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// Chapter 23 : The Waiting Game 
// Story: A Twilight Landing 
// by MerlosTheMad 
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“Twilight?” Jo poked her head into Twilight’s office, and was answered by a cry of surprise.

Twilight stared up at her friend, holding a hand to her chest. “Huh!?” She exhaled in relief. “Celestia, you scared me, Jo.” She glanced at her other three friends, all looking at their computer screens with various degrees of interest on their faces, then back to Jo. “Where have you been?”

Jo shrugged, then spotted something odd looking on the computer screen in the room. “I went out to eat with Alice and… maybe forgot to invite you...” Her slightly flat look shifted into a narrowing of her eyes. “Twilight, who are they?” She had spotted what looked like a neck-beard, Charles Darwin, and… a skinny homeless person, all in the middle of a video chat on Twilight’s laptop.

        Twilight double-taked from Jo, to the computer, and back. “Oh, Jo, these are my ‘online’ friends. This is DoctorEvil, his real name is Lex and don’t worry I highly doubt he actually is evil, or a doctor, though I didn’t trust him at first either. And he’s Quark, or Carl, and last but not least, this is Jack.”

        “Hello there,” the bulky Carl nodded, while Lex greeted the newcomer with a crisp, “Good day.” Jack waved absently, looking at something else on his screen with a look of driven scrutiny.

        Twilight watched what appeared to be Jo struggling not to scowl. Her human host’s expression twitched at the eyebrows while looking at the screen. “Online friends, huh,” the other girl nearly mumbled.

        Jack suddenly shifted his eyes, then leaned further from his camera and murmured, “Look at how fast I can run away…” before taking a sip from a coffee mug and looking elsewhere.

        Twilight crossed her arms and turned to face her friend. “Yes, they’re my friends, and I’ve been busy asking them for help. Though, they have understandably been begrudging to offer it because I told them about my origin from Equestria and-”

        The sound of Jo smacking her hand against her head briefly interrupted Twilight, but she went on.

        “-and they might not believe me, but they’re credible scientists and are still willing to help me learn, at the very least. Right guys?” Twilight turned, smiling cheerfully at the collection of grizzled men.

        All three shook themselves and looked up. “Oh, yeah,” “Mmhmm,” and “Uhm…” were muttered out of each of them.

        Twilight frowned, turning back to square herself up against the computer. “Are you guys listening?”

        Jo inhaled loud and deep to talk, but Lex and his baritone voice beat her to the punch.

        “Sorry, Twilight, Jack here has been trying to deduce how legitimate the video is… It’s-” Lex was cut off by an excited Jack, who had hints of both confusion and anger in his voice.

        “Honestly, I mean, this has to be fake, right? In all my years though I’ve never seen something look quite this good.” Jack was squinting intently beneath his rounded glasses at his own screen. 

        Carl sighed. “Aw come on, Excitable, don’t tell me you believe that’s really a pony. I’m all for helping Twilight get a Nobel prize but I’m not buying into the ‘from another world thing’.”

        Jack’s eyes shifted and he took on a serious look over his wide eyed one. “I’m not saying that at all, but this video with the pony… as real as a lot of fake special effects look sometimes, this one is too… grainy, and fluid, to be fake. These shadows the pony is casting on this teenager she’s choking out and the lights look too perfect. That pony’s a she, right? A mare?” 

Twilight nodded to him, smirking.

Jack went on and furrowed his brow. “Right, as far as I can tell, it’s the real deal. I mean, look at that pony! It’s interacting with everything on screen perfectly!” He finished by putting both hands atop his head, then leaning back.

        Jo tried to speak up again, but was beaten by Lex once more. Her eyes narrowed in response, while Twilight smiled over at her, before turning again and listening intently.

        “No, there are errors. You aren’t looking close enough. See where the pony… thing, grabs the boy’s shirt? It has hooves, it can’t grip clothing like that.” Lex shifted his gaze back and forth, and in the other screens his two nerdy companions began nodding and mumbling agreement.

        “Actually,” Twilight started, tossing one last reassuring smile to Jo. “We can, while the actual reason isn’t very well documented, we, as in us Equestrians, do know why we can manipulate things better than many other hooved beings and races on our world.” She saw the smirks of amusement from the other humans, but pressed on, returning her own self-assured look of confidence back to them. 

“It’s magic, the magic inherent to our world. It permeates everything, alive, inert, or otherwise. Why, after studying the, and I must commend this, vastly more advanced sciences that humans have pioneered, I’ve theorized that magic is the building block of our world. Perhaps, rather than matter is in yours. Maybe we have both! I need to go back before I can know for sure.” She was happy to see the amused looks had mostly faded from the stranger’s faces by the time she finished. Of course, skepticism and doubt had replaced them, but there were pockets of interest evident. 

Twilight decided to take what she could get.

“So,” Jack began, sounding nonchalant. “Ponies have magnetic hooves?” he asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes. “Not magnetic, they’re-” Her explanation came to an abrupt halt.

Jo finally let out a mild shout to get ahold of the ground floor. “Hey! Einsteins, chill out.” She glared at the computer, where she could see the men act like they were doing something else, then faced Twilight. “What are they talking about?”

Twilight smiled and folded her hands. “Oh, just one of the ways they’ve helped me so far! I told them all about Equestria and where I’m from, and Jack there showed me some very interesting clues.” She approached Jo and whispered to her. “It’s great, Jo. Next I was hoping to meet them, or get more help directly with my studies and-”

“Alright, that’s enough, guys, egg heads, whatever.” Jo waved her hands and backed away from a confused looking Twilight. She then stepped up to the laptop, looking sternly into the camera. “I’m really sorry we wasted your time like this. It was just, you know, a joke and-” Her eyes bugged as Twilight grabbed her wrist and whirled her out the door.

From the room, Twilight heard Jack say, “dissent among the ranks…” and Carl mutter, “I told you guys it was a farce,” obviously already reacting to what Jo had said.

Once in the other room, Twilight grabbed Jo by the shoulders, wide eyed, and addressed a bulleted list of worries and complaints that had been on her mind for some time. She briefly considered getting the physical copy, but decided now was a better time to act. Plus, she was a little angry at her friend, too.

“Jo! What are you doing!?” Twilight hissed. “Do you have any concept of how delicate a situation this is? I. Need. Help.”

The sound of Carl shouting, “Called it!” reached the doorway from the desk speakers.

“Stupid sensitive human microphones…” Twilight groaned and pulled Jo further from the door. 

“You should probably mute that- And Twilight, would you let me explain why this is a bad idea, please?” Jo pulled her hand out of Twilight’s grip and faced down the ex-unicorn as she rounded on her. The other girl was a bit taller than Jo, so it was an awkward confrontation for her to say the least, despite Twilight being so timid most of the time.

“Look, I know what you want to do, I listen to you talk about it all the time. But this, is not playing it safe, at all! They’re men, strange ones, from who knows where that have done who knows what. Even if-” Jo flexed her mind, face wrinkling in thought for what else to say. “Even if they could help you get home, and honestly, I think that’s impossible, why would they?”

Twilight frowned back at Jo, who allowed the silence to stand a second and let the words sink in. 

“You should wait for Celestia.” Jo put her hand on Twi’s shoulder. The look she wore was concerned, but serious.

Twilight stared down at Jo a moment, wanting to come out and say she was wrong, dead wrong. For all of her friend’s pretenses though, her reasons definitely held wisdom, some, at least. She looked away at the carpet for a moment. “But… They’re willing to help… They don’t even really believe me, and they’re willing to work with me solely on the basis of our relationship as fellow scientists!” By the time she finished, she was looking up at Jo with a determined look. 

Jo answered back with her own flat stare. “Well why do you think that is? It’s because they want something, Twilight.” She laughed, and backed up a step, looking around the room in a dramatic way. “I mean, think about it. You came to them telling them you were something that only exists in fiction, right?”

“Yes…” Twilight frowned. Her hands were balled up, but she didn’t move or relent so much as a twitch, instead standing still and watching her friend begin to pace. But… “I’m not fiction though, Jo. You believe me, why can’t they?” Her jaw set some, and she continued while taking steps to re-close the gap with Jo. “What’s the worst that could go wrong?”

Jo shook her head more. “Twilight, it’s not the same, just let me explain that. Maybe they do believe you, and it’s because they’re crazy. If they don’t then, heck, they could want anything from… using you as free labor to…” She struggled to find words. “Twilight, you got lucky finding me and Alice. This is a world filled with people you can’t-”

“You’re wrong.” Twilight stepped in front of Jo, and clutched her hand. “That isn’t right, Jo. You yourself helped me see that wasn’t the truth! I was ready to believe this whole planet was… was a place like Tartarus, or something. It isn’t though. Sure, it’s different from my home, but there are some good, good humans here.” She patted Jo’s hand. “Like you.”

Twilight stared down at Jo’s expression, wracked with… it looked like the human was afraid, almost. Uncertainty and worry warred in her own head, too. “These guys are really nice. Weird, but nice. You should meet them and pass judgement later.” 

Jo frowned a little at that, started to say something, then looked away instead.

