Chapters The camera juddered with each step Matt took, bobbing the image up and down in a steady rhythm. Matt had long ago switched to a head cam, even after Andrew's death he still filmed everything he did. To him it was a way to remember his cousin. Matt's breathing grew more ragged with each step, both a combination of physical exertion and mental anticipation. This day had proven to be anything but normal.
During his travels Matt had stumbled across what he now knew to be a second artefact hiding high up in the Alpine mountain range. The ringing in his ears was slowly growing more potent as he drew closer to its source. Every shred of his common sense telling him to turn back, but curiosity won out this time. He was so close to the possibility of finding some answers that all logic was simply being drown out. His assent began to slow as the ringing became a constant assault on his ears. This did not last long as he soon neared the peek of his climb.
Matt had tried to fly up to the artefact, only to be shot down by a blast of mental static whenever he got even remotely close. From that point on he resolved himself to not using his powers near it. The ringing was now like a foghorn in his ear as he reached his target. Reaching out a hand he carefully wiped away a top layer of snow to revel a perfectly smooth sheet of ice. Inside the frozen water, only about 3 foot deep, was a small rock with crocked black vines weaving there way out into the ice. The whole thing emanated a sickly green aura, almost like a warning for anyone who would be stupid enough to venture too close. Matt raised his fist high before bringing it down on the ice.
“AGH! dam it” He cursed. Even with gloves the subzero temperatures had left his hands in no state to do anything remotely useful. Matt looked down at the light, anger beginning to boil up in his mind. He was not going to let this whole journey up here be for nothing.
Just one quick burst
The thoughts were barely audibly over the deafening ringing cutting into his skull. It seemed as if the artefact itself was trying to ward him off.
“NOW!” He yelled as he lashed out with a burst of telekinesis smashing the ice in front of him. Time seemed to slow. Matt was surprised, expecting to be assaulted by a near lethal blast of mental static again, only to be greeted by silence. Perfect silence, not even the sound of the wind on his back could reach his ears. A small vine of blood trickled out of his nose. Slowly darkness began to creep in on his vision. He felt the cold touch of snow and ice on his chest as his body gave out under its own weight. Before he could even draw another breath darkness took over and everything went black.
The world slowly rebuilt itself around Matt's eyes as he worked his way back to consciousness. He was first greeted by a cold, moaning wind. Carefully he raised himself to his feet, only to be brought back down with a somewhat embarrassing thud. Several anointed groans and failed attempts later, he finally decided to reach out and use a nearby tree for support. What he saw literally rendered him speechless.
Hooves? HOOVES! What the hell is going on?
Matt quickly examined the rest of his body confirming his theory.
Yep. I've officially lost it
He made a second attempt at standing, this time taking his new quadruped form into account. Standing proved easier than he had first expected, Matt put that down to quadrupeds be more stable than bipeds. He quickly surveyed his environment, taking in the full extent of his situation. The forest was thick and dark. Everything about it emanated a feeling of unease from the overgrown canopy extinguishing any and all light trying to shine down on it, to the cold fog creeping around his hooves. But worst of all was the ever an present feeling bearing down on Matt's new body. The simple feeling of unnaturalness was cutting into him like a knife. Matt knew his top priority right now was finding a way out of here. He looked off into the distance as he began to think.
Ok last thing I remember was being on a mountain trying to reach the other artefact I found then, this. So either I got knocked out and I'm slowly freezing to death on a mountainside somewhere. Or I have been transformed into an equine and I'm now lost in a forest somewhere. At the very least I can say this day hasn't been boring.
He looked himself over, if he was going to be a horse, or pony by the looks of it, he wanted to at least have a good grasp on hi situation.
Right so I still have my clothes
The though seemed moot as his clothes were no nowhere near the right size, or shape , for his new form. He also noticed his head cam was still on his head and filming. Matt's thoughts were interrupted by a low growl emanating from behind him. Slowly, being mindful of his now four feet (or hooves), he turned 180 to face the source of the predatory sound. His eyes shrank to pinpricks and he fell to his haunches. This was the second time today he had been rendered speechless, or perhaps still the first since he still had not spoken since the first time. There standing in front of him was what looked to be a fully grown manticore.
It's official I have lost it. I must be unconscious up on the mountainside. *Sigh* nothing for it but to wait it out. I wonder if I can-
His thought was cut short when the manticore quickly closed the gap between them striking him to the side with a devastating swipe of its claw. Matt was sent tumbling end over end before finally coming to a sudden stop thanks to a very solid tree trunk. The whole world was spinning as he laid out in a sprawling mess of hooves. Blood began to trickle down from the side of his head into his left eye, matting down any fur that got in its way. Pain bored its way through his skull and fear gripped tight onto his mind. Everything began to flood into focus as the adrenalin hit him.
Delusion or not that hurt!
Suddenly the manticore began to charge Matt again, now moving in for the killing blow. Matt did the only thing he could think of. Quicker than it could blink the manticore was sent bowling back by a massive telekinetic shunt. Within seconds the creature was thrown back behind the tree line. The proceeding crack of bone on wood confirmed that the fight was over.
