The Elements of Pure Energy

by The Collective

Chapter 3: Through the Threshold (Part 2)

The Elements of Pure Energy

Chapter 3: Through the Threshold (Part 2)

Felix awoke to the sound of hushed murmuring and trotting hooves on a hardwood floor. “Ahh buck, my stomach!” he groaned loudly. This was followed by a yelp and a flurry of winged activity.

“Its okay, Fluttershy. I think he’s just hungry,” said a familiar voice. Who is that? Starlight? Skylight? Celestia, what’s her name? ….And who the hay is Celestia?!

Felix moaned and attempted to sit up, pushing the heavy comforter off of him. Out of the corner of his eye he caught sight of a mirror. His jaw dropped and he did a double take. The stallion in the mirror was lean, but very large. His coat was a glossy golden-yellow, and his mane was red orange, like a slow fire. His eyes, his eyes were Felix’s: an intense teal green. Felix gasped and stepped backward. As he did, glorious and magnificent wings unfurled behind him.

“Whoa there big guy, don’t want to spill your breakfast!” said a saucy voice at his back. He turned and was greeted by a cyan mare with a mane like a rainbow. If Felix’s jaw could’ve dropped any farther, it probably would have hit the floor.

“Good morning, ‘Mr. Mayor’,” she winked. “The name’s Rainbow Dash, if you were wondering. I hear your friend calls you Felix? I like it; sounds... dangerous,” she winked again and set down his food, then flew off in a flurry of giggles and feathers. For some strange reason, Felix was slightly aroused. Sure wish I had pants, he thought to himself.

Wait, friend? What friend? No way it could’ve been Applejack or What’s-her-face, he had basically screamed at their faces. Speaking of which, what the hell happened? He had so many questions, he didn’t know where to start. But for now...

He slurped down the concoction as fast as possible, and even though it was almost boiling hot, he didn’t feel any pain when it went down his throat.

“Ahh, that was good,” Felix said to himself.

“Oh, you really think so? I-I... I made it myself, it helps ponies recover,” said the most timid little voice he had ever heard. He looked around and saw a pink mane sticking out from behind a corner of the room.

“Yea, it was great... thanks!” he replied. “And you are...?”

“Oh, my name’s Fluttershy, but you can call me whatever you want...” she gradually lost volume until she was barely speaking in a whisper.

“Uhm, thanks, but I’ll call you Fluttershy, if that’s your name,” Felix chuckled. He took a step towards her and she immediately vanished with a yelp. Felix rolled his eyes. I’ll never understand women, even when I’m hallucinating.
He headed towards the arched threshold of the room he slept in and realized that he was no longer in the town library. I must be in someone’s house, he thought.

As he made his way around the home, he heard the sound of several voices conversing and arguing. He pushed open the door to the kitchen.

“Ahh! The Mayor is awake! Please, come in!” said the purple pony (sweet Luna, what was her name?) he had met last night.This was acknowledged with several giggles and stifled laughs.

“Oh hey, *murmur*-light. Sorry about last night, I-” he began.

“Last night? Oh, you mean three nights ago? Yes, forgive and forget. You know how it is. Come on over; we have much to discuss.”

Felix glanced around and noticed several other ponies gathered around the kitchen table. A total of 9 ponies (not including himself) were seated in a circle, surrounding the table, which was riddled with parchments.

“Wow, its like bucking King Arthur in here,” said Felix as he took up the only open seat.

“Sorry brah, already made that joke,” retorted a silver-coated colt. His mane was similar to Rainbow Dash’s, who sat next to him. But instead of coming down in bangs, he had it gelled up in a ridiculous rainbow mohawk. He nudged Rainbow Dash, who only rolled her eyes. She glanced over at Felix, then smiled wide at him. He returned the gesture, though he didn’t know exactly why.

“Hey Felix, long time, no see, pal,” said a familiar voice next to him.

Felix turned towards him. “... Nick? Is that you?”

“Sure is! Good to see you finally woke up!” replied his longtime friend with a smile.

“How long was I out? What happened? And what are you doing here?!” Felix demanded.

Nick just laughed. “Didn’t you hear Twilight?” Oooh yeah, Twilight. “You were out for like three days, bud!” he laughed again.

“But what about-” Felix began.

“Alright, quiet down everypony. Felix, I’m sure you have many questions- as do we all. I spoke with Celestia about this. We’re apparently waiting for two more ponies, afterwhich we are to meet Princess Celestia at Canterlot. We will travel by train as soon as we have all 6 ‘visitors,’” explained Twilight.

Her response was a chorus of interjections, accusations, and all around confusion from both parties: the four that recently arrived and the wielders of the Elements of Harmony.

“Okay! Okay! Everypony please!” yelled Twilight above the voices of the group. “For the sake of our guests, I’ll start from the beginning.”

