Of Arms, Legs, and Hooves

by TheHouseholdWarrior


Chapter 4- Art, Drugs, and Time Machines

Still no sign of Rin.

I walked up to my dorm room, one step at a time, my legs barely being able to take it anymore.

We've double-checked every single spot she could've been, running up and down the school, up and down the dorms, and even up and down the entire town. It's a great thing that my heart was still able to take it despite my little 'episode' earlier though, but still.

It's getting pretty late. Probably past curfew. I lift up my right arm and bring it closer to my line of sight. Then I quickly pull up my sleeve to take a look at my watch.

Only to remember that I don't have a watch.

Sighing, I make my way back to my room, trudging like a zombie. I must've been emanating some kind of presence, because all the room I pass seem to suddenly quieten all of a sudden. Not that I'm complaining.

There it is. My room. A sight for sore eyes.

I immediately search around my pocket, trying to get a grasp of the key, when-

"Hey, man. 'Sup?"

I bang my head against the door once. Hard.

"Hey, Kenji." I say, leaving my head leaning against the door so as to not make eye contact. Don't pay attention to Kenji, and he won't pay attention to you. Just like a lion. Hopefully.

"You look awful, man. What's happening?" he asks in the usual tone.

"Nothing at all." I say, trying to end this conversation as quickly as possible. "But I'm really tired, so please-"

I hear Kenji jump back in shock. Turning around, I see that he looked very much taken aback, one of his legs lifted and his arms looking ready to karate chop anyone that dared touch him. I don't think there's anyone crazy enough to do that, though. Hell, I live right in front of him!

"It's that track bitch again, isn't it?" asked Kenji. "I told you to be careful around her, man. She's perhaps the most dangerous one there is! She sucked the energy out of you, didn't she? Oh, it all makes sense! I'm telling you, she's evil!"

"Yeah, okay." I say. "Good night."

"Good idea." said Kenji. "Take some rest, and regain your energy. We'll figure out how to take that bitch out tomorrow. 'Night."

Well, glad that's over. I put my key in the hole and immediately ran inside the room, before throwing myself onto the bed. In hindsight, that probably wasn't a really good idea. I grab at my slightly throbbing chest as I immediately began to fall asleep.

...

I jump out of bed, my whole body shaking and sweating heavily.

I try to feel my heartbeat. To my surprise, it was perfectly normal.

But something woke me up. I didn't fall off my bed, the air was normal and warm, the bed seemed perfectly comfortable enough... Ah, it was the dream.

The dream... I didn't understand it. And I'm beginning to forget. I distinctly remember me, Emi, and a few others grouped up as we looked at a screen... I remember some kind of swirly purple thing that is about the same height as me... And i remember there being a face I've never seen before.

What did that mean? As hard a thinker as I am, I don't know what the hell to make of it. The screen, probably a computer or a TV. The swirly purple thing? No idea. As for that other man... he looked familiar, but I don't know who he is. Sighing deeply, I try to push those thoughts out of my mind. I must be overthinking things, as usual. They probably mean nothing.

Looking out the window, I notice that it was still dark. But since all plans of sleeping were abruptly taken away from me, it looks like I'll have to do something to pass the time, at least until I felt sleepy again.

Going out of the room, or worse, the dorm building, was out of the question. So I can't go anywhere or visit anybody.

I'm already done with all the books I've borrowed, and there's really no point in reading them.

And I definitely can't drop on the floor and do some push-ups or other related heavy exercises.

In the end, though, i simply resorted to putting my pillow on top of my head and forcing myself to fall back to sleep. Surprisingly enough, it worked.

...

Screw alarm clocks. Seriously.

I bang my fist against the alarm clock, silencing it. There was a soft 'thud', most probably from it falling down the small table and crashing into the floor. Not that I care. Alarm clocks in the morning are probably my greatest enemy. It's the goddamn summer holidays, dammit!

Then again, I was the one who set it up the night before. Ah, well.

Trying to snuggle back into the covers, I grab all the sheets I can and hide under it. One second passes. One minute passes. One hour passes. An eternity passes.

