Why Did This Happen to Me?by TechnovoreChaptersChapter 1Chapter 2Chapter 3Chapter 4Chapter 5Chapter 6Chapter 1Chapter 1 A dark aura shot passed me nearly hitting my face. “Whoa! That was too close for comfort.”, I exclaimed. I had been at this fight for nearly two hours and I am tired. This giant heartless I had been battling wasn't even half way dead and I was nearly dead. Man, I wish that this was the other way around, but life won't allow that. I look up to see the giant heartless firing another aura ball from it's heart shaped hole in the chest at me so I roll to the side in an attempt to stay alive since hitting it with my Keyblade can't block it since, well, it's the size of me. Thankfully i'm still alive and I can still beat this heartle-less. “CRAP!”, I yelled with frustration throwing the playstation controller onto a giant cube pillow. After five hours of playing kingdom hearts 1 for two of those hours were of fighting against the giant heartless named Darkside, I had died because I didn't see the second aura ball he had fired. this Darkside is much harder than the one at the beginning of the game, Any kingdom hearts player can agree with me. “why can't I beat Darkside? I mean, I was able to do it at the beginning of the game why can't I do it now? Is it because it's at the end of the game or what?! Why did they have to make kingdom hearts harder in the 1.5 remix? You know what forget this, i'm doing something else. Now, what to do?” I look around the cluttered basement i'm in not knowing what to do next. I hate it when this happens to me. Then the light bulb went off over my head, I could do a story with my brother! Now my stories are different. Most people tell stories, but I act them out. I change my outfit for them and I do the things i'm describing. “HEY STEPHEN!”, I yell hoping to get a response from upstaris. “Yeah Stan?”, I hear as I see my little brother walking down the steps. “You wanna do a story?” “Sure.” “Okay cool, I gotta get changed first.” “Alright, i'll be outside.”, he said as he walked up the steps and opening the door and walking outside. I run upstairs into my room with intent on finding the coolest outfit. I change out of my shorts and doctor who t-shirt and into a black t-shirt, light blue jeans, black gym shoes with three white strips on each side of the shoes, black cotton fingerless gloves, a leather jacket that has two white strips going down the sides of the arms and the side of the jacket underneath the arms, and finally brass steam punk goggles on my forehead. Satisfied with what I have on I walk outside to meet up with Stephen. “So, what story do you want to do?”, I ask him “how about the one where you're a sword art online guy and i'm a guy from kingdom hearts called shadow and we're in a humanized version of Equestria?” “Shadow?” “Yeah, shadow. I think it sounds awesome!” “If you say so.”, I reply in defeat. -------------------------------------------------------2 hours later------------------------------------------------------ FINALLY! I AM DONE! That story took a lot longer than I wanted it to really go on and it's only half done. Doesn't matter at least he'll stop nagging me to do it later on. I walk into my room to change out of my clothes but as I walk into my room I see something I thought I never would see............discord. “Oh hello. My name is Discord, spirit of chaos. You must be Stanley, well Congratulations my friend,” he says a confetti is hot out from his paw and claw, “I have something special for you. I have randomly selected you for an experiment”, he smirked. “What in the nine layers of Tartarus?”, I said with confusion. “Would you like to know what it is?”, he asks as he's about two inches from my face “Huh?”, I say shocked and confused. “it seems that he is in shock of my presence. Close your eyes please.”, he asked “why do you want m-”, I didn't get to finish my sentence because I heard a snap and blacked out. I feel pain. Nothing but pain and a nice silky feeling on my face, but mostly pain. I open my eyes to see nothing but darkness. “I'm blind! Wait, no I can see a silhouette of something. A shirt?”, I say to myself. I reach my arm out to grab the shirt. Yep, it's definitely a shirt. I reach to pull off whatever is on my face and I pull off what kinda looks like a silk dress, but I don't know because of the darkness. It then dawns on me, i'm in a closet. I hear a door open and close and what sounds like a girl voice talking to someone. Why does this voice sound familiar? I open the door a crack to see who it is and I see a girl that has mint green hair with a white streak in it and she's wearing a light pink top with green shorts. She's pacing around talking into what looks like a small mirror . She looks familiar. What is she holding? Is that vanity mirror? Must be talking to herself. Well now what to do? I can just run out, but she'll probably freak out. I could just wait till she sleeps which shouldn't take long, or I could knock and try to calm her down when she sees me but that probably won't work but it's still a shot. I'll go with option three. I lift my hand to knock on the closet door, but i'm hesitant to do that for fear of what might happen. I say myself, “screw it and do it”, and I knock. She then walks to her room door and opens it to find no one there. I knock again only to see her turn around fast and look at the closet door. “who is it?”, she says with fear. “don't be afraid, I'm not gonna hurt you. I don't want to hurt you. i'm going to open this door to leave.”, I say trying to reassure her. “are you a changeling?” “what? A changeling?”, I ask puzzled. Changeling? WAIT! No wonder why she sounded and looked familiar, she's lyra heartstrings! That or she's a super fan for mlp. “stop playing games with me changeling! I have a sword and I know how to use it!”, she threatens. “screw it.”, I whisper and open the door slowly. She really does have a sword! I see that she is pointing a sword at me. I also notice that the sword is shaking a little indicating that it's a bit heavy for her. “My Name is Stan. What's yours?”, I ask. “I'm Lyra. Stan......that's a strange name for a changeling.” “That's because i'm not a changeling because changelings aren't real, they're fake.”, I explain “No they are real. They attacked Cantorlot a little bit ago.” this might actually be mlp. Don't mess anything up, play along. “Wait, actually changelings attacked Cantorlot? I though changelings were just stories.”, I say, “How long ago was it?” “about a year ago.”, she answered. “I think I may have been camping when that happened.”, I lied. “What?”, she asked hanging her sword to her side, “Well you must have heard about it when you got back.”, she said puzzled. “I'm a recluse. I stay in my house most of the time.”, I say which is quite accurate. “Really?” “Really really.”, I reply hoping she believes me. “Oh, okay. Sorry I accused you of being a changeling.”, she says putting the sword on the bed. “now that we got that out of the way can you please tell me were I am because something happened that took me from my house and I kinda ended up in your closet.”, I ask. “Oh you're in my house.” “No, I mean what town, what country.” “sorry. You're in the town of Ponyville in the country of Equestria.”, she corrected herself. “....................what?”, I ask in disbelief. I run over to her window hoping she's messing with me, but what I see proves otherwise. I see that it's actually ponyville and I see the citizens going about there business enjoying the day. As for me I freak out internally. I notice that I am on ground level so I open up the window and lunge out doing a roll when my back touches the ground and start running hoping that this is a dream. I stop running after how knows what and put my hands on my knees. “*pant**pant* Now I know that *pant**pant* this is real because in dreams you don't get tired.”, I say. I sit down to relax and to take in my surroundings, I see that i'm right I front of town hall. Now what. I don't want to do the stereotypical thing and look for Twilight. I am feeling hungry, I wonder where sweet apple acres is?”. I get up and walk to a random stranger who looks a lot like time turner. “Excuse me?”, I ask getting his attention, “I'm new in town and I need to get to Sweet Apple Acres, but i'm a bit lost. Could you please tell me how to get there?” “well of course I can help you. You just head down that street over there”, he says pointing to a street behind me, “you walk down that street till it ends, then you take a left and you're going to be on that street for about two blocks, then you take a right and at the end of that street is Sweet Apple Acres.” “okay, so you said down the street behind me, a left, then a right?”, I ask just to be sure. “that's correct. I'm Time Turner by the way.” “I'm Stan. Thanks for your help.” “No problem, have a good day.” “Thanks, you too bye.” I said and turn around and walk down the road. The walk to Sweet Apple Acres was uneventful, but I wasn't as excited to see some of the characters as I thought I would be. Most likely because I'm on a different world all by myself. Alright, get a hold of yourself you're in Equestria and in front of Sweet Apple Acres. I don't have money so I have to do something that I thought I never would do. I walk into the farm and go towards the tress instead of staying on the path. I'm trying to be quiet because I know the dog, who's name I forget, might be around and I don't know how good her hearing is. I'm about thirty feet away from the path in a tree when I here voices. “Are you sure you can't give me some of that cider early?”, I hear a scratchy girl voice say. “Rainbow, you know ah can't do that. Yer jus' gonna have ta wait like everybody else.”, I hear a southern girl voice say. “Oh come on Applejack I know you got some stashed in the barn.” “How many times do ah have to tell ya? ah'm not giv-”, she stops herself because she hears sticks breaking and apples falling, “did ya hear that?” “yeah, it's probably a squirrel.” “Ah've had too many people try to steal mah apples. Ah'm gonna go look.” She heads over to the base of the tree i'm in and i'm freaking out. She bends down and sees eaten apples and good apples on the ground. She picks a good apple up and looks up in my direction. I really hope she doesn't see me. “Who's up there? Don't make me come up there! Show yourself!”, she yelled what am I gonna do!? I could show myself, I could jump down and run, or stay up here and let her find me. Gorramit conscience why do you always make me do right! I decided what i'll do, so I jump down from the tree. “Hi, my name's Stanley. Sorry about eating the apples.” Author's Note This is my first Fan Fiction so please be nice. I would like constructive criticism because I want to know what I did wrong and fix it. Chapter 2Chapter 2 “why were you eatn' mah apples?”, Applejack asks in an accusing tone. “Eh.....I’m new in town and I was hungry and I didn't have any money. Sorry about the apples again.”, I apologize. I'm then knocked, rather hard I might add, into the tree I hid in. “Ow.”, I say. “Who are you and why were you in that tree?! Are you one of those apple raiders that keep stealing her apples?!”, Rainbow accuses with her arm left forearm pressed against my throat and right arm raised in a fist. “I'm a guy who's new in town and I was in that tree because I was hiding! Please get off, I’m having a hard time breathing!”, I plead with what little air I have. “Rainbow get off him. His face is turnin' purple.”, Applejack commands taking note of my face. “Fine, but keep your lasso around in case he tries to run.” “Oh I intend ta keep mah lasso on me me.”, she said patting the lasso on her hip. “Now, ya said that yer name is Stanley right?”, applejack asks. “yeah, but I kinda like what skittles over there called me. Raider, I like it.”, I say. “I said you were a raider I didn't mean that was your name.” “i know but I’m keeping it. My name is Raider now and I’m not changing my mind.”, I protest. “Fine, But ya know yer gonna have ta pay back those apples ya ate.” “Okay, that seems fair, but I don't have any money on me so is there any other way I can help pay back the apples?”, I ask. “Well......”, Rainbow says with a smirk on her face. “No, not that. Probably should have worded that differently, I mean through labor. I could work on this farm, help sell the apples, or help clean your house. What do ya say?”, I ask with hope. “Well mah big brother, Big Mac, does need some help with the animals. If ya help him with that ah'll let ya go. How does that sound?”, Applejack said. “Great! Lead the way!”, I exclaim with enthusiasm. I get to work with animals! I wonder if I’m going to brush horses or feed the chickens? I can't wait! “Ah'm Applejack by the way, and that over there is Rainbow dash.” “It's nice to meet you Applejack and Rainbow dash.” I follow Applejack back to the dirt path to her house with Rainbow following me, most likely because she wants to keep an eye on me which is understandable. We then make it to the big red barn where I see what looks like Big Mac out front pushing barrels into the barn. “HEY BIG MAC!”, Applejack yells which grabs his attention, “Remember when ya said ya needed help with the animals?” “Eeyup.” “This guy, Stan-er Raider, volunteered to help ya. He's all yers.”, she said with a smirk that worried me. Big Mac leaves the barrel alone, walks into the barn and comes out with a big shovel and gives me the 'follow me' arm gesture, to which I do accordingly. He leads me to the big animals like cows and horses, then explains what I am to do. “What ah want you to do is take this shovel, scoop up the manure and put it in the big wheel barrow over there.”, he explains with his deep voice. “Wait, you want me to pick the crap of the animals?” “Eeyup.”, he said while smiling. “Is that why you guys were smiling?” “Eeyup.” “Dang it.”, I mutter as I take the shovel he was offering, “Do you have anything to close my nose?” “Nnope.” “Wonderful.”, I said a monotone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 smelly hours later-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Ugh, I have horse crap on my favorite shoes and pants. Why couldn't you have me clean the house or brush the horses?”, I complain as Applejack and I were standing in front of the barn. “Because neither Big Mac or I wanted ta do it and you were willin' ta do anything, so ah took the opportunity. Well, since ya paid yer debt yer free ta go.”, Applejack explained “Thanks, and I’m guessing you got some entertainment by watching me freak out when the crap got on me?” “Eeyup.”, she said while snickering at the memory. “Well then, I guess I’ll be on my way then. Oh I just remembered, do you know of any place I can stay?” “You can stay here if ya want.”, she said giving me a friendly smile. “Really? Even after me eating your apples, you're still gonna let me stay here?”, I ask with confusion. “Ever heard of hospitality before. Ah may be peeved about the apples, but ya don't have a place ta stay and us apples always help those in need.” “Wow, thanks. I really do appreciate it.”, I say with a smile, “Is it alright if I walk around town or am I still needed here?” “Na, ah think that Big Mac and I can handle the rest of the work. Don't ferget, supper is served at eight o'clock, so in about four hours.” “Alright thanks, I won't forget. I take food very seriously.”, I said as I’m walking away. I'm so happy I don't have to shovel up any more poop. That was the most disgusting thing I've ever done. Now what to do? There's always Sugar Cube Corner, or the Golden Oaks Library, or useless walking around town and listening to random conversations as I walk by................... I'll go with the last one. With the decision made I head into town to do absolutely nothing productive, which is how I like to do things. I'm walking aimlessly through the towns and none of the conversations are interesting. There mostly about how good today is and how their businesses are doing. I did pass Sugar Cube Corner but didn't go in because I was afraid Pinkie would get me all wound up with her fast talking. I assume she talks fast from what I've read in fan fics. As I'm walking down a road that has stores, I see a music shop on the left side of it. A music store. Hm, I'm intrigued as to what kind of music I'll find in there. I walk to the store and open the door which rings a bell at the top of it, getting the attention of the girl behind the desk who looks like Vinyl Scratch listening to music on headphones. She looks up at me and waves, I wave back. I take notice of the stores organized settings, which surprises me because it's Vinyl. I see that the store looks like your normal music store, but the vinyl discs are on the left side, the cassette tapes are in the center, and the CD’s are on the right side. I head over the the CD's and start flipping through them. I notice that there are some albums that have names that look almost exactly like ones from Earth. Some band names are the same, some are different, some are, I think, ones made here and are only here because I don't know them. One album grabs my attention, it's a hand hold a grenade in the shape of a heart and says on the top 'EQUESTRIAN IDIOT'. I look on the back of the CD case and I see that some names of the songs have been changed. 'American idiot' turned into 'Equestrian idiot', 'Jesus of suburbia' has turned into 'Luna of suburbia' and 'St. Jimmy' has turned into 'St. Discord'. Oh I so have to get this, but how? I'll ask Vinyl. “Excuse me ma'am, is there a way to pay for this album without using bits?”, I ask walking up to the counter. “Ma'am? Please don't call me ma'am, it makes me feel old, Call me Vinyl Scratch. No, there isn't another way to pay. Sorry.”, she said with her raspy voice. “oh, alright. Thanks anyway.”, I say with a defeated tone as I go to put it back. “Wait.”, she says making me turn around. “If you can play an instrument, I'll take you in the recording studio and if you can impress me, like really impress me, then I'll pay for it. How 'bout that?”, she asks giving me hope again. “Sure!” “Alright come on then.”, she said while leading me to a room behind her. She takes me in the room and I see a drum set, a bass guitar, and electric guitar, a mic stand, and an electric triangle? “Choose your instrument.” I walk over to the drum set and sit in the seat. I pick up the drum sticks that were on the snare drum. I step on the hi-hat pedal repeatedly to begin the song I'm going to play, 'Basket Case'. When the time comes for the drums to enter the song, I go all out. I'm Hitting the cymbals, snare drum, hi-hat, and bass pedal on time or nearly on time. When the song ends I put the drums sticks back on the snare drum and stand up. “How was that?”, I ask. “I can't believe you know how to play 'Basket Case' That song is hard. There were some parts where you you hit the bass pedal to soon or to late, but other than that you did great. What other songs can you play?”, she asks. “I can do 'Welcome to Paradise'.” “Do it man and if you can do it, you can keep the album.”, she says with a smile. I sit back down, pick up the drum sticks, and play the song flawlessly. After I finish I stand up, put the sticks down and walk to Vinyl. “Dude that was sick! That album is all yours man.” “Really? I was that good? Wow thanks.”, I say with a satisfied smile. “I forgot to ask, what;s your name dude?”, she asks as we get back to the counter. “it's Raider.” “Well you already know my name so I don't have to say it again.”, she then pays for the album and hands it back to me, “Here you go Raider. Have a wicked day.” “Thanks.”, I said. As I'm about to walk out of the building, I look at the clock on the wall behind Vinyl and see that it's seven thirty. My eyes go wide and I think to myself OH CRAP. I put my CD in my jacket's pocket and sprint out of the store. I run as fast as I can through the streets narrowly avoiding carts, people, and food stands. As I'm running I see two picnic tables in front of me and instead of going around them and wasting time and energy I decide I'm gonna do a little parkour. As I approach the first table I jump a few feet in front of it and stick my legs out in front of me, putting my hands on the table and push off landing on my feet smoothly. With the second table, I lunge forward, putting my hands on the table, tucking my knees up to my chest and push off the table landing on my feet as I get over it, successfully doing the Dash vault and the Kong vault. I keep running, occasionally stopping to catch my breathe, until I make it to Applejack's house. I'm standing in front of the house feeling exhausted from all the running so I walk up the the porch and sit down in a rocking chair. I don't get to relax for long because a few seconds later I hear the door open and see Applejack come out with what looks like a dinner bell. “SUPPER'S READY, COME AND GET IT.”, she yelled while banging the bell as loud as she. Apparently she didn't take notice of me to the side with my hands over my ears. “Ow! I'm right here you don't have to yell.”, I say while waiting to get my hearing back. “Sorry. Ah was yellin' ta Big Mac at the barn and mah lil' sister Applebloom in her tree house out there.”, she said while pointing to the orchards. “Ah'm coming Applejack!”, I here a young voice say. I see little Applebloom running out of the orchards and Big Mac walking from the side most likely from the barn. Applebloom makes it to the house first and stops on the porch when she sees me. “Uh, Applejack, who's that?”, she asks point to me. I bend down to her eye level with my hands on my knees and say, “My name is Raider. I'm going to be staying here for a bit till I find another place to stay.” “Who offered you ta stay?”, she asks. “Applejack did.” “Oh, well then if Applejack trusts ya, then ah do too.”, she said with a friendly smile and walked in the house. “She seems nice.”, I said. “Eeyup, but she and her friends can get into some mighty big trouble.”, Big Mac said as he walked past me into the house. “Come on sugarcube, let's eat.”, Applejack said as she went in the house. I went into the house because my hunger was starting to get to me. I follow Applejack into the dining room where there was already a large amount of food on the table half of which are apple products. Before I sit down next to Big Mac I take off my gloves and put them in my pockets then take off my jacket and put it on the seat. I see an old lady, who I think is Granny Smith, sit at the end of the table and ask, “Who's this young whipper-snapper sittn' next ta Big Mac?” “My name's Raider Mrs........”, I ask out of politeness. “You can call me Granny Smith, Raider. Ah'm everyone's Granny in this town.”, she said with a warm smile, “If'n ya don't mind me askin' but why are ya eatin' at our table and not yer own?” “Well, I'm new in town and I didn't have a place to stay so Applejack here offered me a place to stay here.” “Is that true Applejack?”, to which Applejack nods. “Applejack you showed good apple hospitality. Ah'm proud of ya.”, she said while looking at Applejack. “Aw shucks, thanks Granny.”, she said looking a bit bashful. Big Mac then looks to me and says, “After supper I'll show ya the guest room fer you ta stay in.” After dinner was eaten, I grabbed my jacket from the seat and Big Mac took me up the stairs into a hallway and lead me into the room I'm staying in. “This is where ya gonna be stayin' in. If ya need anything ah'm right across the hall. You have a good night.”, He closed the door leaving the room. I look around the room, it isn't a big fancy room, but it's nice. It has it's own bathroom, a nightstand with a lamp on top of it next to the bed, a dresser, a mirror, a closet and a window. It's kinda big and roomy, I like it. I head over to the closet and put my jacket in it, put my gloves on the night stand, and basically take everything off except my pants. I flop in the bed, get under the covers, and finally get some rest. Author's Note Just to make things easier for everyone all the characters are wearing the clothes that they wore in Equestria Girls, except for Applejack. She's wearing jeans instead of a skirt. Chapter 3Chapter 3 The next morning I woke up to the sound of an EXTREMELY ANNOYING ROOSTER SITTING ON THE WINDOW THAT I FORGOT TO CLOSE! I was able to shut the gorram thing up by throwing one of my shoes at it. It hit it's target, but I had to go outside to get my shoe from a rather pissed off rooster hoarding my shoe! I had to go to drastic measures, because nothing else worked, and get a shovel to get my shoe back. On the plus side I got my shoe back, the downside is I think I killed the rooster. I mean is the brain supposed to be outside the skull? I had to throw the dead animal in the orchards and get the bloody part of the ground wet to wash the blood away. Anyway, after that whole kerfuffle I went inside to get ready for the day. I head to my room, shower, change back into my clothes and head downstairs to get something to eat. It didn't really surprise me when I saw the Apple family already eating. “Morning.” I said. “Mornin'.” they said in unison. “Whatcha eating?” I asked. Granny smith piped up, “Ah made eggs and bacon. There's some more in the kitchen if ya want some.” “Sweet! There's bacon!” I went into the kitchen and saw a beautiful array of food. There was food till Tuesday! I'm in heaven. This isn't Equestria it's heaven. I grabbed a plate and loaded it with bacon and a small side of eggs. I walk back into the dining room and sit at the table. I grab a piece of bacon first because everybody eats the bacon first. As I bite the bacon I swear fireworks were going off and “Ode To Joy” was going on in the background. I drop the remaining piece of the bacon on the plate and just sit there with an open mouth showing the chewed bacon and with eyes as wide as saucers. “Is somethin' wrong there, Sunny?” Granny asks me with worry. She got her answer when I stuffed my face with more of the delicious meat. “*Gulp* This is the best bacon I've had in my entire life! How do you get it to be this good?” I ask. “That's Granny's little secret, Sunny.” Granny said with a cheeky grin. “Darn. I would have liked to try to make it myself. Of course I might catch myself on fire like ht elast time I tried to make bacon.” I shudder at the memory. “Ya caught yerself on fire?” little Applebloom asked. “Well I was cooking myself breakfast and I had accidentally got some oil on my shirt and I got too close to the fire on the stove aaaaand I think you can imagine the rest. I got a scar on my arm now. Luckily it isn't too big, just a couple inches big.” I explain. “Ouch, sounds like it hurt.” Big Mac said. “It did, but I felt much, much better after putting ice on it and wrapping it up.” “Let's change the subject please. Mah bacon is startin' ta taste funny.” Applejack pleads. “Alright Sis. So Raider, what do ya like ta do fer fun?” Big Mac asked. “There are many things I like to do, but only a few can come to mind. Let's see, I like to draw, Read, Rollerblade, Snowboard, Parkour, listen to and play music, play video games, and do stupid stuff.” I said. “Interesting. Now when ya said 'play music' do ya mean ya play an instrument?