Ponies, Pirates, and Navy

Chapters

Explanations
Devil Fruits
A Demon and Fire Fist... Ashley?
Tour of Ponyville
Pinkie Party
Unexpected Vacationer
Sensei Cruger
Training a Dragon
Darkness King part 1
Darkness King part 2
Darkness King part 3
Zap Apples?
Twisted Sensei Part 1
Twisted Sensei Part 2
Rubber Pirate and Navy Swordswoman
Singing Skeleton

Explanations

As the flash of light dissipated, I saw that we were standing in a in a long hall with a long red carpet on the floor. Looking around I saw a throne at one end of the room. Turning my attention back to the draconequus, I arched a brow at him.

My wife glared at him, "Why did you bring us here?"

He looked at us, "To find out what you two want." His hands started to glow and he narrowed his eyes, "If you are here to harm the girls I won't play nice."

Ashley narrowed her eyes back, "If we are going to harm them? What about you mister spirit of chaos and disharmony? You who tried to break up those six amazing mares friendship."

I saw guilt spread across his face, "Well, let's just say that I've had a change of heart." His expression quickly changed, "So, I'll ask again, why are you here and what do you want?"

I cut in at this point, "We don't know why we are here Discord. We were going to explain that with everyone so that we didn't have to tell it ten times."

He looked at me and smiled, "I was watching you when you appeared. How you saved that mare and filly and gave yourself up so that they could get away."

Ashley raised an eyebrow, "You saw what he did, but not me? Even with how powerful your magic is?"

Discord glanced at my wife, "After seeing what he could do, I decided to keep all of my attention on him." He stood up straight, "I suppose I can see your point in wanting to only explain yourself one time." He shrugged, "I guess I'll wait to hear your whole story." He snapped his talons again and we vanished from the room.

<~~>

As the light died down again, I saw that we were now outside. The sound of someone finishing singing reached my ears. Blinking the spots from my eyes, I heard a sudden shout. Well, I say shout, but it was more like someone just raising their voice.

"Discord!" came what was apparently Fluttershy's voice. She flew forward and wrapped her arms around him. "It's good to see you," she said, looking up at him with a smile. He smiled back and returned the hug.

"I see you met Discord," I heard Twilight speak up. We turned around to see Princess Celestia, Twilight, and the others walking to us. It was then I noticed that Celestia stood three feet taller than the others, whereas Twilight and her friends were around the same height, which looked around six feet. Twilight glared slightly at him, "You didn't do anything to them did you?"

"Why ever would I do such a thing?" he asked, obviously feigning ignorance. All of them, with the exception of Fluttershy, raised an eyebrow at the exact same time. Seeing this happen caused me to start snickering. Discord looked at me with slight smirk, "No, as you can clearly see they are perfectly fine."

They all glanced at me and Twilight said, "He still seems to be himself and I'm sure he'd notice if something was wrong with his wife."

"Yes I would and bringing that up." I reached up and grabbed the draconequus' beard. Glaring into his eyes, "I'm only going to say this once. You do anything to my wife, and you'll have to deal with me. Got it?" He nodded frantically. I smiled and released him, "Good, we should get along fine then."

I looked over to see everyone staring at me in shock, even Princess Celestia looked rather surprised. "What?" I asked.

"Nothing, just haven't seen someone threaten Discord before," Celestia said. I just shrugged.

"Are you going to tell us about yourselves now?" Twilight asked.

"Is everypony you want to hear what we're about to tell you here?" Ashley asked.

"Not yet, but soon," Princess Celestia said.

As she said that, I felt another strange feeling in the back of my mind. It was very similar to when I had seen Discord. Looking back I saw a dark blue woman gliding toward all of us. The others noticed my diverted attention and followed my gaze. As she glided down, I noticed that her hands started to glow.

Noticing the glow herself, the Princess shouted, "Luna, don't! They helped us out earlier!" Luna seemed to hear her as the glow died from her hands and landed near everypony. As she landed I noticed she had a horn in addition to her wings like Celestia did.

"Did you say that they helped you?" she asked incredulously.

Twilight nodded, "Yes, Princess Luna. When we were captured by the changelings before we could get the Elements of Harmony, these two were caught as well. And after an... unexpected reaction, the Queen of the Changelings tried to use her magic on him and do the same thing she did to my brother. Somehow though he fought it off." Her brow furrowed and she looked at me, "How did you resist her magic?"

"I'm actually not a hundred percent sure. I was able to fight her off for a good while, but she eventually started to gain an advantage. When she was getting close to really start pushing me back, there was a sudden interference and her influence was gone. That's when I headbutted her away from me," I told them.

"I thought you said you fought her off," Ashley said.

"I did, just not completely. Like I said, it's going to take a lot more than her trying to force me to love her to make me leave you," I said, pulling her close.

She smiled and hugged me. "I wonder what that interference was," she said.

"It was me actually."

We turned to see Discord floating next to us. "You?" Ashley asked skeptically.

"That's right. I saw what Chrysalis was trying to do and how much of a fight he was putting up. So, since he did so much to help, I decided to block Chrissy's magic from reaching him," he said.

For the third time I felt that sensation in my mind, I was starting to get an idea of what it was. This time, however, it was much more intense, so I jumped to the side just as cyan beam of magic passed by where I had just been standing. The others jumped at the sudden beam of magic. Looking in the direction it came from I saw a black furred woman charging at me.

Celestia shouted, "Nightmare, stop! We are talking to them!" She appeared to either not hear her or wasn't listening because she continued her charge and occasionally fire blasts at me.

Not seeing any other way to stop her, I smiled and looked back, "You all ready to be surprised?" They all gave me looks of confusion.

Discord, however smiled and laughed, "Ooh, you all aren't going to believe what he's about to do. Though, you'll probably recognize what it is once he does it." This time Ashley joined in the confusion.

I ignored him and stepped forward. I was thinking of using the Gum Gum Balloon, but since she used magic, I was pretty sure that she had a horn. So instead, I intertwined my fingers and looked back at Discord. "You mind sending me up there?" I asked.

He grinned, "Sure." Before anyone could protest, he snapped his fingers and I found myself in the air, in front of Nightmare.

Her eyes widened at my sudden appearance and her wings flared as she tried to stop herself, but she had gotten too close. "Gum Gum Net!!" I yelled, stretching my fingers to form a net. Her eyes widened even more at the sight of me stretching. She was too shocked to try and escape as I caught her in my fingers. We started to fall from the air with her in my grasp. When we reached a certain height I released her and she quickly righted herself, as I continued to fall.

[POV Change: Twilight]

I watched in shock as Sean let Princess Nightmare Moon go and continued to fall to the ground. I turned to Discord, "Are you not going to help him back down?"

He lifted his paw and stroked his beard, "Hmm, nah."

We all stared at him in disbelief. Why would he help him up but not down? I started to prepare my magic to grab him, but was too late. He smashed into the ground with a loud crash. Fluttershy and Rarity screamed, Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked at the crater in horror, and Pinkie just stared at it. The Princesses and I glared at Discord, however he didn't seem to care as he focused on the hole.

Cadance and Shining Armor rushed over to us. "Is everypony alright?" she asked.

I opened my mouth to answer, when I heard laughing. It wasn't Discord's, but I recognized immediately. It was Sean, we turned to the crater and stared at it in astonishment as he climbed out of the hole. He stood up completely unfazed and seemingly unharmed. He began patting the dirt off of his clothes. He looked up at us and started snickering.

"S-sorry, I know you were probably w-worried about me, but y-your expressions are just so funny," he said.

"You really shouldn't laugh at them when they were worried about you," Ashley said.

"Hehe, sorry," he apologized.

"How?" I stuttered. They turned toward me. "How did you not even get injured from that fall?"

He frowned, "Hang on you're only wondering how I survived the fall? I mean, I know it's unusual, but you aren't wondering about me stretching my fingers?"

"We've seen something similar before," Princess Nightmare Moon spoke up. Ashley spun around and her hand went to her sword. Princess Nightmare stopped and held up her hands, "Please be calm. I saw the worry on everypony's face when he crashed into the ground. There's obviously more going on here than I thought." Ashley eased slightly, but she kept her hand on the sword's hilt. "That incident is actually one of the reasons that Discord has reformed from his completely chaotic ways."

They both glanced at the draconequus and then returned their attention to the Princess.

"Would you mind telling us about it?" Sean asked. "I'm guessing that it has something to do with Princess Celestia, Twilight, as well as Discord, being suspicious of us, why Pinkie seemed to know of us, but not what we were called, and why Princess Luna was about to attack us and you actually did attack."

Princess Celestia nodded, "We'll tell you after you explain how you got here and how you seem to know so much about us."

"Very well, Princess," Ashley said. "We aren't sure how we ended up here. We were attending something called a convention when we came across a booth with these swords." She placed a hand on the hilts. "The guy decided to give to us for free, which I suppose should have been our first clue that something was off. Anyway, I slipped mine into my sash, while Sean put his into the belt he wore. As soon as we did, we started feeling weak and soon fainted. The next thing we know we are here in Canterlot. As for what we know, Sean doesn't know anything about this world." She paused, then amended, "Well, except for what he knows of Greek mythology."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

She glanced at him, "You want to list some of the creatures and show them what I mean?"

He shrugged, and was about to say something when he was tackled to the ground by four small blurs. Turning toward where he landed I saw the CMC as well as Dinky on top of him.

"Is he the one Dinky?" Sweetie Belle asked.

The periwinkle unicorn nodded, "Yeah, he's the one."

"Sweetie Belle!" "Apple Bloom!" "Scootaloo!" "Dinky!"

They all winced and slowly got off of Sean and stood in front of him, their heads hung and ears lowered. He sat up, but stayed sitting on the ground.

Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash and Amethyst walked up to the fillies.

"You should know better than tackling somepony Sweetie Belle," Rarity scolded.

"You could seriously hurt somepony doing that kind of thing," Applejack added.

"They're right, squirt," Rainbow Dash said.

"I want you to apologize to him, Dinky," Amethyst said.

They all turned to Sean and said, "Sorry, mister."

He waved the apology off, "First off, the name's Sean. Second, it's fine. It didn't hurt me in the slightest." The four fillies all smiled at this. Amethyst opened her mouth to say something, but Sean continued, "However, that's just me. Others could get hurt from you four smashing into them like that. And even though it doesn't hurt me, I would rather not get knocked to the ground." Their smiles waned and they nodded in understanding. He smiled and tussled each of their manes two at a time, "As long as you don't do it again, it's fine. So, who are you three?"

"Ah'm Apple Bloom."

"I'm Sweetie Belle."

"Name's Scootaloo."

As the three took a deep breath, everyone, except for Sean, covered their ears. "And we are the Cutie Mark Crusaders!!"

Sean blinked several times and shook his head, trying to get the ringing out of his ears. He turned his attention to Amethyst's sister. "It's good to see you safe and sound Dinky. You and Amethyst didn't have any problems with the changelings after that did you?"

She shook her head, "No, we stayed in that alley until we heard two ponies fly down to us. When they reached us we got up and saw that it was two Wonderbolts. They were really surprised by how we looked, but when we explained it to them they understood. They took us somewhere safe while keeping the changelings away from us."

At her mention of it, we all looked at them and we all gasped at what we saw. Covering their dresses was some kind of red liquid.

"Were you two hurt?" Fluttershy asked worriedly.

Amethyst shook her head, "No, this is something that Sean did."

We all glanced at him. Before he could explain, Dinky spoke up, "Hey, do you have more of that stuff?"

He glanced at her, slight confusion on his face. He then seemed to remember, "Oh right. Yes I do. Ash, do you have the backpack?"

"It's with my clothes," she said.

There was a snap and a bag appeared in Sean's lap. "That it?" Discord asked, rhetorically.

"Thanks, Discord," he said. He unzipped the middle zipper and reached inside. What he pulled out revolted all of us, and Rarity, Fluttershy, Cadance, Pinkie, and the CMC shrieked in horror. He unscrewed the cap and held it out. "Here you go Dinky," he said.

She grabbed the bottle and, before anypony could stop her, she started to drink. Rarity and Fluttershy outright fainted at the sight and several ponies faces turned green.

Sean stared at Fluttershy and Rarity, then turned to his wife, "Did I go too far?"

We all glared at him. How in the hay could he ask something like that after giving Dinky a bottle full of blood! Before anypony could say anything Discord started to bust out laughing.

"Ahahaha! The looks on all of their faces is just priceless. I don't think you went to far," he said.

Ashley sighed, "Yeah, well your sense of humor is vastly different than the others. Plus, you actually know what it is."

"True, but I still find it hilarious," he said.

"What's so funny about that foal drinking blood!?" Princess Luna shouted.

Discord started laughing again, "That! The fact that you think that the guy who saved her would give her a bottle of blood. Look at her sister and you'll have an idea on what I'm talking about."

We all looked at Amethyst and were shocked to see that she didn't seem concerned. "Amethyst, why ain't ya worried about what Dinky's drinkin'?" Applejack questioned.

She glanced at her everypony, "That's what he used to help us out." Confusion spread across all of our faces.

Fluttershy and Rarity regained consciousness, just as Dinky lowered the bottle from her lips. "I love strawberry!" she said.

Everypony froze upon hearing that. Strawberry?

"She's telling the truth everypony," Amethyst said. "I tried it myself when he showed it to us. It's pretty much just strawberry juice."

Sean nodded, "Yeah, I use this stuff to prank people and I tried to think of other ways I could use it to do that. I then thought of drinking it, but none of the ones you could by were drinkable. So, I made my own and added strawberry flavor so that I could easily show people that it was fake." He turned toward Amethyst, "It's also easily washed out of clothes, so you don't have to worry about that."

She sighed in relief, "That's good. Mom would have killed us if these were ruined."

"Why isn't she here?" Sean asked.

"She didn't come."

"Shouldn't she be here with you?"

We all fell silent, having an idea on why she didn't come.

"She didn't want to have to deal with the nobles," Amethyst said. She was probably hoping that would be a good enough reason for him to not press the matter.

He paused and seemed to think on her answer. After a minute he nodded, "Well, if they are anything like nobles are usually portrayed, then I'm not surprised."

"They are," his wife said.

"You were going to explain something before you were interrupted," I said, trying to get back on topic.

Ashley spoke up, "He was, but when I think about it, that's only slightly relevant to what you're asking. So, how about he tells you later. I'm sure you have questions about our world anyway." We all nodded in agreement. "Alright, so you asked why we know so much about you all. Well, I told Sean everything he knows, so I'm really the only one who knows about you all."

"And how do you know so much? Are you spies?" Rainbow Dash accused her.

"Rainbow!" I reprimanded.

"Didn't ya'll learn your lesson when ya accused Twilight of that?" Applejack asked.

Ashley just stared at her before muttering, "I never thought I'd be accused of that. Much less by Rainbow Dash herself." She focused back on us, "Anyway, in our world there is a cartoon-"

"What in the hay is a cartoon?" Rainbow interrupted.

She paused and, as she thought, seemed to remember something. "Oh, I can just show you. Sean can you hand me the iPad?"

"Sure," he said. Opening the back zipper he reached inside and pulled out a flat tablet with a leather cover over it.

Unlatching the cover, she opened it up. There was a snap and a table suddenly appeared in front of her. Glancing at Discord, Ashley said, "Thank you. Now this is what's called an iPad. It's a device from our world that has a great deal of functions. Me and Sean, however, mostly use it for music, games, and watching shows." She pressed a button on the top of the tablet and, much to all of our surprise, the screen lit up and showed a picture of the night sky. She then slid her finger across the screen and it changed again, this time, behind several icons, it showed a picture of a planet. She began pressing the screen and changing what was shown. After a minute, she moved out of the way and we all were looking at a black screen.

"Did you break it or something?" Rainbow asked.

"No, I didn't," Ashley said.

She pressed the screen again and after a second the screen lit up again, but this time the pictures were moving. It was like a movie was playing on the small screen. We watched in absolute shock as it showed all of us go through what we did when I first met the girls. We were still unicorns, pegasi, earth ponies, and alicorns, except that we were quadrupedal instead of being bipedal like we are. As the 'cartoon', as Ashley had called it, ended, we all stared at the device in absolute shock.

"So you know all about us?" Princess Celestia asked.

Ashley shrugged, "I'm not completely sure." She handed the iPad to Sean, who put it back in their backpack.

"What do you mean?" Princess Nightmare Moon asked.

She pointed at the Princess, "You and Discord are what I mean. In the show when you were defeated, you pretty much disappeared and all that was left was Princess Luna. Discord did get reformed, but it didn't happen until much later in the series."

The Princess paled, "I disappeared?"

"Well, in the show you are the manifestation of her anger and resentment, so when she's hit with the Elements of Harmony, that all vanishes," Ashley explained. "I'm sure you were different, right?"

Princess Nightmare Moon shook her head, "No, that's exactly what I was like. Why didn't I disappear like the Nightmare Moon you saw?"

"I think that's because of us Princess," I spoke up. She turned to me. "You see when I was standing against you, I was sure that I saw something in your eyes that showed you weren't sure anymore that you still wanted to cause eternal night. So, when we used the Elements, I focused on separating you and Princess Luna from each other. After learning how important friends are, I figured that maybe if you had some that you could live like anypony else."

Pinkie jumped up, "Yeah, and when the Elements activated we could feel how she felt about you and what she wanted to do."

"Some of us didn't exactly agree, but we decided to trust Twilight on what she felt," Applejack added.

Princess Nightmare Moon looked at me, "So I have you to thank for my new life?"

I could feel my face heat up, "Well, it was initially my idea, but it was because of all of us."

"That may be true egghead, but if it wasn't for you, Princess Nightmare Moon might not be here," Rainbow Dash said.

"She's right darling. If you hadn't felt so strongly about it, we wouldn't have done what we did," Rarity put in.

I looked down at the ground to hide my growing blush. As I looked at the ground I didn't notice Princess Nightmare Moon move forward and enveloped me in a hug.

[POV Change: Sean]

I watched as Nightmare Moon hugged Twilight with not just her arms, but her wings as well. It was interesting to see someone get hugged with wings.

"Thank you Twilight Sparkle. Thank you for giving me a chance to live an actual life," she said.

I smiled at the scene in front of me. I heard a quiet gag sound and turned around to see Discord and Rainbow Dash pretending to gag at the sentimental display. I narrowed my eyes at the two of them. They noticed my gaze and grinned sheepishly. I continued to glare at them for a minute before turning back to Twilight and Nightmare Moon.

"I'm glad that I was right about you wanting to live a normal life and that you've enjoyed it," Twilight said, her face as red as an apple. "And I'm happy to call you my friend Princess."

Nightmare Moon opened her eyes and pulled back slightly. With an arched brow she asked, "If we're friends, why do you still call me Princess?"

Twilight looked at her and began stammering, "W-well- I mean- You're a Princess-"

Celestia spoke up, "Nightmare don't tease the poor filly. You know exactly how she is when it comes to the three of us."

"That's another thing," Nightmare Moon said. "It's only us and not Cadance."

"Well, she was Twilight's foalsitter," Luna said. "They spent years getting to know each other and become very close to one another."

Nightmare sighed, "You're right, but if we're friends, I don't want her referring to me by my title."

I thought about their dilemma, when idea hit me. I thought I heard a 'ding' and, when I looked up, I could swear I saw a light bulb. Shaking it off, I spoke up, "How about this? When it's at times like this, when it's only friends and family, you just call them by their names. And when there are others around, you use their title."

They all looked at me in slight surprise. The Princesses glanced at each other.

"Why in the hay did we not think of that?" Nightmare Moon questioned. Her two sisters shrugged their shoulders. "Do you two agree with what he proposed?"

Luna shrugged again, "I told the ponies of Ponyville to just call me Luna already. They sometimes still call me Princess, but they also just call me by my name, so it's fine with me." She glanced at Celestia, "Tia?"

She looked slightly conflicted at the question. "Well, I don't really want to force them to call me by my name," she paused. "but I would really like it if they wouldn't refer to me as Princess."

I glanced at the others, "So, what do you say? They all would like you to address them by their names rather than Princess. Plus, it's just in situations like this, when it's only people you know that are present."

All of the ponies looked rather uncomfortable, even Pinkie Pie looked slightly uneasy. After awhile, probably the last pony they thought would say anything spoke up.

"I suppose that I could do that," Twilight said. Everypony looked at her in shock, even Ashley and Discord looked astonished. Soon, everypony started muttering their agreements.

"If I may ask. How should we address you?" Ashley asked.

The Royal Sisters looked at us and walked over and began talking to each other. After a minute, they turned back to us.

Nightmare Moon spoke first, "Normally, Luna and I would say that you should show us the proper respect and call us Princess."

Luna spoke next, "However, given that you helped our citizens, freed Celestia, and fought the Changeling Queen."

Finally, Celestia said, "There's also the fact that you aren't part of our kingdom, so we can hardly make you refer to us by our titles. So, we decided that you don't have to call us Princess." She smiled warmly, "After all, you seem to be very different."

There was the thing that had been bothering me for awhile now. "You mentioned something similar before. How you had seen something similar to what I can do."

Everyone's expression became serious. "Yes, when Discord broke free and was messing with us, another being appeared," Twilight said. "He looked similar to us, but had noticeable differences. We didn't think much of his sudden appearance, until he suddenly vanished and reappeared in front of us."

"Soru," my wife and I muttered.

They looked at us in confusion. "What?" they asked.

I glanced at Ashley, "Are you able to do it?"

"I managed a few times," she said. She began kicking herself off the ground slightly. After the eighth bounce, she tensed her legs and suddenly disappeared.

Everyone gasped and started looking around for my wife.

There was a sudden shout, "Hey!"

They spun around to see her standing several feet away from them. All of their jaws were practically on the ground. Except for the Royal Sisters and Discord, although they looked just as surprised.

"That's exactly what he did!" Twilight exclaimed. "How did you know about it and how were you able to do it?"

I reached into my pocket and took out my wallet. "Well, the way we look are actually characters from an anime. We didn't look like this before," I told them. Opening my wallet, I showed them a picture of me and Ashley. I was a blond with green eyes and a completely different build than now. I was much taller before and I was slightly bigger. My wife had the same black hair, but her eyes were blue and, while she was by no means fat, she wasn't as skinny as she is now. "We've become the people we were dressed as and gained their abilities and strength. The person you fought was most likely a character from the show. What did he look like?" I asked.

The Mane Six, as my wife called them several times, gained thoughtful looks. Rarity spoke first, "He was wearing a black suit with a white tie and top hat."

"His speed was insane. Even without that Soru thing, he was fast," Rainbow Dash said.

Pinkie Pie spoke next, "He had wavy hair that went down to his shoulders."

"The way he talked while he attacked us seemed like he enjoyed it," Applejack said with a shudder. After hearing this, a feeling of dread rose in me.

Twilight spoke up, "He was very pale, a strangely shaped beard, and had oddly arched eyebrows."

I really hoped it wasn't who I thought it was.

"He also had a pigeon," Fluttershy whispered.

"Are you serious?" I asked. They all looked at me with confusion. I stared at them in complete shock. "I don't want you to take this the wrong way, but you all fought against Rob Lucci and survived?"

"Normally I'd be insulted, but that guy was crazy," Rainbow Dash said. The others nodded in agreement.

"So what happened?" Ashley asked. "You said that he had something to do with Discord reforming."

They all nodded. "Yes, we all fought against him. Thankfully Discord decided to give me, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy our horns and wings back," Twilight said.

"He gave them back?" Ashley questioned.

"Yes, he said and I quote, 'I just wanted to cause chaos, not kill you'," Twilight told her. "So, after beating all of us, except for Fluttershy, until we couldn't move, he turned his attention to Discord."

"Hang on. Why not Fluttershy? He isn't the type to not attack someone who won't fight back," I said.

"Really?" Rarity asked. I nodded. "Oh, I knew it was a good thing that we hadn't run into Fluttershy yet."

'Ah that makes sense. Can't hurt somepony who isn't there,' I thought. "You were saying?"

"Right. Lucci said that he had seen the kinds of things Discord was capable of doing," Twilight continued. "After he said that, he suddenly changed form. We were completely shocked when it happened. He gained the traits of a leopard." She paused then asked, "Why was his ability so much more different than yours?"

"I'll explain later," I said.

"Alright. So after changing, he held up his hand and made a fist at Discord. What happened next is probably best explained by Fluttershy," Twilight said.

We all turned to the timid mare. She squeaked and hid behind her mane.

"Fluttershy?" I said. She squeaked again. "Will you please tell us what happened that day? We'll wait until you feel comfortable enough to tell us."

After a couple minutes, she peeked through her mane and looked at me. I smiled at her comfortingly. She smiled slightly back and took a deep breath, "Well, as I walked through the maze, I suddenly heard several loud noises and, as much as I didn't want to, I followed them because I thought that was where the girls were at. It turned out that I was right and I found them, on the ground and beaten." Tears started welling up in her eyes and she whispered, "I'm sorry."

I stepped forward and wiped them from her eyes. "Hey, it's okay. It was a horrible experience for all of you. Take as much time as you need and you can tell us when you are ready," I said. She looked up at me and the tears began surfacing again. She suddenly threw her arms around me and began crying into my shoulder. I was taken aback the suddenness of the action. However, I slowly smiled and rubbed her back comfortingly.

After awhile, she slowly began to calm down. She pulled back and began to resume telling us about what happened. "I saw who was responsible for hurting my friends and was terrified by his appearance. He looked like he was part animal, but something about him was off. He seemed more bloodthirsty than even some animals that I've seen. He was holding out a fist toward Discord, with his index sticking out slightly. It didn't really look like much, but I had a nagging feeling that it was very dangerous. So, taking heed to that feeling, I flew forward as fast as I could and pushed Discord out of the way."

"His attacks hit her instead," Discord said. Her wings fluttered slightly as she seemed to remember the experience.

"It hit your wings!?" Ashley yelled, concern in her voice.

"Yes, but thankfully it was only a slight injury," Fluttershy whispered.

Discord decided to pick up the story, "I was shocked to say the least. That she would risk her safety to save the one responsible for tormenting her and her friends was the last thing I was expecting."

"Nopony, not even you, deserve to just be hurt," she said.

He smiled, "The Element of Kindness through and through." The yellow mare blushed. "So, when Fluttershy selflessly pushed me out of the way and took the attack for me, I felt something in my heart. Something I'd never felt before, like I could become close to somepony. So, after gently laying Fluttershy on the ground, I used my magic and brought the Royal Sisters to where we were. They looked at the situation and, of course, thought that I was responsible for it. Don't blame them really, but boy were they surprised when I fired a beam of magic at, Rob Lucci you said?" I nodded. "Right, they were shocked that I had actually attacked him, as I usually just cause chaos. They turned their attention to who I had attacked."

Celestia then spoke up, "Seeing this strange and obviously dangerous being, I thought I should to try and talk to him, but he immediately attacked me. Luckily, I was able to teleport away from him. Luna and Nightmare were shocked at the sudden action. Turning to Discord I asked him if the one who had just attacked me was responsible for what happened to the Elements. He told me that he was."

"After learning this we were ticked," Luna said. "So, as much as we didn't want to at the time, we combined our magic with Discord and trapped Rob Lucci in stone. Of course, it wasn't anything like what the Elements could do, so we sent him to be imprisoned in Tartarus."

"He's in Tartarus? That's a hell of a place to get sent," I said. Ashley sighed and I looked over to her in confusion.

"Really Sean? Tartarus is a hell of a place?" she asked in exasperation.

I thought over what she said, then bust out laughing.

"What in Equestria is he laughin' about now?" Applejack asked.

"I'll explain later," I gasped out between laughs.

"Are you going to explain why you and Lucci's powers were so different?" Twilight asked.

"I think it would be better to leave that for some other time Twilight. I mean, we all have quite a bit to process after those bombs we dropped on each other," I said.

Everyone looked at me in confusion. "Bombs?" Celestia questioned.

Discord began to snicker, as my wife spoke up. "You're going to have to watch what you say Sean. They don't have the same kinds of expressions we do," she told me.

"Ah, right. Well, as Ashley said it's just an expression. It's when you announce shocking or startling news," I explained.

"You have a point. We should take a moment and let this information process," Celestia said.

"Besides we got party to enjoy, right?" I questioned.

Pinkie gasped, "You're right. Let's leave all this seriousness for later and Party!" The pink mare rushed off and rejoined the festivities.

I grinned, "I have a feeling me and Pinkie'll be good friends." I snatched up my backpack and raced after her. Noticing the DJ, I headed over to them. As I approached them, I saw that DJ was a white furred mare with electric blue mane and tail. She wasn't dressed like someone would for a wedding. She wore a white tank top that practically vanished against her white fur and blue jeans. "Nice music."

The white mare jumped, "Whoa! Dude don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry about that," I apologized.

"It's fine and thanks for the compliment," she said. She stared at me for a minute, before lowering her sunglasses. "Dude, what the hay are you?"

I snorted at the use of hay instead of hell, before answering, "I'm a human. From another world, if you believe that."

"Considering the things that happen in Ponyville alone, I don't find it that hard to believe," she said.

I looked down at her turntables and saw something familiar. "Is this what I think it is?" I muttered to myself.

"Huh?" she questioned. She saw I was looking at the protrusion on her turntable. "Oh, that thing. The pony that makes these just had what he called a jolt inspiration and put these into all of his turntables. Nopony really knows what it's for, not even him, but it's obviously connected to the table, so it does something. However, since it doesn't effect it's performance, nopony really bothers with it."

"If you don't mind, I'd like to try something," I said.

"As long as it doesn't break my turntable, I don't mind," she said.

I reached into my backpack and pulled out our iPod.

"What's that thing," she asked.

"Well, Ms.--" I paused.

"Vinyl Scratch," she said.

"I'm Sean," I introduced. "This is called an iPod Touch. It's a portable device used to listen to music and you can also play games on it."

"You can listen to music with that? I can kind of believe the games part with that screen on it, but music? It doesn't even have speakers," she said, skeptically.

"Not that you can see, but it has some built into it," I said. I lowered the iPod and connect it to the dock connector. The records started to slow and the music stopped.

Vinyl glared at me, "What did you do to my turntable?"

"Just hold on a minute," I said. I scrolled through the music and paused at a certain song. 'Equestria Girls? I'm pretty sure I heard someone mention that name,' I thought. Nodding to myself I selected the song and it began to play.

Everypony was looking at me in shock at the song that had just played.

"How--" I glanced over at Vinyl who looked completely shocked. "That song had my stage name in it, but I've never heard of it before," she said.

"Did it? You'll have to ask my wife about that. I'm sure she'll know and can explain," I told her. I looked at the microphone in front of me and grabbed it. "Hello, everypony. My name is Sean and I'll be borrowing Vinyl's turntable and playing some music from my world. This first song isn't exactly one you'd hear at a royal wedding, but I'm sure the Princes of Love won't care, since this is a love song. Isn't that right, Princess Cadance?"

"Not at all!" she called over.

"Wonderful. You ready Shining Armor?" He turned toward me in confusion. "Because I think this song describes rather well how we feel about our wives." I scrolled through the songs and, after finding the song I was looking for, I pressed it and it began to play. As the music began, I felt a strange sensation start to come over me. It wasn't a bad sensation, so instead of fighting it, I let the feeling flow through me. When the feeling reached it's peak, the song started and I brought the microphone to my mouth and began to sing.

Like a summer breeze floating across the water
Softer than a whisper on my skin
I can't begin to tell you how it moves me
It's so intense I burn within

When she gets close to me my emotions break free
And I just wanna hold on to her permanently
It's like nothing else my heart has ever felt
It's unbelieveably heavenly
When she gets close to me

She walks across the room just like an angel
And I get that funny feeling deep inside
Pulls up a chair and sits down at the table
I come to laugh whoa there's nothing like

Wow no one has ever touched me like this
Set me on fire with just one sweet gentle kiss
Amazing that's what it is

As the song ended, I was completely stunned at what had just happened. I'd never sung in my life. "What the hell just happened?" I questioned.

"That's part of the magic in Equestria," I heard next to me. Looking over I saw Ashley. "It would happen a lot in the show. The ponies would break out into song randomly. It's seems that it affects us as well," she told me.

"That's interesting." I was shocked when I heard cheers and applause. Looking around I saw the ponies seemed to have enjoyed the song. "You all want some more?" I asked them. They all shouted their approval. "All right, this next song is going to be slower, so those with dates can dance together and those who are wanting to start, this would be a good song to confess to." I selected the song and pressed play. As it started, I felt the same sensation as before and began to sing.

There's a calm surrender to the rush of day
When the heat of a rolling wind can be turned away
An enchanted moment, and it sees me through
It's enough for this restless warrior just to be with you

And can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far

And can you feel the love tonight?
How it's laid to rest
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best

There's a time for everyone if they only learn
That the twisting kaleidoscope moves us all in turn
There's a rhyme and reason to the wild outdoors
When the heart of this star-crossed voyager beats in time with yours

And can you feel the love tonight?
It is where we are
It's enough for this wide-eyed wanderer
That we got this far

And can you feel the love tonight?
How it's laid to rest
It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best

It's enough to make kings and vagabonds
Believe the very best

I breathed rather heavily as the song ended, having never sung before. Glancing around, I saw a great number of ponies dancing in each others arms. Disconnecting my iPod, I took my wife's hand. Addressing Vinyl, I requested, "Hey, you mind playing some slow music for a while?"

"It's not usually my thing, but sure. I brought some because it was a wedding," she said. Changing the records on her turntable, Vinyl began playing a slow song. Perfect for dancing with the one you love.

"Thanks," I said. Me and Ashley walked on to the dance floor and began dancing. We spent the rest of the night enjoying the reception, until it got too late and everyone went to bed to get some rest after the stressful events of the day.

Devil Fruits

I awoke to an unfamiliar sight. I was staring at a purple ceiling rather the usual white. I turned over and fell off of the bed, bouncing to the middle of the room. Sitting up, I looked around the room, then turned to the bed and I saw Tashigi sleeping peacefully. Everything came flooding back.

'Right, me and Ashley were transported to an anthropomorphic version of a show from our world that was for little girls as Luffy and Tashigi... The amount of strange things in that one sentence isn't even funny,' I thought. I walked over to the bathroom and got into the shower. After showering, I got dressed in the same clothes I had worn yesterday. 'Going to have to get some more clothes soon,' I thought, hanging my hat around my neck from the string attached to it. There was a knock on the door and I opened it to see a guard standing there. "Yes?" I asked.

"The Princesses wish to see you and the other human," he said. "I'll escort you to them."

I narrowed my eyes, "She's my wife and her name is Ashley." I got in his face, "Understand?" The guard nodded. "Good. Now hang on, I have to wake her up." I closed the door and approached the bed. I began to gently shake Ashley, "Ash, hon? You need to get up. The Princesses want to see us."

She slowly opened her eyes and gave me sleepy smile when she saw me, "Good morning, Luffy." I stared at her as she closed her eyes again. After a second, her eyes snapped back open and she shot up, "Luffy!?"

I smiled, "Morning Tashigi."

She looked down at herself, "So, everything that happened was real."

I chuckled, "Seems like it. Come on, apparently the Princesses want us."

She got up and walked into bathroom, "I'm going to take a shower. I'll be out in a minute."

I leaned against the entrance to our room and waited for my wife to finish. After a while, she exited the bathroom wearing only a towel. I could feel my face heat up at the sight.

She noticed my face and gained a seductive look, "See something you like?"

"I'd be lying if I said no," I said, my face still flushed. She strode to me, keeping the same look on her face. "Hon, you know that I would love to--" I was silenced when Ashley pressed her lips against mine. When we separated, I stared at her, "You know I love when you do things like this, did you really have to do it now? When your pretty much naked and the Princesses are waiting for us?"

She just smirked and started getting dressed. "We need to talk to Rarity about getting some new clothes," she said.

"Yeah, I'd rather not wear the same clothes every day, but why don't you make some?" I asked.

"Well, for one I don't have anything to make some with," she said. "For another, Rarity is a professional seamstress, so she'd be better to ask."

"I see your point," I said. When she was dressed I opened the door, "We are ready to go, sir."

The guard nodded and started walking through the castle.

<~~>

We soon reached our destination and he opened the doors, "Sean and Ashley are here, Your Highness's."

"Thank you, you may go," Celestia said. The guard bowed and stepped aside.

We entered the room and slightly surprised by what we saw. There was a large table in front of us with breakfast spread across it. Everyone that we had met yesterday was seated at the table, including Dinky, Amethyst, and the three fillies that had tackled me. Even Discord was there, except that he was floating above everyone. The newlyweds weren't there of course, probably on their honeymoon. I noticed three ponies I'd hadn't seen yet. Two of them wore navy blue military clothing. The stallion was light blue with a dark blue mane and the mare next to him was a brilliant gold with a fiery mane. Glancing over, I saw Rainbow was staring at them in admiration. I then looked at the other stallion, he was a white unicorn with a golden mane. He had a deep scowl on his face. I noticed that Rarity was glaring at the stallion for some reason, as was Amethyst.

Nightmare Moon looked at us questioningly, "Is something wrong? You look surprised."

"That guard only told us that you three wanted to see us, so we weren't exactly expecting breakfast, no," I said in slight annoyance.

Celestia sighed, "Yes, that's a problem that they have. No matter what we try they are always like that."

Ashley shrugged, "It's not really a big deal, it just would have been nice to know that you just wanted us to join you for breakfast and not for something else."

Before anything else could be said, the white unicorn stallion spoke up, "Aunties, must we really eat with these commoners?" He then glanced at Spike, Discord, and us, "And these creatures?"

Celestia looked ready to say something, but before she could, Ashley let out a loud groan. "Not this prick," she said. Everyone looked at her in shock.

I glanced at her, "You know him?"

"Yes, he appeared in the show. He was an absolute--" she looked ready to call him an ass, but remembered that there were fillies present and instead said, "jerk to Rarity. I'm not saying he had to do everything she wanted him to do, but he treated her horribly. He actually used her as a shield to protect himself from a cake."

His hand started to glow, as he yelled, "I will not be insulted! Especially not by some bitch that's not even a pony!" Before anyone could say or do anything he fired his magic at Ashley.

My anger sparked when he insulted and attacked my wife and I focused all of it on my arm. It turned black and I swatted the magic blast away. Everyone stared at me in shock, but I was too pissed to pay any attention to them. Throwing my arm forward, I stretched and grabbed the bastard by his collar. I then pulled him towards us and threw him through the doors. I walked through the doorway and, ignoring the guards with their spears at the ready, I approached the injured unicorn.

I lifted him by the collar and glared at him. "You dare insult and attack my wife," I said darkly.

"Sean, that's enough! I know you're angry and I promise you, Blueblood will be punished, but you need to calm down!" Celestia shouted.

I continued to glower at him, before releasing him. "You do that again and not even the Princesses will be able to save you from me," I threatened him as he hit the ground. As I walked back to the dining room, he left as fast as his injured body could move. The doors were then surrounded in a golden aura and lifted back into place. In a bright flash, the doors were completely fixed. After he was gone, I took several calming breaths, trying to rid myself of my anger.

Ashley walked up to me, "Thank you Sean."

"Of course. I'd do anything to protect you Ash." She smiled softly, but then suddenly smacked me upside the head. "Ow! What?"

"I'm glad you'd do that for me, but even for Blueblood that was a bit much," she said.

"I actually wish he'd gone a bit farther," Nightmare Moon spoke up.

I saw Luna and Rarity nod in agreement and even Amethyst was smirking. A smile crossed my face. Seeing the smile, Ashley bopped me again, "Ah! Are you going to be like Nami? Smacking me upside the head all the time?"

"If you need to be, yes," she said. Practically everyone started snickering. "Besides, I'm not really worried about what you did, though I wouldn't want you to go too far, but I don't want him trying to get back at you," she looked at me with worry.

"He can't do anything to me, Ash," I said softly. "Especially now." I pulled her into a hug, then sat down next to Twilight and Ashley sat next to me.

"Now that that's over, there are a couple ponies I would like to introduce you to," Celestia said. She motioned to the two military looking ponies. "This is Soarin' and Spitfire. Spitfire is the Captain of the Wonderbolts and Soarin' is her second in command."

'Wonderbolts?' I thought. 'Are they the one's that helped Amethyst and Dinky?'

As if reading my thoughts, Celestia said, "They are the ones that led the two you helped to safety. I thought that it would be a good idea for you all meet."

I turned to them and inclined my head, "It's nice to meet the two of you."

"So you're the one that came up with the idea of playing dead?" Spitfire questioned.

"I only thought it up when Amethyst told me that she knew some illusion magic," I told her. "If she hadn't known that, I don't really know what I would have done. Plus, I doubt even with my fake blood, that if it weren't for how realistic her magic made the wounds look, it wouldn't have worked." I saw Amethyst blush at my words.

"It's still rather impressive that you came up with it," Soarin' said.

I started to get my food when Twilight asked, "That's the second time you've done that with your arm. The first time you block a sword and this time you swat a beam of magic like it was nothing. What is that?"

"I suppose we could answer some questions while we eat. I have a few questions myself if you all don't mind," I said. They nodded in agreement.

Before I could say anything however, Celestia spoke up, "Before we start, I'd just like to make sure. Is all this food okay? I don't know the diet of humans."

I looked around the table. There were pancakes, waffles, several different kinds of eggs, and a good amount of fruit. There was also some grass and flowers, but I ignored those.

"Most of this stuff is fine, Celestia. We don't, really can't, eat grass and flowers. However, humans are normally omnivores," I told her.

"Normally?" Celestia asked.

I nodded, "I'm a vegetarian, although I do occasionally have fish." I heard Ashley giggle. Turning to her, I asked, "What?"

Still giggling, she said, "I'm j-just imagining the looks on fans f-faces from hearing you s-say that."

I snickered as well, "Yeah, they'd probably flip out hearing Luffy say that."

"What are you talking about?" Twilight asked.

"Well, in the show, the character I am is practically a carnivore," I said. They all looked at me questioningly, so I explained, "One of the biggest things about Luffy is his love for meat. He loved food in general, but would eat nothing except meat, and probably candy, if he could."

"You'll have to get meat yourselves, I'm afraid," Celestia said.

I nodded, "Of course." I returned my attention to the excited looking lavender unicorn. I chuckled at her enthusiasm to learn something new. "Right, now as for your question Twilight."

[POV Change: Twilight]

I grabbed a quill and parchment as Sean began his explanation.

"What you saw is a form of haki," he said.

"Haki?" I questioned.

He nodded, "It's a mysterious power that is inside of every living being. You all could learn how to use it if you wanted. The version you saw me using is called Armament Haki. Rather self-explanatory, especially after seeing it in action. Another one is Observation Haki. It allows someone to sense another's presence."

"Is that how you noticed my sisters before the rest of us?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, it is. However, I don't have complete control over it, so I think I only noticed them because of there impressive presence and the fact that they were about to attack me," he said. "That's actually what I felt in Nightmare Moon's case. I felt a blaring in my mind telling me to move. That's the other way you can use it. To 'predict' your opponents attack and try to dodge or block it."

"Those sound very useful," Spitfire said.

"They are. However, even with the Observation Haki your ability to dodge is limited to how fast you can move. Even if you see it coming, if you can't move fast enough it doesn't mean anything," Sean explained. "There's one last form of haki. It's very rare and this one can't be learned. It's called Conqueror's Haki. The user of this haki is able to exert their willpower over others."

"And what does that do?" I asked.

"Depends on how much of your willpower you exert. If someone has a weaker will then you, you can knock them unconscious," he said. This caused all of us to widen our eyes in shock. "I'd show you, but for one I don't want to knock any of you out and the other is that I don't have control over that either. It's going to take a lot of training before I get to be as good as Luffy was in the anime." He looked at his hand for minute before continuing, "If you only exert a little, you can intimidate something. This way is more often just used on animals. Showing them that you aren't to be messed with."

I finished writing down what Sean had explained when Rarity spoke up, "Darling, there's something I've been wondering." He gave her his attention. "You crashed into the ground completely unharmed, yet Ashley just smacked you upside the head and it seemed to hurt you. Why?"

"That was also haki," he said. "It's a form of Armament Haki, it increases your strength and, when imbued in a weapon, makes it much more effective. However, unlike with what I did, just using that can't block a sword or other things."

"Speaking of yesterday, will you explain about the creatures from that Greek mythology you were talking about?" I asked.

"Sure, but before I do, you all should know that I know practically nothing of your world."

"Didn't Ashley explain things to you?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"She told me all of your names and a little bit about you, but that's it. I asked her not to tell me too much," he said.

"Why?" Applejack asked.

"Because I wanted to get to know you all myself. Not just learn everything from someone. Now, then creatures of Greek mythology. There's manticores, hydras, Cerberus, harpies, griffons--" Sean continued to rattle off creatures and inhabitants of our world and we just stared at him in shock. That he knew nothing about our world, but listed so many things that lived here didn't make any sense.

Eventually I interrupted him, "How? How do you know about so many of the inhabitants of our world? Some of them aren't here, and I'd never even heard of until now, but you still named a lot of them."

He shrugged, "It's either humans with their overactive imagination or they did live a long time ago, but are now extinct." He finished what was on his plate and looked at all of us. "There are a few things that I've been wondering," he started. "This is going to sound weird, but have any of you seen any kind of strange fruits?"

We all looked at each other in confusion. Except for the Princesses and, surprisingly, Applejack, who spoke up.

"We have." "I have."

They glanced at each other in slight surprise.

"May we see them?" he asked.

Celestia nodded and stood up, as did her sisters, "If you'll follow me." She turned to me and my friends, "Twilight, if you and your friends would come as well." The Royal Sisters then walked into the hall. Me, my friends, Sean and Ashley followed them.

As we walked through the castle, Rainbow Dash asked, "You found a strange fruit Applejack?"

"Sure did. Just before the picnic and Twilight got the wedding letter. I was going to tell ya'll about it, but, well, after everything that happened it slipped mah mind," she said.

"You wouldn't happen to have it on you, would you?" Ashley asked.

Applejack took off her hat and pulled a rather weird look fruit out of it. "I remembered about it this mornin', so I brought it to show ya after breakfast. Seems like you two beat me to it," she said.

Sean chuckled, "That's one way to carry things. May I take a closer look at it?"

Applejack nodded and handed him the fruit. He held it in front of him and studied it. As he examined it, I took the chance to get a closer look at it. It looked like a normal light green apple except for a few things. It was the size of a cantaloupe, it had swirls all over it and the stem was curled.

"Huh, I wonder what Devil Fruit this is," he said.

"What in the hay are ya'll talkin' about? Except for the size and the swirls, it looks like a normal apple," Applejack said.

"The swirls are a sign of a Devil Fruit," Ashley said.

"And what is a Devil Fruit?" Rarity asked, obviously not liking the name of the fruit, though I didn't like the sound of them anymore then she did.

"A Devil Fruit is what made Luffy what he is," Sean said.

I stopped in my tracks, "Are you saying that fruit would give you powers?"

The two nodded. "I'm guessing it's not called a 'Devil' Fruit for nothing," Luna guessed.

"That's right. You see, while it does give you powers, it also makes you a hammer," Ashley said.

"You're able to turn into a hammer!?" Pinkie shouted excitedly.

Sean chuckled, "No, I can't turn into a hammer Pinkie. It means that if I were to fall into a lake or in the ocean, I would sink like a hammer."

"That doesn't sound very horrible," Rainbow Dash said, unimpressed.

"Rainbow, have you forgotten that you have to sail practically everywhere? All of the countries are separated by ocean. Even if somepony were to take an airship they'd be over the ocean," I reminded her.

"Oh, yeah," she said. It wasn't that surprising that she'd forget. None of us had any reason to leave Equestria.

"So this Equestria is similar to One Piece?" I heard Ashley mutter.

"What do you mean?" Nightmare Moon asked.

"In the anime, the world is practically all water. Even though there were countries like Equestria, most were just islands spread out across a humongous ocean," Sean explained. He then asked, "Have you found very many Devil Fruits?"

"I believe we found two before I was banished," Luna said. "Did you find anymore sister?" she asked.

Celestia thought for a minute then answered, "I found three more since then, so we have five Devil Fruits locked away. We've kept them in separate rooms." We finally reached a door that looked similar to the one that Celestia had kept the Elements in. "Here's one of them," she said.

We stopped in front of it and I saw a difference in this door. The difference was that instead of a slot for Celestia to insert her horn and open it with her magic, there was one panel on each side of the door and, strangely, above it. Celestia, Luna, and, surprisingly, Discord approached the door and they each placed a hand/claw on a panel. They charged magic into them and the door opened up.

"Why is one of the panels calibrated to Discords magic?" I asked.

"After Discord was reformed, I thought that it would be a good idea for him to help us keep this locked. After all, he's the only one capable of using chaos magic," Celestia explained.

"What about the fact that there are only two panels for alicorn magic?" Ashley asked.

"We only really need two of us to use the magic. It doesn't matter if it's me, Celestia, Nightmare Moon, or Cadance," Luna told us.

We walked inside and in the middle of the room was a pillar with what I assumed was another Devil Fruit. The look of this fruit shocked me greatly. It had six-pointed magenta stars all over it, similar to my cutie mark. Except that they had swirls in the middle of them just like Ashley had said.

"I wonder what that fruit is," Sean said, taking a few steps forward.

"Wait!!" Nightmare Moon called out.

However it was to late, as he stepped on a panel and it sunk down, activating something. A second later, a stone pillar descended from the ceiling. We all screamed in horror as the pillar crushed Sean under it. Fluttershy and Rarity looked ready to faint, I felt rather faint as well, but we managed to keep ourselves somewhat composed.

Before we could fully process what had just happened, Ashley sighed in exasperation and Discord started laughing, even Pinkie was giggling.

"Pinkie!" I shouted. "Why are you laughing!?"

She continued to giggle and said, "Because he must be flat as a pancake!"

"It seems Pinkie Pie has figured it out," Discord said.

"I've known the whole time Dissy. I was just playing along," she said, cheerfully.

Discord stared her for a minute before chuckling, "Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if you were a draconequus Pinkie Pie."

We all felt a shiver run down our spines at the thought of Pinkie being able to use chaos magic.

"He needs to be more careful. He's lucky that was regular stone," Ashley said.

"Ahahaha! I get the feeling he's going to be an endless source of entertainment," Discord said, happily.

"Why aren't you three worried about him!?" Nightmare Moon shouted.

Ashley pinched the bridge of her nose, "We really should have fully explained you abilities, Sean."

All of us, except for Pinkie Pie and Discord, looked at her in confusion and slight anger, when suddenly we heard a muffled voice.

"Where's the fun it that?" it said.

We all spun around and looked at the pillar. Discord snapped his talons and the stone pillar lifted back to the ceiling. Underneath the pillar was the squashed form of Sean. However, before we could react, he bounced back to normal. We all gaped at him, as he shook himself, while Pinkie and Discord started laughing again.

"Whew, so that's what it's like to be squashed," he said. His eyes suddenly widened and he quickly reached behind his head. He pulled a hat from behind him and he began inspecting it. Apparently not finding anything wrong with it he let out a sigh of relief.

Ashley stepped toward him, "I guess that our clothes have taken to the rule of being nigh indestructible from the anime."

"Thank, God," Sean muttered.

It confused me a great deal that he was so worried about a hat, but I was more interested in the fact that he survived being crushed by a pillar.

"How in the hay did you survive that!?" Rainbow Dash shouted, voicing all of our thoughts.

He smiled, "Easy, I'm made of rubber."

We all just stared at him. "Made of rubber?" I asked.

"That's right. You saw it yourself. How I was smashed by that pillar, but completely unscathed," he said. He then glanced at the Princesses, "Speaking of, a pillar falling from the ceiling? Were you not wanting anyone to survive getting in here?"

"Well, when even Discord didn't like the feeling he got from the fruit, we decided that we should make sure that it stays in here," Luna said.

"I see your point I suppose," Sean said. "Though I wonder what these fruits are."

"You mean you don't know?" I asked in shock.

They both shook their heads. "Neither of them showed up in the anime," Ashley said.

Sean walked up to the Princesses. "Well whatever they are, to avoid them being misused, how would you feel about Ashley eating one?" he suggested. "You should probably find someone to eat the other one as well."

"What, me?" she questioned.

"I know that you're strong, but you having a Devil Fruit power would ease a lot of my worries. Especially if it turns out to be a Logia-type," he said.

"Logia?" I asked.

"Oh yeah, that's something else we need to explain huh?" Ashley said. "You see, there are three different kinds of Devil Fruits. Logia fruits allow the consumer to create, control, and transform into a natural element or force of nature."

"Hang on, are you saying that if somepony ate one that involved fire, they wouldn't just be able to use fire, but turn into fire?" Rainbow Dash asked. Sean and Ashley nodded. "That's so Awesome!" she exclaimed.

"So it'd be like with you?" I asked.

"No, it's completely different. Logia users actually have to will themselves into their element. Where as I just am rubber," Sean explained. "It's one of the other types. Which is called Paramecia. These types of fruit affect a person's body in some way. Such as the Chop-Chop fruit. It allows the user to separate their body and they can be cut without being injured. In terms of weakness, it's the polar opposite of my Gum-Gum powers."

"What's that mean?" Pinkie asked.

"It means that where he's immune to blunt forces, the other fruit user can be hurt by them and where the other one can't be cut, Sean can," I explained.

"Exactly," he confirmed.

"So are there any other Paramecia's like you?" Celestia asked.

"Not that they've shown," he said. "The others that were similar, all showed that they either coated themselves in whatever their fruits gave them power over or they had to concentrate on becoming it."

"Wait they had to concentrate? Wouldn't that make them a Logia?" Luna asked.

"Not really because the one I'm referring to called the Dice-Dice Fruit. Which allows the user to turn parts of their body into blades," he said.

"I see. So when concentrating their body takes on the characteristics of steel," Nightmare Moon said.

Sean nodded. "However, not all of them affect the body. Some give them power over something. For example, there's a fruit called the Calm-Calm Fruit. It let someone create a sound barrier around themselves, making it to where they can't hear anything outside of it and noone on the outside can hear what's going on inside."

"Sounds pretty useless," Rainbow commented.

"Unless your an assassin," Ashley countered.

As she fell silent, Sean continued. "The last one is what Rob Lucci had," he started. This got all of our attention. "The type he is, is called Zoan. These fruits allow the user to transform into an animal. There are three levels to Zoan users. Their normal form, as in whatever they were to begin with, whatever animal that fruit corresponds with, and a combination of the two."

"What do you mean a combination of the two?" Spike asked.

Sean and Ashley glanced at me, my friends, the Princesses and Discord. "Allow me to show you," Discord said. He snapped his fingers and a projection of Rob Lucci in his hybrid leopard form. He stood taller than even the Princesses, but that was mostly because of his muscle mass.

Sean stepped toward it, "As you can see he still stands up straight, but has the attributes of a leopard."

I glanced over and saw Spike staring at the image in shock. "You girls fought this guy?" he asked.

"I'd hardly call what we did fighting," Rainbow Dash said.

As Rob Lucci's image disappeared, Sean stepped toward the Princesses. "So, would it be alright if Ashley ate one of these?" He then glanced at her, "If she wants to of course."

Celestia, Luna, and Nightmare Moon glanced at one another, then walked up to each other and began discussing what to do.

[POV Change: Sean]

As I waited for the Royal Sisters to decide, I approached Ashley and asked, "If they do agree, are you going to eat one of the Devil Fruits?"

She thought for a moment, then nodded, "Yes, to keep these away from someone who might want to abuse it, I'll eat one of them. Before I do though I'm going to ask them something."

The three alicorns eventually came to a decision and turned to us. Celestia stepped forward, "Normally we would be wary of giving you something that, as you described it, can very powerful. However, because you helped us deal with Chrysalis and have shown that you aren't anything like Rob Lucci, we don't mind if Ashley wants to eat one of these Devil Fruits."

My wife stepped forward and bowed, "Thank you Princesses. I will eat one of them, but before I do, there's something I'd like to know."

"And that is?" Luna inquired.

"Are there spells that can scan things?"

"There are. In fact, I know a few," Twilight answered. "Why?"

"I was wondering if you could scan these and tell me anything you know about them," Ashley requested.

The lavender unicorn looked at the fruits, one that was on a pedestal and the other in my grasp. "I suppose I could try," she said. Her hand was surrounded a magenta aura, which soon enveloped the fruit that, now that I was actually looking at her, had the same image that was sewed onto her indigo shirt. Almost immediately, her eyes shot open and she flinched back.

"What's wrong Twilight?" Celestia asked in worry.

"Nothing, it's just... It felt like there was an immense amount magic emanating from it," she said in shock. Shaking herself, Twilight then focused on the second fruit and her brow furrowed, "I can't really feel much, but I'm getting a sort of healing vibe from this one."

"Ah, then it might be the Heal-Heal Fruit," I said.

"I thought you said that you didn't know about it?" Rainbow questioned.

"The actual fruit's never been shown before, but the power has," I explained. "If I'm right anyway."

Ashley stepped toward the magenta fruit and was about to grab it, but then hesitated. She glanced at the Princesses, "Nothing's going to happen if I grab it, right?"

"Nothing will happen," Discord said. "I deactivated everything when I raised the pillar."

Nodding, she grabbed the fruit. She stared at it for a minute before taking huge bite out of the fruit. Immediately, her face turned green and she gagged. The others jumped back, while I couldn't help but snicker, Pinkie giggled, and Discord began laughing.

Still having a look of utter disgust on her face, Ashley grumbled, "Forgot that these things taste like rotten eggs dipped in sweat wrapped in rancid meat."

Disgust crossed everyone's face and several even looked green at the thought.

"How do you even know that!?" Rarity questioned.

I chuckled, "She doesn't. She's just comparing it to something that would taste absolutely disgusting. Completely forgot that Devil Fruits taste horrible."

Ashley groaned, "Ugh, I need to get that taste out of my mouth." She snapped her fingers and a glass suddenly appeared in her hand. The glass looked like it was filled with soda. She took a big drink, "Ah, I was kind of worried I'd never be able to drink that again."

We all stared at her in shock. "Ash is that what I think it is?" I asked.

She glanced at me and said, "Yep, Dr. Pepper. My absolute favorite soda."

"How?" several of us asked simultaneously.

"She used chaos magic," Celestia said in shock.

"What!?" the Mane Six shouted.

"She's right. That fruit was apparently an Equestrian Devil Fruit. The Magic-Magic Fruit would probably be an accurate name for it," she said.

Discord floated over to her, "Oh this is just wonderful! Someone else who can use chaos magic." He paused, then said, "Although you probably wouldn't want to cause any chaos would you?"

Ashley thought for a moment, "As long as it didn't get out of hand, I don't see why not." She smiled mischievously, then said, "After all, life is just plain boring without a little chaos in your life."

Discord laughed loudly, "Very true my dear, very true. Things would be very dull without chaos." He then glanced at me, "What about you my rubbery friend? Even without magic, you'd probably be able cause a good amount chaos."

I shrugged and, with a smile, said, "Sure, could probably be a bit of fun."

Nightmare Moon then spoke up, "Hang on, you said that it would be called Magic-Magic. Does that mean there's more than just chaos magic you can use?"

My wife nodded, "That's right. Let's try and--" She began to concentrate and she slowly lifted off of the ground. A wide smile spread across her face, "Yes! I can fly!" She flew all around the room, she was rather slow, but that was to be expected since it was a new experience. She eventually came to a stop next to me and started to concentrate again, however as she did, she fell out of the air and hit the floor.

"Are you okay?" I asked in worry, helping her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Seems like I can't use two different types of magic at the same time," she said, sighing.

I wrapped an arm around her, "I'm sure it will only be like that until you get better at using it." She smiled and leaned her head against my shoulder. I then looked at the Devil Fruit in my grasp. "Now what to do with this?" I wondered.

"If it really is the Heal-Heal Fruit, I think that Fluttershy would be the perfect pony to have it," Ashley said.

The mare in question let out an adorable surprised squeak, "Me?"

"It would fit Fluttershy rather well," Applejack said. The others nodded in agreement.

Fluttershy looked really nervous. Seeing this, Twilight stepped toward her. "You don't have to eat it Fluttershy. We're just saying that the property's of that fruit would fit very well with you," she told the timid pegasus.

When she still looked rather anxious, I approached her. "You don't have to decide now Fluttershy. It's a pretty big decision to make, so take all the time you need, all right?" I told her. She looked at me and nodded shyly. I noticed Celestia smile warmly at me. Probably because of how I was treating her subjects. I then placed the fruit on the pedestal.

"You said that you had some other things you wanted to know," Nightmare Moon said.

"Only one at the moment. Has anyone come across any stones that they couldn't find out what they were?" I asked.

"Not really," Celestia said. She then seemed to remember something, "Although." The Royal Sisters all looked at each other, "About a thousand years ago we found an odd stone that we weren't able to identify." They glanced at Discord, who nodded and snapped his fingers. A stone suddenly appeared in his hands that looked sea green. "Why do yo--? Is it something else that you know of?" she asked.

"That's what I'm going to find out," I said, approaching Discord. I reached out and, as soon as I touched the stone, I felt my strength leave my body and I fell to my knees. "Ugh, that does not feel good," I muttered. I glanced up and saw everyone was looking at me in shock.

"What just happened?" Twilight asked.

Pushing myself up, I told them, "That's what is known as Seastone. It's a special type of stone with the property's of the sea, which means that it's able to cancel out our powers and, depending on density and composition of it, sap our strength."

"What do you mean depending on its density and composition?" Luna asked.

"There were several instances where the stones were used. When used as bars for jail cells or in nets it completely robbed a Devil Fruit user of there strength, like that stone did. But when it was used for handcuffs, it would only cancel out their powers and still allow them to walk around," Ashley explained.

"She's right. Which is why I think you should make cuffs made of this stuff and probably some weapons as well," I suggested. "In case you come across another hostile Devil Fruit user."

The Princesses nodded their heads. "That's a good idea. We will search for more of this material and start manufacturing weapons and handcuffs," Nightmare Moon said.

Celestia glanced down at her watch. "You girls should get going. The train to Ponyville is going to be leaving soon," she said.

The six mares left the room, most likely to get ready to return home. Which brought up something we needed to discuss.

I cleared my throat and, when they looked at me, asked, "Is there somewhere specific you want me and Ashley to stay?"

Celestia raised a hand to her chin in thought. "I suppose it doesn't really matter. The two of you don't have to stay in Canterlot, but if you go to Ponyville, like I assume you will want to, you'll have to find yourselves accommodations until we could work something out," she said.

"Is that where you want to go?" I asked my wife.

She nodded enthusiastically, "I've always wanted to go to Ponyville. Besides, I don't think I could put up with the 'nobles' of Canterlot."

The Princesses chuckled at that. "Yes, they tend to test ones patience," Celestia said.

"You think someone could show us to the train station?" I asked.

Discord spoke up, "I can just teleport you there."

"Before you do," I said. "I was just wondering what you plan to do with the other fruits. If you don't mind my asking."

"Not at all," Celestia said. "After we've scanned them and get a feeling for what they'd be, we'll probably try and find suitable ponies to give them to. And you don't have to worry, we will tell them everything that eating it entitles."

I nodded, "Good, but there are a few more things I should probably mention."

"And that would be?" Nightmare Moon asked, arching an eyebrow.

"Well, as you could probably guess, some powers are either weak or strong against other Devil Fruits," I said. "For example there's a fruit that gives you the power of electricity."

"And you would be immune to it correct?"

"Right you are, Nightmare Moon. Which brings me to my next point. There are some fruits that have similar traits, but one is superior to the other. There is a fruit called the Flame-Flame Fruit and, along a similar vein, one called Magma-Magma Fruit," I told them. "Magma is obviously superior to fire, so, even though it's a Logia-type, the Magma Human can seriously harm the Flame Human."

"I see, it makes sense I suppose," Luna said. "Is there anything else?"

"Yes, I want you to tell this to anyone who happens to get a Logia-type Devil Fruit," I began, a serious expression on my face. Noticing this, they paid close attention. "They are far from invincible. Like we mentioned before, they have to will themselves into whatever element they wield, so unless they are always aware of their surroundings, a sneak attack would work on them. You also don't have to have a Devil Fruit power or use Haki to hit a Logia user."

This seemed to confuse the Princesses. "What do you mean?" Nightmare Moon asked.

"Well, for instance there's a fruit called the Sand-Sand Fruit and as we all know water solidifies sand," Ashley said.

"Ah, so if you coated yourself or your weapons with water you'd be able to hurt them," Celestia concluded.

"It could be any kind of liquid, but yes that's exactly right," I said.

The Princesses nodded. "We'll be sure to let the guards know about what you've told us involving Devil Fruits and their users," Celestia said. "Discord?"

"Are you guys ready?" the draconequus asked.

"Yes, we are," Ashley said.

He nodded and snapped his talons and, in a white flash, we were at the train station. I was surprised to see Amethyst and Dinky there and they seemed surprised to see us. Although Dinky quickly smiled and rushed over to me.

"Sean!" she shouted.

I laughed and knelt down to pick her up in a hug.

"How did you get here?" Amethyst asked.

"Discord sent us here," I said. "You haven't returned yet?"

"We missed the first train because of breakfast and missed the second one while walking down here from the castle," she explained.

Suddenly we heard hoofsteps getting closer. We looked over and saw the Mane Six, along with Spike and the Cutie Mark Crusaders, or the CMC for short, approaching us. They all looked shocked when they saw us.

"How in the hay did ya'll get here before us?" Applejack asked.

"Discord," Ashley said, simply. Her eyes widened and she snapped her fingers. Our backpack suddenly appeared in her grasp. Amethyst, Dinky, and the Cutie Mark Crusaders gasped at the sight of her suddenly using magic. "Almost forgot this."

"That would have sucked," I said. "Glad you remembered it."

We heard the whistle of a train and, when it pulled into the station, we quickly boarded. We all sat in the same car, Ashley sat on my right while Dinky sat in my lap. Amethyst and Twilight sat across from us. Soon after we got seated the train began to move and we were on our way to Ponyville.

A Demon and Fire Fist... Ashley?

As the train made it's way to Ponyville, Amethyst looked at Dinky sitting in my lap.

"She's taken quite the liking to you," she said with a smile.

I just chuckled and patted the filly on the head. I felt a strange urge to scratch behind her ear. Which I began to do and, as soon as I did, Dinky leaned into my touch, a happy smile on her face.

Ashley glanced at me, "So, they actually like that?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Some people figured that ponies liked to be scratched behind their ears," she explained. "Don't really know why, but it always made for some cute art."

"Interesting," I mumbled, continuing to scratch Dinky's ear. As the train made its way to Ponyville, my eyes widened as I remembered something very important. "Crap!" I shouted, causing everyone to jump.

"Sean, watch your language! There are children in the car," Twilight yelled.

"Sorry, but I just remembered something that we forget to tell the Princesses about Devil Fruits," I said in slight panic.

Ashley looked at me in confusion, "What did we forget? We told them about the different types, their weaknesses, we warned them about a Logia-users biggest weakness--" Her eyes suddenly widened as she realized what I was talking about. "Oh no. How could we forget to warn them about that?" She took a deep breath, "OK, we need to not panic. I doubt they'll give somepony two Devil Fruits, but we do need to warn them against it." She then asked, "Spike will you send a letter to Celestia for us?"

The young drake nodded and pulled out a scroll and quill.

"Dear Celestia," I began. "There is something very important that Ashley and I forgot to tell you. We doubt that you would, but we urge you to not give anyone more than one Devil Fruit. While it was never shown in the the anime, it was said that if someone eats two Devil Fruits, it would kill them." Everypony gasped and Spike faltered in his writing. I continued talking, "I don't know if this is true here, but I would rather not test it and find out. Sincerely, Sean."

Spike finished writing and, after opening a window, blew fire on the scroll, sending it to the Princess. Only a few minutes later, Spike burped out a scroll. He quickly unfurled it and began to read it.

