//------------------------------// // When things go magic // Story: Planet of the Ponies // by LightStriker //------------------------------// Twilight left the clinic deep in her thoughts. This new comer appeared to be a mine of knowledge unlike any she encountered before. She didn't want to push him or anything, but knowledge was so attractive and she never had enough. That new creature was quite weird, and unlike any they got so far. No doubt it would be hard to make the others accept somepony like him. Is "somepony" even the right word in this case? She had no idea. Deep in her thoughts, she wasn't really looking where she was going, walking automatically toward her home. What had to happen happened, she bumped into somepony. "Oh! Sorry!" she apologized herself, raising her head to see who she pushed. "Doctor?" The one who kept asking to simply be called Doctor turned around to see who rammed his flank. "Oh, hello Twilight. How it's going?" he asked, not caring much about the sudden impact. "Not... much. I guess. Wait... I haven't seen you in months. Where were you?" she asked. Why is that pony always showing up when something is going to happen? But he is never there when everything is fine... I don't even know where he's living. "Months you say? That... Oh my... It didn't feel that long. I was in a business trip. You have no idea how many pony need a clock to keep track of time." he answered with a smile, oblivious that he was the one having an hard time to keep track of it. "But you said something happened?" Twilight sighed silently; there was no discussing with this one. She said nothing about something happening, but he just knew. He would find out sooner or later, and would get himself in trouble, she was sure of it. "Some kind of weird creature felt from the sky. He broke a leg and he's resting in the hospital." She couldn't say if the Doctor was interested or not in what she just said. "Ah." was his only answer, and then left, walking toward the center of Ponyville speaking to himself. Weird creature I was saying? Who's really the weird creature? The remaining of the day passed without any fuss. Mark was pretty bored from doing nothing, but he had a lot of thinking to do. At some point in the afternoon a nurse came with a tray of food and put it on his bed. When he tried to thanks her, she let out a little squeak and ran away. He remembered how even Twilight was frighten when she first came. So far, only the doctor Stable appeared to not care about who or what his patient was. I guess I will have to get used to it. Imagine if the roles were reversed. What the government would... He swallowed hard, thinking about all the stories of government cover-ups. For all he knew, dozen ponies could have ended up on his Earth at some point, but knowing how humans are relatively afraid of anything different; their chances of survival would be slim. Would humans really managed to react better than the ponies had so far? They didn't cut me into pieces and they didn't put me in a jar. I'm better get used to some fear from them, would be the least I could do. He looked at his tray, wondering if he could eat that food safely. After all, he was lucky the atmosphere itself was breathable. What were the chances the food to also be edible? He lifted the cover to find a salad of carrots and cucumbers. There was a glass of water and a big bright red apple in the corners. Aside the apple was standing what appeared to be a blueberry muffin. Well that's uncanny. What are the chances of the same vegetables evolving on two different planets? He remembered reading how life tends to always find a way, but he didn't remember any articles about life always finding the same way. He once read some kind of theory about sentient life having to ends up in a somewhat similar shape, but at the simple sight of the ponies, he knew it was wrong. They didn't look like anything human, and they didn't even look that much like what he knew of his Earth's horses. However, their facial expressions were quite close to any human's. Let's not forget they speak English. Alright, enough proof I'm on Earth. So... Parallel universe or time travel? He took a slice of cucumber and stared at it. Here goes nothing. He put it in his mouth and chewed. Not only was he surprised it tasted exactly like any cucumber, it also tasted better than what he remembered. It was crispy and obviously quite fresh. Looking at his plate, he found out everything was so fresh, that it could have been picked off a field in the morning. He engulfed his whole meal, quite happy to eat something so tasty after over a day without eating or drinking. On top, the food in a space station was never known to be tasty. He was happy to eat anything else than the dry junk they pack for space mission. While drinking from his glasses of water he thought, They grow their own food. A small town have to. Looking at his empty plate, he wondered for a minute about the lack of meat. Equine are herbivores, right? I should ask one day. Maybe once I know them or they know me enough. Not that I would want to make it more awkward. A flash of memory came to his