> Earthbound
>  by Fallen Angel N
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> The Summer Sun Celebration
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	

The bell in school rang for the final time this summer. Everyone immediately got up and rushed out. Everyone, except for Ethan. He yawned, leaning back in his chair and smiling. There really wasn't any big rush for him to go anywhere, not anymore. He no longer had to be anywhere or do anything for quite a long time, and he was really looking forward to it. Packing up his stuff he got up and left.


"You ready for summer?" Ethan asked Trevor, one of his friends.
"No. Man, you're lucky. I gotta stay behind for summer classes."
"Alas." said Ethan putting his hand on his forehead for dramatic effect. "Not everyone is blessed with a keen intellect such as I."
"Yeah whatever..." Trevor said giving his shoulder a playful punch. "It's not like you did much better."


It was true, in order to stay behind, you had to fail two classes. Ethan failed psychology and came dangerously close to failing another, but came out lucky on the multiple choice final. He of course knew this, but still enjoyed rubbing it in.


"Today is the day of a glorious marathon my friend, a video game marathon."
"Must be nice being so carefree..." Trevor muttered.
"It sure is."


He actually was going to miss Trevor. These kinda things weren't so fun when doing them alone. He had a few friends, but they weren't REALLY friends. They were people he ate with and occasionally talked to. Those were just 'friendly people'. The ones you see everyday and give them a waive asking them. 'How are you doing?' and not really wanting an answer.


"Well, you won't be needing your Playstation 3 for the summer will you?" Ethan said throwing his arm around his friend's shoulder.
Trevor grunted. "I don't lend things to jerks."
"Me? A jerk?" Ethan said feigning innocence. "You have hurt my honor good sir."
"Uh huh. Sure."
"Pleeeeeease?"
*Sigh* "Fine, but you gotta come visit me often, seriously...don't leave me alone with all of this work."
"Deal. Now, let's get going."




Arriving at Trevor's house, he didn't wait for his friend to say he had company. Ethan proudly strolled in and shouted. "I'm home!"
Trevor rolled his eyes, and Trevor's mom chuckled. Ethan had always been the sort to welcome himself in, and probably did this to play around with Trevor.
"Well, how's it going 'son'?" she said playing along with Ethan's joke.
"Don't encourage him mom."
"Alright then."


Ethan made himself comfortable while Trevor told his folks about summer classes. Ethan wasn't in that room but could still hear some shouts. Trevor's dad walked out of the room. He wasn't exactly in a great mood.
"Hi dad." Ethan said trying to lighten the mood with a joke.
Trevor's dad frowned.
"How is it Trevor's having trouble, but a goofball like you can pass?"
"I bribed the teacher."


The man stared at him in shock, did he really?! Ethan burst into cackling laughter. Ethan did not have a normal laugh, it sounded like a cackle, an evil one.
"Jeez, I'm kidding! Take a joke."
He sighed. "Yeah, you're right. Just a bit upset I guess." The man eyed Ethan putting the Playstation in his backpack. "And what are you doing with that?"
"Trevor knew he'd have to work and improve over the summer and he didn't want to be distracted. So he loaned me this so he would work without any distractions."
"He loaned you his game so he could focus on work?" The dad said with surprise.
"Yep."


That wasn't exactly true. Trevor only loaned it to him because he knew he wouldn't be allowed to play. But if Ethan said that Trevor did this to focus on work, then they'd probably take it easier on his friend since they thought he was being diligent.
The dad scratched his head.
"Maybe I was a bit too hard on him."
"Maybe." Ethan said smiling devilishly. "I'll take my leave then."


He got up and moving to leave when Trevor came out of the room looking upset. Ethan gave him a secretive wink and kept going ignoring his friend's confusion. He started home, getting to the road and coming to a crosswalk. Pressing the button, he started walking after the signal came up. Halfway from crossing, a guy on a bike bumped into Ethan making him stumble.


"Hey! Watch it, jeez."
He watched the man ignore him and keep on peddling.
"Aw, forget him, today is the day of freedom."
Ethan got to the other side of the street. Putting in earbuds and reaching for his phone, he realized he dropped the phone in the street when bumped by the biker.
"Oh no..." he said as the light turned green and the cars rushed forward.


"No wai-"
*CRUNCH!*


He waited until it was safe and gingerly picked up his shattered phone, sighing as a few pieces of the screen fell to the ground.
"Well this is an interesting way to start the summer."
He started walking when his phone rang. Ethan looked at it with surprise, broken phones weren't exactly known for working.
"What the heck...?"


Mystified, he put his ear to the phone.
"Hello?"


A voice came through the phone.
"You are being called for something important...do you accept?"
"Of course I accept. I picked up the phone didn't I?"


The voice went quiet.
"Hello? Is this a prank? HELLO?"
There wasn't another response, did the phone finally break? What was that all about anyway? He sighed, pocketing the piece of scrap and moving on. Hopefully it wouldn't be too expensive to replace. Changing his mind to a more pleasant topic, he smiled as he felt the game system in his backpack. Unfortunately, his friend only had one game at the moment but it'd have to do. He home and immediately started setting it up humming a tune.


"Ah you're back."
Ethan turned around and spotted a woman in her early twenties in jeans and a tank top. Brown hair, blue eyes and a goofy grin.
"Hey sis."
"Come on little bro, what kind of greeting this that huh?"
"Tis a pleasure for mine eyes to grace your presence." Ethan said sarcastically.
"That so?"


She put him a headlock, laughing while he struggled. Unfortunately, she also seemed to have inherited enjoying teasing people, and it always seemed to fall on him to take it all.
"Now say it again, but this time mean it."
"Okay okay! Tis a pleasure for mine eyes to grace your presence!"


His sister let go of him with a satisfied grin and patted his head.
"Nice to see you too."
Ethan muttered and continued setting up the game. He couldn't really complain, he was living with her. She liked to mess with him but most of the time she never took it too far...most of the time.
"Nice game system, can I play?"
"No." he said gruffly fixing his hair.


"Oh come on." she said pouting. "Are you still mad? Guess I'll let you enjoy your game with your MANY friends."
Ethan winced when he heard that. Trevor was the only one he considered his friend.
"Hey, friendship is a about quality, not quantity."
She giggled.
"I'm sure your 'quality' is really paying off now that Trevor's not here. Still wanna play alone?"
His sister smiled and held out her hand. Ethan grumbled and tossed her a controller. Let's see how long she could keep that smug grin after playing against him.





They sat there and played for a couple of hours. Ethan absolutely destroyed his sister round after round.
"Jeez, couldn't you take it a LITTLE easier on your dear sis?"
"Nope."
"Well then, time to fight dirty."


She snatched his controller and tossed it the side.
"Hey! Cheater!" Ethan said laughing. He ran back, grabbed the controller and continued playing but she had taken a big lead that time.
"YES!"
She cheered as she won and laughed at him like he hadn't crushed her for the last two hours. She yawned and got up off the couch stretching after sitting for so long and plopped back down on the couch.
"I think I'll stop here. That makes me the undefeated champion." she teased.
"You only won once."
"Yeah, but I beat you and you haven't beaten me back, that makes me undefeated."
They both chuckled and sat there on the couch for a little until his sister broke the silence.


"So, how are your classes?"
"Alright, I'm doing pretty well I guess."
"That's good, you figure out what you wanna do with your life?"
Ethan dropped the controller in surprise.
"Wait...like...forever?"
"Yeah I guess."


"That's a pretty big question to hit someone with. Do YOU know what you want to do forever?"
"Yup, I wanna be a psychologist. Working in the nursing home right now. Not the most glamorous jobs I'll admit, but it's a step in the right direction."
"Oh..." Ethan said quietly
She put her arm around him.
"It's alright, you don't need to make this choice now, but keep it in mind. Because the time before you gotta make it might hit you sooner than you realize okay?"
"Okay..."


His sister yawned and started heading towards her room.
"Night Ethan."
"Wait, you sure you don't wanna stay up a bit more with me?"
"Unfortunately some people have jobs." she reminded him with a smile.
Ethan watched her as she left the room and closed the door. With a sigh he turned back to his game. He seriously needed a distraction right now.


He continued to play the game well past midnight until he finally beat it. Ethan wore a tired smile as he sat through the ending credits hoping there was something at the end...there wasn't.
"What a rip off." he muttered.
Despite being tired, Ethan found that he couldn't go to sleep, he lay there for about half an hour with no success and he knew the reason why too. Ethan grunted, giving up on sleep and sitting upright. Stupid Katie, why'd she have to go and hit him with a big question like that?
"How am I supposed to know what I want to do with my life? It's not like I'm really good at anything."


He paused and then brought out his phone only to realize it was still a piece of scrap. Thankfully, his sister had left her phone on the couch when they were playing. Ethan dialed his friend's number and waited. The phone rung 7 times before Trevor picked up.


"Hey Trev-meister."
"Wha...what is it?" his friend said tiredly.
"I need to ask you something."
"If you're calling me at three in the morning, you had BETTER be dying!"
"Yeah, I'm dying of...boredom?"
"...I'm hanging up now."
"Wait wait wait! Look, um Trevor. Do you know what you want to do with your life?"
"If I answer you, can I go back to bed?"
"Yes."


Trevor let out a sigh.
"I want be a doctor."
"But how do you know that's what you want to do forever?"
"I don't know, I just want to do it now."
"What if you change your mind down the road and now you're stuck as a doctor?!"
The was a brief pause on the phone.
"Is this about what I plan on doing with my life or is this about what YOU plan on doing?"
"Me..."
"Look, I don't have all the answers, and certainly not at three A.M. Whatever it is you wanna do, I'm sure you'll figure it out later. Now goodnight."
"Night..."


Ethan hung up and laid there quietly. He wasn't any closer to finding the answer to that question, but he did finally feel tired. His mind started to think about the voice he heard earlier from the phone as he dozed off.


Ethan suddenly felt light, weightless, opening his eyes he found himself floating in a completely white space with nothing else in sight. Even for a dream, this was a little weird.
"What the..."
"You are the one who has accepted the task, are you quite certain?"
"Task?"
He looked around but all he could see was white in every direction that seemed to stretch out into infinite.


"Yes, a land by the name of Equestria needs your help, will you answer the call? Please know that if I take you there, I am unsure if you will be able to return here."
"Equestria?" Ethan snorted.
That sounded like some 90's fantasy game with knights and dragons, even for a dream, this was a little weird. Maybe playing the PS3 for 12 hours straight was a little too much. Wait, he was dreaming, AND he realized it! That meant he could do whatever he wanted in this dream. He had only controlled his dream once before, and aside from Batman chasing him, it was awesome!


"I accept your quest!" Ethan said proudly. "I will stop at nothing to save Equestria!"
"Wonderful!" said the voice relieved. "I knew I had chosen the right person. Let us begin immediately."


The blinding whiteness completely disappeared and everything went black for a second. When he could finally see, Ethan found himself falling through the sky with the ground coming at him quickly.
"Oh come on!"
Not knowing what else to do, he shut his eyes.


BOOOOOOOOOOOOFFFFF


He hit the ground causing a big dust cloud.


"MmmMMMph!"
Ethan struggled as his head was stuck in the ground. Pushing with all his might, his head popped out of the dirt with him gasping for air.
"WHAT THE HECK WAS THAT?!"
Ethan took a moment to catch his breath, shaking his head to clear the dirt off of his head. Looking around, he saw a field of endless grass and a multitude of trees.


"Hello." said the voice he heard before. "Sorry for the less than graceful landing."
Ethan looked around but didn't see anyone.
"Who said that?"
"Up here."
He looked up and saw a ball of light about the size of a baseball. The ball hovered closer to him, Ethan stumbled back trying to get some distance between them.


"I thank you very much for accepting such a responsibility." said the ball hovering closer to him again. Ethan tried to swat the thing, but his hand phased right through it. Or at least, that should have been his hand...


His fingers had disappeared, his entire arm had become a hoof. Ethan screamed and tried to run, but promptly fell on his face.
"The heck? Is there something on my shoe?"
Looking down, his feet had become hooves as well. Ethan looked at them strangely until he realized that they were his.


"My foot! My feet! My HANDS! What happened to them?!"
"Calm down." said the ball "This is just-"
Ethan tried to run but tripped again. Frustrated, he crawled to a nearby lake and looked at his reflection. A tan skinned pony with green eyes and black mane stared back at him. He turned his head and the reflection did the same, he closed an eye and it did the same.


"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGH!"
"I know this is shocking, please, let me explain."
"Explain?! How can you possibly explain THIS?!"
"Do you remember the dream you had? The one where I asked you for help, and explained that this came with big responsibility? You accepted remember?"
"What does that have to do with me being a horse?!"
"You agreed to help my world, so I made you a resident OF this world."


"Well...yeah, but I only accepted BECAUSE it was a dream!" Ethan shouted exasperated. "I didn't think I'd get roped into something like this! I change my mind! J-just take me back!"


"I can't take you back remember? It could be years before I get my full strength back!"
Ethan's heart dropped in his chest. Was he really going to be stranded here in some unknown world as a horse of all things?!





Fluttershy was in the woods playing with her animal friends.
"Why Mr. Bird, that is a really fine nest you've made there."
Mr. Bird puffed out his chest with pride. A squirrel approached her and held out an acorn.


"Thank you Chip, that is very sweet of you but that's okay."


Chip held out the acorn even further.


"Well, okay." Fluttershy took the acorn.
Chip pointed to his cheeks.


"You want me to...enjoy it. Of course, I wouldn't want to be rude."
Fluttershy bit into the acorn and tried not to make a face.
*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch*
"It's...delicious." she said wincing a little.
The squirrel beamed.


"AAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUGH!"


Upon hearing that, the birds flew away and the animals hid behind a trembling Fluttershy.
"Wha-what was that?"
The animals behind her started wimpering.
"Don't w-worry I'm sure it was nothing. I'll go see what it was."


Fluttershy moved forward, her heart beating rapidly.


'I don't want to do this, maybe it's already gone. No, I have to do this..." she thought to herself. Reaching a clearing, she shakily looked behind a tree to see a pony frantically arguing with himself. Fluttershy nervously approached the stranger.


"Um, excuse me I-"
"I can't be a horse! What's happened to me?!"


Fluttershy gathered her courage and tapped his shoulder.


"Excuse me?"
He whirled around in surprise, making the yellow pegasus jump.


"Did you just...talk?"
"Um yes, I can talk."
"How?" he said turning his head.
"W-well, you can talk too right?"
"Well of course it makes sense that I'D be able to talk, but YOU shouldn't be able to."


Fluttershy suddenly looked guilty.
"I'm sorry, I promise not to do it again."
"Wait, that's not what I...ugh, never mind. Who are you?"


Fluttershy turned her head and looked away. Ethan sighed.
"You can talk."
"I'm Fluttershy..." she said quietly.
"What?"
Fluttershy turned her head and whispered again. "I'm Fluttershy."
"Fluttershy huh? Nice name."


Fluttershy perked up a little and managed a smile.


"Really?"
'Well, actually it's a weird name.' Ethan thought to himself. 'But something tells me she wouldn't take it well if I told her.'
"Yes, I like it."
"Thank you. So, do you know where that roaring came from?"
"Roaring? No, I haven't heard any...actually I think that was me screaming."
Fluttershy moved forward showing concern.
"Aw, why were you screaming? Are you lost?"


Ethan looked around.
"Yeah I'm lost, I'm lost and I'm freaking out. How did I get here? Where IS here exactly!?"
Fluttershy backed away for a second but stayed brave.


"I-It's okay, I understand. You poor thing." she said patting his back to try and make him feel better. "Deep breaths."
Ethan took a second, taking deep breaths.
"Better?" asked Fluttershy


"I guess..." He turned the the ball. "Hey light bulb, are other talking horses like Fluttershy?"
"Yes...but I would prefer it if you didn't call me light bulb."
"Who are you talking to?" asked Fluttershy curiously
"Who am I talking to? I'm talking to this thing here." he said gesturing with his head.


Fluttershy looked where he gestured and back at him blankly.
"There's no one there."
"What?" Ethan looked at the ball for an explanation.
"No one else can see me or hear me but you."
"That's real helpful." he said sarcastically.


Fluttershy turned to the critters who were peeking from behind the trees.
"See? It's okay." Fluttershy said soothingly to the animals. "It was just somepony in need. Everyone meet..."
She paused
"U-um, would you mind...your name?"
"It's Ethan, nice to meet you Fluttershy and...animals."
"It's very nice to meet you Mr. Ethan."
"Please..." he said a little embarrassed. "No mister if you don't mind, I'm not old or anything."


Ethan's eyes widened and he started laughing.
"Oh, is there something funny?" Fluttershy asked innocently.
"I get it now...I must still be dreaming, I have to be!" he said chuckling to himself "I mean come on! A guy being called into another world, and talking horses? None of this is real." He poked Fluttershy. "YOU aren't real."
"Um, well...I'm pretty sure this isn't a dream."
"Oh really? I'll prove it."


Ethan pointed at the bear.
"You, come here."
The bear pointed at himself in surprise and Ethan nodded. Still hesitating, the bear walked over to him. Ethan motioned for the bear to lower it's head so it did. Ethan opened the bear's mouth and stuck his head in between his jaws, Fluttershy shrieked.
"W-What are you doing?!"
"See? If this weren't a dream could I order a bear to do this?"
The bear struggled to keep him mouth open. As he breathed in, Ethan's mane tickled his throat. The bear gagged, not able to keep his mouth open much longer. Fluttershy noticing this, darted over and tackled him just before the bear's jaws snapped shut.


"Ow! What was that for?"
"Listen mister!" said Fluttershy "You need to be more careful. You can't just stick your head in someone's mouth! It's dangerous, not to mention rude. You need to stop acting silly and realize this is not a dream."


Fluttershy's eyes widened after her outburst. "Oh, um, I'm sorry, you asked me not to call you mister."
Ethan just lay there on the ground numb after that. Fluttershy's tackle hurt, which meant that this wasn't a dream. He was really stuck here as a horse for who knows how long.
"Just leave me here." he grumbled
"I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you." Fluttershy stuttered


"No." he sighed. "I'M sorry. I just...seriously don't even know what to do anymore."
"Don't worry." said Fluttershy patting his back. "I'll show you how to get back to town."
"Town." Ethan said without emotion. "Yes, maybe I can find help there."
She turned around and Ethan noticed the wings on her back with mild surprise.


"You have wings?"
"Of course." she said giving a small smile. "I'm a pegasus."
Ethan shook his head.
"This day just gets weirder and weirder. "





Meanwhile, Twilight was in full panic mode.


"Spike, how are the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration?"
"Twilight, you already asked that like 5 minutes ago."
"Well check again, everything has to be perfect!"


The purple dragon sighed and looked over the list again.


"We're still only halfway done."
The list suddenly glowed purple and was snatched away from him.
"This can't be! We're not gonna make it at this rate. Why isn't the orchestra crossed off the list yet?"
"You were gonna have Fluttershy organize the birds to sing, but I haven't seen her."
"Yes, but I also put someone in charge of making sure she did it. Now who is it? Who's slowing down one of the biggest events of the year!?"
"Uh Twilight?"


Spike pointed to the list and Twilight's name was listed to that job.


"Oh..."
"Yeah."


Twilight ran through through town with Spike on her back trying to keep his balance.
"Come on, come on Fluttershy. Where are you?"
Eyes darting left and right she spotted Fluttershy coming into town with a stranger.
"Fluttershy!" she raced over


"Fluttershy, I need you to pull the orchestra together, and fast."
"Oh Twilight, there is no need to rush. You told me you'd let me know ahead of time when I was supposed to start."
"Right, well...I'm letting you know." Twilight said giving an embarrassed smile. "Think you can have them ready by tomorrow?"
"Oh, well, there was this one little number we prepared for fun. I guess I could have it ready by then."
Fluttershy turned around and flew back into the woods. Twilight turned around and saw Ethan looking at the town curiously.


"You. What group are you in?"
"Group?"
"You don't have a group?"


Just then Applejack came by with a few paint splotches.


"Twilight, we got the paintin' job done, but we still gotta finish tidyin', decoratin' and we're shorthanded at the moment."
"Urgh!"


Twilight voiced her frustration and turned to Ethan.
"Congratulations, you've got a group." she said running off.
"Wait, what? Fluttershy said I should ask you about..." he started, but Twilight was already gone.


Ethan looked around. "What just happened?"
"You heard her." said Applejack. "Come on, shake a hoof."
"But I don't even know-"
"Get a move on." she said pushing him with her head.
"Alright alright, I'm going."


The two started off.


Ethan walked quietly with Applejack. He'd have to find and talk to that other horse later.
"Well?" said the orange earth pony. "What are you good at?"
"Astronomy?"
She sighed. "That's not what I meant. I guess I'm stuck with ya."
"What's with all the hustle and bustle around here?
"Today's the Summer Sun Celebration, so we gotta make sure it goes well. You live under a rock or something?"
"Let's just say...I'm new in town."


They both reached the plaza where a lot of ponies were waiting.


