Road Trip: Equestria!

by Justin Daniels

Rating: teen
Tags: Original Character, Spike, Adventure, Human, Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Other, Romance
Length: 11094

When one of Twilight Sparkle's studies goes horribly wrong, she and Spike are sent to Earth, and quickly learn about what it's like to be aliens in a new world. With the help of a trio of humans, can they find a way back to Equestria?

When one of Twilight Sparkle's studies goes horribly wrong, she and Spike are sent to Earth, and quickly learn about what it's like to be aliens in a new world. With the help of a trio of humans, can they find a way back to Equestria?

Join the Southern truck driver Justin Daniels, and his two best friends; the self-proclaimed "Asian American Doctor and King of Hip-Hop", Carlos Wilkinson, and the "Blonde Brainiac Girl With a Plan", Ashley Sanderson, as they go on a journey across the state to help Twilight Sparkle and her number one assistant Spike safely return to their world.

When the government is after this world's otherworldly neighbors, however, this may prove to be quite the road trip for our group of "heroes"!

Published 2015-02-05 17:30:02 UTC
Last updated 2015-02-05 17:30:02 UTC

Chapter 1

A gentle breeze flowed through the peaceful town of Ponyville. The sun was starting to rise above the horizon, while the moon moved below the other corner of the horizon, completely in-sync with its celestial neighbor to make way for yet another beautiful summer morning. The birds began to chirp in the distant trees, and the doors to several houses began to open up, while the multicolored equine inhabitants of those houses stepped outside to either start their days, to water their plants, to get the newspaper from their yards, or to check their mailboxes for any new messages delivered by their local gray-coated pegasus mailmare with a yellow mane and a pair of yellow eyes that were always shifted in opposite directions.

There was one building, however, that stood out from the rest of the houses and shops. While the houses and shops were mostly built with wooden walls and straw roofs, this building was a castle made entirely out of crystals. Despite being a castle, however, it was shaped up to look more like a tree house with purple stone walls tangled inside a leafless blue tree made of crystals. The entrance was an arched pair of golden doors in the center of a road. Directly off of both sides of the entrance, a pair of purple windows with white starry patterns in the pattern of a river of waves were engraved into the tree with a similar arch-like shape as the door on the upper halves, while the lower halves of the windows were flat like the surface, but elevated. In the center of the roofs of the purple stone walls on top of the tree, a blue six-sided star erected over a long steeple that rose over the walls by twice their height.

From inside the majestic structure, several guards dressed in purple and golden armor roamed to and fro, while keeping their eyes and ears peeled for any and all conversations within the castle walls. There were two guards posted for each and every corner of the halls of the building to ensure maximum security for their newest princess, as well as her dragon assistant.

All the way up at the top of the castle, within the starry steeple itself, a circular shaped room was carved inside it that was only able to be entered by teleportation magic. Within this room, several scrolls and papers were posted on the walls with a multitude of sketches, words, and symbols written on each one. Some of the sketches appeared to be drawings of coordinates that connected together with other sketches, while others were words that described the sketches. A select few of them, however, were lines that were taken from one certain drawing in particular; a six-sided star resting in the center of a circle. The star in the circle was the drawing that held the attention of one particular figure in the room, out of two.

The first figure in the room was a lavender coated pony with a neatly combed, bluish purple colored mane and tail that were each adorned with a single pink stripe on one side of both. Like every other alicorn, she had a horn that grew from her forehead and a pair of feathery wings on her back that were the same color as her coat. She also had purple eyes, though they were closed, and her horn was glowing a pinkish color.

About a few meters behind her and to her right, the second figure stood there, watching the alicorn cast her spell with an uncertain expression on his face. He stood up at about half of her height, and had purple scales, with a smooth green stomach and lower jaw. He also had dull green spikes that grew in a neat line at the center of his head that traced down his back, and ended at his arrow-tipped tail. His eyes were emerald green, and his tongue was slit at the tip similar to a snake's in shape, while a pair of small sharp fangs stuck out of his mouth, and hovered over the corners of his lower lip. His lower legs, unlike the ponies' hind legs, ended with a pair of small feet, while his forearms, unlike the ponies' forelegs, ended with four claws. He was also bipedal, meaning he only stood on two legs, while the ponies were quadrupedal, meaning they stood on all fours.

He twiddled his claws uneasily while the alicorn continued to let the spell commence. He then cleared his throat before addressing the alicorn with his concerns. "I've got a bad feeling about this, Twilight..."

Twilight, despite having her eyes closed, replied to the little drake, "It'll be fine, Spike! I'm just summoning a small 'wormhole', as Doctor Hooves mentioned, so that I could study it and see what kinds of worms come out of it!"

Spike sighed before shaking his head. "I understand that, Twilight, but what if there was a reason why he didn't tell you? And you know how... strange... his ramblings can be! What if there aren't even any worms in them? What if it's something different?"

Twilight scoffed at his excuses. "Oh please, Spike! If there weren't any worms in it, then why would he have called it a worm hole, if there isn't even any worms in there to begin with?"

Spike stood there silently for a moment before sighing. Twilight smiled triumphantly before continuing on her spell silently.

When thirty more seconds have passed, Twilight's head started to ache as the spell started nearing completion. For safety protocols, however, she decided she would only summon the "wormhole" for a measly ten seconds, in case the spell drew the worm from that hole to the hotspot, instead of the hole itself.

When Spike asked what the point would be to summon a hole, Twilight simply replied with the excuse, "It would be slightly like a portal, but in the form of a hole that leads to where that worm's hole originally was." He didn't understand any of it, but decided just to go with it as Twilight being her "extra special" self today.

Ten more seconds have passed by when the spell was finally completed. Twilight's horn stopped glowing, and she began to pant and sweat heavily. She looked towards the hotspot where the wormhole was supposed to appear... then frowned when she saw nothing there.

"Strange... I could've sworn everything was in order!" she complained out loud.

Spike shrugged his shoulders before walking up to the circle in the center of the room. "I don't know, Twilight... something tells me Doctor Hooves was just babbling a bunch of nonsense!"

Twilight sighed before following Spike towards the circle to examine it for any flaws. "What could've possibly gone wrong, though?! I know I did the spell correctly!"

Spike stopped at the tip of the circle before stretching his claws behind his back and kicking the white chalk that the circle was made out of. At the sudden contact, however, the inside of the circle began to glow a bright white color, and an unseen force caused Spike's leg to sink into the circle. He gasped loudly before gripping onto the ground with his claws and screaming out of sheer terror. "TWILIGHT! HELP ME!"

