Panting and worn out Sirraf had finally reached the outskirts of the small village. It was a quaint little place covered in freshly fallen snow. With the exception of a few places most of the buildings and homes were actually pretty small. As he approached he notice something that looked like it may have been a sign of some kind. Foreign unknown markings covered it that resembled writing though he couldn't quite identify the language.
"Hmm... this looks like no alphabet I am familiar with, and I've at least dabbled in every written language I know of... well at the very least this proves that I am in fact not on my world anymore, where am I anyway? It looks like a moogle village or something!" he stood staring at the panel of wood for a few moments still searching for anything familiar about the strange characters. "Well lets just hope this spell works on this language, it's not really a combat spell so I never really got the chance to practice it but I guess I could give it a shot. Now lets see here how did it go?...understanding is universal, toss out the barriers of language... COMPREHEND LANGUAGE!" with a small flash of cool blue light the letters on the sign seemed to shift and bend, though only to the mages eyes, until it was altered into a familiar form. The new letters themselves simply spelt 'Welcome to Ponyville'..."Huh...that is definitely not what I expected."
Moving silently in the night he made his way into the town looking for clues and possibly shelter, as he walked he kept looking at signs for the establishments. Making use of his current translation spell while it was still active he noticed several works of business including a quill store, a fashion boutique and something called sugar cube corner. "Hmm... well this place seems peaceful enough. Perhaps being trapped in a completely different world wont be as bad as I thought it would."
Finally he noticed a very large structure within the city. It was an impressive building that seemed to be carved into a still living tree. The sign outside gave the impression that it was a library of some kind. "Wow a tree house. maybe there are elves in this world as well. I guess there is only one way to find out!" he shuffled through the snow towards the oh so literal definition of tree house with new hope in his eyes. As he move closer he noticed that there was a soft light glowing though the windows. He finally reached the structure and pressed his ear against the wood in order to hear clearer.
"All right girls, its time for a new slumber party game!" a female voice said as it reached the mages ears.
"OH, a game! what game! Is it twister, or truth or dare, or a cupcake eating contest, or pin the tail on mfffmfhfmfhfmghfm!?" another voice loudly exclaimed and was cut off by something else.
"Easy there sugar cube. We need to give Twilight here a chance to tell us before we start losing our heads" came a heavily accented voice.
"Bring it on! I can take on any game, anywhere, anytime, against anypony!" came a brash almost overwhelmingly arrogant voice.
"Any...pony? Hmm I guess its not that far fetched for there to be sentient ponies in charge here, I mean maybe its the home world of Ixion or something. Wait... do gods have home worlds?" Sirraf mumbled to himself as he listened into the conversation happening just beyond the window. "Hmm maybe I should get to a higher window. I don't want to be caught by some late night stroller listening in on someones private conversation."
Turning away from the window he reached up and grasped one of the lower hanging branches and pulled himself into a better vantage point. "There, now I am hidden from the main roads. Hopefully they didn't notice me making my way up here. I don't know how good these tiny equines hearing is but I hope its not to far above my own."
Pressing his ear to the surface of his new window buddy he began listening once more. At the sound of laughter Sirraf developed a confused look on his face.
"Oh come on! This is embarrassing!" the first male voice that Sirraf had heard come from the house cried out."I don't wanna do this!
"Now now my little spikey wikey, you look absolutely adorable," a high class voice stated. "Besides you were the one that decided to join our little slumber party."
"That's only because I couldn't get to sleep over you girls talking!" the young male stated. "I would rather be dreaming right now then getting dolled up by you girls."
Then there was a voice so quiet that Sirraf was almost unsure whether or not anything was actually said.
"Fluttershy is right spike. Ya were the one that chose dare instead of truth. We can't have ya breakin the rules now can we?" the strongly accented voice stated.
Having the general idea of what was going on Sirraf decided that enough was enough. "It is to damn cold out here to be wasting any more time. I have to make contact with the locals at some point and these beings seem to be the only ones up and about!" backing up he readied for the trip back to the ground. Grasping the branch he gave two quick swings of his body and threw himself forward onto the snow covered surface below him with a thud.
