> Shining Force of Equestria
>  by cosmic flash
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prelude
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Shining Force of Equestria:Prelude

        Max stood at the forefront of battle leading his brave warriors to fight an ancient evil. He quickly scanned the battlefield with his blue eyes. If he were a lesser man, he would have been overrun with terror for before him was the Devil King known as Dark Dragon. 
        
        Max, however, was not a lesser man for indeed he was the hero chosen by the light to fight this evil. Max was a prime example of  a human standing above average in height with well toned muscles. He was armoured with a set full plate mail and his blonde hair emerged above his headband. Most impressive of all though was the great “Force Sword” that he wielded. The glowing turquoise blade emanated with an eldritch power great enough to wound the great malignancy.  

        And what was this great evil that Max and his stalwart warriors faced? Dark Dragon was an entity of pure darkness incarnate.  As a great devil king, he sought the very domination and destruction of the very world of Rune. So great was his evil that the “ancients” sealed him in the great castle beneath the sea.  The very fact that this paragon of evil was now facing Max, proved the great folly of the mission of Max and the Shining Force.  His seal should never be broken, but it was and Max had no choice but to face him and overcome or submit to the inevitable annihilation of his world.

        Max was not one to run; however, he rarely spoke as he led more by example than by stirring words, but this time was different, and he said, “ONWARD! STRIKE AT THE MOUTH OF THE DEMON!” 

        Ken, one of the great centaur paladins, felt only a slight amount of hesitation as he gazed upon the manifestation of enmity. Ken had brown hair with blue eyes. His lower half was that of a brown horse, though very little of him could be seen as he was wearing full plate mail with barding. He looked to his fellow paladins, Mae and Arthur, both with blonde hair and white fur. Ken gave them a gesture with his great valkyrie spear that told them that he intended to throw it at the moment the other two paladins charged with their lances and halberds.  Upon seeing the look in Ken’s eyes May and Arthur knew what to do. Then Ken yelled,”NOW!”

        Anri, Tao, and Alef, a human with white hair, an elf with pink hair, and an orange furred foxling, stood ready to unleash a great torrent of arcane death upon the great adversary. For the three girls were all wizards of great skill and power. After Max’s call to fight they knew what had to be done. First Tao began her channeling, followed by Anri, and Alef. After a few seconds Tao brought forth fiery doom with fireballs raining from the sky some as big as 2 meters in diameter. Anri then unleashed a great arctic blast that slammed chunks of ice the size of a man into the great devil dragon. Finally, and certainly not least Alef summoned four globes of bright blue plasma. These globes unleashed a torrent from the heavens in the form of hundreds if not thousands of lightning strikes upon Dark Dragon. 

        Zylo, the wolfling with grey fur, Adam, the ancient robot, and Bleu, the last of the sacred dragons, heard the call to arms from Max and did not hesitate to strike at  their foe. Zylo lept through the air and unleashed a great slash from his claws summoning wolf spirits to strike at the devil dragon. Adam took aim with his arm mounted laser and fired a beam a blue destruction causing a great explosion. Bleu flew close to the evil dragon and took a deep breath before unleashing a cone lightning from his maw that seared the horrid flesh of the devil dragon. 
        
        Dark Dragon was hurt by these initial attacks but far from defeated. The great 3 headed devil dragon was not amused to say the least. “Whom do these insects think they are to challenge Dark Dragon?”  The great devil dragon was weak due to his just being unsealed. Indeed, his heads looked to be more like bones with a glowing red for eyes than flesh. His left head was being attacked by the three mages, he felt it only appropriate to return the favor they had given him. The left head unleashed a veritable blizzard of death upon the three mages hurling chunks of ice upon all 3. It appeared that two had broken an arm and all three had many cuts and gashes from the ice. 

        The right head of Dark Dragon was engaged in melee with the wolfing, robot, and dragon.  As his opponents were near, Dark dragon took a great bite in their direction. The sound screams and torn flesh soon followed. Zylo broke his arm, and blue had a gash on his back that seemed to be antagonized by the flapping of his wings. Adam however, went relatively unscathed as his armored frame was made by the “ancients” themselves. 

The center head was being assaulted by the three centaur paladins, and max himself. The Devil Dragon took a great breath and belched the essence of pure darkness, grievously wounding the paladins and Max as if they were not wearing armour at all. “See mortal fools none can stand against the darkness made manifest, haha hah”  

        Seeing the turning tide of the battle Torasu and Lowe, the halfling vicars, summoned great healing spells to mend the wounds of their allies. Once the light of the fairy landed upon the heroes the wounds closed and the bones mended. They were still in this fight yet. 
        
        Again the three masters of the arcane brought the fury of the elements upon dark dragon with fire, ice, and lightning. However, they were so focused upon this that they did not notice the great skeleton with two great axes approaching them. Just as the axe of the skeleton was about to rend flesh in twain; Max summoned the eldritch energies of the force sword and unleashed a great blizzard upon the skeleton, and Dark Dragon. The blizzard froze the skeleton in place and the brittle bones soon shattered. The left head of Dark Dragon faired no better as it had been greatly weakened by numerous magical attacks. Max now knew they had a chance to win and said, “See the beast can be felled! Strike true my friends.”

        With renewed vigor Adam, Zylo, and Bleu charged the right head of Dark Dragon. Zylo jumped and slammed his claws into beast. Bleu did an ascent and dive bombed the devil with a ball of lightning and claws. Adam launched his rocket fist into Dark Dragon to great effect. The head was wounded but not out yet. Bleu in his zeal to dive bomb the devil dragon forgot about one crucial thing. He forgot that he needed to stop, and his momentum carried him close to the maw of the great dragon. Not to miss an opportunity Dark Dragon snapped his jaws around Bleu’ s neck and removed his head. “This is the fate of those who oppose me!” Blue’s body fell in a slump. 

The remaining members of the Shining Force were enraged when they saw there ally fall. However, they were not too worried as the priests were very familiar with resurrection magic. The only great annoyance would be the whining from  Bleu later about how his share of the gold was much smaller as it would be spent on the reagents for the resurrection ritual. 

Max responded to the site of the fallen dragon by unleashing a great bout of lightning. He summoned four blue globes of plasma that unleashed the wrath of the heavens upon the weakened right head of Dark Dragon. Thus, causing the right head the explode in a great mass of bone and arcane energy. Now someone not of the Shining Force might ask what a swordsman would be doing casting such spells? Well, Max was not the mage of the caliber of  Anri or Alef, but he did not neglect to learn at least one offensive spell. As leader of the Shining Force Max often encountered situations where his blade could not reach but a quick spell used tactically could change the outcome of a battle. Also, as the leader he had been instructed in the most important of magics, mass teleportation. It was the responsibility of a good leader to assess the battlefield and issue a retreat when the situation warranted it. With the “EGRESS” spell Max could safely retreat and take his allies with him. 

The three paladins had inflicted great wounds on Dark Dragon. Ken reached for his valkyrie spear and threw with all his might impaling one of the devil dragons eye sockets. Mae and Arthur followed up with charges delivering lance and halberd into the great behemoth. Dark Dragon saw that the battle was not in his favor, he was still just too weak after being unsealed. However, he saw an opportunity to end this fight for what army can fight without its general. Dark Dragon summoned four spheres of plasma and released a veritable deluge of lightning into Max’s body. Unfortunately, for Dark Dragon, Max was only wounded and not out of the fight. 
Max preyed upon the desperation of the devil dragon and charged with the Force Sword at the maw of the center head. Dark Dragon attempted to lunge at Max. Max quickly dodged the attack. Max made a sweeping slash at the dragon further wounding it. With the dragon stunned from the wound Max unleashed a great feat of swordsmanship. Max swung his sword so fast that wave of eldritch fire formed from his sword and flew into Dark Dragon with a resounding explosion. 
The final head of the great beast had been slain. All members of the Shining Force cheered at the apparent victory.  Dark Dragon screamed, “No these puny creatures cannot defeat the Lord of Darkness! Never, I will not be banished again! The powers of Darkness will sustain me!”  
It became apparent that Dark Dragon was not dead and only weakened. A great sense of dread came over the members of the Shining Force. Then the dragonewt adviser Nova said, “Dark Dragon still lives!! Perhaps we cannot kill him! There must be a way…  Max, Dark Dragon must be sealed away again and only you can do it! Use the Force Sword Drive it through Dark Dragon!”
 
Dark Dragon then mockingly said, “Fools! Nothing you do can stop me I am Dark Dragon darkness incarnate!” 



Unfortunately, Max’s hands were bound to the Force Sword and he could not move. Eldritch power that sealed the dragon was preventing Max from releasing his grip. Nova yelled, “Break free we won’t leave without you!”

Max was still unable to loosen his grip. Max made the decision that any good leader would. “I cannot get free but you won’t die with me!”  Max then cast his “EGRESS” spell. 

Max’s allies appeared on the coast of runefaust overlooking the castle of the ancients in the sea. Mae said, “Max cast his EGRESS spell to save us but where is he?”

Lowe then queried, “That spell is supposed to get us all out. Why is he not here? Why?”

Nova replied, “I do not know. Perhaps it is the duty of a great hero to stand vigil against evil, perhaps a hero is needed elsewhere and the light has sent him to where he is needed.”
Mae then said, “Wait there is still hope the castle has not yet sunk into the sea! Perhaps there is still hope.” Just as Mae said that the castle of the ancients sank entirely into the sea. “I guess that is it then oh Max...”

Nova then stated, “Well Friends that is that and now we have to begin the long journey home.”


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Unbeknownst to the other members of the Shining Force Max did not die in the sunken castle. Max appeared in a blinding flash of light on the outskirts of a great forest.  Upon his arrival Max noticed that the great Force Sword leapt from his hand and into the air. The sword hovered for but a second before a great explosion mana poured forth from the sword. The sword seemed to split into two lights one dark and one light. Then the lights repelled from one another. The light one was stuck into a tree nearby. The dark one however seemed to fly off to the East past the Horizon. 
Max went to examine the light near him but was interrupted by pain. The most intense pain that Max had ever felt in his entire life seemed to rush over his entire body. He attempted to remain standing but could not as the pain was too intense. The next thing Max knew was complete darkness as he had succumbed to the pain. 

To be continued...
	

> Act 1: Respite
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Shining Force of Equestria

Act 1: Respite


This is how the pony do.


> Chapter 1: An Irregular Discovery.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

An Irregular Discovery

        Twilight Sparkle found herself on an empty plain with fog. It was neither day nor night but somewhere between. As her vision cleared it became evident that she was on the outskirts of Ponyville. 

She wondered to herself, How can I be here I remember going to sleep in the library?

        She was not allowed to wonder for very long as in the distance she observed a great explosion of mana that was nearly as bright as the sun. A split second later she noticed the great turquoise light that appeared had split into two lesser lights one of the purest white and one was a sickly black that almost seemed to pull in the light around it. 
        
        The white light appeared to crash near the border of the everfree forest and Sweet Apple Acres. The dark light began to fly towards her. As it moved it engendered a feeling of dread within her to the core of her being, as if this force represented all that was wrong and evil in the world. She could feel her tension mount as her heart began to beat with great abandon. 

        The dark light grew ever closer to her and screamed, “AHHHH!” She lost her footing during her duress and fell down backwards with a loud thud.

        Twilight was then found screaming on the floor of her bedroom nearly on top of Spike, “AHHH!... pant.. AH.. ow” 

        “Hey, what in name of the maker is going on!?” Exclaimed Spike who was just rudely awakened by a certain lavender mare.

        “It was just a dream… ow.. why does my back feel like something is sticking into?” said the muddled mare.

        “That would be, ME! TWILIGHT!” yelled Spike.

        Twilight now realized that she had somehow rolled out of bed and onto Spike where his spines were now intruding upon her back. The mare rolled off of her scaly friend with a groan. 

        “Oh I am so sorry Spike,” said Twilight, “I was having this strange dream that turned into a nightmare.”

        “No really I couldn’t tell, whatever could have given you that idea?  Oh wait let me think.. maybe it was the crazy mare rolling onto me while I was sleeping,” said Spike sarcastically.

        “Now, Spike just because you are cranky that does not give you reason to be rude and sarcastic,” elucidated Twilight.

        “.... sigh…. fine, ….So what was that dream about anyway?” queried Spike.

        “Well I was on the outskirts of Ponyville I witnessed a magical explosion near the everfree forest,” explained Twilight, “ It was turquoise in color but gave a feeling of .. of Order, Then it split into two one light and one dark. Which is most peculiar because most magical essences come from one source and are rarely the result of combining essences save for the elements of harmony of course. Starswirl’s treatice on eldritch convergence clearly states..    ”

        “Enough with the magic lecture! What happened after you saw the light and the dark one?” Spike interrupted.

        “Oh right, after that the light one went to the edge of the forest, and the dark one well it seemed like it was coming at me, ” said Twilight.

        “Are you telling me you had nightmare about something dark coming to get you? Are you still afraid of Nightmare Moon or something? ha  ha what a foal ,” Spike said as he broke into giggles at his Sister’s apparently childish nightmare. 

        “It wasn’t like that Spike!,” said Twilight, “You don’t understand that darkness wasn’t like the night it felt … just wrong, just evil like it wanted to consume me.”