Twilight took a step back and smiled, leaning over slightly to look up at the retreated Jo. She knew what Jo was trying to say, and why, but she felt it wasn’t something for her to address, if not directly. “I can see what you’re trying to explain to me, Jo. I wasn’t born yesterday. I’m an Element of Harmony, and I can handle myself. I’ll admit, I’m not… all knowing, as great as that would be, and that’s why I will never ignore your advice, at least here, anyway. On the topic of magical theory I’ll more likely defer to my-”

The dour appearance of Jo’s face faded into a more normal expression of exasperation. “Twilight…” she said dully. Meanwhile, she looked at the nearby office as though it contained velociraptors.

“Right.” Twilight ahemed and straightened up. “As I was saying, I really appreciate your help, Jo, all of it, and your advice, but I need this. I need to know for myself if I can do it and specialists from Earth are the fastest, best way I can learn more a- and maybe even make advancements! That much, at least, is truth back home in Equestria or here on Earth.”

Jo looked up at Twilight, and the two studied one another while the unicorn spoke, two sides to a debate with equal merits from one or the other. 

Twilight continued while walking back towards her computer in the office next door. “Now having said all of that, Jo… and it hurts me to put this… ultimatum on the table at all, but if I need to leave in order to continue my search to get home, I will.” She looked back, a little bit of every emotion one would expect in her eyes, then turned again to rejoin her meeting. 

Jo grabbed Twilight’s shoulder weakly, halting her before she could leave. “Twilight, I want you to know, and I’m saying this because… Never mind, look, this isn’t about me, or… how much I detest guys, alright?”

Twilight turned around, glanced into the office, then back at Jo. “Jo, I didn’t think that-”

Jo rolled her eyes angrily. “Come on, yeah you did. You’re smarter than a hundred of me, and a better friend than I could ever hope to be. Yeah it’s true, any dude I bump into has a better chance of getting a kick to his jaw than the time of day out of me, yeah?” She sucked in a breath of air, eyes shut, before continuing. “I legitimately think though, that it’s a bad idea to include people we don’t know, in this. You’ve watched some of those stupid movies! And I know you spent a day at least on tvtropes, don’t lie about that.” She punctuated the accusation with a finger directed at her friend's chest.

Twilight reddened some and looked away towards the ceiling. I couldn’t help it! Every explanation on that site always led to another one… and then another.

Jo crossed her arms. “Twilight, this is always the first wrong move the good guys make before some jerk moves in and ruins everything. There’s so much that could go wrong.” She flung her arm out in a flourish across the room. 

Twilight crossed her own arms and looked at Jo with a blank expression. “Alright Jo, like what? I really want to know, and I mean things that we couldn’t prepare for using common sense, like traveling together, masking our location digitally; which I have, or by taking other precautions. What could go wrong?” She tossed her head slightly, sending her loose hair over her shoulder and back out of the way. “What could go wrong that isn’t worth risking for me to get home?”

Jo huffed, her eyes flicking from meeting Twilight head on to studying the far wall. “Well, there’s…” she struggled a second. “Twilight, I shouldn’t need to make you a stupid list of what could go wrong. I’m sure you’re well aware-”

“Jo…” Twilight took a step closer. “I meant from just talking to them, trusting them, maybe being friends with them.”

Jo winced and let out a breath, scratching the side of her head. “I…” Her hand wiped down her face, and she admitted defeat to herself quietly. “Alright, you’re right, I guess. Maybe we could… Maybe I am overreacting to what a bunch of space nerds could do.”

Twilight grinned ear to ear, before shrinking it humbly and resting her hands on Jo’s shoulders. “Someone has to start trusting for a friendship to form, Jo. You remember when we met, right? I trusted you, because you seemed like someone with a good heart. I get the same exact feeling with these stallions.”

Jo was biting the inside of her cheek and looking away. “Yeah yeah… Mushy friendship crap, peace, harmony, yadda yadda.” She winced when something flicked her ear.

Twilight had her nose upturned towards her. “Hands do come in handy sometimes. Sorry, Jo, but as your good friend I felt that I wasn’t out of bounds to say that friendship is not… crap.” She hmphed, then smirked back at Jo’s indignant look. “Thank you, though, for looking out for me.”

Jo opened her mouth to protest, but shut it again, instead taking a measured breath. She watched the other girl take a couple hopping steps away, practically skipping back into the office.

“Hey, Jo.” Twilight twirled around at the doorway, giving her host another winning smile.

Jo raised a solitary eyebrow.

“I… might be overstepping my bounds on this, at least, but… well you brought it up so…” Twilight began kneading her shirt nervously with one hand as she went on. “I’m curious and it might be really educational so I was just wondering, that is, if you’re willing to talk about it, because I really wanted to know, and-” 

Jo hadn’t really been sure of how to react to a lot of things already that night, least of all whether she should be angry at Twilight for something. The pony turned human, however, would keep rambling if she didn’t interject. “What, Twilight? Just say it.”

“Right...” Twilight raised a finger, then lowered it, watching the ground. “I just wanted to say, if you ever do want to talk about your past, well, I’ll gladly listen.” She paused. “And that’s it.” She smiled.

Jo watched a moment, then shrugged. “Let’s just say I was probably too trusting.” She caught sight of Twilight’s pained expression, a thing that had materialized as if from thin air. “It’s fine, long story, and I appreciate you wanting to help, Twilight, I do. Honestly, it’s between me and him though. Ahh…” Her hand scrubbed the back of her head, and she shrugged, walking away. “I’m making some coffee, do you want any?”

Twilight hesitated, then smiled again. “Yes, please.” Her hands folded themselves in front of herself, and she couldn’t help but feel better inside when Jo returned her smile. “Oh, Jo, I have something incredible to show you, too. I almost forgot.”

Jo stopped mid turn, blinking.

“Remember that pony they mentioned?” She went on after Jo nodded slowly. “Well, just trust me then, this will… blow your mind.” Twilight had to resist the urge to bounce on her feet at recalling the exciting discovery. The implications of it were only just starting to hit her. 

Jo gave her a skeptical look, then shrugged. “Alright, Twilight. Just give a minute and I’ll be right back.” She was shaking her head, but it was obviously just her way of showing she was thinking about things. 

Twilight waited a moment, watching her friend go, then walked back into the office, content. A pensive breath escaped her as she spotted the three figures, still on the laptop, all of them looking as though they were waiting. She sat down quickly into the chair at the desk and scooted it closer.

“Hello, gentlemen, I’m back.” Her hand waved.

“Oh, you have returned.” Carl gestured back with a pudgy hand, and the other two men straightened up, each with a wan look to call their own. “You got the phrase right this time, too.”

Twilight chuckled. “Well, I don’t strictly get it wrong, usually. I’m just used to using Equestrian vernacular and Alice seems to like it when I use it here and it doesn’t seem to be that big of a deal and… well, strange as it may sound I like being reminded of home, usually.” She could feel embarrassment warm her cheeks after saying so much so quickly. “S-sorry. It seems I’m always a little out of sorts.” Very smooth, Twilight. Come on, calm down. Jo’s fine, you’re fine, and everything’s fine.

Thankfully enough, her computer friends either chuckled or smirked in a friendly way. Lex looked a little tired, or something, though.

“Alice?” Jack questioned.

Twilight nodded. “She’s Jo’s friend, the angry girl, and… interesting is the best way to describe her. Alice hasn’t been around in a while though.”

Jack scrunched his face up and nodded a few times, quick bobs of his head, then jumped off into talking. “Well, we were talking about pony hooves, I believe, but given that I would rather consider myself sane still and say that you being a trans-dimensional pony is a load of bunk, no offense, Twilight...” Twilight knowingly rolled her eyes. “I think that we should discuss more pressing matters, like your friend, and possibly this video…” Jack was jabbing what looked to be a pen at his own screen, likely at the video he’d brought back up.

Twilight responded, sighing. “Yeah, sorry about that, guys. Jo’s the… human that took me in that I talked about. I had to do a little convincing to get her onboard with this. After all, I am a guest in her house and I’m sure if she was trying to do something that could put Ponyville at risk in Equestria I would confront her about it, too.” She laughed nervously, briefly considering what kind of trouble a human could get into there.

All three of the men chuckled at that, then a brief silence set in.

“So…” Twilight began prodding two of her fingers absently against one another.

Carl raised a hand and spoke up in his deep voice. “So, yeah, that was… some act you two put together. Very well rehearsed, I especially liked the bits that didn’t have much to do with the pony thing. That was a nice touch, it made the whole thing sound very authentic and real.” He peaked his hands together and rested his head upon them. “Six out of ten.”

“What? But that’s a failing gra-” Some of the life drained out of Twilight’s face, and she blinked. “Wait, you heard all that?” She looked down and glared at the laptop that had just let her private conversation be heard by the same people it had been about. “How sensitive is this thing!? Augh, technology…” She winced, wearing an ashamed look and addressed the men gathered before her.

Twilight spoke apologetically. “Lex, Jack, Carol-”

“Carl…” Carl interrupted with a correction.

“Uhm, right, sorry about that, too… First off, that wasn’t staged, but I apologize for talking about you all behind your backs like that… I needed, needed to convince Jo to be alright with this.”

The three humans all gave her looks of interest, and various other emotions that certainly included deep thought.

