> Space Ponies
>  by Boss_Hoss1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Chapter 1. First Contact   (edit 10/30/13)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 1, First Contact

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"...It goes a little something like this;



*CLICK*

With am irritated sigh, Scott turned off the MP3 track from Sublime, as it started sounding a little too personal now in these bleak times.

The heavyset, brown haired human set the laptop aside and tried to relax on a day off from a grueling dead end burgershack job. 

It wouldn’t be so bad if he had not had a far better job that had paid three times as much. 
Unfortunately, his beginner-level tech support job had gone to distant shores before he could sign up for the in-house programming classes. 
At least that company was losing sales disastrously from the now-horrible level of support. "Insert cruel chuckle of irony...”

This world might still be bearable for someone of his kind, a Furry Fan, more specifically an Equine Fur and Brony, if he could afford to go to a convention. ANY convention! -To be with distant friends and people generally as weird as he was who understood him.

No, not this year, not this economy, and especially this burgershack with new managers worse than any customer he ever dealt with driving sales down.

Frowning, Scott twirled his finger in the air, speaking in a sarcastic monotone "If it weren’t for bad luck, I would have no luck at all. Wheee..." 

At least he still had his new Brony friends online... and the ponies. 
You could name mainly equine themed shows on one hand, and all were worthy of viewing in his eyes, but this one... this was special! Not only did he instantly fall in love with it, the overwhelming public response has been strange but heartwarming to a lonely equine-in-spirit. 

Happily, it also brought him so many new friends online, doubling the number of online friends. 

Feeling a little better now, he smiled and turned the TV on with the remote, cuing up one of the MLP-FiM episodes recorded on DVR at random. He didn’t mind which one came up, he liked them all.

As he watched, he pulled over a sketch book and worked some more on a MLP version of his Equine fursona to use as an avatar on the pony sites. 
Well, since he occasionally magically changed his fursona to a unicorn or pegasus in-game in furry Role Play chats... Maybe a dedicated unicorn MLP pony? Yeah! That should help jazz up his RPs this week as everyone awaited the premiere of Season 2 this weekend! 

Online debate on the nature and role of the mysterious dragon creature in Canterlot stained glass windows, part of a handful recently revealed in preview screencaps, was growing to a fever pitch. The latest word was it was to be voiced by John DeLancy

As he watched the random episode, he sketched out a pony stallion until he felt the details from his furry horse avatar were correctly modified to pony form. 
He then went over the lines with a brush pen. 
For a moment, he considered adding glasses to make it more like his human self, but shook his head. 'I hate wearing glasses, and my online avatar shouldn’t have to have them.' 
Satisfied at last, he added color with colored pencil and markers, blending the colors together with a marker filled with acetone. 

Scott lifted the sketchbook to the light and smiled, examining the handsome, bay colored unicorn stallion on the page. 
His mental self-image now had a new option to show off to his Furends and Broneys. "Perfect! Ready for scanning!" 

As he worked to hook up the scanner, he gradually became aware of a strange charge in the air. 
Something really weird feeling, something that was like static electricity, but... not at the same time. 
His hair stood up on end and papers around the room rustled as the charge increased. 

Just then, Scott noticed the 32” TV screen had frozen. Pinkie's head edged in from one side, and peered at him, her head warping like the screen was a fish-eye lens. The toony pink mare put her hooves around her eyes to shade them, as if she were looking through a window from outside.

Pinkie's face suddenly lit up wth a smile "AHA! I finally found one of you sneaky sneakertons! Wait RIGHT there!"
She reached down below the edge of the screen for something, tugged, then the surface of the screen instantly snapped up out of sight like a spring loaded roll-up window blind, and sounded just like one too with a rapid slap-slap-slap sound. The pull string and ring finally swung around wildly into view from the top of the... "window" as Pinkie climbed through, humming pleasantly.

Too stunned and shaky to stand up, Scott stared in awe as she took on a glossy solidity, like the 3-D renderings of her on deviantArt and Equestria Daily. 

Grinning impossibly, she looked at herself and ooohed. "Wooo! Shiny!" 
Pinkie then clopped over and looked out the window "Totally awesome! You Space Ponies aren't in space after all, just another world…"

Finally, she giggled and turned around to face the dazed human, standing up on her hind legs. "And you aren't ponies either. Are you a dragon like Spike? You got hands like he does... Well, silly-willy? Aren’t you going to introduce yourself? I know you know who I am since you are one of the sillies watching me and my friends."

*ahem* Scott cleared his throat sheepishly and blushed as he ran a hand through his thick, dark hair, naturally shaggy like a pony mane.
It did not help his composure that Pinkie was in fact anatomically correct when not seen through the diligently scrubbed family-friendly filter of HUB television, and had unknowingly flashed him stepping over the edge of the screen.

"Ah, yeah.... I…I'm a human, and since I'm one of those that watch you, I'm called a Brony." 
He shook his head "Sorry I haven’t introduced myself yet, Pinkie. Honestly, I'm just trying to decide if I'm dreaming or..." He suddenly thought of a reference she might get without saying the obvious "...Having a Party of One..."

Her eyes went wide in understanding "Ohhhh... No friends and that you might be going...?"

Sheepishly, the stallion-in-spirit nodded "No friends or parents within easy travel. I don’t think I'll get to see them at all this year. My other prospects and worries are bleak and that's a lot of reason to go ...y'know."

Belatedly, he extended a hand, which she put a hoof in and shook. Her hoof felt both warm and almost hard at the same time. He could not help but sniff at the scents wafting over him from so close.
'Oh... wow! She smells like bubblegum... Cotton candy, yeah, and cake frosting! All at once! No wonder Sugarcube Corner is so popular! She's a walking billboard for the nose!' 

Before Pinkie could prod him on it after such a long moment of hand/hoof-shaking, he spoke "I'm Scott, and I'm Skybright on the internet." 
At her puzzled look, he pointed at his laptop. "Over there, that's a computer. -Instant communication everywhere in the world. 
The bad thing is, it means your friends are too far away to meet you easily, if ever."

Pinkie gasped dramatically, hopping up into the air and hovering for a moment before coming back down. "Oh! That's TERRIBLE! You must be frownyface sad a lot! When was your last party?"

Scott sighed "Almost a year ago, when I went to meet many of my friends several hundred miles from here at a convention, The Memphis Furmeet."

Her pupils dilated in shock, Pinkie gasped and squeaked in horror. Her cotton candy hair was frantically bobbing with her head as she shook it. "No! Really? Not even a Birthday party since then?"

Sighing heavily, he quietly replied and looked down to the floor "...No..." 

Pinkie suddenly got a determined look on her face and patted him on the head "Don’t you worry, "Auntie Pinkie" will help you! There must be something... OH! I have an idea!"

Background music suddenly started playing out of thin air as she started dancing and began to sing, props appearing out of thin air to match her words and actions;

“You should listen to your friend Pinkie,
In Parties I have a degree.

Come to my parties, and you will see,
Why they are special to me.

(Ooh, here comes the chourus…)
When meanies make you want to scream,
When life makes you want to Shouuut,
Come to my parties and let it all ouuuut!
(Yes you should…)

Come on, and lose that sad, sad, pouuuut!
With Pinkie’s help, you will work it ouuuut!
Come to my parties, and We’ll chill ouuut!
(It’s all good…)

Come on to my parties and you will see
You can be happy, just like Pinkie,

Ponyville is the capitol of all parties,
For it is the home of little ol’ me,

Suddenly Pinkie was dressed as a torch singer, lounging on a piano and lifting his chin with her hoof.

(Here comes the big finish)
Your days are so dark and lonely 
You tell me you feel sad 
But Pinkie will be there, 
to show you it really isn't bad.

Come and smile for me, lose that Pouuut!
My Parties will make you Shouuut!
Beam for me and things will work Ouuut!
(I guarantee)

C’mon and sing with me, shout it Ouuut!
You’ll Smile! Sing, Dance and shouuut!
Come with me for the biggest Blow out!
(Oooh Firework time!)

It’s Party Tiiime!
It’s Party Tiiime!

LETS PARRR-TAY!

Pinkie finished on her knees with a florish before him as stage fireworks went off around her. She looked up at him with a silly grin, her narrow chest heaving, and the music suddenly stopped. 

A stunned look around showed all the props had vanished as mysteriously as they appeared, but he now had a smile a crowbar could not remove.

Satisfied with her performance in making him smile, she put on another amazing grin that defied the laws of physics and pulled on his hand with both hooves. 
"I’m glad you like the song, it’s a work in progress. When I’m done, it should really bring a smile to everypony! 
Sooo... Wanna' visit Ponyville? There’s LOTS of friends there! I Pinkie Promise you'll get the party of your life!"

Her hooves felt like they were gripping him without fingers, like a telekenetic field around them. A supposed "animator shortcut" revealed to be true.

At her pull, Scott stood up and grinned happily, finding she was closer to human female size when she was standing upright. "Oh I Want! I WANT! Please! Let me grab some things first..." 

Working quickly, he wrote a quick note that he would be away for a bit in case anyone came to check on him and left it by the TV. 
Scott then grabbed his laptop, sketchbooks, and assorted useful small things that would fit in his laptop backpack -all just in case. 

After a last look around, he finally put his hand in her hoof and smiled at her eagerly. 
"I'm ready."

Pinkie flashed a smile in return and giggled "Allrightie then, let’s go!"

After pulling him through the window, she pulled the screen back down and tied a pink ribbon to the pull string.

Dazzled, he could not quite grasp what he was seeing. His eyes could not really lock on anything out here without hurting both his eyes and his brain. Was this... this... whatever-this-was typical of what's beyond the borders of reality?  

But, dazzled and stunned or not, he followed when the pink pony tugged on him. "This way, come on."

Instantly, things snapped into focus around him like he just stepped through a door... -Or from off-screen?

Seemingly unaffected by the chaos they had just walked through, Pinkie bounced around him in a circle with her usual energy. "Welcome to Ponyville!"

Awed, Scott stared around in wonder, his mouth hanging open as he saw the pastel colored old-European style timbered buildings with thatched roofs ahead and to his right. Lush, green pastures and trees whose leaves were starting to change to autumn colors were on his left. 
Completing the pastoral scene, a small stream wound through it all, with at least one small white wooden bridge crossing it before it curved out of sight around the village. 

Much to his relief, he noted he was apparently at the edge of town. -Which was good since he didn’t want the three flower ponies fainting in terror at his appearance.

As he looked around in sheer wonder, his mind reveled in seeing it looked just as it appeared in the show, but he could touch it, smell it, FEEL it. 
Scott laughed in joy as the cool breeze ruffled his hair and clothing. The colors were so brilliant compared to Earth, the grass rustled underfoot like the real thing but looked hand drawn. 

Speaking of which, even he looked like a colorful drawing of himself when he looked at his hands and down his front.
As he bent and ran his now flash animated-appearing fingers through the grass, he suddenly felt dizzy and sat down heavily.
"Ulp, I don’t feel so good..."

Pinkie gasped and stopped in mid-bounce, hanging in mid-air with a completely astonished look as Scott's clothing suddenly got tight.

His fingers took on a glossy, nail-like sheen, then fused into a single dark mass as his face pushed outward, knocking his wire-rimmed glasses off. 

All this a moment before his clothing burst from the pressure of his transforming body.

The waist and thighs of his jeans tore almost explosively. Fortunately saving him from more than a brief moment of pain as his thighs and rump compacted together into flanks squeezed into a space they were never meant to fit. 

Lower down, his shoes had fared better, kicked off in his panicked thrashing. Even so, his socks had shredded, caught on heels turned into MLP-style angular hocks.

The hard part was now his Tee-shirt with a bold horse design on it; The sleeves were now in the wrong place for a vaguely equine body, stretching the material across the back and causing a huge tear from the neck hole to most of the way down his back, and ripping the sleeves away from the badly stretched arm holes.

With the rapid transformation complete, Scott collapsed, sore and very disoriented.

Fortunately, (or unfortunately) he could not have been out of it for very long. Pinkie roused him from his daze with a sudden shake of his head in her hooves like he was a snowglobe, and peered into his face from up close. Scott's dizzy mind oddly wondered why he heard a cowbell when she shook him.

Seeing he was awake, she let his head flop back to the soft grass. Pinkie was by now completely fired up by what she had just seen and sat astride his fuzzy chest, babbling at him a mile a minute in shocked excitement. "Wow! I totally did not see that coming! Did you see that coming? Huh? Huh? Huh? I seriously bet you didn’t! When My Pinkie sense told me today was another Doozy... You know what those are right? I mean you watch us all the time. Oh, of course you do! Anyway, I totally thought the Doozy would be something else! *gasp* I mean really..."

Scott gasped as he came back to full awareness and felt his longer, narrow-muzzled face with his new forehooves...
"Sweet Mother Epona..."


(insert My Little Pony Season 2 opening title sequence here... )




'(_)'                        '(_)'                       '(_)'                        '(_)'

-Author's Note-
Well, season 3 is here and while I still don't have awesome cover art yet. I'd better post this and hope it stays relevant and pray I wont need to add an AU tag... 
Special thanks to the valiant example of starshine_dash for giving me the courage to post this here.

When I started writing this before Season 2 began, all for my own amusement from the viewpoint of the fandom Bronykind itself grew around like a pearl, I had not intended it to become a shipfic. 
-Not since hiding from the Brony viewers until the show had run it's course and pursuing cast members during the seasons are mutually exclusive activities.
Suddenly, The Royal Wedding came, and when I next started writing, suddenly whole chapters came pouring out that I had to scratch my head over "Wait, where did this come from?" -even reaching back through previous chapters.
I'll just chalk it up to "Luna and Celestia are pleased with my efforts!" and accept the extra challenge of My little pony Ninja-ing his way through the 2nd season onward.

I will try to post once a week once I am satisfied a chapter is tweaked to perfection.
~Semper Pellus!~
-Boss Hoss
> Chapter 2. Meet The Brony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 2,  Meet the Brony

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a nice, sunny morning thanks to Rainbow Dash's effort at keeping the skies clear. 

Enjoying the warmth of Celestia's sun, Twilight was laying out on a park bench near the fountain, reading. 

Eagerly, Pinkie bounced up to her "Twiiiilight! Guess what!?"

Not even turning to look from where she concentrated on the book, the lilac unicorn replied in a bored tone "*sigh* what, Pinkie?"

Pinkie's ears went back in disappointment. Twilight did not even TRY to guess! She glanced over to a nearby bush with two dark blue eyes the color of Rarity's peering back at her, depending on her. 
Her resolve given a boost, Pinkie leaned in close, turning her head to get between Twilight and the book. "You know when I say I think we're being watched? I had one of those Doozy feelings and finally went to take a look, and I brought one of them back with me!"

Scott watched as Twilight sat up, wide eyed with one of her eyebrows arched. "Wait, what? One of those "Space Ponies" you tell us about?!"

Pinkie giggled "Welll... he wasn’t a pony, he says he's a Brony...or, well.. I guess he's a pony now since he got here... Sco-ottt Come out come ouuuut!"

Shyly, He stepped out from behind the bush Pinkie had hidden him behind, still a bit wobbly on his new hooves. "Um, H-hello, Miss Twilight Sparkle, I'm Scott."

Suspiciously, Twilight stood up from the park bench and came over, her eyes narrowed. 
As she got closer, her eyes suddenly widened in surprise as she noticed the strange unicorn stallion was a blank flank. 
Despite what animator goofs show to human viewers, Twilight Sparkle had never seen an adult blank flank before.
Twilight looked into his dark blue eyes with growing unease. "Okayyy... Scott, right? This... this isn’t some elaborate prank by Pinkie and Dash, is it..."

The stallion twitched his black-tipped ears, accompanied with a shy smile and a Fluttershy blush on his cheeks "Well, if anyone would believe me in my first few minutes here in Ponyville, you would. 
As Pinkie says she told you and your friends, a number of people on my world watch the adventures of you… umm, Elements of Harmony for entertainment. 
Everyone pretty much believes it light, heartwarming, satisfying fiction, by the way. 
However, for me, this..." He waved a hoof around, plainly meaning all of Equestria. "...Confirms a lot of current scientific theories about Alternate Worlds. 
My favorite theory was that many worlds of fiction are actually the writers tuning in on the right wavelength to someplace else. 
To be honest, I never really felt I fit my world and hoped this was so."

Twilight blinked, and then went wide-eyed in surprise. 
Though it had started to sound like a bizarre joke... After all, who would watch a silly bunch of ponies like her and her friends, when the Princesses were so much more interesting? His story had just made a quantum jump in believability. 
Alternate Worlds was a branch of theory not in any books in Ponyville, but in the Libraries and Laboratories back in Canterlot! 

Staring and going “Hmm” thoughtfully, Twilight rubbed a hoof on her velvety chin and peered at him with narrowed purple eyes. 

Scott's heart skipped a beat as those slightly glossy purple lips of hers, a shade darker than her hide. -Relatively thin but elegant lips that had not been visible from the other side of the screen, did the most adorkable pout as she examined him from mere inches away. 
His nose caught the scent of waffles and maple syrup on her breath.

Twilight murmured "Curiouser and curiouser..." as she floated a scroll and quill out of her saddlebag to take notes in a running commentary.

Walking around him slowly, the purple unicorn examined the stallion more closely. 
While uncommon, the stallion's colors were not unheard of. His hide was bright bay, bordering on blood bay. She noted reddish highlights on his hide, shimmering in the sunlight as he moved, appearing as a red outline to his form.
Twilight also noted he had black "sock" marks on all four legs. -Even the front half of his muzzle was also black. It was longer than her own muzzle, slender and squared off in a masculine manner, similar to her brother’s.
His shiny black mane reminded her of Braeburn's in style, but with a long, unkempt lock at the base of his neck that would probably look better in a ponytail.
Around his neck was a leather thong with a bronze pendant. It was quickly enveloped in a purple nimbus as she lifted it to her eyes for examination. Said pendant was about an inch across and was marked with three stylized mares wreathed in swirling "knots", appearing much like the decorative scrollwork here and there around Canterlot, or the Princesses in the book about the Mare in the Moon. 

Satisfied for the moment, Twi hmmmed and decided to observe his mental reactions, "Okay, er, Scott. You have my undivided attention. You claim to have been something else, so have you seen yourself yet?"

Scott shuffled a hoof sheepishly at the memory of his arrival, when he had quickly found to both his relief and mortification he was still anatomically correct since it was Pinkie who had helped him out of his clothes. 
"Only my immediate front and around my flanks. I was a... er, "maned", furless bipedal creature with many digits on the ends of his limbs, kind of like Spike does... called a human. We are distantly related to chimpanzees if such exist on this world. 
You can imagine it was a surprise when my clothes ripped from my... um, transforming body on arrival."

Pinkie Pie giggled and bounced in a circle around them both. "Yeah! I had to help him out of the clothing confetti. He looks sooo much better without explody clothes on. In fact, he looks wayyyy better as a pony, period!"

Stifling a giggle at Scott's sudden blush at the last part of Pinkie's statement, the purple unicorn nodded to the fountain, "All right, go take a look..."

Scott clopped on over and peered at his reflection, his eyes going wide "Oh!~ OhMyGosh!OhMyGosh!OhMyGosh!" 
His face grinned broadly, so much it hurt, but he could not stop even if he wanted to. Tears of joy coursed down his fuzzy cheeks. 

He turned this way and that to see his face and head, even reaching up to prod the horn on his forehead he had not noticed until now. He even swung his red-outlined flanks around to see them reflected over the edge of the fountain. "I.. I'm... ME!... I'm my... ponysona! I look exactly like I just drew myself! I'm Scott Skybright!" 

As if saying the name completed a circuit, there was a tingle and flash at his hips and he leapt forward like he had been poked! -Right into the fountain's pool with a splash. 

Sputtering, he stood up in the water and arched around to look at the stylized four point star in an oval on his hips  "I... I have a...a Cutie Mark?! How... how did..?"

Grinning in sheer joy, Pinkie Pie put her hoof around Twilight's shoulder, as the unicorn looked on with her mouth hanging wide open in stunned shock. 
"Wow Twi! I had never seen a smile like that on anypony but me, the day I saw Dashie's Sonic Rainboom and got my cutie mark! And now HE has a Cutie Mark right after smiling like I did! Can we keep him? Huh? Huh? Huh? Can we? Puleeeeeze?!"

Scott chuckled sheepishly "I don’t know about keeping me but can I stay? In Equestria? I really don't want to go back now that I'm a pony... Words cannot describe how much I don’t want to go back..." he finished with a shudder.
He thought to himself about the reasons, not the least of which the strong likelihood of being studied to gory and painful destruction in the inevitable secret government labs, but he wasn't going to mention that reason if he could help it...

Shaking her head to clear it, Twilight looked at the stallion uncertainly. "Well, after you got that Cutie Mark, I'm not sure you can go back. Or if you do, I seriously doubt you would turn back to what you were before. 
That is some serious magic that's tied with the fabric of Equestria there. Not even Princess Celestia herself can make a Cutie mark appear or disappear -that I know of. 
You must have accepted who and what you are when you said that name."

His ears perked forward as he digested that information, then he rose up on his hind legs and started dancing around, squeaking out "YES!YES!YES!YES!YES!YES!YES!" 
Pinkie got so caught up in the moment she jumped into the fountain and started dancing and chanting “YES” with him.

After a minute of this there was a crowd of ponies surrounding the fountain, looking at them oddly. He finally stopped and looked around sheepishly. "Um, Hello... I... Uh, finally got my Cutie Mark..."
To his surprise, some of the crowd stomped their hooves in applause at his achievement. Others made various remarks of understanding and the crowd started to break up. One older mare came on over to the edge of the fountain and nodded sympathetically "How ever did you stand it so long, as old as you are?" 

Scott blandly looked at her "Not very well..."

Passing by, the Cutie Mark Crusaders quickly turned their scooter and wagon toward the fountain, with Scootaloo buzzing to a quick stop with a sound like a 2-stroke chainsaw motor. 
Wearing a stunned look on their faces, they gaped at the newcomer and gazed at him with sad, puppy-dog looks. Applebloom voiced their thoughts exactly "Did we hear raiht? We…we might be blank... ‘fer YEARS!?" 
With this announcement, they all looked at each other and started bawling in unison.

Twilight gulped and made shushing noises as Scott looked on uneasily "No, no, it's okay! He's a special case..."

Pinkie leaned in between them and put her hooves around them, winking "Yeah, he's actually done better than anyone at getting a Cutie Mark! He's only been a unicorn for a half-hour and he's already got one!"
She quickly hugged them close and set them back down. "You should get yours any time now if he's anything to go by, so turn those frowny faces upside down."

The CMC gave Pinkie a stunned look, then Scootaloo raised an eyebrow skeptically "...For a half-hour?! What was he before, a frog?"

Pinkie giggled and started to reply "You Silly-fillies, why, he was a Space..." 

Thinking quickly, Twilight put her hoof in Pinkie's mouth and laughed nervously "Ah-heh-heh.. We will all explain later girls, just trust me and bear with me and Pinkie, okay?"

Knowing they weren’t going to get anywhere with Twilight for now, they replied in a dejected monotone "...okay..." And left with a look that meant they would be spying on the newcomer until they got the whole story.

Mentally cancelling her schedule for the rest of the day and shuffling it off at least to tomorrow, Twilight turned to the newly minted stallion. 
She pointed at him with a hoof to get his attention "All right, you might as well come out of the fountain. First things first, you are going to get a physical from Nurse Redheart, and then I need to run a few tests of my own. 
Naturally, I will send letters to the Princess about you."

Scott nodded. "Of course."

"Rest assured, I want to find out everything you can tell me about your world at some point in all this. But first, I want to try and figure out just why in the hay an alien, Species; Human, would transform into a Unicorn pony -without somepony there to cast a spell. 
It makes absolutely no sense! Even Pinkie appears to be stumped by this. Pinkie! The most impossible pony I know! -Um, it's not an inherent ability, right?"

Sighing, Scott shook his head, "Afraid not."

Twilight's mind raced, wondering if this strange transformation had anything to do with the recent descent of Ponyville into becoming the temporary Chaos capital of the world. -Said event occurring during Discord's escape almost two months ago. Or maybe-

Derailing Twilight's train of thought, Pinkie pie stepped between them, then winked and honked Scott's nose "Oh, you sillies! What's important now is we have a sad, lonely, unicorn pony in desperate need of a party! 
If you are really, really, really good for my bestest Smarty-McSmartypants friend, while she keeps you too busy to wonder what I am doing... oh wait! TMI!! Um, aaaanyway if you are good, you'll have an Emergency Welcome Party waiting for you afterward!"

With a wry smile and headshake, Twilight nudged the stallion toward the town Hospital and looked back at Pinkie. "You're going to give him a party anyway..."

Pinkie waved her hooves and giggled "Well DUH! I mean really, that's why I brought him here. But if he's really good for you I'll make it even better."

Giggling, the dayglow Earth mare turned to Scott and scruffled his mane with her flexible hoof "Now do whatever Twilight says, okay?" and bounced off toward Sugarcube Corner. 
She spoke out loud to herself to make mental notes "Oooh yeah! A welcome party! Wait! He just got his Cutie Mark! Do boy ponies have Cutieceñearas ?..." 

Scott watched Pinkie leave, then smiled as he started walking again "I knew she was going to give me a party, that's one of the highlights of the show. She throws parties for everypony that shows up." 

Twilight suddenly stopped shock-still, forcibly reminded by that casual statement that he represented beings that watched them for entertainment! Possibly even watching her as she… The mare shivered as the full implications hit her like a hammer.

Scott stopped a moment later, his ears twitching in sudden thought about his mistake, thinking. 'Way to go big mouth!'
Sheepishly, he turned to the mare with a touch of worry on his face at upsetting her. "I am so sorry, Miss Sparkle. I really should have explained sooner. 
Before I go on in detail, do you have... Um, moving pictures of plays or sports broadcast over the countryside to glass-screened receiving devices?" 

After a moment where Twilight took a deep breath and let it out. She made a note in her scroll to teach him how to control his ears before Rainbow Dash somehow ropes him into a card game, and finally nodded. 
"Please, call me Twilight, Scott. You are going to be in Equestria for the foreseeable future anyway, so we might as well be on a first name basis while I study you. 
As for devices like you describe? Hmm, usually that means crystal balls, but real ones are too expensive for the average pony. 
On the other hoof, there are experimental technomagere' devices here and there in the labs of eccentric ponies and griffons. -Mostly curiosities at this time. 
We have movies in a theater over on Mane Street, and weekly plays in the park or the town pavilion instead."

Scott nods, seeing a look of worry gnawing at Twilight "Okay, well, the shows we see about Equestria are like movies except these are generated by artists entirely inside... um, "computing machines" based on what the writer gives them, and voices and sounds recorded onto the images by teams of actors and technicians.
Since it was aimed at young people up through college age, there are no embarrassing personal details except ones that would get a safe laugh. 
It follows you and your friends for over a year now, starting with your warning to Celestia of Nightmare Moon coming back and your quest to rescue Celestia from captivity and the world from a cold death of endless night. ...And all the wild and crazy adventures between then and... Um, now, I guess."

Twilight sighed in relief, looking visibly relaxed already. "So nothing showing details of my... personal life?" 

Scott stopped and sat back on his haunches, and then raised a hoof while placing the other over his heart "Nothing more intimate than the comic slapstick and life lessons learned during your first sleepover. No bodily functions, anything racy, following you to the bathroom, or anything like that. Stallion's Honor!"

