Uncle continued his careful examination of the book that had arrived with the pendants. As with the pendants, he could feel that it was a book of good magic, and powerful at that. However, each of the spells listed within seemed to call on concepts he had never encountered before in magic, and used in ways he'd never considered working magic before. Beyond that, it was quite nondescript, and contained more theory than actual spell work. Uncle could only come to one conclusion from this. The fillies, the pendants, the spellbook...all were from a whole other world.
He immediately discarded this conclusion as preposterous. There were other planes of existence, certainly, but a whole other world with its own laws of magic that could be somehow applied to this one? Patently absurd, and violated everything he knew about magic. Besides, once he'd written out the makeup of the pendants more, he was able to see how the magic ran through them to create the effects produced. With practice and resources, he could duplicate them himself. That would hardly be the case if they used a completely different system of magic. Obviously, the ponies just came from a plane of existence that was unfrequented by documented magi.
"With how adorable ponies are," Uncle mused aloud, "any magi who reached their plane likely had heart attacks before they could return and document. With skilled and experienced wizards, spirit is strong but heart is not!" He heard a buzzing and banging against the inside of the shop's front door. "Scootaloo!" he called out without looking up. "Do not fly around antiques! In shop front, keep all four hooves on floor."
In the corner of his eye, he saw Scootaloo settling to the floor on the welcome mat. She then stood up, pawing at the front door with her forehooves, looking over her shoulder at him pleadingly.
Uncle returned to his reading, not quite realizing that Scootaloo wanted something from him. When he heard further banging, he looked up to see Scootaloo banging her head and forehooves against the front door. "...what?" he demanded.
Scootaloo looked up at him pleadingly.
Uncle scratched his head. "Jackie!" he called out.
"Yes, Uncle?" Jackie asked, stepping into the room with Apple Bloom clinging to his head.
"Ponies are not hats!" Uncle scolded, lifting Apple Bloom off Jackie's head. "One more thing-"
"Sweetie Belle's on your head," Jackie pointed out.
Raising his eyes, Uncle caught a bit of white near his forehead, and heard Sweetie Belle squeak. He calmly lifted her off his head. "One more thing! Scootaloo is banging at door!"
Jackie sighed. "I told her she had to wear the pendant to go outside. It was the only way to get her to wear it."
"So now she wants to go outside?" Uncle interpreted.
Scootaloo squeaked happily, bouncing up and down excitedly. Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle soon joined her in bouncing and squeaking.
"I think they all do," Jackie murmured.
"Get harnesses and leashes," Uncle instructed Jackie.
Before long, the trio of ponies were harnessed and leashed. The three had examined the new accouterments curiously, and did not appear to like them at first. However, as soon as Uncle opened the front door, they forgot all about it and dashed out into the rest of the world. Just as they reached the curb, a car zoomed down the road right in front of them, and Sweetie Belle immediately tried to duck back inside.
Shaking his head, Uncle handed Apple Bloom and Scootaloo's leashes to Jackie. "Hold these," he instructed, turning to pick Sweetie Belle up to reassure her.
As soon as Jackie turned his head to watch what Uncle was doing, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo took off, one on the ground and one in the air, racing down the road as fast as they could, towing Jackie along behind them.
"WAAAUGH!" Jackie screamed out as his feet raced to keep himself from falling over. "No! Bad ponies! Don't run in the street!" His eyes widened as they started down a long hill, and his foot came down on a discarded roller skate, causing him to roll after them, no longer able to exert any sort of control despite bracing his other foot against the road to slow down. "Bad day bad day bad day bad day bad day!" he screamed out as the fillies raced around bikers and the occasional parked - or moving - car, leaving him to desperately twist, duck, dodge, or weave to avoid the new obstacle.
As he zoomed down the road, he nearly slammed into a young white haired man with angular blue eyes wearing a green suit as he stepped out of a limo. "Sorry!" Jackie screamed out as he barely swerved around.
The man paused, blinking at what had just passed him. "Was that...a pegasus?" He stroked his chin for a time, then shook his head. "Impossible. This new project's making me see 'magic' everywhere I look." Turning, he went into the library he'd come to peruse.
Desperately, Jackie struggled to exert some form of control. "Oh...how do you make ponies stop? Halt! Yield!" As he saw the pier approaching, he screamed out, "WHOA!"
Apple Bloom immediately halted, sitting down on her rump with a smile. Scootaloo gripped a lamppost as she halted. The sudden change in momentum jerked the leashes out of Jackie's hands, and he careened into the water with a terrified scream and a loud splash. Resurfacing with seaweed on his head, he glowered at the giggling fillies. "Bad day..." he grumbled.
"Jackie!" Uncle called out, pulling his bike to a stop and rubbing his joints, riding the bike having pushed him a bit even if putting Sweetie in the basket had been the only way to get her out of the shop and down the road. "What are you doing in bay? We are taking ponies for walk, not swim!"
"It was not exactly intentional, Uncle," Jackie groaned, clambering back out onto the pier and shaking himself off as best he could, only to slip as the roller skate was still on his foot. "Oohhh..."
Shaking his head, Uncle took the leashes. "Take bike back to shop," he instructed. "Uncle will walk ponies. One more thing! Do not use up all hot water cleaning up! Ponies will need bath when they get back."
Groaning, Jackie got the roller skate off his foot and clambered onto the bike, turning to head back up the hills to the antique shop, looking forward to a hot shower - however short - and a relaxing nap. He'd need it if he was going to keep the ponies entertained while Uncle researched the artifacts from his dig.