mind, a month before his mission, at a restaurant with his teammates, eating a burger of horse meat. His eyes grew wide and he put a hand on his mouth. He never been found of eating meat, but he sometime enjoyed it. His teammates kept repeating it was the best burger in town, but he didn't find it that tasty. It was too chewy and didn't taste much. I'm gonna be sick. Good time to start a vegetarian diet. Somehow he had lost all appetite. There was only the apple and the muffin left. He decided to keep the apple for later. He put the tray on his bedside and the apple beside it. He wasn't near lacking food anyway. He could skip a meal or two without problem. He heard coughing to his left, and found the grey pony had opened the curtains a bit. "You're gonna eat that muffin?" she asked, her sight locked on his tray. Mark laughed inside. He didn't care much she watched him. He would have done the same. He took the muffin and handed her it. "Be my guest, all your." Her eyes brighten while she took the muffin with her left hoof. Mark didn't think it was possible to balance a muffin that way on a hoof. Between two bites she said "Thanks! I love muffin!". He honestly laughed. "I can see that. Enjoy it." It was well past midnight when he woke up. Something woke him up, something nearby. It was actually close enough to breath in his face. He waited until he was fully awake before turning his head to face the intruder. On all four above him, was standing the same filly that was in the forest. She was deeply staring at him. "Morning already mom?" he asked with half a smile. The filly jumped back a little. "You ain't that scary!" she said with a sound of bravado. That scary? So I'm a bit scary? Kids are the same everywhere. He laughed. "I'm not? Don't you know I'm a big bad monster that eats foals for breakfast?" he said, trying to sound serious, but he started to laugh again. "That ain't funny!" exclaimed the filly while punching him in the chest. "Oww, alright, alright." he said between two laugh. Tears of laughing were starting to show up. "Who said I was scary?" "My big sis said so. But she says the same for everything she doesn't know." she claimed. She then stared at him from up close. "You're weird, but you ain't scary." "Thanks... I guess." he said with a big smile on his face. I better get used to the unexpected around here. "It just means that she loves you so much that she doesn't want anything bad to happen to you." he explained. She looked around, obviously thinking about the statement. "I know. But I'm no foal anym..." "Applebloom?" said a voice in the corridor. "Oh no! Sis!" whispered Applebloom. Mark finally understood, she went on their own to prove her worth by facing that new frightening creature in town. But she was still afraid to be caught by her sister. "Quick! Under the bed!" he whispered back. "What?" she asked back puzzled. He winked at her, hoping that sign would mean the same in this reality. "Trust me. Quick!" Finally catching on, she jumped off the bed and slid herself under it. Meanwhile Mark made sure he looked as asleep as possible. Just in time as a beam of light lit the room. "Applebloom?" said a scared voice again, almost whispering. "You're in there?" Mark took a deep breath, and doing the deepest voice he could, he screamed "Who's there? Who's gonna pay for disturbing my sleep?!" He was sure he heard a faint laugh coming from under the bed. The lantern felt on the floor and whoever was holding it was now running away as fast as possible. He started to chuckle. The filly came from under the bed laughing and started bouncing around, "That was funny!" When laughing managed to get under control, he said "You should go now. I think she will be back to take the lantern she dropped. If you do it right, you can be home before she is." "You're right! Thanks mister! Name's Applebloom by the way." replied the excited filly with a wide smile. "Just call me Mark. Good night Applebloom." "'Night!" on that, she was off the corridor, looking around trying to not meet her sister. I could get used to that. he thought while falling back asleep. The next morning he found that someone came in while he was asleep and replaced the empty tray with a full one. The breakfast tasted as amazing as it looked, composed of pancakes and eggs covered in some kind of blueberry syrup. If hospital food was that tasty back home, I would have been sick all the time. He was about to bite in the apple leftover from yesterday when doctor Stable and Twilight entered the room. He put the apple back on his bedside. She was wearing a kind of small saddle with a bag on each side. "Good morning." he said, surprised to have such early visitor. "Good morning." they both replied in tandem. The doctor went around the bed, and lifted the bed sheets covering his broken leg. He then lowly pushed his feet aside, checking him for any reaction. Mark was ready to scream in pain, but was surprised to only feel some numbness his in leg. The doctor put the sheets back in place. "Good. You should be good to go tomorrow morning." he said, obviously satisfied. He was about leave the room when Mark found back