Across the Universe: Foster's Home of Power and Magical Friendship

Chapters

Prolouge- Penny for Your Thoughts
Chapter 1- The First Crossing

Prolouge- Penny for Your Thoughts

Imagination... thoughts... stories... dreams... ever wonder where they go when they leave one’s head? Have you ever wondered what happened to these stories once they were given the opportunity of freedom, and liberation of the mind. The answer is death... no thought can live or exist without the crutch that is a mind... but what about those thoughts? Do they have the opportunity to think themselves? No, a sane person may say, they’re just thoughts. The only thoughts that go through their head are ones of the man or woman that thinks them... but what if I were to say you yourself were no different than the thoughts that went through your own head? That you were a thought in itself, part of something greater, that is also it’s own thought? What if they were thoughts of thoughts of thoughts... and so on and so forth?

I bring up these questions not to confuse you, my dear readers, or anger those who can not bear the thought of thinking differently... but to open your mind in order to be able to grasp the tale I’m going to spin for you. Keep these questions in mind... they’re important as they are unbelievable. The reason being is because this is the story of thoughts, and how they became the only hope for mankind, and cartoon kind alike. I’m here to tell you the story of two gods.

These aren’t the kinds of gods that we commonly think of. Gods of immense power and immortality, no... these gods are quite mortal, and downright powerless... at least to us in our worlds. These gods are one we refer to as an “animators”... story writers, and directors of sorts for these worlds. The two in particular I want to mention, a man and a woman, the names of whom you may know, but I won’t mention quite yet. The man... the god as some of them might refer, worked with the goddess, in something of an apprenticeship, to create two worlds... or rather universes would be a better terminology, considering the sizes they can range from... with completely different rules, people, and even laws of physics. In some cases, they could even play off of our home, Earth... or should I say, our own thought and universe, Earth. To them, these animators that have been able to open their own minds to the truth... they referred to their own thoughts with numbers and equations beyond the understanding of the average human, but to us, we might refer to them as... shows. Television cartoons and programs created out of the heads of these animators, and story writers for our own amusement... universes unrealistic as unrealistic could get... at least in our respect as humans. These two universes, created by the animators I mentioned earlier, were known as the Power Puff Girls universe, and the Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends universe. These two... though different in all ways held a special connection, that I won’t get into right now. The point is, these two worlds existed separately, never colliding with each other... after all, something like that would be disastrous.

Years passed, and these shows were taken off of the mainstream known as “air”. In some cases, being on air was the lifeline of a cartoon thought. Getting taken off air, and especially getting canceled was a cartoon’s worst nightmare on a sub-conscious level. However, some cartoons, especially these ones, were given so much love, care, and attention from their animators... their creators... that they were allowed the rare opportunity to live without air. The creators saw that their thoughts had developed a small self awareness that was a rarity in cartoons. They saw their specialty, and gave them the opportunity to thrive independently without a thought... They lived, given the ability to think of their own accord, and were forgotten for a long time, along with their creators... until they came.

The goddess created a new show, she called... My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. She created this cartoon alone, and it became something that swept her world... her universe world wide. This was the most special of all the cartoons that were created in it’s time. It was clever, funny, smart, and above all, publicly appealed. I’m not here to give you an opinion of this show, but rather to state facts of it’s existence. The reasons it developed it’s self awareness earlier than any other cartoon of it’s time. They were young... but gained the power of a show that had been “on-air” for years. Not to mention their special power their goddess had ignorantly added to their world... and nearly doomed it to the death that all cartoons fear. That the power she gave these specific cartoons the power to destroy not only all cartoon kind, but mankind as well. This is the story of how those powers of dark and lights were awoken by... well, that would just spoil the story, now wouldn’t it.

If you’ve managed to read this far, then I commend you cracking open your mind for what I am going to tell you. The larger that opening is, the better you may be able to understand this yarn I will spin to you. These events are true, but only as true as your mind may allow it. The events I am going to tell you about are about these cartoons... these ponies. This is the story of how they all traveled past the boundaries of the fourth wall and back to save you, me, and every living thought in this world. This is the story of the relationships they’ve built, the friendships they’ve created, the teamwork they used, and the trials they conquered. This is the story of how the Power Puff Girls, the Foster’s gang and the Elements of Harmony saved the freedom to think, dream, and imagine forever... for they saved their world by doing something unheard of in the worlds of cartoons and mankind alike... by traveling Across the Universe.

Chapter 1- The First Crossing

“Oh... man... what happened?” A voice came from out of the darkness. It was the voice one that matched a child, no older than 9 or 10 perhaps. “Anyone there? Hello?”

“Mac?” came a second voice. “Buddy, is that you?”

“Bloo?” Mac responded. “Where are you? Where is everyone? Goo? Wilt? Coco? Ed?”

Suddenly came a scream from out of the darkness, scaring the two characters momentarily. To most, it would scare for as long as the scream lasted, but the two knew this scream quite well. Rather than fear, feelings of relief and light annoyance came to the characters.

“What is that?!” Bloo asked.

“What do you think?! Cheese! CHEESE!” Mac yelled, trying to overcome the sound of the screamer’s voice. It suddenly, and abruptly stopped to Mac’s voice.

“Yeth...” Cheese responded. His voice sounded babyish, as though he were just learning to talk.

“Stop it, ok? This is serious.” Mac said.

“Ok daddy.” Cheese said, finally being quiet.

“We already went over this. I’m not daddy. Louise is.” Mac said.

“I thought Louise was like a lady and stuuuff?” came a new voice came in the darkness, putting unnecessary exaggeration on the word “stuff”. Some of her words blended together, as though she were thinking more thoughts than she could spit them out.

“Mommy. Whatever... wait, Goo, is that you?” Mac asked.

“Well duh! Who else do you know who talks like this like blah, blah, blah and-”

“I’m sorry, but I’m here too Mac. Where-” the newest voice came. Sounds of squeaking basketball shoes were heard in the darkness before a thud.

“Hey! Watch it Wilt!” Bloo said.

“Oh, sorry Bloo. It’s kind of hard to see in the dark though.” Wilt apologized.

“Well be more careful.” Bloo said.

“That’s what you get for kicking everyone in the shin at that mall.”

“That was months ago, aren’t you gonna let that go ever?” Bloo asked. “It’s not like I haven’t done waaay worse.”

“Wait, is that everyone? Where’s Coco, Wilt, Frankie, and Madame Foster?” Mac asked.

“Not sure. Last I saw them was back at Fosters before...” Wilt trailed off.

“...Wilt? You still there?” Mac called.

“Hey uh... Mac. Your a smart kid. What happened?” Wilt asked.

“Oh! Oh! I know this one!” Goo exclaimed excitedly. The sound of her jumping up and down echoed through the darkness. “Ok. So, first, we went to the bolling ally with everyone, then we went back... and then when we got back, some teenage boy let out a Gigantanormous Extremasourous then... huh.” For the moment, the hyperactive Goo was speechless. “Go figure. I guess I kinda forget too.”

“Well, go ahead Mac. Tell us what happened.” Bloo said.

“Why do I have to do it?” Mac argued. “You’ve got a brain.”

“No, I’ve got jello.” Bloo said, before shaking his back-boneless, body frame creating a jiggling noise in the darkness.

“I like cereal.” Cheese said.

Mac sighed realizing that no one, now including himself, knew what had happened. He closed his eyes in the darkness one could barely tell the difference from open eyes to closed eyes. He tried to recall the memories of the last couple minutes... the time before they found themselves trapped in this thick darkness.

“Ok, guys. Help me out here...” Mac started. He racked his brain with what could have happened. “Well... like Goo said, we were headed back to Fosters. And something happened with an Extremosaurous.”

“Right...” Wilt said, “... while we were gone, somefriend took advantage of Madame Foster and Herriman’s absence.”

“No, not just some friend... some teenager.” Goo added from her own story.

“... it was Terrence and Dutches!” Mac remembered. “They let out Rex again!”

“Terrence?! What is he...” Bloo paused. “Oh yeah... now I remember.”

The Foster’s gang, aside from Cheese who just made random, choo choo train noises, drifted into thought as they tried to remember the events that transpired before their arival in the darkness. They remembered... as it all started with a bus ride home...

1***

"95 of Coco's Eggs on the wall, 95 of Coco's eggs!" The Foster's gang cheered as they drove further down Wilson way, as they started to see the building they knew and loved as Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. On the hour ride home from the city, they resolved to passing the time with singing a road song.

"You take one down, and pass it around!" they continued.

"And what's inside?"

"A paddle ball!" Bloo said.

"Bloo, it was Goo's turn." Mac argued.

"Pfft. My idea would've been way better than her's anyway." Bloo said.

"95 of Coco's eggs on the wall!" the group finished the verse of the song, and continued. "96 of Coco's eggs on the wall! 96 of Coco's eggs!" The new, much larger Foster's bowling team had just returned from a championship against the bowling imaginary friends of Mac's school. Of course, the Foster's gang lost, as they always did, wither it be from Bloo's antics, Eduardo's fearfulness, Wilt's kindness, Goo's inability to control her imagination, or some other pride thing from someone like Madame foster... but like every outing, no matter how wacky or insane it got, they always had fun as a group.

"You take it down, pass it around!" the group continued.

"And what's in there now guys?" Frankie called from the drivers seat of the Foster's bus as it drove down the street, getting closer and closer to the foster home.

"A unicycle with laser-beam eyes and a saxophone!" Goo called out, putting emphasis on the word saxophone. "Ooooh. And a horn that goes BLUWOOONK!" Bloo's mouth dropped at Goo's idea, an imagination he, or anyone for that matter, would most definitely never beat. Almost instantly after the idea left Goo's mouth, an imaginary friend of her exact specifications appeared next to her. "Oops. Sorry." Goo said.

"My word Ms. Goo." said Mr. Heriman, the suited butler-like bunny from the front of the bus, sitting next to Madame Foster, and right behind Frankie Foster. "Please control that imagination of yours. The next thing we know, this bus will be crammed with imaginary friends if you keep spitting them out like that all willy nilly!"

"Gotcha Mr. Bunny Man!" Goo said happily.

"And Ms. Foster." Mr. Herriman said. "Do I have to remind you to-"

"Get the house papers for the friend, I know, I know. You've told me like three times." Frankie said annoyed at the new paper work she'd have to file. On their hour ride, Goo had managed to pull out 3 imaginary friends. Each friend would be worth at least 5 pages of paperwork... it was school all over again for the woman. "Alright guys! No more imaginary friends, alright?!"

"Hey Bloo." Mac said smiling cockily at Bloo. "Remember what you said about your idea being better than Goo's"

"Shut up." Bloo said coldly. "That wasn't a thing. That was an imaginary friend. Those don't count. My paddle ball was way awesomer."

"You mean a paddle ball that you couldn't use even if you had it?" Mac laughed.

"Grah!" Bloo cried as he jumped from his seat and tacked Mac to the bus floor. Bloo didn't hurt Mac, as wrestling was not only a common thing for the two best friends, but Bloo's soft gelatin like fists barely did anything to the boy; especially when neither really wanted to hurt the other.

The two of them wrestled, rolling over each other along the center isle of the bus. "Hey, cut it out!" Frankie called from the front of the bus. "Don't make me turn this bus around!"

"But Frankie, wouldn't we just be going back to the bowling ally if we turned around?" Wilt asked.

"Si. Y Seniora Frankie?" Eduardo said, speaking in his native Spanish dialect, while trying to word out as much English as knew. "Didn't you say you were going to un concierto later tonight?"

"Not anymore." Frankie muttered bitterly, remembering the new imaginary friend paperwork she was now assigned by a certain suited bunny.

"Coco! Cococococo!" Coco said jumping out of her seat fearfully.

"I said get back in your-" Frankie yelled, but abruptly stopped, along with the vehicle as the wheels of the bus screeched and skidded to a stop. Even if you were around Coco, the palm tree, bird, airplane, thing, who only knew the word Coco, it still took a minute or two to understand what she was saying. It was that moment however, she realized that Coco was telling them to look... to look at the Extreme-o-Saurous terrorizing the massive Foster Home.

