//------------------------------// // Chapter 4 // Story: A vacation of consequence // by Furstreak //------------------------------// After placing the movie into the DVD player and turning on the TV, Jake made his way outside and into the forest to gather some herbs, and walnut's from a couple of trees nearby. It had taken him the better part of the day to gather all the items he would need for future use but he had managed to gather enough for winter. Upon returning home he came in through the greenhouse, gather a few items for lunch and placing the herbs onto a string to dry. The nuts were placed out in the open near a small heat source to dry the outter shell quicker so that they would not rot in time. As he came into the house he could hear some sniffling from the living room and quickly made his way to the source. The movie was coming to an end and the three ponies resting on the couch were all crying as they watched the final scene play out. Jake had decided to play Titanic for the girls and the scene they were about to witness was the one where the love intrest froze to death in the icy waters. When the scene ended the girls erupted into a loud wail, unable to hold it in any longer. Jake made his way over to the couch, sitting down next to them, which in a sense was a big mistake because they all piled onto him, hugging him hard, trying to find comfort from the saddest scene they had seen in their entire lives. Even Dash was blubbering like a foal, and that's rare. "Girl's take it easy, its just a movie." Jake chuckled as he began to stroke their manes to try and comfort them. "B-but, it's j-just so sad!" Twilight cried looking up to him. "I know it's sad, but it's still a great story ain't it?" He smiled down to the tear stained face of Twilight Sparkle. "It was a good story, but why did it have to end like that?" Dash exclaimed while rubbing her tear stained cheeks. "Well, it's a true story is why it ended like that." Jake said only to highly regret it as the three mares looked at him in shock and began to wail even louder into him. He gave a sigh as he continued to pet on them to try and comfort them. After about twenty minutes of this, their sobbing had stopped and had been replaced by quiet breathing. He cocked a brow at the change and looked down to each of them seeing their eyes closed. He gave a silent chuckle seeing them all out cold from having cried themselves to sleep. As he sat their with the three mares attached to him and sleeping, he began to move a little to try and place them gently to the side without waking them. However, they had other plans as the all latched onto him, nuzzling him in their sleep. He rolled his eyes at them in defeat. "Guess I'll be sleeping on the couch tonight." He chuckled softly as he managed to maneuver a bit to get comfortable. After a minute or two he had finally found a good spot and closed his eyes, resting his head forward gently onto the top of AJ's head who had placed her head directly onto his chest. He took in a deep breath as his eyes closed, the smell of apples invading his senses as he nodded off into the land of dreams. XXX "What in the........." Jake trailed off as he opened his eyes to see a brightly colored landscape filled with ponies of all kinds and rows of apple trees in the distance. He began walking in no particular direction as he took in the sights before him. Ponies of different colors walking about in a small town, all seemingly oblivious to his presence as he trudged along. As he kept moving, a large tree came into view that looked like it was made into a home of some sort. As he walked closer to the giant tree house, the door on the front opened revealing a library on the inside of it. He quietly walked inside, looking around at the plethora of books lining the walls. "So glad you could make it Jake." A regal voice said softly from the far side of the room. Jake slowly made his way toward the voice, rounding a stack of books that was pile six feet high on the floor only to see Celestia sitting idly on a large pillow, smiling at him. "Do come, we have much to discuss." She smiled to him causing him to stare for a moment before walking over and taking a seat across from the large pony. "I'm sorry, but do I know you?" He asked only to get a soft giggle from Celestia. "No, not yet anyway. My name is Celestia, Goddess of the sun of Equestria. Pardon my intrusion into your dreamworld, but I have a message for you to give to my little ponies that you are taking care of." She smiled warmly to him. "Can I ask you something first?" He chuckled. "By all means, this is your dream afterall." She smiled back to him. "Why am I dreaming of a cartoon world filled with ponies?" "To answer that is rather simple. This is the world from which the ponies that are sleeping next to you are from. Twilight Sparkle had cast a spell to send herself and her friends into an alternate world to take a vacation in as I am sure you are aware. There is a problem with your world however. The land and all living matter sucks up magic from magical beings from our world. Not only that, but time in your world passes by much quicker than in our world." "Exactly how