Wilmont

by gmen15

Laurie and the Return to the Mall

Laurie and the Return to the Mall

Tree House- 2005

The sun was shining brightly down onto the tree house that Rainbow Dash and Ryan were sitting in currently. But this was 2005, years before Ryan even knew who the cyan mare was.

At this time, there was a ten-year old Ryan sitting in the open doorway, his eyes gazing out over the treetops as the sun began to dip down for the night. He leaned his head against the wooden frame of the tree house's entrance and let out a sigh as his mind began to drift off into the realm of fantasy and improbability.

Just then, he then felt someone tap him on his shoulder, causing him to turn around. Standing behind him was a younger and much thinner Lawrence standing behind him. He looked nothing like he did today. His eyes were bright and innocent; his stature was thin and frailer. He didn't look like he could ever hurt a fly, much less his best friend. There was no flicker in his eyes to indicate the jerk he becomes in the future.

"Hey man, what are you doing?" Lawrence, or Laurie, as he called himself back then, asked Ryan.

Ryan, his best friend at age ten and his victim at age seventeen.

"Oh, nothing man. I was just looking out at the sunset." Ryan said in a distant manner, like his mind was miles and miles away.

Laurie chuckled at his friend's odd behavior. Not that it surprised him, after all Ryan was always like that.

"Dude, that's so gay."

"Whatever, I think it's amazing, like a little slice of fantasy that somehow we've been blessed with in real life."

Laurie shrugs, "Whatever you say Ryan…hey, watch this!" Laurie hacked and spat a giant glob of saliva out of the tree-house door. Laurie grinned as he watched his loogie land onto the ground with a nice, quiet “splat".

Ryan looked back at him in disgust. "Dude, that's gross."

Laurie laughed and shook his head, "Man, you need to start doing some more dude things and stop admiring the sunset like a chick."

"I can't help it; I'm a romantic like that." Ryan muttered. Laurie sat next to him. "I'm always looking for something more."

"What more is there Ryan? You're parents are rich. You can get so many cool things."

"I'm always looking for something special that isn't possible in this reality. I always dream about things I read about or watch on television, characters that don't exist in this world and go on adventures. When I wake up it all fades and I'm have the realization that I am stuck in the confines of reality. I wish life could be more exciting."

Laurie broke out into laugher, "I don't understand you sometimes, man. You are so bizarre."

"You wouldn't understand."

"And stop using that fancy vocab; we aren't in English class you can talk like a ten year old."

The two laughed and walked back into the tree house, where they fist-bumped.

"Bros for life?" Laurie asked.

"Bros for life." Ryan responded with a chuckle. Laurie smiled and walked out of the open door of the tree house and got onto the ladder to climb down, "I'll talk to you later, man!"

He climbed down and left Ryan watching as he disappeared. Ryan then stood up, turned, and walked over to one of the tree house's windows and looked out at the sun as it dipped behind the clouds.

PRESENT- Ryan's Tree House

"Ha-ha, you seriously got grossed out because Laurie spit?" Rainbow Dash said. Her hooves were firmly pressed into her stomach to contain her laughter, "and you have a crush on me out of everypony? Clearly you haven't seen what Applejack and I do when we make a bet."

"Oh no, I have." Ryan said with a smile, "You spit into your hoof and do…well; to us it would either be a fist-bump or hand-shake, for you it's a brohoof or something?"

"Yeah." Rainbow Dash nodded to confirm the saying, "But it didn't gross you out when I did it?"

"No when you did it, it was cute." Rainbow Dash blushed and gave Ryan a sheepish smile.

Happy to stroke Rainbow Dash's massive ego, Ryan continued, "Besides, I like you because I'm into badass girls who aren't cookie-cutter stereotypes of "shopping" this, and "sparkly vampires" that, and prefer rock music and getting their hands, or hooves in your case, dirty."

"So then you must've loved how we placed our bets."

Ryan nodded and both of them shared in a hardy chuckle before Rainbow Dash got them both back on topic.

"So what happened between you and Laurie?"

Ryan sighed and looked at her, "It was a few months later, the week before school started. His parents learned that I was the son of two wealthy parents that lived in Leigh Heights, which is our neighborhood, the richest in town. Needless to say a big union man like him wasn't happy about it."

Laurie's House- 2005

Laurie was sitting at his dining room table with his father and mother. His mother was drinking some steaming-hot coffee, while his father sat next to him. He wore a white t-shirt that was caked in mud and dust from the construction site that he worked at, and a pair of torn-up jeans that were just as dirty.

"I told you to stay out of Leigh Heights Lawrence! That's where the rich bastards live, and I told you that you aren't ever to speak to them."

"But-" Laurie started, but he was cut off by his father hand, raised to silence his boy who not only shut up, but flinched at the gesture.

"You are never to ever go to that boy's house ever again; unless you plan on teaching him a thing of two about the shit that we working class people go through each time people like his parents fire us." He leaned towards Laurie with anger in his eyes, "As long as he's rich and we're beneath them, you stay away. Got it?"

Laurie opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw the unyielding resilience in his father's eyes. He somberly looked down at the ground, "Got it."

"To them, all of the rich people in town were evil and I was nothing more than their spawn It didn't matter if most of the wealthier individuals weren't bad, all it takes is a few and the entire group is chastised."

