//------------------------------//
// Chapter 5: Night Out 
// Story: The Lost Power 
// by helix412 
//------------------------------//

Derrick POV
After James left, there was a small silence. Joe decided to break it, by clapping his hands.
“Well, you’re going to be crossing over into an alien dimension. Kind of a big deal, so anyone got any questions? I’m sure Derrick and I can answer.”
Pinkie nearly instantly jumped forward, with a look of excitement in her eyes.
“OOH! What’s it like?”
I kinda… looked at her, as if I didn’t think she was done asking. But, she sat there quietly awaiting her answer.  It took me a moment to get my thoughts straight, and I looked at Joe to see what he had to say. He simply shrugged and put on a face that asked me to handle this one myself.
“Well, um… There ARE ponies back home, just… not like you guys. They’re kinda… dumb.”
As soon as I said that, everypony seemed to get a bit offended. Joe decided to bail me out.
“What he means is that they’re physiologically incapable of intelligent thought. Their intelligence is on par with the typical animal. Effectively, humans take the role of ponies where we’re from.”
“Right. Anyway, we only have Earth Ponies, if you can call them that. No unicorns or pegasi.
Rainbow Dash flew up and in front of all of her friends, seeming confused.
“Wait, if you guys don’t have pegasi, then how does your weather work?”
I myself was completely stumped. I’d never really bothered to look into it. I turned to Joe, who seemed about as confused as I was. But, he still said something.
“Some Coriolis … pressure … condensation … thing. Complex mathematical jargon, point being, it works on its own. We just gotta hope for the best and hide when it gets nasty.”
They all looked shocked to hear this, Rainbow Dash especially. Twilight tossed a look at Spike, who then grabbed a notepad and quill.
The next hour followed that general pattern; somepony would ask a question, we’d answer it, and they’d be surprised at the answer. After the Q&A, I looked at the clock, which told that it had been an hour since James left. I looked at Joe, who then grabbed his things off of a table and got ready to get up. I decided to make the announcement.
“It’s been about an hour. I think it’s time we get going.”
Joe had to tack some fancyness on there.
“Well then. Allons-y, mes amis!”
Everyone got up and started walking towards the door. We were almost there when Twilight turned around and said something to Spike.
“Spike, you stay here. In case somepony comes for a book or Princess Celestia sends something.”
“Aww… but I wanna go too…”
A look of determination sparked in Joe’s eyes. He slowly started walking toward Spike. “She’s leaving you the responsibility to protect years of accrued knowledge. That’s no easy task. You should be honored.” He put his hand on Spike’s shoulder. “Besides, SOMEone’s gotta hold down the fort. This IS an open library, after all.”
“Well, when you put it THAT way…” He thought about it for a moment, then stood up straight and saluted. “You can count on me!” Joe smiled slightly and subtly pulled his arm back in victory.
With that done, we left the library, and I began leading the way to the portal. It took a few minutes to get there, with all of us discussing what waited for us. Once we had arrived, all but Twilight were in shock at the swirling vortex standing before them.  Mouths were universally agape. I decided to put on one of my derp faces and do one of my signature random rants.
“Excuse me, sirs, but that is where I live. What you’re doing would be like if I walked up to Sweet Apple Acres and declared “HAX” at it.”
It was obvious that I was joking, but none of them seemed to catch on. Regardless, I took the time to suggest that we stop derping off at it and actually go inside.
I pointed at Rarity. “Ladies first!”
“Oh, well, um… I’d hate to be rude, but I think somepony else should go first. Rainbow, darling, would you mind?”
“It’d be my pleasure!” She flew straight in without any second thought.
After that, everypony else seemed a bit calmer towards going in. Rainbow was followed shortly by Pinkie, then AJ, then Rarity, Twilight, Joe, Fluttershy, and finally me.
The second time going through wasn’t nearly as bad. I knew what to expect. Within a few seconds, we were on the other side, greeted by James.


James POV
After an hour of furious house cleaning, Joe and Derrick arrived with the Mane 6. Their initial reactions to seeing the world were more-or-less consistent: They were a bit scared when they realized how they appeared (similar to the Source Filmmaker models), with Fluttershy predictably darting straight back for the portal. She would have succeeded had Derrick not caught her.
Once they got over the initial shock of looking different, they started to look around. They were utterly shocked to see how both we and our world looked, but they overcame that just as quickly. Unfortunately, there was still one shock left.
“*GASP* You seriously LIVE like this!? This place is a DISASTER!”
In getting the rest of the party set up, I had neglected to organize my room to a significant degree. Rarity did not approve.
