Joey found himself back in his upstairs bedroom in the orphanage where he was living before he ended up in Equestria. "Oh, please no!" he muttered. Then there was a violent crash. "WHERE'S THAT KID!!!???" a deep voice bellowed from downstairs. "WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON HIM, HE"LL WISH HE WAS IN HELL!!!"

Joey frantically searched for a place to hide. All that was in his bedroom was a itchy, sweaty cot with no blankets and a rotting wooden box to keep his tattered clothes in. The box wasn't big enough to hide in, and he'd be seen under the cot. Then there was the window..........no. That would be suicide. Then again, that's what he was gonna do anyway..........

Suddenly the owner of the voice burst into the room. Dave. He was a guy with unnaturally large muscles, a unibrow, and blood red irises. He had a huge scar from his upper lip to his right eye, which was totally white. He stood at 6'4", and he was wearing torn jeans and a beanie. His abs were the size of those EZ peel Cutie oranges. He was Hispanic, and with every footstep there was huge clomping noise. He was also holding a long, sleek black whip with an obsidian tip and a metal Louisville slugger. He looked down at Joey, and grinned sinisterly. His grimy yellow teeth showed. Yuck. "There you are, squirt." he growled. Joey was shaking all over.

"What have I told you at least a hundred times?" he asked Joey, smirking. Joey only squeaked. "I WANT AN ANSWER!" Dave sreamed, snapping Joey with the whip. Blood tricked down Joey's face. He still didn't say anything. "Fine" Dave growled. "I see how it is. There is no free thinking allowed in this building. You hear?"He waved the slugger menacingly. "Y-Yes sir" Joey said weakly. Dave snarled and slammed the back of his head with the bat, making a disgusting cracking noise. "THAT'S 'MY LORD' TO YOU!!" he bellowed. Joey's head flared with pain. Then Dave said in a sarcastically sweet tone, "Don't worry. This will teach you for good!" He raised the slugger and the whip. "No! Please! Don't do this!" Joey said frantically. Then Dave started beating him ruthlessly while screaming "useless" and "you're a nobody" while laughing maniacally.

"Joey!" "Joey!" "JOEY!!!!!" Applejack was tirelessly shaking him, trying to get him to wake up. He was sweating profusely, and crying out 'NO!' and things like that. She was starting to get really worried.

He suddenly shot up and gasped. His hair was matted with sweat. Applejack stepped back and sighed in relief. "Y'know, you were scarin' me half to death. A you all right?" she said, giving him a concerned look. Joey didn't say anything. He just sat there, wrapped up in a blanket and shivering from the horrible nightmare and the cold. He slowly shook his head.

Applejack turned to go, but then stopped and looked back. "You want me to stay with you for the rest of the night?" she asked. Joey quickly nodded his head. He needed someone to be here when he gets nightmares. Applejack smiled at him, then walked over and climbed up on the bed. He laid down, still shivering. "I wonder what's wrong with him" she thought to herself. "He seems so........hurt." She watched as Joey snoozed away. "Alright, sugarcube" she smiled, "See you in the morning."

The sun shined happily through the attic window at Sweet Apple acres. Yes, it was a beautiful morning in Equestria, and the air was crisp. It smelled of fresh flowers that had just started to bloom, for it was spring. Applejack slowly lifted an eyelid. Slowly getting out of the bed, she looked back at the form of Joey under the covers, slowly rising and falling with every breath. She smiled. Probably should let him sleep, she thought to herself.

So she proceeded to her daily stretch routine, hearing a million pops and cracks in the process. It felt gooooood. After she felt all stretched out, she went through attic hatch and continued downstairs, where the delicious smell of apple cinnamon pancakes hailed. She sighed happily once smelling the pleasant aroma. She trotted into the kitchen, where the rest of the Apples were. "Morning, y'all!" she she said, sitting down in a chair.

"The pancakes smell unbearably delicious." Granny Smith chuckled. "I thought you and the other young'uns would like to wake up to a traditional pancake breakfast. Speaking of young ones, how's the human doing? He was making a fuss last night." Applejack sighed. "He seemed to have a terrible nightmare, but he's fine now" she replied. Granny Smith smiled. "I hoped he'd be alright" she said.

Back in the attic, Joey started to stir. He slowly woke up, and jumped, not recognizing where he was. When the memories flooded back to him, he started to calm down. He yawned, stretched, and stepped out of bed. As he stumbled towards the attic hatch, he tripped over something. He looked back, muttering "Hey! What gives?" Then he realized it was only his backpack.

His backpack! He almost forgot about it! It had been with him the whole time! He zipped it open to see if anything was missing. But it wasn't a school bag. This was his secret backpack. Dave the dickhead of a director didn't allow any kind of fun, and what was in Joey's backpack are what he used to occupy himself. He peeked into the bag, and much to his relief, he found his phone, Ipad, laptop, and comic books still there. "Oh, thank the lord!" he whispered to himself. Then his stomach growled. He slowly got up, and continued on out of the attic and downstairs. He slowly walked into the dining room.

"Well, look who's up!" Applejack said cheerily. "Morn'in, sugarcube!" Joey just simply smiled and waved weakly. He took a whiff of the pancakes, and then he was officially awake. He would not stop staring at that deliciousness on the table, just calling his name. "Have all the 'cakes ya want," Granny Smith confirmed after seeing the look on his face. "You're more than welcome!"

