Perspectives

Mike groans as he rouses from his slumber, he's very sore for some reason. He takes in a sharp breath as he feels a slight breeze, he must have forgotten to close the window. He decides it doesn't matter, because he doesn't feel cold at all. He does however attempt to snuggle closer into his blankets, but as he feels around he doesn't find any. He does however come into contact with a mess of hair, and he curls closer to the being for comfort. His shifting is noticed by the being and a clearly female voice speaks up.

"Oh? So you've finally woken up?" Mike freezes at the voice as he realizes that nobody should be reclining on his chest while he's sleeping. His eyes dart open and he sees grass, he's lying outside. He jerks up and the figure that had been resting her head on his chest is sent flying away from him.

"Ow..." she grumbles from somewhere to his side, but Mike is too busy trying to find out where he is. He can see a quaint old style town not far from here, it has thatched roofing and everything. Behind him he finds an ominous looking forest, a wind rustles its leaves spookily and he turns to the side he had felt the girl tumble off to. He looks to his side and scrambles away from what he sees, it's a pony. The pony has long dark brown hair with red tips, same with her tail. Her coat is a silvery gray, and theres a horn on her head. A gray unicorn, and her eyes are a striking blood red. She's brushing off some dust and shakily getting back up, she then looks back at him. Its a judging look, she's reading him.

"So, I was right in guessing you're not from here either..." she sighs and then finally stops inspecting him to look him in the eyes. Mike is frozen in wonder, and horror at the creature before him. "I'm not a thing, I'm intelligent too you know." The pony says. Mike feels his mouth, he hadn't realized was gaping, snap closed. He didn't know how she had done it, but she had read his mind.

Maybe it's not surprising, she's a unicorn, he thinks to himself.

"I didn't read your mind, couldn't if I wanted to. I just know what your first immediate thoughts are going to be seeing another creature rather than a human talking, especially if its a unicorn." The girl pony just says matter of factly. Finally Mikes brain starts to catch up with him.

"You're a pony." Mike says dumbly.

"Gee, you don't say." The pony deadpans.

"And... you can talk?" He asks.

"I'll let you decide that for yourself," the pony replies.

"Wait... you know about humans? Are there any here? Where are we? How did I get here?" Mike finally is snapped out of his stupor and the pony lets out a sigh of relief.

"Finally, some worthwhile questions... let me start explaining the situation as I see it. First off, welcome to the magical land of Equestria. Tell me, does the word brony mean anything to you?" The pony asks.

"You know about bronies?" Mike asks in shock.

"I'll take that as a yes. Are you one?" The pony asks, completely ignoring his question.

"N-no, I know nothing about... any of this." Mike gestures around and notices his hand, isn't a hand anymore. Its a claw, he leaps away from it and looks down at the rest of his body. After staring in shock, he recognizes he is now a griffon. His feathers are a golden color, along with his coat of fur. He looks up at a slightly annoyed unicorn pony, clearly frustrated at having her explanation interrupted.

"Yes, you're a griffon, I'll get to that. Long story short, you and I were both human until... something, dragged us out of our world and into Equestria. Modifying our forms along the way, though I don't know to what extent we were transformed. I woke up here before you and found you lying next to me, so I figured if two strangers woke up in a random field and one is from another world, the other might be as well. Apparently you know nothing about Equestria, so I'll help you not get arrested or worse. If you get into fights with ponies however, I will not help you. Well... to some extent..." the unicorn gets a distant look, but snaps back after a second. "any questions?" She concludes. Mike just looks at her and wonders how she could have possibly figured that out so quickly, or how she could be so okay with it.

Of course, if she knows enough to help me she must be a brony. This must be a bronies wet dream, Mike rolls his eyes at the thought, but then he thinks on her actions. Actually,  she doesn't seem excited or anything... she seems to be taking this in stride, like it's something she expected to happen. he narrows his eyes.

"You're pretty calm about this," Mike accuses.

"I had time to get used to this before you woke up," the pony replies.

"How can I trust you?" Mike asks tentatively.

"You can't, but I'm really the only person you got. Nopony else will understand right now, and we have to be sure that they won't just lock you up as crazy. Really, we just have to gain their trust before we come out with this secret of ours. Which of course means integrating into society and gaining what passes as a normal life around these parts until we have the knowledge to get back home. However, this town isn't always... how should I put it? Boring? So, you shouldn't be too bored. I won't ask you to help with the information part... yet. I just need you to adapt to your surroundings, can you do that?" The pony stops talking and Mike just nods. He's not sure he could do much more than that anyways. "Okay, and one last question. Who are you?" The pony finally asks.

"My names Mike" Mike finally speaks up. As the unicorn looks at him he can almost see something akin to a switch go off in her head. Her smile grows slightly wider and a joyful tinkle can be seen in her eyes.

"My names Sky! Funny, I had, no wait have, a friend called Mike. But you should just call me Starlet! Starlet Mint to be exact! I wonder...? Nah, you shouldn't need a new name. I think griffons already have names like that, and if they didn't, I doubt anypony in Ponyville would know! Well, maybe Rainbow Dash because she had Gilda as a friend. But, then again, Gilda was her only griffon friend. Fluttershy knows a lot about all sorts of animals... I wonder if she knows griffons? Well, even if she did, she wouldn't comment about the name!" The pony, who had requested the name Starlet, stops for a second. "Probably," she adds before smiling towards Mike. Mike stares in wonder as the pony stops her energetic rambling. It wasn't like the slower and focused explanation earlier, it was fast and jubilant. Almost like it was a different pony talking.

"Um... ok, Starlet, right? But you said your name was Sky before? I had a friend named Sky, but he was a boy." Mike comments, the unicorn seems to freeze at this.

