A teen boy after spending three years experimented on, breaks free and using the gift the scientists bestowed upon him broke through the barrier and into a world of magic and equines. Will he find peace after living a nightmare for three years?
They took me from my family, and experimented on me like a lab rat. Now with the power of acceleration I escaped after three years of torture. But I ran too fast and broke through the barrier into a world of talking equines. With my old life gone, I seek to make a new life for myself, but those who used me will not let me go so easily. Am I destined for happiness, or doomed for pain and suffering?
Inside a research facility, scientists were gathered inside a lab, while studying a sixteen year old albino with short snow white messy hair and red eyes. He was dressed in a white body suit. He was strapped onto a construction table that was propped upward so he could see everyone. The boy struggled, until he saw a scientist approach, "Jake, you'll be happy to know the tests are all over." he began pleasantly.
"Great, it only took you assholes three years of my life!" the boy spat.
The scientist ignoring his mock, continued, "However, we still need you around for research purposes."
"WHAT?!" he shouted, "That wasn't the deal! You promised me as soon as it was all over you'd let me go and return me to my family!"
"Well sorry Jake, but we still need your DNA to perfect the experiment for future subjects. The experiment you are now known as. Project Accelerator." he smirked smugly.
Jake frowned, "NO! I WON'T LET YOU EXPLOIT ME ANYMORE!" He shouted as a force started surrounding him, as his whole body was vibrating rapidly.
"He's trying to break free, administer the drugs!" the scientist ordered.
Some scientists came over with injections, and upon seeing them Jake shouted, "KEEP THOSE AWAY FROM ME!" the vibrations from his body broke him free from the binds of the table and he jumped off it. Suddenly he dashed out of the lab like lightning.
"Seal off all exits!" the head scientist ordered, as they activated security.
As Jake started running through the entire lab compound, he was dodging lasers cannons on the walls, doors sealing shut, and guards trying to shoot him. He zipped right past them before making it outside. He ran straight for a tall barbed wire fence. He was going so fast he ran up the fence and over it before heading off down a road.
In the lab, a guard watching a monitor spoke, "Sir, he hopped the fence and is now heading for the city!"
The scientist growled, as he spoke to the guards, "We're going after him! I won't let my bird escape from his cage this easily!" Soon the guards were off on advanced flying vehicles heading off in the path Jake was running.
Jake after escaping the lab, had ran all the way into the city of Los Angeles. He was moving so fast the force emitting off him caused papers to fly and clothes to blow around, which confused the tourists. As he ran, he thought to himself, 'I won't let them take me back there! I just gotta keep running, and get as far away from them as possible. I need to go faster, faster, FASTER!' he ran right into the street and was on a collision course with a truck.
"Jesus!" the trucker gasped as he tried to turn, but wouldn't make it in time.
Jake kept running faster while not bothering to turn or anything. Right when he was about to collide with the truck, he suddenly zipped out of sight leaving behind flaming skid marks in the street, which caught everyone's attention.
The trucker got out and looked at the front of his truck and the skid marks, "Where'd he go?"
Suddenly the police started taping the scene off, as the guards and scientist from the lab arrived to study what happened. One of the guards spoke to the head scientist, who was using a device to track the readings coming from the skid marks left by Jake, "Sir, what happened?"
After analyzing the trace, the scientist turned to the guard and answered, "He finally did it. He broke through the barrier of time and space itself."
"So what now?"
"We have to track where his signature and get him back, somehow!" the scientist growled, as he clutched his tracking device.
Elsewhere, Jake who was no longer running through the streets of Los Angeles, was now running through a bright void, and still didn't want to stop for fear he could be stuck there. As he continued running he thought to himself, 'I can't go back there. Those sons of bitches took me away from my family, experimented on me, ruined my complexion. No! I'll run till the end of time if it means escaping them!" he shouted, as he was running straight into a bright light.
Meanwhile in the land of Equestria, in the town of Ponyville the six ponies officially recognized as the Mane six, and their dragon friend Spike were walking through town, with just about everypony there greeting them as they passed by, "Wow, we can't even go outside casually after saving Equestria this time." an earth pony named Applejack noted.
"I don't really like all this attention." The shy pegasus Fluttershy said, feeling uncomfortable.
"Well I for one have no problem with it." the elegant unicorn Rarity said, as she held her chin up high.
"Me neither." The elusive and awesome pegasus Rainbow Dash agreed.
"Hi! Good morning! Good to see you!" the pink and boundless energy known as Pinkie Pie greeted every pony they passed with a bright smile.
"Come on, girls, I'm starving." the Princess of Friendship known as Twilight Sparkle said, as they continued to walk through town.
Suddenly Spike looked up ahead and stopped, "Uh, Twilight. What's that?"
They looked ahead and saw the street of Ponyville up ahead was giving off pulsating energy waves, "Some kind of pulsating waves." Twilight deduced.
"Where are they coming from?" Applejack inquired.
"I don't know," she admitted, until she saw a bright light suddenly appearing in the center of the pulsating waves, "But it looks like something's coming." she gasped, as Twilight hid behind Rainbow and Rarity.
Suddenly something zipped through the light and right past the girls causing Applejack's hat to fly off, only to grab it with her mouth, while Rarity's hair was blown back uncurling it, "Oh, not again!" Rarity sighed seeing her hair once again on ends like when Greedy Spike roared at her.
"What in sam hill was that?" Applejack asked, as they looked in the direction of whatever went past them.
Twilight looked on the ground seeing flaming skid marks, "Whatever it was, it's fast."
"Oh, yeah? Well I'm faster!" Rainbow called, as she zipped off after whatever passed them.
"Come on!" Twilight called, as the others chased after their friend.
Rainbow was flying as fast as she could to catch up to whatever it was that left the skid marks. Finally she caught up to what was running and saw the most surprising creature she'd probably has seen yet. It stood on two legs like an ape, looked pale as a ghost with hair on his head to match, and red eyes. As she flew beside him it looked as if the two were in perfect sync with their speed, "Hey you!" the pegasus called.
Jake looked over and gawked seeing the pegasus at his side keeping up at his pace, "What are you?!" Jake asked in shock, but kept on running.
"That's what I want to know about you!" Rainbow answered.
"And how're you keeping up with me?!" Jake once again asked in confusion.
"That's also what I want to know about you," she replied, until she looked ahead and gasped, "Look out!"
Jake looked ahead and saw he was about to collide with a pony who was carrying a box. The pony gasped as he dropped the box and jumped aside. Before Jake could turn and avoid the bump in front of him, he ended up tripping over it and was sent flying forward before rolling across the ground crashing, before stopping on his back. He groaned before speaking, "Crash!" he passed out from exhaustion.
Rainbow flew over and hovered above him, "How can this thing move about as fast as me? There's just no way."
"Rainbow Dash!" the girls called, as they galloped over.
"Are you ok?" Fluttershy asked in concern.
"I'm fine, but I don't know about that?" she motioned to what she was hovering over.
"Oh, my goodness!" Rarity gasped.
"It's a... What is it?" Applejack asked them, who looked confused.
Twilight and Spike however looked down at the being, "It's a human." they gasped.
"A human?" Pinkie asked.
"What's a human?" Rainbow asked.
Twilight looked determined, "We'll tell you all later. He looks like he needs medical treatment."
"Twilight, you think the doctors in Ponyville are gonna look at something like this?" Applejack asked.
"They have to." Twilight answered sternly.
"Hey, I think he's got something written on his suit or something." Rainbow noticed.
They looked and saw a name tag embedded on the suit reading Project Accelerator, "Project Accelerator?" Spike asked.
"What's that mean?" Fluttershy asked.
"We'll find out when he wakes up," Twilight said as she used her magic to levitate Jake up, and they started heading for the direction of the hospital hoping to find out more about what this new species in Equestria was, and how he was able to run at the speed of sound.
At Ponyville hospital, inside a room, Jake was lying on a bed still unconscious from a combination of both exhaustion from his accelerated running and crash. The girls and Spike watched from the side, as a doctor and Nurse Redheart entered, "Well doctor, anything?" Twilight asked.
"Nothing to worry about, Princess Twilight," he began, "Despite that crash, there's no head trauma. All he has is a severe case of exhaustion. But we've given him plenty of fluids to hydrate him."
"What was he doing, anyway?" Nurse Redheart asked.
The girls weren't exactly sure how to answer, but Rainbow Dash spoke up, "He was running."
The doctor and nurse were very confused, "He was... running?" the nurse asked.
"Yeah."
"He'd have to be running at the speed of lightning to just be this exhausted." the doctor noted.
The girls eyed each other, not sure if they should tell him he wasn't that far off. Suddenly they heard groaning coming from the boy, "Is he?" Fluttershy asked.
"He appears to be." the doctor noted.
Jake groaned as his eyelids started opening. Once they were opened he waited for his vision to become clear again, "Wha-where am I?" he asked as soon as his vision was finally clear, seeing he was on a hospital room, "Wait, I'm in a hospital?"
"Yes, you really wore yourself out." a voice spoke.
"I did..." Jake looked until he saw the equines looking at him. Going on instinct he let out a scream as he backed away going up against the pillow, "What the hell is this?!"
"Please, you need to clam down." Nurse Redheart insisted.
"You're asking me to calm down? Oh great, I'm talking to a pony who's talking back to me!" he stressed, "This has to be a serious messed up dream. Those idiot scientists must've drugged me again!"
"I beg ya pardon buckaroo, but this ain't no dream." Applejack answered.
"It isn't?" Jake asked not feeling any better.
"No, if it was the sky would be purple and the water would be made of juice." Pinkie joked.
"Huh?" Jake asked feeling more confused.
"Forget what she said," Twilight began, as she trotted up to him, and laid a hoof on his arm trying to comfort him, "But you don't have to be afraid of us. We mean you no harm."
"How can I be sure you're telling the truth?" Jake asked in skepticism.
"Hey pal, if we were lying you wouldn't be here getting the best treatment." Rainbow reminded him.
Jake looked around and sighed, "Just great, of all the places to end up I'm back in a hospital room."
"Look sir, could you please tell us your name?" the doctor asked.
"Just so we have something to call you instead of just sir." Redheart answered.
He looked at them and sighed before reluctantly answering, "My name's Jake McGinnis. At least that's what I used to be known as."
"Used to be?" Rarity wondered.
"Yeah, I was given a new identity ever since they took my life away. They called me Project Accelerator."
"Like it says on your suit?" Spike asked.
"Oh, you saw that, huh?" Jake asked, before realizing what spoke to him, "Whoa! Are you a dragon?"
"Yeah."
Jake let out a sigh of exasperation, "Now I know I'm drugged," Rainbow flew up to Jake and bopped him on the head, "Hey, what was that for?!"
"You felt that didn't you?" she asked.
"Of course I... felt it," Jake realized what that meant, "So, it is real?"
"Yuparoonie!" Pinkie nodded.
Jake sighed, until Twilight continued to help him calm down, "Jake, I know a lot is going on through your head, but I should warn you wherever you came from you're not there anymore."
"What do you mean?"
"You're in a land known as Equestria, no humans exist here, except you now." she continued.
"So what are you saying, that I'm in some kind of other dimension?" he inquired.
"If you want to put it that way, yes." she answered.
Jake gasped in shock, "Then I finally did it."
"Did what?" Fluttershy asked.
"I broke through the barrier."
"Barrier?" Rarity asked in confusion.
"What barrier?" Applejack asked.
"The barrier between space and time." he answered.
"Huh?" Rainbow Dash asked feeling clueless.
Jake suddenly realized he was talking to other world creatures without even knowing anything about them, "Whoa, hey, I'm getting off course here. Who are all of you, and where am I again?"
"Like I said, you're in the land known as Equestria. This place here is a hospital located in the town of Ponyville." Twilight answered.
"Ponyville? Sounds like a place in a child's storybook," he said, before looking over and saw a tray of syringes close to him. He screamed in fright as he curled up into a fetal position, "GET THOSE THINGS AWAY FROM ME! GET THEM AWAY!"
The doctor seeing his discomfort with the syringes turned to the nurse, "Please takes those out of the room, nurse?.
"Yes, sir." Nurse Redheart took the tray out of the room, as Jake started calming down seeing as they were gone.
"Sorry about that. I just have a large discomfort around needles." he admitted.
"We understand." Fluttershy answered.
Jake finally sat up and looked at the ponies, "Now, could you all tell me your names, if you have them?"
"Of course we got names, silly." Pinkie chuckled.
Twilight approached, "I'm Twilight Sparkle, and this is my number one assistant, Spike."
"Hi, there." Spike greeted him.
Pinkie spoke up, "I'm Pinkie Pie. Nice to meetcha!"
"Name's Applejack, sugarcube." Applejack tipped her hat to him.
"I'm... Fluttershy." she said softly.
"Soft talker aren't you?" Jake asked, and she looked sheepish.
"My name is Rarity. A pleasure, Mr. McGinnis." the elegant unicorn greeted him.
"And I'm Rainbow Dash, how's it going?"
Jake looked the the pegasus and gasped, "You! You're that pony who was able to match my speed."
"That's right. You sure can move fast." Rainbow admitted.
"And you sure can fly fast." Jake admitted in shock.
"Got that right." she replied smugly.
"Uh, Mr. Jake, sir?" Fluttershy spoke up.
"Yeah?" he asked.
"Forgive me for asking, but how were moving so fast?" Fluttershy asked. When she noticed Jake looking depressed, she gasped, "Oh, I'm sorry. Was that wrong of me to ask?"
"No it wasn't wrong. It's just this ability of mine is apparently the reason why I'm here." he answered.
"It is?" she asked, and he nodded.
"Well that answers that, but what's up with your look?" Rainbow asked, "You look pale as a ghost."
"Rainbow Dash, don't be so rude." Rarity scolded her.
"I'm just curious." Rainbow replied.
"Curiosity killed the cat, Rainbow." Pinkie said in sing song.
"You wanna know why I look like this, and how I can move so fast?" Jake spoke up, grabbing their attention. They all couldn't help but be curious, as they slowly nodded, "Then I'll tell you."
He looked at his reflection in a nearby mirror, "Long before I looked like this, I had normal skin, normal eyes, and normal hair color," he saw in his reflection his original look which was normal skin color, green eyes, and raven black hair, "I once lived with my family in a place called Milwaukee. I had my mom, dad, my little sister, and little brother. We lived a happy life. I had big dreams planned out for when I got older. I was gonna become a track star when I got to high school. That's why I spent my junior high years getting in shape for it. My friends would call me the Flash, like my favorite superhero. But one day it was all taken away from me." he said bitterly.
"What happened?" Twilight asked.
"Three years ago, these scientist goons took me away from my family and brought me to their facility outside Los Angeles," he continued, "It was then they wanted me to become part of their 'little experiment'." he did air quotes.
"Experiment?" Pinkie asked.
"What kind of experiment?" Applejack inquired.
"They said it was one that was gonna change the world and all of mankind. They called it Project Accelerator."
"And they wanted you to be part of it?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, as it turned out they were looking for test subjects so they checked out just about all the major schools in each state of America. Once they compiled a list of their top choices of candidates who were well known for running fast they picked the top of the list. And guess who the lucky winner was?"
Pinkie gasped, "Wait, don't tell me let me guess, let me guess!" she started thinking, "No don't tell me, it's on the tip of my tongue." The girls sighed as Jake just answered.
"Me."
"Darn, I was so close!" Pinkie grumbled.
"They sweet talked me into going along with it, saying it could revolutionize the world. They wanted to make someone who could move faster than a speeding bullet or strike of lightning. They told me if I went along with this and it turned into a successful project they would let me see my family again and would never bother me again."
"What'd you do?" Fluttershy gasped.
"The only thing I could do. I agreed to do it," he replied, "But soon enough I wished I didn't. They subjected me to the most brutal and painful experiments, poking and prodding at my body, injecting me with drugs and serums, delivering electrical jolts and shocks on me from the inside out," he explained, as he could still feel the painful jolts course through his body, and could even hear his screams echo through his mind, "Any normal person subjected to such torture would've cracked. But not me."
"So then what happened?" Rainbow asked.
"When the procedure was over they put me through a field test. It was a success. My body can now move at the speed of sound, faster than the eye can blink, and all those other metaphors. They kept me indoors testing me to see how far I could go, and all I was capable of doing with an accelerated body. I felt like a lab rat in a maze."
"Oh dear." Fluttershy put a hoof to her mouth in surprise.
"The reason why I look like this was because of some drawbacks to being given this power. A speed force now surrounds my body, and it blocks off ultraviolet rays making my body unable to produce melanin. Plus they kept me indoors for three years without sunlight or fresh air. As you can see it did a lot of damage to my complexion." he looked at himself.
"Oh dear, me." Rarity gasped knowing such a thing could not be good for pony or his species.
"Whenever I tried talking back to the scientists, telling them I had enough for one day or stepped out of line, they poked me with syringes which administered drugs into my system which made me weak."
"That further explains your fear of needles." Applejack realized.
Jake nodded, "Finally the guy in charge of the whole project, Dr. Vellian Dagger, came to me with what I hoped was good news, but it wasn't. He was supposed to hold up his end of our deal and let me return home peacefully. But he wanted to keep me around for more research, but I knew it was all just to keep me contained so no one else could have me. He lied to me, and intended to experiment on more lives so he could sell them to armies, marines, and all other types of national service leagues. Outraged, I finally managed to break free of my restraints and escaped the facility, but I knew they would try and catch me."
"Whoa." the girls and Spike gasped.
"To make sure they'd never find me I tried running faster and faster. Though during my training they forbade me from running at the speed I was going at then, and now I realize why."
"You ran so fast you crossed over to our dimension." Twilight realized.
"Yeah, and I should consider myself lucky. Running at that speed should've peeled my skin right off my muscles and bones. I never want to run at that speed again." he sighed.
"So that's why you were so exhausted after you crashed." Rainbow noted.
"Yeah, running at that speed can really leave ya dehydrated."
"Well, you should be safe now," Twilight said, "I don't think you'll have to worry about those scientists looking for you here."
"I should hope so. But if that means I'm stuck here, then there's no way I can ever get home and find my family." he dropped his head.
"And you don't wanna risk doing what ya did to come here again, huh?" Applejack asked.
"Exactly." he answered.
Pinkie not liking how mopey Jake was spoke up, "Hey come on, I wanna see you smile. And I know just what to do," suddenly she started being her usual crazy Pinkie Pie self, doing all sorts of jokes and gags. When she finished with a pie falling on her head, Jake smiled and started laughing. Pinkie's smile brightened, "I made you laugh!"
"That was so funny, I almost forgot what funny was!" Jake laughed while clutching his ribs, "Oh, I gotta calm down or I'm gonna wet myself," he started calming down, "So can I get out of here, now? I wanna see more of the outside. It's been so long since I've seen grass, the sun, clouds, everything." he said feeling nostalgic.
"I'm afraid we cannot let you leave this quickly." the doctor answered.
"Why not?" he complained.
The nurse answered, "We'd like to keep you overnight until you're truly back up to strength."
"What're you talking about? I feel perfectly fine." he tried to get out of bed.
"We insist, and don't make us have to use this..." The doctor said, as he levitated a syringe out.
Seeing it, Jake cowered on the bed, "Whoa-whoa, let's not be hasty here! Ok, I'll stay overnight, as long as you put that away."
So the doctor put the syringe back and turned to the girls, "You can all come back tomorrow afternoon to see him."
"Ok, and thanks again." Twilight said, before they could leave, Jake spoke up.
"Hey, wait a minute. What am I supposed to do until tomorrow? I'll go batshit crazy here from boredom!"
The girls pondered, until Rainbow spoke up, "Say no more. I have just the thing," she zipped out, and suddenly came back holding a book, "Here, read this and before ya know it it'll be tomorrow."
Jake accepted the book, and looked at the title, "Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Stone?"
"Trust me, it's an awesome read." Rainbow assured him.
"I'll take your word for it." he said, as he got comfy.
"We'll see you tomorrow, Jake." Twilight said, as they all left Jake.
Jake couldn't help but lie back and look at the book, "Well, I haven't read any literature in three years, except for science books on how to better understand acceleration and velocity. So this should be a nice change up." he opened the book and started reading.
Outside the hospital, Twilight and Spike were heading off for home, "Spike, when we get back we need to write to Princess Celestia about this."
"I know," Spike agreed, "But what else can we do for Jake once he gets out of the hospital?"
"We treat him like we treat any friend of ours, and hope that the ponies here will accept him as well." Twilight answered, as the princess and her number one assistant trekked back to their place.
The next morning at the Ponyville castle of Twilight and HQ of her friends, Twilight and Spike had left their domain so they could head to the hospital to visit Jake.
As they walked, Spike spoke up, "I can't believe Princess Celestia and Princess Luna want to come to Ponyville to personally meet Jake."
"Well, I can," Twilight replied, "After all, how often do we get a new species to appear in Equestria?"
"Point." Spike agreed.
When they reached the hospital, they saw Applejack and Rainbow Dash waiting, "Morning, girls." Twilight greeted her.
"Morning, Twilight." Applejack greeted her.
"Morning, Spike." Rainbow greeted the dragon.
"Morning, girls." Spike greeted them.
"We were just waiting for you two to show up." Applejack said.
"Well, let's go." Twilight said, as they entered the hospital.
When they were admitted into Jake's room, they saw a nurse at his bedside with a basin of water and a sponge, "Oh hey, girls. Good morning." he greeted them.
"Morning, Jake." Applejack greeted him.
"Are we interrupting something?" Spike asked.
"Not at all. I just finished getting my sponge bath. Hey, thanks again, nurse."
"My pleasure, Mr. McGinnis." she replied, before taking her leave.
"Well Jake, we talked to the doctor, and you can leave today." Twilight explained.
"Finally," he got out of the bed and stretched, "Ooh, I feel stiff!" he groaned, before he lifted his right foot up to look under it. He sighed in relief, "Thank God, running that fast didn't burn my soles off."
He walked to the closet and found his white body suit hanging up. He went behind a curtain and changed into it. He looked at it and sighed, "Personally, I hate wearing this."
"Well ya won't have to worry about that for long, sugarcube." Applejack said.
"What do you mean?" he asked.
"Don't worry, you'll find out. Come on, let's go." Twilight said, as they left the room.
Jake realized, "Oh, right. Rainbow, this was an awesome read." he handed her book back.
"Told ya so. And I can get you the rest of the works."
"Sweet." he smiled.
When they stepped out of the hospital, Jake did a double take as he looked at all his surroundings, "Am I really outside?"
"Where else?" Rainbow asked, as the four saw the human was walking around in awe at everything around him.
Jake got down to the ground and brushed his hand over some blades of grass, "Grass. Soil," he laid his hand on some dirt. He saw a tree and laid his hand on it, "A tree," he finally looked up at the sky feeling more nostalgic, "The sky, the clouds, and the sun!"
