//------------------------------// // 6 Charging up, part 1 // Story: Bucking Magnets, How Do They Work?! // by SiMoS MCmuffin //------------------------------// Location: ??? Time: ??? In a picturesque garden next to a pearly white grand castle, with birds singing and critters frolicking around the grounds. Was something that did not belong there... It was Simon. He laid on the ground next to a walkway, unconscious. His eyelids slightly twitching as the songs of the birds reached his ears. The twitching slowly increased along the growing frown and with a mighty groan he opened his eyes. Looking tired and washed out, he just stared at the clear blue sky above him. Almost mocking him with it's it's clarity, no clouds to be seen anywhere. Turning his head around he took in his surroundings. Birds in the trees, bunnies hopping on the grass and a squirrel carrying a nut to it's home hole in the tree. "This is getting ridiculous..." he sighed. Rising up, he noted how his hands felt much more lighter and... free? Looking down he saw that neither of his hand no longer had bandages or cast around them AND he was wearing his old clothes! "Okay, let me correct... This is getting strange..." Turning his hands around, he checked for any marks or scars, but there weren't none. His hands were absolutely spotless. Deciding to figure out what was going on, he set out walking along the cobblestone road leading somewhere. He marveled at his surroundings as he went on. Everything is so well kept and clean! There has to be someone around here who knows where I am, there just has to! His eyes occasionally catching a deer hopping around and squirrels climbing along the branches and bark. He arrived to a magnificent fountain just before the road turned towards the castle's entrance. The thing was couple of meters higher than him! He was intrigued by the skillfully crafted etchings along the marble sides of the main water reservoir. They were clearly representing ponies and... humans? Making a full circle around the fountain, he deducted that it was telling a some kind of story, or a legend perhaps. But that still didn't make sense why there were human avatars in it. Looking around and making couple more rounds, he was pretty sure he had found the beginning point. *Okay... This seems to be where it begins, just hope I can translate this into something sensible.* He spent a good while inspecting the different scenes depicted in the etchings. There were ten in total. -1. Seemed to have a bunch of smiling ponies overlooked by an alicorn out on a balcony at side of a castle. -2. Thunder clouds had appeared in the sky, the ponies were running from something. The alicorn had risen on it's back legs seeming to get ready to fight something. -3. No more ponies could be seen, the alicorn appeared to be shaking hands and hoofs with a human. -4. The human was being carried by a big crowd of ponies and everyone looked happy. -5. A strange pony with insect like wings and a weird looking horn was casting some kind of spell on the human, who was kneeling on the ground, holding his or her head. -6. Only the human was pictured as flames and lighting was coursing around him/her. A great big arc of something jumping from his/her hand to the other. -7. A town was ablaze right next to a great castle. Dead ponies seemed to be laying on the ground. An army of those insect winged ponies being led on... by the human? -8. The alicorn and the human had swords locked against each other, sparks flying from the blades. -9. The human was laying dead on the ground while the alicorn was being embraced by another alicorn. Both of them being approached by the insect winged ponies. -10. The two unicorns were encased in some sort of bubble while the insect ponies were flying away, apparently tumbling in air. Simon was baffled. Why was there a human in the first hand? Why had he/she ended up fighting the alicorn? Was it because of something the weird insect wing pony had done? Turning towards the castle, he decided to look for someone to ask about more about the story the etchings told. Walking through a great iron gate he saw steps leading in to the front entrance of the castle. "Hello? Hello?! Anybody here?" He hoped to catch someones attention, but was greeted only by silence and wind whistling trough the trees and bushes. He took a couple more steps and froze as a blood curling scream came from the castle. *I think it came from inside!