Twilight spun a very shortened and brief version of the history of Equestria, its ruling class, the story of how Twilight first came to Ponyville, the defeat of Nightmare Moon and Discord with the Elements of Harmony, and all the events up to three days before.

“This is where I come in,” whispered Nick while nudging Felix. Felix didn’t hear him; he was still organizing all the information inside his head.

“So I was reading in the library- studying Starswirl the Bearded’s seventh Tome on the construction of spells that deal with door hinges, to be precise-”

Felix and Rainbow Dash sighed and rolled their eyes at the same time. Their eyes met, but this time it was Felix’s turn to wink. Rainbow Dash blushed and played with her bangs. Felix smiled. He liked it here.

“-when all of a sudden, I heard a loud sound downstairs. When Spike and I ran down, we found Nick on the floor, unconscious. After waking him up, we discovered that he had no idea where he was or what was going on. I let him borrow one of my spare rooms to get recuperated. I wrote a note to Celestia, telling her all about this strange visitor. Her reply was to ‘Trust him’.”

“Wait, hold up, how did you mail that so quickly? It should’ve taken at least three days by horse,” interjected a black stallion. His green mane shook slightly with confusion, but his purple headphones stayed firmly on his head.

“Spike sent it, of course. Don’t you have some sort of instant communication from where you come from, Scipio?”

“Well, we have these little-”

“There are several ways actually-”

“If you’re using a computer, you can-”

“-but I prefer texts.”

The four males in the room looked at each other; they had all tried speaking at the same time.

“Yes, we do. But not by dragons. Please continue Twilight,” said Nick.

“Anyways, while Nick was resting, Applejack dropped by. With Felix.”

“Mayor of Cloudsdale!” shouted the entire group, minus Felix. They all laughed. Nick slugged Felix in the shoulder.

“We only talked for a few minutes before something strange happened,” continued Twilight.

“I’ve heard this part before; this is where it gets juicy,” said the colt next to Rainbow Dash with a smile. He rubbed his hooves together in anticipation.

“Gabe, shh!” shouted Rarity from across the table.

Twilight pushed through the interruptions, but not without a stern glare at both Rarity and Gabe. She swallowed hard, trying to form her next sentence. “Felix... you caught fire,” she said slowly.

“I what?”

“You literally burst into flames. Good thing you knocked down the water tower or the library would’ve been razed,” she replied.

Everypony in the room stared silently at Felix. He blinked several times and sat back in his chair, hooves crossed. He cleared his throat.

“Go on,” he stated blandly.

“You were giving off so much heat, that the tiles on the roofs began smoking. Also, you were glowing so brightly that it looked like it was day. It would have been quite incredible had it not ended so poorly.”

“What did I do next?” Felix asked.

“Its not what you did, it's what Nick did to help,” retorted Applejack, speaking for the first time since Felix last saw her.

Twilight continued. “Nick tried to help, alright Applejack? He didn’t mean anypony harm.”

“He could’ve killed somepony!” yelled Applejack, pounding her hoof against the table.

“What matters is that he didn’t, okay?” Twilight responded earnestly. She turned towards Felix. “Nick tried to pull you out of the water, but instead of using actual magic, he produced real lightning. The whole of our water supply was gushing down the streets of Ponyville with approximately 300 million volts of electricity running through it. We thought you were dead, Felix. You’re lucky to be alive.”

Felix turned towards Nick, who was looking sheepishly towards the ground. “Sorry bro, I was only trying to get you out of there. I heard Twilight say your name and I knew it was you.”

Felix laughed and slung his arm around Nick. “It’s alright bud, I would’ve done the same. Well, that’s a difficult situation to recreate, so lets just say, I would’ve tried to save you in any way I could, too.” Then Felix looked upwards, thinking hard. “300 million volts, that’s like-”

“Stronger than some lightning strikes. I did the calculation. It really is a miracle that you aren’t dead,” Nick chuckled.

“Good thing Dashie stayed by your side for those two days! She really is a loyal pony!” shouted a completely pink mare with a crazy afro.

“Pinkie!” shouted Rainbow Dash, turning red in the face. Pinkie tried to continue but Rainbow Dash slapped her hoof over her mouth and led her out the door. “She, uhh, needs to go feed Gummy! Besides, this is the boring part,” she said whilst blowing Gabe a raspberry.

“Ohh, I’ll go with you! I’m tired of all this shouting,” said Fluttershy as she got up from her seat.

