Chapter 1: One Wish
Jonathan huddled up in his room, typing madly on the keyboard. He'd been on a story writing spree and had completely neglected his report on Shakespearean plays. Now he was going to have to stay up long at the keyboard. He got to a paragraph on Hamlet. "To be," he typed. "Or not to pony... That is the question."
Wait, what? Where did that come from? Pony? Had he been writing something about ponies? He shook himself. There was to be no outside influence on his academics. This was an incredibly important report—the last one of Year 12 before it was just time for wrapping up—but he had neglected it and it was due tomorrow.
He wrote through the rest of the day, stopping only once to eat. Sometimes the word "pony" would show up in seemingly random places. Maybe he needed a break. No, he told himself, no breaks. No more neglecting. If he had to write until it was time for school he would.
Night began to fall. He looked out the window to admire the night, but there were no stars. Why? He looked out a few more minutes, waiting for a star to show up. After nothing happened, he looked back at the monitor and continued typing away. Suddenly, he noticed something bright in the corner of his eye. He turned to look and saw a bright star in the night sky. It was brighter than any star he had ever seen. He turned on the television, but there was nothing about it in the news. The star had just appeared, he thought. Maybe no one's noticed it yet. He typed some more and looked back at the night sky. There were still no stars save for the one bright star.
He opened up a stargazer website near him and looked at the live feed. There were many stars. He rubbed his head. Maybe the writing was getting to him. He looked at the star a while longer, mesmerised by it. Something came out of his mouth, but it took a few moments to register what he had said. "I wish I lived in Ponyville!" His mouth gaped and he spluttered. "What- Huh?" What the heck was Ponyville? He was going mad. Absolutely bonkers. He finished up his report, careful not to say "pony" again and climbed into bed, drifting off to sleep.
Ponyville
Twilight was still in a daze. She had only just yesterday been coronated as a new Princess of Equestria. All of a sudden, she had more duties than she could count. She needed help. She explained this to Spike in the library.
"You need what?" Spike exclaimed incredulously. "I thought I was the One and Only Spike! Your best assistant!"
"You're still my best assistant, Spike!" Spike sighed relievedly. "But it isn't enough. Here's my new todo list for tomorrow!" Spike looked at it and stumbled back.
"Yup, you need help. You definitely need help," he said quickly.
"But all my friends are busy with their own things! I don't have anyone else! How am I supposed to do any of this?"
"I'm sure Celestia thought of something."
"No, these were her words: 'I completely trust that you can do this on your own.' Clearly, she was wrong! I already failed every duty I was supposed to do up to this point!"
"We'll find you help. Maybe the Cutie Mark Crusaders can help?" asked Spike.
"No, I couldn't make them do that."
"We'll find a way, Twilight."
"I hope we do soon."
Night began to fall as Twilight tried to make a todo list for the next day. No matter what, she couldn't figure out a schedule that fit. All of a sudden, she woke from her work trance when Spike called her up. She reluctantly went up the stairs to the bedroom, ready to reprimand Spike. He pointed at a new star that had never been there before.
"Stars don't just- Where- Where did that come from?" The star was very, very bright, and she had never known of any star as bright as that one. She raced down to the shelves and searched through books about stars and stargazing but didn't find anything about the star.
Then she had an idea. Why not send a letter to Princess Luna about it? Luna was definitely awake right now, and she controlled the night sky, so maybe she had something to do with http at star appearing. She called down Spike and quickly dictated a letter to Princess Luna. After a few minutes, a letter came back.
"We have not made any new stars exceptionally bright to night. We do not understand what thou art speaking of." Twilight was getting worried now. Maybe all this work was getting to her head. She took one last look at the star and trotted back down to the library to work on a todo list. When she finally settled on a slightly working list, she went back up to go to be. But just before she went to sleep, she looked at the star and blurted out, "I wish for more help!"
Then she shook herself. She really was letting the work go to her head. Since when did she make wishes? Even more, why on hallucinated stars? She pushed the matter to the back of her head and went to sleep.
Jonathan
Jonathan woke up early in the morning. He opened up the window, and the one star was still there. He didn't make much of it, until he realised that the sun was up also. Maybe he was still hallucinating. He changed, printed out his report, and started getting ready for school. By the time he finished, he still had about half an hour to play with his 14-year old cousin, Millie. He came outside to greet her a good morning.