Jack harrumphed and spoke first. “For the record, I’m not a space nerd. I don’t mind Star Wars at all or anything, but that’s-”

Twilight sat up straight. "So wait, you believe me?" Her smile grew a fraction.

The men remained still a second. Carl was the first to move. "Weeeell, maybe... for now I'll say I believe everything but the parts including a kid's tv show being real, how about that?"

Twilight snickered, but shrugged, content. "That's fine by me, but I will prove things, eventually."

Lex interrupted in his aged, gravelly voice. “Let’s get back to the matter at hoof, shall we, fellas?”

Carl deadpanned flatly while Jack snickered. “Hoof, really?”

Lex smirked. “Did you like that? I’ve been looking at some of this pony stuff and-” The older man coughed and shook his head. “Nevermind, anyway, about the videos, the crystals, all of this other world stuff, Twilight, it is admittedly very interesting.” He paused, stroking his grey facial hair with one hand while peering down. His expression said he was looking for what else to say. “Well, I think that we’ll pace ourselves with all of that and the science talk. Mixing science and fantasy is a tricky business.”

Jack leaned forward and joined in with a whining voice. “Hey, you aren’t talking bad about Shadowrun, are you, Lex?”

Carl sighed. “Shadowrun isn’t the only IP in existence that includes elements of both genres you know-”

Lex began tapping on his microphone while coughing fiercely, until the other two backed down from jumping into an argument. He chuckled. “As I was saying, lets stick to our old routine and let your friend calm down some. She seems on edge, and well, let’s hypothetically say everything you’ve told us is true…”

"Okay?" Twilight blinked, watching as the aged human smiled at her in a grandfatherly, knowing way. He very much had the calm appearance Celestia sometimes bore when imparting wisdom, if much less of the commanding aura. 

“Well,” Lex continued with, “then I would say that as a ‘weird, but nice’ human, I would be happy to help where I could. I think it’s my duty to prove to representatives from elsewhere that we’re not a… place with negative connotations like… Tartarus.” He finished with a wry, toothy grin. 

Twilight laughed a little nervously again, then returned the smile, calming down from the relief she got from hearing that. “Thanks… thank you, Lex. I must say, I feel really good about having a University level professor like yourself helping me.”

Lex frowned, leaning back and folding his arms across his chest. “Now wait… who said I was a professor?”

Twilight raised an eyebrow, then looked up at the ceiling absently, raising a finger to her chin. “Well, there’s a poster behind you advertising a 'technical institute' and that room looks an awful lot like one of the labs I've seen while perusing the internet. So, unless your home is decorated to look like a university, or a college as it’s often called here, which I doubt, my deductive reasoning seems pretty sound.” Her expression felt a bit more smug than she intended it too, but she went with it.

Lex turned and looked around himself, then chuckled. “Alright, fair enough.”

Jack clapped his hands. “Whelp,” he started with. “I guess that means you can count me in, too; as much as I can be from Germany, anyway. I’m assuming that you’re an American, er- Well, in America, Twilight, judging by your friend. I mean, I would say judging by your accent as well but... you know.” 

Twilight raised a hand to her chin thoughtfully. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I could go on for hours about all the strange comparisons between my world and yours…” She paused a second, then perked up. “Would you like me to?”

Carl answered that question first. “I gotta go, actually. Feel free to keep asking me questions on anything physics, Twilight. I certainly don’t mind that.”

Twilight took note that he didn’t mention anything to do with Equestria, and simply nodded. “Thank you, Quark. That means a lot to me, as well as the fact that you all at least gave me a chance.”

Carl was clicking at something, then shrugged. “Well, the crystals have my interest. I want to see those, at least, and if you bring them to me and Lex we can tell you everything there is to know about them on a molecular level.” He raised an eyebrow. “I get the feeling if you’re for real… then that would be important.”

Twilight clapped her hands giddily. “Yes! Yes yes ye- Uhm, definitely.” She laughed. At the sound of footsteps behind her, she moved on. “Though I’ll have to talk to you-know-who about that, out of respect.”

Lex awed aloud, spotting Jo as she walk into the room. “Oh, you mean, she-who-shall-not-be-named?”

The other men laughed at the reference, while Twilight raised an eyebrow. She caught on to its face value at least. Perhaps you-know-who is less commonly used than she-who-shall-not-be-named?

“That’s probably my cue to go, anyway… Ciao, guys, Twilight.” Carl’s screen went blank, just like that. Lex and Jack began typing, and Twilight spotted text appearing in the chat.

Jo stepped up gruffly and set down one of the two mugs she held. “Coffee.” She said.

Twilight smiled at her friend gratefully. “Thanks, Jo. Okay, now you have got to see this, I can’t contain my excitement for this anymore!” She looked over, hurriedly pulling up the old link from Jack. “One second, guys.”

“Sure,” her other friends answered.

“Look, look!” Twilight shook Jo’s arm, her excitement bubbling over.

“Alright, I’m looking!” Jo’s brow drew down in consternation as she stared at the screen, barely able to maintain her focus with the vibrating person sitting beside her. Still, she managed to make out what looked to be… a pony, and a very real looking one. The quality was that of a good cellphone, but it shook a lot towards the end and beginning, only offering maybe a few seconds of a clear view.

Twilight paused the video on one of the better frames, in which the strange looking creature in the video was laying down what looked to be a teenage boy in dirt. 

Jo blinked in disbelief. “What is that? Is that real?” She turned to look at Twilight, who was grinning maniacally. “Are there seriously more of you here?”

“Yes! I mean, I think!” Twilight giggled. “It could be, right, Jack?” She pulled up the voice chat again.

The two men looked up, a little surprised looking. “Oh, uhm, actually, it is real. This… I would say it’s more likely that pony is animatronic, or something, than special effects. I mean, I don’t want to be Baron Buzzkill here, but at the very least this video is one hundred percent legit.”

Twilight began giggling again, but stopped for a split second. “Animatronic?” she asked, looking at Jack. “What do you mean?”

Jack shrugged. “It looks too real and… perfect, but, I meant a robot. They’re rare, and expensive, and I doubt someone would ever put enough time and money into making one look as good as the one in that video would have to be, but it’s possible.”

Twilight frowned for a moment, alongside Jo, who had been frowning the entire time.

“Well,” Twilight started, rebuilding her chipper attitude in a flash. “It’s still a good shot that the mystery pony is real.” She grinned over at Jo. “What’d I tell you? They’re helpful! Now I just need to find that pony, discover how she got here, if she has a way back and-”

“Idaho.” Jack spoke up.

Twilight whirled to face the computer again. 

The man continued, smirking at the bulging eyed expression that the purple haired girl was giving him. “The video was uploaded out of Idaho. Some po-dunk town called Belsdale. It took a little doing but…” he cracked his knuckles for effect. “I like to make it my business to be able to find things.”

Jo narrowed her eyes at the man, but was immediately jerked over sideways, gripped in the overpowering arms of an excited Twilight Sparkle. 

“Haha!”

“Twilight, easy, calm- d-down!” Jo managed to wrench herself from the Equestrian’s steel grip. “Christ.”

Twilight straightened up with her hands pressed against her face, exhaling happily. “Sorry, this is just the best news I’ve heard in months… Oh my goodness.” She felt a bit a little teary but kept it bottled up. 

 Jack chimed in again, adding more. “Hey, I can’t really say much more than that though, we’ll have to dig further to find out who took the video. Also, I’d doubt the one that had taken it could tell you anything about what they were shooting.”

Lex spoke up from where he was inspecting his fingernails idly. “I thought you said you weren’t trying to be Baron Buzzkill?” He smirked, looking up. “You believe her now?” He added in.

Jack half rolled his eyes, head bobbing and looking as though he were muttering to himself. “No… No, but it is cool.” He smiled, which faded after he glanced at the serious look Jo still wore. “Ahem, so, yeah, that pony might have only been there for a little while, but I guess it’s a start.”

Twilight sat down in her chair, hard, and nearly pressed her face up against the screen. “What about the humans, could we find out who the people in the camera video were!?” She felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up at Jo. 

“Easy, Twilight.” Jo spoke in a level tone to her friend. She looked at the computer screen. “You guys… could you find this out?” Her expression was dark, but was nicely offset by Twilight’s excitement.

Jack sniffed self-assuredly, adjusting his glasses. “Yeah, I could do that. That’s kind of… sketchy, and a tall order… but…”

Twilight clasped her hands together and stared pleadingly on reflex as soon as she heard the hints of doubt in the human’s voice. “Jack, please? Please please? This could be- This could be incredibly important.”

“Alright!” Jack covered his eyes with one arm. “Just- knock off the soulful look. Gah.”

Lex chuckled; Jo had to hide a smirk behind one hand. 

“Anyway…” Jack returned with. “Unless you have some real magic or something else to show us as definitive proof, like a tail or something…?”

At his prompt, Twilight merely frowned and shook her head. Behind her, Jo's eyes narrowed some.

“Well, in that case I’m gonna go, then. Twilight, I’ll be in touch. Uhm, Jo, nice meeting you.” Jack waved, which Twilight returned, and Jo stared at. “Right, see you later, Lex.”