"Was his full name Skylar? With an A?" The unicorn asks.

"Uh, yeah it was." Mike responds in surprise.

"And, he was your distant cousin," Starlet asks, a look of fear coming upon her face.

"Did you know him? Did he say bad things about me?" Mike asks in shock.

"Ugh... no, no bad things..." the unicorn groans. "Well at least I know who I'm stuck with... but... he does need to know who I am," the pony mutters, ending with an exasperated sigh. "The truth is Mike... I... I am Skylar. We went to Hastings and hung out yesterday, and after that we went home. I was up when this happened, it was either midnight or close to it." Mike looks at her in shock, maybe it wasn't a her?

"Oh, man. This is so embarrassing, and here I was thinking you were a girl! You kinda sounded like a girl, and to be honest. You kinda look like a girl, in a weird pony way!" Mike laughs and Starlet, a strangely feminine sounding name as he thinks on it, just looks nervous.

"Well... I am a girl." Starlet replies.

"You're kidding, right?" Mike asks in surprise.

"Um, no. No I'm not. But, hey, at least you're still male!" Starlet cheers half-heartedly.

"But, you're female." Mike says, trying to wrap his head around the situation.

"Yeah, but it's cool. I mean, I'm actually really okay with that," Starlet laughs nervously.

"We're you always a girl, and I just never knew?" Mike accuses.

"No, well... not in that way." Starlet's gaze flickers to a hardened look of resolution. "Look, I don't really wanna talk about it. We should head into Ponyville and get our new lives sorted out first. There'll be time for idle chit chat later." Mike can hear a very distinct accent in her voice now. He knew that Sky was from the south, but he had never really heard him have an accent like that before.

Well, I guess it's 'her' know... Mike sighs and follows his unicorn friend towards the town in the distance. His head was swirling with questions and thoughts, but he kept his mouth shut and just looked around him. He could see that the unicorn ahead of him was also taking stock of their surroundings. He sighed, `How can he- she, be so calm about this? Especially with whats happened to hi- her.' Mike thinks, though he's silently grateful that he had a calm mind to calm him down when he woke up and explain the situation at least somewhat to him. Who knows what he might have done had he woke up alone in his situation.

~~~~~~~

The truth was that Starlet was very worried about the situation, but not necessarily panicking. Her thoughts were on the more trivial parts of this, like what the transformation did. There were plenty of reasons to panic over this, but one big thing was that even she noticed her lack of cutie mark. She shouldn't get any bullying about it, except maybe from a certain two fillies. But she'll still get some unwanted attention over it. That, and Starlet can't be sure if magic can reveal them as aliens technically speaking.

Speaking of magic, thats something she'll seriously have to look at. Luckily, she has a good vision on lots of ways it COULD work. No solid idea on how it actually does work, maybe she should practice. Starlet pauses in her walking and looks for a nearby pebble. Upon finding one she closes her eyes and wills it to move up with all of her might, she can feel it slightly hovering. She opens an eye and it falls to the ground, not even an inch off the ground. Aggravated, she tries multiple more times all with the same result. Mike watches in intrigue and fascination at seeing magic happening. Starlet glares at the tiny pebble, but then something clicks. She straightens her posture and pulls her hoof to her chest, pulling in a deep breath as she does so. As she moves her hoof out, she exhales and looks with calm resolve towards the rock. Focusing her mind on the motion, but not putting very much power into it at all, the pebble slowly raises higher and higher. Eventually, Starlet actually opens her eyes and smiles at the pebble as she commits the movement to memory. Mike looks in shock at the pebble moving in front of Starlet.

"How did you know that would work?" Mike asks as he watches the pebble.

"What? Calming down? Oh, that wasn't it, not entirely. I was putting too much magic into the spell, calming down helped me control the magic better." Starlet replies, not looking away from the pebble.

"Yes, but HOW did you know what to do?" Mike asks.

"Oh, I read about it." Starlet answers easily.

"How can you be sure that you can trust what you've read?" Mike asks.

Starlet blinks and lowers the pebble before dropping it. She turns to Mike with a curious look, "it worked didn't it?" She asks.

"Well... yes, but-" Mike is interrupted by Starlet.

"Its called experimentation, it might not be good for trying high level spells. But for something simple like levitation, it's perfect." Starlet smiles and picks up two larger sized rocks, spinning them around a couple times before picking up a third with a small smile. Eventually she turns to look away from them and at Mike without dropping the three stones, then she sets them into orbit as she thinks out loud. "We seem to have a certain instinct that allows for improved muscle memory, allowing us to adapt as our certain species quickly. We both took to walking and moving our different body parts quite easily... and if my current knowledge of magic is anything to go on... I have a substantial amount of arcane energies to work with. I wonder how much exactly? Though, even with the necessary magical stamina, I couldn't do more magic without extensive knowledge into the spell. Then again... I do have extensive knowledge." A twisted smile comes across her face as she powers up a big spell. Her horn flares and Mike steps back, Starlet stands there with her twisted grin gone. She flops to the floor and groans, Mike rushes over.

"What happened?!" He asks in a panic.

"Ow, okay, yeah no more untrained magic. Not only did the spell backfire, but I think I used way too much magic for it and had it explode in my face. This not only causing intense pain, but I think also magical exhaustion. Ow." Starlet winces as she tries to stand up. Another feeling of a switch clicking on and Starlet's brushing herself off, enduring all the pain. "I'm alright, I've been through worse," Starlet shrugs the mistake off and turns towards Ponyville. Mike lingers in concern for a second, but eventually catches up with Starlet, they're not that far out of town.

As Starlet and Mike enter town heads start to turn, it was then that Starlet was reminded of one bit of information. "The last griffon here was a jerk, you'll need to act extra nice to gain the trust of the townsponies," Starlet tells Mike, he sighs and just nods his head. Content with his answer Starlet thinks of where to go, first stop will obviously be town hall. Now they just need directions, Starlet walks over to the closest pony.

"Excuse me miss, might we inquire as to the direction of town hall? We're new to town and need to settle in." Starlet walks up to a seafoam green unicorn.

"Oh, uh, sure. Its down that way and take a right at Sugarcube Corner. You shouldn't be able to miss that, it looks like a giant gingerbread house," the pony answers with a smile.

"Thank you, Lyra. I'm sure we'll see you around later," Starlet says as she turns, slowly counting down to ten out loud.

"Oh, well, see you two too!" She calls after them, turning around. Starlet continues her counting while Mike looks at her quizzically.

"Wait, how did you kn-" Mike is interrupted by a scream from behind just as Starlet hits one.

"How did she know my name?!" Lyra is looking after her frantically and Starlet quickens her pace with a smile.