        “Hmm Ok Twilight I believe you,” said Spike, “but at least it was just a dream right?”

        “Indeed Spike,” Twilight thought aloud.

        Just then however, “belch!” a poof of fire emerged from Spike materializing into a letter.

        “Strange this letter bears the seal of Princess Luna, though it is rather later,” said Twilight.
        
        Dear Twilight Sparkle,
                As my sister’s student you would be the most qualified pony to look into a matter for me.  During watch of the equestrian night, I observed a most queer phenomenon that I would have you investigate. There was a strange eldritch explosion near the everfree forest. I observed a bright turquoise light and felt an ancient magic unlike any I have felt in centuries.  Strangely it seemed to split into a light one and a dark one. The dark one flew in the direction of Manehatten and the light one seems to be in the everfree forest. I cannot feel the magical essence anymore, so I do not think there is a threat to equestria. I would like you investigate this event for me and my sister. I look forward to hearing your report to my sister.

        Sincerely,
        Princess of the night Luna

        “Wait it wasn’t a dream! Does that mean than an evil presence is coming us? What does it want? I bet it wants to make us into zombie slaves. I don’t want to be a zombie Twilight…. pant…. pant…. pant,”  moaned Spike.

        “Calm down Spike! Take some slow deep breaths ok,” Twilight embraced Spike to help him calm down. “Besides there are no such things as zombies, necromancy has never been proven to work.”

“Are you sure Twilight? What if this thing is some kind of new magic?” said Spike.

“Even if that is true we still do not know what it will do and jumping to conclusions will get us nowhere but into trouble,” Twilight calmly stated.

“I guess you are right,” said Spike  now much calmer, “ So what now? ”

“Now,” Twilight released her hug around Spike, “ we go back to bed we need our rest and full strength if we are going to be going out and doing an investigation in the everfree forest.” “I suppose I should ask the other girls to help us with that,” Twilight mused, “I will go them in the morning before we go investigate.”

“Goodnight Twilight,” said Spike as he crawled back into his basket.

“Goodnight to you aswell,” Twilight said as she wrapped the covers back around her with her magic. 

________________________________________________________________

As the sun rose on Ponyville melting away the coldness of the night, three you fillies made preparations for a day of questing. Questing to earn their cutie marks. 

A yellow earth pony filly with a red mane and bow was busy putting supplies into a set of saddlebags. “Sweetie Belle hurry up in the kitchen Ah need the rest of them supplies for our adventure,” drawled the filly.

“Oh be patient Apple Bloom, my sister says that a lady must not rush things,”said a white unicorn filly with a pink and purple mane, “Haste makes waste.”

“Come on Sweetie, AB is right we gotta go, waiting here while you two pack and argue is like the opposite of awesome, ” said a young orange pegasus with a purple mane. 

“Not you too, Scootaloo!” said Sweetie Belle, “ anyway I have the food right here,” as she motioned to a basket on her back with a hoof.  Sweetie handed the parcel of food to Apple bloom. 

“ It’s ah bout time!” as Apple Bloom took the basket of sandwiches and placed two sandwiches into each of the fillies saddlebags.

“Are we finally ready to get out everfree forest explorers cutie mark?” asked Scootaloo.

“I think we are,” said Sweetie Belle.

“EVERFREE FOREST EXPLORER CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!,  YAY!!” the three yelled in unison.

“It sure was a good thing your parents let us sleep over last night so we could prepare for this without being interrupted,” said Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah our sisters would never let us go out there if they knew we was a’h going, ” Apple Bloom added.

“It was no big deal, my folks would rather me be with you guys than by myself as they have to commute to Cloudsdale everyday, ” Scootaloo said. “Not like they have much of a choice when their daughter cannot fly,”  Scootaloo added in a whisper. 

“What was that last part? ”  asked Apple Bloom. 

“Hmm.. oh nothing,” said Scootaloo. 

“Alright girls, let’s get this show on the road, ” Sweetie Belle said as she put on her saddlebag.

The girls then left Scootaloo’s house for the everfree forest. 


_______________________________________________________________

Twilight Sparkle awoke to the sound of her mechanical alarm clock going off. She was still groggy and would need her morning cup of jasmine tea. She left the bed and went to the bathroom to take care of her morning ritual after first waking Spike. 

Spike got up and went downstairs to start breakfast. He started with some eggs, flour, milk, sugar, and blueberries for some scrumptious blueberry pancakes. After making a teetering stack of pancakes nearly two feet high he felt that he had made enough.

        Twilight left the bathroom after brushing her mane and tail and felt ready for the day. As she was leaving she noticed the letter from last night and her new task from the Princesses. She immediately went to her desk and started writing up a new checklist for the day.  This continued for some time until a pleasant smell of jasmine tea and pancakes met her nose. Having just finished her new checklist she went downstairs for breakfast. 

        “Just in time Twilight,” Spike said as he gestured to their hearty breakfast.

        “Thanks, Spike we will need a lot of energy if we are going to get everything done today, what with this investigation and my other studies,” said Twilight.

        The pair ate their breakfast and gathered the needed items for the day and left the library after putting up a closed sign for the day.

        “I think we should go so Rarity first, Spike,” Twilight with her assistant on her back made a course for Carousel Boutique.

        “Fine by me,” said Spike who had a smug grin on his face like he was thinking about something lovely.

Twilight entered into the boutique followed by the sound of the bell attached to the door. 

“Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is chic, unique and magnifique,” said a white unicorn with a curled purple mane, “Oh Twilight darling what brings you here today?”

“Hello Rarity, I came by because the Princesses have asked me to investigate something near the everfree forest and I thought that it would be best if we got the rest of the girls together just in case,”  said Twilight.

“Oh, what would they want you to look into in that dreadful place,” questioned Rarity, “But for a friend I would be glad to help. Just let me put some things away and we will be on our way to see the next one the girl’s houses.”

“Thankyou Rarity, that is very generous of you to just close shop so quickly for me,” said Twilight.

“I know, Rarity is just perfect isn’t she?” said Spike with googly eyes.

Twilight, Rarity, and Spike left Carousel Boutique. Twilight marked off on her checklist “get Rarity.” They then trotted over to Sugar Cube Corner for their next friend.

As the three friends entered into the bakery they were met with a strange sight. A pink coated with pink maned earth pony was hanging from the ceiling in a harness while putting up a banner that said “Welcome to Ponyville Mystery Pony”

“Pinkie, what mystery pony?” said Twilight. 

From behind Twilight came an energetic voice that said, 
“WellduhthenewponythatmypinkiesensetoldmeaboutItwasoneheckofadooseytooIthinkthatmeanshemustbeaspecialponyorsomethinganywayIjustcan’twaittomeetthisnewfriend.”

Twilight nearly jumped out of her coat at the sudden outburst, “Wait a minute weren’t you just hanging from the ceiling, oh nevermind.  Pinkie calm down I need you help with a mission from the Princesses.”

“Okay, Twilight, I just said that I got a doosey and that there is a new pony coming to town but there is something different about him or her,”  said Pinkie pie.

“Okay… well we can throw the party later first I need you help with a mission near the everfree forest,” said Twilight.
“Alright do you promise that we can have the party later,” said Pinkie.

“Yes I promise,” said Twilight.

“Do you Pinkie promise?”  said Pinkie.

“Yes, I Pinkie promise, cross my heart hope to fly stick a cupcake in my eye, oww, ” Twilight said she went through the ritual gesture and promptly shoved her hoof into her eye.

“You will get a hold of that one day darling,”  added Rarity who was giggling under breath at Twilights actions.

Twilight rubbed her eye with her fetlock, “Mr. and Mrs. Cake is it alright if we borrow Pinkie for a while I need her help on a mission from the Princesses?”

“That’s alright dearie we can manage without her for a while,”  said Mrs. Cake.

The four friends then went to look for a certain rainbow colored pegasus. Below a cloud near the edge of town a rainbow colored tail could be seen protruding out. The sound of snoring could be heard by those below the cloud. 

“RAINBOW DASH, ” Twilight shouted.

More snoring was the response that the shout had produced. 

“RAINBOW DASH!!,” Twilight shouted again.

“Twilight darling this is not working. You know how Rainbow Dash can be so hard to wake up. We will have find some other way to reach her.”

“I know just the way,” said Twilight as she charged magic into her horn. A second later a small lightning bolt shot out from her horn and struck the cloud that Rainbow was sleeping upon. Twilight was not worried about the lightning hurting Rainbow as pegasi were naturally lightning resistant. 

“WHAT THE HAY!” shouted an angry Rainbow Dash, whose mane and tail now looked like they would look better on a porcupine, as she looked around from her cloud.

Pinkie and Spike immediately began laughing at the ridiculous sight of their friend and were rolling on the ground. Even Rarity suppressed a giggle behind a hoof as she gazed upon Rainbow.

“Ah, now that you are awake please come down here I need to talk to you,” said Twilight.

The cyan coated and rainbow maned pegasus then flew down from the cloud. On her way down she noticed her own reflection in the window of a nearby house. “Good one Twilight. I didn’t think that you were one to pull pranks but I do look pretty funny like this.”

“What? no this was not a prank. I needed you to wake up I need you help with a mission from the Princesses, ” said Twilight.

“Okay what is this mission then?,” asked Rainbow.

“I would rather tell you once I get all of the girls together so I only have to tell it once,” said Twilight.

“Alright then let get going. I don’t wanna wait all day to get this over with then,” Rainbow began hovering above the group with an impatient look upon her muzzle.

The group then set out for Sweet Apple Acres. As they neared the orchard they caught sight of an orange earth pony with a blonde mane hauling some logs which looked to be cut for the use as fence posts. She was already covered in a light sweat from her labors.

As the group got closer Twilight said, “AppleJack I need your help with a mission from the Princesses.”

The stunned earth pony turned around and noticed the herd of her friends before her, “Landsakes Twilight don’t you know it’s plum rude to walk up and scare a pony like that?”

“Sorry AppleJack, but I still need your help,” said Twilight.

“Yeah hurry up AJ we don’t have all day you know, ” said Rainbow.

“Alright sugarcube, what do you need?” asked AppleJack.

“ I will tell you once we get to Fluttershy’s that way I only have to explain it once,” said Twilight.

“Okay don’t get your tail in a twist let’s go then,” said AJ.

The throng of Friends went towards a small cottage at the edge of the everfree forest. There were numerous animals out frolicking in the yard around the cottage. Twilight came to the door and knocked with a hoof.

        “Just a minute,” came a soft voice from inside of the cottage. A few moments later the door opened to reveal a buttercup coated pegasus with a pink mane. “Oh my what brings all of you girls and Spike to my home today?”

        “Fluttershy, can we come in? I need your help with a mission from the Princesses, ” Twilight implored. 

        “Oh of course, would you girls like some tea?,” asked Fluttershy.

        The girls all nodded “yes” to Fluttershy’s question. The girls entered into Fluttershy’s abode and made themselves comfortable in the living room while they waited for their host to bring the tea. A few moments later Fluttershy entered into the room with a steaming pot of tea and scones on a tray on her back. She then served the tea to her friends, “Now what is this mission Twilight?”

“Princess Luna noticed something last night and has asked me to investigate it. She says that she observed a magical explosion near the edge of the Everfree forest that was turquoise in color and then split into a light and a dark half.  The light one landed near the here and other went towards Manehatten. She said that it is not a threat because she cannot feel the energy anymore but would like me to find out what I can. I thought that it would be safer if I brought you girls along into the forest.” stated Twilight, “What is even weirder is that I had a dream well a nightmare last night that is very similar to what Luna observed.”

“You want us to go into the dark, dangerous, icky, and scarey Everfree forest… eep..  Can I just stay here if that is okay with you?” said Fluttershy.

“Now just relax Fluttershy if we go together during the day we will be fine, besides  Zecora lives in the Everfree forest and your cottage backs up to it, besides Princess Luna said that there was a magical explosion what if some of the forest animals got hurt surely we should go help them,” Twilight said slyly.  
“Oh those poor dears we simply must go at once,” said Fluttershy.

“Well lets git to it, ” said AJ.

“Verily,” said Rarity.

“It’s about time enough sitting and more movement,” said Rainbow.

“What are you wearing? ” asked Twilight to Pinkie.

“Why my Everfree exploration outfit, its fun to wear ‘khar kis’, ” said the pink mare with a Trottingham accent while wearing a pith helmet and khaki shirt and shorts. 

“What? never mind,” said Twilight.

“Pinkie you are just so random, ” said Rainbow while giggling at the pink mares odd outfit.
The herd then set off for the Everfree forest to find the source of the strange eldritch explosion. 

________________________________________________________________

Three young fillies had been trudging along in the everfree forest for two hours, and had yet to find anything interesting besides lots of trees, dirt, and bugs. 

“This is so boring! How are we ever going to get our cutie marks in exploration if we don’t discover anything interesting?” asked the orange pegasus filly.

“Well we discovered a lot trees, dirt, and bugs,” said Sweetie. 

“ But we ‘ave those back on the farm, ” said Apple Bloom, “ we’ll never get our cutie marks this way.”

“Look there is a clearing ahead, if we don’t find anything interesting there, I say we go back, ” said Scootaloo.

