Rice and Hay Don't Mix

by Kairi_Yajuu

Rating: everyone
Tags: Adventure, Dragon Ball Z, Twilight Sparkle, Drama, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 7891

A Pocahontas style DBZ/MLP crossover. Where Gohan and Twilight meet and through no fault of their own are thrown into a war between their two worlds as one blames the other for the horrors unleashed upon themselves.

It's been seven years since Cell was defeated and Son Goku sacrificed his life. Now Son Gohan faced the hardest challenge he had yet. High School. Or was it... magically talking ponies? Gohan discovers an odd magical book that connects him to a Ms. Twilight Sparkle and as their destinies intertwine, they learn to be more careful when messing with portals. Collab w/Quantum Kakarotto

Published 2018-03-10 03:40:05 UTC
Last updated 2018-03-14 18:07:54 UTC

Prologue to Adventure: Gohan's Discovery

Gohan wasn’t sure what to make of this. Today was supposed to be his first day of High School and he was sure to Dende that this room wasn’t his first class of the day. Still he couldn’t deny that he was interested in all the books that surrounded him.

“This must be the library.” he thought to himself, speaking out loud. “If dad was here and saw all these books, he’d high tail it back to Otherworld.”

He took a quick glance at the clock on a nearby wall and saw he still had an hour before class started.

“Huh, I still have a bit of time till my first day officially starts,” He grinned as he looked at all the books on the shelves. “Might as well enjoy myself a bit then!”

He walked between the bookcases and tried to see if anything caught his eye. As he walked past one row in particular, he noticed something strange. “Huh, what’s that?”

He could’ve sworn it was a trick of the light but still, might as well investigate. Gohan walked over to what looked to be a glowing book. One that glowed a bright pink before dimming into the darkness of the shelf. He pulled the book away from its home and took a hard look at the cover.The cover of the book wasn’t anything special, just a book bound book to the normal eye. But to Gohan’s well trained eye, he could make out strange symbols and outlines of...a horses head?

“Doesn’t seem like anything special...almost looks like something mom would have read to Goten and I when we were younger.” Gohan spoke to himself quietly as he began to open the book slowly, in case any more strange occurrences happened. It seemed normal enough. On closer inspection, it looked like a diary story. He’d heard of people writing stories like that before. For it to be in this library, though, it must have something grand about its storytelling. Something he could study. He figured he’d check how long the book was, turning to the final page to find it… blank?

“That’s odd.” He said to himself. “I wonder where the ending actually is.” He turned backwards in the pages to look for the true ending of the book, finally finding what looked to be the source of the glowing.

“Whoa!” he exclaimed, nearly dropping the object in question. His eyes stared down at the book, wide as he witnessed writing appearing on the pages themselves!

“Dear Diary, today Pinkie Pie through another party. I wonder what has her so excited these past couple of days.”

Gohan raised an eyebrow. “Pinkie Pie? A party? What is this, a book for children? Wait, no, there’s something else going on here.” He remembered his training from his father and Mr. Piccolo as a young boy, he needed to watch his senses in case trouble appeared.

“So much for an ordinary first day…”

Author's Note

Collab with Quantum Kakarotto from Fanfiction.net. We worked really hard on this story together and would greatly appreciate any feedback.

Chapter 1: The Call Of Adventure, Son Gohan and Twilight Sparkles First Contact!

Three days had passed since he found the book. He wasn’t sure why but Gohan was attached to it. He had caught himself up on the happenings of this “Twilight Sparkle” in the diary and was eagerly awaiting every nights newest entry. He tried sensing if any ki was involved in this seemingly magical item but he couldn’t make sense of it.

Tonight was the night he was going to take a chance, though.

Tonight he was going to write in the diary and see what wou-.

“Big Brother!” came the voice of a young hyperactive child right next to Gohan, causing the older half-saiyan to cry out in a short panic, almost falling off his chair near his work desk. Gohan turned to see the source of said voice, his eyes landing on a young child, who looked strikingly like Son Goku back during his youth the only difference was that this child was dressed more formally, wearing a blue and white tunic with blue pants and black shoes.

This was Son Goten, the little brother of Gohan and son of Goku and Chi-Chi. The child Son Goku never knew he left behind for his family to fill the void he left behind,

“Hey bro, whatcha up too?” Goten grinned up at his elder brother. “And why are you staring at that book? Is it like those books old man Roshi has?”

“N-no!” Gohan responded. “Nothing like those books!” The older half-saiyan sighed and then smiled at the younger one. “Look, tell ya a secret.”

“Okay!” Goten exclaimed with a large smile on his face that reminded Gohan of his late father’s smile.

“There’s something special about this book. Someone’s writing in it and I get to see every word. So I’m trying to figure it out, alright? Why don’t you go play with some of your toys and I’ll call you over if I figure anything out. Deal?”

“Sure big bro, besides it sounds kinda creepy that you’re reading someone’s words…” Goten said. “Trunks said, people who do that are weirdos.”

