Keeping Ideals Alive

Chapters

1- Taken from the Academia
2- Meeting the Heroes
3- The First Day
4- Painful Revelations

1- Taken from the Academia

I just want to get a few things straight. We never expected our lives to turn out the way it did, heroes of another world, sharing a power of ten armies, it's amazing to think the dull life of a couple of seventeen year olds could change in a snap. Now I'm just talking like I'm in a generic Human in Equestria story. You probably saw the crappy cover that was drawn in like an hour or two and was instantly turned off by this story. But this one is different. This is the story of how not one, not two, but SIX teens end up in Equestria. Mind you the powers we share is a direct copy of One For All from My Hero Academia (heck it pretty much is One For All) and our enemy uses All For One (just a note that I will totally explain what these powers are.) but I can assure you that this story, will blow your mind. We begin a thousand-something years ago (cuz that's when all the shit in Equestria went down.) during a massive war in the far north of Equestria. The Equestrian Armada, led by Princess Celestia of the Sun and Princess Luna of the Moon, had arrived in the freezing snow, so cold that icicles would constantly appear on the soldier's manes. They had walked hundreds of miles to reach their destination and they had finally made it.

They had one goal. Defeat King Sombra and take back the Crystal Empire, a kingdom currently under his total control. A master of dark magic, Sombra had easily formed an impenetrable barrier around it. He created it so that if one pony so much as flicked their tail at it, they would die a slow and painful death. As the armada neared the empire, the wintery curse of Northern Equestria calmed down allowing the Empire to be seen. A dark shade of orange filled the sky, only the silhouette of clouds visible. The army stopped at the edge of the barrier. Celestia and Luna exited their chariots and stood before the entrance to the once beautiful, Crystal Kingdom.

A shadow began to form before them. Out of it emerged a sharp, curved, red horn, followed by the gray muzzle and the glowing red and green eyes of a stallion. This was King Sombra standing before the rulers of Equestria. "Ahhhhh." He said in a sultry voice, "And here I thought you were going to keep me waiting."

"King Sombra!" Luna yelled, "Thou hast committed treason against the ponies of Equestria. Not only have thou enslaved them, but you have foolishly committed this crime in the crystal capital of the world. Surrender now, and your punishment may be less severe." Sombra only grinned in response.

"Excellent choice of words Luna. However I have no intentions of giving up my throne just like that."

"Sombra," Celestia said, "You were once a good stallion! You used to use your dark magic, ironically, for good reasons!"

"But now I see what I've been holding back!" He yelled "I'm capable of more power than you both combined!"

"But doesn't that scare you?" Celestia said, her voice shaking, "Knowing that you're capable of bringing pain and misery to the good ponies of this land?"

"Good ponies? Good ponies?!" He snarled. "Those "good ponies" are afraid of the beautiful magic I've created! They know nothing of what this power feels like!"

"Sombra! This is your last chance!" Luna bellowed. Celestia had given up all hope on trying to get through to him. She now believed, reluctantly, that she had to fight. "Surrender now, or fight!"

"I choose neither! That shield I have up is made of dark magic! Only those who have even the tiniest bit of understanding of my powers can-" He was cut off as the barrier shimmered and cracked. Finally, like a bent eraser, it broke. Leaving the empire susceptible to attack. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE?!" He roared.

"You honestly think we wouldn't have been smart enough to send a spy into your kingdom?" Celestia said mockingly.

"Clever Celestia." Sombra said, "Who did you send this time? Gleaming Shield? Black Mask?"

"Me." A scruffy looking unicorn stallion walked out. He had short pointy black hair, a grey coat, and a black armored vest. Then in a white flash, he changed into a smaller pony with a long white beard and starred clothing.

"Starswirl..." Sombra muttered, "I should've known. Well then, YOU'LL BE THE FIRST TO GO!" Sombra shot a beam of dark magic at his foe. Starswirl jumped at the last moment, his hoof glowing red and white. He yelled:

"VANHOOVER SMASH!" The attack drew up snow, making it spin around before dropping. It definitely hurt the king.

"One for All." Sombra chuckled. "I should've known you'd pull that trick old man!"

"Then you must know that this magician isn't a one trick pony!" Starswirl said as he charged up his horn.

"It would be foolish of me to take on a stallion of your power." Sombra said. "That magic I just performed was enough to keep you at bay I see. You're losing your touch." Starswirl glanced at the scar around his abdomen. It had made him weaker during his last fight with Sombra, but he had been able to save many ponies that day. Sombra didn't know of this weakness however. So Starswirl kept up his brave facade.

"I'm still as strong as everyone says I am. If anything, I was only taking it easy on you." He said, his smirk visible on his muzzle, his eyes shining as he said that. Sombra growled in response.

"SENTINELS! KEEP THEM OUT OF THE EMPIRE! I HAVE BUSINESS TO ATTEND TO!" Sombra roared as he dissipated into a black mist. The ponies in metal masks stepped forward in a fighting stance, preparing for the battle.

"REMEMBER! NO CASUALTIES!" Luna yelled in her Royal Canterlot voice. "THEY ARE JUST INNOCENT PONIES BEING CONTROLLED!"

