Sunshine

A My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction

By Gen

DISCLAIMER: This is a non-profit fanbased work of prose. My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic is the property of Hasbro, and the reinvention of Lauren Faust. No copyright infringement is intended, please support the official release

Making my way through town for the second time had to be at least a little worst than the first. Of course, I did have much better clothes thanks to Rarity, but that didn't lessen the awkward feeling that I got when getting across town. It being a little while since departing from the Carousel Boutique, I had already been more than eager just to get home if not only because of the stares that I had been attracting from the townsfolk.

The three mares pacing behind me had been none-other than the three that I had already come to know little-by-little in this strange land. They weren't the only ponies around at the moment, however. Along the sides of the street there were quite a few of these beings either fleeing from the area to hide in their homes, or just gawking at my appearance. Filled with shock, confusion, fear, or paranoia, the ponies seemed to stray from me the best that they could as whispers filled the air around me. What sky that hadn't been taken up with these words had been filled with the flying ponies as they too joined in on the murmuring. The pegasi were something that I could notice easily by how their shadows slid across the ground as their owners loomed over me. I could even see a few unicorns in the crowd that had already begun to line the streets, but with how the majority had been Earth Ponies there weren't much to see. This would be probably a good time for me to identify all of the different species of ponies, but there were a few more important things on my mind.

I did my best to not let this crowd get to me during this little trip down the middle of the street. Due to the majority of my life being lived in seclusion, I was more than able to move along without much thought given to what had been happening. I only kept my eyes forward with a neutral expression. Although, one of the mares behind me seemed to think a little differently.

Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie had been having a conversation in-between themselves on the current matter at hand. From what it sounded, each one of them seemed to have a different take on the matter. Fluttershy was the most worried, Rarity had not seemed to have a reason to be concerned, and Pinkie Pie was just being Pinkie Pie. Strange that this was the only way to describe her, huh?

Kicking off the conversation with a bit of uncertainty, Fluttershys' eyes darted around from side to side to get a good look at the ponies lining the streets. Just the idea of all of these ponies staring looked like it gave her the jitters. "Rarity, Pinkie; I hate to disagree with the directions, but was it really a good idea to bring Jacob this way?" Fluttershy directed her gaze out to the crowd of ponies once more before swiftly pulling her head back. "Everypony is..." Her ears began to fold. "-looking..." In response, Rarity lifted her chin proudly. The thought of these ponies looking at the fashionista didn't bother her in the least bit. She actually seemed to crave the attention.

"Why of course they are looking, Fluttershy. When a mare such as myself steps out in public, it's expected to turn a few heads."

Forget having the patience of a saint; Fluttershy must have had the patience of the Buddha himself to stand such an egotistical remark. Unsurprisingly, it had somewhat sparked a small amount of annoyance in Fluttershy, but not enough to make it known. All that really happened was that Fluttershy paused for a split second before continuing on with what she had been saying. "Rarity, I was talking about Jacob." Even with a smooth as silk voice, you could tell that Fluttershy had become serious. This had only made it all the more embarrassing to Rarity once this had all become clear.

The realization hit her rough. Rarity had even almost stumbled over herself when catching this. A little slack-jawed, the unicorn tried not to make it seem that obvious to how oblivious she was and tried her chances at a recovery. "O-oh, of course." Shaking the blush off of her face, Rarity moved on. "Even if we should not have, you must try to keep yourself from worrying like you are. You will give yourself stress marks on that pretty forehead of yours'." Oddly enough, the mentioning of that caused Fluttershy to take a fore hoof and rub her forehead as if to check for any wrinkles. I suppose that even if they are ponies, girls will still be girls.

Jumping in on the conversation, the high-pitched voice of Pinkie Pie more than merrily joined in with the pink pony. Just as you would expect, Pinkie had been talking much louder than the other ponies that had been both lining the streets and walking with her. Not to mention that she was talking a lot more in general. "Yeah Fluttershy, what's gotten you so worried? It's not like we're in trouble, or anything." Saying this brought on a confused downcast from the jolly pony. "Are we? No? Yes? Maybe?" It seemed debatable to Pinkie for the next few seconds.

"I don't know. It's not like I ate all of the corn-cakes again today, so I'm not."

Eyeing Pinkie Pie as if she was some sort of oddity, both Rarity and Fluttershy couldn't help but to be at a loss. Pinkie seemed to be just as much of a puzzle to them as she had been to me. Even with the absolute randomness intruding on them, Rarity was able to pick back up the talk after clearing her throat. "I'm sure that there's nothing to worry about, Fluttershy." As much as Fluttershy wanted to believe this, it did not appear that she really did.

The pagasus tilted her head to the side, haunted by possibilities that the future may hold in store. "I don't know, Rarity... Maybe it would have been better to take Jacob around the town to Twilight." All of the nervousness Fluttershy had shown no effect on Rarity. The proud clopping noises of her hooves hitting the ground were unwavering.

"Please Fluttershy, you mustn't be so nervous about this. We all know that you're just worried, but there is no need. Look at Jacob, for example. He's acting quite brave for somepony in his current position. Strong steps, perfect posture, not to mention that well managed hair. He's handling this professionally, if I do say so myself."

Bringing herself to see this, Fluttershy had at least lifted her head up to see me walking. My pacing had already revealed on how dead-set I was on getting to the Golden Oaks Library. Even if I had clinched fists, the posture that I had wasn't threatening. It was more steadfast than anything. Still, this did not mean that I could escape the worry that had already consumed me. It just wasn't ever easy for me to speak about how I felt. It wasn't much like I had the current ability to really show it though. My thoughts had easily cluttered my mind to bring my fullest attention to them.

The outcomes for what had been transpiring before me were not promising to say in the slightest. As stated time and time again, I was in a land of talking, pastel-colored ponies on my way to speak to a magical unicorn in her tree house about how to send me back to my home.

Even after accepting this as reality, it is still difficult to accept that this isn't a dream.

There was quite literally no logic in anything about this situation. My mind had even begun to thrust itself into some form of denial by beginning to think up ridiculous ideas to try and deter me from what was really happening. There was no denying the truth, however.

