The Element of Strength

Chapters

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

Part 1

I woke on to a drizzily morning. I looked around my Spartan clad room, my bed, closet, and night stand, with the walls painted orange and gray. I sat up and watched as the rain drifted to the ground. Today looked like a good day to go hiking. I rose from under the covers and began my morning routine, take a shower, get dressed, eat breakfast, and go to the bathroom.

I looked into the mirror after my shower in my sparsely furnished bathroom and looked in to my own blue eyes. My short brown hair, which stuck up in clumps from me drying it after my shower, my nose, almost too large for my face, covered in scars from the barrage of acne that my body supplied me matched the rest of my face. My chubby face matched the rest of my body, clumpy but hiding a great deal of strength. I pulled on my navy blue converse, khaki pants, and a forest green t-shirt. I grabbed the multi-tool that I kept on my night stand and a flashlight just in case. I ran down the stairs and heard the usual, almost screechy voice of my mom “Stop running down the stairs!”
“Yes ma’am. I’m going hiking I’ll be back later.” I called out to my mom as I stormed out of my house.

I looked back at my house as I ran toward the edge of the woods. It looked almost at peace settled amongst the woods and the mountains. I found my little path that I had walked so many times I could almost do follow it blindfolded. I hopped over the logs and climbed through the brush. When I finally stopped to catch my breath I felt an odd pulling sensation in my chest, a lot like when you’re anticipating something really good to happen. The pulling led me off the path. “Why not I said to myself?” I followed the pulling until I came to an almost sheer cliff. Down on the ground was a small opening. I kneeled down on the mossy floor and looked at the hole. I pulled the flashlight out of my pocket and tried to get a look around the cave. The pulling was getting stronger as I lowered myself to the floor and squeezed through the gap. To my great surprise I fit through the hole

I stood and looked around the cave. The smell of decaying plant matter assaulted my nostrils as I took in a deep breath and stalagmites and stalactites, big and small, filled the sides of the cave . The cave led downhill and I followed as looked around. The pulling was strong now, my chest felt like it was going, and it only became stronger as I continued down the cave. At the bottom of the hill was, to my great surprise an old, wooden door. I pushed my shoulder against the door and it screeched jerkily open unto a room. In the middle of the room was a pool of water that glowed like the full moon. A small almost destroyed bridge led over the pool and to wall, the wall itself was as smooth as the granite counter tops in my kitchen, but there were marks on the back wall. Six of them actually. The first one was an eight-pointed star, then a cloud with three lightning bolts, then three diamonds, three butterflies, three apples, and finally three balloons.

I could hear my heart racing in my chest as I raised my hand to the wall. My fingers brushed the wall, and then fire spread through my body like lightning. I fell to the ground screaming as looked at the source of my pain the palm of my right hand. There in the middle of my hand were three glowing stars. I looked back up at the wall and those symbols had started glowing, brighter then I could have imagined. I fell back and I hit the bridge which broke underneath me. I hit the water as I slipped out of consciousness.

I woke up for the second time today in a soft bed. My entire body was sore like I had been forced through a taffy puller. I dimly heard the voice of another person. The words were muffled to my ears. I slowly came too and was able catch more of what the voice was saying. It was a rich women’s voice, almost like what you would imagine a queen to sound like.
“…he should be fine but all he…..make sure you tell him wha….when he comes too” I heard the voice say in choppy sentences.
“Of course my lady, we shall…..thing else you need use to do?” said a second voice, this time a higher pitched male voice.
“No, that should be good” said that regal voice from earlier.
I heard a quite clopping sound as she left the room. An odd sound for someone walking I thought as I fell back to sleep. When I woke up this time I felt, well, I felt good actually. I sat up and opened my eyes. The bright sterile light that you only see in hospitals shone throughout the dreams a small bank of machines sat to my left and the smell of antiseptic, disinfectant, and rubbing alcohol mingled around my nose. Sitting at the edge of my bed was horse! This horse wasn’t like any other horse I had seen though. Its coat was a very light blue, almost white and its mane was a darker blue. Ohh and he was wearing glasses and talking to another pony.

They looked up at me as I stared at them. “Holy crap talking horses!” I yelled
“Well what else did you expect? Talking dogs?” he said nonchalantly as his eyes scanned over a chart. “You were brought in yesterday by Princess Celestia, she found you unconscious by a pond on the outskirt of Canterlot. You should count yourself lucky, you were almost dead by the time she got you here, but you’ve recovered quite well, you should be able to leave and return home once we run a few more tests.”
“Where am I?” I asked.
“I just said, you’re in Canterlot, weren’t you listening”
“Yes I heard that, but where is Canterlot?”
He looked up at me like I was stupid and said in slow dulcet tones “In Equestria.”
“Where’s that?” I asked again.
“Hmm… you may be amnesic. Well, there’s nothing we can do about that. There are some ponies outside that helped bring you in, you might want to thank them. Ohh and Princess Celestia wants you to go up to the castle when you’re ready.” He said as he left the room.

I tried to pull off the blanket and for some reason I couldn’t grab it. I looked down at my hands; well I should correct that, my hooves. I grabbed the blanket with mouth this time and pulled off the blanket and looked at my body. I let out a little moan as I looked. I was a pony! My body was a dark navy blue and a look on my flank revealed an odd marking like the ones that I found in the cave. It was three stars, one green, one red, and one yellow. My mane and tail were the same brown as my hair had been before I had entered the cave and were in almost the same short style too.

I go out of the bed and wobbled to my feet. I wobbled over to the door and used my nose to push down the door handle and walked out into the hall. I opened the door and looked out onto a white hallway and a bench filled with ponies of all color. One was a cyan with an actually rainbow mane, styled in a spiky boyish fashion, another was a pastel yellow with long pink hair that covered one of her eyes. Next to her sat a pink pony with a bushy pink hair and mane. Sitting backwards and facing a mirror was a white pony, with long blue hair that came down her back in one big curl. Next to her was an orange pony with yellow hair done in a simple and effective farmers tie. And next to her with a book in her lap was purple pony with straight purple hair with pink and lighter purples streaks. They all looked up at me as I walked out of the room. The first one to talk was the white pony “So you’re finally awake. Could you have take any longer, my mane is absolutely frizzy!” She said with a very light British accent.
“Umm…. I’m sorry?” I said.
“Don’t worry about her” said the orange pony with a southern accent “she’s just never gone this long without her makeup. Her name is Rarity. I’m Applejack by the way, nice to meet you!”
“Hi my name’s Josh”
“That’s a funny name for a pony.”Said the pink pony with a bubbly and very girlish voice “That sounds like a dog’s name. Did your parents think you were a dog when you were little? My name’s Pinkiepie. Nice to met’cha!”
“Uhhh…”
“Don’t listen to her” said the purple pony “she’s just excited to meet someone new. I’m Twilight Sparkle. It’s very nice to meet you.”
“It’s nice to meet you too” I replied.
“Unconscious by a lake is where we found, what are you a girl or something?” said the pony with a rainbow mane with a very boy like voice.
“That’s not a very nice thing to say” said the yellow and pink pony, with a very light and delicate voice “that’s Rainbowdash, and I’m Fluttershy”
“Well it’s nice to meet you all but apparently I have a meeting with Princess Celestia, whoever that is.”
“That’s why we’re here” said Twilight Sparkle “We’re supposed to take you to your meeting with her. We should leave now; we don’t want to leave the Princess waiting”
“Well you should lead the way, because I don’t know where it is.”

Twilight Sparkle took the lead. We walked down the sterile halls and came to an exit. I opened the door and held as the other ponies went through “Well at least your chivalrous” said Rarity as she passed me. I looked out on Canterlot for the first time and was stunned by the beauty and majesty of the city. Rainbowdash said “Yeah it’s pretty, but can we move along I’m hungry”
“Ohh….uhhh sorry”

I looked off toward the skyline and was surprised to see buildings with holes and burn marks, scaffolding covering their sides and ponies with hammers and lumber repairing the buildings.
“What happened here?” I asked.
“The Changelings.” Said Rainbowdash with a tone of disgust. “They tried to take over Canterlot a few months ago.”

I decided not to ask any more questions and we walked the rest of the way in silence. After a few minutes of walking I caught my first glimpse of the castle. It was all smooth white stone and tall slender towers. But the beauty was marred by burns and broken stone. The spires were capped with terraces, vines, and golden caps. We walked up to the entrance, with guards on either side, white with golden armor. As we approached the gate they dropped long spears in a cross that covered the entrance.
“Who goes there?” said the guards.
Twilight Sparkle stepped up, with her chin held up “I am Twilight Sparkle, and we have a hearing with the Princess.”

The guards raised their spears and let us pass. The walkway was made of smooth marble slabs. All around the walkway were gardens filled with plants that I had never seen before with flowers and plants of every color and shape. Animals weaved through the trees and bushes and bird flew over head. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. As I was starring somebody pushed against my flank and I looked around and saw Pinkiepie wink at me.”Com’on silly we’ve to go talk to the Princess.”