"ATTACK!" Starswirl yelled as the Royal Guard bounded toward their foes. The sound of clashing swords rang through the air, the smell of a never-ending winter now behind the warriors. Celestia and Luna fought valiantly. Their magic not only knocking out their foes, but destroying the cursed helmets controlling the Crystal Ponies. 'They have grown so strong as my pupils.' Starswirl thought, beaming. 'While they are distracting the army, I'll go chat with that so-called king.' Transferring One for All to his hooves, he jumped off from the ground, speeding through the air towards the wall of the throne room. "VANHOOVER SMASH!!!" he shouted as he broke the crystal. He landed without a scratch and walked through the throne room. His foe however, wasn't in sight. Until he caught a glimpse of the throne. "Nice try brother, but I remember you playing this trick when we were mere children." Starswirl once again charged his horn, this time with dark magic, and shot it at the crystal atop the throne. A shadow spread across the room and the floor melted away as a giant, spiral staircase led into a dark chasm.

"What are you planning?" Starswirl asked himself as he descended into the depths, lighting his horn to have vision. Once he reached the bottom, he opened the door at the bottom, revealing some sort of study. It had a lit fire in cabin-like surroundings. There was a moose head on the wall along with two rocking chairs. On one was a journal, with SOMBRA written in the dark king's handwriting. Starswirl flipped through it. Until he found the last page. He read aloud:

"I always envied my brother for having a gift that no one else had. He used it to save those perilous ponies wherever he went. He dubbed this power "One For All", a power that gave him the strength of ten armies. I thought he would always be stronger. But then I learned of another power. One brought unto me from my grandfather. A power called-" Starswirl felt his body being drained of all of its power. The gleam in his eyes left and he was lying on the floor, before he knew what happened.

"All For One" Sombra cackled. "This was a power that drains magic and energy and gives me a choice, to make it my own power, or give it to someone else. You were dying as a baby and the only thing that could help you live was extra magic." He glared at his helpless brother. "Grandfather was a fool. He should have left you for dead. But I got lucky and gained this power of his. Now I can take the magic of my enemies permanently." He then stared at Starswirl's power in its purest form. Six colorful stars, repeatedly moving toward and from each other.

"I may just keep this as a moment of your defeat." Sombra said placing One for All into a metal cylinder, which was later placed onto the mantelpiece. "Now if you'll excuse me brother, I have a war to win." That was Sombra's biggest mistake. If he had destroyed One for All, he would have won, but there was something that Starswirl could do to ensure Sombra never won. He slowly and shakily got up and walked to the mantlepiece and grabbed the metal cylinder. Even if he reclaimed One For All as his own, his brother would keep on taking it until he was dead. He knew what to do. He murmured a few words at the cylinder and it began to glow. Then in a flash of light, the entire Crystal Empire was dragged into a vortex. "Only when the true heir of my power finds it, will the Empire return." He muttered to himself as he was dragged in as well.

"NOW PRINCESSES! PREPARE TO MEET YOUR-" Sombra was cut off as a flash came from deep within the castle. The Empire was being moved into a single focused spot.

"RETREAT!" Celestia yelled at her guards. They obeyed and ran, escaping the vortex. Celestia and Luna ran toward the border, until Luna was grabbed from behind. "LUNA!" Celestia ran back to help her sister.

"YOU WILL NOT GET AWAY THAT EASILY!" Sombra roared before Celestia blasted him with a simple stun spell. "DAMN IT! I WILL RETURN! YOU'LL SEEEEEeeeeeeeeeee! The vortex closed as two giant glaciers crashed together. The two sisters breathed for a moment before they hugged, happy that they were alive and together.

"Sister! What about Starswirl?!" Luna gasped. Celestia looked down, worrying for the worst. They ran to the crowd that stood where the glaciers had crashed. "Has anypony seen Starswirl?!"

"Starswirl?!" Celestia yelled.

"Princess..." A guard came up to her looking very sad.

"Have you seen Starswirl my little pony?" She asked.

"He is nowhere to be found. He was last reported to be heading into the castle. Sadly, he was never spotted coming out." The stallion bowed his head in respect. Celestia and Luna felt tears welling up in their eyes. They cried holding each other. Sad for losing their closest friend. Their own mentor. Then, colors appeared in the sky. An Aurora Borealis that shined brighter than any rainbow or stars in the sky. Many ponies today thought that was the princesses, creating it in respect for Starswirl. The truth is that it was Starswirl himself, guiding his heir toward his power. Little did he know that his heir, or heirs, weren't born yet. And even when they were, they were multiple worlds and galaxies away.

Now, thousands of years later, Starswirl was stopping the Everfree forest from consuming the town of Ponyville, along with learning what he could about friendship. Somehow, the Crystal empire had returned on its own accord. Yet One For All was still frozen in the icy tundra of the frozen north, yet the Aurora Borealis continued to shine bright. With Sombra destroyed once again, everything appeared to be smooth sailing. He could continue with his daily life and maybe... just maybe... the true heir of One For All would show themselves.

Intro:

Falconwolf1116 Presents

A My Little Pony Fanfiction

KEEPING IDEALS ALIVE

Planet Earth - 1000 Years Later...