Present Day- Tree House

"What kind of thinking is that?" Rainbow Dash asked confused. "Hating a group of people just because of a few bad seeds?"

"Welcome to humanity Dashie." Ryan laughed a bit before he continued, "That thinking is what we learn in the media. There are evil rich people that exit, no question, like Bernie Madoff and many douchebags on Wall-Street. Even animated shows always have the rich portrayed as jerks who only care about money. Because the media hardly ever shows rich people in a positive light unless it fits their agenda, people think all rich people are heartless bastards who step on the lower and middle class. To make matters worse, Lawrence's Dad was one of the hundreds laid off by the local soda factory the year before, which is why he was working at a construction site at the time. After he got fired, he detested the rich so much that if your salary was a penny higher than his, you were a greedy ass-hole that needed to be taken down a notch."

Rainbow Dash stared at Ryan in disbelief. She wasn't used to such generalizations being present in Equestria. After all, for every Prince Blueblood and snobby rich pony, there was a Fancy Pants to balance the scales. Most ponies knew this and didn't lump them all in the same group. Same things went for ponies from Manehatten and ponies and creatures of different backgrounds as well.

Well, except Zecora, but they learned their lesson on that.

"Dashie?" Ryan asked, noticing how she had zoned out on him.

"Huh? Oh sorry." Rainbow Dash blushed, “So he told Laurie to stop seeing you?"

Ryan nodded.

First Day of School- 2005

Ryan was at his locker, pushing up on the latch to try and get it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"Stupid piece of garbage locker." Ryan thought as he pushed up harder and harder. After a few pushes and punches, Ryan finally got the locker open. Ryan sighed in relief and began to put his school-books into his bag. Suddenly, he saw Laurie walking by him. Ryan waved, but Lawrence just looked at him and then looked away with sadness in his eyes before he continued down the hall.

"I thought maybe he was just in a bad mood, but every time I tried to speak with him that week, he ignored me. Finally, the next Monday, I confronted him at his locker."

At the end of the day, Laurie was at his locker putting his books away when Ryan decided to confront him.

Laurie slammed it shut it and turned to leave when he saw that Ryan was in his way, looking at him with inquisitive eyes.

"Laurie, why aren't you talking to me?"

Laurie looked away and tried to get by, but Ryan stopped him, "Laurie stop."

"My Dad doesn't want me to talk to you anymore."

"What?" Ryan asked somewhat taken aback, "but...why?"

"Because your parents are rich and my parents hate the rich." Laurie looked up at Ryan with the same hurt in his eyes he had the previous morning.

Ryan was frozen in place, shocked at what his best friend was telling him.

"Laurie, come on, you can't honestly believe that."

"Ryan I still want to be friends." Lawrence said with desperation.

"Great, then, let's be friends."

Laurie smiled and nodded enthusiastically, "Okay! Just tell your parents to stop making so much money and it'll work out!"

Ryan was smiling up to this point. Suddenly, his expression fell. "Y-you want me to tell my parents to make less money?"

"Yeah, they make more than enough. Do they really need all of that money? I mean, you're their only son."

"Laurie, they earned their money," Ryan muttered, "I know that your father has bad experiences with rich business owners, but I'm not going to tell my parents to make less money because it upsets your parents."

"Why not?"

"Because it's ridiculous." Ryan snapped back, a hint of defensiveness in his voice, “I mean...I can't believe you'd even suggest such a thing. Besides, it's not like they'd agree to make less just because I told them to. I don't have that kind of power over them."

"I get it," Laurie said with a touch of rising anger in his voice, "You'd rather have the chance to get a BMW when you get your license. Or stay in that mansion of a house that makes mine look like a shack than be my friend."

"Laurie, I still want to be your friend! It just isn't right of you to ask my parents to earn less just to please your father."

"You disappointed me Ryan." Laurie coldly stated as some tears began to run down his cheeks, "You've let the rich claim you."

"Laurie, where are you getting this anti-rich crap from? I've been rich for the longest time and it never bothered you before. Did your father brainwash you over the past week or something?"

"No he enlightened me," Laurie hissed, pointing a finger at Ryan, "and everything that he's told me has shown that all the rich care about is money. They don't care about the people they hurt, and you've proven that. You're no different than the rest of them; you care more about money than your own best friend!"

Ryan slowly started to shake his head in disbelief, his eyes wide in horror like he was talking to a mental patient. , and looking into Laurie's eyes, that assumption wouldn't be too far off.

"Laurie, you've lost your mind."

Laurie grabbed Ryan by the shirt and shoved him into the wall of lockers, drawing people's attention to them. Ryan was frightened out of his mind, his body shaking and his eyes still like dinner plates. Laurie lowered him and released his collar. He stared him down with pure hatred. The glimmer of the boy he once was slowly slipping from his eyes as he went from being sweet, innocent Laurie, to being bully Lawrence.

"Watch your back you spoiled rich prick." He growled before storming off.

Ryan was left shaking as he slipped to the ground, tears pouring down his cheeks. He turned and walked off, every now and then doing a double-back to see if Lawrence was still there. But he wasn't, he had gone to class and their friendship was over.

"At that moment, I knew the "bros for life" saying we had was no longer valid, society made sure of that."