much quicker?" Jake asked as he cocked a brow. "For every day here, three days pass in your world. So the week long spell that Twilight has cast will place her in your world for three weeks. I know that this will become a burden on yourself, but I beg of you to look after my little ponies until the spell she has cast comes to a close and returns them to our world. I cannot offer much in return, only my thanks." She smiled nervously as she watched Jake mull over everything. "Alright, I don't mind looking after them. It's nice to have someone to talk to that isn't myself." He chuckled only to get a stare of confusion in return. "I don't follow, what do you mean." "Well, I live alone, in the middle of a forest, with noone but myself to talk to. When these three showed up I could have sworn I had gone insane from being out here for so many years. But when the second day rolled around and they were still here. I was just so happy to finally have someone, anyone to talk to that I didn't care if they were human or not. To be honest, if they will be staying here for several weeks. I honestly couldn't be happier. But when the time comes for them to go, I will tell you now, These three have brought a ray of sunshine into my bleak little existence, and letting that go will be very hard." He sighed while rubbing the back of his neck. "I understand, if you wouldn't mind passing this information onto them, I would greatly appreciate it, and please take care of them. They are very special to me and I would hate to see anything bad happen to them." She sighed looking away. "No worries my dear, but why didn't you just contact them instead of me?" He asked giving a confused expression. "You see, since your world eats magic at an alarming rate, I cannot contact them as the magical flow of energy will be sapped up before it can reach them. By contacting you directly, the flow of magic is constant and can be read by your thoughts as you are a sentient species like ourselves. Had I tried to contact them, the flow would have gone into the nearest object to them." "So in other words you tried to contact them but it went to me instead." Jake began to laugh loudly as Celestia blushed furiously at the comment. "No need to worry, I'll pass on the message and take care of them. If you wouldn't mind though, I would love to see more of your world if this is truly what it looks like. Considering you can keep doing this dream walking thing." "Very well then, I can offer that in return for taking care of those three. But I must warn you, I am not aware of what continued magical exposure with do to you over time. Even though this is a small amount, it could very well be dangerous to yourself or your environment." "Bah! I've lived long enough not to care about such things. I may only be thirty years old. But one thing I have come to understand is that life is short, and the experiences you have along it will in the end, be wasted once you pass on." He sighed. "Please don't say such things. I have traveled to the afterlife many times to see my fallen friends that have been taken away in time. They have never forgotten what they have done and who they have befriended. Please don't think that your life is so trivial." *rumble* "What was that?" Jake asked as the entire area around him shook. "It seems as if morning has arrived, and my little ponies are waking up." She smiled. "I shall release you from your dream now, please take care of them. I will return tonight when you fall asleep again. Farewell, Jake of Earth." She smiled as her horned glowed, causing blackness to envelope Jake's vision. He had the sense of falling and floating at the same time as his eyes slowly opened to the bright morning light. He squeezed his eyes closed for a moment as he brought a hand up to rub them gently to wipe away the nights sleep that had made its home in the corners of his eyes. "Uh......" Came a voice and a shuffle on his lap. He took in a deep breath once again only to smell apples. He opened his eyes to see that he had his left arm wrapped around AJ while a cover had been placed onto the two of them. Twilight and Dash were nowhere in sight. He pulled back a little to see AJ blushing a bright red. "Well good morning." Jake smiled only to yawn widely and giving a shaky stretch as he pulled the cover from them. "Uh.... mornin." AJ smiled sheepishly. "Did ah fall asleep here las'night?" "You and the others, but I don't remember this cover." He said while glancing down to it. AJ moved slowly from Jake's lap onto the floor of the living room as she looked up to him still blushing softly. "Did ah really fall asleep on ya?" She asked again feeling a little embarrassed. "Eeyup." He chuckled but stopped as AJ stared at him like he was crazy. "Did ya'll just say eeyup?" She asked in shock. "Yea, I guess I did. Why do you ask?" "Mah brother always says that. But how could you........." She trailed of for a moment as Twilight spoke up. "I can answer that, but you may not like the results." "How so?" AJ asked, cocking a brow to her friend. "Well, first of all, Jake, can I ask you a few questions?" Twilight smiled to him as he gave a nod. "Good, now can you tell me if