A small chime went off from my phone. A calm, yet awakening chime. I opened my eyes and saw a light emitting from my phone. It read: 6:00 Time to wake up!. Halfway through my junior year, and I'm still not used to getting up this early. Groaning, I rolled out of my bed with nothing but my boxers on. I threw some clothes on, not caring if they matched or not. making sure to brush my teeth and turn my bathroom light off, I used my phone's flashlight and walked downstairs. My backpack was full and my key was in the side pocket, so at 6:20, I can say goodbye to my parents and head out. I nearly forgot to introduce myself! My name is Cameron Hallow, I'm seventeen and a Senior in my high school. I'm in... okay shape I guess. I have a bit of a gut, but that's it. I have dark brown hair that's spiked up at the front and curved at the back. My alarm went off, signaling me to leave. I don't bother eating as I'm never hungry in the morning.

"Bye Mom, bye Dad." I whispered into their room.

"Bye Cam." My mom said lazily.

"Have a good day buddy." My dad said just as lazily. I smiled and walked to the door, opened it and entered the outdoors. I walked to the bus stop and threw on my earbuds, turning the music up to full blast. It's not going to be intense since I was listening to Queen's, "Bohemian Rhapsody". As the Operatic section began, the bus arrived and I hopped on with the other kids.

After about ten minutes we reached the high school. I got off and walked over to the school's side entrance, still listening to some Queen songs. I walked down the hall and took a left into the cafeteria which is where my friends and I hang out in the morning. My friend Theresa is always the first one there. Theresa Neumann's like a sister to me. She has tan skin, long black hair, and always wears a leather jacket and torn jeans. Needless to say, she's a badass and a tomboy. I pulled out my earbuds and sat down next to her. "Hey Terri!" I said happily.

"Hey little bro!" She says excitedly, "How was your morning?" She calls me her little bro because she's a few month older than me, yet I'm taller than her.

"Same old same old. It'll be like this until college."

"Hey have you decided on where you're going yet?"

"Well, my first choice is SCAD."

"The Savannah College of Art and Design?" She asked.

"That's the one." She gave me a small look, "Look, I know I'm not the best at drawing but I want to be an animator or at least a comic illustrator."

"You're so much better at singing and voice acting though!"

"Aw c'mon I'm not that good..."

"Yeah he really isn't." My friend Ayden Burgess said, smirking, as he walked to the table. He had long orange hair, wore a flannel jacket and a ski cap and jeans. He was a little taller than I was. "Remember when he tried that Lil' Gideon impression from Gravity Falls? He sounded like a dying giraffe."

"That's not at all what a dying giraffe sounds like." I said smirking.

"Then what does one sound like?" He said smirking back. I then created an odd noise:

"Nice try on that insult asshat"

"At least I can make good ones!" He said smiling evilly.

"Yeah? And where are you going? Community college?" I shot back.

"Actually Chapel Hill." He said smirking, "Trying to get into stand-up comedy." Chapel hill was a state south of where we lived, and they actually have a great standup comedy course. Ayden was naturally funny so it would be a walk in the park for him. "What about you Terri? Where're you going?"

"I'm still undecided. I mean... I know what I want to do, but I can't find the right college to do it."

"You'll get there." I said patting her shoulder. Five minutes later, our friend James Watts came in. He was probably the smartest out of all of us. He was pretty short, had neat, dirty blond hair swiped to the side, and braces. "Sup James?"

"Hey guys. Ayden." Yeah, he didn't like Ayden very much.

"James." There was a small awkward silence before I broke it.

"Sooooo, we were just talking about where we were going to college. Have you decided?"

"Decide and have been accepted as of yesterday. In one year I will be a Georgia Tech student!"

"Nice James!" Theresa said happily, "You and Cam can visit each other!"

"Thanks Theresa." A little while later, our friends Mike Wang and Phillip Niskonovich came in. Phillip was a stocky guy. He had short, light brown hair, and rectangle glasses. His most visible feature was the permanent smile he had on his face. Phillip was the type of guy who can come up with bad puns for almost anything from trash on the floor to a dirty napkin. Mike had jet black hair that came down in three spikes, and tan skin and he was a video game buff, but was also pretty intelligent in computers.

"Hey Mike. Hey Phillip." I said as they came and sat down at the table. Phillip however, didn't look happy like he usually did, he looked... empty. Without emotion. "What's up with him?" I asked Mike.

"You heard about the strange disappearances that have been happening around town?" Mike asked. I knew what he was talking about. All over California, people were going missing and reappearing and every time, they came back insane. Screaming, yelling the same thing: The Cave.

"Yeah what happened?"

"His brother was taken over the weekend." Mike continued, "He was screaming the whole time in the ambulance after we found him."

"You should have seen him." Phillip said blankly, staring into space, "He was screaming as if he had saw death himself and barely escaped its grasp."

"They'll find the culprit Phillip." Ayden said, "Kidnapping happens a lot, they're bound to have a lead at some point."

"Don't count on it." James said, "There were no fingerprints, no signs of physical trauma, only scorch marks. It could take years to track this guy down." I swiftly kicked him under the table, "OW! HEY!" I gestured at Phillip who was on the verge of tears.

