What is Real?

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5

Chapter 1

Dear Journal,

Today was just like every other. I woke up around nine, went down to the library, and got on the internet. Schoolwork is boring; I might have partially ignored it. Maybe that's why I do so poorly recently. I don't know what it is, but something about all of it just seems so mundane lately. I went to the websites I always go to. I went to the forums I always frequent. This time, I even asked questions in the Ask Me forum.

Lunch was good; it was from Subway. I really need to stop doing that; I don't have much money. Maybe I'll be able to get a job soon. I keep hearing that the recession is over, after all. Oh well, at least I had My Little Pony to cheer me up. It isn't just the show, either, but the fan base. A lot of people are fans of many things, but this is a group that is actually fun to talks to. They're incredibly positive, and make me feel better about myself.

I like it.

Today, I read a few more fan fictions. Most of them weren't all that unique. There is also a group that I decided against reading, on the basis of what they we about. How could somebody actually transpose himself or herself into it? It would probably have a lot of things about how the Mane 6 somehow mystically became their instant best friends. Perhaps the guys would fall for whichever they have a crush on, or something of that nature. But after reading, and dinner, I decided that I was going to try to write something.

But I have nothing.

The night has been spent watching some of the episodes, trying to get inspired. It isn't as easy as you'd think. When I opened up my word document, I thought that this was going to be a breeze. I just type up something about some event from a different perspective, or maybe a small change that does something big. It should be easy, but I have nothing. My mind keeps going back to how somebody could really transpose himself or herself into a story. I still refuse to do it, but there is something to be said about how good it would be. I don't even mean story, but actually living there.

I wouldn't even mind if it was simply mundane things, living a life of however long ponies live. How old do ponies get? Granny Smith has to be a hundred, maybe even two hundred. Age aside it would be great. No more fighting, no more being homeless, no more being abandoned. My life isn't horrible, but something about this always pulls at my mind. Maybe this is why I got pulled to this story. I want to watch somebody in an idealistic society, even if I can't live in one. It might, no it would be, nice to live somewhere like that.

I live in the real world, though. Oh well, time to head to bed. I'll write something up tomorrow, if I get the time. Let's hope it’s a little less mopey than what I came up with today.

With those last words, Michael saved his electronic journal. He shut down the word program, listened to a couple more songs, and went to bed. The next day promised to be more of the same, but that was all right The prospect of any small deviation was enough, any small change needed to happen. Perhaps he would actually do his schoolwork, maybe. One final check about the time, it was earlier than he usually went to sleep. It didn't matter, he would likely sleep until about nine in the morning.

He would be woken up by the sound of the alarm, most likely.

That night, sleep came quickly. It wasn’t that the day had been hard, but the previous day had him going to sleep later than normal. What does he dream of? There are quite the weird dreams, some that won’t be mentioned. Some are of mundane events. The dream of the night started with the mundane act of watching My Little Pony. The episode in question was A Friend in Deed. It had the song that Michael enjoyed the most. That episode ended, and then it was time for the dream to move on to something else. Was it another episode?

Nope, this time it was something that hadn’t happened before.

Maybe it was his train of thought before he had gone to sleep, the idea of being a pony, which caused this particular dream. It wasn’t anything special. He wasn’t instant BFF with Pinkie Pie. Fluttershy didn’t immediately open up. Applejack didn’t do whatever Applejack likely did in those types of amazing wish-dreams. Everything about it was mundane, the life of an equestrian being played out as if Michael wasn’t somebody special. He was just another pony; he was just somepony with a home in Ponyville. Around this time, he knew he was dreaming. There was no way he was the pony named Hokey Smokes.

This was normally when he heard the alarm, yet that wasn't the case. All he heard was a voice, one that he hadn't heard before. Had he forgotten to lock the door again? It might have just been more dreams if that was the case, but the voice didn’t stop. Eyes slowly opened, as if for the first time. If it was a dream, then it would be obvious. His dreams, the ones that dealt with home invasions, always ended with him getting knifed. Maybe I should go see a doctor about that. It probably isn’t normal.

The voice didn’t stop, and it was starting to worry him. It spoke of medical problems. Michael wasn’t the healthiest person alive, but there was no need for this. Maybe this is my body’s way of telling me that I have a problem. I’ll just have my mom look into it tomorrow. Or maybe I should get up now. At the very least, I can go see what time it is. Maybe it’s around eight anyway. Then I can call her up and… There was the sound of a door closing, which seemed to be a good time for him to try to force himself to move. With that thought in his mind, Michael opened his eyes to the world around him.

All he had to do was reach over, grab the phone, open it up, and check the time. Hand reached out, went to grab the phone, and felt an empty table. It was still night outside, Michael was tired, and he rolled over to go back to sleep. A whole ten minutes dragged by before he was startled awake again. This came from a single image that shot through his mind. His ten fingers didn’t look like ten fingers. They looked like a hoof.

Yep, it was a dream.

Once again, Michael did his best to go back to sleep. It was hardly simple, but the idea that the entirety of everything was a dream was enough to make it possible. This time, however, the dream was gone. His pony-dream was replaced with darkness, his body slowly merging with the nothingness of the void. Perhaps that was a sign of something, but it didn’t really matter. He had never had a dream like that before, at least not that he knew of. It might have been something he had eaten the last day.

Several hours passed, and then he finally awoke again.

Once again, he was awoken by the sound of a voice. Once again, it was a voice that he wasn’t completely sure he knew. It didn’t matter; they were hopefully going to turn out to be somebody who wasn’t wielding a knife. Eyes slowly opened, and it turned out to be a doctor. There was something wrong about this doctor, at least by what he was seeing. This horse was a doctor. Could horses be doctors? That was a good question, with the hopeful answer being yes. Eyes went wide, a panicked expression on his face, and then there was a look over to some machines.

“He’s coming to.”

Huh? What? I’m definitely losing it. Horses can’t talk. Another few moments, and the breathing tube in his mouth was starting to cause him to gag. It didn’t feel good to have it removed, either, until precious oxygen entered his lungs. Within a few minutes, he was able to start using real words. “What’s going on here?” This is a dream. I know this is a dream. All I have to do is control is, go through whatever message my subconscious is trying to send me, then wake back up for…

He knew he had fallen asleep, he knew this was a dream, but that was it. What did he need to do? A blank expression was on his face, and the doctor was obviously aware that something wasn’t exactly right in the room. It might have been more accurate to say that somebody wasn’t right in the room. There was only one thing that could be done, though, so the doctor let out a sigh. “It’s been a few years. I didn’t actually think you’d still be alive, but it’s a good thing you’re a fighter.”

That didn’t answer any question at all; it only told him something that he already knew. He knew that he was in a hospital. The continued expression, as if he was completely lost, led the doctor to ponder something for a moment. Michael didn’t want to say anything, but he was starting to get bored with the idea of looking at a doctor. Even a doctor that is a horse tends to get boring after a while. There was nothing else to do, though, until a single question was asked.

“Tell me your name.”

That’s easy! Why doesn’t he know my name? It is my dream, after all. “I am…” Perhaps it wasn’t as easy as he thought. The man-turned-horse couldn’t quite remember what it was that he should say. A few ideas came to mind, but they were probably wrong. What was his name? A few minutes passed, without another more word being spoken. The doctor was the one to speak next. “All right. Where did you come from?”

More easy questions, but they turned out to be answered with a blank stare. There was no way that the man didn’t know his name or where he came from. All it would take was more thought. The fact that another ten minutes passed by without a single word was slightly embarrassing. It only ended when the doctor let out a sigh. “Four years in here. Everyone else knows your name. The nurses weren’t too thrilled by the idea of somepony taking up a bed for that long, but that’s hardly important.

You can get up now, Hokey Smokes.”

That name sounded familiar, as if it was a part of a dream.

The order was given for him to get up, though, and so the man stood up as his body remembered. Two legs on the floor, another two in the air, had been what his brain had told him. It was the last way that he remembered standing up. Another ten seconds later, his two front limbs were on the floor as well. Wha? Everything about this situation felt strange, with a couple of nurses walking into the room with a wheelchair. Yep, I’ve completely lost it. I know this isn’t right. This can’t be right. What is right, though? Come on, I should know this one. Who am I?

“No, no. What is my real name?”

The doctor looked at him funny, then without a single second of hesitation. “Hokey Smokes.”

Hokey Smokes? That was obviously not his real name, he was sure of it. He wasn’t sure what his name was, but that sounded to be unreal. That didn’t even sound like a real name to him, which meant that it wasn’t. It didn’t really matter, though, as the man was going to be wheeled out to somewhere. The doctor had gotten in touch with somepony, which meant that he was going to get taken care of by them for a while. This was a dream, or so he told himself, which meant that it wouldn’t last long.

He could then to back to whatever it was that he did.

These nurses are nice and all. It’s a shame that they’re going to turn into nothing when I get back to… errr… ummm. Best to not think about it too much. With time, it will come back to me. The entire trip was made with him being in deep thought, or at least thinking. The place that he ended up at was a small house. It looked to be made of brick. There was a small chimney at the top, and there was smoke coming out of it. A white house with a chimney and a fence, that seemed to be something that might have been normal. He wasn’t entirely too sure.

“I’m sure it won’t take too long.”

An elderly horse, or at least to the wheel chair bound man he looked elderly, walked out to take the wheelchair and wheel him inside. “Don’t worry. It won’t take long, and we’ll find you a place of your own. I’m sure you’ll find that there’s plenty to do out in the country. We don’t need town!” With those words, Michael started to laugh. It was a nice gesture, and the man was nice. How did I come up with him? Oh well, it’s likely nothing too big. I’ll just have to try to remember, maybe it’ll come to me after I wake up tomorrow.

“I was just about to fix a sandwich. You look like you could use one as well.”

Before anything could be said, Michael had a sandwich sitting on his lap. Why had he been pushed here, anyway? Front limbs picked it up, between his hooves, and then he moved over to another chair. It wasn’t easy for him to do this, it felt weird, but as soon as he sat he looked down at the sandwich. Wait a second. Who eats flowers? His stomach rumbled, though, and soon enough the answer was that he ate flowers.

They tasted pretty good, too.

“I think I’ll let you get settled in. There’s an extra room down the hall, with a bed. They also gave me this, said it would help with your recovery.” A journal was in the man’s mouth, and soon it was in Michael’s. The walk, on all fours mind you, didn’t take long. It felt weird to be doing this, though he couldn’t say why, but there was something about it that just seemed wrong. Maybe it was nothing. When he got to the room, there was the urge to write in his new book. At first, he tried using his hooves. That didn’t work out as well as he hoped. Over the course of the next hour, he tried everything. Writing was hard. It was only after practicing writing with the pencil in his mouth that he finally started to get somewhere.

The words flowed from him, as if he had been doing this all his life.

Dear Journal,

There are so many crazy dreams. I don’t know what caused this one. Did somebody spike my drink? Am I watching too much MLP? What could cause this sort of a unique set of events? Dreams, I know, are a way of telling you something that you don’t already consciously know. What is my lesson here? What piece of knowledge am I missing? That doesn’t even begin to dig into the basic questions that I know I should know.

Who am I? Where am I? Why am I here? Philosophy aside, I don’t know how I even got to the hospital. What did he mean by four years? This is all a dream, but dreams are ways of telling us something. If I can decipher this dream, I’ll be closer to knowing a lot more about myself than I already did. Oh well, all I have to do is go to sleep. Everything will make sense when I really wake up. That is how it goes, after all. This is all about to become nothing more than a weird fantasy…

With those final words, eyes closed and Michael went to sleep.

To say that sleep came easy would have been an understatement. The dream that came with the sleep was the thing that didn’t come at first. For what seemed like forever, though it could have only been minutes, Michael was in darkness. There was nothing around him, nobody there to see how he was doing. What was happening? Would he wake up in another hospital? Would he forget who he was again? The name that he was given, Hokey Smokes, didn’t seem right. Something about it just didn’t feel right at all. If that wasn’t right, though, then what was?

Who was he?

The darkness gave way to a bright light. There were sounds that he couldn’t quite recognize. There was the sight of walls with a mish-mash of wallpaper. It all felt so real, it all seemed so familiar. Michael got up, and he was standing on two feet. Perhaps the other thing had been the dream. He walked around, almost stepping on a cat’s tail. The feline, bright orange, ran away from him. Did he have a cat? The house had two floors, and the next expanse of time was spent going over them. It seemed so familiar, but Michael couldn’t quite understand why.

“Wake up. You can’t sleep all day.”

The voice seemed to come from nowhere. Only when he looked down at the cat did the source become obvious. “Come on. Get up.” Another few lines from the cat, and then there was a strange feeling of being nudged. A shake of his head, and then everything faded away to become the other house.

Everything had faded away to become the world that he had woken up in. It was where the hospital had been, where he was given a name, where there was an elderly horse that was taking care of him. What was the name that he had been given? “Hokey Smokes.” The words were foreign to him, yet he spoke them.

“No, silly, that’s you.”

Oh right. This is all real to him. This is all just a dream to me. I’m going to wake up at any point, and I’m going to be… at that house. Where was that, anyway? And I was walking on two legs. And then there were those fingers. It was weird. The confused look must have confused the man as well, as he soon put out a hoof to help the confused man up. Help wasn’t really needed, but it was completely welcome. There was something about this whole thing that screamed false. This had to be a dream; he just knew it. How could this be real, while the other thing was the dream? This felt unreal, so fake, while the other thing had called out to him as if he had known it the entire time.

Walking on four legs felt strange.