Jack’s screen blipped out of existence, leaving just the greying older gentleman sitting in a relaxed way behind his keyboard.

Twilight felt so excited still; she couldn’t sit still. “Oh, this is just, the best. I mean, no it’s not optimal and perhaps I’m not exactly analyzing a for sure fire way to get home, but… haha!” Her hands balled up and shook rapidly at head level with herself. 

Jo smirked, but rolled her eyes. “I’m happy for you, Twi’.” She gave the other girl a pat on the back.

A far more gruff sounding voice spoke up, getting both of the other remaining persons-presents' attention. “I’m curious, Ms. Jo, to know what it is you think of our mutual friend here, Twilight.” Lex spoke in a stately manned, finishing by folding his hands folded casually in front of himself. “You believe her?”

Jo blinked at the screen, feeling a lot like professing she didn’t want to say, or even tell the stranger anything at all. After a glance to Twilight, and her cheerful look being sent up her way, she sighed.

Jo crossed her arms and squared herself up against the computer. “Yeah, I believe Twilight Sparkle here really used to be a unicorn,” she said flatly. “In fact, I know it.”

The man sitting across from them in the computer screen nodded. “Well, I still don’t know how legitimate this is, but like I told Twilight, Ms. Jo, you can consider myself along for the ride, and some of the resources at my disposal. If you’d like, myself, and Carl can study that crystal that you showed to u-”

At hearing the word ‘crystal’, Jo lost it. “You showed them the-!” She leaned down in front of Jo, one of her hands pressing over the laptop’s camera, though that didn’t at all muffle the audio. “Twilight!”

Jo thought of, and hesitated from saying several things. Chief among them were What were you thinking!? Oh wait, you weren’t! and Are you crazy!? She settled for staring at Twilight a few inches from her face, psychically begging for an explanation.

Twilight took in a deep breath, then pushed her arm out away from herself. Afterwards she looked about at Jo with a calm smile. “It’s fine, Jo. Let's be honest, I can’t study the crystals here. I have nothing to analyze them with. No magic, no equipment.” She looked at Lex. “He does, and so do his friends. I'm assuming we could schedule an appointment?" The man in the computer blinked then nodded quietly. "There, see?" 

Twilight went on. "Which brings me to my next question… Can I borrow your car?”

Jo stood up straight, creating space between her and the other girl.

Meanwhile, Twilight grinned widely for effect, hoping that it was working.








Jo watched the video on the computer for perhaps the hundredth time. It really did look pretty darn real. Twilight had also given her the other pictures and strange ongoings from this town, Belsdale, which included some kind of an occurrence with plants, and scattered reports of ‘tiny horse’ sightings.

Altogether, it seemed a little surreal to Jo, even more so than when Twilight had first shown up. The difference, she considered while sitting up, was like being told that there was a giant, talking bear in the next room, compared to the bear walking in and drinking tea with you.

Then again, I wonder if bears really do drink tea in Equestria. Jo stared into space a moment, then groaned. She was still in a state of relative angst and worry from everything that had been learned earlier. From Twilight’s constant, worrying exploration of humans, to her quest to get home.

The happy closure Jo had felt upon getting home from leaving Alice, once again her friend, had all but gone. She sighed again and clicked replay on the video. I sort of wish Alice were here, actually. If nothing else she would distract me from this crap. I can’t believe Twilight and that old guy actually talked me into-

“Hi!”

Every muscle in Jo’s body spasmed the moment the voice cheered the simple phrase of greeting into her ear from an inch away. Her panic sent the wheeled chair under her rolling back across the floor, minus her inside it. Her butt landed on the wood with a thud.

“Je- Da- Alice!? What!?” Jo glared, then scurried up to standing and confronted the mischievously grinning friend. “Don’t ever do that, again, ever.” Her eyes narrowed more and more.

Alice looked up to the ceiling, and replied in a not so convincing tone of voice. “III’m soooorry…” She laughed and gave one of Jo’s arms a nudge with a fist. "How are yah doin'?"

Jo ignored the question. “What are you doing here? It’s late.” How late? Who cares. Why did she show up?

Alice replied joyously, her expression couldn’t get any happier. “Twilight called me and told me all about the pony.” She began squeeing, and Jo began covering her ears. “Oh my God! It’s haaaappening! I’m practicing my ninja skills, and my jokes, and I totally brought my MLP dvds, and-”

Jo finally braved uncovering her ears long enough to slap a hand over Alice’s mouth and silence her, reducing the jabbering from the other girl to a few muffled protests.

“What, so you invited yourself over?” Jo asked, glaring, then added, “Again?”

Alice shook her head up and down, and forcefully pulled Jo’s arm away. “What if it’s Pinkie Pie, if it’s Pinkie Pie, or oh my God, Rainbow Dash, then-”

Jo threw her hands up in the air. “It’s- She’s not either!”

Alice tilted her head. “Derpy?”

“No-!”

“...Princess Luna?”

        Jo closed her eyes and just let her neck go limp. “Alice, you’re missing the point here-”

        Alice stepped in a wide circle around Jo, grabbing her hand. “Oooh no, I think you’re missing the point here, Jo-Jo. The point, is that we got something to celebrate, and I don’t have work tomorrow.”

        Jo’s brow furrowed in worry, while Alice held up a small plastic grocery bag, through which could be seen several My Little Pony DVD covers of various design. 

        “And,” Alice continued. “Twilight said she wanted to watch the show with me.” Her grin, literally looked like it was going to leave her face and spread to the open air surrounding it. 

Twilight stepped into the room with a bowl of popcorn, and raised an eyebrow. “When did Alice get here?”








Seven Days Later



Twilight’s leg bounced on the ground energetically, while the rest of her was poised and spring loaded for action. She felt as though every muscle in her body were waiting to do… something.

There had been little from her online sources, the nerds, as Jo called them, about the mysterious pony since she had first spoken to them. Despite a few attempts on Twilight’s part, begging Jo to investigate the town first hoof, she had been denied the trip for the time being. It had not taken long for her to crack somewhat under the pressure of knowing that there was something to be found now, and not even looking for it.

Although, that wasn’t completely true. Twilight was conducting an investigation that didn’t necessitate intercontinental travel, though she wasn’t having much success with it. She hoped that the scraggly looking human—named Jack—was having a great deal more success than she. Strangely, whenever she asked him through a message or some other means, he answered simply with one word or diverted the question, often linking to various things that were pony related. She had to remind him now and again that she didn’t speak German, or Germane as she knew it, very fluently, and request an Equestrian version.

To the left and right of Twilight lay notepads, scattered, opened, with loose sheets of paper hanging out at odd angles. They were filled with her thoughts, speculations, and ideas about the mystery pony. After all, she knew if other Equestrians were on Earth, that could mean any number of things.

Still, while Twilight had not had success on the search front, she had gotten some on the topic of travel, namely, in requesting she be brought to the college which two of her contacts worked at.

The battle that had ensued with Jo over the course of action that Twilight knew was right, had been difficult, and harrowing, but in the end she had been victorious. However, it had been a week since the plans had been made, and still she had yet to find closure on this part of her quest. The crystals remained a mystery, and that, she had decided, would not do.

Given that the last weekend night had been spent entirely watching the old television series ‘My Little Pony, Friendship is Magic’, the three women were left with the next weekend as their soonest date to travel. The professor they were meeting with had been clear that was the soonest time he would have a spare minute to see them. 

Alice had seemed as though she couldn’t be happier that the internet acquaintance’s only free time just so happened to coincide with her own day off, and had pleaded to go with. This was, of course, because she was a pest, assuming that someone asked Jo her opinion on the matter.

Twilight had fought hard to resist her urge to run upstairs and beg Jo that they leave right away; they weren’t due to leave until tomorrow, after all. In her current state of anxiousness though, she couldn’t study, and if she couldn’t study, she had nothing to distract herself with.

That is, until Twilight began perusing the internet for something to do. After all, it did seem quite obvious that another thing humans excelled at, was entertainment. She grimaced while watching one such short clip that had originated from something called ‘Comedy Central’. 

Twilight leaned back, thinking about the subject for her notes. ...Their ideas concerning humor do seem a bit outlandish most of the time... and crude... She messaged back the forum post that had given the internet address to the video, communicating her distaste over the odd jokes. At least there is still a healthy helping of perfectly acceptable things to be found, too. She just needed to get lucky finding one. Most videos that she came across from general searches seemed to be bizarre musical performances, or 'top tens' of humans hurting themselves through accidental, or in many cases, purposeful incidents.

Twilight returned to the video site and typed in another search. A title that did catch her eye topped the list, and read it aloud in her head.  How to catch a pony… After staring at it a moment, old thoughts cropped up in her head from the subject.

Twilight clicked the video, fully aware of the mixed feelings that the recorded material would bring, knowing that by 'pony', it mostly likely referred to the Earth variety. She watched with a wan expression as it began to play. 

Twilight had briefly studied Earth’s animal kingdom, and Earth ponies by proxy, purely out of curiosity. It had been a very short investigation however, quickly dropped in lieu of bigger and more pertinent studies. The same was true of her looks into the thing called the 'brony' fandom. It was interesting to look for what things were paralleled from her world, at least it had been at first. But, as entertaining as such intrigues were they got her no closer to home.