I could hear many of the ponies along-side the road beginning to speak with each other with illegible words. I could only suspect that they were wondering why a strange, lumbering creature was parading around this quaint little village like I had been. You couldn't blame them, but a part of me wanted to tune the world out right now. It was probably best that I didn't do this though, or I may have over-looked the fact that me and my little group had found our way into what seemed to be a marketplace.

There had been different vendors selling various kinds of goods around me. Fruit, vegetables, tools, drinks. I didn't even know that anyone still used a quill for writing purposes. I guess that no-one around here likes to use pencil. None-the-less, this was quite the interesting experience, and it did more than successfully get my mind off of the matters at hand... Well, until I got a good look at the ponies at the stores.

Either terrified or confused faces stared at me while I had been walking through this strange little market. Somehow during the time of my own growing interest, I had failed to notice how a few store owners had closed up their shops at the sight of me. They must have suspected that I was going to cause trouble. Some of the other ponies though... Were a little braver than the rest.

"Hey!"

The blast of this shout had stopped me and the ponies behind me in our tracks. The shout had brought on a fearful squeak from Fluttershy as she proceeded to cower behind one of my legs. Not as easily located as it was heard, I could tell that the origin of this shouting was somewhere close by. The direction it came from however was a harder to determine. Turning my head to the three behind me, I arched a brow.

"Hey, um... Is someone talking to us?"

There wasn't even time to think before I could feel something slam itself right into my forehead. At first, I had suspected that someone had hit me with a ball because of how the impact had felt. I could be wrong though because it's sort of hard to determine things when something hits you in the face. Whatever it was, it felt small and round; like a baseball.

Flinching upon impact with the unidentified object, the hit lifted me off my feet and momentarily left me motionlessly air-bourne. Stillness had been brought on as Fluttershy, Rarity, and Pinkie looked on in shock or fear. The pain that surged through my skull did more than force my eyes shut as whatever had caused this momentary floating feeling inevitably ended with me falling flat on my back.

Deciding just to lie there for a little while, I could already feel something wet trickling down the sides of my face. It must have been blood. Not like I would really expect any different on a day like today. You know, one would think that this day could start making some sense, but that seemed to have been too much to ask for right now. However, there was one thing that had been made crystal clear. Someone really didn't want me here.

Slowly opening my eyes, the clear, blue sky was all that I could see. My arms and legs spread out about the ground when I tried to figure out what just happened as a wet feeling continued to slide off of my face and dampen my hair. Aside from the panicked murmuring or silent cheering from the sides of the road, things had actually become rather tranquil. It would have been really enjoyed if there wasn't just a physical assault.

A low growl emanated from my throat when I tried to sit up. One hand on my head, I used the other to prop myself up. My head had felt like it had been crushed with a sledgehammer. The empty expression in my eyes fought back the thought of unconsciousness as I faded in and out. After I had successfully managed to sit back up, I could feel all the blood rush from my head only to make my headache even worse than it had been before. It was a never-ending battle just to keep myself awake for the first few moments.

For whatever reason that there was, there had been something on my face. No, that's not the bump on the head talking. There was quite literally something on my forehead, under my hand. So this was either pieces of flesh that had come off from impact of whatever hit me, or whatever other option that there could have been. I really hoped it wasn't the first one. My curiosity getting the better of me, I took my hand down to inspect just what on earth it had been stuck to my face. Whatever it was, it had enough force behind it to tear my forehead bandage clean off of my head.

It was no surprise to me when seeing blood on my hand. It was the one thing that I expected to see besides torn flesh, which thankfully wasn't there. What did surprise me was yet to be noticed. Along with the blood, I could also see what appeared to be... Wait... "Are these apple seeds?" Did someone throw seeds at me? No way, whatever hit me felt way to big just to be some seeds. If anything had been thrown, it would have had to be a whole apple. That didn't make sense though. It felt more like getting hit with a baseball than an apple! I was getting a head of myself though. There was no real proof that I had been hit with an apple. There were just seeds. If I was supposed to believe that I had been hit with an apple, I would need proof.

Ask and you shall receive, I suppose. A sweet taste had soon found its' way into my mouth from the liquids that poured down my face. Strange as it sounds, it took a second for me to confirm that it wasn't blood that I had been tasting. "Apple juice?" Why did I taste apple juice? I thought that I was just bleeding. Was I bleeding apple juice? No, no, that's the bump on the head talking. The confusion setting in ever more, I looked down at my shirt to see what I could only suppose had been small chunks of fruit. I could feel my hair getting all the more sticker with every passing moment when confirming to myself on what had just happened. "Did someone hit me with an apple?" No, that's impossible. If that were true, then that would have meant that the apple would have exploded upon impact! That couldn't have been what happened, but the pounding in my head begged to differ.

Being left unable to say anything else without stumbling over my own words, it wasn't long before Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Rarity had come to try and see what on earth had happened. Fluttershy, being the angel she was, had been at my side while helping me stay sitting up. Even if it was just a hoof behind my back, I was more than grateful for the assistance. "Oh my goodness, what happened? Are you quite alright?" Fluttershy spoke with worry completely overtaking her normally coy voice. She looked concerned, but It wasn't until noticing that the gauze on my head had completely come off did Fluttershy see the new injury that replaced it. Following the sudden discovery, Fluttershy had begun to panic.

Gasping in shock, Fluttershy put both fore hooves on my face before pulling it close for some sort of inspection. With a troubled tone, Fluttershy turned my head in every which way when speaking to me. It seemed to be that she was looking for any other injuries that I may have obtained. "Oh my goodness! Y-you're bleeding!" Whenever Fluttershy let go of my face, she had quickly went into a greater state of alarm while trotting in place. Eyes wide, I could tell that her mind had already gone blank by how she was looking every which way. "Oh my goodness! Oh my goodness! We need... We need-" Her worried trotting came to an end when coming to her own conclusion. Even then, I could tell that a mental siren was going off somewhere in Fluttershys' mind. "Bandages! We need more bangages!" The poor thing was worrying herself to the point of apprehension.