"My brother didn't deserve to be taken! No one did!" Terri rubbed his back in a gesture of comfort. The bell rang and it was time to head to class.

"Phillip c'mon." I said pulling his arm.

"Where're we going?" He asked.

"I'm bringing you to the school counselor." I replied, "You need to talk this out with a professional." We walked to a small hallway and stopped at a door labeled: "Mr. Jenkins - Student Counselor". "Alright so just go in there and talk it out. Okay?" Phillip nodded and I patted his back. "See you at lunch."

-Phillip's POV-

"So Phillip..." Mr. Jenkins said as I walked in. He was bald, thin, and had a small mustache. "What's been bugging you?"

"Well..." I muttered.

"C'mon Phillip I'm a counselor, you can trust me."

"It's about my brother." Jenkins nodded, "He was horrified about an event that occurred and he's still in the Psychiatric Ward at the local hospital."

"Can you tell me what happened?"

"I don't know. We just heard him screaming on our doorstep in the middle of the night and he was covered in injuries. He was crying and screaming "The Cave!" every five seconds."

"Those cuts must've done something terrible huh?"

"Yeah they... hang on... I never mentioned any cuts." I said looking suspiciously at Mr. Jenkins.

"Come now Phillip. Just sit down and talk to me." I started backing towards the door.

"N-no I think I'm gonna head to class." It was then that I felt a rag being pressed against my mouth. It smelled very sweet but I felt myself getting sleepy. Chloroform. I only heard these words from the masked man holding my trap shut with the cloth.

"Get him into the duffel. I get him to the van." I was so lucky that they hadn't noticed my phone in my pocket.

-Cameron's POV-

We never saw Phillip at lunch. What should have been a normal day was turning into a very weird one indeed. Phillip could've just gone home but he usually texts me if that's the case. At lunch, we were clueless, we thought he was just late. "He didn't text anyone that he was leaving?" I asked.

"Guys we're making too big a deal out of this!" James exclaimed, "We don't know for sure if anything bad happened to him! He probably left early and forgot to tell us." We all just sat in silence. We all felt like idiots for worrying about him being kidnapped. "Look I'll call him right now." He dialed Phillip's number, "He's probably fine okay?" He picked up, "Hey! W- what? White van in parking lot? What are you talking abou- Um... okay." He put down the phone. "Do you guys see a white van in the parking lot?" We all ran for a window looking at the parking lot. In it, there was one white van in the sea of other cars.

"James... you know which people, stereotypically, drive in a white vans?" I asked getting scared.

"Electricians and plumbers?" He asked getting nervous to.

"Nope. Rapists and kidnappers." With that, we all ran to the exit doors, ignoring the yelling teachers for us to get back inside and ran over to the white van which was a bout to pull out of the parking space. We heard light banging on the back doors. As the van slowly backed up I pulled out the pin keeping the doors shut and opened the back doors. There was Phillip. Tied up. The school counselor and a masked man in the drivers seats.

"Huh. I expected a priest to be in the other seat." Ayden quipped.

"TIME AND PLACE AYDEN! TIME. AND. PLACE!!!" Theresa yelled. We quickly grabbed Phillip, untied him and ran, the van in tow.

"WHO THE HELL ARE THOSE GUYS?!" I yelled. All I heard were muffled yells from Phillip's mouth as it was still covered in tape. "Why didn't anyone take the tape off of his mouth?!"

"We thought he'd do it himself!" Mike yelled. We heard the tear of tape from skin and Phillip started talking.

"They're the reason the disappearances have been occurring! They work for some sort of cult, I don't know! This all happening way to fast!" We were in the woods by the school at this point. The tall thin trees covered the area along with the leaves and dirt all over the ground. The van kept coming though, dodging each tree in its path.

"We have to ditch our backpacks!" James yelled. "They'll only slow us down!"

"Listen to James guys, he has a point!" Mike yelled. We all dropped our backpacks to the ground. I grabbed my phone and continued to run. We ran for what felt like hours. Until we reached a dead end.

"SHIT!" I yelled. The van pulled up close to us. The two men walked out towards us. Ayden made the first move.

"HEY!" He yelled. "You better tell us what the fuck is going on here! Why the hell would you kidnap our friend?! Huh?!" He was genuinely pissed. Then the masked man pulled something from his pocket. I knew exactly what it was, and Ayden was pushing it. "Hey? Your mom get you that mask? What, you were too fuggly for the world to see?"

There was a loud bang and Ayden yelled in pain and fell to the ground. Blood spurted from his leg. The masked guy had a Scoped 10mm Pistol with smoke coming from the tip. "YOU SON OF A BITCH! YOU'D ACTUALLY SHOOT A FUCKING KID?!" I yelled.

"ANOTHER ONE IS ABOUT TO BE FUCKING SHOT IF YOU DON'T SHUT YOUR GODDAMN MOUTH!" The masked man yelled back, "ON YOUR KNEES! ALL OF YOU! KNOW! YES YOU TOO ONE LEGGED MAN!"