"Alright, everypony." started Applejack. "Y'all did a mighty fine job with the paintin' but now we got the cleanin' and decoratin' to do."
There were some groans from the crowd.
"I know, this isn't any fun for anypony but it needs to get done. If we work together we can make this the best celebration ever. Now who's with me?"
"""YEAH!""" the crowd cheered.


They all set to work. Ethan however was having a tough time. He didn't know a single person and could barely even walk straight. Maybe he'd be able to sneak away while everyone was busy with their tasks. Ethan started to tiptoe away quietly.
"What are you doing?"
Ethan nearly jumped when he heard the ball talk to him.
"I'm leaving." he hissed quietly. "What's it look like?"
"What about everyone else?"
"Yeeeeeeaaaah...that's their problem not mine. Never was a fan of work."


He tripped on a bucket tipping over the soapy water, two ponies moving a statue slipped on the soap Ethan knocked over, making a big mess.


"Sorry, I'll clean up the pieces."
He tried to grab the broom but it slipped and whacked a random pony on the back of the head.
"Hey, watch it!"
"Sorry."


Applejack saw the commotion and came over.


"Now what's goin' on? You born with four left hooves or somethin'?"
"Oh, uh nothing." Ethan said nervously. "Just uh...hard at work." He gave her his most convincing smile.
"I got my eye on you." said Applejack. "Now see here about fixin' this here mess."
Ethan groaned, so much for sneaking away.





"No this simply won't due."


Rarity pulled the bow off the mannequin and held up another to it.
"Too plain. Too flashy. Too dark. Ohhh, how am I to pick out the perfect ensemble?"
Rarity rushed around sorting through different clothes and accessories when Pinkie Pie came through the shop.


"Hiya Rarity. Whatcha doing?"
Rarity was quickly going through her drawers at the moment and didn't hear her.
"Ooh! Ooh! Did you lose something? Can I help?"
Pinkie rushed over with a magnifying glass looking all over the room.


"Pinkie? When did you get here?"
"Just now."
"Yes, maybe this is what I need. A mannequin can't show the full splendor of clothing. Pinkie, would you be a dear and allow me to try some outfits on you?"
"Okay!"


Pinkie Pie rushed to the center of the room and struck a pose. Rarity tried on outfit after outfit on Pinkie before finally deciding on a white and purple shirt and blouse.


"Well, go ahead. Give me your opinion." she said nervously.
"I think-"
"It's terrible isn't it? I knew it was!"


Rarity pulled off the outfit and went back to digging.
"Aw come on, it was great, they all were."
Rarity stopped digging.
"You really think so?"
"Yeah! It was fun trying on all those different clothes."
"Oh, thank you! I was so nervous about the event I might've acted a tad out of place. Anyway I still need a few things to be ready, what about you Pinkie?"
"I finished early so I came to check on you. Let's see..."


Pinkie started counting with her hooves.


"Fluttershy is organizing the orchestra, Applejack's group is on clean up and decorating, Rainbow's group is making sure the weather stays perfect for the next two days and Twilight is overseeing the groups and organizing them."


Pinkie held up four hooves.


"See? Named em all."
Rarity yawned.
"Sorry dear, tired. It's getting late, I'll have to finish this tomorrow."


"K, see ya Rarity."





"Alright everyone." Applejack said to her group.


"We're not quite finished but we got a lot done. There were few accidents here and there, but I won't mention any names." she said glancing at Ethan. "Anyway, it's late so I figure we should go home and get some shut eye so we can finish this early tomorrow."


Everyone left except Ethan who just stood as they all disappeared. Ethan yawned and stretched, he wasn't used to working for so long. He was tired, but not exhausted.
"Well, at least as an earth pony you're used to manual labor." said the ball
"What's that supposed to mean? Never mind, where am I staying for the night?"
"Oh...I...didn't think of that."


"Great, now I'm homeless too!"
The ball seemed to wither a little at his words.
"You're right, I indeed did not consider where you might live upon taking you here. You can call me light bulb if you wish."
"Nah, light bulb is lame. How about...Navi?"
"Navi?"
"Yeah this fairy thing in the Zelda game who follows you around."
"Then Navi it is."


Ethan laid down on a park bench and tried to get comfortable.
"Guess this is where I'm sleeping for tonight." He turned towards Navi. "You mentioned I'm supposed to help Equestria right? What exactly is it I'm supposed to do?"
"Does this mean you're going to stay?"
"No, I WILL find a way back home. But...on the off chance I can't, doing this quest thing might be faster, what is it anyway?"
"Truth be told, I don't know much more than you do about your purpose in this world, or even if you're the right person. I foresaw the destruction of everything and searched for help."
"Wait, since I'm here too, that makes me part of 'everything' doesn't it?"


Ethan grumbled and turned back around.
"Wonderful." he said sarcastically


Navi sighed, was Ethan really the right person for the job? If not then things were looking grim.
'I'll help too.' Navi decided. 'Even with the little ability I have.'
Navi looked around at the undecorated plaza and started glowing a faint light.





The next morning Applejack got up bright and early and headed over to the plaza.


"What the?"
The Plaza was sparkling clean and decorated. There were bows neatly hung up, with the columns painted. Applejack looked around in surprise and saw Ethan sleeping.


"No way. You did all this? Hey, wake up."
"Ugh..." he stirred then started to get up.
"Thank God. I had this dream I was trapped in this world with talking ho..."


Ethan looked at Applejack as if seeing her for the first time. He stuck his head in a bucket of water and screamed with Applejack looking at him like he was nuts.


"Did you do all this?" Applejack said gesturing around her.
Ethan looked around him, when did everything become so clean? Were people here working while he slept?
"Like it?" asked Navi interrupting his thoughts. "I did it myself."
Ethan turned back to Applejack.
"Why yes, I did do all this work myself."
"What?!" Yelled Navi.


"No kiddin'..." Applejack said, unable to hear Navi. "I reckon I was wrong about you. To think you'd stay up all night to get this done! You got some real drive, what's your name?
"My name's Ethan."
"You're alright Ethan." she patted his shoulder. "If I ever need any help with something I'll be sure to call you for it."
"Yeah...great...love to help others." Ethan said, disappointed.


"You be sure and go home to get some rest after the celebration."
"I don't have a home."
"Don't have a home? Don't be ridiculous."


Ethan stretched and started walking off.


"I need to get out of here. I need to find someone who can help."
"Hey wait a minute. Where's your cutie mark?"
"My what?"


"Your cutie mark. Ya know, the little mark on your hip."
Ethan looked at Applejack's hip. Sure enough there was a picture of some apples there. Ethan glanced at his hip with nothing there."
"Don't have one."
"What?!"
"Is that bad?"
"Well, not exactly bad, but...everyone has theirs at your age by now." Applejack blushed. "N-not that I'm makin' of of ya, I'm sure yer workin' super hard to get it. I, uh...apologize about that, sometimes I can be a little TOO honest."


Pinkie Pie walked by.
"Hi Applejack."
She turned to Ethan.
"What's your name?"


Pinkie froze with her mouth hanging open as if she realized something. She jumped 10 feet in the air and rushed off.


"...Is that normal?" Ethan asked unsure of what to say.
"Well, for Pinkie, more or less."





*Knock knock*
Twilight sleepily raised her head. She stayed up late again, had slept at her desk and had bags under her eyes. The knocking continued and got louder.


"Alright...I'm coming." she said slowly getting up and going to the door and opening it.
"Rainbow?"
"Geez, what happened to you?" her friend asked after seeing her condition.
"Nice to see you too. Rough night. Please tell me you have good news."
"Yep. The sky's clear for miles around. No bad weather is gonna ruin today."
"My group's done too." said Applejack showing up.
"That's great! I think that's everything, and just in time too!"





"Hey watch it!"
"That's my hoof!"
"Ouch!"
"Sorry."


Ethan pushed through the large crowd of people that had gathered for the event. He glanced back at Navi and raised a brow.
"What happened to you?"


Navi had shrunken and was smaller than before. Earlier last night Navi was the size of a baseball but now was barely bigger than a golf ball.
"Hey, why did you tell Applejack that you did all that work?"
"Would you prefer that I told her an invisible talking ball of light did it instead?"
"..."


"That's what I thought. You're...smaller. Are you alright?"
"I'll be okay, I used up quite a bit of power last night so it'll take a while to recover. What are we doing here?" Navi asked
"There's gotta be at least ONE person here who knows something. Though...I can't exactly blame them for not knowing how to travel across worlds."
He finally got to the front of the crowd after a few minutes of pushing. Ponies were excited and giving a countdown.


"""…2…1!"""


Celestia rose into the air, and the sun rose letting off a flash of light leaving people in awe. She was showered with cheers and shouts.


"Thank you, thank you." She modestly looked around and smiled when something caught her eye. She turned and saw Ethan at the front of the crowd and her eyes widened in surprise.


"Eden...?"
> Who is Eden?
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethan stood at the front of the crowd while everyone was cheering and shouting. It seemed like everyone in town had gathered for this event making it a pretty good time to gather information.


"Man they're loud." he muttered. Ethan wasn't a fan of crowds, but now wasn't time. "Hey, any suggestions on who to ask first?"
Navi didn't say a word, and just quietly floated. Navi's eyes were locked on the person everyone was cheering for.
"Celestia..." Navi said quietly


"Hello? Hellllllllooooooo?"
"H-huh?" Navi said snapping out of it.
"I said who do you think I should ask first? Who's Celestia anyway?"
Ethan looked through the crowd around him and spotted the white alicorn.
"Everyone's cheering because of her...she must be pretty important. Oh, she's looking at me, now's a good chance."
Ethan waved to her. Celestia, looking surprised, waved back.


"I'm sorry." said Navi quickly. "I have to leave, I'll come back later."
"Wait! You can't just leave me!"
The ball of light ignored him and took off in a different direction above the crowd.


Celestia walked forward through the crowd. The ponies respectfully moved out of the way as she came forward. Earlier, Ethan had to push and shove to get anywhere, but the crowd immediately began splitting as she moved. Who was this person anyway?
Celestia stood before Ethan with tears in her eyes, looking at him with a weak smile.
"Eden." she said softly, holding her hoof over her mouth.
'Eden? Is she talking to me?' Ethan thought


Those around watching started whispering.
"Who is he?"
"I don't know."
"Princess Celestia sure seems to know him."


"Wait." said Ethan. "YOU'RE Celestia?"
Everyone's jaw dropped after hearing after hearing that. This pony would call the princess's name so casually without her title?! The once clamoring crowd became deathly silent. The ponies next to Ethan took a few steps back out of fear. But Celestia's face didn't show the slightest bit of anger. Rather, her smile brightened, she wrapped one of her wings around him and put her head on his.
"Welcome back Eden."
"Huh." said Ethan.


The crowd absolutely ERUPTED with confusion.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?!"


"Uh." Ethan said awkwardly. "I'm sorry...do I know you?"
The princess opened her eyes and took a few steps back. "What? Of course you do, don't you remember?"
"I think you've got the wrong person. We've never met before, and my name's Ethan...not Eden, close though."


"No...Eden this isn't funny..." she said, with worry creeping into her voice. Celestia walked around Ethan, studying him.
'His mane, his eyes, his color, even the way he addresses me without my title, they all match.' she thought.
"Can it really be a coincidence?" Celestia said, mostly to herself.
"Can what be a coincidence?"
She looked Ethan in the eyes. His eyes were filled with confusion instead of the playful, teasing look Eden usually had, this wasn't him. Celestia fought back tears as they welled up. She couldn't cry, not here, a princess had to look strong for her subjects. Celestia gave Ethan a fake smile.
"My apologies, I thought you were...someone else."


Celestia had to go, she had to be anywhere else, anywhere but here.
"I'm sorry, this will conclude the celebration for this year."


Princess Celestia moved through the crowd with ease while Ethan tried to run after her.
"Hey wait! Who's Eden?"
But as quickly as the crowd opened up for the princess it immediately became crowded behind her when she passed and Ethan was caught in the middle of the giant cheering crowd, he couldn't even hear his own shouts for the princess to stop. With everyone crowding around her, he found it impossible to get close. He pushed and shoved his way through the crowd but by the time he got out, Celestia was already in a flying chariot. Ethan watched it flying for a second before turning to the nearest person.


"You." he said grabbing an orange unicorn.
"M-me?"
"Where is that chariot going?"
"It's headed back to the palace in Canterlot."
"Then that's where I'm going."
"You can't go there, they don't let just ANYONE in."
"What? When's the next time she'll come out for this event?"
"About a year from now."
"A year?! I can't wait a year!"
"Sorry pal, we all have to wait a year." the unicorn said walking off.




Celestia rode off on the chariot, it wasn't until she was out of sight from the crowd that she allowed herself to cry.
"Of course it wasn't him." she told herself bitterly. "It would be impossible for Eden to be alive after all of this time."
She continued to ride the chariot deep in thought and didn't say another word until she was greeted back at the castle.
"Oh Princess Celestia, that has to have been the most spectacular Sunrise Celebrations I've seen so far!" gushed one of the nobles who was staying at the castle.


Everyone else seemed to have the same opinion. They usually did, if something was popular they tended to all think it was great.
"Yes, thank you. This is due to everyone's hard work." she said.
Looking for some time to herself, Celestia left the throne room and headed off to her own room where she sat thinking.
'There are countless ponies out there. I shouldn't be surprised if there are a few lookalikes right?' She thought, trying to be logical.


After a time, her sister walked by her room and noticed her.
"Sister? Is everything alright? It's not often I see you being so pensive on a day involving such a celebration."
"It's...nothing much." Celestia said thoughtfully. She considered going into detail, but decided against it. "I just thought I'd seen an old friend."





"Ugggggggh!"
Ethan groaned. After the celebration, he had asked around about this 'Eden' that came up. He had talked to 27 earth ponies, 19 unicorns and 11 pegasi, none of which had even heard of Eden and his patience was wearing thin. Navi had eventually returned after this whole ordeal.
"You! Why'd you just run off like that?!"
"I'm sorry, I needed to leave. How was your talk with the princess?"
"Strange, she mistook me for someone named Eden. Ring any bells?"
"Afraid not, I don't recognize anyone except Princess Celestia."
"Why is it only Celestia knew this Eden?"


He started hitting his head against a house in frustration when Applejack came by and looked at him strangely.


"What are ya doin'?"
"Hitting my head against this wall."
"Yeah but...WHY?" she said tilting her head
"I've been looking someone, but I can't seem to find diddly squat about him. No one has seen him, remembers him or even seems to have heard of him. It's like he never existed!"
"Maybe I can help."


Ethan perked up.
"Really? The person I'm looking for is named Eden, do you know him?"
"Well, no, not really."
"...Well if you excuse me, I'm gonna get back to headbutting this wall."
"Hold on, stop doing that. Look, you helped us out a whole heap before the celebration. I reckon I'd be more than happy to lend you a hoof."
"Well, thank you." Ethan said perking up.
"If this 'Eden' is in town, Mayor Mare ought to be able to find em."


The two walked on though town together. The fuss about the celebration was dying down, and ponies were returning to their houses and businesses. Ethan looked in surprise as a pegasus flew above him. He turned his head to a yellow pony with a horn on it's head.
"Is that a unicorn?"


Applejack smiled wryly.
"How could you tell? Was it the horn?" she said sarcastically
"This isn't exactly common knowledge for me you know."


Applejack opened her mouth to ask what he meant but she noticed they had arrived at the town hall.


"Ah, allow me." said Ethan going for the door.
He tried to grab the handle like normal but his new hooves slipped on it. Ethan tried several more times, growing more frustrated with each failure.
"How the heck do you use these nubs!?"
"Um. Need help?" Applejack asked confused.
She walked forward, grabbed the handle and turned it, holding open the door for him.
"Yeah...thanks." he said embarrassed at that pathetic display.


Applejack and Ethan walked through the office and approached a pony at a type writer.
"Hey? Is the mayor busy at the moment?"
The pony looked up.
"No, right now she's free because the celebration is over. Go on in."
"Thanks."


They approached the mayor's office, the mayor seemed to be relaxing in her chair at the moment and wasn't expecting visitors so soon.
"O-oh Applejack!" she said as the two came in. She turned in her chair and changed her posture to a more professional one. "How can I help you?"
"Hello Ms. Mayor. I was just hoping to look for a certain someone in ponyville."
"Well you've come to the right place. What's their name?"


Applejack looked at Ethan.
"Ah right. His name is Eden."


The mayor pulled out a filing cabinet.
"Let's see. E...E...Eager Mcbeaver and...Effort Hooves. Sorry, no Eden."
Ethan sighed.
"You know..." said the mayor looking at him. "I've never seen you around in town before. What's your name?"
"Ethan."


The mayor and Applejack gave him a curious look. "That's quite an odd name. Where are you from?"
"I'm from outta town. Don't worry, I intend to leave...as soon as possible."
"That so? Too bad, could always stand to have more people. Oh by the way, watch out for Pinkie Pie." The mayor said with a smile. "She always get the newcomers when they come to Ponyville."


Ethan left town hall with his head hanging low. Applejack put a reassuring hoof on his shoulder.
"There's still one person who might be able to help ya. I got a friend named Twilight, knows all sorts of stuff. She often helps me and other ponies when things are a bit bad. She's in the big tree house in town, ya can't miss it."
"Thank you Applejack."
"Aw shucks, don't mention it. Listen, I gotta head back to the farm, today's officially so the first day of summer you can bet your left hoof I'm gonna be busy. "
"Good luck with your work, be careful when working in this heat."
"That's where this little beauty comes in handy." she said tipping her hat


She waved goodbye and went her own way. He started walking for a few minutes when it hit him.
"Wait, I forgot to ask WHERE Twilight's house was..."




Rainbow Dash flew through Ponyville, heading towards Sugarcube Corner.


"Today is gonna be great." she chuckled to herself.


Rainbow entered the shop and was greeted by Mrs. Cake.


"Hey Mrs. Cake, Pinkie here?"
"Pinkie? Sorry dearie, haven't seen her."
"Ah that's okay, I'm sure she's just running around somewhere else." Rainbow Dash said turning to leave.


"Dear, before you go would you mind testing out one of our new pastries? I call it the Peppermint Perfection!"
"Can't say no to that." Rainbow said stuffing the cupcake into her mouth.


"Mmmm! That's good! I gotta go look for Pinkie, but I'm coming back for more of those later."


She opened the door and zipped off, flying around town in search of the pink earth pony.


"Pinkie? Pinkie? Pinkie?"
She searched the forest, her friend's houses, and all sorts of places but couldn't find her. Frustrated, she flew higher into the air and shouted below.


"PIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNKYYYY PIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIE!"


Several ponies looked at Rainbow Dash in surprise, but none of them were Pinkie.


"Ugh." She lay on the ground tired.
"I'm never gonna find her."


All of the sudden Pinkie Pie rushed past Rainbow Dash and kept running.
"Hi Rainbow! Bye Rainbow!"
"Hi Pi-wait what?!"


Rainbow Dash flew after the running Pinkie.


"I'm trying to talk to you!" she shouted.
"Okay." Pinkie said still running at full speed.
"That means STOP!"


Pinkie Pie immediately stopped moving, surprising the pegasus who crashed into her sending them both tumbling several feet.


"Ugh." Rainbow picked herself up.
"I've been looking for you. We were supposed to be going off for a few pranks today remember?"
"I know, I'm really looking forward to it." said Pinkie apologeically. "But something came up, I need to take care of something quickly first. I'm really REALLY sorry."
"Oh...well, we're still on for today right?"
"Abso-TUTELY!" Pinkie chirped.
"Alright...guess I'll see you later." Rainbow Dash said flying off




Ethan followed Applejack's description and eventually arrived at a strange building. It seemed to be a house built into a large tree which was actually very fascinating. It looked like something out of a fairy tale, something that gnomes or elves might live in. Ethan approached the door nervously, taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.


"Come in."
Ethan opened the door only to find a pitch black room.
"Hello? Is anyone here?"
"SURPRISE!"


The room lit up all of the sudden, filled with ponies wearing party hats and other things. Confetti rained on him and a pink pony ran up to him and pulled him inside to meet everyone.
"Hee hee, look at his face! He was SO surprised! Do you like it? Huh? Huh?"
"What IS all this?" he said still in shock
"It's a party! Pinkie said speaking really fast.


"I saw you earlier in town and I didn't recognize you which is weird because I recognize everyone so I knew you were new in town so I organized this event but I looked all over town and no one knew you and you didn't live anywhere which is weird because it's like you fell right out of the sky so I put this party here and waited for you to come by!"


Pinkie took a deep breath of air and continued panting with Ethan looking at her even more confused.


"It's almost like you're trying to speak...WORDS of some kind..."
"I threw you a party." she said smiling.
Ethan stared at Pinkie Pie suspiciously. "Thank you, but uh...why?"
"Because you're new in town! My name's Pinkie Pie! I throw parties for everyone new in town!"
"Look you seem like a nice person and all, but I'm not interested in whatever it is you're selling."
Pinkie turned her head in confusion. "I'm not selling anything."
"Right." Ethan chuckled. "You just threw a party for me out of the kindness of your heart. Look, I know how this works okay? I'll just see myself out."


