The new arrival in Equestria

by Blazer787

First published 24th of July, 2012

Humans were never meant to handle magic, so what will happen when a human gets into Equestria?

A human gets into Equestria. But can he deal with the guilt when he thinks he is corrupting their world, and ripping apart their universe? And humans were never meant to handle magic, so what will this do to him? Find out in this emotional roller coaster of a story!

The freakout

Another day, another dollar. Five days a week it was just the same old routine for me. I went to school, came home, and surfed the web or play games. But one night…

"Michael, go to bed!" My dad yelled

"*sigh* Fine dad!" I shut off my computer, and climbed into bed, I didn't bother to get my PJ's on, too tired. I started to drift off to sleep. But then there was a blinding purple light outside my window, I sat up in bed and shielded my eyes from it. It quickly faded.

"Whatever, just probably my imagination "I drifted off into a deeper sleep.

I awoke to the sounds of birds chirping, as my senses came back into focus, I realised that I was sitting under an apple tree, it sorta felt nice just to sit there in the warm air. Then my common sense kicked in.

"AHH! Holy shit where am I! Who, what, where, how, wh-"I was interrupted by signing. I noticed a yellow Pegasus with a pink mane surrounded by birds skipping down the path.

"Umm…h-hello" I called out. The pony suddenly stopped and stared at me.

"*GAAAAASP*" The pony flew off screaming, scattering her birds. I scrambled to my feet and ran after her.

"PLEASE COME BACK!" I screamed as I clambered to get up and bolted after her, she was too fast, and probably couldn't hear me anyway. I went back and sat down back against the tree again. So many questions were racing through my head, "where am I? What was that? How did I get there? What day is it?" A few times I even asked: "who am I"? But I realised that was a stupid question. It felt like only two minutes had passed, but a herd of ponies were already rushing towards me in the distance. Either that pony was fast, or I was sitting there for quite a while. I ran behind a few trees to hide.

"What did you want to show us Fluttershy?"

"There was something here, something I had never seen before."

"Well it aint here no more." *Texas accent*

"Was it big? Was it friendly? Was it on fire! TELL ME TELL ME TELL ME!"

"That didn't sound good" I thought, "That's it I'm sneaking off, better safe than sorry" I tried to slink away, but stepped on a twig, it emitted a loud cracking sound. I froze on the spot.

"Huh?" All the ponies said.

"Hello? Is some-pony in there?"

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit" I didn't know what to do, I ran for it! After I thought that I was safely away noticed that all the trees are in rows. "This must be an orchard" Suddenly a pink pony poked its head out of a tree, but was hanging upside down.

"HI THERE!" Before I could react she retreated into the tree and was upside down in another, behind me. She repeated this.

"HI! HOW ARE YOU! WHO ARE YOU! WHAT ARE YOU? *GAASP* DO YOU LIKE CUPCAKES!"

"GAAAH" I screamed. "HOW THE HELL ARE YOU DOING THAT!" I ran off again. I didn't care anymore, I just wanted to run. I didn't want to stop, or slow down. I came out of orchard onto the path again but bowled into something. It was that pink pony again.

"WOAH" we both said as we hurled into the ground, well I was hurled into a tree but whatever. At the speed I was running I hit it pretty hard; imagine waking up with a migraine then having a baseball bat dropped on your head. (Not the wooden kind either, I mean the metal kind)

I was asking so many questions, so many that when I was saying them it all sounded like gibberish. I was struck with a surge of emotions: Fear, curiosity, paranoia, turmoil, the whole lot. My heart was beating so fast it felt like it was going to leap right out of my chest.

"Do somethin' 'bout that Twi" said applejack. I couldn't hear any of this over my rambling. Twilight grunted and her horn started to glow, remember I wasn't paying attention to then at all; I couldn't if I tried to. Suddenly my mouth was snapped shut. I tasted metal, and as I felt my mouth I had noticed it had been turned into a zip of some sort. I started pulling at it as hard as I could.

"Holy shit what the fuck is going on? Zip mouths, talking horse things, fucking MAGIC! Either this is one weird ass dream, or I am tripping the fuck out! God I can't even remember what happened before I woke up." I thought all at once.

"Is he even listening?" scolded applejack

"I'll take care of this" boasted rainbow dash. *GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAASP* "LIIIIIISTEEEEEN!" She screamed. It definitely broke me out of my trance; I was blocking my ears long after it was over, partly because I was hoping that it was all a dream and that I would just wake up. I then continued to pull on the zip which was somehow my mouth.

The purple pony started to talk. "First thing, you're not going to get that zip off, its magically bonded, now then, as soon as you calm down I'll take it off." After about two full minutes of trying to break the zip, I gave up and just sighed. "Good, now you're going to explain what you are and what you're doing here." Her horn glowed as my mouth became human again.

"Explain what I am? What are YOU? You're fucking talking horse things, you have wings and magic. Not to mention I can't even remember a THING! Until I know what's going on I'm not saying ANYTHING!"

The blue Pegasus pony intimidatingly flew towards me. "Listen chump, YOU'RE the newcomer around here; YOU should be doing the talking!" She said as she stared me in the eye.

"Who ya callin' a chump ya freak?" I countered

The purple pony spoke up again. "Stop Rainbow, it's in our world we should explain things first."

"And how do ya know we can trust this thing?" The Pegasus said again.

"I have a name y'know" I interrupted angrily.

"Well then what is it?" Asked the purple pony again.

"It's Michael, now what in the name of CRAP is going on here?"

They tried to explain to me that the world is called equestria, and that everyone there was either a unicorn, pony, or Pegasus. Even with everyone else helping, except for one little yellow and pink pony, it still ate up around two hours.

"Whoa that's a mouthful, so who are you pony…um, things?"

"I'm Twilight Sparkle, princess Celestia's most faithful student." Said a purple unicorn

"A pony with a royal background, that'll get you places," I commented.

"I'm Applejack; I take care of the apple trees 'round these parts" shelifted her hat.

"I am miss Rarity, fashion designer and most elegant pony in ponyville" I rolled my eyes. She was a white pony with a purple mane.

"I'm rainbow dash the coolest pony in ponyville." This pony was blue with rainbow patterned hair.

"AND I'M PINKIE PIE!" Said a pink pony jumping like a trampoline.

"Uh huh...wait" It when then that I realised, that was the pony that was in the trees earlier. "That was you; you were the one in the trees."

"Yep that was me" said pinkie still bouncing.

"That was you running through the apple crops?" said Applejack "How'd you get here? And what are you?"

"I'm a human, and I don't know how I got here. I was lying in bed then…"

"Twitcha, twitchy twitch!" Interrupted pinkie pie, as her tails rapidly twitched. She was now stiff with a wide eyed look on her face. The entire group of ponies stared up nervously.

"Um is she okay?" I asked.

"Us ponies who've been 'round here long enough know that when Pinkie's twitchin' you had better listen." Said Applejack.

"Yeah, and a twitchy tail means something's gunna fall!" Said Rainbow Dash nervously.

"Oh great, MORE random crap happening, that's JUST what I need!" I moaned.

THUMP! An apple came crashing down onto my head.

"OUCH!" I yelled as the yell startled the group of ponies. "Well I'm all for believing in magic, but I don't believe the whole twitchin' thing."

"Oh don't worry you will," said Rainbow Dash with a smug smile on her face, "you will."

"So as I was saying, I'll tell you details later. Is the town far from here?"

"Shoot no." Said Applejack waving a hoof.

"Come on we'll take you there, it's called ponyville" said Twilight.

"Oh that's an original name."

"Hey, you should be grateful that were even telling you about this place, you're nothing we've even seen before." Snapped Rainbow Dash.

"Okay let's get going…" We started walking off; I stopped as I noticed something. "Hey you never told me your name." I said looking at a yellow pony with a pink mane.

"Oh, I'm Fluttershy" she whispered.

"What was that?"

"I'm Fluttershy," still whispering.

"Anybody know who she is?" I asked pointing my thumb over my shoulder to the yellow Pegasus, Rainbow Dash turned around.

"Her name's Fluttershy, heh heh she's kinda shy around new things." Said Rainbow Dash loudly.

"Thanks for that," I said back.

"No prob, hey ya comin' or what?"

"Come on Fluttershy lets catch up to the others."

"Oh o-okay" she quietly whispers as I'm walking away. She ran to catch up to us.

A blast from the past

As I was walking down the path surrounded by flying, horned, talking ponies. (Not every day you get to say that) A thought had occurred to me.

"Woah waoh, wait" I said stopping in my tracks. "I can't go into town.

"Why not sugar cube?" Asked Applejack.

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't exactly fit in here."

"Hmm, ya got a point there"

"Also where exactly are we going once we get to pony town?"

Twilight spoke up "Its ponyville and I was hoping to get you to the library so we can find out more about you and how you got here."

"Ok that's good to know," I replied. "But that still means I'm gunna stand out."

"Oh quit being such a baby" taunted Rainbow Dash.

"Hell, that's easy for you to say, you don't know the feeling of a whole town staring at you."

"Pfft, I've been in competitions and on stage before."

"That's not the same, there's a difference between being up on the stage, and having the cold shoulder!" I was furious with her, but I didn't want to show it. After what they've done for me, agreed to take me in even though I'm a stranger in every way, they didn't deserve it.

"Hey! Stop it you two." Interrupted Twilight, "we can take you around the back way if you want, not many pony's take that route."

"Thanks, It'd just be too awkward with everyone in town staring." After that there was an awkward silence going on, I felt guilty after yelling at Rainbow Dash. I didn't even have the nerve to look at anyone (or anypony) for the whole trip, I either look ahead or down at my feet. We entered through the side of the town nearest to the library; even so, it was hard to get through the town. I tried to remain as un-seen as possible. "Aww shit, I hope no one saw me," I mumbled to myself. We eventually reached the library. "Wait, a tree? The library is in a tree? Are you SERIOUS!"

"What? You don't have houses like this in your world?" said Twilight.

"The nearest we have are small forts built in trees for kids to play in, but a whole house!"

"Oh just get in here already." Pressured Rainbow Dash.

*sigh* I followed the others into the library. "I just don't get it, we passed a lot of normal houses on the say here, why build one in a tree?" I commented on the way in.

"You just don't stop talkin' do ya?" Joked Rainbow Dash.

"I like to think of it as a healthy curiosity." I studied the interior of the house. "Holy shit, this is impressive, especially for a hollowed out tree. You have some dam good architects"

"Alright, let's get down to business." Said Twilight levitating her quill. (I was turned around at the time so I didn't see this happen.)

"Okay, so what do ya wanna know first?"

"How about we just start with the basics of who you actually are?"

"Taking it slow I see." I said while still walking around and studying the library. "My name's Michael, I'm 13 years old, male, brown eyes, and um…I guess there's not much more to it without taking it into my own world. Dam, not many times you get to say that without bullshiting somebody!"

"Uh huh…ok so what do you…things….eat?"

"Well, we mostly eat-"

"HAY!" Pinkie pie interrupted hanging from a support beam on the roof.

"What? No we eat-"

"GRASS?"

"NO! We eat-"

"FLOWERS!"

"SHUT UP!" I yelled at her, everyone was staring at me now, Pinkie fell from the beam but no one took notice, all eyes were on me. It was extremely awkward, especially since they weren't even human eyes. "Sigh, sorry, I have a friend back home that acted random just to get attention, but it was just non-stop and everyone just got pissed at him. Sometimes you just have to yell"

"Yeah but, nobody's ever yelled at Pinkie before. Not like that" Rainbow Dash.

"Sigh, you guys don't deserve this, if you want me to go that's fine."

"Now why on earth do ya think we want you ta leave?" Said Applejack

"Well I was yelling at Rainbow Dash earlier, and just now at pinkie. I haven't been the best guest."

"Ahh we couldn't throw you out!" Said Rainbow Dash.

"You don't even know you're way around ponyville yet." Said Twilight.

"Thanks guys…girls…um, ponies? Whatever. So what else did you want to know?" I questioned.

"Well, what were you going to say you eat?" Said twilight readying her quill.

"Oh yeah, humans are omnivores, so we can eat vegetables, herbs, and berries, up to really any kind of meat." I said to myself: "Heh, om nom nomnivores."

"Well you might have to go without meat, we're all vegetarian."

"Hmm, okay I guess. I'm gunna miss it…Hey are you even writing this down? I down see much movement over there."

"Well of course I am, see?" Twilight floated the scroll and quill to where I could see them with her horn glowing.

My eyes widened in surprise. "So you can do magic?" I said in a rasp, hoarse voice. "Anything else I should know before I have a heart attack!"

"Well there is-"

A purple baby dragon walked down the stairs. "Urg, what's all the noise, I can barely sleep up he-"

…We just sort of stared at each other "AAAAHHHH!" We both screamed at each other, I stumbled back and fell over and the dragon ran back upstairs.

With my ass still flat on the floor, "Nice to know that you keep a DRAGON in the house!"

"Ahh, he's just a little surprised about seeing an um…a-"

"Human" I corrected.

"Yes that's it, a human," Twilight giggled "don't worry I'll go get him." The purple pony ran up the wooden steps.

"…So that was a dragon right?" I asked. They all agreed. Not bothering to get up, I simply crossed my legs, and rested my head on my hand with my elbow on my knee and thought aloud: "Great, talking ponies, magic, Pegasi, and now a dragon? What else is there?" So after two minutes of just awkwardly sitting there occasionally looking over to the ponies, Twilight eventually came down the stars with a floating purple dragon struggling to get out of a purple aura. I stood up and moved in for a closer inspection. As I did the dragons pupils got smaller, and its eyes widened. "So this is a dragon? I imagined they would be…bigger." As I said this I circled the dragon with my hand on my chin.

"Well he is still only a baby dragon." Twilight noted.

"Wait" My arm dropped and my body straightened up and stiffened as my eyes widened in surprise. "You dragon-napped a baby dragon from its mother!"

"No, it's not like that." Twilight gestured for me to come closer, I leaned forward and she whispered: "He doesn't like to talk about it." As I pulled away I tried to cover the conversation up with a cough.

"*Cough cough*, so can he talk? Or can't he understand us yet?"

"I can do both" He said and crossed his arms, "I'm not stupid y'know" he said with a 'well obviously' look on his face.

"Wait, how are you not freaking out by this? It's a dragon!" Said Rainbow Dash flying up to me.

"I've been wondering that too, but I haven't gone insane yet so…Yeah. Anyway I had some time to soak it all in so it could have turned out worse."

"Well it's good to know that you're holding up okay" said Twilight

"To be honest I was sort of getting tired of my own world."

"Why whatever do you mean darling? Said Rarity "your world must be wonderful!"

"Yeah, tell us what it's like over there." Said Rainbow Dash enthusiastically, while Twilight was putting down Spike.

"Uhh…I should really tell you later" I said back worryingly. "Oh man I forgot, so umm while I'm in this whole ponyville, who can I stay with? Don't really have any housing yet."

"Well, yer welcome to stay at Sweet apple acres with us" offered Applejack.

"Or you can come and stay at sugar cube corner!" Merrily said Pinkie Pie.

"I live in cloudsdale, so I'm out." Said Rainbow Dash matter-of-factly.

"I would love to hear about the fashion in your world" Said Rarity excitedly.

"Sorry, but there's only one bed in the library," apologised Twilight.

"Oh, um…I'm not sure if…" Shyly said Fluttershy as she trailed off.

"I might as well go back to the apple orchard. I want to try and find out how I got here." I said.

"Come on now, I'll show ya back there" Said Applejack already half way out the door.

As we walked back to Sweet apple archers through the warm summer air, I noticed that the pony had a mark on her backside.

"So um…What's that mark you have there?" I asked pointing to it.

"What this? Well it's a cutie mark, you've never heard of one before?" Applejack asked back stopping in her path, facing me.

"Not really, so is it like a tattoo?"

"A what? A cutie mark only appears when a pony finds their special talent."

"Jeez, I'll lose my sanity before this is over." We continued walking down the dirt road, and eventually I asked. "So what's yours for? What's your special talent?"

"Well, my special talent is taking care of the farm: bucking apples, feeding the town, carin' for our kin."

"So how did you get it?"

"You sound just like three little fillies I know. But it's a long story, I'll tell ya later."

I had walked down this path before so the trip seemed pretty short. But the whole way there my mind was stuck in a purgatory state, questioning every little detail of this strange world that I'm now in. I was a bit sad when we finally got to the acres, I just wanted to stay there questioning everything, for it to never end.

"*sigh* oh well, nothing lasts forever." I thought to myself.

"Let me introduce you to the apple family" said Applejack cheerily as we walked through the gate. Everyone was helping out on the farm somehow. "That there's Applebloom" she said pointing to a small yellow pony with a giant pink bow in her hair. "That's Granny Smith." She pointed to an old wrinkly pony sound asleep in a rocking chair. "And that's Big Macintosh" she pointed to a large red pony with a piece of hay in its mouth.

"I'll bet you ten dollars that we're going to get two more freak-outs any second now" I said smugly to Applejack.

"What the hay is a dollar?"

I heard a high pitched scream and was a small blur of yellow dash behind a tree, and I looked over to see a wide eyed red pony with a piece of hay in its mouth staring at me.

"What'd I tell ya"? I said with the smug expression still on my face. After explaining to Big Macintosh the whole situation, and that I still can't remember a thing, he seemed to take it in easy with a simple "Eyup." The small filly however was a lot harder to convince to approach me. When she did I tried to seem as non-threatening, kind, and gentle as possible, even then it was still hard to get to her. After the granny pony sleeping through all of this, Applejack showed me to the guest room. It was a simple room with a single bed, chest, mirror and a desk.

"Haven't got much need to unpack so, if ya don't mind I'm going to go back to where I woke up."

"Woah woah hold up there" She warned as she ran in-front of me, "We should really get Twilight as well; her magic can come in handy."

"Hmm Twilight…Twilight…Which one's that again?" I said with a shrug.

"Uhh, the purple unicorn."

"Oh yeah good idea, magic could really help in this situation. God I can't believe I just said that seriously." We walked out and past the orchards; I saw something out of the corner of my eye. "Uh Applejack, is it okay if you go and get Twilight while I stay here?"

"Now why on earth don't you want to come?"

"Still don't fit in over there. Also I don't want to slow ya down."

"Well, alright then, but don't you go anywhere!" She said while running off into the distance. I turned and walked towards the tree, it felt familiar, oh so familiar. I walked around it and to my surprise I found a small pile of items. I bent down and picked up my IPod with my black headphones wrapped around it, "This might help me remember" I thought. I continued to go through the small bundle of items I had found. I found my sketching pencil, a normal school pencil, and my inking pen, all of these I shoved into my left pocket. Then I bent down and found a small square of paper neatly folded. I unfolded the paper and it had a single sentence written on it: 'Never forget, never regret. ~Ben' I flipped it over and it had a drawing of two people smiling, hands on each other's shoulders, just staring at me. I couldn't help but let a smile onto my face, I started chocking up and then it came back to me. Ben was my-"oh my God…"

"You okay there sugar cube?" I heard the voice come from behind me; it startled me and broke my train of thought. I quickly folded up the piece of paper and tucked it into my right pocket.

"Yeah yeah I'm fine. So this is where I woke up, or at least I think it is. But this tree it just feels so…Familiar…" I paused for a moment then remembered, "oh yeah and I also found these right behind it." I showed Twilight my pencils, pen and IPod. Her horn started to glow and they levitated towards her. As they floated out of my hand I felt a strange rush of energy flow through my hand, it was the most unusual feeling in the world. I stared at my hand and said "Well that's a first, don't think I'll get used to it soon though, or at all." Twilight ignored me and started to inspect the objects.

"Hmm…Wow! There's a really strong magical aura around these. Where did they come from?" asked Twilight.

"Well, I guess they came from my bedroom. That's the only thing I can remember before waking up here" I responded as she handed all the other things back to me and I packed them into my pocket.

"But the strongest aura is coming from your pocket, what's in there?" The paper floated out of my pocket.

"HEY!" I grabbed the paper out of the air, another rush of energy went through my arm, it gave me goose bumps all up my arm. "It's a bit personal."

"Why is it so important?"

"Ya'll got a girl back home?" Asked Applejack.

"Uhh…" still clutching the paper tight, blushing a bit, being careful not to wrinkle or tear it I looked around for an excuse to get out of the conversation. I noticed the sun was setting. "Uhh, hey the sun is going down. We should all really get to bed.

"But-"

"RACE YA BACK TO THE FARM!" I interrupted then both, and then sprinted off down the dirt road. I ran back down the road, through the gates, and into the farm. "Whew" I thought, Applejack burst in seconds after me.

"Why in tarnation are ya actin' so strange all of a sudden?"

"I'm surrounded by talking ponies! How could I not be acting strange?"

"Hmm…" She stared at me curiously. "Well you are right, and the sun is goin' down. We should get to bed." We just stared at each other for a few more seconds.

"Heh heh heh…Well I'll be going…now." I said and half ran to the guest bedroom and closed the door behind me. I pulled out the piece of paper again and smiled at it. I laid it down on the small table beside the bed, and everything else beside it. I climbed into bed and started to drift off to sleep.

I woke up in my bed at home and heard my dad come into the room.

"Get up" he said "it's almost time for school." I didn't respond as he exited the room, I felt like I was going to be sick.

"That was all a dream?" I thought. "No no NO! Oh God that place was a utopia! Why did it have to end?" I closed my eyes as tight as I could. "WHY WHY WHY?"I screamed to myself slamming my fist onto the mattress.

I woke up in the guest bed on the farm. I flung myself so I was sitting up. My legs were extremely sweaty, for a second I thought I'd pissed myself. But it was just the warmth from the blankets, and the dream. I turned my head to see Applejack staring at me, "AAAAHHHH" I yelled as I fell out of the bed, brining most of the covers with me. "What the fuck are you!" I yelled then my memory kicked in again. "Ah that's right, sorry I forgot there for a second."

"So what was all that screamin' for?" She asked.

"Um, just a nightmare, so why are you up here anyway?"

"Well it's nearly noon and you still weren't up, so I came up and you were rollin' all 'round screamin yerself hoarse. So I woke ya up."

"Thanks" I said standing up and a smile appeared on my face, I walked over to the door and opened it, half way out I turned to Applejack and said: "Y'know at first I hoped this was all just a dream but now, I hope I never wake up."

Homeskickness

It was harvesting time on Sweet apple acres. So I decided to help pitch in, it was the least I could do after this small, strange pony had taken me in.

"Apple bucking's a good job" said Applejack as she kicked a tree, apples came raining down into buckets below. "It's hard honest work, *KICK* outside, *KICK* and we won't go hungry because ponies will always want apples."

I watched in awe and said "Your legs are AMAZING! I can't imagine any human having that much power in their legs. You've got to be the fastest runner around here."

"Well, I think so" Applejack chuckled for a second "but Rainbow Dash doesn't."

"Hold on I'll give it a try." I walked up to an apple tree; it threateningly loomed over me as the feeling of nervousness shot through me. I slowly lifted my foot back and swung at the tree as hard as I could. As the kick connected the tree shook violently and apples rained down. Ground shock surged up my leg.

"Yer mighty good for a beginner."

"Huh, I guess these trees aren't as tough as ours. Maybe you're not the fastest one round here after all" I taunted with a smirk.

"Is that so? Well then how about we make a race out of it?"

"Alright then, from the gates of the barn all the way back to town."

"Yer on!"

"The only bad thing is that we've got to clear these apple trees. We can go for the bet after that." Then I realised that my leg was still in a bit of shock from that last buck, so as we walked into the orchard I punched myself in the knee, the awkward feeling seemed to stop. Eventually I developed a technique of kicking the trees that left me with little or no chock in my legs, which was good "because I'm going to need all the energy I need to beat her!" I thought to myself. Almost every time I managed to get away from Applejack I would slouch down under a tree trying to deal with the feeling of fear. I don't know why but I was scared to death. Usually I felt pumped with adrenaline before a race but this, this was different. It felt like if I lost I'd be kicked out of their town forever, like I'd be shunned, like it was life or death. Once we had both felt that the orchard was cleared we head back to the farm. Applejack got Big Macintosh to start the race off.

"Ok then, now as soon as that stick hits the ground we run for it" Applejack explained pointing to the stick held in Big Macintosh's mouth. Big Macintosh stamped 3 times then dropped the stick. We both sprinted past Big Macintosh and through past the acres. At first I was only running half-heartedly, and then I noticed that Applejack had already passed me and was getting a lot of distance. I had to kick it up a notch; I was all out sprinting now. After around 10 seconds I finally caught up to her, it seemed like forever though.

"You're quite a good runner" I managed to blurt out.

"You aint seen nothin' yet" replied Applejack. She increased her speed and passed me again.

"Oh no you don't" I whispered to myself. I had to put everything into the running, my muscles were burning with pain, my arms were pumping, and sweat was dripping down my brow as we neared the bridge to town. Somehow Applejack hadn't even broken a sweat yet. I was running faster than I had ever ran before, I don't know why I was so determined, I just was. While I was running my vision got blurry, something was coming back to me, and the pain of my legs seemed to melt away. Old memories of primary school, back when I was 7 years old. Me and my friends on the playground together, running on the school field, shooting hoops. "God those were the golden days" I heard a familiar voice say. The feeling of falling snapped me out of it and I crashed face first into the dirt road. I looked up and noticed that I had tripped just before the finish line. I picked myself up off the ground holding my painful nose. Then I noticed how exhausted I was, and collapsed on the ground again, I was flat on my back.

"Ya'll okay there?" Asked Applejack. Still panting I managed to sit up and say:

"Shit Applejack *huff huff* you weren't kidding when you said*huff huff* you were fast."

"Course I wasn't, I wouldn't lie to ya'll."

"Must of faded out there for a second. But it's amazing how fast you can run, you didn't even break a sweat. You're not even adult yet but you could probably run as fast as an Olympic runner."

"A what runner?"

"An Olympic runner" I picked myself up off the ground, to my feet. "Basically the best of the best at running and sport back home. They'd train day and night to become one." I paused for a few seconds, just catching my breath. "Oh man I think I'm gunna pass out here….WHEW!"

"We were Appelbuckin' for a whole day" Applejack said as she pointed towards the slowly setting sun in the distance.

"Oh daaaaaaaaaaaaamm! Time really passes quickly around here; either that or we were out there for waaaay longer than I felt it to be. I think we should get back to the farm." I said turning back.

"Uhhhhh…."

"What?" I asked looking back at her, "another huma-ahhh!" I yelled as she bit the back of my shirt and flung me around so I was facing the town. I could see a crowd of at least 10 ponies staring at me with mouths hanging open and eyes as big as plates. "Don't worry I've planned for this" I leaned down and whispered to Applejack.

"Ya have?"

"Yeah, we're going to…RUN!" I yelled as I bolted through the orchards. I ran until I couldn't see the town or even the road anymore. Seconds after Applejack jogged towards me.

"That was ya'lls plan?" She said eying me.

"Better than nothing" I chuckled back at her.

"Well, we should get back now, before they catch up to us."

"Yeah, but can we walk this time? I've had too much running and kicking for today"

She chuckled at me "sure, let's get going." She started walking off.

"Uh…Do you even know where we are in the orchards?" She looked around quickly, studying the surroundings.

"Now I do, it's this way." She started trotting off in a direction more off to the right than before.

"Well I hope so."

"Years of workin' the field, I know my way 'round it." My paranoia kicked in shortly after we started walking through the maze of apple trees. "Oh god what's going to happen?" I thought. "How'll they all react? Will I get Applejack in trouble? How long will I have to keep hiding for?"

"Were here!" Said Applejack.

"Dammit why does time seem to move so fast! Oh well, I'm going to bed, been a tiring day."

"Alright then" said Applejack cheerfully as she trotted into the barn. I went upstairs and waited for around 5 minutes, grabbed my sketching pencil and rubber, and snuck downstairs. On the way I grabbed a sheet of paper and a flat piece of wood then slinked out of the front gate. I went to a hill where I had a fantastic view of the sunset. I sat down started sketching as best I could, it came out surprisingly well. I just sat there and stared into the scene, uncontrollably smiling into its gaze. The sunset, the hills spotted with apple trees, the mountains over the horizon. *sigh* "home…" More things were coming back to me. The way my brother and I always argued, but we still loved each other. Back when school felt so simple and when life felt so free. But then again I felt so angry at our world, all the bullying, the crime, the fighting, and the injustice. It was a strange whirlpool of emotion.

"I know how ya'll feel" said Applejack sympathetically as she sat there next to me.

"Ahh!" I half yelled almost falling over. "How'd you find me?"

"I saw ya sneaking off through the apple fields. I followed ya all the way out here." I forgave her and said back:

"It's a sad, lonely feeling being homesick isn't it?"

"It's the same way I got my cutie mark."

"Huh?" I said back in confusion. She began telling me the story, and by the end of it I felt much better. She stared over at the sketching I had done.

"Did you draw this?" She said taking the plant of wood and the drawing from my lap.

"Yeah, I've always been good at drawing, and at writing. It's kinda a hobby of mine."

"Well it's nice to know another someone 'round here that can draw."

"You can draw?"

"No, but we have artist ponies in ponyville. Some but not many, can't make a good livin' off of drawin'. Well some can I guess."

"Well" I said getting up with a grunt. "The sun's going to be getting over those mountains soon, we'd better head back, and I don't think it's going to be very warm here at night." Applejack handed me back my pencil, rubber, drawing and the piece of wood. "Up for another race cowgirl?"

"Ya want a head start this time townie?" She said competitively as she got up off the ground. We both got into starting position.

"Ready?" I asked. I flung my hand up in front of her face and over her head, knocking her hat to the ground. "GO!" I laughed as I ran off.

"Hey!" I heard in the distance, and then quickly heard her running up behind me. She reached out with her mouth and yanked my pencil and rubber to the ground.

"Hey!" I said ironically, I could hear her laughing as she jogged off leaving me to pick up my stuff. I quickly did and ran to catch up; she was waiting for me by a tree. We both laughed and walked off towards the barn again. We got back and both went to bed, for real this time. I put the piece of wood and my drawing down on the desk, my pencil and rubber back on the bedside table. I climbed into bed and thought: "Hmm…Might as well see what's on my IPod" So I reached over, started it up, and got my headphones in. As soon as it had started up a weird, loud as hell sound started coming through the headphones. It sounded like a mix between electricity sparking and some sort of magical sound that you would expect so find in a fantasy game. I dropped the IPod on the sheets and yanked my headphones out in surprise. "AARRHH! God dammit! What the hell was that? Whatever, probably just something with the volume." So I turn the volume completely down to mute but then instead of the sound coming out, it had started vibrating and glowing with a purple aura. I had an 'of course' look on my face. "WHO THE HELL WRITES THIS SCRIPT!" I asked myself, waving my hand at the IPod. When I tried to get into my music the whole screen started screwing up, it was impossible to make anything out. Everything was wavy and the screen had static all over it. "Crap, now I can't even listen to my music while I lose my sanity." I decided it best to shut it off, and go to sleep.

I woke up next morning with the sunlight flooding through the small window above my desk. I laid there and sleepily came back into reality. I wondered about what had happened with my IPod last night, and then everything started to make sense: The glow outside my window before I was here, the levitating scroll and quill, the aura around my belongings, and even my IPod. It was all pointing to one thing, or one pony. I flung the covers off my bed and ran towards the door. Then I stopped half way through the door, ran back and grabbed the piece of paper off the bedside table. I ran downstairs.

*yawn* "Mornin'" Sleepily greeted Applejack.

"Quickly Applejack! Who's the best unicorn, magician, or magic whatever in ponyville!"

*yawn* "Well that'd we Twilight, but I don't see why-" I had ran out the door before she could finish. I determinedly ran down the dirt path still tightly clutching the piece of paper in my hand, I paced myself this time so I didn't completely run out of energy by the time I'd gotten to the bridge. With a clunk, clunk, clunk I ran over the pink bridge and through the town square. A lot of the ponies in the marketplace looked at me in awe and shock, I didn't care. I burst through Twilights front door. "Twilight!" I yelled "I know you had something to do with all of this!" She was still brushing her mane when I burst in.

"GAAH!" She stumbled in surprise. She magically shut the door behind me. "Did you just run through the whole town? Every pony could have seen you! Do you have any idea-"

"I know you had something to do with me being here Twilight! Coming into this whole new world."

"What are you talking about Michael?" She sleepily asked rubbing the sleep away from her eyes.

"I've looked at everything that's happened and it all adds up. When you levitated the parchment and quill, or my pencils and pen, they all had a purple glow around them."

"So? That happens with every unicorn, but in different colours."

"And last night I tried to use my IPod to get some clues on how I got here. It started making weird noises, when I turned the sound off; it started shaking and glowing again, glowing purple!"

"Well, that does all add up, and magic can work like electricity sometimes." She shook her head, "but really Michael, you think I brought you here? I didn't even know you existed"

"You may not have done it on purpose but I know you had something to do with it."

"Hmm…" Twilight eyed me suspiciously, her horn started to glow and a purple aura surrounded me.

"Hey what are you-"

*gasp* "You still have that piece of paper on you. What's so important about that anyway?"

"I already told you, it's a bit personal."

"Michael, that piece of paper has extremely powerful magical ozone around it, it could be vital into figuring out how you got here."

*sigh* "Fine then, go get the others. I'm sure they'll all want to know too."

"Okay then, just let me finish brushing my hair."

*sigh* "Girls" I thought. "Mind if a read a bit while I wait?"

"Sure." I picked out a book from a desk called 'the fundamentals of magic' I sat down on a sofa and started reading. I skipped ahead to some basic magical spells, it was fascinating stuff. After I had read through one spell I heard a sound come from the upper level, I looked up and Twilight was gone. Around half way through another spell I heard a yelp from something. I looked up from my book and saw the baby dragon before me again.

"WH-what are you doing here again?" He asked, sounding afraid.

"Oh come on I'm not that bad…Wait…It's you again! You're that baby dragon! Hey I've always wondered, can baby dragons breathe fire?"

"Y-yeah" he hesitantly replied. He inhaled deeply and blew out a short spout of glowing green flame into the air.

"Whoa, that's awesome!" A smiled appeared on the little dragons face.

"Well, Twilight can do the real awesome stuff"

"Can she breathe fire?"

"I don't think so but-"

"See? I'm telling ya, dragons are AWESOME!"

"Yeah…So um…What are you?"

"Well I'm a human in a world of talking ponies and dragons that's slowly losing his sanity" I said jokingly.

"Uh…okay…."

"Anyway if that's it I'll get back to readin'" The spells in that book were amazing, but some of them didn't even sound possible. 'Walking on clouds' when that blue Pegasus said she lived on a cloud I thought she was joking. 'hatching a baby dragon'…'giving an earth pony wings'…'moustaches'? Shortly afterwards Twilight teleported back into the room with all of the ponies I first met with her. I looked up and said: "Okay then" I closed the book. "Don't touch that dial kids."

"Uh…who are you talking to?" Asked the baby dragon. I explained to everyone how I found the small bundle of items near where I woke up, the clues that are pointing to Twilight, and how I didn't want anyone to find out about the picture because it was personal.

"So Michael, what is that picture about?" Question Twilight.

"Fine I'll tell you all. Here it goes…"

Life is a party

"Fine I'll tell you all." I took the piece of paper out of my pocket and unfolded it. "I have no idea who drew this" I said pointing to the picture. "But it looks like my style of drawing, so I'll assume it's mine, not sure though. And on the other side it has a message signed by 'Ben'. Truth be told, Ben was my best friend back when I was a kid. But when he graduated primary school he went to a different school, he also moved houses. We didn't see each other a lot after that; I guess our lives just drifted apart after that. It's horrible losing a friend like that, your best friend." I felt an awful mix of regret, sadness, and somehow pity. "So now you know, I just hope this doesn't lead to even more questions on the matter…Now there's something I need to do." I said walking towards the door.

"What's that?" Asked Twilight.

"Let everyone else know I'm here, what else?" I looked back with a smirk. "Do you have a mayor or leader around here?"

"We'll…There's Miss Mayor, but are you su-"

"Then that's where I'll start. Any of you coming?" I said, looking back at them with a smile.

"We'll all go, right girls?"

"Oh…I'm not sure if" trailed off Fluttershy.

"Yeah we will!" Encouraged Rainbow Dash.

"Alright then," I replied. "Let's go organise a town meeting." As I casually walked through the town literally all eyes were on me, but I felt pride and confidence. Yet it wasn't real pride or confidence, it was the kind you feel when you've just admitted a secret and trick yourself into thinking its pride, but deep down your scared to death of what people will think.

"So um…" I whispered to Twilight. "Where is your mayor's office again?"

"It's that building over there" said Twilight, pointing to a big fancy looking building off to the right.

"Let's do this" I confidently said to myself. I walked in the doors and past the receptionist, then up the stairs. I reached what looks like the mayor's office, Twilight stopped me and said:

"Wait you can't just barge in there, she could be busy."

"Sorry Twilight, but I think that finding out how I got here is more important than whatever she could be doing right now."

"Well then at least let us go in first, she knows us."

*sigh* "fine then." I waited outside the door as they explained that she needed to hold a town meeting.

"Michael, come on in" Called out Applejack. I walked in with a friendly smile on my face and said:

"Hey there," the mayor pony stood speechless, staring at me. "I expected that, let me explain." We all sat down with the mayor and explained…Well everything that's happened.

"I see, very well then. The town meeting shall be at noon tomorrow. I'll get the word out to every-pony."

"Thanks for that." I said back to the mayor.

*GASP* "YA KNOW WHAT THIS CALLS FOR!" Said pinkie pie with a gigantic smile on her face while bouncing around the office like a trampoline.

"What?" I questioned back.

"A PARTY!" She yelled throwing her hooves up in the air.

"Party? HELL YEAH!" I yelled as I threw my fist up in the air. "Ah, but we should really go now." We all walked out of the mayor's office and down the stairs again. As we walked out the door I asked them: "So…What currency do you guys use here? Dollars? Euros? Gems even?"

"We use bits." Answered Rainbow Dash.

"Bits of what? Gold? Diamond? Bits of lemons harvested by blowing up the trees?" Rainbow Dash looked at me with a 'da fuck?' look on her face.

"Yeah, didn't think so."

"They're just called bits; Twilight can show you one when we get back to the library."

"Uh, I guess I could." Said Twilight. "Oh look we're already here." As we all walked through the door into the library, most of the ponies had to run off to someplace.

"Actually, I'll catch ya guys later. I've got to go organise a big storm coming up. I guess I'll see ya later." Said Rainbow Dash, then flew out the door at an amazing speed.

"Oh my, I forgot about angel at home, I'm afraid I'll have to go to" said Fluttershy with a smile.

"I hate to run off as well but I have orders to fill, and I'm afraid I can't put it off any longer" said Rarity, walking out the door.

"Hate to walk out on ya'll too, but I got an awful lot to do 'round the farm" said Applejack. "See ya tonight Michael!" She said running through the door.

"And I need to go organise the PARTY!" Cheerfully said Pinkie as she bounced out the door.

"I'll go upstairs and get some bits."

"And then there were two" I said turning to Spike.

"Uh…I'll go help Twilight" said the little dragon, running up the stairs.

"Well then, guess I'm the highlander," I said to myself. I looked over on the table and my book was still there. "Okay what page was I on?" I said picking up the book. "What page, what page...Umm…Oh yeah, page 42." It was the page with the cloud walking spell on it. "Walking on clouds, dammit I wish I could do that. That'd be SWEET! Oh wait, I guess I can ask Twilight. Don't know how hard it is though. I wonder if Twilight could turn me into a pony for a day…THAT would be weird. Still, fun to try. I wonder what it feels like being a pony. Or walking on clouds, would it feel like cotton candy or something? Maybe you could make cloud roller-skates, or a cloud skateboard. Could you paint clouds? I wanna be the cloud highlander!"

"Found some" said Twilight, coming down the stairs along with Spike with a small purse levitating in front of her.

"Sweet lemme see." I put out a hand and as the bag landed in it I felt a shiver go up my arm. "Don't think I'll get used to that, at least not any time soon."

"Get used to what?"

"Well the feeling of magic. When I pick something up that has something to do with magic, I feel a shiver go up that limb. Does that normally happen to ponies?"

"Well I don't think so, maybe unicorns can't feel it. You can ask one of the others about that." I opened the purse Twilight had…umm…magiced me? I guess…The interior was completely filled up with shiny golden coins. I picked one up and examined it. On one side was a detailed carving of a large Pegasus pony, but it looked like a unicorn as well.

"Is that possible?" I thought to myself. I flipped the coin over and on it was a carving of the sun. "Uhh so who's this pony here? Looks like-"something came over me at that point. "Wait…I feel something…I feel a sense of…WINING! Let me see what was going on before I came here...Um…oh yeah the Rugby world cup. I guess we won that then, call it a kiwi's sense…anyway who's the pony on the coin?"

"Yeeaaah, umm…That's princess Celestia, she raises the sun in the morning, she's my teacher, and is the ruler of Equestria, well apart from princess Luna that is.

"A better question is what was that about a world cup and a something's sense?" Asked Spike.

"Never mind, I'll explain that later." After that we talked for hours about…Well, everything. The princesses, spells, history, ponyville, clouds dale. Everything, even the elements of harmony and nightmare moon. I was extremely envious of how that turned out; I'd always daydream about that kind of stuff. (Well not as ponies but you get the idea.) As you could imagine it fascinated me, mostly all the magic. When I tried asking her how magic worked she told me it resides in every pony's heart, but only unicorns could use it. We talked until it had started to get dark, then Twilight pointed this out.

"Oh, it's getting dark. You should head back to the barn."

"Oh man your right. But uh…Do you mind if I take some books with me? This whole magic scene is really great stuff. We did have it on earth but none of it was real, it was all just smoke and mirrors."

"Sure" she levitated some books over to me. The book I was first reading which was rather large, are in the moon story, and a small magic handbook. "Here ya go."

"Oh boy" I said to myself. As she dropped the books into my hands a shiver went up my arms again. "Urrgg thanks Twilight. I'll have these back by…the day after tomorrow I guess? I don't know." I turned and walked out the door "g'night!"

"Bye" she called back to me. I shut the door and walked back through town, luckily almost everyone was inside by now so I could just walk straight through town without anybody noticing. But I did have the feeling that I was being followed, or watched. But every time I turned around nothing was there, either the paranoia was finally getting to me or there really was something there. I didn't believe that though. Every time I turned around I tried to catch a glimpse of what was there, the most I could get was a white blur disappearing behind a crate or barrel. I tried to lure the creature out; I went to Pinkies bakery, opened the door and slammed it shut again. I saw it poke its head around; I saw it was another pony. The pony was black with a white mane.

"Wow, I didn't think anyone would fall for that old trick." The pony instantly took off into the sunset lit sky. "So you're a Pegasus are you?" I said to myself. "Hmmmm…" The way back to the farm I wondered; "who was he? And why was he watching me? Or was it a she? Hell I don't know let's just get back to the farm."

I went back into the farm; Applejack was just going to bed.

*yawn* "G'night Michael."

