The new arrival in Equestria

An average teenage human, Micheal. Finds himself in a stange new world, and no memory of anything before. How did he get there? How will he react? Will he be accepted? And most importantly, what will happen in this page turning story? Lets find out...

Chapter one: The freakout

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

"Michael, go to bed!" My dad yelled

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What did you want to show us Fluttershy?"

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

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

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

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

"Huh?" All the ponies said.

"Hello? Is some-pony in there?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Is he even listening?" scolded applejack

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Yep that was me" said pinkie still bouncing.

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

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

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

"Um is she okay?" I asked.

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

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

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

THUMP! An apple came crashing down onto my head.

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

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

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

"Shoot no." Said Applejack waving a hoof.

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

"Oh that's an original name."

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

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

"Oh, I'm Fluttershy" she whispered.

"What was that?"

"I'm Fluttershy," still whispering.

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

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

"Thanks for that," I said back.

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

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

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

Chapter 2: A blast from the past

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

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

"Why not sugar cube?" Asked Applejack.

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

"Hmm, ya got a point there"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well, we mostly eat-"

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

"What? No we eat-"

"GRASS?"

"NO! We eat-"

"FLOWERS!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well there is-"

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

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

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

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

"Human" I corrected.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"So how did you get it?"

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

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

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

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

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

"What the hay is a dollar?"

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

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

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

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

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

"Uhh, the purple unicorn."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why is it so important?"

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

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

"But-"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Chapter 3: Homesickness

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

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

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

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

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

"Yer mighty good for a beginner."

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

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

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

"Yer on!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"A what runner?"

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

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

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

"Uhhhhh…."

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

"Ya have?"

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

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

"Better than nothing" I chuckled back at her.

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

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

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

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

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

"Well I hope so."

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

"Were here!" Said Applejack.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You can draw?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*yawn* "Mornin'" Sleepily greeted Applejack.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Hey what are you-"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well, Twilight can do the real awesome stuff"

"Can she breathe fire?"

"I don't think so but-"

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

"Yeah…So um…What are you?"

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

"Uh…okay…."

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

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

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

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

Chapter 4: Life is a party

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

"What's that?" Asked Twilight.

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

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

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

"We'll all go, right girls?"

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

"Yeah we will!" Encouraged Rainbow Dash.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What?" I questioned back.

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

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

"We use bits." Answered Rainbow Dash.

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

"Yeah, didn't think so."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Get used to what?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

*yawn* "G'night Michael."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Um…okay sure." I said back to her.

"WOOHOO!"

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

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

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

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

"Any good music?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Woah, woah, woah! More magic?"

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

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

"A cutie mark?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Okay! Come on Michael!"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Uh, doctor who?"

"Ha ha! Exactly!" He said jokingly.

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

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

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

"Hey man, you rocked up there."

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

"Just as I thought" I told her.

"Huh?"

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

[NO! I AM NOT TRYING TO MAKE A CUPCAKES REFERENCE HERE EITHER!]

I poured myself a cup on punch when:

"HEY MICHAEL!" I heard Pinkie yell out.

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

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

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

"Cause you and I could always-"

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

"Oops, I might have added too much."

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

"Michael? Michael! Wake up."

"Argh, *squee!*. What the hell happened?"

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

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

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

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

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

"You spin me right round?"

"Yeah, something along the lines of that."

"Thought so, so what's next?"

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

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

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

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

"Is he awake yet?" She asked.

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

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

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

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

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

Chpater 5: Who, what, why?

"So why are you here Ditzy? Shouldn't you be at work or something?" I asked her as she walked in.

"Oh, it's my day off; I just wanted to see if you had woken up yet."

"She spent her day off checking up on me? Wow… This wouldn't have happen back on earth…" It felt good to know that someone cared or somepony, especially since we had just met a night ago.

"I brought you some muffins Michael" she said with a bubbly smile on her face.

"Heh heh, wow thanks d- AAAAAAARRRRRHHHH!" I screamed as pain bored into my brain. I clenched my head with my fists.

"Oh no! Are you okay?"

"Urrrh, its fine I think I'm used to it by now. I have a sugar crash whenever my friends stay over for the weekend anyways." The pain was sharp and constant, like a migraine.

"Hmm, we could go and see if Zecora has a potion for it. I'm sure she will!" Encouraged Twilight. "Let's go Ditzy!"

"But I want to stay here with Michael" Ditzy protested.

"Actually, I think it's better if you go Ditsy" I added. "I think I just need some peace and quiet right now."

"Oh sure…all right." Ditzy had a hint of sadness in her voice. As the two ponies strolled out with the front door closing behind them I thought:

"Wait, did I just kick Ditzy out? Argh I'm so stupid, she's got to be the friendliest pony ever. Man I feel like such a dick." For a while it was all just a mesh of pain when I tried to think, I heard footsteps and Spike came down the stairs.

"You're still here?" He asked me.

"Yeah, and before you ask yes I know what I did at the party. Even though I can't remember half of it, just hope I didn't do something I regret. AaaaAARH!" Another strike of pain came into my head, like a power drill.

"Are you okay?"

"Sugar crash, migraine, nuff said." My stomach grumbled and I realised I hadn't eaten since last night. "Oh man I'm getting hungry" I said to myself. "Well time for breakfast, or is it lunch. Hell I don't know." I stood up and… "Whoop, light headed." I fell to the floor with a loud THUD! "Urh…"

Something came back to me at that point, my vision blurred up and I could see it again. I had a virus and was really sick, when I got up off the couch I got light headed and fell over. I faded back into reality.

This whole scenario had happened to me before, well except for the dragon, but I remembered everything I had learned about them now, and all the games I'd slayed them in. Including Skyrim…

"Holy crap, I can remember now. Ha-ha! I remember this!" I sat up and clapped my hands.

"Uh remember wh-"

"So Spike…*yawn* is it true that dragons have scales hard as rock?" I interrupted.

"Only the older ones but-"

"And are dragons really fireproof?"

"I'm not sure…I guess-"

"What about your wings huh? Where are those?"

"Uh…"

"Woah that was a mouthful, wow I'm tired." It was true I had that morning feeling now that I think about it. So after waking myself up and sharing the muffins with Spike for breakfast (I didn't like the idea of eating hay very much) Twilight came back. Good thing to because the spikes of pain were increasing, I was getting one every 10 seconds or so now. "Please tell me you have that OW! Potion…"

"Right here" she levitated a small bowl over to me, I grabbed it and skulled it down. Next second I found myself gagging and chocking because a cough just HAD to come as I was drinking. It went on for almost a full minute until I could talk again.

"Damm, that really went down the wrong way, but at least the headache is gone." I tried to brighten up the atmosphere a bit. "By the way Ditzy, did you make those muffins?"