Futile.

Knowing that there's no going back to sleep at this point, I angrily stand up and walk to the cupboard for a change of clothes. Just as I was about to change, though...

BANG BANG BANG.

I swear, if anyone wasn't really paying attention, those would've sounded like gunshots to them. Cursing and muttering under my breath, I groggily walk to open the damn door.

Swinging it open, I see Emi standing right outside, her hands on her hips and looking quite pissed with me. It was kinda cute.

"Hey..." I said, letting my voice drawl out.

"That's not what you say to a lady when you greet her." said Emi, pouting. "How impolite."

"Sorry, sorry..." I said, trying to blink away sleep from my eyes. "Do you need anything, are did you come just to disturb my otherwise beautiful sleep?"

"You promised me that you'd meet me outside an hour ago!" said Emi, punching my arm. I lost balance and nearly fell down, probably because my brain still hasn't fully woken up yet. "Bad Hisao!"

"Don't worry, please. Just let me just change first." I say, walking back into my room. As I look back, however, I see Emi still standing in the doorway.

"Well?" I ask. She seemed confused.

"You either come in, or wait outside." I say in the nicest tone possible for that kind of statement. "I can't leave the door open, because I don't want my body to be shown to the world like that. Even if it's probably only going to be guys."

"Owhhh, is Hisao feeling shy?" Emi teased in the worst possible way. I feel blood rush to my face.

In a way, it's good that Emi's now back to her normal spirits. Did Rin come back?

Sighing, I gestured her to come inside. She playfully obeys, closing the door shut as she jumps to sit in my bed. One thing I've noticed about her is that she always seems to jump into everything. Literally, and metaphorically.

I quickly take off my pajamas and put on some clothes, my back turned towards Emi. Despite all the time we've spent together, I still feel insecure about my scar. She's definitely seen it before, but...

Aw, dammit. Conflicting feelings suck.

After I finished putting on my beloved sweater vest (in the hopes that Emi will take the hint and not do as much running today), I turn back towards her.

"Where to now?" I ask.

"I thought..." said Emi, sounding rather mutinous. "That we should go to where the explosion happened last night."

I step back in surprise, my eyes wide and jaw almost dropped.

"Are you serious?" I ask. She still seemed unfazed. "The place is under heavy protection! There's no way that-"

"It's not~!" said Emi, in a teasing, singsong voice. I got even more surprised, not only because there was nobody at all there, but also because of how she can still be so calm about going there.

"W-what?"

"I went and had a look." said Emi, standing up and winking at me. "Nobody else's found the place yet, since it's deep in the middle of the forest and all, so I quickly ran all the way up here to take you with me to investigate."

"I thought you said to wait in front of the school..." I mumble, before something struck me. "Wait, why'd you not just investigate yourself? It seems like a lot of extra work just to come and take me along."

Emi shifted uncomfortably where she stood. My brain clicked with realization, a wide grin spreading where my look of annoyance should be.

"O-ho!" I exclaim, surprised at the words that just came out of my mouth. "You're scared, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not!" shouted Emi, although her blush and overall facial expression gave her away.

"You're a bad liar." I say as I open the door to let her go first.

"So are you." said Emi. Chuckling, I move to close the door.

"Where is this place, anyway?" I ask as we begin to descend the steps and walk to the grounds. As I remember it, the explosion happened quite far away, and I wanted to run as little as possible that day.

"You know that old forest just around the corner, right?"

"You mean the one on the side of the road just in front of that little ramen shop you go to?"

"Yeah, that one."

"How'd you know it was there?"

"The Chef!"

I tilt my head and look into her face with my best impression of a quizzical look.

"He told me that he was right there when a huge explosion, complete with all the colorful lights, made the trees sway violently before standing up straight again. He then started to talk a lot about what humans can learn from trees, like: "You see, trees don't stay down. They stand back up. And look at us humans. See the difference? One explosion is still not enough for the trees to give up and stay down, but one explosion in the World Trade Center would-"

"We're straying off topic." I said , to direct her back to the subject at hand.

