Truth *Edited*

“Wait, how is that possible?” Twilight asked as she stared almost stunned at the three humans.

Jack and Kat both turned towards Simon, essentially handing him the floor to offer an explanation.

“Well, a theory I have had but haven't been able to test is that different dimensions carry with them a different perception of time. I believe that in the process of opening a portal between two of them temporarily aligns these. However,this was an untested theory since we never had a deity stuck on the wrong side of a closed portal without their death.”

Simon’s tone in spite of the rather serious subject matter he was discussing, the deity seemed to simply treat the matter as casually as he would simply going for a walk. While Twilight wanted to pry further, it probably would’ve made more sense to discuss it in another location.

Thus, with all three humans fully dressed, they made their way back towards the door. Once they left Simon's lab all the ponies gathered to check out the new clothing they were wearing.

“Well, I just say it is refreshing to see that at least one human has a sense of style.” Rarity commented, as she eyed the trio’s new wardrobe, leaving said group perplexed as they looked amongst themselves

“And, which one would that be,” Kat questioned, genuinely intrigued.

“Why you obviously, you're the only one wearing clothing with any sort of coordination. Just look at them, one only looks nice because he is wearing a shirt that I made and the other is wearing something that looks like a rainbow threw up on it.”

Rarity’s statement earned a round of snickers from Kat and Simon as they gave a knowing glance to Jack, who at least seemed to take the critique in stride.

Celestia cleared her throat getting everyone's attention. “On to more pressing matters and it is sadly not a positive one. The reason that my sister and I came to Ponyville was to assess the goals and more importantly, the potential danger these new humans could pose,” Celestia cut straight to the point, with Luna at her side, “So I would like to ask what exactly are your intentions here humans?”

“Is it perhaps the same reason that Simon chose to come here perhaps?” Luna added on, making Jack look to Kat who shook her head in the negative and spoke, Twilight again translating for the pair.

“No, though we weren’t sent here with some kind of grand plan if that’s your concern. Really, our group was simply dispatched to retrieve Simon and that’s all.”

While this revelation did bring about a sense of relief to all those present, it raised another concern.

“So, you're just going to take Simon and head home,” Applejack asked.

Kat shook her head again, reigniting the group’s prior concerns. “Unfortunately, it’s not that simple. The first reason is the portal between our worlds has been very unstable since it closed. We can't just go home because until the techs on our side get things working again there’s no way we can leave.” Kat sighed, taking a seat on one of the beds, “and after seeing all of you, taking Simon back is probably the last thing on our minds.”

“Why would we cause something like that.” Applejack asked again, speaking for the rest of the assembled party.

“Well, when the portal closed without Simon' return, Mine and Simon's current god, Victor, took it very personally.” Jack spoke up this time, “So he sent us here to assess the situation and retrieve Simon, then once they stabilize the portal he plans on taking this dimension by force.”

There was a collective gasp followed shortly by the princesses once Twilight had finished translating, herself having a hard time getting the words out. “This Victor is willing to go through so much just for some magic?” Luna looked worried as the prospect of a potential war.

Jack shook his head. “No truth is Victor is very petty, this stopped being about magic the moment that portal closed. Now he wants revenge because you took away something that he owns.” Jack motioned to Simon, “Even when another god wins the tournament and Simon belongs to them Victor just considers him on loan.”

“Hold on. You mean that in your world you all are only seen as property. That's terrible.” Fluttershy interjected, horrified at such an idea.

Kat gave a sympathetic smile. “Well some gods are worse than others but that’s pretty much how it is. That’s just one of the prices that we pay for our immortality.”

“Only one? There are others?” Luna asked.

“Yea, one of the other prices that we pay is sterilization,” Kat responded.

Rainbow Dash gave a confused look. “What does being clean have to do with it?”

“No Rainbow, what she's trying to say is that they are neutered, they can’t carry foals.” Applejack corrected her.

“My word, that doesn't sound pleasant.”

Rarity couldn't imagine such a thing. True, she wasn't ready for foals yet but she knew that she wanted them at some point later in life., To have that option taken from her, the idea just seemed horrid. All the humans just shrugged at the idea.

“I mean we are given this information before we become a deity... but we can still do the fun stuff.” Kat laughed. This caused all the ponies in the room to blush.

“Also, not exactly crazy about the whole referring to us as being neutered. We’ve still got all the necessary equipment, we just can’t produce the necessary juice is all.” Jack chimed in, only earning even redder blushes from those around him due to his choice of metaphor.

Celestia cleared her throat, “Well, I appreciate you being so candid about such detail with us. Even if it was honestly more detail then we needed.” Celestia took a moment to recollect herself, “I believe you said, squad, exactly how many humans are now in Equestria.”

Kat stopped for a second then she started fiddling with one of her hands, looking as if she was counting using her fingers.

“Counting the three of us, six humans in total.” Kat motioned to herself and the other two.

“Really Kat, was the fingers really necessary, it wasn't even that big of a number.” Jack looked slightly annoyed.

“Maybe it was or maybe I just did it to get a rise out of you like I am right now, who’s to say,” Kat smirked at Jack.

“Yes well, given the situation I believe it would be vital if you could tell us the abilities these other humans possess.” Celestia continued. The three humans stopped for a moment.

“Well, first there's Robert, who’s an electricity user meaning he can control stuff like lightning,” Jack spoke first, and earned an unimpressed snort from Rainbow Dash.

“Then there’s Misaka, who is able to control the temperature of the environment around herself,” Kat added on, “And finally there’s Erma. And she’s...unique among the three.”

All the ponies looked confused. “Uh, how unique are we talking here,” Rainbow asked half expecting a mention of Erma being able to do something completely insane.

“Well, Erma’s main skill has always been hand to hand combat. I actually watched quite a few of her matches back in our world…” Jack said before his tone dropped some, “But I have never seen her use any kind of magic, and she’s never lost a fight, not once.”

“That is troubling information,” Celestia looked more concerned than ever, already contemplating what course of action to take, “just how dangerous are these other humans?”

“Very,” Kat said, her tone as sharp and direct as could be, “ Robert and Misaka are ranked twelve and eleven in their gods' order, though that only put them in the low forties globally, just a little ahead of us. Erma on the other hand…. rank three globally.”

Both of the princesses looked surprised and slightly horrified at this news, more so because they had little to properly measure this ranking system against. For now though, they needed to take some kind of action.

“Twilight, in light of this new development my Sister and I feel that certain action must be taken.”

Luna quickly chimed in to finish her sister’s statement. “Given the circumstances, we wish for all of you to search for these humans.”

That earned mixed reactions from the various ponies, with Applejack immediately stepping forward. “Now wait just one minute. I agree this is important, but we can’t just up and leave right this second. Harvest season is almost here and my family really needs my help.”

Despite her words, Applejack wasn’t trying to downplay the severity of the situation. She knew the possible implications that came with these humans being in Equestria. But she was still an Apple after all..”

“I am sorry to hear that Applejack, we were hoping to have the Elements of Harmony…” Celestia started to say before she was cut off by a cough.

“Actually we may be able to help with that,” Simon said suddenly motioning to himself and the other two humans, “We may not look it to you ponies but we have helped with this sort of stuff in our world.”

All three humans immediately seemed to almost pose like a couple of children ready for an adventure, Kat flexing her arm showing off some of her muscles,Jack giving an enthusiastic thumbs up and Simon casually standing in the middle with his usual grin. If nothing else the rather lighthearted action helped alleviate some of the previous tension.

Applejack looked around seeing all her friends smiling and nodding. “Well if you think it will help I suppose we could see how much we could get done in a day.”

“If it is possible, I must ask that you all act as soon as possible. If these humans are as dangerous as you say I would like them found quickly. I would hate to see what will happen should they find a city.” Celestia spoke up, already visualizing the potential catastrophes that could occur.

“Oh, I wouldn't be too worried about that,” Kat interjected

“Why shouldn’t we worry, I feel like this is probably the proper time to worry,” Fluttershy asked.

“That is because our mission is to find Simon and assess the strengths of this world without being discovered. So they will keep themselves hidden, at least for the time being.” Kat shrugged, again treating the rather critical situation about as casually as a change in the weather.

