Ch.6: Twilight

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

Overhead had been small tufts of the sky that so aimlessly kept to themselves. They knew where they were. They knew where they would go. I envied them for the freedom they so carelessly flaunted, but I didn't see the generous blessing being bestowed upon me at any time today.

"Okay, so now do you understand what the Wondebolts are?"

As my eyes drifted around the blueness of the sky above me, I could feel hair against the palms of my hands while they held onto each other behind my head. It had been fifteen minutes of non-stop ranting about these 'Wonderbolts' from Rainbow Dash since I asked the regrettable question on who they had been. The cyan pegasus, whom I feel knew a little more about these characters than I was comfortable with, was more than happy to enlighten me to their greatness. At least, I guess that's what you might call it.

What would be a good word to define how Dash was acting? Excited? No, that's thinking much too menial to describe her as she was right now. There had to be something else. Elated? That sounded a bit more on the right track. Yes. She was elated to tell me about these ponies. Well, now that I say it, maybe... No, Elated was fine. Anyways, while I did choose to listen, this didn't mean that I had not come to contract quite the headache from just trying to comprehend the magnitude Dash had give this conversation.

As I pulled my attention from the sky, I lightly closed my eyes as the gears in my mind came to grind against one another to no end. The mental pistons that lifted themselves up before driving themselves downward gave my head a pounding sensation like no other. One of my hands fell to my side while the other tried its' best to help me relieve tension by rubbing a temple on the left side of my head.

The reasoning behind Rainbows' claim that these ponies were 'The Greatest Ever' had been flimsy if anything, but I was finally managing to piece everything together. Sure it took a couple of times to really think about it, but now things had started becoming somewhat clear to me. "Yeah, I think that I'm starting to get it." My reply didn't sound assuring, but thankfully I didn't think Dash picked up on that. Pressing my index finger upon my temple a little rougher to try and think a bit harder was all that could be done. Too bad that all it did was help the information come in one ear and out the other. It was like my brain was so crammed right now, it felt like my brain would pop!

"So what you're saying is that these Wonderbolts are a specially trained flying team that only consist of the best fliers? Not only this, but they are also a major part of weather teams, and an academic staff; all in the while being an exclusive aerial acrobatics team for your' princesses?"

I could almost feel the smoke fuming from my ears. I hoped that there was no misunderstanding here, or the lingering nightmare of having to be forced through the same fifteen minute lecture once more would have become a reality. Thankfully, it seemed that the idea had been successfully explained... Even though it absolutely made no sense at all. At least I got the gist of it. Dash floated beside me, a smug smirk shot my way. "That's right on the money, Baker Boy. Pretty cool, right?" I didn't feel as if there was any way that I could possibly disagree without ending up on the wrong end of this mares' temper, so I made sure to mumble my own conjectures to myself.

"Sounds kind of irresponsible to me."

Not like it mattered much. Dash seemed more than content with my partial silence while proudly boasting. Not to mention how dead-set she seemed to get things clear to me about this. Flipping on her back in mid-flight, Dash inspected a fore hoof much like a human might have with their finger nails. "Yeah, I know, you know it is." Rainbow proudly stated before poking the same admirable hoof into her chest. "Not to mention that yours'-truly will be joining them one day." I could not help but scoff slightly at her overconfidence. She was joking, right? Did she not just explain to me just how much work went into being a Wonderbolt? Something told me that this would be easier said than done, but I wasn't one to crush another persons' dreams. If she could manage to pull it off, then more power to her.

With an unnoticed shake of my head, I carefully backed out of this one-sided conversation with Rainbow so that I could be left alone with my thoughts once more. The remaining lifted hand finally fell to its' side as my brain began taunting me just because we were alone. Granted, I wasn't really alone but I was good at blocking the world out. What had been on my mind at the time wasn't the most important subject to most, but it sure was important to me. It was the subject of how exactly I had wound up here. The thought wouldn't leave my mind no matter how hard I may have wanted to shake it away.

I was so far away from home that I felt that it couldn't even be plausible to human knowledge. I wondered if anyone back home had even noticed that I had been gone yet. Probably not, I lived alone after all. Not to mention that this was my day-off from work. It would probably be like I had never left in the first place. It could be days before anyone would notice that I had left. Unfortunately, this left me with an uncomfortable feeling in my gut joined with an unpleasant realization in my mind.

It didn't matter how quickly we moved. My stubborn desire to move forward was a pointless endeavor. No-one would notice that I was gone. No-one ever noticed me in general. An undying itching in the back of my mind wouldn't let this thought perish, and it only forced me to really think about what kind of mess that I landed myself into. How far away was I, really? Did it matter? Did anything matter right now? Did I matter right now? My mind had already become quite the cruel creature as it tortured me with these thoughts just to watch its' victim squirm in a vice.

The thoughts of being stranded in this strange land crossed my mind a couple of times, but I did my best not to acknowledge them. It was impossible anyways. Stranded? Me? It was laughable; unrealistic, even.

Still, what if it wasn't?

Could it really be possible for me to be... No. That wouldn't happen. I had a life back home. Granted, it may not have been much, but it was still my life.

There's no point in thinking that way. It will only bring trouble. Twilight is going to send me home. Granted, I don't even know this person, but she sounded too kind to not listen to the plea of a stranded wanderer. She was going to send me home, and that was final.

"Hey, Baker-Boy; you alright? Do you need me to repeat something?"

