Familiar

by Cookies

First published 20th of July, 2018

Upon her return and when confronted by the new Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, Nightmare Moon decides to summon the foulest creature to ever exist (at least she thinks so).

Free at last, Nightmare Moon just got back from her thousand years banishment on the Moon.

She barely has time to cast a few spells and terrorize the local village and kidnap the Solar Princess that a group of mares burst into the ancient throne room.

As they manage to reactivate and wield the Elements of Harmony, Nightmare Moon tries to summon the foulest beast she can think of to protect her.

It doesn't go well.

'The Worst Creature To Summon'

Bright colored lights tore through the darkness of the night with distant blast sounds. It's the national holiday and I'm actually out to watch the firework show among other people for once, instead of just looking at it from the balcony back home.

Can't say it's refreshing, I'm not one for crowds and it's still hot outside. A whooping 36°C (just under 100°F) near midnight, it really makes me longing for Winter right there. Damn heatwave from the south.

I still wonder why I listened to my sister. "Go out with us for once, it's been years since you last went in town to watch the show." she said earlier today. I eventually gave in after she pestered me for a while. And so I went with her and her barely-out-of-babyness son. The father being at their apartment, probably already sleeping for his nightshift later tonight.

The show eventually stopped 10 minutes later or so with an explosive finish. The light emitted was bright enough that you could've sworn it was midday for a second.

It was alright.

"We should go before there's too much people on the road." I said to my sister, my gaze still turned toward the night sky.

"Come on, I'll buy you ice-cream." came her reply, which made me look at her expectantly, until I realised she spoke to her son, making me deadpan in disappointment.

What? It's still hot out there.

~ ~ ~

A few minutes later and we were heading back toward the car, the little boy awkwardly holding his sweet delicacy while I held him on one arm and having an ice-cream of my own in the other hand.

It was then that the little dude let me down in the worst way possible.

He let his ice-cream fall on the ground.

Horror showed on my face as I looked at the perfect refreshing sweet sprayed on the ground. I looked back to my nephew, who was now pouting and sobbing softly and my sister gave me a disapproving look, like I was the one who made the kid let the sweet goodness fall down.

"Give him your ice-cream." I heard her say, but my mind blocked it as white noise. I couldn't possibly think of getting separated from MY ice-cream.

It was then that the sobbing on my left arm intensified and it made me remember that the kid actually could cry very, VERY loud. I hastily presented the top of my milky treat as a sacrifice to the little devil. He took a few seconds to realize it was now his.

He didn't hesitate to plunge his hand into the cone while giggling, then properly put his hand on my shoulder for support, smearing the stuff over my shirt as he tried to reach for the ice-cream with his mouth.

I held back some manly tears that night.

~ ~ ~

It was a little after midnight that my sister got me back at my place. I wished her a goodnight and waited for her to drive off before heading to the short path toward my building.

Though as I passed near the small lavender bushes along the way, I spotted something not right in the corner of my vision, like a small part of my vision suddenly turning off. I blinked and turned my head toward the anomaly, which apparently was in the middle of the small unruly 'garden', instead of my eyes having a problem.

It was strange though as there was public light nearby, it shouldn't be dark right there.

I approached the thing while blinking quickly. Looking at it was freaky, it's like I peered at a literal piece of the starry sky that crashed down there. It was a bit taller and wider than me and vaguely had the shape of a grain of rice.

Thinking it was just an optic illusion, I tentatively reached for it. I saw my hand disappear before my eyes, I freaked out and tried to pull out, but my hand was stuck in place! Though it was a bit cold in it, so it felt kind of nice.

After having a few seconds to calm myself, I tried putting a bit more of my arm inside so I could do a quick pullout with added momentum. Grave mistake. It seemed like I couldn't even pullout a hair width worth of my precious arm, though I found out that I could walk around the sky piece thing and my arm moved with me, but I still couldn't pull out.

After turning around the thing twice, I suddenly stopped in fear as I felt something brush along my hand. It's the same sensation you have when you're standing in the water at the beach and something brush against your leg. Pretty freaky.

Of course I tried to pull my arm as hard I could right then, but I felt the thing instantly had a death grip on my hand and it started pulling hard.

I didn't even have time to scream as I got forcefully pulled in the anomaly, closing my eyes instinctively.

~ ~ ~ ~ A few minutes earlier, in the ruins of an old castle ~ ~ ~ ~

"--the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth Element. The Element of... Magic!" exclaimed Twilight Sparkle with a grin.

Bright lights erupted from each of the mares opposing Nightmare Moon, each Elements being suddenly reactivated and forcing the Mare From The Moon to shield her eyes with a wing.

Having used them in the distant past, she knows of their power, and she tries to think of something to stop her rapidly upcoming defeat, and at that crucial moment, she recalls a particular passage of an ancient dark book.

To summarize, do not attempt to summon this creature as the danger of doing so is too great. It is an abomination you wouldn't even wish to send on the ones standing against you. It is most possibly the worst creature to summon on your enemies.

As she watches the six mares rising in the air, her dark horn lits up with old powerful magic, charging the air with electricity and having the fur of everypony around to stand on edge.

She releases the spell in front of her, making a starry portal appear between the Bearers and herself.

That makes Twilight pause for a second, she only heard of this magic from her teacher, Princess Celestia. It was supposed to be a forbidden act of pulling a creature from its world and enslave it to eternal servitude. The Princess said herself she had to get rid of every trace of it to protect lives.

At the time, Twilight didn't understand why her teacher was sharing the existence of this magic to her. Maybe she knew this moment would come?

Nightmare Moon let out a maniacal cackle as her display of power visibly stunned the obnoxious purple unicorn.

She laughed even louder as she spotted something starting to pass through the portal, but her laugh died down pretty quickly as she felt the portal reacting violently to the creature. Reacting fast, she was now continuously pumping an astounding amount of magic in the portal to keep it stable.

It must be a creature with formidable magic prowess to be able to disrupt such magic. Perhaps it will really live up to what was written in that dang book. she thinks to herself, grinning widely but having a bead of sweat forming on her temple.

Each of the Bearers were now stunned at the sight of five terrifying wiggling things emerging from the portal. Fluttershy did her best to not faint right then, but nopony could even move as fear took hold of their body. Twilight noticed that Nightmare was putting a lot of magic into the spell. It was probably a really powerful creature.

Everypony held their breath as they watched the strange thing wiggle but otherwise not emerging further for a few seconds, until the forearm suddenly poked through, which made the little ponies gasp.

Nightmare was barely able to keep the grin on her face, feeling a millenia worth of excess magic being burned in mere seconds just by maintaining the portal. She wondered what could be taking so long for the creature to pass through, her eyes widening in disbelief as the arm was now turning in circles around the rift.

The fear-striken mares were now watching the wiggly thing with confusion, it even get a repressed giggle from Pinkie which considerably de-stressed the other mares. Nightmare Moon was furiously glaring at them, then at the arm. She wills her light blue mane to extend toward the latter to grip it in anger, then pull with all her might.

~ ~ ~ ~ Back to the Present ~ ~ ~ ~

The first thing I felt --beside fear, and pain from my hand-- when I stepped through, was that it was much much colder than I thought in there.

I shaked my trapped hand, feeling it being released almost immediatly, only leaving the pain from the grip and a tingling sensation. I opened my eyes to observe my surroundings, being greeted by the sight of old ruins, and a strange looking creature with snake eyes staring at me with an unsettling grin, a blue mist coming from its head apparently retreating from my position.

I froze, trying to not blink to keep the creature in field of view, but my ears caught some movement behind me. My breathing accelerated and my heart was pounding in my chest.

I slowly moved on the right, putting myself sideways so I could take a glance at what was behind me. It turns out there were 6 little colored creatures that looked somewhat like the big one.

Are they its childs? I wondered, and my thoughts reminded me of mom birds bringing food to their babies. My heart rate suddenly spiked.

That's when the black creature emitted some noises ressembling a neighing horse.

"Neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh!" It said while looking at me and pointing its leg toward the group colorful creatures.

I gotta say I didn't expect it, it was apparently communicating, but I didn't understand what it said. Though I kept taking glances between the group and the black creature.

It's a good thing they were expressive with their face though. The black one was progressively glaring at me, indicating she wanted something to happen, but it did not.

I looked at the group, they were all wide eyed at me, except the purple one which had a look of determination on its face. That made me flinch, and I took a small step back when it spoke.

"Neigh neigh neigh! Neigh neigh neigh neigh neigh!" It said hopefully, still looking at me. What she said provoking looks of disbelief from the other five next to her.

The black creature obviously didn't like what she said and she was now barking neighs at me, which were countered by the purple creature's neighs.

I let this back and forth continue for a couple seconds, taking the chance to back away slowly, until I hit a wall. "Alright, that's not good." I said to myself, but it seemed like both creatures heard me as they went silent.

Both of them muttered some neighs of comprehension. The yellow one saying something that made all the others emit a "Neiiiiiigh" of understanding apparently.

"NEIGH!" yelled the black creature. At that moment I didn't notice that her voice literally invoked a gust of wind in my direction, because I was more concerned by her horn lighting up with a dark blue aura, and it was pointed at me.

I've seen enough movies to know that when something spells your doom, the obvious best option is to put your arms in front of your face. And so I did.

I saw a bright flash from behind my arms, and felt my skin tingle again. That means I wasn't dead right? I hesitantly lowered them and looked at the black creature with a frown.

"Whatever you tried, it didn't work." I said with all the calm i could muster, while patting myself at various place to ensure everything was alright.

I saw the pained look on the creature's face twist into a devilish grin.

"We believe it worked fine" she replied. The shock on my face made her grin even wider. "Mighty fine indeed. Now do as We, your Mistress, ordered you to do, and destroy these fools!" she barked at me again, pointing toward the group.

Countless questions were flooding my mind, though only one managed to escape my lips. "What?"

To say the night went colder is an understatement. The creature was visibly furious at me now, she was clearly glaring at me and her wings --she had wings?!-- were spread beside her. "We know you understood what We said, servant! We were the one to summon you, so make haste and execute Our order!"

The blast of wind that hit me from her outburst pushed me back against the wall. I shot a pleading look at the six little creatures. "Help?" I asked to them. That got a scream of frustration from the now 'qualified: dangerous' creature. Her horn lit up again, but she was now aiming at the group. "We will take care of them Ourselves then! Such a waste of magic!"

It was then that Nightmare Moon realized the double meaning of the ancient text she read back then, eliciting a groan.

I just realized they looked somewhat like horses, despite hearing the neighs earlier.

The purple equine spoke to the others, as I listened to the big blue mist black horse thingy. They were now levitating into the air, their jewelry glowing. Though it seemed like the evil horse was quicker on the casting of her spell and she was about to launch it before the group could do anything.

There was no time and I couldn't run fast enough to push and disrupt the evil looking horse, but I spotted some rubble on the ground. I grabbed what I could in one swoop with my good hand and threw the lot at her as hard as I could. Luckily one hit her near one of her eyes, which made her flinch and close her eye.

The only problem was that she didn't have time to properly aim the small horses with just one eye, so she decided to take out at least one other creature before her defeat.

That creature was me.

She pointed her death horn at me and unleashed the most powerful spell she could muster while a massive rainbow washed over her.

I think I screamed as a black lightning hit me square in the face, my vision turning to black.

It took me a few seconds to notice I was still concious and up on my legs. The little equines were talking among themselves now. My head itched like mad though, and I was more concerned by my blindness so I wasn't exactly listening to them. I put my hands to my eyes, gently rubbing and blinking repeatedly. The itching stopped and my vision returned after a few seconds, at the same time than a big swan horse thing appeared in a flash.

It looked similar to the one that attacked me, with its long horn, big wings and flowey hair, so I already went down to prepare a fist full of rubble, just in case you know.

"Princess Celestia!" I hear the purple one say, the others bowing to Celestia.

"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student" she replied in a sweet motherly tone. I couldn't help but squint when hearing the names. They were strange. "I knew you could do it" she continued.

"But, you told me it was all an old pony tale." said Twilight, looking up at her teacher.

"I told you that you needed to make some friends." came Celestia's savage reply. "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her. But you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart." Celestia said gently.

Now I didn't know what to think of the situation. I could've sworn that conversation would be perfect in a kid's cartoon, and I was in a place with talking horses and magic. That was both terrifying and exciting at the same time.

"Now if only another will as well." she said with a sad frown, now looking where 'Nightmare Moon' was. "Princess Luna. It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this."

Wait what? Wasn't the evil horse supposed to be there? I can still see remains of her armor on the ground, and there was a new horse lying next to the pieces. Could it be that Nightmare Moon took a new form to fool them? I'm so lost.

Celestia knelt next to the now dark blue horse. "Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister."

"Sister?" came a collective response from the group of tiny horses and I. Celestia completely ignored it.

"Will you accept my friendship?" she asked to her smaller little sister.

It was obviously an important moment for them, but I couldn't help but roll my eyes a little at the choice of words.

"I'm so sorry! I missed you so much big sister!" said Luna with a higher pitched voice than before. She ran to her sister and hugged her, tears flowing on both of their faces.

Okay it was a pretty heartwarming, but I was still lost there. I was about to put my hand in front of my mouth to fake a cough, but I remembered I still had the rubbles in it. I just left them to drop on the ground, then looked back at the sisters.
Luna was staring at me with her eyes in tears.

I hesitated to get some rubbles again, but decided it would be safe for now.

"I am deeply sorry" she directed at me. "I tried to make you my familiar, so you could do all sort an unspeakable things under my rule, and then I attacked you. It is a miracle that I missed at the last moment, else you wouldn't be there anymore."

I furrowed my brow. That doesn't make any sense, was I supposed to die? "You... didn't miss. You got me right in the eyes I think. I was blinded for a moment." came my hesitant reply.

"Impossible! Darkness would have swallowed you if it did." said Luna in disbelief, untangling herself from her sister. She observed the wall behind me, seeing no trace of impact from her spell. Her face turned to one of worry. She whispered something to Celestia, who nodded slightly.

"May I ask for your name?" said Celestia, her imposing regal look making me want to take a step back despite already being against the wall.

Having doubts about giving my real name, I just gave a popular name from the Internet. "Anon. Just call me Anon." I said, trying to keep eye contact but eventually looking away. Searching for something to fix my gaze on, I finally set on watching the group of colorful horses.

Most of them were staring at me, the pink horse was smiling and waving, the orange one --was it wearing a cowboy hat?-- was squinting at me, the rest were either looking worried at the blue princess or had a brow raised as they looked between the royal sisters and me.

Celestia wasn't convinced by my response, but she didn't press on the matter. "Very well, Anon. We believe you may be in need of medical assistance, as you were hit by one of the most dangerous spells in existence. Despite your apparent well-being, there may be side effects. Would you accompany us in town to be checked on?"

Part of my mind screamed at me that were were just trying to lure me in so they could dissect and examine my body. The other part was worried about the effect of Luna's spell, because I did got hit by it, there was no question about that fact.

Spotting my hesitation, Celestia spoke again. "As the ruler of this land, I promise to try and send you back as soon as possible after we made sure your health isn't in danger."

"I.. I don't know you. How am I supposed to trust your word?" I said, rubbing my hurt hand. The grip and pull were really strong.

"You ain't be callin' the Princess a liar now, are you?" I heard from my left, it was the cowboy horse that spoke just then. The others gasped at the implications of what she said. She was frowning at me.

"I don't know what to trust. You may be lying to me too." I said, pointing a finger at her. The look on her face was similar as if i insulted her ancestors over twenty generations.

"Ah'm wearin' the Element of Honesty, for Celestia's sake! Ah' never lied in my whole life!" she screamed at me, her whole face turning a bright shade of red in anger. The outburst was surprising, I put both hands in front of me in defense, ready to rebutt, but I got interrupted by Twilight Sparkle.

"You have every right to be suspicious, but we already helped you once. If you're worried, we can make sure that nothing bad happens to you." she said while approaching. Her steps making clippity-clopping sounds.

"Just- just what ARE you?" I said, stepping sideways to put some distance between her and I, stopping her in her tracks.

"We are ponies, though we aren't all the same. There are four kinds of ponies, and all four are represented here." replied Celestia. Sure enough after glancing at them, i spotted some differences.

"Yeah, I see regular horse, horn horse, bird horse, and horned bird horse." I mumbled. Twilight, being closer than the others, heard it though.

"It's ponies. Not horses." she corrected with a small smile.

"Ponies are just small horses though, aren't they?" I asked, scratching my temple.

"Well technically horses are taller and bigger ponies. Princess Celestia could be called a horse but the term was abandoned in favor of social unity approximatively twelve centuries ago, thanks to the initiative of--" Twilight started rambling, and Celestia coughed politely to stop her.

"Thank you Twilight but I believe we do not need an extensive explanation." Celestia said solemnly. Twilight blushes at the Princess' remark, letting out a quiet embarrassed laugh. "What is your decision, Anon?" the monarch finally said.

I sighed. "Alright." I heard a squeaking sound from the pink pony. "But no funny stuff. I'll be watching you all."

"What?!" exclaimed the pink pony, being suddenly in front of my face. I fell down backwards from surprise. "How can there be no funny stuff? We still have something to do!"

"What th--!" I yelled, trying to put some distance between the now bouncing pony and myself. I saw her being levitated away in a golden aura.

"We still need to have the celebration happen of course, but I'll order Ponyville Hospital's most competent doctor to run a check up on Anon to make sure he'll be alright. It is the least we can do." Celestia said while I got up with a frown, dusting myself off soon after. Her gaze never leaving me while I did.

"...Whatever, but before we go, can you all tell me your names?"

Celestia's eyes widened. "How could I forget to present myself. I am Princess Celestia, and here is my sister, Princess Luna." They both bowed their head slightly in a respectful manner.
"The purple unicorn is Twilight Sparkle. She is my protegee and faithful student."

Unicorn, like the mythical beast? So the winged ones should be pegasi? Uh.

Then the one with the rainbow hair spoke with a raspy voice. "I'm Rainbow Dash, the most awesome pony around!"

The cowboy hat pony eyerolled, and followed with a simple "Ah'm Applejack."

The pink one was visibly vibrating. She threw her arms --legs?-- in the air, yelling "I'm Pinkie Pie!"

My will to groan was getting stronger each time I heard a new name.

Were they all named after their look or image on their backside? Why even would they have these things there?

Then I heard a rather dignified voice, coming from the white unicorn. "My name is Rarity. It is quite the pleasure to meet you."

She sounded like some noble in old movies. I didn't know what to think of it. I caught her staring at my left shoulder, where the icecream stain was, before she immediately averted her gaze.

Then I looked at the last one, which visibly recoiled when my eyes were set on her. She squeaked something I didn't understand and hid her face behing her pink hair.

"Come onnn Fluttershy, I know you can do it!" encouraged Pinkie Pie.

"You just told her name, Pinkie." came Rainbow's answer.

"Oops, sorry!" she replied with a wide grin. It didn't look much apologetic.

"I'll try to remember all of them. Now let's move, the sooner we go, the sooner it'll be over."

Celestia nodded at the statement, nuzzling her sister and wrapping a wing over her.

We went on our way toward the entrance of the ruins.

Author's Notes:

If you held until now, thank you for reading.

Another chapter is on its way so you can put the story in your 'tracking' folder if you like the story so far.

Diagnosis

We all walked out of the ruins, me being at the back to have an eye on all of them. Celestia tried to slow down to be at my level, but I stepped away to keep a fair distance between us. She sighed.

"You have nothing to fear from us, Anon. If we wanted to do something to you, we would have already done so." That was true, but I needed to see if it was all an act or not. They don't seem like a bad bunch though...

"Excuse me Princess from doubting your word, but I prefer staying cautious for now. Surely you can understand my point of view." I said, taking glance between her and the group of ponies in front of us.

She nodded silently, then with a couple flap of her wings she went back next to her sister.

I let them discuss between themselves, carefully listening if they were trying to scheme something but there was nothing of the sort. There were mostly conversations about how 'cool' this adventure was and their jewelry were. Celestia was running a quick recap about the most important details that her sister missed during her absence.

I couldn't help but watch the strange scenery around me as I listened to them. My mind wandered too. I was in a place of talking animals and magic.

...

I slapped myself, hard.

The sound making everyone stop and turn back to me. I rubbed my jaw with a hand and made a sign with the other indicating that we could continue. "Just asked myself if I was dreaming or not. The answer is 'no'."

I saw some of them look at me with worry but eventually started walking --trotting?-- again. Luna was staring at me with a look full of regret before she turned back.

~ ~ ~

It took a while but we made it out of the forest. I was greeted by a surreal landscape. Countless green hills around, a village a kilometer or two away. The houses looked a bit rustic from there, and I noticed the air was much cleaner than in the city I live in. Far away I could spot a mountain with a castle protruding from it. I noticed the lack of proper roads though.

Are we in the countryside?

"Where are we exactly?" I directed toward no one in particular.

"We are currently on the edge of the Everfree Forest. We're heading toward the nearest town, Ponyville." began Celestia.

"Yeah we live there." continued Rainbow. She was flying on her back, doing circles above her group. I squinted at her.

Show off.

Looking at Celestia, I followed with "You talked about Ponyville Hospital earlier. I assume it's the same place, but all I see from there is a small village."

"You will see that it is more of a small town than a village."

"You mean it's bigger than what i'm seeing?"

"Indeed. You are only seeing the uphill side of Ponyville. Now if you'll excuse us, we need to prepare for the celebration. Princess Luna and myself will check on you at the hospital later today."

I didn't have time to react. Both sisters just went and disappeared away in a flash.

I looked around me, just in case, but saw no trace on them. I sighed.

"I have second thoughts about magic now." I said dejectedly.

"What do you mean?" asked Twilight. The others stopped on their tracks to listen.

"Well, I only dreamed about magic being real since I was a kid. Thought it would be pretty darn cool to be a wizard or something. But now that I've seen it with my own eyes... Well, it's a bit scary."

"Wait what did you mean 'being real'?" She said with a cute headtilt. It reminded of some puppy.

"Yeah uhhh... Magic doesn't exist?" I said, sounding hesitant. Twilight looked at me in disbelief, the others too. "Well in my world at least. Or dimension... Or universe?" I rubbed my temple, feeling a headache coming. "Whatever."

"Wow. Your world must be pretty boring. I mean, even pegasi and earth ponies use a bit of magic." said Rainbow.

I grunted. "Thank you for your kind words, but we managed without magic."

"But, how could you control the weather and the crops?"

"We couldn't? We made with what we had, and made it better progressively. Technology is much more advanced compared to a hundred years ago. We can now predict the weather and protect our crops with some chemicals." Again, they wore look of disbelief. "Can we move now?" I said with a tilt of my head toward Ponyville.

Wait. Did she imply they can control the weather?

...

I'm going to stop thinking and just accept everything from now on.

"Right..." Twilight said. I think she was the most shocked of them all.

We started moving again, but I wanted to talk about our greatest achievement before the conversation was completely dropped. "We even went to the Moon."

Twilight turned suddenly. "Okay now I know you're just spouting lies."

"I'm not lying. You can ask Applejack, she's wearing the 'Fragment of Honesty' or something, right?"

"Element." Applejack corrected, trotting toward me. I started backing away from her. "Ah'm not goin' to bite ya. Just say everything again while lookin' in mah eyes."

It was only when she stopped a couple of meters away from that I realized how small they all were. Around the height of my pelvis. "You're short."

"And ah' think you're a tall stuborn idiot. Can't have them all." I recoiled at her attack.

"You seem mad. Did I do something bad?"

"Darn right you did. Can't even mutter a 'thank you' after we saved your skin and ah' don't like how you are looking at us from afar. A little gratitude would've been appreciated."

I took a second to repeat what she just said. She's right, I didn't thank them. "Yeah... I guess I did forget that uh? Well, thank you girls. Dunno what would've happen otherwise."

She nodded but still looked a bit unsatisfied. "Now tell the lot of us why you gave us a false name." Both the group and I were taken back.

"W-well technically I just told you all to call me a certain way. I didn't say it was my real name."

"Ah' know that. But why are you hiding your name? Ah'll have trouble trusting you if you're not being completely honest."

"Does it really matter? Just think of it as a nickname. Anon is short for Anonymous anyway, so it's a good name." I sighed, shaking my head.

"...A shame you don't trust us like that. What if we become friends?"

"Would that happen?"

"Life is full of surprise." She shrugged.

"Yeah I realized that a while ago." I waved my hurt hand to emphasize the point. "I guess it'd be fine if we became friends."

"Ah'm going to ask you for a Pinkie Promise if you mean it."

... At this point, I wasn't even questioning that a pinkie promise was a serious thing here.

"Sure." I held out my pinkie finger, waiting for her... hoof. She doesn't have a hand, nearly forgot that.

"What are you doing?" she asked, a brow raised.

"Doing a pinkie promise?"

Pinkie was bouncing behind Applejack, waving her arm in the air frantically. "Ooh! Ooh! Could it be that your finger is named like me, and that promises are made with them in your world?!"

"Y-yes..?"

"This. Is. So. EXCITING!" she yelled. Rarity was going to her and try to calm her down as Applejack spoke again.

"Let me tell ya. Never break a Pinkie Promise, else Pinkie will find ya, and she will do things your mind wouldn't even begin to fanthom. Understood?"

I nodded nervously.

"So you just have to do like ah' do." Then she goes over the motion of crossing her heart, then putting her hoof over her eye. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

...

I squinted hard enough that i actually closed my eyes.

"Did your catch something in your eyes?" said Applejack, not amused.

"Was it a cupcake?!" Pinkie yelled from nearby, I opened my eyes to see her hoof closing in my face, then pull back a cupcake from nowhere. "Oooh! It was!" then she properly ate it in one, giant, bite.

At that moment, I was sure that Pinkie would be at least twice as terrifying than any creature to ever attack me here.

"Darling, stop scaring poor Anon here. I don't think he likes the..." She searches for a word. "...amount of energy you display."

Pinkie mock-whispers "Okayyyy, I'll try to be caaaaarefullllll."

I had a worried frown on my face, but a small smile edged on my lips. This pony was ridiculous, in a good way. She winked at me and bounced away.

"Alright." I directed at Applejack, looking at her in the eyes. I made the same motions she did and pronounced the words. "Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. I also add to this promise that everything I said was true. Are we good?"

She scans my eyes for a few seconds, then nods. Twilight was baffled. "How did you even get on the Moon without magic?!"

"Physics and Science. We made the most of them. Any more questions?" Twilight's brain was having trouble to absorb the information. Rainbow just flicked her horn lightly to get her out of her daze.

"Alright eggheads, we should get moving. I'm pretty sure the Princesses will not take long to come back to Ponyville, and I don't want to miss the party."

There was a collective agreeing reponse, and we started walking again toward the small town. Twilight periodically glanced at me, like she wanted to say something, but always stopped herself and looked back forward.

During our walk, I learned they were female ponies, namely mares, and I told them i was a man, a male human. At one point Rainbow asked if, by chance, we could fly. I told her we built machines that could help us fly. Some of them even being able to make the distance from their town, to the castle on the mountain, in 5 seconds tops. The look on her face was priceless, though I think she hurt herself when she fell as her wings went stiff. Probably a cramp.

Rarity asked about the mark on my shoulder, which I replied that it was only ice-cream. "A-and you don't mind it?" She asked me, but I shaked my head, ready to follow up with something, except she just up and nearly fainted on a conveniently placed sofa.

Wait, how did she..?

I decided to drop it. There were some things I shouldn't think about too much, else I'd get myself a strong headache.

Nothing much else happen until we got to the edge of the town. It was really like an old middle-age village. Not that I saw any before, so I may be wrong.

Each mares said they either had to assist the last minute planning of the celebration, or check up on their siblings or 'animals'. Twilight even specified a 'Spike'.

Probably a dog. I thought.

I was eventually left with Rainbow, she didn't even try to come up with an excuse to try and slip away. I called her when I spotted her trying to crawl away, that made her jump.

"I still need to get a check up at the Hospital right? Can you lead me there? I wouldn't want to get lost and attract unwanted attention."

She thought for a bit, then hung her head low. "Riiiight, that would be bad. It could even ruin the party." I rolled my eyes. "What? It's true! Nopony has ever seen a creature like you! It's really easy to cause a panic here you know?"

"Alright Rainbow. Lead the way." I said with a rolling of my right hand. She mumbled something about weird talons.

"What did you say?" I asked with an inquisitive tone.

"Nothing! Let's roll."

We actually made a detour after that, as to not go through where the buffet was. I spotted Rainbow nearly salivating at the sight. I snapped my fingers in front of her face to bring her back so we could move quickly. She shaked her head quickly, coming back to her sense.

"The quicker I'll get you there, the quicker I'll be able to ea--" she stops herself, before saying slowly, "--watch over the buffet. Yeah."

"Just make sure that you're still able to fly afterward."

"Wha? Pshht. You make it sound like i'm gonna eat a plate... or ten. Naaah."

"Rainbow, we're still in the alley."

"Oh yeah, let's go!"

The following minutes had us on edge. Multiple groups of ponies passed by the alleys. We had to move quickly when on the main roads. It reminded me of infiltration games. They weren't my favorite.

Finally we had the Hospital into view. We saw an armored pegasus exit the building.

"That was one of the Royal Guards." Rainbow commented. I shrugged, either he was securizing the area or he delivered the order Celestia said she would give.

We waited a couple more seconds, analizing the area, but no one was in sight. We passed the door in a last rush and I let myself fall and sit again the nearest wall.

I really need to work on my stamina.

Rainbow was breathing a bit quickly but otherwise wasn't much impacted. She smirked at me. "What's wrong Anon? Need a machine to keep up with me?"

"Very funny, Dash. I just don't move as much as I should anymore."

"...Something happened?"

"Administrative job, and lazyness."

"Maybe you just need a partner?"

I raised a brow.

"Hey, it's always better to train with somepony. Plus you just seem to be a bit like Fluttershy. Always trying to dodge others and not being too keen on conversation."

...I shrugged. "Maybe, but from what I saw, I'm really far from her level. Her parents were right on the money when naming her."

"Yeaaaaah. Maybe they can see the future? I should ask her."

"In this world, anything is possible apparently, so it wouldn't surprise me." There is a brief silence after that. I notice her glancing between me and the door. "Okay okay, I think I'll be fine, you can g--" I didn't even have time to finish my sentence. She disappeared, leaving only a multicolored trail leading to the exit. "Have fun I guess."

I got up eventually, though the ceiling was much lower than I would have liked, being just 10-15 centimeters (4-6 inches) above my head. I'm not claustrophobic, but it was still disturbing.

I decided to look around the reception to find a doctor or nurse or someone to ask for the check-up, but there was no one there. I spotted a bowl of candy on the counter though. They're probably for the kids.

...

I popped two of them in my mouth. I was happy for a whole second, waiting for the sugary sweetness to greet my tastebuds... It never came.

They weren't candies. The bowl was full of little dices of salt.

What is wrong with these ponies?! I started searching for a trash can, so I could spit the vile things out.

That's when I heard a soft cough from behind me, making me jump. He was green, with yellow hair. "You must be the creature the guard mentionned. Pleased to meet y..." The pony's voice trailed off as he looked past me. "I thought I asked Nurse Redheart to put away the medicine. You didn't take any, did you?"

I think my worried frown gave me away.

