> Ah! Magical Intervention At It's Best > by rey1119 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > 1 - Wish granting goddess > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- On this particularly cloudy day, a person could hear voices coming from the parking lot of a nearby diner, even from across the street. This particular restaurant, there was a brouhaha in the midst of the parking lot, involving around three men, one of the men in particular was Rey. Rey was a pretty tall guy, around six feet, sported falling black hair, and a pair of blue sports shades, which were a memento from his father, today's events wouldn't be considered an oddity in Rey's life, though being mostly pacifistic he was looking for a way out of this without getting hurt, or arrested. "Think spilling food on me in front of my girl was funny do you freak?" Spat the first guy, Rey saw that with his physique he did not pose much of a threat, his punches wouldn't leave any long lasting bruises, but the other guy beside him was a different story. Though he wished he didn't have to do this, though he tried apologizing ( which only seemed to deepen his grave), he didn't see any other way out. He lunged forward, half attempting to punch the first guy, and half attempting to dodge any attempt the bigger guy made at him, but as he lunged thunder flashed and rain started to fall. "SHIT!" Exclaimed the second guy, clutching his leather jacket "Smalls we gotta go!" He yelled at the smaller fellow. The first guy looked hesitantly at Rey and then said "Lucky my windows are down!" and with that, he ran off to his car. Rey sort of felt sorry for the thugs, although it had been an accident that caused him to trip and spill their food, as they ran he started feeling a little guilty, so he ran to the car as it was about to pull off, and stopped them. "You sure as hell got some nerve dill weed!" Said one of the ladies in the back seat, as she spoke Rey had pulled out his wallet and grabbed a collection of dollars to hand the party for the trouble that happened today, he didn't bother counting, since their meal was replaced and they couldn't have spent more than $10 on the whole thing, but just so they didn't have any problem with them in the future he handed over what would later turn out to be $44 to the thugs, in turn they emptied a cup of old warm soda on his shirt, and the short guy who was sitting in the driver seat, leaned out and spat on his shoes, then they turned and drove away leaving him waving goodbye to their car in the rain. Indeed today had been just like any other day, Rey had been to work, donated to that charity box that sits outside the restaurant he works at, and came back to his apartment. Looking at his apartment from the street, he'd been surprised he never stopped to just, look at it. A rather tall and unimpressive building stood before him, he really rather had stayed far from the city but this choice, much like the rest of the choices in his life were not his own. He walked inside the building and signed in, and walked up to his room. On the way to his room, he couldn't help but to crack a smile, one more month of work and he'd be able to buy him a home, a place he picked far away from the city. As he walked into the room, the room he kept neat, Almost as perfect as if no one had lived their prior, He saw a girl on his bed. He was sure he hadn't taken any blows to the head today but as he opened his mouth to say something, she spoke. "Hello mister! I am Aura and I am a goddess here to grant you one single wish! If you wish for infinite riches I can make it so, or if you wish for this world to be destroyed I can arrange for that as well." He stood there, wondering how this insane girl got into his room. The door was locked, the windows were shut and bolted from the inside, and he was sure the hotel didn't allow visitors. "Please try to understand, I'm no more crazy than you are." she said. She looked upset that he didn't believe her, although she did not take into fact that most humans live their lives without knowing that goddesses like her exist at all. But going along with her duties, she pressed onward. "Did you read my mind?!" He asked, He almost shouted but in the off chance that he'd gone insane he didn't want to draw attention to himself. Not only was this strange girl on his bed, but she could read his mind as well, He obviously thought it was his mind playing tricks on him because of the stressful day at work. He decided to amuse himself by going on and communicating with her. He turned to face her. She simply nodded her head at him, "have you anything in mind?" She asked. She seemed so innocent, not to mention she was clad in a white flowing fabric from head to her shoe-less feet. Wearing a white dress with white hair, surprisingly blue eyes and what seemed to be an infinity shaped charm on her neck. She wasn't bad looking at all. But with the power to destroy the entire world a question came to mind. "Why me? You obviously don't grant these wishes to anyone." He inquired. If they randomly chose the wrong person, the entire world could be ended. There had to be some reason they chose him, even if it was a figment of his imagination it still made no sense whatsoever. "My organization grants a single wish to those who are extremely unfortunate due to no fault of their own. such as yourself, every day you are picked on, taunted and sometimes harmed, are you not? The choices in your life are seldom your own, it is quite disheartening, but you've stayed positive even in the darkest of hours. You deserve anything you want." As she finished her speech she smiled a smile that lit up the room. "But what about the really less fortunate?" Rey asked "The one's starving, and dying in other countries?" He Inquired. To this the goddess furrowed her brow and sighed. "It's simply not possible, we've tried giving those poor souls their own wishes, but their suffering has made their hearts grow dark, of the wishes we've granted for them, 97.6 of them involved the ending of all life on the planet a few have wished for incredible amounts of money, but all of them we had to negate in the end for the sake of this world. you see?" She asked. He simply nodded his head in understanding. But that still didn't make choosing a wish any easier. He sat on the bed with his back to her, and thought to himself She's really cute and nice, I wonder if I could wish for her to be my girlfriend, he was looking at her over his shoulder and noticed her blush and her eyes widen. Realizing that she could read his mind, his own eyes widened and he fell off the bed. "D-did you read my mind?" he asked nervously. She nodded slowly with her hand over her mouth and the other over her chest. "While you can wish for that if you wanted, I still wish to tell you that you aren't exactly my type, BUT according to my sources you'll