//------------------------------//
// Back to breakdown 
// Story: The Anti-Friendship Lesson 
// by Ezekiel Namuh 
//------------------------------//

Ty stared up at the mare he probably expected to see least aside from... Applebloom, I guess. Rarity looked back with a vaguely apologetic look, although that may have just been her trying not to complain about all the twigs stuck in her carefully maintained mane. Ty was trying his best to be unreadable.

"You know, I'm really trying not to be rude here," Rarity uttered, "But you look dead. What happened to you?" Rarity got no answer as Ty had pulled his head underneath the tree.

"Nothing," Ty whimpered. "Now go away. I'm a grown-up, I can handle myself."

Rarity cut him off with more muffled laughter. "Ty, you told us yourself. You're a 15 year-old colt. Although your use of the word 'grown-up' is childish enough to tell." Remembering the reason she was there, to help him, she walked over to do her best to get him out. She only lifted it around three inches, but it was enough to see him huddled in a corner of the trench the tree had dug during it's descent.

"Why are you here?" Ty whined as he huddled in the corner farthest away from her. "I ran away from you guys, twice! Why would you want to come back? Am I that irritating?"

Rarity looked at him apologetically. "Not you by yourself, but you know what they say. 'Words show one's wit, but actions their meaning.' And neither one of yours have been particularly honest," she finished with a scowl. Ty widened his eyes in shock.

"What do you, uh, mean?" Ty raised his head a bit in attention. He still did his best to hide further back under the tree, before letting his head drop against the ground again. "*Sigh* Why do I care. I can see where this is going."

Rarity, confused with where he was taking this but also a bit preoccupied with pulling some wood out of her mane. She asked in her usual way, "Whatever do you mean?"

"Oh, come on, you know where I'm taking this." In all truth, Rarity knew how odd Ty's answers could be to questions asked of him. She could guess something completely random and get it exactly right more often than not. He continued.

"You show up, the other five follow. You convince me to stop running away from my problems, which serves as the moral. You convince me to live happily ever after in Ponyville. Once the episode ends, you begin noticing how sheerly unlikeable I am. My strange actions single me out so no one else wants to be friends with me other than you six. You slowly begin to hate me. You let a short amount of time pass..." Ty looked up at her solemnly.

"I'm thrown into a padded cell so nopony else has to deal with me. I've seen this story before. I've caused nothing but problems," he muttered. 'Not to mention the many other reasons like my non-existent social skills, luck, and my old life. I'll probably create so much damage to the hospital they cut costs in two days. *Sigh* By euthanizing me. That's the only thing the writers would do with me, after a minor antagonist.'

Somehow, Rarity took this as a joke.

"Oh, come on Ty," she chuckled. "There must be something you're good at aside from running."

A flickering section of cyan and purple aura did its best to lift a medium sized stick from behind Rarity to the tree pinning Ty down.

"Yeah, that's very helpful." Ty remarked while his tone was growing in frustration. "Name something even I couldn't screw up."

This seemed to grow Rarity's excitement, distracting her from the film of magic hovering behind her. "I'd be willing to let you help out around the boutique! Dying cloth can't be that hard for you to do."

"Could you give me that stick?" he asked impassively. He stuck a hoof to the opening his head used to be in. Rarity turned to find the object he was referring to, floating right in front of her muzzle. Obviously not expecting that, she jumped back in surprise. The small piece of wood fell from the weakly shaking aura, before it dropped right in front of Ty's outstretched hoof.

"Thanks," he said to the now recovering mare. He didn't entirely know why he was thanking her, as all she did was jump in shock. He just felt he should've said that. Ty never came off as being sarcastic, not intending to, either.

Rarity watched in awe as the wood on the ground was surrounded by magic again. The aura slowly attempted to lift the stick onto his hoof. Ty strained to keep using his horn, before the flow of magic cut out abruptly and dropped it on him. Ty's hoof immediately hit the dirt, weighed down by the immense power of a 2-pound stick.

Ty whined in discomfort as the magic surrounded the stick again, flinging it off his hoof and sailing behind the tree on top of him.

Struggling to catch his breath, he followed up his demonstration. "That is why I-"

BONK

"OW"!

The two pony's conversation (One pony's, really. Rarity was still getting over what Sweetie Belle had told her about him. Both that he had these abilities and that her sister found him threatening.) froze when they heard the distinct sound of a piece of wood striking another creature's cranium.