Fluttershy flinched a little when I put my hands on the sides of her face. Slowly directing her gaze to me, I kept a smile on my face to try and ease her worry. It was also important that I kept my voice slow and soft to keep Fluttershy from becoming any more excited . "It's alright Fluttershy. I'm alright. Just a little banged up, but I'm fine." Taking my hands off of her face, My smile only faltered when the pegasus tried to make an excuse for herself. A lifted hand and a momentary frown did more than stop Fluttershy in her tracks when attempting at an apology. "None of that. You'll worry yourself sick doing that." My voice staying firm for a moment, it quickly went back to a careful demeanor.

As much as I would like to say that Fluttershy simply calmed down, I really cant. It looked like Fluttershy had been trying, but nothing was really working. Her eyes looked around in a dilated size while she had been keeping a hastened breath. My, this girl was quite the nervous wreck at times. Still, it was kind of cute to see her get her feathers ruffled like she had. Even so, Fluttershy needed to calm down to really view this situation correctly.

Dusting off the gauze on the ground, I did my best to tie it back onto my head as I could. It was a little tricky, but I did manage. My shirt sleeve worked well as a way to clean off the remaining blood and apple from my face before directing Fluttershys' attention back to me. Putting a hand under her chin, I then slowly adjusted her head in my direction once more. Of course, she jumped when I did this, but I made sure to be gentle. "Fluttershy, I need you to look at me for a moment, alright?" Fluttershy seemed caught off-guard by how soothing my voice had now become. I could already see her breathing had slowed a little.

Moving my arms around the back of Fluttershys' neck, I slowly wrapped them around her and pulled her close for a hug. Even though I couldn't see it, Fluttershy had been more than taken back by this as she hadn't even been able to fight back at the time. The action alone had almost taken her breath away.

Truth be told, this was the number one way that my mother always calmed me down as a kid. If I was angry, sad, or hurt she would just have to give me a hug and everything would be all better. I could tell that the same rule applied for Fluttershy as I could feel her entire body loosening up while breaking free of her panic. "You know, my mom always said that a hug is all anyone needs to make everything better." Feeling Fluttershy put a foreleg around my back did more than make me grin. "She has yet to be proven wrong." Easing out of the hug, I could already notice the blush spreading across Fluttershys' face. She kept her nose pointed at the ground with her eyes on me with a small smile on her face.

Upon letting go of Fluttershy, I had only then attempted to stand up once more. A head rush pounded on inside my noggin as I stumbled while getting up. Thankfully, both Fluttershy and Pinkie did more than keep my body stable while I attempted this. "Careful; are you gon'na be alright, Jake?" Well, I suppose that Pinkie couldn't sound cheerful all the time. In truth, the pink-pony actually sounded kind of scared for a change. She watched me struggle to stay standing with a hoof covering her mouth. It seemed a surprise to her that I could stand at all after how many times I've been hurt today. Taking a quick look around, Pinkie had tried to see just what could have caused this to happen, but Pinkie was just as clueless as the rest of us. A quick laugh brought her attention back to me.

"Me? Yeah, I'm fine. Humans might not be the strongest, or fastest, but we sure as hell are the most stubborn."

Saying this had at least comforted Pinkie from what I could tell by her smile. Wiping her forehead, Pinkie let out a breath to show her relief. "Whew, thank cake that you're alright. For a second there, I thought you were down for the count." Are you kidding? I've been chased by a monster today, and Pinkie thought that a piece of produce was going to do me in? No way. I smirked at Pinkie a moment before coming to the attention of a question that had only just popped inside my head. Blankly, I looked around in a mild search.

"Wait a second, where's Rarity?"

Without a moments' hesitation, my question was anything but unanswered. "Why the nerve!" The booming voice more than matched Raritys', but you wouldn't think that someone with such a lady-like appearance would use such volume like she had.

I guess that you could say that Rarity had been taking a more hands-on approach to all of this. Now, when I say 'hands-on', I don't just mean that she is handing this in a physical manner. What I mean to say is that she had that look in her eyes that someone was about to get their lights knocked out, and shoved into an early grave. This lady-like fashionista was on the prowl and out for blood as she leered out into the direction the fruit had flown from. The ponies that crowded the streets seemed to advert their gaze from Rarity while she had done this almost as if to dismiss themselves as possible suspects. They just seemed to not want to be involved in the slightest. The silence that they had given her was less than what she could have desired. "Well, who was it? Who out of all of you would take such a-" Rarity was just scaring everyone now. I couldn't let this continue.

"Rarity, let's not get carried away."

Causing her to stop mid-sentence, Rarity looked back at me as I had been dusting off the seat of my pants with a couple good pats. Letting out a simple sigh, I cracked a smile at the fashionista. "Don't get me wrong, I appreciate what you're doing, but there's no need to worry." Taking a moment to breathe, I placed my hands on my side before bending my back a little. I grunted a little with pleasure while feeling a couple vertebrae pop, crackle, and snap. It felt wonderful to get any kinks out of the system. Straightening my posture, I exhaled to continue. "Still, you can calm down. Wouldn't want you to dirty your' hooves just for me." I let out a soft laugh when saying this, but Rarity seemed to understand what I had been going on about. There wasn't any need for this to get out of hand. We had a destination, and had to get there soon. The unicorn understood my reasoning completely, but this didn't mean that she wanted to leave whomever had hit me without some sort of punishment. As some sort of consolation, Rarity snuffed her nose in the direction the fruit flew from as she found it better than delivering a few well deserved blows to the assailants head.

"Well, whomever it was... They should consider themselves lucky that I'm too lady-like to go against a polite gesture of a new acquaintance."

Having this behind us, once again the little group that the four of us had made up begun moving to our destination. You know, things had actually gotten pretty simple from here. All that I had to do was keep moving forward and make sure that there weren't any other distractions.

"Ya'll slow down there!"

So much for that Idea. I had barely gotten even seven steps from where I had been before hearing the demand. At least I got to stop in the shade of a cloud to cool off a little.

As I began turning around, a minuscule feeling of annoyance pricked my being. What could have possibly been important enough to stop us now? I'll admit, I had my fair share of intrigue when seeing who had called out for us, but I was a little more interested in why.