Twilight's expression was quickly changed from great confusion to high alert. She galloped up to her assistant before wrapping her forehooves around his back to attempt to pull him back up. "SPIKE! HOLD ON! DON'T LET GO!" she screamed, shortly before feeling the same unseen force drag her into the circle as well.

The last sounds that were never heard from the sound-proof room was the two of their screams, which abruptly ended after ten seconds.

Slowly, Twilight's eyes started to open again... but all she could see was the darkness of the night, along with the moon looming over the sky. She groaned and rubbed her aching forehead, before her eyes shot back open. Worriedly, she stood back up on all four of her hooves before spinning around to find her number one assistant.

"Spike?! Spike, where are you?!" She stopped her spinning when she heard a not-too-distant groan coming from the shadows behind a nearby tree. Slowly she tip-hoofed towards the source of the groans before sighing in relief when she saw a familiar figure stand up.

"Twilight? What... what happened?!" Spike asked while rubbing his eyes. He slowly stepped out of the shadows before opening his eyes again. As he did, both he and Twilight gasped the moment they saw each other.

"SWEET CELESTIA! WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!" both of them blurted out in unison.

Twilight was the first to check herself out. She felt her face and found nothing out of the ordinary at first... but when she looked at her own hooves, it was then that she realized that something was off. Her fur appeared to have more textures in it, and her feathers, after she stretched them forward to get a good look at them, appeared to be more detailed than some of the greatest paintings she ever saw in a museum. Her mane and tail were also different in shape up close... none of her locks were thick and chunky. Her entire mane was, quite literally, so detailed in each strand of hair, it almost seemed impossibly real in her eyes. Also her coat was slightly darker, and the shadows of the trees, stones, and distant buildings, were darker than even Equestria's darkness could get; she wouldn't even see her own hoof in front of her face if she were standing in the shadows! Everything else, though, was the same. Her snout was still short, her eyes were still ordinarily large, and her body was still slightly taller than the average mare, though only because of her alicorn status.

Spike, however, almost looked exactly the same, except for his scales actually being visible even from a distance. His stomach also appeared to shine in the moonlight to show off how smooth it was. Despite it being a few minor changes, it was still a noticeable change to Twilight.

"T-Twilight?! Where... where are we?!" Spike weakly asked before the two quickly turned around to check their surroundings.

Directly behind them, a massive white stone structure rose high in the sky with a pyramid-shaped roof at the tip. Circling the giant tower, several flags waved in the air, but the darkness of the night caused most of them to be unnoticeable. The ones that were touched in the light, however, appeared to be shaped with fifty white stars in a blue square, with thirteen red and white stripes moving horizontally from top to bottom.

Twilight squinted at the flags before scratching her snout in thought. "If I remember correctly from the Mirror World's geography lessons... we must be in America!" Then she tilted her head sideways before checking the distant brick buildings across a metal wired fence. "But... this doesn't look like the Mirror World, though! It's almost like... like we're in a different universe altogether!"

Spike tilted his head in confusion. "I don't get it, though. Wouldn't the Mirror World be a parallel universe, also?!"

Twilight shook her head before replying, "No, Spike. That world was more of an alternate form of Equestria, where humans ruled! In a way, though, it was still Equestria, because we still looked a little like ourselves in color! In other words... we were in a Parallel World there! This, though? I... I don't even think there's anything parallel about this place!"

"Well... parallel universe or not, we've got to get back to our own!" Spike told her in a distraught voice.

Twilight nodded her head before turning towards him with an understanding expression on her face. "You're right, Spike... hop onto my back, and I'll try to call that 'wormhole' thing back!"

Spike did as requested. Then Twilight turned towards the tower wall and focused her horn towards it. For a few seconds, the glow from her horn started to flicker and a few sparks started to fall from the tip. She grunted a few times as the strain of the spell began to take its toll. Finally, after exhaling from exhaustion, she collapsed onto her stomach with her legs outstretched on all four corners of her body.

"It's no good... my magic energy is way too used up! I... I need to rest for a little bit!" Twilight mumbled before weakly standing back up. Then she looked back towards the distant buildings and sighed.

It was then that her stomach started to grumble. She groaned before turning towards the tower again. "My magic energy can't restore itself on an empty stomach, though... m-maybe I should check those buildings for anything?"

Spike, on the other hoof, shook his head before retorting, "Absolutely not! Twilight, we're in an alien planet! What if the food that these creatures eat happens to be toxic for us?!"

Twilight groaned in frustration before shaking her head. "Spike! I can't cast powerful magic, otherwise! I need to eat... or at least find something to drink! Now, come on! It shouldn't take us long, and we'll be back to Equestria in no time!"

She lifted her annoyed and worried assistant onto her back before trotting towards the gate of the fenced-in area. When she reached the gate, however, she found it to be locked by a chain with a keyring in the center that attached both sides of the chain together. "What the- why would somepony lock us in here? Or, why would somepony lock everyone else out?"

Spike shrugged his shoulders before replying, "I don't know, Twilight. Maybe they have security issues?"

Twilight shifted uneasily at the thought. "I hope that isn't the case. What if somepony dangerous is in here, then? We have to get out of here, hold on!"

Spike nodded his head before tightening his grip around Twilight's neck, though not too tight so as to avoid choking her. Then Twilight stretched her wings out and, with a quick leap, flew over the gate, and landed on the other side of it while stumbling a little to regain her balance.

"Darn it! Even the gravity here feels different! I have to put more energy in my wings than I did in Equestria... and even that was a challenge!" Twilight complained before exhaling deeply once more. "This is going to be more difficult that I thought!"

Spike gently patted the back of her neck before replying, "It's okay, Twilight! At least we can get you that water now, huh?"

Twilight lightly smirked at her assistant's sudden burst of enthusiasm, then continued on the path towards the not-too-distant buildings. "Oh? And here I thought you were against me going to those brick buildings!"

With a dismissive scoff, Spike replied, "Eh, just listening to you complain has gotten me thirsty! And a little hungry, too! Hey, do you think this world might have some jewels that I could eat? I wouldn't mind eating an alien ruby or two!" He licked his lips in a circular motion while slurping loudly. As he did, he also rubbed his stomach with both claws while staring up at the foreign night sky, completely lost in thought.

Twilight chuckled before rolling her eyes. "Oh, Spike. You always think with your stomach! But I'll keep my eyes open for you to-"

The sudden appearance of a pair of headlights caused her to let out an audible yelp and jump back to reality. Then a loud screeching noise coming from her right caught her attention.

Her jaw dropped open, as she stared like a deer in the headlights at the incoming screeching vehicle. Then she closed her eyes and flinched as the vehicle slowly dragged, until the bumper was just inches away from her face. The vehicle let out a hissing noise... but came to a complete stop.