Rainbow spoke to her friends, "I think we lost him."
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Rainbow Dash, Jake told us he was kept indoors and in captivity for three years. You can't blame him for being excited like this."
Jake took a deep breath, "Ah, fresh air. I missed this."
"Come on, Jake. Let's show you around." Applejack spoke up.
"Coming!" he went over to join them, as they walked on.
As the three ponies and dragon showed Jake around Ponyville, he looked at everything in wonder. While he was shocked to see he was no longer in his own world, it didn't bother him as much seeing as how he had been contained for three years in the facility, "Wow, this town is so amazing." he said.
"Glad you think so." Applejack said.
"You seem to be taking things very well for a guy who crossed over from his own dimension." Spike noted.
"I haven't stepped outside the facility for three years. I almost forgot what my world itself was like." he replied.
"So you were never made up to date for the last three years with what went on in your world?" Twilight asked in shock.
"Well the scientists would brief me on some of the more important things happening in the world like politics, religion, and other mass media. Still, hearing about it and watching it wasn't enough. I was still missing out on a lot of stuff that can only be achieved or learned up close and by personal experience."
"Well hope you're ready to learn a lot here, Jake." Rainbow nudged his shoulder.
"That reminds me. Last night, I did a lot of thinking, and I decided something."
"What's that?" Twilight asked.
"I don't want to be called Jake as much as before."
"Why not?" Twilight looked at him with confusion.
"Because that was the name of me during my old life. I want to start things fresh, with a new identity."
"So what do ya wanna us to start calling you now?" Applejack inquired with a raised brow.
"Call me, Accelerator." he answered.
"Huh?" they asked.
"You want us to start calling you what those scientist guys called you?" Spike asked in surprise.
"They called me Project Accelerator. The Project part is dropped because I'm not longer an experiment. Now, I'm just Accelerator." he answered.
"Well, if you say so." Applejack replied.
"Well, Accelerator sounds like a sweet name," Rainbow admitted, "But it could sound even cooler."
"Cooler?" Accelerator asked.
"Yeah. I think I'll call you Accel. That sounds cool."
"If you say so." Accelerator replied, feeling it was best to go with it.
As they continued walking, all the ponies were looking at him with looks of confusion and wonder. Accelerator himself looked at them in wonder, seeing so many types of ponies ranging from earth, pegasus, and unicorn, 'Three types of ponies, different mane, different coats, and all have unique tattoos on their flanks.' he thought to himself.
"Hey, Accel." Rainbow spoke up, snapping him out of this thoughts.
"Yeah?"
"We're at our first stop." Twilight said, as they stood outside Rarity's place.
"What is this?" he looked up at the place.
"This is Carousel Boutique. Rarity owns this place, and lives here." Twilight explained.
"A boutique, huh?" Accelerator looked up at the place.
"That gals, all about fashion and stuff." Applejack put in.
"Obviously." Accelerator crossed his arms.
They entered the place, and Accelerator looked around seeing the décor, "Wow. Just like a boutique should be."
Rarity trotted over from one of her mannequins, "Ah good morning, everypony. And Mr. McGinnis, nice to see you up and about."
"Thanks, and let's skip the formalities, huh?"
"Quite right," she agreed, "Now then, the girls brought you here because I believe you deserve a more fitting set of clothes."
"Yeah, I've been wearing multiple pairs of this for the last three years. And I'm tired of it."
"Well say no more. With Rarity around, you'll be styling." she said.
"I see."
"Now then, I will first require your measurements." she began.
"Ok." He followed her to a spot, where she levitated some measuring tape, a notepad, and a quill.
She started taking all his measurements, and when she was done she spoke, "Ok, now to get to work."
"Ok, I'll be right over there." he motioned to a corner, and zipped to that location.
As he waited patiently with Spike, Rainbow, Twilight, and Applejack, Rarity was at work making him a suitable outfit. Rarity spoke up, "Jacob, it's all ready."
"Cool," he zipped over to her, "And for the record, try calling me Accelerator." Rarity gave him a confused look, before turning to the girls and Spike who shrugged.
"Very well, now try these on." she levitated him an outfit all folded up.
"Thanks." he went behind a changing screen, and within a second he stepped out into the open out of his jumpsuit and into his new duds.
He was now wearing a silver tracksuit with blue trims, and on his feet were a pair of white cross trainers, "So what do you think?" he asked.
Applejack whistled, "Now that's more like it."
"Awesome!" Rainbow cheered.
"Much better." Twilight added.
"Cool." Spike gave a thumb's up.
"Very smashing, Accelerator." Rarity smiled.
"Thanks, you really did a great job here, Rarity," Accelerator said, while looking at his new outfit.
"Though it could use a little touch up," Rainbow said, before she flew off and came back with something, "Here put these on." she tossed him, what she had and he caught them.
He saw she gave him a pair of aviator goggles, "Goggles?"
"Yeah, I mean if you're running at my speed a lot of stuff must get in your eyes." she explained.
"Actually, yeah," Accelerator nodded, before dawning them with the goggles resting on his forehead, "Well?"
Rarity gasped, "It's perfect. Rainbow Dash, you're a genius!"
"Yeah, I know." she admitted with pride.
"Well, now that I look more presentable, can we see more of this town?" Accelerator asked, hopefully.
"Sure, coming, Rarity?" Twilight asked.
"I'll meet up with you later. I just have a bit more stuff to take care of." she replied.
"Ok, see ya then." Applejack said, as they left the boutique.
As they continued to walk through Ponyville, Accelerator continued to enjoy the town. Suddenly he stopped and saw an earth pony carrying some crates of fruits and vegetables before he lost balance and the crates fell with some of the produce rolling out. Accelerator suddenly overcome with an urge, zipped over to the pony, "Hey, need some help?"
"Uh..." the pony trailed, so Accelerator spoke.
"Leave it to me," he ran around collecting all the rolled out produce, before putting them back in their crates and set them all on top of a table by the pony's stand, "Nothing to it." he said, while leaning against the counter.
The earth pony started to smile seeing his stand was set up perfectly, "Thank you, Mr..."
"Call me Accelerator," he answered, "Well see ya around." he zipped back to the girls and Spike.
"That was very nice of you." Twilight said.
"I just did what I felt was right."
"And it certainly was right." Applejack replied.
"Thanks."
"Come on, let's keep moving." Rainbow said, as they pressed on.
Soon they stopped over by Fluttershy's cottage, as they saw their shy pegasus friend feeling all the animals, "Hey, Fluttershy!" Rainbow called.
She jumped a bit in fright, before realizing it was her friends, "Oh, good morning everypony. And good morning to you, Mr. Jake."
Rainbow leaned in, "He prefers Accelerator now."
The shy one gasped, "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I didn't know."
Accelerator chuckled, "It's quite all right. I just decided that this morning. You sure have a lot of animals here."
"Oh, yes. I absolutely love to take care of animals."
"Clearly," he spotted a bear amongst all the animals, "Whoa, is that a bear?!" he backed away.
"Oh don't worry. Mr. Bear is very gentle, aren't you, boy?" Fluttershy asked, as she rubbed the bear's head who in turn hugged her, and she giggled.
Accelerator looked in amaze, seeing such a shy pegasus could tame something as ferocious as a bear. He then looked across the cottage and saw a deep thick forest, "What's that over there?"
The group saw what he was looking at, and Applejack spoke, "That there's the Everfree Forest."
"Everfree Forest?"
"Yeah, and trust us, you don't ever wanna go in there alone." the cowgirl pony said.
"Why not?"
"The forest isn't natural." Rainbow explained.
"How so?"
"Well the animals tend to themselves, plants grow on their own, and the weather happens on its own." Fluttershy explained in worry.
Accelerator looked at them in confusion, "And that's bad, why?"
Twilight spoke to the girls, "Remember, from the world Accelerator is from the laws and physics of our world don't quite apply."
Accelerator feeling there was more to this world than how it looked spoke, "I'm gonna need to do some long research about this world."
"And I can provide you with the books you need." Twilight confirmed.
Rainbow nudged them along, "Research later. Coming, Fluttershy?"
"Oh, of course." she followed them.
Soon the group was coming up on Sweet Apple Acres, "Welcome to my home, Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack told Accelerator.
"Wow, I've never been on a farm before." the human said.
"Well, come on." Applejack said, as they moved along.
As they walked along the farm land, they saw three ponies coming over to them, "Hey, everypony." Applejack greeted them.
"There ya are, Applejack." the elder Granny Smith said.
"Where were ya this morning?" the little Applebloom asked.
"Just seeing a new friend. Why don't yall come meet him?" Accelerator suddenly zipped over, surprising them, "Everypony, I'd like ya to meet Accelerator."
"Hi." he greeted them.
"Accel, meet my kin. This here's Applebloom, Big Macintosh, and Granny Smith."
"Well, nice to meetcha, sonny." Granny Smith greeted him.
"Eeyup." Big Mac agreed.
"Wow, what are ya?" Applebloom asked, as she trotted around him.
"I'm a human."
"Hu-man?" Applebloom asked in confusion, before looking at their granny.
"Never seen anything like that in mah life." she replied.
"So you all run this farm?" Accelerator asked.
"Ya got that right. We grow the best apples in all Equestria." Granny Smith explained.
Big Mac picked one out of a bushel and tossed it to him, "Try one for yourself."
Accelerator caught the fruit before eyeing it in amaze, "An actual apple," he gasped, before taking a bite out of it. His eyes widened as a smile curled his face, "So juicy!" he continued to eat it, "That was delicious! You have any idea how long it's been since I've had a fresh juicy apple like that?" he asked the ponies.
"What did they feed you in that facility?" Rainbow asked.
"You don't wanna know." he replied with a shudder.
"Well we'd love to get to know ya more, but as ya can see we got a lot of loading to do." Big Mac said, while motioning to all the bushels of apples that needed to be brought to the barn.
"Hey, I can take care of that," Accelerator offered. Suddenly he picked up one bushel and dashed into the barn, and came back for another one, until they were all safely in the barn, "Finished!"
The Apple family blinked before realizing what just happened, "Well I'll be, you're faster than a herd of stampeding buffalo!" Granny Smith said.
"That was so cool!" Applebloom cheered, as Accelerator chuckled at her excitement and ruffled her mane.
"Ah don't believe it," Big Mac gasped, "Yah just saved us some time."
"Just helping out is all."
"Well we thank ya kindly for yer help." Granny thanked him.
"Any time." he saluted her.
"Well we'll be seeing ya, got a lot more to show him." Applejack said, as they took off.
As they walked back to town, Accelerator suddenly saw a castle on top of a crystal tree, "Whoa, look at that. Who lives in a place like that?" he asked.
"That, would be mine and Spike's home." Twilight answered.
He did a double take, "You two live in a castle?" they nodded, "But don't you have to be like royalty to live in such a place?"
"Well Twilight's a princess, ya know?" Spike said.
"Princess? You didn't say you were a princess, Twilight!" he gasped.
"I don't really like expressing the title." she replied.
"Modest, huh?"
"Yeah," she smiled sheepishly, "But it's not just my castle. It's for my friends as well. And it's also a library."
"Really?"
"Yeah, all the knowledge you need about Equestria can be found here."
"Sweet."
"Speaking of sweet, there's one last place we want to show you." Rainbow said.
"What's that?"
"Come with us." Applejack said, as they showed their friend along.
They brought Accelerator up to Sugarcube Corner, "Whoa, what's this place?"
"This is Sugarcube Corner." Fluttershy explained.
"Sugarcube Corner?"
"Yeah, this is where all the best sweets are made in Ponyville." Spike explained.
"Sweets, as in sugar?" Accelerator asked hopefully.
"Of course." Twilight answered.
"Sweet! Sugar is just the kind of thing I need to keep my energy and speed up." he smiled.
"Well, come on." Rainbow said, as they headed up to the place.
Upon entering the place, party poppers sounded and streams fell onto them. Accelerator saw all sorts of ponies form town gathered together with Pinkie Pie, including Rarity, with a sign hanging from the ceiling reading 'Welcome to Ponyville.'.
"Surprise!" Pinkie and the ponies cheered.
"Whoa, what's the occasion?" Accelerator asked, feeling taken aback by the sudden surprise.
"You're the occasion." Pinkie answered, as she slid by his side.
"Me?"
"Yeah, this is your Welcome to Ponyville party."
"A welcome party for me?" Accelerator asked, as a tear started forming into his eye.
Seeing him look ready to cry, Applejack spoke, "Now what's wrong, sugarcube?"
"Yeah, parties are supposed to be happy not sad." Pinkie added.
"I'm not sad," he replied, as he wiped his tear away, "I'm happy. I haven't had a party for anything in three years." he smiled.
Seeing that he was shedding tears of joy, Pinkie smiled and rubbed his shoulder, "Well come on, let's give you that party long overdue!"
And so the party began, with every pony present partaking in the party games, and indulging in the confections prepared by Mr. and Mrs. Cake. Accelerator was eating bits of cake, while savoring every last bit, "Oh, so delicious." he salivated.
"Accelerator! Accelerator!" Applebloom called, as she approached him with her two friends.
"Hey, Applebloom. Oh, and who're these two?" he noticed them.
"My name's Sweetie Belle, I'm Rarity's sister." the unicorn filly answered.
"And I'm Scootaloo, and I'm Rainbow Dash's surrogate sister." the pegasus filly answered.
"And together we are the..." Applebloom began, until the three announced, "CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!"
Accelerator covered his ears from their announcement, before looking confused, "The what Crusaders?"
"The Cutie Mark Crusaders," Sweetie Belle replied, "We're crusading all over to find our hidden talents so we can earn our cutie marks."
"And what's a cutie mark?"
"it's a symbol ponies earn when they find their true talent." Applebloom answered.
Accelerator started realizing something, "Oh, so that explains all the images on the pony's flanks."
"Do your kind get cutie marks?" Scootaloo asked.
"No, I'm afraid. When we find something we're really good at we just stick with it. We don't receive some emblem that shows it."
"Well we're gonna try and try and we won't stop until we find our hidden talents." Scootaloo declared.
"And when we do we'll have our cutie marks!" Applebloom cheered.
Accelerator smiled, "You girls sure remind me of my own little sister."
"We do?" Sweetie Belle asked in interest.
"Yeah, always full of excitement and energy. Just like you three," he smiled at the filly's, before thinking, 'I'm sure she'd be surprised if she saw this place.'
"Thanks, and is it true you can run at the same speed as Rainbow Dash can fly?" Scootaloo asked.
"Well she and I were neck in neck when we first met. But I'm not sure which of us is the fastest." he answered.
Rainbow flew in, "Well it's obvious I would be the fastest." she boasted.
Accelerator did a double take before speaking, "Oh, already deciding that, are you?"
"Well, you did crash." she reminded him.
"Only because I was looking at you!"
"Not your best excuse." she smirked.
"Why am I even arguing about this?" he asked rhetorically, until they broke out into laughter.
Suddenly a mare called out, "It's the princess!" Accelerator saw every pony present started bowing. When he looked up ahead he saw what they were bowing too. It was Princess Celestia and Princess Luna the two royal sisters and rulers of Equestria.
"Accelerator, bow!" Twilight whispered, as he joined Twilight and her friends in the bow.
"Who're they?" he asked.
"That's Princess Celestia and Princess Luna," Twilight whispered back, "Princess Celestia's my mentor. I owe just about all the magic I know to her."
"Wow." He gasped as he watched the two approach.
"You may rise, everypony." Celestia ordered, and they did so.
"Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!" the mane six and Spike called as they went over.
"It is good to see you all this afternoon," Princess Luna greeted them, "And it seems we arrived just in time for Pinkie's party."
"And where is the guest of honor, Twilight?" Celestia inquired, and suddenly saw the guest of honor at their side.
"You talking about me?"
The two princesses felt a bit startled at his sudden appearance, "Forgive us, but we didn't see you there." Luna said.
"Well I move as fast as the eye can blink." he explained.
"Clearly. Please, allow us to introduce ourselves. I am Princess Celestia."
"And I am Princess Luna."
"My name's Jake McGinnis, but you can call me Accelerator."
Luna pondered, "A fitting name for a creature with your ability."
"Oh, you've heard of my power?" he inquired.
"Twilight told my sister and I in a letter about you and how you arrived here." the Princess of the sun began.
"She also mentioned about the life you had before arriving here," Luna added, as the two sisters gave him solemn looks, "We are sorry to hear you went through such trials."
Accelerator spoke up, "Well, that's in the past now. Because I'm free from all that. Though I'm in another dimension different from my own, I'm still free."
"And we welcome you to Equestria." Celestia added.
"Thank you, your excellencies." he bowed his head.
"And how have you enjoyed Ponyville so far?" Celestia inquired.
"Truthfully, this place is amazing. The ponies here are nice, the food is delicious, and dare I say it this place is just magical." he beamed.
"Indeed it is." Luna smiled.
"But there's still so much I don't know about Equestria. I feel like a fish out of water." he added.
The two sisters smiled, as Celestia spoke, "Well you'll find no better ponies to teach you than Twilight Sparkle and her friends."
"Really?"
"Yes, for they are true embodiment's of friendship, and will show you just how powerful friendship can really be." Luna stated.
Accelerator thought, 'Sounds kinda cheesy the way she says it, but hell it's better than learning under those scientists,' he spoke up, "I'll look forward to that, but I unfortunately have no place to stay."
"Not to worry, the castle has more than enough spare bedrooms." Twilight answered.
"Really, Twilight?"
"Yeah, and that way I can help educate you on Equestria."
Accelerator smiled, "Thanks, Twi. You really must be a great friend, in fact all of you have proven to be great friends." he smiled at the girls and Spike who gathered around him. He lowered himself down as they hugged him.
"Now let's get back to the party!" Pinkie cheered.
"Would you two like to stay and enjoy it?" Twilight asked her two fellow princesses.
"Well we don't have to get back right away." Celestia admitted.
"So yes, we would be honored to partake in this most auspicious occasion." Luna added.
"Well all right yall, let's party!" Applejack cheered as the party continued.
Accelerator seeing Pinkie bring over a DJ pony known as Vinyl Scratch or DJ Pon3, started playing music on her turntable, though to himself, 'Hmm, I've never tried it before.' he then went to the center and tried break dancing. Utilizing his acceleration power onto his back he was able to spin like a pro. The ponies cheered at his performance, while the girls and Spike smiled knowing with a new friend would come all kinds of excitement.
Meanwhile back in Accelerator's world, at the facility outside Los Angeles. The head scientist Dr. Vellian Dagger was looking over his assistant's shoulders, "Well, anything?"
"We've been analyzing the spot where the boy vanished, and we've found readings that he did in fact break the barrier of space and time." one began.
"I knew it." Dagger frowned that his hunch was right.
"More so, we've analyzed the data and found out the tear he caused is still there," another added, "Which means there may still be a chance to properly locate him. With the right devices of course."
"Good." Dagger smirked.
"The problem however is the tear is self restoring. Meaning once it completely heals there won't be another way to follow his trail." a third stated.
"What?! How long do we have?"
"By calculations, about a week and a half."
Dagger frowned, "Then we'll have to act fast. I'm going to put in a call with one of our brother facilities and have them loan us some of their machines. I hate to ask, but we have no other choice."
"Sir, do we really need to find him?"
"What was that?" he turned to one of the assistants.
"Well the project is completed, so can't we make the clones we promised the government we'd make for them without the boy?"
"NO!" Dagger bellowed, "The boy is everything! It cannot be done without him. We need to incorporate his DNA into our new test subjects in order for it to work."
"But sir, we have plenty samples of his DNA. Will that not suffice?" the second asked.
Dagger glared at him, "I cannot risk solely using the only DNA samples we have. We want the replicas to be perfect. And to do that we need the real thing here. I don't care if it bankrupts me, we must get him back!"
"Yes, sir." the assistants agreed as they got right to work on analyzing more of the data, as Dagger left.
As he walked down the hall of the facility, he thought to himself, 'Jacob, run while you can. No matter where you go, I will find you. You cannot escape.'
When Celestia's sun rose over the land, Twilight was up with Spike who was heading into a guest room to fetch Accelerator. Upon entering the room, they saw he was nowhere to be found, "Uh, where is he?" Spike asked.
"I don't know," Twilight gasped, "I hope he didn't go off into town early."
"What was the last thing he was doing last night?" Spike inquired.
"I left him alone in the library to study up on Equestria history," she answered before a thought came to her, "Hold on." she galloped off with Spike following her.
They entered the library section of the castle, and saw Accelerator lying down on a pile of books asleep, "He fell asleep here?" Spike asked.
"Well, better wake him up." Twilight said, as she nudged him.
Accelerator groaned before waking up, "Ugh, what a night."
"How long did you stay up?" Spike asked as he started picking up some books.
"One in the morning, I think." he answered.
"You stayed up till one in the morning reading all this?!" Twilight gasped seeing he cleared about two shelves worth of books and finished them before one in the morning.
"Yeah. My acceleration power doesn't just work on my feet. It works with my mind as well. I cleaned through these books like they were nothing."
"And you remember all that's written?" Spike asked in shock.
"Yeah, if I didn't have this power I probably would have cleared only one book." he joked.
"So I assume you're caught up with present times in Equestria?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah, this place has some interesting history," Accelerator said, as he started taking books and re-shelving them in the spots they were originally in fast pace, "So what's on the agenda today?"
"Well I have some stuff to look over." Twilight admitted.
"And I got my morning chores." Spike added.
"So I guess I'm on my own?" Accelerator asked.
"For now, but by noon time we're all gathering for a picnic in the park." Twilight explained.
"Cool. Well I'm gonna go for a little stroll around town. See you then!" he zipped out of the library and the castle.
Accelerator was walking through the town seeing everypony either doing their job, or just strolling around like him. He then looked at Sugarcube Corner, "Wonder what's going on there?" he zipped inside to see Pinkie and Mr. Cake working, while Mrs. Cake was tending to their two foals, "Good morning, everypony."
"Well, good morning, Accelerator." Mr. Cake greeted him.
"And how are you this morning?" Mrs. Cake asked.
"Very well, thank you. How's business around here?" he took a seat at the stool up front.
"Couldn't be better." Pinkie answered.
"So what can we do for you?" Mr. Cake asked.
"I'll take a chocolate shake with extra whipped cream."
"Coming up." Pinkie said.
Accelerator saw Mrs. Cake tending to her son Pound Cake, who was being fussy, "You and your husband have kids?" he asked having not seen them during his welcome party.
"Why, yes. This is Pound and Pumpkin. Sorry if they're being a little nippy for the moment." the baker said.
"No trouble at all. In fact, can I see the little one?" he requested.
"Well, sure I suppose. It's just hard to keep them calm when they get like this." she said as she offered Pound to him.