"What the heck?" Bloo said, ceasing his fight with Mac, as they both got up, and went to the front of the bus along with everyone else to get a good look at what was happening to their beloved home, as their bus sat not to far from the main gate, and the Extreme-o-Saurous itself.

The Extreme-o-Saurous imaginary friends were made by the imaginations of teenage boys, who still had the ability to think and imagine, and come up with "creative" thoughts. Fosters had a large array of Extreme-o-Saurouses that the Foster's gang had always ended up saving the town from on multiple occasions. They were the only ones who had the creativity, intelligence, strength, and courage to stand up to these monstrous imaginary friends, so they were quite used to them... except this one. This one, was one they referred to Extreme-o-Saurous Rex. Most likely inspired by some Pac-Man game some teen boy made up. The team, excluding Goo and Cheese, had fought this monster twice before... and both times they'd never been closer to death. Rex was an extremely large spherical imaginary "friend" with empty eyes and mouth, that showed the inside of it's body which glowed red. Attached to it's body were several smaller spherical balls that it used to move around and pick up it's victims... and from a terrifying learning experience, they learned that it's appendages, when separated, became heat seeking bombs, making nearly impossible to defeat. However, thanks to some quick thinking however, from Mac, Bloo, and the rest of his new friends, they managed to defeat Terrence and Dutchess and escape getting eaten alive... but now they faced this monster again. They could fight it... but something felt different about this appearance of Rex.

"Grandma... grandma, wake up." Frankie gently said as she nudged Madame Foster. The elderly woman simply turned the other way.

"Oh, let me sleep dearie. I'm not as young as you..." She muttered.

"No, grandma, we've got to go... like now." Frankie said, with a bit more urgency than before.

"Uh... Frankie?"

"What Mac?" Frankie asked.

Mac pointed to Rex as he picked up an imaginary friend, one named Flutter Nutter, as she was thrown up into the air by Rex. The gang watches helplessly as she goes up into the air and falls down, hitting the window shield of the bus, cracking it. She gave an unreasuring thumbs up, trying to convince the gang she was ok, as she fainted and slid off of the bus.

"Ooooooh...." the gang says collectively, cringing at how much pain they imagined was in that fall.

"I'm sorry, but that is not ok." Wilt added.

It's then, the Foster's gang noticed that Rex noticed their bus. The immense being stomped over to the bus.

"Frankie, I believe it would be a good time for us to run!" Mr. Herriman said panicked.

"I know, I know! Let me just open up the door. Let me through!" Frankie said, trying to squeeze past the wall of imaginary friends that mistakenly got bunched up in each other in an effort to see Rex. The only ones who were free were Cheese, who remained at the back, and

"Franke! We es muy stuck! We can't move!" Eduardo said.

"Ed! Move your far but back so we can get free!" Bloo complained.

"Hey! I'm not fat! It's the fur!"

"Right, jiggling fur." Bloo said back.

"Guys, this isn't the best time to be-" Mac started, but he was stopped as he watched Rex's ball like tentacles cover the windows, blackening them. It was wrapping it's tentacle around the bus.

While the rest of the gang was frozen in fear, Cheese, who remained surprisingly silent for this time, started to scream. Unknown to anyone, his scream was completely unrelated to the terrifying situation at hand. He was screaming because he dropped the bowling ball he was suckling on onto his foot with a thud. Rex de-leveled the bus as he picked it up, causing the bowling ball to roll into the crowded bunch of imaginary friends and dislodge one spot freeing them. They fell on top of each other, before getting up and each returning to their seats to face the horror they were now at the mercy of.

Each of the gang looked out their windows to see them going higher and higher into the air... until they were face to face with Rex... and the two who sat on top of the monster: Dutchess, a spoiled imaginary friend, and Terrence, the teenage brother of Mac.

"Dutchess! Terrence!" Mac called angrily through the window.

"Good evening..." Dutchess said fancily and sinisterly.

"What's up, bro?" Terrance gruffly and sinisterly said, before laughing at his helpless little brother.

"What the heck do you think your doing?"

"What does it look like? I'm finally getting my revenge on your stupid little bloo blob and your imaginary wierdos for making me look stupid." Terrence replied.

"Trust me Terrence." Bloo cockily replied. "You don't need us for that."

"You got that right." Terrence said.

"Darling, I believe he just called you stupid." Dutchess said. Terrence thought for a moment. It took him a good minute to realize the insult issued by Bloo, as he gritted his teeth angrily. Bloo grinned proudly.

"Bloo, what are you doing?" Mac asked.

"Relax Mac. We got this. We've beaten this big bad saurous before, and Ed, Coco, and Wilt have already done it twice! We got this." Bloo said non-chelantly. "We'll just give him the big ol' biff, bam and pow we always do. We've been through worse."

Mac had to admit, Bloo did have a point. They already had a method of how to defeat Rex, as they've done it before... but it was now Dutchess's turn to laugh.

"Oh, I don't think it will be quite as easy as before." Dutchess said, pacing back and forth on Rex's head. "For you see, it is not you that is the one who will be winning this battle, but us. We will be the ones who come out on top at the end of the day, and would you like to know why?" she paused before continuing her pace, and her speech. "Because we learned from our mistakes the last time we fought. The bombs, the detachable limbs, the... meat craving." Terrence briefly shudders at the feeling of being briefly devoured by Rex. "But now, you will see that this time, we are the ones who have the upper hand-"

"My gosh, is she still talking?" Bloo said to himself. It was still loud enough for the yellow-green elephant nosed, leopard coated witch to hear.

"I WILL BE FINISHED TALKING, WHEN I AM FINISHED TALKING! OK?!" She yelled at Bloo.

"Ok, ok... hurry it up, so we can beat you already." Bloo said. The rest of the friends wished they could share in Bloo's confidence. None of them, other than Cheese, who was still screaming about his foot... or something else no one would ever be able to comprehend... could shake the feeling Dutchess really planed something really bad for them.

Dutchess laughed. She laughed harder than ever... for she was now ready to pull out the ace up her sleeve. The skys suddenly started to darken abnormally with unnatural, but either way, it fit the grimness of the situation. Even Bloo and Terrence who felt like they were the kings, were taken aback by the change in scenery.

"You obviously don't know what your dealing with anymore Bloo..." Dutchess said, sneering at him creepily. "Oh my baby. Show him your new little accessory."

Rex obeyed his master, as he lifted up one of his tentacles to show the braces now in between the segments of tenticle. Now, they'd be near impossible to pull off... everyone, even Eduardo himself, doubted he would be able to pull off the feat he did in the junkyard by breaking the tentacles into their bomb like form.

"Oh... well... we can still-"

"Let me guess. You can still lure him around with a piece of meat? Ha! I've trained my little pet to only desire pastries I create, with my own little special ingredient... and imaginary filth like you." Now, Bloo was silent. He was now, genuinely scared... or rather downright horrified of the situation they were now in. "What's wrong Bloo? No smart remarks? Or how about you Mac? Any puns? Do you still think you can... bloo this?"

Terrence shuttered at the horror of the pun, as he remembered how bad it was when Mac first uttered it. They were all silent, except for Cheese, who was still screaming unnecessarily, much to Dutchess's annoyance.

"I might have given you a final word... but your yellow friend annoys me. Rexy..." she sung. "...Dinner time."

Extreme-o-saurous Rex let out a roar, before turning the bus vertical, trying to get the gang to fall out of the bus. They all grabbed onto the seats to keep from falling... all accept a few. Cheese, and the three imaginary friends created by Goo fell.

"Yay!" Cheese cheered as he fell. Wilt reached out for Cheese as he fell, but in result, given he only had one hand, he lost his grip on his own chair, and started to fall himself. "Ed! Catch me!"

Eduardo caught Wilt by the foot, as Wilt caught Cheese. Frankie held on to the still somewhat asleep Madame Foster, from falling as well. Unfortunately, the other friends... and Mr. Herriman weren't so lucky. The first two friends fell, unable to be caught by anyone else, simply because no one else's arms were long enough to catch another friend. They fell through the already broken glass, into the mouth of Rex. Mr. Herriman was hit by the third friend as he fell, causing him to loose his own grip on the chair. Thankfully, they both dodged the broken glass, but that didn't stop them from also getting gobbled up by Rex.

"No!" Goo cried out.

"Mr. Herrimam..." Frankie mumbled. She never liked the bunny... in fact she downright hatted him... but was he really gone? Was this it?

"Stop fighting it. You can't win here..." The situation looked grim as Dutchess spoke. Soon, Rex started to shake the bus, trying to get the friends to fall out. Mac was most likely the most scared, being the second youngest on the bus, but he knew he had to try something.

"Terrence!" Mac called as he felt his grip loosening. "If I get eaten, what are you gonna tell mom?"

Of course, Terrence hadn't thought that far. Dutchess did all of the planning for this feat, but he never thought about success... he thought for a moment and grinned evilly. "Guess I'll just imagine up another little brother." Terrence said.

Mac laughed, but more out of nervousness of his lessening grip than the humor of Terrance's response. "Oh, that's a laugh. You suck at imagination- woah!" Mac lost his grip on one hand, but quickly regained it.

"Hey! I can imagine stuff!" Terrence argued angrily.

"Oh, right. A big red square. Real creative." Bloo said, referring to an imaginary friend Terrence called Red."You couldn't even get it to stay on your side, let alone detail it. How do you think your gonna imagine someone as cool as my buddy- ah!"

Terrence's extremely short fuse was up. He really wanted to punch Bloo and Mac now. "C'mon Duchess lady. Let 'em out so I can sock them before they get chewed up."

"When I'm so close? NEVER!" Dutchess said. Thunder clapped, surprising everyone in the area. Where the heck did a storm come from? It's surprise, however, was just enough to cause everyone in the bus to lose the little grip they had left. Terrence was also surprised enough to the point where he lost his balance on Rex, and tumbled off. They fell through the glass and most likely into the mouth of Rex... right before a flash of black lightning that seemed to hit the bunch... then silence.

2***

"That's it?" Bloo asked.

"I think so. Not much I can think of that happened after that." Mac said.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait... does that mean we're like... in the Extreme-o-Saurous thingie?" Goo asked.

"Don't think so. It's not red, and I don't think that an Extreme-o-Saurous is really this... I dunno empty."

"Then what? Are we dead or something?" Bloo asked.

The grim thought loomed in the air. Could they really be dead?

"No... No, I don't think so. I mean, I don't really remember even getting inside of Rex, let alone getting eaten. No... something tells me we're not quite dead yet." Mac concluded.

"Then where are we Mac?" Wilt asked.

"I don't know... I really don't know. All I know is that something hit us before we could get eaten... maybe it has something to do with all of this... but I can't figure it out."

"Wooo Wooo! Here we GO BUNNIES! Wooo Wooo!" Cheese exclaimed.

"What the-" Bloo said.

Suddenly, the group of friends felt the dark surface they were on disappear. They were falling again, toward a light they saw below them. As they all fell, they were quite scared, but for some reason, even Cheese, didn't feel the need to scream. They fell for a couple minutes, steadily, almost as though they were staying still and light were coming to them. All of their bodies felt different... it started as a tingling sensation, but then they turned numb, and they felt like they were being molded differently like play-dough. Finally, they hit it. Light filled their eyes, blinding them as they made an impact to a dirt surface. Their bodies felt different from the fall. There wasn't any pain, or loss of any kind they could tell initially... they felt different.

"Ugh..." Mac groaned. "What the heck..." Mac tried to get up on his two feet... but a sudden instinct told him to get up on what he thought were his arms and legs, kind of like a dog, or some other four legged animal. He looked around his surroundings, which were trees and leaves. Mac noted a small lake beside the dirt path he appeared to be on. "Where..."

Mac was brought out of thought when he heard laughter from behind. He didn't have to turn around to know it was Bloo. "Alright, what's so fun-" Mac turned around to see his four other friends. They changed.

"Hey Mac! Why the long face?" Bloo said, laughing. Mac had a feeling he knew what Bloo was talking about, but without looking at himself. As he looked at his friends, he saw that they had changed into odd looking horses. They all looked different from their normal shades and outlines... they looked different all around. Mac could still however, barely tell who is friends were.