"Oh, yeah." she said, quickly correcting herself without even a bit of embarrassment. "Anyway, he told me where the explosion was, and I decided to take a quick look. When I came back, he told me that he's already reported all of it to the authorities, but for some reason, they hadn't come yet."

"Interesting..." I say, putting a hand to my chin as we descend on the road to the little town below. "Oh, and it's an inside job, by the way."

"What?" Emi asked, genuine confusion in those big eyes of hers. I chuckled to myself.

"Never mind." I say, grinning widely.

From then on, we began to quicken our pace a bit, until we reached said noodle shop in not more than four minutes. I look to my left, and there was the forest.

It was really a forest I've never seen before. Forests I normally see have all different types of trees and vegetation so tightly packed together that there's hardly any place to breathe, so I grew accustomed to that kind of sight (I've only been in two forests of the sort though, bringing the total number of forests I've been in to two). However, this was a totally different kind of forest- it was very neat and ordered, with only pine trees being spread out evenly in between each other, promoting a sense of security and peace among the people... Or at least that's how I feel it to be. Getting ready for Christmas must be so easy around here.

"Come on." said Emi, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me inside the forest. It looks as if my hypothesis was right- Emi is scared. Although I must admit that I can't really see what she's so scared about.

Until, of course, I get inside.

Despite everything looking so nice in the outside, the inside definitely was creepy. It was absolutely silent, for one, and for some reason, no light was able to get through the trees. It became hard for us to navigate around the place, and we always seem to find ourselves accidentally hitting a tree or slipping over a rock. No serious damages, though.

"Are we still far from the site?" I ask, having had quite enough of vines, thorns, insects, and rocks at the moment.

"We should be getting closer." said Emi, sounding quite sure of herself. I didn't know what to make of that. However, I quickly direct all of my senses to walk around the forest, closing my eyes to increase my concentration as I knew that it would be useless in a dark forest like this. For a while, it worked. I was able to avoid many things that I couldn't have if I weren't concentrating.

Until of course, I crash into a tree.

"Oof!" I exclaim, staggering backwards.

"Hisao?" called Emi. She was still holding tightly to my hand, so at least we knew where each other was at every present moment. "Hisao, are you alright?"

"No, I'm fine." I said, opening my eyes. "I just crashed into a WWEEEARRRRGHHHHHH!"

Right there, in front of me, was a face.

The tree-with-a-face began to shout loudly as well, albeit in a higher pitched tone of voice. It was then that I lost balance and fell on the ground, still screaming.

For a while, this went on.

As soon as I regain my calm, however, I immediately recognize the face of the 'tree' I just bumped into.

"Miki!" I scream, my hand tight around my chest. Still fine, despite the crazy shock. "What is with you and causing me heart attacks?"

"Oh, hi Hisao!" replied Miki, completely oblivious to the mood. "Hey, you okay?"

"I am." I said, rubbing my heart a few times before finally letting go. "I'm pretty sure my heart hates you now, though."

Miki laughs wholeheartedly, before offering a hand for me to stand up.

"Hisao?" called Emi from somewhere behind me. Even though the mood's considerably brightened, the forest sure isn't. "Where are you? Is that Miki?"

"Right here!" I call back. Luckily, Emi managed to find me by sound, holding onto my hand again. This made me blush a little for some reason, and I gave praise to my luck for being in a place where nobody can see me.

"Hi, Emi!" said Miki, with what I can imagine is a silly looking grin on her face.

"Oh, hi Miki." said Emi. "What are you doing here?"

"Probably what you're doing here." said Miki. "To investigate the explosion!"

She said that with such confidence in her investigative abilities that I couldn't help but smile.

"You came alone?" asked Emi.

"No, I brought some friends." said Miki. "Lilly, Hanako?"

Lilly, Hanako, and Miki? Quite the unlikely trio. They must've bonded quite a bit since Emi and I left yesterday. Sure enough, there was a small rustling of leaves before we hear another voice.

"My, my, Miki." said Lilly's soft voice. "You brought us some friends already?"