Accelerator cradled Pound into his arms, as the little foal looked up at him in wonder, as the teen spoke, "Hey there, little guy. It's ok. I'm not gonna hurt you," he pat the little one's mane, "You're a cute little one, aren't you?" he tickled his chin, causing the baby pegasus to giggle, "How about I sing you a lullaby?" Pound smiled.
So Accelerator started rocking him, while singing a lullaby in a calm and soothing voice.
Inchworm, Inchworm, Measuring the marigolds, You and your arithmetic Will probably go far. Inchworm, Inchworm, Measuring the marigolds, Seems to me you'd stop and see How beautiful they are.
Pound had giggled, and his sister Pumpkin reached out wanting some attention as well. Accelerator smiled, as he rocked the unicorn foal as well, taking the mother by surprise, "That's amazing. It normally takes a lot of control to calm them down when they're fussy."
"I happen to be good with kids. I had two younger siblings that I helped look after." he said, as he held the two.
"And that was a beautiful lullaby too." Mrs. Cake added.
"Thanks," he looked a tad sorrow, "My mom used to sing that to me when I was a tyke."
Mrs. Cake seeing that was very sensitive to him laid a hoof on his shoulder, "I'm sure she'd be glad to see you using it to make other little ones happy." Accelerator returned the smile, and looked down at the happy foals.
"Here ya go. Thank you for waiting." Mr. Cake said, as he placed Accelerator's milkshake on the counter.
Accelerator sat at the counter and drank his milkshake. When he finished he pulled out a coin bag filled with bits, and paid for his drink, "You know this morning a thought occurred to me." he began.
"What was that?" Pinkie asked.
"If I'm gonna be here in this world, I'm gonna need to get a job of some sorts. These bits Celestia and Luna have given me won't last forever."
"That is a problem." Pinkie admitted.
"Another problem is what type of work should a guy like me do?" he asked.
"Everypony has something they're good at doing. That's why we have cutie marks of course." Pinkie smiled.
"Well, I'm afraid I don't have one of those," he got up, "I'll go for another spin around town. That'll help me think. See you later!" he took off like a shot.
He ran around Ponyville, thinking to himself, 'What could a human do for a job in a world of ponies that's easy enough to do, and doable to boot?'
As he ran, he stopped and saw he ran right into what the girls called the Everfree Forest, "Whoa! So this is the Everfree Forest? Sure is dark." he said as he lifted his goggles off his eyes. He started walking around cautiously, while hearing all sorts of sounds from all around him.
Suddenly a bat flew past him ,making he jump in fright. He quickly shook it off and spoke to himself, "Get a grip on yourself, Accel. You can handle this," he continued walking while trying to ignore all the hoots, growls, and cries coming from all around him, "I'm not afraid!" he announced, before he accidentally bumped into something making him stumble backwards.
When the figure turned around, he saw it was wearing a dark cloak with its hood up. He saw through the hood was what looked like a pair of glowing yellow eyes. He screamed in fright before turning to run, but ended up running smack dab into a tree that was right behind him. He fell onto his back, as the figure stood above him, "Have mercy?" he cringed.
The figure drew it's hood down to reveal a zebra with a mohawk hairstyle, "Now-now, there is no need for fright. I promise you I do not bite." it spoke in an exotic female voice
"A zebra?" Accel asked, as he got off the ground and onto his feet.
"I'm sorry for startling you, but I myself did not expect to see something so new." she rhymed.
'Wait a minute, a zebra that rhymes?' he thought to himself, before speaking up, "Pardon me, but would you happen to be Zecora?" he asked, having heard about all those close to Twilight from Ponyville to the forest, and beyond.
"You are correct my good sir, and you must be the one the ponies in town call Accelerator."
"By name and reputation," he nodded, "Though how do you know who I am? I haven't seen you in Ponyville."
"News around Ponyville travels exceptionally fast through the lip. You are of course the latest in their gossip." she explained.
"Yeah, I guess I am." he chuckled, before he felt his forehead and groaned.
"Oh my, what's this we have here?" Zecora asked, as she saw a bump on his forehead from running right into the tree, "That is quite a bump, my dear."
"I normally don't run into things like that." he replied.
"Come with me, I will show you around, where you'll be safe and sound." Zecora led the teen off to where she stayed.
Inside Zecora's home, Accel was given a bandage placed on the spot where the bump was, "There we go. All better, wouldn't you say so?"
"Yeah, Zecora, and thanks," Accelerator said, as he peered around her hut seeing all the trinkets and objects from her homeland, "This is certainly quite a nice place, even when located in a forest such as this."
"Though the forest is no place for anypony, it is perfect for one such as me." Zecora explained.
"Twilight did tell me that you make remedies and ailments for certain sicknesses and such. Not to mention are knowledgeable about creatures besides ponies."
"Twilight tells you the truth about me, but the first time they knew me they always would flee."
"Yeah, she mentioned how all of Ponyville was terrified of you. But it was just them being paranoid because you look different. I personally have no problem with those who're different."
Zecora smiled, "You have such a kind heart for a bipedal creature. I feel that is your best feature."
Accel blushed at her compliment, but shook it off as he watched her mix some ingredients, "Whatcha making there?"
"I am mixing some herbs for a new ailment you see. When finished it will be perfect to cure acne." she explained.
Accel whistled, "I could use something like that. I am after all at that age where zits can be a problem."
"The remedy is almost complete, but there is one last item on my check sheet." she looked at a sheet she had listing items and what thy looked like.
"Let me see." Accel looked and saw items marked off, except for one. It was an exotic looking flower, "Wait a minute, I think I saw one of those as we were walking to your place. How about I go and get one for you?"
"You would do that?"
Accel nodded, "Be back in a flash!" he zipped out the door, and a second later came back holding the flower in perfect condition, "Here ya go."
"Thank you so much, Accelerator. Now I shall add the flower to the mix, and stir." she said as she added the final ingredient and mixed it all together.
Accelerator smiled that she was able to finish her remedy thanks to him, and suddenly remembered how helpful he was to that one pony whose produce spilled over, until he quickly got them all back before they could spoil, and how he managed to help the Apple family load some bushels of apples into their barn house. He thought to himself, 'Maybe that's what I'm meant to do. Help others.'
Soon Accel and Zecora exited the tree, as the human spoke, "Thanks for tending to this bump, Zecora. And for this map as to where to get out of this forest."
"My deepest pleasure my friend. I hope to see you around here again." she replied.
"You can count on it," he put his goggled over his eyes, "Well, see ya later!" he took off running out of the forest.
When he reached the end of the forest and was back in Ponyville, he smiled to see he was out of harms way. He then remembered, "Whoa, better get to the park and see the girls." he zipped off.
Meanwhile in Ponyville park, The ponies and Spike were sitting on a blanket, or Rarity on her couch, as they were about to enjoy lunch, until Accelerator came to a halt, "Hey, everypony." he lifted his goggles up.
"Accel, where were you?" Rainbow asked.
"We were thinking ya weren't gonna show." Applejack added.
Fluttershy noticed the bandage on his forehead and flew up to his eyes level, "Oh my gosh, did you get hurt?"
"I'm fine, Fluttershy. Really, I am," he answered, "I just ran into a little trouble."
"What kind of trouble?" Rarity asked.
"I kinda ran into the Everfree Forest and got lost." he answered sheepishly.
"You what?!" they called.
"But luckily I made a friend who helped me out. Zecora."
"Oh, thank Celestia." Twilight sighed in relief.
"And while I was talking with her I discovered what I can do for a living here."
"And what's that?" Pinkie asked.
He smiled, "I'm gonna help ponies around here. Like an odd job type of work."
"Really?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, I mean what else is there really for me to do here? With this speed ability of mine I can get a lot of jobs done and earn a good pay to boot."
"Hmm," Twilight pondered, "That does sound like a good idea. We can even help you make flyers."
"Thanks, Twi. But for now let's enjoy this picnic." he sat down beside Rainbow Dash and Spike.
"I'm with ya." Rainbow agreed, as they started enjoying the picnic they prepared.
Later that day, the girls helped Accelerator make up a number of flyers advertising his service for hire. The flyer contained contact information for him as he stayed at Twilight's castle, how much he'd charge depending on how big and small the job was, business hours, and a pamphlet for the customer to fill out and send to him.
Accelerator looked at the stacks they made out and spoke, "Good job girls. Now while I hang up some of these around town you'll be sure to give some to any pony you see."
"Right." Rainbow nodded.
"And I'll ask Princess Celestia have somepony distribute some of these around Canterlot." Twilight added.
"Well then let's get to work!" Accelerator sped off into town with his stack of flyers.
"Something tells me, he's gonna be busy here." Applejack stated.
"Whatever it takes to make him feel useful." Twilight replied, as they all headed off to distribute some flyers.
Four days passed since Accelerator started his little odd job business. Since then he was getting multiple customers throughout Ponyville who needed help with various tasks. Some tasks included helping the garden ponies Daisy, Lily, and Rose with their gardening and fetching more gardening supplies for them, assisting Zecora with gathering herbs and other ingredients for her elixirs, helping the Apple family harvest their apples, even helping Pinkie and the Cakes at making some sweets, or even watching their twins.
On a beautiful afternoon, he was at Fluttershy's cottage helping her feed the animals. He placed a bowl of acorns and nuts for the squirrels and mice, "There you go fellas, eat up."
Fluttershy flew over, "Very good, Accelerator. The animals are warming up to you very well."
"I thank you for teaching me how to be so gentle with them." the speedster replied.
Soon Twilight, Spike, and the girls came over, "Hey Fluttershy, Accel!" Rainbow greeted them.
"Hey, girls and Spike." Accel greeted them.
"How's your job going, sugarcube?" Applejack asked.
"Very well, actually. We just finished feeding the animals here."
"I'm amazed at the rapid growth of your business in only four days." Rarity said in amaze.
"I know. Who would've thought so many ponies would need so much help?" Accel said.
"Well at least you're making a profit off this." Rainbow stated.
"Uh-huh, but Fluttershy got me a different payment this time."
"Different payment?" Twilight asked.
"She got me a pet."
"A pet?" the girls asked.
"Yeah, she felt like I deserved a companion. You know being the only human here in Equestria and all?"
"So who's the lucky critter?" Applejack asked, as they looked around seeing many of Fluttershy's animal friends.
Suddenly swinging down from a tree was a little capuchin monkey, who landed on Accel's back and sat on his shoulder, "This little guy." Accel answered.
"Ooh, it's a monkey!" Pinkie cheered.
Spike and the girls gathered around, as Rarity spoke, "He's so adorable."
"Looks cool to me." Rainbow admitted.
"What's his name?" Twilight asked.
"His name's Sonic."
"Where'd ya come up with that name?" Applejack wondered.
"I got it from an animal character who's about as fast as me."
"Is it a monkey?" Pinkie asked.
"No, a hedgehog." he answered.
"A hedgehog that can move as fast as you?" Spike asked in confusion.
"It's an old show I used to watch."
"Well, I think it's nice to see you getting a pet." Twilight said.
"Yeah, I always wanted one. But I never in my wildest dreams would I get a monkey for a pet." he chuckled.
"I do hope you'll be able to take care of him." Twilight warned him.
"Don't worry, Fluttershy told me everything about how to properly raise him."
"And if he has any more questions he can come straight to me." Fluttershy put in.
Accel nodded before letting his monkey down on the ground and spoke to him, "Sonic, this is Twilight, Spike, Applejack, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie. Say hi."
Sonic gave a few monkey noises before clapping his little hands together, making the girls laugh, "He's funny, like me." Pinkie laughed.
"Well, it's a good thing you got a pet, Accel. Our weekly pony pet play date is tomorrow in the park." Rainbow said.
"Now that you have a pet, we can introduce him to ours." Applejack added.
"That'd be cool." Accel admitted.
"Well, Accelerator, thank you for your help." Fluttershy thanked him.
"Thank you, Fluttershy, for introducing me to Sonic here," Accel said, as his pet climbed up his arm and back onto his shoulder, "Well I'm gonna show him around Ponyville, and I'll catch up with you all later." he dashed off with Sonic clinging to him.
Meanwhile at the Ponyville Schoolhouse, all the fillies and colts were at recess having fun. The Cutie Mark Crusaders were planning on their next plan to earn their cutie marks, "Skydiving?" Scootaloo asked.
"Too dangerous." Applebloom said.
"Synchronized swimming?" Sweetie Belle suggested.
"Too difficult." Scootaloo answered.
"How about juggling?" Applebloom suggested.
"Actually, I think that's a good idea for you." a voice said belonging to Diamond Tiara with Silverspoon at her side.
"You think so?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Sure, after all juggling is a perfect talent for clowns!" she mocked, followed up with laughter along with Silver following her.
The three frowned at their never ending quest to bring down their morale. Applebloom turned her head to the side and her eyes widened, "Hey girls, look! There's Accelerator!"
The girls and the rest of the kids looked over and saw Accelerator walking around the schoolhouse whistling to himself, while Sonic was clinging to his back. Sweetie Belle called out, "Hey, Accelerator, over here!"
Accel snapping out of his thoughts, looked over and the three familiar fillies from his welcome party. He jogged over and stopped, "Afternoon, girls. And how're you three?"
"We're doing great." Scootaloo admitted.
"What're you up to?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"Well I just came from Fluttershy's. She needed me to help feed her animals. I even got a pet out of the deal. Meet Sonic." his monkey climbed down and landed on the ground.
"Aw!" Applebloom and Sweetie Belle cooed.
"Cool monkey." Scootaloo said.
"He is cool, isn't he?" Accel asked, as his pet remained close to him.
"Cool? More like filthy." Diamond mocked.
Accel frowned having been warned by the trio of this bully, "Hey, back off. He's been nothing but nice to you."
"Well I don't make it a habit to be nice to beasts," she continued to mock, until she was met with a dirt clod in the face. She growled as the dirt fell off her eyes and saw Sonic with a dirty hand, "You little!"
Sonic jumped up into his owners hands, as Accel spoke, "Hey, you insulted him first. So it's your own fault for provoking him."
Diamond huffed as she trotted away wanting to get cleaned up with Silver following her. Applebloom spoke up to the human, "So Accelerator, are ya doing anything?"
"Well, not at the moment." he answered.
"Then why don't you play with us? We're on recess break." Sweetie Belle offered, and many of the other kids started pleading with him.
Accelerator smiled, "Ok-ok, settle down. I'll stay and play until recess is over. How about it, Sonic?" Sonic gave happy little monkey cries, "All right, let's play!" the kids cheered.
And so Accelerator and Sonic began playing with the kids, such as pushing them on the swing set, giving them piggy back rides while running around at normal speed, even letting them dog pile on him like they were heroes and he was a villain. Sonic was doing some jumps and climbing around on the kids backs, as the filly's were rubbing his head with their hooves.
Finally, Accelerator was aiming his arms upward while spinning them around creating two mini twisters. Above those two twisters were Scootaloo and Pipsqueak who were floating in mid air due to the twisters Accel was creating with his fast spinning arms. The two kids were laughing in enjoyment while hovering in mid air.
Accel finally lowered them back to the ground, as the kids cheered. Finally Cherilee stepped outside hearing all the kids cheering, "Class? Oh, Accelerator."
"Afternoon, Cherilee." he greeted her.
"No wonder the children were sounding more happy than ever, even during recess," Cherilee chuckled, "What brings you by?"
"Well I was passing by, until the kids saw me and begged me to play with them. Who was I to deny a request from these little ones?" he rubbed the manes of Applebloom and Sweetie Belle.
Cherilee smiled and turned to the kids, "Well class, what do we say to Mr. Accelerator?"
"Thank you for playing with us." they said collectively.
"You're welcome." he answered.
"Oh, Accelerator, I been meaning to tell you we do have some new shipments of school supplies arriving at Ponyville's Post Office tomorrow. Would you be willing to help deliver them?"
"Sure thing." he nodded.
"Oh, thank you," a bell rang, "Well come on class, recess is over."
The class nodded, as they looked at Accelerator who picked Sonic up, "Bye, kids. Gotta run!" he took off like a shot.
The class watched him dash off in amaze, "Wow, he is fast." Pipsqueak gasped.
"Meh, Rainbow Dash could beat him with no sweat." Scootaloo stated.
When nighttime came, at the Ponyville castle inside Accel's guest room. He had a basket bed for Sonic along with a pillow and blanket. The monkey curled up in the basket before pulling the blanket over him.
Accel smiled as he got into bed, "Night, Sonic." he said before falling asleep.
As the human slept peacefully, his sleeping face started shifting into a look of discomfort. He started tossing and turning as the sounds of screaming and electric shocks echoed in his thoughts. He kept on tossing and turning while the screams continued to echo, before he shot up in bed panting.
He panted as if he was going to have a heart attack, before wiping the sweat off his forehead. He suddenly felt something in his lap, and looked down seeing Sonic giving him a concerned look, "Oh, it's ok, Sonic. Just a bad dream. I'm ok now, so let's go back to sleep," he saw Sonic looked like he didn't want to leave him alone. Taking the hint he spoke, "Ok, you can join me."
The monkey snuggled up with Accelerator, as he went back to bed and slept calmer this time, with Sonic at his side.
The next day in Ponyville park around Lunch time, the girls had gathered their pets together while waiting for Accelerator and Sonic. Rainbow was pacing with Tank flying at her side in the same pace, before the pegasus spoke, "For the supposed fastest human there is, he's really late."
"Don't be so impatient, Rainbow Dash. I'm sure he has his reasons." Rarity answered.
"Yeah, he was helping to deliver some new classroom equipment to the school." Twilight stated.
"And he isn't done with that?" Rainbow asked dryly.
Suddenly Accelerator pulled to a halt with Sonic in his arms, "Hey, sorry I'm late."
"What kept ya?" Applejack asked.
Accelerator started listing off what kept him late with his fingers, "Well, after I finished my job for Cherilee I saw an old pony trying to carry some grocery's in a busy section, so I helped her back to her place. I then saw a black cat cross my path so I had to take another route. Finally I just got lost on the road of life."
All but Pinkie and Fluttershy gave him a dry look, as Rainbow spoke, "Seriously?"
"Yeah."
"It's a legitimate excuse," Pinkie spoke up, "I get lost on the road to life every day."
"But with you it's normal, Pinkie." Rainbow stated.
"Well better late than never," Twilight stated, "Come on, you and Sonic can meet our pets." the ponies brought the two over to where their pets were, "You already know Owlowiscious. Then there's Winona, Tank, Angel, Opal, and Gummy."
Accelerator sat Sonic down on the ground, and the monkey went over to the animals, as Fluttershy introduced them, "Every animal, meet Sonic."
The animals at first gave Sonic questionable looks, except for Gummy who always retained the same blank expression before blinking. Winona finally approached Sonic and began sniffing him to get familiar with his scent. Finally, after she got his scent she gave Sonic a lick. Sonic in response jumped a bit before climbing on Winona's back as she gave him a ride.
"That's the spirit, Winona!" Applejack smiled.
After getting a ride from Winona, Sonic jumped off her and went to Opal who at first wanted to be left alone. Suddenly Sonic put his hands on her fur and started to massage her. As he did, Opal started purring in relaxation and allowed Sonic to continue.
Rarity watching this looked amazed, "My stars, I've never seen Opal this relaxed before."
Accelerator turned to Fluttershy, "Did you know Sonic could do that?"
"Actually, yes. He would scratch and massage some of the backs of my more larger animal friends, and they all seemed to enjoy it."
"Opal, especially." Rarity said, as she continued to watch her pet get pampered.
After giving Opal a massage, Sonic went over to Tank who was on ground level. He knocked on Tank's shell and was almost startled by the sound. He did it again, and started knocking on it some more producing bongo sounds. Tank hearing the sound started slowly moving his head having no problem with Sonic knocking on his shell.
Angel started getting into the beat by thumping his foot to the beat, and soon the animals joined in and moved to the rhythm. Accelerator spoke to Rainbow, "Your tortoise's shell sure can produce a beat."
"That's my Tank." Rainbow said proudly.
"Let's dance!" Pinkie cheered, as she picked Gummy up and danced around with him.
The group chuckled as they started moving to the beat Sonic was making with Tank's help. When he finished, the ponies applauded for the performance as Sonic climbed on top of Tank's shell and did a victory clasp, "That's my monkey! Here ya go, Sonic." Accelerator tossed him a banana.
Sonic caught it, and undid the peel a bit before he took a single bite out of it and gave a wink before it irised out around him.
One evening, Spike and Twilight were at the castle, as Sonic was perching on a platform, until Accelerator rushed in looking tired, "I'm home!"
"Welcome back, Acceletor." Twilight greeted him.
"You look exhausted." Spike noticed.
"Really, I hadn't noticed." he answered, as he wobbled over.
"Tough day?" Twilight asked.
"You have no idea. But the good news is I have no clients for tomorrow, which gives me plenty of time to relax and let loose." Accel said, as he rubbed Sonic's head.
"Good, because we're all going to Canterlot tomorrow." Twilight said.
"Canterlot, the kingdom where you grew up in?"
"That's right. The princesses are hosting an anniversary ball." Twilight explained.
"What's the anniversary?"
"The five thousand year anniversary since Princess Celestia and Princess Luna ascended to the throne." the young princess explained.
"Wow, that does call for a party." Accel admitted.
"That's right. The princesses want us there to help set everything up for the day after tomorrow," Twilight explained, "And since you don't have plans tomorrow you can come with us and see the kingdom yourself."
"Sounds great." Accel smiled.
"Speaking of, we better get some sleep if we're going to be traveling tomorrow." Spike noted, as he headed for bed.
Twilight giggled, "He is right, though. We're gonna need our sleep."
"Right. Goodnight, Twilight." Accel took off for his room.
"Goodnight, Accelerator." Twilight said, as she went off to bed as well.
As Accelerator slept in bed, he started tossing and turning like he was the previous night, while hearing sounds of screaming and shocks echo in his thoughts. He woke up gasping and panting, before surveying the scene, "Not again. Come on Accel, you have to get it together. It's in the past. And it has to stay there." he went back to sleep.
The very next morning, on the train bound for Canterlot, Twilight, Spike, the girls, Accel, and Sonic were enjoying the ride. Accelerator looked out the window and was committing the scenery to memory, "Once I learn the route to Canterlot I can go there on foot and take up requests there." he told the girls.
"Well, we're just glad you didn't decide to go there on foot this morning." Twilight said.
"Yeah, you still look tired." Spike noted Accel's eyelids looking heavy.
"It was a long night." Accel answered.
"Well, hope you won't be too tired by the time we get to the castle." Applejack said.
"Don't worry about me." Accel said, as he decided to nap for the rest of the trip.
When the train arrived in Canterlot, it pulled into the station. The group got off and stretched, "Well, we're here." Twilight said.
"We best get to the castle right away." Rarity suggested.
"Right. Can't keep the princesses waiting." Twilight nodded.
"Well, Sonic and I will see you at the castle." Accel said, as he took off running with Sonic on his back.