"Night Applejack." I had no idea how long I stayed up that night, there wasn't a clock or sundial anywhere. But no matter how much I wanted to go to sleep, another part of me just wanted to stay up all night reading the books. By the time I finally gave into my lust for sleep I had read the mare in the moon, the entire magic handbook, and half of the advanced spells book. So I put the books on the ground and went to sleep. When I woke up I was completely thrown off the bed, I literally woke up on the ground entangled by the sheets. "Dammit, I've had restless nights before but this. This is a new low for me."

I guess it was an hour I spent reading the rest of the advanced spells book. I really wanted to try out the cloud walking spell. I'd always day dreamed about walking on clouds, and flying, it seems to make someone so…free. So I devised a plan, if Twilight could use the spell and I could get my hands on some cloud. I could make a solid base by stuffing some under my shirt, and then make a propulsion system by trying some to my feet. Hell I'm probably ruining all the fun of it. I picked up all the books and went back to Twilight. "At least this'll be the last time I have to sneak through town again" I thought. I snuck back into the library; I noticed Twilight wasn't inside so I just laid the books down on a table.

"Is some-pony there?" I heard a voice come from upstairs. Down came Twilight, she was surprised to see me. "Michael! What are you doing here? The town meeting starts in five minutes!" She warned anxiously.

"What? Oh damn you physics!" I cursed to no one in particular. "Don't you have some sort of spell that can get us there?"

"Well I could teleport us but I'm not sure if-"

"I just don't wanna be late, that'd lead to even more explanation."

"Well, okay then." Twilight closed her eyes as her horn started to glow and shine. There was a light emitting from it growing and growing. I saw a bright flash, then darkness for a few seconds, after that it's like I was zooming back into reality. The glare from the flash faded after a second or two.

"Woah!" I said with a thud as I fell flat on my ass. "I think my legs have fallen asleep, um hold on." I put my right leg out straight and slammed my fist down onto my knee. I felt a little feeling come back, two more slams and all feeling was back in my right leg.

"Uhh…What are you doing?" Asked Twilight.

"Oh it's a little trick we humans have for getting feeling back into our body after say…an arm's fallen asleep or gone numb." I proceeded to beat my left knee until all the feeling was back in my left leg, I stood up and said: "So where are we?"

"Uhh…umm…" Twilight took a quick look around "I think we're behind the town hall." I looked around the corner and saw a huge crowd of ponies all talking to each other.

"Looks like it. We're going to be appearing in front of the building so I think we should go through here and wait." Twilight followed me through the back door of the town hall and walked into the first room with the receptionist's desk. "Looks like she's already been sent out" I thought. An awkward silence hung in the air between me and Twilight. You could literally feel the awkward. Eventually we heard a voice coming from outside.

"Today we have a very…Unusual visitor in ponyville. Please give a warm ponyville welcome to Michael." At that point my heart just stopped, after the words 'warm ponyville welcome' I felt like I was going to pass out.

*gulp* "Might as well get this over with… Here goes nothing". I swung my body around and I was standing outside on the front steps of the town hall, everyone was staring at me. Then talking started to rise up in the crowd, as the mayor was about to stand up to hush them I stopped her. "Don't worry; they'll quiet down soon enough. And it's less awkward if I don't have to start right away." The chatter lasted for almost five minutes so I said: "Yeah I guess you can go ahead and stop them now," she stepped up to the pedestal and said:

"Ponies, everypony please quiet down." After that the chatter quickly subsided. "Our new friend here will explain everything to us."

I didn't bother to pay attention to it but as I was walking up to the microphone my knees were trembling like earthquakes. When I spoke I noticed a stutter in my voice:

"Um *cough cough* okay first thing you should know, I've been living in hiding for about three days now, with applejack at the farm. So I hope I don't appear as a threat, and yeah that was me running through town yesterday, heh heh. Two, I know absolutely NTOHING about this place, I woke up under an apple tree in sweet apple acres and I can't remember much from my past. Three, I might be a bit cranky cause I haven't had much meat, and we're omnivores. Five, no wait…Four If you want to stop me and ask me a question I probably won't mind, depending on how much sleep I've gotten. Five: I'll tell you the story up until so far, just so I don't have to repeat it again 'cause it's getting annoying." So I told them all the story of how I got there and I was relieved when it was over, last time I was telling THAT story! "WHEW! That's was a mouthful! Okay then, since that's all sorted out I think that I'll go now. It's getting REALLY awkward up here." As I stepped down from the pedestal a thought came to mind: "Oh man, I haven't even told them my name yet have I?" So I stood back up and said: "Also before I forget, my name's Michael, that's probably important… Oh yeah, and to the black and white pony that's been following me: Stop it would ya! It's creepy…" Suddenly Pinkie bowled me off my feet and I tumbled to the ground.

"I'm having a party tonight! And EVERY pony should be there because there'll be dancing, and games, and snacks, and even Michael's going to be there! Right?" She turned to face me.

"Um…okay sure." I said back to her.

"WOOHOO!"

I couldn't be bothered to think of any way for Michael to get away and back to the library, so I'll just skip ahead of time, to when the party is starting at around…let's say around 9:00 PM…Now where's the remote? Ah here it is!

At the library we all met up to go to Pinkie pie's party.

"So that pink pony, Pinkie pie. Are her parties any good?" I asked Rainbow Dash.

"Are you kidding? They're the BEST!" She said doing a little loop in the air.

"Any good music?"

"Scratch usually does the music, she has AWEOSME BEATS!"

"Any dub step?" I asked with a smile.

"Dub-what? You'll have to ask her at the party." I noticed that a lot of construction sounds coming from outside, hammers, drills, saws.

"You guys having renovations or something?" I asked them as I opened door. SMACK! A wood 2x4 hadoken'd itself into my FACE! Flat on my back with my nose bleeding I joked:

"So uh…This is a normal day for you, you don't seem very surprised by any of this now do you?" I dabbed a finger under my nose and saw the blood on it. "Oh great, I'm bleeding, again!" I got up stepped outside making sure to DUCK this time and I saw the whole marketplace set up for a huge party. "So uh…what's everyone working…Oh." I caught on as soon as I saw Pinkie in a hard hat, still bouncing like she was at the meeting. I turned to go back inside, call me crazy but I didn't trust a hypo pink pony and power tools. I almost got hit over the head again by a Pegasus "WOULD YA STOP THAT!" I yelled, it looked back and I noticed that it was the same Pegasus that had been following me. "Hey…HEY! COME BACK HERE!" I lost track of it almost instantly, he seemed to disappear into the night. "That sneaky little…Well he's got skill I'll give him that…" I managed to get back inside without another whack at the face.

I took attention to my nosebleed, the blood almost dripping off my chin now. "Has anyone got a tissue?" I asked, wiping the blood off my face.

"Oh don't worry Michael," said Twilight "now hold still."

"Woah, woah, woah! More magic?"

"Well, I've been reading up on a bit of first aid magic. I haven't really tried it yet though" she said with a nervous smile.

I sighed "fine go ahead, it can't be anything worse than what happened back stage." I kneeled down to our heads were level. Her horn started to glow; I shut my eyes to block out the light. Once again the tingling feeling from magic, then nothing. I dabbed my finger under my nose again and the blood was gone. "Dammit Twi, you're a fast learner. I bet I know what your mark thingy is for."

"A cutie mark?"

"Yeah, that." I took a second to look around the room, it was still amazing how well the architecture is in there, and I noticed a lot of the carvings are of hearts and flowers. "A little girly but hey, it's their library." I thought. "Oh quick question, do you by any chance have wolves here?"

"Oh, yes but they're in t-the…Everfree forest." Said Fluttershy with an obvious tone of fear in her voice.

"Sweet, we should go check them out some time, always wanted to see wolves but my country never had them. Lucky bastard Nick and his wolves in America."

"Oh no, it's much too dangerous."

"Well, we don't have to get close to it, I just wanna see one."

"There are much more dangerous creatures than wolves in the Everfree forest."

"Ahh fine fine. But I WILL find one! Probably my only chance as well." Music started to pound through the walls of the library. "Sweet, party's started!" I ran out the door, and noticed that the whole market place was already set up for a huge party, looked the whole town was there as well. Streamers, balloons, food, punch, DJ, even a karaoke machine. "How in the name of meaningless battle did she get this set up so fast!"

"That's Pinkie for ya!" Said Rainbow Dash flying next to me, "come on!" She darted off into the crowd as I ran after her, after around a minute of looking I couldn't find her anymore, I did noticed that everypony was staring at me though, that was awkward. As I stumbled through the party trying to get to the DJ booth to see what songs she had lined up, I came across a pair of arguing ponies. One was grey with a golden mane, the other brown…Chesnutt more like with a dark chocolate brown mane.

"Oh! Oh! Let's do this one, I love this one!" Said the grey and gold pony.

"Erm I'm not really the singing type." Said the brown pony.

"C'mon you need to try and relax a bit!"

"I told you I don't sing! Uh, here ask Michael to sing." He jogged over and pushed me towards her.

"Okay! Come on Michael!"

"Woah hey, gaah!" By the time I could say something I was already up on stage nervous as hell because the whole town was starting to stare. I bent down and told her "Hate to break it to ya but, I'm not the singing type either."

"Don't be silly mister, of course you are! It's already too late now anyway, the whole town is watching." I look out to the sea of faces and it was true, every eye was on us two. I looked over to the brown pony by the steps and glared, then back to the grey pony.

"Son of a-"I sighed "fine let's do this. Hit us with a song DJ!" I'll admit I was almost going to piss myself thinking about how much I'd suck, but I just wanted to get it over with.

Halfway through the song and I couldn't believe it, I was pretty good at singing not as good as the grey pony though she was fantastic, and that these ponies actually had decent music!

We will come to save you
True friends won't desert you
You know we will help you
When we're done
We'll go our separate ways

When the song had finished everypony was cheering for us, and she told me her name was ditzy doo.

"Daaaaaaaamm! You're an awesome singer!" I said as we both stepped off stage.

"Thanks mister, c'mon I want you to meet somebody."

"Ya know I thought I told everyone my name's Michael."

"Oh yeah, I forgot." She said with a bubbly smile.

"How the hell can she forget, I'm the only human in the world!" I thought to myself.

"This is the doctor" she said still as bubbly and cheery as before.

"Uh, doctor who?"

"Ha ha! Exactly!" He said jokingly.

"Uh…Okay so are you a mental doctor or a medical doctor…Forensics even?"

"Umm…No not exactly…I can explain to you later, why not go off and enjoy the party."

"Uh…okay…Nice meeting you two. I'll come and find ya sometime." As I walked off through the party I heard a faint "Why didn't you-"I couldn't really make out the rest. I made my way over to the DJ booth and asked the white pony what music she had, I also noticed that she had goggles on and I thought "hell, whatever." Before I could ask she said:

"Hey man, you rocked up there."

"Thanks, so what tunes ya got up here?" She showed me some of the names like scratch needle, Pink party remix, and danger zone.

"Just as I thought" I told her.

"Huh?"

"I know NONE of these songs; you should really get some dubstep on here. Anyway keep up the good work; I'll look ya up sometime." I walked over to where the punch and food was, I took a couple of cupcakes and as I was eating them I thought "daaaaam these are good!"

I poured myself a cup on punch when:

"HEY MICHAEL!" I heard Pinkie yell out.

"AHH!" Some of the punch spilled from my cup. "Jesus Pinkie, don't do that."

"Sorry. So anyway Fluttershy mentioned you wanted to see the wolves!"

I took a sip of the punch; it tasted sweet…Too sweet, but delicious.

"Cause you and I could always-"

I coughed and hacked as I chocked on the punch, interrupting Pinkie. "Dammit Pinkie how much sugar did you put into this!"

"Oops, I might have added too much."

"Nah, its fine, its fine. Well, I'm going to go check out the rest of the party, seeya around Pinkie." After that I wandered around the party pretty aimlessly, but I found I keep coming back for more of that punch. It was the best drink I'd ever tasted. Next thing I knew Twilight was shaking me awake on her couch. I had a massive headache, felt more like a migraine.

"Michael? Michael! Wake up."

"Argh, shit. What the hell happened?"

"Well, you sort of went crazy at the party, heh heh."

"Oh HELL NO! Argh!" The waves of pain were already starting to kick in. "So what'd I do that was so 'crazy'?"

"Well, let's see." She said as a scroll floated over.

"You made a list?" I said with a 'really?' tone of voice.

"Well, there were a lot of them. Let's see…You kept shouting out space, you called Spike Spyro and Toothless, you spun around in a circle singing-"

"You spin me right round?"

"Yeah, something along the lines of that."

"Thought so, so what's next?"

"You were singing about someone named Wheatly, said that we should break the fourth wall, said you wanted to thumb wrestle somepony, went around screaming 'whoo evolution!', you were going on about somponies named Trace, Flora, and Keith, said that you want to go to the moon, said something about somepony named Rhea, said that we should go to Armageddon, said something about ponyception, said something about 'Ed Edd and Eddy' I think, screamed this is Sparta and almost kicked somepony, and A LOT more."

"Oh man, last night sounded fuckin' AWESOME! ARGH!... I just wish that I could remember some of it…All I remember is singing and talking to the DJ."

"Well, let's hope it doesn't happen again, I had to use a sleep spell to get you out."

"One thing you should know about me Twilight, you NEVER give me sugar. Strangely enough I can handle caffeine just fine but sugar, that makes me go off like a freakin' FIREWORK man!" Just then a pony from the party last night walked in, it was ditzy doo.

"Is he awake yet?" She asked.

"Yeah he's awake now." Replied Twilight.

"Wow, you did some craaazy stuff at the party last night."

"Wait…What time is it Twi?" I asked in a hurry.

"It's the day after the party, in the afternoon."

"Aaaaah this has to stop!" I said falling back into the couch.

Who, what, why?

The air rushed in, it was cold and crisp. "Wait, what? No, no, no it was sunny yesterday. Why there is snow now and why is…What?" I didn't know what to think, one day you wake up and it's just snowing. I looked back to Applejack "What?" Back outside "what?" Then turned back to her "What!"

Applejack chuckled a little.

"C'mon now, we're going to need yall's help in the big wrap up." She passed me as she walked outside with a jacket on.

"…What!" Pickup up some snow I caught up, it definitely felt like real snow. "Is this really snow?" I thought "wait, is she wearing clothes?" I bent down just wondering how the hell it was made, "what?"

"Ya'll never seen clothes before?" She asked, stopping in her tracks. Staring at her I remembered she had a hat on, I snatched it off her head. "Hey!"

I stepped away from her and looked at it. "It looks just like a normal ten gallon you'd find back on earth" I thought. Applejack jumped and tried to grab it from me; I sidestepped still looking at it.

"What in tarnation is so interesting 'bout mah hat?" I ignored her and still stared at it.

"But how did they make it if they didn't even have any fingers? Wait…" Dropping the hat back on her head I knelt down and looked at her hooves…

"How do you make all this stuff if you don't even have fingers?" I stood back up, "even more how the hell are you talking? But how are you the dominant race if you don't have fingers, or hands? This shouldn't even be freakin' possible!"

She head-butted me down the road, "c'mon now, we're gunna be late. You can worry 'bout your fancy science later."

Walking down the road I still wondered how they made clothing…No thumbs, no fingers, and no hands? "Maybe they just use magic or something, yeah. That's the solution to everything now isn't it?"

When we got to the town square it looked like the whole town was gathered around, then I remembered the dream from last night, it all added up. I said to myself: "So wait, I dream about a human, then the whole town gathers around like they did for me. Not to mention the weird dream thingy's so…Does that mean…"

"What're you muttering 'bout Michael?"

"So, where are we going anyway? Meeting someone new in town?"

"Nope, no pony new, everypony has to help set up winter. No pony's allowed to use magic, seein' as how ponyville was founded by us earth ponies. Twilight can tell ya it all."

I sighed "well there go my chances of meeting another human."

When we finally got there I stood tall over the sea of ponies, it felt really awkward just standing up, if I didn't stand out enough already. The mayor gave a quick speech about having the quickest winter set up ever, it was weird hearing fillies and gentle-colts it's one of those things you never think you'd hear, ever.

Four groups were given, one choice to be made. What would best suit me?

"I had trouble choosing too." Said Twilight, I jumped back in surprise.

"Man, I'm gunna get a heart attack from all this one day. So what did you choose in the end then? I can't really see you as a work horse, you don't have wings, so you chose working with the animals I guess?"

"I wish in the winter wrap up the first creatures I woke up were snakes" joked Twilight. "I ended up getting my own team, official team organisers." She proudly showed off her team vest it was blue on top, green on the lower half and gold around the seams.

"Huh, sounds like the animal team would fit me; I'll go find Fluttershy, cya Twilight."

"Bye"

I shivered as I walked, rubbing my hands together, every breath came out as a faint cloud. Looking up I saw a group of ponies disbanding as I spotted Fluttershy I ran over to her and called; "Fluttershy!"

"Oh, hello Michael" she said with a smile.

"So you're the team working with the animal's right?"

"Yes, you should see them sleeping. They're so cute"

"Alright, so we're putting them to sleep for hibernation I guess." As she walked me to my area I noticed that she was wearing clothes too. The surrounded by ponies excuse for not noticing might be getting a bit old but it's a damn good one! "Hey you're…Oh not you too."

"What?"

"Why is it that all the ponies are wearing clothes? Where do you even get clothes? You don't have any thumbs, and how do you build homes if you don't have thumbs? Or fingers."

"Oh, um…I guess unicorns…help with the…the building" she stopped and backed away shyly.

She wasn't looking at me anymore, and I should probably try to have as many friends as possible in this new world, and she seems sensitive. "Nah don't worry about it Fluttershy, I'll get used to it soon. No more yelling, come on lets go help with the animals."

Fluttery lead me to our area, we were in a small clearing in front of a half frozen river, with dens in small hills on the sides. In the middle of the clearing were pots hanging from a stand on top of a fire. Beside that were baskets of small blankets. I walked over to the pots while everypony stared at me, just like they had been for the past couple of days now. I was used to it though, can't really say the same for the sudden change in weather.

"Wait…Is that…Milk?" I peered into the pot as it softly boiled. I turned back to Fluttershy who was half way to the middle "wait what?"

"Actually, cream and milk" she said softly. "We heat it up to help the animals sleep."

"And the blankets?" I asked pointing to the basket.

"Those are to make sure they're warm for the winter, we wouldn't want them to get colds now."

"Yeah, that's good thinking I guess." I shot a quick look at the fire. I couldn't drag myself to look away; even the fire here seemed different. In a new way the fire seemed almost alien. I stared at the fire; it seemed like a ghost hovering above the ground and around the wood. Then the world went dark…

When the world snapped back I was sitting by a lake. Clear blue sky, rolling green hills, and mountains off in the distance, it was calming in a way. Getting used to these spontaneous dreams I looked around and noticed a lighter next to me. Holding it in front of my face I lit it, the flame was just as hypnotic. And with a streak of dark blue, like a sword, it was flicked out of my hand and into the lake. Feeling a bit depressed now, I got up and fumbled around in the lake to try and find it. Staring at my reflection the surface of the lake lit up, becoming brighter and brighter until it was blinding. It engulfed the world then it went purple. I heard a voice: "Michael, Michael" and felt my body shake like trying to be woken up.

I snapped back and Fluttershy was shaking me.

"Woah, woah yes hello what is it?"

"Are you okay? You were just…Just staring at that fire."

"Oh yeah yeah I'm fine. Ever since I was a kid I liked staring at fire. But no time for backstory now, let's get to work."

I mostly got snakes and birds to care for; every other pony seemed to be scared of the snaked. And I could climb trees a lot better, probably because I have fingers. When we were giving out bowls of warm milk to the animals in their dens, and giving them blankets. Near the end of my job I overheard a pony talking to Fluttershy about the animals on the edge of the Everfree forest, a unicorn actually. The pony was orange, with golden hair. I went closer and overheard:

"That's alright Fluttershy, we can find somepony else."

"What's this for?" I asked.

"I was asking Fluttershy to take care of the animals on the edge of the Everfree forest, but I'll have to find somepony else, shoe doesn't like going near the forest apparently."

"Well, what kinds of animals are you talking about?"

"Well there are foxes, maybe some wolves and-"

"You got me at foxes, which way?" The pony leads me to the edge of the forest with some milk for the animals, and a bag of bowls.

"Be careful" she said. "You're probably more scared of them than they are of you."

"Heh heh, yeah…Wait…What?" I turned around and she was already running back to the group.

"Huh, she seemed pretty casual around a human…Wonder why…" I followed the path in, looking out for anything near the path. "No wonder Fluttershy is scared of this place, it's pretty creepy." Suddenly, a two foxes jumped out onto the path with three cubs. I set down two bowls and poured them the milk, soon after more came along, then some snakes, and some mice.

Once I'd gathered up all the supplies again I saw a wolf staring at me off track. "Well I still have some milk left" I thought. Walking up to him the turned and jumped over some rocks then went back to watching me. I didn't know why but I felt like he was trying to tell me something. I followed him into a patch of clearing in the forest, he sat by me as I poured him the milk, and I waited for him to finish. "It's amazing how much this looks like earth" I said looking around.

When he finished he pushed the bowl towards me with his nose. "Wow, you wolves are smarter than they know." I picked up the bowl, looking up the wolf was holding his paw out. "How are you doing that? Are you sure you're not somebodies pet?" I grabbed his paw then it happened.

The wolf bit me on the hand, not savagely but only slightly. "Arrgh shit!" I looked at my hand and it was bleeding, it left an obvious mark. The wolf seemed smart like the ponies but he didn't speak. Then the wolf ran off. What just happened?

"It doesn't seem anything serious, I'll be fine." I walked back to the site and everyone was clearing up.

The orange pony ran up to me again, "Where were you? You've been gone for a while."

"I have?" I shot a quick look back at the forest, "it…Didn't seem that long."

"Oh well, just help us pack up."

When Fluttershy saw my hand I just said fell, if she didn't like going near the forest, she would hate the idea of a wolf bite.

Everything was packed up now, not really sure what to do I went off to try and find Pinkie. Fluttershy had mentioned Pinkie baking for the food supply so I went over to Sugar cube corner. I'd imagine it was noon by the time I got over there, but you can't really tell through the thick clouds and snow.

"I still can't believe it's snowing. It's really snowing!" I laughed to myself. "Oh what my family wouldn't give to see this" then it hit me, what had been hiding from me all this time. "Wait…Who are my family?" I stopped dead in my tracks. "My family, my friends…I can't remember any of them, not a single name or face. And why the hell am I talking to myself?" I stood there for a while, trying to remember. It was like a distant memory, something looming in your mind that you know you should remember but you just can't. I stared at my hand, "and why did the wolf do that?"

"Come to think of it…I can't remember anything. What my house looks like, where I went to school, what sports I played, not even my favourite colour…Only my name…" I slowly took of walking again, "I'm a lone human in a pony's world. Heh, that reminds me of Doctor who…Did I like that show? Why can I remember that then but not anything about my life?" I sighed heavily, "the last of my kind. Am I going to die here? I wouldn't even know my family's faces." I looked up and I was at the bakery, still as silly looking as it was the time I first saw it.

The door flung open and a pink blur flung me inside, I landed with a thud. I looked up and a baker hat was thrown on the floor in front of me. With the pink blur dashing into the next room with a "come on!"

I picked myself up to follow the blur and put on the hat, as soon as I came in Pinkie shoved a bowl filled with cake mix towards me. "Here, mix this" She quickly said. Just going along with it I picked it up and started mixing.

"What's the rush?" I asked as she zipped around the room.

"What's the rush? The rush is that you weren't here to help me bake anything!"

"Wait, I thought that I was meant to be helping with the whole…Uh winter thingy." I stumbled over my words.

"Yes, but you had a job today helping me bake the food supply."

"Well, they didn't really give me a time an-"

"Just help me Michael!"

"Fine fine, what'd ya need?"

Everything was like rush hour in the kitchen, cracking eggs, sifting power, mixing goop, all at the same time. We were always bumping into each other, I nearly fell over about five times. Eventually after all the running around and flour going everywhere even into my face, things quieted down a bit and it was back to the pace of a normal kitchen. Pinkie was humming a cheery tune as I just stared out the window to the falling snow, when I finally looked down I noticed my hands were covered in flour, and the bite was still there.

"Oh no" I placed the bowl down and ran over to the sink. With Pinkie staring I turned on the tap, the cool water stung on my hand as it washed the flour and blood away. "Hope I'll be okay after all this." The last ration to make was cupcakes.
All you have to do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix.

She pulled out a tray of hot cupcakes from the oven, I don't know how but they were iced.

"Wait what? You didn't even put anything in there? How the hell…Just…urg," I said face palming. "I give up."

"Well I didn't write this script." She said bouncing to the front door.

"Wait. Script what? This story needs a translator option." I walked out to the front desk where Mrs Cake threw four coins on the counter. "So, what's the normal pay for a baker anyway?"

"Oh around this much, four bits a day."

"Alright, thanks I guess." I stuffed the bits in my pocket and walked out, Pinkie still bouncing beside me. "So what now? Still got a lot of daylight left. What'd you want to do?"

"Hmm…Oh I know! Let's go prank rainbow Dash! Come on!" She boosted away. I would have followed her but I saw that pony again, black and white, around a corner. He gestured for me to follow him as he disappeared around the corner.

Pinkie came back "I said, come on"

"Pinkie I'll catch up with ya, meet me back at Twilights." I took off following that pony. Turning the corner, he was gone, all that was there was my IPod on the ground. "Where the hell did he get this from?"

Picking it up, a sound tuned in: "Is this thing working?" It sounded like a male teenager's voice.

"Listen, I know you don't know what's going on but just listen. That bite on your hand, you have to get to Twilight with it. Believe me it's bad news. If anyone asks just say you thought you saw something over here. Go along with Pinkie's pranks; don't let anyone know about this. When you and Pinkie split up go back to the library, I'll explain later. Don't tell anyone. Good luck."

The sound but out there, I tried turning it back on but nothing worked. That voice seemed so familiar though, like I knew him. But why did that Pegasus have it? And how did the recording know I'd been bit? No one was there when I was.

"Also, Moon River, you're going to need to know that. Now stop asking questions and go!"

I didn't know who it was, or how he knew, but if he knew about the bite. He probably knows a lot more; I stuffed the IPod in my pocket and went back to the library. "So what were ya saying about pranking?" I asked, walking in.

"Grrrr. I just can't think of any pranks" pouted Pinkie.

"You have no idea" I replied. "Well what've ya got?" I opened a sack she had next to her. "A bucket, a shovel, a hand buzzer, and smoke bombs? Hmm…Got it!"

"What?"

I picked up a small light bulb on a shelf and put it over Pinkie's head. "Hold on" I twisted the bulb and let go, it floated above her head then-

Pinkie gasped "I've got it!"

"Works every time." I put the bulb back on the shelf and followed Pinkie out as she dragged the sack. "End of sequence then fade to black."

We stood out in the street arguing about how to use all of those in the bag, and with some convincing we got Twilight to help as well. Turns out Rainbow Dash is really into racing, "okay then, here's a good plan."

After getting a map I waited for Rainbow Dash by the edge of town. "HEY RAINBOW!" I yelled up to a lazily flying Rainbow Dash coming by.

"What's up?" She said landing next to me.

"You up for some winter racing?"

"A race? You are so on!"

"Okay," I unrolled the map. "So ponyville is like a maze…Wow, never thought I'd be saying ponyville that casually… Anyway, you have to get through to the other side of town any way you can. But two rules. One: No going through the market in the middle, I want it to be like a maze race, going through the alleyways."

"Hah, no shortcuts, no problem."

"Two: No flying…Well not above the buildings, so you can fly, just don't go above the buildings. Also I've got Pinkie up on twilight's balcony to make sure ya don't cheat. And three: no going around, pretty obvious that one I guess."

"You sure about this? I bet I can beat you in ten seconds flat!" The pure flame determination in her eyes was amazing. And this was the spark.

"Try me…Alright then." I rolled the map back up. "Three…Two…One…GO!" Rainbow took off faster than I could believe, gone in a snap with only a trail into the alleyways for a trace. I turned around and Twilight came from behind a tree. "Got that spell ready Twilight? Wait…Why are you wearing a saddle?"

"Well it's to keep warm, anyway. All set, this will get her back for that invisible ink." I shielded my eyes as her horn glowed then a flash of light. Next minute, we were on the other side of town.

My body didn't go limp this time, instead it all went stiff. "Arrgh, that's new, all stiff now." I said stretching my back. "Okay, hide somewhere go!" Twilight hid behind some crates.

Rainbow Dash skidded to a stop making snow fly everywhere. "What? But no I-"she stuttered.

"Ten…seconds…flat."

"How'd you beat me?" She pointed still puffing.

A bonus popped into my head. "Remember how I could walk on clouds? Turns out today I have some awesome speed, even faster than you really."

"But, no I'm the best flier in Cloudsdale."

"Alright, let's go check with Pinkie then." We trekked through the snow back to Twilight's where Pinkie was bouncing around outside. "So who won Pinkie?"

"Rainbow Dash…" Said Pinkie in a surprised tone.

"Yeah!" Yelled Rainbow Dash leaping up in the air.

"You lost!"

"Huh!" She dropped to the ground.

"Ah well, nice race." I held my hand out. Rainbow jumped back as she grabbed the buzzer on my hand. "Heh heh. No seriously, come inside." I gestured to the door. She eyed me as she pushed the door open; a whole bucket of water came down on the head. "SMOKE SCREEN!" I threw down a smoke pellet I had in my pocket.

Twilight teleported Pinkie and myself up to the balcony. Where we had a shovel of snow ready, when the smoke had cleared we dumped it on Rainbow.

"How's the weather Rainbow?" Called out Pinkie, we all fell back onto the snow laughing. Rainbow flew up to us with a face that just screamed 'not cool'.

"Ah lighten up Rainbow, you and Pinkie do pranks all the time!"

"Hey" said Pinkie, still giggling. "How'd you know?"

"Yeah Michael. How did you know?" Intimidated Rainbow, flying closer. "Are you a spy for somepony?"

"Well I...I um…How did I know?"

"Oh so now you just suddenly forget eh?"

"Wait a second the recording, oh crap" I thought. "Listen I've got to go so I'll-" Before I could make it out the door Rainbow held me back.

"Hold it bub. Where are you going now?"

"Michael, you've been running off a lot recently" said Twilight. "Is there something we should know?"

"Look, I'll explain it all later but I have got to-"

"And how did you get here in the first place?" Interrupted Rainbow "You don't just pop up one day like some parasprite. And why haven't you told us anything about you hmm?"

"DO YOU THINK I KNOW?" I angrily yelled at her, she let go and everything went silent. It was that awkward moment when someone yells in a crowded room. "If I knew anything about how I got here I'd be trying to get back. If I knew anything about my life I would tell you but I don't, I can't, I can't remember a thing. The only thing I know is my name that's it!"

"Stop fighting you two, this is just like when you met" said Twilight.

"Pretty much, as though it was only the second chapter. But all I know is that I can't tell you, now I need to go now!" I turned and ran down the stairs, out the door, into the snow filled streets, and into an alleyway."

"This is a blast from the past isn't it?" I pulled out my IPod, "so what now?" The device tuned into a recording again, yet still a blank screen.

"By now I know you're away from the others and that you didn't tell them. Now I know I said I was going to explain but I can't, not yet at least. But you still can't tell Twilight or anyone else anything about that bite, trust me on that. Because if I know all of this then you should trust me by now but if you still don't listen to this: In two days you're going to get a letter from Celestia, that's all I can say. If that happens you know you can trust me." After that nothing more came through.

"Wait no, what else! Anything else, who the hell are you?"

"Oh and by the way. Remember, Moon River."

"Well what the fuck does that mean?" It remained silent "I can swear I'm just going insane."

By that time in the day the sun was starting to set, so I went back to Applejack's. Back up in my room I just sat on my bed staring at my IPod. "What are you…?" I muttered.

Applejack poked her head through the door, "dinner's all set if ya'll want any."

"Thanks, I'll be down in a minute." I sat there staring at it for about another two minutes until I went over to my table and picked up my drawing. "Who are you? And why are you two so important? I give up." Throwing them back onto the table I heard a thud at my window. I looked and saw Ditzy rubbing her nose. I ran over and opened it. She had a cheesy smile on her face, and a spark in her eyes.

"Ditzy, what are you doing here? How are you?" My face lit up, I don't know what it was but Ditzy was just one of those people who made you smile.

"I'm fine thanks; I've got a letter for you." She handed me a small note.

"Hey, you want to come inside? It's cold out here, and you're probably the only pony in this town that isn't paranoid about me."

"I-I've more deliveries to run so-"

"Aww come on. It's snowing! It's like Christmas time, the feeling of Christmas."

"The feeling of what?"

"Oh yeah, you don't know what that is do you? Never mind, but are you sure you don't want to come in?"

"Well, I guess I could-"

"Ditzy!" Someone cried out, looking over I saw it was a brown mare with a chocolate mane.

"Oh I-I've got to go now" Said Ditzy.

"Hey wait, I know you. You were at that party, what's your name again?"

"It's alright. I'm a doctor." He called back before running of with Ditzy.

I opened the note and it read: 'Don't worry about it, go have dinner.'

Looking up I said: "Those two make a pair don't they?" I said to myself.

"Ya'll coming down anytime?" Said Applejack popping her head through the door.

"Oh, yeah sorry just had to take care of something. Let's go and by the way, do you have a god or something like that? You must have religion somewhere."

"We worship Celestia for bringin' out the sun 'n the moon."

"Boy this place is different." I sighed.

We had Apple Pie for dinner that night, really filling and kept you warm. Applejack had asked me where I came from; I told them I didn't know that I only knew my name. Not much else. They didn't ask me much else after that. But even though it wasn't really Christmas, well I don't think it was. It really did feel like it.

After the long day I went back upstairs, took my shirt off and laid down my head. I didn't know why but the nights were getting warmer for some reason. "Interesting world these ponies have here. Oh what a world." I drifted off to sleep pretty quickly with a stomach full of pie.

I woke up surrounded by torn trees on the edge of the apple tree orchard in a ditch.

"Urrg, what happened last night?" I looked around, "where's my shirt gone?" I spat something out. "Wood? What?

"Hey you…Michael!" Applejack called out from on top of the ditch.

"Ohhhh~what?"

How did this become a normal day for me?

The snow fell quietly as Applejack helped me out of the little den of ruined apple trees. On the way back to the farm she explained that something had been tearing through her trees, something huge and growling. "More mystery…Great, that's just what I need." I sleepily complained. I was hungry, cold, had no shirt, and have amnesia…Yeah, not looking like a good day so far. Luckily Applejack had some pie leftover from somewhere.

"We should probably go see Twilight 'bout this." I said through a mouth full of pie.

"Twilight? Why do ya'll need to go see her?" Replied Applejack.

"Because whenever something weird happens and I go see her. It usually turns out pretty good in the end, and pretty funny. Besides she's the smartest pony I know and-"I couldn't believe I just said that. Looking up Applejack had an insulted look on her face. "Nononononono! I-I didn't mean it like that, it's just that…Well Twilight knows more about the whole Equestria thing and…uhh…Yeah I'm just gonna…go…now." I hurried upstairs wishing that somehow it'd make the situation less awkward. With guilt swelling up inside me, I wish I had a time machine so I could just change what I'd said.

"I guess I'll be the one to break the silence then." A voice called out.

"Oh dammit not you again." I stumbled over and sat on my bed holding my IPod loosely in hand. "What'd you want this time?"

"Oh well, it's always best to break the silence in a moment like that."

"Wait, but how did you know about…What!"

"Oh I have my ways. You'll find out soon enough."

"And how do you know what I'm going to say? Last time I checked IPods aren't like cell phones."

"That's the thing, I can't tell you that…atleast not yet. Just trust me, you will find out and you can stop asking..."

"That still doesn't explain how you can make the sound come through my IPod."

"Gah why do you have to ask so many questions?" the voice sounded frustrated, like coming back from a long day of school. "Listen I'm telling you all I can without making a huge mistake that we'll both regret. So no more questions."

"Anything else then?"

"I already told you no! The only thing I can tell you now is to remember moon river and that the doctor is going to knock in 3…2…1…" A loud knocking came from downstairs. "Now goodnight!" The voice said nothing else after that; it was just a broken IPod again.

I shoved it into my pocket and decided I should probably stop asking so many questions. It's getting me nowhere and just pissing whoever that person is off. And you don't want to piss off someone that knows everything your saying and exactly when to say it…Maybe this is all just some unicorn messing with me.

Peeking around the corner I was relieved that Applejack wasn't there anymore. So I snuck downstairs and the door swung open.

"Michael, we've got to go now!" The doctor shouted as he pulled me outside with Ditzy hovering beside him.

"Wait what's going on?"

The doctor spat out my shirt, "Twilight has a message from Celestia." Ditzy started to push me down the road now, gliding just off the ground.

"So she got a letter, so what?"

"She mentions you in the letter Michael!"

"But she doesn't even know me!"

"Exactly!"

That actually made sense for once…Ponies have logic now? "Hold on I have a job at Pinkie's and I can't just-"

"I've taken care of it."

"WOAH!" My foot got caught around the doctor's leg and crashed to the snowy ground. "This isn't as soft as it is in the cartoons." I spluttered, coughing up snow. As I climbed back up a purple blinding light flashed and Twilight appeared right in front of me. "Woah! Aren't you afraid you going to teleport inside someone?" She remained silent with a serious look on her face. "Guess not…"

"Come on, we need to catch the next train to Canterlot."

"PfftHAHA! Canterlot?" I chuckled, "Everything here is a pun isn't it?"

We sprinted over to the train station in Ponyville where Twilight Ditzy and the Doctor checked the time for the next train. While I was just standing around in neutral mode outside, that's when it happened. A voice called out from around the corner.

"Why hello there." It sounded oddly cheery. I turned around and was met with what has got to be the weirdest thing yet, even in this bizarre world. Standing only a few feet away was…another human…But he looked at me like it was an average day back on earth, like he wasn't aware of anything around him. He was also noticeably taller than me.

He was wearing a long orange, opened overcoat that was covering a swashbuckler shirt. Brown trousers and black boots, he seemed an awful lot like some sort of pirate. He even had a sort of cutlass sword resting at his side…Strange he didn't sound like one; he sounded a lot like someone in modern times. One glance at his face and the most obvious, if not his half creepy smile was a big scar across his left eye. But to top it all off, he looked a lot like me…almost like he was me, but I know there's only one me…Is there?

"Let me get straight to the point because time is short. Can you tell me what is happening right now?"

I was unable to answer for a few seconds. The shock of seeing another human at all in this world is amazing and terrifying at once. But how was he so calm during all of this? "But how…how are you…who the hell are you! And why are you so dam calm!"

"I don't have time for this so let me be more direct." He said still clinging to his cheerful tone. In a flash he unsheathed his sword and menacingly touched the tip to my chest. But this sword wasn't like any other sword, it was as black as midnight from top to bottom, the only detail was a small red dot on the hand guard, around the size of an iris. "Tell me what Twilight and the others are doing or I'll cut you down where you stand." Okay, that was the only time he sounded old fashioned.

It wasn't exactly a terrifying feeling having your life threatened. It was more of an awkward one, like me and applejack earlier. Knowing that if you say one wrong word that a sword goes through your chest, it was a rush of adrenaline, I was tempted to just stall or call his bluff. The adrenaline was like an addiction in that moment, the split moment in-between fear.

It gets you thinking when you're about to die, or could be killed. Will it be quick, is he bluffing, and what do I say, who is this guy, and why is he a pirate. The questions will vary for situations I'd imagine.

"Wait how do you know about-"

"Do you really want to waste tis last warning I'm giving you?" How could nobody see this guy? I get enough stares from the locals even now but why can everybody else be so blind!

"We-were trying to find a t-train to Canterlot and I-I'm just waiting outside."

"That's better." He said simply, pulling the sword away and skilfully sheathing it. He turned ready to walk but I called out.

"But wait!" Turning back around looking pleased with himself he waited. "How does everyone else not see you? One human is weird enough but a pirate now...Also why are you a pirate?"

"You will learn in dear time Michael" that strange man said while patting me on the head. "All in due time" he flung himself around the corner.

"Wait no come back!" I ran around the corner to the back of the station and he had dissapeared. "Aww…there goes the only human I'll ever talk to." I said with a tone of sadness flooding my voice.

"Michael are you alright out there?" The doctor called, poking his head around the corner. "Did I hear you say human?"

"Nope, just uh talking to…" I quickly glanced back to where that strange pirate had come from "myself…."

"Uh huh…" He popped his head back around the corner.

"Well, they're going to be a while" I thought. "Might as well get a drink."

I wandered across the snow littered road into a random shop that isn't relevant in any way…Also I can't remember its name…Sitting down on a bench with a nice cup of hot chocolate I wondered aloud: "why do these benches have backs on them anyway? Not like the ponies use 'em."

"Yeah, I've wondered about that too." Looking over I could see a pony sitting just like me, slouched back. The pony was teal with a grey mane that had a hint of green in it, and a white stripe down it.

We talked for a while mostly about how weird this world is when you look at it in third person. I never knew a pony could be so…human. Eventually Bon Bon showed up though.

"Heartstrings, I told you not to hang around the human" she accused.

"Lyra." I simply said.

"What?"

"Her names, Lyra, that's what you said right?" She nodded in agreement.

"Urgh, whatever we need to go, and stop talking with the human."

"Don't be racist." We both said in unison. Then Twilight and the others trotted up.

"Come on Michael its time tooo~"

"What? You never seen a pony sit like a human before?"

"Aaanyway, the train gets here in a couple of days we we'll have to go warn the others."

"Alright then seeya Lyra never thought a pony could be so human. Okay, Twilight you go get Rarity and Fluttershy; I'll go get Rainbow and Pinkie, Doctor and Ditzy you go get AJ. Also Twilight since I'm human I'm going to need some magic to get up."

"Again?"

"Well don't blame me for being human. If you came into my world you couldn't do much because we actually have physics."

"Fine then one last time this is getting annoying." I could understand she was getting irritated; I was sort of using her as a personal spell book.

And once again the whole big light show with the magic, you manage to get used to it after a while though.

In an instant I re appeared on what looked like a balcony made of cloud. Getting my bearing I loomed over the edge to see Rainbows pooling and pouring over the edge. "Oh man this is going to be awkward." I would have jumped off but the thought didn't come to mind. All I could think of was: who lives here? God this is going to be awkward, is this illegal? But do ponies have law?

The twisted feeling swelled up in my gut even more as I creepy down the plush white steps. I felt that any moment some random pony was going to turn the corner and spot me. But out of nowhere I started to hear a guitar play, I was probably going to be charged with breaking and entering anyway, so I decided to take a look. Peeking around the door I saw Rainbow Dash lying on her bed playing a red electric Guitar.

"Wait, you play Guitar?" I asked steeping into the room. The walls were plastered with Wonderbolt posters and schematics for new tricks. Along with a trash can full of crumpled up paper. No extra points for guessing what those were. I could spot a lab coat hanging in the closet with some dozens of red stains on it, no idea what that was about.

"Huh? How'd you get in here?"

"I ended up on the balcony because of some spell or something, blame Twilight for that" I chuckled. "Anyway, just came to tell ya that Twilight planned a trip to Canterlot in a couple of days. Heh heh, Canterlot…Is everything a pun here?"

