//------------------------------//
// Chapter 7: Homecoming 
// Story: Equestria: Fantasy or Reality 
// by Mister E-Nonymous 
//------------------------------//


Chapter 7: Homecoming







(Jacob's Point of View)


The rest of the week went by a flash. Apple Bloom didn't have much time to hang with her mom when she was at the house she was living at for nine years. She packed up the stuff she wanted to take to our house in Orlando, Florida, and donate the things she doesn't need to to the Goodwill in Honolulu. A bunch of movers would be ready to take the stuff she wanted to have with her into a large container.

Lauren then bought all of the paintings that Buttercup had made, since she didn't need them anymore. Buttercup said that she would make new memories when, or if, they all get back to Equestria. Today, we all got on an early flight from Honolulu to Orlando. Lauren paid for Buttercup's ticket to Orlando, Buttercup sold her car, and all seven of us headed back to Orlando.

I woke up in my bed back in Orlando. I got up and out of my bed, and I smelled some pancakes being cooked. I walked into the kitchen, expecting my mom to be there. Instead, there was Buttercup at the stove. She saw me coming in and said, "Good morning, Jacob."

"Morning, Buttercup," I said.

"Go ahead and sit down," she said. "I'm sure the others will come in soon."

"Where's my mom?" I asked.

"Oh, Kathy said that she was going to buy some groceries," said Buttercup. "She said on the way home, she's gonna pick up your dog. Ah heard that he's a collie like Winona."

"He is," I said. Then I thought of a question. "Buttercup. Can I ask you something?"

"Go ahead, Jacob," Buttercup said.

"How did you get here?"

Buttercup finished the last pancake and put it on a plate. She then took the plate to the counter and said, "Well, it's a little hard for me to say and repeat. I should answer when Kathy and the other girls are here."

Then the front door opened. The sound of paws running on the wooden floor came and in came Cooper, running up to me. He jumped on me, and started licking my face.

"Gah!" I said as Cooper jumped on me. "Hahahahaha! Cooper! Please! Can you please get off?!" Then Cooper got off me. I got up and hugged him, saying, "Okay, Cooper. Okay. I missed you, too."

Cooper then saw Buttercup. He walked over to her and Buttercup reached her hand off to him. He then started licking her hand.

"Wow," said Mom, coming towards the kitchen. "He already likes you. Cooper doesn't normally tend too well to strangers."

"Guess he smells the pony on me," said Buttercup.

"Ma?" came Apple Bloom's voice.

"Ah'm in the kitchen, Apple Bloom," Buttercup said. Then Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo and Nyx came up to the kitchen table. "Alright, everyone. Time to eat up."

We all sat at the kitchen table and started eating. Buttercup looked over towards me and said, "Well, you wanted to know how I got here. So, I'll tell all of you at once." She then took a deep breath. "It was when Apple Bloom was about three months old. Bright Mac and I were taking some baked apple goods to some family up in the mountains. But that was when our worries began."






Equestria, 8 1/2 Years Ago...


(Third Person Point of View)


Bright Mac and Buttercup were pulling carts full of apple sweets. They were heading up some mountains. They eventually came to the mountains. Then the sound of buzzing went off.

"Hey, Buttercup," Bright Mac said. "Do ya hear something?"

"Ah do," said Buttercup. Then they followed the sound of the buzzing, and they saw a Bugbear coming right towards them. "Oh, sweet Celestia!" Then the two of them started running.

The Bugbear attacked them. He missed Bright Mac and Pear Butter, but it did crush the carts they were pulling. They got unstrapped from what was left of the carts and headed off, trying to run away from the bugbear. The bugbear chased them into a small cave. The bugbear tried getting into the cave, but it was too big to even get it's paw into the cave.

"That was close," said Bright Mac.

"Yeah," said Buttercup. "But we're trapped here in this cave."

"Perhaps there's a way out," said Bright Mac, pulling a lantern from his saddlebag. He lit it up. "There. Now we have a way ta light our way."

"Uh, Bright Mac," Buttercup said. Bright Mac looked towards what Buttercup was looking at, and he saw a hand drawn message. It said, Apple Peel was here... Buttercup was surprised to see that. "Apple Peel? Isn't that the name of your twin sister?"

"She was here the whole time?" asked Bright Mac.

"Maybe she got stuck in here and found a way out," said Buttercup.

"But... she never came back," said Bright Mac.

"You don't think she... died in this cave, do you?" Buttercup asked.

"Only one way to find out," said Bright Mac. Then the two of them headed deeper into the cave. They kept walking until the sound of something whirling came to their ears. "What is that?"

"Is it the bugbear?" asked Buttercup.

