One evening, Spike and Twilight were at the castle, as Sonic was perching on a platform, until Accelerator rushed in looking tired, "I'm home!"
"Welcome back, Acceletor." Twilight greeted him.
"You look exhausted." Spike noticed.
"Really, I hadn't noticed." he answered, as he wobbled over.
"Tough day?" Twilight asked.
"You have no idea. But the good news is I have no clients for tomorrow, which gives me plenty of time to relax and let loose." Accel said, as he rubbed Sonic's head.
"Good, because we're all going to Canterlot tomorrow." Twilight said.
"Canterlot, the kingdom where you grew up in?"
"That's right. The princesses are hosting an anniversary ball." Twilight explained.
"What's the anniversary?"
"The five thousand year anniversary since Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ascended to the throne." the young princess explained.
"Wow, that does call for a party." Accel admitted.
"That's right. The princesses want us there to help set everything up for the day after tomorrow," Twilight explained, "And since you don't have plans tomorrow you can come with us and see the kingdom yourself."
"Sounds great." Accel smiled.
"Speaking of, we better get some sleep if we're going to be traveling tomorrow." Spike noted, as he headed for bed.
Twilight giggled, "He is right, though. We're gonna need our sleep."
"Right. Goodnight, Twilight." Accel took off for his room.
"Goodnight, Accelerator." Twilight said, as she went off to bed as well.
As Accelerator slept in bed, he started tossing and turning like he was the previous night, while hearing sounds of screaming and shocks echo in his thoughts. He woke up gasping and panting, before surveying the scene, "Not again. Come on Accel, you have to get it together. It's in the past. And it has to stay there." he went back to sleep.
The very next morning, on the train bound for Canterlot, Twilight, Spike, the girls, Accel, and Sonic were enjoying the ride. Accelerator looked out the window and was committing the scenery to memory, "Once I learn the route to Canterlot I can go there on foot and take up requests there." he told the girls.
"Well, we're just glad you didn't decide to go there on foot this morning." Twilight said.
"Yeah, you still look tired." Spike noted Accel's eyelids looking heavy.
"It was a long night." Accel answered.
"Well, hope you won't be too tired by the time we get to the castle." Applejack said.
"Don't worry about me." Accel said, as he decided to nap for the rest of the trip.
When the train arrived in Canterlot, it pulled into the station. The group got off and stretched, "Well, we're here." Twilight said.
"We best get to the castle right away." Rarity suggested.
"Right. Can't keep the princesses waiting." Twilight nodded.
"Well, Sonic and I will see you at the castle." Accel said, as he took off running with Sonic on his back.
"Accelerator!" Twilight called, but knew he wasn't coming back to them.
"He's sure in a hurry." Applejack said.
"And he doesn't even know know his way around here." Rainbow added.
"I hope he doesn't get lost." Fluttershy said in worry.
Twilight rolled her eyes, "As long as he remembers to go to the castle, he should be fine and not get into too much trouble." they started on.
Accelerator meanwhile, was running all around Canterlot's streets taking every corner he spotted. As Jet Set and Upper Crust were walking, Accelerator zipped past them sending them into a spin, leaving them dizzy, "Sorry!" he called, without stopping.
On another section of Canterlot, Fleur Dis Lee was walking close to a shop until she felt something zip past her, taking her by surprise. Suddenly, Accelerator zipped back over and looked at her with a smile, "Hello, gorgeous!" he ran off again, leaving the unicorn in surprise.
Accelerator continued running around Canterlot's districts getting to know the lay of the land, before he saw the castle up ahead and ran for it.
Meanwhile, the girls and spike arrived at the entry way, and saw Accelerator coming to a halt, "Whew, we made it!" he cheered, as Sonic high fives him.
"See what happens when you don't wait for us? You get lost!" Twilight explained in exasperation.
"Wasn't lost. I was getting to know the area," Accel replied, "And it was Sonic's idea." Sonic put his hand on his face.
"Sure it was." Twilight answered dryly.