"Hey, Jonny!" She said when he came out. Jonathan greeted her back and looked back up at the star.
"What are you looking at?" She asked. Jonathan shrugged.
"A star." Millie looked at him oddly. Jonathan smiled. The smile left his face quickly and was replaced by a look of wonder. Why was the star getting... Bigger? Or was it getting brighter? He didn't know. Millie looked at him again and nudged him.
"Come on, we're running out of time," said Millie exasperatedly. Jonathan shook himself and turned to Millie. He played with her for a few minutes before noticing the slightest tug on himself. He attributed it to bad balance and continued to frolic with Millie. He had just about forgotten about it before he felt a yank behind him.
"What was that for?" he asked Millie. Millie looked at him oddly and shrugged. He felt another yank, and then another, and now he was being really pulled. No one was pulling him. Millie was in front of him- running after him? He was on the road now, and he screamed, clawing for a handhold. He grabbed onto a signpost, and that impeded his progress long enough for Millie to reach him, but the signpost was pulled out of the ground and he let go, screaming.
He caught a glimpse of... A star? Was that what was pulling him? Was it the star from earlier? He clawed at the grass past the road, trying to get a handhold, but he only pulled the grass up. It was no help to him. Now he was right under the star, being pulled up to the star. In a last burst of adrenaline, he caught Millie's hand and yanked her toward him.
Then everything went black.
Chapter 2: Pastel?
Jonathan, Somewhere
Jonathan woke up in the oddest place that he had ever seen. The whole world was... Pastel? It looked like some cheesy animated show. This must be a dream, he thought. In fact, it most definitely is a dream. Might as well enjoy it while it's here.
He was lying on his back on a grassy field, staring up into the sky. He pushed himself up and tried to stand on two legs, but he wobbled and fell onto his back again. He held a hoof to his face-- A hoof? He was a little startled by this, but then he brushed it off. It was a dream, anyway. Anything could happen. So, he was a horse. He could walk on four legs. He rolled around and got up on four legs. He wobbled a little but steadied himself.
Now that he was steady, he tried to walk around a bit. Just like crawling, he thought. He trotted around for a bit before finally getting the hang of it. But all this time he had been looking forward. What did he look like? He held a hoof up to his face. It was a bright, neon green and it hurt his eyes a bit, so he put it back down again.
He decided to look around for some kind of body of water so he could see his reflection, maybe get a good inkling of what he really looked like. After looking around for a while, he found a small pond. He tentatively looked over in it and started back. He'd never seen a horse like that before, and especially not in that colour. He had... A horn? Really? His mane and eyes were a darker, olive green and the former took his eyes off the painful green the rest of his body was.
Now he really took a look at the grass around him. It was almost as bright as his coat. Was this whole world filled with bright, painful colours? He hoped for the best and explored to maybe find a road to some civilised area. This dream was starting to get boring. All there was to see hurt his eyes and he was quite alone. There were no animals, and only a few trees in sight.
He blinked, thinking about home. He blinked again. And again. He was still there. Normally this worked. He decided to try another tactic. You always come out of a dream right before you get hurt, right? And you don't feel pain. So, he turned toward a tree and galloped head-first at full speed toward the tree and rammed into it, shaking it a good bit. But he wasn't out of the dream. Instead, he was stunned. He thought he had a headache.
But that isn't right, he thought. You shouldn't feel pain in a dream. This was the oddest dream he had ever been in. And dreams made use of things you had thought about recently. Sleeping was about sorting things out. He was sure he had never seen any of this. There was only one thing to try left. He knew for sure that this would bring him out of this utterly dull dream.
Lifting up his right hind hoof, he slammed it into his manhood and yelped, falling back. Not a dream, not a dream, he thought frantically. He rolled around, panting until the pain subsided and he could think again. He contemplated this new revelation for a short while longer before coming to a terrible conclusion. His family was gone. His friends were gone. His Millie was gone. What would she do without him? He didn't need to think about it anymore. He didn't want to think about it anymore. He broke down, racked with sobs, and cried himself to sleep.