"YEAH THAT'S A NICE FUCKING COMEBACK AIN'T IT YA WANKSTAIN?!" Ayden said putting on an Irish accent.

"I oughta blow your fucking brains out." He growled cocking his gun and pointing it straight at Ayden's temple. We all got down on our knees after that.

We were in the van for about two hours, meaning we'd be getting out of school by now. This all just occurred out of the blue. The day was going perfectly normal until Phillip came to school. I bet it was my fault that this happened now that I think about it. Ayden's leg had been poorly patched up with only a few bandages that didn't cover the whole gunshot, and the bullet was still in his leg at this very moment. He was bound to get an infection at this point. Theresa was next to him rubbing his arm in comfort as he groaned in pain. Mike and James were silent, not wanting to anger our captivators more than we had. I on the other hand needed answers. I decided to ask Phillip what was going on. Lucky for me, he was on my left.

"Pst!" I hissed. I nudged him to get his attention as well. He turned toward me and raised his eyebrows, silently asking me 'What's up'. I whispered as quietly as I could. "Who are these guys?"

"They're the reason those kids were going missing all over town." He whispered back, "When I talked to the counselor about how my cousin's condition made me feel, he walked behind me and choked me out. I woke up in the van later."

"KEEP YOUR VOICES DOWN YOU DAMN KIDS!" The masked guy yelled, "AND YOU! QUIT YOUR MOANING! IF YOU HADN'T BAD MOUTHED ME YOU WOULDN'T BE IN THIS MESS!" We were quiet for the rest of the ride. The ride had been six hours long, as the sun was setting when we arrived at a place I recognized completely from a few YouTube videos. We were at the entrance to the Cobb Estate.

The Cobb Estate was also known as the Enchanted Forest. It's been known for its long line of murders, rituals, kidnappings, and cults. You don't know who to trust when you walk in and wherever you walk, screams can be heard from the other side of the park. I had a pretty good idea of where they were taking us. Hidden in the woods, past where the Cobb Estate House used to be, was a narrow, winding cave, full of small passages and water because of the stream pouring inside. One would mistake it for a sewer entrance. The cave was where most rituals took place on animals and it's where murders take place because of how far into the mountain the cave goes. "Out." Mr. Jenkins said opening the back of the van, holding a .45 cal. at us.

We all stepped out of the van, not caring about our aching legs, except for Ayden who was being supported by Theresa. Our hands were up as we walked into the Estate. There were winding gravel roads, grassy patches beside them, and woods, thick enough to stop a car at its entrance. After about an hour of walking, the two gun holders turned us to the forest and shoved us inside. After another hour, the stream could be heard, we were getting close to the cave I just knew it. And then, it came into view. A small entrance surrounded by bushes with a flowing stream pouring into it. The Cobb Estate Ritual Tunnel.

We entered the tunnel which was floored with candlelight allowing some visibility. The entire tunnel was jagged on the inside with paths leading to more areas, except for one emitting a bright light. It could be our escape route once I come up with a plan, unless James came up with one already. I looked at him next to me and he was looking at the hole. He looked at me and nodded. He had a plan to get us out of here alive. We walked for another twenty minutes and it was getting really humid in the cave. I kept hearing Phillip clean his glasses of steam, the small squeaks echoing through the dark corridors.

We finally reached the back of the cave which was more open and significantly cooler than the rest of the place. On the ground was a circle of candles, a pile of rope, and freshly sharpened knife on a rick nearby. They were planning to perform a sacrifice by the looks of it. "Into the circle. NOW!" The masked man yelled. He picked up the rope as we all gathered into the circle. He tied the rope around us and had us sit down. He pulled out a book and read:

"Hear lord! You Satan are the true God! you are worthy of roaming this Earth of treacherous filth and cleansing it! We offer you these mortals to show you what has become of this earth! Know that we, your followers will be behind you the entire way! The candles did not light for those before these children! But I beg you! If these are the ones to awaken you, PLEASE! LIGHT THE CANDLE! AND GRACE US WITH YOUR PRESENCE!" We waited. But nothing happened. Lucky for us, no candles lit. "DAMN! No matter. We may have tortured the ones before you to insanity to keep them from talking, but you six are older! I say we dispose of the witnesses." He picked up the blade and held it before Ayden's throat. "Show me your blood." Just as he was about to slit his throat, Ayden who had been struggling at the bonds for the past couple of minutes, shook his hand free and grabbed the tool before it could penetrate his flesh. In turn, he drove the blade into the masked man's chest, the man yelling as his blood spilled into the circle. Then very slowly, a candle began to flicker on without a match or lighter. We knew at that point we needed to get out of there.

Mr. Jenkins dove for his Caliber, however it was too late as James had grabbed it before he could've. Jenkins hit his head on a rock and fell unconscious. We took this moment to run. Theresa and I put Ayden's arms over our shoulders and practically carried him out of the space. We heard the masked man getting up and running after us. "WE HAVE TO MAKE IT TO THAT SMALLER EXIT!" James yelled, "We can lose him there!" We retraced our steps making our way to the hole.