Dear Sean and Ashley,

You are correct, we had no intention of giving somepony two Devil Fruits. Even if they were trustworthy, having that much power would not be a good thing. However, I'm glad that you warned us about this. Now we can forewarn the guards that, under no circumstances, are they to consume more than one Devil Fruit if they are to find one. If you remember anything else that is important about them down the road, please let us know right away.

Sincerely,

Celestia

Ashley and I sighed in relief, glad that we'd warned them before anything happened and that they hadn't planned on doing it to begin with. As the relief washed over me, I felt a sense of sadness start to fill me. Dinky seemed to notice as she looked at me with worry in her eyes.

"Something wrong you two?" Twilight asked.

I glanced at Ashley and saw the sadness in her eyes. We both sighed. "I guess it's just finally setting in that we are in another world," I said.

Ashley nodded, "Yeah, while I'm glad that I could come here, my family's probably worried sick about us disappearing." She sighed again and leaned against me. I wrapped an arm around her. Dinky moved to sit on my other side.

"You're just now realizing this?" Rainbow asked incredulously.

"Rainbow Dash!" Rarity scolded. "They showed up in middle of an invasion, partied all night with the rest of us, told us about the strange powers they were able to use, and just about had a panic attack when they realized that they had forgotten something that could have been fatal. Until now, they haven't had time for it to sink in."

"Thanks Rarity, but it's okay." I smiled and squeezed Ashley's shoulder, "At least, Ash is here with me." She smiled and gave me a quick kiss.

All of them, except for Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo, smiled at my words. I got the feeling they didn't really care for mushy things.

"Oh, Rarity," Ashley said gaining the white unicorns attention. "We were wondering if you could make us some clothes," she requested.

Rarity's eyes lit up, "Oh, I would absolutely love to!" She looked at both of us, "I was wondering why you two were wearing the same clothes as yesterday."

Rainbow Dash and Applejack rolled their eyes. "Believe it or not Rarity, but not everypony likes to change their outfits five times a day," the prismatic pegasus said.

The fashionista scoffed, "I know that perfectly well Rainbow Dash. I meant why they wore the same thing when they just wore it the day before."

"I repeat," Rainbow Dash started.

"How long is the ride to Ponyville," I spoke up, putting a stop to the conversation that would only escalate.

"It shouldn't be too long now," Twilight said, noticing what I was doing.

I reached into our backpack and grabbed the iPad. "I know of way to distract us for the rest of the ride," I said. I looked through the songs and came to a stop on a certain one. A smirk spread across my face and I pressed it.

As soon as the song started, Ashley stared at me, but I could see smile playing on her lips. "Really?" she asked. I just smiled and listened to the song.

As the song came to an end everyone was just staring at me with blank expressions. I chuckled, not really surprised by their reactions. The only ones not just blankly staring at me were my wife, who was just smiling, and Pinkie, who giggled the whole time.

"Really pardner?" Applejack questioned. "The love train?"

"Yep," I said, grinning. "I couldn't resist the irony of where we are and yesterday's situation." The train started to slow as we neared our destination. When it came to a stop and the doors opened, we exited the train.

When we exited, I was surprised to see an azure unicorn with a silvery mane standing at the station. She was apparently waiting for the others, as she walked up to us and said, "Welcome back everypony." She glanced at me and my wife in confusion, "Who and what are they?"

Before anyone could answer, Ashley asked, "Trixie?" Her eyes were wide in astonishment.

"How did--? Oh, you must have mentioned me," the mare guessed.

My wife stared at the unicorn for a moment before turning to our new friends. "OK, before I fly off the handle, how did you meet Trixie?" she asked.

"She's the librarian," Twilight said.

"But aren't you the librarian?" Ashley inquired.

"She is, but I was before and we work together now," Trixie spoke up. "Princess Celestia asked if Twilight could stay with me in the library and I didn't have a problem with it." A blush crossed the mare's face, "She later became my marefriend."

I snorted at the use of mare instead of girl. I then glanced back at Twilight, who was also blushing. Shaking it off, she turned to Ashley. "Did Trixie appear on the show?" she asked.

Ash winced slightly, "Yeeah, she did."

"Did something happen?" Twilight asked in concern.

"Nothing like your probably thinking," Ashley said quickly. "I'll show you later if you want, but it isn't exactly good."

"Even if it's not, it isn't my Trixie that it's showing," the lavender mare said determinedly.

My wife smiled, "You are very right Twilight. Don't let someone's interpretation of somepony you know change how you see them."

After being introduced to Trixie, I felt something small collide with the side of my head. We all looked down and saw a glowing purple diamond. ‘I’m really glad I’m made of rubber. That would of freaking hurt otherwise,’ I thought. I knelt down and picked the diamond up and was shocked when I heard a voice in my head.

To anyone that is in need of assistance, I will answer your call, Symbol Shattered.

“What in the world?” I questioned.

“What’s wrong Sean?” Ashley asked.

“Hold this for a second,” I said, holding out the gem to her. When she took the gem, she froze and her eyes widened. “I guess I wasn’t hearing things.”

“Symbol Shattered?” she wondered. “What is this thing anyway?”

“It’s a diamond what else?” Rainbow Dash said.

“It’s more than that Rainbow,” I said, taking the diamond. “From the message, I’m guessing we can summon him. Symbol Shattered if you’re there, we would like to meet you.”

Suddenly the diamond glowed brighter and a portal opened up near us. We all stared it in shock. From the portal a figure walked out and made itself known. The figure was a boy that looked around the age of nineteen. He had long grey hair and purple eyes, he wore a grey trench coat, purple shirt, grey trousers and purple boots.

He looked around until he spotted us and smiled. "Ah, so my token did get here safe and sound then." He turned around and called into the portal. "It's OK, you can come out, it's safe." Just then another figure walked out, and the best I can describe her is a gender swap of Portgas D. Ace or Fire Fist Ace from One Piece. However, unlike Ace, she was thankfully wearing a shirt.

We all looked between the two in shock. We were not expecting someone else that looked like a character from One Piece to show up, at least not so soon after learning they were here.

“What in Equestria is going on?” Twilight asked, surprised and confused by the appearance of the two humans.

Symbol turned to her and looked shocked. "Wow, so we're in an anthropomorphic Equestria, that's a new one for me." He shook his head and began explaining. "Let's start by introducing ourselves shall we. As you two know from my token you just used, my name is Symbol, pleasure to meet you." He held his hand out to me.

"My name is Sean." I grabbed his hand and we shook. We both turned to the girls.

"My name's Ashley." They both said at the same time, then they looked at each other surprised while Symbol and I facepalmed, however a smirk worked its way across my face.

Ashley, my wife, shook herself and said, “I suppose you can call me Tashigi.”

I then turned to Symbol. “That’s the second time you’ve mentioned a token. Are you talking about this thing?” I asked, holding up the diamond. Symbol nodded and took it from me.

"Yes, this is what is known as a token. Mainly used for contacting beings in other universes or to summon displaced."

"Displaced?" my wife and I asked.

"A Displaced is someone who was sent to Equestria as the person they were dressed as at a convention. Ashley here is a Fire Fist Ace Displaced and you two are Luffy and Tashigi Displaced. I am what is known as a Displacer, a being that creates the Displaced with careful selection. However, there is a being known as the Merchant that will send a person to Equestria for shits and giggles, you two were unlucky enough to have suffered this fate." He explained with a sympathetic look. "I am afraid you are stuck here forever."

The sadness from before began to fill me again at this. Not being able to see my friends and those that had become my family again. I wrapped an arm around my wife and pulled her close. She returned the hug and I could see tears in her eyes.

"If it makes you feel better I can go grab the son of a bitch that sent you here so you can beat the shit out of him." Symbol folded his arms and waited for an answer.

I stood there and contemplated his offer. It would be great to teach the bastard a lesson, but I got the feeling that if he could send us to another world and change us into who we were dressed up as, then I wouldn’t really be able to do much. At least not now.

I shook my head, “No, that’s not necessary. Besides at least he had the decency to send my wife with me.”

My wife smiled and gave me a quick kiss.

"Suit yourself." Symbol suddenly froze. He slowly looked around the area with an ice cold glare.

"What are y-" My question was cut short as he put up his hand to silence me. His head turned to the direction of my wife and he began walking towards her. The instinct to protect her kicked in and I stepped in front of her. He effortlessly pushed me out of the way and placed a hand on her shoulder. He then pushed her to the side and punched a dark being that suddenly showed up behind her.

The creature was sent flying and crashed into a rock. Symbol clenched his fists and purple fire burned from them. "Everyone, get to Ponyville." He began to slowly walk towards the creature.

I ran up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, if there's something dangerous here let me help you." He just looked at me from the corner of his eye.

"That wasn't a request, get to Ponyville, now!" Ashley ran up to him and looked at him worriedly.

"Symbol, let us help with th-"

"DO IT ABIGAIL!!!" He suddenly yelled out, causing all of us to freeze. "OK, so we are going to forget that ever happened, get out of here now!" I looked at him cautiously and turned to everyone.

I glanced at the children that were with us, then said, "Let's go." Everyone nodded slowly and began running towards the town. I looked back to get a good look at the creature. It was made of some kind of dark purple substance, had two yellow circles for eyes and had four tendrils growing out of its back. Symbol and the creature stared each other down before charging each other. When their fists collided a large gust of wind swept across the area as they continued pushing against each other.

Deciding it best to not mess with something with that amount of power I followed my wife and Ashley to Ponyville, where I was going to ask the girl what that thing was and why it tried to attack my wife.

<~~>

When we reached Ponyville, I turned to the visiting Ashley. “So do you have any idea what that was and why the hell it tried to attack my wife?” I asked, some anger seeping into my voice at the thought.

"I really don't. I don't even know why Symbol was that angry at it. I've only been in my Equestria for less than twenty four hours."

“Well, it tries that again and, no matter what Symbol says, I’m going to teach it not to try and harm my wife,” I said.

“Sean, I’m glad that you’ll try and protect me, but don’t do anything reckless,” my wife pleaded. I took deep breaths to keep myself calm. "If it makes you feel better, maybe you can just go check to see if Symbol is OK, and to make sure that creature is dealt with." I nodded and was about to shoot off in the direction of the battle but felt my wife pull me back. "Don't you do anything reckless. Symbol knows more about that thing than you do, so if he spots you and tells you to do something, you do it. Understand?"

I nodded and began running towards the battle. Once I got there I hid behind a rock and peeked over. My eyes widened as I saw the creature trying to crawl away from its foe. Symbol approached it with a death glare cold enough to turn water to ice. He placed his foot on its back and grabbed its head and began to pull. Eventually its head snapped off and it disappeared into a small puff of purple smoke before creating a small purple orb. Symbol picked it up and crushed it effortlessly in one hand. "I told you to go to Ponyville Sean."

I was taken back by his words. "Well, that thing did try to attack my wife, I wanted to make sure that this...thing, was dealt with." Symbol sighed and walked over to me.

"That kind of mindset will get you killed one day, trust me...I know." He shook his head and began walking towards the town. "Come on, everyone is probably worried about us."

I took a second to let his words sink in before running up and stopping him. "Look, I haven't known you long, but I can already tell that you're dangerous." He just looked at me with a neutral glare.

"That's understandable, not many people trust demons." He just continued walking.

"Woah woah, hold up! What do you mean by that?" I asked, confusion filling my mind. ‘Demon?’

"That's none of your concern, come on, we need to get back to Ponyville. And that's final." He stared at me before turning and continued walking.

I gazed after him for a moment, before following him into town. When we returned everyone rushed up to us asking what had happened.

I glanced at Symbol, before answering them. “It’s been dealt with. Symbol took care of whatever it was.” Everyone visibly relaxed at my answer. I was still wondering what the hell that thing was, but I didn’t want to get on Symbol’s bad side anymore than I had, so I kept quiet.

Unfortunately Rainbow Dash didn’t have my reservations as she asked, “What in the hay was that thing?” I slowly turned my head to see a Symbol looking at Rainbow with a slight glare. It was strange, when he showed up he seemed like a nice guy, but after that thing showed up he changed completely.

"Alright, I'll explain what that thing was, but I won't go into massive amounts of detail." He sat down and the rest of us did too. "That was a creature I have come into contact with many times in my life. It's like a parasite, it either enters a world and copies its most powerful fighters abilities or possesses said fighter, using the body as a puppet. It is known only as, and I quote, 'The Nightmare Fuel.' I have already told you that their are multiple Equestrias, and those Equestrias are The Nightmares main target due to the huge amounts of magical energy present in those worlds. As I said, The Nightmare is like a parasite, there are hundreds if not thousands of them lurking around the multiple worlds. Some are pathetically weak, while others are incredibly powerful. The one that showed up here was somewhere in the middle to these strengths."

"So why couldn't we just fight it off?" I asked.

"There is a catch to these things. That catch being only I can completely destroy them. You'd be able to defeat it yes but it would turn into a small purple orb and regenerate."

"How is it only you can kill them?" my wife asked with interest.

"That would be because of my father, a powerful Displacer known as The Author. He encountered a great evil alongside the Nightmare and managed to banish it with the help of his council of Displacers. Author knew that this evil would one day return, so he started preparing. Over the course of millions of years he began developing the ultimate warrior to finally destroy the evil that he could not, that warrior was me."

We all looked to each other in shock.

"Eventually, that great evil did return. It possessed one of my close friends and destroyed one of my other friend's homeworld. I tried to fight it off but ended up close to death. In order to form a plan of action I played dead to think. After my friend was freed from the possession the monster made itself known. In a last minute attempt to save my friends I sacrificed my very soul to perform one last attack, destroying the monster and returning my world to its former glory."

"If that's true how are you still here?" Ashley asked.

"I was fortunate enough to have a tiny piece of my soul find its way into a dimension known as the void. There a Displacer known as Roden Godswell, revived me and made me his pupil." As he finished his tale we all looked at each other with a look of sympathy and confusion plastered on all of our faces.

I sat there for a moment, before sliding a hand down my face. I inadvertently stretched my face, which snapped back in place as I lowered my hand. The others, minus Pinkie who was giggling at the sight, deadpanned at me.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to do that,” I said, smiling sheepishly. “Anyway, I get why you told us to get away from it. If we ever run into one again, whether here or somewhere else, I'll be sure to be extra careful and get ahold of you.” Symbol reached into his pocket and pulled out his token. He placed both his hands on it and it glowed. When the light died down there was another purple diamond in his other hand which he tossed to me.

"That's a copy of my own token, if you need me just use it and I'll come as soon as I can."

I nodded and placed it in my pocket. “So how exactly would we go about making a token so you can get ahold of us for something or if someone else out there needs help?” I asked.

"Just take a small object and focus your energy on it, speak a phrase like what you heard in mine then a small portal will appear. After that just toss it in and wait to be summoned."

I began to think of what to use for a token. After a moment I heard a snap and looked at my wife. She had a pair of fingernail clippers. She clipped off a fingernail and hand the clippers to me. I looked at her in confusion before I remembered something from One Piece. I took them and clipped off a nail. I handed it to her and she placed them in the palms of her hand. She snapped again and two stark white papers appeared where the nails were. We each took our own and tore it in half. She took mine and placed the torn pieces next to each other. She used her magic to meld them together into one piece. She then summoned a pen and drew a jolly roger on it with a fedora on top and a marine symbol behind it.

I grabbed ahold of the paper and focused my energy into it. As I did, my wife and I spoke.

“I am Luffy the Rubber Pirate… I am Tashigi the Magic Swordswoman… if you need anything… whether it's help with a fight… or if you just want to hang out… call us and we will be there.”

I let go, but Ashley seemed to still be concentrating on the paper. After a minute she stopped and nearly collapsed, but I caught her.

“What were you doing?” I asked.

“I wanted it to work like an actual Vivre Card for whoever got ahold of it,” she said. “All they have to do is concentrate on who they want to find and, as long as they are on the same world, it will point them in the right direction.”

I was somewhat surprised she thought that far ahead. I glanced at Symbol. “So all we do is toss it?”

"Hang on." He lifted it up and duplicated it, he placed one in his pocket and tossed the other into a small vortex that had appeared. "There, now you just have to wait to be summoned. Don't worry, if it's a bad time or if you're busy then they won't be able to summon you."

“That’s good. Wouldn’t want to be summoned if we are doing something rather personal or if we are in the middle of a very important event,” I said. “So were you here for the Nightmare or was that just a huge coincidence?”

"Coincidence. I had brought Ashley here to meet another displaced, apparently I can't go anywhere with that damn thing showing up. Oh well, at least he's not here." That last part was said in a quiet voice, but I decided to ignore it, he already told us his story so I'll leave him be.

“Now what?” I asked.

“I get home and start on all mah chores,” Applejack said.

“Yeah and I’ve got my weather duties,” Rainbow Dash said. Everyone started mentioning the things they had to do.

“Pinkie, ya mind waiting until tomorrow to throw Sean and our Ashley their party?” Applejack asked.

She seemed to deflate slightly, but smiled, “Sure. I know everypony has work they have to do.”

“Think of it this way Pinkie. Now you have more time to prepare a party that would be perfect for us,” my wife said.

Pinkie grinned widely, “Good point!” She disappeared in a puff of pink smoke that was shaped like her.

I stared at the spot before I felt my arm being nudge. I looked over to my wife.

“Don’t think about it,” she said. “It’ll save your sanity.” I just nodded numbly as everyone started to head home. I was brought out of my reverie when Ashley spoke.

"Hey, Tashigi used magic earlier right?" she asked. We nodded. "How?"

"Oh, apparently there are Equestrian Devil Fruits, at least here there are, and she ate what we've decided to call the Magic-Magic Fruit or Mahō-Mahō no Mi if you prefer," I explained. "She can use different kinds of magic. So far, she's used chaos and pegasi magic."

"Interesting..." Symbol scratched his chin in thought.

"So what do you guys want to do now?" Ashley asked us. My wife and I looked to each other and shrugged.

"Hey Symbol, you can traverse dimensions right?" my wife asked.

"I can, yes." he responded.

"Well, how about we go see another world, maybe somewhere where we can have a little adventure or something?" Symbol looked at her and shrugged.

"I don't see a problem with it, hold on." My wife, Ashley and I stood in front of Symbol as he closed his eyes and held out his hands. We were enveloped in a bright light and found ourselves in a large hallway filled with doors. "This is what displacers use to find someone to displace and select their Equestria." He began walking along the side of the hallway until he came across a blue door. "You guys ok with an adventure course?"

"You mean like those jungle gyms for kids?" I asked with a raised brow.

"No, have you ever played any of the Sonic The Hedgehog games?" I shook my head but my wife nodded. "We're going to a place with a similar layout to the levels in those. You'll know what to do when we get there." He opened the door and motioned us inside.Once we were inside he shut the door behind us and we were pulled into a vortex. Once on the other side my wife and I gasped. We were in a world made of dark purple crystals, long pathways, huge amounts of obstacles and a few crystalic creatures.

"Welcome to my training grounds. This is a good place to get used to one's powers. There are fighting arenas if you want to have a sparing match, and these long obstacle courses if you're looking to test your agility." Symbol explained as he walked along one of the long pathways and motioned us to follow. "My teacher brings me here often, as it has any kind of training you can think of." He stopped and looked back at me and my wife. "I have noticed a very obvious weakness in you two, and I'm not talking about sea stone or water, it mainly lies in you Sean." He pointed to me.

"What are you talking about?" He walked up until he was in my face and motioned to my wife.

"You are unable to stay calm if she is not around so you can protect her." He then turned to my wife. "Your weakness is that you cannot stay completely calm when he is around. While it is only slight, it can be dangerous. You both need to overcome these weaknesses."

"What are you suggesting?" I asked with ice present in my voice.

"That, right there. You know there is a chance I'm going to ask you two to separate, and you start to become aggressive. What I'm suggesting is that I will take your wife to another area and I will teach her a few things, while you stay with Ashley so you two can hone your skills with your devil fruits, while also teaching you to remain calm while your wife is in danger."

I glared at him and clenched my fist. "Not gonna happen." I snapped.

"I wasn't giving you a choice." He snapped his finger and he along with my wife vanished. A few seconds later Ashley and I appeared in a large arena.

My anger sparked as he blatantly ignored me, however Ashley placed a hand on my shoulder and I looked over to her. Seeing worry in her eyes, I took calming breaths to keep from exploding.

“He’s just trying to help you know,” she said.

I sighed, “I know, but I’ve lost most of my loved ones, so I tend to be protective of my wife.” I grabbed my fedora and gazed at it sorrowfully.

“What happened?” she asked.

I took a deep breath, “My father was in the army and was killed while he was fighting fifteen years ago. About five years after that my mother disappeared without a trace. This hat is all I have to remember them by. They both made it themselves. That’s why I’m wearing it instead of a straw hat, in case you’re wondering. To me, it’s the importance of the hat not what kind it is. Considering our situation I’m glad that I decided on that because if I didn’t there’s no telling what would happen to it back home.”

"What about siblings?"

I shook my head, "I didn't have any. At least not biologically. My wife had a brother I got pretty close to." Ashley seemed to flinch at the mention of a brother. "Something wrong?" I asked.

"Oh, um. It's just...when Symbol displaced me, I was at a convention with my brother and his girlfriend, he was dressed as post-timeskip Franky and she was post-timeskip Robin. He's...the only family I have left, and I'll probably never get to see him again." She wiped a tear from her eye.

"If that's the case wouldn't you be blaming Symbol for separating you guys?"

She shook her head. "I know that the Merchant was at the convention, Symbol saved me from being displaced by him and he possibly had displaced my brother or gotten someone else to. Symbol is a nice guy, he just has an odd way of going about things." I looked at her and sighed.

"Hey, there's been something I've been wondering for awhile now." She looked up at me and tilted her head. "What's Symbols deal with the color purple?" This got her to giggle, I was glad I could lighten the mood a bit.

"Alright, we should probably get to training." I just froze.

"Uh, I'm not normally one for hitting a girl."

"Oh well, that'll make things easier for me then." She smirked and shot a pillar of fire my way, which I barely dodged.

"Oh it's on!"

[POV Change: (Sean's wife) Ashley]

I looked around the area that Symbol had brought me to. It was a long pathway with pits, obstacles and enemies like the levels from Sonic Unleashed... minus the loops, there was even grind rails. "Why bring me here?" I asked him.

"There is a reason I brought you here and sent Sean to the arena. You are capable of defending yourself in tight spaces, but you don't know how to use your agility. Sean is the reverse. He is strongest in large open areas while he will struggle in close combat, and his stretching abilities give him an edge in courses like this."

I nodded, “I suppose I see what you mean. With his stretching he can hit people farther away and, while he’s fought before, he doesn’t have much formal training. I’m more adept with using a sword and fighting right there.” I looked around the area we were at. “So, what should we do first?”

“We should probably get you used to your magic,” he said. “What kinds can you use?”

“I’m pretty sure all of them,” I answered. “As Sean said, I’ve used chaos magic and pegasus so far. Haven’t tried unicorn, earth pony, alicorn (if that’s a separate magic), or any other kinds that there might be.” I didn’t mention dark magic because I was unsure that, even if it didn’t corrupt the user, I’d want to use that kind of magic.

"I couldn't help but notice that you left out dark magic." I immediately froze and looked at him unsure. He studied my body language and gave a small smile. "I see. Very well, we won't go near that for now." I breathed a sigh of relief. "However, you will find that there will be a point where you will be required to use it, whether you want to or not."

I nodded in understanding. There probably would be instances where my hand would be forced, so better to have an understanding of the magic then to blindly cast it.

“What should we work on?” I asked.

“How about fighting without your swords? You may find yourself disarmed and you should know how to fight without them,” he said. He snapped his fingers and several monsters appeared a short distance from us. There were Red Rexes, Nightmares (from the game, not what Symbol dealt with), and Killer Bees. All three were of different sizes and varying speeds. “Try taking all of them out,” Symbol instructed.

I raised a hand and aimed at one of the monsters. I focused my magic into my hand and an orange glow surrounded it. Once I figured there was enough magic, I fired it at one of the Nightmares. My aim was right on target, however the power behind it wasn’t enough to destroy it. The beam just slammed into the monster and pushed him back. The others didn’t react, but the one I’d hit glared at me and started charging.

As it ran, it threw its arm forward, stretching toward me. I sidestepped the strike and grabbed its arm. I then yanked it toward me and charged magic into my hand. When it reached me I uppercut it, releasing the magic stored in my fist. The magic exploded outward, destroying the Nightmare.

Raising my hand again, I took aim and focused the same amount of magic into it as before. However, instead of shooting the Nightmare I aimed at the Red Rex. The small bulldog headed dino burst into purple smoke. Smiling, I took out the rest of the Rexes in a similar manner. I then watched the Killer Bees as they zoomed around in the air.

Focusing on my pegasus magic, I lifted myself off of the ground and charged at them. When I got near, one of the bees shot toward me. I charged toward it as well and tried focusing my magic into my leg. My pegasi magic was cut off, but my momentum kept me going for the moment. I noticed my leg start to glow and kicked the bee into another that flew into it’s flight path. After reactivating my pegasi magic, I heard buzzing behind me and I spun around just in time to see a bee heading at me with its stinger pointed at me. Not being able to dodge in time, I threw my arms up and braced myself for the attack. When nothing happened, I looked down and was shocked at what I saw. I had a hole in my stomach. However, there was an orange glow surrounding it.

I smiled as I realized what this meant. I was a Logia-user. ‘Now to make sure I don’t get overconfident with that,’ I thought. I willed the hole to close and it did. Launching myself forward I started taking the Killer Bees out with quick kicks and punches. After they all were dealt with I looked down at the Nightmares. Sudden inspiration hit as I remembered a game Sean played. I cut off my pegasi magic and started falling. As I fell, I gathered magic into my hands. When I landed back on the ground I slammed my fists down and sent out an orange shockwave of magic obliterating the remaining monsters.

I stood up and dusted myself off, “How was that?”

"Very good, you seem to already have a grasp on your powers. And since this means you can literally do anything you can imagine there isn't much more I can teach you outside of magic balance."

"Magic balance?" I asked with a great deal of curiosity.

"It's when your body is in perfect form, a perfect balance between dark magic and light magic. For many creatures that can use magic they only require one type of magic, mainly light. You on another hand, possess every type of magic from your Equestria. If your body should ever configure itself to only use a set type of magic, then you will be left extremely restricted with what you can do. Regardless of whether your magic is from a devil fruit or not."

“So what should I do to prevent that?” I asked warily.

“Keep using different kinds of magic,” he said. “Don’t just focus on just one or two, switch things up. It’ll also keep your opponents from guessing what you’re going to do.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. What should we do next?”

"Next we will test your agility." Symbol gestured towards a nearby course. "Complete that course as fast as you can, I will be waiting at the finish line to give my judgment." He snapped his fingers and disappeared.

I turned to the course and examined it as much as I could. After examining as much as I could, I started running through it as fast as I could. I decided to refrain from using pegasi magic unless absolutely necessary. Didn’t want to get too reliant on it. As I ran, the monsters charged at me. Since this was to test my agility, I didn’t fight any of them, but instead did my best to dodge their attacks. A few grazed me, but thankfully I focused on phasing through them and was left unharmed. Ahead of me, was a pit that more than likely had spikes at the bottom. I gathered magic into my hands and, when I reached the pit, I fired the magic at the ground, propelling myself over the hole.

Once on the other side, I raced forward and continued through the course. I soon came to a grind rail that was suspended above some kind of purple liquid. I didn’t see any other way across other than to use the grind rail. I contemplated on how to do this, when I had an idea. I took one of my swords and jumped up. Holding onto each end of the sheathe, I used it to slide across grind rail. As I neared the end, I saw a big group of enemies waiting for me. Not seeing another way around them, I tried to think of a way to deal with them quickly. I suddenly had an idea and I began to charge my magic into my sword. When the grind rail ended, I quickly returned the sword to my side and gripped the hilt. After landing on the ground, I slashed sideways releasing my magic outward. The released magic formed an orange slash that cut a path through the monsters. I sprinted through the opening, dodging or phasing through every attack I could. Some managed to nick me, as there were too many to keep track of.

I made a rush for a large pit to gain some momentum. As I jumped I slipped and fell down the hole. I looked down at the spikes that I was eventually going to get to know and started to panic. I looked to my right and saw Symbol quickly grinding down a rail and launch towards me.

He caught me and held me bridal style as he jumped from wall to wall until he reached the top. He landed and set me down. "You OK?" He asked as he knelt down beside me as I lay on my back trying to catch my breath.

"Yeah... sorry I failed the course."

"I never said you'd have to finish the course. I said I would wait at the finish and judge your abilities, and you got further than me when I first attempted this course so there's that." He chuckled as he sat down beside me.

"Really? But you were such a badass when you saved me and you grinded on that rail like you were actually Sonic."

"I wasn't always like that, the first time I grinded on a rail was when I first met one of my brothers, his name is Epidemic. I struggled to keep my balance but I couldn't afford to fall off."

"Why not?"

"There was a giant crystal snake chasing me." I laughed and sat up.

"You seem to have had a few adventures, mind telling me about one?" He put to finger to his chin in thought.

"I don't see why not." I summoned a bucket of popcorn and listened to his tale. "In my Equestria before I fought the great evil I was investigating a cult that had somehow predicted my arrival. I found one of their temples and began searching for an artifact that was supposed to be in the main chamber. After solving a few puzzles I made my way into the main room and the artifact was there. But when I took it, the temple decide to go Indiana Jones on me and started collapsing. I ran along the long hallway I had traveled down and found that the CMC had followed me in there. So I grabbed them and ran from the collapsing ceiling that was chasing me. Then the hallway suddenly started to get longer and the large stone doors that I had entered through started to slowly shut itself as the hallway grew. Now this was before I had any powers or anything so I had to sprint for my life as well as the filly's lives. I can tell you that I barely got out of there as the second I jumped out the door it slammed shut."

"So what did you do with the CMC?"

"I made them clean my house as payment for saving them from their own stupidity."

I giggled at his joke. "I bet Scootaloo was complaining the whole time."

"Oh she was, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle seemed fine with it though. Scootaloo and I never had any real interactions after that though. The only two fillies in the town I ever spoke to on a regular basis was Applebloom and Dinky. Although that would have to be because Dinky's mother was my best friend."

"You were friends with Derpy?"

"Yeah, I didn't get involved with the mane six that much. My friend group was Derpy, Vinyl, Lyra, Octavia and Bonbon. I occasionally hung out with Twilight on missions from Celestia, one of which I had to turn into a pony." I looked at him expectantly. "What?"

"Show me what you look like as a pony." I said excitedly.

He sighed. "Fine." With a flash of light his body transformed. He was now only three feet tall. His fur was dark blue and his mane was grey. His cutie mark was a necklace with the symbol of the sun on it and his eyes were sapphire blue. In a few words, he was adorable. "Happy?"

"Not until I get a cuddle." I picked him up and hugged him like a teddy bear. I had never seen a real MLP pony before as my world was full of anthros. I always wanted to hug one of the ponies and, while I’m sure I’d like hugging one of the anthro ponies, there was something about picking a pony up and hugging them.

"You will tell no one of this..." The adorable grumpy pony in my arms said in a car keys voice, but it was hard to be intimidating with that little body. I slowly reached up to his ear, but before I got close, Symbol said, “Don’t even think about it.”

“You’re no fun,” I pouted slightly and set him down. He changed back to his normal form and arched a brow at me. “What? Sean scratched Dinky behind the ears and she liked it. I wanted to see if it worked on you,” I said innocently.

"Fine, only because Tashigi is my favorite character in One Piece aside from Vivi." He changed back into a pony and I picked him up again. "Just get it over with..."

I smiled slightly, but, even though I wanted to try it, I didn’t really expect much of a reaction out of Symbol. He was pretty serious after all. I started scratching behind his ear and waited to see exactly how he’d react.

His eyes widened a bit and his frown became a straight line. His tail started wagging and his eyes became half lidded. Hard to believe that the big, tough Symbol that had just forced my husband out of his comfort zone and had these great dangerous adventures was now putty in my hands as a little pony. I smiled and began stroking his back slowly, which caused him to smile.

"OK, I think it's time we got back to training." He was about to change back to normal, but I continued hugging him.

"Just let me cuddle you a little while longer."

"OK how about this. If you can disarm me in a sword duel without using your magic I'll let you carry me back to the arena."

"You just like to be held like this don't you?" I asked with a smirk.

"I never got any love as a child just give me this." I looked at him with shock. "Crap..."

"You never got any love in your childhood?"

"Another story for another time, now let's get back to training." He jumped out of my arms and turned back to his human self. I just watched him carefully as I got up and we readied our swords.

[POV Change: Sean]

I dodged another Fire Fist and threw my fist toward Ashley. It was coated in Haki, but it wasn’t complete Armament Haki. She dodged my attack and I quickly retracted my arm. We both stood there panting rather heavily. She’d managed to cause several small burns here and there and a few of my attacks had connected as well. I had no idea how long we were fighting, but it felt like it had been awhile. She suddenly charged forward, her fist alight in flames. I focused on my arm, trying to coat it in Armament Haki. It suddenly glowed and turned the familiar black color. Not wasting time, I charged at her. When we reached each other, we threw our fists forward and they collided. The ground cracked from the force of our strikes.

We were thrown back and we both hit the walls of the arena. We got to our feet and walked out of the dust clouds, staring at each other with determination. I then shot forward and began swinging my fist rapidly. "Gum-Gum..." She yelped and put her arms up with Armament Haki. "...Gatling Gun!" I sent a wave of fists at my opponent with blinding speeds, making it look like my arms had multiplied.

Suddenly my attacks stopped. I looked at my hands and saw that Ashley had grabbed my wrists.

"Clever girl." She smirked and began spinning, causing me to lift off the ground as she turned. She then started slamming me into the ground before throwing me up into the air and sending a huge wave of fire after me.

I wasn't able to get my Haki up quick enough and I suffered some serious damage from the flames. I took in a deep breath and blew the fire away. I swung my head backwards and my neck stretched. "Gum-Gum Bell!" I shot my head towards Ashley and delivered a mighty headbutt. My head stretched back into place and I smirked, until I saw that the spot I had hit had turned to fire. Her face reformed and she looked at me questioningly. "Right, forgot about the Haki for a second there."

She shrugged and launched two fire fists my way. A few minutes later we were both lying in the center of the arena with our arms and legs sprawled out while we breathed heavily. I heard a few clashes and looked over to a platform not to far away from us in the sky. It sounded like someone was fighting with swords. "Well I guess we know where Symbol and my wife went."

Suddenly the sounds ceased. There was a cheer of victory that I assumed to be my wife, and someone congratulating her, who I guessed was Symbol. "Sounds like those two are having fun up there," Ashley said as she sat up.

“Yeah, my wife always did like to fight with swords. Though it was usually with ones that couldn’t cut you in half,” I said, sitting up as well.

“Obviously,” she said. She glanced at me, “So you’re still calm, even though you figure that they’re using actual swords?”

Breathing deeply, I said, “I admit that I’m worried as hell that she might be injured, but there are going to be times where we either aren’t together or we’re separated and I need keep myself under control. If I don’t, others might get injured or worse. And I’m sure that Symbol would do his best to make sure that he didn’t hurt her to bad.” I winced slightly as I tried to stand, “Besides, I’m too sore to try and do anything.”

Ashley giggled before wincing as well, “Yeah, I’m not in much better shape.” Just then two balls of light appeared out of the middle of the arena. A ball floated to each of us and entered our bodies, our injuries healing quickly and our energy returning. "Well...that helps."

I got to my feet and looked up at the platform that my wife was currently on. "He was right." Ashley looked at me confused. "I need to learn how to keep calm when she's not around." I looked to her. "He's been acting different ever since he said the name 'Abigail', any guess on who this person was?"

She shook her head. "I'm guessing she was a close friend or relative, I'll ask him about it later. She was obviously important to him." I nodded and we began walking towards the exit of the arena. We began walking along a long spiral walkway. On the way up we saw my wife walking with something blue in her arms, Symbol was nowhere in sight.

"Hi honey." I greeted her as she reached us. I looked to the thing in her arms and found it was a small pony, which was just adorable with its little grumpy expression while she held it like a teddy bear. "Where's Symbol?" She giggled and pointed to the pony in her arms. Ashley and I just looked at the pony as it blushed slightly.

"It was the only way to get her to train." The pony sighed. "Go on, get it out of your system." We both started laughing. My wife just punched my shoulder with a great deal of force which caused me to stop.

"Ow, what was that for?" I complained.

"It's just that Symbol told me a pretty tragic story from his past and you're laughing at one of his insecurities." She just stared daggers at me as she gently stroked Symbols mane.

"Then why don't you have a problem with Ashley laughing?" I asked gesturing to the girl that was now on her back laughing.

"Personal reasons," Symbol dryly stated. "I'm not telling the story again, let's get you two back to your world." He jumped out of my wife's arms and transformed back into his normal human form. With a snap of his fingers a door appeared and he held it open for my wife and Ashley. As I was about to walk in, he closed it and looked at me.

"Hey! Open the door." I was starting to lose my patience with him. He just inspected me and shook his head.

"Still no improvement." I quickly realized what he meant and I backed off. "This needs to change or you're going to cause more harm than you prevent Sean." He ordered in a stern voice. With that he opened the door and walked through. I walked behind him, thinking about what he had said.

[POV Change: (Sean's wife) Ashley]

As Ashley and I walked through the door, it suddenly closed behind us. We glanced back at it in confusion, but after a minute it opened and Symbol walked through with a stern look on his face.

Sean followed behind him and muttered, “Damn it. This is going to be harder than I thought.” He sighed and stood next to the rest of us. I was somewhat confused about what he was talking about, but decided leave it be.

Symbol held out his hands and we were enveloped by a bright light again. We were back in Ponyville, exactly where we had left from.

“How long were we gone?” I asked.

"Just about three hours." Symbol looked at us. "Be sure to keep practicing your magic and sword skills Ashley." I smiled and nodded. "And Sean, you know what you need to do." My husband nodded and looked at me with a slightly concerned look. "Remember to summon me if another Nightmare shows up. I'll be checking in with you guys a few times in the future. Also, I'm going to go kick the Merchants ass for you two." We both smiled at him and thanked him. "I just want to ask you something before we leave." We looked at him with confusion. "If I kill the Merchant, which I've been meaning to, I can take responsibility for your displacement."

"You don't mean?" I looked at him wide eyed. He smiled and put his hand on my shoulder.

"Yes, if you want, I can become your Displacer."

Sean smiled, “We’d be honored Symbol. You’ve helped us a great deal and you brought something really important to my attention.” He held out his hand, “I hope that we can be friends despite the rocky start we had.” He took my husband's hand and shook.

"OK, when I have killed the merchant you will receive a purple band on your right wrist with a blue sun gem. This will let other Displacers and Displaced know you are under my protection so they won't mess with you, they'll most likely try to help you out." Ashley looked to her wrist and saw a band appear. "OK, I need to get Ashley back to her world, I'll see you two in a bit." He was about to snap his fingers when he stopped. "Oh, and if someone called Epidemic passes through this world, you hide the bands and if he asks you if you know me you say no." We looked at each other confused before nodding. "Good. Goodbye for now."

"Goodbye you two." Ashley gave us a little wave before they vanished.

"That was an interesting and enlightening experience," Sean said.

I nodded, "It sure was. While it really shouldn't be, I was kind of surprised to meet someone with the same name as me. And what are the odds that they were the first Displaced that we met?"

"It was a pretty big coincidence," he agreed.

We began walking back to Ponyville, a few minutes later the bands Symbol mentioned appeared on our wrists and his voice could be heard. "There we go, the Merchant that Displaced you is dead and I am now your Displacer. If you ever need me just use my token or speak into the band while pressing the gem."

The voice ceased and we were left to think about what had happened during the last few hours. It was nice to know someone like Symbol was watching over us. He was very mysterious and threatening, but from what he told me earlier his actions are pretty much justified.

"Well I'm starved after all of that, wanna go get a bite to eat?" Sean asked as he wrapped an arm around me.

"Yeah, that workout really took a lot out of me." He smiled and we made our way to the nearest restaurant in Ponyville.

Author's Note

Crossover with Ashes in the Wind by PyraFlare. Give it a read if you haven't already.

Tour of Ponyville

When we reached the restaurant, I ordered baked tilapia and my wife got spaghetti with red sauce and mozzarella. Thankfully, Celestia gave us some bits, the currency here, to live off of until we find jobs. After Ashley and I finished eating lunch we were walking through town trying to decide on where we would be staying. We'd need more money to be able to stay at a hotel for an extended period of time. We might be forced to ask one of the girls if we can stay with them when we run out of bits.

Ashley suddenly spoke up, "I think we should head over to Rarity's so she can get our measurements."

I was about to say something when I heard a familiar voice call out.

"Sean!!"

We looked over to see Dinky rushing over to us. She came to a stop in front of us, panting slightly.

"Hey Dinky, why are you in such a rush?" I asked.

"I want to introduce you to my Mom," she answered. "And she wants to meet you, as well."

I looked at her in confusion, "Why?"

"Because you saved her daughters?" she said deadpanning slightly, surprising me.

Ashley giggled at her response, "You go ahead and meet her Sean."

"I'm sure you could come too Ash," I said.

"I'll introduce myself later. Besides, I'm pretty sure I know who it is," she said.

"The show?" I asked.

"More fanon, really. I don't know if it really is who I think it is, but I have an idea. I'm going to head over to Rarity's," she said, giving me a kiss. "I'll see you later."

"Alright, lead the way Dinky." She nodded happily and started leading me to her home.

<~~>

As we walked through Ponyville, I kept getting weird, and sometimes fearful, looks from the ponies of the town. I really hoped there wouldn't be a problem with me and Ashley staying here. We soon reached what I assumed was Dinky's family's house, it looked practically the same as the others, though with small differences.

I looked down at Dinky, "So should I knock or are you going to bring her out here?"

"I'll bring her out," she said, opening the door and walking inside.

While I waited, I decided to try and get better at using my Observation Haki. Closing my eyes, I focused on my other senses, trying to feel everything going on around me. As I reached out with my senses, I could feel ponies passing by. For a brief moment, I could sense the confusion and fear that they were feeling, but it quickly disappeared. I still needed more practice to be able to get full control over it. I heard the door open again and someone spoke up.

"Why are his eyes closed?" a voice I didn't recognize asked.

"He might be trying to get better at using his Haki," I heard Amethyst answer. "He'll have to explain it to you, Mom."

Opening my eyes, I saw Dinky and Amethyst's mother. She had gray fur, blonde mane, and her eyes were a golden yellow and, somewhat surprisingly, were looking in different directions. One was looking straight at me, while the other looked off to the right. This was the first time I'd seen a pony with crossed eyes. Something about her seemed familiar, but I couldn't place it. She wore a dark gray shirt with seven bubbles at the bottom right and a blue skirt that went down to her knees. What really surprised and kind of confused me was the fact that she wasn't a unicorn like her daughters.

"It's nice to meet you, ma'am," I said. The three of them seemed rather shocked about something. "What?"

"You're not going to say anything about my eyes?" the gray mare asked, disbelief evident in her voice.

"Your eyes?" I questioned. "Well, they're very beautiful. I've always liked yellow."

This caused the mare to blush, "That's not what I meant."

"If you're talking about how your eyes are pointed in different directions, I don't see the problem," I said.

"Y-You don't care that my eyes look like this?" she asked in surprise.

"Of course not. I'm not going to judge you by how you look," I said, scowling at the thought. I was taken aback when Dinky jumped up to hug me. I looked at the mare to see tears in her eyes. "Is something wrong?"

She shook her head, "No, nothing's wrong."

"Just about everypony makes fun of Mom because of her eyes. It doesn't help that she's kind of clumsy," Amethyst explained. "It doesn't happen all the time, but it does happen at the worst possible time."

"Well then they're just jerks for not getting to know her better. I mean, if you two are any indication, I'm sure that she's a wonderful mare."

Amethyst and Dinky smiled warmly, as the gray mare's blush grew more intense. "I never did introduce myself, I'm Ditzy Doo," she said.

Her name caught my attention. 'Now I remember. Ashley always liked a cross-eyed pegasus named either Ditzy Doo or Derpy Hooves. She had a few shirts and other things involving her.' "A pleasure to meet you Ditzy," I said, tipping my hat. "My name is--"

"My daughters already told me who you are," she said. "And that you saved them."

"It wasn't a problem. I'm glad I was able to keep the changelings away from them."

"Still, thank you for protecting them." She then asked, "Are you staying at Ponyville?"

I nodded, "Yes, me and my wife are moving here. We don't have a place to stay yet." Her ears lowered slightly at the mention of my wife. I was rather confused about it, but brushed it off for now. "We don't have very many bits to rent a hotel room for very long. It's going to take awhile before we have enough to buy ourselves a house."

"You could talk to the Mayor about any job openings in Ponyville," Amethyst suggested.

"I'll talk to them as soon as I can. Ashley and I should probably figure out where we're going to stay when we run out of bits," I said to myself. "I suppose I could ask one of the girls if they don't mind."

"You can stay here until you can afford to get a house," Ditzy said.

I turned to her in surprise, "Really?"

She nodded, "We have a guest room that you and your wife can use. It's the least I can do for you, for saving my daughters."

"You don't have to--"

"I know I don't have to," she interrupted. "I want to."

I stared at her for a moment, then asked, "Don't you have a husband? What would he say if he found out I was staying with you? Even if I am married." Ditzy flinched as tears stung her eyes. Tears appeared in Dinky's eyes as well. Amethyst however, looked very angry.

"Y-You don't have to worry about that. I don't have a husband. I'd rather not talk about it," Ditzy said softly.

'Damn it, I hit a sore spot.' I bowed my head, "I'm sorry Ditzy. I didn't mean to bring up anything painful."

She shook her head, "You didn't know." I waited for her to calm down. Once she had, she asked, "So what do you say?"

I smiled gratefully, but somewhat sadly, "Thank you Ditzy. If you really don't mind, we'd be very thankful." I then asked, "Would one of you mind showing me where Rarity lives? She's going to be making me some clothes."

"I will!" Dinky exclaimed. I glanced at Ditzy, who nodded.

"Alright, Dinky lead the way," I said. I began following the excited little filly through town again.

[POV Change: Ditzy]

"Mom?" Amethyst said. "I saw how you reacted to him saying that he was married. Are you--?"

I sighed, "I'm not entirely sure, I mean he didn't care about my eyes and he treated me like a mare instead of a freak. Not to mention he was willing to give himself up to protect you two, even though he didn't know you." I then said, "He also seemed to get along very well with Dinky."

Amethyst giggled, "Yeah, at the reception the two of them played with each other a good deal."

I smiled, "He did? What did they do?"

"He would pretend to be changeling, while she would pretend to be him and she would 'defeat' him," she said, giggling. "After that she bounced on him like a trampoline."

"She did what?!" I yelled in shock.

Amethyst shook her head, "It's not like you think Mom. It's not really something that can be explained and you have to see it to believe it."

I glanced at her, "OK. Anyway, I'll just see how things develop and figure it out then."

"I suppose that's a good idea, but as I'm sure you noticed, he's from another world, so he might have different beliefs then us," she said.

I nodded, "I know. I'll be sure to be careful." I muttered, "Especially after last time." Amethyst then hugged me, which I returned.

[POV Change: Sean]

I followed Dinky through the town, and we eventually came across a building that looked like it had a carousel at the top. Dinky opened the door and a bell jingled as she walked inside and I entered right behind her.

Rarity walked up and, upon seeing us, motioned for us to follow her. We did and entered where I assume she worked on making clothes.

"Welcome darlings, to Rarity's Boutique," the white mare said.

I looked around the room and, not seeing my wife, asked, "Where's Ashley?"

"Oh, I finished getting her measurements already. I believe Twilight is going to show her some spells that she should be able to use," she answered. "I must say, Ashley is a very buxom woman."

I could feel my face heat up, "Yeah, she is." Ashley may be my wife, but when I'm caught off guard, like now and this morning, I can't help blushing. Shaking it off, I said, "That's nice of Twilight to help Ash."

"Are you kidding? She was absolutely ecstatic to be able to teach someone," she said, giggling lightly. "Now if you'd follow me," she requested, walking behind a screen. I followed her and saw she had a measuring tape in her hands. "I need you to disrobe."

"You what!?"

"Remove your clothes, darling. I can't get an accurate measurement with your clothes on," she said. "And before you freak out anymore, I just mean down to your underwear."

I became less tense at her clarification, but was still nervous. I took off my jacket and tie, then my shirt and pants. I folded them and set them on a chair nearby. I took my hat off and placed it on them. As I stood there in my underwear with a wo-- mare I had just met yesterday, I could feel my face was on fire.

"Don't be embarrassed darling. I've done this plenty of times," Rarity assured me.

"That may be, but I've never done something like this. Especially in front of somepony, much less a mare, I just met," I said.

"I understand darling. Don't worry, I'll make sure you don't feel uncomfortable," she said. I didn't understand what she meant until she lifted the measuring tape in her magic. When she turned around, she gasped, "What happened to you darling?"

I looked at her in confusion, then followed her gaze to the scar on my chest. "Oh, nothing Rarity. This was part of the costume I was wearing and it became real is all," I told her.

She let out a sigh of relief and floated the measuring tape over to me and started measuring. She stood close enough so she could see the numbers, but not too close to where I'd feel uncomfortable. As she worked, she asked, "If I may ask Sean, what is the significance of that hat? I noticed your expression when you thought that it had been crushed."

I winced slightly, I didn't really want to explain that again so soon after telling Fire Fist Ashley. "I'll explain some other time Rarity. I'm sure the others are wondering as well, so I'll tell you then," I said.

She arched a brow, but relented. "Very well, darling. If you don't want to talk about it right now, I'll respect your decision."

"Thank you Rarity," I said.

"Of course, Sean. I'm not going to force you to talk about something you don't want to," she said.

As she continued to measure, I glanced at her white dress and saw the three blue diamonds on its hem. "Hey Rarity, I've noticed that a lot of ponies have some kind of design on their clothes. Does it mean anything, or just a design that they like?" I asked.

She glanced at her dress. "Oh those represent a pony's cutie marks. They appear on a pony when they discover their special talent. Most ponies have it somewhere on their clothes since it's normally covered by clothing," she explained.

"Really? Where do they appear?" I questioned.

"One of two places. Either on a ponies shoulders or their flanks," she answered. Once she'd gotten to my wrist she looked at it in confusion. "Sean, what is that? Ashley had one as well."

"Symbol dealt with the Merchant that had Displaced me and Ashley. This band is to show that he's our Displacer now," I explained.

"I see." She then stepped back, "I'm done darling, you can put your clothes back on. I'll let you both know when your clothes are done."

"Thanks," I said, getting dressed. Once I was done I stepped out from behind the screen. "Dinky would you mind showing me to where the Mayor is?"

"Sure," she said happily.

Rarity followed behind me as I walked to the exit, "She really has taken a liking to you hasn't she?"

"Sure has. Haven't the slightest idea why though. I mean, yeah I saved her, but I don't think this is the normal reaction to that situation," I said. Rarity looked ready to say something when Dinky called back.

"Sean, I thought you wanted me to take you to Town Hall."

I glanced at Rarity, said goodbye, then walked up to the filly. "Sorry, just saying goodbye to Rarity. Let's go," I said.

She nodded and we headed to the middle of town. We came to probably the biggest building in the town. We entered and saw a light brown mare with gray mane and tail with dark blue eyes. She wore a gray suit with a yellow tie and white undershirt and wore a gray skirt. When she saw us, or more specifically me, her eyes widened and she approached us.

"You must be the stallion Twilight told me about," she said. "I'm Mayor Mare."

My mind screeched to a halt. If her name was actually Mayor Mare then that was probably the most specific name I'd heard yet. Shaking myself, I said "First, just for future reference, for humans it's man for me and woman for my wife. Second, she told you about us?"

She nodded, "Yes, she wants us to formally introduce you to the town so they can get to know you a little."

"That would probably be for the best. A lot of ponies have looked at me in fear," I told her.

The Mayor sighed, "I thought we'd gotten past this after we got to know Zecora. Although part of it's probably because we got the news of the changeling invasion and the fact we've never seen somepony like you, same as the changelings, might be putting them on edge."

"Well, hopefully we can sort this out. Where and when is the town meeting going to take place?" I asked.

"It will take place just outside here. There will be a curtain for you and your wife to stand behind until we introduce you. It will happen in an hour so it would probably be best if you stayed here," she answered.

"OK. I wanted to talk to you for minute," I said.

"About what?" she asked.

"If there are any kinds of jobs that me and my wife could do. We'll need a steady flow of income."

"I see, well what can you do?"

"I'm pretty strong. Could probably do some jobs moving things." I smiled happily as I remembered my old job, "I worked at an orphanage in my world."

"You worked at an orphanage?" the Mayor asked.

"Yeah, I always liked children. Ashley can utilize every type of magic here, so she could help pegasi or something. She's also a good cook," I said.

Mayor Mare thought for a moment, then asked, "You protected Canterlot, right?"

"Helped," I corrected. "Granted I fought Chrysalis, but I didn't beat her. Why?"

"Well, it doesn't happen often, but every once and a while something from the Everfree Forest will wander into Ponyville. None of the ponies here really know how to deal with something like that. Twilight is a powerful unicorn and Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Big Mac, and Spartan are willing to fight as well, but they have limits like everypony else. Not to mention they have their own jobs to worry about. Would the two of you be willing to help deal with them if and when it happens?" she asked.

"I wouldn't mind doing that, I'd have to ask Ashley if she wants to," I said. "What about when nothing happens?"

"You'll still be paid since you'll be protecting Ponyville even if nothing happens, although you'll get paid more when you do take care of something. You can look for other work if you want, but if it's a permanent job then you should inform them that you'll be protecting Ponyville and you might have to abruptly leave," she told me.

"Right, I'll be sure to let my wife know."

I spent the next hour just talking with the Mayor about the various odd jobs that are in Ponyville and after that I talked with Dinky. She told me some things about her world that Ashley either didn't mention or hadn't gotten to yet. I told her a few things about our world, but asked her to wait until the town meeting as ponies would most likely ask several questions themselves.

Eventually it was time and the three of us exited the building and I stood behind the curtain. Mayor Mare walked through the curtain and Dinky headed to where everypony else would be. As the Mayor started her speech, Twilight, Trixie and Ashley appeared next to me in a flash of light.

"Hey girls," I said.

"Hey Sean," they said.

"You two ready to introduce yourselves to Ponyville?" Twilight asked.

We both nodded just as the Mayor said, "These two helped fight the changelings that invaded Canterlot yesterday. Some of you have probably seen them walking around, but for those of you who haven't, allow me to introduce Sean and Ashley." The curtains opened and we walked to the podium.

"Hello, everypony. As the Mayor said, I'm Sean Griffin and this is my wife Ashley," I gestured at my wife. "I'm sure you all have some questions, so what would you like to know?" I asked. I saw several hands shoot up. "You with the mint coat and light green and white mane."

"What exactly are you?" she asked.

"We're what's known as humans. As strange as it may sound, we are from another world," I said. "Where we are from magic is nothing but a myth." This caused practically the whole town to gasp in surprise. "We've managed to live perfectly fine though with our advances in technology." I pointed at a pink filly with a light purple mane that had a white stripe through it.

"How could something like you fight against something that could fly and use magic?" she asked condescendingly.

I frowned at her attitude, tone and how she worded her question. I shook it off and shrugged, "A fair question I suppose. Twilight, you wouldn't happen something I could show my strength on do you?"

Before she could answer, Discord suddenly appeared. "I know of a way," he said. He snapped his fingers and a boulder almost as big as the Town Hall appeared a short ways away.

I arched a brow at the draconequus, "Why are you here?"

"I had a feeling there would be an opportunity to cause a bit of chaos," he said. "Not much, but any chaos is good chaos."

Shrugging, I jumped down and walked over to the giant rock. "Twilight you should probably put up a shield," I called back. I walked behind the boulder, so that no one saw me as I stretched my arm to the top of the boulder and pull myself up. I stood up and made sure Twilight put up a shield before I threw my leg upwards stretching it toward the sky. I heard several gasps of shock. "Gum Gum..." I pulled leg down and stomped the boulder as hard as I could. "Axe!!" The boulder was smashed to pieces and I fell with the rubble. When the dust settled I stood up and looked at the crowd. When I saw the looks on their faces, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, even the girls who saw me fight had the same look, I started laughing my head off. I laughed so hard, I fell forward and bounced down the rubble, landing on the ground still laughing. I could hear Discord laughing his ass off as well. Before he vanished, I jumped up and called out, "Hey Discord!" He looked over and appeared next to me.

"Yes?" he asked.

"As I'm sure you know, Pinkie's going to throw us a part tomorrow," I started. He nodded and I continued, "Well, while I'm sure you'd show up anyway, I thought I'd invite you to it."

The draconequus looked at me in shock, "You're inviting me?"

"Yeah, why? You busy or something?" I asked.

"No, it's just that nopony's ever invited me to something before. I usually, like you said, just show up," he said.

"Well, I'm inviting you. So, what do you say?"

Discord smiled, "Wouldn't miss it." He vanished, going... well I have no idea where, but I guess wherever the hell he wanted to.

Ashley teleported next to me, eliciting more gasps from the crowd. "Don't you think that was a bit over the top for a demonstration?" she questioned, a brow arched.

"Discord's the one that brought the boulder here," I said, slightly defensively.

"You didn't have to completely destroy it you know," she said, exasperatedly.

I just shrugged and, after dusting myself off, walked back to the podium. "Anything else?" I asked. I saw a gray filly with a silver mane and purple glasses raise her hand. "Yes?"

"How did you stretch yourself like that?" she asked.

'That question was obviously going to be asked next,' I thought. 'What should I do here? I don't think it'd be a good idea to tell everypony about Devil Fruits.'

Luckily Ashley spoke up, "Unfortunately that's classified until the Princesses decide we can divulge that information."

I sighed in relief, glad that she'd thought of something. She was probably right, that the Princesses didn't want us to tell anyone until they've decided we should or not. We spent the next couple hours answering questions, most of which were about ourselves. Unfortunately, one pony asked what our diet was and we told them that, while I was a vegetarian with the exception of fish, we were omnivores. This made everypony nervous, but Ashley quickly said that she wouldn't do anything to any of them unless in self-defense. She then did several odd movements and said a strange sentence, after she did this she told me it was something called a Pinkie Promise. I have no idea why the whole town visibly relaxed after she made that promise, but whatever works.

Twilight then stepped forward, "Alright everypony, I think that's good for now. If you have any other questions talk to them when either of you has the time." After that, the crowd dispersed. Soon only the Mane Six, Trixie, Spike, the CMC, Ditzy, Dinky, and Amethyst were still there.

"Thanks, Twilight.," I said.

She smiled, "It wasn't a problem. I'm sure you two are somewhat tired after training with Symbol and that other Ashley."

"A little," my wife confirmed.

"Oh, Ashley, the Mayor offered us a job protecting the town from anything that might threaten it. I accepted, but I said I'd ask you," I told her.

"That's sounds good, but what about when nothing happens?" she asked.

"She said that we'd still get paid, but we'll be paid more when something does happen. We can also take on odd jobs or get another job, but to be sure to explain to them about protecting the town," I said.

Ashley nodded, "Right, I'll talk to her in a minute. Do we know where we're going to stay?"

Ditzy and her daughters walked up to us. "Ditzy offered to let us stay in the guest room at their house for saving Dinky and Amethyst."

"So it was her," she muttered. Ditzy looked at her in confusion.

"Does this have something to do with what you showed us in Canterlot?" Amethyst asked.

"A little. I'll explain later. Thank you Ditzy, for letting us stay with you," Ashley said.

"It's the least I can do," Ditzy said.

"I'm going to talk to the Mayor real quick. I'll be right back," my wife said entering Town Hall.

I looked at everyone and asked, "There anything you all want to do when she gets back?"

Before anyone could answer, the Princesses suddenly appeared in a flash of golden, cyan, and cobalt light.

As the others bowed, I looked at them in surprise, "Princesses?"

Nightmare Moon and Luna arched a brow, and Nightmare asked, "Why didn't you bow?" She didn't sound upset, just curious.

I blinked several times before shrugging, "Sorry, not really used to the whole royalty thing."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Where I'm from we have a President who's elected by the people of the U.S. Just about anyone born in America can become the President," I explained. "So, even if someone met the President, no one would bow to them."

"Is it the same with everypony?" Trixie asked.

"Everyone. And no, pretty much everywhere was different," I answered.

"Ah, I see. Well, you don't really have to bow, I was just wondering why you didn't," Nightmare Moon said.

"Though if there are nobles or other royalty present, I'd suggest bowing," Luna advised.

I nodded, "Of course." I glanced at the three of them and asked, "So what are you doing here?"

"Twilight wrote to us about the two, Displaced I believe she said they were called?" Celestia said.

"Displaced and Displacer actually," I said. "Symbol's a Displacer who Displaced Ashley to a different Equestria than this one."

"A different Equestria?" the Sun Princess asked.

"Yeah, seems like the multiverse theory's true, at least for Equestria. Judging from Symbol's reaction to Twilight, the Equestrias he's been to were where everyone is like the show Ash showed you all," I said. "Each Displaced is sent to an Equestria. Most by the bas-- *ahem* guy that sent me and Ashley here, but there are some who are lucky enough to have Displacers that would or could help them if they ever needed it."

"That's certainly an interesting story," Luna said. "How did they get here from their Equestria though?"

I was about to say something when I felt a tug on my hat. "Did someone just pull on my hat?" I asked. Everyone shook there heads. I grabbed my hat and pulled it around so I could look at it. I was surprised to see a police badge with a dog on it and had 'Police' along the top. Reaching into my hat I pulled it out.

I am Anubis Cruger, the Shadow Ranger. Should you need my aid, or merely my counsel, call on me. But be warned, you, as well as your foes, shall face my Judgment.

'Anubis Cruger? I'm pretty sure he's from one of the Power Ranger shows if I remember correctly,' I thought

As I stared at the badge, Ditzy asked, "Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. Just another token."

Ditzy and the Princesses looked at me in confusion, but the others 'ah'd' in understanding. "Like that diamond that Symbol gave you?" Dinky asked.

"Exactly, Dinky," I said. At that moment, Ashley walked out of Town Hall. "Hey, Ash. Just found another token," I told her, holding up the badge.

"You did? Where was it?" she asked.

"Landed in my hat oddly enough," I said. "Said his name was Anubis Cruger."

"Like Egypt Anubis?" Ashley asked.

I shook my head, "I'm pretty sure he's from Power Rangers."

"Ah, I never watched those before," she said. She noticed the Princesses and asked, "Why are you three here?"

"Twilight told them about our little encounter," I told her.

Ashley rolled her eyes, but smiled, "Of course she did. Did she explain everything that happened?"

"She could only explain so much on a scroll," Nightmare Moon said dryly.

Ash blushed slightly, "Right, well I suppose we should probably explain."

We started explaining to the Princesses about the token that appeared and how they are used to summon Displaced. We then explained to them about the Nightmare. The Princesses were unnerved such a being existed, but I assured them that Symbol had dealt with it. We told everyone about what the four of us did after the others went to take care of things they needed to do. Twilight and Trixie seemed very interested in how we went to, not really another world, but a different realm. Rainbow Dash, Applejack, the CMC, and Spike on the other hand were really interested when we started to describe our fights and the course Ashley went through.

"That's about everything," I concluded.

"That's quite the tale," Nightmare said.

"You mentioned things called tokens?" Luna asked.

I took out the diamond and held it and the badge up, "These are tokens. I know they don't look like much, but the others can confirm that these are used to summon Displaced." The Princesses looked at the others and they all confirmed that I was telling the truth. "My wife and I also created a token, so if we suddenly disappear, that could be one reason why."

"I see," Celestia said. "Well, when and if you see Symbol again, tell him that my sisters and I are grateful that he took care of such a dangerous being." I nodded. "Thank you. We must be heading back everypony. Can't leave Canterlot unattended for too long." With that they teleported back to Canterlot.

"Is there anything you all want to do?" Ashley asked looking around.

"Oh, I'll show you around Ponyville," Pinkie exclaimed. Grabbing my wrist she took off. However, that's all she took as I stayed at Town Hall. Much to everyone's amusement, Pinkie continued rushing through town even though she ducked under my stretched out arm. She eventually stopped in front of me, facing the other way. "And that's Ponyville."

I stepped forward, "Pinkie!" She jumped and whirled around to face me. She then looked at her hand and saw my arm stretched out. A wide smile spread across her face. "Pinkie don't--" But it was too late, as she already released my wrist and it began retracting back to me. Luckily I didn't feel my hand connect with anything, so I don't think I accidentally hit anyone.

When it finally snapped back, Pinkie spoke up, "I just remembered the Cakes were too busy to come to the meeting. We could introduce you to them. They run Sugarcube Corner where I work."

Ashley nodded, "I'd like to meet them. I'd also like to see how good their desserts are."

Everyone nodded there heads in agreement, except Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, and Applebloom, who took off saying they were going to try and get their cutie marks. The rest of us started heading to Sugarcube Corner.

As we walked, Rarity spoke up, "So, Sean will you answer what I asked earlier?" When I glanced at her, she shrugged slightly, "All of us are here, so I was just wondering if you were willing to talk about it. As I said before, however, if you don't feel like it you don't have to darling."

I sighed, "I suppose it'd be better sooner than later." I addressed Trixie, Ditzy, Amethyst, and Dinky. "First, since you weren't there I'm going to explain what happened." I told them about what had happened when we had split up after breakfast that morning. They were surprised that I was squashed, but remained unharmed. Although after seeing me stretch earlier they didn't ask any questions. "After that, I realized that my hat might have been destroyed and panicked slightly."

"I was wondering about that," Twilight said. "But at the time I was rather distracted."

"I can imagine," Trixie said, still surprised from what I'd told her.

"Right, so the reason I was so panicked about it being okay was because, well, it's the only thing I have of my parents," I said. Everyone was silent at this. "They made this hat themselves, so it's very precious to me."

"...What happened to them?" Amethyst asked tentatively.

"My dad died while serving in the army," I said. They gasped when I said he'd died, but were confused when I said army. "They protected their country from anyone that would try to invade and would also fight for others freedom," I told them. "My mother disappeared five years after that. I don't know what happened to her. If she's still alive or she passed away," I finished, feeling tears starting to well up. I suddenly felt myself being hugged by everyone. They all had tears in their eyes as well, even Rainbow Dash was tearing up. I smiled and hugged them all back. After a few moments, we continued heading to Sugarcube Corner. "So after we introduce ourselves to the Cakes, what should we do next?" I asked, trying to get their minds off of what I'd told them.

They thought for a moment. "How about an actual tour of Ponyville? And walking through town instead of running through it," Twilight suggested.

"That sounds like a good idea," I said. We eventually came to a building that looked like a giant gingerbread house with two cupcakes on top. Unable to help myself, I asked, "There aren't any witches here are there?" The others looked at me in confusion, while Ashley rolled her eyes with a small smile.

Pinkie giggled, "Nope! And nopony named Hansel or Gretel has ever visited either."

I smiled at the pink mare. While it was fun to mess with the others, I was glad that not only Ashley was getting what I was talking about. I still found it a bit odd, but it would be fun being able to go back and forth with Pinkie Pie. I entered the building alongside Ashley and was surprised to see the whole inside looked like it was made of desserts. Behind the counter a tall, lanky stallion with a yellow coat, orange mane and had green eyes. He wore a white jacket with an apron tied around him. Walking around the store was a somewhat short, plump mare with a light cerulean coat, rose colored eyes, and two-toned light crimson mane and tail that swirled slightly. She was wearing a yellow dress, as well as a pale yellow apron. They both paused when they saw me and Ashley.