Present Day- Tree House

"Then how did he become your bully?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Ryan looked down and back up at Rainbow Dash, who had the most concerned look in her eyes, "God I love her so much." He thought before snapping out of it and getting back on-topic.

"Throughout that year he began to adopt more and more of his parent's beliefs. Soon he hated the rich so much that joined one of Wilmont's many anarchist gangs. This led to me being one of his targets, as well as some of the other wealthy kids at school...and just other kids in general. Heck, he even picks on Carl and James."

"Wow, I can't believe that much envy exists here." Rainbow Dash said in shock.

"Welcome to our world." Ryan said with a small smile before walking over to the window to look at the sun. He sat down much like he did seven years ago to watch the birds flying high above the sky. Rainbow Dash took a seat next to him and leaned her head against his shoulder.

"I actually had mixed feelings towards the show; your show"

Rainbow Dash looked up at Ryan with some sadness, "But…but I thought you liked it."

Ryan saw her sad eyes and quickly reiterated.

"Oh no, don't get me wrong I loved the show, it was so relaxing and fun and managed to get my mind off of things when I needed to." Ryan said before letting out a deep sigh. He reached over and began to stroke her mane.

"But every time I watched it, I got depressed. I would see you and your friends on my computer screen and, I'd be mad that you weren't real, especially you, Dashie. That you were just products of an artist's imagination, and…I thought you existing would never be possible. You represented loyalty, and, seeing how faithful you are to your friends made me wish that your kind of loyalty would exist here, even though I felt like it was impossible after Lawrence turned against me. " Ryan said as he continued to watch the trees outside as some wind gusts blew by, holding back as many tears as he could. Rainbow Dash leaned back into Ryan, nuzzling her head into Ryan's shoulder.

"Well, now you have me, and I'll always be here for you." She said with a smile and Ryan looked back down at her.

He wiped away a tear at that and smiled before letting out a small, but happy, sigh. "Ï know you will be Dashie."

Mall- Day

"Come on, where are they?" Alex groaned as he let his head flop onto the table.

He and Louis were waiting in the mall food court for the others to arrive.

Alex lifted his head. He picked up the shiny metal napkin dispenser to see his reflection. Red cuts and black and blue bruises littered his face from the beating he got the night before. He let out a sigh, tenderly touching one of the bruises on his cheek. He gently pressed in. It didn't take much pressure for pain to shoot through his face. He immediately flinched and drew his hand back and grimaces as the pain slowly subsided.

Louis, meanwhile, was wearing his backwards cap, his eyes were slits, red and glazed over, and his long, messy hair sticking out every-which way. And, as one might expect, he smoked a nice, fat blunt before arriving at the mall. Now, he was as stoned as a hippy at Woodstock.

Louis slowly looked at Alex, his face showing some paranoia, as well as confusion.

"Dude...are you an alien?" Louis asked in a voice not much different from most stoners.

Alex slowly turned his head towards Louis. He placed the napkin dispenser back down onto the table and looked at the stoner teen.

"Um…I'm sorry, what?"

"Like, you look like an alien, man. Are…are ya gonna probe me, because…because that would hurt…and I don't swing that way."

Alex paused a moment to let what Louis said sink in.

"How high are you?"

"Like a fucking plane." Louis said with a laugh.

Alex nodded before he slowly turned away, shaking his head in disapproval.

"Great, now I'm stuck with the fucking stereotypical stoner. Great, just great. James and Carl better have a good reason for dragging me out here like this. Ah mean, Jesus Christ…..why did I just think with my southern accent? Stop it Alex, you're in New York now, not Texas and…"

"ÄLEX!"

Alex snapped out of his deep thinking and looked up to see Carl, James and four of the "girls" from yesterday, Raquel, Tara, Penelope, some girl with pink hair and timid, teal eyes and…

"...Anna." Alex thought dreamily.

Alex began to blush as he laid eyes the pretty southern belle with the cowboy hat standing before him. His stomach suddenly started to feel like it was doing flips. "Anna" smiled at him and walked over to the seat next to him and pointed at it.

"Is this here seat taken?" Applejack asked with an honest smile that only made Alex blush more.

"N-no, go right ahead."

"Thank ya kindly partner." She sat down next to him.

"Anytime...Anna." Alex said with a smile and tone that indicated he met the girl of his wildest fantasies.

"Hey! Why isn't Pete here?" Penelope, or Pinkie Pie, asked with a pout.

"He's probably running late, wait, not all of us can sit at this table." James said, realizing that the table could only sit four people, six at most if two other chairs were brought over from another table.

"James, you can take Flu…er…I mean Thelma, and Penelope over to that table. Me, Raquel, Tara and Anna will sit here.

James nodded walked over to a nearby table with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie, who still looked upset.

"Why is your fake name Thelma?" he whispered to Fluttershy as she managed to get into the seat, sitting like a pony would, excluding Lyra.

"I'm not sure, Ryan gave me that name. And he gave Rainbow Dash the name "Louise"."

James laughed as he started to take his seat, "I thought he did ha-ha, Ryan and his movie obsession."

"I wish Pete was here." Pinkie said before slouching in her chair with a saddened face.

"Pinkie, don't worry. He'll show up, just give him time."

Pinkie perked up at this and sat back up in her chair with a small smile.

"Okay James."

"Great, listen I'll go get some salads for us. I'll be right back." James got up and left.