"Whoops. I think might've hit a timberwolf or something." He whispered his lie. He knew full well the identity of miss migraine, but he figured it would generally be a good idea to grant her anonymity. Something his boring, cookie-cutter self had yearned for, and missed. Ty continued. "Anyway, that's why I can't, I'm not even strong enough (physically). And think about this. Would you even want the pony under this tree to live in the same place as you? You've seen the picture on my flank. Picture it."

Rarity's mind did slowly tear away from her earlier thoughts to imagine his proposal, but all she got was a discouraging image of her right after getting home. She imagined cloth had somehow gotten everywhere. Dye was covering everything, and her pet cat Opal was trying to claw down a particularly large piece of cloth somehow stapled to the ceiling. And wrapped in that cloth, twitching nervously, was Ty.

She shook her head to get the disturbing image out of her mind. "You are very strange, you know that Ty?"

"Just depressing," he responded, finding the courage to stick his head out again. "I also tend to have ponies trying to kill me."

Rarity barely kept a level head as Ty attempted to bring another, suspiciously similar looking stick towards the tree. "I never should've thrown the first one. Not even sure why I did. Guess I just panicked," he muttered while wedging the stick between the tree and the ground.

He attempted to use it to leverage his magical strength, but his concentration was shattered when a burst of laughter made him snap the log in half.

Angered at his interruption, Ty looked to the bushes the sound was coming out of, and spotted the five sources coming out with it. The rest of the elements of harmony. All laughing at him. Even Fluttershy had been giggling softly.

"Yeah, I get it," Ty frustratingly muttered. 'I've dealt with this kind of thing a few times before, and it would be nice to not be constantly reminded of-why are they still laughing?'

"I get it!" Ty snapped with raising annoyance. They were still laughing, joined by something else now. Rarity wasn't laughing, and there wasn't anyone else around aside from a certain changeling, so why are there multiple... 'Hang on'

"Is that a flipping LAUGH TRACK!?"

Silence followed. The laughing stopped, so that was good. What wasn't good were the collection of mares that were now staring at Ty quizzically.

"You've heard me say weirder things than- Oh, forget it." Ty stopped grumbling and shifted his body so his legs were facing upward. He pushed with all his strength, and all his limbs. He even tried using his tail, but that didn't help much. After it didn't move at all, he gave in. "Are you going to help, or are you going to insult me? Pick one already!"

Applejack shrugged and sauntered over to the fallen oak. "That depends, insect."

Ty didn't respond to that. Heck, he barely even moved. The way she said it just upset him.

"...You, uh... Bon Bon talked to you, didn't she?"

"Ignore Applejack," Pinkie assured as Applejack stretched a little. "She's just having a little fun with you."

Twilight also responded with, "Besides, I don't think Bon Bon's at her best right now."

'No, but she was close.' Ty thought as he nervously swallowed, "Hey, could I ask you a question?"

"Sure, fire away," Rainbow muttered. "It's not like I was expecting anything from you."

"Okay, so... um..." Ty mumbled, tugging at his neck with a hoof. "What would you say if Bon Bon was actually correct?" he asked while wincing in nervousness.

The question got a few confused looks from the ponies, not that Ty wasn't used to it at this point.

"You mean, if you are a changeling?" Twilight asked, before thinking, 'But that can't be right, Lyra said she checked him. Unless... she got the spell wrong.'

She kept going, "Well, I wouldn't worry about that. Ever since the wedding of Shining Armor and Princess Cadence, changelings aren't allowed in Equestria."

"And if you were one, you would've been locked up with the others already!" Rainbow continued for her.

Presented with this information, Ty stared slack-jawed at the ground in front of him, mulling over... around two different scenarios before Applejack decided on her moment (given Ty's 'special talent,' one of the worst moments) to buck the log off him. Only it didn't just roll off, it got sent flying!

The tree went airborne for at least four seconds before finally shattering completely around twenty feet away. Applejack flexed one of her forelegs. "Whew, still got it."

She continued gloating to her self as Ty slowly got up, staring at the shattered remains of the log two others had failed to lift more than a few inches. He almost didn't hear the gasps coming from the ponies behind him.

Ty glanced back at the crowd behind him. All but one had slack jaws and were staring at him. Except for Applejack, who was still bragging about her expertise at kicking trees.

Eventually she stopped, too, freezing up to gawk at his stance with the rest of them.

Ty himself rapidly glancing around, thinking of every possible outcome. Their current state, Applejack's strength, Amelia's safety, and his own life all swirled together into one collective, 'I'm boned.'