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, I do. I play the drums.” I said. “Ah play an instrument too, ah play the bass and Big Mac plays the guitar.” Applejack said. “Wow, then we can start a band if we want to!” I exclaim. “That certainly is an idea, but I don't think that we'll have time fer it.” Applejack said. As breakfast continued the Apple family and I continued to chat about life and random stuff that popped in our heads. After breakfast was finished I helped Granny Smith do the dishes while Applebloom got ready for school and Big Mac and Applejack started doing the chores around the farm. After the dishes were finished I didn't want to bother the Apple family and mess up what they're doing so I head to town. I got a bone to pick with Discord and the only way I know how to get to Discord is through Twilight. As I'm walking through the market place I pass many individuals some who I recognize and others I don't. This is so amazing! Ponyville looks much better than it does in the show! I wonder we- I'm cut off because I ran into someone. “Ow.” I said as I rub my head. “Ugh.” I hear from the victim of my clumsiness. I look up and I see lyra rubbing her head as well. “Lyra?” I ask. “Huh? Stan?” She asks. “Yeah. Hey listen, I'm sorry about running yesterday I was just freaking out.” I explain. “It's alright, I was worried when you ran out. You looked as scared as a lost puppy and I didn't know what would happen to you when you ran away. Where did you go?” she said. “I just wandered around and ended up at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack there was kind enough to let me stay the night there. Right now I happen to be looking for Twilight Sparkle, do you know where she is?” I said. “I don't know. Maybe I could help you look for her, but why do you need to find her?” She asked. “I need her to get a hold of someone that I need to talk to.” I said. “Okay. Let's get going.” she said. “Cool. Where do you think she'll be?” “She's probably at the library. Come on, I'll show you the way.” She said as she turns around and starts to walk away. We walk towards the library I hope of finding Twilight. We pass vendors, shoppers, and people there having conversations. As I look at the crowd I see Twilight's hair but i'm not really sure if it was her because someone walked and then she disappeared. I stop and look around hoping I can find her again. Lyra looks back and sees I stopped following and just standing there. “Stan, are you alright?” She asks. “Yeah, but I think I saw Twilight. There she is!” I said pointing to her amongst the crowd. “I see her now.” “Come on!” I say as make my way to her. “Alright.” she said as she follows. Lyra and I navigate our way around the crowd to get to Twilight. We make it to her and she's talking to Pinkie Pie. “Excuse me.” I said. “Huh?” Twilight says as she turns her head toward me. “Are you Twilight Sparkle?” I ask. “Yes I am, why?” “My name's Raider and I'm new in town and I just wanted to make sure you were Twilight Sparkle.” I said. As soon as I finished talking Pinkie jumped four feet in the air with a huge gasp and ran off at a speed that could rival Dash. “Wait, I thought your name was Stan?” Lyra asked. “It is, but I'm calling myself Raider because from all the names I've so far 'Stan' is out of place. Miss Sparkle, I need your help.” I said. “Okay, how can I help you?” Twilight asked. “Can you please summon Discord?” I request. “Discord? Ugh, what did he do now?” she asked with a fed up expression. “Something very uncool.” “I would prefer it if I didn't do it in a crowded area. I'll teleport us to the library.” Twilight said. She lifts her hands and a purple aura surrounds her hands. So they do have magic here. A flash happens and Twilight, Lyra, and i appear in front of the library. I start to get woozy and feel like I'm inside out. “Are you alright?” Lyra asked. “I feel like crap.” “Sorry.” Twilight said, “Haven't you teleported before?” “No, I haven't.” I stand up felling a little better. “Sorry, first time teleportations are always rough.” Twilight said, “Now I can summon him.” twilight lifts her hands again and the aura appears once more. A flash of light appears and Discord shows up in his bathtub taking a shower. “Winter wrap up, Winter wrap up. Huh? Twilight what did I say about letting me know before you summon me?” he said as the bathtub disappeared, “Oh hello there, I remember you Stanley. How are you integrating into society?” he asked. “Wait, this was the creature you said you would bring into Equestria for the experiment?” Twilight asked. “Why yes of course Twilight! So far he hasn't died or started any riots yet, so I think this experiment is a success so far!” Discord yells triumphantly. “What experiment?!” I yell. “Discord didn't tell you?” Twilight asks. “No he didn't! All he did was say I was selected for an experiment and snapped his fingers and I ended up in Lyra's closet!” “So that's how you got in my closet?” Lyra asked. “Yes, that's how. Sorry I lied to you about being a recluse I just didn't know what else to say at the moment. Wait, Twilight. You knew about his experiment, you were in on it too?!” I said. “Yes, but it's not what you think. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and I gave him the okay, but when he said he was bringing a creature to Equestria to see if it could integrate and be accepted into society. we thought he was talking about an animal like a dog or cat not a person! You lied to us Discord!” Twilight pointed and accusing finger at Discord. “I did tell him I randomly chose him. It could have well been an animal or something else that looks nothing like him or you or a dog.” DIscord explains. “That doesn't make it any better Discord.” Twilight said while rubbing her temples. “Do you want me to send him back” Discord asked. “YES/YES!” Twilight and I say simultaneously. “Well I can't. Using that dimensional teleportation spell for both him and me took a lot out of me. I can't even do major chaos spells, like lifting houses our bending nature to my will.” Discord said while looking at the ground sad. “So what your saying is that I can't leave till you get the energy back for major spells?” “That is correct.” “How long will that take?” I ask. “Knowing how much that spell took out of me it will probably take a good long while. In the meantime you can enjoy your time here and we can see how well the experiment pans out. TTFN, ta ta for now!” Discord snaps his fingers and he disappears. “I am so going to tell Princess Celestia about this!” Twilight said. “This is just fan-friggin'-tastic. I'm stuck on another world because someone thought it'd be funny and I can't go back. So far this has been one heck of a day.” I sit down with my back against the front door, bury my face in my hands and start to cry. Lyra and Twilight sit next to me and Lyra puts her hand on my shoulder. “It's going to be alright Stan.” Lyra says, “You may not have anyone you know here but you got at least two people you want to help you, I know how it feels to be alone. When I first got to Ponyville I had no one, I felt like a fish out of water till someone decided to help me and now she's my best friend. All I had to do was let her help. You can do the same if you let the ones who want to help do so. What do ya say, are you willing to let us help?” “Yeah, I guess so.” I lift my head and look at Lyra with my watery eyes and smile, “Thanks.” “Any time. So, what are you going to do now?” Lyra asked. “I don't know. Who was this friend that you were talking about?” “Her name was Bon Bon. She works at the candy shop not too far from here.” “I know what I want to do now.” I said. “What is it?” Twilight asked. “Go to the candy store. Nobody can be upset when they're eating candy. Where is it?” I said. “Come on, I'll show you.” Lyra stands up and offers her hand to me. I gladly accept it and we help Twilight get to her feet. Lyra starts to walk and Twilight and I follow suit. We finally make it to the shop called “Bon Bon's Sweet drops”. We open the door hitting a bell and it grabs the attention, of who I think is Bon Bon, from behind the counter. Her expression lightens up and she walks toward us, she gives Lyra a hug when she gets to us. “It's good to see you again Lyra how are you doing?” Bon Bon asked. “I'm doing good Bon Bon, thank you for asking. This guy here needs some of your best candy. He hasn't had the best of days today and he needs some of your delicious delicacies to help him cheer up.” Lyra said. “Sure Lyra! What's your name?” Bon Bon asked looking at me. “I'm Raider, it's good to meet you.” She and I shake hands. “You came to the right place to get candy. What kind do you want?” She directed me to the counter that displayed some of their treats. “We got chocolate caramel, taffy, vanilla chocolate, chocolate covered malt balls, and different kinds of fudges and if there isn't anything you want in here you can go to the wall over there and see if there's something ya want over there.” she points to a white wall to my left covered in containers holding candy. I make my selection of candies, mostly fudge, chocolate and Equestria's equivalent of smarties called “Branies” because nobody can be upset when they're eating smarties. Twilight pays for the candy out of the kindness of her heart and we walk out. Twilight tells me she wants to go back to the library and talk about my world, but I didn't want to go back to the library so instead she takes us to the pond in the park to talk about it. The walk there was pretty uneventful, all we did was eat and talk about random stuff. When we get to the lake we sit down, Twilight teleports a quill and paper in front of her. “So, first off, would you prefer to be called Raider or Stan?” Twilight asks. “Right now I would prefer to be called Raider.” Twilight writes what I just said down. “What is your planet's name?” “It's called Earth. What's yours called?” I ask. “It's called Equis.” Lyra said. “Please describe what your world is like.” Twilight said. “One major difference is my world doesn't have magic, none what so ever.” I say. “What?! No magic? Then how do you control the weather or do anything?!” Twilight said. “No magic huh? Must be different.” Lyra said. “The humans that inhabit my world don't control the weather at all, we just let it do it's own thing. As for the 'do anything' bit, humans use their knowledge, strength and imagination to build machines or create chemicals to do what they want. Like with flying, humans can't fly so we build giant machines called planes that have engines and metal wings to fly.” I said. “That's incredible!” Twilight jots down her new 'discovery'. “Yes humans can create, but we're very good at destroying too.” I say with a sad expression, “Humans have created weapons of war that cause great destruction and death, for instance, the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb is a weapon created during World War II. It's able to level a massive city I mere seconds and if you did survive it would have to be far away to not be caught and die from the poisonous radiation emitted from it.” “Wait, back up. You said “World War II” does that mean the whole world was at war?” Lyra asked. “Yep, twice.” I hold up two fingers, “Millions died. Not one of Mankind's greatest moments.” “I'll say. How advanced are you technology wise?” Twilight said. “Pretty far advanced. We have planes that can break the sound barrier, computer chips the size of or smaller than the finger nail of your pinkie finger, machines called 'cars' used for transportation that can go over 200 miles per hour, giant rockets and shuttles that can take us to space and the moon, aquatic vessels called 'submarines' that can dive deep into the ocean, and buildings that are hundreds of feet tall. What I've just said only scratches the surface of what humans have done.” “Astounding! It's absolutely incredible what your humans can do! I can't wait to tell Princess Celestia about this!” Twilight exclaims. The next few hours are spent talking about the humans on Earth, the history of Equis and the adventures Twilight and her friends have, to how talking about Earth to the Mane Six's adventures happened, I don't know. As we take a break from talking a note appears in front of Twilight and lands on her lap. “What's that Twilight?” Lyra asked. “It's a note from Pinkie Pie.” Twilight replied. “What does it say?” I ask. “It says, 'Dear Twilight, Hi it's Pinkie Pie! I have a surprise waiting for the new guy in town. Can you please bring him to Sugar Cube Corner for me? The surprise starts at six thirty, I think you know what the surprise is so please don't tell him. Sincerely Pinkie Pie.' How did she teleport the note to me?” Twilight said. “What time is it now?” I ask. Twilight looks at a small watch she's wearing on her left arm. “It's six o'clock. It'll take us about thirty minutes to walk there, what do you want to do? Do you want to walk there now or stay here, talk about our worlds more and teleport there when the time comes?” Twilight asked. “No! No teleporting again! We can walk, walking is nice, walking is our friend, we love walking!” I said. “Whoa, come down. We can walk if you want to.” Lyra said. “Let's get going, I like surprises!” Isaid. We stand up but we fall back down because we have pins and needles now. We stand back up and start walking again to try to get this feeling away. As we're walking through the streets of Ponyville Twilight and Lyra were telling me about the customs and rules in Equestria seeing as though I'm going be here for awhile. We make it to Sugar Cube Corner and I see the lights aren't on, we open the door and walk inside. All I see I darkness till the lights turn on and I get the living daylights out of me. “SURPRISE!” People yell. I jump into a fighting stance with my head darting around at lightning fast speeds. I see a group of people are gathered into Sugar Cube Corner and are standing underneath a sign that says “Welcome To Ponyville!”. A pink blur appears in front of me three inches from my face. “Hii'mPinkiePie! Thispartywsathrownjustforyou! What'syourname,doyoulikeparties,doyoulikecupcakes,doyoulikecake,huh,doya,doya,doay?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Well, my name is Raider or Stan, but you can call me Raider. I do happen to like parties, cupckaes and cakes.” I say after I stand correctly. “How were you able to understand that?! Almost nobody can understand her when they first meet her!” Lyra said. “My brother speaks fast so I had to learn how to understand him. That and I speak fast sometimes too.” I said. “LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” Pinkie yelled. She bounced away to Vinyl Scratch, who happened to be behind her turntables. She must be providing the music. I see Pinkie telling Vinyl something, Vinyl nods and starts playing music. I look around the room and I see two tables, one table has snacks on it and the second one has desserts on it. There's about seventy people here at an eyes glance, some are talking, some are eating, and others are dancing. “There you are Raider.” A voice said. I trun around and I see Applejack. “Where were you?” “I was around town having fun, getting some bad news, eating candy and talking to Twilight and Lyra. I left because I didn't want to bother you while you were working on the farm.” “That was mighty kind of ya, but when did you mean when ya said 'getting bad news'?” Applejack said. “I found out from Discord that I'm going to be stuck here for awhile.” I said with sadness. “What do ya mean?” She asked. “When I told you that I wasn't from this town, I was telling the truth but not the whole truth. The truth is that I'm from another dimension and I was brought here by Discord as an experiment. He can't take me back now because that spell he used to bring me here took a lot of energy out of him and it's going to be awhile before it comes back.” I said. “Ah'm sorry Raider. Being away from yer loved ones is hard, but don't worry because you got friends like Twilight, Lyra and I ta help ya through.” Applejack said. “Thanks. Anyway, we're at a party so let's act like there's no tomorrow!” I say putting my fist in the air. The rest of the night was spent dancing, talking, eating, meeting new people like Fluttershy and Rarity, nearly getting into a fight with Rainbow Dash and just enjoying myself. After the party Applejack and I headed back to the farm house. As we're walking on the dirt path In front of the house Appljack and I are make small take. “That was some party eh, Raider?” Applejack asked. “Yeah it was. I've never been to one quite like that in my entire sixteen years of existence.” I said with a smile. “Yer sixteen?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, why?” “Ah'm seventeen.” “Really? You look like your in your twenties.” I said. “Ah get that a lot, Ah kinda like it. When I first met ya I thought ya were eighteen.” She said. “How old are your other friends?” “Well, Dash is sixteen, Fluttershy and Rarity are eighteen, Pinkie is seventeen and Twilight is seventeen too.” “Did not know that.” I said. We walk up the stairs on the porch, I open the door for her and we walk inside. The lights were off and nobody was in the living room. Wouldn't be surprised because their grandfather clock on the wall to my left said that it was 10:00. we walk up the steps into the wall way and stop at our respective doors. “Night, Raider. Ya sleep well now, ya hear.” Applejack said. “Thanks, you too. Night.” I said. We walk into our rooms and shut the door. I hang up my jacket, take off my clothes except for my pants, flop in bed and think about the day I had. “That party really made up for the bad news.” I smile. I close my eyes and go to sleep. Author's Note I am so sorry that I haven't been posting any chapters lately. School has gotten harder and I haven't had time to write anything. I really hope this makes up for the lack of chapters. As always, constructive criticism is welcome. Chapter 4Author's Note I am so sorry this is really late. I didn't have time to write anything and when I did have the time I had writer's block. I had wanted to make this sooner but it didn't happen. So forgive me and enjoy this chapter. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 You know those mornings when you feel as if nothing could go wrong.? Yeah, I didn't have that today. I don't have a clue who did this to me, but when I looked in the mirror this morning I found my face had hand drawn graffiti on it. I found a evil, curly mustache drawn on me, a monocle around my eye, and random scribbles on my cheeks. I will find the people who did this to me and I will prank them back tenfold . I have an idea of who it was, either Skittles or Pinkie. Anyway, I gotta do stuff today. I gotta get clothes from Rarity because I am not sleeping in this outfit for the rest of my life. I try my best to wash this “art” off my face which is really hurting because I'm rubbing this wash cloth really hard. After my shower I look in the mirror and see that I got most of it off but I can still slightly see the drawings. “Well this sucks. I hope it isn't noticeable otherwise I'd look like an idiot. *sniff *sniff * smells like food! My favorite!” I get dressed and wake down stairs. As I wake in the dining room is see the Apple siblings are eating cereal. “Wait, I smelled food being cooked. What happened to that?” I ask. Big Mac swallows his food and tells me a tale of woe. “Well, Granny had made biscuits and gravy but it got knocked over by someone,” Big Mac stares Apple bloom with a look that could scare a dragon, “And since we didn't have enough time ta make some more and get ta work on the chores we made ourselves some cereal.” “Doesn't Apple Bloom need to get to school?” I ask. “Nah, today is Saturday so ah don't have school.” Apple bloom said. “Where is the cereal?” I asked. “It's in the cupboard.” Applejack said. “Thanks.” I walk into the kitchen and I find the cereal boxes right where Applejack said they would be. I grab the box that I'm assuming has cheerios in it and make m bowl of cereal. I sit down with the Apple siblings. “Where is Granny Smith?” I ask. “She had ta clean herself up because she got gravy all over her.” Big Mac said. “Yeah! She got a lot of gravy in her hair too!” Apple bloom said while trying to hold in a laugh. “Oh. Sounds unpleasant.” “Do ya have plans today Raider?” Applejack said “Yeah, I do. I need to go get some new clothes because I don't want to start smelling funny.” “Okay.” “Why do you ask?” “No reason, just curious.” “.....Okay.” I said. I don't know how this happened but right after Apple Bloom had finished eating The CMC knocked on the door and had borrowed Apple Bloom for the day, talk about convenient timing. After I finished breakfast I put the bowl in the sink and walk to Rarity's store after asking directions from Applejack. I leave the farm with an unknown journey ahead and high hopes of a epic victory that will make me a- ah who am I kidding, it's just a walk into town. Why do I do this sometimes when I have a plan? Eh, who knows. As I’m walking through town I’m looking at all the of the people, really taking in my surroundings. I look to my left and I see a Frisbee get thrown into an open window and I stop to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. “Wait! We can't go in there!” I here a familiar voice say. I see the CMC run toward the window the Frisbee got lost in. “Yeah we can. We just need to do it really fast.” Scootaloo said. And this is when I step in. I walk over to the CMC to talk to them. “What's up Apple Bloom? Did ya loose your Frisbee?” I ask. “How did ya know?” Apple Bloom said. “I saw it fly in there. Who are these two? “This here is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and we're THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS. Girls, this is Raider. The guy from outa town that's stayin' with us.” “Your not thinking of going in there, are you?” I ask. “We need to! It's my favorite Frisbee!” Scootaloo said. “We can't break into people's houses! It's not right!” “Come on! Pleeeeeaaaassseeeeeee?