"Did you girls hear that?" one of the voices rang out from the library. "What do you think it is?"
Sirraf, wasting no time for him to be mistaken as an intruder, hurried to the door and gives it four clear knocks before moving back. Now standing away from the door and unable to clearly hear the inhabitants he could only hear a collection of muffled voices beyond the door. After a long pause the door started to open as he brought himself down to what he would guess is about their height level by crouching down and placing his hands onto his knees.
"It is very late and the library is currently clo....." when the door finally opened Sirraf was met with the sight of a small purple and green lizard that was wearing eyeliner, lipstick, a blue dress, and a little red bow on his head. From the voice Sirraf could tell that this was the male inhabitant of the house.
"Hello there young man, can I speak to the operator of this establishment?" Sirraf said in an authoritative but kind voice.
"Uh...um...I... could you hang on a minute?" the small reptile asked nervously.
"Of course," the red clad being said with a glint in his eyes and a mask covered smirk.
"TWILIGHT! YOU MIGHT WANT TO SEE THIS!" the voice yelled out after slamming the door in Sirraf's face.
As the door began to open again he heard another voice."Spike you shouldn't slam the door in someponies face, its very rude! Now then how can I help you......." her voice trailed off as her eyes finally landed on the late night visitor.
It was a large creature, though not quite bulky. It was crouched down low but the things superior height was evident. As she tried to see it through the darkness an obviously male voice spoke. "Oh right! The night, here let me get that! Life's refreshing breeze, blow in energy... Cure!" A strong light began to emanate from one of his front limbs. Its pure white glow revealed all the hidden details as he held the spell within his rounded claw like digits. He was a figure dressed almost entirely in light and dark reds, parts of it were also a bright white in color. As he raised his head so that she could get a good view of his face she noticed that his eyes were a steely grey and his mane was a shade of purest white. His clothes were obviously of high quality and his hat seemed to add to that statement. It was a large wide rimmed fedora. Placed carefully in it was a large white feather that seemed to stay attached to the hat despite what wind would blow. What few parts of his body that were visible were a light almost pasty color with absolutely no coat to speak of. His face however was confusing. His eyes were small but shone with intelligence and kindness, though he also wore a red face mask as though he was hiding something. His face was kinda flat without any muzzle to speak of. There was however a slight ridge under the cloth that may have been a nose of some kind.
Twilight Sparkle stood there stunned for several long moments as the mage watched her take in his features with amusement. Finally he spoke again. "You know, its hard to hold a healing spell for this long. Seeing as its not really made to be used as a light source. Do you think maybe I can come inside and we can perhaps do this thing in a much warmer environment?"
Finally snapping out of her trance like state, Twilight thought for a moment before saying. "I'm not sure. I've never seen anything like you around before, not even in my books, but I also learned not to judge a pony by their cover not too long ago. Then again you don't seem like a pony either, you could be dangerous."
"Well I can understand that seeing as I don't think I'm actually from this world. I was taking a finals test in my home towns mage academy and I kinda made a miscalculation. Long story short I ended up here. If you want I will subject myself to a search and questioning should that make you feel any better about it." He said with a shiver hoping to finally get in out of this cold.
"Oh my! I didn't realize how cold you must be without anything over those bald patches of skin! Um... yeah I guess we can allow you to come in under those circumstances!" she said finally realizing his plight.
"Ah thank you very much my small equine friend," he said as she turned around and allowed him inside. As he stepped in he closed the door and settled back down into a crouch so as not to scare any of the denizens.
"Girls we have a bit of a situation over here!" She said as she turned on the lighting of the room.
