Author's Note

This novel is being written by myself in Fimtale (a Chinese website), and I'm translating it into English version also by myself. If you can read in Chinese, you can read it in Fimtale. I will update English version until it's end, but the speed will be slower than Chinese version. Hope you enjoy!

Magical Mysteries & Practical Potions was the book that was mentioned in S1E25. In this episode, Spike was interrogated by Pinkie Pie and confessed that he spilled juice on this book. So I designed such a comedy plot.

Chapter 1: The New Visitor

Chapter 1 The New Visitor

The sun rose under Princess Celestia’s power, and Ponyville welcomed another beautiful day.

The Ponies in town started their daily work as usual, and made the whole town became lively. Among the many ponies shuttling through the streets, an entirely pink filly was extremely eye-catching.

Not only because of her extremely disheveled rose-red mane and equally disheveled tail, but also because of her gait and exuberance. She hummed a freshly made song while greeting all ponies, and anyone who saw her would affectionately shout, “Pinkie!”

She didn’t have a specific plan today, but she was used to letting plans proactively find her. Anyway, she knew every day will be fulfilling.

At the end of the road, a strange pony hesitantly stepped into the town. He was light-brown all over, with black mane and tail, interspersed with two inconspicuous-dark gray highlights. His eyes were black, and he looked very ordinary overall.

As soon as he stepped on, he looked around and no pony had reacted, so he breathed a relief-sigh and continued walking along the way. He deliberately kept a distance from the other ponies, with a forced and awkward smile on his face.

Although none of the ponies in Ponyville knew him, they politely nodded when they saw him.

This unfamiliar pony looked a bit uneasy, and seeing the pink filly standing across the road from afar made him even more nervous. He quickly turned around and ran away. At the moment he turned around, Pinkie Pie inexplicably noticed something and looked over, but found nothing - the new visitor quickly hid behind a wall.

He waited for a few seconds, seemingly without any ponies coming over. He took a deep breath and then peeked in, only to find she was gone.

“Hi!” A familiar, energetic, shrill voice came from behind him.

“Holy -” He jumped up in fear and fell to the ground with his hooves up. Pinkie Pie somehow had come to next him. “I shouldn't have had wishful thinking...” he muttered as he stood up again.

“Hi! My name is Pinkie Pie,” the pink pony in front of him smiled. “I haven't seen you before. Are you new here? Nice to meet you. What's your name?”

“Okay... hello. I'm also... glad to meet you.” His smile became even more awkward, indicating that he had no interest in talking and was preoccupied.

Pinkie Pie didn't reply, blinked and stood still, as if waiting for him to say next words; But he didn't, just blinked after speaking, as if waiting for Pinkie to say too.

A few seconds later, Pinkie spoke first, “Is that all?”

“Hmm~Hmph?” The unfamiliar pony tilted his head slightly, with an even more awkward expression.

Pinkie scratched her head, feeling a little confused, and then suddenly realized. “It's okay, let's do it again - Hello, my name is Pinkie Pie, what's your name?”

However, as a result, he became confused and said, “Um, you've already said that, so…”

Pinkie raised her eyebrows lightly, touched her face with hooves, and continued, “Okay, let's do it again - hello, my name is Pinkie Pie. Please tell me your name." This time, the latter half of the sentence was spoken word by word, because she was still afraid that this pony wouldn't understand her.

“Uh...” The unfamiliar pony stuttered for a while, unable to say a word, and finally had to say, “I haven't figured it out yet.”

Upon hearing this, Pinkie exclaimed in surprise, “What does ‘haven't figured it out yet’ mean? You may not have heard my question clearly.” Then she rubbed her hooves back and forth on her face, revealing the smile she had just showed a few minutes ago when she said the first “Hi”.

“Once again, may I ask what your name is? I should have said it clearly this time.”

“My name...I haven't decided yet.”

“Ah!” Pinkie jumped up in place and then forced herself to calm down. “What do you mean? Are you saying that you haven't figured out your name yet?”

The new visitor nodded.