his voice. "Wait! Two days for a broken leg?" he asked, skeptical. "Well, yes. How long were you expecting? Months?" he replied with a smile. Pointing at Twilight he continued, "Well I guess it is kinda fast. But you got Twilight to thanks for it. I wasn't confident performing on your species, so I asked Twilight to assist with the healing spell. I admit she would make an amazing doctor." On that, he turned around and left, leaving a blushing Twilight facing Mark. For the first time Mark noticed the doctor had some kind of tattoo on his flank, what looked like a crude display of an electrocardiogram. "Spell?" he asked raising an eyebrow. "The doctor is too modest. The spell he casted was quite complex. I only gave him some support on the power output." she said trying to stay modest. "Spell??" he asked again. "As in... magic?" She blinked a few time, unsure of how to answer that. "Yes. As in magic." She looked at him with a grim. "You sound like you don't believe in magic!" He crossed his arms on his chest. "Maybe because I don't!" he said with a face that expressed he was challenging her to prove him wrong. She sighed and rolled her eyes. She then looked beside him and her horn began to glow. The apple on his bedside floated up to her mouth and she took a bite in it. While chewing on it, the apple went back to its initial position. She didn't say anything but her face was loudly broadcasting her satisfaction. Mark managed to stay physically unmoved by the performance, even if inside his mind was racing with the display of telekinesis. "That doesn't prove existence of any magic." She almost chocked on her piece of apple. "For all I know, it could be a trick of some kind or some unknown technology." She swallowed. "There was no trick!" "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." he simply claimed. "Yesterday you couldn't believe we could go at twenty four times the speed of sound, and we did it without any magic." "That kind of speed is impossible!" "Magic doesn't exist!" They stared at each other, not giving up an inch of terrain to the other one. Mark had a smile on his face. "I'm a scientist, I only trust what can be explained and proved under controlled condition." He move his right hand toward her, "Can you explain what your magic is?" A smile grew on her face. "Magic is a field generated by life. It bounds matter and energy and allows the transition between the two. Everything alive has some otherwise it wouldn't be alive." he explained by heart like if it was written in a book. "It allows transportation and transformation of matter among other things." she said, quite satisfied of her explanation, like if she was in front of a classroom. "Bullshit." replied Mark while slicing the air with his hand. "I, for one, don't have one bit of magic, and I'm quite alive." he claimed while pointing his chest with his thumb. "What? That's... I... I can prove it to you!" she said angry. That human was pushing her even if she didn't know what cow poo had to do with it. "Go ahead!" She did a step forward, looking at him. Her horn started to glow again. Slowly Mark's body started to glow of the same purple tint. At first he didn't feel anything. Nice trick when you need to walk in the dark. But all of sudden, it was like he swallowed some lava, his guts were on fire and it was spreading outward. He felt his eyeballs were about to be pushed out by some kind of inner pressure. He did the only thing he could, he screamed. He was sure he screamed, but he couldn't hear anything, his ears ringing madly. She's killing me! Alright, I believe! I believe! As suddenly as the pain came, it went away. His whole body was numb and the room was spinning in front of his eyes. He felt like he went in an electrical storm and he was sure his hairs were straight on his head. He coughed, letting out a small cloud of black smoke. He was sure he saw some kind of golden energy arcs run across his forearms. That can't be good. He looked at Twilight. Her eyes were wide open and she put a hoof on her mouth. She looks more in shock than me. "I'm so sorry... I..." she could only say before doctor Stable stormed in the room. "What's going on? What are you doing to him Twilight?" looking concerned of the smoke coming from under the bed sheets. "Not... nothing doc." Mark managed to say. His voice felt weird. "Just... just a little burst of magic." The doctor looked at him like if he suddenly grew a second head. Then he looked at Twilight, which was still in shock. "Twilight, I would appreciate if you wouldn't kill him, at least not in this building. I'm responsible for his well being while he stays here." Twilight only managed to nod. The doctor looked at the two again, shrugged, then left the room. "I'm deeply sorry! It wasn't supposed to do that! I never saw it do that before! It's a basic spell we use on unicorn filly to help them spot their source of magic!" she explained in one breath, her eyes still wide open, having an hard time to believe she almost cooked alive this creature. Mark could feel it. It was a valve that always been there, that he never noticed before. But even if he knew, he