This new information caused Celestia and Luna to discuss again. Luna stepped away, “While we do agree that this is better news we would still like it if these were found humans promptly. Better now and avoid any possible concerns that may arise later.”

“With that being said Luna and I must return to Canterlot. We shall immediately send word across if we receive any reports regarding the humans,” Celestia spoke before she and Luna said their goodbyes and then teleported from the room.

The princesses now gone, that just left the matter of preparing for the coming events, which Twilight was all too quick to jump on.

“Alright everypony...eh, everyone, we should all get home and get some sleep.We’ll all be getting up early in order to help Applejack tomorrow.”

As expected every pony was quick to nod enthusiastically at the prospect of helping their friend, while the humans just offered neutral smiles, which was good enough all things considered. However, there was one problem Twilight had forgotten to calculate.

“But wait, what are we going to do with the new humans,” Pinkie Pie asked, her tail turning into a question mark.

Thankfully, it seems like said humans had anticipated this as Jack was quick to respond. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll just hang out in Simon’s lab, which should be big enough for all of us.”

While it seemed like a sound plan, Twilight was quick to shoot it down.

“I couldn't do that to you two,” Twilight responded, moving over to where they were standing, “I insist all three of you sleep at my house tonight. Under the circumstances it’s only fair and should be much more comfortable”

To the surprise of many, while Jack and Simon seemed relatively indifferent with the arrangement, Kat had a more...vocal reaction.

“Fuck yeah, hanging out in an actual house, we can totally throw a seriously wild party, whose with me” Kat said rather loudly before Jack smacked her across the back of her head, Rainbow Dash doing the same to Pinkie when she started to raise her hoof.

“Kat, that is someone else's house you can't declare it a party. Also what part of we need to get up early tomorrow did you miss?

Kat rubbed the back of her head, letting out a slight groan and offering her friend a glare, but quickly nodded as she mulled it over.

“Oh, right.”

Of course, contrary to her words, Kat still gave Twilight the biggest begging eyes she could muster. As Twilight watched Kat suddenly Pinkie Pie was next to her also begging, though with a considerably more effective puppy impression. One would think having been friends with Pinkie for so long Twilight would be able to resist it.

Twilight sighed in defeat. “Alright fine.”

Kat and Pinkie cheered, only for Twilight to immediately cut them off. “But not a party, we can have a sleepover.”

While Pinkie somewhat deflated at the idea of not having an actual party, Kat simply shrugged. “Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I’m sure I can make it work.”

Twilight felt a sight pit form in her stomach at the possible double meaning but chose to focus her attention to her friends.

“You're all welcome to come of course.” Twilight smiled hoping some of her friends would join as well if only to make things a little less awkward.

Rarity was the first one to speak up. “I’m sorry, while sleepover sounds positively divine, I’m afraid I need to keep an eye on Sweetie Belle back at home. The poor thing looks about ready to collapse,” the aforementioned filly seemed to be on the edge of sleep, her eyes struggling to stay open, “Besides, I don’t think I’d feel comfortable leaving her alone in the shop. Especially if she tries to make another special breakfast like before.”

Rarity quietly levitated her drowsy sister on top of her back as she recalled the time her sister nearly burned her kitchen town trying to make toast. “Well then, I will see you all tomorrow bright and early, and Simon your bed should be safe for you to move if you need it.”

As Rarity headed towards the door Applejack started to follow suit,“Afraid ah’m goin to pass. If y'all are coming to help then ah’m got to go home and figure out how best to split the work.”

“Umm, If you don't mind I think I’ll pass. I still need to check up on my nocturnal friends after all” Fluttershy quietly chimed as Applejack was out the door,

“That’s okay Fluttershy.” Twilight smiled to reassure her timid friend, offering a small bow of thanks. Twilight turned to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.

“How about you two?” She asked, more for Rainbow Dash than pinkie since she already knew what her exact response would be.

Pinkie Pie quickly jumped up excitedly, practically bouncing off the wall, looking ready to explode from excitement.

“I’ll come. I love a good party.” Pinkie smiled, while Dash just offered a halfhearted nod, though her enthusiasm could be seen.

“Eh, I’ll come too. Somepony needs to keep your parties cool, Egghead.”

Twilight rolled her eyes at the familiar taunt as the group left the hospital and made their way back to Twilight’s library. As the group walked on, Twilight let her body switch to autopilot as she contemplated the situation Equestria now found itself in along with the potential risks it posed.

“Hey Simon, I think Ms. Purple over here has All Sight.” Kat pointed down at Twilight, causing the pony’s ears to perk as her current train of thought was suddenly broken.

“All Sight? What’s that,” Twilight asked intrigued.

“It's a rare ability among humans. There has been only like three or four reported cases of a human having this ability,” Jack commented.

“Yea but what does that mean.” Rainbow Dash asked impatiently as she hovered in the air.

Simon smiled as he opened the door to the library.

“Well unlike the magic I have seen you all perform that has a visual or auditory manifestation, Human magic is completely invisible. That is where All Sight came in, it’s a special ability that allowed a human to visually see the magic that we created. This skill proved invaluable as through trial and study, humans were able to develop devices that enabled any human to see.”

Despite being wowed by this revelation, the ponies still had enough awareness to walk inside and take a seat, Simon and the others following suit.

“Remember Twilight, you told me to aim for the blue lines coming off the puppets,” Kat commented, “But I didn't see anything like that.”

Twilight watched as Kat held out her hand, a black spot appeared and a bottle fell out into her hand, which from a glance, they saw contained some kind of dark liquid. Kat twisted the lid off the bottle and took a sip, before exhaling and putting the cap back on.

“Heads up Simon,” Kat shouted as she threw the bottle to Simon who caught it and repeated the same action, only he took a noticeable larger sip before recapping the bottle.

“Your turn Jack,” Simon called out as he threw the bottle across the room to Jack. As he moved to take his own drink he noticed the three ponies staring at him.

“Umm, you three want some.” Jack held the bottle out moving it between himself and the ponies.

“Whoa, Jack,” Kat shouted suddenly, slapping his hand hard enough to make him pull it back, “We don't even know if they are old enough to be drinking.”

“Well, there's one way to solve that,” Simon spoke up turning to all the ponies. “Are all of you old enough to buy your own houses, live on your own, date, get married, have sex, and raise a family.”

Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped like a bridge as her cyan fur turned a shade of red at the blunt question, while Pinkie and Twilight seemed unfazed, being more accustomed to Simon’s straight to the point nature.

“Yepper, we do adult stuff all the time,” Pinkie Pie commented, meriting looks of surprise from Jack and Kat, though a quick shake from Twilight made it clear it wasn’t what they thought.

“Well, that settles that,” Simon said, walking over to a nearby table setting his hand down causing six small glasses to appear. Jack promptly started pouring out the bottle into each of the glasses, filling them up near the edge.

“Alrighty let's drink up then.”

Jack set the bottle down and all three humans picked up a drink and downed it in one gulp. The three ponies meanwhile were more cautious, with Twilight being the first to pick up the glass.
Twilight brought it close to her nose giving it a quick sniff she downed it quickly just like the humans did. This proved to be a mistake as her throat felt like it was on fire. Twilight tried to exhale like the humans did but all she could do was start coughing, making her fellow ponies look at their own drinks with newfound fear.

Simon could only chuckle as he quickly started lightly rubbing the hacking pony’s back.

“Yeah sorry about that I guess I should warn you all that this is pretty strong stuff.”

Rainbow Dash, quickly shaking off any fear she might’ve had, was quick to step up next, not wanting to look like a coward in front of the humans. With an angry snort, she lifted the glass between her two hooves and downed it immediately...and immediately began coughing just like Twilight

“Sweet….Celestia......what is... this stuff?” Rainbow Dash asked between coughs, “Reminds me of the time I took a sip of some rainbows at the Cloud Factory.”

“It's a special drink from our world called rum,” Kat said chuckling as she picked up the bottle and poured three more drinks. She took one for herself and quickly downed it with the other two being taken by Jack and Simon.

Pinkie Pie remained still, looking at the full glass in front of her carefully. Finally picking it up between her hooves, contrary to her own excitable nature, she took only a small sip, testing its flavor.