Gohan sputtered. He didn’t really know how to respond to that. Was he being a weirdo? Nah, this was all in the name of science. He was sure this “Twilight Sparkle” would forgive him if she knew what it looked like from his end. “It’s not weird, Goten, it’s a mystery, get it?”

“You mean like that show we watched with the weird talking dog?”

“Yeah… like that. Now go play, alright? Let me work on this.”

“Alright fine…” Goten grumbled, walking out of the room mumbling to himself. “Maybe Mom would play with me again without the yellow-”

Gohan let out a sigh. He loved his brother, really he did, but sometimes he could be a handful that got in the way. Still, he couldn’t imagine lying to him. Lucky break that Goten didn’t seem all that interested in the truth to begin with. Gohan then turned to the book and stared at the task at hand.

“Now, let’s see if we can start to figure you out.” He said to himself, opening the book up once again to the last written page.

Gohan took a pen and nervously began to write. “Hello there? Ms Twilight Sparkle, is it? I hope you don’t mind but I’ve been reading what you’ve been writing. Somehow I get to see everything. How are you?” He brought his hand to his head. “Man, that’s so lame. I should’ve thought this over better.”

He stared down at his writing before he realized, “Just how long do I have to sit here and wait for a reply?”

Surprisingly enough, it only took a few moments before the book began to glow and writing began to appear. “Oh my gosh oh my gosh oh my gosh” it said. “This must be another magic book to that other world-”

Gohan blinked reading that portion. “Otherworld? Like where my Dad is right now?”

He then noticed more words began to appear.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle and I live in Equestria. Things are much different in my world than in yours. Do you know anyone named Sunset Shimmer?”

Gohan couldn’t believe that this was happening. Not only did it work, but this Twilight Sparkle person didn’t seem phased at all. In fact, she was acting like this was the second time something like this had occurred.

Gohan grabbed his pen and began to reply to Twilight. “Not that I know of, but we do have pretty sunsets where I live. Just out of curiosity do you happen to know anyone named, King Kai or Son Goku?”

Moments later, the writing returned. “No. No one like that here. That doesn’t sound like anypony’s name I’ve ever heard of.”

“Pony?” Gohan exclaimed in surprise, what did she mean by pony?! He took his pen and began to write his next sentence to Twilight. “What do you mean by pony? Son Goku is a….human…and so am I?”

“Oh right.” Twilight replied. “In your world, there aren’t any ponies, are there? Well, in Equestria, we’re all kinds of creatures but humans like you don’t exist. It’s a lot to take in, I know, believe me, but you get used to the idea.”

“We have other creatures here in my world, we have dinosaurs, animals, and we have King Furry as our king who’s a dog.” Gohan wrote down for Twilight to read.

“A dog as a king?” The writing took a brief pause before it started up again. “I don’t think your world is the same as Sunset’s after all. If you want, we could make a portal using these books to see each other. At least, so long as there’s some Equestrian magic in your world to base it on, which, the book your holding probably is.” She rambled on.

“Your world doesn’t sound like the Otherworld I know of either, but that portal idea does sound interesting and I would like to see how your world operates.”

“Great! Then tomorrow we can work on it. I have to get some shut-eye tonight but I’m free all day tomorrow to meet a new friend. I’m sure Princess Celestia will be ecstatic to meet someone from a new world, too.”

“Tomorrow it is!” Gohan grinned, speaking the words out loud as he wrote it down. By the time he finished writing it was then he realized...he still had school tomorrow! Not to mention his new duty as Satan City’s newest hero (Man, was his superhero identity cool!).

“Aw man.” Gohan scratched his head. “Maybe I could sneak a few messages to her during class or even during break. Hopefully there’s no need for the Great Saiyaman tomorrow, either.”

Chapter 2: Ditching the New Semester, Gohan’s Trip to Equestria!

The next day was pretty quiet as far as school was concerned. No emergencies from the city and nothing interesting being taught. Also no daily runaway from Videl as the Great Saiyaman.

So throughout the day Gohan wrote to his new friend behind the textbooks. Twilight Sparkle was a genius, he figured out. She told him how she made the previous portal by harnessing the magic from the other book she has and combining it with the magic mirror. Gohan couldn’t help but laugh at the use of magic as if it were a science but he couldn’t judge. Most people called his usage of ki a trick, especially Videl’s father during the Cell Games seven years ago.

He studied the notes she copied over to him and figured out how he could make the same thing using a regular old mirror from his house. From the sound of how things worked with this Sunset Shimmer’s world, his portal didn’t need to be fueled by a magical object so having the book would be enough. Which was good news for Gohan, seeing as he didn’t want to be stuck in this new world away from his family or friends.

By the time break rolled by Gohan was anxious, he really wanted to visit this magic world now but he couldn’t let any of the other students see this portal or mess with it in any way. That left Gohan with one option…

Ditching.