be with your beloveds soon enough." He didn't catch the plurality of that statement over his disappointment. "Well I have something in mind, I wish to go to a place that I'll be truly happy! not all the time, but a good bit of it." He said. He'd hoped it would be another country or somewhere exotic, just away from the hustle and bustle of city life. A concerned look came across her face, and she said "I'd have to advise against that, according to my sources that kind of thing will happen already, I shouldn't be telling you, and I won't tell you when, but I don't want you to waste your wish" She finished with a wink. Even though he wasn't sure he was serious about this wishing business, he couldn't help feeling indecisive. He hummed softly to himself while he thought. "Can you come back at a later date?" He asked. "Of course" she replied. "Just call out to me when you're ready, and I'll come wherever you are." she said this quietly as she faded away, and when she was done, she had completely disappeared. > 2 - A chance encounter, or was it fate? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Since Aura came to visit around a week ago, Rey had been racking his mind as to what he would wish for. Money was out of the question, since he believed money corrupts everyone if they have too much. Another thing he wanted to wish for was super powers, but he quickly rejected the idea, as it would make him a worldwide target for, kidnapping, interrogation, and experimentation. With no wish in mind, he continued about his daily life, going to work, donating to charity again today, and returning home to get some rest. On his way driving home, he saw something odd. As he looked out of his passenger side window at a red light, into a alleyway he saw a quadrupedal animal looking confused. He would have just thought it a stray dog and called animal control, but this animal was shaped oddly, like nothing he'd ever seen before. When the light turned green he pulled into a nearby parking lot of a supply depot. He quickly jotted into the entrance of the alley, cautiously. To his surprise, the creature was purple, and seemed to have something coming out of its head! Sneaking in to get a closer look, he saw the animal or whatever it was, sink it's head in what would have equated to a disappointed sigh to humans, and walked towards the alley wall. Rey was almost near it, but his eyes shot open wide when he saw it start to walk into the wall! Still in disbelief the creature had all but disappeared into the wall, and Rey had switched from a careful stalk to a desperate sprint, to prove once and for all that under the stress of work and his peers, he had finally gone insane. As he caught up to the purple whatever, he noticed it was trotting through a oval in the wall! Making a decision he thought he was sure to regret, he lunged in after it, with no real motive other than to prove his insanity, he thought he was going to run headfirst into a concrete wall. To his surprise he tumbled right through tripped over the purple thing, and crashed headfirst into a pile of books, and knocked himself out. To Rey, a unknown amount of time had passed, and he found himself awaking in a bed, in a cell, who knows where. As he opened his eyes and looked at the concrete ceiling he thought to himself "I must have knocked myself out when i ran into the wall, the police must have found me and took me to the police station." he guessed. He looked forwards and saw the iron bars on the doors, that didn't surprise him, what did surprise him was the lack of windows, lights, and plastic. It was a prison made completely of stone and wrought iron! A creature walked by a couple minutes later, Rey was freaking out, running countless possibilities of where he might be, what sadist basement he might be in. The creature appeared to be horse like, or just a horse, but smaller, and wearing armor. "Ah, you're awake, I shall notify the princess immediately, not that you can understand me anyway." It said, with a half sarcastic tone. It seemed not to care whether or not he spoke or not, it just trotted away to fetch the princess. Rey was in shock, not only was that thing from yesterday real, but there were more, and they had him locked up! Delusion or not, this was getting just a bit too much for Rey. A couple minutes later a large white version of the creature walked up to his cell. Clad in a gold necklace, and a golden tiara, is obviously the princess mentioned earlier, Rey wanted to ask where he was, and what are they, but he decided to keep his mouth shut, because the two or three foot long horn she sported didn't look like something you wanted pointed at you. "If you can understand me, please acknowledge me now, I will not ask twice." She spoke with an authoritative tone that made the hair on the back of Rey's neck stand on end. "I-i can understand you, but what are you exactly? And where am I?" A million questions raced through Rey's head, but his mouth only asked two, out of fear mostly. The princess smiled a soft smile, "How rude of me, I didn't introduce myself. I am Celestia, I am the ruler in this land you are in, Equestria. My race is a magical one, by the name of ponies. Now i believe it is your turn." Rey sat with a blank expression on his face, and whispered to himself "So I'm being held captive by colorful magic ponies, didn't see that coming." He stood up to face Celestia. "I am Rey, I'm a human from the planet earth, so tell me Celestia, how strong is your magic?" He asked this question with half a plan formed in his panicked mind. A confused look scrunched up on Celestia's face for a second, and she shook it off and returned to a soft smile. "Very, dear. More powerful than i'm guessing you would care to know." She said gently, meaning not to brag. Judging by the gigantic wings on her back, he was guessing she could fly, as well as do some kind of magic, his mind only on escape he knew what he had to do. "Aura! I know what I want!" He shouted loudly. A look of confusion passed through the ponies faces, right before a goddess stepped through the Lens of Rey's blue sunglasses, and landed on the floor beside him. "Ah, Mister you've decided on a wish?" she spoke excitedly, as if knowing what he was going to wish for. In fact, it almost seemed that this is the moment she was waiting for. He nodded his head and pointed at Celestia. "I want to have the same powers as her!" He exclaimed. He was pretty sure its what he needed to escape, with no idea what these ponies had planned for him, it seemed like the right thing to do, for his own well being. The goddess struck a praying pose and started levitating off the ground. "If that is your wish, I will surely make it so!" She exclaimed. A brilliant beam of light cascaded from her body and ripped a hole in the ceiling. Celestia stomped her hoof and exclaimed " No, you can't be serious! Stop, you