"Yup! Did you like 'em?"

"So first you can sing and now you can cook? Anything you can't do?" She let out a little giggle, and then I turned to Twilight. "By the way, do you know any place where I can get some work?" I didn't want to tell anyone bit I felt bad just mooching off of Applejack.

"Well, there is sugar cube corner. But then again you would have to put up with Pinkie being…Well Pinkie."

I chuckled and said: "Nah I don't mind her, reminds me of someone actually…Wait a second… Ditzy! You should work at sugar cube corner with me."

"Err, no no. I've already got a job as a mail mare, I'll be fine."

"If you say so, but you really have a talent for baking muffins."

After waving Twilight and Spike goodbye and Ditzy going off to do…Well whatever she wanted, I headed to sugar cube corner. It was still awkward going through town, everyone was staring at me like I might go back*squee!* crazy and murder someone, and others just looked at me and whispered to each other. I got to sugar cube corner and saw Pinkie sucking down a milkshake.

She spotted me, jumped up, and gasped. "MICHAEL! Why are you at sugar cube corner! Did you come to see me?" And what a surprise, she was bouncing around again.

"Well actually I…" I put my hand on her head to try and get her to stop bouncing. "I came to see if you could get me a job at the shop."

"That'd be super totally awesome! C'mon you can come meet Mr and Mrs Cake."

A smile crept onto my face "at least the days will be a lot more interesting now" I thought. I noticed she left her milkshake behind, I peered into the cup. "Smells like strawberry, these ponies are more advanced than I thought."

After Pinkie pushing Mr and Mrs Cake to give me a job, they caved in pretty quickly even without knowing if I could cook or not. Makes me wonder if Pinkie got her job that way, can she even cook?

"Okie dokey lokie! You start tomorrow; this is going to be SOO much fun!"

"I still can't believe you got me a job so easily…Huh…I don't know why but that reminds me, who's that Rainbow pony again?"

Pinkies words all glued together: "Oh you mean Rainbow Dash she loves to prank we should go see her, but she's usually napping at this time also she lives in cloudsdale so we can't get up there without a spell, we should go ask Twilight for that!"

As she dragged me by my shirt back to the library, an idea struck. "Say Pinkie, you said there was a forest or something around here right?"

"Mmhhmm" she muffled through my shirt.

"Let's go see one tonight, Fluttershy wouldn't have to know, since she sort of hates the idea of going into that place."

She spat out my shirt "That's a great idea, we could get Twilight and Applejack and Rainbow Dash to come, Rarity wouldn't like getting her hooves dirty though, and Fluttershy would be scared stiff if she went in there. Oh! And we could-"

"Woah woah woah! Slow down already, you're going like 90 miles an hour here. Let's just focus on getting that Rainbow one first." We both walked through the door to the library…again! It felt oh too familiar walking into there.

"Back so soon?" Twilight asked, she was reading a book with a beaker on the front cover.

"Well, not by choice" I shot a quick glare at Pinkie. "But we need a favour, I read about a cloud walking spell in one of the books you lent me." Sudden realisation had struck me, "Oh crap those are supposed to be back tomorrow." I muttered to myself. "Anyway me and Pinkie were wondering if we could go visit Rainbow something with it."

"Rainbow Dash? Why do you want to go and see her?"

"I was hoping to get some of you guy- uh…Ponies to go and see some wolves. That reminds me, do you want to come?"

Hmm, I don't know. We would have to get some supplies ready, and we would need to find the right time, also I would need time to prepare the spell."

"Twilight, it's just a simple trip into the woods, we aren't going to war here. Besides, I've studied wolves a bit back home in school. Wolves won't-"Mid-sentence the world de-materialised in a split second, leaving me in an empty void. "Wait…What! Oh god what the *squee!* is-"again the world materialised. But I wasn't back in Twilights library; I was standing in my classroom, right behind someone.

I stared at my hands, they were ghost like and transparent, mist was emanating from me. I could only see the outline of my hands; the rest was a transparent, faded white glow. I tried to scream, but my words only came out as a whisper, and as I stumbled back, I expect to fall back onto another student's desk, but ended up flat on the ground. I clambered up and stared at the person, they were blankly staring at the teacher, looking very bored. I stretched my hand out, shaking like an earthquake. I slowly lowered my hand onto the students shoulder, it went right through! I tried again, a few quick swipes, the student didn't even know I was there.

"What is this place?"I thought, seeing as how I couldn't speak. I looked up to the white board; I remembered the words it had scribbled on it: "The balance of nature."

"Yeah, yeah it's coming back to me now. This was when we had to do a project on an animal and how it affects other animals…Wait…Then that means…" Hastily I stepped forward to where my desk was, I hadn't noticed but I had appeared right behind it. I spun around and…There he was…Me! I looked the same, had the same doodles in my book, the same bored stare I give, it was like looking in a mirror, only a different stance. I passed my hand through his head, this time he seemed to notice, he cocked his head up and spun around. Curious if he could see me or not I waved to him. With a shrug he turned back around, "we I obviously can't see me…Wow that sounded weird." I tried passing my hand through again, he turned around again, this time reaching out a bit. His hand went through me as well; as he pulled back he stared at it for a few seconds, and then rubbed both his hands together.

"Hmm" I thought. This time I stepped completely through him I turned back to watch this give off a little shiver. He was obviously cold when I had walked through him, he looked around curiously, and it seemed like something I would do. He looked to the left, right, up, then straight at me. I heard him let out a 'hmm' before looking back at the board.

After that I walked around the class for a bit, it was all coming back now. But why couldn't I remember this after I came to that pony world? And if I can go right through people, how am I standing on solid ground? But if I was cold when I walked through me, then am I a ghost? Eventually I got annoyed at my teacher going on and on, so I stepped through the door and outside. As soon as my foot touched the ground, I faded through that as well. I was falling in an endless void, my voice was becoming stronger as I struggled to yell, I came out of the void and I was falling from the sky. I saw buildings underneath me, it was ponyville! I was going to land on top of Twilights library. "H-hey, I'm back! But I'm *squee!*ing FALLING!" I yelled out to anyone. Before I knew it I struck the roof of Twilights library, but I didn't hear a splat, or felt my bones crushing, I saw was my body just lying on the floor, unconscious. That was the last thing I saw before crashing back into myself with a bright blinding light.

I shot up and looked down at myself, back to normal, colour and everything! I looked around; I was back in Twilight's library.

I started to ramble on: "Oh god did that really just happen? Holy crap what was that? Why was I back there?"

"Michael, clam down. You fainted, what happened?"

