Chapters Brandon looked in awe towards Jones, and when he was finally able to speak, his voice was strained and raspy. "How did you do that?" Jones didn't answer him and instead pulled a body length mirror up to Brandon. He looked at his reflection in the mirror. He was completely navy blue with dark brown hair. But this hairstyle had a light blue- almost cyan- streak running down the left side. He looked to his face and saw that he had his same sea green eyes but he noticed something... off. He saw that there was a dark blue horn extruding from his head. He was appalled and his voice came out in cracks. "Jones, what is going on here?" Instead of answering Brandon's direct question, Jones spoke, almost in monotone.
"Walk on four legs."
"What?"
"You heard me. Walk. On. Four. Legs." Jones said calmly. He then shouted. "I can't levitate you around everywhere so you might as well learn to walk!" Jones had finally snapped at Brandon. Obviously irritated at him.
"But Jones I-"
"Walk, Brandon."
"Fine." Brandon said harshly as he stood on four legs and took a few steps forward. "Hey, I'm getting the hang of it!"
Just then a new voice-no- not a new voice. The pegasus from before, Fluttershy, spoke. It sounded as if she was scolding someone. "You should know better!" She said as she walked into the den. She then looked straight at Jones and Brandon and just stared at them.
Brandon looked to Jones and mumbled, just quietly enough for him to hear, "The hell do we do?"
"I don't know." Jones responded at the same volume.
After about a minute of this stare off, Fluttershy ran up the stairs of the house. Then Brandon and Jones both fell asleep and hit the floor at the same time
////
Brandon woke with a start. Among his first thoughts were: Ow, my head. and Why am I not on the floor? He knew he wasn't on the floor anymore because there was a blanket on him. "Jones?" He called. Quite pitifully because his mouth was so dry. "Jones!"
The pale unicorn came into the room rather sluggishly. "Brandon? What happened?" He asked. Not in much better shape than Brandon.
"I could ask you the same thing." Brandon sat up, looked at Jones, and, quite solemnly, asked. "What time is it."
"I don't know. Check that bag that was on your back last night. See if there's a clock or something in there."
At this point Brandon was confused. Bag?
Just then, Jones collapsed on the ground. "Ow! Stop thinking so much, dumbass!" He yelled... well... rasped.
Brandon got up and off the couch, making sure to get on all four legs this time, and looked around. And, sure enough, there was a bag that much resembled a satchel on an inn-table next to the couch he was sleeping on. "Well what do ya know" He said opening the bag and rummaging through its contents. His iPhone and earbuds, his sunglasses, and his handgun with three magazines. "Jones... Let's go." Brandon said as he started sprinting towards the door before Jones stopped him.
"Hey, Mister 'I gotta know the time', check your phone's clock."
"Oh. Heh, right.'
Brandon felt around with his hoof and found his phone. As he felt it he wondered how he was going to get it out of the bag. He decided to try the simplest action known to anyone and tried to grab it in his fingers. Surprisingly, it worked and he grabbed the phone with his navy blue hoof. "Talk about muscle memory." He gently held down the button on the top left of his phone until the florescent white Apple logo appeared and was quickly replaced by his screensaver, He looked up at the time and read the display quickly. It read 12:42 AM . "Damn, Jones. What time did we fall asleep last night?" Brandon asked
Jones replied after having a serious moment of thinking."Well, if I were to guess I'd say around twelve-thirty. But, it depends on what time you...well...we died"
Brandon was confused "We?"
"Yes, Brandon. We. I've been with you since as long as you can remember."
"Ok. Let's just get out of here. I don't want anything else weird to happen."
What he didn't know was that the day was about to get much, much weirder.
//15.5 Minutes later//
"Uh, Jones, I think we may be lost." Brandon stated while walking through the underbrush.
"Oh, really? I thought we were in 'Candy Gumdrop Land', Brandon!"
From the edge of the Everfree forest, the most dangerous place in Equestria, Thunder Tracer heard what sounded like a male voice coming from further in the forest. Fluttershy had been telling him about two stallions that passed out in her house last night when he heard the call. And, after weighing the pros and cons of going into the Everfree, Thunder decided to at least see who called and who this 'Brandon' character was. "Why the hell not." He said to himself as he entered the forest.
//12 minutes prior//
As Brandon rummaged through the double satchel type bag, he had come across a few new things. Including his work boots, his jeans, his shirt, his survival knife, his compass, and his hoodie. To name a few. As they trekked through the forest, Brandon looking at his compass and cutting down giant plants as they went, they tried to carry on a conversation.
"So, uh, Jones, you mind telling me WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON!?" Brandon shouted.
"Well, Brandon, you died and you're now a pony. That's about the gist of it." Was Jones' reply
It was at this point that Brandon noticed that his compass needle was spinning in circles.
He stopped and stood there.
"What Brandon, what is it?" When he didn't get an answer, Jones lifted up his right foreleg and sent it flying across Brandon's face.
"Ow! What the hell, man!?" Brandon said, shocked by the impact.
