A Series of Ponified Events

Twilight decided to stay at the library and try to find a way to make a two-way portal back to my world. After a rather strange experience in the bathroom, I followed AJ out on her way to the farm, and listened as they pointed out some ponies and their homes, and what they do. I got plenty of ponies giving me double-takes and stares, but none of them gave me outright scrutiny. I learned a few things about Ditzy and a few others that they don’t tell anyone from the show, and ran into Filthy Rich and his daughter Diamond Tiara once. I’m sure she would have made outright fun of me had her father not been right there. I noticed decorations being set up for Nightmare Night. Well, it was around that time in my world, so I guess time is relative between worlds. Guess I better pick a costume sometime soon.

On the way, I spotted Lyra and BonBon, and waved a magic hand at them. I saw Lyra’s eyes go wide as she saw my hand, and then I heard her rant about me having hands. I walked over to her, stopping her rant dead.

“Hey there. Aren’t you Lyra?” I asked. Of course I already knew that.

“Yeah. And you’re the pony with magic hands. Who are you, and were you a human like me?” she asked. Aw, crap. I haven’t thought of a name yet. Wait, she said she was human? Well it seems one of those fan comics on DA were right about her. In all honesty I'm not all that surprised. I guess this is one of the realities in which it is true. I guess this is another one of those examples of being hard to surprise. I'll ask her about the whole human thing later.

“Um… Not… exactly like you. You see, I used to be a guy before I managed to get sucked into a portal between worlds. Oh yeah, and I still have all my memories. I went by the name Dan Strider, but I guess I need a new name now.” I said. BonBon listened in and nearly cracked up laughing at that.

“Wow, you think that story’s gonna fly around here? That’s hardly any more believable than Nightmare Moon coming back!” BonBon said. I smirked.

“And yet that happened, didn’t it?” I pointed out. BonBon stopped laughing.

“I guess you’ve got a point.” She said. “Hey wait, if you’re from another world like you claim, then how come you know about the things that happened in Ponyville over a year ago?!” she asked.

“Well, as a matter of fact, there’s a TV show in my world all about this place and the things Twilight and friends learn. You guys are in it too, from time to time.” I said.

“I’ll believe it when I see it.” BonBon said.

“You’ll be waiting a while. Twilight’s at the library trying to find out how to make a two way portal to my world, and when she does, I’ll show you how the world works.” I said.

“I’ll be glad to stop by.” Lyra said.

“Twi says it’ll take around a week, considering the other things she’s gotta be doing, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she finds out sooner.” I reported. “Maybe we could get to know each other in the meantime.”

“I’d like that!” Lyra agreed. Then I thought for a few minutes about a name. I figured I could use facts about myself to make a name.

“Hey, I just thought of a name: What do you think about Summer Dash?” I asked.

“Sounds fitting.” AJ said. Lyra agreed, though BonBon was still not buying the whole “From another World” story. Everyone else agreed it was good enough. Rainbow must have thought she inspired the name, because she seemed to hold a smile at me as we went on. Honestly, the name only came from two facts:

1) I’m one hell of a fast runner, and

2) My coat reminds me of the summer, and summer happens to be a girl’s name.

Later, we came across the boutique, and Rarity’s sister came out to greet her.

“Hello, Sweetie Belle.” Rarity said when Sweetie Belle poked her head out of the shop.

“Hey Rarity. Is that another customer?” she asked.

“Wait, what? No, you’ve got the wrong idea. I’m just a new friend. I may be a girl now, but there’s a point where I draw the line.” I said. Sweetie Belle gave me a weird look. Then I considered coming to Rarity later for the Nightmare Night costume. “Actually, I might stop by later to talk about a costume for Nightmare Night.” I admitted.

“Oh, okay. My name’s Sweetie Belle, by the way.” She said. I nodded at her.

“I’m Summer Dash.” I introduced myself. “It’s nice to meet you.” Sweetie Belle nodded at me in return and went back into the workshop with Rarity. Rarity explained that she needed to complete a few commissions and upkeep the shop. AJ then pitched in as we continued walking to the farm.

“I’m sure you know already, but this here’s the boutique, where Rarity does her work with fashion and what-not.” AJ said. “Ah personally try to stay away from here, ‘cause she normally likes to get us to try on her dresses without much of a choice in the matter.”