"Alright, cool." Rainbow didn't seem to care either way; she lowered her eyes back down to the Guitar.

"Right well, I'd better go then…" I swung open the front door and stared down being met with thousands of feet of pure drop, remembering only then that I was in a cloud house. "In hindsight this probably wasn't a good idea…Uhh Rainbow, I might need some help on this one!"

Rainbow tried to explain to me that clouds don't work all the same way. She told me that Pegasi controlled them using some subtle magic manipulated thought. That way they could fly through them or use them in buildings. It was all very confusing and just one of those things you need to do first hand to understand I guess. After half an hour of explaining I still didn't get a single word, she gave up with a huff and threw me a little ball of cloud.

"Try it on that, then we'll talk." She walked back to her room with an annoyed look written all over her. Another half hour she came back and I was just throwing a cloud ball against a wall. "Urg, do you have any idea what you could do with these? You're just wasting the clouds."

"Excuse me for not being physic, and yes I do know what I can do with these." Catching the ball I ferociously rubbed it on my hair and threw it back. A cloud crack of thunder came from the newly blackened cloud as it struck the wall. "Turns out I can make thunder and clouds aren't affected by lightning."

"Oh yeah real big discovery hot shot. I'll just go get Twilight already."

Ten minutes later Rainbow swung the door open "your ride's here." She said in an annoyed tone. I was still playing with the rubber like ball of cloud when she came back. It's strange how hypnotic it can be.

Outside Twilight was waiting in the balloon with the doctor and ditzy floating beside. Twilight had an almost signature like 'you serious?' face on. "Yeeeaaaah." I said nervously "probably not the best place to go to first…heh heh…" The moment was like when you'd been called into the principal's office, just really really awkward. All of a sudden I could feel something climbing up my throat. I buckled over as a heavy cough came out. Looking at my hand and straightening back up, I could see my hand covered in blood.

"Get outta here already." Rainbow growled at me as she turned back inside.

"Yeah yeah I'm goin'." In the few short steps there were to the balloon a wave of exhaustion flowed over me, I became light headed and blacked out just a step away from the balloon.

In the split second before I opened my eyes I expected to have Twilight looming over me nagging me to get up. Instead I awoke to a pony with a surgical mask and rubber hoof glove…things staring into my mouth. The pony was light blue and had a dark blue and white mane. I could feel I was lying in a bed.

"Woah, that's a sharp one." She said.

I shoved her hand- err…hooves away and half spat into my hand. "What the hell?" This stranger pony now had a look on her face like she'd just seen a screamer video.

"You're awake! But…That's…Nurse Red heart!" The pony galloped out of the room. Quickly looking around I could see rows of other beds beside me, and she said nurse…Am I in hospital? Before I had time to think of anything else a group of ponies trotted in the blue pony, a white pony with a red mane, and the doctor, as they rushed over they were all asking each other how I could be awake.

"Woah woah, hey, HEY!" I yelled as the room dropped into a silence. "So…Why am I in hospital?"

"Umm…"the doctor hesitated. "I'm not really sure how to tell you this Michael but…" He tried to make it sound less awkward by throwing a slight chuckle in.

"Michael." The white pony interrupted. I assumed this was nurse Red Heart. "You fell hundreds of feet and came out without even a scratch!"

The look on my face was completely blank, like a poker face. My first reaction was this is all just a big joke that Rainbow getting back at me for that tree sap thing. I tried to speak but I didn't really know what to say, who the hell would anyway?

"Michael, can you remember anything back in Rainbow's house?" The doctor asked.

Trying to remember, it all just came back as a blur, like a blank spot in your mind. The kind that you know you should remember but you just can't. "It's all really a blur. The last thing I can make our clearly is Twilight coming to pick me up and then…Nothing…"

"I think it would be best if Twilight and Rainbow explain to you what happened. I'll go get them." With that they all started walking out.

"W-wait!" I called out. "You, what were you doing anyway?" I pointed at the blue pony that was inspecting my mouth earlier.

"Heh heh…yeah that…Well you still hadn't woken up yet and I am the dentist in ponyville so…I just took the opportunity"

"Wait still? How long have I been out cold?"

"About…A week now…I think." The nurse gave a quick nod at her. "Yeah a week now."

"Holy crap a week! Oh I've got to see this! Let's go get Twi-"As I tried to get up from the bed I shot back in pain as my stomach bent.

"Please don't get up!" The nurse ran back to try lay me down. "You're still feeling the aftershock from the drop. You can't get up anytime soon."

I sighed in frustration at how helpless I seemed. "Fine just go get Twilight and Rainbow, I need to hear this."

"Actually…Rainbow is already here. She's been visiting you almost every day now. You want to see her?"

"Yeah alright." I hoped this could shed some light on this mystery. They all walked out, for real this time. And as I glanced over to the open window I couldn't see any snow outside, it looked anything but winter. "Wait" I thought "their winter only lasts for a week…You're freaking kidding me…"

A dash of regret in the air

It had seemed like I was gone for an eternity, just floating in purgatory for years gone by. Yet somehow it also seemed like an instant, just one quick flash of darkness and I was back.

In a flash a familiar light blue pony appeared inches away from me with the most furious look you've ever seen. "You just had to go and fall didn't you! Why'd you have to do that huh!" Her rage quickly fell as did her expression, turning into a quiet sad tone. "We…We all thought you were dead." I didn't have the nerve to say a thing as I spotted a glistening tear swell up in the corner of her eye. She stormed off in a mix of tears and rage. Half way it turned into a run as I heard a whisper of sobbing.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what she was feeling; having believed someone lost for a whole week...

Time passes abnormally slow when you're neutral, truly neutral, with not a thing win the world to do but think and wonder. And at a time like this it seemed fitting. As I laid there waiting anxiously for everyone to walk into the room with a disbelieving look on their faces, something came up in my mind. One of those things that your mind shuns because you can't bear to think it…Shuns it right out of existence. I realised that these ponies even though brilliant, are incredibly ignorant and stupid.

I never wanted to think any of that after all they had done for me, a complete alien to them. But looking at all the facts it seemed true. They have all the technology and understanding to make television yet they don't the same goes for computers and refrigeration. Not that they would need refrigerators but the point still stands…These ponies know so much and have come so far, yet they see so little.

"Wow, it's amazing how philosophical you can get when just lying in bed." I said to myself still wrapped in the loose white sheets. I always talked to myself back home and a lot of people thought of me as weird for it. I always thought of it as healthy, or maybe I was shunning some deep fact about home. Well it wouldn't matter now anyway, I can't even remember what 'home' looked like, and the closest thing I could get was the country.

Hmm…Home…Maybe; just maybe…This was my home now. It sure felt like it, and is most likely better than anyplace back on Earth. Yes…I've been stuck- no not stuck. Living, I've been living on this planet for over two weeks now and it was only then I realised that this place, this 'Equestria' had become more of a home than Earth ever was to me.

The doctor was defiantly taking his time getting the others. I can't really blame him, not so often you fall from a cloud and survive. Being the kind pony that I made her out to be, that blue dentist pony had decided to keep me company.

"So…What were you doing when I woke up?"

"Like I said, I'm the dentist here in Ponyville. But working with pony teeth can get boring sometimes. And ever since you arrived I've been wondering how different you are from us. So when nurse Red Heart let me in, I went for it."

"So…A complete alien is in a coma and without any permission or know-how of what you were doing. You just decided to do a routine check-up?"

"Well…Y-yeah." She said that in one of those cheery tones you use to cover up something awkward.

"Oh well, no turning back the clock I guess. So find what you were lookin' for?"

"What are the spikey ones for?" Her eyes shined with curiosity. She seemed like the kind of mare that always wanted to know more. I have no idea why she got into dentistry; it wasn't even the right mark thing…Yeah it's kind of hard remembering all of these pony terms.

Instead her mark was an hourglass, just like that doctor pony had…I'll need to talk with him soon, he seems to know a lot more than he says.

"Well, we're omnivores so we have teeth both like yours and spikey like a wolf. So we usually use these to grind up meat." As I looked up she had the strangest look on her face. Shock, horror, disgust, concern, I don't know what to call it. "Oh don't give me that look I've been dead for a week. And it's not like we chose to be this way it's just evolution. But we do what we need to survive. Oh and I never really got your name, what was it again?"

"C-Colgate. My n-names Colgate." She took a noticeable step away from the bed.

"Oh come on Colgate, you don't really think I'm going to try and pounce and eat you do you?" That joking question rose a concerning pause. Maybe she did think I was some kind of monster, do all of them?

"Well…"

Suddenly Colgate was interrupted by a pink blur that flashed into the room, followed by the others in the thing most opposite of a flash. And I was greeted with an oh so familiar voice.

"MICHAEL! Your awake you're awake!" Pinkie threw her arms around me in a tight hug. But something was off about her. She had a straight, darker mane instead of her usual overly puffy and curly style. Tears had stained her face making it go a slightly darker shade than her normal optimistic pink.

"Michael! You're awake!" Called out Applejack, she had a tone of renewed hope. A tone you only get when you wish for something just hard enough and it comes true. She reminded me of myself when it turns out all…This was real. "How do ya feel sugarcube?"

"You see? He's all right!" Rarity encouraged Fluttershy who was also crying. I'm not sure if it was out of grief or joy.

"Hey everypony!" As Pinkie still clinging to me tightened her grip, as surge of pain shot through my chest. "Aarrgghh!" I cried out.

"Michael are you okay?" Pinkie pulled herself off me, little droplets of tears still glistening in her eyes.

"I-I'm fine Pinkie, don't worry."

"It's because you hugged 'm to hard," said Applejack in an annoyed tone.

"Oh…" Pinkie stared at the floor embarrassed.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was it like?" Twilight asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"What? Being in hospital for a whole week?"

"Yes, what was it like being dead for a whole week?"

"Woah wait, are you sure I was dead? Not just in some sort of coma or something?"

"Nurse Red Heart wouldn't let us see you; we all just assumed that…" She trailed off in that last fragment.

"To be honest not much really, one minute I'm at Rainbows house, next I'm in hospital with a pink pony using me as a trampoline." Pinkie looked away, embarrassed as soon as I brought that up.

"Have you noticed that he has really sharp teeth?" Colgate said as she sprung and held my mouth open.

"Pointy teeth?" Twilight asked.

"That means h-he's a v-vampony!" Pinkie quickly backed away; maybe they did all think I was some kind of monster. I guess that thought spread all over my face as Applejack said:

"Ah cheer up Michael, yer aint any kind o' monster to us. Even if Rarity did want to get her hooves on yer clothes" she said in an accusing tone.

"What did she just say?" I thought.

"Well excuse me for taking up such a gleaming opportunity" said Rarity in her usual esteemed voice.

"Ya'll could have at least waited 'till he'd woken up yet."

"W-w-wait a second, hold on. You ponies have clothes I've seen them, why'd you want mine now?"

"Your clothes and our clothes are completely different designs, and just imagine if I were the first to discover them" she sounded like someone describing a plan to become famous.

"Oh that reminds me, why do you wear clothes all of the time Michael?" Twilight asked, with Spike ready to take down anything I said.

"Ohhh" I sighed along with a face palm. "Twilight if only you knew how awkward that question is."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or-"

"No, no, no it's fine. Just a bit awkward is all. Humans wear clothing because of decency for the main reason. Not to mention its illegal back home."

"Then how come ya'll were just fine with me seein' yer with no shirt?" Interrupted Applejack

Oh boy, this is getting more awkward by the second. "Do I really have to go into human anatomy and Biology? That's like trying to explain sex to a child." Were they planning to ask me all this? When I can't walk off and avoid the question? "As for an answer it's much better for a male to walk around without a shirt than a girl."

"How about a less awkward question for it guys?" Twilight froze suddenly realised what she had said.

"It? I was only gone for half a week and we're already back to this?"

"M-maybe it's best if we just go."

"Hey no wait," they all halted and turned back to face me. "Did any of you see that pirate at the train station?"

"Pirate?" They all said in unison, maybe they all did plan this.

"Michael, you must just be seeing things. It's not every day that someone like you comes to Equestria."

"Yes but I hadn't seen him before and…"

Speaking of that pirate, there he was again, standing right in front of my hospital bed, totally anonymous.

With that creepy cheery smile, waving that me like this whole thing was a big joke. "Hey you!" I called out, pointing to him. "You guys see him now?"

"Michael dear, there isn't anypony there."

Looking back I could clearly see he was still there. With a very amused look on his face, "how can you not see him!"

"Just take a few days to get yet bearings partner." Said applejack patting me on the shoulder, "come on now everypony. Let's leave him to rest; he might be a few apples short of a bushel." That last part was obviously whispered, but somehow I still managed to hear it. Almost perfectly, like my senses were sharpened by that crash.

"Hey come on I can prove it. If you would all just come back and listen to me!"

"Ah don't worry there humany wumany. I said the same thing a while back." Pinkie half laughed, wrapping her arm around my neck before walking off. It was strange how she could have gone from crying with straight hair, back to being pinkie with poofy hair all in that instant. Well this world was just like a roller-coaster I guess.

"Now would you look at that?" Said that pirate, still standing over me, "they don't believe you, I wonder why that is."

"You tell me, you're the stalker pirate here. But who are you anyway?"

"Oh I could tell you who I am, but that would just take the fun out of it. Furthermore did you hear what they said? They called you crazy, 'it', they called you a monster."

"Well…It's not every day I just drop out of the sky you know, literally."

"Face it Michael, they hate you, you're a monster to them and you can't run from that. Humans are always monsters."

"But…But you're a human to though."

"Well you could say that, but at least I know I'm a monster. It will just be all the more sad and maddening when they finally throw you away. After all they don't like you, they don't find you interesting. To them you're just an abomination, and they'll abandon you Michael. Use you then throw you away like all of Rainbows plans back at her house."

"Wait how did you-"

"But that's a shame; it really is, being a circus freak for the rest of your life in this alien world."

"No! It's not like that!" I could feel my throat closing up, chocking me like when you cry. "They aren't like us, they're better than us! You're not even real!" I shook my head in frustration and denial.

"Alright then, you can just keep pushing those facts deeper and deeper, we'll see where that gets you when they come right back up, and you know they're true." And with that final comment he walked straight out, not a single word more.

What was even worse than that whole lecture was the fact that he was right. It's something I never wanted to even think about but...Deep down I knew all of that I guess…But after all they did for me I couldn't bear to think any of it.

"No…No I just need to clear my head is all. Then tall of this crap will be outta my head for good." As I tried to get up the crippling pain came back, but I couldn't stay in here. This room felt heavier now, like something evil had swept over it, which for all I know had just happened. My persistence paid off in the end as I finally got up, slowly easing myself into the pain and awkwardly getting up with as little bending as possible.

Not much else happened for the rest of that day, nothing worth mentioning anyway. Just walking, thinking, talking with Lyra, and trying to avoid nurse Red Heart. By the time it got to sunset she eventually found me, but it was all worth it for the adrenaline rush of hiding and skulking.

I didn't sleep well that night either so the day was all pretty crappy. But something strange happened when I was asleep. You see normally my dreams are only flashbacks of my life, faces, buildings, and rooms that all came out blurred and fuzzy when I tried to recall them. But tonight was different; this dream was so crystal clear I could remember every detail when I woke up.

"Hey wake up!" Someone said, shaking me awake. "Is this game really that boring to you?" As I looked up I saw his face again, that pirate. We were both sitting at a table with a chess board in mid play there. I looked around and it was like we were on a huge chessboard ourselves, right on the centre square. "You didn't fall asleep when we started. Feeling a little uneasy?" He picked up his knight and swung it around knocking over one of my pawns. "Your move" he said with a smug expression.

I swung up in bed, gasping for air like I'd just race a marathon. Looking to the side I could see Nurse Red Heart who had stumbled back in surprise, my guess is she had been leaning over me at the time. "Oh hello, come to examine the crime scene?" I said jokingly.

"Of sorts," she responded writing down reports on a clipboard. For the next half an hour it was just medical test after test after test, but something was troubling her all the way through. It was written all over her face.

"What's wrong? You don't seem like yourself today." I asked out of concern, partly for my results, but mostly for her.

"We barely know each other Michael." She said not bothering to look up from her results.

"Yeah but…You have that look in your eye, the look that something's not right."

"If you really want to know take a look at this." She floated the clipboard down on my lap. I picked it up and I saw disappointed to find it was all in Cursive writing. (The type with all the curly fancy letters.) Even when I did make some of it out, they were all extremely complicated medical terms.

"Uhh…Hate to break it to ya, but I'm not really a doctor. Also I can't read cursive very well."

"What do they teach you in schools back where you came from?"

"Wouldn't you like to know" I taunted. Then realised how stupid that sounded.

She sighed and said: "In basic terms over a third of your damage that you sustained has been healed. I'm not really sure how fast you people heal so I didn't bother very much with it."

"Wait a second…How bad was I injured?"

"Well, none physically. Your body was in perfect shape when we found you. Not even a starch. But something was keeping you from waking up. Nothing mental either, from what we could make out of that mess you can call a mind."

I grunted at that fact. Our minds are more complex than any of these ignorant ponies could imagine…Well that pirate hasn't gotten out of my mind yet.

"It was something else, Twilight was the only one I allowed to see you and not even she could figure out what it was."

"But what about the pain I get from when I try to sit up, and pinkie's hug?"

"We couldn't explain that either. You're a real mystery you know that?"

"Any good news then?"

"Actually…Yes, I took a look inside you, not literally of course. But like I said whatever was causing your pain has almost gone now. You should be good to leave the hospital. But don't try to run or do anything strenuous."

"Really?" I slowly leaned forward and didn't find a single hint of any pain. "Well would you look at that! If it's all the same with you, I'll be leaving now."

"Alright, come back if anything else happens." I got up and stretched as much as I could. Being stuck in bed for a week can get your bones pretty stiff. On my way out she called back to me again; "Oh and Michael, try not to fall off a cloud again." And with that I stepped outside.

It was nice to feel the warmth of the sun again, and not just have a portion of it leaking through curtains. I let the golden rays spill onto my face as I stood there, my eyes focusing to a clear picture of everypony doing their own thing. Living their own little lives in this slice of heaven. But above all this is something of greater importance that requires my attention…

"RAINBOW!" I shouted at a lone, dark cloud looming over a calm, empty, lusciously green field. "I know you're up there!" How did I know, well…The sky is clear, and Rainbow seems like the kind of pony that wants to prove herself whenever and however she can. And if she's cleared the sky then why is this cloud the only cloud in view?

"What?" Said rainbow in an annoyed, angry tone, poking her head out the bottom of the cloud "haven't you done enough already?" With that she burrowed back inside the cloud, or on top I wasn't really sure from this angle.

"Come on Rainbow, I just want to talk. What's got you so down today?"

"If you guys are so great you tell me!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You always say humans are sooo smart, but you can't even figure this one out! Why don't you go ask your little girlfriend Twilight?"

"Girlfriend…What" I muttered to myself. I sighed in defeat and walked back towards ponyville, knowing that she wasn't going to say anything to me anytime soon. As I walked back there was a flash and a crack sound from being me, "I'm going already sheesh." Turns out Rainbow had tried to hit my foot with lightning…A pony girlfriend huh? I didn't even want to think about how that would possibly work.

I felt the need to go out and do something, anything really. Ever since this morning I'd felt a rise in energy, ironic how I haven't had any meat in two weeks, but I just felt this craving for work. "Well I do have the rest of the day with myself, and I've been asleep for a week so…Wait dammit the doctor said not to do any hard work dammit!"

I stood there wondering what to do; I was a complete alien in this world…Then a familiar pony came up to me again, well a familiar Pegasus.

"Telegram" he said holding a note in his hoof.

"Oh it's you again." It was once again that black and white pony who had been following me almost ever since I got here. Well stalking is a better word for it. I took the letter from him and hesitated to open it. It was then I decided something.

"No…" I said, before he could run off again.

"What?"

"No, I don't want anything to do with anything anymore!" I tore up the note without even reading it. "Every single day since I arrived here it's been nothing but mystery and my sanity slipping away!"

"Aww, are you getting mad again?" The prate had appeared right next to him without the black pony even noticing, like a ghost. "How cute, little Michael thinks he's tough."

"Both of you get the fuck out of here!" I shouted at them, we were far enough out that only maybe Rainbow could hear us.

"Both?" The black pony questioned.

"Either tell me who the hell you are, or just piss off and stop stalking me!"

I stormed off not really knowing what I was furious about. Was it the fact I was an outsider? That people have been stalking me? Maybe I just finally snapped and neither of them are real at all.

I just wanted to get it over with, but I didn't really know what to get over. So the rest of the day I spent wandering around and around aimlessly. It was already past lunch so Sugar cube Corner wouldn't be getting much business; Rainbow was pissed at me, I didn't have the patience to go to the library or Raritys, and Fluttershys personality would just piss me off even more right now.

By the time it was sunset I eventually ended up on a hill overlooking ponyville and as I collapsed under a tree. All my aggression and fear and anything else I was feeling came out in a single whisper.

"I just want to go home." I burrowed my face into my knees and tried to imagine being back on Earth with my family and friends, waking up one day like this was all just a dream. I didn't care if life back there was boring and repetitive, it was still my life. A human's life and it always will be. But part of me didn't want to go, and I think that that part will always be there.

I could hear something drop in front of me. I didn't look up though; it would either be one of my hallucinations, another pony, I wouldn't have evened cared if it was a bear I just didn't have the nerve to look up. Eventually though I did, and lying in front of me was that same piece of paper two weeks ago, I didn't know how I could tell but I just could. I unfolded it and sure enough, that same saying there:

"Never forget, never regret" maybe that was a saying I had back there. But that little slip of paper no matter how unimportant it was to anyone else was more valuable than any diamond in the world to me at that moment. That little sentence gave me new hope to push on.

With the sun almost gone and the sky in twilight, I picked myself up and walked back down to the dusty pathway with the paper still in hand. Then it hit me…How could a tiny slip of paper make so much noise? Before I could even start of think about it Twilight appeared from the shadows with a bag swung over her back.

"We need to talk" she stated.

We walked along the dusty trail with the sky slightly illuminated over our heads. I don't know why but I could smell something sweet in the air, like cupcakes or something else Pinkie would make.

"So, can you remember anything about your past?" She asked.

"Not really my past. I can only remember general stuff about my world but nothing personal."

"Well what about humans, what are they like, Cultural, religious, magical?"

"Twilight why did you really ask me out here?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you wanted to know about humans you could have asked me at any time, or back in the hospital"

"I-I had things to do Michael."

"I can see it in your eyes Twilight, and the way you walk and talk, there's something else you want."

"Why are you so quick to the jump the barrel Michael?"

"You're a smart pony but not terrific at lying."

"How did you figure all that out from that one sentence?"

"I…I don't know really. I couldn't do that before…Anyway why are we out here?"

"It may sound silly but…I think you've caught something."

"Like some pony virus? Is that even possible?"

"Well…It's more of a myth than a virus." She opened her satchel and levitated out a book.

"A myth…Wait does Pinkie think I'm some sort of vampire just because of my teeth?"

"Why would pinkie put me up to this?"

"You can't smell it? You smell like you've been eating at Pinkies"

"That was this morning."

"Either way I can smell it. Twilight I might be going insane but I'm sure I'm not some kind of monster." The argument bounced back and forth as we came into town. I tried to convince her that humans can't turn into pony myths and fairy tales, and the fact that we live in completely different universes. But yet she refused to ignore all the strange things that have been happening.

Just as we stepped onto the bridge I heard a familiar voice again. "Out on a little date are we Michael?" Looking up I could see, you guessed it, the pirate lying on top of a roof.

"Hey it's not a date! And I told you to quit following me!"

"D-date? Michael who are you talking to?" Suddenly I felt exhausted. "Here we go again." I said just before I blacked out.

I opened my eyes, shot up, and hastily looked around. Instantly I could tell I was in Twilight's library.

Answers

When I awoke it was still early in the morn, the sun was barely creeping over horizon as it fought an uphill battle. As I wondered why Twilight brought me back here it seemed to click almost instantly.

"Twilight brought me here for a reason, if she didn't need me she would've just dropped me off at AJ's, and she needs me for…questioning most likely…Well if she brought me back here, she should've known I'll be hungry."

This morning wasn't like others, it wasn't slow and groggy, it seemed like I had a drive to get up. I couldn't figure out what though… I helped myself to a bowl of cereal; I found it more appealing than a salad and a few minutes later Twilight trotted down the stairs.

"Do humans always collapse and talk to themselves like that?" She referred to last night.

"Om nom nom nom, nom nom." Was my only reply as I wolfed down the cereal.

"O…kay…" She stood blankly, as if thinking something over. I don't know how but I knew she wanted to know more about us, as humans. It was like I could sense what she was feeling.

"I'll get a board game then." I said as I stood and walked back to the main room of the library.

"Huh?" She looked up in confusion.

"You wanted to play didn't you? Some sort of pony version of scrabble."

"How did you-"

"No idea," I called from the other room "now where do you keep your pony games?"

As we played she had asked me how I knew that she wanted to play "instinct" I said through a mouthful of cereal. I swallowed and said; "It's like I could just sense what you wanted, without even looking at you. Kind of like when you have a feeling in your gut that you trust." For the next few turns it was just silence as we played, she was still thinking it over that I was some kind of monster though, I know it.

"Okay my turn" Twilight finally broke the silence "let's see here…apoplectic, a p-"

"Wait, that ain't a word, ponies using apoplectic." I objected.

"Michael it's a word."

"Use it in a sentence."

"I was beating an alien with a limited vocabulary in word game, and he became apoplectic." Twilight had 'smug' written all over her face.

"You just made that up. Anyone can use a fake word in a sentence."

"You do it."

"Uh…I went to the doctor, because my complexion was a bit, apoplectic."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Does to! Made us words, work fine in made up sentences. So my case is clearly stated, apoplectic ain't no word."

"It is a word and you're just angry because I didn't let you get away with fat."

"And what's wrong with fat?"

"Because p-h-a-t, is not a proper word."

"It does back on Earth."

"Well this is an Equestrian game."

"You don't let me use fat, you don't let me use biatch, can't use mofo! Bootylicious, foshizzle, or even babyfadda. I mean…Everybody use babbyfadda!"

Twilight sighed, "Hold on." Her horn glowed and flashed a light blinding me for a second or two.

"Argh! Wait…" Something felt different about me now… "Twilight what'd you do? I told you that magic made me act weird."

"Well you were already knocked out cold, so I took the opportunity to run a few tests. Just to see how humans think is all."

"Here it comes" I thought.

"I'm not sure how to put this but…Your mind is very unstable Michael, with that level of damage I don't think you could even understand the basic fundamentals of magic."

"Well you're just lucky you didn't go in too deep, some things are never meant to be seen by others Twilight." I said in a stern warning voice. "Wait…What did you take?"

"Huh? Take what?"

"You took something from me, I can tell."

"How can you suddenly tell that I've stolen something from you mister shertrot?" I guessed that was a pun on our version of Sherlock

"Well I can see it in your eyes, it's written all over your face, and in your body language. I can just tell that something else that's human is here." Twilight look surprised about how I could figure all that out, then worried like a huge secret was about to be blown. "Come on Twilight," I said and stretched out my hand.

"Well…Right after you passed out Michael, something fell behind me. I turned around and I found" Twilight levitated a blank casing for a record over to me "this. I wanted to listen to it first because it's not one of ours. And with everything that's been happening to you I didn't want to-"

"How can you tell it's not one of yours? I've seen records around town before." I said pulling it out.

"Because of the title" flipping it over I saw the word: Michael in the middle of the record. It was written in cursive and seemed like it was engraved.

"Oh…" I said simply.

We headed over to Pinkie's because Twilight apparently preferred the silence of the library rather than any music on. Understandable I guess.

Pinkie opened the door slowly and peered her sleepy face through at us. I wasn't a surprise that her hair hadn't changed, it always looked bedraggled, the only difference to her this morning was a frilly pink nightcap on.

After shaking her head furiously to try and wake herself up she asked: "what're you two doin' here?" Her voice still sounded slightly asleep.

"We need to use your record player real quick." I said.

"Record player? Why…" After a long, wide mouthed yawn she said "yeah all right." Her tone just screamed 'I don't care just let me sleep'. Well it was pretty early so I can't blame her.

We followed her upstairs to a large bedroom, with a large pink bed on the back wall, it looked around king size and most of the covers had been shoved off.

. I quickly spotted the record player sitting by a window which leaked light through the thin curtains.

As the sun bathed the room in a golden ray Pinkie pulled herself through a door on the right and kicked the door shut, after a few seconds the sound of spraying water echoed through the door. After a few more seconds Pinkie came bouncing out with long straight hair and was dripping wet, leaving a water trail where she landed.

"So why do need the ol' record player? You auntie Pinkie pi eyes here to help!" She swung her arm around my shoulders, with a hug e Pinkie styled grin on her face.

"You know in human years I'm probably five or six years older than you."

Pinkie shook her head violently like a wet dog sending water everywhere, mostly onto my face though and went back to a huge smile.

"Yeah thanks for that" I said in an annoyed tone. "Anyway we found this record and I know it's human." I held up the record in my hand which was back in its file.

"So why come here this early?"

"Well Rainbow is pissed at me, Fluttershy is probably asleep, Applejacks' place is too far, Twilight didn't have a player, and Rarity probably wouldn't like human music…Plus you're the only person I could think of who would be up this early in the morning."

"Let's get this over with Michael." Twilight said, magicing (Oh snap new word!) the record out of my grasp.

"Heh heh, ponies or humans we're all the same in morning."

As Twilight took the record out and lowered it onto the player a thought came to me, "I pray it's not some screamo or emo crap."

Twilight lowered the needle and it began to spin, the whole moment seemed like slow motion with a million thoughts racing through my head at once. "Is this really going to be music, or just that guy on my IPod? Is it going to be any good? What will they think of me after they've heard our music?"

A mix between electronic and guitar came through the speaker as the record slowly spun.

"I remember tryin' to talk to you in high school,
Couldn't even get a look cause you were too cool.
But now we're older and we're playin' by the new rules.
We lived and learned!"

"Sounds legit" I said as the music clawed to drown out my words.

"Is all human music like this?" Twilight asked, I couldn't tell if she hated it or was just curious.

"Not really, but rock is a lot better than some of the other stuff we've got."

"Why, what's so bad about the other humany music?" Pinkie asked, still having that grin on her face.

"Believe, you don't wanna know."

"You know, Vinyl would love to play this at a club sometime. The first human music ever heard."

"Well why don't we go show her now?"

"She's in Canterlot silly." Pinkie said with a bubbly voice as always.

"Well…there is one way to get there, but I don't think I should…"

"How could you get us to Canterlot, then backstage to see Vinyl?"

"Because I could just do this" I pulled the side of the scene across like a roll of film to put us in behind stage in Vinyl's room.

"Huh?" Vinyl startled back in surprise, "how did you-"

"Because appearing in this story came with an oath, because doing this" I pulled the scene sideways again and we were next to a police box "can break the fourth wall too much. And if we break it completely by doing this," This time we were on your computer screen, yes yours. "Then the whole universe will blow up. So that's why I can't do that…Or this." I reached to the top of the page and pulled it down and we were back inside Pinkie's bedroom.

"HELLO!" Someone screamed in my ear.

"Gaah!" I stumbled back and tripped over Pinkie. That ended up with Pinkie lying on top, and damn was it awkward. "Oh dammit it's you again" you can probably guess by now that the pirate there, hanging upside down from the support beam of the roof. Cracking up laughing he crashed to the floor.

"Who are you talking to this time?" Twilight stopped the record and trotted over.

"Twilight it's occurred to me that I might have a very minor case of seriousbraindamage."

"I'd say…" Twilight muttered.

"So are you serious about not seeing this psychopath?"

"Hey I'm not a psychopath; I'm a highly functioning sociopath. Honestly do your research" he protested from across the room. Looking over he had somehow gotten a cap with a Canadian leaf on it, a TV and gaming system somehow.

"What you're a Canadian gamer now?"

"Nah, but you know you do look silly talking to yourself."

Looking back around Twilight had a concerned look on her face, and throughout this entire time Pinkie was still lying on top of me. "Pinkie, do me a favour."

"Yeah?" She asked, swinging her head back around.

"Get off me already."

"Oh right, sorry" she chuckled uncontrollably while she helped me up.

"Not until your married you two" the pirate said, now back to his original outfit.

"Michael, do you mind if I keep this for study, human music seems much different than ours."

"Yeah yeah sure, just don't break it and I'll be back. Heh heh, terminator reference…"

As I walked through the cool morning air that pirate still bothered me every step of the way, and he wasn't even walking now, he was just floating on his back that made it even more mocking.

"Gah, I can't find Rainbow anywhere, it's not fair that she gets to freaking fly while humans are grounded. Literally!"

"Why are you being so difficult? Just leave her for a few days and she'll come down." He swirled around on his little cloud bed, circling me as he said.

"Difficult? I'm being so difficult, because I've had you on my back through this whole chapter!"

"Well look at it this way then, Twilight will probably get sick of you asking for that spell, Rainbow won't want to talk, and since you're out of hospital you late."

"Late? For what?"

"Quit your job then did you?"

"Oh crap I'm late, later pirate dude!" As I started to run I turned back and asked "what's your name anyway?"

"Is that really important now?" A smirk smeared across his face.

I gave up trying to use logic in this world and bolted back to sugar cube corner. After all, what sense was left in this utopian world? None, and with pinkie even less than that, in fact I'm surprised that the whole forth wall hasn't completely shattered yet.

As I opened the door trying to be casual as my heart raced I opened the door and strolled in.

"Hey pinkie, sorry about-"

"Ahh Michael!" One look and it turned out I'd somehow gone from the front door, to walking in on Pinkie bathing…Okay I think I've broken the universe at this point "a little privacy please!"

"Wait what?" Looking around outside it wasn't any illusion, the front door of sugar cube corner somehow lead all the way upstairs to Pinkie's bathroom. "But…This is…What!" I just stood there sticking my hand through the doorway, steeping through it and the whole thing was solid. I stepped back outside, closed and re-opened the door, the same picture, Pinkie staring angrily at me in a bubbly bathtub. "Hmm…" I stepped through and closed the door behind me.

"Hey don't come in here!" Pinkie protested.

"Ah please you're naked all the time anyway." I turned and looked at the hinges on the door, and the tiny gap in between the door and wall.

"Yeah but…Uh oh.

"What's uh oh?" I said, turning around.

"Twitchy tail again" Pinkie dived under and popped back up with a colourful rainbow umbrella hat.

"Pinkie I've told you, I don't really believe in that whole twitchy tai-"suddenly I felt a huge heavy weight collapse on my head that knocked me to the floor. It turns out the door had fallen on me and as I rolled it off Pinkie stared at me from the rim of the tub. "Wait…" I sat up in a flash and pinkie toppled back into the tub to avoid getting head butted. I stared back at the door and it went straight to Pinkie's room. "Well that's fixed…Can't say that much about the door…Ah well I should probably get out anyway."

"How did that happen anyway?"

"No idea" I picked up the door and tried to edge it back onto its hinges, they reconnected and worked perfectly again. "But the door's fixed so everything's back to normal…Well not so crazy…actually never mind." Just as I was about to close the door told Pinkie "you never told me that ponies had coconut conditioner."

Work was pretty awkward that day, we didn't really talk much and I almost ended up burning a whole batch of bagels. I got the idea that pinkie thought that I was some sort of pervert now, but these ponies walk around naked all the time, what's the big deal?

Not much else happened that day; I went back to the farm to help make a lot of apple stuff. Apple pie, apple cider, apple jam, anything to do with apples. But as I dozed off to sleep that night, another strange dream came.

I awoke staring into the treetops of a strange new world, sitting up I stared at this whole new canvas of a world. Rolling red grass across spanning hills, dark red wood coated the trees, a flowing crystal clear river, and silver leaves swayed with a slight wind, all under a burnt orange sky.

Looking to my right I could see a human sitting on a rock, back turned, and looked like he was playing a flute. As he started to play though the sound was anything but a flute, guitars and drums, and a voice all without stopping to breathe.

Moon river what you do to me, the drawbridge is closing.
I saw the devil wrapping up his hands; he's getting ready for the showdown.
I saw the ending when they turn the page, I took my money and I ran away.

Then I managed to snap out of it, the world fell apart around me and I woke up. Some people say that dreams are meant to be symbolic, I didn't believe them until this happened. Not just the dream but everything else, until Equestria happened.

I helped Applejack on the farm; she wanted me to go easy on the apple bucking, worried that I was weak from getting out of hospital. Ironically I was stronger than before, leaving dents in the bark and snapping branches off along with apples. Then came another awkward day of baking with Pinkie, oh so awkward…

As I walked out of sugar cube corner Twilight ran up to me "Michael, I have to show you this!"

"What, where, who-"

"No time" Twilight picked me up and levitated me back to the library. I tried to convince her to let me down but she insisted that it was for 'safety', don't ask me what she meant by that.

"This is bullshit" I thought. "You can't just take a human hostage like this…I wonder if ponies have the Geneva Convention…"

I followed…Well more like go dragged up the stairs and let down on Twilight's bed. She picked up a book set down on a nearby table. "I've finally figured out what's been going on with you."

"Still think I'm some kind of monster?" I chuckled.

"I've found a case that has all the symptoms that you're showing." She set the book down of my lap.

I sighed and passed it back to her. "I know where you're going with this Twilight." I shuffled up the bed and laid my head onto a pillow "nighty night."

"This is serious Michael, and you've been sleeping for a whole week." She magiced me back to the edge of the bed.

"Cut me some slack Twilight, I have two stalkers on my back, I've been dead for a week, and I saw a little too much pony today than I'd want to."

"Are you sure the stalkers aren't just your brain damage?" Twilight laughed as she flipped through the pages.

"That's was supposed to be a joke but now I'm not so sure…"

"Ah here it is; Lycanthropy." Que Poker face on me… "You don't know what that means do you?"

"Lycanthropy, the study of…Werewolves…" You know if fan fics had commercial breaks this would be a dramatic time to have one so…Go grab a hot pocket or something.

"Oh, so you do know what it means."

"You're really convinced I'm a monster aren't ya? Maybe humans and ponies aren't all that different."

"I'm serious Michael; you have almost all of the symptoms. Hallucinations, passing out, increased senses, rapid healing, and even your teeth."

"The stalkers are real, and the teeth are just a normal thing that humans have. As for the passing out, healing, and the better instinct well…You might be on to something."

"You see, I'm not making all this up. The only symptom you don't have is waking up in forest like areas."

"Well…"

"What?"

"The day before I went into hospital, I did wake up in a little den of apple trees for some reason."

"Even more evidence then, we need to find this out."

"Well…Even if I am a monster…How can we prove it?"

"We can take you to Canterlot; the princess has wanted to see you for a while now."

"Oh yeah you told your government…" I tried my best to mutter so Twilight wouldn't hear but I have no idea how good pony hearing is.

"But there is a simpler way to find out without going all the way over to Canterlot."

"And…"

"It says here that ponies, well humans in your case, can change when put under extreme physical stress. And I know just the pony for the job."

"RAINBOW!" Twilight shouted up at a huge cloud house, dripping with pools of rainbows.

"Twilight?" Rainbow poked her head over the edge "what're you doing here? It's getting late out." She said as she glided down and softly landed on the dirt trail. I stood in the shadow of the house. As Rainbow landed I crept up behind her on the souls of my feet, hoping not to make a sound. But as I was walking a twig cracked and rainbow spun around, interrupting Twilight.

"Oh, what do you want?"

"Twilight needs me to do something physically exhausting so we can prove a theory that may or may not be true…"

"And I'm here for…"

"Twilight wouldn't tell me either…Twilight…"

"Well…it is late and all, and even though Michael is a human. I was wondering if you…" She trailed off.

"Come on Twi, tell me already." Rainbow pestered.

"We need you to race Michael." What? What did you think she was going to say?

"What's so bad about racing that you wouldn't tell me?" I asked, "Also why are you so mad at me?"

"What am I going to get out of racing this egghead?" Rainbow objected in a harsh tone.

"Well, you can be the first pony to beat me in a fair race."

"First fair race?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah I blacked out in the one I had with AJ."

"So why do you need me to beat this chump? I bet even Scoots could do it."

"Because Twilight here believes I'm a werewolf, just from a few things in a book. And who's Scoots?"

"Hmm…Twilight did that book say anything about stopping pain?"

"No but it did mention faster metabolism…Why?"

"Good" a smirk lit up Rainbow face as she lashed out and bucked my nose with her back hooves.

"ARGH! God dammit!" I stumbled back with a lot of muttered curses, and then repaid her with a swift kick to the wing.

As Rainbow slammed to the ground and stood back up, the threatened "oh that's it!"

"Come at me bro!" Rainbow shot towards me as I ran, I ended up rugby style shoulder tackling her. Soon after it was a flurry of kicks and punches, I think I even started growling at one point. And at another I managed to get her in a headlock for a few seconds. With a sigh and seconds on concentration Twilight and managed to pull us apart using a strong magic blast back spell.

"Break it up you two!" Twilight held us in a strong magical grasp, I could barely move as the tight aura surrounded me. "If you two want to beat each other so bad then you can race it out."

Looking down at myself, I barely had a scratch on me. "Fine" I agreed. "But if I win Rainbow has to tell me why she's so damn mad at me."

"Oh yeah, what if I win?" Rainbow objected.

"I could teach you how to fight" I taunted. "Fight like a real man."

"I'm a girl you dunce!"

"Hey! Stop it!" Twilight shouted, "You two. Race. Now."

So after a few minutes on insults being slung back and forth, we both agreed to race, and for Rainbow not to use her wings. But she couldn't anyway because I'm pretty sure I damaged one with a shoulder barge. And personally I think I won that fight, and the insult battle.

"GO!" Twilight let off a loud bang using a sound spell. Don't ask me how many spells she has, but there's a whole lot of 'em.

The race started out as a sprint; somehow I was keeping up with Rainbow though, maybe I damaged one of her legs, but she still ran with all her heart. As we both slowed to a half jog half run pace Rainbow sped up again, as did I. Shortly after gaining speed my eyes became heavy, I found it extremely hard to just barely keep them open. But the more they closed, the faster I seemed to run, until I finally blacked out.

What am I doing to this world?

"Urgh, why am I so tired all the time" when I woke up I didn't even have the energy to sit up, so I slipped right back into sleep.

"Hey wake up," I heard a voice as I got shook from my sleep. "C'mon sugar cube up yer get."

As I lazily sat up and looked around, I was back in the little den of apple trees someone had made, with a yawn and a stretch I turned back to face AJ "mornin' where are we?" I asked. I heard a thud and noticed that everypony else was standing at the edge of the ditch, on the high ground, Fluttershy looked paralysed though. She had a look of horror on her face as she lay on her side, and all the others looked pretty disgusted as well.

"What?" I looked down; thank god I still had my clothes on, "What?" A quick glance at my hands and I figured out why they look like they did. My hands were stained with blood, both sides' just huge red patches of blood. "Ah!" I flinched away and studied myself again; no blood anywhere else, as I wiped my face I found out it was covered with blood as well.