It was well into the night by the time Matt emerged from the forest. While standing on four legs had been easy walking was a different story entirely. It did not much help that he was still in his now lose fitting snow gear, couple that with his battered semi-conscious state and it was a miracle he made it out of there as fast as he did. While the amount of blood loss was still only minor, Matt had a very bad concussion and because of that thinking straight was a near impossible task.
What looked like building began to form as silhouettes in the distance, not enough to be a city or town, more like a village. Each step he took was light and graceful. This was thanks to Matt levitating himself along the path. While he still did not have the energy to fly he did managed to muster up the strength to carry most of his weight, leaving his legs little to do. The silhouettes grew more distinct as he made his way into the village. Slowly he came up on what looked like a huge house carved into a tree. Without a further thought, and his telekinesis faltering, he stumbled his way over to the door and banged against it as hard as he could.
Twilight was awoken by a loud banging echoing through the library. She lazily rolled over mumbling something about opening hours before trying to get back to sleep only to be roused further by more frantic knocking on her door.
“Hold your horses I'm coming, I'm coming” She slowly descended from the bed room into the main hall of the library. “I can appreciate wanting a book really badly but its 3am” Twilight walked over to the door and swung it open with a burst of her own telekinesis. What greeted her was far from what she expected. A brown coated earth pony with a short cropped light blond mane stood shakily in her doorway. The entire left side of his face was covered in matted blood from a large gash in his head. His body was garbed in odd loosely fitted clothes and his entire form told the story of a pony who had just crawled his way to hell and back. The new visitor gave a week smile before collapsing in the doorway. Needless to say Twilight yelped.
Fitting it
Now to say the next morning was awkward would be an understatement.
That night Twilight had managed to levitate Matt upstairs and into her bed, give him a full medical check over, cast a spell to stabilise his concussion and make sure he was going to be all right. But after all that setting up the guest bed for her to use was just one stretch to far, so Twilight simply collapsed onto her bed next to him.
Matt was no stranger to wakening up in other girls beds, but something about wakening up to see yourself in bed with a horse, that pushed him a little to far. What followed was an ear splitting scream then a loud thud as Matt telekinetically threw himself out of bed and all the way across the room, colliding with a book shelf.
So understandably breakfast had been just that little bit awkward.
In the end it was Spike that broke the silence.
“So who are you?” He asked as he looked over at Matt. From the look on Twilights face she was thinking the exact same thing, although it was hard to see anything through all her blushing.
Matt sighed, between the manticore, talking ponies, unicorn and now baby dragon he had given up trying to make sense out of his new situation, deciding instead just to roll with it.
“My names Matt Garetty, or just Matt for short” He looked at Spike, then over to Twilight before speaking again. “So what about you two?”
“Well I'm spike, most awesome dragon in all of ponyville” Matt had to stifle a laugh after hearing the name of the village “And that over there is Twilight Sparkle, most talented unicorn in all of equestria” Twilight gave a timid smile at this.
“Well I guess I owe you thanks Twilight for helping me out last night” Twilight seemed to perk up a bit at this, giving a more genuine smile.
“Oh well, its er...no problem. I mean anypony would have done the same” her voice was sheepish, but carried a slight undertone of pride.
Anypony? That sounds more like a pun than proper speech.
“That maybe true but it doesn’t make it any less amazing” Matt added. Twilight just smiled at the compliment, idly tracing circles on the table with her fore hoof.
Wow she's kinds cute looking when she's shy. Wait WHAT! I did not just call the purple horse in front of me cute.
By this point Twilights face had almost completely returned to its original colour.
“So Twilight” Spike chimed in “why was Matt sleeping with you in your bed last night?”
And just like that Twilights blush returned with a vengeance. “We didn't do anything like that Spike!” Twilight asserted, desperate to get the message across.
“Like what Twilight?” Spike asked, now more confused at the whole situation. Twilight realized her mistake and burred her head in her hooves in embarrassment. It was now up to Matt to salvage the situation.
“Spike we just shared a bed because I was in no state to make it to the hospital last night that all” Matt was assuming the had hospitals here. It seemed like a stupid thing for any settlement to be without or at least not have access to.
“Oh ok then, well glad to see you’re all better then”
“Glad to be all better Spike”
It was at this point that everyone realized they had been sitting there for almost fifteen minutes and no one had so much as glanced at their food. Matt was far from one to leave good food uneaten, even if it was all vegetarian. He moved to pick up his glass of orange juice, only to have it pushed across the table by his hoof.
Dam, how do they even eat without fingers.
Matt was pulled from his thoughts when he saw twilights glass levitating up to her mouth as she took a drink.
Well that solves that mystery. Looks like everyone has telekinesis here, oh well when in Rome as they say.
Matt looked over to his glass focusing his mind. Slowly, with practices grace, the glass ascended off of the table and towards his mouth. It had Taken Matt months to learn how to pick up a glass with out it shattering in his mental grip. He took a sip of the orange liquid, enjoying its fresh squeezed flavour.
SMASH!
A sudden wave of panic washed over Matt. He looked down to see his glass still intact. Looking up he saw the source of the crashing sound. Twilight's glass lay shattered on the floor, a puddle of orange decorating the shards, Both her and Spike's mouths were agape.