The video ended, and Twilight rested her head on the back of her chair, staring outside the window briefly in thought. The pony within had been a mare, named Maggie. She had possessed the same glossed over eyes of nearly every other animal on Earth. Some animals held more expression than others, but none of them were truly intelligent; it seemed that way, at least. 

“I wonder why humans are different.” Twilight's finger tapped on her chair's arm rapidly, busily reconsidering the thing that seemed unanswerable with what she had at her disposal, a concept that never sat well with her. It would make sense that the absence of magic is responsible for animals here being… this way… but it doesn’t explain humans. She sat up again, and looked for more pony related things. A part of her hoped that she would find more videos like the first she had seen, of somepony else that must be lost here like she was.

As for why Earth was the way it was, Twilight doubted she would ever learn why such things were the way they were. However, that wasn’t to say she wouldn’t keep trying.

With the video over, Twilight was left feeling disquieted. A voice grabbed her attention from her muddled thoughts, though.

"Twilight." Jo walked into the room, and spotted Twilight. "Hey, unless you're going to sleep the whole trip tomorrow you should turn in for the night now, okay?"

Twilight closed the video she had opened, then spun around in her chair, smiling. "Sure thing! Though, I don't know if I'll be able to sleep while this excited." She let out a hint of laughter, then tilted her head slightly, watching her friend go. The other girl left before Twilight could say something more. "Well, goodnight, Jo!"







The Next Morning



Twilight stood in the doorway to Jo's home, watching with a pained expression as Jo sulked out to her car. "Well, we could just mail the crystal to them, we don't have to drive!" she called out after her friend, hesitating from shutting the front door.

Jo got to the driveway and waited. "Come on, Twilight, we gotta leave while it's early or it's going to be past midnight by the time we get back." She didn't feel like arguing with Twilight over the situation yet again. It was, however, clear that the Equestrian merely persisted over things in the name of settling on something they could both agree to, but doing anything at all was what bugged Jo in the first place. 

Jo watched as Twilight carefully scurried down the back porch steps, one hand on the railing, then jogged out to the driveway after her. The problem, Twilight, is that other than not doing this at all, I don't see a solution. I just don't like any part of this. She resisted her urge to frown, opening her car door instead. And it's not because...

"But, Jo," Twilight heaved a breath as her friend disappeared from sight in the automobile. "Augh. She is so difficult." She hefted her bag, filled to its maximum capacity with notes, then opened her own door. 

Twilight set her bag down in the back of the car, buckling in. "Jo?" 

Jo leaned back over her seat in the car, looking out the rear window. "Yes Twilight, what is it?"

Twilight sighed. "I know I said it already, but thank you for this. There's so much I could learn from getting some better data on the crystals. And you're sure that you're alright with us driving? I mean, I won't deny I'm excited to see some of this scientific equipment in person... and..." Her eyes glazed over slightly.

Jo snapped her fingers; when the other girl shook herself, Jo gave her a quick smile, which devolved back into her normal, flat look quickly. "It's nothing, really... and I'm sure. Those things are in the trunk, right?"

Twilight nodded furiously. "Yup, two in the trunk, wrapped in paper, though they seem pretty solid so I kind of doubt that they'll break..."

Jo harrumphed, and pulled the car out of the driveway quickly. Perhaps a bit too quickly, because Twilight yelped. "Sorry, sorry. Anyway, Twilight, I think at this point I'm more concerned about being in a car ride for so long with Alice."

Both girls glanced at one another, then thought solemnly on that.

"Well," Twilight spoke up. "I'm sure that we'll have fun."








Thirty Minutes Later, On The Highway.



"Ooo, eee, oo ah ah, ting tang, walla walla bing bang!"

Jo focused on keeping her car on the road, blocking out Alice's car jingles as best she could through sheer will alone. You can do it Jo, you're being a good samaritan and a terrific person for helping your friend. Why, you're practically a saint. 

"Yeah! Ting tang walla walla bing bang!"

Jo sighed. A saint with a will of steel. What possibly made things worse was that Twilight seemed to love every song Alice came up with to sing. Nearly every song, anyway. 'Baby Got Back' hadn't been quite as huge of a hit with the ex-pony as, say, 'Bicycle Race'. Still, Jo thanked the stars they had moved past Queen already.

The part of everything that worried Jo the most, was that they had hardly begun, and already she was starting to grind her teeth occasionally. "Sometimes I really wish I was more like them, then I wouldn't be driven crazy all the time..." she muttered. "Then again, I'd probably rather-"

Twilight leaned up from the backseat of Jo's car, smiling. "Hey Jo, did you say something?"

Jo shook her head. "No, nothing at all. How's everything back there?"

"Great!" Twilight exclaimed, then fell back again. "Are you sure you don't want someone sitting up there with you?"

Jo watched another rest stop blur past idly. "Yeah, it's fine Twilight. This isn't too long of a drive." Only... she glanced at the map she had printed out from Twilight's directions. Five hours... great.

Alice stopped singing abruptly, which was enough to get both Jo's and Twilight's attention.

"You get bored already back there?" Jo smirked into her rear view mirror.

Alice waved a hand and blew a raspberry in return. "As if, I'm just trying to make up my mind over how to best spend all of this time with my two best friends in the whole world!"

Jo had to resist the pained groan rising in her throat. Why Twilight, why did you tell her we were going somewhere? She glared at her speedometer. God? I know I'm not always a very good person, but...

Twilight raised her head at that. "Best friends? Alice, we're your best friends?" Her eyes were held a little wide in a look of surprise.

Alice grinned. "Well, I like to think all of my friends are, actually." She laughed, and was joined by Twilight.

When the moment past, Twilight casually commented, "How very Pinkie of you." 

Alice smirked. "Maybe, I'm not trying to be friends with everyone though." She jabbed a finger in the air, holding a hand to her front with a solemn expression. "After all, not everyone can hope to be worthy to be called, my friend."

Twilight deadpanned at Alice for a moment.

"Don't even try to make sense of it, Twilight. If Alice does have anything in common with your friend, it's how confusing she is."

"Psch, look who's talking," Alice shot back to Jo, grinning over at Twilight. "Alright so we're going to a college, right?"

Jo caught the 'c' word being mentioned, and turned around for a second. "Yeah, and you're going to behave while we're there. This is business, only."

Alice put on a hurt look, passing it between Twilight and Jo, though the latter was faced away. "I know! I promised, didn't I? This is just too cool to miss out on."

Twilight looked up from going over her notes on the crystals. She wanted to give a good presentation after she arrived. In fact, the moment she arrived. "Oh, I know. I'm so anxious about this..." Her eyes went back to shifting to and fro rapidly over her pages.

Alice sat back, and leaned over Twilight's shoulder to steal a peek. The other girl's hand writing was incredibly neat, which came as a surprise. "Wow, Twilight, you wrote all of that?"

Twilight hummed and looked up. "Oh, yes, I did, of course." She blinked. "Why?"

Alice made an impressed look and continued to read the flowing cursive, barely; the print was incredibly flowery. "I just figured your handwriting would be... terrible." She looked up, grinning.

Twilight laughed, and pulled up an older notebook. "Maybe you should look at this, then."

Alice did just that, opening the small ringed notebook. "Yikes. This looks so much like chicken scratch I would think Scootaloo wrote it for you." She looked up, an expectant, eager smirk on her face.

Twilight rolled her eyes, understanding the joke. "That's not very nice, Alice." She still chuckled, a little, though. "You know Scootaloo is real, now, so you can't poke fun and make references like that anymore in good fun, can you? You wouldn't like it if I made hurtful jokes about you, hm?" She paused a moment, then went on. "Actually, you wouldn't mind, would you?"

Alice grinned and shook her head. "Nope! At least not like that... but I guess she would, huh?"

Twilight shrugged and put her nose back in book, so to speak. "If my memory is serving me correctly, and it is, then yes." She chuckled.

"Hey Twilight." Jo peeked into the backseat with the rear view mirror again. 

Twilight blinked, but looked up; she had just found her spot again, too. "Yes, Jo?"

"You said you were anxious, and before that you were talking about being nervous. What for?" Jo asked nonchalantly. "I would think you would be more excited than anything."

Twilight laughed weakly, looking back at her notes. "Well, yes, I was, I mean I am." She swallowed, then relented to her nerves and shut her notebook. "I guess I'm just worried this won't help, and meeting these prestigious scientists to conduct my investigation isn't helping... This isn't magic, I guess, and I'm out of my field of expertise. I just don't want to embarrass myself."

Alice rolled her eyes, hands folded behind her head. "Twilight, you told them all you were a talking pony from another reality than theirs. What's left to be embarrassed about?"

Twilight frowned at Alice, then sighed and looked out the window. "I guess you're right, but that's how I honestly feel. I have a lot on my mind at the moment, and I've been trying to distract myself all week from... doubting things."

Jo spoke up again, smirking. "Is that why you were pestering me for things to do a couple days ago?"

Twilight nodded. "Yeah, and... it certainly worked. I didn't even think about science in the slightest that night."

