Prances with Ponies

by Typewrittensoul

Rating: everyone
Tags: Rainbow Dash, Sad, Other, Fluttershy, Slice of Life, Human, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 37877

Human in equestria

Kevin Costern is a human in Equestria. But how will he deal with natives that don't speak English?

When you're done, check out the sequel.

Published 2012-04-05 21:04:02 UTC
Last updated 2012-06-04 19:05:14 UTC

Chapter 1 (side A) : The Explorers Guild

April-ish

(New) Journal Entry 1

Well, it's official. My first journal is pretty much unsalvageable. No, wait...unsalvegable? Unsalvagable? Whatever. So I'm using my spare one that I have for when I filled up the first one.

I had written this awesome, professional-looking introduction and everything. Made up a title, something to the effect of “Living in the Land of the Lost” and I made these references to scientists and adventurers and Indiana Jones and I wrote my signature in the most perfect way after wasting so many sheets of paper and...ugh, at this point it's just too much work to try to recreate.

Point is, I'm an idiot that lost the last three month's worth of writing since I landed wherever I am. So stupid, seriously. I was taking a leak and decided to read some old entries. I think I looked through the first few weeks, about how I woke up in a forest while hitchhiking and couldn't find the highway. 'Take a sabbatical' I thought. 'College can wait' and 'I need real world experience for an Anthropology major too' I told my parents. And lo and behold, I dropped the journal into the river I was pissing into.

Luckily it's the kind with a leather binding so I managed to find some still readable entries and I'm going to try transcribing them to this new journal. However there are some portions that I couldn't read and save because the ink bled too much.

January (?) - I think late January

I don't recognize any of the stars. I never really knew constellations and junk, but the North Star totally isn't where it's supposed to be. [part that's missing] Where am I?

February 1

I've set up another campsite after finding my other one completely wrecked. Must be the wildlife looking for food.

February 13/15(?)

Yesterday was cold & rainy but today is a completely clear sky and sunny. There's still snow but no blizzards have come through in a while. My shelter survived the test since I made this out of tree bark, wood and tall grasses.

February 29

Tried cooking again. I finally managed to make a fire after 50 tries. Was the blandest rabbit I've ever tasted. I need some salt & pepper stat! Maybe I should have watched the food network more...

March(?) 23

I've been keeping to the edge of the forest where I first spotted the ponies just beyond the hills. A couple of them are ones I think I've seen before, but can't be too sure. The two I don't recognize at all is a blue one and a pink one. They seem to be friends with Peaches since they're all together. But it's so weird to see wildlife that are colored like that. I wish had a working set of binoculars so I can make out the things they're carrying. I think Snow's wearing clothes still. Do they have owners nearby or something?

I'm paranoid enough to want them to be some alien life. It's been a few weeks and I'm sure I'm not hallucinating. [part that's missing] but [part that's missing] cooking(?) has gotten better (I think this is what it says, but I think I was writing really quick at this point) because I found berries and tried wild grass too.

(New) Journal Entry 2

It's just...it's just really frustrating, you know? Rereading through my journal was what was keeping me sane when I got tired wandering around, observing and taking notes about the area around me. Some things I can still remember like when I first saw the ponies a few weeks ago, but there are other more mundane entries like in February 23 when I was so happy about making a fire.

I'm sure that a few of the ones I lost were ones that were more whiny and depressing. I'm kind of happy that I lost them. 'Good riddance' and all that junk. I would skip over those ones whenever I reread my journal anyway. Not like I'm missing anything important. Any other entries were either observations about plant life and weather, or else there really were some things very important that I've forgotten.

In any case my parents know that I'm independent enough to take care of myself. While all the money I have on me is pretty much worthless right now, I've done a good enough job surviving up to now thanks to Dad's paranoid survival training. They've never really worried that I haven't mailed them back for long stretches of time. But I'm sure dropping off the face of the Earth for a few months must be pushing it.

--

(New) Journal Entry 5

Looking a few entries back, I realized my notes on my pet names for the ponies I've seen were among the entries that were lost. I'm sure I can't forget Peaches, but I'm sure if I ever get back home or if this journal manages to be found by someone else I want them to at least be impressed by my observations. Maybe posthumously give me an Anthropology degree?

Today I decided to grow some balls and get a bit closer to the ponies, and they haven't yet spotted me. But they're so much more bizarre than I originally thought!

Listed in the order of when I first observed them above I've seen four ponies so far. When I first saw them I thought that just their colors were weird. There were a few other entries I made about Peaches and Snow, but my March 23 entry is the most recent one related.

Anyways, after getting closer I noticed how Peaches and Rainbow had wings. They even flew around a bit. Snow has a horn, so that makes her a unicorn. Pink just has really curly hair and hops a lot. There may be other ponies out there since the four I've observed are just so unique. I'm totally going to win a Nobel prize or some scientific award for my discovery!

--

May-ish

(New Journal) Entry 7

From the presence of a full moon tonight, I think it's the middle of May. I never really paid attention to astronomy and only sort of remember that the moon's cycle determines the months, or at least signifies that it's a new month? Before I dropped it in the water, I was depending on my journal to keep track of the days I've been here. Other than the unrecognizable star patterns, the weather seems to be about the same, with the presence of winter, spring and the beginnings of summer, and the moon and sun's movements don't seem strange to an amateur like me.

--

nj Entry 9

I've seen Peaches many more times than I have the other three. I've yet to see other ponies, but I believe she (I will refer to all ponies as 'she' until proven one way or another) will be good as my Subject 0. The existence of pegasi raises a number of questions. From the Greek myth, does Peaches signify the existence of other fantasy creatures? Loch Ness monster, Big Foot/Yeti/Abominable Snowman, Medusa, Cerberus, Vampires, Werewolves, etc.?

Can I assume all pegasi act like her, or should I put weight into the unique physical attributes between Peaches and Rainbow and at least hypothesize that those differences can be extrapolated to their personalities as well? Will need to find examples of clones or twins to test hypothesis.

I can say with certainty that Peaches is quite nature-oriented. The other ponies when they accompany her are less likely to interact with animals (rabbits, deer, birds, etc.) and have more on than one occasion worn clothes of some kind. Snow is the prime example of this. (Please read Entry 6 for initial unicorn observations.) I find Peaches to be graceful and quite endearing. I almost believe that on some events I may have heard singing or humming. I have yet managed to confirm or refute this because going any closer may expose me.

Entry 10

I was almost found today. First off, I need to make two more additions to the list of ponies, Purple (tentative name) and Cowgirl, so named for wearing a stetson hat. (Listed above) It was unbelievable. Six ponies together gathered nearby my observation spot, all of whom had an animal companion (pets?) with them. Confirming the local existence of: dog, cat, alligator, tortoise. The two other animals present, rabbit and owl, have previously been confirmed.

But it was because of Peaches and her pet rabbit because they came quite close that I had to end observation before I was exposed. This is an amazing find. There really are other ponies out there.

Entry 11

Peaches and her rabbit were waiting nearby my observation spot. None of the other ponies were present. I think it is her rabbit that is suspicious of my presence, but I can't be too sure. Previous theories about the capacity of intelligence of the local animal population has been completely thrown out the window, considering the seemingly sentient ponies. Being closer than before I've been able to make a few new observations about Peaches. Her odd coloration aside, her hair and tail seems too groomed for it not to be possible that ponies take care of their appearance. She has blue eyes, and there was a distinctive pattern—three butterflies—on her flanks.

Entry 12

Peaches was waiting nearby my old observation point today as well. She definitely thinks there's an animal nearby. Whether it's instinctual or as a result of communication with her rabbit needs further testing. Speaking of which, she was alone and had brought a wicker basket. It's contents were never revealed. The sounds she made seemed to me like calls for me to come out. As I've yet to come across any animal larger than a pony, I cannot be certain if it could be coincidental she is trying to attract something to her.

Entry 13

Today I awoke to find Peaches in my camp. This display of inquisitiveness and curiosity further pushes me to believe that the ponies have at least near-human levels of intelligence. Their use of clothing, herd/independent society and domestication abilities of other animals make me further believe my hypothesis to be more than likely true. Consider this: she had never directly come into contact with me and in fact went to search the surrounding area from a specific point of origin. That is, my old observation spot. She did not simply search for me by scent from what I can tell. Her forward-facing eyes award Peaches and other ponies with good spatial perception to have noticed the camouflage of my shelter.

It's a bit awkward but she's actually still here as I'm writing this.

She has kept a safe distance of probably 2-3 feet from my shelter since I realized she was here and kept that distance following me around to the nearby river to clean up and then back again to the campsite. I wish I could get closer but I don't want to think I'm hostile. But now I can tell her hair is definitely groomed and her yellow coat (can't believe I thought ponies had fur, ha) is clean and well taken care of. I think she tried to communicate with me to no avail, then left as the sun began to set. It may have been as a result of my feigned disinterest in her.

Entry 14

Peaches came by again today. She arrived alone. Did they sense my smell on her and decide not to come, or did she not tell the others? From my observations the ponies obviously can communicate with one another. Peaches' attempts to call me out a few days ago supports this. Or maybe they're hiding nearby? Watching me from a distance?

In any case, she kept the same distance of 2-3 feet today but decided to bring her basket from before. She may be coaxing me to come to her to show that she isn't dangerous. I will try an experiment to see if she will try to repeat this again tomorrow, so I won't take the bait.

Entry 15

She did come back today and brought her basket. Ponies can apparently read facial expressions, as Peaches' own expressions are quite human-like. She seemed to have discerned my wariness about her intentions and the basket, and so took the initiative. Like I suspected there was food that she tried to coax me with. Did she think I was supposed to smell the food from within the basket? Going back to the point about reading non-verbal cues, she noticed my confusion (furrowed brow, slight frown) and showed me the sandwiches inside, displaying them and going so far as to mime that I was supposed to eat it and it was tasty (did so by holding the sandwich in her hooves and pretending to bite into it. She then smiled and made the gesture of rubbing her stomach). I decided to stare and feign misunderstanding by tilting my head.

Peaches is quite patient with my on-purpose unsociable behavior. Her ears drooped when I failed to understand what she was trying to tell me. I think she tried to close the gap between us by about a foot, so maybe she feels I'm growing more comfortable with her presence to do so? I surely don't mind the company at all.

Entry 16

I've seen enough documentaries to know that Peaches is also making observations about me. This must mean that I'm a unique creature she's never come across. So perhaps there aren't other humans wherever I am. Because I've already been exposed, I've made it a point not to make quick, unpredictable moves to intimidate her. She is to a point shy, but in the face of the curiosity that brought her to the campsite in the first place I will not say that she is easily frightened. The sheer difference in size between us has calmed me a bit about whether she is a carnivore. She would have brought a pack of the other small ponies to have succeeded in taking me down, unless there's something she can do, like a unique trait. Since I have no experience with pegasi, I don't think it's too much of a stretch to worry about what her diet consists of. Of course, it'll probably be in retrospect that her being a winged pony, it might be a bit silly to think this. Better safe than sorry.

Peaches again brought her basket but this time set out a large placement of food on a picnic blanket. There were sandwiches, soup, drinks, salad. This tells me a few things. First off, there is indeed a developed pony society that has similar norms of food etiquette such as not eating food straight off the ground. The variety of foods she brought shows sophistication because of the need to use spoons, plates, cups, etc. The basket of course and the clothes the other ponies wore are already noteworthy examples of sophistication, but still. The use of tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers, mushrooms, etc. for the sandwiches, tomatoes for the use (with spices for flavor? Existence of salt and pepper?) and lemonade all tell me cooking is also practiced by the ponies. It was a bit bland, but still quite tasty. There was no presence of meat in the food.

Neigh-ne-neigh neigh
Neigh neigh-ne-ne-neigh neigh?
Neigh neigh neigh, neigh neigh neigh?

Entry 17

Had lunch with Peaches today as well. She's come closer still, sitting right next to me. She tried talking with me a few times and was curious with what I've been writing. I scribbled what I heard above this entry. I think I've picked up hints of inflection and different tones in her speech(?). For all I know my brain is just picking up what sounds familiar to me and I might be hearing her wrong. I decided to respond much to her surprise. (Widened eyes, mouth opened, wings unfurled)

I asked/said the following:

Entry 20

After much coaxing on her part, I decided to follow Peaches and leave my campsite. For the last few days we tried to communicate to no avail and she began to show an interest to taking me somewhere. From our interactions I think where she wants to take me, unless it has been an elaborate ruse to kill, cook and eat me, is safe.

I was unsure how far she would take me so I packed up all of my provisions back into my bag and left the structure I've been calling home for the past few months. I've been slowly losing faith that I would be rescued and I felt this was my best chance at surviving this place.

What I found is nothing short of amazing. Peaches took me to what looks like a cottage. There are small woodland animals everywhere. The cottage itself completely blows me away. It has windows and a front door (like stable doors with distinctly separate top and bottom portions). The inside is furnished, with chairs and a sofa and a rug. A rug! A dresser and a lamp, stairs and items designed for animal usage like a cage with miniature stairs and a small dog-sized bed with pillows, are all present as well.

I've found civilization.

While I sat on the couch, Peaches came from what looked like a kitchen and brought tea with tea cups and a kettle and everything using her mouth and set it on the side table next to the sofa. She seems amused by my amazement. The tea smells like oranges. When there's a knock on the door, Peaches says something to me and heads toward it. Again I'm surprised by the manners that the ponies are displaying, and

Chapter 1 (side B): Rumor Has It...

“You can't be serious, Fluttershy...” Rainbow Dash stuttered once again to the yellow pegasus pony. Just moments ago when she flew over to visit her friend at her cottage, she never expected to see “...that's the Two-Legged Beast!”

Fluttershy on her part simply nodded with a smile in a calm and serene way. Quite the polar opposite of her friend's panicked behavior. “Yes I know, Rainbow, and I understand and appreciate your concern. But Dewey really isn't the monster everpony made him out to be.”

The weather pony let out a frustrated exhale and dropped her head into her hooves. “No, Fluttershy, you don't understand because it's strange, and weird and walks around on two legs and...” Realizing halfway through Rainbow took her face out of the press of her hooves and stared at the other pony in confusion. “...wait, who's Dewey?”

“It's what I named him.” Fluttershy stated as a matter of fact. Taking Rainbow's silence as a cue to explain, she more than happily did so. “Well calling him the 'Two-Legged Beast' isn't very nice at all. And so, since he walks on two legs instead of four I was reminded of Spike. But of course he doesn't look like Spike at all but they do share a lot of similarities! So I then thought: 'Wouldn't they make a great duo?' I thought it sounded pretty good, but I like to an a 'y' at the end because it sounds so much cuter like 'Squirrely' the flying squirrel and 'Buzzy' the Buzzard. So, Dewey.”

Rainbow Dash stared at Fluttershy in a slack-jawed manner as she tried to ingest the convoluted manner of naming the creature currently sifting through the wall calendar nearby.

“Fluttershy...you can't just bring a monster into your house the first moment you see it and then name it! I know you like animals and all, but that's way too reckless, even by my standards! What would you have done if I didn't come by, huh?”

“Oh no, Rainbow, I didn't just take Dewey in. You see, first I spent a few days watching him after Angel told me where he was. And then we had a few picnics together, and talked a bit. He talked and then I talked. He's a very polite creature and quite intelligent, actually. Even though Dewey can't understand what I'm saying, he's smart enough to understand body language! And he built a shelter for himself and has this journal that he writes in!”

“The way you're talking about it is making you sound like Twilight.” Rainbow Dash felt a bit unnerved by her friend's excitement while talking about the Two-Legged Beast. The rumors of its existence first appeared in the paper a few months ago and was first sighted by the Cutie Mark Crusaders when they were exploring the Everfree Forest—when they weren't supposed to be there in the first place, of course, but that never stopped them before.

She glanced toward the strange creature again, noting the shabby, dirty clothing it wore and the unkempt, shaggy-looking black hair on its head. The grunting and growling noises it made when it was supposedly “talking” with Fluttershy only raised concerns with the blue pegasus.

Dash knew that Fluttershy was too nice around animals and lost her common sense whenever it came to them, even the scarier ones. For example, being able to block a full-speed tackle from the one and only Rainbow Dash when she first saw the Two-Legged Beast at the cottage was way too crazy to think about. And it was a bit awkward, but only Fluttershy would then be able to make her apologize for the misunderstanding, to a creature that wouldn't know what she was saying in the first place.

Standing at the height of two ponies stacked on top of one another, it had to hunch while walking around the cottage. But it mostly stayed seated on Fluttershy's couch, with a large bag on the floor next to him, usually writing something or another. Dash wanted to see if it stole that bag when it attacked some unsuspecting pony but Fluttershy was vehement about telling her that wasn't the case. Dash just couldn't be so sure about that.

“Oh my goodness!” Fluttershy suddenly drew closer to Dash and placed her front hooves on her shoulders. “I just realized! You're not going to tell anypony about him, are you? Please don't tell anypony! Especially not Twilight! Please don't tell anypony that he's here and especially not Twilight!”

“What? Why not?!” Dash was surprised she would even ask her not to tell. “This isn't some bear you found the woods, Fluttershy. It's the Two-Legged Beast, for crying out loud! Haven't you heard the rumors? The Two-Legged Beast eats meat!”

“Well, so do other animals.” Fluttershy countered. “But Dewey also ate the sandwiches I made him and they didn't have any meat.”

“It gets angry and loses control at seeing the color red, and sneaks into ponies' houses to steal things!”

“If that was true, why hasn't Dewey gotten angry after seeing your mane? It has red in it. And besides, none of the things reported missing in Ponyville were in his bag when he was packing up to come over. I know, I checked.”

Dash shook her head in frustration at the other pony's stubbornness to see reason. “It's...it's probably hiding things from you then, because you fed it...and...it knows I can kick its butt if it tries to do anything which is why he hasn't reacted from my mane! Or he's colorblind, I don't know! Fluttershy you just gotta trust my instincts on this one! He's...”

Fluttershy sat on her haunches and crossed her forelegs over her chest. After a moment of contemplation, Dash could only sigh when she realized Dewey hadn't acted like any of the rumors said he would, and sat down as well. “...Alright, I get it...Dewey, or whatever, hasn't really been that bad. But I still don't fully trust him.”

“But at least you can trust him a little bit, right? For example you're using 'him' instead of 'it' now.” Fluttershy asked with an eager smile. Dash scratched her head when she found she was caught by her own words and unenthusiastically nodded her head. Fluttershy smiled even bigger and hugged her friend. Dewey watched from the couch and wrote something into his journal.

“I'm only giving him a chance because I trust you.” Dash said in an attempt to minimize her embarrasment. “He hasn't done anything like the rumors say...but at the same time he hasn't done anything that showed me I can trust him.”

“And that's all I ask for you to start with.”

Rainbow Dash clicked her tongue in annoyance at being defeated. Something was irking her that this was what Fluttershy was aiming for the whole time, though Dash couldn't see a way to worm out of this sort of loss. But there was something that Fluttershy said that still bothered her. “So...what's the deal about not wanting to tell Twilight specifically? She's your friend too, isn't she?”

“Of course she's my friend!” Fluttershy waved her hooves about in front of her. “...but...” she looked down to the floor and nervously pawed at it with her hoof. “...Pinkie told me about the experiments Twilight did on her when she was trying to solve Pinkie Sense...” Rainbow followed her glance toward Dewey as it appeared he was having a staring contest with the white bunny, Angel.

“Ah...” Rainbow Dash nodded when she understood what Fluttershy was trying to say. Twilight Sparkle, the resident egghead who had gotten Rainbow Dash of all ponies to enjoy reading, had on more than one occasion taken things a bit too far. While Pinkie was all too eager to play “science experiment”, Dash couldn't be too sure about how Dewey would react to being stuck with wires and strapped down into a machine.

"At the very least, I really want to get him more acquainted with living with others. He's been living alone for so long, I'm afraid something might happen if too many ponies come by to see him at once."

“So...what are you gonna do?”

“Well first have him take a bath. I know he has been trying to keep clean but all of that messy hair of his might make somepony think he really is a monster. He has some soap in his bag so that won't be too hard to tell him. Then I'm sure he's going to be hungry because he's such a big guy and he didn't eat anything before we came over...and then I'll have him meet all the other animals and-”

“No, I meant what you're going to do to keep him from getting discovered by anypony else before he's ready.”

“...oh...” It became obvious from the sheepish grin that Fluttershy hadn't thought that far, causing the blue pegasus to sigh for the fifth or sixth time that day.

Chapter 2 (side A): No Way Out

Entry 21

Rather than continue on my previous entry, I'm just going to start a new one even though It's still the same day. The sun has since set, and I've fully unpacked and have been given a bed on the second floor of Peaches' cottage. First off, an explanation:

Earlier when I had first arrived at the cottage, I was attacked by Rainbow, the blue coated, rainbow haired pegasus. Charged at, actually, when she showed up at the cottage.

What I can tell from the incident is that my presence is definitely unknown to the other ponies, or at least Peaches did not tell others that I was coming to the cottage today. The very aggressive behavior Rainbow displayed brings up a few questions: Is Peaches a particularly important pony, or is Rainbow just overprotective? Are they sisters or is there some greater social reason? I have no way to establish a hypothesis at this time. The vastly different color schemes between the two pegasi makes it unlikely that they are blood related. Although stallions can sire multiple mares, I have no way of finding out the social norms on this issue or lineage to see whether or not the the pegasi are related. To that end, where are the male ponies? Is it normal for a female to be living alone?

But going back to the incident itself, I have to admit that watching the two ponies' interactions was interesting. Peaches not only stopped Rainbow's attack, but then displayed dominance over the blue pegasus after she did so. (Peaches: Ears up and head held high, whinnied strongly and spoke sternly; Rainbow: ears down and eyes averted, whinnied strongly when attacking but spoke softly after being stopped.) Is it possible that the ponies have developed a matriarchal society? Where do Peaches and Rainbow fit? Indeed, the six ponies I've observed thus far have all been assumed to be female, and with zero presence of males thus far, it would be difficult for me to know with full certainty at this time.