Sighing in relief, Twilight smiled and hoofstepped a little more casually "That's good to hear, I had sudden thoughts of my rump in everypony's face when I take care of my body or other business. That just really creeps me out to even think of..."

Scott mentally gave a sheepish chuckle and kept his cool, hoping he kept his ears upright as he tried to stop watching her tail for peeks underneath. -Heck! He had to fight to not look at everypony's tail! 
He prayed never to have to reveal or explain "Rule 34" fanart and "shipping"...
On the other hoof, if the writers suddenly noticed him in Ponyville as a background pony, he at least hoped the fanbois would draw him with decent equipment. That thought brought a silly grin.

Twilight turned as they reached the town Hospital, then looked at him with narrowed eyes and an impending smirk "…And what's that smile for?"

Scott flustered a moment, then sheepishly came up with a likely explanation. 
Unfortunately not a good one when being escorted by a mare, as he mentally facehoofed a moment after it popped out of his muzzle; "S-sorry, I'm a stallion now, and some passing mares distracted me..."

Twilight had a suspicious look for a brief moment as his face scrunched up like AJ telling a lie, she then giggled and shook her mane while she rolled her eyes. "Boys!" 

> Chapter 3. Enter, Nurse Redheart
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 3.  Enter, Nurse Redheart

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Still smirking at the weird silliness of colts, Twilight stopped in front of a building he had never seen in the show and waved a hoof at it grandly "Welcome to Ponyville Hospital!" 

This certainly wasn’t the Ponyville Urgent Care clinic from "Applebuck Season" he had been expecting. He briefly wondered if this building would be seen in Season 2. 
Scott looked at the elegant multi-story timber and stucco building before him with a beautiful tile roof, surrounded by a well-kept lawn that gave the whole place a feel of tranquility. 

The sign out front had a perfect replica of Nurse Mercy’s Cutie Mark, A red cross with pink hearts at the intersecting angles. He always thought her one of the most beautiful of the Background Ponies.
After a second, he suddenly wondered if she got her Cutie Mark from the Equestrian symbol for a hospital, and not the other way around...

"Wow! It sort of reminds me of the one in my old home town! Just beautiful!" 
He mentally added 'If this is not seen in Season 2, it should be!'

Twilight giggled "It's not bad. The one my family uses over in Solstice Heights, back in Canterlot is really impressive. Let’s go on in, shall we?"

As they passed through the doors, Scott involuntarily coughed as his improved nose met the harsh smells of medical-grade disinfectants and alcohol. 
He wiped his streaming eyes as he followed Twilight, who looked at him in concern. "Will you be okay? 
Scott sneezed in response "Ugh, ack! O-okay.. Jus' needa minute.. My nose wasn’t *achoo* this good before..."

They waited several minutes for his nose to finally adjust while he went through a few sheets of kleenex. 
After he stopped sniffling, Twilight walked up to the front desk in the admissions area and politely clopped a hoof on the surface. "Hello Nurse Redheart. If you aren’t busy, I have a special case for you." 

A moment later, there were hoofsteps and a white mare with a pink mane perfectly styled and tied in a bun, and wearing a nurse's cap, came from behind a white privacy screen. "Oh, Hello Twilight. How may I help this gentlecolt? Does he have any medical records with him?"

Scott blinked a moment and looked at the familiar nurse in surprise, checking her Cutie Mark twice just to be sure.
'Hm, so Redheart and not Nurse Mercy as I thought, then. I wonder what other BG pony names I have wrong?'

Twilight nudged the suddenly shy stallion forward "That's part of the case; he has none. Mr. Skybright needs a full physical right away."

Instantly, Nurse Redheart went wide eyed in joy! In fact, her eyes sparkled eagerly like Pinkie Pie being given a cupcake! She rarely got to do a "pony’s first exam" on anypony, and one old enough not to object to any of it? Bliss!

Quivering with excitement, she quickly swept him to the exam area faster than he could process the event and hoofed him a clip board. "All right sweetie, first things first, we need to fill out this chart."

Ears drooped, Scott looked with dismay at the odd clipboard shoved into his hooves, complete with a quill and a tube-like inkwell on a swinging-level clip. 

...Apparently medical bureaucracy demanded ink no matter what world you were on...


Attempting to use his hooves, Scott grunted with effort as he fumbled with the clipboard. "Agh! How do you ponies do this?!" 
Desperately trying his horn hardly helped. A cobalt blue nimbus sputtered to life on the tip of his horn for a moment, and then the board flipped over faster than the inkwell could turn and splattered him.

Twilight gave a startled "Eep!" and caught the clipboard with her own magenta glow, then drew the wayward ink back into the inkwell. 
"Oh dear, let me help. I'm afraid developmental testing is in order too. I'll have to write for him, if neither of you mind?"

Nurse Redheart waved a hoof "Please!" while Scott blushed sheepishly "Go right ahead."

Twilight clopped her hooves and smiled enthusiastically "All right, here we go; Name, Scott Skybright. Race, Unicorn..." 
She looked at him expectantly "Parents?..."

After the fastest chart fill-out Nurse Redheart could remember, she eagerly began the exam with an excited giggle. 
Quickly pulling rubber hoof sheaths over her hooves with practiced ease, she first measured his height, body length, and weight, and then examined his mouth. "Perfect teeth, body on the good side of average…"
Next, after getting his pulse and checking his heart and lungs, she examined his eyes and made him read the eyechart. 
After the first try, she switched to the one with picture icons for the illiterate so he could read it.

Twilight looked to Scott sheepishly, even blushing a light plum "I am so, so sorry, I should have thought to ask if your ability to read carried over. I'll look up translation spells tonight for you like we use for Envoys to Talonopolis. I can’t imagine how horrible it would be to be in my Library and not be able to enjoy it." 

Scott thought the small shiver of horror she gave at the thought was adorkable, but did not say so.
Instead, he smiled and gave a sheepish shrug "Its okay Twilight. It did not occur to me either. I thank you for having a solution though."

Both ponies eyes went wide at a sudden thought!

Before either Scott or Twilight could suddenly ask why they could still speak to each other comprehensibly, Nurse Redheart finished the scoring and smiled at Scott "Your eyes are good, 20/20 vision." 

Next, the cream colored Earth pony tapped the knee on his right hind-leg with a rubber hammer, making him cow-kick before he realized it. She repeated this on his other hind-leg knee with the same automatic result "Good reflexes…”

Suddenly frowning at a thought, she turned to Twilight and set her clip board down. "You may want to leave for the next part, dear. Some colts feel embarrassed about this as it is without an audience."

Confused, Scott raised a brow and looked from one mare to the other, only having a vague idea what they might be talking about. ‘Everypony's running around naked in public here, what could be more embarrassing than that? -Even if everything is tucked away behind legs and tails?’ 

After a moment, Scott had an anime sweatdrop on his forehead while his ear lopped to the side oddly as he suddenly thought... 'Wait... wasn’t there some eventual part of a full physical involving handling certain body parts and coughing?...' 

Hoping she interpreted the confused look on the stallion's face properly, Twilight snorted and waved a hoof casually. This was her first chance ever to attend the physical exam of an alien, even in pony form, and she was determined not to miss a thing! 
"Oh I'm sure he'll be fine with it. He's not been brought up as a pony and I've been in sex-ed in 6th grade Biology in Canterlot, so it'll be no mystery to me. You okay, Scott?"

Suddenly blushing, Scott was surprised that one of his heroines was willing to be in the room for... whatever embarrassing things Nurse Redheart were about to do to his back half. 
Well, if she was so determined that it wasn’t something to be ashamed of, he was too. 
Bravely, he gave a “thumbs up”…err, well, "hoof up" sign. He hoped that translated across well. "Um, no problem... I think."

Nodding, the nurse turned to Scott "Very well, then. Scott? Present!"

He blinked owlishly for a moment, not understanding the command. Then she whispered in his ear... He blushed, but nodded "Ohhh, I'll try. I just never did it on demand before. It’s not something a human does on the spot without some… incentive, and fortunately for Doctors back home, human bits aren’t hidden in a sheath. 
I've never had a physical before and thought the Doctor did all the work on getting them out for inspection. 
At least I do know stallions are supposed to be able to do that at will, though. Well, here goes... * Errrgggg!*" 

Twilight watched him strain himself, trying to find the trick to something he had apparently never done on purpose before. The mare stayed close just in case he had any more difficulties she would be needed for. -All while she was trying to maintain a clinical detachment as she watched intently.

Her eyes suddenly got wide and she blushed a bright plum. 
Apparently he found the trick to doing it after all. 

"Oh my... Um, a-admittedly the class did not have any live stallions demonstrating for us. Iyyyyyy..... Think I'll wait outside... A-he-he-hehh..." 

With that, she zipped outside.




'(_)'                            "(_)'                                    '(_)'



Author's Note;
Sorry if the chapter feels so short but in the way I edited this earlier, this was a natural pause point before the next chapter...

-Boss Hoss
Semper Pellus!
> Chapter 4. Blood Tests and Lunch
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss

Chapter 4.  Blood Tests and Lunch

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Rainbow Dash was waiting outside, laying against the base of a tree with her forehooves pillowing her head as she smirked at the still-blushing unicorn. 
"Hiya Twi. I heard there was a new unicorn in town. Don’t waste any time do ya! ...Or is he an old coltfriend from Canterlot?"
Dash giggled as her ribbing made the unicorn blush even more.

Twilight raised her hooves "Woah, hot shot. He's just a stranger in town in need of help. Granted "stranger" than most, but still needing my help,.." 
The magical mare narrowed her eyes slyly and tapped her forehooves together in anticipation of SCIENCE! "...And testing in my lab. He's a unique opportunity..."

Dash giggled even louder "I'll say! I haven’t seen you with a guy before. Got a comfy bed down there?" She then rolled on the grass in a fit of full blown laughter.

Twilight testily stamped a hoof, her face now quite red in embarrassment "I-it’s not like that! Pinkie Pie brought him here. He's... he's from somewhere ...else. He's a... a..."

Shocked at what Twilight was trying to say, Rainbow Dash suddenly sat upright "W-what? Pinkie brought him?! From where!? You aren’t saying she's right about..."

Just then, Pinkie pie bounced up with a poinging sound. "Oh there you are Dashie! Here's your invitation to a party for Skybright. Oh, and this is for both you and Scott, Twi since you are bringing him..." 
With that, she bounced off to the next pony she saw on the street. "Tra-la-la, la-laaa..."

Dash looked up from the invitation to Twilight's face with a stunned look "...Space Ponies…?!"

Twilight groaned and facehoofed with a audible clop sound. She was hoping to keep that part quiet until she could explain to her friends so they would not freak out.

Suddenly, a girlish stallion squeal sounded from the window of the Exam Room, prompting Twi to stuff her invite in her saddlebag, unread. 
"Oh dear, I think she just checked his... tail. I'd better get back inside. See you later, Dash."

Dash nodded quickly, her expression still one of shocked surprise. "Y-yeah... I think I'd better tell the others about this alien before Pinkie does! Seeya!" and leapt up into the sky, leaving her trademark rainbow streak.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Twilight found Scott, standing wide-eyed with all four hooves pulled tight together and a stunned look on his face, his tail clapped down tight behind him.

Nurse Redheart was removing her rubber hoof sheaths and tossing them in a biohazard bin while was speaking comfortingly to him "...Very good boy you are, yes you are. I don’t suppose a lollipop would help you when we are done?" 

She took a Fluttershy squeak from him as a "yes"...

Hearing hoofsteps, she looked at Twilight as she came in. "Well, he has no hernias, appears in good reproductive health, and as you just heard, his prostate is doing fine and he has no worms or other parasites."

Twilight leaned over and looked around the nurse at Scott, who gamely gave another "hooves up" sign even if he was still wide-eyed in shock. "All right, what's next for him?"

Nurse Redheart put on another set of hoof sheaths "Blood, I'm afraid. He tells me he hasn’t eaten or drank anything in Ponyville yet so likely nothing significant for his other testing media for a day or so. He should however enjoy the next part after this, the cognitive testing."

Tapping a hoof, Twilight hmmed and frowned, sensing trouble.
"Blood? Ummm, Scott? Are you going to be okay?" She turned and could see his face covered in sweat and beginning to tremble on his hooves. 

Nervously, he gulped, sending a nervous glance around the room, and then looked down at the floor with a blush "Well...I'm afraid of needles..."

Twilight gave a reassuring adorkable smile and patted him comfortingly with her hoof, making him look up at her "Don’t worry Scott. I'll be right here to help you. You'll need to stay perfectly still as the needle can cut you badly if you jump."

Nurse Redheart waved a hoof as she went to a cabinet "Oh, He will be just fine." She turned from the cabinet holding a syringe the size of her foreleg. "He won’t feel a thing."

Instantly and without warning, Twilight gasped as she suddenly had to support the weight of a stallion with her horn power, easing his limp form to the floor. 

For some reason there was the soft "baah" of a fainting goat as he was laid on the floor. 
Twilight raised an eyebrow as she thought 'Hm, just like we hear with Fluttershy. It must be a universal sound...'

Giggling softly, Nurse Redheart set the syringe down and brought out a normal sized one. She then clopped up and drew blood from a foreleg of the passed-out unicorn. "…Works every time with the nervous ponies."

Chuckling nervously, Twilight helped hold the unconscious stallion steady while carefully not looking at the syringe being used. "Just be careful flashing that huge one around. You almost had two unicorns on the floor..."

Softly giggling, Nurse Redheart worked quickly.. "Sorry Twilight. Oh, I actually use that one too, on large creatures when they need my help... Ah, there we are."
She pressed a cotton ball to the needle, then slid the needle out as she held the cotton ball in place with a hooftip. 

"Okay Twilight, band-aid please."

Nodding, Twilight floated one over and put it over the cotton as the hoof was pulled away. In moments, Nurse Redheart had roused the stallion, and when he looked down he saw a smiley face band-aid was on him. 

Shaking his head, He chuckled and thought 'Figures... well, it's cheery at least...'

Sealing the blood and popping it in a small fridge for testing later, Nurse Redheart turned to the strange stallion. "And as promised, we will now have some fun..." 
With that, she trotted over to a toy chest and stopped in sudden worry "I'm afraid these are for testing younger foals in their mouth, hoof, or horn abilities. You won’t be offended by this, I trust?"

Sheepishly, Scott spread his hooves "Like I have a choice? I'm practically a foal now until I relearn handling things."

Nurse Redheart raised an eyebrow curiously "Yes, I noticed you having difficulty earlier. An accident? Or...?" She looked to Twilight questioningly.

The unicorn mare shuffled her hoof "Technically an accident. I'm afraid we must rely on Doctor/patient confidentiality. 
He's from someplace else, and until Pinkie found him and brought him here, he wasn’t even a pony. Something about bringing him here changed him."

Scott nodded "Admittedly I've never felt so at-home in my life as in Equestria. The loss of my hands is a small price compared to that."

Smiling, Nurse Redheart set down several buckets of toys in front of him. "That's the spirit! Think of this as physical therapy and building anew after an accident. I'm sure we have a place for anypony in Equestra."

The mare dumped the toys out on the desk and arranged them in groups; blocks, sticks, wooden cut-out shapes, small plastic pony dolls with curiously long, pointed legs, a tennis ball and some crystals.

Moments later, Nurse Redheart smiled and pointed to one of the toys "There we are, lets see you pick up that block with your hooves. Just think about it as you do it."

Scott got a determined look on his face and placed his right hoof on top of it. He closed his eyes and thought of holding it, then raised his hoof. "Nothing Scott, try again." 

He tried over and over again for a small eternity, until finally Nurse Redheart spoke "Very good, you're doing it!" 

Scott opened his eyes, only to see the block fall back to the desk with a clatter. 

Smiling brightly, Twilight patted his shoulder "Don’t worry, you're getting the idea now. Just keep practicing and I'll run and get you both lunch. Is there anything you would prefer you two? Scott?"

Scott watched, fascinated as Nurse Redheart's ears perked forward, she smiled at Twilight "I'll have a daffodil and daisy sandwich, and iced tea."

Scott shrugged, not yet daring to ask if it would be considered weird or impolite to simply walk out and eat somepony's lawn. 
"I don’t even know what to ask for other than cupcakes or other pastries. That's one thing our worlds have in common. Maybe a sampler platter of things ponies typically eat?"

Twilight smiled "All right, be right back."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a stop at the Make Hay Café (1), Twilight returned to find Scott stacking blocks by using his mouth, and rolling a ball between his hooves where his old palms would be.

Nurse Redheart was smiling brightly "That's it! You are doing great!... Oh, there you are Twilight! He is improving nicely. I figure he's now at the level of a young foal in manipulating things."
She looked to the crystals as Scott continued to practice, apparently even enjoying himself. "We have not tried his horn power yet. We saw how that went with the clip board so I thought it best to wait for you. Usually in this testing there is a parent around to assist me, but..." She shrugged helplessly.

Nodding, Twilight levitated the paper bag over in a magenta nimbus and set it on a cart, then started floating the food out to the desk "Not a problem, Nurse Redheart. As old as he seems to be, I'm probably the only one in town strong enough to take control if his powers get out-of-hoof. First things first though, let’s eat."

Scott set the toys down and moved them aside, then stretched, making his neck joints pop. "Thanks Twilight, I'm starving! What’s on the menu?"

The purple unicorn smiled "Well, aside from what the nurse asked for. I got a couple salads, a garden sandwich, a HLT -Hay, lettuce, tomato (with mayonnase), extra crispy acorns, hay fries, and donuts. I also got some teas and a clover smoothie. Please, take your pick, Scott." 

The stallion nickered excitedly, sniffing at each example of pony food. They smelled more delicious than he would have imagined, making his stomach growl. The sandwiches were cut into halves, so he took a part of both, and also got half portions of the acorns and hay fries and one of the salads. He also found the pink and green swirled smoothie to be very sweet and tasty.

Twilight watched Scott in wonder while she ate. 
While he was still using his hooves and mouth as clumsily as a foal, hunger was clearly a good motivator on finding ways in shoving food into his muzzle any way he could manage "Wow! He wasn’t kidding about being hungry! Is that okay for him?"

Nurse Redheart giggled "Oh quite okay, -quite normal for a young, active stallion his age. -In fact. I place it about 18-20 years or so."

Scott gasped and nearly choked on a bite of sandwich. 
After washing it down with some tea, he looked at Nurse Redheart with wide eyes. "Ohmy… Gosh! Whatever happened... I'm younger! I really have been given a second chance!"

Twilight peered at him. "Ummm how old ARE you..."

Scott blushed and looked down "Iyyy would rather not say..."

Giggling, the mares shook their heads "Never mind, I guess it's not important Scott." 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

(1) Special thanks to Pixelkitties for permission to mention the café http://pixelkitties.deviantart.com/

> Chapter 5. Magic is Child's Play (or is it?)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 5.  Magic is Child’s play, (or is it?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Ten minutes later, everypony was finished eating and clearing the table for the rest of his Cognitive Testing.

Twilight smiled as she looked over the crystals that were next on the checklist for his testing. X-rays were already scheduled for tomorrow, along with whatever sample tests could not be performed on him today. 
Looking over the list a little more carefully, she flushed for a moment and decided she would definitely pass on observing semen sample collection...

Giggling, the magical mare checked the crystals condition and readiness. "This brings back memories! I still have my old crystals from when I was a little foal! I wonder if these work the same? 
Pay attention now, Scott. I want you to see what should happen."

As Scott watched, fascinated, she closed her eyes and pointed her horn at the first crystal in the set, focusing on it for just a moment and letting the very tip of her horn glow with a magenta spark. 
When she opened her eyes, the crystal was glowing a soothing pink, fading back to normal when she stopped sending magic to it.

The next crystal played a short tune, the MLP theme, as if played on a glass armonica.(1) 
'Do they even have those here or just musical wine glasses?' Scott wondered.

The third shimmered a moment, before the image of a smiling flower appeared, floating above the crystal. It appeared as a glowing outline, like a neon sign. 

Amazed, Scott gasped "So that's where Miss Cheerilee's mark was inspired from? Is this a common image?"

Nurse Redheart giggled "Quite possibly. It’s common for learning toys for all foals. That flower is also on some of these wooden blocks you were practicing with."

The cream colored mare scooped a block up in her hoof to show him. Sure enough, there was the flower repeated on two opposite faces of a wooden block.

Chuckling, Scott got a very silly grin. "Even when she isn’t there, somepony is learning something new because of her. I wonder what Miss Cheerilee will think of that?""

Twilight giggled and made a quick note "We'll probably find out when you meet her at the inevitable Pinkie party later."

Curious, Scott's ears went up "Really? I thought Pinkie Parties tended to run late."

The magical mare thought for a moment "If the party starts early enough, she will probably be there for an hour before she has to take care of paperwork.... Um, does she... appear in the, er… show a lot?"

After an uncomfortable pause, he waved a hoof vaguely "Several times so far, enough to have a following. Many wish she had been their teacher…"

Smirking shrewdly, Twilight looked at Scott with a wink. “Including yourself?”

Scott suddenly blushed sheepishly, making both mares giggle “Er, y-yes, actually…”

Patting his shoulder, Twilight smiled reassuringly “Its’ okay Scott. I’m sure she will be quite flattered.
Now pay attention to this stone when I activate it, then we’ll see if you can make any of them work.“

Nodding, he leaned in to watch intently as Twilight’s horn flashed again.
The final crystal glowed a soothing pink, with lines of light flowing up out of it like something out of the old TRON movie, weaving together in pinks, yellows and purples into the neon outline of a foal wearing a diaper. But what a foal!

Blinking in confusion, Scott looked wide eyed at the image as it silently shook a rattle in a loop animation.
“This… can’t be! This looks nothing like the Cutie Mark Crusaders! In fact, other than the hooves, tail, ears and tiny muzzle, this looks just like a human baby! Even then, the face is mostly flat like a human…”

Both mares looked at each other in surprise, then back at the stallion. Twilight finally spoke “R-really?!” Her quill scribbled furiously as she let the crystal go out. “That is quite surprising! I wonder what a genetic study of cells and hair caught in your clothing would reveal? How different are Humans and Equestrian Pones, really?” 

Nurse Redheart shook her head in wonder “Oh Celestia! It is one thing to hear somepony say they were something else, but it just really hit me! This poor stallion’s never seen a baby foal! He’s as foreign as a Griffon…”
She put a hoof on his shoulder “Tell you what, sweetie. Before you leave, how about we stop by the Maternity Ward so you can see the newborns?”

Nodding, he turned his head to smile at her “Thank you, Nurse. I at least need to reassure myself they aren’t super-creepy like the “Baby Pinkie Pie” dolls they sell back on Earth.”

Twilight facehoofed herself with a solid *clop*, her pupils shrunk to pinpoints. “Nononono! I… That… I Just… No, I don’t want to know…”

Sighing, Scott fixed her with a bleak look. “No, you don’t…”

Shaking her head, Twilight sighed “So, what do newborn ponies look like where you are from?”

Ears perking, he smiled warmly and looked up, thinking of the foals he’s helped care for back on Earth “Now that I can answer. I love helping out with the newborn foals on that one hobby farm. And there were a lot of them. Usually, they have the same size and build as that one colt here, Snails, with earth tone colors instead.”

Twilight’s quill scratched rapidly, glad for such a welcome change of subject from… *ahem*, and pleased he seemed so happy about real foals. “This is so fascinating! Eee-hee-hee!”

After a moment of writing, she waved her hoof at the crystals. “Now! -Now, while you are still smiling, hold that thought and try that first crystal! 
I must tell you now it only acts when you are happy, so it will teach foals positive emotions when they use their magic. Positive emotions are key to the safe use of magic, and I really want to encourage that in an adult who’s never used magic.”

Trying really hard to maintain the “happy vibe”, Scott nodded and put his forehooves on the table, then his chin. His eyes crossed as he stared at the first crystal…

His horn felt warm, then cold as sparks flew off it for a moment before it sputtered and stopped. 

Smiling encouragingly, Twilight clopped her hooves together “Come on, you can do it! Want that glow! Need that glow! That crystal is your friend. Think of a cup of hot chocolate! Think of a nice hug and nuzzle with your dam…”

The crystal started to flicker, then died. It was like trying to juggle for the first time ever. -While blindfolded. 
A cobalt blue light sputtered in and out on the tip of his horn with sparks shooting out of it, along with the audible sound of an automobile electric starter motor.
The *whirr, whirr, whirr* sound was growing slower as he wore himself out.

After a half hour, he slumped in his seat. His head was pounding as he felt his eyes watering in frustration. 

Ever since he saw wizards in movies as a foal…kid… um, ‘child’ and played them in D&D, he had always wanted to do magic on a scale the unicorns took for granted. 
-Something that could be seen, not just felt (at best) in his limited dabblings with New Age stuff…

Now it was in his reach, and he could not quite get it. 
Close, so close… Why couldn’t he do something a tiny foal was supposed to do before they could even write?
He turned his head to the side and put his hooves over it to stifle a choked sob.

Warm hooves suddenly circled his shoulders and drew him up into a hug, his tail quivered as he caught the scent of a mare and a sweet lilac perfume Twilight wore.

She seemed not to notice his reactions as she continued her reassuring hug. “Shhh… It’s all right. You’ll be just fine, Scott. If it’s not today, you will do it eventually. Canterlot was not built in a day, you know.”
A tissue floated up to wipe his eyes as she gave him her brightest adorkable smile “Come on, try one more time. I know you can do this.”

Taking the tissue in his fetlock, he nodded and looked at the crystal.
He concentrated on the delightful warm feeling burning in him at the touch of a mare and smiled. 
The crystal flickered, then again, stronger. Hope rose in him as he wanted that crystal to glow and started to feel it in his mind. Finally the crystal glowed a soothing pink, steadily shining for three or four seconds.

Twilight let Scott go and clopped her hooves together. “You did it! I’m so proud of you!”
Both mares gave him a hug of approval and released the stallion after a minute. “So how do you feel?”

He smiled weakly “A little dizzy. Is magic always tiring?”

Twilight nodded and gave him an eager smile “Actually, yes. You’ll need a lot of practice to build your magical stamina once you can use it. For now, I guess that’s it as far as we’ll go on the crystal test today.” 

Standing up and stretching for a moment in relief, she patted his shoulder. 
“It will affect the score of course, but don’t worry! That is just a benchmark to refer to as you learn. I’ll see if I can get you some proper schooling, just as soon as tutoring can be arranged. 
You don’t know how much trouble you can cause if you don’t know how to use your horn properly.”

Standing up and giving a cat-like stretch, Scott smirked at her. “After watching the time you all told the CMC how you got your Cutie Marks, I think I can imagine. I’ll also tell you the old story of the Sorcerer’s Apprentice sometime.”

Now it was Twilight's turn to blush sheepishly again. “Ah-heh-henh, you heard that, huh… Well, I don’t know how much potential you have but I doubt it would be strong enough to grow a baby dragon through a roof, r-right?” she said with a nervous smile, pointedly not mentioning her parents. 
Nodding agreement, Scott figured that turning her parents into potted plants, even for a few minutes, was still something she felt guilty about after all this time. 
Not knowing if she had actually mentioned that detail to the fillies in the time the flashback segment had been showing her entrance exam, he decided never to mention it unless she brought it up. “Y-yeah, I agree.”

Politely coughing to break the awkward moment, Nurse Redheart stepped forward “All right then. Since that’s all the testing he can handle today, he’s free to go. What time would you like to resume them tomorrow? X-rays are at 10 A.M.”