Or, as Ty put it in his own words...

"I need to get out of here."

In that one moment, Ty blanketed the ground in his magic. Dust stirred into the air surrounding him as he bolted away from the elements of harmony, leading them away from the actual changeling.

"Hey! Where'd he go?" Pinkie shouted looking around the dust cloud for the tell-tale outline. Of course, it was not there.

"There he is!" Applejack's voice, hoarse from all the dust inhalation, echoed in Ty's ear's as he sprinted away.

Rapid hoofsteps quickly rang out, following Ty's. It became immediately apparent that getting Ty to calm down would no longer be their main objective. Ty glanced over his shoulder to see two mares following far behind him. Pinkie was busy helping Applejack, who was stuck in a patch of grass, while Fluttershy and Rarity hadn't bothered to follow at all.

Each group was having their own discussions. Fluttershy and Rarity debated even going back before inevitably deciding it be good so they could act as a mediator.

Pinkie finally helped Applejack get unstuck, though they had a hard time realizing what she was actually stuck in. Rainbow and Twilight followed right behind him, Rainbow stating that he seemed faster than usual. Twilight was ignoring that sentiment, though you could faintly hear her trying to get Ty to be somewhat reasonable, shouting things like: "Why do you keep doing this to yourself?"

And Ty himself... Thoughts were running through his head so fast, he couldn't even tell what he was thinking.

One emotion that stuck out was surprise, as a flash of purple light temporarily blinded him. Rubbing his eyes with his wrists (Yes, horses technically have them), Ty's vision cleared enough to see a very determined-looking Twilight staring him down while hovering in place.

Just the expression on her face reminded him of the knowledge-obsessed mare he'd come to think of her as. The fact she might've saw him as just another test to be observed or problem to be solved already made him angry. Yet despite all that, he chose to yell...

"This statement is false!"

Twilight looked at him concerningly. "Are you okay? Because that... wait," she stammered as she slowly dropped to the ground with growing confusion on her face. "How does that make sense?"

Ty blew right by her, though he also had a look of confusion on his face. He was thinking something along the lines of, 'Did that actually work?'

He had to glance behind him to make sure, but somehow Twilight was more focused on figuring out Ty's screwball of a statement. She didn't even falter as Rainbow flew up to her.

'Holy crap, that actually worked! I guess being in a cartoon can be a good thing,' Ty thought as he watched Rainbow try to shake Twilight out of her thinking. Applejack and Pinkie had finally managed to catch up to those two. Fluttershy and Rarity were just barely visible, making their way over in a hurried walk.

Rainbow backed up to say something to Applejack, though he couldn't hear what the earth pony had told him. All he heard was Rainbow's shout.

"He's what!?" Ty had no time to mull it all over, as Rainbow quickly dashed at him.

Streaks of rainbow-colored light emanated from behind her as she flew over him. Ty was forced to duck down onto the more natural position for ponies to run just to avoid her. Rainbow turned around after her first attempt, albeit not very fast. Ty had to shift his path around her, a fairly easy task when you're not very top heavy. That small victory was quickly overshadowed by him nearly charging straight into her again, due to her dashing right in front of his path. That forced him to change course again.

That process continued multiple times, forcing Ty to make a mental note that this would be twice as hard if Pinkie was the one mad at him. After all, he couldn't break the laws of physics.

He needed a chance to break the cycle. One which might be coming from her next charge, accompanied by her shouting, "You embarrassed us in front of the princess, you little bugger!"

Less and less space closed between Ty and Rainbow. She was flying with less than a couple inches of space between her chest and the forest floor, likely attempting to sweep his legs out from under him. "I say we do this the old fashioned way, beat the bad guy into oblivion! Face him head on!" she yelled, with a face showing just how determined she was. Or maybe how excited she was.

Ty shrugged as nonchalantly as he could, showing no enthusiasm whatsoever. "Eh, prankster planet, prankster rules." Rainbow had to react as Ty quickly leapt above her line of vision.

Situations reversed as Rainbow was forced to stare up at Ty's form. He was squinting down at her in midair as he tipped his toque in respect (mock respect, at least according to Rainbow). Rainbow stared back at him in awe, continuing to rocket forward before slamming into another tree.