wouldn't have known how to open or close it. But now he knew where it was and how to work it out. Not that he wanted to do it, considering what just happened. Maybe you need to be a pony to control that? Well, that gives some insight on spontaneous combustion. "It's... It's alright. I kind of asked for it. Or maybe not." he said half laughing. His mind wasn't clear. "Oh! I almost forgot." she pulled a book off her left bag. "Guide for new comers to Equestria. I thought you might want to read while having nothing to do." She quickly put the book on his bedside. "Well... hehe... look at the time! So late already!" she said nervously looking at the wall clock. "I got to go! Enjoy the book!" On that she almost raced off the room. Mark noticed she too had some kind of marking on her flank. While the doctor's one was obvious, he had no idea what those white and purple stars meant. His head finally stopped spinning. I will ask her next time. He took the book in one hand, surprised to find it written in English. He was stuck to this bed; the best was still to learn more about this civilization. What's smelling like beacon? A pony was standing in front of the crashed pod. With precision he took what looked like a long metallic pen out of a little bag he was carrying. Pointing it at the wreckage, he pushed a button on the surface using his teeth. The tip glowed blue for a few moment. He read some kind of result out of it that only he could see. "They really did it? How unusual..." Then he felt it, a kind of motion from his guts, like if he was on a ship rocking on huge waves. As suddenly as the feeling came, it stopped. But it was enough, he had experienced that feeling a few time before. He turned around looking at the distance; from what he thought was the source of his discomfort. "How unusual..." he simply repeated before leaving the burned sphere behind him. Mark read the guide for most of the day. While it was an interesting readout on the current political system in place, it lacked information about the social structure. It listed the biggest cities and main touristic attractions, but failed to explain some basic concept like the markings he saw on their flanks. He was surprised to find many cities names to carry similarities to cities of his own reality. However there was no information about demography or social protocol, aside from a few lines about how to behave if you were to meet the royalty. The princesses raise and lower the sun and the moon. For some reason he only wished to find a table and violently flip it. He was especially interested in the map of the country in the middle pages. But all he could make out of it was that Equestria wasn't a huge one, a few times the size of Texas at best. There was no map of the planet and no major ocean could be seen, at least from what he could make out of it. There were only a handful of large cities, but most of the population appeared to be rural. I need a bigger map, a way to know if it's the same planet. He was almost done with it when he felt he was being watch. While keeping the book in front of his face, he slowly looked over it. He was right, in the corridor he could see the faces of three fillies whispering to each other while staring at him. "Hey Applebloom, how are you?" he said while closing the guide and putting it on his bedside, while a smile grew on his face. She simply trotted in the room, head rose, looking so courageous for her friends. "I'm all right, and you?" She stopped close to the bed, only her head being above it. "Quite good, the doctor said they would remove the cast tomorrow morning. Who's your friends?" he said nodding toward the door. "It looks like they are afraid of something." She let a small laugh. "Yeah, they can be a bit chicken." she said looking at the door to see if they would bite at her provocation. The orange filly jumped in the room, her head lowered and her wings deployed. "Hey! I'm no chicken!" Mark and Applebloom looked at each other and started laughing. "This is Scootaloo, and the one still hiding is Sweetie Belle. This is Mark. He looks a bit weird, but he's quite fine." she said while putting a hoof on his bed. White, yellow, orange, purple, grey. I really wonder if they have a limit to the tint those ponies can take. I'm not sure I want to know. He mentally shrugged. And I'm the weird one. The last one, a white unicorn with a purple and pink mane, finally came in the room. "Nice to meet you mister Mark." she said sounding more mature, almost noble. "Nice to meet you too miss Sweetie Bell. But you can simply call me Mark, I'm not found of the formalities." he replied, trying to sound as aristocratic as possible. She sounds almost like someone of the high society. What's the protocol while meeting a lady? Hand kissing? Hoof kissing... Bleh! He noticed that the three had no marking on their flanks, unlike the grownups he saw so far. He started to wonder if they were gained from some kind of adulthood ritual. Were they chosen by the pony or decided by the society? Marked when you get your first job? He didn't like the idea much, considering his first job was in a fast food