> The Incident > by gplane1749 > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prologue: Have You Ever Heard of My Little Pony > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident Prologue: Have You Ever Heard of My Little Pony The man sat on his bed and looked out at the world through his tiny window. The window may have been the size of a textbook but to the man it felt like a postage stamp. The man sighed, laid his down onto the down pillow, and closed his eyes. Unbeknownst to him two pairs were watching him. “David, why do we have to keep him here? He is just a tewnty year old he will not hurt us if we let him go,” One of the men said. “No, the man will tell others what he saw and at least one person will believe him, and then one person would believe that person and so on.” The other man calmly replied. “What did this poor man even see to deserve being shut away like this?” The first man asked. “You say that like this is a prison. This facility has everything that boy could ever want there is no reason for him to leave.” “That is just the thing, he can not leave so this is a prison. It may be the nicest prison ever built but it is still a prison.” “The reason he can’t leave is because he saw another universe. If word got out that other universes are out there it would cause worldwide panic. That is why; the safety of the world depends on it.” “I still think you are over reacting. Which universe did he see anyway?” “Have you ever heard of a show called ‘My Little Pony.’?” > Chapter 1: I Like it Here > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident Chapter 1: I Like it Here Matt stared out the window of the bus. He was going home after a long day at the office. “Not that I should be complaining. Here I am a twenty four year old with a good software design job and great hours. I did not even work ten hours today.” Matt sometimes got so caught up on a project he would be at the office hours after his shift ended. He was paid salary so Matt was not paid extra for his dedication to a project. The software firm was small and did not pay that much but Matt loved it. He absolutely loved what he did and would throw himself at every project with gusto. His friend and coworker Hunter always said that if the office did not close for the night that Matt would still be there in the morning. Matt loved to be challenged by a project. He would always try to get the hard assignment just to test his skill. The firm’s clients also noticed Matt’s dedication. Some would even ask that Matt do their project. Matt watched as the raindrops marched down the window to the bottom. “We are all like these raindrops,” He thought, “all of us going to the same destination, but some raindrops do no travel straight down. Some go all over the window, covering as much space and joining with as many other raindrops as possible. I want to be one of those, someone who sees the world and meets new people.” Matt had considered traveling before but he always thought the same thing whenever he did. “I have my job and my family here in Georgia. I cannot just pack up and leave them. I have good friends here like Hunter and Rex. They may joke around but they are always looking out for me. I would not last a day without them.” Matt’s friends had helped him many times before. They usually helped keep his temper in check. Both of them had Matt’s back when he needed it. He could remember one time when they really saved him. It was a cold winter evening and Matt, Rex, and Hunter were walking home from work. Matt and Hunter worked at the same firm and Rex was on the floor above with another company. The trio almost always walked back to their apartment building. The only time they did not was when it was raining. Suddenly when they rounded a bend a man with a knife jumped out. “Give me your wallets all of you.” The mugger yelled. Matt being the hothead he tried to fight him off. The mugger stabbed Matt in the gut and sliced him on the arm. He let Matt fall to the ground dead to the world. It was thanks to his friends that he lived. They had given the robber their wallets and convinced him to go. They rushed Matt to the E.R. where he made a full recovery. “Man do I owe those guys. I wish I could repay them but they insist that there is no need. Screw that! Tomorrow drinks on me. That is the absolute least I could for them. I should really take their advice and stop trying to be a hero all the time.” Matt decided. Matt sat up straighter in his seat. There was only one more stop until the bus reached his apartment complex. Matt lived in a small apartment. It was all he could afford on his small salary. Even though he could not afford many luxuries Matt made sure that his television plan got the Hub. The reason for this was that Matt was a brony, a man who watched the show “My Little Pony”. Matt did not trumpet this fact like others. To him it was not necessarily a secret but there was no need to tell anyone. It never came up in any of is conversations. Matt stepped out into the driving rain. He held up a hand to try to keep the rain out of face as he hurried to the apartment complex door. “Hey Matt, how is it going down at the office?” The bellhop asked. “It is going great Jim. Just got a new assignment. I cannot wait to start on it tomorrow.” Matt replied. “That is good to here. Oh, before I forget here is your mail.” Jim said as he handed Matt a single envelope. “Thanks man.” Matt said and walked over to the elevator. Matt opened the envelope on the way up. It was an advertisement. “Dang, more junk mail that is the fifth time this week.” Matt thought The ad read, “Are you tired of your boring life? Do you want to travel the world. Do you want to see the sights and experience the cultures of the world? Do you want to immerse your self and become a part of each? If so then call the White Mountain Travel Agency. You will regret it if you do not take this wonderful opportunity. This is a once in a lifetime chance. You do not want to pass it up. This offer is only available through White Mountain Travel. Trust us you will like where we send you better than where you are now.” Matt thought about the ad. “I do want travel the world but not right now. I am going to have to remember that travel agency, White Mountain. I will have to look them up later. That offer sounded interesting maybe if I did it in a few months and traveled for a few weeks. That could be fun.” “No I do not think I will. I like it here.” The second Matt thought that the entire car of the elevator started to plummet at an incredible speed. Matt was knocked out on impact. “Am I dead? No, I can feel the floor. Wait that is not the floor. Is it grass? Why is there grass in an elevator shaft?” Matt thought and then he passed out again. > Chapter 2: Waking Up > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident Chapter 2: Waking Up Matt slowly regained consciousness. His entire body was filled with pain. It was as if a hot iron was being put into his bones. His body was in such a bad state that he could not even move a finger without the pain nearly knocking him out again. Matt could still feel his surroundings through the pain though. “Bed sheets and a blanket. I must be in a hospital. Why am I in a hospital?” Matt pondered. Then he remembered, “The elevator! I am lucky to be alive after a fall like that.” Suddenly a wave of pure pain wracked Matt’s body causing him to teeter on the edge of consciousness. “Why have they not given me any painkillers? Please let this horrible pain end.” Matt pleaded. As if some had heard his silent cry, Matt then felt a soothing sensation pass over him. It felt like a cool towel was being gently pressed onto his entire body at once. The pain melted away as if it was never there. Matt’s mind was no longer clouded with the immense pain he had been enduring. “That must be some pretty strong stuff for it to work that fast.” Matt thought. “I think I can probably open my eyes now.” Matt put all of his willpower into opening his eyes. For his efforts, he was able to open them the tiniest fraction. Matt looked at his own body before anything else. He saw that his left hand was in a bandage and so was his entire left leg. Matt looked up to take in his surroundings. What he saw nearly made his heart stop. It was not a hospital room but a bedroom instead. There were two chairs at the foot of the bed that he could see. Sitting in one of the chairs was the strangest thing Matt had ever seen. Twilight Sparkle. “I must be dreaming. No, a dream could not be this painful. It’s a hallucination then caused by the drugs. Or maybe this is real.” Matt considered the possibilities. Here was one of the main characters from a kids television show right here in front of him. It was either that, the drugs, or insanity. Matt could not wrap his head around the impossibility of what he was seeing. “There is no way that is actually Twilight. It looks so real though. It is not like the show I can see every strand of hair in her mane and coat.” “Oh my. You are waking up.” Twilight concluded. “Can you understand me?” She asked slowly and deliberately as if talking to a small child. Matt stared in stunned shock then slowly nodded yes. “Good it seems the translation spell is working properly.” Twilight said in a more cheerful voice. “Can you talk yet?” “Yes” Matt managed to croak out still not comprehending what he saw. “Water” “Of course I will get you some right away.” As Twilight left the room, Matt realized something. “I just met Twilight Sparkle. I cannot believe it. She must have used healing magic on me earlier. I guess humans can be affected by magic But this cannot be real I have to hallucinating.” “Here is your water…” Twilight said as she floated the water over to the fascinated human. “Mathew Tyson is my name. Thank you for the water.” Matt drank it slowly a sip at a time knowing that if he wolfed it down it would only make things worse. “I heard you say that you cast a translation spell. How does that work?” “Well,” said Twilight going into full lecture mode, “the spell scans your mind and finds common items in the language. It then creates a tiny magical in front of your mouth that translates for you. The only words not translated are ones specific to that language. The spell is not that complicated so it is not a problem for me to sustain it by the way.” “I see.” Matt said. “I cannot believe that I just had a conversation with Twilight Sparkle about magic. Magic! Wait; if the spell scanned my mind then she knows my every thought.” “When the spell scans my mind are you aware of what it sees?” Matt was starting to sweat. The idea that someone could know everything about him even his secrets scared him. “Oh no I do not know what he spell finds.” Twilight assured him. “Ok. I am going to ask you a question, please answer truthfully. Are you real?” “Of course I am real. Why would you ask such a silly question?” “No, this can’t be real. I cannot be talking to a unicorn that talks back, that’s impossible and just crazy. That’s it I am insane. That is the only explanation for this.” Matt rambled on. “It is certainly possible since you are doing it now. Why did you say that this was impossible? Have you never heard of unicorns?” “Yes I have, in fairy tales. What’s next is a pegasus going to come in with lunch?” Just as the words let Matt’s mouth Fluttershy walked in carrying a tray with two daisy sandwiches. Matt stared for a full minute. During this minute Fluttershy was trying her hardest to hide behind her mane and become as small as possible. Matt just laughed, he laughed until he could not breathe anymore. “Mathew, what is so funny?” Twilight asked. “Seems I was right on the money wasn’t I. Sorry about that panic attack I just had never seen a pony like you before. I am sorry if I frightened you miss.” Matt told Fluttershy. Fluttershy mumbled something into her mane that Matt could not make out. After a few reassurances of Twilight she spoke up. “Oh it is okay, don’t worry about it.” Matt’s body suddenly reminded him of what he had gone through. “The spell must be wearing off. I need Twilight to do it again.” “Twilight, could you please use the painkiller spell again. I am getting a little uncomfortable,” Matt lied. A little uncomfortable was a huge understatement. “Sure! This time I am afraid it will put back to sleep tough.” Twilight answered. She then cast the spell. Matt could see fain purple aura glow around her horn and himself. "Thank you.” Matt mumbled before drifting off to dreamland. > Chapter 3: Yes, it’s Real > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident Chapter 3: Yes, it’s Real “Man that was one weird dream. I mean it was kind of cool to meet Twilight and see Fluttershy but good old Earth is where I want to stay.” Matt groggily thought as he woke up. He could he the serene sounds of birds chirping right outside his window. “Birds! I live in the middle of the city there are no birds here. I better go look.” Matt sat up, opened his eyes, and saw not his bedroom in his apartment but one in a small cottage. The memoires of the day before hit Matt like a freight train. “It wasn’t a dream I am really in Equestria. I died. I died in a horrible accident on that elevator. I will never see any of my family or friends again. I won’t be able to go to one of my brothers collage games. I won’t write a program ever again. I died and someone thought it would be a greaght idea to give me a second chance and live here. It would have been nice accept for the fact that I have to live knowing that everybody thinks I am dead.” “No. No. No! No! NO! This is not right!” Matt