Joey stared for a couple more seconds, then proceeded to sit down. He first took a serving of four. Then he took more. And more. It was just the perfect blend of apples, cinnamon, and pancake batter. He thought he would never stop eating. While he was eating, Applejack noticed huge rings under his eyes. "Poor guy," she thought.

Soon, he was so full he finally stopped eating. It was the best he had felt in a long time. He sat back and sighed. It was the first good meal he had in..........how long was it? Seven years. The last meal he ever ate at his home. He shook the mind out of his head. He wasn't gonna cry. Not in front of these nice ponies. That cruel orphanage had taken a toll on him.

Applejack disrupted his thoughts. "You want to meet my friends today?" she asked. Joey pondered for a moment, and then asked "Are they nice?" Applejack chuckled, even though Joey failed to see what was funny. "Do I seem like the kind of pony that would hang out with mean ponies?" she asked, smirking. "Oh, yes you would." Joey said sarcastically. "Hey!" Applejack exclaimed, but Joey was already outside, running for his life and laughing like a madman. "Wait!!" Applejack called after him, "You don't even know the way!!"

The two were walking down the road, chatting and laughing to break the ice, when out of nowhere, they heard a gasp from behind them. Joey turned to see a pink pony with a huge, puffy, mane. She looked unnaturally excited. "Pinkie" Applejack started, "Gather the other five at Twilight's place. I'm goin' to introduce you to this little guy. She motioned to Joey, who gave a small wave. Pinkie didn't say anything, she just gasped and said "OKAYIWILLOMYGOSH!!" and zoomed away at an unnatural speed.

"Uhh....." Joey started. He didn't finish, though. His jaw was hanging open. Applejack just sighed with a smile and closed Joey's mouth. "It's just Pinkie, don't worry about it," Applejack reassured. Joey slowly turned away from looking in the direction Pinkie Pie had gone, not taking his eyes off. "That was......... well, weird," he said, finally pulling his eyes away. "Well, there's Pinkie Pie for ya!" Applejack laughed.

A couple minutes later, they came up on a giant crystal tree. A giant crystal tree with a castle-ish on top. Wait......the tree WAS the castle. More like a palace, actually. He still failed to understand the logic of the new world he landed in. "Oy," he muttered. "That's a huge crystal house thingy right there." "Yep!" Applejack replied, "That is my friend Twilight's house!" Joey didn't take his eyes off the crystal structure.

"You stay here," she continued, "While I go knock on the door." Joey slowly nodded, but he didn't move. His eyes were still on the giant castle. "Okay," he said, glassy eyed. Then he snapped out of his trance when he heard Applejack knock on the big front doors. "Coming!" said a masculine voice from inside.

When the doors opened, there was no pony to be found. instead, he found a small dragon at the door. "Hi, Applejack!" he said cheerily. His expression changed to surprised when he saw Joey behind her. "Whoa" he muttered. "Is that a human?"

Applejack nodded. "THIS.......IS..........SO.........AWESOME!!" he said, sprinting back inside. "Uhh........." Joey muttered in confusion. "Was that a dragon? He looked pretty happy to see me." Applejack smiled. "Yep," she replied, "A baby one, as a matter of fact." Joey was intrigued. "That's so cool!" he exclaimed. "How do they know about humans?" he asked. Applejack rolled her eyes. "Long story," she replied.

Soon, they heard a voice scream, "Applejack! Don't move! There's a monster!!" They looked up to see a cyan pegasus with a rainbow mane. Then they frantically looked around. "Where, Rainbow Dash?" she shouted back.

'Rainbow Dash' face palmed (or face hooved) and groaned. "Never mind, I'll take care of it myself!" she said, clomping her forehooves together. Then Joey realized she was looking right at him. Before he could say anything or turn and run, Rainbow flew right at him with super speed. She was satisfied with the crunching sound of her hoof colliding with his forehead. Joey flew back into a tree trunk and then just laid there, limp.

"AW YEAH!!!" exclaimed Rainbow, doing a flip. "Rainbow Dash for the win!!" Applejack stared at Joey in horror. There was a round hoof mark on his forehead, and it was swelling fast. She started to give Rainbow a piece of her mind when the castle doors opened again. "I hope you're right, Spike!" a purple alicorn said, walking out. "If this human IS different from the others I saw, then this will be a great learning opportunity!!"

"Wait....." Rainbow said. "Human? Those friendly creatures you met in that other world?" she started to sweat, seeing the mangled boy in the corner of her eye. "Why, yes!" the purple unicorn replied. "Is he here?" Rainbow was really sweating now. "Ya, Twilight" Applejack replied, glaring at Rainbow Dash, "He's right over there." Twilight looked over at the tree, then screamed.

"SWEET CELESTIA!!" she cried. "We need to get him inside. Fortunately, Fluttershy is here. HURRY!!!!" She levitated Joey on her back, and then took off into her castle at top speed. "Nice going, Rainbow" Applejack groaned, "I hope your attack on the 'monster' was FUN!!" She gave her one more glare before following her purple friend. Rainbow just looked down at the ground in shame.

Author's Note

Boy............Rainbow can be a knuckleheaded asshole sometimes. Tune in next time to see how Joey fares.