“Come back soon girls! We still haven’t got through all the things on the checklist!” shouted Twilight after the two of them. “Well, that was two nights ago.The next day, these two-” she said while gesturing towards Gabe and Scipio, “showed up.”

~~~

Scipio found himself in yet another dark place. He realized that he didn’t know up from down and felt suspended in the air. Just as the water soaked through his clothes, he breathed in a mouthful of it. Scipio realized he was drowning.

“Help!” He tried to say, but it came out like: “Ugphflp!”

As he began to lose consciousness, he felt a tug and movement.

Scipio came to on the bank of a pond, coughing up water: “Ugh. Ow. Where am I?”

“Not drowning in a pond! What were you doing there anyway?”

“Huh? What? Who?”

“What: I just saved your life! Who: I’m Rainbow Dash, the best flier in all of Equestria. Who are you?”

“I’m Scipio and-” Scipio’s jaw dropped as he realized what he looked like: “-woah.”

Looking down at himself, Scipio realized he was no longer human. He had four legs, a black body, and seriously cool green hair. Its a called a mane, stupid, he criticized himself. Giving himself a more thorough examination, Scipio realized he didn’t have a horn or wings, making him a normal pony. Earth pony, some hidden part of his mind whispered to him. Wait, how’d I know that? Scipio then realized that he had a tattoo... On his posterior. Woah. What is that? He asked himself.

Its a cutie mark.

A cutie mark?

Yeah.

What is that?!

Its a symbol of your special talent.

Oh. Cool. Wait, are you me?

Yeah.

So I’m talking to myself...

Yep.

Thats it. I knew it. I’m officially crazy.

Nope. You’re perfectly sane.

Is my sarcasm really that deadpan? I can’t tell whether you’re - I’m - being serious.

I’m being totally serious bro. I’m not part of your normal subconscious.

What does that mean?

It means that when when you were human I wasn’t there. Since you’re a pony now, I’m your pony subconscious. I make sure you don’t fall over in your new body and help you understand what everypony else is saying.

Does every human that comes here get a new subconscious?

Yep.

Do they talk to it like this?

Nope. Just you.

So I am insane.

No. You’re special.

Insane.

Special.

Insane.

Special.

The very fact that I’m arguing with myself proves that I’m insane.

Well... Fine. You’re slightly insane. But I’m cool, seriously.

Whatever.

“Hey Scipio, you okay? You got a seriously weird look on your face...”

“I’m fine, just thinking.”

“You know, you never thanked me for saving you...”

“Oh right. Thanks. Where am I, exactly? I’m sorta... Lost.”

“Oh you’re just outside Ponyville. You’re not from around here, are you?”

“Nope. In fact, I think that I’m from another dimension.”

“Oh. I guess we better head on over to Twilight’s. I wish you were a pegasus right now, I really wanna fly.“

“I’ll walk. I’m still pretty roughed up from the Nexus. Also, doesn’t it bother you in the least that I’m from another dimension?” The two ponies, one confident and one totally confused, started walking towards Ponyville.

“Well a little. But Twi said we need to bring everypony that arrives from another dimension to her house immediately.”

“Wait so you’re saying that interdimensional travel is normal here?”

“No. But Princess Celestia sent us this letter telling us to expect you and some others. Two of them are already here, Nick and Felix. Felix has been unconscious though so I’ve been looking after him...”

“Why you and not the town’s doctor or nurse or whatever?”

Rainbow Dash blushed. “Uh... The doctor is busy...”

“Mhhm. Of course. LAME EXCUSE. I’ll pretend my ninja ears didn’t hear that lie.”

“Ninja ears?” Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the ground laughing. “Did you... did you just say... *snort* NINJA EARS? Bahahahahaha!”

“It wasn’t that funny...”

“Its not funny, its ridiculous! Ninja ears! Haha!” Rainbow Dash collapsed onto the ground laughing.

“Stop laughing at me! It isn’t funny!”

She’s mean.

Hey. You just said ninja ears. That’s pretty stupid sounding. Just saying.

Oh no, you too?

I am you. So yes, myself and yourself too.

Horsefeathers! Wait, horsefeathers? What the heck! I meant HORSEFEATHERS! No! Why can’t I say horsefeathers? Fine! Since I can’t say it, SHITZU! There! I said it!

No. You said a breed of dog...

Yeah well you know what I meant. Cause you’re me. Why can’t I cuss?

Cause me.

That makes no sense.

Well, as your subconscious, I prevent you from using human cuss words. You’ll find that every time you try to cuss a pony explicative will come out instead of your human explicative.

“YEAH? WELL BUCK THIS!”

“Whoa. You ok Scipio?”