“Fine by me,” “ah’lright girls,” said Sweetie and Apple Bloom respectively.

As the trio cleared the last tree at the edge of the clearing they came upon a sight that they had not expected. 

“Look over there is that a glowing sword in that tree,” said Scootaloo.

“Oh my, Look below it I think there is a pony over there. I hope he is not hurt,” said Sweetie.

“Well, he ain’t moving, you think he’s dead,” said Apple Bloom.

Sweetie screamed at those words. “AHHH!” 

While Sweetie was screaming and Apple Bloom trying to calm her down, Scootaloo went closer to examine the pony. He appeared to be a royal blue unicorn with a blonde mane. He was breathing very shallowly but still breathing. “He’s not dead he is breathing.”

“Oh good,” said Sweetie. “I thought we found a body and would get into so much trouble like in those detective novels.”

“Well, we might still get in trouble, ‘cause  we can’t just leave him out here. We need to get help.”

The other two fillies went over to Scootaloo  and noticed that near the stallion were many torn and mangled pieces metal. Metal that seemed like it used to form some sort of plates. The stallion had many scars along his body that were just visible underneath his coat upon close examination. Also, of great note to the fillies was that he lacked a cutie mark. The three all thought that is was unusual, but the present situation of being in the middle of the forest with a likely hurt pony kept them from dwelling upon it for now.

“Hey mister, wake UP!” Scootaloo prodded the unconscious stallion with no result.

“Are you okay?” said Sweetie as she also prodded his chest with a hoof. And, nothing.

“Seems like he‘s in some kind of deep sleep or hurt we better git help,” said  Apple Bloom.

_____________________________________________________________

After venturing into the forest for thirty minutes, the group of six mares and one dragon heard a high pitched scream like that from a young girl in the distance.

“Oh dear what was that?!” said Fluttershy.

“Alright ladies keep calm. Rainbow Dash can you do some quick aerial surveillance for us? ” said Twilight. 

“On it,” said Rainbow as she shot up into the air like a bullet. 

“Okay when she gets back we will be able to form a plan to respond to whatever it is,” said Twilight.

Rainbow quickly ascended above the trees and flew in the direction of the scream. With her sharp eyes she could see a clearing. Within appeared a pony on the ground with three familiar looking fillies around the pony. Rainbow quickly descended to her friends with a smirk on her muzzle. 

“Twilight, there is clearing up ahead with a pony on the ground, oh and it looks like three familiar fillies are with this pony,” said Rainbow with slightly sarcastic tone.

“What is Sweetie doing in this dreadful forest?” Rarity said with a huff.

“That filly is going to get quite the hoofing from Granny Smith once I tell her what Apple Bloom has done,” AJ said through grit teeth. 

“Girls we better hurry before anything happens, ” said Twilight.

The girls with dragon galloped along to the clearing as fast as their hooves could take them.  Upon entering the clearing they came upon three fillies, whose eyes shrank at the sudden appearance of the six mares and one dragon. But that was not all that was apparent, near the fillies was indeed a pony as Rainbow had said. This pony appeared to be a royal blue unicorn stallion with a blonde mane. 
What the fillies earlier had failed to notice was why there was a clearing in the forest. The forest appeared to be scorched in the clearing with fallen trees broken branches and singed grass throughout the clearing. There were also fragments of what Twilight believed to be armor strewn around the area near the stallion. 
Above the pony on the ground stuck into a tree 15 feet above the ground was a sword. The sword glowed with a white light. When staring upon the sword; Twilight felt a sense of calm, a sense of peace as though it represented all that was good. Twilight began to ponder the strange magic of this sword and how it reminded her of the elements of harmony, and how this sword could help her to gain a greater understanding of such magic.

“Hello, Equestria to Twilight, ” Rainbow waved a hoof in front of Twilight’s face to get her attention after she spaced out for a bit.

“Huh What?,” Twilight sputtered.

“This pony seems hurt, he won’t wake up and breathing is very shallow,” said Fluttershy.

“We better git him to the hospital then, ” said AppleJack

Twilight went for a closer inspection of the stallion. She could not see any obvious wounds. However, if the surrounding terrain is any indicator, then he may be unconscious due to magical overload. Magical overload is condition usually affecting unicorns that occurs when a pony sensitive to magic is exposed to too much magic at one time. It takes the pony’s body time deal with all of that magic and the mind shuts down as a protective mechanism to give the body the time it needs. 
 The three fillies walked in silence with their heads down and their ears flat against their heads as they knew they were going to get it once they got home. Six mares, three fillies and one dragon carried the injured stallion back to ponyville along with the great sword that was stuck in the tree and a single tome that was found under the stallion; strangely the tome is written in a language that Twilight did not recognize. The sword was quite troubling to get, as every time rainbow tried to grab it she felt like she was being shocked. Fortunately, Applejack gave the tree a sound buck and knocked the sword lose. Twilight then used her magic to place it in her saddle bag. AJ then helped to carry the unknown stallion.

Once back in town the three fillies were left with Rarity so that she watch them until AJ could come get Applebloom. The other girls, one dragon, and one unconscious stallion went straight to Ponville General Hospital. Rainbow entered the hospital with boom, “Rainbow Dash!  This is a hospital patient’s are trying to rest, ” exclaimed nurse Redheart.

“Yeah yeah, look we got a hurt pony here who needs your help,” Rainbow said sarcastically, as she pointed with a hoof to the pony laying upon AJ’s back. 

“Ah I assume this is your business Ms. Sparkle. Don’t worry we will take it from here,” said nurse Redheart.

“Yes, we found this pony in the forest while investigating something for the Princesses,” said Twilight.

The Stallion was then taken by the hospital staff to be properly treated. With the apparent crisis averted the 5 friends said their goodbyes and went their separate ways. Twilight gave instructions that should he awaken that she should be contacted immediately. Twilight then headed home to study the strange tome, magical sword, and of course write a letter to her mentor.

To be continued… 

> Chapter 2: A Disquieting Awakening
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Disquieting Awakening



Ponyville General Hospital Admission

Patient Name “Mane Doe”                        Date: March 20, 1204 A.C.
Species: pony                                 Tribe: unicorn                 Cutie Mark: Absent
Age: early 20’s
Coat: Royal Blue                Mane and tail: blonde                Eyes: sky blue
Attending: Dr. Bedside Manner
        A 20 something, age unknown, male unicorn pony was admitted today due to an apparent case of thaumaturgic overload. Patient was brought in by Ms. Twilight Sparkle and her friends. It was reported by Ms. Sparkle that the patient was found in the everfree forest after an arcane explosion. No identity can be assigned at this time. Patient’s vital signs were within normal limits save for internal thaumaturgic currents which were extremely elevated. Neuromuscular response was normal when stimulus applied. No obvious signs of trauma were noted. Patient appears to have a history of trauma as numerous fibrous scars were observed over much of his body. No contributory medical conditions were noted.  Differential Diagnosis: thaumaturgic overload, pericarbuncleitis, viral horn meningitis. Treatment plan is to detox the patient with an infusion of anti-thaumaturgic serum for 24 hours and observe the patient for signs of improvement. Will follow up at morning rounds. 
        Bedside Manner M.D.



        When Max  began to awake the first thing that he noticed was that he felt like there was a soft warm blanket wrapped all around his body.  It was a comforting warmth and not stifling.  As awareness started to increase for Max; the next thing that he noticed was that his fingers and toes felt numb and constricted like they were wrapped into a tight fist and could not loosen. 

 Max began to move his limbs ever so slightly and noticed quickly how extremely sore he felt. It felt like he had gone 10 rounds with a minotaur unarmed. An intense burning ache stemmed from all of his muscles the more he moved. Max began trying to turn on to his back. As he did so; he felt something altogether foreign to him. Something, that he was sure had never felt before. It felt like there was some sort of appendage to his spine that got caught between his legs when he was trying to turn over. 

Max did succeed in turning over with grunt of pain as he dislodged whatever he was pinching between his legs. The moment of pain from this foreign source had served to clear his mind of the grogginess he had felt up to this point.  Now Max felt that he would try to open his eyes and take in his surroundings.  At first all he could do was wince in pain at the bright light to hit his blue orbs. 

The world appeared to be a formless swirl of washed out colors. As Max’s eyes adjusted to the light and the images began to come clear; Max noticed that in the lower portion of his vision was some sort of blue fuzzy object that seemed to be blocking his view.  Naturally, Max thought that someone had put something onto his face and he did the next logical thing. Max quickly went to reach for the object with his right arm.

“SMACK….OWWW!,” shouted Max. Max had instead of grabbing the blue object blocking his vision had instead smacked it. What was stranger was that he felt it. Boy did he feel it. It felt like he had his own face with a brick. So, not only did he have a part of face where it shouldn’t be, his hands now felt like bricks when pushing against his body.

Max then did the next natural thing. He raised his “hands” in front of his face now that his vision had cleared further. Unfortunately for Max what his saw was alien and wrong in his mind. For Max did not see a hand but instead he saw black hoof with blue fur covering all but the bottom of it. Max had had enough of this strange dream of whatever it was and screamed, “WHAT IN THE NAME OF THE LIGHT IS GOING ON HERE?”

Nurse Redheart had been dutifully attending to the patients in her ward. She was busy changing the linens on a patient’s bed when she was rudely interrupted by a loud scream that came from the next room. Not one to leave her charges unattended she went to see what the cause of the trouble was. Upon exiting the hall it became apparent that the hollering was coming from the “special” patient’s room.  She was told to send word to Twilight Sparkle upon his waking, but she wanted to be sure. so she went into the room.

What Max saw next most peculiar, for entering into the room that he found himself in was what looked like a small white horse with pink mane and tail. It had a red cross upon its flank. Moreover, the horse had very large expressive eyes and a very large head to match. This was all quite odd to Max as he was unfamiliar with any such species of horse. What Max expected even less was that is began to speak to him in what could only be female’s voice. 

“Are you alright? please try to be calm,” said nurse Redheart in a soothing yet commanding voice.

“Wow, a talking horse! I wonder what kind of enhancements were needed to make that happen,” pondered Max Aloud.

“Pony!,” nurse redheart interjected. “We are ponies, and all ponies can talk without the aid of magic.”

“Ok, pony whatever. I still have never seen a talking pony in the land of Rune before,” said Max.

“Land of Rune? Is that where you are from? haven’t heard of it,” said Redheart, “And in case you haven’t noticed you are a pony too, a unicorn to be exact.  Making it hard to believe you have never seen one. ”

“What! Is this some kind of joke? A curse from Darksol perhaps. I need a mirror,” said Max.

“ What a mirror, ok wait a second,” nurse Redheart left the room to fetch the requested item.
While waiting Max noticed some other peculiar things about his body. Just as what he must assume is a muzzle blocking part of his lower vision he noticed a horn blocking part of the upper part of his vision. Max had looked up after nurse Redheart had mentioned that he was a unicorn. When he looked up he saw his horn and what looked like some blonde hair. At least his hair color was the same he thought to himself. 

Nurse Redheart returned with a hoof-mirror on her back after she sent a very important message that is. She turned around and grabbed the mirror with her mouth before grabbing it with her right forehoof. She held up the mirror for Max to see himself. 

What Max saw in the mirror was not himself but that of an alien.  The image showed a royal blue unicorn pony stallion with a blonde mane, and sky blue eyes.  At that moment Max’s world began to crumble. He thought, “this has to be a curse or some sort of dream this can’t be happening.”

“This is impossible! Is this a curse? Are we all cursed to be ponies?,” Max quickly said as he started hyperventilating. 

Max had faced unspeakable evils but this change of events was beyond anything he had ever imagined. It was simply too much. And, so Max began breathing faster and faster until the world began to twist and swirl until he passed out.

“There, hopefully that sedative will keep our Mane Doe patient calm until the Princess’s student gets here,” said nurse Redheart.
_____________________________________________________________

Twilight Sparkle was already in the midst of an intense study session this morning. She had gotten barely any sleep to speak of whatsoever last night. She was simply too excited to be studying a new magical artifact that silly things like sleep just got in the way.  For before her lay a sword of unknown eldritch properties. A sword that radiated power that had an almost palpable feel to it that one could detect just from being in the presence of the sword. She sought to unlock the mystery of this unique sword and the strange stallion that seemed to come with it.

At first you thought to study the tome that was discovered with the stallion. But, the tome was written in a language she had never seen before.  In fact, it did not match any language on equestria according to the exhaustive collection of linguistics in Twilight’s library. This, was concerning to Twilight as it could mean she may have discovered an alien or ancient civilization that predated the nation of Equestria. But, Twilight decided not to dally on it for now; she hoped that she could ask the mysterious stallion about it in the future. Twilight had thus, spent her time meticulously examining the sword.

Twilight had performed nearly every test known to thaumaturgical science. She had determined that the sword was resistant to magic. It did not want to be scryed it seemed or at least to do so was out of her reach at the moment.  The sword still gave off an aura peace and good. It  also seemed to be luminescent and seemed to channel electricity. She had discovered the part about electricity on accident when she had levitated it with much effort lost concentration for a second allow the flat of the blade to touch her fur. Spike found the resulting static shock appearance to Twilight’s coat, mane, and tail to be highly amusing, at least until his older sister had assigned him extra chores to do that is.  

