Chapters

Playing along
Another unicorn senses something strange
Trouble in apple town
Friendship is chaotic
Frosting everywhere
Jason still hates the sun
FPC: Slap to the face
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Playing along
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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

Playing along

Jason rolled over in his bed and yawned. As if replying to his yawn, a ray of sunlight crept through his blinds and hit him directly in the eyes. Jason grumbled something generic about the sun being an ass before slowly pushing himself into an upright position. He blinked a few times before turning and checking his alarm clock. Six thirty. On a Saturday. 'Damn sun,' he thought, 'Why do you have to rise in the east you shining piece of crap?' Jason fell back onto his pillow and rolled into a position so the sun would be unable to continue it's assault on his eyes. Some unholy power seemed to dislike him getting sleep though and decided to make his phone ring at that exact moment.

"FFFFFFFFF-" Jason started before surrendering to his fate.

Jason pushed his sheets off of himself and quite literally rolled out of bed. He lay on the floor for a second, wishing the phone would stop ringing so he could just sleep there on the floor. It didn't. Jason groaned and got up to retrieve the phone. He picked it up, glared at it for a moment, then smashed the answer button and put the phone to his ear.

"Hello?" he deadpanned.

"Hey Jay! What's up lil' bro? Nevermind, not important. Go check your mailbox. I sent you something a few days ago and it should be in by now. Call me back when you open it."

Click.

The phone droned in Jason's ear while his hand collided with his face. Of course it would be his sister Cady who would ruin his sleep. He loved his sister, but she always seemed to call or text him at perfect moments like this. He sighed and tossed the phone on his messy bed. He started towards the door but realized he still lacked something important. Pants. Chuckling at the thought of his neighbors' reactions as he walked out of his apartment pantsless, he searched his room for a pair of athletic shorts. Picking up a slightly rumpled pair from the floor, he quickly pulled them on and walked towards the door again only to be stopped by his reflection as he passed the mirror over his computer desk. 'Ha, if my hair were a bit more blonde, I'd look like a super saiyan.' he snickered. After admiring his amazing, albeit messy, hair, he combed the mess down with his fingers and continued on his journey to the mailbox, grabbing his key along the way. Jason drifted through the front door and descended the stairs. He opened his 'mailbox' slot and retrieved the ever so important thing that had interrupted his sleep, along with several other letters. He glanced at the letters for a moment before locking his slot and climbing the stairs back to his apartment, though not without saying good morning to an old lady as she left her room to probably retrieve her own mail. Returning to his room, he leafed through the letters until he reached one from his sister's address. Tearing it open with his thumb, he pulled a small slip of paper out and opened it. A single dollar fell out of the blank sheet of paper. Jason stared at the dollar on the floor, unsure whether to laugh hysterically or cry at the loss of sleep for a stupid prank.

"At least the paper didn't just say 'hi'." he muttered.

Jason turned his attention to the other letters in his hand. Might as well check them out since he went through the trouble of getting them. He thumbed through the letters again, this time reading each one carefully. Bill. Bill. Advertisement. Sale promotion. More worthless stuff. He was about to throw the pile in the trash before his eyes ran over the last letter. It was addressed to him in neat cursive and had a wax seal. He examined the letter again to make sure it was actually for him. Yep, 'To Jason of room 114'. He broke the seal and pulled out a letter written in the same neat cursive writing.

Dear Jason,

Of every person on Earth, we have decided to choose you for a little social experiment. We recommend you prepare comfortable clothing and a bag with several of your favorite items. You will be retrieved around three hours after this letter is read. Please prepare adequately and efficiently as you will not be given any extra time to prepare. Also, please be wearing your bag at the time of retrieval as it will make things much easier on all of us. Congratulations for winning and have fun on this little... trip.

Jason looked at the letter and laughed. This had to be what Cady had really sent, but also sent a decoy to make him think he'd won something. 'Very funny Cady. I'll play along.' He grabbed his phone from his dresser and checked the time. Seven o' clock. So he had until ten. Jason set about throwing some items into a backpack he used in high school. He had planned on using it in college, but a random set of events put him on the staff of a software company as a coder, so he decided to drop out of college for the rather decent paying job. He was only nineteen after all, he had room to take risks in his life. Jason threw a couple shirts and pants in the main pocket and his phone in the side with his charger. After a few moments of thought, he threw his laptop in the second large pocket along with it's respective charger. 'Why not? It's fun to play along.' Thinking a bit more, he threw a pack of beef jerky in and some sodas. Jason looked at his work, quite satisfied with his 'travel pack'. Something seemed like it was missing though. Scanning his room, Jason's eyes lit up as they spotted his favorite toy. It was a small glove he modified with some wire, a battery, and rubber insulation. The glove provided a perfect amount of shock to the person unlucky enough to come into contact with it once the switch was thrown on the inside of the wrist. He assumed his sister was probably in town to surprise him and set him up to read the letter so she'd show up at the time it set. Thinking this, he put on the glove and laughed at the thought of his sister showing up and getting pranked back. Subconsciously, he put the letter in his pocket while admiring his work. Preparing had taken roughly thirty eight minutes, leaving him loads of time to goof off until his sister arrived. Jason turned the television on and flopped on his bed, waiting for the 'time of departure'.

Jason flipped through channels looking for something interesting. He stopped briefly on a brightly colored show about small horses. He chuckled, thinking of the cult following the show had among adults despite its intended audience. He wasn't one to talk though, considering how much anime he watched. He figured anime was a slightly different case, but generally agreed that anime was still just cartoons intended for kids, despite being watched by many adults. Jason went back to flipping through channels. He was unable to find anything though, so he decided he'd give the pony show a shot. 'Can't judge something without giving it a chance.'

After a couple episodes, Jason wasn't too convinced. The show was funny enough, but it just didn't catch his attention. 'Maybe I'll give it another chance later.' he thought. He glanced at his alarm clock. Nine fifty eight. Jason scrambled from his bed to get ready. He quickly combed his hair and donned his 'travel pack'. Jason glanced back at his alarm clock. Ten exactly. Maybe the thing was off a bit. His sister was usually very punc-

Pop!

Jason's vision blurred and his ears rang. Several moments passed before his senses cleared. He looked around in an attempt to identify the cause of the disorienting noise. Upon examination, Jason noticed something odd. He was standing on a grassy hill near a small village. He blinked a few times, trying to rationalize what just happened. Unable to do so, he merely mumbled hysterically.

"Holy... What the... I had to fall asleep while watching TV. I had to. There's no way..."

Jason stopped for a moment and looked at his hand. 'One way to find out.' Jason flipped the switch on the glove and grabbed his own arm... and immediately regretted doing so. He shouted obscenities and flailed his arm around in a vain attempt to relieve the pain. 'Nope, not asleep. Damn that hurt like a bitch.' He thought. He switched the glove off and removed it from his hand, storing it in a pocket in his backpack. 'New plan. Don't shock myself and find out where I am. Got it.' Jason re-examined his surroundings. He noted the village nearby and a forest quite a bit away. He gazed at the forest for a bit before his eyes snapped back to the village. It looked familiar. As if he'd seen it recently. As if it had been in a cartoon about horses. Jason laughed at the thought and was about to dismiss it when he saw a small cyan object dart out of the village and into the sky. After several little stunts, the object darted back into the village. Jason just stared in horror, recognizing the object. He wasn't exactly sure what was out to get him. First the sun and his sister interrupt his sleep, and now he was somehow standing outside a town called Ponyville in a land ruled by horses. Completely unsure as to what he should do, Jason simply fainted.

Twilight Sparkle flinched as she felt a huge magic signature flare up just outside the town. She rushed upstairs and looked out her bedroom window in the direction she'd felt the disturbance. Nothing was there as far as she could tell. Still wary of whatever had just happened, Twilight set out to find her friends so they could investigate the strange occurrence. Whatever it was, Twilight just knew it was going to be a big discovery.

Jason's eyes snapped open and darted around, checking to see if he was still on a hill in a show about pastel colored ponies. Yep, he still was. He pulled his phone out of his bag and turned on the screen. It was only ten thirty. He hadn't been passed out for long. Jason shrugged off his pack and laid on his back. 'Might as well try to be optimistic. I needed a vacation anyway.' He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. 'I need to catch up on that sleep Cady took from me.'

"Scootaloo, slow down! You're gonna make us crash!"

'Whatever I pissed off to make it never let me sleep, I apologize. Please let me sleep!' Jason brought his hands up to his ears and covered them. As soon as he did, he felt something connect with his right shin. Hard. Very hard. Jason bolted up and grabbed his shin, hoping it wasn't broken. Upon examination, he only discovered a slight bruise. Jason let loose a sigh of relief and examined what had hit him so hard. A scooter with a tiny wagon lay next to him. Jason looked confused for a moment before he remembered the voice talking about crashing. Assuming they flew off their little vehicle, Jason used his brilliant deductive skills to follow their would-be launch angle. 'Thanks physics teacher. Your class is more useful than I thought it would be.' Following the angle he assumed they went (it wasn't hard to guess), his eyes landed on a writhing pile of color.

"Ah told you we were gonna crash" said the yellow portion of the pile as it untangled itself from the other colors.

"Oh whatever. You try driving a scooter at that speed and not crash once in a while." The orange one said, also untangling itself from the mass.

"You've already crashed three times today..." The white one muttered, merely standing up since the others were already untangled.

"What did we hit anyway?" the orange one continued.

The three small creatures turned and noticed a large creature next to their little vehicle. Their eyes suddenly became impossibly wide.

"Hi." Jason said with a small wave.

The two sides stared each other down for several moments, neither wanting to make the first move (even though Jason already had with the 'hi'). Jason shifted slightly and his leg bumped the scooter that had hit him earlier. He looked at it for a moment before standing up and grabbing his bag. He heard gasps, not sure whether they were of shock or fear. Jason turned and began walking towards the forest he'd seen earlier.

"Sorry bout being in your way. I hope you're not hurt." he called over his shoulder.

Jason kept walking, not sure if they'd heard him or even if they cared. From the looks on their faces they were probably already running back towards the town. He wasn't exactly sure why they seemed scared, but he assumed the fact that they were only about knee high to him would make him a little daunting. He was only 5' 11'' though. He wasn't exactly a giant, or at least he wasn't by the standards he was used to. Jason heard a small buzzing and the screech of wheels singaling their return to their scooter. Jason was still under the assumption they were going to run to town until the scooter wheeled past him and stopped in front of him, wagon in tow. The tiny ponies' eyes were still wide, but he saw awe in them rather than fear.

"Whoa! What are you?" the orange one asked, craning her neck to look at his face.

"Uh..." Jason started, slightly confused by their interest in him.

"He's obviously a Minotaur, like that one that made Fluttershy scary." the white one answered.

"Nuh uh, he doesn't have horns. Minotaurs are supposed to have horns." the yellow one pointed out.

"Well then what is he?" the white one retorted.

"I-" the orange one started.

"Ahem."

The three ponies turned towards the tall creature who sat down to be closer to their height. He looked at them for a couple moments before beginning.

"If you want to know what I am, why don't you just ask me?" he said, biting back a laugh when the orange one stamped her hoof.

"I did! Sweetie Belle interrupted me though!" the orange pony complained.

"No I didn't! I was answering your question!" the white one, apparently named Sweetie Belle, replied indignantly.

"But ah don't think you answered Scootaloo's question right. He doesn't have horns." the yellow one said, repeating her earlier statement.

"Exactly! Which is why-" Scootaloo started.

Jason coughed. The ponies turned to him again then blushed, realizing they'd pretty much repeated the exact argument from a few seconds ago.

"Uh, so what are you?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I'm a Terminator." Jason replied, unable to resist the golden opportunity.

"So you eat wood?" the yellow one asked, a confused look on her face.

"What was your name again?" Jason asked, biting back a laugh.

"Ah'm Applebloom."

"Well, you definitely know about termites, but I'm not a termite. I'm a Terminator."

"Shoot Ah knew it sounded funny, but ah wasn't quite sure." Applebloom pouted.

The little pony's pout was so adorable, Jason was sure his heart was about to implode. 'I'm pretty sure I saw these three in the show, but they were only on screen for a few seconds. Why are they so adorable now?' Jason pondered.

"So Mr. Terminator, what are you doing here? Are you visiting Ponyville?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Call me Jason. Mr. Terminator was my father. But no, I was... just passing by." Jason said, trying not to laugh hysterically at being called Mr. Terminator.

"So... where are you from?" Scootaloo asked.

"The moon." Jason replied, somewhat regretting the stupid location he'd chosen.

"Whoa! Like Princess Luna?" Sweetie Belle squeaked, her eyes sparkling.

Jason blinked slowly several times, partially from the fact that something here was from the moon, partially due to the adorable overload of the pony's squeaky voice.

"Yes," he deadpanned, "Like the princess."

"That's so cool! Did you- Hey, it's mah sister and her friends! You gotta meet them!" Applebloom said excitedly, bouncing in the wagon.

Jason's head whipped towards the village to see six familiar ponies headed towards him. Jason panicked and did the first thing that came to mind. 'I gotta get the hell out of here.'

"Sorry, I'm late for... something." Jason said as he sprinted towards the forest.

He heard protests from the three little ponies but he dared not stop. It was entertaining meeting what he assumed were children (since they were smaller than the six that were currently headed towards him) but he'd rather not meet with the main characters of the show. With the exception of the yellow one, the personalities of the group were all the sort that usually bugged him. Overly pompous, headstrong, stubborn, hyperactive and overly smart. The last one only really annoyed him when the owner of the personality was snobby and braggy about being smart, but he didn't know whether she was or not. He'd only seen two episodes.

Jason reached the trees rather quickly, running being the only physical activity he excelled at. Right as he entered the tree line though, he heard a flapping sound to his left. Keeping his peripheral vision open so he wouldn't run into a tree, he turned his head. The obnoxious, headstrong blue pegasus was lazily floating a couple feet from his shoulder.

"'Sup," the pegasus grunted, "Mind stoppin' for a sec? My friend wants to talk with you."

Jason looked at her for a few seconds before putting his hand out and grabbing a tree. Using the tree as pivot point, Jason swung himself around the tree to quickly change his direction without sacrificing his speed. Jason looked over his shoulder, hoping to see the pegasus struggling to catch up. Unfortunately, the pegasus was gone.

"If that's your idea of an escape maneuver, you need a lot more practice."

Jason looked up and saw the pegasus keeping pace with him quite easily. Jason frowned at this. He hadn't exactly thought it would work so much as he hoped it would distract her for a moment so he could jump in a bush. Jason sighed. 'One last trick.' Jason veered lightly and ran straight towards the largest tree he saw. The tree got closer and closer. The pegasus looked at him, but shrugged. She probably assumed he would juke the tree randomly to try to confuse her. He hoped so at least. When the tree was right up on top of them, the pegasus veered and whipped around the tree lightning fast. No matter what direction he turned, she would see him. She waited few seconds. Jason didn't come out from behind the tree. She fluttered back to the other side of the tree, but he wasn't there either. She did a quick circle around the tree to make sure he wasn't just keeping it between them. He'd just disappeared. The pegasus frowned and looked around the tree one last time. She saw a bush at the base of the tree, but when she poked through it, all she saw was leaves. The pegasus huffed and crossed her hooves before floating up above the treeline and heading in the direction her friends probably were.

Jason watched all of this from a bough in the tree. He was glad she hadn't thought to look in the leaves at the top. Then again, most humans wouldn't have looked up. Not many people can scale a tree so quickly, and apparently ponies can't either. That or like people, ponies just don't look up. Jason waited several minutes before he dropped down from the tree, just to be safe. When he did, he noted he'd left a shoe print on the trunk where he'd used his momentum to get to the bottom branches of the tree. 'Good thing she didn't notice that either. Or maybe she doesn't know what a shoe print is. Either way, it saved me.' Jason scratched his chin when he thought the words 'saved me'. He wasn't exactly sure what would have happened to him if they'd caught him. Probably nothing now that he thought about it, he'd just ran out of instinct. Jason laughed, realizing how silly the whole situation was but then again, it was insanely silly that something simply whisked him away from his room and plopped him in a cartoon show. He wondered if he would appear in the show or if this was another universe entirely. 'I'd love to be on TV...'

