down for a few seconds before Skylark used his free hand to stop it.
"Likewise, Apple Bloom." he offered a smile before seeing her open her mouth and point to his shoulder. Guessing what she was about to ask about, he raised a hand quickly as if to say 'stop right there'. "It's not a cutie mark." he quickly told her, and Apple Bloom lowered her hoof with a sigh of relief.
"Mind me askin' what brings yah here?" Applejack asked Twilight, who smiled.
"We were hoping that Skylark could learn about apple bucking." The unicorn told her friend, who smiled and patted the human on the back- inadvertently knocking him down onto his face from the force of it. The earth pony did not seem to notice, however, while the human stood back up, dusting himself off.
"You couldn't have had any better timing- Apple Bloom and I were just 'bout to start bucking the trees." Applejack moved over to the human, tapping his gut playfully. "Tell ya what, you help us clear these trees and I'll let you take a few apples home with ya. How's that sound?" she asked, and Skylark nodded.
"Sounds great...but...how exactly does apple bucking work?" He asked, to which the mare offered a proud smile before leading him to one of the trees while the others followed.
"I'm glad you asked. Ya see, we ponies at Sweet Apple Acres provide all the apples that Ponyville needs. Myself, Apple Bloom, and our big brother Big Mac work the orchards here- although our brother broke his leg while trying to sell apples in that darned stadium. The ponies go crazy there- I tell ya." She went off on a bit of a tangent before remembering why they were here. "Oh right, I gotta show you how to apple-buck!" she smiled, galloping to the nearest tree. "All you gotta do is take your hind hooves and hit the tree with them!" she instructed, kicking the tree behind her, causing every single apple to fall down into the buckets she set up.
"You see? Just like this!" She hoped to instruct the human as well, only for one of her hind hooves to smash right into the human's groin. Falling to his knees, Skylark groaned in pain as he curled up, his hands instinctively covering his crotch, breathing through clenched teeth. "OH MAH GOSH! Ah'm sorry!" Apple Bloom apologized, panicking. Seeing what happened, Rainbow Dash fell over and began to laugh loudly.
"Apple Bloom got better at bucking apples!" She made light of the situation while the human slowly recovered, finally pushing himself back up and not covering his crotch, although he still shuddered as he took a few deep breaths.
"I'll be fine...Accidents happen.." He insisted, taking one last shuddering breath before his breathing went back to normal. He soon ran a hand along the bark of the tree, putting a bit of pressure- as if he were judging the tree itself. Stepping back a bit, Skylark looked at Applejack. "So all I gotta do is kick it, right?" he asked.
"Yep! Just hit the tree and knock the apples down." Applejack replied and watched as the human prepared himself. He looked the tree up and down again, backing up a bit more before getting a running start, jumping and smashing both feet against the tree trunk. Catching himself with his hands, Skylark stood back up as the leaves stopped rustling. He looked up and saw nothing had been done before turning around.
"Hey, I think I messed up." He commented at his apparent failure at -BONK! The human rubbed his head right after an apple had fallen on it, bouncing into the wooden bucket beside him. "Never mind." he chuckled before he looked at the tree again. "Let's see if I can't get a few more to fall." he mused as he spun, slamming his heel into the side of the tree- causing half of the apples to fall, prompting the human to kick a third time to take care of the last few apples on the tree.
"Not bad fer a non-pony." Applejack complimented, while Twilight Sparkle kept jotting down notes on the memo pad. "But we ain't done yet, we still got all those trees to take care of." she stated with enthusiasm- pointing over to the many trees, although the rest of the ponies all joined Applejack, Apple Bloom, and Skylark in order to start the harvest.
The ponies and the human would take an hour to finish the job, which finally allowed them to sit down. Applejack and Apple Bloom were smiling at a job well done, talking to the rest of the ponies at the wooden table while Skylark sat on the ground, rubbing his heel after plucking out the last of the bark slivers. Probably should have asked for boots.. he thought to himself, sighing in relief as he looked up at the sky. The sun was shining brightly, the blue sky being dotted with a few small clouds. Something about it brought a satisfied smile to his face, and he almost got lost in thought before he felt few soft thuds on his lap. Looking down, he saw that Apple Bloom had dropped three apples on his leg.
"Ah picked the three best apples Ah could find. I hope you like 'em." She smiled to him, giggling a little as he ruffled her mane up a little with his right hand.
"Thank you kindly, Apple Bloom." He thanked the filly with a soft chuckle. Before he could take a bite, Skylark noticed a trio- Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy. "Hey!" he called to the trio, waving to them as the pink earth pony bounced over the fence to meet her friends, while the yellow pegasus mare and the dragon took the normal way to meet them. While Pinkie and Spike had opted to talk to Applejack and the others, Fluttershy approached Apple Bloom and the human in front of her. After a brief silence, Skylark took the two biggest apples, giving them to Apple Bloom and Fluttershy before holding his own apple. Without him noticing, Twilight Sparkle had wrote this little instance down while he was busy eating his apple alongside the two ponies. This was, however, short lived when Pinkie Pie had managed to pull the trio to her, holding them and the rest of the ponies in a rather cramped group hug. Finding it hard to breath as her leg was pressed against his throat- the human could only listen to her.
"This is so cool! We gotta have a party later to celebrate Sky having come to help Lyra! OOH! Wait- no, We need a party to celebrate the fact Lyra brought a human to our world!" She began to ramble on about plans for a party for a full ten minutes before Twilight Sparkle had finally managed to intervene. After telling her that the party can wait, the unicorn convinced the pink earth pony to let her study him one-on-one. After all was said and done, the all except the Apple sisters left the farm, with Twilight Sparkle leading Skylark to her home.
(tbc)