The human dumbly watched as the smartphone hang in the air. There was no support, yet it wasn’t falling. There was a pony snout sniffing around and poking itself at the screen, yet the smartphone did not even sway. It was like a freeze frame, but in three dimensions and right there, in front of his very own eyes.
Just to be sure, Anon stretch out his hand and waved it over the smartphone. There were no strings he could feel. He waved it underneath, but felt nothing once again. He waved it around, and there was no reaction, until he accidentally poked his fingers into the snout of the mare who was occupied with an examination of her own.
And just like that, the spell was broken. The smartphone unfroze and plummeted down, and Anon reflexively reached out and grabbed it mid-air, only belatedly realizing his body was tensed and ready for action the entire time.
Hands suddenly trembling and sweaty, Anon quickly pocketed the smartphone and glanced back at the mare. She was once again snorting and shaking her head, but otherwise gave no reaction at what just happened. Actually, he himself was unsure of what exactly happened just now, or whether it even did happen. One moment he was showing the creature his phone, and the next moment it was yanked out of his hand, and then it was hanging in the air, defying gravity and common sense, being scrutinized by the creature. Did… did the pony cause this? It was too much of a coincidence. It’s the only living thing in the area, it either caused whatever this was or at least triggered it.
Speaking of the pony, it stopped with the snorting and was currently closing in on him, taking careful steps, sniffing at the air with its nose and looking all over his pants. Anon reflexively took a step back, but then froze as he realized it’d be better not to make sudden movements around a creature with unknown capabilities.
The mare showed no reaction though. She just kept her focus on his pants, sniffing at the air and taking small steps forward. Two feet. One foot. Six inches. Three. One. The snout bumped into his crotch. Anon suddenly realized he hadn’t showered for two days straight. As if to confirm his thoughts, the mare recoiled with a snort, took a step to the side and brought her snout close again, this time near the pocket where the smartphone was. Then she halted.
A feeling of sudden movement in his pants was all it took for the human to spring back with a curse and assume a half-squatting position, one hand raised in preparation for defense from the creature and the other tightly clamped down on the pocket. However, the feeling stopped the moment he jumped, and the pony remained in place, not doing anything suspicious and simply staring at him. He stared back.
The stalemate lasted for what felt like a minute, until the mare suddenly turned around with a snort and trotted up the stairs and out of sight, leaving Anon alone on the floor. He kept staring upwards, cautiously waiting for the creature to reemerge. Another minute passed, and he was startled by a knocking sound from below.
Almost immediately the mare came back into view above and went down the stairs. After she descended, she gave him only a passing glance before taking a sharp turn and trotting towards the stairway to the first floor. As she went by, Anon could only stare, stupefied, as the pony was followed by a flying sheet of paper and a quill, the latter gliding over the surface of the sheet and leaving long, precise strokes behind. The pony reached the stairway, turned and trotted downwards, going out of sight, the flying items lagging behind only by a second as they neatly skirted the corner and disappeared down the stairs as well.
With the potential danger gone, or at least not immediately present, Anon let himself relax. His mind immediately latched on the fact that the pony definitely had something to do with the flying items, and it was safe to assume it was responsible for the display with the phone earlier. How did it do this, though? Magnets? There is no iron in paper, or at least not in any meaningful amount for the magnets to work – he knew that much. Illusion? No, he confirmed for himself there were no strings attached, in literal sense. Although, the smartphone fell down once he bumped his hand on the pony’s nose. Could the mare have kept it afloat with its snout somehow? Some kind of thin rod he missed? It would have to be sturdy, yet thin or transparent, and Anon did not know of any material that fit the bill for such rod. Besides, no way the mare could’ve kept it that steady while shuffling around, and no way she could’ve kept both quill and paper at such a far distance, let alone have the quill actually write in the process. Unless she didn’t use the rod that time, and actually hanged them from some strings hidden around the room, which moved accordingly to make it seem like the items were flying!
Anon took a careful look over the ceiling, floor and walls. There were no strings, rods, magnets, miniature air jets or mirrors in sight. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything besides the books.
Shaking his head, Anon made his way back towards the table and took a seat on the bench, carefully folding his legs underneath the low seat. There was a surprising amount of low furniture now that he paid attention to it, he constantly had to duck down or bend over, almost as if the house was designed with dwarfs in mind. Or children.
Or ponies.
The last thought came out of nowhere and almost physically struck him. What if the house was build for ponies? It would explain why the mare could’ve led him here – it could be her house, after all.
There was some commotion happening downstairs, but Anon paid it no attention, feeling self-conscious as his mind replayed some of the interactions he had with the pony. She invited him inside, led him to the second floor and offered a seat on this very bench, before leaving him all to himself. In turn, Anon ate all her food, left a stain on a wall downstairs, shoved her aside face-first like a dog, and finally taunted her with his smartphone.
He was shown hospitality, and instead of being grateful he acted like a real asshole.
But that’s not a huge issue, right? Animals usually don’t judge, or hold a grudge, and are easy to appease. Well, usually is the keyword here: he’d heard various stories over the years from his friends and coworkers. Besides, why should he care if some pony gets upset at him?
The thought startled him. The answer was plain as day: because the pony had voodoo powers.
Yes, try as he might, Anon could not explain to himself what he saw. What he felt, and why he didn’t feel anything he should have. The pony was somehow able to levitate items around itself, in clear defiance of laws of physics.
That fact itself led to a whole slew of other unpleasant questions. Could similar effect be directed at him? What would happen then? Did that really happen, or was this a hallucination after all? A repeating hallucination sounds unlikely, but what about a coma? There were stories about people dreaming up entire lives while in coma, but Anon always considered them an urban legend. And if it was a dream, he surely would’ve woken up by now. But since it’s real, then how could an animal possess such abilities? What other abilities it could possess?
The sound of heavy clopping nearby put breaks on the mental train before it could wreck. Anon tore his gaze from the floor and saw a creature emerging from the stairwell. It was a much bigger pony with pinkish white coat and a huge, at least 2 feet long, horn. Its mane and tail trailed through the air behind, locks of pink, blue and cyan intertwining as they kept floating on some unseen wind. The pony was decked out in golden peytral with a huge amethyst in the center, matching tiara with a similar gem and a full set of golden horseshoes. The cherry on the cake was a pair of folded white wings resting on its sides.
Or, was Anon’s last thought, they are not animals after all.