Short-Circuit

Chapters

Jump Start
Surge
Grounding
Insulation

Jump Start

*Beep...beep...beep* "Mrrrugh, Why doses it have to be 8 already?" I questioned as I curled over myself to stop my phone's alarm. The bones in my vertebrae popping loudly as I did so. It no longer hurt like when it first crept up on me. My health was in shambles for my relatively young age of 19. But at the time I really hadn't noticed how bad I was.

After having stopped the very annoying sound emitted from my phone. I hurriedly got dressed. Jeans, T-shirt, and the lot. Then I grabbed my flannel shirt, my fedora, and my back-pack. Throwing them on as I walked out the door of my dorm room. I looked down at my watch, noting how I never remember that I put it on but always find it where it should be. Any how as I was glancing at it it showed that it was 8:10. Not bad, dressed and out the door in ten minutes, I'd actually be able to have breakfast today.

I got down the stairs and out the door of my dorm building and was headed towards the dining center. It was a short trip, but I hurried along anyway as I usually did, never have figured out why I'm always in a rush. Anyhow, once I was in the dining center I casually threw my book-bag on an empty table, where it landed with a loud smack. I fluidly grabbed a fork as I passed the silverware cart and held it like a dagger as I approached the line where they were serving breakfast. The options were ham, scrambled eggs, hash-browns, biscuits and gravy, oatmeal, and hard-boiled eggs. I ended up having a slice of ham, some has-browns, and a biscuit with gravy. After receiving my plate I went and got a cup of french-vanilla flavored coffee. I quickly finished my meal and grabbed some coffee to go.

With my pack back on my shoulders I headed to the tech building. I was studying for bio medical electronics and the class I was headed to was linear circuits, which may as well have been 'Transistor 101' as all we really did in that class was learn about different transistors and how to use them. On this particular day I was going to be building some basic Op Amp circuits. And by basic I literally mean just one dual inline IC. The chip we were using was the 741c. Now the only major rule with an OP Amp was not to mix up your positive and negative power-supplies for that was really the only way to kill one of those short of beating it with a hammer.

Like usual I was in the classroom a half hour early, again with the rushing. So I just sat there sipping my coffee when my friend Luca came in. He was wearing his usual early morning scowl. So naturally I inquired, "So, Luca, drinking again last night, or just still hating the fact it's spring and it's still dropping bellow freezing?"

"Yeah, the last one. But you know, that's Indiana weather for you" Luca said with a chuckle.

After that not much else was exchanged, so I went back to my coffee while Luca went and messed around on the computer. It was about fifteen minutes before class was to begin when the majority of my classmates filed in through the door. Luca's roommate whom I never caught the name off, the campus student lifeguard Alex, and the others. They were closely followed by the professor, Mr.Vonderwell, who's first words were, "I don't feel like doing much of anything today." Typical Monday morning Vondy.

At 9:05 my lab partner Logan came in and class began. Vondy quickly reviewed the topics he taught us Friday and asked us some questions about the Op Amps operated. I answered a fair majority of them, much to my surprise. Then we went into lab, it was one of the ones were we shared the equipment and Logan found his components first so he got to use the equipment first. So I paced around the room while he did his lab. Granted I should have paid more attention to how he hooked everything up. Because once he was done I hooked the wires up as the lab-manual said forgetting how we had actually hooked the wires into the power-supply. When I turned it on my 741c shorted and burnt up and it emitted a green smoke. Due to my close proximity at the time I inhaled most of the smoke.

The affect on my mind was almost instant. I suddenly had gained a ton of energy and was going a bit hyper. I was also hallucinating characters from My Little Pony. I had wondered why but I just shrugged it off as something I had been familiar with and an easy image to process. Granted I only told people of the energy gain, I didn't really want anyone other than myself know I had watched the show. Besides the hallucinations weren't that bad. I got my work done in that class early even with the set back. So I was aloud to leave early.

Unfortunately the energy portion of the accidental intoxication wore off between that class and the next. Like enough so that I fell asleep between the two classes. As I slept I had a dream. In this dream I was greeted with the face of Princess Luna. I was surprisingly lucid so I said, "Hello Princess Luna." It seemed dumb but it was better than nothing.

"Hello Creature, how do you know my name?" Luna returned.

Shocked I stammered, "I-I ah, y-you see the-there's kinda this, um, show an-and you're well.... one of the characters." This was not how my dreams normally went at all.

"I see." The Princess stated, "Well a few of my subjects have asked to enter your dreams to see if I could wake you from your coma."

Wide eyed I blurted, "But I'm not in a coma I'm just sleeping between classes!"

"I find this to be true as well, it seems you have two bodies. One here in Equestria, and one, far far away." Luna observed.