"Accelerator!" Twilight called, but knew he wasn't coming back to them.
"He's sure in a hurry." Applejack said.
"And he doesn't even know know his way around here." Rainbow added.
"I hope he doesn't get lost." Fluttershy said in worry.
Twilight rolled her eyes, "As long as he remembers to go to the castle, he should be fine and not get into too much trouble." they started on.
Accelerator meanwhile, was running all around Canterlot's streets taking every corner he spotted. As Jet Set and Upper Crust were walking, Accelerator zipped past them sending them into a spin, leaving them dizzy, "Sorry!" he called, without stopping.
On another section of Canterlot, Fleur Dis Lee was walking close to a shop until she felt something zip past her, taking her by surprise. Suddenly, Accelerator zipped back over and looked at her with a smile, "Hello, gorgeous!" he ran off again, leaving the unicorn in surprise.
Accelerator continued running around Canterlot's districts getting to know the lay of the land, before he saw the castle up ahead and ran for it.
Meanwhile, the girls and spike arrived at the entry way, and saw Accelerator coming to a halt, "Whew, we made it!" he cheered, as Sonic high fives him.
"See what happens when you don't wait for us? You get lost!" Twilight explained in exasperation.
"Wasn't lost. I was getting to know the area," Accel replied, "And it was Sonic's idea." Sonic put his hand on his face.
"Sure it was." Twilight answered dryly.
"Aw, who cares, Twilight?" Pinkie asked, while ruffling her friends mane, "Point is Accel's here, so now we can go in."
"I guess." Twilight said, as they walked up to the doors, and were permitted inside by the guards, who gave Accel a questionable look.
When they entered the castle, Accel and Sonic looked around in awe, "Whoa, it's even bigger than Twilight's castle." he gasped.
"Well, I don't need one the size of Canterlot's." Twilight replied.
"Yeah. She and Spike could get lost in it." Pinkie joked.
"That's for sure." Spike agreed.
"I hope you all know your way around here." Accel said, while looking around.
"Of course, but this time stay at our side." Twilight ordered him.
"All right." he said, not wanting her to get all firm with him.
And so the ponies and Spike led Accel through the castle, before entering the royal throne room. There they saw the two sisters waiting for them, "Princess Celestia, Princess Luna!" Twilight greeted them.
"Welcome, everypony and Spike." Celestia greeted them.
"We see you brought Accelerator with you." Luna noted, as the human approached.
"I really love what you two have done to the place." Accelerator said, as he looked around the room.
"Welcome to our castle, Accelerator. It's so nice of you to join us," Celestia greeted him, until she saw the monkey crawl up his back and onto his shoulder, "Oh, I see you brought a friend."
"Yes. Princesses, this is Sonic. Sonic, meet Princess Celestia and Princess Luna." he introduced them.
"Nice to meet you, Sonic." Celestia rubbed the monkey's head, as Sonic enjoyed the feeling.
"So Twilight told me you're holding some celebration for your ascension to the position as rulers of Equestria." Accel inquired.
"Correct," Luna nodded, "And we'll need the castle to look its best for it."
"If you would lend your support and help us, we'd all be most grateful." Celestia said.
"Hey, you want me you got me." Accel answered.
"But in the meantime, how about a full tour of the castle?" the princess of the sun suggested.
"That sounds great." Accelerator nodded, and Sonic nodded in agreement.
So the two sisters and their loyal subjects showed Accel and Sonic all around the castle, before stopping in the hall depicting all the windows, "Nice windows. And you all got your images in them. What is this some kind of hall of fame?" the speedster asked.
"Something like that." Twilight answered.
"Each window depicts a historic event that's happened in Equestria." Celestia explained.
"Well from what I've read up on Equestria history at Twi's castle I can tell which represents what." Accelerator said as he approached one, "This depicts when Twilight and the girls defeated Discord the Master of Chaos."
Suddenly the image of Discord in the window came to life and spoke, "Oh, yes. The girls sure pulled a fast one on me that time." he chuckled.
"Whoa!" Accel jumped back and landed on his butt.
Suddenly the image returned to normal and appearing before him was the real Discord, "Oh, I'm so sorry for startling you, my boy." he offered him a hand, which he accepted and got back to his feet.
"I take it you're Discord?" he asked.
"You guessed it," Discord chuckled, "And you must be Accelerator. Fluttershy's told my so much about you in her letters."
"Letters?" he turned to Fluttershy.
"Discord and I keep in touch through letters. Since you came to Ponyville I've been sending him messages about you. Oh, I hope you don't mind." she said in worry.
"Not at all," Accelerator answered, "So you tried to turn Equestria into the chaos capital of the world?"
"Guilty." he answered, as he held up a wanted poster with his image on it, and the image came to life and out of the poster revealing it was Discord doing his crazy antics.
"But you reformed thanks to the girls." Accel added.
"That's right." he smiled.
"After he betrayed us." Rainbow noted.
"Oh, come now, Rainbow Dash," Discord appeared beside her, "All that's in the past now isn't it?"
"I guess." Rainbow answered, while looking skeptical. Discord looked saddened, before seeing Rainbow smirk at him. Seeing she was pulling his leg, he playfully punched her shoulder.
"So then Discord, I presume you will be attending the celebration as well?" Celestia inquired.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss it for all of Equestria, Princess," Discord answered, "And I can assume Accelerator here will be attending also?"
"Well, I might, but unfortunately I don't have any formal attire." he answered.
"Well, that should be no problem," Rarity spoke up, "I can make you a nice clean suit for you to wear in no time."
"Really, Rarity? Thanks." he smiled.
"Come on, let's a lot more to cover before we get started on getting the castle ready." Applejack said.
"May I join you, I'd like to get to know more about Accelerator personally." Discord requested.
"Of course you can." Fluttershy answered.
"Oh, wonderful!" Discord cheered, as he joined the group on the tour.
When the tour was over, the group were already decorating the ballroom with Pinkie Pie giving out the orders, "Ok, more streamers on that side of the ceiling, Dashie. Rarity, love the ribbons. Come on girls, put your backs into it!"
Accelerator who was wrapping some streamers around a support beam, spoke to Spike, "Boy, she really knows how to organize a celebration, doesn't she?"
"She is the Super Duper Party Pony." Spike replied, as they worked.
"Can somepony hang these lights up?" Pinkie asked, while standing close to a pile of small lights. Sonic scurried over and offered his hand. Pinkie smiled, "Ok, Sonic. Hang them along there ok?" she pointed up to the ceiling.
Sonic took one end of the strand of lights, before scaling up a tapestry before reaching the ceiling. He started tying them along a rafter, until the whole strand was hung up. The ponies clapped, as Accel called, "That a boy, Sonic!"
"Perfect!" Pinkie cheered.
Celestia and Luna looked around, "Well done, everypony. The ballroom looks magnificent." Celestia congratulated them.
"Just doing our job, Princess." Rainbow replied.
"Well it's getting late, we should probably head back to Ponyville." Twilight suggested.
"Actually, I think it's best you all sleep here at the castle tonight." Celestia replied.
"Really?" They asked.
"Yes. You've all worked hard today, and I won't let you return home in your tired states. Now, off to bed, all of you." she sent them off, as they walked off for the guest rooms.
Accelerator and Sonic were shown into their guest room, and Accel plopped onto the bed, "Ah, this is the life. You know, Sonic, since I first came here I thought things only got worse for me. But being here has made me even better. I've got great friends, a paying job, and I'm finally away from those scientist sleazeballs. Well goodnight." he said, as he got into bed, with Sonic sleeping on top of one of the pillows.
Two hours passed since Accel fell asleep, until he started looking distressed in his sleep. Suddenly he woke up and saw he was in the facility again, "What? No! How'd I get back here?"
"Because this is where you are meant to be." a familiar voice answered, as Accel looked at saw Dr. Vellian Dagger.
"No! Not you again!" Accel backed away.
"Oh, yes. You see you belong to me now, and as your creator I demand you stay put!" Dagger ordered, as Accel was thrust backwards before landing on a medical table and was strapped to it.
"Let me go!" he struggled to break free, but to no avail.
"Never again!" Dagger called, as he motioned aside to some other scientists, "Now!"
One pulled a lever, as jolts were coursing through Accel's body as he was screaming in pain, while shedding tears, "Stop! MAKE IT STOP!" he pleaded.
"ENOUGH OF THIS!" a female voice boomed.
Suddenly the scientists were blasted by blue magic before vanquishing, which ended the shocks being delivered to Accel's body. Accel looked and saw appearing out of thin air was Luna, "Princess Luna!" he cried, and suddenly saw he was released from the table before falling to the ground.
Luna approached him, and helped him to his feet, "Are you all right, Accelerator?"
"I am now, thanks to you. But what's going on, how did you get here, and for that matter how did I get back here?"
Luna answered, "I think you know too well how to answer that."
Accel looked down and sighed, "Yes I do. This is all a dream."
"Correct, and this isn't your first time having this dream is it?" she questioned.
"No. I've been having this same dream these last two days. At first I felt I could handle it, but this time it felt too overwhelming." he sighed, until Luna held his chin up with her hoof.
"It's ok for you to admit this, Accelerator. But perhaps it's best you showed your friends the truth as well. You'll feel much better knowing that they see what you've been through."
"You think so?"
"I do," Luna nodded, as she concentrated, and suddenly the girls, Spike, and Princess Celestia appeared.
"Hey, what's going on?" Spike asked.
"Where are we?" Applejack wondered.
"Luna?" Celestia asked.
"My apologies if I've disturbed your sleeping." Luna apologized.
"Well, I was in the middle of a dream where I was finally joining the Wonderbolts." Rainbow explained with a annoyance.
"Rainbow!" Twilight chided her.
"The reason I brought you all here into Accelerator's dreams is because it's time we saw exactly what he went through before arriving into Equestria." Luna explained.
"You can do that?" Accel asked.
Luna smiled, "Dreams are not just figments of our imaginations, but also gateways into our memories."
"Amazing." Fluttershy gasped.
"So if you want to see my past, where should we begin?" Accelerator asked.
"It's always best to start at the beginning, and follow it from there." Celestia explained.
"All right then." Accel replied, as a door suddenly appeared out of thin air.
"Where'd that come from?" Pinkie asked.
"That is the door to Accelerator's first memory, where it all begins." Luna explained.
Accel approached the door, but before he grabbed the handle, he looked to Celestia and Luna who both nodded. He turned the knob and opened the door releasing an illuminating light that blinded them.
Suddenly they all saw they were in a hospital room, "Where are we?" Rainbow asked.
"It's a hospital." Twilight answered.
"And look." Fluttershy gasped, as they looked ahead seeing two humans. A man and a woman.
The woman was a brunette who was lying on a hospital bed holding a bundle in her arms. The man had short black hair, and was standing besides the woman smiling while smiling at the bundle.
"Those are my parents." Accel gasped.
"Your parents?" Pinkie asked.
"Then is that..." Applejack noticed the bundle.
The woman opened the bundle revealing a baby's head. The girls awed, as Accel gasped, "Oh, my God... I'm so cute!"
"Hi, Jake." the man said as he got closer to his son.
"Michael, isn't he beautiful?" the woman asked her husband.
"That he is, Kristy." Accel's father agreed.
Suddenly another door appeared, and they entered it. They suddenly found themselves in a house, "Now where are we?" Rainbow asked, as they looked around.
Accel went to the window and looked out it seeing a city, "This is my old home, in my old city."
"But where is that?" Twilight asked.
"Milwaukee Wisconsin." he answered.
"Jake!" Michael, the father called.
The group watched as three year old Jake who had his father's black hair, was running around the house, until his father scooped him up, "I gotcha!" Michael called, as he hugged his son.
"I'm fast, huh?" Little Jake asked.
"You sure are, son. Why just wait one day you'll be so fast no one can catch you." his dad humored him.
The ponies and Spike looked at Accelerator who was smiling, "Dad, you have no idea."
Suddenly they went through a door and saw another memory of them back in the hospital, where Accel's father held his little self over his mom who was holding another baby, "Who is that?" Fluttershy asked, as they looked at the newborn.
"That's my little sister." he answered.
"Your sister?" Applejack asked.
"Yeah, they named her Pearl because she looked as beautiful as one." Accel explained.
"They chose right." Rarity agreed.
"My parents told me that day now that I was a big brother I had to be responsible and help them look after her. I took my role as a brother seriously." Accelerator explained, as they went to the next memory.
The next one featured a six year old Jake sitting by a bedside, while reading to his three year old sister who had dark hair like his, and was under the covers, "And the princess brought peace and joy throughout the kingdom. The end."
"Again, again!" Pearl clapped.
Jake chuckled, "Sorry Pearl, but it's nap time."
"Ok." she answered, before falling asleep.
Accel smiled at the memory, as Celestia spoke, "You were a very good brother."
"Thanks." he smiled, as the memories went by and they were back in the hospital where they saw a seven year old Jake, and a four year old Pearl seeing their mom had another boy with bits of brown hair forming on his head.
"Now who's that?" Spike asked.
"That's my little brother; Adam. This day I became an older brother to two."
The memories went forward to Jake at thirteen years old in school. He was in gym class running laps with his fellow students, "I was the fastest runner in class, even joined track in junior high. When I would move onto high school I planned to take it even further, but all that came to an end one day."
They saw Jake return home, before seeing a limousine parked outside his house. He walked in and saw some men dressed in suits were standing by his parents, Pearl, and Adam.
"What's going on?" Jake asked.
One of the men approached him, "Are you Jake McGinnis?"
"Yes." he answered in confusion.
"We're gonna have to ask you to come with us."
"What?" he asked.
"Now wait just a minute!" Michael shot up, but was blocked off by more guards, "You said you only wanted to talk to him! You didn't say anything about needing him to come with you!"
"You're not really from a track and field recruiting division are you?!" Kristy asked.
"I'm afraid not, ma'am."
"Jake, run!" Michael shouted.
Jake tried to make a run for it, but the guard close to him quickly grabbed his arm and tugged him back. Pearl and Adam seeing this frowned and ran over, "Leave our brother alone!" Pearl screamed, as she and Adam grabbed his other arm and bit him.
"Gah! Brats!" he shoved them to the ground.
"HEY! No one does that to my siblings!" Jake shouted, as he tried wrestling with the guard who grabbed a cloth with chloroform dabbed in it and put it to Jake's nose. Jake passed out in the guy's hold.
The girls gasped, as they looked at Jake who watched it, "They tried to save me and I tried to help them, but in the end the men got me, and threatened to shoot my parents if they tried to stop them." he explained as they watched the men slowly leave with their guns aimed at the parents until they were gone.
The memory faded into the facility, where they saw Jake conscious again sitting at a table with a man, "Who is that?" Pinkie asked.
"The guy who took my life from me, Vellian Dagger." Accel explained.
"So, if I help you with this project of yours you'll bring me back to my family?" Jake asked Dagger.
"Of course, my boy. I am a man of my word." Dagger sweet talked him.
They watched as past Jake was still looking skeptical, but knew he had no other option or way of escaping now. He sighed in reluctance, "All right. When do we begin?"
"Immediately." Dagger answered.
"And so it all began," Accel explained, as the group watched as the experiments began, "They started doping me up on this formula they made for their experiment."
They watched as Accel's thirteen year old self was being poked and prodded with syringes and injected with its contents. With each poke Jake cried in pain. Fluttershy covered her eyes with her hooves, while Applejack covered her face with her hat. Rarity and Pinkie clung to each other, while Spike held onto Twilight, and the sisters watched in horror. Rainbow had wide eyes, and spoke, "Ouch."
"You think that hurts? The worse follows." Accel said, as they watched as his past self was strapped to a table and was being given electric shocks to help charge up the formula injected into him.
They could only stand by and watch young Accel scream in pain as the jolts coursed through his body, "That's what they did to you?" Rarity gasped.
"Yes. That's what they did to me for three years." Accel explained, as they watched more tests being conducted on him. He was running on a treadmill with wires connected to him to measure his heart rate and such. He was then floating inside a vat of water in suspended animation, while the scientists studied his brainwaves.
"This is just so cruel." Fluttershy said in the verge of tears.
"I know. They treated me like a lab rat." Accel explained, as they saw the next memory featuring a fourteen year old Jake in a single room with a bed, bathroom, and TV. They saw his black hair started looking gray, and his skin was already turning pale.
"Accel, your hair!" Rainbow noticed.
"Yeah. That was when the formula was really starting to take affect on my body. Plus I haven't been outside the facility since then." he explained bitterly.
"Wasn't there anypony here who treated you like a being?" Celestia inquired.
"Well, only one. Dr. Ashley Cromwell. " he admitted, as they saw the door to his room open.
Stepping in was a young woman with short dark hair. She wheeled a meal in, and spoke, "Jake, dinnertime."
"I'm not hungry." Jake said, as he sat on his bed brooding.
"Jake, you really must eat to keep your energy up for tomorrow's tests." she reasoned with him.
"I don't care." he answered, not even looking at her.
"Jake, please try and bare with it..." she tried to comfort him, but he turned and slapped her arm away.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" he screamed.
The group gasped at his outburst, while Accel watched remembering his outburst. Ashley however was scared, until Jake looked guilty, "I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted like that."
"No it's all right," she comforted him, "I can't imagine the pain you're going through, but it must be unbearable."
"Unbearable is an understatement," Jake explained, "I've been locked in this facility for a year now. I haven't been outside, had real good food, or even seen any of my friends. And for what just to prove that this experiment your boss is working on works? Even if I did see my family again, would they even recognize me?"
"Jake." Ashley gasped.
"Look at me, I'm fourteen and I already have middle-aged man color hair!" he stressed.
"You have every right to feel this way, but Dagger promised he'd return you to your family when it's all over." she reminded him.
Jake sighed, "I don't know if I can last that long." He suddenly felt Ashley lay a hand on his shoulder comforting him.
"I know you can, Jake. If you can survive here for a year so far. I know you can make it. I believe in you." she gave him a comforting smile.
"Ok, Doctor. I'll do it for you." he answered.
"She sure is nice." Twilight noted.
"Yeah. She's about the only doctor in this whole facility who treated me as if I was a person and not an experiment subject," Accel explained, as he remembered the times she'd comfort him after the daily procedures, give him haircuts when his hair was getting too long, even sneaking in some magazines for him to read.
"Two more years of putting up with this and my hair finally turned white, my skin turned pale, and my eyes red," Accel explained, "And then my powers truly emerged and the experiments changed with them testing to see how far my acceleration powers could go."
They watched the memory of him running around a training room, while the scientists were taking notes, and measuring his speed velocity with their machines. Accel continued, "I kept running faster and faster every time I practiced using it. Then one day after three years, Dagger came to me and told me some news that shattered what hope I had of seeing my family again."
They watched what happened between Dagger and Accel, seeing him break out of his restraints and escaped the facility. They saw him run so fast he zipped out of sight, as Accel finished, "You all know what follows that."
"You crossed into our world." Twilight said.
"Yeah." Accel nodded, as the memories faded away and they were back in the dream void.
"Oh, sugarcube. When you told us what happened we knew it was bad, but this makes it look worse." Applejack said in condolences.
"It's so sad!" Pinkie bawled.
"Those jerks! I can't believe they treated you that way!" Rainbow said in outrage.
"If I could do something about it I'd banish them to the moon." Celestia added.
Accelerator spoke, "Thanks, girls. But really you've managed to fill in the void I thought would be left opened forever. You've given me family, friends, and most importantly... Hope."
The girls smiled seeing he he was happy. Twilight approached, "We'll always be here for you Accelerator. I promise."
Accel smiled back, "I believe you. And I'm glad I could tell and show you all my life. I feel better now that it's all off my chest."
"And now you can move forward." Luna added.
"Yeah. Thanks Princess." Luna winked at him.
"Now then, I suggest we all return to sleep." Celestia suggested.
"Will you be ok, darling?" Rarity asked Accel.
"You know. I actually will." he smiled.
And so the girls and Spike vanished from his dreamscape, as Accel was able to sleep peacefully for the rest of the night, and hopefully every night to come.
Meanwhile that night at the same spot in Los Angeles were Accelerator disappeared from. The place was still blocked off by the scientists from the facility, with Dagger using a laser device that managed to make the hole Accel created between their worlds visible. Before he launched an orb into it.
Ashley approached, "Sir, what was that you just launched?"
"That was a seeking probe honed in on Jake's signature. It will land wherever he is, and act as a homing beacon. Then we can use our machines to open our own portal to his location and find him." Dagger explained.
"But sir, with all the money you're spending just to find him. You'll bankrupt us!" she warned him.
Dagger spun around and gripped her arm tightly, "I will spare no expense to get him back! Besides, once we have him back in our hands we can continue to perfect the formula onto other test subjects and then money will not be an issue for us."
Ashley got her arm free, and walked off not wanting to upset her superior any more. As she walked she thought to herself, 'Jake, wherever you are I hope you're safe.'
One night later, crowds of ponies were entering Canterlot's castle to attend the anniversary held for Celestia and Luna.
In one room inside the castle, Accel who was wearing a tuxedo made by Rarity was fixing his necktie while standing in front of a mirror, "There, perfect. Sonic, what do you think?" he asked his monkey friend who was also wearing a little dress shirt and tuxedo jacket.
Sonic gave him an approving noise in his own language, "Thanks. And you look good too."
There was a knock at the door, and Twilight's voice came, "Accelerator, can we come in?"
"Sure, Twi!"
And so Twilight, Spike, and their friends entered revealing they were all dressed up for the celebration, "Looks like you're all ready." Applejack noticed.
"Yeah. Thanks again for making this for me Rarity."
"My pleasure, Accel," Rarity said, before looking concerned at Accelerator still wearing his goggles on his head, "Though don't you think your goggles clash with your tux?"
"Perhaps, but I find being eclectic is more my thing." he answered.
Rarity smiled seeing it was what made him happy, "You're right."
"And to be honest this is my first time wearing a tuxedo." he admitted.
"And how does it feel?" Rainbow asked.
"Not bad, really."
"Well, come on everypony." Applejack said.
"Yeah, we gotta get down there." Pinkie added. And so they walked out of the room to meet up with the others.
As they walked through a hall, a voice called out, "Twily!"
They looked ahead seeing Twilight's brother Shining Armor and Princess Cadence approaching, "Shining Armor! Cadence!" she galloped over and hugged the two.
Accel spoke to Spike, "So that's her brother and sister-in-law?"
"Yeah." he nodded.
"Accel, come over here," Twilight called him over. Accel zipped over to them taking the royal couple by surprise, "Shining Armor, Cadence, I'd like you to meet Accelerator. Accel, this is my older brother Shining Armor and my sister-in-law Princess Cadence."
"It's very nice to meet you." Cadence greeted him with respect.
"Twilight's told us about you in her letter." Shining add.
"And she's told nothing but great things about the both of you. I am honored to meet you two," he bowed to them, before returning to his feet. Sonic climbed up his back and onto his head, "And this here's my little buddy, Sonic."