“I have some things I need to do today. I’m going to trust you to stay out of trouble here. There are some books downstairs, great stories. I might get some more from the library if you like them…”

It was a nice offer, and Michael gave a nod. He was determined to figure out what was wrong. There were books there. A slimmer of thought came through. A people were defined by their literature. Not only that, but his dream would be giving him hints about what he was supposed to learn. All he had to do was find a book to read. All he had to do was find the book that would give him the information that he was supposed to have by the time that he woke up. I won’t find it up here; I have to go get those books. And… here I go. With that, he started his way down the hall and to where the bookshelf was.

The man hadn’t been telling a lie, there were a lot of books. There was one that caught his attention, though. This wasn’t a story, but a history book. Was he supposed to do something about history? The only thing that really confused him was the name of the history book. Well, no, this can’t be a history book. That name, of the place, is just wrong. I would know if it was real. Then again, I still don’t know my real name. So maybe I am in… how do you pronounce it? Equestria? That just sounds fake. There was nothing else for him to do, though, aside from continue on and read how the country was founded.

The story was good, if a little bizarre.

The part that he couldn’t quite believe was that there was a leader whose name was Pudding head. The others had weird names, but that was the weirdest. The end of the tale was when the kingdom was founded. Not only that, but everyone was happy. It seemed to be the perfect tale, which made it seem as though it was a complete work of fiction. How could everything end in such a happy manner? There had to be something wrong, there had to be. The book was sat back where it came from just as the door opened. How much time had passed, anyway?

“I had a feeling you’d like reading.” A wink came with the line; the elderly man didn’t even stop walking until he reached the kitchen. “Time for lunch, I say.” The sound of a rumbling stomach told Michael that he was right; it most certainly was time for lunch. What was on the menu today? Was it his favorite meal? What was his favorite meal? Everyone had one, even him. It would come back to him eventually, but that was the least important fact that he had forgotten. There was still the matter of his name, something that was definitely important.

Hokey Smokes wasn’t his name, he knew it.

“I hope you like hay.”

Did he? I might as well try it. There will be nothing lost if I do, I might like it. A nod came as the response, though the question still went through his head. What if he didn’t like it? I probably will. I am really hungry, after all. I’ve probably eaten worse too, after all. Everything was set up, and then the two of them had a quiet lunch. It was quiet, at least, until Michael decided that it was time for him to open his mouth to ask questions.

“Where am I?”

That question seemed to be something that caught the man off-guard, as if he hadn’t expected to hear it. A hoof moved to his chin, as if he was rethinking of how to put it. “We’re about an hour from town. Manehattan. It’s a nice place. That’s where the hospital was.”

It was a good answer, but it told Michael nothing. I won’t be getting an answer from him. He’s a figment of my imagination. If I don’t know what this place is, neither will he. It’s only how it works. “Thank you for helping me out. It’s good to know I woke up to some nice people.”

When lunch was over, the man left again to do some more of the day’s labor. It wasn’t long until Michael was reading again, something that he knew he could do indefinitely. Not only that, but it just felt right. There was something about this that seemed normal, which seemed like it was right. The entire day was spent reading, the dinner bringing silence with a side of a salad for him to eat. Maybe later, I’ll get some sort of fruit. After all, it seems like plant life is going to be the only thing he has around here…

That night, he went to sleep without writing a single word. His entire mind was focused on what it was that was happening to him. Michael still wanted to know where he was, who he was, why he was. Every dream had a purpose. What could be the purpose of a dream that had such bizarre things in it? It would all become clear in the morning.

-Four days later-

Nothing was clear, though there was the urge to write in his journal. It had been five days since he had awoken, and each day had him learning a little more about how to live his life. The elderly man seemed to hoping that everything would fix itself, but it hadn’t yet. Michael was afraid he’d never know his name. He was also afraid of what was slowly happening. There was nothing wrong with adjusting, really. Walking on four legs started to seem less unnatural. The food started to seem even better than before. Writing became more natural. It was the thing that he wrote about that concerned him.

Dear Journal,

It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I’ve been busy. I have had a lot on my mind, but not enough time to put it down in words. That’s just dreadful, isn’t it? Oh well, it’s time to tell you about the thing that happened to me earlier today. When the man calls me by that name, Hokey Smokes, I know that he means me. It isn’t my name, of that I’m sure, but he means me. I force myself to reply, the thought process there in my mind.

Today, I didn’t even have to think about it. It’s becoming normal to be called that, my mind is adapting. That’s all we’ll and good, but what does it mean? Am I losing myself? Was there anything there to lose? Maybe I just need to get out of here. I was told that there is a town about an hour from here, called Manehattan. Maybe I’m supposed to go there before my dream ends; maybe the town holds the lesson that I’m supposed to learn before my dream ends. Maybe my name is there; maybe the details of my life will become mine again.

Until next time.

With those last words, Hokey Smokes opened the door and walked out. The man had been nice, but he needed to get some fresh air. There had to be answers in Manehattan. There had to be something for him in the world around him. The first steps were the hardest, but he was soon making his way toward where his destiny obviously was. He had to go to Manehattan; he had to figure out who he was before he lost who he was.

Chapter 2

Destiny was a strange thing sometimes. People tried to understand it, tried to figure it out, but in the end they were simply walking down a path to where they assumed they were supposed to go. This was the case with a particular man, the one who had been referred to as Hokey Smokes, as well as everyone else. The only real difference was that his destiny, or what he assumed would lead him to his destiny, was all about him. He wanted to go somewhere that would allow him to figure out why he didn’t know anything about himself. I’m not even completely sure about my own name. Something definitely is wrong here. But that’s why I’m going to… what was it? Manehattan? That doesn’t sound real, but that’s the whole point of this. This whole thing will become clear when I get to that town.

Half an hour had passed already; there were no clear signs of life anywhere. The country, a place where he didn’t like to be, that was where he had been taken. How much longer would he have to walk? There was nothing for him to do beyond sing to himself. All he had to do was think of a song. Another ten minutes passed, and he gave up on that. Probably for the best. Am I a good singer anyway? I haven’t tried, but I doubt it. Singers are few and far between. Maybe I should just focus on figuring out what it is that I’m going to do when I get to Manehattan. There are likely a lot of pon- people there. I should be able to find one, at least one, who knows who I really am. Or the lesson. Yeah, somebody there will know the lesson that I’m supposed to learn.

About that time, he realized that there were plenty of buildings in the distance.

Either there’s another town, I took a wrong turn, or this is where I was heading. It took the sight of a sign, welcoming him to Manehattan, to give that query a satisfying conclusion. Of course, this was only the start. Michael had to find somebody who knew where he was supposed to be, knew who he was supposed to be. That meant that somepony there would have to actually know him, or be a mechanization of his dream. Aren’t they all? Alright lesson, here I come. That thought was in his head as he slammed directly into somepony with a weird hat. It might have been good if he had actually been paying attention, the woman was glaring at him as she started to get back up. A hoof was offered to help, but she ignored it.

“Why don’t you watch where you’re going?!”

“I’m sorry. I guess I was just… not paying attention.”

“Hmph!” With that, the woman just turned her head and started to walk away.

Rude much?

No time for him to do anything about it, it was time for him to head to the hospital. The hit to his head, the one when he had run into that mare, had gotten him thinking. If there was any way for him to figure out what he was supposed to know, it would likely come from a place with records. There would be some sort of name; there would be some sort of idea where he should go. Alright, all I have to do is figure out exactly where the hospital is. That shouldn’t be so hard. All I have to do is find somepony who looks like they might know. Anypony will do…

It didn’t catch in his mind what he had just thought, just that he needed to do something. Eyes looked around, then a little colt ran up to him.

“Are you alright, Mister?”

“Actually, I’m trying to find the hospital.”

“It’s… right beside you.”

Eyes looked over to see it, and a blush showed on his face. “Oh… I feel silly.”

“No problem, Mister. Maybe you can give me a bit for helping you…” Begging eyes looked up at him, and Hokey Smokes tried to think of a way out of it. He didn’t have any bits. He didn’t even know what bits were. The only thing that saved him was the fact that a mare showed up and carted him away. Saved by a concerned parent. That’s definitely something that I’m glad happened. And now to the hospital… A turn, and he entered the building. Immediately, everything started to look familiar. There were white walls, sterile looking, and nurses. There was also a mare at the desk, with a bored look on her face.

“Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for anypony who might know something about me.” The confused look came to him, and Hokey Smokes decided it was time for him to explain. It wasn’t every day, or at least he assumed it wasn’t, that something like this happened. “I’ll keep it brief. I woke up in a hospital, forget which. I think it was here, since this place is close. I was told I’m Hokey Smokes, but I have no clue if that’s even right? Is it?”

“How should I know?”

“Don’t you keep records?”

“Well, yes, but I’ve never seen you before. Are you sure you came here?”

“Nope.” That wasn’t the best answer, but it was the honest one. It was also one that got some eyes rolled at him, which caused a nervous reaction. Hokey Smokes couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped. The mare gave him a glare, and then looked through her records a few times. Ten minutes later, with somepony else helping, there was a single sheet of paper was found. It was a request for some records to be sent for, with the name Hokey Smokes. “Ah, here you are Mr. Smokes. It seems as though you came to the wrong place. You’re going to need to go to a place called…”

The waiting was almost painful. Hokey Smokes couldn’t quite understand why it was that she waited, or why she had a grin on her face. Was she making the whole thing up to get rid of him? Every other pony had been kind, aside from the woman who he had run into. “Ponyville. It’s not too far from here. Maybe an hour?”

That seemed like a question, and that meant she wasn’t sure.

“It’s getting late out there, though. There are plenty of nice places to stay for the night.”

There seemed to be the assumption that he had cash to spend. It seemed likely, using common sense, that bits were money. It also seemed likely, using more common sense, that he would need to have some if he wanted to stay somewhere for the night. I shouldn’t worry her. After all, this is a dream. And that means that I have everything I need. If I don’t have bits, I won’t need them. I’ll just find my way to Ponyville. I might find something there that ends this dream. After all, all signs point to that being the destination I require.

A smile was on his face as he nodded. There was no point in telling her otherwise. “Thank you. Would you be so kind as to tell me the best one? You probably know way better than I do.” Probably is an understatement. I don’t know anything about his town. Then again, I might. After all, I know everything I need to know.

Apparently, he had looked attentive enough. It didn’t matter, he was going to be walking to Ponyville tonight. He didn’t need anything more than his journal and some food. All he needed to do was get there. All he needed to do was learn that lesson that he was supposed to learn. At Ponyville, that would be there he would finally discover the end to this bizarre dream. Who was he? Why was he here? Why did everything here seem so perfect? All of those questions, and more, went through his mind. All of those questions would be answered by somepony in Ponyville.

“Thank you again, and take care.”

“You too. Tell the people there that I sent you. Nurse Joy is the name.”

That name seems to be a misnomer. “Will do!”

With those final words, the lie in place, it was time for him to start heading to Ponyville. There was, of course, only one problem with his journey to Ponyville.

Where was Ponyvile?

“Excuse me. Sir?” The first person who stopped gave him a bored look. Did anyone ever smile? “You wouldn’t happen to be able to point me to Ponyville, would you?”

“Ugh… Ponyville.” The stallion gave him a look, almost as if he didn’t believe that somepony would seriously have to ask. Hokey did his best to look serious, so it was soon explained to him. The explanation was simple, it was a turn with a hoof being pointed down the street. “It’s as easy as walking down that road. You keep walking for a couple of hours, and you’ll be there.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“No problem.”

Those final words between them, and Hokey started to walk toward the place. I should rest somewhere before I get there. Eyes looked up to see that the moon had already started to rise. Where had the day gone? There was nothing that could be done, except walk until he got tired. The sad thing was that it was only an hour, about half-way there, before he gave up on making it anu further. The stallion needed his sleep.

A path led to what looked like the perfect place, and he simply lay there. There was nothing else for him to do, though he had the compulsion to write something down. This was something that gave his mind a way to stitch together the pieces of information that had come over the day. Perhaps he would come up with the solution to his problems, if he still wanted to, by putting words down on the paper.

Dear Journal,

Today was definitely interesting. Manehattan is a big town, but there are so few happy people. There are nice people, but happiness seems to be void. Maybe it would be nice to see a few.

That leads me to my next big problem. Who am I? Who do I want to be? When I get to Ponyville, everything will become clear. Actually, the question itself, about who I am, leads me to more questions than ever. What if I figure out something bad? What if I don’t like what the lesson of this dream is? What if I turn out to be somebody who is evil? What would the lesson be? All of those questions are hiding the one that I don’t really want to utter. Even writing it seems as though it might be a betrayal of my mind. I have to do it, though.

Do I want this to end? Do I want this to be the dream?

Everything here seems to be great. It seems to be becoming second-nature, or maybe even first. Is this even a dream? Maybe I’m just overthinking things. That means it’s time to sleep!

Your friend,
Hokey Smokes

The sleep was void of dreams, just the darkness of before. At least when he woke up, rested more than he thought possible from a sleep on the ground, he was able to see perfectly. The sun was bright, the day was nice, and soon he was walking. Things were so amazingly boring as he walked, but it was better than running into somepony. Better boring than exciting. I think I’ve had enough excitement for my entire life.

That thought was put on hold, the sight of smaller buildings coming into view. Of course, things couldn’t quite be perfect. When something good was happening, there had to be something that slammed him back to reality. In this case, it was the most literal form of slam. Hokey had barely stepped into town, and he heard a scream of unbridled terror. No, that’s not terror. That’s more lik-. The thought didn’t get finished as he soon found himself being slammed into the side of a building.