There was much chatter that was obviously about me, since they would glance at me every so often. So I decided to busy myself and found a calendar on a nearby wall. Flipping through it, I've found that it was composed of several pages that displayed grid formations that were differed in number between 28 and 32 "days". The first six boxes of the current “month” were crossed out, not entirely different from how people mark off days that passed. There was also evidence at the top of the calendar of pages being ripped off and on the leading edge of the bind were scraps of paper.

What I assumed was the local language written on the calendar had no likeness to any human form. Not Greek, Latin, Arabic, Chinese/Eastern characters, Sanskrit, cuneiform or western-style alphabet. At first glance it just looks like scribbles.

I was unable to fully investigate at the time because I felt my shirt tugged at, and upon turning around, Peaches' pet rabbit was staring at me. I decided to stare back, but I've become worried because of his intense glare: I think the pet rabbit knows that I've eaten his kind during my time in the forest. He hasn't done or said anything to Peaches yet, so I'll have to keep an eye on him.

Later I was given a chance to shower and clean up. I've discovered that ponies have indoor plumbing since a bathtub and sink were present, as well as a toilet. They were constructed of wood and porcelain. My appearance in the bathroom mirror looked less than stunning. I guess I looked like a wild animal with the way my hair's gotten disheveled and long. Of course even at the age of 18 I've still yet to grow facial hair, so I didn't have the need to shave, though I hoped that living outdoors would change that. Oh well.

When I came out of the shower, it seemed that Peaches had also washed my clothes for me. She was scrubbing my dirty clothes using a washboard, and it looked like she had gone through my bag to get them all. I can't really be angry, and it's not like I'm a super personal person, anyways. It took some time to convey that I was thankful to her for that. I'm surprised that she recognized the meaning of “thumbs up.” Perhaps she's acquainted with other sentient animals with opposable thumbs?

In her pony language Peaches called all the animals to dinner and also brought me to the table to eat as well. Dinner consisted of vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, green beans, spinach, mushrooms, carrots, and assorted fruits and nuts, all of which were cooked in a variety of ways. This was made possible by a well stocked kitchen that comprised of an iron-style stove and oven. The animals ate a variety of pet food in bowls and dishes of vegetables/fruits/nuts.

So far I've seen that she has squirrels, mice, chipmunks, chickens, cats, rabbits, badgers, a number of birds like blue jays, robins, a flamingo, buzzard, eagle, hawk, and other animals I don't know the names of.

As for sleeping arrangements, I'm settled right now in what looks like a guest bed set up on the second floor in the hallway that the stairs immediately leads up to, across from Peaches' bedroom. The area is well sized, about 20' x 20' with a stone chimney and a queen-sized bed with a wooden backboard. The sheets are decorated with butterflies and in fact all of the room's decorations give off an all around feminine feeling. I've been provided a lamp that uses fireflies for a surprisingly bright light. But for writing purposes, it's not the best. On the desk that the lamp is on there is a shelf of books that I'll read through to try to find out more about the pony language tomorrow.

Entry 22

It's been at least four or so months since I last slept indoors and in a soft, warm bed. I almost cried. Didn't, but I'll at least admit that I shed a tear or two.

I'm a bit embarrassed about what I wrote last night. What I thought was the guest room was actually Peaches' room. And the room I thought was hers upon sneaking a peek...was actually a linen closet. In fact, now that I've been able to have a better look around the cottage with the sun up, I've realized that the entire top floor is just a single bedroom. I never would have guessed that she would have me sleep in the same bed as her, and if I had known I would have slept on the couch.

I felt a mix of apprehension and wariness. First, I was unsure if this is the local practice. Herd animals, like some human tribes, are communal and the idea of the western point of view on private property and individualism and privacy in general is quite different or sometimes completely unheard of. Although admittedly only the most isolated of groups can sustain that way of life because international corporations often take advantage of tribal land usage to parcel up areas for their own development. The pervasiveness of new ideas that stems from group interaction and development of cities that lure the youth from jungles and rural forests as well as the bringing of technology to tribes has also changed them

Then again, Peaches could just be thinking of me as just another animal she's picked up, hence the almost motherly treatment she's been providing me that's similar toward the other animals. The only difference is that she's more able to communicate with her pet rabbit, or the squirrels or birds, as though they truly and mutually understand one another, but not with me.

Could this be because of the fact that ponies are animals as well? But then what is the definition of sentience, since humans are mammals just like horses and cats and dogs. There are stories and instances of mediums and psychics being able to talk to animals, and other stories of animals and their owners understanding one another. Maybe it's that “animal sense” that most humans just don't have? Can all ponies talk with animals, or is Peaches an exception? That begs the question of why and how ponies are as far as I can tell thus far, the dominant species.

Anyways, today was relatively uneventful. Before I had a chance to look through the books like I said before, Peaches introduced me to meet her animals (She would gesture between myself and the particular animal. It appears she gave me a name like I did for her, though I wasn't able to take note of what she said my name was, or the pony equivalent for the names of animals, or if she was calling those animals by personalized names she gave them) and gave a guided tour around the cottage, though out of sight of the dirt road, remaining in her back yard. I'll make sure to make a more comprehensive list of the animals tomorrow.

Breakfast consisted of pancakes with honey syrup, with a side of fruit and juice, while lunch and dinner were more or less the same as yesterday. Though I tried to insist that I wanted to sleep on the couch, It looks like I'll be sleeping in the bed again tonight.

Entry 23

All of today I tried to write a list of animals that live at Peaches' cottage, and every time that damn rabbit rips the page right out of the journal! I'll give up for now, until I can secure another source of paper and figure out a way to get that rodent out of my hair! It wouldn't be prudent to bring it up with his owner, since I wouldn't doubt that she might think it's a petty squabble. A precedent is available of when she had me meet a bear today. It gave me a hug after she said something and even though I was screaming and hollering to tell her to get it off of me or at least loosen its grip, she just sat there and smiled.

Breakfast, lunch and dinner were generally the same. By the way, I actually managed to persuade Peaches, with lots of miming, to let me sleep on the couch last night. But I woke up to find her sleeping with me, anyways.

Entry 24

I suspect Peaches is a scout of some kind. Maybe part of a frontier garrison?

Her cottage is situated close to the forest, far from any other sort of pony home. There is a dirt road that leads away and out of sight that looks quite well used. I can tell that there are a number of hoofprints tracking through it, some that look quite recent. Looking at the cottage itself, the moss and abundant use of vegetation gives it a very “nature” feel. If it weren't for the suspiciously large and diverse population of woodland creatures hanging around outside, I might not have noticed the cottage until we got very close to it when I was first brought here. This camouflage might be the reason I haven't seen other houses. There could be a hamlet of like-designs down the dirt road for all I know.

Peaches herself is also a very curious character. At first I thought she was just a curious pony who had noticed my presence, but her ability to stop Rainbow's sudden attack a few days ago makes me think she commands great respect from the other ponies. Or at least with Rainbow. She'd also have to be brave to be able to approach a two legged creature like me, someone unlike any of her animals or ponies she may have come across before. It'd be ethnocentric of me if I assumed they were part of some chain in command. Or even if ponies fought wars or, beyond being protective of friends/family, if they fight at all. Ponies aren't humans after all, so who's to say that they too would suffer the pains of jealousy, pride, spitefulness, hate, greed? Not only is there no proof of the existence of an army, what's to say that the ponies simply export those jobs to larger, stronger creatures? Again, no proof of that either

Entry 25

I've tried several times now to leave the cottage, and every time Peaches tries to stop me. Sometimes with the help of her rabbit, other times it seemed as though she's just on watch all the time. She would corral me just as I get close to the dirt road, or keep me busy tending to the animals with her in the backyard. But most of the time she'd try to simply keep me inside of the cottage. I'll play along since she's letting me sift through the books in exchange for not going out. I've managed to take note of a few other pegasi flying about the area by peeking through the window and noticed that there is a male gardener that passes by every so often to tend to the flowers at the front. Old looking, too. Does my staying here present some sort of hazard for her?

Entry 26

I've been looking through the books at the cottage, and I can't make heads or tails of their writing. No matter how long I stare at the pages, it still literally looks like scribbles to me. One long, unending scribble after the other, with loops and arched points.

Maybe pony writing looks this way because they write with their mouths? Anatomically speaking, the ponies are pretty similar to the ones back home, horns and wings aside. It's not like they can pick things up specifically with their hooves. Peaches uses her mouth for most of everything and holds things on her front ankles like a person would their wrist to carry and pull things. She also has saddlebags that she can place on her back and put things into the pockets.

How do I ask Peaches to write something for me so I can study it?

--

June-ish

Entry 28

My decision to voluntarily do chores around the cottage has been working out handsomely. It gives me an opportunity to go outside, works off my cabin fever, as well as it ingratiates some trust with Peaches. Not to mention that I feel it's just common courtesy as thanks for taking me into her home. Even if her reasons for doing so are still hard to figure out. I do lots of farm things: tending to chickens in coop, collecting eggs, repairing broken fence, catching fish that she takes to give to ferrets that live under her bridge. I would take the opportunity to try to have her teach me some pony words, but without any success. She simply smiles and nods as though I'm trying to affirm what she wants me to do.

All the while Peaches seems to be singing or humming some sort of tune. I remember there were times I would listen to music and not pay attention to the lyrics, enjoying the rhythm and sound from the instruments and the singer nonetheless. Her voice is soft and obviously charming to the animals as they eagerly approach her wherever she goes.

Entry 29

Started working on studying books without pictures.

Peaches has apparently come to think of it as me being cute, and has thus started a sort of story-time for all the animals and reads from a book with myself and the animals forming a circle around her. The animals seem to enjoy it, but I've yet to understand a thing she says. Although I can feel certain energies from the way she reads, just like a librarian would reading to a group of kids. The use of facial expressions, volume and body gestures synch up with the book. Of course Peaches is using a book with pictures, so whenever she shows the page she read off of, I can glean the gist of what the story is about.

The one she read today was about a princess pony in a tower. The art is quite good, and vividly colored like any other kid's book I've seen, so it looks like ponies have adapted to not having hands and opposable thumbs much better than I thought. The writing is still scribblish, but much shorter than I've seen in other books. I guess that reflects the simpler usage of vocabulary.

There is a dragon involved, probably keeping the princess hostage. The ongoing theory of dragons stems from early discovery of dinosaur fossils, and primitive humans created elaborate stories that often led to myths of giant humans and monsters existing, and ferocious dragons came about all over the world. Another is that the image of a dragon is a culmination of large cats, birds of prey, and large reptiles/lizards that attacked early man as their only known predator. This gives me hints that both humans and ponies have great usage of imagination as they've developed over time.

Next, an armored stallion (a larger, masculine character design compared to the princess) arrives and starts to fight the dragon. The fact that an armored stallion could exist shows that there has or is(?) a medieval period going on. The only male I've seen so far is an old gardener, so I don't know how younger stallions are. The mix of technology is also a bit confusing, so I cannot establish what sort of level of advancement the ponies are at.

In the end, the princess persuades all of them to be friends. I don't know, I think that's what happened because the last picture involves the three characters having some celebration in town with other ponies. The town looks quite generically made into colored rectangles, but they are at least two stories off the ground. The princess solving the problem and the fact that it's a peaceful solution is quite telling of the expectations of females and conflict resolution among ponies. Cooperation is key, and of course, girls were the target audience of the book, taking the lead. It could just be the personal decision of whoever published the story, but I somehow doubt it.

Entry 30

I just wish there was a...uh, what do you call it? A Bruschetta stone? No, I know it's not bread. What they used to translate the hieroglyphs...I'm so pissed that I can't remember! The best I have are a couple of kids' books with words next to pictures that are supposed to teach how to read. I am nowhere close to being able to go back to the more serious books that Peaches has.

In addition to the princess story Peaches read the other day, a few of the other books takes the point of view of a lonely-looking blue bird, a pegasus pony standing on a cloud having difficulty flying, a fish with a single silver scale (very similar to a book I read as a kid back home) and a book with pictures of cute puppies and kittens.

Entry 33

Rainbow has started visiting just about every day, for the past 3 days including today, though not usually for long. Like as though she's just checking up on Peaches. I personally think it's because of me that she does so, but I can rule out that she did it before I arrived, since I've been here for at least a week or so now. The two seem very close, but I can't assume it's just because they're both pegasi, though they could have some reasons to associate based on that. I just can't imagine that's the only reason. I wonder where exactly Rainbow lives.

The first day Rainbow started visiting was strange enough. Adding to what I wrote in entry 31, I recall that Peaches had left and her rabbit was put in charge of keeping me inside. She had apparently left early in the morning as I woke up late when the two pegasi came bursting in as though they were running away from something. Rainbow had brought a whole bag of books which I thanked her for, of course, and began trying my best at analyzing them too.

I've since been poring over the books as carefully as I could. The covers of these books are a lot more detailed and pristine. Much more elegant than the books in the cottage. The lettering too is, lack for a better word, fancier looking.

Another thing: I noticed that Rainbow also has a symbol on either side of her hindquarters: hers is a cloud with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt. I thought that Peaches' peculiar markings of three butterflies was unique, but maybe it serves an important social role? Do all ponies have it? What does it mean?

Entry 34

Beyond my expectations, Peaches has been cooperating with me to learn the pony language. During the day while I help out with chores I would continue to point at items as I have been and she would say what it was. Though there could be some misunderstanding on her part, because thus far she's called the same chair at least three different names. Now, unless that's how the language works (which I doubt because that would be grossly inefficient) I think she's been saying something different whenever I pointed at that chair. Perhaps something about the color, or using it in a sentence, or is starting to get frustrated and is telling me to stop doing that. But what's confusing me is that her facial expression and tone don't signal any anger or frustration.

Which is remarkable that we had a “language” session at all last night. Long story short, one night she noticed that I was reading the kids' book and taking notes on it. She watched me for a bit, but then suddenly started pointing things out around the room of her own accord. She would point, say something and I would repeat until she deemed it acceptable.

I did not take notes because I wanted to focus on how she spoke. I am not a linguist by any means, so I think it's more distracting if I worked off of any written notes since there are so many things I may miss, and thus actually handicap my ability to understand. I don't know how to use accent marks or specialized letters to denote particular sounds, so that limits my ability to write what I learn down for others to learn.

Consider this: About 75% of human speech is verbal, and 25% is non-verbal. Things like gestures, body language, facial expressions, intonation, pitch, pace and volume are essential. I think for ponies it could be a 70/30 or maybe even 65/35. Peaches and Rainbow have been able to communicate more through non-verbal than verbal cues. Whether it's because I can't perceive it or not I simply don't know. Like how a dog can hear more than a human can. But even though I may be physically prevented from learning, I'm going to keep trying.

Chapter 2 (side B): The Big Chill

Fluttershy was sitting in a booth at Sugarcube Corner, far opposite of the front counter where Mrs. Cake was and well out of earshot from the other few customers enjoying their snacks when Rainbow Dash came in wearing saddlebags. In her saddlebags were six thick books, three in each bag. The volumes weighed the bag down so they drooped, but did not seem to adversely affect the blue pegasus as she dropped her load and took a seat at the booth. A milkshake for each pony was already on the table.

“Thanks for borrowing these books for me, Rainbow.” Fluttershy chirped at the sight of the bag of books placed on the inside of the booth seat.

“Yeah, well...now Twilight thinks I'm some sort of super egghead like her now...” Dash shrugged her shoulders and sighed. She leaned in to slurp her milkshake loudly through the straw, already partially melted but still declicious.

“I'm just so impressed with how curious Dewey is about everything. Always pointing at things! You know, even after all the work he's been doing around the cottage, he spends a few hours before going to sleep making notes on all the books that I have! It's very adorable! I'd bet you'd enjoy seeing it.”

“Oh, yeah...that sounds really adorable...”

“Isn't it?” Fluttershy smiled, not catching the sarcasm. Her milkshake was already halfway to the bottom of the glass as she took a daintily small sip. “Though I wish there was more I could do to help him...” the yellow pony hung her head for a moment, which caught Dash's attention.

“What are you talking about, Fluttershy? You took him in, gave him a place to sleep, books that he's pretending to read...you feed him, even!”

“That's all well and good, but it's just so strange! I'm supposed to be good at talking to animals! I mean, it's my special talent and yet it's just so upsetting because I can't even...”

Fluttershy paused, looking unsure whether she should continue. After some thought, she nodded her head and sighed. “I didn't tell you this before when I first asked you for those books, but...he's been having nightmares every night. He'd toss and turn in his sleep and whine like he's in pain. There was even one or two times last night that he screamed himself awake. I've been trying my best to comfort him, but it's just gotten a bit uncomfortable on the couch since he's so big and all, and there's simply not much room for the both of us...”

Rainbow nearly drowned mid-sip and used a hoof to wipe a trail of spittle running down her chin from spitting out her drink. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait-a-minute. The couch? As in your couch?” Fluttershy gave the smallest of nods. “What are you doing sleeping on the couch for?"

“Um, well, he didn't want to sleep in the bed with me so I-

“You slept in the same bed as the Two-Legged Beast!?”

“Shhh! Please not so loud, Rainbow!”

The three or four other ponies sitting nearby had shifted their attention to the girls from Dash's outburst, but nopony had apparently caught what she had said. It didn't take long for them to move back into their own conversations.

When they were sure nopony was trying to listen in, the pegasi restarted their conversation. Dash rolled her eyes and huffed. “What's all this about sleeping with him, Fluttershy!?” she asked again in a quieter voice.

The yellow pony tilted her head and nervously tapped her front hooves together. “Well, you see...um, at first it was because I hadn't really found a place for Dewey to sleep yet. But then I learned about his nightmares...I've found that being there to comfort an animal during a bad dream, helps them to sleep better and become happy and healthy. I mean, Mr. Badger—before he met Mrs. Badger—used to have the worst ones until Dewey came along. And he's quite the stubborn one, too. For some reason he keeps insisting on sleeping on the couch no matter how hard I try to tell him not to."

Dash wanted to drop her head onto the table and let out a long, tired exhale. “So how long is this gonna last?”

“Until he's all better. Or if he ever wanted to leave. I wouldn't stop him if he ever wanted to,” she realized her half-lie and added, "but I would try really, really, really hard to persuade him not to before he was ready.”

Fluttershy's ears then drooped for a moment and her eyes gazed down at the table. “The poor thing...I can only imagine what he went through whenever it rained especially hard, or during the blizzards that were scheduled this year...it's obvious it's been a very long time since he's socialized with others with how awkward he's been.”

Dash's ears perked for a moment when she heard this. 'Since most animals either hibernate or go south for the winter, and ponies and their pets are able to stay warm in their homes...' Her own ears then drooped at the thought. 'That means that Dewey spent all winter outside and alone....'

Rainbow Dash looked to the now solemn pony across the table from her and frowned at having to see her friend like this. She was never the kind of pony to have heart-to-heart conversations and would rather kick somepony's butt to solve a problem, which left Dash a bit stranded as to what to do in this situation. But then the yellow pony's words made something click in her mind. “Well, Fluttershy...have you ever thought that you might be going about this the wr-”

“Hey, girls!” Before she could finish, a pink tuft of curly mane appeared in front of Rainbow Dash's face. The blue pegasus sputtered and ducked under the table, appearing on the other side of the booth next to Fluttershy while the pink intruder simply plopped her rump onto Dash's previous spot.

The earth pony took note of the bag now next to her on the seat. “What's with all the books? Making a book club? Ooh! Can I join your book club?”

“Pinkie Pie!” Dash grumbled with a scowl on her face, but nonetheless accepted long ago the other pony's style of saying “hi”. Instead, Dash realized she had to play along in order to keep her and Fluttershy's conversation from coming back up. “Er...yeah! A book club! But sadly it's invitation-only...”

Pinkie pouted in an instant. “An invitation-only book club? But that's not really fun. Especially for the ponies who aren't invited...wouldn't it be more fun if everypony was allowed to come?”

“It's invitation-only because...uh...” Dash didn't have an immediately rebuttal and stalled for time, and while drawing out her response she arched her eyebrows and sought Fluttershy for help.

Fluttershy noticed the other pony's face and immediately chimed in. “...we know that not everypony will like the kinds of books we're reading!”

Pinkie wasted no time stuffing her hooves into the bag and glanced at a few of the book covers. “Wow, you got that right, sister.” Pinkie said while looking at a set of books in her hooves. “'Other Worlds' by Carl Stagen? 'Superpowers in Collision: The Colt War Now' by Snowcone Chompsky? I-dunno-how-to-pronounce-this-one but it's by Thomas Equinas? These are all the kinds of books I thought only Twilight likes.” With raised eyebrows, Pinkie looked at the girls. “Is Twilight in your invitation-only book club?”

“No.” “Yes.”

The pegasi looked at each other then looked back to Pinkie.

“Yes.” “No.”

Rainbow Dash quickly added “Twilight doesn't know about the book club...at least not yet.”

“Not yet?” Fluttershy's eyes widened and she looked at Dash with worry.

“Well duh, she's gonna find out about it eventually.” Dash eyed Fluttershy with furrowed eyebrows.

“The book club?” Pinkie asked.

“Y-yeah!” Rainbow nearly forgot about the earth pony and turned back to face her. “We haven't told her about it yet because...uh...we're worried that she won't enjoy it before we work some of the kinks out first. Right, Fluttershy?”

“R-right!”

“Then why don't you invite me?” Pinkie took hold of the situation when she saw her opening. “I'd be more than super-duper double-bubble triple-fudge-icing-with-sprinkles excited to help you get the kinks out of your invitation-only book club!”

“NO!” “NO!”

Pinkie nearly tumbled out onto the floor from the force of their near-immediate response. Dash quickly followed up while laughing nervously.