~~~~~~~

Mike is watching as Starlet seemingly bounces through the streets, then he notices her change her walking style. Her pace did not change, but she is now obviously sashaying down the streets. Her hips are swinging, her steps are graceful, and yet she doesn't seem aware of the change. Mike follows her into the town hall and she moves to speak with the pony behind the desk.

"Oh! you two must be new, welcome to ponyville! What can I do for you?" The pony is tan with gray hair, though she sounds young.

"Hello Mayor, yes we are new. We seek shelter while we try and get enough to buy a proper home. There wouldn't happen to be a guest house in town, would there?" Starlet asks carefully.

"Oh, yes there is! Are you looking to become citizens?" The Mayor asks.

"Yes, could you be so kind as to help us sort that out?" Starlet asks.

"Certainly, we just need to fill out some paperwork. Now, we'll start with you dearie... first things first, a name?" The Mayor pulls out a set of papers.

"Starlet, Starlet Mint." Starlet tells her.

"Now, where do you come from. You seem very cultured, possibly from Canterlot?" The Mayor muses.

"Actually, no. I'm just from a very small town originally," Starlet lies smoothly.

"I see, well you're very proper for a small town pony." The Mayor compliments.

"Thank you, I do try," Starlet gives a small smile.

"And... an age?" The Mayor asks.

"Oh, um, sixteen?" It sounds more like a question. Starlet suddenly seems a little nervous, as Mike notices.

Why should she be nervous of her age? She isn't lying Mike thinks.

"Hmm... have you been greeted by a Pink mare yet? About a year or so older than you?" The Mayor asks as she looks up from the paperwork and fills out a little more stuff.

"I'm sure we'll be seeing Pinkie before long." Starlet says assuredly.

"Oh, you know of Pinkie? Well she'll want to know all about you... could you turn please? I need to get a look at your cutie mark for these papers." Starlet flushes red, but then turns anyway. The mayor seems to suck in her breath in shock, while Starlet turns back quickly. "You... you don't have one yet? Oh, im sorry! It must be a sore spot... I understand that it happens, I was just shocked. Here in ponyville, we're accepting of all ponies." The Mayor smiles encouragingly and Starlet tries to smile back.

"Right, well, I've come to terms with it," Starlet chuckles nervously, Mike just looks at the two in confusion. He has no idea what a cutie mark is or what it means.

Apparently its on their butts? Is it supposed to mean something? Mike makes a note to ask Starlet later. His thoughts turn away from strange marks once he realizes that the two ponies are talking about him.

"This is Mike, he's from the Griffon Kingdom... he's sensitive about his past, and he doesn't like to talk about it, so I don't know exactly which part. He's... seventeen? Right?" Mike nods slowly, "Right. Also, we could really use a map of the area," The mayor writes down the information and then reaches below the counter.

"Well, I don't have a spare map, but I can show you where everything is. It should be easy to find north, just look for Canterlot Castle and there you have it. Just south of here is Golden Oaks Library, you shouldn't be able to miss it. That place could be a valuable source of knowledge should you need anything, but not your only resource. There should be a bulletin board on the outside of the building, thats where ponies put help notices. I imagine that since you're new, you don't have a steady income yet. You might want to check that soon. The guest house is free for the first five nights, but after that, it's two bits a night and ten bits a week. It's just across the street. Any questions?" The Mayor looks up from the map and Mike looks at her in confusion.