Before he faded form consciousness, he heard something and saw something. There were so many colors of hair. That was the sight. “Ummm… ooops?”

Yep, life was always interesting.

It seemed as though there was something working against him. Every single step forward was met with something fighting back. Most of the time, it seemed as if the thing that would hit him was something of a physical nature. This was one of those times when it wasn't an exception, the unconscious pony having been sent to the hospital again. And here I go again. So I wake up, in a hospital, get taken care of, leave, go to figure out the lesson of the day, and then when I come to Ponyville, I get hit again. What is it with me and being physically maimed? Oh well, nothing to do now except open my eyes.

It was easier said than done, but Hokey was able to do it.

Just as had thought, with the voices of people who sounded as though they were nurses, he was in a hospital room. Eyes were still slow to open, the light being something that he couldn't adjust to quickly. Alright, so what happened? I know I got hit, but come on. Think, think, think. Another few moments, and his eyes moved over to the guest that was in the nearby hospital bed. A blue pony, multi-colored mane and tail, looked back at him with a sheepish grin. It was only then that it hit him what happened. There had been an accident, and that pony had slammed into him.

It hadn't been pleasant.

Eyes moved from her, the vicious assailant, and to his own injuries. From what he could gather, the crash had hurt him more than it hurt her. He had a broken leg, that much was obvious. One of his arms was in the sling. Neither of them hurt much, but there was a bag that was dripping something into a tube that led to his arm. It couldn't possibly have been that bad. Alright. What's wrong with me? Logic told him that there had to be something internal, or at least really bad, if he needed to be here. Another few minutes passed, and then a doctor came in.

"Good to see you're up. The surgery on your head wound was a success. The bones should heal up within the next couple of weeks. We're going to want to keep you here for the next few days, to make sure that nothing goes wrong. You should be fine, though."

The word should wasn't exactly the most encouraging, but that was likely the best that they had to tell him. "I don't even know what happened." Hokey couldn't remember it perfectly, and perhaps it would be best to have somebody else tell him. It might even be a case where he didn't know at all. His mind was a powerful thing, as all minds were. Perhaps he had seen this pony, and his mind had filled in details that he didn't have. That happens, right? Of course it happens. But... okay, what does it mean if I'm doing this? Does it mean anything?

"I'll let your roommate tell you later. She knows a lot better than I do."

Hokey didn't even have to look to know that there was a glare. Most of the time, people didn't like those sorts of comments. He knew that he didn't like those sorts of comments. Yet he couldn't help but think that he should try to get an apology from her. If she was the cause of his problems, she would likely have something to say. Then again, I can't force an apology. If she doesn't want to, she won't. But she doesn't seem like the type that would outright refuse to apologize if she did something wrong. Or maybe I'm just over-thinking about somepony that I don't know anything about at all. Do I even know her name?

A few seconds of thought later, and the answer was a resounding no.

Another few moments of gazing over at the pegasus, and then he turned over and started to try to go back to sleep. There was something about this whole situation that made him just want to nap all day. It could have been whatever was dripping through the tubes, actually, but it hardly mattered. Hokey was unable to stay awake, and was soon asleep again. The tube must have been removed while he was asleep, he could feel something like a pinch. That wasn't the thing that woke him up, though. The thing that woke him up was something hitting him right on the side of his head.

It was a ball.

"Hey. You awake yet?"

"Ugh?"

"Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?"

The headache was there, though the ball shouldn't have done that. It was likely a normal headache, maybe with the cause of whatever trauma slamming into the building had caused. Or maybe it was something else altogether. Either way, Hokey Smokes opened his eyes and glanced over at the pegasus who had likely been the assailant. There isn't anyone else in here to throw the ball at me, after all. It had to be her...

"Great. A deaf pony. Out of all of the people I could have ran into, or be stuck in a room with, it has to be a pony who can't hear. Well, at least that means it wasn't my fault..."

"What are you going on about? What wasn't your fault?"

"Nothing."

"Tell me!"

A sigh was heard, and this time it wasn't from him. This time, it was from the pony who had assaulted him twice now. It was obvious that she didn't want to talk about it, but that didn't matter much. Hokey wanted to know what it was that had happened, and he assumed that it coincided with whatever it was that this pony didn't want to talk about. It must have been something bad, actually to illicit the type of reaction that she gave. Did she dive down to hit him on purpose? "Listen. I'd love to tell you, but you'd probably get mad at me and... I'm going to be stuck here for the next few days with you. At least now I know that you aren't deaf..."

Fine. If you aren't going to tell me, I'm going to go back to sleep. Maybe when I wake up, the headache will be gone. With that, he turned his head away. That didn't go well with the blue pony, who started to try to get his attention. It started with her clearing her throat, loudly actually, and then moved on to more obvious things. An apple hit the side of his head, followed by an orange. If things continued, he might have enough for some sort of fruit salad. He might also get hit wherever the head injury was, which wouldn't be good at all.

None of that worked, so the blue pony was forced to use words.

"Come on. You can't ignore me forever. I'm going to get you to say something."

"You first. Who the hay are you?"

Hokey turned to look at a pony with a smile. It seemed as though she just wanted to get some interaction. The only other potential reason for such happiness was that the question was the right question. But who would be so self-absorbed as to want to be asked about themselves? It seemed to be much more likely that she had simply wanted somebody to talk to. There had been some words spoken to that effect before, something about being stuck in there for a few days with him. That might not have been the happiest way of putting it, but it was likely what could be considered the most honest way of putting it. Neither of them wanted to be there.

Might as well make the best of it.

"I am Rainbow Dash, best flier in all of Equestria. I must have hi-." There was a pause, an expression of shock, and then a few coughs. "You must have hit your head pretty hard to not know me. I'm pretty amazing."

Really now? Interesting. So she's Rainbow Dash. That name does seem familiar. I can't quite place where I know that name from, though. Another couple of minutes passed, and then he realized that he had read something about her in a book. If his memory served him right, she was the one who had caused some damage with something called a Sonic Rainboom. He still didn't know what that was, but it was likely something unimpressive and unimportant. Those types of names always did signify something bland and uninteresting.

"And you are?"

"Hokey Smokes."

"No. Really."

"Yes. Really."

"Sure, sure. If that's what you want to call yourself."

That last line didn't make any sense. That was his name, right? He had woken up in a hospital, then he had been told that this was his name. He didn't choose it. There was still something about it that seemed to be surreal. Regardless, there was something else that was coming to mind. How could he have forgotten to get the story from her? He knew her name, now he had to get her to spill the beans. He looked at her, no smile on his face, and simply said what he thought would have the greatest effect on her.

"If you don't tell me what happened I'll just ignore you for the rest of the time we're here, Ms Dash."

"Ms Dash? Really? Promise to not call me that again, and we have a deal."

"Fine. What would you like to be called?"

That question got a weird look, and then she simply laughed at him. "What else would I want to be called? Call me Rainbow Dash."

"Fine."

"Alright. But you can't get mad." That was how all stories went that ended with somebody doing something stupid. This time, however, his response was a nod. There didn't seem to be a point in getting mad, especially since her mistake hadn't cost him too much. It only cost him the ability to walk for a few days. "It started off like any other day. I took care of the weather, got some awesome pranks in, and then started to practice."

"For what?"

"Do you want to know what happened or are you going to keep interrupting me?"

"Sorry, Rainbow Dash."

"That's better. As I was saying, I was practicing. I had just about gotten through my routine. I wanted to be able to do the Sonic Rainboom whenever I tried. Practice makes perfect, so I tried it again." Her eyes seemed to light up. Even the tale of a failure seemed to bring back memories, and not bad memories at that. Hokey could only wait for her to be brought back to reality. "It didn't go as well as I hoped, as then I ended up getting a sprained wing for my trouble." The next part was barely audible, he had to really strain too hear it. "And I might have crashed into you."

Yep, it was just as he thought. This was the reason why he was in here.

"I forgive you..." That was always the first step. Hokey Smokes was willing to put the past behind them, and forgive her. He would be stuck with her for the next few days, he might as well. There was only one problem that soon became obvious.

"I didn't apologize..."

This was going to be a long day.

Is she kidding me? She acknowledges that she ran into me, that it is her fault that this has happened, yet she isn't apologizing? That is more than a little rude. What would make her think that she shouldn't apologize? There was the obvious look of shock on his face. Even somepony who was barely focused on him, like Rainbow Dash, was able to see that there was something that needed to be said to have the hope of having somepoony to talk to. He saw a hoof move to her chin, as if she was trying to think of what to say next.

"Well, you don't apologize for things you don't mean to do. Accidents are just that... accidents."

That wasn't completely true, or even partially true. It didn't matter if a person had meant to do it or not, it was simply wrong. It was simply something that warranted an apology. How could somepony be so self-centered, not to mention rude, as to think that accidents didn't warrant an apology? The look on his face was, once again, enough to make sure that he didn't have to say anything. The blue pony looked up, once again sitting her hoof on her chin.

"Besides, you could have moved out of the way."

"But I didn't see you until it was too late."

"That's just... erm... stinkin thinkin! Yeah, that's what it is!"

"Stinkin thinkin?"

"Yeah. stinkin thinkin."

"And... that is?"

That question brought about a few more minutes of her hoof on her chin. Either the blue assailant had said something she didn't understand, or she was simply trying to think of the best way to actually explain one of the weirdest phrases that Hokey had ever heard. Either way, there were a couple of minutes ofd silence for him to think of what it was that he was going to be saying to her for the rest of their jail sentence together. It feels like a jail sentence, anyway. I don't even know a lot about her, except that she's rude.

Well, I also know that she can fly. And I know that she is bad with apologies, and that she has some of the strangest vocabulary. What else should I know that actually matters? Anything else, she'll likely tell me eventually. Or not, and we'll both go our separate ways at the end of this. I win either way... Those few precious moments, the silent moments, were squandered thinking about the pony who was laying in the bed that was next to his.

"Negative thoughts, duh. My friend Applejack taught me that. Positive thoughts become positive actions."

That seemed to be different from the way she was likely to talk. It sounded more like a dictionary, and Rainbow Dash was obviously no dictionary. She was obviously a pony. And the award for most obvious observation goes to...

"So... where are you from?"

That was strange. Nopony cared about where he came from, who he was, why he was there. He wasn't even sure he could answer that question. Where was he from? That was a question that he hadn't asked himself in a while. I know where I woke up at. Should I tell her that? Yeah, Rainbow Dash doesn't seem like the type that will ask followup questions. She seems like the type that will simply take what I tell her and not care about anything else. It's likely just for conversation... The entire time, his own hoof was on his chin.

"Well, I woke up in the hospital about two hours outside of Manehattan. Before that? I wish I could tell you, but it just isn't in the cards." That shouldd have been enough, but there was obviously more needed. He could see the glare. Even if he hadn't, he could have felt it. A few more minutes passed, and it became unbearable. Hokey almost yelled out the question that came next. "What?!"

"I didn't ask you where you came from before you were here. I meant like... born."

"Can't tell you."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't."

"Sure you can. I won't judge you."

That was obviously true, but it didn't matter. Hokey wasn't withholding information that he had. He wasn't withholding anything of importance. He just didn't know. "I really can't tell you."

"Tell me! Tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"I don't know where I came from!" The final fact was down, and it came with a shocked expression. It was obvious that Rainbow Dash didn't know what to think of the idea that somepony was unaware of their own start. If Hokey hadn't been the one to deal with it, he wouldn't know what to think either. That was all he wanted to say on the matter, but it wasn't enough for her. Instead, the glare only lessened.

"Go on..."

"There isn't much to say."

"Oh yeah there is. How could somepony not know where they come from? That doesn't make any sense. Add that to the fact that you're obviously using a fake name and..." It seemed that today was going to be filled with thinking for Rainbow Dash. Another few minutes later, and it seemed as if she had come up with some epiphany. "Are you a spy?"

"No. And that isn't a fake name... I think." It was time for Hokey to think. He had become accustomed to using that name. The name was given to him by people he didn't know, at a hospital.

"Okay, now you have to tell me."

"No I don't."

"Yeah."

"No."

"Do it!"

"Nope."

"Please? I'll do anything! I'm dyin here!"

"Apologize!"

"For you using a weird name? Fine, I'm sorry you used a weird name."

"No, for running into me."

"Never!"

"Okay then, have it your way." With those final words, he turned over and pretended to go back to sleep. It wasn't that the idea didn't appeal to him, but Hokey knew it was the easiest way to get what he wanted. He knew that she wanted to know something, and he knew that he was going to get her to apologize. It would happen, even if it took time for her to actually cave in and tell him the words that he wanted to hear.

"Fine! I'm sorry. There? Happy?"

"Happier than you will ever know."

"Huh?"

"Nothing." With that, he stopped pretending to try to sleep. He looked right at Rainbow Dash, and smirked. "So... what was it that we were talking about?" It was his hope that she had forgotten. However, fate was not so kind to poor Hokey Smokes.

"You. We were talking about how somepony could actually have no clue where they came from. And then you say that you don't think your name is fake. How could somepony not know if they're using a fake name?"

"Simple. I know nothing about me." That elicited a look that seemed to come to her often. Hokey knew she would ask, so he held out a hoof. "Allow me to elaborate. It has been about a week, I think, since I woke up in that hospital I told you about. The thing that I didn't tell you, and can't, is where I was before then. I woke up there, and got told what my name was. And that's why I know my name, or at least what I think is my name. That is also why I don't know anything else, because I haven't been told."