“No offense, Pinkie, but I don't think you'd enjoy sitting around, you know, talking about...Twilight-level books...”

“We're really serious about being quiet at...the book club...” Fluttershy continued.

“But why's your book club gotta be quiet and boring? You should make your book club different from the rest!”

“Because it's at Fluttershy's place.”

“What?” The hostess-apparent looked at Dash with surprise. Dash shrugged her shoulders and mouthed her apology. The yellow pegasus felt her nerves worsen and faced Pinkie. “Uh...yeah...you know me...I'm the quiet one. Always being...quiet...”

“Hmmm...” this new excuse made Pinkie halt her aggressive push and she scratched her head with a book still held in her hoof. “Although I might not enjoy talking about the books...” her eyes lit up once more and her mouth grew wide into a smile. “I can at least help make the invitations...and set up some decorations, too!”

“Oh, well, that's just the thing!” Dash saw this coming and immediately knew how to respond. “You see, we'd really appreciate the help, but it's at my place, in the clouds...so only pegasi can go. And you can't ask Twilight for her cloud walking spell because then that might make her suspicious.” Resting back against the seat, the blue pegasus smirked at how easily she solved that problem.

“That makes sense.” Pinkie blinked in surprise and accepted the reasoning. She began placing the books back into the bag when her brain gerbil began running full speed and turned the proverbial wheel faster. “Waitjustaminute!...but you just said that it was at Fluttershy's place!” She said while pointing the book in her hoof accusingly at Dash.

The two pegasi looked at each other in silent terror.

"Well that's because...uh...Fluttershy!?"

“U-usually!” the yellow pegasus yelped nervously and faced Pinkie's onslaught that seemed on the verge of succeeding. “Usually it's at my cottage...but this time we're having it at Rainbow's house...”

'Nice save, Fluttershy!' Dash wiped her forehead with her hoof and thanked Celestia that they were finally in the clear.

“...oh, wait...then how will Dewey get the books?”

“Dewey?” Pinkie asked and tilted her head. "Who's Dewey?"

“FLUTTERSHY!”

“EEP!”

“Who's Dewey?” Pinkie Pie asked more seriously.

“Ah...uh...Dewey's-a-bear...you-don't-know-him...Harry's-friend...GOTTA GO!” Jumping into the air with her wings beating like a hummingbird's, Rainbow Dash grabbed Fluttershy in one hoof, the bag in the other and the book still in Pinkie's possession in her mouth. Flapping her wings as hard as she could, she raced out of Sugarcube Corner, nearly throwing an unsuspecting pony walking in onto the ground.

--

Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who's read and enjoyed the story so far. I never would have thought that people would like what I've written, and for at least 70 people as of this writing to have fav-ed this story, it would take 1000 words to describe the feelings that seeing this is giving me. So, without further ado:

Chapter 3 (side A):

I don't how longs it been since my last entry.

Right now I'm in bed, with a cast on my left leg and left arm. I've ju t woken up few minutes ago & my eyes are heavy. I can honestly say without a doubt that I ve never been in more pain in my entire life.

There are lots of parts I still can't recall, and at the momment my head is pounding. but...

is th at little pony ok? I rememberr hear ing peaches call out

something

I can't stay aw ake

think I was given some sort of s edative or sort so tire

Chapter 3 (side B): The Guardian

Thunder roared, and lighting flashed through the darkened skies of Equestria.

But Fluttershy pressed forward.

With growing desperation, she braved the raindrops pelting heavily against her face, body and wings, and just barely dodged a bolt racing up from the ground toward the sky.

The pegasus frantically shook her head from the near miss. She hesitated for just a moment as her mind was scrambled from the crashing explosion of sound that followed the super hot lightning ripping through the cooler air.

But her brain did not register fear as anxiety and adrenaline took hold once more.

She panted and scanned through the fog of darkness that pervaded the skies this cloudy night. There was a gap in the storm to the south and she took off toward it, flapping her rain-soaked wings that felt heavier as time wore on.

As Fluttershy weaved and peered vainly through the colloid wisps of condensed water, the pony chose to rest atop a thundercloud to catch her breath. Just an hour ago she had come home from her weekly spa time with Rarity and found that Dewey wasn't there. Not only that, but she saw that Angel was tied up in a coil of rope but had already managed to chew through half of his bindings. Her pet bunny angrily told her that Dewey had done it, but seemed to be holding back some parts of his story.

No matter.

She had to look for Dewey before anypony else saw him. Fluttershy knew how wild everypony's imaginations have gotten because the rumors about the Two-Legged Beast had taken a life of their own.

In fact, Rarity told her some of the most recent bits of gossip while at the spa, such as the one pinning the blame for Sweet Apple Orchards' broken fences on him, or Carrot Top's dug up garden, or even Cranky Doodle's missing toupee.

After taking flight once more, Fluttershy found herself near the part of the forest where she first met Dewey. In other words, the area where the Two-Legged Beast was last spotted roaming around.

The dark expanse of tress that comprised the forest gave off the feeling of a silent audience watching the performance of crackling flashes of lightning and explosive booms of thunder filling the stage. Movement caught her eyes.

“Twilight! Scootaloo!” Fluttershy called out to the faint silhouettes standing near the edge of the grassy plain below. Careful of the adverse conditions, the pegasus took extreme care to land next to the other ponies. The supersaturated soil squished between her hooves and was constantly eroding from the falling rain, which made her footing unsteady.

“Fluttershy!” The purple unicorn called back with relief obvious in her voice. She kept the younger filly close by, and stood protectively between the violet-maned pegasus and a dark figure near the forest. “Quick, you have to help Scootaloo get out of here before-”

Fluttershy's eyes widened in alarm and she ignored the other mare when she saw him. “Oh my goodness...Dewey!”

“Dewey?” Twilight exclaimed and watched in stunned fright as her friend rushed over to the unmoving form nearby. “No, Fluttershy! Watch out!” She leaped out to stop the other pony but slipped and fell from the slickness of the mud below her. “Flu-” Shaking her wet hair out of her face, Twilight struggled back to her hooves. “Fluttershy!”

“N-no...” Fluttershy quietly shuddered a breath.

As the torrential rain buffeted them all, streams of red were highlighted before Fluttershy's eyes as lightning flashed and thunder roiled in the sky above. Her tears mixed with the rain as she slowly shook her head, unsure if mirages could happen in this weather. “...no...”

Her hackles raised and her muscles tensed. Fluttershy took a step forward.

Her body began to glow a faint purple.

“No...” Fluttershy exhaled. She leaned against the subtle pull of Twilight's magic.

“No, no, no, no...” she stepped forward once more. At every “no” Fluttershy shook her head, hoping doing so would somehow change what she was seeing before her. Twilight's magic tried to pull her back even more.

Fluttershy struggled against the unicorn's attempt and with growing anxiety the pegasus screamed and grunted in frustration. “NO! No, no, no, Dewey!” It was all she managed to shriek as her friend's magic-enhanced pulling slowly drained the yellow pony of strength. “HE'S BLEEDING, TWILIGHT! LET GO! I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!” She cried in a panic only to be drowned out by a clap of thunder.

“What are you doing, Fluttershy!?” Twilight hollered over the raucous boom. “It attacked Scootaloo!”

“NO! No, no, Dewey wouldn't!” Fluttershy's hooves dug into the mud as she was pulled backwards. She struggled against Twilight's magic, seeing the distance between her and Dewey grow more and more.

“We have to...get...away...” Twilight strained against the normally gentle pony's strength against her magic “...before it...wakes...up...again!” While she was trying to be careful, and was already tired from producing an anti-lightning spell to protect against any stray bolts from striking them, the unicorn was still taken by surprise by Fluttershy's ability to resist. Slowly but surely, Fluttershy began regaining momentum and continued toward the unconscious Two-Legged Beast. “Please listen, already! It's dangerous out here! We have to get Scootaloo...away!”

“You go then!” Fluttershy snapped out, and continued to pull. She stretched her hoof out, almost close enough to touch his shoulder. “I'm not leaving...without...Dewey!”

A bolt struck down right on top of them but shattered from a previously invisible bubble. The foce of the lightning broke Twilight's concentration, and her grip on Fluttershy loosened up enough that she managed to force her way right next to the still motionless body.

Fluttershy slid to a stop and fell into the mud. Ignoring the mud dirtying her coat, she crawled closer so she was face to face with Dewey. “Dewey? Dewey!” His eyes remained closed. He did not look to be breathing. “Oh no, please...Please wake up, Dewey!”

Twilight focused once more and strengthened her anti-lightning spell. Feeling confident that she had enough magic, Twilight turned toward Fluttershy who was desperately prodding the Two-Legged Beast. She opened her mouth when-

“Fluttershy! Twilight!”

“Scootaloo!”

Rainbow Dash came soaring in, hovering nearby and was quickly followed by Pinkie Pie, Rarity and Applejack.

“What are you girls doing here!?”

“Sweetie Belle and Applebloom told us that they lost track of Scootaloo!” Rarity said distressingly. Despite the obvious emergency, the white unicorn had managed to bring with her a fashionable rain slicker and umbrella, which she transferred over to Twilight's back.

“They tried comin' along wit' us, but we told 'em ta wait back at tha cottage.” Applejack stepped forward and announced from under her soaked stetson hat. “And they said they saw tha Two-Legged Beast!”

“Oh no...Fluttershy!” Dash rushed to the other pegasus's side when she saw the yellow pony hunched over and panic stricken.

“My heavens! What is that...thing!?” Rarity cried out in dismay.

Applejack and Pinkie Pie took note of the creature, taking defensive positions around Scootaloo as the unicorns stayed in the front.

“Rainbow Dash, hold on!” Twilight warned and grasped out with her magic.

“Can't do that, Twilight!” The pegasus rolled and dove out of the way of the unicorn's spell and swooped down to a stumbling, but safe landing next to the yellow pony. “Fluttershy, how bad is he?”

“I...I don't know...he's bleeding...and unconscious...and...I don't know what to do!” Fresh tears ran down Fluttershy's face.

“Calm down, girl! You have to focus.” Rainbow Dash placed her front hooves on Fluttershy's shoulders, urging her. “You're the only one who can save Dewey, so he's depending on you right now. His life is in your hooves, you got that?”

“D-depending on me?” Fluttershy asked under her breath. “He's...?” The patter of raindrops drowned her thoughts as her eyes drifted down toward the being under her hooves.

“Yeah. Yeah, of course!” Dash said in full confidence and combed back a stray hair from Fluttershy's muddy face. “You're the expert, Fluttershy. You're meant to do this stuff.”

“Rainbow!” Twilight called out as she rushed forward, followed by the other ponies. “You're calling it 'Dewey' too? What's going on?”

“Listen, I...” Dash glanced toward the girls, trying to think of a way to explain. “You see..a few weeks ago...Dewey's not a Two-Legged Beast...but I tackled...he's weird...b-but he's not bad, you know?”

“Huh?” Pinkie was the first to respond, frustrating the pegasus as she tried to keep her cool for Fluttershy's sake.

“Yer not makin' a gosh darned lick'a sense, Dash,” Applejack was next to speak. But she tilted the brim of her hat and lent a smirk toward the disparaged blue pony. “But if you an' Shy kin' say he ain't a bad apple, I reckon tha's as good as gold, there!”

“We should do something, Twilight!” Rarity said as Scootaloo huddled close behind her. “The poor thing looks close to death!”

Twilight followed Rarity's gaze and watched as Fluttershy turned the Beast onto its back with some effort and began ripping on its clothes in order to fasten strips of fabric around the sources of bleeding. The purple pony looked to each of the other girls, reading the same thing from each of their eyes and faces. “F-fine!” she finally said. “He needs medical attention, but it's imperative that we get him out of the storm first. Fluttershy's cottage is the closest place, but the lightning makes it too dangerous for me to use my teleportation spell. So we'll have to head there on hoof.

“Pinkie and Applejack, you girls take Scootaloo and head straight to the cottage and gather up all the medical supplies and blankets and anything else you think will help!”

“Roger that!” Pinkie said with a salute.

“As good as done!” Applejack followed with a nod of her head.

The two earth ponies took off, with AJ carrying the pegasus filly on her back.

“Rarity, I need you to use your magic to levitate the Two-Legged Beast-”

“-Dewey!” Dash corrected her.

“Uh, Dewey...while Fluttershy and Rainbow perform first aid on him on our way to the cottage. I need to focus solely on the anti-lightning spell.”

“Understood, darling.” The white unicorn nodded.

Twilight turned back to the yellow pegasus pony, who was currently tightening a knot with her teeth. “Fluttershy, when we get to the cottage tell us exactly what you need in order to save him.”

“Right.” Fluttershy said with renewed determination and hovered close to Dewey, who was now enveloped in a light-blue glow and floated off the ground. “I'll definitely save him.”

--

Several hours had passed since the night and the storm ended.

Fluttershy was sitting next to the bed, with her head perched next to Dewey's hand when Rainbow Dash came up the stairs.

As the blue pegasus silently approached, she noticed how Angel was asleep at the foot of the bed.

Looking toward Fluttershy, she spoke in as soft and assuring a voice as possible. “You need to get some rest.” She paused for a moment, waiting for a reaction before continuing.

With eyes closed, Fluttershy groggily mumbled out “...Iamresting...”

“I mean actually resting. As in, sleeping for more than an hour?” Dash contended with a shake of her head. “And definitely not while sitting up like that.” She sighed when Fluttershy simply turned her head to face away while resting on the bed. “You wouldn't want him to think you were some kind of Four-Legged Monster when he comes to, and sees those bags under your eyes...” Dash tried to joke but it seemed to have failed to stir the other pegasus. She quickly decided to change tactics. “You did good, Fluttershy. I know it. I promise I'll call you when he wakes up, alright?”

Fluttershy wordlessly nodded, picking her head up and slowly stood on all fours. With some apprehension, she stepped away from the bed for the first time in hours. All of her joints were creaky and stiff and her rear legs burned from having her weight focused onto them for so long. Fluttershy looked to Dash with bags under her eyes large enough to go on vacation. “I'll...just take a quick nap downstairs, then...”

With slow steps, Fluttershy made her way to the main floor of her cottage.

When they had first reached the cottage a few hours ago, it was simply chaos. Ponies were screaming and yelling for instructions, animals were screeching and chirping from the ruckus. But only the drawn out creaks of wood and ticking of a nearby clock were the prominent noises as Fluttershy reached the bottom floor.

After they had stabilized Dewey's condition, the ponies gathered around to hear Scootaloo's side of the story.

Apparently, when she had gotten separated from the other Crusaders, Dewey had come along to help guide her out of the forest. The three fillies had gone to the forest in search of the Two-Legged Beast's nest in the first place, and Scootaloo talked a bit how she was scared at first, but mentioned how he tried to lighten the mood with funny faces and bumbling around. That was when the storm came in.

While walking out of the forest, a stray lightning bolt had struck a tree branch and Dewey pushed Scootaloo out of the way, breaking his arm in the process when Twilight came along.

Mistaking the scene of a blood-splattered Scootaloo as Dewey attacking her, the unicorn used her magic to telekinetically swing another tree branch to break his leg. When that did not seem to stop him from crawling after them, she threw the branch against his head, in order for the two ponies to escape. And that was when Fluttershy arrived to the scene.

As Fluttershy arrived at the base of the stairs, she overheard Pinkie and Applejack talking near the kitchen where they had cooked food for everypony after the surgery.

“That ol' Pinkie Sense o' yours was a lifesaver.”

“I know! I never thought I'd get to use my 'Incoming Lightning Strike' twitch!”

“Without it, we'd've been fried like no tomorrow!”

Ambling on, the pegasus continued toward the couch when a soft high pitch voice called out to her. She turned and saw Scootaloo with her ears drooped low.

“I'm really sorry I got your friend hurt, Miss Fluttershy.” Scootaloo walked up to the pegasus mare with despondent eyes.

“Oh...no, sweetie...it wasn't your fault at all.” Fluttershy offered a warm smile and leaned down to nuzzle the younger pegasus, which she hesitantly reciprocated. “It was all just a very bad accident.” When she pulled away, she saw that the violet-maned filly still looked down, not seeming persuaded by Fluttershy's words. “I'll tell you what. If you still feel like you're partly to blame, then you can tell Dewey that you're thankful for helping you when he wakes up. Does that sound alright to you?”

Scotaloo nodded, a bit relieved that there was something she could do to relieve her guilt, before she scrambled back to the other Crusaders and Rarity, who was taking care of the sleeping young fillies at the moment.

Fluttershy saw Twilight standing near the couch, with worry plain on her face. With a few more beleaguered steps, the pegasus managed to lie down on the couch and let out a deep sigh. Only the clock's ticking filled the silence for a moment, when Twilight spoke at a rapid pace.

“Fluttershy, I am so, so sorry! I thought Scootaloo was in danger, and so I-”

“Twilight,” Fluttershy interrupted with a haggard voice. It took a moment for her to continue, which piled more weighty anxiety onto the unicorn's shoulders. “It's not me who you should be apologizing to.”

Twilight cast her eyes downward, frowning at her glaring mistake. “I know! I know that, but...I don't know how to talk to him! Can't you tell him for me or something?”

With her head resting on the couch, Fluttershy looked toward the magical prodigy. “Don't you have a spell that would let you talk to him?” Fluttershy asked tiredly.

“Magic doesn't work like that.” Twilight admitted with a shake of her head. She sat down next to the couch and thanked Celestia that she was able to talk about a familiar subject to mitigate some of her anxiety. “It doesn't just make things happen by chance. For a translation spell, for example, I would need to fully understand the language I'm translating what I want to say from and into. Or at very least have some sort of key to get the process started. If I didn't do that, it would be like trying to fit a mismatching puzzle piece that wouldn't complete the picture.”

“Oh.”

“I'm a bit surprised that you'd need me to use a spell to talk to him, Fluttershy. You were always eager to translate with animals, before.”

“No, Twilight...” Fluttershy stepped off of the couch and sat onto the floor next to her purple friend. “The thing is...I can't talk to him...” Fluttershy admitted with a bit of embarrassment and shame. “I've spent weeks trying to understand him...but I simply can't. We tried charades, we tried with drawings...but beyond really simple things, I've never been able to communicate with Dewey the way I have with the other animals.

“I don't know his real name...I don't know where he's from...I don't even know what he really is...of course I know that he isn't what the newspaper and the townponies have been saying about him...but if anything, I've learned that he's a smart guy, Twilight. I'm sure at the very least he'll understand what you're trying to say. He did with Rainbow Dash when she attacked him when she first saw him.”

“I hope so...”

Twilight looked around the mess they had made of Fluttershy's cottage. Bandages, tattered clothes and dishes were placed all over the floor, and yet she was too fatigued at the moment to be neurotic about it. But then something caught her eye on the side table next to her. “Was he the one reading my books?” she asked when saw the familiar blue cover of Carl Stagen. In fact, it prompted her to remember seeing the other books Rainbow Dash had borrowed were on the desk upstairs when they brought Dewey to the bed to rest after the surgery.

“I think 'studying' them would be more accurate, but yes, those books were for Dewey.”

“Sorry I made you think I wanted to start reading that stuff, Twilight.”

Fluttershy and Twilight both looked at Dash walk toward them.

“You probably didn't notice, but the doctor came in just now and is looking over Dewey.” Dash said to Fluttershy particularly. “I just wanted to let you know before I headed back upstairs.”

Fluttershy nodded her head, accepting that reason.

“You don't need to apologize, Dash.” Twilight sighed. “It's just, why did you think you had to lie to borrow those books in the first place?”

Dash rubbed the back of her head and let out a nervous chuckle. “Yeah...about that...” She then explained to the purple unicorn their reason about being wary from Twilight's episode with Pinkie's “Pinkie Sense”.

“What? Fluttershy, I'd never do that to your friend! I've learned my share of lessons about letting my anxiety get the best of me! But...” her ears pointed low, “...again I'm really sorry that I let those newspaper rumors about the Two-Legged Beast get to me. That's a lesson that I apparently never learned.” It was embarrassing to think about since she was the one who pressed for calm when the townsponies were frightened of Zecora. But was that only because she knew what a zebra was?

“I'm fully responsible for this incident. I should have known better.”

“Yeah, well...” Dash frowned. “I guess you wouldn't have done that if I didn't lie about the books.”

“No, Rainbow,” Twilight tried to assure the blue pegasus, “you only lied to me because you were keeping your promise with Fluttershy not to. I would have done exactly the same thing if I was in your place.

Fluttershy shook her head and looked apologetically at Dash.. “But there never would have been an incident in the first place if I never asked you to not tell Twilight...and...” She turned back toward Twilight next to her while growing close to tears. “...I'm sorry, but I lied about being worried by your experiments, Twilight...I was just so stubborn about my talent, and afraid that asking for help meant that I wasn't qualified to take care of the animals.”

“But you proved you were more than qualified, Fluttershy...despite not being able to talk, you were still able to communicate with Dewey and still became friends. And it's obvious to everypony that you're responsible for saving Dewey's life.” She looked upstairs at where the doctor was checking over Dewey, but was somewhat hampered from doing his job while being excitedly badgered by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, apparently all woken up now. “If anything I'm the one to blame for attacking him...and I have no idea how I could ever make it up to...” She averted her gaze from the pegasi, looking toward the book on the side table. Then, her eyes lit up and she gasped “Wait, THAT'S IT!”

Jumping to her hooves, Twilight rushed toward the front door and used her magic to open it.

“Twilight, where are you going?” Fluttershy called out in confusion.

Halting at the doorway, Twilight Sparkle looked back toward Fluttershy with a determined look on her face. “I'm going back to the library for a moment to get some books!”

“What for!?” Rainbow arched her eyebrows and unfurled her wings in surprise.

