Sthemata - Collision of matter and thoughts
The characters and places of this story belong to their respective owners, namely:
The known characters and places from "My little pony: Friendship is magic", copyright by Hasbro
Other characters and places belong to the author, copyright by Marielity
The Story belongs to the author, copyright by Marielity
Chapter 1 - The foreigner
The Sun was about to settle and painted the sky in a beautiful mix of orange and red. It was evening in Ponyville.
"Spike? SPIKE!"
A female voice shouted in the Library of Ponyville, the home of Twilight Sparkle since she moved here about one year ago with her assistant Spike, who just fall of the ladder; scattered in a pile of Books.
"What is it Twilight?", the small dragon boy grumbled."I'm getting all the books you wanted for this night."
The Purple Unicorn Girl was in preperation-mood again. Running around with her Checklist floating next to her, she was busy making sure everything for this special night will be perfect.
"Did you get the blankets?", she asked.
"Yes", spike answered.
"Check". Twilights Quill scratched over the list. "Cushions?"
"Check!"
"Food and drinks?"
"More then enough", smiled the dragon.
"I guess we should be fine then", Twilight said."Zecora invited us to a special zeremonie this afternoon. She told me its a special ritual celebrating the swifts of the stars, the night in which will be a loot of shooting stars. This is going to be wonderful! And all my friends will be there too."
"I guess this will be a long night again", Spike said, "and I'll fall asleep before the star shower even begins".
"We'll see about that. You are still young and need sleep". Twilight folded the list and put it into her bag.
"Well...I guess we are ready. Lets go."
Carrying all their stuff they moved out to the great hill in ponyville to meet their friends.
Real World
Simon woke up. The first thing he noticed was a stinging pain in his face, the part was still bloody and red from the fist that hit him there. But he didn't care. He didn't care for so long. Actually he was used to get hit.
He got up in his small apartment. The floor was covered in books, old socks and papers. He went to the bathroom and looked into his mirror to check the bruise on his face.
A slim guy with green eyes and brown hair was looking at him. His eyes were dark from lack of sleep and stress. His mouth was a small line showing no expression like the rest of his face.
Simon was a 18 years old high schooler. He was quite good in school, at sports and had quite a lot of friends and hobbies. That was until he got a girlfriend.
Then all was turning bad for him.
There was a small gang at high school, bullying around other pupils. Unfortunetly his new grilfriend was the gangleaders girl; at least that was his opinion. And he told Simon on his very own way.
But that wasn't all. She left Simon so the gang would stop hitting him, but they continued...maybe to be totally sure he knew his place. They even threatened his friends if they still hang out with him. And so they left him and tried their best to ignore him.
"So that's what friendship is about", he muttered to himself,"having friends as long as it is not dangerous for yourself. And then they drop you to have it easier for themselves."
When he first realized what this gang did to him (hitting was one part, but destroying his live another) he cried. But that was months ago. Now he was just a grim ghost that tried to get around at school, ignoring all other people and only caring for himself.
His friendly character changed into a numb unfriendly one. And everyday he had to endure made it harder for him. His studies became half-hearted, he isolated from everyone and spent his time in front of the computer.
Simon spent most of his time on the internet. Surfing for the latest news, newest animes, games and whatever came across him. He visited imageboards, Forums and watched a lot of films. You could say that he came across half of the internet.
One of his newest interests was a series called "My little pony: Friendship is magic", the story of Twilight Sparkle and her 5 friends, learning about the value of friendship. Though Simon knew better about friendship, this series soon was on his list of his dayly researches on the internet for some reason.
How long did he stare at himself in the mirror? Time seemed to flow again so he hurried up. He washed himself and got ready for school.
Walking down the mainroad, the school came in sight in front of him. Normally it takes only 5 Minutes walk to go there, but he always goes slower, knowing what will probably happen to him.
"Well...instead of getting beaten up again and wasting my time learning for nothing", he thought bitterly," I could as well go somewhere else and have some fun or just relax a bit". So he changed his route and instead went to his old favorite place. The Harrington Bridge Tower.
Ponyville
All of them have arrived.