“This is really the weirdest thing in the world! Well, it may not be the weirdest, but it might be...I have to think about all the strange things I've ever seen,” she said, counting on her hooves and unsurprisingly counting far more than four hooves.

“Perhaps it's the seventh strange thing, you're an adult pony, why haven’t you figured out your name?”

“Ah, actually I have a name, but I can't say it in pony's language. So I have to come up with alias. Can you understand?”

“Woo~~So that's it.” Pinkie's face returned to normal, but she immediately wondered, “But you do are a pony. Why can't you say your name in our language?”

“That's…complicated,” said the new visitor, looking up at the sky. The sun was slowly moving, representing the passage of time bit by bit. “I have something else to do, if you don't mind -”

“Wait!” Pinkie grabbed him. “If I don't know how to call you, how can I write a song and make friends with you? I can't call you ‘hey’, or ‘yo’, or ‘the guy’ - that's too impolite…Wait a minute, can I call you like that? Nope, probably not.”

“You can call me whatever you want, I don't mind. I really have to go now,” he said.

“What are you going to do? I can help you.” Pinkie immediately jumped in front of the new visitor and blocked his way. “After your business is done, we can think of your name together, and then I can know how to call you. Then I can write a song based on this, and after singing, finally we can be friends.”

“Here it is…” he murmured softly.

“What?”

“Nothing. If you want to make friends with me, there's no need to go through so much trouble. I'm happy to make friends with you. Even if you're willing, we can be friends now.”

Pinkie didn't reply, well, to be precise, she was too excited to respond. After trembling for a while, she suddenly became a pink ball bouncing back and forth, cheering while bouncing. The new visitor ran away decisively while she was still bouncing.

Pinkie reacted and stopped bouncing, chasing after him. “Wait!” She quickened her pace, but realized that it was unnecessary - the new visitor started running very comically, and his hooves didn't seem to belong to him, tripping up after only a few steps. She was just ahead of him in few seconds.

For Pinkie, although it was a bit hasty, making new friends always made her enjoy. The only thing she didn't understand was why this pony didn't want to chat.

“Why are you always in such a hurry? Since we are friends now, I have to help you.”

“I need to find a job quickly,” said the new visitor with a long sigh. “I've been wandering outside for several days and haven't eaten. If I hadn't been extremely hungry, I wouldn't have even entered the town.” As soon as he finished speaking, his belly let out a just right growl of hunger.

“Just that? It is all on me! But before that –” Pinkie confidently patted her chest, then opened the backpack on her back and hooked out a cupcake with her mane. “You need to eat a cake to fill your stomach first, and only when you're full can you have the energy to look for a job.”

The new visitor swallowed it as if he had never seen a cake in eight lifetimes, almost without chewing much. “Thank you, thank you so much. You don't know how much this means to me!” He smiled awkwardly, but with less awkwardness and more sincerity than before.

“Making other ponies happy makes me happy.” Pinkie Pie nodded, feeling a sense of accomplishment rising within her heart. “If there's nothing else, we –”

“Wait a minute,” he interrupted immediately. “About the cupcake, do you have any else?”

……

In order to solve the hunger problem of the unfamiliar pony, Pinkie invited him to eat dinner. At first, the unfamiliar pony was still very embarrassed, but under Pinkie’s repeated requests, he compromised and then ate two servings of fried hay, three large bowls of vegetable salad, three fried bean burgers, and a glass of orange soda.

After eating and drinking enough, the new visitor’s previous urgency disappeared without a trace, and now he was happy to chat slowly with Pinkie. They talked while walking.

“Actually, finding a job in Ponyville is pretty easy,” said Pinkie confidently, with a serious expression, but no matter how serious her expression was, it would make every pony laugh.

“You just need to tell what you are good at, show it to the ponies in need, and ‘bang’ – It is done.”

“But I don't seem to be good at anything.”

Upon hearing this, Pinkie sneered incredulously, “Silly, how could you not be? Every pony has one or more things in talents, maybe you just don't realize it yet.”

“Yeah, every ‘pony’ has...” the new visitor murmured softly.