"Alright, just spit it out in the bin behind the counter." I mumbled a 'thank' and went around the counter to spit the little cubes. "Should I assume salt act as a soft sedative for your kind too?" he asked.

Sedative? Okay, that surprised me. "What? No, no. We just use a small amount salt on our food to add some flavor. But this was a bit too much. I'm more of a sweet guy. No pun intended."

He nods with a smile. "I'm Doctor Bandage Wraps, pleased to meet you."

Again with the convenient names? Also he's wearing a doctor coat. These things must be constant across every world that could exist.

"Pleasure is mine, you can call me Anon. Should we proceed with the check up?"

He nods again. "Just follow me, I prepared a room."

He opens a door leading to a corridor with his magic.

"How does it feel?" He tilts his head at my question. "To do magic I mean."

"Hmm." he presses his hoof against his chin. "It actually feels like draining your own energy. Though life force and actual magic energy are two separate thing. So going through your reserves will only make you feel slightly tired, but will not really put you in danger. Unless you try to continue doing magic when your pool is empty of course."

"Interesting. So you just focus your energy through your horn and think about whatever spell you're trying to launch?"

"More or less. Spells can be really technical and need a lot of knowledge about whatever you're trying to do so it doesn't fail, or cause a disaster. There's a lot of parameters to think about." He stops next to a door and opens it. We didn't go too far down the building. "The Princess is supposed to visit later, so I chose a room without patients nearby."

"Uh 'Princess'? As in single princess?"

"Well, Princess Cadanza isn't supposed to come in town for the celebration, so yes."

"What about Princess Luna?"

He looks at me like I sprouted another head. "...Who?"

"Nevermind." I walked into the room, then sit on the small bed.

Celestia said Luna disappeared for a thousand years. Still strange that he doesn't know about his ruler's sister. I'll need to ask her about this.

He pulls a little device from the nightstand nearby. It looks like a Gameboy honestly, except it's linked to a small ring at the end of a cable.

"We normally use these to check on the magic pools of growing unicorn foals, but since I don't know anything about your kind, well, we'll have to start with something."

"Where does the ring go?"

"It would have gone on your horn if you had one. Let's try on your talon first."

"You mean my hand, or the fingers?"

"Are those the proper terms?" after an affirmative humming from my part, he scribbles something on a notepad. "Fingers then."

"What does the thing do exactly anyway?"

"It sends a pulse in your body and show data based on the magical echo." He presses a button, the screen lights up with a greenish tint. "Alright, keep the middle finger out and bend the others please."

Aaaand now I'm flipping him off. Thankfully he doesn't know about human 'culture'.

He floats the little ring above my finger swiftly, but he suddenly made it drop just before it came into contact. I could feel a small tingle and itch coming from my finger.

I saw his confused face staring at the ring, then he shook his head lightly.

"I may be more tired than I thought. Let's try again."

He floats the thing again, but the same thing happen. He looks at me with a raised brow. "Are you doing this?" He asks.

"Doing what exactly? I'm just waiting here." I said, taking the ring on the ground and sliding it on the finger. It's a bit too big.

He writes down some notes again then looks down at the screen. He squints and flips the little device. I noticed the screen was flickering. He opened up a panel and scanned the inside for a second before closing it back.

"I think it's dysfunctional." he said.

"Try it on yourself?" I replied, lifting the ring and holding it with two fingers.

His horn lit up as he stared at the little thing, but nothing was happening. I saw his face in deep concentration before he managed to finally lift it a little. When it was floating again, I retracted my hand to scratch another itch forming on my fingers.

The ring suddenly shot up toward the ceiling, only to be stopped short by the cable. It fell down on the ground with a soft 'poc'.

We both stared at the ring for a moment.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright doc?"

He thinks for a moment, his brow furrowed. His horn lit up again, making the ring float then fall down once, then twice, then a third final time. He takes the device with his hoof and put it back in the nightstand.

Then he looks at my hand. I see his horn lit up, and then the glow disappears not even a second after. The itchy feeling comes back when he stopped casting his spell.

"Do you feel anything different about your fingers?" He asks.

"Slight itch and tingling sensation. Not the first time it does since i'm here."

"Did it happen in your world?"

"No?"

"Let me see." he approaches, lifting my hand with a hoof and turning it around, examinating it for a few seconds. "No skin reaction, so it's not an allergy. I assume you're not a dragon in disguise, are you?"

What? "Dragons exist?"

"...I guess it's a no. Then we may need something more powerful to check on your status." he says, turning around and walking toward the door. "Follow me."

I get up hastily, following the doctor to another room. I think he was getting anxious, if his face was any indication.

"Did you get those itches when in contact with magic before being here?"

"You mean from my world?"

"Yes."

"There's no magic there."

He nearly stumbles at my words. He then looks up at me, and put a hoof against my knee. "Sorry." he says while giving me the famous doctor Look Of Pity™.

I stared at him for a good second before letting out a small chuckle.

"Way to be over-dramatic, doc. I'm fine."

"...Good. Let's proceed then." He opens the door a bit further down the hall. It doesn't take long for us to reach it and enter the room.

Inside was a BIG machine. There was a sort of stretcher that led inside a hole in the main part of the thing. It looked like a MRI machine honestly, but more... old-styled.

They are much more advanced than I thought.

"Lie down there and we'll start." He points to the stretcher and goes to sit next to another machine. He'll probably read the results from there.

I did like he asked. The machine didn't take long to power up. I felt the stretcher move, putting me inside the hollow ring.

"You will probably be itchy all over, but it's important that you do not move."

...

I spent the longest 5 minutes of my life in pure itching agony.

I frantically scratched myself in any way I could when I finally got out of that torture device. Thankfully, it calmed down after a few seconds.

When I got up, i saw the doc look at some paper that unrolled from the machine next to him.

"Impossible." he said, mortified.

"W-what is it doc?" I said, approaching cautiously.

"Nothing. The magic scan returned absolutely nothing. That's impossible, even insects return a magic pulse. Tartarus, even dirt have a magic pulse."

"Wait wait wait. What does that mean?"

"Considering your have a brief reaction when you're in contact with magic, we can consider that you can negate it. There's also the fact that only strenghtened spells have an impact around you... That would mean... Well, the only think I can think of is that you have strong magic resistance, along with the ability to completely negate any magic over a short period."

I rub my temple as I think about everything that happened since being in this world. It would explain why Luna's spell only temporarily blinded me, but not about her other spell. "There's still a problem. I couldn't communicate with your kind before I got hit by a specific spell, and since I'm still able to talk to you, it didn't get negated."

"Hmm, then maybe you only negate part of the magic, and absorb the rest?"

"So i'm just highly resistant to magic?"

"Much more than dragons at least. Now that I think about it, that can be a problem."

"...How so?"

"Think about it. Magic will eventually build up in your body and cause oversaturation."

...

I sat down, not trusting my knees to support me. I was shaking. "W-what will happen to me doc?"

"Probably what every young unicorn go through at one point." he pauses dramatically. "Magic puberty."

PUBERTY? Did I ever want to slap someone this hard before? I don't think so. But assaulting a pony would probably be really bad. I took a second to breathe deeply and resorted to only glare at him.

"Let me finish." he said. "When going through puberty, unicorns have magic surges. Having gone through it myself, I can only sympathize." he drops his voice to a whisper. "It can even happen in your sleep."

"That sounds disgusting." I said.

"It can be." he replied. That weirded me out. "There is no way to control them, except discharging magic regularly, but that's a thing you can not do. That means that your discharges will happen at random."

"What does that mean exactly? What will these discharges do?"

"You will expell between 5% and 20% of your magic pool unvoluntarily. For the average unicorn, and when not thinking about anything in particular, it'll be as dangerous as weak or moderate wind, mostly knocking down small objects."

Interesting. That's like shouting a Fus. "And if I do..?"

"Depending on what you're thinking, you will start casting spells."

I went wide-eyed. "Really?! That's awesome!" I exclaimed. I can do magic!

"Not as much as you think." he instantly replies, trying to shut down my enthusiasm. "If you don't know the intricacies of what you are thinking about, then you'll half-bake a spell."

"Is that really bad?"

"Spells are learned with a lot of safe-locks so we don't accidently hurt ourselves or others." he explained. "Let me give you an example. Imagine that you're wishing somepony away and that triggers a half-cast teleportation spell."

...

I most certainly wouldn't want that to happen. "Okay, okay I get it."

"Plus, we don't really know how big your magic pool is, so the surges will start at any moment."

I lift my head, looking at the ceiling. "So to summarize, I'm magic-resistant, a magic-sucking black hole, and a ticking magic-casting bomb."

"I... don't know what a 'black hole' or a 'bomb' are?" He said hesistantly.

"Don't worry about it." I said, getting up again.

He stares at me before shrugging. "One last thing, I would advise you to not touch a pony's horn or wings, or even hooves for the Earth ponies."

"Is there a reason?"

"Aside from the high sensitivity, a unicorn's horn, pegasus' wings and Earth pony's hooves are the main focus points of our magic. You may drain a pony's magic by touching these parts."

I recoiled. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Like I said earlier, life force and magic is separate, so the worse thing that could happen is the pony being put in a daze due to magical exhaustion after prolonged contact."

"But... 'draining' sounds like it would hurt."

"Ah. That's a fair point. We would need to test... it... out..." he finished slowly. I saw his eyes shifting left and right before he exhaled sadly. "Alright then, let's try on me."

"Are you sure doc?"

"No, but i'm your appointed doctor and we need as much information as we can gather."

"Ehhh. It doesn't seem safe. I'm not sure I want to do this."

"Put your hand on my horn already."

That. sounded. so. wrong.

I cautiously approached my hand to his horn and gripped it. I felt the tingling sensation signaling I was absorbing magic.

There was a soft sound coming from the doctor. It was both reassuring and worrying. "Doc?"

...Was he humming?

"It's... okay." he finally says with a contended sigh. I immediatly removed my hand, getting really weirded out. "W-why did you stop?" His eyes blinked out-of-sync, looking unfocused. It was getting creepy real quick.

"I don't think it was good for you." I said, putting some distance between us.

His eyes focuses on me, then he blinks normally a couple time. "It felt... strangely pleasant."

"Yeah, I guessed that when you looked kind of drunk." I squinted at him.

"I did? Uh. It's kind of hazy. It... doesn't feel dangerous at least. We may need further testing to confirm it is completely harmless."

"I'm not doing this again." I replied. "You acted weird. It felt weird. You ponies are all weird."

He fell silent for a few seconds, then nodded. "Understandable. I'll lead you back to your room then."

"After all of this, I just want to finally sleep." I said groggily, the fatigue from being up all day finally kicking in.

Doctor Bandage Wraps led me back to my room. He had to open the door with his hoof since I actually took all of his magic.

He wished me a good rest as I crashed on the small bed, making it creak. It was definitely too small, my ankles wouldn't even be on the bed if I didn't bend my legs a little.

"This is too crazy." I muttered as I drifted to sleep.

Author's Notes:

I am currently in the middle of writing chapter 3. I'll probably publish it when i'll have written half of chapter 4, meaning in a few days, around Thursday if all goes well maybe?

Also, if you read this, thank you for holding up this far.

Consider commenting on the story if you saw any mistake or for any other reason please, it'd be much appreciated.

Wandering

I woke up to the sounds of muffled voice coming from the door. I lifted my head, briefly looking around and sighing at the fact that this mess wasn't a dream.

I checked the clock hanging on the opposite wall of the bed to evaluate how long I slept. It was nearing 3 p.m.

I was home after midnight. Then the whole stuff happened and I got here. It shouldn't have lasted more than two hours. Did I really sleep for 16 hours?

I slowly got myself in a sitting position. But it was day time when we got out of the ruins...

...

I furrowed my brow. There was a detail that bugged me. Why is that clock so similar to human clocks?

Probably a coincidence. They said no one ever saw a creature like me, right? Of course they could be lying about it, but they sounded so... sincere.

...

I felt like didn't even sleep at all, but my mind was already up and running. I pressed my hand against my head and groaned. Everything was so strange.

The voices died down at my sound. They probably heard me.

"Doc?" I called out. The door opened slightly and sure enough I saw his head look inside.

"Are you awake?"

"Yeah. Mind telling me how long I slept?"

"I'd say less than 4 hours. You should rest a little more." He starts closing the door but i interupt him.

4 hours. So it should be 6 a.m at most in Earth. That means there's a 10 hours difference or so. Interesting.

"Wait. I'm already awake, I won't go back to sleep." I said, standing up and walking toward the door, then pulling it open.

"Is that so?" I see him write something on his notepad. "And how do you feel?"

"Awful." I replied. There's some more scritching from the writing. "You're still taking notes? I thought the 'diagnosis' was already done."

"We need as much information as we can get from you. You're from an unknown species after all."

"You're making me uncomfortable again doc."

"Right, right." He stops and put the small notepad back into his doctor coat. "I'll make my report to the Princess and let somepony else take care of it then."

"What do you mean 'somepony else'? Don't you mean 'someone'?"

"What? No, the correct word is 'somepony'."

"No it-- You know what? Fine." I grunted. "I'm not even supposed to understand you. I'll just go with it."

...

"Are humans always grumpy when waking up..?" he tries to ask softly but i see his notepad glowing from under his coat.

"I'm out." I said with authority, making him immediatly move out of the way.

"Eep!"

My head turns toward the sound. It happens that there's a white pony with a pink mane standing in the hallway. Perhaps she was the one talking with the doc? "Hello. Can you guide me toward the exit please?"

Well at least it was clear that she was wary of me. She flinched when I made a step toward her. I lifted up my hands. "I'm not going to hurt you. Please just tell me where the exit is."

"J-just continue down this hallway and you'll be back at the reception." She says, her ears folding back.

...

I got down on one knee to be somewhat at eye-level. "Am I that scary?"

She looks away, gulping nervously. "We know nothing about your kind and what you can actually do..." Her voice trails off as she glances at my hands. Is that really why they want to study me?

I sighed. "I'll be careful to not do anything bad." I got up and walked toward the entrance.

I saw her nervously shifting toward the doc as I went on my way.

~ ~ ~

Celestia and Luna --along with some guards-- were standing in the lobby as I got there. "Oh! Perfect timing Anon. We just finished attending the celebration. We were about to check on you." said Celestia. Luna looked down when she saw me enter the room.

"Oh uh. Hello again." Now I was the one to shift nervously. "Can you please check with the doc? He got a report ready for you. I'm just going to clear my head outside."

Celestia stared at me for a second, then nodded. "Word has gotten out that a strange creature got in town."

"Someone saw me?"

"I believe it is one of my student's friends that spoke about you. I will assign one of my guards to stay with you to ensure your safety as well as reassuring my little ponies."

"Good thinking, but I prefer being alone at the moment. I have a way to defend myself if need be."

"I hope you are not thinking about violence." She warned.

"No, no." I said motioning her to calm down with both of my hands. "Patting."

She stared in my eyes. "...Patting?"

"Patting." I confirmed.

"I need to know if it's safe. Would you care to demonstrate?"

"Wouldn't it be weird?"

She lifted her head, her intense gaze showing me I didn't have much choice in the matter.

"A-alright, but I need someone to pat."

"I volunteer." came Luna's voice. It surprised everyone in the room. "I deeply regret what I did to you. I can ever hope that you forgive me one day Anon."

Celestia whispered something to her sister, but Luna shaked her head. "I have to do this."

I looked at a guard next to me. "Are ponies always this dramatic?" I only got a grunt in response.

Luna approached and stopped right in front of me. While Celestia was at my eye-level, Luna came just about at my chest.

"Very well Anon. Show us what is this 'patting' technique."

What did I get myself into...

Everyone was staring at me. I decided to be cautious and slowly hold out my hand.

And I very lightly tapped the top of Luna's head.

...There was a pure silence for a few seconds.

"Is this it? I do not see how it can help you in defending yourself." said Luna.

I hesitated. Am I really going to touch a Princess in that way? I asked myself, but Celestia's gaze gave me the answer.

I sighed and pressed the palm of my hand against Luna's horn. I heard some gasps coming from the guards, but the loudest came from Luna. I kept contact for a couple seconds and separated my hand from her horn.

Luna was in shock. She staggered back to her sister and... was she blushing? They can blush through their coat?

She coughs lightly. "I approve of this technique."

Celestia was surprised at Luna's simple answer but regained her composture quickly. "I believe I need to test your technique as well."

"Please don't." I said with the most serious face i could muster, but she was already closing in.

Now that I think of it, the princesses are both unicorns and pegasi, but are they Earth ponies as well?

Celestia slightly lowered her head to present her horn but I shaked my head. "Your hoof, please."

She blinked at me. "Very well."

With a tap of her hoof on the ground, her golden shoe comes off. She lifts it for me to take.

I pressed the palm of my hand against the underside of her hoof with a small shake of my head. Celestia went wide-eyed but didn't gasp like Luna.

She blushed harder than her sister though.

"That's enough." I removed my hand and headed toward the entrance to leave.

"What a formidable technique." I hear her mutter.

I never walked this fast in my life.

~ ~ ~

I wandered around after leaving the hospital. The ponies had various reactions to my presence. Most were of wariness, but there also were one or two ponies waving at me, and one that straight up glared at me, pointing her hoof between her eyes and me a couple times. I think she had a pink and blue curly hair? I don't remember, they're all so colorful.

I found myself in a park, thankfully there were benches there. At least that didn't differ much from Earth.

I sat down on one, content to work the stress down by relaxing a little. I hanged my head back and closed my eyes.

...

My ears picked up on some rustling nearby. I heard some not-so-quiet whispering, and considering the voices, they were little girls.

"What do you think he is?" said one.

"Ah dunno, should we wake him up?" said another.

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" replied a third.

"We could earn our cutie mark." said the first.

"In what?" said the third.

"Species discoverer?"

"...Sounds legit."

Then i heard a voice call from afar. "Alright fillies and colts, time to head back."

The three girls aww'd in disappointment and walked away.

So much for relaxing at a park in an unknown world. I sighed and opened my eyes.

All I saw were big blue eyes that stared at me.

Caught by surprise, I instinctively tried to lift my head but my forehead hit the nose of the pony that stared at me.

The hit made a squeaky sound, the rubber duck kind of squeak.

"Ooh, I didn't know it could do that!" I hear Pinkie say as I sat sideway to look at her. She pokes her own nose a few times, making the squeaks happen again.

"You're... silly." I said, raising a brow but still having a small smile on my face.

"No, you're silly!" she said and poked my nose. It made the same squeaky noise as her.

I recoiled at the sound. Wh-- how?!

"That felt funny!" she exclaimed.

"Yeaaaaah, please don't do that again. Touching me with your hooves I mean."

She tilts her head on the side. Well, that's cute.

"I mean, it will be dangerous eventually."

She gasps. "Is it because you actually draw energy from touching ponies and it builds up without any means of escape and it'll eventually explode?!"

"You're... not that far off. First, it's not energy, it's magic. And second, it won't explode, I'll just have surges, like unicorns."

"Aww, I usually have it right. Is it because you took a bit of my magic?"

"Hey, you make it sound like I wanted to take it. Plus you're the one who touched me."

She thinks for a bit. "You're right Nonny!"

"Nonny?"

"Sounds better than Anon right?" She bounces in place.

"Uhh sure Pinkie."

"Great! It's like we're already friends!"

"If it makes you happy Pinkie." I said.

She gasps and hugs me. I froze for a second.

Well at least I couldn't absorb her magic through my shirt.

I gently grabbed her sides and lifted her. She was surprisingly light for her size. She wiggled her hooves and went 'weeeee' while giggling.

...That was adorable.

I put her down on the ground gently. "Thanks Pinkie."

"Uh? What do you mean?"

"For trying to lift my spirits. You're kind."

"Pshht, that's nothing. You should see Fluttershy!"

"...You know, I might do just that."

She beamed at me. "That reminds me, she ordered a batch of cookies earlier." She pulls a bag from her hair. "Can you give it to her pleaaaase?"

H-how did she hide it?

"Sure. Can you point me toward her cottage?" I said, grabbing the bag.

Then a rumble was heard.

It came from my stomach.

I sighed. I should've asked something to eat in the hospital.

I looked back at Pinkie, she was holding another bag. "I had a hunch you'd have the munchies."

"Is this really for me?" I asked, taking the bag.

"Mhm! It's on me, so enjoy them!"

On her? She's selling them? "You're too kind."

"Nah i'm just regular kind." She said with a little giggle. "Fluttershy's this way." She pointed at my right. "The cottage is out of town so you'll walk for a little while. Thank you for doing this."

I patted her head. "Don't worry about it."

...

I kept patting, mainly to check how she could hide the bags in her hair. It made no sense.

"Nonny?"

"Right, right. I'll get going. Thanks again for the food."

I got up and with a wave of my hand, I went on my way to deliver some baked goods to a magical talking pony.

~ ~ ~

I ate the cookies Pinkie prepared for me on the way to the cottage. I don't know what she put in them but they were the best cookies I ever ate. Damn masterpieces.

The walk was peaceful, and it helped me reflect on how much different Earth and this place was.

This pony-land was much less advanced than us in technology, but it seemed like didn't need it considering all the magic they have. They also seemed closer to nature. The result is that the grass is greener, the air is cleaner, and they seemed really at peace.

If we ignore the whole evil princess stuff of course.

I approached the cottage. It was nifty, away from the town, meaning no sounds to wake you up at night. Also perfect to stay alone if you need the space. From what I saw of Fluttershy, it's the best home she could have.

I knocked on the door.

The door barely opened. I saw a blue eye staring at me and heard a soft gasp.

"Hi again Fluttershy. Pinkie asked me if I could deliver your cookies." I said, waving the bag.

"Oh my. It didn't bother you I hope." she said softly, opening the door a little more.

"Not at all. Actually, I wanted to speak with you a little bit."

She stops the door from opening further. "W-why would you want to talk with me?" She nearly whispered.

"Please don't be scared. You just seemed like..." I thought about the less creepy way to say it. "...the easiest to approach?"

"Oh... I'm sorry, I didn't realize it would be this hard for you to talk to other ponies." She finally opens the door wide so I can go through.

"That's not exactly the problem. It's just that I can relate to you more than the other ponies I guess?" I say hesistantly, going past the door frame.

...

The whole place smelled.

What kind of unholy activities was she doing here?! I gagged a little bit and resorted to breathe with my mouth to not be impolite.

She looked at me with worry. "Are you alright?" she asked softly, staring up at me with her big blue eyes and tilting her head.

My heart! I nodded quickly while clutching my chest. "I-I'm alright... thanks." That's too much cuteness.

"I'll get you some water." she says, and with a few flaps of her wings, she fluttered toward her kitchen.

I spotted her sofa and went to sit on it, waiting for her patiently.

...

Why did I feel observed?

I looked around, and spotted a small white bunny on a table, standing on his feet.

I raised a brow.

He raised a brow.

I squinted at him.

He squinted at me.

Is he copying me?

"Can you talk?" I asked.

He emitted little squeaks as an answer. I was surprised. "Woah. Well hello to you little bunny. I can't understand you though."

Can every animal talk in this world? That'd be awesome.

The bunny fell silent. He looked back, toward the kitchen and squeaked to someone with a shake of his head. When I looked in the direction of the kitchen, I saw the head of a bear staring at me.

My blood ran cold instantly.

The bear pointed his claws between his eyes and me. I gulped.

Wait, Fluttershy was in the kitchen..!

"Fl--" I started calling out, and at the same time, I saw her come back with a little glass of water in her hooves. I heard her greet the bear while passing next to him, he's called 'Harry' apparently.

...What?

I stared at her, and let out a sigh of relief when she was next to me. I took the glass shakily and drank everything in one go.

"Oh my. Did something happen?" she said while sitting down next to me.

"Didn't know you had a bear." I responded.

"Oh no, he didn't scare you did he?" I stared at her, I'm pretty sure I could blend in in snow right now. She hid herself behind her hair. "I-I'm sorry. I should have warned you. I take care of various animals, but I promise you they're all nice." her voice trails off as it goes higher in tone. "I should've known you were already scared being in an unknown world, and I let this happen..."

Oh no. OH NO.

I rest my hand on her shoulder --is it even a shoulder?-- "It's okay Fluttershy. It was just a little scare, nothing bad happened."

She looked up at me, teary eyed. "Are you sure?" she squeaked.

I think I heard my heart crack at the sight. "Please don't cry. Everything's alright. I'm okay, really."

She sniffed, and wiped her eyes with a wing. I lifted my hand to dodge it.

Nope. No more awkwardness. I said to myself.

"Sorry..." She said.

"You don't need to apologize. It's fine." I replied.

It took her a few seconds to calm down. I remembered I still had the bag of cookies in my hand. I opened it and offered her one, setting the bag between us. She took it gently. "Thank you."

"You should thank Pinkie for them."

She stared at me before taking a bite. "Why did you say I was the most relatable to you?"

I thought for a bit.

"Let's just say i'm not the most social human there is."

She closed her eyes and nodded. "Well I am not the most courageous pony there is."

"Pfft. Taking care of a bear is quite something though." I said, shaking my head.

"Oh no, that's only thanks to my talent." She pointed at the image on her hips.

"Talent?" I sit a bit further from Fluttershy to have a good look of the three pink butterflies.

"Oh, you wouldn't know about Cutie Marks."

"Cutie"? Really?

She clears her throat. "They appear on our flanks when we find our special talent, or calling in life. Everypony usually gets it when they're foals. It's really rare that an adult still doesn't have their mark."

What?! That like a cheat code or something!

...

"Anon?"

"Yes. I'm just processing what you said." I press my hand against my forehead. "It's sounds pretty useful though, to have an indication where to go in life."

"Well... In my case, I think I would've still tried to stay close to animals, even if I didn't have my Cutie Mark."

"So, it's based on what you really want to do, instead of it pushing you to follow its path?"

"Mhm! I think so."

...Still a bit OP though. "Interesting. Can I ask you some questions about some stuff?"

She nods, taking another cookie and nomming it.

Oh my poor heart.

I faked a cough. "Okay, can you explain how does Pinkie do her tricks with her hair?"

"Hair?"

"Yeah." I pat my own head for emphasis. "Hair."

"Oh you mean 'mane'."

"Why did ponies feel the need to change simple words into something else?" I mumbled. Fluttershy gave me a kind smile. "Fiiiine. How can Pinkie hide two full bags of cookies in her mane?"

"Actually, nopony knows. Pinkie is just Pinkie, she always do strange things."

It certainly didn't sate my curiosity, so I just kept asking. "Do dragons really exist?"

"Y-yes."

"Does flying feel good?"

"Especially in a gentle breeze?" She said, not sure where I was heading.

"Are there monsters l should be worried about?"

"T-there are some unruly creatures in the forest, but they almost never come out."

Well that's worrying. "What is this land called?"

"We are in Equestria."

Huh. Interesting name. "Is Celestia really that old?"

She nods silently.

I paused for a second.

"...Why does no one wear clothes here?"

"Oh, well we already have a coat, so we don't need clothes. Aside from businessponies wearing suits at work, I don't think I've seen clothes being wore casually. I know Rarity make beautiful dresses for fashion shows and rare events, but that's all." She responds with perfect innocence. Then she looks at my clothes and my surprised face. "It isn't the same for humans?" She asked, worried.

I shaked my head slowly. "No. We need the clothes. And even if it's too hot outside we keep some clothes on to hide our body from others."

"What do you mean?" She tilts her head.

"Uhhh... Well we usually wear nothing only when we're alone or with our significant other... in private?" I replied.

"Oh my,oh my,oh my." She blushed, hiding behind her wings.

Good job. I said no more awkwardness, idiot.

I was about to say something but she spoke first. "You probably thought I was trying to seduce you. Oh no, oh no.

"What? No it's okay, I had a cat and a dog and they were always naked so I'm used to it. Not that i'm comparing you to an animal or something. I mean technically we both are animals, but you know what I meant." I said quickly, making her stop mumbling.

"Plus you're a pony, I didn't even think of you that way. I mean, you're not my taste." I pause, trying to rephrase it to not sound mean. "I mean, it's not that you're not cute or anything, it's just... It's..."

I facepalmed.

"Okay i'm going to shut my mouth before I embarrass myself even more."

...

"A-are you saying that i'm cute?"

I hid my face behind my hands and took a deep breath. "You ponies look like big colorful plushes." That prompted a tiny 'eep' from her.

...

Change subject, quick. "Alright, uhhh... Can all animals talk in Equestria?"

She was stilll hiding her face from embarrasment. "N-no. Many species can talk, but there are much more that cannot. But thanks to my talent, I can understand all of them." She said, slowly lowering her wings, but hiding her face behind her mane.

Alright, that's working. "Huh. There was a bunny that tried to talk to me earlier. I didn't understand him." I shrugged awkwardly.

"Oh! That was Angel. He's such a cutie." She said with a little flap of her wings, she gently moved her mane on the side to look at me again.

Okay, back to normal. "Meh. I think bunnies are okay. I prefer cats and dogs honestly."

"Aww." She pouted.

I'm going to die of an overdose of cuteness someday, if not today. "Yeah, sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry about your pet preferences, Anon." She looks at my shoulder, and sees the ice-cream spot still there. "Oh my, you should see Rarity about this. She'll be horrified if you continue to roam Ponyville with a stain."

"Oh this?" I pointed at it. "Nah that's nothing. I'll just wash my shirt when I get home."

"I'm afraid to do this Anon, but I'll have to insist. She will be upset for a week if you do not see her right now." She said with a stern yet so gentle and soft voice.

I felt my heart ache. How could they weaponize cuteness?! "O-okay, Fluttershy, I'm going. Just tell me where she stays."

She nods confidently. "She has a shop called the Carousel Boutique. It's a blue and pink two story building on the edge of the town. From here, it's right after the park."

'Boutique'? "Thank you again Fluttershy." I got up, heading for the door. "I'll see you later, maybe."

She flutters in the air and waves at me. "Thank you for delivering the cookies."

And with that, I went on my way toward Rarity.

Author's Notes:

This chapter was getting a bit too long, so I decided to cut it in two parts.

If you're reading this, thank you again for holding up 'till now.

The second part will probably be ready this weekend.

Going Around

It wasn't hard to find the Carousel Boutique with Fluttershy's instructions.

I knocked on the door and waited for an answer. It didn't take long before Rarity opened the door.

"Anon darling! What are you doing here?"

I pointed to the stain on my shoulder. She gasped.

"I already forgot about that. Please come inside." She moved out of the way so I could enter.

There were many mannequins inside. Wait no. They were pony shaped. Are they called ponyquins?

"Fluttershy mentionned you made clothes." I said looking around. There were dresses more or less extravagant here and there.

"Darling, I do not make clothes. I make art." She paused for dramatic effect. "Or at least I try to."

She walks toward a cabinet and levitate a mesuring tape.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Well I'm about to measure your sizes. You did come here to get a new shirt, am I right?"

"What? No, no. I just thought you had something to get rid of the stain." I said, putting my hands in a dismissive manner.

"Nonsense. You can't possibly wear that anymore."

"Watch me." I squinted at her, carefully stepping back.

"Do not be silly Anon. I'll craft a much better shirt than the... thing you have on."

"Even if I wanted a new shirt, I still can't pay you."

"Darling. I already intended to make it as a thanking gift. I only had a glimpse of human fashion but I'm already having so much new ideas!" she exclaimed. "Just let me do this as thanks."