His mom would certainly be upset with him but all the same he was sure he could handle missing a day or two. Or maybe three. However long he needed to stay. Once they got the portal working, he should be able to travel freely between the two worlds so there would be no real reason to stay for too long at a time. Who knows, if everything went well maybe he could invite Goten and Trunks next time. He was sure they would enjoy it from the way Twilight described it. And who knew, maybe he could invite Twilight and her friends over to his world.

Gohan carefully moved through the hallways of the school, making sure not to make any noise that would alert the teachers or other students in class on their own breaks of him ditching. He walked into another part of the hallway, seeing the exit to the roof nearby and grinned as he began to walk-

“Well, well, what do we have here.” Came a voice from behind Gohan causing him to freeze in panic and fear. He turned to see a girl with black hair tied in pigtails, wearing a white shirt and black shorts looking at him with a smirk on her face. “Is Son Gohan actually ditching class for a bit of fresh air?”

“I-I um…” Gohan stuttered trying to find an answer. “I just wanted to eat lunch up on the roof Videl.”

Videl glared at him. “A likely story. You always eat lunch in the classroom, what makes today any different?”

Gohan inwardly groaned at the situation but he kept a straight face as best he could. “Well, it’s only been a couple of days. A little early to decide where to eat for good, ya know?”

Videl’s eyes narrowed even more at Gohan, she had been keeping an eye on his since he started coming to this school, all those strange occurrences around him, especially when they played baseball together. And then the sudden appearance of the Great Saiyaman only a day after Gohan showed up. It was suspicious.

“Yeah. Sure. Then I’ll bet you won’t mind if I eat with you.”

Gohan choked a bit on his own saliva as he heard what she just said. How was he supposed to sneak away if he had to deal with Videl being by his side most of the time?

“O-Oh yeah sure Videl!” Gohan nervously spoke as he gripped his bag a bit.

Just then, his savior came and Videl’s watch began to go off.

“This is Videl, go ahead.” Videl spoke into the watch with a more authoritative tone than the more playful one she used when speaking with Gohan earlier.

“Videl, several individuals have broken into the Satan City bank, we need backup A.S.A.P!” Spoke a concerned policeman through the watch as gunfire could be heard from the background of said call.

“On my way!” Videl stated as she began to run away towards the exit but not before giving Gohan one last look. “Don’t think this is over Son Gohan! I expect to see you here when I get back!”

And with that, the daughter of Mr. Satan took off, leaving Gohan behind. As much as Gohan wanted to jump in to help as well, he knew this was his golden opportunity to go up to the roof, fly off and ditch school. And that’s exactly what he did.

As he flew through the sky he pulled his special book out of its bag and began writing to Twilight once more.

“I’m leaving school now. Then we can get to work on that portal.” A few minutes passed and before there was a response.

“Oh good. I’ve already got the portal on my end done so you just let me know when you’re ready and I’ll infuse some of my magic into it and get it started up.”

Gohan grinned. This was actually happening. He was going to travel to another world, he hasn’t been able to explore other worlds since the time he traveled to Planet Namek with Kurirn and Bulma when he was little!

Once he made it home he got to work. Careful of avoiding his mother (which was quite a challenge) and little brother (also quite a challenge) he snuck into the bathroom and picked up the standing mirror that sat against the wall, carefully carrying it outside and to the lake where his father would go fishing with him.

Once there, he began putting the different pieces together. It was simple, really. Twilight would handle all the magic part so all he had to do was place conductors on the book and the mirror to connect them so that the portal would open where he could travel through it.

“Alright, that should do it.” Gohan sighed, wiping the imaginary sweat from his forehead as he stared down at the soon to be portal. “Now I just have to wait for Twilight’s side.”

A few hours passed with Gohan hanging around waiting for the portal to open before he saw the mirror glow. Tentatively he touched the bright object and almost fell over as he hand went right through. Swallowing his fears he pushed himself through and began the transformation that he wasn’t expecting.

It took him a couple of minutes to blink into reality but the first thing he noticed was that he was struggling to balance on two legs so he fell over onto his...hands? His eyes grew wide. Those weren’t hands. Those were, hooves, was it? He knew this was a land of magical ponies but he didn’t expect to turn into one!

A purple pony with a darker colored purple mane with lighter highlights in it squeed in happiness and danced a bit on her spot. “It WORKED! I’m so happy it worked! I mean, I know my hypothesis was perfect but for an experiment to work the first time is still quite the accomplishment!”

Gohan struggled to stand on his...hooves, as he stared at the pretty purple pony in front of him and smiled. “You must be Twilight Sparkle.”

Twilight Sparkle smiled back at the newest pony to Equestria and replied back to him. “And you must be Son Gohan.”

Chapter 3: The Cutie Mark Crusaders - Son Gohan, a Blank Flank?!

“Welcome to Equestria, Son Gohan!”