Applejack came over with her little sister applebloom, Rainbow Dash was already lying on the blankets, wearing her sunglasses. Rarity wore a beautiful scarve and hat for the ceremony. Fluttershy was sitting next to Rainbow Dash with her little, grim looking bunny angel, smiling shyly. Pinky Pie jumped around Spike and his Basket of food to take a peak at all the candy he might hid there. Twilight stood next to Spike and observed the scene.
Zecora was already there as well...and she constructed a small scenery, which symbolized a desert of africa. Golden Torches lightened the place and set a confortable moot. She was wearing a robe, the hood thrown back, standing in the scenery, watching the sky for the right moment to start.
When the sun finally settled Zecora turned around to the other ponys. In a mysterious voice she rhymed:
"As I can see we all gathered here at night,
the darkness has come, but there will be light,
when the stars fall down, at least it so seems,
they fly at the sky and leave light streams.
At one of those nights my people went far,
leaded by the shine of the biggest star,
to a realm, new and wild, full of live,
where unknown creatures beasts do strive."
While telling her story she performed some simple, dance-like moves to underline her words about the wandering of her people. The moot was perfect and everyone was watching in total enchantment.
"One of those beasts was very strange
his size big, his arms with range,
was above those beasts, but cruler then all
it wanted to rule and bring others to fall."
Zecora blew a hoofful of green powder in the air, creating the scheme of a creature with 4 legs, but it was standing and a evil face showing from its round head, looking down at the ponys.
For a second Rainbow's glasses dropped and revealed shocked eyes, applebloom was holding on her bigger sister, and Spike was hiding under a cushion. Pinky Pie yelled: "Yippy. Halloween. Where is the candy?"
Zecora continued:
"For our own sake we returned,
for the weapon of the beast burned,
the whole land was on fire and dust
like a knife his bloodlust trust."
The green Scheme bowed down over the ponys. The arms reached out for them. Now even the other Ponys, except Twilight, shoke in light terror. "It's all show", she thought cool, but mildy impressed.
"It followed us, to our sacred place,
we ensured its not our last days,
by sealing it with magical power,
into an ancient tower".
The evil grimace of the scheme turned into a face of fright. Around the green figure appeared a green grid holding it in place, the hands holding and pulling on the bars. Then it sat down with a sad face and stopped moving
With a whip of her tail, zecora swirled the green cloud around and it dissappeared.
"And thats the story of my kind,
from old tales far behind", zecora said, now in normal voice again.
For a moment the ponys still gazed at her with big eyes, then they clapped their hooves in amazement.
"That was awesome!", Rainbow Dash said," nothing scary at all, but cool."
"Well well rainbow dash", applejack smiled at her,"for a brave pony you seemed quite shocked for a moment, didn't ya?"
"What you mean? You say i'm easily scared?"
"Uhm...I was a scared", fluttershy whispered,"but the scheme looked even more scared when it was trapped."
"You don't wanna say you had sympathy for this beast, who attacked zecora's ancestors, dont' you?", snarled Rainbow Dash.
Fluttershy just ducked a little and kept quite
"Now now", Twilight interupted,"it's just an old story so don't get so upset guys, ok?"
Zecora said:
"This is not just a story, I wish it is,
but history of my people is this,
though it's old and mostly forgotten,
the truth of it is still not rotten."
"I never heard of such creatures", Twilight doubted,"none of my books ever stated about it".
"Just 'cause it's not mentioned in a book doesn't mean it doesn't exist", applejack answered.
"But still. If such evil creatures existed there should be some material about it".
"Ohhh...this looks so beautiful!". Rarity's sudden call made them all look at her in surprise. "Look at the sky! It started!"
The darkness above them was filled with shooting stars. The dark moot of the ponys turned into amazement in a second. No words were spoken, just sitting or laying on the blankets, enjoying the view.
Real World
Simon was exhausted. Though he was bigger since the last time he climbed up the ladder of the Harrington bridge tower (was it 2 or 3 years ago?), it was still a long climb.
The tower was about 30 meters high. The small ladder was supposed to be for electricians, but the bridge was out of power since Simon could remember. As far as he knew he was the only one who knew about the top of the tower.