“It doesn't have a bad flavor, it's very unique.” Pinkie took a small drink from it noticing that burning feeling the others were talking about. “You just kinda gotta go slow.”

Unbothered by how oddly calm Pinkie was being, a much more cautious Twilight slowly poured both herself and Rainbow Dash another glass.

Like with Pinkie, Twilight took a small sip as opposed to downing it in one go and found it made quite a difference.The burning was still there but nowhere near as bad. The flavor of the drink was just as Pinkie had said it was unique, a bit bitter certainly, but not bad. After a few drinks,Twilight started to feel a little on the dizzy side so she sat her glass down.

“How do you humans stand to drink this stuff so fast,” Rainbow Dash asked, her speech just a little slurred.

“Oh no we got a lightweight here.” Jack point and laughed at the pegasus now swaying back and forth like a blade of grass.

Pinkie Pie laughed too, “Rainbow you sound so funny.” This was in spite of the fact that she’d actually drunk the most of the three ponies, yet seemed completely normal...at least as normal as she could be.

“We’ve been drinking this stuff for years so we've built up a bit of a tolerance to it.”

Kat snickered a little as she watched all three ponies showing signs of getting drunk. As each of the ponies continued drinking they slowly got enough tolerance to take larger drinks. Twilight had moved over to Simon’s side, who had started a discussion with her about the quantum mechanics of dimensional tunneling however in her drunken state it was going in one ear and out the other.

Rainbow Dash was drunkenly talking about the Wonderbolts to Jack, her speech was so slurred that the translator wasn't picking up any of it so Jack just smiled, nodded and did his best to keep the drunk pony grounded. Pinkie Pie did her best to hang out with each of them and was currently drinking with Kat, who had pulled out a second bottle and was drinking straight from it.

Simon had taken a seat while he was talking. Twilight feeling dizzier with every drink laid her head down in Simon's lap with a happy sigh.

“I love…” Twilight started to say but stopped herself short, “this.” She finished and buried her head under her hooves out of embarrassment and mentally hoping she’d pass out to avoid future embarrassment

“Hmm... what was that Twilight?”

Twilight lifted her head from her hooves as it seemed that Simon didn't hear what she had said.

Twilight sighed. “I was just thinking that I’m going to miss having an intellectual equal to talk with when you leave.” Twilight could hear a grumbled response coming from the direction of Rainbow and Pinkie Pie but it was too slurred to make out what they said. Besides, it’s not like she meant it as an insult,

Simon smiled down at Twilight and lightly petted her head. “Don't worry so much about what's to come just live for today.” Simon reached out and grabbed another glass. “Here drink this and have fun.” Simon held the drink in front of Twilight who took it shakily into her magic.

Twilight lifted her head and smiled at Simon. “You’re right, let's have fun.” She quickly downed the glass and felt the familiar burning sensation in her throat, though it wasn’t nearly as intense as the first time.

Sadly, for Twilight due to the multiple glasses she’d had, her body’s alcohol tolerance was at its limit and her eyes went dark for a brief moment.

After this momentary nap Twilight’s eyes opened and found herself on her side, laying on something soft and comfortable. There was a warmth pressed against her chest, her front and rear hoof seemed to be laying on the same object. Twilight almost let the warmth of this object lull her back to sleep before she realized that something was off. Twilight slowly opened her eyes noticing that the blanket was covering her head making it so she couldn't see anything.

Twilight carefully scooted herself away from the object next to her and used her magic to remove herself from the covers. Immediately the small amount of light in the room from the rising sun triggered a headache. Twilight’s head was pounding hard enough that she couldn't think straight, unable to recall anything that had happened after her last drink.

Moaning quietly at the blistering headache she was feeling Twilight rolled herself away from the warm mass and out of the bed.

Once off the bed Twilight took a couple of calming breaths as she tried to stand on her still wobbling legs with minimum success. As her eyes started to readjust and clear up she noticed on the end table there were three packets and three glasses of water next to a note. It was written in the human's language although a lot sloppier than what she had seen of Simon’s.

It simply said, “For the ponies open one package dump contents into water then drink.”

Twilight stared at the note before she felt her headache flare up again, more painful than before with little cause to question the note, right now all she wanted was for the pain to cease. Opening the package and tipping it over, a bunch of powder came out and fizzed a little bit as it made contact with the water.

Quickly guzzling down the water. Twilight felt the effects right away as the headache gradually decreased in intensity. There was still a slight dull ache, but her mind was able to think more clearly now and she could finally get a bearing on her surroundings. To her surprise, she hadn't been sleeping in her bed.

Looking over at her bed she could see both Rainbow and Pinkie sleeping in it, neither pony sleeping in exactly the most dignified of positions. Finally Twilight took a look at the warm mass that was sleeping next to her. Using her hoof she slowly moved the blanket down revealing a completely undressed Simon.

Twilight had to place a hoof over her mouth to silence herself as a scream threatened to fly out.

“Why is Simon in the same bed as me, without his clothing?” She thought to herself.

Turning back to her bed she walked over and gently tried to wake up Rainbow and Pinkie.

“Psst Pinkie, Rainbow wake up.”

Reaching up with her hoof she gently shook them until she heard Rainbow Dash groan, the fast flyer’s eyes opening just enough of a crack for them to make eye contact.

“Rainbow what happened last night?”

Rainbow Dash gave another groan, her eyes quickly shutting as she struggled to move. “Ugh, Twilight do you have to be so loud my head is killing me.” Rainbow brought both of her hooves to her temples trying to massage the pain away.

Seeing that further questioning was useless at the moment, Twilight used her magic to quickly prepare another glass of the human's remedy.

“Here, drink this, it’ll help.” Twilight levitated the glass in front of her friend. Rainbow took it between her hooves and quickly downed the glass feeling its instant relief.

“Wow, Twilight when these humans leave we should see if we can get some of their medicine, it’s awesome.”

While Twilight agreed with the sentiment, though she was saddened by the thought of Simon having to leave eventually. However, that immediately reminded her of the more pressing issue at the moment.

“Listen Rainbow, do you remember how we ended up in my room last night.” Rainbow paused thinking to herself before she shook her head.

“Nope, I pretty much forgot everything after the first couple of drinks.” Twilight was about to ask another question when they both heard Pinkie suddenly groaned.

“Can you two keep it down?”

Twilight didn't even wait this time as she made up the remedy for her and quickly passed it over to Pinkie who greedily drank it down like it was a cup of chocolate milk.

“Pinkie, what do you remember from last night,” Rainbow asked her now, getting up from the bed and stretching her wings out.

Pinkie was silent for a moment. “Well, after Rainbow almost crashed into a bookshelf Jack spent most of the night keeping her on the ground. Twilight had fallen asleep on Simon's lap. Kat and I were talking about some of the human party stuff when Simon said that he was going to put Twilight in her bed. When he carried you by where Kat and I were hanging out, I heard you whisper something to him that he agreed to and then both of you disappeared upstairs.” Pinkie thought to herself for another moment. “That's about all that I remember.”

“Great, that didn’t answer anything.”Twilight frowned at how now she had whole new questions that she wanted answers for but thanks to the drunk escapades of the previous night her two friends were sadly of no help. That just left her with her new human companions, hopefully they could provide some useful information..

“Anyways judging by the sun I would say that we still have a while before we need to go over to AppleJack’s.”

Twilight looked over to Simon. She thought of waking him up but on the slim chance that what she was starting to think did happen, which only caused her face to erupt with color, then facing him right now was the last thing she wanted to do.

“I think we should let Simon sleep a little longer, he did just get out of the hospital. For now, let’s see if we can find where Jack and Kat are.”

Twilight barely waited for her friends to agree before hurrying out of the room and down the stairs, wanting to put as much distance as she could to avoid any potentially awkward conversations. On the way down to the main area of the library, the three of them would peek into each door they passed by.

“Where could they have disappeared to? It’s not like there’s a lot of rooms to hide in.” Rainbow Dash closed the newest door that she had opened before zipping over to the next.

“These humans must be wizs at hide in seek.” Pinkie Pie exclaimed joining Rainbow, “I mean they’re so big, but they can just vanish without any magic.”

“Over here girls,” Twilight shouted from a nearby room.