"F-friends?" asked Hanako's timid voice. It seemed as if three people was already too much for Hanako at the moment (especially since the third is Miki, of all people), and I really don't know if she can handle five. It's too late to turn back, though.

"Hi, Lilly, Hanako." I say, greeting the two of them.

"Hisao, is it?" asked Lilly. 'I'm assuming you brought Emi along with you."

"Yup!" shouted Emi. 'I'm right here!"

I could hear Lilly giggle to herself at what she said.

"Very well, then." said Lilly. "I found a clearing close by, but I'm not sure if it was caused by the explosion or not."

"Okay!" said Miki. "Lead us on, Lilly!"

Lilly didn't respond, and instead I began to hear more rustling of leaves. Thinking that it was probably our cue to move, I start walking slowly towards the sound of the rustling. During this time, I realized that I am the only guy in a dark place with four girls. I quickly push the thought out of my mind though, since a potentially dangerous forest shouldn't be home to some dirty thoughts.

After a few more seconds of extreme darkness, we finally reached the clearing.

"So here's where the explosion happened?" I ask.

"Pretty much, yeah." said Miki.

"How did you find this in the first place, Emi?" I ask.

"I... didn't." she replied, nervously chuckling. "I quickly ran off to school right after going inside the forest."

"And here I thought you still had at least a little bit of courage in you." I said, earning me another punch to my arm. The strange thing is that she always hits the same spot, so I'm pretty sure it's black and blue now.

"T-there's a c-crater there... I-in the middle." said Hanako.

"You're right." I said. "I'll go check what's in it."

I began walking towards the rather large crater, and I peeked inside. It wasn't really deep at all. As I want to comment on this to the others, my eyes move toward the center of the crater and my voice gets stuck in my throat.

"Guys..." I said. "You might wanna come here."

I hear the four girls approach the clearing, and they all stop at the same time. Even Lilly, who I knew couldn't see what shocked the rest of us, stopped in place.

"Wha... What is that?" I hear Emi ask.

I didn't answer. I was still too shocked.

But it was definitely obvious what that thing was.

Lying there, in the middle of the crater, sprawled out on the ground...

Was an unconscious pink pony.


"Tell me why we're buying all these things again, Twilight?"

Spike, carrying a huge bag of assorted things, was walking alongside a rather tired Twilight Sparkle. Twilight herself was carrying some heavy load with her magic- an easel and a few canvases to be exact.

"I'm sorry, but it can't be helped, Spike." said Twilight, in a soft voice so as to not attract attention. "Rin needs something to do at home when we're all outside, and since we can't simply let her roam free around Ponyville, we'd better give her what she likes to do best."

"Art?" asked Spike. "Her mouth didn't seem so flexible, and she didn't seem to be able to use any magic! How is she going to paint?"

Twilight dwelt on that thought for a while.

"I have no idea."

Soon enough, though, both Twilight and Spike were right outside the Library, fumbling to get through the door.

"Rin?" called Twilight. "Are you here?"

No reply.

"She might be sleeping." said Spike. Twilight sighed.

"I'll go check." said Twilight, teleporting herself to the top floor... and allowing the easel and the canvases to fall down on Spike's head.

"You really need to be more careful with where you drop your things, Twi..." mumbled Spike as he went to arranging all of the art stuff.

"Rin?" called Twilight again. "Rin, where are you?"

For a while, a terrible thought struck Twilight. Did Rin run away? Did she steal all of her belongings and hightailed it before Twilight and Spike came in? Or... did she accidentally fall of the balcony?

"I'm here." called a small, muffled voice.

Sighing a breath of relief, Twilight quickly teleported to her study, or as she prefers, the Observatory. Sure enough, Rin was sitting on the fencing on the balcony, studying a sky as if it were a heavy, confusing book. Yet, the blank look in her eyes once again seemed to contradict everything she believed in.

"I saw a cloud." said Rin all of a sudden.

"Uh, sure..." said Twilight. "There're lots of those around here."

"I know." said Rin. "There're lots of them where I come from as well."

"Anyway, I bought you everything you need to start painting." said Twilight, trying to steer the conversation away from another awkward silence. "It's downstairs. Spike's preparing them for you."