An orange Earth Pony had just begun to emerge from the crowd of ponies the moment I had completely turned around. I couldn't describe the feeling that I got from her, but looking into her eyes let me at least know that I could trust that there was good reason for her stopping me. Both her mane and tail had been styled into probably the most suitable thing that I could imagine for a pony; pony-tails. The white freckles under her eyes only became visible after a quick adjust of the stetson sitting on the top of her head.

While I had only stared at the pony during her entrance, the three around me did a whole lot more. Pinkie Pies' jaw dropped, Rarity pulled her head back in shock, and Fluttershy widened her eyes through their own surprise.

"Applejack?!" The three spoke in unison.

Applejack? Like the drink? Goodness, these names were odd. Still, this at least let me know that this pony was yet another friend of theirs. It didn't explain to me just what the reason this new pony would have for stopping us, but I would let time explain that for me. The look on this ponies face already told me that she had been responsible for the apple throwing, but also that this entire situation may have just been a bit misconstrued.

Applejacks' expression was embarrassed to say the least. Clearly there had been some sort of miscommunication somewhere along these lines. Pausing mid-step she stood not too far from the group, but focused on me alone. Adjusting my glasses after her slow stop, I gave a light grunt when sitting down once more. "I swear, it's just one distraction after another." I muttered under my breath. Noticing a few twinges of pain in my sides I let out a short gasp as Fluttershy stopped beside me and whispered into my ear.

"Jacob, you shouldn't be doing all of this body movement. Walking is fine, but you've been put under too much stress today to perform as well as you have."

I tussled her hair in response, but showed no signs of doing anything but what I planned. "No worries, Fluttershy. This pony has something to say, and it would be rude if I just ignored it." As I patted her back, I gave Fluttershy a playful wink. "Why don't you give the two of us some talking space. This might be private stuff." Seeming to find comfort in my actions, Fluttershy gave me a nod before moving over to Rarity and Pinkie as the three took a few steps back to allow me to talk to this 'Applejack'.

Directing my gaze back at this newest pony, I had pressed my hands on my knees before sitting cross-legged. Once lifting a hand to beckon her to me, the hand went back to its' designated knee. "Well, come on now. We can't have a conversation with you all the way over there." Applejack grinned a cheesy grin at me before approaching me.

Applejacks' sorry expression had more than come into a better view when in front of me. To greet one another, the pony tipped her stetson while lifted my glasses somewhat with a thumb to symbolize the same guesture. "Uh... Howdy." Her southern accent had the subtlety of a steamroller, but it fit her. Acknowledging her greeting, I laughed before plucking off a piece of apple that had been stuck to the collar of my shirt.

"Hello, I think that you misplaced this."

Applejack folded her ears back while biting her tongue. The situation must have seemed awkward to her now. "Ah'm really sorry 'bout that." The apology had been accepted when I gave a slight nod, but Applejack still felt the need to explain herself. She tried to play it off at first since I forgave her, but I could see that this entire misunderstanding had been bothering her. "Ya see, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity are really good friends of mine, and Ah jus'..." Applejack paused to try and find the right words to use.

"You were worried for them?" Applejack jumped at my assumption, but I laughed at it and continued. "Honestly, I can't blame you. I guess that I do look a little frightening."

The accusation to myself hung in the air as many ponies along the street watched either in awe or fright that this conversation had really been happening. Applejack however just watched me as if unsure what to make of this. A raised brow with the other furrowed, she watched me call myself this and laugh it off. This conversation didn't quite seem to match up to her. "Well, still-" The orange pony cleared her throat. "It wasn't right, what I did." She began. "Me and mah friend had just been doing some business when we saw our friends following ya like they were miserable. For a second there we thought that you had captured them, or something." The whole idea was laughable as I had done no such thing. "Ah guess that we jumped to conclusions a little too soon." An understandable explanation, but something struck me as odd.

"Um... We? There was another pony with you?"

My question perked Applejacks' ears up while looking at me with a smile. Looking around calmly, the orange pony seemed somewhat at ease now that things had come to be straightened out. "Oh yeah, Rainbow should be 'round here somewhere." A light blush of embarrassment lit up her cheeks when rubbing the back of her head with a fore leg. "Ya know, Ah'm glad this got settled out before Rainbow got her hooves on ya. If she had, I can bet that you'd be..." Falling silent, Applejack looked to have come to some sort of grim realization. "Are we sitt'n in the shade?" Her eyes went wide while looking at the ground to see that we had indeed been sitting in the shade. Noting this suspicious behavior, when Applejack looked up at the sky I made sure to do the same.

For whatever reason that there could have been, and god forbid there be a reason, there had been a cloud looming over the two of us. Not even more than thirty feet above us, it hung there like a bad omen. Just the sight of it caused Applejack to clinch her teeth. I however stared at it with a sort of clueless intrigue before bringing my attention back to Applejack. A finger pointed up at the cloud while I tried to make sense of this. "Is that a cloud?" Quite an odd phenomenon. Applejack gave me no response while looking up at the cloud. All she did was stare at it.

"Oh horseapples..."

The cloud slowly began to spit and sputter white streaks of electricity along its' underbelly while slowly becoming darker and darker with each time a spark shot across the fluffy, floating tuft. The sparks, growing larger by the second were more than alarming for the orange earth pony. Having already lowered my eyes to Applejack, I was only left to watch Applejack stare at the sky like a zombie. It scared me a little, to be honest. "Hey, are you okay-" I didn't even have the courtesy of being able to finish my sentence.

Scrambling to her hooves, Applejack was quick to act. For whatever reason she had, it had apparently led Applejack to tackle me back out of the shade just before I could ponder what was going on. At that exact moment, a blinding light filled the air as a shot of electricity bolted down from the cloud in a mere instant. I didn't even realize just how close I had escaped this brush with death.

The ponies around me had either blocked their eyes from the light or fled from the area. A loud crack sounded as the energy struck the earth and scorched its' destination. I could hear Fluttershy scream as she shielded her eyes. Rarity kept her composure, but seemed to need to both shield her eyes by closing and covering them. Pinkie however just watched the scene play out with a pair of green rimmed glasses. To this day, I don't know where she got them.