That was calming enough to throw me into analytical mode. So I inquired, "That's rather atypical, when did uh, 'coma me' appear, and by chance did he appear in a cloud of green smoke?" It was odd to know I had another body laying around in the universe somewhere.

"'Coma You' was found around 10am, and yes he did appear in a cloud of green smoke, how did you come to that conclusion?" The Princess informed.

Well I knew right then what happened and I relayed, " Well you see I was working on an electric circuit during that time and I ended up shorting out one of the components, when that happened green smoke came out of the component and I ended up inhaling a great deal of that smoke. I thought nothing of it at the time but green is not the usual color of smoke caused by those mishaps. I think that is where my second body came from."

"I see, I was going to pull you consciousness into the 'Coma You' but with you having the other you, it kill that body. I can still do it though if you wish, 'Coma You' is healthier from what I can tell." Luna stated.

I almost said yes right then and there but instead I said, "Could you come see me later today, give me some time to make my decision?"

"Sure, with the weight of the decision I can understand your not wanting to answer right away, when would you like me to return?" The Princess nodded.

I was relived I did not have to make the decision immediately and said, "Thank you, Some time between 9pm and 2am" I had some thinking to do.

"You're welcome." Luna said as she faded out of view.

With that I awoke just five minutes before class. At least I only was sleeping at my desk. But my thoughts weren't on that. No, they were focused on what had happened during my nap. I was tossing arguments and counter arguments around in my head all day after that. Then when I had finished my final class for the day I had my decision. So I called my mother up on my cell, I only got the answering machine but I still said what I intended to which was, "Hey mom, this is just a spur of the moment thought, so no need to call me back, and for this I'm kinda glad I got the machine, but. If I were to die tonight I just wanted to let you know how thankful I am for all you've done, and I love. I will always keep you in my heart and I hope you always keep me in yours." Tears were running down my cheeks as I said it, the spur of the moment bit was a total lie, but I couldn't have her worrying more than what the message was truly saying. Then I texted my best friend Brian these words, "Don't Reply, I just need to get the thought out of my head. If I died tonight I just wanted you to know you've always been a great friend and that I'm thankful for all you've done for me. So simply Thank You." By the time I had finished that I was back in my dorm room. I got into my Pajamas and steeled myself for the meeting with Luna.

I was out as soon as my head touched the pillow. Then I was promptly greeted with Luna's face once again. Before she could even say a word I stated, "I have made my decision, and I wish to have my mind brought to the body in Equestria. I have made my peace and am ready and certain of my mind." My tone sounded almost like a solider accepting a mission

"As you wish." The Princess Stated Simply.

Surge

I had expected a bit more resistance, I mean I did just tell her that I was willing to give up my life.But there was no questions, like, at all. I suppose I sounded a tad bit more confident than I had felt. Yes I knew I wanted this but, you know, I was going to die in one world because of it. And yes I knew the opportunity was well beyond anything I could hope for. A new body, a new world that was free of pollution and war. I just wish there was some way I could bring my friends and family there, or at least let them know I had died in body only, my spirit, my soul, was going to another body and I would be fine.

I still felt that guilt as Luna put a forehoof on my shoulder. I was about to ask why she gave me no resistance when I found it was too late. I was being pulled out of my body as Luna drifted upwards. I just saw it laying there no motion no motive, just there. I felt as though I might wretch. Then I felt a surge of acceleration, and we were above the dorm. Seconds later the entire city. Half a second after that I was above the clouds. Quarter of a second and I was in space, seeing the blue marble called earth, it was beautiful. The acceleration continued until we were going to fast for even light to reach my eyes.

Even with the incredible speed at witch we were traveling it was a full eight hours until we started decelerating. We were still going at an immense rate of speed when Equis came into view. Another beautiful blue marble, but the view did not last, as we were hurtling towards it. It was not long until cities came into sight, it was then that we came to a complete stop, but even that was not to be enjoyed for too long before we started moving once more. It was another five seconds before we arrived in Ponyville, and half a second more until I was being gently lowered into my new body. It had the same blond hair, and red beard, same facial structure, other than the fact my left ear was no longer creased as my first had been, but the actual body was a bit off from mine, something I noticed as I came nearer to my body. The skin was tanner and there was almost no fat on it, and it had the musculature of an MMA champion. Then I was just dropped into this new body.

*********************************************************************************

"Well I'm certain Princess Luna has....... PRINCESS LUNA! ARE YOU OKAY!?" Twilight seemed a bit distraught over something, but I was not quite willy to open my eyes let, surprisingly it hurts to fall into your body. Fortunately I didn't seem to have to do anything as I heard a moaning, sounding like Luna's voice before she said, "Yes, it just wasn't all that easy to wake that creature."

