Strange Hooves

ZEH THOUGHTS ARE NOW COLOR CODED THIS IS MIKE

ZIS IS TWILIGHT SPARKLE

ZIS IS LUNA OR CELESTIA, DEPENDING ON WHO IS PRESENT

OKAY?

OKAY.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACEEEEEEE—“

Mike releases his head, and puts his hand to his heart, breathing heavily. Luna is taken aback at this behavior, but says,

“You okay, Mike? You just screamed for a solid 20 seconds.”

Mike looks back to Luna and responds,

“I’m okay. I just got pulled through space by a spell into Equestria, where I find talking ponies and somehow gained magical powers. If I wasn’t in this scenario, I’d swear that this is a poorly fabricated story.”

Take that, me.

Luna puts away her notes and sees Mike shuffle his feet, looking down. She says,

“I’m so sorry about what happened to you and your kind.”

“It was no fault of yours, Luna. Monsters will be monsters, and what monsters do is die.” Mike responded.

His sad expression was devolving into a sneer, hatred practically burning from his eyes. Hatred for whom or what is to be certain.

“You okay, Mike?” Luna asks.

Mike snaps out of his state and stands still.

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

“You said that you learned magic. Is this true?”

“Well, yes. I was struck by lightning of all things, and I was carrying this.”

Mike pulls out the gem from a coat pocket, and shows it to Luna, who looks at it curiously.

That’s interesting. It glows a soft green. This is to be studied further.

“Well, Mike, you’ll just have to stay with me for a little while.”

Mike goes wide-eyed.

“What? Why?”

He twirls his fingers while biting his lower lip nervously.

“First, so that you can be taught magic by me and the professors here.

And second, I want to have the doctors keep some records on you. We do wish to learn more.”

Mike relaxes at the obvious answer.

“Oh. Okay. Let’s get started, then?”

…

Twilight Sparkle had not heard from Mike in several days. Rarity had visited Canterlot in order to deliver Mike’s hat, and had returned with greetings from him. Apparently, he was studying under Luna herself, the lucky dog. The letters he sent suggested that he was making quick progress with his knowledge. He even sent some translated copies of some books he had brought. These books are now at the center of Twilight’s studies.

First to be read was The Boy Scout Handbook. This concerned what a Boy Scout is, and what he does. Interestingly, the book also contained basic first aid instructions, basic wilderness survival skills, and it describes a number of high-physical human activities, such as sail-boating or hiking. There were also instructions on how to camp safely in any weather and in any condition. The second book that was sent back was a brief summary of human history. Too brief. Twilight wanted to learn so much more about human society. They were so diverse and rich. There is not enough in the book to fully expand Twilight’s understanding of them. The other books that he sent back did give Twilight a window into what was, and perhaps will be again, back at his earth. Mike had said he was coming back soon, but how soon is “soon”?

As if to answer her question, there is a knock on the door. She eagerly goes to answer it, overtaking spike. Opening it, she sees a smiling Pinkie Pie outside. She says,

“He’s coming, Twilight!”

“How do you know he’s coming?”

“Can’t you hear that? Come outside!”

Twilight follows Pinkie Pie to the outskirts of Ponyville, where she sees Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy

together. Twilight greets her friends with a flat,

“She dragged you out here too, right?”

They all nodded in silent agreement. Apparently, it was better not to question’s Pinkie’s instinct. Twilight remembers that day fondly, but winces involuntary when she remembers trying to decode Pinkie. Pinkie Pie was almost bursting with excitement. She practically screams,

“ISN’T THIS EXCITING I MEAN NOT AS EXCITED AS I WAS WHEN TWILIGHT FIRST CAME TO TOWN BUT REALLY HOW COULD YOU BEAT THAT? LOOK THERE HE COMES!”

She points a hoof to the sky, looking at something distant. The girls squint to spot whatever it is Pinkie’s pointing at, but all they see is blue sky.

Wait. Is that…?

As if to answer her question, a black dot can now be seen in the distance, ever growing bigger until it was unquestionable

that it was headed right for them. Rainbow Dash flies off to intercept, leaving the girls with a gust of wind. Shortly, Dash too became a spot in the sky, growing ever closer with Mike. They got close enough for Twilight to see the blue in his eyes as they executed a low-level high-speed fly-by. They landed, and Twilight got a better look.

He looked a lot better than he did when he first came here. For starts, his clothes weren’t all raggedy and torn from running. They were pristine and new, but he still wore the black-gold trench coat.  Adoring his head was a black fedora with gold trimmings, to match the coat.

They must think I look pretty sharp for an *alien*.

“Hi.”

Mike waves a gloved hand to everypony.

They wave back, noticing the new gloves he wears. He looks at them, and says,

“Yeah, these black gloves here are for spell casting. I don’t want to get burnt or anything.”

Plus it just looks cool.

“What’s up, girls?”

Twilight responded with an excited,

“Nothing much, brony.”

His turns his head back, going wide-eyed and his irises shrunk at the simple expression.

HOW DO THEY KNOW ABOOT SUCH INTERNET THINGS

Twilight notices his rather unique reaction.

“Don’t worry. It’s just a thing the colts came up with that they call each other.”

He stammers,

“Y-yeah. You’ll have to ask me later about that. I have an interesting story to tell you. But first…”

He turns to the rest of the ponies.

“A thousand greetings, mien little ponies. Luna has sent me here to continue my studies of Equestria, much like the way Celestia sent you here, according to Luna.”