"Oh, how cute!" Cadence giggled, as she rubbed the monkey's head.
"Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are waiting for us downstairs." Shining told the group.
"Well, we best not keep them waiting." Rarity said, as the group followed the couple.
Downstairs in the castle ballroom, the guests were enjoying themselves, until the doors opened revealing Celestia, Luna, and the others. The trumpeters played fanfare, as the guests bowed in respect.
One of the guards announced, "Their royal excellencies, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna!"
The ponies applauded upon the princesses approach, until Celestia raised a hoof and they ceased it. The princess of the sun spoke up, "Welcome Mare's and Gentlecoats. My sister and I are overjoyed you could all attend our anniversary. Five thousand years have passed since Luna and I have become the rulers of Equestria."
"And to this day we are proud to continue to watch over this land and all those in it from the dangers that threaten it." Luna added.
"But tonight there is more to celebrate than just the ascension of us," Celestia continued, "It is the introduction of a new special friend of ours who we'd like you all to meet."
The ponies were curious as to who the princess was speaking so highly of, as Luna continued, "Mares and Gentlecoats, may we introduce to you, Accelerator."
The two sisters stepped aside exposing Accel to the crowd. The guests gasped in surprise at this new being of which they've never seen before. Accel sensing they were nervous or curious about him didn't want to be intimidated by it, spoke up, "Hello, everypony!"
Celestia spoke up, "Now I know Accelerator may seem a little strange to you based off his appearance, but I assure you he is very good and kind."
Luna spoke up as well, "We also understand how hesitant and discomfort you can feel about certain creatures that are not native to your home or your own kind, but as proven time and time again by our fellow princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends you must not judge one based off their appearances."
The ponies recalling that lesson seemed less intimidated by Accelerator, which made the girls happy. Accelerator spoke up, "Well, now. Maybe I should go and greet the crowd." he zipped from where he was standing to some ponies greeting them, before zipping off to another group, and so on and so forth giving them compliments and greetings, before he zipped back over to the princesses, "Time!"
Spike who was holding a stopwatch clicked it and spoke, "Twenty seven seconds."
"Yes!" he cheered.
The girls giggled, as Celestia spoke, "And now let the party begin!" The guests applauded, as the others went to join the crowd.
As the guests were gossiping, walking around, or trying to talk with the princesses, Accel was sitting at a table while holding a cup of sugar cubes. He popped one into his mouth and ate it. He then tossed one to Sonic who ate it. Suddenly Discord appeared at the table, and was wearing a suit and tie, "Well, good evening, Accelerator, and how're we this fine evening?"
"Very well, actually. How about you, Disc?"
"I'm doing fabulous, actually. I've never been to one of these anniversary parties in all my life. What with being imprisoned in stone for a thousand years, and before that just wasn't on the guest list."
"First time at a party like this for me as well," Accel said, "Nothing like Pinkie's parties compared to these royal banquets and all." he popped another sugar cube into his mouth.
"Yes, even Celestia and Luna claim these kind of formal parties have gotten dull over the years." Discord said.
"If I lived for five thousand years attending parties like this I'd get bored with them too." Accel added, as the two laughed.
The girls and Spike approached, "Hey, Accel, there you are." Applejack said.
"What're you doing here?" Pinkie asked.
"Snacking on sugar cubes." he answered, as he popped one into his mouth.
"Well, the girls and I have thought and we'd like to get you to know more of the guests here." Rarity said.
"Well, it's better than sitting around and snacking." Accel got off his seat, as Sonic climbed onto his shoulder.
So the girls, Spike, and Discord started going through the crowd of guests, with Accel looking around wondering how they'll treat him. Suddenly a voice snapped his out of his thoughts, "Well, good evening, Rarity."
He looked over seeing an earth pony dressed like a pop star, "Why, Sapphire Shores, so good to see you here." Rarity greeted the pony.
"Sapphire Shores?" Accel asked the girls.
"She's a famous pop star pony here in Canterlot," Twilight explained, "Rarity's her best costume designer."
"Wow."
Rarity trotted over to Accel, and brought him over to her fave employer, "Sapphire, let me introduce you to my newest friend, Accelerator. Accel, this is Sapphire Shores; the pony of pop."
Accel being respective took Sapphire's hoof and kissed it, "A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Shores."
"Oh, let's skip the formalities, darling. Call me Sapphire," the pony chuckled, "So you're the one, that's all the talk about the castle and Ponyville for that matter?"
"Indeed I am." he answered.
"I saw one of your flyers in a shops window. So you do odd jobs?"
"If the pay is right, then I'm at your service." he said.
"Well, I do have some work I could use some help with. Would you be interested?"
Accel looked intrigued, "Fill out a request form and I'll get back to you."
"Sweet, baby!" Sapphire cheered, "Well, I best be moving along, before some paparazzi shows up."
"Yes, Sapphire. Nice meeting you again." Rarity said, as they continued along.
Accel continued to walk with his friends waving at some ponies who smiled and waved at him. He was feeling proud of himself until a voice spoke up, "Stop!" Accel froze, while the others were just as startled.
Sliding onto the scene was Photo Finish, who was observing Accel, "The poise. The masculine grace you sport. I must photograph you!" she set up her camera and took a photograph of Accelerator, "Perfect. I, Photo Finish, have captured this piece of art from this spectacular creature. You my boy have de magiks!"
"The say what now?" Accel asked, feeling confused by her accent.
"You have such potential with your exquisite look, with it and my talent I can make you a star!" the photo pony declared.
"Oh, sorry, but we must be going!" Fluttershy said, as she pushed Accel off to get away, much to Photo Finish's confusion.
"What was that about?" Accel asked the pegasus.
"Trust me, you don't wanna get involved in her field of work, it can be exhausting and life consuming." she warned him.
"Yikes." he gasped.
"Hey, Rainbow Dash!" another voice called.
Approaching them was Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot of the Wonderbolts, "Oh my gosh, Spitfire, Soarin, Fleetfoot!" Rainbow flew over to them, "It's good to see you three."
"Feelings the same." Soarin admitted.
Accel looked at them and thought, 'So these are the famous Wonderbolts Rainbow's been raving about.'
Spitfire upon seeing Accel, spoke, "Well, Accelerator, I presume?"
"That's me."
"Saw your little demonstration while greeting the guests after the princesses introduced you. You run really fast." Spitfire smirked.
"These feet were made for running," he chuckled, before realizing his cup was empty, "Darn, out of sugar cubes. Be back in a flash." he zipped off before returning with a refill of sugar cubes in his cup.
"Amazing." Soarin gasped.
"It's a shame you can't fly with that speed." Fleetfoot said.
"Well, with my ability I can hover, but not fly." he admitted.
"Well, any friend of Rainbow Dash here is all right by us." Spitfire said as she winked at Rainbow.
"Thanks. Well I'll catch you three around. Still a lot more I need to check out." Accel said, as he walked with the others.
As they walked on, Accel spoke, "You all certainly know some interesting ponies."
"Well, with all the stuff we've gone through we meet a lot of celebs." Rainbow said.
"That's for sure." A.J agreed.
Accel smiled, as he continued to enjoy his sugar cubes until a voice spoke up, "Oh, my. It's you again."
Accel stopped and looked ahead seeing a familiar white coated and pink maned unicorn he saw today in Canterlot city, "Gorgeous." he gasped, while readdressing her by what he first called her.
"Huh?" the girls and Spike looked to him in confusion.
The unicorn giggled and spoke, "Is that how you greet all the mares?"
Rarity looked between the two, "Have you two already met?"
"Well not personally." Accel admitted.
"He ran past me, but came back just to greet me. What a gentlecolt."
"Right, but could I get your real name?" Accel inquired.
"Of course. I am Fleur De Lis, and according to the princesses you are Accelerator?"
"Correct."
"I must say I was taken aback by your sudden appearance," she began, "Especially when you zoomed right past me, only to come right back at the same speed."
"Naturally, that's been everypony's reaction to my speed." he admitted.
"Well, I would just like to thank you for the compliment you gave me. And truth be told, you happen to be quite attractive yourself."
Accel started blushing, "You think?"
"Of course. You have such stature and form, and your mane is absolutely beautiful."
Accel started blushing by the minute, before he realized he was turning as red as a tomato, "I gotta go!" he ran off like a shot.
"What was that about?" Pinkie asked.
"Oh, dear. I hope I didn't embarrass him." Fleur said in worry.
"Don't worry, Fleur," Rarity said, "Accelerator is after all an adolescent. It's only natural behavior."
"Very true." Fleur admitted.
"Plus he hasn't really had too much contact with others for three years. But that's what we're helping him with." Twilight said.
"Shouldn't we go look for him?" Fluttershy suggested.
"I got this." Rainbow said, as she took off.
Meanwhile, Accel was hiding behind a stairwell with Sonic, as he took deep breaths, "Wow. I've never been complimented like that before, especially someone like that," Sonic made monkey noises, "I know I called her gorgeous with no timidity, but I did that in the heat of the moment. Plus I didn't think anypony here would a look like this attractive."
"Well, surprise-surprise." Rainbow said, as she flew up to him.
"How stupid did I look back there?" he asked.
"Not stupid, really. Awkward maybe, but not stupid." she admitted.
"Well, I haven't had a lot of experience with talking to women of her class. Or receiving compliments like that." he explained.
"Well, buddy if I were you you'd better get used to it. Who knows what other kind of compliments you're going to get."
"I suppose you're right," he admitted, until he heard music started playing, "Hey, about time they started playing music. Hey, Rainbow, how about we go to the dance floor?"
"What? Me dance with you? Sorry, pal, but I don't do that kind of dance." she was prepared to fly off.
"What're you scared?" he smirked.
Rainbow suddenly froze in mid flight before looking back at him with firm eyes, "What did you say?"
"Are you scared to dance?"
Rainbow got into Accel's face and said, "Nopony calls me scared of anything."
"Then I take it you'll reconsider your answer?" he smugly asked
She answered, "To the dance floor, pal." He smirked as they went to it. Sonic decided to let them be, and went back to find the others.
When they arrived on it, Rainbow flew up to Accel's level to spare him the embarrassment of squatting down. She spoke, "Just don't try to put any moves on me."
"Hadn't crossed my mind." he answered.
And when the music started playing both started slow dancing. For Accel it was party awkward since this was his first time dancing with a girl and a pegasus nonetheless. For Rainbow it was flat out awkward since she's never danced to slow music before, especially with a boy. The two however swallowed their pride and for the sake of each other continued to dance.
Watching from aside was Twilight and the girls who saw them, "Is that Rainbow Dash dancing with Accel?" Pinkie asked, as Sonic climbed onto her back.
"You're right, it is." Spike answered.
"Well, ain't that a pretty sight?" Applejack asked.
"What is?" Cadence asked, as she, Shining, Celestia, and Luna approached.
"Oh, just watching one of our friends get close to our newest one." Discord answered, as the royals looked over seeing who they were referring too.
"I never would've guessed your friend Rainbow Dash was into that." Shining told Twilight.
"She isn't. But I guess Accel got her to do it." his sister answered, as they watched.
As Accel and Rainbow continued to dance, the pegasus spoke, "You know, you're not half bad at this."
"Thanks, you too." he answered.
"How did you learn to dance like this?" she wondered.
"Well, one night while I was in my holding room there was nothing on TV, so I just left it on a choreography show. I learned some regular dance moves, including some tips on slow dancing. It wasn't as easy to learn because I didn't have a partner to learn with. But hey, if I'm doing this good with you I guess they paid off."
"Yeah." Rainbow admitted, as she continued to dance with Accel.
A few minutes later, Celestia and Luna approached. When the two saw the sisters, they felt sheepish, until Accel spoke, "Uh, can we help you two with something?"
Celestia answered, while turning to Rainbow, "Rainbow Dash, would you mind if my sister and I cut in?"
The two were surprised, as they looked at each other oddly before Rainbow grinned at him, "Not at all, Princess." she flew off.
"Rainbow!" Accel cried, before looking back at the princesses with a sheepish smile.
"Accelerator, may I have this dance?" Celestia offered him her hoof.
Accelerator seeing her gesture, felt nervous. And only got more nervous as he saw just about every guests in the castle looking at him in shock that the princess asked him to dance. Not wanting to embarrass himself or insult the princess answered, "Yes, Princess." he wrapped an arm around her, as she wrapped her hoof around his neck as they began slow dancing, with everypony's attention focused on them.
When Rainbow returned to her friends, she noticed they were all grinning at her, "What?"
"Rainbow Dash, if I didn't know any better I'd say you actually enjoyed dancing with Accel." Rarity teased.
"What? No way!" Rainbow denied it.
"Come on, Sugarcube, no use denyin' when we can all see it." A.J teased her.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Rainbow brushed it off.
"Don't you?" Pinkie sent her a look.
"I was just doing something nice for him is all." she answered.
"Hey, I'm telling ya it's not like that!" Rainbow continued to argue, as the girls walked off with Cadence, Shining, and Spike giggled., "Hey, get back here!" she flew after them.
As Accel and Celestia finished dancing, the princess of the sun passed him off to Luna, who wrapped her own hoof around his neck as they danced, "You dance rather well for a human." Luna told him.
"Thanks, you dance well too," he blushed, and thought to himself, 'Wow dancing with three ponies in one night. Though it's easy to dance with these two since they both practically meet me on eye level, but I felt dancing with Rainbow was better since we're both friends. Whoa, am I seriously choosing Rainbow over the princesses? I feel more awkward than before now. Oh well.' he continued to dance with Luna.
Outside the kingdom of Canterlot, a hole in space and time opened up and coming out from it and landing between some rocks was the same seeking probe Dr. Dagger launched in order to track the location of Accelerator. As it blended nicely into the rocks it started beeping as if giving off the signal which Dagger would eventually track.
One evening at Twilight's castle, Accel was sitting on a couch with Sonic, as if waiting for something. He was excited though, for tonight was a event the ponies of Equestria called Nightmare Night.
Flashback
"Nightmare Night?" Accel asked Twilight and Spike.
"That's right." Spike answered.
"So what's that holiday about?" the speedster inquired.
"Well, you did read up on the battle between Princess Celestia and Nightmare Moon?" Twilight asked.
"Yeah. After Luna went all psycho crazy on her sister."
"Well, this holiday celebrated the banishment of Nightmare to the moon, but after the girls and I purified her it's now more of a fun festivity. The old tale of it is we put on a disguise to keep ourselves safe from the eyes of Nightmare Moon who flies through the air to gobble ponies up, but by pleasing her with candy as an offering she'd spare us." the princess of Friendship explained.
Accel processed all she said and looked understanding, "Cool, it's just like Halloween."
"Halloween?" The two asked.
"Yeah, a holiday in my word similar to Nightmare Night."
"And what's the tale behind this holiday?" Twilight asked.
"Well it's based on the ancient Feast All Hallows Eve. It's the one night of the year where the spirits of the dead can return to the earth. We also put on costumes to blend in and protect ourselves from the spirits."
"That's really fascinating." Twilight admitted.
"You still get candy on Halloween?" Spike asked.
"Oh, yeah. That was one of my favorite parts on Halloween. And if this world has a holiday like that, then I'm gonna be catching up on three years of fun," Accel said, "Of course, I'll a costume."
"Don't worry, Rarity can help you with that." Twilight said.
"Well, if she's not too busy I'll zip over and ask." Accel said, as he took off.
Flashback end
And so Accel was not only waiting for Rarity to deliver his costume, but for Spike and Twilight to finish getting into their costumes as well. When the two came down, Accel and Sonic saw they were already in costume. Spike was dressed as Humdrum of the Power Ponies comic book and Twilight was dressed as Masked Matterhorn.
"Well, Accel what do you think?" Spike asked.
"You two look good, though I though you despised Humdrum, Spike. What with him being mere comical relief."
"I used to think that, but I realized it's not the powers that makes one a superhero. It's the other way around." Spike answered with a smile.
"A very important philosophy for heroes to know." Accel nodded.
"And since Spike wanted to dress up as Humdrum I figured I may as well join him as the pony hero I became when we were all sucked into his comic." Twilight admitted.
"That look does look good for you, Twi." Accel said.
"Thanks."
Suddenly their was a knock at the entrance. Twilight answered it revealing to be Rarity, Sweetie Belle, Applebloom, and Scootaloo, who were all in costume.
Scootaloo was dressed up like a heavy metal rock star with her mane done up like a mohawk, and face paint on her face while wearing a leather vest. Sweetie Belle was dressed as a figure skater minus the ice skates so she could actually walk, Applebloom was dressed as a gypsy dancer, and finally Rarity was dressed as a western showgirl complete with a feather in her hair and fishnet stockings.
"Nightmare Night, what a fright, give us something sweet to bite!" the three fillies announced together.
Twilight and Spike smiled, "Happy Nightmare night, girls." Twilight said, as she dropped some candy into their sacks.
"Good evening, Twilight, and you Spike." Rarity greeted her friends.
"Evening, Rarity." Twilight greeted her back.
"Your costume looks amazing on you." Spike said, while fighting back his salivating.
"Why thank you, my little hero." Rarity giggled, as she nuzzled her face with Spike's.
"Hi, Accel!" the CMC greeted him.
"Hi, girls. Don't you all look good this evening."
"Thanks."
Accel turned to Rarity, "So, Rarity, is it finished?" he asked hopefully.
"Of course. I have it right here." she levitated a box to Accelerator, who opened it and pulled out a red jumpsuit.
"Awesome, the detail looks a hundred percent accurate." Accel said.
"I'm glad you think so. Why don't you try it on?"
"Don't mind it I do." Accel tossed the outfit up, and he spun like a Tasmanian devil. The suit was absorbed into his spin cycle, and the speedster stopped dressed in the costume making him look like the Flash.
"Wow." the fillies gasped.
"How do I look?" Accel asked the group.
"Very smashing." Rarity answered.
"Cool." Spike added.
"I think it looks great." Twilight nodded.
"Yeah, but, uh, what are you supposed to be?" Scootaloo asked.
"I am the Flash, the fastest human alive!" he explained, as he ran around the castle before stopping back at his starting point.
"He's your favorite superhero, right?" Spike asked.
"Correct." he nodded.
"And as you've also requested, I made a little outfit for Sonic as well." Rarity levitated a small costume up.
"Good," Accel took the costume, and looked to his monkey, "Oh, Sonic."
"Uh, oh." Sonic said in his monkey sound, as Accel ran to Sonic and put him into the costume quickly.
Sonic was now dressed in a yellow and red jumpsuit with red goggles to boot, "Ponies and Spike may I introduce you to my sidekick, Kids Flash!" Accel announced as Sonic did a little pose.
"Wonderful, it fits him well." Rarity clapped her hooves.
"Come on, Rarity. We don't want to be late for the festival." Sweetie Belle said, as she and her friends were looking impatient.
"Ok, Sweetie Belle. Come along we mustn't dilly dally." Rarity said, as they group exited the castle.
"So is everypony going to be at this festival?" Accel asked.
"Fluttershy?" Accel asked, as he started seeing why she wouldn't be present, "Doesn't she know that everypony's in costume?"
"Oh, she does, but you know Fluttershy is very sensitive to frightening things." Rarity explained.
"Say no more. I understand."
Suddenly the ground they were walking on started sparking which was scaring the group and making Twilight and Rarity dance around while trying to avoid the sparks, "What is this?!" Rarity shrieked.
Accel looked down and saw they were snappers, "Snappers?" he looked up, "Very smart, you two!"
They looked up seeing Pinkie Pie was in a tree dressed as a parrot and Rainbow Dash was dressed as Daring Do. Pinkie jumped down from the tree, while Rainbow Dash flew down, "Happy Nightmare Night!" Pinkie cheered.
"You should've seen the look on your faces!" Rainbow started laughing up a storm with Pinkie Pie.
"Really, Rainbow Dash. There is more to Nightmare Night than pranks." Rarity said with a huff.
"She's right, it's about candy!' Pinkie cheered, while holding the CMC close.
"No respect for history." Twilight rolled her eyes.
"Evening, Pinkie, Rainbow, love the costumes." Accel greeted them.
"Thanks, Accel, love yours as well." Pinkie said admiring his costume.
"Though, what're you supposed to be?" Rainbow looked around him.
"I am Flash the superhero of Central City, and with me is my sidekick, Kid Flash!" he introduced him and Sonic, as the monkey jumped.
"Looks awesome." Rainbow admitted, as she admired his costume.
"Well, come on everypony let's go to the festival!" Pinkie cheered, as they continued on.
When they arrived in Ponyville square, they saw everypony in town dressed in costume and enjoying dozens of festivities. Accel looked around as if flashing back to his younger days during Halloween night.
"Oh, wow. So much to do I don't know where to start!" Accel cheered.
"Why don't we see Applejack, first?" Twilight suggested.
"Yeah, I'd like that." Applebloom answered.
"Best place to start by me." Rainbow admitted.
"Then let's go." Pinkie said, as they trotted over to where Applejack was working.
When Rarity saw Applejack was dressed in a beautiful dressed and had her hair done up nicely she was having an embarrassing flashback of the last time she saw her country friend look like that, "Applejack?" Accel asked in confusion.
"Just call me Applejewel, sugarcube," Applejack winked at him, and Accel quickly shook it off as Applejack chuckled, "Just teasin' ya. Glad yall could make it."
"Thanks, so whatcha runnin' here?" Accel asked.
"I'm running a bobbin' for apples stand. How about yall try it?"
"You bet." Scootaloo said.
"Yeah." Sweetie Belle added.
"Count me in." Applebloom put in.
"Me too." Accel said.
"Me three." Spike finished.
"Well, step on up." Applejack said, as the four approached the tub of water with apples in it.
Accel had gotten down on his knees so he could put his face in it, and removed his mask so not to get it too wet.
"Ok, everypony, when I count to three, yall stick your faces in the water and try and grab an apple with yer teeth. If you get one you're allowed to have it. on three." Applejack instructed, "One... two... three!"
And so the CMC, Spike, and Accel dunked their faces into the water fishing around for apples. After a minute, the five pulled their faces out with an apple in each of their mouths. Twilight and the girls applauded them on their success.
"Looks like yall got one." Applejack said.
"But you five look like drowned rats!" Rainbow laughed at their wet faces.
"Luckily, I'm prepared." Rarity said as she levitated some towels to dry their faces.
"Thanks, Rarity." spike said, as he dried his face.
"That was fun. I haven't bobbed for apples in three years," Accel said, as he took a bite out of his apple. Suddenly they were all startled by unexpected lightning flashes in the sky and a rumble, "Did the pegasi launch an unexpected storm?"
"Don't worry, Accel, that's not the pegasi." Twilight said, as they looked up at the sky seeing a chariot was being pulled by two dark coated pegasi wearing dark armor, and in the chariot seat was a figure in a robe.