He turned towards the door only to see countless others waiting to talk to him.
"Oh no..." he said fearfully.
They all ran towards him and bombarded him with conversation.


"Hi, how's it going?"
"I haven't seen you before."
"Ooh, I like your eyes."
"Weren't you the one Celestia was talking to?"
"Seriously?! When was this?"
"Where's your cutie mark?"


"Uh...uh..."
Ethan stuttered as he was surrounded by countless strangers and broke into a cold sweat. Desperately looking around he spotted the punch bowl.


"Sorry guys I would just...LOVE to answer your questions but uh...I'm thirsty, excuse me for a moment."
He squeezed his way out of the crowd and dashed over to the refreshments.
"Wow, he must've been really thirsty."


Ethan let out a relieved sigh after he was alone.
"Don't these people have any sense of personal space? Okay, I just gotta bail on this party just as soon as no ones...looking..."
There were several ponies watching him, still waiting to talk. One of them waved to him, Ethan grimly frowned and waved back.
'Why?!' he thought. 'I don't know any of you, go away!'
"Okay, I'll just keep drinking until this party is over." He turned to the cups and frowned looking at his hooves. "Just as soon as I figure out how..."


Ethan sat down and slowly reached out with his front hooves. "Come on, you got this." he said to himself. Delicately grabbing the cup, pushing it between his hooves and shakily bringing it to his face.
"Ah! No, no no!"
The cup started slipping so he quickly applied more pressure, only to crush the cup as the juice splashed him in the face.


A few ponies chuckled while some gave him looks of concern. Ethan ignored them and wiped himself off. What was he thinking? Of course horses couldn't just grab a cup like that. He leaned over a cup and started lapping the punch from it the way he thought a dog or a horse might do it. Everyone suddenly stopped and looked at him, wondering what the heck was he doing. Several others started whispering quietly about him. Ethan looked up to see everyone gawking at him and his face paled.
"Uh...is this not how you drink it?"
A purple horse stepped in front of him.
"Who's ready for the games? First place winners get a prize!"


The crowd cheered and ponies started lining up for the games. She turned towards him and gave a small smile.
"Thanks for the save." Ethan said sighing in relief.
"You're welcome. Hey, are you alright? You seem a little...on edge."
"You can say that again." Ethan muttered. "I'm not normally a 'people' person'."
"I know you might be feeling a little out of place, but this is a party. Relax, have fun, and make some friends."
"I don't know a single person here."


"Well, why don't you fix that. Do you plan on using that excuse forever so you don't have to meet anyone?"
"Pretty much." Ethan muttered
Twilight giggled a little. "You remind me of myself a little when I first came to Ponyville. I dealt with similar things. Completely alone, the overly friendly strangers, and the party with me not knowing a single person."
Ethan perked up a little. "You too?"
"I'll tell you what. Five minutes, for just five minutes, come out of your shell and talk to me. If, after that time you still wanna leave, then I'll help sneak you out of the party. Deal?"
Ethan rubbed his chin. "Just five minutes?"
"Yep."
"...Alright."


"Wonderful." Twilight gave an encouraging smile. "Nice to meet you, my name is Twilight Sparkle. What's your name?"
"Ethan, Ethan Marshal."
"Oh, that's a pretty unique name. What do you think about Ponyville?"
"Not gonna lie, I'm a little overwhelmed by all of this."
"I hear you, it's a bit different from other places. But the ponies here are actually really nice and welcoming. If you give them a chance, you won't regret it. I mean Pinkie Pie even threw this party for you like she did me."
"Wait...you mean that WASN'T just a scam for money?"
"You think Pinkie was trying to scam you?"


Ethan backed up and nervously rubbed the back of his head.
"Well...YEAH. I mean, who does that? Throwing a party for someone just because they're new in town? Isn't that just a little odd?"
"Yeah Pinkie is a bit strange, but she's a really nice person. When someone comes to Ponyville, they don't know anyone and can feel out of place. Pinkie throws these parties to make everyone feel special and welcome."
"Ugh..."


Ethan put a hoof to his face. So that was why Pinkie did this, she wasn't trying to extort money from him. He turned back to Twilight.
"I'm...gonna go apologize."
"That's a good idea."
"Oh! Before I forget. Applejack told me you're the person to see about asking for help."
"Sure, what do you need help with?"
"Uh..." Ethan averted his eyes. "I'll tell you later when we're alone."
"Okay?"


Ethan made his way through the people at the party looking around for the pink pony. It wasn't hard, Pinkie stood out quite a bit. She was standing on a table and singing. He felt a tap on the back of his leg. Turning around, he saw three young ponies nervously staring at him.


"Yes?"
"Hi...um..."


Apple Bloom nervously smiled at him and cleared her throat. She looked back at her friends behind her, Sweetie Bell pushed Apple Bloom forward and stepped back.


"Um, hi I'm Apple Bloom."
"Nice to meet you, what can I do for you?"
"Um, I happened to notice you haven't yet found your...'particular talent'."
"What makes you say that?" Ethan said tilting his head.
"Well...you know, you seem to be 'missing something'." Apple Bloom said hoping he'd catch on.
"Like what?"


"Ugh!" Scootaloo groaned impatiently. "She's trying to say you don't have a cutie mark!"
"Scootaloo! I was tryin' to be subtle."
"What for?"
"Because we don't wanna embarrass him in front of everyone. Don't you know how embarrassing it is for someone of HIS age to still not have his cutie mark? I mean, I'd probably be humiliated if I didn't have mine after all that time."
Apple Bloom froze and clamped her hooves over her mouth, realizing that she'd said too much. Ethan chuckled a bit.
"So that's why I've been getting strange looks from people."
"I'm...I'm awful sorry."
"It's fine, I don't really care about this sort of thing."
"You don't?"


Still, there it was again, someone mentioning a 'cutie mark'. What was that? Some kind of tattoo? Ethan turned his head.
"So...well, do ya wanna join the Cutie Mark Crusaders?
"The Cutie what now?"


"The Cutie Mark Crusaders." Scootaloo said stepping up.


"We go around trying to find our cutie mark and we're thinking about expanding."
"Yeah!" said Sweetie Belle.
"We're trying to find what makes us special."
"Okay, lets pretend I'm new to this whole thing. Could you tell me about Cutie Marks?"


Apple Bloom perked up, she had actually practiced giving this speech just in case.
"Hah! And you two said it wouldn't come in handy. A Cutie mark is your special talent. Something that makes you unique, it helps you find out your purpose in life."
"We're...kinda looking for ours too." said Scootaloo. "Man, we were feeling a little bad about not having our marks. But seeing how that you still don't have yours, now I don't feel so- OW!" Applebloom elbowed Scootaloo to quiet her.
"I think what Scootaloo MEANT to say was. It's nice to know we're not the only ones having trouble finding our purpose in life."
"My purpose in life..." Ethan said thinking back to the voice he heard before being dropped out of the sky. "Hmm..." If cutie marks were really important, they might be worth looking into. Finding out his purpose here might help get him figure out what exactly he was supposed to do.


"So you wanna join?" Apple Bloom said interrupting his train of thought.


"Okay."
"Really?! You do?"
"Yes, thank you for offering to help me."
"Of course! Come on by Sweet Apple Acres tomorrow and we'll have everything set up for ya."


The Cutie Mark Crusaders ran off excitedly. Ethan smiled and went to go talk to Pinkie.


"HEYYY!" Pinkie said excitedly after seeing him. "It's the pony of the hour! You like your party?"
"Ha ha, well...it's definitely impressive."
"I'm so glad you like it. I didn't know what kind of pony you were so I wasn't sure about the theme."
"Uh, Pinkie?" Ethan said fidgeting.
"Yeah?" Pinkie smiled innocently


He sighed. "I'm sorry."
Pinkie gasped "And here I thought you were Ethan! Alright, nice to meet you Mr. Sorry Marshall."
"What? No, I mean I'm apologizing to you."
"Oooooh...wait, why?"
"I was a little rude before, I kinda thought you were trying to scam me. You know, get something from me by using this party."
"Well, I WAS trying to get something from you with this party."
"You were?!"
"Your friendship." Pinkie said giving him a big smile.


"I appreciate the offer but, why would you want to be my friend so suddenly?"
Pinkie Pie gave him a confused look.
"Do I have to have a reason to be someone's friend?"
"Well...I guess not."
"I want to be friends with everyone, so I can make everyone smile and be happy." she said beaming.
Ethan was stunned for a second, then he started chuckling, which then evolved into cackling laughter and and snorts. Ethan laughed and snorted, for a good thirty seconds before he was able to stop.
"That...is the cheesiest thing I have ever heard. But...it's also kind of the sweetest too."
"So...is that a yes? Please? Please?"


He looked at the pink mare staring at him with shining eyes. He didn't have the heart to say no, but more importantly, he kind of WANTED to agree.
"Yes, I would love to be your friend."
"YES! This calls for a celebration!"
"Pinkie, we're already IN a celebration."
"Oh right."


Ethan chuckled, Pinkie Pie was a little like a kid. Absolutely filled with innocence and a little silly. Still, it was a rare gift to have, and this meant he could trust her.
"Pinkie thank you very much for this party. Listen, I'm not really good at much, but if you ever need help moving things around or stuff like that, then feel free to give me a call."
"Aw, thanks! But I didn't do this for a reward."
"It's BECAUSE you did this without expecting a reward that I want to. Besides, I'm someone who repays his favors."
"Okie dokie then."


Twilight came by and joined in on the conversation.
"Looks like you two are getting along pretty well."
"Yup, I made a new friend." Pinkie said bouncing.
"So I see."
"Pinkie!" called a voice. "We're running low on snacks."
"I am ON IT." she said zooming off.


Twilight chuckled and then turned to Ethan.
"I thought you said you 'weren't normally a 'people person'."
"Let's just say Pinkie Pie isn't exactly normal. I can't think of a single person who'd do this just to make someone feel welcome."
"Yeah." Twilight said smiling at Pinkie rushing around to get snacks. "She's always been that sort of pony. So, it's been five minutes, what do you think? Is this better than you thought?"
"...It is, I mean, I'm still not a people person, but I am pretty glad I did this, thank you."




The party eventually came to a close and everyone let Twilight's house. Ethan however stuck around, now that the crowd was gone he could talk to Twilight.
"So, what was it you needed you needed help with?"
"Yes, thank you, I'm looking for someone who doesn't seem to exist. No one seems to have heard about him."
"What's his name?"
"His name is Eden."
"Eden..."


Twilight paused for a moment thinking, that name seemed a little familiar. She'd heard it before somewhere but when? Twilight turned towards one of the bookcases, was it this one...no she couldn't remember.
"I think I've heard it before..."
"You have?!"
"Spike could you come here for a second?"


Spike stopped making snacks in the kitchen and walked in the library. Ethan's jaw immediately dropped when he saw him.
"Are you...a dragon?" he said incredulously
"Yup, ever seen one before?"
"Never! This is seriously cool! Look at you! You can talk too! Can you breathe fire?"
"Y-yeah I can breathe fire." Spike said a little surprised by this sudden pony's outburst.
"Dude, that is awesome! Navi, why couldn't I have been a dragon? I could breathe fire and have fingers..." Ethan sighed. "Man I miss my fingers."


Spike embarrassedly dragged his foot on the ground with a big grin on his face.
"Yeah, I am pretty cool. Nice to know someone appreciates the finer things." he said looking at Twilight.
Twilight smiled and rolled her eyes.
"As much as I hate to ruin your fun, we're still looking for this 'Eden' person remember?"
"Ah, that's right?" Ethan said snapping back to reality.
"Spike, do you remember where I put 'The Stars of Magic' book'? The one with StarSwirl's all of exploits."
"Ah hold on let me see..."


"Starswirl?" said Navi suddenly. Ethan turned to the ball
"You've heard of him?"
"Yes, I remember him, we would often talk and I'd sometimes ask him for advice. He was the most talented magic user I've ever seen."
"Wait...magic?"
"Ah that's right, you wouldn't know. Unicorns can use spells with magic."
"THEY CAN?!"
"Quiet! Only you can hear me remember?"


Ethan turned his head and saw Twilight and Spike staring at him strangely.
"Are you alright?"
"Uh, yeah just talking to myself, you ever do that before?"
"Well yeah." said Spike "But it sounded like you were arguing with yourself..."
"I'm just thinking about something, no need to be worried."
"If you say so..."


Ethan's brain raced, magic existed in this world?! That just might be his ticket out. If magic brought him here, there was a chance someone could take him back! Just now Navi said Starswirl was the most talented magic user! He HAD to find him!
"Well." said Twilight interrupting his thoughts. "Are you gonna help us find it?"
"What? Oh right, yes."
He and Spike looked through the bottoms of the shelves while Twilight levitated several books with magic. Ethan dropped the books he was looking through in surprise "Holy cow." he whispered to himself "Navi wasn't kidding about magic." First dragons and now magic. What's next? Griffons?


"Found it!" Twilight announced. She quickly began flipping through the pages.
"Well, what's it say?" asked Spike eagerly.
"Hold on give me minute..."
She continued reading the book and her eyes lit up for a second, but she kept reading until she reached the end of the book. Surprisingly, it didn't take that long. 'She must be a pretty fast reader.' Ethan thought impressed.
"Well, it's got something but, it's not much..." Twilight said levitating the book back into place. Still, it wasn't nothing, in his book 'The Stars of Magic' Starswirl mentions an 'Eden' who helped him with his studies."
"That's great! Where is this Starswirl?"
"He's been gone for like a thousand years...this is his autobiography."
"A thousand years..." Ethan's heart dropped. This Starswirl was the best chance he had and now he was gone.


"Wait a minute..." he said remembering. Eden helped out Starswirl and Celestia KNEW Eden. "That would make Celestia over a thousand years old!"
"Princess Celestia." Twilight reminded him tartly. "And yes, she is."
"But she looks so young...how old are YOU?!"
"Are you alright?"
Twilight looked at him strangely. He was asking questions that were pretty common knowledge, so it was no wonder he was standing out a bit.
"Navi?" he whispered quietly
"Princess Celestia is an alicorn. Alicorns have lifespans much longer than other ponies."
"So that's how it was..."


"Alright Spike, you can get back to your business. Anyway, looks like we're back at square one. Sorry we couldn't help you find out that much about Eden."
Ethan sighed.
"No, you tried to help me out with all of this. Honestly, you've really done a lot, thank you very much."
"You're welcome. Also, this explains why no one you asked had heard of Eden before. Come to think of it, how did you hear about him, you clearly didn't read 'The Stars of Magic'."
"Celes...Princess, Celestia told me." Ethan said correcting himself. Calling her princess was a bit of a pain. Twilight's eyes widened a bit
"You talked to her?"
"Yeah. She seemed to think I was this Eden guy that I told you about. That's part of the reason I wanted to find him."
"What's the other part?"


Ethan hesitated, there was no way that Twilight would believe he was from another world. Heck, HE barely believed it, but...it couldn't hurt to try...right?
"Before I talk about that, can I ask you some questions?"
"Sure, go ahead."
"Have you ever heard of magic being used to visit other worlds?"
"Uh...no." Twilight said getting a confused look on her face. "I can't say that I have."
"Do you think that it's possible?"


"I guess it's not possible since there aren't any other worlds out there."
"Yes there is!" He said, then immediately clamped his hoof over his mouth.
"I'm telling you, they don't exist." Twilight insisted.
"But, hypothetically...let's say one DID exist. What would you do if you met someone?"
The purple mare rolled her eyes but decided to play along.
"Okay. Assuming he did come from a completely different world and I believed him...then I guess..." She paused for a bit. "I guess I'd be very curious about that world that he came from."


Ethan shivered. Twilight's response was a completely normal one, but there was a reason for his fear. If an alien landed on Earth, it wouldn't be like the cartoons or movies where people accepted the alien or it became popular, or lead to peace with another species. No, realistically, the alien would be locked up, interrogated, and then later experimented on for the information that it held. Ethan doubted Twilight would cause that to happen, but there wasn't a reason to risk it if she didn't know how to help him.


"Ethan." Said Twilight "You've been silently staring into space for ten seconds now, you alright?"
"Ah! Yes, fine! I'm completely fine. I'm completely...normal."
"If you say so." she laughed, helping Ethan calm down from his previous thoughts. Twilight just wanted to help him.
"Okay, so maybe not normal." He said smiling "But I am fine. Thank you for helping me."
"Happy to help, and maybe you should try and space out a little less. Might run into less things while walking if you did."
"Ha ha okay then."
He left the treehouse and then Twilight remembered.


"Ah, I forgot to ask the other reason he was researching Eden."
She mulled it over for a bit.
"An old friend of Princess Celestia...interesting."
> He ain't right in the head
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Pinkie Pie walked around Sugarcube Corner grabbing ingredients and getting ready to open the store as usual.


"I wonder what's taking Mr. and Mrs. Cake so long, they've usually got all this set up by now. Maybe I better go check on them."
Pinkie put down the cake tins and trotted upstairs."
"Hello? Mr. and Mrs. Ca-"
*ZOOM*


She was interrupted as Mrs. Cake zoomed past her, frantically looking for something, soon accompanied by a familiar sounding whoosh as her husband ran around in a similar matter.
"Binkies! Where are the binkies?!"
"I found em sweet pea!"
"Diapers?"
"Check!"
"Extra diapers?"
"Uh..."
"Go get the extra diapers!"
"R-right." Mr. Cake said rushing off once more.


Pinkie Pie looked on in surprise, it wasn't often the Cakes panicked like this. The last time they were so worried about something, it was because Princess Celestia was eating at their bakery.
"Hey. Whatcha doing?


"Pinkie? Hi dear, I can't talk right now. We REALLY need to be somewhere with the kids right now. The bakery's gonna be closed today."
"What?! Closed? But what about all those customers?"
"Sweetie, I do feel awfully bad about them but, well...family comes first."


Pinkie Pie thought for a moment.
"I could watch the shop while you are gone."
Both Mr. and Mrs. Cake immediately froze in their tracks.
"W-well you see..." Began Mrs. Cake, trying to find a way to put her words delicately, she nudged her husband.


"Oh, uh. Well you see Pinkie, you're a good worker."
"Thanks." Pinkie said smiling brightly.
"But the thing is, watching the shop on your own requires...MORE than just a good worker."


"Oh." she said lowering her head. She then perked back up.
"What if I get some friends to help me watch the shop? That would be okay right?"
Mr. Cake turned to his wife.
"That would be okay, right?"


"Well..." she said cautiously. Mrs. Cake did want to trust Pinkie Pie with this. It couldn't possibly be so bad with friends helping her out...right? "Well, alright. If you find some friends to help you watch the shop BEFORE we leave, you can keep it open today."
"I'm on it!" Pinkie said rushing out the door.




"Now let's see, who can I ask? Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Fluttershy, Fluttershy!" exclaimed Pinkie seeing Fluttershy buying produce in town. Pinkie rushed over to the yellow pegasus.


"Hey Fluttershy."
"Oh, hi Pinkie."
"Are you busy right now?"
"Not really, just buying some food for the animals living with me. We go through it pretty quickly."
"Can you help me watch Sugarcube corner today?"
"Oh I don't know...I don't have much experience running a shop."
"Come on, it's super easy! Pleeeease. Please, please, please please, pleeeeeeeeaaaase?"


Fluttershy gave a small smile.
"I could never turn down so many pleases. Alright, I'll give it a try."
"Yes!"
Pinkie thrust her hoof into the air.
"Okay, come by the shop when you're ready. I gotta go find somepony else to help me."


Pinkie continued her mad dash through Ponyville asking others for help. Unfortunately they all had something they had to be doing. They would be able to help later but Pinkie Pie needed their help right now.
"Isn't there ANYPONY who can help me?!"
Pinkie Pie sighed in defeat and sat down on a park bench only to notice a familiar tan pony sleeping on the bench next to her. She turned her head in surprise, this was an odd place to sleep. Of course, he was forced to sleep there since he was technically homeless at the moment.
"Ethan? Okay, last chance I'll ask him. But wait! What if he's having a really good dream right now, maybe I shouldn't wake him. Yeah that's it, I'll wait for a little bit."


Pinkie sat there on the bench hoping Ethan would immediately wake up. She started to sweat, knowing the Cakes could be leaving the store any minute now.
"C'mon c'mon c'mon..."
Pinkie Pie looked at her watch to see that only a few seconds had passed since she started waiting.
"Ohhhhhhh." she said nervously. "I've waited long enough...WAKE UP!"
"WHA?!" Ethan awoke with a jolt.
"I NEED YOUR HELP!"
Ethan looked at her with confusion."What?"


"Would you be able to help me run the Sugarcube Corner? I need somepony to help me so it doesn't close today!"
He groaned. "Look I'd like to repay the favor but I can't work...ugh, like this." he said with his stomach growling. Ethan hadn't been able to find anything to eat since the party yesterday.
"You're hungry? I run a sweets shop! The Cakes don't mind if I help myself every now and again."
"R-really?"
"Yeah!"


"Okay, I'm in."
"Come on!" she said grabbing him. "We can't let them leave first."
"Wait, slow DOOOOOOOOOOOWN!"