* he jumped the couple last steps and made his way in, being greeted by a huge hall with multiple corridors leading deeper in to the castle. "Hello! Anybody!" Trying to decide which corridor to head into. No replies came and he spent there wasting valuable seconds if someone indeed was in trouble. Picking one randomly he bolted deeper into the castle. He kept running along the corridors, passing by many empty side rooms. The corridor managed to branch couple times and he still went by instinct. Running out of breath he stopped for a second to catch his breath and to think of a possible action plan if happened to meet with someone aggressive. Glancing towards his side he looked at the beautiful, red tinted window, depicting a rose. Red light showered the corridor. Turning to see the opposite wall he spotted on the wall a decorative piece of a shield and two swords crossed over it. Walking over to it he tried to pull one of the swords out of it's sheath and to his surprise it slid out. Turning it around he inspected the blade. It was still very shiny and he pressed his thumb against it, even sharp! He grasped it with both hands and gave a couple experimental swings. It carried a nice weight behind for sure, but it was a little on the clumsy side. *Hmm. Maybe I should take the shield too." eyeing the big iron buckler. Throwing the other sword away he lifted the iron piece off of the wall stand and strapped it on his left arm, "I bet this'll help block some attacks". He continued investigating the castle further at walk pace as he hadn't heard any voices for few minutes, the shield and sword with him. After wandering around for a good half an' hour, backtracking from couple of dead ends. He arrived to what seemed to be the throne room, well more like a hall he thought. On the opposite end of the room, on a raised platform with steps rising to it, was two thrones next to each other. However, even though the room was colorful with many different banners hanging from the walls and light coming through more colorfully tinted windows. Something gave him the chills... Slowly he walked further into the room, watching his surrounding. He made his way to the steps and gave a good thorough look at the room before making his way towards the two thrones. "Anybody?!" He yelled as he reached the thrones to the back of the room where he entered. Still nothing. Sighing he plopped down on the other throne. "Seems like nobody is home... This place is still though in tip top shape." he ran his finger along the armrest, checking it for dust. "Like everybody had just disappeared..." The room was suddenly colored deep red for a moment as a bright flash could be seen behind one the windows, followed by couple seconds later by a great rumble and a boom. "Well glad I'm in here and not out there" He looked towards the window and saw the tinted horizon begin to grow dark. More bright flashes were seen and he decided to try to count how long it took for the sound to reach him to estimate how far away the lighting strikes were happening. Focusing his gaze on the window he readied himself for the next flash. The room was soon painted crimson for a moment again as he started counting seconds to the rumbling. "1, 2, 3..." He kept his focus on the window, "4, 5, 6..." he could have sworn there was a growing dark blotch on the windows, "7, 8..." the blotch was definitely growing bigger! "9!" *Boom!* The windows shattered into hundreds of pieces as something flew through accompanied by the rumbling thunder. He brought up the shield to cover himself from the falling glass as something fell into the floor with a great thud next to him. Whipping around he spotted a pair of wings and hooves covered in blood. The brown pegasus was splayed on his back and wore armor plating, which had been torn into pieces in many sections. Hurrying to him, Simon kneeled down to check on him. Taking a hold of his shoulders he gave a firm shake and the pegasus groaned in response. "Can you hear?" He tried to measure his level on consciousness, his stomach bleeding heavily from the glass cuts. The pegasus didn't open it's eyes, but managed to say "Kingdom under attack... *wheeze... need to warn *cough, the others... wheeze..." the coughed carried a blood which splattered on Simon's face. "Calm down buddy, you're going to be alright" He tried to reassure, but was disheartened by the growing pool of blood beneath him. "Have you seen *wheeze... any other guards?" "No I haven't seen anybody in here" He took of his hoodie and tied it tight around his midsection. "Then *cough, *cough.. I may have been already too late..." He crunched his eyebrows. "What's your name buddy?" "I'm Rain Shine *wheeze... part of the *cough, *cough, royal guard..." Simon looked at an exposed part of