Twilight hmmed and tapped her chin in thought as she pulled an abacus from her saddlebags, the beads clicking rapidly. “…Typical Pinkie party lasts until sunrise… Check. Guest of honor passes out... Oh, say 4 A.M., given his size and weight -and never having been at a Pinkie Party… Check. Get extra coffee today to finish waking him up during breakfast once I levitate him home tomorrow morning to clean up… Check.”
Finally she turned back to Nurse Redheart while her abacus went back in her bag. “We will be here precisely at 9 A.M.”

Stunned, Scott blinked owlishly at Twilight. “I know you are organized, but… That... Is surprisingly… Um, detailed.”

Both mares broke down in laughter, with Twilight squeaking out between laughs. ”Oh! O-oh, S-scott… I.. *Eee-hee-hee!* T-thought you saw Pinkie P-Parties! *giggle* All the time! *Ah-ha-haa!*”

Scuffing the floor with a hoof, he sighed “…Rarely the aftermath since the show lasts a half-hour.”

Dabbing at her eyes with a levitated tissue, she rolled back to her hooves and caught her breath. “Oh, oh my… W-well, once you’ve been to enough of her parties, the morning after is quite easy to map out. You’ll see, Scott. “

Meanwhile, Nurse Redheart also got back on her hooves. “It’s so refreshing to meet somepony not used to Pinkie Pie. Oh, did you need to borrow the crystals overnight, Twilight?”

Twilight waved a hoof confidently “No need, I have my old set back in the library, in my box of old toys from Canterlot. I’ve got him covered.” 

Smiling, Nurse Redheart started for the door. “Very well, then. Follow me to the Maternity Ward, Scott.”




(1)	Link added here because some pre-readers thought I meant a hand held Harmonica and not Benjamin Franklin’s Armonica…


> Chapter 6. Meet the Cakes
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 6. Meet the Cakes


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


When they reached the ward, Scott did a double-take seeing who was there.

Carrot Cake and Cup Cake were among the few new and waiting parents standing at the window, looking in on the foals. 

What really got his attention was his view from behind, seeing the mare’s sides were bulging out in a way that had nothing to do with her normal chubby build. 

When he’d been a human helping care for pregnant mares, he privately called it the Saddlebag Look, though if he dared say it out loud anywhere in Equestria, there would probably be fountains of tears and flying hooves of rage over the unflattering comment on a pregnant mare’s figure…

He suddenly realized she must have been starting to show in her pregnancy between seasons! Oh, he really had to quiz Twilight on what Season 1 events happened when. Particularly how many weeks ago the Grand Galloping Gala was. -All to make sure the episode timeline was right.

Immediately, Mr. Cake turned at hearing hoofsteps and waved a lanky hoof “Oh! Hello Twilight! Hello Redheart! My little Gingersnap here just had her checkup and we thought we’d take a look at the newborns to get a preview of our little dumplings.”

Mrs. Cake giggled radiantly “Oh my, yes! My twins are developing safely. Pinkie Pie is so very happy for us!”

Twilight clopped her hooves happily “Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Cake!  What’s the expected Due Date?” 

The proud father-to-be hugged his wife as she gushed out “Sometime around Winter Wrap-up! That means last Hearts and Hooves Day was our little miracle we’ve been praying to Celestia for.” 

Nuzzling his wife, Mr.Cake grinned “Exactly, Honeybun! We’ve been trying for so long, and now we’ll have two to make up for the wait. Isn’t that exciting?”

Twilight squealed happily “Oh my, yes! Another reason to look forward to my second Winter Wrap-up! Don’t you think so Scott?”

Suddenly realizing he was just spoken to, he nodded quickly “Oh! Ah, yes! Very exciting!” 
The Cakes suddenly seemed to notice him for the first time, with Cup Cake’s eyes lighting up in joy. “Oh, hello dearie! Twilight, you really must introduce us!” She giggled “Is he your Coltfriend?”

Both unicorns shared a wide-eyed look, then took a step apart and blushed brightly. Twilight stammered while Nurse Redheart giggled into her hooves. 
“Um! Errr… ahh.. N-no! I mean ..He’s..he’s a guest! F-from Canter… From Prin…  Agh! Skip it! Pinkie is already telling everypony and Zecora by now! 
This is Scott Skybright! Pinkie brought him…!

Given the unicorn’s reactions and quick denials, the married couple shared a look and a smile. The news at the end both made them gasp though. 

Nervously, Mr.Cake opened his mouth, “Errrmmmm, H-helping an accident victim, I suppose?”

Twilight shook her head and sighed “It’s way too late for a Pinkie Promise for her not to tell anypony anyway. She already printed up party invitations and sent them out.
Sooo… here goes. Scott is a… pony from another world. She had a Doozy and brought him back with her. No harm done, he likes Equestria. Just treat him like anypony else.”

There was an awkward silence from the Cakes, then Mrs. Cake gasped at a sudden thought “O-oh my… I-I hope she won’t be doing this to bring home…ohdear.. coltfriends! “

Both suddenly looked at Scott and gulped, Mr. Cake spoke “*Ahem* Um, you aren’t a coltfriend of Pinkie’s, right?”

Still blushing, Scott coughed “…N-no. Just her newest friend… I need to get my hooves under me before I dare ask anypony out.”
Trying not to glance at Twilight, he quickly changed the subject “Aaaanyway, Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Cake! I’m honored to be the first of my… community to find out. “

Nodding, the Cakes flashed each other a knowing smile and wink, seeing the unicorns were too oblivious to notice. Perhaps a friendly little betting pool on the sly?

With a sudden gasp, Ms. Cake rubbed her side as a foal kicked, then started fishing for information. “*Ooof*, strong one there! I wonder if that’s a boy? Anyway, what brings you and Twilight down here to this ward, dearie?”

Smiling, Nurse Redheart stepped forward to stand by the two unicorns “Oh, I’ve got this. We just gave this stallion a full physical and some tests, and can you believe it? He’s never seen a pony foal quite like we have here. I thought he should get a look at them.”

Shocked, the Cakes looked at each other, then back at the strange stallion. Oh, they just had to see his face when he looks at a foal!

Softly giggling, Mrs. Cake stepped aside and nodded to the window. “Go on dearie…”

A pair of older pegasi near him gave the stallion a curious glance as he peered into the huge window. Scott’s eyes went wide and his jaw dropped in wonder at what he saw.
There were several foals currently there today, including an apricot pegasus foal being shown to the happy grandparents by the nurse on duty.
“Oh… Wow…” 

He had never seen babies look so… CUTE!  
Scott had never considered human babies even in the running when compared to kittens or puppies, but these foals wearing the same shape as their human counterparts? With their pony attributes quite prominent in the mix? 

Hnnnggggg…!  

He now FULLY understood that internet meme word. Those huge eyes were captivating, and would probably be considered deadly weapons back on Earth!

Mrs. Cake put a gentle hoof on his shoulder “I know dearie, just takes your breath away, right?”

Nodding weakly, he managed to tear his eyes away from the multiple pairs of cuteness overload looking back at him and took a deep breath, then shook his head to clear it. “Y-yes... Oh Sweet Epona, it does! “ 

After a moment, he looked to Nurse Redheart. “So… what’s with the eyes? I can’t see any whites in any of them in there.”

Giggling, the nurse waved a hoof “Oh, that’s normal for the first year. They just need to grow a bit along with the head before they start looking normal.”

Inevitably, Twilight spoke up in her Adorkable Lecture Mode™ 
“Those adorable eyes are also a handy defense mechanism since newborns are pretty much helpless. There are accounts of predators looking a baby foal in the eyes and breaking down in tears before slinking off without harming the foal. Pretty amazing, huh?”

Scott blinked a moment, then laughed “Oh I can believe it! If I wasn’t currently armed with an equine pancreas, I’d probably be getting rushed to the ER with instant diabetes! They are sweeter than a whole candy store, and I was having four foals look at me.”

Both mares giggled at that.

Off to the side, The Cakes looked on, with Mrs. Cake sighing dreamily like a proud mother seeing a daughter go to the prom. “Oh that stallion is going to make a fine father someday…” 
Mr. Cake smirked and nudged his wife “You said it, Honeybun, and “How Soon” is going to be another popular betting pool too…”


'(_)'                                 '(_)'                               '(_)'

Author's Note

Another shortie but its the best pause before...
Pinkie Party!
For some reason the more I edit the party, the bigger it grows so the next posting may take a little longer... 
She cannot be contained! 

-BH
> Chapter 7 .  The Inevitable Pinkie Pie Party
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 7.  The Inevitable Pinkie Pie Party
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Twilight gave a soft giggle as she led him inside the Library tree just before sunset. "Just a quick check of your magic potential and we can get you ready for the party.”

Eagerly trotting in behind her, Scott ran a hoof over the carving on the door as he walked in. “I can hardly wait!”

She turned to him and took a deep breath before continuing “I know it seems like a lot to happen to you all at once, and that we're all a bunch of crazy ponies wanting to be your friends everywhere you look, but... When you get a chance to catch your breath, you'll realize it's the best thing in the world. That's how it was for me." 

Twilight's eyes comically shone in the dark ahead of him as she looked around and fumbled for the invitation in her saddlebag. "Hmm, petty dark in here. I wonder what Spike and Owlowiscious are up to? Let me turn on the lights and I can finally read where Pinkie wants me to bring you..."

Suddenly Pinkie turned on the lights, revealing a large portion of the Ponyville citizenry, and a thunderous shout of "SURPRISE!" 
A spray of confetti and balloons rained down on Twilight and a stunned Scott amid the honking and tooting of noise makers. He was expecting a party at some point this evening, but such a huge party and so fast!

After a few stunned moments of blinking her dazzled eyes, Twilight finally looked at the invitation, reading the decorative script "Oh! The party is here! I should have guessed..."

Shaking himself from his "deer in the headlights" freeze-up, he looked around at the ponies and above them, a banner stretched across the balcony to the head of the stairs, reading "Welcome to Ponyville, Skybright! -and a Happy Cuteceañeara !"  -In English!
Underneath was a line of the same kind of angular, blocky script he had seen on the eyechart earlier.  Obviously the same sign in local script.

Both unicorns looked at each other, stunned. 
Twilight whispered “I-is that your language on top?”

Scott nodded “I am not going to ask how she did that…”

Twilight nodded back “…Good plan, and I wont’ either…”

Giggling, Pinkie bounced up and put a conical party hat over his horn "Are you surprised? Huh? Huh? Ooooh you are! Colts aren’t known for parties to celebrate their cutie mark, but you are so old for finally getting one you deserve it!" 
She giggled at the huge grin spreading over his face "Yay! You DO like it! Um, by the way, is this your birthday by any chance?"

Twilight giggled and levitated over a glass of punch for Scott. "It might as well be. Nurse Redheart says he's perfect for his biological age. -The same as ours or a little under! Yet he says he's older."

Scott shakes his head from the revere he was in "Y-yes, let’s make today my Equestrian Birthday!"
Pinkie squealed in joy and bounced in a circle around Scott "YAY! It’s a Party Trifecta! A Welcome-Cuteceañeara-Birthday for Skybright Party!!!"

Pinkie pointed at Vinyl Scratch to start the music, and burst into song when the electric blue-maned uni bobbed her head to the sudden beat...

"We Welcome you to Ponyville, 
We hope you enjoy your stay!
We have a Party Trifecta! 
The bestest surprise I must say!

Today was your luckiest, 
for after you met Pinkie,
You Got your Cutie Mark-
Cuteceañeara Ahoy! (Even though you're a boy.)
Thrown by little ol' me!

And Oh what a surprise!
It's a brand new Birthday!
We have a Party Trifecta! 
The bestest surprise I must say!

We hope you really like us,
We hope you think we're swell,
Oh please don’t roam, 
make Ponyville your home,
And you'll never feel like... Wellll...

We Welcome our new friend, 
Skybright, Hip, Hip, Hooray!
We have a Party Trifecta! 
The bestest surprise I must say!"


After the song ended, there was a dizzying round of introductions to an equally dazed Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and a blushing Fluttershy.
Before he could recover, he was swept off through the crowd for more introductions at a speed comparable to Braeburn’s Appleoosa Tour…

Right after being dragged over to the DJ turntable set up by the stairs, and meeting Vinyl Scratch in full DJ-P0n3 mode, Pinkie giggled as she remembered something. 
Pinkie turned to him and scruffled his mane “Oh silly me, I forgot to ask! Do you dance? As the Birthday Colt you get the first one!”

Shyly, he scuffed a hoof “Normally as good as Twilight, but now? Even walking is a bit new to me like this, but I can try…”

The moment he said that, she gigged and instantly pulled him into a dance “Goodie! I’ll be glad to teach you!”

The next few minutes were a dizzy blur…

About fifteen minutes into the party, Rarity finally managed to work her way through the herd crowding the floor, catching up to the G.O.H., who waved at her “Hello Miss Rarity! Are you having a good time this evening?” 

Giggling pleasantly, the famous Fashionista dipped forward slightly on her foreleg in response. “Thank you kind sir, I am.”  

Critically, she looked him over from horn to tail. “Oh my, my. Pinkie really needs to work on her guest preparations. Scott, is it? Twilight tells me you have not had a proper chance to get ready for this at all. You are already looking a bit tired and sweaty, yet have only had one dance with Pinkie… And your coiffure is a disaster! Oh my stars! Did you even bring a comb?”

Blushing sheepishly, Scott nodded. “-Still in Sugarcube Corner, with my pack, and what’s left of my clothes. I can’t even use it right now anyway. I am unable to use my horn yet, and I am not good enough with my hooves either to make it work.”

Rarity put a hoof to her fine, soft grey lips “Oh my! How horrible for you!”

With a sudden, determined look in her eyes, she picked him up in a sky blue nimbus of magic and ignored his protests as she towed him along up the stairs to the living area. “Pardon me everyone! I will bring the Guest of Honor back in a jiffy, after a little freshening up. Ta-ta!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Inside the Master Bath, currently set up to catch the ponies that could not wait for the smaller public restroom on the first floor, Cherry Bomb preened her wings and freshened up in front of the large bathroom mirror. 
The red Pegasus straightened her orange and yellow streaked mane, teased and moussed into the shape of fire “Oooh yeah, honey, you are one hawt poneh!”

There was a knock and Rarity’s voice came “Excuse me, is anypony decent? I have a fashion emergency on my hooves!”

Snickering, she turned to the door “Girl, I am never decent! Come right on in!”
Cherry’s eyes widened as Rarity barged on in with the Birthday Boy himself. “For me? You shouldn’t have, Rares.”

Turning her nose up, Rarity snorted as she set the new stallion down and pulled out a grooming kit from the cabinet. “Please! I would think he has some standards! Oh, Scott, this is Cherry Bomb. She was just leaving!”

Smirking, Cherry sidled up to Scott and ran a wing down his back, making him shiver in uncontrolled delight as her feathers hit places he didn’t know he had. 
She was so close, he could smell a musky, hot cinnamon perfume on her as well. 
“Oh ho, ho! Not so fast! Just because you are a prude doesn’t mean all unicorns are immune. Stallions are so easy to play with! Wiggle a flank and they come running…”

Blushing, Scott rolled his eyes. “Um, excuse me, I can hear you…” 

Giggling, she gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him turn a brighter red that almost matched her hide “Exactly!”

Rarity’s face scrunched up as she fumed and turned red before levitating Cherry Bomb away. “At least let me fix him up before you throw yourself all over him like a horse blanket, MISS Cherry Bomb!”

Snorting in disdain, the Pegasus stuck her tongue out at Rarity. “Like a filly cant’ mess with a colt’s head now and then? I was just kidding…”  

Combs, washcloths, and brushes suddenly surrounded Scott and went to work. He watched the mirror in awe as the scruffy unicorn stallion he saw there was groomed to Show Ring perfection before his eyes. “Oh Epona! Rarity! This is amazing!”

Rarity smiled haughtily as she took the loose lock at the end that suggested a ponytail and tied it in a masculine manner with a small navy blue ribbon. Even Cherry was impressed and said so.
“Oh pish-posh! I would need time to make you really shine! Now go on my dear! Strut that tail! Be proud to be a unicorn! 
By the way, I really must take you to the Spa later this week to help teach you how to groom yourself! Consider that a Welcome to Ponyville gift from me.”

With that, Rarity put herself between Scott and the mirror to break his fascinated stare. She then nudged him out the door and down the stairs.

Cherry shook her head as she left the Master Bathroom with Rarity after they shooed him back downstairs. "You know? I never seen a pony stallion stare at his reflection as much as you do yours... He must really be in love with himself." 

Rarity giggled "Not quite, dahling. I've seen that look before, when a pony unsure of their self-image sees themselves in the mirror in one of my creations. 
He is coming to grips with the fact he CAN look good -and looks incredibly smashing to boot. The poor dear is probably half afraid he will be back to the way he was if he looks away."

Wide-eyed, the red Pegasus stopped in her tracks, stunned at the implications "Celestia! Just what did he look like before he got here..?"

Rarity shuddered "The way he is acting, I really don’t wish to think about that..."

Halfway down the stairs after resisting the advances of the randy pegasus yet again, Rarity suddenly stood still. Her eyes sparkled as her mind raced. “I-DEAaa! I know just what to do for the poor thing!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Scott swished his tail eagerly as he took a moment to build a sandwich at the buffet table. He did not yet notice Rainbow Dash quietly drop down from behind and examine him quite closely, the noise of her wings masked by the loud music and talking around him.

Getting the sense someone was near, Scott turned his head, but Dash zipped up above him before he could see her.

Shrugging, he went back to the sandwich and Dash came back down. 

This was repeated several times before AppleJack joined in.
They quickly moved to flank him and started prodding him with their hooves "Yo! You feel real, all right. Is it true?!"

Applejack snorted as he turned toward them in surprise. "Yeah, you smell like a stallion, right enough. So is it more'a Pinkie's bridle gossip? It’s written in black an' white... err, Pink and white on th' invitations, but we want ta’ hear it from the horse's mouth."

Dash gave him a comically suspicious eye, then giggled to show she was not serious "Yeah, Space Pony, you're not a spy from beyond are you?"

A quiet voice sounded from behind them “Oh girls, I’m sure this must all be strange for him.  What if he was a cute, fluffy alien with adorable paws?”

Ears perked, Scott craned his neck to look behind the two mares at Fluttershy, then back at AJ and Dash. “Let me grab this sandwich and find a place to sit. -Then I’ll talk.”

After some hasty shuffling, there was now a small circle of cushions in one of the side rooms that had apparently been there in Season 1 but not shown on-screen. - The Romance Fiction room as AJ informed him with a wink, of course.

Scott took a drink and spoke to the mares. “Yes, I’m not of this world, and I’m one of those Space Ponies that Pinkie has been telling you about. -And nope, not a spy.” He added with a wink.
AJ chuckled and elbowed a sheepish Dash.
“Twilight was going to tell you all later but Pinkie had too much of a head start to keep her quiet. 
In any case, I’ll tell you what happened and answer some questions, but it might be best to save those for later, when Twilight is examining me. 
You three, Rarity, and Pinkie are free to be there anytime Twi is studying me so there wont’ be any secrets or misunderstandings. Okay?”

AJ nodded, satisfied he was telling the truth. “Sure thing Sugarcube.” 

Meanwhile, Dash put on a devious smirk “I’m sure I can come up with some wild questions to keep you and Twilight on your hooves.”

Fluttershy nodded, one eye peeking from behind her mane. “…o-okay…”

After a quick recount of who, where, when, and why, Rainbow Dash scratched her head “So if you are an alien, what star are you from?”

Everyone suddenly looked at her in surprise for the intelligent question. “What? I love Sci-Fi, Adventure and Spy Thriller movies!”

Chuckling, the stallion shook his head and winked teasingly “Just surprisingly deep for the most awesome Pegasus ever.”
After the chorus of giggles died down he continued. ”Anyway that’s the weird part of this too. From what we Bronies saw on the other side, our constellations are about the same. 
In short, I’m an alien, from another… well, every Joe Average says “dimension”, so let’s go with that…”

Rainbow Dash giggled excitedly “We are talking with an ALIEN from another Dimension! How cool is that?! *Squeee!*”

Slowly raising a hoof, Fluttershy looked at Scott with one eye from behind her sweeping pink bang. “You say you’ve helped out with cute critters and repairs on a farm before? If you don’t mind… If it would not be a bother... Could you possibly… HelpMeWhenIneedIt?”

While he had to lean in to catch the last part, he gave a reassuring smile. “I would be honored to help the Element of Kindness once I get used to being without fingers.”

With that, Fluttershy blushed and gave a quiet thank you. She managed a smile before she used up her store of bravery for the moment.

Tipping her hat back as she looked him over, AJ joined in “So, how’s bein’ on four hooves workin’ out fer’ ya?”

Chuckling, he lifted a black hoof to inspect it. “Easier than I imagined, just takes a little getting used to. My problem now is going to be dancing. I never really got to try before, and now? As you saw earlier with Pinkie, I’ve got four left hooves unless somepony can teach me.”


AJ and Rainbow Dash grinned as they shared a look. Somepony asking them for help on learning how to dance? -And a stallion at that? 
In seconds, the unspoken bet was on as to who could successfully teach him first! 

Flapping her wings, Dash rose up and did some midair breakdancing. “Oh, have you come to the right ponies! There isn’t a pony in town who can't dance, but me and AJ are really super-awesome! –Oh, everypony in town except Twi, but she’s really set on learning too, right? 
Aaaanyway, come on out and lets get your groove on with the experts!”

Grinning, AJ flipped her tail to grab a hoof with it, and pull him to the door. “That’s right partner! Lets teach ya’ll how to do-se-do!”

Surprised at how forward her friends were being with the stallion, Fluttershy followed them out the door and back to the party. 
She suddenly realized she had invited him right to her door as well, and blushed. “Oh my…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Applejack was taking her turn teaching him how to dance like a pony, he noticed Lyra and Bon-Bon dancing as well.

Lyra was leading her partner closer in the dance. 
Once she was close enough, the turquoise unicorn smiled at him and kissed her partner before stopping for the moment and waved a hoof at him "Can we switch for a moment?"

Puzzled, Scott looked to Applejack, who raised an eyebrow but shrugged "Up ta’ you Sugarcube."
The newly made stallion nodded and looked to Lyra. "Sure!"

At the least, the change of pace would let him catch his breath. How can dancing be so tiring to an awesome new body?

AJ smirked and raised his hoof, holding it loose. “Ready Lyra? On three! One… Two… Three!” And with that, the orange cowpony swung him around and let go. 
He sidestepped, seeing Bon-Bon pass him face to face, and felt Lyra’s hoof take his to complete the circle. 

He was relieved to find the pace with Lyra much slower as she looked at him with those startling golden eyes. Her scent also had a lot of wintery mint to it. Was that perfume? 
Why did these ponies all have to be so beautiful?

Smiling sweetly, Lyra leaned in and nuzzled his ear, whispering “I read some interesting things on this invitation about where you came from. Would you please come to our home tomorrow so we can discuss them? Just ask Twilight for directions to “Bon-Bon’s Sweets”. -Say about Noon or so?”

Smiling, Scott nodded “It would be my pleasure…”

As the dance ended, he bowed to Lyra, and turned toward Rainbow Dash, “I’ll be back in a moment. I need a drink Miss Dash.”

"Oh, THERE you are Dahling!"
Suddenly, Rarity came out of the crowd and hooked a foreleg around his, pulling insistently and propelling him in one direction. "I have only one way I can give you a proper Ponyville Birthday gift. I just need you for a moment to measure you." 

Snorting, Rainbow Dash stamped her forehoof in air as if she was standing on a solid floor. “HAY! Bring him back here! It’s my turn again next!”

Shaking her mane, Rarity smirked at the cyan pegasus. “Oh, Rainbow Dash! Not to worry, Dear. I’ll only have him for a moment, and then I’ll bring him back, safe and sound.”

Rarity led him to one corner out of the way to get his measurements. 
As she pulled out her measuring tape, she looked back behind her and frowned. 
The proper Fashionista quickly gave him a pointed look and cleared her throat, seeing where his eyes were pointed. "Excuse me, but my eyes are up here, Romeo..." 

Blushing at being caught, he quickly stammered an apology, but Rarity raised a hoof. “Tut-tut. I suppose it’s flattering that you would think my flank worthy of attention, and that being an alien, these feelings must be new and overwhelming to you. 
Still, one must exercise self control. …If nothing else than to keep little Spikey-Wikey from making your life… difficult should he see your wandering eyes, yes?”

Still blushing, Scott nodded and moved his limbs for her as she started measuring him. “Yes, Miss Rarity…”

His mind was busy in thought while he was forced to stand in one place. At first, he didn’t think Spike would be a problem, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to worry. 
One thing was certain; he was going to be around Twilight the most of all the Mane 6 simply because she would need to study him. 
If her “Number 1 Assistant” was out to get him, there’s no end to the pranks and random acts of sabotage he would try. ‘Owl’s well that ends well’ taught him that much. 
He gave a little shiver thinking about Spike ever being mad enough to try his little fangs on him. Fangs that slice through diamond like butter…
Just to be safe, he looked around and spotted the baby dragon, asleep under a table with a lampshade on his head.

As she finished her measurements, he whispered “I will try to be more of a Gentlecolt in the future, Miss Rarity.”