"It still hasn't told you what it is or what its name is? Did you not ask, again?" Twilight nearly shouted at Luna. I noted that as a bold move, but I figured I'd interject, "No, Princess Luna did not ask my name or species, however since you seem so curious, My name is Ray, its short for Raymond. I am Human, scientific name Homo-Sapiens. Any further questions?"

"Umm..." Twilight paused before speaking again, "Yes, why haven't you opened your eyes yet?"

I sighed, considering my answer for a few moments while still taking in the feeling of the new body. Muscles under taught skin feeling like they could punch trough steel had I asked them of it. Air rushing into new lungs, strong and clear of pollution. Then I said, "Two reasons really. One, I'm expecting light on fresh eyes to be uncomfortable. Two, I'm not sure of how my mind is going to react to the new data it receives."

The room remains silent for a few moments before Luna speaks, "But you seemed so confident with what you have said earlier. That is why I brought you here with no intervention. I thought you said you were ready. I thought you were ready."

With that I sat up and turned my head to where I heard her voice and opened my eyes. I immediately flinched and snapped them back shut the moment they were hit with light, I was right, it hurt like a bitch. But I forced them back open and kept them open. It took a full ten seconds for my eyes to adjust before I could register the image that was Luna, a dark blue mare with a spiraling horn protruding from her forehead and feathered wings at her sides, the same blue as here coat. Her mane looked like a window to the whole of the universe and blew about with a breeze that could not be felt. Her appearance was both amazingly beautiful and at the same time, intimidating. She stood at seven feet tall, and that wasn't counting the six inch horn atop her head. Her face bore an expression of confusion, as I had expected it would. After seeing this I said, "Well yeah, I was, doesn't mean I knew 100% what to expect. Hell you threw me off base when you just up and decided that, 'yeah he seems confident enough, lets go ah head and drop him off in his new body with out question', especially since I knew that you knew, that the other body I was just in would die. So excuse me for being a bit apprehensive!" yeah I kinda shouted there at the end.

Luna was simply nodding in response. Having become bored of that, and not wanting to stare at her until she said something I turned my gaze to the left until it fell upon Twilight. The lavender allicorn was glancing between me and Princess Luna, and in a manner that looked as though it would cause whiplash. Although she was some how keeping her mane from becoming disheveled. For some odd reason I found that mane of hers was more fascinating than Luna's, even with it being normal hair. Well semi normal hair, it was black with a purple and pink stripe down the center. I couldn't quite place what made me appreciate her mane so much but I stopped staring at it and went back to overall analysis of the mare. Her height was about five foot,not counting her four inch horn. And she currently held an expression between confusion and anger. I had already knew her from the TV show but I didn't need her knowing that and I had to stop the head swinging so I inquired, "So you got my name, How about I get yours?"

"Wah?" Twilight responded, oh so smartly, "Oh! yes, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Now what was this about your other body dieing?

I hadn't noticed that, said knowledge was not shared previously. Oh well, I had decided to share with Twilight, "Well yeah, the body I am currently in is just a clone, a much stronger, better clone, but a clone. The original is back on earth dead. And before you ask I do have some guilt as to how it is going to affect others in my life, now I can't dwell upon that. I'm not sure how the whole cloning thing happened or how this body ended up here, but I chose to be here and don't blame Luna for making a bad decision, because it was my call." Luna smiled, but Twilight frowned.

"So, I won't get mad at Luna, but seriously. HOW COULD YOU THINK SUICIDE IS A GOOD OPTION?!" Twilight shouted at me, now staring me down.

I flinched, I mean, was it suicide? I shrugged, no, no it wasn't. So I said, "It was not suicide, not really. Yeah a body containing my genetic code is lying in my bed back home, that is biologically dead. But that isn't the dead that counts, not to me at least. No for me death, true death, is the ending of the soul."

"Okay..." Twilight said, looking almost deflated, but then a smile came to the mares face. And with a shine in her eyes she continued, "So you're from a different planet. I want to know everything, absolutely everything."

I smiled and said, "Sure thing, just once I'm out of the Hospital." then I paused for a moment. Several things hit me at once. First of all I just realized I was nude under the covers. Second I had no place to stay. And third I had no currency. So after the brief pause I continued. "Actually, that brings up some questions of my own. One, did I have on any clothes on when I was found? Two, where will I stay? And three, where can I get a job to pay for the incoming medical bills and food in the future?"

"Well there are no medical bills, why would anypony charge for healthcare? As for a place for you to stay, you can live in the library with me until you can get your own place. As for a job my friend AppleJack is looking to hire on a permanent farmhoof, and I could see if you can work there. As for your clothes they are on that cabinet to your left, and that saddle bag is yours too." Twilight informs me.