don't know what you're doing!" She yelled over the rumbling that was happening, as the power of the heavens descended great powers into the body of the mortal sitting on the bed. And in a flash of light, it was over, Aura had gone and Rey was slumped over in his bed writhing in pain. The spell had taken its toll on his mind, and his body. Celestia could only watch in shock as he ripped his shirt off. Sickening cracks, pops and ripping noises as his back began to rearrange itself to fit a large black pair of wings. After about ten seconds of catching his breath, Rey gritted his teeth and felt his forehead to see if a horn had grown. To his surprise, his forehead was left blank, and he sighed relieved. He looked up to see the shocked looks on the ponies faces. He hated to see the once smiling Celestia looking so grim, but he hated the idea of being imprisoned even more. Now, he needed to find his way out of his cell. He begun thinking and in an instant he was outside the cage. He looked behind him to see an infuriated Celestia, and his stomach sank thinking about what he might have just gotten himself into. > 3 - With great power... > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The princess was beyond furious, he could tell. but instead of impaling him like he thought she was she simply beckoned towards him and spoke quietly. "Follow me, we have much to discuss." She said seriously. The current event seems to have upset her, and she wasn't in the mood right now to talk or negotiate. For a second he thought about making a break for it, he had wings now right? He quickly dismissed the idea, as she knew how to use her powers, and her wings far better than he did, and besides his wings were sore and aching and he didn't even know how to move them. "I wasn't planning on holding you in the cell for long, as princess it's my duty to make sure my citizens are safe, no one knew just what, or who you were, how powerful you were, and if you consider ponies prey or not, the only logical solution was to imprison you until we had more information." She explained, she had deciphered why he made the wish, not how, just why.Yet she spoke aggressively not allowing for any buts or whys. After a while they came to a large conference room in a tall tower. Celestia and Rey were sitting opposite from each other at a large oval table, Celestia stared down Rey with a serious glare. "First things first Rey, I wish to inform you, that you might never return home, the magic that got you here is a highly unstable magic that even we cannot control, and by "we" I meant me, you, and my younger sister. How Twilight managed to open up such a path, is beyond me." She closed her eyes to think for a second, and continued her lecture. "Now, do you have any idea what powers you possess?" She asked. Rey simply shook his head, too frightened of the pony to say a word. Celestia Sighed, she could tell she was scaring the creature, which in the current situation could work to her advantage in helping him be neutralized as a threat, or could terrify him and make him rebel and try to destroy her, only time could tell. "I raise and set the sun, every day.You can also do the same, but it is my duty, and I do not wish to see you meddling with the sun or moon without my or my sister's authority are we clear?" Rey nodded his head silently, still too afraid of the large white pony to say anything that might shorten his future life span to about a minute. She continued "Secondly, we are immortal as far as we know, anyone you meet besides me and my sister, you will outlive, are we clear?" He nodded his head again. The fear clear in his eyes, he started to break a cold sweat, she was talking about life and death now. he didn't like the direction this evening was going so far. "I'm sorry am i frightening you? you haven't said a word since i freed you from your cell." She asked a concerned look on her face. She already knew the answer to this, but wanted to gauge his reaction. These few moments were fragile and could spell the difference between saving his life, or ending it. He simply nodded, too ashamed to speak. He had no idea she wasn't trying to scare him, because it had the complete opposite effect. In fact, if Celestia weren't a giant white pony, he'd probably be in tears. "I try not to get angry, but you have to understand, because of that wish, or whatever that was, you are now the fourth most powerful being here. I don't want you to think I a Bully , but i don't want you to think me a pushover and force me and my sister to obliterate you. I do hope you understand." Now more frightened than ever, he was shaking in his chair, his eyes wide and unblinking, he didn't notice his fear was making things nearby him slowly levitate in the air. "Calm down young one, nopony is going to hurt you, in fact you need to learn how to use your magic am I wrong? I'm a princess you see, and I don't have the time of the day to teach you to fly, let alone use magic, But I can send you to school, and hopefully..." She paused and smiled. "I have a better Idea, you shall live with my student, Twilight. She and her friends can teach you everything you need to know, and hey if you like it, you can move to ponyville since the odds of returning home are slim. So what do you say?" Rey had calmed down and sat and thought, no longer afraid of becoming dust, but confused about how his life would be, and who was Twilight? He supposed that didn't really matter, what other choice did he have? "Yes, I suppose I could live with twilight for a while, and see how things go from there." He said. "But why would you send a stranger like me to live with your personal student?" He Inquired. Celestia laughed at him for a short while, "She's the whole reason your here, and if you want to return home, you'll want to stick by her correct?" She asked. Rey simply nodded his head. "Then its settled, I shall inform Twilight, and get you a ride, or would you like to be teleported?" She asked. "I think a calming ride to town would calm my nerves." He replied. Soon he was on a hot air balloon, headed to ponyville, wondering about how things will go, and who this Twilight character was, he was well on his way to where the goddesses prediction was to take him. > 4 - Meeting Twilight > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rey arrived in ponyville after an exceptionally long ride, he looked around in wonderment and amazement, there were ponies everywhere! Blue ponies, red ponies, ponies who flew, ponies who teleported, and then there was him, the only thing in town on two legs. Standing shirtless in town isn't really comfortable, amplified by the fact that he was starting to draw attention to himself just by standing. Soon he was surrounded by ponies, on each side in a full 360 degrees. Rey started to break a sweat, he knew what was racing through each of their