Gohan smiled nervously. “Y-yeah. Wow, when you said you were a pony, I didn’t expect the purple or the uh wings...or the horn.”

“Yes, well, I’m an alicorn. Sorry for not telling you about that. I suppose being a princess is something I should’ve mentioned.”

Gohan’s eyes grew wide in shock. “A p-princess? Really?” Now that he REALLY didn’t expect. Then again, he shouldn’t be so nervous. After all, his mother is a princess to the Ox Kingdom. Wait, didn’t that make his father a prince? Ah, whatever, that was another topic for another day.

“Yes, well, I’m not the only one with a horn, it seems. Looks like the portal translated you into being a unicorn.”

Gohan tried to look up to see what Twilight was talking about but he didn’t see anything. “Uh-huh. I’ll just take your word for it then.” Gohan took another look at his hooves and hummed. “Looks like I’m blue now, too. Didn’t expect that.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “What, you’re not that color in your world?”

Gohan shook his head. “Uh - no - it’s a little more complicated than that.”

Twilight trotted around Gohan, studying him carefully. “Well you are now. Oh - it looks like you don’t have a cutie mark. That’s strange for someone of your age. Do you not know your destiny yet?”

“Cutie mark? You mean a birthmark or something?” Gohan asked, his eyebrow raised in confusion.

Twilight nodded. “Yeah. A cutie mark. See, mine represents magic.” She moved to the side ever so slightly in order to give Gohan a good look Something he found rather awkward considering where the mark was placed. “It’s a mark that everypony earns that tells you what makes you special. But you have to earn it.”

“Earn it how?”

“By discovering for yourself what your place in the world is meant to be. You know, I could introduce you to some really good friends of mine that would love to help you figure yours out, if you want. Oh, I’m getting ahead of myself. I bet first you want to learn how to use magic, don’t you?”

Gohan laughed nervously at all the new information. It was a LOT to take in. He wasn’t exactly sure how to process it all. “Uh - how about we start with just a tour around the world? While we’re walking you can tell me how this magic of yours works.” ‘I’ll bet it’s a lot like ki.’ he thought to himself.

The two began to walk down a path towards what looked to be a small town with...flying ponies...and other ponies walking around enjoying their day. Unicorns were levitating objects as they walked, pegasi were sleeping on the clouds, this world was an adventure, alright.

Gohan was amazed but before he could open his mouth, a bright pink pony zoomed by before coming to a full stop in front of him. Gohan stared at her as the pony got uncomfortably close and stared right back. “Um… hello?” She gasped and finally backed off, bouncing up and down as she smiled gleefully.

“Twilight! This is a new friend to ponyville! I’ve never seen him before! We need to throw a party for him! Just like the one I through for you when you first got here! Hopefully he’s not a cranky one like you were and he’ll love to join in on the games!”

Twilight giggled at her friend and turned to Gohan. “Sorry about her. She gets really excited when meeting someone new. She makes it her job to learn everypony’s name that she can.”

“Yup! I’m Pinkamina Diane Pie but you can call me Pinkie Pie! I’m one of Twilight’s best friends in the whole wide Equestria!”

Gohan lifted a hoof in a sign of giving a hand shake as best he could. “Um… I’m.. Son Gohan but just Gohan is fine. Actually, I’m not just new to this town, I’m new to this whole world.”

“Ooooo!” Pinkie Pie grinned. “Another world, huh? Twilight, is this one of your friends from that High School where you met the mysterious Flash Centry?”

Twilight blushed slightly but then shook her head. “No, different world. We met through the diary Celestia gave me. Anyways, Pinkie, I don’t think we’ll need any parties. Just a tour around the town is enough and maybe a visit to the Cutie Mark Crusaders."

“The Cutie Mark Crusaders, huh?” Gohan blinked. There was that word again.

“Well,” Pinkie Pie stood straight finally ceasing her bouncing. “It’s weird to see someone so old without a cutie mark but if anyone can help it’s the CMC!”

Gohan nodded slowly. “Is it, uh, is it really that important?”

“Well,” Twilight began to answer, “you want the full pony experience, right? And besides, not having a cutie mark means you’re questioning your destiny, right?”

Gohan blinked once more in confusion. “I guess that’s what you said but are some people - er - ponies I’ve never meant before supposed to be able to help?”

“That’s their special talent, after all. Hm.. You know what, Pinkie, how about we have that party with all our friends. I want to introduce Gohan to them.”

Pinkie Pie let out a loud gasp and then as quickly as she appeared she was gone.

Gohan raised an eyebrow “Well that was something.” Twilight giggled. “What?” He said.

“Nothing, it’s just that’s what I said when I first met Pinkie Pie. Don’t worry, nopony else is quite as wild as her. So, how about those Cutie Mark Crusaders?”

They walked through the town stopping by a cake shop to snack on some cupcakes before finally heading towards what looked to be a big apple farm. An orange pony with a yellow mane and tail could be seen bucking at some trees and putting the apples that fell into the baskets that lay next to them.