"Huh?"

"It really hurts when I try to think about anything before then. And you giving me a head-wound isn't likely to help the process."

"Oh."

"Oh indeed."

"So... what's going to happen when you get out of here? Why come to Ponyville?"

"Just a feeling, like this is where I'm supposed to go. There's something here, some way for me to figure out what I'm missing. I just have to find it." The thought about the dream came back. It hadn't really been prevalent, but it was still there. Was this still a dream? He knew to come to Ponyville because he knew this was a dream. This all felt so real, though. And there was the fact that he had a dream where he had fingers.

Or was that the dream, and this the reality?

That was something that hadn't been thought about for a while. It was a common thought over the past few days, but it had been pushed to the side whenever possible. It hurt his head to think, at least when it came to thinking about that. Nope, I should just stick to the stuff that I know for now. It will all come to me. If this is a dream, it will fix itself. If it isn't, I won't need to fix anything.

"Well, I wanna help you out. It just seems wrong to not know that sort of stuff."

"How can you help? The doctor didn't seem to have much information. He didn't even seem to have an answer for whether or not something could be done. Or maybe I just didn't ask." Did he? That was something that should have been asked, but apparently it wasn't. Hokey almost wanted to face-hoof. That probably would have fixed everything.

"I know an egghead that can solve everything. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm sure she'd have no problem coming up with something that could help you out."

"I'm willing to try anything at this point. Thank you."

"No problem. Just... don't tell anypony I apologized."

"Deal."

"Alright, so... when's dinner, anyway?"

Another few minutes later, their dinner was brought in. It wasn't the best, but it was better than starving.

-A few days later-

Amicable conversations after that had been the norm, but that was likely to change now that they were free. Would she still remember what she said? Hokey wasn't sure, he could only go by what had happened the rest of the time that he could remember. It wasn't anything against her personally, but there was a look of shock when she reminded him by simply starting to push his wheelchair.

"Come on, Twilight's place is this way."

Sometimes, he got good surprises...

Chapter 3

There were a lot of questions on his mind. A majority of them were ones that came back with the questioning of Rainbow Dash, but there were some of them that only came around because of her. It just didn't seem natural that somepony would be as helpful, especially if they had caused an accident. Why did she want to take him to her friend? Who was this friend? Hokey Smokes knew a name, but that didn't tell him anything about her. Well, that's not true. She's apparently an egghead. And apparently, she will be able to help me out with the problem of not knowing who I am. All of that leads me to believe... that I'm doomed.

That was likely the wrong conclusion, but oh well. She had, after all, proven that she could be something other than completely rude. And anypony who is a friend of Rainbow Dash can't be that bad of a person. Or are they just like her? Nah, she doesn't seem like an egghead. Or maybe she just thinks her friend is an egghead because she's smarter than Rainbow Dash. Yeah, that might be it. More questions than answers, but Hokey Smokes did his best to simply continue walking with the hopes that all of the problems would have some sort of conclusion.

Almost half an hour later, they stopped walking. Well, she wasn't walking at all. She was... flying. That must be nice to be able too fly in stead of walk. Alright, so where are w- It was around that time that he looked at the building that he had been taken to. It was a tree. Did trees normally have doors? It wasn't something he really wanted to think about, since a lot of things simply seemed to make no sense when it came to the world around him. The only thing that the confused stallion could think to do was look up at his guide.

"Well? What are you waiting for? An invitation?"

"I think I have one of those!" A bizarre pink pony appeared out of a nearby barrel, a smile on her face. It didn't seem to affect Rainbow Dash, but the same couldn't be said of Hokey Smokes. He had been startled, and was actually laying on his back. He had actually jumped into the air, and the landing was the least graceful thing that any of them had seen. It elicited a laugh from the pink one, but that joyous reaction was short-lived.

She looked at him for a moment, then let out a gasp and ran away.

"Well, that was interesting..." Within ten seconds of saying that, Hokey Smokes was back on his feet. The fact that Rainbow Dash didn't seem to be shocked was almost as shocking as what had happened. "What just happened?"

"That's just Pinkie being Pinkie. Come on."

"Are you sure it's alright to just walk in?"

"Well, it is a library."

"In a tree?"

"Where else would it be? In the clouds?"

"In a building..."

"This is a building."

"I give up. Let's just go see this egghead you told me about."

Rainbow Dash could barely hold in her laughter, it seemed, at the fact that somepony else was referring to her friend as such. Or it could have been the fact that the door quickly opened to show a purple pony. The only way that she could be described at that point, aside from direct appearance, would be the expression that was on her face. Rainbow Dash looked amused, the pink one looked happy, and this one looked like she was annoyed. I knew that just walking in would be a bad idea. If this is that Twilight person that Rainbow Dash told me about...

She doesn't look happy to see me.

Instead of saying anything to him, though, she turned to Rainbow Dash. "Oh, hello Rainbow." The annoyed look was replaced by a smile. "Out from the hospital, I see. And your wing looks like it healed nicely." That remark seemed to be the wrong one, as Rainbow Dash proceeded to do a few tricks to show off her healed wings.

"What can I say? I heal quick!"

"That's good." Eyes then moved back to Hokey Smokes. The annoyed look was gone, but she still scared him a little. It was almost as if she was studying him, wanting to know what it was that made him tick. Regardless of what her intention was, it was making him feel as if there was something that he needed to say. Why doesn't Rainbow Dash say anything? This is, by far, the most uncomfortable meeting that I've had. And I met her by getting slammed into a building!

"Oh yeah, this is a guy I ran into... at the hospital."

Of course, Twilight likely got the message. Rainbow Dash had done more than run into him at the hospital. It had been her slamming into him that had caused the problem in the first place. Hokey Smokes couldn't quite figure out what it was that she was thinking, just that it was likely something that would affect the amount of help she was likely to give. "Does this mysterious pony have a name, or should I just call him 'that guy from the hospital'?

"You're going to have a good laugh at this one, Twilight." Another minute, or at least close enough, went by before she said anything again. "This guy's name is Hokey Smokes." All that Twilight did was glance at him, as if wondering if it was true. At the same time, Rainbow Dash started laughing again. It was almost as if she had forgotten the fact that his name was unique. It was his name, though, or at least that was what he went by throughout the past week or so.

"Alright, so now that I know his name... now what?" She turned, then stared at Rainbow Dash. "You normally don't bring random ponies over." A smile went over her face, and then a wink. "This wouldn't happen to be your new coltfriend, would it?"

Both of them, Hokey Smokes and Rainbow Dash, blinked a few times and blushed. That was the strangest question that had been asked. He barely knew her. The only thing he did know was that she was friends with Egghead Sparkle, or Twilight Egghead, or whatever it was that her name actually was.

"That's not it at all!" Rainbow suddenly burst out.

"Then what is it?"

"I thought you could help him."

"With what?"

"Why don't you explain?" Eyes then moved to him, and Hokey Smokes stopped blushing. This was one of those times when he started to rethink what it was that he had been doing.. Had it been a good idea to tell his story to somepony who didn't believe him? Was it a good idea to continue to spread it around? Would she believe him? That was something that he would have to figure out before he said anything. If anything, Hokey Smokes was sure that she would call him crazy and tell him to leave.

She might even accuse him of being a spy!

"Well?" The purple pony continue to look at him, analyzing him as he looked back at her.

"Alright, but you probably won't believe me."

"Try me."

Over the course of the next hour, and still outside, Hokey Smokes tried to explain everything. He told every little detail about what had happened, about what he knew. The details about the dream, which he hadn't told Rainbow Dash, were given. Everything was laid out for her to try to figure out, and potentially help him figure out. The entire time, she just continued to listen. Rainbow Dash even seemed to get caught up in it, especially when there were the added details of the dream.

Did they believe him?

"Interesting story." Twilight turned, and started to walk in. "I think I have a little research to do." Rainbow Dash followed behind, but Hokey Smokes still stood there. He didn't like the idea of walking into somepony's home, not without being invited. It was only when she turned, and motioned for him to follow, that he actually moved from the spot. As long as somepony invited him in, it wasn't the wrong thing to do.

"Spike!"

A small creature walked from the next room, purple and green. Just as before, Hokey Smokes was startled. It had been enough to see ponies, but this was something new. What was he? "Oh come on." Twilight said when she saw the reaction. "Not even Fluttershy is afraid of baby dragons." That last part was said in a way that made Hokey Smokes feel a little ashamed. Who was this Fluttershy? What made her so special as to be the gauge of which being afraid was measured?

"I knew you'd finally get a coltfriend, Twilight! But why did you hide him from me for so long?"

The response that it got, from Twilight, was a glare. It was obvious that she didn't find the joke funny. Hokey Smokes simply blinked a couple of times, wondering why everypony seemed to be heading toward that conclusion. Did he look like coltfriend material? Were they looking for ccoltfriends? Did he care if either of those things were true?

"This is not a joke. I need you to help me find some books about dreams."

Why start with the dream? Come on, I know that means something. Every so often, the logical part of his brain would override the fun. These sorts of things didn't happen without cause, and the cause was obviously something that would help him figure out what he was supposed to do. Until he figured out what he was supposed too do, though, all he could do was wait.

-Hours later-

There was still no information.

"Nothing?" Hokey Smokes asked, hoping that she might have something that she didn't tell him about. There was the subtle feeling that there wasn't anything, however.

"Nothing."

"Well, thanks anyway."

"Oh no, I have one more idea!"

This had turned from something nice to something else. Hokey Smokes could see it in her eyes, this was a challenge. He had become a puzzle for her to solve, which meant that he was going to be solved. Those were the eyes of somepony that was determined to succeed at all costs. "And that idea is?"

Twilight's horn started to glow. It was enough to make Hokey Smokes want to run away. When he started to move, though, he realized he couldn't. Her friend had gotten the message, some message, about how she was supposed to stop him from running. The only thing he could do, given the grasp of the amazingly strong pony, was try to move his head away from her. Her horn touched his head, and then the consciousness quickly left him. Something had happened, but he was hoping that this wasn't exactly what was meant to happen.

Twilight and Rainbow Dash both looked at each other, shocked.

"I thought you'd help him, not knock him out!"

"All I used was a simple memory spell, like when we had to deal with Discord..."

Twilight and Rainbow Dash, who had been shocked by the fact that Hokey Smokes had just passed out, we're both staring down at him. By this time, they had placed him in the guest bed. The two went the only ones who we looking at him. There was also the baby dragon, Spike, looking down at the unconscious pony.

"What did you do, Twilight?" The purple dragon asked, slightly worried that she might have hurt somepony. If she had done something like that, they would likely all deal with the consequences. What would happen if he never woke up? What was it that had caused him to pass out in the first place? Who was he? Twilight hadn't said anything about the mysterious stallion, aside from the fact that he wasn't her coltfriend. Even that hadn't been said, merely implied when he had made the comment about her getting one.

"A memory spell shouldn't do this." Rainbow Dash cut in, stopping her from the explanation.

"But that's what I used..."