Twilight quickly opened her eyes and looked up at the driver of the box-like truck in shock. From the way how it looked, it must've been a human... and a male, as the ragged beard nonverbally told her. Even so, this human was far more different than the ones that she saw in the Mirror World.

This human was also stunningly detailed in comparison to the ones that she saw. He was an overweight man with tanned pinkish skin, a long brown beard, and brown eyes. He wore a tan button-up shirt and a blue cap that was angled above his eyebrows. His button-up shirt had a red shield logo on it with a blue paw print in the center of the shield.

The minute he lifted his head out of the window, he began to yell complaints... but neither Twilight nor Spike could understand a word that he was saying. His truck also appeared to have the same logo as the man's shirt, but with strange symbols below it that said "ANIMAL CONTROL"... though to Twilight, it also looked like a bunch of foreign symbols, and was entirely unreadable to her.

Philip Johnson was having a bad day at work in the office. He was recently called by a few passengers about a strange dog and a lizard lost in the Washington Monument, and was the first on the list of employees to be sent there, since he was the closest.

He sighed before replying on the radio, "Alright, Maurice! I'm almost there... but you owe me for this one, if it has rabies!"

The man on the radio replied in a Jamaican accent, "Thanks, mon! Don't worry, I'll be there shortly if it gives ya any trouble!"

He nodded his head before looking back at the road. The second he did, however, he noticed a lavender quadrupedal creature walking right in front of his truck.

"SHIT!" he cursed before slamming his right foot on the brakes, and turning his steering wheel to avoid hitting the creature. The skidding of the tires, however, alerted the creature and caused it to back up and look directly at him. When it backed up, however, it was in a collision course yet again.

Thankfully, though, the truck's emergency brakes kicked in, and decreased the speed the truck was skidding in immensely. Philip held his breath as the truck inched closer to the "dog" in the road... and sighed in relief when the truck ceased its movement without hitting the creature.

He then stuck his head out the window to make double sure, however. "Hey! You alright there, little guy?" After seeing the shadow of the dog move slightly from the light that protruded out of his left light, he reached his right hand into the passenger seat and gripped onto a long pole with a pair of clamps on the tip of it.

After taking a deep breath, he opened the driver seat door and slowly stepped out of it with his control pole firmly gripped in each hand.

Slowly he moved towards the front of his truck to avoid catching the dog's attention. Then, after taking a deep breath, he bolted in front of the truck and clamped the tip of the control pole onto the neck of the... dog with a horn and wings.

"What the hell are you?!" Philip asked himself more than anything.

The creature almost looked like a pony, but on all four of its hooves, it stood up to about half of his height, if not a little less... and he was about five foot six. It also appeared to have a six inch-long horn on its forehead, and a pair of eagle-sized wings that were folded on its sides.

It yelped in a surprisingly feminine voice before making strange noises that, if Philip didn't know any better, sounded a little like a female speaking in a foreign language. It then started kicking its hooves around and jumping in circles, while the strange lizard-thing on its back gripped tightly onto the creature's back.

Philip tightened his grip on the control pole before speaking into his radio. "Maurice! I... I need assistance, now! This one is a fighter... and a strange one, too!"

Maurice's voice replied on the radio, "On my way, mon! Keep it restrained, and I'll bring a stun baton up there!"

Philip nodded his head in agreement. "Well, hurry up! This thing is stronger than it looks!"

As soon as he finished his sentence, however, another skidding noise filled the streets. Philip sighed in relief when he saw the familiar logo on the car that parked next to his truck. From inside the driver seat of that car, a Jamaican man with short dark dreadlocks stepped out while carrying a thin metal pole with a brown handle and a white pole. He pressed the red button on the handle with his thumb, which made an ominous blue spark trace the white pole, as it let out a creepy, fast paced, high-pitched tapping noise.

"Good timing, man! Were you stalking me or something?!" Philip teased before looking back at the creature that stopped struggling, and was now staring at Maurice with its ungodly huge purple eyes.

Maurice's head shot back once he saw the creature that Philip was restraining. "Mon, what the hell happened to this thing?! Is... is that a horn on its head?! And what about those wings?!" He pointed at the wings of the creature, while the creature in turn looked at its wings and gasped.

It then muttered something towards the lizard, but the animal patrol officers were having trouble understanding what it was that the creature said. The lizard, however, understood and nodded its head before gripping onto its neck once more. Then the horned creature looked at Philip with, what looked like, a challenging smile on its face... something that caused him to jerk his head back in shock, before glaring at it.

"What the- i-is this thing actually... challenging me at something?!" Philip asked before turning towards Maurice.

Maurice shook his head before readying his stun baton. "Nah, mon. It's just an animal! Animals don't do that kind of-" Before he could even finish his sentence, however, the creature stretched its wings out and ran towards Philip, causing him to loosen his grip out of shock, and let go of the control pole.

"DUDE, CATCH IT!" Philip shouted. Maurice nodded his head and swung the stun baton at the creature... but due to the speed that it was running, he missed the shot and could only watch as it jumped onto the front of Philips car, the boxed area in the back, then... the air.

It flapped its wings up high, until it wasn't anything more than a dot in the sky. Philip and Maurice only stood there in shock, as the "dog" thing not only outsmarted them, but also flew away.

"What... just happened?" Philip asked his partner.

Maurice didn't say anything. All he did was lean back, and pass out on the asphalt.

Twilight breathed heavily as she continued to flap her wings higher and higher. Carrying Spike was one thing... but carrying him along with the pole thing hanging around her neck proved to be quite a challenge... and the increased gravity didn't make it any easier!

Spike nervously looked around, until an ominous sight caught his attention. He pointed at their right and shouted, "TWILIGHT! WATCH OUT!"

Twilight gasped at his sudden statement before turning towards where Spike's claw was aiming at... and screamed out of fear, as a huge white machine was in a collision course for the two of them.

Without hesitation, Twilight closed her eyes and focused what little magic energy she could muster up on both herself and Spike. Then the two of them vanished in a quick bolt of light. The only thing left in the sky was the control pole that was around Twilight's neck... but it was falling down fast enough to completely miss the oncoming airplane.

Philip breathed heavily while Maurice sat there in his passenger seat. He shakily gripped onto his radio before speaking in a wavy tone. "M-Mr. J-Johnson? T-t-this is P-P-P-Philip! I... I t-think I m-m-might need a... a new... a new control pole."

An aged man's voice replied in the radio with a sigh. "Philip... did you lose it again?! That's the third one this month, you know!"