"No, thats about it. C'mon Mike." Mike follows dumbly after Starlet, barely managing to wave back at the Mayor before being pulled out the door. He wants to resist and say that he does have a lot of questions, but he just keeps his beak shut and follows in silence.

~~~~~~~

Starlet heads directly across the street to the guest house, trying to figure out the best course of action. I should go see the library and catch up on basic Equestrian knowledge, such as history. Learn the laws, don't want to get thrown in jail for something trivial. Also- that train of thought is cut short by Starlet bumping into an excited pink mass. "Oh, sorry. I wasn't looking where I was..." Starlet trails off as she recognizes the pony. "Oh, Pinkie... it's you, I almost forgot about that," Starlet says.

"Oh, you're new! My name's Pinkie! But it sounds like you already knew that! What did you almost forget? Oh, but before I forget, I need to throw a party! A welcome to Ponyville party for the two of you! Since you know my name, what are your names?" Pinkie's rambling comes to a halt and she smiles widely to the two of them.

"My name is Starlet Mint, and this is Mike." Starlet introduces.

"Mike the griffon, has a nice ring to it. I never really understood griffon names, but I've never known many other griffons that well. I tried to get to know my friends friend that was a griffon..." Pinkie frowns as she recalls the memory, "she wasn't very nice. But you seem pretty nice, and its always nice to make new friends! Don't you think? Actually, I do know a pony named mike, but that's his last name, and it's a nickname. Is that just a nickname?" Mike takes a while to think on what she's said and slowly shakes his head, Mike is speechless. "I didn't think so... oh well, anyways" Pinkie continues on her rambling.

She can be a bit much to unsuspecting ponies... and griffons. Starlet chuckles to herself.

"Come by Sugarcube Corner tonight for your welcome to Ponyville party! Oh, but before I go, what flavor of cake do you two want?" Pinkie is sitting excitedly, her tail flitting about.

Tail flicking, twitching. Twitchy tail... Twitchy tail! Starlet sees Pinkie isn't doing anything, and they're all standing in front of a house. Starlet pushes Pinkie further from the house and jumps away from where they were standing, pulling Mike along with her. Just in time to escape the impact of a potted plant where Pinkie had been standing, Pinkie stares at the plant with wide eyes. She gets up from where Starlet pushed her and looks up at the pony apologizing from the top floor.

"Sorry, about the push, you were t-" Starlet is cut off by Pinkie.

"You knew it was gonna happen." Pinkie says.

"Well, yes, bu-" Starlet is once again cut off, Pinkie sweeps her into a giant hug.

"I'm not the only one with a Pinkie sense! Though, I guess yours would be called a Starlet sense, but you knew. We could start a team! Maybe there are others with similar powers? We can start a group of ponies with powers that we can't explain! Then we can fight evil in the name of good and deliver vigilante justice and-" this time Starlet interrupts Pinkie.

"Pinkie! I don't have powers!" Starlet yells.

Pinkie pie blinks, "you don't?" She asks.

"No, I don't." Starlet affirms.

"But, you knew about the-" Pinkie starts.

"No, I saw your tail twitching, but you were too caught up in talking about the party to notice," Pinkie Pie stops and thinks.

"Wait, you believe in my Pinkie sense? And you know about it?" Pinkie asks incredulously.

"Twilight believes in your Pinkie sense, I don't think it's that far fetched to believe in. Now, about that cake. You were talking flavors before we were interrupted. Mike, is there a flavor you'd like? Because I'm fine with whatever," Starlet sighs exasperatedly and then turns to look at Mike.

"Oh, uh... red velvet?" His answer is more of a question, but Starlet accepts it.

"That flavor fine?" Starlet asks Pinkie.

"Oh, yeah! What about cookies? Or punch? Or-" Pinkie stops as Starlets hoof goes to her mouth.

"Surprise us, your the premier party planner of ponyville. I don't have balloons on my flank, you do. But we do have things to do in the meantime, so we must go get those things figured out. We'll make sure we get to Sugarcube Corner later, ok?" Starlets eyes are pleading the party planner to leave.

"Oh, ok! Great, I'll see you there!" Pinkie hops down the street and away from them, Starlet lets out a sigh. Starlet feels the familiar switchlike feeling and straightens herself up somewhat.

"And, that there... was Pinkie Pie. Ponyvilles Personal Premier Party Planner. She can be a bit much at times, 'specially if ya don't know her that well. Y'all should get used to it fairly quickly, then she can be real fun. She is the element of laughter after all," Starlet explains to Mike, though it's clear he still doesn't quite understand what just happened. "C'mon, lets just get to the guest house," Starlet sighs and continues on, Mike follows.

~~~~~~~

Mike looks around the room, inspecting it. The bed looks a little small, but theres nothing to be done about that. He sighs and looks at the door, he's tossing around the idea of going somewhere. After Starlet got him situated, she said that she had some things to do. Mike is hesitant to do anything, mostly because he doesn't know anything about this world. But... he has wings on his back and he's been itching to see if they can actually fly. It should be easy right? Starlet said something about enhanced muscle memory, so it shouldn't be hard right? Mike thinks as he heads out of the guest house.

Mike looks around him at the various streets and decides against flying for now, he instead decides to just take a walk. He'd heard from somewhere once that the best way to get good at doing something was to feel comfortable doing it at all. Seeing as he's not that comfortable with his body yet, moving around in it should make him a little more comfortable.

Mike turns and walks down the street to his left, committing the turn to memory. He continues down that street until he comes to an intersection that he has to make another decision, he chooses right. He continues to turn down various winding roads until he stops in front of a shop that just happened to catch his eye, it looked like a giant gingerbread house. He remembers seeing it briefly on their way to the town hall Without bothering to even look for a sign, he goes in. His nose is immediately assaulted by the sickly sweet smell of tantalizing baked goods. He didn't have whatever was used as currency here, but he sure wishes he did. The rich and tasty looking treats must be quite expensive, especially with how good they smell. Mike is practically smushing his face against the glass before he realizes what he's doing, he shakes his head clear.

I gotta get out of here, it's all so tempting. I can come back later when I have some coin, Mike sets his mind and turns to the door, but he's stopped cold by a familiar all too cheery voice.

"Oh! Hey Mike! You're way early, the party doesn't start for a couple hours!" Mike turns around to see the same pink pony that invited him and Starlet to the party, she's behind the counter. Pinkie Pie was her name if Mike recalled correctly. She was pleasant enough, and certainly had extra energy for those around her. She was just a little, hard to handle, to put it gently. She was certainly fun though, and Mike didn't mind her.

"Yeah, I didn't realize that this was Sugarcube Corner. It is an interesting building..." Mike replies.

"So, whatcha doin' Mike? Are you enjoying Ponyville so far?" Pinkie grins widely from behind the counter.