At that point, Pinkie suddenly appeared next to us. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Cake. These are the two that the town meeting was about. Since you two were busy I thought it would be a good idea to introduce them to you. This is Sean and his wife Ashley. They are from another world where some meanie sent them here away from there friends and family. They helped us fight the changelings that invaded Canterlot a couple days ago. They're going to be staying in Ponyville with Ditzy and her family," she said without taking a breath.

The two ponies just stared as they tried to process the immense amount of information Pinkie just dumped on them. A familiar sound near my feet got my attention. Looking down I saw two foals looking up at me. One was a tan pegasus with a brown mane and tail and dark brown eyes. The other was a light yellow unicorn with an orange mane and bright azure eyes.

I smiled at the sight of the two foals. I knelt down, "Hello there." They looked at me for a moment before smiling and giggling. Grinning, I grabbed my cheeks and stretched them out, before letting them snap back into place. The two foals let out shrieks of delight and clapped their hands. I chuckled, "You two are just adorable." I looked up to see the Cakes looking at me in shock. "You're probably wondering how I did that, right?" They nodded numbly. "Well--"

I was interrupted by Pinkie saying, "He's made of rubber because of a strange fruit called a Devil Fruit. Each fruit has a different power to them. Ashley ate one as well and can use every type of magic." Her eyes widened and she looked at me in slight worry, "Oh no, I wasn't supposed to tell anypony that was I?"

I looked around and was thankful that there wasn't anyone here. I then looked at the foals at my feet. "Are these their foals?" I asked. The three ponies nodded. "Then it's probably a good idea to explain it to them so that they can keep these two away from any Devil Fruit should they somehow come across them."

"So why didn't you tell the town about them?" Twilight asked.

I arched a brow at her. "And tell the fillies and colts they could get what were practically super powers if they found one?" I questioned. She blinked several time then smiled sheepishly. "I don't know about the other foals, but I think Dinky knows to not eat them."

"Are Devil Fruits dangerous?" Mrs. Cake asked.

"Not dangerous per se. Eating one gives you a power depending on the fruit that you eat. Pinkie already told you about our powers. The dangerous thing is that it makes it to where the one who eats it can't swim anymore. Even a professional swimmer would lose their ability to swim," I told them. "You don't care about having powers, right Dinky?"

She shook her head, "I like swimming anyway."

I chuckled at her response. "Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Cake," I started.

"Please you can call us Carrot and Cup if you want," the stallion spoke up.

I was about to ask him to clarify when Ashley whispered, "The stallion is Carrot and Cup is the mare."

"Thanks Ash. You think you could make a replica of a Devil Fruit I could show them?" I asked. She nodded and snapped her fingers. A replica of the Gum-Gum Fruit appeared in my grasp. I walked up to the couple. "They don't all look the same, but you can usually identify a Devil Fruit by the swirls on it and the curled stem," I explained. "So if they somehow get a hold of such a fruit, I'd get it away from them."

"Thank you for letting us know," Cup said. She picked the foals up and walked into the back room.

"Is there anything we can do for you?" Carrot asked.

"I'd like to try one of your cupcakes," Ashley requested.

"I would like to try one too," I said. He nodded and handed us each a cupcake. Taking the pastry, I took a bite and was shocked by the taste. "I think that's the most delicious cupcake I've ever had," I said, savoring the flavor as I ate it. Ashley nodded enthusiastically.

"Thank you," he said.

"What are your foal's names, if you don't mind me asking," I asked.

"The unicorn filly is Pumpkin and the pegasus colt is Pound," Carrot answered.

I snickered in my mind at the thought, 'Pound Cake, Pumpkin Cake, Carrot Cake, and Cup Cake. And they have a Pie working for them.' I snorted internally, 'Ah, this world.'

"Do any of you dearies want anything?" Cup asked, exiting the back room.

"No, thank you Mrs. Cake. We just came to introduce you and Mr. Cake to Ponyville's two new residents," Twilight said.

"Well, it was nice to meet the two of you," Carrot said.

"Nice to meet you too," Ashley and I said. After saying our goodbyes we exited the building.

"I'll see you guys tomorrow!" Pinkie called after us.

"So, how should we start the tour?" I asked.

"How 'bout we start with Sweet Apple Acres?" Applejack suggested. "I need to head back and after that ya'll can head on over to Fluttershy's. They are the farthest locations, so it would get them out of the way."

"I need to get back to my animals, so I'd like to do that, if you don't mind," Fluttershy said timidly.

"Sounds like a plan," I said.

We made our way to the farm. She wasn't kidding when she said it was good distance away from Ponyville. It took probably twenty minutes to walk there. When we reached it, I was rather surprised by the size of the farm.

"It's not just you and Applebloom here is it?" I asked as we walked through the farm.

"Oh no. There's our big brother, Granny, as well as our Ma and Pa," Applejack said. Ashley looked slightly surprised when she mentioned her parents, but I seemed to be the only one to notice. "There they are now," she said pointing ahead of us.

Following where she was pointing, I saw four ponies. One was a old green mare with her white mane in a bun with orange eyes. She wore an orange shawl with red polka dots a light yellow shirt with an orange skirt. She also had an apron with a pie stitched onto it. Standing to her left was a red stallion that was bigger than even Shining Armor. He had an orange mane and green eyes. He wore a red and orange checkered shirt and jeans with half a green apple on it. Standing on the older mares right were two individuals, who I assumed were Applejack's parents. The stallion was a lighter red than his son with blonde mane and blue eyes. He wore a light blue jacket, dark orange shirt and jeans. On his jacket was a red apple half similar to his son. The mare was a brighter yellow than Applebloom, with an orange mane and green eyes. She wore a red sundress with two green apples just below her waist.

Applejack ran ahead of us and greeted her family. As we reached them, Applejack gestured to us and said, "These are the two I was tellin' ya about. This is Sean and his wife Ashley."

"It's nice to meet ya'll," the older stallion said. "I'm Spartan and this is mah wife Anna. This is mah Ma Granny Smith and our son Big McIntosh, though we all call him Big Mac."

"It's nice to meet the rest of Applejack's family," Ashley said.

"Right, the two of ya already met Applebloom, right?" Anna asked.

"Indeed we did ma'am," I said.

"You can just call me Anna, Sean," she said. "Same with my husband, right?"

He nodded, "Yes, please call me Spartan."

"Very well," I said. I looked around at their farm. "I know you said Sweet Apple Acres, but I wasn't expecting an apple farm almost the size of the town."

"I don't know if it's that big, but it is a big orchard," Anna said.

"I hate to cut this short, but we are getting ourselves used to Ponyville, so that we don't have to always ask for directions," I told them. "Plus, Fluttershy needs to get back to her animals. Right Fluttershy?" The timid pegasus nodded shyly. "It was nice to meet you all."

"It's fine, sonny. And it was nice to meet ya too," Granny Smith said. She held out a basket of apples. "In case, ya'll get peckish on your tour of Ponyville and so the two of ya can sample some of Equestria's finest apples."

"Thank you," I said, taking the basket. I took one of the apples and took a bite. My eyes widened at how fresh and crisp the fruit was. "Mmm, that is the best apple I've ever had."

All of the Apples smiled at me. "Glad that ya think so," Spartan said. "Hope to see the two of ya again sometime."

"Same here," Ashley said as we left.

We started heading toward Fluttershy's house. After about ten minutes, we reached a small cottage that was at the edge of a forest. The cottage's roof looked like it had grown over the building. I was surprised at all of the wildlife that surrounded her home. I saw all manner of birds, squirrels, rabbits, ferrets, there was even a bear!

"You take care of all these animals?" I asked in surprise.

Fluttershy nodded, a bright smile on her face. "Yes, I do. I just love animals," she said. A carrot suddenly flew towards her, but I quickly snatched it out of the air. We looked down to see a white bunny that looked very irritated and was tapping his foot impatiently. "Oh, hello Angel. Sorry, we were giving Sean and Ashley a tour of Ponyville."

As the bunny glared at me and my wife, I couldn't help but think, 'That bunny has the most ironic name in this world and he isn't even a pony. Little bastard should be called Demon or Devil.' I walked toward the rabbit and knelt down. "Now that wasn't very nice. Fluttershy here takes care of you and you throw a carrot at her for helping someone?" Angel continued to glare at me and I glared right back. That was when something strange happened. Almost immediately Angel's ears lowered and he looked at me in slight anxiousness. This confused me a great deal. I looked up and saw that all the animals had the same look as Angel. I stood up and scratched my head in confusion.

"Sean?" Twilight spoke up. I turned around saw that everyone was looking at me in shock. "What was that?"

"What was what?" I asked in bewilderment.

"I think you just used the Conqueror's Haki, dear," Ashley said.

My eyes widened in surprise, "Really?"

She nodded, "I felt it pass over me. It wasn't enough to knock us out, but it was strong enough that we could feel it."

I was stunned. I had not expected to use the Conqueror's Haki for awhile, even by accident.

"What's Conqueror's Haki?" Trixie asked.

"That sensation you felt," I told her. "It allows someone to exert their will over others. Depending on how much is used, it can either intimidate, like what just happened, or used to knock someone out."

"You can knock ponies out?" Ditzy asked in shock.

"Only those with weak wills," I said. "Anyone with a strong will, like the Princesses most likely, would be unaffected. They'd still feel the sensation, but how they'd react would be different." I glanced at everyone, "Once I'm able to use it when I want, I could use it on you all and you could find out if you have a strong will or not." Most of them looked rather unsure of what I suggested. "I'm not saying you have to, it's just that there will likely be those that are able to use Conqueror's Haki and I thought it would be a good idea to find out who could withstand it and who couldn't. Again, you don't have to, I'm just asking you to think about it." They all nodded their heads. "Right, where to next?"

"We've been to Rarity's, Applejack's, Fluttershy's and Pinkie's," Ashley listed off.

"When did we see where Pinkie lived?" I asked.

"She stays with the Cakes," she explained.

"Well, I can show the two of you my house some other time since it seems to be getting kind of late," Rainbow suggested.

We looked at the sky and saw that the sun was getting low. "Good idea," I said. "I guess we'll see you all tomorrow." Rarity and Rainbow Dash said there goodbyes and left. Twilight, Trixie and Spike however stayed with us. I looked at them in confusion. "Is something wrong?"

Twilight shook her head, "No, it's just that the library is on the way to Ditzy's so I figured we'd walk together."

"Sure," I said. We started walking back.

As we walked Ashley spoke up. "I'm sure you'll absolutely love the library," she said. I arched a brow at her, but continued walking.

We soon came to a tree that had windows and a door built into it. As we approached it, I just stared at it for a moment before asking, "You're not serious are you? That's the library?"

"Yes that's it," Ashley answered, a small smile on her face.

"Oh, come on, that's just cruel," I said, while laughing. They all just rolled their eyes. "Good night, Twilight, Trixie, Spike," I said.

"Night," they said, walking into the building.

Ashley and I followed Ditzy and her daughters back to their house to get some rest. From what little Ash told me about Pinkie's party's, we'd need it.

Pinkie Party

[POV: Carrot Top]

I was rushing through Ponyville in a panic. I'd gotten the news that Canterlot had been invaded. There weren't any deaths or foalnappings, but that didn't mean there weren't injuries. Amethyst and Dinky were in Canterlot at the time of the invasion and I was terrified that something had happened. Ditzy hadn't contacted me to say anything bad had happened, but I hadn't received word that they were okay either. As such, I was running through town, desperate to know that they weren't hurt. When I finally reached her house, I raised my hand to knock when the door swung open. I was surprised that the door suddenly opened, but not as surprised as when I saw what was in the doorway. Standing in front of me was a strange stallion that looked like an earth pony except without any fur and his muzzle was flat.

"So, I did feel somepony approaching. I'm getting better, but it's still going to take time to get at the level Luffy was at," he mumbled to himself.

Snapping out of it, I yelled, "Who are you and where's Ditzy?!"

He stared at me for a minute, before leaning back and calling out, "Hey, Ditzy! There's somepony here to see you!" He walked back inside, leaving me very confused and a little put out. "Oh, and Ditzy? Thanks for washing our clothes. I'm sure it's still going to be a day or two before Rarity has any clothes for us."

"It wasn't a problem, Sean." Ditzy walked into the door way and looked surprised to see me. "Carrot Top? I thought you wouldn't be back from Fillydelphia until tomorrow." There was a shout of laughter from the stallion causing us both to jump.

"Sean, what in the world are you laughing at now!?" a mare's voice called out.

"She said Filly-delphia," he shouted back.

"Are you going to laugh every time you hear something from our world?" I heard Amethyst ask.

"Not every single time it's said, but probably the first time I hear it," he answered.

"Ditzy what's going on?" I asked, thoroughly confused.

She'd been listening with a smile on her face before she turned to me. "That was Sean. He helped Amethyst and Dinky during the changeling invasion," she said.

"He helped them?" I asked. She nodded. "And who was that other voice?"

Sadness appeared in her eyes, "His wife, Ashley."

'Is Ditzy..?' I shook myself, "So, what, he said you could pay him back by letting them stay here?"

"Actually, I offered to them to stay with us until they can afford their own place," she said.

I was stunned. That she'd let any male, even if he was married, stay in her house after what had happened with the last stallion that she'd gotten close to, was hard to believe. "You offered to him?" I asked, disbelief evident in my voice.

She nodded, "Yeah, I kind of surprised myself with that. But, I mean, he protected Amethyst and Dinky, he and Dinky get along rather well, and he didn't make fun of my eyes. Hay, he said they were beautiful." She blushed slightly as she said that.

'She has. She might not of realized it yet, but I can tell she's at least is starting to fall for this stallion,' I thought. 'He'll have to deal with me if he hurts her like the last bastard did.'

"Come on in Carrot. We're having breakfast and I'm sure that the girls would love to see you," Ditzy said. "And since you're here, you can make it to Pinkie's welcome party."

"Right because of the two new residents," I said as I entered the house.

We walked to the kitchen and were confused when we heard music start playing. When we reached the kitchen we were surprised to see Sean was singing while he cooked. Ditzy and I stood there, shocked at the song he was singing. When he finished singing, all of us, Ditzy, Amethyst, Dinky and I, just stared at him. A sudden flash of light snapped me out of it. I turned my attention to where the flash had originated and saw a female of whatever species Sean was, she even had a black mane like he did.

She walked up to the stallion and gave him a kiss. "Talking about your father yesterday brought some things up didn't it?" she asked.

He nodded, "Yeah. I'm fine, but thought I'd sing the song in honor of him and other soldiers, you know?"

"Of course," Ashley said with a sad smile.

Ditzy, Amethyst, and Dinky were all looking at him in sadness as well. Judging from the some of the lyrics from the song and the sadness that permeated the room, I could guess what had happened and felt bad that something like that had happened.

"Where'd that music come from?" Sean asked, probably trying to chase away the gloom, but also looking genuinely confused. "I wasn't using my iPod."

"That's some more of the magic of Equestria," Ashley answered.

"So, I don't have to use my iPod?" he questioned.

"Not all the time, but if you are able to I would use it," she suggested.

Amethyst spoke up, asking, "That place you mentioned in the song, the USA, is that where you are from?"

"That's right. It stood for the United States of America," he said.

"United States?" Dinky questioned, tilting her head slightly.

"Yes, the US is fifty states that are united together. The President I mentioned yesterday is our leader," he said.

"Wait, they aren't your ruler?" I asked.

"Nope. In fact, just about anyone could become President as long as they were born in the US, lived there for 14 years and be at least 35 years old," he said. "Their sons or daughters don't inherit the title, but have to run for President and be elected if they want to be the President."

"Hey, Sean," Ashley spoke up. She snapped her fingers and a package appeared on the counter near the stove. "You mind cooking some of that?"

"Sure. You don't mind if I use a frying pan for this do you Ditzy?" he asked.

"It's fine. Why are you asking, though?" she questioned.

"It's meat," he stated simply.

"It's what!?" I shouted.

"Oh, yeah. They're omnivores, Carrot," Ditzy said casually. "Though Sean's a vegetarian with the exception of fish."

"And you're all okay with her eating meat in front of you?" I asked.

She shrugged, "Don't see what the problem is. Sure I'm a little uncomfortable about it, but I'm not going to force her to only eat it when we aren't with her. She needs it to stay healthy."

"If you're worried about her eating it in front of Dinky and me, then you don't need to," Amethyst spoke up. "I mean, some ponies have carnivorous pets, so it's not strange for some shops to carry meat. And if it's our safety you're worried, then you should know that she Pinkie Promised that she wouldn't harm anypony unless it was in self-defense."

I calmed down slightly at that. Nopony would break a Pinkie Promise.

"OK, am I missing something?" Sean said. We all looked at him. "First the whole town calms down when she makes that promise and now Carrot Top here calms down when she learns that Ashley made the promise after practically freaking out."

"It's not something that can be explained Sean," Ashley said. "Just be sure that if you make a Pinkie Promise, you keep it." We all nodded in agreement, though I wondered how she knew how serious a Pinkie Promise was.

He looked at us all dubiously, before shrugging, "Alright, if you all are going to be so serious about it, I'll be sure to keep that in mind." He took the meat out of the pan and placed it on a plate.

"What is that anyway?" Amethyst asked, curiously.

"Bacon," he answered. "It comes from a pig if that's your next question."

"Bacon? You mean like hay bacon?" Dinky asked, causing Sean to snort.

"I suppose," he said, grinning. "Except this is meat not hay. So watch which one you grab," he warned. He then lifted the pan and looked at his wife. "Ash?" She summoned a glass bowl. "Thanks." He proceeded to pour a clear yellow liquid into it and set the bowl on the counter.

"What's that?" Dinky questioned.

"Bacon grease. Pretty much the fat from the bacon. It's unhealthy as heck, but gives things a great taste when you use it to cook with. For example using the juice from chicken to cook rice is pretty good," he explained.

"I thought you only ate fish?" I asked.

He rolled his eyes, "It's not like I'm eating the meat. I'm probably different than others, but to me, as long as I don't eat the meat it's fine."

A timer went off and Sean went to the oven, as the rest of us sat down and I looked at the food he had prepared. There were pancakes, hash browns, normal hay bacon, several kinds of chopped fruits in a bowl, scrambled and sunny-side up eggs, and some crescent shaped bread.

"What are these?" I asked grabbing the bread.

"Crescent rolls," Ashley answered. "They're flaky rolls that are very good." She turned to Sean and asked, "What's in the oven?"

"Figured if someone wanted something sweet," he started, placing a pan on the counter. He took a pair of tongs and started placing something on plate. He turned around and I was surprised at what was on it. "That muffins would be good. I made blueberry, chocolate, and, using the apples Applejack's family gave us yesterday, apple strudel." He placed the plate on the table.

Ashley giggled, "You just earned several points with a certain mare."

Sean looked at her in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Mom really loves muffins," Dinky said, giggling as well.

He blinked several times before smiling. "Well, I'm glad I made something you really like. Do you have a favorite kind?" he asked.

We all tensed slightly and glanced at Ditzy. She looked like she was having an internal debate with herself.

Sean noticed this, and asked, "You like them all don't you?" Ditzy nodded somewhat hesitantly. "It's fine Ditzy. There's nothing wrong with that. I actually feel the same way about cookies. They each have a different taste, sometimes different textures, and there are a great variety of them. Only liking one of them out of the great many flavors isn't an easy thing to decide."

All of us, minus Ashley who was smiling at him, were rather shocked to see that someone that had the same thoughts Ditzy had towards muffins. Well, besides Pinkie, but she loved all manner of desserts.

He glanced at us, "What?"

"N-nothing, it's just that not many ponies understand Ditzy's love of muffins," I said.

Sean shrugged, "Like I said, I feel the same way about cookies. Now let's eat before everything gets ice cold."

With that, we started eating the food laid out on the table. As we took a bite of the pancakes, we all let out moans as we tasted the delicious flat cakes.

"What are these made with?" I asked. "They're delicious."

"Malt," Sean answered. "It's difficult to explain what exactly that is."

"It's delicious, so who cares?" Amethyst spoke, getting nods from Dinky and Ditzy.

As we ate, Amethyst and Dinky told me about how Sean had protected them from the changelings. From how he tackled three of the changelings that were advancing on them to the ground to how he'd given himself up so they could get away. That he would do something like that for ponies that he knew absolutely nothing about surprised me a good deal.

After we finished breakfast, Sean stood up and was about to start gathering the dishes when they were surrounded by an orange glow and lifted off the table. He glanced at Ashley, whose hands were surrounded in the same glow.

"You made breakfast Sean. Let me take care of the dishes," she said. He nodded and let her take the dishes.

"Sean, do you mind taking Dinky to school for me?" Ditzy asked, slinging a mail bag over her shoulder. "I normally would, but I took a couple days off, so I have to go to work now."

"Sure, I'll take her," he answered.

"Thank you," she said, leaving the house.

He turned to the filly and asked, "When's school start?"

"It's still going to be a couple hours," Dinky answered.

"There anything you want to do until then?" he inquired.

Dinky thought for a moment before asking, "Can we go to the park and just play?" Sean nodded and she smiled, "I'll grab my saddlebags, so we can just head to school from the park." She darted upstairs and, when she came back down, Dinky and Sean left the house.

I turned to Ashley and asked, "How are you able to do magic? You don't have a horn like unicorns." As she started washing the dishes, she explained to me about her magic and what Sean was capable of doing.

[POV Change: Sean]

When Dinky and I reached the park, there were several foals about playing until school started. They played hide-and-seek, tag, and other games with each other. I played a few times with them at their insistence. After about an hour of playing, Dinky and I sat down on a bench and we listened to some of the music on my iPod and I showed her a few of the games, as well.

When there was only a half hour until school, I started following Dinky through town as we made our way to her school. I suddenly felt like something was heading toward us and I could hear a faint buzzing sound. Scooping the filly in front of me up, I jumped to the side just as something shot passed us. I was glad that I'd decided to keep my observation haki activated, not only to get better at it, but also in case something happened. I set Dinky back on the ground before turning my attention to what had nearly run us over. I was rather surprised to see Scootaloo riding a scooter with Sweetie Belle and Applebloom sitting in a wagon attached to it. Scootaloo stopped and turned toward us.

"Sorry about that!" she apologized.

I walked up to them. "You should be more careful Scootaloo. If Ditzy didn't have to go to work early and was here instead of me, you might have run her, and maybe Dinky, over."

"Sorry," Scootaloo repeated, her ears lowering.

I ruffled her mane, "No one got hurt, so it's fine. Just watch where you're going alright?"

She nodded and hopped back on her scooter. "See you at school Dinky!" they all yelled as Scootaloo started propelling herself forward with her wings.

"That's an interesting way to use her wings," I commented, resuming our way to the school. We soon arrived at a red building with a bell at the top. "So this is your school?" I asked. 'Kind of small. Then again it's a rather small town.'

Dinky nodded, "Yep. Our teacher's Ms. Cheerilee. Do you want to meet her?"

I thought for moment before shrugging, "I don't see why not." I followed Dinky inside and saw a fuchsia mare with a light rose and light pink mane. She was wearing a magenta jacket with a white undershirt and a black skirt that stopped just below her knees. Glancing over, I saw the CMC were already seated at their desks and were talking to each other.

"Good morning, Ms. Cheerilee," Dinky said. The mare turned towards us and her light green eyes widened in surprise when she saw me.

"Good morning, Dinky. Hello.., Sean right?" she asked.

I nodded, "That's right. You're Ms. Cheerilee?"

"I am, but please, just Cheerilee is fine," she answered. "May I ask, why are you dropping Dinky off?"

"Ditzy had to head to work and asked if I'd walk her daughter here," I explained. I looked out the window and saw all the fillies and colts arriving. I smiled slightly,

"I see," she said. She seemed to notice my expression, as she said, "Sean, the Mayor came to me and mentioned how you worked with kids before. Would you be interested in working here?"

I glanced at her in shock. "Really? I don't have any kind of teaching degree or even teaching experience," I said.

"Well, you'd be more of an assistant," she said.

"Really? Just an assistant?" I asked, smirking. "You're not going have me teach them about my world?"

"W-well, I'm not going to force you, but if you don't mind," she stuttered slightly, causing me to snicker. She sighed, but there was a small smile on her muzzle, "It's hard to see everything my students do when my back is turned and even when I'm watching them I still miss things. I'd also like you to watch them during recess to make sure nothing happens."

I thought about it for a moment. While I wasn't really one for teaching, she did say only if I wanted to. Plus it would be nice to spend time with children again.

I smiled, "Sure thing, Cheerilee. I'd love to help out."

Cheerilee smiled back, "Wonderful. You can start next week."

"Not today?" I asked in confusion.

"You just arrived here the other day. Take some time to get settled and you can start Monday," she said.

"Alright, I'll be here next week. As long as nothing happens, that is," I said.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Well for one, me and my wife have taken jobs of protecting Ponyville from anything that might attack," I explained. "There's also the fact that we could be summoned by other Displaced at anytime. So, if I disappear during the job, that's why."

"Displaced?" Cheerilee questioned, her confusion rising.

"It's what me and Ashley are. We're beings that have been taken from our world and turned into the character we are dressed as," I told the mare.

She looked at me in shock, "You mean you were not only ripped from your home, but you whole world, sent to ours, and you still decided to help those you didn't know?"

"I would have done it even if I didn't possess the powers that I have," I said determinedly.

She stared at me for a minute before smiling warmly. "Well, I'm glad that it was you and Ashley that was sent here. You seem like nice--" she trailed off, probably because she wasn't sure what to call us.

"People, Cheerilee. If you want I can tell you about those kinds of things," I offered.

"Maybe as a lesson for the children," she said, a slight smirk on her face.

I chuckled, "Alright. I'll see you later." As I left the school, I passed the pink and gray fillies that had asked me questions yesterday. The pink filly huffed when she saw me and walked inside. I arched a brow at her behavior before turning to the other filly. She smiled rather hesitantly and I smiled back. Kneeling down, I said, "Hello. You're one of the filly's from yesterday, right?"

She nodded, "I'm Silver Spoon. That was my friend Diamond Tiara."

"It's nice to meet you," I said. I glanced back at the classroom and asked, "Was Diamond Tiara in a bad mood or something yesterday, and today for that matter?"

Silver Spoon flinched, "W-well, you see." Seeing her start to fidget confused me, but I placed hand on her shoulder and she looked up at me in slight confusion.

"You don't have to tell me anything Silver Spoon, though how you're acting has me slightly concerned. However, you just met me and don't know anything about me, so don't force yourself. If you feel like telling me you can count on me to listen, though," I told her. "And should you confide in me, I Pinkie Promise that it will stay between us. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye," I recited, doing the movements Ashley did yesterday.

She hesitated, but then nodded, "Thank you." She hurried into the school and took her seat one desk across from Diamond Tiara.

I stood up and said to myself, "I think I'll walk around Ponyville some more." I raised a hand to my chin in thought. "Maybe I'll head over to the library. Find out what kind of stories there are in this world." With that, I started toward the tree library.

<~~>

I eventually reached the library and approached the door. I paused, not really knowing whether or not to knock. It was a library, but it was Twilight, Trixie and Spike's home. Figuring it would better to be safe than sorry, and avoid the typical anime scenario of walking in on something I shouldn't see, I knocked on the door.

"Sean? That you? You can come in," Twilight called out.

I entered and saw Twilight and Trixie sitting in the middle of the room at a table with a unicorn centerpiece. Trixie was wearing a white button-up blouse with a lavender jacket, a lavender skirt that went down to her thighs, and thigh-high socks. She also had wire-rimmed glasses hanging around her neck. Twilight was wearing a light blue vest, purple shirt, and a light blue skirt that went past her knees.

"How'd you know it was me?" I asked.

"Lucky guess really," Twilight said, shrugging slightly. "I kind of figured by your reaction to the tree that you might come here."

"A safe assumption." A sly smile spread across my face, "So, you're wearing each others colors?"

They both blushed. "S-so why are y-you here?" Twilight stuttered out.

I snickered, "Just came to get a book. I wanted to see what kind of stories this world has compared to Earth." I glanced at Trixie, "You wear glasses?"

"They're just reading glasses," she answered. "Feel free to look around."

I walked around the shelves, looking at the different books. While I looked, Twilight spoke up, "Um, Sean?"

"Hm?" I said, still scanning through the books.

"I know you answered questions yesterday, but most of those were about you and Ashley. Do you think that I could ask you and/or Ashley about your world?" she asked.

"I don't mind. Just give me a heads up and I'll be happy to answer your questions," I answered.

"You might regret that," a voice said. I glanced behind me to see Discord floating there. "Twilight will ask you questions until she's blue in the face."

"So, she'll match Trixie?" I asked, grinning.

As Trixie and Twilight blushed again, the draconequus started chuckling before it turned it full blown laughter. "I knew you'd be a funny man," he said.

"You only like me for my jokes? How could you Discord!? I thought we could be good friends," I said in mock hurt, placing one hand over my heart and the other going to my head in a dramatic fashion. Discord fell out of the air laughing his head off. Literally, his head fell off of his neck while he was laughing. The sight caused me to start laughing. "T-that's t-t-the first t-time I've s-s-seen someone actually l-laugh their head off," I gasped out. I eventually calmed down, gasping for air. Once I'd calmed down I glanced at the two mares. They had returned to what they were doing before. That's when I noticed something on the table. It looked like they had taken something apart. 'How the hell did I miss that?' I walked up to them and asked, "What is, or rather was, this?"

"I believe Ashley said it was call a PS4," Trixie said.

"And you took something like that apart?" I asked, incredulously. "How'd you even get ahold of that thing? We, obviously, couldn't bring something like that with us to the con so it would be at home."

"Ashley used her chaos magic to bring it here. As for why we took it apart we wanted to see how it worked," she answered.

I was about to ask how using chaos magic brought that here, but paused and thought back to when she'd first gotten her magic. "I guess if she can summon a drink from our world, a game system isn't really that far-fetched," I said.

"Chaos magic is really only limited by your imagination," Discord said. "And she doesn't necessarily summon it from your world as much as she creates a copy of it. As long as she knows what it is and what it's supposed to do, she can make a working model herself."

I blinked several times, "Are you saying she could bring a working car and things like that here?"

He nodded, "That's right. While I don't think she's as powerful as me, she can do a great many things."

"So, what can't she do?" I asked, curiously.

"Well she can't make fictional items from any of your shows that actually work. There's also this," he said, snapping his talons. There was a flash and I looked over to my right. I froze at what I was saw. Flying in front of me was a koopa. And not just any koopa, a freaking blue winged koopa! The fact that it was flying told me that it was alive.

"You can create life?" I questioned, astonished.

"This is a bit different," Discord said, making the koopa disappear. "I can't create life in the same sense as other living beings can. I can just make carbon copies of things that I know of like what you just saw." He snapped his fingers and a copy of Twilight suddenly appeared next to him. He quickly snapped again, making her disappear.

"Is there actually a Mario world out there?"

"Well, from what we can tell there's a world for this One Piece anime, so is it that out there that there'd be one for Mario?" he asked.

"I suppose not," I answered. I was still rather stunned, not expecting to see an actual koopa.

"Hey, Sean?" Trixie spoke up.

Snapping out of my stupor, I said, "Yeah?"

"You said that this was a gaming system?" she asked.

"Yes, that's right. Why?"

"Do you think that you could show us?" Twilight requested.

"Sure," I agreed. "Discord you mind fixing it and providing us with a TV?"

"Of course," he said. The easily fixed the system and summoned a TV and four controllers. "It has a small generator in it, so that you don't need to plug it in. Though after probably two weeks you'll need to charge it. What game would you like?"

I placed a hand to my chin in thought. "How about Virtua Fighter 5?" I asked. Discord glanced to the side, his eyes moving as if he was searching for something. After a couple minutes he snapped his fingers and the game appeared on the table. "What were you doing?"

"Looking through your world to see what game you were talking about," he said.

"You can do that?" I questioned in shock.

"How do you think I knew about that koopa?"

"Right. Well, Twilight, Trixie let's start," I said, inserting the disc into the system.

First Twilight and Trixie took turns doing the training portion of the game so they'd have grasp of how to play. They were a little hesitant when they found out it was a fighting game, but when I assured them that it was as fake as most movie fights they started playing in earnest. For an hour we played against each other, Twilight and Trixie switching half way through. While they managed to beat me a few times, I won most of the matches, but that was mostly cause I'd played the game more than them. After that, I let the two of them fight against each other, while I read some of the books the library had to offer. Discord had disappeared, saying there was something he was going to do. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. I glanced at the clock in the room and saw that it was noon.

"I'll get it. You two can keep playing," I said. I walked to the door and opened it to see my wife. "Hey Ash. What's up?"

"Pinkie wants us at the Apple family's barn," she said.

"The barn?" I asked.

"That's what she said." She looked inside the tree and rolled her eyes. "Really? You got them into playing video games?"

I shrugged, "They wanted to know what it did and I didn't see any reason not to show them."

"I just didn't really expect it," she said. "Hey, Twilight, Trixie, Pinkie wants us at the barn."

Trixie let out a shout of joy, while Twilight groaned, indicating how the latest fight had gone. The two stood up and stretched. Turning off the system and TV, they walked up to us.

"Let's go," Trixie said. With that, the four of us made our way to the Apple family's barn.

<~~>

When we reached the barn, Twilight asked, "You ready to head in?"

We all nodded and pushed the doors open and were shocked at the very loud, "SURPRISE!!"

I looked around and was stunned to see what seemed like the whole town was somehow inside of the barn. That's when I noticed something. "It's bigger on the inside," I said. It was true, somehow the inside of the barn was larger than what the outside looked like.

Ashley facepalmed, Pinkie giggled, and Discord chuckled, while the others looked confused at their reactions.

"I asked Discord if he was able to do this and then asked Applejack if he could do it for the party," Pinkie said happily.

"I see," I said. Looking around, I noticed banners hanging from the ceiling. There were three of them. One said, 'Welcome to Equestria/Ponyville', the one below it said, 'Thank you for helping protect Canterlot', but it was the last one that really caught our attention. It said 'We're sorry we didn't believe you Twilight'. I glanced at her and saw her eyes were wide and there were tears starting to surface. She looked down at her friends, the Mane Six and Spike, who all had sheepish smiles on their faces. Twilight smiled and rushed forward and hugged them all. They hugged her back. I smiled at the scene playing out in front of me.

"I would like to apologize as well Twilight," a voice spoke up. We all turned to see the Princesses approaching us.

"Y-you Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked, shocked.

"Yes, Twilight. Even with how disappointed I was, I shouldn't have been so harsh on you. While you do tend to overreact," Twilight blushed at this. "You aren't a pony that would blindly accuse somepony of something." Celestia walked up to the lavender mare and pulled her into a hug. "I'm sorry for not trusting you, my faithful student."

Twilight looked absolutely stunned by the apology and hug, but after a couple seconds the tears in her eyes resurfaced and she returned Celestia's hug.

We watched for several moments before Pinkie said, "OK, everypony this is a party! It's supposed to be happy not sad, so let's have some fun!"

They broke from their hug and Celestia smiled and said, "She's right. This is a party so let's have fun."

"Hey, Pinkie! Where're the drinks at?" a pony called out.

We all looked over and saw six punch bowls, but there wasn't anything in them.

Pinkie giggled, then said, "After seeing Ashley summon that drink I was kind of hoping she'd provide some other drinks from her world."

"I don't mind. Do you have any ideas Sean?" my wife asked.

"How about Barq's, Tiki Punch, strawberry-lemonade, and that apple cider we love?" I suggested.

"Apple cider?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Oh no," Ashley, Spike, Trixie and the rest of the Mane Six, sans Fluttershy, muttered at the same time.

"You have apple cider?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, getting in my face.

"Not on me," I said, pushing the mare back. "But I'm sure Ash can bring some here. It's very good. Unless you don't like anything that's sour then I'd not drink any of it."

"Right let's get those drinks here," Ashley said, snapping her fingers. In four bowls were the drinks I'd suggested. In two others were some other drinks. "The brown soda at one end is a soda called Dr. Pepper and the red one at the end is cherry soda," she told everypony. She snapped again and the name of the drink appeared in front of the bowls, "Just so everyone knows what's what."

I grabbed a cup and poured myself some of the cider, when suddenly somepony shouted out, "Hey Sean!"

I followed where the voice came from and saw a familiar unicorn. It was Vinyl Scratch, who was waving at me from behind her turntable.

I walked up to her, "Hey Vinyl. Good to see you again."

"You too man. You think we could listen to some more of your worlds music?" she asked. "Those ones you sang the other day were pretty good."

"Sure, I know a few that are perfect for party's," I said. I grabbed the microphone and tapped it several times to test it and get everyone's attention. "Hello, everyone, I'm sure I don't need to introduce myself, but just to be safe, I'm Sean Griffin. At the wedding in Canterlot I sang a few songs." A good amount of cheers rose after this. "I see there are some ponies from that night here. Well then you might be glad to know that I plan to sing some more songs from my world." More cheers erupted after this. "This first song isn't necessarily a party song, but I think it rather fits. Especially if one of the Princess's sing it." I looked at the three alicorn sisters as they glanced at each other.

Shrugging, Celestia walked up to me. "This isn't an embarrassing song is it?" she asked.

I pulled out my iPod and headphones, "Listen and decide for yourself." I held the headphones out to her, "Just put these in your ears and I'll play the song."

She nodded. Taking the headphones, she placed them in her ears and I pressed play. As the song played, Celestia bobbed her head to the music. When the song ended, Celestia smiled, "I rather like that. It also portrays how I feel sometimes."

"I kind of figured considering the kind of life a ruler lives," I said. "So you ready?" At her nod, I connected the iPod to Vinyl's turn table and pressed play. "Alright, everypony the Princess is about to get a little... Outta her Head," I said, smirking.
{Light Gray - Celestia, Red - Sean}

That's right...
Ha! You see these shoes, on my hooves
I'm 'bout to go, on out that door
And you ain't stoppin it, ain't nuttin gonna stop it
Cause I'm sick and tired of all the buckin arguing
What you think? I'ma go get a drink
Relax myself, cause I'm about to blow!
When they open up the bar... I'ma hit the bar
I didn't ride in my carriage, so come on let's go!

I'm steppin, outta here
Cause where I'm goin, I don't know
I'm steppin outta here
Cause where I'm goin, is outta my head
Outta my head, outta my head
Outta my head, outta my head
Outta my head, outta my heeeeeaaad, OH!
Steppin steppin out tonight, got me goin crazy
Steppin steppin out tonight, got me goin crazy

Yeahhh, he heh!
You see these hooves? I'ma hit the streets
Yeah I'll be walkin, just talkin...
I'ma hit the bar, get some vodka
Some Red Bull, ya happy now?
When I see a boy, I'ma say whassup
(Hey girl, where you goin?)
Heheh, why doncha come with me? We gon' live it up
We steppin out, aight now here we go
Hold up hold up hold up... how'd the bridge go?
Ahh, I think I drank too much
Oh wait I think I know it
Okay, okay, here we go

Steppin steppin out tonight,
Got me goin crazy
Steppin steppin out tonight
Got me goin crazy
Steppin steppin out tonight
Got me goin crazy

I'm goin out of my head, la-de-dee-la-de-dah
I'm goin out of my head...
Let's go, Let's go

Everypony seemed stunned at the song that Celestia just sang. All of their eyes were wide and jaws dropped. Twilight's was the most extreme, jaw practically on the ground, eyes as wide as dinner plates, and her mane looked slightly disheveled. Luna and Nightmare Moon looked like they were trying to hold back their laughter, while Discord was cackling next to them. I laughed at their reactions before turning to the Princess and clapping at her performance. Slowly, but surely more ponies began clapping. Smiling, Celestia bowed and walked back to her sisters.

"For this next song, I'm going to need a few volunteers. Preferably, two stallions and a mare. Though it doesn't matter if more than one mare wants to volunteer, but don't be surprised when the lyrics are more fit for a stallion." I glanced at the party-goers. "So, who'd like to sing with me?"

"I'll sing with you," Ashley said appearing next to me.

"Anyone else?" I asked.

"I will," I heard a familiar voice say. I turned around and saw Spitfire standing there. She was wearing a casual dark blue shirt and blue pants. "You don't mind do you?"

"I don't. I mean no offense, but what are you doing here?" I asked.

"You'll see in moment," she answered.

"Alright," I said. I looked around, waiting for someone else to volunteer to sing.

"Aw, what the hay, I'll sing with ya," Vinyl spoke up. I turned to see her jumping over her turntable.

"OK, but don't be surprised if some of the lyrics are more fit for a stallion," I warned her.

"Ah, I don't care," she said, waving a hand dismissively.

"If you say so," I said. As I looked for the next song I called out, "I'm sure you're going to like this song Pinkie Pie." I looked up and saw that she and the others were looking at me curiously. "This is the party rock anthem."
{Orange - Ashley, Blue - Vinyl Scratch, Yellow - Spitfire, Gray - Sean & Vinyl}

Party rock
Yeah
Whoa!
Let's go!

Party rock is in the house tonight
Everybody just have a good time (yeah)
And we gonna make you lose your mind (whoa!)
Everybody just have a good time (clap!)

Party rock is in the house tonight (oh)
Everybody just have a good time (I can feel it baby!)
And we gonna make you lose your mind (yeah)
We just wanna see you... shake that!

In the club party rock, lookin' for your girl,
She on my jock (huh) non-stop when we're in the spot
Booty move the weight like she owns the block
Where I drank I gots to know
Tight jeans, tattoos cause I'm rock and roll
Half black half white, domino
Gain the money Oprah Doe!

Yo!
I'm running through these streets like Drano
I got that devilish flow rock and roll no halo
We party rock yeah! that's the crew that I'm repping
On a rise to the top no lead in our Zeppelin
Hey!

Party rock is in the house tonight (whoa)
Everybody just have a good time (yeah)
And we gonna make you lose your mind
Everybody just have a good time

Let's go

Party rock is in the house tonight
Everybody just have a good time (I can feel it baby!)
And we gonna make you lose your mind
We just wanna see you... shake that!

At this point in the song, Vinyl and I descended onto what was the dance floor. Most ponies moved away, but a good number stood behind us.

Every day I'm shuffling

I let out a shout of laughter as Vinyl, the ponies, and I started doing the group dance from the music video. As we finished Vinyl and I high-fived.

Shuffling shuffling

Step up fast and be the first girl to make me throw this cash
We get money, don't be mad, now stop – hating's bad

One more shot for us
(Another round)
Please fill up my cup
(Don't mess around)
We just wanna see
(You shake it now)
Now you home with me
(You're naked now)

Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound
Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound
Get up, get down, put your hands up to the sound
Put your hands up to the sound, put your hands up to the sound

Get up, get up, get up, get up
Get up, get up, get up, get up
Get up, put your hands up to the sound, to the sound
Put your hands up, put your hands up, put your hands up, put your hands up

Party rock is in the house tonight (put your hands up!)
Everybody just have a good time (put your hands up!)
And we gonna make you lose your mind (put your hands up!)
Everybody just have a good good good time

Oh! Oh! (put your hands up!)
Oh! Oh! (Time to fill it now!)
Oh! Oh! (put your hands up!)
Oh! Oh! (put your hands up!)

Shake that!
Every day I'm shuf-f-f-ling

Put your put your
Put your put your (yeah yeah)
Put your put your (whoa!)
Put your put your
Put your hands up
Your hands up
Put your hands up

Every day I'm shuffling

As the song ended, everyone started clapping and cheered or whistled. I smiled widely, this was an amazing feeling. I never knew singing could be so incredible. Pinkie bounced up to us and exclaimed, "That song was amazing! I loved it!"

"Thanks Pinkie," I said.

"Sean, Ashley, there are a few ponies I'd like to introduce to you," Celestia said.

"Alright then," I said. I turned to the DJ, "Go ahead and play any of the songs on that list Vinyl. They're all party songs." I walked over to Celestia and her sisters, Pinkie hopping next to me. I nearly tripped when Vinyl started another song and started snickering at her choice.

Celestia gestured at three ponies that were approaching us. One was a unicorn stallion that had turquoise fur and blonde mane. He had blue eyes with blue rimmed glasses on his muzzle. He wore a red shirt with jeans and a dark red jacket. His cutie mark was a sword that was being struck by lightning. One was a pegasus mare, I could tell because she had her wings slightly unfurled with light arctic blue fur and light gray mane. Her eyes were fuchsia and her cutie mark was a horseshoe inside of a yellow arc. She wore a black tank top, with a light blue jacket with lightning bolts going up and down it, and shorts with the same design. I looked at her hands and was surprised to see she had long sharp nails. The last pony was another mare, who's appearance slightly surprised me. Most ponies were brightly colored, even the ponies that were brown were a light brown. She had dark gray fur with a black mane and she had tufted ears. Her eyes really surprised me, the pupils of her green eyes were slits like a cat. She wore a purple t-shirt and dark gray shorts that almost looked black. Her cutie mark was a katana that seemed surrounded in darkness. "This is Jack Hunt," Celestia said pointing at the stallion. "Fleetfoot and Shadow Eclipse," she continued, gesturing at the pegasus mare then the other mare. "Eclipse is a thestral."

"Thestral?" I asked.

"Did Ashley not tell you about them?" Nightmare Moon questioned.

"I didn't know if they were actually a species here," Ash said. "They only appeared very briefly and it was on Nightmare Night, so some people thought it might have been a costume for some pegasi."

"I've only seen one mention of thestrals before and she looks nothing like them," I said. "Though, that's a good thing."

"Why's that?" Shadow Eclipse asked, sounding rather upset.

"I mean no offense Shadow. In fact, if you looked like them I'm not exactly sure how ponies, or anything really, would react to you."

"Surely they can't be that bad," Luna said.

I glanced at Discord and he smiled widely. With a snap of his fingers, a thestral appeared before us.

A lot of ponies screamed and the Princesses, Twilight, Pinkie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Trixie, Spike, Jack, Fleetfoot, Spitfire and Shadow stared at it wide-eyed. It's skeletal body, reptilian-like head, and beak making them feel uneasy.

When it didn't move, I arched a brow and asked, "It's not real?"

"Most ponies wouldn't be able to see it if I brought a real one here," he said.

"Why wouldn't... Oh, right. Completely forgot about that," I muttered. "You couldn't make it to where they could see it?"

"To be honest the magic of this world might have been potent enough to where we'd able to see it without the condition, but I figured this would be better. Plus, those who don't want that kind of thing revealed would be able to keep it to themselves if that didn't happen," Discord explained. "And to answer your question no I couldn't make it to where ponies could see it. The thing that makes them the way they are is part of them and I don't like messing with those kinds of things."

"What are you talking about? You took our horns and wings," Rarity said, heatedly.

"Exactly, I just took what you all used to cast magic and fly. I didn't actually get rid of your magic. You all still had it, you just couldn't use it, besides Pinkie Pie and Applejack anyway," he said.

"Discord said something about a condition?" Twilight asked, curiously.

"Well, you see, in the movie and books they were in, they're invisible to everyone except for certain people," I said.

"And they would be?" Trixie questioned, sounding about as curious as Twilight.

I hesitated for a moment, "Only those that have witnessed death at least once and fully accepted the concept can see them." Everyone within earshot looked at me in horror.

"But that isn't real right?" Fluttershy asked almost pleadingly.

"About as real as a mannequin," I confirmed flicking the fake thestral, causing it fall on its side. "You can get rid of this thing now Discord." When it vanished I turned to the Equestrian thestral, "So, like I said, wasn't trying to be insulting or anything Shadow, just didn't have another reference for thestrals besides that and was rather surprised."

"It's fine Sean. And I'd prefer if you called me Eclipse please," she said.

"All right. So is there a reason you wanted us to meet these three?" I asked the Princesses.

"There's actually one more, but it would be better if you come to Canterlot to meet them. I think in a week should be a good time. It'll give you and Ashley time to settle in and also give them time to prepare for meeting with you," Celestia said. "As for the reason, they are the one's me and my sisters have given the Devil Fruit's we had gathered."

"Except for the Heal-Heal Fruit," Luna told us. "It is still in the vault you left it in."

"So, then why is Spitfire here?" I asked. "Not that she can't join the party, but if they're the ones that ate the fruits, I don't understand why she's here."

"Fleetfoot is, or rather was, a Wonderbolt, but with this, she's decided to leave the Wonderbolts and move here. So, I'm just here to see her off," Spitfire said.

"Wait, why are you leaving the Wonderbolts?" Ashley questioned.

Fleetfoot shrugged and, with a slight lisp, said, "I feel like having these powers will get in the way of being a Wonderbolt. I've been a part of it for several years now and I'm happy with the time I spent there, but it would be nice to not have to worry about performances."

"With powers, you're going to have other worries, you know?" I told her.

"I know and I'll help however I can, but those could be far from each other and this seems like a nice town to live in," she said.

"I see," I said. I turned to Celestia and asked, "So, aside from Fleetfoot, what powers do they have?"

The dozen ponies and dragon looked at me in confusion. "What do you mean aside from Fleetfoot?" Luna asked.

"There's a fruit that makes the users nails grow two inches and make them sharp so that they can cut through the air," I said, pointing at the mares hands. "I might be jumping to conclusions, but since I haven't seen a pony with long nails, I'm going to assume she ate the Sickle-Sickle Fruit."

They all stared at me in shock, making Ashley giggle at their expressions. "Sean, may be a goofball, but he can be rather sharp when he wants to be," she said. I crossed my arms and pursed my lips in a slight pout, making her giggle again. "It also helps that he knows just about every Devil Fruit that has appeared in the manga and anime."

Recovering, Nightmare Moon said, "Jack Hunt's power has to do with lightning."

"That's the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and makes him a Logia. That's a very powerful Devil Fruit. Is there any specific reason for you giving it to him instead of a pegasi?" Ashley asked.

"I can use lightning magic. While pegasi can manipulate the lightning in a cloud, I can actually wield it," Jack answered.

"Makes sense," I said. "It'll make things easier for you since you already knows how lightning works. And what about Eclipse?"

"Her's is a bit harder to explain," Luna said.

"How so?" Ashley asked.

"When we scanned the fruit it was hard to decipher what it was. It felt colorful, but we also felt elements mixed into it," Luna explained.

I glanced at the thestral mare, "Are you able to use any of your abilities?"

"I've actually tested them before," she said. Her hands suddenly lit on fire causing several ponies to jump in shock.

While the flames surprised me, I was more focused on her eyes, they'd turned red. "If only you ponies eyes were smaller," I muttered. They all looked at me in confusion.

"What do you mean, Sean?" Nightmare Moon asked.

"Look at her eyes," I said.

"What do you mean look at--?" Celestia fell silent as she saw Eclipse's eyes. "They turned red," she said in shock. Everypony else was shocked to see this as well. "Eclipse can you use something else?"

She nodded and, as her eyes turned blue, the ground around her hooves began to freeze.

"That's going to be a very big tell for enemies," I said. "Can you make some contacts that will hide her eye's coloration?"

"We have colored contacts if that's what you're asking," Nightmare Moon said. "And I think we should enchant some so that nopony can look through them with a spell."

I nodded, "Good idea." I turned back to Eclipse and asked, "Do you know what others there are?"

"Besides the two I showed you, there's green which is air, orange is earth, yellow is electricity, indigo is water, and violet is gravity," she answered.

"A rainbow?" I questioned. "So should we call it the Rainbow-Rainbow Fruit?"

"It fits," Eclipse said.

"So these are the fruits and the ponies you've given them to," I said.

"Yes, and since you all have Devil Fruit powers, you will work together sometimes, so I wanted you all to get to each other," Celestia said.

I nodded, "Sounds like a plan. Jack you want to hang out?"

"Sure, but hold on a moment," he said. "Will I have to move here Princess?" he asked, worriedly.

"That is up to you to decide Jack. You don't have to if you don't want to," Celestia answered.

I glanced at Fleetfoot and Eclipse, "You two want to join or are you going to get to know Ashley?"

"I think we'll go with Ashley now and talk to you later," Fleetfoot said. Eclipse nodded in agreement.

We went our separate ways, Jack and I making our way over to the snack table.

"So what can you tell me about yourself, Jack?" I asked.

"Well, I'm part of the Night Guard, protecting the Night Princesses. Although sometimes I freelance and help out those in Equestria that need help," he said. "I was actually doing a job when Canterlot was invaded. I got a scroll calling me back, but I didn't make it back until after the fact. I was terrified when I'd returned and learned that it had already happened."

"Why?" I asked, though I had a few ideas.

"My wife Sapphire and our little filly Lin," he answered.

"That's why you're worried about moving here, right?" I guessed.

Jack nodded, "Yeah, I'm going to talk to them about it, but I'm not planning on doing it. Anyway, I'm also a combat unicorn. I'm able to engulf my swords with electricity as I fight and I can fire bolts of electricity at my enemies."

"Well, now you can do more than that," I said. "And you're going to need to be careful so you don't kill anypony you don't want to. As my wife said, the Devil Fruit you ate is very powerful, so you have to practice with your new level of power."

"So, my attacks will be even more shocking?" he questioned with a smirk. I just rolled my eyes and smiled. "Better reaction then I usually get." He then asked, "Say, do you have foals?"

"Children or kids," I corrected. "And no, Ashley and I had been considering it, but with what happened it was probably a good thing that we hadn't yet."

He looked at me in confusion before realization hit him. "Right, the Princess told the three of us that, despite how similar we seem to be to each other, you and Ashley are from another world," he said.

"Exactly. We probably would have had them babysat when we went to the con and when we were sent here, they would have been left without their parents," I said. The mere thought of that happening filled me with dread. I felt a hand on my shoulder and glanced at Jack who was looking at me with reassuring smile. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said. He grabbed a cupcake and took a bite. "Mmm, these cupcakes are delicious." I nodded as I took one as well. "Do you know who made them?" he asked.

"I did!" We both jumped at the voice and were shocked to see Pinkie was suddenly in front of us.

"Pinkie!" I yelled, surprised by her sudden appearance.

"How did--?" Jack started to question, but paused and glanced at me. "Did you say Pinkie?" I nodded and he began chuckling. "I see, the Princesses actually told us a little about Pinkie and the incomprehensible things she does."

"Ah," I said in understanding. I turned to the pink mare, "These cupcakes are really good. Right, Jack?"

"Absolutely delectable," he agreed, nodding.

Pinkie giggled, "Thanks. Although I made these especially for you." She held up a plate of various kinds of cookies.

"You made these for me?" I asked in surprise.

She nodded happily, "Yeah. I mean, you like cookies as much as Ditzy likes muffins right?"

"Yeah, but how did..? Never mind. Thanks Pinkie," I said, taking a few of the treats. I took a bite and as soon as I tasted it, I was tempted to just toss them all in my mouth. Especially since it would have worked with my new abilities, but I held myself back, so I could savor the taste. "Positively scrumptious Pinkie."

The pink mare smiled widely, "I'm glad you like them." She bounced off, disappearing into the crowd despite the fact that she was bouncing.

We both shook our heads, before we started talking again.

[POV Change: Ashley]

"So are you moving to Ponyville as well Eclipse or is it just Fleetfoot?" I asked.

"I do plan on moving here, actually," she answered. "I'm still going to be a part of the Night Guard, but I'm going to be stationed here now."

"I look forward to spending time and getting to know the two of you," I said. "Do you two know where you are going to stay?"

"There's a house in town that has two bedrooms," Fleetfoot said. "We thought that we'd split payment and be housemates. It'll also let us get to know each other more, which will be good since we will be working with each other."

"That's a good idea." I glanced at the pegasus, "What do you plan on doing since you aren't a Wonderbolt?"

"Probably just join the weather team," she answered. She then smirked slightly, "I can only imagine ponies reactions when they see me apply."

I giggled, "I know how one pegasus will react." I looked to my right and saw Rainbow Dash talking rather animatedly with Spitfire.

Following my gaze, she chuckled at the sight, "Yeah, she'll probably be ecstatic to have a former Wonderbolt working with her."

"Uh-oh," I murmured noticing Rainbow's face.

"What?" Fleetfoot asked.

"I think Spitfire told Rainbow Dash about you leaving the Wonderbolts," I said.

"SHE WHAT!?" Rainbow shouted, causing everypony to look at her.

"Yep, she sure did," I muttered.

The prismatic pegasus zoomed over to us and addressed Fleetfoot, "Why'd you leave the Wonderbolts!?"

"Easy Rainbow," she tried to soothe the panicked mare. "I have a feeling with these powers I'm going to need to be ready for anything and so that I'm not stretched thin and exhausted, I left the Wonderbolts," she explained.

Rainbow Dash calmed down slightly at her explanation. "That makes sense," she said. A blush crossed her face, "Sorry for the outburst."

Fleetfoot chuckled and waved a hand dismissively, "It's fine. I know how big a fan you are and I doubt you'll be the only one who'll be surprised and disappointed that I'm leaving."

"Disappointed?" Rainbow said in shock and disbelief. "You may be leaving the Wonderbolts, but you're doing it so you can protect ponies from those like Rob Lucci." She grinned widely, "That's awesome!"

The ex-Wonderbolt blushed slightly, as small smile spread across her muzzle, "Thanks Rainbow. Glad to know there will be some ponies, besides the Wonderbolts and Princesses, that will support my decision."

"Are you kidding?" I asked. "If ponies have a problem with you protecting them from things they don't understand and probably can't handle then there's something wrong with them." Rainbow Dash and Eclipse nodded their heads in agreement.

Fleetfoot chuckled lightly, "Seriously thanks."

"No problem," I said.

The rest of the day passed with everypony dancing, chatting with friends, and just having fun. After a while, Sean and Jack joined us and we started just talking with each other. I learned of Jack's wife and daughter and Fleetfoot and Eclipse told Sean about their plans of moving here. As we were talking Discord suddenly appeared and whispered something into Jack's ear. The stallion's face lit up and he rushed over to Vinyl and her turntable and began to speak to her. She smiled and nodded enthusiastically before looking through the list of songs. The Royal Sisters, Fleetfoot, Eclipse, and Spitfire suddenly appeared behind Jack and he grabbed the mic and addressed the crowd.

"Alright everypony, it's getting rather late, so after this song we should probably get ready to head home," he said, much to everypony's disappointment. Vinyl started a song and everypony on stage began singing.
{Light Blue - Jack, Dark Gray - All}

Yahoo!
Celebration
Yahoo!
This is your celebration

Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let's celebrate)

There's a party goin' on right here
A celebration to last throughout the years
So bring your good times and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate your party with you

Come on now, celebration
Let's all celebrate and have a good time
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time

It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure?
Everyone around the world come on!

Yahoo!
It's a celebration
Yahoo!

Celebrate good times, come on!
(It's a celebration)
Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let's celebrate)

There's a party goin' on right here
A dedication to last throughout the years
So bring your good times and your laughter too
We gonna celebrate and party with you

Come on now, celebration
Let's all celebrate and have a good time, yeah yeah
Celebration
We gonna celebrate and have a good time

It's time to come together
It's up to you, what's your pleasure?
Everyone around the world come on!

Yahoo!
It's a celebration
Yahoo!
It's a celebration

Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let's celebrate come on now)
Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let's celebrate)

We're gonna have a good time tonight
Let's celebrate, it's all right
We're gonna have a good time tonight
Let's celebrate, it's all right, baby

We're gonna have a good time tonight
(Celebration)
Let's celebrate, it's all right
We're gonna have a good time tonight
(Celebration)
Let's celebrate, it's all right

Yahoo!
Yahoo!

Celebrate good times, come on!
(Let's celebrate)
Celebrate good times, come on!
(It's a celebration)

I arched a brow at their choice of song. Granted it was an appropriate song considering what had happened, although it was a couple days late. Sean was laughing as he clapped to the performance. I began clapping along with everyone else. Jack bowed and handed the mic to Celestia.

After the applause had died down, she spoke, "This has been a wonderful party my little ponies. Hopefully it can happen again and my sisters and I can attend."

"Of course!!" Sean and Pinkie shouted, causing Celestia to giggle. Nightmare Moon rolled her eyes while smiling and Luna just smiled.

"Anyway, as Jack mentioned, it is getting late, so Luna, Nightmare Moon and I need to head back to Canterlot," she announced. Everypony bowed as the Princesses and Jack started making their way out of the barn.

Sean however, turned to me and said, "I'll be right back Ash." He then followed the Princesses outside.

I stared after him for a minute before shrugging. He'll probably tell me about it later if it's important. I turned back to Fleetfoot and Eclipse and continued talking with them.

[POV Change: Ditzy]

I was sitting on the barn's roof, enjoying the cool night air blowing through my mane. Glancing at the sky, I saw that whoever had spoken before the most recent song was right. Soon, it would be time to head home. Hearing hoofsteps I glanced down and was surprised to see the Princesses and turquoise unicorn walk outside, soon followed by Sean.

"Princesses!" he called out. They paused and turned toward him. "I have a couple questions I wanted to ask you."

"Alright, but why didn't you ask them before?" Princess Nightmare Moon inquired.

"Well, for one it was kind of loud in there. Also, while nothing bad, I'd just rather not a whole lot of ponies hear what I'm going to ask you," he answered.

"I see. So, what are your questions?" she asked.

"I've been wondering what relationships are like here," he said, I tensed slightly at this. They all looked surprised and rather confused about his inquiry.

"What do you mean?" Princess Luna asked.

"Where I'm from marriages were monogamous," he said, before muttering something I couldn't hear. "Anyway, in some countries, polygamy is what they practice. It's where someone is able to marry more than one person. So, I was wondering what it's like in Equestria."

"Ah, I understand," Princess Celestia said. "First off, I'm sure you've seen that mares out number the stallions here correct?"

"Yeah, I noticed," Sean confirmed.

"Right, well because of that, ponies often form herds," she said. "From what you said, it's similar to polygamy. One stallion can be in a relationship with several mares if they so wish, and vice versa or a bunch of mares or stallions can form a herd." Sean nodded in understanding. "Is there a reason why you are wondering?"

"Actually, despite how things usually are, my wife told me that if I ever found someone else that I fell in love with, she wouldn't mind if I started a relationship with them as well," he explained.

"Really?" Princess Nightmare Moon asked, surprised.

"There are some people that feel as such," he said. "I don't really have a problem with it as long as everyone involved agrees with it."

"So, did you ever find someone else?" Princess Luna questioned, sounding curious.

Sean shook his head, "No, but that's mostly because, like I said, marriages in the US were monogamous, so I never really even looked."

"So what will you do now that it's OK to have multiple partners?" she inquired.

I managed to see him smile, "We'll just have to see what happens, won't we?"

I felt my heart flutter at this. I paused at this feeling and wondered, 'Have I fallen in love with Sean? I've barely known him a day, I can't be in love with him, can I?' I shook my head, 'I need to get to know him and make sure this isn't some infatuation because he saved my daughters, complimented my eyes, and made all those muffins.'

"And your other question?" Princess Luna wondered.

"How's Blueblood doing?"

I froze at his question and the Princesses, and the unicorn with them, looked surprised.

Shaking herself, Princess Nightmare Moon spoke up, "You're worried about him?"

"Worried isn't really the word I'd use. Symbol, the Displacer I told you about, brought to my attention that when it comes to protecting my wife I have an anger problem," Sean said. "So, I wanted to make sure that I didn't do anything permanent to him."

"He's still rather sore, but he's recovering," Princess Celestia said. "But something's wrong. Even if he's still somewhat injured, he's been unusually quiet."

"And that's bad?" Sean asked.

"I'm not sure, as he's never been this silent before," she said.

"We'll keep an eye on him just in case," Princess Nightmare Moon said.

Sean nodded, as the Princesses and unicorn walked a short distance before teleporting away. Then, without turning around, he called out, "You can come down now."

I nearly fell off of the roof, but quickly reoriented myself. I then glided down to him. "How'd you know I was there?" I asked.

"Observation Haki," he said. "It allows me to sense other's presence." He turned and looked rather surprised to see me. He asked, "Ditzy? What are you doing out here?"

"I was just enjoying the night air," I told him.

"And then we came out and you overheard our conversation, right?" he guessed. I nodded hesitantly. He shrugged, "It's not that big a deal Ditzy. You weren't trying to spy right." I shook my head vigorously. He smiled, "Then it's fine."

Suddenly the barn door opened, causing me to jump and spin around. All of the ponies began exiting the building and heading home.

Sean chuckled, "Easy Ditzy, it's just ponies heading home. I'm sure you've noticed it's time everyone started heading home."

I was about to say something when Discord flew passed and stopped behind Sean. He said, "Ahahaha, I know Pinkie's parties are fun, but that one seemed especially lively. That song Celestia sung and the expressions on everypony's faces was priceless, especially Twilight's." He started laughing again before vanishing in a flash.

Amethyst then walked up holding a very sleepy Dinky's hand. "We're ready to head home, Mom," she said.

I smiled and picked Dinky up, "You ready to head back, Sean?"

"I will in minute. I want to ask Twilight something," he said.

I nodded and said, "We'll see you back at our house, then." He smiled and waved at us as we walked home.

[POV Change: Sean]

I walked back into the barn and found Twilight and her friends, minus Spike and Trixie, saying goodnight to each other.

I walked to them and asked, "Hey girls. Where's Spike and Trixie?"

"Trixie took Spike home while I said goodnight to my friends," Twilight said.

"Twilight, I was wondering if you knew anyone that would be able to help me with keeping my head when I get angry," I said.

"You don't lose your head when your angry Sean," Pinkie said, grinning widely.

The others gave her a weird look, while I just grinned back at her.

Twilight shook her head, before addressing me, "I think Zecora could help you with that. She's one of the calmest ponies I know, so she could probably help."

"Was she here?" I asked.

"I invited her, but I guess she was busy," Pinkie Pie told me.

"Where does she live?"

"In the Everfree Forest," Twilight answered, a little fearfully causing me to arch a brow. That's the second time somepony had mentioned the forest and neither times was good. "I'll lead you to her house. How's tomorrow afternoon?" she offered.

I nodded, "Sure, thanks Twilight." I addressed all of them, "Goodnight, everypony."

"Night Sean," they all said.

I exited the barn again and saw Ashley waiting for me. I smiled and walked up to her. She smiled back and, when I reached her, she teleported us back to Ditzy's house.

Author's Note

Whew, longest chapter yet. Granted about a thousand of the words are from the songs, but still, I didn't expect a chapter to get this long unless it was a crossover.

Jack Hunt OC created by Knives

Unexpected Vacationer

When I woke up, everyone else was already up and Ditzy had prepared breakfast. It was a simple breakfast because of the party yesterday. Scrambled eggs, toast, oatmeal, and a few muffins. As we ate, I told them all about Cheerilee's job offer to be an assistant. I also offered to walk Dinky to school whenever Ditzy, or Amethyst, needed me to. They were all grateful for this and readily agreed. After eating I explained to them that Twilight was going to introduce me to somepony named Zecora later today.

Before I left the house, Rarity showed up with some of the outfits she'd finished. The outfits were designed after the one's that our characters wore in the anime. Although some color schemes were altered. Ashley and I decided to change into one our new sets of clothing. Ashley was wearing the first outfit Tashigi wore during the Alabasta arc except that the top was blue and the pants were purple. I decided to wear Luffy's post-timeskip clothes. The shorts and sash were the normal colors while the shirt was orange.

After thanking Rarity for the clothes, I decided to head to the library and read until it was time to head to the Everfree. Upon entering the library, I saw that either Ashley or, more likely, Discord gave Twilight, Trixie and Spike more games to go with the PS4. The three of them were, surprisingly, playing Worms Forts Under Siege reworked to play on the newer system.

When the afternoon rolled around, Twilight and I began our trek through the Everfree Forest. As we walked through the forest, we stayed on a dirt path that lead through it.

"So, what exactly is so bad about this forest?" I asked.

