Rebirth

After half an hour of walking around the capital of Equestria, I finally find the restaurant. I enter and see the six familiar ponies at a table talking. The lizard-like creature is also there, sitting next to Twilight.

“Hey, Mark.” Rainbow Dash says. The ponies and lizard look at me. “How’d it go?”

I sit in the booth, next to Rarity, with them. There’s barely enough room. “Better than I expected.”

“How’d you expect it to go?” Twilight asks with a worried look.

“Worse than it went.”

“Thanks for being specific.”

“Anytime, Twilight.” I say. “Actually, Princess Luna helped me get an ID.”

Rainbow Dash lets out a low whistle. “And to think a thousand years ago she tried to kill her sister and take over the world.” Everypony, including me and the lizard, looks at her. “What? I’m just sayin’.” We keep looking at her. She sighs and looks at me. “So are you gonna show us your ID?”

“I actually don’t have it yet. I’ll be getting it in a few days, Luna said. I’ll show it to you all soon. I can show you my old one if you want.”

“Eh, sure.” Rainbow shrugs.

I pull out my wallet and my driver’s license. I put it on the table and they look at my ID. “It’s just got the normal stuff driver’s licenses have. Picture, details of appearance, place of birth, et cetera.”

Rainbow leans forward and looks at it. “Green eyes, brown hair. Yep, it’s accurate.”

“What’s Seattle?” Pinkie asks after reading over my old ID. “Is it a food?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if it was, somewhere. It’s actually where I was before coming to Equestria, like I already told Twilight.” I say. “It’s not where I was born, though. I’m from a place called Vancouver.”

“V-Vanhoover? I thought you said you weren’t from Equestria.” Fluttershy says.

“Vancouver, not Vanhoover.” I correct. “I’m not from Equestria, no. Vancouver’s in a country called Canada. Seattle is in a country called the United States of America.” I start to repeat what I told Twilight.

“So, Mark, how did you get tah Equestria?” Applejack asks.

I don’t say anything for a while. The question sends a shiver down my spine and I shift my weight. “I… I don’t want to talk about it. I’ll probably tell you later.”

Rarity rubs my forearm to comfort me. I’m sure if she was taller, she’d be rubbing my back instead. That would be more comforting, rather than this somewhat awkward forearm rubbing. “I think I can speak for all of us ponies, and Spike, that we won’t force anything out of you.”

“Thanks, Rarity.” I tell her. She stops rubbing my forearm. I look at the lizard and point at him. “I’m guessing he’s Spike?”

“Yeah. He’s my number one assistant.” Twilight says.

Spike clearly isn’t a pony. Would it be disrespectful to ask what he is? I guess there’s only one way to find out. “What’s your species, Spike?” I ask him.

“Dragon.” He says with some strength to his voice.

“Wow. A real life dragon. Where I’m from, dragons are mythical creatures.” I say with a wide smile on my face. “I never thought I’d see one in my life.”

“I never thought I’d see a human in my life.” Spike says.

“I guess we were both wrong.”

We share a laugh, then he burps. A green colored fire comes from his mouth then harmlessly dissipates into the air.

“Damn, that was cool.” I applaud the dragon. I rub my chin. “Can you do that again? I want to try something.” I hold out my left hand above the table, making sure to get it close to Spike.

“You’re not gonna do what I think you’re gonna do, are you?” Rainbow asks.

“Yep.”

Rarity scoffs. “Colts will be colts.”

“Yer an idiot, Mark. This’ll end badly.” Applejack says with a sigh.

“I don’t recommend this, and I’m one for experimenting.” Twilight says.

“I can’t watch…” Fluttershy covers her eyes with her hooves.

“I can!” Pinkie pulls out a camera from nowhere.

“Are you sure about this?” Spike asks.

“Do it. My left hand is my weak hand, just in case this doesn’t end well.”

“So that’s what a hand is.” Rainbow says. I see her elbow Twilight.

Spike blows out a flame. When it hits my hand, I definitely feel it. The temperature barely changes. It doesn’t hurt, though. It’s more of a tickle.

I pull my hand away and look at it. Not much has changed about it, except for a slight greenish discoloration. “Are you okay? Did it hurt?” Spike asks with sincere worry in his voice.