his flank. A mark consisting of a ray of light hitting raindrops which cast a rainbow from it. "Nice to meet you Rain Shine. I'm Simon. I hope we could have met at a more fortunate time" He turned back to him. "Hey Simon *cough, could you do me a favor?..." he coughed more blood. "Yea sure, what is it?" Simon was getting a slightly bad vibe from this. "Protect anypony *Wheeze... you *cough, *cough... find..." He went limp. "Hey Rain?" He shook his shoulder, "Rain?!... Rain!!" He tried feeling for his pulse on his neck, but didn't feel any beats. Leaning down he put his ear over his muzzle. He wasn't breathing! "Goddamit Rain! Don't give up one me!" He started doing emergency resuscitation, bending Rain's head slightly backward and breathing air into his mouth. His chest rose and he pulled away and let it fall and repeated one more time. He quickly removed his chestplating and felt around for the rib cage, finding the lowest point where the ribs connected he started the compressions. "Rain!" He continued the with the 2/30 pacing. Minutes flew by while Simon kept at it. Calling Rain to see if he had any reactions. For those who haven't performed emergency resuscitation and think it will be a peace of cake, it isn't. It's very tiring."Rain..." His breathing becoming ragged, his hands gave out beneath him and he collapsed on the pegasus' chest. It was starting to turn cold. "Fuck!" he clenched his blood stained fist in frustration and anger. he laid there for a moment, catching his breath. Kneeling back he untied his hoodie and pulled it over Rain's head. "Rest in peace" inserting the iron buckler back around his left arm. His knees covered in blood and as he wiped his nose with his bloody hand, it left a great blood swipe on his face. He turned toward the thrones to retrieve the sword. Reaching down to pick it up something red appeared right on the edge of his vision, right behind the left throne was a bloodstain, which trailed to the back wall and ended. "Secret passage? Maybe someones still here" He followed the trail to the wall and looked around for switch of some kind. There was nothing apparent anywhere, maybe a hidden one then? He felt around the wall for any kind of odd tile or a bump, but couldn't find any. He tried pushing the part of the wall where the blood trail led and felt it give a little. He leaned back a little for a more powerful push. An obvious edge forming on the wall as the door gave in more. A small grin formed on his face as he took a couple of running steps and pushed with the buckler. The door swung open, revealing a small passage. Grabbing his sword, he ventured in. "This is pretty damn long passage" he stated a good two minutes after he went in. The passage was very dimly lit and tight, making it hard to make out the ground, having already tripped once he was careful in each step. "Ow!" He hit his head to a tile protruding from the ceiling. Now crouching lower to avoid the ceiling, rubbing the tile struck area. Making slow progress he started hearing very soft sounds of speaking ahead of him. Moving towards he started seeing light at the end of the passage. he began making out the voices. "So how does it feel to see your precious kingdom burning down?" This voice had a nefarious feeling to it. "..." "Not feeling like talking? That's fine, I wouldn't either if I was you." "You monster..." The second voice sounded bitter and angry. Simon arrived at the end of the passage. It lead into a smallish room. Peeking from the exit he spotted two forms. A grey alicorn was laying on the ground, seeming to been beaten badly while one of those insect ponies was holding it's hoof against the alicorn's head. "Well get ready to be swallowed in a nightmare!" The insect pony yelled. Rearing on it's back hooves, gathering weight behind it's apparent stomp. The alicorn just stayed quiet and clenched it's eyes. Simon looked around for something to throw. He tore a loose brick of the passage wall and flinged it towards the aggressor. Hitting the insect pony right on it's jaw, it tumbled on it's back, knocked out cold by the hit. "Whew. Lucky for you I was here." Simon exhaled. The alicorn opened it's eyes at the thud and peered around the room, looking for the source of the voice. Spotting Simon, her eyes grew wide. "You okay there miss?" He approached her. "You... You should be dead... My husband killed you!" She tried to scoot away, but her injuries prevented her. "What" Simon stopped in his tracks. Dead? what was she saying? "Why should I be dead?". "I saw my husband drive his sword into your body, after which you collapsed!" She almost