I hurried to catch up with the rest of the ponies, almost tripping as I tried to run. We entered the castle through a giant ornate oak door. The roof was high arches made of the same white marble as the pathway. The sides were lined with guard, vases full of flowers, busts, and tapestries. At the far end of the hall were two thrones, one large and the other smaller. The large one was made of a pure white marble, with a very simplistic design; an artistic emblem of a sun made of gold just above the head of the pony sitting in it. She had a pure white coat and a flowing rainbow mane and tail. She had a longer swirling horn rising from the center of her head and a large wing rested on the side of the throne and was much taller than the rest of the ponies.
The smaller throne was empty and was made of the same type of stone as the other throne, except it was pitch black, and there was a moon insignia at the top, but it was made from a strangely glowing metal. I looked around and all the other ponies were all bowing down to the pony who I supposed was the Princess. “You may all rise” said the Princess “and you know you don’t have to bow to me, I don’t make anyone else do.” Her voice was familiar. It was the pony from the hospital. We all walked up to the steps in front of the thrones.
“Follow me, if you would please” said the Princess as she got out of her throne.

She led us down a corridor to another large room. In the middle of the room was a long table covered in food and plates. As we entered the room I watched as Rainbowdash’s eyes grow as she looked at all the food. She ran to the table and started scooping food onto a plate. As I watched Rainbowdash shovel down food I realized how hungry I was and I followed in Rainbowdash’s step. The food was different than I had expected. It wasn’t fancy meats or anything, it was mostly vegetables fruits and bread but I was really too hungry to care I grabbed a plate filled and I finished it before Rainbowdash had even finished her first plate.

It was five plates later before I slowed down. I looked up and saw that all the other ponies were watching me with a mixture of disgust and wonder. I blushed as pushed my plate away. “Well you are a hungry one, aren’t you” said the Princess with a smile as she watched me.
“Sorry, I was just uhh… really hungry.”
“We can see.” Said Rarity with a tone of disgust.

I managed to pick up the napkin and wipe my face off as Princess Celestia said “That was a good lunch. If you don’t mind I would like to talk to our friend here alone.” The rest of the ponies obliged and left the room. “Come and sit next to me” she said “and tell me what happened to you”

I told her everything. About me waking up at home, hiking, the pulling I had felt, the cave, everything. She listened silently and intently as I told my story. When I had finished she thought for a moment before talking. “That is very strange indeed, those marks you saw in the cave are the cutie marks of those six ponies that you came in with. Is there any chance that you were born here, in Equestria, and somehow went through the portal as a baby, and as you grew, needed to return here?"
"What, no. I wasnt adopted or anything." I answered
"Very well then. Doyou have any questions?"
“Ohh yeash i've got lots. First off what's a 'cutie mark'" I asked.
“A cutie mark is that mark on your flank. Yours is three stars. Mine is a picture of the sun. Cutie marks show what your special talent is and usually something important about your personality. I think you being here has something to do with those six ponies. It might also have something to do with the Elements of Harmony.”
“What are the Elements of Harmony?”
“The Elements of Harmony are the embodiment of the six of the most powerful emotions in Equestria. They are loyalty, laughter honesty, generosity, kindness, and finally magic. Rainbowdash is loyalty, Pinkiepie is laughter, Applejack is honesty, Rarity is generosity, Fluttershy is kindness, and Twilight Sparkle is magic.”
“How is magic an emotion?”
“It is the embodiment of friendship itself.”
“So it’s got something to do with these ponies?”
“Yes, but we won’t be able to tell what until it happens. I think your best bet is to stay around those ponies until something happens. You’re going to go live with them in Ponyville. Make friends with them, and try to be happy with your new life. I’m sorry that I couldn’t help you any more than that.”
“You can only do your best, I guess.” I sighed
“Well let’s go round up the rest of the ponies and tell them what’s going on, and I can send you all on your way back to Ponyville.”

We went out into the gardens to see Rarity and Fluttershy talking over some tea in the middle of a small flowery meadow. They saw use and Fluttershy waved meekly as we walked closer “Let’s go find everypony else now” said the Princess.
“I know where Twilight is,” responded Rarity “she’s in the Library.”
“And Rainbowdash is at the flight fields.” Said Fluttershy.
“Well let’s go find them.”I said.

The four of use wound our way through the castle and in to the Library. There we found Twilight Sparkle buried behind piles of books and scrolls. There were marks of ink covering her nose and a quill was stuck behind her ear. The Princess walked up behind the wall of books and cleared her through with a loud “Ahem”. The books and scrolls toppled over as Twilight jumped up and out of her seat.
“Oh it’s you, Princess. Do you need anything?” Said Twilight.
“Yes you and your friends are returning home, and do you happen to know where Pinkiepie and Applejack are?” asked the Princess.
“Yes, Princess, they’re in the kitchens.” Answered Twilight.

We continued down the halls of the castle. As we walked I started to smell the scent of baking pies and cakes. The farther we went the stronger the sent got, and it wasn’t long before my mouth started watering. We opened the doors to the kitchen and saw Applejack, her hooves covered in flower and her face smeared with a little dough, while Pinkiepie, on the other hand, err hoof, was covered head to hoof in flour and was jumping around the kitchen leaving white hoof-prints on the ground. They both looked up as we entered the room and Applejack brushed off here hoofs and face on an apron and thanked the cooks. Pinkiepie stopped bouncing and shook herself until most of the flour came off and pranced over.
“So are we leaving?” asked Applejack.
“Yeah, are we, are we!” chanted Pinkiepie.
“Yes all we have to do is find Rainbowdash and well be leaving.” answered the Princess.

We exited the castle onto the grounds. There were large stands over a finely trimmed field of grass. High above the stands was a twisting and fading rainbow path. At one end of the path I could see the outline of Rainbowdash as she flew through the air. The Princess turned to Fluttershy and said “Would you mind” and Fluttershy spread her wings and hopped up in the air and towards Rainbowdash. After a few moments they came both down. When Rainbowdash landed she asked “Are we leaving?”
”Yes, we are, and Josh is going to live with you ponies in Ponyville. Josh and I have come to the conclusion that his being here has something to do with you six ponies and possibly the Elements of Harmony, and the only way we can know for sure is to have him near you ponies.” answered the Princess
“Well where is he going to stay?” asked Rainbowdash.
“I’ve got a spare room in the library that he can sleep in.” replied Twilight Sparkle
“Well now that we’ve got that settled, I can get you your tickets and you can be on your way” said the Princess.

The Princess lead all of through Canterlot, all the ponies were talking, and asking me questions, but I only responded with noncommittal grunts. I was thinking. What if I was stuck here? What if this was all a figment of my imagination? What if…. my thoughts were interrupted by our arrival at the train station. The Princess bought all of our tickets and showed us onto the train. As I was about to get on the train the Princess stopped me.
“Please be careful and I want you to write me if you come up with anymore ideas about what happened to you. And remember you there to make friends, so have some fun.”
“How am I supposed to send you letters?”
“Just give them to Twilight. She’ll get them to me” the Princess answered.
“All right then, can do.”

I climbed into the train and followed the rest of the ponies to our car. There were beds and some of the other ponies had already gone to sleep and I followed suit. This had been a tiring day. It must have been a few hours later, because the sun was going down, when I woke up. I looked out the window and could see the silhouette of a small town against the sun.
“That’s Ponyville” said Twilight “me and all my friends live there.”
“It looks beautiful, even from here.” I responded.

Twilight and I woke the rest of the ponies as we got closer to Ponyville. We arrived at the station right as I woke up the last pony, Rainbowdash. Everyone was stretching and yawning as we got off the train. Everyone began to leave at the station and I followed Twilight down a hill and into the middle of the town. There were stores of all kinds along the street. We followed the path to end, and at the end there was a large tree. From where I was standing I could only see a door on the front. I followed Twilight in to the tree. The tree was hollow and filled with bookshelves laden with books of every size and shape you could think of. Standing at the edge of the room was what looked like a lizard child about the size and shape of a chubby 5 year old boy, but covered with green and purple scales.
“Hello Spike” said Twilight Sparkle “How was your time alone?”
“Fine, fine. Is that the pony you guys found at the pond near Canterlot?” replied Spike
“Yes, his name is Josh.”

I stepped forward and offered my hoof. Spike walked up and put out his hand and shook.
“Nice to meet you Spike.” I said,
“You too, what happened to you at that lake?” responded Spike.
“Err…I don’t quite remember.” Spike looked at me suspiciously but turned to Twilight.
“So he’s going to be staying in the spare room?” asked Spike.
“Yes, could you please show him to it? I’m going to go to bed. Good night.”

She walked up the stairs behind the doorframe that Spike had been standing in when we came in. Spike led me over to a bookshelf and poked one of the knotholes. The bookshelf rumbled for a moment before it slid behind the adjacent shelf. The room inside was more of a storage closet with a bed then a room, but I climbed thankfully into the bed.
“Thanks Spike, see you tomorrow.”
“Yeah, if you say so.” huffed the small dragon.

