Never really thought I end up in a situation like this for summer. I could just sit all day, playing video games, or watching anime in my home. But I've decided to go look for a job to help me with college and support. Well, I didn't decide for myself, my parents just flat out left me to go to New York so that I can find my path. I never really had any choices in the matter when it came to my future. But now I have all these choices to myself, I might as well make the best out of it.
Oh yeah, I'm traveling in a vortex as we speak.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
So what exactly happened that made me come to this situation? I received a letter late at night claiming to be some job I can do to make serious cash. I first thought it was spam or a prank by my friends, but soon as I signed the contract is where things turned. I was met by Discord, a character from the hit tv series My Little Pony: Friendship is magic. Not just met him in person, but I was transported to Equestria! I couldn't believe my entire existence. I've watched the show when it was in its infancy, and now I'll finally get to meet Twilight, her friends, and finally be with—
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Okay, this is starting to give me headaches. Anyways, Discord has tasked me to reform 4 of the Legion of Doom and teach them the meaning of friendship. The last thing I remembered was that he pointed out he was going to send me exactly at the beginning of season 8 when Twilight founded the school of friendship. That should give me enough leeway to learn about the world and do a little exploring before season 9. Before that, I should get back to—
*Thud*
The feeling is like falling at the apex of a skyscraper, face planting on solid dirt. He carefully turned his head to avoid fractures on his nose and jaw. Groaning in pain as James tried to wait out the pain to die down for a few hours. But he didn't have to wait long at all as the pain quickly died in a matter of seconds.
He quickly got up and patted the dirt out of his body, "That was a quick recovery, could be one of my powers. Man, that fall was atrocious! I hope my pajamas didn't get dir—"
Upon inspecting himself, something was off about something that caught James' attention. The PJs he wore is no longer with him. Instead, he appears to be in what he describes as a black duster coat that went down to his shins. It seems like the whole cost was sealed by a large, singular zipper that can reach through all to the length of the coat; just left open halfway to enable easy leg movement. James can tell there's a hoodie left hanging behind him by the silver drawstrings. His feet are now in black leather boots. Twisting his wrist and waving his fingers at the matching gloves, he gawked his entire wardrobe change.
"I feel like I've seen this before, but where?"
The next thing on the agenda was to search the surroundings he was in. He was in the middle of a long dirt path between loads of trees and unfamiliar foliage. The overall environment and the air to him felt... alive. The weather seemed quite nice and cool. Over on the horizon, he watched as a town was just baking in the vast sunlight.
"Holy crap... is this what I think it is?!" He simply gazed at the beautiful landscape of the whole town, "It's Ponyville! And since that is Ponyville, I gotta be in... Equestria! Man, I feel like I'm in Disneyworld!"
So let me deduce my current situation here. I'm somewhere at the entrance of a forest, presumably the Everfree forest. I'm dressed up as some mysterious figure; surprisingly Discord didn't let me roam Ponyville in my sleep gear. He mentioned that I was sent to the beginning of season 8, that's when Twilight founded and made the school of friendship. How could they manage to build the entire school in just under 30 minutes? Hang on, I'm stupid! It was a time skip. Does that mean the world will skip to specific times like the show? What if it's in between episodes? How on Earth does time wor—
*BRRRRRRR...BRRRRRRR*
A vibrating sensation threw off James pondering, followed by a familiar ringtone of his. It was coming from the right side pocket of the duster. He quickly responded, "My phone? How could it possibly work here?
Unbuttoning the flap and reaching for his cellphone that somehow showed the caller ID: Special Friend
The curiosity of James made him answer the call. "Hello?"
"Ahh, yes! It seemed that It worked wonders!— I thought you would've been burnt to a crisped by now!"
It was Discord again, who seemed peppy from the sounds of it. James let out a sigh, "I'm in a kids cartoon, the best thing around here is being turned to stone or getting blasted by plot devices. Now explain why my phone works here and why did you call me?"
"My bad, I forgot I'm dealing with an unemployed graduate who needed cash for his future. I'm here to act as your guide on your arsenal of powers and other tricks on your sleeve."
"I have magical powers? Wow, you giving me the OP anime protagonist powers like the other 50 characters?"