Philip gulped before replying, "N-n-no, sir! T-the thing is-" Suddenly, there was a loud thump in the front of the truck. The sudden thump, however, was enough to make Philip scream high-pitched, and at the top of his lungs. His scream caused Maurice to wake up and scream also.

Mr. Johnson, however, spoke again through the radio. "Philip?! What's going on, are you alright?!"

When Philip and Maurice finished their panic-attack, Philip shakily raised the radio up again. "N-n-no... no need for the... the control pole, sir. W-we... we found it."

As soon as Twilight and Spike opened their eyes, they noticed two things...

One, they were no longer outside.

Two, they were trapped inside a pitch-black box with a bunch of clothing materials inside it, as well as a few bags of strange devices.

Twilight used a small amount of her magic to create a small light from her horn so that she and Spike could see. When they could, however, they both sighed when they realized that they were in a box.

Spike's eyes began to water, as he curled up in his knees. "Twilight... I'm scared!"

Twilight sighed before wrapping her forehooves around his shoulders in a hug. "I am too, Spike... b-but don't worry! We'll... we'll find a way back home! I... I promise!"

They both yawned before rubbing their eyelids in unison. Then the two of them weakly smirked at the other. "Looks like we could both use a nap, huh Spike?"

Spike nodded his head before replying, "Yeah... I'm sure we'll be fine. Besides... it's not like this box is moving anywhere far, right?"

Twilight nodded her head before closing her eyes and curling up around her assistant to keep him warm. He smiled and gently patted her coat before falling asleep. Not long after him, Twilight did as well.

From inside the white airplane, a long line of passengers sat patiently, as their flight was beginning to take off. Several passengers were playing on a video game or watching a movie, while others were either eating, sleeping, or talking to the person next to them.

One pair of the passengers that were talking, however, appeared to be smiling widely, and having a conversation; a Caucasian man with medium-sized brown hair, a thin brown beard, and a pair of green eyes; and an Asian-American man with side-spiked black hair, a pair of aqua blue eyes, and large square eyeglasses with thick black rims. Both of them were slim, despite a majority of the other passengers being medium-sized, or overweight.

The Caucasian man was wearing a striped red t-shirt, blue denim jeans, a pair of brown hiking boots, and a black cap that hovered over his eyebrows.

The Asian-American man wore a light green t-shirt with a logo of a red skull with a pair of green needles crossed below it, black denim jeans, and a pair of brown tennis shoes.

"I told you, Justin! That Game-Con was the best this year!" the Asian-American man said to the Caucasian man next to him.

Justin chuckled before looking back at his friend. "Well, Carlos, it would've been more interesting if you weren't staring at all the women!"

Carlos stretched his arms out in a "so-what?" kind of manner. "Hey, bro! We're still in our twenties, man! Aren't we supposed to be partying while we're still young, though?"

Justin smirked at his comment before shaking his head. "Dude, I'm twenty seven and you're twenty five! If there's anyone who has a greater chance at women, it's you! And besides... don't you already have your eyes on someone?"

Suddenly Carlos's eyes shot open. Then he covered Justin's mouth before whispering, "Dude, shut up! She'll hear you!" He nervously turned towards the blonde Caucasian girl sitting across and three rows in front of them.

Her blonde hair ran straight down from in front of both of her shoulders, and lowered halfway below her shoulders in the back, parting only at her sides by her ears. She had pale skin, a pair of emerald green eyes, and was wearing a pair of earphones attached to a laptop that rested on a lap desk in front of her. She was wearing a hot pink sleeveless shirt that almost exposed her belly button, a pair of knee-length shorts, and a pair of bright blue sneakers with a pair of short socks below them.

She had her eyes peeled onto her laptop, which made Carlos sigh in relief before turning back to Justin and removing his hand from his mouth. "Dude, Ashley has her eyes on you, though! There's no way I can talk her out of asking you out!"

Justin chuckled before shaking his head. "Seriously? You think I'd take the one you have a thing for? Listen, she's twenty three! In other words, she's closer to your age, anyways! Plus, I don't want to start a love triangle... and you know it'll happen if I did!"

Carlos sighed before straightening his glasses over his eyes once more. "But, dude! You're gonna miss out on the golden opportunity!"

Justin shook his head again and patted Carlos on the shoulders. "Look, Carlos. There's plenty of fish out there on the sea for me! You, though?" He pointed at Ashley to get Carlos to follow his trail. "You've got a beauty in your stream right there! All you've gotta do... is cast that line in, and I promise you, she'll bite!"

Carlos covered his mouth and failed to stop laughing. His choked laughter caused several heads to turn towards him... including Ashley. When she did, Carlos quickly punched his own chest and started to fake a cough.

Justin, as a cover-up, started patting his back while asking, "You alright, man?"

Carlos nodded his head and raised his right hand dismissively. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just... just had something in my throat, but I got it."

A blonde lady wearing dark purple eyeliner, red lipstick, and a blue uniform, walked up to him with a plastic cup of water, and offered it to Carlos. "Here you go, sir... are you sure you're alright?"

Carlos smiled and nodded his head while accepting the cup. "Yes, ma'am... thank you!" With that, he slowly started to sip on his drink while nervously eying the people who were staring at him. Shortly after that, though, everyone went back to their own business, while Ashley slipped out her pink touch-screen cellphone and began swiping on the screen.

"Do you think she noticed?" Carlos asked Justin.

Justin opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by his own phone buzzing in his pocket. When he lifted it up and swiped the "Messages" screen, he silently read the text he just received.

Sender: Ashley Sanderson

Message: Are you both talking about me behind my back again?

"Crap." Justin whispered to himself, hoping that Carlos didn't hear him. Unfortunately, though, he did.

"What is it, man?" Carlos whispered in a worried tone.

Justin turned his phone back into sleep mode before turning towards his friend. "She noticed."

Chapter 2

Three hours have passed since the plane began its trip from Washington, DC. Justin and Carlos were cooperating in a mobile video game, where Justin was a human clad in heavy platemail armor with a powerful sword and a massive shield, and Carlos was an elven archer wearing a leafy robe and shooting at the dragon that Justin was fighting.

"Come on, man! We've almost got it!" Carlos said while his knees shook out of anticipation and excitement.

Justin licked his lips before sending the sword through the dragon's chest, and using his shield to block its incoming fireball. Carlos, on the other hand, charged his next shot before sending a powerful enchanted arrow into the dragon's forehead, landing a critical hit.

The dragon's HP was now at one thousand out of ten, and lowering quickly. Justin's HP, however, was at five thousand out of ten, and Carlos was still at maximum health, but due to the low defense boosts that his armor gave, his maximum health was only two thousand, five hundred. Regardless, though, his armor provided a lot of attack power.