"There are a few things," she started. "The weather changes by itself, animals take care of themselves, and the plants grow on their own."

I rolled my eyes and scoffed slightly, causing her to look at me in surprise. "That's what my world is like. We don't control the weather, there are wild animals all over the world, and rain forests that grow on their own. Though some of them have been destroyed because of human progression."

"Well, as unusual as those things are, for some ponies they aren't the biggest detraction from the Everfree," she said. "There's also the many creatures that make this place their home."

"Yes, I read a book about some of the creatures that inhabit this place," I said. "Some of them I knew from mythology in my world." As we walked through the Everfree, I couldn't stop a certain song from playing in my head. I chuckled to myself as the song played.

We eventually reached a rather exotic looking house that was built into a tree.

"You ponies like making literal tree houses?" I asked.

Twilight rolled her eyes and approached the house. She knocked on the door and called, "Zecora? Are you home?"

The door opened and I was surprised to see that Zecora was a zebra instead of a pony. I then remembered the Mayor mentioning Zecora when I told her about the ponies being frightened of me. I frowned slightly at the thought. If Zecora was something like the changelings, I could somewhat understand there hesitance, but she was zebra, a species that was very similar to them. I returned my attention the mare in front of me and felt my face heat up at the sight of her clothing, of what little there was.

"Ah, Twilight Sparkle, it is good to see you again," Zecora said, she looked over to me. "And this must be one of the people Pinkie Pie's party was for."

"That's correct, Zecora," Twilight said. "He asked me if anypony could help him with tempering his anger and you are one of the calmest, well zebra, that I know, so I thought that you might be able to help him."

The zebra mare nodded, "I will be happy to help him to mitigate his anger, so he does not do anything rash."

"Thank you Zecora," I said bowing my head slightly.

She grabbed a staff, before closing her door and approaching me. "We will go to an open area nearby and start by meditating," she said.

I nodded and began to follow her. "I'll see you later Twilight," I called back to the unicorn.

"Be careful out there you two," she shouted before making her way back to Ponyville.

<~~>

We soon reached a clearing and walked to the middle of it. She sat down and crossed her legs, placing the staff next to her. She motioned for me to do the same.

After sitting down, Zecora said, "Now before we start, what is it that triggers your anger?"

I sighed, "When my wife is threatened. While understandable, it gets out of hand at times. Someone recently wanted to help Ashley get better at fighting and get her powers better under control. Thinking that she might get hurt, I told him that she wouldn't be doing that." I sighed again, "I'm just glad that my powers aren't influenced by my emotions or there's no telling how much damage I would have caused by now."

Zecora nodded in understanding, "Indeed, being protective of the one you love is a commendable thing, but there is a thing as overprotective and you don't have to do it with anger either."

"I know, but I can't really help it. I've lost the rest of my family and the thought of losing her too... it pushes me and I end up getting angry at whatever is threatening her. Whether it's actually threatening her or not," I told her.

"That would prove problematic, should she try to spar with somepony you would be rather upset with the pony she was sparing with," the zebra guessed.

"Exactly, and I don't want that happening. I wasn't really this bad in our world. I think with all the danger in this world and how it's been much more prominent has made me worse," I said. "I was capable of keeping myself in check." I then muttered, "At least when it came to her."

Zecora stared at me for a moment before saying, "Now that I know the cause of your problems, we can start. First, close your eyes." I did as she instructed. "Now, imagine your wife in a situation where she could be harmed. That she is sparring with somepony."

I began to imagine the scenario she'd set up. In my mind's eye, I could see Ashley and a random guard sparring with each other. One slash got close to connecting with my wife and I felt my anger spark slightly.

Seeming to sense this, Zecora spoke up, "Now, Sean, take deep breathes. They are only practicing. Neither of them are trying to injure the other. They are not in any kind of danger."

I began taking deep, calming breaths. Slowly my anger dissipated and I 'watched' as Ashley and the guard fought. Suddenly, my Observation Haki blared and my eyes snapped open. I jumped to my feet as did Zecora, her staff at the ready, and we stayed alert for any danger. Only a moment later and a pride of manticores stepped into the clearing, all of them growling slightly.

As the ten manticores surrounded me and Zecora, I reached into my pocket and took out the badge token.

I looked at it and said, “I hope you’re a fighter Cruger because we’re probably going to need help with these manticores.”

The front of the badge started flashing between a blue O and a red X for a few seconds before stopping on the O. It then floated off and grew, becoming what looked like a portal. Out stepped a tall humanoid figure with a blue dog head in a black trench coat with a sword at his side. He looked around before looking at me, “So, need some help driving these off or are you trying to tame them?”

I arched a brow at him, “Taming a manticore?”

He shrugged, “I’ve seen weirder things. I’ll take that as you wanting some help driving them off.” He cracked his knuckles, “At least I’m not stuck in a damn boardroom this time.”

I stared at him for a minute wondering what he was talking about when one of the manticores jumped at me. I quickly brought my fist up and punched in the jaw, launching it backwards. Another manticore pounced, but I slid under it before grabbing its tail and slinging it at another of the beasts, sending them sprawling.

“Not bad,” the dog headed stranger said while hog-tying another manticore with its own tail, “How much experience you got?”

I chuckled, “Not much really. I’d practice with a punching bag sometimes, but I’ve only really started fighting since I reached Equestria a few days ago. Practiced a little with another Displaced, but that’s it.”

Cruger whistled as he sidestepped a manticore’s charge, resulting in it hitting another, “Consider me doubly impressed. By the way, who exactly are you Displaced as? If you don’t mind me asking of course.”

“I’m Monkey D. Luffy from One Piece,” I answered as I stretched my arm out and punching a manticore charging behind him.

The stranger frowned slightly as he kicked a rock into the head of another one behind me, “I’d ask why you got the hat wrong, but that can wait till we’re done. I’m an Anubis Cruger Displaced by the way, and you can call me Cruger as well.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you Cruger, though I wish it were under better circumstances,” I said, while tossing another manticore over the treetops and back into the forest. “Name’s Sean, didn’t really feel like going by Luffy.”

“Good to meet you,” Cruger replied as he threw another with a shoulder throw. “Looks like that’s the last of them. Now what say we continue this conversation at Sugarcube Corner, I always get a bit of a chocolate craving after training.”

“Sure,” I said. I looked over to Zecora and was rather surprised to see three unconscious manticores around her. Shaking myself, I said, “I’ll see you later for more training, Zecora.”

She nodded, “Very well, my stretchy friend, I too would like to see you again.”

As we walked back to Ponyville, Cruger started making small talk, “So, now that we have bonded over shared adversity, mind explaining why you have a fedora instead of a, forgive me if I butcher this, mugiwara?”

I snickered briefly, before a sad expression spread across my face. “It’s something that my mom and dad made for me,” I explained. “To me it’s the sentimentality behind the hat rather than the kind.”

Cruger nodded, “So your hat is to you as Luffy’s is to him, a commendable reason, my condolences by the way.”

“Thanks. I’m just glad that I wasn’t separated from my wife as well,” I said.

Cruger raised one of his eyebrows, “A double Displacement, that’s going in my notes.” Before I could ask him what he meant, he did it for me, “I’m collecting data on the Displaced, primarily how they were Displaced. If you don’t mind, I’d like to invite you to my little reasearch group, as well as your wife if she’s interested.”

“Sure, I’d be willing to help. Though, I should warn you, while I’m not stupid, I’m not exactly a thinker either,” I told him. “I’ll talk to Ashley about it when we see her.”

[POV Change: Ashley]

I was sitting in Sugarcube Corner, enjoying a strawberry milkshake and talking with Fleetfoot. I was explaining to her some of the things she was able to do with the Devil Fruit she’d eaten. The door opened and I saw Sean enter, however I was surprised by who entered behind him. He was a bipedal blue dog in a black trench coat.

“Sean, who is that?” I called to him.

He glanced over to me and smiled. He made his way over to us, the dog following behind him. “Hey, Ash. This is Anubis Cruger. He’s the Displaced that badge token belonged to,” he explained.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I said.

Crugger nodded, “Same to you Ashley, forgive me but I got a bit of a craving, Pinkie!”

“Yepperoony!” No matter how many times she pops out of nowhere, I can never get used to it.

“I’ll have a milkshake. Chocolate ice cream mixed with chocolate fudge and chips, topped with chocolate whipped cream, and garnished with additional chocolate chips and a chocolate syrup drizzle.”

Sean stared at Cruger for moment before saying, “Dude, I absolutely love chocolate and that seems like too much even for me.” He turned to Pinkie and said, “I’ll have a dozen cookies.”

The pink enigma nodded before disappearing into the back.

Cruger grinned, “It’s the same volume either way, it’s the fusion of different flavours and textures that makes it so good. By the way, 10 bits says she puts it on the menu by the end of the week, mine did.”

“Not much of a bet if they’re as similar as I think they are,” I said.

Cruger paled slightly, “Oh man, just had a scary thought, what if all the Pinkie's across the multiverse are connected in a sort of hive mind.”

I thought for a moment before saying, “It would explain a few things to be honest.” Sean snickered at that.

Cruger shook his head, “Enough of trying to explain the half-draconequus, you know what happened to Twilight when she did. Ashley, I have a bit of a proposal for you and your husband.”

“Yeah, I know what happened. Shoot,” I said.

Cruger and Sean sat down with me, “Well, in my admittedly limited travels across the multiverse, the subject of why all the Displaced were, well, Displaced, intrigued me. As such, I am putting together a little group to gather as much data as we can on the matter, and I would like to invite you two to it.”

“I told him I didn’t mind, but made sure he understood I’m not much of a thinker,” Sean said.

I thought about his offer. It would be rather interesting to find out why what was happening was going on. After a moment I nodded, “Sure, I’d be glad to help in anyway I can. How exactly would this work with you being in another world?”

Cruger grinned, “Quite easily as a matter of fact. You see, after my first excursion to another verse, a situation came up that required me to remain in contact with its Displaced. That was when I got the brilliant idea to place a communication spell on my Token. That way, even if both parties are in a different dimension, they can stay in contact. I also recently engineered a bleeding effect on it so that it will spread to every other Token in your possession, the only requirement being that you have to have each other's token. Huh, you know I think I’m the first Displaced to mess with his Token after they’ve created it.”

We sat there for a moment, rather stunned at his explanation. “That sounds useful,” Fleetfoot spoke up.

“Very,” my husband agreed. “Do you have our token?”

Cruger shrugged, “Not sure, but odds are I’ll get it automatically when I return,” he lifted his wrist to reveal a strange bracelet, “at least it did for this one.”

“Who does that belong to?” Sean asked.

“Pokemon trainer Displaced by the name of Zinnia. Quick warning though, she’s literally part Dragon Type, and quite possibly part succubus. By the way, her Equestria has Pokemon, Apricorns, and possibly other Pokemon elements in it, does this one have any One Piece elements?”

In response to his question, I snapped my fingers and the table we were sitting at turned into glass. I snapped again, returning it to normal. “That and more,” I said.

Cruger frowned, “Nothing personal, but that just tells me that you, like me, picked up some magic that your base doesn’t have, mind being a little more specific?”

I activated my pegasus magic and flew up a few inches. “I didn’t just learn this magic. I ate an Equestrian Devil Fruit that we’ve decided to call the Magic-Magic Fruit. I’m able to use all of the magic in this world.”

“Ah, that makes sense. By the way, I happen to be a Grandmaster in the art of Dimensional Magic, and before you say anything about giving myself a phoney title I have official documentation signed by both of the Diarchs, somewhere.”

Sean shrugged, “I wasn’t going to say anything. I have no idea how things work in other worlds. Heck, we haven’t even been to one yet.”

“I’ll be sure to invite you sometime. By the way, being a Grandmaster in a school of magic is basically a cross between a black belt and a Phd, might want to check this Equestria’s equivalent. Now where is that milkshake?”

As soon as he said that, Pinkie popped up next to us with a tray in her hands. She placed it on the table.

“Thank you Pinkie,” Cruger said as he grabbed his drink, “pleasure as always.”

“You’re welcome Cruger,” she said happily before bouncing back to the counter.

Cruger tilted his head, “I’d wonder why she knows my name, but that road leads to pain.” He took a sip of his drink, “Ahh, bliss. So, why don’t you tell me a little more about your verse.”

Sean grabbed three similar cookies and tossed them in his mouth. After swallowing he answered, “Well, apparently compared to the show Nightmare Moon is a good pony here and Discord’s already been reformed.”

“I’d ask how Nightmare Moon is a good pony, but Past Sins is my favorite Fanfic. However, what do you mean about Discord being reformed already? Cause unless this is either Season 2 or early 3, he’d be reformed either way.”

“The changeling invasion just happened and he’s reformed,” I said.

Cruger frowned, “The Crystal Empire?”

“That hasn’t even happened yet,” I told him. “If it does happen. With how some things are turning out I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t happen for while or even at all.”

Cruger put down his drink and steepled his fingers, “So, how did Discord get reformed?”

“Fluttershy protected him from getting hurt by Rob Lucci,” Sean said.

“Rob Lucci, Rob Lucci, not sure I remember exactly who he is, but I can guess that he’s a One Piece villain, am I correct?”

My husband nodded, “Yeah, and one of the worst. He was the leader of the CP9 if you remember them. He was a very sadistic person.”

“User of the Cat-Cat model leopard, said he’d kill the Straw Hats if Robin didn’t help him kill the mayor of that boat building town, first recipient of Gear Third, am I right?”

“The very same,” I said. “Thankfully, he’s been banished to Tartarus.”

“You’d better keep an eye out for him come 4’s finale, and it looks like I need to keep an eye out for Grumm when I get back.”

“Who in the world is Grumm?” Sean asked.

Cruger looked at him like he’d grown a new head, “Emperor Grumm, primary villain of Power Rangers SPD, archenemy of the original Anubis Cruger, are you seriously telling me you’ve never heard of him?”

My husband chuckled sheepishly, “I remember now. Sorry, it’s been several years since I’ve watched Power Rangers SPD. Only really watched it in the first place because the kids in the orphanage wanted to watch it.”

“Very well, not that it concerns you. Anyway,” Cruger took another sip of his drink, “It just so happens that you’ve caught me just as I was starting my first vacation in a thousand years, no that is not a joke. Mind if I spend it here?”

We were shocked to hear he was probably as old as the Princesses. Shaking myself, I said, “There shouldn’t be a problem with that.”

Cruger grinned, “Thank you, just a moment.” He pulled out a black box that I think was his morpher and flipped it open, then started using it like a cellphone, “Sorrow Song, about my vacation, yeah I found a place to take it, another dimension if you must know, yes it’s a Displaced thing, hold down the fort for me, thank you bye.” He put it away, “Sorry, that was my personal assistant. Before you ask why I need one, let’s just say I inherited more than Cruger’s good looks.”

I rolled my eyes slightly, while Sean snickered. He then asked, “So you got their headquarters in that Equestria or something?”

Cruger grinned, “Try my own SPD, Rainbow Dash is my Red Ranger.”

Sean let out a low whistle, while Fleetfoot asked, “She’s not trying to be a Wonderbolt?”

“She had her reasons, reasons that I can understand. Speaking of, aren’t you supposed to be one?”

The pegasus shrugged, “I ate a Devil Fruit so that I could help fight any others that are like Rob Lucci. I figured doing that and being a Wonderbolt would wear me out, so I left.”

Cruger nodded, “As long as you had a good reason. By the way, Ashley, care to learn some Dimensional Magic?”

“If I’m able to sure. What does it do anyway?” I asked.

“To be honest, I consider it one of the most versatile. While a beginner can only use it to teleport and the like, a master, like me, can use it to protect against certain kinds of magic, turn intangible, cut through anything, and move faster than light.”

“Those sound like they would be very useful,” I said. “How should we begin?”

“Well, step 1, finish our lunch.” Cruger sipped on his drink. “Step 2, move to a wide open area.”

<~~>

After we finished our snacks, we headed to the Whitetail Woods so we would have an open area to practice and not have to worry about anything like manticores or timberwolves. Me and Cruger were standing in the middle of an open field while Sean and Fleetfoot stood to the side. Twilight and Trixie somehow found out about what we were doing and were standing next to the two.

Cruger began, “Okay, lesson 1, portals.” With a snap of his fingers, he created two portals in midair. They looked similar to the ones in the game Portal, except they were both blue, “These are your first tools when using Dimensional magic. While a flash type teleport might be easier, a portal can be used in a whole lot more different applications. Now, can you sense these with your magic?”

I focused on my magic and tried to sense the portals in front of me. I felt a small sensation, but not much. “Only slightly. I haven’t had my magic long,” I told him.

“Not to worry, while portals do take a bit of energy to create, they don’t take a lot to maintain. Now, focus on the, let’s call it flavor, of the magic in these portals. Think you can do that?”

I nodded slightly and tried to focus on the kind of magic these portals were using. I started to feel something and was surprised that it felt different than the magic that I knew of.

“What you’re feeling is the combination of my magic, as well as the fabric of reality. Dimensional magic is using your own magic to bend it. Now, see if you can find that feeling in the surrounding area.”

I extended my senses and tried to feel what he was talking about. After a moment, I felt something and activated my magic. A spark appeared in the air, but nothing more.

Cruger grinned, “Very good, you managed to touch it. Now, to create a portal, you need to cause two points in reality to touch. Think of it like folding a piece of paper, grab two points, and pull them together.”

I reached out again and felt the sensation. My hands glowed orange and I tried to do as he had instructed.

“It looks like you’re tapping into it. Quick word of caution, don’t force it. If you force it, you run a high chance of tearing it. I don’t think I need to tell you that tearing reality would be bad.”

I gulped in nervousness. I slowly tried to fold the points of reality. After a moment I felt it resist me. I stopped and tried somewhere else.

“Good, you sensed it resisting. Dimensional magic is not about power, it is about using it in the right direction. If you can’t go one way, go another. Try to look for a pre existing fold, should be easier than trying to make a new one.”

I felt around the area and soon found what seemed to be a folded area. I focused my magic into it and a portal opened up.

Cruger grinned, “Excellent. The first one is always the hardest. Now, I think we should call it a day. Your homework is to use your magic to explore the fabric, you don’t have to create portals, but you should try to bend it a little to know its limits.”

I nodded, “Alright, I’ll be sure to explore it and get enough practice.”

“I don’t doubt it. Once you’ve mastered folding it, we can move onto stretching it, which is the entry into subspace techniques.”

“Stretching reality?” Sean spoke up, approaching us.

“Yes, you can think of the fabric of reality as a kind of nylon. Truly advanced spells involve basically using it to create five-dimensional origami. For example,” Cruger surrounded himself in a blue glow, “you can create a pocket of space-time with you inside it, rendering you intangible. Try and touch me.”

My husband shrugged and swiped his hand at Cruger. His arm passed straight through his body.

“Subspace techniques involve sending you to partially out of your own reality, allowing you to decide which laws of physics apply to you.” The glow around him disappeared. “A master of Dimensional magic cannot be bested.”

“You can choose which laws of physics apply to you?” Sean asked, and Cruger nodded. “You sure Pinkie doesn’t know them then?” he asked with a slight smirk.

“I looked into it, my results were inconclusive, just looking at her reality gives me a headache. By the way,” he turned towards me, “once you get good enough at sensing reality, you are able to sense the reality of objects, rendering any invisibility or illusion spell that does not use Dimensional magic useless.”

“Well, that’ll come in handy if we ever run into someone who’s eaten the Clear-Clear Fruit,” Sean said. I nodded in agreement.

Cruger nodded, “That would be a good application, though a paintball gun might work too. Anyway, I have a week to answer any questions you might have, so you might want to pace yourselves. By the way, where am I staying? I don’t mind camping, but I’d rather not if I didn’t have to.”

Sean smiled nervously, “Well, actually Ditzy is letting us stay with her until we get enough bits to get our own place.”

Twilight then spoke up, “We have a guest room if you don’t mind staying in a library.”

Cruger smiled, “My definition of happiness is a good meal, a good book, and good friends to share them with. We already took care of the first, Golden Oaks will take care of the second, and I hope that you all will allow me to complete the third with you.”

“We’d be happy to have you as a friend,” Sean said. “Right everyone?” We all nodded in agreement.

“Thank you, I think I’m going to have a good time this week. Now, who wants to bet that Pinkie will have my welcome party ready when we get back?”

“You keep trying to bet on Pinkie doing something every one of us know she’s going to do,” I said, giggling slightly.

“She has a point Cruger,” Fleetfoot said. “I barely know her and I wouldn’t take that bet.”

Cruger shrugged, “I don’t like leaving things to chance.”

<~~>

As we all figured, Pinkie had put together a party for Cruger in Sugarcube Corner. There was a good amount of ponies in attendance and they all paused when they saw the guest of honor.

“Don’t worry everypony. Cruger here’s a good guy,” Sean said. Everypony eased slightly and went back to what they were doing.

“Ah well,” Cruger sighed, “I suppose that was to be expected. It’s not every day that you meet an alien, unless your name is Jean-Luc Picard.”

“Well, they were just invaded by a species they didn’t know even existed. It’s kind of expected that they’d be on edge still,” I said.

“True,” Cruger mused, “but you’d think that if Pinkie Pie, Element of Laughter, was throwing somepony a party, they would at least give them a chance. And yes, I know about Gilda.”

Sean looked confused at the name, but shrugged. “To be honest these ponies seem very skittish to me. I mean we look very similar to them, but I could tell they were scared.”

Cruger shrugged, “You may have a point. Anyway, let’s stop discussing the possible xenophobia of anthropomorphic equines and party down, I think I see an entire table dedicated to the milkshake I ordered.”

I giggled, “That’s Pinkie for you. She saw how much you liked it and made a bunch for you.”

“True enough, now why don’t you introduce me to Ditzy? I haven’t had the chance to meet my version yet and I would love to make her acquaintance.”

“Sure, in fact I see her over there with her daughters,” Sean said, pointing over to the table with the muffins.

We walked over, Cruger grabbing a milkshake on the way, “Good evening ma'am, you are Ditzy correct? My friends Sean and Ashley said that you were kind enough to host them until they got their own place.”

Ditzy blushed slightly, “It was the least I could do since he saved my daughters.”

“I told her she didn’t have to, but she insisted,” Sean said.

“While she didn’t have to,” Cruger replied, “you need to look at it from her point of view. You saved her family, putting you up for a while is just her way of trying to pay you back. Not to say that she wouldn’t help you if you didn’t save them, but you get my meaning.”

“Yeah, and I am grateful for her hospitality,” my husband said.

“I’m glad,” Ditzy said, smiling.

“As long as you’re aware. Now if you don’t mind, there is a little habit I picked up when I became a Displaced that I intend to indulge.”

Before we could ask what he meant, he walked over to the DJ stand. He picked up a microphone, “Everyone, I hope that you don’t mind, but I make it a point to sing one song at every party I attend. And since this is my party, I intend to do just that.” He fiddled with his morpher for a bit, and music started to play.

I ain’t rich, but I damn sure wanna be
Working like a dog all day, ain’t working for me
I wish I had a rich uncle that’d kick the bucket
And that I was sitting on a pile like Warren Buffett
I know everybody says
Money can’t buy happiness

But it could buy me a boat, it could buy me a truck to pull it
It could buy me a Yeti 110 iced down with some silver bullets
Yeah, and I know what they say,
Money can’t buy everything
Well, maybe so,
But it could buy me a boat

They call me redneck, white trash and blue collar
But I could change all that if I had a couple million dollars
I keep hearing that money is the root of all evil
And you can’t fit a camel through the eye of a needle
I’m sure that’s probably true,
But it still sounds pretty cool

‘Cause it could buy me a boat, it could buy me a truck to pull it
It could buy me a Yeti 110 iced down with some silver bullets
Yeah, and I know what they say,
Money can’t buy everything
Well, maybe so,
But it could buy me a boat

To float down on the water with a beer…
I hear the Powerball Lotto is a-sitting’ on a hundred mill…
Well, that would buy me a brand new rod and reel…

And it could buy me a boat, it could buy me a truck to pull it
It could buy me a Yeti 110 iced down with some Silver Bullets
Yeah, and I know what they say,
Money can’t buy everything
Well, maybe so,
But it could buy me a boat

Yeah, and I know what they say,
Money can’t buy everything
Well, maybe so,
But it could buy me a boat
It could buy me a boat.

Everypony stood shocked that Cruger suddenly started singing. Sean cheered and began clapping with a large smile on his face and I joined in with him. Slowly, everypony started clapping as well.

When Cruger finished, he raised one of his hands, “Thank you all. Now, before we turn it back to the talented Miss Scratch, does anypony else think they could top that?”

Sean smiled and walked up to them. “I don’t know about topping it, but I’ve really taken a liking to singing,” he said. He pulled out his iPod and started looking through the songs.

Cruger walked towards him, “You too huh? My iPod got fused with my morpher. So, what’s your preference? As you can tell, I’m a country fan, as well as a few others.”

“To be honest, I’m probably a bit strange in I like just about everything except for heavy metal,” he said. After finding the song he pressed play and Cruger handed him the mic. He smiled widely as he began to sing.

Somebody once told me the world is gonna roll me
I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed
She was looking kind of dumb with her finger and her thumb
In the shape of an "L" on her forehead

Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

So much to do, so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets?
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow

Hey, now, you're an All Star, get your game on, go play
Hey, now, you're a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

It's a cool place and they say it gets colder
You're bundled up now wait 'til you get older
But the meteor men beg to differ
Judging by the hole in the satellite picture

The ice we skate is getting pretty thin
The water's getting warm so you might as well swim
My world's on fire. How about yours?
That's the way I like it and I'll never get bored.

Hey, now, you're an All Star, get your game on, go play
Hey, now, you're a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

Somebody once asked could I spare some change for gas
I need to get myself away from this place
I said yep, what a concept
I could use a little fuel myself
And we could all use a little change

Well, the years start coming and they don't stop coming
Fed to the rules and I hit the ground running
Didn't make sense not to live for fun
Your brain gets smart but your head gets dumb

So much to do so much to see
So what's wrong with taking the back streets
You'll never know if you don't go
You'll never shine if you don't glow.

Hey, now, you're an All Star, get your game on, go play
Hey, now, you're a Rock Star, get the show on, get paid
And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

And all that glitters is gold
Only shooting stars break the mold

As the song ended, Sean handed the mic back to Vinyl. Everypony began clapping again at his performance.

Cruger chuckled, “Is it wrong that I can’t ever listen to that song and not think of Shrek?”

“Not really. I mean all I can think of is that Digimon movie that used it,” Sean said.

Cruger shrugged, “To each their own. Hey Ashley, care to give it a try?”

I was surprised by the sudden question, but shrugged and walked up to them. I whispered to Sean what song to play. He snickered and quickly found the song. I began singing when the song started.

I love it when it's loud
I love it when it's big
You could feel it in the crowd come on, bang dem sticks
I said I love it when it's loud
I love it when it's big
'Cause you could feel it in the crowd
Come on, bang dem sticks

The dumb drummer,
Sicker than the swine flu
Don't really need medication
He gotta tissue, uh
And when he bang bangs don't need to boogie but,
He might be sweeter than my, my favorite cookie
When he plays, uh, he got a hold on me
In a race yeah he's got that winnin streak, uh
And ain't nobody got a drummer like mine
He can bang dem sticks he can throw dem high, ha!

I got a thing for drummers
How the beat shakes up my heart
I got a thing for drummers
So, baby, show off all dem tricks and bang dem sticks
I got a thing for drummers
How the beat shakes up my heart
I got a thing for drummers
So, baby, show off all dem tricks and bang dem sticks

I love it when it's loud
I love it when it's big
You could feel it in the crowd
Come on, bang dem sticks
I said I love it when it's loud
I love it when it's big
'Cause you could feel it in the crowd
Come on, bang dem sticks

I don't think they're ready, it's OK

Triplet triplet, all dat shit
He looking so good when he bang dem sticks
He could do the paradiddle
With a little bit of samba
And all the girls scream "I want yo drummer's numba!"
But wait a minute? What the fuck is going on?
You here to see MTrain
Because you love my songs
But there he go again with the double stroke
And I ain't talking dirty I ain't makin no jokes nu uh nu uh
And he could play all night whatever get you hype girls whatever gets you high.
'Cause ain't nodody got a drummer like mine,
He can bang them sticks
He can throw them high come on!

Come on and bang dem sticks
So, baby, show off all dem tricks and bang dem sticks
Come on and bang dem sticks
Till everybody get the drummer

Despite the song denying anything like it, I could tell several of the ponies in the crowd looked rather flustered at some of the lyrics. Sean laughed at their expressions.

Cruger chuckled, “Are you sure you should be singing that? There are foals present.”

I shrugged, “It explicitly said that she was talking about loving drummers. They think of something else that’s either the parents fault or they know more than they probably should.”

“Fine, but if said parents start coming after you, I will say I told you so, repeatedly.”

“Fair enough,” I said. Sean walked over to a table with a platter of cookies on it and I followed him. We grabbed several cookies and setting them on a plate. “Want some?” I asked Cruger.

“Thank you,” he grabbed a chocolate chip cookie and started munching on it.

“You know I just realized that you didn’t really react to the fact that the ponies here were anthro. Are they like that in your Equestria?” Sean asked.

“That they are, although, I think mine are stranger than yours, the ponies in my Equestria are omnivorous.”

I blinked several times. “Well… that’s rather unexpected,” I said, my husband nodding in agreement.

Cruger shrugged, “Hey, an infinite number of universes out there, at least a handful of them are probably gonna have omnivorous, anthro, ponies, I just happened to land in one of them.”

“True, there’s no telling what other kinds of things are out there,” Sean said.

“Oh, just getting this out of the way, I helped raise my verse’s Celestia and Luna.”

We stood there in stunned silence at this piece of information. “Wow,” we both muttered.

“Yeah, well that’s how it is, one minute you’re at a convention, the next you’re saving a filly Celestia and Luna from bandits. It would be weirder if they didn’t make me their bodyguard.”

“True,” I said. “So what were they like when they were younger?”

Cruger grinned, “Well, Celestia was quite a serious young filly, always reading and such, think Twilight pre-season 1. As for Luna,” Cruger groaned, “take the CMC, combine them, remove the need to find a cutie mark, then give them the power of an alicorn. At least she settled down when she got older, and I started teaching her basic hand-to-hand.”

I shivered slightly, “I don’t know what would be worse giving the CMC the power of an alicorn or Pinkie Pie chaos magic.”

Cruger frowned, “Who says those are mutually exclusive.”

I giggled, “True enough. One would be as bad as the other, just for different reasons.”

“I meant that they could both happen.”

We both arched a brow at him. “How could that happen?” I questioned.

“Pinkie Pie gets chaos magic then gives the CMC alicorn power.”

“Pinkie would still have to gain chaos magic first,” Sean countered.

“What makes you think she doesn’t have it already, it would explain a few things.”

“The fact that there aren’t cotton candy clouds raining chocolate milk,” I said.

Cruger nodded, “Fair enough. Now, mind telling me how you two got Displaced.”

“Wasn’t really that interesting. We saw one of Zoro and Tashigi’s swords and thought they’d be cool to have. He decided to give them to us for free. Which really should have been a clue that he was up to something,” Sean told him.

“Yeah,” Cruger said, “third rule of leadership, and first rule of life, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. On a related note,” Cruger tapped his sword, “my Displacement purchase was a sword too.”

“You too? You pay him or you get it for free too?” I asked.

“Kinda both, 10 bucks, still had to pay, but I spent more on lunch.”

“That still seems rather cheap for something bought at a convention,” Sean said.

“Like I said, kinda both. So, I came down in the middle of a kidnapping attempt, how about you two?”

“Right in the middle of the Changeling invasion,” Sean said. “It was from them that I save Dinky and Amethyst. Fought Chrysalis herself when we were taken to her.”

“How’d ya do?”

“Actually headbutted her at first. Got in a few hits after that, mostly because of surprise though. I held her off until Shining Armor and Cadance brought up a shield that shot her and the Changelings out of Canterlot,” my husband said.

Cruger grinned, “Nice, no one expects the Gum-Gum Bell. By the way, what techniques do you have access too? I’m teaching your wife Dimensional magic, might as well try to help you too.”

“I managed to use the Gum-Gum Gatling, if you’re talking about those techniques. If you are talking about haki, I’ve managed to use the Armament Haki several times and am getting there with Observation. I also used the Conqueror's Haki once on accident when I was getting onto Angel,” Sean said.

“Fair enough, sounds like you just need practice with those,”Cruger said, “what about your Gears?”

“Haven’t tried either of them yet. I haven’t really thought about or needed to use them,” Sean explained. “And if you’re wondering why I said either instead of any, it’s because I doubt I’ll get the Fourth Gear down any time soon.”

“Might want to get some practice in with them though, especially considering Third’s side effect. I’d be willing to spar with you.”

“Yeah, the Third Gears side effect is going to be pain until I can get it down. And sure, it would probably be a big help to spar with someone,” my husband said.

“No problem, not today though,” Cruger replied, “today is party, then get settled in at Twilight’s. What’s going on tomorrow?”

“Nothing that I know of,” I said. “Though in a couple days Sean’s going to start as an assistant to Cheerilee.”

Cruger’s eyes sparkled slightly, “Mind if I join you for that? I would like to help the little kiddies learn.”

“I don’t see a problem with it, though you should probably talk to Cheerilee about it so that she knows,” Sean answered.

“I’ll speak to her tomorrow, mind vouching for my teaching skills Ashley?”

“Sure, I think you’ll be great at teaching them,” I said.

“Thank you,” Cruger looked around, “now where is Pinkie hiding that cake?”

Author's Note

Crossover with cyberlord4444 and his story SPD Emergency.

Sensei Cruger

[POV: Twilight Sparkle]

The day after Cruger showed up, he, Trixie, Spike, and I were sitting at the table eating breakfast. Spike, despite not having made it before, made some sausage for Cruger, so he could have a full breakfast meal.

Cruger grinned, “Thanks again for putting me up Twilight, hope I didn’t keep you up while I was working though.” Today he was dressed in a more casual manner, blue jeans with a red T-shirt and a black hoodie.

Trixie shrugged, “We’re used to Twilight working at night.” Spike nodded and I blushed slightly. “But what were you working on?”

Cruger pulled out a folder, “Equations for a transdimensional jump between two separate Elysiums, favor for a friend of mine.”

“Elysium?” I asked curiously.

“From what I can gather from my research, a combination afterlife and realm of the gods.”

“There are gods out there?” Trixie asked in shock.

Cruger scooped up some eggs before continuing, “You bet, some of them are actually nice. I should know, I babysat for one.”

We all blinked several times. “You foalsat a god?” my marefriend asked.

“No, Celestia and Luna are merely demigods, their mother was the goddess. Maybe you’ve heard of her? Her name’s Faust.”

I thought for moment before shaking my head. “I’ve never heard that name before,” I said.

Cruger shrugged before cutting some of his sausage, “Guess mythologies aren’t a constant, though you’re taking the fact that I foalsat your mentor rather well if I may say.”

“Ashley mentioned it to us,” I said.

“I see,” Cruger took a bite out of his sausage, “by the way Spike, how did you get these?”

“I asked Ashley if she could supply us with some meat for your stay here,” he answered.

Cruger whistled, “Chaos magic is handy, not to say that Dimensional magic isn’t, but still. Oh, just a heads up, mind if I make dinner tonight? I’ve got this recipe for vegetarian lasagna that I’m trying to master, still can’t quite get the sauce to noodle ratio right.”

Spike nodded, “Sure, I’d like to see what you can make.” Trixie and I nodded in agreement.

Cruger grinned, “Thanks, next step make a shopping list.” He pulled out a notepad, “Let’s see, noodles, tomatoes, mushrooms, basil,” there was a knock at the door, “huh, that should be Ashley, here for more training no doubt.”

“Come in,” I called out.

The door opened and, like Cruger had guessed, Ashley walked in.

“Hey, guys. Not interrupting anything am I?” she asked.

“Not at all,” Cruger replied, “you do that homework I gave ya?”

She nodded, “Yeah, and I gotta say it’s really interesting magic that you use.”

“Glad you think so,” Cruger popped the last of his breakfast into his mouth, “ready for lesson 2?”

“Sure am,” she answered. “Should we head somewhere else?”

“Yep, to the market, time for practical applications 101.”

[POV Change: Ashley]

Cruger and I stood in the middle of the market. It was early, so there weren’t too many ponies there, but there were a few.

“Alright, stay still.” Cruger took out a piece of chalk and drew a circle around me.

“What is that for?” I asked as I watched him draw the circle.

“A simple exercise that you can do yourself,” Cruger stood up and handed me a piece of paper, “I’m making lasagna tonight and you’re buying the ingredients, without stepping outside of that circle. You and Sean are invited by the way.”

“Thanks,” I replied. “Alright, let’s see if I can get this,” I muttered to myself. I focused my magic and began looking for two points I could fold or an already folded area. I soon found two points and began folding them. They connected rather easily and a portal opened up.

“Not bad,” Cruger noted, “definitely faster than yesterday. Now, without closing them, try moving the portals around, one in front of you, one in front of the stall.”

I concentrated on the tomato stall and tried moving the portal over to it. At first it didn’t budge, but soon it slowly started to move.

“Good start, once you get good enough, the speed that you can move those at, as well as how easily you can make them, will improve.”

I stepped through the portal and was in front of the stall.

“Ah ah, I said don’t leave the circle. Try turning them horizontal and just sticking your upper body through.”

After stepping back through, I turned the portal horizontally and stuck my torso through it. I was about buy the fruit when I realized something. Looking back I asked, “How many?”

Cruger thought, “2 lbs, but it should be on the list.”

I looked at the list and saw that it was indeed on there. Chuckling sheepishly, I bought the produce and pulled myself out of the portal.

Cruger took the tomatoes and placed them into a portal he conjured. “Good start, when you get good enough, you can increase the difficulty of the exercise by adding restrictions, such as reducing the size of the portals or needing to increase the number of portals you need to pass through. Oh, good morning Miss Cheerilee.”

Cheerilee jumped slightly at suddenly being addressed, but when she saw us she smiled. “Good morning Cruger, Ashley,” she greeted.

“I heard that Sean’ll be helping out at the school,” Cruger said as I went to purchase the spices.

She nodded, “Yes, as you can imagine it’s difficult to keep an eye on so many foals, so he’s going to help me.”

Cruger grinned, “That they can. Hey, mind if I help out come Monday? I think they’ll get a kick out of learning from somebody from a different universe.”

Cheerilee giggle lightly “That they would.” She put a hand to her chin in thought, “I don’t see why not. As long as it’s suitable for foals.”

Cruger tapped his chin as I went for some jalapenos, “How does basic mechanics sound, levers, pulleys and the like?”

“Sounds interesting, but you’re going have find a way to get them interested. I’m not sure how excited they’ll be for that,” she answered.

“Not a problem, I’m a proponent of hands on learning. By the end of it the smallest student in your class will leave feeling as strong as Big Macintosh.”

Cheerilee smiled, “Alright then. I’ll see you Monday.”

“See you then,” Cruger looked at the pile of ingredients at his feet, “looks like that’s everything. So, what do you think of my little training method?”

“It’s interesting and effective. It isn’t easy, but not completely impossible,” I said.

Cruger nodded, “It’s a method than can be easily modified to help you practice almost any kind of magic, for example you can practice your pegasus magic by shopping without touching the ground. And you can replace grocery shopping with almost any chore.”

“That’s a good idea. I might try that with my other magic.”

“As would I if I had any,” Cruger sent the rest of the groceries through his portal, “now if you don’t mind, the sauce is a process that’ll take all afternoon. Why don’t you try opening the portal there? I marked the destination, all you have to do is connect there with here.”

“Alright,” I said and activated my magic. I grabbed a piece of reality near us while I looked for Cruger’s marker. In the distance, in the direction of what I believe was Twilight’s treehouse, was a small piece of what felt like Cruger’s magic. I grabbed it and pulled the two points together, creating a portal that lead to the library.

Cruger grinned, “That was a marker, think of it like a waypoint on a GPS. Now, how about a bit of a challenge?”

“Okay. What?” I asked.

Cruger stepped through the portal, “Simple, figure out how to make a marker. I’ll check on you once I get this sauce simmering. It’s not like you’re going to learn anything if I hold your hand all the time.”

I nodded, “OK, I’ll try.”

“Do or do not, there is no try.” Cruger grinned, “Yoda is so quotable despite his unique speech pattern isn’t he?” Before I could respond, he closed the portal.

I rolled my eyes slightly before activating my magic. I began to focus on the location I wanted to mark. I decided on doing it just in front of the library. I began to concentrate my magic on the location. However, no matter how much I focused, I couldn’t seem to get what Cruger had done to happen. Remembering how he described them as GPS waypoints, I decided to change my target for here in the market. I concentrated on the tomato stall from earlier and tried again. This time I felt a similar feeling as when I felt Cruger’s marker. However when I removed my magic, it faded. I tried again a few times, but I couldn’t get it to stay. Then I realized, Cruger’s marker felt like it was partially inside of the fabric of reality, so I tried again, this time sticking my magic into the fabric of reality instead of just on top of it. This time the feeling stayed. As I congratulated myself, a small scroll fell on top of my head.

'This must be how Celestia feels when she gets a friendship report,' I thought to myself as I read it.

Well done, it seems that you’ve figured out how to make markers.
As you may have noticed, markers can be temporary or permanent, and can only be placed in your general vicinity.
Now, your homework is to place a few more markers. Put them in places you’ll want to be able to port to on a regular basis, Derpy’s house, the school, town hall, you get the idea.
Cruger
P.S. try altering the signature of each tag slightly, think of it as naming them so you can tell them apart.
P.P.S. Dinner’s at 7, invite Sean for me would ya?

“That will be useful,” I said to myself. I snapped my fingers and teleported to where Sean was.

[POV Change: Twilight]

I have to say, watching Cruger cook is kinda fun. He told me that he likes to mix using his Dimensional magic with everyday tasks to keep in practice, but watching him do it is rather impressive. He used portals to remove the spices from the bags without opening them, and used a series of portals next to each other to cut the vegetables and put them into the pot. He was also using his sword skills, dicing a few tomatoes in mid-air and chucking them into another portal that led to a small bowl. Any one of those would be impressive, but he was doing them all at the same time.

“Hey Spike,” Cruger called out, “mind giving those tomatoes a light toast?”

“Sure,” he said and blew a small flame over the tomatoes.

“Good,” Cruger placed a small cheesecloth over the bowl, opened up a small portal over the bowl. Before I could wonder what he was up to, a bowling ball dropped out of it. Cruger then started rolling the ball, presumably to get all the tomatoes that weren’t squashed in the initial impact. Once he was satisfied, he removed the ball and cheesecloth and spooned the tomatoes into the pot.

Trixie shook her head, “I have never seen anypony prepare food with such, gusto.”

Cruger grinned, “I must admit, my first instructor was a little eccentric.” As he stirred the pot, he started humming to himself, “Yein, not shmur, ya do, cadishcado, iko yashmerdy ho bork bork bork.”

“What is that you are humming?” I asked curiously.

“Let’s just say my first instructor sang that a lot and leave it at that.”

“Well, it’s very interesting,” I said.

“True, now if you don’t mind, this needs to simmer for several hours. I hope that if I’m unavailable, you could give it a bit of a stir every 15 minutes or so?”

I nodded, “Of course. Are you planning to do something or are you saying just in case?”

“Just in case,” Cruger replied, “you know how crazy Ponyville can get.”

We all chuckled at that. “Yeah, but it’s a wonderful place regardless,” I said.

<~~>

Cruger might be eccentric in the kitchen, but he sure can cook. The lasagna he made was excellent, if a little runny. The sauce was a little spicy, but just enough to give it a bit of a kick. He used a small mountain of cheddar, swiss, and mozzarella cheese, and each layer had thinly sliced stir fried mushrooms to give an excellent texture. He even managed to make homemade garlic bread. In addition to the food, the company was great as well. Me, Cruger, Spike, Trixie, Sean and Ashley were all having as great a time as we could imagine, although I couldn’t help but groan at some of the subjects being discussed.

“So you have some superheroes called Power Ponies?” Sean asked. Sean and Spike had somehow gotten onto the topic of superheroes and comics.

Spike nodded, “Yeah, they’re Masked Matterhorn, Zapp, Fili Second, Mistress Mare-velous, Radiance, and Saddle Rager.”

Sean snorted at almost all of the names Spike listed off. “So what are their powers?” he asked.

“Masked Matterhorn can shoot a variety of energy beams, Fili Second is the fastest pony in Maretropolis, Zapp can control the forces of nature, Radiance can make energy constructs with the jewelry she wears, Mistress Mare-velous has a lasso that she can psychically control, and Saddle Rager can turn into a huge monster when she gets angry,” he explained.

Sean hummed in thought, “Except for Matterhorn, they all sound like superheroes from our world.”

“Really? Who?” Spike asked, curious.

“Hulk who’s the same as Saddle Rager, Storm who’s like Zapp, Flash is similar to Fili Second, Mare-velous sounds similar to Wonder Woman (except for the psychic link to her lasso), and Radiance is like the Green Lantern,” the rubber man told him.

“Huh, that’s pretty interesting,” Spike said. Trixie and I rolled our eyes and, while not as exasperated as us, Ashley didn’t look like she was really listening to the conversation.

“Nothing personal,” Cruger interjected, “but I’m more a Iron-Man fan myself.”

Sean shrugged, “Everyone has their own likes and dislikes.”

Spike frowned, “Who’s Iron-Man?”

“You know that armor that the guard wears?” Cruger replied.

“Yeah,” Spike answered.

“Now imagine one that allowed its user to fly, and shoot lasers and missiles.”

“Cool,” Spike said. “But what are missiles?”

“They are explosives that people are able to launch and they fly a good distance to reach their target,” Sean answered.

“Huh, I wonder if there are any Iron-Man Displaced out there?” Cruger wondered aloud.

“Could very well be,” Ashley said. “No telling how many people have been Displaced after all.”

“It would be interesting to meet him if there is,” Sean said.

“That it would,” Cruger replied, “by the way, mind if I ask what other Displaced you’ve met?”

“Besides you, we’ve only met one other. She was a genderbent Fire Fist Ace,” Sean answered. “We also met a Displacer that was helping her, though.”

“Not all Displacers are jerks? That’s going in my notes. Well, my turn.” Cruger removed an iron pendant from around his neck, on it was a black helmet, “this is for Umbra, a genderbent Overlord Displaced with a slight case of sticky fingers. Also, she’s Zinnia’s girlfriend,” he tapped on the bracelet on his wrist, “so I’d be careful if you got in a scrap with either of them.” Cruger put his pendant away and pulled a yellow buckle with a stylized M out of his pocket, “this belongs to Eriba, an age regressed genderbent Majin Bu. She’s the one I’m helping with the Elysium thing I told you about.”

“You’ve met quite a few Displaced. And they all seem rather interesting,” Ashley said.

“Majin Bu? Like Dragon Ball?” Sean asked.

“Yep, although she’s not quite up to par yet,” Cruger replied, “something about getting hit by the Elements, still waiting on the full story.”

“Can’t really imagine what that’s like,” Ashley said. “I’ve seen them used, but I wonder what it’s like to be hit with them.”

“Probably not too bad unless you’ve been naughty,” Cruger grinned, “it did do a rather nice evilectomy on Luna.”

“True,” Ashley agreed. “Though it separated the two here.”

“First rule of the multiverse, there is no such thing as a constant,” Cruger replied sagely.

“So we’ve been gathering,” Sean replied. “Especially with the show’s we’ve been Displaced from influences appearing.”

“Wonder if it’s the Displaced’s arrival that causes the changes, or the Displaced being sent to a world that they match?” Cruger asked.

“Something else for your new team to research I suppose,” Ashley said.

“That it is,” Cruger replied, “though I think you mean ‘our’.”

“Well, you’re the founder and probably leader aren’t you?” Sean questioned.

Cruger chuckled, “true, but it’s as much your team as mine. Now, who wants seconds?”

“Me!” we all chorused.

[POV Change: Sean]

Cruger was a great help these last few days, helping Ashley get the hang of all of her magic, not just Dimensional, but also with Twilight’s research and sparring with me. However, today would bring a challenge that I’m not sure he could handle.

“Good morning children,” said Miss Cheerilee.

“Good morning Miss Cheerilee,” the class chorused.

“I have two announcements,” she started. “Starting today Sean will be helping me in keeping an eye on all of you and he might teach us some things about his world.”

I waved at the foals from the corner of the room.

“Also, today we have a guest teacher. He’s rather different, but he’s a good pony. You can come in Mr.Cruger,” she said.

“Good morning children,” Cruger said.

“What could a Diamond Dog teach us?” Diamond Tiara sneered. Before Cheerilee could reprimand her, Cruger interrupted.

“I’ll have you know that I am not a Diamond Dog, Miss Tiara, and I dislike being called one. Anyway, today I’m going to be teaching you something so useful, your parents will want to know it.”

“Business advice?” a white and brown colt asked.

“How to sew?” Sweetie Belle asked.

“How to get a mare?” a pegasus colt guessed. I fell to the floor laughing at that. Once I’d calmed down, Cruger spoke.

“Not quite, today I’m going to teach you some simple mechanics.” He pulled out two brooms and a length of rope, “Now, can I get some volunteers?”

Dinky and Applebloom’s hands shot up.

“Thank you you two, but I need one more, how about you?” He pointed at Scootaloo, “Care to join us?”

The pegasus filly shrugged and walked up to him, the other two joining them.

Cruger tied one end of the rope to one of the broomsticks and started wrapping the rope around both of them. He handed one of the brooms to Applebloom and the other to Scootaloo, then handed the free end of the rope to Dinky. “Before we start, can anypony take a guess as to what will happen when they all start pulling?”

Thoughtful looks spread on most of the foals faces, minus Diamond Tiara who wasn’t really paying attention. Then almost in perfect synchronization they shook their heads.

I chuckled at the sight of this.

“Well let’s find out.” He nodded to the girls who started pulling. The children's looks turned to awe as Dinky, who was by far the smallest one in the class, was overpowering two of the school’s best athletes. As the broomsticks touched, the class started clapping.

The three fillies looked shocked at what had happened. “How?” they asked simultaneously.

Cruger spread the broomsticks apart, “This is a simple pulley system, notice how the rope loops around the broomsticks several times?” The entire class nodded. “Well, that’s a pulley system. Every time the rope loops, it increases the amount of force pulling the broomsticks together, multiplying the force, as well as the distance you need to pull the rope. Since there are 6 loops, Dinky’s force was multiplied by 6, at the cost of having to pull the rope 6 times as far.”

“Why would you want to pull something farther?” a white filly with a red mane asked with a lisp.

“Well, it’s not that you want to pull it farther, simple mechanics just allows you convert force into distance. You’re still doing the same amount of work, just in a different way.” Cruger wrote on the chalkboard ‘W=DxF’, “doing a job always requires a certain amount of work,” he pointed to the W, “you just get to choose if you’d rather use a lot of force,” he pointed to the F, “or move a longer distance,” he pointed to the D. “This equation doesn’t just apply to pulleys, it also works for ramps and levers. Can anyone think of an example of where you can use a pulley, ramp, or lever?”

“Lifting something to the upper level of the barn?” Applebloom guessed.

Cruger nodded, “You can use either a pulley to lift it up, or push it up a ramp. Anypony else want to take a guess?”

They all shook their heads, seemingly unable to think of another example.

Cruger shrugged, “Fair enough. How about this, when you’re next out and about, look around. See if you can spot somepony using a pulley, ramp, or lever. Um, would you mind if assigned a small bit of homework Miss Cheerilee?”

She smiled, “I don’t mind at all. It sounds very useful, what you’re teaching them.”

Cruger nodded, “Anyway, I would like all of you to find either a pony using a lever, ramp, or pulley, or a pony in a situation where one would be helpful, and write about it. Now, this was meant to be Sean’s time, so I’ll let him get to it, can’t cover for him too much on his first day.”

I rolled my eyes, “I’m mostly just here to help Cheerilee however she needs. Though I suppose I could think of something.” I rose a hand to my chin in thought. I snapped my fingers as I thought of something. I looked around the room and said, “You all have been rather quiet about it, but I bet you’re wondering about the two of us correct?” They all nodded and I continued, “We are what’s known as Displaced. We can come in many forms as you can see.” I gestured between the two of us, “We can look similar to you all or there could very well be dragons or some other big Displaced out there. Wouldn’t really be surprised considering some of our media.”

Cruger continued, “We also can visit each other using special things we call tokens. If any of you pick something up that you think might be a token, would you mind taking it to Sean or Ashley? You can tell if it’s one if it plays a message when you pick it up.”

The students glanced at each other then nodded.

I smiled, “That would be very helpful, thank you.” I then said, “Something else you should know and be wary of is that more than likely most Displaced will have some kind of power. So be cautious, but don’t outright avoid them. After all they could be friendly, like Cruger here.”

With that, the bell rang, signalling the end of the school day.

I blinked in surprise, “That seemed rather quick.”

“Alright children, Cruger gave you some work to do and I expect you to do it,” Cheerilee said to the class.

“Yes, Miss Cheerilee,” they all said.

Cruger turned towards me, “Well, today’s the last day of my vacation, I hope I wasn’t too much of an imposition.”

I smiled, “You kidding? It was great meeting you. Plus, you’ve helped us learn several things. From about the multiverse to helping Ashley learn some new magic.”

Cruger grinned, “Glad to, I might be a cop, but I’m also a teacher, mentor Ranger remember. Hey, what do you say to one last sparring match before we head to Pinkie’s farewell party, you’re getting good with second gear, and you might be able to make me morph this time.”

“Sure, it’d be cool to get you to do that before you left,” I said with a slight smirk. “So the Whitetail Woods or the Everfree?”

“Whitetail Woods,” Cruger opened a portal, “I’d rather not have a cockatrice interrupt a friendly sparring match, again.”

I shuddered slightly. That thing’s ability was disturbing. “We took care of it rather easily considering,” I said.

“True enough,” Cruger replied as we stepped through the portal, “now, shall we?”

I nodded and bent to Luffy’s signature pose and activated Second Gear. I stood back up and focused on Cruger.

He drew his blade, “After you.”

I pulled my right arm back while aiming with my left. When I lined up, I started to move, but before I punched I moved to his side and threw my fist forward. He moved his head to the side slightly, causing my fist to miss. Stretching my leg I swung it at his back. He went into a forward roll, causing to miss by the slimmest of margins again.

Cruger grinned, “Good work, I’m dodging by less than two centimeters now,” he pulled out his morpher, “you’re finally good enough for me to get serious, SPD EMERGENCY!”

I watched as he was quickly covered in the Power Ranger armor. It was blue and black and had a red outline of the number 100 on a piece of chest armor. The symbol from his badge was in the middle of his helmet, which had two ‘ears’ sticking up from it. A pair of red lights was on the sides of the helmet, and they flashed once, signalling the start of round two.

I whistled, “Much cooler to actually see it.”

I then charged and threw a punch at his chest. He brushed it aside with his blade, sending a punch at my head with the same movement. Luckily he didn’t put any haki into the punch and it just sent my head back without any pain. Taking advantage of the moment I pulled my head forward for a headbutt. However, he managed to grab my neck and threw me over his shoulder. After bouncing off of the ground, I jumped to my feet. I threw my leg forward for a kick, but he managed to step over it. I wrapped my leg around a tree and pulled myself toward Cruger and tried to clothesline him. He managed to dodge it, but not without falling flat on his back since he was still a little off balance from my last attack. Unwrapping my leg, I stopped myself from moving and ran to Cruger. Once over him, I pulled a fist back and threw down a punch. He managed to escape by opening a portal beneath him. As I looked around trying to find him, I heard him chuckling.

“Well done, I was half expecting you to force me to morph, but to make me tele-dodge?” I saw him standing not too far away, “You have done well my student.”

I chuckled slightly, “Thank you sensei.”

Cruger’s stance shifted to a defensive one, “Now, let’s see you get serious, show me the Gum Gum Jet Gatling.”

I paused, but did as he asked. I started throwing my fists forward in quick succession. Although they moved faster than the eye could see, he was able to dodge or block every single one. I blinked several times at the speed he was exhibiting.

“How the hell?” I questioned.

“An advanced form of Subspace-Accel, your wife might be able be able to dash at 1.5c, but I can still see her clearly when she does. I’ll leave notes for her to study when I go.”

“That’d be helpful if we run into any of the other CP9,” I said. “Thanks Cruger, for everything.”

Cruger demorphed, “It was a privilege. Now if you don’t mind, I do not want to find out what happens if you miss a Pinkie Party, especially if you’re the guest of honor.”

<~~>

I didn’t think it was possible, but Cruger’s farewell party was bigger than his welcome party. This time, most of the ponies smiled at Cruger when he entered the building. A lot of the guests had one of the milkshakes Cruger had when he first arrived, Pinkie was calling them Chocolate Galaxies, and the whole place was lively and energetic.

I chuckled, “Looks like you added a dessert to their menu.”

“And they are delicious,” Eclipse said walking to us.

“Ah, Cruger this is Shadow Eclipse, though she prefers Eclipse,” I introduced. “She’s another pony who’s eaten a Devil Fruit.”

“I apologize for not meeting you before, I was otherwise engaged.”

“It’s fine. Nice to meet you before you go,” she said.

“Likewise,” Cruger replied, “if it’s not too much of a bother, might I ask what Devil Fruit you ate?”

“We’ve decided to call it the Rainbow-Rainbow Fruit,” she answered as her eyes shifted to every color of the rainbow before settling on yellow. “It allows me to control certain elements,” she said as electricity sparked off of her.

Cruger nodded, “A rather useful ability. If you don’t mind me saying, I’d recommend that you practice shifting between different elements quickly so you can perform combo techniques. Here’s one that could be useful, freeze your target solid then hit ‘em with a boulder.”

“Sounds kind of brutal, but I get what you’re saying,” Eclipse said.

Cruger shrugged, “I never said you should use it on somebody, but if you need to break down a reinforced door, it could come in handy.”

“I see. Thanks for the tip,” she said.

“You give really good advice,” I complimented.

“Oh that?” Cruger mocked confusion, “that was just a modified version of a technique I use in video games. By the way, do not challenge Twilight to a strategy game, I did once, she took over the entire map before I could blink.”

I snickered slightly, “Yeah, she seems the type to do very well at those kinds of games.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice, she broke my Carrier Command Gaea Mission multiplayer winning streak in 35 minutes flat, and I play against Luna.”

“Luna likes games?” I asked with a grin. “Might introduce her to them and see how she reacts. Nightmare Moon too.”

“My Luna does, I wonder what other MLP memes exist out in the multiverse?”

“I don’t know, but if socks are a thing, I don’t know whether I’d find it funny or weird,” Ashley said, as she approached us.

“Socks?” I asked in confusion.

“There’s this thing on the net where socks are basically the pony version of lingerie,” Cruger explained.

I stared at the two for a moment before facepalming, surprising several ponies as I’d never done it in front of them. “Our world, honestly,” I muttered.

“Yeah, let’s just say I’m not looking too hard for a way home,” Cruger replied, shaking his head.

Ashley shrugged, “Depending on the artist they could be rather cute.”

Cruger groaned, “I’m gonna go indulge my habit before this gets any weirder.”

Cruger walked up to the stage, Vinyl Scratch cutting the music and handing him a mic once the current song ended.

“Thank you everypony for attending,” Cruger called out into the mic. “This is certainly a better party than my welcome party, but still not the craziest I’ve heard of, that would belong to the Kelligrews Soiree. Pinkie, take notes.”

You may talk of Clara Nolan's Ball or anything you choose,
But it couldn't hold a snuffbox to the spree at Kelligrews;
If you want your eyeballs straightened just come out next week with me,
You'll have to wear your glasses at the Kelligrews Soiree.
There was birch rind, tar twine, cherry wine and turpentine,
Jowls and cavalances, ginger beer and tea;
Pig's feet, cat's meat, dumplings boiled up in a sheet,
Dandelion and crackie's teeth at the Kelligrews Soiree.

Oh, I borrowed Cluney's beaver as I squared my yards to sail,
And a swallow tail from Hogan that was foxy on the tail;
Billy Cuddahie's old working pants and Patsy Nolan's shoes,
And an old white vest from Fogarty to sport at Kelligrews.
There was Dan Milley, Joe Lilly, Tantan and Mrs. Tilley,
Dancing like a little filly, 'twould raise your heart to see;
Jim Brine, Dan Ryan, Flipper Smith and Caroline,
I tell you, boys, we had a time at the Kelligrews Soiree.

Oh, when I arrived at Betsy Snook's that night at half past eight,
The place was blocked with carriages stood waiting at the gate;
With Cluney's beaver upon my pate, the first words Betsy said,
"Here comes the local preacher with the pulpit on his head".
There was Bill Mews, Dan Hughes, Wilson, Taft and Teddy Roose,
While Bryant, he sat in the blues and looking hard at me;
Jim Fling, Tom King, Johnson, champion of the ring,
And all the boxers I could bring to the Kelligrews Soiree.

"The Saratoga Lancers first," Miss Betsy kindly said,
I danced with Nancy Cronin and her Granny on the Head;
And Hogan danced with Betsy, well you should have seen his shoes,
As he lashed the muskets from the rack that night at Kelligrews.
There was boiled guineas, cold guineas, bullock's heads and piccaninnies,
Everything to catch the pennies you'd break your sides to see;
Boiled duff, cold duff, apple jam was in a cuff,
I tell you, boys, we had enough at the Kelligrews Soiree.

Crooked Flavin struck the fiddler and a hand I then took in,
You should see George Cluney's beaver and it flattened to the rim;
And Hogan's coat was like a vest, the tails were gone you see,
Says I, "The Devil haul ye and your Kelligrews Soiree".
There was birch rind, tar twine, cherry wine and turpentine,
Jowls and cavalances, ginger beer and tea;
Pig's feet, cat's meat, dumplings boiled up in a sheet,
I tell you, boys, we had a time at the Kelligrews Soiree,
I tell you, boys, we had a time at the Kelligrews Soiree,
I tell you, boys, we had a time at the Kelligrews Soiree.

While they seemed slightly confused by the lyrics, everypony began clapping and cheering for Cruger.

Cruger bowed and returned the mic and walked back towards us, “Ah Newfoundland, when I find your Equestrian equivalent I will be a happy man.”

“I thought you were trying to get away from the weirdness,” I said with a smirk.

“Music is not weird, it is merely eccentric at times,” Cruger replied with mock indignation.

I chuckled, “True enough.”

“Well this should be interesting,” Cruger said, “looks like Twilight’s stepping up to bat, so to speak.”

We all turned and were somewhat surprised to see her on the stage.

“If she starts singing A Modern Major General, I will be unsurprised,” Cruger mused

As if hearing him, Twilight smirked and music I was not expecting started to play.

Ready for the big time, ready for the small
Whatever's comin' to me, I'll be ready for it all
Sometimes it ain't easy, sometimes it's not polite
Some days I don't get it, some days I get it right

It's in my heart, it's in my head
That's what i said

Hey Colts are you ready for the shock
I'm living proof, the fillies can rock
Spread the news around every single block
Hey colts, the filly can rock

Standin' in the spotlight workin' up a sweat
Givin' all i got and lovin' what i get
I can't hold back what i feel inside
and if i make you nervous, you better step aside

It's in my heart, it's in my head
That's what i said

Hey Colts are you ready for the shock
I'm living proof, the fillies can rock
Spread the news around every single block
Hey colts, the filly can rock

The filly can rock
Don't say maybe or call me 'baby'
I ain't crazy at all

It's in my heart, it's in my head
That's what i said

Hey Colts are you ready for the shock
I'm living proof, the fillies can rock
Spread the news around every single block
Hey colts, the filly can rock

It's in my heart, it's in my head
That's what i said

I'm gonna live it up
I'll never give it up
I'm gonna spread the news around the block
It ain't no shock...the filly can rock...the filly can rock...the filly can rock

Yeah, Rock!

After getting over the initial shock, I chuckled and clapped at her performance. A lot of the ponies in the crowd looked rather shocked as well, even Trixie, though I saw Spike snickering behind his claws.

“Did I expect that, no, do I mind, not at all,” Cruger commented.

“Same here,” Ashley said. “She seems a bit more outspoken than I first thought.”

“First rule of the Multiverse,” Cruger merely said.

My wife nodded, “Not everyone is like they are from the show. Like Trixie, for example.”

“Indeed,” Cruger replied, “well, we might as well mingle, I’m leaving first thing tomorrow and I plan to make as many memories as I can.”

<~~>

The party was excellent, but soon enough morning came, and with it Cruger’s departure.

“It was great meeting you Cruger and I can’t wait till we do again,” I said.

“Same here,” Ashley said.

“It was for me as well,” Cruger reached into a portal and pulled out two file folders. “A parting gift,” he handed one of them to Ashley, “you’ve mastered portals, and have breached subspace, this contains everything you need to finish getting the hang of it.”

“Thank you,” she said with a bow of her head.

Cruger replied with a bow of his own, “It was a privilege to pass my techniques on.” He handed the other folder to me, “This is a little something I’ve been working on in my spare time, schematics for your own Thousand Sunny.”

I grinned widely, “That would be awesome to have for if/when we have to sail somewhere.”

Cruger grinned, “It can do a whole lot more than that. It has a mana-reactor instead of a cola engine, and can either be converted to a standard zeppelin type airship, or fly on its own with its anti-grav array. I’d recommend using the first option for long journeys though, the anti-grav needs a ton of power to run. Plus it has a set of landing gears, you could use it as a house.”

“Those sound amazingly useful,” I said. “Does the mana-reactor recharge on its own?”

“Think of it like a windmill, just replace wind with ambient magic.”

“I see,” Ashley said.

“Well,” Cruger picked up his suitcase, “I’ve got to get back to work. If you would?”

We both gave him a confused look. “Do what?” I asked.

Cruger raised his eyebrow, “Send me back? Are you telling me you don’t know how to do that?”

“The last Displaced we met was with a Displacer remember?” Ashley reminded him.

Cruger sighed, “Yeah I know, I just thought that he might of passed that along. Time for one last lesson, to send a Displaced back, just say ‘X, our contract is complete’, replacing X with their name of course.”

“Ah, I see. Cruger our contract is complete,” I said.

A portal opened behind Cruger, “Well, Ashley, Fedora no Sean, it was a pleasure, my place next time though?”

As I snickered at what he called me, Ashley nodded, “That sounds great.”

“Glad to hear it,” Cruger replied as he stepped through the portal, “however, you’re on your own for filling the soldier dock.”

“What about you getting our token?” I called out.

One of Cruger’s hands poked back through the portal, in it was a slip of paper with the Straw Hats’ Jolly Roger on it, “Is it this?”

“Yep that’s it. It works like a Vivre Card. Just focus on whoever you want to find and it will lead you to them,” Ashley explained.

“Gotcha,” Cruger called back as the portal closed, “see you later.”

When the portal disappeared, I said, "He was a big help in a lot of things."

"Yes, he was," she agreed. She checked her watch, "I suppose it's time to go about our day."

"Right," I said, as I prepared to head to the school. "You find something to do as well?"

"I have. The Cakes were nice enough let me work for them," she said. "I also offered to foalsit the twins if they needed. Pinkie usually does it, but one pony taking care of two foals is hard work."

"Even for that walking conundrum?" I asked.

"She was foalsitting a baby unicorn and pegasus. Pumpkin could use magic and Pound was able to fly around," she said. "Keeping up with one of them would be one thing, but both of them? I'm not surprised she broke down in the show."

"Well, I wish the both of you luck when you have to foalsit," I said. I gave her a kiss goodbye, "I'll see you later hon."

She returned the gesture, "See you later, dear."

We then went our separate ways and to our respective jobs.