All three of them continued to look down at the stallion, who looked as though he wasn't doing all that well. All three of them were wondering what it was that was happening.

~~~~~

Hokey Smokes sat up. His head hurt, and he remembered something happening with a sharp object. Had it been a knife? A hand moved to his head, and five fingers tapped his forehead. Unlike before, however, this time was better. There was no confusion, this was obviously the real world. He was a human being, he was Michael, he was living in a house with a few cats. All of this made perfect sense.

He looked at an orange cat, who was laying next to him.

"Hey Bobby."

Purring was the only response. It wasn't as if he expected the cat to talk. Cats didn't talk, they didn't have the capability. Arms stretched, and he knew it was time for him to get up. A hand grabbed for his phone, and it was almost nine o'clock. First he would have to use the restroom, and then he could head to the library. Eyes scanned the house, still messy, and then he stood up. The cat followed him, and they were soon joined by a calico cat.

That was nice.

Ten minutes later, he had everything ready for him to head out. The only thing he needed was his computer bag. When he picked that up, he started to head to the door. Outside, there were stairs that led to the sidewalk. When he took a step, however, quick tripped and fell toward the sidewalk. It would have hurt, but he sank into it. It was the first time he had sank into something that wasn't liquid. The experience was still painful, though.

And when he stood up, he saw ponies.

There wasn't anything wrong with this, not in his mind. The experience of the past half hour, with the cats and the stairs, wasn't even a memory. Hokey Smokes could remember what had happened before this. He had been playing with his good friend, Candy Apple. They had been on a teeter-totter. She had slammed down, to make it more fun, and then he had actually flown and slammed onto the ground nearby. A teacher rushed over, to make sure that he was alright.

A few minutes after that, there was another pony. That made it three, one of which was his friend, standing near him.

"Why won't he get up?" Hokey Smokes heard in an unfamiliar voice. It looked as though the teacher was the one that said it, but the voice didn't fit. The voice didn't make any sense at all. The other thing that didn't make any sense was that they spoke about him as if he was laying there. Hokey Smokes had stood back up. What they said made absolutely no sense to him, or likely anypony else.

"Do you think he's dead?"

"No, I checked. He has a pulse."

"Then what's wrong with him?"

"I don't know."

All of that was going on without any input from Hokey. He didn't know what to say, didn't know how to make any sense of any of it. A bright flash came next, and he closed his eyes. When he started to open them again, everything changed again. This was the second time when things had suddenly become weird. This time, there were two ponies and a weird creature. Before he panicked, though, he remembered that it was a baby dragon.

"What did you hit me with?" Hokey Smokes felt as if he had been hit in the head with something. It wasn't merely pain from the spell, which was painless, but something else. Now that he was awake, everything hit him at once. There were two things that had happened, both of them disagreed with the other. Only one of them could be true, which meant that the other had to be fake.

Which one was which?

"Nothing. I used a spell on you to help you out."

"With?"

'Well, logically you should have seen something from your past. Did you?" The purple pony wasn't the only one who looked hopeful. There was also a hopeful glance from Rainbow Dash. Both of them wanted to hear what was going to be said by him.

"It started off with me in a bed. I had a headache, and I put my hand on my head. I got up, started to walk to the library-" Hokey Smokes was interrupted by Rainbow Dash, who had looked as though she was completely bored. It must have seemed strange to hear somebody tell about a memory that wasn't exactly the most exciting one ever. Was it a memory? That was something that he didn't think was a memory, but she had said it was.

"Get to the part where it helped you out!"

"The only difference was that I had... fingers. I didn't have hooves. And I walked on two legs, not fo-"

"Wait, what?" This time, Twilight interrupted. It seemed as though he wasn't going to be able to get through his entire story. There had been one interruption from one, another from the other. "I don't even know what you mean. There are very few animals in Equestria that walk on two legs. And you're obviously not one of them. That is scientifically impossible! Your memory is scientifically impossible!"

"Let him continue, Twilight." The dragon spoke up, wanting to get this whole thing over with. "Maybe he'll explain himself."

"And then I started walking down the stairs, tripped, and found myself looking at my friend Candy Apple." Hokey Smokes continued, and then he glanced over at the wall. "After I felt myself... sink into the sidewalk." That was the least believable part, or at least he thought it was. This wasn't the part that got the disbelief, or at least it wasn't shown by any of the individuals in the room. "And then I woke up in a bed. I don't even know how I got here."

"We couldn't just let you lay on the floor. That would have been a bad idea. Imagine if somepony just came walking in, they might have thought you were dead!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, not being the type that hid her thoughts all that well. Twilight looked up at her, then back down at the confused stallion. None of this made any sense to any of them, especially not him.

"That doesn't even make any sense." Twilight started in, and then she put her hoof on her chin. Another few minutes passed, and she seemed to get an idea. "What if I tried that again?"

"No, no, no. That's a bad idea." Hokey Smokes didn't want to deal with the headache. It hadn't worked the first time, and it certainly wouldn't work this time. It didn't make any sense to try the same thing a second time. Without any warning, she moved to try again. Hokey Smokes pushed her away, and quickly bucked at Rainbow Dash. He wasn't going to get grabbed this time.

As quickly as he could, Hokey Smokes jumped through the nearby window. It didn't hurt as much as he assumed it would, but the glass did cut him. He didn't turn to see it, but the expressions of all three of them were of complete shock. He was able to move with a speed that he didn't know he had, and ten minutes later he was four miles away. The day had proven to be something that he wished he could take back, it had proven to be horrible.

Whatever she had done, it was horrible.

Hokey Smokes waited a couple of hours, sneaking back into town to get a quill to write down in his journal with. That was the only thing that made any sense. At the very least, he was able to use it to collect his thoughts.

Dear Journal,

I me Egghead Sparkle today. She was nice, but now I'm even more confused than ever. All I know is that I am a pony, or I might not be. I might have hooves or I might have hands. This might be a dream, or this might be real life. I might be here for a while, or I might leave soon.

The one thing that I am sure of is that horns are bad news.

Hokey Smokes.

The rest of the day was boring. There was nothing special, aside the from fact that he was trying to figure out where it was that he should go. The sun was starting to set, which meant that the entire day had somehow been spent. That didn't make any sense to him, as he could have sworn that he had been let out of the hospital that morning. It took a few minutes before it hit him where the day had gone. Hokey Smokes had gone to see Twilight Sparkle, the egghead friend of Rainbow Dash. She had asked him questions, done some research, and then she did something weird with her horn. Whatever she had done had knocked him out for an unknown number of hours.

And now he was outside of town, laying in the grass.

-Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Spike-

"What do you think I did?" The purple unicorn asked. She had concerned look on her face, as if she was worried that she had done something. Her friends, both Spike and Rainbow Dash, just stared at her and then the broken window. Neither of them knew exactly what it was that they should say, if the should even say anything at all. Finally, the dragon moved to start cleaning up the pieces of glass that we're near the bed.

"You didn't do anything. That sure was one weird pony, though." He chimed in, quickly cleaning up what remained of glass. "Well, I mean you did scare him. How? Beats me."

"Rainbow Dash?" Her eyes moved to her blue friend, who was hovering over the bed. Whatever had happened, there had to be something done to fix it. There was no way that the confused pony wold know where it was that he needed to go. In the end, she felt as though she didn't do anything to help the poor stallion out. Her efforts had only led to his retreat. That wasn't what she meant to do at all.

"Yes, Twilight?"

"I want you to find him tomorrow. He'll be alright for the night."

"Are you sure you want her to find him? He seemed... weird." Spike interjected, and the only response was a glare from the two ponies.

"Remember Zecura? We all thought that she was weird, and she turned out to be alright." Twilight was rut, and Spike knew it. There was just something about this pony, whoever he was, that didn't sit right with the baby dragon. He didn't know what it was, but he knew that something wasn't right. The only thing he did know for sure, if anything about the stallion was certain, it was that he would have to be watched carefully. Spike wasn't going to allow anything to happen to his family.

-Back to Hokey Smokes-

Contrary to their beliefs, Hokey Smokes didn't have any clue where to go. He was still poor, though he knew what the currency was, and he was homeless. It wasn't as if he had relatives, or that he knew them. There was one friend's name in his mind, but that was questionable. Well, two friends. Bobby and Candy Apple. One is a cat, the other is a pony. Even if he did have a name, a name of a friend, that didn't mean she was actually more than a dream.

It was going to be a long night of sleeping outside, it seemed. Hokey Smokes was starting to be used to it, as there wasn't anywhere else for him to go. Another night wouldn't hurt too badly, and so he soon found himself searching for the most comfortable place outside. That was actually more difficult than he thought, and he soon found himself at a place that looked as though it was right outside the forest. The was a cottage within eyesight, and a nice stream for him to get some water from. Everything was perfect, and soon he was asleep.

First, though, he got a drink.

The night was uneventful, with Hokey Smokes having that same dream from before. It was the dream that Egghead Sparkle had forced onto him. Half of it was in a world with humans, the second half had nothing to do with them. He had friends in both, even if it was only cats in one of them. It was still confusing, however, and left him tossing and turning throw out the night. At least he wasn't going to be woken up by anything bad, though.

Then came the feeling that he was being kicked.

Eyes opened up to see a white rabbit staring into his eyes. Was he being assaulted by a bunny? That didn't make any sense. Rabbits were normally a timid bunch that didn't attack. The thing that caused him to wake up the rest of the way, however, was the single word that was yelled from the nearby house.

"Angel!"

Had he intruded on somepony's property? He had worked hard to make sure that didn't happen, but it had. Was he going to get beat down? The voice sounded nice enough, but that didn't mean anything. The horn had looked pleasant enough, but it had been something that caused him a lot of pain. Hokey Mokes wasn't going to take any risks, he wasn't going to get beat down by whatever it was that had that voice. Hooves moved up, grabbed the rabbit, and gently tossed him away. The voice was heard again, yelling the same name.

Hokey Smokes ran.

Ten minutes passed before he knew it, before he stopped to catch his breath. Hokey Smokes had actually gone further than he thought possible, a whole five miles of panicked run. He hadn't even turned to see the timid looking pegasus that had stepped out to try to collect her pet rabbit. If he had, he would have seen a yellow pony with a pink mane. She didn't look like a threat, but he didn't know that. He had ran before she could even show up.

Slam!

Once again, Hokey Smokes was staring at a rainbow mane. It seemed as if he was destined to meet her like this, the most painful way imaginable. The only difference was that, with this time, he wasn't going to the hospital. There was also the fact that he was conscious, that was something new. Perhaps the least important, to him at least, fact was that he had run into her. "Sorry. Gotta go!" He didn't say another word, but he quickly started running away from her.

She might take him to her friend.

Hokey Smokes turned to see that she was following him, and quickly catching up. It might have been the wings, or her speed, but something was giving him a disadvantage. The only thing that helped him out was when he looked forward to see forest. He was going to head into the forest, and she was going to have a hard time following him. What would he actually do in the forest? He wasn't sure, he might just stay there for a while and hope they forgot about him.

Unknown to him, he was planning on staying in the Everfree Forest.

Chapter 4

Out of all the places that he could have gone, it seemed as though this might have been the worst possible idea. It wasn't that he had been attacked, at least not yet. Hokey Smokes wasn't the most courageous pony ever, as seen by his latest actions, and this was filled with things that might make even the bravest ponies think twice. Everything seemed to be dark, gloomy, and overall had a vibe that made him want to head back out of the forest and back to where the ponies that were rushing after him had gone. They might have assaulted him, or at least he thought that it had all been an assault, but at least they weren't like this.

Even Twilight Spark didn't give him this sort of vibe, and that could be said after she had knocked him out. At least the headache is gone. I don't know what she did, still don't have any clue, but it wasn't something that I want to have to deal with again. Whatever she did, I have to make sure that she doesn't do it again. The easiest way, and the one that he was likely to go with, was for him to actually stay in the forest. All he would have to do would be find somewhere that didn't make him feel as though something was going to eat him alive.

By now, he had stopped running, and was walking cautiously. Why would he run in the forest? Rainbow Dash didn't seem to be following him. Twilight Sparkle hadn't followed him at all. There was no sign of the voice, the one that had frightened him away. Why had he been scared of it? It was still a mystery to him, as Hokey Smokes hadn't even given the voice the time to actually get a face attached to it. Eyes looked around, the trees started to seem as though they might not be so bad.

He might have been over-thinking it, the forest might not be so bad.

An hour passed, he was still walking along, before he stopped and looked around again. The only downside to the forest seemed to be that everything was similar. He could have sworn that he passed those plants before. Blue plants wren't normal. Hokey Smokes soon discovered that it wasn't all that tasty, either. There was something to be said about something that he refused to eat, since his appetite hadn't refused a single thing before that time. He let out a sigh, and started walking again.

It would take some time, but he would find somewhere.

By the time he stopped walking, no light could be seen. It might have been night, or it might have been the treetops. He wasn't sure either way, but it seemed as if there was a clearing for him to be able to lay down at. When he did lay down, though, there was a loud roar. That would have been enough for him to run, but after he saw the thing that made the sound it was definite. Hokey Smokes couldn't believe, or perhaps he just didn't want to believe, that his luck could be this bad.

Why did he have to run into a Manticore?

Another ten minutes of panicked running, and he felt safe enough to stop. There was no chance of him knowing where he was now, and no chance of anyone finding him. One of those things made him feel better, the other made him worried. At least Hokey Smokes didn't have to deal with those ponies, or their weird ways. He was a pony as well, but that didn't matter. There were other ways that he found himself to be weird. All of them stemmed from whatever it was that Twilight Sparkle had done to him. She had assaulted him with her horn, and so now he was more confused than ever.

Right now, though, it was time for him to get one more journal entry in before he slept.

Dear Journal

Today sucked so much.

I don't even know what to say. Am I supposed to be learning some bigger lesson here? Am I supposed to just live? Who was that calico cat? Who was Bobby? Who was Candy Apple? Even the ones with names, they seem to be so distant. What is wrong with me? When I came here, I knew what I had to do. If this is a dream, then it is the most confusing ever. If this is real, then it is even worse. But you're still here for me, and you'll help me make sense of it.

Something has to happen soon, I have to figure this out. I will make sense of whatever they throw at me.

Hokey Goff

When he looked at the name he wrote, it made absolutely no sense. He could have sworn it was Hokey Smokes. Something about that last name, Goff, looked familiar. It must have been something about somepony else. There was no way that he could have two names, though it was always possible that the ponies had lied to him. Regardless of what happened, or who was lying, he needed some sleep. He barely put his journal up before he collapsed out of exhaustion.