"Eye's on the road, man!" Ty yelled back at her. 'I swear I've done some move like that on Caden sometime during track and field day, back when we were forced to play ball tag,' Ty thought with a mental chuckle as he continued to look behind him. Heh, I fell flat on my face then anyway. Ahh... just like old-

THUD

Ty was interrupted as his side slammed into a thin tree, sending him spinning and sliding into the ground. All he could tell was his old trick of 'run in a straight line' didn't work when you didn't watch where you were going. He was only given a second to realize where he was before being hoisted up into the air by the front of his neck.

Rosy eyes stared back at him as Rainbow held him up with one hoof.

The cyan wings on her back beat as she began flying, pulling him above the Everfree.

Rainbow's hooves lifted Ty over her head.

"Payback time, punk-"

CONK

"Ow!" Rainbow shouted as pain erupted in the back of her head, forcing her to drop her grip on Ty.

"Hey! Who threw that..." Rainbow tried to ask. Her answer was floating right in front of her, encased in a cyan and purple field. "Branch."

The wood dropped to the ground where Ty was already sprinting in the direction he thought he was going earlier. Leaves parted in the canopy as Rainbow flew back down to try and see where he was.

"Hey!" Ty looked behind him as Rainbow shouted at him. "Get back-"

SPLURCH

Yet another unnecessary and interrupting sound effect played as Rainbow was knocked down again. Angered, she opened her wings to fly...

Until she found she couldn't.

Deeply confused, Rainbow craned her head around to find a fairly big problem.

Her wings were coated in green slime.

Rainbow glared as she flicked her head back to where her friends were, and looked right past Ty. "Bon Bon was right!"

Ty, being oblivious at the worst time, just looked back at her in confusion. 'Why is she telling me this? Wait...'

"Wrong way!" Ty yelled as he tried to change his direction a moment too late. A loop of rope flew at him, high and from the left. Ty made an attempt to stop before the lasso tightened around his torso, the weight bringing him down onto his back.

"Don't ya'll worry, Ah've gottem," Applejack shouted through the rope in her mouth. Ty made no attempt to slow her down, nor was he moving at all.

'Think, Ty! You can wriggle out of this, you've done stuff like it before,' Ty thought, before realizing his mistake. 'Or is that my problem? That I do the same thing to deal with everything?'

Applejack ignored his movements as she pulled him towards her.

'They expect me to run, and they can find a way around that. They don't expect me to use the abilities this new world has given me. They don't expect me to adapt, humanity's biggest strength.' Ty grinned as magic enveloped the ground around him. It began to focus around a small piece of metal lying on the ground and a shard of a black rock.

'Then how about I show them just how human I am?'

Ty magically lifted the items he grabbed above his head before slamming them both into the same section of the lasso, slicing it apart. Ty watched as Applejack stared at the separated rope.

He took note of the shocked expression on Applejack's face as he tried to magically untie the knot in the lasso, which seemed to be getting easier the more he used his magic. He absentmindedly rambled in his mind. 'PFFFFT-hahahahaHA! She looks so confused! I've hated that lasso for a while now.'

It was way too silent for the situation, making him stop to ask a question.

"Hey, do you smell smoke?"

Applejack nodded back at him before pointing down at him. "Yep."

Noting the flickering light below his line of sight, Ty's eyes widened as he looked down at where she was pointing. A small flame had started on the end of the rope. Ty didn't pay much attention to it, as it was almost off. Plus, rope isn't normally very flammable.

As if any of this was normal.

The flame spread up the rope the instant he noticed it, quickly lighting his entire torso.

"FIRE!" Ty shouted, frantically swiping at it when it spread towards his neck. "FirefirefirefireFIRE!"

Ty spastically ran around a bit before reminding himself of his abilities. Magic wrapped around his torso as he quickly rubbed dirt over himself, snuffing out the flames.

The magic dissipated from him as he collapsed onto his stomach.

No further response as Rainbow hoofed up to Ty, poking him in the side. "What happened here?"

Applejack grabbed Rainbow and turned her away from his limp form, pointing over her shoulder. "Somehow managed to light himself on fire. Don't worry, he should be getting up in a second."

Groaning from behind them assured that Applejack was correct. They turned back around to see Ty making an attempt to get up.

He'd also ended up several feet away from where he'd originally collapsed, and he'd lost most of his coat's burn marks. The only evidence he'd been on fire was a good amount of soot left on him.

"Ugh... Wha happen..." Ty slowly rose, while staggering around slightly. He looked dazed, holding a hoof up to his eye and revealing a burned spot to himself. His jaw dropped as he realized what had just been done to him, before muttering to himself, "Holy crap, that was dark. What the heck are the writers doing?"