Finally, at the one-thousand mark, the dragon began charging another lava blast that would've surely ended Justin's "Knight" career (or in this case, sent him to a graveyard to respawn). With their adrenaline high, Justin quickly did a whirlwind slice that dealt two hundred and fifty damage repeatedly, and Carlos sent a storm of arrows with equal damage onto the dragon's back.

Then... the beast was slain.

"YEAH! THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE, BABY!" Justin and Carlos shouted in unison before giving each other a high-five. Little did they know, however, that all eyes were now staring at them... and none of those eyes were amused. Since they were both wearing earphones, however, they didn't even notice.

Not until the man sitting behind them tapped on their shoulders. Justin and Carlos both turned around, only for their smiles to drop when they saw an elderly-looking guy in a business suit glaring at them. They removed their earphones and asked, "Yes?"

The man in a business suit sarcastically smirked before nodding his head. "So... you boys having fun there?"

Justin smiled sheepishly before nodding his head. "Yes, sir. Heroes and Beasts is a very fun game! Do you happen to-"

The man's sarcastic smile dropped quickly, and he stood from his seat and began yelling at the two. "Because I happen to have FIVE businesses that I have to run by myself, and the time on the plane, or in a hotel room, is the ONLY TIME that I get to sleep! So WHY THE HELL DO I ALWAYS END UP WOKEN UP BY A PAIR OF ADOLESCENT ASSHOLES THAT DON'T EVEN PAY ATTENTION TO THEIR SURROUNDINGS?!"

Justin and Carlos looked at each other nervously before looking at the other passengers' faces, who also looked about as angry as the businessman behind them.

With a sigh, Justin looked up at the businessman and shrugged his shoulders. A sheepish smile grew on his face, as all he could say was, "I... had my earphones on?"

The airport was a lot more noisier that morning. A trio of friends were running through the hallways while a large group of angry people chased them down the halls. Two of them were carrying a large black case with a pair of wheels on one end, while the third, a blonde-haired girl, was carrying her purse.

"Honestly, do you both have to always get in trouble like this?!" Ashley shouted through the commotion.

Justin and Carlos shook their heads before Justin turned towards Ashley, who was slightly behind them. "Honestly, I don't even think this one was our fault! How were we supposed to know that we were loud?!"

Ashley rolled her eyes before retorting, "I don't think it was how loud you both were that got us in this mess!"

Justin looked forward again as they began nearing the stairway. "Oh? Then what did we do?!"

Carlos cut in. "I think I may know!"

Right after the plane's doors opened, the trio of friends were the first to leave. As they did, though, Justin looked at Carlos and rolled his eyes, as the two of them were "forced" to put their phones away, which made them lose the progress that they made. "Honestly, I can't believe we lost our progress to a bunch of stuck-up penguins in suits!"

Carlos nodded his head in agreement while they stepped down the plane, and walked up to the luggage area. "I know, man! Honestly, if I had a nickel for how many people in there looked like they were mentally unstable, I'd probably be rich!"

"Um... guys?" Ashley nervously stated while Justin lifted one handle of the large black box with yellow handles that held all of his clothes and souvenirs from their trip. Despite Ashley's words, however, none of them seemed to hear her.

"Might even be a millionaire! Perhaps you'd be a millionaire if those nickels were pennies, even!" Justin added, much to Carlos's amusement.

"Guys!" Ashley continued while her nervous expression only grew.

Carlos pointed at Justin's box and asked, "Dude, you need a hand with that?"

"Nah, I got it... at least it has wheels!"

"GUYS! TAKE YOUR EARPHONES OUT NOW!" Ashley screamed directly in front of their faces, causing both of the men to jump and practically yank their earphones out of their ears.

"What's wrong, Ashley?" Justin asked nervously. When she turned to her right, Justin followed her gaze, and instantly paled up when he saw the man with a business suit cracking his knuckles and walking their way. Behind him were a bunch of people with angry gazes directed at the three of them. "Um... Carlos? A little hand here, please?"

Carlos nodded his head and walked up to the crowd as if in a challenging manner. "You got it, man!" He stood there for a second before his eyebrows quickly raised up. Then he bolted away from the crowd and yanked the other half of Justin's large box in the air, while Justin and Ashley joined in the rush. Not long after they began running, the crowd followed suit.

As Carlos finished explaining the story, Ashley looked at him in shock. "Wait... you knew what was going on?!"

Carlos shrugged his shoulders but said nothing. Justin, however, vouched for him by looking at Ashley and replying, "He's Asian! Of course he knew!"

Ashley's eyes widened at that statement. "Dude, isn't that a little, I don't know, racist?!"

Carlos, however, chuckled before shaking his head. "Sounded like a compliment to me!"

Ashley rolled her eyes as the escalator reached the first floor. Then the three of them ran to the parking lot, where Justin offered his side of the box to Ashley. She hesitantly took it while Justin bolted ahead of them at a surprisingly fast pace.

Carlos turned around and noticed that they were halfway down the parking lot, and the people were just now getting out of the airport, while still giving chase. "Good thing none of those guys are track stars, huh?!"

Ashley nodded her head while looking forward. A smile formed on her lips as she spotted what Justin was running up to... his red 1965-style Ford Pickup Truck with passenger seats and a manually made sunroof.

She and Carlos watched Justin run through the passenger side of the truck then slide across the front... but then they winced as they saw him slide too far and fall onto his back, while grunting in slight pain, frustration, and embarrassment. "OW... damn it! One of these days, I swear!"

He quickly stood up and shook his head before opening the driver seat door and slinging his keys out of his pocket... and out of the passenger seat window. "My keys!"

Carlos quickly ran to the right while he and Ashley lifted the box and practically slid it into the back of the truck. Then he ran to the right, picked the keys up, and tossed them to Ashley, who caught them and leaped into the passenger window flawlessly. Justin then shakily placed the key into the slot and turned it clockwise, while screaming at the truck to hurry up. Then, once it kicked to life he shifted the gear to "Drive" and slammed on the gas pedal while Carlos jumped halfway into the truck with his legs sticking out of the window. As his legs kicked, the people were now at the tail of the truck and began reaching for the Asian American. Unfortunate for them, however, they weren't able to outrun the truck, and yelled at it with their fists raised high, as the truck pulled out of the driveway with Carlos's legs halfway in the truck.

The three friends were breathing heavily, with Justin in the driver seat, Ashley in the passenger seat, and Carlos in the middle of the back seat. They continued to catch their breath silently... and when they did, the three of them burst into a laughing fit.

"Dude, wasn't this, like, the third chase that we started this year?!" Carlos asked before buckling himself in.