screamed at the top of his lungs. The ponies inside the house heard the yelling. They were soon running up the stairs to see what the cause was. Twilight burst through the doorway. “Matt what’s wrong?” Twilight looked around the room for the cause of the outburst. She could only see Matt sitting straight as an arrow in his bead. Matt’s face held an expression of both great sadness and fury. A person got the look when a tragic accident occurred. “What’s wrong? I’ll tell you what’s wrong! I’m DEAD! I died in an accident and got transported here. I will never be able to see anyone I have ever known ever again. I will NEVER be able to see my home again. Never. I am however stuck in a world filled with magical talking horses. That is what’s wrong.” Matt put all of his anger at his situation into those words. Now with all his anger vented there only sadness was left. He broke down weeping into his hands as he slumped down into the bed. “Matt you are not dead. I can assure of that. Unless being alive is different where you come from.” Twilight calmly said in an attempt to pacify Matt. “Here maybe but I am dead back home.” Matt spat bitterly. “My body is sitting at the bottom of an elevator shaft mangled beyond recognition.” “No it isn’t Matt. You see I was experimenting with an extremely powerful teleportation spell. I lost control of the spell it reached critical mass and decayed. The spell managed to open a portal. You flew out of the portal at great speed and crashed into the ground. You were passed out for three days.” Twilight let the information sink in. Matt visibly brightened. “I am not dead after all. A sell brought me here. Spells are reversible that means I can go home.” Matt sat up elated and winced from the sudden movement. “A spell can be reversed right? You can send me home. This is amazing! I am so sorry for my outburst right then.” Matt told Twilight. “Matt it is not that simple. The spell that sent you here was experiencing magical decay. The affect of the spell was completely random. It will take years for me to begin to study the decay pattern and even longer for me to recreate the spell reverse it and send you home.” “Oh. Well then at least, I can still get home eventually. Until then however I will make the most of living here.” Matt’s sprits were still high as a kite from the news that not only was he not dead but he could also get home in just a few short years. “Matt may I ask you a question?” “You just did Twilight.” Matt burst into laughter at his bad joke. “Well then can I ask three?” Twilight responded. “You already… Wait did you say three? “ “Yes I did Matt.” “Fine you outsmarted me. Ask away Twilight.” “Why did you not freak out like this yesterday when you woke up?” “The answer to that question is very simple Twilight. I thought I was dreaming. Then I woke up this morning and remembered the elevator and I just lost it. I could not handle the fact that I would never be able to go home again.” “That is a very justified reason to freak out. I have had bigger freak-outs over less. There was this one time I forgot to send the princess a friendship report and I totally lost it. I thought that if I didn’t send one then she would send me back to magic kindergarten. I could not find a friendship problem to fix so I created one. I enchanted my old doll with a want it need it spell. The entire town went crazy trying to get it. Compared to that your out burst was minor under the circumstances.” “No I guess it is not. If it is not to big a problem could give me another pain relief spell my leg is acting up again.” “Sure just let me do a quick scan first to make sure you a healing right.” Twilight’s horn glowed with its soft purple and Matt felt an odd sensation. “Hey that tickles.” Matt said in between bursts of giggles. “Hold still. I am just about done.” Twilight instructed Matt, “There all done. Everything looks like it is healing and your magic sickness is getting better.” “Magic sickness, what’s that?” “When an organism is never exposed to magic then suddenly expose to huge amounts of it, like you, it can get very sick as its body adapts to the magic. Don’t worry it will be gone in a few days a week at the most.” “That is good to hear thank you Twilight.” “No problem Matt. I’ve got to get back to the library now but if you need any thing feel free to call down to Fluttershy she will help ou with anything you need.” “Can do Twilight. See ya later.” > Chapter 4: The Learning Curve > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter 4: Learning Curve The sun was just rising above the horizon when Matt was woken by the sound of hinges creaking. His eyes stayed shut as he tried to squeeze one last little bit of sleep out of the night but failed. Once he was awake there was no going back to sleep. He slowly cracked open his eyes and saw Fluttershy in the doorway. She saw him just waking up and mumbled a quite apology. “Oh, I am so sorry for waking you. I’ll just come back later.” “No it’s fine. You do not have to leave this is normally when I get up anyway.” Matt told her. “Okay I was just checking on you to see if you were okay.” “Everything is fine. No need to worry about me.” Right then Matt’s stomach rumbled loud enough for Fluttershy to hear. “Oh you poor thing you have not eaten in days. Let me go get you some breakfast.” With that she left and went back down the stairs leaving Matt to himself. “Wow. She really lives up to her element. No wonder I was brought here she is the element of kindness and takes care of all sorts of creatures. When I showed up after Twilight’s spell they must have brought me here knowing that she would never turn down someone in need.” “I hope you like our breakfast.” Fluttershy said as she reentered the room. The pale yellow mare was carrying a tray of food on her back. She walked over to the bedside table and set the tray down so Matt could see. “It is have hay cakes with daisies on the side.” Matt looked at the tray with dismay. He could not eat any of the food the Fluttershy had brought for him. “I am really sorry Miss Flutershy but I can’t eat any of the food you brought out. Don’t worry about it. It is not your fault I never had the chance to tell you what I can and cannot eat.” “Oh I am so sorry about this. I should have known that you were a carnivore from your teeth. Would fish be okay? It is all I can get at short notice.” “Actually I can eat things other than meat. Fruit would be nice if you have any.” Matt explained to Fluttershy. “Oh okay. I think I have some apples downstairs please hang on a moment while I got get them.” A few minutes passed and the mare reappeared in Matt’s room. This time she was carrying a bag of apples. Matt reached out and took the bag from her. Once the weight of the bag rested on his arm he winced. “What’s wrong Matt are