With this information I turn to see said cabinet and find clothes folded on top of it. The clothes were a pair of olive drab cargo pants, a basic white t-shirt, some tan combat boots laid next to those. On the floor leaning against the cabinet was the "saddle bag" witch was actually an olive canvas backpack. The whole set up screamed military to me, but I leaned over and picked up the bag to see what it contained. It had about twenty pencils bound with a rubber band, a sketch pad, a note book, and a metal tin witch looked like ones I knew to contain acrylic paint and a few paint brushes. At very least I would not get bored. I returned the bag to its original position, then I turned back to Twilight and said, "Thank you. So when do I get out of here anyhow?"

"Well sir you really should stay another twenty four hours for observation, but I can get you the release forms in about ten minutes." A nurse stated coming through the door. She was a white mare with a pink mane. Just an earth pony. She was about the same height as Twilight.

I smiled and said, "Yeah, I'd appreciate that. No offense Ma'am, but I never really like being in hospitals, not as a patient anyway."

"So you are a doctor?" The nurse questioned.

I couldn't help but laugh at that one. I laughed for a good five minutes before I could stop myself and return, "Oh hell no, I am horrible with blood, no I was studying to become a biomedical electrician. Unfortunately I am unable to continue my studies."

"Electrician?" The nurse questioned.

I shrugged and said,"Eh, things run on magic here don't they? I'm not exactly from, well, this planet. And on the one where I'm from there was no magic."

"WAIT NO MAGIC!?" Twilight shouted in surprise, continuing with, "Buthowisthatevenpossible!?"

I just scratched the back of my head as the three mares in the room stared at me like I had slapped the lot of them. Then I shrugged and simply said, "Just the way it was, no need to dwell on it, humans lived plenty fine without."

"So you just want me to shrug that off?" Twilight asked, glaring at me.

I frowned and said, "Only for now, I just am not yet comfortable explaining how things as big as what I dumped on your head work. I want to figure out how your world works before I make an attempt. Okay?"

"Fine, that's acceptable, but don't expect me to forget." Twilight said, blowing a stray bit of her mane out of her eyes.

I smiled and responded with, "If you did, I'd be surprised, so nurse..."

"RedHeart." The nurse stated.

Nodding to the information I continued, "RedHeart, how about those release forms please."

"Certainly..." RedHeart paused.

I informed her, "Raymond."

She nodded and left the room. Then Luna spoke, "I will return to Canterlot now Raymond, I will see you in your dreams tonight." Then she to left, but not before stopping and smiling at me.

"I will go and wait for you in the waiting room." Twilight stated plainly, sounding as though I upset her. And then she too left.

Well I may or may not have pissed off, or scared everyone, but at least I had my privacy. So I got of my bed and immediately noticed the sensation of feeling like I was made of cloud, for I sensed almost none of my own weight. But I quickly shrugged it of and got dressed. By the time I threw on my backpack nurse RedHeart returned with the release form.

Grounding

That form was interesting, but rather long. The first thing on it was the usual 'Print your name, DOB, and date of treatment.', followed closely by the what race are you box, although instead of human skin tones they had actual different species. The list was as follows:

Pony(Earth)

Pony(Pegasus)

Pony(Unicorn)

Saddle Arabian

Zebra

Deer

Antelope

Minotaur

Gryphon

Cow

Buffalo

Diamond Dog

Other:_________________

I checked other and filled the line with Human. After that the form had questions about things like medical history, and if I had any prescriptions I was currently on. Did I smoke and things like that. I just checked No on all of those. Then there was a huge block of text that basically translated into, 'you sign this you can not sue us'. Of course I signed that line, I mean I was in better health than I ever had been previously. Then there was another block of text explaining what I had been diagnosed with. Basically a long winded explanation of what a coma is and how to deal with waking up. I ignored the majority of it and just signed the line stating I knew what a coma was and all that jazz. Then there were a few more lines of long winded legal text and another three lines for me to sign.

After I finished filling out the form I handed it to nurse RedHeart who, seemed surprised I was done already. I don't know why it took me a solid five minutes before I got through it all. Anyhow, after a quick glance at the form, RedHeart looked to me and said, "Well that, was quick. But everything seems to be in order. Follow me."

I just shrugged in response and followed her out the door. But as I approached closer to her I noticed something was off with the height calculations I made earlier, as RedHeart was about the same size as Twilight, but RedHeart only came up to the middle of my chest in height, and last time I checked I was only five foot eleven. So with new found curiosity I asked, "RedHeart, I don't mean to be rude, but what is your height?"

"Five foot even, why?" RedHeart returned with her head tilted in curiosity.

I smiled and replied, "Well it would seem I've had a bit of a growth-spurt, because I was only five foot eleven."

"Is it normal for humans to gain height that rapidly?" RedHeart questioned.