She seemed really passionate about doing this. I sighed.

"I wouldn't say this..." I motion to my clothes. "...represent human fashion though."

She looked at me with a pout.

...

Frick.

"Fine. Just recreate the same plain shirt with your skills then. I can't go out with something as flashy as your dresses."

She beamed and let out an excited "Perfect!"

"So, what do we do?" I asked, unsure.

"Just remove your shirt, darling."

And so I did, but not without voicing my doubts about the whole thing. "Are you sure about making a whole new shirt? I can still wear this one after it's been cleaned."

"Yes, I am quite sure." She replied, lifting the cloth by focusing her magic on a tiny part. Kind of like she was holding trash honestly.

She puts some glasses on and examine the cloth. She rubs it with her hoof. "The fabric is mediocre at best." Then she looks all around it. "The sewing was done quickly, there was no effort to hide it." Finally, she flips it inside-out. "And the technique is horrid! Darling, I don't know who made this but they probably ripped you off!"

"It was relatively cheap." I shrugged, but it seemed she didn't heard me.

"I'll get to work immediatly. I can not let this outrage to fashion stand." She said with determination.

...Outrage? "Just remember, I want it to look relatively the same, please."

"Yes yes, darling. Now let's see about the measures. Stand straight, lift your arms and do not move." She ordered.

"You won't be able to use magic around me Rarity. I kind of absorb magic."

She pauses. "Well that's unheard of. What did the Princesses say?"

They liked it. "I went out before the doctor told them."

"But.. Isn't it dangerous?"

"As long as I don't get subjected to magic, it'll be fine."

"I see, well hold this part of the tape, if you please." She presses the end of it against my side with a hoof. I put my hand on it to hold it and she retracts her hoof, going all around me and noting the result.

We do the same thing three more times, at the chest, hips, and neck.

She looks at the results and nods. "Good, i'll get on it right away. It shouldn't take long, please stay here and do not touch anything." She says and goes up the stairs.

...

It wasn't long before I got up and looked at the dresses more closely.

...

I had absolutely no eye for fashion. They all looked absurdly complicated to me.

Though something shiny got my attention. It looked like there were gems incrusted into some dresses.

They must be fake. They're enormous. I told myself.

I went back to sit on a chair and just waited for Rarity to come back. Like she said, it didn't take long, 5 minutes top.

"And voilà mon cher Monsieur." She said, carefully floating a brand new shirt to me.

I was about to take it but the way she talked just shocked me. "Did you just speak French?"

Now she was the one to be shocked. "How do you know about it?" She asked.

"I live there." I replied.

"Impossible! France was a city-state in the frozen north. It was known as the city of love and romance. It was then renamed multiple times and ended up being called Prance before it disappeared in the ice more than a thousand years ago."

"Love and romance sounds like Paris, but not the frozen part. Do you know something else?"

"Well, it was also known for its fashion, and the ponies' coat had a crystal shine."

"There's no ponies like that in my world." I said. "And France is a whole country, not a city. Would it just be a coincidence..?"

"That's certainly intriguing... But I suppose it is possible."

"That's crazy..."

We both fell silent, left to our thoughts.

...

"Can you speak French?" She asked.

"Well, it's my first language."

"Would you speak French for me?"

I raised a brow. "What's the reason behind this question?"

She fidgeted with her hooves. "French is a dead language. There are almost nopony left that knows it. Even I know only a few words."

"Fair point. I guess I'll indulge you then." She looks at me with stars in her eyes. "But what should I say?"

"Oh! I have the perfect idea. Put your new shirt on, and give me your feedback in French."

I think for a second, then nod. "Good thinking."

She practically threw the shirt at me in her haste. "Don't make a lady wait, darling!"

"Fine fine. Just let me put it on."

I could already tell it felt nice just by touching it. I opened the buttons and slid my arms in the appropriate locations, then rebuttoned the thing.

"Okay, c'est beaucoup plus doux que ce à quoi je m'attendais."
Okay, it's much softer than what I thought it'd be.

I heard a high pitched noise. I think Rarity just squee'd.

"Et je crois aussi qu'il est plus léger? En tout cas le ressenti sur la peau est juste parfait."
And I think it's lighter too? In any case, it feels just perfect on me.

She kept staring at me with a big grin.

Does she even understand what I'm saying..?

...

"Je vais sortir les poubelles."
I'm going to take out the trash.

She gasps. Ah frick. She does understand.

"I just heard my name!" she exclaims.

...

I put my hand in front of my mouth and turned away. It took all of my will to not let myself just burst out laughing. I bit down my hand until the chest-spasms died out.

I slowly turned back, still having my hand in front of my mouth to hide the smile i had on.

"E-excuse me. What is your name?" I asked shakily.

"Why, it's Belle of course." she said innocently. "I didn't realize you were trying to compliment me."

...I took multiple deep breaths to try and calm myself, not trusting myself to talk without laughing.

She looked at me with worry. "Are you alright dear?"

I nodded weakly. "Are you getting embarrassed perhaps?" she said.

I hid my face behind my hands, I was getting teary-eyed. "You can use the bathroom if you need to calm down." she said, pointing at the other side of the room. "It's right next to the stairs."

I quickly got up and walked to it, shutting the door behind me. I ran some cold water and splashed my face with it.

I kept taking deep breaths, until I finally calmed down a few minutes later.

I can't ever tell her the truth. She'd kill me.

...

I splashed my face another time, then took my time to get out.

"I didn't take you as the shy gentlestallion type." Rarity said.

I bit my tongue to avoid getting back to square one. "Of course, can we change subject please?"

"Oh, yes. Forgive me, I didn't want to embarrass you." She said with a small bow of her head.

I waved my hand. "It's fine. Anyway, the shirt is perfect."

"It was my first attempt at human clothes, but I am glad you like it. I'm pretty sure I can make it even better after a few more attempts."

"It already feels perfect Rarity. But if you think you still have room for improvement..." I shrug.

"There is always room for improvement, Anon." She says and floats a box towards me. I take it, but I didn't expect how heavy it'd be. Around 10 kilos i'd say.

"What is this?" I asked.

"I made a silly request for you to speak French. Just consider it a thanking gift."

I open the box slowly. There was a bundle of big colorful crystals in it.

"Thanks Rarity, but I honestly don't know what i'd do with some crystals."

"Crystals? Don't be silly, darling. I only put gems on my dresses."

I blinked.

"Gems?"

"Yes. They make beautiful add-ons on my work."

I was holding a box filled with dozens of big gems.

I shakily took an emerald out. The thing was as long and thick as two fingers held together.

"But... aren't they mighty expensive..?" I looked back at her, my visage pale.

"Why would they be? Equestria's ground is filled with them."

I held myself by leaning on a nearby ponyquin.

"Darling, are you feeling alright? Do you feel sick?"

"N-no. It's just that gems are somewhat prized in my world, so the tiniest speck is already expensive. Now imagine how expensive gems of this size would be."

Her eyes went wide.

"Your land is a gold mine, Rarity."

"Actually, gold is pretty common too. Our money is made with pure gold."

"What?"

She produced a thick gold coin from a bag nearby. "They're called bits."

I put my hand against my forehead. They're literally bitcoins.

"In my world, one kilo of gold is worth thirty thousands bits. Assuming one bit is one unit of my money."

She gasped. "T-thirty thousands..?"

I nodded.

"And gems are more expensive than gold?"

"I think. Not quite sure though. I only know diamonds are the most expensive gems, and they cost much more than gold."

She faints on a newly placed sofa. The same that appeared in the plains the day before. (Technically it was earlier this day, but the time difference was confusing)

Okay, how does she do that? She's like Pinkie.

"Anon, this is life changing!"

"I know! I could be rich with this!" I stop myself and wince slightly. "Well, assuming you'd accept that I sell your gift. It's generally looked down upon."

"By all means, darling! If you have the chance to live a better life, then do it."

She thinks for a second. "On one condition though, be generous. Whether it's with your family, friends or to humans that need it."

"I wouldn't even know what to do with a fifth of it all. Of course I'm going to share it." I said, baffled at her demand.

She nods. "Good. Then I accept. And..." She opens the box with her magic, replacing a few gems with diamond ones. "...to make sure you'll have enough."

...

I'm normally not to keen on physical contact, but this time I got on my knees and hugged Rarity. It was just too much.

"Thank you..."

She returned the hug. "Well, it's not done yet. You still have to go home for that."

I separated myself from her and stood up again. "That's true. I should get going though. I'd like to see the others before the sun sets."

"You should go to Twilight's library then. It's along the way to the fountain. Plus you can ask her if she has a book about Prance."

"Smart. I'll go there, and then I'll check on Applejack."

"Applejack? She has a farm on the other side of the town."

"Ah, thanks for the indications. And thanks again for the gems, Rarity." I turned toward the door, but she interupted me.

"Wait a second, darling! You can't possibly be thinking to lift that thing around everywhere!"

I looked down at the box. She was right, it'd be pretty tiring to haul it around.

"Just let me keep it for now. I'll give it back to you when it'll be time for you to go." she says. I nodded and just put the box down on the nearest furniture so she can put it away.

"Oh, and I almost forgot something." She says, giving me a small pouch.

"Would you please give it to Twilight when you see her? Tell her it's for Spike."

"Sure, I don't mind." I said, taking the bag.

I was starting to feel like a postman though.

"Take care." She said, leading me to the door.

I waved my hand at her and went on my way to the library.

~ ~ ~

I had to ask a pony where the library was because I had no idea where the fountain was. Thankfully she was quite nice, she said her name was Roseluck.

I casually chatted with her. Asked what was her job --she was a florist-- and other stuff. I hoped that if I showed myself as friendly, ponies would stop looking at me like I was about to eat them.

I would rather leave with a good reputation rather than a bad one.

I carefully followed the directions Roseluck told me and soon I found myself in front of a tree. A big tree. A house tree thing that also acted as a the town's library.

...A treebrary?

It was only when I approached the door that I spotted a guard waiting there, staring straight ahead.

He looked awfully similar to the one I 'talked' with just before leaving the hospital.

"Hey dude, I need to see Twilight, can I go in?" I said.

He turned his head toward me. "The library is currently closed. The citizen known as Twilight Sparkle was summoned by the Princesses to aid them for a research leading to returning you back to your world."

They only asked for Twilight?

I scratched my chin. "Huh. I supposed Celestia already knew of a way to send me back. I hope they don't take too long, I was supposed to deliver something to Twilight."

"You have something for Twilight?" I heard from behind me. I turned and looked down. There was a small purple and green scaled creature at my feet.

...

"Well aren't you a big lizard."

"Get it right, I'm not a lizard, I'm 100% dragon." he said, with a roll of his eyes.

Him? A dragon? "You're joking."

He breathed a small green flame toward my face, there was no way it was going to hit me but the surprise made me nearly stumble backwards.

"Hey, what was that for?!"

He shrugged. "I had to give you some kind of proof, right?"

"But you're so small!"

"Dude, I'm still a baby dragon. Give me some time."

I groaned, just wanting to move on. "So you know Twilight?"

He gave me a smug grin. "I'm her number one assistant."

"Then I assume you're Spike?"

"Uh huh. Did she talk about me?"

"Twilight and Rarity only mentionned you. I didn't expect that you were a dragon."

"Yeah, I have this effect on ponies. So what did you want to give to Twilight?"

I gave him the small pouch. "Actually it's something for you. It's from Rarity."

"Why would she..." He opens the bag and looks inside, his eyes goes wide as he pulls out a gem. I heard him mumbling something about Rarity but I didn't understand what he said.

I think he liked his gift though. "Well that was really kind of her to give yo--"

crunch

I saw him bite clean through the gem and chew it. I was shook.

He looked at me as he was about to take a second bite.

...

Aaaand he slowly placed the gem back in the bag.

"Yeah, I'll just eat that later. Thanks dude." he says, heading to the door. The guard let him pass.

Even baby dragons are scary... I looked at the door of the library closing behind the guard and sighed.

Guess it's time to see the cowboy pony.

~ ~ ~

I backtracked to where I saw Roseluck earlier, hoping she was still there so she could show me where AJ's farm was.

Sadly, she wasn't here anymore, but I met a grey pegasus with a blonde mane.

Well, she's the one that met me when she crashed in my back, sending both of us to the ground.

I first thought the impact made her eyes go cross-eyed, but she assured me they were already like that.

We talked for a bit, she was kind enough to point me toward the acres, but I think her aim was off because I didn't find a road to Applejack's house. I only got to a wall of apple trees.

After a few minutes of following the fence leading back to Ponyville, I finally got on the road to the house.

Figures the walk was as long as going to Fluttershy's cottage. My feet were starting to ache, and I was getting tired quicker because of my lack of proper sleep.

I finally spotted the red barn after the long walk. I pushed myself to walk a little faster to end this quickly.

Though when I was closing in, I saw one big red pony also approaching the house from another road. He was pulling a cart full of apples.

He stared silently at me as he was passing by.

"Hello?"

He replied with a simple "Hello." in a deep voice, continuing on his way.

I followed after him. "Do you need help?"

There was a brief silence as he looked me up and down.

"...Nnnope."

Thanks for the confidence boost, big guy.

"I'm looking for Applejack. Have you seen her?"

"She's down the orchard. Follow the road where Ah came from." he answered simply and continued walking toward the barn.

"Well thanks." I said, only earning a small motion of his head in response.

He's not very talkative...

I followed the dirt road until I spotted big wooden buckets near a part of the fence.

I heard a heavy thud sound, followed with multiple things falling behind some trees. I decided to go over the fence and follow the sounds.

What I saw was pretty amazing actually. Applejack just kicked a tree with enough force that all the apples on it fell down in the wooden buckets. Every. Single. One. Fell. Down.

I need to remember to never anger her. I noted to myself.

"Hey Applejack." I said when she was about to kick another tree.

"Huh?" She turned to look at me. "Howdy Anon. What are you doin' here?"

"Just taking some time clear my head by walking around. Today was full of surprises." I said, flipping one of the empty buckets upside down to sit on it.

"Ah feel like it was for everypony." She says, kicking another tree. It'd be fricking impressive if she did that all afternoon.

"From what I understood, Celestia was the only ruler of Equestria?"

She nods. "And now Princess Luna will take back her place as co-ruler."

I raised a brow. "Aren't you afraid that she'll go back to full evil mode?"

She shaked her head. "We hit her with the Elements of Harmony. Ah believe she's not evil anymore."

"What are these 'Elements' anyway? You keep talking about them."

"Just the strongest artifacts in Equestria."

"So... Magic?"

"Magic."

"It sure is handy."

"Can't say I disagree with ya." She kicks another tree, filling another group of buckets with apples.

There was another silence after that. I just watched her do her work for a couple minutes before she eventually caught me staring.

"Want to help?" She asked while removing the sweat from her forehead with a hoof.

"Not sure I'm strong enough for that." I replied, pointing at a random tree. She just chuckled.

"Probably not, but you can still bring back the filled buckets to the road. Mac probably left us the cart so we can round them back to the barn."

I shrugged. "I got nothing better to do."

I got up and tried to lift a bucket. The darn thing was heavy, but I still managed to do it. I didn't remember where I came from, so I just followed the 'empty' trees to get back to the road, and sure enough there was a wooden cart waiting there.

I made a few round-trips before Applejack started bringing the buckets to the road too. I gave her an impressed nod when I saw she was balancing the bucket on her back.

It took us a few minutes to load the whole cart, then she attached herself at the front and pulled the whole thing forward.

"You do this everyday?"

"Yup. Big Mac and 'Ah have to take care of the farm. Granny takes care of the cookin' and bakin' and Ah sell the sweets at the market in the mornin'."

"Seems like a good schedule."

The both of us spotted three little ponies running away from the barn as we approached it. It didn't seem like they saw me though.

"Should we be concerned about that?" I asked Applejack, which just sighed.

"That's mah sister and her friends. Ah just hope they'll not get into trouble this time."

"Eh, siblings. Gotta love them, even when they're doing some shenanigans."

She nods. "Family is sacred."

She stops next to the barn and removes the bindings around her midsection. I moved behind the cart to take a bucket. "So where do we put these?"

"Don't worry about it, Mac will take care of it after dinner." She says, heading for the door. "Wanna join us?"

I blinked at her. "Are you sure it'll be alright?"

She flicks her tail. "You worry too much Anon."

...

"Alrig--" As I was about to give my response, we got interupted by a royal guard flying over us.

"Are you Anon?" The guard said.

"Yes?" I said, mildly confused as to why a guard was visibly searching for me.

"By the Princesses orders, you are assigned to stay in the town's library. Please follow me."

I tried to plead with the guard. "Can't it wait after dinner..?"

He shakes his head. "Orders are effective immediatly."

I sighed and looked at Applejack. "Sorry, have to go."

"Can't go against the Princesses orders. Ah'll try to bring you something later."

"You're too kind. I'll see you later then."

I waved at her and followed the guard back to the library.

~ ~ ~

It was a long silent walk back to the library. I attempted to chat with the guard but he completely ignored me.

When we approached the library, the guard saluted the one protecting the door. He told the other that he was taking the shift. They bumped each other's hoof and I finally got to enter.

They really looked like each other. Twins maybe?

It seemed like the library was carved directly inside the massive tree, which was pretty impressive, but also ironic in a way.

I wonder if the paper in these books were made from the wood of this tree...

"Oh hey... Uh i didn't actually ask your name earlier." I hear Spike say from a distance. It seems like he was in the kitchen.

"Call me Anon." I say, looking around. There were some stairs on the side, heading to a bed above the kitchen room.

"That's a neat place Twilight got here."

"Princess Celestia offered it to her. She loves books, so a library was the perfect place she could get."

I blinked. "That's a really amazing gift."

"I know right? Anyway, I was told you were supposed to sleep here for the night, so I prepared dinner for the both of us." He comes with two plates, with sandwiches on them.

Did... Did he really make a gem sandwich?!

"I didn't know what was you favorite flower so I just settled on dandelions. I hope you like it." He says, putting both plates on the table in the center of the room.

"Flower?" I squinted at the sandwich, lifting the top piece of bread. "I... don't eat flowers."

"Oh." He gets up and head toward the kitchen. "Wait here, i'll make you a gem sandwich too then."

"Wait wait. I also don't eat gems." I say, going in the kitchen with him.

He stops and look at me, confused. "What do you eat then?"

"A lot of stuff, just not really hard things like gems, or flowers. I can eat salads though, but I'd prefer if you had meat, or pasta?"

He gasps. "Meat?! Are you some sort of griffin or something?"

"No? And aren't dragons supposed to be carnivores?"

"What?! I'd never eat meat! Twilight always told me good dragons wouldn't eat meat!"

"Okay okay, I get it. Don't be mad at me." I said defensively. "Do you have any fruits?"

He took a second to calm himself. "Sure, check in the kitchen. I think I'll just eat my sammich and go to sleep."

"Sorry if I angered you little bud." I go around the table and pat him on the head. The touch heated up my hand, making me pull back in surprise. I saw Spike fall forward on the ground, not moving.

OHFRICKOHFRICKOHFRICK

I removed my shirt and wrapped my hands with it, then I carefully flipped him on his back.

He snored loudly. I sighed with relief, he was just sleeping.

I didn't think it'd have an effect on dragons too... That could've been dangerous.

I wrapped my shirt around him and lifted him, bringing him upstairs. I laid him in the bed and got back the shirt. He'll probably wake up soon.

After making sure he'd be okay, I went to the kitchen to take whatever fruit was there. Turns out like they had the same fruits we can find in our world. Both reassuring and disappointing.

I ate some grapes and a couple apples while watching some ponies talking with each other or heading somewhere. I don't know how they do it, but the food here is much tastier than our food.

I wondered why there were some pegasus lighting the public night lamps while the Sun was still high in the sky. I got my answer a few seconds later when the Sun suddenly dropped in mere seconds under the horizon and the Moon took its place.

I dropped my apple. I was pretty sure something as big as the Sun moving this quick would cause some sort of problem, but no pony was panicking.

Is this normal?!

I rubbed my face with both of my hands. How far will this world go to surprise me?

Fate decided to answer me by lighting up the lamps in the house with a soft orange glow. They literally lit up by themselves.

...

I picked up the apple on the ground and threw it in the trash, then I went back to the main room.

Fricking magic... But I guess now would be a good time to read up on some of Equestria's history. I thought.

I took one book at random and started reading it's title.

...

It was written in strange glyphs, but what was most surprising is that I could still understand them.

Is this a side effect from Luna's spell?

It was strange, knowing a language without learning it. It feels like I always knew this language despite only gaining knowledge of it today.

The book's name was "Flowers and Plants of the South". It wouldn't help me so I put it back on its shelf.

I spent around half an hour checking every book's name and putting aside those that could help me.

I briefly checked the time when i was finished.

8:26 pm.

I had a few hours to spare. Good.

I spent these hours just looking around the books, learning about some random events, as well as the holidays (which strangely resembled ours), and the current relations of the ponies with the others species.

Who would've thought Celestia would use the Sun itself in the negociation with the dragons so that they'd stop attacking the ponies for food?

Just knowing that Celestia could move the Sun itself was amazing. And Luna, by her name, should be able to move the Moon.

Sadly there was no mentions of her anywhere.

I wonder if only her evil side was remembered by the ponies. The only trace I read on her was about Nightmare Night.

I yawned.

...

I checked on the clock again. It was past midnight.

I slowly piled up the books on the table, then I went upstairs to go to sleep.

I nearly forgot I put the little guy in the bed, so I was a bit in trouble to find somewhere to sleep.

After looking around silently, I spotted some blankets being stored in a shelf near the bed. I took them and went back downstairs, away from the snoring dragon.

I put them all on the ground and laid there. It was a bit sturdy, but it would do for a single night.

I closed my eyes, and waited for my mind to drift to sleep.

Author's Notes:

As always, thank you for reading if you're still there.

I rushed a little bit to get the chapter out so if you spot some gramatical error, please point them out.

I have no estimate for the next chapter. It might get published next weekend. We'll see.

Night Shenaningans

I found myself running. I didn't know if I ran from something or if I simply tried to get to something.

Next thing I knew was that I approached a cliff, but I didn't stop. I knew what I was doing.

I took my trusty grappling hook in one hand and spinned it, then I threw it on a thick wood branch as I jumped from the cliff.

I let go when I was above some mercenary dude, falling on him and knocking him out.

I took his keys and got into his Octane. I personally prefered playing with the Jäger but I didn't have much choice right now. The announcer started the countdown.

San. Ni. Ichi. Iku!

"Sister, I found him!"

"Bring him back here!"

My vision turned a dark blue color and I heard a soft pop.

"Anon?"

I blinked a few times, I was in a dark void with both of the pony princesses, though Luna's mane was different. It looked more like the Portal that got me here. Also it was waving around, like Celestia's.

There was faint but hectic background noises. A sudden sound of an explosion nearby got me out of my daze.

"Wha..?" I said with all the eloquence I could gather.

"Good, he's lucid." Luna said, looking at her sister.

Celestia stared at me with a neutral expression. "Anon, would you please calm your subconscious?"

I blinked again. "I'm pretty sure it's impossible to consciously influence the subconcious. Where... are we?"

Luna answered this one. "We are in the realm of dreams."

I put my hand against my forehead. "I'm afraid to understand, but can you develop your answer?"

"We are sharing a dream." Said Celestia with all the calm in the world.

"Sharing a dream." I repeated to make sure I heard it right.

They both nod in unison.

...

"It seems like something pretty intimate to do. Why am I here?"

Celestia coughs while Luna looks away, wide-eyed. "I never thought dreamwalking could be considered that way. she mumbled to herself.

"We wanted to have a better grasp on how Humans were in general. We certainly didn't expect all of this." said Celestia with the slightest hint of worry about her sister.

What?

"Okay I have two questions. First, why didn't you actually ask me?"

Luna got herself back together and answered my question. "We are still in Canterlot, and having this conversation through scrolls would have been a hindrance. Besides, actually seeing it for ourselves is a better solution than just hearing a description."

I nodded, these were valid points. "Still, you could've asked my authorization to start something like this, or wait until tomorrow... Also it could've been dangerous, y'know, because of my thing with magic."

"You should not worry about this. Your peculiar ability is linked to your body, not your consciousness."

"That's... actually good to know. Now for my second question... what do you mean by 'we didn't expect this'?"

Celestia cleared her throat. "It all started as a simple dream, you were walking somewhere in a park at night, but there were no other humans around."

Luna continued. "We waited for you to do something, but you only walked in circles, seemingly searching for something. It was taking too long so we... decided to modify your dream a little, so your subconscious would create something else that would eventually help us learn about your kind."

I interupted her. "Are we still in the dream right now?"

She nodded, and I grinned. "I wonder if..." I started floating in the air. "Yes!" I exclaimed with a pump of my arm.

"I've had a couple lucid dreams before, but I can already tell this one's the best!"

But it seemed like my enthusiasm was unsettling them though.

Celestia coughed and continued their little tale. "My sister probed your subconscious and pulled a memory at random. It created a path to lead out of the woods and to a mansion. Around it were a number of white round creatures that hid their face when looked at."

"Don't forget about that tartarus-spawn of a piano in one of the rooms." said Luna.

I was starting to have doubts about this.

Celestia wrapped a wing around her sister. "You eventually grabbed a star lying in the mansion and we all got teleported in the air next to a castle. It... only got worse after that."

Celestia nudged Luna to continue. "We were happy to see other humans, but they were all standing on the roof of the castle. What was strange, was that you just sit in the air watching them, then you started making movements with your hands. You looked like a puppeteer as the other humans moved and attacked each other."

"It is already worrying that you would imagine such violence, but thankfully it seemed like these humans weren't getting hurt." Celestia said with a raised brow.

...

"Okay I see what happened. I just dreamed about a bunch of videogames."

Luna's ears flicked. "Videowhat?"

"Uhhh. How can I explain..." I rubbed my temple.

"I believe it is close to what we call an arcade game here." replied Celestia.

I was shocked. "You're kidding me. You guys have videogames too? I thought your technology was way behind ours."

Celestia makes an arcade machine appears. "It is fairly recent, but our games couldn't be compared to yours."

The screen lit up, and a little demo started playing. It was a 2D platform game, the main objective was to go as high as possible. The graphics were... minimalist.

"Yeahhh it looks like one of the first videogames."

"I missed so much in my abscence..." said Luna dejectedly.

Celestia nuzzled her. "Worry not, sister. We will go over everything that happened in this last thousand years."

I let them have their little moment. It's hard to imagine how I'd feel if I lost my sister for a thousand years, or even miss a millenia worth of stuff happening, but I'm sure it'd be really hard to endure.

They looked back at me soon after. "Our sincere apologies for ignoring you." said Luna.

I just waved my hand in a dismissive manner. "Hey, I have a sister too. I understand."

There was a brief silence after that.

"Should we continue with the explanation?" Celestia said, as Luna was rubbing her eyes.

It was getting a bit too emotional for my taste.

I nodded. "Please. But let's skip to the end. I remember driving a rocket car just before Luna got me here, so I suppose I kept dreaming about games?"

"Indeed, but you also dreamt of other things. You mentionned something about somepony named 'Deh-koo' and 'Yoo-go' trying to get the 'twelve talismans' for 'Jackie'."

Oh God. Anime and cartoons too?

"Luna kept pulling various lands from your subconscious. We already discarded the smallest ones as it wouldn't make sense that they were the real Human world, but there are still so many that we wouldn't be able to tell which one is the real one."

I landed in front of them. "Wait a second. How many did you pull off?"

The both winced at the question. That was not good.

"All of them..?" Came Luna's quiet response.

"How in the holy heck did you manage to do that?"

"We had to support your dream so it wouldn't collapse, so now your dream is also our dream. We aren't outsiders anymore, that is why we are in a bit of trouble."

"Trouble?" I echoed.

Luna nodded. "Yes. While it wouldn't have an effect on your mind if we were to end the dream right now, it would still have an effect on us. We would copy a part of your subconscious and take it as ours. I made that mistake once with one of our subject before. It is not pleasant to not feel like yourself."

"Ehhh. So what should we do?" I said, floating in the air again.

"You have to calm your subconscious." Celestia repeated.

"Again with this? How can we do it then?"

Luna shaked her head. "You can influence the dream directly with your will. You can find a way to make this chaos stop."

I took a few seconds to think, before an idea hit me. I snapped my fingers and made a controller appear in my other hand.

Luna's eyes went wide and she looked at Celestia suddenly. Her gaze was full of worry for some reason while Celestia had the most serious face I've seen yet.

"Is there a problem?" I asked hesitantly.

Celestia tone was a bit colder than before. "Anon, are you not wondering why are we trying to know more about Humans?"

"I don't know. It's certainly not for simple curiosity. It's probably something like establishing how much of a threat we can be?"

She shaked her head. "Let's suppose that you were powerful enough to forcefully take our place as ruler of Equestria. Would you do it?"

"What kind of question is this? Heck no."

She stares in my eyes, but I didn't flinch. "Then what if we made you our successor, and gave you the crown willingly?"

"No." Came my firm answer. "Look, I've read a bit about you before I went to sleep. You're depicted as a kind and benevolent ruler in every book I've checked. Not only I think that ruling a country is one of the greatest hassle to ever exist due to the amount of stress it produces, but also you'd still be a million times better than I would ever be."

She still stared in my eyes and finally asked, "Then what is your dream life?"

"I'm a simple man. I just want to live a peaceful life without problems."

...

We kept staring at each other for a while. Finally she sighed but I couldn't determine if it was in relief or not. She whispered something to Luna, which hesitated, then nodded.

The moment was so tense that I didn't realize I stopped blinking. Of course it wouldn't matter in a dream, but there was a slight discomfort in not doing so regularly. Probably a matter of habit.

"Anon. We have to tell you something." I heard Luna say with the tiniest amount of hesitation. I raised a brow. "Our research on Humans also included Summoning magic and..." She trailed off.

Celestia decided to continue. "You are not the first Human to be summoned in Equestria. In fact, we have ancient dark books suggesting that you are the third one."

Luna interupted her. "Before you ask why do we have these books, we got them when we defeated some Tartarus cultists."

"Okayyyyy?" I made a mental note to look about Tartarus in the library's books later. "Then what happened to these humans?"

"We have a lead, but we are not sure. There is little information about them, but it is confirmed that they could absorb magic, like you. This was the only known information on the first one."

She paused briefly, breathing deeply before going on. "As for the second... It was written that he got experimented on with many kind of magic in existence. The logs suggested that when his body absorbed too much different magic, it underwent... twisted changes, modifying the very nature of his being. The logs stopped soon after there was a 'chaotic' escape."

I stared at the hand that touched Spike. "I'll... remember to not touch anyone. Is there no other clue about them?"

"We could ask--" Luna started, but Celestia placed her wing on her sister's back, slowing shaking her head.

...

"Oh my, look at the time. It's a shame but we'll probably never know, so let's move on to our next problem." I said hastily. I wanted to fly a little bit now that I had the chance. It'd also cheer us up a little. Maybe.

They both nodded. "Are you ready, Anon?"

I waved the controller in my hand. "I'll be alright. When I was little, I played games all day. Now I barely have time for them, but I remember having a way to stop nightmares."

Luna's ears perked up. "Could you share it with us?"

"Well I was just about to show you. Can we go back to wherever my dream is?"