First, there was Bloo, who was the only horse the same size as Mac. He had a blue coat, and a shortcut blue mane and flat tail. On his flank, there was a tattoo of a broken paddle ball. Next, there was Goo, the only clothed horse besides him, from what he could tell. She was slightly taller than him, just like normal. Her coat was brown, however her tail mane was black and braided, going down the center of her neck and back. Her tail, much like her mane was also braided. On her fore legs were two rainbow colored sleeves, and her torso was blanketed with a blue buttoned vest. Other than that, like Bloo, she was completely naked, exposing her flank and her tattoo of a thought bubble. Then there was Wilt. His coat was red, except for the big 8 on his stomach. He was missing a foreleg, but as he got up, he seemed to be able to get around okay without it, much like when he was... his normal self. Wilt's right eye moved around in his head lazily... or rather like a googly eye you'd see on an arts and crafts project. His red mane was bunched into clumps on his head going down his neck. On his flank, there was a tattoo of a basketball. Then there was Cheese. who had a yellow coat... and that was it. No mane or tail... besides his coat, he was completely bald. He was somewhere in between the size of Goo and Mac. He had the tattoo of a potato on his flank. Finally, there was Mac himself. He had a lightly tanned coat, and brown frizzy mane and tail he wasn't too fond of. He wore a red shirt, and on his back was his trademark green book bag, or in his new form, saddlebags. Dispite it's changed shape, Mac was positive it was his backpack, as the piece of tape that held one of the straps on was still there. On his flank, there was a tattoo of a yellow light bulb.

"I'm a kitty!" Cheese exclaimed.

"No Cheese. Your a horse... and so are you Bloo, so shut up."

"Huh?" Bloo said looking at his own hooves. "What? Ahhhh!" Bloo screamed shocked of his new body before blindly running head first into a tree. Mac face hoofed at his friend's stupidity.

"Oh mah gaaawd! We're like pony things now, and it's super super awsome and-" Goo went on, stomping and spinning around while ranting about her new horse form.

"Mac... you don't-"

"No, I don't." Mac said. "I don't know where we are. I don't know why we're here. I don't know why were horses all of a sudden. And I CERTAINLY DON'T KNOW WHY CHEESE IS ON MY BACK! Get off." Mac said to Cheese who found his way onto the horse-boy's back.

"Ride 'em cowboy!" Cheese said happily.

"Cheese, no. Get off. Do you want me to write Louise telling her you've been bad?" Mac said.

"Aaaawwwwwwwwwwww..." Cheese moaned, finally getting his heavy weight off of Mac's back.

Mac went over to Bloo, who lie lazily holding his head by the tree, not wanting to get up.

"Come on you lazy. Get up." Mac said.

"Why... what the heck happened buddy?" Bloo asked.

"I really wish I knew Bloo... but we aren't gonna find out lying around. We've gotta figure out where we are, where our friends are, and how we can get back home..."

After a few moments, Bloo nodded in agreement as Mac helped his friend up.

"C'mon guys. Let's take this path along the river and see if it leads anywhere. Maybe some kind of civilization." Mac said.

"Like a Ville!" Goo said.

"Oh come on Goo... A ville..." Wilt said smiling as they walked along the path to who knows where...

3***

"Cococo..." a bird moaned lazily in a small cabin lit by a few candles. She was lying on a comfortable batch of hay... she didn't quite want to get up as she'd found the perfect spot to lie in... then the memories surfaced. Memories of falling from the bus... and somewhere further than that. She remembered everything, as she forced herself up from her spot, and onto her hind paws... paws? Where did they come from... in fact where did this whole new body come from? She went over to a mirror she saw on a wall to investigate herself. She still had her same dotted eyes, which did their normal occasional derp when she blinked... but this was all the bird recognized of her old self. He beak had become shorter, however retained it's red color. Her wings were much larger and built for flight... her new feathers however, still had their blue, and her new eagle like claws were white. Her eyes were the only things that didn't change... "Cococococo?"

"Coco? Esta tu?" came another voice out of the shadows of the dimly lit cabin. It was gruff, and of Spanish dialect. Coco knew exactly who this voice belonged to, despite the contradiction she saw when he approached. Eduardo, the imaginary oxen who she had known for years, had now been transformed into a buffalo. He still had his purple fur, and dotted eyes, but everything else was different. Rather than being on two feet, he stood on four hooves. His horns were replaced with small little bony stubs on the sides of his head. Around his neck, in much of the same design as his belt, was a necklace with a skull around it.

Eduardo looked at Coco, as though he knew it was her, yet at the same time, he didn't know if it was her. He glanced over into the mirror and saw his change. His first instinct was to scream. As he opened his mouth to do so, Coco made quick use of her new arm and claw like appendages, and covered his mouth. Ed let out a scream through the claw.

"Cococo. Cococococo."

"Si?" Ed said muffled through the claw. He started to calm down slightly, though fear was still running through his body. "What is happening Coco? Por que are we-"

"Coco... cocococococo." Coco said, trying to explain her lack of knowledge on the situation. "Cococococo. Cococococococo. Coco?"

"Si. I be cool." Ed said as Coco slowly let go of Eduardo.

"Cocococo... cocococo." Coco said.

Eduardo followed the griffon friend's order, and took deep breaths and counted... and he felt much better, both physically and mentally. The fear of the situation was still there, but at least he had a friend that would be there with him... the worst possible thing was to be stranded in a strange place without friends to back him up... and Coco's ability to put together words in such a fashion, despite her limited English vocabulary, would definitely help in the long run...

"So... do you have any idea where we are?" Ed asked after a few moments of silence.

Coco didn't answer, but the derp she made with her eyes told the buffalo that she hadn't a clue.

"Maybe we should leave?" Ed suggested. "We need to find out where we are, y cuando our amigos are." Eduardo started for the wooden door.

"Coco!" Coco said, stopping Ed.

"What is it Coco?" Ed asked.

"Coco." Coco said, pointing at the door. The bird was right. There were voices just outside the little cabin. They sounded of southern decent, or something one might see in an old spaghetti western. There were two of them... it sounded like a male voice, and a female voice.

"Ahm tellin ya cousin. They ain't normal." said the male voice. "Ah've never seen a bird or buffalo with those wild colors on 'em."

"Braeburn, ah've seen some crazy stuff round me. Ah don't got time ta be woryin' bout any weird lookin 'Questrian ri' now." the female said.

"Not even sure they is from 'Questria anyway..." Braeburn said.

"Braeburn!" the female said, with a little more annoyance. Braeburn however, didn't seem to notice the female's call.

"Ah really don't trust 'em... lik' ah feel like somethin' bad's gonna happen if-"

"BRAEBURN!" the female said as loud as she could, taking him out of his little self rant.

"Sorry Applejack. Guess ahm lettin mah paranoia get the best of me, eh cousin?" Braeburn asked. "Sides, even if ah was bein a little out there, ya know that they could be with 'em if they are from roun' here."

Applejack paused, as though Braeburn did have a point.

"What do you think they es talking about Coco?" Eduardo whispered.

"Coco." Coco whispered back.

"Well... what about yer friend... what's 'er name... Fluttershy?" Braeburn asked.

"She's restin' up back at the doc's... doc said she was hurt bad, but she'll live, thank Celestia. Hay, she may even be fully on 'er own hooves by t'marow." Applejack said. "She said she wanted ta talk with ya too 'bout the buffalo griffon problem. Said she wanted ta try them negotiations again."

"After nearly gettin' trampled ta death?" Braeburn said suprised. "Thought she'd've dropped out after a thing li' that."

"Fluttershy ain't the strongest mare, or the bravest, but she certainly got th' heart. She ain't gonna rest easy till everythin's all dandy again 'ere in Appaloosa between them two."

"Yeah... ya got a good friend there... just don't let 'er go out and git herself killed." Braeburn warned. "Remember, them buffalo is bad, but those griffon are just plain nasty. Gotta be careful round them."

There was a silence for a few moments.

"List'n. Ahm gonna go check out Fluttershy... maybe bring 'er over ta discuss th' problem if she ain't too sore, let alone git up at all..."

"Alri' cousin. See ya when ah see ya." Braeburn said. Hoofsteps were heard as they faded away, and the conversation ended. Coco and Ed waited for a little while, before speaking.

"Cococo." Coco said quietly.

"Si. What was that all?" Ed agreed.

"Cococococo." Coco said, moving to the door.

"Si. Your right. I'll be right behind you." Truth be told, Ed was still afraid of who could be out there. He was afraid of the idea of the new place, and probable new creatures. Coco however, being much more fearless, and brave, was the one who always went first... either it was bravery or her natural insanity. In either case, Coco headed out of the cabin to confront whoever or whatever was out there, and Eduardo followed closely behind.

4***

"Huh... Ponyville." Wilt said.

"Seeeee? I toooold you. You were all like, 'that's silly Goo' and I was like 'nu-uh' and you were like 'uh-huh'." Goo said.

"Ponyville... weird name for a town." Mac said. "I wonder if that makes us... 'ponies'?"

"I'm a horsey!" Cheese exclaimed, before making random sheep noises.

"Seems kinda girly too me." Bloo said.

The five of them looked at the sign, which was decorated with flowers and rainbows, at the center, saying 'Welcome to Ponyville'. Under it, was a map of the town... and according to it, they'd just exited the Everfree Forest. If they continued on their path, they would eventually hit the town square.

"Hold up guys. Let me make a quick sketch of the town." Mac said, as he reached into his saddlebags. "Hopefully, my stuff is... got it." Mac said as he took out his notebook. A pencil fell out along with it.

"Oh, let me get that for you Mac." Wilt said walking over to Mac to pick up the pencil. Mac didn't have time to stop Wilt, nor did he think he could considering the stallion's naturally nice attitude. Wilt was always one of the most helpful imaginary friends he knew.

Mac tried to wrap his hoof around the pencil, however, his hoof would only curve so far. After getting slightly irritated at this handicap, he resolved to using his muzzle to draw with his notebook on the ground. It took longer than he'd intended, and the final result wasn't the most legible, but he now had his makeshift map.

"Alright... at least we won't get lost when we get to town." Mac said finally, putting the pencil and notebook back into his saddlebags. "Now guys, we don't know where we are, so the last thing we need is to get lost. Everyone stays together. Got it?" Mac knew his friends... especially Bloo, when they were seperated by some means, it always meant disaster.

"Oh don't you worry Mac. We'll stick to you like bubblegum." Wilt assured.

"We gotcha Mac." Goo said, saluting to Mac.

Cheese looked up into the air, gargling his own saliva.

"Uh huh..." Bloo said staring off into space. "Right."

"Bloo!" Mac said annoyed.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine." Bloo said, reasuring Mac.

"It's never fine. Especially when you get loose." Mac reminded Bloo. After all, the blue imaginary friend was usually the core of all mishaps that happened with the Foster's gang... or at least apart of it when the rest of his friends were focused... and actually cooperating.

"Look." Bloo said, putting one fore leg around Mac. "If it makes you feel any better, I won't get into any trouble... what don't you believe me?"

"No." Mac said flatly. "Sorry if I find the thought of you behaving hard to-"

"Come on, Come on!" Goo said. No one had noticed, but the energetic brown filly had already started down the path. "We're losing daylight! Let's go go go!"

Bloo wasted no time in moving after Goo. Wilt guided Cheese further down the path to catch up with them. Mac sighed as he trotted over to catch up to them. On his way, Mac couldn't help but feel some kind of connection to the town 'Ponyville'. No, he'd never been to the place, nor did he ever plan to... but something about the town seemed not familiar... but that there was still some kind of connection. Somehow, somewhere in that town, Mac knew that it held the answers to their arrival... the question became however, wither or not he and his friends would like the answers...