I chuckled, before saying, "Not really, but neither is being cloned and dropped into that new body. I'm guessing this is just what I would be like had I actually taken perfect care of myself, that or this new body of mine soaked up the magic in this world like a sponge."

"Yes, well, we have a few minor tests you have to go through before final release, but it shouldn't take too long." RedHeart said looking like she was just fed something rather unpleasant.

I frowned, I wasn't sure what it was, but I knew I had upset her, so I asked, "Did I say something to concern you? Or to make you angry? I really hope it isn't the latter, you know, don't bite the hand that feeds, or in this case, the hoof that heals."

"Well ,no, you didn't make me angry. But, you have to admit that having an irregular growth-spurt like that." RedHeart said, still with a scowl on her face.

I shrugged, since I didn't have an answer I changed the subject with, "So these tests. What are they, just basic vision and hearing tests, along with weight and height measurements, or what?"

"Those and a basic magic level test." RedHeart replied, looking a bit miffed at me having changed subjects.

I was a bit confused at that one so I asked, "What does this 'magic level' test include?"

"Why, nothing much. Just being hooked up to the test equipment and turning it on. We can even start with it." RedHeart said as she opened a door, still with a tinge of annoyance in her voice.

The room was just a cube each wall was twenty five feet long, and on the center of one of them was an eye-chart. Next to the door was a basic slide scale, opposite the scale, the wall was marked for measurement. On on side of the room there was a table that had headphones and a box on it, on the other side of the room from that table was a machine that had the approximate size and shape of a jukebox but instead of a clear area showing records was a large dial witch read from zero to a hundred, it also had a single coiled wire going from it to a cone sitting on a counter with drawers. I stared at the machine for a few moments before saying, "So that's the machine."

"Yes, you want to start with it?" RedHeart asked with a smile appearing on the corners of her mouth.

She seemed to excited so instead of just blindly accepting I said, "No, lets save the best for last. Lets do it in the order of height, weight, sight, hearing, and then magic."

"Okay." RedHeart said in an almost defeated tone.

I walked up to the marked section of wall and stood beside it. RedHeart called out my height, I was was seven foot even. After that we went to the scale, where I got a huge surprise, I only weighed 50 pounds. I turned to RedHeart to see she had the same look of surprise on her face as I did, so I asked, "How is that possible?"

"Well, pegasi can control their mass, normally their relaxed mass is one fifth of what it would be if they were an earth pony or a unicorn of the same size. Can humans do that?" RedHeart explained.

Now curious I asked, "No, not normally, but I am breaking alot of human standards today. So how do the pegasi normally control their mass?"

"They focus on their mass and will it to be more or less, they also go to a fifth of their relaxed weight when in an unexpected fall." RedHeart returned, still a bit fazed by the hole weight thing.

I shrugged and decided it was worth a shot. So I closed my eyes and started to focus on my center of mass. Then I imagined it growing. I kept that focus until I heard the click of the scale as the slide arm fell, but as soon as I opened my eyes it went back to being level. However I knew I did it and I smiled and said, "My magic theory may just be correct."

"Possibly." RedHeart said, amazed at what she saw.

After we did the weight measurement we went to the eye test, which found I had 20/20 vision. Then we did the hearing test, which I passed again, with flying colors. Then we went on to the magic test, and nurse RedHeart had a grin on her face that would make the cheshire cat look like he was scowling. It made me rather nervous so I turned to her and asked, "This isn't going to hurt, now is it?"

"Oh, most certainly not, I just like watching this particular test." RedHeart said, still grinning as she replaced the cone with a basic electrode. After she finished that, she placed the electrode on the center of my forehead. Then she walked up to a switch on the wall and flipped it.

At that moment I saw a red aura pour over the wire coiling towards the machine. A glow of the same color went around the edges of my vision at that same moment, giving me a sense that my eyes were glowing red. Then I glanced up as movement caught my eye and I saw what looked like four dimensional shadows at the top of my vision. They ranged through the entire color spectrum. After seeing those objects my vision turned to the magic tester, the dial was slowly going up from zero. Thirty seconds later it stopped at 50 but it only stayed there for a second before it shot straight to 100 and the machine started making a whirring noise akin to a jet. It was when smoke started pouring out of the machine that I said, "Fuck! get down! NOW!" as I pushed RedHeart to the ground. At the same moment I pushed the white four dimensional matter into a dome around us telling it to catch anything coming towards us. Then while I was crouched on the ground I heard a huge explosion.

Time froze in that instant. I felt my magic grab onto the metal and glass shrapnel that flew towards us. I heard RedHeart start crying as the fire alarms started blaring. I smelt the smoke as it poured into the air. I saw the fire billowing out of the remnants of the machine. Then I blinked. That was all it took to reset my mind, and I turned to the still crying nurse RedHeart and shouted over the alarms, "WE'RE FINE! GO OUTSIDE AND SEE IF YOU CAN FIND SOME HELP AND MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS OKAY! I'M GOING TO SEE IF I CAN SMOTHER THE FLAMES!"