“Yeah. I’m just BUCKING dandy. Don’t you have somepony else to laugh at?”

“Woah Nelly. What’s going on y’all?” An orange pony with a blonde mane asked as she walked towards the source of the yelling.

“Well this is Scipio and he’s being a potty mouth.”

“Yeah well you’re being... uh... ugh. You’re a meanie, Rainbow Dash!”

“Is that really the best you can come up with? Hahaha!”

“Woah there. What in tarnation is going on?” The pony reiterated, staring at the pair of quibbling ponies, obviously confused.

“Who are you?” Scipio asked, his hurt fading a little.

“Ah’m Applejack, but my friends mostly call me AJ. Mighty pleased to meet ya, Scipio.” The three ponies resumed their trek towards town.

“My friends call me Skippy or Skip. My squad calls me Skipper. You can call me any of those. Diggin’ the Stetson, btdubs.”

“Haha you got called Skipper? What did you do, skip out on them?” Rainbow Dash once again collapsed laughing, both at the ridiculousness of Scipio’s nicknames and her own pun.

“Haha. Very punny.” Scipio quipped, his expression deadpan.

“Just ignore her, Skip. Oh look, we’re here.”

“And where is here?”

“Well Skip, welcome to Ponyville!” Applejack dramatically swept her hand over the scenery and took a bow.

“Oh. Cool. Tell me Applejack, do y’all have airsoft here?”

“Air what now?”

Scipio then proceeded to describe to an intrigued Applejack and a curious Rainbow Dash the game of airsoft. Or sport. Or hobby. There are many ways to view it.

Before they knew it, the trio of ponies arrived at the library tree. Knocking on the door, they were answered by a voice from inside:

“Hold on! I’ll be right there!” True to her word, a purple unicorn mare stepped out. “Oh hi AJ. Hi Rainbow. And you are -?”

“I’m Scipio. But you can call me Skip.”

“Or Skipper.” Rainbow Dash snickered, earning her a glare from an annoyed Scipio.

Twilight extended her hoof. “I’m Twilight Sparkle. I’m assuming that you’re going to tell me you’re not from Equestria?”

“Yeah. How did you know?”

“I got a letter from Princess Celestia and I have two others in the same dilemma staying here. One, Nick, has been here for two days, the other, Felix, has been here for almost as long, but he’s spent most of his time unconscious. They’re both staying here, you’re welcome to as well, I guess.”

“Oh! Thanks. Can I come in?”

Twilight stepped back. “Of course! Where are my manners? Come in, come in.”

“If you don’t mind Twilight, I have some weather to take care of. You ok taking care of him yourself?” Rainbow Dash asked, starting to back away from the door.

“Speaking of places to be and things to do, I have some apple trees that need bucking. D’ya mind if I go too, Twi?”

“You can go. The others are asleep, so I can handle Scipio.”

Applejack and Rainbow Dash started to leave, but Rainbow Dash stopped: “Wait, can I check on Felix? I wanna make sure he’s ok.” Applejack rolled her eyes and walked off.

Twilight also rolled her optical receptors. “For the thousandth time Rainbow, he’s fine. But sure, feel free to check on him.” Even before Twilight finished speaking, Rainbow Dash zipped inside and up the stairs to where Felix was.

“I swear, she hovers over him like he is going to die without her...” Twilight shook her head.

“Yeah I know. I’ve spent barely thirty minutes with her and I can tell she’s taken with him. It’s pretty obvious.”

“I can hear you, you know! And I’m not the only one hovering over someone else! Don’t think I haven’t noticed you staring at Nick!” A voice from upstairs called. Twilight blushed.

“Ok, now I’ve heard it all. I just got hit by a wave of tired. Is there a place I can turn in?”

“Oh yes, of course. You look like you’re about to fall over. Oh Spiiiike! Could you show Scipio to the other guest bedroom?” A small purple and green dragon appeared from upstairs: “Hi! I’m Spike. I guess you’re Scipio? Well, follow me.” Scipio followed the little purple dragon. It just gets weirder and weirder...

If you think this is weird, just wait...

Horsefeathers. It gets worse?

No. You’re just in for some serious culture shock tomorrow.

Buck.

Yep. That’s about right.

I need to stop talking to myself.

But that would be no fun!

Shut it. I’m tired.

So am I. Cause I’m you.

Yes, we already established that. Goodnight, me.

Same to you bro. Sweet dreams. I’m really not in the mood for nightmares right now.

Same.

The dragon showed Scipio to a small room with a sink and a bed. “Well here you are Scipio, enjoy!”

“Thanks little guy.” Scipio yawned. “Now, its time for some sleep...” Scipio collapsed onto the bed and fell asleep so quickly that he forgot to remove his headphones. Not like it matters though, they’re magical.