I climbed under the covers and found the bed, while small, was very soft and comfortable. I fell asleep in seconds. When I woke up this time there was a small lantern hanging from the rooms ceiling, burning just enough to keep the room lit. I flopped out of the bed and pushed against where the door had been last night. It slid open, and I clambered out into the morning sunlight that came into the main room through bunches of small windows in the roof. I could also smell something cooking, and I followed my nose into a small kitchen. The kitchen was small and rustic looking with a cast iron, pot bellied stove. Sitting in front of a small table was a very tired looking Twilight. A small cup of hot tea sat In front of her and she looked out of another one of the small windows, with a faraway look on her face. Standing on a small stool in front of the giant stove was Spike, wearing and apron and flipping pancakes on a pan. I sat down across from Twilight and said “Long night?”

She shook her head like she was coming out of deep thought.
“Yes, I didn’t sleep very well.”
“Oh, sorry. It looks like your teas getting cold.”

She looked startled at that fact and looked at her tea and concentrated. As looked at her cup of tea, her hair parted and revealed a purple horn. After a moment her horn started to glow with a pink aura, and the tea cup was surrounded by the same aura, and it rose up to lips and she took a long drink from her tea.
“I guess you’re not a morning person, err… pony?”I stated.
“Not really.” She said with a smile.
“Pancakes are done. Anything else you need Twilight?” said Spike.
“No thank you Spike, I’m good.”
“Ok than, I’m going to finish up my chores early.”

I watched Spike walk out of the kitchen. He looked back over at me and glared. All I could think to do was smile.
“I don’t think Spike likes me much.” I told Twilight.
“He’s usually pretty nice, a little immature but a genuinely good dragon.”
I shrugged. “What are you gonna do?”
“There’s nothing I can do to make him like you. I guess you’ve just go to earn it”

I nodded then grabbed the plates Spike had set for us. Mine seemed to have much smaller pancakes then Twilights. I ate them anyway.
“I’m going to go get ready, then I’m going to show you around Ponyville so you can meet everypony. You might want to consider washing up.” Said Twilight as she nodded at a little mirror that I hadn’t seen In the corner of the room.

My mane was all twisted and I had a serious case of bedhead. I nodded and walked out of the library and found a barrel full of water. I shoved my head and waited a moment before I pulled out my head. I yanked out my head with a loud breath and a shake of my head. I shook out most of the water before I returned inside to see Twilight coming down the stairs with bags strapped over her flanks.
“Well let’s get going.” she said.

We left the Twilights house and went down the main path that lead through the middle of Ponyville. She led me into most of the stores introducing me to most of the ponies. They all seemed happy to meet a new face. She led me to a large store that was down towards the end of the street. The building itself was pink and had five chimneys-that I could see. As we got nearer I could smell the all too familiar scents of baking. We entered to see a couple of ponies rushing around the back of the shop, moving cakes, carrying trays of cupcakes, and tooting large bags of frosting.
“Hello Mr. and Mrs. Cake. How are you too doing?”asked Twilight.
“Fine. We’ve just got a huge order to fill so were kind of busy. Pinkiepie is upstairs with the babies.” replied Mr. Cake.
“Well I actually wanted to introduce you to a new pony in town. His name is Josh.”

I stepped up and stuck out my hoof to great Mr. and Mrs. Cake. They both shook my hoof quickly and greeted me with hasty “Nice to meet you.” before they went back to their work.
“I think we should leave them be for right now.” I said to Twilight.

She nodded and started up the stairs. I followed her and about halfway up the stairs I could hear Pinkiepie talking to someone.
“Who’s up there with Pinkiepie?” I asked.
“She babysits the Cakes kids when they’re busy.”

We found an open door and found Pinkiepie reading a story too two very small ponies. As she read I could visibly see them start to slump and the eyes close. By the time Pinkiepie had finished the book they were both asleep. She lifted them gingerly and put them onto a small bed. She then turned to use and walked out of the room and quietly shut the door. She then motioned for us to follow her, which we did. She took us out into the Cakes back yard, which was surrounded by a short picket fence.
“Hey Twilight, how’s it going.” Said Pinkiepie.
“Oh just fine. I wanted to introduce you Josh.” answered Twilight.
“I meet him yesterday silly. You don’t have introduce use again” Laughed Pinkiepie.
“Well it was nice to meet you Pinkiepie.” I said.
“You can call me Pinkie, if you want.” said Pinkie. “Let’s go see all the other ponies.”
“Don’t you have to watch the Cakes kids?” I asked.
“Nah, they’ll be asleep for a few hours and the Cakes should be done with their order by then.”

We left the Cakes yard and continued our way up the street. At the very end almost out into the fields was another large building, white and almost the shape of a circus tent.
“Who lives here?”I asked.
“This is Rarity’s house. She’s a seamstress and a dressmaker.” said Twilight.

We walked through the door and I looked around. There was an entire wall with cubbies filled with bolts of cloth of all different colors and textures. There were stands in the shape of ponies, some with dresses on them others with only pieces of cloth draped across them. On the opposite wall was a table with a large sewing machine and boxes filled with spools of thread. Rarity was in front of the sewing machine and concentrating intently. We stood there and waited for her to finish what she was doing before she turned around.
“Well come on in everypony. Don’t just stand in the doorway and let the dust in, come in!” huffed out Rarity.
“Hi, Rarity. I just wanted you to meet Josh.” said Twilight.
“Yes, yes hello.” Rarity said distractedly “Oh good you brought me Pinkie. Get over here Pinkie so I can finish this fitting.”

Pinkie looked at us for help but me and Twilight backed out of the room and left Pinkie to deal with Rarity.
“Well I guess Rarity’s busy. Let’s go see Fluttershy then.” said Twilight.

We followed the dwindling path. It led us towards thick woods. The path started to curve as we got closer. At the end of the path was a small cottage. We walked up to the cottage and knocked on the door, the door creaked open. We walked into the house and sitting on a little table was a note. Twilight picked it up and read it.
“To whoever is reading this; I have gone in search of some chickens that have escaped in to the Everfree Forest. I have Rainbowdash and Applejack with me so there is no need to worry. Love, Fluttershy.”

As soon a she had finished reading the letter there was a loud shriek coming from the direction of the forest.
“That doesn’t sound good.” I said.
“Come on lets go see if we can find them.” said Twilight.
We galloped to the edge of the woods and found a path with recent hoof-prints. We galloped at full speed down the path. I wasn’t used to running and Twilight pulled ahead after a few minutes. The hoof-prints led us to the opening of a cave. I rounded the corner to the opening in front of the entrance of the cave just as Twilight galloped. I heard a deep laugh and then Twilight screamed, but it was cut off midway. I entered the cave cautiously and slowly. At the opposite end of the cave was the back of a giant floating… thing, with tentacles sprouting from all over its body. It turned as I entered the. I gasped as I realized what it was. It was a Beholder. Beholders are essentially giant floating eyes with a mouth filled with jagged teeth. The tentacles that covered their bodies had smaller eyeball at the end, which the Beholder used to cast magic. It had trapped all the other ponies in magical prisons. The Beholder turned to me and shot a bolt of magic at me. I jumped to the side and banged against the cave wall.
“Who knew that capturing one pony could get me four more. You seem to be the only pony who knows what I am, don’t you. You know what I am capable of don’t you.” the Beholder growled at me.
“Yeah I know what you are, you’re a beholder, but that doesn’t mean I can’t stop you from hurting those ponies.” I said, as crouched in to position so that I could move easier.

The Beholder let out a loud laugh, then its tentacles started glowing and he started slinging magic at me. I moved faster than I ever had before. I weaved in and out of the bolts of magic and scanned the room for something I could use to help me. Then I saw exactly what I need, a leak in roof from a reservoir of water over head.

The Beholder began its next volley of magic when I jumped straight up into the air, my back hitting the ceiling. The bolts hit the leak and it began to crack larger and larger. The ceiling gave way with a huge amount of water. The beholder must have lost its concentration because the magic holding back the rest of the ponies dropped.

“Go! Ill handle him!” I yelled at the rest of the ponies as they ran out of the cave.

The beholder tried to barrel past me to get back its lost meal, but I held my ground and pushed it back and under a falling piece of ceiling. The stone crushed the Beholder with a loud crunch and a spray of bodily fluids. I had beaten him, but I could already feel the adrenaline ebbing away and weariness hit me like a freight train. I wobbled and was swept off my feet by the surge of water. I tumbled head-over- hoof through the water. The water drained into a small gully that lead to a larger river. I could feel my lungs crying out for air as I tried to retain control over my body. My vision had started to dim when I felt a hard tug on my mane. Somebody was pulling me up. I gasped as my head broke the surface of the water and I looked up to see Rainbowdash struggling to pull me out of the water. Her wings were flapping as fast as they could go but I was still starting to pull her under.
“Let me go” I coughed out “Let me go and get out of here. Save yourself.”

Rainbowdash only pulled harder. I saw something yellow out of the corner of my eye. Something pushed up underneath me and suddenly we were moving away from the water closer to the shore. It was Fluttershy. She had just saved both mine and Rainbowdash’s lives. I was dropped onto the ground and started coughing up lungfuls of water. I felt somebody press against my chest, with both hooves. I coughed out the remainder of the water and the contents of my stomach. I swayed to my feet and looked at the rest of the ponies. Rainbowdash and Fluttershy were exhausted, and Twilight and Applejack were scared witless. There was still a problem though, the water was rising.
“We have to keep moving everyone, the water is getting higher and if we don’t move we’ll be swept down the river. We need to find high ground where we can get back across.” I said my voice rough and shaky.