Rainbows' offer brought on an uneasy quiver. Did she just pull me back into her conversation? Oh dear lord, no! Come on, Jacob. Look at the pretty pony and smile. Smile so she won't go on about those Wonderbolts for another duration of time. God knows' how long she might take this time! "O-Oh no, you've make things quite clear." I did my best to keep my smile from looking as cheesy as it could have. "Clear like spring water!" The tension in my nerves loosened when going back to what had been bothering me in the first place. Mindlessly lifting a hand, I tapped the side of my head with an index finger. "It's just my thoughts. They're making it a tad bit hard to understand everything." I slowed in my tracks slightly. Upon noticing, my group slowed up a bit themselves so that I could keep up with them. It didn't take much to notice that my odd reply did a little more than cause some discomfort in them.

Rarity, being the first one to speak up, turned her head to me with an unsuspecting innocence. Although the only one to have this expression, Rarity wasn't the only one to have a strange look on her face. In fact, every single one of these ponies stared at me a bit vexed by my wording. You couldn't expect any less from any of them. I was an outsider to them. What I knew as fact was most definitely not the same for them. "Everything? I'm afraid that you have lost us, Darling." Raritys' hair bobbed when tilting her head at me. I might have found that sort of cute, if not for the bellowing thoughts that my mind spewed at the time.

Once more, a struggling forced smile finally gave out into a frown while my brain threw around ideas on how I could explain this to them. The girls may not like it, but speaking my mind may have only been inevitable at this point. "Oh, where do I start?" I asked myself this before looking down at the ground. The dry enthusiasm I spoke with only made my day sound even more like torture. A couple of low-bearing clouds sat still in the sky as I could see their shadows stretching over us. Was it wrong that I was becoming paranoid of clouds now?

"Well for one; where I come from ponies can't talk."

The idea in general must have sounded ridiculous to the five around me, and boy did it ever. The shocked look on their faces told me already what they thought about my remark. I didn't stop there though. I had quite the number of strange things to say. I had even begun to count every different significance I spoke of. "Not to mention that pegasi and unicorns don't exist where I'm from." I couldn't help but pick up on a faint gasp around me as I counted a second finger. "Also, that mental telekinesis that unicorns do with their horns-" I rolled my eyes as a third finger popped up. In the meantime, I was fully aware of the fact that everyone in this group held their breath while listening to me.

"-It doesn't exist, either."

Now, the last thing that I could have possibly wanted to do right now was to cause distress to these ponies, but this update on the differences of my world and theirs' seemed quite drastically taken. I bet it sounded crazy to them. It sure as heck was crazy for me when I was greeted with a day like today.

A light stammering was the only thing to pull myself away from my rant as Fluttershy spoke. "Y-y-you m-mean that m-magic doesn't exist w-where you're from?" She was clearly unsettled. Still, if she wanted to be that blunt with it, that was her decision. Even so, there was a bit of guilt building in me for making the poor girl feel that way. I didn't want to scare Fluttershy. She was really sweet, and what kind of person would I be if I treated the person that saved my life so poorly?

Instead, I nodded before trying to pass off the subject. Didn't want to spook her, so I guess that I would have to wrap this up pretty quickly. The free hand that hadn't been counting lightly scratched my face. "Well, technically not." Releasing a laugh, I made an attempt to pass this off as nothing. "We have illusionists, but that's it except for the slight stories of witchcraft..." Shut up, you're making this worse. Try to make things sound a bit more comforting! "Who knows; maybe I'm just stupid and magic does exist in my world?" Nice save, Jacob. Smooth. Just keep going and pray that magic won't appear in the conversation again. Pausing to switch the subjects of the conversation around, I could hear my voice cracking for a split second. "-B-but America doesn't have any Princesses. That I know for sure." The reaction that I got was exactly what I expected.

An array of surprised faces looked at me from these ponies. It wasn't comfortable to be stared at in general, but this was just plain nerve-racking! My fourth finger actually twitched a little when it attempted to lift itself to join the others. "No princesses? Don't tell me that you live in a Dictatorship? A Communist Country? Democracy?" Rartiy had already taken the liberty to question my way of living? Snapping my fingers at Rarities last guess, I did my best to stay on subject..

"Bingo. We have a 'president', not a 'princess'."

In turn to my answer, Rarity scoffed at me with a raised chin. Not like she was trying to mock, but more like the pony pitied me. "My, what a backwards little world that you live in." Whoa, whoa, whoa! Excuse me? What the heck was that just now?

"What's wrong with a Democracy?

My voice sounded colder than the stare delivered to Rarity as she returned the same look in my direction. Applejack had to step in between us just to keep us from busting each others' chops over this. Yet again, Applejack gave me an apologetic smile. "Heh, sorry 'bout that Jake." Well, at least some of these ponies had manners. "We're sure that there ain't nothin' wrong with a Democracy. Raritys' just one'a those types that think Monarchies are better than any other kind of way to run a country." Huh, I think that I could give a few names that do the exact same thing with Democracy. With a pouting huff, Rarity had already begun to put on the drama.

"Is it so wrong that I can picture myself perfectly as a princess? I was born for the position! I mean, just look at me! I'm stunning!"

Just the pose that Rarity took when saying this was more than hamming it up. She did her best to strike the most regal pose that she possibly could have. By how small cracking chortles came from me, I think that it was very clear that I found this quite hilarious. As some kind of retort, Rarity glared at me. "Well, if you find it that funny, I suppose that you wouldn't mind if I became a princess where you're from?" My laughter didn't cease. As much as I hate to shoot down dreams, I hated losing an argument to someone like my sister even more.

"I suppose that could work... If ponies were actually sentient where I'm from."

My unshared laughter only died the moment that I noticed that the entire group stopped walking. It actually took me a couple of seconds to really notice them stop, so when finally noticing I had to stop as well before turning back to them.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you wish that you kept your' mouth shut?