you hurt?” Fluttershy asked. “No. Just a little sore. I sure am glad the Twilight has been able to keep the pain down to this level though.” “She has not given you any pain killing spells since you first woke up. Should you be feeling worse than you are now?” “Back home after an accident like the one I had I should definitely be worse off. How long will it be until Twilight says I can walk around?” “Oh not long. She said only one more healing spell and a day of bed rest and you will be good to go.” “Wow that is great news. Now how about I try one of these apples.” Matt pulled one of the red delicious apples out of the bag and bit into it. He then took another bite and another and another until all that was left of the apple was the core. “That was the best apple I have ever eaten where did you get it?” Matt asked but he already suspected the answer. “The apples came from my one of my friend’s apple orchard, Sweet Apple Acres, they are really good.” Fluttershy agreed. Three short knocks were heard in quick secession. “Fluttershy I am here to give Matt his treatment.” A voice called from the door to the house. “That must be Twilight. I’ll go let her in. Have as many of the apples as you wish Matt” Fluttershy left and then quickly returned with Twilight in tow. “Okay Matt am going to cast the final spell of your treatment and then cast a diagnostics spell to make sure everything is going all right.” Twilight explained. “Okay Twilight cast away!” Matt watched as a purple aura grew around Twilight’s horn. She looked to be putting enormous amounts of concentration into the spell. Suddenly with a flash of light a purple beam flew from Twilight’s horn and struck Matt in the chest. “Phew that was tough. I think I need to take a break for a little bit.” Twilight told the others. “That’s fine Twilight. I feel great. All the aches and pains are gone. I have a full range of motion again.” Matt said as he stretched. “Okay I am ready to cast the diagnostics spell.” A much dimmer glow appeared on her horn. The same color glow encompassed all of Matt’s body. “Okay Matt it looks like you a perfectly fine physically. The soreness will return in a few hours though. It looks like you are recovering from your case of magic sickness nicely. You will still feel weak for a few weeks though maybe less. You seem to have a very high concentration of chaos magic but it is probably nothing. It might just be an affect of the backfired spell. You need to stay in bed for the rest of the day today but you should be good to walk around tomorrow.” “That’s great Twilight. Thank you both so much for taking care of me while I have been laid up like this. I will try to pay you both back once I can.” “Oh there is no need to do that for us Matt we are just doing the right thing.” Fluttershy told him. “Okay I guess but I still want to do something for you guys.” “Matt it is fine we are going to go to town so you need to rest while we are gone.” “Okay, see you later.” Matt told them. > Chapter 5: Questions > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident Chapter 5: Questions Later that day Matt was still lying in his bed at Fluttershy’s house. Matt was tired of the feeling of lethargy he was getting. “I am tired of feeling like an invalid. I am going to get up and walk to the door and back.” Matt sat up higher in the bed and swung his legs over the side. Even this small action left hm feeling drained. “Wow twilight was not kidding when she said the magic poisoning would leave me weak. I have to do this though, I just got to take it slowly.” .Matt pushed off the mattress with his hands and very slowly put his weight onto his legs for the first time in a few days. Matt was able to stand, although very shakily. This emboldened him and he took a step towards the door. Matt’s feet betrayed him however and he fell. Matt reached out for the nightstand and his hand brushed against it but could not find purchase. He tumbled down and tried to brace himself with his arm but it was much too weak and gave way easily. Matt landed on his stomach with his left arm pinned under him. Matt rolled over onto his back and groaned. The fall was not extremely serous but it still hurt where he had landed on his arm. It did not feel like it would be hurt badly, only sore for a while. Matt sat up on the hardwood floor of his bedroom and contemplated the gargantuan task of climbing back into his bed. Being built for ponies the bed was closer to the ground that most human beds but it was still a good two feet above the floor. Matt decided that the best course of action would be to just pull himself back up stand slowly, and flop onto the bed. Just as mat was grabbing the sheets, the door to his room opened. “Matt are you okay I heard a loud crash and… Oh, my are you ok? Did you fall out of bed? Or did you try to stand and walk?” Fluttershy asked him. “I am fine. It was only a fall; I have certainly been through worse.” Matt said with a slight chuckle. “This is kind of embarrassing but could you help me back into bed I really do not want to fall again.” “Of course I will help you Matt.” Fluttershy walked over and let Matt put his weight on her to support himself. Once he was safely back in the bed Fluttershy asked Matt a question. “Why did you try to walk? Twilight said that it would be another day before you could.” “I was tired of feeling so helpless. I wanted to know that I was not just a lump being a burden to you and Twilight. I felt like that if I could walk then I could start to take care of myself.” “I see. I understand that you do not want to cause us trouble but trust me you are not causing us any. We know it must be hard for you and both of us are here to help in any way we can.” Fluttershy told Matt. “Fluttershy why did you let me sleep in this room? You could have put me with the animals but instead you gave me a guest bedroom. How did you know I was sentient? Twilight had a translation spell on me when I first woke up. How did she know I spoke?” “When you came through he saw you clothes and thought that an animal would not be wearing any. I thought you could be because our friend Rarity dresses up her pet cat. What really convinced us is the case that you had in your hand.” “My briefcase survived! Bring it here please Fluttershy.” Matt exclaimed. “Okay hang on, I will go grab it from downstairs real quick.” Fluttershy said as she started walking down the stairs to the first floor. A few moments later, she came back up carrying the case with the handle between her teeth. “Here you go Matt.” “Thank you so much” Matt told Fluttershy. Matt looked at his case it was pretty badly damaged. The outer covering was torn in a few places and the top left corner was crumpled in from the force of the impact. It did not look like the damage was impossible to repair. Matt