"I don't know, I was here talking to you, then reality sort of, caved in on itself." I tried doing gestures with my hands; they didn't turn out very well. "After that I was back at school, but I was a…Ghost I guess…I was white and misty, barely visible. Weird thing was Twilight…I saw myself there, before any of this had happened. I think it was a week or two ago…"

"That's strange, I've never heard of that kind of magic before. I'll write to Princess Celestia about this, but I'm afraid that we might have to delay that wolf outing for a while."

"Wait…Princess! Twilight we've taken a big enough risk letting everyone in town I'm here. Why the hell are you going to tell the king and queen?"

"Michael, you took that risk. And I have to write to Princess Celestia for my studies on friendship, and I think this would make an excellent letter."

"What are you so scared about?" Asked Pinkie.

"Pinkie, I'm a human teen in a hollowed out tree in the middle of a town full of flying, magical, farming ponies. Reasoning with a royal purple unicorn, and explaining all of this to a hyperactive pink pony all while trying to not go back-*squee!* insane, and hoping this is all just one giant dream…And now… Twilight wants to tell the two most powerful ponies in the country that I'm here. The light doesn't get any greener Pinkie."

"Michael, we don't a king or queen, just two princesses." Said Twilight.

"Okay then….I'd go into a detailed argument but it gets boring and it just stops the plot of the story."

"The what?"

"Foreshadowing,so. About this letter thing, you really think it's a good idea?"

"Why wouldn't it be, Celestia could try and find out how you got here, about these visions you're having, and even help you get home." The word 'home' struck me with a bit of sadness. Would I really have to leave so soon?

"Ehh, I still don't know. Can't really trust many people in this world."

Pinkie jumped in front of me and said: "you can trust us can't you?" I wasn't one for emotional talks, especially with ponies. I tried to stall while I thought of a way out of there.

"Oh wait, that reminds me I was supposed to do something…" I lightly hit myself on the forehead, trying to make up an excuse. "Uhh what was it…Um…Oh yeah; I have to get those books back to Twilight! I'll go get 'em." I dashed out the door, trying to lose sight of the library in the buildings. I got outside the town and leaned against a tree, "whew that was awkward." I started walking back to the farm, a rustling in the trees was following me, at first a shook it off thinking it was wind, but the air was still. Listening for it, I made my way up the path, going slower than usual. "Yeah, something's definitely following me" I thought.

I turned around and called out: "Look, I know you're there so just come out already." There was no answer, "okay then…" I walked up to where the rustling had come from last and gave the tree a swift kick.

"Wooaah" said a pony falling from the tree.

"You again!" The pony was black with a white mane; up close it was obviously male.

"Heh I like you kid, you managed to find me, and you have a keen sense. We can talk more later." He attempted to take off but I grabbed his hoof and pulled him down.

"How about we talk now, why the hell are you stalking me?"

"Stalking is such an ugly word, I prefer investigating. But I will tell you more about myself later, I promise." He twisted my hand around and forced me to let go before flying off into the tree's again.

"Stupid bush ponies." I tried to listen for him again as I made my way back to the farm, "guess he's gone for good this time" I thought. Inside the farm big Macintosh was drinking some apple sider. I didn't want to be around when he got drunk off that stuff, who knows what could happen. When I got up to the guest room, I realised how many books I'd taken out. I figured I might as well pick up some of my stuff while I was there, so I stuffed my IPod in my pocket.

"Why has this world got to be full of magic, and ponies! Actually…Might not be such a bad thing." I muttered to myself. "Wait a second, Twilight's still at the library…So that means…Aww crap!" I scooped up the books and dashed out of the barn.

"Taste the rainbow!" Big Macintosh called out, he sounded half drunk at the time.

Running along the path I spotted Applejack.

"Howdy Mich-"

"Sorry, off to save the human race!" I interrupted. When I got back to Twilights library, forgetting that their doors didn't have handles, I fell through it trying to lean against it. Looking up I could see a Dragon burning a scroll and the ashes flying away. Scrambling up from the books I said to myself: "Oh no no no! Why the hell did you send that to her?"

"The princess had to know, and- wait, how did you know that was going to the princess?" Reasoned Twilight.

"You were talking about it two minutes ago, do the maths."

Spike closed the window, turned and said: "Why are you so afraid of letting Celestia know?"

"Well call me paranoid but I don't think letting the government know that a human is here would be the brightest idea. If you've ever watched one of those movies about the government hunting down an alien and doing tests on him, you'd get it."

"Him?"

"Uh…I mean it…*squee!*, well if there's no way to stop it…Gaah, I don't know. But if we can't go see the wolves, then could we at least try the spell? I've always wanted to walk on clouds."

Pinkie hopped into the room and cheerfully said: "You should try it Michael, its super fun! Can we Twilight, please?"

"Well…I have got some business with Rainbow Dash on my checklist…So I guess we can go visit." Said Twilight, she was walking towards the door "knowing her she will probably be napping on a cloud somewhere."

When we got out of the library I asked: "So um, quick question. How are we going to get up to the clouds huh? More magic?"

Twilight responded: "Well actually we were going to take the-"

"We're going to take the hot air balloon!" Interrupted Pinkie and she skipped around to the back of the library.

"Wait, you have a-" turning the corner I saw a fenced off area, with a deflated hot air balloon tethered to the ground. "Daaaaaaaaamm! When you said royal you really meant royal!" Twilight had already gotten the balloon ready by the time I'd said that.

Up in the air Twilight asked Pinkie and I: "Are you ready?"

"I've got nothing better to do on a hot air balloon, sure."

Twilight's horn glowed as she shut her eyes and concentrated. I couldn't help trying to stare into the magical light, but it was like looking into the sun. An explosion of light, I looked at my arms and I could see a faint purple aura fading away. A lone piece of cloud came towards the balloon, I reached out and grabbed it, and it felt like cotton candy in your hand. Just then I had a brilliant idea, I let it go and struck my fist down against it, the cloud was still floating and in one piece but it felt like I hadn't hit anything.

"That should do it, I'll just get the balloon down so-"

"Heh, I've always wanted to say this" I muttered to myself. I opened the basket and spotted Rainbow Dash on a large cloud below. "Allons-y!" I yelled as I jumped out from the basket, landing face first in cloud. It was like landing into a pile of fleece, soft enough not to get hurt, but stable enough not to let you fall.

As I sat up I couldn't help but laugh, it was so much fun just jumping into clouds.

"Whee!" Pinkie yelled as she crashed down next to me. We didn't know why we were laughing, but we couldn't stop, didn't want to stop.

"Huh, wha?" Startled a sleepy Rainbow Dash nearby.

"Wait were you napping?" I asked her "shouldn't you be at your job or something?"

"Wait, you're standing on cloud." She poked her head below the cloud, "Y-you're flying!"

"Hey rainbow!" Called out Twilight as she descended."