Shock had overcome the ponies as they stared at me. Not a single one of them spoke up as my smile slowly began to fade. It was strange to see them so astonished, but I tried to break the tension. To pass the subject along, I couldn't help but feel a bead of sweat trickling down the side of my face. "Sorry, did I say something weird?" No response; only a slow nod. This could be problematic. Did I really say something that could have troubled these ponies? It wasn't like anything that I said actually mattered to them, right?

'THUNK'

It seemed that this wasn't true as I had seen that in a matter of seconds, Fluttershys' eyes rolled back before she passed out on the ground with a dull thud. The sound alone had been enough to cause me worry, but the sight of it brought on extra. Needless to say that I made an effort to get to the pony.

Hey, she saved my life! I think that I damn, well owe her a little bit more than you may suspect!

I moved past pony after pony as they slowly pulled themselves from their strange stupefied state to notice their friend had finally passed out. Not like it mattered to me. Nope; all that I was interested in was checking to see if that little yellow pony was going to be alright. "W-wait, did Fluttershy pass out from that?" I could hear Rainbow Dash comment on this while I knelt down to Fluttershy as she laid unconscious on her side.

"Please be okay. Please be okay. Please be okay."

My soft chant, which was unknowingly heard by the rest of the group, did no favors for my nervousness. I was hesitant when turning the pony over on her back, but I did do so... Eventually... After a few nudges. I just wanted to make sure that Fluttershy was really knocked out. Now aside from the few questionable stares that I received from this, I pressed an ear against Fluttershys' ribcage. Worry, still consuming me, had already begun to reform into one for this little creature. "Slight heart-palpitation-" I mumbled this to myself. Already fearing the worst, I placed a finger on Fluttershys' neck, much like to check her pulse. All in the while, the few stares that I received from this small group got somewhat closer.

"H-hey, is Fluttershy going to be okay? It's nothing serious, right?"

A wave of relief went through my body after Dash asked this. If the look on my face didn't at least say something, I suppose that it could be explained. So while releasing a light breath, I put Fluttershy back on her side; I, of course still knelt down beside her. "No signs of swelling." The careful look in my eyes had been carefully placed upon Fluttershy when I rolled back on my butt. "Nah, she's just passed out." Already wiping a hand across my face, I smirked. "Thank goodness. For a second, I thought she was dehydrated." Why would Fluttershy have even passed out in the first place? It puzzled me quite a bit as I found myself just staring at the mare. "What on earth could have shocked her enough to do such a thing?" My ignorance baffled the ponies around me.

Pinkie bounced to my side with an attention grabbing 'ahem'. "You mean before or after you said that ponies weren't even people where you're from?" I caught myself before speaking with an embarrassed hue appearing around my cheeks. Did I really say that? For some reason, I had yet to even consider the fact that speaking about my world could possibly cause a result such as this. Well, no going back on this now. I just had to roll with it... Even though I sort of wasn't even able to throw in an apology before being spoken over by Applejack.

"Well, what do we do now? Ah don't really think that it would be a good idea to just leave Fluttershy here, but we do need to get something to carry her with to Twilights'."

Applejack had already been looking at me with mild concern. Of course I had been looking back down at Fluttershy at the time so I hadn't even noticed the look. Even with my obliviousness to Applejacks presence, I fully understood the urgency of this situation. It seemed that drastic measures might have needed to be taken... No matter how much discomfort it might cause me.

My steady foot steps treaded slower than they normally would have. Hanging back a little bit more than I probably could have been, there was an effort made in my steps when moving along. My feet touched the ground a little heavier than usual, but that would have been expected from having to carry a pony on my back.

There had to be responsibility taken on my part for being the reason that Fluttershy passed out in the first place, and I wasn't just the type of person to just leave someone there in a time of need. Even with this being true, this wasn't enough to keep me from feeling an embarrassed hue of pink begin to take over the surface of my face while making an effort to walk as smoothly as I possibly could have.

Fluttershy was such a nice pony. She had done so much for me already, so it made me feel terrible that I was the one to bring something like this upon her. I kind of felt like hitting myself, but doing that out in public might simply raise some unneeded suspicions about me. Instead, I bottled up these feeling for later. Biting my lip, I just couldn't seem to shake the tormenting thoughts from my mind that screamed curses and insults at me for causing such harm to Fluttershy. I deserved it. I knew that I did.

Causing me to catch my breath, I had been taken by surprise when Fluttershy rested her chin on one of my shoulders. Listen, I'm going to be honest with you. Please don't laugh. This was kind of the closest that I've ever gotten to anyone of the opposite gender. Ever. Even if it was with someone of a completely different species, this was enough to cause me to break out into a nervous sweat.

I didn't deserve to carry around this angel. She had done so much for me, but what have I done for her? Scare her to the point of fainting? I must be a terrible person. I had to put on a mask for now though. Pretend that nothing was wrong. Don't let anyone see. Just pretend like you were back home, and this didn't matter. That's how things needed to be, after all.

Lifting my eyes up from the ground the ponies in my group soon came into view. I could see by the looks on their faces that they had either been thinking about making some sort of smart remark, or they held back laughter. Their faces told me everything. I tried not to make it too known that I had noticed their stares, but the red color on my face turned to a bold shade while sweat continued to form along my brow.

Already giggling at me with a bit of a jocular laughter, I could see Pinkie turning around to trot back to me. I wasn't too far back from them, so it didn't take long. However, when she reached the front of me, all she did was go into reverse just in time to keep a steady pace while moving backwards. "Hey, Jake-" She teased. "Why are you turning red?" I could hear Rarity making a smug remark just ahead of us.

