My Little Hero

Chapter Four

I frowned at the mark, confused at it. I half expected to see the true Triforce there. That would make sense. But this was like an inverted symbol. Has all of my rebelling finally marked me as free from my father's legacy? That didn't make much sense either. I sooner had a different mark than this thing. Besides, what confused me most was the way it looked. The cutie marks I've seen thus far looked natural, as if their fur grew that way. This looked like it was burnt into the fur, something that was put there.

"I've never seen a cutie mark like this before," A.J. said.

"It looks dark," Rarity said.

"It looks unnatural," Dash added.

"It looks almost like it's an uncutie mark," Pinkie commented.

I frowned as I shifted my wings and covered the mark with it. "Are we done here?" I asked in annoyance. They all looked at me, even Fluttershy, though she looked away when I noticed. I sighed. "Ok, I don't know anything about that mark. I didn't even know I had it." I then attempted to change the subject. "Fluttershy, right?" She looked surprised when I said her name. But she nodded nervously. "Sorry for the scare earlier. Didn't expect that to happen. I'm Hero."

I heard her mumble something that I could barely make out as, "Nice to meet you." I just nodded at her and looked at the others.

"Oh, right," Rarity said. "Now that that's all out of the way, let's continue. Those metal things too."

I rolled my eyes as I started to slip the necklaces off my neck by lowering my head and letting them slip off. I guess Rarity was half expecting them to crash through the ground too, judging by her expression. But they just cluttered to the ground. The bracelets were next. They were more trickier, but I worked them off by pushing them off with my other hooves. All this seemed strange to them. I guess it was more natural for them to put on and off jewelry as well as clothes. Since I wasn't use to this body, I didn't know the tricks, so it must have looked unnatural to them. I guess I'm an unnatural pony.

The rest of the ponies talked and watched Rarity and I as she worked. She used magic powered through her horn to move objects around. Measuring tape. Different fabrics of different colors. I knew what she was doing, though I didn't really care for all the attention I got. I did notice that these ponies were very close friends too. Fluttershy talked with them more easily, though she was very soft spoken. But she would get shy if she ever thought I was looking at her.

Then the topic of the Soul Gaze came up. Though they didn't call it a Soul Gaze. Pinkie called it a freaky eye contact thing and insisted on trying it with everyone before getting right in their faces and staring into their eyes. She would claim she saw something when she looked at them, but I doubt that was true. The others would just laugh. It didn't seem that they felt unconvertible with the staring. I guess they were use to Pinkie Pie and her attics. But then they asked A.J. what it was like, being the only one to experience it. She looked at me. Without asking, I knew what she wanted. She wanted to know if it was alright for her to say.

"It's called a Soul Gaze," I said. "It's something that's connected to me. Make eye contact and we'll see into each other's souls. I didn't think it would work here, so I wasn't afraid to look A.J. in her eyes. Then it happened and now I know better."

"That's so cool!" Dash said. "Hey! Can I have a Soul Gaze with you?!"

"Me too!" Pinkie said.

"No," I said. "There's a drawback to a Soul Gaze. It's always different and you can never get rid of it. A.J. you remember exactly what you saw, right?"

"Just like when it first happened. As clear as day," she confirmed.

"You might see something bad in me, and it will haunt you forever," I told the others.

"But when I saw yer soul, I didn't see anythin' bad in ya," A.J. said. "I just saw confusion and some pony tryin' to find his place. It was as if ya were still looking for yer cutie mark. Which is why it was a surprise to see you had one, even if it does look a bit odd." I didn't say anything about it, though I kept watching her. "What did ya see in me?"

"Honesty," I said. "I knew you were a trustworthy pony. You would keep a secret if asked to do so as long as it doesn't harm anyone. But you would never lie about something."

"Well, that certainly does sound like our Applejack," Rarity said. "She never lies and we can rely on her when we need her." The others agreed. I swear I saw a little blush on her cheeks.

"Aw shucks, ya'll," she said. They laughed.

Rarity sent us away shortly after that so she could work on the outfit. I had a little trouble getting the metal back on, but the horn helped with the necklaces. The coat was equally problematic. It was as we were walking out when Dash asked about it. "So, why don't you use your magic?"

"Huh?" I replied, looking up at her.

"You're an alicorn, right? You should be able to use magic also."

She was right. I've heard of alicorns thanks to the myths in my world. They were supposedly magical creatures. And from what I could tell any pony with a unicorn horn here had magic. But I didn't know how to use the magic from here. And I didn't think the magic from my world would work here.

"I'm not use to using it," I said. "The magic in my land is different than the magic here." They seemed a little confused by that comment. I sighed. "I rather talk to your friend about all this first. I'll explain once I get to talk with her." They nodded, accepting that as an answer.

"Making new friends, are we?" came a voice from nearby. We all looked around before I spotted a nearby plant twist into a face and start talking again with a male voice. "Fluttershy, you haven't forgotten about tea today, have you?"

"Oh, Discord," Fluttershy replied. "Is it tea time already?"