Pinkie dragged him to Sugarcube Corner where they Cakes were packed and just about ready to go.
"I-I got em." Pinkie Pie said panting. "I got two friends to help, so now it can stay open right?"
Mrs. Cake smiled. "That was fast, well a deal's a deal. You be careful now sweetie."
"I will." Pinkie said waiving as the family left.
With the Cakes gone, Pinkie and the others continued to set up the shop.
"Okay everyone, they're trusting me to do well despite not being here. So we gotta do a super good job so they know I can handle this."
"Oh dear." said Fluttershy. "A SUPER good job? That sounds pretty hard."
"Nah, it'll be easy. Right Ethan?"
"Huh?"


Ethan looked up with his mouth full. He'd been stuffing himself while they were talking and didn't hear much.
"Ethan, aw, you ate all the snicker-doodles."
"Er, sorry. You said I could help myself, and they're shockingly good."
"I know right? When I first tried then I almost couldn't stop myself. Anyway, the shelves were looking a little low on pastries anyway so it looks like we'll be making more." She turned to Fluttershy. "Do you know how to bake pastries?"
"No, but I can make a good salad. Well, at least Angel thinks it's good. Oh. Sorry, you didn't ask about that."
"That's okay I'm sure you'll do fine. Ethan, can you do it?"
"Well, I've helped out in baking before I guess."
"Sweet! Let's get busy making more of those yummy snicker-doodles."


"Hold on." he said nervously. Ethan hadn't quite gotten used to using his hooves, but it would definitely sound weird if he said he wasn't used to his body. "Maybe I shouldn't be working in the kitchen. I can be a bit...clumsy."
"Aw, I'm sure it'll be fine. What's the worst that can happen?"
"Alright then..." Ethan turned to the yellow pegasus. "I remember you, you're uh, let's see...Flutter...something."
She smiled. "Shy."


"That's it, Fluttershy."
"That's great." said Pinkie "You guys are friends too?"
"Sure are." said Fluttershy
"Not really." Ethan said, the same time as her.
They both turned and looked at each other, surprised by the other person's answer.
"Oh...I'm sorry..." he said with surprise. "I mean, I didn't know that-"
"N-no!" Fluttershy said quickly "It was probably rude of me to assume without asking..."


Both of them were quiet and looked away, unsure of what to say.
"Awkwaaaaard..." Pinkie said out loud. Ethan gave her an irritated look. "What? It is right? Okay, new plan. Ethan you're with me in the kitchen."
Pinkie turned to Fluttershy.
"Okay, this is easy, just stay here and take their order. The prices are on that big ol' menu, see?"
"Alright, I promise I'll try my best." she said giving a small smile.


Pinkie left to join Ethan in the kitchen. She put on a chef's hat and tied a pink apron around herself that said 'Feed the cook'
"Okay." she said grabbing the book and turning to the page. "We'll start off with 1 teaspoon of salt."
"Teaspoon of salt..."
He carefully grabbed the salt in both hooves and gingerly turned it on it's side into the bowl. Slowly shaking it so he didn't drop it, he took about three times longer than it would normally take someone to do it but Pinkie didn't seem to mind.
"Next, two cups of flour."
"Right..."


Ethan walked over to the big bag of flour. This would be a lot harder to lift then the salt. He grabbed the bag in his mouth and started pulling, the flour started to slide off of the shelf when.
"Wait! Don't pull on it with your teeth!"
*KSSSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHH*
The bag ripped, pouring it's contents on Ethan as well as filling the entire kitchen with a white cloud.
*Cough cough* Pinkie coughed, fanning the air in front of her and then widened her eyes in shock upon seeing the state of the kitchen.
Ah, no! This wasn't supposed to happen! Okay, Pinkie don't panic, don't panic."
"Pinkie, I am SO...sorry."
The pink mare looked at him and snickered. Ethan was covered head to toe with flour and was completely white.
"Ha ha ha ha." she rolled around on the floor, getting some flour on herself as well. "That's alright, you did say you were clumsy. Okay, I can still fix this, clean up the kitchen and I'll go get some more flour. Might as well get some other ingredients while I'm out."


She went to the door to leave and then turned around.
"Ah right." Pinkie added. "Don't try and cook anything else, just...go help Fluttershy when you're done."
"Got it."


Navi waited until Pinkie had left the room before speaking.
"Looks like you're having a rough transition."
"And how..." Ethan muttered. "Seriously, this is gonna take some practice."
He went to grab the broom, then hesitated. He couldn't use it with one hoof, and wasn't very skilled using his mouth.
"Maybe I could try this..."
Ethan shakily stood on two legs, wobbling, he put his top hooves on the counter to steady himself.
"What are you doing?"
"Improvising, if I can't work as a pony, maybe I can work as a human." He let go of the counter, and although he shook a bit, he didn't fall. "Okay, steady..." Ethan took a step keeping his arms out for balance.
"Ethan I thought you didn't want to stand out, you're gonna cause a scene."
"In front of WHO?" he said gesturing to empty kitchen. "I've been walking on two legs my entire life, even in this horse body I should be able to manage...maybe." Ethan took a few more practice steps before grabbing the broom. "Okay, I think I can do this if I use two hooves on the broom instead of one..."


"So, what are you gonna do about the calamity?"
"The what?"
"The calamity, you know, the entire reason I brought you here in the first place."
"Ah that..." Ethan paused for a moment. "What's this big bad event that's gonna happen anyway?"
"I'll tell you if you promise not to run away."
"What?! No! Don't be stingy Navi, just tell me what it is."
"Not until you promise."
Ethan groaned and smacked his head. This clearly wasn't going anywhere.


Well before I do anything else, I need to learn more about Equestria. Seeing as I'm clearly not going anywhere any time soon..."
"Yes! That is a good idea!" Navi said chiming in enthusiastically. "Go learn about Equestria! That's a good place to start."
"Right..."
Ethan kept sweeping the floor while walking around on his hind legs. He fell in to the flour a few times, but sweeping was far easier like this.
"Alright. I think I'm starting to get a hang of this whole 'being a horse' thing. I should go help out Fluttershy."
"Ethan, you're still walking on your hind legs."
"Oh yeah."
He got down and pushed open the door with his face. Ethan expected to see several customers waiting on him since there was a delay, but to his surprise the store was completely empty. Save for the yellow pegasus standing by the counter.


"I don't suppose you need a hand do you?"
"Oh no, thank you though, that's sweet. Not a single customer has come yet. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. Ethan, am I standing at the counter right?"
"Ha ha ha, yes Fluttershy, I think you're standing perfectly fine."
"Oh...that's good."


Ethan stood next to Fluttershy behind the counter. Pinkie had asked him to help her out when he was done, but there really wasn't anything to do. He didn't really mind though. Having a job where his work was nothing at all was a good day for him. Fluttershy on the other hand was a different story, aside from worrying about the lack of customers, she was also kinda uncomfortable around Ethan, remembering what happened before he went into the kitchen.
'He hasn't said a word.' she thought 'I need to break this uncomfortable silence, there aren't even any customers to keep us busy. I need to say something, anything...'
"U-um."
"Hmm? What's up?"
'Ah, I didn't think anything to talk about first. Okay uh let's see.' She quickly looked Ethan over for anything of interest to talk about. Her eyes stopped when she noticed his hip.

"So, um, you're still looking for your cutie mark?"
"Again? You're like the tenth person to bring this up."
"I-I'm sorry, is this a sensitive subject?"
"Nah, just a little surprised. Yes, I'm still looking for my mark, and I'm not really sure where to start looking." He hesitated for a bit. "Fluttershy, how did you get your mark?"
Fluttershy's eyes widened, this was a good chance to strike up a good conversation and get over what had happened earlier.


"Well you see, it all started a while ago, back when I was younger. Back then, I wasn't a very good flier, I could barely fly at all and got made fun of because of it. Then one day somepony stood up for me and challenged those bullies to a race. When I signaled for the race to start, they all three shot off at the same time causing me to spin out of control and fall right out of the sky."
"That must've been terrifying."
"Oh it WAS, I was so scared I didn't know what to do. I just kept falling for what seemed like forever, and just when I was going to hit the ground it happened. I was caught by a big group of butterflies."
"You were caught by...butterflies..."
"Oh yes, and it was amazing. I had never seen such beautiful creatures before. You see I had never left Cloudsdale before. I was filled with amazement and wonder at these butterflies, they were filled with all sorts of different colors. And it wasn't just butterflies, there were so many other creatures so new to me too. As I went out to meet them a sonic rainboom roared out in the sky making the animals run and hide in fear. I went to go comfort the animals and tell them it would be okay. I got them and showed them they were going to be safe, and it just felt so right. I found myself wanting to keep doing this, to help the animals and guide them. That's when I got my cutie mark."


Fluttershy proudly turned, showing three pink butterflies on her side.
"I see." Ethan said, gaining some small understanding. "So those butterflies are there because you saw them first, they represent your own personal experience."
"Yup."
"But, how did you know that's what you wanted to do from now on?"
"I just KNEW."
Ethan frowned. Ponies seemed rather different than people. Humans were often pretty frivolous, unsure of what they really wanted. Even when they got it, a lot of the time they wanted more or simply weren't satisfied. The idea that Fluttershy could be satisfied doing the same thing for the rest of her life was a complete mystery to him.
"Did that help?"
"A little..." he replied uncertainly. It was clear there was still a lot he had to learn.
"I'm glad I could help." Fluttershy said giving him a warm smile. Ethan couldn't help grinning too, he felt oddly peaceful around Fluttershy.


"Listen, Fluttershy, about before..."
"Y-yes!?"
"When I said you and I weren't really friends. It wasn't that I disliked the idea or anything, I just didn't expect you to actually say yes. Where I'm from, people usually don't ask so directly."
"They don't? Then how would you normally become friends with someone?"
"Well...let's see." he said thinking. "I suppose if I met someone interesting, we might talk for a little. If we got along then, we might start talking more. Eventually, we might start hanging out and doing stuff, and then we'd be friends, I guess."
"Wouldn't that take a while? Why don't you just ask?"
"I don't know...I just...don't."
Fluttershy giggled a bit. "That seems a little roundabout."
"It kinda is." he admitted. "But if it's like this, then I don't have to worry being rejected. We'd just...stop talking."


Just stop talking? Fluttershy couldn't believe such a thing, to so easily cut off a potential friendship? She wouldn't allow it.
"Ethan." she said completely turning to face him.
"Yeah?"
"I know this isn't how you do things but...I could never imagine using such a way to become friends. I know you said no before but I'll ask again. Do you...do you want to be friends with me?"
Ethan looked at her and chuckled, putting his hoof on his face. Twilight was right, everyone here really was nice and welcoming. It was different but, a nice kind of different.
"Yes." he said smiling. "I would love to."
"R-really? A-are you sure?"
Ethan cackled with laughter. "Are you trying to convince me to say no?"
"Ah! You're right..."


He held out his hoof. "Ethan, Ethan Marshall." Fluttershy happily took his hoof in hers.
"Fluttershy...just Fluttershy."
*KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK*
"A customer!"
Fluttershy eagerly ran to the door and opened it. "Hello, and welcome to..." she stopped when all she could see was a big pile of cooking supplies. "There's no one here..."
"A little help?" said a familiar voice.
"Pinkie?" Fluttershy looked again and saw Pinkie struggling to carry all those items that she gotten. "Oh! Ethan, come here for a second." Everyone helped Pinkie bring the items she bought inside and Pinkie sat at one of the chairs and let out a relieved sigh.


"I everything looked so good, I ended up buying a bit more than I expected, I could barely even see with all those items in the way." Pinkie said with a smile.
"Goodness, you carried all that here by yourself?"
"Yup, being an earth pony has it's perks from time to time." Pinkie Pie leaned backwards stretching and her back made a large cracking sound. "Ah, much better." She turned to the other two. "So. how's business been going?"
"Well." said Ethan. "Considering we haven't had a single customer come by since you left, I'd say not very good."
"What?! Ethan, did you clean the kitchen?"
"Yeah."
Pinkie turned to the pegasus. "Fluttershy have you been standing at the counter in EXACTLY the right way?"
"E-Ethan told me that I was." she stammered.


"Show me."
Fluttershy anxiously walked over to the counter and stood behind it, giving Pinkie a nervous smile. Pinkie's eyes narrowed, Fluttershy gulped as Pinkie carefully looked at the her.
"He was right." Pinkie said with surprise. "That's the best counter standing I've ever seen. But if you guys are doing things right...then that would make this...my fault, right?"
"Pinkie, come on it's not your fault cheer up." said Ethan. "Businesses sometimes have slow days. I mean it's not like there's going to be a flood of customers all the time right? I'm sure it'll be fine."
"Yeah...yeah I guess you're right." Pinkie said breathing out in relief. "Come on Ethan, let's get baking."
"You still trust me not to make a mess?" he chuckled.
"Yeah, but this time YOU'LL read the recipe, and I'LL make it."
"Deal."


The two worked on making sweets, while Fluttershy watched the counter. Ethan felt a little guilty because he wasn't really able to do much. Pinkie literally could have called in anyone else to help and they'd probably do better. He held out his hooves and looked at them. 'I swear I will master you...' Ethan thought.
"Aaaaand...done. Hmm, something on your mind Ethan?"
"Ah, nothing serious. Hey, Pinkie, how'd you get your cutie mark?"
Pinkie's eyes lit up.
"I love telling this story."


She held up a flashlight to her face and spoke in a spooky voice. "It all started a long time ago...on a bright and sunny day...JUST LIKE this one..." Ethan smiled and rolled his eyes. "When I was younger, me and my family worked on a rock farm."
"A ROCK farm? Don't tell me you actually grew rocks there."
"No silly, we BROKE rocks there. Anyway, it was hard work, day in and day out. There was no fun, and no smiles...only rocks. But then one day something amazing happened! There was this big explosion in the sky, and when I looked, there was this beautiful rainbow. I had never been so happy before, I wanted to keep smiling forever. But more than that, I wanted my family to see this and be just as happy as I was! Unfortunately, the rainbow didn't last very long, so I had to improvise."
"An explosion and a rainbow, that sounds like Fluttershy's cutie mark story too."
"Yup! Me and my friends are all connected by that very same rainboom. It's the reason we all got our cutie mark! Isn't that amazing?"
"That is pretty crazy..."
"Anyway, I gathered everything I could find around our farm to try and find a way to get my family to feel that same goodness that I felt. It was the first party I ever made, and they LOVED it. We all laughed and danced and ate, I was so happy that THEY were happy. So I started thinking, that I'd try and help EVERYONE feel such happiness, it's what I wanted more than anything else. That's when I got my cutie mark."
"Wow...I mean that's...wow..."


"Did you like my story?"
"I did, I really did. Hey, Pinkie."
"Yeah?"
"Don't. EVER. Change. Seriously, this world could use more Pinkies."
"I don't think so." Pinkie said shaking her head. "Last time there was more than one Pinkie, things got really out of hand."
"What?"
"Now help me carry these to the front, and don't drop them, kay?"
"Oh, sure."


He watched Pinkie grab a few trays and tried to copy the way she did it. There were a few close calls but he managed not to drop it.
"Nice hot pastries fresh from the oven for the many cust..." she stopped as Sugarcube Corner was still empty.
"I'm sorry Pinkie Pie." Fluttershy said sadly. "I've been standing at this counter as hard as I can, but no one's shown up yet."
"This is worse than I thought. The customers have gotten tired of eating the same thing every day. They want something new, something different and WOW! It't time that Sugarcube Corner came out with different recipes."
"Hmm, that's actually a pretty good-"
"TO THE KITCHEN!" Pinkie interrupted, dragging him back there. "Okay! We're going to be making a bunch of things never tried before. Luckily I just bought a whole mess of ingredients so we're ready for it."
"Any specific ideas? Nope, I"m just gonna try everything."


'I feel bad for the sucker that's gotta try those things.' Ethan thought with a smile
"And you'll be the taste tester. Aren't you lucky, you get to try these new treats as soon as they come out."
"Oh boy..."


Pinkie Pie got backing mixing various ingredients, some of which clearly did not go with each other.
"This is so exciting, I've never tried making these before, who knows how it's gonna taste."
She stacked the cupcakes next to each other, about 18 of them in total. Some of them looked normal while a few of them looked like something that had come out of a horror film.
"Down the hatch." Pinkie said handing him one.
"Right...so, how'd you make this one?"
"I used soda instead of milk."
"..."




"Ugh..."
Ethan groaned and held his stomach as he put down the last of them. Around him were many cupcakes with a single bite taken out of them. A few of them were alright, but as expected, when you mix random ingredients, the flavor is not gonna be pleasant.
"Can't I just trade jobs with Fluttershy?"
"No way! Do you see how good she is at standing at the counter? We can't risk losing that. Now, 1 through 10 tell me about the cupcakes. How was the Peanut Butter and Jelly one?"
"Well, it was alright, abou guess, better than I thought it would be anyway."
"What about the one made with soda?"
"Ugh...that was a 3..."
"Really? I thought that one was gonna be a winner for sure!"
"You're more than welcome to try." Ethan said smiling evilly and holding the cupcake out to her.


"That's okay, I believe you."
"Oh...thanks..." he said, a little disappointed.
"Was there any good ones?"
"Well, the s'mores one was about a 7, and the lemon blackberry was a good 8."
"We're gonna need more! Get ready to try some new flavors."
"WAIT WAIT WAIT!" Ethan shouted, waiving his hooves. "Let ME make a few suggestions."
"You?"


'I didn't know why I didn't think of this before.' he thought. 'Right now I'm in a different world. That means that some things I know from my world might not yet exist in this one.'
"I've got a few ideas to try."


Ethan worked with Pinkie telling her about several ideas for sweets and Pinkie was absolutely blown away. She'd never even HEARD of these before. Even more surprising was they were all good.
"You're a genius!" Pinkie squealed happily. "Now let's see, this one is called chocolate turtle cupcake right?"
"Yep."
"But it's not made with real turtles?" she said taking a bite
"Heh, no, don't worry."


"Alright, this is perfect, now, go out there and let everyone know." she said putting a sign around his neck. "Oh, and don't forget my new slogan."
Ethan walked outside ringing a bell and shouting.
"Sugarcube Corner! Come try our delicious, delectable, delightful decadent delicacies!"
A few ponies stopped and looked at him in surprise.


A purple one came over to him.
"Uh, what are you doing?"
"Just a bit of advertising."
"You do know Sugarcube Corner is closed...right?"
"No, we decided to keep it open today."
"Then why does that sign say closed?"
"Sign?"


Ethan turned back towards the shop's entrance. Sure enough on the door a small sign hung that read closed. The Cakes must've forgotten to change it. Pinkie probably missed it because she could barely see while carrying so much.


"Oh you have got to be kidding me..." He walked over and turned the sign around to open. "SUGARCUBE IS OPEN! AND WE HAVE NEW TREATS! COME BE THE FIRST TO TRY THEM!"
"What?"
"New treats?"


Immediately a large group of ponies made their way to the entrance and began crowding the shop. Ethan had to push his way in through the entrance. Pinkie Pie ran up to him with her eyes shining.
"We did it!" She shouted, wrapping him in a tight hug. "WE DID IT! This is all thanks to our hard work!"
"Actually, it was because of the closed si..."
Ethan stopped. Why ruin such a nice moment? Right now Pinkie was absolutely thrilled. "Yeah." he said accepting the hug. "It's all thanks to our hard work."


It took a long time for all the customers to finally disappear. Everyone was really eager to try the new flavors, and the three found themselves up to their elbows in work, much to Ethan's displeasure. But at last, Pinkie handed the last customer his cupcake and the store was finally quiet again until Cakes returned.
"Hello Pinkie dear, how was running the shop?"
"It was amazing! We came up with several new recipes, had fun, and were absolutely flooded with customers. You should've seen it."
"All that happened while we were gone?" Mrs. Cake asked in surprise.
"Yup, but I couldn't have done it without my friends.
Mrs. Cake turned to the two others. "Thank you for helping out with the shop. It looks like there wasn't a need after all. If I ever need any extra help I hope I can count on you two."
"Well...why not." said Ethan with a grin. "I can still help myself every now and again right?"
"Of course, with these new treats we're gonna have extra business for a while."


"Well, Pinkie, Fluttershy, I'm gonna go now. Thanks for everything today. I gotta head over to Sweet Apple Acres now."
"No problem, this was really fun. Come by again sometime so we can make more new things. But leave the cooking to me okay?"
"Heh, deal."




Applejack and Big Mac walked while carrying baskets of apples. As expected of summer, the sun was really beating down on them and making them sweat. Still, it was something that they were used to, so they both moved through it and set the baskets down.
"Who-wee! Sure is hot out here. Thanks for helping me with these baskets." Applejack stopped and counted their baskets. "Wait a minute...3...4...weren't there 6 of them?"
Big Mac lowered his ears and looked a away with guilt on his face.
"No way...you didn't let Granny Smith try and carry those baskets did you."
"Ee...yup..."


"Why didn't you just tell her no?"
"You know how stubborn she is, Granny won't accept that when there's so much work we gotta do."
"Oh boy...what if she overdoes it? Maybe we better head back."




