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Science

"I need you to take your shirt off." Twilight said, matter-o-factly as she scribbled on a clipboard, making a chart of some sort.

After lunch, (A strange sandwich made from daffodils and other greenery, which I decided I would stick to apples after my first bite.) Twilight had insisted that she do some quick tests, seems I was already there. Figuring I should pay for lunch somehow, I agreed.

The CMC on the other hand had quickly fled the scene at the notion of learning on their day off, making excuses to why they needed to leave. Something to do with trying for a zip-lining cutie mark. I shrugged it off as kids being kids. Twilight didn't even seems to notice, rambling about the possibilities of something or another. I had learned to ignore people to smart for their own good long ago.

After telling Spike, a small purple dragon (I stopped trying rationalizing this world a while back) that Twilight had apparently adopted, to clean up the remains of lunch, the lavender unicorn had drug me through the library and into the basement, which appeared to be a laboratory of some sort. Strange machines sat beeping with colorful lights, giving the whole room a strange feeling.

"You what?" I said, raising an eyebrow. For a shut-in egghead, she was making some quick advances here.

She turned to me, setting the clipboard aside. "I have a spell that will allow me to 'scan' in a way, your internal organs, then copy it to a piece of paper, making a life-size diagram." she said, motioning to a piece of paper on a nearby table, roughly the size of my torso. "However, the spell can only see through a thin layer, so to get a more accurate read-out, I need you to take off your shirt."

I shrugged it off as good reasoning and pulled my shirt off over my head, showing my scarred chest and the bandages Fluttershy had wrapped my ribs with. "These bandages aren't going to be a problem, are they?"

Twilight looked up then shook her head, her eyes briefly catching on the many scars adorning my chest. "No, those bandages are thin enough that it should be fine." With that she turned to me, horn beginning to glow. "Are you ready?"

"To be scanned with magic from another universe that shouldn't exist and defies all laws of physics I can think of? Sure." I said, shrugging away the final word. With that Twilight began to focus, her horn glowing brighter. I expected to feel something, but upon feeling nothing, I stood there, body automatically assuming a parade rest.

After about 15 seconds, Twilight turned to the paper, and the glowing ball which had formed at the tip of her horn floated down to the paper, then expanded, consuming the paper. All of a sudden, the purple glow disappeared, leaving a blank page.

"I know you’re the expert here, but isn't the supposed to be a fancy diagram of my insides on that piece of paper?" I said, while Twilight stared at the page with a confused look.

"That doesn't make sense!" she exclaimed, shaking her head and rubbing her eye with a hoof. "That spell is simple, and I haven't messed it up in years! Why wouldn't it work now?"

I glanced around, not sure how to respond. I spotted a pencil and decided to do things the old fashion, no magic way. I picked up the pencil, and started at the piece of paper, all along Twilight ranting about how her spell should have worked.

By the time Twilight noticed what I was doing, I had already done the basic outline of a male human torso. She trotted over to me, and peeked over my shoulder. “What are you doing?” she asked, voice annoyingly close to my ear.

“Making a diagram the way us non-magical creatures do it, with our hands.” I answered, slightly annoyed by her persisting to peer over my shoulder. “Us with no magic need to use some engi-“

“THAT’S IT!” she exclaimed, causing me to jump to the side, my left ear ringing a little from the sudden noise. She then turned to face me, already rambling. “Maybe the spell didn’t work on you because you have no connection to magic. I’d have to run some tests to be sure but-“ I raised a hand, cutting her off, then flipped up two finger.

“Two things,” I said, before she could continue. “First, next time you have an epiphany, make sure your snout is farther from my ear.” I emphasized my point by rubbing my ear. She was about to speak again, probably with an apology, but I cut her off before she could start. “Second, then if your magic doesn’t work on me because I’m not magical, why does it work on Fluttershy or Applejack? They don’t have magic projecting horns.” I said, not really caring about an answer but more to stab a hole in her logic for yelling in my ear.