Training a Dragon

After Cruger had left I went to the school to start my second day on the job. I didn't really have to do much during school. I sat in a chair next to Cheerilee's desk and kept an eye on the students as she taught them. For whatever reason, Diamond Tiara kept glancing at me with a deep frown while the CMC and Dinky smirked slightly. All the children had done what Cruger had asked and found things that ponies could use pulleys, ramps, and levers on. Most were serious like using a ramp to move something up stairs, a pulley to lift something into an attic or something similar, or using a lever to lift something to where another pony could move it onto an elevated level. A few were less serious, at least in Cheerilee and I's opinion. The pegasus colt from yesterday that had asked if Cruger's lesson would be about to pick up mares, put using a ramp or pulley to get his lazy ass, my words not his, brother to move. I, once again, laughed at his answer. If only Cruger could have heard that answer.

I talked to the colt, who I found out was named Rumble, about his answer. He told me that his brother Thunderlane, while responsible, was near impossible to get to budge when he got comfortable. There weren't a lot of things that got him to move. Food, work, their parents, and when nature called were the only sure fire things to get him to move his flank, other than a Pinkie Party of course.

After school had ended, I stayed with Cheerilee to help her however she needed me to. I cleared the classroom of any trash that was in it, cleaned the board, and helped her grade the children's work. Of course I stayed away from anything involving Equestria's history. She, understandably, checked to make sure that I graded everything correctly. I'd managed to correctly grade the papers.

Now, I was walking through the town, waving at the ponies that I passed by. It was very peaceful as I walked. It was then that the peace was disrupted by screams of fear and panic. I was able to recognize a few in the cacophony of sound. They were Twilight, Trixie, and Spike.

I immediately began sprinting toward the sound. I eventually neared the library and was surprised to see three dragons. One was a dark brown and pretty damn fat, with blue horns, red wings, and a mace-like tail. Another of the dragons was the polar opposite of the first in terms of physique. He was skinny as a twig, purple with a yellow underbelly and wings, and yellow... hair? How a dragon had hair confused the hell out of me, but I ignored it for now. The middle dragon was well built, red with a light gold underbelly, amber wings and orange spikes. They were standing over Twilight, who was painfully clutching her side, and Trixie, who was doing her best to tend to her marefriend. The red dragon was holding Spike by his collar.

"Big mistakes, you bastards," I muttered with a scowl, as I strode toward them. 'I better not leave anything to chance,' I thought, preparing myself to fight the dragons.

[POV Change: Spike]

The day had started so nice. Twilight, Trixie, and I were just spending time together But somehow, the three teenage dragons Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and I had the displeasure of meeting had found us and Garble was now holding me in the air by the collar of my shirt. Twilight had tried to free me from his grip, but the big one, Clump I think, struck her with his massive tail. I was pissed off greatly when this happened, but with how I was being held and the fact that dragons are fire-proof, there was little I could do.

"HEY!!"

The sudden shout got all of our attention and we all turned toward where it had come from. A smile spread across my face as I saw Sean marching over to us. He looked very angry.

Garble looked Sean up and down, "What do you want?"

"For you let my friend go," he said. As he walked, I saw him press on his legs. They seemed to move down before pumping back up. He did this two times before his skin turned pink and steam started coming off of him.

The dragons just smirked at each other thinking nothing of the change and I could see the girls were as confused as I was about it. Suddenly, he vanished from our sight causing all of our eyes to widen. He reappeared directly in front of Garble and threw punch at his arm causing him to release me. As I fell to the ground, Sean threw another punch at the red dragon's chest, launching him backwards. As Clump swung his tail like he did against Twilight, I moved over to her and Trixie. Sean caught his tail and lifted the dragon up before slamming into the ground. He then kicked the dragon, sending him crashing into Garble. Sean suddenly shouted in pain as Fume slashed him with his claws. He quickly spun around and punched the dragon in his head. He was sent flying back farther do his smaller build.

The three of us gasped in shock as we saw the blood coming out of three slash marks on his back.

"Sean, are you OK!?" Trixie asked, worry laced in her voice.

"Yeah, doesn't really hurt," he scoffed slightly. "Does not mean that it doesn't hurt, but still," he muttered, most likely to himself. Garble and Clump pushed themselves up and Sean refocused on them. Fume seemed unconscious from the blow he'd received. "You going to leave or do I have beat some more sense into you?"

"You just caught us by surprise you hairless ape," Garble said. He took off into the air and taunted, "I'd like to see you hit me up here."

Despite how angry he seemed, Sean smirked and lined up a fist with the flying dragon. "Gum-Gum..." he said, as he pulled his arm back. "Jet Pistol!" he shouted throwing his arm forward at a blinding speed and punched Garble faster than any of us could see. The dragon fell out of the sky and crashed to the ground. "I really owe Cruger one for helping me train with this gear," I heard him mumble to himself.

Clump, deciding not to try his luck with the rubber man anymore than he had, picked up the knocked out dragon and flew away from Ponyville.

"Come back you cowards!!" Garble yelled.

"If you were smart, you'd follow their example," Sean said.

Suddenly, Ashley flashed next to him. "I was on my way over here when I heard a crash and teleported over," she said. She glanced at Garble and snapped her fingers. Eclipse and Fleetfoot appeared next to them. The two mares looked at the situation before them and quickly got in offensive positions. Ashley then drew her sword. It was the sword that Sean had used to fight Chrysalis. The front of the blade was dark purple while the back was almost black and in between the colors were red spikes ran along the length of the blade. It was a rather ominous looking sword.

Garble looked between the two humans and two ponies. Letting out a growl, he charged forward, "I will not let myself be beat by a couple of weakling ponies and two hairless apes!!"

When the dragon neared, Sean brought his leg up and kicked him in the jaw, launching him into the air. Fleetfoot and Ashley appeared on either side of Garble and they both slashed him. Ashley cut him vertically on his back while Fleetfoot raked her nails across his torso. Eclipse then took off and surrounded her fist in electricity. When she was above him, she brought her fist down onto his skull sending Garble crashing to the ground. We all walked to him and saw that he was laying unconscious in a small crater.

"Eclipse and I will take him to the Princesses," Fleetfoot said. "She'll contact the dragons and have them deal with him."

"So that the Princess can tell them the whole story, what exactly happened?" Eclipse asked.

"Twilight, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Spike had met him and two other dragons before when he had wanted to find out more about being a dragon," Trixie started. "They managed to get away from them when the three chased them, but it seems they tracked Spike down. They didn't say what they were going to do to him, but when Twilight tried to stop them the big one struck her with his tail." She turned to her marefriend, a worried look on her face, "Are you OK, Twi?"

Twilight smiled at Trixie using her nickname, "I'm better." She lifted her hand away from her side, which was surrounded by a familiar soft white glow. "I used healing magic to heal what I could. I still need to go to the hospital though. That kind of magic isn't really my strong suit."

"Yeah, and we need to get Sean there quickly," I spoke up.

"Why?" Ashley asked. In response, he turned around and the three gasped at the sight. "Sean, what happened?!"

"One of them got a lucky shot," he said. He turned to Fleetfoot, "You should bandage those wounds so he doesn't bleed out before you are able to get him to Canterlot." She nodded, and went to get some bandages. "Right, let's get to the hospital." As we started heading over, Ashley teleported ahead of us to let them know Sean and Twilight were coming.

[POV Change: Sean]

When we reached the hospital Twilight and I were immediately lead to where our injuries could be checked and treated. We were taken to the same room and the dividers were pulled, probably so they could check to see if she had any outer wounds and she wouldn't have to worry about me seeing her. Though I was facing the opposite direction, as the unicorn doctor was using his magic on my cuts. He was orange with a brown mane and dressed in the typical doctor attire.

"You're lucky these are shallow or you would have had for them to wait for them to heal naturally," he said. "Nopony here is that well versed in healing magic."

"Thank you, Dr. Stable," I said.

"I'm just doing my job Sean," he said. After a minute he finished, "There, all done. Bleeding stopped, wounds closed, and not even a scar. You can head out whenever you're ready."

I stood up and stretched. "Thanks again doc. I'll come by later and see how you're doing, Twilight," I said. "Hope you heal OK."

"Thanks Sean. I'll see you later," she said.

I exited the room and walked back to the entrance. Trixie and Ashley hurried up to me and spoke at the same time.

"How are you?" "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine, you two," I said.

They sighed in relief, as Spike walked up to me. "Can I talk to you Sean?" he asked. His eyes darted to Ashley and Trixie. "Alone?"

The three of us glanced at each other. I shrugged, "Sure Spike. See you ladies later."

"See you guys," they said.

Spike and I left the hospital and started walking. "Hey Spike, I know that you wanted to talk, but I have to ask. Why was the glow that surrounded Twilight's hand white instead of magenta like it usually is?" I asked.

"Huh? Oh, that's because of the magic she was using. It was healing, or light, magic," he answered.

"Healing is a separate magic?" I asked.

Spike nodded, "Yeah, and as you might imagine, Celestia is proficient in it."

"Huh. Wait, does that mean--?" I started, but Spike seemed to know what I was going to ask as he cut me off.

"Nopony knows if Luna is the same way with dark magic," he said. "Though, we've seen Nightmare Moon use it. But..."

"You aren't sure if that's because she was part of Luna or because she is technically her dark side, right?" I guessed. Spike nodded. "Does that mean that dark magic doesn't corrupt someone?"

"Corrupt? No. Influence them? Sure," he said.

"So, their anger or other emotions could be affected by the magic. Need to remember to tell Ashley that. Right, well thanks for letting me know. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?" I asked, as I glanced up and saw Fleetfoot and Eclipse carrying the still unconscious Garble to Canterlot.

Spike followed my gaze and frowned, "It's about what just happened. I wasn't able to do anything when those three showed up and Twilight got hurt."

"Spike from what Ashley explained to me about dragons, those were teenage dragons. It's not easy to handle someone who has that big of an age advantage," I told him.

"I know, but I want to be able to at least help Twilight," he said. He looked at me with pleading eyes, "Please Sean, will help me get stronger?"

I stared at the drake and sighed, "Listen Spike, I'm not gonna lie, despite what I've done, I have fought very little in my life. The only kind I've had is when I arrived here." I turned forward, "And getting stronger, that's up to you. I could teach you all I know, but unless you push yourself it would be pointless." Spike looked down dejectedly. "However," I continued and turned to him with a smile, "I'm willing to help as much as I can."

He looked up at me with a wide smile, "Really?"

I nodded, "Yes. Now let's head to the Whitetail Woods and get started."

<~~>

When we reached a clearing in the Whitetail Woods, I asked, "Alright Spike, a question before we begin. How strong are you now?" Before he could answer, I heard a familiar growling sound. "Not again," I groaned as seven manticores entered the clearing. "I wonder if these are some of the same manticores from the other day." Several of the manticores roared at me.

"I think it's safe to assume that's a yes," Spike said.

"Probably why they are here instead of the Everfree, but this is perfect. Instead of just telling me how strong you are, you can show me," I said.

"You want me to fight them!?" he shouted.

"You won't be doing it alone," I assured him. "You take three and I'll handle the rest. If you need help I'll be right there. And if you start to doubt yourself, just remember these two things." He looked directly into my eyes, "You are a dragon and you are doing this so you protect those that you care about."

He steeled himself before nodding and turned to face the manticores. One of the beasts ran forward and Spike met it head on. He threw his fist forward and punched the manticore straight in the muzzle, which produced a loud crack causing me to wince. The beast fell to the ground in a heap. Another one pounced, but Spike ducked and punched it in the gut. It buckled from the pain, but didn't look ready to give up. The third manticore took off into the air and tried to dive bombed Spike, but the young dragon spun around and roundhouse kicked it. It was sent crashing into a tree. The second manticore recovered from the blow it had received and charged Spike. It managed to slash his back, but thanks to his scales all it did was send him stumbling. He quickly turned around and slashed it across the face. It let out a roar of pain and retreated back to the forest.

After seeing Spike take down three of them, the manticores hesitated in pressing the attack.

"Nice. You're pretty damn strong Spike," I said. I glanced at the remaining manticores and tried exerting my will onto them. For a moment, nothing happened, but suddenly the remaining beasts fell to the ground unconscious. "Glad I was able to do that," I muttered. Glancing around, I suggested, "Let's' head back huh?"

He nodded in agreement and we made our way back to Ponyville.

<~~>

As we neared town, I said, "I don't really think you need my help with anything Spike. You seem to be able to fight rather well and you are pretty strong."

"Well, Shining Armor showed me some things," he said. "But, you fought against Chrysalis who had overpowered Celestia. I want to be able to fight those that, normally, I wouldn't be able to handle. To deal with those like Garble."

I nodded in understanding, "I'll help in anyway I can Spike. I think it would be a good idea to start with haki. They will come in handy as Armament will strengthen your attacks and Observation will alert you to any danger. I may still be getting the hang of Observation Haki, but I know how to teach it to you."

"Alright," he agreed. As we entered Ponyville, Twilight, Trixie, and Ashley walked up to us. Spike rushed up to them, "How are you, Twilight?"

"I'm fine. It isn't anything serious, but I'll have to take it easy for about three days," she said. "Where were you two?"

Deciding it would be best to be honest, I said, "Spike asked me to help him get stronger and I decided that I'd do it. We went to Whitetail to train, but were interrupted by some of the same manticores that Cruger and I had dealt with." Worry spread across all of there faces. I clapped the drake on the back, "He knocked out three of them by himself and rather easily."

"You didn't help him!?" Trixie and Twilight yelled.

I scowled and narrowed my eyes at the two mares. "I was standing there the whole time ready to jump in at any moment should he need it. I wasn't going let him get hurt," I said. They had the decency to look abashed, as their ears lowered. "I know you two are just worried about him, but he's my friend and I wouldn't just let him fend for himself."

"Sorry," they both mumbled.

"It's fine. Like I said, I know that you are just worried about him. I'm going to keep training him though. It would be a good idea for him to be able to protect himself after all."

They both hesitated, but saw that I had a point and nodded in understanding.

[POV Change: Ashley]

Three days passed rather quickly and Twilight had fully recovered. During these three days, Sean helped Spike get stronger as well as teach him haki. The first day they worked on Armament Haki. Spike actually picked this up rather quickly. We figured his drive to protect those he cared about really helped out with using this haki. We also learned from Fleetfoot and Eclipse that Celestia had taken Garble back to the dragons and told them what he and his friends had done. We weren't told anything other than that it would be taken care of.

On the second day they started on Observation Haki. They helped each other out with that. Spike would stand with his eyes closed and Sean would swipe at him with a wooden sword. Of course, it was rather slow going since Spike had to get used to not using his eyes and instead use his other senses. After few hours, the two would switch and, with haki imbued into the practice sword, Spike was able to do what Rayleigh did for Luffy. Which was smack Sean upside the head if he misinterpreted the feeling he got.

After that they moved on to combat. The two sparred, both of them getting several strikes against the other. Spike, of course, had been relatively unscathed thanks to his dragon scales, but Sean's strength had made an impact on him. Sean, with Luffy's stamina, had still been standing tall, although he had been panting from the spar.

It was the day after their sparring match and we, Twilight, Trixie, Sean, Spike, and I, were all just hanging out in the library when Spike belched out a scroll. Twilight immediately grabbed the letter began reading it.

She looked up at us, worry evident on her face, "Princess Celestia has a test for me."

As Twilight began scrambling around the library, I facepalmed while Sean watched her in bemusement. 'So we've reached that part of the timeline, huh?' I thought to myself. "I'm going to let her friends know what's going on," I said, standing up and exiting the library.

Author's Note

Yeah, I know compared to the other chapters this is really short, but I wanted these things to happen and... well, I'm sure you can guess why I'm starting a new chapter for what happens next.

Darkness King part 1

Ashley returned rather quickly with Twilight's friends. We were all watching as she freaked out over the test Celestia was going to give her and being completely prepared for it. To be honest, I didn't really see why she was going crazy. From what I'd seen, she was an incredibly smart mare and I highly doubted she would fail a test. Although, considering Ashley's reaction and the fact that the Princess wants to see us as well, it might not be a normal test.

Sighing, I stood up and grabbed the panicked mare by the shoulders, "Twilight! You need to calm down, seriously. I mean it's just a test."

Twilight looked at me in disbelief and with a slight glare, "Princess Celestia wants to give some kind of exam, not to mention that she wants to see you and Ashley for some reason, and you are trying to calm me down by saying it's just a test!?"

"Yes," I said. I noticed her hands start to glow and I quickly gave her horn a light flick. She winced slightly as the magic immediately dissipated. She and Trixie had told me that while most spells come out of their hands, the actual magic is focused through their horn. "No need to blast me with magic Twilight. Now, take a deep breath," I instructed. She did as I asked, and I continued, "I'm also trying to get you to calm down because how well will you do with this test if you're panicking?" This seemed to calm her down as she looked slightly less panicked. "Second, if she wants to see me and Ash, then it might very well not be the kind of test you're thinking of. However, I won't stop you from preparing just in case."

Twilight took another deep breath and smiled at me, "Thanks, Sean. That really helped."

She then went about preparing again, but at a much calmer pace. I turned to the others and saw they were looking at me in shock, even Ashley seemed rather surprised. "What?" I asked.

The question seemed to snap them out of their stupor and Spike said, "The way you calmed down Twilight. Not even her parents were able to do that."

I arched a brow, "Well for one, I'm pretty sure that happened when Twilight was younger and she's older now. For another, I actually knew someone similar to Twilight. He was a friend of mine in high school that would react the same way as her to things like this. I just did the same thing here."

"It's still pretty dang impressive, pardner," Applejack said, the others nodding in agreement.

I shrugged as Twilight said, "Alright, I'm ready."

We looked over and saw her wearing a backpack that was overflowing with scrolls, quills, and books. 'Or would it still be considered a saddlebag since they're ponies?' I wondered.

"Let's head to the train station," she said and started for the door.

"Uh, Twilight?" Ashley said. As she turned, Ash snapped her fingers and appeared in front of the unicorn. "I can probably just teleport us there with my chaos magic."

"You sure?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah, I've tried and, while I can't take us directly to the throne room because I don't know where it is, I can at least get us to Canterlot Castle," my wife said.

Twilight thought for a moment before nodding, "I think the sooner we get there the better."

"Alright, well here we go," Ashley said, snapping her fingers. A bright flash blinded me for a second and when I refocused she, Twilight, Spike, and I were in front of the castle.

"Wonderful," Twilight said happily. "Spike, the Princesses just wanted to see us, so would you please wait for us?"

Spike nodded and the three of us entered the castle.

[POV Change: Nightmare Moon]

"Are you sure you don't want Nightmare or I to go with them?" Luna asked our sister.

My sisters and I were standing in the throne room as we waited for Twilight, Sean, and Ashley to arrive. Something all three of us had been waiting for, had finally reappeared. The Crystal Empire. And, most likely, something or rather somepony very dangerous along with it.

"Yes, Luna. Cadance and Shining Armor are already there. The others will be joining them shortly," Celestia said.

"The Empire's magic is strong. It cannot fall again, my sisters," Luna said, worriedly.

"Which is why Sean, Ashley, as well as Jack Hunt are going with them," I said, calmly.

Celestia nodded, "Exactly. Twilight will succeed in her task. And when she does we'll know that she's that much closer to being ready."

Somepony clearing their throat caught our attention. We turned around to see Twilight, Sean, and Ashley standing in the doorway.

"Trust us, little sister," Celestia said.

Luna and I started to leave the throne room. We walked passed Twilight, who glanced at us nervously although I knew it was about the situation and not us, and Ashley, who nodded in greeting, as they approached Celestia. When we reached Sean waiting next to the doors he smiled at us.

"Luna, it's good to see you again," he said. She returned his smile. He then turned to me, "It's good to see you too, Nightmare."

I looked at him in slight surprise, "It is?"

"Yes, it is," he said. He arched an eyebrow and asked, "Why?"

"Many of the ponies, especially the 'nobles', still see her for who she was and not who she is," Luna said, practically spitting the word nobles.

"Well, fuck'em," he said bluntly. We both snorted at his candor. "And I mean the nobles, as they seem like narrow-minded idiots. I'm sure you can show other ponies that you aren't the same mare."

I smiled gratefully, "Thank you Sean. That means a lot."

"It's nothing. I don't know how you were before and I don't care. I only know the beautiful and wonderful, if not somewhat... aggressive, mare that you are now," he said. He had a slight smirk when he said aggressive.

I could feel myself blushing in embarrassment, partly because of his compliments and partly because of how we had met. Luna looked between the two of us with a sly smile, however a shattering sound caught our attention. We looked over and saw shattered black crystals scattered across the floor.

"Looks like I missed something," Sean said.

"Well, the short version is that the Crystal Empire has returned and, along with it, a tyrant named Sombra," I explained. "We are sending you, Ashley, Twilight, along with her friends and Jack Hunt to help Cadance and Shining Armor to protect it from him."

"This is her test?" he asked.

"There is something that we need to know and this is the best way to find it out," I told him.

"Alright. Well, I'll help however I can," he said. Luna and I nodded in appreciation as Celestia, Twilight and Ashley walked over.

"You begin by joining Shining Armor and Cadance in the Crystal Empire," Celestia said.

"My brother's there?" Twilight questioned, looking happy at this bit of news.

"He is. And your Ponyville friends, along with Ashley, Sean and Jack Hunt, will join you there as well. I have every confidence that you will succeed in this. And when you do, I will know that you are ready to move onto the next level of your studies."

"But what if I fail?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"You won't," Celestia said, confidently.

"But what if--"

"You won't," she stressed. "But Twilight, in the end, it must be you and you alone who ultimately assists Cadance and Shining Armor in doing what needs to be done to protect the Empire. Do you understand?" Twilight got a determined look and nodded resolutely. "Then go. There is no time to lose."

Twilight and Ashley nodded toward me and Luna before leaving. Sean addressed us all, "I hope to see you ladies later." He then followed his wife and friend out of the castle.

When they had left, Luna turned to me with a smirk, "So, you seemed to have left an impression on Sean."

"W-what are you talking about?" I stuttered slightly. "He said he hoped to see us all."

Luna didn't lose her smirk as she said, "True, but he didn't call me beautiful, now did he? Did he say it to you Celestia?"

"No, he didn't. Wh-" she stopped suddenly and her eyes widened slightly as a sly smile spread across her muzzle. "So he said you were beautiful did he?"

"He also said I was aggressive," I mumbled.

"Well, you are rather... bold," Celestia said. "Plus I'm pretty sure he was just teasing."

"Oh, I know he was," Luna said. "He was smirking when he said it."

"He only called me beautiful after Luna told him how ponies treat me," I said.

"Doesn't mean he hadn't meant it," Celestia said.

I let out an indignant snort as my sisters giggled to themselves. I stalked out, 'Why are they pushing this? We don't know how long humans live and even if they lived as long as ponies do, I would live long after he passed and I'd be left alone.' I headed to my room, to try and calm down.

[POV Change: Sean]

As we exited the castle, Twilight had her head and ears lowered. Spike got up from where he was sitting and ran up to her.

With a wide smile he asked, "Twilight! That was fast, you got a perfect score, right?" She kept walking, not answering the young drakes question. "A-minus? B-plus?" He gasped and asked, "Twilight did you... fail?"

She glanced back sadly and did something I was not expecting. She began to sing.

We followed Twilight as she walked through Canterlot and sang about her worries. I glanced at Ashley and arched a brow.

She giggled, "What? You know about music coming from nowhere, so are you that surprised by this? This is pretty much what you did when you were cooking that day after you told everyone about your parents."

"I see," I said, as we reached the train station. We were heading back to Ponyville to get ready for our journey. Twilight and I were surprised when all of her friends exited the train and Applejack pulled Twilight into a sideways hug.

"Twilight! Did you pass?" she asked.

"Are we going to celebrate your achievement with Celestia?" Pinkie asked, pushing a light blue cannon and I jumped as she fired it. I was shocked when I saw confetti launch out of it, Pinkie going up with it.

"Not exactly," a voice said. Pinkie suddenly went back to the ground the confetti following and going back into the cannon. I stared at her for a minute before shaking myself and looking to my left to see Jack standing there. "We're all heading to the Crystal Empire."

The girls all looked at each other in confusion as we boarded the train. When we returned to Ponyville and prepared for the trip. Ashley and I told Ditzy about what we were doing and she said that she was going to join us. We both told her that it would be dangerous and tried to convince her to stay, but she was adamant about going with us. Giving in, Ashley and I packed what we thought we would need. Once we were ready, the three of us approached the station. Everypony opposed to Ditzy coming, but she still couldn't be dissuaded. So, we all boarded and soon the train started heading to our destination.

<~~>

About halfway through the Rainbow Dash groaned loudly, "Ugh, this is so slow. Couldn't Ashley have teleported us like she did to Canterlot?"

"No, I couldn't have Rainbow. Unlike Discord, for my teleporting to work I need to know where to go," Ashley explained. "I may be able to do a great many things with my chaos magic, but I'm much more restricted in what I can do than he is." The prismatic pegasus huffed in irritation and crossed her arms across her chest. After a moment, Ash said, "There's something I want to give you all." Everyone turned to her and she snapped her fingers, making phones appear in everyone, including mine and hers, grasp. All of them were the same colors as their coats, while Spikes was the color of his spines, mine was red and hers was purple. "Those are copies of something from our world called phones."

"What do you mean by copies?" Twilight asked.

"Without cell towers, they're more like glorified walkie-talkies really," she said. "They've all got their own numbers and have already been programmed into each other. I'm giving these to all of you so that we can get ahold of each other easily, since these are practically instantaneous in contacting who you want. You can also send texts."

"What are texts?" Rarity asked.

I started typing on the phone Ashley had given me and sent a message to them all. All of their phones rang, causing them to jump. They glanced at their phones and looked at the text I sent, which was 'This is a text.'

"Yes, thank you Sean. That's what a text is." Ashley turned to Twilight, "I'll give one to Trixie when we get back."

She smiled, "That would be nice. I'd be able to talk to her from far away right?"

Ashley nodded, "Yes, they should be able to contact each other no matter how far away from each other you are. Although if you're underground or in a cave, or something like that for some reason they might start losing the signal."

The rest of the train trip, everyone spent time getting familiar with how to use the phones. Soon the train came to a stop at the station. We all exited the train and were surprised to see what looked like the arctic in front of us with a blizzard raging. Ashley snapped her fingers and we were all wearing winter clothes, which for the ponies were pretty much just light jackets. Ashley and I were wearing the winter clothing from Punk Hazard, which for her was the outfit she had been displaced in. She also gave me some black boots so I could walk through the snow.

"Thanks Ash," I said. The others thanked her as well.

"No problem," she said.

"Ha. And you all made fun of me for packing so many scarves," Rarity said, tightening the scarf she was wearing.

"I didn't say a word," Spike grunted as he carried a bunch of suitcases. He tripped and the luggage went flying, however before they could hit the ground and burst open, spilling their contents everywhere, they were surrounded in an orange glow. "Thanks Ashley," he said.

She smiled, "Your welcome, Spike."

I glanced at the others coats, and asked, "Why did you only give them light jackets?"

"Well, in the show they didn't wear anything and seemed to be fine, so I just kind of guessed those would be fine," Ashley answered. She turned to the others, "Those are OK right?"

They all nodded, as Twilight said, "Yeah for the relatively short journey to the Empire, these should be fine."

"Twilight!"

We all heard someone shout. Following where the voice came from, we saw someone fighting against the blizzard that raged around us.

Twilight squinted her eyes, "Shining Armor?" The stallion finally got close enough to where we could see that it was Shining Armor.

"Twily! You made it!" he said and pulled his sister into a hug. "We need to get moving." A frightened look spread across his face, "There are things out here we really don't want to run into."

"What kind of things?" Fluttershy asked, fear in her voice.

"Let's just say that the Empire isn't the only thing that has returned," Shining Armor said, as we started walking.

"What do ya mean?" Applejack asked.

"Something keeps trying to get in!" he yelled as the wind started to pick up. "We think it's the unicorn king who originally cursed the place."

"But Princess Celestia said I was being sent here to find a way to protect the Empire! If King Sombra can't get in, then it must already be protected," Twilight called out. A bone chilling howl that was not caused by the wind, caused us all to freeze.

"Th-that's one of the things isn't it?" Fluttershy questioned fearfully.

"*tsk* We need to get to the Empire. NOW!" Shining Armor shouted. Suddenly a humongous shadow rose out of the ground, two red eyes with green sclera and it's pupils were slits, a strange purple mist coming from the corners of them. "MOVE!" he ordered.

We all spun around and started running toward what looked like a blue dome. Glancing back, I saw Spike was frozen in shock and fear. He was surrounded by a rose aura and pulled away from the shadow. When he was pulled up to us, he began running under his own power.

As we neared the dome, Shining Armor said, "Almost there." He skidded to stop and turned around, his hands glowing.

I stopped a few feet away from the dome and, as the others reached it, shouted, "Shining what are you doing!?"

He fired a beam at what I assumed was Sombra, however it passed harmlessly through and the shadow descended upon Shining Armor.

"Shining!" I yelled as he was covered by the shadow. I launched my arm forward and it wrapped around something. Yanking back, I pulled Shining Armor out and tossed him into the dome then dived through myself.

"Oh no, Shining Armor your horn," Twilight said in distress.

Looking up, I saw that there were small black crystal covering his horn. He tried using his magic, but barely even a spark was generated.

He turned to me, "Thanks for getting me out of there Sean."

"If I'd been quicker, you wouldn't even have those covering your horn," I said.

"You got me out of there before anything worse could happen, so thank you," he said with a small smile.

I smiled back slightly. I turned around only to immediately squint my eyes from the light glistening off of the buildings. When my eyes adjusted to the light, I got a good look at the Empire. Unlike outside, it was completely devoid of snow and somehow looked very sunny. Like the name suggested, the buildings, roads, just about everything seemed to be made of crystal. Only the plants weren't crystal.

We walked through the strangely desolate town and made our way to the castle.

When we reached it, Rarity said, "It's absolutely gorgeous. There are no words for how fabulous this place is."

"Simmer down, Rarity," Applejack said. "We're here to help Twilight, not gawk at the scenery."

"Eh, I don't see what she's buggin' out over. It just looks like another old castle to me," Rainbow said in disinterest.

Rarity stammered and muttered, until she finally said, "Another old..! Are you out of your mind? Look at the magni-" She fell silent as she heard Applejack and Rainbow Dash chuckle and high five each other. "Very funny," Rarity said, good-naturedly.

I chuckled at their shenanigans as we entered the castle. After walking up several flights of stairs, we finally reached the floor we wanted and approached a certain room. We entered and saw Cadance sitting on a throne made of crystal. Her horn was glowing a light blue and she looked extremely tired. However, when Twilight called out to her, her face lit up and she rushed up to her. They then proceeded to do one of the silliest, but cutest things I'd seen.

"Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake! Clap your hands and do a little shake!" they chanted together while doing a little dance that matched the lyrics. I felt a slight blush at the end of the dance.

Cadance suddenly grimaced and the sky outside flashed before quickly returning. She gave a tired smile, "We really need to get together sometime when the fate of Equestria isn't hanging in the balance."

"Are you OK?" Twilight asked worriedly.

"Cadance has been able to use her magic to spread love and light. That seems to be what is protecting it. But she hasn't slept, barely eats. I want to help her, but Sombra wasn't affect by my magic at all," Shining Armor said.

"It's OK Shining Armor. I'm fine," Cadance said.

"She's not fine," he protested. At that precise moment, Cadance nearly collapsed, but, moving quickly, I caught her before she fell. "Thanks Sean. You see? She can't go on like this forever, and if her magic fades... Well, you saw what was out there waiting for that to happen."

"That's why we're here," Twilight said.

"Why we're all here," Applejack said, the others agreeing with her.

"I'll help however I can," I said, Ashley nodding her head.

"Well, with Cadance putting all her strength into keeping her spell going, and me trying to keep an eye on signs of trouble in the arctic, we haven't been able to gather much information from the crystal ponies," Shining Armor said.

A gleam entered Rarity's eyes, "Crystal ponies?" A slightly manic smile spread across her face, "There are crystal ponies!?" She paused, when she noticed us all giving her weird looks. "*ahem* Please continue."

Shaking himself, Shining continued, "We believe that one of them would know how we can protect the Empire without using Cadance's magic."

Twilight gained a thoughtful look before her eyes widened. "A research paper!" she announced.

"Huh?" "What?" Shining and I asked in confusion.

"That must be part of my test – to gather information from the Crystal Ponies and deliver it to you and Cadance!" she said, pointing at the two. "This is gonna be great! I love research papers!" Shining, Cadance, and I stared at Twilight as she giddily thought about writing a research paper.

"Yeah, who doesn't?" Rainbow Dash said sarcastically, nudging Pinkie Pie.

"Oh-oh! Lemme guess," Pinkie jumped up and down. "Is it Spike?" she asked, holding the drake up. "Nono, Fluttershy! Jack?" she guessed pulling the two next to her.

Ignoring the pink mare, Twilight said, "Don't worry big brother. I am really good at these kinds of things." She and the others turned and left the room while I helped Cadance back up to the throne, so she could sit down.

Once she was back on the throne she looked at me with a small smile, "Thank you."

"Wasn't a problem," I said. I started to leave with Ashley when Shining spoke up.

"Hang on you two. There's something I want tell you. I thought you might be able to figure out what it was or at least have some ideas," he said.

We turned back to him and I asked, "What happened?"

"When I was out patrolling one time, I saw something on the other side of a hill. Flashes of light erupted several times and I swear that I heard Sombra shout in pain," he told us. "I quickly climbed over it, but by the time I reached the top, there was nothing except for disrupted snow, showing signs of a fight."

"Are you thinking that it might be a Devil Fruit user?" Ashley asked.

"It would explain how they were able to hurt Sombra despite the form he has at the moment," he said.

"True. I would say it could be haki, but that doesn't cause flashes of light to appear," I said.

"Haki?" they asked in confusion.

"I'll explain when we don't have a time limit."

"Of course. You can join the others when you are ready," Cadance said.

We nodded and descended through the castle. As soon as we exited, I saw the girls and Spike had returned. Fluttershy was approaching Twilight, an odd expression on her face. She lifted her hand to behind her head and unzipped herself revealing that it was actually Pinkie in a Fluttershy disguise. I swear my mind went on a short vacation right then. Ashley slapped me upside the head to snap me out of my stupor.

"Thanks," I mumbled. We approached them as Applejack began to speak.

"Sorry, Twilight, but all of the crystal ponies seem to have amnesia or somethin'. The only thing I could get outta them was somethin' about a library," she said.

Twilight gasped, "A library why didn't you say so?"

"Thought I just did," Applejack said as she started to show Twilight the way to the library.

"I'm going to check out the arctic," I said, causing everyone to stop.

"You can't!" Ditzy protested. "You saw what was out there."

"Yes, but don't worry I'm going to avoid him," I said. "There's just something I need to see."

The others looked ready to protest, but Ashley said, "Fine, but be careful alright?"

"Of course." I threw my arms forward and grabbed two of the pillars that held the castle, shocking some crystal ponies nearby. "See you all later!" I said as I pulled myself forward and launching through the shield, landing in the snow. Straightening, I patted the clumps of snow off of me. "Right, let's have a look around."

So, I knew where I had started, I piled some snow as high as my waist. After that, I began walking around the perimeter of the Empire, which took like forty five minutes. When I reached the mound of snow, I decided to search farther from the Empire. I walked around for maybe an hour without finding anything, not even Sombra, thankfully. I was about to return, when I heard sounds of fighting. I quickly started following the noise and soon saw flashes of light, just like Shining Armor had said.

When I finally reached where the sounds were originating, I was shocked by what I saw. There was Sombra, looking like a normal pony, fighting a genderbent Kizaru. I stifled a snort at the sight. Now wasn't the time. Returning my attention to the fight, I saw that she was indeed hurting him despite the fact that he would change into shadow. After a few minutes of fighting, Sombra suddenly spun around and an evil smile spread across his muzzle. He then vanished from sight.

"Don't you run from me! I'm not done with you yet, you bastard," she yelled. Her voice sounded slightly familiar, but I couldn't place why. She clicked her tongue in frustration, before calling out, "You can come out now."

I hesitated, if like Lucci, this was actually Kizaru, then her seeing me wouldn't be good. However, being Kizaru, she would more than likely be able to catch me if I tried to run. So, with that in mind, I approached the woman. She turned toward me and her eyes widened and a smile spread across her face.

"Oh my god, it's Luffy!" she yelled excitedly, throwing me off completely. She rushed up to me, "Oh, I'm not Kizaru, or whatever his woman counterpart would be called. Anyway, I'm not going to try and arrest you or anything so you don't have to worry about that."

I stared at her for a moment, before saying, "Well, I'm not actually Luffy either. I'm like you apparently."

She tilted her head in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"You used to live on Earth right? No powers or anything like that?" I questioned, to which she nodded. "Went to a convention, bought something from a shady merchant and got sent here?" She nodded again. "Same thing happened to me and my wife, and many others. We are what's called Displaced," I told her. "Sorry, where are my manners?" I held out my hand and said, "Name's Sean, Sean Griffin."

Her eyes widened again, but this time she looked very shocked and she stuttered, "S-Sean Griffin?"

"Yeah? What's wrong?" I asked.

She shook her head, "N-Nothing. I'll explain after Sombra's dealt with. Until then you can call me Kiza."

I arched a brow, "Alright well-" I fell silent as I saw the shield around the empire disappear. "Shit! The shields gone! If you're trying to get rid of Sombra, I'm sure he'll be heading there." She nodded and vanished in a flash of light. 'Wish she could do that while holding onto me,' I thought as I ran as fast as I could.

[POV Change: Ashley]

"Where the hell are you, Sean?" I said to myself. I was standing below the castle as Twilight tried to find the real Crystal Heart. In that time Cadance had fainted, causing the shield to disappear. The crystal ponies were starting to panic when Sombra suddenly rose out of the ground.

"My crystal slaves," he said, a wicked smile on his muzzle.

Suddenly a flash of light appeared above the tyrant. It coalesced into someone I wasn't expecting to see, a genderbent Kizaru. She lifted her leg and brought down onto Sombra's head, slamming him downward. However, he just exploded into shadow when he collided with the ground. I was worried about something else though. If Sean showed up now, she might decide to deal with him before Sombra. As if in response to my worry, Sean fell from the air and bounced off of the ground before sliding to a stop, Kizaru flashing next to him.

"Glad we got here in time," he said, the woman nodding in agreement.

Sombra pulled himself together and took on his normal form. "You are a constant thorn in my side woman," he growled at Kizaru.

She smirked, "I'll take that as a compliment, hun." Something about her voice sounded familiar, but I pushed it aside for now.

Sean snickered as Sombra looked even more irritated, however a smirk soon spread across his face. Shadows began spreading from his hooves, creeping across the ground toward us. They stopped just short of Sean and Kizaru, and something unexpected happened. About seventy black crystal golems rose from the depths of the shadows. All of them wielding black crystal swords.

"Well, shit," Sean cursed. I teleported next to them, just as Jack did the same thing.

Kizaru glanced at me, "Tashigi?"

"My wife," he told her, as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie exited the castle and rushed up to us.

"Need a hand pardner?" Applejack asked.

"That would be great," Sean said.

Jack sparked his hands, "Then let's take this guy down." Raising one of his hands, he fired a bolt of electricity at a golem. The golem crumbled when the bolt hit, but we were surprised when it arced out and took down three others. We all glanced at him, "What? Like I said, I know how to use lightning."

Shaking ourselves, we returned our attention to the golems in front of us. I moved to Sean, and said, "I'm going to teleport to Sombra and see if I can't at least injure him."

He glanced me, a look of worry in his eyes. He sighed slightly and nodded, "Alright, but watch yourself OK?"

I nodded and stepped back as the others faced the crystal golems.

Sean charged first, driving a fist into the 'face' of one the golems, shattering it into pieces. Throwing his leg forward, he kicked another in the torso, breaking it in half. Applejack followed behind him, mostly using her powerful legs from applebucking to destroy the golems in a single kick. Pinkie almost looked like she was dancing as she jumped around the golems swords and leading them to cut each other into pieces. Rainbow Dash used her speed to gain momentum before smashing them with speedy and powerful kicks. Drawing his sword, Jack engulfed it with lightning and was slashing the golems in half.

With a snap of my fingers, I teleported next to Sombra and, drawing Shusui and imbuing it with haki, slashed at him. However, he conjured a red crystal sword and blocked my attack. He pushed me back and swung his sword at me, but it simply passed through me. He looked slightly surprised, but quickly recovered.

"So you're like that insufferable woman," he said. He covered his fist in shadows. "Luckily, I know how to deal with that."

Before I could react, he threw a punch at my stomach. I was stunned when I felt his fist connect. I coughed up a bit of blood as I slid backwards, finding myself in the middle of the golems. I quickly teleported back to Sean, before wiping a bit of blood from my mouth.

"Sean, I think we have a problem," I said.

He glanced at me, "More than a unicorn with dark magic and a bunch of golems to deal with?"

"Yes, and this is worse," I said. "He has the Dark-Dark Fruit." He froze and looked at me in shock. He looked about ready to ask me how I knew, but I interrupted him, "He just punched me in the stomach and I felt it."

A look of anger flashed across his face, but he managed to hold himself back. "That's definitely going to be a problem," he muttered.

I nodded, before drawing Kashu and we began dealing with the golems in front of us. We were about half way through the crystal automatons when a scream rang out that made my blood run cold. The shout that followed only made it worse.

"DINKY!!"

Darkness King part 2

At Ditzy's scream we all spun around and saw that Sombra had Dinky in his grasp with a sword at her throat. 'She must have heard what we were doing and snuck onto the train when we left Ponyville,' I thought in alarm.

"Surrender or she loses her life!" Sombra threatened.

I felt rage erupt inside of me. I was about to do something when Sean spoke.

"Ashley," he said. My anger evaporated and was replaced with fear. I slowly turned to him and saw that the look on his face was completely calm. "Get everyone out of here."

I wanted to tell him that he shouldn't fight alone, but the look in his eyes. There was an inferno of rage that would burn even Akainu. I glanced around at everyone and saw anger on their faces as well. However, it was Jack that shocked me. His eyes and the electricity arcing off of him had turned red.

"No. We'll deal with the golems, while you and Jack take care of Sombra," I said. He glanced at me and looked ready to protest, but I cut him off, "He's as angry as you Sean. I don't think you'll be able to stop him from trying to fight."

He turned to the unicorn in question and his eyes widened slightly when he saw the look on Jack's face. He sighed, "Fine. I probably shouldn't fight someone like him alone anyway." He returned his glare to Sombra, "But I'm taking him down."

I nodded and snapped my fingers, teleporting me, Kizaru, the three ponies, and all of the golems directly under the castle.

"Why did you put us farther away!? Sombra has Dinky," Rainbow yelled.

"YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT!?" I shouted angrily, shocking them. "I know that he has her and I would like nothing more than to beat the shit out of him. However, Sean is pissed and it would be wise to stay out of his way."

"Why?" Applejack asked.

"Because this isn't the same anger as when he's worried about me getting hurt. As I'm sure most of you have figured out, Sean has always had a soft spot for children. As such, when a child is abused, kidnapped, or worse killed, then he would lose it. He'd go to a gym and beat the hell out of a punching bag or sometimes he'd even go to a shooting range to let out his anger. This was even worse to those he cared for," I explained to them. "And he just took Dinky. The filly he probably cares for the most."

The others looked at each other. Rainbow Dash spoke what was on everyone's mind, "Sombra's fucked, isn't he?"

I grimaced, 'You have no idea.' I shook myself and readied my blades, "Let's deal with these nuisances." They all nodded and readied themselves to take care of the golems.

I charged forward and slashed two golems at the waist cutting them in half. I noticed a golem approaching me from behind and opened a portal between us as it swung it's sword. I made the other portal appear next to another golem and it was sliced in two. I quickly closed the portal, cutting the golem's torso off. I heard Sombra shout in pain and I smirked to myself, knowing that Sean got Dinky away from the bastard. One of the golem's swords passed through me as it tried to slash me. Spinning around, I focused on my earth pony magic and kicked the golem in the chest, shattering it. Looking around I saw the others were dealing with the golems relatively easily. I noticed one try and head up the stairs. I quickly opened a portal under it and dropped it onto another golem, smashing them both. I adjusted my grip on my swords and charged toward the remaining golems.

[Third Person POV]

Jack appeared next to Sean in a bolt of electricity. "So how do we get Dinky away from him?" he asked.

"Leave that to me," Sean said as he activated Second Gear. He glared at Sombra, who was smirking at the enraged human. Suddenly, Sean vanished from sight, shocking everyone who was watching.

He was instantly in front of Sombra and wrapped a hand around the crystal sword. After surrounding his hand in Armament Haki, he snapped the blade off of the sword and drove it into Sombra's shoulder. Letting out a roar of pain, the unicorn released Dinky from his grasp and teleported away. Sean grabbed Dinky and jumped back to Jack and handed him the filly.

"Take her to Ditzy," he said.

The unicorn nodded and teleported up to the balcony. He walked over to Ditzy and handed her Dinky. Ditzy hugged her daughter tightly, tears falling from her eyes.

"I'm so glad you're safe, Dinky," she cried. "Are you OK?"

"I'm fine," the unicorn filly said.

Ditzy turned to Jack, "Please tell Sean I said thank you, Jack. I don't know what I would do if I lost Dinky."

His eyes softened, "I'll let him know Ditzy. I'm glad that she's OK."

He flashed back to the ground and was rather surprised to see that Sombra's wound had somehow been healed. Jack clapped his hands together and created a blade of lighting.

Sombra smirked, "You two appear to be rather strong. But I fought the alicorn sisters and they had to banish me because they could not beat me! What makes you think you can?"

Both of their gaze's hardened, before Sean charged at Sombra. When he was in front of the evil unicorn, he snarled, "You threatened Dinky." He quickly drove his fist into Sombra's face, launching him backwards.

Jack appeared next to Sombra and drove his lightning sword into the tyrant's shoulder. "And we will make sure you pay for that," he growled.

Growling, Sombra turned into shadows and tried to put some distance between him and two Devil Fruit users. However, Sean rushed forward and grabbed Sombra's shadowy form, much to the tyrant and everypony's surprise. He pulled the shadow back toward him and punched Sombra. The blow sent him flying into the wall of a house. As he collided with the building his form exploded outward before reforming back into the dark king.

Sombra glared at Sean as he wiped a trickle of blood from his mouth. He glanced at it before returning his gaze back to the human, who returned to normal. "Not only did you grab my shadow form, but you struck it too," he said. A new crystal sword appeared in his grasp, "Very well, I'll get serious."

Sombra telported to Sean and slashed at him. Sean dodged the attack and brought his leg up to kick Sombra in the jaw, but Sombra jumped out of the way of the strike. Raising his hand, Sombra fired a beam of dark magic. The beam hit Sean in the shoulder, causing him to stumble back as pain seared through him.

Jack jumped in and threw a lightning filled punch at Sombra. The tyrant unicorn turned into shadow and evaded the blow, but the electricity arced through him causing him to grunt in pain.

Sean then ran toward Sombra while throwing his arms back. "Gum-Gum..." he said, as he charged forward. Sombra tried to avoid the attack, but it was too late as Sean quickly pulled his arms forward. "Bazooka!!" He slammed both of his palms into Sombra's shadow form, launching him into the air. Sean stretched his arms and grabbed the roofs of two houses. After taking several steps back, he launched himself after Sombra and Jack changed into lightning and chased after them.

[POV Change: Twilight]

I was searching through the castle for the Crystal Heart, which turned out to be an actual artifact and not just a piece of crystal shaped like a heart. Spike and I found a secret stairway that had been hidden in the throne room. I had descended a good distance, when I glanced up.

"Spike how are things looking out there?" I called.

He glanced to the side and his eyes widened in shock."I just saw Sean and Sombra flying away from the castle!" he shouted. "I think they're fighting!"

I started to panic slightly and began to run down the stairs. About two thirds of the way down I missed a step and fell down the stairs. Just before I hit the floor, I caught myself with my magic.

"Are you OK Twilight?" Spike called down, most likely hearing my grunts of pain.

"I'm alright," I told him, teleporting myself upright. I turned and saw a door.

Smiling, I moved to open it, but it suddenly moved. Surprised, I jumped at it, but again it moved and I slammed into the wall. I tried to use my magic to open it, and it kept moving until it returned to where it was. I was getting frustrated and fired a beam of dark magic at the gem on top.

The door opened to a bright light. "Spike I think I found it," I yelled, as I walked through the doorway.

I clamped my eyes shut to shield them from the bright light. Once it died down, I opened my eyes and was shocked at what I saw. I was suddenly back in Canterlot castle, but something was wrong. The castle seemed to be heavily damaged, like something had attacked. I heard screams that made my heart drop. I turned around slowly and my eyes widened, tears springing to them. Spread out across the floor, were all of my friends, family, and my marefriend. They all were heavily beaten and most of them were bleeding.

"H-How... W-Why did this happen?" I asked in fear.

"Because of you," an eerily familiar voice said. I spun around and was shocked to see Nightmare Moon standing in front of me. However, it wasn't the wonderful Princess I'd come to consider a friend, but the Mare in the Moon who wanted to cause Eternal Night. "This happened because you separated me from Luna and gave me my own body. I was able to gain everypony's trust and when their guard was down, I destroyed the Elements of Harmony and took down your friends. The rest fell easily to my power."

"N-No. No, you changed. You aren't that kind of pony anymore!" I yelled. "You're Princess Nightmare Moon, sister to Celestia and Luna, my friend."

She just smirked, "All a ruse, Sparkle." She raised her hand and readied a blast of magic. "And it's Queen Nightmare Moon."

"Please Nightmare don't do this," I pleaded, as tears streamed down my face.

However, just as she was about to fire the beam of magic I heard a faint shouting. It sounded like Spike, but that didn't make sense. He was unconscious on the ground behind me. I then felt myself being shaken. Blinking several times, I found myself back in the room in the crystal castle. I glanced to my left and saw Spike standing there a concerned look on his face.

"Are you alright?" he asked. "I called for you several times, but you didn't answer, so I came down here to check on you. What were you looking at? It's just a wall." Before I could stop him, he looked through the doorway. His sclera turned green and his pupils changed red. "What? Why... How did I get back to Ponyville?" he asked in confusion. "N-No. NO! This can't be happening. I-I'm not..."

Seeing his distress, I quickly slammed the door shut and pulled him into a hug. "It's OK, Spike. What you saw wasn't real. Sombra used his dark magic to cast a spell on the door, so it would show whoever looked at it to see a deep fear of theirs."

Tears streamed out of his eyes, "I was at Ponyville and those dragons had come back. They attacked the town, hurting you, our friends, everypony and I couldn't do anything to stop them. I was powerless, completely useless."

I tightened my hug, "Spike, you don't need to worry about that. Sean and Ashley are plenty strong enough to protect Ponyville. Besides you're training as hard as you can to protect us and, even though I don't want you to get hurt, it means so much to me that you're doing it. You are anything, but useless."

Spike smiled and returned the hug. I used my light magic and directed it at the door. The edges shined and the door opened again. This time however, there was actually a doorway. I walked through it and saw a white area. I glance around and saw another staircase. I felt my eye twitch a little.

"What's in there?" he asked warily.

"Stairs. A whole bunch of stairs," I said, wearily. I started to walk forward, but paused and turned to Spike, "Maybe you should come with me this time."

He grinned and ran up to me. We started to walk up the huge looking staircase. After maybe half an hour, I started wondering if we were missing something.

"What if this is just more of his magic?" Spike spoke up. "He makes a door that leads to one of your nightmares. Why not a staircase that goes on forever?"

I paused and looked up before I had an idea. I picked Spike up in my magic and placed him on my back, "Hang on, Spike."

"Uh, what are you going to do?" he asked.

Instead of answering, I focused on the spell I was going to cast. We lifted up in the air and flipped upside down as I reversed the gravity around us. We began sliding along the bottom of the stairs.

"I studied gravity spells thinking it would be on my test. Turns out I was prepared for this," I cheered and whooped as I slid. It was actually pretty fun. Soon, however we reached our destination and I returned the gravity around us to normal.

Pushing myself off of the ground, I saw the Crystal Heart floating in front of us. I grinned at the sight and Spike urged me to take it. I walked up to it, but as I was about to take it I stepped on the circle in the middle of the room and it flashed black. I panicked and jumped for the Heart, but accidentally hit it instead, sending it flying away as black crystals shot up and trapped me.

I looked around in panic, "Where's the Crystal Heart!?"

"Here!" Spike said. "It slid over to me when you accidentally hit it."

I tried to teleport out of the ring of crystal, but I could feel my magic being drained. What was happening? "Oh, how could I have been so stupid. Of course Sombra would set a trap around the Crystal Heart. I was just so eager to get it! To stop Sombra..." I said regretfully, slumping against the crystals.

He looked at me in worry, "You need to get out of there, Twilight! You have to be the one who brings the Heart to Princess Cadance! If you don't, you'll fail Celestia's test!"

"King Sombra is already attacking the Empire. There's no telling how long Sean can distract Sombra... and if he gets away he'll go after Cadance, my brother, my friends. There may not be enough time for me to find a way to escape." I glanced around and my eyes fell on Spike and the Crystal Heart right behind him, dark crystals slowly rising from the floor. "You have to take the Crystal Heart to the fair," I said resolutely.

"Me? But Twilight--" Spike started to protest.

"Go!" I cut him off.

"But--"

"GOOOO!" Still looking conflicted, he grabbed the heart and jumped to the edge of the room as the crystals sealed me in. "Hurry Spike," I whispered.

[Third Person POV]

Sean and Sombra crashed at the edge of the Crystal Empire. They quickly got to their feet/hooves and got into battle stances. Sean charged forward and dodged the beams of magic Sombra fired. When Sean reached the unicorn, he threw his fist forward, which Sombra ducked under. He then slashed at Sean, who barely dodged it, but still received a shallow cut across his chest. Jack then appeared and gave Sombra an electrified kick to the skull.

The turquoise unicorn jumped back and glanced at Sean. "You OK?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's not serious," Sean dismissed.

Sombra suddenly teleported in front of Jack and surrounded his fist in darkness before punching him in the face, sending him flying back. Sean immediately jumped at Sombra and drove his fist into the unicorn's chest knocking him several feet back. He continued the assault by kicking him in the side, launching him to Jack. The unicorn charge electricity into his hands and fired a huge bolt of lightning at Sombra. However, the unicorn king changed into shadow and avoided the attack. It flew toward Sean, who didn't even flinch at the sight.

"SEAN!" Jack shouted in panic, as the bolt struck his friend.

Sombra laughed evilly at the sight of his enemies hitting each other. But much to the unicorns surprise, they heard a voice coming from the dust cloud that had been kicked up from the impact.

"Gum-Gum Pistol!" a fist shot out of the cloud and connected with the side of Sombra's face. As the dust cleared, they saw Sean standing completely unscathed from the blast. Jack looked shocked, but happy and Sombra glared at the human.

"How were you not harmed by that!?" he demanded.

Sean smirked, "Like I'm going to tell you."

Sombra let out a shout of anger and thrust one of his arms forward. Darkness swirled around it and Sean felt himself being pulled forward. Knowing what was about to happen, he quickly threw his arm forward to punch Sombra in the face. However, his head changed to shadow and opened so that his arm missed. Dark unicorn was grasping his face and he smirked viciously at Sean before smashing his head into the ground. Luckily, it was normal ground instead of the crystal ground of the city and the earth crumbled from the impact. Jack quickly blasted Sombra away from Sean with a bolt of lightning and helped the human to his feet.

"What the heck happened?" he questioned. "The Princesses told me that blunt attacks wouldn't be able to hurt you, yet that looked like it was pretty damn painful."

"That's the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit," Sean explained, as he breathed rather heavily. He felt something trickling down his face and placed hand on the side of his head. Looking at it, he saw blood covering it. "It is able to nullify a Devil Fruit users power. It's how he was able to punch you earlier."

"So it wasn't because he caught me off guard?" Jack questioned.

"Did you try and phase through it?" Sean asked.

"I was making sure that any attack should have passed through me."

"Then no, it was because of his power." He returned his attention to Sombra. "It's time to end this," Sean said. "Can you keep him busy so I can catch him off guard?"

The turquoise unicorn nodded, "Sure."

Jack flashed toward the tyrant and slashed at him with his sword. Sombra brought his crystal sword up and blocked the attack. The two unicorns pushed against the other for several minutes before they both changed into their respective elements and began clashing with each other. After four clashes they turned back to normal and swung their swords, both of them managing to slash the other.

Jack stumbled backward, holding his cut shoulder. Sombra had a cut along the length of his chest. Before either could do anything else, Sean suddenly appeared in front of Sombra with his Second Gear activated. He covered his fist in Armament Haki and punched the tyrant's horn, shattering it. Jack winced at the cracking sound. Sean lifted his leg and kicked Sombra to the ground. The unicorn king tried to get up, but Sean slammed his haki covered boot onto him, keeping him pinned to the ground.

"This is the end for you Sombra," Sean said.

The tyrant just chuckled, "And how are you going to do that? You don't have the guts to kill me and with my dark magic, I'll heal soon enough and end you all."

Sean didn't answer, but instead raised his arm with his hand straight. He then covered his arm in Armament Haki, and said, "I'm not like others you've fought." Before the unicorn king could react, he thrust his hand into Sombra's chest, piercing his heart. The two unicorns eyes widened in shock. The life slowly drained from Sombra's face, his eyes began to dull, and his head fell to the side.

Before either of them could move, a wall of white passed by them. The light surprisingly shattered Sombra's body and scattered it to the wind. It also changed the two to crystal, healed their injuries, and cleaned the blood from Sean's arm.

As Sean straightened, Jack walked up to him and said, "I'm not sure how the Princesses are going to react to this."

"I'll explain everything to them," Sean said. "Let's head back. There's something I want to check." He started to make his way back to the castle. Jack stared at Sean for a minute before following him.

[POV Change: Ashley]

Twilight and Spike managed to find the Crystal Heart and, minus the part about Sombra nearly getting it and Shining Armor throwing Cadance, it played out exactly like it did in the show. I looked down at my hand. I was really surprised to see that I had turned to crystal. I knew it had happened to Spike, but I wasn't expecting it to happen to us.

As we walked, I turned to Kizaru. "So, what are you going to do with Sean?" I asked, a slight edge in my voice.

"Easy Ashley. I'm not actually Kizaru," she said.

I froze, I don't think anypony had said my name. "How do you know my name?" I asked, suspiciously.

"I'll explain when Sean gets back."

I frowned, "Fine."

Thankfully, we soon saw Sean and Jack making their way back to us. He glanced up and a small smile spread across his face, however he had a rather distant look in his eyes. Before he reached us though, Ditzy ran up to him and threw her arms around him.

"Thank you for saving Dinky," she cried, before pressing her lips against his. All of our eyes widened and Sean looked dumbfounded at what was happening. Ditzy's eyes snapped open and she jumped back, "Oh, my Celestia. Sean I'm so sorry. I was just so grateful--" Sean silenced her by placing a finger on her lips.

"Ditzy, it's OK," he said. "You heard what I told the Princesses about this kind of thing."

"What are you talking about?" I asked.

"You know when I went to talk to the Princesses after the welcoming party?" he asked and I nodded. "I had asked them about relationships here. Turns out polygamy, or as they call it herds, are a thing here."

I smiled slightly, "So you are going to look for others to date?"

"I don't know about looking, but if mares, or whatever you call other species, show an interest in me, I won't turn them away," he said. He then turned to the gray mare, "Are you interested in me Ditzy?"

She hesitated slightly. She seemed to like Sean, but was somewhat unsure. Seeing this I spoke up, "How about you two go on a few dates and get to know each other first, then you can decide."

"That sounds like a great idea," Sean said. "What do you think?"

She smiled and nodded, "That sounds wonderful."

He nodded before leaning over to Ditzy and whispering something in her ear. Her face lit up, causing Sean to chuckle at her reaction before giving her a peck on the cheek, making her face turn even redder, if that was possible. He then walked over to me, wrapped an arm around me and said, "I hope I didn't worry you too much."

"A little, but I knew you would pull through, especially with Jack fighting with you," I said, giving him a kiss. I turned to Kizaru, "So are you going to explain now?"

She nodded, "Before I say anything, allow me to formally introduce myself." She glanced between me and Sean before saying, "My name is Sarah." My eyes widened slightly and I felt Sean grip tighten on my shoulder. "Sarah Griffin."

"S-Sarah?" I stuttered. "Is it really you?"

She looked at me with a warm smile, "It is Ashley." She looked me up and down, "I'd say you've become a beautiful woman, but considering your whole body was changed I feel like that would be slightly insulting. Though I'm glad that you managed to keep your gorgeous raven hair."

I giggled lightly, as I felt tears in the corners of my eyes. That was Sarah alright.

Sean slowly walked toward her and placed a hand on her arm, as if making sure she was really there. "M-Mom?" his voice cracked. Everyone looked at them in shock.

Sarah smiled warmly, as tears formed in her eyes, "That's right Seany. It's me."

Sean's eyes widened, as tears streamed down his face. Only one person had ever called him Seany before, this was his mother. He threw his arms around her and cried into her shoulder. Sarah wrapped her arms around her son and held him close.

"It's OK, Sean. I'm here. I'm here and you'll never lose me again," she said softly, rubbing his back. Everyone smiled softly at the scene before them. The moment was ruined however when Shining Armor cleared his throat.

"I hate to interrupt this reunion, but you all should probably head back and tell Pri- Celestia about what happened," he said.

"He's right," Twilight said. She walked up to Sean and, with a smile, said, "I'm glad you were able to reunite with your mother." Everyone said similar things, happy for my husband.

He looked around, some tears still in his eyes, "Thanks everyone. It means a lot."

"Sean?" Cadance spoke up. He turned to her and she asked, "What exactly happened to Sombra? Since you all were at the edge of the Empire, we obviously didn't see what happened." The question caused the distant look to returned to his eyes.

Seeing this, I walked up to him and asked, "Sean? Did you..?" He nodded. "...Do you want me to explain things to them? I already told some of them how much you care about children."

He hesitated for moment, but nodded, "Yeah, but how about we wait until we're on the train?"

I was about to nod, but Rainbow Dash asked, "Wait, can't Ashley just teleport us there? She knows where Canterlot is. Taking the train is so slow."

I sighed at her impatience, "That's true, but I think we could all use the chance to relax before we talk to the Princesses." I glanced at Sean, "Especially with what I'm about to tell you all."

They all looked at each other and shrugged slightly.

"Before we do though. There's something I'd like everypony to help me look for. Ash?" I nodded and snapped my fingers, making a replica of the Dark-Dark Fruit appear. He thanked me and walked up to the crystal ponies. "Everypony! If I could have your attention!" All them fell silent and gave Sean their attention. "I would appreciate it if you all could check any fruits that you may have and see if you have one that looks like this one," he said, holding the replica up. "If you do I ask that you bring it to us, so that someone with Sombra's exact powers doesn't show up again."

His last statement caught their attention and all of the crystal ponies dispersed to see if they could find the fruit. While we waited, I took Cadance and Shining Armor to the side and explained to them what Sean had done, they were shocked to say the least. After forty minutes of nothing, we were about to give up, when a pony with a bright yellow coat, cerulean mane, and azure eyes rushed up to us. She was wearing a dark gray button up shirt and pants, a dark gray brimless hat that had gold ring going around it, and she had black shoes with golden wings attached to them.

"I-I think I f-found it," she panted slightly.

"What do you mean you think?" Sean asked curiously.

"W-well," she stuttered slightly. She reached into the bag she was wearing and pulled something out.

Our eyes widened at the fruit she was holding. It was as dark as a black hole and it almost looked like the mare's hand was bending into the fruit. Sean grabbed it and began to examine it. It's leaves were similar and the overall look was the same, so it was more than likely the correct fruit.

Sean looked at the mare and asked, "May I ask your name?"

"Mercury, sir," she said.

"You don't have to call me sir." He smiled slightly, "Thank you, Mercury. If this fell into the wrong hands it wouldn't be good. This is a rather dangerous Devil Fruit."

"That's what gave Sombra his powers?" she asked.

"Some of them," he clarified. "The dark magic was his, but when extended that shadow earlier, that was this fruit's power. It also negates other Devil Fruit users powers."

This seemed to catch Twilight's attention as she looked over to Sean. She walked up to him and asked, "Does it work against other things?"

"Not that's been shown," he answered. "Although, there isn't much it could influence in the show other than Devil Fruit powers. Why?"

"Because in that trap Sombra had set up, I could feel my magic being drained," she said.

"Couldn't it have been a spell placed on it?" I asked.

"Normally I'd say no, but since he used dark magic that might be it," she answered, a pondering look on her face.

Sean turned to the crystal ponies and said, "Thank you everypony for your help. I hope you're able to live happy lives." They all smiled and departed from the castle grounds. He looked down at the fruit and clenched it slightly. "Alright, let's head back," he said suddenly and started walking. The ponies glanced at each other, before we all followed him back to the train station.

<~~>

Once we were on the train, Ditzy gave Dinky an earful about sneaking onto the train. About how Amethyst and Carrot Top were probably worried sick about her. She was grounded for three weeks. After that, everyone had gathered around me, however I hesitated when I saw Dinky sitting nearby. I gestured for Ditzy to come close.

"What I'm about to tell you all is not something for a filly to hear. Would be alright if I put a sleep spell on her?" I whispered.

She thought for a minute, then said, "If you think it's necessary."

I nodded and cast a sleep spell on Dinky. Her eyes slowly fell and in a few seconds she was asleep. I then cast a sound proof bubble around her just in case.

"So, what is it that you're going to tell us?" Twilight asked curiously.

"Before I begin, I want you all to Pinkie Promise that you won't tell anyone about this unless Sean says it's OK," I said. They glanced at each other and did the movements. "First, this happened after Sarah disappeared so not even she knows about this." I took a deep breath, "A situation like earlier has happened before."

"He had to fight a tyrant before?" Rainbow Dash asked, arching a brow.

Applejack smacked her upside the head, "I'm pretty sure she meant what happened with Dinky, RD."

I nodded, "Yes, that. You see, Sean used to work at an orphanage on Earth. One day the matron took the orphans on a field trip to the movies. One of the children got sick though and had to stay behind. Of course, Sean didn't want him feeling left out, so he brought some movies for them to watch together." Practically all of the mares, as well as Sarah, 'aw'ed at that. I smiled slightly, but it quickly turned to a frown, "Unfortunately that's where things went bad." Worry crossed all of their faces. "At one point between movies, Sean had left the room to take care of something. Shortly after he'd left someone broke into the orphanage. He heard Sean and hid where the children slept, which was where the boy happened to be. Hearing Sean approach, he made a big mistake."

"...He threatened the child?" Fluttershy guessed.

"Yes, he did. And the thing about the boy is that Sean had gotten very close to him. So to see someone pointing a gun--"

"What in Tartarus is a gun?" Rainbow Dash interrupted.

I hesitated and glanced at Sarah. She shrugged slightly with a concerned look on her face. I took out our iPad and brought up the video. In the video a man with medium length blond hair and a beard and mustache. He was wearing camo pants and black shirt.

When the video appeared, Ditzy asked, "Who's that?"

"He looks like Sean!" Pinkie exclaimed, probably remembering what Sean looked like before.

"That's his dad," I answered. They all grew somber.

Sarah looked at everyone, "Did he tell them?"

"They were wondering why the fedora he's wearing is so important to him, so he told them that you and John made it and what had happened to the two of you," I told her, before pressing play on the video.

They all watched as John took the gun and fired at the target attached to a tree. Everyone jumped from the loud bang that emitted from the weapon. Their eyes widened when they saw the bullet went through the bark and into the tree.