“Everypony out! I need to fix this!”
She quickly escorted us all out of the room and promptly slammed the door, leaving the sound of furious magic on the other side. It was free housekeeping; I wasn’t about to complain.
Once we were out, it wasn’t long before my dog understood what was going on. He got up and started running toward us from the other side of the hall. Joe cringed a bit, having been “mobbed” by him all too many times. Before he could start bugging anyone, though, Fluttershy walked up and started petting him. He calmed down immediately, and Fluttershy herself became notably less nervous with this newfound friend around. We all walked upstairs into the living room, with Rarity walking out of my room shortly thereafter with a look of satisfaction, bringing all attendees into a singular area.
“Well, here we are in another dimension! This is so exciting!” Twilight couldn’t contain her excitement. She looked around at everything, probably wondering what it was and what it did. Once we got her to calm down a bit, and after I explained all the technology present, we I announced that we could start the party. Joe immediately responded.
“Well, you heard the man! COMMENCEZ LA FÊTE!”
Pinkie immediately grabbed out her party cannon (after screaming “WOOHOO!”) and fired it off. After the initial “BOOM,” there was the distinct sound of glass breaking. It was at that point that I began to question why I did this party in the first place. I looked over toward the nearest window to find it broken.
“Hehe, sorry. I guess I should’ve aimed.”
Twilight must’ve seen the look of annoyance on my face. She looked at me and said, “Don’t worry; I can take care of this.” She got her magic going, picking up all of the glass shards. She put them back where the window was and fused them back together, making it as if nothing had ever happened.
I was impressed, and quite grateful that I didn’t have to clean it up and replace it. “Thanks, Twilight.” I looked over at Pinkie. “And could you hold off on the party cannon? Don’t really want to break anything else.”
At first she looked kind of sad, but she understood. As quickly as she got it out, she put it back into the same unknown place she somehow pulled it out from. After that, we weren’t sure what to do. Dash took this time to state what she thought.
“No offense, but it’s kinda small in here. Could we go outside?”
They all seemed to agree, and Derrick and Joe nodded their heads in approval. The decision had been made: we were taking this party outside. We all walked toward the back door, and one by one left the building. As before, the ponies were completely amazed at what they saw. Once they were actually out in the yard, I had to put out two specific rules.
“OK, I need to tell you a couple things. First, please stay near the house. I don’t really want anyone else knowing you’re here.” Dash seemed slightly annoyed, but knowing her, that was to be expected. “And second, if you see a car come by, try to hide. We’re kinda out in the middle of nowhere, so I doubt it’ll happen, but still. Don’t want anyone seeing you.”
They all seemed confused, so Pinkie asked the obvious question.
“What’s a car?”
Joe took the opportunity to answer this question, by leaning against his car parked in the driveway and putting his hand on it. 
“Thine yonder chariot. Basically, a big, fast, metal thing on wheels, kinda like this. If you see one going down those roads,” he pointed at the two roads my house was on, “just kinda hide behind the trees or house.”
They all nodded. With the rules now explained and in place, we began pondering things to do. My yard wasn’t exactly small, so Derrick suggested a race or two. Rainbow Dash and Applejack immediately agreed, with Derrick and I deciding we could try too. Joe decided he would tell us when to go, with the rules simply being the first one to make it to the other side and back would be the winner. Flying was not to be allowed for fairness. We got in a line, with me on the far left, Derrick to my right, then Rainbow Dash, then Applejack.
“Get ready! Are ya?
We all nodded.
“Alright then. Three!”
I got down a bit into the kickstart pose used by the pros.
“Two!”
I looked over at Derrick. He had mimicked what I did, and had a look of determination in his eyes.
“One!”
I glanced at Dash and AJ. They were staring each other down, visually trash-talking as it were.
“Go!”
We all immediately shot off. Dash and AJ immediately took the lead, with neither having a clear lead. I was third, with Derrick not far behind. It didn’t take long for the Rainbow Dash and Applejack to reach the other side of the yard; they were already there when I was only halfway. I could hear everypony who wasn’t participating cheering the two of them on from the sidelines. Derrick began to catch up, so I stepped it up slightly. At around the time I was ¾ of the way to the other side, Rainbow Dash and Applejack passed me, doing the same with Derrick shortly afterwards. Once I reached the other side, I turned around to see Derrick right on my tail, with the two true competitors back at the halfway mark. It wasn’t long before they crossed the finish line. From where I was, I couldn’t tell who won. Not long after, I made it back to the line, with Derrick crossing at roughly the same time.
Joe, whose responsibility it was to declare a winner, looked a bit perplexed. After thinking for a minute, he made his call.