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle give me the puppy dog pout. “Gorramit. Fine, I'll help you. Who's place is it?” “YES!” Scootaloo cheers. “It's Time Turners.” “Time Turner? Is he the guy who wears the brown stripped suit and the sand shoes?” I ask. “Yeah, that's the guy.” Sweetie Belle said. “Is he home?” I said. “No, he works at the clock store even on weekends for some reason.” Scootaloo said. “Okay, good. Now I'm gonna hoist you through the window and you're gonna look for it.” I said “Wouldn't it be faster if we all looked for it?” Scootaloo said. “I guess you're right.” “Of course I am.” Scootaloo said proudly. “Alright, then I'll get all of you in then I'll get in. Don't touch anything, got it?” I said. “Let's just get in.” Scoots said impatiently. “Fine.” I kneel down and cup my hands to let Scoots put her foot in. when she does so I get her in and I do the same with the other two before I climb in there myself. The room is bigger than I thought it would be. It filled with machines and contraptions shut down. It looks like steam punk paradise in her and I'm loving every moment of it. “Found the Frisbee!” Scootaloo yells. “Where is it” Apple Bloom said. “It's on the big pad right here.” We all run to the pad to meet up with Scoots. “Now that we got it let's get out of here.” “What's this button?” Sweetie Belle asked pointing the big red button next to the pad. “What? Don't press-”, I didn't get to finish the sentence because guess what she did., “The button.” Now the pad is getting brighter. “We need to get off this thing!” I said. “Ya think!” Scootaloo snaps back. Before we can do it we see a bright then nothing. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I see nothing but darkness. AH, I'M BLIND! Wait........no, my eyes are closed. Maybe I should open them. I open my eyes and see the four of us are in a field. “Ugh. What happened?” I say getting up. “I ache all over.” Scootaloo said getting up. “You alright?” I ask her. “Yeah.” I see the other two get up rubbing their heads. “What happened? Where are we?” Apple Bloom asked. I look around to see if there was anything familiar but all I found was a little, little town to the right of me about 200 feet away. “I don't know, but there is a town over there. Hey Scootaloo, did you always have those numbers on your arm?” I ask Scootaloo pointing to her left forearm. “Huh? What! That wasn't there before! They're counting down! What does that mean?!” Scootaloo is now freaking out. I don't blame her, I mean we are in a new place without any knowledge of what happened and there is a number counting down on her arm. Do I have them too? I take off my jacket and check my forearm. Yep, crap. I wonder if this is the count down to our deaths. That would really suck! “Do you two have them too?” I asked Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They look at their arms and their eyes go as wide as saucers. They do apparently. “Okay, there's a town over there so we can go over there and ask where we are. Sound like a plan?” they all nod in agreement. “Good, come on.” I said walking to the town. It took us thirty minutes to get there. We would have gotten there faster if Sweetie Belle hadn't hyperventilated from her “What ifs”. You know, like what if we can't get back or what if we die before we get home. A child's imagination is very creative when they get really scared. She got really graphic for our deaths so I’m now a little scared for and of Sweetie Belle. We walked into the town and it looks very, very familiar. It looks like a town you would see in western movies and even the clothing that the people were wearing looked western. There were old stores that sold nick-knacks and who knows what, there is a good number of people but not enough to make you really uncomfortable, I can see the train stop at the station and give a whistle that could make you deaf if you were next to it, and I see the most beautiful thing I could ever see...........a hat booth! It's a booth with a counter in front of the guy, then the guy and behind him is a wall of beautiful stetsons. I want one and I know how I’m gonna get it. I look around to see if there is anything the girls can do and I see a candy store to my left. Perfect! “Hey girls? There's a candy store over there. Why don't you go into it and check out the candy while I do something that I need to do. Sound good?” they nod in response and rush into the store. I walk over to the booth see which hat I want. You know what? Just for fun I’m going to ask how much they cost. “Excuse me sir? How much are these hats?” I ask. “All these hats are ten bits, sir.” he responded. “Okay, thanks.” “Are you knew in town?” he asked me. “.....Uh, yeah. Why?” “How would you like a hat for free? As a welcome to Ponyville gift.” I said to me. “That would be great thank you! Do I get to choose which one?” “Yep, pick one out.” he said gesturing to the hats. I look at the selection of hats and find one that I like the most. “I would like that one.” I said pointing to the hat that looks like the Doctor's stetson. He grabbed the hat and handed it to me. “Alright, here you go. You know this was a one time thing right? I can't be doing this all the time.” “Yeah, I understand. Thanks.” “Your welcome and tell your friends about Happy Hats Stand!” I walk to the candy store to get the girls back. As I’m walking to the store I talk my steam punk goggles off and put them on top of the hat, then put the hat on. I look so cool! I open the door to the store and see the girls watching a guy stretch taffy of a hook. “You girls ready to go?” “Raider, look at how he's making the taffy! I didn't know they did it like that!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “You didn't know? That's how they always do it, I think. Come on we gotta go now.” they walk over to my side and we head out. “What's with the goggles on the hat?” Scootaloo asked. “I thought it was cool.” I say proudly. “Eh, looks weird.” “Oh shush you. I think it's cool and that's all that matters.” “Whatever you say, Buttercup.” As we're walking down the street I begin to wonder about the numbers on our arms. What are they supposed to be? “Hey Apple Bloom, Scottoaloo? Can I see your arms with the numbers on them?” “Sure.” Apple Bloom said. They stuck out they're arms and they both say 00:06:54:47, now 46, 45, 44, ah you get the gist of it. “It looks like a timer of some sort, but I still don't know for what. Sweetie Belle? Does your arm say the same thing?” Sweetie looks at her arm. “Yep, the same thing!” so now it's same to assume that I have the same numbers. “What do they mean?” Apple Bloom asked. “If it is a timer than the six is hours, fifty four is minutes and the numbers counting down are seconds so something is gonna happen in about seven hours.” I said. “Is it our deaths?!” Sweetie exclaimed. “I don't know, but we can't assume that until we know exactly what happened.” “Hey! That looks like granny smith!” Apple Bloom said pointing over to a girl with white hair in braids , green skin, and wearing a plaid dress. “Kinda, but she's young and Granny Smith is old.” I said. “No, no. it looks like her when she was young! It looks just like her!” she said. Wait, Time Turners place, light pad, numbers counting down on our arms, old timey town, and a young Granny Smith look alike. WE'RE IN THE PAST! I should have known it! Time Turner, the Equestrian version of the time traveler, The Doctor! I'm so thick! I'm a pudding brain! “Raider, are ya okay?” Apple Bloom said. “Uh? Oh, yeah. Why?” “You had a scared and surprised look on you're face.” Scootaloo said. “Girls, I just figured out where we are.” “Where are we?” Sweetie Belle said. “We're in Ponyville-” “No we're not!” Scootaloo interrupted. “-In the past.” “What?” Sweetie Belle said. “We were at Time Turner's place, who I'm assuming is time traveler, we were on a pad that lit up and put u sin a new place, and we now have numbers counting down on our arms. I think these numbers tell us how long we have left in the past. I'm not exactly, but it's a hunch.” I said. “So what you're saying is, we are in Ponyville's past?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yes. So you see, that Granny Smith look alike is actually Granny Smith in her youth.” “Awesome! I wanna go talk ta her!” Apple Bloom said “No!” “Why not?” Apple Bloom said confused. “There are certain things you must know before you do stuff all willy-nilly. There are the rules of time you need to know.” I said. “Ugh, now comes the stupid rules.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Hey, this stuff could mean your life. One rule is, you cannot interfere with your own time line. If you do that will create a paradox and either rip a whole int the fabric of space and time or summon these creatures that will eat everybody so the universe can start over. Kinda like white blood cells only loose the restart the universe bit.” I said. “Okay, I'll be careful.” “Good. Another rules is don't kill anyone because killing the, could change big things in the future. Third, don't give out information because changing the past is kinda a bad thing and you could un-alive yourself.” “Un-alive?” Scootaloo asked. “Yeah, it's kinda a mental thing about me, I can't really say the k-word, but yeah, could sleep with the fishes, destroy your life, un-alive your body, you could K-word yourself.” “.....okay.” Apple Bloom said. “Another ruler is you can make ripples but not tidal waves. Meaning you can make little, unnoticeable changes but not big ones that can affect the future.” “So, like, I can take an apple but not steal a whole cart?” Scootaloo said. “Yeah, something like that. Yet another rule is don't believe that what has already happened. It hasn't if you're in the past so you can still change things.” “I have a question.” Sweetie Belle said. “Go ahead.” “What if someone from the future came to the past, is it still not allowed to kill them?” Sweetie Belle asked. “In that case, yes you can kill them because it won't affect the future.” “Okay, thanks.” “This one is kinda important too. Don't interfere in anything because it could cause major repercussions in the future and change almost everything thus creating a new time line.” “Seems simple enough.” Sweetie Belle said. “This is one of the last rules I can think of for time travel. Have fun! You're in the past or the future! You're seeing things almost no one else can see, learn things you never knew!” I said. “That rule seems out of place because the other ones were about not dying and this one is about fun. Seem weird.” Scootaloo said. “It is but it's true.” “There are a lot of rules fer time. My head hurts now.” Apple Bloom said. “It's not really a lot but thee is a good number of them.” I said. “How do you know so much about time?” Scoots asked me. “I watch a lot of Doctor Who.” “What's Doctor Who.” Scoots asked. “It's a show about a time traveler and I like it!” I pump my fist in the air. “Sounds stupid.” you-know-who asked. “It's come in handy now, hasn't it? So no judging!” We then hear people screaming from the building behind us. As I turn around I see there's a sign above the door that says BANK. That sucks. “What's happening?” Apple Bloom asked. She walked over to the window to see what's up. “*GASP * It's robbery!” “What?! How do you know?” Sweetie Belle said. “The two robbers are holding guns and are wearing bandanas over their faces!” she said. “We gotta stop them!” Scootaloo said. “We can't! This would count as interfering so it's against the rules!” I said. “forget the rules, innocent lives are at risk! I'm not letting them die!” she rushed into the bank to stop them. I run after Scoots to stop her, but as I run to the swinging doors to the bank and I see her punching one of the robbers leg. It isn't even fazing him one bit! “Looks like we got ourselves a little hero girl, Big Time.” the robber getting the punches said. “Waste the girl.” the other one said. “NO!” The robber didn't have time to react as he got a punch in the face. He dropped his gun to hold his face. I picked up the gun and shot him in his kneecap dropping him to the floor. I look over to the second robber as he aims his gun at me. I grab Scoots and jump behind the counter. The bullets fly and wiz past Scoots and I are hiding. I look in the gun to see I have five bullets left. That should be enough! I rise and shoot at the robber missing him. He shoots back and I fall back down. I rise and shoot again and I graze his right shoulder. He grabs his shoulder and aims at me again and fires. He missed again but got so close I could hear the bullet wiz by my ear. I crawl over to the end of the counter, jump out and fire again. I missed again but he grazed my right hand, which happens to be the one hold the gun. I drop it but grab it with my left hand and cower behind the counter once more. “Alright, if ya don't come out I'll shoot this lady!” The robber said. I rise from the counter and aim the gun at him. I see he's holding a women with a gun to her head. “Drop your gun and I let her go. What do ya say?” he says with the crazy eyes. I want to do it but I see his hand, the one holding the gun, isn't in front of her so if I shoot it he'll drop the gun. “I said drop the gun!” he yelled. Aim small, miss small. I aim at his hand and fire. The bullet flies from the gun, cuts through the air and embeds itself in his his. “AH!” he dropped the gun and holds his hand in pain. I walk over to him, flip the gun so I’m holding the barrel and hit him as hard as I can with the butt of the gun knocking him out. I walk over to the women. “Are you alright, Miss?” I give her my hand to help her up. She takes it and I help her up, “Apple Pie, My name is Apple Pie. Thank you for saving me! I don't know if he would have killed me!.” she hugs me as hard as she could and DANG that girl has got some strength! “And what would be the name of my savior?” Apple Pie asked. “My name is Raider.” “Thank you, Raider.” she smiled and gave me a quick kiss in the cheek and quickly left the building for some reason. “LE GASP! Scoots!” I run over to where she was hiding and see her crawled up in a ball. “Scoots, are you alright?” She slowly turns her head to me and I can see the look of terror on her face. Tears start to form in her eyes. She leaps at me and hugs me, crying as if there was no tomorrow. “It's okay, you can let it out.” I rub her back to make her feel better. The police or sheriff, since we're in the past, run into the bank. “What happened?! Is everyone alright?!” He yells he looks down and see s the subdued robbors on the floor bleeding, “Oh.” “Where were you when all this happened?!” I yelled. “I was.....uh...... indisposed.” He said. “So you were on the pot. Good to know when there is trouble the sheriff won't be there.” I complained. “Now who are you and where do you get off in disrespecting me?!” he yelled. “I'm the guy who stopped the robbery and saved all the people and the money here! So you shut your gorram mouth!” I replied, “Come on Scoots, let's get out of here.” I pick up Scootaloo and walk out of there angry at the sheriff, satisfied for saving someone, and a little scared for interfering and braking a rule. Eh, what's done is done and I can't change it. When we walked out the other two CMC run over to us. “Are you two alright?! We heard gunshots and were too afraid to watch.” Sweetie Belle said. “We're fine, but Scoots here is shaken up.” “Is she alright?” Apple Bloom said. “She'll be fine. I didn't see her shot anywhere, she just needs some time.” “Where the two robbers fighting each other?” Sweetie asked. “No. I took one of the guns and took out the two robbers.” “Did you kill them?” Sweetie Belle asked me with a scared tone. “No, shot one in the knee and knocked out the other one. Then I got into an argument with the sheriff so we better leave before he does something.” “But you were only in there for a few minutes. How did you take care of them that fast?” Sweetie Belle asked “Luck I guess. Well, that and I'm fast and pretty accurate with weapons.” “Sounds more like skills than luck.” Apple Bloom said. “Hey you! Young man, get back over here and fight like a man instead of running away after a few words!” Yelled the sheriff. “Run.” I said. And off we ran into the unknown world possibly facing dea- and I did it again. _____________________________________________________________6 hours and 30 minutes later______________________________________________________ “How much longer are we gonna be in the past?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Look at your arm.” I said. She and I looked and it said 00:00:24:23. “So we have twenty four minutes left?” She asked. “Yep.” Apple Bloom pulled on my jacket arm, “Yeah?” “Scootaloo is still kinda shaken up. Could ya make her feel better?” I look over to the little one and she has her head down hugging herself and I think I see her shaking a little. She looks more cold than scared. I walk over to her to try my best, “Hey Scootaloo. Are you alright?” “No.” “Why?” “I nearly died and you almost got killed you and others in the process because I wanted to be a brave hero and help the people, but all I did was hide while you fought them off. I'm nothing but a scared, helpless chicken.” She said while tearing up. “You're wrong.” She looked up at me with a confused face, “You knew you had to help them because you didn't want them to die. On top of that, you actually ran in there to fight them and that took a lot of courage. I know you may not have done what you wanted to do, but if you hadn't gone in and had me follow someone would have died. So because of you they are alive and well. You're more of a hero than you think and I admire that about you.” she started to smile and hugged me. “Thank you.” I let go and knelt to her level, “You're welcome. I'm your firend, so if you have anything you want to talk about I'm right here.” I said. “Hey, guess what. We only have about twenty minutes left here.” “Really? Awesome because I’m hungry!” she said. “Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle! Ya hungry?” “YES/YES!” they said in unison. “You three wait here. I'll get us some food.” I walk Scootaloo over to the other two and walk off to find food. Where was that apple cart? Ah, there it is. I see young Granny Smith manning the apple cart. I walk over to the cart and young Smith sees me. “Can I help ya?” She asked. “How much are these apples?” “One bit per apple.” I don't have any money so I've got to get creative. “Alright, thanks. Whoa!” “What's wrong?” She asked. “There's a dog balancing on a ball while spinning a plate on it's nose right behind you!” “Where?” she turns around to see what isn't there. I grab four apples and since I have big pockets on my jacket I put two apples in each pocket. “I don't see anything.” She turns back around to see a dust cloud in the shape of me, “That was strange.” I run back to the CMC to give them their apples. I dodge people, carts and animals to make it back where I left them. When I come back, guess what! They're gone! This ain't good. How much time is left? I look on my arm and there is ten minutes left! I really need to find them! “Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo! Where are you?! Huh, man I sounded like Shaggy calling for Scooby. No time to laugh about it right now, I need to find them before time runs out!” I frantically run and search and call their names looking for them. Where are they! If I were a kid, wait, I am a kid. Where do I want to be right now besides the future? I GOT IT! The candy store! I run to the candy store in hopes they are there. When I make it there I burst through the door and find the CMC mesmerized by the guy stretching the taffy. “Again?!” Me saying this broke the taffy trance and made them look at me. “Huh? Oh, hi Raider!” Apple Bloom said. “Dude, why did you run off?!” I ask. “You were gone awhile and we didn't know when you'd come back so we came here to pass time.” Scootaloo said. “Look at your arms! We only got a few minutes left.” I look at my arm and it says 00:00:03:23, “about three minutes left. I didn't know where you had gone to, I was worried when I came back!” “Did you get the food?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Yeah, I got the food.” I take the apples out of my pockets and toss them to the girls. They happily grab them and begin to mutilate the food with their teeth. “Shesh, you must have been hungry.” Scootaloo swallowed then replied, “Well yeah. We haven't eaten since breakfast and it's evening now.” “It is? Huh, so it is. Must have not been paying attention.” BEEP BEEP BEEP. “Huh?” I look at my arm and it's all zeros., “Welp, time's up.” There's another bright, blinding light then nothing. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I regain conciseness with everything aching again. “Ugh.” “I hurt again.” Sweetie Belle said. “Time travel without a capsule. That's a killer.” I say standing up and popping my neck, “Come on girls, we got to get you home. Look at that! The window is still open!”