"I do believe that Mr. Froster may have taken a liking to Fluttershy."

I refrained from looking at Rarity while I could feel my stomach flip in its' current position as a slight sickening feeling lingered inside of it. For a moment, I did look at Pinkie with a contorted wry expression but I looked away just as quickly. "I-It's not like that, okay?" The timid feeling that my voice held was almost an equivalent of Fluttershys'. "I just have these Golden Rules that I always have to follow." There, that was settled. Not like anyone would be interested in my list. No-one ever has before, so now I just had a quiet walk left ahead of me, right? No such luck.

"Pardon me for askin', but... Golden Rules'?"

Trailing beside me, I couldn't help but notice that Applejack had become a little more than interested in knowing about these rules of mine. Nothing was working out in my favor today, was it? The orange earth-pony looked up at me questionably about how such a thing could really fit within this kind of jurisdiction. "Ya mean like the whole, 'Treat everypony like ya would want others to treat yerself', thing?" If she wanted to think that basically, I guess it was close. Following suit, Rainbow took me by surprise when popping up beside me. Her wings flapped powerfully as she flew eye-level to me.

"Rule, Shm-ules; what does that have to do with anything?"

I'll do my best just to ignore that last comment, and focus on Applejacks'. Doing the best I could to do so, I still had to roll my eyes at Rainbow. "It goes a little deeper than treating others nicely. I have strict rules that I set for my everyday life." Dash quietly doubted my statement with an arched brow. It had become clear that she didn't quite believe how dedicated I could have been at the time.

As the cyan pegasus mocked me with a light chuckle, she made a snide grin my way just in time for me to catch a glimpse of it. "Oh, come on; it's not like you had to make a list for them." Just keep quiet, and let her finish speaking. "I mean, just how many could you possibly have to put up with? Four? Five?" I wasn't going to let that sarcastic tone get to me. Instead, I looked at Dash blankly.

"Forty-Five. Also yes, I do have a list."

That shut her up quite nicely. Seeing Rainbows' eyes go wide as dinner plates was almost an enjoyable sight. Her wings scrambled for a moment as she then began to try and regain stability while flying. "Wha-? Wait, what?" I guess that forty-five is sort of a high number to have for a list of rules. Still, it was my list, and I was sticking with it.

The only one of these ponies that didn't seem the least effected by this news had to have been Pinkie Pie. Her careless backwards bouncing showed me just what she thought about them. "Wow, you must have a rule to keep making more rules." As cheesy of a joke that this was, it did make me crack a smile; one that which seemed to bring Pinkie content with her bad punch-line. Now, I can't say that I have a rule like this, but it wouldn't be that it hasn't been expected of me in the past. I mean heck, sometimes I even noticed a few people trying to change-up my rules to try and mess with my head. Not like it ever worked.

Lost in a mild thinking process, it seemed that Applejack had been trying to deduce something mentally before looking up at me as if giving up. "Well, Ah give up. Jus' what kinda' rule was this for?" Almost instantly, I replied in a strong voice.

"Rule Number Two: Always provide assistance to those in need."

Seeming a little flabbergasted from it, Rarity sounded a little impressed with my memory. "Dear me, you mean that you've memorized all of your rules?" I nodded while smiling at her. Looking at each other in silence, the ponies didn't quite know what to say. "Well, I suppose that humans must be quite the noble race to live by such a code." Now this brought on a laugh as I motioned a hand to dismiss the idea.

"I'm afraid not. I'm the only one that I know to do such a thing. I just find living easier when you don't just do it for yourself. It's always just nice to do something to help out everyone while enjoying what life has to offer. Everyone that even knows about them kind of calls me some sort of cheap knock-off of a poorly made protagonist."

Seeming to get a kick out of my reasoning behind this, I could already hear Applejack speak with an uplifting tone. "Well, if that don't just make ya feel cozier than two gophers in a wool sock, I don't know what will." Two gophers? Well, I suppose that was enough to easily conclude that Applejack had to of lived out in the country at some point of time in her life. Not that I wanted to jump the gun on this kind of thing, but I've never heard anyone that spoke like that without having some experience out in the country. "Ya must be some sort'a real good... Eh, whatever ya are, if ya really stick to them rules of yers'." I don't really know if these rules were enough to obtain such praise... If I could really call that praise, that is.

Pretty soon however, Rarity showed some appreciation toward my way of living. Her hair bouncing around during mid-steps, the unicorns' hair moved ever-so-slightly with her chin raised proudly. "I must say that is quite kind of you, Mr. Froster." Staying silent, I did my best not to show any of my flustered nervousness that had been appearing because of such kind words. "Accepting any boon and favor that comes your' way must not be an easy task to carry out." Well, maybe just a little. This didn't mean that I didn't enjoy the good feeling that I got after helping others.

A chill ran up my spine when I could feel Fluttershys' tail wrap around my waist. The feeling had brought on an exasperated gasp. There was that shy demeanor around the opposite sexes again. It made me feel so weird when stuff like this happened. My mind had already gone blank as every current subject floating around in my mind flew out of their skull. I was lucky that none of these ponies had noticed what had happened by the time that Rainbow decided to finally comment on my life-style.

"Well, I got to admit that you have a lot of rules; You actually sound kind of like Twilight."

Feeling the urge to look over at the cyan pegasus, my senses soon returned to me by the time that I had done so. It was a relief to see that Dash wasn't mocking me anymore, but I didn't hold my breath. "'Like Twilight'; is that a good thing?" A hint of cluelessness caught itself on my breath. I hadn't even yet met this other person, so I wasn't sure if something like this was a compliment. Dash seemed to think of it as such, at least. A rough knock to the shoulder caused me to teeter slightly while a bruise began to form underneath the bandages.