“Well, this whole time, Dewey's been studying the books, right? And Fluttershy, you've been worried about not being able to talk to him! So I figure, as soon as he wakes up, the least I could do to start making it up to him is by helping Dewey learn our language!” With her mind set in stone, Twilight gave a grin to the girls and hurried out the door back to the library, as the sun began to rise in the clear morning horizon.

Ponyville's pink party pony approached the pegasi looking out the door with an arched brow on her face, haven overheard their conversation. “So...is Harry's friend gonna be alright?”

The two pegasi looked at each other, and wordlessly decided what they had to do now, as well.

“Um, Pinkie...” Fluttershy began, looking toward the earth pony.

Rainbow Dash stood on her rear legs and hung her front hoof around the back of the earth pony's neck. “We need to have a talk.”

--

Author's Note: I had a lousy day yesterday and felt I had to cheer myself by writing about ponies. Because of finals, I need to focus on writing a few papers so I won't be updating for a few weeks. And because of [omitted] I have a lot of extraneous stuff that just makes my laziness an even bigger obstacle to overcome.

Thanks for the favs, thanks for the likes, thanks for the comments, but most of all, thanks for reading.

Chapter 4 (side A): Thirteen Days

Entry 36

If I had to crack a guess, it must have been at least...two or three weeks since my last journal entry. But
I've been in and out of consciousness for the, I don't know, last couple of days, perhaps? And I've most likely been asleep for at least a week before then if not more. I've been unable to get a hold of a calendar, so who knows how long it's actually been. But even in a drowsy state, I apparently managed to scribble an entry (Entry 35). I definitely don't remember being awake to write it, though, so they potentially throws off my sense of time even more. I really don't remember much of what's happened at all. But before I completely forget, I'll write what I can recall. Writing my thoughts on my left leg and arm being in a cast and my head wrapped in bandages can wait until I get the memory of the incident onto paper.

...

Peaches left the cottage early that morning, but I had managed to wake up before she came back.

Left to my own devices, I decided to try my luck and sneak out to explore, but that rabbit tried his darnedest to stop me. After a brief scuffle I somehow managed to tie the little vermin up with the rope he attempted to lasso me with and stepped out onto the dirt road for the first time since I came to the cottage.

I remember feeling excited and a bit thrilled. The only times I've been able to see the front of the cottage was only after Peaches had checked to see if any other pony was around. But as strange as it may have seemed, instead of going down the road and straight for the nearest pony settlement, I found myself walking back to check my old campsite.

Time had taken its toll on the makeshift shelter of sticks, branches and my camping tent sheet material draped over it. In fact I must have been so excited when I first followed Peaches to her cottage that apparently I forgot a number of things: my kerosene lamp, sleeping bag, magazines and gameboy—batteries long dead and pretty grimy looking after exposure to the elements.

The magazines were a mess of melted pulp and the sleeping bag was in shambles. Ripped and clawed and muddy. Probably some wild animals or even ponies or something had gotten to it; it did not look like mother nature's M.O., that's for sure. As for the kerosene lamp I remember picking it up because it still looked salvageable, but I don't know what's happened to it right now.

And that's when I came upon a little pegasus pony. It seems I made a reference to it in Entry 35; it was just a kid, and friendly enough not to have attacked me at first glance like Rainbow did. But then again it looked more scared of me than I was of her. The little pony, that is. She had wandered into the campsite from deeper in the forest, unaware that I was there. I hid by instinct and managed to spook her from accidentally stepping on a twig. After trying to calm it down, I noticed some dark and heavy-looking clouds in the sky, so we made our way back to the cottage. Or at least, I was trying to lead us back. She followed alongside me. A stray lightening bolt struck at some point and I pushed the pony out of the way, and then...it gets a bit fuzzy from there.

Entry 37

July-ish (?)

It seems that while ponies have access to sedatives and anesthesia, pain-killers are pretty much non-existent. Or maybe what are pain-killers to them simply puts me out cold? They are horses, after all. That makes me a bit scared since I'm pretty sure a person can die if the amount of anesthesia is too much for a person's weight or something. I'm not a doctor or really knowledgeable about medicine or healthcare beyond staying fit or eating right.

Speaking of which, my left arm and leg are in casts and hanging on slings from some sort of makeshift mechanism. Sort of like a crane or a pole that's extending from a latch connected to the underside of bed. Again, I don't know the technical term since I'm not a doctor or anything. My head's been wrapped in a bandage and of course I've been feeling woozy and dizzy. Could be the medicine, while it could be brain damage. I'm still able to write, so no damage to my language portion of my head...or at least I think I'm writing, right? Nothing's led me to believe that my skull was cracked, but there's the definite feeling of stitches from some sort of hit on the right side of my head, just above my temple and ear.

I don't have a clue exactly how I managed to injure myself to this extent, and it's not like I can just ask Peaches what happened. A tree branch falling on me from that lightening storm a while back most likely. She's been coming in with food and has pretty much been nursing me for the last few days. Going in and out of consciousness has made it pretty hard to keep track of time beyond whether it's day or night, thanks to there being a window nearby. She brings me mostly a kind of gruel and assorted fruits and other healthy, vegetarian stuff.

Even if I've gotten kind of, sort of, used to being a de facto vegan at this point, I've never had an urge to bite into a juicy hamburger so bad until recently. Something medium well with a slight pink interior, dripping in sauces and condiments and slathered in pepperjack and American cheese. The crunch of lettuce and onions and bacon and cucumber contrasting with the tenderness of the beef and soft tomato and cheese. I've always hated pickles but what I wouldn't do to just throw that in too, just because. Maybe it's a side effect of whatever medicine I've been getting or my injury or maybe this whole circumstance has completely shattered the daily routine I've made for myself, helping Peaches with her animals and doing random house chores.

It's one thing to be confined to the backyard and not allowed to be seen by ponies other than Peaches and Rainbow, but it's another to be kept in bed all day and night without the option to even shuffle around. I mean, I have a bed pan and everything!

I've been getting anxious, antsy, stir crazy, feeling cooped up. My ass hurts from lying or sitting on this bed for who knows how long now and my whole body feels listless from barely moving. I've never been one for video games or tv so I never understood the concept of staying still. But it's already been difficult not to be able to be really active like taking long jogs or exploring the surrounding area. I haven't been able to read any books aside from my own journal entries or the labels from the packages of food I've had since I first arrived. I'm just too frustrated and too tired to try translating the books in the house. Even if there's been a whole lot more that weren't here before, the thought of staring stupidly at those squiggles is just not worth it right now.

I know Peaches has noticed my feelings since she's been trying extra hard to keep me company, but the difficulty in communication between us seems to have only been amplified. I got frustrated for the first time at her for not understanding that I was asking for my bag and yelled at her this morning. I feel like such a dumbass for doing that. She was trying to help and I just transferred my anger onto her. Maybe it's the loss of my left arm? No...I can't think that, I did NOT lose my left arm...I CAN'T lose my left arm, or my left leg....I....

Entry 38

It's amazing how quickly the idea of loneliness can be banished and seem almost like a pleasant thing.

There have been at least three kinds of doctors to take a look at me today. I could tell because of the doctor-like accessories and dress like the stethoscope and white doctor's coats and that little hammer thing for reflexes. The first one, a male horse that was slightly bigger in size than Peaches and had a squarer jaw, had an afro-thing going on and orange hair. He was pretty awkward while having me do that tongue extension thing and placing a popsicle stick and having me do the “aaah” thing. My arm and leg felt sore from his inspection. My casts were removed and from what I could tell there wasn't any skin breakage or anything. He looked at the stitches on my head in not the most graceful way, either. At I least got a lollipop out of the affair.

There was a also a blue-haired female doctor. She was a bit more aggressive in checking me up. Rolling me about on the bed was the most strenous activity I've had in weeks while Peaches had to do her best to support my leg or arm depending on whatever the doctor was looking at. When that doctor tried to look at my, uh...nether regions, I figured that was something way over the line. Peaches agreed.

A stallion with a stethoscope and two nurses has been the most recent one to come by to check up on me, while three little ponies (one of them being the little pegasus pony) have been running around the room, offering me miscellaneous stuff from food to board games. The pegasus kid took the most initiative in showering me with stuff. Guilt or something from the thunderstorm? I don't know.

The doctor pony showed x-rays of the damage (taken with a lot of pain in the process on my part and an amazing skill in getting a machine to the upstairs of the cottage. I got a lead vest and everything. I'm not even going to question how or why the ponies have access to x-ray technology right now) and it revealed just some minor fracturing in my arm and leg bones. My hit to the head seemed to be a bigger worry, but those fears passed when I scored well on their psychoanalysis test. Mostly picking between pictures on cards or counting. I got two hooves up. That's good, I think.

And Peaches' pet rabbit has seemed to softened up with me, though I guess I would describe it as a 'tough love' approach. It was obvious from the look on its face that he still wasn't happy around me, but he still went along with Peaches whenever she gave me food or dealt with the little pony kids.

Entry 45

Purple and the other ponies I've observed in the past had at one point or another stopped by the cottage for the past few days. Peaches had apparently brought them up to speed about my, well, existence. They were friendly and smiling and said things to me that I didn't understand. That didn't stop them from trying. Like Peaches they all had marks on their sides.

Pink was all over the place. Despite being a regular pony without wings or a horn (albeit, pink) she hopped and and jumped and did things I didn't know ponies or horses could do. A surprising amoung of agility, really. Her excitement was almost contagious and almost got her kicked out a few times by Peaches. Now able to see up close, her markings were three balloons: 2 blue, 1 yellow.

Snow had somehow gotten my measurements and presented a few clothes that I don't even know if it was a joke or if fashion was really like that. I didn't even know ponies wear clothes aside from random accessories. Not to mention, how did she even get my measurements when I never saw her near my until just today? Was she around when I was still unconscious? Her markings were three diamonds.

Rainbow was more or the less the same. Visited more for Peaches' sake than me. Again, she had a rainbow lightening bolt coming out of a cloud.

Cowgirl was apparently the source of all the apples that had been arriving by the basketful. Her markings are three apples. She also brought a few pastries (apple flavored) and let me touch her hat. Really well made material, but I can't tell what it's made of. Aren't they supposed to be made of leather? If I could google it I would. Cowgirl seems to be related to Little Red Bow while Snow has a very close resemblance to Snowflake, the second of the little ponies.

The little orange pegasus pony doesn't resemble any of the other ponies, but she hangs around Rainbow a lot. Are they mother and daughter? I don't know, but I really am getting the impression that the little one has been trying to make it up to me for saving her.

Purple was the one with the books. Lots of books. So many books that unless she was the author of all of them, made me realize just how proliferate literacy has to be amongst the ponies. With her she has let me speed up my research by leaps and bounds.

Her telekinetic powers are also a wonder to behold. In fact, both her and Snow seem to be endowed with telekinesis, most likely as a result of their horns. It makes me curious as to what other psychic phenomena they're able to perform.

Back to Purple's cooperation, just wow. We may not understand what we're saying but we've slowly been building up notes and been able to translate basic things such as household items. Actually pronouncing our respective tongues has still been a bit of a stretch, but we're getting there.

Purple brought, along with her books, a small purple dinosaur I've named Barney.

He's been writing things down for Purple on account that he has hands with clawed digits. This makes me realize that this may be the creature that helped accustom Peaches to my thumbs up way back. His speaking style was a bit more rough but he (or she?) still managed to speak with the ponies flawlessly. He recently went downstairs to get something for Purple. I think. She said something and he nodded his heads then left. I wonder if Purple is special for having a Barney, or if lots of other ponies have a Barney of their

Chapter 4 (side B): Play It To The Bone

“What happened!?” Twilight yelped, jumping back to dodge a swipe that nearly hit her head. After taking a couple of more backward steps on her hind legs, she regained her balance and dropped onto all four hooves. She watched in dismay as Dewey thrashed and screamed in a furious manner while still restrained on the bed by the slings. The others too, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, the Cutie Mark Crusaders, who were upstairs in Fluttershy's cottage, perked up at the sudden ruckus.

“I don't know!” Fluttershy took a step back as well on reflex, but when she recognized the scream of pain in Dewey's howl and his more restrained flailing of his good arm and legs, she came closer to the bed once more in sincere worry. “Oh-oh, dear. I think he's hurt!

Dewey's eyes were clenched shut and his head was pressed back against his pillow. His right hand was tightened into a fist as his injured left arm and leg—put into fresh casts—swung to and fro from their slings as he writhed in pain. Gritting his teeth, Dewey flashed the sharp points of his canines while growling and taking deep breaths to reclaim his senses.

“H-how's he hurt, Fluttershy?” Haven gained confidence that her friend had the situation under control, Twilight rushed closer to the bed on the opposite side and looked to the pegasus for some guidance as to how to act.

“Uh...” Fluttershy furrowed her eyebrows in thought. Looking over all of the signs, it was easy to see that Dewey was in pain. However, it was impossible to determine exactly how from a quick glance. Resigned just to sound out an intimidating growl, Dewey had since settled down. Soon enough, the others rushed to the bedside in worry, crowding around Twilight and Fluttershy on either side of the bed.

The Cutie Mark Crusaders scampered through from between the mares' legs to find a prime spot right next to the bed. Of the three, Scootaloo looked the most distraught, shouting out “Is he ok!?”

“What is he saying?” Sweetie Belle was next to ask as Dewey growled and grunted something under his breath. “Fluttershy, what is he saying!?”

“Uh...He said-” Fluttershy nervously began, but was simply unsure of what the problem was. Whether the pain medicine the doctors gave had run out or if-

Scootaloo moved close to his ear. “DEWEY! STOMP YOUR FOOT ONCE IF-OW!” She winced at a hoof suddenly hitting the back of her head.

Sweetie Belle rolled her eyes at the other filly. “Even if he doesn't know what we're saying, he's not deaf, you dodo!”

"Darn it, Sweeite Belle, that really hurt!" The pegasus filly rubbed the back of her head and glared daggers at the small unicorn next to her. “What's with you always calling me a dodo!?”

“It's because you're a dodo!” Sweetie frowned at Scootaloo's glare and scrunched her face.

“I'm not!” Scootaloo's wings fluttered with a buzz.

“You ar-AAH!” Sweetie began to say, but was tackled to the floor by an angered Scootaloo.

“Girls! Quit...stop fighting! Settle down!” Twilight grumbled and sighed at their mischief.

With ears pointed toward the floor, Applebloom snuck close to bring her face near Dewey's while the mares were distracted by her squabbling friends.

“Oh, Dewey, Ah'm mighty sorry for hurtin' ya like that...” she pouted and hunched her back. "Ya just looked so sad-like, n' I thought I could give ya a hoof massage and..."

“Applebloom?” The small filly froze at the sound of the authoritative drawl behind her. “Did I jus' here what I think I heard?”

“Uh...uh...”

“Whoopsie!” A certain pinkie pony laughed over Applebloom and rubbed the back of her head with her hoof. In a quick simultaneous motion the poofy-maned earth pony had covered Applebloom's mouth to prevent her from saying anything more. Quickly silencing the room, everyone turned toward the Pinkie Pie sitting on her haunches near the front of the bed. “Sorries! Bumped into him accidentally!”

“Pinkie...” Applejack shook her head in disappointment.

Fluttershy grew a bit desperate while still being unable to figure out how to calm her patient down, who was still growling and grumbling. “Dewey? Dewey, please, um...calm down and breathe nice and slow...”

“Pinkie, why would you be so inconsiderate?” Twilight arched her eyebrows while asking her friend. “Dewey's not like us ponies. Like the doctors said he has a much more fragile body than ours.”

“Sorry, Dewey! Want me to bake ya' something? Like an 'Apology Cake'? Ooh, or throw you an 'Apology Party'!? Wait, even better! Or a super fun 'Apology Cake Baking Party'! How's that sound, Dewey?”

He grunted something in response and let out a long drawn out exhale.

“This isn't the time for a party, Pinkie!” Rainbow Dash stepped in, sighing at her friend's continuing silliness.

Dewey grunted louder.

“Yeah, Pinkie,” Applejack said with a frown, “I almost blamed mah sister for what you done!”

“Sis! C'mon, y'all shouldn't blame her!"

"Applebloom," the older Apple farmer turned back toward the filly, "what n' tha world ya talkin' nonsense like that fer?"

Twilight and Rainbow Dash were yelping and hollering as they rushed to break up the feuding fillies rolling around on the floor.

"It ain't nonsense, Sis! Pinkie's innocent! She's jus' coverin' fo' mah mess up! I was the one who-”

“QUIIIIIIEEEEEET!”

Everyone in the room went silent once more and watched Spike as he stomped up the stairs.

“He's been saying that he wanted everyone to pipe down! Yeesh! Even with you guys being loud I could hear him from all the way downstairs!” he paused and looked around, feeling strange. “What?” he asked as he felt all of their eyes on him.

“Could you...could you repeat that?” Twilight was the first to speak up as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle remained on the floor from their tussle but now looking at the dragon.

Spike sighed but complied. “I said that Dewey 'wanted everyone to be quiet'.”

The ponies exchanged looks before settling on the baby dragon standing near the stairs once more.

Twilight again was the only one to speak up. “Spike, you...you can understand what Dewey's saying?”

“...yeah?” He replied in a slow and unsure manner. Spike frowned at the several pairs of eyes still glaring at him, sensing the awkwardness in the air. “Why? You girls can't?” Looking around, he saw all of the ponies shake their heads. “Really?”

Applejack cocked her head at the curious claim.

“Um...ask him to raise his right arm! Just to see if you really can...talk to him...If you don't mind...” Fluttershy stuttered out.

Spike sighed and rolled his eyes but nonetheless turned toward Dewey. All of a sudden he growled and grunted in a manner just like Dewey did, making him widen his eyes as well.

Dewey looked toward the other ponies then slowly raised his right arm then set it back down again.

Twilight quickly shook her head in surprise and gasped. “That's amazing, Spike! How is this even possible? How do you understand him?”

“I 'unno...” Spike shrugged his shoulders. He idly scratched his head with a clawed finger and pondered over Twilight's questions. “Well...At first it sounded like a bunch of nonsense grunts. But after a while, I started to understand what the guy's been saying.”

“What do you mean 'understand'?

Dewey grunted and growled a few things to which Spike answered in kind.

Twilight and Fluttershy both blinked at the ease Spike managed to sound just like Dewey, only in a higher pitched voice. “Well?” Twilight asked impatiently.

“He just wanted to know what was going on.” Spike replied in a casual way.

“And what'd you tell him?” Rainbow Dash asked, driven by her own curiosity to speak up.

“That I can understand him for some reason.”

“Well tha's pretty obvious at this point, sugarcube!”

Twilight's eagerness began to grow and she used her magic to float over one of her own notepads and a feathered quill to quickly begin writing some notes down. “And what'd he say in response?”

“Uh, he said 'cool'.”

“And he's not surprised at all by this?” Twilight asked, scrunching her face while looking between Spike, Dewey and her notepad.

Spike grumbled and growled. Dewey replied in kind.

“Uh...He said that he's just happy at least someone can finally understand him.”

Fluttershy's ears drooped at hearing this and she bowed her head to hide her face behind the bangs of her pink mane.

Almost immediately a small squeal escaped from Twilight and a large, barely-contained smile was now plastered on her face. In a flash, she teleported and reappeared right next to Fluttershy, grasping the surprised pegasus' shoulders with her hooves.

“Oh, Fluttershy, I know I know I know I promised that I wouldn't experiment on Dewey, but this...this changes everything!”

“Changes everything?” Fluttershy repeated the words with trepidation and grew concerneds as her friend's look of happiness turned just a bit manic and toothy.

“Of course it does, Fluttershy! Don't you understand the ramifications? The opportunity we're presented with, now?”

Fluttershy glanced to the floor and paused to think. “Um...no...”

Twilight huffed and rolled her eyes in disappointment, but regained enough of her bearing and patience to explain. “This will revolutionize what we've been trying to do to teach Dewey how to speak our language! To help us understand his! To make a translation spell!” Her face had all but been pressing against Fluttershy at this point, and the soft-spoken pegasus was relieved when the purple unicorn took a step back and gave her some room to breath. Twilight turned toward Dewey and walked up to the side of the bed with a stern, more focused look. Determination emanated from the gleam in her eyes. “Spike, I need you to translate something for me..”

--

Author's Note: Congrats to Neogreenyew for your guess being the closest for what would happen in Kevin/Dewey's POV. Send me a PM on your story idea.

The contest stands for the next chapter:
PM me your guess for what happens in the next chapter (next two "parts"), for either in Dewey's POV a.k.a. part A or Fluttershy's POV, a.k.a part B. (You can only guess for one or the other). The one closest to what I've mostly got written up will win. And what do you win? Me writing out a story (or maybe even a future chapter in this story?) based on any sort of idea you have! I'll let people change their mind up until the next chapter is posted and only the most recent guess a user makes will count. I had already started writing them since a while back, so there won't be a chance I'll just decide on any other idea based on the guesses (even if they turn out to be awesome-sounding guesses)

So, how about this chapter's ending, eh?

Chapter 5 (side A): Fandango

Entry 46

It was a bit anticlimactic, but suddenly there's someone here who I can now talk to. Of course, there's been a few inconsistencies with his grammar and word structure, almost like a little Yakov Smirnoff but nonetheless he's been able to communicate with me.

For example, he kept saying how it sucked that I was stuck in “boo” the whole time. It took me maybe the third or fourth time to realize he was saying “bed”.

However, thanks to Spark's (who's actually a dragon and not a dinosaur named Barney) help, I will make an immense number of changes to my notes.

First off, the names of the ponies I've met:

Second:

As expected of a structure society, I'm apparently in the land of “Equestria”—which makes sense since ponies are apparently the dominant species here—but from what Spark's told me, other kinds of animals and creatures are inhabitants and not only that, are also sentient. Futtershee lives just outside of a small town called Pony Village—again, suspiciously appropriate given the inhabitants.