. the CMC stand up and I can hear the joints popping and their groans of uncomfortableness. We walk over to the window and climb out. “You girls need to get home before you get in trouble. And you-” pointing to Apple Bloom, “you're coming with me. Bye girls!” I grab Apple Bloom's hand and we walk off to Sweet Apple Acres. “Hey, Apple Bloom?” I said. “Yeah?” “Why do you and the other two call yourselves the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'?” “Because the girls and ah are tryin' ta find our cutie marks!” “And what are 'cutie marks'?” “they're these symbols that tell ya what yer special talent are. When ya find yer talent, they appear on yer shoulder, but we haven't found ours yet so we go out on adventures ta find 'em!” “Sounds like fun! You know, I don't have a cutie mark. Do you think you'd let me join?” I ask. “Really?! Sure! We're gonna have a whole ceremony fer ya! Ah can't wait fer ya ta be one of us!” “Me too.” I said with a smile. As we walk through present day Ponyville I begin to respect the things we have now and how much larger it got. A lot of things have changed since then. I hope Granny Smith doesn't recognize me. We walk back to the farm and u see Applejack with the dinner bell. “COME AND GET IT!” she yelled. Apple Bloom and I rush to the house to get some grub. “Howdy Raider, Apple Bloom. Glad you made it in time.” “Same here, we're starving.” I said in reply. When dinner is set on the table Apple Bloom and I gorge ourselves on it. “My, my you two. Ya seem as if you'd just came off a famish.” Granny Smith said. “We're just really hungry.” “Ah can seem that.” she replied. “What did ya two do today?” Applejack asked. “I joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders on an adventure.” “Really? Ah thought you had ta get clothes?” She replied. “I did start to go but I joined up with them before I got there, guess I'll have to do it tomorrow.” I said. Dinner went by faster than I thought it would, but I guess that happens when you're hungry. After dinner we all did our own thing for a while. When the time came I said my “good nights” and went up to my room to get some sleep. After the day I've had some sleep will do me some good. When I get to my room I take my clothes off, get under the covers and have a nice sleep. Chapter 5Chapter 5 As the sun rose and kissed my cheek I felt relaxed because I didn't need to worry about that rooster mugging or waking me. With a smile on my face I sat up and stretched my body. I look around the room lit by the sun, but notice something smeared on the floor form the door to my bed. I get out of bed and walk over to the mystery substance. I kneel down and wipe it off the floor with two of my fingers. I smell it, “Smells funny,” I taste it, “ugh, it's blood. Wait, blood?” I follow the blood trail to my bed. The trail leads under my blankets so I lift them. “HOLY CERBERUS!” I yell. I see the rooster I K-worded under my blankets! There's a note next to it. I pick it up to read. yoU'LL NEveR GEt riD OF Me! ThIS iS MY Farm! It's kinda hard to read. it looks like chicken scratch, no pun intended. It's a Devil rooster! It's gotta die! I take the rooster by the neck and go down stairs to look for some matches and gasoline! During my search I pass Applejack and Big Mac eating in the dinning room. Big Mac is the first to speak, “Why are ya carrying a dead rooster?” “It's a devil rooster! It's needs to be burned at the stake!” I respond, “Do you have matches, gasoline, a rope and a rod you won't miss?” “Should we be worried?” Applejack asked. “Yes! You should be very worried! This monster is after me so it must die once again!” I said. “Why would it be after ya?” She said. “Because I killed it accidentally and now it's come back to destroy me!” Big Mac snaps his fingers, “So that's what happened to him. He didn't make any noise yesterday and he didn't show up when Ah fed the animals. That was you?” he asked. “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't mean to k-word him, but he stole from me and the shovel seemed like a logical decision at the time. But let's not focus on that, can we please re-K-word this thing?!” “K-word?” Applejack asked. “Ask Apple Bloom about it. Can you show me the things I asked for?” I asked. “ *sigh* Yeah, hold on.” Applejack gets up from the table and gets me the stuff I asked for. All three of go outside to deal with this problem. Dig the rod in front of the barn and tie the body to it. Applejack covers it in gas. Just as I'm about to light the match Big Mac puts his hand on my shoulder. “May I light it?” he asked. “Why?” I inquired. “This rooster was a mean sucker. Ah was the one who had ta deal with it the most. Ah'm the one who had ta feed him and he would always try ta bite me, unlike the others who were fine with me.” “Oh, O.K.” I hand him the match. He strikes the match creating a little flame, and drops it on our victim. “So......you two aren't mad at me?” I ask nervously. Applejack looks at me, “Nah. We hated him to, but we didn't have the heart ta kill him. We've known him all his life. There's a little bit of us that's sad but it's being blocked out because the rest of us are happy he's gone.” “Sorry.” I apologize. “Raider?” Applejack said. “Yeah?” I say. “Ya might want ta put a shirt on. *sniff * And maybe take a shower.” she said. “Oops. Sorry. I'll do that now.” I turn around and go inside to take care of business. After my shower and eating breakfast I head back to town. I still need to go to Rarity's to get new clothes. During my trek I remember my CD I bought. I should really listen to it when I get back. Wait a minute, crap. I don't have a CD player! Curse you compulsive buying urge! I wonder if Vinyl has got any job openings at her shop? Eh, I'll ask after I got to Rarity's. No, if I try to get a job there, then I can get money then go ask Rarity for clothes and be able to pay! As much as I like getting free stuff, I feel bad for taking free things constantly. With my plan in mind I start heading to Vinyl's music shop. After about ten minutes of walking I get to the store. On the door there's a sign that says, “NOW HIRING”. Awesome! That's strangely convenient. I open the door and the ringing bell grabs Vinyl's attention from behind the desk. “Hey, Raider! It's good to see you again! What's up?” she asked walking over to me. “Nothing much. I noticed the sign on the door. Is that still available?” I asked. “Yeah, put it up there yesterday. I had figured people around here would jump at the chance to work here, but I was wrong. Are you saying you want to work here?” She asked with hope. “Yeah. I was actually.” “Great! Follow me!” “Where are we going?” I asked. “In the back. Gotta have Tavi interview you for the job.” She says. “Tavi?” I say, yet again acting as if I don't know. “Yeah, she's my best friend and she works here too. She takes care of all the financial stuff and the things I don't know how to do, like interviews.” “O.K.” I said. We walk into the back and there's a door that says 'Manager', “She's the manager?” I asked. “Yep. She's more of a leader than I am.” she opens the door to the room. It's a nice room that has posters and pictures of an orchestra covering the walls, comfortable looking seats, the floor is a gray carpet that has a treble clef on it, and a fancy desk at the back of the room with Tavi behind it. “Yo, Tavi!” Vinyl said. She looks up and smiles. “Hello Vinyl. Can I help you with something?” She asked with that soothing English voice of hers. “Yeah. My friend, Raider, wanted to fill that spot we needed.” She said gesturing towards me. “Fantastic! Please come, take a seat.” She said pointing to the seat in front of the desk. “Alright.” I said. I walk over to the seat and sit down. “Be kind to him, Tavi.” Vinyl said before closing the door. “Hello, I am Octavia Melody.” She said with a warm smile holding her hand out for me to shake. “Hello, I'm Raider.” I shake her hand. “Vinyl seems to like you.” She said. “Really?” “Yes. She's very good at telling whether people are good or not. If she's friendly toward you, then you must be good.” “I strive to be.” “So, tell me a little about yourself.” She said crossing her arms on the desk. “Well, my name's Raider, I'm sixteen years old, I have worked in construction, farms, I am a contract painter, I'm a musician, I'm creative, hard working, and willing to do anything I'm asked or told to do.” she jots down what I've said on her piece paper. “How did you here about this job opening?” “I say the sign on the door.” “What interests you about this job?” She asked me after finishing her notes. “I've always enjoyed music and any department that deals with music.” “Why did you leave your previous jobs?” “Most of them were summer jobs, with others I didn't have good workmates.” “What are you're strengths?” She asked me. “As i've said, I'm creative, I try to work efficiently, I work hard and get the job done no matter what.” “Alright. Now, what are some of your weaknesses?” “I'm can get confused kind of easily. I also have a little difficulty when speaking to new people.” “If you did get this job, what days and hours would you want to work here?” “I can work on all the weekdays from ten to three o'clock.” “What would you want you're salary range to be?” “I would like maybe, eight to nine bits an hour? Is that possible?” I asked. “Yes, that is possible. If you did get the job, would you prefer to work with the instruments in the back, in sales with Vinyl, or working behind the scenes with me?” She asked me. “I'm willing to go where ever I need to. Or where you feel I would be best working.” “Alright. I have all the answers I need.” she stands up and looks at the notes she's written down. She looks at me and smiles. “You shall get the job!” I stand up, “Really?!” “Yes. I shall have you working in sales. Congratulations!” she sticks her hand out and shakes my hand. “Awesome! I'll try to not disappoint you.” I said with a smile. “You shall start tomorrow at 9:30 A.M. And your salary will be 8 bits an hour.” she said. “O.K. I'll see you tomorrow at 9:30 then. Thank you for this opportunity.” I said. “You're welcome. I shall see you tomorrow. Goodbye!” she sits back down and returns to the work she was doing before I came. “Bye!” I said walking out the door. I walk back to the front and pass Vinyl behind the counter. “Hey! So, did ya get it?” Vinyl asked me. “Yep! I start tomorrow!” I said happily. “Awesome! What are you gonna be doin'?” “Sales. I'm guessing that's out here?” “You are correct.” She said to me. “O.K. Then I was correct in my thinking. Hey, I have a question?” “Shoot.” “When I was first here, why did you give me the CD for just playing the drums ?why not keep asking for money?” “I remembered when I was younger and I wanted a CD but couldn't get it because I had no money. I also asked you to play because I wanted to see if you had talent. If you did then you deserve to be rewarded for your hard work.” “Uh. Didn't know that. Thank you Vinyl.” I said. “No problem.” She said with a smile on her face. “I'm gonna get goin' now. I've got to do things I've been needing to do for awhile.” “Alright, I'll let you get to it. See ya tomorrow.” She said. “See ya tomorrow.” I reply. I turn around and leave the store for my next destination. I feel satisfied with myself. With the other jobs I had, they just asked me to come because they needed my help. They were my friends that worked there. I couldn't really say no to them so I went to work. But this was the first job that I had to interview for. It was different, but different is good. I really hope I don't disappoint Vinyl and Octavia. Anyway, I need to get to Rarity's place. I need to get new clothes. The ones I'm wearing are starting to smell funny. I navigate through the streets to find that one building that's out of place. You know, Rarity's pretty building? The one that makes all the other buildings look like shacks with straw roofs. After about 15 minutes of walking and looking I find it, Carousel Boutique. It's very pleasing to my eyes. Huh, there are pony mannequins on the top. Never noticed that before. I gotta ask her about that. I walk into the Boutique and I see scrap pieces of cloth on the ground, human and pony mannequins all around. some have clothes on them and others don't, there are gems in a chest on the right, a curtain on the wall to my right, maybe for changing, a runway stage, basically the things you would see on Project Runway. There's nobody around so I call her name, “Rarity?” nothing. I yell again, “Rarity?” finally I hear a response, “Coming, Darling!” I see Rarity running down the stairs to my left that I didn't notice. “Hi, Rarity.” I said. “Oh Hello, Raider! How may I help you?” She hugged me. “I was wondering if you could help me. I need more clothes, that is if you didn't have anything else going on.” I said. “But of course! Today's been a slow day. Are those your only clothes?” Rarity asked me. “Yeah, I didn't have any others when I came to town.” “It's alright. Before we can begin, I need you to strip to your undergarments.” She said pointing to my clothes. “What?!” I jump back a little. “I cannot get the proper measurements unless you either in your underwear or in your birthday suit.” “I'll go with underwear.” “I thought so.” She said. “Is there a changing room?” “Yes. It's behind that curtain over there.” She points to the curtain to my right.” so it is a changing room. I love it when I'm right. I walk behind the curtain to see a big changing room. It's about as big as a living room. There is a podium in the center and four mirrors. Two on each side of the room. There are also racks for hangers and a bench in the back. I undress leaving only my boxer briefs on and put the clothes on the bench. I look at myself in the mirrors. My chest has almost no muscle in it and my stomach is flat until the bottom. It bulges out for no reason. I really need to work out more often. Well, the bulge on my stomach I can't do anything about, family genes. But my chest I can do something about. “Are you ready, Darling?” Rarity asked on the other side of the curtain. “Yeah, I guess so.” She enters the room now with measuring tape, a notepad with a pencil and glasses on. “Is what kind of clothes would you like?” She asked me. “Jeans, T-shirts, boxer briefs, leather jackets, a trench coat, and do you make shoes?” “I, unfortunately, don't.” “Eh, worth a shot.” “Would you like V-neck shirts or regular?” She asked. “Regular, please.” “Alright, time for the measurements.” she wraps the tape around my waits. Once she gets the measurements there she writes them down. She continues to measure the rest of my body and write the measurements in her notepad. I hope she doesn't think I'm fat. I'm in between fat and fit. I'm the kind that looks skinny but gets a double chin when looking down. “Alright, I am finished. I'll have them finished by the evening.” She said. “O.K. Cool. Than you Rarity.” I slip my clothes back on. They got cold again, great. We leave the changing room now that the work is done. “what time do you think they might be done?” I inquired. “I'd say about 4, maybe 5 o'clock.” We stop at the door. “Cool, thanks. Is 4:30 fine to come back?” “I'd say so, I might have them done. I'm not sure.” “O.K. I'll see you at 4:30 then.” I said. “O.K. Darling.” “Bye.” “Goodbye, Raider.” I walk outside. That was almost as weird as getting a testicular exam by the doctor. “Now what?” I ask myself. I could do a lot of different things. I could walk around town some more, but I've already done that for what seems like everyday. I could hang out at the park. I wonder if there is a playground? If so then I could do parkour training. The only one I could recall is the one by the school, but kids might be there so I can't train there. I could check out the shops, but that's part of walking around town. I could go bowling! Wait, no money. I guess it's to the park. I begin to walk to the destination I seek. As I'm walking I see the streets aren't as busy as they have been the past few days. It's Sunday so that might explain it. Raider goes onward to seek out the mythical stone of something in the park. He knows it might be a perilous journey, but it is one he must take. He must do it alone, no one else may come along with him for he knows he might fall victim to slumber's cold grasp if he lies down at the domain of park. He might face animals of all sorts that could K-word him, he has a chance of facing children that could smear food on him, but he must go because he has nothing else to do. I actually liked this narration more than the others my mind has done. After 10 minutes of walking I reach the park. The entrance has an arch that has two trees next to it. In front of the entrance is a dirt road and behind the entrance is grass. I've always loved the little feature. I walk in and I see a pond about 30 meters away. It has three park benches around it, a tree next to it, and a park shelter behind it. I walk over and sit on one of the benches facing the pond. The pond is a beautiful crystal blue with little goldfish swimming in it. There's nobody at the park so there's no noise to break the silence. Well, there's a little noise but it's the birds chirping, the breeze through the leaves of the trees, the occasional fish getting a bug on the water but that's it. “Hey, Raider!” And now the silence is gone. I look to might right and see Lyra walking my way. “Hey, Lyra! What's up?” She sits down next to me. “Oh, nothing much. Just out for a walk today. How's life treating you?” She asked me. “It's been pretty good. I got a job and the music store today.” “Oh! The on run by Octavia and Vinyl?” “Yep.” I said. “That's cool. I'm happy for you.” She hugged me. “Thanks. I start tomorrow. I'm excited for this, I've never worked in a store before. All I've done is construction, painting, and being a farm hand. What do you do Lyra?” “I'm in between jobs right now. All I've done is work in the candy shop with Bon Bon.” “Why did you leave?” I asked. “It really wasn't my thing. I'm more of a musician.” She told me. “Really? Me too! What do you play?” I said. “Awesome! I play the lyre and guitar. You?” “I play the drums, bass, keyboard, ukelele, and the triangle.” “The triangle? That isn't hard to play.” “Exactly! Everyone can play it! It's one of the easiest to play. But you have to have good timing to use it in a song.” “Uh, sounds easy. Which one was the hardest to learn?” “I'd say bass. All the frets confused me and the strings hurt my fingers, but not anymore.” “That's good.” She said with a smile. “I love this spot. Makes me think of when times were simpler. Wish we could turn back time to the good old days, when mama sang us to sleep, but now we're stressed out.” She probably didn't get that joke. “I love that song!” Maybe not. “What songs?” I said. “'Stressed Out' by Twenty One Pegasi!” Figures they'd have a name like that. Equestria probably doesn't have pilots. We sat there for what feels like hours. Don't take it the wrong way, I'm enjoying every minutes of it. We talk about our past, our likes, dislikes, favorite food, music, our little quirks, basically everything we know about us. I look up at the sun and wonder what time it is. “Hey, Lyra?” She looks at me, “What time is it?” She looks up at the sun and says, “It looks about 4:30.” “How do you know that?” “When you live here long enough, you can tell what time it is just by looking at the sun. Is there someplace you gotta be at?” Lyra asked. “Yeah. Rarity has got some clothes for me. I said I'd be there at 4:30.” “Let's go then.” She stands up. I stand up and we both walk to the Carousel Boutique. We finally get there at about 4:40. I open the door and I see Rarity working with some clothe on a mannequin. “Rarity?” she turns around. “Ah, Raider. Hello, Lyra.” She greets Lyra. “Hi, Rarity.” Lyra greets back. “Your clothes are in the backpack to your left.” I look and there is a backpack on a bench to my left. “I made four pairs of everything, I have another leather jacket for you, and a trench coat.” “Thank you, but why the backpack?” I asked Rarity. “Would you rather carry all those clothes in hand bags. You'd have at least four bags.” “Ah, makes sense. I know this is a rude question but, is it possible to pay for these things on a later date. You know, when I have more money?” I ask nervously. “Don't be silly, Raider. It's on the house.” Rarity said with a smile. “Are you sure? I don't want to be bad business.” “You are my friend and you needed my help. It's the least I could do.” “Alright. Thank you, Rarity.” I put on the bag. Wow, it's heavy than it looks! Lyra and I leave the shop. “You know what I'm gonna do, Lyra?” I ask her. “What?” She said. “When I get the money from my job, I'm still gonna pay her back. It's the right thing to do.” I said struggling with the bag. “That's a very nice thing of you.” “I was raised that way.” Lyra sees me struggling with the bag. “You alright?” She said. “Yeah, this bag is a little uncomfortable. It's heavy!” “I can help.” her hand glows green and so does my backpack. It suddenly became lighter! “Whoa! What did you do?” “I used a lightening spell on it.” “Thanks! Makes things easier.” The rest of the day is spent walking and talking around town. She showed me some of her favorite places to eat, relax, have fun, it was like a little date! I looked up at the sun once more. It was lower than before. “Hey, Lyra? What time is it?” she looked at the sun, then at me. “It's about 7:40. Why?” Crap! Dinner is in 20 minutes! “I gotta get back to the farm! Dinner is in 20 minutes!” “Alright.” She gives me a hug and then she did something that surprised me. She kissed on the cheek! When I mean cheek I mean the cheek that's at the edge of the mouth! So it was like a lip/cheek kiss! She then giggles like a school girl and walks off. What just happened! She kissed me! No time to think about that now. You gotta get to dinner! Food is important! I figure out where I am, which is about a twenty minute walk from the farm. Crap! Better start running! And they're off! I start running in hopes of making it in time. As I'm running I nearly run into people, animals, and carts. The run takes me about 18 minutes and I finally make it to the farm! I stop at the porch of the house and sit on one of the rocking chairs. I try to catch my breath for a second. I am not a runner! But on the bright side, I'm getting more endurance from running around town. I rest my head on the back of the seat to get som- “COME AND GET IT!” Applejack yells ringing the dinner bell. “AH!” I scream falling out of the chair. “Sorry, Raider. Didn't see ya there.” She says with a laugh. “And I can fly. You knew I was there! You can't lie!” “You're right, sorry. Ah thought it was funny. And it was! HAHAHAHAHA” She's clutching her stomach. “Laugh it up now, I know where you sleep.” I walk inside and Applejack follows me still laughing. I go into the dinning room to see the others sitting at the table. Dinner looks good. It's steak, green beans and mashed potatoes. I love this family! “Why don't you go wash up, Sonny Boy.” Granny asked me. I walk into the kitchen, wash my hands and sit down at the table. As we're eating dinner Big Mac asks me, “Whatcha do today, Raider?” “I got a job at the music store in town, I got new clothes and I spent most of the day with Lyra.” I said. “Sounds like you went on a date with her.” Applejack said. “No, just to friends hanging out with each other.” I said. “Did she kiss ya?” Applebloom asked. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack said. “It's alright. Yeah she kissed, but on the cheek. Well, it was kinda mouth and cheek.” “Then it was a date.” Applejack returned to eating. “What?” I got no response. That would explain this kiss then. “What did you guys do after I left?” I asked the older Apple siblings. Big Mac spoke up, “After ya left, we took care of that problem in the morning then did chores around the house.” “That's good. So the problem won't be a problem anymore?” I asked him. “Eeennope.” “Good.” I returned to destroying my food. The rest of dinner was eaten in silence. After I ate I put the dishes in the sink and went to my room. I'm curious of what my clothes look like. I put the backpack on the bed and dump the clothes on it. I see two dark blue jeans, black jeans, and gray jeans. I have a white T-shirt, a black T-shirt, a blue T-shirt and red T-shirt. The leather jacket is black, has a two breast pockets, and a strap on each of the shoulders. The trench coat looks like Dante's from Devil may Cry. It's even red! I wonder? I tacket of the jacket I'm wearing and put this one on. Fits nicely. I roll up the sleeves past the elbows. I can even roll them up! All I need to do now is dye my hair silver or white and I can look like Dante! I notice the pocket on the front of the backpack is bulging out a little. I open it and see there are two pairs of black socks and two pairs of white socks. Aw, Rarity is so nice. Wait a minute. I dig past the socks and I see another pair of fingerless gloves! YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES! I take off my cotton fingerless gloves and put these on. They're actual leather! Better grip! I see a note in the bag. I pick it up and read it. Dear Raider, I know you didn't ask for these, but you need more than one pair of socks. I also thought you would like the gloves. You seemed to like the ones you had, but it isn't the weather for those gloves. Think of these as gifts. Hope you enjoy these! Love, Rarity “Than you , Rarity! I love these!” I look out my window, “Whoa, night already? Better get some sleep now.” I put the clothes back in the backpack. It must be bigger on the inside to fit all these. I place the back next to the dresser and I lie down in bed. I pull the covers over me and fall into blissful sleep. Chapter 6Something has gone wrong. We don't seem to have an archived copy of that chapter.