"I don't know what this anime stuff is, sounds nerdy. Be happy with that coat I gave you; it protects you from even the strongest magic spells. You'll have to earn extra goodies when you make progress on your main objective."
He knew it wasn't going to be this easy for him, "Alright, so what kind of magic do I get? Elemental? Illusionary? Explosive?"
"You have the most sought-after power in all of unicorn history; Time Manipulation. With it, you can control the four aspects of time itself in their unique way. Unfortunately, your ability to rewind time has been restricted by me. Can't let you create multiple branches of our universe without raising eyeballs."
James pouted playfully, "Aww, that's not very nice of you..."
"Also because I'll only be giving you one chance to do this! Fail, and you'll just end up back in your world in misery as the debt keeps stacking up!"
"Okay-Okay, gotcha!" he quickly snapped back to being serious about the situation, "How do I activate these powers?"
"Instructions on casting and other tips are located on your phone; also giving you the essential tools for the mission. An Interactive map of Equestria with added waypoints to warp to, a camera app that can scan and analyze anything you throw at it, and finally... well... you'll have to figure the rest out yourself!"
"Well, I'll be certain that I will make use of anything you throw at me," chuckled James, still making conversation with the draconequus, "Anything else I should know?"
"Oh, I made sure your phone recharges itself back to 100% in a few hours or so. You could obtain something from that world that can make it charge for less. But it's all in your best judgment whether or not you wish to go there."
"I might make use of the other world, but getting access to Twilight's castle would be tricky. I'll see when I get there."
"Not that I'd even need to go there," James cringed up, hiding his feelings about meeting Sunset Shimmer, "So is that all?"
"Yes, I'll be calling you now and then to check up on you. One more thing, if you happen to bump into me by any chance, I'll assume that we're total strangers meeting in the first place. Got that?"
"Right back at ya!"
The phone call ended when James hit the end call button. Checking to see if the battery percentage was at 95% at the time the call ended. With this new knowledge at hand, James would have to strategically use his phone at the right moments to ensure longevity. He decided this was a good time to browse the apps Discord installed had in store for him. James can already tell what app he was talking about; Disguise Kit
Selecting the app showed nothing special to him, just a list of the three different species of ponies; Unicorn, Pegasus, and Earth pony. James could feel like something was missing from Discord's explanation; was this the app he said he kept surprised from him?
"All I see are just different types of species," said James, curious on sight as he tapped on one of the names, "Let me see what it says about the Unicorn—"
One tap and James froze up while a green flame circled him from the bottom and engulfed upwards in mere seconds. Collapsing from his bipedal stance and now needing to stand and all fours, it was still oblivious to him.
"That's odd... I have the sensation to crawl now," He soon realized as he inspected his two front hoofs—
"Hoofs!?"
His two leather gloves were replaced with two gray-colored hoofs that appeared in his eyesight, seeing them makes him believe that the app was more than just an index of creatures. Just to be sure, he operated his phone screen with two hooves to access the camera and flip it to the front camera. Just as he expected.
He transformed into a unicorn...
"This is... amazing!" he was rubbing his cheeks followed by a flick of his silver mane with dark gray highlights, "I'm a pony! The superior kind to be exact! I can use this to enter Ponyville without drawing attention."
I looked like the same age as Sandbar. That's odd, it seems that I have two different colored eyes; a left red and a right blue? Is this someone's OC drawn in 2012? Never mind, I guess it's cool that I'm a literal pony.
But wait, James needed to confirm something before he proceeds to walk to the village; what was his cutie mark? Turning his big pony head, he gazed upon his flank to reveal an image of an odd-looking gray circle in the form of an optical illusion. He quickly remembered seeing this type of shape in an advanced mathematics book he skimmed through at the library.
"A Mobius Strip— very fitting seeing if I have the potential of using time magic. This must be one of the secret powers Discord mentioned," he spoke to himself, seeing how the coat mysteriously vanished from his body and was replaced by a satchel bag. "The coat must've changed its form into this bag; might prove useful. Let me try another—"
Another ring was coming from his phone from the ground, the same caller ID as well. Soon he answered back and hear what was going on.