And apparently there are a number of other cities and towns all throughout Equestria, a kingdom (though led by a princess). This adds to the main role the princess in Pea—no, Futtershee's books since this is a matriarchal society. It was a bit harder for me to inquire more about the social structure beyond the roles of the townsponies since Spark wasn't able to figure out the technical terms or vocabulary. I have a few theories as to why this might be the case, and I've decided to try to introduce as many words and terms to Spark to help him brush up on English. Twilly seems to endorse a similar view as she is a student, herself. A student of the princess, no less.

Third:

Just as I came up with placement names for the ponies, apparently the ponies gave me a name: Dewey. Spark tried to explain the reason for the name, but he seemed just as confused as I was.

Something about being a pair, and then a duo? I don't know...pretty convoluted and nonsensical to me, but I'd never say that out loud. Lucky for me Spark's language abilities don't cross over well into reading as it does in speaking, so I can still write what I want without needing to censor myself.

I've tried a number of times to explain that my name is Kevin Costern. And every time, for some reason they get it wrong and call me something to the sound of “Andrew Shepard”. Whatever, I'll just let them call me Dewey since it's easier that way.

Fourth and most striking of all:

Magic is apparently real.

What I thought was simply the telekinetic ability of unicorns, by way of observing Twilly and Raraty, is apparently what the ponies consider “magic”. In fact, Twilly actually went to the princess' magic school for gifted unicorns. She displayed an ability to teleport from one spot to another on a number of occasion and did all manners of things that went against what limited high school physics I knew such as conservation of matter and properties of light. It's beyond my field to figure out if it's possible or if this land of Equestria is actually a place where the laws of physics are subtly different than my own. I tried to write down and explain what equations and properties I knew, but unfortunately I think it was lost from Spark's difficulty to translate between me and the purple pony.

I'm just glad that I didn't implode or explode upon arrival because of potential differences in reality.

Entry 48

Our mutual difficulty of each others' cultures has proven to be a significant enough of an obstacle at times whenever I try to say something and apparently doesn't exist in Equestria. For example, things like television and the internet. Arcade games apparently exist, and so do x-ray machines, but neither Spark on the count he simply doesn't know nor Twilly who doesn't have much an interest in technology as she does with magic, is able to explain the development tree that led to Equestria's current level in technology. Magic seems to have taken up a number of roles that aggrandized its importance and pegasi seem to have the ability to manipulate weather. A much different—and unexpected—form of magic altogether.

The other ponies have largely been absent because of, well, they have their own lives to tend to. Futtershee seems to have gotten busy and disappears to take care of the animals whenever Twilly and Spark come to visit, which has been pretty often lately.

Entry 51

Even though I'm really appreciative of what he's done, I don't want to depend on him forever. It's just been a relief to speak without having to play charades, albeit every conversation is a bit difficult what with Spark's broken English.

During one of our research sessions I tried bringing up to Twilly that it's perhaps because Spark is a dragon that he can understand me.

Much to his disappointment as he translated her response to me, she apparently doubted my hypothesis. Though then again not much was really known about dragons by ponies. But from what I can tell, Spark is also a very intelligent individual. Not necessarily book smart or the quickest in terms of wit, but it's amazing to think that he's only a baby. The growth rates for a dragon is something no one seemed to be aware of. In addition, the fact that he's been effectively assisting Twilly since he was hatched may also be due to the fact that he has a highly developed memory. I can't say for certain if dragons are simply gifted with verbal cognition abilities, since apparently most every creature that speaks does so in a way that everyone can understand. Again, going back to my observation that non-verbal speech plays a much greater role with ponies than it does with humans.

Again, it's just a hypothesis, of course, but Spark seems to enjoy the notion immensely.

Entry 63

The ponies have gotten a bit more curious about my journal. With Spark's help, I explained a bit what it was I had been writing, about my observations of Equestria and such. Did my best to convey how I was interested in the way societies functioned, as well as history and culture in general. This seemed to intrigue Twilly and some of the other ponies who asked me things about humans and such. Though he tried, Spark didn't seem to have the same proficiency to read as he does to understand what I say, but I'm sort of glad that no one will know some of the more blunt things I've written down.

When she saw my terrible drawing of a pegasus feather in my journal, Futtershee eagerly plucked out one of her feathers as a sample to keep. Rainbow, not so much. I really appreciate that. And of course, in case I ever found myself around a river again, I tucked her feather under the leather cover of my journal.

Entry 64

In exchange for the information about Equestria and ponies, as well as some help translating a few of the books that have been sitting around for the past few days and weeks, I volunteered to take part in Twilly's experiments on me and Spark. Essentially it's just work on a translation spell so we don't have to rely on Spark.

But it needs a lot of work.

For example, just today during a trial, Twilly managed to translate her speech into French. I only took it in high school and even though I wouldn't say that I was one of the best of speakers, I sure as heck was able to recognize it. What was eerie was how her mouth movements were completely out of synch with pattern of what she was saying. Like watching an internet video that lagged or a dub of a foreign movie. It also wore off in about fifteen minutes, but it mind boggling how fast she was able to craft a spell like that.

But then again, I have a little surprise of my own that I've been working on these past few weeks...

Chapter 5 (side B): Night Shift

As the sun began its slow descent toward the distant horizon, Fluttershy was escorting her guests to the front door of her cottage. Twilight, herself and Spike paused their chat while waiting for Twilight to open the door with her magic. The librarian and her assistant had made it a habit to come to the cottage almost daily for the past couple of weeks, while the other ponies could only visit sporadically whenever they had free time in their schedules.

Turning to face her pegasus friend, Twilight was all smiles while adjusting her unsteady footing. The number of books she had started to bring was making her saddlebags on her back bulge out in an unseemly manner and droop down to the floor. The stitching looked like it would burst at any moment, but her excitement kept her from feeling the strain of the weight. The same couldn't be said for Spike, as he plopped down from the size and weight of his hiking bag full of books.

“We're making an astounding level of progress, Fluttershy.” Twilight said, ignoring Spike's panicked yelp. “With just a few adjustments, I expect that by the end of next week I can have Kevin speaking and understanding full sentences in Equestrian.”

Fluttershy gave a small, unsure smile. “That's very, um...encouraging to hear, Twilight.”

“It is, isn't it?” Twilight puffed her chest out in pride. “To be honest, the translation spell I've been working on has only been possible thanks to Spi-oh...s-sorry, Fluttershy...” The unicorn immediately drooped her ears and lowered her head in embarrassment.

“...no, it's alright.” Fluttershy said diplomatically, forcing a smile despite the awkwardness that was floating about them now like a puff of smoke. “I'm just happy that you've been such a help. You too, Spike.”

“Hey, no big.” Spike said amidst some huffs of breath. He struggled a few times to get to his feet, rocking back and forth while on the floor as though on a rocking chair. “I mean, Kevin's a pretty cool dude. And it's also been great to be able to talk about guy things without worrying about Twilight eavesdropping. You wouldn't believe some of the jokes he knows, haha!”

“Spike...” Twilight said in a low voice and frowned. As subtly as she could, the unamused unicorn nudged her head toward Fluttershy's direction, who was too busy looking down at her hooves to notice.

“What?” Spike exclaimed defensively. With some effort, he finally managed to rock himself back to his feet. “It's...true!” He wobbled for a bit until he managed a strong standing position to support the weight on his back.

“Hmph," she huffed. "We'll talk about your 'guy things' more when we get back to the library.” Twilight shook her head and sighed, turning her attention once more toward Fluttershy with a sheepish smile on her face. “I'm sorry about that, Fluttershy. I'll see you tomorrow.”

“Take care.” Fluttershy replied and closed the door behind her friends.

Spike and Twilight were the last to head home, leaving Fluttershy alone in the cottage with the rest of the animals resting outside. Her injured patient was still upstairs, bedridden because of his injuries. She walked up the stairs to the second floor and began to tidy up the mess of books, plates and utensils and clothes from the animals playing and Cutie Mark Crusaders' visiting a few hours ago. By the time she had finished, the sun had already fully set. As the sounds of crickets chirping, owls hooting and frogs croaking filled the night, Fluttershy turned on a firefly lamp at the bedside table. She had placed the lamp her guest had brought back from his campsite on the floor nearby, as Fluttershy was unable to get it to work.

“Okay, so you've had your dinner, and taken your medicine...the books have all been put away, and you have your journal and pencil nearby if you need to write something.” The pegasus said aloud, noting the items to herself from her mental checklist. Nodding happily that she had cleared today's goals, she approached the bed and adjusted the sheets as she always did every night since his injury.

“Now remember, you still require lots of rest, so please don't hesitate to call for me if you need anything. I'll just be downstairs, ok?” Fluttershy said this more or less out of habit. She knew full well that he couldn't understand anything she was saying without Spike to translate. The thought was a bit depressing, to say the least.

Considering of course, that she was the one who first greeted him, despite the monstrous rumors. She was the one who spent, day after day, visiting him at his makeshift campsite shelter in the nearby Everfree Forest, showing that she was friendly by offering him her cooking.

It was her who stopped Rainbow Dash from attack, tore down the “Two-Legged Beast” posters placed all over Ponyville and even fought against her own friend Twilight during the storm a couple of weeks ago.

But then Spike talked to Dewey like it was the easiest thing in the world.

She sighed. Fluttershy was ashamed for feeling the way she did when it happened. She could admit that at first she felt the happiness of finding a breakthrough, and eagerness to learn what was on Dewey's mind that couldn't be described in gestures and drawings. However, the sting of his words through Spike left Fluttershy a bit numb to further excitement.

“...He said that he's just happy at least someone can finally understand him”

Was that just Spike talking? Was that just simply how he could translate it? Even Spike himself admitted that he could only guess at what he was saying, since he didn't truly understand the words. But nonetheless, trying to rationalize it only left Fluttershy sadder. Thinking back on Dewey's look of relief and increased friendliness to the others once Spike was able to intermediate...Twilight's ability to begin analyzing Dewey's speech and writing...at the very least, Fluttershy hoped he could at least understand her intentions as she finished adjusting his blanket and lent him a warm smile. “Good night.”

She turned to leave when she heard

“...welcome lots, Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy paused at the top of the stairs and turned around. For a moment, the two of them just stared at one another.

“Dewey, did you...say something just now?” She blinked as her heart drummed against her chest.

He remained silent, making Fluttershy begin to think she must have heard wrong. She shook her head and smiled sadly at how excited she had felt just now. “No, I'm so silly...Twilight said the spell wouldn't be ready for another week...”

But then her injured patient opened his mouth and with slow, unsteady words, said “Um...welcome lots...to you...”

Fluttershy blinked again. Their silent staring game restarted until realization dawned on her.

“Oh...oh my...you talked...” Fluttershy said as she remembered to breathe again. “You just...” She rushed back towards the bed in a single leap with surprise and shock making her feel flustered. “You finally managed to talk! Well, no, I guess you could always talk in your own language, but I meant that you can talk to me now! I mean to ponies...now...” Her eyes darted around in thought in several directions as she spoke her thoughts aloud at a rapid pace. “But I just don't understand, Twilight said that-”

She stopped and looked back to him, and saw that he was giving off a sheepish smile and shook his head.

“S-sorry. Was that too fast?”

He nodded.

“Sorry, um, again...Ok.” Fluttershy took a small breath to calm herself. “Could you please...repeat...what you were trying to say?”

He let out a sigh, and with some hesitation, said “W-welcome all the lots...to you?”

Fluttershy smiled and couldn't hold back a small chuckle. “I think you meant to say, 'thanks a lot'?”

“Yeah, yeah!” His head bobbed and he repeated her phrasing with his mouth turned upwards in an embarrassed smile. “Thanks...a lot.”

“You're very welcome.” Fluttershy replied, still a bit lightheaded from disbelief.

“You're very welcome, too.” He added.

She chuckled again, but did not find the heart to correct him for the mistake. But then a thought came to her. “Um...If you don't mind me asking...why haven't you...told Spike...or talked with Twilight...when they were here earlier?”

“Why I...?” He muttered softly to himself, then managed a way to respond. “Oh! Um, I...hmm...I hide to...gift you...my first talk first. Talk no good, badly.”

“No, you're doing very well!” Fluttershy tried to reassure him and gulped before further responding. “And, um...please...don't worry too much. You're still learning, after all, so in that case...I'm quite honored, actually. That you'd want to talk with me first, that is.”

“On-nerd?” He tilted his head slightly at the unfamiliar term.

“Um...” Fluttershy furrowed her brows in thought while trying to think of a similar word. It just so happened that a particular word came to mind and she looked back at him. “Happy. It makes me very...happy...that you would want to...talk to me first.”

“Ah. Happy good.” His nervousness had begun to fade away and his lips curled into a more sincere smile. He looked quite good smiling in that way, she thought. “Smile good. Frown...no good.”

“Yes, that's...true, but...frown? What frown?”

“Er...Good Spike that...” he began, but paused for a minute to recompose his thoughts. “...but make frown when room...bad face? You're, uh...Fluttershy.”

Fluttershy opened her mouth to disregard his claim, but hesitated. She sighed and gave a sad smile. “Has it been that noticeable?” She found it odd how nopony else had brought it up. That she would feel that same burst of sadness whenever she saw and heard Spike converse with Dewey. Which was why over the last few days, Fluttershy always needed to excuse herself whenever Twilight and Spike were over at the cottage.

His face had grown somber as he continued. “For you, bad frown. No smile...very cookie.”

“Cookie?” Fluttershy was surprised by the sentence. She had already noticed that Dewey would need a lot more practice, but, “Why would I need...?”

“Not cookie?” He asked in obvious dismay at her reaction. “Uh...wild? Darling?”

“Darling?” She blushed for a moment.

“...cookie...cookie...cookie...no, uh, like 'antic'?”

Seeing his uninjured arm flail the whole time and his embarrassed smile, for one reason or another, made it hard for Fluttershy not to laugh. “'Cookie like antic...'? Oh!” She shook her head when she finally realized what he was trying to say. “No, no...” she said while bringing her hoof to her mouth to stifle her laughter, “...it's...it's not 'cookie' but 'kooky'...”

“Yes. Cookie.”

“No, the word...oh, never mind. You should just say 'strange'”

“Cookie is strange?”

Forgetting herself, Fluttershy continued to laugh. He started to laugh as well, but was not so sure as to what exactly was funny and shortly stopped.

Fluttershy's laugh however, only grew louder. She laughed away the stress that had been building up, she laughed away the tension that made her muscles sore, and she laughed away the last moments' sadness that weighed her spirit down. She only managed to stop when her sides began to hurt.

The pegasus let out a long, satisfied sigh as she wiped a tear from her eye. “I'm...I'm sorry, I-I don't know what came over me.”

She took deep, calming breaths when she realized, finally realized, that beyond just being curious, he had been trying to understand her this whole time, as well.

“See? Smile good. Good laugh, yes?”

“Yeah...” Fluttershy said and nodded. “Yes, smiling and laughing are both good. Oh, but I wasn't...I wasn't laughing at you, by the way. It's just...oh my gosh...just so many things have happened recently. Nothing really bad...just, a lot of it. But still, thanks for your concern.”

She thought over the past week; the days that have passed since he first came to the cottage...had it been more than a month since she first came upon Dewey in the forest? Fluttershy tried to figure out the answer and brushed back a stray bang of her mane behind her ear.

“No. Thank you, Fluttershy. For all of it.” She looked up at him again when she heard Dewey's serious tone. He grunted for a bit, perhaps in his own language to rehearse what he wanted to say. “I...uh...not live without...your finding...”

She found herself gulping at hearing those words and nodded her head appreciatively. Very quickly, Fluttershy preemptively rubbed her eyes to wipe away the sudden moisture that threatened to run down her cheeks. “You're very welcome.” She sniffled despite her efforts.

“You're very welcome, too.” He said with a bit more confidence.

Fluttershy cracked a smile. Despite his initial confusion, it seemed he understood that while he was saying something incorrectly, it wasn't too much of a concern that needed to be addressed at the moment.

After a period of silence between the two of them, Fluttershy moved her hooves to adjust the bedsheets as she always did every night since his injury. “Goodnight, Fluttershy.” He said.

She nodded. “Goodnight, Dew...” But Fluttershy stopped herself.

“...I mean, Kevin.”

Author's Note: I've had this particular part written up for a while. Maybe since around chapter 3~ish? I've had the concept in mind after posting the first chapter but didn't start typing it up until 3. Been pretty excited to finally reach this part of this story, which I have started typing up the rest of since about saturday. It's all just a matter of typing them up and reviewing them so they have the minimum number of errors possible.

Also, I have unfortunate news.

Apparently no one's deemed it important to properly read and follow the rules, so I have to announce that...

No one wins the prediction contest for this chapter.

Better luck next chapter!

Chapter 6 (side A): For Love of the Game

Entry 75

I've managed to gain a bit of mobility since getting my casts off, but it's still been pretty difficult for me nonetheless. Still stuck at the cottage.

Just walking down the stairs has felt like the most arduous exercise I've ever taken. And before that, taking a few steps around the room was like an olympic event and before that just standing up left me panting for breath. Boy, I'm out of shape.

Apparently Futtershee had somewhere she wanted to go, some sort of last minute errand but it conflicted her some previous promise to look after the three kids, Applabloom, Sweepy Bot and Boogaloo.

Seeing as how I really didn't have anywhere to go, I volunteered to take care of them. I was pretty decent taking care of my cousins and neighbor's kids back in high school, and I figured it couldn't be too different if it involved sentient ponies instead of human kids. Plus I wanted to practise speaking with ponies on my current speaking level. Not to mention be able to study what sorts of differences there are in pony socialization of pre-adolescents from humans.

And so just moments after they showed up at the front door of the cottage, I realized that kids are the same no matter where you go. They instantly rushed in, not even waiting for me to let them in, squealing and speaking faster than I could understand. Pushing and prodding at my leg and arm in excitement. I didn't know what I was thinking when I told Futtershee that I could handle them. What I thought was them being rambunctious before when I was stuck in bed was actually them restraining themselves.

And the questions? Oh, they just kept asking me question after question!

Stuff about my family, about what it's like from where I'm from, why I was so tall or only had two legs and a whole bunch of stuff like what I normally ate and what human girls looked like.

And because of the differences in technology and well, diet, I had to be careful about some of my answers as well as the followup explanations for my answers. Like what a computer was, what a cell phone was (I showed them mine and they wanted to take it apart and it took some negotiating to get them away from the idea), what horses and ponies were like back on Earth. I did a pretty bad job drawing a girl, but the kids ended up just imagining me with long hair and wearing a dress and started to giggle.

I decided to turn the questioning around on them and asked the kids about their lives here in Equestria. Well, Ponyville. Apparently they've never traveled much of Equestria beyond the town I've yet to visit myself.

Instead of going in-depth into history like I had done (or at least, how they forced me to) they talked about school, about the things they learn like writing and numbers. Interestingly enough while their writing is completely different from human examples, their system of numbers is based on Arabic numerals. I took the chance while they talked about their adventures around town to look through the books to find that indeed, ponies did use 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc. They talked about their teacher, Ms. Chichi and their classmates.

The kids were very enthusiastic about telling me the things they've done in their effort to get their cutie marks. From the stories I heard from the other ponies, it was hard to discern what was exagerration and what was fantastic reality.

I never realized how important those markings were to the ponies. There's obviously a reverence close to a sort of rite of passage that centers around these markings.

I'm unsure if it's related at all to maturity or puberty, given how they tried to explain cutie marks.

The other ponies of course, like Futtershee and Ranbow and Applajark already had their respective markings and the kids tried their best to tell me the stories they were told about how those marks were attained. I'm astounded about the concept of a "Ranbow Boom". Must have something to Ranbow Dish, considering she's performed it not once but twice apparently.

Just before it was time to serve snacks, I figured I would try to get them to do some busywork. I often used the tactic when I babysat for my neighbors' kids, not so much my cousins. There obviously never had any sort of Mark Twain or Huckleberry Finn equivalent here in Equestria since the girls jumped at the chance to help out with the household chores without much prodding on my part. I was especially lucky for that since, again, I've been having trouble moving around. "Trouble" being an understatement, of course.

The results of their "help" however, ended up being less than stellar. And by that, I mean it was an absolute disaster.

While there are loads of animals hanging around Futtershee's cottage, it's not like they all live there. Mostly the chickens and a few other smaller animals. Everything else simply comes by from their respective nests or hives and caves or whatnot, or simply from the nearby forest.

Usually the animals would help Futtershee when she cleaned up, but obviously my lack of talent with them had me rely entirely on the kids. Angel was absolutely no help. The darn vermin...

After cleaning up a bit, lunch was served. Lunch that was pre-made by Futtershee before she left so I didn't have to worry about making any taboos with feeding the kids. The household chores also involved feeding the animals, and so with that done the kids were more or less geared to play around and mess up everything that was just cleaned. I now understand the sort of hell that Liam and I put Mrs. Zupan through whenever she would babysit the two of us.

The girls were pretty ingenious in some respects.

For example their curiosity let them manipulate my kerosene lamp without being told what to do. They were mostly used to either magical illumination or using fireflies or other types of insects during the night. After letting the lamp cool, the girls went at it figuing out exactly how it worked, poking and prodding through the mechanisms after pulling it apart and nearly breaking the glass covering. They then went through the rest of my bag, of which I had to seperate what I cared about and didn't. The pile that I didn't had the honor of being sacrifices to the girl's curiosity.

That included things like my worn out pair of jeans, hiking boots, flashlight, water bottles and extra rope. There was no way I was going to give them free, unsupervised reign on my cell phone, clothes made by Raraty or my swiss knife.

As they played around without me I eventually made it to the couch downstairs and claimed it in order to catch my breath and stretch my stiffened mucles. I was too tired to be worried about whether the girls would draw on my face and closed my eyes to rest for a bit.