"OKAY!" RedHeart shouted as she left the room.

Once she was gone I dropped the shrapnel and focused my magic on the smoke, gathering as much of it as possible. With a ball of smoke the size of a basketball I approached the flaming hulk of the machine. I pushed the smoke over the top of it catching any smoke the fire was producing keeping it close to the fire until I could no longer feel heat radiating from the skeleton of the machine. Then I brought the ball of smoke up and away from the machine to see that in fact the fire was truly out. I was bringing it over my shoulder when I heard hoof steps coming into the room.

"WHERE'S THE FIRE?" I heard a male voice shout out.

I turned to see a blue unicorn holding a hose in a blue aura, who flinched when I faced him. I just blinked and returned, "I TOOK CARE OF IT ALREADY. NEED TO DO SOMETHING WITH THE SMOKE THOUGH!"

"FOLLOW ME" The unicorn firefighter shouted.

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It was only two minutes before I was out of the hospital and could release the smoke. After another ten minutes RedHeart had finished checking me for signs of smoke inhalation, and said I was fine. Then I spent twenty minutes talking with the firefighters about what happened. Another half hour was spent talking to the press, apparently tomorrow's headline was going to be 'Alien Saves Hospital from Fire'. Looked like I made a good impression on the town.

After all the excitement at the hospital Twilight and I were walking to the Apple family farm. Things remained quite for quite awhile but Twilight eventually broke the silence by shouting, "So you aren't going to say anything about it!?"

I laughed, I was wondering how long it was going to be before she brought it up. I replied with, "What? The whole, I have enough magical power to catastrophically overload a magic level tester?"

Twilight rolled her eyes and shot back, "Yes, that!"

I laughed again, and simply responded, "Well I'm beginning to think my original statement about how magic doesn't exist in my world is false."

Twilight stopped in her tracks, dropping on her haunches, her eyes growing as large as dinner plates. Then she shook her head and simply asked, "How?"

I stopped and looked to her and said, "Well, it's do to the way it felt. It was how electricity feels as it goes through one's body. That and I think the magic level tester works like an ammeter on Earth. Basically measuring the force behind the magic. Am I right?"

Twilight nodded, "Yes, yes it is."

I smiled, and continued, "Well not only that, but the four dimensional objects, what ever they're called, could explain some of the strange math behind electricity. That and it is a force every living thing on Earth uses it, hell, needs it to live. I'm sure the same thing goes for everything on this planet and magic."

Twilight nodded once again, "Yeah."

I smiled once again and said, "So, with that out of the way can we continue to Applejack's?"

Twilight got up on all fours again and said, "Yeah."

We were about to get moving again when I heard flapping wings from behind me, shortly followed by a blur of cyan flashing across my peripheral vision. Then hovering in front of me was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane, staring at me with a confused expression on her face. I just smiled, waved, and said, "Hello!"

"Um, hi..." Rainbow Dash spoke, then turning to Twilight, "What is that thing?"

I cleared my throat, a little annoyed at the antics, but I kept my smile and said, " Well I'm a human, and my name is Ray Hardy. It's a pleasure to meet you..."

"Rainbow Dash! Fastest flyer in Equestria." Rainbow, finished.

I smiled a bit wider at the grin on Rainbow's face, and said, "Sounds like something fun to see. So what brings you out this way?"

"It is something fun to see. ITS FREAKING AWESOME!" Rainbow Cheered, then continued, "I was heading out to my friend Applejack's farm to hang out. Where you headed?"

I smiled again, and replied, "Well I'm headed to the same place to see about getting a job."

"So you go'n for the farmhoof position, huh? What if you don't get it? I mean you don't have hooves." Rainbow asked.

I shrugged and returned, "Well in that case I'll take the firefighters up on their job offer."

"Why'd the firefighters offer you a job?" Rainbow asked, tilting her head like a dog.

Twilight chimed in with, "Because he saved the hospital from a fire after the magic level tester blew up while nurse RedHeart was testing his magical strength."

"You blew it up too!?" Rainbow exclaimed, staring right at me.

I just asked, "I'm not the first?"

"Nope dude, Twilight beat you to it. Although when she blew it up, it didn't burst into flames." Rainbow returned.

I stared blankly for a few moments before I said, "Oh."

Twilight blushed slightly and said, "Yeah..."

"So what you guys waiting for, lets get to the farm." Rainbow, said as she took off.

Twilight and I just shrugged and went off after her.