When Rainbow and Pinkie found where the shout came from Twilight was already inside. It was the door to Simon’s lab. However, once inside, the duo found that it was quite different than they had seen before.

Unlike before the wall of puppets was gone in its place there was a strange new door, twice the normal size and lacking any kind of knob..

“What the hay is that?”

Rainbow flew up to the large door giving a few knocks and only getting a hollow sound in response. ”Hey Pinkie, help me open this.”

“Okie Dokie Lokie,” Pinkie eagerly chirped as she bounced over to the door before the two made a vain attempt to open it. Twilight also followed suit, though opted to simply look around the door frame for an opening rather than rely on brute force.

A short time after starting searching Twilight found a small circular indentation in the wall. Reaching up she managed to push it with the tip of her hoof. There was a ding as the two large doors separated down the middle sliding along into the walls inside was a large empty room.

Twilight was the first to walk into this room as she looked at the entrance way she could see there was a defined separation between this room and the one they just came from. As Twilight turned to leave the empty room she noticed that on the wall near the entrance there was more circular indentation this time though they had markings. When she inspected it closer Twilight noticed that the markings were human numbers. Each indentation contained one number and they ran one through five.

Twilight reached up with her hoof and pressed the indentation that was marked with the number one, causing it to brighten for a moment before growing dim the moment she moved her hoof away. Twilight and the others waited for something to happen, somewhat on edge should something terrible occur...yet nothing happened.

Mildly disappointed, and still curious, Twilight opted to try her luck with the button marked two. This time, when pressed, it stayed lit even after she pulled her hoof away. Though proved ominous as the door immediately closed while the room began to shift.

“What's happening.” Rainbow moved up to the doors trying to up them in a panic.

“I don't know Rainbow.” Twilight sat down trying to stabilize herself.

“This is kinda fun, like a really slow slide.” Pinkie Pie excitedly moved about the room, sliding in every direction as if the ground was covered in soap.

The shifting lasted for a few seconds, before finally ceasing, much to everyone’s relief before a ding sound could be heard then the doors opened again.

“Oooo where are we now.”

Pinkie Pie ran out into this new room, finding it was decorated much like a living room, with a large table in the middle of a bunch of couches, covered with various books and papers.

Twilight moved up to the table looking at some of the papers they all had the same format but each one had different numbers and words written on them that appeared to be statistics on different people. Moving over to the pile of books on the spine it showed the title of each book but they all seemed to belong to a series called ‘Dungeons & Dragons’.

“Those guys have to be around here somewhere. Not like they have a reason to hide from us,” Rainbow Dash said, only to angrily moan as she opened another door to reveal a long hallway with several more doors “This is going to take forever.”

Pinkie Pie had moved over to a different door, upon opening this door there was the sound of running water.

“Hello, any humans here.” Pinkie called out as she entered the room. Twilight was about to follow Pinkie inside when she suddenly heard the sound of a curtain being moved, followed by Jack yelling.

“Hey what the fuck, haven't you ponies ever heard of privacy.” Pinkie quickly ran out of the room, her cheeks slightly red.

“Twilight I think I made one of the humans angry…” Pinkie then leaned in close to Twilight and whispered,“Also did you know that Humans don't have a sheath.”

Twilight didn’t bother to ask any further, able to fairly figure Pinkie had an awkward encounter with Jack, likely in a bathroom of some kind. She thought of what to do next when Rainbow’s voice caught both of their attention.

“Over here.” Twilight looked back to see Rainbow Dash’s head poking out through a doorway. With their conversation interrupted Pinkie and Twilight followed Rainbow, finding the room was relatively empty, save for a roaring noise with the occasional banging obviously coming from somewhere nearby.

Curious, Twilight drew closer to the wall, finding it strange that despite the noise and prior experience, there was no door of any kind on the wall. As Twilight moved up to the wall a holo-screen opened up in front of her, giving the purple pony quite a jolt.

Taking a moment to calm herself down, Twilight saw on the screen that there was a solitary spot that said, ‘Activate See-Through Mode.’

Feeling little reason to stop pressing on,Twilight reached up and pressed the button, and causing the wall to turn transparent as stated. To her surprise, on the other side of the wall was Kat, her mane was tied up in a bun and she was clad in only a small piece of clothing on her upper body and the strange cloth on her legs, which was even shorter than before.

Thankfully, Kat had her back turned towards the window, thus didn’t notice them and remained focused on what seemed to be her hammering something, though Twilight was unable to see what exactly it was.

“Girls, I found Kat,” Twilight yelled, getting Pinkie and Rainbow to turn back, momentarily stunned by the see through wall.

“Whoa, what’s she doing.” Rainbow flew up to the new window doing her best to try and see around Kat.

“I think she's making something. It looks like one of the blacksmith shops.” Twilight commented, looking further inside and spotting what seemed to be various tools strewn around the room. Ever curious she looked around to see if she could find a way in.

However, before she could peer in further, Kat turned in their direction and offered a wave, seemingly unbothered by having several eyes staring at her.

Setting down her hammer, Kat moved around the room and picked up something else, though it was obscured from view due to her position in the room. Grabbing both handles Kat walked back over to the anvil this time moving to the opposite side so that the ponies could watch her. Bringing the end of the machine down to the thing she was working on a sudden stream of sparks erupted from the object.

Throughout the entire exchange, Twilight and the others simply watched. Blacksmithing wasn’t exactly something they had many opportunities to see and their curiosity only served to further entrance the trio. It was only thanks to Jack’s voice surprising them that their attention was diverted.

“Pretty impressive huh. Kat’s always in there making something. Actually seeing her outside of that forge is a pretty rare occurrence.”

For some reason, Jack was currently clad in nothing but a towel secured around his waist, yet that didn’t even seem to phase him as he loudly knocked on the window like wall. “

Hey, while you're at it can you work on these.” A black spot opened near Jack as he caught the two daggers that fell out. Both weapons seemed to be in bad shape, with the blades covered in cracks and the edge chipped to where it looked more like a saw than a blade.

In spite of the loud interruption Kat didn’t respond verbally, simply setting down the tool she was holding before holding up one of her hands and then slowly extending her middle finger upwards.

“Fuck you.” Kat could just barely be heard yelling back.

“Awww, you know you love me.” Jack laughed for a while before he was interrupted by the sound of something hitting the window. When the ponies looked over they saw the hammer laying on the floor next to the window.

Despite the incredibly obvious show of hostility, Jack wasn’t phased at all, his smile only growing wider as Kat continued to angrily stomp through the forge.

“Um, is there something going on between you two? You seem to have a pretty hostile relationship,” Twilight pondered, recalling having read about something similar in books on relationships.

“Oh no, nothing like that,” Jack shook his head as he kept eyeing the window, “we’re just two people who met through our common friendship with Simon. That’s about as deep as our relationship goes.”

“So how do I get in there.” Twilight pointed to the room that Kat was currently working in. Twilight wasn't sure how open these humans were but she felt that she would be more comfortable talking to another female about the possibility that she slept with Simon.

True she could have talked to one of her friends about it but it wasn’t like Pinkie could keep a secret and she wasn't sure if Rainbow would tease her or congratulate her. Honestly, she couldn't tell which one would be worse right now and she didn’t feel like waiting for somepony else to arrive.

Jack pointed towards a door that was near the now see through wall. “You just go through that door. take a right then it's the first door on your right. Though, I should warn you it’s pretty hot in there.”

Twilight nodded then turned to her friends. “I’m going to go talk to Kat, can you two keep an eye on Jack, maybe wake up Simon so we can all meet back in the library and head to Applejack’s.”

Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash nodded turning to Jack as Twilight walked through the door that Jack had pointed to.

“Hey now don't push too fast you two you’ll make me lose my towel.” Twilight heard Jack say before the door closed behind her though without Jack wearing his translation device Twilight realized that those three wouldn’t be able to understand each other. Hopefully, they’d be able to figure it out on their own.

Following Jack’s instructions Twilight came up to the first door on her right.The moment the door was open an intense heat practically burst out, almost as if a dragon was suddenly breathing in her face. Twilight paused before opening the door the rest of the way. Looking into the room Twilight watched as Kat hammered away at the thing in front of her.

“Hey Kat what are you doing!”