Twilight walked up to her as though she knew her so Gohan followed behind at a polite distance.

“Howdy Twilight!” The orange pony exclaimed. “What brings you and your new friend here?”

“Applejack, this is Gohan. He’s from another world that we’ve ended up coming in contact with.”

The pony known as Applejack let out an impressed whistle. “Well, Twilight, I’ll be as sour as a green apple, you’re always so full of surprises.” Applejack trotted past Twilight to grab Gohan’s hoof and shake it. “We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do love making new friends. Hiya, Gohan, I’m Applejack.”

“Uh hi. Yeah. Nice to meet you.” Gohan returned the hand - hoof? - shake, wondering how they managed to hold something in those hooves without having any thumbs. He thought it best not to question it, though.

Twilight stepped up. “Applejack, I was wondering, have you seen Applebloom and her friends? We need their help with something.”

Applejack nodded towards the back of the barn. “They’re in their clubhouse bored as ever. How come?”

Gohan, sick of being like a dead weight in the conversation, spoke up, “Apparently it’s imperative that I earn a “Cutie Mark”, was it?”

Twilight nodded. “Yes. A Cutie Mark. I figured it’s the least we could do to help you out.”

Gohan laughed nervously. “Help out… right. Cause I reallyneedthis Cutie Mark.”

Twilight looked to Gohan before walking off, expecting him to follow. And follow her he did. They made it to what looked like a childrens treehouse in the middle of the farm after a good while of walking.

“Alright. Here we are.” Twilight called out, “Cutie Mark Crusaders, somepony has a problem with their Cutie Mark!” Gohan frowned. Was that really supposed to get their attention? Why not go up there and knock? But sure enough, the door slammed open and three little ponies popped out, one small unicorn on one side, one small regular pony on the other, and a small pegasus standing on top of them both.

“Problem? Somepony? Cutie Mark?” They all stared with eyes glowing bright with excitement.

Gohan couldn’t remove his frown. These were obviously children. Was it really their place to put such an important task? He brought a hoof to his face. “Important task?” he mumbled to himself. “What told you that it was an important task, Gohan?”

Twilight looked to Gohan and smiled. “I know they seem young but trust me, I would trust nopony else.”

“Nopony else. Right.”

The CMC all came running down their clubhouse steps, running in front of Twilight and Gohan as they tried to contain their excitement.

“Who’s the pony that needs help? Or is it another Griffin? Or a Hippogriff?” The pegasus gasped as she interrupted regular pony “Oo oo is it a big fire breathing dragon?!”

Twilight laughed lightly. “No, my little ponies. It’s nothing like that. It’s my new friend Gohan, here. He doesn’t have his Cutie Mark yet. We were wondering if you would be able to help him.”

All three girls salutted and in unison they yelled. “You can count on us!” They then began surrounding Gohan.

“Let’s see.” The unicorn started as she circled around the stallion. “A grown pony with no cutie mark. I’ll bet your heart is torn into several different places, isn’t it?”

Gohan flinched nervously. She wasn’t wrong when he thought hard enough about it but still… “That’s a little personal, dontcha think?”

“Of course it’s personal!” The regular pony with the country accent responded. “A Cutie Mark is the most personal part of a pony!”

Twilight pulled a book out of her bag and went to go sit by a tree. “I’ll be right here if you decide you want to do something else, Gohan, but I promise you, these girls will help you figure your life out for sure.”

Gohan sighed. Looks like he’s roped into sharing his most personal thoughts with three little ponies. “Say, I don’t even know your names. Think you could help me out?”

The orange pegasus flapped her wings and hovered off the ground. “I’m Scootaloo! This is Applebloom,” she said, pointing to the yellow regular pony, “and the unicorn is Sweetie Belle.”

“Nice to meet you.” Sweetie Belle responded. “Now tell us why you haven’t picked your one special place yet.”

Interlude: Oh No! Gohan Has Left the World!

“OH NOOOOO!!!!” came the screaming voice of a fat catfish type humanoid alien as he ran around a large open field near the large mansion. Anyone near the large field paused as they looked at the commotion going on near them.

One particular individual was a man who seemed to be in his late twenties, wearing an orange martial arts gi with a blue undershirt and a blue sash tied around his waist. The most outstanding thing about this man, was the fact that he had a halo hovering above his black spikey gravity-defying hair. He blinked a few times before walking over to the panicking catfish alien with a confused look on his face.

“Yo! King Kai, what’s with all the screamin’?” Asked the man as the catfish-man, now identified as King Kai, paused and looked at him with a look of pure horror behind his shades.

“IT’S HORRIBLE GOKU! THE WORLD WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN! THE BALANCE OF ALL OF CREATION COULD BE THREATENED RIGHT NOW!” Exclaimed King Kai loudly, forcing the man, Son Goku, to cover his ears from the screeching Kai.

Goku looked at his former teacher with a pouty look as he spoke. “King Kai! Stop yellin’ already and just tell me what’s up?!”