************************************************************

It was about ten minutes later when we got to the farm. I kept even with Dash for the journey while Twilight was a few minutes behind us. Twilight was gasping for breath, and sweating like she was in a sauna. Dash had a few beads of sweat but, otherwise was fine. And for some reason I didn't even have sweat on my brow.

"Dang Ray, not even a drop of sweat and you kept up with me?" Dash said as she glanced at me.

I shrugged and said, "Just a good day I suppose."

Twilight just stared at us and said, "Well ... *gasp* ... I don't ... *huff* ... see how ... *wheeze*... you two ... *cough* ... aren't ... *pant* ... dieing!"

I stifled a laugh and said, "It might have helped if you had flown instead of running, I mean using two limbs instead of four would have to use less energy."

"That or you should go outside more instead of staying inside reading all day." Dash snarked, gaining a glare from Twilight and I.

Before either of us could yell at Dash however we were interrupted by dog barking soon followed by, "Winona, what in tarnation's gotten in tah ya!?"

We were soon greeted by a barking brown and white border collie wearing a red collar with a gold name tag, and an orange blonde maned earth pony wearing a stetson. The pony said, "Oh, howdy Y'all. Now if you don't mind my asking what's that thing?" while pointing a hoof at me.

"His name's Ray, and hes totally awesome, he kept up with me and didn't even break a sweat!" Dash exclaimed.

Blushing at the complement I waved, and said, "Yeah, and I'm here to see if I can get a job."

Applejack just looked me over a couple of times before saying, "So ya want tha job huh?"

I nodded, "Yes I do."

AJ, then asked, "So how much experience ya have at work'n on a farm?"

I sighed and replied, "To be honest, pretty much zero."

AJ, raised an eyebrow, and asked, "Pretty much zero, or zero."

I returned, "Depends, how much you think helping my aunt and uncle on their ranch for a week when I was five counts for?"

AJ responded with, "Pretty much zero, but not exactly zero. So why ya want tha job."

I replied with, "Simply was the first job offer, and I need money If I'm going to live a life here."

AJ asked, "Any other job offers?"

I smiled and replied, "Yeah, one, from the fire department, and even though I have a tinge more recent experience with that. I doubt I'd appreciate that job as much. Sure if it's the last job available I'd take it, but it's just not my kinda thing."

AJ then asked, "Ya think ya could buck apples?"

I nodded, "I think I could."

AJ then led me to a row of trees that had a hundred either side, with buckets underneath them all and said, "Prove it. Buck enough of 'em clean and ya get tha job."

AJ, Twilight, and Dash all watched as I approached my first tree. Took a couple of paces back and then I kicked it. The apples fell into the buckets, and I smiled, but the smile was because I noticed how springy the tree was, and it gave me a brilliant idea. I ran to the next tree and jumped landing a kick in the center of it, I heard the apples falling into the buckets as I spun to meet the next tree. It continued like that until I had hit all the trees. I had cleared all 200 in about two minutes, not touching the ground once in between. When I landed I walked up to Applejack and asked, "So do I get the job?"

AJ replied, "Eeeyup." She paused to pick her jaw up of the ground before saying, "Let's get these apples in tha barn, an we'll talk 'bout your pay."

So I extended my magic to the 600 buckets and lifted them up hovering them behind me and said, "Lead the way boss."

AJ blinked twice before she headed towards the barn, and said "Okay, 'fore we talk wages, let me tell ya one thing, we can only afford ya once a week for one row."

I nodded and said, "Makes, since I was only expecting to get about twenty trees done by the end of the day. Before I found my trick of course."

AJ returned, "Yeah Ah, was too."

It wasn't that long till we were at the barn. I floated the buckets in when she opened the doors and set them down where she pointed. As soon as they were down I asked, "So how much will I be getting?"

AJ asked, "Does five bits a bucket sound fair?"

I was a bit shocked, that came out to 3000 bits for two minutes of work, so I replied, "It sounds more than fair for me, but it feels a little unfair for you. How much you plan on making per bucket?"

AJ responded with, "Oh no it ain't unfair for me, Ah plan on making about fifty bits a bucket."

I shrugged, and returned, "Well so long as you aren't losing money on the deal, I think I like the pay."

AJ smiled and said, "Then ya got yer' self a job, see ya next Tuesday at seven in the morning. Let me go get ya, yer' pay for the day."

And with that I had my job.

Insulation

AJ returned a few minutes later with a large pouch held in her mouth, which she dropped in my hands. The pouch clinked as it landed, it was full to the brim with golden coins that held the faces of the two princesses. I pulled open the flap on my back back and dropped the pouch in and said, "Thanks, Applejack."

AJ just gave me a confused look and asked, "Ain't ya go'n ta count 'em?"

I just smiled and said, "Nah, I trust you. Besides we'd be here all day if I were to do that."