Luna nods and her horn lit up. The black void under us shattered to give us a view of the mixed landscape below. We were flying high in the air, probably to not get disturbed.

So we were in the air all this time? Pretty clever.

We flew over the chaos below. It was an amazing and confusing sight to see many of the characters from all the different series I watched or games I played interact with each other.

I mean, Tirion Fordring and Tyrion Lannister surrounded by various koopas? Or seeing Solid Snake rolling a Katamari ball around? There's even a Weeping Angel and SCP-173 doing a 'staring' contest.

"Welcome to Kingdom Hearts 17." I muttered. The Princesses just raised a brow at my comment.

"Alright, game over." I took the controller with both hands and concentrated on what I wanted to do.

When I felt that it'd work, I pressed the Pause button.

Everything froze up and all colors faded away. We could only see in black and white now.

I distinctly remember that the Pause only held for a few seconds before I woke up when I had those nightmares years ago. Though now a 'menu' appeared before my eyes. It gave me the options to 'Resume', go in the 'Settings', 'Reset Level' and 'Quit'.

Heck yes, it worked. Lucid dreams are the best.

I don't know what would happen if I was to quit without them, so I pressed the 'down' button twice to highlight the 'Reset' option and validated my choice.

Everything went black. There was only the two Princesses and I left in a blank landscape.

I looked at them, Celestia was baffled but Luna was utterly shocked about what I just did.

"I have never witnessed somepony with such control over their dream." Luna muttered.

I shrugged. "All thanks to my lucid state honestly. I just thought of my dream as a game so I could force a 'Reset'. It should be pretty calm now."

My brain was probably in overdrive imagining this mess of a dream. I hope I won't feel exhausted tomorrow...

They were still quite stunned by my actions. I just left them some time to recover by flying around and doing some simple aerial maneuvers.

But...

It was a bit too silent, and I didn't like it.

I tried to think about a nice and calm music to play to have some good ambiance around.

When I've finally settled on one. I felt it would be just perfect for them.

I prepared my fingers, and snapped them.

The music played all around us. The Princesses were both interupted in their thoughts, surprised at first, but they eventually didn't seem bothered by it.

"This is quite a... lovely music." said Celestia looking to a random corner, as if analyzing the music. Luna closed her eyes to listen to it, but she still had her ears perked, signaling she was probably still listening to us too.

I briefly bowed my head to the Sun princess. "Glad you like it."

"Is this how human music sounds?" She asked.

"Mhm. But there are more than just this style of music. I mean, you probably have many kind of musical instruments right?"

She nodded. "Yes. It's interesting to know that both of our world have things in common."

I shrugged. "We also have the same clocks apparently."

Luna opened her eyes. She looked at her sister with determination. "Sister. Despite what we saw in the chaotic dream, I am convinced that he isn't evil. We have no reason to not tell him about the spell."

I floated closer as to be in front of them. "You found a spell to send me back?"

Celestia was caught off guard by Luna's intervention. "Lulu, we aren't even sure of it!"

"He has the right to know the potential outcomes and you know it."

I landed, confused about their conversation. "Hey hey hey, what's happening?"

Celestia looked between Luna and me, clearly not knowing what to do.

Luna stomped the 'ground'. "Celly!"

Celestia conceded. "As you wish! But know that I would have prefered to gather more informations first."

I threw my arms in the air. "What are you two on about?!"

My subconscious decided to do its thing. The void we were in became a courtroom. It had the general shape of the Ace Attorney's courtroom, but it had a clear Equestrian design. Probably because the Princesses are still hosting the dream with me.

Celestia was placed behind the witness stand, ready to deliver her testimony. Luna was sitting across from me in the prosecutor's seat, while I was in the defendant's attorney place.

The two of them stared at me with accusing gazes. I just put my hands in front of me in a defensive manner. "Hey it's not my fault. I was busy freaking out."

They both sighed, but Celestia also took a step back. "Alright, we should stop--"

Luna stomped on the wooden counter in front of her. "You are not getting away from this, Celly."

Celestia flinched and gave in, handing her head low as she approached the stand. The word 'Testimony' appeared in front of her. They both looked at me again.

Okay this one was of my doing, but I waved at them to go on. They can't blame me for having a little bit of fun, can they?

...

I'll just add a couple more things.

"Ano--" When Celestia spoke again, a new song started playing. She just stopped and glared at me.

I rubbed the back of my head. "Okay, this one's my fault, but it's more fitting for the thing we're currently doing. Please go on."

She breathed deeply, and continued. "Anon, we studied the books that were mentionned earlier. They had clear instructions as to how the summoning spell actually functions."

"Hold it. So you actually know how to summon too?"

Luna answers in Celestia's place. "Yes. Learning a spell is essential to find a way to reverse it. But there is more to this spell than what we thought."

Huh? That didn't sound right.

"What do you mean 'we'? You're the one that summoned me. Shouldn't you already know this spell and how it works?"

She recoiled. "It... had been a thousand years since I have read the spell. I remembered how to cast it, but I did not remember all of its effects."

Celestia nodded and continued her testimony. "This spell actually has two effects. First, it brings another being to our world, based on the wish of the caster. Once a being is 'trapped' in our world, it is supposedly impossible for them to return to their world until the second effect is achieved."

Well that was alarming to say the least, but it would also explain why I couldn't pull back my hand from the portal. I nodded at her to continue.

"As for the second effect... the spell can actually bind the summoned being to the pony pronouncing their name."

"Hold on.. I mean hold it. Hold it right there. What does that even mean?"

"It means that you were pretty clever to not reveal your true name. Else, you'd be permanently linked to one of the Bearers of the Elements of Harmony, or us."

"Wait wait wait. What does being 'linked' imply?"

"The spell completes the binding using the magic of the world itself. That would mean that the link would be unbreakable. Such link would give complete control over the summoned being through vocal commands. There would be a familiar, and their master."

My eyes went wide. "Wooooow I just dodged a big bullet there! I'm glad you told me that, I'll never tell my real name now, even if that'd mean i'd have to break my Pinkie promise."

The song suddenly changed and I felt a shiver down my spine. Something appeared on my right. I turned my head slowly.

Pinkie Pie was seated on the Judge's stand. She was squinting at me disapprovingly and tapping a gavel on her hoof.

"How did she..?" I heard Luna mutter, confirming it was the REAL Pinkie. This mare was terrifying.

"O-okay, that'd mean I would have to not become friends with them so I wouldn't have to break the promise."

Pinkie appeared next to Luna, pointing an accusing hoof at me. "But Nonny, I thought we were already friends! And the girls also did nothing else other than being kind to you. Aren't we all friends?" She said with the saddest pout i've ever seen.

What she said was true but... "Pinkie. I mean, okay you all were nice, but don't you think we'd need more time to really be considered friends? We'd need to know each other a little more at least."

Her mane visibly deflated. She let out a quiet "Aww..."

Celestia clears her throat again. "You need to know that by making yourself a familiar, the pony you'd be bonded to could teleport you to them at will, but also send you back to your world whenever they'd want with a simple voice command."

I was about to react but she continued. "But! Hear me out on this Anon. The situation you are in is... complicated. Your peculiar ability to lessen the effect of spells is hazardous to work with. If you decide to not bond with a pony, the seal trapping you in our world would still be active, and there is no guarantee that we'd find a way to get around world-class limitations."

Celestia sighed. "But at the same time, becoming a familiar would strip you of your freedom. And even that fact isn't guaranteed due to your magic inhibiting nature. There is a chance of you cancelling that part of the spell, but there is also a chance you'd cancel the part that can send you back safely."

I took my head in my hands, trying to make sense of that revelation bomb. "You're telling me is there is no real way for me to go back unless I put myself into eternal servitude, and even that has a chance to not work?"

Luna winced. "Not exactly. We can still try to find a way to counter the world's magic. Possibly with an artifact."

"Do you have knowledge of an artifact of that caliber, Luna?" I snarked at her.

Both Celestia and her winced hard at that remark. "...Not yet." Luna replied.

"Glad we're on the same page." I hit my head against the counter and just stays there like that. The background music stops.

...

There's a soft tapping against my side. I turn my head to see Pinkie looking sadly at me. "You can choose to bond with one of my friends. I'm sure they'd agree to make a Pinkie Promise to respect your freedom, plus all the others would make sure the promise never get broken." She says hopefully.

"And what about you?" I said while getting back up.

Her mane inflates back. She's visibly happy that I asked about her. "Even though I'd love it that you would trust me this much, I know that my excitement makes you uneasy, so don't worry about meeeee."

"...You're really caring huh? Like a friend would."

She puts a cowboy hat on her mane and grinned. "Hey, you've got a friend in me."

I smiled despite my gloomy mood. "S'not fair to use human references against me."

She sticked out her tongue. "Still got a smile out of you."

I patted her head. "You're a silly pony."

She honked my nose, like when we were in the park earlier. "And you're a silly human. We're not baddies, Anon. We'll make sure to respect any of your wish."

I sighed. "I just need to think about who to trust with my life then."

I look back to Luna. "Alright can we stop this dream now? I want some rest before tackling tomorrow head-on."

She nodded. "I believe we discussed about everything we learned. And if you're choosing to become a familiar, then we do not need to further investigate on humans. It would have only been useful to augment our chances of sending you back to your proper world."

Her horn lits up. "My mistake has costed you greatly, Anon. I'll make sure to invest any resources at my disposal to provide for your every need in the future."

I didn't have time to react. There was a bright flash and then... nothing. I don't remember if I dreamt of anything else that night.

Author's Notes:

Alright this chapter was awfully hard to write, and it's a bit more serious than the others. Guess that's what happens when you decide to reveal something like that.

As always, thank you so much for reading if you're still there.

And now, the credits:

Full credits to Nintendo for the Rosalina's Observatory theme.
Full credits to Capcom for the Ace Attorney soundtrack.
And full credits to Sigmavirus1 for the courtroom picture.

Funfact: this picture was used in the YouTube series MLP: Turnabout Storm.
That's the thing that got me into MLP. Watch it, it's great!

Unfamiliar Bindings

I woke up to a pounding headache and a soft sizzling sound coming from the kitchen. I slowly sit up on my makeshift bed with a groan.

Did I drink too much last night..?

I slowly open my eyes, realizing I was still in Twilight's Library. I watched the clock, it was a little past 9 a.m.

The memories of last night's dream suddenly flooded back. I rested my head against my hand in a facepalm.

It wasn't just a dream, was it?

"Oh you're awake?"

I turned my head toward the sound. Spike was standing in the kitchen doorframe with a plate. He walked to the table in the middle of the room and put the plate down.

"Do you remember what happened last night?" He asked me.

I lifted my head and responded groggily with a simple "Yes."

"Can you tell me? I only remember bringing dinner here and then... nothing."

He looks between the plate he put on the table and me. "Oh no! It's going to happen again! Quick Anon, ask the guard to get a doctor! Aaaaaah!"

I saw him start running around the table completely panicked with his eyes closed. I just calmly grab my pillow and slide it on his path. He trips and fall on it softly.

"Calm down, Spike. Yesterday, I put you to sleep without meaning to. Strange things happen when I touch other people, and it just happen that I tried to pat your head."

"Oh. That's why I found my gem sammich here." He gets up and throws the pillow back at my feets. "You might want to see a doctor about that though."

"Already did. Don't worry about it." I replied, taking the pillow and putting it back where it belongs.

"If you say so dude. Also, you can take this plate, I'll go prepare another one." He says, walking toward the kitchen.

I was about to get up when I saw him hold his belly. His cheeks bulged before he lets out a fiery burp, making a scroll appear out of thin air.

I slowly raised a brow. "Is that how your postal service works? Burping letters?"

"What? No. That's a thing between Princess Celestia and me only."

...

My mind proceeded to imagine the regal princess burping like there's no tomorrow.

I felt my nerves nearly crack at that moment. Whether it'd be to laugh or to cry, I wasn't sure.

"Oh hey it's a letter for you, Anon." He came closer and put the scroll on the table. He looked at my expression with worry. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine." I said with an eye-twitch.

He just slowly backed away. "I'll eat breakfast in the kitchen if you don't mind." Aaand he ran away.

I grabbed the plate at the other side of the table. I was pleasantly surprised to find a fried egg and some fries in it. I took the fork and gobbled the egg in two bites. It was quite tasty, despite being so small.

I eventually impaled one of the small fries with the fork and popped it in my mouth. I chewed a few times before a taste of burnt grass hit me. I slightly gagged.

I got up as quick as I could and rushed to the kitchen, heading for the sink and spitting the thing out of my mouth. I looked at Spike with tears in my eyes. "What was the thing beside the egg?!"

The poor thing was sucking on a gem when I rushed in. My sudden appearance made him gasp and he swallowed it. He coughed a few times before looking at me with tears in his eyes too. It took a second before my question registered. "T-that.." He coughs a couple time. "I made some hayfries. You didn't like it?"

"Hay? You guys eat hay?" I ran the water and filled my mouth. I gargled a bit before spitting it out, but I still had that vile taste on my tongue.

He shrugged. "Well it's a pretty common food."

I took some more water and spat it again. "...Not for humans. Look do you have bread and some jam?"

"We're out of fresh bread. I was about to prepare a list of things to buy at the market later."

I can't eat the jam alone like that...

I fell on my knees. "Why, oh why did this fate befell me."

Spike deadpanned. "You might want to ease up on the drama there. Somepony might recruit you to play in a theater."

I just groaned, getting up again and grabbing an orange from the fruit basket. I gave him a quick summary of the princesses' explanation of my situation while I peeled and ate the orange.

"Okay, that's tough." He replied. "Have you thought about somepony yet?"

"No, I have not. Didn't have time for it."

"Princess Celestia would be a safe bet."

I scratched my chin. "Maybe. She does seem like a good choice. A perfect choice even." I paused for a second. "...Too perfect. It seems fishy."

"What about Twilight?"

"I don't know her much. And that would also apply to all of her friends."

He just stares at the ground, pensive. "You would have been her Number Two Assistant anyway."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks for your input. If you don't mind, I need some time alone."

I got back into the main room of the library. I eyed the table with the scroll and the plate still there.

Right. I forgot to read it. Let's see what's this about.

I sat next to the table and took the letter in my hands. I didn't realize there's was a golden seal attached to it before. Probably Celestia's. I began reading.

{{Dear Spike, this letter is for Anon. Please hand it to him as soon as possible.
{{
{{
{{Anon, by royal decree and as of today, the Crown bestow you the honorific title of Prince.

My breath stopped, but my heart was suddenly pounding in my chest. My hands firmly held the paper as I read on.

{{As you are probably panicking right now, know that this honorific title is much different than the Crown title of 'Prince'.
{{Your new title is the highest rank a noble would ever dream to attain.
{{Whereas becoming a member of the Crown would require you to either become an Alicorn, or marry one.

My breath resumed, but my heart rate was still erratic. It was insane, I was made a noble of this place!

{{You will find a list of all of your new benefits below.
{{We highlighted two benefits that might interest you in case you were to have an extended stay in our world:
{{-Receiving thirty thousand bits each first day of the year.
{{-Being the owner of an acre worth of land.
{{-Priority for an audience with the Crown at any reasonable time.
{{-Attend any formal event as a VIP.
{{-Requesting an elite of the royal guard as a bodyguard.
{{-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~.

The list went on and on with countless benefits. The one that baffled me the most was that I could actually formalize a wedding. What pony in their right mind would ask me to lead their wedding?

{{You are free to use any of these benefits at your leisure.
{{If you wish for us to add more to the list, you can send us a letter through Spike.
{{
{{Hopefully your soon to be friends, Princess Luna and Princess Celestia.
{{
{{PS: This is Princess Celestia writing. I've tried to tell my sister that this title would be too much for you but she was adamant on this decision. I strongly suggest that you have some word with her about your situation.
{{
{{PPS: Please show the following part of this letter to the Royal guard stationed at the Library.
{{
{{Squad Amethyst is relieved of its mission. Return to Canterlot immediately and make your report to Captain Shining Armor.

I was... speechless. I couldn't even react. I just blankly stared at the paper, reading it multiple times to make sure I read everything right and that it wasn't an understanding error from my part.

I let myself fall on my back as I let go of the letter. It landed right on my face. I didn't want to move anymore.

~ ~ ~

I don't know how much time passed. Ten minutes? Thirty? A whole hour? I think Spike checked on me at one point? I honestly don't remember.

That's not a thing that could be refused, is it? It's a 'gift' from the princesses. What kind of chaos would it create if I tried to refuse it?

...

An argument at the door got me out of my daze.

"What do ya mean Ah can't pass? Ah need to see Anon. Y'all already blocked mah delivery yesterday.

Applejack? Oh yeah, she was supposed to bring me some food yesterday. I forgot.

My stomach rumbled. Guess it was time to finally get up. I briefly looked at the clock. It was past 10:30.

I blinked, but my eyes were dry. It stung.

Did I really not blink for that long..? Good job, me.

I grabbed the letter on my face and crawled toward the door. I opened it with one hand and fell back on the floor, my face pressed against the hard wood. Both Applejack and the guard looked at me like they witnessed their home explode or something. My bloodshot eyes probably had something to do with their reaction.

"Hey Private Pyle. Got a letter for you." I waved the letter lazily without looking. I felt it escape my grasp, and after a couple silent seconds, I heard him gasp. A few seconds later, I just heard him flap his wings and fly away.

I lifted my head to look toward the entrance. The guard took the letter with him. "Gnehhhhh. My letterrrrrr..." I managed to mumble with outstanding charisma.

"Hard night?" Applejack asked me.

I slowly sat up across the entrance. "You have no idea. And that letter didn't help."

"What happened?"

"Remember what Nightmare tried to do with me? I have to force it on myself If I want to go back to my world any time soon."

"Oh Nelly. And the letter?"

"The princesses made me an honorary Prince of Equestria."

She blinked. "They did what now?"

"I know right? It's just that my title doesn't have anything to do with the actual 'leading the country' stuff. It's honorary like I said."

...

"Do ah have to call you Prince Anon?"

"If you do that I'll bite you." I replied, moving out of the way. "I heard you say something about a delivery?"

She trots in and places a little box on the table. "Told ya I'd try to bring you somethin'. Fresh from our latest batch earlier."

I actually made the effort to stand up for it. I closed the distance and lifted the top of the box. Inside was a rather big slice of apple pie.

I carefully lifted this little treasure. "Did I tell you that apple tarts were my favorite sweet?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Well apple pies are great too. Thank you." I took a small bite off the tip.

...Tears rolled on my cheeks when the taste hit me. It was easily the best goshdarn apple pie to ever exist. I hastily took a second bite and sighed happily. The rest of it disappeared all too quickly.

I stared at Applejack with a sad frown. "Did you make it?

She raised a brow. "Ah helped. Why?"

"I think I love you."

She deadpanned. "...Flatterin'. But you can thank Granny Smith for the pie."

"Give my compliments to the chef then. I need some time to think about everything so I don't think I'll go to your farm today."

She nods. "Will do. Take care Anon."

"You too."

I closed the door behind her. My hand automatically headed for the lock to flip it, but to no avail.

"Eh?" I looked closely at the handle. There was no lock. Why was there no lock on that door?

I opened it and looked at the other side of the handle. No lock there too.

Was this place always unlocked..? What about the other houses?

...

I headed out, walking toward the closest home. There were more and more ponies waving friendly at me. I just returned the gesture a few times before I got close to my destination.

I examined the door's handle closely. No lock. I moved to the next house, same thing. Same for the next again and again.

"What are you doing?" I heard a familiar voice ask me. I turned around and saw Twilight shooting me a confused gaze. Spike was beside her.

"Checking out the doors. Don't you ponies have locks on any of your doors? Welcome back by the way."

"Only some paranoid nobles put locks on their doors. Why do you ask?"

"Is no one scared that some random pony could enter their house?"

She tilted her head. "Why would anypony do that?"

I was baffled. "Crimes, Twilight. Have you heard of them?"

"Oh! Silly Anon, there's only been around a hundred recorded crimes in the last fifty years."

My brain had a lot of trouble to digest this information. "Wh- wa- weh..?"

I think it showed up in my speech, because Twilight worriedly pressed her hoof against my leg. "Anon?"

"I'm... alright. I'm alright." I rubbed my face with a hand.

I really need to just accept things at face value from now on. My sanity will not last long if I don't.

"I think he took the princesses' news pretty bad." I heard Spike not-so-quietly whisper to Twilight.

"Mhm. Do you want to talk about it Anon?"

"Not right now, thanks. Can we get back to the library?"

"Of course, if it makes you more comfortable."

"Thank you."

We began to head back when four pegasi in golden armor showed up between us and the library. One advanced toward me with a couple flaps of his wings. He was handing me a scroll.

"Prince Anon. Here's your letter." The guard said.

At that moment, all eyes were on us. I felt the world crash around me, even if there was absolutely no movements.

I snatched the letter from the pegasus' hoof and rushed to the library, slamming the door behind me.

"WHAT?!" came Twilight and Spike's shout from outside.

I held the door close, and soon enough there was a push and knocking on the door. "Anon, is it true?!" I heard Twilight say.

"Go away!"

"What do you mean 'go away'! That's my home!"

I groaned, and opened the door quickly. "Come in, quick." I watched left and right, the ponies were whispering between themselves.

Frick frick frick. It's going to spread and I can't do anything about it.

Twilight and Spike slips past my leg. I hastily close back the door. "Anon, did--"

I pressed the scroll against her muzzle. "Read this, we'll talk when you're done." I said, squinting my eyes and watching the ponies outside through the windows nearby.

"Prin--" She started, but I immediatly turned back to her and pressed my hands against her cheeks, stopping her midword.

"Say that word and I'm definitely going to flip."

She looked worriedly at me and nodded. I removed my hands from her face. "Anon, you seem really stressed. You need to rest and talk about it. It would really help you."

I put a quivering smile on my face. "What are you talking about Twilight? I feel perfectly fine."

"Anon. Please." I don't know why, but at that moment, she seemed really worried about me.

I just sat on the ground, with my back against the wall. "I don't know what to do. I don't want all this attention, and I just want to go home."

"Then we need to get you out of here as fast as we can. Do you have an idea about who you wanted to... 'link' with?"

"No! And even if you guys were to promise to never do anything bad with the spell, it'd still feel really uncomfortable! We're not even sure it would work!"

She wents silent for a moment, pressing her hoof against her chin. "What about Fluttershy?"

"What about her?"

"She's the bearer of the Element of Kindness, she's also... very fearful. Most importantly, she would probably feel too bad to actually try to use the link against you."

"I... don't know about the fearful part, I mean, she's taking care of a bear. But... she does seem like a very sweet mare."

"A bear?" She mumbled to herself before shaking her head. "Just talk to her. I think she'd be the perfect choice for you."

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. "Alright. Just gather the other 4 and tell them to meet up at Fluttershy's in an hour or so. The sooner it's done, the better."

"You'll link with her?"

"Now's not the time to make me doubt about it Twilight. Just, please call your friends there."

"I'm on it. Spike?" She looks at him as she's about to go.

I interupt her. "Leave Spike with me. I wish to write a letter to the princesses before going to the cottage."

She looks at Spike, who's looking between us two in confusion. "Spike, would you please prepare a scroll for Anon?"

"Uh? Oh sure." He turns around to run upstairs.

"I'll see you in an hour then." Her horn glowed white just before she disappeared in a flash.

"Did she just teleport?"

Spike was coming back now with a parchment, a quill, and some ink. "Yeah she's pretty good with magic. So, what do you want to say?" He took the paper and the quill in each hand, ready to write.

"Okay Spyro, calm down. I'll write it myself."

"If you really want to..." He said, handing both things to me. He seemed disappointed.

I readied myself to write, but I actually froze when I tried to write the first words.

It made me realize that despite knowing their language and being able to read it, I can't actually write it.

I slowly handed both items to Spike. His visage illuminated like it was Christmas. "Okay mister Number One Assistant, you can write it." He took them happily and got ready to write.

He's really isn't like any dragon in our stories...

I cleared my throat.

~ ~ ~

It took us half an hour finally settle down on one version. Spike made me stop because we went through half of Twilight's stack of scroll paper. I just went with on one of the earlier drafts.

{{Dear Princess Luna, Princess Celestia
{{
{{Thank you for the gift, but I did not plan on staying, despite how fascinating your world is.
{{As Doctor Wraps said, it is not safe for me to roam around, so the sooner I return to my world, the better.
{{
{{Princess Luna, from what I gathered, you seem really apologetic and you regret what you did.
{{Just know that I forgive you, as long as you ensure that these things don't happen again.
{{I've been nothing but stressed since yesterday but I thank you for the opportunity of visiting another world. It's something that is impossible in my world.
{{
{{I still had some more questions about certain things, but I shouldn't let my curiosity put me in danger, so on this note, I will bid you farewell.
{{
{{The Human, Anon.

When it was done, I saw Spike blow some of his fire on the scroll, sending it away.

I was impressed, but we didn't have time to lay around, else we'd be late. We began walking toward the cottage, but my knees felt weak.

Arms were heavy.

All this anticipation was killing me.

...

~ ~ ~

I was under the impression that all the ponies were whispering in my back when I was leaving. One thing is sure, I won't miss all this attention.

I walked as fast as I could with my wobbly legs, and it made Spike have a hard time keeping up with me. He had to jog so he wouldn't fall behind.

I apologized to him on the way, saying I would've held him if I could do it safely, but he told me not to worry about that.

We came into view of the cottage soon enough. It was all thanks to a certain rainbow trail that we got in the right direction.

We heard some muffled conversation as we neared the door. It seemed pretty calm. That was good.

Spike didn't make himself wait. He knocked on the door a couple times.

A few seconds later, Twilight opened the door. "Good, we were waiting for you. I gathered everypony like you asked."

I nodded to her as thanks and we crossed the doorframe.

Then the world exploded in pink and confettis.

"SURPRISE!" came Pinkie's shout right in my face. I screamed in surprise indeed and took a step back, making me trip on a banana peel and fall backward right on a beanbag chair. She pushed the thing further in the living room. All of the mares were apparently as shocked as me about this.

"Pinkie! What are you doing? How did yo--" Pinkie nonchalantly pushed a whole cupcake in Twilight's mouth to silence her.

"It's a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party! I didn't threw one for Anon yet, so I thought now was the best time to do so!"

"Uhhhhh..." I rubbed my neck. She will probably not be happy about the news I was about to drop. "Actually, I called you here because I was about to go back to my world."

And as expected, she loudly gasped, and so did the others. Something less expected though was that Pinkie then grinned widely at me.

"So you invited us to your 'Goodbye' party!" She suddenly hugged me. "I knew you'd see us as friends!" She pulls Rarity's box from her mane and puts it in my hands.

I was lost at how she just did that again but eventually grabbed her and pushed her off me gently. "That... That wasn't quite right..?"

She tilts her head, with an innocent smile. "What do you mean?"

I just stare at right her, baffled. Seeing that she doesn't get it, I just sigh. "Nevermind. I guess I do consider you all like... small friends? Not full fledged friends. We don't know each other enough for that. But I'm sure that with enough time, we would have been."

Pinkie teared up. I was worried that I said a bad thing but she grabbed all of her friends in one swoop and forced a big pile of hug on me. "That's. So. Sweet!"

What was less sweet was that I could feel a tingling sensation all over my arms, my neck and my cheeks. I heard a couple 'eeps' and even saw an Applejack blushing as much as she was confused.

"Pinkie. Pinkie just let go please. What did I say about touching?" I said as calmly as possible, but I was internally panicking. I tried to push them away but my arms were pinned against me. Pinkie had a really strong hug game. "PINKIE!"

She immediatly pulled back and placed her friends back how they were. The only thing hinting that the hug really happened what that everyone of them had a blush on their face. Spike had his jaw on the ground.

"Sorry about that, I couldn't resist a group hug!" Pinkie said. Her embarrassed smile was accompanied by a squeaky sound.

At this point I was pretty sure that this mare could manipulate reality at will and nothing would convince me otherwise. Though I needed to go back to the main reason they were all here, and I had a newfound determination burning inside me. It was giving me the energy I needed to finish this.

"It's okay. This is hopefully the last time we'll see each other, so I can forgive... you... Wait." I thought about my phrasing for a second.

"Okay, that's not the best way I could've said it. It's not like I don't like you guys, it's just that staying here is dangerous for me and--"

Rarity spoke up, she was looking strange, but I was too focused on my speech that I didn't recognize her expression. "A-Anon darling..?"

"Not right now Rarity. What I was about to say was that I actually draw magic from you when we touch, and since I have no way to burn up all that magic building inside me, it will eventually be problematic if I keep touching ponies."

"Anon you might wanna hear what Rarity has to sa--" Applejack tried to interupt me, but I just waved her attempt down with a hand and continued. I was feeling really full of energy right now, I couldn't let them break my stride.

"The thing is, I thought a world filled with magic and creatures would be kind of amazing to live in, but as a human with no power and not knowing what the heck I'm doing here, it's really terrifying. That's why I need to go away as fast as I can."

"Anon, there is something wr--" Now it was Fluttershy that tried to speak, I just used this opportunity to follow up with what I wanted to say.

"Turns out the fastest way for me to get back home is to make myself a familiar. Honestly I didn't have many choices about it, but with Twilight's suggestion, I chose to bond with Fluttershy." I got up and walked to her, setting a knee on the ground to be at eye level. I put the box on my knee and rested my arm on it.

"It looks kind of cool actually." I hear Rainbow say with her distinct raspy voice, but I didn't break eye contact with the yellow mare, which made her look pretty fearful at me.

I was starting to feel pretty hot now that I was about to state my demand. "Not funny Rainbow. I'm putting my life in Fluttershy's hand. Or hooves rather." I closed my eyes briefly and breathed deeply. "Alright Fluttershy, I'm about to tell you my name and you're going to say it audibly once, okay?"

She only gulped, but I took it as a yes though.

The warmth was getting unbearable now. I needed to get it out as soon as I could.

I got closer to her.

And whispered my real name in her ears.

Then I pulled back. "Now please, I just want to go home--"

Two things happened at that exact moment. The first was that I felt something take hold of my limbs, like it was binding them. The second was that I actually felt something escape me, making a dark flash around me.

I blinked at the sudden action happening in my face, but when I did, I realized I was in a different place.

It was really familiar, and the air felt hot.

I was... in the awful garden where I saw Luna's portal that one night.

What the...

I grabbed the gembox on my knee and stood up. I checked the sky, it was clearly midday.

I felt something vibrate in my pants' pocket. I grabbed it. That was my phone.

I froze, staring at it, then promptly facepalm'd.

I could've took so much pictures. Awesome job there. Idiot.

I checked the new notifications, there were multiple messages and missed calls from family. I will need to find an excuse to explain why I disappeared for 2 days, but that's something I'll need to think about later. For now, I just headed back to my apartment.

I wonder how I got back. I was watching Fluttershy, she didn't say anything. Could it be that one of the others heard me and took the bond instead?

I took my key and opened the door to my apartment. I put the box and phone down somewhere and went straight for a cool shower. I really needed it at this point.

All this mess was over anyway. Hopefully they got the message and they will never bring me back. It was finally time to rest and keep all of this behind me.

But why was I feeling a faint pulling sensation inside my chest then?

Author's Notes:

The story is not over! Stay tuned!