5***

"Uh man... what did I eat last night..." said a colt as he lied on the stone floor of who knew where. He got up on all four legs, and looked around. He looked around the torch lit room... from what he could tell, it was made out of stone, kind of like a castle. The colt could tell from what he could see that this place had a fancy charm to it, but it didn't matter to him. All he really cared about was where his little brother was, so he could give him a good fist to the face... then something occurred to him. Wasn't he supposed to be on some giant monster thing terrorizing his person of interest, along with his 'imaginary weirdos'. Where the heck was that thing, and where was he?

It was then Terrence noticed his body had changed drastically. After all, rather than standing on two feet, he stood on four palely white legs. His mane was short-cut and black, and his teeth were crooked in his maw. He wore his normal plad red shirt... though his jacket was gone. Finally, on his flank was a broken tooth.

"What the heck am I doing in some stupid horse's body?" Terrence asked, looking at his own hooves. Stupidly, by raising both of his hooves, he lost his balance and fell onto his face.

"Halt!" came the sound of someone from behind.

Terrence turned around to see that he was confronted by two horses, both wearing golden armor and a star at the center.

"What do you want?" Terrence asked.

"What do we want? What do you want? What are you doing here? These are royal grounds."

"Like I care you stupid horses."

The two guards didn't know what to be more offended by: being called stupid, or the incorrect terminology of "horses", a much larger and uglier looking version of a pony. They squinted angrily at the teenage colt. They approached him, and took him by the hind-legs.

"Hey! G-get of me!" Terrence exclaimed.

The guards didn't pay him any mind as they dragged him through the royal castle...

Meanwhile, Celestia had her eyes closed, deep in thought. Something didn't seem right to the white alicorn... something was out of place. Ever since the one twitch of her tail, barely a few hours ago, paranoia had befallen her. Being the princess of all of Equestria, there was no taking risks... even if that paranoia was as baseless and un-explainable as a tail's twitch. Celestia meditated on the cause of the twitch... did it have something to do with Appaloosa's newest griffon problem? Or maybe it had something to do with her sister, Luna, who slept by her at the throne? The last time she'd felt a twitch like this was years ago, when-

Celestia was brought out of thought as she heard the doors of the throne room swing open. While Luna managed to keep her peace of mind in whatever dream land she was in, Celestia opened her eyes to meet the interruption. What she saw, was two guards, accompanied by a teenage colt, who struggled to free himself from their grasp.

"Guards. I believe I said no interruptions today." Celestia said, adding a mild annoyance to her voice.

The two guards let go of Terrence momentarily to bow to their princess.

"My apologies your Majesty." the guards said. Terrence saw this as his opportunity to escape, however, before he could get a foot or two away, one of the guards pounced the teenager, pinning him to the ground.

"... who is this?" Celestia asked.

"He's a colt, my princess." the guard said.

"What is he doing in the castle?" Celestia asked. "Who let him in?"

"Well... no one your Majesty." the guard said. "I believe he must have sneaked in through the front gates."

Celestia felt the twitch again, as she looked at the colt who was picked up off of the throne room floor. She knew something didn't add up...

"You. Colt. State your name." Celestia ordered Terrence.

"What's it to you?" Terrence asked.

Celestia was somewhat taken aback from the disrespect of the colt. It wasn't as though she couldn't handle it, but it was just something she found uncommon. No pony, buffalo, zebra, griffon, or otherwise dared to ever disrespect the princess, especially to her face. It was almost like... like the colt didn't even know who she was.

The guard hit Terrence in the back of the head.

"You will treat your princess with respect! Name NOW. Before I do something you'll regret." The guard said, revealing his muzzle sword at the side of his armor. It looked shiny and sharp, which was just enough to put Terrence in his place.

"T-terrence." he said shakily.

"Where do you come from?" Celestia asked calmly.

"Wilson Apartments..." Terrence said. "You know, on Wilson Way, down the street from that Old Lady's House for Imaginary Weirdos."

"Is this some kind of joke?" the guard said, who was holding Terrence.

"No!" Terrence said. "I already told you! So let me go!"

Celestia stared at Terrence. There was something about the colt that stood out... he seemed completely unfamiliar with where he was, and probably why he was there. Celestia doubted he was some kind of spy, given his young age, and obvious inexperience. Then again, something told her that he wasn't even from Equestria... and that that thing might make him more than met the eye.

"Guard. Take our guest down to the dungeons." Celestia ordered. "Keep him fed, and there for interrogation later."

"Yes my princess." The two said.

"Wait! I don't want to go down there! No!" Terrence said as he was dragged out by the one guard.

"Wait." Celestia said to the remaining guard before he headed out.

"Yes you Majesty?" the guard asked.

"I want you to look in the royal archives, and look for anything that has something to do with this 'Wilson Way'." Celestia said.

"Yes my Princess." the guard said, also exiting the throne room.

Celestia looked up at the glass work that depicted the Elements of Harmony, some of which nicknamed the 'Mane 6'. She stared at them, going deeper into thought as she stroked the mane of her sleeping sister. She wondered... who could this colt be... and why he was here?

6***

"Alright Spike. How much have we got left?" Twilight asked the purple dragon from across the library's main archive.

Spike looked over at the stacks of hundreds of books by his guardian, and back at the shelves.

"As long as we keep it organized, just this shelf." Spike sighed pointing at the one shelf that had yet to be touched. The rest of the bookcases in the library were emptied, for Twilight's inventory day. Twilight, at least once a month, would go through each and every book to check what was there, and what wasn't in relations to whatever was checked out at the time. It was a tedious process, but a necessary one, as one lost book could lead to hundreds over a period of time. Spike was just about at his wits end, and even Twilight, most likely the biggest book fanatic in Ponyville, was getting rather bored at the monotonous task of sorting through each and every book in the library. At least they were just about done...

"Well let's finish up, so we can put these back..." Twilight said. The purple unicorn was beginning to feel strange. Not in the bad way, but more of a paranoid way... she figured it was just the lack of interruption. Here she was, in Ponyville, most likely the craziest town she's ever heard, seen or read about... and during the remaining work hours no less, and she had managed obtain complete solitude for the day. Not even her friends had come to visit. Though the mare wouldn't have minded a visit from one of her friends, or even the occasional involvement of a shenanigan her and her friends might get roped into, the silence and focus was nice. Still, it was also too good to be-

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Pinkie broke through the glass from the side of the library, just by Twilight. As she gave the mare a mini heart attack, she rolled into the books she'd stacked and organized by her, causing the stack to fall into a giant disorganized pile. Pinkie sat up on her flank, her eyes rolling in her head in a daze as Twilight stared at the pink mare, mouth agape in a mixture of shock, and annoyance. Spike stood at the other side of the room, amused at how Pinkie had nearly scared Twilight out of her coat.

"P-pinkie Pie!?" Twilight finally said.

Pinkie shook her head, regaining her equilibrium as she got up on all four hooves. She turned to Spike. "Hey Spike! How would you score that?" She asked.

Spike gave the question some thought before answering. "Eh... I'd give it a 9 for presentation, but a 7 for execution." Spike responded, shrugging before putting a book he had in his claws back up on the shelve.

"W-why?" Twilight asked looking at her broken window and scattered books. "Why would you do this?"

Pinkie turned her attention to Twilight, then at the mess she made. "Oops... sorry Twilight." she said. She seemed to be genuinely sorry, yet she had a slight indifference to her voice that Twilight couldn't shake off. "I'll help you clean that up later for the party."

"You... what party?" Twilight asked.

"The party I came to tell you about silly!" Pinkie chirped happily.

Twilight's annoyance could be seen. She knew of Pinkie's wacky and sometimes... outlandish behavior, but times like this really almost made Twilight want to hit Pinkie for being so... Pinkie. The mare had broken one of her windows, giving her a new bill to have to deal with, while also adding a few more hours to the book inventory process in one swift motion. Twilight wanted to say various things to Pinkie... but the sweetest, most innocent smile that Pinkie was always known for caused her to simply sigh, much like one does when a small child breaks something, or does something stupid.

"....alright Pinkie. What party are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"Well... Ponies! That's why! New ponies are coming to Ponyville!" Pinkie said excitedly.

"New ponies huh?" Twilight said. "How do you know."

"Well, I remember when you first came to Ponyville, right? I remember having this feeling. Jittery left hoof, derpy eyes." Pinkie said shaking her left hind leg, and derping her eyes.

"You felt that when I first came to Ponyville?" Twilight asked, remembering the enormous party she was forced into her first night in Ponyville. She also remembered Pinkie's sketchy, yet often accurate Pinkie Sense. It wasn't too outlandish to play with the thought she was right just by some jitters she felt.

"Yeah!" Pinkie said. "Anyway, I got that same feeling again! Just now!"

"You mean... just now, just now?" Twilight asked.

"Uh huh! I got so exited, I dived through your window to tell you!" Pinkie said. Knowing the pink mare, Twilight could see that as understandable. Pinkie looked back at the window. "Again, sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it Pinkie." Twilight said. "So, let me guess. You want to host the party in the library?"

"Are you a psychic? Yeah!" Pinkie said happily. "It's waaay bigger than Sugarcube, and the Cakes don't really like it when I host parties without notice ahead of time. So can we? Can we? Huh?"

"...well, it doens't look like this is getting done today." Twilight said, looking at the mess of books scattered around her. "Sure. Why not."

"Great! I'll tell the others to look out for some new ponies too." Pinkie said jumping up into the air exitedly. Her grin was wide and happy. "I'm so exited. Did I mention how much I love new ponies?" Pinkie defied gravity by hopping though the broken window. "I'll be back to set up kay? See ya Twi!"... and then she was gone before Twilight or Spike could say another word.

"Spike. Do me a favor and help me pick these books up and move them into the closet for now?" Twilight asked Spike.

"Sure thing Twi!" Spike said moving over to Twilight, picking up a few books. "To be honnest Twilight, I'm kind of exited too for some new ponies around here. Don't get those everyday, huh Twilight?"

"Yeah..." Twilight said. "I wonder where they're from?" She used her telekinesis spell to pick up some of the books and began to move them into the closet. It was time to get the place cleaned up for a party...

7***

"I knew it!" Mac said out loud.

"Come on Mac. They couldn't have gotten far." Wilt said.

"Are you kidding? Bloo and Cheese could be anywhere by now!" Mac said. "Who knows what kind of trouble Bloo's gotten himself into by now? And you know Cheese can't take care of himself."

"You worry to much Mac." Goo said. "If they got into any trouble, we would've heard from 'em by now don'cha think?"

"Just give Bloo five minutes, and he'll have the whole town on fire." Mac said. "And Cheese... I'm responsable for both of them!"

The three remaining of the five Fosters stood in the town square, which bustled with ponies of various shapes, sizes, and colors. Because of all the buisness going on between the vendors and others going about their buisness, the five had slipped in seemlessly... but they got seperated. They were all supposed to meet at the fountain at the center of town in such an occasion... but with the Foster's gang, it was never that simple. Cheese and Bloo weren't there, and this naturally made Mac nervous. Cheese, mostly because of his... cheesy personality, and Bloo because of his mischief... and even in that case, if something happened to either of them... especially Bloo...

Mac put his head down and thought for a moment. "... I hate to say it, but we've gotta split up." he concluded. "Everyone look for them around town. Ask these... pony people if they've seen them anywhere."

"Ay ay Cap'n Mac!" Goo said, putting her hoof up to her fore head to salute to Mac.

"You got it Mac." Wilt said, waving the stub that was his left fore leg.

"Oh, and one other thing. Though look for them, don't make a scene." Mac said. "I'm not sure where I'm getting this, but I don't think we're supposed to be here... maybe I'm just being a little paranoid, but still... don't do anything you don't have to. Got it?"

The two nodded at the green backpacked colt before heading off in search of their two friends, hoping they hadn't gotten themselves in too much trouble.

***

Meanwhile, around Sweet Apple Acres, the Cutie Mark Crusaders were chasing each other. As Sweetie and Scootaloo ran from Applebloom, they laughed, as the red maned filly was determined to catch one of the two. Applebloom was gaining on the two fillies, and it wouldn't be long before she would finally get her hooves on one of them. Once Applebloom estimated herself close enough, she made a leap for Scootaloo. She extended one hoof, and tapped her on the flank.

