My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic -- Off The Record

by The King of Hearts


Plus One to Equestria

////
Plus One to Equestria
////

The last two days had been filled with everything Alex had insisted on doing, despite the waning interest of his uncle, and friends. They had gone shopping a few more times, watched every movie that he had missed, and even went swimming again, at the repeated request of Rainbow Dash and Twilight so they could try all of the slides again, which turned out being the only thing they did for over three hours.

But, now their time on earth had just about run out, and they were all getting ready for the return trip to Equestria.

“I still can’t believe that kid actually talked like a gangster right out of the fifties!” Chet laughed as he walked out of Alex’s house, locking the door behind him.

“Are you never going to stop talking about that?” Alex asked, having heard nothing but talk of this kid since Alex embarrassed him at the pool, “It was weird that he talked that way, but I’m used to that kinda stuff in Equestria.”

“And you’re sure that the other one didn’t talk like a hillbilly?” Chet continued, “I’d have loved to be two for two.”

“He talked like any other kid.” Alex shrugged, “The one was just a freak coincidence.”

“Oh well…” Chet sighed, “Hey, where are the girls again?”

“I sent them off to the place I first went to Equestria from,” Alex answered, looking over his shoulder toward the mass of trees behind his house, “Twilight is going to gather some samples to test when we get back.”

“What are you trying to find out again?” Chet asked, still miles behind in the backstory he had been explained so many times.

“We’re trying to see if there are any clues that point toward what got me there in the first place.” Alex explained, “Something that helps identify... whatever it is that’s coming for us.”

“I don’t get it,” Chet said, now remembering the story, “If you followed that thing in to Equestria, how come it hasn’t shown up yet?”

“I’ve got no idea.” Alex answered, shaking his head, “I’m sure we’ll find out soon though.”

Chet didn’t respond, he only looked toward the small forest to see the two girls walking out from the parameter toward them.

“Perfect timing,” Alex said smiling, “I was worried they might have been lost. Let’s go meet them half way.”

Alex jogged himself over to the girls, meeting them in the large clearing between the forest and his house. He expected Chet to be right behind him, but as he looked over his shoulder, he laughed out loud at the out of shape man stopped a distance away, panting like he had just run a mile.

“Did you guys get what you needed?” Alex asked, looking back to them and rising his eyebrows.

“I think so,” Twilight nodded, lifting up the plastic bag Alex had given her, showing him a few pieces of cartoon-looking blue grass, “We found a line of this hidden under some new grass that had grown. If anything in that area was infused with magic, this’ll be it.”

“Huh,” Alex said, peering at the bag and tilting his head, “It’s almost like Equestria bled through the portal and covered some of the ground here.”

“I didn’t know that was possible,” Dash said, nodding along with them, “I wonder if it would be possible to carry over more of the world like that.”

“Or vice versa…” Alex said, before Chet spoke up, having somehow caught up to them without making a noise.

“Are you saying I could go to Equestria, but not be a horse?” Chet asked, looking between them with a bit of hope, truly not wanting to be a pony in the first place, “Because that would be… preferable for me.”

“Well, if the rules applied, you’d probably just end up being a realistic looking horse if we could replicate what happened to this grass,” Twilight said, chuckling to herself, “And something tells me that would go over terribly in Equestria.”

“I don’t like the horses here,” Dash said, feeling a little guilty over saying that, “And something tells me a talking one would just terrify me.”

“So… there’s no chance I could go over there as a human?” Chet asked, having not wanted to sound cowardly, or whiney up to this point.

“Well, there was one time I turned in to a human while I was there,” Alex recalled, as both the girls perked up in remembrance, “There was a plant in the Everfree Forest that transformed me in to a human years and years ago. We could try using it on you, if you wanted.”

“I… would really like to try that,” Chet nodded slowly, deciding not to dwell on the plant reference, “I mean, no offence… I just don’t think being a horse would be a good match for me.”

“But you might cause a ruckus in town, if there’s suddenly a human floating around,” Dash said, remembering the strange looks Alex got, “But I’m sure they’ll move past it.”

“Well, I guess that’ll be the plan then,” Alex said, looking around the group, “Are you guys ready for the trip?”

They all nodded, as Alex looked around him, as if someone might be passing by and see them, despite his knowing that people didn’t generally wander around this far off the highway.

“Are you sure?” Alex asked Chet one last time, “Tammy knows you’re going to be gone a while?”

“She does.” Chet answered, nodding.

“She knows you might die?” Alex asked, holding back his laughter.

“Very funny, kid.” Chet said, unamused by the joke, “Just get this going already!”

“Alright, alright.” Alex said, clearing his throat and closing his eyes, “I just need to focus for a second.”

Alex felt that familiar chaotic energy start to flow through his veins, as it started to run from his head, down in to his right arm.

The girls joined hands with each other, as Twilight grabbed Chet’s hand, and Dash took one from Alex.

Chet looked down to Alex’s right index finger as it began to glow blue, and start arcing electricity off of the ground.

“Does that hurt?” Chet asked, figuring that he must have been getting shocked.