took a deep breath and slowly pried the two clasped on top of the case open. The case contained a stack of papers a small paperback fiction novel and a nexus 7 tablet. The tablet was only had a small crack in the screen, it was protected by the briefcase and the padded case that Matt always kept it in. There was also a bottle of Mello Yello in the case. “What is all the stuff Matt?” Fluttershy inquired at the contents of the case. “The papers are for my job. They are things I needed to get done, notes, and customer requests. The book is just a novel liked to read during my lunch hour. The stuff in the bottle is a drink but I think it has gone flat. It has been a few days since it was opened. This” Matt said pointing to the tablet. “is a um… uh a device that that lets me read a lots of books without carrying them around. I will explain more later.” “We did not open it but Twilight scanned it to make sure it was safe. I am glad that everything is okay. Oh I almost forgot, we found this in your coat pocket.” Fluttershy pulled out a black wallet and gave it to Matt. “What is it?’ She asked the human. “It is my wallet I use it to carry money. I also have pictures in here. Come look.” Fluttershy walked over to the side of the bed so that she could see the wallet better. “This is me when I was eighteen” Matt said pointing at a picture of his license. “Here are my parents.” The picture was of a man and a women smiling with a newborn on the women’s lap. “The picture was taken when I was born.” “They look really nice.” “They were. My clothes and case explain why you knew I was not an animal but how did you know I needed a translation spell?” Matt said wanting to change the subject from his parents. “Oh you talk in your sleep.” Fluttershy said with a slight giggle. “I do? Huh, I never realized. Guess you learn something about yourself everyday.” Matt said with a shrug. A loud knocking was heard at the door to the small cottage. Fluttershy excused herself and went to answer the door. She came back up the stairs with Twilight Sparkle following her. “Hello Matt how are you feeling today?” Twilight asked as she walked in the door. “Just fine thank you. What brings you here Twilight?” “Oh I just wanted to tell you that the Princess is coming tomorrow.” Twilight cheerily said > Chapter 6: The Princess > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident Chapter 6: The Princess “What!” Matt exclaimed with a worried look on his face. “The Princess is coming here?” “Yes. She will be here tomorrow afternoon. You should not be worried Matt Princess Celestia is very kind and would never hurt anypony in her kingdom.” Twilight told Matt with a smile. “That’s just it Twilight I am not a pony. I am some weird alien creature that literally fell right out of the sky. She doesn’t know anything about me. She could think that I am some huge danger to your home.” Matt said with the worried look still stuck to his face. “Oh don’t worry about that too much. The Princess did set up treaties with the griffon kingdoms.” Fluttershy said in her most calming voice. “And the dragons for the migration every year. If she can make peace with them then I am sure that she would have no problems with you Matt.” “Okay that makes sense.” Matt said starting to regain his calm attitude from before. “What does the Princess do?” Asked Matt wanting to know more about her than the show told. Twilight was quick to answer the question. “Well she does a lot of different things. She raises and lowers the sun everyday. She holds a daily court for anpony that needs her help. After that, she has a meeting with her advisors to discuss the state of the country. She also has to do a bunch of different ceremonies and stuff from time to time.” “Okay. What did she say that she wanted to talk to me about, Twilight?” Matt asked the purple unicorn. “She wants to know all sorts of things. Your way of life, how you interact with others, diet, and will probably ask if you want to be a citizen of Equestria while you are staying here.” “I do not know how well I will be able to answer all of her questions but I will definitely try my best.” “I am sure you will do fine Matt.” Twilight assured him with a small smile. “I guess I will be going now. Goodbye.” Fluttershy spoke barley above a whisper but enough to be heard. “Twilight aren’t you forgetting something?” Twilight stopped half way through the door remembering. “Oh right! The books.” Twilight turned around and levitated a stack of books from her saddlebags and onto the bedside table. “These are some books on the history and culture of Equestria so you aren’t completely lost. Fluttershy asked me to bring them to you.” “Thank both of you. I will start reading these right away.” Matt told the pastel ponies in the room. With that the ponies bid Matt farewell for the day. The next afternoon Matt was sitting nervously on the edge of his bed. After he slept he had gained back a lot of energy and he felt much better. However, no matter what he tried Matt could not get rid of the butterflies dancing in his stomach. “I am meeting royalty. Not just any royalty either but a princess who is one of the most powerful beings in this world. I can’t explain all of humanity. I am going to have to find a middle ground. I can’t make us all look evil but not everyone is Gandhi and Mother Teresa. This is going to be tough.” Then Matt heard the sound of wings flapping outside his window. He turned to look and saw the Princess’s golden chariot. A team of six stark white pegisi guards was pulling it. The chariot landed in the field in front of the cottage and Celestia stepped out. She was the most elegant and majestic thing that Matt had ever seen. Her coat was as white as the purest snow, her mane was a rainbow that fluttered in the breeze, her wings looked more powerful than any other thing could hope to achieve. Matt also knew that she was dangerous as she was beautiful. If he was deemed to be a threat to the ponies around him, she would banish him or worse. Matt heard hoof steps coming up the stairs but these sounded much louder than Fluttershy’s or Twilight’s. “It must be the Princess. Keep calm Matt you do not want to screw this up. All you have to do is keep calm and tell the truth. Remember this is not an interrogation you have nothing to hide.” Matt thought trying to get his nerves under control. Then the door opened and there stood the Princess of the sun. She looked even better up close. She had a calm and tender expression on her face. It looked like she was trying to tell him that everything is going to be okay. “Hello Matt. Twilight has told me many good things about you.” She said in a soothing tone. “Hello Princess.” Matt said as bent over in an attempt to bow in his sitting position. “What do you want to know about me or my kind? I will