The next thing Goku knew, King Kai was breathing rapidly into a brown paper bag with his symbol on it as his two companions, Gregory the grasshopper man, and Bubbles the monkey, were patting his back and making sure the catfish man calmed down.

After calming down, King Kai spoke again. “It’s horrible Goku! A rift has occurred in the fabric of our reality creating a gateway to a new world!”

Goku blinked in confusion looking down at him. “Huh, is that a bad thing? What’s wrong with visitin’ other worlds?”

“You don’t understand you moron!” King Kai yelled at his student. “Portals like these can lead to multiple dimensions some leading to dimensions with enemies more dangerous than Cell or Freeza combined!” He explained before looking down with a defeated look. “And to make matters worse, your son Gohan has entered through one of these portals to who knows where…”

“WHAT?!” Goku’s eyes widened in shock at the news as he leaned down closer to his former teacher. “Gohan’s in another world?!”

“I’m afraid so Goku…” King Kai continued to speak. “Who knows what sort of trouble that boy of yours is walking into right now, he could be attacked by a weirdo hyperactive ninja, or a crowd of angry fangirls! Or even worse… a world with other weirdos that dress up in ridiculous clothes like he does...”

Goku stared at King Kai for a few moments before grinning. “Don’t worry King Kai, I’m sure Gohan is having the time of his life right now.”

King Kai looked at Goku as if he just smashed his car with a hammer as he did all those years ago when training to fight against Vegeta and Nappa. “Are you for real Goku! What makes you think Gohan isn’t in danger at this very moment?!”

“Just this feelin’ King Kai.” Goku smiled before staring up at the golden clouds above the Grand Kai’s planet. “I bet Gohan knows exactly what he’s doin’ right now. I’m just sad I can’t join him on this adventure right now. But I guess I’ll just have to ask him about it in a few days.”

Goku then pumped his fist into the air. “Alright! Can’t have Gohan having all the fun! Time to get back to trainin’!”

All King Kai did was sigh in defeat.

Chapter 4: A Heart in Two Places

“So basically what you’re saying is…” Sweetie Belle started off before Applebloom continued “... you can’t decide between what your mom wants and what your dad wants.”

Gohan nodded, still feeling incredibly awkward about revealing so much to three children. Still, Twilight insisted and he couldn’t help but trust her. “Yeah. Something like that. My mom wants me to be a great scholar and always has but I want to honor my father’s memory somehow. Plus, I feel like I need to do what I can to protect everyone.”

Scootaloo tilted her head curiously before sitting down. “His memory? Is your dad dead or something?”

Applebloom smacked Scootaloo on the head. “You Dodo, you can’t just say something like that!”

Scootaloo rubbed her head with her hoof, letting out a pout as she responded. “What? My parents are dead too. It’s no big deal really.”

Gohan frowned. So that’s why it was so easy for her to come to that conclusion. She seemed so young, though. He couldn’t help but wonder about Scootaloo’s story but this wasn’t the time and place to get nosey.

“Anyways,” Sweetie Belle spoke, “how come you have to choose? Can’t you just do both?”

“Well... “ Gohan started. But then he stopped. Why DID he have to choose? “Doing both sounds really difficult, dontcha think?” With all the studying he had to do while posing as the Great Saiyaman, doing both did seem rather difficult. What would happen when the next Cell showed up eventually?

Scootaloo stood up and hoovered in place for a second. “Difficult yeah but still really cool! Having a Cutie Mark for TWO talents sounds awesome!”

Applebloom glared over at the hyperactive pegasus. “It sounds cool but trust me, it ain’t. Remember the Cutie Pox?”

“Oh...right…” Scootaloo landed back with all four hooves on the ground and stared at the dirt beneath her.

“Dodo.” Sweetie Belle murmured.

“Hey! Don’t call me names I don’t know the meaning of!”

Applebloom stood between them and pushed the two apart. “Girls! We’re trying to solve a Cutie Mark problem, remember?!”

Gohan laughed nervously for what seemed like the hundredth time. “Actually, I really don’t think this is necessary. Where I come from most people don’t have Cutie Marks or anything like that. Your destiny isn’t figured out until you’re well on your way into it.”

“Well, that’s okay.” Applebloom responded. “We’ve helped plenty of creatures who don’t have Cutie Marks! We’ve actually recently helped a Hippogriff with a similar problem you have only we didn’t really do much to help without Twilight.”

Gohan sighed. He wasn’t getting away from this. Still he gave Twilight a look, a silent plea for mercy, if you will, but she just smiled, shrugged and went back to her book. He just hoped when this was all over he didn’t still have this Cutie Mark on his human body, his mother would kill him for having a tattoo, magical or otherwise.

Gohan sat down, getting used to the feeling since he was now a horse and all that. “So, where do we start?”

“Easy. We write up a list of pros and cons for each side!” Sweetie Belle exclaimed. “I’ll go get a paper!”