"Who is that?" Accel asked.
"It's Princess Luna. She's here to celebrate the holiday with us all." Twilight explained.
"Last time she was here, things were a little off." Pinkie added.
Twilight sent her a glare, "Because somepony kept giving her the wrong idea without being clear to her."
"All in the past." Pinkie answered with a smile.
As the moon shined down onto Ponyville, the chariot landed gracefully, with Luna stepping off. When the princess removed her robe, the ponies bowed respectively to her. Luna looked around and smiled, "Good evening, citizens of Ponyville, you may rise," the ponies did so, "I've come to wish you all a very Happy Nightmare Night!" she announced in a less booming version of the Canterlot voice.
"Happy Nightmare Night!" the ponies returned the gesture with cheers.
"Now then, you may continue what you were doing as I enjoy the festivities myself." she ordered, as the ponies returned to the activities, while the princess approached Twilight and the others.
"And a good evening to you, Twilight Sparkle and friends. But I insist you address me as Luna. I am here as one of you after all."
The ponies nodded, as Accel approached, "Nice to see you, Luna."
"And a joy to see you as well, Accelerator. What a very interesting costume you're wearing. You and Sonic."
"Thanks, we are Flash and Kid Flash, the fastest duo of Central City!" Accel declared, as he and Sonic posed.
"Well, I'm gonna find some more ponies to prank. Catch you later!" Rainbow flew off.
"Why don't we try Spider toss now?" Twilight suggested.
"An excellent suggestion, Twilight Sparkle." Luna nodded.
The group approached the stand where the Spider toss game was and spoke to the pony operating it, "Step right up and see if you can hit the mark!"
"Go on, Accel, give it a try." Applejack nudged him forward.
"Well, ok," Accel said as he was given some fake spiders to launch at a fake web. He tossed one and it didn't hit the web at all, "Bummer."
"Do not despair, Accelerator. It's all in the aim," she approached and helped motion his arm straight to aim in the right direction, "Now toss, but not too hard and not too light."
Accel nodded and gave the spider a toss before making it into the center of the web. Some of the ponies who were watching applauded on his success, "Wow, it worked. Thanks for the tip, Luna."
"My absolute pleasure."
"Here ya go." The worker dropped a bit of candy into his sack.
"Well, let's try it." Sweetie Belle said, as she and the rest of the Crusaders stepped up.
Applebloom launched hers and made it around the left side of the web, Scootaloo launched her spider that reached the top right corner, while Sweetie Belle's landed on the right side close to the center. Their sisters applauded them, as they received their candy prizes.
"Wow, I wanna win more candy!" Applebloom cheered.
"Me too. Let's try the Pumpkin Launch!" Scootaloo said with excitement.
"Yeah!" Pinkie cheered, as they went over to the event where they met up with Rainbow who had just finished pranking some ponies.
Soon Accel was already loading a pumpkin into the catapult, "Ok, need to aim right," he began as he motioned the catapult in the direction of the target, "And... fire!" he launched it, and the pumpkin smashed at the target.
The ponies cheered and Sonic was jumping up and down making excited monkey noises, "Way to go, Accel!" Rainbow congratulated him.
"Truly spectacular." Luna agreed.
"Thanks. Lucky shot I guess." Accel admitted.
"My turn!" Pinkie said, as she loaded her pumpkin that had a carved face on it. She was about to launch it until the carved face turned into a familiar pair of boggly eyes and the mouth had a single fang.
"Boo!" the pumpkin said.
Pinkie shrieked as she tumbled backwards, and everypony was confused. The pumpkin hovered out of the catapult and poofed into Discord who was dressed as a voodoo witch doctor with a top hat, and a skull face painted over his own, "Ta-dah!" he declared.
"Discord!" The ponies chuckled at his performance.
"Happy Nightmare Night, my friends." Discord greeted them, as he landed on the ground.
"Wow, you sure fooled me, Discord." Pinkie laughed.
"A prank worthy of me." Rainbow added.
"Why, thank you both." Discord said.
"Nice to see you join us, Discord, but I assume you are here not just to cause mischief?" Luna inquired.
"Of course, Princess. I only wish to join the festivities with all my friends," he looked around at them, but saw one missing, "Why where's Fluttershy?"
"She's kind of sensitive about this particular holiday apparently." Accel explained.
"I can imagine why. So sad she won't be joining us." Discord said with a pout.
"Don't worry, we'll have extra super fun for her." Pinkie lightened his mood.
"Yes, you're right." Discord smiled.
"Why don't ya take a shot at pumpkin launching, Discord?" Applebloom offered.
"Why don't mind if I do." Discord said, as he loaded a pumpkin and launched it at the target nailing it.
The ponies cheered, as Discord waved his hands around soaking in all the attention he was getting, "Thank you, thank you."
Later they were walking around with everypony carrying sacks filled with candy they won, "This is turning out to be a great Nightmare Night." Applebloom said.
"Ya got that right." Accel agreed.
Luna nodded before realizing the time, "Oh, I better get to my position soon."
"Position?" Accel asked.
"Yes, for you see I take on Nightmare Moon's appearance by the statue in Everfree when the fillies and colts offer me candy in exchange for not eating them. They do love a good fright."
"Sounds like a treat," Accel said, until an idea popped into his head, "Luna, Discord, how would you two like to help me with a little entertainment of my own?"
"Ooh, what do you have in mind?" Discord asked feeling intrigued.
"Yes, enlighten us." Luna added.
Accel gathered the two together and started explaining to them, while the girls and Spike were confused. When the three broke, Discord spoke, "If you'll excuse me, Accelerator and I need to prepare." he snapped his digits as the two vanished.
"And I must get to my post as well." Luna added.
"Wait, what're you three planning?" Twilight inquired.
"Don not worry, you shall find out soon enough." She flew off.
"What could they be up to?" Spike asked the ponies.
"Don't know, but I hope it's fun." Pinkie said hopefully.
"Well we'll find out during the offering." Rainbow said, as they decided to join the other fillies and colts for it.
Soon Zecora who was dressed as a skeleton was leading the school aged ponies to the statue of Nightmare Moon in the forest with the others, "Now then place your offerings to the statue, otherwise Nightmare Moon just might eat you." she smirked.
So the kids started placing candy offerings before the statue, until the wind started whistling. Appearing before them was Luna using her magic to make herself appear like Nightmare Moon, "Citizens of Ponyville! You were wise to bring this candy to me. I am pleased with your offering. So pleased that I may just eat it... instead of eating you!"
The ponies screamed in fright while Zecora, the girls, and Spike held in chuckles on Luna's performance. The princess continued, "And tonight I have brought with me a special guest. Behold the terror of chaos, Discord!"
Discord appeared next to one of the trees, "Welcome, young ones. For tonight not only have you pleased Nightmare Moon, but as a bonus for not disappointing her, she has called upon me to invite you all to a place where fear is real."
"What do you mean?" a colt asked.
"Well, I'll tell you. It was a long time ago longer than you can imagine. In a place that you may have seen in your dreams, for this takes place in the holiday worlds of old," Discord poofed next to some of the fillies, "Now you're probably wondering where do holidays come from? If you haven't then I think it's time you begun." he started leading the group further into the forest as music started playing all around.
As they walked they began seeing some tombstones in the ground and scary looking trees. What startled them were some shadows casting off the trees and ground that were singing to them. The kids saw as ghosts were flying all around them wailing, bats swarming, and all sorts of monsters, ghouls, and creatures rising up from the ground joining in the singing.
The ponies shivered from all the scary looking things, while at the same time were enjoying the musical number. Suddenly a nearby scarecrow came to life and started dancing around, before Discord lit it on fire. The ponies, Zecora, and Spike watched it dance around before plunging into a pond. Suddenly rising up from it was Accel wearing a black outfit over his costume and his own face painted like a skull.
"Welcome fillies and colts to the town of Halloween," Accel began in a spooky tone, "Where nightmares become reality and the monsters are real."
"Uh, they won't hurt us, right?" A filly asked nervously.
"Not to worry, they won't attack unless they're ordered," Accel explained, "But forget that, come and join me little ones." he stepped aside revealing a campfire with logs used for benches around it.
The group took seats on the logs before the fire, as Accel spoke, Everypony comfy? Good, because I am here to tell you a tale of a creature whose legend dates back thousands of years ago."
"What kind of creature?" Pinkie asked.
"Gather around and I'll elucidate." Accel began, as he began telling them of the scary stuff that happens on Halloween Night.
Finally he began singing a tale of a notorious Halloween Legend about the Headless Horseman. As he sang the tale he mimed certain parts of the tale such as fake head chopping, while Discord and Luna were secretly providing special affects such as shadows manipulating into the legend and making the wind whistle as it blew, as Luna was throwing her voice all around as if the forest was singing with him.
When Accel finished the legend he spoke, "So when you go home tonight be weary for the Headless Horseman may be out there longing for a head."
The ponies shivered after hearing such a terrifying story, and suddenly they heard the sound of hoofs clopping, "What's that?" Sweetie Belle asked as she held onto Rarity.
"Maybe it's the Headless Horseman?" Applebloom trembled, while holding onto Applejack.
"Oh, please. You think that this made up legend is gonna pop out and grab us?" Rainbow asked, until the sound of the hooves were right behind her. She jumped and screamed in fright while clinging to Scootaloo. Every pony started screaming when Rainbow started, until Twilight looked behind them and saw a bunch of cattails were blowing with the wind and were pounding on a nearby tree giving off the clopping sound.
"Cattails, really scary, Rainbow Dash." Twilight said in sarcasm.
"Uh, yeah. I knew that!" Rainbow said, trying to preserve her pride, as the group started laughing at how silly they sounded when they got scared over a false alarm.
As they continued to laugh another laugh that was louder than there. They all froze and started trembling before looking in the distance and screamed as the moon shined down on the Headless Horseman himself atop a dark coated horse, while he wielded a sword and a flaming pumpkin head. The creature continued to laugh, as the ponies screamed.
"IT'S THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN!" Pinkie screamed in fright with Spike.
"What do we do?!" Applebloom cried.
"We must make to the bridge over yonder!" Accel pointed into the distance of a bridge.
"Everypony for herself!" Rarity screamed, as they began running.
The Headless Horseman took off after them, while swinging his sword around. They ran for their lives, until they reached the other side of the bridge, while the horseman stopped unable to cross it.
"We're safe!" Sweetie Belle sighed in relief.
"I don't think so!" Applebloom said, as they looked back, and saw the Headless Horseman throwing his flaming pumpkin head right at them.
They screamed, and covered their eyes until they heard an explosion. They uncovered their eyes to see the flaming pumpkin had exploded revealing a giant pile of candy for just about every pony, "Candy?" the fillies and colts asked on confusion.
They looked and saw the Headless Horseman poof into Discord and Princess Luna, "Happy Nightmare Night!" the two announced.
The kids seeing it was all a fun little joke laughed and cheered, "That was amazing." one of the kids said.
"Amazing and scary!" another added.
"Thanks, Princess Luna and Mr. Discord!" they thanked them.
"You're very welcome, children." Discord smiled.
"But we're not the only ones you should be thanking," Luna continued, "Accelerator, put this all together for you."
They looked to Accelerator who spun out of his dark attire and was in his Flash costume again, "Surprise!"
"Thanks, Accelerator!" the kids gathered around him.
"You're welcome. Now then let's get some of this delicious candy to take home!"
"Yeah!" they cheered, as they ran to the candy pile and began filling up their sacks.
Accel collected some of the candy to fill his sack up before joining his friends, "For my first Nightmare Night, this was awesome."
"Awesome for us all." Rainbow put in.
"It was very nice of you, Luna, and Discord to give these kids a good show." Twilight told Accel.
"Indeed it was quite a fright, but in the end it all turned out all right." Zecora finished.
"Yeah, well what's say we head back?" Accel asked, as they all headed back to Ponyville.
As they left the Everfree Forest, Rainbow suddenly heard the Headless Horseman's laugh come from the forest again. She looked back and saw nothing there. Dismissing the thought of her hearing it she turned back around and went after her friends.
While through the dark of the forest a flaming jack-o-lantern's face glowed through the dark before the flames went out.
On a train ride, the ponies, Spike, Accel, and Sonic were relaxing in their seats, as Accel spoke up, "So the Crystal Empire had been gone for a thousand years, until this King Sombra returned along with it?"
"Correct." Twilight answered.
"Once Sombra was defeated Cadence and Shining Armor became it's new rulers." Spike added.
"And it's where the Equestria Games was held, and boy was it awesome!" Rainbow cheered.
"I'll take your word for it." Accel said, as the train pulled into the station.
"This is it." Twilight said, as they exited the train.
They walked along the path before reaching the archway. Once they stepped hoof/foot into the Crystal Empire, Accel looked at the place seeing it lived up to it's name, "Wow, no wonder it's a Crystal empire." he joked.
"We'll give you the tour soon, but first we got to meet up with my brother and Cadence," Twilight began before shooting him a look, "And I hope you don't go zipping off like last time?"
"Hey, I was curious about Canterlot, but this time I'll remain at your side," he said humbly, before mumbling, "For now."
"Well, let's get moving." Applejack said, as they started off for the castle.
As they walked, Accel and Sonic looked all around seeing the crystal like buildings, and the ponies whose coats sparkled, "Wow, how do they get their coats to look like that?" he asked the group.
"It's normal for Crystal Empire inhabitants." Twilight answered.
"We got to look like that once, and I looked absolutely fabulous." Rarity said with a flip of her hair.
"I can imagine." Accel smiled, as they reached the castle.
"Welcome to the Crystal castle." Pinkie introduced dramatically.
"Neat," Accel admitted, as he and Sonic saw the Crystal heart, "So that's the Crystal Heart?"
"Ya darn tootin'." Applejack confirmed.
"Seems kinda out in the open don'tcha think?" Accel asked.
"What do you mean?" Rainbow asked.
"Like couldn't somepony just walk up to it and steal it?" Accel asked stating the obvious.
"True, but it projects a barrier all around the Crystal Empire," Twilight explained, "Nothing malicious or evil will be able to enter so long as it's in place."
"I see." Accel said.
"Come on!" Pinkie pulled him and Sonic over so they could enter the castle.
As they walked along a row of guards, they entered the throne room seeing the royal couple, as a guard announced, "Announcing Princess Twilight Sparkle, and company!"
Shining and Cadence greeted the younger princess with a friendly hug, and Cadence greeted the rest, "Welcome, everypony. So glad you could come."
"Hey, Accelerator. Glad to see ya." Shining greeted him with a hoof/fist bump.
"Same here. Wow, nice to see you out of the uniform, you look like a regular guy, or colt. However you wanna call it." Accel said.
"I understand. I may be captain of the guards and prince of the Crystal Empire, but that doesn't mean I still can't be a regular colt."
"That's for sure." Twilight replied, as she and Cadence giggled.
"So what's on the agenda?" Pinkie asked.
"Actually, Shining Armor and I were hoping you'd all join us at the Crystal spa." Cadence answered.
"Oh, a day at the crystal spa. I love it!" Rarity cheered.
"Sounds good to me." Twilight agreed.
"I guess." Rainbow said, as she and Applejack looked unsure, but knew it was one way to bond.
"You mean all of us, even us?" Accel asked Cadence while motioning to himself and Spike.
"Of course." Cadence assured.
Shining trotted over to them, "Trust me, the spa there will make ya feel good."
Accel smiled, and picked Spike up in a headlock so he was on his level, before wrapping his other arm around Shining holding both close, "Well, let's do it ladies!"
Soon enough at the Crystal Spa, the girls were each getting some form of pampering done, while inside the sauna was Spike, Shining, Sonic, and Accel. Accel sat on the bench with a towel around his waist, and each of them had a washcloth on their foreheads.
"Oh, this feels good." Spike said in relaxation.
"You said it." Shining agreed.
"I feel as if all my troubles are pouring off." Accel said, as his sweat poured down his torso.
"Yeah." Sonic chattered.
"So Shining, out of curiosity how did you meet Cadence?" Accel wondered.
Shining hearing that was taken aback by his question, however was willing to answer, "Well, Cadence has been with Princess Celestia before Twilight was even her pupil. When Cadence became a princess due to her own initiation Celestia brought her under her wing and groomed her for when there would come a time she would have to become a full leader. When Twilight became Celestia's apprentice she officially started living in the castle, and I myself was in guard training. When Celestia had business to attend to and I had guard duty, Cadence was appointed as her foalsitter. And boy were they quite a pair."
"She really looked up to Cadence, huh?" Accel asked.
"Oh, yeah. And when she wasn't busy sitting Twilight and I wasn't on the job, she'd be with me." the unicorn stallion explained.
"Nice." Accel smirked with a light chuckle.
"So did you have anypony special like that from your world?" Shining asked.
"Yeah, tell us." Spike insisted.
Accel sighed, "Actually, I was single even before I was taken away. I was thirteen at the time. I may have flirted with a few girls back then, but nothing too serious."
"Was there anypony you might have wanted to..." Spike trailed.
"The only other one in my life was Dr. Cromwell, and she was there to make me feel happy... Still there were times I'd think about her, but what am I thinking nothing could've happened between us given our situations."
"Oh." Sonic sighed.
"Well, you and Rainbow Dash seemed to hit it off well." Shining noted.
Accel turned to face him, "Me and Rainbow? Get out of town!"
"I don't know, you two seemed really chummy when you danced at the ball." Spike teased.
"You're out of your mind, we were just dancing as friends. Plus it was to get her to accept my challenge." Accel explained.
"Keep telling yourself that." Shining teased along side Spike, as Accel continued to protest.
That night at the Crystal Palace inside his guest room, Accel had woken up with a yawn before walking outside and went for the nearest restroom. When he finished his business he zipped off back to his room, but when he passed a wall, he zipped back over to it.
He put his ear to the wall and could hear heavy breathing, "What's that sound?" he checked the wall, until his hand touched a spot that sunk in. That in turn caused a secret entry way to open up.
"Whoa. Creepy stuff." he gasped.
He looked around seeing no pony was watching him, and being curious he decided to check it out. He walked through the opening and saw a staircase leading downward into darkness. He zipped down the stairs and in no time reached the bottom.
He saw a dark tunnel up ahead leading further into darkness, "Great, wish I brought a flashlight with me." he said in sarcasm. He heard the heavy breathing again, "But perhaps all I have to do is follow the sound." he took off down the tunnel.
He ran until he pulled to a halt seeing a black version of the crystal heart on a pedestal, "Is that the Crystal Heart? But it's black," he approached it, but stopped, "Wait a minute what am I thinking? If there's one thing I've learned from all the comics and cartoons in my life is that if an artifact is black and in a creepy place like this, it can't be good. So just walk away and don't look back," he turned around only for a shroud of shadows to block his path, "Hey!"
He heard a dark laugh and saw the crystal started glowing darkly. Accel was scared until a green beam shot from the Dark Crystal Heart and at Accel's head as he screamed in pain.
Suddenly Accel found himself back in Ponyville and it was daytime, "Ponyville? What am I doing back here? More like how did I get back here?" he looked around and saw the girls and Spike conversing happily.
"Hey, guys!" he zipped over and spoke, "What happened, weren't we just in the Crystal Empire and it was nighttime?"
But they didn't respond to him, nor did it look like they even knew he was there, "Guys, hello?" he waved his hand in front of them, only to see they appeared to be moving slower. Suddenly the whole scenery and every pony started turning black and white while he remained in color, "What's going on here?" he started running up to the CMC trying to get their attention, but they didn't respond either, and were moving slow like every pony else.
"What's happening?!" he cried out.
Suddenly a dark voice echoed around him, "Your fear has come true."
"My fear?"
"Yes. You know what I mean."
Accel looked around seeing all the ponies moving slowly, and it dawned on him, "I've gone so fast I can't slow down anymore. To them I'm like a ghost now." he gasped.
"And you will stay that way to them. Forever alone!"
"No, that can't be!" Accel cried, as he ran all over Ponyville trying to get ponies attention from the Cakes, the mayor, Cherilee, and the Apple family, but not even a response.
He ran all the way to Canterlot and into the castle, seeing Celestia on her throne going over stuff, "Celestia! Celestia, help me!" but no response.
"Nopony can help you now!" the dark voice laughed.
Accel started stressing about being stuck in his speed up for good, "No! Please!" he dropped to his knees and bawled, "SOMEBODY HELP ME!"
Back in Accel's room, Sonic woke up and saw no sign of his pal. He saw the door to the room was left opened and he ran out screeching frantically.
This in turn woke all the ponies and Spike up, as they exited their assigned rooms, "What's going on here?" Applejack rubbed her eyes.
"I am not a morning person if I don't get my beauty sleep!" Rarity said all cranky.
"Sonic, what is it?" Fluttershy asked the monkey who was doing charades for her.
"What's he saying?" Rainbow asked.
"He's saying something's happened to Accelerator."
"What?" they asked.
Twilight spoke up, "Easy, girls. Accelerator probably just had to use the bathroom and got lost."
"I don't think that's the case Twilight." Shining said, as he and Cadence approached.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked in confusion.
Cadence spoke up, "I've just felt a surge of dark magic in the castle, and Accelerator's presence was close to it."
"What?!" Pinkie gasped.
"Oh, no!" Fluttershy looked worried.
"Well, what're we standing around for let's go find him." Rainbow said.
"But how?" Spike asked.
"Leave that to me." Shining said, as he activated his unicorn magic and aimed it at the floor. His magic was able to reveal Accelerator's footprints in a trail.
"Follow that trail!" Applejack ordered, as they did so with Shining Armor leading the way.
They followed it through the halls, until they came across the opened. They looked down, and Shining spoke, "His trail leads down here."
Taking the hint they headed down, while Rainbow flew downward with Twilight and Cadence. When they reached the bottom, Twilight spoke, "Did you two know about this place."
"No, this place is just as new to both of us." Shining answered.
"But what could be down here that brought Accelerator to it?" Cadence pondered.
"Only one way to find out." Applejack said, as they continued to follow the trail through the tunnel with Twilight using her horn to produce a light for them.
"Ugh, this place is so dark and ghastly." Rarity said in repulse.
"What could this place be?" Twilight asked.
Cadence spoke, "I'd be willing to bet this is one of Sombra's hidden chambers."
"Hey, what's that up ahead?" Spike motioned forward seeing a green glow.
"Come on!" Twilight called, as they picked up the pace.
When they reached it they saw Accelerator standing frozen in place as the dark crystal heart's green beam extended from it to his head.
"Accel!" the ponies gasped.
"What's wrong with him?" Applejack asked, as Pinkie bounced in front of him and knocked on his head.
"Hello, anybody home?"
"It's that crystal, it's got him under a spell of some sort." Twilight noted.
"We have to break him out of it." Cadence said, as she and Twilight concentrated their magic and crossed horns before their combined magic destroyed the dark crystal heart causing Accel to snap out of it and gasp.