Twilight was about to begin her next ritual of magical divination upon the sword when a knock came to the door of the library. “Knock!, knock!”

“It’s a public library come on in, oh why do I even bother anymore,” sighed Twilight.

Spike went to open the door and saw a familiar gray mailmare. “Oh, hey Ditzy Doo how can I help you?”

“Hey Spike, I have a letter for Twilight from nurse Redheart,” said Ditzy.

“Thanks, Ditzy. I will get this to Twilight right away,” Spike took the letter and closed the door behind him before handing it to Twilight.

“Hmm I wonder if this means he is awake?” mused Twilight.

        Dear Twilight Sparkle,
The patient has awoken and I am contacting you per your instructions.
Nurse Redheart.

“Spike I am going to the hospital to see the mystery stallion,” said Twilight.

“Oh, can I come?” inquired Spike “I always wanted to meet an alien”

“Spike we don’t know if he is an alien or not and you cannot come as I know a little dragon who still has a lot of chores to do,” responded Twilight.

“Oh, boo, not fair,” pouted Spike.

“I am sure you can meet him later. I should be back in time for dinner,” said Twilight.

Twilight gathered quills, ink, and paper into her saddlebags for note taking. She also placed the tome into her bags, hoping the mysterious stallion could shed some light on its contents. She secured the sword into her laboratory in the basement. Having completed her preparations she left the library and went to the hospital.

__________________________________________________________________

Max awakened again taking a quick survey revealing that he was still a pony. Max was calmer this time and figured that he may have to deal with this for awhile, as such he started to investigate his new body.  As he began to examine himself he heard a bird out on a tree through the window. As he focused on the bird for a second he felt new muscles twitch atop his head and the sound became clearer than he could have ever heard it as a human. 

As he looked out the window; he noticed the distinct features of the bird with greater clarity than he would have thought. He reasoned that it must have to do with his now much larger eyes.  He managed to get his arm under his sheets and pulled them off of himself.  He smirked and thought to himself, “ well it looks like I am hung like a horse too. At least something got an improvment out of this.” He then looked at his lower legs and noticed how his feet were now much longer and ended in a hoof, and how his thigh and shin were now much shorter but much more muscled. This got Max to thinking. The pony that came in here was naked and so was he. She did not even seem to care that they were naked either.  Maybe ponies don’t care about modesty they humans do Max thought to himself.

Max started flexing his limbs and found them to be far more flexible than any horse or centaurs he had ever seen before. Max continued to stretch for awhile getting used to the new and different feelings until he got bored and thought about how to walk.  Max wasn’t quite sure how to stand or walk with these limbs and started to deeply consider how to do what once was so simple.

____________________________________________________________

Upon arriving at the hospital; Twilight was met by nurse Redheart. “Ms. Sparkle as per your instructions the patient is awake, though I did have to sedate him about an hour ago. I should be wearing off about now.”

“Why did you have to sedate him?” queried Twilight.

“He began having a manic attack and was hyperventilating. He kept saying that he was cursed and that it was impossible to be a pony. He seemed quite perplexed when he saw me like he had never seen a pony before,” said nurse Redheart.

“Well I had better go see him then,” said Twilight as she finished writing her notes on what had been reported to her about the mystery pony.

Twilight then entered into the room where she noticed the stallion lying upon the bed and lazily looking in her direction like he was deep in thought. Twilight had not noticed until now that the stallion was very well muscled especially for unicorn, this made her think of her older brother. Perhaps this pony had a military background, it would certainly explain the scars. 

“Greetings my name is Twilight Sparkle. Are you feeling better?” said Twilight as she put out a hoof to shake his.

Max just stared at her for what felt like an eternity, until “... Max” Max attempted to shake her hoof but only managed to bump hooves instead. “ Better depends on you explaining why I am in pony land” Max thought to himself, this pony isn’t wearing anything either. I guess ponies don’t really care about modesty or maybe it is the fur, 

“Oh, well I was hoping you could answer some questions about where you came from and maybe we can figure out how an adult unicorn came here without a cutie mark. Was it a teleportation accident?, ” said Twilight.

        “First of all I am not a pony or at least I wasn’t until I got here apparently. And I did cast a teleportation spell before I got here, but I wasn’t supposed to come out here, wherever that is anyway, ” replied Max.

        “Really, hmm Max is a strange name for a pony,” mused Twilight, “Well if you were not a pony than what were you?”

        “I was a human, we stood upright and were mostly hairless save for the top of our heads and had hands on our arms, And what the heck is a cutie mark?” replied Max.

        “Interesting that sounds like some sort of primate like a monkey maybe,”  Twilight was vigorously taking notes. “You mean that you really don’t know what a cutie mark is?” Max nodded. “Well a cutie mark is a symbol that a pony gets on their flank when they discover what special talent they have. You can see that mine is starburst representing my talent for magic,” Twilight gestured with a hoof to her cutie mark.
        
        Max followed her hoof to look at her curvy flank.  “Not bad for pony I guess, what the hell am I thinking eww.” Then Max looked down at his own flank and notice that it was blank, slightly disappointed he said, “ I guess I don’t have a talent huh? weird Ken would be laughing his ass off at me.”

        “Well if what you say is true that you only recently became a pony that is not surprising as foals are not born with them,” said Twilight, “Who is Ken?”

        “He was one of comrades in arms. He and I grew-up in Guardiana together, ” said Max.

        “Hmm, Guardiana I don’t think there is any such country on Equus,” Twilight produced a globe with her magic startling Max, but also showing that the world did not have such a country. In fact to Max it was different world altogether.

        “Wow, I guess I am not on Rune anymore after all,” exclaimed Max.

        “Rune, is that the name of the world you come from? ” asked Twilight.

        “So, Tell me what happened right before you ended up here,” said Twilight.

        “Well, I was leading the Shining Force in our battle against the evil known as Dark Dragon.  My warriors and I defeated him, but he seemed to be immortal so I used the weapon of the ancients, the Force Sword and plunged it into the beast.  The Dragon was resealed to prevent the destruction of my world, but for some reason I could not let go of the sword. Try as I might I could not move. So in order to save my friends I cast my EGRESS spell. That would be the teleportation spell you asked about earlier it is supposed to get me and my friends back to a sanctuary, but I reappeared in a forest. My sword then floated up and split into two with a great explosion and then all I remember is pain and passing out, ” stated Max.

        “Wow that is a lot of information, ” Twilight was feverishly writing down notes, “So, I take it that you were some sort of military commander? And you said you were fighting an evil known as Dark Dragon? What was this Dark Dragon? And you can cast magic and use a sword, makes sense that you are a unicorn I guess,  You must be very skilled to be able to cast a mass teleportation spell of that magnitude. How did you deal with the quantum entanglement?”

        “Whoa slow down one at a time please, ” said Max.

        “Oh sorry, I sometimes get a little excited about learning new things,” said Twilight, “So what was that Dark Dragon?”

        “Ha ha, you remind me of Anri, she was always trying to learn new things to make her father proud, so that she could be a good queen someday,” mused Max.

        “Who is Anri?” asked Twilight.

        “She is the Princess and heir to the throne of Guardiana and one hell of an ice mage too. She was there at the final battle against Dark Dragon raining down icy death on our foes,” said Max.

        “Anyway back to Dark Dragon,” stated Max, “Our country was invaded Runefaust a kingdom that used to be called Protectora, but was renamed when the King went mad and sought to take over the world.  Another great evil known as Darksol corrupted the king’s mind. It was all a plot to weaken the seal placed upon Dark Dragon. A plan to release him from his prison.  Dark Dragon is a Devil King and defeated and sealed one thousand years ago by the ‘Ancients’’ a race people long gone that had magic and technology far superior to what we have today. Darksol sought to free him from his prison so that darkness could once again rule the world.”

        “That story sounds kind of similar to our fight with Nightmare Moon,” Twilight though aloud.
        “Nightmare Moon, Who is that?,” asked Max.

        “She was a corrupted version of Princess Luna who wanted to put the world into eternal night,” responded Twilight,  “She was also sealed for one thousand years and we purified her with the elements of harmony, six magic artifacts that embody the elements of Friendship, Laughter, Honesty, Loyalty, Generosity, Kindness, and Magic.”

        “Well Dark Dragon could not be purified for all he is, is evil and darkness and according to legend he has existed longer than my world, ” stated Max.  “These elements of Harmony remind me of my Force Sword. An eldritch weapon forged by the ancients, we think, by combining the powers of light and darkness, order was created that can hurt an immortal evil like Dark Dragon. ”

        “Fascinating, so that is what I saw in my dream when your sword split one light and one dark, But why did is split?” inquired Twilight.

        “Well I cannot say why it split. Anyway, we were able to defeat Runefaust and even Darksol, but we were too late as the seal had been weakened and Darksol sacrificed himself to awaken Dark Dragon,” said Max, “Ultimately, we prevailed against him after a difficult battle, but as I previously said he could not die. So I resealed him with the sword, and now I am here for who knows what reason.  Oh well, a break from the fighting would be nice. A chance to just relax and smell the flowers like before the war started would be a welcome change.”

        “That is quite a tale. Fortunately for you, you are now in equestria a nation that has been and is still at peace for over one thousand years, ” said Twilight as she was fastidiously taking notes.  “According your chart and the Doctor your condition has stabilized and can be released when you are ready.”

        “What condition, pony curse?,” said Max sarcastically.

        “You had a case of thaumaturgic overload, likely from that magic explosion you were near,” said Twilight dryly.

        “Oh, okay so I can leave eh?” asked Max, “only problem with that is where would I go and I don’t know how to walk.”

        “Well, you can stay with me until you get your hooves off of the ground. Also, I still have a lot of questions to ask you,” stated Twilight, “About that sword you were found with and that tome. Oh I almost forgot. This tome,” Twilight raised the tome out of her saddlebags with her magic, “Do you know how to read it?”

        Max looked at the book curiously. On the cover is said Father Cromwell’s Guide to Light Magic. “It looks like a book of magic for priests. Why, I thought magic was your talent.”

        “It is,” replied Twilight with narrowed eyes, “but the book is written in a language I have never seen before on Equus.”

        “Really, it looks like common runic to me, ” said Max unfaced by the harrowing look Twilight was giving him..

        “Well maybe you can teach me to read it. I would love to learn a new type of magic,” said Twilight excitedly. Though she was a little miffed that Max didn’t respond in the least to her indignation. “Regardless, I am sure you can walk, I mean a foal can do it in only a few hours after being born.”
        
        Max grimaced, “Alright I might as well try.” Max carefully started to move his legs over the edge of the bed. Ever so slowly until his left leg just met the floor. It felt weird. It felt like he was walking on his toes and that he had a pair of boots on that you could feel through. His hooves felt firm but conducted far more feeling that he expected. Carefully the slow movement continued until his left fore hoof touch the ground. This was even stranger to Max as it felt like he was standing on the end of his fingers. 
        
        Max continued to move his body ever so slowly off of the the bed. Then the inevitable happened. With a loud smack Max found himself with his muzzle flush against the floor. “Dangit I told you I couldn't do this,” Max groaned. 

        Twilight did her best to suppress a giggle behind a hoof, “I guess you are new to this huh.”

        “No really, How could you tell,” Max said sarcastically. Max then attempted slowly get up to ease the pain in his sore muzzle. This was the second time today he had smacked his schnoz. It was a wonder how he didn’t have a nose bleed.  He reasoned pony noses must be more durable as they don’t have hands and would have to do things with their mouths. Max ever so slowly inched himself up onto his hooves. For the first time he was standing in his new body.

        Now came the new challenge of walking. “So, what now? ”

        “Just place your right forehoof forward, then your back left hoof, then your left fore hoof , and then you back right hoof and repeat,” said Twilight. 

        “Ok worth a shot,” Max started to move his first hoof and was successful in keeping his balance. Max then went to move the second one and was not so lucky. Max came down head over hooves with a thud. 

        Twilight did her best to hide the smile on her face due the other ponies misfortune. 

        “I hope you know some healing spells, cause at this rate I am going to become a resident of this hospital,” said Max.

        “Don’t give up. I know you can do it just keep trying,” reassured Twilight.

        Max got up again. This time he was going to do it, With new determination, the stallion did one complete set of steps without falling.  Max smiled to himself at his small achievement. Just as he went to take another step he slipped yet again onto his face. “sigh.”

        “Well at this rate it will take far too much time to get home, Though you are showing improvement,” said Twilight. “So, I am going to carry you with my magic, so that we can stay on schedule. Don’t worry you can practice your walking once we get home and I have plenty of ice and pain pills too.”

        “Wait, what carry me?” said Max confused.  Before the stallion could protest further he was picked up in Twilight’s telekinetic grasp. She quickly marched out of the hospital having taken care of the discharge papers prior to meeting with Max.