Later on, back at the table with Alex, Carl, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Louis, the group was talking and eating some salad they also had gotten. And it was clear to Carl that there were some problems.

First off, Alex and Applejack were flirting with each other in the most obvious ways imaginable. Alex began to talk about how he remembered living on a farm in Texas until he was eleven, when he moved up to New York. He also brought up how he forced himself to lose the accent. Applejack told him she wasn't happy about that. She wished that he had kept his accent so she could hear it and could sound the same. Applejack also wanted him to talk to her about his life in the country, as she was enjoying how much they were alike and both from life farm-life. So Alex started talking about the three staples to his life in Texas: apples, hard work, and the Dallas Cowboys.

He was sure to leave out their quarterback who was known to choke.

Now, the opposite scenario was happening with Rarity and Louis, as his ganja-induced behavior made Rarity's lunch a living hell.

"You know, you sort of look like a girl I banged once."

Rarity's mouth hung open in shock. "I...I beg your pardon!"

"Yeah, she had the same slutty lips as you. Maybe you can use 'em the same way?" Louis gave Rarity a suggestive wink and smile, which only made the unicorn more disgusted.

"Well, I've never seen such boorish and crude behavior from anypony before!"

Alex looked over at Rarity with confusion, "Did you just say "anypony"?"

Rarity's eyes went wide as she realized her mistake.

"Oh, n-no, no, no! Of course not! I said anybody. Anypony? Ha, that's ridiculous." She corrected frantically. Alex nodded in some skepticism before turning his attention back to Applejack.

Twilight decided that it was time to check the two boys out to see if they were the elements that they were looking for. So she first walked over to Alex, who was back to flirting with Applejack.

"Hey Alex, would you mind holding still for a minute?" Twilight asked.

"Huh?" Alex said, too entranced by Applejack's eyes that he didn't hear her. "Yeah, sure Tara, what is it?"

Twilight leaned her head forward and closed her eyes. But just before she could touch Alex's chest, a scowling and protective Applejack pushed her away.

"Uh, Tara, what do ya think yer doin'?"

Twilight glared up at Applejack with a bit of resentment for preventing her from doing her job.

"I'm trying to see if Alex here is important for our cause, Anna." Twilight hissed through her teeth.

Applejack glared at Twilight with an "I'm watching you" look before she leaned back against her chair, not taking her eyes off of Twilight.

Twilight rolled her eyes and put her forehead/horn, against Alex's chest.

"Tara um…..okay?"

Twilight backed up, turned to Applejack with a smile, and gave her an approving nod. After Twilight made her way over to Louis, Applejack grinned and leaned towards Alex who put his arm around her and gave her a kind smile with a flirtatious look.

Applejack then started to eat some of her salad.

Now Carl was concerned, "Jesus Christ, what's going on? I mean, first Ryan, now Alex? Not to mention me." Carl's eyes widened at that thought and shook his head, "No, don't think like that. You don't have a thing for Twilight, you don't."

Now, after Twilight lifted her head away from Louis, who was so out of it at this point that he didn't budge, even with Twilight's head pressed up against his chest. He actually smiled a bit, enjoying the feeling of a girl so close to him and...erm...a certain part of the male anatomy. Twilight lifted her head away from the perverted stoner and turned to Rarity. She sighed and shook her head.

Not too surprisingly, Rarity's eyes glowed and she gasped, "Oh thank you Celestia." Before slumping back into the chair with a sigh, her forelegs, or arms to Louis and Alex, outreached over the sides as if she was resting after she had just run a marathon. She was just so happy not to be paired with this loser.

"Raquel, are you all right you seem…" Alex started when he heard someone burp next to him. He turned to see Applejack covering her mouth and blushing like mad. Normally she wouldn't really care, after all she never was the "girly-girl" type, but because she burped in front of Alex, who she was trying to impress and flirt with, she was mortified.

Twilight smacked her hoof to her head just next to her horn, and thought, "Ugh, really Applejack?"

Carl's mouth hung open and Louis began to laugh like he'd just come out of a room full of nitrous oxide…or he was stoned out of his mind, which was the truth.

"Anna, how rude!" Rarity said.

"Ah…ah'm sorry." She said, looking away from Alex. She pulled her hat down over her eyes to avoid looking at him, her face turning so red that her blush was visible through her orange fur. She knew that he was probably grossed out by her now and she blew her chance to be with him.

But to her surprise Alex, who was never the passive type, pushed her hat up away from her eyes and smiled at her, "You don't have to be embarrassed Anna; I actually like gals that aren't always so focused on being "proper"." He said with a smile, and Applejack looked away to hide her blush.

Carl stared in shock at Alex. "Okay, we human elements are a bizarre group of individuals; that much is clear."

"Gee, thank ya Alex." Applejack said, looking up at him with a thankful smile.

"You know," Alex said leaning back, "you remind me of someone."

"Really, who?"

Alex looked from side to side before leaning in to whisper, but loud enough that Twilight was able to hear, "What do the names Flim and Flam mean to you?"

Applejack ground here teeth, "Ah hate those good fer nothing…."

Her eyes widened and her hoof covered her mouth, realizing what she just said.

When she saw Alex's cocky smile, she knew, against all odds and reason, he had found out who she really was.

"You're name isn't really Anna, is it?" he asked her quietly.