"What, how did?!" he looked around.
"Accelerator, are you all right?" Rarity asked in concern, as they gathered around him.
"I think so, but what happened?" he asked, ans Sonic climbed up him.
"What's the last thing you remember?" Cadence inquired.
"Last thing... I found this passage way and came down here to find that dark version of the crystal heart. When I walked away from it it shot a beam at me and the next thing I knew I was back in Ponyville. But when I saw all of you nopony noticed me."
"How could we not notice you?" Spike asked.
"Yeah, have you seen yourself?" Rainbow joked, only for Applejack to kick her hoof to shut her up.
"It was my worst fear come true. I ran so fast I couldn't slow down. And by not being able to slow down no pony could see or hear me. I felt alone even when you were all around me." he looked down still trying to forget what he just witnessed.
"It was one of Sombra's tricks." Cadence spoke up.
"Sombra?" Accelerator asked, while the others were just as confused.
"That dark version of the crystal heart was obviously left here by him. And whoever would find it would be drawn into an illusion of their worse fear." the princess explained.
Twilight and Spike looked to each other as the princess of Friendship spoke, "So Sombra pulled off one last trick even after his defeat."
"Huh?" Accelerator asked.
"Spike and I both fell victim to Sombra's illusion magic and saw our own greatest fears."
"It was so horrible." Spike added, recalling how he thought Twilight wanted to send him away.
"But we stayed strong and knew those things we saw would never come to pass. And neither will yours. Not so long as we're here to keep you safe."
Accelerator looked around seeing his friends smiling and nodded in assurance. He smiled back, "Thanks, guys. You really are true friends.
"Come on, let's get out of here and back to bed." Twilight suggested.
"Quite so." Rarity agreed, as they all headed back.
Once Accelerator was back in his room, Sonic was fast asleep again as the speedster stared up at the ceiling, 'They're right. As long as I have friends like them around then none of my fears will ever come to pass.' he though,t before falling asleep.
Meanwhile back at the Research Facility, some scientists were by a monitor panel, until a blinking dot appeared on one of the monitors, and the scientist who was observing it called to Dagger, "Doctor, you might wanna take a look at this!"
Dagger came over, "What is it?"
"The probe you launched, sir, it's released the homing signal." the scientist explained as Dagger looked at the blinking dot and a sinister smile curled his face.
One afternoon in Ponyville, Accel was busy zipping about through town doing some daily jobs he was requested. He just finished dropping off some garden supplies to Rose, Lily, and Daisy.
"There you go, girls. That's all the supplies you requested for your gardening." Accel said as he wiped his forehead.
"Thank you so much, Accelerator." Rose thanked him.
"Just doing my job." he answered.
"We'll be sure to send you your payment in the mail." Lily assured him.
"I'll be waiting," he checked his watch, "Uh-oh. Gonna be late for my next appointment. Better get on my horse," he humored them before jumping up and made a sound, "Meep-meep!" he zipped off.
Accelerator kept doing job after job, until he finished his work for the day. He went to the park and sat on a bench just to relax. As he sat down he was greeted by Rainbow Dash who flew in.
"Hey, Accel, what's up?"
"Rainbow Dash, shouldn't you be off napping on a cloud or in a tree somewhere at this time?"
"Yuck it up," Rainbow replied as she took a spot next to him, "So how's it going?"
"Just finished today's work, and now I'm relaxing."
"Sounds like a plan." Rainbow agreed, as they relaxed on the bench together.
As they two relaxed, Accel watched as the ponies went about their daily lives, and for a split second envisioned them all as human beings. Rainbow seeing Accel looked lost in thought was concerned, "Hey, you ok?" she nudged him, breaking him out of his thoughts.
"Huh, oh, yeah. Just thinking."
"About what?"
"Well, it's... Oh, forget it. It's stupid." he brushed it off.
"I won't know if it's stupid until you tell me." Rainbow insisted.
"Ok," he sighed, "It's just it can get real boring being the only human here in Equestria. I mean I look around and see ponies all around, but no humans. Makes me feel extinct," Rainbow listened, "Truth be told, sometimes I envision a human's gonna walk out of nowhere and I won't feel like I'm out of place."
Rainbow instead of trying to turn it into a joke decided to be more concerned, "You know, Spike felt that way too having been raised by ponies his whole life and being the only dragon here in Ponyville. Even though it still bugs him he learned that what he has isn't so bad as what he could've had. Being raised by dragons to just be greedy and violent."
"Your point?" the speedster asked.
"You shouldn't worry so much about being the only human here. Sure you may not walk among your own kind, but it's better to be with others who care about you rather than be alone."
Accel pondered before speaking, "I guess that makes sense. Still, I wish I could spend a day with at least one human like the old days." he got up and headed off.
Rainbow watched him leave and didn't like to see a friend of hers down in the dumps wished she could do something for him. Suddenly an idea came to mind, "Maybe he can." she smirked.
Meanwhile at Twilight's castle, the egghead princess was busy with some reading, with Spike on standby. Suddenly Rainbow burst in, taking them by surprise, "Hey, guys!"
"Rainbow Dash, you know I hate it when you do that." Twilight said, with an irritated look.
"I know, but listen I need you're help with something, Twi."
"My help. With what?"
"Well, it's about Accel..."
"Accelerator?" Twilight asked, "Is he ok? I hope it's nothing too serious." he mouth was blocked by Rainbow's hoof.
"Let me finish. I was talking with him, and he seemed down about being the only human in Equestria. It shocked me seeing he's been here for quite awhile and all of a sudden he feels that way?"
Twilight seeing what was up spoke, "Obviously he has been keeping these feelings to himself because he wanted to bury them. Unfortunately it's not healthy to do something like that."
"Right. So I was thinking, remember when you used that spell to turn us all into breezies?"
"Yes." Twilight answered suspiciously.
"Well, would that spell also be able to turn ponies into humans?" The pegasus asked hopefully.
"Rainbow, what're you up to?"
"Look I want you to turn me into a human so I can spend some time with Accel and make him feel better, ok?" Rainbow explained her plan.
Twilight spoke up, "Rainbow, that is... The kindest most heartfelt plan you've ever come up with!" she cheered.
"Huh?" Rainbow was taken aback by her friends mood change.
"It's a wonderful way to help Accelerator cope through his problem. I don't know why I didn't think of it sooner." Twilight started levitating spell books over to check for a certain spell.
"Twilight, you think that'll really make Accel feel better?" Spike asked.
Twilight turned to her assistant, "Well, it might help him cope with his dilemma."
"So you'll help me?" Rainbow asked.
"Of course." Twilight answered, as she levitated a spell book over, "Here we are."
"Is this gonna hurt?" Rainbow asked in concern.
"Well, you might feel a bit of a twinge, but nothing too serious." Twilight assured her.
"Ok." Rainbow said as she stood still, as Twilight started her spell, and her magic consumed Rainbow Dash, as the Princess and Spike watched until the brightness of the spell blinded them. When it died down, the two looked in shock at the results.
"Well, did it work?" Rainbow asked, as she saw their reactions, "What, is something wrong?"
"No, it's just... Spike, a mirror." Twilight said.
Spike went over and slid a mirror before Rainbow Dash who saw what had become of her. Rainbow Dash stood on two legs like Accel, her tail was gone, and was decked out in clothing. Her attire included a blue vest, a white shirt with black lining on the collar and bottom, her shirt had an image of a cloud with a rainbow-colored lightning bolt, a pink and white striped skirt with black leggings underneath, blue boots, rainbow socks, and a rainbow bracelet on each arm. The only thing ponywise about her was the wings on her back, the ears on her head, and her hair had an extension at the end almost like her mane and tail length were combined.
"Whoa, is that me?" Rainbow gasped, as she looked at herself all over.
"Yes, Rainbow, it is you," Twilight answered, "I wasn't able to make you fully human, though." she explained seeing how her friend retained her wings and ears.
"Well, this is still good enough," he flexed her arms and twiddled her fingers, similar to how Twilight did during her first moment as a human in the other world, "And nice choice in clothing. How'd you figure these would appear?"
Twilight blushed, "Well, they sorta came to me."
"All right. Time to go see, Accelerator!" she took a step, but ended up falling face flat.
"Ooh." Spike and Twilight cringed.
"I'm ok." Rainbow said, as she peeled her head off the floor.
"You're gonna need some practice." Twilight told her, as she looked sheepish.
Meanwhile on earth at the labs, Dagger, Ashley, and a few guards armed with blasters, were standing on a platform, as Ashley spoke, "Dr. Dagger, just how are we supposed go to Jake's location?"
Dagger turned to her, "With this little number our Research and Development crew whipped up for us." he pulled out a remote like device.
"And how does it work?" one of the guards asked.
"It projects a portal leading to the destination of your choosing. I had already entered the coordinates where the probe landed. Once we arrive we'll use the tracking device to track Jake's speed force and catch him." Dagger explained.
"And will the portal device bring us back safely?" another guard inquired.
"Of course. Now let's be careful. It's unknown what this world we're about to be going to is like, so be prepared for anything."
"Yes, sir!" the guards answered.
"Here we go." Dagger clicked on the remote that projected a portal out of thin air. They each cautiously stepped into it, and soon enough the portal closed behind them.
Back in Ponyville, Accel was walking around trying to figure out what he could do, until Spike came running over, "Hey, Accelerator!"
The speedster looked over at Spike, "Oh, hey, Spike. What's up?"
"Come here. Twilight and I have something to show you." Spike pulled him by the pants.
"Ok-ok, I'm coming." Accel followed him.
Spike brought him over to Twilight who was standing by a tree, "Ok, Twi, I'm here. What's this all about?"
"Well, Accelerator, behold." Twilight answered, as Rainbow Dash walked out from behind the tree presenting herself.
At the sight of her, Accel looked almost as if he was dreaming. He rubbed his eyes and saw he wasn't, "Rainbow Dash?" he asked, as a faint blush was forming on his face.
"Hey, Accel." she waved.
"Twilight, what did you do?" he asked the Princess.
"It was Rainbow Dash's idea." she answered.
Accel looked back at his not all pegasus friend still trying to keep his blush a secret, as she explained, "I couldn't stand seeing you look all depressed not being around your own kind. So I had Twilight use a spell on me to make me as human as possible so I can help you relax. Don't worry this is only temporary."
"You did this for me?" Accel asked.
"Well, duh. I wouldn't do it for just anypony or any human. But when it comes to a close friend. I would do anything." she answered.
Accel's shocked expression started turning positive, "Rainbow, I... Thanks."
"No problem," she smiled back and went over to him as they matched height, "So why don't we go have a day of fun?"
"You bet." Accel, agreed as he took her hand and raced off at normal speed, dragging her along. Twilight and Spike watched hoping all would go well.
In Canterlot outside the kingdom, a portal opened up and out came Dagger, Ashley, and the guards. They stretched before looking around, "Is this the place?" Ashley asked.
"No doubt about it." Dagger confirmed.
"Hey, look at that." A guard said, as they saw Canterlot not too far from them.
"You think he's there?" another asked.
Dagger looked at his tracking device aiming it at the kingdom getting a weak signal, until he held it in another direction away from the kingdom seeing a stronger signal, "Not likely. Jake's this way." he motioned his guards to follow, and they did with Ashley following behind, while looking concerned.
Back in Ponyville, Accel and the now human Rainbow Dash were at Sugarcube Corner having a milkshake and sharing some cake. The customers there were giving Rainbow awkward looks wondering if that really was her, while she ignored them.
"Jeez, you think after seeing you for so many weeks, they'd be used to it." Rainbow told Accel.
"It's not that they aren't used to it, Rainbow. They just don't completely recognize you." he replied.
"Well, you got a point." she admitted.
"Rainbow Dash?" A voice gasped.
The two looked over and saw the CMC looking up at them, "Hey, squirt? How're you three doing?" she asked.
"Good, but is that really you?" Scootlaloo asked.
"Of course it's me. Who else?"
"Sorry, but we almost didn't recognize you." Sweetie Belle said.
"Yeah, I'm getting that a lot today." she replied.
"How do you look like Accelerator now?" Applebloom wondered.
"Just something Twilight did, but don't you go asking her to do stuff like this. She's obviously say no." Rainbow warned them.
"I just want to say, Rainbow Dash, you look a hundred times as awesome as you already are." Scootaloo declared.
Rainbow hearing her still getting praised by her number one fan smiled and ruffled her mane, "Thanks, kid."
"See, no matter what you look like, you'll always be Rainbow." Accel noted.
"Got that right." Rainbow agreed, as she took a bite out of her cake.
Once they finished their meal, they spent the whole day hanging out around Ponyville. As they enjoyed themselves, Accel was starting to remember all the fun he used to have with his old friends back home.
Rainbow stood by Accel, and took his hand, "Are ya ready?"
"Bring it!" Accel smirked.
"Here we go!" Rainbow shot off the ground and into the sky taking Accel with her.
When they reached the clouds, Rainbow stopped in mid air, still holding onto Accel's hand while noticing his eyes were tight shut, "Open your eyes, Accel. You gotta see this."
Accel opened his eyes and saw how high up they were, "Whoa." he gasped.
"Welcome to sky level." Rainbow said.
"This is amazing." Accel gasped, as he looked at all the clouds.
"Yeah, now hang on tight, this is gonna be different for me." Rainbow flew off still holding onto Accel, as they flew through the sky.
Accel was whooping and cheering as Rainbow flew him through the sky, before tossing him up and caught both his arms with her hands. She flew around above some clouds low enough so Accel can pretend he was running on the clouds, "Oh, this is intense! Check me out!"
Rainbow looked up ahead seeing they were on a direct course with a cloud wall, "Incoming!"
Accel saw the cloud wall and let out a playful scream, before they went through it leaving behind their body prints. They popped out at the end of the cloud leaving behind the same prints.
"Wow, clouds are about as soft as pillows." Accel said.
"Now you know why I love napping on them." Rainbow said.
"Wish I could do that without falling through them." Accel replied, as Rainbow continued flying him around.
When the two touched back on the ground, both laughed like fools, "Oh, that was the greatest experience of my life!" Accel laughed, "I'm glad you didn't drop me."
"I do feel stronger in this human form, plus it's easier to hold onto things with these hands." Rainbow looked at her hands.
"Yeah, they are incredibly useful for holding onto things," Accel said, as he wrapped an arm around her, "Come on, let's go take a break." they walked off.
They relaxed on a bench in the park, "This has been a great day, Rainbow Dash. I really appreciate you willing to turn into a human for awhile just for me."
"Don't mention it." she replied, "And I've really grown to like this human form. I should have Twilight use it on me more often, or maybe get her to use it on the rest of the girls."
"That'd be cool. If you look this good as a human, I can imagine they'd look equally good." Accel said.
The two laughed as Accel spoke, "Seriously, though, spending the day with you like this makes me remember the good days back home when I was with my family and friends. I miss the days when it was me and them. Not that I don't like doing things with you and the others, it's just some things back home can't be replaced."
"I understand." Rainbow replied.
"There's also stuff I don't think I'll be able to do here that I could've done back home." he added.
"Like that?"
"Well, have my first kiss with someone," he answered, while Rainbow looked at him curiously, "I mean that's something that's suppose to be a guys most treasured moment during his teenage years. But being here I don't think I'll ever experience it. Mostly because I'm not sure how it would look to others if a human kissed a pony. In my world that would just be wrong, and I'm not sure how ponies here would react in turn. Of course. I would need a special someone to actually do that with. But I don't know if I'll actually find someone like that for me."
"Accel." Rainbow said, and when Accel turned to face her he was met with Rainbow's lips that pressed into his.
Accel was frozen in shock at what Rainbow Dash was suddenly doing to him, but loosened up and accepted it, until they parted, "How was that for a first kiss?" Rainbow asked with a smirk.
"That was awesome." he panted.
"I'm glad. You know, that was my first one too." she admitted.
"Really?" Accel asked.
"Yeah. Stuff like that wasn't such a big deal to me."
"So then what made ya decide to act?" Accel inquired.
"Well, you've never been kissed. I've never been kissed. We both are good friends, you do that math." Rainbow answered.
"So you just did it to satisfy both our desires?" Accel raised a brow.
"Well, yeah, I mean no, It's not that I don't like you. I mean I like you, but I don't like-you like you. I just," Rainbow strained, "Oh, I don't even know what I'm saying anymore."
"Rainbow Dash." Accel spoke.
"What?" she turned to Accel, as he cupped her face and planted his lips on hers.
Rainbow like Accel at first was shocked, but didn't want to fight it and just accepted it, 'Wow, it's even better a second time.' they thought simultaneously.
When they parted, Accel spoke, "Now can you find the right words?"
Rainbow smiled, "Yeah. I actually do think I 'like' like you."
Accel smiled back, "Same here." he said, until he saw Rainbow Dash was glowing, and when it died down she was a pegasus again, "Looks like the magic wore off." he said.
"Yeah, sorry it couldn't have lasted all day." she apologized.
"It's no big. Personally I prefer the real you." he admitted, as the two hugged.
Suddenly they were almost blasted by something which broke their embrace, "What the hell?" Accel gasped, as another blast almost nailed them, if Rainbow hadn't tackled him off the bench.
The tow shots put every pony in the park in a panic and started heading for cover, "Who's firing on us?" Rainbow asked Accel, until the speedster looked ahead and gasped.
"Oh, no."
Rainbow looked ahead, and they saw Dagger, Ashley, and the guards approaching, with the guards aiming their blasters at them in case they moved.
Dagger who was holding the tracker device that had a strong signal having found Accel, spoke up, "Hello, Jake."
Last time, after enjoying a relaxing day with Rainbow Dash in the form of a human, Accelerator was confronted by Dagger who was prepared to do anything to bring him back to the facility. Will Rainbow Dash and the others stop him or will Jake be doomed to return to the place that caused his suffering?
"Hello, Jake." Dagger greeted him.
"Dagger," Accel frowned, "How did you find me here?"
"It took some time, but I managed to launch a probe through the wormhole in which you left behind when you tore through the fabric of time and space," Dagger began, "It was just a matter of time before it honed in on your signature and pinpointed you here. Of course we had to rely on some equipment by one of our sister facilities to provide me with the technology to transport us here, but it was all worth it."
Accel frowned at Dagger, but gave a slight soft expression upon seeing Ashley. Suddenly Rainbow spoke up, "Whoa-whoa-whoa, time out! This is the guy who made you who you are, Accel?"
"It is." Accel nodded.
"And who might this be?" Dagger inquired, while motioning to Rainbow Dash.
"None of your damn business!" Accel shouted.
Rainbow answered regardless, "I'm Rainbow Dash, and you must be Dr. Vellian Dagger."
"You are correct." Dagger nodded.
Rainbow scowled, "I have a good mind to buck you in the back of your head for what you did to Accel." Rainbow found herself getting the blasters from the guards aimed at her. She frowned and flew back to Accel's side.
"Accel?" Dagger turned to Jake.
"Yeah. I'm Accelerator now." he answered.
"I see. But onto business. Jake, you've been a very naughty boy running away from home." Dagger lectured him.
Accel frowned, "That place was not my home. You took me from it!"
"Let's leave the past in the past and look ahead to the future," Dagger continued, "A future of wealth."
"I'm not part of your experiment anymore. I'm free. It's what I was promised, until you went back on your word!"
"I had my intention of keeping it, but when it was confirmed we needed all of you around to help stabilize the other planned test subjects with your DNA I had to make a sacrifice."
"Spare me your sob story!" Accel called him out, "You have no remorse for telling me you had to keep me around after you spent three years of my life robbing me of a normal life! Well you can find someone else to be your guinea pig because I'm through with you." he was prepared to zip off with Rainbow.
"I think not!" Dagger pulled out a tazer device that zapped Accel and he suddenly fell to the ground.
"Accel!" Rianbow flew down at him, "Are you ok?"
"My body, it feels like it weighs a ton." Accel groaned, as he laid on the ground helplessly.
"You didn't think I'd come looking for you without being prepared, did you?" Dagger asked rhetorically.
"You're mine!" Rainbow flew for Dagger, who aimed the tazer at her.
"Down, girl!" he zapped Rainbow, as she suddenly fell to the ground.
"Ok, this is stupid." Rainbow groaned.
Dagger approached Accel, and looked down at him, "I have to admit, Jake. Of all the places for you to wind up in, this is by far one of the strangest of places ever."
"There's nothing strange about Equestria!"
"A land of talking normal and mythical equines, that doesn't seem strange to you?" Dagger inquired.
"I admit, it was a lot to take in when I first arrived. But anywhere was better than being in the facility. Even a place like this. Besides I've grown to love this place. It's been my home away from my real home."
"Well, I hope you enjoyed it while it lasted, because you're coming back with me." Dagger said with his eyes narrowing.
Accel looked past him and over at Ashley, who mouthed to him, "I'm sorry." Accel was too mad at Dagger to be disappointed in her for following his orders up to now.
Dagger turned to his guards, "Grab the boy, and let's get out of here."
"What about the pegasus?" one of them asked.
"Leave her. She's no concern to me." Dagger said, without a second thought.
Accel watched helplessly as the guards were approaching him. Before they could pick him up, they were suddenly pelted with cream pies.
"What the?" Dagger gasped, as they saw the pies came from a catapult operated by Pinkie Pie.
"Gotcha!" Pinkie grinned.
"Pinkie, how'd you know to come here?" Accel gasped.
"Well, I had a little Pinkie Sense and knew something was happening here. So I grabbed some pies, a catapult and came right over. I also brought along the others and the Princesses." Pinkie explained with a grin, as Twilight, Spike, the rest of the girls, Sonic, and the Princesses approached.
"Pinkie, you're a lifesaver." Rainbow said.
"How can I be candy when I'm a pony?".
"Why're you and Accel on the ground like that?" Applejack wondered.
"Our bodies suddenly feel like a million pounds." Rainbow groaned.
Celestia turned to Dagger and his group, "What is the meaning of this?"
"And who're you to ask me such questions?" Dagger crossed his arms.
"I am Princess Celestia.
"And I am Princess Luna. We rule over the land of Equestria, that you now reside in."
"Princesses?" Dagger asked before acting sarcastic, "Well, this is a surprise. I am honored to meet you, as are my men." he motioned them to bow, which he did a mock bow.
"I will ask again, what is the meaning of this?" Celestia repeated herself.
Dagger decided to play his silver tongue thinking the monarchs could be just as persuaded like others he's talked to, "Your excellencies. I've come here strictly to claim what was mine. Namely him," He motioned to Accel. The girls wanted to speak, but Celestia motioned them to be silent, as Dagger continued, "This boy doesn't belong here anymore than me or my associates do. So I'll just take him off your hoofs and be on my way."
Celestia answered, as she stepped forward, "I'm afraid I cannot let you do that."
"What?" Dagger did a double take, as Luna spoke next.
"We cannot allow you to take Accelerator with you."