“No. All I felt was a tickle.” I say. We all look at my hand.

“Dear Celestia…” Twilight says. “Would you… be willing to do some tests with me after we get back to Ponyville?”

“Yeah, sure. I think it would be best.”

After a short time, we head back to Ponyville. The train ride feels shorter than the first one, since I don’t think I’m headed off to get killed by a mad goddess. I do feel like I’m going to be tortured by a debatably sane Princess.

Fortunately, when we arrive, I’m not killed by a mad goddess. I follow Twilight to her weird crystal treehouse home. “For these tests, it would be best if you would take off your shirt.” Twilight says to me once we get to a large, mostly empty room.

“Is it for the tests or do you just want to see me half naked?”

That gets a blush from her. Her face makes me snicker. “Yes.”

I didn’t imagine Twilight could be a smartass. “Thanks for being specific.”

“Anytime, Mark.”

I take off my shirt. “Am I sexy enough for you?”

She studies my torso. “I’ve seen better.” She laughs and swings her tail more than usual as she turns. If I was attracted to ponies, I’d take the chance to look at her ass. But I’m not, so I don’t. After all, bestiality is illegal in Washington.

“So what kind of tests are we going to do?” I ask, tossing my shirt to the side.

“Since Spike’s magical fire breath didn’t harm you, like it does to normal ponies…” She trails off, then gets back on track. “I’d like to test if other spells can affect you.”

“Alright. Let me know when you’re ready.”

“I’m ready.” She gets into a stance like she’s about to fight someone. Her horn lights up, being surrounded by a purple aura. It’s like Luna’s. I guess every unicorn’s aura color is different, then. A beam of white light erupts from the horn and straight into my chest. It knocks out my breath and forces me to the floor.

Twilight trots up to me. “Are you okay?”

I hold up a thumb. “Yeah.” I manage to spit out. It didn’t hurt too much, but my chest will probably have a nasty bruise in the morning. “What spell was that?”

“Just an energy beam. If you were a pony, that would have pierced right through you.”

“So you start off these tests by trying to kill me? Thanks, Twilight.” I say sarcastically.

She sighs. “I just assumed magic wouldn’t affect you as much as it does the average pony. Just from what Spike’s fire breath did.”

“Good thing you were right.”

We wait until my lungs fill up again. Twilight sends another spell at me, this one being fire. It’s not much different from Spike’s fire, but Twilight’s is definitely hotter. My skin is noticeably redder after the spell was cast.

The next spell is lightning. I’ve seen Star Wars, so my muscles tensed up before the lightning hit. It hurt enough to knock me to the ground and to make me cry out. Twilight stops the second she hears me.

“Should we keep going?” She asks nervously.

I get back to my feet after a second. “Yeah. I can keep going.” I cough. “Any other tricks up your sleeve?”

Twilight looks at me with a worried look on her face. She shakes her head. “I’m going to save other spells for later.”

“Are you saying you’re done? I’m not.” I flex my arm. Twilight blushes slightly at that.

She rubs her chin. Or is it muzzle? Excuse me for not being an expert on the anatomy of ponies. “We can keep going, if you really want to.”

I nod. “Yeah, let’s keep going.”

“Only one more spell, though. I don’t want to end up killing you.”

I smile at that. “If you do, I’m going to haunt you. So what’s the next spell?”

“Teleportation.”

My smile widens. “Seriously? I hope it works. Can you do any time travel spells?”

“I… don’t like to mess around with time travel anymore.” She looks to the side, then back to me. The way she said that makes me think she traveled through time. Lucky little pony. “Get ready, Mark.” Her horn lights up like before.

“Ready.”

A beam of light, like Twilight’s first spell, slams into me. My vision suddenly, but briefly, cuts to white. The next second, I’m outside Twilight’s house. And 6 meters in the air.

I land in a rose bush, which hardly softens the landing. I crawl out of the bush and Twilight appears before me. “Ow.” I say. “Did you try to do that? Make me land in a rose bush?”

“I meant for you to stay in the house… I’m sorry.” She lies down in front of me. Our noses are a few centimeters from touching.