“Yeah, I know about it. Hey, on the subject of costumes, I’ve got the perfect ideas for you and the rest of the Elements.” I said. The thought struck me that the one for Apple Jack wasn’t exactly very good… “Actually, I don’t think the altered you would be a very good idea… Not exactly impressive, at all. I’ll have to think of something better to make the full set awesome.” AJ raised an eyebrow at me.

“Now what’s that supposed to mean?” she asked. I realized I’d said that out loud.

“Oh, uh… Well, there’s this guy in my world who made altered versions of you guys, and… well, yours wasn’t really scary, or anything.” Ah, screw gentle. Blunt is easier. “Alright, this guy basically fused you with a pill addict to make a monster out of you, and made fun of you with the name he gave the character.”

“What?! Why?” she asked in surprise. I could tell I’d caught Rainbow and Fluttershy’s attention on the matter.

“It was a Nightmare Night thing, and I don’t think he saw you as the best pony. Hell, he gave Derpy a better alteration than you. Yours just made people laugh.” I admitted. After a moment of thought, I added, “Well, his whole aim was to make people laugh, but your alteration achieved that goal more than the others.” Stop feeling like she’s going to punch you for this. You didn’t do it, so why beat yourself up over this stuff? I told myself.

“Oh, he did, did he? Well, it sounds a bit like Ah’ve got somepony to impress.” She said as she glared ahead. I think the second comment might have softened the blow, but I could tell she was pretty annoyed with this guy.

“What about me? What’d he make me into?” Rainbow asked.

“A cyborg with a thing for using guns on people and ponies alike. Since that version of you was around Twilight when the possession happened, things kinda got out of hand.” I said. I saw her face pale at that.

“I… shot her?” she asked.

“Yeah, but you missed her vitals by that much, and she lived. They said they were lucky AJ’s alteration had a bottle of pain pills on han- err, hoof when they found her.” I said. Rainbow turned to me.

“Wait, if we were turned into monsters with a habit of killing, why’d we save her?” she asked.

“Well, it’s because Fluttershout had the brilliant idea to come back together as changed as they were to hold onto your destinies, becoming the Elements of Insanity. So, because of certain events, and Derpygun breaking the fourth wall, they put two spirits in Twilight, and she became Brutalight Sparcake.”

“Wow. So she became, like, super powerful or something, right? What’s up with the names, by the way?” she asked.

“Yeah, she did. The names a combination between your names and those of the spirits that possessed you. You got Scombine, Twi got the Christian Brutal Sniper and… another name I’d rather not repeat, Rarity got this guy named Rubberfruit, Pinkie got Painis Cupcake, and the rest of you got names corresponding to whatever changed about you. Like Fluttershout and ApplePills.” I shot a look at AJ to see how she’d react to the names. She continued glaring ahead. You know, she’s not really impressing anybody with her silence. Now if she uprooted and flung a full grown apple tree across Equestria, then she’d get a round of dropped jaws.

“Um… excuse me, but what changed about me?” Fluttershy asked.

“Not much. You just got a voice louder than a sonic boom, and you used it when you got scared.” I said. “It caused heads to explode.”

“Oh…” she seemed to deflate at that.

“Hey, if it helps, you guys can imagine your altered selves using these powers on threats to Equestria, like King Sombra, or the changelings. Besides, none of it is actually real. It’s just a guy’s ideas.” I said. They took thoughtful poses for a second and then smiled. Except AJ. She just seemed to be trying to shrug off the thought of this guy and what he did.

After that lovely conversation, I saw Scootaloo trying to pull off some tricks with her scooter, and I saw she was about to fail badly at one, so I made a ramp for her to land safely on and corrected her scooter’s aim. She skidded to a halt when she landed and she looked around to find out what just saved her. I came up and greeted her.

“Hey there! That was a close call!” I said. Scoots looked at me.

“You helped me out there?” she asked. I nodded.

“Yeah, and it was a good thing I did, too, or you would have ended up with a pancake for a face, or something like what happened to my head here.” I said, pointing at the bandage wrapped around my wound. We both chuckled at that.