"Oh, Twilight did a spell on you guys" Rainbow flew up to meet Twilight. As she did I quickly sat down, took off my shoes, stuffed some cloud in them and slipped back into them.

"Watch this." I whispered to Pinkie, "What didn't I tell you that humans can fly?"

"You can?" Asked Twilight, "didn't you need the spell to get up here?"

"Course he can't Twi" said Rainbow flying over to me. "He hasn't even got wings; yep you can't fool a Pegasus."

"Of course I can, I just didn't tell you because you already have Pegasi so I didn't think you'd be interested. And if I can't fly, then how can I do this?" I lifted my foot up and pressed against the cloud in my shoes, walking up through the air like stairs around Rainbow.

"I should really tell you guy's erm…Ponies, things more often, who says you need wings to fly? Wings are overrated." The two ponies just stared, mouths hanging open. "Yep, that's humans for ya, always changing. That's why I didn't fly before, couldn't until now. Who knows, maybe tomorrow I'll wake up and I can use magic, we can't tell what's coming next."

I walked back down to Pinkie who was giggling at me. "So can you really do all that stuff?" Asked Pinkie.

"Nah, I just like to mess with people sometimes" I had my head so far up in the clouds I'd forgotten about Twilights letter. "…Wait a second…Hey Rainbow Dash, is there a town in the clouds, I mean you can shape them so you could build with 'em."

Rainbow shook her head and flew down. "Well there's cloudsdale, but it's getting late" she said pointing to the sunset over the hills. "But I shouldn't show you now, it can get really chilly up here and that storm is tonight and-"

"Alright, alright. We're going already. Back into the balloon I guess."

We waved goodbye to Rainbow Dash and Twilight asked: "So you can really fly Michael? But how?"

"Heh, heh. It's all wibbly wobbly science stuff." When we had landed I started heading back to the farm, Pinkie caught up with me though and started going on about how Twilight would have been all over that cloud walking trick if she hadn't given up on her 'Pinkie sense'. I had no idea what that meant but I was in a world on ponies; nothing really made any sense any more, I just went along with it all.

Back at the farm I took the cloud out of my shoes and just let them float back up. When I went into the barn and into my room, I also noticed that I still had my IPod in my pocket "I really need to get you fixed" I thought. "Ah well, maybe tomorrow then." Climbing into bed I put it back on the bedside table with everything else. I fell asleep quickly to the hum of Rainbow's storm overhead.

In my dream I was back in that ghostly form, only I was outside this time, still in the outskirts of that pony town. I walked along, wondering where I was now. I saw something resting on a stump nearby, talking to itself, as I got closer I could recognise it. "No…Th-that's not possible!" I screamed at myself in my head. It was another human, but it wasn't me this time he was different. He was taller, older looking, different clothes, different hair colour, different face, different everything! After a few minutes of hitting my head trying to understand…Well, anything at this point I heard him talk again.

I looked up to see a bunny approach him; I could slightly hear him say:

"Hey little guy, it's okay I'm not going to hurt you." At least that's what it sounded like, I wasn't sure. "My name's-"I couldn't hear the other part of that, I wished I could have. Then the bunny took a leap and bit him, watching him hop around cursing at the bunny was kind of funny, he hopped around for around a minute. "-*squee!*" That's all I could make out before reality sort of collapsed again.

I woke up wondering what the hell had happened, was there really someone else here? Or is it just me trying to deal with being the only human? Hell I don't know, but if he really is here, I'll find out soon enough.

I went downstairs to have some breakfast; luckily Applejack had some apple-pie left over, along with a glass of apple juice.

"Ya'll might want to get a sweater before ya go out there."

"Why? It's just the same as any other day right Apple-"I swung the door open, and I was staring into a snow wonderland.

Chapter 6,7 & 8:

Because the character limit on the edit bar is screwing up, you can either look at the reply by me below, or you can read it here: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7404500/6/MLP_fim_The_new_arrival_in_equestria

Sorry about this.

 

Okay then, because the edit option is screwing up, I'll just add the chapters using this reply thing. Easier to keep it on one site after all. Anyway, on with the chapter.

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

Applejack chuckled a little.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What're you muttering 'bout Michael?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Bye"

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

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

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

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

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

"What?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I snapped back and Fluttershy was shaking me.

"Woah, woah yes hello what is it?"

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

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

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

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

"What's this for?" I asked.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh well, just help us pack up."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Just help me Michael!"

"Fine fine, what'd ya need?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pinkie came back "I said, come on"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What?"

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

Pinkie gasped "I've got it!"

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

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

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

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

"You up for some winter racing?"

"A race? You are so on!"

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

"Hah, no shortcuts, no problem."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Ten…seconds…flat."

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

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

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

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

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

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

"You lost!"

"Huh!" She dropped to the ground.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well I...I um…How did I know?"

"Oh so now you just suddenly forget eh?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"The feeling of what?"

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

"Well, I guess I could-"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Boy this place is different." I sighed.

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

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

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

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

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

"Ohhhh~what?"

 

Chapter 7: How did this become a normal day for me?

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

“We should probably go see Twilight ‘bout this.” I said through a mouth full of pie.

“Twilight? Why do ya’ll need to go see her?” Replied Applejack.

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

“I guess I’ll be the one to break the silence then.” A voice called out.

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

“Oh well, it’s always best to break the silence in a moment like that.”

“Wait, but how did you know about…What!?”

“Oh I have my ways. You’ll find out soon enough.”

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

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

“That still doesn’t explain how you can make the sound come through my IPod.”

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

“Anything else then?”

“I already told you no! The only thing I can tell you now is to remember moon river and that the doctor is going to knock in 3…2…1…” A loud knocking came from downstairs.

“Now goodnight!” The voice said nothing else after that; it was just a broken IPod again.

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

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

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

“Wait what’s going on?”

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

“So she got a letter, so what?”

“She mentions you in the letter Michael!”

“But she doesn’t even know me!”

“Exactly!”

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

“I’ve taken care of it.”

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

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

“PfftHAHA! Canterlot?” I chuckled, “Everything here is a pun isn’t it?”

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

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

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

“Let me get straight to the point because time is short. Can you tell me what is happening right now?”
I was unable to answer for a few seconds. The shock of seeing another human at all in this world is amazing and terrifying at once. But how was he so calm during all of this?

“But how…how are you…who the hell are you!? And why are you so damm calm!?”

“I don’t have time for this so let me be more direct.” He said still clinging to his cheerful tone. In a flash he unsheathed his sword and menacingly touched the tip to my chest. But this sword wasn’t like any other sword, it was as black as midnight from top to bottom, the only detail was a small red dot on the hand guard, around the size of an iris.