"So seeing that aimed at the boy, he snapped," I said. "He managed to keep his cool for a moment. Saying that if he didn't hurt the boy, he would move out of the way. The robber slowly moved to the door and as he was almost through the door, Sean moved faster than he thought possible and grabbed the gun and wrested it from the man's grasp before punching him in the gut. After the boy was free from the robber's grip, Sean told him to call the police, they're like local royal guards protecting people in cities and/or towns. The moment he left, the man jumped at Sean and tried to get his gun back. However, Sean raised it and shot the man in the head." Everyone stared at me in shock.

After a minute of silence, Twilight asked, "What happened after that?"

"The police showed up and Sean and the boy told them what had happened. They decided no serious actions needed to be taken against Sean since it was self-defense. He was placed under house arrest for several months though. Which considering what happened, was a light punishment," I told them.

Silence reigned as everyone processed what I had told them. After a few minutes Pinkie spoke up, "Hey, where's Sean?"

We all looked around and noticed that he had indeed disappeared while I was talking.

"He's going to have some difficulty with facing you all," I said.

"Why?" Rainbow asked.

I raised a brow at the pegasus. "Really? You're asking why?" I questioned incredulously. "How would you react if you were in Sean's shoes and were telling your friends about this?" She fell silent at that. I focused my haki and began searching for Sean. I felt something a few cars over, but also above us. "He's on top of one of the cars."

"What!?" all the ponies and Spike yelled.

"Why is he up there!?" Ditzy exclaimed.

"It's the best place to be alone," Sarah said. "I mean, I doubt even a pegasus would go up there."

"I'm going to check on him," the gray pegasus said, exiting the car. I cast a silence bubble around Ditzy so that they wouldn't have to worry about shouting over the wind.

"And there goes a pegasus," my mother-in-law said, amusement in her voice. She grew serious and looked at me. "That really happened?" I nodded somberly. "I see. So since he has the Devil Fruit Sombra had..." She looked up as hoofsteps could be heard from the roof.

[POV Change: Sean]

I was sitting on top of one of the cars of the train. Mostly so that I didn't have to face the others yet, but also because if Luffy could sit on the Rocket Man without much problems then I could sit on this just fine. As the wind whipped around me, I could hear someone approaching. Turning around, I expected to see my wife or mother, so I was surprised to see Ditzy walking up to me.

"Ditzy!? What are you doing up here?" I yelled over the wind.

"I came to make sure you're doing OK!" she yelled back. When she got close, all of the sound around us seemed to vanish.

"Ashley must have cast a spell to keep the noise out so that we could actually hear each other without yelling," I said.

"That was thoughtful of her," Ditzy said. She returned her attention to me, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," I said rather quickly.

"Sean," she said, not sounding convinced.

"Really, it's nothing that serious," I said. "I just don't really know how to face everyone about what I did." I chuckled humorlessly, "And just when I find out you might be interested in me."

She stared at me for a moment before she stood up. I looked up at her and was surprised to hear music to start playing. I was shocked when she began to sing while she looked straight into my eyes.

Hands, put your empty hands in mine
And scars, show me all the scars you hide
And hey, if your wings are broken
Please take mine so yours can open too
Cause I'm gonna stand by you
Oh, tears make kaleidoscopes in your eyes
And hurt, I know you're hurting, but so am I
And love, if your wings are broken
Borrow mine 'til yours can open too
Cause I'm gonna stand by you

Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through
Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you
Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you
Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you

Yeah, you're all I never knew I needed
And the heart, sometimes it's unclear why it's beating
And love, if your wings are broken
We can brave through those emotions too
Cause I'm gonna stand by you
Oh, truth, I guess truth is what you believe in
And faith, I think faith is having a reason
Nah, nah, nah, love, if your wings are broken
Borrow mine 'til yours can open too
Cause I'm gonna stand by you

She walked behind me and wrapped her arms around me, as she continued to sing.

I'll be your eyes 'til yours can shine
I'll be your arms, I'll be your steady satellite
And when you can't rise, well, I'll crawl with you on hands and knees
Cause I...
I'm gonna stand by you

Even if we're breaking down, we can find a way to break through (come on)
Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you
Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, I'll walk through Hell with you
Love, you're not alone, cause I'm gonna stand by you
Love, you're not alone
Oh I'm gonna stand by you
Even if we can't find heaven, heaven, heaven
Yeah I'm gonna stand by you

As the song ended, I looked back and gave her soft smile. "Thanks, Ditzy. That meant a lot," I said.

She blushed slightly, but smiled back, "I meant every word."

I suddenly realized something was pressing against my back. Two somethings to be exact. My face burning, I cleared my throat, "Uh, Ditzy?"

She looked at me in confusion, but seemed to realize what I was referring to as her face lit up as well. However, instead of letting go, I felt her grip tighten and she asked, "Do you not like me being so close?"

"It's not that," I said, shaking my head. "It's just that you seemed hesitant earlier, so I wasn't sure how you felt about being so close."

"I'm fine with it," she said. "And I'm just hesitant because we've only known each other for little over a week."

"A reasonable concern," I said. "But you don't need to worry. We'll go at whatever pace you feel comfortable with."

Ditzy smiled, "Thanks. So how are you feeling?"

"Better," I said.

"That's good," she said. She seemed to hesitate then asked, "Judging from that story Ashley told us does that mean that..?"

I sighed, "Yes, I ended Sombra's life. He needed to be stopped, so that's exactly what I did."

"Well, I still care about you Sean, so don't push yourself away because of this," she told me.

"I appreciate that Ditzy," I said. "You ready to head back down?"

She paused, before asking, "Can we stay like this for a little longer?"

I smiled, "Sure."

<~~>

We stayed there for probably half an hour before we headed back to the car everyone was in. I paused just outside the door. I was still somewhat unsure about facing everyone. Ditzy grabbed one of my hands and gave it a squeeze. I smiled at her, which she returned, and I took a deep breath before entering the car. Everyone turned to me and, after a moment of silence, they all rushed up to me, saying words of comfort and how worried they were. I smiled and thanked them for their words, though Dinky looked confused at what was going on.

"How are you feeling?" Ashley asked.

"I'm feeling a good deal better," I reassured her. "Thanks to Ditzy here." I wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close, making her blush slightly, but she smiled. "Although I feel like I need to do something to help me the rest of the way."

Ashley grinned at me, "Are you going to do it? It's been a few years since you did."

I looked at her in confusion, before realizing what she was talking about. "Wow, you're right. I practically forgot until you said something." I nodded, "That's a good idea. I always feel better afterwards."

"What are you talking about, darlings?" Rarity asked, as I walked an open space on the train.

"Let's just say that the song I sang awhile ago, wasn't just because I like it," Ashley said. The others looked at each other in confusion as I grabbed our iPod and placed the headphones in my ears. Ash snapped her fingers and a stool and a drum set appeared.

I started the song I wanted and began to play. As I played, I started to sing along with the song.

As the song ended, I looked up at the others and saw their jaws were dropped and their eyes wide. I chuckled before launching into another song, once again singing along, however I kept myself from saying certain words in it because Dinky was there.

As I finished drumming, the train pulled into the station at Canterlot and Ashley made the drum set disappear.

She walked up to me and said, "You're as good as I remember."

"It has been too long since I heard you playing the drums, sweetie. You haven't lost any of your talent for it, I see," my mom said with a smile.

"THAT WAS AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed. Everyone else was saying similar praise.

"You beat everything out of your system?" Jack asked. Pretty much everyone facepalmed, while I smiled and my mom smirked.

"He's a jokester is he?" she questioned.

"He likes to think so," several ponies said, making Jack huff at them.

We then exited the train and started to make our way to the castle. As we walked, I saw the nobles staring at me, Ashley, and my mother with the same look that Blueblood had when he saw us, but I managed to ignore them. What really pissed me off, was when I saw one nobles cross his eyes and made several bumbling gestures to make his friends laugh. I snorted at the thought. Like they actually care about each other. I still managed to keep myself from doing anything. However, the ponies in question all yelped and started to look around.

I watched in confusion, when I heard snickering. I looked over to see that it was Jack. I arched a brow at the unicorn.

"What? They're too high and mighty for their own good," he said as electricity sparked around his horn. "Besides, I don't think Ditzy deserves to be mocked like that."

"Thank you Jack, but I don't want you to get in trouble with the Princesses for that," she said worriedly.

Jack just chuckled, "The Night Princesses are the one's I work for Ditzy and honestly they'd probably get upset if I didn't do that."

I chuckled too, "They do seem like they would react that way."

"Night Princesses?" my mother asked.

"You'll see Sarah," Ashley said.

As we continued to walk, a thought suddenly occurred to me, "I wonder..."

"What?" my mom questioned.

I glanced at her, "I was just wondering that if we were sent to same Equestria, does that mean the Merchant that displaced us is the same one?" I pressed the gem on my band and it glowed purple, "Hey, Symbol you busy?"

After a moment I heard the Displacer's voice in my mind, "No, I can talk. What's up?"

"There's something I'm wondering. You see, I ran into my mother," I told him.

There was a brief silence, before he asked, "That's good right?"

"Yeah, she's not one of those parents," I said.

I heard a small sigh of relief, making curious, but I decided to not ask such a personal question. "So, what did you want to know?" he asked.

"Well, it turns out that she was sent to the same Equestria as us... or I suppose we were sent to the one she was sent to. Anyway, does that mean that she was displaced by the same Merchant?" I asked.

"...There's one way to find out," Symbol said. After a moment, a band suddenly appeared on my mom's right wrist. "Did it appear?"

"Yeah, it did," I said. "Thanks Symbol."

"You're welcome Sean. Tell Ashley I said hi," he said, before the glow faded from the gem.

"Uh, Sean? Who were you talking to and what is this?" my mom asked.

"I was talking to Symbol Shattered. A pretty nice guy who's a Displacer. He displaces people himself to keep them from being displaced by the Merchant and help out those he's displaced if they need it," I explained. "He's the one that explained the whole Displaced thing to us." I turned to Ashley, "Symbol said hi, by the way."

"So there are others out there?" she asked.

"Yes, there are. We've met two others who have been displaced," Ashley told her.

Ashley and I explained to my mom about the Displaced and everything else. We soon reached the castle and I walked up to the doors. "Come on, everyone. There is something I'm going to tell the Princesses that I want you all to hear," I said as I walked into the castle. The others hesitated before following me inside.

Author's Note

What do you all think of the fight scene? It's only my second time writing an extended fight like this and I would like to know what you guys think.

That second drummer is rather... eccentric to say the least, huh?

Darkness King part 3

[POV: Nightmare Moon]

Celestia, Luna, and I were waiting in the throne room for Twilight's return to tell her how she had done on her test.

'Knowing her, she probably thinks she failed,' I thought in slight amusement. The doors opened and we turned our attention to it. We were surprised to see not only everypony to enter, but also to see two other ponies and another human walking next to them.

"Everyone? Why are they with you?" Celestia asked, pointing at the gray mare and Dinky, I think her name was.

"We've been staying with Ditzy, so Ashley and I thought that we should tell her where we were going," Sean explained. "But when we told her, she insisted on coming with us. And unfortunately, Dinky apparently overheard us and snuck onto the train."

"And who's that?" Celestia asked, gesturing at the new human. Before anypony could answer, the woman spoke up.

"Are you saying you don't remember me?" she asked in mock hurt. "Tia, Lulu, I'm hurt."

Realization dawned on my sisters and something stirred in my memories. Or rather Luna's as I remembered the woman in front of us, from when they would spend time together.

"Sarah!" they both exclaimed, before launching forward and practically tackling the woman in a hug.

"It's so good to see you again!" Luna said.

"I missed you so much, Sarah," Celestia said.

"You knew Sean's mother?" Twilight asked in shock.

My sister's pulled back and looked at the woman in surprise. "He's your--?" Celestia started to say before facepalming. "Right, your last name is Griffin isn't it?"

"Well, there can be people with the same last names and not be related, but in this case yes, Sean is my son," Sarah said.

"But I thought you didn't know what humans were," Ashley said.

"To be fair," I spoke up. "It has been over a thousand years."

"Wait, what!?" she and several ponies exclaimed.

Celestia nodded, "Yes, she, Luna, and I faced Sombra more than a thousand years ago, but when we banished him, he made the city and Sarah vanish."

"Speaking of the dark king, what became of him?" Luna asked. The question brought serious expressions to Sean, Ashley, Sarah, Jack, and, somewhat surprisingly, Ditzy's face.

"Princess," the gray pegasus spoke up. "Would it be alright if Dinky and I take a look at the castle?" Dinky's eyes widened and she looked up at us with a wide smile.

"I suppose," Celestia said. "Guard, would you please give them a tour of the castle?" The guard saluted and the three of them exited the room.

When they were gone, Luna asked, "Did that seem a little convenient of a time for her to ask that?"

"She knows what I'm about to tell you and to be honest the others have probably guessed, but I wanted them to hear it from me," Sean said. He took a deep breath, "I ended Sombra's life."

We looked at him in shock. That the goofball we'd met was able to end somepony's life was astonishing. The other's looked slightly shocked as well, but it seemed like they were expecting what he had said.

Celestia's look hardened and she asked, "You killed him?"

"I did," he said.

"You don't regret it?" Luna questioned, a slight edge in her voice.

"For killing him? No. From what Ashley told me about the stallion, the bastard deserved it and I'm glad that I put him down." The other's gasped at his claim, my sister's gaze hardened, and I was getting slightly worried for Sean. "However," he continued, "I probably would have tried to take him in first if I was in my right state of mind."

"What do you mean?" I asked, slightly worriedly.

"I was in a rage," he stated.

"What are you talking about?" Luna asked in confusion. "You were angry at Blueblood, but you just looked like you'd beat him up a bit and that's it."

"This was different. You see, I have a soft spot for children and that son of bitch threatened to kill Dinky," he said, as anger flashed in his eyes. My sisters and I were shocked to see such rage coming from Sean. He took several breaths to calm himself. "I don't regret killing him, but I do regret how I killed him."

Sarah snorted, "While I wish he hadn't, if Sean had not ended Sombra, I would have."

Celestia sighed, "Considering who it was and that the deed is already done, I suppose there's nothing we can do. But please don't kill everyone you fight Sean. There might be times that we will need to question them."

"I don't plan on killing everyone I have to fight Celestia. Besides as long as they don't threaten a child, that will be easy to do," Sean said. "Princesses there's something you need to know about Sombra." We raised a brow at him as he reached into his backpack and we were shocked at what he pulled out. "Sombra was a Devil Fruit user and he had probably one of the most dangerous ones."

In his grasp was a Devil Fruit that was about as black as my fur. "What is that fruit?" I asked.

"It's called the Dark-Dark Fruit. It makes it to where the user can negate the powers of other Devil Fruit users," he explained, tossing the fruit to us. I grabbed it in my magic and brought it to myself.

"It's true Your Highnesses," Jack spoke up. "Sombra was able to punch me and he slammed Sean into the ground, making him bleed."

"You're injured!?" Twilight exclaimed.

"Was," Sean said. "Whatever changed us to crystal temporarily, healed my injuries. Anyway, I think Sombra's dark magic affected the Devil Fruit."

"What makes you say that?" Luna asked.

"This isn't what the fruit is supposed to look like. It should look like this," he said, pulling out another fruit that looked similar to the fruit in his right hand, except that it was purple. "The other reason is that he used the fruits powers differently than what's been done in the anime."

"Such as?" she asked.

"For one, he made crystal golems rise from his shadows, but that shouldn't be possible. You see, the element that's associated with this fruit is gravity. It pulls everything in and crushes it. Another thing is that even though it's a Logia-type, the user isn't able to change into the element the fruit allows them control over. However, it seemed like Sombra could do just that," Sean told us. "So I was thinking that it might have something to do with his dark magic and Devil Fruit power combining," Sean explained. "There was something else."

"Which is?" I asked.

"Along with pulling everything in, it allows the user to absorb physical matter and attacks of any type by sucking it into the darkness. However the downside to that is attacks tend to hurt even more than usual. That didn't seem to be a problem with Sombra though," he said. He paused and then said, "Although, he did keep healing his wounds."

This caught our attention. "He healed himself?" I asked in concern.

"Yes, he did. Why?" Sean questioned.

"Because while casting dark magic doesn't corrupt you, using it on your body warps it. It may be able to heal practically any injury, but the more you use it on yourself the more it will start to twist one's mind," I explained.

"I see," Sean said. "Well, this did give me an idea for something."

"What?" Celestia asked, sounding concerned.

"It's nothing bad, Celestia. Although it does involve you," he told her. She gave him her undivided attention, "First, I was wondering about your lifespans. Are you immortal, ageless, or just long lived?"

Surprised by the off topic question, she answered, "Me and my sisters are immortal."

Sean seemed to notice her word choice, as he asked, "What do you mean?"

"Cadance wasn't originally an alicorn like my sisters and I," Luna said. "She became one and along with that an extended lifespan."

"So, she'll live for several hundred years?" Ashley questioned.

"She said extended not shortened," Rainbow Dash said.

Sean and Ashley seemed to stiffen at this. "H-How long do ponies live?" she asked.

"Three hundred fifty to four hundred years," Twilight answered.

The two human's eyes widened in complete shock. "That long?" Sean questioned, his voice sounding distant.

"What's wrong, you two?" Spike asked.

"Humans can only live up to a hundred years and by then we'd be old and frail," Ashley said.

All of our eyes widened and I felt a stab of pain in my heart. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Luna and Celestia looking at me with a guilty look in their eyes. However, before any of us could say anything, Sarah spoke up.

"I don't know if that's necessarily true anymore," she said, catching all of our attention.

"What do you mean Mom?"

She looked up at Celestia and Luna, "Given what Ashley just told you, you should know what I'm talking about." The two stared at her in slight confusion, causing Sarah to roll her eyes, "How long did I live here before disappearing?"

"Around seventy years," Celestia answered automatically.

"You were here that long!?" Ashley exclaimed. "And you haven't aged?"

"Nope," Sarah answered. "I'm as young and agile as when I arrived here."

"So, you think that means we have, at the very least, an extended life?" Sean asked, sounding hopeful.

"Considering we were displaced by the same Merchant, I think it's safe to assume so," she said. "But even if you don't, you shouldn't worry about that and just live in the now."

"You're right of course," Sean said. He shook himself, "Right, back to what I was saying before. You are proficient in light magic, which is healing magic right?" Celestia nodded. "I was thinking that you ate the Heal-Heal fruit and maybe, like the Dark-Dark Fruit and dark magic, your magic and the Fruits power will combine. If it did, you might be able to heal wounds that you or the fruit couldn't alone."

"That actually sounds like a good idea Sean," Ashley said. "What do you think, Celestia?"

Celestia raised a hand to her chin in thought. "It does sound like, if it worked, it would be very helpful," she said.

"Plus it would keep it out of the hands of a villain and heal themselves or any of their allies," Sean said.

At this, I looked down at the Dark-Dark Fruit in my grasp. 'Maybe I should eat this to keep it out of the grasp of someone like Sombra,' I thought.

Celestia thought a little more before nodding, "I think you're idea has a lot of merits to it. Later today, I'll eat the Heal-Heal Fruit."

Making up my mind, I said, "And I'm going to eat this Devil Fruit." Before anyone could say anything I bit down on the fruit. I immediately gagged, "Ugh, Ashley was not exaggerating on this things taste."

"Why did you do that Nightmare?" Celestia questioned me.

"To keep anyone like Sombra from getting their hands on it," I said.

Sean lifted his hat before running a hand through his hair. "Well, at least if Blackbeard is here, we might not have to deal with him having the Dark-Dark powers," he said.

"Hopefully," Ashley and Sarah agreed.

"I guess I'll respect your decision, even though it's already too late," Celestia said. "Since everyone is here there is someone I want you all to meet."

They all took notice of the fact that she said someone rather than somepony. At that moment, the doors opened and Ditzy and Dinky entered the room.

"Perfect timing. Guard will you please bring Heart here?" Celestia requested.

The guard saluted and walked back out of the room. About half an hour later the guard returned.

"She's here Your Highness," he said.

"Thank you let her in," Celestia said. He nodded and opened the door.

Other than Jack, all of the ponies and Spike tensed and Ditzy grabbed Dinky when they saw a changeling enter. Rainbow Dash and Applejack immediately charged toward her. Both looking ready to take her out.

Sean sighed and facepalmed. The action surprised me, Celestia, and Luna, as we'd never seen him look so exasperated.

He looked over to Sarah. "Mom? You mind helping me?" he asked, as he pressed down on his legs. Our surprise increased when he suddenly turned pink and steam started emanating off of him.

She nodded before disappearing in a flash of light. He then disappeared in a blur of movement, shocking us even further. Something colliding made us look up and saw that Sean and Sarah were blocking the attacks of Applejack and Rainbow Dash respectively.

"What in tarnation are ya'll doin'!" Applejack said. "Don't ya see that there's a changeling."

"That was escorted here by a guard," Sean pointed out scathingly, making the two take a few steps back. "Honestly, you should pay attention before jumping to conclusions."

"I'm afraid he's correct, my little ponies," Celestia said. "You should have known that since the guard let her in, she was who we wanted you to meet." The two mares ears lowered and they looked down in shame. The others eased slightly at Celestia's words.

"I hope you don't hold this against them," Sean said.

Heart shook her head, "I completely understand their reaction. I hope I can put that to rest though."

Sean nodded and he and Sarah walked back to the group. Heart walked past them and stood between us and the group, before facing the others.

"I'm Princess Heart, daughter of Queen Chrysalis." Everyone tensed again, but a look from the humans kept them from doing anything. She bowed and said, "I'd like to apologize for what she did during Shining Armor and Princess Cadance's wedding." Her apology surprised them all as they just stared at her.

"Why exactly did she invade?" Sarah asked.

Heart sighed, "Someone messed her memories and made her think that Princess Celestia was responsible for her not knowing who my father is. So, she planned on how to get back at you. It took about twenty-five years, but she finally found out how she could strike at you."

"Shining Armor and our nieces wedding," Luna said.

The changeling princess nodded, "Yes, but with Sean and Ashley's help that was stopped by the very one's she tried to separate."

"Heart was actually the one to warn us of the invasion. Though she did so anonymously for obvious reasons," I told them.

"I just wish I had known what exactly her plan was so I could have properly warned you," Heart said, regretfully.

Sean walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder, "Hey, you did your best to help everypony. I'm pretty sure they're grateful for your warning."

"Indeed we are, Heart," Celestia said with a warm smile. "You put us on alert, where if you hadn't warned us the Wonderbolts and the guards wouldn't have been able to combat the changelings."

Heart smiled in appreciation, "Thank you. I'm glad I was able to help somehow." She turned back to the group, "Now for the main reason I'm here." They all looked at her curiously, before their eyes widened when she reached up and pulled her cheek farther than it should have gone. She glanced at Sean, "I hope you don't mind, I just thought the others you would think that it was just me using magic if I used one of the other powers."

"You have the Copy-Copy Fruit," Sean said in shock.

"You know about it?" Heart asked in surprise.

"It was a non-canon Devil Fruit that showed up in a One Piece special live show," he said. "It had the ability copy other Devil Fruits. Although it had a huge drawback. You see the user had to, or at least it seemed like it, be hit by the other Devil Fruit users power for them to copy it. But something's not right." Sean stepped closer to Heart and looked her over. "The fruit also changed the users appearance to whoever the fruit belonged to."

Heart's face fell, "That's something else the one who messed with my mother's memories did. When I was born, they made it to where I can't transform and it seems that it's strong enough to even keep the Devil Fruit from changing me." The humans and even the ponies frowned.

"So, you can't do one of the things that makes you a changeling?" Twilight asked, sympathy in her voice. As the changeling shook her head, all of the ponies surrounded her in a group hug. "I'm sorry you have to go through something like that. I can't imagine what it would be like to not be able to use my magic."

Sean, Ashley, and Sarah smiled at the ponies hugging the changeling. Sean then turned to Celestia, "Is there not a way to remove the magic that's causing this?"

"All three of us have looked into the spell that's been cast on her, Sean," I said, gaining his attention. "None of us know what he did to her, so we don't even know where we would start."

"I see," he said.

Suddenly the doors burst open and a guard rushed in. "Your Highnesses, we just received word from Manehattan that something is terrifying the ponies there," he said quickly, after bowing.

"Did they say what it was?" Celestia asked.

The guard hesitated as if he couldn't bring himself to say it. Finally he answered, "They said it was a... skeleton."

Author's Note

Princess Heart OC created by GIGA-XISBASS

Zap Apples?

It had been a couple days since that eventful day. The Crystal Empire's return, Sombra's death, reuniting with my mother, meeting a good changeling, learning that Chrysalis was under what was practically a curse, and finding out Brook was here. Damn, a lot happened that day. Thankfully, Cheerilee was nice enough to let me have a few days to unwind after such an eventful day.

My mother decided to stay in Canterlot for a while to catch up with Celestia and Luna. I could understand seeing as how there was two new Princesses in Equestria and she had been gone for a thousand years. I didn't really mind, since I was just glad that she was alive and that I had found her again.

As we had expected, when we returned to Ponyville with Brook and Heart the ponies started freaking out. Twilight and I managed to get them to calm down and told Mayor Mare to set up a town meeting. While hesitant, she quickly did as we requested and everypony was gathered in front of Town Hall. We told them all that Heart and Brook wouldn't cause them any harm. The ponies were rather skeptical, but when Fleetfoot and Eclipse told the town that they knew Heart, they calmed down slightly. Even they were on edge about Brook being a skeleton, but said that they trusted all of us on our judgement.

Twilight explained Heart's situation to Trixie and the two decided to let the changeling stay in their guest room. Brook was, surprisingly, staying with Rarity. Despite how he acted toward Nightmare Moon, she saw that he was usually a gentleman. Not to mention that, after the initial shock of him being a skeleton, him and Sweetie Belle got along rather well.

We managed to convince Pinkie to wait a couple weeks before giving the two a welcoming party. How did we manage that? We asked her what kind of welcoming party would it be if most of the town didn't show up because of the two guests they were supposed to be welcoming. She didn't like it, but saw our point and postponed it. Though I don't know if she'll be able to put it off that long.

Right now, I had woken up before the sun had even risen and was taking a nice early morning stroll. As I was approaching Sweet Apple Acres, I heard howling and pots being banged together. I rushed toward the Apple's home and saw Granny Smith running around smacking pots.

She was shouting, "The timberwolves are a-howlin'! The timberwolves are a-howlin'!"

"Eeyup," I heard Big Mac say. I turned to their home and saw Applejack, Big Mac, Apple Bloom, Spartan, and Anna were looking out of their windows.

I felt my face heat up when I saw the mares were wearing nightgowns. I quickly turned back to Granny Smith who was, oddly, completely dressed despite the time of night.

She shouted again, "The zap apples are comin'! The zap apples are comin'!"

The Apple's cheered, "Yay, the zap apples are comin'!"

"That's what I said," Granny Smith stated, smacking the pots a few more times. She noticed me and asked, "Sean? What in Equestria are ya doin' up this early?"

"I could ask you the same," I responded. "I'm pretty sure this is early even for farmers. And what was that howling I heard?"

"It's the time for zap apples to be growin'," she said. "Timberwolves howling is the first sign they are about to grow."

"Don't you mean when they're ripe?" I questioned. "And isn't it kind of late in the year for them to be ripe? Isn't it nearing winter?"

"It is, but these apples are different," she said. "These one's have magic in 'em."

"I see. Would you mind if I helped?" I asked. "I'd like to see them if possible."

She gained a thoughtful look, "It'll be a few days before they need pickin', but I don't see the harm in another helper. Now, you go on and git back and get a bit more sleep before you help us out."

I nodded and started to make my way back to Ditzy's house.

<~~>

When I got back, I opened the door as quietly as I could. Before I could even try to head up the stairs, the lights were flicked on. I spun around in shock and was surprised to see Dinky standing on the stairs in her pajamas while rubbing her eyes sleepily.

"What are you doing Sean?" she asked, weariness and a little fear in her voice.

"I just woke up really early and couldn't fall back to sleep," I told her before walking up to her and picking her up. I then headed over to the couch. "So I went for an early morning stroll. Why are you up?"

"I had a nightmare and woke up. Then, I thought I heard something. I was scared, but came down to see what it was," she said.

"And you found me," I said, getting a nod from her. "Hang on a moment." I headed upstairs as quickly and quietly as I could. I slowed down momentarily when I felt like I walked passed somepony, but shrugged it off and entered the room me and Ashley were sharing. I walked over to the nightstand and opened the drawer. Grabbing what was inside I glanced at Ashley and whispered, "Thanks Ash." I then went back downstairs and sat back down next to Dinky.

"A flute?" she asked in surprise and confusion.

I nodded, "I figured you were still a little frightened, so I'm going to try and help you relax." I brought the instrument to my lips and softly began to play.

As I played the relaxing melody, I saw Dinky's eyes start to flutter as sleep began to claim her. Eventually, her soft even breathing told me that she had fallen asleep. I played a little more to make sure she was completely relaxed before lowering the flute and smiling at the filly next to me. She was leaning against my shoulder and, not wanting to wake her up again, I set the flute on the end table and leaned back on the couch. I slowly fell asleep.

[POV Change: Amethyst]

I smiled to myself as I stood at the top of the stairs. I had heard the door opening and was rather worried at who it might be. I was about to investigate when I saw Dinky walking downstairs. Since she didn't panic at whoever entered, I decided to hang back. I heard Sean talking to her and I calmed down immensely. I heard Dinky say that she had a nightmare which explained why she was up this early.

I then heard Sean making his way upstairs and used my illusion magic to make me see-through. I was nervous when he had paused and glanced at me, but relaxed when he continued what he was doing. I was shocked when he walked back out of his room carrying a flute. Dinky had told me that he played the drums, so seeing him carrying that instrument shocked me.

I was even more surprised when he started playing such a soothing song. When he finished playing, I waited a few minutes before quietly walking down the stairs and checking on them. I smiled warmly when I saw Dinky leaning against Sean and the peaceful look on her face. I silently made my way back to my room, glad that Sean helped Dinky even with a small thing like this.

[POV Change: Ashley]

When I woke up I found myself alone in bed. Confused, I quickly got dressed and went downstairs to look for Sean. When I walked into the living room, I had to hold myself back from squealing at the sight before me. Sean was laying on the couch with Dinky laying on top of him, his arms wrapped protectively around her. I heard hoofsteps behind me and turned to see Ditzy coming down. She was about to say something when I put my finger to my lips while gesturing to walk over. She looked at me in confusion, but did as I asked.

When she looked into the room, she cooed at the sight. "That's adorable," she whispered.

"It sure is. It's really a shame we have to wake them up," I whispered back. I was about to move forward when Ditzy grabbed my shoulder.

"Wait, do you have a camera?" she asked, a wide grin on her face.

I smiled back and snapped my fingers as quietly as I could, summoning our iPad and a camera. Ditzy took the camera while I grabbed the iPad. The noise made the two stir and we froze. Fortunately, Sean just pulled the filly closer and Dinky cuddled into to him.

Ditzy and I cooed at the sight and took several pictures of the two. Once done, Ditzy took the photos and iPad upstairs while I walked up to them.

I gently shook Sean's shoulder, "Sean, it's morning."

His eyes slowly opened and he looked at me, "Good morning Ash."

"Morning," I said, glancing at Dinky.

He followed my gaze and smiled softly at the little filly. He gently nudged her, "Dinky, it's time to get up."

She stirred a little, mumbling slightly, "A little longer."

I giggled, while Sean chuckled. "Sorry, but that's not possible," he said, slowly sitting up. Dinky groaned and got up. She pouted slightly, making him chuckle, before tussling her mane. "Sorry Dinky, but I'm going to be helping the Apples with the zap apples."

"So we didn't miss that?" I mumbled to myself.

"What do you mean?" Sean asked.

"There was an episode involving the zap apples, but it happened before the wedding and the Crystal Empires reappearance," I explained. "Granted the episodes could really be watched in any order, I'm pretty sure each season would happen before the other."

He shrugged, "Who knows. Maybe it's like you said and actually happened after those events or it's just different here."

"You're probably right," I said, nodding. Ditzy came back down and walked up to her daughter.

"Good morning, Dinky," she said with a smile.

"Morning mom," Dinky said, smiling back.

As Ditzy straightened, she noticed the flute on the end table. "You play the flute too?" she asked in surprise.

"Well, you can't exactly help children relax with drums now can you?" he asked with a smirk.

"I suppose not," she said.

He started to head out, "I'll see you ladies later. I'm going to see when the Apples will need my help."

"Goodbye!" we all called out to him. He waved back at us.

Ditzy then turned around, "Why exactly did he need his flute?"

"I woke up because I had a nightmare," Dinky said. "Then heard something and went to check it out and saw Sean walking in. He played the flute to help me relax and fall back asleep."

"Why was he up so late?" I asked.

"He said that he just woke up and decided to go for a walk," she told me.

"Ah. He would do that from time to time back home," I said. I walked to the kitchen, "So how about breakfast?"

[POV Change: Sean]

As I approached the Apples home, I saw Applejack, Big Mac, Spartan and Anna placing buckets around a bunch of trees that didn't even have leaves let alone apples.

I walked up to them and asked, "Why are you putting buckets around these?"

Suddenly the wind picked up and Spartan said, "You'll see in a moment."

Clouds started appearing in the sky, which confused me slightly. Didn't the pegasi manipulate the weather here? I couldn't see even one pegasus in the air. I then heard electricity crackling. Looking around, I saw bolts arcing around the trees. After a moment the electricity stopped and leaves instantly appeared on the branches.

"Holy-- I guess Granny Smith wasn't joking about there being magic involved with these apples," I said in surprise.

"Nope. These apples are one of a kind and only grow at certain time and during a short time frame," Anna said. "It's one of the reasons Granny said we could use your help."

"They disappear or something?" I questioned, jokingly.

"Eeyup," they all said seriously.

I snorted, "Nice synchronization. I'll be glad to help you get as much as I can."

"We'll be sure to give ya some so you can try them yourself," Spartan promised.

I grinned at the stallion, "Thanks. You need any help now?"

"Nah. Until they actually show up we can handle everythin' ourselves," Applejack said.

I shrugged, "Alright, but let me know if you do need some help." I turned around and froze at what I saw. Granny Smith and Applebloom were wearing fluffy bunny costumes and jumping over watering cans while singing the ABC's. "What in the world?" I asked in absolute confusion.

"Oh, that's just somethin' for the zap apples," Anna told me. At my bemused expression, she elaborated, "The zap apples, being magical fruits, need specific, and altogether strange, requirements met. Especially when making zap apple jam."

"Huh," I said. Before I could say anything else, I heard a mocking laughter. I turned around to see Diamond Tiara and a light brown stallion with a slick black mane and wearing a blue business suit approaching Apple Bloom and Granny Smith. Having a bad feeling I walked over to them.

"Well, howdy there, Filthy Rich," Granny Smith greeted the stallion.

"Hello, Mrs. Smith," he greeted back. "Did I hear correctly that there's a zap apple harvest coming in a few days?"

"Yes siree," she confirmed. "Four to be exact."

He smiled, "That's excellent news. I get your first hundred jars, as usual, right?"

"'Course Filthy," Granny Smith said.

"Uh, I prefer Rich," he corrected with a smile.

I then walked up to the pair. "Hello, Mrs. Smith," I said.

"Oh, hello, Sean. None of that Mrs. stuff, just call me Granny, everypony does." She paused and glanced at the stallion, "Well, those who we don't do business with. Now, uh what are ya doin' here?" she asked.

"Just thought I'd see if you and your family needed any help," I told her.

"Aw, that's mighty nice of ya, but we can handle everythin' until the harvest," she said.

"Yes, your family told me," I said. "And like I said to them, just let me know if you need anything before then."

"You're a mighty sweet boy, ya know that?" Granny Smith said with a warm smile.

I blushed slightly, but smiled back, "Thank you Granny Smith." I turned to the stallion, "I believe she said your name was Filthy Rich?"

"Indeed and you are Sean, one of the humans who moved here a couple weeks ago correct?" he questioned.

"That's right. It's nice to meet you sir," I said, holding my hand out to him.

To my slight surprise he took my hand and gave it a firm shake that, to my shock, I felt. "It's good to formally meet you as well," he said.

I relaxed a little, seeing he didn't seem to be anything like Blueblood. "So Mr. Rich, you seem to do a great deal of business with the Apple family," I said, striking up a conversation with the stallion.

"You can just call me Rich and yes I do. They grow the best apples in Equestria after all," he said, smiling.

"Oh, I couldn't agree with you more. I haven't had any others while here, but compared to my world's apples these are absolutely delicious," I agreed.

"Thank ya kindly you two," Granny Smith said. Though for some reason her voice was slightly muffled. I turned to her and was shocked to see her wearing the cauldron on her head. "Uh, Rich would ya mind?" she requested holding out a wooden spoon.

"Of course, Mrs. Smith," he said taking the wooden utensil. Before I could ask what she wanted done, Rich gave the huge pot a good whack with the spoon. I stared at him in shock, but before I could say anything Granny spoke again.

"Thank ya kindly Filthy," she said in a slight daze.

"She ask you to do that every time?" I asked, noticing his willingness.

He nodded, "Yes, she does. I'm not really sure why, but she says it's essential to make the jam so good, so I humor her."

'Must be another requirement for the jam,' I thought to myself. Before I could speak again, Granny Smith suddenly spoke up.

"Sean there actually is somethin' ya could help with," she said.

"Yes?"

"Me and Apple Bloom are goin' shoppin' and we will probably need some help," she said.

"I'd be happy to help," I said.

<~~>

Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, and I were walking through the market, the bags we had weighed down with a good deal of items. Interestingly, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom had headwear making it to where we were all wearing something on our heads. I was wearing my normal fedora, Granny Smith's hat was more eccentric, it being a purple hat with orange polka dots, with a green ribbon wrapped around it and a white flower, and Apple Bloom was wearing a bonnet.

"Shake a leg there, slowpokes! We got a gaggle's worth of goods to gather before the harvest. Come on!" Granny Smith urged us and started to, surprisingly skip through the market and sing to the tune of Skip to My Lou. Apple Bloom looked down in embarrassment. The elder mare soon came to a stop at a pots and pans stall. She picked one up and muttered, "They don't make 'em like they used to." To my and Apple Bloom's shock Granny Smith bit down on the pan.

"Hey, you bite it you bought it," the pony vendor yelled in annoyance.

Granny Smith took the pan out of her mouth, her dentures staying attached to it, and walked away. Apple Bloom and I glanced at each other and she grabbed the teeth before following her grandmother. I looked at the pony behind the stall and handed them fifteen bits.

"Sorry about that," I said, before following them. When I caught up I was shocked to see that Granny Smith had a beard of bees and was talking to them while getting honey from their hives. After getting over the shock, I chuckled slightly.

"Granny, isn't there a less... silly way to get the honey?" Apple Bloom asked pleadingly. She suddenly gasped and hid behind me.

I arched a brow before turning where she had been looking and saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. I was rather irritated with Diamond Tiara, she was the typically portrayed rich girl and constantly made fun of the CMC and Dinky when she thought I wasn't paying attention. Although they told me it's gotten much better since I started working at the school. They told me that even before then, Silver Spoon pretty much stopped when I showed up in Ponyville. I was still rather worried about how she acted when I talked to her, but it had been a couple weeks and she didn't come to speak to me, so maybe it wasn't serious or anything.

"Oh, isn't this just precious?" Granny Smith said.

"Granny please stop," Apple Bloom begged. I heard Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon laughing at Apple Bloom, though Silver Spoon's seemed rather halfhearted. Like she was only doing it because Diamond was there. The young Apple didn't seem to notice though, as she said, "Granny please! Those ponies over there are watchin' me."

"What?" Granny Smith questioned and looked over to the two fillies. "Aren't they your friends? Hello half-pints friends!" she called out.

"Hiii, Granny Smith. Hiii, half-pint!" Diamond Tiara said, saying the last part mockingly.

I frowned at the spoiled brat. She really tested my patience with her mocking of the CMC and Dinky. Granny Smith seemed oblivious to the mocking tone in Diamond's voice.

"What dolls. Why, when I was little, ponies didn't come that purdy," she said.

I rolled my eyes, "Is there anything else Granny or do you have everything?"

"All done, Seany-boy," she said, surprising me. She started skipping and singing again before I could say anything.

Apple Bloom looked at me and asked, "Something wrong Sean?"

Shaking my head, I said, "No. Just no one other than my mother called me Seany before."

"Are ya upset that she called ya that?" she asked, as we started following her back to the farm.

"That's not it. She just surprised me is all," I told her.

When we returned to their home I helped them put away the items they bought before Apple Bloom and I headed to the school. When school started I was surprised that it was Family Appreciation Day. Cheerilee told me that during day I had gone to the Crystal Empire and the days I had off, Family Appreciation Day had come around. Although from what she explained it sound more like Family Appreciation Week as each day a family member from several of the foals family would come in and take about something involving them.

Right now Filthy Rich, who turned out to be Diamond Tiara's father which explained why the two were together on the Apple family's farm, was giving a speech on how his business had become the cornerstone of retail in Ponyville. And it was boring as all hell. Seriously, I was half asleep and half of the class was completely asleep, heck even Silver Spoon was out. When he finished, Diamond Tiara was the only to clap, waking the ponies who fell asleep and got me to snap back to attention.

"Well, thank you Mr. Filthy--" Cheerilee started, but received a small glare from the stallion. "I mean, Mr. Rich. What a wonderful day of sharing! And thank you for being a part of Family Appreciation Day! Now, uh, let's see who will be bringing in a family member for next Monday's Family Appreciation Day. Um... Oh! Apple Bloom!"

Apple Bloom looked up and said, "But Ms. Cheerilee, the zap apples are harvested on Monday, and all of my family will be busy."

"Well, is there anypony else in your family that could come?" Cheerilee asked, causing Apple Bloom to shake her head vigorously. However, Diamond Tiara suddenly butted in.

"Ms. Cheerilee. Granny Smith isn't working on the harvest, she could come," she suggested with a slight smirk.

Seriously, this brat was getting on my nerves. I knew what she was doing, but it was a legitimate suggestion, so I couldn't do anything about it. Apple Bloom tried to make something up on why Granny Smith couldn't come, but she was not able to think of something and Cheerilee thought it was a good idea for Granny to show up. The bell rang dismissing the class. As everyone left I walked up to the school mare.

"Cheerilee," I started getting her attention. "I hate to do this, but I offered the Apple family my help with the harvest."

"And you're wondering if I don't mind you not coming Monday?" she guessed. I nodded in confirmation. She chuckled slightly, "Maybe I should have been clear on this, but you don't have to come everyday Sean. If you were an assistant teacher then yes this would be a problem, but all I'm asking you to do is keep an eye on the students."

"So it's OK?" I asked wanting to be clear.

"Yes, Sean it's fine. I would like you to notify me though when you do plan on not coming," she said.

I nodded, "Of course."

<~~>

The next couple of days went by rather quickly and I went to Sweet Apple Acres to see all of the signs of the zap apples arrival. The third sign was a murder of crows flying in the pattern of apples above the trees and blue flowers immediately bloomed. The fourth sign were shooting stars, which is when the apples finally appeared, but they were a sickly gray. It was during this day that I saw more proof that these were magic trees.

For some reason, I saw the Cutie Mark Crusaders standing around one of the trees. I couldn't hear what they were saying, but Sweetie Belle walked up to the tree and gave it a rather solid kick. I guess since they were ponies, even unicorns had a decent kick despite most of them being less physical than the other races. What happened next shocked me greatly, no pun intended. When Sweetie kicked the tree electricity arced up the tree then back down and gave the little filly a rather nasty shock, knocking her away from the tree. The three fillies then tried to pick the apple, only for the stem to stretch and even the tree to bend, unyielding in giving up the fruit before it was ripe.

Unfortunately for the three, a puddle from the Apples watering the trees was next to Sweetie Belle and she stepped in it causing her to lose her footing and them all being launched into the air. Worried about their safety, I rushed after them to see the three had landed in the pigs pen. I sighed in relief at seeing they were OK.

I walked up to them and asked, "What in Equestria are you three up to?"

They jumped slightly and quickly exclaimed, 'Nothing!' before taking off. I stared after them for a minute before moving on.

'Apple Bloom's probably still worried about Granny Smith going to school and talking to her classmates,' I thought. 'I hope she comes to terms with it soon. She's family after all.'

<~~>

The next day I was surprised to see Cheerilee leaving the farm. "Cheerilee? What were you doing here?" I asked.

"Granny Smith asked to see me and when I saw her inside she said that she wasn't going to be able to make it Family Appreciation Day when something strange happened," she said.

"Strange?"

Cheerilee nodded, "She suddenly shot up and hit her head on the ceiling and then said that she wouldn't miss coming to the school today."

"That is strange," I said, having a good idea what had happened. "Well, I'll see you tomorrow Cheerilee."

She smiled, "See you tomorrow, Sean." She left the farm just as the wind began to pick up.

I saw Granny Smith and Applejack standing near the trees and I walked up to them. It suddenly began to rain for several minutes before it stopped and the clouds parted to reveal a rainbow. I saw a rainbow appear on an apple before a rainbow shot from apple to apple, all of them gaining rainbow colors to them.

"Yee-haw!" Granny Smith shouted, jumping higher than I thought possible.

"The zap apple harvest has begun!" Applejack exclaimed as Granny Smith landed with a loud thud. I winced as she landed, but she jumped to her hooves easily.

"And tomorrow we will be makin' some zap apple jam," she declared walking back to the house.

I turned to Applejack, as her brother and parents started picking the apples from the trees. To my slight surprise they were hand picking them instead of applebucking.

Noticing my expression, Applejack said, "These trees like to buck back if ya know what I mean."

"Oh, I saw what happens when you buck them," I said, gaining a confused look from her. "So, you just hand pick them huh?"

"That's right. It's one of the reasons it's hard to get them all off before they disappear," she said.

"Well, I think that I have a solution. I thought of it when you said that they disappear," I said, getting her interest. I activated Second Gear causing her to step back in mild shock. "I can move at great speeds like this, so I can pick a great deal of apples in a short period of time."

Applejack looked rather hesitant, "It would be mighty helpful, but your temperature skyrockets when you're like that right? It's the reason you have steam comin' off of ya."

I nodded, "Yes, but I'd only be holding them for a couple seconds before placing them in the basket. I'm sure it'd take at least a minute for the heat to affect them."

"Normally, I'd agree with ya Sean, but with the magic in the zap apples I'm not sure how they would react to it," she said.

"A fair point," I conceded, letting the gear defuse. "I have another idea if you'd be willing to hear it."

"Sure, pardner. What is it?" Applejack asked.

I grabbed two buckets and walked in front of several of the apple trees. I placed the buckets next to me and proceeded to throw my arms forward rapidly using the Gum-Gum Gatling. However, instead of punching, I grabbed the apples and dropped them in the wooden buckets. After about ten seconds, I had cleared three trees of their zap apples. Applejack and the other Apples were staring at me in shock for a moment before wide smiles spread across their faces.

"That's mighty impressive Sean," Applejack said. "If ya keep that up we'll have even more zap apples then last year."

I spent the rest of the day repeating what I'd done, while the others picked the apples normally. By the time the apples disappeared we had picked practically all of them.

"Hoowee! That's the most zap apples we've ever picked," Applejack cheered.

"That's for sure," Spartan agreed. "Can't remember the last time we picked so many." He clapped me over the shoulder, which, just like with Filthy Rich, I actually felt. Earth pony magic must be similar to haki. "We can't thank you enough for your help Sean."

Anna walked up to me with a warm smile, "Yes, thank you Sean."

"It wasn't a problem," I said smiling back, rolling my shoulder. "I'm glad I could help."

She held out a basket of zap apples. "Here you go Sean. So that you, and Ashley, can try them yourselves," she said. "And if you come back later we can let you try some of the things we make with these apples." She then gained a cheeky smile, "And be sure to bring your wife and marefriend."

I blushed, while she and Applejack giggled and Spartan and Big Mac chuckled. Still blushing, I shook myself and said, "I'll be sure to do that thank you. And I'm sure that these will taste amazing."

As I headed back to Ditzy's home I took a bite out of one of the zap apples. The taste was incredible and I swear that I felt a jolt through my body when I bit down. When I got back I told Ditzy, Ashley, Amethyst, and Dinky about Anna's offer. They all happily agreed to it.

<~~>

The next day after school had let out, I walked Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, Dinky, and several foals over to Sweet Apple Acres. When we reached the farm Anna waved us over, Ditzy, Amethyst, and Ashley were already there. I headed over to them, the foals following behind me.

"You don't mind if mah friends try the jam do ya ma?" Apple Bloom asked.

Anna smiled, "Of course not, sweetie. Your friends can have some." She put a jar of rainbow colored jam and a plate of toast on a table for the foals. As the children gathered around the table, Anna handed me a slice of toast with the jam on it. "Here you go, Sean. The ladies have already had some."

"Thanks," I said, before taking the bread and taking a bite. The taste of the jam was absolutely delicious. I had to hold myself back from just tossing the whole thing in my mouth. "This so good."

"Glad you like it," Anna said. I then heard a voice behind me.

"Diamond Tiara." I turned to see Filthy Rich pushing his daughter forward with a pair of bunny ears on her head.

"But dad," she whined. Rich didn't say anything and continued to push his daughter toward Granny Smith and the other foals, who were jumping over the watering cans singing the alphabet.

I heard Apple Bloom and Applejack chuckling. I rolled my eyes and turned around to see Silver Spoon standing nearby. I walked up to the little filly. She noticed me approaching her and looked up.

"So, Silver Spoon, since you haven't come speak to me does that mean that everything's alright?" I asked.

"...Y-yes, everything is OK," she said.

"You hesitated a little Silver. Are you sure?" She looked at me with a conflicted look in her eyes. I sighed slightly, "You don't have to tell me Silver Spoon, I just want to help you."

She was silent for a moment before sighing, "OK, but can we go somewhere nopony will overhear us?"

"Sure," I agreed and walked over to Ashley. Silver Spoon hesitated, wondering what I was doing, but soon followed me. I tapped my wife on her shoulder, "Ash, you mind sending me and Silver Spoon back to Ditzy's? She wants to talk about something without fear of somepony overhearing her."

"Alright. We'll be back in probably an hour or so," she told me before snapping her fingers and teleporting us back

I sat down on the couch before asking, "Alright, Silver Spoon, so what is it that you don't want anypony to know?" She took a deep breath before her arms took on a metallic like color and she formed them into hammers. I stared at her in astonishment, "Did you eat a fruit that had spirals all over it and a curled stem?"

"How did you know that?" she asked in shock.

"You ate what's known as a Devil Fruit, Silver Spoon," I told her. "It's what allows me and Ashley to do what we can do."

"So it was just an accident that I got these abilities?" she questioned.

"I suppose," I said. "And it seems you're a Logia."

She tilted her head in confusion, "Logia?"

"It's one of the three types of Devil Fruits. Logias are able to will themselves into the element they wield," I explained.

"Well, that's not it then," Silver Spoon said. "I'm always metallic."

"That would mean that you were a Paramecia like I am, but I'm pretty sure you shouldn't have that kind of control over your powers if you are," I said. My eyes widened, "Unless you Awakened your Devil Fruit powers."

"Awakened?" she asked.

I looked around the room and saw a blank piece of paper. I grabbed it and held it out to her. "Focus your powers on this," I instructed.

"Why?" she questioned taking the paper.

"If I'm right, you'll see," I said. She shrugged and began to concentrate on the piece of paper. After a moment, it suddenly turned to a sheet of metal. We both stared at it in absolute shock. "You did. You Awakened your Devil Fruit powers."

"What exactly does that mean?"

"Just like you saw, you are able to affect your surroundings other than just your body. You are able to turn whatever you want into metal, making it stronger," I said. I took the metallic paper. "For example," I ran the metal across my boot leaving a small cut in it. Silver Spoon stared at the cut in astonishment. "You could turn something seemingly harmless into something you could use for offense or even defense."

"Whoa," Silver Spoon said, stunned.

"So does anypony know about this?" I asked. "Considering how hesitant you were I can't imagine very many, if any, ponies know about it."

"My parents know of course, along with one of our servants," she told me, sitting on the couch with a rather sad look on her face.

"Why only one?" I asked in confusion.

"It was kind of an accident that she found out," she said. "She and I always got along and one day she went to give me a hug and felt my metallic body. Thankfully she was willing to hide it from the others."

"Why were you hiding it?"

"We didn't know what it was or why I had it," she started to explain. "So in fear of how others might react we kept it hidden from others."

I nodded in understanding, "A reasonable concern for something unknown like this. But what are you going to do now?"

She looked up at me, "What do you mean?"

"Well, these things are becoming rather common now," I said. "I mean, three of the guards have eaten a Devil Fruit and even the Princesses have."

"The Princesses?" she questioned in shock.

I nodded, "While before it might have caused some concern, now it's not unheard of for a pony to have powers."

"But what about Diamond Tiara?" she asked. "I mean she makes fun of the Cutie Mark Crusaders and Dinky for not having cutie marks. How is she going to react to me having powers?"

I sighed heavily, "Silver Spoon, I hate to say this, but if she stops being your friend over this, then she isn't a real friend. Real friends stick with you through things like this."

"I-I know, but we've been friends for so long," Silver Spoon said, a few tears in her eyes.

I patted the filly's head, "I know it's hard Silver, but do you really enjoy making fun of others like she does?"

"Not really," she confessed. "Seeing how she made fun of others, I was always worried how she would react if she found out about what I could do."

"Just give what I told you some thought alright?" I asked her. "Believe me when I say that it would be better for this to be out in the open instead of you trying to hide it. Better for you to reveal it then it being discovered while you were practicing or something, you know?" Silver Spoon hesitated before nodding. "Good. You can head home if you want." She stood up and started walking to the door. "And Silver Spoon?" I called, making her turn back to me. "Just know that if you ever need it, you can always talk to me or, if you need a womanly touch, Ashley about this alright?"

Silver Spoon smiled slightly and nodded before walking out of the house. I leaned back on the couch, letting what I had just learned to sink in. One of the fillies in town had eaten a Devil Fruit. This was exactly why I didn't want to tell the town about them.

'At least she didn't go seeking it out. Although I don't know if that's better or worse,' I thought. I sighed before laying on the couch and quickly falling asleep.

[POV Change: Silver Spoon]

I was walking home after talking with Sean about my abilities that, for almost all my life, were a mystery to me and my family. My powers were actually from something called a Devil Fruit that I unknowingly ate. The fruit made it to where my body was made of metal.

It was hard on me and my parents that I had gained some kind of strange ability that earth ponies weren't able to have. So, out of fear for my safety, we kept it a secret from everypony. Now, several ponies had abilities similar to mine. He was right that now would be the perfect time to come clean about what I could do and that it would be better to tell everypony rather than them stumble upon it.

I shook my head, unable to decide at the moment and decided to give it a good long consideration. I entered my house and went to my room to get some sleep.

Twisted Sensei Part 1

I was walking down the street. It was a calm afternoon. Birds were chirping, flowers were blooming, and there was a small charm to the day that just made it feel good. It’s the little things in life I guess. This good feeling was then interrupted by the sound of a child screaming. I instantly bolted towards wherever the sound came from. I reached the edge of the Everfree Forest and I saw Dinky being cornered by a large timberwolf. There were other timberwolves of lesser size surrounding the area, waiting patiently for their cut of the meat.

My rage erupted at the sight. I swung my fist back as I shouted, “Hey you! Why not try this instead!? Gum Gum Pistol!” The move impacted the alpha’s head which caused it growl. Getting the message, the lesser wolves howled as they charged at me. I covered my fists in haki as I proceed to deliver a series of techniques to the beasts. “Gum Gum Gatling!” The lesser wolves were easily broken apart, but not without some wounds on my part. Some of those wolves got a lucky bite or two. When the lesser wolves were dealt with, I turned my attention to the alpha, who now ignored the child and turned his attention to me. “You want me?! Come get me!” The alpha snarled wildly as it lunged at me. I flipped backwards and once I landed, pressed on my legs and said, “Second Gear.”

I moved to the beast’s side and hit it with several swift punches. The wolf slid a few inches before whipping it’s head in my direction. It tried to pounce on me, but I ducked under it and kicked it in the stomach. Once it landed, it spun around and howled. Seconds later, I felt something clamp around my legs. I shouted in pain and looked down to see the wolves were back in one piece and biting me.

“Damn, if they keep doing that this is going to take forever,” I muttered. A gleam caught my attention and I threw my arm out. I felt my hand wrap around something metallic. I pulled my arm back and looked at the item. In my grasp was a red gear with a blue arc reactor in the middle.

My name is Jacob, but you may know me better as Iron Man. I am a prankster, warrior, an inventor, as well as a pal. If your intentions are good and you hold love in your hearts, I will be there to help you. If you need a shoulder to cry on, a partner in a mission, someone to talk to, or an ally in battle, just clutch this gear and call for my aid!

“I could use a little help Jacob. These things are more troublesome than I thought,” I said.

About three minutes after I said this, a blue portal opened. At first, nothing came out, but I could hear voices. An aged, yet cheerful voice said. “So, remember the introduction, right?”

“Um, nope,” replied a more feminine and bubbly tone. Something about it sounded familiar.

The male sighed. “Fine then, Jarvis, go to my playlist and hit ‘random’.”

A more gentle and refined tone replied. “At once sir.” A certain song then began to play. While it played, three figures walked out of the portal. The first and leader was a man in a black suit. He had a red bow tie that was hung loosely as he was holding a cane that had a blue orb on it. Said blue orb glowed with a powerful light. There was also a golden pocket watch in his right pocket. The second figure was a quadrupedal pegasus with a fluffy yellow mane as well as a white coat. The cutie mark was three purple balloons with flaming strings. The final one of the trio was a gentleman with trimmed black hair, red eyes, a monocle, a cell phone playing the song, as well as a dark suit. He looked human, but the look in his eyes seemed far too calculating to be organic.

“Okay okay, turn it off,” shouted the one in front. “It didn’t work, it did not work.” He then turned to me, “You were the one who called us, right?”

I fought the urge to shout as pain lanced through my legs. “Yeah, I could use some help with these things and protecting Dinky,” I said as calmly as I could.

“Good, then you have my services.” He then turned to his friends, “Jarvis, I want a perimeter set up. I also want you to protect the filly.” The butler nodded as he turned into a quicksilver like material and molded himself into a wall that kept the wolves in. It also kept Dinky out. “Great. Surprise, I want those lesser wolves burned to the ground, when you are done, get this guy to safety.”

Fire then proceeded to surround Surprise before she flew all over the place before shouting, “Flare flare, Blitz!” She then started shooting multiple comets at the at the muts that quickly bounced from dog to dog, until they were ash. “Got it!”

“Awesome, leave the big one to me.” The leader then calmly walked up to it before slapping it with his bare hand. Said slap flew him into the barrier that Jarvis made. When the dog got up, he charged at his attacker. The attacker then threw a punch at the timberwolf that shattered its foreleg. “It’s quite a shame, I thought that you would be a challenge.” He then grabbed the wolf by his neck as he proceeded to strangle him to death. The final moments of this fight shows the wolf coughing up leaves as its wood proceeded to fall apart slowly into a pile. “Try harder next time.”

I fell to my knees, unable to stand from the injuries. I looked up at the man, who I assumed was Jacob, and said, “Thanks. I didn’t know those smaller wolves could pull themselves back together like that.”

“That’s how an alpha is formed. Now, you need to get those wounds treated. We can talk later when you’re healed. You know where a hospital is? I may be a doctor, but I think that you may need someone who knows your medical history and what not.”

“We are close to Ponyville,” I said, panting slightly. “It’s over there.” I pointed toward the town. I winced slightly when Dinky ran over to me and hugged me.

“Are you OK Sean?” she asked.

“I will be. We just need to get to a hospital,” I told her.

The wall that was previously there formed back into the butler. “Sir, I have located the hospital. Due to this man’s blood loss, he might want to get to the hospital quickly.

Jacob nodded. “Understood.” He then slung me over his shoulder before jumping ridiculously high. After a few more bounces, we arrived at the hospital. “Before you ask, there was something that one of my old masters used to say. ‘Not flying, I’m just jumping good’.”

“You knew Samurai Jack?” I asked in disbelief.

Jacob chuckled. “It was actually a demon swordsman that looked like him.” He then got lost in thought. “Ah Jack, former prince of tartarus. I hope that the afterlife is treating you well.”

“Tartarus had a prince?” I questioned.

This got the man to go off on a tangent. “My version did, it was ruled as a peaceful nation full of colorful and slightly monstrous demons. One of the demons, a dark sorcerer named Aku, slew the king and became an evil tyrant that had the an ability similar to Jarvis’. He was eventually slain by me with the help of my late master’s sword and it’s now ruled by an assembly of beings that is currently being led by Lord Augus, my other teacher.”

I blinked several times, “You’ve been through quite a bit huh?”

The elder man sighed, “A lot can happen in a few years in what is basically hell.” The duo then proceeded into the hospital and got me with a nurse. The other guy was currently waiting in a chair with his two friends and Dinky. “So, anybody wanna play a game of cards?”

The nurse, Redheart I believe, saw my injuries and quickly called for a doctor. Not long after, Dr. Stable walked in. He saw me and quickened his pace. When he saw my injuries, he asked, “What happened?”

“Dinky was being attacked by timberwolves and I tried to protect her,” I began to explain. “However, I didn’t expect the smaller ones to reconstruct themselves after being shattered and they bit down on my legs.”

The unicorn sighed slightly and helped me onto a gurney. He and the nurse then took me to one of the rooms and began to heal my injuries.

“As I told you before, Sean. None of the doctors here are very well versed in light magic, so all we can really do is heal them as best we can and bandage them up,” he told me.

“Of course Doctor,” I murmured. After about half an hour he had finished healing me to the best of his abilities and wrapping the rest up. He then wheeled me back out in a wheelchair.

“Now, you obviously need to stay off of them. Come back in a couple days and we’ll check on them,” he told me.

“Thank you Dr. Stable,” I said as he walked back. “Sorry for troubling you guys,” I said to our three guests.

When I turned back I saw a scene that was rather confusing. Dinky, Surprise, Ashley, Jarvis, Brook, Twilight, Spike, and Jacob were playing poker. “Four of a kind!” said Jacob as he threw down four jacks. He then proceeded to put the small bit pile into his pocket.

“Well, that was my allowance,” Dinky said before walking out of the building. She called back, “I’m going to let mom and Amethyst know what happened to Sean.”

“You were playing poker with a filly?” I asked incredulously. I then turned to the others, “And you all went along with it?”

Jacob just shrugged, “She suggested it. Besides, poker is a valuable skill that she’ll need in life. As for the others, they were bored.”

Ashley ran up to me, “Are you okay?”

“For the most part,” I said. “My legs are still rather injured.”

“I could probably heal them the rest of the way,” Twilight suggested.

“I thought you said that you weren’t that proficient in them?” I asked.

“Well, two things. One, they’ve been mostly healed and two, there’s a big difference between healing skin and healing broken bones,” she said.

“True. Alright, that would be great,” I said. She knelt next to me and her hands were surrounded by a white aura. As she healed me, I turned back to Jacob, “Were you very surprised to see anthro ponies? I ask because Surprise, I believe you said, looks like a normal pony.” ‘Normal being a relative term in the multiverse,’ I thought.

Jacob gave me a calm look, “I’m afraid that I’ll have to say no to that. You tend to see a lot of crazy stuff in your life if you travel the multiverse enough.”

“I can’t even imagine,” I said. “Though I’m surprised to see someone else with the Flame-Flame Fruits ability.”

Jacob sighed, “Got that after helping out a Captain Ginyu displaced with a dragon ball problem. Shenron gave me excellent luck and I found the fruit and a sword on the ground.”

“I bet that, more than likely, it wasn’t a normal sword,” Ashley guessed.

Jacob snapped his fingers, opening up a portal before he pulled out a two and a half foot long katana with a green and white hilt as well as a white and silver sheath. “It has an adamantium blade, that’s about it.”

“I’d say that’s plenty,” I said. “I mean, it can cut through just about anything right?”

Jacob shrugged, “Almost anything. It does have trouble cutting through vibranium as well as mandalorian iron.”

“Never heard of the second one. What is it?” I asked.

“It is the only metal that I have that can resist lightsabers,” replied Jacob.

“Wow,” I said in surprise. Just then Twilight stood up.

“There, they should be fine now,” she stated.

I slowly stood up. They weren’t in pain, but they were rather sensitive. “Better stay away from Second Gear. Thanks Twilight,” I said.

“You’re welcome Sean. Glad I could help,” she said.

I turned to Jacob, “There anything you want to do while you’re here?”

Jacob mused to himself, “Hmm, I was planning on checking this place out for a bit, but I feel as though I need to do something important here.”

“What would that be?” Ashley asked.

Jacob put his sword away, “I observed the wounds on Sean’s body, specifically their angle. Each bite mark was made in areas that would hurt a lot, but are also not in front of him. Therefore, I have decided to help out Sean by taking him under my wing and training him so he won’t get his ass handed to him by some wooden muts.”

I rolled my eyes, “Very funny. But yeah, most of the fights I’ve been in have been either where I’ve had help or my opponent underestimated me. Hardly ever had to fight by myself.”

Jacob let out a smirk, “I do warn you though. My training will be intense and demanding. If your blood is not completely replaced by your bone marrow after a month, I have failed me. If I don’t hear you scream on the first day, I failed you. If you break during my training, we have failed your loved ones. Though, if you are strong enough in both your heart and body, you might come out with a ridiculous amount of power. It was how my masters trained me, and it is how I’ll train you.”

I started to sweat slightly, “Sounds more intense than Rayleigh’s training.” Dinky, Ditzy, Amethyst, Ashley, and, for some reason, Nightmare Moon suddenly flashed in my mind. Steeling myself, I said, “But if it’ll help me protect those I care for, I’ll go through with it.”

Jacob smiled, “Good, and, because I am not a complete jerk, I’ll let you bring one person of your choice to cheer you on.”

“I’ll do it.” We all turned to see Ditzy standing at the doorway. “I’ll go with him.”

I turned to Ashley, “You fine with that, Ash?”

She nodded, “Yeah, and, while not ideal, the two of you will get a bit closer.”

“Alright, lesson one, tracking, starts now.” Jacob then slapped me before dashing away in a blur. A note was on the ground. 'I am somewhere in town, find me in thirty minutes and you win.'

“Well, that was abrupt,” I said, before running out of the hospital. I focused on my Observation Haki and tried find the moving Displaced. After a minute, I felt something moving very quickly to Town Hall. I took off in that direction as fast I could.

When I caught up to it, I saw that it was a toy car that had angel bunny strapped to it. There was a letter on it that said, 'Eh, what’s up, doc?'

I couldn’t stop a smile from forming on my face and I called out, “You think you’re the Warner Brothers!?”

A robotic canary landed on the rabbits shoulder. “Nope, I’m the animator.” The bird was then tackled by Opal. The bird easily dodged her. “I think you’re wasting time.” He then looked down, “You are! You are wasting time! Five minutes exactly.”

“Shit,” I muttered, before I started running through town again. “You’re about as random as Pinkie, you know that!?” I shouted.

A poster rolled down a wall that read, 'Maybe, maybe not.'

I rolled my eyes, as I made my way to the library.

A set of dominoes fell down to spell out, 'Not here.' in cursive.

I shook my head before rushing over to Sweet Apple Acres. I paused when I reached the gate. “He could be anywhere if he’s here,” I muttered to myself as I walked through the trees.

A barrel of apple cider fell down and spelled out. 'I am not here, nor there. I’d give you a hint, but it appears as though I’ve given you one.'