“Oh, hey Dash! Who’s your friend? Is she new around here?” Scoots asked when she saw Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah. Summer, meet Scootaloo. Scoots, meet Summer Dash. She just got to town this morning and wound up in an accident with Twilight at the library, so we’re making it up to her by taking her around town, and showing her the sights.” Dash explained. Good cover. I’m going to have to remember that for anyone I don’t feel like telling the truth.

“Okay, nice to meet you, Summer!” Scootaloo said, extending her hoof to me. I took it in a shake.

“You too, Scoots.” I said. “I’ll see you later.” We left for more of the tour, AJ and Rainbow explaining things as we went along, sharing our memories of certain events at places we passed by. I didn’t do much of the sharing; not after the conversation from earlier. I figured it was best to just let them think of other things.

“I gotta give you guys props. I don’t think Hasbro coulda made a better tour of Ponyville. If they made a tour, though, it’d be of all of Equestria and it wouldn’t be as detailed as what you guys have just shown me.” I said.

“Well, thank ya’ kindly.” AJ said.

“Hey, it’s what friends are for, right?” Dash said.

“Thanks guys.” I said. We arrived at the Apple farm right about then. Apple Bloom came running up to AJ as we approached the barn.

“Apple Jack!” she cried as she tackled AJ in a hug. D’awwwww! I thought. Just too cute. Oh hey, looks like AJ just brightened up. “Who’s this?” Apple Bloom asked, looking at me after the hug.

“The name’s Summer Dash.” I said, holding a hoof out.

“Well howdy, Summer. I’m Apple Bloom!” she said, meeting my hoof shake.

“Nice to meet you, Apple Bloom. I heard you’re in a group called the Cutie Mark Crusaders?” I said, hoping to open up a conversation.

“Oh yeah! My friends and Ah go ‘round doin’ all sorts o’ things to find out what our special talent is! And when we do, we’ll get our Cutie Marks! That’s our goal!” she said enthusiastically.

“Heh. Sounds a bit like something I need to do.” I said, presenting my blank flank. Apple Bloom gasped. I smiled as she looked me in the eyes. “Endless Possibilities, am I right?” That brought her smile back in full.

“Did you hit your head trying to find your talent?” Apple Bloom asked.

“Oh, that? No, that was just a little accident with an interdimensional portal in Twilight’s library.” I said. “Not like it matters though. I’ve taken hits to the head before, and I ignore it every time. After all, if anything comes from it, it’s that my skull grows stronger every time it heals.”

“Well, Ah figured you were the optimistic type, but this here just takes the cake!” AJ said. I looked at her with a smirk, but then looked around cautiously, half-expecting Pinkie to just pop up out of nowhere asking who’s taking the cake.

“I get it from playing games where I come from.” I say vaguely. “I’ve learned when there’s an optimist around, nobody loses their cool as often when they lose. So, I became the optimist.”

“I get it.” Dash said. I was about to leave but my stomach growled, letting me know I needed to eat. A chorus of stomachs followed mine. Hey, this is a lot like my fic! Getting lunch at the farm after a long tour was written in my fic, and it was kinda cool I was getting to experience it for myself. I was essentially putting myself in my character’s hooves.

“Heh, I guess we all need to eat something.” I said. I began keeping an eye out for anything out of the ordinary as we moved on, knowing what came next in my fic, but not really expecting it to happen.

“Y’all come along. I’m sure Granny Smith wouldn’t mind makin all o’ us some lunch.” AJ led us to her outdoor family dining area. I imagined it’d be bigger considering the size of the family I saw in the first episode.

“Wouldn’t this place be… I dunno, bigger? I mean, you’ve got huge family reunions every now and then, right?” I asked AJ in private.

“We’ve got the extra tables packed away in the storage shed for when that happens. We don’t need ‘em all the time and they just take up room when we don’t use ‘em.” AJ explained.

“Makes sense.” I said. I heard a door open, and I turned to see Big Macintosh walking out of the house.

“Oh, Apple Jack! You made it just in time for lunch.” He said. “You brought your friends?”

“Yup.  We were givin’ our new friend here a tour of town, and we stopped here.” AJ said, gesturing to me.

“Hi. Name’s Summer Dash.” I waved at him. “I don’t suppose AJ’s told you about the interdimensional portal accident, has she?”

