Courage is Magic

Chapter 1

Old faces, new adventures, and almost the same old John

“Statue!" Chris finished as soon as we reappeared in a familiar forest.

"Really? I don't see the statue anymore," I said with a small smile on my face. He then opened his eyes, before blinking a few times in confusion.

"Am I dreaming now? Or am I actually talking to a yellow horse that has wings?" He asks.

"You’re talking to a yellow Pegasus, and one that you know very well," I said, giving him a smile that he should recognize.

"John?" he asks, being unsure if I was kidding or not.

"Yep... you should be careful about trying to get up on two legs though..." I warned, and got up from the forest floor. Chris completely ignored my warning and attempt to stand on two legs, only to fall down again.

"What did you do?!" He asks me in a panic.

"I did nothing, might want to check your reflection when you get a chance," I said in an attempt to calm him down.

"Right... where are we?" He asks me while lying on the ground.

"Ok... first of all: you have four legs now, so try thinking that way," I said, ignoring his question. He sighed and did just that, managing to stand up properly, "Good, second of all: this is what I think they call the Everfree forest," I said while taking a look around to try to figure out where I was this time.

"Good god... we have been teleported to a forest, and I don't have-" He said, but then he caught himself in surprise.

"Is something wrong?" I asked him.

"I think.... I saw my reflection off of the lake," He said in a worried tone. I turned around and saw that we were near water this time. 'Huh, this is a first...' I thought in mild confusion

"Well... I think you are lucky to keep your fedora that you adore so much," I said in a deadpan tone.

"Yes... but my suits gone; replaced by... fur?" He questioned.

"Yep, you are indeed a pony," I said, killing any suspense that was in the air.

"So those stories... they were actually true?" He asked me, uncertain if he was tripping out or not.

"Yeah, they are perfectly real; Allow me to be the first to welcome you to Equestria, the land of colorful talking horses," I said in a sarcastically cheerful way.

"At least I kept my hat..." he muttered to himself.

"Yeah, now to find a way to town," I said, and started walking.

"Uh, a little help?" He asks, being uncertain about where to begin on walking. I had to facehoof at the fact that I had to teach my brother of how to walk on four legs. As I turned back, I noticed something when his hat shifted a bit off of his head..

"Wow, you are lucky," I said to him.

"What makes you say that?" He asks in confusion.

"For starters: you have a horn," I said, lightly tapping where his new horn was.

"And this is useful how?" He asks, being very skeptical about the world that he was in.

"Well, once you learn how to use magic, it's easy for you to do stuff," I explained, while walking around him in a circle.

"Good for me... now how do I walk?" He asks me flatly while adjusting his hat back carefully to avoid putting a new hole in it.

"Alright, first of all I need to tell you that you should still treat your hooves like hands," I explained, hoping that he would get the picture. After that, I explained to him in great detail of how to walk in his current form.

"Sounds easy enough," He said.

"It is," I said, trying to hide my snickers from his sight.

"This shouldn't be too hard then," He said. He started to walk forward carefully, before slowly picking a pace that he is able to walk in.

"Damn it..." I muttered under my breath, being disappointed that he did not fall flat on his face like when I tried to walk for the first time. However, things have a funny way of working out. Chris tripped and fell on his face before he even got back to me.

"Alright, you have done almost what I did, now follow me, I think I know the way out of here to the town," I said, helping him up.

"And what is the town's name?" He asks me with curiosity.

"None other than good old Ponyville," I said, and started to lead the way through the forest.

________________________________________

I ran out of the forest with my brother following close behind after I've managed to get us lost in it.

"Why, no, ‘how’ are these wolves made out of damn trees?" He asks me in annoyance while breathing hard from running.

"Hell if I know, at least we got away," I said while trying to calm down.

"That is because I shot one of them twice," He said in annoyance. He would lay down on the floor to rest for a moment becuase of how fast we ran.

"Well I don't like pistols," I replied back with a glare. I chose to remain standing because I was not sore yet because of my many experiences in running away from things.

"I know you don't, but I at least like one to be able to defend myself," he said to me with a frown. He would get up after he rested enough and reload his pistol with some difficulty. I wondered how his kept his weapontry for a moment, before realizing that I kept my bag of knives the first time I came here. So the best explanation I came up with how his could get his pistols is because of magic.

"Right, we have our differences in weaponry; now that we’re out of the forest, See that town? That is Ponyville," I explained with a small smile on my face.

"Looks small," he commented flatly.

"It is, but it's somewhat fun," I said, and I lead him into the town.

"By the way... if your stories are true, then when can I meet your friends?" He asks me.

"One of them will be in about two seconds, the others will come eventually," I said, and quickly ducked.

"Wha-" He started to say, before being tackled by a pink blur. I was right to follow my instincts about ducking and avoided being tackled.

"Oww..." He groaned in pain, as a certain Pink Party Pony was on him in excitement.

"Hello there! I'm Pinkie Pie!" She exclaimed in an excited tone. I decided to spare my brother the punishment of hearing Pinkie's long winded talking and spoke up.

"Hey Pinkie, can you get off my brother?" I asked her.

"Alright Mr...Wait, I know you!" She exclaimed, pointing a hoof at me.

"And I am...?" I asked, leading her on.

"You’re one of Twilights friends! Which one was it..." she said, causing me to face hoof.

"Wow... she's one big ball of excitement; what do you think John?" He said, and Pinkie suddenly froze where she was thinking.

"I know it's been years Pinkie, but rea-" I started to say, and I was rewarded with a huge gasp.

"John! You're back! This calls for a reunion party!" She exclaimed, but before she could take off to arrange it, I grabbed her tail.

"Could you wait first? I want to talk to some of my old friends at the bar," I said.