“Tell me what Twilight and the others are doing or I’ll cut you down where you stand.” Okay, that was the only time he sounded old fashioned.

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

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

“Wait how do you know about-“

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

“We-were trying to find a t-train to Canterlot and I-I’m just waiting outside.”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Well, they’re going to be a while” I thought. “Might as well get a drink.”

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

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

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

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

“Lyra.” I simply said.

“What?”

“Her names, Lyra, that’s what you said right?” She nodded in agreement.

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

“Don’t be racist.” We both said in unison. Then Twilight and the others trotted up.

“Come on Michael its time tooo~”

“What? You never seen a pony sit like a human before?”

“Aaanyway, the train gets here in a couple of days we we’ll have to go warn the others.”

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

“Again?”

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

“Fine then one last time this is getting annoying.” I could understand she was getting irritated; I was sort of using her as a personal spell book.
And once again the whole big light show with the magic, you manage to get used to it after a while though.

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

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

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

“Huh? How’d you get in here?”

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Oh yeah real big discovery hot shot. I’ll just go get Twilight already.”

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

Outside Twilight was waiting in the balloon with the doctor and ditzy floating beside. Twilight had an almost signature like ‘you serious?’ face on. “Yeeeaaaah.” I said nervously

“probably not the best place to go to first…heh heh…” The moment was like when you’d been called into the principal’s office, just really really awkward. All of a sudden I could feel something climbing up my throat. I buckled over as a heavy cough came out. Looking at my hand and straightening back up, I could see my hand covered in blood.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

“Michael, can you remember anything back in Rainbow’s house?” The doctor asked.

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

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

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

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

“Wait still? How long have I been out cold?”

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

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

“Please don’t get up!” The nurse ran back to try lay me down. “You’re still feeling the aftershock from the drop. You can’t get up anytime soon.”
I sighed in frustration at how helpless I seemed. “Fine just go get Twilight and Rainbow, I need to hear this.”

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

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

 

Chapter 8: A dash of regret in teh air

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well…"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh…" Pinkie stared at the floor embarrassed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Pointy teeth?" Twilight asked.

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

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

"What did she just say?" I thought.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"But…But you're a human to though."

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

"Wait how did you-"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Any good news then?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What are you talking about?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What?"

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

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

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

"Both?" The black pony questioned.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"We need to talk" she stated.

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

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

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

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

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

"What do you mean?"

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

"I-I had things to do Michael."

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Why would pinkie put me up to this?"

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

"That was this morning."

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

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

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

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

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

 

Chapter 8: A dash of regret in the air

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Well…"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Oh…" Pinkie stared at the floor embarrassed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Pointy teeth?" Twilight asked.

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

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

"What did she just say?" I thought.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"But…But you're a human to though."

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

"Wait how did you-"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"Any good news then?"

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What are you talking about?"

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

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

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

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

"Telegram" he said holding a note in his hoof.

"Oh it's you again." It was once again that black and white pony who had been following me almost ever since I got here. Well stalking is a better word for it. I took the letter from him and hesitated to open it. It was then I decided something.

"No…" I said, before he could run off again.

"What?"

"No, I don't want anything to do with anything anymore!" I tore up the note without even reading it. "Every single day since I arrived here it's been nothing but mystery and my sanity slipping away!"

"Aww, are you getting mad again?" The prate had appeared right next to him without the black pony even noticing, like a ghost. "How cute, little Michael thinks he's tough."

"Both of you get the *squee!* out of here!" I shouted at them, we were far enough out that only maybe Rainbow could hear us.

"Both?" The black pony questioned.

"Either tell me who the hell you are, or just piss off and stop stalking me!"

I stormed off not really knowing what I was furious about. Was it the fact I was an outsider? That people have been stalking me? Maybe I just finally snapped and neither of them are real at all.

I just wanted to get it over with, but I didn't really know what to get over. So the rest of the day I spent wandering around and around aimlessly. It was already past lunch so Sugar cube Corner wouldn't be getting much business; Rainbow was pissed at me, I didn't have the patience to go to the library or Raritys, and Fluttershys personality would just piss me off even more right now.

By the time it was sunset I eventually ended up on a hill overlooking ponyville and as I collapsed under a tree. All my aggression and fear and anything else I was feeling came out in a single whisper.

"I just want to go home." I burrowed my face into my knees and tried to imagine being back on Earth with my family and friends, waking up one day like this was all just a dream. I didn't care if life back there was boring and repetitive, it was still my life. A human's life and it always will be. But part of me didn't want to go, and I think that that part will always be there.

I could hear something drop in front of me. I didn't look up though; it would either be one of my hallucinations, another pony, I wouldn't have evened cared if it was a bear I just didn't have the nerve to look up. Eventually though I did, and lying in front of me was that same piece of paper two weeks ago, I didn't know how I could tell but I just could. I unfolded it and sure enough, that same saying there:

"Never forget, never regret" maybe that was a saying I had back there. But that little slip of paper no matter how unimportant it was to anyone else was more valuable than any diamond in the world to me at that moment. That little sentence gave me new hope to push on.

With the sun almost gone and the sky in twilight, I picked myself up and walked back down to the dusty pathway with the paper still in hand. Then it hit me…How could a tiny slip of paper make so much noise? Before I could even start of think about it Twilight appeared from the shadows with a bag swung over her back.

"We need to talk" she stated.

We walked along the dusty trail with the sky slightly illuminated over our heads. I don't know why but I could smell something sweet in the air, like cupcakes or something else Pinkie would make.

"So, can you remember anything about your past?" She asked.

"Not really my past. I can only remember general stuff about my world but nothing personal."

"Well what about humans, what are they like, Cultural, religious, magical?"

"Twilight why did you really ask me out here?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you wanted to know about humans you could have asked me at any time, or back in the hospital"

"I-I had things to do Michael."

"I can see it in your eyes Twilight, and the way you walk and talk, there's something else you want."

"Why are you so quick to the jump the barrel Michael?"

"You're a smart pony but not terrific at lying."

"How did you figure all that out from that one sentence?"

"I…I don't know really. I couldn't do that before…Anyway why are we out here?"

"It may sound silly but…I think you've caught something."

"Like some pony virus? Is that even possible?"

"Well…It's more of a myth than a virus." She opened her satchel and levitated out a book.

"A myth…Wait does Pinkie think I'm some sort of vampire just because of my teeth?"

"Why would pinkie put me up to this?"

"You can't smell it? You smell like you've been eating at Pinkies"

"That was this morning."

"Either way I can smell it. Twilight I might be going insane but I'm sure I'm not some kind of monster." The argument bounced back and forth as we came into town. I tried to convince her that humans can't turn into pony myths and fairy tales, and the fact that we live in completely different universes. But yet she refused to ignore all the strange things that have been happening.