spat through her gritted teeth, fury and anger bellowing out. "Hey! I have no idea what you're talking about! I just woke up in the garden next to the castle not hour ago." He tried to explain his perspective on the situation. "Besides, if I wanted to hurt you. You think I would have knocked this thing over there unconscious?" pointing to the aggressor. "..." She looked him in the eyes and then to her abuser, "They're called changelings...". "Changelings, eh?" he looked over the fur less pony. He slipped back to more serious mood, "What' going on here? There was a guard named Rain Shine who told me that the kingdom was under attack." "You saw Rain? Is he okay?" She asked worryingly. "..." Simon looked toward the ground and shook his head in silence, "He died in my arms..." He looked at his bloody hands. "I see..." lowering her head in sorrow. "Are you okay though? Can you move?" He crouched next to her. "I'm roughed up, but my kingdom comes first." She looked out to a nearby balcony. Smoke slowly rising in the horizon. "So I guess you were attacked by the changeling empire?" "Yes we were... And you lead them here!" pointing a hoof at him in anger. Simon was shocked. He hadn't done anything! "But I..." "Murderer! Take a look at what you have done!" She lifted him up with magic and threw him to the balcony. He rose and was met with a horrific sight. A town next to the castle was up in flames. The air filled with screams and shouts as ponies could be seen running in the streets. Multiple siege engines surrounding the town behind it's wall. Catapults were launching fire bombs in the town, resulting in great fireballs where ever they hit. "No... I didn't do this... It's not my fault..." He slumped to his knees. Out of his sight one of the catapults turned towards the castle and sent it's fiery package flying. Looking up he spotted the airborne fireball coming right towards him. Managing to take only two steps back, the fireball hit the balcony, the shockwave sending him flying back to the room. He hit the back wall, hard. Getting air knocked out of his lungs and a nasty concussion. He fell to the ground on his stomach, eyesight blurring. *clop... *clop... *clop... the sound of slow hoofsteps approaching. Expecting a pair of grey hooves appearing he was surprised when it was something blue. Midnight blue in fact. Rolling to his side he looked up to see dark blue figure standing next him through his hazy vision. The figure leaned down to his head, but try as he could, his vision wouldn't focus on it's features. The edges of his vision growing dark. "It's time to wake up Simon" "Huh?..." was all he managed to reply as the darkness came... ____________________ Location: Zecora's Treehouse Time: 7:00 AM, April 21st, 20xx 'Air... Air!...' His thoughts screamed. He was having hard time breathing. Feeling like something heavy was pressing down on his chest. Opening his eyes he laid still taking in the surroundings. *I must be at Twilight's* he deducted seeing the wooden ceiling of the treehouse, but as his eyes looked around to the side he soon cleared that possibility. Seeing some kind of tribal masks and headwear decorating the surrounding walls. *Great, I wonder what kind trouble I get into now...* He sighed deeply. "Mister?" came from below his chin. He looked down to the direction of the voice. A purple tuft of hair filled his vision followed by two equally purple orbs. "Uh, hi there", The purple eyes started to fill with tears. "Bwaaah!" The little filly suddenly lunged at his neck and hugged him with a vice like grip. "I feared you were going to die mister!" Simon now on the other hand was fearing for real he was going to die in the filly's tight hug, as she was practically choking him. "Ah... Knt-- bhhh" He whimpered with what air was able to move through his lungs. "What?" The filly backed a little and loosened her hug. Feeling new air rushing to his lungs he inhaled with vigor. "I said that I can't breath!" "Oh. Sorry about that, hehe" she rubbed the back of her head. "Where am I?" He looked at his surroundings. "Oh you're at Zecora's treehouse. Luckily Applebloom and Sweetie belle had gone get some help and bumped onto Zecora on the way. After you beat that cockratice you fainted and we brought you here." She gave a excited smile and hopped off his chest. Approaching his face she nuzzled him for a moment. "Thanks for saving me. I'm Scootaloo by the way..." "Simon, and I'd do the same anytime kiddo" He gave a small grin. His chest feeling light again without any extra weight on it. "Ow, Who's Zecora by the way?" He rose up into a sitting