"What did ya'll do Michael!" Applejack said in a threatening tone and with eyes that shot daggers.

I shuffled over to a nearby puddle and stared into it, it acted like a mirror. I could see that my nose and mouth was completely covered with blood. "What have I done?" I asked myself.

Grief washed over me, is this what humans end up doing to this world? My hands we're shaking as I started to hate myself, a whole utopian world and all it takes is just one of us to destroy it.

"You see why this is so serious Michael? You've already killed something! Or even worse you might have skilled somepony! We need to get this cured right away!" Staring into my hands again I noticed one tiny slice of meat was still left, it was straight up raw though. A quick sniff and I feared the worst, but it turns out… Chucking the meat into my mouth the others revived their disgusted looks.

"Michael!" Applejack yelled.

"That's fish…definitely fish." Well at least I could forgive a part of myself, knowing that I hadn't murdered a pony somewhere.

"That doesn't make any difference!" Applejack shouted again.

"Think about it this way, would you rather find out that I'd killed a fish, or a living pony with a family and kids?"

"Well-"

"Okay, you know what, I don't care anymore. I'm getting to Canterlot, and getting this thing fixed, then I'm getting back home." I climbed over the wrecked Apple trees and out of the ditch.

"But Michael" Twilight interrupted. "You can't just walk up to the princess and make demands."

"Why are you ponies so stupid! If I stay here I'm just going to keep killing, that's how humans are. And I'd rather die trying than let humanity ruin the one oasis of peace the universe has."

"But you-"

"Either follow me or don't, I don't care, but I'm not going to let anything else happen."

"Michael wait! We just want to know something!"

"Forget me Twilight, it's for the best."

I ran off through the orchard of trees, it seemed endless until I finally spotted AJs barn. I washed the blood off my hands and face using a hose on the side of the barn.

It felt good to get all the blood off, like washing away evidence that I'd ever killed. Now I know what you're thinking, what's so bad about killing a fish? Well these ponies aren't like us; to them killing a fish is just as bad as killing another pony.

Ignoring the greetings I got going inside the barn, I packed up what little I had when I arrived and left.

Even though this place has been a roller-coaster to me, I think it's time to give it all up. If I stay here I'm just going cause more problems, and maybe even end up killing more animals, or worse, more ponies.

"Michael!" I heard a shout from above, Rainbow landed in front of me, stopping me in my tracks and kicking up dust as she did. "Why do you want to leave now?"

"What's it to you? I thought you hated me."

"What?" She chuckled, "you thought I hated you. Come on, I don't hate you" she said in a strange cheery tone.

"Can we make the sappy apology quick? I've got places to go, Things to leave behind."

"Yeah but why? Why are you suddenly leaving like you're afraid of us?"

"For the same reason you hated me. It's my fault."

"Huh?"

"You don't need to be a genius to figure out why you were so mad, and with my new instinct it was even easier. You thought it was your fault I landed in hospital, and you still do. And that's why I'm leaving, it's my fault I didn't listen and go to Canterlot in the first place, now look what happened."

"What? I don't think it's my fault, it's your fault for being so clumsy!"

"I'm not stupid; I can see it's your fault."

"Stop trying to act so cool all the time! You think you're so important but you're not! You're not even a pony; the whole of Equestria doesn't focus on you!"

"Just another reason for me to leave then." I pushed past her determined to end this nightmare.

They might think the world is all sunshine and rainbows. Well not where I come from, not back on earth, ever since I figured out that this world had no violence, no crime, I knew that one day they'll be like us. And if they don't end up like us, this will happen again, and it could be someone a lot worse.

I heard a faint sigh from Rainbow and she called out; "alright plan b. Twilight!"

"Plan B?" I stopped in my tracks. Twilight jumped out from behind a tree and closed her eyes. Her horn started to glow; I knew what was coming next, another teleport spell. "Twilight just forgets about me, I'm not-"

As I was talking pink hearts floated from Twilights horn, floated for a few seconds, then back into her. My muscles stiffened up and my vision blurred for a second, next thing I knew I couldn't move or talk. Trying to move anything caused a searing pain.

"Works every time," she said with a smirk. "Let's go Michael." My body started to follow as Twilight led me back into town. It was like a first person game in a cut scene, I couldn't move but I could still think. I was screaming in my mind with a thousand questions but all I could do was watch. Ironic that these ponies don't have violence yet they kidnap me like this.

Twilight led me into a spare room in her library and told me to wait; I didn't have much of a choice though. She locked the door and there I was, just standing there like a disregarded tool. I knew some of these ponies might be crazy but Twilight didn't seem the type to take it this far.

Seconds later she opened the door again and released the spell with the effect of hearts floating out of her and fading away. Then she led everyone else in.

"Qué demonios fue eso! Esperar qué? Qué hiciste Crepúsculo!" I shouted, suddenly I was speaking a whole different language I didn't know English at all anymore.

If you can get past the shock it was kinda cool. I could say anything I wanted and no one would know what I was saying. Unfortunately I was not past that shock yet.

Don't worry; I'll put a translation at the end of the chapter. Or you can use Google translate, I don't know.

"Twilight, did you not test this spell first?" Asked Rarity.

"It's just the want it need it spell," said Twilight. "But Michael has told me that magic make humans a bit strange sometimes."

"Más bien todo el tiempo. Ponis estúpido..."

"What did he say?" Twilight glanced over to the others.

"Don't look at us" objected Rainbow "we don't speak human."

"Es español, pero me gustaría más estar hablando maorí. Al menos eso es de mi país... Sabía maorí?"

"Woah woah, slow down there hotshot. Twilight…"

"I'll go and try to find a translation spell. And don't you think about running off again." Twilight said as she and everyone else trotted out of the room.

"No es Como yo de todos modos podría, no creo que nadie aquí habla español de todos modos." I replied.

"Yep, you just keep talkin' there." Rainbow called from the other room.

There was a quiet knock at the window, going over and opening it I could see that black pony again

"Oh, bien que eres tú otra vez. Cómo se mantiene la búsqueda de mí como este?"

"Strange, he didn't tell me about that." He said.

"Quién es? Y por qué siguen en pos de mí?"

"Uh oh, gotta go!" He said before he pushed me back into the room and gently closed the window, then running off again.

"Okay Michael, let's try this one." Twilight came back into the room levitating a scroll. A quick glance a glowing horn, then a huge flash "so…How do you feel?"

"Hello, hello? Well I've got English back."

"Good, now you can tell us all why you suddenly wanted to leave so badly."

"Well…Actually a better way is…Twilight do unicorns have any mind reading magic?"

"Well, yes but most of the scrolls for powerful magic are up in Canterlot, why?"

"Because I can't just show you why, you ponies wouldn't understand well enough. So if I imagine it and we do some wibbly wobbly stuff with magic, then you'll know."

"Why not just tell us?"

"Because you'll just put it out on context. It's like if someone tells you the plot of a story and you haven't read it at all. You wouldn't get most of it."

After a while of arguing with Twilight, we both just realised that it was a waste of time. So instead we headed to the train station. Looking around I noticed something odd "hey Twilight."

"Yes?" She replied.

"How have you ponies' survived so long if the male to female ratio is one to ten?"

"Huh?"

"I've seen nothing but girl ponies around here, and I've only seen two to five males in this whole town. Is it something with genetics or does this world just have gender inequality?"

"Is this really the best time to be talking about this?" Fluttershy said in a half whisper.

"Uhh…Good point…I think Pinkie and I have got work anyway, come on Pinks."

"Oki doki loki!"

There wasn't much business that day, no idea why though, maybe ponies just didn't have time to stop. So Pinkie and I ended up getting out some dusty old board games.

"Battle Pegasus, scrabbler, monopoly lass heygas edition, what do you wanna play?" Pinkie rattled off the names with her head in a closet.

"Hmm…Have ponies got chess?"

"Chess? Boooring!"

"Then let's make it more interesting, whoever loses has to take over the other persons shift."

Pinkie almost instantly got interested, and bragged about how good she is with board games because of her "Pinkie sense". Instead of the board being black and white, it was yellow and purple, and instead of the knight it had a dragon piece, the same rules applied though.

The strangest thing was though that from Pinkies very first move, it was like the whole game was highlighted out for me, like I could see the whole game ahead of me and knew what to move almost instantly.

We had to stop a few times because somepony walked in, that's another weird thing today. I was sitting with my back to the door and every time I said aloud "someone's at the door" it was right, and a few other minor things that I picked up before Pinkies "sense" could. Is this something to do with Lycanthropy?

I ended up winning, but I couldn't let Pinkie work all by herself, even if she was used to it. It didn't really matter though, still little business in the afternoon. One of the ponies that came in was that black & white pony, as I handed him a box of donuts I gave him a hard stare.

"What?" He asked.

"Stop following me around, it's getting creepy; actually it got creepy a long time ago, now it's just annoying."

"Following you? I haven't seen you before in my life. But rumours have spread to Canterlot and other towns."

"So you're from Canterlot then?"

"No, why?"

"Well you put Canterlot first; you've got it in your tone, face, and body language."

"Listen I need to go." He walked out with the box in his teeth and began to fly off. Something is really weird about that pony, well weirder than everything else at least…Maybe second to the pirate but you get the picture. As I walked back into the kitchen with Pinkie I was struck with exhaustion and my legs turned to jelly.

"Here we go again." I said while stumbling to grab a bench before blacking out.

This time I was back playing chess with the pirate again, chess table still there, everything else still a giant chessboard. But something was different this time. The chessboard that was holding us all up seemed war torn, gigantic cracks in the skin of it, and smouldering craters dotting the landscape.

Looking down my entire army was still standing and I had claimed almost all of his. I had all of his pawns, both castles, one bishop and one knight. Somehow though he had me in checkmate "the art of war is winning without fighting." He said then he flicked my king at the top, causing it to topple to the ground.

"Wake up sleepy head" Pinkie said as she shook me.

"They're taking the hobbits to Isengard! How long was I out for this time?"

"Only about a minute, our shift's done anyway."

"Alright," I said picking myself up off the floor. "I'm gonna go get my record back from twilight, seeya."

I crept into the library, no idea why, I just didn't feel like going all Rambo style and busting in there. I found the record sitting on a small table upstairs next to a few papers and I couldn't resist looking. Nothing but equations though, algebra and charts filled up entire pages with arrows pointing everywhere in extremely complex equations.

A quick skim over and I said aloud. "Oh that's easy…" looking at another page, and another, it all seemed so simple to me now. Twilight walked in and asked what I was doing.

"Just came to pick up my record, and by the way how long have you been working on these?" I asked and held up the papers.

"Oh days, but you wouldn't understand them it's all magical equations and factors and fail safes."

"Actually these are simple, really simple."

"What?" She said in disbelief.

I showed her how I worked it all out with ease then wrote down the long answers, most of them over a line long. "Anyway it's getting late, I'll go now, leave you to your work."

"But…But how did you-"

"No idea Twilight, it just all seemed simple. Maybe this whole werewolf scenario isn't so bad after all."

And so I headed back to AJ's farm, another day another dollar, well bits in this case. Strange...That's how it seemed back on Earth, even in a different universe that saying is still true.

After that night, I didn't want to give up this werewolf form anymore, because I saw what I could do with it. With all the power I have. I could become a famous artist, my name echoed through history. A revolutionary scientist, leading our technology in pony form. The greatest architect Equestria has ever seen, building wonders that stand the test of time. I even had a glimpse of being the first human mage…

"Oh dear, Michael, Michael? Oh no…" Fluttershy's voice calmy and slowly woke me up, a refreshing change from when the others would usually shake me awake. But what is Fluttershy doing here? I asked myself as I slowly came to focus.

"Flutter-" bang! My head knocked against something hard as I sat up. "Ow! What the?" Somehow I didn't notice a bridge above my head, and a pool of water beneath me. "Uhh…Where am I?"

"Oh I um…I didn't want to be a bother but, you ended up in my fish pool." She ended off with a smile that only Fluttershy could give.

…"I wake up, in the weirdest places…" I put on my best 'not amused' face. After I crawled from the pool, Fluttershy was checking on the fish I might have slept on, and I was ringing out my shirt.

"So any idea what day it is?" I asked, "Haven't seen a calendar much and I've lost count."

"Today's Saturday."

"Saturday?"

"Yes, why?"

"It's just that…well humans had the same name. What other days are there."

"Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Sunday." She stopped from her work and stared at me like this is preschool stuff, even if it was I didn't expect them to have the exact same names.

I helped out Fluttershy for a while around the house with her animals. Feeding them, carrying sacks of food, collecting the eggs. And as I walked alongside Fluttershy carrying buckets of water I noticed something.

"You know it's been about five minutes and nothing's gone wrong this has got to be a record or some-oh crap there's a bear." Yep a bear standing in the field like it's waiting for something.

"Oh, that's just my monthly, hold on one minute." She said calmy laying the bucket down.

"Monthly…what? Wait Fluttershy!"

I ran after Fluttershy, when the bear turned around it instinctively growled deeply at us, Fluttershy didn't seemed phased at all though. Then it was like something took over, a whole new person. My eyes shot daggers at the bear and a low yet loud growl came out, my teeth slightly showing in a snarl.

The bear seemed to back away slowly, before my growl became louder, eyes more intimidating, and more spiked teeth appeared along with a step forward. The bear ran off and I went back to normal as it did so.

"Michael, why did you do that? How did you do that? That bear wasn't going to hurt us."

"He's a bear and he's growling, not the best mix."

"But Michael he was friendly."

"I know your good with animals but now you're good with bears?"

"I'm good with all animals. Not just little fuzzy ones."

"This world just keeps getting weirder."

As I walked through town Twilight stopped me and dragged me into the library which attracted many stares, if I still don't get enough. "Michael, did you say last night that being a werewolf isn't a bad thing?" She asked me when she kicked the door shut, literally.

"Yeah, because it is a good thing."

"But I thought you wanted to get rid of it, because you thought you were a monster."

"I wanted to get rid of it because I thought that you thought I was a monster, that and I didn't want to corrupt this world."

"And do you still want to be one? Why do you suddenly want to keep being a werepony?"

"Because Twilight, this whole werewolf thing has made me stronger, smarter, improved my senses, and I found out that I can scare things off just by looking at them, it's awesome!"

"Oh no, I was scared this might happen." She said anxiously while she opened up a book.

"Scared what might happen?"

"There are a few stages to becoming a werepony, but it's so rare that a lot of detail is missing. Stage one has all the bad symptoms, and makes the werepony afraid of what he or she is turning into, this is the best time to get it cured but not many figure out what's going on because that stage is so short."

"And…"

"You're at the next stage Michael. Stage two is when the werepony gets fooled into thinking that it's a good thing. Because of all the perks they want to keep their new 'powers' and some might even fight to protect it."

"So you think I'm going to start going around and punch ponies just because I get a bad night's sleep?"

"No, I'm afraid of the third stage. Stage three is when the werepony becomes completely obsessed with the werepony form and it takes over. They lose who they are and only the beast will remain!"

"That reminds me. What did happen when I was racing Dash?"

"Well, after you collapsed Rainbow bragged a lot."

"Figures…"

"Then you stood up and stumbled over to some trees, it looked like you were drunk" chuckled Twilight. "And when we tried to help you, you gave us this death stare, like you were going to kill us!"

"That's probably what happened with the bear."

"And then you just stumbled off again, we didn't see you change at all."

"Well if you're so worried then why not just magic poof us over there now?"

"Magic teleportation spells can only go short distances, not near far enough to get us to Canterlot."

"And the train? Shouldn't that have come yet?"

"Some genius pony decided to break a bunch of windows, so it's delayed."

"Genius meaning drunk?"

"Yep."

"Thought so…It's like something doesn't want me getting to Canterlot…But that's not important right now, you know what important, breakfast I'm starving!"

"You haven't had breakfast yet?"

"Well I just woke up under Fluttershys bridge so unless you want me to go fishing, no I haven't. I'm off to see if Pinkie will notice a missing bagel or two."

"Michael" she said in a warning tone.

"Ah don't worry I'm kidding."

When I got to Sugar cube corner, I could hear the gush of water from the shower upstairs, so I just left my bits at the table and took out a bagel. As Om nom'd the last of the bagel down, I saw Rainbow Dash walking through the town. I followed-well more like spied on Rainbow until she went out of town into one of Ponyvilles empty parks, probably planning to take a nap.

"So Rainbow, you going to tell me why you're so pissed at me?"

"Huh?" She flicked around to face me "oh it's you. I told you I'm not angry at you anymore."

"Oh yes you are, I can see it."

"No I'm not! So stop following me." Oh Rainbow you have no idea.

"Come on Rainbow. Wait… That's why you're so mad?"

"What?"

"You think it's your fault."

"My fault for what?"

"Rainbow, it wasn't your fault I fell, it was my own."

"That's…That's not why I was angry at you." She stared at the ground and her voice became more shy and quiet.

"Rainbow, look around. There's no pony around, and it's not going to get better if you bottle this all up." She turned her head away. "Rainbow please, just tell me…"

"It wasn't that you fell…It was that I couldn't save you."

"Oh…"

An...Almost normal night

With all the things going on in my life, the werewolf thing, the insanity, the whole freaking pony thing! I never thought that Rainbow would blame anything on herself, she always been so in your face. And now she's brought to tears because one little unimportant human would die. An impossible thing that for all we know could be ripping apart the universe.

"Rainbow…you thought it was your fault…why?" Guilt washed over me, obvious in my tone.

"Because when you fell, I wasn't fast enough. All the time you were in hospital you were just lying there dead."

"But Rainbow I wasn't dead. Didn't the doctor-"

"It's not that you were dead! It's that you weren't…"

"Uh…what?"

"Don't be an idiot! I couldn't save you so now whenever I see you…I know that it's going to happen again." Tears swelled in her eyes as she turned away.

"Rainbow please" I wrapped my arm around her. "All this stuff that's been happening, everything, it's my fault. I was being an idiot up on that cloud and it was my fault I fell. Don't beat yourself up."

Nothing changed, tears still rolled down her cheeks as she sobbed quietly. With a glance I saw that she was biting her lip, it did nothing to stop the tears or sobs.

God I'm such an idiot, I don't even know how to comfort a pony. Is this what I'll end up doing to the others, to this whole world, just plunging it into chaos?

"Please Rainbow; I don't want any of this. Ever since I've arrived nothings been going right, even this, it's all just my fault. Because humans are idiots like that." I pulled her in close for a half hug sort of action.

That still didn't make much of a change; I'll admit I was never one for sappy stuff. I've never noticed how warm ponies are…This stuff is always easier in Sepia tone, I just wish there was a way I could show her...

"Rainbow I promise you, once we get to Canterlot, I can show you how sorry I am."

"H-huh?" She stuttered in between sniffs.

"Apparently this princess of yours has a mind delve spell thingy. It's the only way I can really show you how sorry I am. I don't care if I have to fight an army to get that spell, I will. For you."

We sat there for what seemed like an eternity, I just sat there hugging Rainbow comforting her as she cried her eyes out. I begged and pleaded how it wasn't her fault, but she just sat there and sobbed.

I couldn't begin to imagine what she must be going through. Humans get depressed over death sure but ponies, they have no war or crime at all, something like this must be life destroying.

"You know what…"She whispered.

"Hmm?"

"You really are an idiot." She chuckled, yet tears still rolled down her face. We sat and laughed for a while, we faked insults the way best friend would.

Eventually I remembered something that could fill the gap, at least temporarily. Something magical that always cheered people up and you would have never even noticed it. "Come on; let's go get some ice cream, on me"

Looking into her magenta eyes I saw confusion before she could say a thing. "Ice cream always cheers people up, there's just something magical about it, just like the rest of this world."

Wiping away her tears she stood and we wandered off to a nearby ice cream shop in town. Even after two or three weeks I still got strange looks, it was like I was a complete stranger, back at the beginning. It was annoying and frustrating every time I noticed…But it made me feel special in this world, how I didn't blend in with everybody- I mean everypony else, somewhere where I was truly unique, like something out of a story book.

You wouldn't believe some of the flavours they have at the ice cream shop. They had the usual chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, but then they started getting weird. Flavours made from berries, flowers, clouds, thunder, rainbows and even magic flavours. I mean rainbow flavoured ice cream! These ponies are amazing!

Living in the moment I chose the rainbow flavoured, and she chose the thunder flavour. Rainbow flavoured ice cream looks rainbow obviously but thunder flavoured was dark grey, with blue patters coursing through it. What made it fantastic though is that it was made with real rainbows! No colouring or flavouring like humans do it, but real rainbows and thunder!

As we sat and ate on an old bench with faded paint, I thought aloud: "you know I don't know how all the other humans can stand it."

"Hmm?" She muffled through a mouth of thunder, literally.

"Our world seems so dull compared to yours. We can't fly or shoot magic or make potions at all, I've always wondered how people could stand it at all."

"Wait, so humans don't have any wings?" she stared at me, dumbfounded.

"Nope." I replied shortly.

"No magic, no weather control?"

"Nope, everything started out by hand, no magic or flying."

"You're right, that does sound boring."

We sat in silence for a minute or two before I broke the silence. "I'd love to see the world the way you do Rainbow. Being able to fly and stand on clouds, and make rainbow ice cream! I can't stress enough how awesome that is!"

"What you wanna be a pony now?" She laughed at what seemed impossible and stupid.

"Well, a little. Just for the day…I'll need to remember that when we get to see the queen."

"You mean the princess?" She chuckled at what was pre-school knowledge to them.

"Yeah, what's she like anyway though?"

"Tall, white, her mane goes all flow-y and sparkly. You can't miss her."

"Good to know, but you know what's better?" Before she could answer I pulled her in for another one armed hug. "Rainbow ice cream, you're the only race out there to make it with the real stuff, Brilliant!" Of course I hadn't met any other aliens but, I guess they hadn't.

After talking for a bit and Rainbow asking; "how can you sit like that?" Rainbow had to leave for work shortly after we finished our ice cream; I waved her goodbye as she flew off into the wild blue yonder.

But really, I can't stress it enough just how amazing their ice cream is here! How did I never notice it before? The rainbow ice cream had different layers of flavours, from spicy to sour; it seemed to have almost every flavour. Speaking of work, I'd better get to Pinkie's.

There's something about this world of theirs that just lifts you up off your feet. Whenever you're feeling down, it always comes around; unlike ours this world is literally a ponytopia.

I was a typical day with Pinkie though; she kept bursting out into song, breaking the fourth wall, and pressuring me on what humans cook. But I don't think it would be a good idea to say 'Oh we just butcher a cow, cook it in oil for a bit then eat it.'

By the end of the shift it wasn't the cooking that had worn me out, it was Pinkie's attitude, how on earth can that pony have so much energy? It's like someone gave her sugar pills that were on steroids.

It was sunset by the time I got off work, "this author really needs to cut me some slack." I thought aloud. I ended up walking through town and as I did I spotted Rainbow in one of the crowds, it wasn't hard though, a rainbow mane sort of sticks out.

"Hey Rainbow!" I called as I ran up to her.

"Oh, hey Michael what's up?" She turned around and by the look on her face; it looked like she'd had a pretty rough day too.

"I just got off work and have some spare coin. Wanna go grab a drink?" As soon as those words escaped my mouth, I realised that it sounded like I was asking her out. I tried to hide the surprised look that popped onto my face as I realised.

"Yeah sure, follow me I know a good place."

It didn't seem like she noticed and if she did she didn't really care. More than anything I was relieved, it would have been just waaaay too awkward if she took it that way. Naturally I thought this would be a normal night, just us hanging out. Oh how wrong I was.

I didn't know whether we were in a bar or a café, I was just too tired to tell the difference, but Rainbow always had a way of livening things up. I ended up ordering some blue and green drink called dragon tower that Rainbow recommended.

I didn't pay much attention to it but that black and white pony served us our drinks, you know the one that's been stalking me? Along with the pirate that, as always, was invisible to everypony else. "You're in for the ride of your life son." He said before turning away and walking off into the crowd, it was almost like he melted into the background.

It turned out that it was a bar that we went to, more like a nightclub actually. I didn't notice because of the surroundings or the music pumping in the background, I only noticed because I saw that Rainbow was drunk. She didn't seem tired at all anymore and neither was I, but she was obviously drunk.

"You guysh look sho funneh you know that? No wingsh er horns her nothin'."

"Yeah you're drunk."

"Wha? I am sho not drunk!" Even though she denied it, she had the look of drunk all over her face.

"We should probably go."

"Wha? No we don't itsh only shree in the mornin'"

"It's midnight, and you're drunk."

"Oh come on! Jusht another drink."

"Right, let's go." I dragged Rainbow out of the bar into the cool night air; she stumbled and tripped as she walked.

"Hey what-what're we doin' out here it's rude to the, the other ponies."

"You're drunk." I said letting her go.

"Your shexy." I'm guessing she meant to say sexy, but let's not go there.

"Let's get you home, you don't need more booze." Rainbow's legs gave way and she fell to the ground.

"Carry me please." She held a hoof out, and with a sigh I picked her up and put her on my shoulders. Normally ponies are heavy as hell to pick up, so how did I do it? Well a good diet, all the running and oh yeah, I'm a werewolf. I would have wondered why I hadn't changed but all I was focusing on was getting Rainbow home.

As I carried her along with a small constant pressure on my shoulders I remembered. "I'm guessing you're not good to fly?"

"What? I can sho fly, I'm the besht in Equestria!" She swung herself off my shoulders and landed with a thud. "Ow…" Her voices muffled by dirt as she laid face down.

"Yeah, you're not good to fly. Maybe Fluttershy has a spare bed then." So I picked her up once more and we carried onto Fluttershy's cottage.

As we walked and Rainbow hicked and giggled at everything we saw, I wondered why I wasn't drunk. I'd only had one less drink than her, and I didn't feel a thing. Okay maybe a little tipsy but not as bad as her.

We knocked on Fluttershy's door, seconds later it creaked open I was surprised she was still awake. "Oh, hello Mi-…" She stared at me, confused as Rainbow towered above her.

"Yeah…I know this looks awkward but do you have a spare bed? Because Rainbow is drunk, I might be half drunk, she can't fly, and we need a place to sleep, just for one night."

"Well I…" She stopped and stared, as if weighing out the good and bad of this whole situation. "I guess it's all right if it's only for one night."

"Thanks." I lowered Rainbow off my shoulders and carried her to Fluttershy's guest room, still guessing that she wasn't fit to walk anytime soon.

I don't know if humans can handle the drink better than ponies, or if this is just another mystery. But for whatever reason I wasn't drunk. As for the room, it was similar to Applejack's guest room. A mirror, desk, table, window, the only difference was a double bed instead of a single one.

I laid her down on the neatly made bed. "Try and get some sleep, you'll be better by tomorrow." I said trying to pull the covers over her.

"Oh come on Michael, looshen up and have shome fun. Let's party like its 1979!"

That pirate's words echoed in my ears "you're in for the ride of your life son…" Suddenly getting into the same bed with a drunk pony seemed like a really, really bad idea. But I wasn't going to walk all the way through town, then back to AJ's farm, hell no. So I was determined not turn it into one of…those situations…

I got in the other side and rolled over into a comfy position. "Well, g'night Rainbow."

"Sho Michael, wanna 'ave a little fun tonight?"

"That's just the alcohol talking Rainbow, go to sleep."

"Aww come on, it could be fun…" Well this is awkward…When I said I needed some slack I didn't mean this kind of slack!

"I said no, go to sleep already."

"You know you wanna…" Oh god what the hell did that pony put in her drink!

"Sorry about this Rainbow…" So I had a thought that if I could scare off a bear just by staring at it, maybe I could put her to sleep, or at least knock the idea out of her head. So I sat up and tried to mimic the stare I used on the bear, staring into her hazed magenta eyes.

"Woah…" She muttered before passing out on the spot.

Who could've known how weird ponies were when they got drunk. But I couldn't blame her for she tried to do, she was drunk and it was late. God knows what would've happened if I'd been drunk too, I'm not keen on crossbreeding at all. Thank god for mysterious immunity to alcohol.

"Yup, no more implied themes for you tonight, goodnight Rainbow" I rolled over and just as I was about to drift off, I felt Rainbow hug one of my arms closely. "Well…Better than the alternative" I whispered to myself, and drifted off to sleep.

So it turned out to be a…mostly normal night. But oh how wrong I was…

Gazing through a Rainbow

I awoke with a heavy weight on my eyes as I struggled to open them. Drowsiness swept over my body like a blanket as the gentle light of the sun woke me. Slowly I sat up and stretched my back, like trying to squeeze all the tiredness out of me. Trying to focus my hazy eyes I rubbed them with my knuckles.

By my knuckles weren't there, and neither were my fingers. I looked down and that's when the impossible truth hit me. Staring down at them I could only think that it was a dream, but looking around everything was normal. So why had this happened, because the truth was I didn't have hands, I had hooves!

Bright blue hooves, I can't even describe what the shock felt like, I wanted to scream my lungs out but I couldn't, I wanted to wake up but I didn't. What was even worse was what snapped me out of it. I slowly peered over to the other side of the bed and there it was…my body. My body just lying there sleeping like nothing is wrong. I swung the covers off myself and the truth hit me with all its might. I was a pony! Noticing I was blue reminded me of Dash, but she wasn't anywhere in the room…Oh no…

I reached around the back of my head and pulled my hair into view, it was not my hair though, it was much too long to be mine. Looking at the long hair to the side of my eye, it was…Rainbow hair, but it can't be true. I wanted to scream now more than ever in my entire life. But it's impossible, I need a mirror.

I flung my-well Rainbows legs out of bed and stood up, only to quickly tumble down to all fours, then all the way to the floor. "Ow…" I was surprised that out of all the words in the world, the first word that came out of my mouth that morning was ow.

I tried standing up again, but my face met with the floor every time I tried. "Why isn't this working?" I thought. But if it really was true, if I really was Dash, then I couldn't walk like a human anymore. Ponies can't walk of two feet; I knew from that moment on, I knew it was going to be a long morning. And you think it's hard for you to get out of bed?

Then another awkward situation came to mind, should I wake Rainbow? Well, I mean should I wake myself up but- oh you know. So all I could do was lay there on that hard wooden floor, for a while I wondered how she'd react when she woke up. Then an extremely awkward thought came to mind, that we weren't even the same gender. I quickly pushed that thought aside and tried to stand up again.

"Okay, let's try this again," I said for the tenth time this morning. Yeah, over ten attempts at just standing, believe me it's harder than it looks, especially when you weren't born a pony. So I'm just going to skip what seemed like an eternity of standing and falling. But walking, that's a whole different story.

It felt like I was walking on…Well hooves, no other way to describe it. No fingers at all, how did ponies do this all day? One time I tried flying, but that was no easier. You'd think that flying in Rainbow's body would come as naturally as breathing. But it was like trying to poor a drink into a shot glass that's on a record player, on a running cheaters back, while you're riding a unicycle and being shot at. Yeah, it was that hard to fly as Rainbow Dash…

So after what felt like an hour of just tripping and falling I finally got the hang of walking and made my way to the mirror. Leaning against it was the only way I could stand on two feet, or stand at all really. And that's when I saw her. Rainbows face just staring back at me, I couldn't believe it, I was really a pony! A living, breathing, flying rainbow pony! "I know I said I wanted to see the world through her eyes. But not like this."

I heard a mumble from the bed, fear struck into my heart like a knife, and my heart leapt up into my throat. Well Rainbows heart actually, but you get it. "Rainbow?" I almost instantly regretted saying that as I heard another mumble from my body. "Uh…I think you need to see this Rainbow."

"Sleeping, go away." She mumbled waving a hand at me; I'm surprised that she hasn't noticed yet though.

"Rainbow, wake up and look at this. You really need to."

"Just five more minutes mom…"

"Okay then…I guess you don't want these Wonderbolt tickets then. Maybe Twilight can have them." I couldn't help but let a smirk smear over my face.

"Wonderbolt tickets! How did you-"She shot up in bed in excitement, but her excitement quickly turned into a blank stare.

"Morning Rainbow, how do you like being human?"

"Wha-"She stared down at my body. Well it was her body now, with hands and skin and no wings. "AAAAHHHHH!" She screamed. It felt like that scream shook the whole building. "What, but, how, who?"

"Yeah, that's what I thought as well. So how's the new body fitting ya?" I don't know why, but I just couldn't let an opportunity to freak Rainbow out pass by, not one this good, no way!

"Michael…What did you do!"

"Hey don't look at me; I woke up just as surprised as you. But one question…" She stared at me blankly with a horrified look on her-well my face. "How do you ponies walk like this?"

"How about you tell me what's going on first!" She shouted at me.

"Well, we've basically swapped bodies. That's as much as I know, but I've gotta say Rainbow, your body is pretty comfy."

Before Rainbow could object the door flung open and Fluttershy burst in. "Rainbow, is there something wrong? Why did you scream?"

I stood there blankly as the yellow pony was finally my height; I wondered what to say because she was obviously talking to me. "Uh…Nothing, Michael just had a bad dream."

"Oh, do you want to talk about it Michael?"

"Nah it's fine, just get back…Whatever you were doing just now."

"But are you sure that-"

"Yep sure, by now!" I slammed the door in her face; it felt pretty bad that I just kicked Fluttershy out of her own guest room, but she couldn't find out.

"Wait…hello, hello; testing…I sound just like you!" I said in a revelation, I'm surprised I didn't pick that one up before.

"Yeah but, wow do I really sound like that…Well anyway, why didn't you tell her?"

"Because she can't find out!"

"Why not?"

"I thought you'd know Fluttershy by now, if she finds out then she'll scream and tell everypony everywhere, then probably faint."

"Yeah, but shouldn't we tell somepony?"

"Look, this is going to be hard enough as it is, we don't need another problem on our back. Woah!" I fell over onto the floor again, "yeah, it might take us a while to learn how to walk."

So we both got to learning how to walk, I'd already learned the basics by myself, so I could walk like a drunk at least, but it's better than falling over.

"Wait…" Rainbow hesitated "If I'm you….then…" Rainbow looked over what was now her shoulder, and screamed AHH-"I shoved my hoof into her mouth, boy this is going to be confusing to tell.

"Quit screaming, or it's going to get real hard to keep coming up with excuses.

"Bfffph mph wfnphs." I pulled my hoof away and she repeated "but-but my wings…I don't have my wings anymore!" The look of disaster fell across her face, sad quickly turned to sadness as she hung her head.

"Hey cheer up; I don't want to have to get you drunk again."

"Wait…You wanted to get me drunk!"

"Hey I just wanted to get a drink; you took us to a bar and got yourself drunk. Besides you look pretty happy when you're drunk."

"Well, don't you think we should get this fixed? You can't use those wings…can you?"

"Nah, it was hard enough walking. Speaking of that, how do you do anything with these hooves?"

"Us? How do you do anything with these…things?"

"What? Fingers?"

"Yeah, it's like having ten mini hooves."

"You get used to 'em. We should probably get out of here, at least into the living room or else Fluttershy will get suspicious." So we walked out into the living room like two drunks, stumbling all the way there. Luckily Fluttershy wasn't anywhere to be seen, huge relief.

"Okay, so how are we going to get this fixed?" Rainbow asked, it's funny how she can't figure out how to sit down in my body.

"What? Not comfy in there?"

"Real funny wise guy but this is serious!"

"Come on Rainbow, haven't you ever wanted to swap bodies with someone?"

"Yeah, with another pony! Not someone like you."

"Think about it though, you're a werewolf now! You can scare people off with a single glance, you have ten times the strength you used to have, and you can tell what people are thinking just by reading their faces."

"That does sound pretty awesome…" She said, looking to one side, considering it.

"And I can finally fly! Humans have always wanted to fly, plus I'm finally eye level with everyone else." I kept encouraging her to try and keep each other's body, just for one day. Plus her body is really comfy. Don't ask me how to describe it though.

Neither of us can really cook so he decided to head to a café, luckily it was Saturday so we didn't have to work, gigantic relief because she can't cook and I can't fly. As we were walking in no real direction I said "okay, let's lay down some ground rules. We don't want each other to screw up our bodies, or our reputation."

"You've got a reputation? Besides what's so great about your body anyway?"

"Uhh, hello you're a werewolf now! And I don't really trust you with that much power. So don't get too angry, don't go punching through walls, and for the love of god don't look anypony in the eye too long!"

"Well you don't try to fly then. I don't want my wings ruined by some amateur."

"Actually, you're probably going to need to know how to use your, well my fingers…" Just so you know Rainbow Dash is useless in a human body. She can't even make a fist, but I don't blame her because I can't even move her wings.

Once we got to the edge of town we got out basic muscle movements down. We could walk, gesture, and talk. The only flaw is that Rainbow can't move her new fingers, and I can't fly. Hopefully no pony will notice…right? I didn't really feel comfortable around my own body anymore, it just reminded I'm not who I used to be, so in town we went our separate ways.

As I walked through fields in no real direction when I realised something…I'm not human anymore. I can finally leave it all behind! All the hate and misery of earth, because for one day I can be a pony like everyone else, living in a perfect world.

"Haha! Finally, I can finally leave it all behind! But what to do now that I'm a pony? What to do, what to do…Oh duh I'm a Pegasus." Okay I know I promised Rainbow that I wouldn't fly. But if you had a chance to fly, be free, wouldn't you? And I've got a whole day, she won't notice.

I closed my eyes and focused on where her wings were, and with no effort at all her wings gracefully swung open. It felt so natural, like I'd been flying all my life, "I can finally be free". And with a single swoop I kicked off the ground and shot up into the air. As my eyes shot open in amazement, I was flying faster than…Well anything! With the speed of a race car soaring through the air, it all felt so natural, I was barely doing anything. Why was it so easy now? I have no idea, and I don't care.

It was the most amazing feeling in my entire life; when you fly you just feel so alive! Like you can do anything you want and nothing can get in your way. How can other ponies stand not being able to fly? I could dance on air, I was light as a feather, and I can't express how free I felt. More free than any human ever could.

So I flew. Over vast forest and over mountains, through clouds and snow through rain and thunder, and into the wild blue yonder. Where was I going? I didn't know, and I didn't care. But now I know why Rainbow Dash acts like…Well Rainbow Dash, who wouldn't when you could get this amazing feeling, all day, every day.

I looked behind me and saw one of life's most beautiful sights. I saw the brightest, clearest, most vibrant rainbow in existence, spreading over all the land like a beacon of joy. It had just been one morning of flying, and when I finally landed after an age of flying, of soaring and dashing. I touched down. It was then that I made up my mind.

I want to keep this body.

I know it sounds crazy, but none of the flaws came to mind while I was in Rainbow's body. Like a little world of my own where I could just be free. I know it sounds selfish as well but I just couldn't stand to lose that freedom.

I flew for almost the entire day. Now and again I would see if I could fool Twilight and the others, and I easily did. Twilight was the only one that showed suspicion, and if the others did I couldn't tell because I wasn't a werewolf anymore. But then again that might just be Twilight's curiosity…Maybe…

Sort of seemed like an unfair trade really, I get to be a utopian pony with a heavenly ability for flying, and she gets a medieval curse. "Oh well, I'm sure she's having fun having…slightly physic senses…

By the days end I laid back on a white cloud watching the sunset, cheesy I know but I'd be lying if I said that Equestrian sunsets weren't beautiful. And it turns out that clouds are a bit like pillows, when you beat them they can turn as comfortable as bean bags.

There was only one thing that seemed to ruin that day, and that was the sunset. I know I just said it was beautiful but it was a constant reminder, every second I looked into it I was reminded that the day was over. And I had to go back. Back to being just a normal human, how couldn't fly or use magic at all. Sure I was a werewolf but that would only last for so long.

But that wasn't the only end it reminded me of…

I ran out of nerve to star into it any longer, so I flew off. Not lightning fast as Rainbow usually would, but just at walking pace. Well…Flying pace I guess, but I had an idea in mind.

It took me only…around five minutes and it was done. I managed to build a hammock out of clouds on the ground in the middle of a clearing. You'd think it would take me a while but it didn't. Because unlike clay or cloth, clouds can be thought controlled, and that just made it so much easier.

So I laid there, singing a little tune to myself while I relaxed. Once again, somehow pony bodies just felt comfortable. "Ain't nothin' gonna break my stride! Ain't nothin' gonna slooow me dooown!"

"What about me then?" That voice was all too familiar. I opened my eyes and my own body was there. I wasn't sure of it but it felt like Rainbow was using my bodies' werewolf abilities to stare right into my soul.

It didn't feel like she was staring at her body, but at me. Me inside, hiding behind her own eyes "days over, time to get outta there."

"Actually…There's a problem there…" I said with a nervous chuckle.

"What?" Normally I would have feared the end of that day, but I had an ace up my sleeve.

"Rainbow, did you actually think about how we were going to change back, or were you just having too much fun with my body? I have no idea how this happened, and I have no idea how to change it back."

"WHAT!" She yelled. It was so awkward getting yelled at by yourself, mostly because we took each other's voices when we swapped. I saw my body grab Rainbow's shoulder and pull me in. "I thought you knew how to fix this." I heard my body say, with a low growl afterwards.

"Rainbow, you mean that you hated being human so much, that you couldn't stand it for a single day? Not even when you have all this power?"

The paused for a moment, as if considering if she really had liked it. "We're going to Twilight to get this fixed. Now." She locked her stare back on me before pulling me off the cloud hammock.

"Wait Rainbow…Your using hands, almost as well as I could. How are you doing that?"

"I-I don't know. It felt as natural when I practiced a bit more. Now come on, or I'll drag you there myself." Being threatened by your own body…That's something you don't see every day.

"Hey," I said along the way. "You think we should try and trick Twilight, and see if she'll notice?"

"No, we're getting back in our own bodies."

"Why do you want back in your body so bad?"

She remained silent for a while then said; "Isn't it obvious? You've done a lot of it today."

Wow…She can harness the werewolf powers almost as well as I could…Maybe even better! That's a bit disturbing… But after I saw how badly she wanted her body back, I knew this was wrong and selfish of me.

When we came to Twilight library, I went in first, calling out; "Twilight, we have a bit of a problem." She was studying at a nearby desk, then with an annoyed half sigh half groan, she said without bothering to turn around:

"What?"

"More of a big problem actually." I walked up next to Twilight, without a glance she responded:

"Cant it wait? I'm busy."

"Nope, Rainbow want's her body back." She turned with a surprised look in her eyes.

"Uh…what? Who want's their what back?"

"Rainbow Dash wants her body back. And you're the only person with any real magical anchor for this story, so we came to you."

"Rainbow…A-are you okay Rainbow?"

Just then, Rainbow walked through the door; (I'd flown ahead to try and explain.) "She figured it out yet?" Rainbow said impatiently.

"Figure what out?" Twilight asked, drowned in confusion and questions.

"Long story short," I began. "Rainbow and I swapped bodies, we agreed to stay in them for a day then change back. The thing is…We forgot that we don't know how to…"

"But…But that's impossible Rainbow."

"He's not Rainbow, I'm Rainbow." I heard my own voice call out.

"But…But you're Rainbow and you're Michael. How could you two have swapped bodies?"

Is this another prank Rainbow?" She said and looked at me.