heads. What was he, why does he have wings? He knew he was an oddity,but he hadn't expected to be completely encased in ponies like this. Then when he thought he was going to explode, a loud southern voice yelled among-st the crowd. "What are y'all ponies doing? Don't cha' ponies see this feller needs some space?" Rey spotted this source of the voice, It was a orange pony with blonde hair and a cowboy hat. "Y'all go on about yer business, hear?" She quickly dismissed the crowd of ponies that were surrounding him. She walked up to him and lifted one of her legs to meet his hand. "Ahm Applejack sir, pleased as punch to meet ya, whatever y'all are" She said. "Hope Ah was right bout' calling ya a feller, Ah don't quite know what ya'll are." He took her hoof in hand, and shook it as if it were a hand, to his surprise it wasn't a hard hoof that you'd find on a horse, it was soft and flexible. "I'm Rey, I'm not a pony as you can see, I'm a human from another world, i'm looking for Twilight, I was told i would be staying with her." He said. He kind of liked Applejack, She was nice and didn't freak out when he introduced himself. "Ah, ya had Canterlot written all over ya. This way, she lives in tha' library over yonder." She gestured for him to follow her, She walked him over to a gigantic tree which was hollowed out and had a house on the inside, he could see windows from the leaves up top. "This is where she lives, good luck an' happy trails mister!" With those words, she turned and walked off in the opposite direction, he guessed that she had somewhere else to be. He turned to face the door and knocked. Nervous as ever to see who Twilight actually was, he waited at the door. He heard hoofsteps coming from inside. The door came open and he looked down. There he saw standing the same pony he saw in the alleyway not too long ago. "Hey its you!" She said when she saw him, "After you ran after me in the portal you tripped over me and crashed into a pile of books." She explained. "I heard something happened between you and Celestia, care to explain?" He nodded his head and Said, "Long story cut really short, I've got Celestia's powers, I can tell you the details later if you want." Glad to see a somewhat familiar face, Rey calmed down a bit. Instead Rey's mind wondered what relationship she had with applejack, or the town for that matter. She was the princesses student, could that mean she ruled the town? Her eyes shot open, and she perked her ears forwards. "So you are as powerful as Princess Celestia?" She asked. She was shocked that someone like him could hold the same powers as princess Celestia, but she didn't question his story, nopony made up stories like that Twilight had always envied Princess Celestia's and Princess Luna's power, their raw magical abilities, and their vast immoral knowledge. Just the thought of being able to read every book ever written, with years to spare, made the butterfly's in her stomach go wild. He nodded his head to confirm once more. "But I don't know how to use my powers, or my wings." He said. He turned around to show her his black wings, which had stopped aching so much since he got off the hot air balloon. He gave his shoulders a roll and was surprised to see his wings start to unfurl then tighten against his back. Twilight looked at him and beckoned for him to come in. "The magic I can help you with, the flying, well... I've got a really good friend who can teach you a thing or two." She said. "She's a pegasus, a winged pony, as you can tell I'm a unicorn, there is a third kind, a earth pony, who has neither wings nor horn. And then there are alicorns like Celestia and Luna, and my old friend Cadence, A mix of all three, and they are all princesses." She explained as they walked into the house. A library in a tree, the irony of that almost made Rey chuckle. There were hundreds of books lining the wooden walls, with a staircase leading upstairs. There was a table in the middle of the room with a golden bust of a pony and books lying everywhere. It was an utter mess, the polar opposite of Rey's tidy little apartment room. "I imagine you must be tired. Celestia informed me that you'd be staying here. I don't have a spare bed with me at the time, my friends ruined it at my last sleepover." She said. "We need to find somewhere for you to sleep." She looked like she was deep in thought. "If you've got a spare blanket, I could just sleep on the floor downstairs." Rey said, not wanting to be an inconvenience. It was as much of not wanting to cause any problems, as it was he didn't want her to tell celestia it wasn't going to work. The thought of Celestia sent shivers down his spine. Twilight looked at Rey in confusion. "There's no way I'd let you sleep on the floor." She said with a snicker. Taking a second to think some more. "You'll just have to sleep in my bed with me, I hope that's alright." She said sheepishly. Rey was confused, all the other ponies he had seen today stared at him like an alien. (Which he kind of was). But Twilight welcomed him, not only into her house, but into her bed. "Aren't you the slightest bit freaked out, you know, of a big hairless alien like me?" Rey asked timidly. She turned back to him and said "No, because you're not freaked out by a small furry horned alien like me." And with that, the had a point. "But surely you have another bed?" Rey asked, the though to sharing a bed with her seemed weird. "I used to have another bed, but my friend Pinkie Pie borrowed it for her 72-hour bed party," She said like it was no big deal. The concept of a party lasting 3 days was amazing to Rey, and the fact that it's main features were beds also intrigued him, it might have made for an interesting story. "The bedroom is upstairs, and try not to wake spike!" She told him as she pointed him towards the staircase. Twilight sighed to herself and chuckled. Life in Ponyville just keeps getting more and more interesting, she thought to herself Rey wondered who Spike was and figured with a name like Spike, it must have been Twilight's pet. When he got upstairs, another smaller library awaited him, and he saw a smaller pair of stairs leading to a sort of ledge where the bed was. Stepping over the books he finally reached the bed. The bed was smaller than him by a couple inches, and he would have to bend his knees a bit to fit all the way in, but to him, it was far better than a prison cell. Just before he was about to close his eyes, he caught glimpse of a small pair of green eyes looking at him from a little cot on the floor. "Heya, I'm Spike! I'm Twilight's number one assistant, and Ponyville's number one dragon! Twilight's going to stay up a little late working, but you'd best get some sleep. I'll tell you all about myself tomorrow," Spike said in a whisper. Rey nodded and closed his eyes and felt himself slipping away. If when he woke, he was back