In spite of Kat being so focused on her work, she still looked up and acknowledged Twilight’s call...helped that said pony had practically screamed in order to get her attention.

“Oh, hey Twilight. I was just working on fixing my hammer.” Kat lifted the item she was working on, Twilight recognized it as the head of her weapon that had split in half. Kat set the head back down and turned to Twilight giving her her full attention. “So, little pony, what do you need?”

Ignoring the playful, if slightly mocking jab, Twilight hesitated a little bit before she spoke. “Do you know what happened last night? I can't seem to remember anything after a few drinks of that stuff you brought out.”

Kat quickly broke out into a series of chuckles as she thought back, “Yea, that usually happens on your first time drinking.” Kat moved over to a large machine and pressed a button on it that caused the roar in the room to stop.

“That's the problem though I woke up in bed cuddled up to Simon and he was….naked,” Kat smirked down at Twilight, whose face practically exploded at the mention of Simon’s unclothed state.

“Congrats you've gotten farther with Simon then I ever did,” Kat then gave Twilight a thumbs up and started laughing at her companion’s distress.

“Please, this is serious, I can't remember last night if I really did have intercourse with Simon I don't know how to face him knowing that I can't remember it.” Twilight whimpered looking down at the floor.

Kat did her best to calm her laughter. “Look Twilight if my experience with that man is anything to go on I can safely say that most likely nothing happened, Simon knows what that drink does to someone. He wouldn't take advantage of anyone like that.”

Kat reached down and patted Twilight on the head. “But I guess the only way you are going to know for sure is to ask him yourself.” Kat moved over to the door holding it open for Twilight.

“Wait,what do you mean what that drink does to someone?” Twilight looked at her confused moving up to Kat.

“Well, that type of drink has a habit of lowering people's inhibitions, making them do things they might not normally do.”
Twilight groaned because this meant that she might have made a fool of herself in front of Simon.

Seeing little point in staying, the group made their way back out of the lab. They caught up with Jack and them back in the moving room. Jack was now fully dressed and wearing his translation device. Thankfully it didn’t take long to return to the library, though to their surprise when they opened the door leading out of Simon’s lab they found him just outside the door, looking fairly indifferent about the situation.

“Hey everyone, what’ve you been up to?”

As expected, Simon was fully dressed now and didn’t seem any different from the previous night, though Twilight still couldn’t help but feel awkward given the current situation.

“Everyone ready to do some work.”

“About as ready as I can be.” Rainbow Dash answered. Pinkie Pie and Twilight nodded with her, with Twilight doing her best to avoid eye contact with Simon. As they all left the library however, Simon hung back a little bit and stopped Twilight as everyone else headed out.

“Hey Twilight. Out of curiosity, do remember what happened last night. You said there was something you wanted to show me.”

While Twilight immediately felt her stomach drop at the mention of the previous night, her fear shifted to confusion, which Simon quickly picked up on.

“When I was carrying you to bed last night, you whispered to me that you had something special to show me up in your room.”

This did little to help as Twilight’s memory of the previous night was still a complete blank and she couldn’t couldn't think of anything that she had that she would want to show to him.

“When we got to your room I set you down, then you turned away from me and fell asleep with your butt up in the air. It was quite silly not going to lie”

While Simon chuckled at the memory, Twilight immediately realized what exactly she wanted to show Simon and immediately turned red. Granted, she was relieved that nothing happened between the two of them, but that didn't explain the rather, intimate arrangement that she woke up in.

“Before I answer that, why did I wake up in bed with you and why were you naked?” Twilight wondered, while also trying to divert the conversation away from the rather embarrassing situation.

“Well, the reason I wasn't wearing anything is that before I took you to bed you were sleeping in my lap. Don’t know if you’re aware but you drool in your sleep...quite a lot actually. It ended up soaking through my clothing so I discarded it,” Simon held back a laugh as Twilight grew redder with embarrassment, “And you were in my bed because after I laid down you crawled over complaining that your bed was too cold.”

Twilight took a sigh of relief, in spite of some less than desirable revelations, knowing that the most embarrassing thing seemed to be lost on Simon at least put her mind at ease. That just left one little matter to settle.

“As for earlier, I can't think of anything I could have wanted to show you, though I’m sure whatever it was wasn’t important. So how about we join the others heading to Applejack’s.”

Twilight started heading towards the rest of the group, Simon followed after, and thankfully not prying any further into something Twilight would ensure would remain forgotten for the foreseeable future..

As the group made their way to Sweet Apple Acres, they were greeted by the sight of Applejack and Big Mac in the process of moving several stacks of baskets towards the trees..

“Applejack,” Twilight called out to get her friends attention.

“Howdy Twilight,” Applejack shouted back waving her hoof at them,“Perfect time Y'all, we are just finishing the setup. Once we get these baskets set up I’ll tell you where we need yah.”

Applejack was about to go back to pushing the large stack of baskets when Kat walked over picking them all up.

“Just show me where to put them,” Kat lifted the baskets up above her head holding them by the bottom with a single hand, leaving the farm pony in awe of her impressive strength.

“You can just put them over there by my brother.” Applejack pointed over to where Big Mac was now unstacking the baskets and putting them in a line. Kat nodded heading over to Big Mac and started helping him out with setting the baskets up. However, before she continued, Kat reached up, removing her translation device and placing it on Big Mac’s ear then leaned over and quietly said something to Big Mac.

The big red stallion quickly shook his head as his cheeks turned slightly redder than before. As they got closer Twilight could hear Kat talking.

“Well how about once all this calms down you and I could meet up for some fun.” Big Mac quickly turned even redder and took the headset off, practically shoved it back at Kat making her laugh.

Kat placed her translator back on her ear. “Hey, Apple pony is your brother, always so shy, it's kinda hot.”

“Can you not talk about my brother that way in front of me.” Applejack, clearly not amused by the attempted humor, continued on past the human to finish setup, with Simon standing nearby and overlooking the vast farmland..

“So how much land needs to get done.” Simon raised his hand up and shaded his eyes as he looked out among the sea of trees. Applejack thought to herself for a moment.

“About ten acres worth of trees to cover.” Simon chuckled a little bit making Applejack look up to him. “What's so funny.” Simon smiled down at the small pony.

“Don't worry about it.” He said kindly as he looked back at the trees, “So how about you show us, humans, how you do this.”

Applejack looked at him confused but didn’t think much of it as she walked over to a tree. Simon had crouched down next to Twilight.

“Now watch closely.”

Perplexed, Twilight decided to follow with his suggestion though not sure what to expect. She’d seen AJ applebuck before, it wasn’t like it could really surprise her right?

“Now, I’m not sure how well this is going to work for you humans but this is how we do it here.”

Twilight watched as Applejack crouched down, she could see energy moving from the ground into Applejack’s hooves. As she reared her back legs in the energy built into her core and the moment she kicked out the energy flowed from her into the tree.

Twilight looked up at Simon who had his journal out, likely documenting what she’d just seen. Applejack, satisfied, turned back to the humans as the apples fell into a basket that she had sat near the tree.

“And that's how we do it.”

Twilight looked over at Simon's journal, inside Simon had drawn an illustration of Applejack as her hind legs made a connection with the tree, showing the flow of the energy that Twilight had seen. Happy with his work, Simon closed the book and stood up turning to the other humans.

“Alright, I think I got all the information I need.” Simon then turned to the ponies again. “If you guys could show Jack and Kat to those corners of the field that need harvesting we can get started.”

“Um, darling, what exactly do you mean?” Rarity asked, having looked over from where she was preparing to use her magic to move apples out of the tree like she and Twilight had in the past.

“Well, honestly when Applejack said she had a lot to do I thought she meant around one hundred acres or so. Really, with what’s left, this shouldn’t take too long.”

None of the assembled ponies didn’t know how to respond, though merely watched as Simon held his finger out in front of himself and suddenly it lit up in blue fire. “

If you ponies would be nice enough to show Jack and Kat to the corners of the field we can get this done in a jiffy.” Simon smiled trying to be as sincere as possible.

Kat moved quickly over to Big Mac. “I call this hunk.” Kat laughed but Big Mac seemed uncomfortable with the closeness causing Jack to immediately come between the two.