Applejack sighed and shook her head.

"I think we need to talk." Alex whispered, standing up and turning to the others, "will you guys and gals excuse us, me and Anna need to have a quick word in private."

Applejack sighed and followed Alex towards the carousel. Carl watched them go and turned to Twilight, "What was that all about?"

Twilight looked down and sighed, "Your friend is too smart for my spell."

Once Alex and Applejack were behind the carousel near the entrance of the mall, Alex looked down at her.

"You know Applejack, I probably shouldn't have found out who you really were, considering how this shouldn't be in the realm of possibility."

"How did ya know?" Applejack asked.

"Well you act just like you do in the show, and I knew you couldn’t be role playing because you would have introduced yourself as Applejack without fear." Alex said before sighing, "Also I knew you couldn't be insane because your other three friends clearly look like humanized versions of Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie."

"Fine, ya got us all, me and mah big mouth." Applejack said, defeated before her eyes shot open, "Wait, what do ya mean ah act like ah do in the show?"

Alex smiled, "Because even as a human, you have the same kind, strong-willed, honest personality, not to mention you have the same beautiful green eyes, same honest and kind smile, and same pretty face."

Alex pushed some of her mane away to get a better view of her humanized eyes, which the illusion still made him see, though they were the same old animated pony eyes they always had been.

Applejack blushed and smiled, "Aw yer too kind Alex."

"So why you're here, and why you're a human."

"First off, ah ain't human, I'm just projected as one in yer mind. Second, it's a long story."

Alex smiled back at her before he kissed her. Unlike everyone else, even Ryan, Alex didn't really have any problems in falling for Applejack, regardless if she was a cartoon pony or not, and regardless of what others thought about him for doing so. It was just a part of his “I don’t give a shit what other people think of me” personality.

Alex broke the kiss and looked down at Applejack with a smile.

"I have time to listen."

Applejack blushed and giggled a little, “Still into me even though y’all know ah’m a pony huh?”

Alex shook his head and leaned in for another kiss. This time, Applejack didn’t just take it passively, she returned in and soon the two of them were making out behind the carousel that, to most people, just looked like two teens kissing in public, nothing out of the ordinary to anyone unfamiliar with the truth.

He broke it again, "I'm actually even more into you now that I know you're really the element of honesty, AJ. It doesn't matter that you're a cartoon pony, you're still very sweet, kind, hard-working, and beautiful."

Applejack smiled at him and hugged Alex back. They held onto each other for a little while before they began to make out some more.

Meanwhile, back with the others, things continued to go south. Rarity was on the verge of stabbing Louis in the face with the plastic fork she had eaten her salad with as he continued to make sexual jokes about her. Both Twilight and Carl had a serious case of face-to-hand syndrome. And Pinkie Pie was still looking around anxiously for Pete to arrive.

The only ones who were doing fine at the tables were Fluttershy and James, who were now talking about Fluttershy's work with animals, which James had a great interest in.

"So what type of animal is your favorite?"

"Oh my, I couldn't tell you. They're all just so wonderful." she said with a big smile as her eyes looked off as she imaged all of the little and big animals that she took care of.

"Just pick one then."

"Well, I guess that would be bunnies. They're just so cute and fluffy."

James chuckled a bit, "Like Angel?"

Fluttershy stopped, noticing the sarcasm in James voice, before she gave him a small shrug. 'He's not always grumpy; sometimes he can be great He's very loyal and protective of me."

James nodded, remembering how even though Angel seemed like a jerk, there were moments when it was clear that he was protective and caring about Fluttershy, especially when he helped her train to up her wind speed for the tornado in "Hurricane Fluttershy".

She ate some more of her salad with her mouth which, again, looked like she was using a fork to eat from other people's point of view.

"Oh hey it's Petey Weetie Bo Beetie!" Pinkie exclaimed, pointing her hoof towards the entrance of the mall.

James choked on his salad as he tried to repress laughter from Pinkie's odd rhyme.

Pete saw Pinkie and game a grave smile and walked over to her. She ran over and almost knocked him over as she gave him a big hug. Pete's eyes were wide and he froze in fear. He shook a little bit, not used to this showing of affection from anyone, let alone a girl he somewhat liked.

Pinkie broke the hug and giggled, "What took you so long? I was worried that you wouldn't show up! But, you're here now so I'm happy!"

"Sorry, I was…busy." Pete muttered quietly as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. Pinkie smiled back at him. Once Pete saw this, he couldn't help but smile right back at her. Even though he was still clearly taken aback by her excited nature that was the complete opposite of his own quiet nature, she succeeded in making him feel comfortable around her.

"Oh, okay! Hey, come on lets go back to the table!" she said before she grabbed the timid boy's hand and literally dragged him over to the table. Once there, Pinkie pulled his seat out so he could sit down. Once in his seat, he put his hands onto the table and looked down at them. James and Fluttershy, who were right across from him, looked at each other, unsure how to speak to the boy. As he was the more outgoing of the two, James took matters into his own hands and turned to Pete.

"So Pete, I'm glad to see you could make it." James said.

Pete didn't answer immediately, but after a few seconds he managed to whisper out, "Thanks for inviting me...I really appreciate it."

James smiled and patted Pete on the back, which made him flinch a bit.

"Wow, he's like Fluttershy. How in the world did he and Pinkie get paired up?"