Alex shook his head, “It tickles.”

“Huh,” Dash said, having never thought about how it felt.

“Okay… grab hold of everything,” Alex said, as a blue ball formed at the tip of his finger, and a small trail of blood began running from his nose, “Here we go.”

Suddenly, the ball dropped from his finger, and hit the grass below them, expanding instantly in to a massive white circle.

“Woah…” Chet said, looked around him.

“Hold on to your pants, Chet.” Alex said, rubbing his arm over his bloodied face, “And for Celestia’s sake, don’t shit them.”

“Why would I shit them—“

With a snap of his fingers, the four of them were sucked in to the ground, and sent shooting through the multicolored space that existed between Earth, and Equestria.

The rushing of air past their faces was nearly deafening as they ripped through at what seemed like two hundred miles an hour. They were all holding on in a chain, with Alex leading the charge, followed by Dash, then Twilight, then Chet. Most of them were more than used to the trip at this point. But, there was the one obvious exception.

The frown glued on Chet’s face was exceedingly telling of his current state of mind. How he managed to keep bladder control was beyond him. The only thing keeping him from losing his mind was the calm state the other three seemed to be in. Alex wore a huge smile, Dash had closed her eyes and relaxed, and Twilight was looking to him encouragingly. Seeing all of them in no state of panic whatsoever put, made him breathe a sigh of relief. This wasn’t so bad after all.

However, this feeling of calm was quickly ended when he watched a huge spark appear on Alex’s hand, and make its way down his arm, replacing all of his skin, with what looked like solid white. Finally, the spark reached his midsection, where it grew massively, and covered his entire body, replacing the human one, with a horse one.

Chet gulped as it made it’s down Dash’s body next, and then Twilight’s. Each one changed from the humans he was so familiar with, to a horse that he was completely unfamiliar with.

“Get ready!” Alex shouted, looking back to Chet, as the spark passed from Twilight’s arm, in to his.

It was no surprise to any of them that his coat was also white. But it was a little more surprising when he only sprouted a pair of wings, with no horn.

Alex had to admit, Chet looked a lot like him.

His body as a pony was larger than his, but not by a huge amount. Alex figured that he was somewhere between Big Mac and himself. Also, Alex noticed that he had no spot on his side. No gray at all. He was completely white.

“Hey Alex!” Dash shouted over the rushing air, “Where are we coming out of this portal?”

“Uhh,” Alex yelled back, “Canterlot! You wanted to see Shining Armor, right?”

“Perfect! Thanks!” She called, looking to her shoulder where her saddle bag was still firmly attached.

“We should be there any minute!”

////

“They refuse to move,” Alpha said to Princess Celestia and Luna, as they sat in the conference room attached to the throne room, “The council intends to fight this war as long as they can. And without Chrysalis on my side, I’m afraid they might just get their way.”

“This is very troubling,” Celestia sighed, having feared this kind of response from the Hive.

“Is there any chance you’ve had luck changing Chrysalis’s mind?” Alpha asked, “I know it’s only been a couple days, but I was hoping you guys would have—“

“I’m afraid we’ve had no luck as of yet,” Luna interrupted, “We were hoping you would have found a way to sway her.”

Alpha shook his head.

“I’ll speak to her later,” he sighed, “I’m still trying to decide what I’ll say to her.”

“You could always use the same conditioning on her that she tried to use on the Elements of Harmony,” Luna said, before earning a glare from her sister.

“We will do no such thing,” Celestia said firmly, unknowingly shutting down Alpha’s plan B, “To take somepony’s mind, is to take their life. We will play no such part in doing so.”

Luna didn’t respond. She completely agreed.

“I’ll try to think of something later,” Alpha said again, “I just need a little bit of time—“

Suddenly, a white circle appeared on the massive wall separating them from the throne room, as four ponies rocked out of it, and landed on the conference table, sliding down the massive piece of wood, tumbling over one another, until the fastest moving one came crashing in to Alpha, knocking him on the floor, pinning him on his back, as she rested square on top of him.

Celestia and Luna were panicked for only as long as it took to see who it was that came crashing in.

Alpha scratched his head, and opened his eyes, only to be instantly frozen by the gaze he met.

“Hello Alpha.” She said, expertly hiding any form of emotion from her voice.

“Uh, Twilight!” Alpha said, looking up to her piercing gaze, “I- I didn’t think you were going to be back for a few weeks!”

“We cut the trip short.” She said plainly.

Alex nudged his hyperventilating uncle in the side as they lay still collapsed on the conference table, “Oooooh! He’s gonna be in trouble!”

Chet blinked rapidly as his brain tried to make sense of the world he was currently viewing. Nothing made sense to his brain, and it was making him feel very powerless. In fact, he couldn’t ever figure out what he needed to do to get off this table, and stand upright.

“Hey, Alex. I think I need some help here.” Chet said, looking over to his nephew with a pleading expression.

“Not as much help as Alpha is going to need!” Alex laughed, completely ignoring the distress his uncle was feeling.

Chet just gulped, and took a couple deep breaths.

He had a feeling he was going to be doing that a lot.

////