“Nah, he’s with me, last thing we need is you getting distracted and causing a scene.”

Jack quickly pushed the pair apart and blocked Kat’s path to Mac, much to his relief and Kat’s annoyance. Thankfully it was fleeting as outside of a brief pout she relented and moved away.

“I’ll go with them.” Rainbow chipped in from where she was talking with Applejack, taking to the air after Big Mac and Jack, leaving Applejack with Kat.

Alright, now if yer done being funny, we can get to work. Let’s get a move on” Applejack stated firmly, leading Kat the opposite direction of the first group while Simon began moving his hand in the air, the fire on his finger leaving a trail behind it.

“So what's the deal with Simon,” Rainbow asked as she took a quick glance back at the aforementioned human

“You’re gonna have to be a bit more specific.” Jack continued, following Big Mac, not bothering to look at Rainbow.

“I mean that he was stuck here for two weeks with no idea of how long he’d stay and it didn't seem to bother him at all.” Rainbow Dash said in a huff, frustrated that she still couldn’t figure out the reason inspite of how much time had passed.

“Oh that. Honestly I think Simon tends to just be a go with the flow kind of guy.” Jack said as memories of past times with Simon played out in his head. “For as long as I’ve known him, Simon has always preferred to let things happen naturally rather than interfere unless he absolutely had to. To him, this whole encounter is probably just a fun experience that he wants to see through for as long as possible. So long as it doesn’t cause any trouble, he’s happy to let things run their course.”

Rainbow and Big Mac said nothing as they moved on, both mulling over Jack’s words until they finally reached their destination.

Jack looked around walking over to the exact corner of the field of done trees and where they are supposed to be harvesting. Raising his hand into the air a light suddenly appeared on his hand then shortly shot into the air.

Moving back to Applejack, she was also in the midst of asking her own questions about Simon to Kat.

“I know it’s probably none of mah business but ah have to ask. When Simon was stuck here with no way home he didn't seem bothered by it. Doesn't he have family or friends that miss him when he does stuff like this.”

“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Kat said as she tried to think of the best way to explain it. “Simon’s always had natural charisma that has always made making friends easy for him, especially with others in the creator department. As for family, well if he has any, there isn’t any record of them or even Simon prior to his fight with Zack. Generally, deities are created in pairs, often with a relative or loved one to help cope with the inevitable loneliness that comes with being immortal.”

Kat took a quick glance in the distance on the opposite end of the field. “Jack for example has his sister with him and I was brought alongside a friend of mine from my childhood. However, Simon for whatever reason doesn’t seem to have anyone, and yet Simon doesn’t the least bit bothered by it.

This surprised Applejack who couldn’t even imagine being without one member of her massive extended family, never mind the idea of having no family at all. It was a sentiment that Kat seemed to share as she mournfully looked to the sky.

“Sometimes I wonder if I even know the real Simon or if it’s just a mask he puts on for everyone.” Applejack stopped in place lifting her hoof and placing it on Kats hip trying to console her.

“Look ah don't know much about Simon but ah know a thing or two about honesty and character. I know for a fact that you never carry around a picture of someone unless they really mean something to you. Of that, you can be certain.”

This seemed to help perk Kat up, if only a bit as the pair decided to shelf the conversation for a later time and focus on what they were there to do.

“Alrighty then, the place we need is right there.” Applejack pointed her hoof over and Kat nodded moving over she held her hand in the air where a light appeared and shot into the air.

Back at the center of the farm, Twilight watched as the string of symbols that Simon was putting in the air had gotten quite long. “

“So Simon, you never told me exactly what you’re doing” Twilight asked when Simon had stopped marking the air.

“I’m doing what Applejack did but I’m extending the range to encompass a marked area.”
Rather than elaborate further, Simon merely flicked his hand and the marking moved from the air to the ground in front of the trees.

“I’m sure you saw it, the magic that flowed through Applejack before she hit the tree. I don't know if she is aware of it but it’s not her kick that is making the apples fall. She channels magic from the ground and into the tree that seeks out only the ripe apples causing them to fall.”

Twilight listened intently, wishing desperately she had a notepad to take all this down, as it very likely could change Equestria’s entire understanding of Earth Pony magic.

However, before she could probe Simon further two bright lights shot up into the sky one right after the other. “Ah good, they're in position.”

Simon walked up to the markings and knelt down, touching the symbols causing them to explode rapidly outwards, extending in both directions on one side. However, the symbols quickly stopped and shifted directions, heading directly into the trees.

“Twilight!” Rarity and the other assembled ponies were making their way to Twilight’s location, taking only a moment to gawk at the rather impressive light show. “What exactly is going on here?”

Twilight however, didn't take her eyes off the markings, “I’m not exactly sure, all I can say is Simon has been setting up something that only I can see at the moment.”

Back at Rainbow Dash, she watched as Jack put on a pair of green tinted goggles that he had pulled from a black spot. “What are those for.”

Jack continued to stare out into the distance. “They’re special equipment that allow me to see the magic that is going to be coming my way, that way I can properly redirect it.”

“The what now.” Rainbow Dash asked confused.

Jack sighed as a black spot opened and two more pairs of goggles fell out. “Here put these on.”

Rainbow scooped up the goggles handing a pair to Big Mac she put the other one on herself. Watching in the same direction that Jack was Rainbow noticed a glowing blue light running along the ground at them. As the light got close Jack placed his hand down directly in its path. To Rainbow’s amazement the energy from the line traveled up Jack’s arm. Jack then placed his other hand down causing the energy to travel down and make a new line that shot out in the new direction.

Applejack, up to speed on what was going on, flipped the goggles around in her hoof a little bit before she put them on.

“So, not to sound rude or anything, but Simon isn't going to hurt the trees is he?” Applejack looked out concerned for the countless trees.

“Don't worry your cute little freckles about it, we’ve done this sort of thing hundreds of times,” Kat quipped in, kneeling down while watching one side intently. “Honestly Simon says that his specialty is the fourth dimension thing but his true strength lies in his ability to adapt magic to his will. Manipulating it to do a little farm work is hardly a challenge for him.”

This did little to ease Applejack who watched the lines heading for Kat with laser-like precision, ready to react should something go wrong. Kat placed her hand in the way as the magic connected with her, and much like with Jack it seemed to flow up one of her arms and down the other before shooting off into the distance.

“And Y'all are sure that this is safe.” Applejack, still nervous and trying to at least put her mind at ease, if only a little.

“Look, if you are that worried about it all you have to do is push me over, that will break the area marking magic. Right now I can’t move or use my magic to solidify myself as that would interrupt the whole process. So if you see something you don't like just give me a push and it’ll end without any fuss. Okay?.” Kat tried to reassure Applejack by giving her a way out, which at least seemed to calm her nerves somewhat.

“Is there anything we can do to help,” Fluttershy asked Simon after he had been kneeling for quite some time.

“Sure, if all of you could put the baskets in a straight line behind me that would be great.”

Seeing little reason to argue, the ponies all gathered near the baskets working together to separate the last of them and line them all up.

“Here it comes.”

Twilight looked over to the other side of the baskets and sure enough, she could see the line of magic moving across the ground until it came in connection with the other end. As the connection completed the magic spread, filling in the entire area that it surrounded. As the magic started to creep up the trees black spots could be seen opening up all around the field. When the magic finally reached the branches apples started falling from the trees into the voids. A few seconds later black spots opened above each basket, loading apples into each of them at an impressive speed.

Applejack could only look on in awe at the sight before her. “Wow if Simon is only a rank forty whatever then I'd hate to see the higher ranked ones.”

The entire process, which normally would’ve taken the group around an hour or two, was completely in a matter of seconds as the spots disappeared, leaving a line of filled baskets.

“Actually I don't think you could find a stronger magic user in our species. The only reason Simon isn't higher ranked is that he doesn't like fighting, so he never uses his magic for offensive purposes.”

“Wait but Simon's been in a bunch of fights since he got here,” Applejack quickly moved up next to the human, recalling some of their past encounters with the human before.

“Yeah, and I’m willing to bet he didn’t start any of those fights. Just cause he doesn’t go looking for a fight, doesn’t mean he won’t defend himself or others when the need arises.”