do my best to answer all of your questions.” “We will worry about your kind at a later time. They are not here sitting in front of me. My first question is what your full name is?” Celestia said with the kind look still on her face. “My full name is Matthew William Tyson the third.” Matt answered. “That is a rather odd name it sounds like it has nothing to do with you. Would you mind explaining it to us?” The Princess asked with a interested look in her eye. “Sure, my grandfather was named Matthew William Tyson and he passed it down to my father who passed it down to me. The first name is what people call me by, the middle name is a formality and the last name shows what family you are from on your father’s side.” Matt explained. “May I ask another question?” A small nod from Matt confirmed that she could. “What is your cutie-mark?” “My kind does not have them. If we did I would say that it would be something to do with my current job, programming.” Matt told the Princess raising a curious look from her. “What is programming?” She asked wanting to know more about this unknown profession. “It is very complex but I will try my best to explain. Because my kind did not have magic at their disposal, they invented technology instead. Over time, this technology grew more and more advanced. Modern technology used programs to perform certain tasks. I write the programs for the machines to use.” “I see, maybe that could be useful here for magic.” Celestia responded with a thoughtful expression. Over the next few hours, Matt told the ponies about his life on Earth and his experiences. He talked about his family and his friends. He told them about how his life was good but not great. The ponies asked about the objects in his briefcase and he explained the cards, book, papers, drink and left the Nexus for later. They seemed to be very interested in what he had to say about everything and when Matt was done Celestia made an announcement. “Matt I have decided to give you Equestrian citizenship for the remainder of your say in the country. Do you wish to become an Equestrian?” “I gladly accept your gracious offer, my Princess.” Matt answered. “Very well” Celestia placed her horn on the center of Matt’s chest and said, “You are now an official citizen of Equestria, Matthew William Tyson the third.” A feeling of numbness enveloped Matt as a bright glow of white magic surrounded him and his body began to transform, he withed in pain as he felt his bones being broken and knitted back into foreign shapes. When the glow went away Matt looked down and saw not his body but the body of a light green pony. Matt was speachless. He could not believe what his eyes were showing to him. He took his foreleg and threw the blankets off of the bed. Matt flopped out of the bed and onto the hardwood floor. He tried to stad but his new legs betrayed him and he fell back down onto his face. He was finalyy able to get dhakily back to his feet. “What have you done to me?” Matt screamed looking straight into the eyes of the princess. Celestia startled that he was so angry tried to calm him down. “Matt I made you an Equestrian. You said you were fine with this.” “I said that was fine with becoming a citizen! Not being TRANSFORMED into something I didn’t know was REAL a week ago!” Matt shouted. The rage on his face was evident to all in the room. A small white light was glowing from the center of Matt’s chest. “Why did you not tell what citizenship entailed? That was one of the MOST painful things I have ever endured second only to that crash that got me here!” The light grew brighter. “I am NOT a pony, I am a MAN!” The light flashed as bright as the sun and there stood Matt in his human form cloths singed standing in front of the Princess. He gave her one last glare before falling back onto the bed out cold. > Chapter 7: Forgotten Magic > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident Forgotten Magic "Princess!" Twilight cried, "what just happened?" How was he able to undo your magic? I thought he said that his kind did not even posses knowledge of magic like we do!" "Calm down my little Twilight; we must think this through," Princess Celestia gently admonished. "I recognized the type of magic he used; it was extremely similar to the kind that Discord employs, but it seemed more controlled somehow." The princess calmly approached the now-sleeping form of the human, and studied him very closely. "How strange a creature that said he had no affinity for magic was able to undo some of my own," she mumbled to herself. "Twilight we will let him rest, but wen he wakes I want to hear his explanation." With that the princess strode out of the room. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Matt slowly opened his eyes wincing as he did so. He felt like someone had taken jackhammer to his brain and a steamroller to everything else. He tried to sit up in his bed but the pain was to great for him and he flopped back down. He stayed like that for a while just breathing and trying to remember the plate number of the bus that had hut him. His eyes flew open when he realized what ad caused the pain he was feeling now. Oh no! Oh no! I was so dead now! I had a chance to live in this world with the grace of its leader but now I've gone and blew it. Oh God! I yelled at the princess! I am going to get punished for sure! Matt slowed his breathing and tried to regain a grip on the situation at hand. I am sure that the princess will be understanding. I mean I really was just caught off guard. It's not really my fault that I turned back into a human. Wait how did I do that? As Matt ponder this the small door to the room creaked open and Twilight quietly crept in trying not to wake Matt. However since Matt was not in fact asleep he did hear the purple unicorn. "Oh uh... hey Twilight." Matt managed to nervously croak out. Twilight only jumped a little bit when Matt addressed her and quickly regained her composure. "Matt it so good to see that your awake," Seeing the extremely nervous look on Matt's face Twilight help up a reassuring hoof "Matt we are not angry with how you acted the other day. Me and the princess are just very surprised. We thought that your kind did not have any magical ability." "Neither did we," Matt sheepishly replied. "I am just as surprised as you are I just don't know what came over me. I was just so tired and stressed and just angry. Not with the princess but with my whole situation. It felt like a switch flipped on inside of me. I wanted to change back into a human, so I guess I did." Matt cautiously looked at Twilight's face hoping to see a look of understanding. What he saw was not anger but curiosity, like she wanted to take him apart and see how he ticked. As she continued to stare Matt became increasingly uncomfortable. "Um... Twilight