After 1 minute of climbing he reached the top. It was a room of about 10 m² size, with a low ceiling so he had to crouch. On each side of the room was an opening, like a window, but the glasses had been removed. From the eastern, northern and western window Simon could see the big city. The southern window showed the great river flowing to the horizon, the sun over it like a guiding light.
Sitting at the southern window Simon looked at the river, wishing just to be like the river: Flowing, wherever it wants to, sometimes smooth, sometimes firce. And no need to care for others. He soon felt sleepy, so he leaned back on his bagpack and fell into slumber very quick.
He had a strange dream. In his vision was a dark landscape far below him. At first he thought he was falling, but he noticed, that he was flying. A flying spirit or something. He seemed to not have a body at all...just his eyes showing him the world below him.
The air was cold ("why can I feel it when i'm only eyes?", he thought) the full moon hidden behind thick clouds.
Suddenly forests and plains below him turned up in flames, filling the air with incredible heat. Stumped by the sudden change he lost control and was falling, directly into the flames. He wanted to scream, but his body had no mouth.
Then he woke up. The room was filled with red light, and for a second he thought he was still trapped in flames. But the air was cold...pretty cold, like an evening in early autumn is supposed to be. The sun was about to set and colored the world in red light.
Now finally aware of his sourroundings, Simon got up...or at least he tried. A twinge ran through is left leg, sending him back to the ground. Holding his leg Simon realized why it hurt. The climbing tired his legs and while sleeping he exposed them to the cold air (maybe that was the cold I felt in my dream. And the heat was my leg, he thought bitterly).
"Dammit. What am I gonna do now? I don't want to spend all night in here, but climbing is impossible with this leg", Simon said to himself. He tried to stand up a few more times, but the pain was too strong.
"Nothing I can do about it. Better get used to it". He leaned back on his bagpack and watched the settling of the sun, holding his leg.
In the last two hours the pain in his leg increased. The sun settled one hour ago already and the air became cooler, supported by strong wind, passing through the tower windows unhindered. And with the pain, his anger increased as well.
He blamed himself. Not only for not going to school, but also for forgetting his lunch at home. So it's not only pain, anger and cold...it's also hunger and thirst...which led to even more anger.
He thought about his girlfriend and friends who left him, about the bullys at school, and even worse, about him being the one who had to deal with it alone.
"Stupid! This is all stupid! And i'm the most stupid!", he shouted out loudly. He knew no one would hear him here. The bridge was seldom used and it was late already. All his bottled-up feelings came up with force.
"This is not fair! How can live be so cruel? Why do I deserve this?"
His fists met the inner tower walls. His hands hurt but he didn't care. He just continued until his fist started bleeding, let by blind anger.
When he finally stopped he gazed at his bloody hands. He could still move them but it hurt doing so. He was still angry, but his eyes filled with tears. Burying his face in his sleeves it was time to let his sadness run free.
When anger and sadness were both satisfied he looked at his hands again. He took a tissue and cleaned them as good as possible. "Hm...doesn't look that bad as I thought". There was no major damage; just some scratches. "Strange. I hit the wall very hard, but its only scratches and some blood."
His eyes rested on the piece of wall he just punished for being there. There were some cracks in the stone. "Looks like the wall starts to crumble. My fists are like steel, you see?", he said grimly, but smiling, thouching the cracks with his fingers to make them crumble.
He continued doing so...until his finger met nothing. Nothing?
The cracks became a small hole in the wall. There was a weak light coming from the inside.
"Strange", Simon thought."Those walls are big but I never knew they were hollow. And what is that light? The Tower is out of power since I first went here."
His curiosity took overhand and he wanted to find out about the light's source. He took a nearby stone and hammered his way through the thin wall until the weak shine illumed the tower in a white light. For a second Simon had to cover his eyes. When his eyes adjusted to the sudden raise of light his mouth opened in surprise.
