//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1 
// Story: Magic is a friend 
// by Blackdust 
//------------------------------//


Jackson's pov

When Jackson got home he finished his chores and set about working on the potion. To him, only two things came before his discoveries. His devices came second. The thing that mattered the most to him was one show that if anybody knew he even vaguely liked, he would be bullied viciously. Not to mention the fact that his parents may not want anything to do with him unless he renounced his love of the girls show. The name of this magical show, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.
"Oh yeah!" Jackson said, "Today's the day the new episode comes out! If only I could go there myself and speak to one of them..." He sighed as he realized the reason he was really building the teleportation pad was as a predecessor to the reality hopper that he would use to try and go to MLP.
But to do that, I'd have to finish it and prove it works without a hitch. And to do that I'd need something bigger than a grapefruit to go through without turning into pudding. All his previous tests of things bigger than that, boots, boxes, doesn't matter, it would always turn into some kind of weird pudding. Obviously inedible, but he accidentally tried it once when he was up late and was too tired to notice. Put simply, he was sick for a week afterwards. However, he was never that tired at night again. Well worth it when he looked back on the silly mistake.
"Jackson! We're home!" His mother called, opening the front door of their two story A-frame, "We got groceries! Would you mind givng us a hand!"
"Sure thing mom! Just let me set everything back where it was and I'll be right down!" He called back, already setting everything in places where they wouldn't break or fall.
"Hurry! We got eggs and milk!" His dad called up.
"Got it!" Jackson said, finishing putting things back and hurrying down the steps. But when he got down the steps his parents weren't home. The door was closed and locked. "What...? Maybe it was a phantom sense..." Jackson said, preparing to head back to his experiments, but then the door really did unlock and open. His mom standing there about to call out to him.
"Oh! Jackson, good, we have groceries," she said.
"Let me guess, milk and eggs?" Jackson said, thinking that it was more of a phantom premonition than a phantom sense.
"Wha... Yeah... How'd you know? You never keep track of the groceries we need." His dad said, walking into the house just in time to catch him saying that.
"Would you believe me if I said I heard you say that before you got out of the car?" Jackson asked, hoping that would define it simply enough for them to catch what he was saying.
"Phantom scenarios? I used to have those when I dreamed at your age," his dad said, walking into the small kitchen they had. "Seems to run in the family. But for me, it stopped after I turned nine if memory serves."
"Really?" Jackson asked heading for the door at the same time that his dad had finished unloading his arms.
"Yep. Still have one, once in a blue moon. And they have never been wrong. For the past 17 years not a single one has been off in the slightest. Some might say it's a zion complex," he said, giving him a wink as they got to the grey SUV that they used for transporting some of the experiments he made that would fit in a car.
"Yeah, only you call it that. While the rest of the world would say it's kids being kids," Jackson said grabbing as many bags as his arms could hold and heading back for the door. His dad grabbed the last of the groceries, closed the doors, and locked the car.
"Hey, once we get all this put away, wanna watch the new episode of MLP on my computer?" his dad asked, shocking Jackson.
"You're a brony?" Jackson stupidly asked.
"Why else do you think my computer was on, unlocked, and open to that one episode? It's the same one that got me hooked on the show," he replied calmly putting things away.
His mother walked in at that point and gently slapped his dad on the arm saying, "I knew you did that on purpose! But I can't rightly blame you. It's a good thing he got your insatiable curiosity and decided to see what it was."
"You two... planned that?" Jackson said in complete shock as his picture of how his parents acted took a complete 180.
"He did. I told him that it was evil and he wouldn't listen," his mom assured him.
His dad looked down and noticed the shocked look on his face. "Hey, go back up and work. You need something to distract you right now. I'll finish things up down here," he said, setting the rest of the groceries on the counter and gently guiding him to the stairs.
Once Jackson was upstairs and working he forgot all about the little secret his parents admitted to downstairs. After a few hours of working, he stood up and stretched, looking toward the stairs as it all came rushing back to him.
"Holy crab apples my dad's a brony and my mom's a pegasister as well..." he said, still in slight disbelief. Then he felt a slight urge to do something he always heard the other kids doing and dismissed it as foolish. Wish. "I wish I could just go to Equestria for a day at least..."
And suddenly, he felt his whole being pulse and disperse. He could feel the room, and then nothing...

To be continued...