An eager Twilight starts asking Mike about his experiences at Canterlot. He has been studying hard and has learned so much about magic. Twilight notices how vague he’s being with the magical concepts that were self-drilled into Twilight’s brain, and she can’t stop but think that there’s something he’s not telling her. Heading back into town, everyone seems optimistic about the near future.

…

Mike meditates on his studies of the experimental arts of magic, having skimmed the other magics. He sits with his legs crossed, floating in the air. His arms rested on his knees, his eyes closed with thoughtful  expression.

Now, according to this, there is a way to see without eyes, to hear without ears. Let’s try the techniques discussed.

Mike begins the spell, the coat pocket containing the gem glowing ever brighter as the user interacts with their new-found connection via lightning. His mind’s eye fills with visions of the library around him, though his eyes are closed. It was the pitch-black of night, and everyone in town is already asleep. He focuses, and his vision now is filled with an eye-level view of the town. His expression deepens with effort as he raises his view to cloud-level, looking down. The town is asleep, it would seem. Mike redoubles his efforts to zoom his mental camera towards the Everfree forest.

He weaves through the dark trees, observing the local nightlife. He sees bugs, beogs, bats…

Wait. Beogs?

His concentration shattered, Mike snaps open his eyes, crashing to the floor. He speeds out the door to intercept the incoming pack. Inside, Twilight Sparkle stirs, but does not waken.

Mike soars high in the sky above Ponyville, having only used some thrust to get off the ground. Now he soars in the big, dark

blue sky, gliding towards the last known location of the beasts. Closing his eyes, Mike focuses again.

There they are.

They seemed to be looking for something. Mike, perhaps. Mike adds several seconds of thrust to remain at speed. The reason he wasn't going full afterburner was because he didn’t want to wake everypony.

Wait. How do I fight them?

Mike thinks back to the books. None of them concerned fighting of any kind, but he knew enough to improvise.

He now is soaring above the trees of the vast Everfree forest. He uses his magic to land softly in a rocky clearing, and then looks around. The pack he saw wasn’t here no more.

Maybe they ran off—

An object pouncing Mike from behind interrupts his thoughts.

Here goes…

He uses his telekinesis to yank off the attacker, and then propels it towards a tree, giving a gratifying crack as it collides. Mike hears more rustling in the bushes. Mike smiles and readies for battle.

A test of my skills. Come at me, bros.

Lighting shot from Mike’s outstretched hand coursed through several monsters, leaving them without pulses, but still had electricity sparking all over their bodies. Mike next tosses a Beog into the air, and then launches a fireball at it. The battle continues as Mike uses several fireballs, lighting strikes, and once sprayed fire across several of them. He also used telekinesis to smash them against the ground, against trees, and against each other if they got too close. Several minutes later, the beogs all lay dead scattered among the rocks at Mike’s feet. Mike himself wasn’t uninjured, though. His suit was scratched in some places, and some new scars manifested themselves on his arms with some red bleeding through the suit. He took the time to heal himself using his new found abilities. He tried to not do anything too complicated. He just sealed the wounds and cleaned himself. He even managed to fix some of the rips in the fabric of the coat.

Satisfied at his work, he outstretches his hand, forcing all the beogs into a pile. Setting it on fire, he comes to a realization.

I’ve done it again, man. I’ve done it again. I murdered and I’m taking away my own innocence in favor of satisfying my bloodlust. Am I really gonna stay like this? Do I even have a bloodlust? Can I control it? Am I a monster, doomed to take away the innocence of my new friends? I must say goodbye, then. Hopefully I’ll die alone, having done no harm any…pony.

He glides off, the sun now manifesting itself over the hills.

Twilight Sparkle awakes to a new day, filled to the brim with possibilities. She goes through her morning procedures, brushing her hair, eating breakfast, and checking on her duties….

She enters the front room, the books there stacked all neatly on the shelves. In the middle, Mike sat on a chair, facing away from Twilight and towards the door. She goes around to see what might be the matter, and she sees something terrible. Mike had obviously been crying, but the evidence was barely there, dried tears being swept away. His expression remained serious, though, and he offers a quiet,

“Good morning, Miss Sparkle.”

“You okay, Mike? You look sad.”

“I did it again.”

“What?”

Mike stands up, towering above Twilight. He looks at the ceiling and shakes his fists above his head, he yells,

“I MURDERED AGAIN. MORE MONSTERS ARE DEAD NOW, THANKS TO MY ACTIONS THE NIGHT PREVIOUS. I’M NOTHING BUT A MONSTER. I SHOULD BE MORE LIKE FLUTTERSHY. SHE HELPS THEM, NOT KILL THEM.”

Shocked by this emotional outburst, Twilight tries to form words in her head. Mike continues.

“I AM A MONSTER SPAWNED OF DESPERATION AND NESSESITY, BUT…

…”

He slumps to the ground, knees brought up to his chin and his arms hugging them.

“I’m still a monster that has killed. No matter what state of innocence it may have had. Innocent or not, it makes no difference. I’ve got no excuse for trying harder to avoid conflict.”

Mike stays silent, his head resting on his knees. His hat hides his expression, so Twilight takes a chance.

“…So?”

Mike shoots his head up to meet Twilight’s gaze.

At least I got his attention, now.

“So what if you had a dark and troubled past? So what if the problem’s most obvious solution was violence? It doesn’t matter

who you were, Mike.”

Mike finishes the phrase.

“It just matters who you choose to be right now.”

Dear Princess Celestia…