Chapter 1Chapter 1 A dark aura shot passed me nearly hitting my face. “Whoa! That was too close for comfort.”, I exclaimed. I had been at this fight for nearly two hours and I am tired. This giant heartless I had been battling wasn't even half way dead and I was nearly dead. Man, I wish that this was the other way around, but life won't allow that. I look up to see the giant heartless firing another aura ball from it's heart shaped hole in the chest at me so I roll to the side in an attempt to stay alive since hitting it with my Keyblade can't block it since, well, it's the size of me. Thankfully i'm still alive and I can still beat this heartle-less. “CRAP!”, I yelled with frustration throwing the playstation controller onto a giant cube pillow. After five hours of playing kingdom hearts 1 for two of those hours were of fighting against the giant heartless named Darkside, I had died because I didn't see the second aura ball he had fired. this Darkside is much harder than the one at the beginning of the game, Any kingdom hearts player can agree with me. “why can't I beat Darkside? I mean, I was able to do it at the beginning of the game why can't I do it now? Is it because it's at the end of the game or what?! Why did they have to make kingdom hearts harder in the 1.5 remix? You know what forget this, i'm doing something else. Now, what to do?” I look around the cluttered basement i'm in not knowing what to do next. I hate it when this happens to me. Then the light bulb went off over my head, I could do a story with my brother! Now my stories are different. Most people tell stories, but I act them out. I change my outfit for them and I do the things i'm describing. “HEY STEPHEN!”, I yell hoping to get a response from upstaris. “Yeah Stan?”, I hear as I see my little brother walking down the steps. “You wanna do a story?” “Sure.” “Okay cool, I gotta get changed first.” “Alright, i'll be outside.”, he said as he walked up the steps and opening the door and walking outside. I run upstairs into my room with intent on finding the coolest outfit. I change out of my shorts and doctor who t-shirt and into a black t-shirt, light blue jeans, black gym shoes with three white strips on each side of the shoes, black cotton fingerless gloves, a leather jacket that has two white strips going down the sides of the arms and the side of the jacket underneath the arms, and finally brass steam punk goggles on my forehead. Satisfied with what I have on I walk outside to meet up with Stephen. “So, what story do you want to do?”, I ask him “how about the one where you're a sword art online guy and i'm a guy from kingdom hearts called shadow and we're in a humanized version of Equestria?” “Shadow?” “Yeah, shadow. I think it sounds awesome!” “If you say so.”, I reply in defeat. -------------------------------------------------------2 hours later------------------------------------------------------ FINALLY! I AM DONE! That story took a lot longer than I wanted it to really go on and it's only half done. Doesn't matter at least he'll stop nagging me to do it later on. I walk into my room to change out of my clothes but as I walk into my room I see something I thought I never would see............discord. “Oh hello. My name is Discord, spirit of chaos. You must be Stanley, well Congratulations my friend,” he says a confetti is hot out from his paw and claw, “I have something special for you. I have randomly selected you for an experiment”, he smirked. “What in the nine layers of Tartarus?”, I said with confusion. “Would you like to know what it is?”, he asks as he's about two inches from my face “Huh?”, I say shocked and confused. “it seems that he is in shock of my presence. Close your eyes please.”, he asked “why do you want m-”, I didn't get to finish my sentence because I heard a snap and blacked out. I feel pain. Nothing but pain and a nice silky feeling on my face, but mostly pain. I open my eyes to see nothing but darkness. “I'm blind! Wait, no I can see a silhouette of something. A shirt?”, I say to myself. I reach my arm out to grab the shirt. Yep, it's definitely a shirt. I reach to pull off whatever is on my face and I pull off what kinda looks like a silk dress, but I don't know because of the darkness. It then dawns on me, i'm in a closet. I hear a door open and close and what sounds like a girl voice talking to someone. Why does this voice sound familiar? I open the door a crack to see who it is and I see a girl that has mint green hair with a white streak in it and she's wearing a light pink top with green shorts. She's pacing around talking into what looks like a small mirror . She looks familiar. What is she holding? Is that vanity mirror? Must be talking to herself. Well now what to do? I can just run out, but she'll probably freak out. I could just wait till she sleeps which shouldn't take long, or I could knock and try to calm her down when she sees me but that probably won't work but it's still a shot. I'll go with option three. I lift my hand to knock on the closet door, but i'm hesitant to do that for fear of what might happen. I say myself, “screw it and do it”, and I knock. She then walks to her room door and opens it to find no one there. I knock again only to see her turn around fast and look at the closet door. “who is it?”, she says with fear. “don't be afraid, I'm not gonna hurt you. I don't want to hurt you. i'm going to open this door to leave.”, I say trying to reassure her. “are you a changeling?” “what? A changeling?”, I ask puzzled. Changeling? WAIT! No wonder why she sounded and looked familiar, she's lyra heartstrings! That or she's a super fan for mlp. “stop playing games with me changeling! I have a sword and I know how to use it!”, she threatens. “screw it.”, I whisper and open the door slowly. She really does have a sword! I see that she is pointing a sword at me. I also notice that the sword is shaking a little indicating that it's a bit heavy for her. “My Name is Stan. What's yours?”, I ask. “I'm Lyra. Stan......that's a strange name for a changeling.” “That's because i'm not a changeling because changelings aren't real, they're fake.”, I explain “No they are real. They attacked Cantorlot a little bit ago.” this might actually be mlp. Don't mess anything up, play along. “Wait, actually changelings attacked Cantorlot? I though changelings were just stories.”, I say, “How long ago was it?” “about a year ago.”, she answered. “I think I may have been camping when that happened.”, I lied. “What?”, she asked hanging her sword to her side, “Well you must have heard about it when you got back.”, she said puzzled. “I'm a recluse. I stay in my house most of the time.”, I say which is quite accurate. “Really?” “Really really.”, I reply hoping she believes me. “Oh, okay. Sorry I accused you of being a changeling.”, she says putting the sword on the bed. “now that we got that out of the way can you please tell me were I am because something happened that took me from my house and I kinda ended up in your closet.”, I ask. “Oh you're in my house.” “No, I mean what town, what country.” “sorry. You're in the town of Ponyville in the country of Equestria.”, she corrected herself. “....................what?”, I ask in disbelief. I run over to her window hoping she's messing with me, but what I see proves otherwise. I see that it's actually ponyville and I see the citizens going about there business enjoying the day. As for me I freak out internally. I notice that I am on ground level so I open up the window and lunge out doing a roll when my back touches the ground and start running hoping that this is a dream. I stop running after how knows what and put my hands on my knees. “*pant**pant* Now I know that *pant**pant* this is real because in dreams you don't get tired.”, I say. I sit down to relax and to take in my surroundings, I see that i'm right I front of town hall. Now what. I don't want to do the stereotypical thing and look for Twilight. I am feeling hungry, I wonder where sweet apple acres is?”. I get up and walk to a random stranger who looks a lot like time turner. “Excuse me?”, I ask getting his attention, “I'm new in town and I need to get to Sweet Apple Acres, but i'm a bit lost. Could you please tell me how to get there?” “well of course I can help you. You just head down that street over there”, he says pointing to a street behind me, “you walk down that street till it ends, then you take a left and you're going to be on that street for about two blocks, then you take a right and at the end of that street is Sweet Apple Acres.” “okay, so you said down the street behind me, a left, then a right?”, I ask just to be sure. “that's correct. I'm Time Turner by the way.” “I'm Stan. Thanks for your help.” “No problem, have a good day.” “Thanks, you too bye.” I said and turn around and walk down the road. The walk to Sweet Apple Acres was uneventful, but I wasn't as excited to see some of the characters as I thought I would be. Most likely because I'm on a different world all by myself. Alright, get a hold of yourself you're in Equestria and in front of Sweet Apple Acres. I don't have money so I have to do something that I thought I never would do. I walk into the farm and go towards the tress instead of staying on the path. I'm trying to be quiet because I know the dog, who's name I forget, might be around and I don't know how good her hearing is. I'm about thirty feet away from the path in a tree when I here voices. “Are you sure you can't give me some of that cider early?”, I hear a scratchy girl voice say. “Rainbow, you know ah can't do that. Yer jus' gonna have ta wait like everybody else.”, I hear a southern girl voice say. “Oh come on Applejack I know you got some stashed in the barn.” “How many times do ah have to tell ya? ah'm not giv-”, she stops herself because she hears sticks breaking and apples falling, “did ya hear that?” “yeah, it's probably a squirrel.” “Ah've had too many people try to steal mah apples. Ah'm gonna go look.” She heads over to the base of the tree i'm in and i'm freaking out. She bends down and sees eaten apples and good apples on the ground. She picks a good apple up and looks up in my direction. I really hope she doesn't see me. “Who's up there? Don't make me come up there! Show yourself!”, she yelled what am I gonna do!? I could show myself, I could jump down and run, or stay up here and let her find me. Gorramit conscience why do you always make me do right! I decided what i'll do, so I jump down from the tree. “Hi, my name's Stanley. Sorry about eating the apples.” Author's Note This is my first Fan Fiction so please be nice. I would like constructive criticism because I want to know what I did wrong and fix it.
Chapter 2Chapter 2 “why were you eatn' mah apples?”, Applejack asks in an accusing tone. “Eh.....I’m new in town and I was hungry and I didn't have any money. Sorry about the apples again.”, I apologize. I'm then knocked, rather hard I might add, into the tree I hid in. “Ow.”, I say. “Who are you and why were you in that tree?! Are you one of those apple raiders that keep stealing her apples?!”, Rainbow accuses with her arm left forearm pressed against my throat and right arm raised in a fist. “I'm a guy who's new in town and I was in that tree because I was hiding! Please get off, I’m having a hard time breathing!”, I plead with what little air I have. “Rainbow get off him. His face is turnin' purple.”, Applejack commands taking note of my face. “Fine, but keep your lasso around in case he tries to run.” “Oh I intend ta keep mah lasso on me me.”, she said patting the lasso on her hip. “Now, ya said that yer name is Stanley right?”, applejack asks. “yeah, but I kinda like what skittles over there called me. Raider, I like it.”, I say. “I said you were a raider I didn't mean that was your name.” “i know but I’m keeping it. My name is Raider now and I’m not changing my mind.”, I protest. “Fine, But ya know yer gonna have ta pay back those apples ya ate.” “Okay, that seems fair, but I don't have any money on me so is there any other way I can help pay back the apples?”, I ask. “Well......”, Rainbow says with a smirk on her face. “No, not that. Probably should have worded that differently, I mean through labor. I could work on this farm, help sell the apples, or help clean your house. What do ya say?”, I ask with hope. “Well mah big brother, Big Mac, does need some help with the animals. If ya help him with that ah'll let ya go. How does that sound?”, Applejack said. “Great! Lead the way!”, I exclaim with enthusiasm. I get to work with animals! I wonder if I’m going to brush horses or feed the chickens? I can't wait! “Ah'm Applejack by the way, and that over there is Rainbow dash.” “It's nice to meet you Applejack and Rainbow dash.” I follow Applejack back to the dirt path to her house with Rainbow following me, most likely because she wants to keep an eye on me which is understandable. We then make it to the big red barn where I see what looks like Big Mac out front pushing barrels into the barn. “HEY BIG MAC!”, Applejack yells which grabs his attention, “Remember when ya said ya needed help with the animals?” “Eeyup.” “This guy, Stan-er Raider, volunteered to help ya. He's all yers.”, she said with a smirk that worried me. Big Mac leaves the barrel alone, walks into the barn and comes out with a big shovel and gives me the 'follow me' arm gesture, to which I do accordingly. He leads me to the big animals like cows and horses, then explains what I am to do. “What ah want you to do is take this shovel, scoop up the manure and put it in the big wheel barrow over there.”, he explains with his deep voice. “Wait, you want me to pick the crap of the animals?” “Eeyup.”, he said while smiling. “Is that why you guys were smiling?” “Eeyup.” “Dang it.”, I mutter as I take the shovel he was offering, “Do you have anything to close my nose?” “Nnope.” “Wonderful.”, I said a monotone. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------3 smelly hours later-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- “Ugh, I have horse crap on my favorite shoes and pants. Why couldn't you have me clean the house or brush the horses?”, I complain as Applejack and I were standing in front of the barn. “Because neither Big Mac or I wanted ta do it and you were willin' ta do anything, so ah took the opportunity. Well, since ya paid yer debt yer free ta go.”, Applejack explained “Thanks, and I’m guessing you got some entertainment by watching me freak out when the crap got on me?” “Eeyup.”, she said while snickering at the memory. “Well then, I guess I’ll be on my way then. Oh I just remembered, do you know of any place I can stay?” “You can stay here if ya want.”, she said giving me a friendly smile. “Really? Even after me eating your apples, you're still gonna let me stay here?”, I ask with confusion. “Ever heard of hospitality before. Ah may be peeved about the apples, but ya don't have a place ta stay and us apples always help those in need.” “Wow, thanks. I really do appreciate it.”, I say with a smile, “Is it alright if I walk around town or am I still needed here?” “Na, ah think that Big Mac and I can handle the rest of the work. Don't ferget, supper is served at eight o'clock, so in about four hours.” “Alright thanks, I won't forget. I take food very seriously.”, I said as I’m walking away. I'm so happy I don't have to shovel up any more poop. That was the most disgusting thing I've ever done. Now what to do? There's always Sugar Cube Corner, or the Golden Oaks Library, or useless walking around town and listening to random conversations as I walk by................... I'll go with the last one. With the decision made I head into town to do absolutely nothing productive, which is how I like to do things. I'm walking aimlessly through the towns and none of the conversations are interesting. There mostly about how good today is and how their businesses are doing. I did pass Sugar Cube Corner but didn't go in because I was afraid Pinkie would get me all wound up with her fast talking. I assume she talks fast from what I've read in fan fics. As I'm walking down a road that has stores, I see a music shop on the left side of it. A music store. Hm, I'm intrigued as to what kind of music I'll find in there. I walk to the store and open the door which rings a bell at the top of it, getting the attention of the girl behind the desk who looks like Vinyl Scratch listening to music on headphones. She looks up at me and waves, I wave back. I take notice of the stores organized settings, which surprises me because it's Vinyl. I see that the store looks like your normal music store, but the vinyl discs are on the left side, the cassette tapes are in the center, and the CD’s are on the right side. I head over the the CD's and start flipping through them. I notice that there are some albums that have names that look almost exactly like ones from Earth. Some band names are the same, some are different, some are, I think, ones made here and are only here because I don't know them. One album grabs my attention, it's a hand hold a grenade in the shape of a heart and says on the top 'EQUESTRIAN IDIOT'. I look on the back of the CD case and I see that some names of the songs have been changed. 'American idiot' turned into 'Equestrian idiot', 'Jesus of suburbia' has turned into 'Luna of suburbia' and 'St. Jimmy' has turned into 'St. Discord'. Oh I so have to get this, but how? I'll ask Vinyl. “Excuse me ma'am, is there a way to pay for this album without using bits?”, I ask walking up to the counter. “Ma'am? Please don't call me ma'am, it makes me feel old, Call me Vinyl Scratch. No, there isn't another way to pay. Sorry.”, she said with her raspy voice. “oh, alright. Thanks anyway.”, I say with a defeated tone as I go to put it back. “Wait.”, she says making me turn around. “If you can play an instrument, I'll take you in the recording studio and if you can impress me, like really impress me, then I'll pay for it. How 'bout that?”, she asks giving me hope again. “Sure!” “Alright come on then.”, she said while leading me to a room behind her. She takes me in the room and I see a drum set, a bass guitar, and electric guitar, a mic stand, and an electric triangle? “Choose your instrument.” I walk over to the drum set and sit in the seat. I pick up the drum sticks that were on the snare drum. I step on the hi-hat pedal repeatedly to begin the song I'm going to play, 'Basket Case'. When the time comes for the drums to enter the song, I go all out. I'm Hitting the cymbals, snare drum, hi-hat, and bass pedal on time or nearly on time. When the song ends I put the drums sticks back on the snare drum and stand up. “How was that?”, I ask. “I can't believe you know how to play 'Basket Case' That song is hard. There were some parts where you you hit the bass pedal to soon or to late, but other than that you did great. What other songs can you play?”, she asks. “I can do 'Welcome to Paradise'.” “Do it man and if you can do it, you can keep the album.”, she says with a smile. I sit back down, pick up the drum sticks, and play the song flawlessly. After I finish I stand up, put the sticks down and walk to Vinyl. “Dude that was sick! That album is all yours man.” “Really? I was that good? Wow thanks.”, I say with a satisfied smile. “I forgot to ask, what;s your name dude?”, she asks as we get back to the counter. “it's Raider.” “Well you already know my name so I don't have to say it again.”, she then pays for the album and hands it back to me, “Here you go Raider. Have a wicked day.” “Thanks.”, I said. As I'm about to walk out of the building, I look at the clock on the wall behind Vinyl and see that it's seven thirty. My eyes go wide and I think to myself OH CRAP. I put my CD in my jacket's pocket and sprint out of the store. I run as fast as I can through the streets narrowly avoiding carts, people, and food stands. As I'm running I see two picnic tables in front of me and instead of going around them and wasting time and energy I decide I'm gonna do a little parkour. As I approach the first table I jump a few feet in front of it and stick my legs out in front of me, putting my hands on the table and push off landing on my feet smoothly. With the second table, I lunge forward, putting my hands on the table, tucking my knees up to my chest and push off the table landing on my feet as I get over it, successfully doing the Dash vault and the Kong vault. I keep running, occasionally stopping to catch my breathe, until I make it to Applejack's house. I'm standing in front of the house feeling exhausted from all the running so I walk up the the porch and sit down in a rocking chair. I don't get to relax for long because a few seconds later I hear the door open and see Applejack come out with what looks like a dinner bell. “SUPPER'S READY, COME AND GET IT.”, she yelled while banging the bell as loud as she. Apparently she didn't take notice of me to the side with my hands over my ears. “Ow! I'm right here you don't have to yell.”, I say while waiting to get my hearing back. “Sorry. Ah was yellin' ta Big Mac at the barn and mah lil' sister Applebloom in her tree house out there.”, she said while pointing to the orchards. “Ah'm coming Applejack!”, I here a young voice say. I see little Applebloom running out of the orchards and Big Mac walking from the side most likely from the barn. Applebloom makes it to the house first and stops on the porch when she sees me. “Uh, Applejack, who's that?”, she asks point to me. I bend down to her eye level with my hands on my knees and say, “My name is Raider. I'm going to be staying here for a bit till I find another place to stay.” “Who offered you ta stay?”, she asks. “Applejack did.” “Oh, well then if Applejack trusts ya, then ah do too.”, she said with a friendly smile and walked in the house. “She seems nice.”, I said. “Eeyup, but she and her friends can get into some mighty big trouble.”, Big Mac said as he walked past me into the house. “Come on sugarcube, let's eat.”, Applejack said as she went in the house. I went into the house because my hunger was starting to get to me. I follow Applejack into the dining room where there was already a large amount of food on the table half of which are apple products. Before I sit down next to Big Mac I take off my gloves and put them in my pockets then take off my jacket and put it on the seat. I see an old lady, who I think is Granny Smith, sit at the end of the table and ask, “Who's this young whipper-snapper sittn' next ta Big Mac?” “My name's Raider Mrs........”, I ask out of politeness. “You can call me Granny Smith, Raider. Ah'm everyone's Granny in this town.”, she said with a warm smile, “If'n ya don't mind me askin' but why are ya eatin' at our table and not yer own?” “Well, I'm new in town and I didn't have a place to stay so Applejack here offered me a place to stay here.” “Is that true Applejack?”, to which Applejack nods. “Applejack you showed good apple hospitality. Ah'm proud of ya.”, she said while looking at Applejack. “Aw shucks, thanks Granny.”, she said looking a bit bashful. Big Mac then looks to me and says, “After supper I'll show ya the guest room fer you ta stay in.” After dinner was eaten, I grabbed my jacket from the seat and Big Mac took me up the stairs into a hallway and lead me into the room I'm staying in. “This is where ya gonna be stayin' in. If ya need anything ah'm right across the hall. You have a good night.”, He closed the door leaving the room. I look around the room, it isn't a big fancy room, but it's nice. It has it's own bathroom, a nightstand with a lamp on top of it next to the bed, a dresser, a mirror, a closet and a window. It's kinda big and roomy, I like it. I head over to the closet and put my jacket in it, put my gloves on the night stand, and basically take everything off except my pants. I flop in the bed, get under the covers, and finally get some rest. Author's Note Just to make things easier for everyone all the characters are wearing the clothes that they wore in Equestria Girls, except for Applejack. She's wearing jeans instead of a skirt.