Pinkie didn't hear what he said, stood still, and pulled the hooked strand of her mane with hooves. From her messy mane, a writing board and a pencil popped out.

“It may be hard to say, but it's much easier to write. Write down what you've done before and what other ponies have praised. Let's analyze it and see what your talent is,” she said.

The new visitor hesitated and nodded, then used hooves to reach the pencil on the ground, but the pencil only rolled back and forth under and couldn't be picked up; He went to touch the writing board, but apart from leaving dust on it, he still couldn't pick it up.

Even Pinkie Pie, who usually shocked other ponies, was also shocked by him. “You never used a pencil before?”

“Uh, in my hometown...the writing are different, we, uh, use hooves dipped in ink to write,” said the new visitor with an awkward and polite smile.

“Okey-dokey-lokey.” Pinkie picked up the writing board and pencil, and stuffed back her mane. “Then let's get straight to the point. If it's difficult to determine whether you're good at ordinary things, then the cutie marks - definitely won't go wrong, just look at your –”

As she spoke, she pushed aside the tail of the new pony that had been blocking his flank, only to find that it was blank above. Is this her second or third time being shocked? No cutie mark! Adult pony! No cutie mark!

He used to cover his flank with his tail and always showed her only one side. She thought he was shy once - well, then it seemed he was indeed “shy”!

“Oh my goodness! You are full of mysteries. I know it, I will call you ‘Mr. Miracle’...No, it isn’t the time to struggle with the name. Are you the only one in your hometown without cutie mark?”

The new visitor scratched his head and hesitated for a moment before saying. “Well, in a sense, in my home, the absence of cutie marks is the norm, and only a few of us know their gifts.”

“Your hometown is truly a magical place. Perhaps in the future, I will go and see it.”

“You will be disappointed...” he murmured softly again, which she still hadn’t heard.

“It seems that before finding a job, we need to help you to solve the problem of your cutie mark. As long as you get the cutie mark, you will know what you are good at, and then you can find your desired job.”

“What should I do?”

“Seek the help of the expert!” Pinkie slapped her hooves confidently and then pushed the new visitor towards the center of Ponyville. “I have a friend who is knowledgeable and must have some solution.”

The new visitor was not curious about who the expert was, in fact, he knew it directly. He just let out a long sigh and followed Pinkie’s wish, because he felt that the expert couldn't help him.

……

“Spike, I’m wondering whether I should read ‘Magical Mysteries & Practical Potions’ again. The current recipe seems a bit incorrect.”

Inside the Golden Oak Library, a female unicorn with a light-purple body, a dark-indigo mane, and pink and purple accents is reading the recipe on the shelf while mixing potions. She didn't look up and directly asked a little purple dragon.

“Uh, you said ‘Magical Mysteries & Practical Potions’...Well, I don't think you need to read it again, after all, you've already read it several times, have you?” Spike, the little purple dragon, smiled awkwardly and politely, but actually sweating profusely.

“Never mind, I'll look for it myself,” said the purple unicorn, also known as Twilight Sparkle, using magic to retrieve the book from the bookshelf. Spike tried to stop it, but it was already too late - she had found the book she wanted and then opened it, only to find that some juice had been spilled inside, and many pages had been stained.

“What happened?!” she exclaimed in surprise.

“Uh, on the day you first came to Ponyville, Pinkie held a welcome party for you, remember?” Spike forced out a smile and explained. “You know, at parties, when every pony is happy, it's easy to get carried away. I don't know which pony spilled juice on it...I didn't tell you because I was afraid you would get angry. I thought you wouldn't read it anymore.”

“About getting angry, you're right – I do get angry now!”

Just as she screamed and wanted to continue asking, the door was suddenly opened, and the sudden knocking interrupted their conversation. Twilight Sparkle turned her head and saw that it was Pinkie and an unfamiliar pony.

“Pinkie, why are you so reckless?” Twilight said as she walked towards the door, and the book splashed with juice fell to the ground. Spike let out a relief-sigh and shook his sweat, then hid the book deep in the bookshelf.