"Of course it's a good thing, Baker-Boy. Twilight is probably the good-est kind of good out there."

I cringed at this poor vocabulary usage before resuming a slightly up-beat demeanor. At least that I knew that the pony that I was going to visit wouldn't attack me. If anything, she should be able to send me right back home in a flash by how she sounds. "Well, I gotta hand it to you though; If you can really live by forty-five rules without going crazy, I guess you're sort of cool. It actually sounds kind of like something a super hero would do." Me; a superhero? Pardon my rudeness for calling Dash out on that one.

"I'm afraid that you're wrong there, Dash. I'm not a hero of any sort. I'm just your average, everyday guy."

I kindly waved an open palm to dismiss Rainbows' assumption of how I sounded, but this only seemed to cause her to become ever the more stubborn with the point she was trying to make. "See? That's exactly what some sort of comic-book hero would say!" Although this was a very kind thing to say, I didn't think I was anything of the sort. The only thing that I was, was 'normal'. Plain and simple. In order to defend my side of the newly forming argument, I blew off the idea entirely.

"It's just how I live. It's not special. It's just me."

Rainbow seemed like she was on the verge of pulling either her hair or mine out. By the looks of it, she was definitely considering to give mine a good tug. All she really did however was throw her front legs in the air in a sudden burst of frustration. "Oh, come on! That's exactly what a super hero would say!" I had a feeling that it would be wise if I stayed silent for a while.

We're here. We're finally here! It was a long and harrowing journey, but we finally made it! Now, I will admit that I was a little taken back about the fact that the Golden Oaks Library was actually a giant, hollowed-out tree that was turned into a house. Just how could it still be alive? Magic, you say? Yeah, that just about sounds right for a day like today.

All exaggeration cast aside, I will admit that this looked like a pretty cozy home. I was half-tempted to call it a 'tree-house', but the cheesy pun may not have been as appreciated as I may have thought it to be.

Beside me the entire time that I began to approach the door to the library, my small group of ponies kept together while casually speaking to each other about the topics that Pinkie could randomly spout from her mouth. Strange, I had become oddly accustomed to that kind of talk in less than a day. It was like that pink pony was trying to pull me into her own little world with words.

Fluttershy, still hanging onto my back, gently nestled herself against my neck. I could feel her tail tighten when she wrapped her legs around my waist. By how things sounded, Fluttershy was starting to awaken from her unconscious state. I could hear light mumbling coming from her, but other than this there wasn't much to note aside from a few small movements. The poor dear must have still been exhausted.

Reaching the door, I carefully examined it to be almost exactly like Fluttershys'. It was a wooden double door, but the only real difference between this one and Fluttershys' was that there was a painting of a lit candle being held on a small holder on the top half. At the bottom of the painting, I could easily see a small hole in the door almost as if it was to insert something into. I could only guess that the painting was some sort of instruction for those that didn't know how to put a candle holder on a door.

With my current situation of giving a pegasus a piggyback ride, I bet that you could guess that my hands had been plenty occupied while trying to make sure that Fluttershy wouldn't fall off my back. This being said, to make my presence known I regrettably had to kick lightly on the door to make any noise at all. There was a thought in the back of my head reminding me to make sure and duck a little before entering, lest I want a bump on my head from the door frame.

'Knock, Knock, Knock'

I could already hear a voice from the inside of the building. It sounded kind of like a little boy. "Hold on, I'll be right there!" The voice called out frantically as if whomever had been coming to answer was rushing to the door. Drawing back my foot, I waited a few seconds before watching the door pulling back slowly. On the other side, I had been met with quite the odd sight. It was a small, purple reptilian creature with green scales running along its' spine. The green scales stood up kind of like a mohawk, but they trailed down its' spine and to the end of the tail. I guess this creature really was a kid by how he barely stood tall enough to be eye level with my knees. From what I could see, this strange being stood on his back legs, like a human would.

Yeah, I told you; quite the sight.

Anyways, it seemed that the small reptilian had yet to notice me with his shut eyes during the process of opening the door. With his eyes shut cautiously, the strange reptilian spoke. "Hello, Welcome to the Golden Oaks Library. How may I help y-" It trailed off when once opening its' eyes to me. Already looking up, this creature had only been able to welcome my belt-buckle. The reptile had to almost look directly upward to get a look at my face.

Now, I'm not sure if the light that I was in just made me look intimidating or something, but it could be seen that the little creature had definitely not been expecting something such as myself at the door today. Granted, my shadow fell upon him in a possibly unsettling manner, but I meant no harm. To be honest, I think that the two of us were thinking the same thing about each other.

'What the heck is that thing?'

The true awkwardness began once our eyes met each others. Our silence was almost too uncomfortable to even speak up about, so I counted my blessings when Pinkie interrupted this little introduction. The Pink pony zipped in between us happily hugging the purple reptile. "Hey, Spike! Is Twilight in?" Pinkie blurted out before releasing the tiny reptile, whom I would suppose was named 'Spike', fall out of her hug.

Spike held his head with some slight disorientation, but that probably would just be expected after getting a hug like what I just witnessed. The reptile shook the dizziness off of him before looking back at Pinkie and the rest of my group. It must have looked like it was strange to see all these ponies at the libraries front door, I'm sure. Still, Spike treated it casually as if it would be something normal. "Oh, hey Pinkie. What's everypony doing here?" Then he looked at me. It made me feel terrible to see something so small tremble in my presence. "Is, uh, this guy a friend of yours'?" A quick nod from Pinke was all that had been needed before any fearful shivers vanished from Spike. Knowing this, he opened the door a little bit more in an inviting fashion. "Oh, okay then. Twilights' been expecting Fluttershy for a while, but I'm sure that she wouldn't mind a visit." I cleared my throat when hearing this.