Chapter 3Chapter 3 The next morning I woke up to the sound of an EXTREMELY ANNOYING ROOSTER SITTING ON THE WINDOW THAT I FORGOT TO CLOSE! I was able to shut the gorram thing up by throwing one of my shoes at it. It hit it's target, but I had to go outside to get my shoe from a rather pissed off rooster hoarding my shoe! I had to go to drastic measures, because nothing else worked, and get a shovel to get my shoe back. On the plus side I got my shoe back, the downside is I think I killed the rooster. I mean is the brain supposed to be outside the skull? I had to throw the dead animal in the orchards and get the bloody part of the ground wet to wash the blood away. Anyway, after that whole kerfuffle I went inside to get ready for the day. I head to my room, shower, change back into my clothes and head downstairs to get something to eat. It didn't really surprise me when I saw the Apple family already eating. “Morning.” I said. “Mornin'.” they said in unison. “Whatcha eating?” I asked. Granny smith piped up, “Ah made eggs and bacon. There's some more in the kitchen if ya want some.” “Sweet! There's bacon!” I went into the kitchen and saw a beautiful array of food. There was food till Tuesday! I'm in heaven. This isn't Equestria it's heaven. I grabbed a plate and loaded it with bacon and a small side of eggs. I walk back into the dining room and sit at the table. I grab a piece of bacon first because everybody eats the bacon first. As I bite the bacon I swear fireworks were going off and “Ode To Joy” was going on in the background. I drop the remaining piece of the bacon on the plate and just sit there with an open mouth showing the chewed bacon and with eyes as wide as saucers. “Is somethin' wrong there, Sunny?” Granny asks me with worry. She got her answer when I stuffed my face with more of the delicious meat. “*Gulp* This is the best bacon I've had in my entire life! How do you get it to be this good?” I ask. “That's Granny's little secret, Sunny.” Granny said with a cheeky grin. “Darn. I would have liked to try to make it myself. Of course I might catch myself on fire like ht elast time I tried to make bacon.” I shudder at the memory. “Ya caught yerself on fire?” little Applebloom asked. “Well I was cooking myself breakfast and I had accidentally got some oil on my shirt and I got too close to the fire on the stove aaaaand I think you can imagine the rest. I got a scar on my arm now. Luckily it isn't too big, just a couple inches big.” I explain. “Ouch, sounds like it hurt.” Big Mac said. “It did, but I felt much, much better after putting ice on it and wrapping it up.” “Let's change the subject please. Mah bacon is startin' ta taste funny.” Applejack pleads. “Alright Sis. So Raider, what do ya like ta do fer fun?” Big Mac asked. “There are many things I like to do, but only a few can come to mind. Let's see, I like to draw, Read, Rollerblade, Snowboard, Parkour, listen to and play music, play video games, and do stupid stuff.” I said. “Interesting. Now when ya said 'play music' do ya mean ya play an instrument?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, I do. I play the drums.” I said. “Ah play an instrument too, ah play the bass and Big Mac plays the guitar.” Applejack said. “Wow, then we can start a band if we want to!” I exclaim. “That certainly is an idea, but I don't think that we'll have time fer it.” Applejack said. As breakfast continued the Apple family and I continued to chat about life and random stuff that popped in our heads. After breakfast was finished I helped Granny Smith do the dishes while Applebloom got ready for school and Big Mac and Applejack started doing the chores around the farm. After the dishes were finished I didn't want to bother the Apple family and mess up what they're doing so I head to town. I got a bone to pick with Discord and the only way I know how to get to Discord is through Twilight. As I'm walking through the market place I pass many individuals some who I recognize and others I don't. This is so amazing! Ponyville looks much better than it does in the show! I wonder we- I'm cut off because I ran into someone. “Ow.” I said as I rub my head. “Ugh.” I hear from the victim of my clumsiness. I look up and I see lyra rubbing her head as well. “Lyra?” I ask. “Huh? Stan?” She asks. “Yeah. Hey listen, I'm sorry about running yesterday I was just freaking out.” I explain. “It's alright, I was worried when you ran out. You looked as scared as a lost puppy and I didn't know what would happen to you when you ran away. Where did you go?” she said. “I just wandered around and ended up at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack there was kind enough to let me stay the night there. Right now I happen to be looking for Twilight Sparkle, do you know where she is?” I said. “I don't know. Maybe I could help you look for her, but why do you need to find her?” She asked. “I need her to get a hold of someone that I need to talk to.” I said. “Okay. Let's get going.” she said. “Cool. Where do you think she'll be?” “She's probably at the library. Come on, I'll show you the way.” She said as she turns around and starts to walk away. We walk towards the library I hope of finding Twilight. We pass vendors, shoppers, and people there having conversations. As I look at the crowd I see Twilight's hair but i'm not really sure if it was her because someone walked and then she disappeared. I stop and look around hoping I can find her again. Lyra looks back and sees I stopped following and just standing there. “Stan, are you alright?” She asks. “Yeah, but I think I saw Twilight. There she is!” I said pointing to her amongst the crowd. “I see her now.” “Come on!” I say as make my way to her. “Alright.” she said as she follows. Lyra and I navigate our way around the crowd to get to Twilight. We make it to her and she's talking to Pinkie Pie. “Excuse me.” I said. “Huh?” Twilight says as she turns her head toward me. “Are you Twilight Sparkle?” I ask. “Yes I am, why?” “My name's Raider and I'm new in town and I just wanted to make sure you were Twilight Sparkle.” I said. As soon as I finished talking Pinkie jumped four feet in the air with a huge gasp and ran off at a speed that could rival Dash. “Wait, I thought your name was Stan?” Lyra asked. “It is, but I'm calling myself Raider because from all the names I've so far 'Stan' is out of place. Miss Sparkle, I need your help.” I said. “Okay, how can I help you?” Twilight asked. “Can you please summon Discord?” I request. “Discord? Ugh, what did he do now?” she asked with a fed up expression. “Something very uncool.” “I would prefer it if I didn't do it in a crowded area. I'll teleport us to the library.” Twilight said. She lifts her hands and a purple aura surrounds her hands. So they do have magic here. A flash happens and Twilight, Lyra, and i appear in front of the library. I start to get woozy and feel like I'm inside out. “Are you alright?” Lyra asked. “I feel like crap.” “Sorry.” Twilight said, “Haven't you teleported before?” “No, I haven't.” I stand up felling a little better. “Sorry, first time teleportations are always rough.” Twilight said, “Now I can summon him.” twilight lifts her hands again and the aura appears once more. A flash of light appears and Discord shows up in his bathtub taking a shower. “Winter wrap up, Winter wrap up. Huh? Twilight what did I say about letting me know before you summon me?” he said as the bathtub disappeared, “Oh hello there, I remember you Stanley. How are you integrating into society?” he asked. “Wait, this was the creature you said you would bring into Equestria for the experiment?” Twilight asked. “Why yes of course Twilight! So far he hasn't died or started any riots yet, so I think this experiment is a success so far!” Discord yells triumphantly. “What experiment?!” I yell. “Discord didn't tell you?” Twilight asks. “No he didn't! All he did was say I was selected for an experiment and snapped his fingers and I ended up in Lyra's closet!” “So that's how you got in my closet?” Lyra asked. “Yes, that's how. Sorry I lied to you about being a recluse I just didn't know what else to say at the moment. Wait, Twilight. You knew about his experiment, you were in on it too?!” I said. “Yes, but it's not what you think. Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, and I gave him the okay, but when he said he was bringing a creature to Equestria to see if it could integrate and be accepted into society. we thought he was talking about an animal like a dog or cat not a person! You lied to us Discord!” Twilight pointed and accusing finger at Discord. “I did tell him I randomly chose him. It could have well been an animal or something else that looks nothing like him or you or a dog.” DIscord explains. “That doesn't make it any better Discord.” Twilight said while rubbing her temples. “Do you want me to send him back” Discord asked. “YES/YES!” Twilight and I say simultaneously. “Well I can't. Using that dimensional teleportation spell for both him and me took a lot out of me. I can't even do major chaos spells, like lifting houses our bending nature to my will.” Discord said while looking at the ground sad. “So what your saying is that I can't leave till you get the energy back for major spells?” “That is correct.” “How long will that take?” I ask. “Knowing how much that spell took out of me it will probably take a good long while. In the meantime you can enjoy your time here and we can see how well the experiment pans out. TTFN, ta ta for now!” Discord snaps his fingers and he disappears. “I am so going to tell Princess Celestia about this!” Twilight said. “This is just fan-friggin'-tastic. I'm stuck on another world because someone thought it'd be funny and I can't go back. So far this has been one heck of a day.” I sit down with my back against the front door, bury my face in my hands and start to cry. Lyra and Twilight sit next to me and Lyra puts her hand on my shoulder. “It's going to be alright Stan.” Lyra says, “You may not have anyone you know here but you got at least two people you want to help you, I know how it feels to be alone. When I first got to Ponyville I had no one, I felt like a fish out of water till someone decided to help me and now she's my best friend. All I had to do was let her help. You can do the same if you let the ones who want to help do so. What do ya say, are you willing to let us help?” “Yeah, I guess so.” I lift my head and look at Lyra with my watery eyes and smile, “Thanks.” “Any time. So, what are you going to do now?” Lyra asked. “I don't know. Who was this friend that you were talking about?” “Her name was Bon Bon. She works at the candy shop not too far from here.” “I know what I want to do now.” I said. “What is it?” Twilight asked. “Go to the candy store. Nobody can be upset when they're eating candy. Where is it?” I said. “Come on, I'll show you.” Lyra stands up and offers her hand to me. I gladly accept it and we help Twilight get to her feet. Lyra starts to walk and Twilight and I follow suit. We finally make it to the shop called “Bon Bon's Sweet drops”. We open the door hitting a bell and it grabs the attention, of who I think is Bon Bon, from behind the counter. Her expression lightens up and she walks toward us, she gives Lyra a hug when she gets to us. “It's good to see you again Lyra how are you doing?” Bon Bon asked. “I'm doing good Bon Bon, thank you for asking. This guy here needs some of your best candy. He hasn't had the best of days today and he needs some of your delicious delicacies to help him cheer up.” Lyra said. “Sure Lyra! What's your name?” Bon Bon asked looking at me. “I'm Raider, it's good to meet you.” She and I shake hands. “You came to the right place to get candy. What kind do you want?” She directed me to the counter that displayed some of their treats. “We got chocolate caramel, taffy, vanilla chocolate, chocolate covered malt balls, and different kinds of fudges and if there isn't anything you want in here you can go to the wall over there and see if there's something ya want over there.” she points to a white wall to my left covered in containers holding candy. I make my selection of candies, mostly fudge, chocolate and Equestria's equivalent of smarties called “Branies” because nobody can be upset when they're eating smarties. Twilight pays for the candy out of the kindness of her heart and we walk out. Twilight tells me she wants to go back to the library and talk about my world, but I didn't want to go back to the library so instead she takes us to the pond in the park to talk about it. The walk there was pretty uneventful, all we did was eat and talk about random stuff. When we get to the lake we sit down, Twilight teleports a quill and paper in front of her. “So, first off, would you prefer to be called Raider or Stan?” Twilight asks. “Right now I would prefer to be called Raider.” Twilight writes what I just said down. “What is your planet's name?” “It's called Earth. What's yours called?” I ask. “It's called Equis.” Lyra said. “Please describe what your world is like.” Twilight said. “One major difference is my world doesn't have magic, none what so ever.” I say. “What?! No magic? Then how do you control the weather or do anything?!” Twilight said. “No magic huh? Must be different.” Lyra said. “The humans that inhabit my world don't control the weather at all, we just let it do it's own thing. As for the 'do anything' bit, humans use their knowledge, strength and imagination to build machines or create chemicals to do what they want. Like with flying, humans can't fly so we build giant machines called planes that have engines and metal wings to fly.” I said. “That's incredible!” Twilight jots down her new 'discovery'. “Yes humans can create, but we're very good at destroying too.” I say with a sad expression, “Humans have created weapons of war that cause great destruction and death, for instance, the atomic bomb. The atomic bomb is a weapon created during World War II. It's able to level a massive city I mere seconds and if you did survive it would have to be far away to not be caught and die from the poisonous radiation emitted from it.” “Wait, back up. You said “World War II” does that mean the whole world was at war?” Lyra asked. “Yep, twice.” I hold up two fingers, “Millions died. Not one of Mankind's greatest moments.” “I'll say. How advanced are you technology wise?” Twilight said. “Pretty far advanced. We have planes that can break the sound barrier, computer chips the size of or smaller than the finger nail of your pinkie finger, machines called 'cars' used for transportation that can go over 200 miles per hour, giant rockets and shuttles that can take us to space and the moon, aquatic vessels called 'submarines' that can dive deep into the ocean, and buildings that are hundreds of feet tall. What I've just said only scratches the surface of what humans have done.” “Astounding! It's absolutely incredible what your humans can do! I can't wait to tell Princess Celestia about this!” Twilight exclaims. The next few hours are spent talking about the humans on Earth, the history of Equis and the adventures Twilight and her friends have, to how talking about Earth to the Mane Six's adventures happened, I don't know. As we take a break from talking a note appears in front of Twilight and lands on her lap. “What's that Twilight?” Lyra asked. “It's a note from Pinkie Pie.” Twilight replied. “What does it say?” I ask. “It says, 'Dear Twilight, Hi it's Pinkie Pie! I have a surprise waiting for the new guy in town. Can you please bring him to Sugar Cube Corner for me? The surprise starts at six thirty, I think you know what the surprise is so please don't tell him. Sincerely Pinkie Pie.' How did she teleport the note to me?” Twilight said. “What time is it now?” I ask. Twilight looks at a small watch she's wearing on her left arm. “It's six o'clock. It'll take us about thirty minutes to walk there, what do you want to do? Do you want to walk there now or stay here, talk about our worlds more and teleport there when the time comes?” Twilight asked. “No! No teleporting again! We can walk, walking is nice, walking is our friend, we love walking!” I said. “Whoa, come down. We can walk if you want to.” Lyra said. “Let's get going, I like surprises!” Isaid. We stand up but we fall back down because we have pins and needles now. We stand back up and start walking again to try to get this feeling away. As we're walking through the streets of Ponyville Twilight and Lyra were telling me about the customs and rules in Equestria seeing as though I'm going be here for awhile. We make it to Sugar Cube Corner and I see the lights aren't on, we open the door and walk inside. All I see I darkness till the lights turn on and I get the living daylights out of me. “SURPRISE!” People yell. I jump into a fighting stance with my head darting around at lightning fast speeds. I see a group of people are gathered into Sugar Cube Corner and are standing underneath a sign that says “Welcome To Ponyville!”. A pink blur appears in front of me three inches from my face. “Hii'mPinkiePie! Thispartywsathrownjustforyou! What'syourname,doyoulikeparties,doyoulikecupcakes,doyoulikecake,huh,doya,doya,doay?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Well, my name is Raider or Stan, but you can call me Raider. I do happen to like parties, cupckaes and cakes.” I say after I stand correctly. “How were you able to understand that?! Almost nobody can understand her when they first meet her!” Lyra said. “My brother speaks fast so I had to learn how to understand him. That and I speak fast sometimes too.” I said. “LET'S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!” Pinkie yelled. She bounced away to Vinyl Scratch, who happened to be behind her turntables. She must be providing the music. I see Pinkie telling Vinyl something, Vinyl nods and starts playing music. I look around the room and I see two tables, one table has snacks on it and the second one has desserts on it. There's about seventy people here at an eyes glance, some are talking, some are eating, and others are dancing. “There you are Raider.” A voice said. I trun around and I see Applejack. “Where were you?” “I was around town having fun, getting some bad news, eating candy and talking to Twilight and Lyra. I left because I didn't want to bother you while you were working on the farm.” “That was mighty kind of ya, but when did you mean when ya said 'getting bad news'?” Applejack said. “I found out from Discord that I'm going to be stuck here for awhile.” I said with sadness. “What do ya mean?” She asked. “When I told you that I wasn't from this town, I was telling the truth but not the whole truth. The truth is that I'm from another dimension and I was brought here by Discord as an experiment. He can't take me back now because that spell he used to bring me here took a lot of energy out of him and it's going to be awhile before it comes back.” I said. “Ah'm sorry Raider. Being away from yer loved ones is hard, but don't worry because you got friends like Twilight, Lyra and I ta help ya through.” Applejack said. “Thanks. Anyway, we're at a party so let's act like there's no tomorrow!” I say putting my fist in the air. The rest of the night was spent dancing, talking, eating, meeting new people like Fluttershy and Rarity, nearly getting into a fight with Rainbow Dash and just enjoying myself. After the party Applejack and I headed back to the farm house. As we're walking on the dirt path In front of the house Appljack and I are make small take. “That was some party eh, Raider?” Applejack asked. “Yeah it was. I've never been to one quite like that in my entire sixteen years of existence.” I said with a smile. “Yer sixteen?” Applejack asked. “Yeah, why?” “Ah'm seventeen.” “Really? You look like your in your twenties.” I said. “Ah get that a lot, Ah kinda like it. When I first met ya I thought ya were eighteen.” She said. “How old are your other friends?” “Well, Dash is sixteen, Fluttershy and Rarity are eighteen, Pinkie is seventeen and Twilight is seventeen too.” “Did not know that.” I said. We walk up the stairs on the porch, I open the door for her and we walk inside. The lights were off and nobody was in the living room. Wouldn't be surprised because their grandfather clock on the wall to my left said that it was 10:00. we walk up the steps into the wall way and stop at our respective doors. “Night, Raider. Ya sleep well now, ya hear.” Applejack said. “Thanks, you too. Night.” I said. We walk into our rooms and shut the door. I hang up my jacket, take off my clothes except for my pants, flop in bed and think about the day I had. “That party really made up for the bad news.” I smile. I close my eyes and go to sleep. Author's Note I am so sorry that I haven't been posting any chapters lately. School has gotten harder and I haven't had time to write anything. I really hope this makes up for the lack of chapters. As always, constructive criticism is welcome.