Justin tilted his head and smiled crookedly in thought. "Yeah... I think it was, actually!"

Ashley rolled her eyes and shook her head, but smiled nonetheless. "And summer is just starting, too!"

Justin and Carlos chuckled in unison before fist-bumping each other. Ashley sighed before shaking her head. "Yeah... you guys are definitely trouble."

Justin feigned shock when he looked at her. "Ashley! You've known us for two years now, and haven't figured that one out?! I thought you were the smartest of all three of us!"

Ashley smirked and rolled her eyes before turning back to Justin. "Uh, yeah! How else do you guys think that you've managed to survive?"

Carlos pointed at her and nodded his head at Justin. "She does raise a point, you know."

Justin smirked at them before turning back towards the road. Already, they were on a large suburban neighborhood with several brick houses with white wooden rooftops. The houses all looked the same in style, with only a few minor changes here-and-there from the owners of the houses.

Midway down the neighborhood, Justin backed into his driveway and turned his truck off. Then Ashley and Carlos left through the passenger side while Justin gently lifted his box and placed it on the wheels before sliding it towards his front door.

Carlos looked up and saw that it was well past midnight at that point, and yawned. "Hey, Justin! You got any 5-hour energies on you?"

Justin nodded his head and gently placed the handle of the box on the ground. Then he reached forward and unlatched the locks of the box and gripped onto the lid... but stopped himself before he could open it up. "Oh, wait! Dang it, I just remembered, I had to drink the last one at the Games-Con, remember?"

Carlos nodded his head in understanding before waving his right hand dismissively. "It's cool, man. Maybe I've got a few more. So, hey! You up for a game of 'Shoot 'em Up' tonight?"

Justin nodded his head and chuckled before gripping onto the handle of the box again. "Wouldn't miss it for the world!"

Ashley gasped and pointed at the box. "Justin, wait! Look at your box!"

Justin released the handle and followed her finger. Then he gasped and replied, "Oh, crap!" Then he lowered back down to it and latched the locks back up. "Thanks, Ashley! Almost made a mess in my front yard!"

She chuckled before shaking her head. "Yeah, well you owe me now, so... ha!" She playfully stuck her tongue out at him before turning towards the house across the street from Justin's. "Well, I've gotta run. See you boys later!"

Justin and Carlos nodded their heads and waved at her, then silently watched as she crossed the road, and stepped into her house. When she was at the door, though, she turned around and chuckled before rolling her eyes, as she saw the two guys still staring at her.

Carlos shook his head before turning towards Justin. "Dude, she's something else, isn't she?"

Justin nodded his head before turning back to him. "Yeah. Hey, so why don't you ever ask her out?"

With a sigh, Carlos replied, "I don't know, man. I guess I'm just a little nervous, is all." Then he turned towards the intersection three houses from the left that led to another group of houses. "Hey, listen. I'll be on in about an hour, okay? I might have to go through my stuff to find any games I should trade in for cash. This trip was expensive, after all."

Justin nodded his head and patted his friend on the shoulder. "I hear that... thanks again, by the way! You didn't have to go through with that for Ashley and I, y'know."

Carlos smirked before shrugging his shoulders. "It was a buy-2-get-1-free deal, so I wasn't gonna leave you both hanging!" Then he turned back towards the direction to his house and waved. "See ya in about an hour, okay?"

Justin nodded his head and waved back at him. "Alright, see ya, man!" Then he watched his friend run down the empty road and cross the intersection before disappearing from Justin's sight. Then Justin turned towards his box, gripped the handle, and carried it into his living room with the wheels dragging across the ground.

From inside the box, Twilight and Spike were nervously looking around, but they also avoided making any kinds of movement to keep from being spotted by their captors. Twilight had taken a few bumps from the rush that they found themselves in hours ago, but otherwise, she was okay. Spike, however, was feeling "green around the scales", as he claimed, before firmly gripping onto his mouth.

"Okay, Spike... I think we're in the clear!" Twilight whispered, only to silently gasp when she heard a pair of clamping noises for the second time, indicating that the box was unlocked, and about to be opened.

Justin unlocked the box again and was about to open it, when the sound of the local news alert came onto the television. He turned towards it and tilted his head in confusion before walking up to his couch and turning the volume up a little more.

The news reporter, a middle-aged blonde lady with dark eyeliner and white face powder, spoke to the viewers. "This just in, a strange report has been going on in Washington, DC. Jason Stewart is there with a pair of eyewitnesses of what many people have claimed to be, a real alien sighting. Jason, how are you doing up there?"

The camera cut to a man with short black hair, green eyes, who was wearing a suit with a red tie, and held a microphone with the words "Channel 8" written on it. "Thank you, Stephanie, I am doing well, but I wish I could say the same for the eyewitness. Here they are, Philip Johnson, and Maurice Simpson." The camera panned to the pair of animal control officers, who both appeared to be shaken up, with Philip also having a clear wet stain in front of him. "Now, Philip! We've been hearing constant reports that you were the one that they sent to handle the creature when it was sighted. Can you give us a description of the alien?"

Philip just stood there with a blank expression on his face. Then it slowly went into a panicky expression, before he shook his head and burst into tears, while whining in his usual high-pitched tone. "AAAAH, I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE! I GOTTA GET OUT OF HERE!" He then ran away from the camera while Jason tilted his head in confusion before turning towards Maurice.

"Maurice? Will your coworker be okay?"

Maurice shrugged his shoulders before replying, "Eh, I've known 'em since we was little kids, mon. He'll grow out of it eventually... now, as for your question! Yeah, I could give you a physical description!"

Jason nodded his head and smiled. "Thank you. Please, go with as much details as you can."

Maurice nodded his head before replying, "Well, mon, it had a lotta fur on it! The fur was about a lavender color. It also had purple hair, with a pink stripe somewhere in the mid-side of its hair. It had a tail the same color, and a pair of huge purple eyes! Almost like a cartoon, or somethin'! It also looked like it had the body of a horse, but it kinda seemed more like a pony! Its face, though, was more rounded, and its snout protruded at a smaller distance than a regular pony or horse!"

"Is there anything else you can describe for us?" Jason asked before moving the mic towards Maurice again.

Maurice nodded his head and replied, "Yes! It wasn't that tall, but it had a horn on its head, and a pair of wings on its back! And those wings? They was real, mon! Flew right up into the sky!"