Twilight Sparkle, Library
Twilight was exhausted. She had woken up 3 hours ago, at 5 in the morning to start on her long list of duties. Unfortunately, she had forgotten to account for flight (but could you really call it flight?) time. Now she was already an hour off schedule.
She groaned. "How could I make such an obvious mistake?"
"Tomorrow we can have it fixed," said Spike hopefully.
"No, this is the only todo list that works!"
"Maybe we could ask Celestia to-"
"No! I have to show her that I'm competent as a Princess."
"Maybe we could hire someone."
"Most in Ponyville already have a job! What, do you expect that we'll just find some random jobless pony in the middle of nowhere?"
Spike shook his head.
Twilight sighed. "Let's just try and salvage what we can." She exited the Library and tried to fly off with Spike on her back. After trying a few times to no avail, she just speed-walked. Pulling out her list she read the next duty.
"Hey, I know that place!" Spike exclaimed enthusiastically. "That's by Sweet Apple Acres!"
After a bit of walking, Spike asked, "What about the path?"
"The path is longer," explained Twilight. "If we take the straight path, we'll get there more quickly." They walked for a few minutes on the field before coming across a bright green pony sleeping beside a tree.
"What's he doing here?" Spike asked loudly.
Twilight started to shush him, but then the pony stirred and his eyes opened. "H-huh?" His eyes adjusted to the light and he stumbled back, bumping his head into the tree. He reached up to rub his head. "Who are you?"
"The real question is, who are you?"
"Um... Jonathan Spirit."
"That's an odd name," said Spike, not rudely.
"Spike! That's rude," exclaimed Twilight. Spike lowered his head in apology.
"Where am I?" asked Jonathan.
"About half the way from Ponyville to Sweet Apple Acres."
"From where to where? Ponyville?"
"Yeah... Where are you from?"
"Um..." He thought for a bit, and then made a wild guess, hoping that they had some version of it here. "Uh... London?"
Spike cocked his head. He was about to ask what that was when Twilight interrupted him. "Oh, you mean Manedon? I was wondering where you got that accent."
"Yeah... Manedon."
"Do you have a job?"
"Um... I guess I'm looking for one."
Spike chuckled a bit and then clamped his mouth shut when Twilight glared at him sternly. "That's just perfect," she said. "I'm looking for someone who can help with my duties."
"Um, Twilight, we can't pay him," said Spike.
"Oh yeah... We can pull from the treasury, remember?" Spike nodded. "Okay then, how about, say, 50 silver bits per day?"
"Bits?" Jonathan asked.
"Sorry, forgot that you were from Manedon." Twilight does the calculations quickly, and says, "That'll be about 30 pounds."
"Hmm..." Jonathan wondered if Pounds here were the same as Pounds on Earth. They had Manedon though, so...
His thoughts were interrupted by Spike saying, "That'd make a good living here."
"I'll take it then. What do I need to do?" Jonathan was startled when a moderately long list levitated in front of Twilight. So, unicorns can actually use their magic, he thought. Twilight examined the list for a few minutes and then cleanly ripped a set of duties that would make both lists lenient for both her and Jonathan.
She handed it to Jonathan. "Ignore the times," she said. "I'll fix it tomorrow. I'll have Spike come with you'll know where to go and so the people will know that you're on official royal business." Before Jonathan could ask about "royal business," Spike was already walking away.
Jonathan caught up with Spike, albeit slowly (he wasn't completely used to this new body), and asked, "What's all this about royal duty?"
"Hasn't the news reached Manedon yet? Twilight's a Princess now. Didn't you see the wings?"
"Oh..." Jonathan said, not really understanding. Then he figured it out. That pony back there was a Princess, and he was working for her. "Oh!" They completed a few duties and Jonathan learned more about Ponyville. He saw a few unicorns practising magic and finally asked, "How does one do magic?"
Spike gaped. "You mean... You can't do magic?"
"No. I didn't really know magic existed in anything other than parlour tricks up to this point." This was true, like most of his statements so far.
"How- How do you not know about magic? You at least had one unicorn for a parent. Surely they know some magic?"
"No, not at all."
"Well, maybe you could learn from Twilight. It'll make these duties a tonne easier."
Jonathan nodded, and they walked into a building for one of the duties on the list. "So, what are we doing here?" he asked. And that's when the shaking started.