The dream I had...It was the most vivid one yet. Come to think of it, when was the last time I had a dream about Liam? About growing up and messing around, causing trouble? It's definitely been a while, probably not since when I first came to Futtershee's cottage. Maybe that's why she kept insisting to sleep next to me on the couch...because in some way or another, she knew...

When I woke up, the three little ponies had all fallen asleep around me. Applabloom and Sweepy on either side while Boogaloo was on my lap. Did they all sense it too?

Chapter 6 (side B): Waterworld

Rainbow Dash flew about above a glade, freely twirling and looping with ease by simply changing the angle of her wings and shifting her body.

Flying came naturally to her and doing tricks even more so. To perform a clockwise barrel roll for example, all she had to do was shift her right wingtips downward and her left skyward, then keep her shoulders straight during the spin to keep flying forward rather than bank to the right.

To turn this into a corkscrew dive, Rainbow waited until she was upside down, then leaned forward until she was perpendicular to the ground and allowed the natural force of gravity to pull her forward as she continued her controlled spin. As her body lined up with the direction of her dive she pulled her wingtips downward, slowing her descent and halting her spin. In arching her back, the pegasus began to steadily level off from the dive just feet from the ground until her stored inertia allowed her to rise higher up toward the sky once more like an ascending rocket.

Rainbow raised her wings and gave a few strong flaps in order to gain enough height to try the Rainbow Turn—essentially a move first pioneered by her personal hero, Spitfire—but Rainbow was trying to make her own way of performing it. Managing her wings once more, she steadied herself about twenty feet above the tree tops and sped up. The stronger winds this high from the ground were easily put into consideration as Rainbow once more pulled her wingtips downward and began to steeply incline. The steeper she flew, the faster her speed drained away.

She smiled at the thought, scoffing even at the idea of being slowed down by gravity. By instinct, Rainbow pulled her left wingtips upward now, keeping her left wing as it was and began to spin clockwise once more. As soon as she flipped over Rainbow normalized her wings, flattening the tips and adjusted ever so slightly until she stopped her turn. Flying upside down now, she moved her wingtips to-

"Great ass, Rainbow Dash!" A deep voice echoed from the ground below.

"The hay!?" Looking up toward the ground in surprise, she forgot that her wings were in mid-adjustment, causing her to tumble in the sky and immediately lose her airspeed. Her instincts quickly took hold and the experienced stuntmare straightened her wings, manipulated the tips and arched her back to prevent from crashing. However she was moving too fast to brake, so the blue pegasus instinctively aimed for the treetops at a nearly flat incline to stretch out the surface area of impact and to lessen the degree of force as much as possible.

She bounced off of the leafy green canopy then started rolling and tripping over the successive branches along the path of her turbulent descent, using them like crumbling safety nets to sap her momentum until she finally slammed face-first into a tree trunk. With a groan, she peeled away from the pegasus-shaped imprint in the bark and tumbled ungracefully to the ground on her back with a final soft thud made safe thanks to the tall grass.

The gleaming rays of sunlight shining against her closed eyelids failed to help with her disorientation or the slowly growing signs of a headache, but they were quickly blocked off when something apparently moved to stand above her. Opening her right eye, then her left, Rainbow noted the strange, lanky creature that looked down at her. The menacing appearance created by the shadows along his features made by his leaning form would probably terrify any other pony.

"Good morning, Rainbow Dash." The creature greeted her happily in a peculiar, gruff accent. His beady eyes peered innocently and without awareness of the muscle soreness the pegasus was contending with at the moment. "That was a really great ass you did!" He smiled, haven obviously enjoyed her stunts and trick flying.

The pony in question did not share the enthusiasm while remaining crumpled over herself on the ground, rear legs dangling above her face.

"Hey...Kevin..." Rainbow's voice cracked as she wheezed out her reply. "...mornin'..." She wondered who exactly was responsible for teaching him that particular gem, and nickered.

After a few moments for muscle stretches and preening of disheveled feathers, Rainbow Dash took to the skies once more and she and Fluttershy's hue-men friend, Kevin, left the glade close by the pink maned pegasus' cottage and began traveling at a leisurely pace down the main dirt road toward Ponyville. Of course, they wouldn't go right into Ponyville proper, but instead would ultimately take the path at the fork farther down the road that would go around it to reach their destination.

While moving forward, Dash took this time to perform mid-air checks on her wings. Adjusting her feathers to determine her ability to ascend, descend and bank. She was just about to try a barrel roll when Kevin called out to her.

"What were you doing there?" Rainbow Dash perked an ear at his question, impressed how his accent these days did not make his words sound as garbled as they used to. She swooped around and turned her flight path toward his direction. "We were to meet at Fluttershy's, were we not?"

"Uh, no. If I remember correctly—which I totally do, by the way—you were 'sposed to meet me near my place this morning!" She flapped her wings a few times to stay aloft, then returned to drifting lazily along the soft meadow winds alongside him. "I came by this morning at sunrise and tried knocking. But since you were taking so long, I decided to do a bit of flying practice. You know, rolls, dips, dives, turns?" With a flap Dash lifted up a bit into the air to catch a breeze that pushed her ahead.

"I...please, slow down! Too...fast!" She heard Kevin complain behind her.

"You mean my talking or my flying?" She said with chuckle and gave a passing glance over her shoulder. To her surprise she saw how the two-legged creature was quite a ways back, not limping fast enough to keep up with her even at her cruising speed.

Dash sighed and banked around to practically hover above him with wings constantly flapping, as he traveled slower than a snail's pace (at least according to her scale of speed). He seemed to somewhat appreciate the gesture and continued forward.

Growing quickly bored of this, Rainbow decided to practice her racing laps and began flying lazy figure eights overhead while Kevin limped ahead. She took the opportunity to take quick glances at him from above whenever she crossed the midpoint and as this drill quickly became routine, Dash settled into her thoughts.

'Didn't think the dude would still be hurting after all this time...' Dash noticed as Kevin continued to favor his left leg as he walked. 'His x-rays didn't look any worse than the other times I've shattered my wing bones, or even my legs and ribs!' She nodded to herself while reminiscing about one particularly awesome crash.

She trained an eye at her moving center point, making sure she didn't break form while continuing the pattern. According to the doctors, Kevin was supposedly more fragile than ponies. Which was pretty weird, really, given his comparatively larger size to even a stallion like Big Macintosh.

Then again putting height aside, Kevin's frame was much smaller and less muscular than a stallion's. He was also hairless save for his mane at the top of his head and smaller hairs on his body. She had gotten a look at his teeth when he was conked out from the pain medicines and found his set of sharper dragon-like teeth a surprise. But cool. And yet the whole time he'd stayed with Fluttershy he never once complained about eating like a pony. Then again neither did Spike, but Kevin admitted that hue-mens didn't eat gems.

Kevin was curious. Well, more than the fact that he was strange creature, he was always asking everypony questions. But not in a really irritating way like the Cutie Mark Crusaders could be sometimes. And he was always writing something down into that diary of his that he told them he used in his research. That naturally piqued Twilight's interest, being the egghead that she was. And he had to be at least a bit smart, Dash would admit. He seemed to know a few things and not to mention managed to learn how to speak their language...albeit a bit broken, but still. If an animal like Angel or even her own pet Tank could learn to talk that would be just as crazy.

But so far it seemed only Spike showed that he could speak Kevin's language and even then he had trouble too. It was apparently more like guessing rather than really knowing or understanding the words, which was what Kevin has so far shown he's been doing when speaking to ponies.

And that was what made Kevin interesting enough for Rainbow Dash to volunteer with helping his recovery. It was at least a bit more interesting than having to deal with the bothersome everyday weather duties that the Weather Team could handle themselves. There wasn't even a storm planned for a least a few weeks, and it wasn't like a few clouds in the sky would ruin the perfectly sunny days that have been forecast.

But truth be told, despite his exotic traits, she could admit there were other things about Kevin that interested her. For example, Kevin seemed like a possible new candidate to compete with, what with his longer legs and arms. She wondered what sort of stride that would allow him and how high he could jump. Maybe he could even prove to be a good challenge in a game of hoofball. If it took her to help him recuperate to test her theories out then so be it. She figured it'd be worth the trouble.

After a while the two of them were walking side by side along the road, chatting (mostly Dash helping Kevin with how to speak, Rainbow Dash style) and staying just outside of Ponyville proper. In the next moment, they passed a tall front gate and arrived at an orchard of apple trees. Sweet Apple Acres, to be more precise.

Looking around, Kevin seemed to be astounded. With mouth gaping he wandered about, limping as he did so, closer to one of the trees. Dash wasn't sure if he was having one of those "culture shock" things again or if he had never seen an apple tree before.

Turned out it was the former. He explained that he didn't expect ponies to be able to farm to the scale that the Apple family did. He had apparently accepted the level of a home garden from living at Fluttershy's place. Dash was starting to realize more and more how bizzaro Kevin's world was. She was still reeling from the fact for example that horseflies were a type of insect where he came from.

"Okay, that's enough banter." Dash finally announced. They had a job to do that required action and not thinking or talking. And while Applejack herself did not know of Dash's plan to use a portion of the farm to roam about, the pegasus figured that it would be much easier to apologize than to ask for permission.

She cleared her throat to grab Kevin's attention and with a wing-assisted leap she landed next to him. "Time to listen up." Dash began to say with every bit of confidence she could muster. "Fluttershy entrusted me with the job to help you out with your exercise and that's exactly what I plan to do. With that said, I think it's pretty obvious that everything comes easier when you have a goal in mind, right?"

She paused to let her rhetorical question sink in, then continued with her rousing, motivational speech, jumping up to hover at Kevin's eye level. "So! To help out your rehab, I'm going to train you with the best, greatest, most awesomest goal ever! And that's to be fit enough to take part in this year's Running of the Leaves! What do you think? Pretty awesome, right?" Her excitement and wide-eyed smile seemed to take some effect, lifting Kevin's mood. But he looked far from "pumped up" or "mesmerized" like Dash thought he'd be.

Kevin blinked in reply. "What's, uh...what you just said?"

"I'm glad you asked!" Dash said while dropping back down to earth to stand on her hooves. After sitting down, Dash continued. "The Running of the Leaves is a Ponyville tradition. Like how pegasi are needed to arrange clouds in the sky to change the weather and ponies in general are needed to clear up winter,"

"Clear up...winter...?"

"The leaves on the trees during the fall can only drop if enough ponies run by to pull them off the branches. Which is why that part of the year is called 'Fall' in the first place, you know." She flashed a smug smile, happy that she now had the chance to show off her own set of facts or whatever just as much as Kevin and Twilight did. "Now while it's an important part of our history, to rid the trees of the dying leaves before winter begins, somewhere along the way somepony had an awesome idea to make it into a race, which today is the Running of the Leaves."

Kevin blinked again, confused but pretty open minded with what Dash was telling him. "But when I was living in the forest, the leaves fell without ponies..."

"Guh. That's because you were in the Everfree Forest. Things happen there that are mondo weird. Like, the weather changes on its own and the trees grow really big and are completely wild. Guess that's you in a nutshell, huh?"

Kevin blinked once more in response. Dash frowned. "Seriously, though, enough with the talking already." Jumping to her hooves, the pegasus mare flared her wings outward much to Kevin's surprise. "LET'S GET STARTED!"

Push ups? No.

Pull ups? No.

Jumping jacks? Sort of.

One legged hops? Only on one leg.

Jump rope? Only on one leg.

Ticking off the final few boxes on her checklist, Rainbow Dash sighed at the starting point she found herself at. At the very least, Kevin was doing pretty fine with sit ups, but then again it was because that sort of exercise didn't require both arms or legs to perform. Although the movement still affected his posture somewhat, since he had to pause every now and then to relax his left leg or to rub a sore spot in his bad arm. He trudged through the pain much to Dash's approval, managing through the rest of the warm up exercises.

But then the actual running practice began...

"What are you lying around, for? You still have like, five more laps, left!" Dash screamed out in dismay. It hadn't even been a full minute of his limp-hop-running and Kevin had already tumbled to the ground. Not to mention she had only given him five laps in total to do in the first place.

He wheezed. "I...I...I..."

"Ugh!" Dash rolled her eyes. "Don't you know never to say never?"

Fatigue had obviously taken its toll on his concentration, making his speech a bit harder to understand. "No never...didn't...say..." Kevin gasped out between pants of breath.

"What n' tarnation is goin' on here?" Turning toward the voice, Dash spotted the blonde maned owner of the farm approaching with a basketful of apples on her back.

Before Dash could answer, the earth pony had arrived next to them and regarded the sweaty and fatigued creature on the ground heaving and wheezing with his arms and legs spralwed out. She tutted under her breath, then with a hoof she picked up her hat from her head and slowly fanned his face. "Ain't he not cleared for this sorta strenuous activity?" Applejack asked.

"I'm rehabilitating him!" Rainbow defensively replied with a glower, despite the other pony facing away from her.

Applejack stopped her fanning for a moment to put the basket on her back onto the ground before turning toward the pegasus with a furrowed brow and a look or disapproval. Her tail whipped slowly side to side to provide cool air for Kevin as she now aimed her focus on the other pony. "Dash, tha' whole point n' rehab is ta take it easy! Dewey-"

"Kevin" Rainbow interjected.

"Beg yer' pardon?"

"His name is Kevin." Rainbow corrected the farmer and said in a smug tone.

Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. "Fine, Kev-"

"I...don't mind...if you call me...Dewey." A wheezy voice spoke out in-between pants. Applejack blinked, forgetting for a moment that he could talk and understand them now. "...If it's easier...call me Dewey."

She looked over her shoulder to the hue-men behind her then turned back to the other pony. Applejack offered a smug look toward the pegasus, who all but huffed at the counter-correction.

Dash pressed on despite this setback and needed to turn the argument to her advantage. "Why are you even telling me what I can and can't do as his trainer? I won that second Iron Pony competition fair and square-"

"-So ya admit tha' ya didn't tha' first time?"

Dash pouted at the interruption but continued speaking "-so what I say, goes."

"I'll be tha' first ta admit I ain't questionin' yer winnin'. It was a close one, but I respect tha' yer Dew...er, Kevin's trainer. But tha's exactly why I feel I need ta criticize you on yer approach, Rainbow. I-" Applejack stopped when Rainbow Dash sent a dangerous look her way, but the earth pony stood firm and resolute. "'Scuse us a moment, Sugarcube." She nodded her head toward Kevin and ushered Dash out of his earshot.

After moving a few feet away and around a nearby apple tree, Applejack tried again. "Alright listen, Rainbow. Dew...er, Kevin...admitted himself that he wasn't much of an athlete, so why'd ya think treating him like one when he's still injured's tha right way ta go?"

"Well, I-" Dash stepped back, feeling the pressure of doubt pushing against her.

"Secondly I don't recall given ya permission ta train him here on tha farm, so if ya think ya can run him ragged ya can do it off my property!"

"What? But that's-" The rainbow maned pegasus stepped back once more, this time as Applejack physically moved forward to the tree they were standing behind.

"And finally ya seemed to have forgotten that he ain't a pony-"

"-whoa, whoa, whoa, hold your horses, AJ!" Dash stepped forward now, flaring her wings to their full wingspan to increase the look of her presence and jabbed her hoof accusingly against the earth pony's chest. Applejack took a step back in surprise at the act.

Now that she had finally halted the farmer's train of thought, Dash knew she had to take the offensive to get a word in edgewise. "I can understand where you're coming from about me being too harsh with the training, or kind of going onto your farm without asking...and for that I'm sorry. But what in the hay does not being a pony have to do with anything?"

After a slight pause, Applejack said with an arched brow "Er...everythin', really."

Dash narrowed her eyes. "Explain."

"Nopony is sure what ta make a' Kevin. You weren't downstairs with us at tha time, but tha doctor said it was unlikely that tha feller could ever walk again. So if ya think about it, it's a miracle that he was even able to stand up, accordin' ta what tha doctor could tell from Kevin's structure n' all."

Rainbow rolled her eyes, feeling less than impressed. "Is that it? Because that only proves that Kevin is a lot tougher than he looks. Even if he isn't a pony." Dash let out a low nicker and turned to walk back to Kevin.

"Rainbow..." Applejack let out a tired sigh and held her hoof on her pegasus friend's shoulder. "I ain't tryin' ta say anythin' mean by pointin' out he ain't a pony nor am I insinuatin' that ponies are better than anythin' else."

Dash paused but did not turn to face Applejack. "You could've fooled me."

"Rainbow...ya gotta look fer what's best fer tha' fella. Be a might careful with 'im. The way yer doin' things ain't gonna do him any favors."

"Hmph. I'll show you." With heavy stomps Dash's hooves pressed into the soft soil and crunched against the grainy dirt road that ran inbetween the rows of apple trees as she returned to the still-resting hue-men. "Alright you lazy bum, get up! Time to start the real training! Move it, move it, move it!!"

"Yes...madam!" Rolling onto his good side, Kevin managed to push himself back to his feet. He gave a salute and returned to his struggled running.

"You see that, AJ? Kevin's tough. As. Nai-" As he rounded the tree, Kevin stumbled, and then fell to the ground as though he tripped. He pained scream caught the ponies unawares and their ears perked up at the sound.

"Kevin!" Dash yelled out and ran toward Kevin but skidded along the ground suddenly. She looked quickly side to side for any woodland creatures that could be watching. She breathed a sigh of relief when it seemed that her, AJ and Kevin were the only ones around. Another pained cry reminded her with what she was supposed to be doing and Dash leaped to the downed hue-men's side.

"Kev! What's-" She hissed at the sight of the injury. Since he was wearing shorts, his practically bare legs were readily visible and so it was quite apparent to see a big blotch of blue forming from a bruise on the knee of his left leg. Swelling too had become obvious as it was grossly large than his right leg.

Not a moment sooner had Applejack rushed to his side next to Rainbow Dash. "He needs ta get to a doctor, stat. Do you know where Fluttershy i-"

"N-no! We can't do that!"

"What are you talkin' about, Dash? Look at that! I know Fluttershy's good at medicine n' all, but I doubt even she could-"

Rainbow rapidly shook her head. "No, I'm not talking about that! I'm saying that we can't tell Fluttershy about this! She can't know!"

Applejack cocked an eyebrow. "Yer' seriously askin' me that, aren't ya?"

"Well...yeah." Rainbow stated with a bit of confusion hinted in her voice. "Why would I ask you if I wasn't serious?"

AJ stared at the pegasus accusingly, seeing that the other mare knew exactly what she meant. "You know I ain't tha kinda girl to lie, right?"

"...right?"

AJ sighed and looked up at the sky for a moment, finding it remarkable that she had to continue her explanation. The orange earth pony looked back toward Rainbow Dash. "It'd be mighty suspicious fer Kevin here to be spotted at the doctor's by somepony, wouldn't it? Not to mention tha simple fact that the feller got himself a fresh injury. And so if Fluttershy ever asked me to tell her..."

"Just don't tell her, then. That wouldn't be lying. Like that time when you went to the rodeo a-"

"Just hush up 'bout that, will ya?" Applejack let out an aggravated sigh and slowly shook her head.

Changing tactics, Rainbow Dash lowered her head and figured the apple farmer would be the last pony to make fun of her worries. "Please, AJ...I promised Fluttershy I'd take care of Kevin for her...there has to be at least something I can do! I swear I'll tell her what happened after he gets fixed up...I just don't want her to think everything she's done for him was for nothing because of a stupid mistake I made."

Applejack looked Dash straight in the eye, knowing full well that she'd never dare break a promise. And frankly, aside from being a good rival and competitor, that was just one of the few reasons why the farmer could tolerate the pegasus' constant shenanigans. "...aw, horseapples...jus' come along, then. Quick-like."

As Dash helped Kevin stand up on his good leg, she looked over her shoulder at the other pony. Applejack was trotting down the road toward the orchard gate. "Where are we going? Isn't the barn the other way?"

"Do I look like a surgeon?" Applejack asked, looking back while continuing to trot ahead. "Or maybe you think's a good idea for Applebloom ta try fer her doctor cutie mark? Now come along an' jus' trust me, already."

Dash thought over the comment and nodded. "Yeah...nevermind..." She couldn't argue that point and followed after Applejack with Kevin leaning on her for support.

Applejack led them west of the farm to the edge of the Everfree forest. Sensing Rainbow Dash's apprehension, the earth pony figured it'd be best to explain her intentions. "Applebloom told me 'bout a time that she got a chipped tooth fixed by Zecora. Now I'll save tha' full story fer another occasion but in any case I reckon tha' Zecora oughta have some other potion or other like it."

"Sounds good to me." Dash nodded and followed after Applejack. However before they entered, Dash stopped much to Kevin's confusion. He stumbled a bit, expecting to have Dash to lean on but nearly fell, and she felt his weight shift and his hand adjust on her back to find his balance once more.

"What's wrong?" She heard him ask. Not responding immediately, Rainbow focused on scanning the winding and twisting road that naturally formed between the irregularly shaped trees of the forest. Many wiry and coiling roots stuck out from the trees and arched directly into the road, or stretched out like a hoof meaning to trip any unsuspecting pony. It was difficult enough for her being low to the ground to notice all of the hazards, and so Dash grew worried about Kevin's chances.

"Change of plans. Get on my back, big guy." She moved right up next to him, bumping her side against his right leg.

"You sure?" His hesitance was not completely unfounded but the strain in his voice reminded Dash still that he had to be in a lot of pain.

"Yeah. I got you." He nodded and acquiesced, much to her relief.

It took some effort, but Kevin was a lot lighter than Dash expected, given his size. He was still pretty heavy, but just not as much as she thought he'd be. It was a few more minutes of walking through the forest to get to the hut, but finally the three of them came into view of a zebra wearing earrings watering flowers with a watering can held in its mouth. She glanced to the side and noticed the ponies and her ears perked up. After setting the watering can down, she eyed the approaching ponies and curled the corner of her lips up into a smile.

"Applejack and Rainbow Dash, what sights for sore eyes, and hello to your friend who is twice our size!"