Ooooh boy what a chapter. Thank you for reading again people!

Unexpected Return

It has been a month since I got back to Earth and boy it is much less stressful than Equestria.

I mean, I don't really enjoy the unexpected, so knowing what's to come ahead is certainly reassuring for me, and that's something I couldn't have in Equestria.

Plus making me the only human back there made me an oddity and attracted a lot of attention already, and that's without the whole 'Prince' nonsense.

I even asked my boss for 3 weeks off for "personal reasons", and she accepted on the basis that our clients' activity slows during summer. Pretty lucky for me.

It left me plenty of time to come into contact with a jeweler that could certify the authenticity of Rarity's gems. After making him analyze a sample, he hastily guided me to one of his contact working in an international jewelry company. Apparently the sheer purity, cut and shine of the sample was enough to be worth around a million bucks at least. And it wasn't even the diamond one.

Fast forward to a week ago, proper verifications were done with the police to testify that these gems weren't stolen from anywhere. I secured a deal with the company for about 20% of the gems (because they literally couldn't afford more). They even were kind enough to separate the payment on multiple bank accounts, which were my parents' and sister's.

I was thoughtful enough to organize a family dinner at my place on the evening of the same day for the surprise. The look on their face after they checked their bank account on their phone was priceless.

Some days ago I managed to contact other companies and strike a deal with them.

Today was the last deal. Rarity's box was now empty and I was sitting on tens of millions.

It was exhausting really, but worth it. Though I was still disappointed in a way, that pulling sensation I felt since coming back never disappeared. It even got worse. It felt like my entire being was always on the verge of collapsing on itself. It wasn't painful really, just REALLY uncomfortable. Enough to not sleep on bad nights.

I was hoping that it was just the stress about the gems getting to me, but it seems like it wasn't that.

I sighed and stared at the box. Is the cause the familiar bond, or the magic I accumulated?

...

"On second thought I should have stayed a little longer, to be sure nothing was going to be wrong..."

I let myself lean on the rail of my window and idly stared at the garden outside. They still let it in that awful state.

"Kinda wish I could thank Rarity again, and the others, for trying to make my stay a little better. Would be cool if I could just visit real qui--"

I coughed as these last words escaped my lips. I think I closed my eyes because everything turned black for a second, but I could feel that awful sensation in my chest fading, though very slowly.

I felt myself fall forward. I quickly put one hand down and fell on one knee to avoid completely get down on the ground.

My vision returned soon enough, but what I saw would've made me spit my drink if I had any.

I stared at Ponyville from afar. I glanced around, seeing the verdant green hills and breathing the pure air around. There was no mistaking it.

I was back.

I got up from the ground, dusting my pants off. "What the h--"

I heard a soft gasp from behind. I turned and stared at the six mares I met a month ago. They stared at me back, their mouth open. Eventually they all had a smile slowly forming on their face.

I was only looking at them with confusion. "Why did you bring me back?"

Don't get me wrong, a small part of me was somewhat happy to see them, but the other was really confused. We had an agreement right?

They all rushed to me for a big group hug, one that I really didn't want to happen. Last time Pinkie forced one, I ended up draining magic from all of them.

"No hug!" I said hastily, motioning them to stop with my hands. They slowed down and just stood in front of me, disappointed. "No touching."

They all were making pouty faces, but Pinkie's and Fluttershy's were the most heartbreaking.

I clutched my chest where my heart was. Hnng. I forgot how cute they could be.

I extended my other arm and patted each of their heads, being careful for the horns on Rarity's and Twilight's. "That's the only thing I'll accept to do. Now answer my question. Why did you bring me back?"

Rainbow huffed and began to fly over us. "Well nice to see you too Anon. We were worried about you, you know?" She looks down at me with the smuggiest smile. "Well, not me 'cause I totally knew you were okay."

I raised a brow. "You brought me back because you were worried?"

Twilight shaked her head as she was circling me, looking all over. "I think you got it wrong. We were worried because a month ago, you simply disappeared after telling Fluttershy your name."

"Well yeah? One of you heard it and sent me back. I was watching Fluttershy, she didn't say anything."

Applejack spoke up. "Anon, we didn't hear what you said."

"Oh." I raised my voice, almost shouting. "I said, one of you did it."

Rarity winced at that. "We heard you fine darling. What Applejack meant is that nopony other than Fluttershy heard your name back then."

I looked at them in confusion. "But... How did I get back then?"

I felt something poke my leg at various places, I looked down and spotted Twilight repeatedly poking around and... why did she have a pair of scissors? "What are you doing?" I asked her.

She froze, then looked at me like a dog that did done a bad. I frowned and she gave me an embarrassed smile while laughing nervously. "Taking a sample of you clothes..?"

I could see the look of horror on Rarity's face in the corner of my eye.

I removed my leg from her vicinity. "Why in the holy heck would you do that?"

She coughed and stood straight, looking at me with a determined look and a smirk, the kind of face Kaiba would make if Yugi activated his trap card. I saw Pinkie grab a bucket of popcorn from her mane.

Uh oh.

I was about to say something but Rainbow came over Twilight to interupt the Unicorn before she answered my question. "Give him the shortest version Twilight. Not the short, not the shorter, not even the 'really short I assure you' version. Just the shortest."

Twilight seemed to deflate at that. "Alright. I'll make it as concise as possible."

Rainbow stared at Twilight for a moment before blinking and flying back to her other friends, mumbling something about eggheads and complicated words.

Twilight cleared her throat. "The princesses think that, thanks to your innate ability, you are now your own familiar and I wanted a sample of your clothes to run some test."

...

I blinked. "Excuse me, what the f-"

Pinkie shoved a hoof-full of popcorn in my mouth. "Isn't it AMAZING?!" she shouted in my face.

I looked at the others, worried about Pinkie's outburst. They just shrugged. I slowly munched on the popcorn --pure sugary goodness!-- while staring worriedly at Pinkie, which was visibly vibrating in place. "Calh dohw" I said with my mouth full while I pointed a finger at her.

She was slowly pulling party hats from her mane while I was munching. I squinted at her, making her slowly put them back from wherever they came from.

I looked back at Twilight after a few seconds of delicious popcorn munching. "What do you mean by 'I'm my own familiar'?"

"The theory is pretty explicit. It suggests that you binded yourself... well to yourself, and this world." She explained.

It took me a few seconds to wrap my head around the idea. "Does that mean I can order myself around?"

"Well, if this theory is true, then yes, but you would need to state the order aloud. It would be pretty strange if you'd that in public. Plus we don't know if the 'order' would be as potent as usual because of your ability."

I scrunched my face. It would explain how I got back home, then back here. I did mention something about moving back right before I got teleported.

Would that mean that I can freely move between our worlds..?

Twilight saw that I was deep in thought. "Even with your ability, I think it's a bit far-fetched. Maybe your summoning had a time-limit?"

...

Well I should test the princesses theory first then. "Well it was nice seeing you again girls. Say hi to Spike for me, I'm going back home now--"

My vision turned black once again for a small moment, and I soon found myself back at my apartment, but not without that darn uncomfortable sensation in my chest. What was up with that?

I couldn't help but laugh nervously at what just happened though. Travelling through worlds is certainly no small feet, and it seems like I can do it freely. It feels like some Kingdom Hearts bullcrap.

This is insane. Their world is turning everything about my life insane... Speaking of which, I should probably go back there and explain what happened so they don't freak out.

I paused and rubbed my chest. I should also ask about this problem too. Time to go back to Equestria.

A quick blackout later, I was watching the six mares running (and flying) around, calling out my name in distress.
Avoid them freaking out, uncheck.

"Would you all stop screaming around please?" I asked them.

They all turned on me, and this time I couldn't evade the bone-crushing hug from all of them. They were mindful enough to aim for the cloth-covered areas, but I still fell on the ground and got bombarded by various questions regarding my well-being and where I went, but I couldn't even answer because Pinkie was going all face-hugger on me.

The softness was really nice but I would eventually run out of air if she stays like that any longer, so I grabbed her and lifted into the air like last time. She giggle-snorted while I put her aside.

I won't lie, it put a smile on my face.

"Girls." I called out while they were still bombarding me with various questions, but I didn't even understand them because they were all talking at the same time.

"Girls!" I shouted, and it seemed like that calmed them down a little. "Mind giving me some space to breathe?" I gestured to all of them on my chest and pants.

Each of them mumbled an apology and moved aside so I could sit up.

"Note to myself, ponies are really affectionate and very touchy." I stated out loud.

"Did he say that aloud on purpose?" I heard Twilight ask quietly to Applejack, which just shrugged in response.

I rolled my eyes. "Now if you let me explain what happened, which is pretty crazy really, the princesses' theory is spot on."

They all gasped dramatically. It was a bit over the top honestly. "Well I think that they're right at least. I did manage to send myself home and back apparently."

Twilight's face was now filling my field of view. "Is it true?! This could be a really big discovery! We need to go back to the library right now!"

She tried using magic on me given the intense tingling I was feeling all over. Though I quickly felt myself being levitated around quite easily.

What the heck? How strong is her magic?!

She didn't waste time and ran toward her place, with me floating behind her. I didn't even have time to say bye to the others.

I scratched myself all over thanks to the tingling. I didn't let her move me around for much longer. "Twilight, remember that magic is bad for me? I would REALLY appreciate that you put me down right now."

"No time Anon, no time!" She said as we were traveling through the streets. I saw some ponies waving at us. I didn't see any being afraid of me. That was probably a good sign.

"If you don't put me down, I will just go home." I said in a threatening manner, while also trying to reach for my back awkwardly.

She halted suddenly and put me down on my haunches. "Fine! But we need to inform the princesses quickly!"

"We're not in a hurry Twilight. Sending your letter in ten minutes instead of two isn't going to be a problem." I said, walking with a slow pace to enjoy the pure air and feeling the irritating sensation in my chest being soothed.

"But... Ground-breaking discovery! We need to record it and tell the p--" She started rambling so I just squeezed her cheeks with my palms.

"You need to learn to take your time sometimes." I released her and walked ahead of her, almost with a spring in my steps.

Learning I could now do some magic, and feeling like my body is finally resting a little is making for quite a good day.

~ ~ ~

We reached the library after a few relaxing minutes. Twilight had to correct my path a few times but I didn't mind. She didn't waste any second when we entered the building. "Spike, get a letter ready this is urgent!" she yelled.

I heard steps coming quickly from the kitchen. Spike was running to us with a parchment and a quill ready. Then he looked at me.

"Anon? Is that really you?" He asked, really surprised.

"Sup Spike. How are you doing?" I replied with a little hand wave.

"Honestly? Exhausted. Twilight kept trying to find what happened to you so we spent a lot of all-nighters during last month. She wasn't the one to bring you back, is she?"

Looking closely, he did have some bags under his eyes. Poor dude. Twilight was frowning at him, guess she didn't like that he talked like she wasn't there.

I should probably distract her with a question. "Nah, I did it myself somewhat, though i'd like to know how. Any idea Twilight?"

I saw her face lit up like a Christmas tree and she somehow teleported some notes around herself. 'Some' meaning a stack of paper as high as her.

She breathed deeply. "Wel--"

Spike interupted her. "You didn't do it on your own I think. Twilight deconstructed the spell. She mentioned that familiars were easily summoned and sent back thanks to the world's magic being pulled through a magic bond, or something like that."

Twilight was glaring daggers at Spike, which just looked at her in confusion. "Did I do something bad?"

"No Spike." She put away her notes in a flash. " Not at all." She had just a hint of irritation in her voice.

"Uh. So I would really be linked to this world? Is that why I have an awful feeling growing in my chest the longer I stay home?"

Her head snapped toward me. "You what? Describe what you feel to me." She placed some glasses on her nose and got some papers to write on.

"Well, it's like I got a black hole in my chest?" I answered hesitantly.

She wrote some stuff on the paper. "And what's a black hole exactly?" She asked while tapping her quill against her temple.

"Oh right, that's a bit advanced space stuff. Imagine an object with an enormous mass being dense enough to suck everything close to it and never letting anything go, even light. That's a black hole."

She hastily noted everything I said with a big grin. "That's amazing!" she exclaimed. "Do you have some on your world? They would be pretty dangerous."

I backed away from her sudden enthusiasm. "Uhhh no. They're far away in space. Like reaaaaaally far."

She nods. "Good. And to answer your question, I think the link that you made with Equus is what's provoking that sensation in your chest. Do you feel better being here?"

"Actually, yeah. It's going away slowly, and started coming back when I jumped back home earlier."

I heard a high-pitched noise coming from her. Did she just squeal? "Then you would need to come back from time to time to get rid of it! We could hang out with the girls when you come by! That's grea-- Anon? Anon, you're looking a bit pale, are you feeling okay?"

"Do I... really need to come here regularly?" I asked, my voice full of worry.

"Oh. If you're worrying about being exposed to magic, you will be alright. We'll make sure no magic will come close to you during any of your stay." She said with confidence.

"Yeah, like you didn't float me for a short while earlier." I said dejectedly.

"Won't happen again, I was just a bit too focused on notifying the princesses. Speaking of which, we should write this letter. Spike?"

"Ready!" The little guy answered like a true soldier.

"I'll leave you two do that. I'll check on the kitchen." I said with a sigh. When feeling down, it's always nice to indulge yourself with some sweets.

She nodded to me and told Spike what to write while I headed toward the food sanctuary to search the cabinets. The food here was great, that could be one good reason to come back at least.

I skipped through some of them, they either had plates, glasses, or gems. The latter was probably so Spike wouldn't eat too much. That was good thinking from Twilight.

I finally opened the one with some goods, but all of them where hay based. Very disappointing.

Maybe Pinkie would have some sweets. She's a baker right?

I glanced out the window and saw some pink clouds. They looked like cotton candy from here.

...

I rubbed my eyes and looked again. They were still there.

Once again I asked myself a certain question about this world.

Is this normal?

Brown rain started falling from the clouds.

I'm going to guess 'no' at that.

"Hey Twilight, mind coming over?" I yelled toward the main room.

I waited only a couple second before she walked in, mumbling to herself. "Strange, Princess Celestia would've answered by now. Especially since it concerns Anon. She's probably having an important meeting--"

I grabbed her --earning myself a 'eep!' from her-- and lifted her up to the window so she could look outside. "Look at this, tell me this is normal."

"What are you--" Then her gaze focused on the clouds outside. "What is this?" She asked me.

She asked me.

I stared at her for a good minute, watching her progressively looking more and more nervous by the second. "Y-you wouldn't know. Right."

"Took you a while to figure it out." I replied, gently putting her down. "I'll let you handle it, I'm going to Pinkie's bakery-- aaaaand I just realized I had no money."

She blinked. "Oh. Well..." She opens a cabinet and takes out one of Spike's gem, then she whispered "Don't let Spike see I gave you one. And please buy some of her Bookworm cupcakes for me."

What kind of name is this? "Bookworm?" I asked with a raised brow.

"She insisted that her own cupcakes were to be named after the rest of our group of friends, but the Cakes refused. It turned out that saying "I'm going to eat a whole batch of Applejacks" sounded pretty weird."

I let out a small smiling huff at that. "I can see why, yes. I'll bring you back some of the famous Twilights then.

She blinked. "They are called Bookworms."

"Yeah Yeah, I'll make sure to say clearly that "I'd like to order some Twilights" in front of the other customers." I said with a smirk while heading for the exit.

"You wouldn't!" She yelled after me. I just ran for the door.

"You won't stop me!" I opened the door then slammed it behind me as I got on my way to Pinkie's place. I heard Twilight scream my name from inside. A laugh escaped my lips.

~ ~ ~

It took me a few minutes to reach the place called Sugarcube Corner, but not without the obligatory asking-for-directions to some pony around.

I didn't catch his name but he told me he held a shop selling quills and sofas. Dude must have one heck of a marketing talent to stay afloat. He even gave me a quill to test out, which I thought would make a great souvenir.

Anywho, the shop was closing when I approached. A yellow stallion with a really defined chin was shutting the storefront's blinds. He was pretty hesitant to talk with me at first, that was to be expected.

He told me they closed for the rest of the day because Pinkie ran off to Applejack's farm, following some sort of pink cloud. His wife is pregnant, so they couldn't hold the fort without Pinkie.

At the same time, there was a bright flash exploding from the apple farm. It was probably Twilight. I hoped so.

I was heading back to the library, only to be abducted by Twilight and her friends. Applejack sure had some great strength to be able to balance me on her back and still be able to gallop like this.

"What the heck is happening now?!" I asked pretty calmly (maybe not).

"Princess Celestia wants to see all of us right now. We're going to Canterlot." Twilight replied.

"Is it about the clouds? Does she think I have something to do with that?" I asked with worry.

"I don't know. Probably not. We'll see." She said while we approached the local train station.

The train didn't depart yet, so we could still get on. They bought their own ticket, and Twilight insisted to buy mine, but I didn't let her. I used the gem she gave me to buy my own ticket.

We all embarked, and just as we got into our wagon, we heard the whistle signaling the train was about to depart. Pretty nice timing.

I decided to sit next to a window. I would just watch the landscape during the travel. The others either sat across me or at the seats next to the opposite window.

"So, darling, tell me how it went for you since last month?" Rarity said while sitting on the seat in front me.

I rested my head on my hand while looking at her with a smile. "Didn't sleep much, but got rich thanks to you. Actually what made me come back was because I wanted to thank you."

"Speak nothing of it darling, it was my pleasure. But I do hope you kept your word about our arrangement." She said, adjusting her position to sit straight like a pony lady should.

"I did, just after I secured enough for the family. I can't believe how lucky I got with this mess. Cancelling a deadly spell aimed at me, preventing to be enslaved, befriending a bunch of aliens, and getting enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life. With luck like this, I wonder how I never won the lottery."

I paused to think for a second. "Probably because I never played uh."

Blue eyes filled my vision. "Did you just said we all were friends?!" Pinkie screamed in my face, which made me pull back my head instinctively and bumping it against the green glass seatback. Ouch.

Why do they keep violating my personal space like that?! And it wasn't even for a hug!

I pushed Pinkie aside so she could sit next to me, but she kept vibrating from excitement and stared at me with a wide grin.

"To answer your question, I don't know. We did sympathize, but being friends? I don't know. I always felt like it was something grand." I replied to her sudden question.

Pinkie just looked at me with sad eyes. "I'm so sorry for you." She said.

Eh?

She pulled a tissue from her mane and blew her nose in it. "To think that you thought it was this hard to make a friend... It's really sad."

What.jpeg

Rainbow just burst out laughing. "Anon, after sympathizing with another pony, you are already friend with them!"

I squinted at Pinkie and Rainbow. "Fine. Maybe we're friends the pony way." Pinkie let out a squee and hugged my side while I huffed and looked at the window.

"That means you have to tell us your real name now!" I heard Pinkie said with excitment. My eyes widened.

"You're still on about that?" I asked.

"Remember? You made a Pinkie Promise." Her grip on my side got much stronger but she kept a perfectly innocent smile on her face.

Truly this isn't the face of mercy.

"I'll say it only if you all Pinkie Promise me to never say it out loud and always call me Anon. I don't want to take any chance. I lucked out with myself, but there's no guarantee I can't be bound multiple times." I replied with a faint wince.

All of them instantly made the motions and pronounced the sacred words. I looked around to see if there were other ponies in the wagon, and luckily, we were alone here.

I exhaled. "Fine, my name's [redacted]. Happy? Now let's never talk about it again."

It seemed like they all went in thought. Even Pinkie. For a moment, the only noises around was the train rolling on its tracks.

"Well it ain't no pony name." Applejack said.

"Sounds kind of dumb honestly." Rainbow replied. I squinted at her. "No offense Anon."

"I think it is quite nice." came Fluttershy's reply.

The other three kept their opinion to themselves, but Pinkie nodded her approval at me.

The rest of the travel was kept in an awkward silence after that. I just kept myself distracted by watching the landscape outside.

Though I couldn't shake off the foreboding feeling that something's going to go wrong one way or another.

Author's Notes:

Yeahhh so I lost Internet for a week, went into vacation for another, and it took a little time to get back into it. Sorry about that.

Excuses aside, thanks for reading, and also big thanks to the peeps commenting and adding the story to their Favorites and giving a like to the story. Y'all are the real MVPs éuè

The Second Coming

The train was approaching its final stop, and got through multiple tunnels to get up the mountain.

Without anything to look at, I quickly became bored, and the awkward silence that befell our wagon an hour ago was quickly becoming unbearable. Of course there were some whispers from time to time, but it never lasted long.

I patted my pants in search of my phone but I couldn't find it.

Frick. I think I left it at home.

With no other option left to distract myself, I had to break that silence before I went crazy.

I turned to Rarity, trying to find something to ask. One question quickly came in mind. "So Rarity, tell me if word got out about that whole 'Prince' stuff."

She started sweating and her eyes shifted left and right. "N-no of course not darling. Why would everypony be aware of that little fact?" She said with a painfully awkward giggle.

...

"Did you mean that 'everypony' is aware of it?" I asked with a sigh.

"I-I mean with a little gossiping, it's not possible that everypony knows of your princehood." She replied.

"How would you know it was 'little gossip'? Did you talk about it?" I asked inquisitively.

"I may have mentioned it to business partners that have ties all around Equestria..?" She squeaked back at me while shrinking in her seat.

I breathed my deepest sigh yet. "You wouldn't have known I was about to come back. Don't worry about it." I said to her.

She relaxed a little, but she was obviously struck with regret. I somehow managed to kill the mood even harder. Go me.

Another question crossed my thoughts. Surely it wouldn't make this whole situation worse. "Hey Twilight, what's Tartarus?"

"Please tell me he's doing it on purpose."

"Honestly Rainbow, Ah don't know."

Twilight seemed surprised by the question. "Why would you ask about it?"

I raised a brow at her. "To know more about it? Y'know the whole deal about wanting to gain knowledge about a foreign world?"

"Right, sorry. It's just that Princess Celestia always told me to be wary when somepony asks about Tartarus." She said while rubbing the back of her head.

"I'm not a pony, and I just want to know what it is." I replied simply.

She nodded and put herself in Thesis Mode, only to remember that the train was just a couple minutes away from stopping at our destination. She slightly shaked her head at herself. "To make it simple, Tartarus is a prison made to keep very bad creatures away from us. The entrance is guarded by Cerberus and its location cannot be disclos-"

I interupted her there. "Woah woah woah Twilight. Cerberus? Is it a giant three-headed dog?"

"Yes! How did you know?" She asked with interest and perhaps a hint of suspicion.

"Long ago, there were multiple mythologies going around. The Greeks' mythology especially mentioned Cerberus, a fierce three-headed dog that guarded the gates of the Underworld. That's where peoples' souls were supposed to go when they... Uhhh... Stopped living."

While they all were uncomfortable to various degrees after that last sentence, Twilight still showed great interest in the subject. "I wish I could take notes. Do you know more about this 'grihks' mythology?"

"Not much, but I guess I can buy some books from my world for you."

She was so excited about this that she squealed and did little bounces on her little hooves. I saw Rainbow huff at us and calling us "Eggheads."

The train's whistle suddenly rung. We were about to reach our destination.

Twilight calmed down with a couple breaths to wear a determined expression. "Alright girls, get ready. Princess Celestia wants to see us as soon as possible, so it must be an important matter. We'll run to the castle as soon as the train stops."

All of the others mares nodded. They were taking it seriously. "Anon, you're new here, so just follow us."

"Oh, uhhh. I'll be behind, okay but I don't-" I replied, but the train came to a stop and the mares immediately ran outside.

I had no choice but to follow them for now.

~ ~ ~

"Wait, where's Anon?"

"Oh he's just a tiny itty bitty behind."

"What?! Rainbow, can you get him?"

"Sure, we'll even reach the castle before all of you."

"For Corn's sake, this ain't a race, Rainbow."

"Pshh. This isn't like the Running of the Leaves, AJ. Don't worry. I'll get him.

There was a sudden gust of wind in my face and a certain rainbow maned pony was now looking at me from above. "Hey Anon, you feeling alright? We're nearly there."

It's been 5 minutes since we left the train and we've been running since, but I wasn't exactly in perfect condition for a little jog, even if the ponies are small enough that I don't have to run very fast to keep up with them.

Numerous sleepless nights over the last month made me exhausted and I didn't get time to rest properly. Not mentioning the lack of excercise in my life.

I managed to reply between a couple of panting breaths. "Taking... a little... break." I say while I sat on the ground. "Sorry, unless you manage to lift and fly me over there, it's going to take some time to reach the castle."

Her face lit up with an idea, which honestly worried me because I didn't want to be in a situation that would potentially involve me falling from a certain height.

"Let me try something." She said, before latching onto my back. I made small attempts to get her off my back, to no success obviously.

"You're not really thinking about it are you?" I asked, still breathless.

"Hey I may be the most awesome pegasus in Equestria, but I don't think anypony be able to fly with you weighting them down."

"Not my fault you're all so small." I replied. "What are you planning?"

"Not our fault you're so tall. I'm going to help you run by making you lighter. I can't lift you, but I can still do that if I use my wings."

I thought about it for a second. "Sounds really wonky. Are you sure it's going to work?"

"I'll make it happen." I could practically feel the smirk on her face right there. "Just focus on lifting me up then, not making me quicker. I do not have your reflexes." I told her.

"I know." Oh god I could hear the smug™ in her voice. I prepared myself to start running again when a voice came from our left.

"Hey! Are you the creature that ran across the city?" A guard yelled angrily at me, he had strange yellow eyes with red irises.
Two others guards were behind him, their spears pointed at me. "You have left a trail of panicked noble ponies behind you. You're coming with us."

"Yeah they screamed about my look. Guess they never saw a human before." I shrugged.

One of the guards on the back seemed to remember something, and went to whisper it to the lead guard. After a few seconds he grumbled and turned back to me. "Forgive me, Prince. I didn't realize it was you. We'll look the other way this time, but even your title has its limits. Be more careful."

I watched the guards fly away toward the city, probably to take care of the panic problem.

"What was that about? Dude seemed to have a personal grudge with me." I said to Rainbow.

"Huh? I didn't notice anything strange. Anyway, less talking, more running." She said while kicking my sides with her rearhooves to get me moving.

Did she just..? Oh the irony...

I started running, and I could immediatly feel the weight difference. She was making me run without efforts like this, though I heard her grunting. She was really struggling, but she kept holding on for the last kilometer.

Without my stamina to think about, I broke into a full sprint. Both to get back to the group and so that Rainbow doesn't spend more time that needed on my back.

We actually managed to reach the group just as they were approaching the castle's entrance. Rainbow just flopped on the ground behing me when I fully stopped.
The others came closer, worried about her.

She was panting and was probably exhausted after this. She side-glanced at me from the ground and made an attempt at a smirk. "You really need to excercise more."

"And maybe I will. Apparently I need to visit regularly for my health. I guess I could spend a Saturday morning training with a certain rainbow pony." I said while helping her up. They all were surprised by my words.

And thus the girls were now doing a mix of quickly asking questions to confirm my decision, and rambling about activities we all could do.

But in all of that, I still heard Rainbow laugh at my proposal, which just silenced all the other mares. "You don't know what you're getting into, right?"

"Uhhh. Try not to break me?" I said hesitantly.

She broke into another fit of laughter, and Pinkie joined her. Soon all of them were giggling too.

Was I missing some pony culture information to understand the joke?

Pinkie spoke between giggles. "H-he talked like he was some kind of toy!" Aaaand she giggle-snorted. It was fricking adorable, and that put a smile on my face too.

Element of Laughter uh. She's good.

"Alright Anon, I accept. There's no turning back now, and you better prepare yourself. There's a reason why I take so many naps." Rainbow replied with a devilish smirk.

That actually didn't seem good. "Can I retract my-"

She flew over and put her hoof around my neck, pointing at the horizon with the other. "No turning back. I'll make you follow a routine worth of the Wonderbolts!"

"The what?" I asked innocently. Bad mistake.

She gasped loudly and looked at me with shock. Twilight intervened. "Focus everyone! We're here to see the Princess. Let's not make her wait."

"But..." Rainbow started before sighing and nodding. "Let's roll." She said before kicking the front door open.

Dramatic entrance aside, the others immediately followed after her and I was left behind, but they didn't have to get far. Celestia was waiting atop of some stairs situated in line of sight from the entrance.

"Princess Celestia! We came as fast as we could." Twilight said to her mentor.

"Thank you Twilight, thank you all. Where is Anon?" Celestia replied with a slight tilt of her head.

The entrance's door slammed shut. The mares immediately rushed back to try and get it open, to no avail.

"Curses." started Celestia. "He has started to make his move. We need to go."

"What do you mean, Princess?" asked Twilight.

"I will explain on the way." Celestia said, she walked toward a side corridor.

"We ain't leaving Anon behind right?" Applejack asked worriedly.

Twilight looked down. "Princess Celestia will surely explain what's happening. Let's go."

~ ~ At the same time, from Anon's perspective ~ ~

I was still at the entrance, looking over the city and mostly observing the castle's architecture. I was no expert in the matter, but it wasn't everyday that I had the opportunity to be near a castle, and one built on the side of a mountain no less. Plus, the pony's architecture style was unique. There wasn't anything like it back on Earth.

Or maybe there was. In Russia or something.

After this little observation I could honestly tell that, at the very least, the whole white-gold-purple combo didn't marry that well--

"Anon, what are you doing?" Twilight asked. She was standing next to me. I didn't even hear her approach.

"What, me? Pshh, I'm just looking at the walls that's all." I replied with fake confidence. The truth is, I didn't want to see Celestia. This whole meeting was probably going to be about me and I didn't like that.

"You're avoiding the Princess aren't you?" She asked with a raised brow.

Bullseye. I sighed. There was no point in denying it. "Okay, okay, you got me."

She shaked and head and... grinned? "Unbelievable. Follow me, we'll get back to the others."

There was something wrong with her grin, did she always have this unusual tooth? I pointed at it. "You seem to... have something there..?"

She was startled by my comment and she wiped her mouth quickly. The thing was now gone. She laughed awkwardly. "I guess some of my breakfast got stuck there."

"Uh huh." I replied. I didn't know what was stuck in her teeth and I certainly didn't want to know now.

I looked through the open entrance, it had a feint shining outline at the doors. Was it always there? If it was magic, I'd need to avoid touching that.

In any case, it really seemed like they left without me. I walked toward the corridor but Twilight stopped me suddenly. "Wait! They went to the right wing, to the official meeting room. It's faster if we go by the side from here."

I shrugged. "Well you know the castle better than me. Lead the way."

"Perfect." She said and turned around. We walked around the castle until we reached another entrance. That's where we got in, and after that, we walked through numerous hallways.

This place was enormous. I would hate to get myself lost without a guide here.

Also, for a castle, it didn't seem to have much staff going around. Actually, we didn't pass by anyone.

"Aren't there ponies working here?" I asked to Twilight.

"Hmm?" She said with a strangely grave voice before clearing her throat. "Oh, the Princess evacuated the castle."

"Wait what? Why?" I asked, surprised.

"Well... Uh... To have our meeting without any possible interuption of course!" She replied with hesitation as we were reaching a pair of big ebony doors.

"That doesn't make sense. She could've kept the guards at least!"

Twilight stopped in her tracks at my comment. "Alright smartypants, it's a good thing we've arrived at your destination."