"Ayden! You first!" I yelled. He slid into a sitting position and slid through the hole into the forest. Theresa went next, then James, then Mike, then Phillip, and then me. Before I could get in, I was slashed across the face with a blade. The bleeding out, masked man yelling at me to come back and tried to grab my ankle before I managed to crawl through. I reached the exit of the hole and ran to catch up with my friends.

Eventually I caught up with them and we took a break. We'd been running for a full ten minutes and the forest had become more dense, more exotic, and a little eerie. There were now vines with spikes, dark oak trees, and a little mist on the ground. "Guys... something's wrong." James said. "These plants don't look the same as before..."

"Forget about the plants James!" Theresa yelled. "What do we do about Ayden's leg?!"

"I'll call 911." I said pulling out my phone. There were no bars or service. I waved my phone around trying to get a signal, but nothing came through. "Are you guys getting a signal?" I asked. Phillip who was the only other person to have his phone checked. He shook his head no. "Okay. I'll climb a tree, see if that works." I began to climb a tree in front of me. Only to slide back down. I tried again and again and again but only kept falling.

"Maybe I should do it Cam..." Theresa said taking my phone.

"Yeah that's probably for the best..." I said, sweat dropping. Theresa ascended the tree with ease. Meanwhile, the guys and I decided to rest a little longer.

"So how did you get your phone?" Ayden asked Phillip, trying to ignore the pain in his leg.

"They never took it out of my pocket. They thought they tied my arms up pretty well but I broke free after a few struggles."

"Why are the bad guys always dumb?" Mike asked.

"Hitler wasn't dumb. He was evil, but a military genius." James commented.

"Yeah he only killed some of his own soldiers by sending them to Russia in summer wear." I said getting annoyed.

"That was Napoleon, Cam."

"He made the same mistake!" I yelled back. We waited a few minutes for Terri to come back down.

"Why did the candle light up?" Ayden asked.

"What're you talking about?" I asked.

"When the guy's blood spilled into the circle, the candles lit up." He said, "Did I awaken the devil?"

"It was just trick candles Ayden don't be stupid." James said.

"Trick candles are supposed to come back on right after they're blown out." Mike commented.

"Guys the devil isn't real." James said. He was an atheist so he didn't believe in god, the devil, or the afterlife.

"Look what matters is we got out of there." I said trying to lighten the mood. "If we can't get an ambulance, we'll find a way to patch up your leg." Ayden smiled and we just sat there in silence. we heard the rustling of leaves and Terri came back down.

"No bars, no service, no nothing." She said in a disappointed tone. It was getting dark, and seeing as we had no way of getting home, we had to set up camp. Luckily, James and Ayden knew some survival skills, such as starting a fire, and building shelter. We gathered some timber, branches, vines, and rocks to start. While James, Mike and Phillip worked on their own, Ayden was telling Terri and I instructions to build the shelter. We sharpened four large branches and drove them into the ground, used strands from the vines to tie more branches together to make the frame. After, we tied the stems of leaves together and threw them on top like a ginormous blanket. After the shelters were finished, we set up the fire. We made a small pyramid of sticks, struck two stones together until a spark was created, and the fire sprung to life. We all gathered around to talk.

"So now what do we do?" Phillip asked.

"Now we need a leader." James said.

"Why?" I asked.

"Without a leader, things will get sloppy, and we need someone to keep things organized. I'd be willing to step up if no one else wants to." Ayden opened his mouth to talk until James interrupted him, "No objections? Good! I'm leader! Now tomorrow we'll set of on a hike and try to find our way home. We'll try to carry the tents along the way."

"Hold on James, we don't even know where we are." I said.

"What are you talking about? We're in the Cobb Estate remember."

"I studied the Cobb estate with Terri to study for her forensics test and these weren't the same plants as you said before. The plants aren't any I've ever seen before."

"I guess that makes sense."

"Not to mention we would've left the Cobb Estate with the amount of distance we ran." Theresa added. Ayden started coughing.

"Hey you okay Ayden?" Phillip asked.

"Yeah. I keep on inhaling that blue dust in the air." He coughed again.

"What is this stuff anyway?" Mike asked. Just as he asked, we heard a low growling. We looked back and saw what appeared to be a large, black venus flytrap... SLITHERING TOWARD US! We stared at it and realized we were surrounded. One opened its mouth and shot what looked like the blue dust into the air.

"Guys that isn't dust." James said coughing.

"What is it?" I asked getting nervous.

"They're spores." The plants gave loud growls and slithered after us. We ran through the pitch black forest, Ayden with his arm around Theresa. "Theresa! leave him! He's only slowing us down!"

"We can't just leave him here!" She yelled.

"We don't have a choice! Leave him and we'll survive!" Theresa looked at me with a scared expression. James was right, Ayden would slow us down, which is why we needed to find a way to speed him up I wasn't bout to leave my best friend.

"Phillip, Mike! Get some vines! Not the killer ones! Theresa pull off that giant piece of bark from that tree!" I ordered.

"We don't have time for this! They're almost here!" James yelled. He wasn't wrong. The vines were definitely on our heels. I could see movement through the patches of grass.