In front of him was a small, white shining sphere. It wasn't bigger then his hand and he could feel a warm breeze coming from it. On a closer look he noticed, that the sphere wasn't white. It was a mixture of all colors he knew and colors he has never seen before, always swirling and changing at all time. Bright lines of light came from the wall behind it from all sides, all meeting behind the sphere, as if they hold it in place. He could hear a weak humm coming from the sphere, like an angry bumblebee caught in a glass.
He has never seen something like that before. His eyes gazed at this, whatever it is, for a long time. It didn't seem dangerous to him but also it didn't seem to be harmless either.
Like in trance his hands got closer to the sphere. He could feel the sphere's warmth on his hands. The glowing seemed to increased as the hand got closer. He drew the hand back and the shining became weaker again.
"It's like this thing is reacting to me. What is this?"
He searched his bagpack for his ruler. When he got it he hold it in front of him like a dagger, ready to pierce. Slowly he moved the ruler closer to the sphere, the shining getting brighter again; until it touched the sphere.
It touched only for a splitsecond, but suddenly the ruler started to glow and became warm. Instinctly Simon dropped the ruler, just to see the glowing of the ruler fade on the floor with a small hiss. The ruler looked like before.
He tried the same thing with other items he had nearby: pencils glowed and tried to move, stones floated for a second, his clothes changed color. As soon as the items lost contact with the sphere the glowing vanished and they returned to normal.
When he tried it with a book something even stranger happened: The book was not only glowing. In the Half-opened book Simon could see that the letters started to move. It was like they were dancing to a rhythm Simon couldn't hear. Some letters even loosened from the paper and danced in the air between the open book. As soon as Simon removed the book the letters returned to their places and the book stopped glowing.
"Well...it's not electricity, that's for sure", he thought," It seems, that it reacts differently to different items. What will happen when I touch it?"
The test objects were still intact and looked like before, so he was more confortable when his hand reached for the sphere. The sphere's glow increased as his hand moved closer. Then his fingers met the sphere.
A strange sensation hit Simon. He felt like a new world opened in front of his eyes, warmth spreading from every part of his glowing body. He moved his other hand and could see strains of differently colored light follow his hand. When he concentrated on the colors and moved his arm again, the wild mix of colors became a glowing rainbow. "This is crazy. Is that magic?", he thought,"I feel so empowered, but also exhausted as If this power is flowing out of me". He then removed his hand from the sphere; at least he tried, but he was stuck.
He tried to pull away his hand again, but the result was the same. Panic came up as he could feel his energy slowly fading. Simon became more tired and it was hard to concentrate. He barely noticed that the white light of the sphere turned into a blazing red and that the warmth turned into heat.
"Fuck!", he cried, "What is this? I can't move my hand". The grip of the sphere was too strong on him to remove his hand. His head felt like it was hammered, each hit bringing him closer to unconsciousness.
All his attemps to free his hands failing, Simon became angry. "If you don't let me go", he said to the sphere angrily," then I'll take you with me!".
Instead of pulling away from the sphere he now pushed against it, focusing on the sphere. His mind raced against the pulsing waves, concentrating and hardening his grip on the sphere; and still more energy flew out of Simon.
But something was happening. The color of the sphere changed again. From red to purple, then to blue, then to green. The hammer in his head became weaker. Finally with a last strong effort Simon closed both his hands over the sphere, hiding it and trapping the light inside his fingers. Then he hold the sphere in his closed hands and moved it closer to him.
When he opened his hands the sphere shrunk and vanished into his hands. Simons own glowing flimmered and then slowly dissappeared. Only the light strains on the wall were spending a weak light inside the tower, fading away slowly.
Simon looked at his hands. They looked like always. In fact even the scratches from hitting the wall before were gone. He touched his face near his wounded eye, but instead of a stinging pain, he felt health flesh. A wonder! This sphere healed his wounds!
While checking his body, the light strains on the wall faded and the tower was hidden in total darkness. Suddenly Simon felt a pull towards the wall, where the sphere was a minute before. He could see a small dark hole in the wall and his hands moved there automaticly.
"Heehheyy, whats going on?", he stumbled in surprise, fighting the pull, but his body was pressed against the wall already. Before he could open his mouth for a surprised cough he started glowing again in bright purple light, heard a roaring...then he fell into a world of darkness and silence.