“We’ve got a couple of ties! Rainbow Dash and Applejack for first, and James and Derrick for third!”
Rainbow Dash didn’t appear pleased with the result. Applejack was a bit more accepting, but it still wasn’t long before she offered to “Go again, sugarcube?”
“You’re on!”
The two of them went again, with neither of them having a clear lead until just near the end, where Rainbow Dash crossed the line ever so slightly sooner than AJ. AJ seemed a bit winded, but Dash didn’t seem affected at all.
“Whoo-ee! That’s some *pant* mighty fine speed ya got there, *pant* sugarcube.”
“Ha! They don’t call me ‘Dash’ for nothing!”
After that, Derrick seemed eager for a rematch himself. He also tried to get Joe in on it, but Joe insisted that he “doesn’t do running.” With that taken care of, Derrick and I got back on the line, and we went again. Just like before, I had a lead before a while, but Derrick gradually caught up. However, I was able to maintain my lead enough to cross the line before he did. I was declared the winner, and put on a face of victory.
“Because yes and just yes.”
After that, we all more-or-less just hung out outside for a while until the Sun went down. Occasionally someone would go inside for a drink or get up and run around a bit, but there wasn’t a definitive group action. Once it started getting dark, I made the offer that we go inside. Everyone seemed to agree, and we went back inside the house, and made our way to the basement. The issue of what to do popped up again, with Joe suggesting something this time.
“Y’think they’re up for a Brawl?”
Everypony seemed confused as to what this statement meant, but Derrick and I knew instantly. I found my copy of SSBB, popped it into my Wii, and grabbed a few Gamecube controllers. While I was setting up, Derrick and Joe took the time to explain it to them. Derrick commenced the explanation.
“This is called a ‘video game.’ Joe, James, and I really like them. Basically, they’re when you take control of a virtual character and you control what they do, what they say, that sort of thing.”
Joe continued. “This specific one is ‘Super Smash Bros. Brawl.’ It’s a fighting game; the point of it is to hit your opponents off of the screen. You do that by attacking them. The more they’re attacked, the more damage they get; the more damage they get, the more easily they fly off. Am I making sense?”
Fluttershy asked the question that they must all have wanted the answer to.
“Um… does anypony get hurt? I don’t want to play if it hurts anypony…”
Derrick took the chance to reassure them. “Oh, no. No one gets hurt. The characters aren’t real. The only thing that can get hurt is your pride if you lose.”
I looked over at the group, and say exactly what I expected: Rainbow Dash standing up tall with a prideful look on her face, followed shortly by, “Good thing that won’t be happening!”
After it was set up and we had gotten to the main menu, it was decided that Derrick, Joe, and I would do a match to show them how it was done. For the match, I picked Samus, Derrick picked Pikachu (who Fluttershy nearly instantly fell in love with), and Joe picked King DeDeDe. As the match went on, we explained what we were doing and how we did it. I could have sworn I heard the scratching of a pen behind us, likely Twilight taking notes on how to play. In the end, Derrick won with an effectively used Volt Tackle.
Once we’d shown them how to play, we gave them the controllers. For a while, they simply played each other, learning the controls and deciding on their favorite characters. Ultimately, Fluttershy decided the game was still a bit too violent for her, so she stopped playing, instead preferring to watch everypony else. Once they were good enough to actually have decent matches, it was clear that they were having quite a bit of fun. They alternated between who played at the end of every match, doing so for nearly an hour. It was at that point that Derrick had an idea.
“This game lets you do tournaments. You think you’d be up for that?”
Rainbow Dash nearly instantly declared that she was up for it. The others shortly followed suit. I told Derrick that I’d be more than willing to pwn everyone, to which Joe laughed, saying that it was his job to show no sympathy. 
Once everyone was in agreement, we agreed on the rules: Three stock, one-on-one matches. For fairness, the only used stage would be Final Destination. Items would be on, and any that appear would be fair game. Fluttershy, still thinking the game was a bit violent for her, would sit out, leaving eight combatants.
Everyone picked their characters for the game: I went for the Pokémon Trainer, Derrick for the Ice Climbers, Joe for Ike, Dash for Sonic, Twilight for Zelda, Pinkie for Kirby, AJ for Captain Falcon, and Rarity for Peach. The bracket worked out so that the first round matches would be Derrick vs. AJ, Joe vs. Twilight, me vs. Dash, and Pinkie vs. Rarity.
