The Adventures of Emanon Reynawhe Season 1

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I - The Return

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       Emanon's friends did not have to wait long to find out what had happened to him. A portal appeared at a skewed angle, slowly moving and  somehow "cleaner" than the last one. They stepped back as Emanon quickly jumped through.

       The portal disappeared.

       Emanon ran over to them for a group hug. "I've missed you so much!"

       "Umm...why?" asked Mark. "You've only been gone for five minutes. Your breakfast hasn't even gone cold."

       "Oh...umm..." He picked the food up and started to eat.

       "Wait a minute!" said Caleb suspiciously. "You just used magic. Perfectly. How?"

       "I think that he might have been gone longer than we thought," said Jennifer thoughtfully.

       "Why would you think that?" said Ashley, confused.

       "Miles just seems more...tired."

       "I'm sorry guys, said Emanon sleepily. "I need to go to bed now. That spell takes all of my energy away."

       "Okay, we'll go, said Mark. "But expect some questions when you wake up."

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II - A Stranger in the Place I Call Home

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       Emanon woke up to his mother knocking on his door.

       "I told you not to lock your door," she said. "You haven't been down from there all day. And you can't have cleaned those dishes from breakfast."

       "Umm...Mom...I have something to tell you."

       "What is it?"

       "Maybe I should just show you."

       Emanon opened the door.

       "Okay," she said, breathing heavily. "It could be worse. It how are you going to get to school."

       And this is why, Emanon thought, I have an awesome mom.

       "I have a disguise that should work," Emanon reassured her.

       "What disguise would that be?"

       Emanon's horn glowed bright blue, and his old human form shimmered into view.

       "That is really creepy," his mother said. "but it works well. How are you able to keep the image solid?"

       "It is a spell that alters the space around me. If I actually changed shape, that would be much harder."

       "I want to know how you learned all of this magic. I know from you that this is not innate."

       "I sort of accidentally traveled to Equestria..."

       "Okay, but it has only been a few hours."

       "...for twelve years."

       "What?!"

       When I first tried to use magic for the first time, I kind of tried a bit too hard, and I lost control. There was a surge of magic, and I guess I was thinking about the place at the time. I was sent both to Equestria and twelve years in the past."

       "Then why did you not just come back?"

       "As you said, I can't use a spell that I haven't learned. I wasn't even able to pick up a fork."

       "I see. And how did you come back?"

       "I still can't control time. I had to wait for the time to pass in order to hope that my attempt would succeed. I have not aged, because apparently being directly exposed to space-time will age you accordingly. I am just lucky that I was not sent back for much more than I already was."

       "Anyway, your lunch is ready. I think you should come down to the table to eat it."

       "Okay," Emanon said, yawning. "Just don't expect me to be lively. That spell took a lot out of me. I feel ready for bed again."

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III - A New Old World

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       Emanon's respect for his mother grew a lot that day. She removed the meat related parts from his lunch without him mentioning it, and she did not prevent him from going back to sleep in the middle of the day. She promised to wake him for dinner. Emanon asked her why she was being so nice, and she explained that if she had been through that much, she would expect the same treatment.

       The next morning, Emanon felt refreshed, but as usual in his countless practices, he still had limited magical ability. His disguise was gone, so he assumed that sleeping must have cancelled the upkeep required for the spell. There was no reason for him to disguise himself inside his own house, so he went down early for breakfast. His mother had not yet made breakfast, so he told her not to bother making a special one for him. He would be eating in the backyard.

        She looked at him, confused for a moment, then nodded. As a pony, he could eat grass quite readily, and was probably better than complex proteins like eggs in the morning.

       As he was eating, he realized that he had not seen his friends since he had come through the portal. He went inside to call them, and was amused to find that the touchscreen was not actually triggered by pressure, but by heat.

       He called them all over and made sure that they would not tell anyone outside their own family. They reassured him that no one would believe them anyway, but he insisted, saying that two people cannot hallucinate identically, and it would raise suspicions.

       Questions were asked of where he went and how long he was gone. He told them of his pony name, Emanon, but he insisted that they still call him Miles in front of otger people. His friends were calmer than before, and seemed to accept these changes.

       Finally, he insisted that he needed to rest again. Even though he was physically tired, he wanted to       magically regenerate. He did not know how tired he would get from keeping the disguise running all day.

       His home was exactly as it was when he left, but everything was different. Even something as simple as eating or calling someone was entirely different.

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IV - School

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       The rest of the day was rather dull for Emanon. He no longer had any magic to study, and he needed to rest, so he couldn't practice, either. For the past twelve years, this is what his life was centered around, and it was hard just to drop all of that as soon as he was home again. Here he was, living his dream, his fantasy, and he was dissatisfied.

       He set his alarm, then fell asleep with some difficulty, hoping that somehow, tomorrow would be a better day. What was he missing?

