The Outlaw

by Dave from finances

A Criminal Turned Wizard

John Marston finally found sleep that night. A sleep riddled with troubling images. He couldn't shake the feeling that he abandoned his family. He kept imagining Edgar Ross assaulting his wife and son. His dreams eventually calmed down, and he found himself riding with his son...
He eventually woke to the light of the sunrise. I better get the cattle to pasture. As he tried to get up, reality hit him right in the gut. He was still in the hospital, still a pony, and still away from his family. He took another look at his hoofs. He stares at them for a long time, pondering his options in this new world. He tries to get out of the bed, but A large amount of pain occurs in his chest. Suddenly, he hears the door to his room being opened.
"Hi there! I'm Twilight Sparkle." Greets a purple unicorn as she enters the room. "Celestia already explained your-" She pauses for a moment and lifts a hoof to her chin. "predicament. She's told me to help you on establishing a job and housing and answer any questions you might have. She was also hoping you would be willing to elaborate on your past life."
John lets out a sigh. "Okay, first off, miss Sparkle: would you mind bringing a mirror over. Ah don't realleh know what ah even look like."
"Sure, no problem." Twilight's horn starts to glow, and the mirror on the other side of the room gets covered in a glow similar to the one from Twilight's horn starts to wheel itself over. John shook his head to see if this was actually happening. It was. I guess I shouldn't really be surprised. Talking ponies have already blasted apart any sense of what can't happen I had. I'm even one myself. As the mirror wheeled in front of the bed, John got a good look at his new self. He frowned deeply as he scanned himself. He had kept the same basic appearance, just "pony-fied." He also had a horn jutting out from his forehead. He let out another sigh, not taking his situation very well. Twilight gives him an understanding look.
"Hay now, chin up. I can see how a change such as this would be quite stressful, but you just need to keep looking forward." Twilight takes on a hopeful smile.
She's right, I won't make the situation better by just wallowing about in self pity. John takes a moment to v=collect himself before speaking. "What do you thinks going to happen?"
"I don't know; that's the thing about events, the only ones we can be sure of are ones that already happened."
"Amen"
"Why don't we just start out with what you did back in your world so we can find a suiting job for you."
"Ah'm gonna be completely honest with you now. I was a criminal before my gang abandoned me, then I got settled down with my wife and started a farm. I stole and vandalized, ruined people's lives, and I killed." He didn't know why he felt like sharing this, but he felt it had been forming a rock in his chest and it felt great to have it removed.
Twilight sighed. "Don't worry, that's all in the past. You obviously regret what you did, and you even tried to leave that life as you started a farm. Plus, Celestia seems to trust you, and she's the wisest pony in the Equestria, so her word is enough for me. Speaking of farms, after you get out of here, you should stop by Sweat Apple Acres, it's the local apple farm, and one of my friends work there." Twilight became a bit wary of him after his testimony, but she could see good in those dark-brown eyes.
"Sounds good enough to me miss Sparkle." John was taken aback by how well Twilight thought of him after he confessed his past.
"Just call me Twilight." That simple phrase hits John like a train as he recalls how Bonnie rescued him when he was shot, in an unfamiliar land. Twilight notices the momentary shock John was in. "You all right?"
"Yes, I'm fine." John assures her. "It's just the wound." He lies.
"It'll probably hurt every now and then, that wound is nothing like anyone here has seen before."
"That's because guns caused it, and I'm guessing you don't have them here." A world with talking ponies and no guns, that's quite the change.
"Guns?" Twilight asks, quite puzzled.
"Do you see those metal objects on the table?"
"You mean the two strangely shaped ones?"
"Yes, those are guns." John confirms.
"What do they do?"
"A gun causes am explosion from black powder that is inside of a cartridge, those brass things. The explosion launches the bullet, the lead tip on the front, into the target." John explains.
"So they launch the projectile into the victim?" She asks.
"Yes; a gun shot has been the death of many people. The bullet has to be pulled out, but the wound gets infected a lot, and doctors would have to amputate a limb if that's what got hit."
Twilight gets a bit nauseous at this, which John can see. "So how about that magic?" John asks, changing the subject.
Twilight brightens up a good bit at this question. "You didn't have magic? Well, magic is the ability to manipulate the world around us that is gifted to unicorns and alicorns due to the special energies located in a horn."