The screen shifted from the ready screen to a platform flying through space, with a pair of kids dropping in from above via bird on one end, and a muscular, helmeted man jumping out of a futuristic car on the other. Once the two were given the signal to fight, they rushed toward each other, with the children swinging massive hammers, and the man flying through the sky with a blazing foot. The two duked it out, with the ice flying and the fists flaming. The match proceeded evenly, until both combatants had lost two lives and were both at high damages. One swing of a hammer, and game was called, leaving a pair of happy children. AJ was the first one to lose.
“Those were some mighty fine moves, there. Good job.”
Derrick struck a superhero pose.
Next up was Joe vs. Twilight. Just as before, the combatants were pretty evenly matched. Both had lost two of their lives, and were near the same damage, until the Smash Ball appeared. Joe got to it first, closed in on Twilight, and decisively ended the match with the Great Aether.
Then came Dash and I. Logically speaking, three-on-one would be an easy win. But, just as with the matches before, we were evenly matched. But, as the match was getting heated, a solidly wound-up punch to the gut of a dragon sent it flying far faster than its wings ever could. Dash left the match victorious.
Then came Rarity vs. Pinkie Pie. This match wasn’t as even; the pink puff created a significant lead, and the Princess could do little to fend it off. The match ended with Pinkie winning, the only one this round to do so with more than one life.
Round two began with Joe vs. Derrick. Early on, Derrick had the lead, and was able to take one of Joe’s lives pretty quickly. Joe came back with a vengeance, however, and returned the favor. The two remained even, taking each other out again at roughly the same time. Once they returned, Derrick was able to pile up some damage on Joe, but a quick blow from Joe’s sword sent the children flying away to the point that they couldn’t recover. Joe was moving on to the finals.
Pinkie and Dash had what may have been the closest match of the night. It seemed that every hit one delivered, the other would return shortly after; every KO one made, the other returned upon coming back. In the end, they both powerfully hit each other at the same time, causing them to both go flying off. Sonic was knocked out a fraction of a second before Kirby. Dash simply dropped her controller and looked on in awe at the results screen, in disbelief as to what had just occurred. She protested a little upon regaining her responsiveness, but I urged her that similar things happened to me all the time, and that it was simply part of the game.
This left the finals match between Joe and Pinkie Pie; the blade and the ball. Before the match began, Joe looked over at Pinkie and simply stated, “Let’s do this, mano-a-hoofo.”
The bladesman rose out of a seal on the platform, and the pink puff crashed down on a star from above. Once the two received their signal to start, Ike rushed at Kirby. He was quickly inhaled, then shot out of the puff’s mouth towards the void beneath the platform. Ike was unable to recover, having only taken one hit, if it could be called that. When he came back, Kirby quickly inhaled him again, copied his ability, and used it against him. Through a combination of hammering and Ike’s own volcano attack, Kirby swiftly took him out again. Ike once again returned, and one glace at Joe’s face showed that his time for mercy was over. He rushed towards an airborne Kirby, intending to use his side special move to hit in midair. When he released the button to let Ike go, Kirby used his stone attack and fell right out of the sky. Ike missed, and went far enough beyond the edge in doing so that he couldn’t recover.
Kirby had taken no damage.
Joe’s reaction perfectly mirrored Dash’s from a moment ago; he was in utter disbelief. Unlike Dash, however, he congratulated Pinkie upon coming back to reality, saying that very few people have actually been able to beat his Ike, and that no Kirby had ever done so. He then challenged her to go again, which led to another group of random matches that we all participated in.
We played the game for another two and a half hours, with everyone alternating out based upon who lost the preceding match. We were all having a lot of fun, even Fluttershy, who stayed on the sidelines and cheered her friends on.
After that time, I glanced at the clock, which read 10:00. This led me to wonder something about my guests.
“Hey, what time do you guys typically go to sleep?”
Twilight responded, “9:30 PM. Why are you asking?”
“It’s past then. It’s 10:00 right now.”
Upon hearing this, Rarity gasped very heavily. “10:00?! That’s FAR too late! Where can I find a bed? I need my beauty sleep!”
I told them that I didn’t really have beds for all of them, and that they’d just have to use the couches. Rarity wasn’t too keen on the idea, especially considering she had seen my bed while she was “fixing” my room. I told her she could use it if she wanted to, since I never use my bed when I have company anyway. Once she was settled in bed, I came back to find the rest of them with their eyes closed, either on the floor or on a couch, with Joe and Derrick beginning to do the same. I wished everyone a good night (since I wasn’t about to go to sleep after what happened earlier), and took myself upstairs to read one of my many books. After I made my decision, I sat down on the couch, and opened it up. That was my plan for the night, which I thought was over. But, in truth, it had not truly even started …