Jason shook his head. He'd gone way off topic again. 'If I don't fix that habit, it'll probably come back to bite me...' Doing his best to retrace his steps, Jason began walking in the direction he'd come from. He didn't want to go meet with these ponies, but he definitely didn't want to be lost in a forest. Since he probably had a long way to walk, he began running himself through information he had from the show. Jason hummed to himself as he walked. 'This is some crazy crap that's going on. Like some bad fanfiction... But I'll be damned if I'm not gonna have fun with this... situation.'

"Applebloom! What were you three doing with that... thing?!" Applejack said, galloping up to the trio as the creature made for the Everfree Forest.

"I'll go get it." Rainbow Dash said, taking off towards the retreating creature.

"Sweetie Belle! What have I told you about talking with strange creatures?! You could get hurt!" Rarity fawned, wrapping her little sister in a hug.

"But Jason's not a strange creature, he seemed nice!" Sweetie Belle squeaked as she wriggled in her sister's iron grip.

"Jason? What's a Jason?" Applejack asked suspiciously.

"The name of that thing Rainbow Dash just went after." Scootaloo announced, "He talked with us for a bit. but when you all started heading this way he ran."

"It talked?!" Twilight perked up, eager at the discovery.

"Well yea. Don't all Terminators talk?" Applebloom asked.

The five older mares stared at the filly. Even Pinkie Pie seemed confused by her strange words.

"A what now?" Twilight asked.

"A Terminator. Jason said he was a Terminator." Applebloom explained.

"I've never heard of a Terminator before." Fluttershy said, a curious tone in her voice.

"Neither have I." Twilight said, "Are you sure you heard it right? It looked like a Minotaur."

"No, he specifically said he wasn't a Minotaur. We asked that first." Sweetie Belle announced.

"And he said he was from the moon!" Scootaloo added.

The older mares looked at each other. Twilight looked towards the Everfree Forest where Rainbow Dash had chased the creature. Whatever it was, she'd just have to question it herself when Rainbow came back with it.

Another unicorn senses something strange
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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

Another unicorn senses something strange

Twilight bore a confused expression as her cyan friend came out of the forest and touched down near them. Twilight gave her a questioning look but the pegasus just gave a disgruntled 'humpf' and glared back at the Everfree Forest. Twilight sighed, understanding her meaning. The Terminator had gotten away. She hoped he would be back, but she wasn't counting on it. The way he'd panicked when she and her friends approached was evidence of that he wouldn't. Twilight looked at the forest one last time before turning back to her friends.

"Let's go home girls." she said disappointingly.

The group of mares and fillies turned and headed back for town, though the only one actually dejected was the lavender one. Upon seeing the creature, she knew it had to be something never before seen in Equestria. She doubted the fillies' claim of it's origin from the moon, though she filed the information in her mind in case it proved true. Twilight glanced back at the Everfree Forest over her shoulder. The Terminator seemed like a capable creature, or at least it was big so it would deter predators. She just hoped it wouldn't get lost in the forest. She desperately wanted to study the creature. The mare sighed again and followed her friends back into Ponyville. Certainly the thing known as Jason would resurface, and she would be there to greet it, pad, quill and ink ready and waiting.

Jason gazed over the small, medievel-esque village and ran through his information again. 'The annoying blue pegasus with the rainbow hair that had chased him was Rainbow Dash, super fast flyer and really annoying whiner. Check. Rarity, drama queen and fashionista. Enough said. Previous statement of Rainbow Dash is revoked and applied to Rarity. Definitely more whiny. Check. Twilight. Smart. Books. Done, check. Fluttershy. Likes animals, talks quietly, extremely nice. Check. Applejack, the cow...pony. Works on a farm, likes apples and hard work. Check. Pinkamena Diane Pie... Labeled insane, further information unknown. Approach with caution. That should be all the information, or at least of what I watched...' Jason finished his soda and stared at the can. Not exactly sure what to do with it, he stomped it flat and put it in an empty pocket of his bag. 'This bag has so many pockets...' Jason turned his attention back to the village. He was still unsure whether he should come out and see what would happen, or if he should hide and play some pranks. Jason sighed and climbed a tree, finding a comfortable bough sleep on. The best he found was lumpy and bent his back at a funny angle, but he didn't care. He slung his backpack over an adjacent branch and pulled a pair of extra pants out of it. Laying on the bough, he used the pants like a belt to tie himself to the tree in case he rolled in his sleep. He didn't like the idea of a thirty foot drop in his sleep. It would probably wake him up... Secure in his 'bed' Jason quickly found the sweet embrace of sleep... for what felt like seconds.

Apparently, no matter what universe you are in, the sun is the most accurate sniper in existence. No matter where you are, if there is a hole for light to enter, the sun will shine in your eyes the second it rises, guaranteed. Jason groaned and shook his fist at the sun like a crotchety old man. The violent gesticulation slightly upset his center of balance, flipping him off the bough. Jason yelped as he felt the sensation of falling before his denim jeans tugged on his waist, preventing his fall. He struggled for a bit to pull himself back onto the branch before giving up and hanging limp from the bough. He patted his pocket to check if his phone had fallen out. Nope, not entirely out of luck. He turned the screen on and checked the time. It was almost eight o' clock. He had gone to sleep almost as soon as the sun went down, but he'd forgotten to check the time. He guessed he'd gotten at least nine hours of sleep. Good, but the rude awakening ruined it. Jason unlocked his phone and checked it's remaining battery life. It still pretty much had a full charge which made sense since he'd only used it to check the time a couple times. Making sure nothing was in the immediate vicinity, he flipped to his music library and put it on shuffle. If he was gonna 'hang out' for a bit, might as well have some tunes. Too bad his headphones were wedged somewhere with his laptop... he hoped. He didn't remember if he packed them. Unfortunately, the loudest song on his phone was chosen first... First of the Year by Skrillex. It only blared for a second before he adjusted the volume to a dull drone. It hadn't really gotten that loud, but he still hoped nothing had been within earshot of the booming of the bass. Almost like a bad joke, he almost dropped the phone when the song reached the highest point of bassitude. 'Okay, time for something more mellow. Let's try Mad World. It's kind of what I'm in right now so it fits.'

Somewhere deep inside Ponyville, a certain DJ's ears perked and her eyes shot open from her party-induced coma. Vinyl felt a disturbance in the wub. The disturbance felt good. The DJ quickly made her way downstairs and popped a shot of orange juice to wake herself up. Her roommate looked shocked to see the party-mare up so early but before she could question the DJ's sudden morning energy, Vinyl was out the door and galloping down the street in the direction of the wubs. Whatever she had felt was the sickest beat she'd ever heard besides her own, and she was definitely hunting down it's creator to have a jam session with them. No matter who or what it was.

Eventually Jason was able to fix his little hanging problem, or rather it fixed itself. Turns out pants don't exactly stay in a knot with the weight of a person hanging from them. Fortunately for Jason he landed on a somewhat soft bush, so the fall didn't exactly hurt... much. While he was scrambling out of the bush, though, he cut his hand on a sharp twig. The damage wasn't too bad, but when he climbed the tree again to grab his bag, the cut burned fiercely at being in contact with something. Not wanting to jump down but also not wanting to put his hand through that again, Jason grabbed his electric glove out of his bag and put it on. The rubber insulation on the inside felt nice on his cut, especially when compared to the rough tree bark as he scrambled back down. Now that he was down and had all his stuff, he decided to open his bag of beef jerky and have breakfast. As he ate, Jason looked out at Ponyville, wondering again whether he should just come out and reveal himself. Mostly due to the fact of beef jerky being dry and he wanted something nice and fulfilling to eat, but he decided to wait for the time being. He still wasn't sure exactly what would happen if he showed up, especially if the kids he'd talked with had told the main characters what he told them. As funny as it was to be known as the Terminator from the moon, he wasn't sure if he would be able to keep that charade up for long. Jason sighed, biting into another piece of jerky. He pulled his phone back out an opened his music library again. He didn't bother to pull out his headphones as he didn't feel like digging through his bag at the moment. Besides, using the speaker had worked well enough earlier. Nothing heard the noise last ti-

As soon as Bassnectar came on something hit Jason hard in the chest, knocking him over. Something was in his face, staring at him. When his eyes crossed to get a better look at his assailant, he stared at the face of a creepy pony with weird violet eyes and a spiky mane. A closer inspection revealed she was wearing colored glasses, but he barely noted that as the pony looked at his own face curiously.

"You must be the one droppin' those sick beats. Man, you gotta have a sesh with me, your sound rocks man! You... where's your gear?" the pony said, looking around at the trees.

Jason just stared at the pony. The pony stared back for an uncomfortable length of time before realizing.

"Right. Don't think I'd be psyched to talk after being tackled either." it said, hopping off his chest, "Sorry. So... where's your gear? You gotta show me your specs. that beat was insane. Especially that one you were starting when I... yea... Again, totally sorry."

Jason pulled himself into a sitting position and looked at the pony with a confused look. His eyes widened a bit when he realized she meant his phone when he'd played Bassnectar, but that didn't explain how she'd found him with just that. Maybe his music binge from earlier wasn't as quiet as he thought. That or the burst of Skrillex had been so loud it could be heard in the village. As loud as it was though, he doubted the sound would've reached the village.

"How did... Wait, did you hear me earlier or did you just hear me now?" Jason queried.

"Oh, I definitely heard you earlier. Whatever that masterpiece was, it was intense. I could practically feel the wubs all the way back in town. You gotta bring your stuff back to my pad and jam with me."

"Oh that wasn-" Jason started before coming up with a better idea than admitting it wasn't his own beat, "That wasn't my best beat. I've got way better. I don't use regular equipment though. I use this."

Jason walked over to where he'd been tackled. He'd dropped his phone in the commotion and it had flipped over, effectively triggering the smartphone's programming to silence itself when flipped. Jason walked back over to the curious Dj and showed her his phone.

"This is my jam device. I can create all sorts of music with it, but i prefer to make... wubs was it? It's called something different where I'm from. But yea, I like making wubs. It's pretty chill."

Jason held back a snicker as the pony's eyes widened in admiration. He really had to stop making stuff up to mess with them, but for some reason he couldn't. It was too tempting. Besides, if he didn't enjoy himself in the crazy situation he was in he'd probably have lost his mind at being stolen from his apartment and dropped in some made up land. He didn't exactly enjoy the idea of going insane, so he chose pranks over panic.

Suddenly the pony's eyes lit up, as if having an idea. A tingling sensation wrapped around Jason's empty hand and began pulling. Jason gasped at the sudden pull and almost fell over. He struggled for a moment to get out of the strange grip.

"The hell is this?" he yelled.

"Oh, sorry. I got carried away again."

The tingling sensation disappeared from his hand and the pulling ceased. Jason rubbed his hand and turned his attention towards the now blushing DJ.

"Since I realized you had your gear I was just gonna bring you back to my place so we can make a beat together. Kinda forgot to ask if you wanted to." the pony (which he now noticed had a horn on it's forehead, marking it as a unicorn) mumbled sheepishly.

"I don't... I... I don't even know your name and you're trying to kidnap me to make dubst- I mean wubs with you? That's just weird..." Jason said, putting a few extra feet between himself and the unicorn.

"Right, sorry. I tend to freak out when I meet another artist, let alone one of my own genre. Name's Vinyl. Vinyl Scratch. Don't think I asked your name either. Whatchya called?"

"I'm Jason."

"Sup. Now that we're acquainted, can we go make some beats? I haven't been able to make anything good for a while. I got that wubs-block like you would not believe..."

Jason agreed to follow the unicorn, but asked if there was a back route to her house. He still wasn't sure about meeting with the main characters, but meeting a dubstep DJ and getting to make a song with her? He couldn't pass that opportunity up. Vinyl said she had a back way into town for when she returned late from an out of town show and didn't want to see anypony (Jason actually choked slightly while trying not to laugh at the use of pony rather than body). Jason said that would be best for him, but asked her not to guide him with her magic like last time. The tingly feeling of his hand being enveloped in magic had been so strange and creepy, like... cutting off the circulation and putting it in Jell-o. It was probably a bad simile, but he couldn't come up with anything better at the moment. Vinyl agreed to not grab him with magic and the two set off for the DJ's house. The route didn't take too long to traverse and it was back-door enough that they barely even entered the town before reaching her abode. Vinyl opened the door and ushered Jason in. Jason looked around the entrance for a second before he felt something pushing against his back. Jason turned his neck and saw the unicorn pressing on his back with her head.

"Uh?"

"We gotta hurry to my room. My roommate doesn't like me bringing guests over without giving her a heads up."

Jason shrugged, but before he could take a step a harmonic, yet even toned voice called from another room.

"Vinyl? I have no qualms with you taking a morning stroll, but you've never been up this early before. Next time could you please ta-"

The owner of the voice, a grey pony with an air of calmness about it, stopped in a doorway leading to another room. It's mouth hung open and it's eyes widened a little, probably upon seeing Jason. After a moment, though, it seemed to collect itself and cleared it's throat.

"Vinyl. What did I say about bringing guests without telling me?"

"Sorry Tavi, but I had to bring him over for a jam session. He plays music like mine, but it's way more rad."

"Hmm. I don't mean to be rude, but what exactly is he anyway?" the grey pony asked, turning her gaze to Jason again.

"Oh, he's... Uh..." Vinyl fumbled.

"I'm a Skrillex." Jason answered with a straight face.

They grey pony blinked but gave no other signs of reaction. Vinyl smiled awkwardly and looked from Jason to the grey pony and back again.

"Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. My name's Octavia. I don't mind you making music with Vinyl but I must ask that you keep it quiet. I can stand Vinyl's art but I'm not sure our neighbors can, or at least this early in the morning they can't. I'll be in the living room reading if you need me."

Jason looked at Vinyl who was wiping sweat off her brow.

"She seems nice."

"She is, but she's a stickler about rules. She only didn't chew me out 'cause you're here. C'mon, let's get to work." Vinyl said, trotting towards the stairs in the corner of the room.

Jason followed her. Despite being in such a bizarre situation, he almost felt at home having met Vinyl and Octavia. Their personalities were exactly like people he'd hung out with back home. 'I thought this place would just be all happy sunshine with the occasional villain. Even if this place is just full of colorful ponies, I think I can come to like it if they have personalities just like humans.' Jason's thoughts on the matter were almost concreted upon seeing Vinyl's room. A messy bed lay in the corner while the rest of the room was dominated by posters of bands, speakers, turn tables and some cans labeled 'Timberwolf'. He figured Timberwolf was probably an energy drink. Yep, exactly like some people he used to hang out with.

Vinyl walked over to her speakers and put on a pair of headphones lying on top. A couple of records floated up and placed themselves on her turntables, probably via magic. The DJ hopped up on two legs and placed her forelegs on the records.

"You start and I'll see if I can keep up." Vinyl announced, messing with some switched on her board.

Jason turned on his phone and opened his music library. Opening his dubstep-specific playlist, he searched for the song with a decent beat. Not actually having much dubstep, he settled on Kill Everybody, another Skrillex song. 'Might as well since I called myself a Skrillex.' The beat started and Vinyl bobbed her head to the beat. A few second in, she started scratching along, adding her own strings in occasionally. Jason just stared as the DJ went to work shredding the beat. When the song ended, Vinyl looked up at Jason and smiled.

"That was awesome! Couldn't understand those lyrics, but the beat was epic. You gotta teach me your ways." she said, eyes sparkling.