The day had just been too much.

It seemed to be a trend. Hokey Smokes would go to sleep, and Michael Goff would wake up in his bed. That had happened before, and tonight was no different. Everything looked normal, his memories were that of somebody who had lived a normal life. There was the orange cat, Bobby, and now a new addition to the party. A slender black cat, in stark contrast to the fluffy Bobby, was sitting on the couch. She had a raspy meow, and Michael remembered her as being named Lady Bug.

Life continued as if should have. He got ready for another day at the library, and then he went down to it. He got on the internet, trolled some people online. Everything was perfect. There was only one thing that made it a bad day, and that was when a large man walked up behind him. Once again, this was somebody that Michael knew.

"Hey Bryant."

Not a single word was said back to him, but the glare was something that he was used to. It seemed to happen out of nowhere. A lighter was pulled out, and then Michael felt the pain. It was worse than anything that he had dealt with, but it only lasted a moment.

Everything faded, and soon it was replaced with him being in a small room. There were three ponies, and a baby dragon. He was Hokey Smokes, and everything fit perfectly. His time as a person was replaced with pony, once again there were memories that seemed to fit perfectly. That didn't make him any less scared of the fact that they were all glaring at him. Out of nowhere, Twilight Sparkle started to do something. He horn started to glow, and then Hokey Smokes felt himself being slammed against the wall.

Later, he awoke in a hospital.

With a yell of fear, Hokey Smokes awoke. Both of the dreams collided, with both of them being horrible. Were they both real? Were they both fake? Had somepoony really set him on fire? None it made any sense, but it seemed as if his yelling had gotten somepony to come over to see if there was something wrong. No, not a pony. Or is that a pony? I can't say I've ever met any pony like that before. Just look at those stripes, and that mane.

When she opened her mouth, Hokey Smokes was already running. It didn't matter that she was smiling, she looked creepy. He knew that there were things out here, as he had learned the night before, that didn't want to be nice. His running even got him out of the forest, and right toward one of the many ponies that he had actually somewhat met before. It was lucky that he hadn't run into Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle. After what he had dreamed, or maybe remembered, he didn't know if he could deal with either of them.

He slammed into a yellow pony. "I'm sorry." Hokey Smokes was determined to make sure that she wasn't angry. She looked like a gentle soul. Nothing about her seemed too be threatening, but there was something that changed his view completely.

"Oh, it's alright."

That was the voice that he had run away from. A panicked gasp, and then Hokey Smokes started to run again. It didn't make much sense, and left her blinking a few times in shock, but there was something about the situation that triggered his need to run. It might have been the dream the night before, where even the most innocent looking, and acting, could turn into the ones that did the most damage. Another possibility was that he had finally lost it. Regardless, he wasn't going to stop anytime soon. He had to get away from Ponyville. All of the ponies in that town were crazy!

There didn't seem to be a way for him to get the images out of his mind. It might have just been a dream, they might have just been dreams, but they were so vivid. One of them had him, a weird non-pony version, being set on fire by somebody that he had known at that point. The other one was an explanation of why everything turned out the way they did with him. It was all Twilight Sparkle, and her friends, who had done that to him. That was how his dream saw it, anyway, and how he started to think it might be. Why would his mind make up something do brutal?

So far, he had run into so many ponies that had scared him. Why had they scared him? It was all about that horn. If something so innocent, and the person that had it seemed to innocent, could do something to knock him out? The was, at least in his mind, still no limit to what the others might do. For all he knew, the yellow one might have been even more dangerous. Panic stated to set in at that thought, with the idea that he might not have run into the worst being something that would scare even the most courageous of ponies.

When he panicked, which happened a lot these days, he started to lose all sense of direction. The idea had been to leave Ponyville, to make sure that he survived the trip. He still wasn't sure if he knew who he was, the name Hoke Smokes having started to sound real before the dream. If they were going to do something like that, then they might do anything. That was paranoia, really, but he didn't see it as such. Another thing that started to happen, and he blamed it on the panic, was that it started to become harder and harder to breathe.

Before he passed out, it was being forced. Everyone around him, the few that we're around, would notice that it was quickened. The people around him would also notice something else that he didn't. There we strange stripes, blue stripes, that hadn't been there before. Not only that, but his eyes looked like the eyes of a cat. Everything made him look like a bit of a joke, really. Luckily for him, though, that didn't affect the way that the ponies around him reacted to what had happened. It seemed to be a trend, with Hokey Smokes putting himself in the hospital in a variety of ways.

Michael awoke in a hospital. He didn't know anything about Hokey Smokes, he only knew his life. He only knew that something had happened, that Bryant had come in and set him on fire. That was the last thing he remembered before waking up here. His mom was there, crying, almost as if she expected him to be dead. How could this have happened? He thought they were friends, but that didn't turn out to be the case. For whatever reason, he was in the hospital.

His hand reached up, there being a surprisingly small amount of pain. It still hurt to move, though, and his mom's hand met him half way. It had been his hope that he could make her smile, but that didn't happen. There was still something wrong. He was awake, he was alive, it should have been enough for her. There was no way that anything could happen now, he knew it. Not a single word could be said by him, the feeling of tubes that we're shoved down his throat even prevented him from breathing on his own. That part was alright, he didn't feel strong enough to do much other than lay there anyway.

"I love you. You know that, right?"

Why was she talking like that? Of course he knew that she loved him, he always knew it. She was his mom, after all. Why wouldn't she love him? Another few moments passed, and it was time for him to go back to sleep. He could feel the last vestiges of consciousness leaving him, the warm embraces of sleep removing the last bits of pain that had been left. It was peaceful, sleep that is. As he lost consciousness, he heard some talking. He couldn't make it out, but in the end, he heard his mom start to cry again.

When Hokey smokes awoke, he was in the hospital. It was almost like before, with tubes being down his throat again. It was almost like what had happened in the dream, but without the feeling that he had been set in fire. All of that had seemed so real, but it was hardly important. Right now, he needed to know what it was that brought him here. Eyes darted to the sides of the room, and a doctor soon came in.

"I didn't think we'd see you again so soon. You're just really good at getting yourself in trouble, aren't you?" It was obvious that the doctor was trying to make a joke, but it fell on deaf ears. "Don't worry, we'll get that cleared up quickly. You're lucky that we've had to deal with a lot of cases with that plant recently. It seems as if there are a lot of people who end up running into it. You're the first to actually eat it, though. So, how did it taste?"

A hoof moved up, pointing to the tubes. He couldn't say anything until they were removed. The doctor blinked a few times, and then face-hoofed. It was almost as if the man hadn't thought about it at all. The tubes were soon removed, and Hoke smokes took a deep breath. This was what he had wanted all along. It was what all ponies wanted, really, though few thought about it. "Awful. What was that stuff?"

"Poison Joke."

"Huh?"

"It is a plant that plays jokes on people. I have never seen it do anything like this, though. It usually does harmless, or mostly harmless, pranks. It must have been something about the fact that you, well, ate it. That's only a guess, though. Did anything else happen?"

Should he tell him abut the dreams? Were they just an effect of a plant? They didn't seem like they were jokes, and they certainly weren't funny in the slightest. Hokey Smokes thought about it for a few moments, and then save a shake of his head. He wouldn't tell them that he knew, or that he was going crazy, or that he knew that he was going crazy. It would not end well, especially if it turned out that it was true. If Twilight Sparkle really had caused his injuries, then the others might be in on it as well. If that was true, then things oldest get better after he told somepony about it.

They wild get worse.

"Well, if that is all... I'm going to let you leave the hospital." it was obvious that the doctor didn't believe him, but there was nothing that the man cold do. It was up to Hokey Smokes to tell him if there was something else wrong.since he hadn't, that meant it was just time to move on to the next patient.

Hokey Smokes left the hospital, and promptly got an idea. I shouldn't be running, that won't fix anything. What can I do, though? Maybe all I have to do is go confront her. If I can surprise her, maybe she'll be unable to do whatever it is that she did to make all of this happen. I still have no clue what her horn did, or can do, but I just have to stay out of her range. I have to make sure her horn doesn't touch me, and I have to make sure that I do something about her friends. They will try to protect her, and her secret. Not only that, but they were there. They are part of the conspiracy. Yeah.

The question of why barely came to mind. He didn't know why they would do that, but it only fit. There had to be a reason why Rainbow Dash would have brought him, a stranger by all accounts, to her friend. She knew Hokey Smokes all along, she knew what they had done, and she had hoped that whatever it was would end their problem. Hokey started to sweat, though he didn't know why. He barely noticed it, actually, all of his thoughts focused on what was going to happen that night. He would have to wait, he would have to find the window that led to an empty room.

Only an hour was spent looking for a good window, after he did his best to sneak up to the tree of a library. It didn't seem as though anypony had noticed him, but that wasn't enough. He wold still have to be careful, and he would still have to wait until tonight. After he left, he got a salads to eat. Even if tonight was going to end his torment, one way or another, that didn't mean he had to be hungry. He knew that this was it, that he just had to figure out why they had done it. After that, he had to make sure that the didn't do that sort of thing to anypony ever again.

Night came, and Hokey snuck into the building. Twilight wasn't asleep, she was studying. She wasn't paying attention as he walked up behind her, though she quickly turned to see a glaring stallion.

"What are you doing here?" For whatever reason, she didn't look scared. There was a look of shock, almost as if she hadn't expected that he would actually track her down. In his mind, this was the only confirmation that he really needed. Hokey Smoke just needed to know why, needed to know what had caused them to attack him.

"I know what you did." Those words were only the start. "I just wanna know why..."

Something wasn't right. This wasn't the best, or easiest thing, but it should have been simple. As he had walked to the house, and looked for the entrance that would bring him into the building without being seen, the entire scenario went through his head. It started with Hokey Smokes asking what had happened. His tone would be clear, his expression would be one that told her that he wouldn't be taking anything from anypony. With his tone, and his expression, he would get an explanation. In the best case scenario, he might even be able to get her to apologize for what had happened. He was going to be assertive, and this was likely going to be the lesson that ended the entire journey.

That was what happened in his mind, but that wasn't what happened here. The thing that happened here started off with there being something strange. Hokey Smokes had started off as he expected. There was the assertive tone, and there was the assertive expression that covered his face. It was, actually, what happened next that was the confusing part. This was the point where he was supposed to get some sort of explanation, but instead he got something else entirely.

"That's simple. I used a spell on you that was meant to help you with your problem. It was meant to help you remember. Aft all, Rainbow told me that you had a pr-"

That wasn't what he was talking about. He didn't believe what she said about the spell, either. The thing that had stopped her was the glare. "No, no, no! I mean the thing that happened long before that. Before I woke up in that hospital."

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb. It took a long I've for me to remember what had happened, but it finally happened. I finally know what you did." it likely made no sense to her, it barely made sense to him. There was something about her, something that almost made him doubt himself. Perhaps it was the fact that he looked at a pony that looked confused, innocent, as if she was unable to hurt anypony. There had been another that had looked the same, and that hadn't turned out so well, either. That one had turned out to be one of the many times that Hokey Smokes had done the prudent thing and retreated.

It had been all because of Twilight Sparkle.

"I have no idea what you're talking about." Her expression changed from shocked to slightly annoyed. Something wasn't right, not at all. "And I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"Only after you tell me why you did what you did."

"What are you talking about?"

Did she really think he was so dumb as to believe something like this? Was he? Every time she denied it, he started to think about it more. Maybe she didn't do it. It might have been a dream. If it had been a dream, it was all part of whatever that plant was. That didn't make any sense, though. No, no, no. This is no time to doubt yourself. This is a time for you to get what you deserve, to finally get the answer to all of the problems that have been plaguing you. This is the time when you get Twilight Sparkle to explain exactly why she out you in the hospital.

The expression that was on her face seemed to change with each passing second. Annoyance became confusion again, almost as if she was trying to figure out what was going to happen next. That wild have been an impossible venture, as Hokey Smokes was trying to think of what it was that he was going to do next. Finally, some words came from his mouth that explained everything. "I know that it was you that put me in the hospital. If it hadn't been for you, I'd still remember my life! It took a while to come back, but it finally is. Now it makes sense, whatever it was that you were doing with your horn was to finish the job."

As he finished speaking, his left eye twitched. It seemed impossible, but this was how it was going to be. Twilight Sparkle was dealing with a pony with a problem. The problem, unfortunately, was a slight case of being completely insane. She didn't know what to say, and he simply continued to glare at her. A few minutes of silence passed, the two of them looking at each other. Strangely enough, she looked as though she might have been concerned for more than just herself.

"How dare you? You come into my house, glare at me, and then accuse me of assaulting you?! Get out!"

Hokey smokes knew that this wasn't going to end as he wanted it to. He had just come here for an explanation, perhaps an apology, but that didn't seem like it was going to happen. She isn't going to explain. There is no chance for an apology. I guess I'm just going to have to make sure that it happens. I have to show her that I mean business. She obviously thinks I can be intimidated like everypony else. Well, she's wrong. Without any warning, and without much thought, he went on the attack.

He had been through enough, some ponies just didn't listen to reason.

Hokey Smokes jumped at her, his front hooves finding the floor when Twilight Sparkle jumped out of the way. He didn't understand what was happening, but he knew that this would work. All he had to do was scare her, even with his anger he didn't want to hurt her. Why would he want to hurt her? Once again, he tried to attack. His hooves were bucked toward her, this time it elicited two responses. The first response was that she did something that caused her horn to glow. A second later, right before the hooves would hit, she teleported a few feet behind him.

The second response was a loud scream. She was afraid of him, possibly afraid for her life. There was no explanation coming, though, and there was no apology. Why couldn't she just tell him? Why did she have to pretend that she didn't know what he was talking about? Things could have been over by now, but there was always something that made his lifer a lot more difficult. Another attempt to attack, hooves trying to smack against her face, met with air. Hokey Smokes was sure that she was trying to think of a way to end this, but that his constant attacks were rendering her incapable.