Pinkie took the seat next to him and stared at him with a huge grin.

"So Jamesie-wamsie, how old are you?"

"Um…seventeen." He muttered.

"Hey, is something wrong? You know, when I'm upset about something, I bake! Or sing! Or, well, a lot of things, really! It all depends on what I feel like or what I can do!"

"Penelope, um, maybe you shouldn't…." Fluttershy began, but Pinkie didn't hear her warning as she continued to blab non-stop in typical Pinkie Pie fashion.

Surprisingly enough, her ramblings actually seemed to be making Pete smile and feel better about being around these kids that he didn't know. He looked up into her eyes, which was rare for him to do because of his shyness, and smiled at her. James sighed in relief and decided to just let the conversation go. After all, it was only helping Pete out.

"Where are you from?" Pete finally got the courage to ask.

"Oh I'm from Ponyville!"

James, who was drinking some soda at the time, went wide-eyed and gagged. He started to choke on the drink, only stopping after he pounded his chest a couple of times. Fluttershy seemed to lean back and hide behind her mane at Pinkie's dumb mistake.

Now, Pete looked at her skeptically, "Ponyville? Where's that?"

"Well, it's actually on another world called Equestria!"

Pete's face was frozen, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape. He then looked around the table, at the nervous looking James, the shy Fluttershy, and the still peppy Pinkie Pie.

He looked at Pinkie Pie and shook his head, "Why are you doing this to me?"

Pinkie was still smiling up until now. Once the words left Pete's mouth, her smile dropped and she gave him a confused look.

Pete then turned to James. "Is this why you all called me out here? Because you found out I'm a brony and wanted to mock me?"

James, who was still pounding his chest after the choking incident, cleared his throat and looked up at Pete.

He shook his head, "Pete no of course not…."

"The beatings and verbal harassment I get at school aren't enough? I can't enjoy a show that lets me escape from it all? Who the hell do you think you are?" Pete said on the verge of tears.

"Pete it isn't like..." James began.

"Go to hell, all of you." Pete hissed as he stood up and stormed towards the entrance of mall.

"Pete, wait!" Pinkie shot up and ran after him.

"God-damn it, come on Fluttershy." James stood up and followed them towards the exit with Fluttershy right on his heels.

Pete and Pinkie were already outside and James was about to be as well when out of the corner of his eye he saw Alex and Applejack making out near the carousel. He stopped, turned and stared at them in astonishment.

"Um…Alex? Anna?"

Alex looked up at James and smiled, breaking the kiss for a second, "'Sup man?"

"Howdy sugarcubes." Applejack said with a tip of her hat. She then turned back to Alex and continued to passionately kiss him.

James didn't know what to say, he was too confused by everything that was happening. He then felt a hoof tap him on the shoulder and saw Fluttershy pointing outside, "Um, I hope I'm not interrupting but shouldn't we go outside?"

James nodded and went out. Alex saw this and brought it to Applejack's attention.

"Should we go too?"

"Ah think so." She said as they, too, began to head out.

Back at the table, Carl and the others saw what was going on with Pinkie and Pete.

"That's not good." Carl said, "Come on, let's go after them."

They began to leave, but just as Rarity was about to go, she felt someone tug at her "shirt", which was really her well-styled tail, and she yelped in pain. She turned around to see Louis looking her up and down. Once his eyes met hers, he winked, "So...you're place or mine?"

"What!?!" Rarity growled.

"I have to ask you, could you help me up? Because I literally can't move right now." He broke out into laughter because, well, he was stoned.

Rarity scowled, walked over to Louis. She leaned forward and put her hooves onto Louis' thighs so she was mere inches away from his face.

"Listen here bud; do you honestly think that you will win your way to a girl's heart with this behavior?"

"No, just her pants, or skirt, depending on what she's wearing." Louis said with a dumbass stoner smile.

Rarity couldn't hold it in anymore and she began her rant, "You are without a doubt the single rudest person that I have ever met, and I once met a prince who placed part of my lovely dress into a puddle just so he wouldn't get wet when he walked over it. Now, here you are in your ghastly attire and your brash and uncouth attitude and an undeserved feeling of superiority. You see women as nothing more than something to take advantage of; well I see you as a loafer that does nothing but sit on his flank all day laughing at his own jokes. So let me make this perfectly clear to you now so when another girl tells you the same it will not be a shock. You are an utter and complete jerk, and you need to re-think your life if you ever plan on attaining success and love. Until then, good day to you sir."

With that, Rarity turned in her typical huff and stormed off after the others. She left Louis in his chair laughing his ass off, too stoned to even know what she was talking about.

Outside, Pete was walking off in no particular direction, as his parents had dropped him off and went to go grab some lunch before they were going to pick him back up.

"Petey, stop! Don't leave." He heard Pinkie shout behind him. He stopped and turned to see her, and the others, walking towards him.

"Listen, just…please; leave me alone." He said, holding his hand out in desperation.

"Petey, I didn't mean to upset you. I just meant to answer your question, that's all."

"With a response that was clearly to mock me." Pete muttered, kicking a stray rock that was on the parking lot.

"No it wasn't." Pinkie said sadly, her mane flattened a little bit. This caught Pete's attention. Even with the spell, Pete saw “Penelope’s” hair flatten out.