There was a pop and the plant was normal again. There was another pop next to me as a creature that could only described as someone with spare body parts of different animals had thrown them all together. I could describe all the parts of him, but there were so many parts that it could be a while to describe. Overall, he had a Chinese dragon body type. Even with all of the odd parts, he still looked very dragon like. He also reminded me of someone or something.

"Oh, Fluttershy, it's alright," said the thing called Discord as he appeared on my back. "I heard there was a new pony in town and I just had to meet him." I growled as I bucked and kicked him off my back. "Oh, what a temper he has."

Then it hit me. He was a Draconequus. I had only heard of them only once before. But from what I could recall, they were rarely ever seen, only ever in the Plane of Chaos. They even had been classified as chimeras, though that isn't what real chimeras are. Seeing one in the real world was certain doom. This was the last place I would ever expect to see one. Their powers were almost limitless, having the power to change anything and everything around them. He could very easily drag someone into this world and turn them into a pony. For all I knew, this world was a creation of his own.

"Send me back!" I growled at him, not realizing at all the anger that had started building up inside me. "You're the one who did this to me, aren't you!" The creature was surprised at my sudden outburst, as was everyone else.

"You know him?" Fluttershy asked, though I wasn't sure if she was asking me or him.

"Me?" he said, and he sounded like he was honestly confused. "Look, I haven't brought anypony anywhere. Besides, why would I have any reason to bring you here? Anyway, I just wanted to say hi before I went to have tea with Fluttershy, but I guess that's out of the question. Fluttershy, shall we go now? I brought some new tea that you have to try." As he said this, some tea bags appeared, floating just over his shoulder.

"Oh yes, that would be lovely," said Fluttershy. She looked at her friends. "I'll see you girls later." She looked at me, got shy again, and looked away, walking towards Discord. With a pop, the two had disappeared, only to reappear a few feet away at a cafe, seating outside.

"Why do you think Discord brought you here?" Dash asked as we continued. "Do you know him?"

"I've heard of his kind," I said. "A Draconequus. A creature with several different body parts of different animals with the powers of chaos. Never seen one before, but he could very easily bring me here if he wanted to."

"I guess ya have a point," A.J. said. "But Discard ain't like he use to be. We can't always trust 'im, but he's a friend." She added, "I guess," under her breath as if she still wasn't completely sure about that.

I sighed. Believing that a creature like Discord had befriend a bunch of ponies was hard. Those things didn't really make friends, from what I understood of them. Then again, all I've heard of them was just a passing conversation with someone.

It was quiet for a moment before Pinkie Pie spoke up. "Oh! I still need to get everything ready for the party! Don't be late!" With that, she ran off.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched her go. "Well, I need to go," Dash said. "I have some weather duties I need to do and then I have to work on a new move! I'll see you two at the party!"

She flew off, leaving me wonder what she meant by weather duties. A.J. looked at me. "Shall we meet up with Big Mac and Granny?" she asked.

"You go on ahead," I said. "I want to take a look around and think over some things."

She watched me for a moment. "Ya ok, honey? Somethin' on yer mind?"

"Nothing to worry yourself over," I said. "Just want to be alone for a bit. I'll catch up with you ponies later."

She stared for a long while before she nodded. "Well, alright then. But if ya need to talk, ya can come to me."

I nodded to her and started to walk off. I didn't really want to check out the village. I needed a private place to try and get use to this body, and maybe even learn how to use the horn. And I knew where to go though.

I went back to the farm. Since A.J., Bic Mac, and Granny Smith were in town selling apples, and Apple Bloom was off somewhere with her friends, the place was empty. I had plenty of time and space to work out my new body. Just as long as I didn't tear up another tree...or a house. I stayed out in the barn to work. I started by working out how to get the coat off. I wanted to go through the pockets and see what I still had with me as well. After several tries, I was able to get the coat off and hold it in my mouth so it didn't destroy the ground. Then I went through the pockets. All my stuff that I had in it when I went through the rift were still there, though some of it was either smaller or I couldn't pull out.

Next was working on movement. I took some time to walk around and move. I recalled what I saw from the other ponies and how they interacted with everything and tried to replicate them, picking things up with my mouth or slipping one of my front hooves to pick things up. Next were my wings and flying. It was weird to use muscles I didn't normally have, but I was able to get a small flutter. I didn't quite get the hang of it, but I didn't plan to go flying around anytime soon. My horn was next.

I decided to try to focus my will through it. It started to glow, but I didn't have a goal in mind, so that was the most I got it to do. The good thing was that it didn't fly out wildly. No exploding horn for me. But I had a thought. My metal. The whole reason I could manipulate it was because of my study in alchemy. Normally, I would have had to draw circles and symbols, but I had an incident years ago. I was badly injured and cut open. So, I had a plate with a transmutation circle engraved in it put into my chest. This allowed me to focus through it and manipulate the metal, melting it and reforming it into what I needed. But would alchemy work here?

I was sure the plate was still there. Even though I was transformed, the metal plate couldn't really be removed or just disappear. With that in mind, I tried to focus like I would normally do. It didn't work. I decided to try something different. Instead of just focusing the power through the plate in my chest, why not through my horn? It might have taken an hour or so to figure out, but it worked.

After realizing that I could use my magic, even though it was by a different means, I started to do what I always did. Train.