"No way, your style is already way past that of my species. I'm not gonna ruin your genius." he replied, genuinely in awe of her ability.

"Thanks! I appreciate good feedback, but no way is it better than your stuff. I suppose I can't convince you to at least teach me a little?"

"No way, I'd ruin your art."

"Fine." Vinyl pouted.

A knock sounded at the door. A light blue glow surrounded the door and it swung open, revealing Octavia.

"Shoot, were we too loud? Sorry Tavi."

"Nah it's my fault Vinyl, you let me lead. I apologize Ms. Octavia. Won't happen again." Jason said with a bow.

Octavia merely stared at them, slightly confused.

"I was just coming to ask if either of you would like some tea. Nice to know you think I only come up here to scold you, Vinyl." Octavia quipped.

Vinyl grumbled something while Jason chuckled. Not only did this grey pony seem prim and proper, she was sarcastic too. 'Kind of like my sister when we're out in public.' Jason shook his head, not wanting to think about home.

"So no tea then?"

Jason looked up to see Octavia staring at him. He blushed.

"Sorry, I'd love tea. Something was just on my mind."

Octavia nodded and walked out of the room. Jason looked at Vinyl who muttered something about 'always doing things like that in front of her friends' before heading out of the room herself. Jason followed after the unicorn, rather enjoying the thought of a cup of tea. 'Certainly wasn't expecting such an interesting turn of events here in pony land, but I also wasn't expecting to be here in pony land in the first place. Glad it's turning out to be cool rather than lame. The show made it seem not too girly, but it hadn't made it seem so... normal. They have a monarch for cryin' out loud.' Jason thought of all the people in the show's fandom who would kill to be in his position at the moment. Despite his annoyance at being kidnapped and brought here, Jason wasn't sure he'd trade it to another person. He was having too much fun. 'Now I just have to meet that princess and I'll be living a full-blown crappy fanfiction. Suck it haters, I'm having fun droppin the base with a unicorn. Your argument is invalid.'

Twilight finished her letter and read it over. Content with its message, she rolled it up and carried it with her downstairs. Finding her faithful assistant napping at the foot of the stairs, she prodded the drake with a hoof to wake him.

"Huhwhatzit..." he grumbled, rubbing his eyes, "What's up Twilight?"

"I need you to deliver this letter for me Spike."

"Isn't it early for a friendship report?" he asked.

"It's not a friendship report, it's a letter for Princess Luna actually. The Cutie Mark Crusaders met a strange creature today, but it ran away when the girls and I approached. Dash almost caught it when it ran in the forest but it gave her the slip." Twilight explained.

"Whoa, something was fast enough to outrun Rainbow Dash?" Spike said, jaw dropping.

"She says it cheated, but I don't quite get how it could. Anyway, the girls said it told them it was from the moon, so I'm asking Princess Luna if she's met this creature before. It's called a Terminator." Twilight further explained.

Spike shrugged and grabbed the letter from her. A quick jet of dragon fire sent the letter floating away towards it's recipient. Now all Twilight could do was wait for an answer. Of course, Twilight had no idea how long the wait would be so she decided to get some chores done. She still had to go around town and remind ponies with overdue library books to hurry and return them. She had a list somewhere around the library. 'Ah, here it is.' She found the list under some books. Go figure. Twilight read the list again, even though she pretty much knew everypony in town who always had an overdue book. Rainbow Dash always kept Daring Do books for way too long. Berry Punch kept forgetting she borrowed books on exotic wine recipes. Lyra Heartstrings seemed to check out really strange books about anatomy, though she wasn't sure why, and would keep them for weeks on end. Last on the list was Vinyl Scratch. That was a new name. She didn't even know the town DJ had even rented a book. And it was a book on classical music. Perhaps it was for her roommate, Octavia. That made more sense.

Twilight, her list in her saddlebag in case she forgot (which she wouldn't), set out to remind these ponies of their overdue books. It was just something that had to be done.

After a delightful tea time with Octavia, Jason and Vinyl returned to making wubs in Vinyl's room. Jason, of course, continued to play songs from his phone while Vinyl shredded along to the tunes, remixing several of the songs. After several songs Vinyl retrieved some packs of Timberwolf from a mini fridge hidden in her nightstand. She tossed one to Jason before cracking one open for herself. Jason eyed the can suspiciously for a few moments but eventually he shrugged and popped it open. The strange energy drink tasted like a mix of honeydew, grass and several pounds of caffeine, so it was pretty much exactly like the energy drinks back in his own world. Fully energized, the two returned to making beats.

After several hours a knock was heard on Vinyl's door.

"Vinyl, the librarian is here to see you. Something about an overdue book." called Octavia from the other side.

"Oh crap, I forgot about that. Send her in!" Vinyl responded, hopping over to her bed and digging around under it.

A moment later a lavender unicorn entered the room.

"Hello Ms. Vinyl. I'm here about that book you-"

Twilight paused upon seeing the room's other occupant. Jason stared back at her. 'I've got a feeling this won't end well...' Jason thought glumly.

Trouble in apple town
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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

Trouble in apple town

"Uh.... hi?" Jason tried, unsure of what to do.

Twilight just stared. Vinyl, finding what she was looking for, turned from the bed with a book floating next to her. The DJ stopped upon seeing the staredown between her new friend and the librarian. Unsure what the two were doing, she coughed to get Twilight's attention. Twilight continued to stare at Jason for several moments before shaking her head and noticing Vinyl.

"Oh, uh... Yes. Vinyl, I was just here to remind... Okay, what is the Terminator doing here?" Twilight asked, stamping her hoof.

Jason began to worry but was able to maintain a straight face. Better to act ignorant of the subject. See if it works itself out.

"What's a Terminator?" Vinyl scratched her head and looked from Jason to Twilight once more.

Twilight lifted a hoof and pointed at Jason. He looked at the unicorn, then back at the DJ and shrugged.

"That's Jason... he's a Skrillex." Vinyl said slowly, "I don't know where you got termasomething from, but this guy has been rockin with me all day. I met him in the forest."

Jason's eyes flared for a moment when Vinyl mentioned the forest. This wasn't going to sort itself out. Jason sighed and began working on a plan. He wondered if a shock from his trusty glove would incapacitate the unicorn for a few moments while he escaped. He flicked the switch on the glove in case he needed to find out.

"That's not what he told the Cutie Mark Crusaders. He even has the same name and was in the same place we lost him in. He has to be lying to one of us if not both." Twilight said heatedly.

The two unicorns looked at Jason. Jason suddenly found his shoes very interesting and started to stare at them.

"Are... you not really a Skrillex?" Vinyl asked, a suspicious look in her eyes.

"No... well, I... No. It's- It's my stage name. Yea, but it also sounds cooler than Terminator so I tend to use that when peop- ponies ask what I am." Jason stuttered, hoping he sounded believable.

Twilight and Vinyl looked at each other, as if discussing whether his explanation was believable. While they held their silent conversation, Jason came up with a plan. 'Oh, if this doesn't work, I'm boned.'

"Vinyl, I'm sorry for lying to you, but I just thought my stage name sounded cooler than my species name. And... I think your name was Twilight? Anyway, I apologize for running yesterday. Seeing six ponies running towards me made me panic. Can we get along like civilize beings?" Jason extended his gloved hand for a handshake, or hoofshake in this case.

Twilight took a moment to process his sudden declaration and another moment to decipher his strange gesture. She seemed content to be on friendly terms and extended her hoof for him to shake.

"Yes, I would quite enjoy-" Twilight began.

When Jason's hand connected with her hoof, Twilight immediately flinched and began quivering. Her mane stood on end and she stood stiff limbed like a statue. Taking his chance, Jason leapt to retrieve his backpack and was out the door before Vinyl could react. As he ran out the front door he called farewell to Octavia. 'Might as well. She was a very hospitable host. I would to say bye to Vinyl but she's probably in... shock.' Jason giggled at his pun while he ran from the house. Taking the route Vinyl had led him through earlier, he exited the city quickly and was on the move towards the trees. Jason didn't stop running until well after he'd reached the treeline. No way was he letting that pegasus from earlier catch him should she be on the chase. He really had no way of knowing, and he doubted she would be since Twilight had been surprised to see him at Vinyl's place, but he didn't want to be caught off guard.

Eventually Jason felt he'd gone far enough and started to slow down and take stock of his surroundings. He noted the trees seemed different than the night before but he filed that in the back of his mind for now. He needed to calm down first and carefully plan his next move. If he did something wrong, he could potentially be hunted down for attacking Twilight. Definitely not something he wanted. Maybe he should go back and play it off as a prank. His glove was in fact created for pranking. The idea seemed to be the best option, but it didn't sit well with Jason. He blamed his unease on pride and pushed it down. Logistically this was the best plan... by his logic. With his pride subdued, Jason felt the idea was best, but he would wait until tomorrow.

With a plan set, Jason began to look around for a good tree to sleep in at night. Unfortunately he found that he wasn't in the forest he'd been in earlier. The trees currently surrounding him were apple trees. He seemed to be in an orchard. Jason noted this, but wasn't sure what to think. It was a good thing in the sense that he had apples to eat, which was actually really good since he'd run out of beef jerky at breakfast, but it held a foreboding sense of danger as well. He wasn't quite sure why either. The delicious fruit felt like it was exuding an aura that would kill him if he ate one. As he thought this though, his stomach growled. Against his better judgement, Jason climbed a tree and picked an apple. Unfortunately for his sense of fear, his sense of hunger won out. Jason took a bite of the apple and immediately loved and regretted his decision. He loved it because it was absolutely the best apple he'd ever tasted. He regretted it because he suddenly felt a killing aura advancing on his position. 'Crap...' Not sure what exactly was headed this way, Jason climbed the nearest tree.

Almost the exact millisecond he got into the leaves, a furious looking orange pony with a cowboy hat appeared. The pony glared at each of the trees before walking straight up to the tree he'd picked an apple from. The pony stared at the tree top for several minutes and it's eyes misted a little. Without warning, the glare returned to the pony's face and it turned towards the tree he was hiding in. Jason's heart skipped a beat as it walked straight to the tree he was in and looked up. He swore his eyes met with the pony's, but after several moments the pony turned around. Jason gave a mental sigh of relief, but was quickly worried again as the pony's muscles bunched up. In a quick motion, the little horse lifted it's hind legs and kicked the tree hard. The limbs of the tree shook violently and Jason, unable to keep his balance, fell from the tree.

For a brief moment, Jason counted himself lucky that he hadn't landed on his head and broken his neck. The moment afterwards, he wished he had. The cowpony, which he now recognized as Applejack of the main characters, was centimeters from his face, glare still in full effect. Jason whimpered.

"Ya mind tellin' me what you were doin' stealin' mah apples?" she snorted.

Jason smiled weakly and mumbled something inaudible.

"Excuse me?!" the cowpony said threateningly.

"I-I-I'm terribly sorry. I didn't know these were privately owned trees. I didn't mean to steal from anyone." Jason trembled.

"Even if ya didn't know, it doesn't make it right." Applejack growled.

"Please forgive me. I'll- I'll make it up to you. I'll work for you." Jason pleaded.

The cowpony eyed him suspiciously, but apparently deemed him trustworthy enough to keep his word. The glare melted into a look of disappointment and she backed a couple steps away from him.

"Good. If you're good enough to right your wrongs, then ah suppose ah can forgive you. Ah do expect ya to hold up to your word though." Applejack nodded.

"Since I'm paying you back for it, can I finish that apple?"

Applejack gave him a withering look.

"Heh... Well, can I ask one more question?"

"Ah guess so."

"Do you mind if I sleep in one of the trees?"

The next morning, Jason simply woke up. No sun in his eyes, nothing bothering him, absolutely no interruptions. He rolled off the pile of hay with a grunt and stretched his limbs. Such blissful, uninterrupted sleep hadn't come to him in quite a long time. Maybe he should steal apples more often. Jason chuckled, remembering the previous night. Applejack had been really confused when he'd asked to sleep in the tree. He explained that he just sort of 'popped' into town without planning on it, and he hadn't brought money with him. His little story bought him a look of pity from the apple farmer and she offered to let him sleep in her barn. Jason gladly accepted, not fearing being recognized since she still hadn't recognized him as the thing that had run the other day. He still planned to come out and play his zapping of the purple one as a joke, but he had to work off his accidental crime first and he wanted to come out of hiding, not be discovered.

Jason was still stretching when the barn door opened and the owner of said barn entered. The mare (Jason was beginning to remember terms from his biology class. Huzzah.) looked shocked to see him awake already. Jason grunted his 'morning' as he finished stretching.

"Early riser, huh?" Applejack said while walking about the barn and gathering tools.

"It's early? I usually sleep in way late. What time is it?" Jason picked a straw of hay out of his hair.

"Ah dunno. Didn't check the clock when ah woke. Just headed out here to get ya for the mornin' chores."

Jason went to his backpack he'd thrown in the corner of the barn and started digging for his phone. He hoped it still had charge after the several hour 'sesh' he'd had with Vinyl. Jason dug through every pocket, but couldn't find it. He sat there for a moment before digging his hands in his front pockets, then his back. The device wasn't there either. Jason panicked and began digging through the hay, hoping it had fallen out while he slept.

"What in Tartarus are you doin'?"

Jason turned to see the farmer staring at him, eyebrows raised. He blinked a couple times before turning back to the hay.

"I can't find something of mine. I'm thinking it fell out of my pocket while I slept."

The mare responded, but Jason didn't hear her. He remembered what had happened the day before. Right as Twilight had entered the scene, Jason set his phone down for a moment for a swig of Timberwolf. Seeing the unicorn made him panic and forget all about his phone. He'd left the damn thing in Vinyl's room. Jason rubbed a hand down his face and tried to make the most of situation. Vinyl seemed responsible (enough) to not mess with his phone, or at least not break it, until he revealed himself. Until then, he could live without the device. Jason turned and chuckled in an attempt to alleviate the awkwardness of the scene he'd just made.

"I forgot I lent the... thing to a friend. My bad. So, what's the plan for today? Pick some apples?" Jason giggled at his own joke.

"No," she replied dryly, "Just doin some basic chores. Fixin' some things 'round the farm."

Jason nodded and the mare handed him a toolbox. The two exited the barn and Applejack led him over to a wooden fence with several leaning posts. Applejack gestured to the box he was holding then back to the fence.

"There's some nails and a hammer in there. If ya see a post that's leanin' over too far, just nail it back to the fence. I'll be over by the barn fixin' the wheels on a cart if ya need to ask me anything." Applejack nodded and walked away.

Jason opened the toolbox and grabbed the hammer and box of nails from within. He then stared at the hammer in his hands for a lengthy amount of time. He'd never actually used one before. Jason shrugged and inspected the posts on the fence. When he found a loose one, he pushed on it until it pressed against the fence lining and grabbed a nail. He set the nail where he though it should go and pulled the hammer back for the swing and... pow! He missed entirely. He didn't even hit his thumb like most people apparently did. He tried again and was able to glance the edge of the nail. Jason frowned at the pointy shard of iron. He outran (well, tricked) the 'fastest' pegasus in this mystical land and he was being trumped by a metal toothpick. Jason tried one more time, but used the side of the hammer instead of the flat end. The larger area actually connected with the nail with a resounding 'thwack' and pushed it into the wood. Jason was quite pleased with his success and continued fixing posts.

"Tsk tsk, you started so well but your actions keep getting less and less chaotic. I mean seriously, you're just holding a hammer wrong this time. That's not even slightly chaotic!"

Jason jumped. He hadn't heard anyone, or 'anypony', approach. He turned his head and the strangest thing sat on the fence, giving him a bored look. It had a long, noodle-like body, different horns, different limbs and awesome facial hair. The thing was so strange and cool looking, Jason couldn't help but to find it fascinating.

"I don't know what you are, but you're freakin' cool. You gotta... wait, what do you mean 'my actions'?" Jason scratched his head.