“Nope.”

“Well, I came from the other side of it. It wasn’t anything anyone could control, but things kinda happened while getting sucked through.” I made little figures of what happened with my magic as I explained, showing the human figure hitting the wall and turning into a pony as it went through a little hole. Big Mac raised an eyebrow at my demonstration.

“So you were one of those humans Twilight met when she went to that other world?” he asked.

“No, not them. I’m from another separate universe. The only thing parallel about my world is that there’s a TV show about this world.” I clarified. Big Mac nodded and left to get all the plates ready. I turned to head back to the rest, but found Apple Bloom standing there staring at me like I had three heads.

“Oh, snap. You heard that, didn’t you?” I asked. My ears automatically folded back. At least she doesn’t know about the gender swap thing.

“Is the whole human thing why ya’ don’t have a Cutie Mark?” she asked. I decided to take this rationally, and not be all emotional about telling her. My ears perked back up as I shook off my feelings of this confrontation.

“Eh. Probably. I mean, we humans don’t go around trying to find the one thing we’re best at and stick with it for a job. We usually have to go through tougher ordeals to make it to a job we can actually tolerate.” I said. Apple Bloom took every word in.

“Wow, Ah guess your world has it kinda tough, huh?” she said. I nodded.

“Yeah, nobody really likes the political side of my world, but the internet’s where all the good stuff’s at.” I said, hoping to turn the conversation to a brighter side.

“Really? I wanna see it!” she said.

“Well, we’ll be waiting about a week, hopefully less, for Twilight to make a two way portal to my world. Then, when we get there, I’ll show you around.” I promised. I smirked as I remembered the Pinkie Promise. “Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” I said with the right gestures.

“Alright! Hey, did you figure out the magic thing yet? You know, seeing as you weren’t always a unicorn.” She asked. I smiled, getting an idea.

“Yeah, I found it to be pretty simple. And I’m a bit advanced, so I can do more with telekinesis than the average magician.” I said. “You wanna see?” I asked. She nodded vigorously. My smirk broadened, and I looked just ahead. In front of us, I created a small path. I used my natural speed, (it came back once I’d gotten used to walking) and ran across the path, creating more of it as I ran. My bandage flew off as I circled around the tops of a few trees and then when I finished, I returned to Apple Bloom with much more fatigue than I get when I normally run. I'm really going to have to work on my stamina. Her jaw had dropped.

“T-that was only Telekinsis?” she asked.

“Telekinesis, and yes.” I corrected. She suddenly smiled really big.

“Wow! That’s awesome!” she shouted. I heard hoofsteps behind me. I turned and saw Rainbow Dash walking up to me, alongside Apple Jack. Surprise number one: they walked up behind me. Surprise number two: Rainbow was actually walking, not flying.

“I agree. I’ve never seen anypony go that fast on hoof before.” Rainbow said.

“That was some quick hoofwork ya’ had goin’ there, Summer.” AJ said.

“Thanks. I’m not exactly the fastest, but my speed is another thing I pride myself in.” I said. Rainbow seemed to be having second thoughts about something. My guess was she was seeing that my speed is where I got the second part of my name from.

“Not the fastest?! Summer, you just might be the fastest runner in Equestria!” Apple Bloom stated in over excitement. I turned to her, giving her a firm stare.

“Hey, I deny that until it’s proven. And I’m in no hurry to get a reputation around here. Besides, I’m pretty sure at least one of AJ’s relatives is faster.” I said. Bloom gave me an innocent look.

“Oh, sorry.” I laid off the stare a little.

“It’s okay, but I just don’t want any unproven accusations thrown my way.” I said.

“Well, lunch is ready, so whenever you two want to join us, it’ll be waitin’ for ya’.” AJ said. They turned around and left for the dining tables. I went with them and Bloom joined us too.

Lunch was kinda fun. I got to explain some of the good points about our world, and some of the bad too, but I generally tried to avoid that. I even got to hear about some of the things the 6 did off camera, and Fluttershy actually talked to me. I didn't much mind the vegetarian lunch, and I found the apples were like... I don't even know how to describe them. Their flavor just went beyond blowing my mind, that's how good they were. Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. I hate you too, fate.