Chapter 4Author's Note I am so sorry this is really late. I didn't have time to write anything and when I did have the time I had writer's block. I had wanted to make this sooner but it didn't happen. So forgive me and enjoy this chapter. Chapter 4 Chapter 4 You know those mornings when you feel as if nothing could go wrong.? Yeah, I didn't have that today. I don't have a clue who did this to me, but when I looked in the mirror this morning I found my face had hand drawn graffiti on it. I found a evil, curly mustache drawn on me, a monocle around my eye, and random scribbles on my cheeks. I will find the people who did this to me and I will prank them back tenfold . I have an idea of who it was, either Skittles or Pinkie. Anyway, I gotta do stuff today. I gotta get clothes from Rarity because I am not sleeping in this outfit for the rest of my life. I try my best to wash this “art” off my face which is really hurting because I'm rubbing this wash cloth really hard. After my shower I look in the mirror and see that I got most of it off but I can still slightly see the drawings. “Well this sucks. I hope it isn't noticeable otherwise I'd look like an idiot. *sniff *sniff * smells like food! My favorite!” I get dressed and wake down stairs. As I wake in the dining room is see the Apple siblings are eating cereal. “Wait, I smelled food being cooked. What happened to that?” I ask. Big Mac swallows his food and tells me a tale of woe. “Well, Granny had made biscuits and gravy but it got knocked over by someone,” Big Mac stares Apple bloom with a look that could scare a dragon, “And since we didn't have enough time ta make some more and get ta work on the chores we made ourselves some cereal.” “Doesn't Apple Bloom need to get to school?” I ask. “Nah, today is Saturday so ah don't have school.” Apple bloom said. “Where is the cereal?” I asked. “It's in the cupboard.” Applejack said. “Thanks.” I walk into the kitchen and I find the cereal boxes right where Applejack said they would be. I grab the box that I'm assuming has cheerios in it and make m bowl of cereal. I sit down with the Apple siblings. “Where is Granny Smith?” I ask. “She had ta clean herself up because she got gravy all over her.” Big Mac said. “Yeah! She got a lot of gravy in her hair too!” Apple bloom said while trying to hold in a laugh. “Oh. Sounds unpleasant.” “Do ya have plans today Raider?” Applejack said “Yeah, I do. I need to go get some new clothes because I don't want to start smelling funny.” “Okay.” “Why do you ask?” “No reason, just curious.” “.....Okay.” I said. I don't know how this happened but right after Apple Bloom had finished eating The CMC knocked on the door and had borrowed Apple Bloom for the day, talk about convenient timing. After I finished breakfast I put the bowl in the sink and walk to Rarity's store after asking directions from Applejack. I leave the farm with an unknown journey ahead and high hopes of a epic victory that will make me a- ah who am I kidding, it's just a walk into town. Why do I do this sometimes when I have a plan? Eh, who knows. As I’m walking through town I’m looking at all the of the people, really taking in my surroundings. I look to my left and I see a Frisbee get thrown into an open window and I stop to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. “Wait! We can't go in there!” I here a familiar voice say. I see the CMC run toward the window the Frisbee got lost in. “Yeah we can. We just need to do it really fast.” Scootaloo said. And this is when I step in. I walk over to the CMC to talk to them. “What's up Apple Bloom? Did ya loose your Frisbee?” I ask. “How did ya know?” Apple Bloom said. “I saw it fly in there. Who are these two? “This here is Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo and we're THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS. Girls, this is Raider. The guy from outa town that's stayin' with us.” “Your not thinking of going in there, are you?” I ask. “We need to! It's my favorite Frisbee!” Scootaloo said. “We can't break into people's houses! It's not right!” “Come on! Pleeeeeaaaassseeeeeee?” Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle give me the puppy dog pout. “Gorramit. Fine, I'll help you. Who's place is it?” “YES!” Scootaloo cheers. “It's Time Turners.” “Time Turner? Is he the guy who wears the brown stripped suit and the sand shoes?” I ask. “Yeah, that's the guy.” Sweetie Belle said. “Is he home?” I said. “No, he works at the clock store even on weekends for some reason.” Scootaloo said. “Okay, good. Now I'm gonna hoist you through the window and you're gonna look for it.” I said “Wouldn't it be faster if we all looked for it?” Scootaloo said. “I guess you're right.” “Of course I am.” Scootaloo said proudly. “Alright, then I'll get all of you in then I'll get in. Don't touch anything, got it?” I said. “Let's just get in.” Scoots said impatiently. “Fine.” I kneel down and cup my hands to let Scoots put her foot in. when she does so I get her in and I do the same with the other two before I climb in there myself. The room is bigger than I thought it would be. It filled with machines and contraptions shut down. It looks like steam punk paradise in her and I'm loving every moment of it. “Found the Frisbee!” Scootaloo yells. “Where is it” Apple Bloom said. “It's on the big pad right here.” We all run to the pad to meet up with Scoots. “Now that we got it let's get out of here.” “What's this button?” Sweetie Belle asked pointing the big red button next to the pad. “What? Don't press-”, I didn't get to finish the sentence because guess what she did., “The button.” Now the pad is getting brighter. “We need to get off this thing!” I said. “Ya think!” Scootaloo snaps back. Before we can do it we see a bright then nothing. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I see nothing but darkness. AH, I'M BLIND! Wait........no, my eyes are closed. Maybe I should open them. I open my eyes and see the four of us are in a field. “Ugh. What happened?” I say getting up. “I ache all over.” Scootaloo said getting up. “You alright?” I ask her. “Yeah.” I see the other two get up rubbing their heads. “What happened? Where are we?” Apple Bloom asked. I look around to see if there was anything familiar but all I found was a little, little town to the right of me about 200 feet away. “I don't know, but there is a town over there. Hey Scootaloo, did you always have those numbers on your arm?” I ask Scootaloo pointing to her left forearm. “Huh? What! That wasn't there before! They're counting down! What does that mean?!” Scootaloo is now freaking out. I don't blame her, I mean we are in a new place without any knowledge of what happened and there is a number counting down on her arm. Do I have them too? I take off my jacket and check my forearm. Yep, crap. I wonder if this is the count down to our deaths. That would really suck! “Do you two have them too?” I asked Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle. They look at their arms and their eyes go as wide as saucers. They do apparently. “Okay, there's a town over there so we can go over there and ask where we are. Sound like a plan?” they all nod in agreement. “Good, come on.” I said walking to the town. It took us thirty minutes to get there. We would have gotten there faster if Sweetie Belle hadn't hyperventilated from her “What ifs”. You know, like what if we can't get back or what if we die before we get home. A child's imagination is very creative when they get really scared. She got really graphic for our deaths so I’m now a little scared for and of Sweetie Belle. We walked into the town and it looks very, very familiar. It looks like a town you would see in western movies and even the clothing that the people were wearing looked western. There were old stores that sold nick-knacks and who knows what, there is a good number of people but not enough to make you really uncomfortable, I can see the train stop at the station and give a whistle that could make you deaf if you were next to it, and I see the most beautiful thing I could ever see...........a hat booth! It's a booth with a counter in front of the guy, then the guy and behind him is a wall of beautiful stetsons. I want one and I know how I’m gonna get it. I look around to see if there is anything the girls can do and I see a candy store to my left. Perfect! “Hey girls? There's a candy store over there. Why don't you go into it and check out the candy while I do something that I need to do. Sound good?” they nod in response and rush into the store. I walk over to the booth see which hat I want. You know what? Just for fun I’m going to ask how much they cost. “Excuse me sir? How much are these hats?” I ask. “All these hats are ten bits, sir.” he responded. “Okay, thanks.” “Are you knew in town?” he asked me. “.....Uh, yeah. Why?” “How would you like a hat for free? As a welcome to Ponyville gift.” I said to me. “That would be great thank you! Do I get to choose which one?” “Yep, pick one out.” he said gesturing to the hats. I look at the selection of hats and find one that I like the most. “I would like that one.” I said pointing to the hat that looks like the Doctor's stetson. He grabbed the hat and handed it to me. “Alright, here you go. You know this was a one time thing right? I can't be doing this all the time.” “Yeah, I understand. Thanks.” “Your welcome and tell your friends about Happy Hats Stand!” I walk to the candy store to get the girls back. As I’m walking to the store I talk my steam punk goggles off and put them on top of the hat, then put the hat on. I look so cool! I open the door to the store and see the girls watching a guy stretch taffy of a hook. “You girls ready to go?” “Raider, look at how he's making the taffy! I didn't know they did it like that!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “You didn't know? That's how they always do it, I think. Come on we gotta go now.” they walk over to my side and we head out. “What's with the goggles on the hat?” Scootaloo asked. “I thought it was cool.” I say proudly. “Eh, looks weird.” “Oh shush you. I think it's cool and that's all that matters.” “Whatever you say, Buttercup.” As we're walking down the street I begin to wonder about the numbers on our arms. What are they supposed to be? “Hey Apple Bloom, Scottoaloo? Can I see your arms with the numbers on them?” “Sure.” Apple Bloom said. They stuck out they're arms and they both say 00:06:54:47, now 46, 45, 44, ah you get the gist of it. “It looks like a timer of some sort, but I still don't know for what. Sweetie Belle? Does your arm say the same thing?” Sweetie looks at her arm. “Yep, the same thing!” so now it's same to assume that I have the same numbers. “What do they mean?” Apple Bloom asked. “If it is a timer than the six is hours, fifty four is minutes and the numbers counting down are seconds so something is gonna happen in about seven hours.” I said. “Is it our deaths?!” Sweetie exclaimed. “I don't know, but we can't assume that until we know exactly what happened.” “Hey! That looks like granny smith!” Apple Bloom said pointing over to a girl with white hair in braids , green skin, and wearing a plaid dress. “Kinda, but she's young and Granny Smith is old.” I said. “No, no. it looks like her when she was young! It looks just like her!” she said. Wait, Time Turners place, light pad, numbers counting down on our arms, old timey town, and a young Granny Smith look alike. WE'RE IN THE PAST! I should have known it! Time Turner, the Equestrian version of the time traveler, The Doctor! I'm so thick! I'm a pudding brain! “Raider, are ya okay?” Apple Bloom said. “Uh? Oh, yeah. Why?” “You had a scared and surprised look on you're face.” Scootaloo said. “Girls, I just figured out where we are.” “Where are we?” Sweetie Belle said. “We're in Ponyville-” “No we're not!” Scootaloo interrupted. “-In the past.” “What?” Sweetie Belle said. “We were at Time Turner's place, who I'm assuming is time traveler, we were on a pad that lit up and put u sin a new place, and we now have numbers counting down on our arms. I think these numbers tell us how long we have left in the past. I'm not exactly, but it's a hunch.” I said. “So what you're saying is, we are in Ponyville's past?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yes. So you see, that Granny Smith look alike is actually Granny Smith in her youth.” “Awesome! I wanna go talk ta her!” Apple Bloom said “No!” “Why not?” Apple Bloom said confused. “There are certain things you must know before you do stuff all willy-nilly. There are the rules of time you need to know.” I said. “Ugh, now comes the stupid rules.” Scootaloo rolled her eyes. “Hey, this stuff could mean your life. One rule is, you cannot interfere with your own time line. If you do that will create a paradox and either rip a whole int the fabric of space and time or summon these creatures that will eat everybody so the universe can start over. Kinda like white blood cells only loose the restart the universe bit.” I said. “Okay, I'll be careful.” “Good. Another rules is don't kill anyone because killing the, could change big things in the future. Third, don't give out information because changing the past is kinda a bad thing and you could un-alive yourself.” “Un-alive?” Scootaloo asked. “Yeah, it's kinda a mental thing about me, I can't really say the k-word, but yeah, could sleep with the fishes, destroy your life, un-alive your body, you could K-word yourself.” “.....okay.” Apple Bloom said. “Another ruler is you can make ripples but not tidal waves. Meaning you can make little, unnoticeable changes but not big ones that can affect the future.” “So, like, I can take an apple but not steal a whole cart?” Scootaloo said. “Yeah, something like that. Yet another rule is don't believe that what has already happened. It hasn't if you're in the past so you can still change things.” “I have a question.” Sweetie Belle said. “Go ahead.” “What if someone from the future came to the past, is it still not allowed to kill them?” Sweetie Belle asked. “In that case, yes you can kill them because it won't affect the future.” “Okay, thanks.” “This one is kinda important too. Don't interfere in anything because it could cause major repercussions in the future and change almost everything thus creating a new time line.” “Seems simple enough.” Sweetie Belle said. “This is one of the last rules I can think of for time travel. Have fun! You're in the past or the future! You're seeing things almost no one else can see, learn things you never knew!” I said. “That rule seems out of place because the other ones were about not dying and this one is about fun. Seem weird.” Scootaloo said. “It is but it's true.” “There are a lot of rules fer time. My head hurts now.” Apple Bloom said. “It's not really a lot but thee is a good number of them.” I said. “How do you know so much about time?” Scoots asked me. “I watch a lot of Doctor Who.” “What's Doctor Who.” Scoots asked. “It's a show about a time traveler and I like it!” I pump my fist in the air. “Sounds stupid.” you-know-who asked. “It's come in handy now, hasn't it? So no judging!” We then hear people screaming from the building behind us. As I turn around I see there's a sign above the door that says BANK. That sucks. “What's happening?” Apple Bloom asked. She walked over to the window to see what's up. “*GASP * It's robbery!” “What?! How do you know?” Sweetie Belle said. “The two robbers are holding guns and are wearing bandanas over their faces!” she said. “We gotta stop them!” Scootaloo said. “We can't! This would count as interfering so it's against the rules!” I said. “forget the rules, innocent lives are at risk! I'm not letting them die!” she rushed into the bank to stop them. I run after Scoots to stop her, but as I run to the swinging doors to the bank and I see her punching one of the robbers leg. It isn't even fazing him one bit! “Looks like we got ourselves a little hero girl, Big Time.” the robber getting the punches said. “Waste the girl.” the other one said. “NO!” The robber didn't have time to react as he got a punch in the face. He dropped his gun to hold his face. I picked up the gun and shot him in his kneecap dropping him to the floor. I look over to the second robber as he aims his gun at me. I grab Scoots and jump behind the counter. The bullets fly and wiz past Scoots and I are hiding. I look in the gun to see I have five bullets left. That should be enough! I rise and shoot at the robber missing him. He shoots back and I fall back down. I rise and shoot again and I graze his right shoulder. He grabs his shoulder and aims at me again and fires. He missed again but got so close I could hear the bullet wiz by my ear. I crawl over to the end of the counter, jump out and fire again. I missed again but he grazed my right hand, which happens to be the one hold the gun. I drop it but grab it with my left hand and cower behind the counter once more. “Alright, if ya don't come out I'll shoot this lady!” The robber said. I rise from the counter and aim the gun at him. I see he's holding a women with a gun to her head. “Drop your gun and I let her go. What do ya say?” he says with the crazy eyes. I want to do it but I see his hand, the one holding the gun, isn't in front of her so if I shoot it he'll drop the gun. “I said drop the gun!” he yelled. Aim small, miss small. I aim at his hand and fire. The bullet flies from the gun, cuts through the air and embeds itself in his his. “AH!” he dropped the gun and holds his hand in pain. I walk over to him, flip the gun so I’m holding the barrel and hit him as hard as I can with the butt of the gun knocking him out. I walk over to the women. “Are you alright, Miss?” I give her my hand to help her up. She takes it and I help her up, “Apple Pie, My name is Apple Pie. Thank you for saving me! I don't know if he would have killed me!.” she hugs me as hard as she could and DANG that girl has got some strength! “And what would be the name of my savior?” Apple Pie asked. “My name is Raider.” “Thank you, Raider.” she smiled and gave me a quick kiss in the cheek and quickly left the building for some reason. “LE GASP! Scoots!” I run over to where she was hiding and see her crawled up in a ball. “Scoots, are you alright?” She slowly turns her head to me and I can see the look of terror on her face. Tears start to form in her eyes. She leaps at me and hugs me, crying as if there was no tomorrow. “It's okay, you can let it out.” I rub her back to make her feel better. The police or sheriff, since we're in the past, run into the bank. “What happened?! Is everyone alright?!” He yells he looks down and see s the subdued robbors on the floor bleeding, “Oh.” “Where were you when all this happened?!” I yelled. “I was.....uh...... indisposed.” He said. “So you were on the pot. Good to know when there is trouble the sheriff won't be there.” I complained. “Now who are you and where do you get off in disrespecting me?!” he yelled. “I'm the guy who stopped the robbery and saved all the people and the money here! So you shut your gorram mouth!” I replied, “Come on Scoots, let's get out of here.” I pick up Scootaloo and walk out of there angry at the sheriff, satisfied for saving someone, and a little scared for interfering and braking a rule. Eh, what's done is done and I can't change it. When we walked out the other two CMC run over to us. “Are you two alright?! We heard gunshots and were too afraid to watch.” Sweetie Belle said. “We're fine, but Scoots here is shaken up.” “Is she alright?” Apple Bloom said. “She'll be fine. I didn't see her shot anywhere, she just needs some time.” “Where the two robbers fighting each other?” Sweetie asked. “No. I took one of the guns and took out the two robbers.” “Did you kill them?” Sweetie Belle asked me with a scared tone. “No, shot one in the knee and knocked out the other one. Then I got into an argument with the sheriff so we better leave before he does something.” “But you were only in there for a few minutes. How did you take care of them that fast?” Sweetie Belle asked “Luck I guess. Well, that and I'm fast and pretty accurate with weapons.” “Sounds more like skills than luck.” Apple Bloom said. “Hey you! Young man, get back over here and fight like a man instead of running away after a few words!” Yelled the sheriff. “Run.” I said. And off we ran into the unknown world possibly facing dea- and I did it again. _____________________________________________________________6 hours and 30 minutes later______________________________________________________ “How much longer are we gonna be in the past?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Look at your arm.” I said. She and I looked and it said 00:00:24:23. “So we have twenty four minutes left?” She asked. “Yep.” Apple Bloom pulled on my jacket arm, “Yeah?” “Scootaloo is still kinda shaken up. Could ya make her feel better?” I look over to the little one and she has her head down hugging herself and I think I see her shaking a little. She looks more cold than scared. I walk over to her to try my best, “Hey Scootaloo. Are you alright?” “No.” “Why?” “I nearly died and you almost got killed you and others in the process because I wanted to be a brave hero and help the people, but all I did was hide while you fought them off. I'm nothing but a scared, helpless chicken.” She said while tearing up. “You're wrong.” She looked up at me with a confused face, “You knew you had to help them because you didn't want them to die. On top of that, you actually ran in there to fight them and that took a lot of courage. I know you may not have done what you wanted to do, but if you hadn't gone in and had me follow someone would have died. So because of you they are alive and well. You're more of a hero than you think and I admire that about you.” she started to smile and hugged me. “Thank you.” I let go and knelt to her level, “You're welcome. I'm your firend, so if you have anything you want to talk about I'm right here.” I said. “Hey, guess what. We only have about twenty minutes left here.” “Really? Awesome because I’m hungry!” she said. “Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle! Ya hungry?” “YES/YES!” they said in unison. “You three wait here. I'll get us some food.” I walk Scootaloo over to the other two and walk off to find food. Where was that apple cart? Ah, there it is. I see young Granny Smith manning the apple cart. I walk over to the cart and young Smith sees me. “Can I help ya?” She asked. “How much are these apples?” “One bit per apple.” I don't have any money so I've got to get creative. “Alright, thanks. Whoa!” “What's wrong?” She asked. “There's a dog balancing on a ball while spinning a plate on it's nose right behind you!” “Where?” she turns around to see what isn't there. I grab four apples and since I have big pockets on my jacket I put two apples in each pocket. “I don't see anything.” She turns back around to see a dust cloud in the shape of me, “That was strange.” I run back to the CMC to give them their apples. I dodge people, carts and animals to make it back where I left them. When I come back, guess what! They're gone! This ain't good. How much time is left? I look on my arm and there is ten minutes left! I really need to find them! “Apple Bloom! Sweetie Belle! Scootaloo! Where are you?! Huh, man I sounded like Shaggy calling for Scooby. No time to laugh about it right now, I need to find them before time runs out!” I frantically run and search and call their names looking for them. Where are they! If I were a kid, wait, I am a kid. Where do I want to be right now besides the future? I GOT IT! The candy store! I run to the candy store in hopes they are there. When I make it there I burst through the door and find the CMC mesmerized by the guy stretching the taffy. “Again?!” Me saying this broke the taffy trance and made them look at me. “Huh? Oh, hi Raider!” Apple Bloom said. “Dude, why did you run off?!” I ask. “You were gone awhile and we didn't know when you'd come back so we came here to pass time.” Scootaloo said. “Look at your arms! We only got a few minutes left.” I look at my arm and it says 00:00:03:23, “about three minutes left. I didn't know where you had gone to, I was worried when I came back!” “Did you get the food?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Yeah, I got the food.” I take the apples out of my pockets and toss them to the girls. They happily grab them and begin to mutilate the food with their teeth. “Shesh, you must have been hungry.” Scootaloo swallowed then replied, “Well yeah. We haven't eaten since breakfast and it's evening now.” “It is? Huh, so it is. Must have not been paying attention.” BEEP BEEP BEEP. “Huh?” I look at my arm and it's all zeros., “Welp, time's up.” There's another bright, blinding light then nothing. _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ I regain conciseness with everything aching again. “Ugh.” “I hurt again.” Sweetie Belle said. “Time travel without a capsule. That's a killer.” I say standing up and popping my neck, “Come on girls, we got to get you home. Look at that! The window is still open!”. the CMC stand up and I can hear the joints popping and their groans of uncomfortableness. We walk over to the window and climb out. “You girls need to get home before you get in trouble. And you-” pointing to Apple Bloom, “you're coming with me. Bye girls!” I grab Apple Bloom's hand and we walk off to Sweet Apple Acres. “Hey, Apple Bloom?” I said. “Yeah?” “Why do you and the other two call yourselves the 'Cutie Mark Crusaders'?” “Because the girls and ah are tryin' ta find our cutie marks!” “And what are 'cutie marks'?” “they're these symbols that tell ya what yer special talent are. When ya find yer talent, they appear on yer shoulder, but we haven't found ours yet so we go out on adventures ta find 'em!” “Sounds like fun! You know, I don't have a cutie mark. Do you think you'd let me join?” I ask. “Really?! Sure! We're gonna have a whole ceremony fer ya! Ah can't wait fer ya ta be one of us!” “Me too.” I said with a smile. As we walk through present day Ponyville I begin to respect the things we have now and how much larger it got. A lot of things have changed since then. I hope Granny Smith doesn't recognize me. We walk back to the farm and u see Applejack with the dinner bell. “COME AND GET IT!” she yelled. Apple Bloom and I rush to the house to get some grub. “Howdy Raider, Apple Bloom. Glad you made it in time.” “Same here, we're starving.” I said in reply. When dinner is set on the table Apple Bloom and I gorge ourselves on it. “My, my you two. Ya seem as if you'd just came off a famish.” Granny Smith said. “We're just really hungry.” “Ah can seem that.” she replied. “What did ya two do today?” Applejack asked. “I joined the Cutie Mark Crusaders on an adventure.” “Really? Ah thought you had ta get clothes?” She replied. “I did start to go but I joined up with them before I got there, guess I'll have to do it tomorrow.” I said. Dinner went by faster than I thought it would, but I guess that happens when you're hungry. After dinner we all did our own thing for a while. When the time came I said my “good nights” and went up to my room to get some sleep. After the day I've had some sleep will do me some good. When I get to my room I take my clothes off, get under the covers and have a nice sleep.