The tower was dark again. Innocently it stood in the night as if nothing had happened. Inside there was no sign that Simon was ever there. Only a small gap in the inner wall remained.
Ponyville
"That was a wonderful night", Rarity exclaimed,"those shooting stars gave me dozens of new ideas for my newest costumes." She giggled a little, fantasizing about her works at her atelier.
"Ah'm glad we could watch this show all together", said Applejack. "Or at least most of us, hehe." She pointed at Spike and applebloom, covered in blankets, sleeping on Applejack's and Twilights back.
"If we were their age again, we would surely fell asleep as well", Twilight said with a small giggle, watching the sleeping youngsters.
The ponys were on their way back to ponyville. Zecora was already back in her hut deep in the forest; the girls helped her bringing the decoration back to her home and then returned back to town.
"Well it's late already", Twilight said."Time to bring this little baby back to bed. Good night everone!"
"Good night!", all said together, then they splitted.
Back in the library Twilight put all the packages from this night on the floor and brought Spike to bed, still covered in the blanket. "Good night Spike", Twilight whispered. Then she went upstairs to her room.
"There should still be enough time for a report to princess Celestia", Twilight thought, so she summoned a scroll and her quill and started writing, what she learned about friendship this day:
"Dear Princess Celestia,
friendship is a wonderful thing. When you have a lot of good friends you should try to use any possibility to spend time with them."
She looked through the window, thinking of what to write next. The sky was still showing some shooting stars from time to time, all smaller then the big Wave they watched from the hill.
She was about to continue, when she suddenly noticed something. Looking back at the sky she saw another shooting star. But it was somewhat different. It was bigger then the others...or more precisely...it seemed to be much closer. It also moved slower as if it was slowly falling to the ground. Twlight watched it interested. The light was coming closer and closer to the ground, not far away from the forest near Applejack's farm.
Then the light was gone, hidden behind some trees. Suddenly the ground started to shake, the earth roaring from the impact.
Surprised by the tremble Twilight fell. When she got up again there was nothing to see except a small cloud of smoke coming from near the range.
"By Celestia! What was that?". Twilight ran down the stairs. "Spike?"
The dragon baby was still sleeping, so Twilight just shrugged and went outside. And ran into Pinky Pie, both falling to the floor.
"Ouch. Pinky what are you doing here?", Twilight asked, rubbing her head.
"I heard a big bang like the others, and then I was running around like 'ahhh what was that?' and then I ran to you and then you ran into me...". Pinky Pie's overdetailed and hastened answer was too much for Twilight's aching head. "Stop Stop. I get it. The others are here, too?"
She looked over Pinky Pies shoulder and saw the other ponys running to them.
"Did you hear that big bang over there?", Rainbow Dash yelled, pointing to the forest."There must have been an explosion."
"I saw something falling from the sky. It looked like a shooting star, but I don't think it was one", Twilight said. "I was writing a report to princess Celestia, when I noticed it."
"Ohh...thats so exciting", Rarity said."Maybe it was a wonderful star. That would so much fit to my costumes."
Rainbow Dash looked at Applejack. "Don't you think she thinks a bit to much about clothing sometimes?" Applejack simply nodded. Applebloom was still sleeping on her back.
"We should check what happened out there.", Twilight said. "Let's go."
"I'll leave ma little sister here, Twilight." Applejack said. She trotted inside the library and returned after a few seconds, this time without Applebloom.
"Do we really have to go?", Fluttershy asked shyly,"I mean, maybe it was nothing and we can all just go back to bed again?"
They all looked at her, shaking heads. "Oh. Okay then", Fluttershy said resilently.
They galloped through ponyville, directly to the forest where the object hit the ground.
It took about 5 minutes before the crater came in sight.
"Wow...that was a big one", Applejack said in astonishement.
The impact formed a crater of about 20 m² size. It was about 2 meters deep only. That was because the "object" didn't hit the ground in a straight line. There was a line moving away from the crater, leading into a rock formation where a small cave was formed, steam and smoke coming from the rocks.