        A strange sight greeted Ponyville this afternoon, as the town librarian was carrying a strange stallion in her telekinesis. A stallion who seemed to be quite embarrassed, given the cherry red of his cheeks, to be  carried in public.  The other residents of Ponyville stared for a moment at the strange sight before going back to their business as it wasn’t that strange compared to many of the things that happened in Ponyville. Max took the time to notice that there were ponies of all colors that could be imagined in the little town. He also noticed that some of the ponies had horns like him and Twilight. Some had wings, and some had neither horn nor wings, but seemed to be more muscular. He also decided then and there that ponies truly did not care about modesty the way humans did as hardly any of them wore any sort of clothing save for the occasional hat. 

        Twilight entered into the library and deposited the stallion in her grasp onto the floor with a grunt of disapproval. “Did you really have to parade me before the whole town?” asked Max smugly.
        
        “I did not parade you. I merely carried you to be more time efficient, ” said Twilight. “Spike I am home.”

        “OK be out in a second. I am still scrubbing the kitchen,” yelled Spike from down the hall.

        “Who is Spike,” asked Max.

        “He is my assistant. He helps me with my studies,” replied Twilight.

        At that moment a small purple and green lizard walked into the room on hind legs and with claws on his hands. The lizard reminded Max of what a juvenile Lizard man would look like. “So is he an alien?”
        
        “Spike! That is a rude way to introduce yourself. And, yes he was an alien I guess but now he is a pony ok,” said Twilight.

        “Okay, I am Spike nice to meet you,” Spike put his hand out to shake the ponies hoof. 

        Max stared at the dragons claw for a second, “Maybe it would be best if we don’t shake for now. I am still having trouble standing and walking. I am Max by the way.”

        “Is it really that hard to walk?” asked Spike.

        “You have no idea, ” said Twilight while giggling. 

        “Hey, you said I was making progress,” protested Max.

        “You are, but you have to admit that it was kinda funny to watch you fall over and over again.”

        “Well, I guess you are right. a little laughter is good from time to time,” said Max.

        “There may be hope for you yet, ” said Twilight, “Anyway lets get some dinner and get your room setup. I am sure you are tired still we can continue our talk tomorrow.”

        While leaning onto Twilight for support Max was able to hobble into the kitchen for some food.  Spike set the table and placed what looked like hay, daffodils, and carrots onto the plates in front of Twilight and Max. Spike set out a pile of gems onto the plate in front himself and started salivating over his meal.

        “Hay and carrots and flowers, Man I could really go a nice steak right now,” said Max.

        “Oh your people, are omnivores I take it as most primates are,” said Twilight, “Well some ponies eat fish but anything else could make you sick also cows are sentient and that would be murder.”

“Ok, but how am I supposed to eat this. I cannot imagine it tasting very good. I have tried grass when I was a kid and it tasted awful,” said Max

“But, now you are a pony. I bet if you try it you will find that it tastes better than you think,” said Twilight.         

Max just stared as Spike ate diamonds and Twilight started to eat her salad with fork using telekinesis.  Max wondered how she was doing it. He knew skilled mages could do such things but he doubted he could.  Max did the only thing he could think of and thrust his muzzle into his food and started munching away.  What surprised Max was how good the food tasted. He expected it to taste boring and bitter, but it tasted almost like a good chicken dinner with rice. The daffodils were a little spicy even something he never expected.

“Why don’t you use your magic?” asked Spike who was staring at the stallion eating messily. 

“Huh, I don’t know how to use telekinesis, ” said Max.

“What, but all unicorns know how to do that,” exclaimed Spike. 

“Well I have never done that before,” said Max.

“I could teach you if you want,” said Twilight.

“That would be nice, thanks, oh and thanks for taking me into your home at least until I can figure out my place here,” said Max.

“You're very welcome, it wouldn’t be right to throw you out into the world in your current state, it’s just not how ponies do things, ”  said Twilight. 

The trio went back to their dinner. Upon finishing it Twilight helped Max get situated in the guest bedroom for the night. She left the stallion to sleep, allowing her some time to think on the days events. And time to write a letter.


Dear Princess Celestia,
        I spoke to our mystery stallion today his name is Max….



To be continued…. 

> Chapter 3: A Royal Tarriance
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


A Royal Tarriance


        Max awoke to the sounds of chirping birds outside his window.  After clearing his mind for a few moments and got his bearings he realized that he was not dreaming. More importantly, he realized that yesterday was not a dream for he was still a pony.  

“Well so much for hoping that yesterday was the result of Luke’s stout,” the unicorn mused over the thought of strong dwarven ale. 

“I had better go ahead and get up. Maybe today I can actually walk without nearly breaking my nose,” Max thought to himself. 

Slowly Max removed his covers with a hoof and reached over the edge of the bed in an attempt to stand. With great determination on his face, as though he was facing down an arcane horror, Max slowly placed his hooves on the floor and rose into a standing position. Max felt ecstatic for his triumph despite how mundane it would be for anyone else. 

“Now just one leg after the other,” Max said to himself. 

Max slowly walked over to the door.  He felt very proud of himself for a moment and then became slightly depressed once he realized that he felt for pride in the ability to walk 5 steps to a door.  Max was not allowed to continue this for long due to..

“SMACK.. oww,” the door suddenly opened hitting Max soundly across the muzzle. “Geez can’t a guy catch a break? Again with my nose and blunt force trauma,” exclaimed Max.

“What are you… Oh, I am so sorry! I didn’t know you were behind the door,” nervously said Twilight,  



“I came to wake you as Spike has just finished making us breakfast,” said Twilight, “I hope you like pancakes.”

“Well I …GURGLE,” as Max was about to respond his stomach growled loudly.

“I guess, I can take that as a ‘yes’,” said Twilight while giggling behind a hoof.
Twilight led Max into the dining where they both sat down. In front of them lay a heaping stack of pancakes covered in butter and blueberry syrup. Max’s mouth began to water at the scrumptious site. But Max hesitated to dig in as he still did not know how to do unicorn magic. Twilight was about to start eating when she noticed the look of trepidation upon Max’s muzzle. 
“Magic will take time to teach, but why don’t you use your hooves to hold the silverware thats what earth and pegasus ponies do?” asked Twilight innocently.

Max returned her question with deadpan stare, “What do mean use my hooves? How can anyone hold something with hooves? that doesn’t make any sense. You may as well of asked why I can’t fly!” retorted Max.

Instead of responding Twilight simple picked up the fork in her right forehoof. She then raised the hoof and fork in front of Max’s face. Max was about to say something else snarky when he noticed what was before his eyes. For Twilight had her right forehoof in front of him and on the end of it as if it were glued was a fork.  Max just stared at it for a minute trying to process what his mind told him was impossible.  

“H.. How are you doing that?” Max stammered.

“It is very simple just place your hoof on an object you want to pick up and think about grabbing it,” Twilight said simply, “All ponies have magic within them and all can use to it pick things up with their hooves.”

Max hesitantly brought his right forehoof up and placed it upon the fork in front of him. He thought about the feeling he would use to pick it up with his hands when he had hands that is.  Much to Max’s surprise the fork rose from the table with his hoof as though it were attached to the bottom of it.  With renewed zeal Max aggressively tore into his stack of pancakes.

A few moments later, “BUUURP!  ahh,” Max belched with a feeling of contentment as he was now full.  Twilight secretly hoped that Spike had not payed too close attention to Max’s terrible table manners.  

“I guess, you really were hungry,” deadpanned Twilight, “Anyway at least your aggressive eating has allowed us to stay on schedule.”

“Schedule for what?” asked Max.

“Knock.. Knock,” was rapt upon the door. 
“Oh it seems we are right on time, too,” said Twilight. “Spike start a pot of tea for us please.”

“On it,” said Spike.

“On time for what?” asked Max.

Twilight got up and opened the door, “Princess, you are right on time please come in.”

Max was watching from the hallway as Twilight was greeting was Max assumed was this land’s royalty.  Max then watched a huge white pony entered into the home.  She was so large that she reminded him more of a horse than a pony.  She had the horn of a unicorn and the wings of a pegasus.  Most peculiar though to Max was that her mane and tail seemed to blow in a non-existent breeze. She wore gold regalia and had a golden crown upon her head.  Max caught himself staring with his mouth open just in time for Princess Celestia to address him.

“Greetings my little pony, my faithful student has told me much about you Max,” said Princess Celestia. 

Max out of instinct went to bow as was customary before royalty.  Unfortunately, for Max he did not know how to bow yet as a pony; As Max went to kneel down he lost his balance and landed smack on the ground with his muzzle flush to the floor. “oww,” grunted Max.

Celestia let loose a tiny giggle, “It seems that it is indeed true that you are not originally a pony.  Tell me more of the ‘humans’ that you claim to have been.”

Max picked himself up with a grunt, “well your highness, There is not much to tell. Other than our appearance being very different and more like hairless monkeys according to Twilight, we are not that different from the ponies of this world. We have kingdoms, we build castles, try to make the best future for our children and seek to protect ourselves from the forces of darkness.”

“When you say ponies of this world, Do you mean that the ponies of your world are different?” inquired Celestia.

“Indeed your highness,” Max paused to think for second, “In my world ponies and horses do not think, or talk, they are just animals and nothing more.”

“I think I understand what you mean, So do humans have magic as well?” asked Celestia.
“Yes, Princess, but not just humans there are many other races in my world. Elves, Dwarves, Centaurs, Wolfings, Birdmen,  Foxlings, and Dragonnewts just to name the more common ones, ” answered Max. 

“And, do these different races live in harmony? ” asked Celestia.

“If you mean, do the races work together, than yes, Almost all of the kingdoms are of multiple races and not simply one race. ” said Max, “Though as of late the biggest issue in Rune was weather once fought for or against Runefaust and the hordes of darkness.”

“That brings us the next point I wish to discuss. Please tell me of this great darkness I have been told was called Dark Dragon,” said Celestia.

“According to the legends of my people one thousand years ago the ‘ancients’ , a long lost people of advanced magic and technology, fought and defeated the great devil king known as Dark Dragon.  Dark Dragon is the incarnation of darkness and he seeks to destroy or enslave all life. He was sealed in an ancient castle beneath the sea. Two kingdoms were formed to guard the entrance, Guardiana and Protectora.  ,”  said Max.

“ Five years ago, an evil lord known only as Darksol appeared in Protectora. Using dark magic he corrupted the king and the leaders of the nation in order for them to begin a war of conquest upon all of rune. Protectora was no more and Runefaust was born. A nation bent on war and conquest. This is exactly what Darksol wanted for by increasing the darkness in men’s hearts with the tragedy of war would weaken the seal on Dark Dragon aiding in his eventual revival, ” Max said.

“As time passed we of Guardiana soon found the conquerors on our very doorsteps. We stood little chance against the war machine that was Runefaust.  Myself and a few other young warriors became a small fighting force known as the Shining Force with the mission of stopping Runefaust and Darksol whose mad ambition it was to release Dark Dragon.  Whereas a large army would be noticed a small elite fighting force could move more rapidly and make strategic strikes against our foes, ” stated Max.

“Eventually, it was revealed that I was chosen by the light to fight the forces of Darkness. I obtained the two ancient swords of power and with the help of the ancients forged them into the Force Sword, a weapon of such power that it could defeat the devil dragon,” Max paused in his storytelling to ponder, “I wonder why the Force Sword has split into the two original swords?”

“I believe I can answer that, ” said Celestia, “Equestria has a high degree of latent magic and to overcome the natural barriers of our world takes a great deal of energy.  Not only did this eldritch artifact bring you and itself into our world but it also changed you into a pony so that you would have a form more appropriate to our world, I have little doubt that the amount of magic needed would have drained much of the magic from the sword, Thus the arcane force holding it together was weakened causing the sword to come apart and in this case splitting into two swords”

“But, why did it bring me here?” asked Max.

“I do not know, even I in my 1500 years of life have not seen all,” said Celestia “You may have some greater purpose to fulfill or it may simply be happenstance, only time will tell.”

“Speaking of the sword Princess, does that mean there is another one of them, and if so has the other one been found? ” asked Twilight who was entangled in a forest of scrolls full of notes being taken.

“Yes I do believe so, and no we have not found it yet, but I am sure it will turn up in time, ” said Celestia.

“Anyway with the Force Sword in hand I lead the Shining Force to the castle of the Ancients where we confronted Darksol. Unfortunately he sacrificed himself to release the seal. We were forced to confront Dark Dragon, but in the end we prevailed and he was resealed, and now I am here and you know the rest, ” stated Max.

“A very heroic tale, Max, But surely your heart must be heavy for you waged a war with your friends and must have lost some along the way,” said Celestia.

“Huh, if you are asking if my friends were ever defeated by the enemy then yes that happened, but they didn’t die at least not permanently,” said Max with an ‘are you serious’ look.

“Oh, come now there is no reason to withhold the truth, you cannot heal if do not grieve and to do so you have to admit they are gone.  Equestria has been at war in the past and I have lost so many that I care for to it. Surely this is also the case for you,” solemnly said Celestia. 

“Uh, like I said no one died permanently. When one of my friends fell we would go to a priest and make the necessary offerings and they would be resurrected.  It could get kinda expensive but I would rather pay the gold than lose a friend. The only thing I am upset about is the change in species and the possibility of being stuck here forever, no offense, ” said Max dryly.

“Resurrection magic, but that is impossible, you must be mistaken, ” blurted out Twilight.