“Um....did I do something wrong?” Matt asked genuinely clueless as to what was going on.
“B-b-b-b-but that's impossible” Twilight stammered pointing a hoof at Matt's glass accusingly.
“What's impossible?” Matt asked, genuine concern now filling his voice.
“Y-you can use magic!”
“Err well, I guess you could call it that” Matt began nervously rubbing the back of his head.
“But your an earth pony. Earth ponies can't use magic” Twilight stated as if it were common knowledge. Matt just looked around nervously, trying his best to avoid her gaze.
Great job Matt. You've been here just over a day and you've already messed up.
“What are you?” Twilight asked, a small amount of fear becoming present in her voice.
Matt sighed “well I guess I owe you an explanation at the very least.” With that said Matt placed his glass back down on the table. He met Twilights gaze before explaining everything.
By the time Matt had finished his story there was not a dry eye in the house. He told them about his life before he came to equestria. His powers, his friends, his love Matt explained everything he could. How he and his friends had found the first artifact, and what it had done to them. How there powers grew out of control, and corrupted Andrew. And how in the end, he had to kill his cousin. He also explained how he had been searching for answers for the last 3 years, and the events that led up to him ending at Twilights door.
“And still to this day I feel guilty for what I did, I know there was no other option b-but I-I just....I....I don't know what to think any more” Matt finished his story by breaking down into tears. Twilight simply moved over to his side and pulled him close, allowing him a shoulder to cry on.
They stayed like this for a good 10 minutes before Matt finally held back his tears.
“T-thanks Twilight. I needed that” He said in a shaky voice
“Haven't you ever talked out your problems with someone form your world?” Twilight asked, the concern evident in her voice. Matt let out a small, pain filled, laugh
“Kind of hard to do when you're a wanted man” Twilight was taken back by this
“Wanted, But why?”
“Simply because I was different, and they were scared of that”
Twilight was about to express her opinion on how a society could be so close minded as to hunt someone down just because they were different, but then memories of Zecora's trips into ponyville resurfaced. The realisation hit her hard. The only difference between ponyville, or even all of equestria, and Matt's world was simply they were two different locations. Fear and hatred were ever present no matter where you are.
Matt, Twilight and Spike all agreed to keep his powers a secret. Twilight felt she owed Matt a normal life, or at least a relatively normal one in his case. Spike set to work clearing up the broken glass then moved on to his daily chores. Matt and Twilight finished up there breakfasts, most of which had gone cold by then, then moved over to the main table to discuss what was going to happen next.
“So you're saying that I will need to apply for equestrian citizenship before I can work?” Matt asked as Twilight was explaining the inner working of the equestrian legal system. Luckily for Matt both human and equestrian law was relatively similar.
“That's right, don't worry the whole process is simple enough all you have to do is-” Twilight was cut off by what Matt would later describe as a pink cannonball. Looking over to where she landed Matt saw Twilight splayed out on the floor, another pony standing over her. If horses were evolved to be prey to larger animals than this ones colour scheme was doing her no favours. She had a bight pink coat with a dark pink mane shaped like a mass of cotton candy.
“Twilight I need your help I just had a doozy of a twitch and that means that there's a new pony in town but I can't find them anywhere and I need to plan them a welcome to ponyville party but how do I do that if I can't find them to tell them about it also my ears when pointy that means Twilights getting horny over another *mufh*” Pinky was silenced by Twilight jamming a hoof in her mouth.
“PINKIE!!!!” Twilight yelled in a desperate attempt to cover up what her friends had just blurted out. A violent blush adorning her face.
Pinkie pie glanced over to see Matt looking wide eyed in shock. Luckily for Twilight Matt was to stunned from Pinkies entrance he missed most of what she said. Pinkies eyes grew wide and within seconds she was standing on top of the table leaning right up to Matt's face.
“Oh my gosh you’re new here aren’t you oh this is great we can have a welcome to ponyville party with balloons and cake and *gasp*” And just like that she was gone, leaving behind nothing but awkwardness and confusion.
“Err Twilight?”
“That was Pinkie Pie, Don't worry she's harmless. Mostly” Twilight explained as she stood back up wincing slightly at her now sore back. She quickly made her way back over to the table, trying desperately to hide her blush. Luckily Matt was again to stunned to notice.
Matt and Twilight decided the best thing to do was continue where they left off. Matt was rather confused when Twilight moved onto the subject of cutie marks. Since Matt had insisted on keeping his clothes on he never got a good look at his own flank, and he was not about to take his pants off in front of Twilight, even if she was technically naked herself.
It was already well into the afternoon before Twilight finished explaining all about equestrian law and customs. Needless to say Matt was bored out of his mind.
“So that pretty much sums up everything you need to know” Twilight said, an air of pride in her voice.
“So we’re done now?” Matt asked, his voice low and droning.
“Well, yes”
“Good” Matt said before collapsing on the table. Twilight let out a small giggle. She often forgot that not everyone was as interested in academics as she was. Matt's stomach let out a small groan as he say back up.
“Well I guess we better get some lunch then” Matt instantly perked up at the mention of food.
They both left the library and headed down town to one of the many cafés ponyville had. Matt was surprised at the size of the village, being much larger than he first thought. They both took there seats at a table in one of the outside seating areas.