restaurant. "Hey, I wonder if it's alright to talk about that... But I noticed you had no marking on your flanks. Twilight gave me that guide" he said pointing at the book. "But there's nothing about those." The three fillies looked at each other. From their look he wondered if they were happy or sad. Or maybe both, he couldn't say. Applebloom looked at him and claimed quite proudly, "We are the cutie mark crusaders. We are looking for our cutie marks." "Cutie mark?" he said puzzled by the unusual term. They better not do any joke about my name. Sweetie Belle took turn to explain. "It's a symbol that represents your special inner talent. It shows up by itself when you find out what you are good at." "By itself? Like... magically?" he asked. They nodded back. He kept himself from looking skeptical. "What happen if you get your cutie mark, but later find out you're better at something else?" They looked at each other wondering how to answer. They never thought of that before. They always assumed once some pony find his talent he would simply stick to it. They never heard of a cutie mark changing for another one. But can it happen? Can a pony find something he is even more talented in than his cutie mark or once found he can't be better at something else? Their trains of thoughts were cut short when a voice in the corridor whispered. "Applebloom?" He noticed it was the same voice as last night. "Sis? Oh, not again." said Applebloom in desperation. A bright orange head wearing a cowboy hat showed up trying to stay hidden behind the door frame. "Applebloom! Come here!" she whispered louder, giving him some scared look. A bit over protective aren't you? He started thinking about how to get out of the situation. He wasn't used to deal with someone or somepony so scared of him. He quickly put aside any idea of simply talking it out, she wouldn't listen a word. So far he enjoyed talking with the fillies as they were giving him an insight on this society that adult couldn't give him due to their fear. On top, he had the feeling they would get a lecture about talking to strange creature. It wouldn't be right to let them be lectured without trying something. Gonna have to be creative on this one. While pointing at the intruder, taking his most authoritative voice, he screamed "You!". The orange mare jumped back, more afraid than ever, but she didn't flee. Her little sister was there and she had to do something. He pointed at the right side of his bed. "Here! Now!". It took a few moments before she decided to move, but she finally made it. She was shaking hard of fear. What would that monster do to her? It was staring at her, looking mad. Mark looked at the fillies. "Hey crusaders, can you go for a few minutes? I got to talk with Applebloom's sister." While they were leaving, he was sure he saw Applebloom winked at him. He turned back to stare at the orange pony. He noticed her flanks had three red apples. Her green eyes were wide open; she was shaking more than ever. Going back to the authoritative mode, he screamed "Sit!". Without even thinking she sat down on the floor. It took a few moments for her to react to the fact she followed his order without even thinking. Fear was taking most of her mind and she act without consciously knowing it. "Hey! I'm no dog!" she said, but even then she stayed sit. She was still shaking, but the awkwardness made a crack in her wall of fear. She looked about to run away. Not an easy one? Time for the extreme measure. Mark leaped forward as fast as he could and grabbed her, hugging her. She immediately started to push back as hard as she could, more frighten than ever, her eyes wide open. He felt he was dragged off the bed. He quickly used his left leg to grab the left side of the bed, using it as an anchor. He was in great shape as he trained hard at the NASA, but that pony was pulling much harder than he thought. Got to hold! The tug of war lasted a good minute. His arms were in fire from holding that crazy pony in place. His left leg was shaking from the effort and he felt a cramp coming up in his calf. That pony was far stronger than he thought. He could feel her muscles working, like strips of steel under her skin. He was about to let go when the pony stopped pushing. She was breathing hard. What was the creature doing? Was that an attack? It sure didn't feel like one. She was confused but also surprised it managed to hold her in place. "What... What are ya doing?" she finally managed to ask. "Hugging you, silly." Mark said between two breaths. She wasn't shaking anymore, but his forearms were. She was more confused than ever. "Huh... Why?" was all she could say. Mark didn't answer. He kept hugging her for another minute, letting the confusion sink in her mind and his own muscles rest for a while. When he noticed she was looking around he finally asked "Feels awkward?". "Well... yeah." she answered. He let her go and sit back in his bed. "Good. Now you aren't afraid anymore." "What in tarnation?" she said staring at him, more confused than ever. "Fear was clouding your mind. Even if I tried to talk to you, you wouldn't have listened. Am I