I walked up to a tree and managed to climb it. I looked around and only found a single place high enough that wouldn’t be swept up by the raging torrent. I hopped down and led them to the hill. By the time we got there we were barley outrunning the tide. We stopped when we got to the top of the hill. There was a single tree at the top, and a small one at that. We all huddled under the shade of the tree and waited for the water to die down.
“This is all you fault Josh.” Said Rainbowdash
“The Beholder would have eaten use all if it wasn’t for Josh. How is this his fault?” snapped Twilight.

All the ponies began to argue over what I had done right, what I had done wrong. It was getting darker but they continued to argue. It was all grating on my nerves, even as I thought of a way to get us all out of here.
“Just shut up!” I finally screamed at all the ponies “Shut up and let me think. There has to be some way to get out of here.”

All the ponies were silent after that but they were all glaring at me. I sighed and finally came up with a semi decent plan to get us all out of here.
“Rainbowdash” I said “I need you to fly back to town as fast as you can and get help.”
“It took you that long to come up with that genius plan.” remarked Rainbowdash.
“No, I knew you were exhausted from fishing me from out of the river and waited this long because I didn’t want you hurt yourself trying to fly out for help.”
“Oh…”

Without another word she lifted into the air and flew in the direction of Ponyville. The night air was cold and we all huddled closer for warmth. It wasn’t long before everyone had fallen asleep. I couldn’t sleep though. I had gotten them all into this and I was going make sure they all got out of this safely. It was dawn before anything happened. A Pegasus was flying through the air and I started shouting, trying to get his attention. He turned towards the island and bolted for us. He hovered over the water and looked at me.
“Are all of you okay?” he asked.
“We’re fine right now, but much longer there might have been some problems. Just hurry up and get some help over here.”

The pegasus nodded and bolted back over the trees. I looked back at the other exhausted ponies. They were all still asleep. I woke them all gently and told them that helps would be here soon. An hour later I saw a large pink blip on the horizon. It got closer until I recognized it as a hot air balloon. It hovered over the island and dropped down rope with a stretcher attached. I got all of the other ponies into the balloon. One of the ponies in the balloon looked over the edge with a sad look on his face.
“I’m very sorry but there isn’t enough room in here for us to bring you with us. We’ll come back and get you though, don’t you worry about that.”

The balloon left and I sat back down on the island and waited. About ten minutes had passed when I saw something on the horizon. It was a small blur at first but as it got closer I saw it was four pegasi, with a strange contraption strapped between them. They got closer and I could see them better, and the one leading them was Rainbowdash! They landed on the island and walked over to me.
“I’m sorry that I said that this was your fault, you were only doing your best and trying to help us.” said Rainbowdash as she looked at the ground.
“It’s okay,” I said “but why did you come back here for me?”
“I couldn’t leave a friend here to rot while he waited for that balloon. Now get in the harness.”

I climbed into the harness, which was just a stretcher attached to each of the ponies by a harness on their backs. They tied ropes around me so that I wouldn’t fall and off we went, flying through the air. We flew for about half an hour before I saw Ponyville in the distance. They landed in a field and I hopped of and helped the tired ponies get off the harness. Rainbowdash started to walk towards town but her legs gave way under her. I caught just as she started to fall. She smiled at me and leaned against my side as we walked to town.
“Where did they take everyone too when they got to town?” I asked.
“They’re all at the Ponyville infirmary.” responded Rainbowdash.
As we walked through town, Rainbowdash gave me directions to the infirmary. Everybody seemed to be gathered there. As we got closer people turned and watched us walk in to the infirmary. Apparently the story of what happened had been spread through the town, because they made a path for us, clapping and patting me and Rainbowdash on the back. When we got into the building one of the doctors looked up and without speaking lead us to the other ponies. They were all in hospital beds, sleeping. We walked into the room and looked at the ponies. A doctor on the other side of the room approached us.
“They’ll be fine, they’re just thoroughly exhausted. They just need rest.” said the doctor “You two look like you could use a meal and some rest as well. The cafeteria is open and you can sleep on the couches here if you want.”
“Stay here Rainbowdash. I’ll go get us some food.”

She nodded and laid down on the couch. I found the cafeteria and loaded up two trays with food and drinks. I carried one tray in my mouth and the other on my back. When I returned to the room Rainbowdash had fallen asleep. I put down the trays and ate some. Now I just had to wait.

After an hour I heard someone come charging up the hallway. I looked and found a fretful Rarity and Pinkiepie running up the hallway. They stopped at the door where I had been standing.
“How are they?” whispered Rarity.
“They’re fine, they just need rest.” I answered.
“What about you?” asked Pinkie.
“I got them into this, and I’m not going to rest until I’m sure they’re all fine.” I responded.
“Thank you.” said Rarity.
“For what?” I asked.
“For making sure none of my friends got hurt, for saving them, for everything you’ve done today.”

I grunted and sat back down and watched. I sat for nearly four hours before any of the ponies came to. It was Twilight. She groaned, rolled over and looked at me. I smiled and asked her
“You hungry?”
“Yes, please.” she smiled.

I picked up the tray of food and brought it over to her. She grabbed a few apple slices and ate them. She took a long pull out of a bottle of water. She looked around me and saw Rarity and Pinkie. She smiled at them and sat up.
“Could you get me home please?” asked Twilight.
“No, I’m sorry the doctors need you to stay here to make sure nothing’s wrong.” responded Rarity.
“That’s a shame, my bed at home is much more comfortable.” She said before dropping back off to sleep.

It was another four hours before both Applejack and Fluttershy had woken up for good. The doctors cleared them, and they were able to leave. When Twilight woke up next I got her out of the bed and helped her to her house. I returned and got Applejack and Fluttershy back to their houses, Applejack having to me directions. The fourth time I returned to the hospital all the ponies had gone back to their homes. Rarity and Pinkie were gone and the only one left was Rainbowdash. I shook her awake.
“Do you think you’ll be able to get home?” I asked her.
“Yeah, I think I’ll be fine.”

We left the hospital and she flew slowly of towards the sunset. I meandered drowsily back to Twilights house. I stumbled up the steps and into my storage closet slash bed room, and flopped onto the bed. I was asleep almost instantly.

I was woken up by the sounds of voices outside of my door. I couldn’t understand what they were saying, so I got up and pressed my ear against the door. I must have pressed to hard because I fell through the doorway. I was greeted by the sound of a bunch of ponies yelling “Thank You!”

Part 2

The Element of Strength
Part 2

All the ponies rushed in and picked me up, hugging and yelling. It was rather disconcerting. There were tables filled with cakes and food and there were games set up all around Twilight’s house. I pulled away from the crowd and saw Pinkiepie beckoning from over in the corner. I made my through the crowd to her. Applejack, Rarity, Twilight, Rainbowdash, and Fluttershy were standing with Pinkiepie in the corner.
“This party was meant for us but I guess everyone else is getting any fun out of it.”I said as I walked near.
“No, silly, this party was meant for you, not for us. You saved everypony, so you get the party.” said Pinkiepie.
“Oh… well, who can I thank for this party then?”
“You have Pinkiepie to thank for this magnificent party.” said Rarity.
“Well thank you then, Pinkie. Is there any way that I can thank you?”
“It’s a party for you, for saving everypony, I should still be thanking you.” replied Pinkie.
“How about I owe you one then.” I said with I smile.
“Can do!” laughed Pinkie.

We all returned to the party. Rainbowdash was raiding the food tables, Applejack was leading everyone in games, Rarity was socializing with a couple of well dressed ponies, I saw twilight lead a group of young ponies outside and I could see them all sitting around a campfire with Twilight telling, what I assumed, where ghost stories, and Fluttershy and Pinkiepie were dancing with everyone. I was being jostled and pushed around as I moved through the mob of ponies. The night went on and on until it was only Twilight, Pinkie, and I left to clean up all the mess.

We grabbed brooms and began sweeping up the mess, which is much harder without hands. I took another hour or two to get all of the trash out.
“Thanks again for the party!” I yelled to Pinkie as she left.

I watched the sunrise as we finished up the last of the cleaning. I was ready for a nap by the time we had finished, but Twilight had other ideas.
“Come on we’ve got some shopping to do.” Said Twilight as she threw her saddlebags over my flank and tightened them with a yank of her head.

We spent the next four hours going from store to store picking up only a couple things at a time from each store. By the time we got back to Twilight house my back was creaking and my legs were shaking under the weight of all the stuff I was carrying. I stood in the kitchen as Twilight unloaded the groceries when Spike came downstairs. He looked at me holding all the groceries with a mischievous smile. When Twilight was done she turned to Spike.
“Spike would you mind cooking up some breakfast, I’m famished.” asked Twilight.
“Of course, anything for you Twilight” said Spike as he glared at me.

As the food cooked I helped Twilight Put away all the groceries. She had bought everything from Asparagus to zucchini, and put them all away in alphabetical order.
“Don’t you think it‘s a bit err… neurotic to buy food like this?” I asked as I put away some eggplant.
“A little, but it helps me keep everything organized.” said Twilight as she stocked away the fennel.