Sirraf blinked as his eyes tried to focus, the first thing he noticed was that the room was filled with brightly colored pillows and even more brightly colored equine creatures. Two of them had horns, one a pure white with a deep purple mane wearing what seemed to be eyeshadow, the other being the lavender colored equine that allowed him refuge away from the storm. Her mane was a shade of purple with a pink stripe running through it. The next two had wings on them. One was what he could only describe as a butter yellow with a solid pink mane and tail. She seemed to be hiding behind said mane, while the other one had a cyan coat with a mane and tail combo that seemed to be made of solidified rainbow. The last two had neither horns nor tails. One was bright pink with a poofy dark pink mane and seemed to be grinning almost manically, where as the other was orange with small freckles and a blonde mane in a pony tail. Sirraf couldn't help but snicker to himself at that. This last one was wearing a rather fitting stetson hat.
"Ah hello there ladies I'd like to say thank yo....." he was quickly cut off by the orange one jumping up and with a frown on her face rushing in his direction. Quickly taking up a low gravity battle stance he called upon his magic to keep him safe. He refused to use any offensive magic against these creatures unless it was absolutely necessary. "Oh crap ... uh ...Precious light, be our armor to protect us...Protect!" right before the orange pony could turn and buck him with all her might, a three dimensional diamond shaped barrier formed around his body, then faded away. As her hooves struck she noticed that a lot of her force seemed to be absorbed, but not stopped, by the field. it sent him sliding back a short distance but he was for the most part fine.
"Ow that actually kinda hurt there. I hate to imagine what that would have felt like full force." the mage said rubbing the forearm that absorbed the impact. "Look I'm not looking for trouble. I just want to..."
At this moment the cyan one shot up and yelled "Oh yeah? Well you just found it buster!" She quickly flew across the room and began to perform fly by attacks to his arms and torso. The protect spell reduced these but they were adding up fast.
"Ah a speed user I see! Well lets cool your jets for a moment so we can talk. Time, rest and give your kindness to the worthy...Slow!" at this his hands emitted a bright red energy as what looked like a large clock of the same color began to wrap around the cyan speed demon. The hands on its face started to run in reverse until it disappeared.
"Ah! What the buck!?" She cried suddenly. Her speaking and movements much slower than before. At this chance he plucked her out of the air and set her back onto the ground.
"Now can we please talk without getting into another confrontation?" he pleaded with the small equine creatures. He was starting to wonder if these things were less peaceful then the village made him believe.
"Forget about me sugar cube?" a thickly accented voice said behind him. Thinking quickly he lept forward and jumped halfway up the stairs across the room.
"Dang it! I really don't have the energy or patience for this! Layer upon layer make your mark now... Haste!" After this exclamation a green glow emitted from his hands and ran into the air around him. It took a familiar clock like shape, only this time the hands on its face seemed to speed up out of control. After it vanished his breathing became quicker and every move he made was nearly faster than the eye could follow. His limbs even seemed to leave a kind of after image or trail behind them.
The orange mare rushed forward with the cyan one flying slowly to assist her friend. However, with his enhanced speed, the red being seemed to avoid every attempt to connect with him, not to mention the after image from the spell seemed to confuse them as to where exactly he was.
Twilight was watching all this with fascination. This creature was obviously talented with magic and more than familiar with combat, but he made absolutely to attempts to harm her friends. Finally she realized that the situation had escalated far beyond what it should have and stepped in. Using her magic she wrapped a field around both her friends and pulled them away from the brawl.
"Hey! Twilight we almost had him!" yelled the rainbow maned mare.
"Yeah sugar cube what the hay are yah doin? the orange one angrily asked.
"Think girls! This guy has taken control of this fight from the very beginning, after a few spells he has managed to make it impossible for you to even touch him, not to mention he has made absolutely no attempts to harm you himself. If he really wanted to fight, you two would probably be seriously hurt by now!" Twilight lectured the girls.
"Ah guess you're right sugar cube, we kinda jumped the gun on that one didn't we?" the stetson wearing pony said finally listening to logic.
"Are you kidding me?!" yelled the flyer irrationally. "I had him on the ropes and for all we know he plans on eating us!"