Wanting clarification, Ty magically lifted up the items he slammed into the rope. A C-shaped piece of metal, and a triangular chip of black flint.

"Oh, you've got to be joking kidding me," Ty muttered as he angrily chucked the flint and steel back on the ground, yelping as they started another fire. Rainbow quickly flew up and grabbed a cloud to put the flame out. "The one time I think I have a good idea, this crap happens to me."

Rainbow and Applejack just watched as Ty paced around in frustration, the former stifling her laughter. The other four were nowhere to be seen, by Ty at least. "He looks just like Twilight," Rainbow whispered.

"Shut it, pot-of-gold butt!" Ty shouted. "If I wanted to get hurt this much, I'd move to Ponyville!"

"You're gonna move to Ponyville!?" the bright and currently obnoxious voice of Pinkie came in out of nowhere, nearly shattering Ty's eardrums.

"No!" Ty attempted to shout. But Pinkie wasn't paying attention. She was celebrating, and already pulling out her trademark giant confetti cannon, dubbed the 'party cannon.'

And aiming it right, at, him.

STREAMER

A high-pitched squee rang out as confetti blew Ty backwards, slamming into a tree, coating him in colorful paper, and unintentionally lodging some confetti in his throat.

"I-ACK-!" Ty stuttered, while stumbling around with his forelegs around his neck, coughing and making raspy calls for help. "*Cough!* Help! I'm being attacked by a party!"

"Whoops! I got ya!" Pinkie assured as she zipped behind him and wrapped her forehooves around his torso. She squeezed... not as hard as she could, as her natural earth pony strength likely would've split him in half. But she squeezed hard enough to get the heimlich (probably hooflich or something stupid like that in this world) to work, while her kneader's hooves also got an audible crack out of his spine.

Pinkie let go of him so he could lay back on his stomach. "Thank... *gasp*... you..." 

Confusion briefly flashed across her muzzle. "Hey, how come I don't get a villain response? You know, something like, 'Curse you, Pinkie the Pony!' Why didn't I get one?"

Ty pushed himself up onto his back after a few seconds of silence. "Because you... *gasp*... tried to help me," Ty slowly answered as his lungs finished restarting. "Why would you think I wouldn't be grateful for that?"

Pinkie tapped her hooves together. "Well... Dashie literally just said you were a changeling, so there's that."

Ty looked as confused as ever as he glanced over at Rainbow, who was in the middle of preening green slime out of her wing. His eyes went wide before he covered his eyes with his hooves. 'Thanks for trying to help Amelia, but it just made leaving peacefully a lot harder.'

"I'm not exactly a lawyer," Rainbow angrily admitted. "But I'm pretty sure changelings can get slapped with jailtime for existing."

"Alright, you know what?" Ty asked, finally giving up. "Way too much stuff just happened, and I'm really beginning to hate slapstick. So I'll cut you a deal. You let me go, and if I'm still alive in a week, I'll come visit. How about it?"

"What?" Applejack asked. "Have you forgotten who we're talking to? No-"

"DEAL!" Pinkie interrupted. She rushed over and began shaking his hoof, in turn lifting him up and down rapidly.

'Why does Equestria hate me?' Ty thought as he stumbled around.

"Hey, you should Pinkie promise!" Pinkie said excitedly.

Ty, in his dazed state, didn't remember what she was talking about and lifted his hooves up to his face. "Huh? What were we talking about? Who are you?"

"The Pinkie promise? The super-duper special promise nopony can ever break? Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye?" Pinkie asked with gestures accompanying each part of the promise. "That one?"

"Oh, yeah. Right. That one," Ty muttered. He didn't get to respond further, when the distinct sound of flapping wings flared behind him.

"We will not be making any deals unless you consult with Princess Celestia," Twilight announced before gliding around to her friends. Apparently she had 'solved' Ty's statement. "What did we just agree to?" she whispered.

"He's gonna visit next week!" Pinkie answered excitedly.

"Oh. Well that's not so bad."

"He's probably lyin' Twilight," Applejack whispered back, resulting in a massively overplayed gasp from Pinkie.

"WHAT! How could he!"

Ty yelled over them. "How could I what!?"

The trees near them rustled as Fluttershy and Rarity finally managed to catch up. "Oh, dear. I hope nothing drastic happened here."

Fluttershy flew up to the other four. "Oh, thank goodness you're all alright," she said sweetly.

"WHAT? THEM?" Ty shouted, exasperated. "She's not the cardboard cut-out being pursued by... by... you!"