Just as we stepped onto the bridge I heard a familiar voice again. "Out on a little date are we Michael?" Looking up I could see, you guessed it, the pirate lying on top of a roof.

"Hey it's not a date! And I told you to quit following me!"

"D-date? Michael who are you talking to?" Suddenly I felt exhausted. "Here we go again." I said just before I blacked out.

I opened my eyes, shot up, and hastily looked around. Instantly I could tell I was in Twilight's library.

 

New Chapter

Chapter 8: A dash of regret in the air

It had seemed like I was gone for an eternity, just floating in purgatory for years gone by. Yet somehow it also seemed like an instant, just one quick flash of darkness and I was back.

In a flash a familiar light blue pony appeared inches away from me with the most furious look you've ever seen. "You just had to go and fall didn't you! Why'd you have to do that huh!" Her rage quickly fell as did her expression, turning into a quiet sad tone. "We…We all thought you were dead." I didn't have the nerve to say a thing as I spotted a glistening tear swell up in the corner of her eye. She stormed off in a mix of tears and rage. Half way it turned into a run as I heard a whisper of sobbing.

I couldn't even begin to imagine what she was feeling; having believed someone lost for a whole week...

Time passes abnormally slow when you're neutral, truly neutral, with not a thing win the world to do but think and wonder. And at a time like this it seemed fitting. As I laid there waiting anxiously for everyone to walk into the room with a disbelieving look on their faces, something came up in my mind. One of those things that your mind shuns because you can't bear to think it…Shuns it right out of existence. I realised that these ponies even though brilliant, are incredibly ignorant and stupid.

I never wanted to think any of that after all they had done for me, a complete alien to them. But looking at all the facts it seemed true. They have all the technology and understanding to make television yet they don't the same goes for computers and refrigeration. Not that they would need refrigerators but the point still stands…These ponies know so much and have come so far, yet they see so little.

"Wow, it's amazing how philosophical you can get when just lying in bed." I said to myself still wrapped in the loose white sheets. I always talked to myself back home and a lot of people thought of me as weird for it. I always thought of it as healthy, or maybe I was shunning some deep fact about home. Well it wouldn't matter now anyway, I can't even remember what 'home' looked like, and the closest thing I could get was the country.

Hmm…Home…Maybe; just maybe…This was my home now. It sure felt like it, and is most likely better than anyplace back on Earth. Yes…I've been stuck- no not stuck. Living, I've been living on this planet for over two weeks now and it was only then I realised that this place, this 'Equestria' had become more of a home than Earth ever was to me.

The doctor was defiantly taking his time getting the others. I can't really blame him, not so often you fall from a cloud and survive. Being the kind pony that I made her out to be, that blue dentist pony had decided to keep me company.

"So…What were you doing when I woke up?"

"Like I said, I'm the dentist here in Ponyville. But working with pony teeth can get boring sometimes. And ever since you arrived I've been wondering how different you are from us. So when nurse Red Heart let me in, I went for it."

"So…A complete alien is in a coma and without any permission or know-how of what you were doing. You just decided to do a routine check-up?"

"Well…Y-yeah." She said that in one of those cheery tones you use to cover up something awkward.

"Oh well, no turning back the clock I guess. So find what you were lookin' for?"

"What are the spikey ones for?" Her eyes shined with curiosity. She seemed like the kind of mare that always wanted to know more. I have no idea why she got into dentistry; it wasn't even the right mark thing…Yeah it's kind of hard remembering all of these pony terms.

Instead her mark was an hourglass, just like that doctor pony had…I'll need to talk with him soon, he seems to know a lot more than he says.

"Well, we're omnivores so we have teeth both like yours and spikey like a wolf. So we usually use these to grind up meat." As I looked up she had the strangest look on her face. Shock, horror, disgust, concern, I don't know what to call it. "Oh don't give me that look I've been dead for a week. And it's not like we chose to be this way it's just evolution. But we do what we need to survive. Oh and I never really got your name, what was it again?"

"C-Colgate. My n-names Colgate." She took a noticeable step away from the bed.

"Oh come on Colgate, you don't really think I'm going to try and pounce and eat you do you?" That joking question rose a concerning pause. Maybe she did think I was some kind of monster, do all of them?

"Well…"

Suddenly Colgate was interrupted by a pink blur that flashed into the room, followed by the others in the thing most opposite of a flash. And I was greeted with an oh so familiar voice.

"MICHAEL! Your awake you're awake!" Pinkie threw her arms around me in a tight hug. But something was off about her. She had a straight, darker mane instead of her usual overly puffy and curly style. Tears had stained her face making it go a slightly darker shade than her normal optimistic pink.

"Michael! You're awake!" Called out Applejack, she had a tone of renewed hope. A tone you only get when you wish for something just hard enough and it comes true. She reminded me of myself when it turns out all…This was real. "How do ya feel sugarcube?"

"You see? He's all right!" Rarity encouraged Fluttershy who was also crying. I'm not sure if it was out of grief or joy.

"Hey everypony!" As Pinkie still clinging to me tightened her grip, as surge of pain shot through my chest. "Aarrgghh!" I cried out.

"Michael are you okay?" Pinkie pulled herself off me, little droplets of tears still glistening in her eyes.

"I-I'm fine Pinkie, don't worry."

"It's because you hugged 'm to hard," said Applejack in an annoyed tone.

"Oh…" Pinkie stared at the floor embarrassed.

"If you don't mind me asking, what was it like?" Twilight asked, her eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"What? Being in hospital for a whole week?"

"Yes, what was it like being dead for a whole week?"

"Woah wait, are you sure I was dead? Not just in some sort of coma or something?"

"Nurse Red Heart wouldn't let us see you; we all just assumed that…" She trailed off in that last fragment.

"To be honest not much really, one minute I'm at Rainbows house, next I'm in hospital with a pink pony using me as a trampoline." Pinkie looked away, embarrassed as soon as I brought that up.

"Have you noticed that he has really sharp teeth?" Colgate said as she sprung and held my mouth open.

"Pointy teeth?" Twilight asked.

"That means h-he's a v-vampony!" Pinkie quickly backed away; maybe they did all think I was some kind of monster. I guess that thought spread all over my face as Applejack said:

"Ah cheer up Michael, yer aint any kind o' monster to us. Even if Rarity did want to get her hooves on yer clothes" she said in an accusing tone.

"What did she just say?" I thought.

"Well excuse me for taking up such a gleaming opportunity" said Rarity in her usual esteemed voice.

"Ya'll could have at least waited 'till he'd woken up yet."

"W-w-wait a second, hold on. You ponies have clothes I've seen them, why'd you want mine now?"

"Your clothes and our clothes are completely different designs, and just imagine if I were the first to discover them" she sounded like someone describing a plan to become famous.