The black doors flung open and a powerful wind was sucking me in. I fell on the ground and tried to grab the carpet to resist, but I couldn't get a proper grip. "Twilight?!" I yelled at her.

She simply looked at me with a small grin, her unusual tooth --it really was one?!-- was back, and she had the same eyes as the mean guard from earlier. "See you later, 'Anonymous'."

I let out a very manly scream as I slid across the ground. The doors slammed shut behind me while I was hurled against a bed and hit my head.

I blacked out.

~ ~ ~

I woke up with a big headache and no idea how much time passed. I slowly got up on my feet while wincing.

It was no time to panic, I needed to know where I was first.

So of course the first thing I've done was to go to the doors, try to open them --they were locked-- then bang repeatedly against them while yelling for help.

While it seemed like a good idea in the moment, it was pretty useless, and I only realized it after minute, but hey, it was a nice try right?

I cursed under my breath and turned around looking at the dimly lit room. I couldn't distinguish much of anything, but it seemed pretty big, and there was an obvious preference for somber colors. I made a step forward to explore more when I heard some muffled noises from the bed.

To my horror, it seemed like there was something under the covers.

I approached quietly and grabbed the nearest object available to defend myself. It was a small music box adorned with gems. It wasn't much but it would surely knock out the thing hiding in the covers if it was bad.

I prepared myself to pull the cover off, then yanked it off in one go.

I was met by the sight of a brightly colored clown pony. The costume was complete, with the makeup and rainbow afro! I was so surprised by that improbable sight that I didn't notice the binds on their hooves, and the gag on their mouth.

Naturally, she screamed in the gag when I removed the cover, and naturally, I screamed back, from fear.

I pulled the cover back on her and just stepped back until the information that she was gagged finally reached my brain.

I hesistantly went back to the bed, and gently pulled the cover off, making the clown go "MMHMHM" quite loudly at me.

"Would you stop that?" I asked, irritated from the whole situation. I pulled more of the cover and the pony's voice --she was a mare apparently-- went even louder. Her face also turned red despite the makeup covering it.

I grabbed the piece of cloth that was around her head and tried to remove it, but it wouldn't budge. At least at first.

I felt my fingers tingle and twitch when I touched it. I had to close my hand around the band to not let go. I continued to pull until it eventually came off a few seconds later, at the same time the tingling sensation stopped.

Was this darn thing enchanted? What the heck is happening?

"Anon! Do not look at me!" The mare said with obvious embarrassment.

That voice. Could it be..?

"Luna?!" I asked in disbelief.

How the heck? Why is she wearing..? WHAT?!

Her face was now glowing red. "You will speak nothing of it! And please unbind me, he might come back soo--" she started, but another voice resonated in the room.

"And what better time to come back than right now?" Someone said, followed by an obviously evil chuckle.

I glanced left and right but I couldn't see the creature. My fist clenched around the music box, which I forgot that I still held.

"I see you found the gift I prepared for you, Anon. What do you think of it?"

"Gift? What gift? Are you the one that locked us here?" I asked, still looking for the creature to do something. Right now, my vision was based on movements.

The blinds on the windows snapped open and light flooded the room. I had to shield my eyes to avoid the flash.

When I could look again, I saw a mismatched Chinese-styled dragon staring at me with an obvious evil smug. "Surprise!" he yelled.

He sported the same weird eyes and fang from... Oh. He's the one behind it all huh.

"Discord!" yelled Luna with an angry frown.

"Luna!" he yelled back with a bright grin.

"Discord?" I asked confused.

"Discord." Discord comfirmed. A pair of shaded glasses on his face and neons flashing his name behind him.

"Discount Genie." I pointed out while looking at Luna.

"Dis-" He started again just before he registered what I said. His eyes turned into tiny infernos and he nearly pressed his face against mine. "WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?! ME, A DISCOUNT?!"

"YOU WILL RELEASE US THIS INSTANT YOU VILE FIEND!" Luna yelled back with incredible force, and I mean that literally given that I got knocked back a few steps by the shockwave.

Also my ears were ringing.

I watched both of them argue while I rubbed my ears. It seemed pretty heated too, but I couldn't understand what they were saying until a most needed 'pop' happened, giving me back that sweet sense of hearing.

"--pardoned them for what they did!" Yep they were still yelling. I wondered what they were talking about.

"At least they showed remorse, unlike you!" I could see that Luna's face was red from anger even through the makeup.

"Remorse? After what you ponies did to me, conquering Equestria was the most fun I've had in my life!"

I interupted their verbal jousting. "Time out! What are you two catfighting about?"

"Anon--" Luna started, just before her mouth zipped itself close with a snap of fingers. She still hummed in disapproval though.

"Quiet now, clowns don't talk, and you made a clown out of yourself with that failed little rebellion against your sister." He said with a smirk, before turning to me. "Now tell me, Anon. Who summoned you in this world?"

Where was he going with this? "Well, it was Nightmare Moon?" I replied then paused. "I mean Luna, but like, her evil side? I'm still confused about it."

Luna looked down, it seemed like she had something heavy on her mind.

"Do not be fooled Anon, they are one and the same." Discord continued. "Did she expose you to magic?"

I looked at him with a raised brow. Why would he want to know that? "She did try to shoot at me. What does this have to do--"

He interupted me without a second thought. I saw Luna hid her face in the bedcover and become awfully silent. I looked at her with worry.

"And she made your situation worse with that whole 'Prince' fiasco, am I wrong?" He asked. I saw the color drain from her multicolored afro.

Was he trying to hurt her? "Look dude, I don't know what's your history with her, but you should stop."

"Stop? But we're just getting started on our revenge!" He stated with a bright grin.

"Revenge?! What are you on about?!"

"Come on Anon. We're the same." He said while spiralling around me. "I've been in the same situation as you, long ago. These ponies summoned me, stole me, from our world. And look at what they did. They hurt us."

"What the heck do you mean by 'our world'?" I asked while trying to avoid any part of his body from touching mine.

"I was human once, just like you." He snapped his fingers, making a floating upside-down bed appear next to me. He lied on it, or under it, depending on how you want to say it.

That's when it clicked in my head. I remembered the talk with the princesses during that hectic dream a month ago. He was that supposedly second human, the one doing the finger snaps! "What happened to you?" I asked him.

"Ahhh. That's both a sad and inspiring tale. After the summoning, they tried all kinds of magic on me, provoking surges after surges. It eventually changed me into this handsome creature." He said while wearing a tuxedo and a top hat. "I was no longer a human, but it didn't matter. In this form, I could collect the ambiant chaos, and turn it into power, and that's what I did in order to escape."

Okay, he had it real bad. I get it. But there was a detail I heard earlier that bugged me. "And so you took revenge on the ponies, by conquering Equestria?"

He flipped back to float 'normally' in front of me. "But of course! I had to teach them a lesson! It was all in good fun though. I never put them in real danger."

"I hit my head when you threw me in here. That could've been bad." I pointed out while approaching the bed. I needed to check on Luna.

"Honest mistake." He said while a halo appeared on his head.

I ignored it and sat next to Luna. She lost all of her colors and looked at a random corner with a disheartened expression. "Luna?" I tried to put my hand on her shoulder but she tried to wiggle away from it. "What did you do to her?" I asked Discord.

He laughed. "Me? No you misunderstand, Anon. We did it, together. We showed her how bad of a pony she was. And soon we'll show them who's really in charge. Me!" He exclaimed while raising his arms toward the ceiling, before looking back at me. "Oh and you in second, of course."

"But I didn't want to! She's not really bad, she just made a couple of bad decisions that had big consequences. I didn't want her to be... all depressed!" I yelled at him. Luna's gaze lazily fell on me. It was heartbreaking.

He was surprised by my reaction before a literal lightbulb appeared above his head. "Oh! So you're that kind of guy uh. I didn't know you'd want her to be physically punished." He made about a dozen feathers appear around him. "Is a tickle torment enough?" He pondered while stroking his goatee.

This dude was crazy AND dangerous. "No! I don't want her to be tormented in any way, nor I want to conquer a whole nation! You need to stop, before Celestia or the others get involved. It'll go bad for you."

He stared at me strangely. Like he didn't really expect me to say these things. He changed his outfit to wear a doctor's coat. "I think you hit your head harder than I thought. Every human has a thirst for control. It's in our nature, to adapt, overcome, and be on top."

"I just want control of the relative peace in my life, and you're stirring trouble right now. Just leave us alone, and take a vacation on a desert island or something." I said while looking back at Luna. She averted her gaze when I did so, but there was a faint twinkle in them.

He frowned at me. "Anon, think about it. I can give you the magic that you always dreamed of having. You would be able to do anything, just like me." Upon seeing my look of surprise, he smirked. "I may have been turned into a statue a thousand years ago, but I could still use some of my power to listen to conversations."

I must admit that I considered it, even for a second. But I was literally dealing with the Devil here. I couldn't take that chance. "No. Just return Luna to normal and leave."

His eyes turned ablaze again. "I cannot believe that I tried to associate with such an idiot simply because you were summoned too. I tried to give you multiple chances to join me. You will regret this."

"Twilight and her friends will defeat you with the Elements." I said, sure of myself.

But my confidence was quickly broke off by his mad laughter. "YOU FOOL. DO YOU THINK I WOULDN'T TAKE CARE OF THAT MATTER FIRST? I ALREADY DEFEATED THEM AND EQUESTRIA WILL SOON BE MINE." He coughed a few times. "Right after I take care of the other insignificant pony princess."

I got up suddenly. "What? What did you do to them?!"

"Would you like to see, Anon?" He asked with a sick mad grin. "Or maybe I should call you by your real name. I certainly need a minion to do all the grunt work."

No way. "You're bluffing!"

"I wouldn't be so sure of that If I were you. Do I need to spell it out?" He asked with faux-playfullness. I frowned and he grinned like he got me in checkmate.

"C." He said. A bead of sweat formed on my forehead.

"H." He continued.

I heard enough. "Okay! Okay. Stop. What do you want Discord?"

He shaked his head. "Tch. Disappointing in every aspect. You are no better than them." He snapped his finger. A bright flash briefly blinded me.

I blinked a few times. And when my vision returned, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

Ponyville was completely ruined.

I seemed like random hills sprouted everywhere. The ground was all multicolored checkers. There were multiple buildings floating in the air. The sky was green, and in some parts, full of the same pink clouds from earlier today.

I was at a loss for words.

"Hmm." Discord snapped his fingers and made giant card castle appear nearby. "Perfect." He said as he sat onto a throne. "Isn't Chaos wonderful, Anon?"

"You have a problem." I replied dryly.

"It's not as wonderful as FRIENDSHIP!" I heard a familiar voice say. My head snapped toward the source.

I've never been this happy to see a pony in my life. There was standing Twilight, and her friends. All wearing the Elements of Harmony that they used a month ago. Wait... Where was Pinkie?

"Anon! What are you doing here?" Pinkie asked from beside me.

"I'm an hostage. He know my name, and I guess I have to listen to him so he doesn't say it." I replied.

The jewel from her Element suddenly lit up, and she was dragged in front of Discord with all the others, except Twilight.

"Will you ever learn?" said Discord.

Twilight teleported in the middle of her floating friends and casted a protection bubble all around them. That was nifty!

Discord seemed to think it was cute, given the weird smile he had on his face.

"I'll tell you what we've learn, Discord! We've learn that friendship isn't always easy. But there's no doubt it's worth fighting for."

That was really, REALLY cheesy.

"Ngh. Gag. Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements. 'Friend' me. Just make it quick." Discord replied with disgust.

Wait what? Doesn't he know what they can do? Is he just really crazy and think he's invincible or something?!

He teleported back on the throne. "I'm missing some excellent chaos here!"

Twilight smirked. "Alright ladies! Let's show him what friendship can do."

"Wait wait wait!" Pinkie said as she was openly drinking the strange brown rain falling down. What was wrong with this pony?

Everyone just stared at her blankly, even Discord.

Then with a bounce, she joined back her group. Twilight lit her horn up and they all started floating in the air. Just like last time. The only difference is that they were now shooting some projectiles at him at the same time.

"Uh, what this?" He said after dodging one that came awfully close to his head.

Then there was the giant rainbow beam of harmony shooting high in the air. Alright, it was going to be over soon--

"No!" Discord yelled as he grabbed me and put me in front of him as a shield while the beam was heading down.

"WAIT WAIT NO PUT ME DOWN YOU CHEATER!" I screamed right before the beam washed over us.

'Intense tingling' wouldn't even start describing what I felt at that moment. I simply was paralyzed by the sensory overload.

It only lasted for a few seconds, but it really felt like I spent a lifetime in there.

When it stopped, I was just a twitching ragdoll, brightly radiating rainbow power from my skin like a Rad ghoul from Fallout.

Discord dropped me on the ground and laughed like he never laughed before when he realized that the mares failed.

"You idiots! You can do nothing to me! Equestria. Will. Be. Mine." He accentuated each word while he levitated each Elements out of the mares' grasp. They were all too scared to do anything.

I needed to do something. I didn't know what, but I needed to. The temperature was rising, I was feeling like I was in a oven.

I not-so-steadily got on my feet while Discord mocked the group some more, but honestly my vision was blurred and I could only hear muffled sound at this point.

"Hey, you big failed puzzle." I said to the general direction where Discord was standing. I think he turned his face toward me. "You said you were turned into a statue once, right?" I clenched my fist. "Then why don't you have a go at it again?!" I staggered toward him and swung my fist toward his face.

I completely whiffed it and tripped.

But something amazing happened as my fist touched the ground. All the rainbow energy that I stored in my body just exploded outward.

A giant multicolored circle expanded from the impact and was turning everything in Ponyville to normal.

I heard a faint scream as I saw Discord turn into stone from his feet to his head. "CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIS!"

But nothing happened.

I simply grinned. Good idea, bad execution, but still got the intended result.

"Wesker ripoff." I mumbled while I rolled on my back. "Heh... That was awful." I whispered just before losing consciousness.

Author's Notes:

Did you guys hear something?

Thanks for reading everyone!

Aftermath

Have you ever felt at peace? You know, the kind of peace that would make you feel like you just won at the game of Life.

That you actually did everything you'd want to do, and know that if whatever happened to you right there, you wouldn't mind it, because you know that you wouldn't regret anything?

The kind of peace that would actually free you of any nagging thoughts and all negative emotions?

...

For a moment, my half-conscious mind was so deep in Peace and Tranquility that I didn't realize that I was floating around.

I opened my eyes to check my surroundings, only to be met by nothingness. Another black void.

It was good to know my mind was consistent when imagining a blank place to put me in.

Wait... Why am I here? I asked myself, returning fully to my senses.

I recalled everything that happened from the moment we set foot in Canterlot, up to the last moments of the fight between the mares and Discord, and me embarrassing myself at the end.

I would have groaned at this moment, but something else got my attention.

Six tiny different colored nodes of light appeared around me, and started moving around. The small blue and yellow one were orbiting with each other just above the rest, while an orange and white one were surrounding a purple one. The last one, a pink colored node, was seemingly bouncing around them all.

Funny, they kind of feel like...

Then others started to show up. First, a tiny speck of green appeared next to the purple one. Then another green appeared much more far-off from the others. There also was a small colorless ball that vibrated wildly around me.

And finally, two others joined. One was much bigger than the rest (as big as my fist), it was white and stayed above them all. The second one was an enormous midnight blue, easily as big as a beach ball, and it stayed near the big white one.

What is this all about..?

I heard a soft windy noise behind me. I turned around to see if there was another node that appeared there and I was not disappointed.

A giant rainbow ball of light, the size of a freaking bus, was shining upon me.

I slowly put on some sunglasses to admire it.

Huh. Cool show and all but what the heck are those things?

The giant ball pulsed a few times and released waves of energy with each of them. I could feel the waves stick on me like some sort of second skin that I couldn't remove. Not that I would try to anyway. It felt like something I never knew I needed.

The warmth of a deep bonded friendship.

The satisfaction of mutual understanding.

The embrace of a lov--

Okay now this was getting a bit too much.

I watched the ball shrink after each waves, until it became as big as an average car.

Then I felt water run past my feet, making me look down.

I wasn't floating anymore. I was standing on a plane of water. When I looked up to check back on the ball, it disappeared. Instead there was a tiny island with a lonely cristal tree on it and... Wait a second.

Oh come on, I'm not going to fight a dark version of myself, am I? I thought to myself.

I forgot that one should never tempt fate like that.

I saw something rise from the water. A fairly inconvenient soon-to-be problem that looked relatively like me. It walked towards me.

"OH COME ON!" I shouted to what or whoever would listen. "Alright dude. Let's do some real fighting." I had my hand at the ready. "Let's play some Rock, Papers, Scissors."

The entity stopped walking, and stared at me with its bright red eyes.

I stared back, and boy was it both disconcerting and nerve-wracking.

We stayed like that for a while. It was not moving at all, not showing any emotions, while I was at the end of my rope, barely restraining myself to not blink.

This was possibly the fiercest staring contest in history, and I was obviously winning.

I'm sure that with enough time, my eyes would have been perfect replica of the thing in front of me, but I wouldn't be able to confirm it, what with it relaxing its stance and shrugging.

"Wait what." came the only logical reply I could muster.

It placed its hand behind its back, ready to play.

Oh. My God. Even evil-me is lazy enough to not have a real smackdown.

I facepalmed and counted to three, putting out my hand and choosing Paper.

I watched the entity between my fingers. It chose Rock.

Paper beats Rock.

The entity shaked its head and disappeared in a dark puff of smoke.

All of this was an underwhelming mess.

I groaned and went to sit against the crystal tree, on dry land. It was a strange one, it felt almost mystical, and had familiar marking on its trunk and branches.

"Uh, they almost look like..."

And then it disappeared, letting me fall softly on my back. I sighed. "Really?"

"ANON!" came a shout from nearby. I lifted my head to look at the Moon Princess flying toward me.

"Luna?" I managed to say before she landed down hard enough to make a small crater.

"I COULDN'T ACCESS YOUR DREAM. ARE YOU OKAY?" She shouted for no apparent reason while glancing left and right, watching for something.

"Okay okay, calm down. I'm the one who should be asking that to you. Are you okay?" I said as I sat up.

"WE--" she said before clearing her throat. "I mean, I am fine. My sister found me in that... embarrassing state. And while I have no doubt that it gave her new prank ideas, she was still able to get me out of that awful mindset I found myself in." She said while averting her gaze.

...

I got up and walked to her. "But it is still heavy on your mind, am I wrong?"

She sat down, still looking away. "What should I do? I hurt my sister, my subjects, and even you, a being from another world. How can I forgive myself?"

Okay, this was heavy. But holy heck the drama was killing me.

I grabbed Luna by the chin and forced her to look at me. "Listen here you cute pony. I'm not a psychologist. I don't have an overcomplicated solution to give you, but hear me on this one."

I stared in her eyes as I was about to deliver my thoughts on her case. "Look, I may not be anything special, but I can still see signs and deduct something from them. You, are a big ball of regret and self-doubting mess."

She tried to avert her gaze, but I still held her chin. "Hey there, keep looking at me, and listen. I do not have a miracle solution, but it seems like your world runs on friendship and niceness, so let's try something. You will go out there, and make some friends." I said as I thought of what Celestia said to Twilight the night I was summoned.

"Heck, I might even be one of them, but only if you start looking past your mistakes and try to rebuild your life after learning from them." I paused for a second. "And that you ask for my opinion before taking an important decision involving me."

She blushed lightly during my little speech. That's when I realized that I held her head with my hand, and that I was unusually close to her. I quickly stepped back.

"My friend..?" She mumbled to herself, shocked. Then she blinked. "...Did you call me a 'cute pony'?"

GOSHDARNIT IT'S A REPEAT OF FLUTTERSHY'S. ABORT MISSION. ABORT.

"What?Ithinkyoumustbemistaken." I hastily replied as I wished with all my heart for a 'power' button to apper nearby so I could escape.

"But you clearly said.." She started, and thankfully my prayer was answered when a big red button poof'd between us.

I punched it with strength that could only be compared to All Might's full power.

~ ~ A couple minutes earlier ~ ~

"Princess Celestia?"

"Yes, Twilight?"

"Umm... I have wondered since the celebration two days ago..." She took her time to ask her question, not being sure if she should ask at all. "Why wasn't there Anon on the stained-glass window?"

Celestia carefully grabbed her teacup with her hoof, her horn being monopolised to create a golden bubble around Anon's hospital bed.

She took a small sip as she pondered her faithful student's question. "The reason is quite simple. He would not have liked it." She replied solemnly with her eyes closed.

Twilight remembered when Anon got his honorific title. His nerves were cracking back then. She nodded silently at her mentor and watched Anon twitch in his bed.

He had exactly seventeen surges since he was blasted with the Elements, and his rainbow hue disappeared more and more after each of them, and now there was only a small patch left in the center of his chest.

But Twilight still felt guilty. What is he became another Discord because she couldn't aim properly?

As if the Princess sensed Twilight's fear, she spoke again. "You should not worry Twilight. Discord became the spirit of Chaos because he was exposed to too many different sources. Anon here mainly absorbed pony, and Harmonic magic. if anything, I would be quite curious to know what changes would befell Anon after being near-exclusively subjected to one of the strongest positive magic of our world."

Twilight stared at the Princess with her mouth open. Mainly because she didn't think the Princess would know exactly what was bothering her, and that she'd actually turn it around so that it would tickle her scientific bone.

Princess Celestia opened her eyes as she felt a change in the bubble. Anon was about to have another surge.

She readied her horn and braced herself. She had to prepare for any unpleasant surprise that could come from a sleeping human. She still didn't get over some of the things that she saw in that dreaded dream a month ago. She was thankful that every surge up until now were peaceful.

This time, it wasn't.

~ ~ Back to the Present ~ ~

I woke up suddenly, sitting upright in a panic --I always thought it was a movie thing honestly-- and swinging my arm to punch, like a residue movement of the dream.

To my great surprise, my punch released a focused purple shockwave against the golden orb that was around me.

Even more surprising was the fact that my punch cracked a big part of that orb and went through, only to destroy a small part of the wall in the opposite side of the room and giving us a glimpse of the little park behind the hospital.

Someone peeked from the other side. I think it was the same nurse from last time.

She fainted.

The golden orb disappeared, and without that yellow wall tinting my vision, I finally spotted Twilight and Celestia staring at me with wide eyes. Turns out that I actually punched right between them.

I glanced between my fist and the two ponies, being as shocked as them. "Uhhh... Sorry?" I said weakly.

Celestia's horn was fuming, but she calmly got herself back together and put down the cup she was still holding with her hoof. She glanced at my chest, then back in my eyes. I looked down to check on me, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, apart from me being in an hospital gown made by Rarity.

"I see that you are feeling okay." said Celestia.

"Slept like a log. But why am I in the hospital?" I asked Celestia, because it seemed like Twilight.exe has stopped working.

"For both your own, and my subjects' safety. Do you remember what happened?" She asked, while rising to her hooves and going over to Twilight to give a light bap on her horn, seemingly rebooting her.

I internally groaned. "Yes. I do."

Twilight blinked and ran to the foot of the bed. "Anon! Are you okay? Do you feel strange? Can you confirm that everything in your body feels normal? Is there--"

Suddenly, a guard bursted in the room, visibly panicked. "Princess! It seems like the hospital is under atta..." He slowly stopped talking after seeing the hole in the wall and the Princess' almost tired gaze.

"Everything is under control Swift Shield. You can return to your position." Celestia said with calm and serenity. The guard immediatly saluted and left.

This little interuption gave me some time to check every bit of my body. To no surprise, everything was good. Well, except for a faint, strange lingering warmth in my chest.

I looked back at Twilight, finding her practically crawling toward me from the edge of the bed, with a notepad and a quill floating nearby, all while she stared at me with wide eyes. She kind of looked like a cat that had its target locked in.

I lifted the cover and threw it over her. "Hey!" she yelled.

I sat on the edge of the bed and glanced at Celestia. "I feel heat in my kokoro."

She blinked and tilted her head. "Excuse me?" She said.

I rolled my eyes. Of course she wouldn't understand. "I feel something warm in my chest." Meanwhile, Twilight finally escaped from that oh-so terrible trap I set her in. She briefly glared at me, then wrote down what I said.

"Princess, do you think this is one of those "nature changing" sign?" She asked her mentor with a worried frown while tapping the tip of her quill on her chin.

"Wait, what?" I looked at them with a raised brow.

Celestia sighed. "Anon, you absorbed quite the amount of magic."

"An impossible amount for any creature to withstand." continued Twilight. "But it seems like your body adapted fairly quickly to it. It's fascinating!" She said with newfound excitement.

Celestia lifted her teacup with magic to take a sip, but the sweet brew had seemingly turned cold because she put it back down slowly. "Fascinating... in a way, yes. But we need to confirm if something really changed in Anon, and not just be a temporary effect of the surges."

"Uh-huh. How are we going to do this?" came my skeptical reply.

"We will have to run some tests on you!" Twilight replied with a wide grin. She was quickly approaching Pinkie's level of terror-inducing weirdness.

"You're being too excited about this." I said with a deadpan expression.

"Do not worry, Anon. Twilight usually takes care of her test subjects." Celestia said casually.

What? "She isn't going to run the tests, is she?"

Twilight seemed to remember something at that moment. "Oh no!" she said a bit too loudly before remembering that she was still in an hospital. "No. I mean, I would be so thrilled to run the tests, plus a few others, but I still haven't... Well I still have to do my list and prepare for the picnic later today."

"Are you even a doctor?" I asked her, confused about all of this.

"I think that we are beyond mere medical knowledge at this point." replied Celestia and I agreed with her, but Twilight seemed a bit too passionate about this. Was it simply because it was a Magic related problem?

I sighed. At least if that'd made me avoid that horrible MRI machine, I'd give it a go. Just thinking about it is giving me the shivers.

"Alright, what should we... Wait, where's Twilight?" I looked around the room, finding only Celestia staring at me.

"She went to take care of the tasks she just mentionned. Do you wish to proceed as soon as possible?" asked the royal princess.

"Yeah. The sooner it's done, the sooner I'll go home." I said with an enthusiasm that could be compared to a snail's on a dry day. This was being a repeat of last time wasn't it?

"Cheer up, Anon. You'll meet with an old acquaintance." Celestia said while walking to the door and opening it with her magic.

"Acquaintance?" I got up slowly, my muscles were still a bit numb. "You don't mean Doc Wraps, do you?"

"I do." She turned and went in the hallway. I had to walk quickly while limping to get back to her.

"Wait! What about the wall?" I asked from right behind her.

"This could have been avoided if I had been more careful. I will handle the costs." She replied, walking toward a set of double doors.

"Mighty kind of you. Thanks." I said as we reached the reception. There were two guards waiting next to the entrance. They stood straight, ready for orders. On the other side of the room, behind the desk, was the doc, visibly scribbling something on some paper.

It seemed like he was really focused on it, because he didn't hear us approach.

We peeked at what he was writing.

{{"I didn't know you were such a courageous stallion!" said Bun Bun after being picked up by Heart Healer's strong hooves.
{{"I would do anything for you, my Bunnie hunny." he replied. The timberwolves were approaching quickly and he--

"Timberwolves?" I whispered to Celestia, but his ears picked it up.

He glanced at us and yelled in fright, falling to the floor and clutching his chest.

I yelled back, surprised by his reaction. The guards briefly glanced at each other, then started charging toward us while yelling too.

"STOP!" yelled Celestia, a hoof against her forehead. It stopped everyone. "Guards, at ease." She said, frustrated. The two saluted and went back to the entrance.

I looked at the doc. "Dude! You scared us!" I said, offering my hand to help him up. "You alright?"

"You nearly scared my soul out of my body!" He said with a bit of angst, and his face sported a blush. He eventually took my hand and got up again though. "I didn't expect you to be up so soon. How do you feel?"

And that was a great question, because I didn't realize that at one point while coming here, the slight warmth in my chest calmed down. I didn't feel it anymore. "Aside from the recent heart rate spike, I actually feel pretty normal." I glanced at Celestia and shrugged with a confused raised brow. "Nothing unusual anymore."

He searched his desk for some file while sneakily hiding the paper he was writing on. He soon pulled out my medical file. "What do you mean, 'anymore'?"

"Well, I felt something in my chest, but it's gone now. Twilight and Celestia both thought it was something magical." I replied.

He hummed, thinking about it. "We may need to verify this."

It's really a repeat of what happened a month ago huh. "With the little device you used last time, right?" I said.

"No, we're going straight for the Magic Resonance Imaging." He replied, heading toward the hallway we came from.

Magic resonance... Wait... MRI. Oh my fu--

"Are you coming?" The doc asked me. Both the princess and him were waiting at the doors.

"Sure." I said, following them with a brave face, but I was internally screaming.

...

It only took a few seconds before Celestia asked about Doc's paper.

"Doctor Wraps, are you a writer?" She asked with curiosity.

He quickly began stuttering. "N-not really, it was nothing. Please forget about it, Princess."

"But the names sounded familiar..." She mumbled, and the doc was looking away, visibly struggling with something. "Oh! Could it be..." continued Celestia.

"Fine! I admit it. I wrote the Heart And Love books. Please do not tell anypony, it's only a hobby." Doc Wraps blurted out, interupting the princess.

"Wonderful!" She said happily. "These books are some of my student's favorites, and I must admit that I did enjoy some of them too. Could you sign my copy of your latest novel later? It would be the perfect gift for Twilight."

Doc's mind was completely blown given he was staring blankly at his princess, with his mouth open.

"You read sappy romance novels?" I asked Celestia with a raised brow.

"Why yes, they make for quite the distracting read." She replied with a smile.

"That's uhhh... Nice. To each their own, I guess." I replied with a shrug.

"What about you?" She asked while poking Doc's cheek.

"I just lurk on the Internet nowadays. Well, I did before all of this happened. I've been busy handling Rarity's gift ever since."

Doc slowly looked at me. "I never would have thought that Princess Celestia would enjoy my work. Or even touch me." He whispered.

"This is borderline God worshipping level." I commented.

Celestia sighed for some reason. "Some of my ponies DO think of me as a goddess." She stared sideways at me. "But it seems that you do not." She said, smiling genuinely.

"I mean, you have quite the amount of grand achievements, but you also look like one big plushie, like all of the other ponies." I replied without thinking.

Does she not like them thinking so high of her..?

She looked surprised at my comment.

Uh oh. I dunno about that one Chief.

Realizing I was talking to a princess and ruler of the land, I tried to save face and blurted out, "Even though you can kick my butt to the Sun and back. Twice. Easy."

...

There was a small silence hanging, but then she blinked, and laughed heartily.

It seemed to fully get the Doc back to his senses as he glanced between Celestia and me, and laughed awkwardly. "What are we laughing about?" He whispered very quietly at me.

"I don't know, keep laughing." I replied, to which his laugh became even more off. Ugh.

Thinking about it, I only rarely refered to Celestia as a princess. She had some real regal moments sometimes, but... BAH! Who am I kidding? I started calling her only by her name because I was angry back then, and it stuck to me. Same for Luna. I had no real excuses.

Celestia's laugh eventually winded down, and she wiped a tear from her eyes. "Thank you for this, Anon. I needed it."

Well, this wasn't really expected. "Uh yeah, no problem." I replied hesitantly. "Should we move on?" I said with a tilt of my head.