"How…how did you do that?" he asked, shocked.

"Do what?" she asked sadly.

"Your hair it…got flatter." Pete said nervously.

"Pete!"

He looked past Pinkie to see everyone else there now.

"Pete, listen. We aren't trying to mock you or anything; we just really need your help." Carl said.

"What's going on?" he asked shakily.

Carl turned to Twilight and pointed to Pete, "Do your thing Twi."

Twilight nodded and walked over to Pete, who took a sudden step back. He looked like a frightened animal being backed into a corner by a predator.

"Hey, Pete, come on it's okay."

Pete slowly stood back up and let her put her forehead to his chest. He didn't move and decided to let her get whatever she had to do to him over with quickly.

She backed away and gave Pete a warm smile. She then closed her eyes and a purple aura shone from her forehead as slowly, Pete and Alex began to see what the girls really had looked like the entire time as the spell she had cast on everybody was now gone, Fortunately, though, no one else was around to see it, as everyone was too bust focused on getting into the mall to see five cartoon ponies in their midst.

Pete's jaw dropped as he looked down at "Penelope", who was now clearly the pink mare known as Pinkie Pie.

"P-Pinkie Pie?"" Pete stammered as the pink mare nodded with a big smile, her mane puffing back up in joy. He started to feel like he was going to faint so he sat down on the pavement of the parking lot, leaning against a sedan, and put his head into his hands. "This…this is impossible."

"No, it's possible all right!" Pinkie Pie bounced over to him, "and you're the Element of Laughter! Well, for Earth anyways! I'm still the Element of Laughter for Equestria!"

Pete continued to shake his head in disbelief.

Meanwhile, Alex looked at Applejack, who was looking back up at him.

"It's amazing you…you look exactly like you do in the show. You look animated, like this dimension did nothing to alter your appearance," Alex said with a chuckle, "you're like something out of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"."

Applejack gave Alex a small smirk of her own and got up on her hind legs and kissed Alex on the lips.

Carl and James saw this and looked at each other with pure confusion.

"Um Alex…what are you doing?" Carl asked.

"Just kissing the most beautiful mare ah know." He said with a little southern accent. He gave Applejack a small wink.

"Aw Alex, yer makin' me blush." Applejack said with a giggle.

James was stunned for a moment before he just nodded, "Okay, we've officially gone nuts. If you excuse us, Fluttershy and I have something sane to do."

James walked off, Fluttershy flying right behind him, both forgetting that James didn't have a car.

Meanwhile, Carl was still looking at Alex and let out a sigh.

"Awwww…that's sweet, isn't it?" Twilight said as she watched Alex and Applejack kissing as if they'd known each other for longer than an hour. Well, technically, Alex did. But this wasn't anything new to him; after all he did kiss girls on the first date, including blind dates. But the fact that he was kissing his favorite pony made it that much more enjoyable.

Carl shook his head, "I don't get it, why is Alex kissing Applejack?"

"Probably because they like each other?" Twilight said with a light-hearted chuckle in her voice, "besides, I know you have some of those feelings for me."

Carl shook his head in disbelief, his denial starting to crank up to full speed, "What?"

"You heard me."

James and Fluttershy walked back over to the group, "Hey Carl, sorry to bother you but I just had a senior moment and remembered that I don't have a car. Could you give me a lift to where I and Fluttershy need to be?"

Carl didn't acknowledge him. He just kept staring down at Twilight.

"So you're insinuating that I have a thing for you?" Carl asked, voice getting shaky, which revealed his anxiety.

"I'm not insinuating that you have a thing for me. I know you have a thing for me." She said with a teasing smile.

But Carl was now overly concerned about being found out, his cheeks burning a bright red and his heart racing as he started to panic. So then he said something that he would immediately regret.

"No I don't because unlike Ryan and Alex, I don't have a thing for cartoon animals. I don't find you attractive."

Twilight's smile faded. She looked at Carl with sad eyes.

"You…you don't find me...attractive?" she looked like she was going to cry. Carl didn't want to see this and feigned a lack of interest by turning and walking in a huff back towards his car.

Everyone watched him go. Everyone, that is, except Pinkie Pie, as she tried to calm Pete down, which was actually working quite well.

"What was that all about?" Rarity asked.

Twilight just looked at the ground and sighed, "It's nothing Rarity."

"Ya, it's nothin' if Carl actin' like a jerk don't count." Applejack spat.

"Wait here AJ." Alex turned and jogged off after Carl with James right on his heels. He was freaked out by Alex's behavior but at the same time he could never say anything like that to Fluttershy.

How Carl managed to fit the five girls, as well as him and James, in his father's Caprice, he'd never know. God bless cartoon physics.

When they reached Carl, they saw him leaning against the side of his car.

"Dude, what the hell's your problem?" Alex hissed.

"I don't want to talk about it." He muttered sadly. "I don't…"

"Well look, you really hurt Twilight's feelings back there, I think you should go apologize."

Carl looked up at them, his face once again defensive.

"I'm sorry, I need to apologize? She's the one making accusations against me! Saying I like her with no proof, and she gets mad when I'm honest with her?"

"Yeah, you're being honest, right." James muttered in sarcasm, for even he could see the love in his eyes when he was with Twilight.