~~~

“Uhh darling, are you okay? You really shouldn’t sleep on these rocks, its bad for your posture!”

The colt groaned and stretched. “Uhhh, Rebecca I love that British accent you got going.... sexy....” he said contently. He smacked his lips and grinned sheepishly with his eyes closed.

“Oh please, I’ve heard plenty of better pick up lines than that before. Besides, my name is Rarity, not Rebecca,” Rarity responded.

His face twisted in confusion. He slowly peeked his eyes open.

“Luna’s lip balm, what the heck are you!?” he screamed and frantically got to his hooves. He stopped suddenly. All was quiet in the peaceful field. The stallion lifted his head slowly.

“What in Celestia’s name did I just say?” he asked Rarity in a quiet voice.

“Uhh...”

“So it wasn’t a dream!” Gabriel shouted with glee. He attempted to snap his fingers, then looked at his hooves. He burst into laughter.

“The name’s Gabriel,” he grinned wide at her.

Rarity stood there, mouth open, aghast at this pony’s strange behavior.

“Oh, Rarity, why the long face?” Gabe asked with a pout.

She stuttered, and he burst into laughter again.

“Get it? Long face? Hahah!”

Rarity frowned at this new and unwelcome visitor. But she was still slightly curious, and couldn’t just send him away. In the name of gossip, she pressed on.

“So, Gabriel-” she fluffed her mane “-where do you come from? And why did you fall asleep on these rocks? I was out here just gathering gems for my new dress.”

“Well actually I was hunting for this peculiar object; some say it doesn’t even exist,” Gabriel explained with mystery.

Rarity’s eyes widened with interest. “Is it... valuable?”

“To me, the most valuable thing in the world.”

“Well, have you found it?!” asked Rarity.

“Thanks to you, Rarity, I have,” smiled Gabe.

Rarity scoffed incredulously. “Well? What is it?!”

He looked at the ground, then smiled softly at her.

“Love,” he winked.

Rarity sighed and gave up. Using her magic, she gathered her things and turned towards Ponyville.

Gabriel laughed and followed her down the trail.

“So, tell me about this place, Rarity,” he pestered.

“What, Ponyville?” Rarity answered with confusion.

“Ah, yes, Ponyville. I’m not from around here. I’m from...” he started.

Rarity opened her mouth and raised her eyebrows, ready to interrupt with a strange accusation. “From another dimen-”

“-Phillydelphia. It’s a wonderful city. Have you been there?” continued Gabe.

Rarity exhaled with relief. “Yes, I have visited once or twice. The city folk just love my spring and summer line.”

Suddenly Gabriel gasped in shock. “No, it couldn’t be. YOU are... Rarity herself? Goodness my mare-friends just love your designs! Really smashing work!” he said, mimicking her accent.

Rarity blushed with pride. “Why, thank you, I did not know I was so popular in Phillydelphia! I should hold fashion shows there more often!”

“You absolutely should! You are the only artist I buy from, really,” Gabriel continued with his lie, making it more and more intricate.

Rarity beamed and held up a hoof to her mouth, while wagging the other at Gabe. “Oh stop, please. You flatter me, darling!” she giggled.

“You know, I would love it if you could design a new style for me, Rarity,” Gabriel said.

Rarity gave him a quick up-and-down. Although Gabe wasn’t the tallest earth pony, he was built lean, with thin hips and sculpted shoulders. He was also very handsome- small lips and a smooth face; a perfect male model.

“It would be my pleasure, Gabriel!” Rarity smiled.

Rarity unlocked the door to her studio and led him inside. “Let me put these gems upstairs- I’ll be down in a moment!” she told Gabe.

“Take your time, princess,” he said with a bow. She tittered and quickly galloped upstairs.

When she made her way back down to the studio, she found Gabe snoring on her couch. She huffed and made her way towards him. Gabe started murmuring in his sleep.

“Gabriel! Wake up!”

“Hehehum...” he chuckled.

“GABE!” Rarity yelled in his ear.

“Ahh!” he screamed and awoke from his slumber. “Good Celestia, what the hay Rarity?!” he asked in frustration.

“Oh, terribly sorry, Gabriel. I had no intention of waking you up,” she smirked. “Let’s get on with the design, shall we?” Gabriel nodded and wiped his face with both hooves. “Hmm, with you body style we could tailor down a few pret-a-porter styles, but I could also do some haute couture; it really is my specialty,” she added with a smile.

Gabriel’s jaw went slack- he had absolutely no idea what she was saying.

“Well, which do you prefer?” she asked.

Gabe stuttered. He fumbled around with tons of options in his head, but none of them seemed to work out. His lie was slowly breaking apart.

“Gabe, you do know fashion, correct? You said you lived in the city...” she continued.

Oh buck, what city name did I guess earlier? He thought to himself. Stallion... no... Colt....

Rarity’s squinched her eyes together with realization. “You didn’t come from the city, did you? You can’t even remember what you said earlier! I bet you don’t know a thing about fashion!” she accused him.

With his mind still groggy from the cat-nap, Gabriel attempted to argue, but his words wouldn’t leave his mouth.

“Get out, you fake! Leave my studio!” Rarity yelled, shoving him out the door. As soon as he crossed the threshold, she slammed it shut.