"No," said Bright Mac. "This is more of a whirling sound. Like a propeller on a zeppelin. The bugbear made a buzzing and growling noise." They headed towards the sound and saw a light blue portal with a green core.

"What is that?" asked Buttercup.

"Ah don't know," said Bright Mac. "C'mon. Let's get out of here." What Bright Mac didn't know was that he kicked a pebble right towards the portal. The portal then started reacting, sucking up both of the ponies.

"Bright Mac! What's going on?!" shouted Buttercup.

"Ah don't know, Buttercup!" shouted Bright Mac. Then the portal eventually gave off a stronger suction, and pulled both of the ponies into it as they were screaming. And then everything went black.






Somewhere on the Island of Oahu...


Buttercup was coming to. She looked around, confused. She was in some kind of forest. She then rubbed her face with a hoof, or at least she thought it was a hoof. She looked down at it, and saw it was a human hand. She then yelled. Then she looked down at the rest of herself. She was wearing a light blue skirt, a lighter blue blouse, a necklace with a buttercup clip, and cowboy boots.

She looked around and saw another human. A human which reminded her of a certain pony she loved. Bright Mac was wearing a white undershirt, a red and brown button up shirt over the white shirt, blue jeans, a brown leather belt, and some cowboy boots of his own.

Buttercup crawled over to him, and tried shaking him awake. "Bright Mac. Bright Mac, wake up!"

Bright Mac was stirring around. Then he said, "In a minute, Buttercup. It's too early to..." He then noticed what his wife was looking like. He then looked down at his hands and said, "WHOA! What happened to us?!"

"Ah don't know!" said Buttercup. "We need to find somepony."

"How would they believe us?" asked Bright Mac. "Ya expect us to ask for help if ponies see us as monsters?"

Buttercup brought a hand to her chin and said, "Right. Who would believe us."

"We should find a way home by ourselves," said Bright Mac. Then the two of them started heading off somewhere, crawling on all fours, trying to walk like a pony, but with a new body structure, they were having trouble.

They reached a paved road, Buttercup then asked, "What? A paved road?"

"But we're nowhere near Manehatten," said Bright Mac. Then a truck came right towards them. The driver didn't see them until it was too late. Bright Mac took the collision, Buttercup being right behind him, pushing them both towards a couple trees. Buttercup was knocked out, but Bright Mac. You'll find out soon.





Buttercup woke up in a hospital. She was wondering where she was. Then a human doctor came into the room.

"Ah, good," said the doctor. "You're awake. I was wondering when it would happen." He then checked his clipboard and said, "The people who brought you two in said that the two of you had no form of identification. Might I ask who you are..."

"Ah'm... Ah..." Buttercup said, but she was having a hard time remembering. "Ah don't remember. Ah can't remember anythin'."

"Oh, boy," said the doctor. "Are you sure?"

"Not a thing," said Buttercup.

"Oh, that is not good," said the doctor.

"Two?" Buttercup asked. "Ah wasn't the only one taken in?"

"I got good news and bad news," said the doctor. "The good news is that you weren't the only one those people found. The bad news is, he died when his back collided with that tree. I'm sorry, miss. But I'm sure we'll find someone that'll help you until you can get your memories back."

"Ah hope so," said Buttercup.






Jacob's Home, Present Time...


(Jacob's Point of View)


We were surprised about what Buttercup said. Apple Bloom was almost in tears.

"And that's how Ah ended up in this world, and lost my memories," said Buttercup. "Started going by the name Paris Butter. No one knew who Ah was, or where Ah came from. But Ah was able to get a proper education so Ah could get a job. Luckily, Ah found someone who allowed me to live in their guest house. And ever since then, Ah've been trying to find a way to get mah memories back." Then she looked over at Apple Bloom and said, "And then you came to me."

Apple Bloom then got out of her chair, and walked over to her mom, and hugged her. We all were happy for her. I looked over at my mom and saw that she had her head facing straight down.

"Mom?" I asked. "Is something wrong?"

That made the others look towards her. What was bothering her.

"Kathy," Buttercup said. "Are you concerned about something?"

Mom then looked up and looked at us. She then said, "I... also have something to confess about Penelope."

"What?" I asked. "What is it?"

"When I found Penelope," Mom said, "she was a little confused on where she was. In fact, I thought she was crazy. She didn't even know how Humans were like."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Penelope wasn't really her real name," Mom said. "Her real name... was Apple Peel."

That made me, Apple Bloom and Buttercup gasp.

"Then," said Buttercup. "It means that Jacob is half pony."

"It... means he's an apple," said Apple Bloom.

"If Apple Peel was here," said Buttercup, "Ah might be able to get her reunited with the family."