"...Right." replied the Doc, then leading us back to the MRI room.

...

I was not looking forward to this, but I still got in the machine. The two ponies settled at the other part where they would read the results.

"Ready?" Doc asked me.

"Not in the slightest."

"That won't be a problem." He said, starting the machine.

And there went another 5 long minutes of itchy agony. I'm pretty sure my eyes were bloodshot after trying to not scratch myself for so long, but trying to listen to Celestia's and Doc's murmurs was a nice distraction.

They stared at me weird when I got out. "What is it?" I asked with a slight hint of irritation while trying to scratch myself all over at the same time.

"You should come see this." Doc answered.

'I think you need to see this' cliché. Ding!

I approached as he handed --hoofed?-- me a paper with a red line shooting up and down. "What about it? Seems like a normal heart rate for someone who's trying to resist to move an inch."

"Anon... That's not your heart rate. That's your magic readings." Celestia said.

"Please don't joke like that. We already established that I absorb magic, and nearly nothing gets out." I replied, then remembered what Luna said in the dream. Something about Celestia and pranks.

I squinted at them. "... It's a prank isn't it? That's the reading of the previous pony going in there."

Celestia went wide-eyed. "N-no! I wouldn't..." She cleared her throat. "I would not joke about something so serious. This is real."

"Wh-- But... Eh? How?!" I grabbed the Doc and shaked him lightly. "Tell me everything!"

"P-please put me down A-A-Anon!" he said before Celestia levitated him out of my grasp. His eyes were spinning in a cartoonish manner. Oh.

"S-sorry about that. Give me the news, Doc." I said, rubbing the back of my head.

He shaked his head and blinked to get his eyes back to normal, then he handed me another paper, with overly complicated words that I didn't understand. "This is a detailed analysis of your magic. With what the Princess told me, we both came to the conclusion that over-exposure to the Elements of Harmony may have actually attuned your body to magic. Harmonious magic to be precise."

"What does that mean? Am I not human anymore? Am I becoming Discord?" I asked to both, frankly afraid of the answer.

"No! No no no, Anon. Discord was attuned to Chaos, and you are now attuned to Harmony. You're the complete opposite of him." Celestia said, putting a hoof against my arm in an attempt to cheer me up.

Another mindblowing revelation coming from a visit at the hospital. Who would've thought?

I put both of my hands against my forehead as I tried to understand the situation. "Okay, but I still look like me, right? Why?"

Both took a moment to ponder.

"Maybe it's because this is the form you're most in harmony with?" suggested Doc after the short silence.

"Can't say I have multiple forms anyway, but that makes sense? In a weird twisted way..?" I replied hesitantly.

Wait. So I can finally do magic? And what about my bothering magic-absorbing thing?

"Oi Celestia? Shoot me with some magic please." I asked her.

Both of them were taken aback by my request, but Celestia nodded and charged her horn.

It grew brighter and brighter.

Like, really bright. I was having doubt about this one when we started hearing the spell charge up.

"P-Princess Celestia! You can't possibly shoot Anon!" cried Doc as the sound grew louder.

I stepped back. "That's a bit too much there, Celestia!" I yelled so she could hear, but she continued charging the spell up, until I couldn't look at her because of how bright her horn was.

"I am just doing as you asked, Anon. Now prepare for the impact!" She yelled back and shot... a tiny ball of golden light toward me. It looked like a slow and tiny Sun.

What.

I stepped aside to dodge it, but still curiously extended my arm to poke it. It disappeared quickly when I did, leaving an itchy feeling and a warm sensation in my fingers.

"Satisfied?" Celestia said while discreetly shooting her tongue at me.

Darnit. I've been got.

"Ha. Ha. Real funny." I said sarcastically. "Why can I still do this if I'm changed?"

"You still have the same body, Anon. You're still human." She tried to say in a reassuring tone.

...I sighed in relief. "Okay. Nice." I said while wiping my forehead. "What about magic? Can I cast spells like Discord?"

"What's with him? He seems a little obsessed about Discord." I heard Doc whisper at Celestia.

"I heard you! And I'm not obsessed. You two just told me how close I was to become another magic-twisted creature. I'm just trying to get everything as clear as possible so I don't lose my sleep for the next 10 years or so." I said grumpily.

Celestia gave me a bright smile. "If Discord drew his power from Chaos, then maybe you can draw power from Harmony?"

...Oh no. Please don't...

"And what's more harmonious than true friendship?" She chirped happily.

There we go.

I shaked my head. "Are you telling me that, in my case, friendship is litterally power?"

She blinked in realization. "Please do not start thinking this way." She nearly pleaded.

"Don't worry about it. If I tried to make friends for more power, it wouldn't be very harmonious right? It wouldn't work." I replied. "Plus this is all hypothetical. For all we know, maybe I can only draw power from harmony itself. The Elements, I mean."

"We will have to wait and see then." Celestia said, closing her eyes solemnly.

"If it's the friendship thing, then we'll wait for a looooooong time." I mumbled to myself, but Celestia picked it up with her shifty pony ears.

"Why is that?" She asked with a head tilt. Hecking cute. But also I didn't expect her to hear that, and that made me jump a little.

"Oh uh... Well... I guess I'm somewhat friend with Twilight and company, but yeah. Forging new friendships, or maintaining them is... tiring. I've lost contact with former friends more than once."

"Oh. My apologies..." She said, looking heartbroken, then looking at me with determination. "I don't know how human friendship work, but I can tell you, with complete confidence, that if you give my ponies a chance, you will see that friendship is not as bothersome as you make it look like."

I shaked my head again, but now with a little smile. "You went full politician there, 'Celly'."

Doc gasped, outraged. "You can't call Princess Celestia like this!" but Celestia just let out a little giggle.

"Only my sister can call me Celly, Anon. You will have to find your own nickname." She replied with a smirk.

I huffed, still smiling. "Sure thing Tia. I'll think about it."

Now she was the one gasping, while Doc was staring at us, baffled. "That was quick." She said. "Maybe you won't be as bad at making friends as I thought."

I raised a brow. "What?" Gosh I feel like I repeated this word a bit too much lately.

"Look at how fast you made me your friend, Anon. It was pretty simple." Celestia said with a kind smile.

But I wasn't having it. I squinted at her. "...Is this another prank?"

She sighed. "No. It is not."

Author's Notes:

Aaaaaaa thanks for reading!

Unwanted Involvement

After a couple additional check-ups (mostly on the head due to the light concussion I got when Discord threw me in Luna's room), Doc gave me the okay to leave the hospital.

Celestia and I thanked him and walked toward the exit, passing by the two guards stationned there. They proceeded to follow us without a word being said.

Despite the relative silence (hooves aren't exactly quiet), Celestia had a smile etched on her face. I stared at her from the corner of my eyes, wondering why she was smiling and pondering about her declaration of friendship earlier.

Maybe the two were linked?

With how much I saw of the ponies, maybe it wasn't such a stretch.

By no means I am an expert in society analysis or social interactions, but maybe the ponies had it right from the beginning. Calling friendship at the first occasion I mean.

If I learned anything from animes, it's that the best kind of friends are friends that should always be there for each other, whether it's for physical or emotional support. That's the core of that kind of relationship right?

Well that also applies to love, but that's generally between two people only, whereas friendship can be formed with almost anybody.

My point is... If ponies started calling each other friends after a simple conversation, it would have push them quicker toward unity, wouldn't it?

Everyone looking after each other just after a few conversations.

It sounds like an utopy, but it was right before my eyes.

...

How did it happen? For it to work, the relations were to be pretty genuine. No malice or abuse coming from either end.

Are the ponies really that good-natured?

Or perhaps they are all a bit naïve, and they all started to trust each other without a second thought?

Hmm. Celestia would probably say that it wasn't very nice to think that.

"It is not good for you to think like this." Celestia said with her usual motherly tone.

I snapped my head toward her, my eyes wide with surprise. How could she..? "Can you read minds?!" I asked, baffled.

She initially recoiled from my sudden outburst, only to laugh it off a second later. "Anon, you were so deep in your thoughts that you didn't realize where you were going." She said with a little smile. "Now unless you want to accompany me to Canterlot, I suggest you get off the chariot."

"Wait wha..?" I glanced around me and found myself quite shocked to 'suddenly' be in Ponyville's park, and standing on the royal chariot no less. "Huh."

Celestia gave me a half-worried half-amused look. "Is something on your mind? If you were wondering about the limits of ponies' abilities, you could have asked me."

"No, I wasn't... Uhhh..." Well that was embarrassing. I couldn't even reply properly, so I just jumped off the chariot. "Thanks." I said for no real reason.

Now she was getting really getting worried. "Are you feeling well? We can go back to the hospital if you wish."

I declined with a wave of my hand. "No. I'm okay. I was just..." I glanced at the guards strapped in front of the chariot, ready to take off at any moment. "Nevermind that. I wouldn't want to keep you from your duties more than I have to."

She sighed quietly. "As you wish. But know that if anything troubles your mind, you can always come to me for advice."

A small smile formed on my face. "Thank you Tia."

She returned the smile, but then whispered quietly, "Please only use that nickname in private. Some ponies would cause a ruckus over this."

I raised a brow but nodded in agreement. She winked and tapped one hoof on the carriage. That was the signal for them to depart.

I stepped back and watched the guards take speed before lifting off toward Canterlot.

...

Yep. I would have fell off the platform pretty quick anyway.

I reflexively tried to grab my phone in my pocket, but it wasn't there. Right. Left it at home, I remember.

Home. I wondered how much time has passed since the whole Discord thing?

Oh god. If I disappeared for a few days again, she's definitely gonna bite my head off this time.

I prepared myself to return home when I felt the strange warmth coming back in my chest. "Uh?"

At that moment, I heard Twilight call to me. "Anon! Were you let out of the hospital?" She said as she trotted quickly to me. She looked... nervous?

"Yes. I was about to go home, I need to check on something. Can you say hi to the girls for me? Oh and tell them that I might not come back for a while."

She gave me a really unsettling smile, with one of her eyes twitching. "That's great! Could it be that you have a big problem and that you could use the help of a good frieeeeeend..?" She said, accentuating that last word creepily.

I would usually point out these details to her, but my survival instinct told me I should be quick about it. "Uhh... Not really. I just have to tell my sister that I'm still alive and well before she kick my butt so hard that it would be the only thing I'd see for the next week or so." I replied, then blinked as an idea crossed my thought. "Oh! Since you're here, can you tell me how long was I out?"

Her head twitched on the side and she was now trying to grin by just showing off her teeth. I think I also saw a couple of small tufts forming just now in her mane. "Five days." She replied with a small awkward laugh.

Holy heck. I'm in deep trouble.

"Five? Okay, I think you all won't see me for at least two weeks. Thanks though, and it seems that the picnic you're preparing is really stressing you out. You should go easy, all will end well." I said while patting her head. "See you soon hopefully. I'm going home now."

"Wait!" she cried out but it was too late. Everything went black.

I think I get how the teleport works. Mostly. Maybe. Say the words and intend them to be true uh?

I reappeared back in the main room of my small apartment. It was good to be back. Though there was a light wind that washed over me. I remember leaving only one window open. Strange.

I spotted my phone's screen lit up and play my favorite ringtone. It had a great melody for the first half, then it followed with a stressing tune as the call was about to be missed. The phone vibrated on the low table nearby, so I quickly approached to grab it.

Incoming call: Dragonbreath
Missed: 4

My face lost all colors when I saw that 'missed calls' number. Three was the line to never cross. I always hoped to never see the light of this day.

I shakily answered the call.

"Ohey sis! Sorry, I think I missed some calls? My phone charger was dead again and I was too lazy to get out and buy one. Just like last time!" I said, quickly following with by my best attempt at a genuine laugh, but there was no immediate answer. "Sis?"

"You're dead, Chris."

Now, anyone would be scared --or at least very confused-- when hearing something like this, but when you know it's coming from someone who didn't hesitate to throw a man twice her size on the ground and bend his arm in a not-so-conventional way as she was starting to get upset, you can be sure that you'll need to change pants in the next few minutes.

Especially when you hear her voice both from the phone, and from behind you at the same time.

I dropped the phone and froze. I didn't care if it would break the screen or something. At that moment I was mostly thinking of a way to prevent any early demise in the next 10 seconds.

Fight? She'd get me down in half a second.

Flight? Where to? If she's behind me, that would mean she stands between me and the front door, and the windows aren't an option.

There was only one choice left. I slowly got my hands in the air. "I surrender."

...

A deadly silence suddenly invaded the room. The only sound I could hear was the hectic rythm of my heart in my chest.

I heard multiple soft things hit the ground not far behind me.

A bead of sweat ran down my forehead.

Then I heard a sniffle from up-close.

"Wh--" I started before two arms hugged me from behind.

Aww. She could be really fierce, but I always knew deep down she wouldn't actually hurt family--

"You didn't answer or even sent a text back for five whole days, you dingus! You have no idea how worried I was!" She cried in my back, while tightening her grip around my chest with tears wetting my back.

I would reply that I now had a pretty good idea of it right now, but I was too busy wheezing for air.

"Don't ever do that again!" I felt her lift me off and throw me backwards while still holding me.

Holy fricking meatballs on a stick. She was executing a German Suplex on her little brother.

Obviously not wanting to hit my head or shoulders on the hard ground below, I extended my arms to grab onto something, anything, to save me from this cruel fate.

My hand briefly landed on the couch's armrest.

I tried to grab it, but I was already too low. This was about to be a repeat of that one scene in The Amazing Spider-Man 2.

Damnit.

...

POMF

I landed harshly on some of my couch's pillows that were unexpectedly laying on the ground.

I didn't have time to realize that I wasn't hurt that she released me and sat on the couch.

Finally able to breathe again, I wheezed and coughed while trying to sit up.

Her eyes were teary but also full of fury. That was enough for me to stop trying and just stay down. I grabbed one of the small pillows.
Where the fu--" she started, only to receive a pillow in the face.

"Language." I said with a small groan, before catching the same pillow flying at Mach 2 with my forehead.

Wasted.

"Where were you?!" She demanded with an angry sob.

I slowly removed the pillow on my face with a groan, then blinked at her like I just woke up. "Uh? What are you doing here sis? Why am I on the groun--" She grabbed another pillow and I had to shield my head with my arms this time.

"Wrong answer." She said while throwing the pillow even faster than the last one. Oof.

Shoot. What else could I use? Distraction? Ninja smoke grenades? Teleportation?

Scratch that last one. I probably shouldn't use it in front of her.

She was already preparing to throw another pillow when I held out my arms to her. "Stop stop stop! I'll tell you everything!"

She slowly relented and put down the pillow. "Talk." She ordered.

"You see, I was actually kidnap--" I didn't even have time to start on my half-lie. She slammed me with the pillow harder than a Thwomp would slamdunk on Mario. "Will you stop hitting me?!" I yelled.

"I know you didn't win the lottery. I checked." She said, frowning but also openly crying. "Did... Did you get into some sort of shady government business?"

What the heck? Why would she check on something like that? I decided to avoid reacting to the first comment. It would be hard to explain. "What? Where would you pull that from? I'm not a spy if you're wondering."

"Then how did you just appear from thin air?"

SHE SAW THAT?!

I tried my best to contain my surprise. "What are you saying even?! You're implying that I just poofed there?!"

She stared at me dead in the eye. "I know what I saw. Stop trying to avoid the inevitable."

"That's crazy and you know it. Have you hit your head when you threw me into the ground?" I needed this bluff to work. I couldn't just tell her everything, could I?

"Then prove it to me. Tell me where you went." She asked while rubbing her tears away.

"Well..." I didn't have many believable lies to tell. "I actually stayed here. I fell sick."

Speaking of ill, I started to not feel so good after all of this. It felt like a knot was forming in my chest.

"Then why didn't you f-" She stopped herself before getting herself angry again. "Why didn't you answer any of my calls?"

"All this time I stayed in my room. I barely even ate." I replied, and there was some truth to it, since I was actually in a micro coma.

"And you didn't do anything?"

"I played a few times on the PC. Why are you asking all of this?" I said while exhaling. The knot felt a little worse now.

"When did you become such a liar? I asked Kevin earlier. He said the last time you got on was last week, and you haven't been online since."

"Why the heck would you ask him that?!"

"I was worried. He may become your step-brother soon, and he's also one of your teammate in one of your FaVoRiTe gAMeS." She said that last part while waving her fingers in a mocking fashion. "He said he waited for you to play some 2v2 together."

Darnit Kevin. Even team-killing in real life.

"I hate him so much." I stated, and the knot tightened strongly.

That, and her death glare for speaking bad of her boyfriend, made me quickly go back on my word. "H-Heh I'm joking. He's a cool dude."

Strangely enough, the knot relented a lot after that new statement.

Hah. It felt like it was Applejack judging me for each of my...

...

No way. That's what's happening really?! Can't lie for too long?!

'Oh yeah, you're now attuned to Harmony. Sounds great right?'

NO.

Holy heck. Does that mean I have to respect all of the other Elements?

At one point during my epiphany, I took my head in my hands.

Okay, half of them are somewhat easy. But Loyalty? What are the rules for it?

And Magic? Is it striked out?

What about Laughter?!"

My sister poked me with a finger. She looked worried. "Hey. You know I won't tell the police, right?"

I rolled my eyes. "Yeah family comes first, I know. You win. Congrats Sherlock."

She looked skeptical. "Does that mean I figured it out earlier?"

"Nnnnope. But you won't believe me when I'll tell the truth anyway." I said with a shrug.

"Try anyway."

This won't end well. "...I got abducted by talking alien horses." I lazily responded.

...

She seemed to think about it for a moment. She was even leaning forward to get into the 'serious' sitting position. "I think I'm going to need something sturdier than pillows to hit you with."

"I know you won't do that. And I'm telling the truth by the way."

"You're right, I won't." She said while ignoring the last part. "Then maybe I should break more than your front door."

"My..." I looked toward said door. It was wide open, with the handle looking like it was hit repeatedly until it broke. "Did you kick my door open?! What is wrong with you?!"

"Hey, you never gave me a spare key. Plus, I told you I would do it." She took a tissue and blew her nose.

"Oh yeah sure. When exactly did you tell me?" I said, nearly snarling.

She deadpanned at me and threw her used tissue at my head. I tried to dodge, but didn't need to, she narrowly missed. "I sent a text warning you of it after you missed my third call. Did you really not check your phone?"

I clapped my hands. "Great. Awesome job there. What if I just forgot my phone and then had an accident sending me to the hospital huh? You idiot."

"Uh-huh. But that's not what happened."

I blinked. Technically, that's what happened. "Actually..."

Alert: Murderous Intent Detected

Her voice sent chills down my spine. "Who hurt you?"

"H-Hey calm down. It's over. Dude's a statue now."

She looked confused for a second. "You put him in a cast?" She lightly punched my shoulder. "Way to go."

"No, he's really a statue." I replied hesitantly.

Her face turned a bit pale. She got closer and dropped her voice. "Did you get rid of the evidences..?"

I smacked her lightly with a pillow. "He's still alive... I think."

She gasped. "How... When did you become so cruel? Torture, really?"

"No!" I groaned in frustration. "It's just a prison for him. It's because of magic from the alien world."

"This again? You already tried that one." She said while resting her head on one of her hand.

Have you ever tried to tell the truth and people didn't trust your word? Do you know how infuriating that is?

I held out my hand to her. "Take my hand. If you feel an itch, it's because you're absorbing some magic."

"Stop wasting my time with your 'magic'. I'm not touching your dirty hand." She said with a disgusted face.

I cracked my neck and exhaled slowly. I looked for my phone, wherever it fell. I was now determined to prove my story.

I found it under the pillow near my midsection. The underside where you plug the charger was now dented, but the screen seemed to have no damage.

"What are you doing?" She asked with a raised brow.

"Bringing back some photos." I replied.

"You're not going anywhere." She stated.

I looked at her with a smirk. "I won't even take a single step."

Her eyes went wide. "Wait you're not going to..."

"You asked for it. I'm going to Equestria."

"N--" she started, extending her arm trying to grab me, but I disappeared instantly.

I reappeared in Ponyville's park. Not really intended but good all the same.

I had no time to lose. She would probably start breaking stuff while I was here. I unlocked my phone and prepared it to take photos.

I heard weird thumping noises and giggles behind me.

I turned towards the sounds to spot three pony childs playing with a beach ball. Perfect.

I switched cameras to take a selfie and stood in a way to snap a picture of my face with the three little ponies behind. It would be enough proof.

*snap*

Uh oh. I hope they didn't hear that...

I glanced at where they stood previously but they weren't there anymore.

"Doesn't he looks like the one we saw a month ago?" I heard coming from under me.

I looked down, seeing that they were suddenly at my feet. "Gah!" I said while flinching. I didn't expect them to be there. How could they move so quickly?

"He can't be the same one, mah sis told me he was staying in the hospital." Said the cream colored one with a big red bow on her head. Her accent also gave a big hint as to who was her sister.

"Yes, I just got out of the hospital. I'm guessing you're AJ's sister." I said, pointing my finger at her which made her gasp.

"You have weird hooves, mister!" Said the little white one just before the orange one hit her lightly on the side. "Ouch. Hey! What was that for?"

"Why are you calling him weird? What is he decides to eat us?!"

"He wouldn't do that, he's friends with me and Applebloom's sister!"

"He's friends with you, Sweetie Belle?" Asked the one seemingly named Applebloom.

Belle? She was Rarity's sister?

"No. I... You know what I meant!"

Well that was great and all but I needed to move. "Okay girls. I really have to go. See you another day." I closed my eyes and breathed deeply to calm myself before having to deal with my sister again.

"What are those things on his shoes?" I heard the orange one say below me.

I rolled my eyes and looked at the sky as Sweetie answered the question. "They're laces. Some of my sister's clothes have them. You never saw these before?"

"I'm going home." I stated, making myself disappear and appear just a few meters off where I was earlier.

My sister had my TV in her arms and was dangerously approaching the window.

"What are you doing?!" I yelled at her and visibly spooked her.

Spooked her enough that one of her hand slipped and I saw the TV swing like a pendulum, have the screen hit the corner of the table, then fall on the ground completely because she couldn't hold it with one hand only.

I had both of my hands land on my forehead. "Eva! MY TV!"

She slowly turned on herself to look at me, but her eyes went wide for some reason. "What is that?!" She said, pointing at my feets.

"You're not changing subject!" I yelled at her.

"They're called laces!" I heard a voice say from below me.

My head snapped so fast toward the source that I actually caught a cramp in my neck.

"Oh my god it's talking!" Eva yelled back, visibly frightened.

I crouched to face the tiny orange pony. She hid behind my leg, probably being scared by my sister. "What are you doing here?"

I heard Eva approach slowly. "Don't talk to it, it might attack you!" She yelled.

It only made the pony flinch. "I-I don't know. I was poking your shoe and then I was here!"

...Okay, it was just an accident. I didn't even know I could transport other people with me.

"Alright." I took one of the pony's tiny hooves in my hand. "We're going back to Equestria."

While I said that last part, I didn't expect to feel a hand landing on my shoulder.

After the obligatory blackout signaling the teleport between worlds, I let go of the pony and got up, turning backwards to confront my sister. It seemed like we popped outside the town. That was good. No witnesses.

"What do you think you're doing?!" I said while trying to grab her wrist, but she quickly stepped back and tripped, making her fall on her haunches.

I think I heard the pony run away at that moment. She's probably running back to her friends.

Eva's eyes were so wide they threatened to pop out of their sockets. She was shaken up by the new environment she was in.

Can't fault her for that.

"Whatwhatwhatwhatwhat" She was repeating over and over, looking all around herself.

I signed. "That's enough mind blowing stuff for you. We're going back." I said, approaching to grab her arm or leg. Whichever would be trying to push me back first when I'd get close.

But when I took a step, she crawled further away from me. "What is this?! What's happening?!" She asked.

"Talking alien horse world. Any other question?" I said, approaching again.

She crawled away once more. "How?!"

I took a deep breath. "Magic."

"Magic doesn't exist!"

"It does here." I said, taking another step, but she continued to crawl away. "Don't make me jump on you. I'm getting you back home."

"How can you do that?!"

"I got kidnapped, then cursed but then it turned out somewhat okay. Now I can move between Earth and this place, but that's it." Better not tell her about the whole Harmony problem I just found out about.

"You got CURSED?!"

Okay, maybe that wasn't my wisest choice of word.

"I'll tell you everything, but ONLY when we're back at my place." I said, sitting on the ground.

"Chris, we're not moving until you tell me everything."

I shaked my head and let out a chuckle. "If you want to stay here, that's your problem. I'll head back in ten seconds. It's up to you if you want to get stuck in this world."

"Leaving me all alone here? Do it, you won't." She said with confidence.

I smirked at that. I had a joker that had a 100% chance to convince her to come back.

I started counting down, but she just stared at me, thinking that I wouldn't do it. "Ten. Nine. Eight. Seven. Six. Five. Four..."

"That'll not work on me." She said.

"There are dragons here. Three." I replied with a completely serious face.

Now she was the one to have all color drain from her face. "You're kidding."

I slowly shaked my head. "Two."

She hesitated to move.

"One."

She finally decided to listen to me and held out her hand.

She was terrified of anything scaly.

I grabbed her hand. "We're going home." I stated, bringing us back to the apartment. We landed on the couch.

Crisis averted.

But now I had some serious explaining to do.

Author's Notes:

Dropping the phone and the screen is undamaged? It truly is a fiction.

I'll never repeat this enough, but thanks for reading!

Also please note that while Scootaloo can understand Eva (just like the animals in Equestria can seemingly understand anypony), Eva did not understand Scootaloo, and reacted like this because of the tone and look of Scoot's response.

That's A Lotta Damage

It took me a couple hours to explain everything to Eva, from the moment I was summoned, up to the moment she saw me pop into existence in front of her earlier.

Most of that time was spent to shush and calm her down, especially when I got to the point when I agreed to go back there every Saturday. She eventually relented her verbal assault when I managed to spell my reasons without being interupted.

She ended up crying again. This time for me.

I let her cry on my shoulder while I rubbed hers to comfort her gently. I mean, my situation wasn't the worst, I managed to luck out of a lot of things, even if the few that hit me did it hard.

This girl has a heart of gold for those she cares about. A heart of gold surrounded by erupting volcanos, but still.

She eventually dozed off there, so I gently moved away and put some pillows where I was so she could rest.

I was getting something to drink when I heard a gasp coming from the entrance door. I glanced over and saw the landlady staring at the destroyed door handle.

I nearly spat out my drink in my haste to say something, but she spoke first.

"Vous vous êtes fait cambriolé?"
Have you been robbed?

I took a second to gulp the water in my mouth.
"Non, c'est ma soeur qui a fait ça. Je vais payer pour les réparations."
No, my sister did that. I'll pay for the repairs.

She raised a brow at me.
"Là, il faut remplacer la porte."
At this point, we need to replace the door.

I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck.
"Ok, vous pouvez faire les appels nécessaires? Je ne m'y connaît pas trop dans ces trucs là."
Okay, can you make the necessary calls? I don't really know these stuff well.

She stared at me in a way that it was obvious she was thinking 'Is this kid for real?'
"Préparez votre chèque, je vais essayer de faire venir une société cet après-midi."
Prepare your check, I'll try to have a company come this afternoon.

I nodded at her and made a mediocre imitation of an army-salute.
"Oui Madame!"
Yes ma'am!

She rolled her eyes and went in her own apartment, her grocery bag in tow.

I waited for her door to slam shut to relax. At least now I knew she didn't heard anything Eva and I said for the last 2 hours.

The sudden calm in these apartments was unwelcome though. I sat on the armrest of the couch and grabbed the TV remote, like I would do every time I came back from work ever since I lived alone. I really needed some white noises here.

I looked at where the TV was supposed to be.

Ah. Right.

I stared at the broken monitor leaning against the table. This happened.

I stared at the ceiling briefly and huffed. Money wasn't a problem anymore right?

I really should get something for Rarity, to thank her seriously.

I stared blankly at the wall, thinking of the possibilities.

Earrings? Would they even work on ponies? Their ears tend to move a lot, so that would probably be annoying quick. Rings are out of the question for obvious reasons.

A bracelet? That could work, but it's not fancy enough.

Necklace? I thought, trying to find downsides, but couldn't find any major flaws. Necklace huh. I guess an amethyst or sapphire would be fine too, what with her mane and eyes colors.

I whipped my phone and unlocked it. The picture I took of the three tiny ponies appeared on the screen.

No need for that anymore... Two little taps on the screen later, the pic was deleted. Better not keep traces of Equestria here.

I spent the next half hour to browse various jewelry websites, trying to find a proper necklace for the generous mare. Soon after, the landlady came back to announce that she made the call, some guys should come in the next hour to replace the door.

Well at least I wouldn't need to worry about someone breaking in while I was sleeping tonight.

Feeling my stomach rumble, I looked at the clock. We were approaching noon. I should probably make something.

I glanced toward Eva, she was still asleep. She was probably really exhausted after everything, but I'll still have a plate ready for her.

And thus I went to the kitchen to prepare by masterpiece and most common meal here.

Spaghetti and meatballs.

~ ~ ~

Eva woke up when I set our plates down, surely thanks to the divine smell of industrial bolognese sauce, meatballs and pasta laying in her plate with no effort for presentation.

What a top chef I was.

While it was cooking, I took the time to grab my headphones to have some music in my ears.

Nothing beat some good Funk when things are calm.

Eva stared at me with half-opened eyes while I gently danced my way to my seat.

Well, it was more of a move-with-the-rythm more than a proper dance but still.

I sat down next to her feet and pushed the TV leaning on my part of the table away, earning a loud crash sound and an annoyed sigh from my sister.

"Was that necessary?" She asked groggily.

I removed my headphones to answer her. "It's already dead, Jim."

She rolled her eyes and pushed herself up to sit against the armrest. "What time is it?" She mumbled to herself. I tilted my head toward the clock on the wall while I was attacking these poor noodles with my fork. I heard her groan shortly after she checked the time. "I need to go."

"At least have a bite or two." I said while pointing my fully-loaded fork toward her and her plate. "I made it with love!" I continued with a high-pitched voice, blinking 'cutely' at her.

She extended her leg to shush me with her foot but I just had to lean back to avoid it.

"Fine. Can't say I'm not hungry. Bon appétit." She replied, grabbing her plate and proceded to devour the stuff.

By no means I am a slow eater, but Eva is clearly out of my league. It took less than two minutes for her to decimate the population of Plateville.

It was this, and her personality that made me name her 'Dragonbreath' in my phone.

She got up and put the plate in the sink while I was just half-done.

"Thanks for the meal!" She said, walking fast toward the entrance door, practically running.

"You owe me a TV and a new door!" I yelled after her and heard her pace quicken.

"Only the TV!" She yelled back before slamming close the building's door.

I got up and opened the window. "Both!" I yelled, earning a faint "You wish!" in response.

I shaked my head and closed the window, sitting back down to finish what was left.

I spent the rest of the day searching for a nice necklace (that I eventually found, but it wasn't available at this time) and wait for the new door to arrive.

~ ~ A few days later ~ ~

Loud ringing noises harshly pulled me from my slumber. I grumbled quite loudly as I stopped the hellish alarm clock.