"How's it coming guys?!" I yelled at them. Theresa hurried back with the bark and the guys got the vines. I quickly made a few holes in the dying bark and and tied the vines through it. Voila! A makeshift toboggan! "Alright. Ayden get on! I'll pull!" He sat down and I pulled the vines. It moved easily thanks to the small, dew-covered, patches of grass. "Let's go!"

We ran for about ten more minutes until we came to a dead end. It looked like the side of a mountain. We heard the hissing of the vines getting closer. "Welp we're fucked." Mike said bluntly. We all thought the same until we saw bright flashes in the distance and the screeching of dying vines. Then, the flashing died down, and there was nothing but quiet. The sort of deafening silence that fills your ears when you sleep, only the silence wasn't comforting, but chilling. We heard the crunching of grass in front of us. We couldn't see the figure due the darkness, until the same flash that we saw before appeared in front of us. Standing there was what appeared to be a small horse, about the same height as us but smaller than the ones you'd see at a farm. It had a grey coat, a cape and hat covered in stars, and a beard as white as snow, but not puffy as you'd expect Santa Clause's to be. What freaked us out were the eyes. The horse's eyes were as large as dinner trays with large blue irises. I looked upward and noticed a long horn protruding from its forehead, emitting the light we saw earlier.

But something else was off about this horse. It was... squinting at us. As if it were thinking like a human.it walked closer and looked around at us, still squinting. But it did nothing. It just turned around and walked away. before it could do so however, it flashed it's horn, and started a small fire in some dry grass on the ground. I looked up at it and saw it looking back and I swear, at that moment, it winked. It winked at me! It disappeared into the darkness and the light from its horn slowly disappeared. "It winked at me." I said quietly.

"What?" Phillip asked.

"That horse winked at me after it started the fire." I said louder.

"Is that seriously the only thing you're worried about?!" James yelled, "You should be worried about how your leadership almost got us killed!"

"Oh so I was just supposed to leave my best friend there to die?!"

"YES! YOU NEED TO LEARN TO LOOK OUT FOR YOURSELF!" I glared at him, why he was being so insensitive, I didn't know. "I'm going to bed. Anyone who wants to join is welcome." He walked away and set up the makeshift tents. Ayden was still sat on the toboggan. Theresa sat next to him. Mike and Phillip decided to go to bed.

"So are we going to talk about what we just saw?" Ayden asked.

"It was a unicorn!" Terri exclaimed, "Why would one be on Earth though? I thought they were legends."

"Actually, they were said to have roamed the Earth during ancient times." I explained, "Maybe one survived?"

"And it winked! You saw it too right? It looked right at you!" Ayden yelled.

"That means it might be sentient."

"Sentient?" Terri asked.

"It can think and act just like humans basically. It has will." I explained.

"You think we'll see it again?" Ayden asked.

"I don't know honestly." We all sat around the campfire for a few more moments.

"Well, I'm gonna get some sleep." Terri said yawning. "Goodnight."

'We'll come to." Ayden said, "Ahem." He looked at me.

"Oh right." I said and began to pull him, but not until I saw the hoofprints of the unicorn we saw. If it was sentient, it would have a home. And I think it might help us get home.

Author's Note

Thus begins another story. Please do yourself a favor and never go to the Cobb Estate in California. A group of YouTubers were chased by a cult and were mistaken for one earlier this year.

2- Meeting the Heroes

Twilight Sparkle was having a normal day. Going around Ponyville, and getting everything she needed for Starswirl the Bearded's visit, and freaking out about it. The last part happens a lot. As always, she was making a huge deal out of things. She was zooming from stand to stand in Ponyville's market trying to find what she would expect her idol to find enjoyable. Her number one assistant Spike (who was a purple dragon with a green and tan underbelly) was speeding along with her. "Twilight, we've been going around the stands for hours!" Spike whined, "This is just a visit, not some super important meeting!" Twilight stopped and turned to talk to Spike.

"Spike, this is the first time he's visiting in awhile! I want to make sure he's comfortable and happy!" She exclaimed, "Now which cushions would he like, velvet or cloud?"

"Twilight! You're overreacting! Do you honestly think he'd care what pillow you got him to sit on?" Spike asked raising an eyebrow. Twilight bowed her head, sighing, realizing she was freaking out over nothing.

"You're right Spike, its just that after our first encounter, I didn't make the best impression."

"Yeah, fainting wasn't your best moment, but after you defeated Tirek, he realized how great you really are! You just need to remember to treat him like a friend. You hate being treated like royalty remember? How do you think he'd feel about being treated like that by one of his friends?" Twilight smiled at her assistant and hugged him.

"You're really growing up Spike. You've matured so much ever since we came to Ponyville." Spike hugged back and smiled.

"While we're here, Cloud pillows are better than velvet, we may as well get some to replace the ones at the castle." Twilight rolled her eyes but smiled nonetheless.

"Well I'm sure we have time to buy some new decorations, it's only 10 AM after all we have two hours to kill before he arrives." As soon as she said that, the manager of the Quills and Sofas shop entered the store.

"Is that clock still two hours early?! Feather!"

"Yeah boss?" The clerk said walking over.

"Fix that clock, it's been like that for weeks." The clerk got a step stool and set the clock at the proper time. The clock then read 12PM.