"Look out!"

Did EVERYONE want to kill me today? Did someone in heaven or hell just think that it would be wonderful to try and strike me down with everything that they had today? Mother Nature must have hated me, and in turn sent ponies and storm clouds to kill me. I could hardly believe just how quickly that this was getting to be one messed up day. For Petes' Sake; I havent even been awake five hours and I've almost died more times than I could remember! Manticores, talking ponies, exploding fruit, and now hostile clouds? This sounded like some sort of bad drug-trip. Too bad that I didn't do drugs, or this may have made just a little bit more sense than it does. It would have explained so much.

Remember, don't do drugs kids.

Now as my luck would have it, the tackle that I had received caused me to bang the back of my head on the ground before just lying there like a lump. I swear, how many injuries will my head be subjected to? The weight on my chest let me know that Applejack had landed directly on top of me. The Earth Ponies' stetson hat had landed over my face preventing me from seeing anything that could have been possibly occurring around us, but I didn't need to. The ringing in my ears kept things quiet for a short while, but pretty soon I could hear screaming and running. I guess that flash scared a little more than just a couple of the townsfolk off.

Once feeling some movement coming from Applejack, it wasn't long before her hat was removed from my field of vision. I would have done so myself, but it was getting more and more difficult to move with every passing second. Even Applejack could see the tears of pain that I had been holding back at the moment when taking back her hat. Once off of me, I could see her eyes falling down to their bottom right corner, already telling me that this was somehow partially her own fault. "Heh, sorry 'bout that, partner." She chuckled wryly while putting her hat right back on the top of her head. I made no response other than forcing a raspy exhale to show her that I was still alive, but it didn't seem to bring the stetson-wearer any comfort as any reassuring smile soon formed to a worried grimace.

"Whew, you okay there? You look like you had a run-in with a manticore or somethin'."

...If only she knew...

No, I just had to shake all of this off. It didn't matter what was happening. I just needed to get home before this place had enough time to kill me. Doing just that, I slowly began to attempt to sit back up once more. "I-I'm fine..." I spoke through a couple of coughs, but finally managed to sit back up onto the seat of my pants. The sight didn't bring Applejack any comfort. Just making it back to my sitting position was enough to leave me gasping for breath. "I just need to stand up for a little while and walk this off." At least standing was easier for me. Even if there had been a bit of a head-rush, it was still easier than sitting up.

Having been already on the way to me right as I spoke, I was glad that Fluttershy had been helping me stand once more. I swear, this was getting repetitive. I get knocked down, and stand right back up. Almost always on my back, none-the-less. Something told me that this wasn't going to be the last time this happened here, either. "Careful,-" Fluttershy gave me all the assistance that she could while pressing against my legs for support. "-I knew we should have just kept going. I don't think that your' body can take much more of this excitement." When we had finally managed to get me standing, Fluttershy gave me a light pat on the side. She then directed her gaze to Applejack. She wasn't mad, but more shocked at the actions that had take place. I think that Fluttershy was about to scold Applejack, but had soon been interrupted by a voice from above.

"Hey AJ, did I get it?"

I could already tell that this voice was coming from the cloud above. It didn't take a genius to know that. Upon a closer observation however, I was met with a surprising spectacle. When looking up at the cloud as it's dark shade began to lighten, I could clearly see something colorful appear out of it. Now, this didn't mean that in a figurative sense; I literally mean that there was something rainbow-colored leaning over the side of the cloud! Only moments passed before I could see yet another pony poke her head out over the edge of the cloud. As it turned out, that assortment of color turned out to be that ponies hair!

This pony was a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. Every spectrum of the rainbow that covered her mane seemed to have been separated into different areas as it stood in a messy fashion. As the pony wrapped her fore hooves under the edge of the cloud, I couldn't help but wonder how she was able to pull off something so impossible as actually laying on a cloud.

Upon spotting me, it could clearly be seen that my presence was not something that had been expected from the mare at the time. From what I could see, it actually caused her some sort of mental distress. "What? Are you kidding me?" The pegasus spoke almost mortified of what she was looking at. "That didn't even work? I thought a good lighting bolt would take care of that thing for sure!" These words weren't comforting to me in the slightest, but seeing her rolling her shoulders as if the pegasus was getting ready for a fight frightened me.

"I guess that I'm going to have to handle this without clouds."

Flying up from her cloud, it was to my dismay that the pegasus donned a cheeky grin with her wings flapping vigorously. I didn't like that grin. I didn't even know that ponies could look even close to as menacing as this one did. Even with all of her bright colors, I couldn't help but feel that my life was once more in danger. "Now hold-on there, Rainbow! We weren't ever trying to send the feller into an early grave!" Oh, God bless Applejack. God bless her and her pony-tails. Unfortunately though when hearing this the Rainbow mane pegasus swooped down to the ground at great speeds, only to somehow professionally stick the landing without crashing. How fast she had been going was impossible for me to tell, but the pony didn't even break a sweat! Things weren't looking up for me since I was the thing that this pony had targeted. Now planting her hooves on the ground, the Rainbow Pony snarled at Applejack.

"Hey, I knew that! I was just going to get really close to it with a lightening bolt and send that thing running! You screwed that up though!"

This pony pointed a hoof in my direction when describing me as 'that thing'. A part of me wanted to run for my life right here and now to get as far away from these crazy ponies as my legs could possibly carry me. Still, the numbness in my legs told me that I wouldn't be getting very far if I did. Not to mention that I would be taking the possibility of setting off that Rainbow Pegasus, and it would take a blind man not to see how fast she had been flying while still being able to pull off that nose-dive without falling flat on her face.

"Rainbow, are ya kiddin' me? You came this close to frying me and this poor feller both with that daggum stunt you just pulled!"