"My dear Jason, I mean your antics you've done since you arrived! You've lied about what you are, outsmarted Rainbow Dash and you zapped Twilight Sparkle! That music you play with your phone is positively chaotic as well!" the thing practically cheered.

"Hold up. You know my name, what I've done and you know what a phone is? What the hell are you?" Jason backed up, suddenly fearful of the thing that knew about him and objects from back home.

"No need to panic, I'm merely an observer. Things were getting dreadfully boring since I've been reformed, so I thought I'd bring something to Equestria that would stir up some fun!" the thing vanished with a pop and reappeared with a paw on Jason's shoulder, "Though I suppose I should've been more clear with my letter. You seemed so confused to be transported. I thought you understood since you packed a bag."

Jason smacked the thing's paw from his shoulder and stared at it. This thing just admitted to kidnapping him and bringing him here. For fun. Jason couldn't deny that it was somewhat fun for him as well, but he didn't like being kidnapped.

"What if I didn't want to be brought here. I had an awesome job and cool friends." Jason growled.

"Oh please, I didn't just pick you randomly. I saw you amongst the rest of your species and everything about you seemed boring. The only time you looked happy was when you were watching those cartoons, and even then you oozed boredom. I thought bringing you here would be more of a quid pro quo. I get to enjoy a little chaos, you get a change of scenery."

Jason opened his mouth to deny his claim but quickly closed it. He was right. He'd been pretty bored. It's why he'd valued sleep and anime so much. Television and dreams were things that depicted the unreal, which he quite enjoyed. Jason was irritated that he'd been taken forcefully, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to go back. This place had magic, why would he want back?! Of course, even though he didn't want to go back, he wanted to try something.

"So... if you brought me here, you could probably send me back. Or is that too difficult for you?" Jason jeered lightly.

"Oh please. Sending you back would be easy, but I'm not going to. Where's the fun in that?" the thing vanished again and popped back up on the fence, "However, I do feel a teensy bit guilty that you were so shocked. Tell ya what, I'll get anything you want from your own world so you don't feel homesick. Absolutely anyth-"

"Burger."

"Excuse me?" the creature deadpanned, "I offer you anything and you want a burger?"

"Yea, a good one from a steakhouse. I haven't eaten except a bite of an apple and a tiny bag of beef jerky. I'm starved as hell." Jason smiled, happy that he'd stumped the creature.

The strange being stared for several moments before breaking out into laughter. He was laughing so hard he actually fell off the fence and started rolling on the floor. Jason couldn't help but chuckle a bit too. He wasn't sure what was funny, but the laughter was contagious.

"Oh," the thing wheezed, wiping a tear from it's eyes, "You, my friend, are amazing. We're going to have a lot of fun, you and I. But where are my manners? I haven't even introduced myself. Name's Discord."

Discord extended a paw from his lying state as if to shake Jason's hand, but before Jason could return the gesture a juicy burger popped into existence in Discord's paw. Jason hesitated before grabbing the burger and taking a bite. It was the most delicious burger he'd ever had.

"Moh yea. Besht of fwiendz." Jason coughed with a mouthful of burger.

Friendship is chaotic
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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

Friendship is chaotic

"Sho," Jason started, finishing his burger and wiping his hands on the grass, "What's first on the agenda? I mean, once I'm done paying back Applejack."

"Hmm, why is it exactly that you owe Applejack in the first place?" Discord sighed.

"I thought you were watching my 'antics' since I've been here."

"Well, I had to take a shower. I can't be watching you at all times. Unless you wanted to take a shower with me." Discord retorted.

"Point taken. Anyway, I accidentally wandered into her orchard, I didn't know it was an orchard, and I ate an apple. Out of effin no where, she barrels into the scene and knows exactly what tree I'm hiding in like some sort of bloodhound. She scared the crap outta me so I said I'd pay her back by working. I don't exactly have any money so it was all I could do." Jason scratched the back of his head.

"Oh, well in that case I'll lend ya some cash. We're friends after all. It's just for one apple, right?"

"Nah, I couldn't ask you to do that. Besides, I don't think I have to work long. I only ate one apple."

"Please, I insist. I don't exactly need money, being a creature of chaos, so my little 'salary' from the princess goes pretty much unused. Here." A small bag popped into Discord's paw and he tossed it to Jason.

Jason caught the bag and gave Discord a questioning look. Discord did a gesture that gave the message 'It's fine' and smiled. Jason sighed in defeat and put the bag in his pocket.

"Fine, I'll be right back then we can go do some stuff."

Discord nodded and Jason began walking to the farmhouse to pay Applejack and inform her he was leaving. Jason briefly remembered he had to go get his phone from Vinyl too, but decided he would wait until he knew what Discord wanted to do first. If it was something big, he would get his phone first. If not, the device could wait. Jason reached the barn after a minute and saw the orange pony working on a broken cart.

"Hey." Jason called.

Applejack turned around and wore a look of shock.

"You finished the fence that fast?! Well shoot, ah may just have to hire you full time. Yer a hard worker."

"Ah, no. I didn't finish. I came to just pay up. A friend of mine came by and brought my wallet. Here." Jason pulled the bag out of his pocket and tossed it to the mare.

Applejack looked from Jason to the bag, then back again before opening the small bag. She gasped when she saw how full it was, then removed two coins.

"This was all ya owed me. Apples aren't that expensive." Applejack muttered.

"Go ahead and take all of it. I feel bad about stealing and you even let me sleep in your barn. Think of it as payment for that if you won't take it for the apple. Anyway, I gotta go. See you around." Jason waved.

"Hey now, wait just a darned minute. Ah don't take handouts!" Applejack called.

"Sorry, I can't hear you. Too busy running." Jason called back before taking off at full tilt.

Jason heard the mare call something again, but this time he legitimately didn't hear her. Jason ran back to the fence and saw Discord leaning against the fence nonchalantly. Discord straightened up when Jason approached.

"Why were you running?" he asked when Jason stopped.

"I... paid Applejack and... she didn't want that much so... I ran so she wouldn't give... me the money back." Jason breathed.

"Hmm, whatever. I suppose since you're done, we can go make plans. To the Discord lair!" Discord snapped his fingers and everything distorted.

When everything cleared, the two stood in a small cottage. Discord sighed contentedly and sat on a fluffy couch, patting the other cushion for Jason to sit. Jason did indeed sit, and Discord popped a pad and pencil into existence.

"Okay, brainstorm. Pranks, jokes, scenarios, anything. Everythin-" Discord pressed.

"This is the Discord lair? I expected something more... chaotic? Or maybe at least untidy. This place is pretty spiffy." Jason said, gazing around the room.

"Oh, well... this is kinda awkward. Y'see, this isn't exactly my lair, so much as it's my friend Fluttershy's house. I just thought lair sounded cooler for the time being. Anyway, let's get to plan-"

"Wait, this is one of those main character's houses?" Jason's eyes widened and his body tensed.

"Calm Jason. It's spa day, so Fluttershy won't be home for several hours. No doubt, that prissy Rarity will keep her occupied at the spa." Discord gagged, "So! We have plenty of time to-"

Suddenly the front door opened. Discord's looked shocked and quickly lifted a paw and snapped. A moment later, a butter-yellow pegasus walked in the door. The door closed behind the mare and she quickly disappeared up the stairs without a word. Jason and Discord shared a horrified look for a moment before the pegasus came back down the stairs and jumped upon seeing her couch occupied.

"Oh! Hello Discord. I didn't know you were in town. It's good to see you." Fluttershy smiled strangely.

"Ah, yes. Fluttershy, I had some time off from the castle so I thought I'd drop by for a visit. I remembered today was spa day though so I let myself in. I hope you don't mind." Discord explained quickly and evenly.

Jason watched the two converse, not daring to breath. He wasn't quite sure why he was sitting in plain view, yet the pegasus hadn't seemed to see him. Jason assumed that the snap Discord had done right as Fluttershy walked in was a quick spell to hide Jason. That or Fluttershy just didn't care that a stranger was in her home, but he doubted the skittish mare would act that way.

"Of course I don't mind. My house is my friends' house, and you're one of my friends. Make yourself at home, I have to go back into town. It's still spa day, but I forgot something in my room. Help yourself to the kitchen if you're hungry." Fluttershy called as she exited the cottage.

Jason let loose his breath once the door closed. He wasn't scared of being discovered in general this time, so much as he didn't want to be discovered trespassing. He'd already been caught stealing. He didn't need a worse reputation. Jason heard Discord snap again, but this time he felt a slight tingle.

"Well, now she won't be home for hours. Sorry 'bout that. Luckily I'm pretty quick on my hooves, and thought to make you look like a plant! Am I a genius or what?" Discord boasted.

"Wait... a plant? You couldn't... never mind. Anyway, what's our plans." Jason shook himself, glad to be past the situation.

"Well, I thought we'd simply go on a big pranking spree! We can prank everyone in town and if they don't find out who did it, it'll confuse everyone! But... uh... we can't prank Fluttershy. She's a bit sensitive" Discord rubbed the back of his head.

"Yea. That's fine. Uh, how long d'you think this'll take? I need to meet with someone about something before the end of today."

"Oh? Who is it you plan to meet? Please don't tell me it's Lyra Heartstrings. If you go anywhere with her, who knows what will happen..."

"What? I don't know who that is. No. I need to go talk with Vinyl Scratch. Remember the DJ I was making music with. I think you said you saw me making music. Anyway, I left my phone at her house. Also, if it's not a problem, I don't want to prank her or her housemate. They were really cool, so it would feel weird pranking them."

"Oh alright. We'll just have to pull extra big pranks on Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle."

"Why them specifically?" Jason asked, confused.

"Why not?" Discord shrugged.

"Alright, so I'll go meet with Vinyl real quick then meet you back here for the pranks."

"Want me to port you over there?"

"Nah, Vinyl taught me a back route so I won't attract attention."

"Alright, I will see you later. While you're doing that, I'm going to spend some... 'quality time' with my favorite bunny." Discord practically oozed with sarcasm.

Jason nodded and left the cottage. He walked until he saw the alleyway 'entrance' Vinyl had shown him. Jason weaved through the alleys and ducked behind houses until he got to Vinyl's house. Jason ran himself through what he was going to say a couple more times before he knocked on the door. A few moments later, a grey mare opened the door.

"Hello Jason, how are you? Are you here to see Vinyl?" Octavia said a little apprehensively.

"I'm good Ms. Octavia. Yes I'm here to see Vinyl. I'm sorry. I know your rule about surprise guests, but I left something in Vinyl's room and I was just coming to retrieve it." Jason bowed his head apologetically.

"Oh, don't worry about it Jason. That rule is in place so Vinyl doesn't bring home ruffians from her 'gigs'. You're quite the agreeable sort, so you're welcome any time. I was merely... cautious... because Vinyl is a little... out of it right now. Come in, come in. I'll go see if she's decent at the moment."

Jason entered and Octavia trotted up the stairs towards Vinyl's room. Jason wasn't sure what Octavia had meant by 'decent' considering most of these ponies never wore clothes anyway, but Vinyl came down shortly and her appearance explained what she meant. Vinyl was a walking hangover. The DJ wobbled slightly as she walked, her eyes looked bloodshot, and she winced every time the stairs squeaked under her hooves (probably from the noise sensitivity Jason knew all too well).

"H.. Hey Jason. What's... I can't... Give me a sec... Follow me..." Vinyl groaned.

Vinyl stumbled into the kitchen, Jason shortly in tow. The DJ hobbled over to the fridge, retrieved a carton of orange juice and tipped the carton towards her mouth. Jason heard a disgruntled sigh and noticed Octavia walk into the room behind him and sit down at the kitchen table. Vinyl ignored her and finished her orange juice. The carton now empty, Vinyl tossed the carton on the counter and stretched.

"Alright. Sorry, I got way smashed last night. Phew. So, Jason, what's up? Kinda freaked me out when ya zapped Twilight and ran."

"He what?!" Octavia's eyes bulged.

"Hey, I can explain. Actually, I need to clear things up, and explain some things. First, I'm sorry, but I lied. I'm not a 'Skrillex'. I'm what's called a 'human'. Felt you deserved at least that much. Second, I ended up here in Ponyville by accident, so I didn't want to meet the... What's it called? Elements or something? Never mind, you know what I mean. Anyway, that's why I zapped Twilight and ran. I plan to meet with them tomorrow and apologize, but I thought I should come here and clear things up first. You two were so nice and cool, I felt really bad about lying. Also, this isn't really related, I think I left something here."

Vinyl's eyes widened and she looked at the ground. Octavia and Jason both noticed this.

"I didn't mean to, I was trying to see what it was." Vinyl mumbled.

"What happened?" Jason asked worriedly.

"I swear, I didn't do it. I was messing with it, but I couldn't make it do anything. After a while, it stopped being lit up, and it wouldn't light up when I pressed the button on the side."

"Oh, thank goodness." Jason sighed with relief.

Vinyl looked at him strangely, but Jason just laughed.

"Don't worry about it, the battery just died." Jason chuckled.

"What?! How does something that thin have batteries? It's like half as thin as a battery." Vinyl huffed.

A short cough bought the attention of Jason and Vinyl. The look on Octavia's face was unreadable.

"I'm afraid the conversation got a little off topic. Now, back to what you were explaining, Jason." Octavia stated calmly.

"Right, my bad. Where was I? Whatever, not important. So, here's a rundown. I'm a human, my name actually is Jason, don't want to meet Twilight Sparkle yet, not from around here. Oh, and that wasn't my music, it was an artist's from my home. I'm sorry. I can understand if you're angry with me."

Jason bowed his head, ready to be scolded. The scolding never came. Jason looked up to see the amused faces of Vinyl and Octavia. The mares laughed upon seeing his confused look.

"Jason, dear, we're not angry with you. We could somewhat tell you weren't one hundred percent honest." Octavia laughed.

"Yea, the way you hesitated when you said you were a Skrillex kinda showed that you were making things up. That, and

you were way too impressed by some simple riffs and an arpeggio to be an artist. We just noticed you seemed tense and worried, so we didn't want to question you."

"That's.." Jason was at a lack for words.

"We appreciate your honesty. It's nice to see that you've lost that tense posture. You seem a lot more relaxed. I hope you're no longer troubled by whatever was bothering you. If you want to talk about it, you're welcome to confide in us." Octavia said softly.

"I... thanks. I was worried. Too many things happened that freaked me out, but I'm over it. It's nice to have friends in an unfamiliar place." Jason grinned, "Oh, speaking of friends, a friend of mine and I are going to be pranking the whole town. The only peo- uh, ponies that aren't getting pranked are you two, and Fluttershy. Fluttershy is too timid to be pranked and I didn't want to prank my friends. Thought I'd still give a heads-up though in case ponies start panicking. I'm aware that they tend to do that."

"Oh, who ya pullin' pranks with? I want in." Vinyl bounced around the kitchen.

"As fun as it would be, I told him we were flying solo. Sorry." Jason grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, you two are acting like foals." Octavia chided jokingly.

"I'm not a foal, I'm twenty years old." Jason fake pouted.

"You're what?!" Vinyl and Octavia exclaimed in unison.

Jason blinked in surprise. He couldn't tell if they were joking. The continued look of shock on their faces confirmed their lack of mirth. Jason sighed and put his hands on his hips in a joking manner.

"How old did you think I was?"

"At least forty." Vinyl said with a straight face.

"Really? I thought he was like thirty five, give or take a couple years." Octavia responded.

"Okay... Why do I seem so old?"

"You're tall and scruffy looking." the mares replied in unison again.

"Well, guess I need to shave more often. Didn't think my scruff was that noticeable." Jason said, standing up.

"Hey, now that I know you're younger it looks more rugged than scruffy." Octavia tried weakly.