Spike had cooked up a quiche made with cheese and spinach. It was good and we washed it down with home squeezed orange juice.
“You sure are a good chef Spike. Where did you learn it?” I asked
He seemed caught off guard by my politeness, but still answered the. “The royal kitchens, in the Castle.”
“Well they sure did teach you good. You should think about cooking for parties or something. Go to one of the restaurants in town and you’d probably get a job right away.”
“Well thanks, I guess.”

I spent the rest of the day helping Twilight and Spike organize books and clean shelves in her house. When we had finally come to the last few bookcases, I spotted a book unlike the rest in the library. It was a fiction story novel, well actually a box set, entitled “The Amazing Adventures of Daring Do”, and unlike the rest of the books here, it wasn’t a biography or a reference guide.
“Do you mind if I borrow this?” I asked Twilight.
“Sure, they are really good books. Any particular reason you want to read them?” she answered.
“I’m a sucker for a good adventure novel.” I said.

I spent the remainder of the night reading the books. Twilight was right they were good books. Indeed, so good that by the time I decided that I was ready for bed, the sun was rising. When Twilight came down I was just dozing off on the couch.
“Did you spend all night reading those books?” She asked.
“You were right they are good books. I think I’m going to go take a quick nap.” I yawned out.

I stumbled into my room and slept. Images of the adventures of those books flashed through my dreams. I woke a few hours later by a knock on the door. It was Twilight.
“Hey would you mind helping someone out for? Time Turner is making a repair on the clock tower and needs someone to hold a gear in place for him.” She asked
“Yeah sure.” I said as I climbed out of the bed.

Standing at the front door was a nervous looking pony. He had a brown coat and a brown spiky mane and an hourglass cutie mark.
“I’m sorry to disturb you, but you seem to be the only pony strong enough to hold the gear, I had to get Big Mac to hold it for me last time. Come on follow me.” He said.
“So how big is this gear, anyways?” I said as we galloped to the clock tower.
“It’s made of wood and is ten feet in diameter.” He huffed.

We arrived at the tower and entered. It was a giant jumble of wooden cogs, gears, and iron springs of every size. Time Turner led me up a few flight of stairs and across a catwalk. Behind the clock face was a giant gear.
“So I’m assuming that’s the gear I have to hold?” I asked.
“Yep. It should only take a few minutes. I’ve got to replace a few worn out brackets. You might want to put this on your back too.” He said as he handed me a thick wool sheet.

I obliged, and tossed it onto my back. I got under the gear and Time Turner undid the bolt holding the gear in place and it fell with tremendous force on to my back. I held still and reminded myself to breath as I held up the gear. After a few minutes of tinkering around above my head he told me he was finished.
“Now just give it a little buck to get back on the rod.”

I strained all the muscles in my body and after a moment of collaborative effort I bucked the gear into the air. It landed perfectly in place with a quite “schnick”. I let out a big breath, my legs shaking from the effort.
“Thanks for the help. You know the way out. I’ve got a few things to finish up here.”

I stumbled out of the tower and returned to the library. I had just sat down when somebody knocked on the door. It was the Cakes.
“Would you mind carrying in a table for me, I’m just not strong enough?” asked Mr. Cake.

I nodded and he lead me to Sugar Cube Corner where there was a large table sitting in front of the door. I huffed and levered the table onto my back. I waddled under the weight of the table and I squeezed it through the Cakes front door. I finished and returned to the library. I was about to sit back down on the couch when another pony knocked on the door. They had more heavy lifting for me to do. My day continued on like this until well after the sun had gone down. I dragged myself back to the library where Twilight and Rarity were talking.
“If anyone else knocks on the door tell them that I’m dead” I groaned as I flopped onto the ground.
“That’s not a good thing to say. You should be happy that you can help people in town.” said Rarity.
“I’m glad to help, but I haven’t eaten today or gotten too much sleep either, and when they want my help they usually need me to carry something big and heavy.”

Someone knocked on the door and Twilight stood up to get it. She rushed back and looked panicked.
“It’s Pinkiepie. She’s gone missing.” said a distraught Twilight.

We all hopped up and rushed out, though I did backtrack into the kitchen and grabbed an apple. Twilight led us out to a group of ponies, most of which were holding lanterns. As we arrived the Mayor stepped up and began to talk.
“All right everyone is here. We know that Pinkiepie went missing earlier this afternoon on her way to Peachy Sweet’s peach orchard. We’ve never had to deal with a missing pony before. Does anyone have any ideas on what to do?” she asked.

Nobody raised their hooves or offered advice. I had to take charge.
“I do mayor. I need map of the area. A big one.” I said.

Someone brought out a large paper map of the area surrounding Ponyville and we pinned it up so that everyone could see it.
“Ok so we know that the orchard is here.” I said as I pointed to an area to the northwest of Ponyville. “We need to split into teams of two and grid the area around the orchard and around the path. Twilight I need you to stay here and coordinate everyone, and you too mayor. Every group needs a lantern. Come on Rarity your with me. I need any pegasus to do a constant flyover of the area as well.” I shouted out onto the crowd.

Twilight organized everyone into groups. Rarity walked over to me, her horn alight as a improvised lantern.
“You make a very good leader.” She said as we walked.
“I couldn’t just sit there. Somebody had to do something.”I said, my eyes scanning the ground for hoof prints. “Look, over there it looks like Pinkiepie’s prints.”
“How can you tell, our hoof prints look exactly the same?” asked Rarity.
“If you look at the step pattern, you can see that she wasn’t walking, she was jumping, and the only pony I know who does that is Pinkie.”I said.
“That’s very intuitive. Where did you learn to think like that?”
“I read a lot.” I smiled.

We followed the hoofsteps for almost ten minutes. They ended in the middle of an opening. We walked into the middle and looked for any sign of where she could have gone. The ground suddenly started shaking and Rarity jumped away. A hole opened in the ground right under me and I fell through. As I fell I watched as the hole closed. I landed in a pool of water with a loud splash.
“Who’s there?” asked a voice.

I clambered out of the water and looked up to see Pinkiepie holding a large rock above her head.
“It’s okay, it’s only me. Pinkie, do you know where we are?” I asked.
“No. I was just on my way to the peach orchard when the ground started to shake and I fell through a hole. I’ve been looking for a way out of this room all day we can’t get out.”
“No way out, now that’s just crazy, then how did I get in here?” said a voice from behind me.
I turned around to see a something I’d only seen in my head. It was Daring Do. She was a light tan and had a gray mane and tail and her cutie mark was that of a compass rose.
“I’m Daring Do. It’s nice to meet you two. I know a way out, just follow me.”

We did follow Daring Do. She led us through a hole on the other side of the pool of water that opened into a hallway.
“That wasn’t there before.” said Pinkiepie with a confused look on her face.

We followed the hallway for a while. We rounded a bend and we could see a light. We all galloped to the light and found a desk occupied by a very dull looking pony.
“There are lanterns and food in the box on to your right. Once you enter the maze you will exit it in the destination you were trying to get to. Get to the end and you win. Good luck, you’re going to need it.” droned the pony.

He hit a button on the wall and a door opened. We all grabbed bags and lanterns, which we lit off of the one sitting on the desk, and entered. The door slammed shut behind us and we could only see by the light of our lanterns. The walls were made of an odd brick and were covered with moss.
“Whish way should we go?” asked Pinkiepie.
“Hmm… the exit is to the west, but which way is north?” said Daring Do.
“How do you know that?”I asked.
“My special talent is navigating” she said as she pointed to her cutie mark “I always seem to be able which way takes you out.”
“Well it no good if we don’t know which direction we’re going.” I said.

We walked in silence for a while. As we walked the walls seemed to change, from moss covered brick to a smooth marble, the same as the stone in Canterlot Castle. At the end of the hallway was a door with torches on either side. In the middle of the door was the picture of three stars, just like my cutie mark.
“I think this door I meant for you.” Said Daring Do.

I approached the door slowly. I pushed against and it swung open. I looked upon a scene of utter horror. It was my house except that lying on the floor was mother. My dead mother. Her neck was split gruesome open, her blood splattered across the room, and around her was my friends. Not my friends from Earth, but those from Equestria. Twilight, Pinkiepie, Rarity, Rainbowdash, Applejack, and Fluttershy, all huddled around my mother. The evil Twilight looked up at me, blood covering her mouth and spoke in a voice like nails on a chalkboard.
“You humans are very delicious why don’t you come closer so that we have some seconds.”

Just as I was about to step out of the room Pinkiepie pushed me forward and came in beside me.
“Silly, Twilight doesn’t eat ponies. You need to get your facts straight.” She laughed at the image of the cannibalistic Twilight.

The image glared at Pinkiepie before the entire thing burst into a cloud of dust.
“What did you see?”I asked Pinkiepie
“I just saw the six of us eating a pony that looks like your mom.”
“And you just laughed at that!” I asked incredulously.
“You have to see the parts that don’t make sense in your fear and concentrate on that, and it becomes funny.” She said suddenly very serious.