"Yer it Scootaloo!" Applebloom said as she scrambled up and looped around to escape Scootaloo before she had the chance to tag back.

Scootaloo abandoned Applebloom and went for Sweetie. It wasn't long before the orange filly managed to catch Sweetie and yell "Your it Sweets!"

The fillies continued their game of tag around the apple buckers of the apple family who ignored the fillies, while occasionally glancing at the fillies in their innocent pass time. Others were just happy to find that the three fillies had come up with a game that didn't involve them getting mixed up in their own work. The fillies did have a history of mischief that never ended well in their case... and if anything happened to her, they knew Applejack would probably have their flanks. After all, they had been entrusted to keep the fillies safe during her leave to Appaloosa on whatever important business the princess had entrusted the mare to deal with.

The fillies were remaining safe however, so they didn't pay them complete attention as they focused on their own work. They seemed so intent on finishing their day's work, that they didn't notice a yellow colt wander onto the acre.

Applebloom ran from Sweetie as she gave chase to her. She looked back at Sweetie for a moment, before looking back forward. When she did, she found herself headed strait for the yellow wanderer. She screeched to a halt before she had the chance to run into him. Sweetie however, oblivious to the new colt, and moving too fast to stop, ran into Applebloom as they tumbled over each other. They lied on the ground for a moment.

"Why'd you stop?" Sweetie asked, still giggling from the entertainment of the chase. Her smile slightly faded when she saw the blank stare of the red dot-eyed colt. They both got up on all fours and looked at the colt. Scootaloo joined them as they stared at each other silently. The yellow colt blinked, taking them out of the trance they had.

"Uh... hiya." Applebloom said, breaking the silence.

The yellow colt continued to stare blankly at the crusaders.

"Mah name's Applebloom." Applebloom started. She supposed if there was any way to start a conversation with this new colt, it was to introduce herself and her friends. "This 's Sweetie." Applebloom motioned her hoof over toward Sweetie.

"Nice to meet you!" Sweetie said happily.

"'n this 'ere 's Scootaloo." Applebloom said.

"Hey. What's up?" Scootaloo said.

The yellow colt continued to stare at the fillies.

"Uh... this 's the part where ya say yer name." Applebloom said.

The colt blinked both of his eyes individually. He breathed in a wheesy manner, like he was breathing from the back of his throat. Finally, he spoke. "I like cereal." Cheese said, speaking with his mouth unecicarily wide, as though he were trying to open it like some kind of lid. The crusaders looked at each other in confusion.

"Um... ok..." Scootaloo said, unsure how to respond to such a random statement. "I like... Rainbow Dash?"

"I like... apples?" Applebloom said in much the same tone as Scootaloo.

"I like... silk I guess?" Sweetie said, copying her friends.

"I LIKE CHOCOLATE MILK!" Cheese said, pointing his head up so that every apple bucker could hear him. They turned to him for a moment, feeling as though they should do something about the rude tresspasser. They wen't back to their work, each having a distinct feeling they didn't want to be bothered with the yellow intruder. The crusaders stood back for a moment from the sudden outburst.

"What the heck's wrong with you?" Scootaloo asked annoyed by the colt. "All we want to know is your-"

"Hey Scoots. Can ah talk ta ya fer a minute?" Applebloom said to Scootaloo. "You too Sweetie."

"What's wrong Applebloom?" Sweetie asked.

"I know what's wrong. That colt is stupid! Where did he come from anyway?" Scootaloo asked.

"Ah don't know... but ah think somethin's wrong wit' that colt."

"No, really?" Scootaloo asked sarcasically.

"Nah, what ah mean is, he's probably one a those... ya know. Special colts?"

"Special?" Sweetie asked. "You mean like important special?"

"No, I think Applebloom's talking about one of those... slow colts, you know?" Scootaloo said.

"No... not really." Sweetie said.

"Well, whatever 'e is, th' poor li'l guy must've gott'n separated from 's mah n' pa n' wandered here." Applebloom concluded.

The three glance at the colt, who looks up blankly into the air at the apples in the tree.

"Doesn't seem to care much does he?" Scootaloo asked.

"Point is, we gotta fin' ou' where 'e came from. Not sure how much longer he can stay 'ere." Applebloom said.

"Hey guys?" Sweetie asked looking up into the tree. "I'm not quite sure he's slow like you said."

"Huh? Why?" Scootaloo asked, before the branch of the tree made a crack..

"Weee!" Cheese said before falling on top of Scootaloo with a thud. He suckled on an apple that he grabbed from the tree.

"Because he got up there really fast. Just saying." Sweetie giggled.

"Fine... whatever." Scootaloo said, already fairly annoyed with the colt who'd barely been around the fillies for a few minutes. "Let's just get rid of 'em"

"Agreed." Applebloom said, helping Scootaloo up from under the colt. "Any ahdea who 'e could be 'is grown up?"

"Hey. Who's your mom?" Sweetie decided to ask the colt.

"Ponies are the cowboys..." Cheese whispered to the fillies.

"Well... who's your daddy?" Sweetie asked.

"Sweetie, I don't think-" Applebloom started, but then Cheese said something.

"Mac daddy..." he whispered, squinting and smiling creepily at the fillies.

"Mac? That kind of sounds like a name." Sweetie said happily.

"So we're looking for a stallion named Mac, huh?" Scooaloo asked. "I guess that's a start."

"Alright, we'll look around for a guy named Mac. Let's head into town and see if we can't find him." Applebloom said.

"Yeah. The sooner the better." Scootaloo said.

"See Cheese?" Sweetie said. "We're gonna find your dad! Don't you worry."

Cheese breathed. "O-KAY!" he cheared.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders! Parent Finders YAY!" Sweetie cheared. Applebloom and Scootaloo didn't share in her enthusiasm.

"This is gonna be a long day..." Scootaloo sighed.

8***

"Look, if you ain't gonna by nothin, get lost." The brown stallion behind the booth said.

The blue colt wouldn't take that. "It's not that I don't want to buy anything." Bloo said. "It's just that I don't think I should pay for this, lovely hand crafted paddleball toy."

"I ain't sure what yout talking about hands for... but you can't have it if ya ain't got the bits." The stallion said, begining to get annoyed with the colt who came out of nowhere. Bloo was insistant on getting the toy however. On his wander around Ponyville, he'd come across wingless unicorns, like the ones back at Fosters, simply floating the toys above their head, using it effortlessly. "What do ya want with it anyway? It's not like it's for earth ponies like you anyway."

"Eeexactly, my good man." Bloo said, hopping onto the table the stallion was behind. "And because I can't use it, you shouldn't have a problem giving it to me." Bloo took the paddleball toy in his muzzle, given he wasn't able to pick it up as efficiantly with his new hooves. "So, I'll just take this piece of junk off your hands no one's gonna buy anyway. Like you said, It's useless to-"

"Hey, put that back!" the stallion said angrilly.

"NEVER!" Bloo said through the paddleball toy, turning around and kicking the stallion in the nose. He wasn't the strongest, so the kick didn't do any real damage, however, it did stun the merchant for the moment, long enough for Bloo to jump down and book it. Bloo ran as fast as he could past the other booths that ponies had set up to sell their various items. Bloo occasionally looked back to see the stallion was hot on his tail. Bloo needed an escape and fast.

He pushed past several ponies, trying to create as much distance between himself and the pony trying to catch the thief. Bloo desperately searched high and low for some kind of route out of that main part of the market... There! He spotted a booth right infront of a house with an open window. Candies were scattered along the table and behind it was a purple and pink maned ponies. The booth had a banner above it that was labled "Bon Bon's Sweets."

"Welcome to-" the mare started, oblivious to the colt's nervious and urgent attitude.

"Comin' though lady!" Bloo yelled before jumping onto her stand, then her own head, messing her mane with the dirt on his hooves, and finally, through the window.

"Hey!" Bon Bon said, turning to the stallion who'd just jumped into her house.

Bloo ran through the house. He could hear music from a different part of the house... possibly a harp or something. Bloo ignored the music, and leaped through a second window that led back out to another section of the market place. On his way out, the window closed, and Bloo saw the stallion had followed him through the window, and was attempting to try and force the window open.

"Sucker!" Bloo said as he turned back to the brown colt, continuing to run.

"Hey kid! Watch out!" came a voice from infront of Bloo.

Bloo turned back infront of him to see that he was about to be rammed head first, by a rainbow maned pegasus. Bloo's eyes widened as the pegasus was headed right toward him. There was no way that neither him or her could get out of each other's path before they met heads. Surprisingly enough, the mare managed to turn just in time, only to crash into another market stand, utterly destroying it. She lie in the rubble of the remaining stand, the items that were to be sold at the stand lying on top of her. Her eyes rolled around in her head in a daze. Bloo, slightly concerned, and feeling strangely guilty for the mare's accident, he went over to see if she was ok.

"Uh..." Bloo started. "Lady? You ok?" The frizzy mane Bloo had seen on most of the few stallions in Ponyville suggested she was in fact, a stallion. Though this was true, the eye lashes of the mare convinced Bloo it was infact a female.

The mare shook her head and got up on all fours, nearly un-phased by the crash. It was almost like she was used to it. "Yeah kid. I'm fine." she said. "But you've really gotta look where your going. I almost killed ya!"

"Well, you need to look where your..." Bloo looked paused, looking at her wings. "...flying."

"Whatever." the pegasus said, getting out of the booth. She looked back at the stand at the damage she'd caused. "Better get out of here. Last thing I need is another pony nagging me on my flying."

Rainbow walked deeper into the market. Bloo, having nowhere else to go, and genuinely interested in the rainbow mare, he followed her. The pegasus didn't seem to mind. They walked for a few minutes before she started to speak again.

"Name's Rainbow Dash by the way." she said. "My friends call me Rainbow... or Dash. Doesn't really matter."

"Blooregard Q. Kazoo" Bloo said. "But my friends just call me Bloo."

"Bloo, huh?" Rainbow asked. "Funny name."

More creative than your's lady. Bloo thought, looking at the mare's colorful mane.

"Haven't seen you before around Ponyville." Rainbow said.

"Yeah, I'm kind of new here." Bloo said.

"Did you meet a pink earth pony yet?" Rainbow asked curiously.

"Nope." Bloo responded.

New, and hasn't heard from Pinkie yet? That's odd. Better let her know next time I see her. Rainbow thought.

"Huh..." Rainbow said. She then noticed the paddle ball toy in Bloo's mouth. "Hey, I've been wondering. What the hay are you doing with a unicorn paddle ball toy?"

"Hey you!" a stallion called after Bloo.

Before the blue colt could respond, he was picked up by a larger earth stallion.

"Hey... can I help you?" Bloo said, shyly grinning at the angry earth stallion.

"Your commin' with me kid." the stallion said, as he started to drag the blue pony from Rainbow.

"Hold up." Rainbow said, stopping the stallion. "What's goin' on here."

"This little squirt tried to make off with that paddle ball toy right here." The stallion, suprisingly effortlessly used his hoof to take the toy out of Bloo's mouth.

"You stole it?" Rainbow asked.

"Stole is such a... harsh way to put it." Bloo said. "Besides, it was his fault. He wouldn't bargin with me."

"You asked for it for free." the stallion said.

"And you didn't even try negotiate." Bloo said. "What kind of salesman are you."

"A peeved one." he said. "I'm takin' you to the police. See if your parents can't straiten you out."

"... wait a sec." Rainbow said. "What if I pay for the paddle ball thing, and we call it even? You let go of my friend here, and we forget this all ever happened." Rainbow wasn't completely sure why she'd offered to help the stranger colt. Something about the colt made her wonder... maybe it was simply that his mischievous behavior reminded her a little of herself as a filly. Or maybe it was something else entirely...

"Toss in a couple extra bits, and you've got yourself a deal." the stallion said.

"Fine. Sure." Rainbow said, reaching into her saddlebags and giving him 7 bits. The stallion let go of Bloo, as the colt dusted himself off.

"You behave yourself, you hear?" the stallion said. "Try to pull that on somepony else, and you might not be so lucky."