“No, quite possible. I mean it doesn’t work on people who died of old age and only about half the time when someone is sick but it always works when there was a violent death, well almost always there is one exception to that, assuming they have received the blessing of the light prior to their death,” said Max.

“What exception?, ” asked Twilight.

“Well the king of Guardiana and the Varios the captain of the Guard were slain by the Sword of Darkness.  That sword separates the soul from this plain of existence and cannot be brought back.” glumly said Max.

Twilight shuddered at the description of what the Sword of Darkness was capable.  “So, you mean to tell me that your people can bring back those that are dead with Magic. Oh I wonder if I can learn how to do that. Say Max can you teach me how to cast those spells,” enthusiastically said Twilight.

“I too would lean more of this as the benefits to Equestria would tremendous,” said Celestia.   

“Whoa whoa calm down. I am not a priest I do not know how to cast those kind of spells, or any at the moment for that matter, ” Max hastily said. “but, I am sure with the book on light magic that was found with me we can figure something out.”

“Well then our path is clear. Twilight you are to instruct Max on unicorn magic as your highest priority so that with his help we may bring hope to the soldiers and families of Equestria should we ever be thrust into another war, ” said Celestia, “Now, I would like to examine the mystical sword, Twilight.”

“Of course, Princess,” Twilight got up from her seat and opened a locked chest. Within was the magic sword that came with Max. She levitated up and in front of Celestia.  A wave of peace and calm came upon the three ponies in the room as they examined the sword.

Celestia began to scan it with her magic. “This sword does indeed resonate with a similar power to the elements of harmony.  And you said there is another sword that is the opposite of this that made up your Force sword. How can something that vile be used for good.”

“The Force Sword was made by bringing the light and the dark into balance. All of us have light and dark within ourselves and when they are in balance, in order if you will, a greater power is formed that can defeat even a darkness that can overwhelm the light,” said Max.

Max was eager to see the great Sword of Light again that he once wielded against the witch Mishaela.  Max went over to the sword now that Celestia was done examining it and grasped it the same way he did with his fork earlier this morning.  Max was surprised when he felt a shock go through his hoof making his fur stand on end. 

“It seems that it does not recognize you due to your new form, ” said Celestia who was suppressing a giggle with a hoof.

“sigh, Great it would seem that I have to earn the lights favor yet again.  Though hopefully we won’t need the sword of light, right. Twilight said Equestria has been at peace for over 1 thousand years right, ” said Max.

“True, but your own nation was at peace the same amount of time was it not, but we can hope,” said Celestia.

Twilight finished writing all of her notes and placed the sword back into the secure chest.  “Is there anything else, I can help you with Princess?”

“No, that will be all today.  Please create a magic instruction regimen for Max and keep apprised of any developments you make with resurrection Magic. Best of luck my little ponies. I will hear from you soon I am sure. ” Celestia made her exit after giving Twilight a goodbye nuzzle and took her seat on a golden carriage pulled by four pegasus guards. The carriage took off for Canterlot leaving Max and Twilight to ponder their royal visit. 

“Well, we won’t be able to start you lessons until at least tomorrow. So why don’t I show you around ponyville and introduce you to my friends,” said Twilight.

“Hooray, A day off at last,” said Spike.

“Not quite Spike, I still need you finish organising the fundamentals of thaumaturgy section for me. This will be especially important now that I have to teach Max all about unicorn magic,” said Twilight.

“Aww Man,” Spike pouted.

“But once you are done you can spend the rest of the day looking at comic books if you like,” said Twilight with a knowing smirk.

“Comics, Alright organising here I come,” said Spike with great vigor.

“What are comics,” asked Max.

“ Comics is a medium used to express ideas via images, often combined with text or other visual information. sort of like a picture book but more complex,” said Twilight, “I am sure Spike would love to show them to you later.”

“Oh I cannot wait to introduce you to all of my friends. I am sure you are just going to love ponyville. Where to begin,” Twilight mused to herself. Twilight gathered her saddlebags and some bits in preparation to leave. Twilight then led Max out into what would be his first real visit to Ponyville…


To be Continued...

> Chapter 4 Pink Strange: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


        Twilight led Max out of her home for a tour of Ponyville. Just as he had stepped out of the doorway; however, he was suddenly drenched from head to hoof as a rain cloud above him began pour precipitously upon him. Twilight just missed getting doused herself due to being a couple steps to the side to allow Max out of the doorway.

“Holy Light !” Max exclaimed. “That is cold,” the dripping stallion felt a shiver as a calm breeze began to blow. His mind focused primarily on the sudden change in his condition almost missed the laughter coming from above him. 

“Ha HA Ha !!” bellowed Rainbow Dash from above the cloud. “You should have seen the look on your face!” she continued her raucous laughter while rolling off of the cloud and onto the ground. “Ow!”

At this point Max began to laugh at the mischievous mare despite his discomfort. Twilight soon joined in and Rainbow started to laugh again as well. After a few moments of this the ponies regained their composure.

“That wasn’t very nice Rainbow Dash,” admonished Twilight.

“I guess, but it was funny. I got him good, though it was supposed to be for you,” said Rainbow to Twilight as she winked. Rainbow then focused her gaze upon her prank victim “Hey aren’t you that pony we found in the everfree forest?” asked the pegasus.

“Yes, that is right, and you must be Rainbow Dash one of Twilight’s friends I have heard about,” said the sopping wet stallion. “Do you think we could go in and get a towel wet fur is freezing cold, Twilight?” Max said before allowing Rainbow to Answer. 

Before Twilight could answer Rainbow interjected, “No need let me give you my patented Rainblow dry.” 

“No wait Rainbow! Stop!” shouted Twilight but it was too late.  Rainbow began to fly around quickly to form small vortex quickly sucking all of the water out of Max’s coat. Unfortunately, his mane, tail, and fur now also looked like they came out of a tornado and were sticking nearly every direction. 
Max blinked to get the dust out of his eyes. “That feel much better,” Max said after he felt much warmer due to the removal of the water. 

“Yes, but you look ridiculous,” said Twilight. 

Max looked himself over and did not seem to be phased by the change very much. “Doesn’t seem that bad to me. When you are in combat all that matters is that your hair doesn’t get in the way.  The Centaur Knights never seemed to complain very much about this sort of thing,” Max shrugged.

“Wow, your world had centaurs are they also part minotaur and part pony?” asked Twilight.

“Well I would say part horse due to their size and part human or elf would be the other half,” stated Max.

“What is an elf?” asked Twilight.

“Remember how I described humans as being bipedal furless monkeys?” (Twilight nodded)  “Well think the same thing but a little shorter and with long pointy ears. They tend to be good with magic and archery, and they live longer than humans for a few centuries and seemingly never age until one day they pass,” informed Max.

“Ugh,” moaned Rainbow dash as Twilight was busy writing notes with a conjured quill. “Did you guys have to have an egghead convention? ”

“Oh right, sorry Rainbow,” said Twilight with an embarrassed look on you face, “We do have a schedule to keep if we are going to meet everypony today after all,” She pulled her checklist out of her saddlebags and checked Meet Rainbow Dash. 

“Well I gotta go. I need to practice some tricks. I am sure I will see you tonight at the party,” said Rainbow Dash.

“What party? I don’t remember anyone er anypony mentioning a party” asked Max,

“Oh, you will see,” said Rainbow with a grin and shot off into to the sky like a rocket.

Dumbfounded Max turned to Twilight for answers, “She was probably referring to our friend Pinkie Pie. She loves to give parties. And since you are new to town she will probably want to give you a party.”

“But, I do not need a party I am still learning the body and do not want to embarrass myself in front of a bunch of strangers,” said Max.

“Well knowing Pinkie, I doubt you will get much of a choice. Just go with it. It is better for your health, ” said an emphatic Twilight.

“What do you mean?” asked a confused Max.

“You will see,” said Twilight simply. 

Max just stared at her for a moment and then said, “ okay… whatever,” and put it from his mind.

 Twilight then led the blank-flanked stallion through the market. Max noticed a menagerie of ponies of all colors of coats and manes with nearly every combination he could imagine. He also noticed that some of the adult ponies were giving him strange stares. Some would giggle probably due to his mane style, but some would stare at his flank. He guessed it must have been his lack of a cutie mark that made him stand out. 

They walked throughout the market stalls viewing the various wares that ponies were selling. Twilight got in line behind ponies that were buying apples it seemed. As they got their chance to go to the counter, Max noticed that the shopkeeper was a orange earth pony with a blonde mane she had 3 apples for her cutie mark and was wearing a stetson upon her head. 

“Well howdy Twilight. What can I do for you today?” asked Applejack.

“I could use a dozen apples please and I would like to introduce you to my new friend here, Max,” Twilight gestured to Max with a hoof.

“That will be 4 bits and I will give you one extra for Max to try,” said Applejack as she went around her stall and shook Max by the forehoof.  Max was surprised that the small pony had such strength as he was nearly knocked over by her aggressive hoof-shaking.

“Thanks, Apple Jack,” smiled Twilight as she marked a couple of things off of her checklist and passed Applejack the money.
“That is some grip you have there, ” said an astonished Max.

“Just what years of apple-bucking will do for a farmer,” said a humble Applejack.

“I have been hit by minotaurs for less,” retorted Max.

“Oh you are just sayin’ that, ” said and embarrassed Applejack.

“Anyway, Thankyou Applejack but we need to be going if we are going to keep up with the schedule,” said Twilight.

“Okay ya’ll come back now. I’m sure I will see you at the party then, bye” said Applejack.   

        “There goes another one of your friends mentioning a party. I would really rather not cause a bunch of fuss,” Max said as he followed Twilight to their next destination.

        “It will be just fine, you will see. Our next location is just around the corner Carousel Boutique,” informed Twilight.

        “If you say so, boy was your friend Applejack strong though,” stated Max. 

        “That she is, but she is also an earth pony their inherent magic makes them stronger, tougher, and able to things with plants and animals beyond that of other ponies.” said Twilight.

        “So, do all ponies have intrinsic magic then?” asked Max curiously.

        “Yes, I just told you about earth ponies, Pegasi control the wind and weather, they can fly and more agile than others, and can walk on clouds, and then unicorns such as ourselves can cast direct magic with our horns. All unicorns can do levitation and light spells and many learn shield, beam, and short teleport spells. Most unicorns can only do other magic that is related to their special talent except with special training. Also as I have already told you all ponies have hoof magic allowing us to hold things with our hooves,”  lectured Twilight.

        “Hmm, that is interesting sounds like ponies are part fairy,” ponder Max.

        “What are fairies?” queried Twilight.

        “Oh uh, fairies are magical creatures that priests from my world summon when they cast healing magic. The light given off by the fairy can heal any wound if they are summoned for long enough. They go back to where they live once the spell is over, fairies are made of magic or so I am told,” replied Max.

        “Fascinating,” said Twilight as she finished jotting that down in her notes. “Oh look, we have arrived.”

        Before Max stood a large 2 story building that looked like a carousel and had numerous window displays showing off various articles of clothing for sale. The trim and decor of the place looked like something one would find in noble’s residence thought Max. He wondered what kind of pony he would find in such a home,

        Twilight opened the door as the sign in the window said “open.” A bell chimed, and Max and Twilight entered the establishment.  Max was greeted by what he recognized as a tailor’s shop, but not just any such shop more akin to what one would find in the palace district of Guardiana. 

        A lilting voice with a posh accent said, “Welcome to Carousel Boutique where everything is chic, unique, and magnifique.” The voice came from a white unicorn pony with a curly purple mane and tail with three diamonds for a cutie mark. “Oh, Twilight darling, whatever brings you here today?”

        “Hello, Rarity we came to visit so that I could introduce you to Max, the stallion from the everfree.” Twilight pointed a hoof at Max whom Rarity just noticed.

        “Oh my goodness, my good stallion what has happened to your mane, tail, and coat?” interrogated Rarity.

        “What oh, this?” Max pointed to himself and told the story to her of how Rainbow had pulled her little prank upon him. 

        “Well this will simple not do. Fashion will not allow it. A gentlecolt like yourself cannot go around like that. You must simple let me fix the mess out dear Rainbow Dash has caused,” implored Rarity. 

        “Well if you insist I guess having my hair fixed would be nice. That is very generous of you to offer, thank you,” said Max.

        “It would be my pleasure darling. We cannot have you showing up at your party looking like this now can we.” Rarity started the process of untangling the new ponies mane and tail.

        “Now, another one of your friends thinks I am having a party this is getting ridiculous. I do not want a party. I just want to learn my way around here and take it easy for a while,” incredulously said Max.

        “Well, darling you simply must understand that as a new pony in Ponyville, Pinkie Pie is going to give you a party soon to get you acquainted with the town. it would be better to just accept it than fight it as our dear Twilight learned herself,” said Rarity while untying a knot in his mane. 

        “You make it sound like this Pinkie already knows I am up and about and is already planning the party as we speak. How could she know that? That is impossible,” said a doubtful Max.
        
        “Oh, well she probably already does know in her own way. But you will just have to wait till you mean her till you see what I mean, ” Said, Rarity.

        “Everypony keeps saying that also, I have to wait and see what is going to happen. I feel like I am about to ambushed by goblins,” said a now more tense Max.