I went further into the room. In the middle sat what looked like a glass box filled with a swirling mass of darkness. I walked up slowly and looked into. I could still see the same scene in the box but I just made me angry now. I reared up on my hind legs and smashed down on the box, shattering it and sending pieces of glass everywhere, the darkness dissipating into the air. I looked around and left the room, slamming the door behind me.
“What was in your room?” asked Daring Do.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”

We continued walking down the hall Pinkiepie and Daring Do trying to get me to talk.
“I think we should rest.”I said after what must have been hours.
“I do too. There’s no point in exhausting ourselves and being too tired to navigate.” Said Daring Do.

We sat down a put the sacks that we had been carrying on the floor. We opened them to see what kind of food we had. There was a loaf of bread, a couple apples and a canteen of water in my bag. I looked around to see what the others had got, and their bags where exactly the same.
“Well kind of boring, but at least its food.” I murmured before I ate it all.

The food was bland, but at least we had water. I turned down the lantern so that they didn’t use up all of their oil and slept using the bag as a pillow. I woke up before everyone else and woke them.
“Come on we should get moving” I said “this place is giving me the creeps.”

We walked for a while when the floor began to change again. This time it went from the white marble to well worn wood. The path started to meander and when it straightened out we saw another door. We walked up and saw that door had Pinkiepie’s cutie mark on it, three balloons.
“It’s your door Pinkie, be ready.” I said.

She glanced at me and pushed the door open. I waited a second before a looked at her fear. It was her running through the maze. From watching It felt like the image Pinkie was had been running forever. I looked at the real Pinkie to see her face a blank expressionless mask.
“You want know what’s funny about this Pinkie?” I whispered into her ear“What’s so funny is that we will get out of here and we will see everyone again. I promise you that.”

As I watched I saw a small smile appear on her face.
“I believe you.” She whispered as she nuzzled her head against my neck.

The image of Pinkie looked up at me and smiled and burst into dust.
“Pinkiepie, you need to destroy the cube.” I said.

She nodded and walked over to the cube and stomped on it, reducing it dust. There was a flash of light and I felt a tingle. We were suddenly standing in bright sunlight. I blinked the water out of my eyes and let out a loud laugh. We were at the peach orchard. Pinkiepie laughed at me as I ran around, reveling in the open space.
“Well this is goodbye, I guess.” Said Daring Do.
“This isn’t goodbye silly; you can come with us to Ponyville and meet our friends.” said Pinkiepie.
“No, I can’t, I was only there to lead you out of the cave. I’m not actually Daring Do. I’m just a creation of the maze.” Said Daring Do. “Once I saw how much you two cared for each other I knew that even a thousand of those doors wouldn’t stop you two, so I let you out. I had a good time with you two.” She finished and we watched her turn to dust and drift away in the wind.
“Well you better get your peaches so we can head back to town. I bet everyone is worried about us.” I said to Pinkiepie.

She nodded and we headed into the orchard. We spent the next hour talking, laughing, and picking peaches.
“So what were the peaches for anyway?” I asked Pinkie.
“I was going to make my famous Peachy Keen Cobbler.”
“Well that’s sound’s delicious.”

We left with bags full of peaches and headed back to Ponyville, though we didn’t go by the normal path. We stayed out from under the trees. I guess you can’t laugh away a few irrational fears. We arrived at Ponyville, where everyone was sitting in the field where the search party had gathered the night before. They were all looking up at Twilight and Rarity, who looked distraught and worried. We walked up behind the crowd and listened to what they were saying.
“… and we have lost two very special ponies, one a dear friend of mine, who is known as one of the most fun loving ponies in all of Equestria, the other a new member of this town, but a selfless pony willing to risk life and limb to save anyone who needed his help. I am very sad to say that our search was inconclusive and … oh my gosh their right there!” shouted Twilight.

Everyone turned around and looked at us. They all cheered and stomped their hooves, rushing in to hug and greet us. Twilight and Rarity charged through the crowd and grabbed Pinkiepie, squeezing the air out of her. I smiled as I watched the friends reunite.
“Your back! What happened to you two, you’re both absolutely filthy.” said Rarity.

Pinkie and I told them the story of our adventure through the maze and they all listened intently. When we had finished everyone returned to their homes. Twilight, Pinkie, Rarity and I went back to the Library where Pinkie and I were both washed heavily by Rarity.
“Thanks for the bath, Rarity” I laughed.

We went back into the library to dry off when Pinkie looked up at me.
“You don’t owe me one anymore” she said.

Part 3

The Element of Strength
Part Three

My next few weeks in Ponyville were the most tiring, work filled, and most enjoyable I had ever had. I worked around the town doing odd jobs, anything from fixing plumbing to unclogging gutters, and I loved it. I helped Twilight repaint the inside of the Library, Applejack bring in her harvest of apples, Fluttershy round up squirrels and rabbits, Pinkiepie watch the Cakes kids, and Rarity install a new shelving system in her shop. With Rainbowdash I didn’t help her with chores so much as with herself. We had started to date. After the incident in the maze with Pinkie she had asked me to lunch and we had just clicked. She was different then most girls. She didn’t mind getting dirty to have fun and loved a good race. She really understood me. We were meeting for lunch most days and most ponies knew that we were dating. Well except for our other friends, somehow.

We had decided to tell them. Rarity was having everyone over at her place for tea, well except for me “because why would a guy want to talk with a bunch of girls over tea?” My response had been a bit sarcastic “Well I like a hot drinks and tiny sandwiches as much as the next pony.” This had gotten a laugh from everyone, but still, I was banned from tea time.

Dash and I waited for everyone to be in the building before we approached. We pushed open the door where everyone was getting settled around the table, with a kettle of near-boiling tea and large stack of tiny sandwiches.
“What are you doing here Josh? I thought I said you couldn’t come with us to tea.” said Rarity.
“I know. I’ll be out of your hair in a few moments. You want to tell them Rainbowdash?”
“Tell us what Rainbowdash?” asked Fluttershy.
“Well I umm… don’t know how to get around to saying this but...err… Me and Josh are dating!” Rainbowdash finally blurted out “After Josh and Pinkie got back from that maze thing, I asked him out to lunch and we just, well, we just clicked. We’ve been going out to lunch almost every day since then.”

Everypony was sat in stunned silence for a moment before anyone spoke. Unfortunately it was me.
“I bet you wouldn’t have not wanted me to be here for this, huh?” I said with an almost smug voice.
“Well I really am glad for you Rainbowdash. I never thought of you as the dating type but it’s good that you found somepony special.” said Rarity.

After that there was a tide of congratulations and happiness for Rainbowdash, to which she looked truly relieved. I took a deep breath like I was about to say something, exhaled, shook my head and walked out. The day was nice and I could find something to do. Maybe I could go play chess with Spike or see if anyone needed help around town.
“Or how about a swim?” I asked myself, in the sudden realization that I hadn’t gone swimming in nearly two years.

I walked back to the library to find Spike. He was in the kitchen cooking up a lunch for himself when I walked in.
“Anything I can get for you?” he asked.
“No, I was just wondering if there was a good place to go swimming nearby.” I replied.
“You could always go swimming in the Everfree Forest.” He replied.
“Ha ha, very funny. Do you know anywhere else?”
“Well there is always the really big lake near Ponyville called “Lake Ponyville”. It’s a recreational lake only about a half-mile out of town.” He said, his tone dripping with sarcasm.
“I don’t like that tone of voice. Don’t make me get Twilight on you.” I laughed. After a moment I asked “Do you want to come with me Spike?”
“I thought you would never ask. Just let me go get my things.” He said as he dashed up the stairs.

He came down only a few moments with a big bag full of things. There was everything from towel to sunblock and snorkel gear. As we walked out of town we stopped by Rarity’s house to tell them where we were going.
I knocked and cracked the door and stuck my head in. “Hey girls me and Spike are going down to Lake Ponyville, just so you know. We’ll be back later.”
“Swimming sounds like an excellent idea, don’t you think so girls. We’ll meet you two at the Lake when were all ready.” Said Rarity
“Err… really wasn’t inviting you guys, I was just telling you…” I said, my words completely ignored as the girls chatted and agreed on how much fun it would be to go.
“I’m ready now; I’ll go with you and Spike.” said Rainbowdash.

We walked outside and Spike looked up at me.
“What’s Rainbowdash doing with you?” he asked.
“I don’t know how that happened.” I said bemusedly.
“How what happened?” asked Spike.
“Apparently I invited them all to go with us, somehow.”

Anyway, we walked out to the lake. The sun glinted of the beautiful blue surface and the woods around the lake made an almost picture perfect scene. Spike found a spot under the boughs of one of the larger trees to put down his towels. Rainbow and I made a bee line for the water. Right as I was about jump in I felt something grab me from behind. I was suddenly lifted high above the water. I looked up to see Rainbowdash carrying me out to the middle of the lake. She stopped and hovered there for a moment, smiling mischievously at me.
“No, you wouldn’t. Don’t you dare” I said incredulously.
“Don’t do what? This?” she said as she tucked her wings to her side.