"Uh-huh." Bloo said, going to pick up his new paddle ball. It was obvious to anypony around that the three had gained the attention of that he hadn't learned anything. Anyone could assume that he'd probably try the same thing again if given the chance. With that, the stallion walked off, back to his stand.

"Thanks lady." Bloo said through his paddle ball.

"Like I said... the name's Rainbow." she said, smiling.

9***

"Thanks Mr. Wilt." Derpy said happily, putting the last letter into the mailbox that was her friend's Carrot Top's. "If it weren't for you, this would have taken twice as long. Now, I got it done like... twice as fast!"

"It's no problem." Wilt said. "I'm just happy to help. Do you really deliver all of this mail by yourself?"

"Some days when my boss lets me do mail." Derpy responded. "Other times, he tells me to do other stuff. Like this one time, I got to help the weather pegasus with the thunder storms... only that didn't really work out to well though."

Wilt didn't really understand how she could "help" with the thunderstorms, but he gave the mare a sweet smile all the same. "I'm sure if you got another chance, you'd do great though." Wilt said optimistically.

"I don't know... I really doubt I will though. My eyes don't really work too well, so..." Derpy said sadly.

"Sure they do." Wilt said. "They're just... uh..." Derpy derped at Wilt. "... different." Wilt gave another reassuring smile. "Everyone's got something different about them. Sometimes we think those differences are bad... but if we think about it hard enough, it really isn't, you know?"

Derpy looked at Wilt's own handicapped leg and googly eye that he seemed to cope fine with. She smiled, understanding. "Well... anyway. Thanks for helping me deliver everything. I know your busy and all." Derpy said.

"Like I said. Don't sweat it. I'm just happy I could help."

"Maybe you find them, you and the friends your looking for could come over me and one of my friend's house one day?" Derpy asked. "I'd really like to meet them."

"Sure thing Ditzy." Wilt said.

"That's my mom's name. Call me what everyone else calls me. Derpy!" she said happily, before she started to fly up into the air. She hit a tree before flying any higher. "See ya!"

Wilt waved his stub at his new friend before she flew away out of sight. With that, the stallion continued his walk down the road. For the last hour since the group had split up to look for their friends Bloo and Cheese, Wilt had been getting caught up with other ponies around town, helping them with various miscellaneous tasks. Ditzy "Derpy" Hooves was his latest act of kindness, assisting her on her route as she had seemed to be having trouble flying strait, and delivering mail into it's correct spot. This was likely due to her eye issue, so Wilt, being Wilt, decided to help. The stallion still knew that he had to find the mischievous blue colt, and the careless yellow colt before he heard their names in a much more negative light... and he might have continued his search more thoroughly if he didn't see a particular white coated pony, pulling a cart filled to the brim with different fabrics and sewing supplies. She seemed to be struggling with it too... how could Wilt resist?

"Oh! Here, let me help you with that."

"Huh?" the white maned unicorn said, her focus turned to the stallion. She seemed surprised to have him helping her. "Oh, that's alright dear," She looked at his stub of a leg. "I've... got this."

Wilt could tell that the unicorn definitely didn't have it. Beads of sweat were running down her face, likely from all the effort she put forth to pulling the cart. Her body didn't even seem built for that kind of labor.

"I'm sorry, but I insist." Wilt said. "Is that ok?"

The stallion seemed to be decent enough, and despite his handicap, he seemed incredibly sure he could do it. Rarity sighed, and released the harness around her waist that attached her to the cart. "Alright dear... just please be careful."

Wilt took the purple maned mare's place. He tried to reach over to tie up the harness himself, but between his right leg holding him up, and his left leg being just a foot too short, he failed. "Uh... I'm sorry. Could you...?" Wilt said using his free arm to point to the harness strap. The mare strapped him in. With that, Wilt began to pull the cart.

Wilt wasn't the strongest, most muscly friend out there, but he was definitely a better candidate for pulling the cart than the white mare. What might have taken the mare a little short of a few hours, the red stallion managed to get done in 45 minutes. Finally, exhaused, the two finally made it to their destination. The sign infront read "Carosoul Boutique".

"Thank you dear." the mare said. "It's nice to see that there's still some decent stallions in Ponyville."

"I'm sure some other stallion would have come along to help you out." Wilt said. "I guess I just beat them to it. Happy I could help either way though... oh right! I'm sorry. I completely forgot to introduce myself. Hi, name's Wilt."

"Rarity. Charmed to meet you Mr. Wilt." Rarity said smiling. "I've never met you before. Are you new to Ponyville?"

Wilt remembered Mac's instruction not to indicate that they weren't from around there. Then again, he couldn't lie... that just wasn't him.

"Uh... no." Wilt said.

"Then where? I absolutely must know where I could find more stallions as nice as you." Rarity said.

"Um... Wilson Way." Wilt admitted.

"I've never heard of Far Away... is it in Equestria?"

"No..." Wilt said. At least he didn't think Fosters was anywhere around somewhere called "Equestria". "It's really far. Doubt you would've heard of it."

"I see..." Rarity said. "I absolutely must visit there if I get the chance, none the less. I don't travel out of the country enough anyway. Maybe you could take me... oh, here I am, we've just met, and I'm already asking you to take me off to some far off land I don't know anything about." She giggled.

"Well... it was nice meeting you." Wilt said.

"Your leaving? But you just got here!" Rarity said. "Why don't you stay for tea, so we could continue this conversation?"

"I know, and I'd really love to, but I'm looking for a friend... actually, have you seen a little blue horse, or a little yellow horse around?" Wilt asked.

"You mean pony, right?" Rarity asked.

"I'm sorry, but is there a difference?" Wilt asked politely.

"Well, no... but pony does sound better, don't you agree?" Rarity asked. Wilt had to admit, the name did have more of ring than "horses".

"Ok. Ponies. Did you see either of them around here?" Wilt asked.

"I'm sorry dear, but I was very busy today. I didn't really notice any individual ponies besides the ones I did business with." Rarity said.

"Oh..." Wilt said, slightly disapointed. His smile returned however. "That's ok. I guess I've got to keep looking"

"I apologies I can't be more of an asset." Rarity said. "I truly wish I could pay you back for helping me out so greatly."

Wilt waved his stub of a hoof. "Don't worry about it. Though, if you do happen to find either of them, come find me. Their names are Bloo and Cheese. Ok?"

"Alright Mr. Wilt. Until the next time." Rarity said.

"Goodbye Ms. Rarity." Wilt said politely before walking further down the road, deeper into town. As he did, Rarity couldn't help but stare at the stallion. Was it his incredibly nice and humble personality?... or something else entirely. Rarity eventually went over to the cart to begin unloading the items. Wilt didn't dare look back, afraid he might rope himself into another errand to further delay his important search.

10***

"Bloo... where are you?" Mac said to himself as he wandered through Ponyville, looking for his friend. During the search, Mac's mood had transitioned to mildly annoyed, to surprisingly worried over several issues. The weight of their problem was beginning to wear down on the colt. Here they were, on an alien planet, without any indication of how they got there, or why they came. Even more, they'd changed from their original forms to these... ponies. Mac wondered if him and his friends were stuck like this and if they would ever return home...

Mac shook his head, remembering that it was still way to early to assume the worst. They had only been in the world for a few hours. Sure, Mac could imagine his mom freaking out at the though of her likely dead baby boy... or Terrence, who was probably stomping around with Duchess on top of Rex terrorizing the town. Either way, Mac was sure someone would notice his absence... even if he managed to get back to Fosters, the hard part would be explaining that he was transported to this land... or even worse, Bloo would probably be discovered. If he explained everything, and Mac's mother learned of his visits to Bloo at Fosters, that he maybe forced to give up Bloo forever. The thought shook Mac, and downright scared him. There was nothing the colt was more afraid of, than losing Bloo...

Mac was brought out of thought as hit head came in contact with a building.

"Ow!" Mac said, falling back onto his flank. He looked up and stood back to see what he had made contact with... it was a large pink building. It was decorated to look like it was made out of different deserts. To the side of the door, there was a sign, with the words Sugarcube Corner written in fancy letters. "Oh boy..." he thought. Mac knew he wouldn't like the place, mostly because of it's name. Anything that had the words "sugar" or "caffeine" involved, also put fear into the colt. His little problem when it came to sugar caused this, for every time he consumed the sweet substance... let's just say he'd change.

Mac didn't want to enter the establishment, afraid that his tongue might touch the substance... yet at the same time, the colt was compelled to enter the establishment... was it his sugar side that wanted him to enter?... or something else entirely. Mac hesitated for a moment, drawn between entering Sugarcube Corner, and turning around, pretending it didn't exist. Against his better judgement, Mac pushed his way into the Corner.

Inside, he saw, standing over the counter, was none other than Goo.

"Goo!" Mac called. "What are you doing?"

Goo turned around, and smiled at Mac. "Oh hai Mac! I was just about to look for you. Your a really hard guy to find. I thought like, you got lost like Bloo and Cheese, but then I was like nah, that's not Mac he doesn't get lost like that so-"

"Goo. Don't you remember what we're supposed to be doing?"

"Ooooofff course Mac! I couldn't forget something like that." Goo said.

"Then what are you doing here?" Mac said.

"That's what I'm trying to tell you Mac! Sheesh. You never did know how ta let a lady like myself talk." Goo said. Mac sighed in response. Before he could say anything else, Goo continued. "So anyway, I was looking for Cheese and Bloo like you said, when I found this place. I thought, yeah, this could be a good place to look, so I went in. Then these like, reeaally nice ponies came to me, and I told 'em I was new to Ponyville, and stuff, and they said they'd give me stuff for free. Can't go against that, riiight Mac?"

Mac opened his mouth to respond, however, he was interrupted by another pony. "Miss Goo, who is that your speaking to?" Out from the kitchen to their left came a cerulean coated pony with a light crimson mane. On her front, there was a little name tag that said "Mrs. Cake.".

"Oh, this is my friend Mac. Say hi Mac." Goo said.

"Uh... hi." Mac said. "I'm-"

"I already said your name Mac. You don't gotta repeat it like a kamillion jillion times." Goo said.

"I wasn't-"

"Anyway, he's new like me!" Goo said.

"Oh, really?" Mrs. Cake asked. "Well in that case, welcome to Ponyville. Both of you." Mrs. Cake smilled. "And as a little welcome gift from Sugarcube, just as I've told Goo here, today your orders are on the house."

"Uh, thanks but I-"

"C'mon, let me seat you two." Mrs. Cake said. "Come along my little pones."

Something about Mrs. Cake's sentence made Mac flinch. He wasn't sure what it was, or why it had done it, but it shut him up for the moment, as the two of them followed Mrs. Cake to a small table in the bakery. Once there, they were seated.

"Now I'll be back to take you and your fillyfriend's orders." Mrs. Cake said.

Wait a sec... isn't a filly a girl horse... wait a sec. Mac realized that once again, he'd been seen as Goo's mate. "Wait a second, I'm not her-" but before Mac could finish his sentence, she was gone. Mac sighed as he sat on the ground of the corner, infront of the small table.

"Isn't this place great Mac?" Goo asked. "I've never seen a place with so many imaginary horses before!"

"Goo... something tells me these guys aren't 'imaginary'" Mac said.

"What makes you say that? What else could they be?" Goo asked.

"Well... just think. Everything here looks different. I'm not sure how to say it, but it does." Mac explained. "And even more, they call this place "Equestria". There's no reference to our home, or people... just these... Equestrian ponies, I guess you'd call them. No America... no humans... weird look... it's like almost everything we knew doesn't exist here... including imaginary friends. I don't think they exist here either."

"Weeeird..." Goo said. "But... do ya think that means we can't imagine here?"

"...that's a good question actually." Mac admitted. Could they use their imagination here? They could think, so one could assume so... but could they bring their thoughts into reality like back at Fosters on Wilson Way? "I can't believe I'm asking you to think of an imaginary friend, but quick... before Mrs. Cake comes back. Try it out."

"Ok Mac." Goo closed her eyes and put her hooves to her head to think. "I'm thinking of a 8 eyed duck with candy corn teeth, wheels for feet and a jet-pack that's powered by laughing and flies with raaainbows!" The two waited for a moment before Goo opened her eyes to see if it worked.