"Aw, who cares, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, while ruffling her friends mane, "Point is Accel's here, so now we can go in."
"I guess." Twilight said, as they walked up to the doors, and were permitted inside by the guards, who gave Accel a questionable look.
When they entered the castle, Accel and Sonic looked around in awe, "Whoa, it's even bigger than Twilight's castle." he gasped.
"Well, I don't need one the size of Canterlot's." Twilight replied.
"Yeah. She and Spike could get lost in it." Pinkie joked.
"That's for sure." Spike agreed.
"I hope you all know your way around here." Accel said, while looking around.
"Of course, but this time stay at our side." Twilight ordered him.
"All right." he said, not wanting her to get all firm with him.
And so the ponies and Spike led Accel through the castle, before entering the royal throne room. There they saw the two sisters waiting for them, "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!" Twilight greeted them.
"Welcome, everypony and Spike." Celestia greeted them.
"We see you brought Accelerator with you." Luna noted, as the human approached.
"I really love what you two have done to the place." Accelerator said, as he looked around the room.
"Welcome to our castle, Accelerator. It's so nice of you to join us," Celestia greeted him, until she saw the monkey crawl up his back and onto his shoulder, "Oh, I see you brought a friend."
"Yes. Princesses, this is Sonic. Sonic, meet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." he introduced them.
"Nice to meet you, Sonic." Celestia rubbed the monkey's head, as Sonic enjoyed the feeling.
"So Twilight told me you're holding some celebration for your ascension to the position as rulers of Equestria." Accel inquired.
"Correct," Luna nodded, "And we'll need the castle to look its best for it."
"If you would lend your support and help us, we'd all be most grateful." Celestia said.
"Hey, you want me you got me." Accel answered.
"But in the meantime, how about a full tour of the castle?" the princess of the sun suggested.
"That sounds great." Accelerator nodded, and Sonic nodded in agreement.
So the two sisters and their loyal subjects showed Accel and Sonic all around the castle, before stopping in the hall depicting all the windows, "Nice windows. And you all got your images in them. What is this some kind of hall of fame?" the speedster asked.
"Something like that." Twilight answered.
"Each window depicts a historic event that's happened in Equestria." Celestia explained.
"Well from what I've read up on Equestria history at Twi's castle I can tell which represents what." Accelerator said as he approached one, "This depicts when Twilight and the girls defeated Discord the Master of Chaos."
Suddenly the image of Discord in the window came to life and spoke, "Oh, yes. The girls sure pulled a fast one on me that time." he chuckled.
"Whoa!" Accel jumped back and landed on his butt.
Suddenly the image returned to normal and appearing before him was the real Discord, "Oh, I'm so sorry for startling you, my boy." he offered him a hand, which he accepted and got back to his feet.
"I take it you're Discord?" he asked.
"You guessed it," Discord chuckled, "And you must be Accelerator. Fluttershy's told my so much about you in her letters."
"Letters?" he turned to Fluttershy.
"Discord and I keep in touch through letters. Since you came to Ponyville I've been sending him messages about you. Oh, I hope you don't mind." she said in worry.
"Not at all," Accelerator answered, "So you tried to turn Equestria into the chaos capital of the world?"
"Guilty." he answered, as he held up a wanted poster with his image on it, and the image came to life and out of the poster revealing it was Discord doing his crazy antics.
"But you reformed thanks to the girls." Accel added.
"That's right." he smiled.
"After he betrayed us." Rainbow noted.
"Oh, come now, Rainbow Dash," Discord appeared beside her, "All that's in the past now isn't it?"
"I guess." Rainbow answered, while looking skeptical. Discord looked saddened, before seeing Rainbow smirk at him. Seeing she was pulling his leg, he playfully punched her shoulder.
"So then Discord, I presume you will be attending the celebration as well?" Celestia inquired.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss it for all of Equestria, Princess," Discord answered, "And I can assume Accelerator here will be attending also?"
"Well, I might, but unfortunately I don't have any formal attire." he answered.