"Whatever it is", Twilight stated,"it landed here and stopped under those rocks over there".
The ponys went to the cave. The moon was shining brightly, illuming the world in a pale gray. The inside of the cave lay in darkness.
Twilight concentrated. A magical light appeared at her horn. Equipped with the magical lantern she got closer to the entrance, trying to catch a glimpse of whatever is inside.
Suddenly a loud mourn came out of the cave. Twilight jumped back scared and went back to the others. Something was moving inside the cave.
"Wh...What is there?", Applejack asked in terror.
"I...I don't know", Twilight answered,"but it seems to come out".
The Ponys stood there, shaking, and watched as a big arm stretched out of the cave to get a grip at some rocks. Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind Twilight. All others did the same, only their eyes visible behind Twilight, who was going through some spells that might come in handy if there were any trouble.
With an arm stretched out, a figure slowly pulled itself out of the cave, mourning and panting. It crouched until it was totally visible in moonlight.
"What the hay is that?", Applejack asked terrified.
Before them laid something they have never seen before. 2 long arms and 2 long legs spreading from its tall body. A round head with wild hair was slowly moving, dark eyes looking at them.
"This can't be", Twilight stummered,"it's..."
"ZECORA'S MONSTER!", completed Pinky Pie with a loud scream. "Save yourselves!"
As if it wanted to underline her words, there was suddenly a loud thunder and the sky filled with stormy clouds.
The Ponys watched in terror at the sudden change of atmosphere. And the figure started moving again. This time it was trying to stand up. It just managed to get on it's knees when a carriage appeared at the sky.
Two black, armored Pegasi pulled the black carriage to the place where the ponys stood and landed next to them. Another black Pegasus, bigger then the others, jumped out of the carriage, hidden under a hooded cloak.
A memory was awakening in Twilight."Princess Luna? Is that you?"
The Pegasus threw back her hood, revealing a black unicorn horn and a shining, dark mane. With grim eyes she observed the scene. A small crown covered her forehead, diamond shoes attached to each of her hooves.
"Hello Twilight Sparkle", Princess Luna said,"as we can see you observed the same mysterious light as we did." Using the plural the princess was talking about her own royality.
The figure was now standing in a leaning position, as if it wanted to prepare for a fast move. Princess Luna just noticed about its presence. At first a bit startled, then she moved toward it.
"THIS IS PRINCESS LUNA!". The princess using the traditional royal centalot voice, strong enough to cause small tornados."WHATEVER YOU ARESTH OR WHEREVER YOU CAMESTH FROM, THIS LAND IS PART OF OUR KINGDOM. IF YOU ARESTH FRIENDLY WE'LL BE..."
She never was able to complete this sentence. The figure made a leap from its crouching position...and ran of screaming into the forest, wildly waving with it's arms.
The Ponys stood there with big eyes in confusion. Even Luna was surprised.
"Was I too loud again?", she asked a little sad.
"Maybe a little bit", Twilight answered,"but at least it ran off. What was that?"
"I've never seen anything like that, but it didn't seem to be that dangerous."
"Hm...what shall we do?", Twilight asked.
"I don't think that there is anything we can do right now.", Luna answered,"Searching for it in the forest at night is a senseless effort. We should stay on guard and wait what happens
Luna jumped back on her carriage. "I'll tell my sister what happened. You better go home and try to get some sleep." With a stomp on the carriage the two Pegasi flew in the air, directly to centalot castle. Within minutes the sky cleared up and the night was silent and illumed in moonlight again.
The Ponys fell into wild chatter, Pinky Pie jumping around them in panic.
"That was scary!"
"What was that thing?"
"It was as big as Luna!"
"I feel something."
"This monster is going to gobble us up!"
"We have to warn the other ponys!"
"Girls?"
"Zecora's Monster will destroy everything!"
"What shall we do?"
"GIRLS!"
The Ponys became silent and looked at Twilight, who shouted at them.
"Princess Luna just said, that this..thing...didn't seem to be that dangerous. We should stay calm.", Twilight said in a calm voice. "Besides, I can sense something magical in the forest. Maybe it is the creature hiding in there. I never felt such kind of magical power. I think we should check it out."