I guess that was her name; Rainbow, was it? Anyways, the pegasus pulled her head back in some disbelief when hearing how her actions almost resulted in major concequences. It seemed that something didn't quite go according to plan with her. She did her best to cover up her ego with a stubborn turn of the head, but it could be clearly seen that what had happened wasn't intended. "I knew what I was doing. The closer the strike was, the quicker that thing would run." I had my doubts. That lightening strike was pretty close. As Rainbow whipped her head back around to Applejack, a low growl game from her throat. "If you hadn't of butted in, that thing would be high-tailing it out of town by now!" I couldn't help but flinch a little when Rainbow called me a 'thing' again.

Her gaze only growing colder, Applejack bared her teeth before making her way to Rainbow. Applejack wanted to get something very clear across to this mare. Stepping aside to let her get a full view of me, Applejack pointed at me for Rainbow to observe the current state of the matter. "Rainbow, what in tarnation makes you think that this guy would be able to run anywhere?" Rainbow only let out an 'uh' before Applejack cut her off. "If you ask me, what I did wasn't butt'n-in if there wasn't any reason to attack no-more." At this point, Applejack had been putting her face directly in front of Rainbows'. In the meantime, Rainbow could only pull her head back to try and keep at a safe distance. After taking a few steps back, Rainbow found the common sense to finally observe my state of wellness. It would be accurate to say that she wasn't impressed in the slightest with what she was up against. One good look at the bandages that wrapped around my body was enough to let Rainbow know that I probably wasn't in the best of condition.

"Yeah, I guess that he does look pretty wimpy."

Well, that was hurtful. This entire day has just been ponies stabbing me with a verbal knife, hasn't it? It actually made me want to get away from these two even more than ever. Who knows, doing so might be a blessing. Before I could really do such a thing, the Rainbow Pony zipped in front of me as if to inspect me. Her eyes looked me up and down while examining the bandaged parts of my body. All the while, the Pegasus hummed to herself as if judging me. "Not the normal wimpy either. Really wimpy." Okay, I had just about enough of that. I would have given this pony a piece of my mind if she hadn't begun flying around me.

The rainbow blur that surrounded me came to a sudden halt when the pony stopped in front of me once more to glance over my body one more time. Serious at first, Rainbow stared point blank into my eyes before cracking a wise smirk. "Eh, I guess you could pass for harmless." Was she judging me, just now? This pegasus seemed like the type who was a show-off, and a competitive type right off the bat. "Well, aren't you gon'na thank me for doing such a great job?" Not to mention that swelling ego. When her hooves touched the ground once more with a light clop, she spread her wings out to try and impress me. My only reaction was a blink as she stood there waiting for applause. "I know it must be exciting, but hold that enthusiasm." Rainbow lifted her chin at me as she arched a brow. "How's that for a first impression? You've just had the honor to be approved by me." I was clearly unamused.

"No offense meant, but you have a horrible sense of perception. Also, your' first impression was that attempt to kill me."

Saying this seemed to have flipped a switch in the cyan mare as she had already zipped up in the air and in my face. The look of pure rage that she gave me caused a few beads of sweat to trickle down the side of my face. "SCARE! I WAS TRYING TO SCARE YOU!" -And boy was she doing a good job at that right about now!

It had looked like Rainbow was about to clobber me. Judging by how athletic this pony had appeared to be, it may have not been a good choice to try and get smart with her. So quickly waving my hands from side to side as a sort of boundry in between the two of us, I did my best to put some distance between us. "O-Okay, okay! You were just trying to scare me, and right now it's working very well!" The cold stare that Rainbow gave me was almost artic as she steadily floated back down to earth. The soft clopping of hooves against the ground made themselves known as Rainbow landed. Meanwhile, Applejack gave me a look of sympathy upon her return to Fluttershy and me.

The cowgirl-looking pony shook her head slightly for a moment before looking to me. "Sorry 'bout that Sugarcube, but Dash here has had a bit of'a... Run-in with such things as that kind of death in the past with her hold'n onto the wrong end of the stick if ya catch mah drift." So, there was death in such a place like this? For a while there, I was kind of just expecting sunshine and lollipops. Still, since this was a touchy subject with the cyan mare I figured it would only be proper to apologize. I mean, if someone brought that up when I had been in that kind of hot-seat I would hope that they would apologize. With a casual bow to Rainbow, I tried to make-up for any offence taken by what I had said. I could only really hope for the best when it came to if she accepted my apology.

"Well, I am very sorry for saying such a thing. I do hope that you will forgive me."

Dash had just raised a brow for a moment as she watched me bow in apology. Almost casting the entirety of my action aside, Rainbow Dash looked to Fluttershy. "What's with this guy? Is he some sort of stuff-shirt, or something because he's acting really up-tight." As I pulled myself back up to stand straight, my head tilted to see Dash with a slightly boastful look on her face. I could see her polishing a hoof against her chest before inspecting it. "-But you didn't know, so it's cool." Almost as a refreshing breeze, Rainbow did her best to start over. "The name's Rainbow Dash, by the way." Not like it sounded any less of an ice-cream flavor as 'Rainbow'. Still, it was nice to know how to address Dash. Once again showing herself to be an overly prideful pony, Rainbow Dash stuck a strong posture. "Just remember that name, 'cuz I'm gon'na be the next big thing to Equestria! I'm going to be one of the Wonderbolts!" What the heck was a Wonderbolt?

While I had been relieved that Rainbow Dash had accepted my apology so easily, Applejack could still see that there was some unfinished business to attend to on the current matter at hand. "While we're all apologizin', I guess that it would only be right to apologize for attackin' ya out of the blue." How Applejack had been taking responsibility for her actions was something that I could deeply respect and honor. Truth be told, it let me be able to respect this pony quite a bit already. "We thought that you were gonna hurt our friends, so Ah guess that we got a little out of hoof." All the while Applejack had been putting her heart into this apology, she had easily been able to know about how Dash was day dreaming of her previous claim of being what she called a 'Wonderbolt'. Narrowing her gaze to Dash, Applejack cleared her throat. "We're very sorry; Right, Dash?" Applejack bumped Rainbow with her hip to knock Dash back to her senses. Snapping back to the real world almost instantly seemed to cause her to lose any boastful nature for the moment, and instead now a cheeky smirk was stuck to her face.