“Good day to you, sir!” she hollered, her voice muffled from inside.

“Wait, Rarity, I-” he stopped himself. Taking a deep breath, he knocked on her door.

The door opened just enough to show Rarity’s hurt face. “Well?!” she asked harshly.

“I’m not from here, okay? I only lied because... well... I wasn’t sure what else to do. It’s kind of my fall-back, you know?” he explained.

“Well, where are you from then?” she asked quietly.

“It’s hard to explain...”

“I believe you. Come in. We’ll head to Twilight’s tomorrow. There are some others waiting for you, darling. You aren’t the only one in this situation,” she chuckled. “Oh Sweetie Bell! Would you be a dear and whip up something for our guest to eat, please? ….On second thought, nevermind darling!” she yelled through the house.

“Aww, please sis!” squeaked a tiny voice in reply. A tiny unicorn scrambled down the stairs. “Who’s that?” she asked, forgetting about the food almost instantly.

“Just a friend, Sweetie,” Rarity replied. “Aren’t you going to a sleepover at Apple Bloom’s house? The Cutie Mark Crusaders won’t get their cutie marks by staying at home, now will they?”

Sweetie Bell pouted and ran past Gabriel, who had to sidestep to avoid her.

“Please ignore her, Gabe; just a young filly trying to get her cutie mark. Come in! Don’t stand out there in the cold!”

Gabriel glanced around him and noticed the weather change; it had dropped several degrees since he first met Rarity. As he stepped inside, a gust of cold air followed him.

“Ohhhh!” Rarity shivered. “Looks like winter’s coming a little early this year!” She closed the door behind Gabriel. “Let me get you some hot chocolate and dinner- you must be starving! Feel free to make yourself at home on the couch... much like earlier today,” she cleared her throat.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Get used to it, ‘darling’,” he said, grossly mimicking her accent again. The way he pronounced it sounded more like “daaahhling”. Rarity scoffed and trotted into the kitchen.

He sat down on the couch and closed his eyelids. For some reason, the weight of the heavy necklace on his chest seemed slightly less. He sighed contently as Rarity brought him his meal.