"Are you crazy?", Rainbow Dash screamed,"you want to go after that? Whatever the princess said, this beast is dangerous. Remember Zecora's story!"
"But it was also scared", Fluttershy whispered,"it got scared by princess Luna and is now in the forest all alone."
"That's another reason.", Twilight answered."If this thing is new here it might get lost in the forest...and I don't want to know what might happen to it. And if we go all together, we'll be safe!"
They moved to the forest. Still feeling uneasy they entered the wooden area, following Twilights light, her horn leading them like a dowsing rod.
After a while of wandering they heard something. At first it was silent, but it got louder in an instant, accompanied with brushing sounds.
"Fuck!"
The ponys looked at each other in surprise. Twilight turned off the magical light, then they went where the sounds came from. Looking through a bush they could see the figure; about 15 meters away it was tangled in plants and vines, cursing.
"What the fuck is that?", the figure shouted. "Grrr". It tried to get rid of the vines it obviously ran into in the darkness. Slowly it managed to free itself. Exhausted it sat down at a tree.
"Where the hell am I? And what the fuck where those screaming things before?" It stared at it's feet."And what shall I do now?" Then it buried its face in its arms and sat there silently.
The ponys pulled their heads back behind the bush.
"What shall we do?", whispered Rarity.
"I'm not sure", Twilight whispered back."I think we will scare it even more, when we all go there at once."
"You don't wanna go there all alone, don't ya? You're crazy sugarcube", Applejack whispered with big eyes.
"Any better idea? Anypony?"
"Where is Fluttershy?", Pinkie Pie asked.
They looked around but Fluttershy was nowhere to see.
"Fluttershy?", they whispered. Then they heard a scream. Fluttershy's scream. Coming from where the creature was.
"Fluttershy!" With a loud shout the ponys jumped over the bush. Twilights magical torch suddenly illuming the surroundings.
The figure was kneeling over fluttershy. She lay on the ground and didn't move. The creatures arms were holding her down at her head. Then he looked at the other ponys with a grin.
"Ah. There are the other ones." it said with a deep voice." Wanna join in?" It pointed at Fluttershy with a free hand. Fluttershy didn't say anything.
"Let her go at once!", Twilight shouted. She summoned a purple field of magic around the figure. It looked around in surprise, as it was suddenly lifted up by Twilights levitation spell.
Then his hands started to glow in a bright blue light. The Purple field vanished but the magical conflux sent the creature several meters away, landing hard on the ground. "Ufff". The creature coughed several times and made no attemp to get up.
"Are you okay, Fluttershy?". Applejack ran to her, while Twilight watched the creature.
Fluttershy got up and looked at Applejack.
"Of course I'm fine", she answered calmly,"I knew he was just scared. In fact he is very nice." She smiled at the others."Please don't hurt him Twilight."
"Oh" was the only thing Twilight could say. She went over to Fluttershy, checked if she is okay and then turned for the creature. It was still laying there, panting.
Slowly the Ponys went over to the creature, forming a half circle around it. In it's exhaustion it looked at each of them with half-closed eyes.
"Who are you?", Twilight asked."Or better. WHAT are you? And what have you done to Fluttershy?".
The figure looked at her in confusion. It took him a while before he answered.
"I...don't know..." it said irritated."Simon!",it yelled,"Simon is my name. I remember now!"
"Oh. Good that you...remember...your name", Twilight said with an raised eyebrown."And WHAT are you?"
Again the creature, namely Simon, with a confused look, stared at its hands, now free from any kind of magical glowing, it said:"I guess I'm still a human. At least that's what I remember. And about your friend. I was just petting her."
"And It felt so nice", Fluttershy smiled at Simon. " That's why I didn't answer at once." She nudged with her head against Simon's face. "Hey stop it", he shouted, suppressing a laughter,"that tickles". Too weak to move he couldn't resist her snuggle-attack and burst into laughter, begging for mercy. The other Ponys stood there with big eyes, then burst into laughter as well, the dangerous mood gone.