Strange Hooves

The wind intensifies, and Mike floats higher. He flails his arms and legs around, trying to get grips with what’s going on.

“WHAT’S HAPPENING?!”

Mike surprised even himself with that enhanced voice. A flash of light blots out everyone’s vision, and the green energy field dissipates, and Mike lands on his feet, looking at himself.

What’s wrong with the trench coat?

Instead of a brown color with designs on it, the coat is a solid black with gold trimming on the collar, the edges of the sleeves, and the edges of the coat itself.

Did I do that?

Twilight Sparkle and Spike look on, slack-jawed. Derpy Hooves just stands next to them with a smile on her face.

“I didn’t know you had magical abilities, Mike!”

“I didn’t, either.”

He reaches into his coat pocket and pulls out the emerald, which is glowing slightly.

Cool.

“Let’s get back to the library, ok? Ok.” Mike said with a nervous walk.

Derpy flew off, and Mike, Twilight Sparkle, and Spike head to the library at a quick pace.

Once inside, they set up several chairs and sit down, exchanging glances about what just happened.

Finally, Spike says,

“Do humans normally use magic?”

Mike laughs.

“No, no. Either magic doesn’t exist where I come from, or it was simply a lost art.”

“No magic??” Twilight blurts out.

Twilight seems stunned by this scenario. After all, it is what all unicorns use every day.

“We have these, instead.”

Mike waves his hands around.

“Also, I’d like to be alone with these books. Could I get some books on magic? I think I need to study this phenomenon further.”

Twilight hoof-picked out some books for Mike, and he began studying them.

Huh. This isn’t so bad. I must’ve learned to read Equestrian as well as speak it.

Mike studies throughout the night, putting even Twilight to shame in intensity. He sometimes paused to think about something, but goes back to the books. Having read a brief summary of Equestria and another brief summary of Earth Ponies, Unicorns, and Pegasi, Mike eagerly dives into the basics of magic.

“Magic is the Science of manipulating your surroundings with nothing but your will.”

Interesting.

The sun makes its presence felt that morning, with the whole household asleep. Mike had finished his studies and had fallen asleep in the chair he was studying in. He wakes with a start, and looks around. Noticing the lack of immediate danger, he slips into the kitchen, and has breakfast. Some apples and a drink of water later, Mike wanders to the door, and leaves a note on it. Crouching under the top of the door frame, he exits.

...

Twilight Sparkle goes through her usual motions of waking up. Brush your hair, wake up Spike, check on the human… wait. There’s something wrong. Mike isn’t anywhere to be seen.

“SPIIIKE!”

Spike almost tumbles downstairs to see what the matter was. He finds Twilight pacing, and he looks for Mike, which he doesn’t see.

“Where’s Mike?”

“That’s the problem! Let’s go!”

They speed out the door, missing the note, only to see a surprised Fluttershy.

“Good morning, Twilight. What’s the matter? Where’s Mike?”

“He’s wandered off. We need to find him.”

Fluttershy gasps and takes off as Spike rides atop Twilight.

…

Standing in the middle of a green, vacant field, Mike takes a deep breath.

Time to apply this knowledge.

Mike rises above the ground again, under his own influence as he remembers what he read.

Let’s see. Let’s try this.

Mike raises his hand, palm up. He focuses on it for a second, and a flame bursts out above his hand. Raising his other hand and producing the same result, Mike decides to try something new. The flames shoot out and tower above him, but this wasn’t the result he was looking for. The flames shrink down in size, but increased in intensity. Soon they looked less like flames than an exhaust plume of a jet.

Here we go.

He lets himself go and turned his hands downward, applying more force. He shoots up into the air, flying at speeds even he didn’t imagine. He maneuvered his hands so that he was now flying level to the ground. He didn’t notice however, that he was fast approaching Ponyville.

...

Fluttershy worriedly flies all over, looking for Mike.

Where could he be?

She hears something peculiar, and looks at the source. There is a black dot in the sky in the distance, which was rapidly approaching. Fluttershy realizes that it’s Mike. He tears past her, yelling,

“OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…”

I didn’t know humans could fly.

She takes off after him, but he had already noticed her. Coming to a dead stop with a trick, Mike lowers himself back to the ground, Fluttershy landing close by.

Mike looks over to Fluttershy, holds his head with both hands and shouts,

“That! Was! AWESOME!”

He clears his throat and continues.

“I’ve never actually flown before, Fluttershy. It’s quite… liberating.”

Fire shoots from his hands again and he takes to the skies, leaving a bewildered Fluttershy behind. Twilight Sparkle and

Spike see her, staring blankly in the sky where she last saw Mike, and Twilight asks,

“Are you okay?”

Fluttershy awakens from her daze and simply points to the sky.

“Mike went that-a-way.”

“How?”

Fluttershy shrugs and takes to the air again, desperately trying to find Mike.

…

Rainbow Dash was not one for waking up, especially when she has her days off of weather duty. What happens next could be inexcusable if it wasn’t so sudden.

”BOO!”

Rainbow falls out of her bed to see a black figure shooting off into the sky. Not one to let pranksters get away this easily, she gives chase.

“I’ll get you!”

A high-speed chase ensues, with Mike and Rainbow Dash both going insane speeds. He pulls a hard right, and Rainbow

Dash realizes just who she was chasing.

“Huh?! You’ll not get away!”