"Well, actually-"

Turning my body to the side casually, I revealed the butter-yellow pegasus on my back. "We've come because of that appointment." Her pink mane somewhat drooping over my shoulder, I was surprised that it wasn't noticed sooner. Then again, I did sort of tower over this tiny reptilian so there could be reasoning behind this. None the less, this didn't mean that the lizard creature in front of me wasn't at least somewhat surprised by the sight. Spike took a step toward me before timidly taking a couple back in case I had been responsible for any violent nature.

"Fluttershy? What happened to her?"

A soft humming proceeded to come from Fluttershy as she opened her eyes with a peaceful yawn. "It's fine..." The relaxed words spoke. Well, at least I knew that Fluttershy had been awake for a while now. Looking down upon Spike from up on my back, Fluttershy kindly smiled. "I'm afraid that I might have passed out earlier. Nothing to worry about, I can assure you." Not questioning any of this, I suspected that Spike either had been able to see this as the truth or that it was just totally expected of this little pony.

Slowly turning around, the purple lizard before me motioned for us to enter with a friendly smile. "Come on then, don't just stand outside. Twilight is actually starting to become a little impatient." You're telling me. All of these distractions had begun to cause my patience to teeter as well. So slowly following in the treehouse after Spike, I could already tell that the rest of the ponies with me had already begun to follow suit. I couldn't help but notice Spike showing a bit more enthusiasm when seeing Rarity for some reason.

I had to duck my head down just a little bit to get inside, but it wasn't anything too bad. The sights did more than make up for the small door. The ceiling was surprisingly high to have a door like this building did. Sure, this was a fashionably small library but I hadn't ever seen one like this. The walls were lined with shelves upon shelves of books. Opposite to what you would expect, there were only shelves built into the walls of this establishment and no place else. Sure, all of the other libraries that I had been to usually had some shelves out in the center of the floor, but this wasn't really any kind of library that I had seen before. The only thing that was out on the floor had been a large stump that had been turned into a table. Rooted into the tree somehow, the large table top held an abundant about of books, scrolls, and texts all along the top.

It seemed that this pony enjoyed reading a little too much.

A large, wooden Trojan horse head stood tall and proud in the center of the table as its' neck connected with the table top. It was quite the head-turning decorative piece. So all-in-all, this place was pretty nice, if not just a little strange. A very high ceiling, and good lighting. Books being everywhere, I could see this was a home but also a Library to the core. Still, the one thing perplexing me about this library wasn't the shelves, books, or ceiling.

"Hey, why are you just staring at me like that?"

Oh geeze, I must have gotten so caught up in things that I didn't even notice that I had been staring at Spike. Shock already overcoming me, I tried to cover my tacks in a nervous jumble of words. "S-sorry,-I-didn't-mean-to-stare!" Dear goodness, I really was hopeless, wasn't I? Still, I suppose that I owe Spike some sort of explanation for what I had been doing. Didn't want to look like some sort of creeper. "Well, the thing is that I don't really know what you are exactly." If I had a hand free, I would punch myself for saying that. Thank goodness Spike didn't find any offense to this. He was actually quite mature and understanding about it. That is, until he gave me a sly point of the finger.

"You know, I was kind of wondering the same thing about you."

I deserved that.

A comical chuckle broke out from Spike as he seemed to find joy in my embarrassment. He must have been only joking. "Don't sweat it, Big Guy. I'm just playing with you a little." There was a light tap on the side of my leg when feeling Spike knock his knuckles against it playfully. Spike was quite mature for how old he looked. "Anyways-" Spike began while crossing his arms proudly. "The name's Spike. Aside from being a dragon, I'm also the number one assistant of the pony that lives here." he paused before striking a pose of anticipation. "Wait for it." His moderately child-like demeanor was amusing as he tempted me to wait. "The one! The only! Twilight Sparkle!" As the dragon struck a pose, I somehow found myself calmly admiring Spike for such a way of wording. It definitely wasn't one like I had ever seen before. Kind of over-the-top, but in a tolerable way. Not to mention that I found it intriguing that Spike had been a dragon, but that was also something that perplexed me.

Weren't dragons supposed to be... you know; giant, scale covered, death creatures? All the while, Spike seemed calm, if not just plain down to earth.

"Well, that's quite impressive. You're the first dragon that I've ever met."

This only seemed to boost Spikes morale as he stood even prouder than before. "I bet that's pretty cool, huh? I can even breath fire and everything." I was quite impressed to see that this had been indeed true as the last few words he spoke burned with the small green flames coming out of his mouth as if to try and show off; and show-off he did. Even going as far to flex his muscles, I felt somewhat as if he deserved applause. However if I did, it could cause Fluttershy quite a bit of a rough landing on the floor. For this reason, I would wait to give any more praise. In the meantime, Spike had already guided us to the center of the room to wait.

"Here, you can wait here while I go get Twilight. She's upstairs, so it will only take a minute."

Watching Spike run upstairs, I kept a brow arched as there had been a feminine voice heard coming from upstairs. The slightest of pitter pattering from Spike climbing the stairs made sure not to drown it out. I tried to listen to what was going on, but from what it sounded this voice was going on about something similar to properly alphabetizing the dictionary. Nothing that I needed to concern myself with. All that I needed to do was wait.

In the meantime, I suppose the best thing for me to do right now would be for Fluttershy to get off my back for the time being. Not that it still bothered me, but I wouldn't expect that the pegasus would still want to be close to something as weird looking as I was. To her, I must have looked ghastly. A monster, perhaps. Yes, it was probably best to get her off my back soon.