Rainbow Dash acted as if she took offense. "Oh, really? Us?"

Ty shook his head in astonishment. "*Sputter* Yes! I'm a literal paper-weight being pursued by my literal opposites! How am I supposed to survive being pitted against an athlete who never loses, a stubborn farmer with superstrength, some fashionista I have nothing in common with, a possessive animal-whisperer, a literal fun lord, and multiple bucking goddesses!?"

...

"Those are..." Twilight struggled to find words. "Slightly creepy ways to describe us."

Fluttershy, barely audible, asked, "Why is he shouting?"

"Because," Ty answered, startling her, "no matter how many times I tell you to buck off, you have never once considered anything regarding me besides negative assumptions!"

Rarity said, "Now, that's not quite-" but didn't finish as she was interrupted by low growling. Looking back at Ty, everypony saw him hunched low to his shoulders. He fumed as the purple 'bags' in his eyes dilated further, stretching over halfway up his eyes.

"Hey, you're eyes are doing that filling thing again!" Pinkie said as she bent closer to him, only for him to try to shove her back when she pressed her face up against his.

"You are the last pony I want to see right now. Who knows, maybe it's a meter that tells you how much I'm sick of this BS. At this point, I LIVE in this forest."

"Then that makes us neighbors, my cottage is just on the edge of this forest," Fluttershy sweetly said, completely ignoring Ty's state.

Ty briefly stared at her kind response in confusion. "Perfect. Just what I wanted. Now go back there, please," he asked, finding it hard to remain calm. "Or is the big scary Celestia actually going to do something about this?"

"Yes, she did..." Twilight muttered.

"Did what? Gave you a slap on the wrist?" Ty mocked.

Struggling to get her words out, Twilight turned her head down in shame. "She yelled at me."

"...And?"

"And what?" Pinkie asked.

"What else did she do?"

Twilight said, "Um... n-nothing, really."

"Th-that's it? That's bucking IT?" Ty stuttered with raising volume. "Not 'That is morally unacceptable' or 'Your status as an expert on friendship has been revoked'? She just said something?" He smacked his forehead repeatedly. "Great. Even the pony in charge of raising the sun has lost her bucking mind!"

"Well, somepony's being a bit of a downer. What's this guy's problem, other than refusing free friendship?" Rainbow Dash closed her eyes in defiance. "We're the elements of harmony, our opinion is obviously the right one."

Ty snapped behind him, but that wasn't the only thing that snapped. He grit his teeth as his left eye twitched. 'That's it. I'm done. Buck subtlety. I don't care If I get locked in some government compound for this. I don't care if these are even the real ponies, or just some stupid exaggeration being strung along by an idiot of a writer who doesn't know what he's doing. These ponies can be as big a problem they want, if a problem can't be solved by throwing enough force at it, or just running away, it isn't a problem.'

"Darling? Is something the matter?"

'...Yeah,' Ty thought. 'Things need to change, starting with myself.'

He noticed something immediately after that. A certain chiming, musical sound, accompanied by a small reflective circle appearing right in front of him.

'Oh, come on...'





"What moron can't put their crap away?"

Late at night, a janitor is looking at a confusing mess of Hasbro-owned TV screens, as well as a single script. The television in the middle had turned on somehow and was playing a rudimentary version of an episode of MLP. Or at least it looked like it.

Janitor Jack picked up the script and begrudgingly read it aloud. "The Anti-Friendship Lesson - act 1, scene 12, lines, 42-7, show 3, parallel universe 244870, song 1. Stranger realizes the meaning of friendship and lets the elements of harmony lead him to a better life."

Looking back at the TV, Jack saw exactly what the script depicted. A cheery tune had started up as Twilight took in a deep-

"No."

The white Pinkie Pie look-alike (Probably a placeholder.) stared at the camera, with the mane six behind him. Their mouth hadn't moved, so it was probably a voice-over from an editor.

The area began glowing a purple haze with a glimmer of cyan.

"That won't work, we need him against them," a female voice muttered in the background before a light, electronic tune wafting through the purple air, with light piano in the background and accordion for the melody...

The janitor pressed the power button on the side of the TV.

"Nope. Not watching that."





The mane six just watched as Ty stared at a circular reflection on a tree across from them. A bead of sweat formed on Rainbow Dash's forehead as Ty began tapping his right forehoof and the area around them glowed with mostly purple magic. His head turned right, showing one glaring eye that had a sliver of cyan left. He took a deep breath.