        “Trust me, Max, just let it go. Somethings are just Pinkie being Pinkie,” said Twilight with a frustrated look on her muzzle. 

        “Fine, if you say so,” said Max with a huff. He was still not convinced about this Pinkie Pie pony.

        Rarity gave Max a shampoo and combed out his mane and tail, and brushed his coat. Once she was done Max looked at himself in the mirror and felt like he was ready to a dance if the dance involved small ponies who did not wear clothes regularly. 

        After this Max asked, “So it must be hard to be in  the clothes business Rarity when ponies usually seem to go without clothes?”

        “Indeed it is Max,” stated Rarity, “but for important occasions ponies want clothing and most of the Canterlot elite wear clothing of some sort at most outings.  As most of my commissions are for special occasions and the elite most ponies don't scoff at a grandiose design and as such I make a comfortable living on a moderate number of sales each month. ”
        “Hmm, makes sense my friend Luke is a sculptor or was before the war and did just fine on about one job a month. Of course Dwarves always seem to have a gem they just found in a mine. So you can’t be too sure. ” said Max.

        “Oh my look at the time we are behind schedule. You will have to tell me about Dwarves later. We have to go or we will not be able to finish. Thank you for everything Rarity, but we must simply go,” informed a nervous Twilight. 

        Twilight and Max left Carousel Boutique with his mane, coat,and tail virtually sparkling. As Twilight led them to their next stop she couldn’t help but notice this his new look against the sunlight made him look kind of cute. She quickly put that out of her head as she had things to do. 

        Next Twilight led Max to a building that looked like a gingerbread house. Max couldn’t help but wonder if the building was edible, but he kept it to himself as he thought Twilight would think that strange. 

        Upon entering the strange looking building Max’s sense of smell of immediately inundated with the aromas of many baked goods. The more he smelled them the more his mouth began to water. “Hey, Twilight can we get a snack while we are here?”

        Taking out her schedule and checking the time with the sun she nodded, “We should have time before we have to go to our next destination.”

        The two ponies went up to the counter and were greeted by an extremely enthusiastic pony, “Heya Twilight and mysterious pony we rescued in the everfree forest. How can I help you today?”

        “Hello, Pinkie Pie, We would like a snack. How about a couple of muffins? Oh and this is Max,” inquired Twilight.
        
        Twilight waited a second and after getting no reply, blinked and noticed that Pinkie was no longer behind the counter. “Hey, my name is Pinkie Pie and I want to be friends. Oh right you are new to Ponyville. I have to give you your welcome to Ponyville Party. Oh it will be so much fun. What is your favorite flavor of cake…. Hmm. I am getting a chocolate vibe. So Death by Chocolate it is...,” shouted and ecstatic Pinkie who was vigorously shaking Max’s forehoof. And, just like that Pinkie seemed to vanish leaving the flummoxed stallion standing there stark still in shock.

        “What just happened? I have seen ninjas move slower than her. How is that even possible? How did she know that I like chocolate cake? ” Max said to no one in particular with a distant gaze upon his eyes.

        “Oh just Pinkie Pie being Pinkie Pie. Trust me it is just better to accept it than to question it. It is better for your health. Having an anvil drop on your head is not fun, And nearly having a stroke worrying about it is also pretty awful. So just let it go ok.” informed Twilight.

        “(sigh) Ok if you say so,” with his left eye twitching slightly.
        
        The two ponies looked up to see two plates with blueberry muffins on them with a note that said on the house and signed pinkie. They took their snack to a table and enjoyed the muffins.  Max felt that his mouth exploded with flavor and munched on the pastry. 

 He could get used to the good food here in this world. At least the food made it almost worth it being here and in this other body.  Max thought to himself. He thought back on the salted trail rations he had to eat for weeks at a time while he and his friends battled against Darksol and his hordes and his stomach nearly turned at how unpleasant the memory was.  Also, the fact that his memory was that of mostly dried meat seemed to upset his stomach a little more than he thought it should, but he figured new body ergo new sense of taste.  

        Upon finishing their snack the two ponies left Sugar Cube Corner and began to walk a short distance out of town. Twilight led Max to a small cottage at the edge of the forest. Max noticed immediately that there were an abundance of animals around the cottage of many different species that one would encounter in a forest. This many animals around a home seem odd to Max, but Twilight didn’t seem to care so he kept his mouth shut. 

Twilight knocked with a hoof on the door. A moment later a quiet, “coming” was heard. The door opened revealing a yellow pegasus with a pink mane. “Oh, hello Twilight what can I do for you today?”

“Hello, Fluttershy I came by for visit so that I could introduce you to Max here,” Twilight gestured with a hoof  to the royal blue stallion. 

“..eep,” was all of the response that Twilight got out of the now wide-eyed pegasus. 

“I promise, I do not bite,” said Max reassuringly. “Besides some of these animals look far more dangerous than a unicorn who can barely trot and is incapable of performing magic. Much to my chagrin.”
 “Well actually, the animals are very safe you just have to know how to talk to them. Mr. Bear,” she pointed to a brown bear, “is just grumpy in the mornings and if you give him a shoulder massage he can be very affectionate,” said the timid mare who had come out of her shell once something she had passion for was being discussed.

“Can we come in Fluttershy?” said the lavender mare.

“Oh, of course Twilight how rude of me. Come one in and I will get some tea made”

The two unicorns entered the cottage and made their way into a sitting room where there was large sofa upon which they sat down. A short while later Fluttershy came in the room with a tea set balanced with her wings on her back. She carefully moved the tea set off of her back and placed it onto the coffee table and served the tea for her guests. 

“So uh Max was it?(he nodded) What an unusual name. Tell me, is Twilight helping you adjust to being in ponyville?”

“Oh, yes she has been very kind helping me to adjust being a pony.”

“What do you mean being a pony?” asked Fluttershy.

So, Max with the help of Twilight told Fluttershy all about the past 2 days and how he used to be a human from another world. She was also informed by Twilight in a very clinical fashion about his numerous failed attempts at walking. The two mares found this amusing and only giggled more when his face turned red. 

After a couple hours of chatting it was time for the unicorns to go on their way. “Have a good day Twilight and Max. I will see you at the party.” 

Max did a double take.”Did she just say at the party?”

“Pinkie already told you she was gonna throw you a party, remember. ”

Max’s eye twitched as he recalled all of the day’s hints about a party. He was not really in the mood to embarrass himself in front of a group of ponies. He worried that he would probably fall on the punch bowl or something due his clumsiness with his body, and that everyone would laugh at him.

“Just relax Max, the party will be far better than you think. I had a similar experience with frustration about a party when I first came to ponyville. Just go with it. You won’t be forced to speak in front of everypony if you don’t want to.”

“I guess so”

“Besides we don’t know when the party is going to be,” said Twilight with a knowing grin.

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The two unicorns walked back to the library at early evening taking a more scenic route to enjoy the sights of Ponyville. Twilight opened the door and went into an apparently dark room. Max just stared into the darkness waiting for something to jump out. When he finally walked in and closed the door.

“SURPRISE!” shouted a small group of ponies as the lights were flipped on. Max recognized the ponies as Twilight’s friends, along with Spike and three small fillies.

Max stood stark still with a wide-eyed expression. He quickly scanned the scene and determined that there was not a threat present. Now that his combat alert has been disproven he relaxed, but his expression soon turned to one of slight annoyance. 

Pinkie would have none of that, “All right buster lets turn that frown upside down!” Pinkie then forced a cupcake in the hapless stallion’s mouth. 

(cough , cough) After the initial coughing fit from being nearly choked Max focused on the taste of the cupcake and he was stunned that it was the single best chocolate cupcake he had ever tasted. “Wow, that is really good Pinkie Pie.” A smile started to appear on his muzzle.

“See I knew you would like them, everpony does.” said Pinkie. “Now who want to play pin the tail on the pony?”

Max was then led to play a party game where he was blindfolded and had a tail put in his mout that he had to pin to wall where a pony was drawn.  This was to Max absurd yet he couldn’t deny that it was kinda fun as well.

“Well, if you had to throw me a party at least you kept it small Pinkie. Thank you.”

“Your welcome Maxy, you seemed kinda tense about my party so I kept it small for you” 

Max then went and said hello to the other ponies present. “Hello Applejack.”

“Well, howdy partner. Glad to see you got over your fear of parties”

“I am not afraid of parties. I just not used to being a pony yet  and didn’t want to embarrass myself, but having met most of you already; I guess I was worried over nothing. This party is pretty awesome,” stated Max.
        
        “Well, of course it is awesome, I am here, only the most awesome pony in equestria. ” Interjected Rainbow Dash.

        The ponies chuckled at Rainbow’s brash remark, “It’s nice to see you too Rainbow. Maybe you can show me what makes you so awesome other than pulling pranks that is,” replied Max.

        “I am awesome at everything I do. Just come out near Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow and I will show why I am the greatest flyer in Equestria,” Boasted Dash.

        “But, Max you were going to show me how to read that book of Magic and I was going to give you lessons tomorrow, ” pleaded Twilight. Rainbow promptly rolled her eyes at another egg head idea of Twilight’s.

        Noticing the pleading look in Twilight’s eyes Max replied, “How about I come the day after tomorrow, I really should learn the basics of unicorn magic before much of anything else.”

“Ok, deal.  That will give you time to prepare for how blown your mind will be with my awesomeness.”

Max then went to speak with Fluttershy and Rarity who were discussing something about a show in Manehatten. “Oh, I would give just about anything to be able to see Hinny of the Hills,” said Rarity.
“Oh that would be just lovely,” said Fluttershy demurely

“Evening, ladies. What is this Hinny of the Hills you are talking about?”

“Oh, darling it is simply one of the greatest productions in the history of theatre. It would be simple divine to experience it. ”

“You remind me of the Ladies of the court in Guadiana, you are very refined in your tastes, Rarity.” said Max.

“Oh, do you think so? You are very kind to compare me to a Lady of a noble house.”

“I think you would make a good noble Rarity,” said Fluttershy.

“Thank you, darling you are too kind.”        

Max then noticed that three unknown fillies were sitting off to the side and were pointing at him and whispering. Curious as to what the three could be discussing Max excused himself.

The three fillies were so busy talking that they didn’t notice Max come up behind them.
“So, What is it that you three are planning?”

“Oh nothing. We are just curious how come you do not have a cutie mark? I am Apple Bloom and my sister is Applejack,” said a yellow filly with red mane and a bow.

“I am Sweetie Bell and Rarity is my big sister,” said a white unicorn filly.

“I am Scootaloo, and I do not have a sister, but Rainbow Dash is my favorite pony,” said an orange pegasus filly with a purple mane.

“It is nice to meet you girls I am Max, And, to answer your question. I do not have a cutie mark, I guess, because I have only been a pony for a few days. I used to what is called a human. And, humans do not get cutie marks that I know of.”

“Oh, that is a relief I was worried that you grew up as a pony and that you never discovered your special talent. If that was true it might mean that we would never find out talent either,” said Applebloom. 

“Hey, girls are you thinking? What I am thinking?,” asked Sweetie Bell with a knowing look in her eyes.

The other two nodded. Together they said, “Would you like to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“What is the Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

“It is our club. We help each other find our cutie marks by trying new things,” said Scootaloo.

“We haven’t had any luck yet, but maybe with your help we can finally find our special talents,” said Apple Bloom.

“Hmm eh why not if your parents say it is ok for a grown stallion to be hanging out with their daughters. Who knows maybe some of the stuff I learned on my adventures could help you girls,” said Max.

“YAY!” the three shouted in unison.

“Adventures, could you tell us a story of one of your adventures?” asked Scootaloo.

Max told them tale of the fall of Guardiana. He told them how he was sent to investigate the sealed entrance to the castle of the ancients and how his country was almost destroyed in his absence. He told how his mentor, Varios, was slain by the villain known as Kane. How the king was mortally wounded and how the sword of light fell into the forces of Runefaust. His stirring tale garnered the attention of all of the ponies in the room. Max only noticed this after he finished his tale.

Having had a good time everypony went home for the night after saying their goodbyes. Max had more fun than he tought he would at the party and felt that he had made friends with this circle of ponies. For the first time in a few days Max did not feel quite as lonely as he had before. 
Max, Twilight, and Spike all went to bed so as to prepare for the next day. A day when the magics of two realms would come together at last.


To be continued...  

.

> Chapter 5: Magic 101
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Magic 101

        Max awoke to the sound of chirping birds outside his window of the guest room he was sleeping in at Golden Oaks Library. He quickly got out of bed and did a few stretches and went to take care of his morning business. As Max finished washing his hooves he caught himself staring at his reflection, in particular his horn. “I sure hope I can learn how to use this thing for something more than a built-in hat rack. Never know when I might need to have to defend myself even if this world is more peaceful than Rune,” Max said to himself.

        Max opened his door and was instantly met with a pleasant aroma in his nose. Max carefully walked down the stairs to the kitchen where he saw Spike making hearty breakfast of oat pancakes. “Oh good you are awake,” said Spike, “You are just in time for breakfast.”

        “Where is Twilight?” asked Max thinking it odd that she would miss a meal.

        “Oh she is just getting ready for your first magic lesson, she could barely contain her excitement at the prospect of teaching somepony magic and her leaning yours als, ” replied Spike.