“It’s okay. Not the first bush I’ve fallen in.” I stand up and so does she. I pull a thorn out of my arm. A thin line of blood comes from the small wound. I say. “So I’m not resistant to teleportation, or is it amplified or whatever?”

“Either teleportation on your body is amplified, or I just put too much power into that spell… Would you be willing to try again? Just so I can find out?”

I shrug. “If you don’t drop me into another bush, sure.”

Twilight giggles. “I’ll do my best. Would you rather land in a lake or a tree?”

“A lake.”

She uses her spell on me and I teleport somewhere else again. This time, above and in the middle of a lake. Instead of being 6 meters in the air, It’s only around one and a half this time.

After landing in the lake, I swim to the shore. Twilight’s there waiting for me. “Huh… Teleportation doesn’t seem to be affected by species…” She says.

“So when do I get to try time travel?” I ask, looking hopeful.

“Probably never.”

I drop my head into the soft and very wet sand. “Aw. I guess I’d have to have a DeLorean or something.”

“A what?”

“It’s a reference to a movie from Earth. I’ll explain it to you later.” I get back to my feet. “How far from Ponyville are we?”

“Not very far. Do you want to walk back or teleport there?”

On any other day on Earth, I’d want to teleport. Part of that is to scare the hell out of people. Since I’m still new to Equestria, I think it would be best to walk and learn the surroundings. “Let’s walk.”

Fifteen minutes later, we’re back in Ponyville. I notice how silent Twilight’s being. Maybe I notice because Rainbow Dash still has my iPod. I become suddenly aware of how quiet everything is. I was suddenly taken from a loud, bustling city to a quiet, tiny town at the base of a slightly louder town.

“Are you okay?” Twilight says, waving a hoof in front of me. “You didn’t answer my question.”

“Sorry. I was focused on something else. What did you say?” I ask.

“How exactly did you arrive to Equestria?”

Ugh. I’m not comfortable with talking about this yet. “I’ll tell you later. It’s a long story.”

Twilight reluctantly nods. “Alright, then.”

The rest of the walk is in agonizing silence. When we reach Ponyville, we say our goodbyes and I head to Fluttershy’s house.

Before I enter her home, I stop at a tree. The one I was at when I let Rainbow borrow my iPod. I lean against the tree. For something covered in bark, it’s pretty comfortable.

After about 20 minutes of relaxation, a familiar cyan pegasus flies in front of me. "Hey, Mark!" Rainbow Dash waves to me. I wave back and she flies over. I notice that she has my iPod with her, which she somehow managed to clip to her. Do these ponies secretly have thumbs and pockets?

"Hi, Rainbow." I say. The pegasus lands a meter in front of me. She lands somewhat clumsily. I notice that she has tiny bags under her eyes. "Get enough sleep last night?"

She blushes faintly because of what I assume to be nervousness. "...Not really." She admits quietly. "You just have so much good stuff on your thing."

"I take it you mean that?" I point to the iPod. She nods. "Where I'm from, those kinds are called iPods. The generic term is just MP3 or music player." Rainbow Dash nods again, but I think she didn't really listen. Probably due to the lack of sleep.

"So, what's with the apple on the back of it?"

"It's the logo of the company that made it. They're called, fittingly, Apple." I say. "Not really my favorite brand, but I'm not the one that bought it. My brother did."

She looks at me, but not directly. Man, she needs more sleep. "You've got a brother?"

The question bothers me a bit. I’ve never really been close with my brother. A major factor in that is definitely the fact that he’s a soldier, so I rarely see him. I hesitate to answer. "Well... That's kind of difficult to answer. I guess the best one would be 'used to'." Rainbow Dash looks away like she just hit a bad subject. "Oh, not because he's dead or something. We're just...worlds apart." I clarify.

Rainbow Dash looks back at me and nods. "Okay, thanks for clearing that up. I thought I..." She trails off. "Uh..."

I can tell she wants to talk with me more but on a different subject. "So, what was your favorite song?"

She shrugs. "I dunno what it was called. It went something like this." She began to hum a tune.

A familiar tune. A very familiar tune. One of my favorite songs.

Detroit Rock City.