"You've pushed me past, good job, I'm done with this grind.
So please stop trying to see what you can find.
My life is best ignored,
SO IF I SEE ONE MORE STUPID HORSE
I'll make sure I stay out of camera's sight.

For you see,
I know there's been a lot of ponies I've crossed.
I fought the law, and the law lost!
I know I'm new here
BUT YOU SHOULD THINK TWICE BEFORE YOU COME NEAR!
I know what nopony else does, too.
(You shouldn't care what I do!)

Just,
Go,
Back to your house.
Because you could just tip-hoof quiet as a mouse.
(STOP FOOLING AROUND!)

HELLO!"
"We're your neighbors!"
"GOODBYE!"
"(I'll see you later...)"
My past is just not meant for you to see, take it from me!
HELLO! How ya feel, guys?
'CAUSE I'M THE OPPOSITE OF 'JUST FINE'!
You may think I'm the Devil,
And I wish your lives in peril.
Let me spell this out for you, I'm just a pony.
go
a
WAY!" He shouted while using telekinetic magic to fling a large amount of dirt everywhere, blocking the mane six's vision and allowing him to hide behind a tree.

"Where are you now?"
"Playing Hide-and-seek!"
"Ugh, they always find me... HOW?
GO AWAY!

...

...go away...

So what if I don't interact, I just like to hide.
It's six vs. one, I've got no one on my side!
I'm not strong, not brave, not bold,
AM I REALLY THAT SCARY AT 15 YEARS OLD!?
Please just let me take my loss in stride.

For you see,
I'm starting to think everything here is a trap,
That tends to happen after you've been kidnapped!
I may not be 'all there'
THAT DOES NOT MEAN THAT I'M NOT SCARED!
I can't believe I'm on this stupid show...
(It's gonna make me explode!)

I,
don't,
care what you say.
Because to you, I'm just another stray.
(SO GO AWAY!)

HELLO! You're no greater.
I DON'T WANT TO SEE YOU LATER!
This anti-social freak should not be seen, take it from me!
COME ON! You can do better.
GET A GRIP ON YOUR BEHAVIOUR!
My rough edges need a buffer,
AND I HOPE FOR THIS YOU SUFFER!
I'll make sure you understand, I'm just a pony!
GO
A
WAY!

WHAT DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND!?" Ty screamed as he intended to try his luck with teleporting them away from him. As he'd never successfully done it before, it was going to take an extreme amount of focus, care, and luck.

The music stopped while he visualized what he needed to do. His telekinetic magic was getting stronger, so hopefully teleportation shouldn't be too different, right?

Light emanated from his horn, getting blocked from showing by the mane it was hidden in. Magic surged from him as he strained to accomplish anything, before abruptly stopping immediately as a flash of blue light in front of him forced him out of his concentration.

Good news, there were no longer six ponies staring him down anymore. Bad news...

Now there were eight.

A circular blue portal had opened behind the mane six, and on the other side were two quite familiar royal faces.

Very shocked faces. Both with horns unlit. There were no powerful artifacts near them, unless Celestia's teacup had the power to open rips in space.

Clearly they weren't causing it, and the elements of harmony looked confused too.

So why did Ty feel this was his fault?

He backed up a bit to recollect himself, but as he thought to back up, the portal moved back with him. Initially jumping in surprise, Ty's thoughts were flashing faster than he could understand them.

"What the..?" He muttered as he put his hoof to his head. He decided to try pushing it back with his magic, shocked as it did as he wanted it to.

He yanked his head back, tripping the elements of harmony and forcing them to fall into it.

The music to the first chorus repeated itself, and Ty found himself singing along. He was nowhere near as enthusiastic with it this time, only sing-talking when it felt he should've been singing or yelling.

"HELLO! Meet your maker!
Don't bother trying again later.
This place is not for you to look and see, take it from me!
BUCK OFF! You'll make danger!
NO EXCUSE FOR YOUR BEHAVIOR!
Just go back to your space,
and I hope that you learn your place!
Why can't you understand
I don't accept this!?
GO AWAY!

Ya' won't find me now!
A match of hide-and-seek!
Only now it never ends."
"Um, Ty?"
"YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'VE DONE!
GO AWAY!"





"You... I..." Ty stuttered, trying to make sense of anything in his current situation. "I...Ugh... " he groaned as he stared at the characters he didn't understand now.

"...I don't care anymore."

The portal closed immediately after he spoke, ending the music, and Ty simply turned to walk the other way.