Chapter 5Chapter 5 As the sun rose and kissed my cheek I felt relaxed because I didn't need to worry about that rooster mugging or waking me. With a smile on my face I sat up and stretched my body. I look around the room lit by the sun, but notice something smeared on the floor form the door to my bed. I get out of bed and walk over to the mystery substance. I kneel down and wipe it off the floor with two of my fingers. I smell it, “Smells funny,” I taste it, “ugh, it's blood. Wait, blood?” I follow the blood trail to my bed. The trail leads under my blankets so I lift them. “HOLY CERBERUS!” I yell. I see the rooster I K-worded under my blankets! There's a note next to it. I pick it up to read. yoU'LL NEveR GEt riD OF Me! ThIS iS MY Farm! It's kinda hard to read. it looks like chicken scratch, no pun intended. It's a Devil rooster! It's gotta die! I take the rooster by the neck and go down stairs to look for some matches and gasoline! During my search I pass Applejack and Big Mac eating in the dinning room. Big Mac is the first to speak, “Why are ya carrying a dead rooster?” “It's a devil rooster! It's needs to be burned at the stake!” I respond, “Do you have matches, gasoline, a rope and a rod you won't miss?” “Should we be worried?” Applejack asked. “Yes! You should be very worried! This monster is after me so it must die once again!” I said. “Why would it be after ya?” She said. “Because I killed it accidentally and now it's come back to destroy me!” Big Mac snaps his fingers, “So that's what happened to him. He didn't make any noise yesterday and he didn't show up when Ah fed the animals. That was you?” he asked. “Yeah, sorry about that. I didn't mean to k-word him, but he stole from me and the shovel seemed like a logical decision at the time. But let's not focus on that, can we please re-K-word this thing?!” “K-word?” Applejack asked. “Ask Apple Bloom about it. Can you show me the things I asked for?” I asked. “ *sigh* Yeah, hold on.” Applejack gets up from the table and gets me the stuff I asked for. All three of go outside to deal with this problem. Dig the rod in front of the barn and tie the body to it. Applejack covers it in gas. Just as I'm about to light the match Big Mac puts his hand on my shoulder. “May I light it?” he asked. “Why?” I inquired. “This rooster was a mean sucker. Ah was the one who had ta deal with it the most. Ah'm the one who had ta feed him and he would always try ta bite me, unlike the others who were fine with me.” “Oh, O.K.” I hand him the match. He strikes the match creating a little flame, and drops it on our victim. “So......you two aren't mad at me?” I ask nervously. Applejack looks at me, “Nah. We hated him to, but we didn't have the heart ta kill him. We've known him all his life. There's a little bit of us that's sad but it's being blocked out because the rest of us are happy he's gone.” “Sorry.” I apologize. “Raider?” Applejack said. “Yeah?” I say. “Ya might want ta put a shirt on. *sniff * And maybe take a shower.” she said. “Oops. Sorry. I'll do that now.” I turn around and go inside to take care of business. After my shower and eating breakfast I head back to town. I still need to go to Rarity's to get new clothes. During my trek I remember my CD I bought. I should really listen to it when I get back. Wait a minute, crap. I don't have a CD player! Curse you compulsive buying urge! I wonder if Vinyl has got any job openings at her shop? Eh, I'll ask after I got to Rarity's. No, if I try to get a job there, then I can get money then go ask Rarity for clothes and be able to pay! As much as I like getting free stuff, I feel bad for taking free things constantly. With my plan in mind I start heading to Vinyl's music shop. After about ten minutes of walking I get to the store. On the door there's a sign that says, “NOW HIRING”. Awesome! That's strangely convenient. I open the door and the ringing bell grabs Vinyl's attention from behind the desk. “Hey, Raider! It's good to see you again! What's up?” she asked walking over to me. “Nothing much. I noticed the sign on the door. Is that still available?” I asked. “Yeah, put it up there yesterday. I had figured people around here would jump at the chance to work here, but I was wrong. Are you saying you want to work here?” She asked with hope. “Yeah. I was actually.” “Great! Follow me!” “Where are we going?” I asked. “In the back. Gotta have Tavi interview you for the job.” She says. “Tavi?” I say, yet again acting as if I don't know. “Yeah, she's my best friend and she works here too. She takes care of all the financial stuff and the things I don't know how to do, like interviews.” “O.K.” I said. We walk into the back and there's a door that says 'Manager', “She's the manager?” I asked. “Yep. She's more of a leader than I am.” she opens the door to the room. It's a nice room that has posters and pictures of an orchestra covering the walls, comfortable looking seats, the floor is a gray carpet that has a treble clef on it, and a fancy desk at the back of the room with Tavi behind it. “Yo, Tavi!” Vinyl said. She looks up and smiles. “Hello Vinyl. Can I help you with something?” She asked with that soothing English voice of hers. “Yeah. My friend, Raider, wanted to fill that spot we needed.” She said gesturing towards me. “Fantastic! Please come, take a seat.” She said pointing to the seat in front of the desk. “Alright.” I said. I walk over to the seat and sit down. “Be kind to him, Tavi.” Vinyl said before closing the door. “Hello, I am Octavia Melody.” She said with a warm smile holding her hand out for me to shake. “Hello, I'm Raider.” I shake her hand. “Vinyl seems to like you.” She said. “Really?” “Yes. She's very good at telling whether people are good or not. If she's friendly toward you, then you must be good.” “I strive to be.” “So, tell me a little about yourself.” She said crossing her arms on the desk. “Well, my name's Raider, I'm sixteen years old, I have worked in construction, farms, I am a contract painter, I'm a musician, I'm creative, hard working, and willing to do anything I'm asked or told to do.” she jots down what I've said on her piece paper. “How did you here about this job opening?” “I say the sign on the door.” “What interests you about this job?” She asked me after finishing her notes. “I've always enjoyed music and any department that deals with music.” “Why did you leave your previous jobs?” “Most of them were summer jobs, with others I didn't have good workmates.” “What are you're strengths?” She asked me. “As i've said, I'm creative, I try to work efficiently, I work hard and get the job done no matter what.” “Alright. Now, what are some of your weaknesses?” “I'm can get confused kind of easily. I also have a little difficulty when speaking to new people.” “If you did get this job, what days and hours would you want to work here?” “I can work on all the weekdays from ten to three o'clock.” “What would you want you're salary range to be?” “I would like maybe, eight to nine bits an hour? Is that possible?” I asked. “Yes, that is possible. If you did get the job, would you prefer to work with the instruments in the back, in sales with Vinyl, or working behind the scenes with me?” She asked me. “I'm willing to go where ever I need to. Or where you feel I would be best working.” “Alright. I have all the answers I need.” she stands up and looks at the notes she's written down. She looks at me and smiles. “You shall get the job!” I stand up, “Really?!” “Yes. I shall have you working in sales. Congratulations!” she sticks her hand out and shakes my hand. “Awesome! I'll try to not disappoint you.” I said with a smile. “You shall start tomorrow at 9:30 A.M. And your salary will be 8 bits an hour.” she said. “O.K. I'll see you tomorrow at 9:30 then. Thank you for this opportunity.” I said. “You're welcome. I shall see you tomorrow. Goodbye!” she sits back down and returns to the work she was doing before I came. “Bye!” I said walking out the door. I walk back to the front and pass Vinyl behind the counter. “Hey! So, did ya get it?” Vinyl asked me. “Yep! I start tomorrow!” I said happily. “Awesome! What are you gonna be doin'?” “Sales. I'm guessing that's out here?” “You are correct.” She said to me. “O.K. Then I was correct in my thinking. Hey, I have a question?” “Shoot.” “When I was first here, why did you give me the CD for just playing the drums ?why not keep asking for money?” “I remembered when I was younger and I wanted a CD but couldn't get it because I had no money. I also asked you to play because I wanted to see if you had talent. If you did then you deserve to be rewarded for your hard work.” “Uh. Didn't know that. Thank you Vinyl.” I said. “No problem.” She said with a smile on her face. “I'm gonna get goin' now. I've got to do things I've been needing to do for awhile.” “Alright, I'll let you get to it. See ya tomorrow.” She said. “See ya tomorrow.” I reply. I turn around and leave the store for my next destination. I feel satisfied with myself. With the other jobs I had, they just asked me to come because they needed my help. They were my friends that worked there. I couldn't really say no to them so I went to work. But this was the first job that I had to interview for. It was different, but different is good. I really hope I don't disappoint Vinyl and Octavia. Anyway, I need to get to Rarity's place. I need to get new clothes. The ones I'm wearing are starting to smell funny. I navigate through the streets to find that one building that's out of place. You know, Rarity's pretty building? The one that makes all the other buildings look like shacks with straw roofs. After about 15 minutes of walking and looking I find it, Carousel Boutique. It's very pleasing to my eyes. Huh, there are pony mannequins on the top. Never noticed that before. I gotta ask her about that. I walk into the Boutique and I see scrap pieces of cloth on the ground, human and pony mannequins all around. some have clothes on them and others don't, there are gems in a chest on the right, a curtain on the wall to my right, maybe for changing, a runway stage, basically the things you would see on Project Runway. There's nobody around so I call her name, “Rarity?” nothing. I yell again, “Rarity?” finally I hear a response, “Coming, Darling!” I see Rarity running down the stairs to my left that I didn't notice. “Hi, Rarity.” I said. “Oh Hello, Raider! How may I help you?” She hugged me. “I was wondering if you could help me. I need more clothes, that is if you didn't have anything else going on.” I said. “But of course! Today's been a slow day. Are those your only clothes?” Rarity asked me. “Yeah, I didn't have any others when I came to town.” “It's alright. Before we can begin, I need you to strip to your undergarments.” She said pointing to my clothes. “What?!” I jump back a little. “I cannot get the proper measurements unless you either in your underwear or in your birthday suit.” “I'll go with underwear.” “I thought so.” She said. “Is there a changing room?” “Yes. It's behind that curtain over there.” She points to the curtain to my right.” so it is a changing room. I love it when I'm right. I walk behind the curtain to see a big changing room. It's about as big as a living room. There is a podium in the center and four mirrors. Two on each side of the room. There are also racks for hangers and a bench in the back. I undress leaving only my boxer briefs on and put the clothes on the bench. I look at myself in the mirrors. My chest has almost no muscle in it and my stomach is flat until the bottom. It bulges out for no reason. I really need to work out more often. Well, the bulge on my stomach I can't do anything about, family genes. But my chest I can do something about. “Are you ready, Darling?” Rarity asked on the other side of the curtain. “Yeah, I guess so.” She enters the room now with measuring tape, a notepad with a pencil and glasses on. “Is what kind of clothes would you like?” She asked me. “Jeans, T-shirts, boxer briefs, leather jackets, a trench coat, and do you make shoes?” “I, unfortunately, don't.” “Eh, worth a shot.” “Would you like V-neck shirts or regular?” She asked. “Regular, please.” “Alright, time for the measurements.” she wraps the tape around my waits. Once she gets the measurements there she writes them down. She continues to measure the rest of my body and write the measurements in her notepad. I hope she doesn't think I'm fat. I'm in between fat and fit. I'm the kind that looks skinny but gets a double chin when looking down. “Alright, I am finished. I'll have them finished by the evening.” She said. “O.K. Cool. Than you Rarity.” I slip my clothes back on. They got cold again, great. We leave the changing room now that the work is done. “what time do you think they might be done?” I inquired. “I'd say about 4, maybe 5 o'clock.” We stop at the door. “Cool, thanks. Is 4:30 fine to come back?” “I'd say so, I might have them done. I'm not sure.” “O.K. I'll see you at 4:30 then.” I said. “O.K. Darling.” “Bye.” “Goodbye, Raider.” I walk outside. That was almost as weird as getting a testicular exam by the doctor. “Now what?” I ask myself. I could do a lot of different things. I could walk around town some more, but I've already done that for what seems like everyday. I could hang out at the park. I wonder if there is a playground? If so then I could do parkour training. The only one I could recall is the one by the school, but kids might be there so I can't train there. I could check out the shops, but that's part of walking around town. I could go bowling! Wait, no money. I guess it's to the park. I begin to walk to the destination I seek. As I'm walking I see the streets aren't as busy as they have been the past few days. It's Sunday so that might explain it. Raider goes onward to seek out the mythical stone of something in the park. He knows it might be a perilous journey, but it is one he must take. He must do it alone, no one else may come along with him for he knows he might fall victim to slumber's cold grasp if he lies down at the domain of park. He might face animals of all sorts that could K-word him, he has a chance of facing children that could smear food on him, but he must go because he has nothing else to do. I actually liked this narration more than the others my mind has done. After 10 minutes of walking I reach the park. The entrance has an arch that has two trees next to it. In front of the entrance is a dirt road and behind the entrance is grass. I've always loved the little feature. I walk in and I see a pond about 30 meters away. It has three park benches around it, a tree next to it, and a park shelter behind it. I walk over and sit on one of the benches facing the pond. The pond is a beautiful crystal blue with little goldfish swimming in it. There's nobody at the park so there's no noise to break the silence. Well, there's a little noise but it's the birds chirping, the breeze through the leaves of the trees, the occasional fish getting a bug on the water but that's it. “Hey, Raider!” And now the silence is gone. I look to might right and see Lyra walking my way. “Hey, Lyra! What's up?” She sits down next to me. “Oh, nothing much. Just out for a walk today. How's life treating you?” She asked me. “It's been pretty good. I got a job and the music store today.” “Oh! The on run by Octavia and Vinyl?” “Yep.” I said. “That's cool. I'm happy for you.” She hugged me. “Thanks. I start tomorrow. I'm excited for this, I've never worked in a store before. All I've done is construction, painting, and being a farm hand. What do you do Lyra?” “I'm in between jobs right now. All I've done is work in the candy shop with Bon Bon.” “Why did you leave?” I asked. “It really wasn't my thing. I'm more of a musician.” She told me. “Really? Me too! What do you play?” I said. “Awesome! I play the lyre and guitar. You?” “I play the drums, bass, keyboard, ukelele, and the triangle.” “The triangle? That isn't hard to play.” “Exactly! Everyone can play it! It's one of the easiest to play. But you have to have good timing to use it in a song.” “Uh, sounds easy. Which one was the hardest to learn?” “I'd say bass. All the frets confused me and the strings hurt my fingers, but not anymore.” “That's good.” She said with a smile. “I love this spot. Makes me think of when times were simpler. Wish we could turn back time to the good old days, when mama sang us to sleep, but now we're stressed out.” She probably didn't get that joke. “I love that song!” Maybe not. “What songs?” I said. “'Stressed Out' by Twenty One Pegasi!” Figures they'd have a name like that. Equestria probably doesn't have pilots. We sat there for what feels like hours. Don't take it the wrong way, I'm enjoying every minutes of it. We talk about our past, our likes, dislikes, favorite food, music, our little quirks, basically everything we know about us. I look up at the sun and wonder what time it is. “Hey, Lyra?” She looks at me, “What time is it?” She looks up at the sun and says, “It looks about 4:30.” “How do you know that?” “When you live here long enough, you can tell what time it is just by looking at the sun. Is there someplace you gotta be at?” Lyra asked. “Yeah. Rarity has got some clothes for me. I said I'd be there at 4:30.” “Let's go then.” She stands up. I stand up and we both walk to the Carousel Boutique. We finally get there at about 4:40. I open the door and I see Rarity working with some clothe on a mannequin. “Rarity?” she turns around. “Ah, Raider. Hello, Lyra.” She greets Lyra. “Hi, Rarity.” Lyra greets back. “Your clothes are in the backpack to your left.” I look and there is a backpack on a bench to my left. “I made four pairs of everything, I have another leather jacket for you, and a trench coat.” “Thank you, but why the backpack?” I asked Rarity. “Would you rather carry all those clothes in hand bags. You'd have at least four bags.” “Ah, makes sense. I know this is a rude question but, is it possible to pay for these things on a later date. You know, when I have more money?” I ask nervously. “Don't be silly, Raider. It's on the house.” Rarity said with a smile. “Are you sure? I don't want to be bad business.” “You are my friend and you needed my help. It's the least I could do.” “Alright. Thank you, Rarity.” I put on the bag. Wow, it's heavy than it looks! Lyra and I leave the shop. “You know what I'm gonna do, Lyra?” I ask her. “What?” She said. “When I get the money from my job, I'm still gonna pay her back. It's the right thing to do.” I said struggling with the bag. “That's a very nice thing of you.” “I was raised that way.” Lyra sees me struggling with the bag. “You alright?” She said. “Yeah, this bag is a little uncomfortable. It's heavy!” “I can help.” her hand glows green and so does my backpack. It suddenly became lighter! “Whoa! What did you do?” “I used a lightening spell on it.” “Thanks! Makes things easier.” The rest of the day is spent walking and talking around town. She showed me some of her favorite places to eat, relax, have fun, it was like a little date! I looked up at the sun once more. It was lower than before. “Hey, Lyra? What time is it?” she looked at the sun, then at me. “It's about 7:40. Why?” Crap! Dinner is in 20 minutes! “I gotta get back to the farm! Dinner is in 20 minutes!” “Alright.” She gives me a hug and then she did something that surprised me. She kissed on the cheek! When I mean cheek I mean the cheek that's at the edge of the mouth! So it was like a lip/cheek kiss! She then giggles like a school girl and walks off. What just happened! She kissed me! No time to think about that now. You gotta get to dinner! Food is important! I figure out where I am, which is about a twenty minute walk from the farm. Crap! Better start running! And they're off! I start running in hopes of making it in time. As I'm running I nearly run into people, animals, and carts. The run takes me about 18 minutes and I finally make it to the farm! I stop at the porch of the house and sit on one of the rocking chairs. I try to catch my breath for a second. I am not a runner! But on the bright side, I'm getting more endurance from running around town. I rest my head on the back of the seat to get som- “COME AND GET IT!” Applejack yells ringing the dinner bell. “AH!” I scream falling out of the chair. “Sorry, Raider. Didn't see ya there.” She says with a laugh. “And I can fly. You knew I was there! You can't lie!” “You're right, sorry. Ah thought it was funny. And it was! HAHAHAHAHA” She's clutching her stomach. “Laugh it up now, I know where you sleep.” I walk inside and Applejack follows me still laughing. I go into the dinning room to see the others sitting at the table. Dinner looks good. It's steak, green beans and mashed potatoes. I love this family! “Why don't you go wash up, Sonny Boy.” Granny asked me. I walk into the kitchen, wash my hands and sit down at the table. As we're eating dinner Big Mac asks me, “Whatcha do today, Raider?” “I got a job at the music store in town, I got new clothes and I spent most of the day with Lyra.” I said. “Sounds like you went on a date with her.” Applejack said. “No, just to friends hanging out with each other.” I said. “Did she kiss ya?” Applebloom asked. “Apple Bloom!” Applejack said. “It's alright. Yeah she kissed, but on the cheek. Well, it was kinda mouth and cheek.” “Then it was a date.” Applejack returned to eating. “What?” I got no response. That would explain this kiss then. “What did you guys do after I left?” I asked the older Apple siblings. Big Mac spoke up, “After ya left, we took care of that problem in the morning then did chores around the house.” “That's good. So the problem won't be a problem anymore?” I asked him. “Eeennope.” “Good.” I returned to destroying my food. The rest of dinner was eaten in silence. After I ate I put the dishes in the sink and went to my room. I'm curious of what my clothes look like. I put the backpack on the bed and dump the clothes on it. I see two dark blue jeans, black jeans, and gray jeans. I have a white T-shirt, a black T-shirt, a blue T-shirt and red T-shirt. The leather jacket is black, has a two breast pockets, and a strap on each of the shoulders. The trench coat looks like Dante's from Devil may Cry. It's even red! I wonder? I tacket of the jacket I'm wearing and put this one on. Fits nicely. I roll up the sleeves past the elbows. I can even roll them up! All I need to do now is dye my hair silver or white and I can look like Dante! I notice the pocket on the front of the backpack is bulging out a little. I open it and see there are two pairs of black socks and two pairs of white socks. Aw, Rarity is so nice. Wait a minute. I dig past the socks and I see another pair of fingerless gloves! YES! YES! A THOUSAND TIMES YES! I take off my cotton fingerless gloves and put these on. They're actual leather! Better grip! I see a note in the bag. I pick it up and read it. Dear Raider, I know you didn't ask for these, but you need more than one pair of socks. I also thought you would like the gloves. You seemed to like the ones you had, but it isn't the weather for those gloves. Think of these as gifts. Hope you enjoy these! Love, Rarity “Than you , Rarity! I love these!” I look out my window, “Whoa, night already? Better get some sleep now.” I put the clothes back in the backpack. It must be bigger on the inside to fit all these. I place the back next to the dresser and I lie down in bed. I pull the covers over me and fall into blissful sleep.