“Wow” Matt said admiring the scenery this world had to offer.
“Huh” Twilight responded, looking around to see what Matt found so amazing, but coming up short.
“Its just so nice, back where I'm from nothing is this clean or this friendly. Most things are just made to be a efficient as possible.” Matt remarked as the waiter came up to their table.
“Hello sir, madam, what can I get for you today?” He asked in a flawlessly rehearsed tone Looking at Matt then Twilight in turn.
“I'll just have a dandelion sandwich” Twilight ordered before looking over to Matt
“Very good, and for you sir?” He Asked looking down at Matt. Twilight quickly noticed The look of confusion on Matt's face as he looked through the menu.
“He'll also have a dandelion sandwich” she added. The waiter complimented their choices once more before disappearing inside.
Twilight gave Matt a small smile before she spoke. “I'm guessing you're not to familiar with equestrian food” She remarked earning an awkward yea from Matt as he rubbed the back of his head with a hoof.
“Twilight, Twilight” both Matt and Twilight turned to see who was calling her out. Matt saw what he could only describe as elegance personified, or ponified. A pure white coated unicorn mare with a curled purple mane trotted over to their table. “Twilight darling it's so good to see you” The mare said as she trotted up to Twilight, a large smile plastered on her face.
“Oh hello Rarity, what bring you here?” Twilight asked. It was clear to Matt from her tone that these two were good friends.
“Well I just saw you from across the street and had to come over and say hello” Rarity explained, putting a rather large amount of emphasis into most of her words. She then looked over at Matt. “And who do we have here?” Her speech felt unnaturally refined.
“Um, I'm Matt” He said
“Well Matt, darling, it's a pleasure to meat you. I am Rarity. I must say your choice in fashion is, unique, if I do say so myself.” Matt suddenly felt very noticeable, having insisted in not leaving the library naked, instead wearing his poorly fitted snow gear.
“Um, well.....you see, err” It was now Twilights turn to come to Matt's rescue.
“Rarity this is Matt, he's new to ponyville” Twilight said quickly shifting the focus of the conversation.
“Oh, well welcome to ponyville Matt. If you ever need anything just let me know” Rarity said as she biddies them ado and trotted off. Matt did not know what to make of that deciding, for safety, to just think nothing of it.
“You definitely have some interesting friends Twilight” Matt pointed out.
“Yea there all special in their own way. Maybe I should introduce you to the rest of them” Twilight said just as there orders arrived.
Matt shrugged “What’s the worst the could happen” he added with a small laugh.
All things considered the rest of the day went by rather smoothly. Matt and Twilight finished up at the café before heading back to the library. The proceeding hours were spent with Twilight questioning Matt about human culture and technology. Much to her annoyance most of Matt's answerers were either 'I don't know' or 'I never really paid attention in that class', an academic Matt was not.
Before long night fell on the land, made clear by Luna's moon hanging high in the sky. Matt still had a hard time accepting that the celestial bodies were controlled by two princesses, but, with many things here, he decided not to argue. Twilight made sure to set up the guest bed this time, and before long everypony, and dragon, in the house was asleep.
The next morning Twilight was the first one awake, eager to get a start on the day. One of the first thing that came up in Matt and Twilight's conversation was money, which lead to Matt getting a job, which lead to going to see Applejack and seeing if Matt could help out on the farm. They both stepped out of the library, leaving spike in charge once again, and set off down the path to Sweet apple acres.
Twilight had finally convinced Matt that wearing clothes all the time would only draw more attention to him, and he should go ‘natural’ as she put it. That and wearing ski clothes all the time, in what Matt quickly learned was the middle of summer, was not the most practical thing to do.
“So who was it we were going to see again?” Matt asked, more in an attempted to strike up a conversation than anything else.
“We’re going to see my friend Applejack. She runs Sweet apple acres along with her family. I'm sure she will have something you can do for a few bits.” Twilight answered as they came up on a vast field off apple trees.
Matt was awestruck, he had flown over a few apple groves in his time back on earth but this was something else. Trees stretched far out to the horizon, each adorned by succulent apples, coloured with many hues of red and green. Twilight gave a small giggle as see looked over at Matt's face his eyes wide and his jaw lose.
“As fun as it is to watch you gawk at the farm we really should get going.” Twilight said snapping Matt out of his trance. He gave an embarrassed smile as he followed behind Twilight who was walking up to the main entrance to the farm.
As they walked onto the farm Matt looked over to the barn to see the most normal coloured pony he had seen since arriving. She was a soft shade of orange with a blond mane and tail, three red apples adorning her flank. It suddenly occurred to Matt that he had no idea what image adorned his flank. Twilight had explained the concept of 'cutie marks' they need a better name but between refusing to take his clothes off, and just not thinking about it, Matt had never see his.
A quick turn of his head let Matt gaze down on his flank. To be honest he was not expecting what he saw but then again it came as no real surprise. Printed on his flank was the image of an old film real winding it was through a just as equally old film camera. Matt’s attention was drawn back to the head cam he had strapped round his skull. Over the years since Andrew's death setting up and using the head cam had become second nature to him. The memories of Andrew hit him like a knife but he quickly shook it off and made a small dash to catch up to Twilight.