"Anything?" Goo said.

"Nope..." Mac said. "I guess you really can't make any real imaginary friends here."

"That's great!" Goo said.

"Huh?" Mac asked.

"Well, I've been doing my best to keep from making imaginary friends right?" Goo asked. "Well, now that I don't have to worry about making them and sending them to Fosters, I can do it all I want!"

"Huh. I guess your right." Mac said. At least they wouldn't have to worry about Goo and her over-reactive imagination blowing their cover during their stay. "Still though... don't over-do anything. Knowing your imagination, you might just explode with them once we do get back home."

"You worry to much. Everything'll be fine." Goo said.

"That's what they all say." Mac mentioned, before the two were re-met with Mrs. Cake, this time, joined with a yellow earth pony with a short orange mane, named Mr. Cake.

"Hey you two." Mr. Cake started. "Welcome to the Sugarcube, and even more, welcome to Ponyville. What can we get for you today?"

"Look, guys." Mac started. He looked at both of their name tags. "Mr. and Mrs. Cake... really, thanks for this, but we've really got to go. Right Goo?"

"We do?" Goo asked. Mac gave the filly a stern look. "Oooohhh yeeaaahh... we do, don't we... you know, for the thing. The thing with the place and the time and the stuff..."

"We don't really have time for this." Mac said. "I've gotta find a friend of mine before he gets himself into some trouble."

"Oh, can't you stay for just one cupcake? It's one of Pinkie Pie's special recipes."

"I'd love to try this 'Pinkie' cupcake, but I really can't have sugar." Mac said. "Trust me, when I do, it's never pretty."

"Not just a teensy tiny little bit?" Mr. Cake insisted. "You really must try it. Once you go Pinkie, you never go back."

"Maybe some other time." Mac said, dragging along Goo. "Come on you."

"See ya Mr. Cake. See ya Mrs. Cake. Tell the little babies I said see ya too!" Goo said as she followed Mac out of the bakery.

"Nice bunch of kids." Mrs. Cake smiled. "A little odd, but nice. I do hope they come back."

"So do I." Mr. Cake agreed. "The baby cakes seemed to get so exited when that Goo filly came in. I think they like her."

"Yes, and I'm sure that once she meets them at whatever party she's planning, Pinkie will love them just as much." Mrs. Cake said as Mr. Cake nodded in agreement.

11***

Bloo shook the paddle ball toy furiously in his muzzle, trying to get the ball to hit the paddle. He was having absolutely no success, as the ball occasionally hit his eye, causing the colt to yell out in pain. Rainbow leaned against one of the fruit booths, watching with an indifferent look, his constant failures to connect the ball to the paddle. It was fun to watch at first, but now the act was starting to get a little stale. In a nutshell, Bloo was beginning to bore Rainbow...

Still however, the mare couldn't shake the feeling that she should have known the colt, despite she'd never met him. According to Bloo, he was from some place called "Fosters" on "Wilson Way", both of which the mare had never heard of anywhere. Still though, that nagging feeling of connection was likely the only reason that she'd stuck around the colt to begin with.

From out of the fruit of the fruit stand she was leaning against, she was met with a pink party pony. At first, Rainbow didn't notice her, but when she tapped the back of her neck, Rainbow jumped.

"Hey!" she said to the party pony. It didn't take the rainbow mane more than another moment to realize why Pinkie had surprised her, and shown up so discretely. Pinkie wasted no time in whispering something into her ear. Rainbow understood the instructions that were given to her, as she went over to Bloo. Pinkie sunk back into the pile of fruit, unexplainably disappearing.

"Bloo!" Rainbow called.

"Wha-" Bloo said, still waving the paddle ball around madly in his muzzle. Rainbow was careful not to get too close to the colt, afraid she would get hit by the ball.

"Mind if I show you something?" Rainbow asked. "It's pretty awesome, and I think you'd like it."

"Sure." Bloo said, barely giving her words a second thought. He seemed more focused on the paddle ball he'd probably never get to connect. He started to follow Rainbow out of the market place, and toward the area with the library. He ended up getting angry stares from ponies who were hit with the red rubber ball attached to the paddle as he swung it around. Eventually, Bloo abandoned his current attempts to use the toy, and dropped it to the ground to follow Rainbow.

What did she have to show him?

Meanwhile, back at the Boutique, Rarity had finally finished unpacking her items. For some reason, she couldn't seem to get Wilt off of her mind. It was likely the desire to pay the stallion back for saving her own. Rarity decided she'd head back further into Ponyville, and possibly find those blue and yellow colts. It wasn't as though she had anything else planned that evening anyway. Sweetie wasn't to be home for another hour or two, and the drought of jobs she's been getting left her schedule pretty free.

Before she could leave however, Pinkie leaped through the window, nearly scaring the mare to death. Thankfully, however, this window was open. Pinkie rolled through the window, and onto the floor, to the point she came nose to nose with Rarity.

"Hai!" Pinkie said happily.

Rarity shook off the shock. What less should she have expected from the party mare.

"Hello Pinkie." Rarity said, ignoring her sudden intrusion. "What brings you here?"

"Didn't you hear about the new ponies in town?!" Pinkie asked.

"Actually, yes I did." Rarity said. "Three, I believe. One of which I've met. Nice fellow named Wilt."

"Oh really? I heard that there were like... five!" Pinkie said.

"Five?" Rarity asked. Wilt didn't mention any others besides Bloo or Cheese. She wondered if the other two were just as nice as him.

"Anyway, do you have any idea where that stallion you mentioned went?" Pinkie asked.

"I... believe I have a general idea of where." Rarity said.

"Great. Could you go get him and meet Rainbow and I in front of the library?" Pinkie asked.

"Let me guess... a party?" Rarity asked.

"Of course silly!" Pinkie said happily. "You know I'd never let a new pony in town without a party!"

"I suppose it was rather odd that I didn't hear from you until now." Rarity said.

"I know! I'm soooo late! I haven't rushed this much for a party since Twilight's!" Pinkie said. She looked at her blank hoof, as though she had a watch on it. "Woah! I'm already even latter! I've gotta go. Invitation stuff. See ya Rare!" Pinkie back-flipped through the window she'd entered through. By the time Rarity had headed outside, Pinkie had disappeared. Seeing as though she believed she wasn't coming back before Pinkie's party, she packed her saddlebags, and headed further down her road, in the same direction she saw Wilt go.

It wasn't long before she finally came across the red stallion, holding the door for two ponies at the Ponyville spa. Rarity recognized them to be Lyra and Bon Bon. To the side were the spa pones, Lotus and Aloe.

"Welcome to La Spa de Ponyville." Lotus started.

"Is there anything we could get for you?" Aloe asked.

Bon Bon's mane was messed up, and hoof marks were on her head. The spa ponies didn't need any other instruction for them to take her in.

"I swear." Lyra said following Bon Bon. "Colt's these days."

"You all have fun in there." Wilt said, letting the door close behind them. "Oh, hello Rarity!"

"Good evening Mr. Wilt." Rarity said. "Would you mind if I took you somewhere?"

"I'm not sure." Wilt said. "I've really got to keep looking for Bloo and Cheese."

"Please. I promise it isn't a waste of time." Rarity asked, giving her puppy dog eyes. She would have gotten Wilt with the please alone.

"Oh... alright." Wilt said finally. With that, the red stallion followed Rarity to wherever she planned to take him...

12***

"Baaaaaa-a-a-a-aaaah" Cheese yelled. He breathed, and then continued his noise making.

"Is there an off switch on him or something?" Scootaloo asked. "I swear to Celestia Applebloom. I'm gonna hurt him!"

The crusaders had been wandering around town with the yellow colt, desperately looking for the one he called Mac. They were starting to feel bits and pieces of their braincells slipping out of their ears, the longer they were around the annoying colt. Sweetie was the only one who managed to tolerate the colt, but even she was starting to loose it a little. They were also starting to doubt somepony named Mac was even in town, and it was just another of the yellow pony's ramblings.

Applebloom sighed. "Ah don't think we're gonna find no Mac pony. Maybe 'e 'eard mah big bro's name and just repeated it." Applebloom said.

"But why did he call him 'daddy'?" Sweetie asked.

"Why does this colt do anything?" Scootaloo responded. "We've gotta get rid of him."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa..." Cheese said disapointed.

"See what you did?" Sweetie said. "Now he's upset."

"I'm not sure how much less I can care anymore." Scootaloo said.

"Hm... well, Twili' library ain't far." Applebloom mentioned. "Maybe we could drop 'im off there?"

"Yeah. He can be her problem." Scootaloo said. "Let's just go, before I lose what's left of my sanity."

"Don't worry." Sweetie said to Cheese. "Twilight will take good care of you."

"... ok doggie." Cheese responded, ceasing his noise making. From then on, he followed the crusaders silently to the library.

13***

Mac and Goo were on the brink of giving up. They were fairly sure they'd checked every corner of Ponyville, and there was no sign of Bloo. Mac was starting to worry, because he expected to at least notice a trail of destruction the blue colt usually left anywhere he went. The fact that everything in the town seemed to be fine, was somewhat horrifying in the eyes of Mac. Where could his friend be? What could have happened to him?

"Where are you Bloo..." Mac said out loud. "Goo... there isn't anywhere we haven't checked yet?"

"Weeell, let's check." Goo said. Without permission, she reached into Mac's saddlebag, and pulled out his notebook. She flipped to the map Mac had crudely drawn. On each of the buildings they'd been to, there was a check mark to indicate that they'd been there already. "Only place we haven't checked yet is the library that-a-way." Goo said, closing her book.

Mac laughed. "I'd be really scared if Bloo went to a library of all places." Mac said. "The last thing I could see Bloo doing is reading. The last time I saw him with a book was when he was trying to cover for his visits to Barry."

"Who?" Goo asked.

"I'll... tell you about it later." Mac sighed. "Well... it is the only place we haven't looked. Guess it's worth a shot." Mac said as he took the book from Goo, and placed it back into his saddlebags. The two began to walk over to the library, hoping to find Bloo...

Once there, low and behold, they were met with the colt. Accompanying him was a rainbow maned pegasus.

"Bloo!" Mac said happily. Mac ran over to his friend barely seconds before he noticed him. Mac hugged the colt, who looked suprised. So did the rainbow mane.

"Oh... hey Mac." Bloo said. "What's- OW!"

Mac had hit Bloo upside the back of the head.

"What was that for?" he asked.

"That's what you get for wandering off." Mac said. "Who knows what kind of trouble you coud've gotten into."

"Your know him?" Rainbow asked. Mac turned his attention to her.

"Oh, yeah. He's my friend." Mac said. "My name's Mac."

"Rainbow." Rainbow said. "Call me Rainbow."

"Cool name." Mac remarked.

Rainbow chuckled. "Thanks. Your blue friend is a real trouble maker, you know that?" Rainbow said.

"Trust me. I know." Mac said, glaring at Bloo, who grinned innocently.

"Hey Mac!" Goo said. "Aren't you like, gonna intorduce me?" Goo said. "Your the gentleman, your supposed to introduce us ladies." she turned to Rainbow. "He does this like, all the time. I mean really, he's all like 'Hey, I'm Mac' and he forgets that kind of stuff you know."

"...you talk a lot, don't you?" Rainbow asked.

"Sometimes." Goo said happily.

"Anyway, this is Goo." Mac said.

"Nice to meet both of you." Rainbow said smiling. Her smile, however hid a hint of uncertainty. She had that same feeling that she had earlier with Bloo. She felt like she shoud have asked about it, but decided against it, figuring it would make her look like a weirdo.

The group was joined by a white coated mare and a red stallion.

"Wilt! There you are!" Mac said happily. "I was wondering where you went."

"Oh, hey Mac!" Wilt said.

"Who's your new girlfriend?" Bloo asked, before making a kissy face. The mare was somewhat disturbed by the colt's behavior.

"Huh?" Wilt asked, before remembering the mare who had guided him here. "Oh! I'm sorry. This is Rarity. She's the mare who helped me find you guys."