"Rainbow already told you Twilight" I said. "I'm Michael, and Rainbow is in my body."

"Then…Then why do you're voices sound the same?"

"Well." I heard Rainbow say, in my voice. "If we swapped consciousness then that wouldn't have any effect on us physically, that includes our vocal cords. So while we may have swapped bodies somehow, our voices are still that of the body we swapped into." Rainbow stood there dumbstruck by what she just said, like she didn't understand a word of it. "How did I do that?"

"Okay now I know this is a prank, Rainbow could never give an answer like that!"

"Twilight please" I asked her, it sounded a bit more like begging at the time. "This, this right here, this isn't Rainbow, this is Michael. A human trapped inside a pony's body. I can tell you every single fact about me and if that doesn't get you to believe us I don't know what will."

"Hmm…" She looked up, wondering if this was all part of a prank, or if it really was true, no matter how impossible. "Okay if you really are Michael in there, then show me." A smug smile went across Twilight's face, like I was going to freeze up and admit this was a joke. Oh how wrong she was.

"I'm Michael, human, 13 years old and a werewolf. I'm from Earth in the constellation of the Milky Way."

"…What was the first word you said to us?" She pressed on, still suspicious.

Oh the first word I said to you? AAAAAAHHHHHHHH! That was the first word I said, happy now?"

"Well…Michael could of just told you all that. And I'm not falling for another one of your pranks Rainbow."

So then I just gave up in a 'meh ya can't blame a guy for trying' kind of way. "…Okay." I said quickly.

"What?" Twilight and Rainbow both said, equally confused.

"I'm done, don't believe us then." I said, backing away, in a casual way.

"You're not fooling me you two."

"No that's fine, pull up a chair Michael, any chance for a cup of tea?" I asked, sitting down on the spot. Yes I practiced sitting down as a pony as well, not as comfortable as the human way though.

Twilight turned around and tried to go back to her work, but she didn't start writing at all. And every so often she would glance back at us; she just couldn't focus with us staring at her, well not with me at least.

Because she knew I was telling the truth, even while hiding behind Rainbow's eyes she could still the human inside of my new body.

She became tenser, the intervals between her turning again became shorter, until she turned and just stared at me. And I'd put on a serious look, a grave look to try and show her that we weren't lying, but she already knew it.

Until…

"When did this all start?" Rule one: always have more than one ace up your sleeve.

I told her about yesterday, including Rainbow getting drunk which attracted a swift punch to the side. The only thing I didn't tell her is when Rainbow tried to hit on me, and what she tried to do after…I don't think she even remembers herself though.

"So, how did you not get drunk then? The book didn't say anything about being immune to alcohol."

"My guess is that humans just have stronger livers than ponies do."

"And can you stop being so paranoid about that pony you keep telling me about? Maybe it's just a coincidence."

"Yeah…sure…coincidence…" Coincidence? Yeah right.

"Wait…" Said Rainbow as Twilight inspected every book on the shelves. "Why do you want to get out of my body so soon now? Just before you were begging to stay in it."

"Because Rainbow" I began. "It's not my place to play God in this world; if you want your body back I'm not going to stop you."

"Well, I've read every book in this library at least once, and I don't think I've ever come across anything like this." Twilight finally stated.

"So that means…"

"We might have to take this to the princess. You'll be amazed at how huge their library is there."

"Good, we can finally get this fixed." I heard Rainbow say.

"But, the train doesn't come until tomorrow." Twilight added.

"Sweet, another day of being Rainbow!" I guess you know who said that line.

"Wait, what if the princess doesn't believe us?"

"I'm sure she will." Twilight encouraged, "she knows that she can always trust us. And she would never do anything horrible to anypony, even if you are stuck in Michael's body."

"All right! Cross body road trip!" I shouted out, wrapping a hoof around my Twilight and my hijacked body.

"First line of the chapter!" Pinkie called out, somehow coming out of thin air behind us.

New surroundings

We all set out to Canterlot the next day. Twilight, Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Rarity, and even Spike. The time on the train was both relief, and torment. The relief that I could get back into my body, and the torment that I had to get back in my body. I would have gladly traded a year of human life for a day through the eyes of Rainbow, or Twilight, or Pinkie. This world is so free for the terrors of humanity, but we had to endure that terror to gain all the riches we have today. Technology above all, because if we hadn't suffered, some of our greatest inventions would have never been imagined.

At one point I stared out the window and though; "I could just run off. Go and start a new life, no one would ever believe that Rainbow was in a human body. I could go and be free as long as I wanted to."

But I'd made a promise.

I couldn't believe everything that they had done. These ponies had fought with gods and demons and asked for nothing in return. They don't ask for wealth or fame, just to be acknowledged.

To think that after all they had endured Rainbow couldn't figure out how to sit down. I ended up having to push her so she would fall back into the seat. Apart from that there wasn't much talk between us two. I knew she knew what I was thinking, so maybe she was thinking the same thing. That we could stay like this…for just a bit longer.

But all things must come to an end. So as my mind wandered it was interrupted by an excited shout "there it is!" Pinkie's voice snapped me out of my trance. I looked upon the city and it was magnificent, far more beautiful close up than when I was flying, shops, clubs, homes, and a mighty castle all on the side of a mountain.

Twilight explained that the castle was where we would be heading tomorrow, and that the princess had allowed us to stay in some fancy hotel. We needed to unpack first then we would each have a free day to ourselves.

Not that I would need much unpacking though, all I was carrying was a few pencils and pens, my IPod (Still not working), the record and that picture. That mysterious picture just scribbled upon a tiny square of paper. Well, that and a few of Rainbows belongings, they didn't exactly make human backpacks here so Rainbow ended up putting two saddlebags on me after I struggled doing it myself this these hooves.

As the train slowed to a halt at the station, Twilight prepared a new spell she had been learning. It was an altered version of the teleportation spell she had commonly used, effectively getting us past the rabble of the city and the guards. The only side effect is that it might leave the pony feeling fatigued afterwards, but that was better than a citywide panic.

And so with a flash of light, and a spinning sensation for a moment or two I felt my feet touch the ground again. Well hooves in this case. The light wasn't as blinding now though, maybe it was because Rainbow's body was used to taking more magic than we were. But your guess is as good as mine.

We arrived late afternoon, around three or four o'clock.

We appeared in a huge circular room with seven beds, wardrobes and mirrors around the edge. Not to mention doors leading to probably bathrooms. But before I could really notice much if any of it, I head Rainbow call out:

"Hey Michael, I think I broke something…" Now remember she's still stuck in my body and me in hers. So I looked over and I saw my body struggling to move its own legs.

"Broke something?" I asked, trotting over to where she was stuck sitting on the hard floor.

"Yeah, I can't move your legs anymore."

"Twilight, are you sure you did that spell right?"

"Positive" she answered as the others all crowded around us. "I don't see how a simple spell like that could end up paralysing some-pony's legs."

"Well paralysing or breaking…" I muttered, hoping it didn't turn out like that. "Tell you what does it hurt when I try to move them?" I lifted up one of my body's legs and Rainbow didn't show any reaction.

"Not but I can still feel you doing that, I just can't move them." She answered.

"Oh dear" Fluttershy said. "I hope this isn't too serious."

"Actually I think I know what's wrong." I said. "Just put your legs straight and…" I straightened my body's legs. I figured it was best now to tell what was to come. Then I lifted a hoof and struck down on one of my body's knees.

"OW! What in Equestria what that for?"

"Michael what are you doing?" I heard Rarity call out.

"Trust me," I brought down my hood and struck the other knee, making Rainbow yell out again, "Should be good now" I concluded.

She tested moving my body's legs and awkwardly got back onto her feet.

"How'd ya'll do that?" Applejack asked quickly.

"Well after years of being human don't you think you'd pick up a few things?"

But we were all missing one big problem. One big problem that was right in front of us, under our noses and just a little bit to the left. What was Rainbow going to do for the whole day? She couldn't go outside otherwise she might get thrown in prison because she's in my body.

"What! You're telling me I'm stuck in her all day?"

"I'm afraid so Rainbow" Twilight said. "We don't think any of the other ponies know that humans even exist. And we can't have you being thrown in jail or causing a panic."

"Urgh, this is going to be so boring!" She said slumping back onto her bed.

"I guess so." I said, regretfully. "Nothing to do all day long."

"Don't worry Rainbow I'll stay here with you." Fluttershy offered.

After a short awkward silence I remembered something. "Well, you are a werewolf now. You could have some fun messing around with that, even if you are grounded." I said.

"Rainb-I mean Michael, you can't just go around messing with powers like that." Twilight objected.

"Why not? Look at you; you're using up magic like it was chicken at a KCF."

"Chicken at a what? What are you talking about?"

"Uh…Just a human thing, never mind."

"What's a KFC?" Pinkie asked, bouncing over next to me.

"Trust me, you don't want to know."

"Well what do they do with the chickens then? Huh, huh, huh?" Pinkie pestered.

"Pinkie, I am so glad that you're not human."

Soon after Twilight and Rarity went off to see the princess, Pinkie went off to who knows where, only Fluttershy stayed with us. I tried to show Rainbow the ropes of being human, but she didn't show any interest at all. You'd think that being an alien werewolf would be a once in a lifetime experience, but that's not how she felt about it. Not while she was grounded without wings.

"You know Rainbow; you don't have to stay in here."

"What? Why?"

"Well you are a werewolf, and from experience werewolves have pretty good coordination when they're determined."

"Even we're still getting used to you, so even if I could get out, I'd probably get you and your body arrested."

"Well do you want to be stuck in here all day then?"

"No but-"

"Then come on." I flew over to a window. "No one ever looks up, so no one will see you."

"Easy for you to say, you've got my wings!"

I knew that the werewolf inside my body had reached what Twilight called 'stage 3'. And if I read it right, then reflexes should take over with no command at all.

"Okay Rainbow, come stand over here for a second." I walked towards the middle of the room; Fluttershy just sat on the bed and watched. So I watched my body walk over and tower over me. "Woah…Weird…"

Trying to catch her off guard I lifted a hoof and swung a punch at my body, before Rainbow could even react there werewolf genetics kicked in. In my punch was blocked with a swift grab.

"Woah, how did-"Before Rainbow could finish I swung again with my free hoof and aimed for the head. I watched as Rainbow effortlessly dodged by swinging her head to the side. "Hey stop it!" She protested.

"Are you sure that's safe Michael?" Fluttershy asked in a half whisper.

"Sure it is" I turned to face Fluttershy. "I've read that werewolves are one of the hardest creatures to take by surprise." Rainbow released my hoof. "So even if she doesn't know it, Rainbow will dodge anything that comes at her without even knowing it!"

Striking out my back leg I went to kick my body in the knee, almost instantly I felt a hand grip my leg, stopping the kick. "See? Perfectly safe, nobody could hurt her even if she wanted them to."

"Hey, this is pretty cool." Rainbow said, letting a smile go across my body's face.

I ended up fighting Rainbow almost nonstop Punch after punch and kick after kick I threw at my body, and it dodged and blocked them all. Not a single one got through.

"Wouldn't you like to do something less…Dangerous? I could go get a board game, or some books." Fluttershy offered.

"Hey yeah!" Rainbow said excitedly. "A new Daring Doo just came out. Do you think the Canterlot library would have it in Fluttershy?"

"I bet they would, I'll go and check."

"Thanks Fluttershy!" All the time they were talking I tried to sneak around my possessed body. I swung my front legs around my body's neck, only to be flipped over its head and onto the floor. Normally that would leave a throbbing pain in your head, but for some reason Rainbow's body was pretty durable.

Shortly after Fluttershy came back I complained; "oh now you're just showing off!" As Rainbow tried to read every punch was dodged or blocked without even a glance.

Rainbow laughed as every attack was blocked without even a thought from her, "maybe you're just not trying hard enough."

"Michael, I got a book for you too. It's still over here." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah alright, I could use a break." I vaguely heard Rainbow mutter 'finally'. But it didn't bother me.

Rainbow said someone like me would love the Daring Doo series. But it didn't catch me at all. It was all pretty predictable and I kept imagining humans instead of Daring, just to be snapped back whenever it mentioned 'wings' or 'Pegasus'.

"Meh." I said shortly, laying the book down.

"Meh? What's meh?" Rainbow looked up.

"The book is meh; I'm not into Daring Doo that much."

"What! How could you not like Daring Doo? It's absolutely un-put-downable!"

"I don't know. It just doesn't seem like that good of a book to me. So what'd you say for another round?"

I saw my body sitting there, but with Rainbow's expression written all over it. Just plain shock, the kind you'd get it someone didn't like chocolate.

"Nah," she said shaking the expression off her face. "That's got to be like fifty rounds I've beaten you."

"Come on, one more round. You're probably half way through the book anyway."

With a sigh, Rainbow agreed. "Fine, one more turn at beating you."

Predictably I lost. Rainbow got bored throughout the fight. Blocks turned to dodges, and Rainbow lost motivation. SO with a swift move she pinned me to the ground.

"Gotcha." She got up and I saw my body towering over me.

Thinking I could fool my body's new werewolf senses, I got up and tried to slam my book on Rainbow's head. With a slight yelp from Rainbow my body spun around, blocked the hit, and pushed me flat in the chest with enough force to send me flying across the room and out the door. The only thing I could think of before the blow connected was 'OH SNAP!'

I blew the doors open, smashed against some kind of wall and flopped to the floor. I laid there for several seconds out of shock. Well shock and the fact that I'd had the wind knocked out of me.

"Rainbow, what happened?" I heard Twilight say. Craning my head up I saw my body wrapped in some sort of magic chain spell, with everypony else looking at Rainbow like she'd just killed somepony. "Michael, what did you do!" Twilight yelled at my body.

"Actually…Twilight…." I struggled to get any air at all back into my lungs. "I'm still in here." Looking over I saw what I'd hit after I flew out the door. It was a spiral ramp of glass, wrapping around a tower connecting with the base. Murals sprawled across the inside of the long spiral, paintings from Mountains to Cloudsdale and from sun to moon.

Looking down I saw that we were probably five stories up. I couldn't believe this was a hotel. When ponies say fancy, they mean pimp fancy.

Twilight lifted me up onto my feet with her magic. "What happened here?"

"Uh…You know how you said not to screw around with Michael's werewolf powers?" Rainbow asked.

"Yes…" Twilight replied, suspicious.

"We screwed around with 'em." I interrupted, chuckling to myself, no idea why but I was just laughing.

"What's all the racket?" I heard somepony ask.

In a panic Twilight shoved Rainbow back inside. "Uh nothing, nothing, everything's fine." Twilight said.

There was that black and white pony standing down the ramp, I've started to hate the sight of him. Every time I see him he either is stalking me or has no idea what's going on. "Yeah but I heard –"

"Oh that was just a little magic gone wrong. Nothing to be worried about."

"Huh…Okay, goodnight then." He said before disappearing back down the ramp. Looking at the clock in the fancy hotel room it was night, half past six actually.

"Whew…Okay inside, both of you." Twilight lifted us inside as the others followed. She had a harsh look in her eyes like we were being lectured by a teacher. "So what happened that made Rain- I mean Michael almost break the door off?"

Before Rainbow could say much I said "check this out." I swung a punch at Rainbow again, and without warning the others or herself she grabbed my front leg, spun around and flipped me onto the floor.

"Quit it Michael!" Rainbow objected.

"Turns out that my body now protects itself without itself even being aware of it."

"I told you not to go and mess around with this Michael, what if somepony got hurt?" Twilight lectured.

"Well what'd you expect us to do? You all leave us here with no books, no games, no food. And how could we resist messing around with these kung Fu werewolf powers?"

"Clam down Twilight, no pony got hurt." Rainbow said. This was backed up by Pinkie and Applejack. Fluttershy was neutral and Rarity agreed with Twilight. But eventually she caved in.

"Okay fine, I guess it's okay if no pony got hurt. But we're going to see the princess first thing tomorrow morning to get you back into your own bodies, get Michael back to normal and…"

"And what?" I asked.

"And…Then to get some breakfast." Twilight said, I glanced over at Rainbow and she was thinking the same thing. She shook her head. Twilight was hiding something…

We all went to bed shortly after that, Rainbow not wanting to spa anymore and the others all tired from doing their own thing. Pinkie was exhausted though, completely worn out. Which made me wonder; 'what was she doing?'

But I stayed up for a bit reading up on werewolf facts from a book Twilight had brought. It wasn't an encyclopaedia or anything but it gave you a well enough idea of werewolves, or 'wereponies' as it called them. Turns out werewolves get full of rage when sealed in a small room.

Even when I was a pony, I still sunk almost half way into the bed. It felt like the bed was stuffed with clouds which for all I know, they could have been. They might have had a tiny bit of sleeping powder on them as well, because for whatever reason I fell asleep almost instantly that night.

It seems that almost every night I wake up in an impossible place, and tonight was no exception.

I was snapped awake by a short scream; I shot up and looked around. I knew instantly that I wasn't back in the hotel; the room had paint on the wall that showed the night sky, with enough detail it looked like the walls should belong in a museum. I also saw that I was in bed, a huge semi-circle bed with a moon pattern on it.

Looking down I saw that I was back in my own body again, fingers and hands instead of hooves. But there was no time to celebrate because I looked over and saw a dark blue alicorn staring at me. It didn't surprise me that she was staring; I bed there were rumours, and I guessed that ponies had made it a fairy-tale instead of fact.

But I'd never seen an alicorn before, and her mane wasn't normal either. It flowed and didn't seem like hair at all; more like someone pulled a bit of the night sky and used it as hair.

"Oh hello" I started off. "Can you tell me where I am?"

"You are trespassing in the royal bed chamber. Guards!" She shouted.

"Royal bed chamber? Oh so I'm guessing this is the palace. Another mystery is why am I human again? Maybe whatever caused it was only temporary. Actually I didn't catch your name, who are you?" If this had happened back when I first arrived, I would have freaked out, but now this all seems normal to me.

Suddenly two guards burst through the door, one an earth, and one a Pegasus. "Princess Luna, what's wro-"The guards stopped and stared.

"Oh you're Luna; don't know why I didn't recognise you." I said. "And I'm guessing you're the guards then."

"Guards, arrest this criminal!" The guards looked at each other briefly before turning back to me, anger in their eyes.

"Uh…You might not want to do that." I said, getting out of the plush bed. "Also why are you talking like that, am I back in medieval times?"

The guards charged at me with record speeds, and without even thinking I sidestepped one and countered a kick from another, flipping him onto the floor. "Sorry, I warned you." They got up and charged again, just to be quickly countered.

"Do you mind calling off your guards? I'm here to-"I saw Luna's horn light up and in an instant I was wrapped in dark blue chains, stopping me from moving or even talking.

"We shall take it to the dungeon!" Luna stated.

Along the way I tried to talk, but Luna and the guards ignored the muffles. But one time she asked me: "What are you, criminal?" Removing a chain so I could talk.

"Before I answer that, could I see Celestia? Because I came here to-"She wrapped the chain back around my mouth, silencing me for the whole way.

Eventually we got to an old brick cell, with a heavily barred door. They threw me inside, Luna released the chains and they locked the door. The cell way tiny and was only lit by a single candle on the floor.

"Luna let me out of here; you're making a huge mistake!"

"What harm could you possibly do in there?" She said a hint of mocking in her voice.

"Luna let me out of here now! Everypony in Canterlot is going to die if I stay in here!" That might be a little extreme but seeing that werewolves are smart, fast, and strong. I'd imagine it could escape easily.

"Are we afraid of the dark now?" She mocked. "You're a criminal and will be held on trial."

"Luna listen to me. I came here to get this thing cured and if you keep me in here it's going to get out and kill everyone that gets in its way! So the question is; are you willing to kill an entire city just to prove that you're right?"

Luna paused for a minute, she wondered if I was telling the truth. Then she said: "I shall go find my sister, maybe she will know what you are. Guars, keep an eye on this one."

They saluted as Luna walked back up the stairs, resuming their posts.

"I don't supposed either of you are going to listen then?" I asked the two guards, they didn't answer. "I thought so."

It seemed like forever with nothing to do, but eventually Luna came back, following closely behind her was Celestia.

"You say he broke in?" Celestia asked Luna.

"Ah come on, what'd I break? I don't even remember doing it." I objected. "More importantly, Celestia you need to get me out of here now."

"Not until you answer a few simple questions." Celestia said.

"We're all running out of time! Get out of here and I'll answer whatever questions you want, but I need to get out of here now."

"You seem to be forgetting who is in charge here criminal." Luna objected.

I knew that they weren't going to listen. But if what I read was real, then it's not my fault they didn't listen and they get knocked unconscious…Or worse.

"Okay, fine. Ask away, let's just pray that I don't black out again."

"First of all, what are you? You don't look like a pony." Celestia asked. "And what are you so afraid of?"

"I'm human, come from a completely different universe. I came here to get this werewolf thing out of my body, I read if you lock up a werewolf in a small space, then it takes over the host and kills anything that gets in its way to the outside. That's why I need to get out of here."

"Human...Hmm human, human…Do you know Twilight Sparkle by any chance?"

"Yeah, I lived with her in ponyville. She and her friends are staying at some fancy hotel waiting to see you. Or probably looking for me."

"Why didn't you say so? I shall write to Twilight immediately." She said, turning to walk back upstairs.

"So I can get out of here then?"

"Hmm? Oh no you will still be kept down here for security purposes."

"Oh sure that makes perfect sense! Lock a claustrophobic unholy werewolf combined with a human down in a dungeon where it only needs time to get out. Real solid plan you got there."

Celestia and Luna walked out, leaving me with the two guards keeping watch. So I had to wait, it was terrible knowing that they were so ignorant that they couldn't be bothered to listen, and that they were going to pay for it.

"Last chance to run you know." I said.

"You can't scare us criminal." One of the guards said.

"Well what if they're both wrong huh? What then?" They didn't respond. Then I felt drowsy all of a sudden, blurred vision, most of the signs that the book described.

"Can't say I didn't warn you." I said before blacking out. That's got to be the hundredth time I've passed out now.

I woke up in one of the castle's many hallways, with Celestia holding me down.

"He's waking up." I heard Twilight call out. Looking around I could see the floor was scattered with guards, all badly beaten.

"Man, what happened here. Oh yeah, I did." I looked up at the princess. "Can't say I didn't warn ya…Oh crap, I didn't kill anyone did I?" That's when the real fear began to sink in.

Back in the dungeon cell I thought that they would listen or that at least the princess could stop me. But after seeing all it took to stop this werewolf inside me, I could have killed somepony, and be locked up for life.

"No, luckily we were able to stop you." The princess told me.

"Why didn't you warn them Michael" Twilight said, anger in her voice. "And how did you get into Luna's bedroom anyway? You could have killed somepony!"

"You think you're leaders are perfect don't you Twilight? Able to stop anything terrible from happening, well not even they are perfect. They were so stubborn that they wouldn't let me out, even knowing that this might happen."

"Princess, you didn't really cause all this, did you?" Twilight asked.

"I'm afraid I did, neither of us listened even after it warned us." There was a moment of silence from everyone. I guess they all really did think their leaders were perfect. Until I broke it by saying:

"You know, you can get off me now. So we can finally get around to curing this werewolf thing."

"How do we know you are not still dangerous? You have beaten my royal guard, snuck into my sisters' bedroom without a trace, and even admitted that you are a werewolf."

"Exactly, and after all that do you still want to mess with me?" After Celestia not responding I pushed her off myself and stood up, she was only a bit heavier than some of the other ponies, like Rainbow Dash.

"Wait a minute." Rainbow called out. "Didn't you say you wanted to keep those powers?

"I do, but not if it means every time I wake up there's a chance I'm going to wake up a murderer."

Twilight grabbed my shirt and pulled me down and spoke in a hushed tone. "Michael are you crazy! The princess could lock you up for life, or banish you, or even….execute you! Aren't you scared?"

I stood up from my kneeling position and responded. "Nope, I'm not scared. Because I know she's scared of me."

That conjured a "what?" from both Twilight and Celestia.

"Why would you think I am scared of you?" Celestia asked.

"Over a thousand years of knowledge and experience, you've practically grown into a demi god by now. And then something new shows up. Something you know nothing about, any weaknesses, or strengths, or tactics. And something that just beat down your entire royal guard, and something that you don't know how to stop."

I could see a slight glimmer of fear in Celestias' eye that became obvious just for a split second. The fear of what was inside me. "Now, let's go get that book."

Luna guided us to one of the oldest sections of the library. It was old but was constantly being updated with new info. The evolutionary archives, every year or so it is filled with dozens of new books with discoveries on biology, psychology, and chemistry of every living thing out there.

And yes, I said Luna was leading us. Even though a thousand years had passed, she retained most of the information she had when banished. Werewolves or 'wereponies' were more common in those days, and are little to none in this era.

The library was huge, the size of a football stadium. I asked Princess Celestia how she managed to fit it all in, because from the outside it seemed like a tiny bedroom sized room. "Powerful magic can do powerfully things Michael, but I assume you know that."

Turns out it wasn't just a Tardis room spell, it also had a powerful near mute spell onto it that Celestia had to disengage. The spell was designed to turn the loudest noise into little more than a whisper.

"I always love it in here" Twilight said. "So many books."

"Yeah, yeah, let's get going so we can find this thing." Rainbow complained. "Urgh it'll probably take forever."

"Found it!" I called out, after a mere two minutes of searching this vast library. The others all rushed over. It was in an old wooden display case.

"How did you find it so quickly?" Celestia asked. "I've memorised dozens of sections but not even I could find it."

"Powerful magic can do powerful things Celestia." I mocked. "But I assume you already know that. Okay, let's see what we need to cure it, then we can-"I hesitated for a moment, not knowing what I was going to say next. "Uh…Let's just see what we need."

Luna cracked open the bookcase with some magic. Call me crazy but I think that everything in this castle has a magical lock on it; hell the book might even have one on it.

"Page 243" I said, the words slipped out like I'd memorised the book entirely. Luna shot a quick look, I guess she still hates me a bit for breaking into her bedroom, and know thinks I'm showing off to Celestia.

"Okay" Luna said, as her eyes skimmed over the words, fast as lightening. "To cure a werewolf we must have…Powerful magic, a dragon scale, water from a lunar river, and a drop of the werewolves' blood."

"Wait, why dragon scale? Dragons aren't exactly magic."

"Well…Actually they are."

"They are?" Celestia said, breaking her normal calm attitude.

"Yes, back in the old times dragons could use powerful elemental magic. They could conjure fire, dispel storms, and move entire mountains! Up until they became more and more rare, no pony knew where they disappeared to…But that's a story for another day! All of this should create a strong enough magical potion to wipe the curse from your body."

"Okay then, Spike come here a second." I said, gesturing for him to come closer.

"Michael! We can't use Spike!" Twilight objected. "He's just a baby dragon! Besides, it says here we need mature dragon scales."

"In that case we must travel north to the lands of Earth-rim, where we can find dozens of dragons, and the dragon-born."

"What? No we don't." Celestia said. "We could just go to old Canterlot; I heard there's a dragon living there now."

"Oh…really? So this isn't going to turn into an epic long quest sort of thing?" Celestia and the others shook their heads. "Oh…Okay then I'll get the map."

A gem of a day

I stared up at the stain glass window showing Twilight and her friends, all defeating someone named discord. Amazing that these ponies can go back to living a casual life after something like that.

A world with no greed, violence, or hate, a perfect world…"This is all just a fairy-tale, no world can be this perfect" I said to myself, my words slightly echoing in the vast hallway. I heard Twilight call me to gather supplies, I had forgotten about that.

We all gathered supplies. A map, food, water, tents, and some marshmallows. "Why not have a little fun?" Pinkie reassured.

"Going to perform an ancient ritual to banish an unholy demon from an alien, and you get marshmallows…Good plan, I'll get some Mead as well."

We also gathered some rope, when I asked what it was for, Luna replied. "Let us call it…insurance…"

I could feel the princesses and guards staring at me, and sometimes even catch them in the act. Maybe I was onto something when I said that the princess was afraid of me. Then again, who wouldn't be? When you think about it, all races are xenophobes, always fearing the unknown.

But while everyone was occupied, I snuck down to the forge under the castle. I'd seen it on my way down to the prison and thought "well they won't know I'm gone for just a second…"

So I came, and I saw. A gigantic room of stone and steel, pots of molten steel boiling away, fresh virgin blades straight from the forge. So why did I come down here? Let's call it insurance…

The heat was incredible, like stepping into a pot of boiling oil. You could work up a sweat just by staying in here for a few minutes. There were barely any torches at all; the room was lit by the eternal glow of the simmering possibilities that was the metal.

I roamed around trying to find just a small blade, a dagger of some sort. Of course I mostly found armour, I doubted that ponies even used swords and shields but if I wanted one, this was the place. And it turns out they did. I found a dagger fit for a king. Metal that gleamed in the light with a subtle blue shade, perfectly balanced and it felt as light as a feather in my hand, with an eagle head on the tip of the handle.

This may seem like a nice blade to choose, but it would be too obvious for it to go missing. Instead I settled on one of many steel daggers, plain hilt and handle. As I walked I also picked up its sheath and a small rod of flint. I'd figure nobody would see those small details smudged out.

So why was I stealing it instead of asking the princess? Well I doubt that the princess would let me have a blade in the first place, I'm already dangerous enough as it is, but it's just in case we see a wild animal looking for some lunch.

I tucked half of the small knife into the belt of my pants and hid the rest with my shirt.

I came back up to the main hall, where everypony was waiting. "There you are where were you?" Applejack asked.

"I was just…taking a look around is all. This castle looked like it was conjured rather than built."

"Well that's a story for another day." Celestia said. "Let's head out then."

"Wait Tia, you must stay here to look after the castle while I am away." Luna pointed out.

"Do not worry sister; our advisors can handle this while we are away."

"Celestia, you know a princess must be in charge at all times."

"But this will be one of the only times I get out of the castle and get to have a little fun!"

"If I can be locked in the moon for a thousand years, I think you can handle this. You owe me big sister."

With a sigh Celestia surrendered "very well. I will stay here to look after the castle. Just…" Celestia pulled Luna close for a whisper. "Be careful around that one, we still don't know much about it." I could hear it from the other side of the room. Thank you werewolf ears.

With a loud cough that screamed 'let's go already' Celestia said: "well then, you had best be off. Good luck to you!"

With a wave we started off on our journey. Luna, Twilight and her friends, and I all teleported outside the walls to a forest on the base of the mountain, luckily no big side effects this time. "Let us go then, this shall be a long trip."

"How long are we talking?" I asked Luna.

"Around a day to get there on hoof, we should arrive next morn."

"Are you going to talk like that for the whole trip?"

"Yes, yes I will."

An uncomfortable silence fell across us as we walked, not a single word was muttered, not even by Pinkie Pie. It's like they felt as if something was going to jump out and swallow them whole. Did they notice I took the knife, or is it because I'm a werewolf? Maybe these ponies are just paranoid…

I broke the silence by saying "so why is everyone so silent? Usually Pinkie would be singing by now."

"Can you not feel it?" Luna answered, "This place is un natural. It has a tense feeling that keeps rising. Not to mention the unexplainable things that conspires within the trees."

"But this is just a normal forest, what's so 'strange' about it?"

"Are thou blind? Look at the clouds, and animals, and the flora."

I gazed up to the sky, clouds moving normally. No ponies around to help the animals, that's just nature. And the plants are growing normally.

"Seems legit to me, what are you all so tense about. It's weird seeing all of you silent."

"That's exactly what she means Michael." Fluttershy said. "The clouds are moving, plants are growing, and animals are taking care of each other…All by themselves." Her voice dropped to a near whisper.

"Why does thou not find this strange? What world do you come from?" I sensed a flicker of fear in her voice.

I couldn't help but laugh at all of this, as much as I tried to hold in it a burst of laughter came out. "What is so funny Michael?" Rarity asked.

"Okay…So we have a two pony mages, to Pegasi, two strong earth ponies, and a goddess…And you're worried because the clouds are moving…That's silly, this world is silly." I said in-between bits of laughter.

"Wait, this is normal for you then?" Twilight said.

"You know, if you came to earth you'd probably get nightmares or something. All of this, everything happening, is called science. But I don't think you know about that."

"Hey we have science." Twilight objected.

"Our two races could learn a lot from each other."

"Why!" Rainbow burst out. "What makes you humans so much better than us, huh? What do you have that's so great and that we don't?"

"Well we-"in mid-sentence I spotted over Rainbows shoulder, that black and white pony hiding amongst some trees. Shaking his head and hooves as if screaming 'NO! NO!'

"I…can't tell you…"

"Yeah, why not?"

It became obvious in a matter of seconds, I don't know if it was my werewolf instincts or my initiative, but it became obvious.

"Because if I do tell you, then you ponies would jump ahead in the technology tree, gaining new tech that would still take you hundreds of years to think up, and even some that only humans would think up."

"But if you do tell us, then couldn't we use it to help?" Luna noted.

"You could, but that's what happened to us. Human's had mastery over technology and almost destroyed itself twice in our own lust for power. I don't want that to happen to this world."

"Yes but-"

"Believe me; it's for the best…"

Another wave of uncomfortable silence came across us. I do not know how long it was before another voice was heard. But it felt like an eternity of eternities'.

I half regret starting up that conversation now. Because I knew what would happen next especially with someone as curious these ponies.

That sentence would ignite the spark of curiosity that ignites a question, which fuels impatience. Right up until it…

"Michael, why do ya'll hate humans so much?" explodes…

"Hate them? Applejack I don't hate humans, we're a great race, not that I'm trying to brag."

I heard a subtle 'yeah right' from Rainbow Dash. "Yeah Michael, why are you always so mysterious about Humans?" Twilight asked.

"I would also like to know." Luna added.

"It's not that we're pure evil or anything like that. We're actually a fantastic race. Art, music, technology, science, and writing. But if you look at some of things we can imagine, it shows how evil and twisted our minds can really be."

"You said that your race almost destroyed itself…Twice! How did that happen?" Rarity asked me.

"Two world wars…Where the whole earth took their weapons and slaughtered each other. And do you want to know why? Because we were tried of each other, so our best solution was to get rid of the other countries that we hated, permanently."

"Gosh…That sounds pretty grim Michael." Applejack said in a concerned tone. "Are all you humans like that?"

"No not all of us, best I can remember the world was at peace when I left. Or dragged out I guess."

"So is that all there is to your people" Luna asked. "If you don't enjoy some pony's company you…get rid of them?"

"No it's not like that. But our race seems to have an urge for killing or war…" They all trotted on silently.

"You make it sound really depressing you know that?" Rainbow joked, but as she saw no pony was laughing, she quickly regretted making it.

"But enough depressing history lessons! Let's talk about something else…"

Another couple of hours passed, Pinkie was singing all the way trying to lighten the mood after that surprisingly heavy story. And it worked all right; Pinkie seemed like Equestria's #1 anti-depressant.

But eventually my legs gave up on me, even if I was a werewolf, I hadn't had breakfast and we were walking nonstop for a couple of hours. I collapsed under a shady tree with a heavy sigh to rest.

"Michael, are you okay?" twilight asked.

"Yeah I'm fine…just really tired is all."

"Sheesh we haven't even been walking for that long, how can you be tired already?" Rainbow asked.

"Easy for you to say, you ponies are literally built for walking long distances. We're not; we basically removed walking if you wanted to go somewhere far away."

"But you didn't seem this tired a few days ago."

"A few days ago I had a fish for dinner, it may not be much but at least it's a bit of meat." Luna was petrified, thinking how Twilight and others could possibly trust me. The others all had terrible looks on their faces, remembering the sight of my face stained with blood.

"Oh don't give me those looks. Humans have to eat other animals for eat, it's part of our biology. If we don't we start to lose energy."

"Come, we must reach our camp spot before nightfall." Luna said, as she rolled up the map.

Only two minutes after we started walking again, a faint thumping rang in my ears. I didn't think anything of it at first; I thought that the forest was just playing tricks on me. But it grew louder and louder, stronger with every beat as it intensified.

"Okay, can anyone else hear that?" I asked everyone else. By this time the beat grew so loud it could not be ignored.

"Hear what?" Luna replied.

"That stupid thumping! It's getting louder."

"The forest might be playing tricks on you outsider. This is a strange place."

"No, a land of magic ponies is a strange place, this is a normal forest. But seriously, you can't hear that?"

"Didn't you say humans need...Well…To kill other animals?" Luna's voice had an obvious tone of disturbance.

"No no no, not like that." The beating grew into pairs, "wait….that sounds like a…" I stepped away from the others and off the trail, the volume of the beating slightly drained and climbed back up as I joined the group again.

"That's weird…" I walked over to Luna as the beating grew faster and louder. "Hey Luna, stop for a second…" Everypony stopped at this odd request.

"Michael," Twilight began. "Can't you stop acting crazy for one minute? Seeing pirates and stalker ponies, getting bitten by a wolf and now this?"

Twilight was right, a lot of weird stuff has happened to me in the short time I've been here. But I ignored her and leaned down to Luna's chest, listening for changes in the rhythm. The beats grew louder and faster once more, and then it was obvious.

"Luna, that's your heartbeat…I can hear her heartbeat, why can I hear her heartbeat?"

"Werewolf, let's just stick with that for now." Twilight said with frustration in her voice as she and the others trotted on.

A whole day of walking passed, and as we got deeper into the forest they didn't mind the 'creepy' details as much. The shadowy figures looking at us from the trees, or the clouds moving by themselves, it started to feel natural again, like I was back on earth. Luna's heartbeat had faded from annoying, to hypnotic, to silence. I didn't care about the explanation because it would probably just be magic anyway.

We arrived in a small clearing

"We should stop for the night" Luna said.

"Yeah alright." I said as I helped Twilight take her pack off.

"What no objections, no questions?"

"It's been a long day; I'm just glad to stop walking…And if I did ask a question the answer would either be 'magic' or 'werewolf'."

There was little talk as we all scouted out to do our jobs. Luna and Twilight pitched the tents, while Rarity 'insisted' on cleaning up the campsite. Rainbow and Fluttershy tried to clear away the clouds so no rain would fall on our heads, but the fact that their hooves went right through the clouds worried us all even more.

I was put on firewood duty, it might not be the most glamorous job but at least we'll have a fire going. As my feet shuffled along the forest floor I thought about what I could do with that dagger I'd slipped from the castle. Maybe make a fire of my own and go fishing? Then again I didn't know how to catch, scale or gut a fish so that was out. Also I'd probably be put in jail…again, if they knew I'd stolen something. Humans…We aren't that trustworthy are we?

Both Pinkie pie and Applejack were having trouble collecting wood for the fire, it felt good to be a human then; at least we don't need magic to pick up wood. "Hey you guys, you can go and help Luna with the tents if you want." I offered.

"Huh, why?" Applejack asked "don't ya'll want our help?"

"Well…Ponies can't really…Well you don't have fingers and it's pretty obvious that you aren't getting anywhere."

I could see Applejacks frustration in her eyes as she shot a quick glare at me. I don't blame her, being Applejack and all. But she went without…much of an argument, and Pinkie just tagged along as usual.

"Oh you humans, never wanting help, always thinking you have to do things alone." Turning around I could see that pirate with an amused look all over his face.

"Nope, not doing this again" I said walking off.

"Wait what? Come back!"

"Nope, not gonna happen!" I called back to him, it's bad enough that everypony thinks I'm crazy, I'm hoping that Luna won't have to know.

But like the devil that he is, he kept at it. Trying to lecture me about human behaviour as I collected the firewood, I tried my best to ignore him but he's like an itch that's just always there.

"Okay I'm back" I sighed as I dumped the firewood on the ground and walked into camp. Pinkie was balancing a ball on her nose while Twilight and Luna sat around with the rest of the group. But Rainbow was missing.

"Where's Rainbow, she usually want's to show off by being the first one done."

"Says the guy who gives big dramatic backstory speeches." I looked up and Rainbow was lying on a tree branch with a blanket and pillow.

So night eventually came, as the sun disappeared from sight we lit the fire. Pinkie was literally begging to break open the marshmallows only a few seconds after a small flame appeared. It was hilarious how we had to literally pin her to the ground to stop her from devouring the marshmallows.

I ended up pinning her to the hard forest floor and the others went back to tending to the fire. Her soft fur felt warm in my hands, I just wished the others could get the fire started already. Eventually Pinkie stopped thrashing and kicking, I almost let her up but Applejack called out.

"Don't let her up, she's just fakin' it."

And with Pinkie's cover blown she went back to thrashing. All those sweet she all day really pays off in the energy department, even though I'm double her size it still took a lot of effort to keep her pinned. But everything has to run out, so she stopped resisting for real this time as her energy drained from her. It's hard to believe that someone would get this upset about sweets, but that's Pinkie for ya.

"So…how's ya day been then?" I asked out of something to do rather than actual curiosity, due to the size difference it's quite awkward trying to hold a pony down.

"Let me up already Michael, don't you like marshmallows?"

"I do, then again I don't like having them run out in the first ten seconds."

"Yeah you can let her up now." Rainbow called to me.

"Kay" I stood up just to be bowled over as Pinkie charged towards the pink packet of sweets. "Yep that's Pinkie for ya."

In an instant Pinkie broke out the marshmallows, stabbed them on a stick and handed them out. Well more like forced our hands to take them but you get the idea.

We all sat around the comforting glow of a warming fire in friendly silence. Luna had performed a quick fireball spell to get it lighted "So do you know magic missile?" I asked.

"Magic what?" Said Luna, confused at my odd question.

"It's nothing never mind, just some old earth thing."

Hovering our treats over the fire, some literally hovered them over the fire. Luna had questions brewing in her mind and a thousand thoughts chattering away in her head. Just by looking at her I could see she was troubled.

We all sat on heavy logs that both Luna and Twilight magic'd over to us. Rarity and Fluttershy had thrown a blanket over theirs, everypony else sat normally. But for some reason Pinkie sat sort of…upside down…Her legs on the log and head on the ground she stared into the mesmerising flames. I can't blame her though; even the fire seemed more vibrant and alive in this impossible world.

I stared at Pinkie and the fire so long that I completely forgot I was cooking. My memory suddenly snapped back and I yanked the treat out of the blazing flames. It was dark and burnt on most sides and I sighed to myself. "I am not cut out to be a cook." I said to myself "but no use in wasting a marshmallow."

As my feet shuffled beneath me I noticed something hard and sharp underneath. It was poking and irritating my foot but I just thought it was a stone at first, until I reached for it. Brushing away a thin layer of dirt I found it gleaming in the light.

"That's not a rock…" I mumbled to myself, the others watched as I bent down and pulled out a magnificent gem from the ground. "What the hell?"

"Oh my gosh!" Rarity gasped. "Did you find that just now?"

"Wow…" Spike said as he admired the newly found treasure.

"Yeah but…" I looked at it closer and it obviously wasn't natural at all. A perfectly cut diamond, flawless actually, buried only a few centimetres beneath the ground. It was impossible. "It's probably fake."

"I can assure you that it is not, give it here and I can prove it to you."

"That's real alright" Spike noted. "I can tell just by looking at it."

"It's true that dragons do have a natural sense for treasure." Twilight explained.