"And why not?" Dagger asked, as his patience was wearing thin.
"Accelerator is a resident of Equestria now, therefore is no longer your property." Celestia answered.
"Besides, after what we saw what happened to him at your hands we would never let him go back with you." Luna added.
"And we will fight to keep him here." Twilight took a stand with her fellow Princesses.
"Fight me? Oh, that's precious." Dagger laughed.
"Don't be fooled, Dagger," Accel warned him, "These girls are much stronger than they look."
"I don't fear equines," Dagger answered him firmly, "Guards, attack!"
The guards started blasting at the ponies, as Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy took cover, while Applejack ran around dodging the blasts. Twilight, Celestia, and Luna took it to the air and started blasting at the guards. Their magic ended up making some of their blasters disappear, but the ones who still had theirs still fired.
Accel seeing Sonic, whispered, "Psst. Sonic!" Sonic came over to his friend in concern, "I need to you to get that thing from the bad man. Can you do it?"
"Uh-huh." Sonic chattered, before sneaking around and climbed up Dagger's back were trying to grab the device.
"Stupid monkey, get off!" Dagger tried to get Sonic off, but Sonic kept moving around all over Dagger before grabbing the device. Before Sonic could do anything with it, Dagger knocked it out of his paws, and it landed in Ashley's hands.
"Ashley!" Accel called.
"Cromwell, give that to me at once!" Dagger demanded out of her.
Ashley looked at her boss, Accelerator, and the ponies who were protecting him, that Dagger was more than willing to harm. She frowned at him, "No."
"What was that?" Dagger asked firmly.
"No."
"Cromwell, you'll be fired when this is over!" he threatened her.
"No need to fire me, Dagger. I quit!" Ashley aimed the device at Accel and Rainbow throwing the affects in reverse.
Suddenly the two got back up, "Oh, yeah!" Rainbow cheered that she could fly again.
"Now that's more like it. Thanks, Ash."Accel smiled at the older woman, who smiled back. He turned to the guards, "And now to end this." he zipped around them, snatching the remaining blasters. Rainbow taking the chance tackled all of them knocking them down like dominoes.
"Applejack, throw me a lasso!" Accel ordered, as the farm pony pulled one out of her hat and tossed it to the speedster.
Accel ran around the guards in circles tying them up together, "Well done. All is finished." Celestia smiled.
"Not yet it's not." Accel replied, as he glared at Dagger. Before Dagger could run, Accel started running for him. He rushed all around Dagger at all sides delivering punches to his shoulders, arms, back, and chest.
The ponies watched in worry as Dagger kept getting attacked by Accel never seeing him do anything like this. Accelerator finally knocked Dagger off his feet and onto the ground. Accel grabbed Dagger by front collar of his coat and brought him to his face. Dagger looked frightened as he looked into the vengeful eyes of Accel.
"No, please! Let me go! I'm sorry!" Dagger pleaded.
"No you're not!" Accel once again called his bluff, "Not yet. Because I'm gonna punch you so fast and so hard, your jaws gonna get dislocated." he threw his arm back ready to deliver the impending blow.
"Accelerator!" Celestia ordered, as the speedster looked back seeing the Princess of the sun, her sister, and the others approach, "That's enough. You did what you needed. It's over."
"Over?" Accel asked in outrage, "It'll never be over. Not so long as he's still breathing!"
"Accelerator, calm down." Twilight tried to reason with him.
"I will not calm down." Accel answered, as his hateful eyes turned to her.
"Sugarcube, I know how much ya hate his guts, but this ain't the way to solve your issues." Applejack reasoned with him.
"I don't know of any other way!" he replied, as his hatred grew more.
"Please, Accelerator. Don't do it." Fluttershy pleaded.
"Fluttershy's right, darling. Don't do something you will come to regret." Rarity added.
"Give me a real good reason why I shouldn't punch this guy to a pulp!" Accel demanded.
"Because it's not like you." Ashley answered, as she stepped forward.
"Ashley?" he asked, as the ponies wondered how this would play out.
"The Jake I knew would never stoop himself to Dagger's low despite all he's done. You're better than this. I know you are. I've always known," Jake started hesitating slightly, "Your parents and siblings would not want to hear that you brought yourself down to a low like Dagger's. Just let go of that hatred, Jake. Let it stay in the past." she pleaded with him.
Accel looking into Dagger's frightened eyes could see his own reflection in them. He looked shocked seeing how angry he looked and knew this really wasn't him at all, and recalling his memories of his parents and siblings knew this was not the Jake they loved. He lowered his fist down much to the ponies and Dagger's relief.
Dagger sighed in sweet relief, "Oh, I knew you wouldn't." he said feeling grateful.
Accel gave one last frown, before he did a simple knee jab into Dagger's chest. The ponies gasped, but Dagger groaned as he was released to the ground, clutching his chest, "Oh, I think you broke a rib." he groaned.
Accel frowned, "I could've broken a lot worse than that. Even though you deserved it, I spared you from much worse."
Celestia and Luna seeing Accel was no longer driven by his hatred used their magic to cuff Dagger and strip him of both the speed force tracker and the portal device.
Luna spoke up, "Dr. Vellian Dagger, for your crimes against this one boy, my sister and I have decided you and your guards will be sentenced to Canterlot's dungeon for life."
"Life, here?" Dagger gasped in shock with his guards.
"Yes. You won't be returning to your own world." Celestia added.
"You can't do this to me! I'm a scientist! I have rights!" he demanded.
"You are not an official recognized citizen here in Equestria like we've made Accelerator. Therefore you don't have rights." Luna replied. Dagger growled as his guards looked down in defeat.
Accel with no other reason to continue watching, started walking away, "Accel?" Rainbow asked, as she flew over to him.
"I need to be alone." he said, as he took off.
"Accel!" The ponies gasped, but he already zipped off leaving them and Ashley in worry.
Last time, Accel and his pony friends confronted Dagger and his guards. With a little help from Ashley, Accel defeated Dagger and was planning to finish him off. With convincing from his friends, the speedster chose not to go through with it, and zipped off to be alone.
Accel was sitting under a tree on a hilltop outside Ponyville. After what he almost tried to do he was wrapped in guilt with himself. He let out a sigh, "I can't believe I almost tried to take a life. If I did that I don't think I'd be able to look at myself anymore. Even though I didn't do it, the idea of me almost willing to still scares me."
"Accelerator!" Twilight called, as Accel looked up seeing Twilight, Celestia, Luna, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy flying. Ashley was riding atop Celestia's back, Spike were riding on Twilight, Sonic was atop Fluttershy, and Luna used her levitation on Rarity, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie.
They descended to the ground as Sonic, Spike, and Ashley dismounted from the ponies they were riding, "There ya are. We were looking for ya." Applejack said.
"How'd you know to come here?" Accel asked.
"Ashley led the way." Rarity answered, as Ashley held out the same speed force tracker Dagger used to find him.
"You cheated." Accel squinted at the adult.
"True, I cheated with using this. But we just had to come see you." she explained.
"You'd think we were just gonna let one of our pals zoom off like that?" Rainbow asked rhetorically, "Uh-huh. Not happening."
Accel smiled but sighed, "I'm sorry you all had to see me show that ugly side of myself. I guess my anger was just too strong for me to contain."
"We understand," Twilight replied, "Seeing Dagger again provoked it out of you."
"But it's over now, darling. Dagger can never harm you again." Rarity noted.
"Maybe, but what if something else comes up and my anger drives me to try and take a life again? I don't know if I'd be able to fight it like this time."
"Accelerator, it's all right to feel angry," Celestia comforted him, "But as long as you have friends like the girls and Spike, and me and my sister to look out for you then your anger will not drive you into doing something regretful."
"That is right," Luna added, "But even without us we know you are strong enough to control your anger so long as you don't forget about the ones close to you."
Sonic scurried over, and climbed onto Accel, as the boy pat his head, "See, even Sonic knows you're not bad at all." Fluttershy said.
Accel smiled, "Thanks for believing in me, Sonic. And thank you all for not giving up on me. And, Ashley, I don't think I could ever thank you enough for what you did."
"My pleasure, Jake." she answered.
"So, what happens now?" Spike wondered.
Ashley spoke up, "I'm going to go back home and set things right."
"Set things right?" Rarity asked.
"Yes. I'm going to tell the other scientists and assistants that Dagger, Jake, and his guards were taken down and he sent me back here for safety."
"Will they believe you?" Applejack asked.
"I was closest to Dagger. They trust me on the same level as they've trusted him." Ashely explained.
"It's true." Accel confirmed.
"So then what'll you do?" Twilight asked.
"I'll erase all memory, files, and DNA samples of Jake from our labs database, even the secret samples. I'll also be shutting down the project completely and cut off all deals we made with the government and everything else." Ashley explained.
"Ashley, you'd do that?" Accelerator gasped.
Ashley smiled, "Yes. And when it's over I'm gonna find work more fitting for me."
"You do deserve better." Accel nodded in agreement.
"You wanna come with me, Jake?" Ashley offered.
"Huh?" Accel and the ponies were confused.
"I'll take you back home where you can have your life again free from Dagger." she offered.
Accel looked at Ashley and back at his friends a few times before answering, "Thanks, but no thanks."
"Oh?" Ashley asked.
"Nothing would be better than to return home, but I've done a lot of good here in Equestria. And I wanna continue to do as much good as I possibly can."
Ashley smiled, "Spoken like a pure soul. Very well. I accept your answer, but here. Just in case you ever decide to come back." she gave him the portal device.
"I'll keep in mind," he smiled, "But first it's time to send you back."
Ashley nodded, as she set the coordinates for the facility, and projected the portal, "I guess this is it, huh?" she asked the teenager.
"For now." he answered.
"Before I go, there's one last thing I want to do."
"What's that?"
Ashley cupped his face, much to Accel's confusion as she answered, "This." and with that she planted his lips upon hers and they kissed passionately.
The ponies gasped, as Pinkie's jaw dropped so far it landed on the ground. Sonic covered his eyes with his hands, but peeked through his fingers. Rainbow watched with a hint of envy on her face. When Accel and Ashley parted, the teenager was stunned while Ashley giggled at his reaction.
"That was..." Accel trailed off.
"Yeah, I know," Ashley nodded, "I hope to see you again, Jake." she smiled and went through the portal that closed upon her departure.
Twilight flew over and laid a hoof on his shoulder, "Let's go home." Accel nodded and they all headed off.
The very next night, Accel, Spike, Sonic, and the girls were in Canterlot with Luna standing before him, "Are you ready, Accelerator?"
"Yes. I've been ready for this for a long time. Because I finally know what to tell them." Accel smiled.
Luna smiled and stood by Accel's side as her magic activated. The two were consumed by the magic before disappearing into thin air, taking the group by surprise.
Meanwhile that very night in the city of Milwaukee, at Jake's old home his parents Michael and Kristy along with his thirteen year old sister Pearl and his nine year old brother Adam were asleep.
Suddenly all of them woke up in a white void, "Hey, where are we?" Michael asked in shock.
"Mom, dad, what is this place?" Pearl asked.
"I don't know, Pearl." Kristy answered.
"I'm scared." Adam trembled as he held onto his mom.
"It's ok. Don't be afraid." a voice spoke out to them.
Upon hearing the voice, all four were worried, "Who's there?" Michael demanded.
"Look." Pearl motioned ahead, as they saw someone approaching them.
When the figure came into clear, it was Accelerator, but the family was unfamiliar with him, "Who're you?" Kristy asked in confusion.
"Guys, it's me." Accel answered.
The adults and their two kids looked at him getting a closer inspection before it dawned on each of them, "Jake?" Pearl gasped.
Jake smiled and nodded, "Jake?" his parents asked.
"Yes, mom and dad. It's me."
"But how?" Kristy asked.
"Is this, are you?" Michael stammered.
"No I'm not dead, dad. And this isn't a dream. Well, technically it is but I'm very much real." he assured his family.
The four weren't sure how this was possible, but they knew for sure it was their son talking to him. They ran and embraced him, with Accel returning the embrace to all of them, "Jake, it's been so long." Pearl said, with a tear in her eye.
"Three years." Accel nodded.
Kristy noticed his hair, "Son, what happened to your hair?"
"A lot of things have happened. Some good some bad, they're all intertwined. But I came here to tell you exactly what happened. But I should warn you it'll sound totally crazy, but trust me I won't lie."
"Tell us everything." Michael instructed, as Accel smiled.
So the family sat down, as Accelerator told his family everything that happened to him over the last three years. When he finished, they were all in shock.
"Son, this story you told us does as you say sound crazy." Michael admitted.
"I know, but it's all true. Otherwise I wouldn't be here."
"He does have a point, dad." Pearl admitted.
"I just can't believe the torture they put you through." Kristy said, while hugging her son.
"I hated it myself, but I survived and now I got acceleration." he replied.
"Those ponies you've been living with sound nice." Adam added.
"Trust me, they are some of the best friends I've ever made. They're like my second family."
"So what's gonna happen now?" Michael asked.
"I'm gonna stick around in Equestria a little while longer," he answered, "There's much more I want to learn from there and experience. But I won't be gone forever. Can you all wait for me?"
The four looked at each other, while sharing a smile. Kristy answered, "Of course we can."
Suddenly the area started fading away, "Hey, what's happening?" Pearl asked.
"My time here is up. It's time for me to go back." Accel answered.
"Jake." They said, before the area Jake was standing on broke off almost separating them. Jake reached out and took Pearl's hand.
"Don't worry guys. Remember this, just as you've always been with me, you are all with me as well," He explained, "I'll come to all of you someday. I promise!"
Pearl having faith that they will see him again announced, "WE KNOW YOU WILL!"
And with their Accel and Pearl lost their clasp as the family watched Accelerator fade away into the dream before he was gone, and they all woke up in their beds knowing in their hearts their son will find their way back to them.
Back in Canterlot Castle, Luna and Accelerator reappeared, with the ponies looking relieved, "So, did you do it?" Twilight asked Accel.
Accelerator smiled, "Yes. They're ok, and now they know I'm ok as well."
"They must've been so happy to see you again." Fluttershy noted.
"They sure were. And it felt good to see them again as well." Accelerator smiled, as Luna nodded having been watching the whole thing.
"So Accelerator, ya beat the bad guy, made peace with your fam. What's next for ya?" Applejack inquired.
Accelerator looked at his friends, before finding an answer, "I think I need a vacation." the group couldn't help but agree with him about needing one after all he went through.
And so Accelerator continued to live out his days in Equestria, taking up odd jobs to earn a good pay, celebrating more of Equestria's holidays, even going on many adventures with the ponies and Spike. With all he did for the good ponies of the land, Accel knew his power could truly be used for the greater good of Equestria... Maybe even his own world.
Three months later
In Ponyville one afternoon, Accelerator stood before the girls, Spike, Shining Armor, the three Princesses, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, with Sonic on his shoulder, "Well, guys. This is it." he told them.
"You're really gonna do this?" Spike asked.
"Yes, Spike. It's time I headed home. Believe me the time I've spent here have been the greatest months of my life. But I think it's time I went home to my human family."
"Well, Accelerator, if this is what you want we have no right to stop you." Twilight said.
"Thanks, Twilight."
"You won't forget us will you?" Pinkie asked hopefully.
"Not a chance," Accel smiled, and held up the transport device, "And as long as I got this I'll always come back to you whenever I want."
"We're sure gonna miss you, Accelerator." Applebloom said.
"And I'll miss all of you as well," Accel began, as he approached each of them one by one, starting with Twilight, "You're a wonderful Princess, Twilight. Don't let anypony else tell you otherwise."
"Thanks, Accelerator." the two hugged, as Accel moved onto Applejack.
"I really did enjoy working at the farm with you and your family, Applejack."
"And we enjoyed having you help as well, sugarcube." Applejack admitted, and the two hugged.
Accel went to Fluttershy, "Thanks for introducing me to Sonic, Fluttershy. I'll continue to take care of him and respect all animals."
"I know you will, Accelerator. And Sonic you be a good monkey for him." she told the monkey who saluted, and the two hugged the Pegasus.
Accel went to Rarity, "Thanks again for making this outfit for me, Rarity. I've never met a pony or human for that matter who's as generous as you. I'll always remember you for that."
"Thank you so much, darling." Rarity hugged him, as he returned the gesture.
He zipped to Pinkie and spoke, "You're one of the funnest ponies I've ever known, Pinkie. Next time I come back, I want to have the biggest and bestest party you can ever throw for my return."
"It's a Pinkie Promise," Pinkie said, as both sealed it, "Cross my heart, and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye!" the two laughed.
Accel went to Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow, it's been loads of fun."
"Sure has." she admitted.
"I want you to know wherever I go you and I will always share a special bond."
"Please, Accel, don't make me get all sappy."
"Ok, but at least let me do this." Accel said as he pecked Rainbow's cheek making her blush.
"Hey, why'd you go do that?!" Accel chuckled as her flustering.
"Looks like somepony's embarrassed." Rarity teased.
"I am not embarrassed!" Rainbow denied it, while keeping her head up high with pride.
As her friends continued to tease her, Accel went to Spike, "You take care of Twilight and the girls, Spike. I know deep down they really appreciate you and would even be lost without you."
"Thanks, Accelerator." they fist bumped.
Accel got down to the CMC's level, "You three take care of yourselves and each other. And I know one day you will find your cutie marks."
"Thanks, Accelerator." Sweetie Belle thanked him.
"We're sure gonna miss ya." Scootaloo added, as he hugged the three.
"Same here," he added. He got up and went to Shining Armor and Cadence, "You two make for excellent leaders in the Crystal Empire. And I know you'll continue to make sure it's safe from creeps like that Sombra guy."
"Thanks, Accelerator." Shining thanked him.
"And we hope to see you again." Cadence added, as she hugged him, and Accel fist/hoof bumped with Shining.
He approached the Princess sisters, and spoke, "I'll really miss you two a lot. You've been like second mothers to me."
"Hearing that brings joy to our hearts." Celestia admitted.
"And all my savings I've earned through my jobs are secured in your vault?" Accel inquired.
"It is." Luna assured him.
"Perfect. Well I guess this is it."
"Now wait a second!" a voice called out, as Discord popped in, "You weren't planning to leave without saying goodbye to me, now were you?"
Accel smirked, "Hadn't crossed my mind."
"It was wondeful to get to know you, Accelerator. Next time you come here, we should really get together for some real fun." Discord snickered.
"Right on, brother," he shook Discord's paw. So Discord stood with the rest of Accel's Equestria friends, as the boy used the device and opened up a portal, "Thanks for everything, guys. I'll see you all again someday." and with that he zipped off through the portal with Sonic in his arms. The portal closed, as the ponies, Spike, and Discord watched hoping that their human friend made it home ok. And knew that they would see him again one day.
Meanwhile the portal reopened up in an alley way, and exiting from it was Accel and Sonic. When the portal closed, Accelerator looked around before peeking out of the alley to see human pedestrians, cars, and everything that signaled he was back in his own world.
"I'm home," he gapsed, and picked Sonic up and spun around, "Sonic, we made it!"
Sonic chattered in dizziness from being spun around, until Accelerator stopped and noticed everything, "And we're right where we want to be. Milwaukee Wisconsin. I sure hope my parents were true to their word of waiting for me. But there's only one way to find out." he picked up Sonic and dashed off.
Accelerator halted outside his old house, "My home. I almost forgot what it was like. Everything looks the same," he walked up to the front door, "Well, Sonic, this is it."
He rang the doorbell and waited patiently, until the door opened up to reveal his mother, "Hello, can I help... you?" Kristy gasped upon who was at the door.
"Hi, mom." he greeted her.
Kristy's eyes filled up with tears, "Jake!" she embraced her son, who embraced her back, "Please come in. Michael, Pearl, Adam!" she called out as she showed her son inside.
Jake looked around his house seeing the place was in tip top shape, "House looks great."
Kristy spoke, "Glad you think so. I've even kept your room cleaned with everything untouched."
"Thanks, mom."
"What is it, honey?" Michael asked, as he came up form the basement, while Adam and Pearl came out of their rooms.
"Look who's back!" Kristy cheered, as the three saw Jake.
"Hi, guys."
"Jake!" the three ran over and embraced him.
"When did you get back?" Pearl asked.
"Not too long ago."
"How did you get back?" Adam asked.
"A little technology from a friend."
"Are you all right?" Michael inquired.
"I'm fine. Really I am, dad. And I came back with a friend." the family wondered, until Sonic climbed up onto Sonic's shoulder.
"A monkey!" Pearl and Adam gasped.
"Guys, this is Sonic. Sonic, meet my family." Accel introduced them, as Sonic made some noises, as Accel's siblings giggled. He spoke to his parents, "Can I keep him?"
"Is he house trained?" Kristy asked.
"Certainly. And he's quite helpful." Accel explained.
"Well, if you promise to take care of him." Michael said.
"It's a promise." his oldest son replied.
"This calls for a celebration." Kristy suggested, "We're going out for Pizza."
"Awesome!" Accel cheered, "But I'm gonna need some more clothes besides this."
"Don't worry. I bought plenty of new clothes for you just in case you would come back early. They're in your room."
"Thanks mom. I'll check them out." he went to his old bedroom and saw it was as his mom said. It was untouched and cleaned just the way he left it, "Oh, I missed this old room. And my old bed." he plopped onto it and relaxed. He looked at his monkey, and spoke, "I tell ya, Sonic, now that I'm home I'm gonna be living life to it's fullest and do a lot of good. And I know one way to do it." he smirked.
One night about a week after Jake returned from Equestria, three crooks were exiting a 7/11 while carrying bags of money, and one bag of stolen foods, "Come on let's go." one ordered the two.
They were about to head out, until one of the crooks who was carrying the bag of food suddenly saw it disappear from his hand, "Hey, it's gone."
"What's gone?" the third asked.
"The food."
"How can it be gone when you just had it?" the first asked rhetorically.
"I don't know either." he answered, until they saw the money was snatched from them, "Hey, where'd the money go?"
Suddenly all three crooks were getting punched from all around until they were roped up together, "What the hell's going on here?" one of them asked in confusion.
"You crooks are all tied up, that's what." a voice said, as they looked and saw Accelerator standing before them in the same tracksuit and goggles.
"Who're you?" one asked.
Accel smirked, "I'm Accelerator." he took a bite out of a chocolate bar.
One of the crooks saw that and spoke, "Hey, you can't steal what we stole!"
"I didn't steal this from you. I brought everything back inside and paid for this with my own money. You should try it sometime," he heard police sirens closing in, "And just in time. Catch you, guys never. Time for me to accelerate!" he dashed off leaving the crooks to brood, until the cops arrived.
Accelerator ran thought the streets of Milwaukee dodging any car that he was in the way of. Finally he ran off the road and up the side of a skyscraper. When he made it to the top he stopped and smiled to himself.
"I love acceleration." he took a bite out of his chocolate bar again.