He turned, ready to charge her. It was at this time that he heard a new voice. It wasn't Spike, it was a female.

"Get away from her, you ruffian!"

Huh? A turn of his head, the white unicorn had gotten his attention. There was no time for him to do anything, though, as a pair of hooves slammed into his head. The pain was there, the dizziness was there, and it was painfully obvious that this wasn't going to end well. He could hear the sound of the dragon's voice, confused and half-asleep, and the sound of people outside. Even in his anger, he knew that this wasn't the right time to take a stand to the death. He might not like it, but he had to get out of there. Eyes moved around, and he quickly galloped for the nearest window.

As he jumped, he felt himself being pulled back. It seemed as if Twilight was intent on trying to stop him. Why wouldn't she want him to leave? It was obviously a trap, the purple unicorn obviously had heard the friends that were coming to her aid. A quick grab of a nearby book, and then a throw, was the only thing that saved him from being taken to whatever end she had for him. The book slammed into her head, and Hokey Smokes was let go. Even with the fact that she had tried to hold him, and had pulled him, he was soon escaping.

All of the ponies looked at him, with Rainbow Dash starting to chase after him. As he continued to run, he heard Twilight say something again. He continued to run, though, so only the first line was actually understood.

"Just... let him go."

Why would she do that? Was she just trying to make herself look good? That didn't make much sense, he had to figure out how all of this made sense. The only way that this was going to happen would be for him to get away from Ponyville for a while. He had meant to do that before, but this time there wasn't anything that would stop him. He had, after all, already been cured of the weird blue plant. Hokey Smokes was also sure that the ponies wouldn't do try to catch him. Whatever had happened, Twilight had told them to let him leave.

Though, that might have been a trap.

After about thirty minutes of running, a feat that had gotten easier with time, he collapsed on the ground. There was one thing that he knew he had to do, one thing that would make everything make more sense again. Once he wrote down his words, he would be able to figure out what they all meant. While he had been running, though, the events back at the town had blossomed into something that would change the course of his night.

-In Ponyville-

"Why'd ya stop me?" It was the blue pegasus, Rainbow Dash. She had wanted to chase him down, and maybe knock some sense into him. She didn't know what had happened, but the scream of terror was most certainly enough for her to know what to do. After all, she wasn't the type that let anypony hurt her friends.

"I have to agree with Rainbow Dash. He looked like he was going to do something absolutely dreadful, darling. Why would you stop her?" The white unicorn hated the idea of violence. It wasn't something that she would participate in, if given the choice. The only times when she was violent, and there had been a few, was when it had to do with her friends. Rarity was the one that had kicked Twilight's assailant, after all.

Murmurs came from the rest of the crowd, the general idea being that they agreed with the idea. If anypony was going to lay a hoof on Twilight, they deserved to be locked away. As the crowd continued to get louder, Twilight shook her head. After a few minutes, she yelled one simple word that had the desired effect.

"Quiet!" When that worked, she decided it was time for her to explain. "Do any of you know why he came here? I assumed, at first, that he was there to try to continue with what I had started too do before. He needed my help, but something went horribly wrong and he ran away." It was almost as if she felt guilty for failing, even if not for what specifically had happened. She liked helping ponies when she could. Not only that, but this was something that she didn't understand. That was something else that she hated, big time.

"But he said some weird things, something about how I put him in the hospital. He accused me of taking his life away from him. Something is wrong with that pony." Twilight gave a glance over to Rainbow Dash. "And as nice as it would be to go after him, I doubt it would fix anything." She then glanced over to the crowd. "Go home, everypony, there's nothing to see here."

A few grumbles were heard, but Twilight was already back in the library. Spike was back asleep, so getting him to take down a letter was impossible. Luckily for her, and the one who would be getting the letter, she was able to move the quill with her horn.

Dear Princess Celestia,

For once, I'm not sending you a letter about friendship. This is something that I hope you can help me figure out, a problem that my friends are incapable of helping with. I have met a pony, Hokey Smokes, who came to me with a problem that I was unable to solve. The problem was, and still is, that his past is a blank. I tried to use a memory spell, but something bad happened. I still don't know how it could have knocked him out. Things only got worse after that, after he ran away.

When he came back, he accused me of attacking him. It wasn't even the spell, it was something about sending him to the hospital.

That isn't why I wrote you this letter, though. I was hoping that you might tell me how something like this might have happened. How would a memory spell do something like this?

I await your quick response.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle.

The letter was sent, and she awaited a reply. Unknown to her, the Princess decided that it was time to respond in a different way...

-Hokey Smokes-

Dear Journal,

I don't even know what to say right now. So I went to see Twilight, to get an explanation, and she told me that she didn't know what I was talking about. How could she say that? I was willing to accept whatever reason,, forgive her even if she didn't apologize, and then move on with whatever remains of my life. It should come back eventually, right? After all, my memory of the assault came back. Then again, I also remember being able to stand on two legs and getting set on fire.

The more I write this, the more I have to wonder about myself. None of this is making any sense, but it likely will start making sense soon. All I have to do is start re-reading my entires, and everything will start making perfect sense. Sleep might not hurt, either. It should be about a couple of hours before the sun rises. That should be enough for a quick nap.

Forever Confused,

Hokey Smokes.

That last part just seemed to fit.

As he put the journal up, however, there was a flash of lightning. It was strange, there was no storm, but he didn't want to think about it. Only when he felt the feeling of a hoof, and then turned to see a black pony, did he become scared. This wasn't a pegasus, nor was it a unicorn. It was something else, something that had both horn and wings. This was something that was likely going to do something to him. Hokey Smokes didn't know why, but he felt as though he was in mortal danger.

Chapter 5

"Oh my gosh, please don't eat me!" With those words, Hokey Smokes started to try to escape. It wasn't a run, her tapping having made him quickly roll over. His movement would be better described as trying to move away while also trying to get back on his feet. The words were not spoken in jest, or sarcasm, or in any way with malice. Not only was he deranged, having just come from accusing Twilight Sparkle of assaulting him, but this was a particularly intimidating pony. It likely didn't make sense to anypony. His words did, however garner a reaction from the bizarre looking pony.

She facehoofed.

This wasn't he first time that she had fielded that sort of accusation. Her thoughts went back to that night, Nightmare Night, and the many ponies that were afraid of her. Hokey Smokes should have known this pony, she was in one of the many books that he had read. A this point, however, he simply knew that he thought that she might gobble him up. His eyes were still wide, panicked, thinking of what he cold do to get away. If he had a horn, and knew whatever it wad that Twilight Sparkle had done, he could do the same thing. That wold have been an easy way to get away, if only he knew what it was that she had done, and had the capability to replicate it.

He had neither, though, so he was stuck with more traditional methods of escape.

"We had hoped that we had shed that rumor. But it seems as if nopony can forgive us for what happened."

"I knew it! You really do eat ponies!" Hokey Smokes still had no idea who this was, or why he was so intimidated by her,but he knew that everything fit. If she said this'll then she had obviously devoured a pony. It didn't matter that he was natively too big for her to devour. His mind still told him that it was entirely possible for her to take him down in bites, or maybe even do something to where she could gobble him up in one huge bite. He wasn't sure how this pony, the assumed pony, ate anything. He just knew that she was different from any other pony that he had seen, and thus he was afraid.

"Tis a lie! We have never eaten a pony!" The idea seemed vulgar to her, but it didn't matter if it made any sense. Hokey Smokes was still going to be afraid. She saw it in his eyes, saw that he didn't know what to think of her. At the same time, she didn't know what to think of the deranged pony that Celestia had sent her to deal with. She didn't even know why it was that her sister had sent her to deal with an obviously crazy pony. To top it all off, she didn't know what t was that she cold do to help him out. If Twilight hadn't been able to do anything, it was likely that she wild be unable.

-Right before Luna left-

The two princesses, Luna and Celestia, read the letter. While it was normal for Celestia to read them, her younger sister had started to become curious. She wanted to know more about friendship, having enjoyed what came of it on Nightmare Night, and wanted to mow more. It as bad luck, or good luck, that this letter didn't turn out to have anything to do with friendship at all. This one was something that Celestia wasn't sure how to respond to, at first. When she looked at her sister, though, she was reminded of a time when something similar happened.

"I am going to need you to go check on this pony. I don't know why, but I think you can help him."

"How?"

"I don't know yet, but you have to go out there and try. He is lost, alone, confused."

"I'll try, big sister."

"Whatever you do, don't mention anything that might make him afraid of you. No mentioning me, or Twilight, or that you move the moon. The last thing you want to do is get him to attack you..."

-In the present, with Hokey Smokes and Luna-

Those words echoed in her mind as she looked at the panicked pony. She didn't know what to think, what to do, or how she could help. Luna was still unsure why her sister had sent her there, why she hadn't come herself. Out of the two of them, one of them was more intimidating by appearance. The other one was the princess that raised the sun. "We would like if we could start again. We do not mean you any harm. We just wish to offer you our help."

That was another thing that didn't make sense to him. Hokey Smokes was certain that there was one pony, or at least he hoped. The fact that she was speaking as if there were multiple ponies, which would mean there were some that he didn't see. It was either that, or it was that she was completely crazy. Either way, he was starting to get more worried. This time, however, he had a small voice in his head that told him that it wold be better if he figured it out before he started to run. After all, he needed to stop being such a coward.

"Who is this other person? Why would you guys, whoever the others might be, want to help me? Why shouldn't I just just away right now?"

That got another facehoof. It seemed strange to her, everypony always knew what it was that she had meant. It didn't make any sense that she would have to explain herself. This was a pony with a problem, though, so she knew that she might have to. No, no, she actually would have to explain why it was that she referred to herself as the royal 'we'. If he was a normal pony, none of this would be necessary. Of course, if he was a normal pony then none of this would actually be necessary.

"We are alone. We must refer to ourselves in that way. Do you not know who we are?"

The shake of his head was enough to make Lina chuckle. She thought that he might not, but there was still something about this that seemed funny. It seemed to be almost beyond belief that there would be a pony that wouldn't know anything about Princess Luna. "What's so funny? Did I say stoking to amuse you?"

"Sort of. Everyone else seems to know who we are. They also assume that we are going to eat them. You, however, have never heard of us. You don't know our name. Call me Luna."

Alright, so at least he had a name for her. That still didn't tell him why it was that he shouldn't run.

"As for why you shouldn't run, that is because there is no threat here. As We have already said, we are not here to hurt you. We are here to offer some help."

"How can you help?"

That was a good question, and one that Luna herself had asked. It might have been because of what had happened to her, but her sister assumed the she child help. Bringing up her sister wasn't something that could be done, though. She would have to think of how she cold helps on her own, and she would have to do so in a way that didn't scare this insane pony. "I don't know, you just looked like you might need some help. At the very least, you look like you might need some company. Either of those correct?"

It might be good to spend some time with somepony. And she doesn't seem like she's going to attack me, nor does she seem like she knows anything about Twilight Sparkle. So she might not be a part of the evil plan to do whatever it was that Twilight... did Twilight even have a plan? Alright, come on, focus on right now. There is a bizarre looking pony that says she wants to help you out. At the very least, you could ask her about herself. Maybe it will all start to make sense. All of this depends on her explaining it, though.

"So... I know you aren't a unicorn or pegasus. You seem to be something else, though." That wasn't the most subtle way of telling her that he was confused, but it worked. Once again, there was a chuckle from Luna. It was nice to see somebody have a sense of humor about themselves. Another possibility was that she was mocking his inability to know what she was.

"I am called an Alicorn."

With that question out if his mind, and the knowledge of what an Alicorn was coming to mind, Hokey Smokes stood up. His common sense was coming back, and he remembered the books. "Princess Luna." Those words came out a few moments before they actually hit him. This was a princess, this was royalty. Almost immediately, his eyes went wide with shock. After that, he bowed down out of respect. This was the way that you were supposed to treat royal, after all. He had read more, something about Nightmare Moon, but that didn't seem right. This didn't look like the person from the pictures.

Could she have changed back?

"I thought you didn't know who we were." Luna seemed to be confused by this change of attitude. Why would he suddenly bow? Was there something that made him suddenly know? It had to be the name Alicorn, of which there we only a few. That still didn't explain how he knew. It wasn't as though man ponies read the history of the kingdom, as if many of them knew much about the princesses. "Maybe you aren't as lost as we thought."

"Lost?"

"Out here, alone. Who stays out, on the ground, for the sake of being here?"

Was she really wanting to know what went wrong? He had told Rainbow Dash, and that had turned into a big problem. He had told Twilight, and that turned into a bigger problem. Should he trust her? She hadn't done anything, at least not yet. "You might say that I'm a little lost."

"I might say that? Pray tell, what do you mean?"

"That depends. What do you know about Twilight Sparkle?"

It wasn't easy to lie, but Luna didn't even change in expression. "We know of all of our subjects. We only know the name, but nothing about her. Other than that, we know nothing." There wasn't a reaction, a first, from Hokey Smokes. He wanted to believe her, wanted to know that somebody out there could be trusted. Maybe it was that reason, and that reason alone, that he gave her a smile. He wanted to believe her, even if something told him he shouldn't, and do he did.

"it is a long story. It might be a couple of hours."

"We have time."

-Two hours later-

Every last detail, up until when Luna had shown up, had been laid out. There were details about the dreams, details about Twilight Dash and Rainbow Dash, and about how everything was working out. Luna didn't know what to say about any of it, merely nodding to show that she was listening. There might not have been a lot to say, he might hae just wanted to let somepony know what he was going through. Or, more accurately, he wanted to let somepony know what he thought he was going through. None of it seemed right, none of it fit any of them.

Luna was just so confused.

"If you wild like, we could try to do something." Her horn started to glow, and Hokey started to panic. This was what had happened before. He had even told her that. Almost as if she had realized that, it stopped. "We promise that we are not going to hurt you. We simply want to see what you see, know what you think. We want to understand, and this is the easiest way for us to do that."

All of that made sense, and she hadn't done anything that was aggressive so far. He was starting to feel comfortable around her, so he simply put his head forward to let her know it was alright. Her horn started to glow again, and soon Hokey Smokes felt it on his head. This time, however, he didn't pass out. This time, it felt as though there was somebody with him as everything that had happened started to play again in his mind.