The car ride continued in silence for a few seconds before Twilight and Jo realized their folly. Twilight looked over, and beside her, Alice had a wolfish grin plastered to her face. "Oh, just say it." Twilight folded her arms in front of herself and looked away and out the window, while up front Jo grimaced and sank in her chair.

Alice's grin double in size as she proclaimed, "That's what she said! Both of them! Hah!" Cackling, and overly proud laughter chimed out of her for a fair amount of time.

The car sped down the highway, making its way across the state towards the coast, and the three's destination. Amidst two of the passengers, groans of disgust and exasperation were passed onto the third.

Twilight looked over at Alice after the girl's laughter had died some, her brow furrowed. "What I meant, Alice, was that Jo had showed me something called a 'tumblr'. I just wasn't able to be productive this week." Her hands clasped one another while she worked to rid herself of the shame panging her mind. "Anyway, this one in particular had something to do with me, of course, and a... fluffy pony." She licked her lips, struggling for the best way to describe the oddity she'd witnessed. "Well, it's hard to describe, do you know about what I'm talking about?"

Alice quirked an eyebrow. "Twilight, you've looked at the Fluffle pony?"

"Flufflepuff! That was her name." Twilight put on a grin of remembrance. "I did, it was cute, mostly... It is a very strange comic, indeed, but it's all in good fun." She hummed and slunked down into the car seat. "Mostly I'm just at a loss about... Chrysalis being included. They portray her in a very... positive light. I rather... liked that, a lot actually. She's not a very nice... thing, Alice, not at all. Fluffle is fine though, just odd."

Alice giggled leaning over some with a wry grin. "Would you actually let them live in your library like tha-"

Before the human girl could so much as finish, Twilight sat up, wide eyed. "No." She said flatly, but with a strength in her voice that spoke of resoluteness. "Certainly not." She relaxed some, leaning back. "Though I might let Dan, for a little while at least." Her eyes flicked over to Jo, sitting up front and driving. "It wouldn't be so bad as the situation Jo and I share now, after all, right?"

Alice and Twilight began giggling, while Jo grumbled from up front, knowing full well what they were talking about. The car turned off on another exit, the distance with Massachusetts closing just a little more. 

Twilight watched the treeline go by, while adding more to the conversation, her laughter having died down. "It is funny, Alice, to think of Chrysalis as being capable of good things. By funny, I mean in a really heart warming way... I'm not really sure that's possible, though."

Alice studied Twilight, who was faced away from her. She furrowed her brow incredulously. "Well why not?"

Twilight looked over at Alice, confused. "What do you mean? She's evil, I doubt that Chrysalis would live in peace with something, even if she was able to garner unlimited love from them."

Alice frowned slightly and rolled her eyes. "What I meant, is why couldn't old cheese-legs be good. She has free will, doesn't she? I doubt it's impossible."

Twilight choked on a bit of laughter. "Cheese-legs..." she held muttered, a hand held over her face while she snickered. "Good one, Alice."

Jo glanced in the rear view mirror, spotting Alice watching Twilight expectantly.

"Well?" Alice asked, smiling slightly.

"Hm?" Twilight looked over at the blonde human.

Alice poked Twilight in the arm. "Why couldn't Chrissie be good?"

"Oh, well... I guess it's the same reason why anyone on Earth wouldn't simply turn over a new leaf. I doubt she wants to." Twilight shrugged, frowning slightly. "I've only encountered her once though, so it's difficult to say. I would certainly like to know, myself."

"Ah, right... I guess that makes more sense than my theory." Alice sighed and stared out her own window for a change.

The car drove in quiet for a moment.

Alice flopped her head over at Twilight. "So, you've been looking at the various pony related things we've made over the years to fill your time?"

Twilight look up and stared straight ahead, nodding absently. "Yes, I almost didn't want to... but..." She looked over at Alice, grinning sheepishly. "I guess I got too curious, and there is some impressive stuff. Certainly a great deal of it, such as the music or video clips; those are things we just don't have the means of making." She held up her hands, studying them after balling the two appendages up into fists. "I mean, technology aside, could you imagine typing with hooves? It would be impossible, and that's more than a third of our population."

Alice snickered, and even Jo chuckled from the front seat. 

Once Alice calmed down, she leaned over to Twilight again, eagerly. "So, if you had to say which aspect of the fandom was your favorite, which would you go with?"

Twilight hummed over the thought. She wanted to say the art, at first, having found some amazing, and flattering pieces of Equestria. There were certain reasons that prevented her from professing the art that humans made was in fact, her favorite bit about their fascination with her world, however. Writing and reading was another long held love of hers that she would have surely guessed would be her favorite. Humans seemed to love the arts, and that they wanted to craft so many tales centered on her friends was fascinating, to say the least. But, again, she had found that not everything was sunshine and rainbows when it came to the things that her 'fandom' had crafted in her likeness. She had only needed to skim one story centered in the a darker genre to find that out.

"Music." Twilight looked over at Alice and smiled. "I love the music, some of it is very beautiful, especially the pieces about Princess Celestia and Luna that I found last night. I was actually crying a little."

Twilight owned a very expensive, master quality record player to facilitate her love of music, too; back in Equestria, that is. For her, there was nothing better than opening a new, bound volume by one of the great magicians of the last age, or a new material she had yet to explore the finer details of, while listening to some of Equestria's finest, calming orchestral music.

Alice gasped, sitting bolt upright in an instant.

Both Jo and Twilight jumped as well, wide eyed. "What!?" they both exclaimed.

"I just realized," Alice responded, grinning. "No one called firsties on the stereo. Time for Mindless Self Indulgence!" 

Twilight blinked in confusion, while Jo began slapping furiously at Alice's hands as they clawed up towards the car's music player, all the while chaos ensued. 

"Jo, truck, truck!" Twilight gritted her teeth and shrunk in her seat, clinging to the upholstery.






Jo heaved a tired breath after her car finally parked itself in the lot to the research institute that she and her two friends had been seeking. I can't believe it's over...

Twilight sprang out of the gull wing door, giggling madly. "Yes yes yes yes! We're here! Jo, let's hurry!" The trunk popped open, and Twilight hoisted out her possessions. "I can't wait to get started and look at these!"

Jo scowled, and marched over to the purple haired girl, while Alice climbed out of her side of the car behind her. The blonde girl groaned and popped her back, standing up.

"Twilight, 'you're' not getting started, 'he's' getting started. We're leaving right away, remember? That was the plan." Jo folded her arms resolutely on that matter. It had been settled days ago; she thought it had, anyway.

A sad look made itself evident on Twilight's expression. "Of course, right, yes... We can't stay, we talked about that. Hotels are expensive... several hundred dollars a night... and floors aren't terribly comfortable because there are three of us and..."

Alice chimed in. "I did say I'd happily share a bed." She winced where she stood, standing beside the car. "Oh, cramp, cramp..."

"Quiet, you," Jo shot back at her fellow human, then rolled her eyes. "You're the one who wanted to trust total strangers with your property, so let's go and do just that already, shall we?" She huffed, striding towards the entrance they had been told to use. 

Twilight jogged up beside Jo. "I understand this is a little risky, Jo, but I can't imagine doing nothing is a better alternative." She raised an eyebrow at the box in her hands. "After all, I don't even know what these are, and I won't unless we do something."

"I already said my thoughts on the matter, Twilight, let's just get this over with, okay?" Jo began climbing the long series of stairs leading up to the university's front.

Twilight frowned, holding back, then spotted her other friend. "Are you okay, Alice?"

"Yeah, fine, just stiff." Alice smiled, shutting the remaining open door and taking long steps to catch up. "So, shall we follow our fearless leader?"

Twilight managed to smirk. "Okay, she really isn't upset, is she? I can never tell..."

Alice shrugged, staring at Jo's back. "Nah, I doubt it, she's just worried about you." She glanced at the little box that Twilight held in her hands. "I guess she has her reasons, but I'm honestly worried too, I mean, what is it going to cost you if you can't get those back?" Together the two climbed the stairs up to the doors.

Twilight heaved a breath. "I seriously doubt that these guys will do that... I guess there's no way to know for sure, even less because they're human, no offense... but Jo's made that painfully clear to me. I could never imagine a fellow pony betraying someone's trust like that."

Alice chuckled, studying Jo again. "None taken, Jo has a pretty harsh opinion of others, at least on the outside. I don't think it's unfounded in this case, either..." 

Twilight hummed, peering at her bundle. "Yeah... Well, I can't say what risk there is at letting these go, really. I was just telling Jo that I don't know what good they are, they could be useless by-product from landing on Earth, magic that crystallized itself around me. That seems most likely. If it isn't magic that's entered a solidified state as a result of Earth's laws of reality, then I haven't got a clue." She grimaced at saying those words.

A gruff, aged voice called out, catching both girl's attentions. "Twilight, I'm glad you could make it. How was your drive?"

Twilight looked up, and a big smile replaced the worried look she'd worn just a moment before. "Doctor Evil! It was great, thank you for asking. Jo did all of the driving though, of course." She jumped up the last couple steps to stand in front of the man, a weak laugh making its way out of her. "I can't... drive, though I am intensely interested in learning. I may have insisted more if the roads didn't seem so dangerous." A ways behind him by the doors stood Jo, staring distractedly off to the side.