"Orly? Let's see about that then…" I laid the diamond down with a sharp side facing up, and then found a huge rock, big enough I had to lift it with both my hands. "Thank god I'm not a pony anymore…" I muttered as I felt the incredible weight on my arms.

"What are you doing? You're going to ruin it!" Rarity called out in desperation.

"If this really is a diamond, then consider this: Diamond is the hardest substance known to man, and probably pony kind, it's going to take a lot more than this to ruin it!" I raised the huge rock up to my head then threw it onto the gemstone with devastating force. As it hurdled to the ground I could hear the whole group gasp in shock.

I expected to hear cracking, feel the vibration of the stone smashing the fake jewel, and see broken glass scattered around the boulder. But I was so wrong.

The boulder slammed into the gem with agonising force, enough to crush something as fragile as a fake diamond. Instead of smashing the diamond, the rock split in two as it collided with the diamond. There wasn't even any delay as the diamond seemed to cut right through solid stone.

The two pieces of stone lay defeated on either side of the diamond, which hadn't moved an inch. A silence hung in the air as we stopped and stared at the sight. The silence turned from what I thought shock to an 'I told you so' kind.

"Wait…WHAT!" I shouted to no pony in particular

"I told you it was real." Spike gloated.

"Why does this world have to screw over so many rules?" I sighed, sitting back down on the log.

Spike walked over and claimed the treasure then gave it over to Rarity. Out of nowhere Rarity managed to conjure up a jeweller's workbench. As she arranged the clusters of tiny knives, saws, and magnifying glasses she told me;

"I'm quite the appraiser you know, how do you think I know what gems to use for just the right dress?"

She as and studied in silence, using tiny magical lights to aid her. After five minutes she confirmed "yes it is real alright, almost flawless actually. But how did you find this?"

"It was just…under my foot." I hesitated, noticing an obvious question I needed to ask. "But how in Equestria can a diamond be buried under a centimetre of dirt in the woods? Oh that's new, I've gotten used to saying Equestria now…Equestria…E-questria, Equestria! It just rolls off your tongue!"

"Yes…Well anyway…" Rarity went back to studying the diamond treasure.

"What, this doesn't happen back on…That place you come from?" Spike asked.

"Let's put it this way: The chances of that happening are about as likely as getting sucked into a world of magic, and dragons and…" I realised now just how likely that is. "Ponies…Um…Yeah it just doesn't happen."

"That's weird, Rarity has a whole trunk full of gems right Rarity?" Spike explained but Rarity didn't give an answer.

"Anyway it's been a long day, let's hit the hay."

"Hit the hay?" Pinkie asked, sounding as confused as ever, as only a few things ever really confuse Pinkie. "I've only hit the hay in a punching bag, or maybe a cupcake…Maybe a punching bag filled with cupcakes!" Yeah, Pinkie always gets off topic like that.

"It just means going to sleep it's not…never mind I can't be bothered."

"Why so tired all of a sudden?" Spike asked.

"I've been thrown in jail, hiking for the whole day, haven't had any meat-"Luna gave me a shocked look, like I might eat one of them in their sleep. "Oh don't give me that look, you know humans eat meat."

"That is the problem, you have not had any and we are out here with you at night." Distrust flowed through Luna's tone.

"Yeah but I wouldn't- oh never mind! Both those things and now I've just found a priceless gem."

"Isn't that a good thing though?" Spike asked again.

"Yes- but no- but…Ah hell I don' know! I'm just really tired!"

The others caught onto the idea shortly after. Dowsing the fire and blowing out our lanterns we all huddled off to sleep. The thumping came back though; it went on and off all night. I was sleeping with Rainbow in my tent which brought back awkward memories of that…disturbing night…

"Well I just hope that Luna doesn't break out the beer for breakfast…" I thought as my mind slipped to sleep by the rhythm of Rainbow's heartbeat.

Cure to mystery

"Oh look at you, so sad and alone and confused. The whole world just took you by surprise didn't it?"

I had a first person view of something towering above the ground, and staring down from a dizzying height I could see myself staring up at…whatever I was supposed to be.

"You never think about it, no one ever does, you never think they'll go until it's too late. Oh this world can be just as cruel as mine…"

I heard a ghostly whisper begin to pull me out of the dream. "Michael…Michael…" I began to rock as the dream collapsed around me and I ever so slowly opened my eyes.

I had that hazy early morning vision as I rolled onto my back and I saw Twilight trying to shake me awake.

"Urgh…wha…" I muttered in that early morning tone.

"Michael, I want to show you something, come on." She whispered and backed out of the tent.

"Great, even when I'm surrounded by ponies I have to wake up early for something."

So I sat up and stretched out all the stiffness in my back, rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes, and crawled on all fours outside.

As I crawled out I expected to be blinded by the morning sun, instead I was met with darkness. I stood and gazed up to the sky. It was still dark, filled with tiny stars and a brilliant shining moon that gave a slight glow to the campsite.

"This had better be the beast bucking thing in the world if you get me up at this hour Twilight."

"Please just come Michael, and you can't tell anypony else!" She said in a hushed tone as she led me away from the campsite.

"Wait, shouldn't we have…" I got interrupted by a huge yawn that I bellowed out. "Woken Rainbow Dash by now?"

"Are you kidding? Not even an earthquake could wake that pony up."

We eventually came to a small clearing around a hundred metres away from our original campsite. A slow, chill inducing wind blew from the right; it felt like my entire body was being frozen one bit at a time.

"I'll get some firewood again" I told Twilight, looking around for any twigs or leaves.

"What, why would we need firewood nopony else is supposed to know? And it's not all that cold tonight."

"Twilight answer me this" I said as I wandered around collecting a small bundle of sticks and kindling. "Do you see any feathers of fur on me?"

"Well no….But is it really that cold for you?"

"Unfortunately…" I made a small pile of sticks and dry leaves to start a fire with. Or was it more like a clump of sticks…Maybe a bunch?

"So what'd you want to show me?" I asked her. By that time my eyes had only slightly adjusted to the lighting, the only thing visible was Twilight's eyes as almost everything else blended in with the background.

"You always talk so much about humans, but you never say anything. So I managed to sneak something out of Canterlot…" Twilight held up a large scroll that was only now visible with her magic illuminating it.

"So what's that then? Don't tell me you want to open a portal to Earth or something…"

"No nothing like that. This scroll is a telepathic projection scroll that stimulates the Limbic system and the temporal lobes!"

I sat there silent, with a blank look on my face, still trying to catch up to what she had said. Twilight obviously noticed this. "It's telepathy."

"Oh okay. But let's get this fire started, and let's keep it small."

"But…I don't know any fire spells Michael."

"Well guess what" I pulled the sheathed dagger out and slid the blade out of its casing. "You're not the only thief." I said with a smile, but Twilight still jumped back at the sight of the blade. "Oh come on Twilight, it's not like I'm going to gut you or anything, now where's the flint."

"Yes…of course…" Twilight was still afraid of me, I bet they all were, even when I wasn't a monster.

So after a few strikes with the dagger grinding along a flint, I managed to get a small flame going, eventually nursing it into a tiny fire only about half a foot high.

"Okay so how does this work?"

"Wait you're okay with this?"

"Yeah why wouldn't I be?"

"You always say how we shouldn't find out about humans because you're afraid it will do something to us, or start a pony war, or anything else. Not to mention I stole a magical scroll form the most heavily guarded city in Equestria!"

"Exactly, you went through all of that just to find out about my race, I think you deserve an answer at this point. And I think you've been around me long enough to have a little insight, so let's get started!"

"But humans can't use magic can they?"

"Well…let's find out shall we?"

Twilight explained how to work the scroll, not even knowing what would happen. Surprisingly it was relatively simple for a spell as powerful as this one. All it needed was the scroll, a few gems, and a Pegasus feather.

"Wait, where'd you get a Pegasus feather?"

"Plucked it from Rainbow when she wasn't looking." Twilight had a sly grin across her face, the one you get when you try to lie but just fail…really badly. After muttering a few words and casting some sort of spell Twilight told me; "Now put your hooves down here and close your eyes. Now try to clear your thoughts and focus on one scenario."

"Like what?"

"Anything, a town or a field or on top of a mountain."

We sat and I placed my hands in the middle, Twilight had her hooves on either side of my hands.

It was harder than it sounded, trying to stop your thoughts from wandering or cutting off seemed almost impossible. Every time I focused my thoughts just semi focused on something else. But from pure practice I managed to finally get it right. Lots and lots of practice…

I didn't even have to react when I was pulled out, there was barely any warning that it would happen. The only sign was a loud rushing noise like I was skydiving and plummeting towards the ground. All of a sudden it cut off into silence.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw that the entire forest was gone, every tree and blade of grass was replaced with a thick fog spreading off into all directions. I was standing over some sort of glass that was so clear, it was practically invisible.

"Twilight!" I shouted into the blinding fog.

"Michael…" I heard a voice echoing from somewhere, but it came little more than a whisper. "Where are you?"

"How should I know, was this meant to happen?"

"No…It didn't work…Try something else…"

"Like what?"

"Something simpler…Try an empty room."

"This world just keeps getting weirder." I sighed to myself. So I closed my eyes again and tried to imagine a simple room, no furnishings or windows, but still a door.

What happened was like something out of a dream, when you suddenly snap from one place to the next but never really questioning how you got there. Once again opening my eyes I expected that nothing would have happened, or at least very little, but it was the opposite.

"Michael, I thought I told you to just make something simple."

"Why what's…Oh." Instead of a simple room, somehow we ended up back in the middle of ponyville, the marketplace to be exact. But no ponies were roaming the streets, nopony had their lights on in their houses, and there was no wind at all in the town. But it was still night in this version of ponyville.

"Oh well, at least we're out of that fog, good work Michael. At least we know you can control this world."

"Wait, world, how does that scroll thingamajig work?"

"It put's anypony touching it into a sort of dream state. And the pony controlling it, that's you, had god like powers over the world. But it can't alter the physical world because this is all just a shared dream. What I don't understand though is how you managed to make a completely identical ponyville from scratch; I've read that these kinds of worlds are always distorted."

"Dreams never look unusual until you start to question things, and if you don't question it you never notice…Like that over there." I pointed out a familiar pink pony that was moonwalking across the street singing "I'm Pink and I know it!" With event he beat following her as she backed into an alleyway.

"And that…" Behind us I pointed out Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were fighting with lightsabers on a thin tightrope connected to two rooftops. Eventually they backed off onto the roof and out of sight.

"Oh yeah, and that." I pointed to a cardboard box right in front of us that shuffled across the road with the mission impossible theme suddenly coming on.

"Okay, okay I get it! A lot weird things can happen!"

"Exactly, so what did you want to know?" I lead Twilight in a walk to the library. There we would be warm, comfortable, plus it would be recognisable and familiar surroundings.

"Well you always say that humans know so much that we don't" she noted as we walked through the door. "So go on then Michael, show me something I don't know."

We both sat down on pillows by a table in the centre of the room. "Okay let's …What to do, what to do…" I eventually settled on showing Twilight the universe, from what I'd read in books the ponies didn't know about other planets, they had named them of course but it didn't look like they knew about the solar system very much. Plus Twilight wanted her mind blown right?

"Alright Twilight, you want to see the world as I do? Then here we go…"

I tried to cut off the lights, and with a little practice, did so. And with even more focus, managed to make a hologram of Equestria.

"So I'm guessing ponies know about the solar system?"

"Yes, of course we do."

"Oh in that case, I can speed it up a bit…" I took in a massive gasp of air, even though I probably didn't need to, with it being a dream and all, and rushed through: "Equestria spins on an axis while orbiting the sun also while the moon orbits Equestria, the same happens for all the other planets in the solar system. But then every solar system is part of a billion other solar systems in the galaxy which all contain their own planets, then the universe is all part of a never ending universe all around us."

"Wha- can you slow down a bit?"

"Nope, sorry. Anyway if we zoom all the way back in and take a tiny hair from your tail, then zoom in a million times, we can see the millions of particles, these are all made up of thousands of atoms, which are all made up of tiny sub-particles. The whole universe is an enormous clock working towards the sole purpose of keeping itself ticking. If you said the biggest number you could possibly imagine, and kept repeating it for a year straight, it still wouldn't be enough."

Twilight sat there blankly, looking like she was ten minutes behind everything else. I cracked up laughing at how shocked she looked at all of that, she tuned out less than halfway through. But before I could enjoy my victory too much, someone burst through the door.

"Twilight, oh crap this is bad!" I turned and saw another human running over; he had cyan hair with a black shirt, around my own age. "Sorry Twilight," and with a click of his fingers Twilight disappeared in a flash of light.

"Now listen to me Michael, you can't show her any of this, ever again." He turned and pointed at me. "This is very ,very bad for everything. Whatever you do you can't let anypony find out about this at all, or anything else about humanity got it?"

"What why-"

"Actually you're lucky to still be here, I'd have thought you would have collapsed by now."

"What are you-"

"Listen to me, something is coming, I don't know where or when, but it is coming, and what you just showed Twilight made it worse!"

"Wait what's coming?"

"The impossible will come, and when it does, the choice will have to be made. If it isn't made, the world will burn" And with another snap of his fingers, I was back sitting in the forest.

The sights and sound came flooding back in all at once, my head was struck with pain was I was forced back into reality.

"Michael, what was that? None of that could be real at all, we're the only planet in the sky with any life on it, and we can't see any others. But how does Equestria spin around the sun, it's always been the other way around, and what makes it turn? What did you show me?"

"You wanted to see the world as a human, so I made sure that you did."

I stamped out what was the remains of the fire, a few smouldering embers. As I do so Twilight asked "why did the scroll suddenly push us out so fast? I don't think it' ever done that before, maybe it has some sort of time limit on itself."

"Yeah it must have." His words still rang in my ears, the impossible coming, the choice being made, what was all that about? And who was he? Whoever he was he was strong enough to break into my dream world….thingy place and throw us out…Actually he looked like-

"Michael, let's get going, we still need to get back to camp." Twilight waved me over through some nearby bushes.

The choice…

We all awoke early the next day, Luna admitted she was surprised I hadn't run off somewhere in the night and woken up in a tree. Nut much happened on the short walk to the ruins of old Canterlot, but I spent my time questioning everything that had happened. How did I get kicked out of my own dream, and what was he talking about impossible? After what I've seen the very word had lost its meaning.

As we broke out some cups of…Well it's like a pony version of beer I guess, for breakfast, I noticed that Rainbow was drinking a lot more than the rest of us; she was drinking like Pinkie would eat cupcakes. "You sure that's a good idea Rainbow?" I asked.

"What?"

"You're sculling that stuff down like you just got out of a desert." I walked over and leaned down, going into a whisper through closed teeth. "And we both know what happened last time."

"Ah don't worry 'bout it, I'll be fine."

Five minutes later…

"Told ya…" I had Rainbow up on my shoulders now, high above the other ponies.

"Ah shuddap, you don' know noshin'!"

We were quick on our feet- I mean hooves, to get to the castle, reaching it in little over half an hour. Even that went agonisingly slow though, step we took look liked it repeated itself as we went cantering through the never ending forest.

"We're here." Luna said as we stepped through the tree line "my old home." But it didn't look anything like it did as the stories described it, it was old and decrepit and crumbling, entire walls missing that had fallen to rubble. "Urgh, I guess a thousand years has taken its toll."

We walked up eroded cobblestone stairs as we reached the main entrance to the castle, the doors had been stripped away and most likely taken to the new Canterlot. We walked inside and an eerie feeling came over me, the kind you get when walking through a cemetery at night, like something's watching you.

The main entrance chamber was completely UN furnished; only moss now lined the ancient walls for decoration, where masterpieces of art once would have hung.

"So where's the dragon den then?" I asked, then realised a better question "actually, new question, where's the biggest room in the castle because a dragon of this age is going to need a lot of space."

"As I can remember that would be the throne room" Luna said.

"Alright then, let's go find the place, Luna you lead the way."

"So we're just going to walk right in? Have you seen a grown up dragon?" Spike said.

"Don't worry, dragons don't attack unless you try to take some of its treasure, dragons can be greedy like that."

"I thought you said that humans didn't have dragons." Twilight remembered.

"Well there's always myth isn't there? And now I get to see the truth behind the myth. Anyway let's get going, and Rarity can I have that diamond back please?"

With a groan Rarity gave me back the gem; I guess she hoped I'd forgotten about it. We walked through the halls in a fitting silence; the only sound was hoof beats echoing through the halls. All of the doorways we went through were missing their doors, so I guess they weren't doorways anymore they were just...ways?

"My old throne room should be right around this corner" Luna said. We saw a huge doorway with the door, same as always, missing. A low growl crept out of the abandoned arena of a room, its source being a gigantic red scaled dragon.

"So how are we going to do this?" I asked in a whisper to the others.

"Dragons can be very deep sleepers, it shouldn't feel a thing if you're quick." Twilight told me.

"Wait if I'm quick? So nobody is coming with me?"

"You are the one with the knife Michael" Said Luna.

"Wait how did you- ah never mind!" I gave up on trying to argue with her, it wasn't getting us anywhere. I carefully put Rainbow down and continued into the room.

I crept into the massive room trying to make sure that not even I could hear my own steps. The dragon snored as puffs of smoke came pouring out from its giant nose. Masses of treasure lay around it forming a nest of gold and jewels. I noticed the way the dragon came in as I tilted my head up to see a colossal hole in the ceiling of the chamber.

In the back of my mind was a nagging thought to just run up, grab the scale and bolt out of this forsaken castle. But I couldn't help myself to be attracted to a rolled up map resting on a pile of coins. I unfurled the map and saw something all too familiar. The landmasses of Equestria were completely the same as ours! America, Russia, England, China, Japan, Spain, every country was here with the exact same shape to it. All expect for New Zealand and Australia.

I stared as dozens of questions rushed through my head, then realised that a dragon a thousand times my size was sleeping nearby. I gently put the map back to its original placing because if our legends of dragons were true, dragons hate to be cheated or stolen from.

I slid the plain dagger from my pants and slowly edged towards the dragon, then I realised that today was most defiantly not my day, probably the opposite of my day in fact. Because as I drew closer, a rumbling sound came from above, looking back up I saw a pile of bricks that had newly fallen from the edge of the gaping hole in the roof, tumbling down on top of the dragons head.

So with a loud growl it stood and almost instantly spotted me, petrified I dropped the tiny knife I held. It lowered its head to inspect me, I didn't know if dragons could speak but I could see the surprise in its eyes, seeing a human for the first time. I just couldn't stare into those eyes so I turned away, down to the floor.

What took me by surprise was that after all this time, after everything I had become; I had finally found something that I couldn't look into the eyes of. I could stare into the eyes of ponies filled with fear, the ones that hated me and thought me a monster, and even the princesses themselves, that could do whatever they wish with me.

But before I could spend too much time worrying over it I saw an old, cracked picture frame lying by my feet. I bent down and as I picked it up an aggressive growl came from the dragon. It housed an old and torn picture, well over a hundred years at least. A small red dragon, still only a baby, and a dark blue Pegasus with flaming orange hair, I realised the dragon in the photo was the dragon before me but who was the pony…If this picture was as old as it looked then this pony was long dead by now. Then I remembered a perfect example.

Twilight and Spike…

My voice was caught in my throat by fear but I managed to say: "Oh look at you, so sad and alone and confused. The whole world just took you by surprise didn't it? You never think about it, no one ever does, you never think they'll go until it's too late. Oh this world can be just as cruel as mine…"

I looked up and the dragon no longer had an aggressive face on, it was replaced with a face that asked a thousand questions.

"So is that why dragons do it then, is that why you all lock yourselves up? You grow up with someone that you love and look up to, like an older brother or sister…And then one day you just out grow them, you fly off and eventually…You outlive them."

The dragon turned to sadness now, looking back into the forbidden memories of his past, all those loved and lost. "Everybody knows that everybody dies, but the whole sky will turn dark if for one moment, everyone accepts it." He stared down to the stone floor because he knew I was right, but he dared not look back out of guilt.

"But anyway…The deal is that I need one of your scales for a special potion." He looked up at me in question. "But I know dragons are hoarders so…" I plucked the recently found diamond from my pocket. "You can have this for a scale; I don't think one scale will make much of a difference anyway."

He leaned down and in close to appraise the shining jewel. After looking at it from every possible angle he made a quick nod in reply, I guess dragons are sentient.

"Alright then" he held out his claw and I placed the diamond into it, I could just feel Rarity in shock as I gave away a priceless gem. I bent down and picked up the small knife, he swung his tail around and I started to cut through one of his end scales.

"Dammit this is taking a long time" I said a full minute later, I knew that dragon scales were hard but these were supposed to be weaker on the end of the tail, and I'd barely gotten half way through. After what felt like an hour of cutting and regretting I hadn't taken a saw, I finally cut through. "Finally…Okay thanks then…" I waved the dragon farewell, how do you say goodbye to a dragon after as something as weird as that anyway?

We left the dragon to reflect on its past as we made our way outside to the now overgrown garden, with Rainbow riding upon my shoulders once more. The grass was dark green and the walls and statues outsides had vines that surrounded them. The early morning sun made the whole garden glow as the warm sunlight reflected off the dew.

As I took in the beautiful scene I noticed that Luna was standing a bit too close for comfort, staring at me.

"Uh…Need something?" I asked, stepping back a bit.

"I was only getting a closer look. Humans are very strange creatures." She stepped forward again to evaluate me.

"Uh…Yeah I guess so…Anyway what do we need for this potion thingy again?" I asked to anypony.

"Let's see here…" Twilight pulled out her book and studied it for a moment. "Well we have the dragon scale; Luna has the magic, now we need to find the river."

"I shall lead the way!" Luna offered as she suddenly lost interest in humans. She led us through the cool garden covered with morning dew, and hidden behind a thick layer of tree's we came to a crystal clear, flowing river. "Here is the river, it served as a place for me to summon the moon in the old times."

Spike gathered a jug full of water and reported back, "Got some, now what do we do?"

Twilight looked at me with an apologetic look, "sorry about this Michael." In the instant before it came I could only think 'oh that's bad…'

I felt a surge of pain go through my arm and become more focused near my shoulder. "Aarrgh!" I yelled out of pain. Looking at my arm I saw that something had made a big gash along my arm, like someone had slashed at me with a knife, one of my sleeves got slightly ripped from the attack.

"What the FUCK WAS THAT!" I yelled at Luna who was holding the bloodied knife in hoof.

"Well how else were we going to extract blood?" She asked.

"You have all this magic and the best you could come up with is using a KNIFE?"

"Apparently…"

"Well at least the pains not as much now…" I silently thanked the werewolf half of me. Who knew that being a werewolf meant free morphine?

"Now to mix the potion" Luna summoned a cauldron out of nowhere. She poured the water in and started to cast a spell of some sort of it.

"This part will take a while, so let's leave her to concentrate." Twilight lead us away from Luna as she prepared the potion. When we were safely out of earshot Twilight began to lecture me.

"What was that Michael? How could you be so rude to the princess after everything she's done? Are other humans always like this?"

"Rude? She stabbed me with a knife and locked me in prison! I don't care if she does rule Equestria, she just plunged a dagger into my arm!"

"That still doesn't make up for the way you've been acting all this time!"

"Well why don't you try being me then? You're a unicorn, so use that magic of yours to take a look inside, take a look at what we did!" By this point we were both screaming at each other, no insults were slung surprisingly, but the argument rose in volume with each passing second.

"Okay, fuck this then!" I dropped Rainbow from my shoulders and she crashed to the ground with a thud "I'm going!"

"Going where?"

"Somewhere that makes sense!" And with that I stormed off through the huge maze of a garden.

"Who the hell does she think she is?" I muttered to myself as I tried to walk off all the hate that was bound up inside me, even if it felt like I had been walking around for over a year, it still did little to help.

"I wouldn't be surprised if I woke up in a mental hospital after this…" I was caught off guard by a sudden flash of light and I found myself back at the clearing, standing beside Luna.

"It is done, drink this." Luna handed me a small bottle with a purple liquid inside.

"Wait that's it? No big magic show? No flashy lights or special effects?"

"No…It is just a potion…"

"Well…That's anti-climactic…"

I swung my head back and began to chug down the small amount of liquid. It tasted sour, really sour, and sour enough that it was horrible to drink. I also tried to ignore the fact that I was drinking my own blood, luckily it was all over quickly though.

A rough and load cough escaped my throat as I finished the horrible potion. "Let's hope I don't have to do that again! But how long will this take to take effect?"

"Little over an hour."

A purple flash came from the side as I saw everypony standing there.

"So can we go back now?" Rainbow asked with a groan, "I have a headache…"

"Oh you're sober now…good." I shot a quick glare at Twilight, a little hate still burning within me for her. "Anyway what are we gonna do n-"I was interrupted by a loud bang, a bright flash, and earth rumbling beneath our feet…Well hooves I guess.

We all looked at each other, and in silent unison, decided to go take a look. As we reached the edge of the tree line that lead to the river, we saw something shuffle out from behind one of the trees and lean against it in exhaustion. Almost instantly I acknowledged it as the pirate that had been stalking me for so long.

With a loud cough he looked down at his hands and his eyes lit up with amazement. He stood there looking at himself for a few seconds before looking back at the tree line, as if trying to piece a puzzle together.

He shot our gaze over to us, and then quickly locked on to me in particular. The amazement in his eyes turned to fear as we took a tiny step backwards.

"I'm…real…And you're here…But if I'm real then does that…No…Oh no this is bad! Really, really bad!"

"Wh-who is that Michael?" Fluttershy managed to stutter out.

"Wait you can see him this time!" Fluttershy gave a gentle nod in return. "IN YOUR FACE TWILIGHT! You thought I was going crazy didn't you? Well I probably am but still…"

"But…how? I thought you just made him up…"Twilight said in awe at the new human standing before us. "You did make him up didn't you?" I shook my head. "But if he's real then…How did we not see him before?"

He jogged over to us, causing everyone else to step back, especially Fluttershy. "So are you real?" He put a hand on my shoulder "oh yeah you're defiantly real…But I'm not real I can't be real…" He walked away a few paces and began to talk to himself aloud. "I can't be real, I was never meant to be real…Unless…" He knelt down and inspected the ground closely for a moment. "Oh no…no, no, NO, NO, NO!" She went running back in the direction of the river and through the trees.

I ran to follow him as the others stood dumbstruck by what had just happened. Dashing through the trees I caught up with him, he was kneeling and looking at the ground. He ripped up a small handful of grass and stared at it. "Oh it had to come to this…Well I guess it always had to come to this…no matter what decisions you made…"

"Okay so you're real now, and the others can see you…Why! Aren't you just in my head, why keep following me, and who are you anyway!"

"Oh I'm much more than an illusion of your imagination..." He said, not taking his eyes off the grass. "Well technically I am just an illusion and inside your head, but trying to explain it is really confusing…"

"Well I don't think we could get more confusing than this, so you had might as well go with it. Are you something to do with my werewolfism?

"Nope, I've been around before you got 'infected', in fact I've been around since you were born, always stored away in your head." He dropped the handful of grass and stood up to face me.

"Lolwut?"

"Short answer: I'm one of your emotions that came to life through magic when you got thrown into this world of ponies. Long answer: I'm a conscious thought that became an impossible entity through the ripples of time, space, breaking of the universal laws, and breaking of the forth wall. An entity that became a physical being."

"…Okay short answer is good enough. But if you really are somehow an emotion that suddenly came to life, wouldn't we have like telepathy or something?"

"Well we do share a bond; didn't you ever wonder why no one else could ever see me? Why no one else could hear me, and how I knew exactly where you were and what you were doing and thinking? Everything that goes on up there in your head, I know about."

"But…then what emotion are you? You did threaten to kill me with a sword. Then emotionally tortured me. What the hell kind of emotion is that?"

"Take a guess…" He let me think over it for a moment or two before continuing. "The only reason I did that is because I like to get things done fast, I was also afraid because that was the first time I saw the outside, and my master."

"Master?" He stared at me and let me figure it out, after a second the wire connected in my head. "Oh…"

"Anyway thanks for getting rid of that werewolf you had swimming around in your head, it made it pretty cramped in there and stopped me from even communicating with you." He past me, a lot more calmly this time and called back to me "okay let's get going."

"What no questions? No threatening? No sword?"

"Didn't you hear me? Everything you know, I know, that's how it works when you live inside someone's mind for thirteen years." He continues walking back towards the wrecked castle.

"Another thing" I ran to catch up to him. "What about that other guy then?"

"Other guy?"

"Yeah, cyan hair, plays the flute, got into my dreams twice…"

"Um…Oh yeah, that guy! He's like your overall personality; we don't get along very well…It wasn't only me that came to life when we came to Equestria; a lot of others came to life as well. But only we decided to step out into the world."

"…WHAT! How did my emotions come to life? That doesn't even make any sense!"

"Well what did you expect? Humans were never meant to handle magic, that's why you have all those side effects whenever Twilight casts a spell on you."

"Hmm, I guess so…By the way, that blue haired guy said something about a choice that I'll have to make." He froze in his track, in mid step actually. "You know anything about that?"

"N-no, w-we don't talk very often s-so I wouldn't know…"

"Okay…So how do you know all this?"

"Well when we came into Equestria, the magic from this universe got absorbed a bit, but only a tiny bit of it. I got a sense of how magic works, and you lost your memories…Not really a fair trade but what's done is done…"

"…Did I drink too much beer or something?"

"Probably!"

A new companion

Our newly found companion mumbled to himself seeming never to stop for breath. "Has anything strange happened in your world recently?" He asked us.

"You mind coming down from there?" Rainbow called out to him.

"Yeah why are you doing that?" Spike also asked, along with many of the other ponies.

"Helps me think, you would be surprised what you can come up with when you're upside down, now can you answer the question?"

"Just come down already, it's going to be a lot easier than yelling all the while!" Twilight said.

"And how did you get up there anyway?" I asked him.

"What, have you never hung from a balcony before?" That's right…For some reason a living part of my mind can think better…When hanging upside down from a second story balcony…I don't even…

"Actually no, so come down already!"

With a heavy sigh he released his legs which were wrapped around a railing on the edge of the corroded balcony. Everypony except for Rainbow let out a gasp as he plummeted toward the cobblestone below. With almost no effort at all he casual flipped in the air and landed perfectly on his feet. A quick glance at Pinkie showed she was holding up a sign with '9.5' written on it, God knows where she got that from.

"I liked it better up there, now answer the question. Has anything weird happened these last couple of days?"

It was obvious he was growing impatient of everypony avoiding the question. Yet a suspicion bubbled in the back of my head as I began to doubt his existence even more so than before. Earlier I could have just dismissed it as magic or insanity but now that everypony could see him, he seemed less real and mysterious than before.

"Are you sure you're a part of me? You look human but you're not acting like one, who hangs from a balcony to help them think!"

"I do!"

"Also why the pirate outfit?"

"We didn't get to pick our outfits okay! Now just answer the question already!"

"Well there's you for a start, then Michael, then Pinkie-"Spike began, quickly got cut off.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah skip ahead all of that is normal. I'm talking really weird, something that just happened for no reason! Things that are impossible even by your universe!"

"…You mean like Pinkie?"

"No not like Pinkie! Any big bright lights or-or freak weather, anything like that?"

"Nope, I would've seen it" Rainbow said.

"Wait…" There was a silence as he just seemed to stare off into space, mouth slightly open, and hand suspended in the air. "…You fell off a cloud am I right?"

"Uh…Yeah I did and-"

"Okay that's good, and where did you wake up, the very first time in this world?"

"Wait good, how is that good, I was in hospital for-"

"Just answer the questions because we are running out of time!"

"Running out of-"

"MICHAEL! ANSWER THE QUESTION!" His loud voice echoed off the mossy walls of this ancient place.

"APPLEJACKS FARM!" I bellowed back at him.

"Okay we need to get back there now." He strode past us to the castle entrance.

"Why? What's got you so jumpy?" Twilight asked the new comer.

"Just trust me on this," he quickly turned on a heel to face us "so how did we get here?"

"Trust you? We don't even know you're name!" Rainbow pointed out.

"But that's not impor-…Fine! Michael give me a name!"

"What me? You don't have a name?"

"Of course not, nobody names their emotions that would be stupid; therefor it was a stupid question to ask me for a name. Now let's get back to ponyville."

He showed no signs of stopping as he took long, fast steps through the halls of the forgotten ruins. When we caught up to him Applejack asked:

"What's so 'mportant 'bout mah farm?"

"We could all be in serious danger if we don't get back there."

"Why?" I asked. "Nothing weird has ever happened there before."

"Think about it Michael. Every time Twilight used magic on you, something strange happened. You would be paralysed or stiffen up or even start speaking Spanish! Every time magic touched you the effects got worse and worse."

"So…That's just because humans were never meant to handle magic right?"

"Right, the more magic touched you the more of an effect it had because of the shock of suddenly being introduced to magic."

"Is this going anywhere?"

"When you came into this world you passed through the gap between universes and the split second you crossed into theirs you got blasted with every element that's unique to this universe including, masses and masses of magic. More powerful than princess Celestia, Luna, and the elements combined."

He spotted the sheer confusion in many of the ponies' faces, not having the faintest idea what he was talking about. And neither did I really, so he turned and stared at us with a grim face, the pure look of seriousness.

"So if a tiny teleport spell could screw you up…" A draft drawn in my mind, I quickly overlooked the facts and suddenly understood.

"Then imagine what all that magic in the void did to you…" Our faces became reflections of his, grim realisation. "And for the universe…"

We all kept up a quick walking pace as we strode from the castle and into the forest once more. Our new additions' eyes seemed vacant and empty, yet at the same time they were full of vibrant life and genius. He didn't speak for a whole hour as we walked through the forest and began our long trip back, even being hammered with questions from everyone in the group.

"Okay done…I wasn't really listening to any of that so you have to repeat your questions." Everyone was relieved that he would finally acknowledge our existence once more, as we had millions of questions attempting to claw their way out.

"Who are you?"

"Why do you have a sword?"

"Where'd you come from?"

"Do you like cupcakes!"

"How do you know all this?"

"Um…"

"Do you like parties?"

"I should've known there would be so many questions" he thought aloud with a sigh. "I told you before that I'm a part of Michaels mind brought to life when we came into Equestria, that's why only you could see me Michael, I was only linked to you. But Luna's magic brought me into a physical form."

"So what up with the sword?" Rainbow pointed out.

"We didn't choose our outfits really; I guess I was just lucky that I got a sword. Some other parts of your mind got things too Michael. That blue haired one got a flute, and I think someone had a blue box…"

"But how could you know all of this?" Twilight questioned.

"Well when we fell through the void and I came to life, I got a sudden flash of knowledge of magic and a general overview of how it works. Also I've retained thirteen years of experience and memory working in Michael's mind, so I've gotten to know my way round that too…That reminds me."

He reached out and grabbed Twilights horn. "Hey!" The purple unicorn objected. A purple glow formed around his hand and grew brighter before dropping away altogether and he pulled back. "What did you just do?" Twilight asked, trying to look up at her horn.

"Magic sample, my body can store it in a sort of data-base and once I've gotten used to it for a bit, I can use magic just like you. I'll get some of your spells as well, ones that have been mastered like teleportation, levitation, and all the others."

"That is…Unsettling…" Luna said, taking a slight step back from him.

"Yeah that's just creepy." Spike said.

With a shrug he defended; "that's the way magic works, for me at least."

It quickly got boring of looking upon nothing but bush and trees all the while, at least on the way here Pinkie would be singing, Luna would be questioning me, or we would just be all around talking. But the air seemed to turn to lead as the scenario was weighed down by seriousness, the tense silence given off by this new comer's very presence.

"I wonder what kind of sword that is…" I thought as I eyes the black blade shrouded in mystery.

"You tell me, you created it after all." He replied, somehow he was able to hear my thoughts. He pulled the blade from its sheath and handed it to me.

It was styled like a pirate cutlass with the hand guard and slightly curved blade. It felt strong and sturdy yet at the same time it felt like I wasn't holding anything at all. The blade was gleaming black like midnight, with the tip showing the slightest shade of grey to it. The hand guard was also black but was complemented by a single red circle on it, almost appearing as an eye. The grip on the other hoof had a magnificent silver strap surrounding it that stood out from the midnight black.

"I'm guessing you have no idea?" He asked me, I had forgotten the question entirely as I inspected the blade.

"Uh…No, can't tell what It's made of sorry."

"I could give it a try" Rarity spoke up. "As a dressmaker I have a keen eye for detail." With a shrug we handed it over to Rarity who instantly eyed the blade. But when she tried to use any kind of magic on it, it had no effect. "That's strange; magic doesn't seem to have any effect on it."

"Hmm…" He brought the blade back up to his eye and stared into it. "Maybe someone in Canterlot knows more about this."

"My subjects have not met either of you have they?" Luna asked the both of us.

"No" I started, "Twilight pre booked the room and we arrived at night, so everypony was asleep."

"You arrived at night you say?" The pirate and I nodded in unison. "I was wondering what you all were doing there, I guess you must have been the strange shape I saw in the shadows." She quickly explained afterwards.

"When I was performing my nightly duties on my balcony, high above Canterlot, I spotted all you little ponies walking through the streets. Naturally I wondered why you were all arriving so late but then something else caught my eye, a shadow that moved in between the buildings and disappeared whenever I came to look upon it."

"Yep, that was probably us." The pirate explained.

By the late afternoon we all stopped for a rest as hours of straight walking through repetitive surroundings left us both bored and exhausted. Pinkie remained as ecstatic as always though with enough energy to run a marathon, twice. Rainbow and Applejack however were the opposites as Rainbow lazily snoozed on a tree branch and Applejack, under a tree with her hat covering her face.

"So is that sword even real?" Spike asked our new addition.

"Well let's see" he got up and made his way over to a nearby tree. Everypony looked up or over to witness the event. With one fluid motion he slid the mysterious blade from its sheath, raised it to the sky, flicked it over and swung down at the wooden appendage with amazing speed. The blade cut like a hot knife through butter showing almost no resistance at all.

"Okay, now I really want to know what it's made of." He said with a grin spreading across his face.

Luna levitated the sliced branch over to her as she began to inspect it. "A clean cut…" She said in disbelief. "That truly is a remarkable blade."

"Wait…Did anyone else just feel that?" He asked nopony in particular. We all shook our heads. "It's like…Something just changed in the air, like the whole world changed somehow…" He started to pace back and forth. "But what, what's changed?"

"Uh…" I heard somepony whisper.

"I know there's something wrong, but everything looks normal so what could it be?"

"Excuse me…"

Did anyone see anything?" He said, stopping and turning towards us.

"I-I do…" I made out the voice to be Fluttershys'.

"Well come on then, don't waste time!"

"W-well…You might want to um…Look behind you…" Everypony and I leaned to see over his shoulder and saw the freshly cut branch floating behind him, wrapped in an orange glow.

He turned and quickly turned back "what, it's just someone using some magic."

"Yes but…None of us are doing it…"

He turned once more and saw the orange glow this time "okay so we know that the glow is unique to the pony's magical signature. So who could have an orange one then…"

"Take a guess." I said, pointing out his orange trench coat he was wearing.

"Oh…Oh good I can use magic now!" The branch suddenly dropped from his magical grasp. "Going to need some practice though…"

"Maybe when you can actually use it, we can see if your magic has any effect in that sword of yours." Twilight said.

"Hey I can use it! Just…Not very well…"

"You call that using magic? I've seen fillies do better." Twilight mocked.

"You really want to piss of the guy with the sword?"

"That depends; do you think you can take on all of us?" Twilight had a smug look over her face; I knew she had an ace up her sleeve ready to be chucked into the whole.

"Tongue turning to silver Twilight? It's not like you to be so smug and underhanded…I think we've rubbed off on her Michael!"

The following hours of walking were more interesting than the bleak ones before. Twilight was attempting to teach the pirate how to control his magic; Luna took no part in it however as she thought that stealing ones magic was un-natural. The atmosphere also lightened as everypony began to talk and share stories once more; it became a pleasant experience to walk with these ponies.

"Wow, you're so tall, is this what you always see?" Pinkie said. Pinkie was riding upon my shoulders because of a surprise glomp attack then climbed up onto my shoulders. I couldn't blame her for being curious, but she was much heavier than Rainbow was, most likely because of all the sweets she ate.

"Pinkie I think you need to lay off the cakes for a while." I chuckled when I noticed how heavy she was on my back.

"But where's the fun in that? You're never too old for candy and cake!"

"Yeah well you're a bit heavy, if you keep that up you'll probably get diabetes."

"What's diabetes? You mean like diet beeties? Because beeties sounds like another candy."

"Whatever you say Pinkie" despite her being a bit heavy, I still let her ride on my back for a while; I bet it was weird to be as high up as a human all the time.

You just can't help but feel happy around Pinkie; her very presence lifts the mood of any place drastically. To say she was an anti-depressant would be an understatement. When ponies say that she's the spirit of laughter, they meant it!

"We should stop for the night." Luna stated, the pirate and I both dropped to our knees in exhaustion.

"Told you we weren't made for walking," I managed to get out in between large gasps of air. "Or for eating pony food…"

"Is this what's it's like being real…You get tired so easily!"

"Sheesh, how are you lightweights tired already?" Rainbow asked us as Twilight lifted us to our feet with some magic.

"No meat."

"No energy."

"Having an optimistic, heavy pink pony on my back."

"Trying to learn magic for the first time."

"Just came out of being a werewolf."

"Just came out of a magical void."

"Hiking all day."

"Trying to figure out a universal problem in my head."

"Okay, okay stop it! I didn't ask for your life story or anything."

"Right, now stop rambling on and help us set up." Twilight said in an ordering tone.

"I guess I'll get some firewood." The pirate said, walking off towards a tree.

"I can help Fluttershy pitch the tents."

"A-are you sure he's safe?" Asked Fluttershy as we hammered the spikes into the earth.

"Well let's review the facts: He has a magical sword; he acts about as strange as Pinkie does, a bit stuck up, emotionally tortured me, understands the universe in depth, and can now use magic…Nah he has to be safe."

"But Michael…We don't have enough tents for all of us…"

"Done!" he called out, we all looked over to see a huge pile of cut wood where a tree had previously been. "I can't believe it's not butter!"

"That joke is terrible!" Rainbow called out.

"So what are we going to do?" Fluttershy asked, turning back to me.

"I don't know" I sighed. "Maybe Luna knows how to magic up a tent or something…" I glanced over to see Pinkie laughing hysterically as she was levitated by him with a faint orange glow. "Pinkie likes him, that's a good sign that he's not evil at least." A though of Pinkie as a unicorn made its way into my head, then the aftermath of Pinkie with magic…It didn't end well.

"Yes but Pinkie likes everypony."

"Yeah I guess you're right."

We finished pitching the tents with little talk; both of us were suddenly a lot more suspicious about this pirate. He had no name, no backstory, had a sword that can slice a tree like butter, and his only explanation was that he was a part of my mind come to life…Natural 1 on bluff check…

"So there's a bit of bad news…" I started, not really sure how to tell him.

"Not enough tents, I know."

"How did-"

"We've been over this, everything you remember I do too."

"So…yeah not really sure what to do 'bout the tents, do you think Luna would be able to make one?"

"Make a tent out of nowhere? No thanks, I've got it figured out."