"Now let's see, Sweet Apple Acres...this place is huge, but, where's the house?"
Ethan walked while wiping some sweat of his brow. He'd been walking for a while but was a little lost due to the size of this place. He might walk for another hour and still not be able to find it at this rate. "Hmm." Ethan stopped walking as he spotted an old pony struggling to pull two baskets.
"Whoa there!" He said running over to her. "What say I give you a hand?"
"A hand? I ain't in need of yer help. I can do this all by m'self!" the old pony said.
"Oh, yes of course you can. It's just, if I spotted a young lady like yourself working on something and I didn't offer a hand, then what kind of gentleman would I be?"


Granny Smith chuckled at his words.
"Young lady huh? You little flatterer you. Alright...if ya insist on pullin' with me then I guess I ain't gonna stop ya."
Ethan took one of the baskets and walked along side of her.
"Say." he said speaking up. "You work here right?"
"Sure do, though my gran' kids are tryin' their darnedest to stop me. But I keep tellin' em, as long as we need extra hooves to work, then I'm gonna be offerin' them."
Granny Smith and him kept walking until Applejack and Big Mac appeared in front of them.


"Wait, Ethan?" Applejack tilted her head. Then she saw he was carrying one of the baskets and sighed in relief, walking them back to the barn. "Alright granny, good work. Big Mac, why don't ya go get some lemon aid with granny." Applejack watch as the two walked off, making sure granny went with him to take it easy for a little. Then turned back to Ethan.
"Phew, thanks for helping out Granny Smith."
"No problem, I saw her working and to be honest I was kinda worried she'd keel over or something. You should really do something about that."


Applejack sighed.
"Me and Big Mac keep tellin' her to stop but she won't listen. Worried about all this work we gotta do. Plowing the fields, bucking the trees, gathering the apples, feeding the animals, preparing the cider...the list goes on...Unfortunately granny ain't gonna accept 'you're too old to work' as a reason to stop. I'm just worried she ain't got an entire summer of work in her this time 'round."
"Sorry to hear that."
"What're ya doing here anyway. It's a mite too early to buy some apples just yet."
"I'm looking for Apple Bloom, she told me to come by today."
"She did? Well alright then, it's just down that way." Applejack said pointing.




"Sweetie Belle, you're late."
"I'm sorry. Rarity had me stay behind a bit longer so she could try some of her new hats on me."
"Well that's fine, but now we gotta think of a way to really wow this pony. I mean, he could become one of our newest members."
"Uh guys." Said Scootaloo. "He's coming right now!"
"What?!"
"What do we do?!"
"Uh...um..." Apple Bloom's eyes darted around the room. "Here!" she said giving something to the other two. "Start tearing up this construction paper, I've got an idea."


Ethan walked up the ramp to the tree house and was about to knock on the door when Apple Bloom opened the door and stepped out closing it.
"Ah, there you are."
"Ethan, funny meetin' you here."
"It is? Didn't you tell me to come by?"
"Uh, right."
The two stood there with Apple Bloom giving him a big fake smile.
"So...can I go in now?"


"Oh right, well...it's such a nice day outside isn't it? I mean, shouldn't we take the time to enjoy it?"
"Not really, it's actually pretty hot."
"W-well, I just meant that-" Apple Bloom was interrupted as a knock came from inside of the door. "Alright!" she said immediately brightening up. "Let's go in now, after you."
He walked inside and was greeted with a bunch of colorful torn paper falling around him. "WELCOME TO THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!"
Ethan chuckled. "I thought Apple Bloom was acting weird, so this is why."
"Did ya like it? We were kinda on short notice."
"It was great, now about about this cutie mark thing."


"Hold on, why don't we give you the grand tour of the Crusader's tree house?"
"Okay."
"Alright then!" Apple Bloom rushed over to a table in the room, this is where we eat our meals." Scootaloo sat there smiling with an apple on the plate. "This is where we think of new ideas to try out for our marks, she said running over to a light bulb that hung in the air. Sweetie Belle sat under the lightbulb and Apple Bloom pulled the string.
*Click*
But the light didn't turn on. She smiled nervously and kept pulling.
*Click*
*Click*
*Click*
"Uh..."


Scootaloo gave the light bulb a whack and it flickered a bit before turning on..
"But most importantly, is this." She said leading him over to a piece of paper taped to the wall. The paper had a bunch of pictures drawn on it, and each one of them were crossed off with an X.
"What is this?"
"This here's a chart of everything that we've tried to get our mark for. Ya see? Here we tried book keeping, bowling, scuba diving. Each one of our attempts has it's own picture to tell us so we don't do it again."
"I see, so your way is to try everything."
"Yup!"


The three gathered around the paper.
"We may not have found our mark doing all of this, but we sure had fun didn't we?"
"Sure did..."
The crusaders were quiet for a while and looked over their events with a smile.
"Can I ask you a question?" Ethan said breaking the silence. " You three are all different, how many species of pony are there?"


The three turned and gave him a weird look.
"...What? How many species of...seriously, you don't know?"
"I bet even Snips and Snails would be able to answer that."
The crusaders huddled up.


"He ain't got his cutie mark like the rest of those his age, and now he doesn't even know THIS?" Asked Sweetie Belle.
"I don't know, but we can ask that later, right now he needs our help and we'll help anyone remember?"
"You're right!"
"Come on, we'll just answer any question he has."
The crusaders stopped their huddle and turned back to Ethan.


"Okay ready Ethan?"
"Sure."
"We'll start with the pegasi." said Scootaloo. "They have wings and can fly, Rainbow Dash can fly super fast, she's awesome! Pegasi can also walk on clouds and make rain and thunderstorms by tampering with the clouds.
"Seriously? They can do all that?"
"Yup, next is the unicorns. They can use magic to do all sorts of things. Levitate items, create stuff, all sorts of things, you should see my sister."
"I've also seen Twilight teleport from time to time."
"Oh yeah, I remember that."


Ethan was putting all of this together.
"Okay so, you're a pegasus, you're a unicorn..." he turned to Applebloom. "Then you and I are just regular horses?"
"Earth ponies."
"Okay, so what can they do?"
"Earth ponies are able to grow things. They can nurture life in the soil while the others can't."
"That's it? I mean, you have pegasi and unicorns who have like superhero abilities. Flying, teleportation, controlling the weather, telekinesis. And then here I am able to plant crops.
"W-well, they're also physically strong." Apple Bloom continued. "Why just the other day my brother Big Mac lifted up and entire iron stove with just a single hoof."
"Hmm, that's pretty cool too I guess...come to think of it, Pinkie also showed some unusual strength earlier."
"Lastly, there are the alicorns with wings AND a horn. They can do everything the other three can do."
"Hmm..."


So he was an earth pony...and there were three other types. More importantly though, Ethan began to wonder if each pony's cutie mark depended on what species they were. Apple Bloom's family ALL were earth ponies who were ALL farmers. Oddly enough, their marks were all apples too. (With the exception of Apple Bloom since she didn't have her mark.) Would his mark involve growing apples too?
"Hey Ethan." Apple Bloom said getting his attention. "No offense, but how do you not already know this"
"Yeah." chimed in Scootaloo. "This is something that everyone should know by Kindergarten."
"Oh, uh..."
That's right, he had to be careful what he asked if he didn't want to stand out. This was basic knowledge to them, something everyone would've known. "I uh...hit my head...and forgot."


"You hit your head and FORGOT?"
"Yup, now, moving on."
"No no wait! We can't just move on, that TERRIBLE!"
"Yeah!" said Scootaloo. "What if when you hit your head, you forgot a bunch of other super important things. That could explain why you don't have a cutie mark at your age."
"I'm sure that I didn't forget anything else, okay?"
"But if you FORGOT something important, then you wouldn't know you forgot it.
"I..." he stopped. Ethan couldn't think of a response to that.


"Come on! My sister'll take ya to the doctor's."
"I'm fine! Really!"
"Come on now."
"Ugh..." Hit his head and forgot, what a stupid answer. Why didn't he just say he was messing with them?




He and Applejack arrived at the hospital with Ethan still grumbling under his breath. The two were approached by Nurse Redheart.
"Good morning." she said with a smile. "What ails you today?"
"We came to get a check up for our friend here. Is that okay?"
"Certainly, if you two could just fill out the form, then the doctor will be right with you.
She handed Applejack a clipboard with a pencil on it.


"Alrighty then."
Applejack took the pencil in her mouth and began writing on the board while Ethan watched her. So that was how they wrote things...odd.
"Okay, the rest is for you to fill out."
"Got it." He took the clipboard and the pencil. He was about to put the pencil in his mouth when he realized that Applejack had just had the pencil in her mouth not thirty seconds ago. "Oh um...can I get a different pencil?"
"Why?"
"I just...I just want a different one." he walked up to the nurse. "Can I get a different pencil?"
"Is there something wrong with the one you were already given?"
"Well, it's been...'used'."
"Does it still work?"
"Yeah."


"Sir, if the pencil still works then please make due with what you have."
"Okay..."
Ethan sighed and walked back to his seat. Was Applejack really okay with this? He wasn't really keen about it, but he couldn't see any way out. Besides, the other pencils had probably been in random pony's mouths. At least he knew where HIS was last. Ethan took the pencil in his mouth, and felt his face grow warm with embarrassment from the indirect kiss.
"You alright?" asked Applejack. "You're lookin' a little flushed."
"I'm...fine."


Ethan wrote with the pencil in his mouth, trying to forget where the pencil had been about a minute ago. He'd never written with his mouth before, so the form ended up as barely legible chicken scratch.
"Here you go." Ethan said handing the form to Nurse Redheart. The nurse looked over his form with a raised eyebrow.
"Uh huh...well I guess this is good enough. The doctor is just in the door to your left."
She led them to the door and walked off back to her desk.


They went in and Ethan sat down.
"Alright." said the doctor coming in. "Now then, you just came in for a simple check up right? Let's see, Mr...Rethan?" he said squinting at the terrible handwriting.
"It's Ethan."
"Hmm, unusual name."
The doctor began the check up. Putting the stethoscope to his chest, tapping his knee with a hammer and other various things while writing in his clipboard.


"Mr. Ethan, I noticed you didn't write your home address on the form you were given."
"I don't have a home." he muttered.
The doctor raised a brow.
"Then where do you sleep?"
"On the ground."
"That...might explain why your body so tense. You should seriously be careful about this sort of thing."


"So, how is he doc?" Asked Applejack.
"Well other than being a bit stiff, he's a perfectly normal earth pony. I don't see any signs of head trauma or bruising."
Applejack sighed in relief. "That's a good piece of news. Now what's this I hear about you being homeless?"
"I already told you that remember?"
Well yeah, but I didn't think you were serious! It ain't right for ANYPONY to not have a place to stay." She thought for a bit. "You already did a good job at the Sun Celebration and you helped out granny too. If you stayed with us, then we wouldn't be shorthanded and granny wouldn't need to work anymore."


"You're letting me live on the farm with you?"
"IF, you can earn your keep."
"Are you kidding me? Yes!"
This was a lot better than sleeping outside in the cold. He was lucky that it hadn't rained yet, and the idea of sleeping on a park bench wasn't appealing anymore.
"I won't let you down."

> An Omen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Sound off!" Yelled Granny Smith as the Apple family lined up. "You here?"
"Here Granny!"
"Ready to work!"
"Eeyup!"


Granny Smith eyed the list, polished her glasses and looked again.
"Says here we got another person workin' at the farm?"
"Yeah, just picked him up yesterday." Said Applejack
"Well where is he darn tootin?!"
"Er, sorry Granny. I'll go get em."


Applejack went off to get Ethan in the guest room and found him sleeping.
"Hey, rise and shine, it's time to wake up!"
"Ungh."


Ethan stirred, looking at the clock.
"It's 7:15."
"I know, why aren't you out of bed already?"
"What? Look, I'm more of a 9' am kinda person." he said pulling the covers over his face.
"No." said Applejack said grabbing the blanket. "You're more of a 'earn your keep' kinda person." She pulled the blanket the blanket off of him and Ethan groaned.
"Ugh. Crud, I did say something like that didn't I?"
He begrudgingly got up and yawned.
"Come on, we're out waitin' for ya."


He and Applejack got to the front and lined up with the others.
"So this is the new recruit." Granny Smith said eyeing him. "I hope he's worth his salt."
"Uh, sure. I'm very salty."
"That's what I like to hear youngun'! Now, I'm gonna be goin' over the list of who does what so listen good. Applejack, you start on buckin' the trees, you know the drill. Big Mac, you start on takin' care of them pesky bugs 'round the farm. Apple Bloom, yer job is to feed the animals here. And..." Granny Smith stopped and looked closely at the list. "Et-Han?"
"It's uh, Ethan."
"Hmm, well that's an odd name."
"So I keep hearing..."


Ethan knew that his name would stand out since he was in a completely different world, but it was still a little irritating when the only response was, 'Oh, that's a weird name.' after introducing himself.
"Anyway, you'll be plowin' the field. After ya get finished with that, go help Applejack."
"Alright."
"Now let's see here." She looked over the list and then frowned. "Ah, don't see my name on this list..."
"Oh uh, well, I guess we got it covered for now." Applejack said with a knowing smile.
"Well...if yer SURE ya got it covered..."
"We're sure."


Granny Smith walked back into the house convinced, and Applejack let out a sigh of relief.
"Glad that worked out well. Now, hop to it everyone."


The others ran off to do their tasks while Ethan walked to the field, looking at a dirty piece of wood and metal.
"Navi, what is that?"
"That's the plow."
"Okay...so I just gotta..."
Ethan got behind the plow, pushing it from behind with very little progress.


"Wait wait, hold on. You're supposed to strap yourself to it and pull it through the fields."
"What are you kidding? Look at this thing, never mind pulling it, but pulling it through dirt?"
"Just give it a try."
"Fine fine..."


He put the reins on his back and started pulling the plow. There was a bit of a hesitation as the plow started but that disappeared once he started getting it going. To Ethan's amazement, he found he was actually able to get it moving, something he thought would be impossible for him.
"This is incredible, look at me, I'm actually doing it!"
"Why are you so surprised?"
"Are you kidding me? There would've been absolutely no way that I could budge this thing in my human body, but here I am able to pull it!"
Ethan laughed and started running with the plow. It was tiring, but he didn't care, he was far more interested in testing out what he could do with this body of his. Running around, he finally collapsed in the dirt with a smile on his face after plowing all of the field.


"Apple Bloom wasn't *pant* kidding...earth ponies really ARE *pant* strong."
"I don't think Applejack's gonna be pleased with your work."
"Why not, I *pant* plowed it all?"
"See for yourself."


Ethan grunted and looked. Ah, so that was what Navi meant. The field lines weren't exactly straight and orderly like one would expect. No, they actually rather crooked and wider than they were supposed to be. Yeah...probably shouldn't have been running with the plow.
"Looks like you need to fix the fields THEN re-plow them."
"..."




It took a while to get the field to the way it was supposed to be. Afterwards, he decided to wait a little bit for Applejack, the apple trees covered an enormous area, so he didn't feel like looking for her. Eventually his patience was rewarded and Applejack came by pulling a cart with apples in.
"Hey, I'm done plowing the fields."
"Well you sure took your sweet time, I was wondering when you'd finish."
"Sorry, I ended going a little overboard."
"Well that's fine I s'pose, come on, let's get to bucking the trees."
"What's bucking?"


Applejack sighed and motioned for him to follow her to the barn.
"First, ya take a few baskets, load em up into the cart, then take the cart to the trees. Put a basket under the tree and buck it, I'll show ya when we get there. Afterwards take the basket, put it in the cart and repeat till ya got a few baskets in the cart, take em back to the barn and load up the apples here. Well, just keep repeatin' this till the orchards are empty, and don't worry. No one expects us to finish this any time soon. Got it?"
"Got it."
"Good, now come on."


Applejack walked him over to one of the tree.
"Alright, now buckin' is easy, all ya gotta do is kick this tree here dead center and get the apples that fall, give it a try."
"Right..."


Ethan stepped up to the tree.
"All I gotta do is kick it right?"
He raised one of his legs and kicked the tree with a dull thud. The tree shook a little, but not a single apple fell.
"No no no." Applejack said pushing him out of the way. "Ya gotta do a lot better than that. Listen, plant your front hooves firmly, jump with your back legs to lift them in the air slightly above your head, and then ya gotta slam your legs into the tree while also using the gravity that's pulling your legs down." Applejack lifted her back legs, powerfully kicking the tree causing apples to fall. She casually caught one of the falling apples and gave it a bite. "Now that there's how it's done."


Ethan took deep breath and approached a different tree.
'Okay.' He thought 'Plant your feet, jump with hind legs, let gravity pull them down and...SLAM!'
The entirety of the tree rocked as he kicked it, causing all the apple to fall.
"Alright!" He pumped his hoof in victory. Applejack chuckled.
"That was pretty good, but next time ya gotta hold back your power a bit." she looked around the fallen apples. "Ah, lookee here, try eating this one ya bucked."
Ethan took a bite of the apple and puckered at the sour flavor.
"Ya see? Not all apples become ripe at the same time. Some are slower or faster than others, ya gotta kick it with just enough power so that only the ripe ones fall. Other than that ya did a pretty good job, now I gotta get back to my side of the field, I'm sure ya can handle the rest. Come back to the house after a couple of hours okay?"


Right after Applejack left, Navi spoke up.
"So Ethan, have you given any more thought about the calamity?"
"DID YOU SEE THAT?!"
"See what?"
"I just kicked a tree so hard all of it's fruit fell off! What human could possibly be able to do the same thing?"
"Focus, the calamity." said Navi.
"Come on, Navi. Look around you, there's no way that anything seriously bad could ever happen in a place like this. Let me take the time to quote Frieza: 'Trapped in a world of delicate little flowers, where bands of angels and fairies and enchanted stuffed animals lived. They played songs and danced asinine jigs as if their only care in life was when they'd get their next warm fuzzy hug.' That statement perfectly describes my situation here in Equestria.
"You're wrong, you have no idea what's coming."
"Then tell me."
"I..."
"Can't tell me because I'll get scared and run away? Suit yourself, I already plan on finding a way back home anyway. Now let's see, jump with my back end and...OW! Too soon!"


Navi watched Ethan kick the trees and gather the apples while thinking.
'This isn't good, I'm caught between a rock and a hard place. I need to figure something out...'




A few hours passed, and Ethan pulled the cart to the barn after loading it up. While at first Ethan was excited about his newfound earth pony strength, it got a little old after the first two hours of bucking trees, and the novelty had worn off. The only reason he kept working was because if he didn't, then he'd go back to being homeless, and he far preferred the irritating work.


"So, what do ya think of yer first day on the farm Ethan?" Applejack said as she pulled up to the barn
"Well, it was exciting at first, but I've got a strong suspicion that's not gonna be the case anymore."
She chuckled.


"Well yeah, work is work. No matter how much ya like it or dislike it, it's still gotta get done."
"You sound like my sister." Ethan muttered.
"Don't worry, you'll get used to it sooner or later. When I'm done with my side of the field I'll help you finish with your side."
"Wait...you don't think I can do it myself?"
"No offense, but of course not. I mean, I even had to teach ya to buck, you'd never even heard of it before."
"I bet I could clear my side just as fast as you, maybe faster."


"Ha ha ha ha ha." Applejack laughed at the very idea of losing. "I've been doin' this fer years. If a greenhorn like you could beat me, I'd eat mah hat."
"Fine, then why not make it a bet?"
"Alright, if you can manage to clear your side of the fields before me, I'll eat mah hat, well...not MAH hat I mean A hat." she said patting the one on top of her head.
"Deal!"
They both shook on it.
"Well then, you better pick up the pace if you plan on beatin' someone like me."
"Oh look, she's humble too." Ethan said smiling sarcastically.


Ethan walked back to the guestroom and got into bed, stretching and yawning. It was only about 4 in the afternoon but he'd been busy since 7, a quick nap couldn't hurt. While work really wasn't one of his favorite things, the other option was to be homeless, and that wasn't exactly appealing either. He lay on his back and started thinking about how nice it would be to be back home, to have hands again, or even to be able to play video games. It'd been three days since he touched a video game not even TV or internet and he was bored out of his mind.
"Ugh..."
"Hmm? Something wrong Ethan?" asked Navi


"Why is this world so boring? There's like nothing to do here."
"Well come now, there's plenty to do. There's an entirely new world out there. Aren't you curious about finding new things you've never seen before?"
"Not really..." he paused. "Hey Navi."
"Yeah?"
"Go check out the left side of the fields and tell me how much work Applejack finished."
"You want to use me...just to see how many tree's she cleared?"
"You're right, go count the number of tree's I cleared too so I can compare them."


Navi sighed and floated through the ceiling and heading for the fields.


"Well this certainly isn't what I expected." Navi said with disappointment.
Navi rose high in the air and looked down below on the fields
"1,2,3...Applejack's cleared 32 trees and Ethan...23. Hmm, he's not gonna be happy."
Navi stopped "Ugh...what am I doing? I'm supposed to have some important duty leading him to save the world, and here I am trying to help him win a bet, so he can watch someone eat a hat. No, I'm sorry Ethan, but whether I chose wrong or not, the world needs someone."
Navi floated back to the guest room where Ethan was, but found him fast asleep.
"I'm sorry, but you have to see this."
Hovering over his head, Navi started glowing with a faint light, Ethan's face winced as his dream became a nightmare.