"She just was making a point because you dissed me and Applejack kissing." Alex spat, "and yeah, I do like Applejack, a lot. I know that's hard for someone like you to understand when you're life hasn't been all hurt and pain, but I love her, and I have for a long time."

"What do you call what happened to my father then?" he hissed.

"That was five years ago Carl," Alex said flatly, "And yes I know it is sad and I do understand that you miss him still. But you still have a loving mother, you almost never get picked on, you have your health, and your family is economically stable."

Alex was so angry he didn't notice Applejack sneak up behind him, looking at him with concern in her eyes. "I have an alcoholic step-father that beats me and my mother on a daily basis. Don't you ever wonder why I have these bruises on my face?" he asked, pointing to some of the red marks and older scars on his face from all of the drunken beatings he got.

"Alex, I…" Carl started, but he was cut off as Alex continued.

"And Ryan? Try being him! Sure his parents love him and he's well off as far as money goes, but does all of that matter when you get the shit kicked out of you every day to the point where no girl would date you! Not to mention I never see you step up to defend him! You have no right to judge us for how we feel towards these girls."

"Wait, Ryan told you about his crush Rainbow Dash?" Carl asked.

"Ryan has a crush on Rainbow Dash?" James asked, finally getting into the conversation after being a silent listener up until this point.

"Yes, Ryan told me all of the time how much he loved Rainbow Dash because he knew that if she was real, she would always be there for him. And if she loved him, she'd be more loyal to him than any other girl. And after what happened between him and Lawrence, it makes complete sense why loyalty is so important to him."

"Ryan didn't tell me any of that until the yesterday." Carl said.

"That's because he felt like I was the only completely trustworthy person around. Besides, I wasn't afraid to tell him about my crush on Applejack."

Applejack looked at Alex in shock, and then smiled, taking comfort in the fact that he, like Ryan, had a crush on her even before meeting her.

Alex continued his rant, "And I assume he only told you yesterday because you all found out Rainbow Dash is real, right?"

Carl nodded and Alex continued.

"Watching the show made me remember the lies that my mother had told me to the point where I always wished that Applejack would be real. She represents something that is dying in this world; honesty; honesty and hard work, both of which are values that so much of our generation has thrown into the gutter." Alex took a deep breath to regain his composure.

Carl wiped some tears away, but he was still holding more back. "Alex I never knew…."

"That's right you never knew. You don't know anything. You think you do just because we tell you some of this, and because you always take pride in "being knowledgeable". But in reality you can't possibly fathom what it's like, what Applejack has meant to me ever since I started to watch the show."

After that, Applejack nudged Alex's leg. He looked down to her and smiled. She smiled back and nuzzled his hand affectionately before shooting a glare at Carl, "Hey Alex, maybe we could give James and Fluttershy ah ride." She said.

Alex nodded, looking up at James, "James? Fluttershy?"

James slowly nodded and followed; himself a bit uneasy about the situation between Alex and Applejack.

Carl just looked back over to where Twilight was to see her hunched over, Rarity putting her foreleg over her.

"I'm an asshole." Carl sighed and stomped the ground angrily.

As Alex, James, Applejack and Fluttershy left, Carl sighed and decided to go apologize.

Meanwhile, Pinkie was oblivious to all of this, as she was gabbing non-stop to Pete, slowly making him talk more and more until they were having actual conversations.

Carl walked over to Twilight to see that her eyes were shut and she was crying as Rarity tried to comfort her.

"Um…Twilight."

She turned to look at Carl; her eyes were filled with tears. Rarity looked at Carl with a small scowl before looking back down at Twilight.

"I'm sorry for being a jerk. You aren't just a cartoon pony to me, you're…you're more than that. You're my friend and…you are beautiful. It's just…"

"No…" she said, wiping her tears away, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I insinuated that you liked me when you didn't."

Carl looked down and slowly nodded, as he decided to keep up his act of not having feelings for her, but his stomach still wretched as those words left her mouth. They just felt so final.

He wished that he could just say how he really felt about her, how he did love her in a way that was more than just a friend.

But he couldn't. He wasn't like Alex, who could just profess their feelings to these girls because, unlike himself who only pretended not to care what other people think about him, Alex really didn't give a shit about other peoples' opinions.

Carl still felt scared about what would happen when people found out about his feelings that weren't his friends and who would judge him.

How would his mother react? His sisters? How would other people around town react? What about when she had to go back to Equestria, as he knew that she would have to. Would he have to watch her go away forever, after professing such emotions to her?

It wouldn't work; it couldn't work.

He stuck his hand out for Twilight to shake, and she did so with a small smile. Now, in her mind, she knew Carl was lying; after all she was very smart. And she knew that someday, he'd tell her. But she didn't want to pressure him into anything too soon and, being the great friend that she was, decided not to ask him about it anymore until the time was right.

Comments

[RainbowdashEpicness]

Oh no! Nobody's commented for almost a week! Rainbowdashepicness to thee rescue!

[gmen15]

1274391

Thanks

Also I'm going to be posting the next chapter to "Equestrain Serviture". Hope it manages to get fewer dislikes and more likes this time.

[RainbowdashEpicness]

1274408 Heh, I look forward too it!

[Commentator]

No mistakes whatsoever. You're catching on mate Keep those chapters coming!

[gmen15]

1277673

Thanks! Glad I'm finally getting better with managing my mistakes.