Finishing her notes and putting them in her saddlebag, the unicorn giggled and gave a saucy wink. “Thank you, kind Sir. As it is, you are many times the Gentlecolt a certain prince is. Never forget that!”


~~~~~~~~~~~~


It was during one of his increasingly numerous rest breaks that he found himself next to a strangely familiar Earth pony stallion. 
In fact, somepony that seemed to be watching him and glancing back at his invitation as he drank some punch. -A stallion with brown eyes, dark brown slicked-back mane, white shirt collar on his neck held with a bowtie, mocha hide and an hourglass Cutie Mark. 
Scott did a double take and blinked “Excuse me, are you… the Doctor?”

Said stallion went bug-eyed and did a spit take of his punch, then spoke in a very familiar voice. “Err, no, no... I am Time Turner. I maintain the clock tower and regulate the clocks that are used in the town offices. Also, I am the official timekeeper for special events. Ahaha… Yes, that’s me, Town Official in charge of timey-wimey… stuff…”

Narrowing his eyes suspiciously, Scott snorted. “Uh Huh, Right… Whatever happened to me got you too, didn’t it?”

Scoffing, “Time Turner” patted Scott’s head dismissively “I am sure I have no idea what you are talking about, so I must be on my way home right now, “Space Pony”…Ha, ha… Good night.”

As he turned away, Scott hissed out “Yes, to the Tardis…”

Screeching to a halt, the stallion looked back at him, then came close so they could whisper. “Oooh! Well played Sir… Right then, what’s your game?”

Chuckling, Scott saluted him with a cup of punch held in both hooves “Just looking for my “Happily ever after!” here, and finding answers to Twilight’s questions.
Don’t worry, I wont say anything to anypony about you. How about lunch sometime so we can compare notes on our… condition.”

“Time Turner” looked at a pocket watch coming out of nowhere, then back at Scott. “Make it teatime. It will be two O’clock P.M. in this timeframe.
-Don’t bother setting a day, it will happen on its own. We’ll meet at chance and we’ll happen to have our notebooks. I’ll make it three place settings as Miss Sparke will be along as well.”

Shaking his head and chuckling, Scott grinned. “Agreed! See you later, “Time Turner”.

The brown stallion was turning to leave when he stopped, and turned back for a moment “Can you find a packet of Jelly Babies? I haven’t had those since I got stuck here…”

Scott laughed “I’ll see what I can do.”

As Doctor Whooves disappeared into the crowd, Rainbow Dash came up and touched his shoulder. “My turn, Big Guy! Hey, what were you and Turner talking about?”

Scott hoped he kept his ears straight as he spoke “Oh, I was curious what he actually did here. I see him all over the show but not what he does.”

Shrugging, Dash put a firm wing around him to drag him back to the dance. “More egghead stuff, yeah…” 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sometime later, Applejack passed him off again to a new partner. 
He was expecting Rainbow Dash again, only to bump into Twilight as she held a hoof out for him. “Ooops! Sorry Twilight! I’m already getting rubbery legged even with rest breaks.”
She giggled “Quite all right! It must be quite exhausting for somepony who hasn’t danced before in the best of times. At least I know how to slow dance a little for official functions. Would you like that, Scott?”

Nearby, AJ and Rainbow Dash giggled and slapped each others backs as they saw Scott blush and get a sappy smile on his muzzle. 

After a moment, he nodded. “Y-yes, please!” and took the offered hoof. 
Smiling, she took the lead “This should feel somewhat familiar to you. Lean into me as we get up on our hind hooves.”

It took several tries, but they were finally able to stand, chest to chest. 

Twilight moved his right hoof to the middle of her back since she would lead, she then took his left hoof in her right and started moving. “Easy now Scott, move with me. I only know a few steps but that should make it easy on you, right?”

Tail quivering, he nodded and squeaked out “Y-yes.” as he concentrated on moving his hooves with her guiding push. Left, right, left, right, back, turn, repeat. 
Everything seemed to fade out around him with the hypnotic repetition as he smelled lilac and mare together. He could feel her heart beat as their chests pressed together. Her purple eyes shone as a warm sensation filled him, and somewhere he thought he heard an owl for some weird reason. 
Twilight’s thin, elegant lips moved as he lost himself to the dance.

Suddenly he realized she was speaking to him “Huh? What?”

Twilight giggled and shook her head “I said, have you ever seen a party like this before?”
Blushing, he replied “S-sorry, I kinda lost myself there. I’ve never slow danced before. The only really big parties I can personally compare have been at Furry Conventions. -That’s conventions for fans of shows and books about animals with human attributes, with a party somewhere every night. I missed those so much…”

Twilight giggles at his expression as they danced “Well, I’m glad Pinkie made you feel so happy with her party then. These conventions, are they large gatherings like I’ve been to for my favorite book heroine, Daring Do?” 

He smiled and shrugged, “Probably. The last one I’ve been to had 1,500 attendees.”

Whistling, Twilight smiled and shook her head in wonder “That sounds just like the latest Manehattan DaringCon I went to a few months back. I got to meet the Author and some of the actors for the stage show. …Um, are there conventions about…us?”

His ears went up eagerly as he smiled “Two so far that I heard of and a bunch of Brony meetups to watch the show here and there. –Never any close to me unfortunately. 
Oh I’d love to see their faces if they ever found out you girls were real!”

Giggling at a sudden thought she put a hoof to his lips “Don’t give Pinkie any ideas now…”

With that, their dance ended in laughter.


> Chapter 8. Letters to the Princess
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 8,   Letters to the Princess

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Grand Galloping Gala was in full swing. 

Twilight stood out of the way of the crowd near the elegant windows. She was clad in a simple red dress with a skirt layered in red and pink ruffles, with short sleeves of saffron and gold. Several shiny gold buttons ran down her narrow chest to complete the look.

This wasn’t how she had planned for this to go, at all.
So far she was too nervous to approach any of the unattached stallions. Those that looked willing to approach her were nervous of her being the Princess’ Star Pupil.

The only pony that had expressed interest in her for the Gala beforehoof was Prince Blueblood, but his demeanor so far had been unsettling to a shy wallflower like her.

A presence loomed near, but when she turned, the unicorn stallion standing there was silhouetted by the brilliant moon in the window behind him. “P-prince Blueblood?”  

The stallion stepped backward, toward the door to the gardens. A stray moonbeam gleamed off a blue eye. “Really, it’s too crowded in here, don’t you think? I’m going out for some air. Would you care to join me?”

Shivering in nervousness and the daring of it all, she put one gold-slippered hoof in front of the other, following the dim shape out into the darkness as the moon hid behind a cloud.
With surprising gentleness, the stallion sidled up alongside her and walked beside her as they circled the open garden area before the doors, bounded by elegantly trimmed trees and rose bushes.
“Such a pretty red dress needs something more…” 

The outlined head dipped and deftly nipped the shape of a rose from the darkened bush beside him. She smelled roses as his lips tucked the bloom into her mane in front of her left ear. Twilight shivered in delight. This wasn’t the Blueblood she expected!
“T-thank you…”

Soft strains of music came from the open door as the dancing began in earnest, making the stallion’s ears perk. He turned to her and held out a hoof. “This music is as beautiful as your voice. It would be a shame to waste it. Shall we dance? I find it more relaxing out here. -Alone.”

Twilight was giggling and shivering both in excitement and the sheer daring of it. 
It was the forbidden naughtiness of straying from the Noble social circles when everypony who was Somepony was expected inside on the dance floor at this very moment. 
Ooh, the wondering rumors that would spread just from the sudden absence of the favored Daughter of the House of Sparkle and the Duke of Canterlot, simultaneously, made her giggly and light headed. 
She was sure her blush would light up the garden as she nodded yes.

They pressed hooves together and rose up on their hind legs, their chests pressing together.
She could feel his beating heart through their intervening clothing and tucked her head under his chin as they moved to the music. His cheek felt so soft and fuzzy against her glitter-dusted horn. She never wanted the moment to end.

Eventually, the song finally ended and as she anticipated, he arched his fine, muscular neck back.
A hoof under her chin tipped her head back so he could look into her eyes as he drew her into a kiss. 

Suddenly, the clouds drew back from the moon, shining full on the stallion.
It was Scott, as finely groomed as Rarity made him at the party and wearing Blueblood’s outfit.


•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•


Gasping, Twilight sat up in bed, wide-eyed!  

A romance book from the new “Lunar Library” imprint, titled “At the Gala” by Rose Papillion slid off to the floor with a clatter.

She had had these dreams about the Gala in the year leading up to the one she and her friends had made “exciting”. 
However, this was the first time the dream had changed at all! Even that detail of a rapidly beating heart against her chest was new. Oh dear Celestia! She felt that last night when they danced!

Ever since Princess Celestia had hinted that she might invite her to that Gala, she had numerous romantic dreams that often awoke her with a sweat-soaked body and thighs, especially since Prince Blueblood himself had made inquiries about being the chaperone of the House of Sparkle for her first major social function.

All that had of course gone out the window with the Return of Nightmare Moon and her subsequent permanent move to Ponyville, well out of the mercurial limelight of Canterlot politics.

Still… before, and even for some time after the actual Gala when Blueblood was revealed for the lout he was when Rarity had pursued him instead, she occasionally had these romantic dreams of the Gala. -Smoldering fantasies of Blueblood, for lack of a better figure for a once-friendless student to fixate on. 

Her mother, Constellation “Stella” Sparkle, had hardly been a help there, prodding her to take an active role in court matters and give her some Grandfoals! -Always pushing Blueblood as a wonderful match.
Twilight suddenly had to wonder if her Mother was behind Blueblood’s sudden interest at the time?

Butterflies ran wild in her stomach as her mind replayed that dream kiss several times and she blushed quite brightly, until… *ulp* 
She quickly stumbled from bed, teleported to the Master Bathroom, and emptied her fluttering stomach quite noisily…

Timidly, Fluttershy peeked in while Twilight was washing out her mouth. “Oh my, are you all right? You arent’ coming down with something are you?”
When the unicorn looked at her in surprise, the petite Pegasus uttered a soft gasp “Is it a nervous stomach? I get that all the time, especially after meeting nice stallions like… Skybright…”

Eyes wide, Twilight’s blush deepened as Shy-shy seemed to hit the nail right on the head.
‘No it can’t be a… a crush..!? We just met! I refuse to believe it! He was not even born a pony for Celestia’s sake! What if he gets sent home? What if Celestia banishes him?’

Suddenly, Twilight gasped!  She rapidly trotted in place “OhMyGosh! I forgot to send a letter to the Princess! I was going to do it before the party while Scott got ready, but… OhMyGosh! OhMyGosh! OhMyGosh! We have an Alien the Princesses have not been told about!”

Fluttershy quickly wrapped soothing wings around Twilight in full Nursemaid Mode™ “Oh my! Please calm down Twilight. Just sit right down and I’ll make you some soothing chamomile tea. Okay?”

Nodding, Twilight smiled reassuringly at Fluttershy and stilled herself with an effort. “*sigh* you’re right. Thank you Fluttershy, I needed that. Please, I’ll be all right while you make some tea.”

Blushing cutely, Fluttershy flapped off to the kitchen area. “Y-you’re welcome, Twilight. It’s no trouble, really…” 

Owlowiscious hooted inquisitively from his perch as she sat down at her writing desk. 

Looking at the sky outside the window showed about an hour or so before dawn. Yes, plenty of time to write the letter herself before Spike wakes up and starts his chores. She can have him send it then.

Giggling despite herself, the mare shook her head “No, I’m all right, Owlowiscious. I just need to write a letter to the Princess about Scott.”

“Who?”

“The stallion downstairs Pinkie brought to me.”

“Who!”

“Yes, the strange unicorn. Anyway, I’d better get writing, so get some sleep if you need it.”

“Who.”



•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•


Dear Princess Celestia,

I must apologize in advance if this letter rambles at any point, for it is approximately 4:30 in the morning and I did not sleep well after the Pinkie Party this night. 
I suspect everyone else has passed out only a half hour ago…

This is the first chance I have had to write this letter since Pinkie did something strange yesterday morning, strange even for her. 

She has spoken off and on about us Element Bearers being watched, often after unusual or momentous events, by beings she calls “Space Ponies”. 
All of us just shrugged it off as “Pinkie being Pinkie”.

Yesterday she had a “Doozy”… (See letter #29, footnotes 10 through 25)

She… brought one here to Ponyville, as proof!

On arrival, the subject, named Scott, had transformed from a bipedal Minotauroid (based on his vague description) being called a Human, into a handso bright bay unicorn stallion, with beautifl.. with a long black mane, black points, and gorge.. royal blue eyes like Rarity has.

According to his and Pinkie’s testimony, he had been severely disoriented for upwards of ten minutes before Pinkie sought me out. 
Truthfully, I suspected a prank until he mentioned this proved Alternate Worlds Theory, which so far as I knew, is only known in Canterlot. 
When he was asked to look at his reflection in the fountain, he grew excited and quite happy at his appearance.  And… somehow he gained a Cutie Mark from this realization.

( Rough sketch of  subject’s North Star Cutie Mark appears on page 1 of accompanying notes. )

He declared his name at that moment to be Scott Skybright.

In my excitement to have a full physical performed on Scott, I neglected to have Pinkie promise not to speak of Scott’s origin. Naturally, she told the entire town when she invited everypony to his party…

So far, Scott has to be taught the most basic functions of his hooves and horn, can somehow speak Equestrian but cannot read or write it, and apparently had been older than he now is.

( -See attached copies of his new hospital records, including day 1 of his physical and developmental testing, 12 pages thick so far. ) 

He has so far proven harmless, and even enthusiastically …friendly. All of my friends have taken to him well and shown great kindness in helping him feel welcome here in Ponyville.

This is fortunate as he seems reluctant to return home whether or not he can be restored to his human form, and will give me time to find out about his world and his former species.

As for my concerns and questions, I would be remiss in my duties studying him if I did not voice them in these letters;

Has this happened before? Will there be more of these creatures coming here?

Why did he turn into a Unicorn pony, and is it now a permanent change with a Cutie Mark as I believe?

What do I do if his talent is indeed Magic as I suspect?

Was it inevitable he become a Unicorn, or could he have become a Pegasus or Earth pony? 

What if he had turned into a Dragon in the middle of Ponyville? Is that even possible?

As it is, I recommend we both meet with you at your convenience so you may see who he is inside for yourself.

What if  you don’t like him he must be banished? Can we force him to go home? Would we? Pinkie says he has been so… alone… I don’t know wha

I am so sorry, Princess! I do not mean to ramble, my fatigue is letting my mind wander, and my dreams of him are so fresh in my mind.

I hope to hear from you in this matter soon,

Your Faithful Student,
~Twilight Sparkle




•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•



To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.

I and my sister, Luna were both surprised to hear of your guest, and even more so on how he had arrived to our fair land. You gave us much to… discuss over breakfast.
In fact, I had to expressly forbid Luna from coming to Ponyville to question the Element of Laughter on how she had done this, much less why. 

After reading about the many Pinkie Pie incidents in your letters, I do not wish to worry for the sanity of my sister in trying to wring some sense from ‘Pinkius Piecus’. 
It is indeed fortunate she is one of the Elements, and therefore on our side.

To answer one question, he is not the first and most certainly will not be the last visitor we have had. -Merely the first to be brought forth by an Element of Harmony.

To be sure, exact numbers will never be known as some have been too afraid to come forth and reveal themselves, or are beyond the borders of Equestria. 
The ones that are known who were not returned forthwith have been sensibly asked to be reasonably circumspect about their origins in return for help in learning their new abilities, in the interests of maintaining Harmony.

This leads to the greater question you have asked; How did he transform and why?

Consider this a test of sorts, my little pony.

I and Luna will tell you and your guest in Our Royal Presence, once he has had a few days to get accustomed to his new form and to be tested in his magical potential. 
If you think he is strong enough, we must enroll him here in Canterlot for tutoring. 
-For obvious public health and safety reasons...

In the meantime, I wish for you to observe your guest and determine if there is anything logical about the hows and whys of his transformation, a “method to the madness” as it were.

Be diligent in your observations and deductions, but do not forget to have fun with it as well. 
I cannot wait to hear what you discover, my little pony.

Fondly yours,
~ Princess Celestia



> Chapter 9. The Morning After
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 9,   The Morning After


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


"Yoo-hoo! Yo! You alive in there?"

There was a strange sensation of someone tapping on something solid and alive attached to his head. 'Oh...yeah.. I got a horn...'

Slowly, Scott opened one bleary eye to see a large green eye with a slit pupil filling his view. 
Too dazed to rear back, Scott just blinked his eye and smacked his lips. "Yughhh! My mouth... tastes like old socks... Whurrr aam I..."

Suddenly, the gruff, child-like voice giggled as the baby dragon sat back on the table "In the Library. More to the point, your head is in the punchbowl on the buffet table. -And you have a purple pin-the-tail taped on your flank."

Surprised, Scott raised his head from the empty bowl to look around the room and regretted it when his head twinged with an audible sound.

Upwards of ten ponies were in the same shape around the room where they had collapsed in exhaustion, or considering Berry Punch had lingered at the punch bowl with several empty bottles, perhaps they had also collapsed in inebriation. 

Maybe that explains the grotty taste in his mouth and why the light was hurting his eyes. Ironic! He really was experiencing his first true hangover, and he had to come to Equestria to get it. He got blitzed in a place that was a girl’s dream come true, and he didn’t even mean to…  Weird. ‘I guess Equestria is living up to its’ High School/College comprehension level after all…’

He blearily looked around the room again from his higher vantage point of the table and spotted a sleeping baby alligator in one corner, a party hat leaning to one side on his scaily head. "Spike? Where's th' girls?"

After a moment, Spike cocked his head thoughtfully as he counted with his fingers. "Um, lets see... Twilight's outside on the upper balcony with coffee. Applejack went home early to get rested up for orchard chores, Rarity left an hour later to design some outfits for you for your birthday and Cuteceañeara gifts, Fluttershy just left to take care of her animal friends after spending the night in the guest bed, And Rainbow Dash?..." He looked up and pointed at the chandelier, where a rainbow tail hung over the side and soft snores sounded.

Right at that moment, Pinkie Pie poked her head from the kitchen "Heyyy sleepyheads! Who wants Pancakes and Waffles?! The muffins will be a liiiitle while longer!"

Sleepily, Vinyl Scratch yawned and poked her head up from behind her turntables by the stairs "Waffles? Groovy! I'll take a stack. Got any Blueberry?

Slowly, Scott waved a hoof to get Pinkie’s attention. "Pancakes for me, please." 

Meanwhile, Spike hopped off the table to help get the remaining party ponies up.

The stallion yawned and groaned as he held his head in his hooves. "Bleah! I wish my backpack wasn’t over in Sugarcube Corner... I really need aspirin."
He stood up on his hind legs on the table and cracked his stiff back. Seeing he was close enough now, he took the end of Rainbow Dash's tail in his mouth and tugged "Wakey, Wakey!”

The chandelier swung a bit and a sleepy voice sounded "Mmph...Jus' 5 minutes mom... zzZZzz..."

The unicorn tugged again "Guess again. Want breakfast? ...Aspirin maybe?..."

Suddenly, Dash stuck her head up in panic "Wait, Wha?! Where am... OH ROADAPPLES! THE TIME! SorryPinksKeepTheMuffinsHOT!BeRIIIGHTback!!"

There was a sound like a cartoon gunshot and a rainbow streak going out the window, sending Scott tumbling off the table and suddenly getting his horn stuck in the floor. 

Pinkie pranced into the room with a tray of steaming mugs held by both forehooves. She set it down on the table and turned to Scott.
"Ohh silly, that’s a strange place to put your horn. Let me help." 
With that, she grabbed his hips and spun him to unscrew his head from the floor. 

As he fell in a dizzy heap, she pressed a steaming mug into his hooves "Here you go, instant party-head fixer! Willowbark tea and lemon drops! (and a few teeny-tiny extra things) Drink up!" 

Pinkie pranced around passing the mugs to the others as Scott drank it down in a quick slug, using both hooves. Not as bitter as he expected thanks to the lemon candy melted in. Quite good in fact. 
His head stopped hurting faster than he would have believed too.

Pinkie bounced around counting up the ponies that had been left after the party. "...Fourteen, and Dashie just left, that makes... *GASP* FIFTEEN! YAY!"
She clopped her hooves together "Fifteen ponies who partied 'till they dropped! A new Record!"

Scott chuckled and wobbled his way to the first floor’s Public Restroom. 
It took him a moment to realize he wasn’t alone when he opened the door, finding Lilly curled up against the toilet.
After staring for a moment, Scott blearily looked over his shoulder "Make that sixteen, Pinkie. I just found... Ummm, Lilly, I think..."

Groaning, Lilly sat up holding her throbbing head "Ohhh my head! The horror, the horror!"

Giggling, Pinkie danced on over and gave her a mug of party-head fixer as she led the pony out "Here you are Lilly! I'll make you a super-duper surprise for being the record breaking pony to party until she dropped!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Above, the smell of breakfast drew Twilight from the balcony and down the stairs. 
She stopped on a landing and looked out at the ponies stirring themselves and the stallion at the center of it. 
‘Strange, other than his color, he would be an average specimen of Unicorn stallion in Canterlot, even in size like Shiny. I guess it’s easier to stand out in a small place like Ponyville…’ 

She was puzzling over why he seemed to be so instantly accepting of being a pony. Overjoyed even! 
Twilight was sure if she had been turned into another species and unlikely to ever turn back, she would be a quivering wreck for days. 
Was this one of the clues Princess Celestia wanted her to find? She definitely had to question him about this today.

Turning back to the scroll she just received, Twilight yawned a bit as she re-read Celestia’s reply. 
It was a curious mixture of relief and disappointment that teaching Scott would be mostly out of her hooves if he was indeed a magic talent as her senses seemed to indicate. 
It stung that she might be missing out on seeing his look of joy that had been on her own face with each milestone reached, large and small, as he reaches them as well.

-On the other hoof, the thought of being so close to him as teaching magic dictates, day after day, terrified her after that dream.

While she was thinking, Pinkie suddenly appeared at her shoulder “Ohhh Twiiiliiight! What kinda’ waffles do you want?”

After teleporting back to the floor from her sudden perch clinging on the ceiling like a cat, Twilight looked like she was about to scream. 
She suddenly thought better of it and visibly deflated in defeat. “*Ugh*, fine! Mixed berries in mine, and double the waffles for that scare!”

Pinkie giggled and saluted “Okie! Dokie! Lokie!” before vanishing again.

Now that it was cleared off from being a buffet table, the remaining ponies gathered around the large reading table to eat like Parasprites. Twilight had to admit Pinkie’s pancakes and waffles were almost as legendary as her cupcakes.
Speaking of which, her plate of waffles suddenly slid across the table into place as Pinkie dropped off another load of plates, and an improbable number of glasses full of milk or orange juice balanced on her head.
She watched in fascinated horror as her drinking glasses were now being juggled in Pinkie’s hooves and slid from the catching hoof across the table to each pony without losing a drop. -Bringing a round of applause from the morning guests.

She ate hers thoughtfully and casually, still working through her double stack by the time the muffins arrived on the table. A bowl of them suddenly plopped down next to the wooden horse bust, covered in a towel with a note reading “For Dashie”. 
Yes, Pinkie was being very thorough this morning. Did she even drink anything last night?

Soon, the ponies were making their way out in drips and drabs after doing their part to help clean up the mess. An unfamiliar sensation of jealousy jabbed her as she watched Scott following Vinyl Scratch to the door, eagerly asking questions about her turntable and mixer setup.
‘No, stop it. He’s a grown pony who can make his own decisions. Its not like he’s declared undying love for you, has he?’

Pinkie was the last to go, where Scott gave her a tearful hug in thanks “I… have never been so… happy before as at that party! Thank you Pinkie!”

She blushed and had an “Aw Shucks” look on her face “Awww it was nothing. Making ponies smile is my specialty. Nopony should ever go without parties!” 
Gasping, she suddenly hopped up and hung in the air, looking at her wristwatch. “Oooh! I gotta’ go! I’m late for the breakfast rush at Sugarcube Corner! I’ll bring your stuff later during my deliveries, okay? Okay! Byeeeee!~”
With that, she was gone in a pink streak of light heading out the door.

Giggling at Pinkie’s antics, Spike put on an apron and walked over to Scott with a broom. “Sooo, wanna’ help me clean up since Twilight says you are gonna’ be here a while? I could use the help…”

Scott blushed and looked down sheepishly “I…I don’t know what I can do to help, Spike…”

Rolling his eyes, Spike held out the broom “Fire up that horn and sweep for one thing. Sheesh! You aren’t Blueblood’s secret brother are ya?”

A quick hoof smack to the back of his head got Spikes attention, where Twilight whispered to his ear fin. “Alien, remember!? He can’t use it yet…” and jerked her head toward the new unicorn who was hanging his head sadly.

Spike blushed and rubbed the back of his head “Y-yeah, Sorry. My bad…”

For a moment, Scott was thinking hard on how to use his horn or his hooves, or (yuck!) his mouth to clean up with. 
Suddenly, his eyes went wide “Oh! I saw Sweetie Bell do this once! We know how well her horn works, right?” Quickly, he turned his rump around and began swinging his long black tail, batting the dust and confetti in one direction after a few tries.

Twilight giggled in surprise. “Very good Scott!”

Soon, the trash is whipped into shape and books put back on the shelves.
Scott takes a long pause after the last dustpan of party trash is dumped, and stands with his eyes closed, sniffing the air. The way he sighed, he was definitely in his comfort zone.

Curious, Twilight looked at him oddly “What are you doing, Scott?”

Opening his eyes, Scott sat down to relax with an obvious case of the warm fuzzies. “Whenever I feel bad, I try to go to a book store or library and read or look for new books. It’s kinda’ my “happy place” to shut out the bad times.
Well, now that this library doesn’t smell like a bakery. I can smell the books. I can smell the ink. Between my new nose and how old these books are, it’s like all my favorite bookstores distilled into one place!”

Stunned, Spike looked from Scott to Twilight and back again, getting an ominous feeling. “A bookworm stallion? Oh that’s all we need around here…”
Fuming, he stalked off toward the stairs to the bedroom, only turning to give Scott the “I am watching you!” hand signal.

Twilight giggled “Oh Spike! Be nice now!” 
She turned to Scott “Don’t mind Spike, he’s just being like a jealous little brother right now…”

After a long moment of awkward silence, she continued “Admittedly, your visits to book stores sound like how I was before I came to Ponyville. 
Don’t worry, I’ll cast that reading translation spell after we check your potential so we don’t mess up the test. You’ll be reading my favorites, such as Daring Do, in no time!” 

Stepping closer, she glanced left and right as if for unwanted listeners, then gazed into his blue eyes to read the truth in them. “Sooo… How many books do you have?”

On reflex, Scott leaned back a little at the sudden scrutiny before relaxing. “Um, I’ve never actually counted them, but I left several hundreds behind at my place. A very eclectic bunch really. Mostly Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, graphic novels, and Furry comics… However, a good portion are on Science and History and other subjects. I also have as many movies and music recordings.”

He thought for a moment about the possibility of going back for those at least. –Preferably that, than the likelihood the farm owner’s old farmhand will simply burn them to make room for the next tenant before his parents could come for them. 
Could he face the possibility of getting stuck on Earth again while wearing the shape of a pony just to tie up loose ends?

He gave a little shudder of fear and shook his head as he spoke in a hushed tone. “I’ll probably never see them or my parents again anyway…”

Twilight’s starry-eyed look at the thought of a mountain of alien books and entertainment media vanished at seeing him shudder and hearing his sad voice. 
She gasped and put a hoof to her mouth, her heart going out to him. “Oh my! I’m sorry, maybe we can hel…”

*CRASH*

On reflex, the two unicorns stepped apart as a sky blue blur came through the window, bounced off the floor right where they had been standing, and right onto the reading table. Rainbow Dash giggled sheepishly and tipped the upside-down muffin bowl off her head. “E-he-hee! Sorry Twilight! Wanted to get back while these were still hot…” She picked one up from her fuzzy chest, took a bite, and winked. “And they still are too.”

Scott suddenly found the nearest bookshelf very interesting, as Rainbow Dash was sprawled out on her back as usual for a crash, with her wide-splayed legs facing him and Twilight, leaving nothing to the imagination.

A moment later, Rainbow Dash belatedly realized the stallion was blushing and why, and moved one of her hind legs to cover herself as she sat back up on the table. Her cheeks were now a bright red too “Eh-heh! Sorry Big Guy, usually it’s just us mares so we don’t notice…”

The wayward former human finally stopped looking at the shelf and tried to act casual as he waved a hoof dismissively “Um, no problem, right?” 
Meanwhile, Scott’s mind was busy screaming at him ‘Aghhhh!! Stupid Sexy Ponies! I don’t know how I’m going to survive all this! At least Lyra’s parts are probably covered by whatever she sits on when she does that. 
I’m gonna’ start shooting blood out of my nose like a Luna-damned hentai video if this don’t stop!’


Sheepishly, Twilight giggled at Scott’s blush after realizing the reason, thinking. ‘Another clue? Is it normal for human stallions to react like a normal stallion and blush to a mare’s accidental display?’ 
The magical mare nodded to the basement door. “Well, no harm done. Rainbow, you are welcome to come to the basement with us while I run tests.” 
Maybe Dash would jar more clues out of Scott while she ran the Thaumic Potential Evaluator on him. At least with Scott, there should be something to read, unlike whatever bizarre Earth pony magic ran through Pinkie. 

Giggling, the sky blue pegasus looked at the stallion “Wait, so you are gonna’ hook him up to some freaky machines? This I gotta’ see!” She winked “I also got some awesome questions for him.”

Needing an excuse to cool off his frustrations, Scott raised a foreleg high and wrinkled his nose. “Um go on ahead and get everything set up. I really need a quick shower first. BeRiiiiightBack...!”

Both mares managed to keep a straight face as he scampered up the stairs, then burst into laughter as they went down into the basement.

Rainbow’s laugher floated up the stairs “Oh, he’s a laugh riot, Twilight! We gotta’ hang out with him!”

Twilight’s voice had a giggle to it even as she replied “Oh, Dash. Be nice now!...”




> Chapter 10. Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3…  Part 1
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies
By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 10, Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3… 
Part I

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

*knockknock!*

…”Hey in there! Here’s the towels you asked for! Try not to run out the hot water in there, Okay? The town kinda got mad about that when… somebody did that before.”…

Teeth chattering, Scott managed to reply “I-i-i-I… D-d-d-d-donttt… Th-th-think… Th-th-that’s… A-a-a-a-a.. Puh-p-problem... Suh-sus-spike!...” 

It took Scott a moment to catch the back-handed admission by spike on who ran out the hot water before. “Party of One” confession, confimed. 

Outside, the Master Bathroom door creaked open and the slap of bare feet on wood came over the sound of the water. The shower curtain opened a crack “What? What’s wrong?.. Holy Guacamole!”

Scott stared back, square pony teeth chattering, his entire body a pale, frigid blue. Spike quickly turned off the water and dragged him out onto the bath mat with a stiff clatter like he was a carousel horse. -Even the pupils of his eyes appeared as ice cubes.

Thinking quickly, Spike rapidly rubbed the stallion down with towels to dry the cold water off, then blew a flame puff into the air to heat the room. “Are you crazy? What the heck are ‘ya doing?!”

No longer blue and regaining his warmer colors, the stallion shook his head “T-thanks… Y-you’ll understand when you hit puberty, Spike. That’s the only cure H-humans have f-found for… that kind of discomfort.”

Spike sat back, thinking it through as the former human stared back sheepishly, thinking to himself. ‘I wish I could be sure how a stallion can control this at will. 
I really don’t want to “drop” in front of the girls other than “special” moments, and my sheath was getting too bulgy for comfort…’

The grinding, smoking wheels of spike’s brain finally bumped, clattered and clunked into place, and he suddenly glared at Scott, fangs bared. “Waaait a minute! Were you gonna’ do something to TWILIGHT?!”

Quickly, Scott raised his forehooves and scootched back against the wall using his rump and hocks. “No, no, I haven’t even been on a date with anypony! –Yet. Really, I’m an honorable stallion! THAT is why I was freezing my tail off just now! 
Besides, it wasn’t Twilight that set me off!” 

Spike reeled in confusion. “Wait? What? What are you talking about? Set you off?”

Sighing, Scott shook his head. “Ask Twilight to explain it in great detail when she thinks the time is right for you to understand. Guys kinda’ get like this when some girl, er, mare flashes them…”

Spike walked up, stood on his lap and grabbed his ears to stare into his eyes. “Say what?! What’s “flashing” mean?! Is it something to do with Twilight?!”

Nervous about the stone-cutting claws standing on his sheath, he coughed and sweated bullets “Spike, just calm down willya! It was Dash! I got an accidental close-up and intimate, view of her… um, “hoo-hoo” and her…”donut”!” he finished, remembering he was talking to a child.

Suddenly spike fell back onto the floor, laughing and rolling “Oh, Nooo! You got all worked up over that? BWA-HA-HAAA!!!”

Scott shot him a look that made him laugh even more. “Oh wait! You’re serious! Let me laugh louder! AHH-HAA-HAAAAA!!! I-I See those up close all the time! I’m THAT short! I got six mares around me all the time! GYAHH-HAA-HAA!”

Fuming, Scott crossed his hooved arms “Enjoy it while you can, short-stuff! There’s men and women back home who would sell their souls for the up-the-plot views you get daily. When you’ll most want it in the future, you’ll be way too tall to see it.”

Wiping his eyes and standing back up, he waddled over to push Scott back onto his hooves. “Yeah, whatever! That’s Future Spike’s problem. Now get down to the basement. Twilight’s waiting on you!” 
Scott’s exit was sped up with a rolled up towel being snapped on his rump…