"Really?" I switched to a confused voice.

"Did you think I was just paying with Pinkie over here? At first I wasn't worried, and then I remembered I was real now so I had to sleep and keep warm. I was going through your memories trying to find any useful information; I found the memories about clouds and figured that I could probably make a tent out of that."

"Wouldn't they be freezing? All clouds are is just water and air, and on a night like this at that altitude they're probably ice by now."

"Well Rainbow sleeps in them sometimes, they can't be that cold." He said, shrugging off the question.

While the rest of us set up the campsite, he just sat there playing with Pinkie using his newly found magical skill. As the others sat around talking and playing I wandered over to a napping Rainbow Dash in a tree.

"Hey Rainbow, are clouds any good at keeping in heat?"

"Wha- who- Oh hey Michael, you say something?"

"Yeah, do clouds keep in heat or not?"

"Well duh! We make our houses out of 'em…Why, you want your own place in Cloudsdale now?"

"Hey Michael I got it!" A voice called out, I turned and saw a cloud covered pirate standing next to a makeshift cloud tent.

"Wow, that guy sucks at building with clouds. Hate to break it to ya but only Pegasi can sleep on clouds!" She called back to him.

"Oh yeah, I have a plan for that too." He walked over and swung the blade at the branch Rainbow was lying on, Rainbow slammed into the earth with a heavy thud.

He reached own and with an orange glow enveloping his hand, lightly rested his hand on her head. "There we go, give me half an hour and I'll be able to natural walk on clouds!" He said with a certain glee in his voice.

"That's creepy how you can do that." Rainbow said, picking herself up.

"And if you're such a genius on magical quantum physics or whatever, how does that blade slice through wood so easily?" I asked him.

"A whole lot of wibly wobbly, timey wimey stuff that happened. Bottom line is that stuff got screwed up all because you can't handle magic. Don't bother asking again because that is all I know."

Once the sun was set we started another fire as half our journey was completed, Luna shot a small ball of bright fire into the tinder of the fireplace and soon it was a huge, roaring blaze.

"Aaarrgh! Dammit!" A voice cried out.

"What now?" I asked, knowing who it was by now.

"That's right; I'm real now…Fire is hot…"

"Are you kidding me? You can get into my memories, understand magic in depth, and have all the common knowledge of a normal human…And you didn't know that fire was hot?"

"Yeah, well…Shut up."

This went on for a while throughout the campfire session, somehow he would just forget he was real and end up hurting himself somehow. Burning himself, walking into trees, stepping on a bit of thunder cloud. But I guess because he never even was real, it would be easy to forget…Maybe, how do you forget being real?

"We should head off to bed now, if we wish to reach Canterlot by noon." Said Luna, getting up to extinguish the fire.

"So am I still sharing a tent with Rainbow?"

"Yes, why?" Twilight asked.

I glanced over to see Rainbow struggling to stand up, still holding a half filled bottle of alcohol. "Well because of the pirate and everything is all, but yeah let's head off to bed" I lied to her. I knew I couldn't tell twilight, or any of the others about what had happened that night, it still quietly lingers in the back of my mind whenever I see Rainbow's face, every time.

Making an attempt to take my mind off that haunting night, I walked over to the pirate who still hadn't bothered to think up a name for himself.

"So are you sure you'll be warm in there?" I asked him, as he wandered over to his homemade tent.

"I should be, I can walk on clouds like a Pegasus now, and don't ask how because I don't know."

"What about a name, why haven't you bothered to think up a name for yourself yet? It's starting to get annoying just saying 'that pirate over there' all the time."

"Well then you think me up a name, I came from your mind after all so it's only fitting."

"You can't think for yourself?"

"Okay fine, I'll try to make one up when I get the time."

"You've got the time right now!"

"Hey I've got things to do, and I need to make sure those things happen or else…"

"Or else what, are we going to be stuck with two Pinkies' on our hooves- I mean hands. What's so important that no one else can know about?"

"You should go to bed already, stop asking questions all the time." And with that he crawled inside his cloud tent and closed the flap, the two pieces of cloud becoming one solid slab.

"Well how did you even get these clouds?"

He stuck his head through the clouds and said "turns out a levitation spell plus a cloud walking spell equals being able to pull in clouds using magic." Then he sunk back into the cloud tent.

Turned back and saw Rainbow tripping over her own hooves trying to get to our tent. "This is going to be one really weird night tonight" I thought.

I crawled into the small pony tent as she tumbled around outside, after everything that has happened between me and her, I still wasn't comfortable looking directly at Rainbow; whenever I saw her magenta eyes I remembered all the grief and pain I caused her. And after what happened last time Rainbow got drunk I hoped she would be too tired to try something again…The very thought of it send a shudder down my spine.

I wrapped a blanket around myself and tried get some sleep, yet only a yet seconds after Rainbow found her way in and collapsed on top of me and started to snore.

"Well this is awkward…" I get enough of Dash during the day in this place, and half the time it's half joke half insults and me. So I didn't want to see what a hung over, rudely awakened Rainbow would be like, hell she would probably wake up ponies on the other side of the globe!

But I wasn't going to have a pony sleeping on top of me so I gently rolled her off myself and onto the floor of the tent, then wrapped her in her Wonderbolts' blanket and laid back down. It was strange how a Pegasus was sleeping next to a human in a normal tent, while a…Sort-of-human slept in a cloud tent a few feet away.

We both awoke at nearly the same time, only a minute or two of a difference. "Michael…What happened last night?" Rainbow groaned, rubbing her head with that morning look on her face.

"Well you…Sort of got drunk…Again. What is it with you and getting drunk in this story?"

"Drunk?" Her eyes widened a bit with a look of alarm in them, before she quickly hid it. "So…What happened after that? Please don't tell me the same thing happened last time I got drunk with you."

"Last time…You remember that! But I thought you couldn't remember anything with a hangover."

"'Course I remember it, I just hope that didn't happen again." She glanced down at the floor, avoiding my eyes.

"Well luckily no it didn't, but after today we won't be sleeping in a tent again, so you don't have to worry 'bout that anymore!"

"So…How old are you anyway? You talk like you've never had a hangover."

"Thirteen so, no I haven't."

"Oh…wow okay then…"

"Why how old are you then?"

"Twenty, but how can you only be thirteen and be that big?"

"How can ponies live to be eighteen?" Actually I didn't have a clue how long ponies lived at all, but I'm guessing they shouldn't be alive at eighteen; either that or they would be very old.

"So you went out drinking with me when you're not even eighteen yet?"

"The drinking age is 21 isn't it?"

"Yeah but at least you can look twenty one when you're eighteen. How did you not get drunk? You had four rounds!"

"Humans have stronger livers than ponies, your strongest drink would probably only match up to a normal beer in our world." Once again my poor knowledge of equine biology let me down, I had no idea how much drink a pony could handle, especially not a Pegasus or a unicorn.

As I was bombarded with questions about my age and the drinking and the other things I had done, I started to piece together a puzzle in my mind. This placed seemed all too familiar to be some far off planet in the sky.

I literally jumped out of bed and ran out of the tent "hey, where're you going?" Rainbow called out behind me, luckily Twilight was already up and cleaning up the campsite.

"Twilight!" She flinched and lost concentration, causing a pile of un-used firewood to clatter to the ground. "Do you have a star map in there?" I pointed to her saddle bags she was already wearing.

"Yes I do but why would you need a world map in the morning?"

"There's something I need to check, please this is important." So she quickly handed me a world map of Equestria using her magic. I unrolled it and quickly scanned over it. And I was right…

Every single country was here on this map. America, Canada, Spain, Japan, China, Sweden, Germany, Russia, Hawaii, the list goes on…All but New Zealand, that small little island that nobody noticed. Turns out history was changed because Australia was on the map but no sign of NZ. By now they should have spotted it, or this was an outdated map which I highly doubted, with Twilight being such a perfectionist.

"This isn't another planet at all…This was earth!" I thought out loud to myself.

"What, your planet? That's impossible!" Objected Twilight.

"Look at this Twilight, your map has every single country that earth has, with the same shape and the same location of cities. But something's wrong, there should be-"I was suddenly bowled over by a blur with an accompanying 'NOO!'

I looked and saw that the pirate had tackled me to the ground, Sunny Bill Williams style. "You can't tell her, you can't change history!" He whispered to me.

"History has already been changed enough, they should have found-"a hand was shoved over my mouth to stop me from continuing.

"Listen, I can explain as soon as we're back in Canterlot, and if you try to tell anypony again I'll magic your mouth shut!" For a copy of me, he was pretty grim.

So with a hung over Rainbow on my shoulders, we headed back to Canterlot. "Are we there yet?" She moaned, still massaging her throbbing head.

"No not yet." Luna replied.

Later…

"Are we there yet?"

"No, we're still not there, we will arrive later."

More later…

"There yet?"

"No, we are still not there."

Much more later…

Rainbow opened her mouth to speak, but got cut off by Luna with: "We are still not there! Please stop asking!" She went back to resting her head on mine.

So much more later that the old narrator got tired of waiting, and they had to hire a new one.

"We have arrived!" Cried Luna, with a sigh of relief following by everypony else.

"Okay, let's cut it off there then." The pirate said.

"What, cut what off?" Spike asked.

"The chapter! We have a magical pirate, a hung over Rainbow Dash, Michael has been handing out piggyback rides like candy, and we're exhausted from all this walking! Not to mention Rainbow's gotten drunk at least once in a chapter for like five chapters in a row! Let's just call it a night already!"

"But it's the middle of the afternoon…"

"I think we should too girls, this one has run its course." Pinkie said.

"What are you two talking about! What chapters? We're not in a storybook, this is real life!"

"Give me that clicker!"

Wait what!

"Gah! Where did you get-"

"Give it here already! Give me the mouse! Now go…save…"

No no no no no!

"And…"

NO!

"QUIT!"

DAMMIT!

Showing up the show

"There we go, done"

"So…Why did ya'll duct tape the ground?" Applejack asked.

"Well we've broken the fourth wall too much so it's made some cracks here and there, and you know what they say, duct tape fixes everything! Especially magical timey wimey duct tape! But enough of that, let's get going." He stuffed the tape into an inner pocket of his large orange coat and started walking.

"Wait…how are we going to get back up?" He stopped in his tracks as he suddenly realised that there was a cliff right in front of him…Not the smartest guy in the group I guess. "Anypony got a grappling hook?"

"It would be much easier to use a spell rather than to climb" Luna stated. With no hesitation at all she began to prepare the group teleportation spell once again. Her horn lit and sparkled as the faint metal tang of magic filled the air. In the split second before the spell was released, I realised something.

"Wait Luna-"Too late, we were already gone, and had already arrived.

My legs collapsed under me as we were transported back, the normal dizziness of a big spell began to take effect in my head, along with the slight blurring of vision and the ringing of ears.

"Ooohhh, is magic always like that?" The newcomer moaned. "I feel like I'm going to be sick."

"I thought you've used magic before…" I said, with a little less of a sick tone in my voice.

"You forget that I've never been real so I haven't had much time to get used to everything. And yes, it is hard to get used to being real, it's a real thing…How ironic that is…"

We scanned our surroundings and saw that we were once again in the main chamber of the Canterlot castle. Yet no Celestia was to be seen anywhere. No guards, or maids, or scribers anywhere.

"Where's Celestia?" I asked Luna, "Shouldn't there at least be a guard around?"

"It is a Sunday today, human; my sister most often sleeps in on Sundays. It is the only day where she does not have the full hassle of being a ruler."

We all shook ourselves off from the usual side effects of strong magic. Well mostly just me, AJ, and the pirate guy. Pegasi are mostly unaffected, unicorns are almost completely and Pinkie…She's just Pinkie, don't try to explain it.

"Speaking of no hassle, I think after that trip we could all do for some R&R, let's stop the plot for a while and take a day off." The pirate suggested.

"We did have a normal life!" Twilight suddenly burst out. "Up until Michael got bit and then this whole crazy thing started! Now with you here, our lives are going to be even crazier!"

"Exactly what I'm talking about, let's follow the example of Celestia and take a break, Twilight just showed us all why we need it."

"You can't go out like that" Rarity pointed a hoof to him.

"What, because I'm human? You're all fine with Michael, so if Ponyville is fine with it why should Canterlot be any different?"

"I don't mean that you are not a pony, I mean you can't go out in what you are wearing!" A look of utter confusion spread across the pirates face, no idea what she was talking about.

"Oh the colours are all wrong, nothing complements anything else, and the pirate look is utterly hideous! You simply can't go trotting around Canterlot in those old rags!"

"Old rags? These clothes are brand new; they didn't even exist until yesterday. They were spun in the void between worlds and if nopony likes it, then they can go-"

"NO! BAD SPACE PIRATE!" I said at him while shoving my hand over his mouth, trying to add as much authority to my voice as possible, but it was hard to say 'space pirate' without laughing just a tiny bit.

He pushed it away and said "wait…That's it! Michael what is wrong with this picture?" He jumped over to where the ponies were standing and waited for an answer.

"Uh…No idea." I replied blankly.

"Oh come on Michael think! What is wrong with this whole picture?"

"Well you're here when you were never meant to be so-"

"Exactly! There's a human in Equestria! So how do we fix it?"

"You could find a way back to your own place instead of mooching off us!" Rainbow accused, pointing a hoof towards us.

"No, instead of being humans, let's get with the times…Let's become ponies!"

"WHAT!" Everypony and I cried out in unison. "We can't become ponies! I pointed out.

"Well why not? You swapped bodies with Dash for a day or two and that wore off, so what's keeping us from becoming ponies ourselves?"

"DNA, plot, characters style, the universe, magic, laws of science, and a lot of other things."

"Michael we have all seen the impossible in this world, so this should be simple compared to what you have done. Let's try anyway."

"That would take more power than you have to perform a full transformation" Luna pointed out.

"Well would you have enough power then?"

"I would, yes but I am not going to turn you into ponies, we are not even sure if it will work."

"But you said it was Sunday, you don't have to do any work. And with the spell we won't have to be stuck inside all day!"

"No, I shall not going to attempt to turn you into ponies."

We all stood there for what seemed like a whole day, each one yelling at each other like a debate hyped up on sugar and coffee.

"THEN BEHOLD THE POWER OF MY CAPSLOCK!" He yelled in Luna's face.

"YOUR CAPSLOCK IS PUNY HUMAN!"

"WHY ARE YOU NOT GOING TO AT LEAST GOING TO TRY!"

"BECAUSE YOU ARE YELLING!"

"WHY ARE WE YELLING?"

"YOU SHOULD FEAR THE OPTION OF CANTERLOCK!"

"Wait. Why are we yelling...Oh well, then I'll just go talk to Celestia, she will see the logic in it."

"Then we could get Celestia to do it, she will see the logic in it."

"Wait, you do not want to wake my sister while she is-"before Luna could finished he was suddenly gone in a flash of light. "Very well, follow me."

We all followed Luna through the halls of the castle; the guards that we passed shot me a suspicious glance when I walked past. We made our way out the main gate and around to one of the gardens that overlooked a valley to the east. "Three…Two…One…" She counted.

"AaaaaAAAAAAHHHHH!" A nearby bush was ruined as we saw a newly tossed out pirate smash into it, falling a good four stories straight into the garden.

"Thank god for cartoon physics…" He coughed and made his way off the crushed bush.

"I warned you not to wake my sister; she can be very…Unstable when she is rudely awoken."

"Wow, you really don't know what it's like to be real do you?" I joked.

"Shut up, I just got flung out of a four story window, I'm lucky to be alive."

"I fell off the cloud and hit the ground at probably terminal velocity, your move."

With a surrendering sigh, Luna said "very well. I will perform the spell, after seeing what Celestia has done it is obviously not safe around her now that she has been awoken. And it would be very uneventful and aggravating to my guards if you were to linger in the castle all day long."

"Oh good, you finally see the logic in it."

"Wow this guy is being a prick." I thought, careful not to show any sign of it. "I know I was cocky a few times but his guy…Wow. He wins the worst kind of person award."

"Well then I guess you're a prick to Michael because I'm a part of you." He said back to me.

"Oh crap you can read minds now?"

"Well that whole knowledge sharing system, I can update it pretty often."

"Great, first the stares from the ponies, and now I can't even have my own thoughts belong to me."

"You done yet?" Rainbow asked us. "The faster we get on with this, the faster we can get out and have some fun!"

"INCOMING!" I yelled, right before we were all blinded by something, it felt more like knocked out really. There was a flash as bright as the sun, then darkness in every direction, spanning off like the ocean. Until finally my vision came back.

"Urgh, my head…" I rubbed my head as I tried to sooth a new found headache.

"You woke up fast." I heard someone say; instinctively I rolled my head to the side and saw a brand new pony standing there with an unreadable look on his face. I tried to speak, but only a soft moan came out.

"Come on; let's get you back onto your feet. Well hooves actually." He tried to help me up, but just like last time I was a pony, I had no motor control at all. I fell flat onto the ground five times before he gave up and just stuck me in a sitting position.

"Wha…What ha-happened to the others…" My voice came out slow, dreary and confused as I looked over to see everypony unconscious on the grass, even Luna.

"They'll be fine, it's just the blast back from the high powered spell, a full transformation doesn't come cheap ya know."

My vision cleared and sharpened and I got a good look at him. Standing before me was an orange colt with bright yellow hair being split by a horn, and the same dark sword hanging from a belt he wore. The cogs in my head grinded until I recognised him, he seemed completely different as a pony. No more looks of hate or seriousness, no more of his sense of importance. He had the face of a pony now, a gentle and loving face.

"I'll wait until you can stand up and move again, and then I can explain everything like I promised." He walked over to some rocks and started to practice once more.

To my surprise it was a lot easier to move as a pony this time around, whether I remember what to move or something has happened with that magic, I don't know. But I was just glad I didn't have to commando crawl anywhere anymore. So with much more practice I became familiar with the controls of a pony again.

"You're learning fast aren't you? But let's wait here until the others wake up, I don't think we will have to wait long though." He levitated an air horn from behind him, where he got that from I still don't know, hammer space probably.

It blasted out its deafening sound that probably woke up everypony in ponyville by how loud it was. Every pony's eyes instantly snapped open to the intense air horn and they shot to their feet, eyes dashing around looking for the source of the sound.

"Okay you're awake, just wanted to let you know that the operation was a success. Quick question though, how long will this spell last?"

"What happened?" Spike asked.

"Magical backlash, the spell was so powerful that it knocked you all out."

"Then why did you stay awake?"

"Magic void, half human, cross species magic, I thought we've been over this already."

"All that stuff is booorring!" Pinkie said as she somehow appeared right behind us. "Let's go have some fun already!"

"Well about that…"

"We're kinda running low on bits." I finished.

"Oh don't worry about that, I have stashes of bits hidden all around Equestria, in case I see a super yummy cake but I only need a few more bits. There should be enough to get us through the day." She patted my mane and walked off towards the gate. Wait a second…My mane… I haven't even taken the time to look at myself yet!

"Please be a Pegasus, please be a Pegasus, please be a Pegasus…" I glanced over to my back and, to my disappointment; there was nothing, not a single feather. A deep feeling of sorrow washed over me as I realised I wouldn't be able to fly. Ever since I had gotten out of Rainbow's body the sense of flying has lingered in the back of my mind, like an addiction I craved for it but I knew that I couldn't go back. And now the last chance for me to feed that addiction had flown away, how ironic at that wording.

"Maybe I could still be a unicorn; after all, the pirate is one." I reached up a dark blue hood and felt around for any sign of a horn, but sadly I found none, just the soft touch of my mane against my new hoof. But at least I could check what colour I had for a mane, because for almost all ponies it is reflected on the tail. I used this to glance back and to see a scruffy bright orange tail, like a flare against the dark green grass.

The tail was orange at the tip, the colour changed from orange to yellow as it traced back to my body. That gave me a faint idea of what my mane looked like, but I guess I'll have to wait for a mirror.

I flapped my tail playfully; it felt good having my own pony body. Mine, not anyone else's, it was my own and I was free to do what I wished with it. The addition of a tail lifted my spirits immensely though, it was a playful little addition that I now have, it may not be the most practical but it was defiantly going to be fun to have. If you are somehow ever stuck as a pony, or get sucked in here, get a tail.

It just lifts your mood tremendously for some unknown reason, it's like; "Look at my tail! Whoosh whoosh, tail power!" By the end of playing with it you feel as cheerful as a filly Pinkie Pie.

"Come on, this will be the first time you won't have to be a sneaky ninja to get around Canterlot." The bright orange pony taunted as he led me off in Pinkie's direction, breaking me out of the trance I was enveloped in by my tail.

Soon enough we were walking the streets of Canterlot and Pinkie was pointing out all the local hotspots to us.

"That's the race track over there, over there is where we had the play for hearths warming eve, and over there is the Canterlot nightclub!"

"Got any good DJs?" I asked.

"Well duh, it wouldn't be a nightclub without DJs! There's PON3, Neon Lights, Taz 27-23, everypony wants to get in!"

While we were walking, the orange pony beside us stopped and stared at a wall across the street like he was looking straight through it. We turned and saw something glimmer in his eye, something deep down inside was troubling him and it was obvious at this point. He seemed to have the tiniest hint of emotion in his eyes, like he had lost someone somehow.

"Hey, you okay there?" I asked him.

"Yeah it's…It's nothing, let's keep going." And so we did, after a full walk around town Pinkie offered to buy us lunch. There was a massive selection of bakeries, cafes, and restaurants scattered around Canterlot. It was almost like it was bigger on the inside. When you see Canterlot it just seems like a town built on a mountain but it is so much more than that. The exotic buildings twist and curve as they soar up into the deep blue sky. Some buildings were lucky enough to have a mural of the two princesses masterly painted on the side. Yet some were entirely taken up by paintings of a princess. The whole city just took your breath away and it is unbelievable what these ponies are capable of. The beauty of the city is truly something only to be experienced and not to be read about.

"I wonder what this will do to my diet being a pony…" I though aloud. "Maybe I can finally see what a dandelion sandwich tastes, or some hey, I've never tried hay. What did ponies back on earth eat anyway; it's been so long I can't imagine a normal pony anymore."

"Normal pony? What's wrong with us huh?" Pinkie stopped in her tracks to ask.

"Nothing it's just-"

"Hmmmmm?" She leaned in, squinting her eyes.

"I thought we've been over this" the orange pony interrupted. "Different universe, no more talking ponies, real physics and all of that, but anyway let's go get some lunch!" He cantered off in the direction of a randomly picked café.

"I hate to ask but do you have any bits on you? Now that I'm a pony I don't really have pock- what're you doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm looking for my bag of bits silly billy." Pinkie sat on the ground and was rooting through her tail with her hooves.

"How is your hood not coming out the other side?"

"Found it! Let's go get some cake!" She pulled out her hoof and showed off a small pink sack with her cutie mark sown onto it. She tossed it up onto her fluffy pink mane and walked to the café.

I ended up ordering a dandelion sandwich out of curiosity; now that I was a pony I could actually eat pony food like that. At least I hope I can. Luckily it turns out I could, seeing as how I didn't immediately spit out the mixture of bread and flowers in my mouth. It actually tasted quite tangy as it mixed with the bread but also had a hint of sweetness in it. It was a whole new taste to me and I was left with a craving for more dandelions as the taste hung in my mouth and on my tongue.

"Michael? It is you isn't it?" I heard someone say from across the room. I looked over and saw a mint green pony approaching me. "What are you doing in Canterlot, actually why did you disappear altogether? And what happened to you, you're a pony now but you're supposed to be a human. How did that happen?"

We were starting to attract some stares in the café as she loudly went on about humans and disappearing. I pulled her down to sit next to me. "Lyra, what are you doing here, and how on earth did you know it was me? I don't even have the right coloured mane!" I said in a hushed tone, hoping to stop all the stares that were being given.

"Oh don't worry about it, I can spot you a mile away! You don't walk or act like a pony at all. But what I really want to know is how you sopped being, well, you!"

"It's a long story, a really confusing and long story."

"Oh I can wait, I've got time." She said with a smile on her face as always, and rested her head on her hooves.

With a sigh I decided that she wasn't going to calm down anytime soon, so I might as well try to explain. "Basically I got bit by a wolf, turned into a werewolf human thing, snuck into Canterlot in the dead of night, met with the princesses, went on a three day hike to get a cure, came back here, and got turned into a pony…And that's the short version of it."

"What are humans like though? Can you walk in a pony body? Who's that orange pony sitting with you? What planet do you come from? Tell me everything!"

"Oh that's right, that other pony dragged you off before we could talk, who was that anyway?"

"Oh that was just Bon Bon, I don't know why but she never really liked the look of you. Maybe it was because you were supposed to be a fairy tale, or was it a myth, I'm not sure but she never liked how I thought you existed. And you're all the evidence I needed to prove her wrong!"

Even after we had finished our meal at the café, Lyra continued to blitz me with questions as we walked down the streets of Canterlot to nowhere in mind.

"What's your planet called?"

"Earth."

"Language?"

"English."

"Country you came from?"

"New Zealand."

"Home town?"

"I-I…Have no idea really."

"Hmm…How about some other countries?"

A heavy sighed escaped before I listed countries off the top of my head. "New Zealand, Australia, America, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Russia, Germany, Poland, Spain, and a whole lot others." Her constant questioning was annoying and tedious; more so as time went on, even pinkie seemed annoyed at the repetitive test of human knowledge I was being given.

"Why do you want to know all of this anyway Lyra? If humans really were a myth, even a tiny and unnoticed one, shouldn't there be info on us? Names and customs lost throughout time and all that?"

"Well not really. Any books I could find were mostly about sightings, fiction stories, how a human looks, and what we believed they did. I knew there had to be more out there and there were facts all around Equestria that nopony else saw. So after I spent years researching and studying, even I was beginning to doubt you existed, just like everypony else. And then you showed up, a real live human. A human that could talk and remember and tell us everything about you! The legends say that you had cities like Canterlot all over! That nopony was ever sick or hungry; you could fly without wings, and even reach other planets! Is all that true?"

I didn't want to ruin what little history they had about us, it was like they saw us as aliens from a TV show, exaggerating every last detail to make it as fascinating and glorious as possible.

"Well, I'm going to go find something to do, thanks for the lunch Pinkie. I'll be seeing you" said the orange pony as he walked off down a busy street.

"I think I'll go too Michael, I'll catch you later!" Pinkie walked off in the opposite direction before using her still unexplained Pinkie powers to effortlessly jump onto a two story roof. Lyra and I sat down on a nearby bench; both of us instinctively sitting like a human would, which attracted a few stares and strange looks.

"So what great things have you humans done? From all the legends, you were the smartest race in the world!"

"Your ancestors called it impossible, you call it science. I come from a place where they are one of the same." Her eyes widened with unfathomable wonder and excitement, she looked ready to explode by how much she was dying to hear what I had to say.

"We have come a long way from all of this, the age of brick and clay. Your deadliest diseases we have cures for, we built machines that could soar over any land and go faster than the speed of sound, we understand the universe to its largest and smallest points imaginable and can understand life itself. We put humans on the very surface of the moon itself without any help from neither wings nor magic of any kind. My race truly mastered our world, and even of others."

"How did you do all that? All of that is impossible; you can't put a pony on the moon!"

"Oh we did, and we will never forget those first few words; 'one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.' Those are the first words to ever be heard from the moon, and those are the words that raised the human empire to a whole new level." I finished that last bit off with pride in my voice, I wasn't sure if it was showing off or the nostalgia, but there was unmistakable pride in there. I saw her go to say something but she hesitated and looked away.

"You okay?" I asked. I seem to be asking that a lot lately.

"It's just…another part of the legend. It said that to gain everything that you humans have, you all made a deal with the devil somehow. So that your planet can't know the peace that we do."

I looked down to avoid those eyes. Compared to them our history was pretty grim, extremely grim. And after she spent years researching and trying to find us, I didn't want to have to crush her fantasy of us "Michael that's not true, right…right?"

"Oh course it's not, we're not monsters or anything like that…Heh heh…eh…"

"Come on, what is it? I know your hiding something, I'm a unicorn, I can tell."

"You think I'll fall for that?"

And just like that, karma got around to me. That orange pony who had walked off casually cantered by us and said loudly: "Two world wars and eight world cups do da, do da!"

"Hey! Don't make me go Sonny Bill on your ass!"

"Uhh…What did he say about wars?"

"It's nothing, don't worry about it."

"Am I going to have to break out the mind reading spell?"

"Wait, you have that!" She nodded with a smile on her face. "Dammit…Okay fine…It's all true…"

"What!" I guess Lyra didn't honestly expect to hear that, maybe she hoped that it was just a false part of the myth.

"It's true. Earth is no paradise like Equestria, there's war, famine, hate, murder, suicide, rape and a whole lot else." Lyra now just stared with a mix of shock and fear at the fact, she was sitting in front of a creature who had just told her all that and she still didn't fully trust.

"Two times our planet has almost destroyed itself. All the countries of the world picked up their weapons and marched out to war, and the battlefield was our planet. And all it was for is over land, countries didn't like their land so they wanted to take others, it's so stupid! But luckily, two times we have spotted before it was too late, and two times we managed to make peace. But every time that happens, the whole world changes. For better or worse, no one knows…Sure we have technology, but with speed, we shut ourselves in, our knowledge made us cynical, our cleverness hard and unkind. We began to slowly abandon love and tolerance and only look towards what others think of us…And that is why I didn't want to tell you, our history is so grim compared to yours. And that's also why I kind of like not being able to remember who I am. I could have been a bastard back on earth, so even if I don't know if I'm still me, I like this new personality. I've forgotten everything wrong I might have done…"

I looked over and saw Lyra with an unreadable face, terror, shock, pity, confusion, curiosity, all packed into one strange expression. "Sorry for rambling there…"

"Don't worry 'bout it. But it's hard to believe that all those legends…Well I thought they were just legends!"

"Lyra not all humans are the same, just like ponies, some are better than others."

"Well that's all great info, but I've really got to go and do…Stuff…So I'll see you later then!" She jumped from the bench and waved goodbye as ran off down one of Canterlots' many streets. It didn't bother we that much, I was used to weird behaviour after being stuck around Pinkie for so long. So I headed off to, then soon realised that I had no idea where I was, no money, and no sign of the others.

"Well…Buck…"

So I wandered through town looking at various stores and shops that the ponies have, it's almost the same as earth really, with markets and cafes scattered around I was disappointed that nothing extraordinary was going on. If ponyville has an adventure once a week then why hasn't Canterlot done anything? Well that's what I thought until I came across a gigantic crowd all surrounding a stage of some kind.

"Oh hey again Michael, you know you still haven't thought me up a name yet." I turned to see the orange pony yet again approaching me, with a just as confused face as mine.

"Yeah, yeah I'm working on it…" "Note to self, think up something better than bob the pirate…" "So what's all this for then?"

"If you don't know, then I don't know, but whoever it is really likes to show off." Suddenly the sky lit up in a shower of sparks. Green, blue, green and every other colour coated the sky as balls of light danced and dazzled across the sky and over the crowd. "That's some flashy magic up there."

"Wait…I think I've heard about this somewhere…Oh no, are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"I'm always thinking what you're thinking, but it's no way it could be her!"

Then a voice shouted across the mass of peop-I mean ponies. "Give it up for the great and powerful Trrrriiiixiiiiieeee!"

I let out an annoyed sigh as I realised "it is…Wait! This could be a good thing!"

"What, how? She's just an annoying show off who cheats to win over the crowd." The orange pony objected.

"Have you already forgotten? We aren't ponies, we're human, we have a completely different psychology to them."

"And…"

"Let's mess with her, show her up, out do her. You have the magic and I have the humanity, let's get up there and do it!"

"Wow that's really slimy and underhanded…Now you're thinking like me! But first let's think up a plan…"

We fought through the crowd to get to the front and settled on something we knew that Trixie couldn't do better, even with all the magic in the world! Turns out that pirate has been experimenting with that sword of his…

"Does anypony else dare to challenge the great and powerful Trixie?" There was a hush from the crowd as no one spoke up until…

"Yo Trixie over here, I'll give it a shot!"

"Very well, come up on stage and show me what you can do. I can guarantee I can do it better."

So the orange pony walked up on stage, his sword hitting the wooden steps as her did. When he was up he stared her straight in the eye and gave her a look of checkmate. "What is your skill then?" She glanced over to look at his cutie mark and surprise jumped to her face. "You don't have one? So I'm facing a blank flank am I?"

"It's a reeaally long story and I can't be bothered to explain it all now, so let's get on with this."

"Very well, what do you think your talent is?"

"Let's make a deal, if you summon up a training sword and can get just one strike on me, I'll do one thing for you. Anything you want and I'll do it, anything at all."

"This will be easy."

"And to make it fair I won't strike back, seeing as how this sword is real and I wouldn't want to hurt you." Trixie's expression turned from smugness to slight anger at that last part. She had already caught on to him trying to show her up.

Trixie magic'd up a wooden training sword as the orange pony unsheathed his own with his magic. They touched the tips and he shouted. "En garde!" After a few seconds wait her again shouted "GO!"

Trixie went for an easy win by thrusting the sword forward for a stab but he easily deflected the weak wooden sword. She came back around for a right swing but was once again easily blocked by the pirate. The carefully timed strikes Trixie attempted soon became a flurry of blows as she became irritated and angry at not having a single strike in. "Ha ha, yes that's right, hate me! There's no problem with that! It'll only drive you forward!" The speed of every swing escalated until her wooden sword was nothing more than a blur. I don't know who was doing it but somewhere I could hear some action fight music fading into reality somehow. Eventually the orange pony looked bored as he almost effortlessly blocked every thrust, swing, and cut that Trixie savagely threw at him. Soon he became bored enough that he didn't see this as a fight anymore; he saw this as pathetic for swordplay.

"Okay that's enough" he said. After deflecting one last blow he flicked the cutlass on the blunt side and swiftly hit Trixie with a downward cut on the head. Trixie shot daggers at him with her eyes as he couldn't help but let a smug expression across his face. "I guess you can't do that better than I can now can you?" He laughed as he made his way offstage.

When his back was turned, sword sheathed and was nearly to the steps, Trixie tried for one last blow of revenge. She lifted the sword high in the air with her magic and swung it down with terrifying force. The only movement was a slight perk of an ear before he unsheathed his blade with lightning speed. With the grace of a cat the blade swung an arc in the air and looked as to have phased through the wooden training sword. But the results show the opposite as two halves of a broken training blade clattered on the hard wood stage. "Don't make a fool of yourself more than you already have." Cheers erupted from the crowd as he walked off stage and back over to me.

"Thanks for the comedy show Trixie!" He called back to her as he led me back into the now sunset lit streets of Canterlot.

"How did you do that, I know you've been experimenting but that was world class up there!"

"Well thirteen years of XP can really level you up. But about the blank flank thing…"

"Let me guess, since we're not ponies and we've only been transformed into ponies we don't have cutie marks right?"

"Almost, since we're not from Equestria. It would be fine if we were dragons or something."

There was a sudden flash of light behind us, thinking Trixie would try another sucker punch shot we turned and ducked. But there was nothing. "What was that?" The orange pony asked.

"I don't kn-wait what's that?" I pointed a hoof to his flank to see a brand new cutie mark. Two cutlasses crossed in an X had appeared on his flank.

"Hey it's a cutie mark! That's a nice little touch."

"Nice? This is the biggest thing in a pony's life to happen to them!" It struck me odd how I was so sure of that fact.

"Well it might disappear when we turn back, so I won't get too attached to it. But it is a nice little perk though."

"Yeah I guess so…" Suddenly I remembered something, we were in Canterlot, so that means. "Hey you said you would explain everything to me!" I accused as I shoves a hoof towards him.

"Oh yeah, well you were chatting up Lyra at the time so I went to find something fun to do. But I'm a half man of my word, so let's sit down and I can explain…"

The blaze of humanity

"So how long is this spell going to last again?" I asked the orange pony as we walked down a sunset lit street.

"Let's see…Luna's magic, plus humans, and all the magic you've already had…" He waved his hoof in the air as he calculated who knows what in his head. "I'd say we should be better by tomorrow, which is good because we need to leave."

"Leave, why? Life is finally back to normal now. There's no risk of death every night anymore, we can all go back to the way things were before."

"Well for one our rent on the room runs out tomorrow. And there's something happening to this universe, something very bad."

"So what's so bad about it then? You said 'oh don't alter history' while two humans are roaming around." He led me to a bench to sit down.

"Michael let's say you've always been a pony, if you look out there would you see anything wrong with that picture?" He pointed out towards the street with only a few ponies left roaming.

"Not really, if I've always been a pony then it'd be a pretty normal day."

"And that's the thing. You don't see like I see. Wherever I look I can see cracks and splits in the world, tiny missing pieces of the puzzle. This universe is slowly starting to collapse as it is being pulled apart piece by piece. And if you want to find the guilty, you need only look in a mirror. Because the more you are here the more this world collapses, and it doesn't help by altering history."

"How could we alter history any more than we already have?"

"Simple. The universe doesn't really recognise us as existing, but it still knows something is wrong, so it routes through every little detail to find the error. It's like a computer looking for a virus, and we are the virus. The universe is helping destroy itself because that is its core programming, to stop at nothing to balance out time and space. But if we alter pony history, then that would be a disaster. If you point out an island that shouldn't have been discovered by ponies for hundreds of years, it could change history!"

"So…Because we aren't from Equestria, it doesn't register our changes as changes to pony history?"

"Exactly, you learn fast don't you?"

"Not really. I have no idea how to understand any of that…"

"Well you don't have to understand it; you just have to know it. Onto another thing! Let me explain why you haven't died yet."

"Died…What the universe wants me dead or something?"

"Nonono, when you fell off that cloud and hit the ground, have you so quickly forgotten how you are still alive?"

"I can never forget what I put Rainbow through." I sighed, my mind forced back to that painful memory.

"Well luckily not being a local can have some advantages. Believe it or not, you're immortal!"

"What 'chu talkin' 'bout?"

"Well the universe more than anything wants to fix the error, so obviously it can't let you die. Otherwise it would be stuck with an impossible object on its hands, and our world would be missing someone without any explanation. While you can still feel pain and can get injured, you can even get to the point where one tap will make you kick the bucket, but overall you cannot die. Otherwise everything would be screwed up! So the universe keeps you alive until the problem is resolved."

"And what do you mean by 'resolved'?"

"Alas I do not know. The cosmos must have some plan to return us both to Earth however. Strange…This whole explanation reminds me of the beginning."

"Beginning of what?"

"When we first showed up you swore so much, nothing but swears here and there. What made you change?"

"Well back then I was scared obviously. I was just suddenly put in Equestria without any warning of any kind! Anyone would have reacted the same…Well maybe not the government, but you get the picture. I guess I've stopped freaking out so much that…This feels more like a home to me than Earth has. Earth is just a memory I'm not even sure is real anymore, it's just a word now, but it is still the only place I can go back to."

"But the question is…Do you really want to?" The question hit and froze me on the spot. If I had a choice to go back to my home planet, that I can't even remember very well anymore and abandon all of this, would I take it? "But enough boring explanation, let's go get into that nightclub!" He got up and gestured me to follow down the darkening street.

"Wait a second." He spun around and looked back at me. "Can you remember who I was, who we were? Before all of this happened do you have any idea what we were like? What if the person I am now isn't even the real me?"

With a sigh he paused for a moment then gave an answer. "Do you like who you are?"

"I guess I do but I want to know who I was before."

"Michael I do not know who you were before all of this but if you are content with yourself now, then that is who you are. If you could turn yourself into the person you were back on Earth and give up yourself now, I would bet my life that you would not take it. Because this is who you are now, not before, not after, but now! You have lived through this whole new life of yours with that body and that personality. The person you are right now is the real you! Now enough with all the depression already, we're in the capitol of Equestria, let's fun some fun already!"

"I guess you're right…Yeah, for once you are right! Let's go!"

Nek minnit…

I to a headache that drew a constant low hum of pain. My blurry vision faded the outlines of anything I could see and my muscles refused to move. So I lay there on the bed waiting for my vision to slowly come back, eventually my energy came back as well. I sat up and rubbed that the sleep from my eyes, looking around I took everything in but it was still a good five seconds before I had the slightest idea of where I was.

Back at the hotel with a blanked overtop me, my clothes were crumpled and uncomfortable, a heavy cough escaped my mouth as I noticed how dry my throat was. It felt like I had every symptom of waking up with only an hour's sleep. I stared off as I silently searched my memories for any indication of what had happened last night, unfortunately it came up blank.

"Oh good you're awake." I heard a voice call out from the bathroom. I looked over to see that pirate walking out of the bathroom, human once more, vigorously drying his hair with a towel and without his noticeable sword or orange coat which was replaced with a white swashbuckler shirt. "You might want to keep it down though some of the other ponies are trying to get back to sleep." He said in a more hushed tone. A quick look to the side and I saw that all of the ponies were still snoozing in their own beds, even Twilight who is usually the first pony up and preparing for the day.

I tried to speak but only another rash cough came out. With a sigh he wandered over to me and grabbed me by the arm. "Follow me" I complied as I was still half asleep. He led into the tidy bathroom which smelled of perfume and scented soaps. He stood me in front of the shower and began to quickly fill up a glass with water. When he turned back I reached out to take it but instead he jerked the cup forward and the water splashed against my face with the rest plummeting into the shower, it snapped me awake instantly. But I just stared at him with a look of silent hatred. "What? It was more efficient than just waiting for you to get up."

"You really don't get this whole reality thing do you?" He only let out a chuckle in reply, "by the way, has it ever occurred to you that you could probably take Rainbow in a fight?"

"What? No I couldn't!" I hated to admit it, but if I denied it then he'd know either way, being part of me after all. "She's a black belt in what, three martial arts? Not to mention she has wings, she's stronger than me, more agile, and has more experience."

"Yes but you are forgetting that you are a human! You really need to stop forgetting that by the way…Anyway, most pony martial arts are focus on other ponies, not humans. So if you took advantage of the reach and height attributes you have there, you would have a fair shot."

"Easy for you to say Mr Magic and sword, but if you're so confident about it then why don't you take her on when she wakes up?"

"Well that would be completely unfair, I had a lot of free time when I was still up in your head," he poked my forehead with a finger. "I'm most likely where you get all your fighting skill from. But if you want to prove me wrong, then here." Three books levitated through the door and hovered next to me, I looked at the titles and they were all some sort of pony martial art. Lightning strike, Feather leaf and Rolling stone. "These are the three she has mastered, the first two Pegasi styles and the final is earth style. Pegasi rely on quick and precise strikes while earth ponies rely on more brute force. Read through these and you'll see that they mainly rely on facing other ponies, plus they have defence courses in there."

"Why though, why suddenly the pressure to fight Dash?"

"Well for one I am curious to how it would turn out." I rolled my eyes at this. "Secondly, you're going to need it. I can see the crakes in the universe Michael, and cracks work both ways." That was all he said before he strolled back into the large main room and rummaged to find his sword. Before I could even sit down to read my curiosity got the best of me.

"Where did you get all of these anyway?"

He stopped and stared at me with a confused look. "Do you have any idea how many books Twilight packs!" He whispered, but louder than usual. "She fit ten books into just one of those little side pockets on her suitcase! Celestia, one of her entire suitcases is dedicated to check lists and various books!"