       The next day, he woke up at 6:14 just before his alarm. As he got ready for school, he realized what he should have been doing the night before when he was bored. He had not studied for school at all. The last time he had this material was twelve years ago. Mathematics he was confident in; he had to learn all he could in Equestria. Writing and Language Arts were not practiced, except when he was writing reports on experiments, and although he learned a bit about Equestrian history, American history was sorely lacking.

       Fortunately for him, there were no exams in any of his courses today, but he knew he had to do some late-night studying to make up the deficit.

       The one thing he did dread was Physical Education. There was a dodgeball tournament today. This was the only class that all of his friends were in--it was a required course, after all. But the rest of the class were the worst sort of people in the school. They were unpleasant, vindictive, and unfortunately extremely athletic. He always marveled at how they could get soft foam to hurt that much.

       He understood that with a pony's body, no matter what shape it was in, could withstand more, but he was more worried about his friends. They did not exactly play aggressively.

       The bus came and he say next to his friends as usual. Everything gave him a strange sense of déjà vu. Everything was the same but different.

       Throughout all of his classes, any old topics rediscussed dug out memories in his mind that seemed as long ago as some of his earliest childhood memories. He went around school looking so dazed that many teachers and staff asked him if anything was wrong, but it was always the same answer: fine.

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V - The Tournament

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       By the time the dreaded dodgeball tournament came around, Emanon began to wonder why he had even bothered to come back.

       Teams never seemed to be picked by the teacher. They always were picked by team captains. If all of the team captains were athletic, it was usually fine and balanced. They just got picked last. Unfortunately, Caleb was a team captain. He always chose his friends. Although this was a great sentiment, it was not very practical.

       This game, there were three team captains, making three teams of 6 kids.

       The tournament was organized by the teacher to give us mercy, Emanon thought. It made sure we competed the least possible number of times. The tough teams competed first, and then the winners took on us, which meant an almost guaranteed victory. It seemed that beating us was just a prize for winning.

       The other teams competed, and they were a pretty even match. The game would have been exciting, but the only thing on everyone's mind was that we would have to play the winner.

       Finally, it was their turn. Caleb, as team captain, gave the pep talk.

       "Okay guys, we'll completely get demolished out there, but at least we'll do it together."

       "That's your pep talk?" Emanon said incredulously. "Okay, I know that it seems impossible, but I know we can at least hold our own out there. They may be better than us, stronger than us, and more experienced than us, but they do not have the teamwork, the friendship, to play as a unit: a true team. We have the optimism to keep going, loyalty to protect each other, the kindness and generosity to allow another teammate to have the winning ball, and the honesty to admit when we have fouled. It is not what we have on the outside that matters; the inside is what makes a team that is unstoppable."

       "Umm...guys," said Mark uncertainly. "Is it just me or are we...glowing?"

       "Yeah," said Emanon. "I think I know what this is. I just hope that nobody is seeing this."

       Then his eye glowed white and then...

       Nothing.

       Then the coach blew the whistle for the game to begin.

       Emanon suddenly felt quite aware of his surroundings. He started to pick up balls and throw them. He realized suddenly that they did not come up with any strategy whatsoever, but his friends were doing strangely great. So was he actually. He was full of energy, and he seemed to know where every ball was coming from. Caleb seemed to be acting as defense, holding a ball in his hands and blocking incoming missiles. Ashley supplied balls to everyone and Mark was the heavy offense. Miriam was unpredictable, running around the field randomly, and fake-throwing towards the opponent. Jennifer was reluctant to throw anything at first, but when Miriam was hit, she realized the necessity. She assisted wherever there was need for it. At last, the tournament was over.

       "We won!" said Miriam triumphantly. "But what was that weird bit in the beginning? Ooh, look, a bracelet. I don't remember wearing that!"

       "That," said Emanon. "Is something I would never suspect. It seems that the Elements of Harmony may be no more than symbols, gimmicks. When the spirits of the elements are present, and the need is great..."

       "Wait a minute," Mark interjected. "So you're telling me that these are the Elements of Harmony that you were talking about from your show?"

       "Yes, but at first, I thought that they were unique and only worked when all of the physical ones were present. It seems like that is not the case."

       "So, if I lost mine," Caleb asked. "It wouldn't really matter?"

       "No, that doesn't seem right. I think that the newly created Elements attach to the part of you that that element represents. That is why when an Element is altered, so is the person to whom it is attached."

       "That is vaguely creepy," Mark said. "Still, why didn't the elements do much?" I understand that in the show, there was usually something that exploded as a result."

       "The Elements of Harmony only do what it is in their nature to do: restore harmony. It does this by balancing out the power. In every episode that they used the Elements, there was one person who upset the balance of things. The Elements solved the problem by taking their power away, and in the case of Discord, turned him to stone, as his chaotic powers are part of who he is. In our case, the Elements only balanced the power; our teamwork was the thing that made us win the battle."

       "So the Elements are not actually all that dangerous?" asked Jennifer quietly.

       "Exactly. But, on another note, not only have I discovered this surprising piece of information, but I think I finally know why I wanted back here so badly. You five are more important to me than anything this or any world could offer.