Applejack had to think to herself for a moment and realized Kat was right. All the fights that she had heard about or saw, Simon was only ever defending himself.

“Huh, guess I never thought about it like that before.”

The group continued onward, arriving just as the last of the baskets was finally filled.

“Wowee,” Applejack whistled as she looked over the baskets full of apples “You humans did a week's worth of work in just a half hours time.”

“So what do we do now,” Rarity asked, not having expected to be done so soon.

“Well, we just need to get these baskets into the barn then we're all done.”

Pointing over to said barn, Jack and Kat already got a head start on putting stuff away with Kat effortlessly holding a basket in each hand while Jack settled on carrying one. Everyone else each grabbed a basket themselves, with the exception of Twilight who was levitating several, and headed to the barn.

“Soooo, since we’re almost done anyway, what’re we gonna do next?” Pinkie Pie asked as the last of them put their basket down.

“We should all head home and pack whatever we need. We still need to find those other humans and it could take awhile.,” Twilight turned to the humans. “I don’t suppose any of you have an idea where we might find them do you?”

“Well, we're supposed to be studying your civilization so my guess is that they are probably near a town. However, with us being so distinctly different from your species they are most likely sticking to the outskirts to avoid detection,” Jack chipped in.

Twilight nodded. “So I think we should all pack what we need and meet up at the train station. We can discuss where we'll go from there.”

With the plan set, all the parties split off into different groups., Jack went with Rarity after she requested some help. Kat stayed at the farm to help Applejack and Simon went with Pinkie, though for what reason Twilight wasn’t sure as she headed home.

Back at the library Twilight was quick to pack as many essential items as she could think of when she came across Simon’s diary again.

“I’m sorry Simon I know that this is probably private but I can't help but feel that something important is hidden here.” Twilight stuffed the diary into her saddlebag. Walking back to the door she called out to Spike.

“Are you ready Spike we will be heading out soon.” Spike came down the stairs carrying his own small bag, packed to capacity.

“I’m all ready Twilight,” He called out, meeting up with Twilight at the door. Twilight nodded and the two of them headed out the door.

The duo were quick to arrive at the train station, finding everyone was present, save for Rarity and Jack. .

“Hey, Twilight,” Applejack called out to here, guiding the pair over, “We were just discussing with Kat and Simon that Appleloosa was maybe a good first choice since my cousin Braeburn lives there and since the buffalo roam that area they might have seen something.”

A loud groan stopped Twilight from replying as the group heard a rather familiar and vocal voice closing in.

“Did you really need to pack so much stuff? We’re late enough as it is.”

“Well, you certainly did not make things any better.”

The source was revealed to be Rarity, who was currently walking next to a visibly struggling Jack, carrying several bags of what Twilight could only assume was Rarity’s supplies.

Jack laughed “I wasn't trying to make things better.” As they approached Twilight noticed that Rarity was a little upset with Jack.

“What's going on?” She asked, getting Rarity to look towards her.

“Besides this one whining ever since we left my boutique?” Jack quickly gave Rarity the stink eye, which she returned with a hostile glare of her own, though she quickly dropped it with a sigh.

“As it turns out my parents were at my house to visit when we arrived. As I’m sure you can imagine, when they saw Jack, they...well panicked would probably be the appropriate word. Naturally I tried to explain to them, only for THIS ONE....”

Rarity quickly let out a loud and very unladylike shout while pointing harshly at the visibly amused Jack, before taking a few moments to calm herself down.

“Sorry about that, anyway, Jack here thought it would be a perfect idea in that situation to plant a kiss on my cheek then he had the gall to tell me to try and explain that to my parents.”

Jack started snickering as Rarity recounted the events. “And I spent the entire time that I was packing trying to come up with some kind of an explanation, until I just tossed together what I could and ran out the door, making sure to drag this little imp with me.”

Twilight had to stifle her own laughter. She was sure she was spending too much time with the humans cause she was starting to find entertainment in their humor, even if it did cause her friends some problems. Spike meanwhile, having heard everything, was doing his best to intimidate Jack by giving him an angry glare and failing as one would expect.

“I’m going to get our tickets then if we are all ready.”

Heading to the booth Twilight Silently thanked Celestia for the bits she had sent to Spike while they were helping Applejack for their travels. The plan was to purchase two private cars, if only to avoid a possible panic from the ponies seeing the humans. Thus the extra bits were greatly appreciated.

Once she had the tickets, she returned to find Spike sucking on a lollipop, likely from Jack as a way to make up for teasing Rarity. Honestly, if it kept the two from causing a big stir then what was the harm.

With tickets quickly distributed, the large group headed on board the train. Thankfully, despite their large group and the noticeable size difference between the humans and ponies, there was plenty of room in each car.

For the humans was a car complete with four full sized beds, as well enough floor space for them to move around. The car for the ponies on the other hand was a normal sleeper car for the seven of them. True it would be a bit of a tight fit, especially with all of Rarity’s luggage, but they could bear it for the time.

After packing their bags near the bed they all started to settle in for the long haul. Twilight, now free for the moment, approached Simon.

“I know I messed up last time but I would like it if you could try and teach me your magic again.” Twilight was nervous, afraid that Simon would tell her no.

Simon merely petted her head. “Twilight, you made a simple mistake there is nothing wrong with that as long as you learned something from it.”

Simon then motioned through the door leading to the humans' car. In the other car, it was just Twilight and Simon everypony else was in the other car talking. Twilight moved to the center of the room where she closed her eyes and held out her hoof and waited for Simon to start. After thirty seconds of waiting, Twilight opened her eyes to find Simon drawing on the wall with a marker.

“Wait, are you not going to lead my magic like before.” Simon turned around putting the cap back on the marker.

“Nope, now that I know you have All-Sight we are going to train you a different way,” Simon motioned up the marking on the wall. “First I want you to memorize this sequence. You can use any tools you like.Just let me know when you can recreate it without looking at it.”

Taking a seat on one of the beds, Simon pulled out a book and began reading, leaving Twilight to her task which she took to with her usual vigor.

For the next next few hours, Twilight worked on memorizing the marking, completely ignoring the occasional visitor, be they pony or human. A few times Twilight thought she had it but Simon was quick to point out several mistakes, though that only served to harden her resolve. After another couple of hours Twilight felt she’d finally had it down, though Simon had her repeat it a couple more times just to make sure.

“Good, now that you have the basics down you have everything you need to get started.”

Simon squatted down in front of her and placed his hand on the floor, from it sprang a small circle of markings. “Now I want you to recreate those markings inside of this circle.”

Nodding, Twilight looked carefully at the new circle of marks, which was noticeably smaller compared to her prior projects.Taking a deep breath to clear her mind then she used her magic to recreate the markings inside the circle but nothing happened.

“Not quite right. Try again.”

Simon touched the small circle causing it to glow for a second before it wiped the markings that Twilight had made. Several hours and attempts later, Twilight was getting frustrated.

“Gah, what am I doing wrong!” Twilight buried her head under her hooves in exasperation. Simon looked up from the book at the markings.

“From what I can see, it seems perfect,” Simon commented then went back to his book.

“Then why isn't it working.” Twilight turned back to him and angrily stared at him as if he was the problem.

“Well, I can't say for certain but from what I’ve seen your world’s magic is derived from emotions, feelings, which are the same regardless who you are. Our magic conversely is based on written language, which is naturally different for each person due to their own unique mannerisms and speech.”

Despite the explanation, Twilight seemed only more confused, prompting Simon to set his book down and move over to Twilight.

“Perhaps a visual aide will help here...JACK, I NEED YOU IN HERE.” Simon yelled out, prompting Jack to poke his head through the door.

“What'd you need Simon.” Jack stepped the rest of the way through.

“I just need you to open your fourth-dimensional pocket.”

While Jack looked confused at the request, he obliged and held out his hand. Near it Twilight watched as a circular band of blue magic came into existence forming a black spot in the middle. Simon did the same right next to Jacks a similar band of blue magic appeared.

“Now look closely at both of them.”

Twilight did as she was told putting her face almost into the black spot and once she got close enough she noticed something. Simon’s band was filled with markings that were a lot more compressed allowing more of them to fill the band, The second thing she noticed was that Jack’s markings were curvier than Simon’s. While the markings in Simon’s were very rigid and precise Jacks flowed and seamlessly moved from one marking to the next.