"Well, that should be no problem," Rarity spoke up, "I can make you a nice clean suit for you to wear in no time."
"Really, Rarity? Thanks." he smiled.
"Come on, let's a lot more to cover before we get started on getting the castle ready." Applejack said.
"May I join you, I'd like to get to know more about Accelerator personally." Discord requested.
"Of course you can." Fluttershy answered.
"Oh, wonderful!" Discord cheered, as he joined the group on the tour.
When the tour was over, the group were already decorating the ballroom with Pinkie Pie giving out the orders, "Ok, more streamers on that side of the ceiling, Dashie. Rarity, love the ribbons. Come on girls, put your backs into it!"
Accelerator who was wrapping some streamers around a support beam, spoke to Spike, "Boy, she really knows how to organize a celebration, doesn't she?"
"She is the Super Duper Party Pony." Spike replied, as they worked.
"Can somepony hang these lights up?" Pinkie asked, while standing close to a pile of small lights. Sonic scurried over and offered his hand. Pinkie smiled, "Ok, Sonic. Hang them along there ok?" she pointed up to the ceiling.
Sonic took one end of the strand of lights, before scaling up a tapestry before reaching the ceiling. He started tying them along a rafter, until the whole strand was hung up. The ponies clapped, as Accel called, "That a boy, Sonic!"
"Perfect!" Pinkie cheered.
Celestia and Luna looked around, "Well done, everypony. The ballroom looks magnificent." Celestia congratulated them.
"Just doing our job, Princess." Rainbow replied.
"Well it's getting late, we should probably head back to Ponyville." Twilight suggested.
"Actually, I think it's best you all sleep here at the castle tonight." Celestia replied.
"Really?" They asked.
"Yes. You've all worked hard today, and I won't let you return home in your tired states. Now, off to bed, all of you." she sent them off, as they walked off for the guest rooms.
Accelerator and Sonic were shown into their guest room, and Accel plopped onto the bed, "Ah, this is the life. You know, Sonic, since I first came here I thought things only got worse for me. But being here has made me even better. I've got great friends, a paying job, and I'm finally away from those scientist sleazeballs. Well goodnight." he said, as he got into bed, with Sonic sleeping on top of one of the pillows.
Two hours passed since Accel fell asleep, until he started looking distressed in his sleep. Suddenly he woke up and saw he was in the facility again, "What? No! How'd I get back here?"
"Because this is where you are meant to be." a familiar voice answered, as Accel looked at saw Dr. Vellian Dagger.
"No! Not you again!" Accel backed away.
"Oh, yes. You see you belong to me now, and as your creator I demand you stay put!" Dagger ordered, as Accel was thrust backwards before landing on a medical table and was strapped to it.
"Let me go!" he struggled to break free, but to no avail.
"Never again!" Dagger called, as he motioned aside to some other scientists, "Now!"
One pulled a lever, as jolts were coursing through Accel's body as he was screaming in pain, while shedding tears, "Stop! MAKE IT STOP!" he pleaded.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" a female voice boomed.
Suddenly the scientists were blasted by blue magic before vanquishing, which ended the shocks being delivered to Accel's body. Accel looked and saw appearing out of thin air was Luna, "Princess Luna!" he cried, and suddenly saw he was released from the table before falling to the ground.
Luna approached him, and helped him to his feet, "Are you all right, Accelerator?"
"I am now, thanks to you. But what's going on, how did you get here, and for that matter how did I get back here?"
Luna answered, "I think you know too well how to answer that."
Accel looked down and sighed, "Yes I do. This is all a dream."
"Correct, and this isn't your first time having this dream is it?" she questioned.
"No. I've been having this same dream these last two days. At first I felt I could handle it, but this time it felt too overwhelming." he sighed, until Luna held his chin up with her hoof.
"It's ok for you to admit this, Accelerator. But perhaps it's best you showed your friends the truth as well. You'll feel much better knowing that they see what you've been through."
"You think so?"