Pinkie immediately rushed in, her two hooves holding onto Twilight and shaking her back and forth. “This time the situation is different! Mr. Miracle needs your help.”

“Who’s Mr. Miracle?”

“Here, he is Mr. Miracle.” Pinkie beckoned the unfamiliar pony over and said, “Look, as an adult pony, he doesn't have the cutie mark!”

Twilight leaned in and saw that it was indeed blank, which shocked her. “Oh my goddess, I've never heard of this before,” Twilight’s face turned cheerful. “Great, there's another new research project - I mean, please don't worry.”

She suppressed the excitement of discovering the new project and coughed twice. “We can figure it out,” she said.

After speaking, she turned around and asked Spike to help her get the books, looking determined. Obviously, she didn't know how serious his problem was, or how not serious.

The unfamiliar pony actually knew why he didn’t have a cutie mark – it was not because of any strange illness or any curse, it was just because he never knew his gift - it was as simple as that.

He tried to explain to Twilight, but she was not very convinced and insisted on flipping through the books to search, so the male pony followed her wish and waited on the side.

He thought Twilight would only search for a while, but as time passed, she still remained serious, and Pinkie was also assisting in the search, which moved him deeply.

These two fillies had just met him, but they were willing to help him. So he also joined the work of reading books, but he couldn't understand pony’s written characters at all.

“Oh my goddess, as a pony, how could you not understand?” Twilight asked in surprise.

Pinkie shrugged and said, “This is the first time you've been shocked, but it's already the fourth or fifth time I've been shocked. So I called him ‘Mr. Miracle’- He's all over miracles!”

The new visitor could only awkwardly scratch his head.

A few hours later, Twilight put down the last book on the pile of books that looked like a small mountain, sighed deeply, and said, “I'm sorry, I've searched through all possible books and couldn't find any record of a situation like yours. I'm afraid I can't help you with this.”

“No need to apologize, as I said at the beginning, this is not a disease - it's just because I don't know my gift yet,” said the male pony calmly. “I have to thank you, even though you have just met me, you are still willing to lend a helping hoof.”

“But how could that be? How could a pony not know his gift when he is adult?” asked Pinkie disappointedly. “We just became friends today, but I couldn't help you at all.”

“What are you talking about? The meal you invited was a big help, and I’m very grateful to you.” The new visitor changed his previous appearance and had a real smile on face. “And you have also come up with a name for me, right? ‘Mr. Miracle’- I think it's a great name.”

“So I can officially call you ‘Mr. Miracle’? Great!” Pinkie celebrated and sprinkled a hooful of colored paper. Then Spike walked over with half closed eyes and half angry to clean up.

“It seems that the issue can only be solved by myself,” he said. But just as he mentioned the cutie mark, he had a sudden inspiration and thought of something. “Yeah, regarding the cutie mark issue, I should look for Cutie Mark Crusaders! Where can I find them?”

But Twilight’s and Pinkie’s expressions were somewhat unexpected to him.

“Cutie Mark Crusaders? Is there this organization?” Twilight asked Pinkie. “I haven't been here for too long, so I'm not quite sure. Pinkie, do you know that?”

But Pinkie just shook her head in confusion. “I know all ponies in Ponyville, but I've never heard of this ‘Cutie Mark Crusaders’. Who are they?”

The unfamiliar pony, also called as Mr. Miracle, opened his mouth widely. It seemed that things are more complicated than he thought. “They are Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo...don't you know them?”

“They formed the crusaders? I haven't heard of it.” Pinkie said.

Mr. Miracle covered his face with one hoof and looked regretful. Twilight hadn’t have wings yet, which meant even if he had found the crusaders, they wouldn’t be able to help him because the organization hadn't fully matured. Even now it hadn't been established.

“It's too early, it's too early now...” he murmured softly.

“What's too early?”

“Never mind!” Mr. Miracle quickly brushed it off, then turned back to a preoccupied look and said goodbye to the two fillies before leaving. Pinkie still wanted to follow, but Twilight stopped her and suggested giving him some time.

Pinkie only hoped that his problem could be solved as soon as possible. She hated watching other ponies sad.