"Hey there, Zecora!" Applejack called out first. "I know this ain't mighty proper but we're here with a bit of an emergency on our hooves and we were hopin' y'all could help us out!"

Dash grunted out a "Yeah" while walking a bit slower than her earth pony friend and bucked Kevin just slightly to adjust the weight on her back to make it more manageable.

Standing up, much to Dash's relief, Kevin cocked his head in confusion. "Nice to hello you, too. Why are you rhy-oof!"

Applejack jabbed her hoof against his gut without warning.

"This is Kevin, a hue-men that Fluttershy found a few months ago." Rainbow stepped forward after stretching out her back. "Zecora, I really need your help with some-"

The Zebra walked up to Kevin and brought her muzzle close to his leg, inspecting the injury. She made a "hmm" and let out an "oh" before touching her hoof gently against the side of his bruised knee. Predictably enough Kevin winced and yelped to which Zecora stepped back and gave an affirming nod of her head.

"Well of course Rainbow, whatever you need, Kevin's leg swelling needs care of great speed! Now come in my friends, both old and new, there is much to prepare and so much to do."

Outside of Zecora's hut, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Kevin stood outside the door after making their farewells and thanks to the zebra and closed the door behind them.

Applejack spoke first. "Hope y'all don't mind, but I'm gonna head on back. It's almost time fer school to finish up n' Granny Smith's off visitin' some family outta town. N' of course Big Mac's busy settin' up the cider press."

She turned to the two of them, then her eyes settled on the other pony in particular. "Jus' take it easy on tha' feller from now on, 'kay, Rainbow?"

"Yeah, yeah...thanks a lot, Applejack." She nodded her head and felt the pang of embarrassment damaging her pride. "I owe you majorly for this."

"Well ain't that the truth?" Applejack chuckled. "Ya kin' start by tellin' Fluttershy 'bout this whole mess when she gets home tonight, then you kin' report back to ma' farm on Apple Cider Day ta' help with tha' production side a' things. I reckon there's gonna be a big line of thirsty ponies this year if Pinkie Pie gets first in line again."

"Don't you mean 'when'?" Dash struggled to keep her feelings of frustration about that pink earth pony pent up just thinking about it. "I'll see you around, Applejack."

"See ya, Dash. Kevin." After tipping her hat to the two of them, the apple farmer followed the path out of the forest at a gallop. A speed that for the moment, neither Rainbow or Kevin were supposed to do until Kevin's leg had healed further.

"Come on, Kev. Let's head back to the cottage and get you rested up."

After drinking the smelly, bubbly, smokey, (and according to Kevin) foul tasting medicine, the pain had all but disappeared and Zecora applied a bandage soaked in a special balm that was supposed to help with the swelling. All that was left now was to get Kevin back to the cottage to rest as well as some food after all the activity that he had done over the course of the day.

With the adrenaline waning now, Rainbow Dash's focus was no longer centered on getting Kevin help as it was becoming aware that she was in the Everfree Forest. No longer riding on her back, Kevin was now using her as support up and down the slightly steep hills that the path went over. Like most ponies, Rainbow found the Everfree Forest just too weird and wild for her tastes.

Trees that grew on their own. Weather that occurred without pegasi. Dangerous animals that roamed and unfriendly to ponies in general.

Everything was just eerie and dark and...rubbing her eyes with a foreleg, a small bright structure was coming up as she and Kevin continued on the path. The way the branches, most barren of leaves, bent and twisted, the structure was kept out of sight when a pony entered the forest and was walking down the path toward Zecora's hut, however it was strikingly obvious walking the other way.

Her two legged friend had become as curious as she was, lifting his hand from her back and walking slightly ahead of her and off the path into the high grass and tall brush. Following after him Dash made a wing-assisted leap and landed into the clearing before Kevin had.

They came upon a campsite, the structure being an old mossy tent. Dash figured it was Kevin's, given what Fluttershy had told her about it. While she had never gone to it herself, she knew that he had emerged from the Everfree and in all honesty the wildness of her surroundings was hard to tell where she was. The path to Zecora's hut was the only saving grace since she would normally stick to flying. But still, Dash could guess that at one point the area looked pretty good but currently? 'Wow...this place is a mess...' she thought to herself.

Kevin took timid steps, while still favoring his injured leg, his limps were no longer as pronounced. He leaned his weight onto the trees as they approached the camp. Suddenly, he rushed forward in a panic, nearly tripping over several roots sticking out of the ground.

"Hey Kev! Wait up!" Dash called out. 'Has it really been that long since he last came here?' Dash thought at the sight of Kevin's frantic actions. 'Not like there's anything worthwhile around here, anyways...'

Kevin was now growling and grunting in his own language as he inspected the area. Turning toward the dirty and worn tent, he quickly disappeared through the flaps.

Not sure what to do, Dash's attention moved to some sort of wrapper pinned by a tube-like object. The wrapper was a small, white, rectangular thing with no discernible markings or writing. If she had to guess, the larger and longer tube-like object looked like a flashlight, with a button on the side and one end wider than the other. But the whole thing was moldy and layers of dried mud had caked over what seemed to have been the original red color.

She nudged at the flashlight with her hoof, managing to have it roll a few inches along the ground before coming to an inevitable stop against a rock.

"RAAAAAAGGGGHHHHHHHH!!"

Dash jumped at the roar and nearly flew off to escape before she realized that it had come from inside the tent. "Kevin..." She gasped and she ran toward it.

When she parted the tent flap open, Dash spotted Kevin reading a book with a look of shock on his face. His breathing was quick and soon became loud, trembling gasps.

He was screaming and growling. Yelling and sobbing.

He was on his knees, hunched low to the ground in a near fetal position with tears running down his cheeks. In his arms he tightly clutched a journal close to his chest that looked exactly like the one he was always writing in, hoowever it looked worn and ragged.

Dash came closer, confused whether he was bitten or his injury began to hurt or what. It wasn't like she ever took the time to try to study his language like Twilight or Fluttershy did. "Hey, Kevin? Kevin! What's wrong!?" He only growled incomprehensibly in reply.

Right at that moment, rain began to fall from the ever-unpredictable skies above the Everfree. The drops of water pattered against the tent material, and quickly grew heavier in a matter of seconds. The sheer force of the rain nearly drowned out Dash's shouts and Kevin's sobs.

As though the forest too, was crying.

Chapter 7 (side A): Testament

And finally, to Kevin.

I know it's not a matter of "if" but "when" you manage to read this.

I mean, you always seemed to get into my things and pretend that they were yours in the first place, complaining to mom and dad whenever I got them back from you.

I can't remember how many times I tried to teach you that you shouldn't just cry and expect things to go your way. That you shouldn't wait for others to help you.

Do you remember when you finally stopped crying and did something for yourself? By the way, your sucker punch was weak as hell, but that was the strongest you ever managed to hit me. And since.

You're just a kid now, but you need to realize sooner rather than later that life is tough. That most people don't care about you unless you can help them benefit. Or they simply want to see you fail as though it makes their lack of success sting less. There are those people that want to help you but they can only help you...not do things for you. There will also be other people who are just like you, even when you're my age, not knowing what direction they want to go in life. Right now it's not such a problem, but you need to have some ideas and try as many as you can to see what you want to do before it's too late. Some will be helped while others will be taken advantage of. I just don't want you to take a chance at becoming that last type of person.

I'm sorry that I wasn't more upfront with you about why I treated you the way I did. I wanted you to become stronger and more independent. I see how mom and dad are always brushing you off and I tried to talk to them about it but...still, I should have been less of a dick to you. I think I get that from mom. If something doesn't go my way I become stubborn and push others around. You're more sensitive like dad, always trying to do things in a way without upsetting other people, but he realized from an early age that he had to grow a tough skin and work hard. And that sometimes didn't sit well with others.

I've told you over and over again how it was my pet peeve, but...I'm sorry for making a promise with you that I couldn't keep. It doesn't matter what the intentions are, but the failure to produce a result on time is still a failure. Whether you get in trouble for it or not. Keep that in mind when you're in college and you have assignments and papers due. It's definitely not like in middle or high school where the teachers pretty much accept assignments with points taken off. There's been a few students in some of my classes who failed the entire course because they didn't hand in an assignment on time.

I'm also sorry we never got to hang out as much as you wanted. I always got you doing things I wanted you to do, and never tried out the stuff you're interested in. I'm sorry for acting like mom and dad and treating you like a kid that doesn't know anything, bossing you to do something because it's "good for you". I'm sorry I never spoke out whenever they wondered out loud why you weren't more like me. That's not fair and really, it's just messed up. I don't need my degree to say that.

I'm sorry I never said that I love you, little bro. That everything I said or did wasn't because I wanted you to cry or feel bad. I wish I was a better big brother for you...

Chapter 7 (side B): Chasing Dreams

Since they had gotten back to Fluttershy's cottage at least an hour ago, Kevin had remained seated on the couch where Dash had dumped him, staring at the letter in his hands.

“...you're heavy, you know that?” The pegasus panted out. “What's she been feeding you...?” Wiping the sweat off her forehead with a front leg, Dash sat leaning against the wall to the left of the couch.

It had taken all of her strength to carry him away from the campsite and through the Everfree Forest all the way back to the cottage. Why she didn't bring him to Zecora's, Dash wasn't completely sure. No, actually, she knew exactly why.

Thinking back to two hours ago when she found Kevin screaming and bawling in the abandoned tent, the image of a terrified Fluttershy flying all over Equestria flashed through Rainbow Dash's mind. It wouldn't be fair to the other pegasus to have her go through all that a second time. Especially not when Dash had no idea where Fluttershy was in the first place.

The letter, which Dash took a glance of that was pinned tightly behind the diary Kevin held close to himself, was written in hue-men. Of course.

Rusty brown splatters adorned the interior. There was also a smell that she only came across whenever she had run-ins with carnivorous predators. That is, the smell of their devoured prey in their breath. It was faintly similar to Kevin's smell. A hue-men. The odors trapped within the tent reeked of decay as well as that of such a predator. But that was all perhaps from long ago.

Rainbow Dash looked back at the two legged creature sitting on the couch and drew only blank thoughts. She simply didn't know what to do.

Fluttershy was still out on her errand and none of the other animals were being particularly helpful. A few of them had left to go in search of the yellow coated pony but had yet to return. Kevin didn't even react when Angel tried to slap some sense into him...literally.

He just continued that vacant stare at the piece of paper that was written in a language Dash simply didn't understand.

A shiver rushed up her spine from both his eerie stare as well as a chill coming on from her still-wet coat. Dash shook her head and body to get rid of the excess water then stood up on her fatigued legs. If it weren't for the fact that she was heading to grab towels to wipe off a clearly traumatized creature, Dash would've felt proud for the fact that she probably demolished both her dead lift and long-distance carry records. Then she promptly smacked herself for even humoring those thoughts at a time like this.

Staring at the mostly dry letter in Kevin's hands for the past minute hadn't magically given Dash the ability to read the scrawls. Although it was better than seeing that devastated look in his eyes. The glass of water and plate of food she put together from what was left in the fridge remained untouched. In fact, Dash couldn't remember the last time either of them had eaten. Or when Kevin had even last blinked. She shuddered at the thought.

Opting instead to look through the diary left on the couch next to him, Dash stood on her hind legs and flipped through the pages with her forehooves, which had been persevered from the Everfree's unpredictable elements by the binding material. Again, it was all written in hue-men, but the organization of the scribbles and loops matched that of Kevin's own book. The one that contained notes and observations he made of Equestria. Although the lines and loops in this one looked much different than the statue currently sitting next to her. A different style.

Also differing from Kevin's journal were the amounts of drawings on several pages. Of landscapes and trees in various states during the seasons; of a bird; a plant; a flower in bloom.

As she flipped through several more pages of writing and drawings, of buildings and weird-looking carts and machines, a photo fell from between the pages and fluttered down to the floor at Kevin's feet.

“Oh! Sorry, dude.” Dash hurried to pick the photo up from the still damp floor and whipped it about between her hooves in an awkward attempt to dry it out. The image imprinted on the photo blurred from movement, as the several hue-men faces depicted wobbled about. There were two tall ones, a medium one and a smaller one. However, the smallest of the four hue-mens caught her eye. She stopped her shaking and brought the photo closer to stare at the smile that adorned the younger, pudgy-looking hue-men wearing a green and blue striped shirt and shorts. The four of them were at a beach, and all of them were barefoot.

Dash gulped at the smallest hue-men's face, recognizing it. Regaining her sense to breathe, the pegasus dared to confront Kevin's stare once more and felt her heart sink at the sight of his hollow-looking blue eyes. “It's...you...” She said as she turned the photo around and pointed at the pudgy boy in the photo with her hoof. “Kevin, this is you, isn't it?”

She saw his eyes move upward, away from the letter for the first time in almost an hour and aim toward the photo held between Dash's hooves. In another first, Kevin's eyelids closed and opened in a very drawn out blink before he resumed to staring. She became a bit self-conscious, being cast under his gaze as his eyes acted more like spotlights viewing some far off event than the photo she was holding up, but a set of fresh tears fell down his cheek.

Dash was surprised to find him reaching out to the photo to hold it with his own hand and she let him take it for a closer inspection.

Silence resumed once more, and Dash feared that Kevin had returned to his own thoughts when she heard his voice. “...yeah...” It sounded dry and scratchy and barely audible. The same as when he first woke up after his accident. “...it is.” His lips curled up into a sad smile, failing to uplift her spirits. “We were on vacation. That's my mom, my dad and...” he paused for a moment and lowered the photo, placing it on the couch atop the open diary. He looked toward Dash while offering a warm, contemplative smile.

“...say...I don't think I've ever told...any of you...about why I was in the woods when Fluttershy found me, did I...?”

Dash slowly shook her head. Kevin had let Fluttershy handle telling the story of how they met to the girls but thinking about it now, Dash realized he had never mentioned anything beyond “being lost”. He gave a bigger, lopsided smile, but somehow she didn't feel any more assured by it. Nonetheless she stayed quiet as his smile shrunk and he looked away, moistening his dry throat with a few sips of water upon finding the glass nearby. After setting the glass back down on the side table, he began his explanation.

“...about...six or seven years ago...my brother Liam left to go hiking...he had just graduated college. Got a degree in...uh...studying people...you would call it hue-men...pology...?” He paused to think about the proper term, but then continued. “He got a ton of job offers from all these important places but instead he decided to take a year off. And he just...went hiking around the country.

“I was eleven. I thought it was so cool, the idea of just...going off and not needing to worry about working or paying rent and bills like my parents had to all the time. Like everybody else did. Just living in a tent and sleeping under the stars.

“Every month we'd get a letter from some place he visited. Sometimes a postcard. He'd call us too, whenever he managed to. Though Liam usually reserved that for special days like Mother's or Father's Day. Or my mom's birthday. She was really happy he called, because we didn't get anything or hear from him just the month before...

“But even though it was nice to hear his voice...those letters of his that he sent home...they came with pictures he took and sketches he did and the way he wrote words together to describe what he saw and the people he met...made me wish I could do that too.”

“...He sounds really nice.” Dash noted.

“Oh, are you kidding?” Kevin scoffed with a slow, dry chuckle, then sniffled and rubbed his eyes with his arm. “When I was a kid he was always bossing me around and taking my things. Or breaking them. Growing up...we were like two rattlesnakes in a bag; always getting into fights.

“He lied all the time, too. Saying stuff like monsters lived under my bed, or that we weren't really brothers because mom and dad got me along with an umbrella they bought from some gypsy. I got him back a few times, though. Like this one time I got clear plastic wrap and put it around the door frame of his bedroom, and turned the lights off so he couldn't see it...and he walked into it...and he...he flailed around and screamed like a girl...” Kevin let out a laugh, but coughed from the dryness of his throat.

“Another time, just before he left, Liam asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. 'A skydiver', I said. Then...” he paused to choke back another laugh, “...then the jerk just started laughing...really loud. Which was really embarrassing because we were...I can't remember, like a museum or someplace that's supposed to be quiet so we got stared at...but also I remember blushing beet red because, I-I actually have a fear of heights.

“So for like, a full week he posted pictures...these photos taken from a high up viewpoint all over my room on the ceiling and the walls...and the house and...ugh, just looking at them made me feel so sick...I hated him so much for doing that...

“But he was always there when I needed him. I was never bullied at school because the other kids knew my brother. He was a legend. But he always threatened me to not think or act like I was someone special because of that...and made sure I never got too cocky...

“I can still remember the first time I fought back. To this day I still don't know why but he started this thing where he'd punch me in the arm at the beginning and end of his sentences whenever he talked to me and I was getting really angry about it. So this one time he did it and without warning I just whopped him in the face...and he never did that again.

“He'd still get rough with me after that, but...never to that extent. It became more playful somehow...I'd like to he respected me for standing up for myself because he started giving me advice more. I didn't mind the teasing as much because I figured out that...he was really just trying to toughen me up...”

It was Dash's turn to scoff and she shook her head. “Just sounds like bullying to me...”

“Yeah, but...even though he was a bully he was still my big brother...my best friend ...all of that in one.”

Dash blinked and noticed how Kevin's voice trailed off. “...what do you mean...was...?”

He remained quiet for a moment but then took a long deep breath and exhaled.

“About...ten months into his trip...we got a letter from Liam, saying that he had a very special surprise planned for my birthday. It was so obvious to me what it was because my birthday was just a couple of days before he was supposed to come back...but then my birthday came around, and Liam...didn't...then a couple of days passed.

“My parents got worried, but eventually figured he was just held up somewhere. He was able to take care of himself, and they trusted him since he went on long trips before. Meanwhile I was too busy planning this huge prank to get him back for being late. I don't even remember what it was anymore. But those days turned into weeks and even when my folks called the police those weeks turned into months until...the search was just called off...there were a bunch of leads but...”

Kevin stopped and clenched his jaw tight. His breathing was heavy. His nose was runny and his sniffles became more frequent. He made an exaggerated gulp then started again. “...for the longest time my parents only sort of paid attention to me. They were just so proud of my brother. Always showing off Liam's awards and trophies whenever guests came over. So they were devastated for a good number of years after they got the news. When I said I wanted to be a...humanpologist...two years ago, they got so excited and...it was weird how much more interest they started to have in me. How all of a sudden, they began to notice that I existed.

“They started to smile again. Not the fake ones they had when they told other people they were okay. Though they still got sad every year around the time they got the news, but they stopped shutting themselves in. I started reading from a lot of Liam's old books and I almost even moved into his old bedroom when they wanted to pack all of his stuff...but I didn't.

“I got so mad at them...I thought they were trying to make me into Liam but at the same time I thought...if I did that...it'd be like he never left...and they'd be able to find some sort of happiness...after graduating high school—I thought they'd never support me, but—I told them I wanted to go see the world before heading off to college. Get 'real world experience' to help me with my degree. I lied and said I'd be with other people. And they said...'yeah, go for it' and were really supportive. They must have figured 'hey, he has a calling box' or...I don't know...more likely they were in denial or something and so just like that, I left...

“At first I stayed away from all the places Liam went to. I actually brought the letters and postcards he sent to keep track of where not to go...I lost them in a river a few months back, but eventually I found myself off the highway around where he sent his last letter. A lot of the search was focused around that area and it even got into the big name newspapers and...um...the 'picture boxes' I told you about. And still there was just nothing. But I thought...if I went off the highway and into the forest...that I could find him...because we're brothers...and wouldn't you know it, I did...”

He cast a downward look once more toward the letter in his other hand.

Rainbow cringed at the thought of him closing himself off once more and quickly placed her hoof on his shoulder.

He glanced up at her, surprised by the sudden gesture. He was on the verge of more tears.

“I...” Her voice was shaky. Dash gulped and took a deep breath to steady her nerves. She was supposed to assure him and yet she was about to cry. The pony shook her head at the thought and looked at him sternly eye to eye. She opened her mouth to say something, but...what was she supposed to say?

I'm sorry?

Cheer up?

At least you're still alive?

She happened to glance at the diary and photo on the couch next to him. “I know it won't make anything better, but here.” Dash craned her head toward her shoulder and unfurled her right wing. The pinch caused her to twitch but she turned back to him and offered him a feather.

He took it from between her teeth and looked it over, playfully brushing his finger against the side of it.

“I figure with, you know, your whole studying thing...you could use it...”

He gulped and smiled. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash. I really appreciate it.” Setting the feather down, he brushed his hand through her mane, in an almost grasping way and to her surprise he suddenly pulled her close into a tight hug. It had indeed taken her off guard but Dash softly brushed her hoof against the back of his head, similar to how he had just done so.

She could hear him sniffle every now and then, which was making her eyes a bit watery. The way they were hugging however made it difficult to bring her hoof close to wipe away her tears that threatened to fall onto his shoulder. But then his quiet sobs grew more noticeable and his arms grasping around her became much tighter, but Dash took it all in stride. “There, there,” she found herself saying in a soft, cracking voice. “Just let it all out...”

It didn't take long for him to cry himself to sleep. After placing the diary, photo and feather onto the side table, Dash helped lay Kevin onto his side on the couch. She then laid down next to him and placed her head onto his shoulder and draped her wing over his body. As she closed her eyes, she heard him let out a soft contented sigh.

Dash woke up on the couch, feeling cold.

“Kevin?” She asked softly, and realized she could not feel his body heat next to her. Immediately shooting up into a sitting position, Dash looked around the room, which was illuminated only by the pale moonlight that came in through the windows. “Kevin?”

Her eyes already well adjusted to the low light, Dash could not see anything beyond furniture and walls within the shadows. “Kevin!” Her hushed voice grew louder and more anxious.

She jumped off the couch and rushed from room to room, then bounded up the stairs with the help of her wings. He wasn't anywhere in the cottage.

The diary, photo and feather were missing from the side table. His bag and lamp and clothes were nowhere to be found either.

Fluttershy had yet to return home.