"I just want ta know how you did that thing where you moved the mirror."
"That would actually be the best thing to start with. Telekinesis is the first magic learn how to use. What you do is you focus on an object as hard as you can, then you will it to move where you want it to. You should practice on something small at first, then as you get the hang of it, you move on to larger and heavier objects. I have a practice set if you want to borrow it. I also have plenty of books on the matter." She seemed giddy when she spoke.
"I would be mighty appreciative if you were to lend me this practice set, but I'm not much for readin." John says, a bit excited over the aspect of actually using magic.
"I'll be right back then. Hello nurse Redheart." Twilight replies.
"Hi there Twilight."As she leaves, a white mare with a red mane and a nurses outfit enters the room carrying a tray. "You're looking well." The nurse says to John.
John nods in response
She pulls up another tray and unfolds the legs on the bottom, and puts on the bed with the other tray on top. The tray has a few apples, a glass of juice, and a loaf of bread.
"Thank you mam."
"No problem, now eat up now; you've only been able get anything in your system through the IV, so you haven't eaten anything for the past week."
John decides not to ask what an IV is, and just starts to eat after the nurse leaves. After taking a few bites of apple he stares at the glass of juice for a moment, then at his hooves. "sigh" He finishes eating without attempting to solve the thirst problem. About ten minutes of further contemplating about his current situation, Twilight enters the room with a set of bags over her back. "I'm back." She greats as she magics a few books and a box out of the bags. "I brought some books anyway just in case you change your mind." She laid the books on the bedside table and opened the box. It had an assortment different sized balls and a few small hoops. "You should start with trying to lift one." She floats the smallest ball over to John.
"Lets try this then." John says as he gets adorns a mask of concentration. He focuses on the ball, then imagines it moving upward. His horn glows a silvery color, and the ball wobbles a little, but doesn't leave the table. John realizes that he is sweating a little.
"That's very good for a first try, all you have to do now is practice." Just then, a green flame materialized out of no where, and it turned into a scroll. Twilight read the scroll then sighed. "I have to get back, just keep practicing and you should get the hang the of it." And with that, she exits the room.
John takes a long look at the ball on bed. He pictures the ball floating upwards in his head again, filling the room with a silvery glow. The ball miraculously floats into the air. He yells out in triumph, causing gravity to take control of the ball once more. John repeats this process, eventually being able to move the ball around, as opposed to just floating it up. He takes a look at the table, and looks at the other balls. He magics one over, but it is significantly harder to move than the others. He looks at it, reading a label that says five pounds. He practices with this heavier ball, and eventually is able to move it with ease. John notices that his mouth is dry after lifting the next ball. He smiles as he lifts the glass of juice and drinks from it, downing the whole glass after a single gulp. John practicing his magic. Two other times the nurse came in with some food, for diner and lunch. He is eventually able to lift two at a time. At about eight, John starts to feel extremely tired. He is breathing heavily and covered in sweat from the stain of using magic. He gives up practicing any further, and starts to drift off to sleep. Without something to draw his attention, his mind goes back to pondering what he's going to do in this world. Sleep eventually finds him, and he dreams of flying.

I finally finished! I would like to thank YouTube's large collection of music that I listened to while writigng this. I would also like to thank you for reading. I apologies for the monotony of these unexciting chapters.

Comments

[StoneWard]

You have to work on grammar and spelling, such as the "high" in the first part should be changed to "hi"

[Dave from finances]

619638
You know that feeling you get when you want to go into a ditch after doing something insanely stupid.

[Alexanderan]

This is a good start for a story like this, I hope you do more.
Remember John, babysteps

[Sonicbrony66]

622874 I have been praying for a corssover that brings John into Equis! AND MINE PRAYERS HATH BEEN ANSWERED!!!

[razorstorm50]

God sat on his glorious throne, pondering what to do with this poor soul, "John Marston... hm... I will send this masculine outlaw with an outrageous body-count to the world of My Little Pony! NEXT!"