"Ma," Apple Bloom said. "That can't happen. According to Kathy, she died giving birth."

"To me," I said.

"Oh," said Buttercup. "That's so sad. Ah'm so sorry. And that's why ya were adopted."

"Yeah," I said. "Hey. If that means my birth mother was an apple..."

Then Apple Bloom came over to me and hugged me, saying, "That means that makes ya mah cousin! Ah got another cousin!"

"Wow," said Nyx. "This is big news."

"It is," said Sweetie Belle. "I'm happy for you, Apple Bloom."

"Mom?" I asked. "Are you okay with this?"

"I'll be fine," said Mom. "I promised your birth mom I would take care of you. Guess we didn't expect that your biological family came and didn't know it."

"It was a surprise to us as well," said Buttercup. Then there was a knocking on the front door.

"Who is it?!" Mom shouted.

"Hawaii to Mainland Movers," said a man from outside. "We got some boxes and furniture for a miss Paris Apple?"

"That's me," said Buttercup. She then looked at the rest of us and asked, "You mind helping me unpack and move into the upstairs apartment?"

"Sure!" said the Crusaders.

We all then helped out with Buttercup moving into the apartment upstairs. Hopefully, we'll be able to get a lot of things to do together for the rest of the summer.






Equestria... Golden Oaks Library...


(Third Person Point of View)


Twilight was pacing around the table, again, worn a groove into the floor. Twilight was thinking about what happened to Nyx and her friends when Applejack came in with a panicked look.

"Twilight!"

"What is it Applejack?"

"It's the Crusaders. They didn't come down fer breakfast this mornin'. Ah started to get worried, and when Ah went to check on them, they were gone. No sign of any of them."

"Not even Nyx?"

"Ah'm sorry, Twi. Ah'm havin' the rest o' our friends lookin' high 'n' low fer 'em."

Then Twilight thought about when Princess Celestia was having a talk to them.

"So please, please, Twilight Sparkle, I ask this of you, not as a princess of Equestria or as your teacher, but a pony who fears for those she cares about. Let me take Nyx. Allow me to put these fears to rest, for you do not know how much they torture me."

"I can't. On two reasons."

"And that is?"

"One, Nyx would never do that. She actually likes doing things a filly would do. And two, she and her three best friends have gone missing."

"What?! This is terrible news! I shall help out with the search for Nyx. I will let you know as soon as possible when we find her and the other girls."

Twilight's thoughts were cut off when she felt something touch her back. Twilight turned her head to her left and saw Spike there.

"Twilight?" Spike asked. "Can you please stop pacing? You need rest."

"I can't rest, Spike," Twilight said. "Nyx is out there somewhere, and I can't find her! I won't rest until Nyx is found!"

Then Rarity came into the library, saying, "Twilight. I hope I'm not a bother." Twilight looked towards Rarity with a sad look. Twilight's mane was messier than how it was the day before Nyx's first sleepover. And the bags under her eyes were bigger. "My word, this is more serious than I thought."

"Rarity... I... I..." Twilight tried to speak.

"Twilight," Rarity said. "I know. I know you and Nyx have a special connection. I'm even in the same boat as you when Sweetie Belle went missing with her. Applejack, and her family as well."

"Wait a minute," said Spike. "What about Scootaloo's family? Shouldn't they know about this?"

"I already tried finding Scootaloo's family, but nopony knows where she lives," said Rarity. "I've already told the mayor about the situation. So far, everypony is concerned." Then her face scrunched up. "Except for those to brats and Spoiled Rich."

"What am I supposed to do?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight," said Rarity. "They all felt bad for you. So, I had to tell the other girls about Nyx. They were shocked, but I also told them that she wasn't acting when she was around all of us. "

Then Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie came in. Rainbow Dash said, "You were doing what was right. You kept her true identity a secret."

"Ya saw her... not just as a filly that looks like Nightmare Moon," said Applejack, "but as a filly who is curious about the world around her."

"You could've told us the truth," said Fluttershy. "We could've helped if you just told us."

"Yeah!" said Pinkie Pie. "I would wanna try to throw a private party with just us, and make her feel super duper special and I would make sure that Nyx would never, ever, ever be that mad mare ever again!"

Twilight smiled. She then said, "Thanks, girls." She then sighed. "I just hope Nyx is alright."

Not knowing that they were being watched, Princess Luna was standing right outside. She then said, "Do not worry, Twilight Sparkle. Nyx is in good care." She then took off. She then landed on a cloud. She then thought to herself, "I'm sure that this young human and his adoptive mother are taking care of Nyx and her friends." She then flew off into the night sky, heading towards Canterlot, to perform her nightly duties.