The people around him stared in disbelief. Even when the camera cut out, and was switched back to Stephanie, she was at a loss for words for a few seconds. Then she cleared her throat before nodding her head. "Okay. Thank you for your input, Mr. Simpson. Another eyewitness has claimed that it disappeared shortly after finding itself on a collision course with a plane said to have been heading towards Mississippi. Any and all passengers may be-"

Justin turned the TV off and sighed before shaking his head. Then he chuckled before thinking out loud. "An alien unicorn pegasus hybrid? Ha! What kind of elaborate joke is Channel 8 telling, now?"

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of something creaking. When he turned towards the source of the sound, his eyes caught sight of his box... which was open, now.

Confused, he stepped towards the open box and knelt to where he could see inside it more clearer... but aside from his clothes and bagged souvenirs, he couldn't find anything out of the ordinary... except for a long strand of purple hair. He lifted it out of the box and examined it curiously before shrugging and tossing it to his side. "Eh, must be from a wig, or something." Then he nearly jumped when he heard the sound of something falling over in the room to his right. He cautiously closed the lid of the box with his eyes glued on the open door. He reached down and picked up one of his boots that he took off shortly after entering the house, and tip-toed to the room, completely unaware of the alicorn and the baby dragon that were hiding underneath the lid of this box the whole time.

Twilight sighed in relief when she was able to make something in the room away from them fall, and catch the strange human's attention. Before, he was speaking strange words that she couldn't quite understand, but seeing the boot in his hand made her realize that he must've been a warrior of some kind.

She was holding Spike's mouth closed while the human stepped away from the box. Then she tip-hoofed into the open kitchen area right behind the living room, and slid into the cabinet with Spike still silenced in her forehooves. When she released her grip from him, he started breathing heavily.

"Twilight! What if this guy is one of the leaders of this place?!" he asked her worriedly.

Twilight shrugged her shoulders before replying, "I don't know, Spike... but we have to get out of here!"

Spike shook his head and replied, "Actually... I may have an idea, but you have to trust me on this!"

Twilight looked at him uneasily before nodding her head. "Okay, then... what's your idea?"

Spike scratched his chin in thought. "If he is one of the leaders of this world, perhaps we could convince him to keep his people from attacking us? You know that these humans are hostile, as the marks around your neck point out!" He pointed at the slightly dark ring around Twilight's neck where the control pole was forcibly placed on her.

She nodded her head and replied, "Yes, but... how can we establish a communication with him, when we can't even speak the same language?! I can't learn their language by magic, because that spell requires too much energy... and I haven't eaten yet, so I won't be able to recover my magic energy any time soon!"

Spike shrugged his shoulders before replying, "Didn't you say that teaching others Equestrian through magic takes less energy, though? Why not teach him our language, and get him to translate it in his own?"

Twilight thought for a moment before her inner lightbulb went through her head. "That's it, Spike! If we teach him our language, then he'll even be able to explain to us why his people attacked us to begin with!" She hugged him tightly before snuggling his forehead with her left cheek and adding, "Oh, what would I do without you, Spike?"

With a smirk, Spike shrugged and replied, "Hey, you don't call me your Number-One Assistant for nothing!"

They were about to continue talking when the sound of footsteps broke their concentration. Then the two of them backed as far into the corner as they could and hid behind a large bucket, while the cabinet doors opened up. Then they held their breaths as the human reached his hand towards them, and began scratching on the surface.

Twilight, however, noticed that his hand was angled slightly to the side, where he was trying to reach a skillet. She then looked at him through the blurry plastic bucket, and learned that he wasn't even looking inside. So she inched her hoof towards the skillet and lightly pushed it towards the human's hand. As soon as he gripped it, she pulled her hoof back behind the barrel, and watched as he closed the cabinet.

Justin sighed before spraying the skillet with butter and tossing a couple pieces of toast on it. Then he opened his refrigerator and pulled out a slice of cheese and bologna, before closing the fridge and placing both on the bread pieces.

After listening to the simmering of the butter for about thirty seconds, he lifted the piece of bread with the cheese melted into it with a spatula and placed it on the one with the bologna, then slid the food item to the center of the skillet for another thirty seconds.

Once his "creation" was completed, he turned the stove off and slid the skillet off of the hot burner, before lifting the cheesy sandwich with the spatula, and placing it on a paper plate, which was then carried to the living room, and placed on the coffee table that stood between his couch and the medium-sized TV. Next to it was a glass of water that he poured for himself before cooking.

He then grabbed a controller from the end table next to the couch and pressed a button in the center of it. The blue "G" in the center of said button lit up, and on the TV screen, the same logo appeared in a circle, with the words "Game Station" written below it in bold blue text.

After waiting for the screen to show up for ten seconds, Justin signed into his account and waited for the game to boot up... but the sound of a creaking noise caused him to remove his headset and look behind his back. Sure enough, the cabinet door was open, and he could've sworn that he closed it.

He placed the controller on the coffee table and walked up to the cabinet slowly. Then he also noticed something else was off... the sink was slightly on, but only barely.

"Huh... could've sworn I closed this..." he commented as he closed the cabinet door. Then he walked up to the sink and added, "And I could've sworn I turned this off." He rotated the handle of the sink until it was all the way off before heading back into the living room.

He sighed before lifting his cup of water up to his lips and sipping... only to find that it was empty. "What the... huh?!" He looked at the empty cup confusedly before scratching the back of his head. Then he sighed before walking up to the sink and filling it back up again. "Must've forgotten to fill the damn thing... ha!" He chuckled to himself before shaking his head and walking back up to the coffee table and placing the cup on it... shortly after taking a sip of water from it.

After his setup was ready, he slapped the headphones on his head, gripped the controller, leaned up close to the TV, and grinned wickedly when his friend "Carlo1337" signed in and joined his party.

Then he tapped on his microphone and began speaking. "Hey, Carlos! You there?"

For the next few hours, Twilight and Spike watched the human play a video game that was also much more detailed than any other games they've ever seen in existence, while hiding behind the kitchen counter that divided the kitchen from the living room. The graphics were so stunning, that Spike was drooling over it. He turned to Twilight and said, "I know what I want for Hearth's Warming this year!"

Twilight, however, was feeling slightly green over the sight of what was going on in the video game. "Ugh... not gonna happen! Why are those humans killing each other in that video game?! If Princess Celestia ever saw who made this game, I'm sure she would banish him or her to the moon for eternity! EEP! Spike, close your eyes!"

Spike, however, grinned wickedly at the first-person view of a knife going through another human's throat. "Whoa! This game even beats Colt of Duty by a long shot!"

They watched on for an hour. Occasionally, they would both freak out when they hear the human growling, complaining, and yelling at the TV in his own language. During those times, they were thankful that they didn't understand his language, because whatever obscene words he was saying must've been nothing short of bad natured.