"Oh that reminds me, why do you wear clothes all of the time Michael?" Twilight asked, with Spike ready to take down anything I said.

"Ohhh" I sighed along with a face palm. "Twilight if only you knew how awkward that question is."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to offend you or-"

"No, no, no it's fine. Just a bit awkward is all. Humans wear clothing because of decency for the main reason. Not to mention its illegal back home."

"Then how come ya'll were just fine with me seein' yer with no shirt?" Interrupted Applejack

Oh boy, this is getting more awkward by the second. "Do I really have to go into human anatomy and Biology? That's like trying to explain sex to a child." Were they planning to ask me all this? When I can't walk off and avoid the question? "As for an answer it's much better for a male to walk around without a shirt than a girl."

"How about a less awkward question for it guys?" Twilight froze suddenly realised what she had said.

"It? I was only gone for half a week and we're already back to this?"

"M-maybe it's best if we just go."

"Hey no wait," they all halted and turned back to face me. "Did any of you see that pirate at the train station?"

"Pirate?" They all said in unison, maybe they all did plan this.

"Michael, you must just be seeing things. It's not every day that someone like you comes to Equestria."

"Yes but I hadn't seen him before and…"

Speaking of that pirate, there he was again, standing right in front of my hospital bed, totally anonymous.

With that creepy cheery smile, waving that me like this whole thing was a big joke. "Hey you!" I called out, pointing to him. "You guys see him now?"

"Michael dear, there isn't anypony there."

Looking back I could clearly see he was still there. With a very amused look on his face, "how can you not see him!"

"Just take a few days to get yet bearings partner." Said applejack patting me on the shoulder, "come on now everypony. Let's leave him to rest; he might be a few apples short of a bushel." That last part was obviously whispered, but somehow I still managed to hear it. Almost perfectly, like my senses were sharpened by that crash.

"Hey come on I can prove it. If you would all just come back and listen to me!"

"Ah don't worry there humany wumany. I said the same thing a while back." Pinkie half laughed, wrapping her arm around my neck before walking off. It was strange how she could have gone from crying with straight hair, back to being pinkie with poofy hair all in that instant. Well this world was just like a roller-coaster I guess.

"Now would you look at that?" Said that pirate, still standing over me, "they don't believe you, I wonder why that is."

"You tell me, you're the stalker pirate here. But who are you anyway?"

"Oh I could tell you who I am, but that would just take the fun out of it. Furthermore did you hear what they said? They called you crazy, 'it', they called you a monster."

"Well…It's not every day I just drop out of the sky you know, literally."

"Face it Michael, they hate you, you're a monster to them and you can't run from that. Humans are always monsters."

"But…But you're a human to though."

"Well you could say that, but at least I know I'm a monster. It will just be all the more sad and maddening when they finally throw you away. After all they don't like you, they don't find you interesting. To them you're just an abomination, and they'll abandon you Michael. Use you then throw you away like all of Rainbows plans back at her house."

"Wait how did you-"

"But that's a shame; it really is, being a circus freak for the rest of your life in this alien world."

"No! It's not like that!" I could feel my throat closing up, chocking me like when you cry. "They aren't like us, they're better than us! You're not even real!" I shook my head in frustration and denial.

"Alright then, you can just keep pushing those facts deeper and deeper, we'll see where that gets you when they come right back up, and you know they're true." And with that final comment he walked straight out, not a single word more.

What was even worse than that whole lecture was the fact that he was right. It's something I never wanted to even think about but...Deep down I knew all of that I guess…But after all they did for me I couldn't bear to think any of it.

"No…No I just need to clear my head is all. Then tall of this crap will be outta my head for good." As I tried to get up the crippling pain came back, but I couldn't stay in here. This room felt heavier now, like something evil had swept over it, which for all I know had just happened. My persistence paid off in the end as I finally got up, slowly easing myself into the pain and awkwardly getting up with as little bending as possible.

Not much else happened for the rest of that day, nothing worth mentioning anyway. Just walking, thinking, talking with Lyra, and trying to avoid nurse Red Heart. By the time it got to sunset she eventually found me, but it was all worth it for the adrenaline rush of hiding and skulking.

I didn't sleep well that night either so the day was all pretty crappy. But something strange happened when I was asleep. You see normally my dreams are only flashbacks of my life, faces, buildings, and rooms that all came out blurred and fuzzy when I tried to recall them. But tonight was different; this dream was so crystal clear I could remember every detail when I woke up.

"Hey wake up!" Someone said, shaking me awake. "Is this game really that boring to you?" As I looked up I saw his face again, that pirate. We were both sitting at a table with a chess board in mid play there. I looked around and it was like we were on a huge chessboard ourselves, right on the centre square. "You didn't fall asleep when we started. Feeling a little uneasy?" He picked up his knight and swung it around knocking over one of my pawns. "Your move" he said with a smug expression.

I swung up in bed, gasping for air like I'd just race a marathon. Looking to the side I could see Nurse Red Heart who had stumbled back in surprise, my guess is she had been leaning over me at the time. "Oh hello, come to examine the crime scene?" I said jokingly.

"Of sorts," she responded writing down reports on a clipboard. For the next half an hour it was just medical test after test after test, but something was troubling her all the way through. It was written all over her face.

"What's wrong? You don't seem like yourself today." I asked out of concern, partly for my results, but mostly for her.

"We barely know each other Michael." She said not bothering to look up from her results.

"Yeah but…You have that look in your eye, the look that something's not right."

"If you really want to know take a look at this." She floated the clipboard down on my lap. I picked it up and I saw disappointed to find it was all in Cursive writing. (The type with all the curly fancy letters.) Even when I did make some of it out, they were all extremely complicated medical terms.

"Uhh…Hate to break it to ya, but I'm not really a doctor. Also I can't read cursive very well."

"What do they teach you in schools back where you came from?"

"Wouldn't you like to know" I taunted. Then realised how stupid that sounded.

She sighed and said: "In basic terms over a third of your damage that you sustained has been healed. I'm not really sure how fast you people heal so I didn't bother very much with it."

"Wait a second…How bad was I injured?"

"Well, none physically. Your body was in perfect shape when we found you. Not even a starch. But something was keeping you from waking up. Nothing mental either, from what we could make out of that mess you can call a mind."

I grunted at that fact. Our minds are more complex than any of these ignorant ponies could imagine…Well that pirate hasn't gotten out of my mind yet.

"It was something else, Twilight was the only one I allowed to see you and not even she could figure out what it was."

"But what about the pain I get from when I try to sit up, and pinkie's hug?"

"We couldn't explain that either. You're a real mystery you know that?"

"Any good news then?"