I groaned before running back to town, “I take it back. You’re as bad as Discord!”

A crowd of ponies then held up letters, 'Oh come on, surely I’m not that bad at messing with your head.' A recorder was then found on the ground. “Think about it this way, I gave you a hint, it is spelled out in the cider, though it might be a little hard to take. Also, if my estimations are right, you got three minutes left.”

I ran what was spelled out in the cider in my mind. Unable to think of anything, I shouted, “Jacob, I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re talking about!”

An apple that had a recorder in it said, “Fine, if you want to know what the hint said? Think about it like this. Hard cider is an alcoholic beverage, while not my favorite alcoholic beverage, I still like it. Now, where would I find that beverage? At a tavern maybe? You have forty five seconds left. I suggest that you move quickly.”

My mind raced on how to get there in time. Only one choice really stood out. I contemplated it for a moment, before muttering, “Well, there might be times where I’ll be forced to.” With that thought, I activated my Second Gear and took off through the town, pain prickling in my legs.

When I got to the bar, I saw Jacob sitting on a bar stool. A large stallion was passed out in front of him while he was still chugging. When he set it down he said, “You guys are a bunch of pansies! I’m barely buzzed. Hey Sean.”

I let the Second Gear defuse as I flopped next to him. I stared at him for a moment before asking, “You don’t have chaos magic do you? Because that’s the only explanation I can think of for what you were doing.”

Jacob chuckled, “Nah, I have a distilled version of it called 'Party magic'. I believe that Pinkie might know more about it.”

“That sounds impossible, but would actually explain a few things,” I said. I then chuckled slightly, “Then again we’re on another world as characters from shows that we know.”

“Yeah. I also have a confession to make. I lied about this lesson. This isn’t a lesson in tracking. It was a lesson in patience and mental clarity.” Jacob then set his drink down, “On the battlefield, there are many moments that require patience, especially when the foe is not physically there, but is capable of tearing you apart emotionally and mentally. As for mental clarity, I believe that you can finish that one.”

“Well, I’m normally rather calm and so my mind isn’t that muddled. There are times that isn’t the case though,” I sighed. “I’m getting a bit better, but I’m still having troubles.”

Jacob raised an eyebrow, “Oh? It seems that I’m gonna have to work to get that scream. Very well, lesson two is endurance. We are going to sprint for fifty miles. We will be running through the Everfree until we get to part three of my daily lesson plan.” He then proceeded to line up, crouch down, and jog before sprinting.

I jumped from where I was sitting and sprinted after him. I had to pick up my pace in order to keep up with the guy. As I caught up, I decided to chat, “So, what’s happened in your Equestria?”

Jacob just shrugged, “Oh nothing much. My team and I just ripped Tirek a new one, and I had to deal with alternate futures.”

I stared at him in disbelief. “I don’t know who Tirek is, but that’s nothing? What the hell is something?” I asked as we entered the Everfree.

Jacob gave a shrug, “Well, he was able to beat me, but thanks to my friends, we were able to come back swinging harder than ever.”

“Damn, and I thought killing Sombra and running into my mother who had disappeared for ten years of my life was something,” I said.

“Hey, Sombra sucked for me as well. That bastard caused a lot of crap to happen, including but not limited to, me being frozen in stone for about one thousand years.”

“You were trapped for a thousand years too? The bastard caught my mom with the spell he used to make the Empire disappear,” I told him. “He also threatened to kill Dinky. Which is one of the reasons why I ended him.”

“Damn, I had to kill him due to the fact that he would only grow more powerful and more evil with every step he took. He also threatened to kill Surprise, my adopted sister, after she got out of a dark crystal petrification that lasted for one thousand years. The trick that I used to be able to fight him was that I used the Crystal Heart that was transformed into a warhammer by Sombra after filling it with dark magic. I counteracted the spell inside it, causing the heart to fill with love magic. This caused the crystal heart to balance out Sombra’s magic, while making him fall to his death by impalement. I burned the body and now the crystal empire is ruled by my good friend, Queen Chrysalis.”

“Huh. The Sombra here ate the Dark-Dark Fruit. Not sure if you know about that Devil Fruit, but it was a pain to fight him. Thankfully, I had help from a friend of mine named Jack. He distracted him long enough for me to smash the tyrant’s horn then, after surrounding my hand in Armament Haki, ran it through his heart,” I said.

“Intriguing, so, how about we play a game while we run?” asked Jacob.

“Sure. What did you have in mind?” I asked.

“Twenty questions?” asked Jacob.

I shrugged, “Alright. You want to start?”

Jacob put a hand to his jaw, “Sure, umm, what was your oddest experience?”

“You mean besides being sent to another world?" I asked with a cheeky smile. "Hmm, oddest experience. Well,” I tapped my chin in thought as I ducked under a branch. “I feel it’s insulting to say it was odd, but I certainly wasn’t expecting for Ditzy to kiss me.” I blushed slightly, “It was wonderful though.” Shaking my head, I asked, “What about you?”

Jacob chuckled, “I was training with Surprise a long time ago to learn how to use her abilities, and I ended up going through a montage. There was music in the background and everything.”

I snorted in amusement, “That’s certainly odd. Alright. What’s your relationship with the Princesses like?”

Jacob grimaced, “Rocky, yet stable. Turns out that my version of Celestia is kind of racist to the extent that she only cares about her little ponies. It also doesn’t help that I am also a knight of the newly established Crystal Hive.”

I winced, “To be honest, I’m not sure how the Celestia here would have reacted if we hadn’t arrived when and done what we did.”

“Then I guess that brings me to my question. How did you and Celestia meet?”

“With her hung upside down in changeling goo and me and my wife captured by Chrysalis’ changelings,” I said.

“Hah! We met on much darker terms. I was being blamed for the destruction of the Crystal Empire as well as the murder of all of its citizens about a week after my first fight with Sombra. I was tied up, gagged, and put up on a mock trial full of nobles that were pretending to be witnesses as well as an infant as my defence. I lasted about five minutes in there due to the fact that my defence needed a nap. I was then sent to a fate worse than death. Being stuck in a statue, being unable to feel or speak to the world, forever witnessing as everything around me dies, rebirths, burns, and repeats until the end of time.”

I grimaced before scowling, “What the actual fuck, Celestia? I feel weird saying this, but please tell me you got her back for that.”

Jacob smiled, “I did. After I got out, I worked hard and founded Alloy International. With it, I was able to jump start a scientific revolution as well as an age of thinking for the other two more powerful countries, Moscow and Quillxing. I also gain great political favor and fame. With my newfound political immunity, I was able to get Celestia to publicly admit to all of her ponies as well as plenty of news bots of all of that she wronged me of. I ended that day with me getting pardoned of all crimes, past, present, and future, as well as a gladiatorial based fight for Surprise’s honor. It’s a long story."

I chuckled a little, “I’ll be honest, that’s better than what I’d have done. I mean, seeing and knowing that all my friends passed, I would have probably lost it and tried to beat the hell out of her.”

Jacob raised a finger, “Tell me, my student, what is the least destructive way to kill a god?”

“Tear them down in front of their subjects?” I guessed.

“Almost, you have to take out the perfection,” said Jacob while he nodded sagely.

“Perfection?” I questioned a confused look on my face.

Jacob nodded, “Exactly. When you think of a god, you think of them as a perfect being with no faults whatsoever. However, like an egg, you never know what it is truly looks like until you crack it open and see. When that happens, the one note and perfect white shell, suddenly becomes confusing, yet complex mess. Do you see the analogy that I am making here?”

“I believe so. While the outside can look perfect and flawless, the inside can be full of flaws just like everything else,” I said.

“Precisely, even I, in my awesomeness, am flawed. I am an alcoholic. I tend to get carried away. I have been accurately called insane at many points. I don’t always know the answer. I have trust issues. I suffer from stress and anxiety to the point where I am kept up at night. The other point that I am trying to make is simple. You will have many faults and problems in life, both from others and yourself. The thing that matters most is that you don’t let your faults or other people’s faults consume you. Instead, use those faults to make a connection with others, even your worst of enemies.” Jacob then pulled out a tea cup. “What? Zebafrican red tea is great for energy. It’s a pity I can’t get any in my dimension. Want some?”

“Sure I’ll try it. Never heard of it, but show it to my wife and maybe she can probably give you some,” I told him.

Jacob gave the cup to me as he looked me dead in the eyes. “Just remember what I said in the future, okay?” After a few minutes of running, we made it to a clearing surrounded by trees that were the size of large hills. “Perfect.” Jacob then walked over to the middle of the clearing as he concentrated before opening a portal that allowed what I can only describe as a massive ship decked out with a plethora of weaponry and technology. “That is my airship. We will be sleeping in this for the foreseeable future. Any questions?”

I stared at the ship in shock. “Wow. Well, uh, is Ditzy going to be staying with us?” I asked as said pegasus touched down next to me.

Jacob smirked, “She will have access to a teleporter that will allow her to watch in on your training while still being able to have a life. Plus, I’d love to hear the reactions that the others have. The last pupil that I trained had a sister, and her kick broke a few of my ribs for a while.”

I winced, “Well, as I said, my wife’s here so you might have to deal with that again. You’re just lucky my mom is in Canterlot or you’d have to deal with both of them.”

Jacob continued to smirk. “I have dealt with beings who moved faster than light as well as logia type users. I mastered swordplay as well, so I would love a good spar.”

I arched a brow at him, “You realize they would probably double team you and they’re both logia types.”

Jacob smiled as he held up his fists. With a little bit of focus, his left fist became black and metallic at the same time. On his right fist, it was glowing in a oddly familiar aura. “Sounds fun, plus, I got two of my most trusted allies with me. Plus, if things get too hairy, the rest are just a snap away.”

Ditzy rolled her eyes, “Are you two done yet?”

“No, it’s common for an egotist to back up what they say,” said Jacob. “Plus, I find this a fun little exercise for my patience.”

“It’s certainly letting me get to know the guy better,” I said.

Ditzy sighed, “Whatever. You said you had something so I could keep an eye on him?”

Jacob tossed Ditzy a key, “Here, this let’s you activate the teleporter that I had Jarvis set up in your house. I figured that it would help you out for more than just checking in on Sean, so I made sure that you could teleport anywhere with it.”

“Well, thank you, but how did you know I would even need that and when exactly did you tell him?” she asked.

Jacob smiled, “When Sean was chasing after me and my little traps.”

“But how-? When did you actually-?” She paused and shook her head, then said to herself, “Never mind just treat it like you do with the things Pinkie does.”

“Actually, I had thirty minutes. It wasn’t that hard to do that.”

“I still think setting up those traps, telling Jarvis about the teleporter, and drinking those stallions under the table would take longer than that,” she said.

“Remind me to tell you about that later, alright?” Said Jacob.

“So what should we do now?” I asked.

“Simple. I wanna spar to test your physical capabilities now, so that when I do my final test, you’ll be able to compare how you did. For now though, I’m gonna meditate, you are welcome to join.”

I nodded and followed Jacob, “Sure, I actually started meditating a little while ago with Zecora to try and get my anger in certain conditions under control.”

We sat down for a while, not saying a word. The sound of leaves and birds were prevalent. The feeling of the wind against my skin felt chilling yet calming. There was a direct feeling of nature in and around us at the moment. “This is necessary for me.” said Jacob. “This allows my head to be clear and my patience to be restored. When we fight, there are some things that I will need you to remember. Number one, there will be no weapons used by either party. Everything that we do is by our own power. Number two, I will not kill you. You need to be calm and precise in a battle, otherwise, you are sure to get caught up and you will fail pathetically and quickly. Finally, number three, I am not your friend in this fight. Nor will I be during your training. I may be after training hours, but not now.”

I nodded, “I understand. You need to push someone for them to get better after all. When shall we start?”

“Whenever you want, I’ll even let you have the first shot.” He got up and pointed to his face.

‘Better not underestimate him,’ I thought, standing up. I got in an offensive stance. We stared at each for a moment before I threw my fist forward at his stomach.

Before my fist could connect, Jacob grabbed my arm with an iron grip. He then proceeded to fling me into his fist covered in haki multiple times. After about twenty hits, he then swung me into a nearby tree. “Well that was a good warm up.”

I pushed myself off the ground and began throwing my fists forward rapidly. “Gatling!!” I shouted.

Jacob then said, “So we’re naming moves huh? Alright.” He then coated his pointer fingers in haki, “Block poke.” He then did numerous finger jabs that blocked and rebounded my fists.

“You didn’t train with Goku did you?” I asked, as I whipped my leg at him.

Jacob shook his head as he hopped over my leg, “Nope, but I did meet Captain Ginyu once, and I have access to ki, so there is that.”

I rushed toward him, while throwing my arm back and twisting it. “Rifle,” I then brought it forward at his chest.

The impact caused Jacob to flinch. “Not bad. Maybe I should try some offence.” He then proceeded to run at me, jump over me, land and then deliver many pressure points to my back with haki fingers. This caused me to lurch downward in pain. “Pain Pressure Points.”

“So I noticed,” I muttered, coating my arm in haki and swinging my elbow at him.

He caught my elbow and then proceeded to make a breathing sound. My arm felt both hot and cold at the same time during this. When I pulled my arm back, there was patches of ice over my arm. “Riddle me this Sean, what happens to rubber when it gets to absolute zero?”

“Pretty sure it snaps,” I said rubbing the ice, before throwing my leg forward in a kick.

Jacob calmly jumped up to a branch. “Correct, but the more effective answer would be, “it won’t stretch until thawed.” He then proceeded to deliver a series of haki laced kicks from multiple angles all over my body. For every kick that he delivered, he used my rubber body as a springboard to get another branch.

When he neared me for another kick, I threw my arms to the sides and grabbed two trees. The momentum from his kick sent us backward. I smirked slightly before launching him away from me.

Jacob landed on the dirt, “Gotta admit, it has been awhile since I had a fight that lasted this long.” He then proceeded to get into a stance as he charged up an orb of energy in his hands. “I dare ya to dodge this. Kame, Hame, Ha!” He then unleashed the destructive wave which flew straight at me.

“You must be crazy for using that, but then again what’s it say about me when I do this!?” I shouted as I activated Second Gear, then intertwined my fingers and covered my fists with Armament Haki. When the blast reached me I slammed my fist into the beam.

“I am crazy!” The blast and my willpower were both at odds with one another. Two wills working against each other. The strongest would make it out, the weak would not. It was as simple as that. “Kaio Ken times two!” The blast then nearly lurched in size.

“Oh, you have got to be kidding me!” I yelled, as I felt myself being pushed back. However, I held my ground and focused all my strength on redirecting the blast upwards. With a shout of effort I succeeded in sending it skyward.

Jacob smirked and moved the blast around a little so that whatever it hit would be affected to a certain degree. He then used the beam to carve, 'Hi Luna, Bye Luna.' on the moon. Tired, Jacob cut off the beam and sighed, “Can’t wait for the reaction.”

I stared at the moon for a moment as Second Gear dissipated, before saying, “You will have more than just Luna to worry about I’m afraid.”

“Hey, if worst comes to worst. I could always go dimension hopping.” After he said that, he bent down low and got into a defensive stance. “Now to fight smart.” Jacob then proceeded to move faster than the eye could see as he attacked from all angles especially blind spots. “If I know anything about Luffy’s technique, it’s that he is stronger in armament haki, than presence haki, and, if my assumptions are correct, you tend to focus more on armament haki as well. It’s kinda funny, your mother was known for her twenty twenty presence haki.”

“What the hell do you know about my mom?” I frowned as I tried to block his attacks.

“I know that she is a genderbent Kizaru displaced and that Kizaru was known for his astounding presence haki. That and the fact that I learned all of this from a little poker game as well as your own mouth.” Jacob then handed me my hat before smiling like a cheshire cat.

I narrowed my eyes before taking it back. “I’d watch it if I were you. I care about this as much as Luffy cared about his,” I told him. I quickly handed it to Ditzy before moving back and throwing a kick at his head.

Jacob kept that same smile on as he grabbed my leg and said, “Don’t worry, I took good care of it. I even dusted it for you.” He then dropped my leg as he proceeded to punch me in the gut with a black fist. “Besides, I am here to help. In more ways than one.”

I coughed from the blow. “Sorry, just care deeply about it is all. Only thing I have left of my father,” I explained, before jumping up with an uppercut.

Jacob sidestepped it before saying in a calmer tone, “Ah yes, the pain of losing a loved one is strong. I would know.” Before I could ask how, I was slapped into the ground.

I pushed myself up and shook my head before throwing a haki covered kick at his torso.

Jacob was pushed back a few feet as he stood up again, “Funny huh, there are so many ways to harm others. You could injure and kill millions with a button. You could slice and tear through people with swords. Hell, you could make up your own weapon and use it. The thing is though, people always come back to fist on fist. You wanna know why? The carnage and thrill of fighting someone face to face, mano y mano. It is very personal when you fight like this. The glory and pride of winning, mixed with the pain and shame of losing, all mixes together to create a beautiful symphony of nature. You and I, are merely different composers in this blend of styles. Therefore, let’s continue this song.” He then dodged a punch as he proceeded to uppercut me.

I was knocked back a few feet. I looked at him, “That was deep, rather dark, and kind of random.” I threw my fist forward and, when it was a good distance, gave my arm a pull, making it look like a barrage of fists were heading at him.

“Thanks,” replied Jacob. “I try.” He then jumped on top of my fist, pulling back all of the fingers. He jumped off as I clutched my hand.

I arched a brow at him, before rushing forward and punching at his side.

He charged back and ended the fight with a haki punch to the chest. I shouted in pain as a loud crack was heard before the victor was decided. He then proceeded to say, “I think I’m done, I got all the information that I need. Come with me, I’ll get you to the med bay.”

I winced before nodding and began to follow him, but stumbled.

Ditzy fortunately caught me and asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Well, except for that last blow,” I muttered. “That one had a good deal more force behind it.”

Jacob smiled, “That, was one tenth of my power. You got a lot to learn. Now for the more important things. Can you walk?”

“Kind of. I think I’m going to need Ditzy’s help getting to where you want to go,” I said.

“Figured as much.” We then climbed up a ladder onto the vessel, Ditzy flying me up, where we found a door. Jacob led us to a room with a red cross as well as Jarvis in a doctor’s suit. “Please lay down on the table.” I laid down as the doctor’s hand liquefied and soon turned into a medigun. A red beam came out of the barrel as it slowly healed my ribs as well as any other minor wounds. “All healed.”

I was able to jump to my feet without any pain whatsoever. “Damn, I bet that’s helpful,” I said.

“You wouldn’t believe the amount of times that I used that,” said Jarvis dryly. “Anyways, Surprise is currently cooking, so you may want to show our two guests around the place.”

“It would be cool to see what you have in here,” I said, Ditzy nodding in agreement.

Jacob smirked, “Reminds me of when I had to show Whitebeard around the place.”

I froze, “The real one or a Displaced? Either way that’s one hell of a person to run into.”

Jacob looked back in thought, “He was a Displaced. We had a great time. I even let him have my complete, hand drawn, manga set of One Piece. Had to give it to him by the crate load.”

I chuckled, “Considering how long that manga series is I’m not surprised.” I then raised a brow at him, “You don’t think that would mess with the inhabitants’ heads if they read it?”

“Nah, his crew wanted to read it. They should be safe, provided that other pirates don’t get their hands on the series.” Jacob then smiled, “Speaking of books, here is the library.” Jacob opened up two large doors to reveal a massive collection of books. “I had a ridiculous amount of free time on my hands.”

Ditzy and I looked at the huge library in shock. We then looked at each other and simultaneously said, “We better keep Twilight away from here.” We both chuckled.

Jacob chuckled, “Trust me, if she is anything like the last Twilight who came in here, the only way to get her out is to distract her with something more captivating.”

“We could try and convince Trixie to persuade her to leave,” I said, with slight smirk making Ditzy giggle a little.

“Yeah that might work. Remind me to test that later.” Jacob then pointed to the library, “Sean, I want you to keep your mind active during this, thus I want you to pick out any book you want out of here.”

I glanced around the many books and wasn’t sure where to start. “You have any suggestions?” I asked as I looked at some of the titles.

“I recommend something engaging and interesting. I recommend either a novel, manga, or one of Shakespeare's works.”

I looked through the shelves of books and saw a familiar name. I pulled it out and looked at the blue dragon on the front. “Eragon,” I murmured. “Only ever read the first. Never got to the rest before being sent here.” I looked at the remaining three books in interest. “Would these work?” I asked grabbing the books.

Jacob shrugged, “Man, as long as you don’t break or burn any of these, you could be holding my diary for all I care.”

“I’ll be careful,” I said. “I don’t want to damage them either. God only knows what Twilight would do if she found out something like that happened.”

We then went over to a room sealed away with blast doors. “This is my lab, the mobile one at least. It is where I make all the things that go boom, or stop me from going boom.”

I chuckled a little, “That has got to be the least scientific way to say inventing I’ve heard.”

When he opened the doors, it showed a clean and orderly lab. There were many devices strewn about the facility as well as many racks with chemicals in them. There was even a half finished gauntlet on one of the tables.

“Very impressive,” I said looking around.

“What’s this?” Ditzy asked pointing at the gauntlet.

Jacob calmly shrugged, “That is a project that I am working on. When complete, it will be able to handle and allow the user to control infinite power. Sadly, I had to put this off for quite some time due to work. This is more of a hobby.”

“You mean the Infinity Gauntlet?” I asked slightly warily.

“More like a recreation of it.” He then muttered to himself, “Only got to use the real one once anyway.”

I started to sweat a little and asked rather quickly, “So, what else are you working on?”

Jacob brightened up before showing off some other inventions. The first inventions looked like a pair of sandals. “These may look like ordinary sandals to you, but they do something great, trust me. Why not try them on?”

I shrugged and unlaced the boots I was wearing. I then put the sandals on. “Alright, now what?” I asked.

Jacob smirked, “Say the words, 'go up now'.”

I raised an eyebrow and said, “Go up now.” I was suddenly lifted up off the ground until it felt like I was floating. “Holy shit,” I yelled in shock.

Jacob then shouted, “Anti-gravity sandals!”

“So, I’m guessing to go down, you say ‘go down now’?” I shouted down at him. After I said this, I gently landed down.

“Yep,” replied Jacob.

“You’re lucky I don’t have vertigo or something like that,” I muttered.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t use the vertigo gas anyway.” said Jacob dismissively.

I stared at him, “I’d wonder about that if it weren’t for the fact that there was a mutant from Marvel with that exact power.”

Jacob just shrugged, “Meh, I haven't been doing much inventing any way. Too busy with stuff I guess to spend hours on end making something.”

“Well, from some of the things you’ve told me you have been through, it’s understandable,” I said.

Jacob replied with a nod before smirking, “Wanna see the next room? I got a feeling that you’ll like it.”

I nodded, “Sure, lead the way.”

We then proceeded to enter a room that had something special to it. It was a large stone garden that had plenty of sunroofs as well as many flowers that produced great smells, but in the center was a gigantic apple tree that was littered in fruit. “My stress relief room.”

“This looks amazing,” I said, in slight wonder, Ditzy nodding in silent agreement.

“You are welcome to use this provided that you don’t destroy it. The room after this is the captain’s deck, and after that is the kitchen. Do you wanna skip the captain’s deck and go get something to eat, or do you wanna see the captain’s deck?”

“Well, unless there’s something you want us to see there, I say that we get something to eat,” I said. “What about you Ditzy?”

“I’m getting rather hungry myself,” she answered.

“Unless you wanna see a star trek like command center, then you won’t be missing much,” said Jacob before he led the group over to Surprise, who was cooking up a small feast. We all sat down while Jarvis served out the dishes and proceeded to take over cleaning the dishes so that Surprise could join. “Well, dig in. We burned a lot of calories anyway.”

“Yeah and will probably continue to do so for a while,” I said, taking some pasta, garlic bread, and some fruit. Jacob was eating some soup with some garlic bread while Surprise was having a plate of spaghetti. Ditzy was having soup as well, a daffodil sandwich, and had several pieces of fruit. “So, you said that Surprise is your adoptive sister? How did that happen?” I asked, deciding to make small talk.

“Let’s just say that the laws were rather loose a few centuries ago,” said Surprise.

I stared at the pegasus for a moment, “You know, something about you seems familiar, but I just can’t seem to put my finger on it.”

Surprise giggled, “I dunno. Perhaps you met my descendant. An anomaly known as Pinkie Pie.”

I blinked several times, finally seeing the similarities. The bubbly personality, look of pure joy in her eyes and, the most obvious, the poofy mane. I facepalmed, being sure to infuse my hand with haki so I could feel how stupid I was in not noticing. “It’s completely obvious now that you say it,” I muttered. “The only excuse I can make is the fact that you look like a pony while everyone here is anthro.”

Surprise then laughed, “I got a trick that would make me look anthro.” She then pulled a necklace out of her mane and put it on. She then said. “Activate.” Her whole form glowed while Jacob quickly threw a robe over to her before the glowing stopped, revealing a five foot seven mare with white pristine wings, a cute yet tough face, and a fluffy blonde mane.

“Well, wasn’t expecting that,” I said, shocked at the sight.

Jacob grinned, “Made that a couple months ago. It really helps out when we are sneaking through an anthro universe. It also lets her use the Flame-Flame fruit’s trademark move.”

I smirked a little, “Fire Fist Surprise, huh?” I thought for a moment and asked, “Considering the things you can do, does it actually have a surprise to it?”

Jacob deadpanned before rising. “It appears as though I have been issued a challenge.”

Surprise tried to stop him, “Jacob please, he’s just a kid. His mind won’t take it.”

Jacob turned back, “Just because we reach the thousand year mark, it still doesn’t make him any less of a man.” Jacob then smirked darkly, “Time for the ultimate wtf challenge.” He placed a device on my head and a patch on the back of his neck as we both blacked out.

When I was able to see again, I was surprised to see that I seemed to be on Sabaody Archipelago. The giant trees with numbers written on them and hundreds if not thousands of bubbles floating in the air.

“What the hell?” I muttered in confusion. “How am I in Sabaody?”

“Actually,” said Jacob as he sat on a bubble. “You’re in your own subconscious.”

“That makes a great deal more sense,” I said. “Though with all the things that have happened, I wouldn’t be too surprised if this was actually here.” I turned to Jacob and asked, “So what exactly are we doing here and if this is my subconscious how are you here?”

Jacob pointed to the device on my head as well as a patch on his neck. “These are known as mental interfaces. They allow the user to enter the mind of the person who is wearing the helmet. I usually use this to help out people with mental issues, but it has other uses.”

“Huh. This is very interesting, but what does this have to do with my question and why did you seem so serious before?” I asked him.

Jacob shrugged, “Simple, you challenged one of the few things that remain certain about me, my chaos. Therefore, I took you to the one place where nothing makes sense, the mind.”

“I have no idea what you mean by I challenged you, but if I did then I think we should get started. I’m sure Ditzy’s rather worried by the fact that you practically knocked me out,” I said.

A bubble floated by that showed the memory of me saying, ‘Considering the things you can do, does it actually have a surprise to it?’

“You basically said that I was unsurprising due to my chaos,” Jacob pointed out. “So it appears that I need to up the ante.”

Deciding to go along with him, I arched a brow, “And how are you going to do that?”

“Simple, show off some hidden thoughts of your own.” He then proceeded to jump from bubble to bubble until there was a large net containing many bubbles. He pulled out a dagger and read the label, 'Don’t touch, very volatile!' Jacob put a hand to his chin, “Hmm, to cut the rope, or to not cut the rope, that is the question.” He stared into one of the bubbles that showed Nightmare on the other side. “Well, your choice.” He proceeded to toss the dagger down next to my feet.

I pulled the blade out of the ground before asking, “And what exactly would cutting that open do?”

Jacob chuckled, “It would release all of these thoughts to the forefront of your mind, good and bad.”

I tossed the dagger up a few times before throwing it at the rope. “You’re going to have to explain to everyone what happened if anything goes wrong,” I warned him. Memories and thoughts rushed to the front of my mind and I fell to my knees, clutching my head.

Jacob walked over to me, “What do you see, tell me.”

“Plenty,” I muttered. “My father’s funeral, the day I found out my mother vanished, me killing a thief that threatened a child I cared about.”

Jacob gained a sad look, “Yes, the past can hurt. But the way I see it, you can either hide it away, or you can learn from them. The choice is up to you.”

“I plan to,” I said. “I don’t want the one’s I care about go through what I did in losing someone I care for. I plan to get my anger under control so that I don’t kill anyone else in a rage.”

“But,” said Jacob. “You can’t let your quest for perfection fool you, nor your arrogance in thinking that you can stop death. Things will happen, that is the only certainty in life.”

I snorted slightly, "You don’t have to worry about the first one. I know very well there’s no such thing as perfection. As for the second." I sighed, "Yeah, no matter how much you want to, you can’t avoid death forever.”

“Yes, while it is possible to cheat death, hell, I did that many times, it will even come to the immortal eventually.”

I scratched the side of my head, “Is that the point of bringing me here? To show me the mortality of life no matter what?”

Jacob shook his head, “No, it is to show you to enjoy life and live it as you like.”

“My mother said much the same thing,” I chuckled humorlessly. “I guess I should really listen.”

Jacob chuckled darkly, “Enjoy her while you have her.” Before I could ask further, we faded back into reality.

I blinked several times, trying to get the blurriness out of my eyes. When it was finally gone, I saw Ditzy standing over me, a worried look on her face. I placed a hand to my head, “Hey Ditzy. You alright?”

“Me!? What about you!?” she exclaimed.

“Eh, I’m okay,” I said, glancing at Jacob. “Better look on life now.” I stood up and gave Ditzy a peck on the cheek making her blush. As she stammered, I chuckled, “What? Nothing wrong with a peck is there?”

Still blushing furiously, she glared slightly at Jacob, “You could have warned us what you were going to do. I was scared out of my mind until Surprise managed to calm me down.”

Surprise, now back in pony form, smiled, “I try.”

I glanced between the human and pegasus, before saying, “While I do appreciate the life lesson, you do realize the question I asked was directed at Surprise right?”

Jacob gave an embarrassed smile, “Kinda slipped my mind.”

Surprise however, gave a cheeky smile, “I didn’t really think about it.”

We suddenly heard a loud banging that sounded like someone was punching the ship.

“What the hell is that?” I questioned.

Jacob groaned, “Hold on, I’ll get it.” He walked down the hallway until it led to one of the front doors. “You need something? I am currently having a meal with my student.”

I followed him and, looking passed him, saw a very angry looking Luna and Nightmare Moon. Celestia was there too and looked torn between amused and sympathy for her sisters, although it looked like amused was winning.

The two night Princesses glared at Jacob. Luna questioned, “How and why is there a message on our moon?”

Jacob kept a calm but annoyed tone, “How is easy. I fired a giant beam at Sean and he redirected it upwards, carving into the moon. The why is even more easy. It was for shits and giggles.”

Nightmare Moon’s gaze hardened and I saw her hand flash. I jumped between them. “Easy, Nightmare. I’m sure Ashley or Discord can easily fix it,” I tried to calm the lunar Princess.

The two took breaths trying to calm themselves. “We still don’t appreciate our moon being defaced in such a way,” Luna said.

“And why exactly was he attacking you Sean?” Nightmare Moon asked, a bit of steel in her voice.

“Training,” I said simply hoping it would calm her down.

“And he fired a giant beam at you as part of your training?” Celestia asked incredulously.

“To be fair, I wasn’t really trying then,” Jacob pointed out.

The Princesses stared at him in disbelief. “Really?” they asked simultaneously.

“I’d be happy to show you it when I’m trying, but I don’t want to bust a planet or anything,” said Jacob nonchalantly.

I couldn’t help, but chuckle at the ponies dumbfounded expressions. “I think you’re going to break their brains if you keep going,” I said.

Jacob shrugged, “You know, they are taking this extraordinarily well. My princesses locked me in a mental asylum for saying that, but I broke out.”

“I think knowing we’re from another world, that there are other Equestria’s out there, and meeting a talking skeleton numbed them a bit,” I told him.

Jacob continued, “So, do you have any other business here or are you good?”

“As long as nothing serious happens to Sean and no harm come to my little ponies, I think we’ll be fine,” Celestia said. “After all, like Sean pointed out Ashley or Discord can fix the moon.”

Jacob smiled, “As long as you don’t mind his screams echoing throughout the Everfree, then I don’t think that we’ll have that many problems.”

The Princesses all gave me a worried look, especially Nightmare Moon. I sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose, “Don’t tell them things like that. You’re freaking them out.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Celestia asked me.

I nodded, “Yes, Celestia. In order to protect those I care about.” My gaze briefly flicked over to Nightmare, “I will go through with this.”

She gazed at me for a minute before nodding, “Very well. We will respect your decision.”

“But sister--” Nightmare started to protest.

“We aren’t going to be able to dissuade him Nightmare,” Luna spoke up. “So, let’s just head back.”

She hesitated before nodding, “Alright.” With that they all took off and started heading back to Canterlot.

“So, you and Nightmare..?” asked Jacob.

I shook my head while blushing, “No. Though I think that I’m developing feelings for her if I’m interpreting how I’m feeling correctly.” Ditzy looked at me in surprise.

Jacob nodded, “Alright, that reminds me for whatever reason, I don’t think that we finished our game.”

“You mean the twenty questions?” I asked.

“Now that we aren’t running, I was thinking of changing it to a game of truth or dare. It should still give us information as well as a more fun experience.”

I shrugged, “Sure, but how should we do it? The spin the bottle way or just take turns?”

“I think that spin the bottle would be more fair, but only if there are three people.” Jacob gestured to Surprise, “You wanna play?”

“Sure,” replied the mare.

“OK, so you have a bottle?” I questioned.

Jacob pulled out a soda bottle. He chugged it before setting it down, “There we go.”

“So who’s going to go first?” I asked.

Jacob and Surprise both shouted, “Not it!”

I rolled my eyes and spun the bottle. After several spins it landed on Surprise, “So, truth or dare?”

“Dare,” said the pony.

“Alright, I dare you to fly ten laps around the room upside down,” I said.

Surprise spun herself around till she was dizzy, ended up turning upside down in midair, and then flew ten laps around the room.

I chuckled slightly as she staggered slightly back over to us, “Your turn, Surprise.”

She then spun the bottle until it landed on Jacob. “Truth or Dare?”

“Truth,” replied Jacob.

“What is the worst thing about being frozen in a statue?” asked Surprise.

Jacob thought, “I can’t decide between bird crap, or a two year long back itch.”

“Alright.” Jacob then proceeded to spin the bottle as it landed on Surprise. “Truth or Dare?”

“Dare,” replied the pegasus. Jacob then quietly said, “I dare you to turn anthro, and then kiss Ditzy on the mouth, just to mess with her sometime during this game.”

“Welp, it is a dare,” replied Surprise. She then spun the bottle and it landed on me. “Alright Sean, truth or dare?”

Still reeling slightly from Jacob’s dare for Surprise, I thought for a moment, “Ah, what the hell. Dare.”

Surprise thought long and hard, “I dare you to run around Ponyville in a banana suit.” She then proceeded to pull out a banana suit and a teleporter.

I stared at them for a moment, “You two come up with the weirdest dares.” I grabbed the suit and put it on while walking over to the teleporter. Turning it on, I suddenly found myself on the side of town opposite of the Everfree Forest. I began running through town and decided to kick it up a notch and sang a certain song. The ponies were staring at me in shock and absolute confusion. I eventually returned to the ship, laughing my head off. “Oh, the looks on the ponies faces,” I chuckled. “Ah, that was hilarious.”

“Your move Sean,” said Jacob.

I grabbed the bottle and gave it a spin. It landed on Jacob, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” said Jacob.

I raised a hand to my chin in thought, “You talked about Celestia, but what about Luna? What’s your relationship with her?”

Jacob reflected, “She seems to turn a blind eye to her sister’s acts on me for all but one time. She was the prosecutor for my stoning trial back in the day. So all I can say about our relationship is that it is better than Celestia’s.” He then spun the bottle as it landed on Sean. “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” I said.

Jacob instantly shot off a question, “What would you have done if you were displaced alone?”

I frowned, “I’m not really sure. Considering when I landed I still would’ve helped with the invasion, but after? I’d have probably been in a depression. Not sure if anyone would have been able to pull me out of it.” Ditzy wrapped her arms around me, causing a smile to spread across my face, “Though I think several ponies would have tried their very best to.”

"Heh, that’s great to hear. The ponies helping you part, not the depression part,” Said Jacob before gesturing to the bottle.

I spun it. It landed on Surprise, “Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” said Surprise.

“What exactly made you adopt Jacob as your brother?” I asked.

Surprise then thought back, “Well, he didn’t have anyone at the time and he seemed like such a nice guy. I tried being romantic but he quickly showed that he wasn’t into ponies, so we became friends, then roommates, then later, I offered to adopt him as my older brother. He didn’t want to at first, but a few centuries in stone and the thought that I died seemed to change his mind. Due to the fact that I filled out the paperwork back then, I was able to adopt him officially when I got out.” She then spun the bottle until it landed on Jacob. “So Jacob, what is one of your most humorous failed inventions?”

Jacob scratched his chin before chuckling, “Well, I ended up creating a superhero who called himself Darkwing. All I did was create a clone out of batman’s DNA and a ducks.”

I laughed at that, “What the hell were you thinking?”

Jacob laughed with me, “I wanted to create a new species of duck and I didn’t want to use my DNA. I technically succeeded.” He spun the bottle till it landed on me. As for Surprise, she had a cheeky grin on her face while Ditzy looked embarrassed. “Truth or Dare?”

I glanced between the two pegasi before saying, “Dare, I guess.”

Jacob grinned darkly before saying, “I dare you to go to my library, in there, you will find one book that acts as a switch. When pulled it will reveal a tunnel of sand with a chest at the end of it... I want you to get me that chest from the end of the tunnel.”

“Oookay,” I said before heading to the library and started looking for the switch. I eventually found a book that was labeled traps, surprises, and things. ‘Sounds like that might be it,’ I thought and pulled it. The bookcase swung open revealing the tunnel. I then started to walk through the sand to the chest. I got the chest and hurried back to Jacob.

He fiddled with the combination locks before pulling out a blue fruit with white flames on it. “Can you guess what this fruit is?”

I stared at it for a moment before saying, “The only thing I can think of is a stronger Flame-Flame Fruit.”

“Well, it is fire related. It's the Phoenix-Phoenix Fruit.” Jacob said as he tossed it to Ditzy. “Figured you might need one in case things get explosive here.”

Ditzy looked at the fruit, “I suppose it would be good to have in case something happens and the others are away.”

“Just make sure that you’re ready for it Ditzy,” I said. “These things shouldn’t be eaten without care.” She nodded in understanding. I then glanced at Jacob, “Good thinking, I suppose. She does have two daughters to protect after all.”

Jacob’s eyes widened, “Wait, before you eat that I have two others that you might be interested in. He produced two more fruits. The first was a fruit that was purple and pineapple shaped. “This is the Chop-Chop Fruit. It allows you to be able to break apart your body as many times as you want and still be able to move them around.” The second one was shaped like a mango and it had a white and grey color to it. “This is the Plume-Plume Fruit. This logia type fruit will allow you to turn into smoke when ever you want. The choice is up to you.”

Ditzy glanced between the Devil Fruits. After a moment's contemplation she grabbed the Plume-Plume Fruit. However, she decided not to eat it just yet and placed it in the bag she had with her. “Thank you,” she said.

“Don’t mention it,” said Jacob as he put away the other fruits in the chest. He got up and then said, “I need to organize tomorrow’s agenda, so I need you to go to a guest room and sleep. You should find them one floor beneath this one.”

I nodded, “Thanks for all this by the way.” Jacob gave a nod. "See you tomorrow," I said to Ditzy giving her another peck, this time on the lips.

Her face lit up and she mumbled, "See you tomorrow."

I then began making my way to the floor below. When I got there, I saw that it was rather spartan in design. There was a single hammock and a bookshelf in there. There was also a note on the floor. 'I had this room set up to help train your will as well as your body, can’t have you being too comfortable now.' I sighed a little and thought, ‘It's going to be this rough all the time isn’t it?’ Unlacing my boots, I jumped into the hammock and tried to get some sleep for the days to come.

Author's Note

Crossover with Ink Sword's Buck you, I'm Iron man. If you haven't read it, be warned that his character is well ahead of where he's at in his story.

Twisted Sensei Part 2

I got up the next morning and smelled eggs cooking. I grabbed my hat and went to Jacob. He was in the kitchen cooking omelets. Surprise was eating pancakes, meanwhile, Jarvis was handing Jacob ingredients. He turned to me and handed me a plate. “You’re going to need the energy today.”

“What’s on today’s agenda?” I asked, starting on the eggs.

Jacob put his plate away, “First, we are going to do a usual sprint, then I will teleport you to a random place and you have to find your way back to your hat. Finally, you are going to wrestle my daughter.”

I coughed at the last thing, “You’re daughter?”

Jacob shrugged, “Well, she’s adopted, but yes, my daughter.”

“Wouldn’t happen to be anyone I know would it?” I asked.

“Unless you know a queen of the celestial beasts, then no,” replied Jacob.

“Can’t say I do,” I said, finishing the eggs. I then stood up and stretched, getting several pops from my back.

Jacob then slid a photo over to me. It showed a large bear like creature. She was about fifty feet tall, purple, and covered in brightly glowing stars. She also had a necklace that was similar to Surprise’s necklace.

I blinked several times at the photo. I had read about these in a book in Twilight’s library. “An Ursa Major?” I questioned in shock.

Jacob looked back in nostalgia, “Originally, she was an Ursa Minor cub about the size of a table. I educated her and she proved to be intelligent. A few years later she grew to the size of an average Ursa Minor. We had great moments and fun times as well as sad times, but in the end, I’m still her dad.”

“Well, I have to say that’s quite astonishing to hear, but it’s very incredible,” I said. A thought then occurred to me, “Is she here? This ship doesn’t seem big enough for an Ursa Major to be in.”

Jacob smiled, “I believe that you remember a certain amulet that Surprise has?”

“The one that turns her into an anthro?” I questioned. My eyes widened, “Are you saying that you made one for her as well?”

“Yes, the device functions similarly to a splicer of sorts. It allows the wearer’s DNA to temporarily fuse with another creature’s DNA. One example would be when Surprise became part human. This device doesn’t work on those like me, with their DNA permanently spliced with something else,” explained Jacob.

I scratched the side of my head, “So would it work on a griffon? I mean I know they aren’t necessarily spliced, but they are a combination of two animals.”

“Yes, it would,” replied Jacob.

“Huh. Well, should we get started before we stand here talking all day?” I suggested.

“Wouldn’t want that now would we,” said Jacob. We then jumped out the window, and started our run, this time however, we both ran barefoot across the woods, making us both susceptible to the thorns and tree roots that lay on our path. Finally, we made it to a cliff. Jacob grabbed me by the shoulder and I soon found myself surrounded by giant centipedes in a dark cave. I checked my head and found that my hat was gone.

I snorted in slight annoyance. Even though he told me he would be doing this, I hated not knowing where it was. I felt one of the centipedes approaching me from behind and did the cliche punch over my shoulder. I glanced back to see the bug crumpled on the ground.

“I can’t believe I actually did that,” I muttered. I heard the jet engine sounds in the distance. “Better hurry.”

I rushed out, punching bugs along the way, as I saw the ship slowly rising above the treeline. Before I could get caught up in the sight, I grabbed two trees and angled myself. “Gum-Gum Rocket!” I launched out of the trees before I landed on the window. “Gimme back my hat!”

Jacob smiled before opening the window and putting my hat on the table. “You did that a lot faster than I thought you would.”

“Well seeing your ship take off was kind of a giveaway,” I said, jumping through the window.

Jacob grimaced, “Yes, it was. Next time, I’ll be sure to make it trickier.”

“So, now I’m going to wrestle with a bear?” I asked, remembering how some people would say they could wrestle a bear. I chuckled slightly at the memory.

“Sort of.” Jacob then said, “Bubbles, please say hello to Sean, our newest guest.” Over in a large chair in the corner, a ten foot tall woman stood up and turned towards Sean. She had a bear like muzzle as well as purple ears. She had paws on her hands and feet like Kuma did. She was wearing a purple sweater and jeans on her body. There was even a small tuft of fur that might have been her tail. She had purple fur with specs of white as well as an amulet around her neck.

I let out a low whistle. “She looks like she’s taller than the Princesses and maybe even Brook. And he’s pretty damn tall,” I said.

Bubbles, taking the hint, squared downward and held her arms out. “The goal is simple little one, make me hit the ground once, and you win.” She then proceeded to knock me back a bit with a poke. “Boop.”

I regained my footing and rolled my eyes, “Really a boop?” I then ran forward before dropping to the ground and sweeping at her legs.

She calmly jumped upwards before reaching down and grabbing my leg. She then swung me around before throwing me to the ground with haki.

I coughed up a bit of blood from the impact. I slowly stood, wiping the blood from my mouth. I ran forward again, but this time jumped over Bubbles and wrapping one of my arms around her shoulders and pulling her back.

Bubbles caught herself, but she slipped and fell down. “You win Sean.”

Jacob groaned, “Alright, I have nothing else planned yet, so I think that I’ll show you a little trick.” He pulled out his pocket watch. When he opened it, there as a glowing orange gem in the center. “Can you guess what this is?”

“Is that one of the Infinity Stones?” I asked in disbelief.

“Yes, the time stone to be precise. I am it’s guardian, thus, I have it on me,” replied Jacob.

“And what exactly are you going to do with it?” I questioned a little warily.

“Well, it’s gonna take years for you to get ridiculously powerful, therefore I am going to make time slow down outside the Everfree so that, while the training may take a few years, it would only be a few hours out there. However, there is a downside to this. For you, you will not be able to see Ditzy, Ashley, or Nightmare for many years because for them, it would only be a few hours.”

I frowned at this. To not see them for several years would be rather difficult. However, I was doing this so that I could spend as much time with them without being separated from them. I gave Jacob a determined look and said, “I’ll do it.”

“That’s my guy.” He then concentrated before saying, “Time control sphere.” A large orange sphere surrounded the Everfree, except for Zecora’s place and a path into Ponyville. “Faster time, one year inside equals one hour outside!” The sphere then glowed bright before shrinking back into the stone rapidly. “There.”

“Alright, so how should we start this?” I asked.

Jacob put the watch away. “I was thinking that we work on your reflexes and your presence haki first, then work on maintain and coming up with new attacks and getting to use the other gear. After that, I was thinking about teaching you ki.”

I nodded, “That sounds good. Besides, while I’m decent at using it, I still have to deal with the side effects of Third Gear. It’s kind of difficult to get it down.”

Jacob nodded back, “The trick is to keep the air pressure low, so that the release isn’t so violent.”

“I’ll be sure to keep that in mind. Shall we get started?” I suggested.

“Sure, know the first lesson that you need to know is, DODGE!” I quickly evaded his punch. “Let’s play then.”

<~~>

The training that Jacob put me through during those ‘years’ were intense and very painful. In some circles, it would be classified as torture. I was actually glad that Ashley, Ditzy, Nightmare Moon, and my friends didn’t come by because, for them, only a few hours passed. If they saw the training I went through, they would probably think that we were both insane. Jacob for putting me through it and me for going along with it. As promised, he taught me many things, one of them being the gear known as fourth gear, as well as many ki based attacks. Jacob almost never stopped comparing fourth gear to a gorilla. Meanwhile, Jarvis taught me advanced science and pressure points, Surprise taught me to expect the unexpected, as well as how to toy around with Discord’s abilities, and Bubbles taught me judo, kung fu, kendo, boxing, and street fighting.

The many different things they taught me were a lot to take in, but thanks to the fact that we spent years training I was able to get them down. The fourth gear always tired me out to where I would have to rest about half an hour before I could train again.

Finally, I walked up to Master Jacob, as I had learned to call him. He bowed before saying, “Sean, I have taught you all that I will be able to teach you in the ways of combat. All that is left is for you to have one last battle with me. Not as master and student, but as friends.” He then presented me with a red headband with a blue gear on it. “If you wear this, others across the multiverse will know that, if possible, not to mess with you. It also symbolizes that you are now also a master in the art of badassery, thus, able to take on a pupil when you deem yourself ready. Do you accept this honor?”

I bowed to him, “I gladly accept.”

Jacob bowed back before tying the headband to my hat. “Wear it with pride.”

“I will,” I said. “And I’ll be sure to keep training so that I don’t forget what you’ve taught me.”

Jacob rose before smiling with pride. “I need to make some calls before your final test. In the meantime, why don’t you go take in what just happened?” I nodded before wandering down a hallway in thought.

Meanwhile, Jacob was currently writing a letter to the Princesses.

Dear Princesses,

Sean has recently completed his training due to a time slowing bubble. While I would prefer not to explain how this time bubble came to be, I would very much appreciate it if you would get an arena of sorts for us to fight in. I expect the place to be packed.

With best regards, Jacob D. Finch.

He rolled up the letter before burning it in a lamp of enchanted dragon’s flames. The letter flew through the time bubble and into the Canterlot throne room. Jacob sighed before shouting, “Sean, grab onto something, because we are taking this show on the road!” The sails on the ship unfurled as the ship rose out of the ground it was in. The SS Starbear rose up into the very top of the time bubble, showing off just how large the ship was. The vessel was the same size as the titanic. It had multiple engines keeping it up as it flew out of the bubble. Due to the time stone leaving the bubble with no thought of keeping it intact, the bubble dissipated. Ponies from all around saw the titanic ship fly out of the sky as it continued to hover. “Sean, you know what to do. Happy reunion.”

I looked at the ground and saw a group approaching the ship. I jumped off and landed several feet in front of them. Jacob and the others following me down. I stood up and dusted myself off, before looking at the group. Standing in front of me was Ashley, Ditzy, Dinky, Amethyst, the Mane Six, Trixie, Spike, Heart, Brook, Eclipse, Fleetfoot, and even Nightmare Moon. All of the friends I had made and the ones that I loved. Yes, loved. Spending as long as I had in the time bubble, I realized that I had fallen in love with Ditzy and Nightmare Moon. I was still going to take it slow with Ditzy until she was comfortable moving forward, though I admit it took some restraint not to run up and kiss her. Nightmare Moon though was going to be a bit more difficult, since I don’t even know how she feels.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Pinkie Pie spoke up. “Sean do you have a beard?” she asked.

I blinked a few times before reaching up and feeling my chin. I had grown beard. I hadn’t even noticed with all the training we’d been doing.

“And do you look older?” Trixie questioned.

“Probably,” I said. “You see, Jacob used something called the Time Stone to slow time down in the Everfree Forest. Every hour out here was a year in there.”

Brook then said, “And seeing as how it’s been four hours since that orange flash,” he let the sentence hang.

Fluttershy picked up on it, “That means that it was four years for you.”

“You’ve been training for four years straight?” Twilight asked in shock.

“Well, we did take some breaks,” I said. “But pretty much yeah.”

They all stared at me in shock and disbelief.

“But why would you do that?” Ditzy questioned.

I looked between all of them before saying, “Because practically all of the fights I’ve been in, I’ve either had help or my opponent underestimated me. Not to mention, that I was caught off guard by a bunch of animated twigs. So, I decided to go along with the training that Jacob set up.”

Jacob turned to Pinkie, “Animated in more ways than one, huh?” The two then shared a laugh.

I rolled my eyes at another one of his nonsensical jokes. Several times during training he would do or say something strange that only Surprise, and Pinkie it appears, seemed to understand.

“Anyway, him, Surprise, Jarvis, and Bubbles all taught me a great number of things. For example,” I took of my hat and reached inside before pulling out my flute. “Surprise taught me how to do things like this.” Everyone stared in shock at what I did. I chuckled before turning to Pinkie and whispering, “I see why you do this. It’s pretty funny to see others reactions to it.” She giggled and nodded in agreement.

“Wait, who’s Bubbles?” Ashley asked.

Bubbles, in her half human form, tapped her on the back. When she turned she gasped and looked up, and up, and up. “Hi.”

I gave slight smirk, “That’s Bubbles.”

“Wait, is-- is she an Ursa Major?” Twilight questioned in shock.

“Sort of,” replied Bubbles. “Due to this amulet, I can become half other creature as well. Surprise also has one on her. Why not give them a demonstration?”

Jacob quickly threw a cloak over Surprise before a muffled voice said, “Activate!” The cloak rose up as it showed an anthro mare that looked just like Surprise. “Hiya! I’m Surprise, but I guess that you already knew that. Anywho, I happen to still be me but taller, and cuter. Wait, that’s impossible.”

Twilight’s eyes lit up. “That’s amazing! To make it to where someone can change their shape without magic is incredible,” she exclaimed.

Jacob gave an embarrassed grin, “All I did was just reverse engineer a gift that a friend gave to me. That unitrix was the more complete version.”

“But to affect someone so large!” Twilight froze as she realized what she said and glanced at Bubbles. “No offense,” she said sheepishly. Bubbles just shrugged her shoulders.

Spike suddenly burped and a scroll appeared. He grabbed it and read a little before saying, “Uh, Jacob it’s for you.”

Jacob picked up the letter before saying, “It appears that is time for Sean’s final exam. Everyone who wants to see a good fight, get in the airship, and Sean, keep Twilight out of the library.”

Twilight’s ears perked, but Trixie wrapped an arm around her. “I think that’s a job better suited for me,” she said.

“I’m going to have to agree with her on that one,” I said. “I mean, even with your power would you want to stand between her and books?”

“Fair enough.” said Jacob. Me, Spike, Twilight, Surprise, Trixie, Pinkie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Ashley, Ditzy, Dinky, Amethyst, Heart, Nightmare, Rarity, and Bubbles got in the ship. “Jarvis, park the ship near Canterlot, there is something that I need to do that I haven’t done in a long time.” Out of nowhere, pieces of armor flew in many directions before attaching to him to form the red and gold armor. The Crimson Avenger then flew to Canterlot.

I stared after him for a minute before turning to Surprise, “He’s not going to do anything to Celestia is he?”

Surprise smiled, “Nah, he just hasn’t flown that much and it's made him antsy. After all, he wants to have a clear head when he fights you. The only thing that I’m surprised about is that he didn’t ask me to lower his power restrictions.”

‘I doubt he won’t be going all out,’ I thought, as I watched Canterlot draw closer and was surprised by the anticipation I was feeling. I slammed a fist into my palm as a grin spread across my face.

We soon reached Canterlot and disembarked from the ship, where Celestia and Luna were standing there waiting for us.

“Are you really going to do this?” Celestia asked in concern.

I nodded with a determined look in my eyes, “This is his final test for me and I plan on seeing it through.”

The Princesses sighed, before Luna said, “Very well. Follow us and we’ll show you where it will be taking place.”

They led us to a large coliseum made of stone. Inside the coliseum was a packed house that was surrounded by a defencive barrier. In the middle it was a simple stone island surrounded by a spike pit. In the center of the arena was Jacob, standing in just his pants. His well defined muscles with the arc reactor in the middle of his chest were on full display and he had a look of excitement mixed with a determination. He also had three swords at his side. When he saw me, he laughed and said, “Before we begin, Surprise! Say the rules of the test. I also want you to remove my restrictions.”

Surprise, on the left cheering area, took out a mic, “Alright, the rules are simple. No killing, any injury that you can walk away from will not be considered an injury, and you may not in anyway, shape, or form, gain support from other ponies once the match begins. That being said, Jacob, I let you say the phrase.”

“My name be the demon of time, gaining back what is mine, for those who challenge me should know, you won’t walk away from this without a blow.” As he said the last words, he proceeded to glow dark red as if something evil was taking place. He had an aura of intimidation that managed to make even the princesses shudder. There was red lightning coming off of him. “Take your best shot my student!” He then put his swords at his sides before grinning like a madman. “I know that you are dying to start this as much as I am.”

[Third Person POV]

Sean grinned back before rushing forward at great speed and threw an Armament haki covered fist at Jacob’s chest.

He didn’t budge, but he did raise his head. “My turn,” said Jacob as a kick pushed Sean off before Jacob pulled out his smallest sword. It was a two and one half foot long blade that gleamed in the light. That is, before it turned black and slashed against Sean’s haki covered chest. Jacob sheathed his sword before delivering a series of haki covered blows along Sean’s body. He then kicked him into the air.

Sean went into Second Gear before slamming Jacob with many blows across the body. He seemed to keep a rhythm going. One hawk gatling mixed in with blows to the side and two ki blasts aimed at Jacob. Jacob on the other hand, punched through everything that was being thrown at him and then some. He teleported out of the way and gave an uppercut to Sean.

Jacob and Sean stood in front of each other. The two powered up in ki before charging at each other at sonic speeds. The two gave this their all as they both fought with each other. Sean tried many tripping methods, but Jacob kept the battle close and ready. He was punched in the face by Sean, to which he gave another punch to before grinning.

The two leaped away from each other before they prepared some attacks. Jacob held his hands back as he said, “Ka Me Ha Me HA!”

Meanwhile, Sean blew up his fist to giant proportions before condensing it with haki and surrounding it with ki. “Gum Gum, Elephant Galaxy Missile!” The giant fist barreled forward as it also had thousands of streams to ki swirling around it. The two forces collided as the two fighters rushed forward at each other.

The two individuals proceeded to bounce off each other before they both collided with more blows. Jacob hit Sean in the stomach, but Sean also punched Jacob in the stomach. For every move that one side did the other would do the same. They continued this until Sean slapped Jacob and jumped off of his leg.

Sean put his mouth to his haki covered arm as it started to grow along with the rest of him He expanded so much that his hat almost fell off. He then shouted, “Fourth Gear!” He charged at Jacob as he step sided him. Jacob roundhoused Sean into the floor. Sean got up before pumping his arm back and covering his fist in ki. “Galic Kong Cannon, fire!” A giant, fist shaped blast fired out as it impacted Jacob.

Jacob smirked as he held up his hand, “Good move, but can it match this?” He created a large sphere of energy as he also brandished all three of his swords. “Song of a million big bangs.” When he closed the swords, the death sphere quickly split up and grew into millions of big bang attacks as they all targeted and crashed into Sean. This also nearly destroyed the stadium. All that was left were pieces of the island that was once there next to a wall of spikes. Sean was found standing up, exhausted, but still standing. Jacob fired a laser to which Sean dodged. “Good, you remember lesson one.”

Sean smiled, “Yeah, well you kind of drilled that one in.” He was panting heavily not just from the blows, but also the strain that Fourth Gear put on him. However, he refused to fall and kept himself standing. Taking several deep breathes, Sean straightened and faced Jacob.

“Come on, last Sunday was worse than this!” exclaimed Jacob. Jacob started thinking to himself. “Then again, I did teleport you to the moon and back, so I guess that has something to do with it.”

“You think?” Sean snarked. “That’s the closest I thought that I was going to die… since the last time your training pushed me that far!”

“You look like you’re about to fall over, are you sure you wanna continue?” asked Jacob with an edge of worry in his voice.

Sean grinned, “I think I can do one more big attack.” He bit down on both this thumbs and inflated his arms, then coated both hands in Armament Haki and fusing ki into them. He threw his hands backward. He then activated Second Gear and moved faster than anypony could follow. Sean reappeared next to Jacob and shouted, “Gum-Gum Jet Grizzly Magnum!!”

The attack rocketed Jacob into the spikes, impaling him in many different places. There was blood streaming out of his mouth and many holes in his body. When he managed to pull himself out, he was pale and weakened, but not out. “Clever use of your surroundings there,” coughed Jacob. He was using his own ki to keep himself standing while haki was keeping him from bleeding out. “Now for my ending attack.” He closed his eyes before opening them as they were full of rage. He grabbed Sean by the arm, glares at him with enough overpowering will to take out his armament haki for about a few seconds. That was all the time he needed as he proceeded to slug his student in the face so hard, that Sean passed out from pain and exhaustion. Jacob soon did the same. Both warriors riddled with wounds as they both held the highest respect for each other.

Silence echoed throughout the area before cheering eventually erupted from the audience. “And there you have it folks!” shouted Surprise. “In a surprise turn of events, both fighters took out each other. Thus making it a tie. Speaking of taking out, someone should probably get them to a hospital. I’m serious, I think Jacob started bleeding again!”

Celestia teleported down to the two and started using her light magic to heal the wounds Jacob had sustained. Meanwhile, Twilight and Ashley teleported over to Sean and the two combined their light magic to heal the rubber man. Jarvis also assisted with his medigun.

Jacob weakly opened his eyes. “Huh, I’m being healed by Celestia of all creatures. Never thought I’d see the day.” He then fell asleep from the low amount of blood.

As the four worked to heal the two warriors, the rest of Sean and Jacob’s friends made their way down to the destroyed area.

“Are they going to be OK?” Ditzy asked in worry.

Celestia sighed, “I’ll be able to stop the bleeding and close the wounds, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was sore for awhile.”

“With the three of us I think Sean will be fine,” Twilight said. She then glanced at Jarvis, “Though, I think Jacob needs that more than Sean does.”

“Understood Ma’am,” he then turned his beam to Jacob’s device.

The light in the center of his chest lit up as Jacob quickly sat up. “Thank’s Jarvis, coulda sworn that I saw my mother in an instant. Welp, good to know that I haven’t died.” He then got up and looked at Sean, “Oi, you. No sleeping.”

Sean turned over and said, “No, ground’s too comfy.”

Jacob smiled, knowing how to get his student to wake up. “Okay fine, I’ll just have to eat all the pancakes that Jarvis made without you.”

In the same manner Luffy would, Sean shot up to his feet. Hearing the laughter and giggling, he glared slightly at Jacob, but had a small smile on his face.

“Jackass,” he said, the smile still present.

Jacob was holding a plate of chocolate chip pancakes. “Who’s the jackass?”

“Your Celestia?” Sean snarked at him with a smirk, taking a few pancakes.

Jacob hummed as he chewed, “True.”

Celestia leaned in, “I’m sorry, but who’s a jackass?”

Jacob turned, “Not you, my version of Celestia. The xenophobe who couldn’t give a shit about what she does to me.” He held up the plate. “Want one?”

Celestia stared at Jacob for a moment before saying, “No thank you. And I’m sorry for whatever she’s put you through.”

“Nah, it’s cool, reminds me of one of my first lessons to Sean. Watch, Sean sit up and react to it how you normally would.” Sean did so. Jacob opened a portal with a snap, and summoned a cane. He then hit Sean on the head with haki.

“Ow, that hurt,” said Sean.

“It doesn’t matter!” exclaimed Jacob. “It’s in the past!”

Sean rubbed the back of his head, “It still hurts though.”

Jacob gave a look of understanding. “Ah yes, the past can hurt, but the way I see it is that you can either run from it, or,” He swung his cane at Sean, but this time, he ducked. “learn from it.”

“Don’t know how many times you nearly cracked my head open doing that,” Sean muttered.

“YOU WHAT!?” Sarah, Ashley, Ditzy, and Nightmare Moon shouted.

“Easy, you four,” he quickly tried to calm them. “Jarvis always healed me when he got too close.” He then glanced at the robot. “I still find it hard to believe he has a personality.”

Jacob began to explain, “His AI got so advanced that it essentially developed emotions of its own, and then a personality slowly formed into the caring and calculating butler that you see here.”

Everyone was shocked to hear how advanced Jarvis was.

Sean chuckled, “I think this much advanced technology is finally getting to them.”

“You would think seeing a one thousand ton airship flying would have hammered in the point that this is advanced tech,” Jacob grinned.

“Well, there’s a big difference between an advanced airship, no matter how big, and a robot that has a personality,” Sean countered.

“True, true. I actually now wonder how they would react to seeing your training videos that I recorded.” Jacob sat back in wonder before shivering. “That would almost be as bad as letting Twilight take my lab over.”

Sean snorted, “Yeah it would be bad if she did that.” He then winced, “And yes, unless you want the tar beaten out of you I’d keep those to yourself and your friends.”

Meanwhile with Nightmare-

“... And this is when Jacob broke Sean’s ribs, here is where he sliced his arm off accidentally, and here is where Sean was sent to the moon. Any questions so far Nightmare?” asked Surprise, who was doing this due to the fact that she didn’t get a pancake.

Nightmare Moon felt a stab in her heart every time she saw Sean get injured. As the pegasus, that reminded her greatly of a certain pink pony, showed her the videos from their training, she couldn’t ignore the fact that she had fallen in love with Sean as seeing him get hurt, angered and saddened her. There was a fire in Nightmare Moon’s eyes by end when she had seen what Jacob had subjected Sean to.

“Wait, before you go, I gotta show the good times as well.” She pressed another button which showed Jacob doing many good things for Sean when they weren’t training. There were four Christmases in there, there were four birthdays, there were many dinners in which someone was the source of entertainment. There were times when the group would even play instruments for a time. There was a whole video of Jacob performing surgery on Sean, as well as another one in which he gave blood to the guy. These showed that Jacob not only did a lot of bad, but a lot of good as well. “Now you can go after him.”

The look in Nightmare’s eyes softened, but she was still rather angry. So, she stomped over to Jacob and, after surrounding her fist in darkness, punched him on the top of his head, slamming him into the ground.

“S’bout time. I was wondering who’d be the first to crack.” said Jacob as he stood back up without a bruise.

Sean rolled his eyes, “I’m kind of surprised you didn’t try and bet who would be the first to give you a smack.”

“That would be you my pupil remember the fight?” stated Jacob.

Sean arched a brow, not remembering what he was talking about. “I’m afraid I’m drawing a blank,” he said.

“You slapped me and jumped off of my leg,” said Jacob, remembering the fight.

“I think he meant which of us would be the first to punch you for whatever you put Sean through,” Ashley said, a hand moving to her swords. “Considering what Nightmare Moon did, it was bad, but not awful as she only punched you.”

Jacob, taking the hint, said, “Ladies, before you start attacking me for what I did to Sean. I warned him multiple times and I got his permission to put him through hell if it made him stronger, which it did.”

“He’s right,” Sean spoke up. “I told him that I was willing to go through with whatever training he came up with.”

Jacob chuckled, “You know, all the hell I put you through was half of what Master Jack and Master Augus put me through.” Jacob’s chuckle turned into a maniac like cackle. “In fact, one example would be the time I had to do a fifty mile sprint through hot coals instead of a forest.”

Sean bopped the cackling man on the head, “Jacob, your crazy is showing.”

“We’re all crazy if you think about it. Even if we weren’t we’d be even more crazy.” Jacob breathed deeply before going back to the realm of sanity. “I am serious about the hot coals though.”

“Well, thank you for not being as harsh,” Sean said. He then rubbed his arm, “Could’ve gone without knowing how that felt though.” Nightmare Moon noticed this and gave him a look of sympathy.

“Then again, it was Tartarus that I was in and not the Everfree, so that might be a factor.” said Jacob in thought.

“Right, you trained in Tartarus. Forgot about that,” Sean said.

“You were in Tartarus?” the Princesses asked, raising a brow.

“Yes, I was searching for the mind stone, hoping that I could use it to fix Surprise’s mind that was corrupted due to dark magic crystals.”

“Sombra could do that?” Celestia asked in shock.

“I think it might of been another of the difference between our Equestria’s,” Sean said. “I think if he could do that he would have tried to hit me or Jack with it.”

“I don’t know about your world’s dark magic, but the dark magic in my world is a force that, while powerful, it corrupts the user in his mind, body, and soul. It got so bad that when I got Surprise out of being frozen in dark crystals, she was nice and kind when awake, but she kept trying to kill me in her sleep,” said Jacob, leaving horrified expressions on the everyone's faces.

“They have been through a hell of a lot,” Sean said. “I can seriously hardly even imagine what it was like.”

“Think about it like this,” said Jacob. “What would you do if Sombra left a curse on Dinky, causing her to try and kill everyone she ever loved while asleep, including you, Ditzy, and Ashley. How would you be able to stop the child? What if the child succeeded? This is all hypothetical, really.” Jacob looked around, “I need a drink.”