At this moment she didn't notice that the creature had moved up behind her. " I don't think shes gonna listen to logic. So I guess I'll just have to calm her down for a moment. Lose conscious, wash away into the silent sea... Sleep!" a deep cloud like energy wrapped around his hands as he placed them gently on top of her head. Slowly she loses focus and her eyes droop until finally she is out cold.
Sirraf finally sits back down, hoping that his little magic display didn't freak out the room full of multicolored equines. He had been going for far to long after sleeping far to little as it was, and that rapid chain of spells had left him feeling drained. "Now then if its not to much trouble why don't we get back to what I was saying before. Thank you for letting me in out of the cold snowy night. I was just about ready to freeze out there." he stated with a chuckle.
The entire room stood silent as he looked into the faces of his hosts. The awkward silence was quickly evolving from a few seconds to several minutes. "Um ladies? Are you in there?" he asked quickly snapping his right hand fingers to get their attention.
Finally the blank unbelieving stares shattered as they all started to huddle and interact with each other through whispers and quick glances. "Sigh... I hope I didn't leave a bad first impression. I wouldn't want there to be some kind of alien lynching on my first day here." deeply lost in his thoughts, he leaned his head back against the wall as he waited for them to finish. Mentally going over the events of the last twenty four hours, he didn't realize that one of the ponies had moved closer to his side. Hearing a quiet squeak he turned his head down to see that the shy winged pony that had avoided eye contact with him for the entire event was now staring up at him with big curious eyes.
"Um, excuse me?" the sweet little pony asked in a meek, quiet voice as she looked upon this new creature.
It was almost to much for him to bear. Sure the others were cute in their own ways, but this one was on a whole other level. She was so cute that it made a moogle look horrendous in comparison. "Yes little one? How may I help you?" he said almost as quietly as she did.
"Um... I would... um... just ... like to .. say..... thanks for not hurting my friends... if that's ok with you," she stammered out hiding behind her mane again.
"No problem. I understand that they were mostly just attacking out of fear. After all I'm something that I assume your kind has never seen before and it is normal to fear that which we do not understand," he said smiling as he rubbed his sore forearm.
"Oh my! Are you hurt?" the small yellow pony quickly rushed over, any nervousness about the creature before her vanishing as she started trying to remove the large glove that covered his injury.
"This? Nah its ok, I've had a lot worse during magic classes back at the academy." he said with a reassuring smile.
"Regardless, if you are hurt you are going to need some treatment." the voice of Twilight called over to him. He picked his head up as he noticed that the others, excluding the sleeping blue one, had gathered over to where he was leaned up against the wall.
"Heheh, while it is nice of you to show such concern, I assure you that..." he trailed off for a second before getting an idea. "Hey ... wait a minute. Would you girls like to see something cool?" he asked with a grin under his mask.
All of them looked at each other for a moment then seemed to agree."Well all right. Just don't try anything funny ok?"
"No worries on that one I don't really have enough energy left in me after today's events to do any real damage even if I wanted to," he said with a chuckle. Standing up to full height he centered his gravity and began to once again call up his white magic. "This may sound familiar to you Twilight, though I don't intend to use it as a light source this time" he said as he removed his coat, chest armor, and gloves, showing the mares the bruising that had begun to form from the repeated attacks from earlier.
"Oh my darling, are you sure you don't need any treatment?" the upscale white pony asked as she saw the damage to the rather impressive build of the creatures toned muscles.
"Well now I didn't quite say that. You see, I'm about to treat these wounds myself," he said with a glint in his eye."Life's refreshing breeze, blow in energy...Cure!" a strong glow of holy energy grew in the palm of his outstretched hand, on display for all to see, then he directed the energy unto himself and they watched in amazement as the light seemed to take away all the bruises and minor cuts from the previous battle.
After opening his eyes he looked at the amazed stares on all the faces of the mares around him. "Well then, I guess we should start with introductions now." He said as he placed his gear back onto his newly healed body.