"Actually…Yes, I took a look inside you, not literally of course. But like I said whatever was causing your pain has almost gone now. You should be good to leave the hospital. But don't try to run or do anything strenuous."

"Really?" I slowly leaned forward and didn't find a single hint of any pain. "Well would you look at that! If it's all the same with you, I'll be leaving now."

"Alright, come back if anything else happens." I got up and stretched as much as I could. Being stuck in bed for a week can get your bones pretty stiff. On my way out she called back to me again; "Oh and Michael, try not to fall off a cloud again." And with that I stepped outside.

It was nice to feel the warmth of the sun again, and not just have a portion of it leaking through curtains. I let the golden rays spill onto my face as I stood there, my eyes focusing to a clear picture of everypony doing their own thing. Living their own little lives in this slice of heaven. But above all this is something of greater importance that requires my attention…

"RAINBOW!" I shouted at a lone, dark cloud looming over a calm, empty, lusciously green field. "I know you're up there!" How did I know, well…The sky is clear, and Rainbow seems like the kind of pony that wants to prove herself whenever and however she can. And if she's cleared the sky then why is this cloud the only cloud in view?

"What?" Said rainbow in an annoyed, angry tone, poking her head out the bottom of the cloud "haven't you done enough already?" With that she burrowed back inside the cloud, or on top I wasn't really sure from this angle.

"Come on Rainbow, I just want to talk. What's got you so down today?"

"If you guys are so great you tell me!"

"What are you talking about?"

"You always say humans are sooo smart, but you can't even figure this one out! Why don't you go ask your little girlfriend Twilight?"

"Girlfriend…What" I muttered to myself. I sighed in defeat and walked back towards ponyville, knowing that she wasn't going to say anything to me anytime soon. As I walked back there was a flash and a crack sound from being me, "I'm going already sheesh." Turns out Rainbow had tried to hit my foot with lightning…A pony girlfriend huh? I didn't even want to think about how that would possibly work.

I felt the need to go out and do something, anything really. Ever since this morning I'd felt a rise in energy, ironic how I haven't had any meat in two weeks, but I just felt this craving for work. "Well I do have the rest of the day with myself, and I've been asleep for a week so…Wait dammit the doctor said not to do any hard work dammit!"

I stood there wondering what to do; I was a complete alien in this world…Then a familiar pony came up to me again, well a familiar Pegasus.

"Telegram" he said holding a note in his hoof.

"Oh it's you again." It was once again that black and white pony who had been following me almost ever since I got here. Well stalking is a better word for it. I took the letter from him and hesitated to open it. It was then I decided something.

"No…" I said, before he could run off again.

"What?"

"No, I don't want anything to do with anything anymore!" I tore up the note without even reading it. "Every single day since I arrived here it's been nothing but mystery and my sanity slipping away!"

"Aww, are you getting mad again?" The prate had appeared right next to him without the black pony even noticing, like a ghost. "How cute, little Michael thinks he's tough."

"Both of you get the *squee!* out of here!" I shouted at them, we were far enough out that only maybe Rainbow could hear us.

"Both?" The black pony questioned.

"Either tell me who the hell you are, or just piss off and stop stalking me!"

I stormed off not really knowing what I was furious about. Was it the fact I was an outsider? That people have been stalking me? Maybe I just finally snapped and neither of them are real at all.

I just wanted to get it over with, but I didn't really know what to get over. So the rest of the day I spent wandering around and around aimlessly. It was already past lunch so Sugar cube Corner wouldn't be getting much business; Rainbow was pissed at me, I didn't have the patience to go to the library or Raritys, and Fluttershys personality would just piss me off even more right now.

By the time it was sunset I eventually ended up on a hill overlooking ponyville and as I collapsed under a tree. All my aggression and fear and anything else I was feeling came out in a single whisper.

"I just want to go home." I burrowed my face into my knees and tried to imagine being back on Earth with my family and friends, waking up one day like this was all just a dream. I didn't care if life back there was boring and repetitive, it was still my life. A human's life and it always will be. But part of me didn't want to go, and I think that that part will always be there.

I could hear something drop in front of me. I didn't look up though; it would either be one of my hallucinations, another pony, I wouldn't have evened cared if it was a bear I just didn't have the nerve to look up. Eventually though I did, and lying in front of me was that same piece of paper two weeks ago, I didn't know how I could tell but I just could. I unfolded it and sure enough, that same saying there:

"Never forget, never regret" maybe that was a saying I had back there. But that little slip of paper no matter how unimportant it was to anyone else was more valuable than any diamond in the world to me at that moment. That little sentence gave me new hope to push on.

With the sun almost gone and the sky in twilight, I picked myself up and walked back down to the dusty pathway with the paper still in hand. Then it hit me…How could a tiny slip of paper make so much noise? Before I could even start of think about it Twilight appeared from the shadows with a bag swung over her back.

"We need to talk" she stated.

We walked along the dusty trail with the sky slightly illuminated over our heads. I don't know why but I could smell something sweet in the air, like cupcakes or something else Pinkie would make.

"So, can you remember anything about your past?" She asked.

"Not really my past. I can only remember general stuff about my world but nothing personal."

"Well what about humans, what are they like, Cultural, religious, magical?"

"Twilight why did you really ask me out here?"

"What do you mean?"

"If you wanted to know about humans you could have asked me at any time, or back in the hospital"

"I-I had things to do Michael."

"I can see it in your eyes Twilight, and the way you walk and talk, there's something else you want."

"Why are you so quick to the jump the barrel Michael?"

"You're a smart pony but not terrific at lying."

"How did you figure all that out from that one sentence?"

"I…I don't know really. I couldn't do that before…Anyway why are we out here?"

"It may sound silly but…I think you've caught something."

"Like some pony virus? Is that even possible?"

"Well…It's more of a myth than a virus." She opened her satchel and levitated out a book.

"A myth…Wait does Pinkie think I'm some sort of vampire just because of my teeth?"

"Why would pinkie put me up to this?"

"You can't smell it? You smell like you've been eating at Pinkies"

"That was this morning."

"Either way I can smell it. Twilight I might be going insane but I'm sure I'm not some kind of monster." The argument bounced back and forth as we came into town. I tried to convince her that humans can't turn into pony myths and fairy tales, and the fact that we live in completely different universes. But yet she refused to ignore all the strange things that have been happening.

Just as we stepped onto the bridge I heard a familiar voice again. "Out on a little date are we Michael?" Looking up I could see, you guessed it, the pirate lying on top of a roof.

"Hey it's not a date! And I told you to quit following me!"

"D-date? Michael who are you talking to?" Suddenly I felt exhausted. "Here we go again." I said just before I blacked out.

I opened my eyes, shot up, and hastily looked around. Instantly I could tell I was in Twilight's library.