position, cringing a little from the pain emanating from his bandaged hands. "The one who carries that name, is right behind your frame" Turning around he came face to face with a... zebra? with a wicked looking mohawk. "Wow, you're a zebra?!" he looked at her, surprised. "Looks like your eyes, don't see no lies. Although your hands, we're deeply bashed" a worried look on her face as she nodded towards his bandaged arms. "Uhh... I can't remember much what happened before I passed out... I was fighting that chicken thing... Wait. Did it escape or what?" Looking at both of them, hoping for any sort of information. "The last thing I remember was a bright flash and then everything went dark after that..." "Oh you defeated that thing allright!" Scootaloo stepped forwards. "You were like the lightning god or something! All Boom! and Zap!" She playfully threw a couple punches and kicks. "Care to explain a little more accurately?" Simon butted in. "Well I'm not sure, but it sure looked and sounded like there was literally lightning happening between your hands." She rubbed her chin. Simon looked down to his hands and gave tried to move his fingers, but couldn't feel anything. A sick feeling starting to grow in his stomach. "How bad were they?" Turning to Zecora, his expression dead serious. "They seemed to be burned very badly. The very surface skin seemed to have turned to ash... The cockratice's head was burned down to the bone..." The sick feeling in his stomach making it's presence known. "Well what about Scootaloo here? She had deep cuts and wounds from the things claws and beak. But there's nothing now on her..." Looking at the orange filly with the fuchsia mane a little dumbfounded. "Oh that's simple!" She piped "Zecora here is a master of potions! She whipped me one of her healing concoctions and that did the trick!" Showing her wound free body. "Do you think it would be possible to restore my hands..." He silently asked Zecora. "Well I can see you mean no harm to anybody, but a powerful elixir needs rare ingredients" "I'll pay you back someday. I promise it." "No need for that my friend. I can see that you have a pure heart and I think Scootaloo here can attest to that." She gave a warm smile to both of them. "You mean you'll do it?" a tear threatening to creep into his eye. "Yes, for a friend" Simon rose up on his feet and walked over to Zecora and wrapped her in a heartwarming hug. "Thank you Zecora... I just don't know what I would do without my hands..." "I'll start preparing the potion right away. It will just a bit over a hour, but I warn you. The healing process will be a painful one." "As long I'll get my hands back I don't really care" He replied, that sick feeling starting to recede. Everything was going to be allright! Well... Depending if the town still wants me dead... A shiver ran through his spine at the thought. All though I must confess if I hadn't been driven into the forest I might have not run into the kids and something worse could have happened. He looked at Scootaloo. "Where are your friends by the way? I believe they were Applebloom and... Sweetie Belle?" "Oh they went back to the town to everyone that we are allright. Thanks to you..." Simon sat down on a nearby stool, "Hey anytime. You know it's actually a little bit funny how I got into the forest in the first place." He chuckled. "What are you laughing about?" "Oh nothing..." he waved her off, "I'ts just that I was driven into the forest by the angry townsfolk who thought I had something to do you with your disappearance" "Why would they be angry at you? You're a good guy!" She yelled her voice cracking a tiny bit. Oh she's kinda cute when she's angry, he chuckled, "Well turns out they sort of misread my actions of giving Derpy a muffin, which basically got me flagged as a terrible monster after which I have been on the around the town." There was a knock on the door of the cabin. "Dear Scootaloo, could you get the door?" Zecora yelled from her great big potion pot. "Sure!" She went to the door. Simon on the other hand was sort of trying to look as small as possible. "Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo piped from the door. A rainbow color maned pegasus on the other side. "Hi Scoots! Are you okay? Applebloom and Sweetie Belle told me you were attacked by a cockratice." She hold Scootaloo, looking her all over for any marks. "Oh I'm fine! Thanks to Simon there." She pointed in Simon's direction. Who just gave nervous wave back "Hiya". "Oh, so you're Simon? You should really get back to Twilight. She is going absolutely mental over your disappearance." "Really? Actually