"Charmed, I'm sure." Rarity said.

Everyone who hadn't met eachother introduced themselves.

"So, your the colts and filly who Mr. Wilt came with from the land of Wilson Way?" Rarity asked. Mac looked nerviously at Wilt, who waved his stub, as though to say it was fine.

"Y...yeah." Mac said.

"Is it nice there? What is it like?" Rarity asked.

Mac wasn't sure what to say. Home was very different from Equestria, and Mac was afraid he might say something odd. He was saved however, by Rainbow.

"Uh, Rare? You think we should... you know... get outa here?" Rainbow said, motioning her head toward the library.

"Hm?" she asked. It took a moment for her to understand the signal Rainbow was sending. "Oh yes! Right, we do need to get going. Why don't you four head into the library. Maybe once we return, we'll get a chance to chat."

"Sure. We'll meet you inside." Wilt said.

"See ya when we see ya ladies!" Goo said, waving hyperactively as they walked away, aroud the corner at the end of the street.

"Guys... I'm not really sure if we should go in there." Mac said.

"Why not Mac?" Goo asked.

"Beause it's a library, and libraries are boooorrinng." Bloo said.

"No, because your forgetting we're not supposed to be here." Mac said. "We're getting too comfortable, when we really need to find some way out of here."

"But Mac-"

"Remember Heriman and the rest of the Imaginary Friends? Terrence and Duchess are probably destroying the town while we're relaxing here. We can't waste time. We've got to find a way back and help them."

"Mac. I'm sorry, but I don't think we can really get out without some help." Wilt said. He had a point. Mac nor anyone else knew of a way to get out of Equestria. They were also still missing the rest of their friends... speaking of which.

"I like cereal!" Cheese yelled, followed by three young filles.

"We know!" Scootaloo telled back.

Upon seeing his friends, Cheese gasped. "Horsey dogies!" he exclaimed, before running over to Bloo.

"Huh?" Bloo asked, looking over to Cheese.

"Giddy up!" Cheese said, before jumping onto Bloo's back, nearly flattening the colt. Bloo struggled to get out from under Cheese. Eventually, he started banging his hooves against the ground in defeat.

"Get off of me Cheese."

Cheese did his back throat breath. "Yeth..."

"Cheese?" Mac said.

"Yeth?" Cheese asked, looking over at Mac.

"Get off of him."

"O-kaaay..." Cheese said, getting off of Bloo. Bloo took in a deep breath before getting up on all four hooves.

"He yours?" Applebloom asked.

"Yeah, he's-" Mac looked over at Applebloom, and they were suddenly caught in each other's gaze. They stared into one another's eyes, as though lost in a trance. Mac was the first to shake from that trance. "Uh... I'm Mac."

"Applebloom." Applebloom said.

Once again, everyone was introduced.

"Wait a second..." Scootaloo said. "If your Mac and he's... doesn't that make you..."

"Get it out." Mac said, looking off to the side, expectant of what the filly was getting at.

"Mac and Cheese!" Sweetie giggled.

"Oh boy..." Mac mumbled.

"I like CHOCOLATE milk." Cheese said.

"Oh, right." Mac said, reaching into his backpack to take out a juicebox. "Here. Drink this."

Cheese took the juice box. "I like chocolate milk." Cheese said before begining to drink from the juice box.

"Ah... Ah don't think that's-"

"I know." Mac said. "He can't have milk. He's lactose intolerant."

"But boy, does he stink when he has chocolate milk." Bloo added.

"He stinks without chocolate milks." Scootaloo said holding her nose. "Pee- you!"

"Um, guys?" Wilt asked. "I'm sorry, but don't you think we should be heading in soon?"

"I guess so. Let's go then." Mac said.

The Foster Five headed for the door of the library. Without much thought, the Cuttie Mark Crusaders follow them. They open the door-

"SURPRISE!" the sound of nearly half the town's ponies could be heard from inside of the library. The entire group jumped at it. They definately weren't expecting to be thrown a party, especially one so large. The emotions were mixed among the Fosters. Cheese did his scream, which was followed by a yay, once Mac calmed him down. Bloo had wide grin on his face, as the colt loved parties. Wilt simply smiled, once the shock was out of his system. Goo started talking, which no one was really listening to. Mac looked nervious, as the last time he had gone to a party... it simply didn't end well.

They stood out there for a moment, before a pink pony, with streamers sticking out of her hair came to the door to greet them. "Well come on in! It's not a party untill everyone's in!" Pinkie said exitedly. With all of the preasure on them, the group, including the CMC entered the library party...

15***

Frankie Foster woke up in a daze. Her head swam as she looked around at the lights and hustle and bustle of the city. She felt different... changed somehow.

"Yo mule!" someone called. "Get yer flank out of the road!"

Still in a bit of a daze, Frankie followed whoever had ordered her's instruction... it was then she realized that she was walking around on all fours.

"What the..." She looked at her new hooves in shock. She had been transformed into a pony, much like her friends. Her coat was a shade darker than blank white. Her mane and tail were red and frizzy. She wore a green hoodie that covered her front part. Her flank was exposed, showing a sponge. "What the heck is goin on?" She asked herself.

The mare looked up to see that she was in some kind of city. Buildings stretched far above her, and lights were placed down the street. Ponies, much like her, large and small pulled carts of other ponies down the street. Frankie rubbed the back of her neck... then memories resurfaced. Memories of falling from the bus, and nearly to her death... then it hit her. "Grandma..."

Frankie had remembered holding on to Madame Foster as they were being held over Rex... but then they fell. What had become of her grandmother... and the rest of her friends for that matter. Frankie had to find out... and she wasn't going to by just standing around on the sidewalk of the city. She began her trek down the streets of what she soon discovered to be somewhere called "Manehatten". She figured it was some kind of play on words from the city she'd heard about in New York... but the question came. Where was she exactly? It was definitely not Wilson Way, and it certainly wasn't Fosters. In fact, the mare wasn't even sure this was earth at all. It was as though she'd traveled to a whole new dimension... everything around her looked different.

Frankie eventually came across a club, with a bunch of ponies waiting to get inside.

Wonder what all the commotion's about... Frankie thought. She looked at the sign to the left. It said:

Behold, the greatest magician alive... The Great and Powerful Trixie!

Frankie looked into the crowd... by the door, she noticed a white bun sticking up out of the crowd... there was only one person Frankie could think of. Frankie weeded her way though the crowd, pushing them to the side in an attempt to follow the white bun into the club. Once she'd fought her way to the entrance she was stopped by two suited ponies who seemed to be wearing sun-glasses.

"Stop. You got a V.I.P pass?" one of the suits asked.

"A what? N-no. I'm just trying to follow my grandma in there." Frankie explained.

"Then you've gotta wait in line like everyone else ma'm." the other guard said, pointing to the rest of the ponies.

Frankie looked back. That's what you call a line? she thought looking at the disorganized clump of waiting ponies.

"Look. I've got money." she said, reaching into the pocket of her hoodie. She took out two twenties, which the colts looked at strangely.

"Is this some kind of joke?" the guard asked. "You plan to pay us with paper?"

"What? It's money! You pay for stuff with it." Frankie argued.

"Not sure what world your from lady, but in Equestria, we pay in bits. Not green pieces of paper." The guard said. "Now get some money, and get back in line or-"

Frankie groaned. "I don't have time for this!" Frankie thought as she ran past the two guard ponies.

"Hey! Get back here!" the guards said, giving chase to the red maned mare. Frankie looked back at the ponies that were giving chase. She escaped into a crowd of ponies, as they passed by her. She sighed in relief, happy to have escaped them for now. She knew that she couldn't stay hidden forever... she had to find the Madame as fast as possible. Frankie jumped up over the ponies to see the white bun at the front of the club, near the stage. She weeded through the ponies to make it there. Finally, she got her hands on the mare.

"Grandma... thank goodness I-"

"Who you callin grandma lady?" the purple bun maned mare said in an unnaturally low pitched voice. She may have had the same bun of her grandmother, but between the coat and the menacing voice, it definitely wasn't the elderly lady she knew.

Before Frankie could say anything else, the lights went out in the club. The only one that was on was the spotlight that shined on the stage.

"Mares and Gentlecolts! Prepare to be dazzled and dumbfounded." came a voice from over the loud speakers. "For today, you will witness magic like you've never seen before. Magic that will amaze and arise your interests. Feats that you never thought would be possible in your wildest dreams! Prepare yourself... for The Great and Powerful Trixie!"

Fireworks lit up the stage, before a unicorn mare appeared in the blaze. She had an azure coat, and wore a blue cape and magician's cap. She wore a smug smile that made Frankie a little ill. She seemed like one of those who boasted and gloated over everything they did. Frankie wanted to leave... but since she was already there, she figured she might stay a little longer. The mare did always enjoy a good magic show.

Once she was done her introduction, the mare began her act. She pulled off various feats of magic Frankie had never seen before... or rather, she'd never seen it done so realistically. Every trick she did, from the classic bunny in the hat trick, to the levitation of various items around her. Each act she did, the horn sticking out of her head started to glow. She wasn't sure why... was the magic being done with that horn? That was impossible though. There wasn't any such thing as magic... right?

No... of course not. Magic's what little girls believe in... Frankie thought. Still... that lady isn't half bad with magic. I wonder how she does do it anyway?

Trixie's next trick involved her taking a bucket of water and creating a snake with the water inside. Her horn glowed as the water rose out of the bucket. The stream of water that glowed a light blue flew around the club. The feat was amazing to Frankie, however there were some ponies that weren't exactly impressed.

"Boo!" Said the elderly mare besides her. "I've seen better magic in Ponyville! You stink!"

The mare destroyed Trixie's concentration, causing the water snake to fall out of her magical field, and fall onto several members of the crowd, drenching them. They joined in the booing, and eventually, the entire crowd was laughing at the the mare. Frankie even chuckled a little, seeing the wet ponies as a little humorous. Trixie's ears went down in embarrassment for a moment... but then erected again in anger, as she glared angrily at Frankie.

"It seems that somepony here doubts my power..." she said. "You there! Red mane! Join the Great and Powerful Trixie on stage.

Oh boy. Frankie thought.

Frankie got up on stage with the mare as she'd ordered. Trixie grinned devilishly at the mare, which gave Frankie chills down her spine.

"Behold!" she said to the crowd, who eventually stopped laughing. "For those who feel I am just a farce, I will show you true power! I... the Great and Powerful Trixie... will make this red maned mare disappear before your very eyes!"

Frankie rolled her eyes. She'd been to magic shows where she was chosen to be an assistant. These disappearing acts were all the same: she'd be put in some box, some trap door would open up, and she'd be taken to some dark room to wait out the rest of the show... but the thing was, that there was no trap door. There wasn't even a box. How did the mare plan to make her "disappear"?

Trixie got in front of Frankie, and made a stance. She pointed her horn at Frankie as it started to charge. Frankie was begining to get nervious... there had to be a way this mare planned to make her disappear... but then a thought came to her head. What if her magic's really real?... what if she's really going to make me disappear?!

Frankie started to back away from Trixie, who grinned at her.

"What's wrong mare? I can tell you don't believe in my magic. Why don't you let me demonstrate?"

"Look... Trixie, right? I'm really sorry, but there's gotta be some misunderstanding." Frankie said. "Can't we just ta-" Frankie didn't get to finish her sentence as she found herself backing off of the stage. She tumbled off, causing the rest of the ponies to burst out in another sea of laughter. Frankie lie there in a daze... but before she could get up herself, she was picked up. When she looked to her sides, they were the guard ponies.

"Your comin with us miss." one of them said, as they started to drag her away. Frankie looked up at the azure mare, who looked at her back. She waved goodbye to the mare, with the same smug look on her face. Was she just trying to scare her? Or was she really planing on making the mare disappear. Frankie could only hope that she wouldn't have to find out, as she was dragged out of the club, and down one of the Manehatten streets...

The First Crossing has commenced... The Rule is Broken...
Flung into a world they know not of...
Once the third had been pieced... Doom will only follow...
Here is where their journey begins...

AcrosstheUniverse