"It's..." Mike thinks hard about his answer. He hasn't seen much of the town, and what he has seen doesn't really give him an opinion on the town as a whole. "Different," Mike continues,  "It's very different from where I lived before. It's nice, but it's not much compared to my old town" a twinge of sadness hits Mike as he looks at his claws, then he realizes how what he said could be taken. "I don't mean that in a bad way! It's just... I... I just have so many memories of there, but I don't really have anything here. I guess I'm a little homesick? I dunno, I'm sorry if I offended you," Mike jumps a little in surprise as he feels a hoof over his back.

"I know what you mean, I felt the same way when I moved here. But I started making friends and it made me feel better, now it's like home here. Of course, the farm is and will always be my home too," Pinkie adds quickly. "And now you've got one more friend to help you adapt to Ponyville! Isn't that great?" Pinkie asks excitedly. All the cheer from before has returned to her voice, but in that small moment Pinkie almost seemed a little sad. He doesn't know why, but something about her seemed a little sadder. Or maybe it was empathy? Sympathy? Whatever it was, Pinkie was moving on like it hadn't happened.

"Yeah..." Mike agrees. Pinkie just smiles and bounces back to the counter, Mike just watches the silly procession.

"Well, I'll see you later at the party! Right now though, I have to get it set up! Oh, you wouldn't happen to have any Nitrogen Triiodide, would you?" Pinkie asks suddenly.

"Um, no." Mike replies. He's not quite sure what it is, but he's sure he doesn't have it.

"A shame, I'll have to borrow some from somepony, but who?" Pinkie trails off in thought.

"What do you need... whatever that is, for?" He's almost afraid to ask.

"Oh, no reason~," Pinkie smiles coyly, Mike starts backing out of the shop.

"Ok, well... good luck with that," Mike smiles nervously as he backs out. Pinkie waves enthusiastically after him, Mike half-heartedly waves back. As soon as he's out of the shop Mike picks up the pace and heads off in a random direction, desperate to get away from the pony asking for strange chemicals. Then Mike thinks about it. If she's asking for chemicals, she must know the dangers, thinking of no better answer, Mike calms down. He continues on and realizes that he has no idea where he is, he lost track after that encounter. Mike lets out an exasperated breath, it was turning out to be a very long day.

~~~~~~~

Starlet looks up at the giant tree in awe, it was simply beautiful. After getting the two of them situated, Starlet had taken off. Not without making sure Mike was okay with it of course, he had simply waved her off to go do the things she needed to do. He had assured her that he'd be fine on his own and that he needed time to process all that's happened. This had led Starlet to follow the mayor's directions to the library for a little studying.

Starlet pushes open the library door and Twilight is sitting at a table in the center, engulfed in her own studies. Starlet closes the door quietly and moves behind Twilight to get a good look at the paper, it was a research report on oddities of magic. Starlet's eyes bug out a little at this, but she calms down a second later. This report reminded her of something, but she couldn't quite put her hoof on it. Something other than the fact that her and Mike could be obvious magical oddities. Starlet watches Twilight deep in her work for a few seconds before commenting.

"You didn't dot the 'i' in 'this'," Starlet mentions. Twilight looks at it and corrects it, she mutters a thanks before freezing. Her head whips around and Starlet smiles, "Hi," Starlet says calmly.

~~~~~~~

Twilight is staring at a unicorn who seemingly appeared from out of nowhere "Ahh! I-! You-! When did you get here?!"Twilight finally asks in shock.

"A while ago. Truly fascinating stuff you were writing," Starlet comments reading some of it over before turning her gaze back to Twilight.

"Oh, well I'm glad you think so," Twilight gives a nervous smile, obviously still a little shaken by the surprise.

"Oh yes, I always wished to learn more about magic... unfortunately, the resources were never available to me," Starlet smiles as she looks around at the books, "I can see that isn't the case now," Starlet turns back to Twilight.

"Never had a chance to learn? That sounds awful! Why not? Oh, are you new in town?" Twilight asks, the shock all gone from before.

"Yes, my names Starlet Mint. A pleasure to make your acquaintance Miss Sparkle... or would you prefer if I just call you Twilight?" Starlet asks politely.

"Yes, please. But... you know me?" Twilight asks in confusion.

"I'm surprised some ponies don't, what with a lady of your stature. You're a very well respected pony, Twilight. For various reasons. I'm sure you know what they are, so I won't delve into it. I also know that you're still just like anypony else, so you don't need to worry about praise or anything like that. I'm just a pony looking for some answers, what better place to look than a library?" Twilight is looking embarrassed from the compliments.

"I haven't really done that much-" Twilight starts.

"Oh please, you mustn't brag, but that doesn't mean you need to sell yourself short. Accept your accomplishments as what they are, just don't go overboard," Starlet smiles gently to Twilight and Twilight smiles back. Starlet then turns to look at the books around her.

"Are you looking for any book in particular?" Twilight asks.

"A book on the laws, that's all for now." Starlet says, Twilight searches around and then comes up with a book.

"Here you go, Equestrian Laws. It lists them in accordance to region, as some places have slightly different laws." Twilight says, Starlet just looks at it nervously. Eventually Starlet closes her eyes and focuses her magic on the book, it shakily moves over to a table. Twilight is looking a little shocked at the struggle Starlet was having at using her magic, levitation was a spell most fillies could use with ease. It's then that Twilight also notices that Starlet had no cutie mark.

"Thanks Twilight," Starlet says as she hops into a chair to read her book, Twilight doesn't respond. On one hoof, Twilight is very curious and concerned about these two facts. And about this mare to be honest, how does a unicorn get to be that old without much experience with magic? On the other hoof, if Twilight brings it up it might hit one of her deep rooted insecurities and cause her to go into a depressive state. Or she could get angry at Twilight and leave the library. Twilight doesn't want to hurt her, but she doesn't want to just do nothing. There must be some way that she can bring it up without hurting her, that way she can help.