"I do," Luna nodded, as she concentrated, and suddenly the girls, Spike, and Princess Celestia appeared.
"Hey, what's going on?" Spike asked.
"Where are we?" Applejack wondered.
"Luna?" Celestia asked.
"My apologies if I've disturbed your sleeping." Luna apologized.
"Well, I was in the middle of a dream where I was finally joining the Wonderbolts." Rainbow explained with a annoyance.
"Rainbow!" Twilight chided her.
"The reason I brought you all here into Accelerator's dreams is because it's time we saw exactly what he went through before arriving into Equestria." Luna explained.
"You can do that?" Accel asked.
Luna smiled, "Dreams are not just figments of our imaginations, but also gateways into our memories."
"Amazing." Fluttershy gasped.
"So if you want to see my past, where should we begin?" Accelerator asked.
"It's always best to start at the beginning, and follow it from there." Celestia explained.
"All right then." Accel replied, as a door suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Where'd that come from?" Pinkie asked.
"That is the door to Accelerator's first memory, where it all begins." Luna explained.
Accel approached the door, but before he grabbed the handle, he looked to Celestia and Luna who both nodded. He turned the knob and opened the door releasing an illuminating light that blinded them.
Suddenly they all saw they were in a hospital room, "Where are we?" Rainbow asked.
"It's a hospital." Twilight answered.
"And look." Fluttershy gasped, as they looked ahead seeing two humans. A man and a woman.
The woman was a brunette who was lying on a hospital bed holding a bundle in her arms. The man had short black hair, and was standing besides the woman smiling while smiling at the bundle.
"Those are my parents." Accel gasped.
"Your parents?" Pinkie asked.
"Then is that..." Applejack noticed the bundle.
The woman opened the bundle revealing a baby's head. The girls awed, as Accel gasped, "Oh, my God... I'm so cute!"
"Hi, Jake." the man said as he got closer to his son.
"Michael, isn't he beautiful?" the woman asked her husband.
"That he is, Kristy." Accel's father agreed.
Suddenly another door appeared, and they entered it. They suddenly found themselves in a house, "Now where are we?" Rainbow asked, as they looked around.
Accel went to the window and looked out it seeing a city, "This is my old home, in my old city."
"But where is that?" Twilight asked.
"Milwaukee Wisconsin." he answered.
"Jake!" Michael, the father called.
The group watched as three year old Jake who had his father's black hair, was running around the house, until his father scooped him up, "I gotcha!" Michael called, as he hugged his son.
"I'm fast, huh?" Little Jake asked.
"You sure are, son. Why just wait one day you'll be so fast no one can catch you." his dad humored him.
The ponies and Spike looked at Accelerator who was smiling, "Dad, you have no idea."
Suddenly they went through a door and saw another memory of them back in the hospital, where Accel's father held his little self over his mom who was holding another baby, "Who is that?" Fluttershy asked, as they looked at the newborn.
"That's my little sister." he answered.
"Your sister?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah, they named her Pearl because she looked as beautiful as one." Accel explained.
"They chose right." Rarity agreed.
"My parents told me that day now that I was a big brother I had to be responsible and help them look after her. I took my role as a brother seriously." Accelerator explained, as they went to the next memory.
The next one featured a six year old Jake sitting by a bedside, while reading to his three year old sister who had dark hair like his, and was under the covers, "And the princess brought peace and joy throughout the kingdom. The end."
"Again, again!" Pearl clapped.
Jake chuckled, "Sorry Pearl, but it's nap time."
"Ok." she answered, before falling asleep.
Accel smiled at the memory, as Celestia spoke, "You were a very good brother."
"Thanks." he smiled, as the memories went by and they were back in the hospital where they saw a seven year old Jake, and a four year old Pearl seeing their mom had another boy with bits of brown hair forming on his head.
"Now who's that?" Spike asked.
"That's my little brother; Adam. This day I became an older brother to two."
The memories went forward to Jake at thirteen years old in school. He was in gym class running laps with his fellow students, "I was the fastest runner in class, even joined track in junior high. When I would move onto high school I planned to take it even further, but all that came to an end one day."