"Ponyville?"
Ethan stood in the town which was filled with chaos. Ponies desperately ran around trying to get away. Buildings were cracked and ruined, the very air itself was unbearably hot causing sweat to pour off of him and making it painful to breathe. Ethan choked on the air as it burned his throat.
"What the heck...*pant*...is going on?!"
Ponies collapsed from the intense heat around him, the once lush and green forest was filled with dead shriveled trees. He watched in horror as the trees easily caught fire and raged out of control. Animals ran for cover attempting to escape the blaze. Everywhere he looked he saw destruction.
"Why is this happening?!" Ethan shouted. He heard a familiar voice inside his head.


"YOU must stop this from happening."
Sweat poured off of his body as his energetic running became a slow crawl, dragging himself on the burning ground.
"Why...is it...so hot...?"
He finally collapsed on the ground from exhaustion. As he did the, scene around him changed. Various towns and cities were flooded, some completely underwater without a single trace of anyone else. It was as if all of the citizens of Equestria had vanished.
"If you cannot act..."
The scene changed around Ethan again, this time becoming night. It was bitterly cold and snow fell. Ethan shivered and trudged through the snow looking for some place to warm himself, each step becoming more difficult then the last. After reaching the top of a small hill, his legs gave way and he tumbled through the icy ground crashing into something. As he weakly pulled himself up wit his vision fading his eyes made out the shape of a unicorn.
"Ah...sorry..." he managed to weakly say. "Do you know someplace...warm?"
The unicorn didn't say a word and stared blankly unmoving.
"What, are you some kind of sta...tue..." Ethan said as his vision cleared up. It wasn't a statue, standing in front of him was a frozen unicorn with an expression of fear on it's face.
"No..." he stumbled back, trying to make sense out of all of this and then bumped into something else. He quickly darted around and saw with horror it was another frozen citizen. Looking around, the tundra was filled with frozen ponies looking like they were trying to run.
"Then this is their future..."


Ethan woke up panting, and covered in sweat, his eyes immediately darted around the room. He was back in the guest house of Sweet Apple Acres, the snow was gone, the biting cold had left his body.
"Easy...easy..." Navi said soothingly. "It was just a dream."
"That was not just a dream!" He shouted. "I felt it, all of it! Everything was on fire! And people were screaming and...and!"
"I know, I had to show that to you to make you understand. Now that you know you can-"
"I-I don't want any part in this!"
"You have to do SOMETHING! You saw what became of Equestria, you saw what happened to everyone!"
"But why does it have to be ME?! I've only been here for three days! I'm barely starting to learn about this world! How can I possibly be expected to save it?!"
"Listen, I know you're worried but-"


"No! No you don't!" Ethan interrupted. "Being worried is something kids are when they're afraid something might be hiding under their bed. You're putting the lives of an entire world on my shoulders...I'm TERRIFIED!"
"I'm sorry...I know this is a tremendous thing to face, but someone has to do it. If not, then countless ponies will suffer."
"But...I..." Ethan struggled, trying to find the right words to say. "It's not like I WANT this to happen, but...I'm not the hero type...just look at me. Even if I wanted to do this, I wouldn't have the slightest clue where to even BEGIN. I'm just one guy." he said helplessly raising his hooves.
"I need you!"
"I CAN'T DO IT ALRIGHT?!" Ethan shouted suddenly. "I can't...I'm sorry. You've got the wrong guy..."


Navi didn't say anything else, none of them did. The room became heavy and silent as neither of them knew what to say next. After a long pause however Ethan finally broke the silence.
"I'm going to the club house now." he said looking away. "Though, at this point don't know why I should even bother..."
They both made the trip to the clubhouse without another word and he was greeted by Applebloom.
"Oh, there ya are, we were wondering if when you'd show up."


She turned to the other two.
"Okay so what should we do next?"
"I know! Let's try basketball!"
"I dunno...I'm not really good at that." said Sweetie Belle. "Besides, isn't that on the Cutie Mark list already?"
"What? No, that's a drawing of a potato."
"Potato? What would a potato even mean?"
"Who knows, anyway, it's not a basketball."
"Yes it is."
"Ethan, what do you think?"


The three of them turned to Ethan who was just sitting in the corner with a dull look on his face.
"Huh? I don't know. Sure...whatever."
"Are you alright?"
"Yeah...you've been lookin' pretty down after we got done with the mornin' chores. Is there somethin' on your mind?"
"I'm fine." he said quietly.
"Well...if yer sure..." Apple Bloom said reluctantly. It was obvious there was something bothering him, but he clearly didn't want to talk about it. "Why don't we go to town?" she said trying to change the subject. "There's always something new to do there!"
"Great idea."


The crusaders left the tree house and made their way to town. As usual, the streets were busy with ponies moving back and forth. Ethan couldn't help but shudder as he looked around at the rushing ponies, remembering his dream. Hold on a moment...Ethan looked closer at one that was passing by. Was that a pony too? Ethan tapped Apple Bloom's back.
"What kind of pony is that?" he asked pointing at a black and white striped person.
"That ain't no pony."
She ran up to the person he pointed to.


"Zecora! It's nice to see you again."
"Ah the Crusaders, again we meet. Seeing good friends is always a treat."
"It's nice to see you too."
"Hey, what's that list you got there? Are you gathering ingredients again?" Asked Sweetie Belle.
Zecora smiled and nodded, taking notice of Ethan standing with them.
"Can we help? I don't think we've ever tried getting our cutie mark as magical assistants."
"I DO need to gather a great many things. Your help and company are welcome to bring."


"Great, why don't we split up? That way, we can get things on the list faster. Let's see...1, 2, 3, 4, 5...well it's a bit uneven but that's fine. Me, Sweetie Belle and Zecora will be in a group. Scootaloo, you and Ethan are together okay? We'll get our items and meet back here."
"Got it. Hey, betcha we'll get our items before you do!"
"Nuh-uh!"
Scootaloo grabbed Ethan.
"Come on, let's go!"




Luna paced back and forth in the castle hall.
"How can this be? This has never happened before. How can I call myself the guardian of the night if I am beaten by one mere nightmare?"
She continued her pacing and talking with herself until Celestia came.
"Luna is there something the matter?"
"Sister, well yes, I am rather troubled but this is nothing that requires your attention."
"Are you sure? Because, it looks like you're going to wear out the carpet at this rate."


Luna looked down, the carpet was starting to wear from her constant pacing.
"I might be able to help, at the very least someone who can listen."
Luna sighed "Very well. As usual, during the night I went out to safeguard the dreams of others to keep nightmares at bay."
Her sister nodded. "Go on."
"But...I found this nightmare..."
"What was different this time around?"
"I found that I could not vanquish it despite my best efforts. I could not even enter the nightmare to see what it was about. This has never happened before!"


Celestia looked mildly surprised.
"Exactly so! My expression was that of yours when I found out."
"Dear sister, are you alright? Perhaps you've overworked yourself. There are a lot of dreams that need protection each night."
"That is not the case, I'm afraid to say. After giving up on that nightmare, I found that all the others were still not a problem for me to enter and subdue."
"What do you think this means?"
"Of that I am not certain. However, I shall not sit idly by, I must investigate this matter."
"Will you need my help Luna?"


Luna smiled.
"Sister, you are indeed very kind. However, even if you came along, there is nothing you could do to help me on this matter."
"I know...very well. I wish you the best."
"Thank you." Luna said walking to the balcony. "I am off."


She spread her ebony colored wings and took off into the sky.




"Ha! Looks like we managed to get here first."
"No fair, you guys had more people on your team to help look."
"It matters not about who got here first or last. Thanks to you my problems are a thing of the past."
"She's right, come on, let's help her bring this stuff to her house."
While they were walking through town when Apple Bloom whispered to Ethan.
"Why don't you try talking to Zecora. You haven't said a single word to her since ya met. You don't want her to start to think you don't like her or something."
"Okay. Hey Zecora, do all Zebras have to rhyme when they talk?"
Apple Bloom groaned and smacked her forehead.


"That's a pretty good question." Said Scootaloo. Apple Bloom shot her a dirty look. "What? I'm never met any other zebras before."
"Come to think of it, neither have I." Sweetie Belle added.
"Zecora?"
"Ha ha ha ha. Rhyming is indeed something that I have shown, however it is something I do alone."
"So Zecora, how do you live in some place as dangerous as the Everfree Forest?" Apple Bloom asked shivering as the five of them stepped into the dark woods. The forest emitted an creepy atmosphere making the crusaders hesitate. But they felt a little safer walking with Zecora who dealt with this every day. While they were walking, Scootaloo stepped on a twig.
*Crack*
The pegasus yelped whirling around. Noticing nothing was there, turned back to her friends embarrassed.


"I-I wasn't scared, I was just...bird calling."
"Sure Scoot, that's what you were doing." Sweetie said with a smile.
"What? I WAS..."


"Okay, we're just gonna set it down on the floor here.
Every set down their items and Ethan took the chance to look around. Just like Twilight, Zecora lived in a house, this one however was filled with odd looking things. Weird masks adorned the walls of her hut. Bottles hung from the ceiling, most noticeably was the cauldron which was filled with an odd green liquid which seemed to glow. He thought back to the ingredients that they all gathered, was Zecora trying to make potions? If magic existed then, this wouldn't surprise him.
"You know, I've always wondered, what are those masks for?" Asked Sweetie Belle
"The masks you see here act as a charm, to deter evil spirits and harm."
"What about this potion?" said Apple Bloom holding it up.
"The potion is used to fix sore a throat, it also works well to keep a clean coat."


Scootaloo looked around noticing a box with interesting decorations on a shelf. She tried reaching up to grab the box, but it was too high for her. She jumped up, managing to grab the box but fell backwards dropping it and spilling the contents. A bunch of black cards spilled out.
"Sorry..." she started gathering them up. "Zecora, I didn't realize you played cards, how do you play with them if you're all alone out here?"
"These tarot cards that you see here are not made to play. They tell us about ourselves, shall we see what they say?"
"Wait, these cards can tell us about ourselves? Sweetie Bell, you give it a try."
"Nah that's okay, I'm think sure I know myself pretty well, what about you Scoot?"


"Forget about me, this is perfect for Ethan!"
"That's right! Ethan forgot all about himself when he hit his head, this'd be perfect for him."
"What?" Ethan said hearing his name mentioned.
"Well go on, do this tarot card thing, maybe you'll remember something."


Ethan sat down across from Zecora and she laid other the cards face down in front of him. He hadn't actually hit his head and forgotten anything, but he didn't feel like telling them that he lied, because then there'd be a lot he'd have to explain.
"So, how do I know which one of these cards are mine?"
"You need not worry, there is no fake. The right cards will be, the three you take."
"So I just choose any three."
He hesitated, grabbing the bottom three cards next to each other. The zebra took the first card and flipped it over. On the card was a picture of yellow unicorn in a clown costume juggling balls with magic.


"The first card you picked is the joker you see. The joker is makes jokes and is often carefree."
"So far so good." Ethan said. he didn't expect any of these card to actually be accurate
Zecora turned the next card over. This card was a picture of a dark colored lamb alone in the corner while the herd kept it's distance.
"The black sheep is different, a stranger of sorts, he rather stands out from the rest of his cohorts. Right now you may feel that you are far from your home, that you can't return no matter how far you roam."
"Well, was she right about this one?" asked Apple Bloom
Everyone waited, but Ethan didn't say anything this time. He just sat there looking at the black sheep.
"Ethan?"


The last card was flipped, revealing a stone maze.
"Ah the labyrinth, a difficult one to be sure. This one is a trying test that is hard to endure. You will face a great struggle, and then so much more. Things will never quite be, as the same as before."
"No." Ethan said standing up.
"No?"
"I'm not doing ANY of that, you hear me? That ain't gonna happen?"
"Wait." said Apple Bloom. "This is just a fun prediction, no need to get so upset about it. Besides, this is about the future. How do you KNOW that you're not gonna do whatever the card says?"
"I know because the one who decides this is ME! I didn't ask for this kind of responsibility, and I should be the one to decide!"


He stopped and looked around after speaking. Everyone had a look of confusion and surprise at his sudden outburst. To be honest, he surprised himself a quite a bit too. He knew he shouldn't have taken it out on them, but Ethan was still upset about the fact that he was going to die, and there was nothing he could do about it. Turning around, he walked towards the door.
"I need some fresh air, enjoy your ingredients."
After he left, Apple Bloom nervously approached Zecora.
"I'm awful sorry, I don't know why he's so down today, he's usually a pretty nice guy."
"It is alright Apple Bloom, there is no grudge left behind, that pony quite clearly has something big upon his mind."
"Should we go talk to him?"
"I'll do it." said Scootaloo "It might be harder to open up if we all go ask him at once."
"Alright, but be REALLY careful, we don't know how far he's gone. Who knows what he could find out there."


She immediately ran outside and looked around.
"Ethan? Ethan? Hello?"
Scootaloo looked around the area looking for a clew as to where he might have gone off too. Her eyes spotted a small parting in some bushes. This wasn't good, if what if he ran into trouble. Scoot immediately ran through the parting shouting his name.
"Helloooo? Can you hear me? Don't go any farther!"
There was a rustling in the bushes as she called out to him.
"Ethan? Is...is that you?"


Scootaloo's eyes widened as she heard growling, and a Timberwolf crawled out of the bushes. It's green eyes casting an eerie light in the darkened forest. The timberwolf took a step forward and Scootaloo fearfully stepped back. The wolf didn't rush, it wanted to see how close it could get to Scootaloo without spooking her, slowly moving forward. The pegasus finally took control of herself and immediately started running, to which the timberwolf gave pursuit.
"Someone heeeeeelp!"
She ran through the forest with the wolf hot on her trail barking. Scootaloo panted as she darted to the right after entering a clearing, the wolf tried to make the turn and skidded a little to the side buying her another precious second.
'I've got to get back to Zecora's hutt.' she thought only Scootaloo looked around only to realize she had gotten lost in the huge forest. All she could do right now was run, and hope she got away.




Ethan carefully climbed over a log in the path and walked on it trying to balance. Wobbling a few times but managing to get to the end of it without falling off. He looked at a stream that was quietly moving along, and put on a brief smile.
"You went a little overboard back there you know."
Ethan brief smile fell back to it's former spot as Navi reminded him of what happened.
"I know okay." he sighed and leaned back against a tree. "I shouldn't have snapped at them, but with everything that I've had to take in, I'd STILL say I'm handling it pretty well."
"Why are we out here wandering around?"
"I'm just going for a walk."
"A walk?"
"Yeah. Sometimes when I get upset or flustered or lose a video game one too many times, I'd go for a walk to clear my head. Just me, alone with my thoughts, these walks are even better at night. Calm, quiet, and cool, the perfect time."


"I see. Well, it's a good idea to clear your head, but don't you think this is a pretty dangerous place to do it?"
"Not really, I mean you're here right?"
"What do you mean?"
"Just fly up every so often and look around. You can tell me if there is anything dangerous nearby after you get an aerial view. This place might be dangerous, but there no problem if I can see the dangers before they find me right?"
"That's...actually a good idea."


Navi flew up into the air and looked around. So far so good, there was a manticore around, but it was pretty far. Navi came back down back to where he was after a moment.
"The way is clear at the moment."
"Great, now the only thing I have to worry about is the end of the world." he said with a humorless smile.
Navi winced.
"For what's it's worth, I'm sorry I got you sucked into all of this. I know it probably doesn't mean much at this point..."
Ethan sighed. "It's not entirely your fault I guess. You did try and warn me, though you were kinda vague about the details. Next time you need help though, don't ask them through a dream. Because then someone will think it's just a DREAM and not real."
"Noted."
"When's this calamity thing supposed to happen anyway?"
"Roughly fourteen months from now."


Ethan abruptly stopped walking, he had expected it to happen a lot sooner. Ethan certainly didn't expect to be called fourteen months in advance.
"That's surprising."
"Not as bad as your thought right? I mean you could do a lot with a year."
"Navi, even if I had a hundred years, I still couldn't stop something of that scale."
"Yeah, I was afraid of that..."
Navi rose into the air again and looked around the Everfree Forest from above. Again, there wasn't anything too...wait a minute, what was that? Navi looked closer as something moved quickly pretty close to where Ethan was.
"Isn't that...hey Ethan. There's something coming your way. It's that orange pegasus from before."
"Scootaloo? Are you sure?"
"Yeah and there's something following her, probably just the other Crusaders. Wait a minute, it's a timberwolf! Ethan! A timberwolf is coming your way!"


No sooner had Navi spoken when Scootaloo burst through the bushes out of breath. She looked at him and her eyes lit up.
"Wait wait wait! Scootaloo! Don't lead the wolf towards-"
He was interrupted as the wolf burst through the bushes as well.
"Me..."
The timberwolf locked eyes with Ethan and let out a menacing growl.
"Son of a..."


Ethan turned around and started running with the pegasus by his side.
"Scootaloo! What are you doing here?!"
"I...I was trying...to find you." she panted
"Well ya found me, and now this wolf has too!"
Scootaloo tried to apologize but she was too out of breath. The timberwolf had been chasing her for a while and she could couldn't go on much longer. One of her legs gave out and she stumbled forward. Ethan looked back at the crusader lying there helplessly. Ethan muttered out a complaint, he immediately stopped and scooped her up with his front hooves before running while carrying her. Scootaloo's eyes widened in disbelief as she saw him running on his hind legs.
"How are you doing that?"
"Is now really the best time to ask that?"


He cast a glance back at the timberwolf, seeing it start to close the distance. Turning back around, his heart sank as he found his back to a stone wall. Ethan put Scootaloo down and looked side to side, there wasn't much room. If they split up and moved to the side, at least the timberwolf wouldn't be able to catch both of them. Or at least...that's how it should have gone. The wolf ignored Ethan as he starting edging off to the side. It had been chasing Scootaloo long enough to know she was tired, and wanted to catch the easier prey. Scootaloo desperately looked at Ethan sneaking away with tears in her eyes.
"Don't leave me!" she cried.
Ethan paused as she started crying. If he left right now, then he'd be able to escape but...
"I can't just abandon her to be eaten while I run away..."


Scootaloo had her back to the stone wall as the wolf was only a few feet away. It lowered it's body and got ready to jump when a rock came and smacked it in the back of the head.
"Hey, ugly. Why don't you leave the appetizer alone?"
The timberwolf turned and growled, focusing it's attention on him.
"Ethan?" Scootaloo said sniffing and wiping her eyes. "What are you doing?"
"Something stupid. Now get out of here before I realize that."


The timberwolf lunged at Ethan who tried to hold it off with a branch. The branch in his hands cracking as he desperately held it to keep the teeth at bay. With one final snapping sound the branch broke and the wolf swiped at him knocking him back. Ethan quickly picked himself up as the creature ran at him.
"Plant your feet, jump with your back legs, let gravity pull them down and..."
The wolf jumped at him headfirst.
"SLAM!" he yelled.
The explosive kick landed square on, as the wolf collided with his back hooves, breaking it into a pile of sticks and leaves. Ethan sighed in relief, feeling the energy disappear from his body as it was finally over.


"So much for my peaceful walk." he said tiredly.
"That was awesome!" Scootaloo squealed. "You saved me, fought the wolf and BAM! Kicked it into tiny little pieces!" the small wings on her back buzzing from excitement.
Ethan shakily stood, his legs feeling like jello after that whole experience.
"Come on...let's get back to Zecora's."
> Cider Season
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethan and Scootaloo walked through the Everfree Forest on their way back to Zecora's. The forest was eerily quiet for some reason which worried the orange filly. Eager to focus on something else she turned to Ethan.


"How ya holding up Ethan?"
"I'm fine, except my face hurts a little."
Scootaloo stopped and looked at him.
"Yeah, you got a bruise during the scuffle, riiiiiiight here."
"Ow, don't poke it."
"Sorry." she said sheepishly "Anyway, are you sure were going the right way? I mean, I'd REALLY hate to go through that again. That was enough excitement for one day...or a month..."


Ethan looked up, spotting Navi high above them mapping out a safe route through the forest so they didn't run into anything else. Navi suddenly turned right and then called down to him.
"There's a bit of trouble ahead, we're gonna have to go around it."
He nodded and then looked back at Scootaloo with a smile.
"Don't worry, we'll be safe."
The two of them arrived at the hut after after a short while.


"There you two are!" Apple Bloom shouted. "You took so long out there to get here that we all started to worry something terrible might've happened to you."
"Something bad did happen!" Scootaloo said excitedly "I got attacked by a timberwolf with glowing eyes and saliva dripping from it's razor sharp teeth! It chased me all around the forest until I ran into Ethan. Just as I was about to get eaten, he scooped me up and ran off carrying me! But we couldn't outrun it and things were starting to look really bad!"
"What happened next?" the two of them asked, spellbound by the story.
"Then we got cornered with no where else to go and then it started stalking us..." Scootaloo said crouching down, moving towards Sweetie Belle as if she were the wolf. "And the timberwolf got closer...and closer..."