To say that it felt strange to have somebody else in his head would be an understatement. This wasn’t like when Twilight Sparkle had done her spell on him, though, whatever it had been. When Hokey Smokes looked back to that moment, it had been something of a battering ram. It had almost been like she was trying to force herself into his mind, at least by comparison. This, if that metaphor was continued, was more of somebody wanting to be invited in to see what was within. He didn’t know her, the Princess that referred to herself as Luna, but there had been something about her that seemed genuine. That was what he told himself, anyway, to make himself feel better for trusting her when he didn’t trust any other pony around him.

When her horn had touched his head, there had been a flash that neither of them had seen. The two of them had their eyes completely closed. Luna closed them to do the spell, to focus on what was needed. Hokey Smokes had closed them when her horn touched his head, though that was completely out of reaction. He wanted her help, but there had been a small part inside of him that had thought that something might go wrong. There had been a small part of him that had still remembered what it was that Twilight Sparkle had done to him. If somebody so innocent looking could do something so wrong, then there was definitely the chance that this new pony could.

The other parts of him hated that thought.

While the two of them were standing there, some things were going on. It was almost comical, really. In his mind, Hokey Smokes was looking in through a window. Luna was standing there, right beside him, looking in to see everything that was happening. The only difference between their experiences, or at least one of the giant ones, was that this was him. He was starting to remember, piece by piece, exactly who it was that he was. There was something different about him right now, though. He was wearing some sort of hood, his entire head covered by it. Even through it, though, he could tell that the pony within was different from him somehow.

That didn’t make sense, though, because he could have sworn that was him.

The sight of snow on the ground was commonplace.

It was winter, after all.

Hokey Smokes picked by a hoof full of snow, packing it into a ball. He threw it, with all his might, at the nearest pony. Winter was his least favorite season, but that didn’t mean that he wasn’t going to try to have fun. It was his friend, the one from before, who go hit by the snowball. Both of them started to laugh, and Hokey soon found himself getting pelted with snow as a counter to his own assault. It was cold, the reason he didn’t care for the season as much as the others, but it was the most fun he was going to have right now.

Outside of the memory, and outside of his mind, the results of the flash were starting to take effect. Hokey Smokes was starting to glow white, starting with his head. At this point, it was only down to his neck, but the fact that it had started with the very top of his head meant that it might not stop there. Neither of them, Luna or Hokey, were aware that this was happening. The only thing that Hokey was aware was that everything was about to change. It wasn’t something that he could put his finger on, but it was a feeling that could almos8t be described as a hope. This entire time, he had been trying to figure out who he was.

Right now, he was going to do just that.

The snowball fight didn’t last all that long, with Hokey soon giving in. He was starting to get cold, and there was only so long that he could ignore it. Summer might not have the snow, which made snowball fighting impossible of course, but it was something that he liked more than this. There was something about the warmth of the sun that just made him feel alive. He looked up at the sky, and with a couple of blinks he went inside. This had been a fun day, but all fun days have to come to an end.

It was a good idea to get some food.

Everything faded away, a sound coming into mind. It was the sound of beeping, something that he had heard before. Hokey Smokes still couldn’t place it, and he didn’t want to try at this point. If it had even been a couple of days prior, he might have done something. If it had even been the prior night, he would have done something. Right now, though, the only thing that he wanted to know was where it was that he was going to fit in. He needed to know who he was, why he was there, and how it was that the pony of his memory was different than the pony that he knew himself to be.

Or was that the real pony?

The glow had moved down his neck, and was almost covering half of him. Whatever was happening, it was going to be over soon. This entire journey was about to come to an end, he could feel it. That knowledge brought with it questions, though. What end was coming? Was it going to be a good one? Would he like how everything turned out in the end? Another sad attempt to push the questions down was temporarily successful, and he was able to move away from the window. He was being led through a hall, windows on both sides showing him things that his mind quickly absorbed in as being memories.

Everything from school with friends to Heart’s Warming Eve, all of it became something that he knew. The beeping had come back, slower as time went on, but he paid no attention to it. This was what he had wanted all along, wasn’t it? Hokey Smokes couldn’t quite remember, with the name Michael still being etched into his mind. Luna looked down at him, aware of his confusion. She could feel everything he was thinking, which would have likely been something that worried him if he knew about it. The change in thoughts brought with it a change in direction, with her stopping for a moment to ask the most difficult question that he could answer.

“Are you sure you want to know what happened? We could show you, we can find it for you. But sometimes, the most important thing is the future. Sometimes, the past holds secrets that are not good to be unearthed. Some things are better forgotten.”

That seemed like a strange thing to say, to ask. The entire reason why he did any of this, any at all, was to know who he was. That had been the entire reason for anything that could be considered a journey. His future was based on his past, or at least that was what he thought. Hokey Smokes was almost afraid now, though, of what it was that he was going to learn. He didn’t want to show it, but there was something holding him back. It was more than fear that held him back, though, there was an unknown sadness that seemed to creep up out of nowhere.

What was there to be sad about?

A shake of his head, he had to get that thought out of his head. The Princess started to look relieved, as if that had been the answer. “I am sure. I have never been surer of anything in my entire life.” Hokey Smokes was going to know what had happened, he was going to see the truth. In his mind, he was going to see the very last detail of what made him into who he was supposed to be. Luna looked down at him, an unsure look on her face. It was almost as if she didn’t want to do this, as if there was something holding her back.

“You’re more than just the sum of all your memories.”

“I know. But I have to know this. I have to figure it out to ever be able to move on with my life.”

“If you’re sure…”

With those last words, the two of them disappeared down the hallway. The two of them appeared almost a hundred feet away from where they had started. Hokey Smokes almost fell down from the sudden teleportation. Part of him wanted to be afraid, this should have been weird, but it was something that didn’t feel weird at all. It felt good to go more than a few feet at a time. Outside of his mind, Hokey Smokes was completely glowing white. Whatever had happened, it was culminating with him being able to finally answer all of those little questions in his head.

Who was he? Why was he there? Had Twilight really attacked him? Who was this Michael pony? He could still remember was had happened before, the journal entries that he had written. Those all felt false, as if they were the dream. The goalpost had moved, the finish line changing to where it was right now. Right here, right now, the final steps of what was the worst two weeks of his life were about to be done. He didn’t know whether to be happy, sad, or afraid. Yet at the same time, he was all of those three things at once.

Why was he sad?

Whatever it was, it was likely within the last window.

There had been a bet, something that no sane pony would take. Hokey Smokes had taken a bet that he could go into the Everfree Forest, and stay for an entire night without anything bad happening. One last look at his home told him where he had come from. The sight of the beautiful castle brought the memories of Canterlot flooding back to him. His mom hadn’t liked the idea of him heading out, especially not to where he had told her he was going. There was no reason to lie, after all.

He had nothing to hide.

By the end of the second day, he was looking at the forest. The hood was still over his head, still covering up what it was made him different. One step after another, and soon he was walking within the forest that everypony feared so much. There was nothing that Hokey Smokes feared nothing that he thought would really do anything to him. The fears of the place were all about superstition, rumors, and other nonsense. He would prove to them that it wasn’t bad, evil, but only different from what any of them understood. It was all just different.

Hokey Smokes blinked his eyes a couple of times, and glanced at Luna. What was it that she was trying to hide? Everything that had happened so far seemed to be mundane. It didn’t answer any questions yet, but there was still the hope that it would.

Night was passing, and Hokey hadn’t found a place to sleep. In the end, he decided to sleep near a tree that he had passed four times. There was nothing wrong with that, right? The only thing he had to do was sleep an entire night in the forest. There was also the need for proof, but that would be easy enough to get. He had chosen where he did because of the fact that he had heard there were beautiful apples there that looked different from anything around them. He would just have to grab hold of one of them, and he would simply have to show it off to all of his friends back at Canterlot.

So far, nothing amazing had happened. Another glance up at Luna, with her motioning for him to look at the window, came with the disbelief that she had even tried to stop him from seeing what was happening within the window.

A loud roar was heard throughout the forest, with Hokey Smokes feeling as though he might as well have been near the epicenter. The problem was that he actually was near it, with the roar only getting slightly louder a few moments later. Panic had overtaken the pony, and he didn’t do anything other than tremble at the sight of what looked at be an Ursa Minor. The problem was that he was somepony who had dealt with one of these before. He only knew of them on an academic level, as he had read a lot during his youth.

A paw swiped for him, and he barely ducked under it. It was around this time that the hood moved, and something was unveiled.

Hokey Smokes was taken aback by the fact that there was a horn. That didn’t make sense at all, he could have sworn that he didn’t have a horn. At the same time, though, something told him that this wasn’t some sort of trick. Why would she do that? Maybe it was something Luna was doing or maybe even her presence alone, but he started to feel happy with this change. He started to feel as though this might be something that was the absolute truth.

His horn started to glow, and the Ursa soon found himself being hit by a tree that had been pulled down. It wasn’t easy, but Hokey thought that he might have defeated it. There was a problem, though, and it was that he hadn’t. This time, he couldn’t move fast enough to deal with the paw that was coming to slam into him. He felt a surge of pain, his head feeling like it was almost snapped clean off, as he went sailing into a nearby tree. At that point, a white Alicorn swooped down. Hokey Smokes tried to move, tried one last time to do something to the Ursa, but nothing happened. No glow from his horn, no feeling of magic, nothing happened.

With a feeling of defeat, he passed out.

Luna glanced down at him; the white light had disappeared with a flash. It had left at the same time that he had passed out. Everything had changed but at the same time it wasn’t new. Everything was now the way that it was supposed to be.

As the memory passed out, the bizarre night of staying up finally took its toll. Hokey Smokes himself passed out, with Luna quickly moving him out of the way of any travelers. He would wake up with him, and then he would finally be the pony that he was meant to be. No dreams came with the sleep; even his mind was too tired to come up with anything. Maybe it was something more than fatigue from the night, though, that did this. He felt new, reborn, as if the pony he had been before wasn’t even him. There was one thing that continued, as he slept, and it was continued beeping.

Eyes opened to see that he was alone in a cottage. How had he gotten there? The last thing he remembered was that final memory. Was it really true? Everything had made sense before, without exception. Now, though, his mind went to tell him that he didn’t have a horn. A hoof moved up, tapping his forehead to make sure that it was all a dream. Yep, he felt a horn, it was- Wait. He felt a horn? Even though he had woken up a few moments prior, he promptly passed out again.

This time, he could hear something.

”Even if he does survive, he will never be the same. A unicorn is unicorn because of their horn, their magic. I don’t know what we’ll tell him.” The voice was that of the doctor that he had woken up to, yet he couldn’t see him. He couldn’t see anything but darkness.

“His name. A pony is more than simply a unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony.” The voice sounded regal, yet not in the same way that Luna’s had. Hokey Smokes remembered it, but that didn’t make any sense. Why would Celestia be there? He could remember her being there to stop the Ursa, or more accurately he remembered seeing her right before he went out like a light, but that didn’t mean that she had time to come here.

Royalty was always busy.

“And his life?” The doctor asked again, his voice was filled with uncertainty.

“He’ll make a new one.”

With those final words, the dream faded into nothing. In the end, for the next hour, there was only one sound. Hokey Smokes heard the sound of beeping, and then he woke up again. “I’m sorry Michael.” He said out loud, not knowing why it was that he said it. That was a mystery for another day, though, as he was going to focus more on what happened in the real world. The mysteries of his mind would have to be solved later, he had the time.

Beep.

They started to grow quicker for a moment, and everyone around the hospital bed started to get hope. He had started to weaken; there had been the knowledge of his impending demise that had been a couple of weeks coming. Nobody came from the types of injuries that he had sustained. Nobody lived through being on fire for as long as he had been. His mom hadn’t been one that could give up hope, though; she was going to keep fighting until it was completely over. She knew that he was a fighter; she knew that it was just in his blood to never give up or give in.

In her mind, this was the sign that Michael was going to survive.

A hand reached up, grabbing hers. Michael was in the worst pain imaginable, but there was something that he had to say to her. He could feel her hand holding his, could feel the tears that were hitting it as she pulled it up to kiss his hand. She was his mom; she cared so much that he might survive. Things had gotten worse through the last night, with his vitals getting weaker with each passing moment. It had only been luck that they hadn’t stopped completely, or perhaps it was that there was somebody looking out for him from beyond.

“I love you.” It was barely audible, barely able to be understood. If it had to be described, Michael basically croaked it out. Each tear that hit him hurt, but he didn’t try to move his hand at all. There was something about this that felt final, something that made this feel as though he needed to wait and see this through to the end.

“And I love you.”

A smile crept over his face, and then his eyes closed. The beeps started to pick up for a moment, only for a few moments, and then there was a single long beep. A look of panic was on his mom’s face, one of her sons having left the world before she did. Why did she have to be the one that buried her son? Why wasn’t he the one to bury her? Those two questions went through her head as she kissed his forehead one last time, tears still streaming down her face.

In the end, he had been able to tell her that he loved her. In the end, he knew he had his mother’s love.

Hokey Smokes blinked a few times. It had been a week since he had that last memory, with there being no real explanation as to what had happened. There was no way of knowing the truth, no way of knowing if that was anything more than a dream. How could he have known that his journey was dependent on somebody else losing their life? It must have been bad luck, or fate, that had caused his horn to get removed. In the end, that was the catalyst.

What would have happened if he had never lost his horn? What would have happened if he had never gotten his back? Would there still be the death on the other side of the gate? He would never know, maybe he would never understand it, but the truth was that his new life came at a cost. Hokey Smokes got his horn back, got his ability to use magic, got his memories, at a cost. Even though he didn’t know why, he would always be thankful to the man named Michael.

Now it was time for him to start his new life.