After Justin finished gunning down another few players, he roared victoriously. "YEAH! DID YOU SEE THAT?! THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE, BITCHES!"

The timer reached zero, and Justin was left with yet another victory, thanks to his teamwork with Carlos. "Dude, nice! That kill-cam is worth saving, also!"

Justin chuckled before nodding his head. "Damn right!" He then looked at a clock that hung over his right wall... the one where the front door was at. He sighed when he read "2:00 AM".

He lowered his mic in front of his lips and said, "Hey, man. Sorry to cut it short, but I've gotta get ready for the landlady. She should be getting here at about one, and I've gotta clean up a little bit."

Carlos replied through the mic, "No worries, man. Night!"

"Night, man. Oh, and G-G!"

"G-G!"

With that, Justin left the game lobby and shut down his "Game Station" for the night. Afterwards, he lifted his paper plate from the coffee table and examined the half-eaten sandwich. With a sigh, he walked over to a garbage can and tossed it inside before heading towards the stairway that led to his bedroom.

When the coast was clear, Twilight and Spike tip-hoofed/tip-clawed their ways out their hiding place. Twilight headed into the living room to follow the human, while Spike curiously walked up to the trash can and pulled the half-eaten sandwich out of it. He then took a curious bite out of it and moaned in ecstasy. "Whoa... Twilight! This stuff is amazing! You gotta try some!"

Twilight, however, rolled her eyes and replied, "Spike, you were able to eat the same junk that made all of Ponyville sick for a week! That said... I may not trust your judgement on that one."

Spike shrugged his shoulders before tossing the rest of the sandwich into his mouth. "Then more for me, I guess!" He then eyed Twilight curiously. "Um... Twilight? What are you doing?"

Twilight looked back at him and replied, "Simple! I'm going to wait until he's asleep... then I'll tie his arms and legs together so he doesn't try attacking me when he wakes up!"

Spike tilted his head in confusion before asking, "Twilight... why are you acting like that time when you were sneaking into the Canterlot Archives?"

Twilight shook her head and replied, "I'm not! I'm fighting fire... with fire!"

Spike backed away uneasily as he looked at her fierce and serious eyes. "Um... what?"

Twilight grinned wickedly before turning back towards the staircase. "They wanted to be tough on me? Well... I'll show them that I can be tough right back!"

"I don't know, Twilight... we don't even know if he's even a leader, yet!"

Twilight hummed before looking at the TV once again. Then her eyes widened, as a possible answer may have been discovered. "That's it! He must be their military leader! A captain of some sort!"

"A... captain? But he doesn't even look like he's that tough, though!"

Twilight waved her right hoof dismissively. "Maybe he doesn't look tough... but if you mess with a unicorn and her magic, she can prove you wrong otherwise!" She then pointed at the TV. "That must've been more than a video game! Perhaps he was teaching new recruits how to fight! And maybe his shouting was to those that were failing his lessons! I mean... he did shout most of the time that he killed the other people!"

Spike rubbed his chin in thought. Sure enough, she did raise a point there. "So... that was more than a game... was it a simulation, then?"

Twilight nodded her head and smiled. "Of course it was! Why wouldn't it be?!" Then she turned towards the stairway and started slowly walking up the dark hallway. "I'll be back when I have him all tied up!"

Twilight slowly opened the human's doorway and tip-hoofed inside. She nearly had a panic attack when she heard a nearly ear-shattering roar inside the room... but after hearing it repeat itself again, it was clear that it wasn't a roar... the human was snoring... unbelievably loud.

She rubbed her snout in thought. "Okay... I can't just conjure up a rope, because that would drain my energy too much... and my knowledge on human anatomy is still very basic... so what could I use to tie his arms and legs up?!"

The human grumbled and turned around, but due to the darkness of the room, Twilight couldn't tell whether he was looking at her, or the window on the other side of the bed, where the moon was shining from.

She ducked and hid her face out of fright... but her fright passed over once she heard the human snoring once again. She sighed in relief before looking up and moving a little closer, so she could get a better view of the human.

To her relief, he was looking away from her, so if he were to wake up, she would at least have a small amount of reaction time to hide. Then she eyed the small blanket that the human was in, and noticed that his feet were sticking out... and that was where an idea came up.

"I could use his stockings... er... socks! I could use those to tie his wrists and ankles together with!" She then slowly tip-hoofed over to the foot of his bed and waited for the perfect moment to strike. Then, ever-so-slowly, she bit the tip of the human's left sock, and slowly dragged it off of his foot.

As she did, however, she slightly gagged at the taste in her mouth. "Ugh! Has he been stepping in a swamp barefooted?!"

Finally, after more-than-needed effort, she was able to slip the first sock off. She examined the size and concluded, with a smile, that it was long enough for her to tie him up with.

"One down... one to go!" she thought to herself before slowly lifting up to get the other sock. Unfortunately for her, though, the human instinctively pulled his feet into the blanket, and turned around a slight bit more.

"Great... just my luck!" Twilight internally complained before slowly reaching the bottom of the blanket, and gently climbing underneath it to reach the human's foot.

She was able to get it halfway off of his foot when his left foot started to move. She gasped and tried to back out of the blanket, but the human's feet wrapped around her, and blocked her exit. Before she could even react, a strange loud noise filled the area inside the blanket for at least a whole second.

Twilight didn't think much of it at first, until five seconds kicked in. Then her entire face turned green, as she began to gag at the "poison" that was released into the air around her. She fought for dear life, as her memories flashed before her in a split second. Then she collapsed onto the bed, while her hind hooves bumped into the human's feet.

She inhaled deeply when the front of the blanket was lifted up, allowing sweet oxygen to fill her lungs again. Her relief was short-lived, however, when she saw the human staring right at her.

Justin was woken up by the strange feeling of a foreign object in his bed. He grumbled before rubbing his eyes, and opening them... only to stop when he saw two things that seemed off... a pole sticking up dangerously close to the area between his legs, and a thick lump that the pole was coming from... though the pole wasn't what he thought it was at first, he was still curious for answers.

He lifted the blanket up and stopped halfway as the creature from the news reports, the lavender pony-like alien with a horn, a pair of wings, and ungodly huge eyes, stared at him.

Due to how tired he was, he thought nothing of it at first and closed his eyes and lowered the blanket back to his chest. Then, his senses kicked in, and he lifted the blanket up once more, though this time in a more panicky state.

The two of them stared at each other for another five seconds... then they both screamed at the top of their lungs in unison. Justin, however, stopped his screaming right after a ball of pink light flew from the alien's horn, and into his forehead. After his screaming ceased, his eyes rolled up, and his consciousness faded in an instant.