"Well answer me. What is it?"
"Uh..."
"What?"
"Uh, Jones, I think we may be lost."
Jones brought the bottom of his hoof to his face. "Oh, really? I thought we were in 'Candy Gumdrop Land', Brandon!" He shouted.
They then heard ruffling in the bushes. "Jones," Brandon whispered to his materialized psyche. "Who is that?"
"I don't know."
They stared at the brush for a few more seconds before something emerged. It was a light blue unicorn with a slightly darker mane that curved down at the end. "You the two I heard screaming?" He asked with a tinge of annoyance in his voice. They nodded. "Welp, c'mon let's go." He lifted them up in his magical hold and began walking out the direction he came from.
//15.5 minutes earlier//
Thunder Tracer sat on Fluttershy's couch. "I can't believe you didn't hear them. They hit the floor very loudly." She was explaining the presence of two strange stallions last night.
"I was upstairs. Asleep. In bed. With the door shut, and if you don't mind, I'll be going back there now." Thunder wasn't used to getting up early. Though, it was 12:43 PM, but he was still asleep. "At least go look for them," Fluttershy said. "They could be lost, or worse." She looked up at him with wide eyes.
"Dammit, you're too cute for your own good." He said with a smile. "You coming with me?"
"No, I'll stay here." She replied. He gave her a kiss on the forehead, put on his saddle bags, said goodbye, and walked out the door.
As he walked around the perimeter, the thought that his Fillyfriend was alone and those stallions could come back at any minute worried him. He decided to call his friend, Light Runner. He did a contact spell that rang a few times before he got an answer. "Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want?"
Thunder Tracer knew he had just woken up his friend. "Light, I'ma need you to teleport here now."
He got no answer but instead a sound from behind him. He turned to see Light Runner looking bemused. His black-yellow mane was disheveled and his electric yellow coat was bedraggled.
"What the fuck is it this time, Trace?" Light asked as flopped on the ground.
"Well...you see, these two guys came into Flutershy's house last night and I'm going to look for them, but I need you to make sure they don't try to come back blow up the house or some shit." Thunder looked at his friend hoping for an answer; He got nothing.
Then, Light got up. "All right. I'll watch your fillyfooling friend." Light cracked a smirk at his own joke, knowing how irritated it made his friend.
"Oh, screw you." Thunder Tracer said, and with that, he was off.
//Present//
"You know," Thunder said,"I don't believe I asked you folks why you were out here." As he put them down he sat back on his haunches.
Brandon was flabbergasted, first the emergence of his own subconscious, now more talking ponies? Jones spoke up. "Why are we talking ponies?"
"Well," Thunder began, "Everypony is exc-" He was interrupted by Brandon.
"Did you just say everypony ?" He asked
"Why yes, I did." Was the response he got. "Well, that's enough Q and A. Let's get you to Twilight."
"Um, what's your name sir?" Brandon asked
"My name's Thunder Tracer, you are?"
"I'm Brandon and this is Jones." Brandon said motioning to Jones. Brandon had one more question on his mind. "You're taking us to Twilight? Like, the book series?"
Thunder Tracer's face dropped in confusion. "I'm not aware of a book called Twilight, I'm taking you to the best magic user ever, besides the princesses, of course."
Brandon looked at him in utter disbelief. "My brain's about to explode. Let's just stop talking."
"I'm down." Thunder said as they continued on in complete silence.
////
Brandon Roth and his small team passed the crumbled remains of the fallen Sears Tower as they trudged through the war torn streets of Chicago, Illinois. Though Brandon grew up in Winfield, KS, moved to Lawrence, KS, and worked at a little place called the Free State Brewery, He emigrated to the East shortly after the U.S. was overtaken. The twenty-one year old was in his third year of college when the U.S. Military overtook the American people on November 23, 2013. The year was now 2014 and Brandon had seen his fair share of deaths (Though his family was still alive.) and over the past 3 months he had built an impenetrable barrier around his very being. This barrier had rules to it, though:
Do not get attached to people
And 2. Do not give in to anybody
The light-skinned male was wearing a black t-shirt under a dark blue zip-up hoodie. The shirt very nearly matching his dark brown hair. He told his team to stop so he could look around. He went further down the road and, as he was pulling his binoculars out of his bag, he heard cries of phrases such as: "They were here all along!" And "Kill the Revolutionaries!" The second voice he knew all to well. As Brandon ran through the streets and back to his team, he took his pistol out of his pocket and flipped the safety down. He couldn't help thinking things like: I should have stayed. and Can't they not attack us for one day?
As he was on his way back, he noticed that the distinct sounds of gunfire could be heard louder and louder. As he grew nearer to the site he heard the crack of a rifle and, at that exact moment, time slowed down. He had barely turned his head as he blacked out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
As Brandon awoke, he noticed that he either couldn't open his eyes or it was extremely dark. One thing he was sure of, though, was the throbbing pain in his forehead. He then moved his head up and saw the large, glowing, full moon. At least I'm not blind. He thought, as he stood up on both legs. He took a step and lost his balance. Then, he proceeded to fall flat on his face.