An hour or two passed and still they were writing down the pros and cons of each side.

Scootaloo seemed to favor the “protector of the Earth” side of things while the other two were more neutral. Though Applebloom leaned more towards science specifically of all things. She seemed really interested in potion making.

Gohan growled in frustration as he continued to think about the pros and cons of each side. If he didn’t keep up his training and a new threat did appear to attack the Earth, his world would probably end up just like the Future Trunks’ timeline, (Gohan wondered how he’s been) but if he abandoned his martial arts side, he would be able to focus more on his dreams of being a scholar and leave protecting the world to Vegeta, Piccolo, and the others.

Sweetie Belle yelled out in frustration suddenly. “This is impossible! I can’t believe it’s all evened out!”

Applebloom scratched at her mane. “Yeah. It’s really difficult. Are ya SURE you can’t do both?”

“Positive.” Gohan answered. “If I had been able to do both, I would have found a way to do so by now, but being a hero does take a lot out of my school hours, and being stuck at school cuts my time as Sai- I-I mean being a hero.”

“Hmm….” Scootaloo pondered. “Well, I’m stuck.”

“Me too.” Sweetie Belle replied.

“Me three.” Applebloom finished. And together they all sighed and fell over onto their stomachs.

Gohan frowned. There had to be something he could do in order to figure this out. The more he thought about it, the more he wondered, why DID he have to choose? Many kids his age did school and extracurriculars. He was already doing both and even with skipping class to be the Great Saiyaman he managed to stay on top. Maybe…

Applebloom interrupted his thoughts. “Say, what DO you wanna be a scholar for, anyways?”

Gohan raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, what are you going to school to learn how to do? Are you studyin’ magic?”

Gohan laughed. “It’s not magic, really, in my world it’s - “ and then there it was. The spark. He could study ki! That would create an interesting topic for millions of other scientists to write thesis about for years to come! Soon, Gohan began to think out loud. “Studying ki would require me to keep up my training and keep growing my ki to be better controlled. I could study what mastery of ki could do for fighting prowess in general. It might even be a book Dad would read. Okay, so, that’s a little bit much to believe in but still, it’s possible!”

The Cutie Mark Crusaders watched as Gohan was lost in his little dream world with a sweatdrop falling from their manes.

As Gohan continued his ramblings, a light began to envelope him as he was raised from the ground. The Cutie Mark Crusaders stood up and stared with wide eyes as it happened. Finally, after only a few hours of being in this world, he found the answer to his most troubling question. And it only took breaking the fabric of reality through the power of science and magic to do it.

When the light was gone and Gohan came back down to Earth after finishing his monologue, he noticed the CMC dancing around him excitedly.

“You got your Cutie Mark! You got your Cutie Mark!” they sang. Gohan watched them with a smile before blinking and taking a quick look at his flank.

Sure enough, like a colored tattoo, there was an image placed right on his butt. He still found the placement odd but at the same time, he was beginning to get used to it. There, right on him, undeniably so, was the symbol of his fathers name “Son” placed on a big brown book. He smiled. That’s what he would do. He would write a book about ki. About what his father taught him.

Chapter 5: Ki and Magic! Trading Sciences of Energy!

Gohan laughed as he entered the castle. “Wow” he exclaimed “I didn’t expect that to feel so good. And you knew before even I did that there was something wrong. How did you do that?”

“Like I said” Twilight answered as she closed the doors behind them. “I could tell because you didn’t have a Cutie Mark. Even the girls in Sunset’s world have Cutie Marks.”

Gohan took a look at the castle and took note of every crystal that shimmered throughout it. “This place is amazing. I bet it took years to build.”

“Actually it just sort of appeared hehe.” Twilight said as she sat at one of the seats. “None of the girls are here so you can sit on one of their spots.” Gohan nodded and did just that, choosing the first one he saw which happened to be one with three butterflies printed on it.

“Just sort of appeared, huh?” Gohan looked around again. “Let me guess.” He turned to Twilight with a raised eyebrow and a slight grin “Magic.”

Twilight nodded, not understanding where the strange look came from. “Yes. Magic. Lots of crazy and wild things happen because of it here in Equestria. If you want, I can show you how to use it.”

Gohan’s eyes lit up. “Yes! I would love to learn how to use it. I figured out while we were outside that my ki doesn’t work in this world. I actually can’t sense any of it anywhere but your pegasi obviously have control of something if they’re able to fly with such small wings.”

Twilight shrugged. “Well, all creatures with wings are able to fly here. Well, almost all of them.” She shook her head as if that thought wasn’t important and continued on before Gohan could question it. “Let’s just talk about magic in Equestria, then.”