"Haha, it's fine. Listen, I gotta go. This talk has been... strange... but fun." Jason said, heading for the door, "Oh, and one more thing. I did tell you I'm a human, which is true, but what I didn't tell you is that humans are from another dimension. Just letting you know. 'Kay, thanks bye."

Jason quickly left the room before either mare could respond. He wanted the last laugh, and he was going to have it. Jason grinned as he left Ponyville and headed for Fluttershy's cottage. The conversation had left him quite happy. In fact, the entire day had progressively gotten better from his wonderful waking in the morning. If Jason was lucky, the evenings pranks would highlight the day perfectly.

Jason stopped on the bridge in front of Fluttershy's cottage. He'd forgotten the reason he'd left for Vinyl and Octavia's house in the first place. His phone. Jason sighed, dismissing the fact. His phone had been dead. Yes, he'd brought the charger and yes, they seemed to have electricity, but there wasn't a place Jason had been in long enough to charge his phone to a decent level and he didn't see himself being set in one place for a while. Jason started for the door again, his palm connecting with his face for a brief moment in reaction to his forgetfulness. When he reached the door, Jason started for the handle before remembering his manners and knocking on the door. The door opened to reveal an excited Discord.

"Ooh, are you finally ready?" Discord shuddered in anticipation.

"Yea, who we pranking first?"

"Hmm, I was thinking we could get everyone in the market in one fell swoop!"

"How are you planning to do that? I'm kinda sneaky, but I'm not exactly a ninja, nor am I magical. I can't just pop in like you can."

"Oh, Jason. You forget I can do things to you with magic too!" Discord snapped.

"I swear to god if you made me a plant again..." Jason growled, patting himself to check for leaves.

"No, no. I made you transparent. Pretty cool huh? Now you can walk right up to ponies and spook them! Come on, let's get to it!" Discord cried gleefully, snapping once more and becoming nearly transparent.

"Uh. Are you sure we're transparent? I can still kinda see you."

"Well of course you can see me, and I can see you. It wouldn't do to have the two of us run into each other while pulling pranks now would it? This way we can coordinate cooler pranks and make the market truly chaotic!" Discord popped a noisemaker into existence and spun it around like a maniac.

"Are you alright? Kinda seems like you're losing it."

"I'm the embodiment of chaos for chaos' sake. What did you expect? Now let us prank!"

Discord began skip-sprinting towards Ponyville, giggling like a madman. Jason shrugged and followed the chaotic being. The two eventually reached town and Discord began leading Jason to the market place. Jason gazed at his surroundings as he walked. He'd never actually gotten a good look at the town, he'd always taken back routes to Vinyl's house. For a medievel type village run by small horses, this place was nearly spotless. It was so clean, it made a hospital look messy. It was-

Bam!

Jason rubbed his nose. Discord smiled at him, laughter in his eyes. Jason had run straight into the now unmoving being of chaos.

"Y'know, this is why I made us able to see each other." Discord laughed.

"Shut it. Wasn't looking where I was going. Damn though, this place is tidy."

"Yes yes, tidy and clean. Anyway, we're here! Go wild! Have a noisemaker, " Discord popped a noisemaker into Jason's hand, "They can't catch what they can't see!"

Discord ran off to a populated corner of the market and spun the noisemaker until he literally took off like a helicopter. Jason just watched for a moment, laughing at the silliness of the 'embodiment of chaos'. He'd supposed the title meant he was more sinister than he seemed, but this was just funny. Satisfied he'd laughed enough at Discord's insanity, Jason ran toward a different group, shouting and spinning his noisemaker. The ponies eyes widened in shock at the sudden noise, then in fear when they couldn't identify the source of the disturbance.

"Ghosts!" shouted a pony behind a vegetable stand.

Fueled by the announcement of ghosts, ponies began frantically running to and fro in an attempt to escape the ghosts. Jason felt this was more of bullying than a prank, but he saw several small ponies laughing as they ran. At least someone found enjoyment in this besides himself and Discord. Renewed in his efforts, Jason started to become crafty. He saw one pony with it's hooves over it's eyes and a plant pot over it's head, probably in an attempt to blend in. Having been a plant for a few moments, Jason saw through the clever disguise and walked right up to the pony, getting right next to it's ear.

"Boo" Jason whispered.

The pony's head jerked up and the equine bolted right into the edge of a fountain, falling in and soaking itself. The pony yelled for a moment, then stopped and seemed to consider the situation before laughing. Jason laughed as well and decided to kick it up another notch. Jason searched the stalls until he found a loose white sheet. Donning his sheet, he began chasing several ponies around the market. Some laughed, some screamed, and eventually some got smart.

"Hey, it's just someone under a sheet. Get 'em"

Several ponies rushed Jason, but he was able to sidestep the majority and escape behind a shop. There, he decided to rest for a moment and survey the scene. Several ponies were still running and screaming, while others stopped and laughed at the spectacle. Jason had thought he'd been silly with his sheet, but Discord had done tenfold. Pies were flying around on their own, hitting some unlucky ponies in the face. Small pink clouds followed ponies around, raining some brown substance on them. Several balloons with moving faces drawn on them chased ponies around. The scene was truly chaotic. Jason searched around until he saw the outline of Discord rolling around on a stall, laughing hysterically. Jason jogged over to him and put a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey I got an idea, but I need you to make me fly and have a loud, deep voice. Then, once I say the word prank, you make all of this disappear, take me and you somewhere else in town, then we start there."

"Ha! Oh, man... Whew. Oh..." Discord wiped a tear from his eye, "Ah. Can't we wait a little longer?"

"We have to prank the whole town, remember?"

"Oh, fine. Nice sheet by the way."

Jason rolled his eyes. Discord snapped his ever-snapping paw and Jason, with his trusty sheet, floated above the market place. Once above the market place, he coughed in an attempt to get attention but the cough came out sounding like thunder. 'Nice and deep, good job Discord' Jason thought.

"Ponies of the market place! Attention! Do not be alarmed. The shenanigans here are not what you think. Ghosts we may be, but we are merely ghosts that play... PRANKS!" Jason announced theatrically.'

The final word echoed through the market but before the echo died, the pies stopped flying, the clouds vanished, the balloons popped and Jason-the-sheet-ghost vanished from above the market. The ponies looked at each other in confusion, unsure about what just happened. A few ponies still laughed hysterically, and one pony apparently hadn't had enough of the flying pie and was now launching pies of it's own at nearby ponies. The only thing the ponies knew for certain was that the whole event had been rather... chaotic.

Twilight Sparkle lifted her head. She thought she heard... screaming. She knew the townsponies where prone to panic quickly at the slightest provocation, but she still thought she should check it out. Twilight sighed and closed her book. She hoped it wasn't another spider. The last time ponies had panicked in town, it had been over a single spider sitting on top of the fountain. Twilight had nearly developed brain damage at the time from how hard she had facehoofed. The mare stomped down the stairs and headed for the door.

"Something wrong?"

Twilight turned to see Spike giving her a questioning look from the kitchen doorway.

"I don't know. I heard screaming coming from outside, so I'm assuming there's another spider."

Spike chuckled and went back to whatever he was doing in the kitchen. Twilight shook her head, hoping it wasn't actually another spider. The last thing she needed was brain damage, and she was sure she would develop some if she kept facehoofing. Most of the time she couldn't help facehoofing though, so she tried to avoid overly stupid occurrences as a precaution. Unfortunately she couldn't ignore screaming, so she had to check it out.

Twilight opened the door and headed for the source of the screams. It definitely sounded like it was coming from the market, so the possibility of it being a spider wasn't ruled out. Unfortunately she still had to check it out. Twilight sighed once more and continued onward. Once she reached the market though, she was glad she checked it out. She saw several ponies laughing, several screaming and one hiding behind a stall throwing pies. She doubted they were screaming about Berry Punch throwing pies, so something had probably happened. Twilight found the only pony that wasn't hysterically laughing or screaming and asked them what was going on.

"Well, all of a sudden there were these noises, but no one could find out what was making them. Then pies started flying by themselves, clouds were chasing ponies, balloons were chasing ponies, a sheet chased ponies. Basically there was a lot of chasing. Also, the sheet floated above the fountain and started talking. It said something about being a ghost that pranks ponies, then it vanished!" Bon Bon explained.

"I'm sure this is just somepony's idea of a joke. I'll get to the bottom of this." Twilight assured.

Despite her assurance though, Twilight wasn't sure what to make of the scenario. The only one who would do something like this was Discord, and he should be in Canterlot helping the princess. Twilight would just have to write another letter to ask if the Draconequus was actually in Canterlot. Of course, she still hadn't gotten a reply from princess Luna, so she wasn't sure how fast princess Celestia would respond. Maybe there was some political thing going on at the moment. Twilight had no idea, she wasn't a princess. Of course she wouldn't be aware what things were going on in politics.

Twilight started off for the library to write her letter to the princess. Little did she know that another princess was, in fact, reading her previous letter at the very moment. Luna read the letter multiple times through, to make sure she read it right. As long as she had been on the moon, she had never seen a single thing besides the corruption and the occasional strange moon creature, but she wasn't sure if they were called 'Terminators'. She noted that Twilight included a description of the being, a bipedal creature with immense height. She hadn't seen any bipedal moon creatures, but it couldn't hurt to investigate. Besides, it had been a while since Luna had been to Ponyville. It would be nice to test her speech skills again. She finally mastered the new way of speaking and she was able to speak without the Royal Canterlot voice. She just hoped she would be able to see her current favorite subject, Pipsqueak. She also hoped to finally meet her gaming rival, known to her only as Thebuttonmaster0073. Supposedly he lived in Ponyville, but he refused to tell her anything other than that. Apparently he didn't trust her name, TheMoonisCoolerthantheSun. Luna didn't understand why, as her gamer name was only full of truth, scientifically and metaphorically. Of course, Luna was just glad that scientists had created the ponynet, giving her a source besides books to study the ways of her subjects. Luna quickly learned that there were dark sides to this mysterious place, but she was able to avoid them most of the time.

Luna shook her head. She was getting cluttered again. Perhaps she should sleep before heading to Ponyville. Staying up for 37 hours, roaming her subjects dreams at night and playing Pony Kombat during the day tended to take a lot out of her.

Frosting everywhere
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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

Frosting everywhere

After the antics they preformed in the marketplace, Jason and Discord ended up deciding on Sugarcube Corner for their next target. Instead of randomly running in and creating chaos, they decided to truly plan this one out though.

"Okay, first things first. Where'd those pies come from?" Jason said, giving Discord a suspicious look.

"I just... made pies." Discord grinned and a halo formed above his head.

"Mhmm, and I hand-sewed my sheet on the spot for that too. At least tell me you paid for the pies. I plan to return my sheet once we're done."

"Ugh, it was just a couple of pies." Discord rolled his eyes.

"Would you like it if you made something and were selling it, then someone comes along and smashes that thing in someone's face? Without paying I mean, of course you'd like it if they did that otherwise."

"Fine, I'll do it later. Anyway, what's the plan for Sugarcube Corner? You said you had a doozy." Discord's eyes lit up with excitement.

"Well, it's a bakery right? So we're going to cause chaos with frosting and cupcakes! It's themed! We're still paying for what we use though, just after we're done."

Discord rolled his eyes again, but agreed it was a decent idea to have themed chaos.

"Alright," Jason said, walking over to the entrance of the bakery, "Give me a supersoaker filled with frosting."

Discord raised an eyebrow, but complied. A large supersoaker with a copious amount of frosting popped into existence at Jason's feet. He picked it up and examined it, looking thoroughly impressed.

"Alright, let's do this," Jason donned his sheet and kicked the front door open, "SAY HELLO TO MY FROSTING FRIEND!"

Jason sprayed frosting all over a group of rather surprised ponies sitting at the bakery's table. He heard a brief shout, but was confused to meet a wave of confused stares. Jason waved the supersoaker threateningly, hoping to get a reaction. Nada.

"Did Pinkie set this up?" one of the patrons asked.

Jason facepalmed and turned to see Discord rolling on the floor laughing.

"Uh, it didn't go as planned. Plan B?" Jason asked.

"Is plan B go wild?" Discord asked hopefully.

Jason nodded and Discord cheered. The room full of frosting covered, confused ponies stared at the sheet talking to the empty doorway. Jason turned back to the crowd and spread his hands.

"Sorry 'bout that folks. The real fun starts here!"

Suddenly the room filled with flying cupcakes. Several ponies gasped at the sudden cupcake storm and ducked under the tables. Despite being clear of the flying confections, the ponies were not safe as they were now being attacked by gumdrop mice. Jason laughed as several ponies scrambled to get on the tables to escape the mice, only to be pelted by cupcakes. Some of the ponies seemed to enjoy the crazy event though, grabbing cupcakes out of the air and munching on them delightedly. Jason turned to ask Discord if there was going to be anything else when he saw the bizarre creature holding very dangerous objects.

"Holy shit, that's a grenade! What the hell?!" Jason backed off from the crazed being.

"Oh calm down, it's not what you think." Discord laughed and pulled the pins of several grenades.

Jason yelped and dove for cover as the crazed being of chaos chucked grenades around the room. Jason watched the grenades land, rolling around the cupcake-littered floor. When the grenades exploded, the walls and tables were suddenly covered in a pink foam. Jason felt sick for a moment before realizing the foam was not what he first thought it was. It was actually pink frosting. Discord had made frosting grenades.

"Dude!" Jason leapt from under the table he was using as cover, "That's epic! Give me some."

Discord laughed and tossed an excited Jason a bandolier of frosting grenades. The now armed Jason grinned wickedly, quite pleased to have such an amazing device in his possession. Around the same time Discord was supplying Jason with confection weaponry, a confused, pink party pony walked into the lobby from the kitchen. Pinkie Pie's eyes widened when she saw the chaos the room was in. It was by far the coolest thing she'd ever seen next to Discord's chocolate milk rain clouds. Pinkie eagerly dashed about the room eating cupcakes and licking frosting from the tables and walls. Jason laughed at the manic pony and threw a frosting grenade in her direction. Pinkie stopped upon seeing the strange device and peered at it closely. Almost as if Pinkie had scared it, the grenade exploded in her face, coating her in a thick layer of frosting. The mare blinked a few times in confusion before defying physics by somehow phasing out of her frosting coat and eating the pony-shaped frosting shell whole. Jason laughed at the sheer impossibility he'd just witnessed. If he planned to stay in this colorful land of ponies, he was sure he would eventually become friends with the pink main character. He remembered that Pinkie Pie had annoyed him in the episodes he'd watched, but here she seemed hysterical.

A sudden cheering roused Jason from his thoughts. He gazed around the room and saw most of the occupants looking at him an cheering. Jason was extremely confused, not exactly sure why they were cheering for him, but he took a bow anyway. When he raised his head again, Pinkie seemed to materialize in front of him. She wore a huge smile and had the look of an extreme sugar-addict in her eyes.

"Hi there! I've never met a ghost before! Well, there was that one time, but that's a long story. Why do you have a sheet? Isn't that cliche? Oh well, doesn't matter. What's important is that this party was awesome! WOOO!" Pinkie rambled.

Jason's eyes raised in surprise. Apparently he and Discord's prank was being taken as a party. Either way, it had caused chaos so he wasn't sure if it was a success or fail. Jason looked at Discord who was for the umpteenth time that day rolling on the floor laughing his head off. Jason guessed that it probably counted as a success.

"Yea, glad you liked it. Unfortunately I have a busy schedule to keep today, so I can't hang around long. Though, I don't feel this 'party' has ended well enough, "Jason grabbed half of the remaining grenades off his bandolier, "MORE FROSTING!"

Jason pulled the pins and spread the grenades around the room, all while heading for the door. Discord noticed he was leaving and quickly followed suit. Once outside, they heard a loud boom followed by more cheering. 'Definitely gonna have to start carrying these around' Jason thought, poking the near-empty bandolier.

"So Disco... can I call you that? Hope so, cause I'm going to anyway. So, where next. Before we strike though, I'm gonna need more frosting grenades. These are the coolest things ever."