I'm a bit surprised that you aren't shoving your hoof down my throat. I suspect you're a friend of Twilight?" "Well I was bit confused when I heard what had happened from the other townsponies, but when I went to ask Twilight about what had happened she explained what had really happened, so you're cool in my books" "Simon's is super cool in my books! He saved me from the cockratice!" Scootaloo decided to add to the conversation, "But not as cool as you of course Dash..." "You saved Scootaloo?..." "Well I guess I did, bit it was more out of lu---" *THUD He was tackled by Dash to the ground. It might have been sort of nice if his hands weren't killing him! "I don't know why you did it, but... Thanks" She was really crushing him. How can these ponies be so strong?! "It hurts..." His eyes shut tight. "Oh sorry!" She released him. He just stayed there for a moment like crushed can of coke or something. I'm gonna die from hugs. I just know it! "How are the townsfolk reacting to the situation? Did Twilight do something drastic to them? She was sure seemed quite furious at the time when I made my exit." "Oh she sure made them listen to her!" Dash gave a hearty laugh, "I don't think you'll have any problems anytime soon with them. They actually seemed quite disheartened as Twilight explained your situation to them" "This is great! If you're heading back soon. Tell Twilight that I'll come back as soon as I get my hands fixed up! Oh, actually could you do me a little favor?" "Yea sure, what is it?" "Could fly over the forest and see if you can find the remains of my truck? The surrounding area should be quite singed from the fire." "Sure thing, I'll tell Twilight the rough position if I happen to find it before you return back!" She opened the door before taking off with powerful kick. Wow, it sure seemed to be turning out alright in the end. Simon smiled widely. What a crazy day it has been... Resting his back against the wall his legs spread out in front of him, giving a deep sigh out of the comfort he suddenly felt. Closing his eyes for a moment. He soon felt a nudge against his thigh. Looking down he saw Scootaloo resting his head on his leg. "You don't mind if I stay here?" "Not at all Scoots... Not at all..." Scratching behind her ears to best of his ability with the bandages in the way, but just a couple minutes later soft snorts reached his ear and he grinned at the now sleeping filly. "Oh well. Might as well try to take a nap myself too" he shrugged his shoulders. Leaving his arm to rest on Scoot's back he let his head rest against the wall and closed his eyes. Sleep had no trouble finding him. ------About 50 minutes later------ A firm tap on Simon's shoulder snapped him out his slumber. "Oh thanks for waking me up Zecora. Is the potion ready yet?" He asked the zebra, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Ready the potion will soon be, so prepare yourself you must" "I'm curious... Just how painful will this experience supposed to be?" He felt a little anxious. "It has been described by mine tribe as dying and being reborn, so you need to be mentally strong during the curing process. I've seen some zebras go insane from the level of pain they've gone through." She looked away shaking her head in effort to rid the awful images from her head. "Insane huh..." He looked a bit pale, "Well I-I guess n-no pain, no ga-game?" now getting really anxious. "That is the case here indeed. I'll take little Scootaloo outside for duration. Her eyes too young to see this." "How long will the process take after I have ingested the potion?" "It will be over in matter of minutes." She walked back to her cauldron and picked a wooden cup from a nearby table. Simon meanwhile was trying to wake up the little filly still curled up next to his leg. "Come on Scoots." he rubbed her ear. "mmMMmm... Just a couple more... minutes..." She curled up a little tighter. He ruffled her mane, "Time to get up. Once I get my hands back we will head back to the town and you can continue your nap there." He reasoned, but only got another murmur in response. "Alright, let's see how you like THIS!" He started tickling her exposed underbelly, which really seemed to end her slumber. "AAHAHAAHAAAA NO TICKLING!!! NO TICKLING" She trashed around in effort to stop the tickles attacking her belly. "I'M AWAKE NOW. I'M AWAKE!" Managing to halt the assaulting hand with all her hoofs. "Good thing you decided to get up, or otherwise I would have had to brought in the big weapons" He playfully threatened her, pulling his hand away. "Zecora will take you outside for a couple