"You picked the unicorn first? Really? I guess it was your choice in the matter."
"What do you mean? Is this some form of changeling magic?" asked James, as he placed his bottom onto the dirt path
"Yes and no. I've given you three creatures to pick to be your disguise. You can use this alter-ego of yours to roam around Equestria while concealing your true identity. Each creature gives you access to their abilities too; Unicorn magic, flight of a pegasus, an earth pony... being earth ponies. Who knows, you might even earn more transformations when you make progress!"
"And how do I change back?"
"You just need to tap on the end transformation button, but that will drain a significant portion of your phone's battery life. But, I suggest you remain in that form and explore around Ponyville for the time being."
"Hey, at least give me warnings next time I do something new!" he raised his voice over the phone. "And can I use my time magic as a unicorn? Aren't they just spells written by somepony?"
"Actually, I never gave you those powers; they were already an aptitude of yours, to begin with. I don't know much, but I could sense something unique about you and— Oh! Now I need to go! See you later, and say hi to Fluttershy for me!"
What does he mean by aptitude? I never could control time in my world. If I did, I would've abused the crap out of it. I'll worry about that later, I want to get to Ponyville and visit all the hotspots.
The phone ended the call as James was left with all this new information to process. He might as well walk into Ponyville while he's in this form. Levitating his phone with magic came naturally to him, keeping it secure in the bag on his back. Embarking on this bizarre adventure wasn't going to be easy, and that's the way he likes it.
Trekking into town was just a short hike about 3 minutes or so. But now James, perfectly disguised as a youthful unicorn colt trotted through many places of Ponyville. It felt like a whole fever dream, but it's happening. Making sure to greet back all the ponies that waved back to him, he made a few stops from the show he would like to visit. The Sugar Cube Corner was busy as usual so he decided to check it out later. All seemed good and all, but he didn't forget his main goal.
"Now, at what point exactly am I at?" James thought out loud, surveying the area with his head.
"Yo! Are you attending the school as well?"
A strange, yet familiar voice echoed behind James, so he turned around. To his surprise, he was first met with another pony his age. Not some typical pony-off in the background...
It was Sandbar...
"Sandbar... You're here!? With me! In the flesh!" Blurted James, which cause Sandbar to cringe at his eccentric voice.
"Ummm, I don't think I recall meeting in the past. Who are you?" He turned his head towards the side, pointing his foreleg.
I slipped up! I need to cover this quickly!
"I'm sorry, it's just this spell I'm practicing! That's all" cringing on sight, James properly greeted the fellow raising his foreleg, "Your name is Sandbar, correct?"
"Yes I am, pretty cool you could predict names and such. And you are?"
Quick instincts shot into James' huge brain as he processed an alias fitting for him. Seconds during their hoof shake, he soon found the perfect name.
"Pe— Erhm— Ponies call me Mobius..." cringed the peculiar unicorn. James remembered immediately where in season 8 he was at; he tried to play dumb, "You said if I was attending a school of some sorts?"
"Ah, yes! Princess Twilight's school of friendship! The grand openings today, and I thought you would be attending to; You with the bag and all?"
Playing the role of Mobius, James shook his head. "I would, but I don't know about 'friendship' is so important to be scholar worthy. It doesn't sound curricular to me."
"Well it wouldn't hurt just to check it out, There's no tuition fee or anything!"
Wow! If my college didn't have tuition, I would've just been fine with my parents ditching me.
"There's the thing they have on the flyer; you can refer a friend to attend the school at no extra cost! You can tell your parents about it later; they won't mind you attending ONE day here right?"
A small grin formed on James' lips, "That sounds amazing. I guess I'll see what the fuss is about with this school of friendship is all about."
"Great, now follow me. It should be close by here!"
Well infiltrating the school was easy enough; I changed into a unicorn, befriended Sandbar, and now I'm checking the school of friendship. Now to choose my first target. Lord Tirek is imprisoned in Tartarus, way out of reach for me. I currently don't have the power to bring back King Sombra, so that's a no-go for me. Queen Chrysalis will appear in a later episode, so I could just wait for her spotlight. So the only logical one first is...
The little brat herself...