The orange pony gave a wave as Twilight trotted over to her, Matt following quickly behind.
“Well howdy Twilight, what brings you out here?” She asked looking first at Twilight then over to Matt. “And who's this fella you got with you?”
“Hi Applejack, this is Matt, we were hoping you would have some work for him here on the farm since he's new in town.” Twilight explained. Applejack walked over gave him a scrutinising glare, as if she was picking out the race horse she was going to place her money on. Matt instantly felt very small under her gaze, even though he was bigger than her, she gave off a very powerful aura. But just as quickly as she started her inspection, she stopped. Looking over to Matt with a warm smile she spoke.
“Well sure, I don’t really think I will have much use for a camera pony round here, but you can sure give apple buckin’ a try. I was just about to head on out and start some harvest, if ya’ll want to tag along your more than welcome, an extra set of hooves never hurt.” Applejack said in a cheerful tone. With that said Matt felt a wave of relief flood over him.
Dam, that girl can be real intimidating when she needs to be
The three of them headed off into the apple grove.
It was not even mid day yet and the sun was already bearing down on Matt with all its force. He could only imagine how much worse the heat would be if he had been too stubborn to take off his ski gear. Before long they reached their destination. It was surprising how Applejack had managed to navigate her way here since everything looked the same the moment they entered the tree line. Matt took a good look around, he had no clue what ‘buckin’ apples’ entailed and was just that little bit eager to find out. Around the base of each tree were wooden buckets, three to a tree, and what must have been over a hundred trees set up like this.
“Whelp, here we are” Applejack announced, with just a hint of pride in her voice. “Feel free to start wherever you like.”
“Um, ok” Matt said as he walked over to one of the trees examining the buckets intensely. Luckily Twilight was there as Matt’s male pride prevented him from asking for instructions.
“Applejack I think he might need a demonstration.” Twilight pointed out pointing a hoof in Matt’s direction, as he was attempting to scale the tree. Applejack gave a good hearty laugh as she walked over to Matt. He quickly descended the tree and gave Applejack an embarrassed look.
“I’m betting ya’ll never bucked an apple before, right?”
“Well it never really came up before” He said giving a small laugh. Applejack just smiled at this before lining herself up with the tree.
*THUD*
The tree shook under the force of her kick sending an avalanche of apples down into the buckets below. Matt just gawked at her.
Note to self: don’t get on Applejacks bad side
“And that’s all there is to it, now you give her a shot” Applejack invited as she pointed a hoof at the next tree up. Matt quickly lined himself up with the tree, pressing his weight down on his hind legs, glancing back at his target.
Whelp here goes nothing
*clunk*
As the force of Matt’s hooves met the wood of the tree the sheer pressure caused the leaves to shake slightly. Now Applejacks bedside manner had never been all that great, as evident by her busting into a fit of laughter at Matt’s less than amazing kick.
“Whooo wee, ya’ll gona have to kick a might bit harder than that to get them apple down.” Finally coming to the end of her laughing fit “But for a first try that wasn’t too bad.” Matt knew she was just trying, not overly hard, to spare his feelings. With his pride on the line now he lined up and made another attempt. And another, and another, and another, and another. Each time only managing to successfully shake free a few leaves. Out of the corner of his eye Matt could see Applejack and twilight both trying to hold back laughter. That was the last straw, he was going to get these apples out of this tree, and he knew just how to do it.
Just add a little telekinetic power to my kick and those apples will be dropping like flies
Matt lined up once more and eyed up his target like a manticore eyeing up its prey. Focusing his mental energy at the bases of his hooves he gave the tree one last kick.
*BOOM*
Without warning the trunk of the tree exploded, a shower of splintered wood flying off in all directions. Applejack reacted fast grabbing Twilight and diving to the ground to minimise her exposure to the flying shrapnel. Luckily for Matt his Telekinetic kick had kept him firmly planted on the ground. Not so lucky was the fact that this caused him to get an ass full of weaponized woodchip.
“Ow” Matt whimpered meekly before collapsing to the ground. Applejack just stared wide eyed at him as she got back on her hooves.
“How?” this was the only word she could find in her brain at the time. Matt gave a guilty smile.
“Err......I think I might have weakened it a bit”
Author's Note
Authors notes: Sorry about the late and short chapter, university work has been piling up lately. Hopefully after new years the work will die down a bit and I can put a bit more time into writing this story, thanks.
Meeting Rainbow
It took a full hour of removing wood chip from Matt's flank before him and Twilight finally got to leave Sweet Apple Acres. Of course not before Applejack tried to rope Matt into attending the next Canterlot rodeo. A quick lie about 'residual magic feedback' from some healing magic Twilight used on Matt and they were on there way. Applejack saw right through the lie, but decided to let it slide. Mostly due to the fact that she knew Twilight could ratted off an entire lecture on magic just to argue her point. In the end it just wasn't worth it.
Matt and Twilight decided the next best ting was just to head back into town, so set off up the path to ponyville centre.
“Sorry about the tree back there Twilight, I guess I'm a little out of practice.” Matt laughed nervously as he rubbed the back of his head with a foorleg. Twilight just stopped walking and stood perfectly still.