of minutes." Scootaloo gave a questioning look, but got up as Zecora came back with a cup full of bubbling green liquid. "Here" She handed it to Simon. "Make sure you drink it all." Simon just nodded in silence and looked at the concoction. *I think it's better not to even smell this*. Zecora escorted Scootaloo to the front door and before heading out herself she gave a last nod to Simon. Who just nodded back. With that the door closed and Simon found himself staring at the cup, alone in the cabin. "Well... Down the hatch" He brought the cup to his lips and whipped his head back like he was drinking a shot. "Blehh!" The taste was certainly something... Tequila ain't got crap on this. As the liquid trickled down his throat it left a warm feeling on it's way. Simon sat back down floor, as the feeling of warmth started to intensify. "I think it's starting to wo---" His stomach suddenly felt it was burning on the inside! The burning started spreading out fast to his limbs. Simon hissed in pain through his teeth, sweating heavily. The worst part was still to come as the burning started to close in on his hands. He could have sworn he heard a soft popping sound when the sensation passed over the point where his arm had broken. "aaaaaaaaaAAAAAaaaa!!!" He yelled as the curing process finally reached his arms. It felt first like someone was jamming hundreds of needles in his hand as the nerves started to regenerate and then setting them on fire as skin started to grow back. He curled up into a tight ball on ground and just wished it would end soon. Out of pain and slight panic he tore the bandages off. What he saw made him retch. His hand weren't completely covered in skin yet and bones and flesh could be seen moving in his fingers. His brain was in total distress as more and more of nerve connections grew back. However, unseen for him, were the small electric arcs connecting and restructuring his hands down on the molecular level. Simon struggled through the blinding pain and total misery for what felt for him like hours. The only comfort being the sight of his hands regrowing back to their former glory. In the end as the pain and burning sensation started to fade away he just laid on the floor on his back panting, completely drenched in sweat. He heard the front door open and Zecora peek in cautiously, spotting him on the floor. "Are you in the land of the living or in the land of the insane?" She asked. "Never better" Simon gave a wide berthed grin and wiggled his fingers in front his face. "Quite thirsty though. Could you get me a glass of water." Feeling a little dehydrated from all the sweating. "Sure thing" Zecora walked over to the water container. Meanwhile Scootaloo peeked from the open doorway, "Simon? Are you alright?" She had heard his yell of pain. "Hey don't worry. I'm ok now" He waved her over, "Actually I feel like a new person" He stretched his arms out. No pain or anything anywhere, *It must have healed all the earlier injuries too*. Scootaloo looked at his fingers with fascination, "What are these things?" she touched them. "These are what we humans call fingers" He wiggled them. "And let me tell ya what they're are particularly good at." "What?" "TICKLES!" He dove straight for her underbelly with both hands. Zecora was watching this little scene unfolding, smiling at the two as they battled it over. Well, Scootaloo tried battling with Simon's hands, but with his fingers now functional it was pretty much a metaphorical onslaught. "I give up! ahahhehahaaaaa! I give up!" Scootaloo finally gave in after the nonstop assault of his agile fingers. Zecora handed the cup of water to Simon. "Thanks" and he downed it in one go. "Aaaaahhh, that really hits the spot. I guess we'll be heading back to the town, to Twilight's" He rose and handed the cup back to Zecora, "But truly. Thank you Zecora. I don't know how I would have gone on." He said while maintaining eye contact with her. "Worry not my friend, if not for you. We might not be here with little Scootaloo at this moment." "True. I'll come visit you sometime when I have the time." He dusted himself off. "Come on Scoots let's return to the town." He stepped out of the cabin. "Okay Simon." She hurried after him shutting the door behind her. They started trekking down the worn out pathway through the forest. The morning sun was shining down through the forest canopy, illuminating the forest throughout. "So how are you feeling?" Scootaloo broke the silence, as they continued down the path. "I dunno... It's weird. I don't have any aches or even the old problems I used to have. I had sprained my