"Okie-dokie-lokie!" She said, and bounced away from me. Somehow managing to get her tail out of my hooves without me noticing.

"How did she-" Chris would ask in surprise.

"It's just Pinkie being Pinkie, don't try to explain it," I told him with a sight, and made my way to the bar.

"She is one of your friends... right?" He asks me.

"Yep, now to meet a few others," I said, and a tiny grin would spread across my face.

________________________________________

I silently entered the bar without drawing too much attention to myself, and immediately merged with the crowd. Chris just simply entered and went straight to the bar stool. I kept him in range of my hearing, but I stayed in the crowd. He sat at the bar and a golden (literally) pony walked up to him from behind the counter. I remembered that his name was Sparx, and that he may actually be made of gold. I never asked him though, but I don't think he would appreciate me asking now after all of these years have passed.

"Please give me the strongest drink you offer here," He tells Sparx, who in turn looked at him in surprise.

"Why would you need something that strong?" He asks, being curious about why he would order one.

"Because I will need it," He says simply.

"Why would you say that?" Sparx says, being increasingly more curious, “The last one to order that was… point is, he’s gone.”

"Because both of our worlds will become a very big surprise," He says vaguely. I smiled, glad that my brother didn't flat out tell him about my return. I decided to stop listening in at the bar and enjoy myself in the crowd. It lasted for a whopping ten seconds before an event happened.

"I won't ask you again, Please leave," A familiar fire colored pony would say. I remember his name (how can I forget? He did follow me around and saved my flank countless times back then) as being Pyro, aka: Fire colt.

"You have *Hic* nuthin' on me to kick me out," The dark green pony would slur. He was staring Pyro down while drunk, and I knew that it was a bad combination, for the drunk anyways.

"You had too much," Pyro said as plainly as possible. His voice had gotten a bit deeper and he got a bit more muscular since I last saw him.

"I haven't *hic* had enough yet," He slurs, and stumbles around with an empty bottle in his hoof. I'd bet that he will break it and use it as a weapon. I thought to myself, and started to slowly make my way towards the drunken pony.

"I did warn you," He said, and moved to forcibly remove him. But before Pyro even touched the drunk, he brought a punch to Pyro's face. Resulting in the drunk burning his hoof. Wow, that’s sad. You’d have to be really new to this town to make a mistake like that. I thought in pity for the drunk.

"Bad idea," Pyro growled, and he tried again to grab the drunk.

"I don't like your face now," He slurred, breaking his empty bottle and making it a dangerous weapon. Pyro would back away for a step, though not out of fear. Called it, now for knocking out the drunk. I thought, and snuck up behind the drunken pony.

"Why do you drunks always keep doing this...?” Pyro would mutter in annoyance.

"This is what you get for getting in my- hurk!" he said, before passing out due to a blow to the back of his head.

"Sleeping like a baby," I whispered.

"I had that perfectly under control," Pyro says to me.

"Is that how you would greet an old friend of yours?" I asked him with a smirk, he would narrow his eyes before widening them in surprise.

"John, is that you?" He asks, not really sure if he was dreaming or not.

"The one and only," I said with a smile.

"I can't believe it, you are actually back!" He exclaimed, getting the attention of the nearby ponies.

"And it is really good to be back again," I said in relief. Pyro walked up to me and punch me lightly in the leg, my bad one from when I got a dart trap to it as I was going through a temple two years ago. It hurt a bit, but it did not actually burn me this time.

"Guess you learned how to control it huh?" I asked, lightly rubbing the part of my leg he punched.

"Yeah, it's still great to see that you are back," He said, and looked like he was trying hard to restrain himself from hugging me.

"Yeah, now do you mind if I talk to Pyro? The real one?" I asked him.

"Sure, but first I've got to drag this drunk out of the bar," he says, and I nodded to him as he does his job and started draging the drunk out of the building. I smiled at how far Pyro has come in terms of controlling his power before walking up to the bar.

"Told you..." Chris says; taking a drink out of his glass.

"How did you know that John was here?" Sparx asks in suprise.

"Because I actually came with him," He mumbled, but it was still clear enough for Sparx to make it out. I also made it out as well since I've known him for long enough.

"Really? Who are you then?" Sparx would ask.

"His name is Chris," I said, sitting in a chair next to my brother.

"Hey John, it has been quite a long time since you last were here," Sparx says. He also gave me one of my favorite drinks: Applejack's hard cider.

"Yeah, almost gave up on trying to return, two years is too long of a time to wait," I said, taking a drink out of the mug that sat in front of me.

"It really is," He said with a soft smile. I put down my mug after drinking almost half of the whole thing.

"So how is Midnight doing these days?" I asked simply.

"She really has not been truly happy while you were gone, I think she still blames herself for what happened," Sparx explains to me, “at least that’s what Dawn tells me that Blitz tells her.”

"Then I might as well go and find her then; she will probably hurt me, but I should be fine," I said with a small shiver. I did fully expect Midnight to slap me first before recognizing me.

"I think I should come with you," Chris said, getting out of his seat.

"No, I will need to do this alone," I told him with a serious glare. He would sit back down in surprise.

"Alright, you know more about her than I do," He said, turning back to his drink. I smiled, hiding the fact that I really wanted to meet her again.

"Last time I saw her, she was working at the Radio Station still," Sparx said, anticipating that I may ask where she was. He put his fore legs on the counter and I saw a ring on one. I wondered what the reason was for him wearing a ring for a moment, but I decided to ask him about it later. Chris would drink the rest of my cider, before turning back to his drink again. I chuckled softly to myself.

"Thank you,” I said to Sparx; and walked out of the bar. Time to see how Midnight Song will react to my return. I thought as I made my way towards the place I used to work at: the Radio Station.