"Oh yeah... Eh-heh, Sorry."

Already accepting Applejacks apology once more, I pocketed my hands. "Oh, no need to apologize. You just thought that your friends were in trouble." There wasn't any real reason for any apologies now that everything had settled itself out. Although I'm sure that Applejack and Dash feel bad for what they did, I knew that they only did it with good intentions. To carry on the conversation, I figured that this might as well be the best time as ever to get my introduction out of the way. "By the way, I don't believe I've told you my name yet. It's Jacob Froster, but Jacob is fine if you prefer." I could see that a name such as mine was just as strange as theirs' was to me. Applejack didn't quite know what to think about it, and Dash... Dash just cracked a smile as if it was a ridiculous name.

The light touch of a velvet-like substance dragged itself across my face as it wiped away any remaining dust or debris. With a turn of the head, I could see a handkerchief surrounded by a familiar magical glow. This was a fancy little kerchief; rather regal, might I add. "Really now, Mr.Froster? I only just gave you these clothes, and you've already gotten dust on them?" Well, not like it was my fault. Rarity had lifted her head to look at me while using what I could only call her 'magic' to carry the handkerchief in the air as it dabbed against my face to remove whatever it could. "You simply must take better care of yourself if you hope to continue remaining among the living." Grumbling, I simply stood there as Rarity continued with cleaning off my face.

In the meantime, Rainbow seemed to have gotten a good laugh or two after confirming what my last name was. "Froster? Really, that's your' name?" She seemed unable to control her laughter as she rolled on her back while holding her gut. "What kind of name is Froster?" It was Irish, thank you very much.

Jumping on my back with haste, Pinkies' weight caused me to teeter in my stance slightly. Aggravated as she was, Pinkie still couldn't make me believe that she had been really serious at the moment. "It's a bakers' name!" Pinkie Pie shook a hoof at Rainbow angrily. "Jacob is an Assistant head Chef!" All the rage in the world from this little pink pony couldn't have made Rainbow even the slightest bit sorry for what she had said.

Having trouble standing from all of her laughter, Rainbow held her gut to try and restrain it all. Rather unimpressed, Dashes laugh soon died down to a chuckle. "Yeah, I guess that would fit a chef." Rainbow then leaned her head in toward me mockingly. "What's your specialty; Desserts?" I couldn't help but blush from embarrassment when Rainbow had hit the nail on the head. Letting my eyes trail to their bottom right corners, I spoke softly.

"Pastries, cakes, pies, and sweets actually..."

By the look on Rainbow Dashes' face, I could tell that I wouldn't be able to give her trouble about her ice-cream sounding name any time soon. As a sly grin crept on Rainbows' face, she let out a cocky laugh. "Well then, Baker-boy... What are you doing out of the kitchen?" I felt so humiliated when hearing this that I couldn't even dignify it with a proper response. Pinkie however had a mouth-full to say. Leaning over my shoulder, Pinkie seemed more than ready to defend my honor on this verbal battlefield.

"Hey, don't be mean to Jake! We bake, so we are Bakers United!"

Dash had laughed in response to hearing Pinkies' come-back before taking to the air once more only to nudge me in the side of the arm. "Oh, don't get your' wings ruffled, Baker-Boy. I'm jut having a little fun." This didn't feel like it had been much fun to me. Petting Pinkies' mane for a moment, I could already see her stick her tongue out in some sort of joy-filled pleasure. What was it that Pinkie said? Bakers United? I would have to remember that.

Slowly taking Pinkie off of my back, I set her on the ground gently. As a bit of a thank you, I scratched behind Pinkies' ear for a moment before I could see one of her back legs kicking like how you would normally see a dog would in this situation. "Thank you for that, Pinkie. I appreciate it." With a giddy giggle, Pinkie gave me a wink and salute before letting me go back to what I had been doing. So looking at Rainbow with a soft, yet uncertain smile, I did my best to make up for my misunderstandings.

"My apologies, I've been told that I can be a tad bit sensitive at times."

Shrugging off my appology, Rainbow let it slide off of her as if it was nothing to her. "Geeze Baker-Boy. No need to get so formal. It was just a joke." Yes, a joke. I never did have too much of a healthy sense of humor, but I guess it was better to get one now rather than later.

As things had already calmed down completely, it was strange just how well that I had been able to understand who these two 'characters' really were. Applejack seemed to have a good heart, and was responsible. Still, she looked like she would normally take everything and thrust an entire task upon herself instead of sharing. Dash however seemed like a complete different story. Boastful, confident, and a bit on the tom-boyish side. She had determination that was admirable, and looked to have a goal already in mind for her future. Not bad ponies in the slightest.

As I had been taking in these observations, Applejack had taken it upon herself to make sure this entire situation was handled. As she turned away from me for a moment, she took a few steps toward the road-side closest to her and the crowd of on-lookers that waited for some sort of results. "Alright everypony, nothin' to see here. Just a misunderstandin'. Jake here, ain't gon'na cause no trouble." At first, I did not expect much to happen just because one pony spoke about me in such a way. Applejack was just one pony, so why would they trust her so much? However, I was impressed to see how the crowds began to disperse, all the while the ponies were ignoring me and going about their usual routines. It was interesting to see just how much these ponies trusted Applejack. They actually trusted her word so much that they could put themselves in a calm sence of security at the sign of her approval.

Such an impressive feat was nothing to simply be left unnoticed. Astonished, I watched pony after pony continue on with their day as if I wasn't even here at all. "Wow, these ponies must really trust you." Turning toward me proudly, Applejack closed her eyes and lifted her chin.

"Yer darn toot'n! I ain't called the Most Honest and Dependable Pony in Ponyville fer nothin'!"

Now it sounded like she was being the boastful one. It was funny, really. She took so much pride in that title, but who wouldn't? "Well, it's wonderful that they have so much trust in you. It really makes you look like a perfect role model for a younger generation, so I'm impressed with you." My flattery was appreciated by Applejack with a tip of her hat, but it wasn't long after I lifted my glasses in turn that I slowly spun on my heels before walking off. Giving them a jovial wave over my shoulder while I walked, I tried to get my mind back on track about just where I was headed. The Golden Oaks Library. "Well, it's been... Exciting to meet you both, but we must really be on our way. I need to go have a visit some unicorn named Twilight." I just had to get there after all of this.