“WHAT!!” she yelled scattering all the birds from nearby trees. Matt was was nearly throw back by the power of her voice. Her left eye was twitching and her mane was dishevelled. “Do you know just how rare you are?”
“Urr...” His mind drew up a blank as it scrambled to find the right words.
“I'll tell you just how rare you are!” Twilights mane began to singe at its tips. “You are the only earth pony to exhibit full magic, not just intrinsic magic but full blown telekinetic magic. And I can't tell anyone about it!” Matt stared blankly at Twilight, lost as to what she was getting at. “Just think about the discovery, it would be a massive joy to the scientific community to see an earth pony with magic or better yet a creature from another world.” Matt now realised just how careless he was at opening up to Twilight, a pony, and a girl he had only just met not half a day ago. “But NO! I made a promise to you to keep all of that a secret no matter how much it would benefit me. Benefit all of the Equestrian scholars, but no, for your sake I kept it a secret. And you have the nerve to go around using your magic in front of other ponies, and just to impress another mare no less!” Twilight just stared at Matt, her breath ragged and her eyes burned with anger.
Matt fell to his haunches, guilt hitting him like a sledgehammer to the snout. He had no idea what Twilight was going threw, just for his sake, for somepony she had only met half a day before. She was not just being kind, she was being undeniably selfless, and he had just thrown that selflessness right back in her face.
Matt prepared himself for the biggest apology of his life, but was cut of as twilight disappeared from view. He looked down and off to the side of where She was just standing to see a long trench tore into the ground. Looking further along he could see what appeared to be Twilight laying in a tangled heap with a cyan blue pegasis mare.
“Oh hey sorry bout that Twi, you know the drill, new trick kinda went wrong” The mare explained, her tone rather laid back and casual, giving Matt the impression this was not the first time she had to use another pony as a crash mat.
Twilight just grumbled in response as she slowly got back onto her hooves.
Dam that mare is tough
“Ugh, sometimes I think you crash into me on purpose” She stated bluntly, flattening out her dishevelled mane and tail with a hoof as she did.
“Well maybe you just have a very magnetic personality” The mare responded in a very sly tone. What happened next could best be described as a telekinetic bitch slap. “Ow, ok ok, sorry Twi, I promise to never crash into you again”
“That's better” Twilight stated.
Call her nerdy all you want, but that mare can take charge when she needs to.
It was at this point, and probably for her own safety, Rainbow Dash turned her attention to Matt.
“And who's this?” she asked jabbing an almost accusing hoof in Matt's direction. Matt took an involuntary step back.
“Rainbow Dash this is Matt, Matt Rainbow Dash, Rainbow Dash Matt.”
“Er, hi there” Matt greeted, building up a little more confidence in his poster. Rainbow Dash gave him a scrutinising glare.
“Ha well this is a surprise, we all thought Twilight was a filly fooler” Rainbow Dash announced with a quick laugh.
“DASH!!” Twilight was beet red from both a combination of anger and embarrassment, her voice hitting a previously undiscovered pitch. Dash just fell over laughing at he reaction, joined soon after by Matt, the whole seen finally getting to him. The laughter lasted a good minute before both Dash and Matt managed to gain some level of coherence.
“Wow Twilight, you gave an even better reaction than I expected” Rainbow Dash said, her voice strained from all the laughter.
“That wasn't very nice Dash” Twilight stated, her voice low and dangerous.
“Oh lighten up egg head it was just a joke” Dash wheezed, wiping away a few tears from her eye. Twilight took a few deep breaths before regaining her composure. Dash looked over to Matt, who was slowly making his way back up to his hooves. She took a few steps over to Matt and extended her hoof out in what Matt guessed was a hoof shake. “Names Rainbow Dash, fastest flyer in all of Equestria and future wonder bolt” She announced, taking his hoof and giving it a run for it's money.
I'm surprised she doesn't tip over with an ego that large
“So Matt, what's your story?”
Suddenly an air of tension descended on the group. Matt began to nervously shift his weight from side to side, doing his best to avoid Dash's gaze. Obviously Matt needed to make up a lie, hell even telling twilight who he really was seemed really stupid now that he looked back on it. Luckily, Dash being Dash, didn't even notice Matt's sudden shift in body language.
“I um, er......forgot, that's it. I forgot, you know amnesia and all”
Amnesia, really brain, that's the best you could come up with
Before Matt could mentally berate himself any more Dash spoke up “Amnesia huh, cool. So what can you tell about me?“ Dash asked, striking an athletic pose.
“Dash amnesia affect memory not perception, why would you even-” before Twilight could finish her lecture she was cut off by Matt holding up a hoof, a devious grin creeping onto his face.
“Well let me see, hum I’m going to say you're a strong, athletic individual. Overachieving and very prideful. Oh and clearly a rampant closet lesbian”
And for the second time today Matt was out cold.
Dash pulled her hoof back, a satisfied smirk on her face. “That'll teach him, right Twili-AGH!”
Within seconds Dash felt herself pined to the ground, Twilight standing over her, horn abase with magic. “What in the name of Celestia do you think you're doing” Twilight scolded as dash looked up on her with every growing dread.