~~~~~~~~~~~

Down in the basement, Twilight wore goggles and an apron as she topped off the water tank for the tiny, magic-heated steam engine that ran the large device while it settled into a rhythmic, once-a-second tooting from a combination steam whistle/pressure release valve.

Off to the side, Rainbow Dash lounged against a root sticking out of the wall. “So what is this doohickey anyway?”

Pushing the goggles up from her eyes, Twilight smirked “It’s... complicated. I’ll wait for Scott so I don’t have to say it twice.”

Rainbow smirked wickedly and guffawed as she elbowed Twilight. “Speaking of, didja’ see that bulge he was sporting running up the stairs? Seriously, I thought he was gonna’ have a stroke when he saw me on the table like that!”

Blushing, Twilight covered her mouth as she giggled with Rainbow. “Dash! You are just awful!”

In reply, the cyan Pegasus giggled and stuck out her tongue. Before she could tease Twilight any further, the basement door opened.

Looking up to the basement door, Twilight smiled as Scott shook his damp mane and gingerly made his way down the stairs “Getting better at that, huh?”

Chuckling nervously, Scott finally made it to the basement floor. “It’s so much easier going up stairs. I feel so front-heavy going down, I feel like I’m going to fall.”

Shaking her head, Dash snorted “That’s so weird! Aren’t you more likely to fall just working two legs like you and Pinkie say you had? Seriously dude, that sounds really unstable! I mean, I can see spike doing that ‘cause his legs are so short, and his tail balances him, right?”

Clattering his hooves onto the wooden floor carved from the tree itself, he gave a quick shake of his damp body and stretched.  He gave a look around the basement laboratory, which seemed much bigger than it felt from the other side of the screen. “Huh, So far I’ve found myself in a Branch Library today. I wonder if this is the Root cellar…” 

Twilight groaned and shook her head with a wry smile, while Dash giggled and lay back against the rugged wall “Oh! Good one!” She stuck out a hoof for him to bump.

Grinning as he bumped hooves, he smirked “I try…”
As he looked around at the equipment that looked like it came from a 1950s laboratory, he finally answered Dash’s question “As for your question Miss Dash… With a biped, all the weight is centered in a straight line up and down. Going up or down stairs does not change that. Suddenly all my weight is up front and throwing me off balance when it’s pointing down.”

Rubbing her chin, Dash finally shrugged. “Makes sense, I guess.”

Twilight’s quill was scribbling away as she heard this. So far her plan with Rainbow Dash was working. 
“Fascinating! Oh, yes. Scott, can you put your fore-hooves on this podium? This will read your pulse and any energy you send to those hooves and feed it back to the Evaluator.”

Nodding, he sat on his haunches as she set a metal dish on his head loaded with various tiny lights. “By the way Twilight, where did these things come from? It seems a bit complicated to create on the spot just for Pinkie Pie.” 
Some bulbs appeared to Scott to be Christmas tree lights, others looked like they came from an electronic parts store. He started to wonder if this was a repurposed colander on his head.

Giving him another reassuring smile, she clicked the restraints closed on his wrists “Oh some of this was already here. The rest was shipped down later in case I had to investigate anything coming out of the Everfree.  This Thaumic Potential Evaluator for example was being replaced in the main Canterlot Hospital over in Solstice Heights. I was lucky I managed to get my hooves on it.”

Pausing a moment, she arched her neck to read a pressure gauge before putting her attention back on Scott.
“By the way, I’m sorry it took a while to get going. Since it’s so old, it runs on Magitech Steam power and not the town’s Thaumelectric grid.”

Smirking, she tapped on his reddish-brown horn protruding from the blinking dome “Anyway, this will read what parts of your mind and horn are using or generating magic and how much.” 

Scott’s look was one of wonder “Cool! You can read how much magic I have with this? Don’t worry, I know steam takes a while to get going…” 
Suddenly, his eyebrows raised as part of the information caught his attention “Wait..? The town has an electric grid? Where’s the power lines? Back on my world we suspend them overhead on wooden poles, and I haven’t seen any here.” 

To his surprise, Rainbow Dash laughed. “Are you serious? Us Pegasi would probably kill ourselves hitting hanging wires at high speed! 
Oh, let’s not forget all the accidental shorts we might cause bumping tiny thunderclouds into them while making a weather delivery. Not cool dude!”
After shaking her head, she suddenly looked at him “Wait a minute, what do your Pegasi do about those things?”

Blushing sheepishly, he looked at the mares. “We don’t have any. No Unicorns either. Both are legends from our age of classical mythology about three or four thousand years back. Legends of unicorns finally stopped a few centuries ago.”
He paused and shook his head “…And before you ask, we do have Horses and Ponies. Unfortunately, they only look a little like you and are not considered sentient, even though I’ve met some who are a strong argument against that view. Their brains are built around social interaction as complex as office politics, even if they can’t count things. I can say they are smart enough to open doors, though.”

His ears twitched under the dome, unseen, as he decided to tell Twilight all about humans and their relationship with horses much later… Preferably after getting the both of them very drunk.

Twilight’s quill scratched rapidly. “Hmmm, so about as bright as the feral horses out in the wastes! Simply amazing!” 

The magical mare lifted the last wires “Before we get too far off-topic, Scott. The town has a limited grid powered by the relatively new dam nearby. It’s run by underground cable to small substations in the basements of public buildings, and transmitted wirelessly from Thaumic Field crystals in those substations. Neat, huh?” 

Smiling at his stunned nod, she plugged in the final wires to start the paper graph rolling. Lines were moving steadily with slow jiggles as his brainwaves and magic use was “at rest”. The lights on the headgear flashed showing what parts of his brain were active.
She flashed him her best reassuring “Adorkable” smile. “Okay now, let’s see you make these crystals work Scott. I want you to push yourself now.”  

The smooth-edged crystals were slightly different in color from the ones at the hospital but otherwise felt the same to his horn. “Here goes…”

He focused on the first crystal in line, trying to control his breathing and focus. 
Jagged spikes were appearing on the graph as sparks sputtered on his horn again.
Just before he would have given out from the strain, a soft, baby blue glow came from the crystal. 

Twilight watched eagerly as the spikes on the graph were trying to steady “The color is okay. It’s just an older crystal, a hoof-me-down like the others. Go ahead and try the next one.”

Panting and nodding, he focused on the next crystal as the light faded on the first. 
Sparks were flying and lighting the room in flashes like a strobe light as he tried to coax sound from it. 

Meanwhile, Rainbow Dash was getting bored and began to check out the gadgets lining the walls and shelves. “Woah! A net launcher crossbow! This could work for awesome pranks!”

Sighing, Twilight looked over at the Pegasus, lifting the device out of her hooves with her magic “Sorry Rainbow, it’s not ready for testing yet, and it’s too dangerous to play with in here.”

Fuming, Rainbow Dash hovered in place “I’m getting boooored! He can’t answer anything while he’s concentrating. I wanna’ see him squirm with some of the questions I have!”

Giggling, Twilight set the net launcher in a cabinet. “Patience Dash. He’ll need to take a break real soon. He had a big breakfast so he’s got some more energy to work with this time, but it’s still a tough job for somepony who’s never done it before. 
Even you would have an easier time of suddenly being a unicorn than he will, you’ve had Pegasus magic coursing through you all your life.”

Rainbow Dash was silent for a moment as she thought this over, then smirked teasingly. “So, like I could be the most awesome Unicorn ever?”

Giggling, Twilight played along “Oh, maybe, if your hide turned lilac, and your mane went a dark blue with a pink and purple streak…”

Further teasing was interrupted at the sound of the tune that was so well known it was the unofficial Equestrian Anthem. 

A quick glance at the graph reel showed the energy spikes were slowly getting more uniform in their peaks and valleys. “Good job Scott! See if you can get the sound level to even out while it plays through once. Think how loud I made the hospital crystal play that tune, and see if you can keep it that high.”

Visibly sweating with effort, the stallion nodded “Y-yes Twilight…”

While Twilight’s back was turned, Rainbow Dash fluttered over to the metal column built into the countertop right behind Scott and inspected the insulating ring fins traveling up its length. She moved closer to see the twin silvery ducting running up into the ceiling from its base.

“Hey, Twi! You said every public building has a substation for the power grid, right? Is this it?”

Quickly turning, Twilight raised a hoof “Yes, that’s it. Careful Dash! That’s like touching a lightn…” *BANG!*

There was a bright pink flash with the bang as a smoking Rainbow Dash was thrown across the room to land in some of the projecting roots. 

“DASH! OHMIGOSH!” Twilight teleported right over to help the Pegasus, who’s eyes were spinning in loops, and wiped some of the soot off of the mare as she checked for injuries. “Are you all right? Can you still feel this? Or this?”

Coughing out a couple of smoke rings, the Pegasus shook her head with the sound of a cowbell as soot fell away. “I-I’m fine… I’ve had worse from running through misbehaving thunderstorms.” She raised her head to look at the flickering lights “What’s up with the lighting?”

Twilight’s eyes went wide as she felt the itch of wild magic running over her from tail to horn and knew what she might see before she turned around…

“T-TWILIGHT! H-HELP! WHAT’S HAPPENING!?!”

Scott was trembling, muscles locked like he was being electrocuted as his eyes shone with an unearthly light. He was experiencing a foal’s Panic Surge with all the power of an adult to draw on. 

Instantly, Twilight threw a magenta colored shield bubble around herself, hoping to protect Rainbow Dash as she advanced on him in a straight line between him and Dash. 

Unfortunately, one of the wild bolts skated off the edge of the bubble and struck the Pegasus, transforming her into a cyan-and-rainbow painted wooden Carousel Pegasus, complete with a spiral brass pole running through the Poll of the saddle that had appeared on her, and out her chest into the floor. 

Wild bolts were still lashing out from Scott’s horn as she pushed through the waves of magic to reach him. Some of the equipment had grown legs and were running around the room while a bunch of roots had become tentacles flailing around.

A fly on the wall suddenly became a six inch long dragon with fly wings, buzzing around and burping up tiny gouts of flame as it tried to figure itself out until Twilight swatted it out of the air with her tail.

Finally reaching the stallion, she wrapped her magic around his like smothering a fire while she grabbed him in a tight, comforting hug to help him calm down. She finally ended the surge, clamping tight on his horn’s field with her own magic as she touched her horn to his.

Glancing around, Twilight was relieved to find everything had gone back to normal as it was supposed to happen with a Panic Surge. Rainbow Dash was wobbling dizzily on her hooves, but was otherwise all right.

With the crisis now over, the magical mare blushed as she removed her horn from his, hoping he was unaware that horn-touches could be considered quite intimate in non-emergencies…

As it was, she continued her soothing hug as he broke down and cried on her shoulder, sobbing “I’m sorry!” over and over.

The basement door banged open as Spike scampered in “TWILIGHT! What was THAT!” First the power went crazy, then the whole tree was shaking!”

Twilight looked up at the baby dragon and sighed “Remember the story about how you were hatched?  He just had his first Power Surge, a Panic Surge to be precise.”
She patted Scott’s back “Shhh, shhh! It’s all right, you have no control when it happens. Nopony does at your skill level! It took Princess Celestia herself to break me from mine when I was no older than Sweetie Bell. I promise if you study hard, you will be able to control yourself, okay?”

Sniffling, he nodded, still ashamed for losing all control like that. It felt something like having a rushing river pouring through him and out his horn and locking up his muscles like an electric shock in the process.

Seeing his nod, she flashed him a bright, Adorkable smile and ruffled his mane with a hoof, while she unfastened his restraints “I think that’s enough with this test for now. Lets get you ready for the Hospital, okay?” He nodded numbly, blushing slightly as he heard an owl’s forlorn hoot again.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash raised her voice in a sarcastic tone “Um, I’m okay. I’m glad somepony was there to check me out or anything after that freaky wierdness!...” Her voice suddenly sounded puzzled “Uh, wait, why do I have this strange urge to fly in circles?”

Both unicorns instantly broke down in laughter.




> Chapter 11. Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3... Part 2
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies
By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 11, Testing, testing, 1, 2, 3… 
Part II

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


After sending off a note to the Princesses with a copy of the graphs, including the part where the needles had slammed fully to one side and jiggled only a little during the “episode”, Twilight trotted outside and checked her saddlebags one last time “Well that was an amazing set of firsts in one try! We have the first known Thaumic Potential graph of a Unicorn in the throes of his first ever Magic Surge, and the first graph ever of the only adult Unicorn’s Panic Surge I have ever heard of. You’ll be famous!”

Chuckling weakly, Scott shrugged sheepishly “That kind of fame I could live without earning… 
Oh yeah, while I’m thinking of it… Where do I find Bon-Bon’s sweet shop? Lyra invited me there around Noon for a little chat about my being an alien.”

Twilight paused for a moment before she remembered about Lyra and Bon-Bon being Lifemates. ‘For hoof’s sakes, that was just a dream! He probably doesn’t even see you as a mare. All he’s known are Human females, right?’ 

Taking a deep breath, she replied. “I’ll write out directions for you as a basic line map, or would you like for me to come along?”

Shaking his head no, he smiled “Thanks, I’ll be fine alone. Some of the fanon... Er, info, on her is quite contradictory so whatever it is she might be more comfy talking just to me for now. I’ll tell you afterward what happens, I promise.” 

Seeing another chance to see how deep his knowledge goes, she smirked “Care to Pinkie Promise?”

Pausing a moment to think it over, he nodded, then made the motions as he chanted; “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!”
Twilight was impressed, he even shut his eye before putting his hoof to it. “Good, and do you know what happen of you break that promise?”

He closed his eyes to think as he recited “Breaking a promise is the quickest way of losing a friend’s trust…”

“…FOREVERRRR!!!...”

Both unicorns snapped their heads around to see Pinkie Pie standing in the bushes behind the Library sign as she gave a menacing glare before sinking back down into the bushes.

After a moment, she stuck her head back out with her normal friendly face. “Ohhh silly me, I forgot! I just dropped off Scotty-scott’s things. They are up in the living area of the Library! Byeee…”
She sank back out of sight into the bushes…

Scott blinked, then shrugged.

Twilight patted his back, “Yes, that’s what we ALL do…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally trotting back outside, Rainbow Dash put on her “Awesome” sunglasses. “I still have no idea what happened to me. Why won’t you two tell me? I didn’t turn into a potted plant, right?”

Giggling, Twilight patted the Pegasus on her back “It’s not important, and he has already apologized. Let’s just get him to the Hospital in a jiffy.”

Moving in a blur, she instantly stood nose to nose with Scott, pushing him back in a challenging manner. “Okay, let’s motivate him to make it really fast then! Let’s race, Big Guy! I win, you tell me what happened! You win, I’ll answer one embarrassing question. Whatever you can think up!”

Glancing to Twilight, Scott sent a questioning look to her. She shrugged and replied “Up to you Scott. We might as well see how well you are moving as a pony now…”

Puffing his chest out, he stood a bit straighter as he looked Rainbow Dash in the eyes. Hordes of his fellow fans, Furry and Brony both, would be dying for a chance at racing this mare so he might as well do it for them. –And to tell the truth, he was pretty excited about it himself… 

“All right, Miss Dash. No flying! Magic is a moot point of course… We go when Twilight counts three, right?” 
With that, he held out his right forehoof.

Grinning, Dash nodded and bumped her sky blue hoof to his slightly larger black hoof. “You are so going down!”

In moments, the two had lined up and crouched, ready to go.

Some of the passers-by had stopped to watch as Twilight gave the count; “Ready you two? One!... Two!... Three!... GO!”

Waving and yelling, the gathered ponies cheered as Rainbow Dash took an early lead while Scott horribly fumbled the transition from trot to canter, and finally a shaky gallop that smoothed out as he went. 

The black sock-markings of his legs flashed as they quickly moved, his hooves clattering on the moss green cobblestones of Mane Street. 

Sweat darkened blue and bay equine hides before it fell away from the racer’s bodies in fat drops. Dash raised her wings just enough to get air flow underneath to cool her sides down. Something she couldn’t do in last year’s Running of the Leaves with them tied down like that.

Suddenly realizing that she had taken a very easy lead, Dash slowed down just enough that he wouldn’t notice. ‘Don’t want to make this too easy, right? Beside, Rarity is always getting on to me about upsetting stallions that might think I’m cool, and how fragile their egos are. Well, now we see if she knows what she’s talking about.’ she thought. 

The cheering grew more energetic as Scott seemed to be catching up and a determined look grew on his face. It put an extra spring in his step as he actually seemed to stand a chance!

Meanwhile, Twilight was teleporting in short hops to keep up with the racers. She was pleasantly surprised he seemed to be keeping up. Speaking mostly to herself, she mused “Not bad for his second day as a pony, huh!” 

As Twilight popped along, keeping pace, she suddenly realized Rainbow Dash was running about as fast as she herself does normally. While Twilight has gotten a lot of practice running in the last year or so, she still wasn’t in the league of Rainbow Dash or Applejack. The purple mare giggled and smirked at the stunt the Pegasus was pulling to play fair with Scott.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Meanwhile, Granny Smith had been crossing the street ahead of them and froze in place on her walker when the pair thundered up to and past her… 
After her sudden bout of spinning stopped, she elderly mare shook a hoof at their retreating backsides. “Confangled Speed Demons! Watch where ya’ll a’goin!”

At Ponyville’s little red schoolhouse, the foals were having recess and stopped what they were doing to watch Rainbow Dash race the new stallion in town.
Among them, Scootaloo bounced up and down with her tiny wings buzzing. ”Come on Rainbow Dash! You can do it!”

Sitting beside her, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle giggled and elbowed each other “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem Scoots!”

Scootaloo followed the pointing yellow hoof, seeing the mystery stallion that got a Cutie Mark in just a half hour was suddenly panting and struggling to run.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The race had started so well for Scott, he was actually keeping up with Rainbow Dash!
He was learning to run all over again and nopony could ask for a better, if unwitting teacher by making him race her. ‘…And the view aint’ half bad…’ he chuckled to himself as he fought to keep up. 
While Scott knew he had been taking frequent rest breaks while dancing at the party, he could surely make it to the Ponyville Hospital, right? He can’t possibly be that bad off with a new body!
Jazzed on adrenaline from the joy borne of the new equine instinct to run, he fought to ignore the growing burning from his muscles.

As he reached the schoolhouse, he was getting light headed and panting. The adrenaline rush was definitely over and he was running on fumes now. ‘Well, this sucks…’

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The hospital was now in sight and suddenly Rainbow Dash shot ahead. Confused, the Pegasus looked around, then back as Scott began to wobble on his hooves. 

By the time the cyan Pegasus had stopped and turned around, the stallion wheezed and flopped over like the donkey ragdoll Twilight pretended she didn’t own.

Yelping, Rainbow Dash zipped back to him in a rainbow streak and landed beside him. “Ohmigosh! Did I kill him?!

Twilight ran up and helped examine him “No… He’s just exhausted! Let’s get him the rest of the way to the Hospital!

Rainbow Dash shook her head as the stallion floated along in Twilight’s magenta aura “He looks so strong! What’s wrong with him? He should be able to do this race backwards!”

Sighing, the purple Unicorn shook her head. “I have an idea but Nurse Redheart will have to confirm it. 
She says his muscles are new like they were rebuilt on the spot. He had to rest a lot while dancing, right? What if he has to rebuild his stamina too, like he’s been sick?”

Blushing, Dash thought for a moment as they reached the doors “Do you think he’ll remember this? Rares has kinda’ been getting onto me about embarrassing stallions…”

Twilight giggles “Probably not…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Meanwhile…
Celestia stepped into the library where Luna was studying with the help of her newly assigned Personal Librarian, the slate grey earth pony, Tympany.

Luna looked up from a book detailing how Nightmare Night had come into being on her Harvest Moon Festival night. "Dear sister, you look perturbed. What is the matter?"

The regal mare floated several letters over to her younger sister "Twilight has sent me progress reports. Judging by Twilight's preliminary tests, his talent is magic. I doubt he will ever be as powerful as Twilight, but…"

"...But...?"

"We cannot know for sure until he is tested with the full resources the court can provide.
Regardless, I must accept him into the school as soon as he is brought before us if he proves he is no threat.
If nothing else, and as it has happened before, he will be a special unicorn indeed; All the full blown power of a magically talented adult, and all the control of a newborn foal..."

Luna gasped "Oh my! Teaching an adult from the beginning! I imagine that should be greatly difficult!"

"Yes, Twilight has already had to restrain his power in testing. He had his first Panic Surge just a short while ago and was quite strong at it. Twilight has optimistically taken it as a benchmark he can aspire to reach as she did with hers."

With a sigh, Luna turned to Tympany and raised her right hoof in the manner of a Royal Command a millennium before. "This is a potentially dangerous happenstance, My loyal Librarian. Tympany. 
Be a dear and look up all instances of such... "visitors" that occurred during OUR...er, "sleep". Be sure to indicate any Unicorns that also had Magic for their talent. 
WE may need to know how this was handled in more modern ways if WE are to properly assist OUR Sister in this matter."

Tympany bowed like a cat stretching, privately amused at the sometimes silly linguistic constructs of his Princess, especially her use of the Royal "We" in speaking pony to pony. "As my Princess commands!"


•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•

...Just as he felt himself about to fall over onto the street, he felt a surge of energy as he got his second wind. His horn glowed as he picked up his speed, leaving a red blur behind him. 

Rainbow Dash elbowed him “That’s all ya got? Race ya to Canterlot if ya got the guts! Oh yeah, ya gotta fly over Whitetail Woods! Well, seeya at the finish line, slowpoke!”

Scott laughed as he ran “We’ll see who’s the slowpoke, “Dashie!”
His horn flared and wings burst from his shoulders a moment before he jumped into the sky. 
Laughing, Scott did a loop and sped neck and neck with Rainbow Dash. 
Twin blurs rose up in their way with no time to dodge. He suddenly collided with what turned out to be both of the Princesses over the Palace, falling down with them to splash into a huge hot tub on the Royal Party Deck! 
Finding himself between the two Alicorn mares, the new Alicorn stallion put a wing around each and kissed the cheek of Luna and then Celestia, making them blush. 

Suddenly, five familiar mares stepped into view and jumped in, giggling. AJ splashed Rainbow Dash, while Rarity ducked closer and under Scott’s wing to avoid the splashes, wedging herself between him and Celestia. Squeaking cutely, Fluttershy hid herself under his other wing. Pinkie Pie giggled as she popped up behind Dash and dumped a bucket of water on her. The trio laughed and called the game ”Even!” After that, they waded over to join the rest in hangin’ with the stallion.

Oh Yeah! His own herd! A HERD! THE Herd, Baybeh! He was a freakin’ Alicorn Prince! The only thing missing was a bottle of Old Spice body wash…well “Apple Spice” like that one parody video since he was now more Awesome than Big Mac!

The winged pile of AWESOME thought of something and started counting with his hoof. ‘Wait a minute! One… two… three... four... five... Where is Twilight?’

Across the deck, Twilight stepped out of a doorway, her head swinging around in an obvious search for him. 
Suddenly she stopped shock still, looking at him and her friends with her eyes wide and mouth open. 
Her mouth drew into a snarl as she gave a glare that froze the water in the hot tub. Her hoof came down with a resounding crash that split the tub. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING WITH MY MENTOR?! MY FRIENDS!?”