He suddenly felt two hooves grab him at each side, before they pulled him into the air. Ty panicked immediately and sharply looked up, relaxing once he saw a familiar face.

"Hey, you forgetting something?"

"Oh..." Ty muttered as his face lightened a bit. "Sorry, Amelia."

"It's OK," she muttered. "Sorry I didn't get to help earlier, totally massive tree came flying out of nowhere and almost landed right on me!"

"I didn't do it." Ty mumbled.

Amelia immediately giggled, "Of course you didn't. If you coulda, you totally would've thrown it off back when I first scared the magic out of you!" She faltered for a moment. "That's not what I said."

"Yeah," he muttered back, looking back at his flank. "You'll never know how the writers will try to screw you over..."

"The who?"

"Look at it this way," Ty suggested. "This 'Horse-land' as you so eloquently put it-"

"It was 'Horsey-land,' not horseland," Amelia interrupted.

"Sorry. Anyway, think of it as one big children's book. All created by Lauren Faust."

"You got that from the few days we've been here?" She inquired, instantly believing what he said was true.

"Yeah," Ty answered, even if that's not exactly true. "Sometimes they'll throw something completely new at you just because they're lazy. Like that portal thing back there, that had NO buildup. Completely new."

"But then you did it again to get rid of the horses, so it was only new the first time."

Ty looked up at her, exasperated. "Wait, what was the first time, then!?"

"Uh, back with the pocket watch? Duh."

"Really?" Ty asked, his face brightening slightly. "YES! I knew the writers wouldn't deus ex machina me like that!" His expression faltered. "I thought. Actually, there's a lot of stuff I thought I knew, and now I find myself questioning that as well."

"Eh, cheer up. I didn't really expect you would know even that much about this place. But she had me follow you for a reason. Speaking of which..." Amelia finished as her eyelids drooped.

"Yeah, I know pretty much everything about this place-wait what who is 'she' and why did want you to follow me!?" Ty started frantically asking.

She just shushed him before talking again. "Yeah, I found him. What, no I'm not going to drain him! I know we're running low on food, but- What? Yes, I know him!"

"What are you doing!?" Ty yelled.

Amelia shushed him harder. "Yeah, he's from the same place I told you I was from... Okay, I'll be there asap."

She turned her gaze down at Ty, now glaring. "Oh my gosh, what do you want?"

Ty turned his eyes away from her, his tail actually going between his hind legs. "Sorry. Just, who were you talking to?"

Amelia scoffed. "Don't you have some angry woman yelling in your head all the time?"

"No? You do?" Ty asked before gasping. "Wait! It's the queen, isn't it? Queen Cheese-Legs, as I've heard Zach call her."

"Yeah!" she confirmed. "She's so bossy, all I ever hear is 'Get back to the hive!' 'What are you doing in that forest?' 'Who the hive are you?' It's so annoying.

"You mean she can just talk to you telepathically?"

"Probably, I don't know what that word means."

"...Is she also the one who told you to follow me?" Ty asked.

"Yeah." Amelia responded. "She took an interest in you for some reason. I don't see why, just being around you kinda' leaves a bitter taste in my mouth."

Ty head lowered a little. He wanted to say: 'Bitter, huh?' But that would mean ignoring what it signified.

"Totally. Wait," she paused, smacking her lips together. "I taste something else. Like when I was near the blue horse earlier."

Ty lifted a hoof. "That might be the source."

Amelia followed his pointing to a red streak in the sky, squinting to track it's origins. "I don't see anything."

"Look at him!" he pressured, while she continued to miss it. Indeed, the end of a streak would reveal its cause, a small red colt. The pegasus evidently wasn't a very high level flier (He couldn't even flap his wings properly, only buzz them). He'd fly with a burst of speed, before losing control and having to struggle to regain it.

Ty's eyes widened as he saw the colt's irregular flight pattern, then their similar height levels. "Amelia?"

"Yeah?"

"Stop flying."

"What!?" she yelled. "Look around us, we're like 15 feet above the rooftops, and you want me to just drop? That has got to be the stupidest thing I've ever..."

Ty  stopped hearing her as he just stared at the mark on his flank.

'It won't matter.'

THWACK

Ty closed his eyes before he felt Amelia's hooves being ripped from his torso. He quickly dropped downwards, glancing at the window of the very familiar treehouse he was soon to crash into.

'I don't even need to say it.'

You don't need to say it.

Ty sighed inwardly.

'BUCK MY LUCK.'

THUMP