“I-I-I j-just-”
“NO! Just no Dash. Just, help me get him to the hospital” Smoke could bee seen gradually rising of the tips of Twilights mane and tail
Dash made her way back up to her hooves as twilight levitated Matt over on to Dash's back. Blood was dribbling down from Matt's snout, and onto the back of her neck as they set of up the path to ponyville proper.
The tension in the waiting room was so thick you would need a chainsaw to cut it, and even then it would be tough. Both Dash and Twilight hadn't said a word the whole walk over. It was Dash that finally broke the silence
“Sorry” She murmured, her gaze to the floor. Twilight looked over to Dash before letting out a much overdue sigh.
“No Dash I'm sorry, I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. It's just with what Matt has been through and then that incident with Applejack” Twilight went silent as she looked back to the floor. Dash was going to ask Twilight to elaborate, but held her tongue this time.
It was another ten minuets of silence before the nurse called them over.
“Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash to see Matt correct?” she confirmed in a monotonous, but still soft spoken, voice.
“Yes” Twilight and Dash both answered. She flipped through the file under her snout for a few seconds. When she returned her gaze to the pair a small smile adorned her face.
“Matt is just fine. The doctor couldn't find any signs of concussion or broken bones, and the cut on his snout had fully healed up, very quickly I might add” She explained. “He should be through shortly.” She added as she beckoned the waiting room chairs. Both Twilight and Dash sighed, the relief compensating the monotony of the stiff chairs and old magazines.
Another ten minuets of silence followed, though the level of tension in the air had dropped immensely. Matt finally emerged from the large set of double doors, looking as good as new. Both Twilight and Dash trotted over to him, Dash being the much less enthusiastic of the two.
Dash said her good byes, and very pride crushing apologies, as the three trotted out of the hospital before shooting off into the sky.
“Well she seems nice” Matt remarked watching Dash as she shrank into the distance.
“You did kind of antagonise her with that lesbian comment” Twilight scolded, but to little affect as she found it hard to suppress her own giggles at the comment. Truth be told all of Twilights friends had there suspicions about which team Rainbow Dash played for. “At any rate we should probably get going before you get yourself hurt again”
“Aww, it sounds like you don't have much confidence in me” Matt joked as he gave Twilight his best puppy dog eyes. She responded by just blankly staring back at him before trotting off ahead, Matt quickly falling in suit beside her.
Dam the puppy dog eyes need some work.
It was not long before Matt and Twilight reached the market square, which was an eruption of hustle and bustle. Ponies dashing left and right, honing in on there target stall, all the wile trying to disentangle themselves from the chaotic mass that was ponyville market day. Matt looked upon the seen, a small smirk of knowing crept onto his face.
Seems ponies are just a vicious consumers as humans, I guess some things never change.
Matt and Twilight stopped just outside the market square as she looked around, seemingly deep in thought. The silence began to grow thick as Twilight just gazed off in to space. Matt finally decided this would be a good time to turn on the old charm, to break the silence of course, not that Twilight was not attractive it is just that, well. AGH this was all to confusing.
Well here goes nothing.
“So..... Nice weather were having” Matt thought aloud, knocking Twilight out of her bubble of thought.
Wow, I'm rusty.
“Oh. Yea the pegasi have done a good job today” Twilight remarked as she looked up to the picture perfect sky. it was clear with only a few strategically placed clouds, giving an almost artistic finish.
“Yea it’s nice, back home it's... Wait, the pegasi have done a good job. What does that mean exactly?”
“You know, clearing the sky” Twilight saw Matt give her a face of utter confusion. A face she was, unfortunately, all to familiar with. “Oh right. Well here in Equestria pegasi control the weather, set-up and scheduled storms, clear away all the rogue clouds, that kinda thing” She explained “I guess I forgot to mention that before”
“That's it I’m done, I'm out, This world is just to crazy” Matt yelled out, exaggerating his words by flailing his fore hooves in the air before dropping down to his rump and massaging his temples, as if to force back an oncoming headache. Twilight groaned as she brought a fore hoof to her face, of all the aliens out there and she got stuck with the drama queen. Twilight could only imagine how there meeting with Rarity would go. “Seriously, you could probably fill up an entire library with the differences between our worlds, not to mention all of humans advanced technology” Matt exaggerated as Twilight brought her hoof back to the ground.
“Wait, what did you just say?” She asked , her voice growing more interested.
“Um, well it’s just that humans are well, a lot more advanced than ponies, at least from what I've seen” Matt Replied, not entirely sure where she was going with this.
“So much information, so much knowledge” she said, her tone almost lustful as she inched towards Matt.
Um what’s going on. Wait Twilight, scholar, new knowledge, crazy. Oh no, abort, ABORT!
Matt began to back pedal as Twilight grew closer. “M-m-maybe another time Twilight, I mean you don't have a quill right now and-” As if on cue Twilight levitated out a role of parchment and a quill, complete with ink well. “Oh you have got to be kidding me”
“Twilight?” She stopped mid stride as she looked over to see a butter yellow pegasis trotting over in her direction.
Whew, crisis averted....For now.
Fluttershy was trailed by a row of baby ducklings as she trotted up to Matt and Twilight.