Shrugging a couple of times to get her attention, the movement brought some focus upon me. Raising her tired head up as I looked back, I tried to be polite about this. "Not to kick you off my back, but wouldn't you prefer to stand? I'd hate to make you feel as I had to carry you against your' will." You know, I said this but a part of me wished to believe that I could have kept carrying her around. I supposed that there had been some enjoyment in all of this for me. Oh well, it was a passing feeling and would vanish over time. No use thinking about it too much.

Fluttershy didn't quite confirm what I had said at first until completely arriving to the waking world to fully realize just how close that she had been to me all this time. Her tail that wrapped around my waist pulled away from me as the mare flew off my back. "O-oh, sorry. I didn't realize..." The yellow pegasus kept herself suspended in the air as she shuffled her fore hooves together. By how she hung her head, it looked almost as if she had been blaming herself for something. Did she think that I would scold her?

Showing no such desire, I sat down on the floor before patting the wooden space beside me. "How about we sit down for a minute. We might as well relax before anything else weird happens today." With how my day had been going, I guess it was only second nature to expect misfortune to come my way by now. There was a moments hesitation to Fluttershy when hearing me, but eventually she did lower herself onto the ground beside me. She sat down quietly as the two of us could hear the conversing between the other four ponies that had graciously blessed us with their presence today. No, that wasn't sarcasm this time. I had actually come to enjoy the company of these ponies. They were so trusting, and kind.

In my time of observation of those in front of me, I had yet to hear the sounds of hoof steps coming down from the staircase. A lavender unicorn that stood half-way through the flight of stairs had paused to gawk and stare at the back of my head while I sat and stared straight forward. Unsure to what she was seeing at first, the mare rubbed her eyes for a moment before taking another look. What she had been seeing must have appeared to be unbelievable. "That looks like a-" She mumbled to herself when inching down the stairs. "-but it couldn't be." Moving further down the stairs, this pony was now able to get a better look at me. "It looks so different from the others. The body is much more proportional. Tan-ish skin, small eyes?" It was like she was comparing me to something all the while drawing closer and closer to me. The lavender pony squinted slightly to try and get a better look at me. "It looks so different, but how?" The question lingered in the air for a moment.

The unicorns' first hoof touched the bare floor as her eyes never left where I sat; slowly approaching as if a precaution. She was already staring at a profile view of my head when I finally caught a glimpse her. In the corner of my peripherals, I turned my head to the lavender unicorn as the action caused her to jump with awe. "Ah, you must be Twilight sparkle. I've been looking forward to meeting you" It was good that I had finally been able to meet this pony; the pony that was going to send me home.

To my statement, she gave no reply. Staring at me, the pony drew closer at a slightly quickened pace until she was oh-so-uncomfortably in my face. "This was a little closer than I expected this introduction to be." I lightly joked to cover up any impending nervousness. My words were ignored. Sure, our faces never touched, but the discomfort was more than felt. Even Fluttershy was at a bit of a loss when taking a look at her.

"I don't believe it."

Already gaining the attention the remainder of the group, this pony had come to receive quite a few unsure looks... Well, except from Pinkie, of course. Pinkie Pie just didn't seem the least bit phased by this interaction. "Hey Twilight. Have you met Jacob?" That upbeat demeanor couldn't falter, could it?

So this was the ever-so-genius, Twilight Sparkle that I've heard about? The pony staring at me point-blank with those gargantuan orbs they called eyes? I hope you won't think less of me for questioning why someone thought bringing me to this pony would be of any help in the slightest.

There could have been something to say on my side of the conversation if not for Twilight letting out a shrill scream of excitement, that of which sent me into a reeling state of shock. Rearing back on her hind legs, the unicorn kicked her fore legs out happily before bringing them down onto the floor. "I don't believe it! A human!" All in the while, I once again landed flat on my back. My ears had already begun to ring and pulsate from the cries from this unicorns screams. Fluttershy had been staring down at the zonked out look my face gave as my own eyes spun in circles.

I had to slap both hands against the sides of my face to cease the independent actions that my eyes had taken upon themselves to provide. Strange, they had never done something like that before. I didn't even think that this could be possible. Wait, was this place effecting my body somehow? I know it's weird to say, but the last time I checked my eyes were incapable of mimicking a chameleons'!

Pretty soon, my body had pulled itself right off the floor against my own will. Little did I know that a lavender hue had begun to cover my body as I sat up once more. I never even noticed it dissipating, let alone being there in the first place. A light heartbeat pounded against my chest as my teeth bit down onto each other.

For whatever reason that there could have been, Twilight had been looking up and down my body as if I was some sort of science experiment. "Lyra must have been right! Humans do exist!" At this point in time, I had more than plenty of reason to be afraid of this unicorn, and afraid I was! Lucky for me, Applejack had already begun to intervene.

"Whoa, hold yer hooves there, Twi. We ain't here for ya to study Jake like a apple for rot."

Thank God for Applejack! A second later, and I feared that I would be strapped down on the top of a dissection table. Planting a soft push against Twilight to give me some breathing distance, Applejack seemed a bit worried by how worked up this unicorn had become. "C'mon Twi, try to stay with us." Almost oblivious to the presences of the ponies around me, Twilight lifted her head away from me and to Applejack almost as if discovering that they had been here the entire time. The country pony motioned her head in my direction before continuing. "Fluttershy said that Jacob was coming to see ya for some help." Twilight bashfully let her eyes trail along the ceiling, regretting her overreaction. Her ears flipped back before giggling quietly to herself.