Waking up at 9 on a Saturday? Pure heresy.

It did not help that today was supposed to be my first workout day with Rainbow Dash, and apparently she was not going to go easy on me.

I groaned as I sat up on the edge of the bed, staring blankly at the wall.

I didn't go back to Equestria since I explained everything to Eva, but I barely felt that uncomfortable feeling from last month anymore.

Or maybe I feel it being so weak because I know how strong it can become?

I scratched my head and eventually got up, heading toward the bathroom to start my morning routine.

Half an hour later, I was cleaned up, had breakfast and was geared with a towel and a bottle of water to head over the Rainbow Boot Camp.

My body wasn't ready, but from what I've heard, the first few sessions are always the hardest.

I just gotta turn that into another routine, right? I thought to myself.

One tiny part of me was also wary of going back again, and it was not without reason. Twice I went to Equestria, and twice there was some overly powered being trying to conquer the country.

I knew that it was all a coincidence, but I sure hoped that there wouldn't be another attack any time soon.

I pronounced the usual words for me to 'jump' to Equestria and let me go through the short blackout moment once more.

I appeared in the middle of Ponyville, spooking a couple of ponies that were just walking by.

I was quick to apologize for it and earned kind smiles and small giggles in return. They said that they were kind of used to it because of Pinkie.

A small smile threatened to form on my face. I could totally imagine the overactive mare just appearing from every place possible to greet every pony in town.

I'll just have to be on the lookout for anything overly pink then. At the same time, I started to feel a small warmth inside my chest. It's been some days since I didn't feel that.

Whether it was complete coincidence, or Pinkie somehow knew when someone talked about her, I suddenly got a face full of bubblegum colored belly, seemingly coming from above. "I think I found her." I said with my voice muffled by the squishy tum pressing against my face and forcing some giggles out of her.

Strangely, the warmth in my chest got stronger.

"Docking point found! Captain Gummy, engage mooring protocol!" She said. I raised a hand to lift her off but something slimy suddenly clamped on my fingers.

WHAT THE?!

I frantically shook my hand and fell on my butt, making the mare bounce off me and land on her hoove next to me, giggling some more. "Landing successful!"

With my vision not being obstructed by cute softness, I looked at my hand to see what the heck was squeezing my fingers.

It was a small green lizard with purple eyes. It even had a small old-styled aviator hat on its head. My fingers were in its mouth.

Ew.

I pulled him off easily and held him with two fingers by its midsection. It stared blankly to nowhere in particular. "I'm not for eating." I stated at it.

It's only response was a slow lick on one of its eyes with its tongue.

EW.

I glanced at Pinkie, she wore some aviator goggles and had a small cluster of balloons tied to her, reaching for the sky. They were probably filled with helium.

Ah yes, that would explain why she came from above. I nodded to myself.

...

Wait, no.

I was about to voice my concern when Pinkie approached the lizard. It bit the tip of her mane and just hung there. "Hello Nonny!" she exclaimed, visibly excited by my presence here and being entirely unfazed by the lizard hanging on in front of her face.

I slowly wiped my wet fingers against my pants. "Hey Pinkie. What's up with the... everything?" I asked.

"Oh! Gummy here wanted to fly above Ponyville so that's what we did!" She said with a grin and pointing a hoof at the lizard.

I blinked at her. "You have a pet lizard named Gummy." I stated, earning an affirmative 'Mhm!' from her.

She removed her goggles then quickly put them in her tail floof. "Except he's a baby alligator, not a lizard!"

Far from me to judge her ability to raise an animal but... "What? Wouldn't that be dangerous for you in a few years?" I asked with a raise of my brows.

She rolled her eyes with a smile. "Pfft, relax Nonny! He doesn't have teeth! Plus he wouldn't hurt a fly, right Gummy?"

Gummy just continued to hang in there, staring into space.

"See? He agrees!" Pinkie said brightly before flipping her head backward, throwing Gummy into the air and letting him fall down softly on her head, cushioned by the bubbly mane.

I blinked at her again, then rubbed my forehead. "If... If you say so, Pinkie." I said while repeating 'Do not question her.' in my mind.

"Twilight told us you were not supposed to come back for a while." She stated, before she visibly reached some conclusion, her face lighting up and her mane becoming even more voluminous..? She glanced left and right and whispered toward me. "Did you plan to surprise us with a visit?" She said, bouncing lightly on her hooves, trying to hide her excitement.

I did exaggerate a little when I told Twilight that I would disappear for a while.

I shaked my head sideways, pulling a sad 'Aww.' from her. "Nope, sorry Pinkie. It was a planned thing, remember? I said I'd train with Rainbow on Saturdays."

She seemed to think for a bit, tilting her head sideways and scratching her chin with a hoof. Gummy didn't seem to mind as he just flopped on the ground below, landing on his back.

"Oh you sneaky gator, asking for the belly wubs!" She said before blowing raspberries on Gummy and laughing doind so, making him wiggle his tail left and right.

...

Cute.

During all of this I felt the warmth in my chest grow stronger yet again. I thought it'd get annoying by now but I only felt... pumped. Full of energy.

She looked back at me after a few seconds, some remnant of her giggles still making her chest spasm. "Didn't Dashie tell you she only trained in the mornings?" She asked.

"Uhhh... I think we only mentioned Saturdays? But it doesn't matter since it's still morning right now." I replied, shrugging.

She furrowed her brows for a second, suddenly making me doubt my statement. I looked at the sky, finding the sun near the end of its daily course. Oh gosh darn it. I forgot about the whole time difference stuff.

I groaned, mostly because that meant I could've stayed in bed today, but now that I was here, might as well enjoy it.

I turned back to Pinkie which was still frowning in thought and now also looking at the ground. "How is it still morning..?" she mumbled to herself.

I let out an amused huff and pat her head. "Don't think too hard about it. Also thanks for the insight."

She giggled from the pat. "Always happy to help a friend!" She replied.

I don't exactly know why exactly the warmth in my chest ignited into a fire at that moment, but it did. Thankfully, it seemed more like a soothing fire rather than the burning kind.

"Ooh! I didn't know you could light up like a lamp!" Pinkie said while having Gummy bite on her tail for 'safe' transport.

"Huh?" Came my calm and obviously not-confused response.

Pinkie just bounced toward me and poked my chest. "Right there!"

I looked down and OH MY GAWD WHAT WAS THAT?!

Call me Tony Stark and give me a flying armor. Some pink light was shining brightly from my chest through my T-shirt.

I pulled the collar of my shirt to look under it.

Yep, it's really coming from my chest. "AH!"

Pinkie somehow got a doctor's coat on in that timeframe. "Let me check!" she said, trying to lift my shirt.

"You will not undress me in the middle of the street Pink--" Aaaand there flew my shirt. "PINKIE!"

"Wait, I think I can fix this!" She said, standing on her hind hooves and poking the shiny area of my chest. Of course that made me feel itchy, because I could still absorb magic. "Hey, that feels just like when I use my Element!" She said while poking my chest repeatedly.

"What?" I said, grabbing her hooves and getting her back down gently.

"Yeah! Is it because we accidentally shot you with the Elements?" She asked.

Now I was the one furrowing my brows. Was that warmth related to the Elements? And since they're the bearers... That would explain why the warmth kept coming and going last time. Pinkie's a genius!

"You may very well be right, Pinkie." I said, pointing a finger at her. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'll test that theory right away. See you later." And so, I turned around and walked away from her.

If I was right about this, I just needed to put some distance between her and me to stop being a literal beacon.

"See you Nonny!" I heard her yell. She was probably waving one of her hoof too. Silly pony. I waved one hand without looking, just in case y'know.

It didn't take long to feel that the 'warmth' started to lose its intensity. So it really is linked to them huh.

So... What about it then? Can I do anything with it?

...

If it really is about Harmony, I'd probably need to have all six mares 'igniting' that warmth... Highly convenient for me to use my supposed new powers.

I wandered aimlessly while I was deep in thought, not even looking where I was going. It was a matter of seconds until I bumped into a pony.

Or should I say, tripped on a pony, making me land on my hands and knees.

"Hey, it's the human!" I heard a child say excitedly while another let out a single "Ow."

"Ah, sorry about that." I said while getting up again and turning to look on who I tripped.

Imagine my surprise when I realized that I stumbled on the trio of childs from a few days ago.

"Hey hey Mister Human!" chirped the little orange one with purple hair. "Can you grab all of us back to your world?"

"What? Of course not. That's dangerous." I replied quickly.

"Pretty pleaaaaaaase?" She asked.

The one named Sweetie following instantly with "We could earn our Cutie Mark like this."

"And we'd be safe with ya." Finished Applebloom.

All of them were giving me the puppy eyes. The cuteness was reaching critical levels!

But above anything, I really couldn't take that risk. "Sorry girls. No pony can come to my world. It's really off-limits." I replied with a shake of my head.

Suprisingly they didn't let out a disappointed 'Awww...' but rather all said a simple 'Oh.'

The orange one laughed awkwardly. "Well we still have our list! Let's get going girls!" She said right before they ran away.

Strange. And I still didn't get the name of the third one. Maybe next time.

I continued on my walk through Ponyville, this time a bit more focused of where I was going.

Ponies were still a friendly bunch, some of them waving some 'hello's at me with a hoof, which I returned. No reason not to anyway, though a couple of them were looking at me weird, like they were thinking about something.

One of them approached me. "Prince Anon?" said the yellow mare with a light blue mane.

"Just... Just Anon is fine. I'm not really a prince." I replied with slight embarassment.

"Is it true that you can bring ponies to your world?" She asked.

I was taken aback. "Wha- Who told you that?"

"Little Scootaloo did nothing but brag that she went to your world, even if it lasted only for a minute." She replied with a compassionate look.

Scootaloo? Mystery solved then.

"Ah... Well yes, but it was just an accident. I'm not in trouble, am I?" I asked with worry.

She just laughed softly. "No! At least I don't think so." She said. "Can you bring me there? I'd like to see what a whole new world looks like."

Eh?

A close-by stallion listening to our conversation intervened. "Can I come with you?"

Eh??

A pegasus approached from above. "It sounds fun! Can I tag along?"

EH???

"No--" I started saying, but more and more ponies got close and started showing interest, shutting down any response from my part.

With how the situation looked, I couldn't just teleport back. There was a risk that one of them would be touching me while I did, and they might bring all kinds of unwanted attention if they're really excited.

Now I had a small crowd slowly closing in on me. There was only one solution to this problem.

I turned tail and ran as fast as I could, yelling that I couldn't do what they asked.

That didn't deter them though, because they were now running behind me, trying to negociate their way to Earth. They were all real close and would grab me at the first sign of fatigue.

Is it some weird herd mentality playing against me or something?!

I ran through the streets as fast as I could, not knowing how I could get myself out of this situation.

Honestly I was hoping for them to understand that I didn't want to take them to Earth after we ran for a minute or two but it seemed like that wouldn't happen.

I suddenly came across a familiar looking street and decided to follow it. If I wasn't wrong that would lead me to... ah-HA! Twilight's Library! And Spike was currently opening the door too!

"Spike! Hold the door!" I yelled toward him.

"Uh wha..?"

I crossed the threshold and slammed the door shut behind me, blocking it with my body. "Can you get Twilight to lock the door?" I asked quickly while the ponies banged on the door.

"What did you get yourself into?" He asked with a sigh.

I blocked some more tries to kick the door open. "We really have no time here!"

"Okay okay!" He said, going into the basement.

Just a few seconds later, Twilight teleported in front of me. "You." She said dangerously. "Did you really manage to bring a pony with you, back to your world?" She asked while levitating a scroll and a quill.

Somehow at that moment, I hesitated to just open the door and get taken away by the group of ponies.

Author's Notes:

In less stressed circumstances, Anon would reply with this.

Thanks for reading yet again! Dang you guys are awesome.

Trouble(s), Human(s), and a Solution(?!)

I started having the weird warmth I had earlier with Pinkie all over again. Weird stuff in my chest related to the Elements, confirmed.

There were more banging on the door coming from the eager ponies outside. "No time Twilight, can you lock the door before they get in?" I said quickly, still panting from the sprint.

Her horn lit up with magic. There was a small flash and Spike was suddenly with us. "Spike, keep an eye on Anon please." She said before teleporting.

I could hear someone yelling from the other side of the door, telling the crowd to stop, then giving them a small lecture on how they 'wouldn't like the same thing happening to them' and other things that I couldn't quite hear perfectly. The bangings stopped quickly and murmurs could be heard from the other side.

Spike shook his head, the teleport having disoriented him. After a few second, he managed to stumble next to me and sat down. There was a brief silence as he stared at me, probably expecting me to start talking but I was trying to listen to the conversation outside.

"So, what did you do?" He finally asked.

"An unintentional, grave mistake." I replied with an annoyed expression, pressing my ear against the door to try to understand their words, but they were unintelligible.

"Heh, I feel like we got one of those every week, but don't worry." He said while fist bumping my leg. "Whatever you did will never be worse than spilling milk on one of Twilight's favorite book." He continued, seemingly recalling a memory with a shudder.

I glanced at him with a silent raised brow. Spike refocused on me and grabbing my leg. "You didn't do that, did you?!" He asked in a panic. "Oh no. We need to write to Princess Celestia. She's the only one who can get Twilight out of her book fort and console her!"

"Spike." I called to him calmly but the little dude just started running toward one of the drawers built in the wood to get some supplies for his letter. "SPIKE!"

"Wha--eugh-!" The little dragon stopped in his tracks, clenching his belly before he let out a fiery burp, materializing a scroll wearing the royal golden stamp.

I took a deep breath when seeing it. I wasn't particularly eager to find out what was written inside. "I swear if there's another bad news like the Prince stuff, I'm going to go to Canterlot and bap the responsible Princess on the horn with that scroll."

Spike put his supplies on the table and looked at me with horror when I spoke. "B-but you can't do that! They're the Princesses!" He said, even more in a panic now.

"I can and I will." I replied. "But only if the content is really, REALLY bad. Also don't forget that I can do much worse."

"W-worse?" He asked shakily.

"Yes." I said with a devilish grin. "I could boop their nose." To that I earned a small gasp from him. "Or even pat their head." He gasped loudly. "In front of every pony!" He tried to gasp even more but his little lungs were already full, making him inhale weakly in a high pitched note.

I held a straight face for a good two seconds before bursting out laughing. Poor Spike was confused for a second, then joined me laughing. "Good one Anon, I thought you were serious." He said, taking the sealed scroll off the ground.

"Ha yeah, I wouldn't do that in front of everyone." I replied while holding one of my sides.

He briefly nodded, then blinked at what I just said. I only had time to snort before Twilight flashed between us. The warmth in my chest grew stronger again as expected.

So, since she's using Magic repeatedly around me, she's activating her Element from the Harmony in my chest... Got it.

She looked at me with a puzzled look. "How did you even manage to have more than twenty ponies running after you?"

I breathed a few times to be sure that I wouldn't fall back in laughing fit. "Hey, you're the pony, you tell me. I was just running away from a few ponies and others just joined their group."

She furrowed her brows briefly and glanced back at Spike, which had opened the parchment and was currently reading it. His face showed concern. "That must be Princess Celestia's response. Spike, what does it say?"

Response? That piqued my curiosity. "What did you ask of her?"

"I needed advice concerning a certain rumor going on for the last few days." She stated, staring at me sideways. "One that involves a certain human bringing a little filly back to their world."

Well, ain't that great. It wasn't bad enough to have the citizens onto THAT.

Thankfully, it seemed like little Scootaloo didn't speak of Eva getting here. That'd probably violate some unspoken agreement between the royal sisters and myself.

Spike began to read out loud. "My faithful student, Princess Luna and I have been discussing this new matter rather vividly these past few days and we've only come to an agreement today. If this rumor turns out to be confirmed, we will first need to determine if the incident was an accident."

Both Spike and Twilight turned their head to look at me, expecting an immediate answer.

I groaned. I could understand the suspicions, considering that the only other human they had contact with became an evil Chaos god. And to be honest, even I wouldn't trust this power to any other human.

No point in denying it further now though, but that doesn't mean I was okay with it. "Fine. Yes, I accidentaly brought Scootaloo with me, she was touching my shoes when I went back in my world. I got her back in Equestria just a few seconds later when I saw her there though!"

I saw Spike and Twilight's eyes widen from the surprise. She started to write something on the paper floating with her magic. "So it was true! A whole new world... So many possibilities!" She said excitedly. "A whole species to study! The cultures! The technology! This could be, no, this will be the biggest--"

I lowered myself to put a finger against her lips, shutting her down instantly. "No. Absolutely not. Nothing will be studied." I said in a grave tone.

She frowned in confusion and pulled back her head to speak. "What? Anon, think of what we could learn from your world! Especially everything related to space travel!"

"Twilight, I'm not saying there nothing good that my world could bring to yours, or yours to mine... But I think our worlds would be better off separated and not influence each other." I replied nearly in a whisper.

There was a lot of things that would easily change the ponies' opinion about humans, and indirectly, me. The first, being that we're omnivore. Spike proved it to me given how he reacted when I said I could eat meat. Then there's a big part of our history... It's better if they never find out.

"Why are you saying this? Everything you said about your world's technology hinted to a great civilization!" Twilight exclaimed. I winced at the comment.

Not wanting to further explain my reasons, I moved toward Spike to take the scroll out of his hands. "Hey!" He yelled at me.

"Sorry Spike. I just want to read the rest of it." And read I did. "Regardless of his answer, if he can transport somepony to his world and back, I trust you to..." I stopped and squinted at the paper. "...Give him a thorough lecture regarding the safety process of teleportation spells."

"Oh boy." I heard the drake say from below. Uh? I briefly glanced at Spike but his gaze was turned to Twilight.

Said Twilight had now multiple scrolls floating around her and she was writing on all of them at the same time. Spike just pat my leg with pity. "Whatever you do, do not try to escape it, or she will prepare a scolding lecture ten times as long."

I couldn't repress showing some concern. "Hey it can't be that bad, right? I should just watch for anything around me before going back." I said while I eyed a growing stack of scrolls beside the mare. They couldn't be related to the lecture... right?

Let's continue with the letter...

"Now comes the reason of the debate I had with Princess Luna. We once tried to learn more about Anon's world, but after realizing we had no real reason for it, we abandoned the idea. However, if it is proven that Anon can transport items or creatures between both of our worlds, then his social status needs to change."

The sound of quill on paper stopped and we all spoke at the same time.

"What?"

Twilight pulled the scroll out of my hands with her magic. "Hey!" I shouted towards her.

Spike scoffed with a smirk, making me roll my eyes.

Twilight just went on to read the rest of the letter. "My faithful student, please inform Anon of this news first thing when he comes back. He is-- WHAT?!"

"Oh come on now, what is it?!" Both Spike and I said at the same time. We squinted at each other for a second, then let out a small chuckle.

Meanwhile, Twilight took the time to further read the letter in silence. "Anon, according to the letter, you have been stripped of your title!"

I stared at her and blinked.

She stared back at me.

Spike stared at me. I blinked again.

"Huh." I let out.

Twilight's eye twitched. "What do you mean 'huh'?! This has never happened in the history of Equestria! The princesses have downgraded you to ambassador! Aren't you upset?!"

I shrugged. "Not really, I mean, a bit bummed out that I don't have all the amaaaazing-" I said while wiggling my fingers. "-advantages anymore but I wasn't using them anyw..."

...

I tilted my head on the side. "...Did you say ambassador?"

"Yes! Why aren't you more worried?! The princesses have relegated you to the rank of mere diplomat!" Twilight cried out.

"Would you calm down already?" I asked, slightly annoyed from the constant yelling by now. "I didn't care much about that title, it brought unwanted attention." I said, pausing for a second. "Even if it sounded prestigious." I paused again. "And had interesting advantages." Spike deadpanned at me. "Darn, I can't declare a couple as married now." I said, looking at the ceiling in thought while stroking my chin. Twilight joined Spike with a look of deadpan of her own. "Hey, don't look at me like that you two."

Twilight pressed a hoof against her face. "You don't understand! This relegation will probably cause an uproar from the nobles!"

"Pfft. If anything, they'll be happy that I lost that undeserved title. You're worrying too much." I replied.

If the nobles here were anything like the various work of fictions I've read or seen, then they will not cause much trouble over it. But then again, Twilight lived in this world all her life, so she probably knows more about them than me. But then again AGAIN, Celestia should know what she's doing.

Twilight let out a frustated groan. "Fine, we'll see how it goes then."

"Sure. Also, is there anything else in the letter?" I asked, pointing at it.

"Oh, yes." She replied, taking another look at it and mumbling until she caught up to where she left off. "...now an official representant of his race... diplomatic meeting as soon as possible... Ah, there." She paused to clear her throat. "Furthermore, please negociate a crate of apple with your dear friend Applejack and send it to the castle." She blinked, then looked at Spike.

"Ohhh no. Today is your turn for the groceries." Spike replied instantly.

Breathing a sigh of defeat, Twilight looked at the last part of the letter, squinting her eyes. "Uh, it looks like Princess Celestia ran out of place to write and tried to squeeze one last sentence..." She brought the scroll closer to read it and soon, her face lit up with excitement. She looked at me, and her excitement seemed to falter, until she looked back at the scroll and her excitement began anew. Then she looked back at me, and the excitement died out again.

I must admit that it was completely disconcerting. "You alright, Twilight?"

She flinched at the question. "Y-yes, of course! Can you excuse us? And please don't leave for now." Not even giving me time to react, she went to Spike and teleported both of them somewhere.

All I had to do was to wait... But I believe I heard Spike yell "WHAT?!" from the basement.

~ ~ ~

I didn't really stood there doing nothing. I was curious as to what the other nations were in this world, and so picked a book related to that topic.

I briefly wondered why it was placed to high on the shelf, but coming with no answers, I moved on.

I sat myself at the round table, putting down my bag nearby and began to shift through the pages. Yaks, dragons, griffons and some more mythical beings were mentionned.

Griffons were once a proud nation... But it changed around a hundred years ago, when they lost a certain artifact. Since then, their nation fell in a pitiful state and griffons now had deep distrust with each other.

I continued to read some more until Spike came back nearly half an hour later. He just grabbed some book then ran back downstairs.

I asked if he needed help but he nervously declined, telling me to wait 'just a little more'.

Well I didn't have anything to do beside apologizing to Rainbow for being late, so I complied.

After reading for an hour, I decided to get up to move my legs a little, but looking outside, I could see that the Sun was low in the sky. It wouldn't be long until Celestia lowered it completely. I didn't want to wander around at night, so I'd have to apologize another day.

I walked up to the door leading to the basement and opened it. "Hey it's getting late, I think I'll just go!" I yelled in hope that they heard me.

"Wait!" I heard Spike yell back. He ran up to me, slightly panting and handed me a scroll. "Twilight is... occupied and told me you could go. T-take this with you and open it only when you're back in your w-- Hey!"

While he spoke I already unfurled the piece of paper. On it was a silly doodle of a pony vaguely looking like a surprised Twilight, wearing some kind of bags on her sides. "Is that a gift from you? This is uhhh... nice." I replied, a little unsure why a theorically greedy dragon would give me a drawing he just made. Especially since we're not even that close, but this was a magical pony land of niceness, so I just shrugged it off.

I rolled the scroll back on itself and put it in my bag. "While I can't guarantee that I'll put it on a wall, I'll be sure to keep it in my room, okay?"

"Y-yeah sure! Have a good night!" He replied quickly before closing the door to the basement.

His whole demeanor was shifty but I didn't press on the matter. It was probably caused by the thing occupying Twilight right now.

After checking that I didn't forget anything here, I pronounced the words to teleport myself back to my apartment.

I didn't expect my bag to suddenly feel much heavier after the little transition in the void, and that threw me off-balance. "WoaAA-" Twilight and I yelled out while I managed to fall on the couch.

"What the heck..? You alright Twilight?" I asked absentmindedly.

"Yes, I..." She started.

Both our eyes went wide as we realized what just happened.

"What are you doing here?!" I yelled at her.

She teleported a few meters away and took a wobbly step back. "Oh Celestia, this place feels wrong..."

I got up on my feet and approched the mare with threatening steps. "Twilight!"

She focused back on me. "Please don't get angry! I needed to come here!" She said, her horn charging up.

I stopped. If she teleported out of here, that would causes an incredible amount of problems. I held my hands up. "Don't do anything stupid there. If you get out, there's no turning back for the both of us."

She didn't respond. Instead, I saw confusion on her face, then her eyes went wide. "I can't feel any magic..." She started panicking and let her spell loose. A bright pink bubble formed around her.

"Twilight?!" I approached quickly and tried to get to her, but the bubble was like a thick glass ball, perfectly protecting her from anything outside. "Twilight, get rid of this, I need to get you back to Equestria right now." I said with worry.

She kept mumbling to herself various observations about the overall situation and made no effort to get out of the bubble.

I could try to break it, but whatever attempt I'll make will never be fast enough to prevent her from teleporting away.

When she started writing notes down, I understood that she wouldn't move until she was done putting her thoughts down on paper.

So I just sat back down on the couch, and waited.

I could occasionally hear her say "But what if..." or "So that would mean..." all while she made a small pile of notes. She sure loved writing...

I eventually got up and grabbed some water from the fridge. "Want something?" I asked her.

"No thank--" She stopped herself and thought. "Actually, yes please. Any fruit juice will do."

I grabbed the only thing I had at the time, orange juice. I poured a glass for her. I got back to the bubble and handed it to her. She shook her head sideways. "Please put it on the ground."

She's good. I could've teleported us back to Equestria when she'd touch the glass with her hoof. I did as she said and put it down then went back to the couch.

I saw her teleport the glass in her bubble, then pull a tiny device from one of her bags. It looked self-made. "What is it?" I asked between two sips of my water.

She didn't even spare a glance at me, being solely focused on putting a small cable from the device in the juice and reading the result of whatever she was doing.

"Not the slightest hint of magic..." She mumbled, pull back the cable and taking a sip of the juice. Her face scrunched up. "What did you give me?"

"Orange juice." I replied, holding my head with a hand, looking bored.

"Do they make juices out of old oranges?" She said, preparing to take notes again.

"I don't think so."

"So magic may have an effect on the taste of drinks, and so, food too..." With a final scritch, she underlined that last sentence. "I'll have to test that back home."

I lifted my head. "Are you done?"

She glanced at me with a sad frown. "No. I still have some things to check..." She said, turning herself toward me, briefly shifting her eyes before locking them with mine. "Why do you want me to be gone so badly?"

I clicked my tongue and sat a bit more straight. "Look, I don't really want to talk about how humans are because I fear of how y'all will react."

Her ears folded back and she looked curious, yet afraid. "What do you mean..?"

"What did I just say?" I said with a sigh.

"Please, I need to know, Anon. Princess Celestia asked me to act as an embassador to your world. I need as much informations as possible."

...

"She did what?"

"Appoint me as a pony embassador." Twilight repeated.

"Rhetorical question, Twilight." I said while slowly rubbing my hand against my face. "Seems like I need a word with Celestia about making important decisions regarding humans, without my consent."

How to say much about humans without scaring her too much... I thought. Thankfully the book I read earlier provided me with excellent comparison examples.

"Listen Twilight, my world isn't exactly like yours, or rather like Equestria." I said, stopping only to take a big sip of water. "We humans are kind of like... griffons, dragons and ponies mixed together."

She looked confused. "Please elaborate, I do not see what you mean by that. You acted fairly like a pony would since I've known you."

I rubbed the base of my neck. "Yeah uhhh... I'm a big sucker for anything adorable."

"Oh, that's understandable. We all have things we particularly like." She said almost automatically, but then my words hit her. "Wait, did you just--"

"Moving on! While in your world it seems like every race have their own common personality traits, we humans are really diverse, going from the most disgustingly awful people, to the most kind and honorable ones. And even though it feels like there's more mean people than good, the majority of us are fairly neutral."

She silently took notes, nodding a few times while I was talking. "Okay, but..."

"Just let me finish, you'll ask questions later..." I took a deep breath. "One detail you need to know is that humans are the only sapient beings in my world. The animals don't talk. And they certainly don't understand us as much as the animals in your world do."

She nearly dropped her quill. "The only..?"

I nodded. "Yes. Keep in mind that we're the only sapient species on our world. You must think that we should be pretty united then, right?"

She continued writing while listening intensely. "Oh, uh, sure, maybe? I wouldn't know since I lack many parameters to reach that conclusion."

I shaked my head briefly. "Well, we're not united. Not at all. We don't really trust others people outside of our close group of friends and family. But the worst thing regarding your situation here is that you're an alien, and people will not understand what you are. And when we don't understand something... well it usually goes bad."

She stared at me with the most hurtful expression of sadness I've ever seen. "Is... Is there no way for our worlds to have diplomatic ties with each other then?"

My poor heart was about to break.

"I don't know. We still could find a..." My phone vibrated once. I glanced at it and saw that a certain app with a red Play button was getting an update. "...solution."

I had an idea, and no, she wasn't going to be Mercy.

It might be crazy enough to work if I make them believe she's not real, but am I really going to risk it all?

I took another look at her, and my decision was made. I can always teleport out if things get hectic.

"...Say, Twilight, how well do you do in front of an audience?"

Author's Notes:

I had a bit of trouble getting this chapter out. Got pretty busy IRL and couldn't work much on writing. So, sorry for the trouble if you really wanted to continue reading asap.

Speaking of reading, thanks for doing just that!

Kisses on y'all.

[[Cancellation Notice]] Updated Oct. 12 2019

Hello, I know this will come as disappointment to some, and believe me I'm the first to be disappointed at myself, because I self-promised to not let this story be another unfinished piece on this website.

As you may have seen, chapters started to take longer and longer to get published here.

Reason is, it takes me around 15 hours to write a chapter, and I'm someone that function in 'burst'.

That burst has been exhausted, and I can't seem to write now. (Is that what it feels to get a writer's block?)

I also don't have the time nowadays to spend a couple hours writing, if writing actually happens.

Furthermore, this story was originally supposed to stop when Anon went back to Earth, but I continued it because I was hyped to imagine what could happen after that. I should have made that continuation as a separate story I guess.

It's because of all these reasons that I'll put this story in Hiatus for an indefinite duration.

Gotta wait for another burst again.

If the burst happens to be for another idea of a story, I'll make sure to have everything planned out this time and to publish it when it's all writed out. (I don't like seeing unfinished story here, and I'm sure you do too).

To end on a good note, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to y'all.
May a lot of good stories stumble before your eyes in 2019!
=======
Hello.
It's been a while hasn't it? If you're here it's probably because you wanted to check on the story and I'm thankful for it.
After 10 months I figured I shouldn't keep you (and myself) hoping to have the inspiration into continuing this story, so I'm getting this one Cancelled.
I've had multiple ideas about new stories, wrote the synopsis for them and actively thinking about the beginning but apart from having stray ideas, I didn't get further than that.
I always loved seeing how a story was introduced, the world building, or how two wildly different things can be weaved together, and in hindsight, maybe it's why the 1st chapter is the one I like the most. The more I look to the other chapters and the more I wonder what the heck I was doing. Egh.
Maybe I should make 'write story beginnings' my thing. We'll see.

I'll stop my rambling now, thank you for having checked out the story.

Author's Notes:

And you guys made this appear in the Featured tab just after I published that Hiatus notice. Thank you all for reading!