Oh, she seems eager to learn. And more specifically read, maybe you can bring it up through that, Twilight tries to walk up to her casually and start some conversation. "So, what do you need a law book for? A research project?" Twilight asks.

"No, I'm reading up on this regions laws so I know if they're different from the region I used to live in. It's like you said, different regions have slightly different laws," Starlet answers without taking her eyes off the book.

"Where did you come from before?"Twilight asks, Starlets mouth turns down into a frown.

"I'd really rather not talk about it, Twilight... it's kinda personal..." Starlet says in an almost whisper.

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to pry!" Twilight feels sweat beading on her forehead. This is bad, I haven't even brought up magic yet and I've already upset her. You need tact, Twilight! You need a plan! You need an opening! You need something! Think, Twilight! Thi- Twilight's brought out of her thoughts by Starlet.

"Twilight... is there something you want to know?" Starlet asks, her tone completely deadpan.

"Why are you so bad at magic?" Twilight blurts out, her eyes go wide as dinnerplates as she realizes what she's said. `Brilliant job Twilight! Now I'm sure you've upset her! You saw how she reacted to her old home! Imagine how she'll react to that! "Oh, fet! I didn't mean to say it like that! I'm so sor-" Twilight starts but Starlet puts a hoof to her mouth.

"Shh. Twilight, it's okay. I know you didn't mean it like that. To be honest... it's pretty much what I said earlier about lack of resources. I never really had anyone or anything to teach me magic before," Starlet casts her eyes down and away. "But, I should be able to figure it out if I read some of the books on how it works. I'll be fine," something about her tone didn't quite convince Twilight on the last part.

"No pony to teach you? How... no, there must have... no one at all?" Twilights thoughts fall to this. Thats awful, you have to drop the subject. She won't want to talk about it. Twilight's mouth betrays her thoughts, "I... I could teach you if you want..." Twilight beats herself up internally as she says it. Great, you might as well just say goodbye because she's not going to want to talk to you again. If she's made it this far with an inability to use magic, she must hate people trying to help her. Thinking that because she can't use magic she can't be independent. Of course, you're not thinking that, but thats what she must think you're thinking. Twilights about to say I'm sorry when Starlet interrupts.

"Would you, please?" Starlet asks earnestly, Twilights caught off guard.

"Um... yeah, I can teach you... just... give me some time to organize a schedule?" Twilights questioning the decision, but Starlet smiles happily and opens her mouth to say something. Suddenly Starlets mouth snaps shut and the sparkle in her eyes flickers and a bigger grin replaces her old smile, Starlet leaps to give Twilight a hug. Twilight is surprised by the gesture, but she returns it nonetheless.

"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you! I'll be the best student! What do I need for my studies? Wide ruled or academy ruled? Oh, academy, duh. Hm... do they sell pencils in Ponyville? Maybe I should just use a quill... I'll need a way to get this stuff, a job! I don't have a job yet! Sorry Twilight, I guess we'll have to wait for the supplies because I don't have any bits. Unless we can pull out a student loan... I'd rather not, but if we must..." Twilight had lost Starlet halfway through her rambling, it was so similar to a Pinkie style ramble. Twilight stops Starlet with a hoof to the mouth.

"Starlet, we shouldn't need any of that. We won't be learning anything too difficult, just some simple stuff." Twilight assures her.

"We'll get to the complicated stuff later, right?" Starlet asks in excitement.

"We'll see," Twilight says. She sure is enthusiastic about it, Twilight thinks.

"Wait, Twilight... back when you were apologizing..." Starlets brow is furrowed in thought, but then she just laughs nervously. "Heh, nevermind. I'm sure it was nothing," Starlet turns back to a joyful mood. "So, whens the first lesson?" She asks.

"Uh... I need to organize a schedule, and pinkie's party for you will have me sleeping in a little later... so, how about the day after tomorrow?" Twilight asks.

"Well, I need to try and get some bits so I can stay more than the three days in the guest house. Me and my friend were gonna go job hunting tomorrow and the day after... can we start in three days?" Starlet asks.

"Sure, whenever is best for you." Twilight says.

"Thanks, Twilight! You're the best!" Starlet beams a smile and then looks down at her book. She seems to speed read the last couple of lines and hands the book back to Twilight. "Here's your book back, thanks. I'll see ya at the party!" And with that Starlet bounces out the door. Twilight looks down at the book and thinks on the strange mare that just left. Twilight doesn't get long to think as Pinkie comes walking in the door, which is strangely calm. She's glancing behind herself a little, like she's watching for something. She shuts the door and locks it, and thats how Twilight knows there's something up.

"Pinkie? Why did you lock the door? We're still open," Pinkie looks at Twilight and Twilight shudders. The look is cold and calculating, but then it turns to frantic and slightly worried in an instant.

"So... you just met one of the new ponies? How was she?" Pinkie tries to ask casually.

"She was nice, why?" Twilights looking at Pinkie skeptically.

"Did anything seem off about her?" Pinkie asks.

"She had insecurities about her magic, but that's hardly off. She seemed to have a pretty sad past, but I didn't pry." Twilight tells her, Twilight turns to the shelves to put a book away.

"Did she know anything? Anything she shouldn't have known? Your name maybe?" Pinkie asks.

"She knew my name, but she had a reason for it. I'm the element of magic, the last one in centuries, of course I'll have a bit of fame." Twilight shrugs off the question.

"Hmm... I guess..." Pinkie considers the alibi.

"What is this all about Pinkie?" Twilight asks exasperatedly.

"She knew about the Pinkie Sense," Pinkie deadpans.