The chase continues, and the duo flies over Ponyville, whom populace has become spectators to the unplanned airshow.  Mike pulls off some stunts, with Rainbow Dash following the best she can. After a series of loop-de-loops and barrel rolls,

Mike pauses to look for Rainbow. He turns around, and he sees a blue blur tackle him which is shouting,

“Gotcha!”

The two tumble and hit the ground creating a lot of dust. Twilight Sparkle, Rarity, Spike, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy stand next to the cloud, waiting for any signs of life. To their surprise, laughter is heard from Mike and Rainbow Dash.  She speaks first.

“Where… have you been… all my life? I… had a good time… keeping up with you!” The dust is clear enough that the 5 friends see Rainbow Dash and Mike sitting in an exhausted position, both panting.

Mike says,

“You… still… didn’t. So there!”

Rainbow Dash jokingly punches Mike in the shoulder.

“Wanna go again, Mike?”

Mike crosses his arms.

“CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.”

Both fly off into the sky, far away from Ponyville. Everyone present was very confused and they were trying to make sense of the situation.

“Twilight… what did he do to the coat I gave him?” Rarity said.

“I don’t know, either. He discovered a magical ability inside him after being struck by lightning from Derpy’s cloud.”

They all seemed to nod slowly, suspending disbelief in favor of not getting headaches.

…

After a day of flying around with many, many tricks, Rainbow Dash and Mike settle down on a hilltop overlooking Ponyville.

“You know, Mike. You aren’t so bad.”

“Neither are you, Dash. I still remember when you tried to pull me through the sound barrier with you.”

“Well, it could work!”

“…Right.”

“Better check up on our friends, then.” Rainbow Dash takes off, but to her surprise, Mike just starts walking.

“What’s the matter? Run out of steam?”

“It’s nice to walk.”

“I don’t think so. Come on!”

“…First one to the library wins!” Mike takes off, leaving Rainbow Dash to keep up.

…

Twilight Sparkle studies in the library, desperately looking for clues as to Mike’s existence.

What is he? Nothing in my books about anything shows anything like him. I’ve recently discovered that Ape-like animals share some of the same characteristics with Mike, but they aren’t sentient .Might as well look into the more theory-ish books, like the one that I should’ve used to cure the poison joke.

She hears a knock on the door. Tappy-tappy-tap.

She opens the door with her violet telekinesis, and she sees an exhausted Mike and Rainbow Dash come in. They seemed to have a pleasant conversation before they walked in. Twilight Sparkle is relieved by this.

That’s good. It was very unfortunate that Mike was attacked by Rainbow Dash. This could make a good letter.

Twilight Sparkle notices Mike and Rainbow Dash sitting down and chatting it up about aerial maneuvers.

“You should see our flying machines. They broke the speed of sound easily.”

“I don’t think so. Show us one of these so-called ‘airplanes’.”

“I don’t have one. They’re very expensive.”

“HA! So you don’t have one!”

If only she really knew…

“It’s just unfortunate that I can’t build one at the moment, is all. I need jet fuel, and aluminum and other materials.”

“Well, I just get by with these babies here.” Rainbow Dash flared her wings, displaying them out for Mike.

Mike then turns to Twilight.

“How rude of me. How do you do, Miss Twilight? I do hope you are feeling well after the Hydra confrontation.”

Twilight Sparkle sheepishly looks at her legs and remarks, “I’m fine, thanks Mike.”

Rainbow Dash notices Twilight’s sudden health and says,

“Didn’t you get hurt? You look just fine to me.”

“Healing spell.” Twilight responds.

“Right.” Rainbow is struck with a thought.

“Why didn’t you use one on Mike?” Rainbow asks.

“Because we know too little of him to mess about.” Mike nods silently, going into deep thought.

“I guess that makes sense.” Rainbow says with a hoof to her chin.

She notices a pen and scroll. She asks,

“What did you learn about friendship, Twilight?”

“Well, Rainbow, I learned that despite meeting Mike in a very awkward way, you still managed to be good friends.”

Mike shudders for a moment and remembers the rope.

“You can say that again.”

Twilight starts to repeat herself but catches a very annoyed glare from Rainbow Dash and Mike Alpha.

“Sorry, guys.” Twilight says sheepishly.

She continues with,

“I’ll just write that report to Princess Celestia.”

She trots over to her table and begins writing.

“Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that despite a rough introduction and despite their differences, Mike Alpha (the human, and Rainbow Dash have become very good friends, their past being mostly forgotten. I hope that we will continue to be friends and that he can live peacefully in Equestria.

Your Faithful Student,

Twilight Sparkle.”

Spike, who is already in the room due to Twilight’s habit of saying the letter along with writing it, is ready to send. The letter is handed to Spike, who sends it with a  puff of flame.

Twilight turns to Rainbow Dash and her newfangled friend and says,

“Princess Celestia would be proud of you.”

…

Meanwhile, in Canterlot, a very concerned Princess paces her quarters, having gone through everything she had seen in Mike Alpha’s head.

That’s not even his real name, though. Why would he lie to my little ponies?

The letter had come, and sure enough, she was calmed by the good news, but the new memories of the place called Earth flooded Celestia’s mind again, and she went back into a little cycle of worry.

It’ll be fine, you’ll see.

Luna apparently had noticed this change in behavior, best as she tried to hide it from the outside world.  She had said to her,

“Mike Alpha simply changed his name so that he could forget his past, is all. Besides…”

She had trailed off and started mumbling. Celestia had given her sister a look, and she spoke up.

“I may have something to do with his being here.”