“Hi Twilight, oh I hope I'm not interrupting anything” She spoke in a only just audible voice as she hid her face behind a makeshift shield of pink mane.
Aww that's so cute. No wait, can't give in. Must, remain, manly.
“I was just guiding this newborn ducklings over to ponyville pond since the lake is just to big for them right now”
Manliness, failing.
As if to try an taunt Matt further Fluttershy leaned down an nuzzled on of the baby duckings before looking back to the pair.
Must lift something heavy.
“Oh, no no, don’t worry Fluttershy you weren't interrupting anything” Twilight smiled, her previous insanity seemed to just evaporate without as much as a single twitch. Matt steadily pulled himself up to his hooves before introducing himself.
“Hi there Fluttershy, I’m Matt, it’s nice to meat you” He held out a hoof in what he thought was a hoof shake, do they even do that? Fluttershy gave him a timid look, taking a nervous glace over to Twilight. “Come on, I won't bite” Matt chuckled as he kept his hoof extended, unfortunately this had the opposite effect he had hoped for. Fluttershy’s pupils shrank down as she leapt back slightly, casing the baby ducking behind her to scatter. Matt quickly tried to salvage the situation. “Er, well I mean not literally ya’know, I just thought-” His train wreck of an introduction was cut short as Twilight jammed her hoof in his mouth.
“What Matt here was trying to say was, ‘Hi, my names Matt, do you want to be friends, also I like animals’” Twilight corrected, her tone firm.
“Oh you like animals too” Fluttershy gasped as she closed the distance between her and Matt a bit too quickly. now it was Matt's turn to be startled.
“Um yea, I like animals” Matt stammered as he worked back his composure. It was not long before Fluttershy was in full crazed animal lover mode, though Matt had to admit she mad a really cute crazy person, or pony. This went on for about another ten minuets of Fluttershy rambling on, and Matt just robotically nodding in agreement, before Twilight decided to intervene.
“Well I’m glad you two get along so well” she stated as she broke up the conversation. Matt swore he could here the undertone of sarcasm in her voice. “But we really have to get going, it was nice seeing you again Fluttershy” she added as she motioned for Matt to follow her.
“Oh, sorry” Fluttershy squeaked as she sunk down a little bit.
“Oh no don’t worry, it was fun talking to you” Matt said, trying to reassure the shy pegasus. “Also, your ducks are back” Matt pointed out. Fluttershy looked behind her to see the flock of ducking crowding around her once more. This elected a smile from the pegasus as she looked back up to the other ponies.
“Well it been nice, but I guess I shouldn't keep these ducklings waiting to long” she said as she turned around and headed of towards what Matt assumed was ponyville pond. He watched as she trotted of into the distance, all the time following Twilight into the market.
Well, she was nice, certainly lives up to her name. That seems to be a common theme here, Apple, Dash, Shy, at this rate he half expect Twilight to start sparkling direct sunlight.
Matt gave a small chuckle at his joke, despite how bad it was.
I’ll have to talk with her again some time. I mean I like animals, not as much as she does, but enough, I had a pet rabbit once. Plus shes not to bad herself, yellow and pink go well together, surprisingly. And shes a lot less likely to kick me in the face, which is always a plus. She’s got a nice flank on her too...wait, WHAT!
Matt realised his gaze was drifting dangerously close to the base of her tail.
Twilight looked back just in time to see Matt drop to his haunches, hooves to his head, which he was shaking violently. She spun around and rushed over a quickly as she could skidding to a halt at Matt’s side.
“Matt are you ok, what's wrong!” she asked in a panic, all manner of bad, and majorly over-exaggerated, scenes flowing through her mind. Matt shook his head violently back and forth, desperately trying to clear the lewd thoughts from his mind.
What’s happening to me. There ponies, PONIES for fuck sake! this isn’t right.
Matt continued to mentally chastise himself until he heard Twilight’s panicked voice asking him what was wrong. It was then he looked up to notice the large herd of ponies that had gathered round, wanting to see what all the commotion was. Matt quickly shoved all those thought aside and go up of his haunches, trying to down play what had just happened.
“I’m fine, I’m fine. Don’t worry it’s nothing” Matt lied, trying to calm the situation. It was at this point that Twilight noticed the growing crowd around them. She let out a long defeated sigh before addressing the crown they had drawn.
“Ok ponies nothing to see here” she announced as both her and Matt quickly exited the market square, leaving the hushed whispers of the poniville rumour mill behind. When she was sure she had put enough distance between herself and the rest of the towns-ponies she gave Matt a worried look.
“Ok spill, what happened back there” she asked, her tone stern, almost militant. Matt glanced at her, meeting her gaze, before quickly dropping his head down to the floor.
“It’s nothing” he quickly replied, in a rather lack luster tone.
“You don’t seriously expect me to believe that do you?” her gaze never faltering. Matt let out his own defeated sigh before looking back up at Twilights eyes.
“Look lets for get about it for now. I promise I'll tell you later, but now I need to think this over, figure stuff out on my own” he explained. Twilight gave him an annoyed look before letting her expression soften. She cracked a small, somewhat forced, smile before she spoke.
“I can’t take you anywhere, can I?”