do you uh... know what happened to me yesterday?" He asked hoping that he wasn't reminding her of why he should be locked up or worse. "The princess thinks she knows what happened," Twilight replied "but you may not like her explanation." "Why not?" "I'll let her explain from here." With that Twilight knocked once on the door to signal to Princess Celestia that it was alright for her to enter the human's room. The princess looked down at Matt with what could almost be called a regretful expression, like she did not want to be the bearer of bad news. Matt was not reassured at all by this troubling expression. The princess looked at for a while longer then spoke. "I am deeply regretful for what happened two days ago. I am sorry that there was a lack of communication between us that allowed such a large difference between what you thought citizenship meant and what I was giving you." The princess cast her eyes downward and paused to take a shuddering breath. "I hope that you are willing to accept this apology." "I should be the one apologizing to you princess! I lost control of my emotions and let my temper get the better of me. I am incredibly sorry and man no disrespect. I was just in such a state of shock I overacted" Matt hastily explained. "Do you know what kind of magic you used to transform yourself back into your original form?" The princess inquired. "No, I am afraid I do not know how that happened. I have never done anything close to that in my entire life!" Matt remembered what Twilight has said earlier about the princess having an explanation "Wait, I thought you knew what kind of magic it was?" "You are half correct; I think I know what kind of magic was used. I believe it to be a very close relative to chaos magic. I seems as though your extreme emotional state cause the magic inside of you to unlock and burst forth. Much like what happened to little Twilight here with the Sonic Rainboom on her examination day." "Will I be able to control this magic?" Matt asked worried what it might entail if he could not control it. "You should be able too with sufficient training but it will be awhile before you can do any magic again. I can tell you are suffering a very bad case of summoner's fatigue." The princess turned to the door and motioned for Twilight to follow "I better let you get some rest Matt. We will check back in a while for now just sleep." Matt sank back down and stopped struggling against his fatigue and slept. > Transmission 1: Stange Readings > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Transmission 1 Strange Readings To: Director Holt Subject: The Elevator Case Jim, there is something really weird going on at that elevator case. First thing that stuck out to me was that when the rubble was cleared not a single body was found. This wouldn't be all that strange except for he fact that the receptionist saw a man walk into the elevator before it fell. There were no traces of that man at the accident scene: no blood, clothing, and there was no way for the man to escape. At first we just thought that the receptionist was just mistaken but to double check we looked at the security footage and there he was. A man was in the elevator when it fell. The camera cuts out before we can see what happens to him though so it didn't help us much. That when we pulled out the new equipment and it just went crazy. We kept getting off the charts readings for some kind of electric field. I think we need to call in te "Unusual Requests" Division. Ron Crate Level 3 Tech. > Chapter 8: What Now? > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident What Now? Matt woke up with a start, he was drenched in sweat from head to toe and his skin was flushed as red as a tomato. "Water. I need some water." He croaked out through his sandpaper coated throat. The words seemed to burn their way out. The poor human shifted in the bed to try and get out of it without his face getting very acquainted the hard wood floor. He was able to sit up and get is feet on the ground this time but he still needed to use the bed for support as he walked to the door. Every step the man took made it feel like there was more fire running through his veins. As Matt reached for the door knob his vision was starting to blur; it almost looked like a faint blue aura was surrounding him. When he opened the door it was as if all of strength left him at one and he collapsed in a heap onto the living room floor. "Matt!" Fluttershy screamed, "Twilight come quick Matt just collapsed! I think he passed out!" "What!?" Twilight shouted as she popped right next to the prone human, "This so not good, this very very bad". "What's wrong with him?" "He is suffering from magical burnout. It's what happens when a magical being summons up a very large amount of mana but never uses it for a spell." "Can we help him?" "Yes, thankfully, I will have to siphon off the excess magic until it reaches safe levels", Twilight grimaced "but it won't be pleasant for either of us." "I'll go find Spike and have him send a letter to the princess right away." "Thanks Fluttershy." With that the yellow pony ran out of the room to go get the small dragon while Twilight stated the process of siphoning the magic. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The door to the library flew open and a very concerned looking yellow pegasus flew straight in disturbing the small dragon reading comic books. "Hey! What's the big deal Fluttershy!" "Matt's in trouble! Twilight needs you to send a letter to the princess right now!" "Oh man! hang on let me get my pen," the small dragon rooted around in the papers scattered by Fluttershy's enthusiastic entrance, "Here we go. Okay what did Twilight want to say?" "She said that Matt was suffering from some she called Magical burnout, and that she needed the princess as soon as possible!" "Okay sent!" "Quick Spike lets hurry back I'm sure that poor Matt needs all the help he can get." "Right lets get going" ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When Spike and Fluttershy made it back to her cottage Twilight looked like the one needing the most help. The purple unicorn's mane was getting frazzled and her eyes were long past bloodshot. "Oh dear, Twilight is there anything we can to help?" "Yeah you don't look so good there Twilight maybe you should take a break." "No!" The purple unicorn almost yelled at her friends, "If I stop Matt might not be able to pull through this." "I thought you said that you just had to take off the extra magic why would taking a little break cause so much damage?" "You don't understand, He keeps summoning more mana!" "Even while he's unconscious?" Spike asked. "Yes, and I can hardly keep up anymore!" Twilight lifted her head to look at her friends, "We need to keep him stable until the princess