The last thing Gabriel remembered was tucking himself into the blankets on the couch.

~~~

Scipio woke up with an amazing headache. Not amazing in a good way, but amazing in a bad way. He was amazed at the fact that it was possible his head hurt so much. Ow. Wondering why his head hurt so much, Scipio thought about what could have transpired. Lets see, is this a hangover? No, thats not it. I haven’t been drinking. What’s up with my head? Hm... Remembering the Nexus and his arrival in the land of technicolor ponies, he doubted the truth. I dreamt I was turned into a pony. A black and neon green pony. That’s one weird dream.

Dude, it wasn’t a dream.

Oh. Hi.

The truth started coming back to Scipio. He was indeed in a land of technicolor ponies and was a pony himself. He was in Ponyville, which apparently was in Equestria. He was here to team up with some people (ponies?) he didn’t know to save the world (and himself now, too) from total destruction. Or something along those lines. Oh, and he was officially crazy. He had held full conversations with his subconscious. Things were looking weird.

Dude. Its not that weird.

Stop butting into my head like that!

Can’t help it. I live in your head after all...

How does that work, exactly? Are you a separate person feeding off of me like a parasite?

Scipio chuckled. Actually, his subconscious chuckled. In his brain. Weird. No. I am you. You’re just especially in tune to yourself.

Crazy. This is so BUCKING crazy. You realize that, don’t you?

Yep. Maybe you should talk to Twilight, she seems like the smart type. Maybe she can help you. Us. Whatever.

Yeah, great idea. Talk to the purple pony that is so graciously letting me sleep here. If she finds out how crazy I am, she might kick me out. Or just lose all hope that I can save the world and commit suicide. Or both. I’m not telling ANYPONY about this. About you. Me. Whatever you/me are.

Cool story bro.

Shut it. I’m gonna open my eyes now and do something that does not involve conversing with myself.

Scipio stayed true to his word and opened his eyes. Looking around him, he realized he was not alone in the guest room. In another bed, on the other side of the room, lay a sleeping white unicorn with black, curly hair.

“That’s Nick.”

Scipio jumped out of bed. “Holy crap! You scared me Twilight!”

“Shhh. You might wake him...”

Scipio rolled his eyes and made a disgusted face at her obvious infatuation. “Good Celestia y’all’s faces are much easier to read than humans. You gotta work on concealing your feelings and such. Seriously. This stuff is gettin’ weird.”

“So what do humans look like?”

“Um... Well we aren’t brightly colored, thats for sure. I don’t think I’m the one to give you a lesson in human anatomy. Ask someone smarter. But I can tell you that we walk on two legs, have two arms with hands and four fingers and opposable thumbs and we do all sorts of cool stuff. Oh, and we always wear clothes. Speaking of clothes, I feel kinda naked. Do y’all wear clothes here in Equestria? Or does everypony just walk around naked? Does this count as naked? Cause I have fur and stuff... Am I naked? Oh and what about -”

“Scipio. Quiet. You’re talking almost as fast as Pinkie. It hurts my brain. Yes, we wear clothes on special occasions. No, this does not count as naked. I don’t know if anything does here. Now, you must be hungry. Lets go get breakfast.”

Scipio followed Twilight to the kitchen. Spike, the little purple and green dragon, was making pancakes. Weird. Anyways, the little dragon served the pancakes. They were pretty good. Scipio didn’t even try to understand how his hooves held the silverware. They just did. I give up. What the heck.

Look dude, its not that weird. This is what I’m for, to make sure you can do basic stuff without looking like a total dolt.

Awesome. This defies every law of physics that I paid attention to, and probably all the others I slept through the teacher talking about.

Different world dude. Different physics. If you think this is weird, just wait.

I feel like I’ve heard that before...

As breakfast progressed, Scipio found himself pelted with questions. Questions about daily habits, culture, and hobbies. Scipio described all the things he held dear: all kinds of music, the internet, headphones, airsoft, pop culture, clothing, computer games, YouTube, and chilling with friends. Then the questions started turning turning intellectual. Twilight asked about history, philosophy, literature, and other smart stuff that Scipio really didn’t know or care about. He answered most of the questions to the best of his ability, but some he simply couldn’t answer. Finally he had enough: “Look Twilight, I was never a good student. Heck, I was a horrible student. I slept through class or played Minecraft. Or both. I barely passed most of my classes. I was really only interested in the history of airplanes and guns and things that went boom. Actually, scratch that. I wasn’t even interested in their history. I just knew they went boom. If you want to hear about history, literature, and all things intellectual, you need to talk to me friend Jonathan. He’s pretty bucking smart. He saved my sweet plot on many occasions.”

Plot? What the...

I don’t even know. For some reason that means your rear end.

Da heck?!

I know right?

“Scipio? You have a weird expression on your face...”

“Sweet Celestia! Everypony keeps telling me that!”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“Hey Twilight. Hey Spike. Oh, you’re new.” The white unicorn with curly hair walked into the room, looking exhausted. And hungry.

“Yep. I’m new. The name’s Scipio, but you can call me Skip. Nice to meet you, ...?” Scipio held out his hoof.

The white unicorn shook it. “Nick. Good to meet you too, Scipio.”

“Nick, you look famished. Spike, get Nick some food.” The purple unicorn began fretting over Nick. Scipio rolled his eyes. He decided to see if Nick was in the same boat as him.

“So, Nick, digging the glasses. Are they a talisman, by chance?”

“Yes they are. I assume your earphones are your talisman, right?”

“Yeah. Thank Celestia I’m not the only interdimensional traveler here.” Checking to see that Twilight was over at the stove and not in earshot, Scipio whispered: “Did you get any details on what we are supposed to be fighting? I didn’t. This is trippy, dude. Its like something from a bad Sci Fi movie...”

“No I didn’t get anything about the enemy we face. Only that its bad, really bad. And yeah, I’ll admit this is a little weird. Its helpful to have a friend from our world to ground me.”