We dropped like stones. I curled up to minimize the impact as we hit the water. We hit like two tons of bricks, sending water up into the sky. We spluttered to the surface, where we started the long swim back to the shore. I flopped onto the sand and lay on my back to catch my breath. I watched as Twilight and everyone arrived at the beach. Twilight had on a pair of almost comically large sunglasses, while both Rarity and Fluttershy were wearing big floppy sunhats. Applejack charged the beach, leapt right over me and into the water. I jumped to my feet and charged, splashing and laughing. Pinkiepie launched herself off a tree and landed in the water, sending water splashing down on Rarity, Twilight, Fluttershy, and Spike. We all laughed as Rarity chased after Pinkiepie.

We spent the remainder of the day at the pond, swimming and playing. When we left the sun was going down. Rainbowdash was hanging back as they all left and I stayed with her.
“That was fun.” I said.
“Yeah, but it wasn’t as nice as this.” She said as she rubbed her nose against mine. I had a very sneaking suspicion that this was the pony equivalent of a kiss. She blushed then coughed “I’ll see you tomorrow.” She said before she flew off.

I ran to catch up with everyone else. Twilight smiled at me and nodded.
“Rainbowdash really likes you, you know that, right?” asked Twilight.
“Yeah, I do. And I really like her too.” I said as Rarity approached us.
“We received the tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala yesterday Josh and I’m going to need to see you in my shop tomorrow for sizing.” Rarity said without preamble.
“Ok… what’s the Grand Galloping Gala? And don’t you make dresses?”I asked.
“The Gala is only the most important event of the year! How have you not heard of it?” she asked.
“I’m not from around here.” I laughed.
“Well I do need you in my shop tomorrow. I need to take measurements for your outfit. I’m going to have a suit of armor made for you. For some reason I don’t think a normal suit would look right on you.”
“Well ok, I guess so.” I said.

Everyone returned to their homes. I got back to the library and washed off all the sand, before I went to sleep. To my surprise it was Rarity who woke me up the next morning.
“Come on, wake up. I need you down at my shop now.” She said as she shook me.
“A few more minutes.” I whined as I pulled the pillow up over my head.
“No, now.” She said as she ripped the pillow out of my hooves.
“Fine. Fine I’m up. What’s the big deal?” I groaned.
“No questions, hurry up.”

I yawned and stumbled out of the bed and followed Rarity to her shop. Nothing seemed wrong and the only other ponies in the room where Rainbowdash and Twilight.
“What’s the big deal?” asked Rainbowdash.
I thought for a moment before speaking. “You got us both here so that you could make matching outfits didn’t you?”
A creepy smile appeared on Rarity’s face. “I’ve always wanted to make matching outfits for a couple and now’s my big chance. You wouldn’t want to take that away from me, would you?” she simpered.
Rainbowdash both sighed before she spoke. “No I guess not. Well, you might as well get on with it then.”
Rarity let out a high pitched squeal and pulled out a measuring tape and handed Twilight a notepad. She started with me first. She measured everything from my height to the distance between my nostrils, dictating it all to Twilight. She moved on to Rainbowdash and did the same. It took her nearly two hours to finish her measurements.
“And to think I could have been sleeping right now.” I grumbled.
“I’m finished now. How about we all go for some breakfast?” said Rarity.
“I, for one, am starving. I don’t know about the rest of you but I’m going to get something to eat.” stated Rainbowdash

We left Rarity’s shop and walked down Mane Street and picked a restaurant. We ate while Rarity questioned Rainbowdash and I on styles and colors, where she eventually came to the conclusion that we really didn’t care what she did.
“Are you going to be like this every year, Rainbow?” asked Rarity.
“Probably, I just want my dress to look cool, and you know that.” said Rainbowdash

I smiled as I chewed on my sandwich, listening to Rarity and Rainbowdash argue. This is what having a normal life was like. When I was on earth I had never really fit. I was always the odd man out and was unlucky to the point that it wasn’t even funny. In Equestria tings were much different. Everyone seemed to like everyone else unless they had a really good reason and I was no exception. All in all Equestria was a more decent place then earth. As I thought this, images of my mom flashed through my head and a pang of guilt and sadness shot through me and I suddenly felt guilty for leading Dash on. My main goal was to return home and Dash couldn’t come with me. I blocked out those thoughts and feelings to deal with later and returned to the meal.

We finished and everyone went back to their jobs. Rarity to designing dresses, Twilight to her studies, and Rainbowdash flew up to clear out a few drifting dark clouds. I went for a walk. I walked towards the west, where a range of mountains set a skyline for Ponyville. Long before the mountains was a thick band of craggy rocks. This is where I walked. I hadn’t been by here yet and it had looked interesting.

I walked and thought, sorting out the jumbled mix of feelings and emotions in my head. I had always been good at curbing my emotions and thinking logically, kind of like Spock, but since I wasn’t half Vulcan I had to go back to those thoughts eventually or I would blow form an emotional overload. My thought chased each other in circles of morals and logic which, for me, usually went hand in hand, but I had never really had to think about anyone else feelings. I slowed my thoughts and sat for a moment and started sorting, morals first then logic. The only conclusion that I could come to was that I needed to explain this all to Rainbowdash and get her take on it. So much for figuring things out.

I stood up and continued on my walk. As I walked deeper into the crag field I saw mounds of loose dirt, like little hills. I walked up o one and poked it with my hoof. Te dirt fell back to revel something big and gray, which sprung out of the hole and grabbed and pulled me down through the dirt. I tried to wiggle my way out of its grip but as it pulled me through a tunnel my head banged against the walls, dazing me. It finally let go of me and I fell from the tunnel and on to a solid stone floor, knocking the wind out of me. Once I had caught my breath I stood up and looked around the stone chamber. It was a semi circle closed off with iron bags and a gate. A lantern hung just on the other side of the bars.
“Oh my god, not again! Don’t you people realize that I have more important things to do then get caught and be put through some sadistic weird test?” I shouted.

When I had finished yelling my head was swimming and when I looked around everything was blurry. I reached up and touched my head where it had it the wall. My hoof came down coated in blood and I groaned.
“Just great I’ve probably got concussion too.” I grumbled.
“Take these bandages. I don’t want you bleeding all over my cave.” said a voice from outside of the bars.

I looked up to see a pony. He was wearing a large brown cloak that covered almost all of him, including his face. He had tossed a small clump of bandages which I picked up, and after a moment of awkward pulling, I had fastened around my head to stem the bleeding.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“That is not for you to know. I’ll only tell you that I am the leader of the diamond dogs, and you are now mine and their slave.” He said as he turned around and walked back into the darkness of the cave.

I sat down and thought about my predicament. I was a prisoner and a slave. I looked up at the hole from which I had fallen. It was sealed shut by stone. I looked around my cage and the only other thing was a small pile of hay, which I assumed was for either bedding or food. I was drowsy and knew that you shouldn’t sleep if you had concussion. I paced to keep myself awake. There was nothing beyond my little circle of light and I heard nothing. So I waited. And waited. And waited.

It was hours before anything happened. I was sitting and watching the lantern when I heard something come down the hall. I blinked few times to adjust my eyes and watched as a large gray dog like thing approached the cage. It was about five feet tall with a hunched back and long swaying arms and a face like a bulldog. It held a harness that looked awfully small.
“You, pony. You dig up the gems and carry for us.” It growled.
“Bite me.” I said.

Its snarl suddenly turned to a rictus smile and it fumbled a key into the door and charged in its teeth bared. I stood up and backed up against the back wall, placing my back hooves against the wall. The thing charged forward and I pushed off with all my strength. My front hooves leading, I tucked my head to the side, so that when we hit, the thing was the one who was knocked out. I grabbed the key out of the key hole and locked the dog thing in the cell.

As I ran down the cave, the adrenaline ebbed away and things started to blur together and I felt the beggings of a horrible headache. I ran through it and followed the cave to a large circular room. It was lit all over with lanterns. I heard the pinging of pickaxes on stone. There were more dog things in this room all looking the same. They saw me and charged. I couldn’t run well enough to get away, so I would have to fight.

The first one reached me a few seconds after I entered the room. It jumped; teeth and claws bared, and went for my throat. I rolled to the side and sprung up, my hind legs lashing out and striking the beast in the chest, sending it sprawling. Two more charged straight at. I ran towards them, and right as I got within their striking range, I dropped to the ground and slid between them. I hopped up behind them and they turned. It was too late; I was already too close to them. I head butted the first and jumped up and over the second ones claws, landing on its back. I pushed off with all my might and went flying through the air. I hit the wall harder then I had expected and was stunned. I heard more of the dogs rush into the room. They pinned me to the floor and I watched as the pony I had seen in the large cloak earlier approached.
“Very good. You are strong and spirited. You’ll be a good guard.” He said. “Take him to the main hall.”
“Get back here so I can kick your ass!” I screamed.

The dogs tied my legs together and carried me, upside down, through the caves. I tried to follow where they were taking me but the caves twisted far too much and my headache was now in full swing. They finally slowed down as we entered another room, this one much like the other, big, round, and well lit. They set me down and undid the rope. I hopped backwards, ready for a fight, only to come face to face with a wall of the dog things. I backed away and turned around to look at the room. The only thing in the room was a large stone throne which was settled in front of a gaping pit that took up all of the floor behind it. Sitting on the stone throne was the pony in the cloak. I walked closer and glared at him.
“Bow before me.” he said, trying to put on a royal tone in his voice.
“My god, I wish I had fingers right now.” I said to myself.
“I said bow!” he screamed.
“No thanks, your floor is dirty.” I replied.
“Then I will make you.” He said as he stood up from his throne.
“You might be all big and scary up there, but I promise you that if you come down here I will toss you down that hole.” I said.
“How dare you mock me! I am the ruler of the diamond dogs, and soon I am going to be the King of Equestria!” he ranted.
“Fat chance. The Princess could beat you and your pitiful army by herself if she saw you as a threat.” I stated.