in his bed on earth, He'd write a story about what occurred today. > 5 - Getting on his feet > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rey had spent around an awkward week living with twilight, the whole bed sharing thing went over like a ton of bricks, and a few magical accidents caused him to have a thick beard for a day and glow purple for two. The first couple of days she was extremely busy with cataloging new books and ordering new books from all over equestria. Rey was kept busy by helping spike run errands and putting books on the higher shelves. During the latter of the week, Twilight showed Rey around town, showed him where most ponies went to go eat. Showed him all the restaurants that catered to non-pony species after he had explained to her what his body needed to survive. She also had Rarity make him new clothes, it took almost twice as long as she had never designed for a biped before, and she had to order special equipment. The first couple of nights they'd spent together were claustrophobic in nature, the bed while just big enough for both of them, was a big change from having a bed all to themselves. Spike had teased them, calling them childish about the whole scenario. After about four days they had become accustomed to how the other slept, and decided against getting another bed, or getting the other washed, mostly due to Twilight haven't received her bi-monthly allowance from Celestia, which is supposed to be doubled due to another housemate. Awaking early in the morning was the norm for Rey, he would have put on some cloths and trotted out to work. But now he lay next to Twilight Sparkle who had placed a hoof over his shoulder whilst they slept. Rey's wings were pressed tight against his back, but he didn't try to move them, in fear that they may extend and push him, and/or Twilight off the bed. Instead he took stock of what had happened to him, again. Whist he was thinking Twilight had begun to awaken, noticing her hoof wrapped around him, she quickly retracted it and pulled it in close, her face ablaze with embarrassment. She had hoped Rey was asleep and didn't notice. Rey noticed her hoof go back, and turned to face her, surprised when he saw how embarrassed she was. He remembered how her hoof was wrapped around him, and what that would have meant if either of them were human. (he didn't consider himself human anymore, but something else.) "Ah, Sorry, Kind of not completely used to sharing a bed quite yet. Aha." She laughed a bit and retracted backwards. She had some pretty embarrassing moments before, but this would easily be the second most embarrassing moment of her life. Right behind the whole "confessing her would be love for Celestia at a royal dinner" incident. Which she wasn't seen publicly again for three months. Rey saw how embarrassing this was for her, so he thought he'd lighten the mood by cracking a smile. "Oh really? A pretty girl like you must have had a few of stallions in bed with her before right?!" He joked. He started laughing, even went so far as to poke her with his elbow, but when he opened his eyes, her eyes were wide open and her face red even through her purple coat, and she wasn't smiling. Knowing he had said something wrong, he stumbled out of bed backwards, he'd fallen out of bed and tried to regained his balance and tripped over Spike's bed. He then fell down the small stairs and fell right off the edge, landing in the main room, painfully on his back with a sickening cracking sound. "Rey!" Twilight called from in her room. The cracking sound made her feel queasy, she almost didn't want to look down and see what he okay, but she braved the edge of her steps and looked over. To her relief he was okay, he was scrambling to his feet in a hurry. Rey thinking that she was going to scold him about what he had said, thought she needed time to cool off, so he ran outside. He looked around for a second, and heard Twilight's hoofsteps coming down the stairs inside, he needed to be gone, and fast. In a last ditch effort he jumped and flexed every muscle in his back, His wings expanding, and flapping once, and propelling him a great distance into the air. he leaned forwards and started to flex his back again, hoping to flap his wings. His wings flapped once more, throwing him further, faster than he thought one flap could push a person. After nine seconds of flight his wings seized up and tightened himself against his back. Heading about 16 mph at 20 feet off the ground he started to yell just when he hit the ground. he tumbled for about 4 feet before stopping. Ignoring the intense pain, and responding to the shocked gasp he heard in front of him, he looked up to see a white pony, but he couldn't see clearly with the dirt in his eyes. "Sorry, just getting the training wheels off." he said gritting through the pain. The white and purple pony was looking at him when she said "Darling, if that's the way you fly, its best to keep the training equipment on! Here, I shall cart you to my boutique." With that, a soft blue energy enveloped Rey and he began to levitate in the air. Rey knew he should have declined, and instead walked away, but there isn't much a person can do when they are slipping out of consciousness he figured, And he passed out. Awaking on a couch, stark naked, He jumped forwards to cover himself before writhing in agony, when he landed he must have strained more than a couple muscles throughout his entire body. He let out a hiss of pain, and flopped back downwards onto the couch. "Ah, you're awake, what are you getting all worked up about? even Rainbow Dash wouldn't be too eager to move after a crash like that." She asked, tending to something at a threading station. She hummed a lively tune while the blue of the early morning sky shined through the windows. Rey gritted his teeth at the pain, but still managed to say "I'm naked!" He wondered was he alright, the tips of his wings were killing him, and his neck was sore and stiff. He never thought to categorize his own injuries before worrying about someone else's feelings, but then again, he's always been like that. Rarity paused and looked at him again. "Ah, indeed you are, but aren't we all dearest? Most ponies don't put cloths on unless they are going to some kind of event, or want to look extra special for somepony. Your clothes were in pieces, so i took and made you some more!" She turned back to her crafts. Rey turned his head to face here and she had made some dark blue boxers and black pants, which he didn't know what they were made of hanging on a rack nearby her. "A-ah, A shirt would be nice." He struggled to suggest. he raised his arm and patted his bare chest. She looked back at him. "Ah, something that fits on your upper body am I correct, I shall have it ready post haste! So where are you coming from?" She asked as she worked away, following the template