you have any siblings?" Jake gave a slightly shocked expression but gave the answer. "Yea, ah have two sisters. The oldest being twenty and the youngest being eight. I haven't seen them in about five years though since moving out here. Its hard to make trips into the local town since I don't have means of transport." AJ sat there completely dazed at the answer. "And what would be their names?" Twilight asked. "The eldest is Jacklyn, and the youngest Andria Blane. But what does that have to do with this?" He asked feeling confused. Twilight smiled to AJ who picked up on the names rather quickly. She then fully noticed Jake's full features. He was rather tall and built well. Red hair, green eyes, a southern drawl that wasn't as thick as hers. But the name was entirely different from her brothers. "Is yer name really Jake?" AJ asked causing his eyes to go wide. "N-no, I just use that name because my real name isn't something I like. My real name Barry Manx." "Oh Celestia........." AJ trailed off as everything fell into place. "HA! I knew it!" Twilight shouted with glee. "Am I missing something here?" Jake spoke up getting more confused. "Applejack has an older brother named Big Macintosh, and a younger sister named Applebloom. If you pull the first letter of there names and match it to yours and your sisters. That means that this is not only an alternate world we have come into, but an Alternate mirrored dimension of our own." Twilight giggled loudly while dancing in place. Jake just gawked as the pieces fell into place. AJ coming over to him with tear filled eyes as she brought him into a loving hug. "So ah guess that means yer mah brother from another world." She smiled. "Wow, I was beginning to wonder why you spoke so much like my sister. But I would have never guessed that you were her duplicate from another world." He laughed while giving her a loving hug but stopped as realization set in. His eyes moving to Twilight as his face began to blush furiously. "Uh...... Why are you looking at me like that?" Twilight asked as she began to blush herself. "Twilight Sparkle, Teresa Smith.......... Oh my God. Your her made over into a pony as well." He spoke out while still hugging his illegitimate sister. "I'm guessing that is someone you know?" Twilight giggled but stopped as he released AJ from the hug and came over to her, kneeling in the floor and placing his hands onto her cheeks gently, before looking into her eyes. After a few seconds Twilight began to fidget slightly and pulled away still blushing. "You even have her eyes. Its just so uncanny." He smiled as his face began to return to its normal shade of color. "Uh....... I'm guessing that your friend may be more than a friend." She giggled nervously but stopped as his vision fell to the floor as tears began to slowly stream from his face onto it. "Teresa was......... was going to be my wife............. She was killed in an... an accident before I moved out here. I couldn't handle the loss and locked myself away from the world." He cried as he looked up to her again, his eyes getting a little puffy from crying. "But why now? How could you be her from another world if she is dead? Doesn't each world follow the same path in letting the living follow the dead from another world or dimension? Not that I want you to die because this is a miracle in the making. This is a blessing all in it's own." He began to laugh softly while sobbing. Twilight coming up to him and wrapping her hooves around his neck as she began to speak softly to him. "It's alright, We will be here for a few more days. So we can make the most of that time." Twilight smiled hugging him a little harder. "Well, about that......." He began as he caught all of their attentions. Twilight pulling away as she looked at him. "Celestia came to me in my dreams last night." He began again only to cause the three to gawk as he continued. "She said your world and mine do not run along the same timelines. One day there is three days here, so if you were going to stay for a week, that means you will be here for three weeks." "You have got to be kidding me?!" Dash spoke out in shock. "I can't even fly properly because of the lack of magic here. How am I going to keep my wings in shape if I can't fly?" "Well, you can still flap them can't you?" Jake laughed only to get a snort in response. "If you can flap then that means you can at least try to lift off the ground. Otherwise how will you even attempt to gain more strength if you give up hope." He chuckled as he separated from Twilight. "Yea, I guess your right." She sighed. "Anyway, you three are stuck here with me for at least another two weeks. I'm guessing in that time you can read all of my books and watch all of my movies. In that time sis." He looked to AJ "Your wound should have healed nicely and we can remove the stitches before you return home." He smiled to her as she gave a nod. "Well, things are going to be boring as ever." Dash sighed as she flopped to the floor. "I take it you need something fun to occupy your mind with." Jake laughed to Dash who only cocked a brow from the floor. "I think I may have something to help with that." He laughed.