“Dude, not saying you’re not cool and all, but we just met. I don’t know if we qualify as ‘friends’ yet.”

“Agreed. I was talking about Felix. He’s a friend from Earth, but he’s still unconscious.”

“You two can stop whispering, you know. I can hear you. Skip, Felix is a pegasus pony. He came in soon after Nick and is currently passed out in the bathtub. He managed to catch himself and the library on fire, knock over the town water tower, and get himself shocked with Nick’s lightning-”

“Woah. Hold up. Nick has lightning? Dude that’s bucking awesome! And weird. This really is a Sci Fi movie...”

Twilight had an offended look on her face. “Scipio, I would appreciate it if you didn’t cuss so much. It's unbecoming.”

“Sorry. Force of habit. Not around girls much, too much time out on the field or ingame on a computer, I guess...” Scipio said sheepishly.

“But the fact of the matter is Felix is out cold. He’s taken quite a beating. Which is a problem because we need to get him to Fluttershy’s house so she can check up on him.”

“I think Nick and I can carry him, I mean, how hard-”

Scipio was interrupted by some knocking on the door. “Coming!” Twilight sang as she headed for the door.

“No! I wanna get it! I’m still figuring what I can and can’t do with hooves!” Scipio yelled as he raced for the door. As he opened it, he saw a white unicorn and a silver pony with a rainbow dyed mane.

“Sup brah.” The silver pony gave Scipio a “sup” nod.

“You’re not Twilight...” The unicorn began.

“No he’s not, but I’m right here. He insisted on opening the door so that he could test out his hooves. His name is Scipio, he got here yesterday.” Twilight explained to Rarity. Meanwhile, the two stallions were having a different conversation.

“I’m Scipio. Nice necklace,” Scipio extended a hoof.

“Name’s Gabriel. Totally diggin’ the headphones brah.” Gabriel took the hoof.

“Who’s this?” Attracted to the noise, Nick had appeared in the main room of the library.

“This guy is Gabe. You mind if I call you Gabe? No? Too bad. Gabe, this is Nick. Apparently there’s another dude passed out in a tub. His name is Felix.”

“Welcome to the team, Gabe.” Nick and Gabe shook hooves. The three began an amicable conversation. As the dialogue progressed, Scipio sensed that Nick was a natural leader. Figures. He got here first, the leaders always pop in first. He also sensed that Gabe had a huge ego issue. And did he hear a lying problem? I never realized how much I depend on my ears... I can tell all I need from a person from listening to them. I always could do that, but now its just more... pronounced.

Duh. The Nexus dude enhanced your hearing. Nnnnnderp.

Shut it. Scipio rejoined the conversation before the others noticed his mental absence. Sadly, neither of the other stallions were airsoft players.

“Ok boys. Its time to get over to Fluttershy’s. We will meet all of my friends there and discuss the issues at hand. Nick, Skip, go get Felix. Gabe, tell me about yourself. Quickly. We need to get going or we’ll be late.” Scipio and Nick headed off to the bathroom. There they found a lanky yellow stallion passed out in a nice little bathtub bed. “Tell me again, Nick, why is he in the bathtub?”

“Because he almost burned the library down when he self-ignited.”

“Oh. Awesome. I hope he doesn’t burn my back.” Scipio said, looking slightly worried.

“I don’t think he will. Here, let me get him on you. He’s not super heavy, just really tall. You can handle it, you’re stockier but almost as tall as he is.”

“Aight, cool.” Scipio accepted the extra weight with no problem. Even though he was shorter than Felix, he could already tell that Felix was quite a bit lighter. Interesting. I guess its cause he has to fly, extra weight would not be helpful for flying... Scipio walked back to the main room of the library, with Nick keeping Felix steady.

“Alright. Is everypony ready?” Twilight asked. “Yes? Good. Let’s go.”

The walk to Fluttershy’s was not particularly long, but it dragged on for Scipio. Felix was starting to get heavy and the conversation was boring. After what seemed like an hour they arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage. It was crawling with an assortment of animals. Is it normal for animals to be like that? Aren’t they scared of us? Oh wait, we are animals... Goodness. Weird.

You think this is weird? Well, -

STOP IT. I KNOW IT GETS WEIRDER. STOP SAYING THAT. SWEET APPLEBUCKING CELESTIA. Scipio walked into the cottage. There he saw a bouncy pink pony, who he assumed was Pinkie Pie, having heard the name earlier and deciding it described her. He also recognized Applejack and Rainbow Dash from the day before. There was a yellow and pink pegasus that was doing her best to shrink into nothing. He walked up to her. “Hi, I’m Scipio.”

“I’m Fluttershy...” The pegasus said, her voice barely perceptible. She hid behind her mane.

“Good thing I have great hearing. Hi Fluttershy. Where can I dump Felix? He needs your help, I guess.” Fluttershy gestured to a couch on the other side of the room. Scipio deposited Felix there. Walking to the other room, he entered just in time to hear Gabe say: “Its like bucking King Arthur in here...” Looking around, Scipio noticed that the center of the room was dominated by a large round table.

While Gabe, Nick, and Scipio laughed at the joke, the other 6 ponies looked around, confused.

“Who’s King Arthur?” Twilight ventured to ask.

“Great warrior of legend. Awesome guy. But that’s a topic for another time. Why are we here, Twilight?” Nick answered. Everyone began to sit down and get comfortable, the explanation looked like it was a long one. Everyone except Fluttershy, that is. She trotted softly over to Felix to check on him.

“Ok. Well, I was just about to-”

Twilight was interrupted by a loud, “Ahh buck, my stomach!” followed by a yelp.

I guess Felix is awake...

A/N: Well, this is it. Longest chapter yet. Done with that. Expect the new chapter in a few says, I'm already almost done with it. Lol King Arthur is a boss. Anyone who doesn't agree is wrong. Boom.

Comments

[dusher4]

Epic

[The Collective]

1309302 Thanks! Scipio's internal conversations annoying or not annoying? He's really an extension of me in some areas, so expect some serious randomness in other areas. I wish I had a mental buddy to talk to...

Anyways, thanks for the positive comment! If there's anything you want to see in future chapters, don't be afraid to ask for it!

spu313