When both spots closed and the markings disappeared Simon resumed talking, “Let’s stop here, you can muse over what you saw and we can resume in a few hours.” Twilight nodded just noticing how much she had drained herself trying to create the humans magic.

“I think that's a good idea. I’m just going to go rest on my bed.” Twilight turned and left the car making her way to the bed that her bag was near.

“How did the training go darling.” Rarity lifted her head from where she was talking with Kat.

“Frustrating,”

“Yea it can be very difficult finding your style but once you have it, it will open up so many doors.” Kat tried to reassure Twilight, getting her to nod.

“I think I’m just going to rest for a while now.” Twilight used her magic to close the curtain to her bed and pulled the dairy out of her saddlebag. Opening the book back up to where she remembered leaving off she activated Ace.

“Ace, can you continue to translate these pages for me,” Twilight spoke quietly to make sure she wasn't heard.

“Of course Ms. Twilight.”

Immediately a blue light burst out from the device, sweeping across the pages for a few moments before Ace started speaking again.

“Dear Diary, it happened, I talked to them. At first, it was only one of them and it was an accident. I was just arriving at school when I noticed that the hall was covered in a thick cloud of the light. It wasn't the first time this had happened and I found that if I keep my head down while walking slowly enough will keep people from bumping into me. However,this time I ran into someone. I immediately went to apologize and without realizing I said I couldn't see them in the fog. When I opened my eyes in shock of what I just said and it was one of the twins that I bumped into. He seemed confused for a little bit before he seemed to have a realization.”

“That is when he rolled up his sleeve on his left arm and the fog started to recede into his arm . It only took a minute for the fog to disappear completely. I dumbly nodded after he asked if that was better, afterward we exchanged names, it turns out that the one l bumped into was Zach but get this, his last name is Liebe, that is so cute.”

Twilight was confused and made a mental note as to ask for a translation of that word later as she kept reading.

“Soon enough we had to go to class but he said he and his brother would like to talk to me. They said to meet them at the large tree near the school. Naturally I was very excited, but when I left the building there was another cloud that blanketed the school. I think I spent five minutes trying to navigate that stuff before it disappeared revealing both Zach and Rolf.

Zach had turned to Rolf and told him that he knew I wasn't faking. When I turned to them Rolf apologized to me and explained that they had to test me. When others heard them talk about the fog in the past they pretended to see it. I was curious so I asked them how they knew the fog would be here. Zach seemed pretty proud of himself when they explained that while Rolf could see the fog like I could Zach had the ability to manipulate it. Rolf explained to me that they have had their own ability since they were a child like me and that they like to call it the fog. We got to talking about what they think the fog really is when an alarm went off and they had to head home but they said they wanted to hang out again. I’m kinda excited to talk to them again.”

“The passage ends there.”

Twilight took a moment to collect herself, there was something here but she knew she didn't have enough information yet.

“Ace what is the translation for Liebe,” Twilight asked in the break between passages.

“Liebe a German word meaning ‘love or to love’.” A holo-screen appeared in front of Twilight presenting the spelling and translation of the word in English. As Twilight stared at the word she suddenly realized something.

“Ace how do you spell Simon.”

The holo-screen changed to the spelling of Simon's name. Twilight looked on as she saw a pattern and quickly removed the translation headset causing the holo-screen to disappear. On it next to her cutie mark was what Simon had called his symbol. It was a heart and inside of it were two markings...an S and an L.

“Simon Liebe.”

Twilight traced the heart with the tip of her hoof as she was trying to connect the dots. “Simon is somehow related to the brothers in this diary. Ace, can you continue?” Twilight figured if she continued some other things might finally be explained.

“Dear Diary, it has been a few weeks since I started hanging out with Zack and Rolf, and things have been rather nice. My parents think I’m getting better since I no longer complain about seeing things now that Zack can make them go away and I’m feeling less stress now that I have people that I feel like I can talk to about it. Admittedly, it was a little odd talking to them at first since they looked the same but, I have been starting to notice a difference between the two of them. Despite only ever seeing him sleep through class Zack seems to be the smarter of the two. Rolf told me that the only reason Zack doesn't move up to higher classes is that he thinks it would be too much trouble. But altogether things have been getting better so I might be writing in my diary less.”

“The passage ends there.” Twilight closed the journal deciding she would pick it up later, for now she wanted to take a nap.

Twilight found herself in a room that was dark except for a red light that was flashing periodically accompanied by an alarm. She had this large feeling of dread and anger. As she turned her head to the right she found herself staring face to face with Simon, he was standing in shock staring through a window into a room full of black smoke.

Twilight suddenly found herself talking, “What did you do?”

“I...I...I didn't do anything,” Was his response but Twilight didn't wait for any further excuse instead she bolted out the door that leads to the room full of smoke. The moment she stepped through the floor vanished and she fell, screaming the entire way down which only seemed to go on endlessly.

Yet, as she started to fear she would fall without end, Twilight hit the ground with a jolt, opening her eyes and she was in the train car. Looking up she could see the privacy curtain swaying a bit from where she must have rolled out of bed.

A cough quickly caused her to shift attention to other occupants of the car, all staring at her while she could only offer an awkward laugh in response.

“Are you alright darling?” Rarity asked, taking a step forward to help her up, only for Twilight to quickly shake it off.

“Yeah, I’m alright. Just a bit of a crazy dream is all, nothing to worry about.”

Everypony seemed to hesitantly accept the explanation and went back to what they were doing before. Looking out the window Twilight could see that the sun was just starting to go down meaning that she was asleep for about an hour or so. While part of her wanted to question what had just happened, it would have to wait for now as she still needed to perfect her magic with Simon.

Eager to get back to work, she headed back inside Simon’s car and spent the next several hours practicing, though making no further progress no matter how hard she tried. This continued well into the night, until the moon was high in the night sky.

“How about we call it a night?” Simon stood from the chair he was watching Twilight from and walked over patting her on The head. “You’re getting close but you seem to be missing something.”

“I know I have to find my style,” Twilight responded frustrated because Simon had been telling her that same line all day. Simon smiled and shrugged.

“Maybe you will get it tomorrow, for now, I think it's a good time to break for the night.”

Simon motioned to the window where it was already dark out. Twilight, having now stopped and feeling all of training catch up to her, collapsed on the floor.

Naturally, Simon was quick to come to her aide, carefully picking her up in his arms allowing Twilight the opportunity to nuzzle into the side of his neck. Walking over to an empty bed Simon laid her down covering her in the blanket Twilight relaxed falling asleep almost instantly.

Later, Twilight was awoken by a noise looking around. Save for a single small light coming from the opposite side of the car it was completely pitch black. Turning her head slightly she saw Simon messing with a holo-screen figuring that it was no big deal Twilight laid her head down to fall back asleep when Simon spoke.

“Yeah I got the file.”

There was a brief silence that followed before he resumed talking, “I'm opening it now. What is this supposed to be...a map... We don't need a topographic map. Look I'll just send you a copy of one of their maps that I have translated...Yeah, my first week here I was staying at a library they had a lot of books that I could reference though it did take some time to figure out their written language...I know right these ponies are a little too trusting.”

Twilight froze suddenly scared. If what she was hearing was true, did this mean that Simon was working against them this entire time. And if that was true, then what about Jack and Kat.

“Well, we're currently on our way to Appleloosa...Yes It's a horse pun if you look at the name of most of their cities they are almost all horse puns. Anyway, they were saying that there is a herd of buffalo in that area so if you can find them and let them catch a glimpse of you heading towards this area, then when the ponies talk to them they can point us in your direction. Yes, Jack and Kat will fight with those two...it doesn't matter who wins it will buy enough time...If they win I will restrain them...If we attack the guards then the big dog should come out from there it's just a matter of taking them down and making an example of them...who Jack and Kat no they don't know anything about what's going on but don't worry if I explain the reason for our actions they will accept it… Yep, and we will have to make sure one of ours stays to govern over things on this side...Alrighty, I will see you soon then.”

Author's Note

Sorry, it took so long to post the next chapter. Those of you who thought I was dead need to try harder because you only hospitalized me