right?" he said looking at her. She didn't answer. "Only way to crack that wall of fear is with another strong emotion. I'm not good with jokes, so I thought confusion and awkwardness might do the trick." he said with a smile. "And I was right. Now we can talk." He offered her his right hand. "Name's Mark, nice to meet you." She looked at the raised hand, wondering if it was some kind of trick. She hated to admit, but he was right. She was still cautious, but not frighten anymore. He took the problem head-on and she could understand that. She wondered if she would have acted the same way. Probably not. "Ah shoo..." she said rolling her eyes. She grabbed his hand and shacked it hard. "Nice to meet ya. Name's Applejack." When he finally got his hand back, he felt like his forearm was close to the breaking point. A few more shake and he might have needed another cast. "Wow, you are a strong one." he said while massaging his forearm. He could notice a smile coming up her face. "I guess I got you to thanks for those tasty apples, right?" "What?" He turned around and grabbed the apple resting on his bedside. He took a small bite out of it. "They are quite tasty." Her smile kept growing. "How do ya know?" she said half skeptical. He pointed at her flank. She looked down at her flank, then back at him. "Well duh." Being serious again, he put the half eaten apple back on the bedside. "Look... I know it's not my business, but it never stopped me from giving a friendly advice. Applebloom? She's a smart one." he said crossing his arms. "Yah, that she is." she admitted back. "And I'm sure you want to keep her from harm." he asked. "Of course!" "The more you're gonna keep her from doing something without logical explanation, the more she's gonna try to do it. I guess kids are like that across realities. She would never admit it, but she's expecting you to go ahead of the unknown and by experience tell her why something is dangerous, not only that something is. You're the big sister. If you try to block her many time without a real reason she will simply assume you don't know and she gonna try it." He sighed. "At some point, she might do something really dangerous and an accident might happen. It’s something that could be avoided if she learned to trust your judgment. But trust is never implied, it's gained with time." She was looking at the floor. "Ah! I'm not good at lecturing people. Never been. Cheer up!" She looked up and stared at him. "You're a weird one mister." He sighed again. "Not the first time I hear that one today. Guess I have to get used to it." He pointed at the door. "I guess she's waiting for you." "Yeah, I guess so." She started to go but stop and turn around. "Thanks, I'm gonna think of your advice. But..." "But?" "Never hug me like that again." she warned him with half a smile trying to look as threatening as possible. He raised an eyebrow. "Will I have to?" he asked back. She sighed, rolling her eyes. "Ah... I guess not. Good day sir." "Good day miss Applejack." he said with a large smile. Applebloom was waiting at the entrance of the clinic. Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle went home, leaving her to face Applejack alone. She did it again; she could expect a lengthy lecture from her and Big Macintosh about taking risk. But this time she was right, that new creature wasn't frightening. He was quite friendly. She was expecting to be grounded a few days and be ordered to not see him again. Not fair. She was looking at the ground when Applejack finally came out of the hospital. She stopped in front of Applebloom and was about to say something when she closed back her mouth. She simply stood there looking at her. I guess I really did it this time. She doesn't even know what to say. After a few moment of silence, she finally looked up to her big sister. She was in sweat and her mane was all messed up but she had a small corner smile. Did... Did they fight? Applejack finally spoke up. "Your... Your new 'friend'... He's quite a weird one." On that, she turned around and started leaving. "Let's go home." she said with an obvious smile. That's it? What the hay happened in there? She started trotting behind her sister, looking at her confused. Gonna have to ask him what he did to her. It was the second night in a row that something woke him up. But this time, no matter how hard he tried to fully wake up, he simply couldn't. He was in a thick haze and everything looked blurry. He couldn't move. Beside his bed was standing a brown pony, holding something in his mouth. The moonlight reflected on it, something metallic, technologic. A small blue light flashed, forcing him to blink. The moment he opened back his eyes, he was fully awake. Whatever was holding him down was gone. He sat up and looked around, the room was empty, no proof anypony was there seconds ago. Was that a dream? Am I starting to dream about ponies? His guts were telling him it was no dream. The memories weren't fading away like dreams used to. He had no idea what to make out of it. He layed back down, having no clue of what this visit meant. Going back to sleep proved harder than expected.