They saw Jake return home, before seeing a limousine parked outside his house. He walked in and saw some men dressed in suits were standing by his parents, Pearl, and Adam.
"What's going on?" Jake asked.
One of the men approached him, "Are you Jake McGinnis?"
"Yes." he answered in confusion.
"We're gonna have to ask you to come with us."
"What?" he asked.
"Now wait just a minute!" Michael shot up, but was blocked off by more guards, "You said you only wanted to talk to him! You didn't say anything about needing him to come with you!"
"You're not really from a track and field recruiting division are you?!" Kristy asked.
"I'm afraid not, ma'am."
"Jake, run!" Michael shouted.
Jake tried to make a run for it, but the guard close to him quickly grabbed his arm and tugged him back. Pearl and Adam seeing this frowned and ran over, "Leave our brother alone!" Pearl screamed, as she and Adam grabbed his other arm and bit him.
"Gah! Brats!" he shoved them to the ground.
"HEY! No one does that to my siblings!" Jake shouted, as he tried wrestling with the guard who grabbed a cloth with chloroform dabbed in it and put it to Jake's nose. Jake passed out in the guy's hold.
The girls gasped, as they looked at Jake who watched it, "They tried to save me and I tried to help them, but in the end the men got me, and threatened to shoot my parents if they tried to stop them." he explained as they watched the men slowly leave with their guns aimed at the parents until they were gone.
The memory faded into the facility, where they saw Jake conscious again sitting at a table with a man, "Who is that?" Pinkie asked.
"The guy who took my life from me, Vellian Dagger." Accel explained.
"So, if I help you with this project of yours you'll bring me back to my family?" Jake asked Dagger.
"Of course, my boy. I am a man of my word." Dagger sweet talked him.
They watched as past Jake was still looking skeptical, but knew he had no other option or way of escaping now. He sighed in reluctance, "All right. When do we begin?"
"Immediately." Dagger answered.
"And so it all began," Accel explained, as the group watched as the experiments began, "They started doping me up on this formula they made for their experiment."
They watched as Accel's thirteen year old self was being poked and prodded with syringes and injected with its contents. With each poke Jake cried in pain. Fluttershy covered her eyes with her hooves, while Applejack covered her face with her hat. Rarity and Pinkie clung to each other, while Spike held onto Twilight, and the sisters watched in horror. Rainbow had wide eyes, and spoke, "Ouch."
"You think that hurts? The worse follows." Accel said, as they watched as his past self was strapped to a table and was being given electric shocks to help charge up the formula injected into him.
They could only stand by and watch young Accel scream in pain as the jolts coursed through his body, "That's what they did to you?" Rarity gasped.
"Yes. That's what they did to me for three years." Accel explained, as they watched more tests being conducted on him. He was running on a treadmill with wires connected to him to measure his heart rate and such. He was then floating inside a vat of water in suspended animation, while the scientists studied his brainwaves.
"This is just so cruel." Fluttershy said in the verge of tears.
"I know. They treated me like a lab rat." Accel explained, as they saw the next memory featuring a fourteen year old Jake in a single room with a bed, bathroom, and TV. They saw his black hair started looking gray, and his skin was already turning pale.
"Accel, your hair!" Rainbow noticed.
"Yeah. That was when the formula was really starting to take affect on my body. Plus I haven't been outside the facility since then." he explained bitterly.
"Wasn't there anypony here who treated you like a being?" Celestia inquired.
"Well, only one. Dr. Ashley Cromwell. " he admitted, as they saw the door to his room open.
Stepping in was a young woman with short dark hair. She wheeled a meal in, and spoke, "Jake, dinnertime."
"I'm not hungry." Jake said, as he sat on his bed brooding.
"Jake, you really must eat to keep your energy up for tomorrow's tests." she reasoned with him.
"I don't care." he answered, not even looking at her.
"Jake, please try and bare with it..." she tried to comfort him, but he turned and slapped her arm away.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed.