she used for his last pair, she busily worked. Rey had told her about what happened with Twilight that morning and how he jettisoned away from her before she could breathe fire on him. And of course how he crashed at her feet. "Pardon me darling, but I must ask, why do you insist on wearing clothes all the time? It's not your body that's strange about you, you've actually got some good flanks on you if I do say so myself, but it's the fact that you're all dressed up! It's like you're expecting Celestia herself to come down at any moment!" Rarity explained as she levitated his new clothes over to him. "It's quite unsettling in a way you know?" He slipped the clothes on, and explained "Where I come from, being nude is a sexually intimate thing, and being nude in public was considered indecent." He said. "I guess old habits die hard." He said, and they both shared a quick chuckle. "Well darling, I'm not going to hold you here any longer, my advice? Go talk to her, Twilight can be irritable at times, but she's never gotten so angry as to bite your head off about anything." She reassured. She walked over to the door and opened the door for him. He gave his thanks, and left the boutique, hoping that Twilight would not be charged for that. Trying to remember the way back to the library, Rey slowly walked back to Twilight's place, his place, the place he called home, uncertain of what was waiting, and how much long he'd have a home to go back to. As he made his way back to the library, following the skid marks in the dirt, he started to think about what might happen, and how he could prevent the situation becoming awkward, or worse, him getting put out of the only place he had to call home. What if she'd told Celestia he was being a nuisance? He was terrified of what awaited him when he got back, either a angry Twilight, or Celestia herself, both ready to turn him into a pile of smoking dust. He thought about what that white pony said, and it seemed to calm his nerves, but not for long as right in front of him was the library, and he could see Twilight's silhouette in the door. > 6 - With friends like these > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Slowly approaching the doorway, Rey saw the look on Twilight's face, was not one of anger, or even frustration, but something close to embarrassment. He wanted to be done with this whole fiasco as soon as possible. "Look Twilight, about what I said earlier..." He started. "You didn't mean it did you?" She asked solemnly. She was majorly upset, and nervous at the same time. She looked terrible, her fur matted as she'd run through town looking for Rey, to make sure he was okay. "Of course I didn't mean it... I..." He started to say, Then he started to recall the words he said to her, something about her being a cute girl he recalled . "Wait! I mean yes I did mean it!" He exclaimed. He thought to himself. "Do I mean it? why me?" As he thought to himself, her face brightened up and she smiled. "So you really do think I'm pretty?" She asked. Her sad desperate looked completely turned around, and she was smiling with a sparkle in her eyes you could see from sweet apple acres. For a moment, she'd completely forgotten about how upset she was that he'd run away like how he did. The question caught him off guard and forced him to look at the pony in a way he hadn't before. She had pretty eyes, her body wasn't much different than any other ponies, but the shade of purple she was, reminded him of his windows 8 background color, which always put him at ease, and looking at it from where she was he was a tall, hairless, alien that she had to babysit because he didn't think things through, the very least he could do now, was comfort her. "Of course you are." He said comfortably, and got down on a knee to rub her head. "Ah, It had to be a platonic question, that figures. To them I'm a tall bald alie..." He started to think to himself, right before Twilight leaned in forward and planted a kiss right on his lips. Startled Rey almost broke the kiss by backing away, but in an instant realized what all this meant, and why that would not only hurt her, but him as well. He leaned forwards returning the kiss, and he felt Twilight relax underneath him. When the kiss finally parted, he had to ask, It had to make sense somehow. "Why me?" He asked. She poked her bottom lip out in thought, and finally answered. " I don't know, At first, you were like one of the girls, we'd hang out and have fun, I think I first noticed how I was feeling when you brought up getting a separate bed, and how empty my bed would feel without you. Besides, you don't think ponies have wings or horns because they only courted within our own species do you? Love goes beyond that kind of thing. or at least, that's what I've always thought," She said cheerfully. Rey thought that made sense and stood up. A huge pain in his lower body struck him, as Twilight rear up on her hind legs and used her front hooves to kick him in the stomach. He looked down at her, to see her loving grin all scrunched up in a upset frown. "THAT'S for running off earlier, you took a nasty fall and you wouldn't even stop to let me see if you were hurt you jerk!" She said, irritated at his lack of empathy at that moment. She Moodily pouted back into the house, but deep in the back of her head, she was throwing a party. He'd returned her feelings, despite all the doubt she knew he harbord about courting anything that wasn't human. Little did she know, Rey no longer considered himself human. A few hours had passed and it was now three o'clock PM. The sun was shining and it was a beautiful day. Twilight had picked today to introduce Rey to her friends. Rey still sore from all the incidents that morning was glad to be able to sit down again. They had walked for half an hour to a outdoors restaurant. The tables were up, but the umbrellas were down, Rey thought it was due to the lack of clouds in the sky, which he found odd because that morning the sky was dark grey with clouds. They finally found their table with five other ponies at the table with them, This was sure to be an evening he was going to remember. Right off the bat, He recalled Applejack from the day before, and the white pony from this morning. "Ah, howdy again feller, Twilight invited us here to introduce us to ya, an from what ah've heard, that ain't even the fillin' in the pie." She said to him. She made a vague gesture with her front hoof at Twilight, who blushed and giggled. It was Rarity's turn to speak next. "Oh yes dear, we met this morning but I'm sure you remember, and don't worry those clothes were on me, what's more important is that I hear your courting Twilight! This is wonderful news, and I'm so happy for you both." She said excitedly. "Honestly, I can't say I saw it coming, I knew you and Twilight were living together, but I never thought she'd fall for you, and I certainly never thought you'd fall for a pony, but congratulations to the both of you, and whoever else may join your herd in the future." Rarity finished. Next to speak was the pink one, unfortunately Rey hadn't prepared for it. "OH MY SWEET CELESTIA! THE NEW STALLION IN TOWN IS GOING TO MAKE A HONEST MARE OUT OF TWILIGHT! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! PINCH ME I'M DREAMING! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? I CAN'T! HOLY HORSE APPLES TW..." The words were coming out of her mouth a mile a minute! Applejack actually stuck her hoof in her mouth to quiet her. "Sorry bout that, she's uh... excitable" Applejack said. They all shared a hearty laugh and when They'd quieted down some, applejack continued. "That's Pinkie pie. she's a bit... Odd, but y'all never see a happier pony in all of equestria." She finished. Pinky wore a huge smile after the introduction. Twilight cleared her throat. "This is my friend Rainbow dash, She can teach you how to fly sometime." She said gesturing towards the light blue pony across the table talking to Rarity, It hadn't seemed she noticed Rey at all. Rainbow dash had attended all of Twilight's get togethers, and met tons of new ponies, only a few of which she still talked to. Rey looked to where she was guesting and caught sight of the light blue pony with wings, her mouth slightly open and her eyes open wide. Rey chuckled a bit and stood up from his seat. He backed up a few feet and took off his shirt, and very slowly extended his wings. It felt good to him, for his wings to finally have them open. A quick glance back at the table, everyone had large smiles on, except rainbow dash whose jaw was on the floor. "Rainbow dash, what's the matter?" Rey asked, concerned he'd done something wrong as the winged creature that he was now. She blushed heavily, easily visible through her lighter fur color than Twilights. Without a word, she jumped into the air and flew off in the opposite direction. Rey was confused, and a little disappointed. "Um, excuse me?" said a quiet voice. "O-opening your wings like that is a mating practice for pegasi, for all winged creatures actually. " said the small voice again. "Fluttershy, why didn't you say so sooner darling? How was anypony supposed to know?" Rarity asked. Rey was upset that he drove her away because of a misunderstanding, but instead of running away, he was going to do some chasing of his own. > 7 - Chasing rainbows > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Rey knew the direction Rainbow Dash went and he knew he had to catch up to her, he was a stranger to this world and wouldn't let something like this ruin a potential friendship, and lose him a flying coach, but there was one problem, he had no idea how to fly, panicking he flung his wings in and out of the extended and retracted state, flailing around and causing panic among the friends at the table Fluttershy whispered quietly for Rey to calm down, and when she half had his attention she spoke. "c-calm down please, a trick i know for little birds to start flying is to first, fall." she spoke calmly which seemed to slow the pace of which everything was happening so Rey and the rest of the ponies were all listening to Fluttershy as shy spoke, "i-if its okay with you um.. i could lift you into the sky..." she whispered nervously as she noticed all eyes were on her. Rey agreed to Fluttershy's plan, as it was the only one he had. as Fluttershy hovered from her side of the table over to Rey, Rey had outstretched his wings ready to chase rainbow dash. he grabbed a hold of her hooves, and felt himself lighten, and when Fluttershy started to ascend so did he, they kept rising above there friends and in a short while they were a considerable distance from the ground. he looked up at Fluttershy who was smiling at him reassuringly and then she dropped him. Rey thought that if he would have gotten it wrong Fluttershy would catch him, but his heart sank when he looked up and Fluttershy was hovering in place getting further and further away from him. he turned to see the ground quickly getting closer, and without a thought spread his wings as wide as they could go, and they caught the air correcting his flight path to where he was doing a thirty degree nosedive, with as much upper body strength as he could muster pulled himself upwards, now jetting horizontally at a breakneck speed, he was sure he could catch up to rainbow. Rainbow was slowly flying home, severely disappointed because she'd abandoned her friends in a rage, and secondly because Twilight got hitched before she did, like they always joked about, not only that, the thing she got hitched too, whatever it was had the most amazing pair of wings Dash had ever seen in her life, she couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. but she shrugged most of it off and kept towards her home, soon she'd take a shower, and forget all about this. Rey was rocketing over Ponyville, his whole body becoming numb at the feeling of weightlessness. the wind was whipping at every fiber of his being as he watched the blur that was ponies and houses go by, looking further ahead he could see just a tiny bit of Rainbow Dash flying though the sky, he thought he would stop and talk to her, but in all the excitement he had forgotten he didn't know how to stop! Rainbow Dash was almost past the windmill when she heard the unmistakable sound of wind turbulence, and by the sound of it was something moving fast, she observed this sky in her view, nothing, then she turned around and saw Rey Flying toward her at insane speeds she quickly banked out of his way, realizing he wasn't slowing down she saw he was going to crash directly into the windmill! rainbow dash zoomed towards Rey, in hasty attempt to prevent the man from becoming 2D she was going to grab him and absorb some of his momentum as they crashed into the windmill. Rey noticing she was heading for him was confused, he realized she was trying to save him, but he had no idea how, she zoomed past him and in no time circled around and was flying right above him, she grabbed his back with her fore-hooves and started flapping her wings while facing forwards, but his weight and speed kept him at a deadly momentum while the ever approaching windmill became closer and closer Realizing this rainbow switched positions, from his back to his front, trying to put his body completely behind hers, she was planning on crashing into the wall in his place, combined with the weight behind her, this maneuver might be fatal, and he might break a bone or two but it was the only think she could think to do. Rey noticed what she was thinking, almost too late, with windmill was just up ahead he had to do something! with only seconds left until impact, he grabbed rainbow dash, looked her in the eyes, and tossed her away from him. Rey