Twilight’s rage instantly collapsed into sadness and despair as her head drooped low, touching the deck. He could only watch in horror as he was still frozen in place when she turned away from him and began to walk away “I thought you cared for me…”

Mist poured in from nowhere, slowly obscuring Twilight as he fought to escape the frozen hot tub. Somehow the others had vanished from the tub like they had never been there, but he was too busy trying to break free and catch Twilight to worry about that. 
Ice flew in chunks as he finally broke free and galloped after her, only to find himself in a wall of mist. 
Heart pounding, he looked around for why he wasn’t moving faster, but found his wings were gone. He stamped his hooves in frustration as he yelled for her. The mist faded away revealing he was in a maze of thorny rose bushes and no Twilight.

He raised his head to the sky and yelled, his voice filled with anguish. 
“TWILIGHT!”


•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•


Gasping, Scott jerked awake as a hoof touched his shoulder. His heart pounded as he looked around in terror “Shh, shh, you’ll be just fine, Mr. Skybright.”

Groaning, Scott sat up, wincing at the burning in his legs. “What happened? Did I win?”
Nurse Redheart smiled and patted his shoulder “I’m afraid you collapsed in exhaustion, Sir. Twilight and Rainbow Dash brought you in a little while ago. Just rest right here while I get them and Dr. Stable.”

As she walked out, she giggled to herself, making a mental note to get in on the Cake’s little betting pool, especially after hearing him yell “Twilight!”…

A moment later, a serious looking unicorn with a goldenrod coat and a light brown mane entered and adjusted his rimless glasses. “Good morning, Scott is it?” 

He was followed a moment later by Twilight and Dash. Their smaller stature showing the stallion was about his height. The Pegasus was scuffing a hoof sheepishly while the Doctor gave Scott a quick check. “Umm yeah, a-about the race, Big Guy…Ya see… Well…”

Twilight holds up a hoof  “We decided it was a tie. You don’t have to tell Dash what happened, Scott.”  

With that, Rainbow Dash nods quickly. “Y-yeah. I’m real sorry, y’know?”

After a moment of poking and prodding by the Doctor, he nodded “It’s okay, Dash.”

Visibly relieved, the cyan Pegasus waved a hoof “Um, thanks, Catch ya later, okay?”

Chuckling, the stallion nodded “See you later, Miss Dash.”

After Rainbow Dash quickly left, Twilight looked at the Doctor “Dr. Stable, how is he?”

Putting his stethoscope up, the unicorn nodded to her “He’ll be fine. If his muscles weren’t doing this well, I would say he had been inactive for weeks like a long illness, just as you have suggested it resembles. He should be fine if he keeps his bursts of activity to just a few minutes at a time for now. Nurse Redheart will prescribe a course of physical exercise, in addition to his hoof use exercises, when she comes back with an electrolyte drink for him.

In the meantime, he will be quite sore tomorrow and will need to walk around as much as he can for the next hour or so to prevent leg cramps later. Fortunately, tests will be mercifully short today and he will receive some aspirin for later when he leaves.
I would also recommend a trip to the Ponyville Day Spa later for a massage and a soak in their hot tub. It pains me to admit it, but Miss Quake is better than our resident Physical Therapist at body and leg massages. “

He then whispered to Twilight “There was also an oversight that Nurse Redheart let slip by her. She will explain when she comes back, and she may need a powerful unicorn such as yourself to assist her…”

Puzzled, Twilight nodded in agreement, whispering back “Okay…”

Just then, Nurse Redheart came back pushing a cart with a tall glass of red liquid, and a small cup with aspirin “Here we go Scott. Just take these together and your discomfort will ease for now.”

Nodding, Scott leaned forward to use both hooves in taking the medicine, then slamming down the slightly salty strawberry drink to wash them down. 

In that time, Nurse Redheart picked up a clipboard and looked at Scott with a sheepish blush. “I really must apologize to you. I overlooked something important since I’ve never once done a First Physical on an adult pony before…”

Ears rising, something in her tone made Scott’s mane prickle. “Dare I ask?”

Now the poor nurse was blushing brightly “Well, the Foals First Physical ends with immunizations, but that is not included on the Adult Physical checklist. 
It is automatically assumed every adult has been immunized and it did not cross my mind at all since you were an adult. 
Fortunately, Dr. Stable thought to check your new records before you came in today…”

Looking nervous, Scott coughed “Er, y-yeah… Fortunate…”

Quickly stepping over to help Nurse Redheart, Twilight levitated a quill to write on the Immunization record sheet. 
Nodding in thanks, the Nurse continued “Please tell me what immunizations you have had."
Her face looked increasingly troubled as he listed off “Smallpox, Mumps, Rubella, Polio and Tetanus. I was also exposed as a child to Measles and Chicken Pox.”

Aghast, Nurse Redheart looked him in the eyes. “...No Pony Pox? No Horn Fever? No Firefever…?"

Sweating now, Scott leaned back from her. "Nnnno, why?..."

Glancing toward Twilight for help, she walked over to the small box refrigerator like the one his blood samples had been put in yesterday. "Well... Adult ponies who have never been exposed as a foal or immunized run the risk of... well, death should they catch those and several other nasty diseases. Some of our vaccines are combinations of several types so you won’t need as many…" 

A large sweatdrop formed on Scott's forehead as he saw where this was going...

This was confirmed when Nurse Redheart opened the fridge and got out five vials. “I-I’m afraid since you are not a citizen of Equestria as yet… W-well, you are required by the Royal Equestrian Immigration and Commerce laws to be immunized or face quarantine and/or exile. 
I also need to immunize you for Feather Flu. Unicorns and Earth ponies can become carriers to infect Pegasi. Same for Hoof n’ Mouth with all these cows in town… Twilight? Can you get me five syringes out of that drawer, please?”

Seconds later, Twilight slammed the door shut a bare moment before Scott flattened against it at full speed with a resounding thud!
The magical mare shook her head as she freed his horn from the door and set the stunned stallion down. "Honestly, some stallions are such big babies about this..."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Shortly afterward, a groaning unicorn stallion was led to the Radiology lab, his rump dotted with band-aids. Also, one was on his tail dock, and another was on his shoulder.
His head drooped forlornly even if his tail was too sore to droop and complete the look.

Twilight giggled and patted his back comfortingly “Well, isn’t this better than dying some horrible death by Firefever or worse?”
Her giggles only got louder, joined by Nurse Redheart when he groused “…Not by much... That stuff BURNS!”

A tall, lanky cornflower blue Unicorn stallion with a white mane and tail waited inside with the nametag “Dr. Hex Ray” prominent on his coat. Behind him were ivory colored plastic sleeves hung on a wire rack in the vague shape of a pony’s profile.

Puzzled, Scott looked around. “So where’s the X-ray machines? The MRIs and stuff?

Dr. Ray shook his head “What? I can cast an X-light spell with utmost precision, young sir. What are you talking about?”

Meanwhile, Twilight had her quill out writing quickly. “This sounds important! Scott? Please tell us while they do their work.”

Nodding, Scott was placed against the rack, with Nurse Redheart correcting his pose.
“We have machines that do what he is doing. The technicians that run them must be precise or they harm the patient with the X-rays, or even themselves.
MRIs, -Magnetic Resonance Imagers do a similar job using an intense magnetic field to make real-time images of the organs X-rays have trouble showing.”

Twilight scribbled quickly “Ohmygosh! If we can find a magical way of doing this and combine it with illusion projections…” 

Nurse Redheart gasped “Oh my! Colic and hidden soft tissue injuries could be found and treated much faster! Amazing!”

While this was going on, Dr. Ray shone a white light from his horn, moving it across Scott in precise left-to-right sweeps, working from horn on down to his hooves.
The final part involved moving to several different wire racks for a top and front view of his skull. 
Smiling, Nurse Redheart explained; “The film in the plastic sleeves will soon be processed into X-ray photos for Twilight to examine. I’m sure she will let you see them too, Scott.”

Getting a little punchy from the mix of vaccines, he gave a “hooves-up” sign. “Groovy!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Fortunately, the last set of tests, urine, stool and “other” samples, were as quick as they were embarrassing, enough that Twilight bowed out of observing them. 
Scott wished he could have done the same. 

In any case, they were finally out of the hospital and heading back into town. 
Off in the distance, the clock tower rang out the time of 11 A.M.

Trotting at a casual lope, she turned to Scott. “Looks like you still have time, Scott. How about lunch? There is a great outdoor café on the way to Lyra and Bon-Bon’s place.”

Sheepishly, the bay Unicorn stallion nodded as his stomach growled loudly. “Um, yes please!”

Picking up the pace, she giggled as she led him to the eatery “Here we are, the Lucky Clover Café. Oh! There’s Rarity! Let’s go sit with her!”

Following along, Scott recognized the place from “The Ticket Master”. He turned his head and marveled at how huge the building really was in “Furson”, as he liked to say. 
It was dazzling with white stucco and green trim. “Oh wow! Impressive! Look! They actually have a hayloft like a country barn! Makes sense for a pony restaurant I guess…”

Listening to his comments, the mares giggled happily. Rarity smirked “Oh, but Dahling! Wait until you see Canterlot! Come dears, sit with me please!” She pointed with her hooves to the small tufts of straw to sit on, meant to convey “rustic country charm” to travelers.

Scott groaned just thinking of that scratchy hay on his sore rump. “I’ll stand, thank you.”

At a curious glance from Rarity, Twilight whispered in her ear… She gasped and put a hoof to her mouth “Oh, poor thing!” Getting a decisive look on her face, she clopped her forehooves together, twice.

As the waiter showed up, Rarity whispered in his ear, pointing to the stricken stallion.
In moments, a soft cushion more likely used for foal booster seats when sitting with their parents had been placed on the tuft.
Scott gingerly sat down, then sighed in relief. “Oh Sweet Mother Epona, that feels good! Thank you, Miss Rarity!”

Beaming, the elegant mare giggled coquettishly “Oh, it was nothing really. In fact, allow me to treat you both. Waiter, put their orders on my bill please!”

Twilight smiled as she pulled up a menu “Oh thank you! I’ll have my usual daffodil and daisy sandwich and tea, please.”

Grinning happily, Scott nodded to Rarity “I and my stomach thank you, Miss Rarity! Oh! I’ll have the same as Twilight but add an order of hay fries please.”

As they waited on the order Twilight turned to Scott. “Since its Doctor’s orders, did you want to go to the Spa right after you talk with Lyra and Bon-Bon?”

Rarity gasped happily “Oh my! Might I join you both? I want to make sure he’s taught how to properly groom himself with hooves.” 

Beaming, Twilight nodded “Of course! What’s more, Scott is going to experience Miss Quake first hoof! He’ll be quite sore tomorrow if he doesn’t.”

Giggling Rarity patted the stallions hoof “Oh, you will just love that! She is quite the miracle worker, you know! A few minutes and my muscles are as limp as a dishrag.”
Conspiratorially, she leaned in. “So, Dears, what are you planning for tonight? Where is he staying?”

Not having thought that far yet, Scott looked to Twilight. 
In response, she brought out a checklist that unrolled over to the next unoccupied table before she got it under control. 

“Ah, here we are; “Lunch, if time allows.”, “Go over test results while Scott is occupied.”, “Spa!”, “Return to the library.”, “Have dinner.”, “Cast Reading Translation spell on Scott.”, “Question Scott about his world and species.”, “Move the Guest bed to the Living Room of the Library’s living area.”, “Put Scott to bed.” -And finally, “Sleep.”

After a moment, Rarity’s eyes wet wide in shock as she gave a gasp that would do Pinkie proud, then she leaned in and hissed out in a scandalized whisper. “Oh my stars! Dear, sweet innocent Twilight! You cannot be serious!? You and Scott sleeping under the same roof?! A sure recipe for scandal! We simply must correct this at once!”

Confused, Twilight looked at Scott, then at Rarity before replying in a whisper “What are you talking about? He’s an alien for hoof’s sake. Nothing will happen!”

Rarity raised her nose to show she was taking a stand on this. “No, as your friend, I must protect you from yourself. Scott will be staying elsewhere, and that’s final.”

Now Scott leaned in “Is this necessary? All the fanfics I’ve read assume there’s no problem with the trapped human staying with Twilight for even a short-term basis. Besides, it’s a Library with hundreds of books! I could not ask for a better place to stay!” he added with a touch of the same eagerness Rarity had only heard from Twilight. 
‘Oh dear, they are two of a kind aren’t they?’

She whispered to the two ponies “Oh but Dahling! I insist! I’ll reserve a room for you at the Prancing Pony. Mrs. Latchkey is an old family friend and her Inn is quite comfy. 
We must protect the reputation of our dear Twilight. We must! We must! We must!
Ponies would talk, you see. Twi, dear, nopony has been frightened of Scott because all they see is a fine Unicorn stallion of the Canterlot breed, not a horrible pink or brown alien such as Lyra has spoken of.”

Rarity waved her hoof in a candid manner as she would for telling gossip to drive the point home. “..And, since that is what they see. What will they say about such a fine, handsome, unmarried stallion…? -One living under the same roof as a lovely unmarried mare when they haven’t even been seen dating in public? Scandalous for someone so close to the Princesses!

Both Scott and Twilight both looked at each other, Twilight as if she were suddenly seeing him in a different viewpoint that had not occurred to her. 
The pair then blushed a bright crimson and looked away shyly.

Rarity softly giggled into her hoof seeing they were indeed both embarrassed. 
‘Could it be? No, certainly not so soon for love, surely… Besides, it would be fashionable for a certain Miss Rarity Belle to be seen with such an exotic Gentlecolt at least once. No need to let “Shy Twi” hog all the fun, after all…’ She mused with a sly smile as the food arrived. 


> Chapter 12. Lyra Confessions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 12, Lyra Confessions

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After lunch, Scott accepted the map drawn on the spot by Twilight. “…And, when you leave their place, follow these streets right to this sign. It means the “Ponyville Day Spa”.

He peered close at the map doodle of an elegant mare with windswept mane and tail with five green stars and a horseshoe above her back. “Amazing job Twilight, you are a good artist too. I can find my way easily with this. Thank you!”

Hearing this, Twilight blushed lightly at the praise, a faint *Squee* sounding from somewhere again. Rarity took the initiative and spoke up, her horn shining to add a spot of color to the building marked with the sign icon.
“Oh darling, it’s not like you can miss it. It’s a cream-colored building with a rose-colored roof built to look like a pavilion tent for royalty. If you still manage to get lost. Just close your eyes and follow the smell of roses and perfume.”

With that, Scott dipped down on a foreleg in a bow to both mares as he had taught a horse to do once. “Thank you both! See you girls soon.”

As they waved goodbye, Rarity looked to Twilight. “Well, dear? If you have nothing pressing, shall we see to his lodgings?”

Still flustered at the situation Rarity pointed out, she nodded and went along with Rarity. “*sigh* I guess we have to…” It wasn’t making that dream she had any easier to deal with either…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

One thing Scott quickly found out about Ponyville once he was on his own was that, when not seen at the extreme angle from the show opening,  the town layout was more orderly than it looked. 
When he actually had to walk through the town instead of seeing it through jump-cuts on a TV screen, the town was actually laid out so that everything radiates out from the Town Hall, with the major streets laid out in broad “wagon wheel” spokes from that center. He suddenly had to wonder why the clock tower was off by itself, almost out of town, though. “I wonder if that’s where the old town hall was or something? As often as Ponyville attracts monsters, did it almost get wiped off the map at some point?”

After resolving to check into the history of Ponyville later, he bent his head to look at the map now that he had one corner tucked into the thong for his pendant “Okay, one more street, and left…”

There it was, halfway down the street. -An overhead wooden sign with wrought-iron fixtures bearing Bon-Bon’s Cutie Mark in full color. 

As he trotted closer, he saw the candies on the sign were actually stained glass set into cut-outs in the thick wood and probably lit up at night from that wireless grid Twilight mentioned. 

Looking to the storefront revealed a brightly painted  sign hung on a peg next to the door with a plastic clock face on it showing 1pm. “I’m going to guess the sign says “Closed for lunch…”
Underneath was tacked a paper note showing his Cutie Mark and some more blocky script, and an arrow beneath apparently pointing around the building.

Shrugging, he made his way around the building to the living half of the place. There was a sign beside a more ornate Dutch Door, with cursive script that likely said their names below two carved versions of their Cutie Marks, a lyre and two bon-bon candies

“Well this has to be the place… Here goes!” He stepped up and knocked on the door, and waited for a few moments. 

Through the door, he hears “Coming!” and rapid hoofbeats before the top half of the door opened.  Lyra and Bon-Bon both poked their heads out and looked at their visitor. Excitedly, Lyra grinned down at him.  “Hiya! You are right on time Scott! Come on in!”

With that, the lower half of the door opened for him.

Giggling, Lyra was nearly bouncing with excitement, and took his right hoof in both of hers after he stepped inside. Her hoofy telekenetic fields gripping him like fingers as she pulled him along to the Living Room. "Please, come in! We have so much to talk about, Scott."

Bon-Bon led the way to the couch and smiled as she beckoned toward it. "Please, have a seat Mr. Skybright. Would you like something to drink? We have tea and lemonade."

Smiling, Scott nickered happily as he sat down "Both please, about half tea and half lemonade in the same glass."

Bon-Bon went wide eyed for a moment, seeing the stallion sit in the same odd, casual manner as her love, then trotted to the kitchen.

Meanwhile, Lyra grinned at seeing this too and peered closely at him with her amazing golden eyes. No wonder she has landed Bon-Bon in what seems to be a very devoted relationship! He could hardly take his eyes off of hers! 
After a moment, she brought out the pink invitation she had been given the day before, levitating it before his face. "I apologize for the sudden notice, but with all those ponies there, I knew I could not get a decent chance to ask you at the party. Is this true? When it says that you are from... another world?"

Scott glanced at Bon Bon, who did not look shocked at the question. 

Giggling, Lyra waved a hoof "Oh, she knew what I would ask. Don’t worry about speaking in front of her. She has heard a lot of strange things already."

The bay stallion nodded and cleared his throat "Yes, yes I am. I was a creature that Pinkie Pie had named "Space Ponies" simply because she was aware something was watching her and her friends and... Well, it was a good guess actually. My species are a form of bipedal ape, bare skinned except for the head, and with long-digited appendages like Dragons and Minotaurs have called..." 

"HANDS!"

Scott laughed at Lyra's interruption "Yes, hands, and my species name was..." 

"H-human!?"

Stunned, Scott’s eyes went wide in surprise. "How... How did you know?"

Lyra looked at her life-mate with a knowing grin, wiggling an eyebrow in triumph, and Bon-Bon blushed sheepishly as she spoke "Lyra has told me that story before, I just was not sure I really believed it. -Until now."

The turquoise mare turned to Scott and smiled "So, there are people back on Earth who watch us? Did you see me and my Bons? Am I famous?"

Giving them a puzzled look, Scott nods and hopes he is doing the right thing, admitting it. "Yes to all of the above, actually. -But since the show follows the six heroines, you are what I hope to pass as until the series ends; Background Ponies." He raised a hoof to forestall any questions or outbursts "The fans have still built quite a following around you and your… Wife? Life-partner?”

Lyra and Bon-Bon smiled warmly at each other and put a hoof around each other’s shoulders before Lyra spoke “Either way suits us, Scott. Go on.”

Nodding, Scott continued “For some reason, since they saw you sitting in a Human-style slouch, they somehow built you up as somepony obsessed with Humans. Even more so after a fan comic of you pointing out most pony tools are not meant for pony use. -Some even wonder if you are totally and completely obsessed with Human hands and Humans, period."

Bon-Bon and Lyra looked at each other wide-eyed for a long moment, then burst out in laughter that soon had them rolling on the floor.

Lyra looks up at Scott, wiping tears of laughter from her dazzling eyes. "How did they get it so right and so wrong at the same time? Just give us a minute to catch our breath and I'll tell you my story."

Scott relaxed and sat back, deciding to answer Lyra's likely-rhetorical question. "Well, I figure a lot of those Bronys are tapping multiple Alternate Realities or just making stuff up just to be trolling the Lyra fans." His eyes went wide as he thought back over what she said. "Umm, you said "Back on Earth..." I never said where I am from! How did you know about Earth? How do you know about Humans and hands?”

After a long pause, Lyra took a deep breath and held it for a moment, like she had known the question was coming. 
Suddenly she gave him a mischievous grin “It’s not that I’m obsessed with hands, I just miss having them…”

The look on his face must have been spectacular since the mares bust out laughing all over again. It took long moments before Lyra could control herself to float over a camera and take a picture of him.  

After his vision cleared of bright spots, a color photograph of himself was floated over and he gave a sheepish chuckle over his stunned expression in the photo “Ehh-heh-heh, yeah you really got me there, Lyra.”

He looked up at her expectantly as she stood casually on her hind legs and rested on her elbows on the arm of the couch, looking at him with a grin. Scott coughed politely and spoke “Soooo, Care to share your story? I’ll tell you mine after up to this point, Miss…” 

Nodding, the smirking mare stood back up “…Heartstrings, Mr. Skybright, and I have a question on that name when I am done.”

Quickly, she stepped around to pick up a family album and held it to her narrow chest as she looked at him. “Okay Sherman! Let’s set the Way-Back Machine to eleven years ago, when I was nine years old, and my name was Kyra…”

She opened the album to the photo of a fifty-foot sailing yacht, with a Upper-Class family of three humans dressed for tropical vacation travel. “This is us, the Liberheart family. My Father, Andrew owned a company that made Million Dollar luxury yachts. That’s my Mother, Lucinda, and that little girl is me, of course. 

One month, we went on a vacation to the Bahamas…”

A gentle pulsing was coming from her horn, resonating with his own, and suddenly it was almost as if he could see the events… Was this how flashbacks happen? The sensations grew stronger as she spoke…

*
**
***
“We were a week into the vacation when a sudden storm came up…” 

A scene appeared of a scrawny, tanned girl wearing summer shorts and a tank top, with sandy blond hair and hazel eyes being pulled into the cabin of a yacht. -Pulled into the arms of a frost-blond woman wearing a one-piece French bikini and a white sunhat. 
Mother was screaming at the unnatural greenish light usually seen preceding a tornado or unusually severe storm as she stuffed the girl into a child’s life vest and put an adult sized vest on herself.

Visible through the hatchway window, Father stood on deck in his life vest with a grey workshirt and jeans shorts beneath. His sandy hair was blowing around his head. He ignored his hair as he tied himself to the ship’s wheel and guided the heaving, rolling sailboat. Above, the sails that had been helping them to try and race ahead of the storm began to shred as winds impossibly came from different directions at once. 

Sparks began to arc along the rails, then onto nonconductive surfaces, even into the cabin itself. Mother whispered not to be afraid, it was just St. Elmo’s Fire, just static electricity like she got on her socks. Kyra was rocked and her name whispered, that it would all be fine, they would be in Bermuda in no time.

Kyra knew that was not right somehow, the static sparks were a weird green and spreading out like a mist around the ship The tossing of the storm grew weaker as the green mist thickened until there was a sudden feeling of weightlessness and an immediate  thump and splash.

The mist was suddenly gone like it had never been and the world bright and colorful like a Disney movie as they stumbled out on deck. Mother quickly untied Father from the wheel a moment before they all began to feel dizzy and sick.

Kyra screamed as her fingers rippled and stuck together, growing into a solid turquoise blue mass while hair that color grew up from her…hooves? …and on up her arms. 
Mother screamed too as a horn pushed out of Father’s forehead before her own hands stared changing. 

Kyra watched in horror as a horn grew from Mother’s head also, and a sudden headache announced what had to be one forming on her own skull.

Kyra’s vision blurred while her eyes felt like they were swelling and her limbs reshaped faster now, rolling her to the deck on her back. As she lay there on the rocking deck, she found herself reeling with sudden dizziness putting her out of it for a time.
. 
Her dizziness faded minutes later, as she lay clumsily in the pink forehooves of a beautiful unicorn mare as they lay on the deck. She noticed the mare had long white tresses like her mother but with carnation streaks. “M-mother? Is that you?” 

The mare sobbed in relief as she hugged Kyra tight, both with shreds of their clothing dangling from their bodies. Clumsy hoof clopping on the teak deck announced a royal blue unicorn stallion in Father’s tattered shirt and sporting a sky blue mane. Somehow he also had a picture of a ship’s wheel on both sides of his hips? flanks? His hazel eyes were now large and a shimmery copper, while her Mother’s were now a beautiful rose. 

It was the better part of the day before they had heard the most beautiful singing from the sea. Hippocampus Sea Ponies answering their cries for help while they were still unable to work the yacht or even clear the damaged rigging.
.
Later that day, the three unicorns stared in awe when a huge airship yacht was led to them by a team of Pegasi in sky blue uniforms with thunderbolt markings. Kyra’s heart leapt at the beautiful sight of the airship with the afternoon sun behind it, and the pegasi swirling around it like a flock of birds before they came in to land on their deck and guide the airship down closer.

Kyra had been so amazed and happy to ride in the flying yacht with the funny dressed Pegasi. She had sat in the lap of one of the mares as they explained they were Wonderbolts called to do a Search and Rescue by the Sea Ponies, with the help of a civilian yacht pressed into service.  Giggling, she remembered their kindly and surprised laughter as they had to explain what Wonderbolts were…

It quite impressed her and her parents as they looked down at their yacht in the sea below, pulled along by a line from the airship. The Hippocampi swam and danced in the waves as they followed along to be sure the boat and the family got to shore just fine.

The trip to Canterlot to be questioned by the Princess herself was a whirlwind tour that had dazzled the newcomers. Kyra was literally bouncing as she found herself in a castle any dumb ol’ Disney Princess would be envious of. –And, when the family met Celestia she instantly knew this was a Goddess when they first met her in a private audience chamber. She radiated power and loving warmth like the Sun radiates light. 

It had been revealed then that sending them home would be impossible. The parents each had found their Cutie Marks from the trials of the voyage and would not return to their old forms if they were sent back. Sending Kyra back alone would be completely unacceptable.

Promises were made and kept. The family was given extensive lessons on how to live as Ponies in return for taking new names as Citizens of Equestria and keeping their origins quiet. 

Father had joined the firm that made the air yacht that had rescued them. His innovations carried over from his old business had him owning the company in a few short years and Knighted when the Royal Canterlot Air Fleet had been revamped to outclass the Griffon Air Armada.

In the meantime, Kyra, now Lyra, had gone to the Canterlot School for Gifted Unicorns due to the powerful Telekenetic talent she had developed because she missed having hands…
***
**
*

As she finished speaking, both Lyra and Bon-Bon were staring at him intently with Pinkie Pie sized grins as he looked a little dazed. “Sooo… How was your first… Um, well, we call them “Flashbacks”. -Just like in a movie, right?!”

Dizzily, Scott shook his head to clear it “Um, wow… That was a-amazing! Does… does that happen a lot with you?”

Giggling, the mares nodded. Lyra continued “Sometimes, more often with Unicorns, but anypony really passionate about the memory they are sharing seems able to do it. You know something? It would be interesting to see if somepony who does not belong here can experience it too. I mean surely there are visitors who instantly hate Equestria as much as you and I seem to love it, right?” She patted her lyre mark for emphasis.

Ears perked, Scott looked thoughtful “Sounds like something to suggest to Twilight, all right.” Filing that tidbit away in his head for later he changed the subject “Since I’m likely going to be going through it myself, how was school for you? Is that where you got your Cutie Mark?“ He then looked up at her with a sudden worried thought “Did you have any problems fitting in?”

She let her breath out in a long sigh and nodded. "...Until I met my Bons, there were times I never really felt I belonged. I felt my body fit me like an ill-fitting… glove. Usually it was when I was teased for not even knowing simple spells, and later for not knowing things that were supposed to be common knowledge and I felt isolated and alone.”