gets here. Spike I need you to go get some water and some towels so we can keep him cool." "Yes Ma'am!" the little dragon salted and marched his way into the kitchen. "Fluttershy I am going to need you to close all the blinds and get some zap-apple jam." "I understand the blinds but what will the jam do?" "Since zap-apples have magical properties they should be able to absorb some of the excess magic, and right now every little bit helps." "Okay, I guess that makes sens-" Suddenly the room was illuminated by a very bright flash. "Twilight! What's going on?" Celestia asked as soon as her hoofs hit the floor. "Matt is suffering from the worst case of magical burnout I have ever seen! And he just keeps summoning more mana!" Twilight was frantic at this point and was about to pass-out herself. "Here let me take over Twilight, If I remove all of the mana at once then it should stop, at least for a little while." A bright glow appeared around the princess's horn and once again a bright flash filled the room. Matt's body relaxed and it lokked like he might almost melt into the floor. The princess; however, looked exhausted. "Hey Twilight, I got the water. Whoa, what happened?" "The princess arrived and helped Matt," Fluttershy quietly explained. "So is he going to be alright?" "That remains to be seen," Celestia answered, "He will recover from this but we need to keep it from happening again." "What should we do princess?" "I think, Twilight, that you just received your first student." "What!? But I don't know how to teach. Isn't there something else we can do?" "Twilight you know that the only way to prevent serious magic burnout is with proper training. You are a very gifted magic user and you are becoming an even better friend. Treat this as if you were helping one of your friends and you will do fine" "Wow, my very first student and he isn't even from this planet!" > Chapter 9: The New Student > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Incident The New Student "Twilight, do you think that you will be able to begin teaching Matt how to control his mana on his own? I have to get back to Canterlot to finish up some important documentation." "Of course princess!" "Okay, well I will see you later. Probably tomorrow but feel free to send a letter if anything like today comes up." "Will do!" Twilight reassured the princess as she walked out of the cottage. "Now how do I teach some one not to summon mana?" The purple unicorn asked herself. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Matt woke up to a rather loud thumping sound, almost like a very large stack of books being plopped onto a nightstand. He turned his head to the side and confirmed it. "Twilight what are all of these books for?" "To teach you magic of course!" The very confused human shot a look at the unicorn, "What?" "Hold on, let be back up a little bit. What happened to you yesterday is called magical burnout, it's what happens when a magic user summons to much mana and doesn't cast any spells. You were summoning so much mana that I had to get the princess to come and help me get rid of the excess." "I thought they got rid of mana burn in the 2010 rules update." "What?" "Sorry that was a joke from home, don't worry about it." "Anyway, I need to teach you how to stop summoning mana. This is kinda weird actually because usually the trouble comes when trying to teach how to summon mana in the first place, not how to stop it." "Is that what l of these books are for?" Matt asked eying the rather tall stack sitting next to him. "Yep! Don't worry you don't have to read all of them just bits and pieces for reference. The first thing we need to work on is getting you able to feel the flow of mana. Once you can do that you can stop the flow." "Okay. How do we start?" "Well you need to lay down and hold your breath," Matt did so, "Close your eyes and find a silver stream in your mind." After about half a minute Matt gulped down some air and looked over a Twilight. "I couldn't find any silver streams or anything just dark." "Hmm, maybe we need to go to a place where there a fewer distractions. I know! We can go down to the basement you should be able to find the flow a lot easier down there." "Uh, okay." Matt got up out of the bed and slowly walked to the door. He felt much steadier on his feet than the day before. He was able to make it down to the basement door without too much trouble. He slowly opened the door and cautiously walked down the stairs. There was no light coming into the basement other than the light coming in from the doorway. "This is the perfect place to practice, Matt. With no light or sound you should be able to focus much better down here. Okay now do what you did earlier and try to see the flow." Matt lied down on the floor of the basement and tried to see this 'flow' again, but as many times as he tried he just could not see it. "Twilight I just can not see any special flow silver or not." "Well what do you see?" "What I normally see when I close my eyes just colored circles." The unicorn's eyes lit up with a new realization,"Maybe that's it! I was trying to teach like a unicorn but you are not a unicorn, maybe those circles you see are your mind's representation of the mana forming instead of the silver stream! Try and close those." "But I've always seen the circles they can't be my magic." "You could see it but never call it forth, but when you came here Celestia flooding you with magic for the transformation spell must have triggered your magic!" "Okay, I guess that makes sense. So I should try and close the circles?" "Yes, try that." "Here goes something." Matt once again settled down on to the floor and closed his eyes. He took a deep breath and tried to focus on the task before him. He stayed like this for almost two full minutes until he slowly opened his eyes and looked over at the unicorn. "I think I did it, can you check?" "Yeah, hang on." Twilight's horn lit up and she probed the human looking for any new mana formation. When she found none she started to dance like a school filly but quickly remembered that she wasn't the only one in the room. "What was that all about?" A slightly concerned human asked. "You stopped the mana! You did it! Now you don't have to worry about magical burnout any more. Now we can begin working on your magical skills." "You mean I'm going to become like a wizard! This is awesome." "Well maybe not a wizard that title is reserved for only the best magic users like Starswirl the Bearded, but maybe you could become a mage or a specialist. You are going to start really small and it will be hard to teach you because of how different your magic seems to be from standard unicorn magic. Tomorrow we will start with Foal's First Spells Volume One. " "Thanks for the vote of confidence, Twilight."