"Just Lex is fine, Twilight." The older gentleman chuckled and held his hand out. "Well, I'm glad you didn't run into trouble getting here. I guess they aren't that scary if you're willing to travel that way, eh?"

Twilight briefly recalled a couple moments when the trip had been just that. Maybe I could take the train back... "Haha... Yeah... Oh, uhm," she looked to her left and gestured towards Alice with one arm. "This is my other friend that I told you about, Alice!"

Alice smiled and waved with one hand at waist level, smiling widely. "Hello! Nice to meetcha Mr. Evil."

Lex smiled back from under his beard with a quirk to one eyebrow. "Hello, it's just Lex actually, and it isn't Luthor, either. I get that one a lot," he laughed. "Professor is fine, too." He motioned the girls towards the doors, and subsequently, Jo.

Alice saluted in acknowledgement to the man's introduction, following after her friends. "Okie dokie, Professor X!" she proclaimed, grinning. 

The grizzled man looked back, but before he could retort with anything, Twilight spoke. "So! Crystals?" She grinned madly over at him.

Alice jogged up, snickering, and whispered to Twilight, "You're starting to sound like Sombra, Twilight."

Twilight shot her a despairing look and whispered back, "Please don't remind me of him..."

Meanwhile, Lex raised an eyebrow at them both, then looked down at the box held in Twilight's hands. "Yes, of course, that's what you came all this way for after all." He pulled open one of the glass doors to the tall building and gestured with a hand for the girls to walk in.

Inside, a sterile appearing lobby opened up to the party; at one end sat several more glass doors leading to hallways and beyond, as well as a long desk at the center. A lone woman sat behind the front desk and didn't look up.

Jo followed behind the other three, who chatted away. She listened as Twilight hurriedly rambled off the ways she wanted run tests on her crystals, and was offering the man all of her suggestions, and then some. Jo looked around, but didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

“Did you hear that Jo!? He’s got everything set up already! He even said that he wants to do a little testing tonight, tonight! As in right now!” Twilight had rounded on Jo without her noticing. "We can stay a little while and test some, right? Just a little?"

Jo blinked her surprise away and stilled her racing heartbeat. "Tw- No, Twilight. I had one condition for doing this, and it was that we don't hang around too long. You agreed."

Twilight let out a sad sound, peering at Jo, then spun around again and addressed the professor. She caught up to the man quickly. "I promised my friend we would go right way... I'm really starting to think that was a mistake." She huffed a breath out.

Lex chuckled, still leading the girl with colorful hair onward. "Well that's alright, we can maybe do a scratch test while we're talking or something really quick." He stepped over to a keypad lining one wall, then slid a card that had been pinned to his front through a slide. The metal doors clunked, and he pushed one open for the girls. "Alright, and this, is... my lab. Technically speaking only students and interns are allowed in here but..." He peered at Twilight a moment, smiling. "I'll make an exception for the genius in our midst."

Jo and Alice both looked at Twilight, who was blushing fiercely, then at one another, and back. "Geez Twilight, what did you do?" Alice patted her friend on the back, grinning. "Discover how to turn lead into gold?"

Twilight's embarrassed look melted some and she turned her head. "Why would that be hard?"

Alice's eyes widened a fraction at her friend, who was following the professor into the lab.

Lex gestured around himself, still giving a brief tour. "So, if you'll all please not touch anything that looks expensive, I would greatly appreciate it. Twilight, I'm afraid that includes you."

Twilight was poised over picking up and inspecting a fascinating instrument set right beside the door. She looked from it to Lex, and grinned. "Heh heh, of course. Ahem. Sorry." She put her other hand back on the box she carried and gripped it fiercely, lest she try to touch another of the sacred tools surrounding her.

Meanwhile, at that same part of Lex's speech, Jo had cuffed Alice's shoulder. "That means you, too..." She entered the room after Twilight and the stranger.

Alice closed one eye and stuck her tongue out at Jo's back. 

Lex walked down the aisle, gesturing with a hand at the plethora of science material lining the walls and counters. It was empty of people, though, except for one person sitting at a desk with his back facing the small party. "Carl, they're here, come be sociable and say hello."

The man Lex had addressed looked over his shoulder. "Oh, hey! Gimme a second, guys." The fellow was impressively big, around the middle that is; his height only just about matched Twilight's. "So, you came after all. I guess I win again." He chuckled, approached with a hobble and accepted the hand Twilight had stretched out to shake with. Lex joined his friend in the laughter.

Twilight and Alice laughed along as well, though on the outside of whatever joke was going on. "I'm sorry, won? What did you win?" Twilight asked, her expression a twinge skeptical.

Carl pointed back at a shut door on the opposite end of the room. "Sheldon's back there, he bet me double or nothing that you weren't going to show up and turn out to be legit after he lost the 'is Twilight a girl' bet." He let out a burst of laughter, waddling back towards his station. "Though I guess I don't really win until we get to see the goods, hah."

Alice began snickering and elbowed Jo. "Sheldon? Is his name really Sheldon?"

Lex shook his head from where he was leaned casually against one desk. "No, it isn't." He stated flatly.

Carl yelled from across the room. "It's Irwin! Though I wouldn't say that's much better, right? Hah."

Twilight ahed in understanding. "You are talking about Morbius." She nodded her head, glimpsing towards the door at the back. 

Carl re-approached, this time with a cane in one hand. "Yup, there isn't much to say about him. I don't think he'll come out while you're here, but if he does just avoid eye contact." He chuckled again, then took a seat at a stool and heaved out a breath. "Sorry about that, had to close my game! So, have you got the ice?" He chuckled. 

The older man spoke up, filling in for his colleague. "He means the crystals, Twilight. And I thought I told you not to load shooters on facility property?" He traded his look from the girl staring around his lab to his colleague.

Twilight opened her mouth excitedly to speak up about the contents of the box she held, but was spoken over by Carl.

"Hey, I can't help it if these machines are rocking the best GPUs on the market for some of this overpriced, crap software. It'd be a sin to not use those babies for their intended purpose, Lex." The wide-framed man folded his arms and gave the greying fellow opposite him a fixed stare.

"Just unload the things..." Lex warned towards the bigger scientist.

Twilight frowned, then smiled again and tried to speak once more, eager to get to business. Jo spoke over her this time, however.

"You game? What've you got going on over there?" Jo put a hand on her hip and peered over towards the glowing computer sitting in the one darkened corner of the massive room.

Carl smirked at the short woman addressing him. "'Kill Them All Four' and 'Battlefield Eight', the only simulations there are in digital form for defending what's right."

Alice leaned over a bit towards Jo. "You've found your soul-mate, Jo," she snickered uncontrollably after whispering.

Jo hummed, pushing Alice away with a hand, and was about to impart her begrudging compliments to the stranger on his game choice, but was instead beaten to talking by Twilight.

Twilight’s eyes widened as he said the words, and thoughts about the crystals retreated for a moment. "You play those too!? But- You're a man of science! You-" The very concept of such a thing made her stomach tumble. “You can’t honestly be trying to say that killing can be acceptable under certain circumstances?” 

"Well I- It is just a game, but yes I suppose there are certain circumstances where..." Carl trailed off under Twilight's disappointed look. His pudgy face furrowed itself with seriousness after a moment, and he shut his eyes while gesturing grandly. “Twilight, it is not a sin, to fight for the right cause. There are those, who words alone will not reach.”

Twilight was taken aback by what she heard.

The room was quiet for a moment, until Lex began slow clapping. “Very nice. That was pretty profound, Quark. Who was it that said that?”

Carl shrugged, and some of the effect he had made on Twilight dissipated. “Eh… it was from a TV show, actually.”

Lex harrumphed, his mustache bristling. “Well that figures.”

Jo coughed loudly and raised her hand, tearing her eyes from the machine. "Can we get to the point, guys? Twilight?" She stole another look at the computer in the corner. She was a little curious about what it might have inside... but it wasn't that important. "No offense, but, we started out late, and we have another- Well, we have a ways to go when we leave."

Twilight set her box down on the counter. "Yes! I for one can't postpone this any longer, gentlemen-" She swept the top of the shoebox and pulled out of the paper wrapped items within. "I'd like to present you with... whatever this crystal is."

Twilight held aloft the six inch object, then tapped the cloudy lump of crystal with one finger nail, lighting it up from the base to the top in a wave of little sparkles, which subsequently lept off the end and began dancing around in the air. "I hope that with the appropriate scientific methods, you can deduce... Is something wrong?" She gave the two men a worried look.

They were both standing there, looking as if they had seen a ghost. 

Carl's chunky mouth was held wide open. A moment later, and his cane slipped out of his hand. "By the power of Grayskull..." He stepped off his stool and took a few, staggering steps towards the glowing thing in front of him. It dulled completely before he reached Twilight, again resembling an ordinary lump of hazy purple rock. "It really is real!?"

Lex was busy wiping a pair of glasses he had fetched from his pocket, and placed them on his nose. He too approached the rock. "It would seem so my friend..."

After a moment, Carl inclined his head towards the ceiling thoughtfully. "I guess I do win that bet..." His gaze quickly found itself staring again at the rock that had just a moment before been alight with literal mystery.