The group gasped at his outburst, while Accel watched remembering his outburst. Ashley however was scared, until Jake looked guilty, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted like that."
"No it's all right," she comforted him, "I can't imagine the pain you're going through, but it must be unbearable."
"Unbearable is an understatement," Jake explained, "I've been locked in this facility for a year now. I haven't been outside, had real good food, or even seen any of my friends. And for what just to prove that this experiment your boss is working on works? Even if I did see my family again, would they even recognize me?"
"Jake." Ashley gasped.
"Look at me, I'm fourteen and I already have middle-aged man color hair!" he stressed.
"You have every right to feel this way, but Dagger promised he'd return you to your family when it's all over." she reminded him.
Jake sighed, "I don't know if I can last that long." He suddenly felt Ashley lay a hand on his shoulder comforting him.
"I know you can, Jake. If you can survive here for a year so far. I know you can make it. I believe in you." she gave him a comforting smile.
"Ok, Doctor. I'll do it for you." he answered.
"She sure is nice." Twilight noted.
"Yeah. She's about the only doctor in this whole facility who treated me as if I was a person and not an experiment subject," Accel explained, as he remembered the times she'd comfort him after the daily procedures, give him haircuts when his hair was getting too long, even sneaking in some magazines for him to read.
"Two more years of putting up with this and my hair finally turned white, my skin turned pale, and my eyes red," Accel explained, "And then my powers truly emerged and the experiments changed with them testing to see how far my acceleration powers could go."
They watched the memory of him running around a training room, while the scientists were taking notes, and measuring his speed velocity with their machines. Accel continued, "I kept running faster and faster every time I practiced using it. Then one day after three years, Dagger came to me and told me some news that shattered what hope I had of seeing my family again."
They watched what happened between Dagger and Accel, seeing him break out of his restraints and escaped the facility. They saw him run so fast he zipped out of sight, as Accel finished, "You all know what follows that."
"You crossed into our world." Twilight said.
"Yeah." Accel nodded, as the memories faded away and they were back in the dream void.
"Oh, sugarcube. When you told us what happened we knew it was bad, but this makes it look worse." Applejack said in condolences.
"It's so sad!" Pinkie bawled.
"Those jerks! I can't believe they treated you that way!" Rainbow said in outrage.
"If I could do something about it I'd banish them to the moon." Celestia added.
Accelerator spoke, "Thanks, girls. But really you've managed to fill in the void I thought would be left opened forever. You've given me family, friends, and most importantly... Hope."
The girls smiled seeing he he was happy. Twilight approached, "We'll always be here for you Accelerator. I promise."
Accel smiled back, "I believe you. And I'm glad I could tell and show you all my life. I feel better now that it's all off my chest."
"And now you can move forward." Luna added.
"Yeah. Thanks Princess." Luna winked at him.
"Now then, I suggest we all return to sleep." Celestia suggested.
"Will you be ok, darling?" Rarity asked Accel.
"You know. I actually will." he smiled.
And so the girls and Spike vanished from his dreamscape, as Accel was able to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night, and hopefully every night to come.
Meanwhile that night at the same spot in Los Angeles were Accelerator disappeared from. The place was still blocked off by the scientists from the facility, with Dagger using a laser device that managed to make the hole Accel created between their worlds visible. Before he launched an orb into it.
Ashley approached, "Sir, what was that you just launched?"
"That was a seeking probe honed in on Jake's signature. It will land wherever he is, and act as a homing beacon. Then we can use our machines to open our own portal to his location and find him." Dagger explained.
"But sir, with all the money you're spending just to find him. You'll bankrupt us!" she warned him.
Dagger spun around and gripped her arm tightly, "I will spare no expense to get him back! Besides, once we have him back in our hands we can continue to perfect the formula onto other test subjects and then money will not be an issue for us."
Ashley got her arm free, and walked off not wanting to upset her superior any more. As she walked she thought to herself, 'Jake, wherever you are I hope you're safe.'