"Oh." said Rin, still not budging from her spot.

Awkward silence. Twilight felt a voice in her head shouting "FAILURE!" out loud.

"You still haven't answered me, Twilight Sparkle." said Rin, not even bothering to look back.

"Answered... what?"

"Where I am." said Rin. "Where I was yesterday. Where I will be two seconds later. Three seconds."

Twilight stared blankly at Rin. Even the monsters in the Everfree Forest knew that they were in Equestria, in the rule of the royal Princesses Celestia and Luna. Then why didn't Rin know?

"You don't know?"

Rin slowly shook her head from side to side.

'W-we are in Equestria." said Twilight. "The holy nation, ruled by the royal sisters Celestia and Luna."

"Oh." said Rin, still studying the sky. "How strange."

Strange? Does this... thing even know what she's talking about?

"Okay, now that I've answered YOUR question, you must answer mine." said Twilight.

"Okay." said Rin.

"First of all... what are you?" asked Twilight. "I've never seen you here before, and none of my books can refer to you... so..."

"I'm Rin." said Rin. "A human. Rin the Human. Human the Rin. Whichever works fine, I couldn't care less."

"O-okay, Rin." said Twilight. What in Celestia's name is a human? It seemed as if the more she knew about her, the more she needed to know. It's better to stop the inquiries here, lest her curiosity explode from everything she wanted to know about Rin. With her, every question leads to possibly ten more.

But there was still one more thing bugging Twilight. Her self-consciousness, however, held her tongue. She was just about to leave Rin to her musings when Rin suddenly spoke up again.

"I told you before, Twilight." said Rin. "You can ask me anything. I won't be offended."

"Sure..." said Twilight, taking a few moments to get herself together. "Where... did you come from? I mean, we all saw you walk out of the Everfree Forest like that, but everypony knows that no monster can walk out of the Everfree Forest, and you don't seem to know anything about where you were, despite it being common knowledge even in such places as the Everfree Forest. So... where did you come from?"

"I... don't know." said Rin. "If I had to give one answer, though, it'd probably be Earth."

Twilight felt her face convulsing and twitching even more at that statement. She was right- one question did lead to ten more.

"See, I'm an easy person to talk to, right?" said Rin, turning her head back to look at Twilight, her eyes closed in a genuine smile on her face.

Twilight desperately wanted to shout: "LIKE HELL YOU ARE!", but she couldn't help but blush at Rin's smile. Plus, shouting like that would be impolite. She'd hate to be impolite.

"Come on now, Rin." said Twilight. "Spike's already done preparing everything you need. It's all downstairs if you feel like painting. I'll be off to see my friends, then."

"Can I come?" asked Rin, turning her whole body around, her face innocent and her eyes wide as she asked Twilight this simple query.

Twilight blushed even harder. She'd definitely like Rin to come to Sweet Apple Acres with her, but there was no way to fully transport her there without being seen. She could try to cast an invisibility spell, but that probably won't last all the way to the farm. And with all of Applejack's family there, she'd probably incur the wrath of the whole lot with her off-hand comments on their accents. By all means, Rin could not go with them.

But Twilight couldn't simply say no. Rin was under her care, after all. Granted, she didn't ask for it, but Rin is her responsibility now.

Twilight sighed. The reason for their meeting was to once again figure out how to bring back Pinkie Pie. It's already been a full day by now, and they haven't even done a THING to get her back. Things were going much, much slower. And if Rin came, would she improve, or hinder what little progress they have? It's very risky. And once one is done, there's no turning back.

Taking a blanket from her bed, Twilight immediately performed some magic on it, and gave it to Rin. Rin looked up at Twilight quizzically.

"Wear it over your head, and make sure to cover everything." said Twilight. "Let's go take some risks."


Author's note: I've decided to go ahead with my plan on bringing in that character. Said character won't be appearing in this story until some time later, though.

Thanks for all the support, guys! I would've definitely been more conflicted about this decision had you not given me the green light. And now, I'll do everything I can to make this story amazing.

Thanks for reading!