I must have struck a nerve, because he charged down the stairs. I sighed and ran at him. We intercepted at the bottom of the stairs. He lashed out with is front hooves and I ducked and brought my head into his stomach, which knocked the air out of him and caused my vision to blur and I reeled back. He recuperated faster than me and took his advantage. He kicked me in the side and I stumbled. I recovered my balance only in time to see his back hooves sailing at my head. They hit like a ton of bricks and my vision started to fade. I was mad now. He came closer and reared up on his hind legs to deliver a final blow. I slid to the side and tackled him sending us both sprawling. I lashed out with my hooves as we tumbled, grinning at the sounds of impact. Suddenly the ground dropped from below us and I managed to grab the ledge in time. I looked to see that the other pony was hanging on. His cloak was missing and I could see him. He was covered in thick scars; they covered most of his face and body. He glared at me and spoke.
“This is your fault.” He stated.
“Shut up and help me get us out of this mess.” I said as I struggled to climb back up.

I looked up and saw that the dogs were gone. I could hear yelling coming from down the hall. There was another load shout and I saw Fluttershy emerge from the cave.
“Fluttershy, over here!” I yelled.

She looked up and rushed over. She looked indecisively at me and then at the scarred pony.
“Him first.” I said.

He looked at me like I was crazy.
“Why?” he asked.
“I’m stronger and can hold on for longer, now shut up and go!” I yelled.

He grabbed Fluttershy’s hoof and with their combined effort where able to pull him up. After catching their breath for a second they tried to pull me up. I grabbed the scarred pony’s hoof and pulled. When I started to pull my hoof slipped and I fell. I looked up and saw Fluttershy, her mouth open in horror. I watched as I fell, almost in slow motion, as Rainbowdash flew over Fluttershy and down the pit, right at me. She passed me and flew below me. She flipped around and flew back up at me. She hit me in the middle of the back and I was suddenly rising. I turned to look at Rainbowdash. She was straining to fly with my weight and was starting to slow and we were barely halfway there. I watched as the scarred pony grab something and toss it over. It was rope.
“Get me to that rope and I can get us out.” I said to Rainbowdash.

She nodded and flew at the rope. I grabbed it in my teeth and tied it around us and pulled on the rope. We started being pulled up inches at a time.
“Thanks. You know you’re really heavy, you should lose some weight.” panted Rainbowdash.

When we got to the top I saw the scarred pony and Fluttershy pulling on the rope. I clambered over the lip of the pit and pulled up Rainbowdash. I untied us and we walked over to Fluttershy.
“….you could come live with us in Ponyville if you wanted too. People might stare at first but they’ll get used to you.” I heard Fluttershy finish.
“No, I can’t, I’ve got a family I need to return too.” said the scarred pony. He turned to me and spoke “I am sorry for what I’ve done. The diamond dogs did this to me.”
“The scars or the crazy ruler part?” I asked.
“Both, and you freed me from the grasp of insanity.” He said.
“No problem I guess.”
“Enough with the apologies, we need to find everypony else. We got separated when we got down here.” said Rainbowdash.

The scarred pony nodded and grabbed a lantern.
“Follow me.” He said.

We ran down the hall, around bends and twists until we heard the sounds of the diamond dogs fighting. We ran around the corner to find a room. It wasn’t as big as the throne room, but was just as well lit. The diamond dogs where all facing one corner, and away from us. I looked at the scarred pony and Rainbowdash and nodded. We charged.

Rainbowdash grabbed a large rock and pulled up above the heads of the diamond dogs and dropped it, which landed with a sickening crunch. I leapt forward and struck out with my hooves, battering heads and necks. The scarred pony was doing the same. As we worked our way in I heard Applejack give a rallying cry and the dogs started to drop faster and faster. The dogs started to scatter as we got closer, thinning the lines. Once the last few had run off I looked around to see everyone. Me, Applejack and the scarred pony were beat up and bruised, but not to hurt. Twilight and Rarity looked exhausted from all the magic they had used. Rainbowdash walked up to my side and smiled.
“Don’t you get lost again, you hear me?” she joked
“Loud and clear, chief.” I laughed.
“I know a way out, it’s not too far from here.” said the scarred pony.
“Well lead on then. I don’t want to stay down here any longer then I have too, it’s absolutely disgusting.” said Rarity.

He nodded and led us down another tunnel and we followed. The tunnels twisted and turned but he seemed to know where he was going. We followed him to a small room with a ladder in the middle that led into the roof. There was a movement in the corner and I dropped into a defensive stance. Out of the shadow walked a diamond dog, but this one was larger probably seven feet tall and laden with thick bulgy muscle and it was carrying a large bullwhip.
“Go, the rest of you leave, I’ve got this one.” said the scarred pony.
“No, I’m staying, I’m not letting you get hurt protecting us.” I said.
“But-“Rainbowdash started.
“No, you all are leaving, I’m not letting you get hurt trying to save me.” I growled at her. “Now go, before things get ugly.”

She was taken aback for a second then she nodded; hopefully understanding my intent was good. They started up the ladder as the whip wielding diamond dog approached. It smiled as it watched me and the scarred pony back up.
“Is it safe to assume this is the dog that gave you those scars?” I asked.
“Yeah, and now it’s time for my revenge.” smiled the scarred pony.

I looked in his eyes and I could only see bloodlust. They must have done horrible things to him.
“Come to me, little ponies I have a gift for you.” growled the diamond dog.

He lashed out with his whip. It struck at my feet and I hopped back. Instead of moving away, the scarred pony charged the dog. He jumped and almost reached the dog, but he was struck out of the air by one of its paws. I ran forward keeping, low to the ground, and jumped and planted my hooves against it chest, but instead of unbalancing it, I flew off of it. It laughed and began to strike out with its whip. I dodged and evaded the blows but the scarred pony ignored the pain and ran forward and tried to grab the whip, but the dog grabbed him instead, lifting him up and crushing him. I charged and leapt, barley grabbing the whip as passed. I pulled it out of the dogs hands and grabbed both ends in my mouth, making a loop in the slack. I tossed the loop over the dogs head and pulled, dragging him down. He reached for his throat and released the scarred pony. He ran over to me and grabbed one of the ends and ran to one side of the room. I sprinted to the other. The dog clawed at its neck and tried to pry off the makeshift noose. We only pulled tighter until its eyes bulged and it stopped flopping. We waited a moment before we let the whip go. We left the room without talking and emerged to a group of our anxious friends.
“What happened down there?” asked Twilight.
“We dealt with a problem.” stated the scarred pony.

She didn’t look to happy with that answer and looked to me. I shook my head and mouthed “later”. We walked back to town but instead of the house, Twilight and the others forced me and the scarred pony to the hospital. When we arrived the nurse looked up from her book and her eyes grew wide and she rushed off screaming for a doctor. Two doctors took us into different rooms and began looking us over.
“Well you do have a mild concussion and some heavy bruising but you should be fine with some rest and stitches for your head.” stated the doctor after nearly an hour of poking and prodding.
“Ok, that’s good. Let’s get on with it.” I said.

The doctor nodded and pulled out a curved needle and threaded it and began the stitches. It hurt as there was apparently no anesthetic in Ponyville. He finished and patted me on the back.
“Remember to get some sleep and no heavy lifting for a few days.”

I nodded and returned to my friends.
“What did the doctor say?” asked a nervous looking Rainbowdash.
“I’ll be fine. I just need some rest and no heavy lifting for a few days.” I replied.
“Oh, well that’s good.” she said sounding relived.
“So where is our scarred friend?” I asked.
“He left a little while ago and he asked us to tell you “thank you”.” said Fluttershy.
“Did anyone get his name?” I asked.

Everyone shook their heads and nobody spoke for awhile, we just stood there thinking about that mysterious pony. We all returned home and I slept. I only woke when I could smell food cooking. I stretched and entered the kitchen prepared to see Spike and Twilight but was surprised to see only Rainbowdash in the kitchen. She looked at me and patted a seat beside her in a gesture to sit down. I sat and she began to talk.
“You want to talk to me about something important.” she said.
“How did you know?” I asked
“I just know how you think.”
“Am I really that simple to figure out?” I asked.
“Kind of.” she smiled.
“I did want to talk to you though. The only reason that I came to Ponyville was to get home. I’m not from here, and I don’t mean Ponyville. I’m from a place called Earth and I’m only here because the Princess thinks that it will get me home. I just don’t want to hurt you when I leave. You understand what I’m saying?”
“I do, and until you return home, you will be my boyfriend unless there is an actual valid reason for it not to be so.” stated Rainbowdash.

I smiled and nodded knowing that she knew that I meant well but not listening to a word I said.