        Max had gathered from their brief time together that the mare could get quite enthralled when it came to scholarly pursuits. So, he sat down at the table and started to eat the scruptios looking pancakes placed before by Spike. 

        About halfway through his first stack of pancakes Twilight in a flash of light at a seat across from Max and took notice of him. “Great you are up. I was about to wake you, but since you are already here that gives us five more minutes to eat before we have to start so that we can stay on schedule.”

        “Well good morning to you too, ” Max said with a smirk on his muzzle.

        This brought a look of realization to Twilight that she may have been a little lost in her thoughts about joy of learning that about to commence, “oh um, good morning Max. Sorry, I just so excited about what we are about to do. We both get the learn about a new form of magic that is unknown to ponies and humans alike we could be making history here.”

        Max gave a hearty chuckle at the mares exuberance. He couldn’t help but think that it was rather cute the way Twilight was going out about something most would find to be a rather dry subject matter. Max having finished his breakfast, replied snarkily, “Well I guess we should get going with changing the world then.”

The sarcasm went right over Twilight’s head, “I know, maybe we should take a picture for the historical record?”

“I think having a portrait made seems a little over-the-top that is rather expensive isn’t it?”, ” inquired Max.

“No, not a portrait just a photograph.”

“What is a photograph?” Max said with a curious look. 

“Wow, your world doesn’t have photographs? hmm. Well, a photograph is made with a machine called a camera with a lens like on a telescope. First a glow crystal is ignited to produce a bright light then the camera’s lens focus the image that is reflected back from whatever is going to be in the picture and then magic film is used to capture the image once the film has the image it can be made into a picture with some thaumaturgic solvent and some special paper. it is much cheaper and a higher quality than a portrait.” 

“I will take your word for it maybe you can show me some in person so that I can see what you are talking about.”

“Sure, we can do that later but right now we have some important things to discuss,” Twilight led Max into her study where she a couple of blackboards and chalk with diagrams of what appeared to be unicorn anatomy and the other contained some basic arcane rune diagrams. 

“For today’s lesson we are going to be discussing the basics of unicorn magic and the arcane constructs used to perform the two most basic unicorn spells, light and levitation respectively. As you are a former magic user in your previous form once you find out how to reach your mana the basics should come very easily, ” Twilight intoned as a Professor. 

Twilight lifted a baton and pointed at the board with a diagram of a unicorn’s head. “ As you can see, below a unicorn’s horn is a specialized organ that rests above the brain called the carbuncle. This organ is where a ponies magic is stored for later use. The flow of magic can then leave the carbuncle and then be directed into the horn for the various spells that can be cast. Like any muscle the carbuncle can get stronger with use so a good way to cast more spells is to simple cast as many spells as you can and you will eventually get stronger.”

Max raised a hoof to ask a question, “I thought you said that all ponies have magic so do pegasi and earth ponies have a carbuncle like a unicorn does? ”

“Good question, the answer is yes and no. Neither earth ponies or pegasi have a carbuncle in their heads, however Pegasi have two smaller but similar organs at the base of their wings and earth ponies have many smaller ones in their muscles and hooves with a larger one near their heart that perform a similar function. This allows the other tribes to channel their magic in different ways but because of this unicorns are much better at producing spells that extend beyond the body. Earth pony magic is mostly instinctual and only a rare individual can outwardly channel it to do more than the usual improvement in strength, stamina, and passive plant magic, But Applejack has been able to force plants to grow on command and well Pinkie Pie can do many things that seem like magic, but it is probably better if we do not think about her too much, heh heh ”

“Yeah Pinkie Pie is certainly unusual. So if these carbuncle were removed or damaged would a pony lose his or her magic?”

“Well if it were damaged a pony’s magic would certainly be weaker. However, no pony has ever survived with the organ removed. Our magic is closely tied to our lifeforce. With the source of our magic removed we die. Pegasi who lose their wings can barly manipulate clouds and an earth pony who loses a leg will have much less stamina that one would think.”

“So would that mean that an anti-magic field or mana drain spell or curse would kill a pony?,”  inquired max.

“No, they wouldn’t die. they would just be weak and sluggish being able to do very little until their mana flows were brought back to normal. Ok, now that we have covered basic anatomy let’s talk about how a unicorn channels their magic. I want you to empty your mind and try to focus your concentration trying to feel energy with your horn. Imagine that their is a dam holding back water and that you want to open that dam to let the water flow. As you have not used your magic for a few days your reservoir should be quite full”

Max did as he was told and meditated upon his horn and the energy that is supposed to be just below it. He could almost feel it. A mild tingling in his horn. Yet it seemed to be just out of reach. Then he had an idea. He focused on what if felt like to channel a bolt spell but instead of the energy being in his hands he tried to will the energy build-up into his horn. After about half an hour of channeling exercise Max started to get a headache that seemed to build amd build until without warning the dam of pressure in his head burst. 

BOOM!

A bluish green bolt of lightning shot out of Max’s horn and strait into the wall leaving nasty scorch mark. Luckily nothing in the library caught on fire. 

“WHAT THE HAY WAS THAT!,” Spike exclaimed as he rushed into the study.

Twilight looked a little frazzled with some of her mane sticking up and she still blinking away spots in her eyes and ringing in her ears due to the point-blank plasma discharge.  Max had sheepish grin on his muzzle as he was quite embarrassed. 

Twilight having gotten her wits about her said, “Well, I guess you were able to find your magic heh heh , faster than I anticipated even,  but I have never heard of a foal finding their magic creating such a violent outcome.”

“Ahem, That might be my fault.” Max had guilty look in his eyes “I tried to channel the energy like you said and it just felt like it was out of reach no matter what I tried. So, I thought I would try to channel a bolt spell using runes I was familiar with but instead of using my hands as the focus I used my horn as the focal point. And that didn’t even seem to work for a while then I started feeling this pressure in my head like a headache that started building until it released and then the bolt of lightning shot out of my horn.”

“Well, we got lucky then. Spike can you see about cleaning up that scorch mark over there while I finish my lecture please? ”

“(Groan)Why do I have to clean it up? I did not even make it this time. ”

“Spike now please I have to finish this lecture and Max is the student. Tell you what if you this you can have ice cream for dessert tonight with dinner,” Twilight said with a wink.

“Really?” Twilight nodded, “You got it Twilight one scorch removal coming right up.”

“Anyway, now that you found your magic let’s talk about two basic spells. The first is the light spell as it is the simplest.” Twilight gestured with a hoof to a simple spell matrix on the chalkboard. “As you can see, by channeling your magic through this shape you can cause it excite electrons in the air around your horn causing them to give off photons and thus light. ”

“So, all I have to do it let is flow through my horn in the shape of a single rune.”Twilight nodded. “That seems pretty simple as the bolt spell requires 6 different runes.” Max closed his eyes and focused on the arcane pattern presented. after about five minutes he felt that his magic was flowing as was desired. He opened his eyes and was pleasantly surprised to see that his horn was illuminating the room in a bright light. “Alright now we are making progress,” said Max with a smile on his face.

“Good now let's move onto the other basic unicorn enchantment levitation. This spell also requires but a single rune matrix. The rune allows you to channel magic into force like gravity. WIth it you can push or pull or lift anything. The more force needed the more magic that it will take. As this should be easy after your recent success; I want you to lift this ball off of the table into the air. ” Twilight pointed to a small metal ball that sat upon the a table near the chalkboard. 
        Max closed his eyes and concentrated. He felt the flow of the energy as before and channeled it through the spell matrix. He then thought about using that energy to lift the ball off of the table. After about a minute of deep concentration Max was about to give up when he heard. THUNK from the ceiling. Max opened his eyes and to his astonishment he saw the metal ball was firmly planted on the ceiling with a golden glow surrounding it. 

        “Great job Max, now it seems you have plenty of power, but you need to work on your control. I want you to practice lifting that ball one foot off of the table and gently placing it back as much as you can while go help Spike make our lunch. Please try not to destroy anything ok.”

        “I will try.” Max then spent the next 20 minutes focusing on making his magic lift and lower the ball with an ever increasing grace.

        “Not bad, Now let’s eat,” said Twilight. 

        Twilight led Max back to the Kitchen where they both had daffodil sandwiches with small salad and Spike a had an RLT- ruby, lettuce, and tomato sandwich.  

        “I must say Max your magic progress went a lot better than I thought it would considering that you still have trouble walking,” said Twilight. 

        “Hay, I have cast spells before. Magic is mostly in the mind. Getting a whole new body is very confusing. I would like to see you try to walk on two legs if you suddenly became a human.”

        “As if that would ever happen,” deadpanned Spike.

        “You’re right Spike that is very unlikely. What a silly idea,” said Twilight with a giggle.
        “Maybe after a few more days of practice I can show the two major spells I have mastered prior to coming here,” said Max.
        
        “That would be most informative, but now that we have finished our lunch why don’t you teach me what you can from the tome of Light magic,” replied Twilight. 

        “Sure, sounds good.”

        “Since I cannot read the book and I bet you cannot read equestrian even though we seem to be speaking the same language I think the first step would be teach each other how to read. But, first I was hoping that you could give me an idea as what this book contains.”

        “Ok, Why not I admit, I have often been a bit curious as how Light magic works but I have always been too busy fighting or training to find out,” said Max.

        “Let’s see the title is Father Cromwell’s Guide to Light Magic

Table of Contents

        Chapter 1: Basic faerie healing spells for combat.
        Chapter 2: Detox spells for purging poisons, diseases, and curses.
        Chapter 3: Holy blessings: bestowing the power of the light on champions
        Chapter 4: Deflection and reaction spells
        Chapter 5: Wind blast spells for blowing away the darkness
        Chapter 6: Resurrection and restoration spells 
        Chapter 7: Advanced healing spells: Aura
        Chapter 8: Holy sanctums and binding points

        “Wait a second, Max I think I need you to explain some of what that means. What is faerie healing spell and why is it for combat?”

        “Ok, so our priests can summon minor sprites or faeries, creatures inherently connected to the light. When they are summoned the light of a faerie can heal the wounds of those of pure hearts. This can used to close a cut or large gash or puncture wound that is nearly fatal”

        “Fascinating, spells like that could revolutionize the pony medicine and the uses for the royal guard are numerous as well,” stated Twilight. “Now on this second chapter you mentioned curses. Curses have never proven to exist in scope of Pony magic, surely this is just an exaggeration, right?”

        “That would be nice but, at least in Rune curses are very prevalent when one is dealing with dark magics or dark artifacts.” replied Max.

        “That is not very comforting,” said Twilight with a sour look on her face. “So what does a holy blessing do?”

        “That is the way for a warrior of the Light to be empowered so that he can fight against the hordes of darkness. Each aspirant is given a title to match his or her training. I was given the Title of swordsman when I first started out. As one progressed in training and might the Light can bless you again with a new title and abilities to match.”

        “Fascinating, so this ‘Light’ is like a source of energy for good. Kind of like the Elements of Harmony.” mused Twilight. “The rest of the spells seem sensible except for Holy sanctums and Resurrection spells. You can’t be serious about Resurrection spells. I mean bringing back ponies from the dead is impossible except for necromancy which is illegal, and then it is more of a zombie than it being the pony it was in life.”

        “Well, thankfully the spells are quite real because having a lance through your chest is quite unpleasant and makes staying alive really hard. I only had to go through it a few times but when you a fighting a war against an enemy that outnumbers you 100 to 1; casualties are inevitable. But with some good holy magic and enough gold to pay for the ritual’s supplies; you can compensate for the losses by bringing back your warriors and restoring them to fighting status.”

        “You mean to say you can actually bring any pony back from the dead?” asked a skeptical Twilight.

        “No, not anyone. If they died of old age then the spell won’t work or if they died as a result of powerful dark magic than they are too far gone. But, a death due to violence, illness or accident can be undone. However, the more powerful the soul of the individual the greater effort and thus greater cost for the ritual. The reagents needed are not cheap and it was rare that it would be used on a low level soldier or peasant due to the prohibitive cost.”
        “Amazing, with spells like that we could greatly reduce deaths in the military or in mares during birth. We simply must translate this book as the highest priority. Now could you please tell me what a holy sanctum is?” queried Twilight.

“A holy sanctum is a place endowed with the light that can be bound to for emergency teleports. It is the location that my mass teleport or Egress spell would take me and the rest of the Shining force. Essentially it acted as an anchor for the teleportation thus greatly reducing the magic needed to safely teleport.” 

“Excellent, now that I have some initial notes on the text. I think it would be good for us to over the different alphabets so that we can read each other’s languages. Once that is done Max, you should practice your magic for a few more hours to improve your control, and I will go over today’s notes for proper indexing.”

        Max and Twilight then spent the next few hours going over the differences in their written languages. After, Max practiced and Twilight studied. Spike made a hearty dinner of hayburger loaf with a sweet potato casserole. 

        After a studious day with some amazing revelations for the future Max, Twilight, and Spike called it a day. Unknown to the two ponies and one dragon in the library another had been observing them that day. Another who saw much promise in the magic of this tome. Another who would wait patiently for the day when Twilight had it completely translated. Another who would use this new magic to make their army undefeatable. 

To be continued...