"Of course, anything for my new friend. I thought we could hit up the lib-" a ringing interrupted the master of chaos.

Discord pulled a gold pocket watch out of thin air and checked the time. He then stamped a hoof and made the watch vanish. Discord sighed and ran his paw over his face.

"Chaos damn it, I have to be back at Canterlot castle in six minutes. I may be the Element of Chaos and Disharmony, but I'm reformed so I'm obligated to do good. I'm starting to enjoy it, but I still need these chaos breaks to keep me... insane." Discord giggled at his joke, "Basically I mean I have to go, but you're free to keep pranking if you want. It'd probably be best though if I made you visible. Things could get... strange... if you remained invisible."

"Whoa whoa, wait a sec. We were gonna do more awesome stuff. Leaving on such short notice is uncool."

"Yea it sucks. But a draconequus has to do what a draconequus has to do. Tell ya what though, I'll give you a present for going pranking with me." Discord disappeared and reappeared to Jason's right, holding a necklace, "I picked this amulet up a loooong time ago. It's prevents the wearer from being directly affected by magic. Not useful for me, being immune to such anyway, but you might need it eventually. Do whatever you will with it. I gotta run."

Discord extended a balled up paw and Jason bumped it with his fist. Satisfied with the goodbye, Discord tossed the amulet to Jason and disappeared with a loud pop. Jason stood still for several moments, contemplating his next course of action, before realizing Discord actually had removed his invisibility when he'd left. His first clue was the mass of ponies exiting Sugarcube Corner to stare at the strange creature out front. Jason grinned shyly and waved to the crowd. Much to his surprise, half of the crowd waved back.

"Uh... Hi. I'm new in town, if you couldn't tell, and-"

Suddenly a frosting covered Pinkie Pie materialized before his eyes, making him jump.

Pinkie gasped, "You'renewintown,whichmeansI'venevermetyou.ThatmeansI'veneverthrownyouawelcometoPonyvilleparty,ohmygoshI'llgogetitstarted."

Before Jason could comprehend anything she'd said, she zipped away. He stared after her in confusion for a moment before he felt a nudge on his shoulder. He turned and saw the most adorable grey pegasus with crossed eyes. Jason swore his heart nearly exploded from the sheer adorableness.

"Hi! Um, if you don't mind me asking, what are you?" the pegasus said, smiling.

"...Hi... Sorry, I'm a little zoned. I'm... My name's Jason." Jason returned her smile.

"Oh, right. My manners. My name's Ditzy Doo, but everyone calls me Derpy. I... Oh! I almost forgot. I'm still on duty. I'll catch ya later Jason. I have to deliver the mail." Derpy called, flying away from Sugarcube Corner.

Jason shrugged, not sure what to make of the situation. After Derpy flew off, most of the crowd dispersed, leaving Jason standing with a few ponies who were still mesmerized by the appearance of a creature they'd never seen before. Since Discord had left, he was wondering if he should go meet with Twilight now and get the whole thing over with, but he also wanted to take a nap. He hadn't run around and played pranks like he had today since high school. Of course, he wasn't sure where he should nap. The forest was still a bit intimidating, despite the night he slept there, he didn't want to ask Vinyl to crash at her place, and he doubted he could nap at Applejack's farm. With limited options, Jason chose the easy way out.

"Do any of you know a quiet place anywhere near town?" Jason asked the ponies that were still gawking at him.

After a few moments of uncertain looks, a beige pony with strange hair and candy tattooed on it's butt stepped forward.

"The lake is pretty quiet. Uh... You wouldn't happen to be a... human... would you?"

"...Yea. I wasn't aware ponies knew of humans." Jason blinked.

"Oh...." the mare put a hoof to it's face, "Lyra's gonna freak..."

"So... which direction is this lake?"

The mare pointed in a direction and Jason thanked her before walking in the direction she pointed. This way went straight through town, but Jason didn't care at this point. If Twilight saw him on the way and stopped him, he would just ask to take a nap before she questioned him, if she questioned him at all. For all he knew, she either stopped looking for him or wanted him thrown in a dungeon for assaulting her. Whatever the case, he could probably talk his way out of it. Fortunately though, Jason walked through the market relatively unseen. Many of the ponies in the market were too busy cleaning up everything that was strewn about in the chaos. While he walked through the market though, Jason remembered to drop off the sheet he'd borrowed at the stand he'd found it. He'd already stolen and gotten caught in this place. He didn't want a record.

Eventually the town ended and Jason saw the aforementioned lake. A few moments more and Jason was standing on the shore of the lake, looking for a comfortable place to lay while he napped. He thought about laying on the shore itself, but he didn't want to roll into the water. He tended not to move in his sleep, but he once got up and walked in his sleep when he was younger. When he woke up he was the kitchen floor, his sister Cadence watching him with an amused expression.

With the shore out of the question, Jason looked around for some comfortable places to rest. He some trees around the lake, but he was getting tired of trees. Trees got him in trouble so he didn't want to mess with them if he could help it. Unfortunately though, trees were the only thing that looked worth sleeping in. The few bushes he saw looked thorny, which usually meant they were uncomfortable to sleep in. Jason sighed and walked over to the nearest tree.

"I suppose I don't have to climb up... I'll just lay against the trunk..." he thought aloud, "I mean... it's more comfortable than-"

"Hey! Can't a mare get a minute of piece!" an annoyed voice shouted from above.

Jason jumped at the noise and looked up. Staring back at him was an equally shocked Rainbow Dash, laying on a tree branch. For several moments the two stared at each other, not sure what to do. Eventually, the silence was broken.

"You!" they both shouted.

"What are you doing here!" they said once again in sync, "I'm here to take a nap."

The two stopped, both rather shocked. Apparently they were there for the same reason.

"Hey," Jason started in a careful tone, "I don't wanna mess with you, I'm just here for a nap. You are too, so can we agree to just ignore each other and do that. If you wanna fight about it later, that's fine, but I've been doing a lot of stuff today so I'm exhausted."

"...Promise there won't be any funny business." Rainbow Dash glared at him.

"You can fly, I can only jump about a yard off the ground... Even if I did anything, you could just run away into the air. But fine, I promise."

Rainbow Dash glared at him for several more moments before sighing and rolling over on her branch. Jason took this as a 'fine' and laid down against the trunk and closed his eyes. For a moment, Jason wished he had his phone so he could fall asleep to music before he remembered the battery died. Well, he did have his charger, and they did seem to have electricity. Maybe he could-

BOOM!!

Both Rainbow Dash and Jason instantly jolted up and looked for the disturbance. Rainbow Dash looked at Jason suspiciously, thinking he'd done something, but quickly abandoned the thought. Several meters away, a huge crater gaped at them, still smoking from the impact. The two nappers looked at each other, then back to the hole. Jason was the first to move, starting towards the crater. Rainbow followed him quickly. The two peered into the hole to see a rather large, dark blue pony laying in the crater.

"Princess Luna!" Rainbow Dash rushed into the crater to help the pony. Jason stood awkwardly, unsure if he should offer help. When the 'princess' began to stir though, Jason climbed into the crater to help.

"Huh... What hap... Where..." Luna mumbled. The princess surveyed her surrounding in an attempt to figure out what was going on. For some reason, she was in a hole with one of the element bearers and a strange, somewhat dashing creature. Luna blinked. Did she just think it was dashing? Luna blushed lightly. Whatever had happened, it certainly rattled her.

"Princess Luna! Are you alright? What happened?!" Rainbow Dash asked, checking over the princess for injuries.

Jason watched the princess look around the hole, examining the hole, Rainbow Dash and himself. He noted that her face darkened a bit (is that possible for someone dark blue?) when she saw him, but he didn't make much of it.

"I'm... alright. A bit shaken, but I'm fine. I'm not sure what happened. All I remember was drinking a RedMinotaur instead of going to sleep, then rushing to Ponyville. Then I woke up here." Luna slowly pulled herself into a standing position.

"...Were you sleep deprived? You know you aren't supposed to drink energy drinks to stay awake like that. Eventually the energy wears off and your body crashes. You probably passed out when the energy wore off and you fell out of the sky."

"Ah, that does make sense. So... who is thy friend." Luna cursed softly for speaking in the old way again.

"What, I don't... Oh, him. He's just some thing we found the other day and I ran into him over here by the lake. Then you fell and we both came to see what happened. Careful, that thing is tricky. Somehow he got away from me when I was chasing him. ME. The fastest in Equestria. I still can't believe..." Rainbow Dash grumbled.

"For my part, it wasn't that hard. I just jumped up into the tree. You didn't bother checking. Anyway, it's nice to meet you, princess. My name's Jason. That was some crash though. Are you sure you're alright?" Jason said politely.

"We are... I mean, I am fine, thank you. Anyway, I was on my way to Ponyville to help Twilight with the identification of a creature. She said it was from the moon and asked for my assistance on the matter. Can you bring me to her Rainbow Dash?"

"Yea, I can bring you to her, but we don't have to. The creature is right here." Rainbow Dash pointed to where Jason was standing, only to find him missing.

Luna and Rainbow Dash looked at each other, then climbed to the edge of the crater to look outside of it. The first thing they saw was Jason running towards town. Rainbow Dash sighed and quickly flew towards and caught up to Jason. Instead of asking him to stop like last time, she simply tackled him. Luna followed them at a more civilized pace.

"Why are you running, huh? Got something to hide?" Rainbow Dash sneered.

"No, I plan on talking with Twilight today. Now if you could kindly GET OFF!" Jason struggled to get out of the pegasus' grip.

A few moments of fruitless struggle ensued. During that time, Luna caught up and looked at Jason strangely. Jason turned his head, trying not to make eye contact.

"So... you are the thing from the moon? A Terminator if I remember right. I never met anything like you while I was on the moon." Luna said quietly.

"That's cause I'm not from the moon, and I'm not a Terminator... I lied because I didn't think about my actions and I was talking with children. To be truthful, I'm a human and I'm from another planet I think. Maybe another dimension. I don't know, I'm not good with that kind of thing. I'm sorry I lied. Now can we please be civil and not sit on my back?" Jason grumbled.

Rainbow Dash opened her mouth to retort, but Luna put her hoof in front of her face to stop her. Rainbow Dash understood the meaning and got off of Jason. The human picked himself up and dusted himself off, staring at the two ponies suspiciously. Luna had a strange look on her face that Jason couldn't read. Rainbow Dash just had a look of suspicion and anger. Jason smiled at them and bowed sarcastically.

"Now, if you would be so kind, I'm going to go have a chat with a certain Twilight Sparkle. Please do me a favor and don't follow me. Cool? Thanks. Bye." Jason stood from his bow and continued on his way towards town, leaving a shocked Luna and a miffed Rainbow Dash.

Whether they followed him or not, Jason did indeed decide to head towards the library. He was tired of being a person worthy of suspicion, and apparently he seemed to be very suspicious to some of these ponies. Might as well talk with pony in charge, and the only way to get to her was through her student Twilight. Of all the things he learned in the couple episodes he watched, the most important was that Celestia was definitely the one in charge. Once he had a connection with a leader... he didn't know. He just wanted someone to take charge. Jason wasn't the responsible type so making decisions wasn't his forte, hence his lies to the children and Vinyl. Fortunately, since he was going to talk to Twilight, he wouldn't have to make decisions. Just let her think. She likes books, so she should like thinking. Speak of the devil...

Jason stopped as he reached the library, arriving just as a purple unicorn was exiting the library. The two looked at each other for a moment, Jason calmly and Twilight cautiously, before Jason nodded at her.

"Can we talk?" Jason asked.

Twilight peered at him suspiciously before replying, "You aren't going to zap me with magic again are you?"

"I can't cast magic, that was my glove. It's wired to shock people, or in this case ponies. But yea, I promise not to shock you." Jason laughed.

"Uh huh... And why are princess Luna and Rainbow Dash watching us from behind those barrels?" Twilight pointed behind Jason.

Jason raised an eyebrow and turned around. All he saw was two blue blurs, one dark one light, zip behind some barrels. Jason facepalmed. Apparently he was suspicious enough to be tailed. Jason quietly put down his backpack and dug around for his glove. When he retrieved it, he prepped it for shock and tiptoed over to the barrels. He looked back at Twilight who held a hoof in front of her face. He guessed she knew what he was doing and she thought it was funny. Without further interruption, Jason reached around the barrels with a gloved hand and grabbed the first thing he could. A startled Rainbow Dash leapt from behind the barrels, hair sticking out in every direction and eyes crossing. Luna watched in surprise and Twilight laughed in the background. Rainbow Dash still twitched slightly while Jason returned the glove to his backpack. After several moments, the pegasus recovered, shaking her head and glaring at Jason.

"Hey! That's not fair, using magic. Oh, I'm so gonna-"

"It's not magic, rainbow head, it's science. Humans can't do magic... in modern times." Jason rolled his eyes.

Twilight still giggled as she approached the pair, taking care to not come between their staredown. Luna walked up to Twilight, though her eyes never left Jason.

"I... don't know what to make of this creature. It doesn't seem powerful, but it does seem to be full of surprises. What do you suppose we do?" Luna whispered.

Twilight gazed at her curiously, "Aren't you the princess here? I'm just a student. I can call princess Celestia, yea, but other than that I can just study this thing to the best of my ability. It's up to you what we do with it."

Luna continued to gaze at Jason, wondering what to do. Jason continued to stare down Rainbow Dash with a smirk, though he did hear the conversation between the two watching him. They weren't very quiet, despite their whispers. He was glad he appeared to be full of surprises. It made him feel not entirely powerless in the situation, though he still wanted someone else to call the shots. First though, he couldn't resist.

"HOT POTATO!" Jason shouted suddenly, startling the mares as he grabbed one of his remaining grenades off his bandolier and dropped it while diving away.

The mares stared at the foreign object, unsure of it's purpose, until said object exploded, leaving them all covered in frosting. Needless to say, they were unhappy at being covered in frosting. Jason, though, had used the barrels that were hidden behind earlier to escape the frosting and was now laughing at them all hysterically. Luna and Twilight just sighed but Rainbow Dash had had enough at this point. The cyan mare dashed forward and jumped on Jason's chest, effectively pinning him down while she glared at him.

"Alright, that's enough! I'm so gonna pound you!" Rainbow Dash seethed.

"Rainbow Dash, stop. He can do us no harm, he merely is playing jokes on us. Get off of him." Luna commanded.

"No harm?! That zap hurt! Besides, he's obviously something of chaos, like Discord. We oughta-" Rainbow Dash protested.

"No. We will not harm him before we can at least question him further. If it will make you feel better, we will bind him with magic so he can't do anything more." Luna chided gently.

Rainbow Dash grumbled, but released Jason. For the second time that day, Jason got up and brushed himself off from being pinned to the ground. Luna lowered her horn and it flared with magic, surrounding Jason in a bluish-purple glow, but nothing happened. Luna looked shocked and tried again. Still nothing. Jason laughed, glad that Discord had left him with the anti-magic amulet. It gave him a bit of protection against them should they try to force something he didn't like on him.

"Strange. For some reason my binding spell is not working. Perhaps his species is immune to magic. It's not unheard of for a species to have such a trait." Luna said, mostly to herself.

"Don't worry. I'm done. I just want to talk now. No funny business. I just started cause it ticked me off that those two followed me. I'll even do that... somethin' promise," Jason said, remembering a bit from the show, "Pinkie Promise I think? Cross my heart and something something. Cupcake in my eye."

Rainbow Dash gave him a flat look full of loathing, but Twilight seemed to accept the half-baked attempt. The purple unicorn motioned for them to follow and retreated into the library. Certainly, whatever they discussed would be rather interesting. Unfortunately for Jason, he had one pony that wanted to kill him and another that he couldn't read at all. That bothered him. It bothered him a lot.