"She knew? And she believed you too? How do you know?" Twilight asks skeptically. Anything involving the Pinkie sense that is not the sense itself is sketchy at best in Twilight's mind, though she had grown to accept the sense itself a little more over time.

"She pushed me out of the way of a falling flower pot when I was caught up talking about the party. At first I thought she had a Pinkie sense too, but then she told me she didn't. At first I was confused, but then she explained that she knew about mine. Then I became more confused, and now she's suspicious. Maybe she's a spy pony! Probably a part of Celestia's special spy pon-" Pinkie's cut off by Twilight.

"Pinkie! Not this again! And to think I was starting to believe you..." Twilight sighs.

"But I'm telling the truth!" Pinkie pouts.

"I'm not saying you aren't. I do think she knew about the Pinkie sense, and I do think it is a little strange. I also think that's all it is, strange! Not suspicious, or dangerous, or even underhanded! I think that she's had a hard time before she got here and that she's trying to be happy." Twilight tells her.

"Oh, that's another thing. Her griffon friend seemed sad about leaving. Kinda like he hadn't wanted to leave, but had no choice to. He said he thinks he's homesick," Pinkie shrugs.

"What? That doesn't make any sense, and he's a griffon? But, no... that doesn't make any sense, why would they be homesick if they left? If they didn't want to leave, why not just stay?" Twilights racking her brain over the questions presented to her. Pinkie is also thinking, but then she turns to Twilight curiously.

"You mentioned an insecurity about magic?" Pinkie's eyes are once again cold and calculating, it sends a shiver down Twilights spine.

"Yes, she wasn't that good at it. She told me how she never had anything to teach her much about magic, no books on magic or anypony to teach her magic.” Pinkie seems to think on this for a second, before she realizes something.

"Twilight, she knew nothing about magic." Pinkie says simply.

"And she was very sensitive about it, so don't go blabbing Pinkie." Twilight says sternly.

"Twilight, you're missing the point. If she knew nothing about magic she must have been in a pretty isolated town, cut off from most knowledge." Pinkie tells her.

"Ok, maybe thats why she left. To find out about more," Twilight says.

"Twilight, if she was cut off from most knowledge then how did she know about the magical artifacts of great power and their bearers? For that fact, it makes even less sense how she knows about the Pinkie sense," Pinkie states. Twilights frozen, for two reasons. One is that all the accusations that Pinkie was making are spot on and have very little chances of explanation. The other is that the observations came from Pinkie. But, she almost didn't seem like Pinkie. She almost seemed a shade darker than Pinkie usually is, and even the way Pinkie is holding herself seems different. "Twilight, focus. Mysterious mare that knows things, what do we do?" Twilight snaps out of her thoughts about Pinkie.

"P-pinkie? Are you alright?" Twilight was sure there was something wrong. Pinkie had her startling moments of clarity, but Pinkie was never the one telling others to focus.

"Twilight, I'm fine. Now back to more pressing matters," now Twilights sure something is wrong, Pinkie is way too calm. But there isn't much Twilight can do about it except note it for later.

"Fine, ok. Um... did her griffon friend know anything?" Twilight asks.

"Well, no. He seemed kinda lost about everything. Almost like he didn't know a lot about how things work," Twilight looks up at the speed of the answer. Gone was the calculating coldness in her eyes, Pinkie had returned to the same joy and energy as before. She was currently bouncing around in thought.

"Well... maybe they're not from the same place. There are plenty of ways she could know those things without knowing a lot about magic. They must have touchy pasts, and I don't want you digging into it." Twilight says decisively.

"But Twilight-" Pinkie starts.

"No. No buts," Twilight cuts her off.

"Fine..." Pinkie sighs, and then she perks up. "Oh, by the way, here's your invitation to the welcome party for Ponyvilles newest guests! The party starts tonight at Sugarcube corner! Don’t miss it.” and with that Pinkie Pie leaves the invitation and hops out the door. Twilight just shakes her head and opens up the invitation, she find no additional information so she just tosses the invitation aside. Her thoughts drift to Pinkie Pie. While some things she did were predictable, such as the parties, even more of the things were so unpredictable. the only thing you could come to expect from Pinkie was the unexpected, and she delivers it with such frequency that it can be overwhelming. The most shocking thing about this encounter was how she acted, not quite so much the old Pinkie, but almost like a different pony altogether.