Twilight climbed down off of her chair and walked to a nearby door, opening it to reveal a closet full of teaching supplies. “I’m thinking of starting up a school about Friendship so I’ve been gathering supplies.” Gohan noticed Twilight’s horn begin to glow a light purple, then he saw objects in the closet glowing the same color. Clearly she was manipulating the chalkboard, chalk, eraser and books using this “magic” that she spoke of. Gohan was dumbfounded. She was levitating surrounding objects using her ki - er - magic. That was something he never considered doing back home.

“Now, first thing we do is what I taught Sweetie Belle. Simple levitation.”

Gohan nodded slowly. He wasn’t sure how to even begin.

Twilight brought in an apple from the kitchen and set it on the massive table. “Here. Now, channel the energy you feel within yourself into your horn.”

“Ah - right - the energy within myself.”

“I know, I know, it’s hard to understand unless you’ve felt it all your life. But that’s the best way to explain it.”

“It’s not that.” Gohan interjected. “It’s just that ki in my world works the same way. Well, except the horn part. We focus our energy either on our hands or feet depending on where we want it and every living creature has this energy. We just call it ki instead of magic.”

“Wait, didn’t you say it DIDN’T work the same?”

“Well, I thought it didn’t but I guess I was just skipping part of the process. How does it work again, focus on my horn?”

Gohan took to the magic like a fish to water. It took him a few hours and a lot of tries but he was able to get the hang of levitating the apple.

Before he knew it it was night. Gohan’s eyes grew wide. “Oh no! I should be home by now! Mom will find out I skipped school and kill me!”

Twilight frowned. “What? You skipped school to see me? Wait, someone of your age is still in school? Then again, the people in Sunset’s world were still in school too, hm.”

“Twilight, you can ponder about this later. Right now I really really really need to get home!!”

“Of course.” Twilight smiled. “Just a simple teleportation spell to the mirror outside and you’ll be on your way home.”

She wasn’t lying. They were both enveloped in a light and before he knew it, Gohan was teleporting. Much like his dad’s instantaneous movement technique. Gohan was beyond amazed at the extent of this world’s magic but he could study it later, for now he had to get home.

“Wait.” Twilight stopped him before he could step through the portal. “Will I get to see you again?”

Something about that question and those eyes said something deeper than Gohan was expecting but he shook that thought away and smiled. “Definitely. I’m off school tomorrow so we can hang out all day. I may even bring my brother along - er - if that’s okay with you.”

Twilight smiled back at him and nodded. “Of course. You heard Applejack. We love making new friends. Don’t forget, though, you promised to show me your world and teach me about your ki manipulation.”

Gohan gave one last nod and with that he was off. Luckily nothing happened to the portal while he was gone. This area was always a special place for their family because of how peaceful it was. No dinos, no saber tooth tigers, no people, just a few apple trees, lots of flowers and a beautiful lake. It was the perfect spot.

It took a couple of steps to get used to walking on two legs again but soon enough Gohan was running through the forest and even less time passed before he was back in the air, flying home as the cold night air nipped at his skin.

Hopefully he wouldn’t be too grounded for too long.

Interlude 2: Missing Gohan! Where is He?

“SON GOHAN!!!” a voice screamed, as hundreds of people miles away paused from their daily activities, hearing the strange shriek from the distance.

Meanwhile, in a small house far from civilization, a certain female was livid as her entire face was red with steam bursting from her ears in anger. This enraged female was none other than the wife of Son Goku and mother of Gohan, and Goten...

Son Chi-Chi!

“GOHAN! YOU WILL COME HERE THIS INSTANT!” Chi-Chi exclaimed in anger, waiting for her eldest to arrive in front of her. Goten watched from the doorway, shivering in fear knowing just how scary his mom could be from being angry, especially when he turned blonde in front of her for the first time.

Chichi huffed at how her son refused to appear in front of her when she called. “That boy is in SO much trouble. First I get a call saying he’s left school without a word, then I’m left worrying if he’s sick only to find that he’s not coming home at all! If he’s playing that hero game of his instead of studying like I told him, he’ll never hear the end of it!”

“Maybe Gohan was busy writing in his new book?” Goten said out loud, causing Chi-Chi to hear him and quickly turn her attention to her youngest with wide eyes.
“A book? Oh - well then, if it’s something that’ll get him into a good university then I suppose I can forgive staying out late but I still can’t forgive him skipping class! He’ll never get the grades he needs, book or no book!”

“Is skipping class bad mom? I mean Trunks tells me he does it all the time and doesn’t get in trouble for it.” Goten said, curious about why his mom was so angry about Gohan skipping when Trunks never got into trouble.

“You bet your behind it’s bad and if I find out he’s hanging out with some rowdy teenagers dying his hair blue and getting tattoos he’ll never see the light of day outside of class again!”

“Alright...so when’s dinner ready mom?”

Chichi huffed one last time and crossed her arms. “Soon enough, Goten and you can eat as much as you want cause your brother’s not getting any tonight.”

“Hooray!” Goten cheered jumping in excitement, causing Chi-Chi to grow a small sad smile.

“I swear, sometimes you’re just like your father…”