She took a deep breath, and I prepared myself for a lecture. “Well,” she began, and I relished in the calm before the storm. “Although Unicorns and Alicorns are thought to be the only species of magic, earth ponies and pegasi also have their own form of magic. A pegasus demonstrates that magic every time he or she take flight.” I nodded, finding the information logical, or as logical as you can be when talking about magical ponies. “Earth ponies on the other hoof, have a magic that is more discrete. Their magic is shown through their actions. Earth ponies are generally hardier than pegasi or unicorns, being able to easily lift what a pegasi or unicorn might struggle with. Also, earth ponies find it much easier to grow plants, with their magic naturally bonding with the magic of the plants.” Magic plants aside, this was beginning to sound simple. Unicorns were the officers, Pegasi were the airforce, and Earth ponies the enlisted.

I nodded my hand, then moved on to the next question. “Alright, so I get why ponies have magic, but then why can your magic affect other things. Like that annoying rabbit that hangs out around Fluttershy’s house?” I said, now a little intrigued.

I braced myself for an earful of ramblings, but was surprised when the lavender unicorn turned around and began scribbling on clipboard. “To put it simply, everything in Equestria has magic in it, from the dirt to the clouds, all of it has some degree of magic.” I nodded, stashing the knowledge I just acquired in a mental filing cabinet, then stood a little straighter.

“Ok, then why did your mannequin spell work?” I said, still not convinced.

She hardly looked at me. “That spell goes around the physical form of something, not actually touching or interacting with it. So naturally, it wouldn’t be affected by weather or not the object in question, being you, is magical or not.” I just nodded, deciding it wasn’t worth discussing further. So instead I straightened my shoulders and asked a question a I had a feeling I would regret.

“What now?”

She turned to me, wearing the strangest smile I have ever seen, somewhere crossed between happiness, excitement, and a little bit of anticipation. “Now? Now we test.”

The sun must have gone down by now, and Twilight had tried everything from levitating to teleporting me, and it all ended the same way. Her magic would pass through me like nothing was there. It had been hours now, and Twilight was huffing and puffing from the constant exertion she had been put under for the past few hours.

“I think we can conclude I’m magic proof.” I said, a little concerned about the unicorn who seemed concrete on finding some spell that would work. Twilight looked like she would argue, but just sighed in defeat

“Alright. I think we can safely conclude that.” She said as she scribbled some final notes onto her clipboard, then magically tossed it onto a nearby table top. “Let’s go sit down upstairs. It’s probably about dinner time anyway.” With that she ascended the staircase, with me right behind her.

We re-entered the main room of the library, which had a few small stacks of books spread here and there. Spike was busy walking around, placing books here and there. Upon seeing us enter the room, he turned to address us.

“Hey Twilight, Sol. How did your testing go?” he asked, looking appreciative for the excuse to momentarily stop working, allowing himself to slump down onto a nearby book pile.

Twilight looked like she was about to go into an in-depth summary, I saved the young dragon the time by saying, “I’m magic proof.” Before Twilight could talk the young dragons ear off. Or, at least I’m assuming the scales on the side of his head are ears. Twilight shot me a glare, and was about to elaborate, but it was Spike who saved the day this time.

“Hey, can we eat now? I’m starved.” The purple dragon said, giving Twilight an innocent look.

She looked like she was going to lecture anyway, but gave a sigh of resignation and made her way to the kitchen, and once again the good inhabitants of Twilight’s treehouse where saved from having their ears talked down to nubs.

Spike and I entered the kitchen, where Twilight was setting out food. She had set out a sandwich for herself, a few apples for me, and a plate of gems for Spike. Without a word, Spike and I took out respective spots and began eating.

About halfway through the meal, I stopped, watching Spike as he reached for another gem, and a question began to bother me. “Twilight, tell me. Why does Spike have hands, yet none of you knew what they were when I first came here?” I asked, stopping both of them in the process.

Twilight had stopped, mid-chew, and swallowed, staring at Spikes small clawed hands. The three of us remained quiet for some time, before Twilight broke the silence.

“Let us never speak of this again.”

“Agreed” Spike and I said in unison.

A/N: Alright, I'm back. If you care enough to wonder why such a long delay, or when I'll kick out the next chapter, I'll be posting a link to a blog post explaining. Feel free to yell at me in the comments on the blog. As for this chapter, yea, it isn't the greatest, I think it could be longer, but I wanted to get something out to you guys/girls, and I finally got to express something that has bothered me about almost every HIE story I've ever read. Why do the ponies fave now idea what hands are when there are creatures like Gryphons, Minotaurs, and Dragons traveling freely, not to mention the Steven Magnet(?) from the second episode, so there really is no excuse. Confound these ponies, driving me to rant.

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