Lex addressed the girl standing before him. "Twilight, what was that?"

A smug look slapped itself on Twilight's face. She wasn't a braggart by any means, that was Dash, but she really felt like saying 'I told you so' right then. She resisted, but just barely. "Well, the object had an instantaneous reaction to a kinetic force which discharged both light and sound. I can't tell you if either were magical in nature. I uh... lack, my horn, you see... But I can tell you that magic is what created them, the crystals that is; so there is that."

Carl wiped a hand across his forehead and tore his eyes from the rock for a moment. "You can't really expect us to believe magic is really real, can you?" 

Lex took a step back, a last look at the crystal, and walked away towards a counter.

Twilight huffed at the pudgy human's refusal to credit magic as real. "It can be measured, observed, and tested, so magic is real. Now, as I've said I'm from another world, so maybe it doesn't exist here..." She looked down at what she still held. "Until now, anyway."

Twilight swept her eyes over everything in the room, a hint of breathlessness evident in her voice. "Sooo, shall we take a look at the crystal's mohs scale, streak color, cleavage, color, the luster, lattice structure, the habit and fragmentation? Oh, and you said you had a microsco-"

Jo heard her friend begin to ramble excitedly, and moved closer to nudge Twilight's side. "I don't know what any of that is, Twilight, but it sounds like it would take a while to do it..." she gave her friend a warning look.

Twilight laughed, waving a hand nonchalantly. "Hah, yes, of course.... Uhm? Carl?" She raised one eyebrow, while Carl abruptly looked up from where he was leaning forward and looking intently at the crystal in her hands.

"What, oh, sorry. C-can, I hold it?" Carl held up a hand, a smile wavering on his face. 

Lex abruptly swatted the other man's hand away. "You'll do no such thing." He had thick, rubber gloves on, as well as goggles poised on his head. "For all you know that thing's radioactive. Go get the Geiger-counter, would you? Wake up Irwin, too, he might actually want to help with this."

Carl rolled his eyes. "Let's not and say we did. I don't feel like having him stand around calling us buffoons..." His voice decreased in volume as he limped towards the other end of the room, along which were lined several cabinets and drawers. "Oh, Twilight, I have some forms for you to sign if you're going to leave this here! Legal crap, makes sure we're liable for this thing."

"Oh, alright!" Twilight began bouncing on her toes, grinning and watching the two men leap into action in the name of discovery. 

"Oh my Celestia, are you going to get scales?" Twilight asked, chasing after Lex. "What about conducting some rudimentary pressure tests? I had a theory about water displacement and the light spectrum that we should test! I have my notes with- I made some things to leave you and... Oh! Temperature tests!" She scurried over to what looked like equipment for just that, but reluctantly resisted touching. "You must test the temperature, the crystals get warmer when they react!" She scurried after both of the men simultaneously, somehow, while also trying to pull out on of her notebooks. "Also, electrical tests! I'm certain they're superconductive, Lex! They all maxed out the little voltmeter I bought at a flea market, and-" 

Twilight was pulled to a halt by one desk, and she spun about to come face to face with Jo. She panted from the excitement she felt, but quickly understood the stern look Jo was giving her. No, I can't go! Not yet! Her best pleading look made its way onto her face.

"Twilight... no... science..." Jo began, also panting. "God you run fast..."

Twilight tried harder. "But... Jo!"

Jo crossed her arms, then grimaced at the far wall. "...Alright fine, one test. You can watch, one test."

Twilight's eyes sprang wide. "Yes! Thank you thank you thank you!" She jumped, then slid towards where Lex was busily securing the crystal.

Jo sighed, watching her go. I'm going to regret this...


Two hours, Twelve Minutes Later


Twilight frowned and looked away from the test bench. "Sorry, we really don't have time to stay any longer, Lex."

Lex chuckled, shaking Twilight's hand. "Oh it's quite alright. I'm sorry we weren't able to... able to figure out anything definitive about that crystal." He rubbed the back of his head and scowled. "Other than you can't scratch the damn thing, and it isn't any gem known to man... I bet if you stayed longer we could request access to the electron microscope down the hall?" He tilted his head thoughtfully after making the suggestion.

Twilight could feel Jo's eyes on her back. "Well... Maybe... and that would yield some very interesting data..." She placed her hand on the door frame, just in case.

Jo nearly growled from where she stood, and began to pull on Twilight. "Twilight, we have to go. Home, remember?" 

Twilight let out a whimper, but didn't turn away from the room absolutely filled with science.

Jo grunted, pulling on the taller, and somehow stronger girl's arm."Twilight, come on! You found out the thing has the characteristics of quartz, is harder than diamond, and glows in the dark, can we just go?"

"Technically the correct term isn't 'harder' Jo, it's..." Twilight corrected, growing quieter as she spoke.

The older man present, Lex, tried to pretend he was inspecting his loafers.

Twilight hesitated from letting go of the door frame, eyeballing the electron microscope sign in the hallway longingly. "I already knew they held some luminescence in the absence of light, Jo... and... I know, Jo, I know... but... but..." She turned around, eyes quivering. "Science, Jo! Scieeeence!"

Lex chuckled from where he stood in the room. Behind him, Carl shouted out another goodbye, perhaps his fourth or so. Twilight had simply lingered that long.

Jo rolled her eyes and tugged on Twilight's arm again, finally getting some distance between them both and the black hole of a laboratory. That place is like a nerd's wet dream made real.  "I swear, your cutie mark should have been a big, stupid brain on the show. You know that?"

Twilight moaned with a frown and was slowly dragged down the hall. "That wasn't very nice, Jo..."

"Don't care, exhausted, and still need to drive. Good bye, Lex! Please don't betray us and sell the mysterious crystal thing to a private corporation for personal gain!" Jo pushed open the door to the lobby.

Lex called goodbye after her, a bit more pleasantly, as well; and with a pleasant laugh to boot.

"Jo, could you be a little bit nicer?" Twilight finally got her friend off her arm and kept pace with her, walking alongside. "Both he and Carl were perfectly helpful."

Jo grunted. "You said goodbye to them both like, five times. I'm sorry I'm being a little short, but I didn't like this whole situation from the start." She walked in a silence a second, then added. "I think we should have taken the crystals with us, Twilight." She looked over at the purple haired girl. "Don't you think we got enough... 'data'?"

Twilight hummed, pausing before leaving the front door while peering back at the laboratories. She adjusted her book filled backpack absently, then spoke. "Well, if we stayed just a little bit longer...."

"Twilight!" Jo slapped her own forehead. 

"Alright! Maybe not, but there's so much more we could still learn, especially from getting a molecular look at the crystal's make up. Granted, it does seem it may be outside of anything we can comprehend without proper, magical methods of deduction... Still, I think the more the better. Lex promised to update me daily as part of our deal, that includes video."

Jo studied Twilight a moment, then nodded slowly. "Alright, it's your call, anyway, Twilight. Carl does seem alright, and Lex seems upfront, at least... I just don't like trusting people blindly, Twilight." She tapped her foot distractedly against the door, staring at the nighttime that filled the outdoors beyond. 

"It isn't blind, though," Twilight refuted back. "Are you sure we can't stay? I mean, I don't mind sleeping in the car..." She grinned weakly, her hands washing over one another.

Jo almost laughed, but instead put an arm around Twilight and walked her out the doorway. "Look, we can wait around, twiddling our thumbs while they do the work for us, or we could go to Idaho and find that pony. Which do you think is a better use of your time?"

Twilight looked over, mouth open. "...You mean-?"

Jo froze, then stepped back. "Whoa, wait, no I didn't mean right now. I meant later, later. Whenever we get a good lead, at least... I'm not camping out in the late fall going Equine hunting, Twilight."

"Oh... Heh." Twilight smiled, despite being let down. Drat, I thought today was my lucky day, too. "Well,  got a lot down in there, at least. Knowing that the crystals can generate so much electricity is really interesting, for instance. I wonder if it has to do with magic? Why, if magic from Equestria is a parallel to energy here, then the possibilities from that are just... why, unfathomable."

Jo’s expression soured a bit further, recalling the looks of joy on Lex's and Carl's faces at discovering just that. “Yes, I’m absolutely filled with unbridled elation about that, Twilight...”

Twilight sighed and leaned up against the wall, crossing her arms. "I don't believe that's the correct vernacular you're looking for, Jo."

"Uggh, Twilight, what have I said about overly robust words?" Jo

"Well, to be fair, 'robust' isn't exactly common turn of phrase, either. For that matter, neither is elatio-"

"Twilight, I- never mind." Jo felt at a loss, and tired. "Let's go home, okay?" Already dreading what was to come, she tiredly unlocked her vehicle and started it remotely. Now, we just gotta drive back... She eyed the parking lot warily, trying to gauge how tired she felt, while Twilight walked beside her. 

Today was a good day, though. Jo smirked. "Wait..." She looked around, stopping Twilight with a hand.

Twilight looked over at her friend, her slightly downtrodden look still apparent on her face. "What's wrong, Jo?"

Jo looked up at Twilight with a staring, serious gaze. "Twilight, where the hell is Alice?"