Scott’s eyes went wide as he stifled a gasp, having the same feelings of not belonging to his body or his kind all too often growing up.

Nodding in understanding, she continued. "It was always the young Nobles who made me feel like that. Spoiled rotten bullies! I guess they hated me for being “new money” or some dumb thing like that.
One day in my first year, I found a lyre in music class and began to play it. I was really good at working the strings because I imagined I had fingers to play it with. My music teacher was amazed at how quickly I learned to play. 

We had a recital soon after, combined with The Canterlot School of Music. Since both were Schools under Celestia's personal wings, she attended the recital with a purple unicorn filly a little smaller than I was, Twilight Sparkle. I played my heart out that night, and so did the others, including this one grey filly with a cello. My friend, Octavia was awesome! There were quite a few Cutie Marks earned that night as you can imagine!

After that though, it was still business as usual to the jerks. Other than my parents, all I had to pull me through school was my music when it seemed the only Ponies who ever noticed me were the bullies. Then one day, I was playing in the park to unwind. Bon-Bon stopped to hear me play." 

She kissed Bon-Bon's cheek, making her blush and giggle "She kept coming to hear me play, and then she slowly sounded me out on my attitudes on Filly-foolers. She asked me out soon after that, and we have been together ever since."

Giggling, Bon-Bon nuzzled into Lyra’s mane “I asked her out because of those incredible eyes and her music, I stayed for her invisible hands and her loving heart.”

Lyra winked and grinned “My Bons also helped me deal with the bullies. She encouraged me to come to martial arts classes and I met this awesome teacher in something just for Unicorns called “The Still Way” –A subtle tug, a nudge here and there with magic and your attacker is down using their momentum against themselves.

…Bullying stopped pretty darn quick after that as you can guess...”

Laughing, Scott nodded “Oh, I can imagine! Too bad I didn’t have a Unicorn horn back in my school days, huh! I’ll have to ask about that. It sounds like a great way to exercise my horn!”

Tapping her chin in thought, Lyra nodded “I agree, we will give you the name of that Martial Arts school and the address, and you can check it out later when you go to Canterlot...”

Lyra grinned at him slyly. “Buuuut….”

Suddenly, she levitated one of Bon-Bon’s unwrapped candies before his nose. “…I do believe it is your turn to tell us your story, Scott... Come on, tell us and you can have the candy!” she finished with a giggle.

Playing along, he snuffled his nose at it like one of the horses he knew back on Earth, then did a comical pout. “…Fine! You win! Well, it began for me…”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After a few minutes of telling who, what, when, and where, he finished and took a long drink from his glass with both hooves.

With a smile, Lyra rubbed her head with a hoof “I think you are catching on, I almost saw something while you were speaking... Keep up the effort, Scott.”

Bon-Bon took this moment to ask a question “As Lyra started to ask earlier, where does Skybright come from if you haven’t met the Princesses yet?”

After a moment, Scott set down the empty glass. “Well, being a Furryfan, I’ve had a humanoid Equine avatar for years now, with a decent backstory and a family name of Skybright. I don’t have any of my sketches with me at the moment but imagine me as I am now, just built like a Minotaur.”

Lyra giggles “Now I can see why you love it here already.”

Nodding, the bay stallion flashed a grin “True, true. By the way, I became a Unicorn, you and your parents did too. Is everyone who comes here a Unicorn?” he asked, not wanting to out the Doctor if she didn’t know about him since he wasn’t really a Human to begin with. 

Thinking for a moment, Lyra replied. “Mother pretty much asked Princess Celestia that, and she was told families will become the same kind of Pony, otherwise it’s up to chance or the personality of the visitor. I know Time Turner, an Earth Pony is one of us. Another one in town is one of the area’s Weather Team Pegasi; D. Slipstream. Please feel free to look them up, Scott.”

An uneasy expression flitted across her face as she seemed to consider saying something, then made a firm decision. Her face got deadly serious which suddenly worried him. “This brings us to something else, something important. If Pinkie hasn’t told you yet, you need to pay attention!

Ever since the Longest Night, when Nightmare Moon got loose, Pinkie has been trying to keep us aware something is watching us, the “Space Ponies” which you say you are one of. Both Pinkie and Time Turner has been trying to keep us posted on what days to stay inside or places to avoid on those days. I don’t really know what can happen, but I am not eager to find out.

If you are caught outside on a “Pinkie Day”, try not to attract attention to yourself and blend with the crowd. Poor Bons voice inexplicably changed twice so far because she was with me. We think they did it without even meaning to somehow. Some ponies are wondering if she’s coming down with something and worry for her health. 
If you ask them to, Pinkie Pie or Time Turner will also keep you posted about those “Pinkie Days”.

Scott was silent for a moment, frowning. It was starting to sound like there was at least a little cross-feedback like high-end physics experiments when the show writers were “observing” things. Had there been potential Coltfriends for the Mane 6 steered off, gender-flipped, or worse by this attention and “story approval” sessions? He wasn’t eager to find out either. 

His mind raced over the possibilities? Was it show writers they were sensing? Bronys? Or was it more insidious? More dangerous… Was it something to do with that freaky chimera dragon that was going to be in the Season Two premiere? He shivered at the thought of a creature having that much power to Buck with Reality like that…

Season Two Episodes were still in production at this moment, with Hasbro and HUB still trying to catch up with the popularity of Season One so it sounded like he had better watch his step for the next few months at least…

At that moment, the clock on the mantle chimed the hour. It was now 1 P.M.

Getting up and stretching his stiff legs, Scott nodded to the mares “Oh! Twilight and Rarity are expecting me at the spa, and I’ve taken up enough of Bon-Bon’s business hours. Thanks for having me over! This has been quite an experience you two, so I sincerely thank you for all you have told me.” 

The mares also got up and led him to the door, and Lyra spoke. “Oh no, thank you for coming. You have been just as helpful with what you told us. In fact…”

Lyra and Bon-Bon shared a smirk and a look, then glomped him in a farewell hug.

Scott was surprised for a moment, then shyly returned the hug. Lyra released her hug after a moment, with Bon-Bon following suit. “We always hug our friends goodbye. I really hope we will be good friends.”

She winked “After all, like you said, we three are ”Background Ponies” are we not?”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As he trotted toward the Spa, his mind raced as he tried to piece together what he heard, trying to sort out the spinning jumble of information from two days of being here. 

At least he had a note with the Martial Arts school address and the teacher’s name he had to contact, as well as a friend of Lyra’s who was an assistant instructor; Moondancer. He had a good feeling about this school which meant it was something he should do.

There was a bigger mystery here, and he was going to need all the help he could get to prepare for it.



> Chapter 13. Stallion in a Spa?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 13, Stallion in a Spa?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After leaving Lyra and Bon-Bon’s place, Scott made his way to the spa in just a couple short minutes. 

Still in awe at just being in the locations for real, he looked at the elegantly shaped building for several minutes before he walked on in, noting the sweeping shapes and wondering if it was concrete or stucco like some of the similar odd-shaped tourist traps back on Earth. “I really must thank Twilight again for the amazing job she did on this map…”

Inside, the foyer was decorated in varying shades of purple, white, and black, with the reception cubicle painted a light ivory and framed in polished walnut with ivory inlays.
Sitting behind the counter, the sky-blue Earth pony receptionist was busy applying hoof polish to a forehoof with the cap-brush held in her lips. 

Glancing up to see Scott was there, the mare dropped the cap-brush aside onto a tray holding the bottle and ran the other hoof through her short, spiky purple mane to make sure it was still groomed. “Excuse me, may I help you?”

Putting a black hoof on the counter, Scott nodded “Yes, I am Mr. Skybright. Miss Twilight Sparkle and Miss Rarity would have arranged for my arrival…” 

Something about this mare was familiar… 

Scott suddenly did a double take, blue eyes going wide as he looked at her. This was one of Photo Finish’s entourage from “Green Is Not Your Color”! He looked her over from head to hoof before speaking again “Say! Aren’t you one of Photo Finish’s crew?”

Her eyes went wide at actually being recognized “Oh wow! Good eye dude!”
Beaming a smile, the mare offered her hoof for either a shake or a kiss. -She never knew with the fashion fans. “Yeah, I’m Roxie, by the way. I work here between sessions with “Goggles” and her discovery of the week. Since she only does her sessions when “Die Magiks” moves her, this job is a lot more steady at paying the bills, if ‘ya know what I mean.”

Since he was still getting used to using his hooves, he opted to give her unpainted hoof a quick peck “I hear you. I’m an artist so I know what it’s like to have “eccentric” clients and their unsteady paychecks.”

As she blushed a light plum on her cheeks, Roxie nodded “I see, what form of art is it you do, then?”

Casually crossing his forelegs like he had seen Applejack do in Episode 1, he smiled “I do various media, mainly pencil and inks…”

There was a soft “Ahem!” causing both ponies to look over at a pink earth pony with her blue mane slicked back and held in place with a white hairband. As she turned part way  to reveal her white blossom Cute Mark, she flashed a teasing smirk at the receptionist. “Please, Roxie, flirting weeth the customers es on your own time. Ees this the colt Mees Sparkle es waiting on?”

Blushing brighter now, Roxie nodded quickly “Oh, ah, y-yes Miss Aloe, this is Mr. Skybright! He just came in!”  

Smiling brightly, Aloe trotted over and grabbed a hoof to lead him on “Oh yes, Come on! Mees Quake ees waiting on you! But first we loosen your muscles up!”

Quickly, the carnation pink earth pony popped him into a bath to get him cleaned up and give them a clean slate to work with. All Scott had to do was lean back and relax as the hot water soothed his legs while Aloe gave him a good scrub over several minutes. Even listening to it in person, he still could not quite place the charming accent of Aloe, tentatively pegging it as Northern or Eastern European as she chattered on to keep him at ease. 

Twilight and Lotus Blossom were waiting when Aloe finished the bath, with the unicorn mare in a soft terry cloth robe. Lotus smiled brightly as she wrapped a towel around Scott and another around his long mane like a turban. “Oh my! Eet es sadly rare we get a Canterlot Unicorn bred colt en our spa. Such fine conformation and lines! Mees Quake can hardly wait to get her hooves on you!” 

Twilight put a hoof to her mouth in concern “He will be all right, wont he? Dr. Stable was quite concerned about his legs this morning.”

Smiling brightly, the Spa Twins quickly moved to closely flank the stallion on both sides and propel him along. Aloe waved her hoof in a reassuring manner to Twilight “Oh, Mees Sparkle, he weel be just fine. A leetle time in the Sauna to loosen up for Mees Quake and soon she weel have heem good as new.”

In moments he was sat down in the sauna on a wooden bench he guessed might be cypress wood. Gentle strains of sitar music were playing from hidden speakers to complete the soothing ambiance. As he got his bearings, the sky-blue mare, Lotus poured a dipper of water on the hot rocks before him  
Breathing deep of the steam and feeling it opening his sinuses, Scott closed his eyes just a moment…

•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•


…His hooves thundered through grass as high as his back as he ran for the sheer joy of it. Sweat darkened his red-brown hide as he tossed his head in magnificent display, feeling the weight of his sharp horn. 

Flashing in the sun, his raven back tail swished and tossed as he broke through the gap between two mighty rocks to find the water hole, frightening away a small herd of brightly colored deer.
Grinning, Scott pranced and reared like a heraldic tapestry image, His fierce whinny trumpeting his status as a Herd stallion to all in earshot like a feral horse. The water hole was safe from predators for the moment.

Galloping hooves made him turn expectantly, waiting to see the mare that was his counterpart in the herd, the Lead mare. A sweet whinny came a moment before her silhouette appeared in the grass. A moment more and his beautiful unicorn mare would grace the clearing with her beautiful face…


•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•*´¨`*•.¸¸.•


…Sudden gentle prodding snapped Scott awake, leaving him looking into Lotus’ blue eyes from up close. The mare gave a soft giggle “Oh my, we relax you too much, yes? You are more than ready for Mees Quake. Come!”

Shaking himself to fully wake back up, Scott followed the mare to the doorway where she had him stop while she brought out some incredibly fluffy white towels.
As she started rubbing his hide down with practiced ease, his mind went over that dream. It had been a while since he had dreams of being equine like that, but dreaming he was an MLP Unicorn was a definite first. He hoped it was a good sign that he belonged here…

After that quick, firm rubdown with towels, Scott had been put back in the robe and led into a large central chamber with the ornate wooden hot tub from the show sitting right in the center. Massage tables were arrayed along the sides, wheeled like overly comfy hospital gurneys. 

Smiling, Aloe pulled an empty one up between Rarity and a purple Pegasus mare with a shamrock green and sky blue striped mane. He noticed her Cutie Mark seemed to be a shooting star while Lotus Blossom helped him up onto the table “Up here please, Meester Skybright.”

Raising an eyebrow, the Pegasus pulled the cucumber slices from her dark purple eyes “A colt? Here? I thought they all say this is too frou-frou! This I gotta’ see!”

Sighing happily, Scott stretched out after the robe was removed and a towel laid across his flanks. Aloe smiled and adjusted his position “Yes, just relax, and Mees Quake weel take care of you.”

She then turned to the Pegasus and started on her wings “Oh, so tense Mees Starshine Dash. Long week?”

Sighing happily, she nodded as the stress was kneaded from her muscles. “New patrol circuit, Ma’am. Very long and very boring…”

Meanwhile, a shadow loomed over Scott, making him look up to a tan mare with a sandy-blond mane. She was about Big Mac’s size he would guess and spoke with a thicker accent than the Spa twins, a German-analog or points north. “Goot Afternoon, Mein Herr! You are te’ patient Herr Doktor sent? Goot! Just relax now; und all will be better…”

Thick, heavy hooves prodded him from the nape of his neck to his tail dock, and down each of his legs. The telekenetic field of her hooves made his flesh tingle as she felt him over and started to rub in a liniment that went on cold but quickly felt hot. 
It was all strangely relaxing as she kneaded his sore flesh, and then began to firmly thump her hooves on his back, hard and fast. “O-o-o-oh-h-h…y-y-e-a-h-h… T-t-t-h-i-i-s-s… f-f-e-e-l-l-s… g-o-o-o-d-d-d…”

Rarity gigged “Oh my, do we have a convert to the spa life? Hmmm?”

All the mares in the room giggled when the stallion made various pleased noises and nodded quickly. A giggling Twilight made some more notes as she observed the procedure.

Suddenly, Quake stopped and kneaded around his shoulders, then prodded down his back a short way and stopped. “Oooh there is a deep knot of tension. Much emotions… Much care und worry on your shoulders, eh? When was your last massage?”

Blushing, Scott looked back at the huge mare and spoke in a small voice “Ummm…. Never…”

Quake’s eyes went wide while the mares in the room gasped in horror! “ACH! Silly colts! Nefer’ taking care of themselves!” 
She looked down at him sadly and shook her broad head “Tch-tch! Poor colt! This will not feel pleasant, but you will feel all te’ better for it. Years of bad emotions to break loose…”

Raising an eyebrow, Scott started to turn his head “What? Are you seri..OOF!”

Firm, strong hooves pushed him back down flat “Nein! Be still for this!”

Before he understood what was happening, she put his face back forward and placed both her forehooves together on his upper back. Channeling her Earth magic, she focused it into the knot of tension as she gave a mighty push. There was a loud *CRACK* that made Twilight gasp, worried that Quake had just killed him. Rarity cringed and turned her head away, unable to watch.

Back on the massage table, Scott’s eyes went wide and his mouth hung open in a silent scream. After a long moment, a drawn-out Fluttershy squeak escaped him and he flopped down on the table, limp.

Tears ran down his fuzzy cheeks while Quake rubbed the last of the knot away. In moments, a feeling of peace swept through him he had not felt in years, if ever. Twilight leaned in close, looking him in the eyes. “Scott! Are you okay?”

The bay stallion nodded and lay unresisting while Quake started on his legs. It was like everything that had been the bane of his life simply did not matter. He felt like he had been carrying bags of cement and only noticed when the burden wasn’t there anymore.
Looking up to Twilight, Scott spoke in hushed tones of wonder “I feel…. Good! I…I… I don’t have words for this!”
.
Shaking her head in confusion, Twilight looked to the large Earth mare. “But… but our tests? How could he have such a big knot like you said? His muscles are… well, new!”

Flashing a knowing smile at Twilight, Quake kneaded the stallion’s limbs as she spoke “Ah! Fraulein Librarian, not everything is in a book. Emotions can hurt the body as much as this running you mentioned. Bad feelings… Deep, deep tension… Worries… I released the tension, ja? Now? A good listener he will need later, or he will be back sooner than I like.”
Leaning closer to the stallion’s ear, Quake spoke “Now when I am done, please take care of yourself. Relax! Do not undo all I haff done so quickly, ja?”

Stifling a groan as she worked on his left foreleg, he nodded to the sand-colored mare. His head was still reeling from the flood of endorphins coursing through his body. “Y-yes! I promise!”

Now assured she had driven her point home through his obvious daze, the towering mare grinned and patted his back “Goot!”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Right, Dahling! Now here is the Curry comb, this removes all that icky dirt and dander from one’s coat before the real cleaning begins. Next is the stiff-bristled body brush if you’ve been out in the mud. …A must for stallions it would seem… Here is the soft-bristled brush for the fine cleaning of one’s coat, and it feels just divine! ...Are you listening?”

Scott snapped his head up at the sharp question from the mare tapping her hoof on the floor and glaring at him. “Er, Y-yes Miss Rarity!” This serious endorphin buzz he had going was making it hard to focus, but his health depended on paying attention. 

Rolling her eyes, Rarity gave a well-practiced sigh “At least you remember your manners… Oh well, it cannot be helped I suppose. I was reeling like a drunkard after Miss Quake helped relive me of my tension knots. Oh yes, it was after that near-disastrous week making Gala dresses for my friends and myself…”

After the massage had come the rather intense lesson by Rarity and the Spa sisters on how to groom himself using his hooves and muzzle in place of hands. 
First had been showing him a dizzying array of grooming and Mane-care products & gels more common for show horses than the more casually raised horses he had worked with.
Now that the review on the various brushes and combs was over it was time to do it. Frankly, it was an odd sensation grooming a pony from the other side of the brushes…

Rarity and the Spa sisters took turns assisting him, helping him slip his hoof into elastic bands Rarity had added to the implements as if it was a “Foals First Grooming Kit” and the Spa sisters did a light tease to that effect. Scott chuckled and shook his head. He didn’t care if it looked foalish, as long as it worked. Now Aloe took his hoof and helped guide it behind his back.
“Like this Meester Skybright, now reach back as high as you can and brush downward weeth the lay of your coat… Yes, like that!”

As an Equine Fur furfan, he had been certain that an equine society would make grooming a large part of its lifestyle, and it was a good, triumphant feeling to find he had been right. This Lyra-like enthusiasm and “I-was-right!” ego boost was a great aid in carrying him through these lessons.

At first, it had been like trying to clean himself while wearing boxing gloves and a fursuit costume, and would have been completely impossible had he been jointed like a horse of his world. Eager, helping mare hooves were so quick to assist, that he began to feel a bit embarrassed until Rarity put her hoof down. “Girls, he really must learn that move by doing it!”

Finally, he had performed well enough to be allowed to pack the grooming kit back into a blue canvas bag, sized to fit the average saddlebag or hang around a convenient neck. 
Stomping their hooves in applause at Rarity’s hoof signals, the mares gave encouraging smiles as he stood with his new grooming kit, hide gleaming like a show pony. 
Taking a few experimental steps in a strut, Scott looked at himself in a full length mirror and turned this way and that to see himself and grinned at the handsome unicorn he saw reflected back. At least now, he now did not need someone to assist his grooming all the time or it could get expensive very quickly. 


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As the three Unicorns trotted out the door, Starshine Dash stepped into the foyer. The Pegasus looked at the trio’s waving tails as they headed into the street, then turned to Aloe and Lotus as they finished waving good bye. “Excuse me girls, what was all that about? Why did that colt need to learn how to groom himself, if you don’t mind my asking?”

Smiling, the twins looked to each other, then back at her. “Oh! Mees Starshine, You were not en town for Mees Pinkie’s Party for the Space Pony! Both Mees Rarity and Twilight say Mees Pinkie brought heem here somehow from another place. Such a Gentlecolt too!”

Rubbing her chin in thought, the pegasus mare nickered “I see… So they claim he’s not of this world? “ When they nodded “Yes”, she gave a thoughtful “Hmmm…” 

After paying her bill, Starshine Dash quickly leaves the spa and takes off for her duty station near Ponyville. “Sounds like I’d better have a talk with this Skybright when I see him. Bet he thinks he’s the only one…”

> Chapter 14; Names Change, but the Song Remains the Same
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Space Ponies