"Heh-heh...Oh... I see..."

When looking back at me, there was a twinkle in Twilights' eyes. It was as if she had begun to mentally take notes over my appearance. She tilted her head and lifted a brow before saying anything. "I remember that Fluttershy had come by today asking me what kind of animal could meet a description similar to this-" This pony was having quite the ordeal just trying to contain her curiosity. "-,but I never imagined that what she found would be like you." Twilight cleared her throat upon noticing that she had been stumbling backwards into her previous state of intrigue. Pulling herself from it, Twilight managed to keep herself from examining me. "Still, you said that you've come here for a reason?" She wanted to change the subject quickly.

Slowly, I got to my feet for the um-teenth time today. It was a relief that my height didn't frighten Twilight. Wouldn't want to ruin any chances of getting home, you know? "Yes, but it may be a tad bit complicated." The lavender mare was more than interested to hear me out, if not skeptically curious. The only problem was to try and figure out how to word my predicament properly. My arms crossed themselves during my time of mental struggle. "How could I word this?" There was no easy way to explain it. All that I could do was try not to land myself into an even worse situation than I had been already.

"This morning, I woke up in the place that you all seem to all call The Everfree Forest; a land mark that has never even been remotely similar to any other forest where I am from."

Twilight started to question the reliability of my statement, but continued listening.

"I've been chased and almost eaten by creatures that I never knew existed, almost died multiple times, and lost my only way to call home."

There was a heavy weight in my gut when thinking about how I so carelessly threw away my cell phone.

"What I'm getting at is that I need to get home."

My explanation, although vague, did seem to be enough to at least bring the unicorn to ponder over my explanation. A hoof had been under her chin while doing so. Soon after, the unicorn turned around before making her way to one of the bookshelves built into the walls of her home. Although curiosity had more than gotten the best of me on what action the unicorn could have in mind for my problem, it was again Applejack that was able to speak up once more. "Do ya think that there's a spell for this, Twilight?" Ever silent as she reached the bookshelf, Twilight began letting her eyes glide across the names labeled on their spines. As she did so, the books on the shelf glowed with a lavender hue.

It was quite the sight to see Twilight use her magic to look through the books. Here I was, watching a bunch of books levitating off their shelves all the while forming a circle around a pastel colored unicorn. She hummed to herself as if in deep thought, looking through the individual titles as they slowly rotated around her. "I'm unsure, but from what it appears this could just be a case of spontaneous teleportation." Spontaneous tele-... What in Great Greens was 'Spontaneous Teleportation'?

"Ah-ha! Here it is; An Equestrians' Guide to Simple Mythology and Pony Tales."

Staring at the book with curious eyes, I could see that this thick book levitating in place as the remainder of the books slid back on the shelf in their designated places; in alphabetical order, no less. As the light color left the covers of these books, the same shade that carried the large book Twilight decided to keep flipped open the books hard cover. "Now, let's take a good look at the index." Using a hoof to skim through the first few pages, Twilight lightly tapped the table of contents the moment she reached it. The very same hoof slowly drug itself downward as the unicorn scanned the book for any possible leads from the index. "Now, let's see... Har-Machis, Harpy-Ponies..." Trailing off into mumbles, it wasn't for a few seconds that Twilight spoke up once more. "-Humans; page four-hundred and fifty-seven." With that, the pages in the book began to flutter about as magic carried them from one side of the hard-back, to the other.

"I hope that you will not think any less of me for saying so, but I never expected something like a human would ever wind up in Ponyville."

A heavy feeling had soon to make itself present within my being. I was beginning to get a little jittery knowing that the only possible lead on getting home was a book on mythology. Twilights' statement kind of rubbed me the wrong way, as well. Not to the point of anger, but to concern. There had been no qualms to showing some worry, but I had to force some back to prevent any sort of overreaction. "Why is that?" My voice shook, realizing how the chances of getting home had become all the slimmer with every passing second.

"Well, I'm not an expert on anthropology, so maybe the book could explain that a little better than I can."

There was that heavy feeling in my gut again. It felt like my stomach was doing flips when finally noticing Twilight beginning to read.

"Humans; a mythical creature of the classification of the Homo genus. Closely related to the subspecies beyond the Crystal Mirror known as Homo equus, Homo sapiens hold strong similarities to their close relatives yet hold major physical differences."

Pausing from her reading, Twilight looked up from the book to make her own personal discovery. She looked at me with excitement. "So that's why you looked so different. I mistook you for a different kind of human." Different kind of human? Did this mean that Twilight had met some sort of human before? I couldn't help but feel lost.

"-Said to be bi-pedal creatures, it is known for the members of this name to use height for a symbol of authority and dominance. Homo-Sapiens are a barbarian race that are rumored to have existed before the reign of the Alicorn Sisters. Although it is unknown what or where their point of origin was, it is suspected that Humans inhabited Ancient Equestrian Territories at one point in time before disappearing completely."

It was becoming more and more difficult to not just lose it right then and there. The tormenting thoughts from earlier chewed at the base of my brain as Twilight read off information about my own species. It didn't sound accurate, but this was the least of my worries. "A-ancient Equestria? Disappearing completely?" I wheezed these words out in an unnoticed mumble.

It was right about now that the majority my worry had finally begun to show. A slight trembling in my shoulders told me that this may have been the tipping point for me today. I had to force back any possible signs of speech behind barred teeth. From what I was hearing, I couldn't have expected it to be any worse.

-But it could, and it did.

"No evidence has been found to prove the existence of Homo-sapiens, so it has been scientifically concluded that these creatures never existed."

Author's Note

-Another re-written chapter. I am glad that I am re-writing these.