ankle very badly one time and the ligaments had nearly torn off. My ankle would sometimes basically jam up, but now... It's not even aching like it did before..." He made a couple one legged jumps just to test his ankle out. "The potion must have really regenerated my whole physical body!" He snapped his fingers, which caused a arc of electricity to jump between his forefinger and thumb. He stopped and looked at his hand, "Uh Scoots? Did you see that?". "See what?" She stopped a couple of steps ahead of him. He tried snapping his fingers couple times more and sure enough there was a faint, but observable arc jumping between his finger. "I don't feel any sensation from this." he kept snapping his fingers, observing this phenomenon. "Hey, I can't see anything from down here!" Scootaloo buzzed her wings and tried jumping closer to his hands to see what was happening. Simon knelled down to her level and snapped his fingers in front of her. "Wow! Can I try touching that?" Simon thought it out for a moment. It seemed pretty harmless, the arc was faint, but did jump between his fingers meaning it was at least couple of thousand volts. Also the it more of a short high intensity pulse rather than a continuous current. It was probably something like getting a supercharged static shock. "Yea, I don't think it's anything dangerous. Put your hoof so that it touches my forefinger and thumb." "What is your forefinger and thumb?" "Ugh... These two." He wiggled them. The shock should travel through her hoof rather than air if she touched them. She reached and put her hoof on his hand so that it touched the before mentioned fingers. "Ready? It should feel like a soft pinch." He said. Scootaloo nodded in response. He snapped his fingers, "Ouch" she pulled her hoof away instinctively. "Did it hurt?" Simon asked. "Well not really. It just surprised me... But... what is that?" "It's called electricity, it's the same as... as a.... uuhhhh..." He tried thinking something to compare it to, but they didn't have electric appliances here..."Lightning! It's the same thing as lightning, but of course not as powerful." "Sooo... Are you some kind of lightning god?" Her eyes beaming with excitement. She was imagining him shooting lightning bolts and controlling the weather and whatnot. "Weellll... I don't know about lightning god, but a small spark god atleast." he chuckled, still snapping his fingers. "I wonder what Twilight will think about this?... Oh. Scootaloo you never told me why you, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle were doing in the forest in the first place. I thought it was common knowledge that the Everfree forest was a Dangerous place." They continued their trek. "Well we were crusading and thought out to try our luck as wilderness explorers and sort of wandered too deep in to the forest..." "Crusading? What's that? Some kind of game of yours?" He had in mind something of the crusades of the christian empires during the middle ages where they basically went and killed and burned other nations people, as they were non-believers or 'heretics' if you will. "Oh, we belong to the cutie mark crusaders club." "Ok?... aaand what is that then?" "You really are new here." "Indeed, so care to shed some light on your cutie mark crusaders club?" "Well you know how everypone has a cutie mark." "Nope" "Well cutie marks appear on ponies bodies on their flank when they discover the one thing they were destined to do." She pointed to her blank flank. Simon recalled back when he was with Twilight seeing a some sort of emblem on her hindquarters and her mentioning her specialty was magic. The pieces started to come together. "And we started the cutie mark crusaders with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom" Scootaloo started, "To find out your what your special talent is?" Simon finished. "Exactly!" She nodded. "But how does one go about searching his or her special talent?" "Well the adults have always told us it's just something they find exciting and makes them happy. Rainbow Dash for example has a rainbow colored lightning bolt coming out of a cloud, which means she's all about speed, coolness and being flashy!" "heh, it's interesting, as humans don't have cutie marks." "No cutie marks? Well... how do you know then what your supposed specialty is in your life?" "It's simple. We don't. We just find something that interests us and usually specialize in that, but nothing stops us from trying different things" He looked up to the horizon. A small glimmer of sunlight shining through, it seemed that they were approaching the edge of the forest.