“What do you want?” Ashley asked, slightly shakily.

“Nothing really. My mind just tends to go to dark places,” said Jacob before drinking a bottle of soda. “Not strong enough.”

Ashley snapped her fingers and made a six pack of beer appear. “What about this?” she asked.

Jacob took a can and sipped. “Huh, cheap beer. Haven’t had this since college.”

“Sorry, don’t drink beer myself,” Ashley said. “I’m more of a wine woman.”

Jacob sighed, “Well, the good news is, the crazy is gone, for now. So, what do you guys wanna do now?”

Sean scratched his beard in thought. “Is there anything you are wanting to do while you’re here?” he asked.

“I guess I could give a parting gift before I leave.” He then got into a rather formal position, “Sean, step forward.”

The others glanced at each other as Sean stood in front of Jacob.

“Sean, you have done me proud in many ways. You have also shown your willingness to protect those that you care for. Thus, I reward you with one final gift.” Jacob pulled out a red card with the letter A on it. On the card, there was a picture of Sean giving a large grin. “Welcome to the Avengers kid.”

Sarah, Ashley, and Sean’s eyes widened as a grin spread across his face. He took the card and, disbelief and excitement in his voice, asked, “You serious?”

“Despite my personality and outlook on things, yes, I am one hundred percent serious,” said Jacob, confirming Sean’s thoughts.

“That… This… I can’t even think of what to say to this,” Sean stuttered.

Jacob smiled proudly, “There are many things that I better explain to you about the team, but I would prefer if we do it at my place.” He snapped his fingers as a portal opened, revealing a conference room that was basically a long table with a spherical hologram screen in the middle. Jacob also opened up a much larger portal under the ship, allowing it to pass through with Jarvis, Bubbles, and Surprise in it. “Could you park the ship for me Jarvis?”

“Yes sir,” replied the Butler.

Jacob put a leg through the portal, “Well, you coming?”

“Yeah, I’m coming!” Sean exclaimed following Jacob.

When they got in, Sean sat down on the end of the table. Meanwhile, Jacob took out his card. “Avenger’s assemble!”

All around them, ten portals opened up to reveal a chaotic mix of characters. The first of them was the Hulk, who sat down next to Sean. Meanwhile, Thor sat down next to him. After that, Surprise sat down. Next to her, was Jarvis. Bubbles sat next to her father, who was at the head of the table. Next to him was a robot looking anthro Babs. She had a familiar hairstyle that looked familiar to Sean. She also wore a black Jacket, a white tee shirt, and black shorts. Next to her was an anthro Sweetie Belle, dressed in a red trench coat that had an alchemist’s symbol on it. She also had a mechanical leg as well as a mechanical arm, but you wouldn’t be able to tell under the black shirt, white gloves, black shoes, and black pants that made up the rest of her uniform. Next to her was an anthro Apple Bloom. She had the only normal outfit on her, and even that was a stretch. Sure, the overalls were fitting, as well as the working boots, but the shield on her back that had an apple on it was kind of out there. Scootaloo was anthro as well, and she wore a black and yellow uniform that would normally be found on the Wasp. The final member was the strangest of all, sitting next to Sean was an anthro duck that had a purple cape, suit, and a gold utility belt, There was a D on each of the buttons of his suits and he was the only one here who had something covering his face. It was a large purple hat. After they all sat down. Holograms began to show their hero names. Going in order, there was Hulk, Thor, Fireshock, Angel of Death, Supernova, Iron Man, Astro Babs, Fullmetal Belle, Captain Equis, Hornet, and Darkwing.

Sean glanced around, rather overwhelmed by what was happening and those around him.

Jacob stood up, “Ladies, gentlemen, beings of all kinds, I, your fearless leader, would like to formally induct Sean as the newest member to the Avengers. Now, I could just toss him a hand book and see what he does from there, but I figured that I would let him ask each of you questions instead. So have at it Sean.”

Sean thought for moment before saying, “Well, I think the one at the forefront is Sweetie Belle and Babs. I’m sure you know what I mean Jacob.”

“You’re right, Astro Babs is Babs, and Fullmetal Belle is Sweetie Belle. Captain Equis is Applebloom, and Hornet is Scootaloo.”

“I actually haven’t met anyone named Babs. But what I meant is the fact that they seem to be from another show and anime instead of Marvel like the others.”

Babs spoke up. “Well, the term, 'Avenger' is someone who will try to do what they can, and, if unable to win, avenge what was lost. Therefore, anyone has the potential to be an Avenger, marvel or not. Also, I am Apple Bloom’s cousin.”

"That's interesting. I’ll have to keep an eye out for her in my Equestria," Sean muttered to himself. “And of course, I didn’t mean to imply otherwise.”

Babs shrugged, “I know, no offence was given. Do you have any questions about the team rules and privileges that you get with this?”

“That would be good to know,” Sean nodded.

“Alright, rule one. No killing unless if there is no other option. Rule two, no abusing your power. Rule three, If you are summoned with this card, you have to go. Rule four, no infighting amongst members. Rule five, if you want to fight with one of the other members, request a spar first. Rule six, follow all the rules or else you will be blacklisted and booted out. The privileges are simple, due to your long distance, you are able to use a card like a phone. The next privilege is if you say a hero’s name or Avengers, you will be able to summon one or more of the members to help you. You could also just summon us to hang out or whatever. Also, due to the fact that you are new, you will have to do one heroic act a week, for two months. If you fail to do this, you are booted off the team.”

“I’ll be sure to remember all of that,” Sean said.

Jacob spoke up, “Seeing as how Babs just went over the basics, I want you to lay your card face down on the table.”

Sean took the card he’d been given and did as Jacob had instructed.

The computer in the center activated as it showed a circle of pictures. Sean’s image was then added to the roster. “You are now a registered Avenger. I believe Babs forgot to mention that you have access to this facility at all times and that you will get paid a biweekly sum of 2,000 bits. As I said before, welcome to the team.”

Sean grinned, “It’s an honor to be a part of it.”

Hulk turned towards Sean, “Hmm, I hope that you’re stronger than you look stringbean.”

“Trust me mine bro, he hath the spirit of a warrior,” assured Thor.

Sean looked between the two in shock. “You two are brothers?” he asked. “Wait, so does that mean you’re Displaced as well?”

“Aye,” said Thor. ”Jacob, Caleb, and I were displaced by a vendor of ill repute. The three of us were brothers then, as we be now.”

“Well, I’m glad that the three of you weren’t separated,” Sean said with a smile.

“Well,” said Hulk. “We kinda were. We arrived one thousand years after Jacob.”

“That seems to be like a theme of some kind,” Sean muttered.

“A rather annoying one at that,” said Jacob.

“I’ll say,” Sean snorted. “I’m just glad that, so far, it seems to be bringing families back together instead of tearing them apart.”

“True, true. So, what’s the first thing that you wanna do as an Avenger?” asked Jacob.

Sean chuckled, “I have no idea. Even with everything that’s happened, I never expected something like this to happen.”

“Well, whatever you do, just know that you got people to back you up,” replied Jacob.

“I will keep that in mind,” Sean said. “And, for what feels like the hundredth time, thank you for everything Jacob.”

“Don’t mention it,” said Jacob. “Now, I can think of a few others that would like to hear the good news.” When he said that, a portal opened behind Sean. “See ya around, Sean.”

“See ya Jacob. Goodbye everyone,” Sean said as he stepped through the portal.

[POV Change: Ashley]

Sean walked through the portal that had suddenly appeared which closed as soon as he was through. He stood in front of us, completely still.

"So?" I asked, wanting to know how it had gone.

"I'm an Avenger," he said, probably still trying to wrap his head around it.

"What's with you guys?" Rainbow Dash asked, with an arched brow. "Who exactly are the Avengers?"

"Earth's Mightiest Hero's," Sean answered almost automatically. "A group that took on villains that no one hero could take on alone." He shook his head, "That's going to take awhile to fully set in." He then glanced around before turning to Celestia, "You know I didn't get to ask before, but what in the world was up with this coliseum? This doesn't really seem fit here, especially in Canterlot."

The Princesses sighed before Celestia said, "This was Discord's doing. He heard what Jacob had requested and set this whole place up. I'm just glad that he used an empty lot for it."

"So he's the reason that I slammed Jacob into a bunch of spikes?" he asked.

"Yes he is," Luna stated.

Sean sighed slightly, "I suppose since he seemed perfectly fine there's not much reason to say anything about it this time, but if something like this happens again he needs to avoid anything that's lethal." He stretched his arms over his head and bent to the side, getting several pops from his back and shoulders. "I think it's time we head back home. It's been too long," he muttered, a rather faraway look in his eyes.

Celestia and Luna looked at Sean in confusion. Before they could ask, Nightmare Moon said, "Go ahead, everyone. I'm sure you still have things to do."

I opened a portal to Ponyville and everyone walked through it and returned what they had to do. Sean was about to walk through before he remembered something.

"Oh, Princesses," he said turning back to them. He reached into his pocket and pulled out an envelope before handing it to Celestia. "I would appreciate it if you would follow what's written on that letter."

"Why?" Luna asked curiously.

"It says why on it," he told them. He turned around and walked through the portal.

The Princesses turned to me with looks of confusion, but I could only shrug before following him and closing the portal behind me.

"What was written on there?" I asked.

"Let's just say it's something that Ditzy will find useful," he said cryptically with a smile.

I stared at him as we made our way back to Ditzy's house to relax. Even if it hasn't been long for me, it has been four years for Sean. '...Four years,' I thought. 'Four years without seeing any of us. Whether it be family, friend, or someone he loved, he was alone with those four.' I grabbed his hand, making him stop and look at me curiously.

"What is i--?" he began to question before I cut him off by giving him a passionate kiss. We stayed that way for several minutes before we had to separate. "That was amazing, but why did you suddenly do that?" he asked, trying to regain his breath.

"Because for you, we haven't even seen each other in quite a while, so I thought you could use some of the love you've been without," I said with a sad smile.

He looked at me with a warm smile before returning the kiss. "Thank you Ashley. I really missed everyone. You and Ditzy especially," he said.

"No one else?" I asked, my smile turning sly. "You didn't miss Nightmare Moon?"

Sean looked flustered as a fierce blush appeared on his face. After a moment, he calmed down slightly, but was still blushing. "Yes, I missed her too. I just didn't know if you knew about that," he said. He then sighed heavily, "I don't know how she feels about me though."

'They both like each other, but neither one knows it,' I thought, mentally rolling my eyes. "You should just talk to her about it," I told him.

"I would, but she's a Princess," he said. "I could really care less what the nobles think, but I am worried about what they would try to do when we got together." He paused before correcting himself, "If we got together."

I scoffed, "They can't do anything. Like you said, she's a Princess. She can be with whoever she wants and they can just shove it."

Sean snorted before snickering, "You sure do become rather vulgar when you talk about the nobles."

"That's because they're almost all a bunch of jackasses," I said, causing him to chuckle. We soon reached Ditzy's home and went to our room and laying in the bed. We laid there a few minutes before Sean spoke up.

"I'll do it," he said, determinedly. "Some time soon I'll tell her how I feel about her."

I smiled before snuggling closer to him, "Good, now how about you get some rest?"

"Right," he said, putting an arm around me and relaxing. We spent the rest of the day sleeping peacefully together.

Author's Note

Continued crossover with Buck you, I'm Iron man. Awesome fight scene was written by Ink Sword.

Rubber Pirate and Navy Swordswoman

I was bored. No, that's not exactly right. I wasn't really bored, it was just dull at the moment. You see, if I'm not doing something, then I get bored pretty easily. It doesn't really matter what it is, from exercise to reading, or just talking to someone. There were a few reasons that I wasn't outright bored at the moment. For one thing I was at an anime convention, where a great many things were happening.

Another thing was that I had been messing with some of the people here. When I came here I had a couple bottles of some fake blood I had made. Yes, I made it. The reason being that I couldn't find any that would suit my needs. After I had messed with someone a guard approached me about it. I was nervous as hell that he was going to throw me out, but it turns out he was a cool guy. He told me that as long as no one got hurt, then I didn't have to worry about anything. The only condition is that if I saw people messing with security that I should get back at them. He'd told me that it happens more than it should and that because the culprits and everyone else is in costume it's easy to lose them. I agreed readily, not because he was giving me permission to mess with people, though that was an added bonus. No, it was because these people were hassling those meant to keep them safe and enforce the rules. It really ticked me off that people would do such a thing and I was glad to teach them a lesson.

And lastly, the biggest reason I wasn't bored was because I wasn't alone. I had come to the convention with my wife, Ashley. We were both dressed as our favorite characters, albeit with some inconsistencies. While she did grow her hair out for the occasion, she refused to dye her hair blue. Understandable, especially with hair as long as hers. So she was here as a raven haired Tashigi from One Piece. She was wearing the post-time skip clothes. It turned more than a few heads, some not liking it because it wasn't how Tashigi looked, but a good deal seemed stunned at how beautiful she was. Though she was always beautiful, then again I'm married to her so I'm kind of biased, but my point still stands.

Then there was my costume, I had dyed my hair because mine was short and seeing the character I was dressed as, as a blonde would have been weird. I was already getting slight glares. Probably because I wasn't wearing what was likely the most iconic piece of clothing the character wore. You see, I was dressed as Monkey D. Luffy. The rubber pirate, the person who defeated several of the Shichibukai, the captain of the crew who declared war on the World Government for taking one of their friends, the kid who broke into Impel Down and, while he failed in his mission, had escaped alive, and known as Mugiwara or, in other words, Straw Hat. The thing is, I'm not wearing a straw hat, but a fedora. Why? Because, at least to me, it isn't the type of hat, but the sentimentality behind it. This hat was a gift from my parents, who... I'd rather not think about it. They also made it, so a lot of love and care went into it. It's as important to me as Luffy's straw hat is to him, if not more so. The rest of my costume was the outfit he wore near the end of the Strong World movie. I had also painted his scar onto my chest. I knew no one would see it, but I wanted to cosplay as the post-time skip Luffy and I didn't want a bunch of strangers looking at my body.

As we walked through the different stalls, I looked around and saw several people wearing My Little Pony shirts. "I'll never understand the appeal of that show," I said.

"That's because you've never watched it, Sean. There's actually a good bit of action, not to mention a bit of adult humor and references kids wouldn't get. You know how you've always liked Greek mythology? Well there's a lot in that show," my wife said.

"True, I really can't judge it when I haven't seen it, though I doubt there's that much action." She just shook her head as we continued to walk. "As for the mythology, I might look at what's in it," I said. At this, she glanced at me with a slight smile.

We soon came up to a stall where there was a guy dressed as the Merchant from Resident 4. Right away two things caught my eye. They were Zoro's Shusui, as well as Tashigi's Kashu, on the table. Now, I know I'm dressed as Luffy and he is my favorite character from One Piece, but these swords were too awesome not to get.

I walked up to the man with my wife following behind me. He noticed and turned his attention toward us. "Anything I can help you with?" he asked with a raspy voice.

"Yes, how much are the swords?" I inquired.

He looked down at the two objects I had indicated, then back at me. His gaze wandered behind me and I followed his gaze to Ashley standing behind me.

Not seeing the harm in telling him, I said, "This is my wife, if that's what you're wondering."

"I see, your wife. I'll give you both of them for free."

To say that the two of us were shocked would have been an understatement.

I sputtered, while my wife asked, "Why would you just give these to us?"

"Think of it as a gift for the long relationship."

I stared at the man, "And how do you know how long we've been married?"

He cackled at this, "I don't! But if you don't want them I suppose I could find someone else."

"N-no, we'll take them. You just took us by surprise," I said.

The man smiled and picked up the items and handed them to me.

I turned to Ashley and asked, "Which one do you want?"

"I'll take Tashigi's Kashu. You can have Shusui," she said.

I nodded and handed the sword to her. She slid hers into the sword sash that she had come into the habit of wearing. I slipped mine into the belt I wore.

I put my arm around her and pulled her close. We held each other until suddenly, my body start to feel like it was weakening. I looked at Ashley to see that she was in the same state. As my vision started blurring, I held onto her, afraid that we might be separated. I felt her grip tighten, most likely afraid of the same thing, but we were both losing consciousness and our strength was dwindling. Then, everything went dark.

<~~>

I awoke to the feeling of bouncing off of something. As I landed, I bounced again slightly and then slid to a stop. I felt the ground, noticing that it was cobblestone, I realized a couple things. For one, why the hell didn't that hurt? Not that I was complaining that it didn't, but it didn't make sense. That should have hurt, again not that I'm complaining. The other thing was that I wasn't at the convention anymore. I seemed to be in a city, but it wasn't like any city I'd ever seen before.

Looking around I saw that Ashley wasn't here. "Ashley!? Ash!" I yelled. She wasn't anywhere nearby. 'If that bastard separated us I swear I'll find him and beat the shit out of him.' Standing, I walked over to a window and looked at my reflection. I was surprised to see that I still had the sword I got and was shocked that I looked exactly like Luffy. When I didn't see my hat I started to panic and reached behind my head. I sighed in relief, when I felt it hanging from the thread it was attached to. I then started to unbutton the jacket I was wearing and stared at my chest. I ran a hand over the scar and my eyes widened, it wasn't fake anymore it was real. "What the hell?" I muttered. I froze at the sound of my voice. It wasn't my voice, but Luffy's.

It was then that I heard a giant crash. Looking up, I saw what looked like a light rose bubble shattering like glass. Then, some strange things started descending on the city. They were human-like, but had insectile wings and I could swear that they had a horn on their heads. I was surprised when they suddenly seemed to catch on fire and started to descend on the city. I quickly ran into an alleyway so as not to get spotted by them. I didn't know what they were, but they were obviously bad news. It seemed to work as none of them came toward me. Once I didn't see or hear them anymore, I walked out into the street. Looking up, I was shocked to see several people with wings in the air fighting some of the strange, insect-like beings. I noticed that they were wearing outfits that looked similar to the Blue Angels.

Two screams caught my attention. There were two things distinct about them this time. They were nearby and from the sound of one of them was a child. I took off down the street in the direction the screams had come from. I soon found them on a lower street. Three of those strange creatures were advancing on two... people? I'm not sure if they were people because the older woman had light magenta skin with violet and light purple hair, while the young girl was a grayish violet with pale gold hair. The woman was wearing a purple dress with pink trims. The little girl was wearing a red blouse with a black skirt.

I took hold of the railing in front of me. 'Time to see if I really am Luffy.' Keeping a grip on the rail, I began to back up and was surprised to see my arms stretching. A wide grin spread across my face as I continued to move backwards and I said, "Gum Gum..." Once I was a good distance, I lined myself up with the strange creatures. Once I had aimed myself, I pulled myself forward and launched myself through the air. As I soared forward I yelled, "Rocket!!"

They all heard my shout and turned toward my direction. All of their eyes widened in shock and, before they could do anything, I slammed into the three creatures. We crashed into the ground with a mighty impact. Not feeling any pain, I immediately jumped to my feet and took a closer look at who I had tackled. They were a shiny black, with a horn, insectile wings, and had webbed tails. There were also holes in their legs and they didn't appear to have feet. I walked over to the two women. As I got near, I was shocked to see a horn on both of their heads and that they had tails as well.

Shaking it off, I held out my hand and asked, "Are you two OK?" She took my hand and I pulled her to her feet. As I grabbed her hand I noticed that it was rather fuzzy. 'She has fur? So is she part animal or something?'

She nodded somewhat stiffly, "How did you launch yourself like that?"

I heard a buzzing sound, "That's a question for another time. Come on!" I grabbed her hand and led her down the road and away from the sound. As we ran, I heard an odd clopping sound, like a horse was following us. I ignored it because since these things could fly, we were soon spotted and had a swarm of them chasing us. "Persistent buggers, aren't they?"

The woman gave me a flat stare and asked, "Was that a pun?"

I thought about it for a second and began to laugh. I laughed even harder when I actually heard my laugh. Why? Because it was Luffy's laugh! I absolutely love his laugh.

"Why in the world are you laughing!?" she shouted.

I looked back, "B-because I didn't mean it like that at all. Bug-gers." I started laughing again.

She looked ahead of me and yelled, "Is this really the time to be laughing!?"

I faced forward and saw that the creatures were blocking our path. "Not normally, but now's different." I pulled her forward and wrapped my arm around her waist. She let out an indignant shout, but I ignored her and stretched my other arm toward a building's roof. I heard the two gasp and saw the things blocking our path eyes widen in shock. Not giving them the time to react, I pulled us up to the roof, laughing my head off. Once on top, I picked her up and carried the two as I ran from rooftop to rooftop. As I ran, I asked, "You know what these things are?"

"I believe I heard that they were called changelings," she answered. She looked around and asked, "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Not in the slightest, but I figured away from them was good for the moment." There was soon buzzing behind us. 'Must of finally snapped out of it,' I snickered to myself. Green beams were suddenly being shot at us. I heard several sound like they hit something and the smell of smoke reached my nose. Glancing back I saw several holes in the coat I was wearing. 'Those bastards! Ashley made this for me! If it wasn't for the two I am protecting, I would stop and teach them a lesson,' I fumed.

I kept jumping rooftops until the air was filled with the changelings and I was forced to jump into an alleyway. The two screamed as we fell, but I turned my back to the ground. I sucked in as much air as I could and inflated myself, cushioning their landing. They slid off of my stomach and, once they were off, I deflated myself. Once I was back to normal I glanced at them. They were staring at me wide-eyed. "Yes?"

Snapping out of it, the woman asked, "How are you able to stretch like yourself like that?!"

"I'll explain some other time." I then began to pace, "How do we throw them off your trail?"

The woman looked at me in shock. "Our trail? What about you?"

I waved her off, "I'll be fine. I could probably take care of them. Now how to trick them?"

"Well," she started. I gave her my attention. "I know some illusion magic."

'There's magic here? Is that what those beams were?' I grinned, "That's perfect!" I reached into my pocket and pulled out one of the bottles I was carrying.

Seeing the bottle, she quickly covered the girls eyes, "Why do you have something like that!?"

I looked at her then the bottle, "Oh, no it's not what you think. This isn't real. It's just something I made to prank people with, but it seems that it will help with something more serious."

She slowly uncovered the young girls eyes, and asked, "It's just fake?"

"That's right. I can prove it to you. I made it to where it's pretty much juice. It tastes like strawberry," I told her. I undid the cap and held it out to her.

She just stared at the bottle. After a moment, a light yellow aura surrounded the bottle and it was pulled out of my grip. "Dinky, don't!" she yelled.

The girl, Dinky, didn't listen and took a sip of the juice. She licked her lips and smiled, "It's true. It tastes like strawberry, Amethyst!"

Amethyst hesitated, but took the bottle and took a tentative sip. Her eyes widened in surprise, "It does."

"Now if you just make it look like the two of you have stab wounds on you, I'll pour that on and near you."

"Stab wounds?" she asked, handing the liquid back to me.

I nodded, "Yes, it'll be easier to do that than slashes."

"Right." Her horn lit up, surrounded by a raspberry colored aura. As she focused her magic, several wounds appeared on them. One on their stomachs and one on their chest. She turned to the little girl, "Lay down Dinky." She nodded and laid on the ground. Amethyst then laid next to her.

I walked up to them and glanced at their backs. The 'wound' was there too. I lifted the bottle and poured the liquid on each spot the 'wounds' were at. Once I was finished with that, I poured some on the ground near them. After I was done with that, I drew my sword and did the same with it. I then, found a trash can and shoved the bottle down into it, so that if, for whatever reason they looked in it, they wouldn't see it.

I heard a clopping sound getting nearer. I walked back to them and hurriedly whispered, "Alright, I've finished. Be sure to keep your eyes closed and to not move." I stood, grabbed my sword and held it out, the 'blood' dripping off of it. I ran the blade on the ground so that they would hear where I was. 'Now to just wait for them to get here.'

Soon, the sound stopped and I saw shadows on the ground. I grinned and turned to face the changelings. When I had turned all the way around, I froze at what I saw.

[POV Change: Ashley]

I was in a horrible position. After I had regained consciousness from whatever had happened, I saw that I was in Canterlot in the middle of the changeling invasion. Thankfully, I had landed in somepony's yard instead of hitting the street. I'd been walking through the city, trying to get to the castle. As I was looking, I would help anypony that was getting attacked. It had surprised me that the ponies here were anthro instead of regular ponies. I would either get the changelings attention or, if I had to, incapacitate them with my sword, which had somehow become real, by slashing their wings and cutting their legs, so they didn't have any way of chasing them or me. Luckily, before I had been sent here I had practiced using a sword before. I was surprised at how sharp the sword was, as well as how fast and strong I was. Apparently, I had Tashigi's strength, agility, and even her abilities. I tried to use Soru several times and had managed to use it successfully a couple times. One thought never left my mind as I went through the city. That my husband wasn't on a different Equestria and that, even if he was, he was safe.

One of the rescues went south however. I had been so focused fighting several changelings, that I didn't notice when some of them had managed to sneak up on and restrain me. Now, they were taking me to the castle to see what Chrysalis wanted done with me. They didn't take my sword, probably because they figured since I was restrained I couldn't do anything, or the backpack I had at the convention. As we walked, there was a sudden noise down an alleyway. They ran over to see what the noise was and pulled me along with them.

As we reached the alley, my blood ran cold at the sight I saw. Standing in front of me, was Sean with his sword drawn with blood dripping off of it. Laying behind him were two unicorns. It looked like it was Sparkler and Dinky. As I saw this, I started breathing rapidly. Seeing my husband standing over their dead bodies was more than I could handle. I could feel myself getting light headed.

'No, no! I need to calm down!' I started taking deep, calming breaths. 'Sean.. Sean would never do something like this.' I looked at the blood on the ground. I squinted my eyes, something about it seemed off. It looked like blood, but there was something that didn't seem right about it. 'It might be the fake blood that he had with him.' I looked at the bodies, 'But then what about the wounds on them?' Then I remembered where we were and the things that were possible here. The two laying on the ground were unicorns. It could very well be an illusion to throw the changelings off. I took another breath to calm myself, and looked at my husband.

His face was completely pale and his whole body was tensed. He must be terrified of what I was thinking about the situation. I glanced at the changelings and, seeing they weren't looking at me, gave Sean a small smile. The effect was immediate. His eyes widened slightly, the color returned to his face, and his muscles relaxed. Raising his sword, he flung the 'blood' off and quickly sheathed it.

One of the changeling spoke up, "Don't move or the woman dies!"

The changeling behind me raised his sword to my neck. I saw anger flash across Sean's eyes, but he managed to hold himself back and lifted his hands in the air. One of them moved forward and restrained him. They didn't remove his sword either. They led him toward us, we then resumed walking to the castle. I saw one of the changelings pause and look down the alley. I started to get nervous that he was going to check the bodies. Thankfully, he began following us.

<~~>

We soon reached the castle and entered where the wedding was supposed to be taking place. Looking around I saw the Mane Six standing to our left, stuck to the ground. They were all wearing their bridesmaid dresses. Standing at the alter was Cadance wearing a torn up dark pink dress with her cutie mark on her right hip. Her hands and hooves were bound, similar to the others. I then saw Chrysalis, who wore a green dress with a bunch of holes at the bottom. I also saw Spike in his tux and Shining Armor wearing his favorite uncle's uniform. Glancing up I saw Princess Celestia in a cocoon made from the stuff that was binding everypony.

Chrysalis spoke up, "Well, well, what have we here? What are you two?"

I focused on her and saw Shining Armor standing behind her. Seeing his expression, only one thought ran through my head at that moment. 'Oh no. I really hope Sean doesn't notice Shining Armor.'

[POV Change: Twilight]

I stared in complete shock at who, or rather what, had entered. The changelings had brought in two strange beings that looked so similar to us, you could mistake them for earth ponies. The only thing was they didn't seem to have fur or tails. Looking down I saw that they didn't have hooves either, but something similar to what Spike had, except they weren't sharp. Now that I thought about it, they looked rather familiar, but I couldn't place where I had seen them before.

I was pulled from my thoughts by the last thing I thought I would hear at a time like this. Laughter. Not even Pinkie would laugh at a time like this, so who in the hay was? I looked over and saw that it was the stallion that was laughing. He was bent over, he was laughing so hard. The mare standing next to him was giving him a disapproving glare. He looked up at us and only started to laugh harder. I glanced around to see that everypony was absolutely shocked at what was happening. Even the Changeling Queen was stunned.

"Sean! This really isn't the time!" the strange mare scolded.

"I-I'm sorry, Ash, but that guy's expression and t-then the looks on e-e-everyone's faces. I-I just couldn't hold it in," he continued to laugh his head off.

I was starting to get a little miffed and I could see the girls were too. Even Pinkie and Fluttershy were frowning at him. He was starting to remind me of a certain draconequus. Thinking about it, I started to wonder where the trickster was.

Snapping out of it, Chrysalis started walking forward, "So you think the situation you're in is funny."

"The situation? No. Everyone's expressions? Hilarious!" he said, continuing to snicker.

The Changeling Queen transformed into the mare by the door. Her hand began to glow as she started to cast a spell. The stallion abruptly stopped laughing, which, while I didn't know him, worried me a little that he suddenly stopped. He raised his gaze to Chrysalis and stared at her.

The strange mare, Ash he called her, shouted, "NO! Don't you do anything to him!"

This struck me as somewhat strange. From what she just said she seemed to know something about them, but how could she? Not even Celestia seemed to know who they were or what they wanted.

However, Chrysalis didn't pay her any mind as she continued to move toward the stallion called Sean. "I don't know who or what you are, but you will be mine," she said.

As she got close, Ash yelled, tears in her eyes, "Sean! Fight it! Don't let her in!"

The Changeling Queen got right in front of him and began to move her head toward him. She closed her eyes and pursed her lips, getting ready to kiss the stallion. What happened next shocked all of us.

Sean reeled his head back and headbutted Chrysalis. The force of the impact sent her flying backwards. Everything seemed to move in slow motion as he then quickly turned around and bit, yes bit, down on the sword that was held at Ash's throat and ripped it from the changeling's grip. After tossing the sword away, he started knocking them out with quick, but powerful kicks. Once they were all unconscious, he stood next to the mare.

"Are you okay, Ashley?" he asked.

She leaned against him. She probably would have hugged him, if it weren't for the stuff binding her hands. I could see tears running down her eyes as she said, "I was so scared that she would take you from me Sean."

He smiled, "It's going to take more than her trying to worm her way into my mind to make me leave you."

This caused us all to look at him in shock. Before anyone could say anything there was a shout.

"How!?" We all looked at Chrysalis, who seemed pissed. "How did you resist me?!"

"Well for one, you transformed right in front of me. Not very smart of you," he said nonchalantly. This angered her even more. "The other is harder to explain and have no reason to tell you, Queenie."

At this Chrysalis charged magic in her hands and began to fire at them. Sean pushed Ashley out of the way and began dodging the beams. With the Queen distracted, I blasted the goo off of my hands and hooves. I began to sneak over to Cadance. As I moved, I kept an eye on Chrysalis. The stallion slowly moved closer to her as he dodged the beams she fired. When he was finally close enough, he spun around and kicked her into the wall.

He looked back and began to pull at the goo restraining him. We were all surprised to see him stretch his bonds as far as his arms would go before snapping back. "Damn, if I could just get this stuff off. Then, I would be able to fight better," he muttered.

I still had some slight reservations about these two, but he was fighting Chrysalis. Then again considering what just happened, anyone would probably attack her. Deciding to take the chance, I called out, "Hey!" He turned his attention to me. "Turn around." He looked at me in confusion, but complied. Once he had, I aimed at the goo and fired a beam. It hit and disintegrated the bonds holding his hands.

He raised them in front of himself and looked at them in shock. He smiled, "You think you could do that for Ashley?"

I nodded and looked at the mare. She turned away and held her arms out. I shot the gunk on her hands and she was free. She massaged her wrists and started to walk over to us. I continued moving toward Cadance until I was next to her.

Sean, however kept his eyes on where he had launched Chrysalis. Suddenly a beam shot out of the smoke, which he jumped out of the way of. Throwing off the coat he was wearing, he rushed forward as she flew toward him. They each threw a punch, which collided with each other. The force of the impact somehow created cracks on the floor. They kept pushing, trying to outmatch the other.

As they fought, Ashley just walked passed them and toward us. This shocked us a great deal, that she would just walk right by them. Still unsure of their motives, I moved in front of Cadance and charged magic into my hands.

Ashley saw this and she looked straight into my eyes. "You don't have to worry Twilight. I'm not going to do anything to her," she said with a smile. She then started to move to my right.

However, my mind was in overdrive and my magic faded from my hands. How in Equestria did she know my name? Nopony had said it since she had entered, so there was no way she should know it. I looked at her just as she jumped up at Princess Celestia. My eyes widened in shock, "What are you doing!?"

Instead of answering, she grabbed the cocoon and climbed up to the top. She stood up, drew her sword and raised it. Before I could say anything, she slashed where the pod connected to the ceiling. As it fell, Ashley jumped off of it before it hit the ground with a loud crash.

[POV Change: Sean]

As I pushed against the Changeling Queen, I was surprised at how strong she was. If I had been turned into the Luffy after the time skip then I should have a great deal of strength. True I wouldn't have complete control over it yet, but that should make it harder for her to fight me. A crashing sound got both of our attention. Looking over we saw that Ashley had gotten the woman hanging in the pod off of the ceiling. She looked similar to the pony she had told me about from that My Little Pony show. Princess Celestia I believe she said her name was. Ash then took her sword and ran it over the little window that was on it. Once she had run it down the whole thing, she sheathed the sword and knelt down. Grabbing where the tear was, she pulled it apart and helped Celestia out of it.

The Queen's eyes widened, "NO!"

Taking advantage of her diverted attention, I threw my arm upwards, her's moving with it. Before she could react, I threw my left arm forward and punched her in the stomach. The punch sent her crashing through the wall. I looked at the altar and saw that the lavender girl, Twilight I think, had freed the pink woman. As I started walking over to Ashley, I looked at Celestia. She was practically white, but I could see a tinge of pink in her fur. Her hair, or is it mane, and tail was purple, cerulean, pink, and green. It surprised me that it seemed to move without a breeze.

"Go to him," Twilight told the woman.

She walked up to the alabaster man and placed a hand on his cheek. I had to bite my tongue to not laugh at the expression on his face again. Her horn started to spark and a heart appeared. It floated over to the man's face and pulsed outward. Once it had vanished, the green glow had disappeared from his eyes and changed to cerulean. He shook his head and looked at Cadance.

"Wha? What happened? Is the wedding over?" he questioned, groggily.

There was a sudden shout, "It's all over!" We all turned to the hole in the wall and saw the Queen flying outside.

"Shining, cast your spell!" Twilight shouted out.

The Changeling Queen laughed evilly, "What would be the point in doing so!? My changelings are already in Canterlot and taking over!"

"No! That can't-" Shining began to focus and his horn flickered in a light rose aura. He let out a gasp of exhaustion, "I can't. I don't have enough strength to drive them back."

The pink woman walked up to him, "My love will give you strength." She wrapped her arms around him.

"As much as I doubt that, don't think that I'll let you do anymore than you already have." She then charged froward.

Before she could reach them, I drew Shusui and stopped her advance with it's blunt side. When the sword connected with her head, it made clanking sound. 'I thought so. When I punched her, it seemed that her body was solid. She must have chitin instead of skin.' I looked back at the couple, "I don't know if it will work, but I'll keep her busy while you do whatever you need to."

I then pushed her back and, turning Shusui forward, charged toward her. A sword suddenly appeared in her grasp and we clashed once more. Focusing my strength, I started to push her back. Our swords separated and I charged forward slashing at her. My attacks were sloppy and erratic, but I wasn't trying to get any of my attacks to actually connect.

She suddenly brought her sword upwards, knocking my sword out of her way. She then made a sideways slash.

Instinctively, I lowered my left arm and greatly focused my spirit into it. My arm suddenly turned black and I blocked the sword. We both stared at my arm in shock and I heard several gasps behind me. Before it could disappear, I knocked her sword away and kicked her back toward the hole in the wall. I then heard a strange sound behind me. Turning around, I saw the couple surrounded by a magical aura. I watched as the woman's dress seemed to mend itself and her mane began to move like Celestia's. The two started to rise up in the air and they began glowing.

I glanced back at the Queen to make sure she wouldn't interrupt. She started to stand up and her wings started to buzz, as she was about to take off. I raised my sword in preparation for her attack. Before she could move, a wall of pink phased through me. However, when it reached the Queen, it slammed against her and she was pushed out of the hole in the wall.

I walked to the hole and watched as she and her changelings were launched out of the city. As they disappeared from sight, I looked down at my left hand. Getting to where I would be able to use Luffy's abilities was going to be difficult. Forget Fourth Gear and Conqueror's Haki, just getting Observation Haki, Armament Haki, and Second Gear down was going to be hard enough. Third Gear shouldn't be too hard since it's just inflating the bones in my body. It would be the timing and the after effects that I had to worry about. A hand on my shoulder pulled me from my thoughts.

Looking over, I saw Ashley holding my jacket and smiling at me. Smiling back, I pulled her into a hug, "I'm so glad we weren't separated from each other."

She threw her arms around me, "Me too." Stepping back she held out my coat. "What happened?" she asked, an eyebrow quirked.

"As I was running from the changelings, they shot those magical beams at me. The coat blocked several of them from actually hitting me," I explained.

"I'm glad you weren't hit by any of them." She looked down at the coat, "I'll probably have to completely remake this," she said.

Behind us someone cleared their throat. Turning around, we saw Celestia and Twilight standing there. Looking past them, I saw that the others had left.

"Hey, sorry about the wall," I said.

"It's not a big deal. I don't mean to interrupt, but even though you helped us, and I thank you for that, I would like to know what your plans are," she said, her eyes narrowed.

I tilted my head to the side. "What our plan is? I suppose I do have a few ideas." I noticed the two tense slightly. I smirked, "Yeah, that fight took a lot out of me. I could do with some food, maybe rest for a bit. After that I'd like to get to know the people here." I nodded slowly, "Yeah that sounds like a plan."

Twilight looked at me slack jawed, while my wife gave me a disapproving look. Celestia just stared at me, a blank expression on her face.

Ashley slapped my shoulder, which didn't hurt, "You really shouldn't be messing around at a time like this. They obviously don't entirely trust us and you doing that won't exactly help."

I snickered, "Sorry, but they're way to serious right now. The invaders are gone and the wedding can continue."

"They don't know who or even what we are though. They aren't sure if they can trust us or not," she said.

I glanced at Celestia and saw that she had a small smile on her face. "Seems she's at least willing to give us a chance," I said.

Looking over at the monarch, Ashley saw her smile, "You're just lucky she seems to have a sense of humor and knew that you were messing around."

"Oh, I was completely serious. I'm pretty hungry and could use a rest. After that I would like to get to know everyone."

"Pony," she said.

"What?" I asked.

"They are ponies and they say everypony."

I stared at her for a second, before I burst out into laughter. "Y-You can't be s-serious! T-they say that?" I gasped out.

"Yes they do. Unlike our world, where we are the only sentient beings, there are several different kinds. Like the changelings we just got done fighting," she said.

I slowly stopped laughing, "I suppose I see your point." I glanced at the other two. "I think you surprised them somehow." Ashley looked over and saw their shocked looks.

"How--" Twilight started. "How did you know that? And before you seemed to know about Chrysalis even though you just met her."

"Oh dear. That's going to take some explaining. I promise that I'll explain it, but it would probably be better if everypony," she glared at me as I snorted at the word. "else is here, so I can just explain it once."

Celestia nodded, "That's a good idea. After all we still have a wedding to do." She turned and left the room, Twilight following behind her. She kept glancing back at us with a curious look.

Once they were gone Ashley slapped my arm. This one I did feel, "Ow! Really? You got the haki down?"

"Not yet, I just focused on smacking you and it seemed to work. But, seriously? If she didn't have sense of humor, you could have made things very bad for us," she reprimanded.

"Sorry, Ash. I saw them tense up just from me saying I had a plan and couldn't help, but mess with them a little," I said, apologetically.

She sighed, "Just try to not do that in situations like that, please."

I wrapped an arm around her, "Sorry, hon." With my other arm, I took the sword I was wearing and held it out to her. "Here."

She looked at it, then up to me in confusion, "Why are you giving it to me? Didn't you want it?"

"It was one thing when it was fake, but it's real now. You actually know how to use the thing. You saw me wielding it. It might as well be a club the way I was swinging it around," I said.

Ashley took the sword and slid it next to her other one. "How about I tell you about everypony, so that you know what their names are?"

Before I could answer, a voice spoke out, "Hey you two." Looking over we saw the pink wo- mare I guess, if she's a pony, leaned in the door and said, "You both helped save our wedding. You're more than welcome to attend."

My wife smiled, "We'd love to."

As she left, I said, "I'd like to know their names so I can address them, but I think I'd like to learn about who they are myself. I'd also like to see if they need any help."

Ash smiled, "That's a good idea." We exited the room as a bunch of ponies began entering. Most likely to get the room ready again and fix the hole in the wall I had made.

We walked around the castle seeing if anypony needed any help. Surprisingly, for me anyway, all of the ponies that we had seen in the wedding hall were in charge of practically everything. The white unicorn mare named Rarity had already finished the dresses, so there wasn't anything to help with, not that I would have been any. The cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane was doing some kind of stunt called a Sonic Rainboom, so we didn't even look for her. Fluttershy, a yellow pegasus mare, was conducting a small choir of animals to play the procession, so there wasn't anything we could do to help her.

Applejack was in charge of making the food for the reception. I asked the orange earth pony mare if I could have a bit because the fight had drained a good deal of my energy. She was nice enough to let me and I thanked her. My wife asked if the mare needed any help, to which she gladly accepted. She told me where the last pony that might need help was and what her name was. Pinkie Pie was in charge of setting up the reception.

I found her jumping around outside setting up what looked like a party rather than a reception. She was, as you might expect, a pink earth pony mare. She seemed to have more energy than a kid that had ten cups of coffee. 'Should probably try to keep any caffeine away from her. If they have things like caffeine, anyway.' I walked up to her and asked, "Do you need help with anything?"

She turned toward me and gasped, "You are one of the new ponies that we just saw aren't you?"

"I'm a human actually, but yes I am. The other was my wife Ashley. My name's Sean," I introduced.

"That's what you're called?" Pinkie questioned.

I gave her a confused look, "What do you mean?"

She smiled nervously, "The Princess will probably bring it up when you talk to her." Her smile widened as she said, "It's nice to meet you, Sean. Where is your wife?"

"She's a really good cook, so she's helping Applejack with the catering," I told her. I was still wondering what she meant, but decided I would see if the Princess would bring it up.

"You are helping out even though you don't even know us?" Pinkie asked.

"Well you were just invaded. Even if it's only two extra people, I figured you could use the help," I said.

"That's very nice of you two. I've got almost everything done here, so I don't need much help. I mean, all I really have left to do is set up tables and chairs," she said.

"I'll help with that. It'll go faster with two people doing it." Nodding, she walked inside and over to where the tables and chairs were. She grabbed two tables and held them above her head. She also grabbed several chairs with her other arm and headed back outside. I stared after her, caught off guard by how strong she was. Grabbing several tables myself, I followed her back outside and placed them where Pinkie told me they were to go.

As we placed the last chair and table, Twilight and Cadance walked outside. Cadance walked over to Pinkie and started talking to her, while Twilight walked up to me.

"I thought you wanted to rest?" she said, her eyes narrowed slightly.

I shrugged, "I do, but I thought it would be a good idea to see if anypony needed any help."

A small smile spread across her face, "Well, thank you for your help." I opened my mouth to say I didn't do much, but she continued, "Not just with this. You kept Chrysalis busy while my brother and Cadance combined their magic and used the spell that got rid of the changelings. You being there might have saved us from being completely taken over."

"I'm glad that their special day is still able to go on and wasn't completely ruined," I said.

"Yes, I'm glad it can still happen," she said.

Cadance walked over to us, "That Pinkie Pie is such a fun mare!"

Twilight giggled, "That's Pinkie. She's all about fun and having a good time." She looked at a list she had and checked something off, "Well that's everything. Let's see if the wall's been fixed."

The four of us started walking back to where the wedding was going to take place. When we reached the room, I was rather surprised to see that the hole was completely fixed. In fact, I couldn't even tell that there had been a hole there a little while ago. All of the chairs were set back up as well.

'Either they are amazing at their jobs or they have a great deal of control of their magic. Or both I suppose,' I thought. I heard hooves clopping behind us and looked over. I saw all of the other ponies and my wife walking to us. Ashley wasn't wearing the clothes she was wearing before anymore. She was now wearing sapphire blue dress that went down to her knees. When they reached us, I said, "You look beautiful Ash."

"Even though I don't look myself anymore?" she questioned.

I stepped forward and placed a hand on her cheek, "As long as your the woman I fell in love with, I don't care what you look like."

She smiled and pulled me into a kiss. I heard several 'aw's' from behind us. Looking over, I saw all of the mares, minus Rainbow Dash, were smiling at us.

"You two are so cute together," Cadance said. Several of the mares nodded in agreement.

We smiled, and Ashley said, "Thank you for the compliment."

The halls soon began filling with ponies walking to the wedding hall. As Shining Armor approached, Cadance quickly teleported away to avoid being seen before the wedding took place. All of us walked in as well. Me and Ash sat two chairs in from the aisle, while the mares walked up to the altar. Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Rarity stood on the opposite side of where the groom was standing. Fluttershy was outside on a balcony with several birds on a bird stand, with a conductor's baton in her hand. Twilight stood next to her brother and Spike standing by her.

'So instead of best man, it's best mare? I thought amusedly. Two unicorns sat next me and my wife, taking the two seats by the aisle. One was a blue stallion and the other was a gray mare. As the wedding began, with Fluttershy starting the procession, the two began tearing up and they leaned onto each other. 'Probably his parents,' I figured. As Cadance walked down the aisle, three... flower fillies I suppose, skipped in front of her. I felt a strange feeling in the back of my mind. It wasn't anything big, just a strange nagging feeling that I should look up. Deciding there wouldn't be any harm in it, I glanced at the ceiling. My eyes widened at what I saw. It seemed to be some kind of chimera, as each limb was from a different animal. He, at least I think it was a he, noticed my gaze and held his claw up to his lips. I wasn't sure whether or not I should trust this strange creature that was floating above everypony. Although the wedding was going on and I didn't want to cause a panic, so I didn't tell anypony. Emphasis on pony, I nudged my wife and, when she looked at me with a rather annoyed look, I gestured with my head at the ceiling.

Confusion spread across her face as she looked up. Her eyes widened and she clamped a hand over her mouth to keep from shouting out. She gave me a slightly worried look, which did nothing to boost my confidence on keeping quiet about him being there. Suddenly the ponies around us gave out a cheer. Looking back at the alter we saw that the wedding had finished.

The newlyweds walked out onto a balcony and waved at the ponies down below. Princess Celestia was talking to Twilight and the other five.

We both looked back at the ceiling and saw that the strange being was gone. We glanced at each other and walked toward the Princess. As we got near her, Rainbow Dash launched herself out the window and caused what I assume was the Sonic Rainboom that my wife had told me about. I paused for a moment and watched incredible phenomenon. I was brought out of my trance by Ashley grabbing my hand and pulling me forward. However, my pausing had caused us to miss her, as they all went down to where the reception was being held.

"Darn it, Sean. We need to talk to Princess Celestia about who it was that we saw. If he's still like he normally is, then we need to tell her that he's free," Ashley said.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"He's a draconequus called Discord. He's a spirit of chaos and disharmony. Last time he got loose he turned the Elements of Harmony the opposite of themselves and he can do practically anything he wishes with his magic," she said.

"So, wouldn't they realize if he had escaped?"

"With as much chaos the invasion caused, he might have just escaped and they haven't noticed yet."

I nodded and we headed toward the reception area where everypony was at. As we walked, the strange being appeared in front of us.

"Looking for Celestia?" he asked. "Allow me to help!" He snapped his talons and we disappeared from the hall.

Singing Skeleton

As soon as the guard said skeleton, wide smiles spread across mine, Sean, and Sarah's faces which went unnoticed by the others.

"D-Did you say a s-skeleton?" Fluttershy asked fearfully.

"Don't worry Fluttershy, I'm sure they're just exaggerating or something," Twilight said, trying to calm her timid friend.

Before the guard could say something Sean spoke up, "Did they send a picture of him?" At his nod, Sean said, "Let me guess, he has an afro and is a wearing a purple coat, heart-shaped sunglasses, a yellow feather boa, a top hat with a giant crown on the brim and orange red trousers with a floral design?" The guard stared at him in shock. "I'll take that as a yes," he chuckled.

"Do you know who it is?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, we do," I said. "He's someone else from One Piece." Everyone stiffened, and I quickly said, "Relax everyone. He isn't anything like Lucci."

"Are you sure?" Luna questioned.

Sean snickered, "You kidding? The guy's a scaredy-cat, goofball most of the time." He turned to the guard, "Did he do anything to them or are they just scared of him?"

He looked down at the report, "Well, it seems like more scared than anything."

"Is that all?" Celestia asked.

"Yes, Your Highness," he said.

"Then, you may return to your post," she said, gaining a salute from him before he left. She then turned to me, "Are you serious when you say he's a skeleton?"

Sean glanced at Jack with a smirk. Seeing this, Jack grinned, "I think he's dead serious Your Highness." Practically everyone groaned, while Sean and Sarah chuckled, and Discord snickered.

"You and Brook will get along very well Jack," I muttered.

"I think it would be a good idea for us to get Brook, so I'm going to head to Manehattan," Sean announced.

"I'm going too," I said. "I've always thought it would be interesting to meet him and since coming here, I've been kind of hoping he'd be here."

"Yes, I think it would be best for you to find him and bring him back with you," Celestia said.

Sean turned to the others, "Does anyone want to come with us?"

"I'd like to meet Brook as well," Sarah said.

"I wouldn't mind tagging along," Jack said.

Rainbow Dash, Twilight, Spike, Pinkie Pie, Heart, and Applejack decided to join us. The Princesses let the others stay at the castle until we returned. Twilight stayed behind to hear about how she did on her test, while the rest of us exited the throne room. As we left, Sean ruffled Dinky's mane and promised to spend some time with her when we got back. and began making our way to the castles exit. We decided to wait outside the entrance for Twilight to catch up. After about fifteen minutes, she burst out of the doors announcing that she had passed the test. We all congratulated her as we walked to the train station.

As we walked back onto the train for the third time that day, Rainbow Dash sighed slightly, "At least this time it won't be as long."

"Don't worry Rainbow," I said. "This time when we return I will use my dimensional magic to bring us back immediately."

"Well, that's a relief," the prismatic pegasus muttered.

We settled down in one of the cars and, as the train started moving, Sean asked, "So, is Manehattan anything like Manhattan?"

All of the ponies and Spike looked at my husband in shock and confusion. "Manhattan?" Twilight questioned curiously.

I smirked, "That's right. We also have Philadelphia, Baltimore, Nottingham, and many others." I heard Jack snickering as he probably realized how punny their names for cities were, at least compared to how we named cities. "Anyway, yes Sean it's similar to Manhattan. They even have their own statue of liberty."

Sean blinked several times, "Huh. That's interesting."

"So how are we going to find Brook?" Spike asked. "Even if he is a skeleton, finding him in the city isn't going to be easy."

"I'm pretty sure we can just follow the screams," Sean said. "If how the ponies in Ponyville reacted to us is anything to go by, I'm sure ponies are in an absolute panic about Brook."

"True," the young drake conceded.

[POV Change: Sarah]

As the train made it's way to Manehattan, most of the ponies and Spike were talking to each other, while Sean, Ashley, Twilight, and I talked with Heart.

"So do changelings just feed on love or do you eat like every other species? Not much is really known about changelings," Twilight asked.

"Oh, we eat just like other species. In fact, we're omnivores," Heart answered. "It's just that love is a very important part of our diet."

"I see," she said, taking notes.

"In fact," the changeling said. "As you can imagine it has been a while since I've had any love. While the guards know I don't mean any harm, they are still hesitant on giving it to me."

"How do you 'eat' love exactly?" Twilight asked, intrigued.

"We just use our magic to siphon it from someone. And despite what most think, it doesn't have to actually be directed at us. We've actually found some that are willing to allow us to siphon love from them to feed ourselves," Heart explained.

"So, Ashley and I could help you with that?" Sean asked. At Hearts nod, he said, "Then let's do it."

"Really?" she questioned in shock.

"If it's something that you need to survive then yeah," my son said. "You don't mind do you Ash?"

"Not at all," his wife answered. "Is there anything specific we need to do?"

"N-Not much," Heart said, sounding like she couldn't really believe they were doing this. "Just something that invokes the feeling of love. Just some heartfelt words would be enough."

"Considering you said that it's been a while," Sean said exchanging a look with Ashley. At her nod, he pulled her into a passionate kiss. I smiled at how in love they were, though I felt a pang in my heart thinking about John.

Heart's eyes widened in surprise, after a second she snapped out of it and her horn lit up with a jade aura. After several minutes the glow disappeared and Heart leaned back with a satisfied sigh.

"I don't know if it's because it has been a while, but that was absolutely delicious," she said, happily.

"Glad you liked it," Sean said, separating from Ashley.

"So you're filled up?" Ashley asked.

"Oh, yes. I think I'll be fine for a few weeks even," Heart answered.

Sean nodded, before bringing out his iPad and started searching for something.

"What are you doing, Sean?" I asked.

"Just thought I'd start some music for us," he said.

I didn't doubt him, but the smirk on his face told me he was going to do something. I got my answer when the song started.

I giggled as Ashley rolled her eyes.

"Really?" she asked.

He grinned, "What? I planned on doing one of Luffy's too." He then started another song.

As the song ended, all of the Equestrians looked rather confused.

"What was that, Sean?" Twilight asked.

"Music," he said simply. Ashley, Pinkie and I giggled at his simple answer, while everyone else deadpanned at him. He rolled his eyes, while smiling, "Relax, I know what you mean. It was another language from our world. Japanese to be exact."

"Why play a song in another language?" Rainbow Dash asked, sounding baffled.

"Let me ask you this. Did you like it?" Sean questioned.

"Couldn't understand a word of it, but it was rather good singin'," Applejack said. The others murmured in agreement.

"That's all that's really needed in my opinion," I said. "It's a good song and a good singer." I then muttered, "Though sometimes the translation can be kind of weird."

"What do you mean?" Twilight asked, just as the train slowed to a stop.

"I'll show you some other time," I told her as we got off of the train.

[POV Change: Sean]

As we exited the train, the conductor walked up to us with a frightened look on his face.

"I would really advise all of you to get back on the train and leave," he said. "I know this won't make sense and you probably won't believe me, but there's a skeleton walking around the city."

"Oh I believe you," I told the stallion, making him look at me in shock. "In fact he's the reason that we're here." As I walked passed him, I patted his shoulder, "Don't worry we'll take care of him. And you should relax, I mean he hasn't done anything has he?" I stopped in front of the platform and clapped my hands together, "So where should we start?"

"I'm not sure," Twilight said standing next to me. "Despite there being a skeleton, the ponies here, while fidgety, they are relatively calm." She tapped her chin in thought. She snapped her fingers and said, "Rainbow Dash, why don't you and Ashley fly above the city and see if you can't spot him or panicking ponies."

"Good idea, Twilight," Ash said, while Rainbow saluted before taking off into the air.

"Should we walk around and look ourselves?" my mother suggested.

We all nodded and started walking through the city. After about half an hour of searching, Ashley and Rainbow Dash returned.

"We found him!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"I'll take us to him," Ash said, snapping her fingers. After the flash, I saw that we were now in an area that looked similar to Times Square. "He's over there."

I followed to where she was pointing and saw him. Standing probably even taller than the Princesses, was Brook. He wasn't really doing anything, just standing there and looking at the surrounding area.

Jack walked forward and shouted, "Hey, skeleton! We've got a bone to pick with you."

Brook turned to the unicorn with a furrowed brow. "What did you say?" he questioned.

"You heard me bonehead," he called back.

Frowning, the skeleton started walking toward us. "It really makes my blood boil when others make bone related jokes," he said. His anger vanished instantly, "Though I don't have any blood to boil. Yohohoho!"

Jack grinned, "So, you're rather thin-skinned?"

Brook stared at him for moment, "Yes I am." He then smiled back, "Even I don't have skin at all! Yohohohoho!! Skull joke!"

The two goofballs had me, Ashley, and my mom chuckling, while the others groaned loudly, which just caused me to start laughing. Hearing my laugh, Brook looked over to me and his eye sockets widened.

"Luffy!?" he exclaimed, before running up to me and pulling me into a hug. "Luffy! I thought I'd never see you again! The people here are kind of like the merman on Fishman Island."

I pulled myself out of his grasp, "It's nice to see you too, Brook. However, there's something I need to tell you and you aren't going to like it."

He looked behind me and shock spread across his face. "You've been captured by the Navy!? Don't worry Luffy, I'll hold them off while you get away," he said, raising his cane and gripping the top.

"Hold it Brook!" I yelled, making him halt. "First off," I started giving him a hard look, making him take a step back. "Harm my wife or mother and you'll regret it." I then muttered, "Not that you could do anything to them. Second, I'm not Luffy."

Brook stared at me in absolute bewilderment, "W-Wife? Mother?" He shook himself, "What do you mean you aren't Luffy?"

I brought a hand to my chin in thought, "How do I prove it you? Oh, I know!" I stared directly him and said, "I'm a vegetarian."

Brook stumbled backward, "You aren't Luffy. He wouldn't even joke about something like that."

"Sorry, to get your hopes up Brook," I said, sympathetically.

He sighed deeply, before dropping down onto a bench that suddenly appeared under him. He looked up in shock, not expecting to sit on something.

"That was me Brook," Ashley said, approaching him. She held out a hand, "I'm Ashley Griffin, Sean's wife."

He gently grasped her hand and shook it. "It's nice to meet you," he said, somberly. "Is anyone I know here?"

"So far you're the first of the Straw Hats that we've run into," I told him. "However, there's a chance that we will run into some of them. You are the second person from your world that we've come across after all. There's also the fact that there are Devil Fruits everywhere, so don't lose hope Brook."

Brook slowly got a determined look and stood up, "You're right. I shouldn't give up hope." He looked at us curiously, "Who was the other person?"

"No one good I'm afraid," I said. "It was Rob Lucci from CP9."

He shivered, "They're here?"

"Just Lucci," Ashley said. "And he's been turned to stone and sent to Tartarus." At Brook's confused look, she said, "Think of it as their version of Impel Down."

"Ah, that's reassuring," he said. "And that's your mother? She isn't one of the Admirals? Although I thought that all of the Admirals were men."

"They were. However I'm Sarah," my mother said.

"It's nice to meet you ma'am," Brook said.

"Brook, I know you probably don't feel like it, but do you think you could sing Bink's Sake?" I asked hopefully.

"I suppose," he said. Ashley snapped and a piano appeared. "Thank you, Mrs. Griffin." He sat down on the bench, then began to play and to sing.

Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,
Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,
Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,
Yo-hohoho, Yohohohoo,

Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
Following the sea breeze! Riding on the waves!
Far across the salty depths! The merry evening sun!
The birds sing as they draw circles in the sky!

Farewell to the harbor, To my old hometown
Lets all sing out with a Don! As the ship sets sail
Waves of gold and silver dissolve to salty spray
As we all set sail to the ends of the sea

Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
We are pirates sailing through the Sea!
The waves are our pillows, The ship our roost
Flying the proud skull on our flags and our sails

Now comes a storm through the far-off sky
Now the waves are dancing, Beat upon the drums
If you lose your nerve this breath could be your last
But if you just hold on, The morning sun will rise

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,

Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
Today, and tomorrow, our dreams through the night!
Waving our goodbyes, we'll never meet again!
But don't look so down, For tomorrow night the moon will also rise!

Going to deliver Binks' Sake!
Let's all sing it with a Don! A song of the waves
Doesn't matter who you are, Someday you'll just be bones
Never-Ending, Ever-wandering, Our funny Traveling tale!

Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho,
Yo-hohoho, Yo-hohoho.

Brook finished singing with a smile on his face, "I feel a little better."

"That's good," I said. Looking around, I was surprised to see many of the ponies were now watching him in interest instead of fear. "I think we've at least mitigated some of the rumors about Brook."

"I think so too," Ashley said. She then opened a portal, "Shall we head back to Canterlot?"

"Oh my!" Brook exclaimed. "I know you aren't Tashigi, but how are you doing these things?"

As we walked through the portal, she answered, "I ate a Devil Fruit that allows me to use any type of magic. What I used to summon that bench and piano was chaos magic and this is dimensional magic."

"That's incredible," he said.

"Hello, Nightmare Moon. Where are your sisters at?" I asked, the black alicorn.

"They are busy at the moment, but they will be back shortly," she answered.

Brook turned and saw the Princess, "My goodness. Such a beautiful woman." He adjusted his ascot and walked toward her.

"Should we stop him?" Ashley asked.

"Where'd the fun in that be?" a voice asked. I turned to see Discord standing next to us. Before we could ask he said, "I sensed there would be a bit of chaos happening."

I started to sweat slightly, "With what he's about to ask, there will be chaos alright."

"We really shouldn't let him do this," my wife said, worriedly. "I don't think Celestia would be to bad, hell Luna would probably be better than Nightmare Moon."

However as she said that, I heard Brook say, "May I see your panties?"

Silence reigned at the perverted request. Everyone looked absolutely shocked, hell even Discord and Pinkie were staring at him in disbelief.

"Three... two... one," I counted silently.

*CRACK*

I winced as Nightmare Moon kicked Brook directly in his face, thankfully her dress was long and flowing enough that nothing was seen. He was launched into the wall to our right. The impact causing it to crumble on top of the living skeleton.

"I can't believe he asked her that," Discord said, astonished.

I turned to Ashley, "You check on Brook and I'll try to calm Nightmare Moon down." She nodded and walked over to the pile of rubble, while I carefully approached the fuming alicorn.

"Nightmare?" I said tentatively. She turned her glare to me and I caught a glimpse of what the old Nightmare Moon probably looked like. When she realized she was looking at me, however she calmed down slightly. I continued to walk up to her. "You alright?"

She took several deep breaths. "I... I'm OK. But that question..." she kept taking calm breaths.

I rubbed her back in an attempt to help her calm down. "Yeah, I know. We would have tried to stop him if Discord hadn't distracted us," I said.

"You knew he would ask that?" she questioned, a slight blush on her muzzle. Whether it was left from the question or what I was doing, I was unsure of.

I rolled my eyes, "He would ask it all the time on the anime." I then snickered, "Maybe now he'll watch who he says that to."

She chuckled a little herself, "Maybe."

The doors suddenly burst open and Celestia, Luna, Ditzy, Rarity, Fluttershy, and several guards rushed in. I noticed Dinky was peeking in from behind her mother.

"What happened!?" the two alicorns questioned.

"That skeleton," Discord started pointing at Brook, who Ashley was helping out of the collapsed wall. "Asked your sister if he could see her... *cough* underwear."

All of their eyes widened and jaws dropped. The two alicorn sisters glared at Brook and started to stalk over to him. However, before they could get too close, my mother stepped in front of them.

"Alright you two, calm down. That noise earlier was from Nightmare Moon kicking Brook into the wall, which is why it's nothing more than rubble," she said. "I think her kicking him in the face is punishment enough."

The two continued to glare at him for a moment before they sighed, "Very well."

After calming down, Celestia said, "So he's actually a living skeleton. How is that possible?"

"A Devil Fruit," I answered. Everyone looked at me in surprise.

"There's one that turns somepony into a skeleton?" Luna asked in shock.

"Yohohoho. Not exactly," Brook said, dusting his clothes off. Looking at him, I saw that his skull had a crack similar to the one he had on Thriller Bark. "This is nothing more than a bit of misfortune."

"What do you mean?" she questioned.

"The Devil Fruit I ate was called the Revive-Revive Fruit. It allows the consumer a second chance at life. Unfortunately however, you aren't immediately resurrected, your soul has to return to your body. When I died, I was on a ship, that was adrift in the ocean." Everyone's eyes widened and Brook nodded, "As you can probably guess, I didn't find my body for quite some time. By the time I had it was in this state."

"Why would enter your body despite the horrid state it was in?" Rarity asked.

A melancholic look spread across Brook's face, "Because me and my crew made a promise to someone we cared for. And even though I do not think he would forgive us for having died irresponsibly and because of our selfish promise would yell into the skies if he could." He gained an almost angry look, "That death isn't an apology...!!! Because a man once said that they absolutely would come back!!!"

Everyone looked at him in shock and sadness. "That's heartbreaking," Fluttershy said, sadness in her voice.

Brook shook himself, "Pardon me for a moment." He reached up and... he pulled his violin out of his freaking afro! We all stared him in shock. He noticed this and shrugged, "Ever since coming here, I've been able to do that. For example," he reached up again and pulled out a bottle of milk. He pulled the tab off and began to drink it. My shock quickly turned to amusement as the ponies, dragon, and changeling's bafflement only increased when they realized that Brook was actually drinking the milk and it wasn't just falling through him. After finishing the milk, he lifted his violin and began to play.

All of the mares had tears in their eyes and the guys all had sad looks on their faces.

"You know, it's been a long day. How about we get some rest?" I suggested.

"Damn, it has only been a day hasn't it?" Ashley said. "I think Sean's right."

"Of course. You all deserve some rest after everything that's happened," Celestia said. "You may all stay here for the night and can head back in the morning." Everyone thanked her and the guards began to escort us to our rooms.

I noticed that Heart hadn't moved, "You not tired?"

"I'll head to bed in a minute," she said. I shrugged and caught up with the others.

[POV Change: Heart]

When the others left, Celestia asked, "Is something wrong Heart?"

I shook my head, "Nothing wrong. I wanted to ask something."

"And that is?" Luna asked.

I turned to Nightmare Moon and questioned, "I was just wondering when Nightmare Moon will tell Sean how she feels."

Nightmare's face lit up, and she stuttered, "W-What in Equestria are you t-talking about?"

I rolled my eyes, "I can feel your love for him coming from you." Nightmare Moon's blush deepened. "If it helps, I could feel something coming from him."

She looked at me in surprise, and, sightly hopefully, asked, "You did?"

"I'm not sure if it's love, but he does feel something for you," I told her. "You should act before he starts to only see you as a friend."

"It's just that, I... I'm not sure if I should start a relationship with him," Nightmare said. "I'll live long after he's passed away and I don't know how I could live after he passed."

"Princess," I started, gaining her attention. "I know it's cliche, but as the saying goes. 'Tis better to have loved and lost, than to never have loved at all."

Nightmare Moon sighed, "I suppose." She paused before saying, "I need to think on it for a little bit."

"Of course, Princess," I said. "Good night Your Highnesses."

"Good night, Heart," they said, as I left.

When I walked through the doors, I was surprised to hear someone clear their throat. Looking around, I saw Ashley standing next to the doors.

"How much of that did you hear?" I asked.

"Pretty much all of it," she answered. "I wasn't really expecting something that personal and I wish I hadn't listened in like that."

"So, you know how she feels," I stated as we walked through the castle.

"To be honest, I had a feeling. I saw how she reacted when he tried to calm her down," she said. "I know it was because of him since she didn't have the blush before he started rubbing her back."

"You think she'll do it?" I asked.

"I actually hope so. She deserves to know what love is like after all," she replied.

I nodded in agreement as we reached our rooms. "Well good night, Ashley," I said.

"See you tomorrow, Heart," she said, before walking into her room.

I entered my room and laid down to rest, hoping that Nightmare Moon would take my advice.