Twilight thinks on these things for a while before pushing them out of her mind, she has a research report to finish. Twilight returns to her papers and continues her work.

~~~~~~~

Mike is walking through the streets, hoping to find some sort of landmark he might remember. He hasn’t found anything, though he has seen some interesting things. Unicorns using magic, mostly levitation though. He also saw some Pegasi moving clouds and just flying around. He noticed getting some weird looks, but he deducts that up to not seeing any other griffons around.

‘They must not be very common’ Mike decides as he looks around. He’s so caught up in looking around that he doesn’t notice when Starlet falls into step next to him until she speaks up.

“So, how’re you liking Ponyville?” The mare smiles widely.

“Oh, it’s… uh, nice. Really nice. Everypony is nice, the view is nice, everything overall is nice,” Mike says as he looks around. He turns back to Starlet and she’s not practically bouncing anymore, she’s walking calmly.

“That’s good, I was worried about how you’d take our situation.” Starlet says.

“It’s pretty surreal, but I guess it could be worse. I’ve pretty much come to terms with it…” Mike answers, hanging his head a little.

“Well, that’s good. I was worried that you wouldn’t take it well.” Starlet chuckles nervously.

“Yeah, I was worried at first too. Now I’m just… a little worried still I guess. just not at the same thing. Now I’m just worried about other stuff… like getting home.” Mike says a little downcast.

“Don’t worry, we’ll figure something out,” Starlet didn’t look as sure as she sounded. There was a trace of doubt in her tone, and it didn’t bode well with Mike. “So, you ready for that party later?” Starlet asks. Mike’s stomach grumbles and he looks over to her embarrassed.

“Well, I’m pretty hungry. I haven’t had anything to eat since last night,” Looking up to the sky Mike sees the sun is almost directly overhead, “It’s already about midday,” Mike says.

“Right… oh, jeez. What do griffons eat? I imagine that you guys eat some sort of meat, but maybe you’re vegetarians here? What’s something that should be safe? What did Gilda eat? Oh, Pastries!” Starlet finally exclaims.

“Um, Starlet? We don’t have any… whatever is used as money here,” Mike points out. Starlet goes back to thinking and Mike waits for her to think of something.

“Oh, Pinkie!” Starlet looks around frantically and dashes off in a seemingly random direction. Mike chases after her quickly, not wanting to lose sight of his friend.

“What the heck! Where are we going?!” Mike asks as he trails the unicorn.

“Pinkie should be able to help us!" Mike follows at a much slower pace, just barely keeping Starlet in sight. He's not sure what Pinkie could do to help, but he's not as enthusiastic as Starlet about it. Starlet runs in and out of Sugarcube corner, then back to Mike. "She's not in Sugarcube corner, she must be out delivering invites," Starlet sighs and runs a hoof through her hair. Mike looks behind her and sees Pinkie bouncing down the street, how convenient.

Mike points a claw and Starlet turns her head, she perks up at the sight of Pinkie. Mike rolls his eyes as Starlet darts after her, he walks over at a much slower rate. He watches as Pinkie gives Starlet two cupcakes and bounces away, Mike puzzles over where she got the cupcakes. He approaches Starlet and she seems to be looking after Pinkie sadly.

"Starlet?" Mike asks in concern. Starlet turns to him with a wide grin, she hoofs over a cupcake.

"Pinkie always has the answer, shes the perfect deus ex machina," Starlet laughs and bites into her cupcake, Mike just nods and does the same.

"I guess so," Mike munches on the cupcake idly, still puzzling over how Pinkie got the cupcake. It tastes fresh, so it's not like she just has old cupcakes lying around. What type of pony carries around fresh cupcakes, just in case? He just drops the topic, obviously thinking about that will lead to nothing but-

"An endless pit of insanity from which there is no return," Starlet chuckles to herself as she so perfectly finishes his thought. Mike looks at her in shock, she just smiles weakly back at him. "Sorry, just thinking to myself," Mike snaps out of his stupor, they couldn't have been thinking of the same thing. So then, what could lead Starlet to think something like that?

~~~~~~~

"Welcome to Ponyville!" Starlet looks around at all the decorations in awe as she enters Sugarcube Corner, Mike does the same as he follows close behind. Pinkie looks at them excitedly, "so? What do you think?" Pinkie asks.

"Bravo, Pinkie. I'd have to say that this party is a smashing success!" Starlet says with a wide smile, Mike nods as he continues to admire the decorations.

"Here try the punch!" Pinkie zips over and hands Mike a glass of punch, he takes it graciously.

"Okay," he takes a tentative sip. He quickly downs the whole cup as he tastes it, he heads to the refreshment table to get more. Starlet looks over the party at all the guests, she looks back at Pinkie to find Pinkie giving her a strange calculating stare. Pinkie perks up and pulls Starlet to the snack table, Starlet doesn't dwell on it much. She must have been seeing things, Pinkie shouldn't be judging her.

"You! How did you know my name?" I grin as Lyra walks up to me.

"Lyra heartstrings, the famous Lyrist? Who wouldn't know you? I'm a fan of your work," Pinkie gasps and I turn to find her eyeing me once more. I raise an eyebrow and she looks away quickly. Seriously, it's almost as if she... knows something. I immediately dread the thought and ignore Pinkie, hoping I'm wrong.

"But I... you... you do?" Lyra finally says in shock.

"I do, you should ask Celestia if you could play in the grand galloping gala. I'm sure she'd let a mare with natural talent like yours play, it could be your big break!" I exclaim excitedly, talking rapid fire. I glance to the side to see Pinkie looking me over, I don't dare flinch.

"... Oh my Celestia, you're right! I should do that! Why did I never think of that! I could be famous!" Lyra exclaims.

"I know right!?" I nod vigorously, using both mine and her enthusiasm to ignore Pinkie.

"Wow, you're really cool, you know that? Wanna come by the park and hang sometime?" Lyra asks, calming a little.

"Would I!" I nod vigorously, still very excited for some reason.

"Say, you could come to a meeting for my club!" Lyra says.

"Ooh! What's the club?" I ask.

"The Human Lovers Club!" I freeze as Lyra says this. My mood instantly takes a u-turn, I feel a click as I start to calm down.

"I think I'll pass on that offer, I'm not too fond of the creatures." I reply smoothly.

"You know what humans are?" Lyra says excitedly.

"Yes, I don't much care for them. Sorry," I tell her, Lyra just waves it off.

"No need, I understand. I've had worse rejections. It took forever to get my girlfriend BonBon to even think about me that way. She kept on saying, I'm not gay!. Can you believe that after one of those rejections I came home in a ripped tuxedo, wilted roses, and frosting covering myself? That wasn't even the worst!" I chuckle as Lyra laughs with me. "A tale for another time, you still gotta go see all the other guests." I wave to Lyra as she walks away and turn to find somepony else there. I greet many more ponies, Pinkie's gaze always hovering over me. I look back multiple times to find her quickly looking away, pretending to be preoccupied. I turn back around to find a peculiar brown haired earth pony with a hole in her hoof.

"Heartbreak?!" I yelp in exclamation. Suddenly, I have a much worse feeling about all of this.