Feeling uneasy Dash bolted out the door and with heavy flaps of her wings she took off into the cool night air, rising higher and higher until she had a full panoramic view around her.

The sky was thankfully cloudless, letting the moon's light blanket everything. She took a deep inhale of breath and shouted at the top of her lungs “KEVIN!” The name echoed far and wide, but nothing changed the placid sounds of night.

Dash panted, hyperventilated not because of stress but of her ever growing anxiety. She gulped and began to fly, not knowing where to fly to.

“KEVIN!” She circled about in the sky, toward the part of the Everfree Forest close to the cottage, where just weeks ago Fluttershy had found her friend wounded. Dash had no such luck as she grew closer to the forest entrance but let instinct guide her through the trees as she flew in at low level.

Dash thought she spotted movement to her left then dove between two intersecting branches to catch it.

“Kevin!?” She screamed out at the shadowy movement ahead of her. The looming trees and warped shapes made it hard to distinguish the shadows, but even then, there was only one two-legged creature she knew that fit the silhouette profile. “Kevin!”

The solitary figure seemed to turn toward her voice as she approached, but then it appeared.

A blast of wind swirled through the forest, nearly causing Dash to collide into a tree. The turbulence made the gust more of a rapids composed of air, so unpredictable that even Rainbow Dash was unable to manage her wings to stay aloft. Dropping onto the forest floor, the pegaus was forced to pin her wings tightly against her sides to minimize the chance of being swept away by the torrent.

“-----!” Dash could barely even hear her own voice over the wind. Keeping her head low as she struggled to walk forward, she couldn't believe her eyes as the silhouette ahead of her seem unaffected by the forceful gusts. “KEV-IN!” Dash had to narrow her eyes as she screamed out again but was nearly blinded by a flash of light. The pegasus reeled from the intensity and suddenness of the light , almost making her lose focus against the wind, thrown up onto her hind legs.

Growling out Dash forced her way back onto all four hooves and moved to the side to hide somewhat behind a nearby tree.

“AROOOOOOO”

A low intense roar began to emanate from the source of wind and light as Dash moved upwards, using the barren trees as cover. “Get away from him! You're not gonna eat him too! Not on my watch!”

“AROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO”

The monster roared again and Dash struggled against the torrential winds that threatened still to throw her away. She wrapped her forelegs around the next tree trunk ahead of her and held on with all of her strength. “KEVIN!” Her voice strained to shout out under the monster's howl and the force of the wind.

Stepping in front of the light and the wind, Kevin was facing her. She saw now that he was leaning against a large stick to support his weight.

She couldn't hear his voice but only saw his lips move. “Thanks, Rainbow Dash.”

When the wind and the light disappeared, so did Kevin.

Chapter 8: Amazing Stories

The air was being chopped. Diced. The sounds of powerful blades cutting through the air filled Kevin's consciousness. All of it soon blended into a single, roaring orchestra and shook him and made everything around him vibrate.

Then there was the crackle and static of...a radio? Yes. The sound of an indistinct voice—male—was scratchy as it garbled incomprehensibly in a flurry of deep bass and beeps.

But his eyes were closed, so he was only making guesses as to where he was. His mind was groggy and his thoughts were foggy but nonetheless it was hard at work despite his existence between sleep and wakefulness. Kevin could only put faith into what he was hearing and feeling was real based on second-hand experience.

Kevin had never been on a helicopter before, but he could vaguely remember the movies and television shows he watched where they appeared. The buzz of the rotors and roar of the engine always made the characters involved in action or war genres that rode in large or medium helicopters that had doors open find it necessary to yell out, even when they had headsets on. While the smaller kinds, with their doors and comfortable seats made for recreational rides had quieter interiors for the characters to interact and discuss the plot and set up the story.

While there was no screaming or dramatic yelling there was still the intense roar of the engine that drowned out most any other sound. So loud that it affected Kevin's ability to hear his own thoughts.

The chatter happening around him was few and far between and when it happened the voices were like grunts and growls. Had he forgotten how to speak? Or was it that these voices were speaking another language? No, it was simply difficult to hear. The headsets the people around him were wearing must let them hear each other while those without them were resigned to hear the roar of air being pushed down by the helicopter's rotors.

Despite the shaking and trembling of the helicopter's frame against the forces of gravity and drag, Kevin felt secure. Physically, anyway. He was bound like he was in a warm cotton-lined cocoon. His face was humid and he could feel his breath bounce off against the stuffy plastic mask wrapped around his face and make his chin feel clammy. The soft hiss of air provided a chilled, filtered contrast to the dry heat felt in the rest of his body and face. He let out a groan and his mask vibrated against his face.

Opening his eyes, the slow spinning blades of the ceiling fan above whooshed deeply as they completed their lazy rotations. Kevin blinked.

A beep.

Kevin saw white. White walls, a white ceiling...the white of frost clinging to the window to his left.

Another beep.

Bedsheets shuffled as Kevin adjusted his body on the stiff, springy mattress. Clean white casts around his left arm up to his wrist and left leg that encased from his knee down to his foot, which hung from a medical sling attached to a poll connected to the bed, allowed the heat trapped by the blankets to escape into the drier atmosphere of the room.

The sky outside was cloudy and gray, blending the drops of white that were drifting downward at an angle.

Beep.

“Sandra? Sandra, he's waking up...” A tired voice yawned out to Kevin's right. The mattress springs squeaked and groaned as he turned toward the sounds of chairs scratching about and shoes clacking against the hard linoleum floor.

A man and woman stood up and approached the bedside with their lips wrinkled upwards into smiles. Dark circles under their eyes and tussled hair complimented the dried trail of drool on the corner of the man's mouth and the faint hint of lines that appeared between the woman's furrowed eyebrows.

“Kevin...” The man was the first to whisper as he rubbed the back of his hand against his mouth, wiping away the drool before digging his thumb against his eyes to rub at the tears that threatened to fall.

“Oh my God, I thought we lost you, too...” The woman was next to speak, gasping out and holding her hands up to cover her mouth. She took a step closer, her hands removed from her face and outstretched and trembling.

Her fingers were cold and dry and pressed against Kevin's cheek as though he was made of putty. The smallest of pinches and the slightest of strokes of her palms against his cheeks were enough for her as she stepped back at the behest of the man grasping her shoulders and pulling her back.

“Hey.” The man's voice came out in a barely restrained quiver.

“...hey.” Kevin said back. His throat was dry and he made an effort to look from the man to the woman in equal amounts of time before he began staring between the two of them. At that point he noticed another man standing at the doorway. Noticing this, Kevin's parents turned as small rap rang out as a result of the man's knuckles tapping against the door he was holding open.

“Oh, come in, come in.” Kevin's gray-haired father beckoned to the other man in a suit. Following his lead, Kevin's mom stepped to her right to stay close to her husband. “This is Special Agent Bernard Dragan.” He said toward Kevin. After a pause, he continued. “He's been the one keeping us up to date since you went...missing...” His voice grew quiet and he gulped.

The man nodded as he stood at the foot of the bed. Although his hair was a dark brown the man in a suit didn't look any younger than the gray-haired father. Kevin looked between the two men and could probably count less wrinkles on his own dad's face than the other man. “Good to see you looking well, Kevin.” The man said.

Kevin narrowed his eyes and furrowed his eyebrows. “Your voice...sounds really familiar...”

He smiled and nodded. “That's right. We had a bit of a chat aboard the helicopter...though it was a bit one sided considering you were hampered by meds at the time.”

Looking weary, the woman shook her head and said “Please, Mr. Dragan...my son just woke up...can't you wait until after the doctor arrives? I'm sure that he can't remember right now an-”

“Sandra, he's fine.” She quickly hushed at her husband's gentle tone. While no less consoled, she took her husband's hand on her shoulder into her own in an effort to subdue the obvious tension in her shoulders and face. After sharing a knowing glance with Kevin the father looked back to the other man. “Agent Dragan.”

“Thanks.” The man nodded. “If you'd please...” The man said and raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, right.” Kevin's father blinked at the gesture and ushered his wife toward the door. “I'll tell the doctor that Kevin's awake.”

“We'll just be waiting in the hallway.” She managed to add.

“Sure thing.” The man replied before the door closed. After taking a chair the man turned back toward the bed and sat down, facing Kevin before asking “So, Kevin, let's get the obvious questions out of the way...how are you feeling?”

“Good...I guess...” Kevin said while rubbing his eyes. He sighed, drawing a blank while starting to realize his wooziness. The itch from the I.V. drip taped at his wrist was just barely tolerable.

“Yeah, I figured...” The man nodded and smirk. “If you don't mind me being a bit forward now, Kevin...could you try to recall what happened to the best of your ability, please? What happened on this trip of yours?”

“Before that...could you explain some things to me? Like...how you guys managed to find me?”

The man leaned back into the chair and scratched his temple with his right hand. “Sounds reasonable...we found you near an old Park Ranger station. Well, uh, that's skipping ahead a bit, actually.” He paused for a moment to think, pressing his tongue against his cheek inside his mouth as he did so. “When I came into the case I looked into what happened to your brother. I'm sorry for your loss, by the way...I, uh, actually my brother's kid—my niece—went missing a few years back...unfortunately she wasn't found until it was too late...it's the reason why I joined the FBI.”

“Oh.” Kevin replied quietly.

“Thanks. So, given the big similarity between your and your brother's situations, we more or less took our search to where he was last known. Given that Liam was still not found, himself, it was by miracle that we came upon an old map of the area which marked the Park Ranger station. Going back seventy to eighty years, actually. Suffice it to say, that station failed to show up on any of the more recent maps that had been used so far in Liam's search.

“We asked for the National Guard to go by helicopter to extract you, considering the risk it would've taken to hike to the station. I was there, since I promised your parents to personally be involved and tell them what was happening. I had to pull some strings to join the rescue party. But then on our way, we spotted you through a break in the treeline, using a, uh, large branch like a crutch. We air lifted you straight to the hospital.”

“H-how long were you searching?” Kevin gulped. “How long was I missing?”

“Aw, geez...” The man sighed. “Maybe close to a year, now?”

Kevin glanced toward his left arm and sighed. He clenched his jaw tight and gulped.

“You know, you're probably the toughest kid ever with the injuries you got.” The man's voice drew Kevin back to glance up toward where he was seated next to the bed.

“The pain killers help.” Kevin quipped.

The man smiled and chuckled politely. “Not like you had those in your system when you treated yourself. I heard from one of the medics that it looked like you actually set your own bones in? It wasn't the prettiest looking thing, trust me, but that probably saved your leg if not your life. You're lucky your arm wasn't as bad off.”

“Thanks...my brother taught me...”

“I see...so, did any of what I said jog your memories?”

“No...can't say that it did...” Kevin said, shaking his head.

Kevin heard the man sigh and watched as he combed his fingers through his dark hair. He glanced toward the door to check if it was still closed then looked back to Kevin. “So you don't want to explain what you were talking about on the helicopter, then? The ponies?”

Kevin stared with wide eyes at the man. For close to a whole moment neither seemed to blink. “I talked about...” He grit his teeth. Taking a deep breath, Kevin slowly shook his head. “...what are you saying? W-why would I talk about ponies?”

The man frowned and arched his eyebrows and sighed. “Listen, Kevin...I'm not going to judge you or laugh at you. Beyond the fact that I have a psychology degree, I've got a couple of kids on the task force. No more than one or two years older than you. Veterans. They saw some crazy things while on tour. Some of the stories they told me...some of the people they met...all I'm trying to say is that it's understandable to me that anyone that went through your situation—the hardships you had to endure by yourself—would try to find some way to cope with the stress or else go completely nuts. Find some sort of, happy place or something. It's a mechanism the mind has to help a person to survive. You get what I'm saying?”

Kevin stared down at his lap, unable to respond.

“It's important as part of the investigation to take those imagined situations that the brain conjured up from duress to figure out what actually happened.”

Kevin's took another breath and pressed his head back into the pillow. “And...so nothing from those types of...experiences...are real? It's all imagined?”

“Not necessarily...” The man cocked his head a bit as he continued to explain. “Sometimes the brain is unable to fully recognize certain things and we end up remembering things that never happened or couldn't have happened, but more often than not they're based on something that really did occur.

“For example, some members of the search team went back to check on the station just yesterday when it was light out, and reported that it was pretty much reclaimed by the forest so it was impossible to notice from the air. And even when hiking through it's easy to miss unless you were looking for it.”

A cottage...covered in moss close to the forest...

"Sometimes, a person can get certain things confused like adding a detail from an entirely different moment from something that happened to them only recently into an older memory. The brain's funny like that..."

As the man continued to talk, Kevin shook his head and clenched his eyes shut. He willed himself not to cry. Not to give up on the fact that he had found his brother's camp. That he was found by-

“...here, your journal.” Kevin opened his eyes and saw the leather-bound book in the man's hand. He reached out his right arm and took it with confusion obvious on his face. “You had it on you. Your brother's, too. You're the reason why we've opened Liam's file back up, which is why it's important for you to remember what happened all these months. I already discussed with your parents about taking your brother's journal to figure out what exactly happened to him when he disappeared. But I made sure to make photocopies of what he wrote including the letter addressed to you.”

“Why didn't you take my journal, too? Look into it and see what I wrote for clues?”

“You're here, aren't you?”

Kevin looked once more at the journal, looking worn but still usable, in his hand. As he did so, the beeps of the machine next to his bed made themselves known once more.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

Beep.

“I'll come by again tomorrow so we can try to sort out what happened after you've gotten a bit more rest.” The man's voice drew Kevin's eyes back up as he stood from his chair and returned it to where he took it from near the door. Placing his hand onto the doorknob, the man looked back at him. “If you remember anything, please call me. Take care, Kevin.”

“You too, sir.”

As he opened the door, the man found himself keeping it open for Kevin's mom as she stepped in. They exchanged quiet nods as Bernard Dragan left the room and closed the door behind him.

Hurrying toward the bed, Kevin's mom made a small smile as she combed her hand through his hair to brush away his bangs. “Hey, honey. The doctor's on his way.”

“Alright.” Kevin said, waiting for his mom to finish with grooming him. When she was done, he brushed his fingers into his hair to mess it up once more. “Where's dad?”

She pouted for a moment but did not comment. “Where else?”

“On the 'throne'?” Kevin laughed softly. She smiled and let out a chuckle as well.

As the beeps returned to prominence once more, she took small, quiet breaths, as though Kevin would blow away at the slightest breeze. She sat on the edge of the bed and gingerly brushed her hand against her son's cheek to make sure he was solid and real. The look on her face was somber.

“You know..." She began, her voice no more than a whisper as it cracked. The woman cleared her throat before starting again. "You know, even before you went missing, when you told your father and I that you wanted to travel...like your brother did...I prayed for you every day, Kevin. And...I respect your views on the issue, but personally I truly do feel that God heard my prayers and it was thanks to Him that you were delivered back safely. And given everything that's happened, I would hope that you'd—if not reconsider— at the very least contemplate on your beliefs just a little bit.”

Kevin let out a heavy sigh but managed to hold back his immediate reaction. Instead, he took a calming breath and thought over the intent of her words before answering. “Thanks, mom. I really appreciate how much you care for me when you say that. If anything, I can admit that I had a pair of guardian angels looking out for me the whole time.”

She nodded and sighed in relief. “I'm happy that you're at least willing to humor me.”

“My pleasure.”

She shook her head and sighed, standing up from the bed. “Your father and I are just going to get some dinner. Do you want us to get you anything? A burger?” When he shook his head in reply, she smirked and combed his bangs out of his face again. “You're still in trouble for lying to your father and I. We'll talk about it tomorrow after you've rested some more. Understand?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you, Kevin.”

“Love you too, mom.” She smiled and leaned in to kiss his forehead before stepping out of the room.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

He looked at the journal on his lap.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

Kevin opened it and looked through page after brittle page. The washed-out ink had made it impossible to read. None of the words were legible. As he turned toward the end, the paper was less wrinkled but...the last page seemed to have been ripped out. His only solid proof was missing.

Beep. Beep. Beep.

“Ow.” He flinched at feeling a small scratch against his palm. When he checked closer there didn't seem to be any blood and he looked at the journal in search for whatever offending item caused it.

He noticed a needle poking out from under the leather binding. Carefully he pulled at it, only to find a second needle appear as well. The tight fit the binding had against the book caused the second one to be pulled along. When he succeeded in pulling them out, Kevin realized he wasn't holding onto needles and couldn't help but smile...

...at the sight of the blue and yellow feathers in his hand.

Chapter 9: A Perfect World

With slow, haggard flaps of her wings, Rainbow Dash arrived back at Fluttershy's cottage. Hours of searching through the Everfree Forest high and low ended in failure. Her ears drooped and heart grew heavy at seeing that the lights were turned on. She took a deep breath and long exhale. Braving through the nervousness that pulled at her to fly away, the pegasus mare stepped into the cottage and caught sight of a pink tail in the dining room.

Rainbow Dash took a deep breath and gulped, walking into the other room after closing the door behind her. “Fluttershy, I'm so...what's that?” She had expected to find her friend crying or at least anxious as to what happened. Instead, the pink maned pegasus was seated nearby the dining table reading a piece of paper with the utmost focus on her face.

“A letter from Kevin...”

“From Kevin?” Dash approached the other pony and looked at the piece of paper from over her shoulder. She figured since she was in such a hurry that she didn't notice the letter in the dark cottage. Of course, it wouldn't have mattered if she did find it considering that the squiggles and scrawls of hue-men writing was all Dash saw, written messily in ink. The left edge of the paper was ripped, making it seem as though this letter was torn right out of Kevin's journal.

“What did this word mean, again? Aw...and I just learned it today, too...” Fluttershy sighed and pressed her hoof under a group of squiggles and stared at it before moving along what could assumed to be a sentence.

Dash blinked. “Wait. Are you saying that you can read that? Since when?”

Fluttershy's eyes remained focused on the letter in front of her. “Only very recently...for the last few weeks I've been going to Twilight's to learn but reading's a lot harder than I thought it'd be...and even though she offered her translation spell to help...I couldn't bare the idea of using it.” She answered slowly and distractedly while continuing to read. “To be honest, I can actually understand most of this, it's just that there's still a lot of words here I haven't learned yet.”

Dash brought her face closer to the paper in Fluttershy's hooves. “Well? What does it say?”

For a moment there was only the rustle of paper as Fluttershy moved the letter so her friend's head wasn't in the way. Taking the hint, Dash promptly sat down and watched in confusion as Fluttershy set the letter onto the table next to her. She closed her eyes and after taking a soft breath, Fluttershy smiled then began to growl and grunt, as she recited from memory...

Dear Futtershee,

If you're reading this, then my theory about the Everfree Forest was correct. I didn't want to make you worry by telling you my thoughts about it, nor could I risk writing it down since I knew it was only a matter of time until you were able to read what I wrote. You are, after all, reading this. In my time in Equestria I've learned how to say “thank you” and “you're welcome” and “hello” but luckily, I never learned “goodbye”.

I don't know where you've been going these past few weeks but I can say for certain that when you came back home every night I've never been happier. I'd find myself smiling and you'd smile then apologize and I couldn't help but smile in return. How strange it's gotten, that you were the one to welcome me into your cottage and I ended up being the one to welcome you back everyday.

I've never been big on the whole destiny thing. The idea that I'm not in control of my own life. That everything is predetermined and I have no choice but to go with the flow or struggle vainly against the current. It's egotistical and self-centered, I know. But I also can't deny that there was a reason it was you who found me.

I think I started to doubt things like destiny when I lost my brother a few years ago. The idea that it was planned for him to simply disappear was something I couldn't agree with. I fell in love with his dreams and I wanted to follow in his footsteps and learn about the world and about people. I don't know for what reason and may never know but I found him recently. He wrote a journal like I've been doing, and what I thought I knew about him was so much different from who he really was and what he wanted me to be. While my parents wanted me to become him, my brother wanted me to just be me. My older brother wanted to make sure I didn't make the same mistakes he made, or put myself to risk the same mistakes others have.

I've decided that I want to help animals. I want to help the ones that are sick, orphaned and unloved. I want to help people better understand animals and nature and each other. You showed me that a perfect world is possible and exists and things like language and culture and species are no obstacle to kindness and friendship and love.

I have no delusions that it will be easy, or that I can even succeed in my lifetime. But when I feel I've done all I can, to at least spread the seeds to get this idea going, I'll take a trip. I'll travel down a highway until I come upon a certain forest, and head into it and simply enjoy nature for what it is as the sun shines overhead and the beautiful sights of the night sky when the sun sets. And I'm certain that even if I lose my way, a smiling angel will come and guide me to where I'm supposed to be.

Until then, Futtershee, you'll always be in my heart. In good times and in bad.

Sincerely,

Epilogue

"Hello? Is anyone here?"

"Just a minute! I'll be right...oh...h-hello...can I help you?"

"Uh, sorry, it's been a while, so I might be a little rusty...could you say that again?"

"Oh...oh my! I'm the one who's sorry, I didn't realize...it's just that..."

"This? Maybe I should have shaved, huh?"

"No, no, you shouldn't! I like it. It makes you look...distinguished!"

"Deese...ting...wished...?"

"Oh, um...I mean to say that you look very handsome."

"...well, if that's the case..."

"Oh, darn. This was all so sudden, I almost forgot to...I'm sorry, I know this might sound strange, but...could you close your eyes for a moment? A-and don't peek! A-and also, if you could take just a step backwards, that is, if you don't mind?"

"Hmmm? Ok, sure..."

"Is everything alright? Maybe I should...?"

"NO! I mean...I just need a moment...please, don't peek..."

"Ok, I promise I won't. Take as much time as you need..."

"...thanks."

"...alright...I think I can do it, now...you can open your eyes..."

"What can you do n-"

"Welcome back!"

Author's Note: The End

Picture used: Fluttershy's Happiness by johnjoseco