Somewhere in the royal chambers of Canterlot, the sun princess felt something was amiss. Like something interesting was about to happen. Celestia sighed. She damn well hoped something interesting would happen. All of these snotty nobles were getting on her last nerve and she was about to start banishing ponies to the moon. Especially her nephew. The little ingrate was the main cause of her constant migraines, often violating some mare and leaving her to deal with whatever repercussions followed. Whatever she felt was happening, she hoped to Lauren Faust that it would entertain her in some way. Lately villains had stopped attacking and since she told her faithful student that a letter wasn't necessary every single week, the number of letters she received kept dwindling. If it came down to it, it wasn't above her to ask Discord to pretend to relapse into a being of chaos to stir up something interesting. Or she could just sneak away and visit Ponyville to see what her student was up to. In fact, that idea sounded delightful. All she had to do was set up and illusion of herself on her throne and say she wasn't to be disturbed for the day. Suddenly a certain solar princess was preparing for a quick visit to her favorite town in all of Equestria.

Jason still hates the sun
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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

Jason still hates the sun

When Twilight entered the library, she suddenly became very confused. She could have sworn she left at least a couple lights on. For some reason, they were all off. She shrugged, guessing Spike had turned them off. Unfortunately, this was incorrect, and she quickly found out that it was so. As soon as Jason walked in the door, the lights flipped on and several ponies jumped out of hiding, all yelling 'surprise!'. Jason was not the only one surprised, though Twilight and Rainbow Dash were used to Pinkie doing this sort of thing so they were the first to recover. Luna, for the most part, only reacted by widening her eyes in shock. Jason's reaction wasn't quite as graceful. Poor Jason jumped in surprise and latched onto the thing first thing he could, which in this case was Luna. The princess of the night was unable to keep her reaction to this contained to her eyes this time. In the two seconds it took for Jason to realize what he'd done and release the princess from the panic hug, Luna's cheeks reddened and she lowered her head so her oddly mystical mane covered her eyes. The party goers, for the most part, barely noticed the occurrence that was exchanged between the strange being and their princess as they were already diving into various party activities. Jason left Luna to blush in peace and walked over to where Twilight and Dash were talking with Pinkie Pie.

"This happen often?" Jason gestured to the crowd of partying ponies.

"Yea, she always throws a party for newcomers. Personally, I don't think you deserve one though." Dash glared at him.

"Alright, you went from being alright with us napping in the same general location to being overly hostile at all times in about ten seconds flat. What gives?"

"I was really tired, so I wasn't going to waste my nap time fighting with you until you started running suspiciously."

"I was running here to talk with Twilight!"

"You didn't say anything! You just ran!"

A nearby cough drew the attention of the arguers. Twilight smiled and raised an eyebrow.

"You two done arguing?"

"Arguing implies both sides have a chance of being right. She does not, thus this isn't an argument. So yea.

Dash glared at him and opened her mouth to say something, but decided against it. Her eyes betrayed a plotting thought in her head, but Jason ignored her and focused on Twilight. With Jason's attention, Twilight cleared her throat.

"So, as far as I can tell, there nothing known about your species. Tell me, do Terminators really originate from the moon?"

"Ooh! The new guy is from the moon?! That's so cool! That means I need to make moon-cupcakes! I'll make extra since the princess is here too." Pinkie materialized away, leaving Jason baffled.

"Seriously, what happens to physics while she's in the room? They seem to just kinda... break."

"Don't think about it too much. I did once and my mane turned into fire. It's not worth it." Twilight giggled.

"Y'know, you're awfully calm and accepting right now. You freaked out at Vinyl's house. Everyon- Everypony seems to be breaking character."

"Right before I left the library. and thus running into you, I took some relaxation meds. Considering how often I have panic attacks, I'd have an aneurysm without them."

"Literally or figuratively?" Jason raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not sure..."

"Anyway," Jason said slowly, "I'm not a Terminator, that was a little white lie. I'm a human from Earth. Not sure if that's anymore clarifying than Terminator from the moon, but it's the truth this time.

"Interesting... We have humans in lore, but supposedly they've been extinct since before Celestia defeated Discord over a thousand years ago. Whether you're from another dimension or another planet, it's interesting that you have the same name for it. According to the myths, humans were biped but I didn't think about it since you said you were a Terminator."

"Fascinating. Back it up a bit. Celestia defeated Discord over a thousand years ago? I met him earlier today..." Jason scratched his head.

"You met Discord! That's... well, he's reformed now so it's not really a bad thing."

"He's the reason I'm here, so I'm not so sure about that."

"He what?!"

"Hmm, not now. I have a feeling if I say now, I'll be repeating myself several times. I don't like repeating myself so I'll wait until more of you... you... damn it, it's Elements of Harmony right? But yea, you six. At least five of you should be together when I say so I'd only have to repeat once or twice at most."

"...fine. I'm more interested in your species at the moment. Mind if I ask a few questions?" a quill and paper levitated over to Twilight who looked eagerly at Jason.

"Sure, but in a minute. I really haven't had that much to eat or drink today. Parties mean confections and punch. Jason likey."

Jason prowled off into the crowd in search of the food table, leaving a lightly miffed though generally indifferent Twilight sitting with her writing supplies. Jason weaved through the crowd, most of whom had seen him outside Sugarcube Corner so they didn't stare, until he found a table loaded with cupcakes, treats, a punch bowl and just about everything a sweet tooth dreams of. The hungry hungry human gathered a plate of cupcakes and a glass of punch before retreating to the quietest corner he could find so he could sit in peace. Reaching a quiet and rather empty corner behind some pushed back furniture, Jason sat cross-legged and began munching on a cupcake. After the first bite, he had to wash it down with punch because it was way to sweet for him. Almost as if it had been 3D printed with pure sugar. Disappointed, Jason stood and went to place his plate in a trashcan. On his way to it though, he bumped into a pony, spilling cupcakes all over their back. As if it wasn't embarrassing enough that he'd been that clumsy, it was Fluttershy he spilled the cupcakes on, the only one of the Elements that he had no reason to dislike.

"Oh shi... I'm so sorry. I-"

"It's alright. I wasn't watching where I was going..." Fluttershy mumbled.

"Hey, no. This was my fault. Don't even try to take the blame."

"Sorry."

"No, don't..." Jason sighed, "I'm not... I... ugh, I don't see a way that you'll let me accept the blame. You're the kind one so you're, y'know, kind. Here, since you have frosting on you, let me make everyone else have frosting on them. Make everyone even."

Jason fingered his bandolier. He was already almost out of frosting grenades. He quickly pocketed one in case he needed it then grabbed the rest in his hands. Before tossing them, he looked for Twilight. Seeing her standing where he left her, he shouted over the crowd to her.

"Twilight, you like your books, right? Books don't like frosting. I suggest you do some magic-y thing so this doesn't get frosting on them."

Twilight looked at him strangely but then spotted the grenades in his hands. She quickly lowered her head and her horn glowed. At the same time, a raspberry glow surrounded all the bookshelves. Satisfied that he wouldn't be ruining anything too important now, Jason pulled the pins and released the grenades around the room. The ponies who had been at Sugarcube corner cheered upon seeing the grenades while several others stared at the strange objects until they exploded, leaving the entire room coated in frosting. Jason wiped frosting off of his face and laughed.

"There. Now that I think about it, I had no reason for that but I hope you enjoyed it."

Fluttershy laughed and nodded. Jason nodded in return and walked back into the crowd. He spotted Rainbow Dash grumbling and flapping her wings to remove the frosting from them. He waited until she noticed him before raising a hand and wiggling his fingers at her in a mock wave. She glared at him before turning towards the door and promptly starting to leave. Before she could leave though, the front door opened in a yellow glow to reveal a white pony similar in size to Luna. Upon her entrance, every pony in the room stopped and bowed, which was quite funny since they were still covered in frosting. The new pony glanced at the frosting-coated crowd and smiled. Her smile faltered slightly when she saw Jason, but she still retained a smirk.

"Don't mind me, my subjects. I'm just here to have a chat with Twilight Sparkle. You can carry on with your... party."

Despite her assurance, none of the ponies looked comfortable to continue partying in this pony's presence. The crowd shuffled awkwardly out the door, bowing briefly as they passed the white pony. Eventually the only ones left in the frosting covered room were Jason, Twilight, Fluttershy, Dash, Luna and the new white pony. An awkward silence settled over the room until Jason piped up.

"Well, that's one way to end a party. Personally, I'm used to cops showing up to stop it, not just one... I don't know what your kind is called, I just know you look like Luna."

The white pony chuckled, "We're known as Alicorns. Now, can I ask what you are?"

Jason smiled mischeviously, "I'm a Terminator from-"

"He's a human, and he's really suspicious. He keeps doing weird and violent things." Dash rolled her eyes.

"Name one thing I've done that's violent, Dashers"

"Don't call me that! And you zapped me!"

"If that's what you call violent, then damn you're naive."

Jason felt a sense of deja vu as a cough interrupted their squabble. Twilight had an anxious look on her face as she cleared her throat once more.

"So, Princess Celestia, what did you want to talk to me about?" Twilight smiled nervously

"Hmm? Oh, that. I'm sorry if I startled you Twilight, I just said that cause I knew it would clear the room. I came here cause I felt something interesting was happening and It seems I was right." Celestia looked at Jason, "Human... that sounds familiar. I was under the impression that humans died out before my sister and I defeated Discord."

"Well, unless I've been lied to by my entire society, I'm human. Sorry to disappoint but I don't think I'd like to be extinct. Also, you all keep mentioning defeating Discord, then something about reforming him. He brought me here, so what's the deal? I feel like the butt of a joke right now."

Celestia's smile vanished when he said Discord brought him. Her horn flared a brilliant yellow color and the chaotic being flashed into the room wearing a tutu. Discord's eyes bulged upon suddenly having an audience and he quickly got rid of the tutu. Fluttershy looked at him questioningly, but no one else questioned his odd choice of clothing.

"Discord, why did you bring a human here?"

"Oh, Tia. Relax. He's not one from the past, he's from another dimension. No harm done."

"And you could send him back to his home whenever you want?" Celestia continued.

"Well..."

"Well? What do you mean well? You told me you just didn't want to send me back yet. Don't tell me you can't." Jason laughed in disbelief.

"Well I haven't tried sending anything there. Theoretically I could, but I don't know if I would have enough finesse to place him directly... on his planet."

"Dude, what the hell?! Test that shit before kidnapping someone from their home! I..." Jason sank to his knees.

"What? You were fine with it earlier. You even said you wouldn't want to-" Discord started.

"I can never see my sister again, you ass! I mean, I could have you bring her here, but I'm not going to do that. She enjoys her life and I'm not going to ruin that for her. I was fine with being here on the knowledge that I could visit my sister... That's why you were so compliant earlier... It bugged me that a so-called God of Chaos would just listen to the ideas of a human, but now I see why... You felt guilty."

Discord avoided meeting Jason's eyes. Jason sighed put his head in his hands. He'd been more or less fine with the situation until now. He didn't care about his job, his friends would be fine without him, hell, he didn't even miss his parents that much. They never were that caring. But his sister... she was his best friend. Yea, she played stupid pranks on him, but only because they were so close. Now...

Jason felt something wrap around him. Jason lifted his head and saw Fluttershy giving him a hug. He resisted at first, but eventually he hugged her back. He needed comfort. After several moments Fluttershy let go of Jason and smiled sadly. Jason murmured his thanks and slowly stood. He noticed looks of pity on all of the ponies faces, including Rainbow Dash. Discord looked out the window, trying to avoid being looked at. Jason glared at him briefly before turning to Celestia.

"So... I guess if I'm going to be here, I better get some things straight in my head. I know that there's three races of ponies, then the Alicorns... Apparently you and Luna are rulers... And there's something important about all of your butt tattoos." Jason ran a hand through his hair.

"Well, that covers a big portion of what you would need to know. Our 'tattoos' are called Cutiemarks. They denote a pony's true talent. Like mine," Celestia turned slightly, " is a sun because I control the sun, raising it in the morning and lowering it in the evening.

Jason's eye twitched. Here, directly to his face, something admitted to being the thing that raises the sun in the morning. The thing that, almost no matter what, managed to snipe him in the eyes and wake him up every morning. Something loosened by the earlier distress of losing his ability to visit his sister finally snapped and Jason's eye started twitching madly for a few seconds. The ponies in the room suddenly wore alarmed looks, then curious ones once his spasm ended. Jason calmly reached in his pocket and pulled out his last frosting grenades. He held it straight towards Celestia, pulled the pin with his thumb, and dropped the frosting explosive, then promptly walked past her and exited the library. Twilight hastily put up her book protection spell again while the rooms other occupants, save for Celestia, dove for cover. Not a single one of the rooms other occupants remembered to warn the sun princess as the grenade promptly exploded in her face, covering her in frosting. Jason, by this point, was walking away from the library and heading towards Vinyl's house. He was in serious need of a drinking buddy, cause he was about to get black out drunk to alleviate the pain, just like every other depressed twenty year old.

Jason knocked on Vinyl's door and waited for an answer. Shortly after, Vinyl answered the door.

"Sup Jason?"

"Oh, nothing serious. Just found out I can never see my sister again. No biggie."

"Whoa... I'm sorry dude."

"Thanks. Want to be my drinking buddy? I'm about to get black out drunk and I don't think that's a good idea alone."

"I really don't think-"

"I'm doing it either way. Just though I'd try to play it safe."

"Fine, but we're doing it here so you don't do anything embarrassing in public."

"Deal. Is there vodka in this world?"

Vinyl sighed, "Yea. Yea there is..."

"Yea! Vinyl, pur me anuthur..." Jason slurred.

"Dude, thatsh like our tenth shot... of shtraight vodka."

"Bah, itsh alright. jusht one moore."

"Nah, you're gonna hate yourshelf in the mornin'. I'm the furthesht you can get from a lightweight and thish is getting me way washted. You already can't shtand. Tavi! Can you come here a shec!"

Vinyl stumbled and nearly dropped the bottle as she called Octavia. Octavia entered the room after a few moments and looked at the two in horror. Jason waved at her weakly from his place laying against Vinyl's bed. Vinyl just handed her the bottle of vodka.

"Tavi, take thish before we do something shtupid."

"Like drink vodka until you pass out?" Octavia set the bottle on Vinyl's bedside table and put a hoof against Vinyl's cheek.

"I think it's too late for that. I'm wavering and I don't know how he's still conscious."

"Why did you- hey! Put that down, Jason!"

Jason had pulled himself over to the other side of the bed and retrieved the bottle of vodka. By the time Octavia had noticed, he'd already taken a huge swig from the bottle. Octavia snatched the bottle from him and held onto it this time. Vinyl tried to look at Jason sternly but couldn't help but laugh at the mischievous grin he gave Octavia. Octavia shook her head walked out the room, returning shortly without the bottle of vodka. Jason groaned discontentedly at the sudden lack of vodka and tried to stand. His efforts were fruitless, though, and he found himself on the floor.

"Thish flur ish shoff..." Jason grumbled right before passing out.

FPC: Slap to the face
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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

FPC: Slap to the face

'Oww... I... feel... like... shit. At least the lights are off... And this blanket is so... the fuck? Where did I get a blanket? Where... Oh, right. Vodka at Vinyl's till I passed out. Hope I didn't do anything stupid like kiss one of them. I don't remember anything past that fourth shot. I hope that the fact that someone gave me a blanket means I didn't do something hugely embarrassing. Or maybe they tied me up with a blanket...'

I wiggled around and pushed the blanket off of myself. Quite pleased that I hadn't been tied up, I stood and immediately regretted it, putting my face in my hands and groaning at the pounding in my skull. An equally irritated sounding groan came from a few feet away. I looked around and found myself standing in Vinyl's room with a just-as-hungover Vinyl laying in bed. Vinyl rolled over and looked at me with dead eyes.