And that was a good enough answer for me, knowing Twilight for this long it sounded like something she would do. To her everything needed a checklist or a manual or a tutorial. But brushing it off as just Twilight being Twilight, I sat down and got to reading some of the Pegasus styled martial arts.

Lightning strike was the first. It mainly consisted of the Pegasus tripping or knocking their opponents off balance, then using their speed to ascend and drop down delivering fierce blows from above. What was more disturbing was that there was a small section on where to hit to break bones and snap wings. I never knew ponies could be so vicious, and if this is only Pegasus fighting, I'd hate to see what the earth pony fighting was like. The countering was simple enough though, a firm stance and bucking attacks could easily counter the tripping.

The next was Feather leaf, all about flanking your opponent and never standing directly in front of them. Using agility and grace to avoid and counter blows, and using their wings to quickly glide across the ground to get a better position. This was the most common form of fighting a Pegasus trains in due to the technique optimising the grace of a Pegasus and the wings of one. Once again, countering was generally to keep your distance and be light on your feet. Only moments after skimming the defence guide it was obvious this was meant to be combined with the lightning strike, keeping opponents in a pose that was always left them vulnerable to attack, smart.

Finally came the earth pony style, and wow…Just wow…This technique required superhuman strength for even the beginner moves. Many ponies that fight this way end up breaking the opponents' bones clean through, sometimes even on accident. Once buck could give you a limp for life, disable a wing, snap off a horn, or even kill a pony if they had mastered it, which the pirate told me that Rainbow had. The general idea of countering this was to just dodge and hopefully get a hit in while flanking them, but mostly it encouraged to just not get in a fight with anypony who has learnt this. If that pirate wants me to fight Rainbow when she's learnt all of this, I'll probably die before I hit the ground.

I glanced up at him and he gave me a strange smile, somewhere between friendly and malicious. He walked over and tried to comfort me as I felt the colour drain from my face. "Don't worry, I'm not going to force you to fight her, I just thought it would be interesting to you to know how these ponies fight. I got the idea when you two tried to get a fight going when you had lycanthropy, ah good times…Either way you can't die, like I said, our universe needs you back alive and healthy."

"I'm not worried about dying. I think Rainbow is still mad at me for falling off of that cloud and putting her through everything that's happened. What I'm afraid of is that if we do end up fighting, then she won't hold back on me…"

A few minutes later the ponies started to awaken, agonisingly slowly however. Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow, and Spike all had what Twilight called 'morning fever', it wasn't a real fever however, just a name for when ponies refuse to get out of bed. Well, ponies and lazy little dragons.

While the rest slept in the pirate tried to teach me fighting stances and moves. Having nothing better to do I complied, yet I attracted many stares from the other ponies. Spike asked the question everypony was wondering. "Hey, why are you teaching him all that fighting stuff?"

"Because he is going to need it" he answered without taking his eye off me. "No you're legs need to be like this."

"Why, is he going to fight somepony?"

"In a way, he is going to fight Rainbow Dash…No don't put your arms all the way out there!"

"What! But why is he- but she'll-"

"Spit it out already."

"She'll destroy him! She knows three pony martial arts! She says there are only two ponies that she can't beat!"

"Well Michael here isn't a pony now is he?" He asked as he gave me a motivational pat on the shoulder.

"That's what I said" I cut in. "Hell, even I don't know why I'm listening to this guy, but I find it interesting and I've got nothing better to do so…"

"I don't know" Spikes voice became shaky and unsure. "Rainbow is pretty tough, she even beat Applejacks big brother once."

With many other stories of Rainbow's skill in the art of fighting, I decided to myself that I would try to avoid getting in a fight with her or any other pony at all. The only reason I was letting that insane pirate teach me was because I couldn't exactly go outside, none of Twilight's books leapt out at me, and frankly I had nothing better to do. But eventually everypony except Dash, who was still sound asleep, set out to buy tickets for the train back to Ponyville. The room was eerily quiet from the sudden halt in talking and various noises, so I settled down to read over the Pegasus fighting styles again.

Suddenly I felt a surge of fear strike through me as I heard Rainbow rolling herself out of bed. Normally if I had to fight Dash I would think of it as a friendly brawl but now, now that I knew how deadly she could be, I didn't want to take the risk of talking to her unless I aggravate her. I knew she was my friend and she wouldn't go that far, but the question always remained that maybe she would.

She let out a long yawn and began to stretch her wings and back. "Mornin', where's everypony else gone to?" She asked as she stretched out her wings. After a few moments of silence she began to eye us both and repeated the question.

"They went to get the train tickets back" the pirate told her. He glanced over to me and smiled again. "Hey Rainbow, do you think you could take Michael on in a fight?" With that one sentence I felt like trying some of these earth pony moves on him.

"Why? Want to see how humans match up to ponies?" I saw a slight spark in her eyes as she sat up.

"Something like that…"

"I'm up for it, it's good way to stretch the old wings 'n legs. Let's see how good you are Michael." She sounded surprisingly friendly and calm about the whole situation. Maybe she thought this was only going to be a friendly sparring match. That helped me feel a lot less afraid, I knew Rainbow was stronger than me and faster than me after all... Maybe she really has forgiven me for putting her through everything that I have…

"Oh and feel free to do some of those Pegasus style moves you know, Dash, he's been reading up on them." I looked back and gave him a short glare of hatred. "What I didn't pressure you, just like I said I wouldn't."

"Oh you are so full of-"

"Michael, let's get started!" Rainbow interrupted me as she waited. Meanwhile he put on his jacket and buckled his sword around his waist and headed toward the window. Seeing our confused looks he said over his shoulder.

"Nobody ever looks up, not even the Pegasi. But I will return later."

Man that guy is weird; it's hard to believe he's really a part of me… "Okay, we're going shoplifting" I called to him as he had one foot already hanging out the window.

"Wear a jacket!" I stifled down a laugh as he flung himself outside, and it was then I stopped to wonder what he's going to get himself into, but that could wait for later…

"You ready?" Rainbow asked after he had flung himself outside.

"Not real-"

"Three-two-one-go!"

THUD!

"Rainbow you're too good at this." I looked over my shoulder to see her smirking back at me. This had been the fifth time she had pinned me, in a row as well. My check was pressed against the hard vinyl floor and my arms held behind my back.

"You're getting better, don't beat yourself up. Oh wait, you don't have to!" She chuckled at how easy I was to be pinned, despite the height and weight difference.

The pirate's encouragement didn't improve my performance at all; in fact the sparing round of martial arts had turned more into wrestling by now. Even though my arms and hands gave me a heck of a lot of reach and leverage, it didn't help much in close quarters. Because when it came to wrestling she was stronger and more dexterous than I was, with those wings of hers. Despite all of this I still managed to pin her every few rounds, relishing the short victory when it came. Rainbow had to change her tactics often, because I found that she would repeat the same movements in the same moves, so whenever she made the mistake of repeating a move more than twice I had managed to win that round.

She'd been delighted to find another worthy opponent since I'd had found myself in Equestria. She was still considerably stronger than I was, but I'd picked up quite a few tricks from our matches.

"Alright, let me up and let's see if you can do that again." Before she could answer, Twilight burst through the door.

"Michael there's-"she stopped and blinked in confusion at the scene.

"Hey Twilight, how's it going?" I said in a mock casual way.

"Uh…We have a little problem with your 'friend'" I felt that Twilight had to be holding in a laugh by seeing me being held down by something half my own size, then again it was Rainbow Dash, and I think she knew well that she couldn't beat me or Rainbow in a wrestling match without her magic…Well maybe not Rainbow anyway.

"Oh great, what's he done now, got caught trying to break into the royal vault or something?"

"Actually…Yes."

"You did what!" Twilight screamed at him.

"I told you, I tried to break into the most secure wing of the magic archives in broad daylight, at least try to listen. What we have to focus on now though is getting me out of this prison." The pirate told us as he scribbled unreadable equations in the dirt.

"You know, I think you belong in there if you were stupid enough to do something like that." I said back to him.

"I had a good enough reason though" we stood awaiting his ridiculous answer. "The princess doesn't trust me so she obviously wasn't going to give me the key, she wouldn't believe me that her precious universe is in danger, and so this was all I was left to do. I am a pirate however so to be fair it is in my own nature to steal. Or at least I'm dressed as a pirate…What up with making me a pirate Michael?"

"Look, you wanted to learn what it's like to be real and so here it is; real consequences for idiotic actions. Welcome to the real world, it can be a pain in the ass can't it?"

"We have got just one more night to be in this city before…" he hesitated. "Well before we go back… to ponyville that is! And what waits there needs a certain type of magic which can come from a certain pony from a certain book. But get her to come down and see me, if we don't get that book and get back to ponyville it's going to be a hell of a lot harder to fix."

"Fix what" Twilight spoke up "what is so important about this book? And why do you think the princess will see you?"

"Okay, I can prove it to both of you." He sat there mumbling to himself as he wrote equations in the soft dirt beneath him. "Go to her and tell her these exact words: 'our universes are collapsing and if we don't get a certain book from the Star-swirl wing, then it's all going to end up like that.'" We paused, waiting for him to continue.

"Like what?" Twilight asked.

"Just go up there and tell her."

"You think you have all the answers don't you?" I said with an irritated tone.

"That's because I do, well most of them anyway…But go and repeat those words to her."

So sure enough we did, not sure what good it would do him, but we encountered the princess none the less. And when we did we repeated the words, careful to remember them exactly. When he told them to us he had a grim look suddenly take over.

"Well he said 'our universes are collapsing and if we don't get a certain book from the Star-swirl wing, then it's all going to end up like that.' But he didn't tell us what-"I was interrupted by a loud sound of crumbling and cracking as one of the decorative pillars collapsed under itself. It lay there as a pile of shattered marble. "That I guess…"

After explaining to the princess that he told us to say those exact words, and some reassuring he didn't use any black magic, she agreed to come down and visit him. When we entered the small, stone room deep beneath the castle, he looked surprisingly comfy as he just lay back on the hard bunk bed.

"Oh good, you told her exactly what I said."

"How did you use magic from all the way down here?" Celestia asked.

"It was not magic Celestia, but perfect timing. If you look at your kingdom, if you really look, you can see the signs everywhere. Buildings collapsing, freak weather, animals acting strangely, it all adds up." He sat on the edge of his plain dark green bunk bed.

"What are you saying? That my kingdom is not run properly?" She narrowed her eyes at his absurd equation.

"Oh no it is of course a very well-run kingdom. But something much more grave has come upon it, worse than any monster or demon you have ever faced. You may not want to accept it but your universe is falling apart at the seams, and ironically I am the only one who knows how to stop it and where to do it. If you had looked more closely, I am sure you would have spotted it by now."

"And why should I believe you? You, who attempted to steal priceless scrolls and Manu scriptures."

"Three…Two…One…" There was a muffled rumbling that came from upstairs. "Proof enough?" She asked with a smirk across his face.

"If it's so important than just spit it out already!" I said as I grew more and more impatient, and my voice turned into a yell.

"Very well," he swung himself around to be sitting on the edge of the bed. "Cracks are appearing everywhere in this universe because Michael here doesn't belong," he pointed a finger accusingly at me.
" He's missing from our world and this world doesn't want him. That is why those two pillars just collapsed-"another muffled rumble "and a sculpture. But you can't see these cracks because they haven't happened yet, but then again they have, it's all very confusing but basically; they only exist for a split second and only very few exist for longer than that. I know where the permanent one is, the one what can stop all of this and the one that can…" He hesitated again and quickly glanced at me, then continued. "Well the one that…give us an idea of what's going on, yes that's right."

"I am sure those are simply my loyal researchers performing merely a few tests." Celestia turned to walk out, but he called out again.

"Okay Celestia but by the way those 'experiments' are going I would say that this whole castle will be rubble in a few days' time." This stopped her in her tracks. She stared blankly, assessing what he had told her. "By tomorrow half of Canter lot would have collapsed." He wrapped his hands around two bars and leaned closed to them. "Do you really want to take the chance that I'm lying?"

With a heavy sigh she decided that the safety of her people came first, and this human had not caused any trouble in the past. And this castle had been her home for over one thousand years; it held too many memories and possessions for her to take the risk. "Very well, you shall be released. But you shall be watched by armed guards, if you break any more laws I will not hesitate to give you a life sentence, no matter what you say. Is that clear?"

"Good! So" he hopped down and made the softest of 'thud's as his boots hit the soft dirt. "I will need you to come along, get me some books on time travel, get me my sword and maybe some mead."

"Your friend is very rude" Celestia whispered and shot me a disapproving glance, as did Twilight.

"I know, but unfortunately, he's also right. We've all just seen the evidence so he obviously knows that he's talking about." We all moved outside and began to ascend the stone steps, Celestia stopping and ordering his release on the way. After the whole way he has been acting, his alibi that he had somehow come out of my mind was getting less and less believable by the second.

On our way out, as we trailed behind the other ponies, I remembered a question I had wanted to ask him. "By the way, what happened last night?"

He looked at me and his brow furrowed "you can't remember?" I shook my head. "Faith en Begorrah, this is happening faster than I thought. I thought we would have more time but…I guess this universe just doesn't like to change history at all!" He stared off into space before realising he hadn't given a straight answer. "Oh sorry, nothing interesting happened. We showed up Trixie, walked around town, went to the nightclub, so no big disasters or anything of the like…That Taz guy is a pretty good DJ though."

Eventually the princess parted ways with us; she was going to take her pegasi-drawn chariot chair…thing, over to ponyville while we took the train. Shortly after we met up with ever pony else and started to our way back to the station. On the way it turned out to be a quiz show for the pirate, getting bombarded with question from Twilight. Every now and then he would look over to me, suspicious that I hadn't said a word this whole time.

"So how did you put a human on the moon without using magic or wings?"

"That is something I cannot tell you" he responded. "If I did it would just speed up the process of the whole universe crumbling!"

"Well…Why would it do that then?"

"Because it would alter history! For a unicorn who has met herself from the future, you know so little about timelines and paradoxes."

"How would it alter history for one pony to know one piece of human knowledge?"

"Listen, when I say 'alter history' I don't really mean we will alter the entire timeline. I mean that it would be giving ponies' knowledge they were never meant to have. We've already got two things that were not meant to be, and Michael has left a large enough footprint on your world already, so we don't need ponies knowing forbidden knowledge. It would be like if every pony got magic as powerful as Celestia's, everything would go into chaos. Why? Because only Celestia was meant to handle that kind of power, see what I'm getting at here? Ponies were never meant to know about human science."

"Uh…You guys." Rainbow said.

"We've done enough damage as it is."

"Hey, pirate guy!"

"We don't need more damage being done."

"HEY LISTEN!" She flew in front of him and shook him by the shoulders, none too gently either.

"WHAT!"

"Take a look where we are!"

And then we saw it. Something so blatantly obvious that it hid right under our nose, as we were distracted by everything else. We finally saw the one thing that we are always aware of but never pay attention to, our surroundings. Because as we looked we realised.

We stood in the middle of Canterlot square.

"And your point is?" He asked.

Rainbows face-hoofed and gently landed on the ground, "you said that we shouldn't do anything to ruin this whole timeline thing! Then you get seen by everypony in town!"

"Yeah" spike stepped in. "For someone who has all the answers, that was a pretty stupid move."

"Well what harm is there in a few more ponies knowing humans exist?" He casually started walking again.

"A few, try the whole of Canterlot!" Spike said as we walked (or flew) beside him.

"Do you have any idea how fast news spreads here?" Rarity added.

"And once word gets out to th' other cities, that's game over for ya." Applejack said.

He made a slight dismissive gesture with his hand. "You have all got to learn not to be so fearful about the way people see you. Yes people will reticule you and taunt you, but if you look every great pony that has ever lived has accepted it. And the secret to accepting it is realising, that no matter how well people know you or how they see you, there is always more underneath. And no one has the right to tell you what you can or cannot be."

"What? We just don't want the world to blow up because you had to be so 'fearless!'" I told him.

"Regardless! All of you humans can learn an important lesson from that little monologue, and if you don't want to, then fine."

His words, surprisingly, did well to raise my spirits. It was like a tiny ember of hope suddenly caught alight. It made me realise that all this time, all this while surrounded by ponies I was trying to avoid myself. Dodging through alleyways, lying about our history, not wanting anyone to even know I existed. I had been running from who I was, who I am. A wise purple mare once told me that friendship is magic, the way I see it it's been nothing but tragic. Humans had a dark history, but these creatures didn't know of us at all, humanity could have a clean slate here.

I didn't need to run from who I am anymore, or what I was. I am human and there's nothing I can do about it, even changing bodies can't destroy what is inside. It was then I learned to be proud of myself. Nobody can change me and nobody can judge me at all. You are who you are and if you hide that, you're going to lose track of it.

I had found it again. I had found him again. Because now it was so clear who that mysterious man was. Rattling the bars and breaking free ever since I decided to hide behind that tree so long ago. He was the part of me deep down inside fighting to be who I really was, the part who kept yelling not to be normal, not to fit in, to dare to be unique. With this revelation a fire brewed in me, filling me with courage and energy and excitement. I took a slow deep breath, closing my eyes as the fire grew and grew and licked at my soul. With my exhale came a burning energy that spread through my body, pulsing through my veins and filling me to my fingertips as I brimmed with warmth, confidence, with its otherworldly energy that seemed to glow and shine from within me, bursting outwards in powerful strides.

I didn't see it, but felt it, as he stopped and a weary smile grew across his face.

I opened my eyes.

It was time to show these ponies what a true human could do.

Returning home

The constant beat of the engine and rocking of the cart soon became almost hypnotic as it went on, eluding existence ever more and more with every moment passing, until it finally droned out of our heads and became just another subconscious noise in the background that no one ever notices.

Back in town he had seemed so much more alive though, that strange tall man in the coat. He was so ecstatic only ten minutes ago to witness Ponyville first hand, meet the locals, get out of the big city and into a place where we were both accepted, and into the place where he had essentially been born. He had thrown his arms into the air, doing a twirl as he walked.

"We can finally get back to where it all started!" he had looked over to me with a quizzical look and asked "are you sure you are okay with that, Michael?"

"Why wouldn't I be? We won't have to sneak around anymore, and life can finally get back to normal! I don't see any way back to earth, so we can stay in Ponyville. I don't care if the whole of Equestria knows who we are anymore! Why do you think I would need to think about it?"

"That's not…No, never mind, no reason…"

But now he seemed so troubled, as if haunted by something. I was looming over his shoulder everywhere he went, weighing him down like a led blanket. His joyous smile was replaced with a neutral frown, his eyes glazed over, and he rarely moved with as much energy as before. Only moving to adjust his position from time to time. All he would do is stare out the window, into his hands or down at himself. His eyes were vacant with no emotion at all; he stared blandly at anyone that talked to him. The only hint of anything human was a touch the sadness that felt somehow familiar to me. It was as if he had been this way for the longest time.

He refused to talk for the whole ride back; he remained silent and ignored any attempt at friendly conversation.

Sometimes when the whole cabin was quiet, you could hear the faintest whispers escape his trembling mouth. Whatever had been thundering inside eventually grew too great for him to bear. Without any indication he stood and grabbed me by the arm, dragging me into a luggage carriage without a single word. All the ponies stared at us as he closed the large metal door. He sat down on a nearby suitcase and motioned for me to do the same. We sat in silence for what seemed to be an eternity, yet only seconds at the same time. All the while a sad look was spread across his face, as something deep down inside his soul ate away at him. Finally he spoke up.

"Michael…" I perked up at the sudden noise. "I've been lying to you…" He look up and saw the bewilderment in my face, he continued. "All the bravado in my personality, all the courage I've shown, it's all been a lie…" He dropped his gaze to the ground. "I have only just realised it recently, but I had been throwing away who I was, just as you were. And when you came to that realisation, I had one as well…" I waited for him to continue, as patient as I appeared, I was burning inside to know his next words. But those words took me by storm.

"I'm going to die…"

"What!?" He seemed surprised by my sudden outburst, even I was. The sudden burst of emotion felt like my soul was shouting.

He nodded slowly and continued. "I've had much time to think when I was trapped in your head and even more time in this world. Then I started to wonder…Why am I here? I'm not even a full human, just a figment of your imagination, brought to life by some spell." He almost spat those last few words out. "When you finally came to realise how to be content in this world, my purpose was over! The one and only thing I was created for inside your mind and my business is finished in a matter of days!" His knuckles went white as his now trembling hands clenched into fists. His eyes burned with rage as he spat out the next sentence.

"Who the hell am I anymore!? I'm not even real!" He pounded on his head with his fists as he lurched over.

"Calm down. What has any of this got to do with you dying? You said it yourself that I couldn't die in this world, and if you're a part of me then-"

"Oh you still don't get it do you, you stupid little twat!" I have to admit, I was taken aback by his sudden burst of anger. "The only thing keeping me alive is that split of the worlds out there! That's the whole reason I exist in the first place! Why am I still here!? Why must the world torment me like this!?" By this time he was on the verge of tears, and balancing on a razor blade to a breakdown. With the split seconds he would sometimes look up and stare at me, his eyes showed it all. His eyes burned with the hatred of a thousand burning suns, the emptiness of a black hole, and the harshest grief anyone could endure.

"Don't worry; it's not going to come to that." I sat down next to him and wrapped my arm around him. "Your life wasn't in vein. You taught me how to finally be happy in this world, how to finally stop being afraid of just being human. You taught me what I couldn't accept on my own. It's just like you said, life is what you make of it. 'For our minds can make this world a palace or a prison' remember?"

"I don't even have a name…You never cared enough to name even give me a name!" He said in a trembling voice, rattled with terror as his body shook with fright.

"You live your life that would make Pinkie Pie herself proud of you. You brought us so much joy and happiness, even if you did have strange ways of showing it. I only wish that I could have lived like you, without fear or regret."

His shaking lessened the slightest bit and he look up at me, eyes lost in a world of insanity. "You have lived a life more human that I or any pony in the world ever could. Not pony nor human or even God itself could look down upon that. To think that everyone could appreciate the paths we take as much as the places they take us. To think that they could live like you do."

His shaking ceased and he stared silently at the floor once more, however he seemed much more…content with himself now. The look of terror had vanished from his eyes and was replaced by a glassy look, an unreadable blank expression.

"Everyone in existence lives behind a masquerade, always trying to be someone else, and people like that have done it for so long that eventually, they can't remove the mask without taking some of their own skin.

"And what does that mean…"

"That everyone is born original, but dies a copy. But not you, you fought the hardest battle life can possibly throw at someone, at you easily won. And I promise that if you do end up…disappearing, I will make sure we all find the magic that made you who you are, and spark it again."

"I'm sorry…knowing the hour of one's death is not a…Pleasant experience…"

"Don't worry. Humans like you don't die; they live on for eternity in their friends' hearts."

"Humans like…me?"

"Like I said, you have proven more human in a matter of days than anyone ever could in their entire lifetime." I got up to leave him to his thoughts, but just as I grabbed the latch of the door, he called out to me again.

"Michael." I turned to face him, my hand still clasping the cool metal handle. "Thank you." As I looked upon him I saw a man who had finally achieved peace with himself, and all of that around him. With one last look I saw a single look of rebirth in his eye. I turned and left.

Fluttershy spoke up as I re-entered the cabin. "What happened Michael?"

"I met a man greater who lives a life greater than the gods themselves."

When we left the train and stepped out into the bright sun of Ponyville, many of the clouds had been shifted away and a small crowd of ponies came to greet us. They gathered around us asking why we had left and where we had been, unfortunately we had no time for storytelling at that time, so we told them they would have to wait for another time. The range of looks we received were far and wide, some waved at us and welcomed us back, others invited us to sit and talk with them, even little fillies ran up to take another look at me. Understandable enough, a human disappearing from town in the middle of the night with six ponies missing, it would come across as suspicious to some ponies.

Speaking of those kinds of ponies, some were not at all happy to see me return. They glared and sneered at me from the side-lines. Many ponies in Equestria, and especially in Ponyville, had been welcoming enough once I had settled in, fascinated by what I was and curious about human customs. Then there were the other select few groups. The ones who loathed my existence, told me I was a freak and I didn't belong here, to go back to where I came from, and thought I was a disgrace to their happy society, just a dark smudge on their world that needed to be wiped off. One even called me a "gaijin", I meant for myself to look it up but I never did.

When the other human stepped off the train though, it was like seeing a human for the first time all over again. They stared and whispered to each other behind hooves, all stares were fixed on the tall figure in the orange coat. Mothers pulled their children behind them instinctively, some followed us none too discretely to gain a better view, and once again some ponies just stared in disgust at the sight of another human.

It was late in the afternoon by the time we had arrived, so there was little time to waste. He made our way through the town, cutting through alleyways and straight through the market, coming out onto the rolling green fields of the apple family orchards.

This was not without warning however. The Bridge that usually led to the orchards had been gated and barred off by a sturdy looking wood fence. The makeshift fence continued down the side of the small moat that surrounded the area, only to stop at a random point. As we passed it I felt the ponies' stares shift from curiosity, to worry. They warned us not to go any further and that we didn't know what was out there, as we climbed over the makeshift barricade. And it was true; we didn't know what was out there.

I had almost forgotten how magnificent the sight was. When the sun hung low in the sky and brushed against the mountains in the distance, casting rolling shadows along the acres and making every single tree seem to glow with life as they were bathed in the fading sun.

"There it is!" cried Spike as he pointed out the blatantly obvious sight.

"Thanks eagle eye." I said, "Let's go see what we're dealing with here."

We made our way over. The crack that he had talked about was much bigger than I'd imagined, spanning the whole width of the path, and the length of almost two apple trees lying on their sides. A brilliant bright light shone from it, a pure white, whiter than any snow or cloud could have possibly been. The light almost flowed out like a river, twisting and dancing with divine grace around the very air itself. What was most strange about its appearance was that it was almost entirely on the path, it never strayed off from the dirt road, except for one part where the crack ran up a tree to the right.

"Shining Celestia!" Rarity exclaimed.

"By Luna's night!" Called Twilight.

"Mother of God…" I said aloud.

"Holy mongoose in a monster truck!" The pirate shouted.

We mainly stayed away from the giant white hole in the ground; it didn't seem like a good idea to mess with a break in the fabric of reality…Well more than we already have anyway. Sure Rainbow suggested that 'chucking a few rocks down there to see what happens' was a good idea…But I didn't want to end up some sort of half pony, half rock cross breed because she was bored.

It almost seemed ironic to have run this whole race, to stop just short of the finish line.

Eventually thought, after a while of slow and boring waiting, Celestia and her sister Luna arrived on the scene. However we caught them just as we were heading back. The moon was starting to climb in the sky and we were all too tired, my brains felt like mush and I couldn't think straight at all. It had not essentially been a physically tiring day, but stress build inside and soon we all turned grouchy. And it didn't seem like a good time to be out in the middle of the night, with six magical ponies, a dragon, an ex-werewolf, two demi-gods, and a psycho blade wielding pirate.

"So this is the crack you were talking about?" asked Celestia as she strolled over. As she arrived everypony gave a quick bow to acknowledge their princesses presence.

"Yes" I replied, "but you're a bit too late. We're going to leave this until morning."

"Morning!?" asked a baffled Celestia. "But this could be a matter of life and death!"

"Actually, no it is not." The pirate replied. "This crack seems to be confined to this spot only; it won't grow or shrink at all for some reason."

"But-but what about Canterlot collapsing? Was this all just a ruse to escape from prison?"

"Listen Celestia," he took a confident step forward, his stance aggressive "I know what I said, and there's nothing I can do when I'm tired. It's been a long day for all of us so we don't need more complaints from ponies like you!" He jabbed Celestia in the chest with a single finger, then after a moment of hesitation at what he had just done, hung his head in sorrow.

"Sorry Celestia, he's going through a lot." I intervened. "But he's right, the only one who understands all of this is him, and it won't help to be tired, hungry and grouchy all through the night. We can get much more done in the morning."

"That reminds me princess." Twilight spoke up. "Why did you not arrive sooner? Surely this was the most urgent matter at hoof."

"One cannot simply walk out and abandon the throne. Many matters were to be taken care of." Celestia replied to her prized student.

"Celestia, you can stay with me for the night." Twilight offered.

"That would be most lovely Twilight Sparkle."

"Yeah" agreed Rainbow. "And Luna can come stay at my place; I've got more than enough room."

"Actually, if you would not mind, I would like to stay with Michael and his friend for this night. I have many questions to ask." Luna responded with a big smile spread across her face.

"That's alright, isn't it Applejack?" I asked.

"No problem at all." Applejack said. "Okay so it's settled. An' we'll all meet up here first thing in th' mornin'"

As it was agreed, we walked Luna to the barn as the others all departed to their own homes. While Luna had said she had many questions to ask, she was silent for the whole walk back to the house. However as she walked she did play with the stars, constantly tweaking them to hang them just right in the sky. She stared at her sky, proudly admiring her work of eternal art.

When we had settled in at home, Luna had been shown her room, and as we settled down for the night, I took a moment to step outside and stare in silent awe at Luna's handiwork. It truly was an amazing gift to hold. To be able to shape the night anyway you want, create a completely different experience every time on the same eternal canvas, and always achieving perfection. The stars sparkled like diamonds, and stared back as one million eyes in the ocean of night. "Which one is earth?" I wondered. "Are we just outside this solar system, or an eternity away? It's a shame I will never find out, because I'm stuck here. But that doesn't bother me at all, being stuck in paradise. It feels so…peaceful on this planet."

"Michael?" I jumped at the sudden noise, looking over I saw that Luna had crept up on me, as silent as the night she conjures. "I apologise, I did not mean to frighten you."

"No it's alright. What's on your mind?"

"Well I wanted to ask; why does your friend act so…Rebellious? He has no concern for the law or the authority of my sister. Yet he seems to have no quarrel with me."

"I don't think I should tell you. I don't want the grief to hang on you too."

"Michael, please, you know you can trust me…I could have had you banished, or even executed you when you woke up next to me that night. But I gave you a chance…"

I turned my head away; I couldn't look into those innocent eyes any longer. I just couldn't. After all I had read about in the history of Equestria, and finally getting to meet her, it was clear how much guild she still retained deep down. And the last thing I wanted was to add to that pile.

"If you won't tell me as a debt, tell me as a friend." Looking up I saw that innocent smile on her sweet face, and allowed it to creep onto mine.

"Okay, but you have to promise not to tell anyone! If he found out that I told anyone he would kill me!"

"I understand." She quickly nodded.

"His one purpose in his life was to help me figure out not to be afraid of who I was, and to help me fit into this world. But now I can mingle around ponies comfortably without needing his aid, and because of that his mission in life is over. He also hates the fact that he is only a half human, just an emotion brought into a physical form by your magic. And finally…Once we fix that crack…He's afraid he might die. Because the energy from that crack gave him consciousness, he thinks that once we close it, with his life mission completed and his source of energy gone, life will throw him aside and forget about him. To have only lived a half-life, accomplish your ultimate goal in a number of days, and then to know the hour of your death…It's not something I would ever want to go through."

"And I respect you, Luna." We swung round to see him leaning again the tall wall of the house casually, his arms crossed. "You are so more deserving of your sister of my respect in so many ways."

"How did you know we were out here?" I asked him.

"Oh come on Michael, you thought me up in that head, you don't think we're linked?"

"But my sister and I are the same, are we not? We are both rulers of Equestria." Luna hesitantly asked. He started to talk, but stayed where he was, and in the same position.

"Yes, but your sister knows not what it is to truly be alone. She banished you to your own domain for one thousand years. She trapped you, and turned your paradise into hell. Alone in hell for one thousand years, no one to talk to, to cry on, or even to look at…All alone on the moon. She abandoned you. I bet even now you cannot look at your own moon without remembering what she did to you." Luna stared up at the moon thoughtfully. "She takes for granted what she has, yet you know what it truly means to feel unloved…" He paused and let the message sink in, deeply. "This is why I respect you, and despise your sister." He turned on his feel and headed inside with the creak of the door.

"It seems like ever since I came here…" I thought aloud. "This heaven has turned to hell oh so fast…"

"He is right though…No matter how much I try to forget it just…keeps coming back."

"Well Luna, that is in the past now. I've done things too that I wish I could go back and change, but can I? No, so your mind should be focused on the future. Not dwelling on what can't be changed."

"I truly do feel sorry for that friend of yours; he has been through almost as much as I have, in less than half the time."

"Well Luna, they say that a man knows his death, but not the hour. Unfortunately for him that is not completely true…" I took a look into the peaceful night and told Luna. "You know in some ways, the night is clearer than day ever can be. Without the hassle of homework, bills, work and social status, the night shows life for what it truly is. Pure and simple, with no intervention from ponies….Or humans" Luna allowed herself a smile as she too looked up into the peaceful scenery. After a while I said: "Come on, let's go back inside." I took her by the hoof and lead her around to the door with her still staring up at the moon. I raised my head and looked up at her domain one last time and thought aloud:

"Oh beautiful night, not meant to be slept through."

Due to the lack of space and rooms in Applejacks barn, Luna and I were to share a room, and the pirate to sleep with Applejack, her having a bed big enough to fit the both of them. When we asked her who she would like to share a room with, I instantly thought she would most likely want to share room with a pony, one of her own kind, instead of an alien species she barely knew anything about. Surprisingly enough, though, she volunteered to share the room with me, having questions about humans, and seeing that the pirate wasn't exactly the best source of knowledge on the subject.

"What are you doing?" She asked with her brow furrowed in confusion. She levitated her hairbrush next to her and looked away from the large mirror resting on the drawer as she stopped to stare at me.

"Taking my clothes off, getting into bed, reading a book." I replied as I striped down to my boxers.

"Is this something you humans do often?"

"Yeah, a lot of people do it because the nights can get too hot for comfort sometimes. Especially back in New Zealand, it can get pretty hot sometimes. Or we just change into thicker clothes. Living in Equestria has made me question why humans even invented things like pyjamas or underwear. Underwear, it's just pants on top of more pants, how weird is that?"

"New Zealand? Is that a city back on your planet?"

"City?" Even though I knew that she wouldn't know a thing about earth, and I'd been living with ponies for what seemed like my whole life, it still sounded strange to hear someone think the whole of New Zealand was a city. "No, I'm not sure if you call it something else, or if you've even discovered it yet, but New Zealand's a small island near the equator. You might not even have it on your planet, even though the landmasses are eerily similar to my planets."

"You seem very unturned by living in our society, and being in the presence of my sister."

"You learn to live with it." I shrugged and climbed into bed, grabbing a book off the nightstand.

"But you seem so accepting of our world now. Does it not bother you that you are not one of us?"

"Not bother me?" I set the book down in my sat with a thud as I felt the pain building back up inside me. "Luna not a day goes by where I don't wonder if I'll ever get back to my home. So before you ask me questions like that why don't you step into my shoes for one day, and then see if you can ask dumbass questions like that!" I looked at her and saw the regret in her eyes; she obviously wanted to take what she had asked back.

I took a deep breath and look back down at my book "I'm sorry. My pirate friend is going through some hard times, and, I guess he was right about us being linked."

I barely got any reading done at all, not that I minded though; it was interesting to hear what kind of questions Luna could come up with about us humans. I always managed to give her answers that just lead to more questions; it wasn't intentional to keep her asking but Luna just keeps on digging. We both sat in bed, the moonlight and lamp our only sources of light. There was easily enough room for the two of us in the big bed, surprisingly big for a pony bed. However I still had to curl up a fraction, otherwise my toes found their way out the other side of the bed.

I had set my book aside and talked with Luna for what had to be at least an hour. Both questioning each other and the worlds we live in (or in my case lived). She was much more interesting then Celestia could be, not that I was trying to be biased. Celestia had a tendency to make everything serious and left little room for humour, but Luna was much more fun to be with. She had good jokes to tell, stories to share, history and magic that would have been forgotten if it wasn't for her, and best of all she thought of me as a friend and not just another pony in the crowed expected to bow down.

"Interesting…If you were changed into a pony, do you think it would be the same result if you were transformed again?"

"I don't see why not."

"Then perhaps that means that there could be a human of myself." She looked up at nothing in particular, her eyes lost somewhere between surprise and excitement at the thought.

"Wanting to try out being a human for a day there, Luna?" I had to stifle down a laugh as I imagined Luna trying to move in a human body and fit into our world. "What's even more exciting is that she might already exist. I read a book Twilight loaned me once about alternate dimensions, and going by the logic in the book, there's a pony out there somewhere living with my personality and history all as a pony." I gestured out the window and into the night. "And that means that somewhere back in my world there's a human living your life." I paused and considered how that would work with Luna's history and personality. "Well maybe not your whole life, maybe what you would have been like without being sent to the moon."

"That is an interesting theory; I would love to meet this human doppelganger."

"And I would love to meet my pony self. But with me being living evidence of other worlds, I guess it's proven then. Congratulations Luna, you're human!" I poked her in the chest in a friendly way. She laughed at the idea, her having a human self. As she laughed a loud yawn escaped my throat. "Sorry, maybe we should get some sleep. After all I'm not going anywhere anytime soon, after all this is cleared up you can ask me anything!"

"Very well" she said, quieting down her giggles. "Good night, Michael."

"G'night Luna…"

The dreams came again that night.

Standing in an empty, grassy field, with lush green grass and a beautiful clear sky, deep blue, with the warmth of the sun basking down on me. Then, merely two feet away, a glowing blue line spanning as far as the eye could see, and on the other side, was the same riddle master who I had spoken with in the dream within the forest. He stood there calmly with his hands tucked away behind his back, two feet from the blue line, as hellfire danced around him. The line separated the magnificent field from a burning, barren wasteland. With lave gushing from cracks in the earth, the sky heavy with ash, and fire rushing up into the sky; it was truly a hell to behold.

"Oh it's you again, any more riddles for me this time?" I asked him, I was growing tired of this constant puzzlement I felt caused by his twisted words.

"All the pieces have come together" he started off. "The three puzzle pieces are all now slowly falling into place. It is all waiting for you, back out there. And it has been ever since you came to this world, since the very split second the gates of heaven and hell were opened. This is your fate and the only missing piece is whether you will follow it or not."

"And what is any of that meant to mean? Are you ever going to give me a straight answer or are you just one of my emotions set out to drive me insane? Because seriously, I've got enough shit in my life right now, I don't need you shovelling more on." I felt the anger rise inside of me, all the confusion I had felt suddenly went on the attack.

"Ah but Michael I have given you a straight answer. All you must do now is see it. While it may not seem straight to you, it is perfectly sound to me. Who is to say that one idea or reality is more valid than another?"

"I will come over there and punch you in the back of the face! Give me a straight answer or get the fuck out of here!" As I hurled insults at the man, the world fell apart around me. Holes cracking open in either side of the two worlds, all of them glowing intensely with a blood red.

"It seems the dream is destabilizing. So be it, my work here is done…"

"Good, don't come back! Or I will mentally take you down like a lion on a gazelle! No, seriously, I will melt your face off if you show up with any more puzzle crap!"

"Goodbye Michael. I hope you will see you fate as straight as a monkey's tail."

"Oh now you're just making shit up!" The world around me all turned red.

"You know, I don't really get this hay eating thing…" I said through a mouthful of hay. Yes I was eating hay, after all this time of avoiding it. I even surprised myself that I was trying it. The apple family, Luna, our pirate companion and I all sat at the kitchen table having breakfast. There was a strange calm in the air, because as far as we know, we all could have just slept through Las Heygas falling apart. I saw both Applejack and Luna trying to stifle down a laugh as I stared at the dry hay I held firmly in my hand. It had a strong organic taste, obviously, but…There's really no other way to describe eating hay. I'm guessing it would taste slightly more bitter than grass but as I haven't eaten any grass from Equestria, or at all really, I wouldn't know. Thank god ponies had discovered pancakes, because I've turned out to be useless at remembering any human recipes.

"You think you can finish that whole thing without spitting any out?" The pirate asked me, with a broad grin not even remotely hidden.

"Probably not" I dropped the hay I held onto my plate as I grimaced at the taste. I swallowed the dirt like mush in my mouth hastily and took a swig of water. "It's like eating weeds that turns into mud inside your mouth. Thank god ponies have invented modern cooking."

"Are you sure you don't want any flowers to go with that?" He asked as he plopped some flowers onto my head with magic. Applejack and Luna burst out laughing, as did Applebloom, as Big Mac chuckled to himself.

"Alright, you try some them." I took the bright flowers off my head and threw them over to him. With a confident smile he took them in his hand, put down his newspaper of 'Equestria weekly', shoved them into his mouth and swallowed without chewing a bit.

"Good enough for ya?"

"Oh that's cheating; you're not even real you can pull off impossible things." As I mentioned it his face went dark and he stared back into his newspaper, eyes filled with both anger and despair. Oh crap, wrong thing to say I thought to myself. Dammit, why did I have to get caught up in the moment, this is only making things worse for him… Luckily, Applebloom changed the subject.

"But if ya'll don't eat hay or flowers or nothing like that, what do ya humans eat?" She asked me, cocked her head slightly.

"Our main food source is tiny little ponies like you" the pirate interfered, looking up from his article. "Got some good fresh meat on your bones." I saw Applebloom's expression turn to fear at what he told her.

"No it's not" I corrected "he's just joking, even thought it was quite a dark joke." The pirate shrugged and went back to reading. "Well we do eat vegetables and all that, just not hay, flowers, grain, or anything of the like. Mostly its meat; pork, beef, chicken, fish, deer, and some people even eat dogs. Man and ponies best friend, suddenly not such a friend anymore." This did little to calm Applebloom's nerves, her face still portraying shock and, in place of fear, disgust. "And no, I'm not going to eat your dog, so don't worry about it."

Soon after everyone had finished clearing the table, we headed out to the most recent disaster to strike Ponyville, and the rest of Equestria. We found that Celestia had assembled a team of scientists and set up a base of operations overnight as we slept.

"I do not know how humans commonly act, but I for one shall not stand idly by while my kingdom is destroyed by this crack!" Celestia said in an irritated tone, bags were showing around her eyes as she stared at me and the pirate.

"Okay, okay, calm down already" The pirate said. "I'll need to run some tests while we're here to determine its properties. Believe me Celestia I want to save Equestria just as much as you do, but I don't want any mistakes, otherwise the whole universe could implode, explode, then spontaneously combust into nothingness…For all we know of course. So I shall need an hour clock first. Michael, go and ask doctor Whooves if we can borrow his-"

"No need, we have a magical hour clock that was brought here from my castles science wing-"

"No! No magic this time! We don't know what kind of crack it is, let alone what magic could possibly do to it!"

"You made up a system" I asked "for this sort of thing? Who does something like that?"

"There's nothing but conflicting emotions and no women in your head Michael, what the hell was I supposed to do?"

"Wait, did you just call me gay!?"

Breathing a weary sigh, he elaborated. "Michael all your emotions depend on gender. Unless you imagine one of your emotions to look like a woman, it is by default an altered version of your build. Now enough wasting time, go get that hour glass. Celestia and I will perform tests while we wait."

"If you say so, you know more about this than I do anyway. I'll be off then" and with that I swaggered off in the direction of Ponyville.