Sweetie Belle nervously backed away as Scootaloo stalked her.
"AND STRUCK!"
"Eeep!"
Sweetie Belle let out a squeak and fell backwards.


"But Ethan jumped out and fought against the wolf, you should have seen him. Bam! Pow! Crash!"
She jumped around, mimicking the fight.


"Hey." Navi said speaking up while the others were listening to Scootaloo. "That was a really brave thing that you did back there. I didn't know you had that in you."


"You and me both, I must've been out of my mind." Ethan muttered. "But...I couldn't just run away and leave some crying kid to get eaten, I don't think I could live with that."
"Who knows Ethan, maybe you do have a little hero in you."
"Please, not this again..."
Chuckling as they walked back, Navi couldn't help but feel that the evaluation of Ethan had risen quite a bit after what happened. And one year was a long time, who knows what might change in that period.


"We should probably be getting back to Sweet Apple Acres." Apple Bloom said piping up."We're still putting the finishing touches on all that work to make the cider."
"Aw, but what about the club?"
"Sorry Sweetie Belle, we'll get back to crusading right when we get finished."
"Okay...yeah, sorry Zecora, we gotta get moving.
"Ethan, I can discern that you are quite busy then. Come alone sometime, I wish to speak with you again." the Zebra said with a smile.
He lifted a brow. "What do you wanna talk about that can't be said here?"
"That is indeed a mystery, come by again and you will see."


The four of them left Zecora's heading back to the farm.
"Seriously...does Zecora plan her sentences in advance, or is rhyming completely normal for her?"
"I'm pretty sure it's normal for her." said Sweetie Belle
"I dunno." Scootaloo added. "Could you imagine how funny it would be if she had this big list of topics ponies might talk about and how she could rhyme and still make sense."


"The crusaders giggled and laughed at the idea.
"Well, as funny as that might be, I don't think she does that. Why do you bring it up Ethan?"
"Meh, just not a fan of it."




"Yes! Yes! Yes! This is gonna be awesome!"


Rainbow Dash pumped her hoof in the air in excitement. In about a week was the big book signing in Manehattan. Normally she'd scoff at such at such an event, but this wasn't just any book signing. Daring Do was going to be there IN PERSON giving away a signed version of her new book. Obviously the line was going to be huge so you HAD to be on time or else you might not get a copy, she'd have to make the trip today if she wanted to be there on time.


"And two days after that..." She walked to the calendar and flipped it over.
"Cider day!" The blue pegasus couldn't help but grin. She flew into the air and did a back-flip. Twilight saw her and walked over.
"Hey Rainbow Dash. You seem pretty excited."
"Uh YEAH! How could I not be? The new 'Daring Do' book is coming soon and Cider Day is two days after that!"


Twilight chuckled then her face became confused.
"Wait, doesn't Cider season start in about a week?"
"What!?" Rainbow shouted, causing Twilight to cover her ears in annoyance. "That CAN'T be right!"
"It's true, Applejack told me a few hours ago."
"That's impossible! I've been planning this for like a month, why is this happening?!"
"Well I don't know, maybe you should talk to Apple-"
*ZOOM!*
"Jack..." Twilight said blankly as Rainbow Dash had already left.


Applejack finished pulling a cart to the barn and sat down for a bit, taking one of the apples for herself. She squinted as she spotted something off in the distance.
"Now what the hay is that..."
The small speck in the distance quickly grew larger, showing Rainbow Dash flying for all she was worth. She tried to slow down but was moving too fast and ended up landing in one of the trees. Applejack walked over as the pegasus fell out of the tree and shook her head.
"Whoa there Rainbow, you okay?"
"SAY IT AIN'T SO!" she said ignoring her friend's question.
"Okay...uh, what ain't I sayin' is so?"
"The cider Applejack! Tell me about the cider!"
"Oh that? Now don't you worry a thing, everything is fine."


Rainbow Dash breathed out a sigh in relief.
"In fact, we're gonna be able to release our cider even earlier than expected."
"YOU CAN'T DO THAT!" Rainbow yelled frantically.
"That's not exactly the reaction I was expectin'." Applejack said scratching her head.


"Can't you move the date back? I have plans on that day!"
"Sorry Rainbow, already announced that it's coming early and I can't just take it back. The Apple family can be ahead of schedule, but NEVER behind it. Besides, feels a little wrong making everyone wait just for you."
Applejack grabbed one of the baskets and continued working, Rainbow Dash however decided to keep trying.
"Okay so maybe you can't delay the whole event, but could you let me order ahead of time? Then you could just save me the cider."
"Ya know I can't do that either. I can't let people order ahead of time. Because then, everyone's comin' in like crazy tryin' to order ahead, makin' a mess. Worst of all, even when they order ahead, I don't know when we'll run out of cider. Lots of folks are gonna get excited, only to be let down when they've ordered and it's ain't enough. You know the rules. First come, first serve."
"That's not fair! Why are you guys ahead of schedule anyway?"


At that moment, Ethan walked by pulling a cart full of apples while whistling a tune. Instead of unloading the cart like Applejack did, he pulled the cart into the barn and grabbed a different one. He was still trying to empty his side of the field before Applejack, so he wanted to find a more efficient way. Applejack chuckled as he pulled the cart away.
"That's why we're ahead of schedule."
"Him?"
"Yup, thanks to him, I ain't gotta worry about Granny sweatin' in this heat. Work's been movin' along faster too. Now if ya don't mind, I best be gettin' back to said work."
Applejack trotted off to tend to other things.
"I can't believe that guy!" Rainbow Dash said raising her hooves in exasperation. "This was so perfect before HE came along!" She flew off in the direction he had walked in the fields.


"I'd say I'm making pretty good time." Ethan said proudly. He kicked the tree and gathered the apples as they fell. "Navi, what do you think?"
"Well, you're faster than before, I'll give you that."
"What's the score between me and Applejack?"
"Before, she was 9 trees ahead of you. Now she's 13 trees ahead of you."
"What?! That's even worse than before! Shouldn't I be catching up?"
"This Applejack has been doing this for years. For every tree you finish, she does more, anyway don't feel bad. Last time, she gained a 9 tree advantage, this time it was only 4 trees."


Ethan stopped for a second and started thinking. At this rate he'd never finish before Applejack. Even if he somehow managed to work as fast as her she already had a good lead. Now how was he going ma...wait a minute. Ethan rubbed his hooves together and an evil smile appeared on his face.
"I've got an idea, a pretty simple one too. Heh heh heh."
"I don't like that look you've got on your face..." Navi said cautiously.


"Hey! You!" yelled a voice.
Ethan turned around in surprise, both he and Navi had been too busy talking to notice anyone approaching. Looking behind him, he saw a pair of light blue legs hovering in front of him.
"Huh?"
"Up here."
Ethan looked up to see a light blue pegasus with rainbow colored hair looking down at him with her hooves crossed and a sour expression.
"Do I know you?"
"I'm Rainbow Dash, THE Rainbow Dash. Maybe you've heard of me?"
"Actually...yes, I have." He remembered Pinkie and Fluttershy mentioning her back at the store


The girl's narrowed eyes widened.
"Wait really? Awesome, I knew that everypony would sta- wait, no! Don't get distracted!" Rainbow told herself. She continued scowling at him. "I hope you're happy!"
"Thank you, I hope you're happy too."
"Wait...that's not what I meant."
Ethan cackled. "I know, I'm just messing with ya." he continued working while Rainbow followed him. "Well? Let's hear it."
"Hear what?" Rainbow Dash asked confused.
"You're obviously mad at me for something right? What is it?"


"Oh right, ahem. Listen here...um..."
"Ethan."
"Right. Listen here Ethan! You caused Cider Day to come early!"
"And that's bad because...why again?"
"I had plans that day! Now I have to choose between this and a book signing I was going to!"
Ethan dropped the basket he was carrying. He turned back to Rainbow Dash and gave her a strange look.
"What?" she asked.
"Nothing it's just...you don't look like the bookworm type."
"I'm not! But this book is different, it's filled will all sorts of awesome action, not like those other boring books. Best of all, these books are written off of REAL adventures that happened!"


"Look, I'm sorry me working here makes you miss your book signing thing, but it's not like I can see into the future. At this point it's too late to stop, so you'd better just figure out which one is more important to you."


'Choose...ONE?' Rainbow Dash thought with horror.
"Getting a signed copy from Daring Do herself is amazing but...Cider Season only comes once a YEAR!" The more she thought about it, the more her head hurt. "I CAN'T choose!"
"Well..." Ethan hesitated for a second. "It is SLIGHTLY my fault you have to miss one of these things. How can I make this up to you?"
Rainbow Dash started thinking for a moment, and then a sly smile crossed her face.
"You work here right?"
"Yeah."


"Could you...maybe...save me some cider?"
"Is that all? Sure, I'll just ask Applejack if we can-"
"YOU CAN'T TELL APPLEJACK!" Rainbow yelled frantically, shaking him back and forth.
"W-why not!?"
"Because she wouldn't allow it! I already asked her and she said no."
"Really?" Ethan said thoughtfully. He took Rainbow Dash's hooves off of his shoulders. "Then I'm afraid I can't help you." Ethan picked up one of the baskets and loaded it into the cart. He began walking over to another tree when the blue mare dashed in front of him.
"Whoa whoa whoa! I thought you were gonna help me out, what happened?"
"Listen, I don't just work here, I LIVE here too. If I get caught breaking the rules I could get fired, and if I'm not working here, they won't have a reason to keep me around. Do you get what I'm trying to say? You're on your own."


Rainbow Dash fell backwards on the ground and covered her face.
"Noooo..." she whined "How could I possibly choose between the two?"
"Come on, it's not THAT bad is it?"
Rainbow Dash ignored him and continued moaning. Ethan tried not to listen, taking a basket under a tree and bucking it. But she didn't stop, and it was starting to get to him.


"Lalalalalala. I'm not listening, I'm not listening..." he picked up a basket in his mouth and ran to a tree a good distance away from her. Ethan set down the basket and listened, but couldn't hear her anymore.
"Ah, much better."
Ethan got to work for about an hour, eventually returning to the spot he ran away from in order to finish the work there. The second he got there, his eyes widened in surprise.
"You've to be kidding me."
Laying sprawled out of the grass was Rainbow Dash, not having moved an inch since he left.
"You're still here?!"
Rainbow Dash groaned sadly in response.


"Does this REALLY mean that much to you?"
"Yeah..."
Ethan was quiet for a moment before sitting down next to her. He seemed to be having a hard time deciding on something. Ethan looked at Rainbow Dash sadly laying there and sighed.
"Look, I can't promise anything but..."
"Yeah?" the blue mare said with hope creeping into her voice.
"I will TRY and hide some cider for you, no guarantees."
"You mean it?!"


Rainbow Dash immediately jumped back up, grabbing his hoof and shaking it up and down really fast.
"Thanks man! Ethan right? I think you and I are gonna get along just fine." she said giving him a rough pat on the back. "Why haven't I seen you around before?"
"I'm new to town."
"Oh, well maybe I can show you around sometime. Though, it might not be that exciting considering you just met the best thing about Ponyville." Rainbow Dash said with a cocky grin.
Ethan sputtered and started laughing. "Is that right?"
"Remember, I'm counting on you."
"I said I would try, I can't guarantee I-"
"Hold that thought." she interrupted. "I gotta go meet up with Rarity." She jumped and flapped her wings leaving behind a rainbow colored streak. "SEE YAAAAAA!" she yelled back at him waiving. Ethan watched her soar off, eventually becoming a dot and disappearing.


"Well that was unexpected." Navi said piping up. "Why'd you agree to give her a hand?"
"I can't help it." he muttered. "I can't stand seeing a girl be sad or cry. Somehow it makes me feel like I'M the bad guy. Seriously, that's not fair."
"Well I'm sure whoever you help is very thankful."
Ethan snorted. "Is that so? My sister pulls that whole fake crying thing every so often when she needs something. I'm sure she's very grateful." he said sarcastically.
"How are you gonna hide some cider right under the Apple family's noses?"
"I'll let you know when I figure that out."





Rainbow Dash happily soared through the open blue sky as the clouds rushed past her. She laughed, dropping down and zigzagging to dodge trees that were in front of her until the town came into view. Pulling higher into the air, she grabbed some small clouds without stopping.


"And now..."
Rainbow Dash circled around the clouds that she gathered, making a rainbow colored blur. When she finally stopped, the clouds had been molded into a sculpture of Rainbow Dash with her signature grin.
"Who says I can't have my cake AND eat it too?"
Satisfied, Rainbow Dash finally touched down to the ground chuckling as she entered Carousel Boutique.


"Sup Rarity."
"Oh Rainbow, good timing, thank you for agreeing to help me."
"No problem, what am I doing anyway?"
"Come on, I'll show you."
She led her friend through the boutique. She passed one of her customers who was quietly looking through a rack of outfits.
"I'm sorry darling." she said to a female unicorn. "I'm going to be busy for a little showing a friend a personal project. If you need anything, I'll still be close by."
"Oh alright, I'll just keep looking." the customer responded.


Rarity continued to a corner of the shop where there was a mannequin with a big cloth covering it. Rarity giggled happily as she looked at it.
"You're making blankets?" the pegasus asked with a confused face.
"No Rainbow dear, it's about what's UNDER the blanket."


Her horn glowed blue and the blanket lifted off the figure.
"Feast your eyes."
"Whoa..."
Rainbow Dash couldn't help but be surprised by what she saw. On the mannequin was a slim, athletic looking outfit. Light blue with various rainbow stripes near the hooves and neck area to match Rainbow Dash's mane, on the chest was a lightning bolt to match her mark.
"You MADE this?!" Rainbow said incredulously.
"Do you like it? I absolutely knew you would."
"When did you start making COOL stuff?"
"I'll take that last part as a compliment." Rarity said raising a brow.


She walked forward and pushed the figure closer to her friend.
"About two days ago, I was commissioned by some health and fitness business to make something for them. Now they're always doing difficult exercises that are not only difficult on themselves but also their clothes. They asked if I could make something durable, but not too restricting. I figured, if you're the one who's going to help me with this, I might as well make it match you."
"This is so cool!" Rainbow Dash said excitedly as she ran around the outfit looking it over. "So I get to wear this?"
"Yes, I'd like you to wear it whenever you're on your little daredevil routines. This would be a good test, if they can withstand your rough and tumble exercises-"
"Then they'd be able to take just about anything." Rainbow finished with a cocky smile.
Rarity smiled back and playfully rolled her eyes. "Something along those lines I suppose."


"I'll do it. I'd be glad to help you with something like this."
"I say Rainbow, you seem a tad more upbeat than usual, did something good happen?"
"Something maybe DID happen..." she said cautiously.
"Oh come now, you can trust me."
"Well...I guess you're right, but this has to stay a secret alright?"
"Of course dear, my lips are sealed."
The yellow unicorn still shopping behind the racks perked up. Secret?


"Okay, so get this. Sweet Apple Acres moved Cider Season up two days, but you probably have heard about that yet."
"Oh yes, I've heard about it."
"Seriously? Was I the last pony to know? Nevermind. Anyway, because they moved up the day I was gonna miss out on the Daring Do book signing. But now, even if I don't go, I'll STILL have some cider waiting for me when I get back."
"How did you manage that?" Rarity asked curiously.
"I've got a friend working on the inside, and now I don't have to worry about that kind of stuff." Rainbow Dash said casually dusting her hoof on her chest. "I bet I could even get cider early if I wanted." she bragged. "Maybe I could hook YOU up. What are friends for right?"


The customer listening intently, widened her eyes in surprise after hearing that.
"Thank you Rainbow dear, but I don't think I'll be needing any extra. I do appreciate the gesture though."
"Alright, hey, I'm gonna take this thing out for a test flight." she said grabbing the clothing off the mannequin.
"Good luck." Rarity called to her friend as she left. "Oh!" she said turning back to the racks. "I do believe I've kept you waiting for a while."
Rarity looked around but she didn't find the customer anywhere.
"Hello?"




"Okay, it's alright, you're not doing anything wrong right now..."
Ethan pulled his cart back to the barn while nervously looking left and right.
"I'm just taking the apples back to the barn, and if I just so HAPPEN to see the cellar there's no problem."
He half expected the barn to somehow be heavily guarded or for others to be waiting for him. But no, as usual, it was empty with the others off doing their tasks. Somehow, this made him feel even more nervous. Ethan debated with himself over whether or not to check it out before dropping the cart and running into the barn. He took grabbed the wooden door on the ground and opened it. With one final look to make sure no one was watching him, he took his first steps inside.


"Now maybe just a quick look before- cough cough"
Ethan coughed and waived his hoof around as the dark room was filled with dust. As his eyes adjusted, he saw with wonder that there were row upon row of barrels lined up on shelves. Aside from the dust, there was a slight apple smell too.
"This was too easy...maybe they're waiting for me to come out..."
He pushed aside those thoughts and traveled further in the cellar. The room was dead silent, there wasn't any noises from the chickens or other animals or anyone else. As he neared the end, the row of barrels finally ended, replaced by empty spots of shelf. Ethan reached out and grabbed one of the barrels, all of the sudden, a mouse ran across his hoof.
"FDGDGFSFDRHRGTEDG!" Ethan shouted something unintelligible and fumbled with the barrel, just barely saving it from smashing into the ground. He needed a moment after almost having a heart attack.
"Stupid mouse!"
Ethan eventually caught his breath and continued. He reached out, but his hoof stopped midway from reaching the barrel.


"The others could come by at any moment, I need to do this NOW!" Despite what he told himself, his hoof refused to go any further. Ethan vainly struggled to take the barrel and run before giving up with a sigh and dropping his hoof.
"I can't do this." he muttered in defeat. "I can't just steal it from them."
Ethan turned around with a sigh and traveled up the stairs back into the barn and shut the trap door. He took a minute to catch his breath when...
"Hey Ethan." Applejack said to the unaware stallion.
"I DIDN'T DO IT!" he said whirling around.


"Didn't do what?"
"Ah...nothing..."
"You alright? You look like you're sweatin' up a storm. Maybe I ought to see about gettin' you your own hat."
"Y-yeah, that would be nice."
Ethan glanced behind Applejack and saw she had brought her cart back to the barn as usual. If he had come out just a little later, who knows what would have happened.
"Anyway, I'm glad I caught ya, it's about time to call it a day. I reckon you wouldn't have heard the bell in ya went back out to the fields."
"Bell?"


RING DING RING DING RING! A chiming sound came from afar.
"Soup's on everypony!" Yelled Granny Smith.
"Ah, speak of the devil. Well, why don't we call it a day for now? Food'll be ready not too long from now, guess I'll see ya then."


Applejack walked off towards the house, leaving Ethan by himself. Well, almost by himself.
"That was close..." he said letting out a deep sigh. "I thought she caught me for sure."
"I'm glad you decided not to steal from them." Navi said. "Looks like I was right in not trying to stop you."
Ethan fell back on the hay, mentally exhausted.
"Well now what am I supposed to do?"
"The one named Zecora wanted to talk to you when you had some free time on your hands remember?"
"...I guess I don't have anything better to do."




Ethan took a deep breath and knocked on the door. Zecora came over and opened it, upon seeing him she smiled.
"Ethan, I hadn't thought I'd see you quite so soon. Certainly not before the rising of the moon."


"I had some time on my hands, so I thought I'd come over and see what this was all about. What was it that was so secret you called me here alone for?"
"Enter and sit, you will soon see. While you do that I'll make some tea. "


"If we're gonna have a long talk, could you cut back on the rhyming? I can't take you seriously when you sound like Dr. Seuss."
She lifted a brow in surprise. "If that will make this chat easier for you, then rhyming is something that I will not d..."
Zecora stopped mid-sentence and coughed uncomfortably. "This is harder than I thought..."


Ethan sat down while Zecora made some tea and then sat down across from him. The two of them sat there just staring at each other without saying a word. Zecora took a sip of her tea and looked at him with a patient smile. Ethan forced a fake smile and took a drink so he wouldn't feel out of place. His nose wrinkled as the bitter tea entered his mouth.
"Blegh." he said making a face.
"Do you not like the tea?"
"No, no, it's good."
"Well, if you say that is the case, it must be true then." Zecora said with a mysterious smile.


The awkwardness continued for what seemed like an eternity. Zecora sat back drinking her tea not speaking a word, and Ethan sure didn't know what to say. Finally, he broke the silence.
"Are we gonna talk about anything?"
"That depends on you."
"Well, I don't really have anything I need to talk about."
"Oh, and why is that?"
"Because I'm doing fine."
"Your outburst would say otherwise."
"That was...I was just cranky from work."
"Well, if you say that is the case, it must be true then." Zecora said taking another sip.