watched her roll in mid air to regain her balance, glad to know she didn't crash, he began to look in front of him, and crashed right into the windmill, face first. Rainbow watched in horror as Rey crashed through the windmill and crash landed on the hard earth below. Rainbow flew to the inert figure. She stared onto what seemed to be a corpse lying on the ground. Feeling sick to her stomach she flew as fast as she could to the hospital. Soon after, she watched grimly as they hoisted him onto a stretcher with magic, that was a bit too small for him and proceeded to carry him to the hospital. Rainbow felt awful and wondered if her and Twilight would ever even speak again. > 8 - Downhill > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a month and three days since the crash. Rey had been in the emergency care in Canterlot, as the hospital in Ponyville didn't have the medical equipment needed to handle the injures Rey had suffered. Twilight and Spike stayed in the castle with Celestia as Twilight couldn't bear to leave Rey's side. Rainbow Dash felt awful. She'd hurt ponies before, mostly because they had it coming she thought. But she had never had anyone martyr themselves for her. She'd shirked her weather patrol duties for a while, but sluggishly started up again. She'd thought about visiting Rey in Canterlot, but she feared what Twilight would say. In fact, she has been loathing the thought of what Twilight might think of her now, If she was still her friend. Twilight was lying in her bed, staring at the intricate patterns on the walls and ceiling. Since Spike had gone to get himself something to eat, she had nopony to talk to, not that she had much to say. She was worried. Worried that Rey may never wake up, Worried that Dash might have spite against him for whatever it was that happened, and worried what Celestia might decide to do. She hated being away from her friends, who had came to Canterlot (With the exception of Rainbow Dash) to support her, but had to go back to Ponyville because of their jobs. Just when she was about to lie her head down, Spike crashed through the door, looking tired, but excited. Rey opened his eyes for the first time in a month, but to him it seemed like an instant. The brightness of the lights hurt his eyes, and he noticed he wasn't wearing his sunglasses, so he shut his eyes again. As he slowly opened his eyes for the second time, the room was filled with smiling faces. He started to get up, only to have a sharp pain shoot throughout his entire body. He quickly lay back down. The doctor next to him spoke up. "Whoa, there! Take it easy buddy, your still pretty banged up." He looked down at a clipboard on a table next to Rey, and let out a long whistle. "Let's see here, broken arm, fractured rib cage, and multiple minor fractures throughout your body.Most of the smaller fractures have healed, but some of the larger ones will still be a while, and with the muscle sprains you sustained, combined with the numerous bumps and bruises I'd say you're looking at another two weeks in bed mister." He explained. "But after what happened to you, Were just glad you are alive!" He said happily. Rey looked around him, saw the smiling faces of the doctor pony, Twilight, and Spike. He smiled a little, and said to Twilight, "Everything is going to be alright now, I'm fine." Twilight looked at him, and gazed at his face, realizing he wasn't wearing his shades, his eyes a bright burning amber, looking right at her, his brightly colored eyes peering right into her heart, she felt her heart swell with the longing of the past month, and as she descended onto him preparing to lock lips with the injured immortal, there was a bright flash, and the distinct sound of magical blinking. "Discord?" Asked Twilight, confused and distraught. Celestia had sent Discord to Fluttershy a while ago, to reform him, make him not evil, but she didn't trust him still, and his showing up here at this odd moment made her uneasy. "Oh Twilight Sparkle, the apple of this poor souls eye," He shot a glace at Rey. "I wasn't planning on telling you this, but alas, my new moral compass wont let me lie to you," He struck a dramatic pose his forehand resting on his forehead."When you were experimenting with your long distance teleportation spell little over a month ago, I might just have tampered with the results a bit in my boredom," He admitted solemnly. Rey was confused. Lying on the bed, unaware that Discord was one of the four powerful beings in Equestria that Celestia mentioned when they first met. "I'm responsible for bringing you into this world you see, but if twilight can replicate that spell, you could go back home back to where you belong," Discord said. "The citizens of this country dont think too highly of you..." "No! DISCORD!" Twilight yelled, but it was too late, the Draconequus had already started talking. However he did stop talking long enough to look at Twilight, who was looking extremely uneasy at this point. With a mischievous look in his eye for a split second, he feigned sadness and leaned over twilight, "He had to find out sometime deary," He half-whispered, half said out loud. "Boy," he said, floating by Rey's side. "The ponies here, are frightened of you, in-fact I wouldn't be surprised if the princesses aren't already thinking of a way to get rid of you," He explained, swirling his finger around, producing a whitish-pink and dark blue smoke that resembled the princesses, scowling at the once human lying on the bed. Rey didn't understand why, he knew Princess Celestia was benevolent, preferring to save a life, than to take one, but she terrified him, more now than ever. Twilight seemed to know Discord, and If there was any chance the Princess wanted to get rid of him, he wanted to be gone, far and away. "Twilight, can you do it?" Rey asked, his voice verbally shuddering. Twilight felt a tear come to her eye, Is he really going to leave me? she asked herself. Solemnly, she looked at Rey and nodded her head, all the while wishing he would change his mind. She stared at him, desperately looking for a way to postpone this until she could talk to the princesses. Rey tried to get up, but once again his pain sprang up again, forcing him back down onto the bed. "Twilight," Discord called out, "you owe it to him to return him to his own, we don't know the first thing about healing humans," He shot the doctor a look and the doctor closed his mouth and looked down in defeat. Rey saw the look of dismay on twilight's face, and the tear swelling up in her beautiful violet eye. "I don't thi-," He started to say, but Twilight interrupted him. "I'll do it," She said tearfully. She turned to face the injured being. "Don't worry, I'll go with you," she promised. And with that said, she and Discord walked out of the hospital room, to begin making preparations, she didn't want to mess this up.