Following me close at my side Fluttershy seemed to be glad that we had once again begun our way to Twilights' Library. She still seemed greatly appreciative on how I calmed her down earlier as she had begun to walk a little bit closer to me at this time. "Yes, I do believe that would be good. Twilight must be getting impatient with us right about now..." I hadn't even considered it, but I would imagine Fluttershy would be right. With all the distractions that we've run into, I could imagine that this unicorn would be quite frustrated with waiting on us.

"Hey, hey! Hold on!"

Here we go again. Just as Pinkie Pie and Rarity had begun after us, we had been quickly stopped by Rainbow Dash as she had soared in front of me to block off my path. She was floating in front of me with a smirk. "Why are you headed to see Twilight?" She had obviously been intrigued by what motives I might have had. "You look more like someone a little more laid back than an egg-head like Twi." Egg-head? That wasn't too nice. Still, I guess it was nice for Rainbow.

Almost as if it broke the laws of physics itself, Pinkie had somehow been able to bounce in between Dash and myself with the greatest of ease. Both of us had lunged back from our shock from the impossible intrusion from Pinkie Pie. "We're going to see Twilight to talk." Well, I'll give her this; Pinkie knew how to sum something up well. A little too well for someone that talked as much as her.

"Talk? Jus' what kinda' talk are we talkin' 'bout here?"

Applejacks' suspicion had already begun to rise once more when approaching me. Placing a hand on my forehead, I had only just begun to notice how exhausting it was going to be to really explain this whole incident from start to finish, so I did my best to mimic Pinkie Pie and sum this all up the best ability that I possibly could. Directing my vision at Applejack first, I did my best to explain this without sounding too strange. "Actually, I'm going to see Twilight about how I got here." She didn't understand what I was saying, and neither did Rainbow Dash.

I had already been expecting a few questions just from that one line along, but the only one that seemed to have been scrounged up was a confused one from Applejack. Taking a step forward, the orange earth pony eyed me strangely. "How ya... Got here?" My explanation sounded absurd, I know. It even still sounded that way to me, so I in no way expected them to believe it.

Rainbow Dash didn't look to believe even a bit of what had been being said. Automatically putting herself on guard once more, she had easily cut through the confusing atmosphere only to replace it with one of distrust and suspicion. "Whoa, whoa, whoa." Holding out her fore hooves while doing this, she had brought them back to her chest only to push them pack out in my direction with every 'whoa' she spoke. I could then feel the pressure as Dash poked me in the chest with a fore hoof. "You're going to see Twilight to find out why you're here? That's the weirdest reason that I've ever heard." Already in my face once more, Rainbow looked me in the eyes. "How do we know that you're not lying?" My calm expression never changing, I leaned my forehead in towards Dash. I didn't appreciate her doubt.

"I don't lie, Rainbow Dash. I suggest that you remember that."

The two of us glared at each other for a pretty good amount of time until Dash simply began to lower herself back to the ground. Both of us had been being as stubborn as we possibly could. Apparently, I was going to have to show this mare that I meant no true harm to anyone. So in an attempt to make Dash feel a little more comfortable with my presence, I decided to try and set a middle grounds in this situation. An act of good-will, if you would. First of all, both of us needed to calm down. "Look, maybe we could strike a deal to let you know that I'm not here to cause any problems." Dash raised a brow at me.

"I'm listening."

Putting my hand out for a handshake, Rainbow Dash looked at it curiously for a moment as I went on to speak. "Here's the deal-" I began. "If I cause any major problems in this town, and there isn't any way for me to fix it-" Rainbow looked at me as she earnestly waited for me to finish. "-you can decide my punishment, okay?" The deal wasn't really beneficial for me as it had been rather one-sided, but if it at least let this mare feel at a little bit more comfortable until I got out of this crazy place, then that was fine with me.

It didn't take long before Dash put her hoof in my hand. A little more accepting of my presence now, she grinned while we shook to seal the deal. "You got guts, Baker-Boy. Let's hope you really stay out of trouble so I don't have to beat'em outta you." Yes, let's. I wasn't that worried about any of this however. I wasn't going to be here for very much longer. This entire escapade was practically a visit.

As soon as I had let go of Rainbows' hoof, I once again wasted absolutely no time in walking past these two ponies as Pinkie, Rarity and Fluttershy followed close behind me. "I don't expect to be here long, so don't worry about it. As soon as I know how to get back to my home, I'll be out of your hair." Well, I finally did it. I got away from those two other ponies. Applejack and Rainbow Dash seemed nice, but I just couldn't afford any more distractions.

"Baker-Boy, one more thing!"

I froze in mid-step while feeling some minor annoyance beginning to burn me from the inside out. Only walking in front of me once more, Applejack and Dash looked at me with a smile to them. I knew what they wanted. A wry expression on my face, I sighed before saying anything. "You want to come along too... Don't you?" I couldn't help but feel that my kindness was being taken advantage of.

Seeing how they both nodded innocently when I spoke with them, I silently groaned to myself. There was a stinging pain jolting through my back as Rainbow Dash proceeded to slap it casually. "Oh, don't be such a hermit. We're coming along whether you say yes or no." Damn rainbow pony and her comebacks. Once the aching had gone away, I took an easy breath to try and calm down. Everything was fine. I was going to get home eventually. I just needed to let these ponies come along. All... Five of them. To think that it only started with Fluttershy showing me the way.

Now, I won't lie to you; it took a couple seconds for me to accept this, but I eventually did with a nod. Who knows, I may just be able to learn something from these new ponies. Speaking of which- "Alright then, but I just want to know one thing." The two listened close.

"What's a Wonderbolt?"

Author's Note

Dear lord this chapter-re-wright took forever! Well, I won't let you guys wait any longer. As of right now, I will be doing my best to push new chapters out while still doing re-writes. I don't know when it will come out, but I will do my best!