"How much of last night do you remember?" she chuckled lightly.

"I... you... how..." I tried, unable to speak coherently over my headache.

"Wow, lightweight much? I mean, even I can't do ten shots of vodka and wake up that easy, but when you saw me hungover the other day, I'd drunk so much it would've killed a normal mare. Compared to that, ten shots is nothing."

"I... did ten... shit my kidney... must be gone by now... Did-"

I was cut off but the bedroom door opening. I winced at the sound of the hinge creaking.I turned to see Octavia smirking at me, carrying a tray of drinks. She walked over to the bed and set the tray down on the bedside table, then gave me and Vinyl glasses of orange juice. I grimaced at the drink but took a sip anyway. I'd never really cared for orange juice, but it was actually helping with the hangover so I dealt with it. Also I tended to get over hangovers quickly. The fact that this one lasted for more than ten seconds kinda surprised me.

"Y'know, coffee helps with hangovers better. Something to do with hot liquid." I muttered.

"Y'know, drunk guests should be grateful we didn't do things to you after you passed out." Octavia replied sarcastically.

"Snarky. I like it. Speaking of me passing out, I don't remember anything after the fourth shot. Did I do anything... stupid?"

"Nah, you just cursed a lot and called Discord a lot of vulgar names. You also said a lot of bad things about Princess Celestia, but we can just forget that happened. Kinda got borderline treason." Vinyl giggled.

"That's fantastic. Listen, I set some biscuits on the counter. I have a concert in Canterlot later today, so I have to head to the train. Don't-"

"Ooh, can I come." I grinned at her expectantly.

"I... I play a more refined type of music than Vinyl does, Jason. I-"

"I love classical. Piano is my favorite but violin is a close second. Besides, I think I could use some distance from a select group for a bit."

"That's... kind of surprising. I suppose I could work out a backstage pass for you, but we have to leave for the station in the next five minutes." Octavia left the room.

"Awesome. Vinyl, you coming?"

"Can't. As much as I'd like to go support Tavi, I have a gig in the town over so I can't leave... Hey... do me a favor and make sure she stays safe, will ya?"

I blinked in surprise, "Uh, yea. Will do... Are... are you two...?"

Vinyl blushed and I dropped the subject. None of my business what their preferences were. I had absolutely no problems with people (or ponies) who swung that way. I told Vinyl bye and headed out of the room and down the stairs. Vinyl was waiting by the door with a large instrument case and a biscuit. She gave me the biscuit and motioned for me to follow her. It took a whole three steps out of the door before I remembered my gentlemanly manners and I offered to carry her instrument for her. She protested briefly before I pointed out that she put up with a drunk me last night and I needed to repay her somehow. She hesitated for several moments before relinquishing her instrument to me. I shoved the rest of my biscuit in my mouth and grabbed the case from her. Fortunately, the case wasn't overly heavy and I was used to carrying bulky cases from high school when I lugged around my computer tower to friends' houses so we could have lan parties. Several of my friends' parents had been rather poor, so they could afford junky computers but no internet.

After a brief minute or two, we reached the station and after some haggling, the train conductor let me on the train. I got some stares as I sat down, but fortunately I wasn't ever really bothered by stares. Octavia insisted upon storing the instrument in the luggage room by herself. I didn't question it. I could understand. I felt weird when other people handled my stuff too, but I would've felt like an ass if I didn't help her carry it after passing out in her house. After a minute she returned and sat next to me.

"Sorry..." I muttered.

"Hmm?" Octavia looked at me quizzically.

"I got drunk and passed out at your place, you paid for me to ride the train and I made you uncomfortable by carrying your instrument. I know you were. I get the same way when others handle my stuff. I just felt I had to try to be a gentleman. At least I can eventually pay you back for the ticket."

"Oh, you worry too much. It was sweet of you to carry my bass and the ticket was really cheap. Don't worry about it."

"I'm going to pay you back for it. You can't stop me."

"Please. You don't owe me anything... You're repaying me by accompanying me..."

"I... wait what? Oh... Vinyl said she couldn't come cause she had a gig. I'm guessing that's a reoccurring thing?"

Octavia nodded. I sat awkwardly for a few moments, thinking of something to say. Despite my lack of romantic experience, I actually came up with something pretty good rather quickly.

"Y'know, she really does care for you. She had me promise to make sure you're safe on this trip. I'm not sure from what, but it's the thought that counts. You two really are perfect for each other."

Octavia blushed, "We aren't- I'm not- She- ...What makes you think that?"

"You balance each other. She's spontaneous, you're orderly. She's a party-hard girl and you're sophisticated. It's perfect. Also, probably a bit of a left-handed compliment, you're awesome to have around after a night of heavy drinking."

Octavia looked down at the floor of the train car and smiled. I thought about giving her a hug or something, but she'd probably think I was crazy. At least, I thought she would until she hugged me first. It surprised me, but I recovered and hugged her back.

"Thank you."

"Hey, it's no problem. Despite my sarcastic exterior, I'm actually kind of a sensitive human. Hence my binge drinking after... incidents... It occurs to me that the Elements are gonna freak out when they can't find me. I think I'll deal with that later though. I have a concert to attend."

Octavia laughed and we started making witty banter. Without the awkward conversation that started the train ride, the ride seemed to fly by and we reached our destination rather quickly. As fate would have it, I wouldn't have to worry about the Elements wondering where I was. Or at least one of them knew where I was.

"Wait just one minute!"

Octavia and I had just stepped off the train before I heard someone shout. Naturally, when you hear someone shouting in public, you turn to see what's going on so that's exactly what I did. Then I groaned and wish I hadn't. Marching towards me was a prissy-looking, whiny, upset Element. The drama queen herself, Rarity.

"Yea, not what I need right now. Hi there. Knew I was missing one or two of you at the welcome party Pinkie threw. Can I help you?"

"The nerve! You dare to lie about Pinkie throwing you a welcome party so I wouldn't question you?! I-"

"Yea, that's great and all, but I'm not lying. You could go ask your stupid sun princess if you don't believe me. She was there. I'm not sure why you're here, but I'm here to enjoy a concert. Now if you'll excuse us..." I turned to leave but the diva stepped in front of me.

"I'll have you know I'm here for a fashion show. For some reason I doubt you're here for a concert. I heard the only concert planned for tonight has been sold out for a week. I was barely able to get a ticket and-"

"Yea, that's cool. I'm friends with the musician." I pointed to Octavia, "She's getting me backstage. If you don't mind, I don't want to keep her waiting. I also don't want to continue arguing with you Elements of Harmony or whatever, so I'll talk to you next time I talk with Twilight. I'd like to end on a positive note though, so good day, Rarity." I motioned for Octavia to lead the way and followed after her.

Rarity called after us, "But-"

"I said good day!" I returned without turning around.

It took all of my willpower to not laugh at being able to use that line effectively. Once we were out of the station, Octavia gave me a questioning look, but I just shrugged it off. The concert hall wasn't too terribly far from the station, so we got there rather quickly and negotiated with the owner about getting me a backstage pass. Fortunately, the main act of the evening gets quite a bit of pull and she was able to get it for free. The concert wasn't for a couple hours though, so Octavia left her bass in her dressing room and we left to waste time in town.

"So how often do ponies call your bass a cello?" I joke.

"Not often. They usually ask where I got a giant violin."

"You're joking, right?"

"Oh, I wish I was..." she sighed, before chuckling lightly.

"Wow. So, where we headed?" I resisted the urge to flip off a rather snooty pony who walked by with his nose in the air.

"Just to lunch. We were on the train for a while and both of us only had a biscuit for breakfast."

"...There's not a chance in hell that they have meat, isn't there."

"Never heard that phrase before, but no they don't serve meat. If you want, there's a restaurant that caters to griffins that serves meat. We could go-"

"Nope. I'm fine. I was just wondering. I'm a guest on this trip. Gotta keep the musician comfortable before her performance."

"It's not like I would-"

"Nope, and don't think about arguing. If you didn't notice during my 'chat' with Rarity, I'm a bit stubborn and I'm really good at interrupting." I grinned cheesily.

Octavia sighed, "Fine. Don't complain if you don't like the food there. I gave you a fair chance."

"Of course, madam." I bowed sarcastically.

Octavia rolled her eyes and I laughed. We got to the restaurant and were seated rather quickly. A rather snooty waiter brought us waters and took our orders. Octavia got some dish I couldn't pronounce and I settled for panini. It surprised me that it was called the same, but the section it was under was labeled Istallion which I couldn't help but laugh at. Puns tended to give me giggles. When the food got to the table we ate silently since it's bad manners to talk with you mouth full. When we finished, Octavia paid and we headed back towards the concert hall. Before we left though, I made sure to take note of how much my meal cost so I could pay her back later.

When we reached the concert hall, Octavia had to get ready so I wandered around backstage and talked with some of the stage crew. Once they got over me being something they'd never seen before, they were pretty cool. I didn't get to talk with them for long though as Octavia was called to the stage so I went to my spot behind the stage so I could listen. My spot backstage had a perfect view of the stage, and I'm sure glad it did. To say the performance was spectacular would be an understatement.

Octavia stood in the middle of the stage with her bass and bow in hoof and a spotlight shining down on her. She closed her eyes and began to play her bass which emitted the most beautiful sounds. About half way through the first song, it reminded me of when my sister would play piano to get me to fall asleep. It was graceful and full of spirit, yet slow and melodic. My eyes actually began to tear up from the music and the memories. Through a small peephole in the curtain I noticed the crowd had a pretty similar reaction, but they were a bit more dignified with theirs. Hell, I wiped my nose on my sleeve. I'm a gentleman, damn it, but not every gentleman has one hundred percent perfect manners.

Octavia went through a few more songs and was even asked for an encore. Each song was better than the last, each one caressing the hall's sense of hearing with sweeter and sweeter notes. Unfortunately all good things come to an end. Octavia finished her encore and took a bow before retreating from the stage with her bass. Considering how loud the applause was, I'm pretty sure it was probably heard back on Earth cause, damn, hooves make clapping loud.

As Octavia walked off the stage I smiled at her and applauded. If she noticed she didn't react since she wasn't quite off stage yet. She's a professional after all. Kind of surprised me though when, after getting behind the curtain, her face went from neutral to panicky.

"Jason. Come with me. Now." she whispered in a panicked voice.

Kind of shocked by her sudden... panic, I nodded and did what she asked. She quickly led me to her dressing room and locked the door behind us. She stumbled and stood awkwardly against her bass, her eyes unfocused as if she were very deep in thought.

"Octavia. Octavia! What's wrong? I can't help you if you don't explain."

"...I know but... I'm not..." she sighed, "Alright, I've no choice. In my panic I dragged you in here instead of doing it myself. You'll probably be pretty useful in this situation, but... Never speak of this to another pony, animal, plant, anything. Never. Do you promise."

I nodded, "You're acting kinda weird but I promise."

Octavia looked at me for a few more seconds before shifting her gaze to her bass. She released the hoof she had at the top of the neck and one of the strings snapped away from the others to lay limply on the floor.

"That's it? I mean, I can understand why it's upsetting, but I-"

"Shh, I want to get this done quickly. Grab the string and pull it tight. Then hold it back up to the other part of the broken string."

I stared at her warily for a few moments but I complied. I grabbed the loose string on the floor daintily between two fingers and pulled it as far as I could towards it's counterpart on the neck, then I looked at Octavia so she could give another command/. No command came though. Instead, she closed her eyes and breathed deeply several times then placed her hooves so they sheltered the small area between the tips of the broken string. Her brow furrowed in some sort of concentration, which kind of worried me. I thought she'd gone nuts. I was about to stop her and have her calm down before going about getting new strings when suddenly the tips of the string began to glow lightly. I just stared, mouth agape, as the tips reached towards each other and began to meld together. Octavia's face paled a bit, but I only noticed it for a second before a small snap sounded and the string fully melded back together. Octavia's hooves dropped and her shoulders sagged. Whatever she just did seemed to have exhausted her.

"What- You- Magic- Unicorn- ...Actually, you don't have to explain. Considering where I am in the first place, nothing should actually surprise me anymore. Y'know you could have just bought new strings though."

"I know, but this instrument was a gift from my mother. I want to preserve every part of it... Also, I may as well explain. I want you to know how... unique it is that I can do magic. Well, it's not as unique as I say, merely the knowledge of it is. My uncle, also an Earth Pony, taught me that all living creatures have magic within them. Unicorns are able to tap into more easily, but-"

"You're freaking joking, right? Tha-that has to be a joke. It's way too fictio... Oh my god... Jason, you dense... I'm in a land full of magical, talking ponies and I deny... Continue. Please. It was rude of me to interrupt. Continue with your explanation. I apologize, Octavia."

Octavia gave me a strange look before continuing, "Feels like we just swapped roles... So. All living things contain magic. However, it's kind of like a muscle. If it's not exerted, it doesn't grow. Hence why it's not well known that races other than unicorns can use magic. In fact, I estimate that there are less than thirty ponies that know about that. It one of those 'important world secrets' that are better left as that. Secrets. Unfortunately, like muscles, not everypony is meant to be so strong. I've known that repair magic for years, used it on my bass dozens of times. I even practice just to keep myself able to perform that when a piece breaks but I can't seem to get strong enough to not have that exhaust me.

I gave her a disbelieving look, "So what you're telling me is that even I could learn magic?"

"With enough practice and effort, I don't see why not. I assume magic is not common back in your dimension?"

She seemed to be waiting for a response, but I just stared at her blankly. Eventually my eyes glazed over, signifying my deep thought.

'Magic. I can learn magic. That almost makes up for- No, no it does not. I'd rather be able to visit my sister... Still, magic is pretty cool. Magic can do anything... Magic can teleport. Teleporting leads to long distance travel. Earth is a long distance... She said it's like a muscle, right? I like working out. Especially if that working out is doing insane stuff that's impossible. Oh, I wish I could rub this in Jeremy's face. He's out playing video games for a living and here I am... stuck in another dimension... Okay, no face rubbing. Still though, magic is cool. I can use this to-'

"Jason!"

Octavia kept loudly repeating my name until I answered. Eventually I heard her through my zone and tuned back into the real world.

"What?"

"Nothing, I just thought something was wrong. You wouldn't respond and your eyes... they looked empty. Don't do that again. Also, if you're thinking about learning magic, promise me a couple things. First, don't let anypony know that magic is possible for everypony. Second, don't practice it alone. Otherwise you-"

"Wait, how the hell am I not supposed to let them know anyone can do magic if I'm not supposed to do magic alone?"

"Tell them your race can do magic. Also, magic takes a lot out of you physically. If you aren't strong enough to perform the spell, you'll end up unable to move for an annoying amount of time. Believe me, it's happened to me before. Also don't use magic in quick succession. That'll drain you quickly and also leave you unable to move."

"Sounds unpleasant... You can't move right now can you?"

"Well, I am rather drained. That shouldn't have taken so much that I can't move though."

"In that case we better get going."

"What? Why? I mean, I'd like to get home and have a nice cup of tea too, but-"

"I told Vinyl I'd make sure you were safe. That means she's going to be worried if we're back late. It's already getting dark and the train ride isn't short."

"I suppose you're right. Off to the station with us then."

I agreed and (though Octavia protested) packed away Octavia's bass for her. She didn't protest though when I offered to carry it to the station for her. She either knew I wouldn't take no for an answer, or she was a lot more exhausted by the spell than she let on. Either way, we reached the station, got on the train and set on our way back to Ponyville. And of course as soon as we sat down on the train, Lady Luck decided to kick me in the nuts.

"Excuse me Mr.Terminator. I'd like a word." a lightly agitated looking Rarity called from down the aisle.

I put my face in my hand and pinched the bridge of my nose. At least if it came to it, I could just throw myself off of the train. Not sure why, but I got a bad feeling this conversation wouldn't be my favorite.

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Jason's misadventures in ponyland

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