Ethan's eye twitched in irritation but he just smiled. "Are you suggesting otherwise?"
Zecora sighed and put down her tea. Ethan clearly wasn't planning on opening up any time soon, so she decided to start first.
"You know, I consider anger to be one of the purest emotions. It often comes out when something happens and we don't want it to, a natural response to unwanted things. When somepony finally unleashes their anger, they speak their mind. Their thoughts and problems are laid bare, and they stop hiding the truth because they've reached a breaking point."
"What are you trying to say?"
"I'm saying when someone has an outburst like yours, there is a reason for it. They would've have to have gone through quite an ordeal while being unable to vent those feelings until they built up."
"I suppose they would have." Ethan said indifferently.


"So what is yours?"
"You wouldn't understand."
"Wouldn't I?"
"Lady, I've got problems you couldn't even dream of."
Zecora turned around giving him a faint smile.
"Like how you're from another world?"
> More questions arise
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethan dropped his tea cup in surprise. The cup crashed spilling it's contents on the ground, but neither of the two paid attention to it.

"You...how did you know?"
Zecora took a sip of her tea and smiled. "The tarot cards reveal more than you think. Apple Bloom also told me an interesting story about an Earth Pony who'd lost most of his memory, not even knowing what he was. Interestingly, he didn't seem to care to get his 'memories' back."


Ethan silently cursed himself, this was already the second time that lame excuse had come back to bite him. His face became serious, as he looked back at her.
"So what do you plan to do?" Ethan asked narrowing his eyes.
"I don't plan on doing anything, your secret is your own."
"Oh sure of course." He said sarcastically. "In exchange for...?"


"Goodness, you really are cynical aren't you? I do not want anything from you, of that you can rest assured."
Ethan paused for a second as if mulling something over. "If you're not going to tell anyone, and you don't want anything...why would you tell me you knew?"
"I told you so that I might gain some of your trust if you saw I had no bad intentions. Of course, you could just keep silent about it like before, but that doesn't seem to be working for you does it?"


Ethan was silent for a moment, still debating whether to or not before giving in.


"Where do I even begin?" he muttered, still surprised.
"The beginning is a good place to start" Zecora said. Her voice was calm, but her heart was rather excited. She had never met someone from another world, who knows what kinds of things she could hear.
"How about the fact I got yanked from my world and thrown into this one in order to play hero."
"Wait." Zecora said frowning. "You mean coming here wasn't your choice?"


"No it wasn't. Worst of all, I don't know if I'll ever be able to go back. I've been stuck here for days now..."
"I...I'm sorry to hear that." Zecora said quietly. "You must be homesick"
"I am..." Ethan said tiredly. "I miss my sister, I miss Trevor, heck, I even miss my house."
"Your house?"


"Yeah, my home is the only place I can relax and unwind or just be me. It's where I go after a long day. Ever since I got here, not ONCE have I felt secure or at home. Even when laying in bed at the Apple family guest house, it's just not the same."
"I understand the feeling." Zecora said turning her head to look out the window. "I know what it is like to be far from home. You feel like a small part of you is missing, like you don't belong."
"Did that feeling ever disappear?"


"Never completely." she said wistfully "From time to time I felt myself missing home. Though, after making new friends, that feelings disappears for a while." Zecora turned towards Ethan. "I hope knowing that helps a bit."


Ethan gave a humorless smile. "You know what they say, misery loves company."
"That is indeed true." Zecora chuckled.
The zebra produced another cup for him and poured more tea. Ethan absentmindedly took another drink, having forgotten the bitter taste. "Ugh..." his face slightly wrinkled.


"How's the tea?" Zecora asked again glancing at him with her teal colored eyes as if expecting something.
"It sucks, how can you drink this stuff?"
The zebra smiled in approval and poured herself another cup.


"Very good. I much prefer your true feelings Ethan, even if you are a bit blunt. You don't need to put on an act."
"Maybe not with you, but this 'act' is pretty necessary for me. It helps to keep things running smoothly."
"What do you mean?"
"Alright. Let's say I was walking down the street and I see someone up ahead. That person gives a small wave and says: 'Hello, how are you?'. Now that person does not want me to actually stop and go into detail about the highs and lows of my day. He doesn't really care, he's just trying to be polite. So I say: 'Hi, I'm doing fine.' and we both move on. That's just how things work Zecora."
"Really? Even with friends?"


"Are you kidding me? ESPECIALLY with friends."
Zecora's eyes widened, starting to become interested in hearing his thoughts. "Is that so? Please enlighten me."
"You're gonna keep what I say confidential right?"
"I won't tell a soul."
"Fine. Everyone has things they don't want others to know, or sides of them they don't want people to see. Even with friends this is still true. We show them our good sides, we're polite when we don't want to be."
"Well..." the zebra said frowning. "You're not entirely wrong but I don't think that's the way it is for everyone."
"That's the way it works for me. The closer you are to someone the more you can show them the real you. As time goes by you can pass off bad things about you as 'interesting quirks' when they're close enough to not care. Until then, as you say I...THEY, put on an act."


She shook her head. "I'm beginning to understand you, but this isn't the way to go about life. Keeping your distance from people until it's safe isn't right. Friends aren't something you carefully prepare and mold to be around you."
"I'll tell you what Zecora, you try living in my world for as long as I have. Then I'll let you lecture me."
"You are telling me you do this with everyone? Even with Trevor and your sister?"
"They're different..."
"How so Ethan?"
"Because I'm really close to them. My sister is a given, but Trevor is a REAL friend, someone I know I can count on. He saw when I was lonely and came...up...to me..." Ethan said slowly, remembering Pinkie and Twilight.
Zecora smiled. "Sound like anyone else you might have met here in Equestria?"


"It...might."
"Listen, no one is pressuring you to do anything, but I do hope you'll give others a chance."
"...I'll consider it, now can we please talk about something else?"
"Yes of course, you said you didn't mean to come to this world. How DID you get here?"


"Well, it was a pretty big misunderstanding. I accidentally volunteered to stop some kind of calamity from happening here. This thing here took me to Equestria." he said gesturing to Navi with his hoof "And now I'm trying to find my way back."


Zecora looked at the spot where Ethan pointed. Not seeing anything she turned back to him with a confused face.
"Ah, that's right, you can't see Navi can you?"
"No...how exactly does this 'Navi' work?"
"Pretty much just follows me around and talks to me. No one else seem to be able to hear it. Ah, this sounds pretty unbelievable doesn't it...?"
That was true, it took Ethan himself falling out of the sky and nearly getting bitten by a bear before he finally believed it. "How am I gonna prove it..." he looked at Navi and then a smile appeared on his face. "Alright, I got an idea. You still got those cards?"


"Yes I still do."
"Take them out and lay them on the table, any number of them you want. Without looking, I'm gonna tell you how many cards are on the table."


This interested Zecora quite a bit, she had her doubts but wanted to see if it could really be done. Walking across the room, she picked up the black cards and laid them out on the table. She then faced Ethan he had his back to her and the table waiting for the signal.
"It is done, now tell me, how many cards did I decide to lay out?"
Ethan took a deep breath.
"Navi?"


"Let's see, ten, twenty, thirty...there are currently thirty-two cards on the table."
"There are thirty-two."
"C-correct..." Zecora said, stuttering in surprise. "One last try, to be absolutely certain." She quickly adjusted the number of cards and asked again.
"How many Navi?"
"There aren't any on the table." Navi replied.
"Trick question, there aren't any cards you put out."


"Incredible..." Zecora turned back the Ethan and looked around him trying to spot Navi. "So there really is someone here helping you...Navi, if you can hear me, my name is Zecora."
"It is a pleasure to meet you Zecora, I thank you for talking with Ethan. You seem to be getting through to him better than I am."


"Navi says hi." Ethan muttered.
"Wait! That's not ALL that I said!"
"Looks like I'm gonna be here a while..."




"Good gravy, where is that stallion?" Applejack said with irritation in her voice.
She and the rest of her family sat at the dinner table with food prepared around them. Everything was ready and prepared for them to start eating. There was just one problem...
"Can we PLEASE eat now?" Apple Bloom asked with puppy dog eyes. "I'm awful hungry with all that work."
"I already told ya young'un, we ain't eatin' while one of our own ain't here yet."
The young mare groaned and tried to take her mind off of the food. "Where do you think he is sis?"
"I don't know but wherever it is, it had BETTER be somewhere important if it's taking up dinner time."


There was a creaking sound behind them as the screen door was open and then shut. Apple Bloom excitedly turned around thankful to finally see Ethan come back so she could finally eat. Ethan walked into the kitchen and looked around to see the older Apples staring at him with frowns.
"Look who decided to show up."
"Uh, why is it Apple Bloom's the only one who's happy to see me?"
"We had to wait to till you showed up." Apple Bloom explained.
"Why didn't you just eat without me?"
"I know right? I already tried ask- ow."


Applejack nudged her little sister to be quiet.
"We waited cause Granny said it would be rude to eat when one of us wasn't here. Now come'n take a seat."
Ethan was kinda touched by the fact that they'd wait for him. He went over and took a seat.
'Okay.' He thought 'Let's try this whole 'Be yourself thing'. Tell a joke."
"So, buck any good apples lately?" Ethan said with a sarcastic smile.


"Sure did." Granny said with a proud smile. "The workers on this here farm's been buckin' fer as long as ah I can remember. You'd do well to be rememberin' that."
"Right..." he said unsure of how to reply. 'Well that joke crashed and burned. Okay new plan, just shut up and eat.'
He stayed quiet while the others ate while chatting.
"I heard the price of apples might go up a little."
"Well let's hope it does, even a little bit'll go a long way. We got a few things here that could stand for some fixin'."
"Eeyup."


"Hey sis, anything interesting goin' on with you?" asked the young mare.
Applejack's eyes flickered to Ethan quietly eating and chuckled. "Well me'n Ethan got a bit of a bet goin'."
The rest of the Apples looked up from their food with interest. "Bet?"
"Heh heh, this guy here thinks he can beat me at apple buckin'. We got of a bit of a race to see who can clear their side of the field faster."
"That's right." Ethan said, suddenly seeing a chance at conversation. "And if I win, Applejack has to eat a hat!"
Apple Bloom and Big Mac chuckled. "What happens if Applejack wins?"
"We haven't actually established that." he said thoughtfully. "Applejack, what DO you want?"


"I don't need anything', besides, I ain't gonna lose anyway."
"Oh really? Go ahead, pick a prize, I don't mind."
"Fine, if I win, you gotta clean the entire pig pen without a single word of complaint."
Apple Bloom and her brother turned towards the tan stallion.
"Now Ethan, maybe you should think about this for a second before you..."
"Deal." he said ignoring them.


Granny Smith chuckled.
"Seems we got ourselves an interesting new recruit."
"Interestin' or not, he's goin' down." Applejack said. "I'm almost finished clearin' my side of the field. Better get a good night sleep cause you're gonna need it."
Ethan put on a devilish smile. "We'll just see about that..."




The night came and the air was quiet, the once bustling farm was now silent. In each of the rooms slept the residents of the apple farm. All of them except one that is. Ethan looked to the side as a glowing ball of light phased through the wall and hovered in front of him.
"Alright Ethan, the Apple family is finally all asleep. I'm not sure why you wanted me to come and tell you when they did though."
"Oh you'll see soon enough, thanks Navi."
Ethan quietly got out of bed and tiptoed out of his room. He passed Applejack's room and cast a glance at the sleeping mare in the other room.
"Just you wait." he quietly chuckled. Taking another step, the floorboard under him creaked causing him to freeze. Applejack mumbled to herself and turned in her sleep facing him. Ethan stood there expecting to be exposed at any moment but the orange earth pony remained fast asleep. Ethan breathed out a sigh of relief and left the house.


"Okay that was close, but were here now."
He and Navi walked though the apple orchids with the moon hanging high in the sky.
"The apple fields, why are we here? And why did you forget to put the farm equipment away?"
"I DIDN'T forget. This is why."
Ethan reared back behind a tree with a grin on his face and kicked. The tree immediately shook from the force shaking loose the apples and dropping them into the bucket.
"Wait a minute..." Navi said suddenly putting it together. "You came out here to get a lead on Applejack!"
"Correctamundo." the tan stallion said, trotting to another tree and giving it a fierce kick.
"Isn't this cheating? I mean you're even sneaking out at night to gain an advantage over her."
"Cheating? Me? Why Navi I'm hurt." Ethan said with a coy smile. "No one ever said we could only work during the day. The way I see it, I'm simply being more dedicated than she is. Here I am out here sweating in the dead of night while she's off sleeping in her nice cozy bed."


"Does this competition really mean that much to you?"
"Not really. At first it was just something to help make this farm work less boring. But now, I wanna beat that smug Applejack. I can't wait to see the look on her face."
"So why am I here too?"
"Well for starters, you make a great nightlight. It's pretty hard to see this late at night with no electrical light posts. Plus..." Ethan yawned putting his hoof over his mouth. "I'm actually pretty tired...I'm gonna need your help to stay up, cause it's going to be a long night..."




Princess Luna stood at the end of her terrace overlooking everything. It had been a long time since she'd started waiting. Since she was often busy in other ponies dreams so she'd often be found sleeping in the afternoon. But she couldn't sleep now, not while she was reminded of her failure at stopping that unusual nightmare. Starting to yawn, she immediately shook her head to rid herself of the drowsiness.
"I shall wait as long as it is necessary. You shall need to sleep soon enough."


No sooner had she said those words when she felt it. The owner of that mysterious dream had finally fallen asleep. Once again she found that she could not enter the dreams of this individual. It was as those there were some sort of wall preventing her from entering. She COULD however still find this person as long as they were sleeping.


"I WILL find the origin of this disturbance!" she declared leaping off of the terrace and taking flight.
Luna had only been flying for about two minutes when the dream she had been following disappeared leaving her confused.
"Could this person be aware of my intentions?"
Sighing in defeat, the midnight princess landed to sort things out. She sat next to a stream and pondered. 'Just what could be the reason behind this? I am at a loss of what to do next. Perhaps it would have been wise to accept the aid of my sister. I am going to ha-' Luna stopped mid-thought as she felt the dream she was chasing.
"Again? I shall not delay!" She immediately rushed towards the direction of the dreamer. This time Luna flew for about six minutes before the dream disappeared again.
"Am I being toyed with?! Is this but a game to them?!"
The alicorn impatiently waited in hopes that the dream would once again appear. Seventeen minutes later it did, and she rushed off full speed towards it.




"Ethan, Ethan! Wake up!"
"Ugh whaa...?" Ethan yawned slowly blinking.
"You fell asleep again, this is the third time. If you're so tired, then just call it quits and clean the pig pen tomorrow."
Ethan stretched shaking his head. "No it's fine, I'll stay awake so I can yaaaaaaaaaaaawn."
"You were saying?"
"Aw come on Navi, it's not like you have anything better to do. I mean, if I was asleep at the farm you'd just hover around until I woke up."
"Well, you're not wrong..."
"I've been meaning to ask anyways. What ARE you?"


"I'm..." Navi hesitated. "I am a guide for you."
"Well yeah but still, what are you? No one seems to be able to see or hear you but me. I hadn't questioned it before since I was still adjusting to this world but now I'm curious. Is it cause of some magic you use? Are you dead? Or maybe yo-yaaaaaaaaaaaawn" Ethan was cut off as he was hit with another wave of drowsiness.
"You won't be able to beat Applejack at this rate." Navi said quickly. "I've got an idea, why don't you take a half an hour nap so you can work properly? I'll wake you up when it's time."
"That...sounds pretty good..." Ethan said already nodding off. Was there something he was forgetting? He was too tired to care. Leaning against a nearby tree, he was out like a light.


Navi sighed. "Well I suppose that could have gone worse."
Time passed as no more bucking sounds could be heard Navi quietly floated high in the air starting to feel lonely. Overlooking everything from above, not a single soul could be seen or heard. Navi started to descend when it noticed something in the distance rushing towards the two of them.
"Wait...is that..."
The figure started to become more clear the closer it got.
"Oh no!" Navi immediately shot down to the sleeping stallion. "Wake up! Ethan! Wake UP!"
Ethan muttered starting to stir but it was too late. Above them an alicorn's outline could be seen right in front of the moon. Navi immediately phased through the ground and disappeared. Ethan yawned, regaining consciousness as the princess of the night descended.


"Alright alright Navi, I'm up already." He stopped and looked around. "Navi? Why's it suddenly so dark?"
"You there!" An unfamiliar voice called making him jump. "I have many a thing I wish for you to answer."
Ethan's eyes narrowed. Who was this person? Squinting his eyes, he could barely see anything. 'I'm out in the middle of a farm late at night.' He thought. 'There should be no reason for us to be meeting. Heck, how'd she even find me? I can barely even see my own hoof in front of my face without Navi around.'
Ethan took a few steps back as the figure approached.
"Who are you?" he asked cautiously.
"That is my first question for you." the voice answered, stopping several feet away from his. "Let us find out the answer."
A soft blue light appeared above the the figure's head revealing a dark blue female with a determined expression. The light stopped just at where Ethan guessed his knees were, prompting the girl to take a few steps forward. Ethan winced and raised a hoof to his eyes having been exposed to the dark for so long. The moment the light reached his face however, Luna froze, unable to move a muscle.
"No...it cannot be..." she said dumbfounded.


Luna looked as though she had seen a ghost. She subconsciously took a step towards that face, a face she would never forget. Ethan looked at her with a mix of caution and confusion as she approached. Only a foot away, she finally stopped, slowly reaching out and touching his face.
"What are you-" Ethan started, only to be yanked forward and buried in her chest much to his surprise. Luna held him close with tears running down her face quietly sobbing. As confused as he was to why this stranger would suddenly hug him, Ethan couldn't help but feel comfortable.
"Eden...welcome home." she said after what seemed like an eternity.
'Eden?' he thought. 'How does she know about him?' shifting his eyes, he noticed a pair of wings on her back. 'She's an alicorn! This is my chance! But...first I have to let her down easy...'
Ethan took a deep breath and gently pushed against Luna prompting her to finally separate.


"Look." he said softly. "This is going to be hard for you to hear, but I am not your old friend that you once knew."
"Eden...what are you saying?" The lunar princess said shakily.
"I'm saying that I'm someone else, my name is Ethan. I'm sorry."
"Thou would truly stand in front of me and tell me with your appearance you are not one in the same? If-if this were truly the case, then how are you so well informed as you are? Surely...surely this is just one of your jests?" she said, her voice becoming desperate, refusing to believe it.
"This has happened to me before, another alicorn by the name of Celestia confused me for being Eden as well. I'm sorry, but think about it. Eden looks like me right? Since he's an earth pony, there is no way he'd still be alive after all of those countless years."


"No..." Luna felt as though a cold knife had entered her heart. She fell backward into a sitting position stunned. Ethan approached her.
"I am TERRIBLY sorry to have to be the one to give you this news, I really am. But I need your help, it has to DO with Eden."
Luna numbly looked from the ground back at him.
"I need to know about Eden. Who he was, what he did, what his cutie mark was, everything. All of this just CAN'T be a coincidence."
Luna was silent for a long while, using this time to sort out her feeling and calming down before she responded. "This...is possible." she said quietly. "Not only dost thou share the appearance of Eden, it is undeniable that something strange hath led me to find you." She then sighed, putting away her sadness for a more suitable time. "But as things stand, what you ask of me is something I cannot fulfill."
"What? Why not?!" Ethan demanded.
"Eden did not wish to be known. He hath made that abundantly clear when I knew him. I cannot in good faith relinquish any details until I am of absolute certainty thou bears a connection to him."


"Please! There must be SOMETHING I can do to convince you!"
Luna paused. "Your mark, allow me to see it."
"My cutie mark?" Ethan turned his hip towards her. "I haven't found mine yet."
"Curious..." the princess said thoughtfully. "Very well, go and find your calling in this life. When you've earned your cutie mark and still wish to learn of Eden, then make your way to the castle in Canterlot. Should I judge your mark to be connected to his, then I would be content to answer any and all manner of questions you would ask."


"I have to earn my cutie mark...AND it has to have a connection to Eden's." He frowned, Ethan really didn't like the idea of having to jump through hoops in order to get what he wanted, but he wasn't exactly in a position to bargain. "...Deal."
"Then I shall take my leave then." Luna said starting to walk away.
"Wait." Ethan called after her. "What is your name?"
Normally Luna would've remarked that he would have been quite ignorant to not recognize the rulers of the kingdom that he was supposed to have been born in, but she had a lot on her mind and only gave a small smile. Somehow it hurt for him to ask her name like he didn't know her, perhaps it was his resemblance to Eden.
"I am princess Luna, one of the rulers of Equestria."
Without another word, she opened her wings and took off into the night sky eventually disappearing.


"Well." Ethan muttered. "I don't think I'm going to be sleeping any time soon."
His mind was now buzzing with questions. Once again he had somehow missed a golden opportunity for answers and now he had more questions than when he'd first started with. Ethan yelled venting his frustration by bucking a few trees before he started to feel a little better. An hour later, Navi came back but Ethan was too upset to care where Navi had gone.




"Ugh..." A tan stallion made his way into the Apple house with bags under his eyes. The sun hadn't yet risen but had started to peek out from behind the horizon. Ethan dragged himself to the room he had been given. His body sore, he was NOT in a good mood right now. With one final grunt, he collapsed on his bed. A tired smile appearing on his face.
BRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIING!
"...You have GOT to be kidding me."