By Boss Hoss 

Chapter 14, Names Change, but the Song Remains the Same

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An unseen shadow flitted from rooftop to rooftop as a trio of ponies came to the Golden Oaks Library, silhouetted against the evening sky...

~~~~~~~~~~~

As Twilight and Rarity entered the Library ahead of him, Scott stopped just inside the door, looking puzzled. He craned his head back and looked outside, then leaned back inside. Twitching his ears thoughtfully, he walked back out to mentally measure the tree trunk as he walked all the way around it...

After a confused glance at each other, the mares went back outside, followed by Spike. They watched the stallion trot around the tree and poke his head in the door before sitting down next to the Library sign, while both Twilight and Rarity looked at him with growing curiosity and frustration.

Finally, Twilight gave an exasperated sigh and looked over his shoulder, trying to see what he was focused on. "Scott, just what are you looking for?"

Nodding in agreement, Rarity fluffed her indigo mane with a hoof "Yes darling, you are acting just like Twilight when she's caught up in some experiment."

Ears popping upright, Scott suddenly realized he had gotten too caught up in his thoughts and was being rude. Sheepishly, the bay stallion got up and bowed the mares inside. "I'm sorry, girls. I just had a big idea hit me. I did not mean to ignore you fine ladies."

Quickly following them inside, he turned to them as he sat down on his haunches and gave them a serious look.
"Actually, I wasn't sure from the original... art, but after seeing this library in "furson" several times now... Well, I've definitely noticed this place is larger on the inside than the outside."
He pointed around them with a hoof, sweeping it in an arc. "Look, the floor of the main reading room is as large, or larger, than the apparent outside trunk of this tree, and there's more than one room on this floor. -Not counting the kitchen which is an actual extension built on in the back."

Blinking at him in surprise, the mares turned their heads to look at each other, then at him before giggling and shaking their heads. Spike guffawed as he came down stairs. He comically rolled his eyes and sat on the bottom step before giving Twilight an "Is he serious?" look.

Yes, this was definitely not the reaction Scott expected.

After a moment, Twilight levitated her notes and quill back out of her saddlebag.
"Sooo, Scott... You act like this is something... unusual. Don't you have dimensional expansion spells for buildings back on your world? It's quite common in Canterlot. It took ages to simplify the spells originally created for Canterlot Castle, but it was so worth it since space is often a premium up there."
Rarity nodded agreement "Why yes, darling, they are all the rage wherever it can be afforded! I had it put on my boutique as soon as I could pay for a renovation. It was a total building makeover, as 'twere..."

Staring up at the ceiling of the Library for a moment, he smiled sheepishly and tilted his head back down to look at the mares, shaking it in wonder.
"Sorry, we only know this in theory. It is common in Fantasy and Sci-Fi stories where it's called a Tesseract. One role-playing game even wrote up the hut of the legendary witch, Baba Yaga as a place so huge inside, it had forty-eight immense rooms, each separated dimensionally in kind of a giant cube arrangement. Outside, it was no bigger than a typical garden shed.
This is why our cities stretch up to the sky. We can't make a building increase its inner space except by physical means, so we just add more floors instead of stretching them."

He would have brought up the TARDIS, but didn't want to 'out' the Doctor just yet if Twilight had heard the time machine's name in passing. 

Eagerly, Twilight scribbled down notes about the Tesseract as something to research and a reminder to have him tell it in more detail. "Fascinating!"

Just then, Twilight's note taking was interrupted by a knock on the door of the library, and a voice muffled by the thick wood “Hello? Twilight? I need in, right away!” 

Sighing at the interruption, Twilight trotted over and opened the door with a magenta glow,  followed by a purple Pegasus sweeping the door open in a fluid motion and using her wingtip in a mid-air pirouette to close the door. "Good! Everypony's here."

Twilight was already rattling off a well-rehearsed response by the time she noticed the mare was already inside. "Excuse me the Library is closed for the eve... Lieutenant Dash!? I'm sorry, is there an emergency?..."

Scott and Rarity both looked in surprise at the mystery guest, with Scott speaking first; "Um Twilight? Who is this?"

Rarity on the other hoof gasped in alarm and stepped ahead of the stallion protectively. "Oh! Miss Dash! Whatever is the matter? You look quite worried..."

Pushing her shamrock-green mane out of her eyes, the Pegasus mare leaned to one side and "toed up" a hoof in a casual manner. "Twilight, Rarity, Nice to see you as always. There's no emergency, I just need to speak with Mr. Skybright over there." she said, with what she hoped was a reassuring smile.

As he stood up with a clatter of hooves, Scott blinked and swiveled his ears down in worry. "Me? Lt. Dash? This isn’t about the lights flickering earlier today, is it?"

The mare twitched her ears and her dark purple eyes narrowed as if a suspicion was confirmed. "So that was you, then?" She looks over to Twilight, "Panic surge?"

Sheepishly, Twilight nodded to the Pegasus. "Afraid so. It was his very first one, unfortunately coming from a full grown stallion and not a foal...” She gave a polite cough and looked toward Scott, then back. "Well, he's an unusual case, to say the least."

Sighing and shaking her head, Lt. Dash gave a cursory glance around the room. "Judging by the aftermath, his power now nearly matched yours when you were a foal. Anyway, I just have a few questions that are... unfortunately, work related, so if you have a room the three of us can discuss things in? I'm afraid you'll have to wait outside, Lady Rarity. You too, Spike."

Rarity’s eyes shot open in surprise, a moment before she gave a scandalized gasp and nicker, before sputtering out "What? Moi? Why I never..."

Sighing, Twilight gives her an apologetic look "I am sorry Rarity, but you are the center of town gossip. Help yourself to some tea in the kitchen while we go down to the basement, please, Rarity? Oh, and Spike, please keep her company, okay?"

Spike looked indignant at being left out as well, but being told to stick with Rarity shut him up before he could get started.

Meanwhile, Rarity pouted and fumed a bit but eventually sighed and gave in... "Fine, Royal Guard business it seems. Very well then…" as she flounces her way to the kitchen, with spike skipping along behind her, tiny red hearts trailing him like soap bubbles.

With that out of the way, Twilight nods, satisfied. She nudged Scott with her hoof and looked to the winged Guardspony. "Walk this way please..." as she quickly heads to the basement door and opened it for her guests.

Fighting the urge for an old joke, Scott mentally chuckles and barely keeps himself from teasing out loud; * If I could walk like that, I'd be a gelding... *

Raising her voice, Lt. Dash called out to Rarity while she was still in the room. "I’m sorry about all this, really. I'll come by the boutique later and let you use me as a dress model, Rarity," she said, smiling a little. After receiving a smile in return, she followed Twilight and Scott down to the basement.

Lt Dash carefully noted the bay Unicorn stallion was having some trouble walking down stairs and nodded to herself. Satisfied at finding another clue, she jumped off the top of the stairs and quickly flew around the room. Her purple eyes carefully checking behind every object before she hurled a blanket over a mirror and made sure the bottom of every bin in the room was visible.

Puzzled, Scott watches curiously as the Lt. made her detailed security checks "Why the mirror...? Oh, yeah... a certain pink wonder..."

Placing a hoof on his shoulder, Twilight gives a nervous * ahem * "She's not the only one that can look through mirrors, Scott. If you are ready Lt. Dash, I can cast a sound absorbing shield whenever you like."

Thinking for a moment, the Pegasus tapped her chin with a hooftip. "Yes, especially around the door, I'm sure Lady Rarity will be listening as soon as she's made her tea. Did I miss any bins? I really don't need Pinkie popping her pink posterior into this..."

Twilight points to one in the shadow of a tree root in the back wall "That one I think. Just a moment and..." She closes her eyes and creates a pink glow that covers the walls, floor and ceiling. "The shield is in place, Lt. Dash... Kind of like blowing a bubble in a box."

Quickly, she makes sure there are no convenient places for Pinkie to pop out of and then moves over to land and stand near Scott, looking him up and down in a no-nonsense manner before giving him a playful smirk, offering a Brohoof to bump.. "Good evening, Mr. Skybright. I am Lt. Starshine Dash of the Royal Guard. Sorry for all the mystery, sport, you're the new guy, huh? Not bad looking, though we need to work on your name first thing's first."

Bumping her hoof as she spoke, Scott blinks in surprise. "Um, my name? Is Scott that much out of place?" He looks the puzzling mare over, starting to wonder now if she is like Lyra too... His mind suddenly raced! *Wait a moment, she had not flown once inside the building since she landed, except to check the basement. You couldn't keep Rainbow on the floor with anchor chains. It's ingrained by a lifetime of flying. Is she?... *

Meanwhile, Twilight watches, her head swinging from one to the other like a tennis match, wondering what's going on.

A moment later, Scott's suspicions were confirmed when the purple Pegasus casually toed up on a hoof and spoke.
"Well, Scott is about as out of place as my name, Tara was. Skybright is fine, but you're going to want to either stick with just that or put something else around it. Maybe if you had a perfect Scoltish accent, but..."

With that, she walks around him like a REA drill instructor, examining him closely. Finally pausing at his Cutie Mark, snorting slightly and flicking her tail in annoyance. She shook her head and sighed "Great, another vague one. Well, seeing as you’re stuck as a pony permanently thanks to those “bumper stickers”, I’ll have to go over the rules.”

Turning her head in adorkable puzzlement, Twilight looks at them both. Her eyes widen suddenly, acting like she has the glimmer of something on the edge of her memory. "Tara? That’s familiar somehow… Wait? Excuse me, rules, Lieutenant? Scott practically just got here! Why didn't Princess Celestia send me rules about him?”

Scott looks a bit stunned by the mare's subtle revelation, but watches as she looks him over “Um, one of the versions of my OC was named Star for a first name, and I just carried it over when I converted them for FiM, but... Rules, Miss Dash?”

Lt. Dash trots around in front of the other two and bobs her head back and forth, "Sorry, Twilight, apparently her nibs is exercising Opsec or testing your initiative. Even Dragonmail isn't immune to eavesdropping, after all. Heck, I only just now found out he's here myself.

As for you, Noob... Mmm, Star's okay. And yes, rules. All human-turned-ponies like us have to follow a certain set of rules;
Rule Number One... -Added at the head of the list since the Summer Sun celebration last year and punishable by semi-permanent moon-tenancy... By the way, what was the last episode of the series you saw, assuming it existed?”

Scott gulps, wide-eyed in sudden terror, managing to squeak out "Um, M-moon banishment?!?” He coughed and fought to steady his voice “Ahh… T-the last one I saw was "Best Night Ever". When I left, it was several days from the premier of Season Two."

Hearing that, she let out a breath in relief. "Okay, good, so I don't have to worry about you mucking with the timeline. I have enough trouble with the good Doctor and resisting the urge myself... That's rule number one, by the way: “Don't mess with the timeline!”
When I left, it was the end of Season Two," she sighs, looking sad, before shaking herself of those sad thoughts, "And I got here just after 'Dog and Pony Show'... It's been hard... Anyway, did anyone tell you about Pinkie days? I'm assuming you met Lyra, she’s kinda' obsessed about hands...”

Scott... "Star" gulped and nodded while Twilight deliberately sits on her hooves, avoiding making notes by sheer force of will. "Yes, Ma'am. I did meet her, right before I came to the spa. She actually shared a flashback with me on her coming here over a decade ago with her parents. Lyra was very adamant about those times and to beware of them... Um, are you the Pegasus she mentioned, Ma’am?"

After a moment's thought on who Lyra knew, she shook her head no.
"Actually, no, they both work on the weather team. I... Well, my job title is "Special attaché to the Element of Laughter," but really I patrol the border of the Everfree to keep out the smaller monsters and liaise between Canterlot, Monsieur Magnet, and Zecora for intel on anything bigger than a Manticore."

She suddenly took a deep, shuddering breath, and pointed toward Twilight. "As far as Pinkie days are concerned, you need to stay inside, or at least out of sight of any of these six mares, no matter how close you are to them. 

This is also something that I've been told was once very rare but has become more  common. That apparently started shortly before the Summer Sun Celebration Last year. It seems both those days and Rule One are tied together somehow. My eyes used to be orange, Bon-Bons voice has changed a few times, and Time Turner's voice lost its wonderful accent."

Eyes wide, Star gulps "Um, I s-see...The effect of the show on Equestria sounds like how high end quantum physics experiments work all right. It's a bug that scientists cant observe their experiments without affecting them. I will definitely keep that in mind.”

One of his ears suddenly lopped sideways at a thought before he asked “Ummm, I saw a notice for the Running of the leaves in a few days. While I know this is not last year’s episode, is that going to be safe to be in?"

Shaking her head in mild bewilderment, she gave him a lopsided grin. “I don't know about an experiment, I think it's just dimensional bleeding. It'll be safe if you want to run, but I'd recommend you sit this one out if you haven't been here that long, or do more of a walk than a run,"

She grinned and shook her head a moment to get back on track “Yeah, so anyway, Rule Number Two is “Stay inside on Pinkie days!” -unless you don’t value your style or gender. Poor Caramel...”

She shook her head sadly for a moment, making Scott... Star... wonder how well she knew the original Caramel. 

Rule Number Three: “If one of the Princesses say "Jump," you say "How high, your majesty?" We're a unique, unknown factor to Equestria. We also tend to be on the higher end of pony talents. What do you think my cutie mark is for?"

Star peers around the mare to double check what he saw as he made a mental note, blushing a little since Twilight was watching him checking a mare's flank. * Hm, "Dimensional Bleeding" sounds like a perfect name for the effect... *
"Since it's a shooting star, I would say speed... By the way, I don't know how high my magic will be, but I've always dreamed of doing it so it should be my talent. I've definitely got a lot of catchup to look forward to. How about you?"

Here she definitely showed herself worthy of her name, puffing out her chest and flaring her wings into a hover a few feet off the floor while she spoke in a cocky tone. "I got my Cutie Mark during a war-game between a Pegasus and Unicorn division by becoming a magical comet and shattering a shield made by fifteen Unicorns, all trained Royal Guards. I probably would have failed if... err... Never mind, spoilers, sweetie," she said with a half-grin, "You'll probably be pretty powerful someday, but try not to draw attention to yourself. For the same reason, you'll hardly see me in town on non-Pinkie Days.”

Scuffing his hoof, Scott watched as the mare unconsciously flexed her wings, like she was mentally preparing to leave.

“Other than those three rules, everything else is just common sense. I might need to have you come by and fill out some paperwork, but other than that I think we're done."

With that, the purple Pegasus grinned and offered a hoof, “Just have a good time, and enjoy your new life, Mr. Star Skybright, feel free to call me Starshine when I'm not on duty and being serious and stuff..."

Now the proud owner of a new name, “Star” smiled and put his hoof to hers, feeling the telekenetic fields stick for a hoofshake "Thanks, I hope we can compare notes sometime."

Twilight cleared her throat to get her attention "Excuse me, The princess has made this incident with Scott... um, “Star” a test to figure out the how and why of all these changes. May I refer to this little chat in my notes for Princess Celestia?"

Turning toward the lavender mare, Starshine brushed a lock of the sky-blue streak in her mane from her eye. "I'll be happy to include the full text of my report once I've finished it. I should be finished after dinner, barring any interruptions. Which now that I said that, Pinkie's going to show up and distract me for at least two hours..."

Shaking her head in sympathy, Twilight smirks "Thank you Lieutenant Dash, and I quite understand. Now I know where she goes when she's not walking in on my experiments..."

Scott, now Star, suddenly looks up as something occurs to him "Oh, Ma'am? I just wondered about the "Dash" part of your name. Is that legit with a certain "Rainbow" around?" He looks at her with open curiosity as he waits for an answer.

Her ears perk up in surprise at the question. A very good one for a noob like him. Starshine grins, "Well, technically, Dash is a tribal designation. We're both members of the Dash clan, her by blood, myself by adoption. A pegasus without a clan is either a traitor or a failure, so Captain Ironwing inducted me into the clan when I graduated from the academy. It's one of the smaller clans, but we're all fast flyers. Do you have any other questions? I'd be happy to answer whatever I can."

His ears suddenly droop in worry as he looks from one mare to the other "I'm not stepping on anypony's hooves with "Skybright" am I? Is "Sparkle" a Clan?"

Twilight giggles and waves a hoof reassuringly as she settled into Lecture Mode(tm) "Oh no, you aren't a Noble and there are no Skybrights among them. Sparkle is the name of our "House" -Our Family name. House Sparkle is admittedly a minor noble line, but just big enough to get the attention of the School I tested for."

Nodding, Starshine chimed in "A lot of unicorns are part of some minor house or another. Even Rarity is part of House Filigree, but the House is even smaller than Sparkle. Earth ponies are either part of a vast family like the Apples, or just have small nuclear or extended families, like the Pies."

Suddenly feeling a bit overwhelmed, Star shakes his head wryly "It seems I have to learn some things before I can even think of some questions. Is there someplace I can reach you if I have more that Miss Sparkle can't cover?"

At that, Starshine smiles and nods as she flies up to the basement door, "Sure! If you need me for anything, I'm in the house that's halfway between the edge of town and Fluttershy's cottage, anypony can show you. If I'm not there, I'm either at Sugarcube Corner, the market, or out in the Everfree, so, if you don't see me in town, leave me a note and I'll get in touch later."

A musical chime filled the air as Twilight turned off the sound absorbing shield. “Thank you for coming over, Lieutenant Dash. I'm sure you have given him food for thought...”
* As well as me.. why don't I remember about you being human? * she wondered
“..Have a good evening.”

“And you as well. Buy me lunch sometime, and I’ll try and answer any other questions you have,” With that, she opens the door and flew toward the Library entrance.

~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time the pair of unicorns made it to the door, Rarity and Spike had already trotted over to let the purple Pegasus out. As soon as she was gone, Rarity trotted back to where they stood, with Spike in tow. She cast a puzzled glance at Star, then back over her shoulder, toward the door. “Well, darlings, given how hush-hush Miss Dash was with this little escapade, should we continue on in the same manner? It's becoming something rather like a Con Mane movie if she resorted to a sound shield just to speak to him.”

Twilight rubbed her chin for a moment, then nodded “I agree. She's got me a little spooked wondering who could use this knowledge for ill, but better safe than sorry, at least for tonight. Spike? Could you whip up some treats and bring them down, please?” She winked and did a little sing-song to prod the hatchling “...I have some ruuu-bieees for yoooouuu...”
Instantly the little dragon snapped a salute “Yes Sir, ma'am! On my way!” With that, he scampered off to the kitchen, while the ponies headed back down to the Basement Lab.

Rarity looked around in shock as she walked down ahead of Star. “Oh my! Darling! This place is a décor disaster area! Is that wall actually dirt?!”

As she levitated some chairs in through the door, Twilight giggled “Actually, yes, the root walls don't seem to have total closure down here. I'd prefer they were all paneled over for security if nothing else, but it seems to work.”

Rarity shook her head in wonder as she sat down. Spike was there instantly, holding her chair for her “For you, Milady...”
The fashionista giggled “Such a nice Gentledrake you are, Spike!”

Blushing, Spike quickly set up a tray of cookies and punch on a fold-out table. "Here you are, some of my famous homemade triple-decker nut-crazy vanilla cream cookies!"

Twilight smiled and pulled out a list of questions to ask and tapped the stack of paper to the table to straighten them. "Thank you Spike. Scott, er, Star, before we begin though, I just wonder; If Lieutenant Dash is also from Earth, how the hay is it possible she's from the future?"

Grinning eagerly at having Twilight ask his opinion, Star shook his head "As far as science can determine so far, Alternate Worlds can flow at different rates of time. She might be from a timeline very close to mine, but just a year or so ahead time-wise. Either that, or how someone gets here can make a difference on when they get here."

Tapping a quill to her chin, Twilight hummed thoughtfully, "Good theories. We'll see what the Professors make of that. Okay now for the official questions. 
First, what is your world's name and what is it like?"

Rubbing his nose, Star thought how to best answer her "My world is named Earth, or Terra in the more common ancient name.  Our Sun is also called Sol. Some forward thinking Scientists who wrote Science Fiction on the side have designated it the Sol/Terra system, a system of nine planets, or eight, depending on which governing body of Astronomers you believe. -And yes, I'll explain that in detail later...

The Earth itself has the same climate ranges as this world, except it runs itself like a planet wide Everfree Forest."

All three native Equestrians gasp in shock. Twilight ulps "I was wondering what you did if you have no Pegasi. Do you control the weather at all?"

Sheepishly, he shakes his head "So far there are experiments attempting that using microwaves and cloud seeding, but any successes are just rumor so far. Weather kills more  people than any war, and is often a historical cause for war when famine and plague strikes because of weather turmoil."

Rarity shivers "Ugh! Simply dreadful, darling! How can weather cause plagues and such unpleasantness?"

He sighs "Simple... Severe droughts, floods, or unending wet and cold can wipe out crops and provide the right conditions for biting insects and vermin to spread unchecked. They were driven to shelter with people who's bodies are weakened by malnourishment and catch the diseases they carry. 

With food and water gone or contaminated, bandits or foolish leaders used to invade a neighbor country as a safe haven or to take their food, or the neighbor country will invade, taking advantage of their weakness to settle old grudges."

Staring, Twilight drops her quill to the floor and fumbles for it with her magic "Oh Celestia! It sounds something like the Age of Chaos!"

Star nods "Going by just the name alone, you probably aren't far off. The whole Universe back home seems to run on controlled chaos. It seems to cycle between naturally harmonious systems decaying, collapsing into Entropy, and resetting themselves into Order, over and over. Wherever there is life, Nature endures and rebuilds.

As far as we can tell, over 95% of all species that have ever lived on the Earth have become extinct in cyclical waves of destruction every few million years. Earth might now belong to a kind of intelligent dragon instead of humans if the dinosaurs hadn't been killed off about Sixty-five million years ago by a giant asteroid and it's aftereffects..."

At this moment, Spike faints and falls over with a hollow clunk. Rarity gasped and fanned the little dragon, glad for the distraction. "Oooh, poor Spikey-Wikey!.."

Shaking her head and smiling at Spike's antics, Twilight looked to Star. "At least he's in good hooves. So, tell me about your... previous species?"

He raised his head  and nodded, then closed his eyes to concentrate. "Lets see, Humans, scientific name; Homo Sapiens Sapiens. The oldest known fossils of which are from about... umm, 120,000 years ago, known as Cro Magnon man. There was only one other hominid we shared our world with at the time; Neanderthal man. Apparently, the latest genetic evidence from Europe is we absorbed them into our tribes instead of exterminating them as rivals as Anthropologists have believed for so long. "

Humans seem to be a macrocosm of the races of Equestria; some are like Diamond Dogs in their behavior toward others, some like Griffons, Some like Dragons, a great many like Donkeys and Mules, and most... are like Ponies. We just do our best to get along just like you do, and hope it all works out despite dealing with the jerks that make our lives Hell."

Nervously, Twilight licked her lips and took a deep breath, then let it out as she looked steadily at the former human. "I already suspect your answer since you have little or no understanding of how we use it, and have mentioned your whole planet is running wild. 
Here goes; Is there magic on your world?"

Star sighed and rubbed the back of his head "The usual answer by everyone back home  is "No", but my answer has to be "I do not know." because what Pinkie did there is impossible by most scientific standards. 

It could be that there is some magic, just no easy way of accessing it. The Christians and Muslims were quite thorough in... "removing" those in antiquity who may have had a yes or no answer. All the New Age worshippers claim some success with the bits and pieces of writings that survive, but I take that with a grain of salt. Similarly, Psychic research like the CMC tried is not even considered magic at all."

Ears perked forward, Twilight wrote quickly "So, until such time as a unicorn comes to visit and takes readings, it might be "no"... Interesting..." 

Now that Spike was awake again, Rarity waved a hoof "Ooh! My turn Twilight!"

Twilight gave quick smile. "Are you going to ask about Earth fashions?"

Giggling, Rarity shook her head "I am saving that for later, when he can spare an hour or so in my boutique. No, this is one I have been curious about, and simply cannot wait for you to work through your list..."

She turned in place and looked into eyes the color of her own "Are there... Ponies on Earth?"

Star took a deep breath and nodded to Rarity "Yes, but nothing like here. Our ponies are just a smaller breed of horses back home. Unfortunately, they are about as smart as Applejack's Wynona. 
They bear the same relation to you that apes do to humans. Some are smart enough to open doors, but their brains are mostly geared for interacting with others. They can barely count, but their social life is as complicated as office politics or a wolf pack's society."

He paused and looked at Twilight, since he was now in full lecture mode. The irony was lost on Twilight as she gave him her full attention as he spoke, her quill scribbling rapidly on a scroll.

"-That social life is the key on how humans got into a symbiotic relationship with dogs and horses. We had so much in common that way. Horses got shelter, steady food, a stable herd-life, and protection from being eaten by predators, and humans got the strength, speed, and companionship of the horse. Only one region made it to civilization without the horse, the wheel, or metal tools, and they were crushed 600 years ago by Spain when the American continents were discovered. 

For good or ill, history was written from the back of a horse.

Now, horses aren't vital to civilization anymore and most have become fancy pets and close companions. Some still work farms and logging jobs here and there like Big Macintosh does, and others have become a sort of royalty in Horse Racing,  Show Jumping, Polo, Rodeos, and other Equestrian sports. Others have been bred down to, well, our size and classed as "Ponies" for working in tight spaces and have since become some of the most adored pets ever."

Spike could not hold it in any more, his snickering from behind his claws breaking out into full-blown laughter at the thought of Twilight and the other girls wearing collars and being treated like dogs. He eventually stopped when three pairs of pony eyes leveled a death glare at him.

Suddenly, Rarity did a double take, looking up at the nearest clock "Oh! Oh my goodness! Dears, we best end this quickly and get Sco... "Star" over to the Prancing Pony! Mrs. Latchkey will close the doors for the night if we do not hurry!

Sighing, Twilight stood up with a cracking sound from her back as she stretched like a cat. "Ugh, fine! We keep having to stop just when we get on a roll, too. I'm starting to think I need to treat this like a Sorting Day and just set a day aside to have just Star and Myself..." Rarity smirked and raised an eyebrow, making Twilight blush "..A-and my friends, of course. Absolutely NOTHING awkward happening AT ALL!"

Rarity giggled "A tragedy I am sure. Still, foal steps for both sides learning about each others cultures... and social mores'..."

Both of the darker unicorns blushed shyly as Twilight dispelled the sound barrier, while Rarity shepherded the stallion up the stairs.

Fuming, Spike brought up the rear, his draconic instincts stoked by Rarity's words as he glared at the stallion. Twilight was practically his mother, after all.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A few minutes later, Rarity hummed a jaunty tune as she opened the door to the Prancing Pony, followed by Twilight carrying the former human's luggage, and the ex-human himself. "We are heee-re!~ Oh, Mrs. Latchkey! I am SO sorry for bringing him here so late! Such a distinguished guest and all. We lost track of time..."

A rose-colored matronly Earth mare with a pink bee-hive styled mane and slight jowls, accented with wire-frame bifocals and a peach shawl smiled warmly from behind a register desk. While she wore an old-fashioned burgundy dress, her Cutie Mark of a brass key was repeated in the trim and decorations of the skirt. "Quite all right, dearie. We still have vegetable stew and butter rolls left. Lodgings are normally ten Bits a night, or fifty Bits for a full week. -But for you Rarity, I will make it forty Bits."

Giggling, the two mares touched hooves " We'll do a week to start with and see where that goes. Twilight?"

Nodding, Twilight floated a pouch over to the Innkeeper "Agreed! I'll have to sign for him though. The Crown is covering his lodgings, Mrs. Latchkey."

Smiling, the Earth Pony nodded and took the pouch, sliding over the Registry and a room key. "It will be up on the second floor, third door on the right, Mr..."

He carefully took the key in the corner of his mouth, wincing at the metallic taste and spoke with an optimistic tone, using the name that would define his new life;
"...Skybright. I'm Star Skybright."

> 15 Story so far
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

*Instrumental overture to MLP theme*
"Previously on My Little Pony; Space Ponies..."

Chapter 1

Scott, an artist member of the Furry community and a Brony is alone on the first of a few days off as a farm hand on an old man's hobby ranch for Miniature Horses. He is awaiting the MLP season 2 premier in several days. Out of boredom, he draws a version of his Anthro-Equine OC as a MLP. 
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie appears and steps out of his TV and says she just had a Doozy about the creatures she knows are watching her -And that it led her there. Finding out he is pretty much alone in his life, she invites him to Ponyville for the party of his life. Returning him home would be a snap!
Rolling with it, the human agrees, grabbing things for an overnight stay. But, once there, he suddenly transforms into a Unicorn stallion, very much like his newly-redrawn OC.
Pinkie quickly figures it out! THAT was the DOOZY!

Chapter 2

Soon, Pinkie and Scott try to convince Twilight that he is not what he seems and needs her help. Between his mention of Alternate Worlds Theory and suddenly gaining his Cutie Mark when he sees his reflection as a Pony for the frst time, Twilight is convinced! She also warns them that his gaining a CM may have blown any chance of going home as what he was, since Cutie Marks are powerful magic that is part of the very fabric of Equestria.
After reassuring the CMC  they wont wait as long as he had for his mark, Twilight herds Scott to the Hospital for tests while Pinkie runs off for party preps.
Twilight gets her first culture shock when he reveals what he knows of the show to her, while trying to reassure her nothing intimate is shown.

Chapter 3, 4, 5, 6

Medical testing and subtle pumping for information of the non-Equestrian alien ensues with Twilight and Nurse Redheart.  The mystery behind why and how he changed grows when its realized he cannot read equestrian even while he speaks it just fine.
Twilight gets embarrased observing the more intimate portion of the stallion's exam and ducks outside, only to find Rainbow Dash is already hearing rumors about Twilight and the strange stallion. It seems Twilight forgot to make Pinkie promise not to tell about the former human's origins, and invites to the party are flying faster than E-mail.

A lunch break follows his fainting from a trick during the blood test, and then a little help to get as able as a newborn foal in using his hooves and horn.
So far, it seems his body and horn is as new and weak as if being used for the first time, barely able to make Unicorn foal's toys function.
While he's there, the mares introduce him to newborn foals and the Cakes who are in for a prenatal checkup. The cakes make a betting pool on the side on how soon he becomes a father, and with whom... 

Chapter 7 
Pinkie Partay! -And somehow she made the banner bilingual; Common Equestrian and English, for the Party Trifecta! A Welcome-Cuteceañeara-Birthday for Skybright Party!

The ponified Brony is quickly the target of unattached mares since he bears the long, athletic look of Canterlot Unicorns, and Rarity spiffs him up, noting he has self-esteem issues and then some. 

AJ, Rainbow, and a reluctant Fluttershy drag him aside for questioning, accepting his answers for now. The two athletic mares teach him dancing in return. 

Lyra also invites him to a private meeting at the candy shop at Noon the next day.

During the party, he meets Doctor Whooves, in his guise as Time Turner. The Doctor promises a proper meeting "sometime soon". 
The highlight of his night is finding Twilight can dance despite what AJ and Dash say, as long as its formal ballroom dancing...


Chapter 8

Twilight has a romantic dream about the new stallion and promptly freaks out when she realizes she forgot to write Princess Celestia about him thanks to the party.

The reply sets Twilight a challenge, testing her to see if she can discover how and why he changed and for both to report to her in person when she does.

Chapter 9

-Day 2-

Pinkie treats the passed-out party Ponies to breakfast and hangover cures while Twilight mulls questions in her head. Why is he so accepting and even joyful of being a Pony when she would be a wreck for days if the situation were reversed?
That and other questions she hope will be answered over the coming days.

Spike has a bad feeling about it all when he finds Scott is as much a bookworm as Twilight is...
Rainbow Dash accidentally flashes Scott, finding he is easier than any stallion to tease.


Chapter 10

Spike rescues Scott from a cold shower, then goes into "protective brother" mode thinking the stallion is acting funny about Twilight. Nope, just Rainbow Dash's flashes...

Testing in the basement lab proceeds, checking his magic levels while Twilight reveals the Library is one of the town's wireless power substations. Rainbow Dash has an accident with the substation that sets off a Panic Surge in Scott. Chaos erupts as with Twilight's school test years before, with Rainbow Dash transforming into a wooden carousel Pegasus. 

Everything returns to normal when  Twilight overpowers his magic, smothering the surge and soothing him.

Chapter 11

Bankruptcy! No, wait...

Pinkie shows up in the aftermath to drop off Scott's luggage, while Dash is good and mad, wanting to find out why she cant remember what happened to her in the basement.

Since the next set of tests are in the hospital, Dash challenges Scott to a race, loser tells an embarrasing secret, or what happened in the basement.

Rainbow Dash takes it easy on Scott without making it look like it, following Rarity's advice on getting stallions. To her horror, the stallion passes out near the hospital. When he wakes up after a daymare, an embarrased Rainbow tells him it was a tie and to forget the bet.

Meanwhile, the Princesses recieve the magic level results and agree he must be schooled in Canterlot for public safety...

Back at the hospital, it is revealed Scott needs immunization shots. Fortunately, Twilight prevents his escape...

The now-rumpsore stallion finishes out the hospital tests, and he and Twilight are treated to lunch by Rarity. The issue of his lodging comes up and Rarity is agahast at the plan to let him stay in the Library, insisting he stay at the Prancing Pony Inn instead.

Twilight and Scott finally start to realize the town is already trying to ship them... Rarity may have a few ideas of her own though. 

Chapter 12

Lyra and Bon-Bon have a surprise for Scott, Lyra was a human 11 years before, and her father now runs the Airship yards supplying the Royal Canterlot Air Fleet.

Bon-Bon had helped Lyra deal with bullies by introducing her to a martial arts teacher for Unicorns, and offer the same teacher to him to teach him control.

Relieved, Scott heads to the spa to take care of muscle injuries from his earlier run and to learn how to take care of his new body from the horse's perspective.

Chapter 13

Rarity's natural environment! 
Aloe and Lotus go out of their way to make sure a Canterlot-Bred Unicorn like him will become a repeat customer. The masseuse, Miss Quake surprises everypony by using Earthpony Magic to break loose years of repressed tension, still there even after his transformation. 
First Cameo, Starshine Dash appears, getting her attention while he is being given his grooming lessons. She will follow him back to the Library for questioning in Chapter 14...