"I can understand not wanting to waste time." Dash chimed in.

I was about to make a comment to Dash when an ear piercing scream came across our ears. I was off running towards it while AJ shouted, "Applebloom!" and Dash, "Scootaloo!". I had every ounce of adrenalin running through my veins as I shot between apple trees, running towards the source of the scream. I then put my entire soul into reaching them as I heard a wolf's howl.

I arrived to see a timberwolf pouncing towards three fillies. I just put everything I could into jumping at the wolf, and managed to tackle it out of the air. It yelped out of surprise once it found itself on the ground, but It had no time to make a sound as my elbow came down on its skull. There was a loud crack and a squish as its head split. At the same moment I put a shield around the fillies using my magic. I rolled off the now dead timberwolf and got to my feet. There were still three more wolves circling the four of us, so I focused some of my magic around my fists to make them appear as though they were on fire. Then I just shouted, "Get your wooden hides outta here before I torch you lot!"

It had the desired effect as the remaining wolves tucked their tails and ran off into the Everfree. After I was certain that the timber wolves were sufficiently far I dispelled the shield around the three young fillies and asked, "You three okay?"

"Yeah!, I coulda took 'em though!" The orange pegasus filly with the purple mane reported.

The yellow filly with a pink bow in her red mane shot back, "No ya couldn't Scootaloo, ya were just as scared as us!"

"Yeah. although I didn't expect him to be here." The white one white unicorn filly with a pink and purple mane said.

I raised any eyebrow at that one and asked, "So you three the ones who found me?"

"Yes, we did!" The three cheered. Then they paused for a moment before the yellow one asked, "How'd ya know?"

I just smiled and replied, "Well, Applebloom, I didn't, I just took a guess based on what little information I had."

Applebloom's eyes grew wider and she asked, "Okay, but how'd ya know mah name?"

I suppressed a laugh and returned, "Again, I just did a guess, your sister shouted the name, and you sound alot like her."

"Okay if you're so good at guessing names, then what's her name?" Scootaloo questioned while pointing at the white one.

I knew her name was Sweetebelle, but I didn't want to freak them out, so I shrugged and said, "Sorry Scootaloo, but I have no information to guess her name with."

I nearly defecated myself when I heard Twilight say, "Of course you do, It the same way you knew who Luna was when she first came to you in your dreams. And how could you kill that timberwolf?"

I paused for a moment with a look of pure guilt on my face. After a moment I slowly gathered myself and smiled before saying, "Well to answer Scootaloo's earlier question, the young unicorn mare's name is Sweetebelle. She, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, are the main members of the Cutie Mark Crusaders, a group crusading to find their special talents so they may acquire their cutie marks. I know this because of a show called My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic. That show is surprisingly similar to this world especially with the names of characters within this world. However there are key differences, such as this timberwolf, which I killed, BY ACCIDENT. For in the show they are just wild magic that enchants logs to become the form of wolves and attack anything that moves, however this one appears to be a wood based, self-mobile, carnivorous plant. There may be other differences in this world. That is a reason, other than the fact it freaks people out, that I am not immediately using the information provided in the show. So, any other questions or complaints?"

I was catching my breath while the four just sat there looking at me, the CMC gave me just a blank stare, Twilight however had a look of guilt on her face. I also saw AJ and Dash in between the trees staring at me, just as blank as the CMC. After I had caught my breath I let out a long drawn out sigh and then with my hands above my head and said, "Or if you want to freakout you can do that too."

Still receiving nothing but blank stares I stood up and approached the timberwolf. As I got closer I saw the horrible damage I had done. The entire right side of its face was caved in and it was leaking sap everywhere. I knelt beside it with tears going down my face, It was the first time I had killed anything more significant than an ant or a fly. Then I said to the corpse of the timberwolf, "I know you were just trying to get a meal, but. You chose the wrong target, I'm sorry I had to kill you, but I will not regret it. I did what I did to protect the community I wish to become a part of. The least I can do is bury you in the Everfree and hope you'll understand."

Then I stood up and turned to AJ, who had her hat off holding it to her chest and said, "AppleJack, You should get those three inside," I pointed to the CMC and continued, "And I need to borrow a shovel."

She didn't say a word she just nodded and gathered up the three fillies whom I had just saved and walked back to the farmhouse. After she was past the treeline Twilight sat next to me as Dash hovered of my head. Their looks of fear and disgust gone. Replaced with looks of forgiving and sadness. We just sat there staring at the dead timberwolf for quite some time, just pouring our feelings of sorrow into the poor creatures body.

When AJ returned I lifted the timberwolf over my shoulders and took the shovel. Nodding my thanks to her I followed the tracks left by the timberwolves until I arrived at the Everfree. Once there I started my grim task.