"Walk much?" He heard a deep young man's voice say. As he looked toward the sound of the voice he noticed that wherever he was it looked... Animated. Like someone replaced the world with drawings. The second thing he noticed, however, was that he was in a forest even though he was in a city just a few moments ago.
"Hey! Hello! Anyone home?" The voice said sarcastically as it snapped Brandon out of his daze.
"Uhh, yeah." He replied, still laying on the ground.
"Well," The voice said stepping out of the shadows."Get up." Brandon blinked five times to make sure he wasn't seeing things. Is there a horse in front of me? He thought to himself, as he saw what looked like a male horse with a transparent white coat and transparent yellow mane and tail that were done up in shaggy curls at the ends.
"Umm, actually, Brandon, I'm a pony. And so are you." Brandon sat there in disbelief. Did that hors- er, pony 1. Read my thoughts and say that we're both ponies? and 2. Just speak?
"Yes and yes." was what Brandon heard in reply. "But how can you do either of those things?" Brandon asked, still quite shocked from seeing a talking pony.
"Well, I'm simply a manifestation of your subconscious brought here to help you." The male pony said. "You can call me 'Jones' by the way." He added quickly.
"Okay, Jones," Brandon started. "Where am I, Why am I in the woods, and why are you a talking pony?" Brandon asked in rapid succession.
"Well," Jones began. "I don't know where we are because if I went more than thirty feet away your unconscious body you would die. I don't know why we're in a forest and, lastly, I'm a talking pony because you are."
As Brandon Went through the answers in his mind Jones started to speak again. "The only reason I can walk is because you were out for about five hours." Jones said coldly.
"Is there a mirror anywhere around here, Jones?" Brandon said, gesturing to the five foot diameter wide clearing. Without a word, Jones left the clearing to go look for a mirror, leaving Brandon with only his thoughts.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Here, Brandon." Jones said as he held a triangular piece of mirror glass in front of Brandon's face.
"You know what Jones, I can't see a damned thing in this darkness so whaddya say we go to bed and walk to civilization in the morning?" Brandon said with a yawn.
"Well I don't see why no-" He was cut off by a bird literally flying through his face.
Brandon lifted up his head and looked at Jones. "Holy shit, dude! Are you alright?" He asked.
"I-I think so." Jones replied.
Just then they both heard a voice at the same time. It sounded quiet and soft.
"Please come back and go to bed!" the voice said, probably as loud as it could. It sounded like it belonged to a young woman, probably not a day over twenty years old. Then there was silence. After that, there was a rustling in the bushes. Soon after, a pale yellow and pink blob came flying towards Brandon. He didn't have time to get out of the way so he decided to just take the hit like a man. He had been through worse. As soon as the hit came, he felt something soft land on him. He opened his eyes and saw a pale yellow pony with a long pink mane and tail that was slightly shorter than Jones but had two distinguishing features. Wings. There was a pegasus on Brandon's lap.Well this day just gets better and better. He thought sarcastically. She looked up at him and quickly retreated behind her mane, let out an 'Eep', and flew off. Brandon turned to Jones.
"Did a yellow and pink pegasus just-"
"Yep."
"And then talk?"
"Yep"
"Wanna turn and run back the way she came from?"
"Yep"
Just then, to Brandon's surprise, Jones split his mane and revealed a horn that quickly became aglow and lifted Brandon's whole body and ran the other way. The sudden shock of the magic field around his body caused Brandon to pass out yet again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Brandon awoke, he felt something softer than dirt under him. "Oh thank god it was all just a dream." He mumbled, still keeping his eyes closed.
"Um, not quite." A voice that he knew said to him.
"Dammit Jones, are we still here?" Brandon asked sharply
"Why yes Brandon." Came his reply. Brandon opened his eyes and was almost blinded by the sudden bright light of the room he was in. He was staring directly at the ceiling when he opened his eyes and immediately went back to one of his previous thoughts. Yep, I'm either going insane or my world has been replaced by cartoons. As he was wondering just what happened Jones spoke up. "Neither, we're actually in a world called Equestria or something that is inhabited mostly by equines. Most of those equines are ponies like you and I." Brandon recalled Jones saying something about him being a pony but he didn't believe him. "However, these ponies are split into three races: The pegasi, the unicorns, and the earth ponies. And that's about all I know"
Brandon went over Jones' speech in his mind before uttering one simple phrase: "Bullshit, who told you this?" Brandon thought he had his subconscious cornered but Jones didn't even flinch at his words. It was a moment before he replied.
"That pegasus that ran into you earlier and, by the way, her name's Fluttershy so, call her that when she gets back."
Brandon thought about a comeback and said, still laying on the couch, "But you're a figment of my imagination. Nobody can see you." Brandon thought he had the nearly transparent stallion cornered once and for all this time, but he was wrong, as Jones' horn started to glow and he was enveloped in a white smoke that began slowly dissipating. Slowly but surely Brandon realized what was happening. His mind was becoming a living being.