"Wait, why did you change the clock?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry Princess, that clock's been early for awhile now."

"But... but that means..." She gasped and grabbed Spike, "WE'RE LATE!" She screamed and flew out of the store back to the castle while gripping Spike in her forehoof. Meanwhile, the store was left completely messed up with pillows, quills and shelves knocked around.

"That princess has issues." Feather said, starting to clean up.

"I can't believe we're late, I cant believe we're late, I can't believe we're late!" Twilight yelled as she zoomed through town with her assistant holding on for dear life.

"Aaaand just like that you're Twilighting again." Spike said still waving in the air.

"Will you stop using my name as a verb?! Besides, nopony likes to be late!"

"Pretty sure most ponies say better late than never?"

"It doesn't matter! C'mon!" With that Twilight and Spike zoomed around a block, ignoring the waving ponies on the street. Finally, they made it back to the castle of friendship. It was a large crystal tree with a balcony, red curtains, and several towers. Next to it was a majestic lake with another crystal building built into a waterfall. This building was the famous, "School of Friendship", where creatures from across Equus would come to learn about the magic of friendship itself. It was currently being run by her student/friend, Starlight Glimmer.

As Twilight and Spike neared the castle, she saw, not Starswirl, but her five best friends, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and Fluttershy. She skidded to a halt, Spike crashing into her, sending her tumbling. "There she is!" Rainbow yelled, flying over to her. "You okay, Twilight?" Twilights eyes rolled around a little until she corrected herself and smiled sheepishly.

"Yeah, just running a bit late." She said still smiling.

"Ah'll say." Applejack said in her southern accent, "You're ten minutes late! That's a new record for you!"

"Ha ha, very funny Applejack."

"No, dear she's serious. You were supposed to be here ten minutes ago." Rarity said, "Are you feeling alright?"

"As long as Starswirl isn't here yet I'll be fine."

"Actually, he was here." Fluttershy said.

"WHAT?!" Twilight yelled.

"Relax darling! He said he couldn't stay for long and he wanted us to give you this." She pulled a scroll out of her saddle bag. Twilight took it in her own magic and unrolled it. It read:

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
By the time you read this I will be gone, but I must leave immediately to contact the other Princesses.
I apologize for rescheduling our meeting (I shall give you a proper time to meet with me at a later date), but I found something new in the Everfree Forest, something that may or may not be dangerous.
The creatures I found were bipedal, had the appearance of monkeys but had no fur and a taller stature, and had sorts of clothing on themselves.
I may have an idea to what these creatures are but they are different from the ones I remember.
I merely wish for you and the town of Ponyville to remain vigilant, as the creatures, as I said before, may or may not be dangerous.
Please update me if anything goes awry.

Sincerely, Starswirl the Bearded.

As Twilight finished reading the note out loud, she rolled up the scroll and placed in into her own saddle bag. "Those creatures sound familiar."

"Yeah, it's like those weird monkey things you met in an alternate dimension to get your crown back but ended up saving our alternate selves' friendship and a school from a demon that ended up being another pony in disguise as the monkey thingies."

"Thank you for the recap Pinkie, but Starswirl said that they weren't like the creatures I met in that other world. There is a possibility that they are from a different reality than the one I went to. Follow me inside girls, we can talk more in there." They started walking in until Rainbow Dash turned and saw Spike looking around at the back at the castle.

"You okay Spike?" She asked.

"Yeah. I'm fine." He said walking back towards the door of the castle. For a few moments, Spike was sure he had seen a creature looking back at him from the Everfree Forest.

Earlier That Morning

I woke up at around 10 o'clock, at least my phone said that. I was sleeping next to Ayden and Theresa. I saw that Ayden's bandages had come off in the middle of the night and his wound looked even worse. It had yellow spots and puss leaking out. His wound had gone septic. "Guys get up." I said groggily. Everyone stirred and Ayden was the first one up. "We need to find civilization today.

"Why?" James said walking out of the tent. I walked up to him.

"His wound is septic." I muttered to him.

"What?"

"Look at it." I said. James looked over at his wound and turned back to me, unable to make an excuse. Ayden could actually die if we didn't help him. "So what're we gonna do?" James looked around for a moment, then he pulled out the gun he stole from the cave.

"We could put him out of his misery..." James said cocking the gun.

"Hell no."

"Well what should we do? The wound's already infected, he'll probably die anyways."

"That unicorn we saw last night..."

"Oh here we go..." James said rolling his eyes.

"You saw it too James!"

"We were probably just hallucinating from the spores."

"Then why are the hoof prints still there?" I said pointing to the tracks on the ground. "It was real James. It had clothes on, so maybe it could help us."

"Cam, you're making it sound like a sentient creature." James said angrily.

"Because it probably was! If it wasn't, it had to at least have an owner. Maybe there's a town nearby, maybe we can get Ayden the help he needs!"

"I..." James' expression went blank for a moment. "Fine... Guys! We're moving out, let's follow those hoof prints!" Once everyone was less tired we helped Ayden get onto the toboggan and set off.

"So what happens if we end up finding this unicorn?" Mike asked.

"We see if it can help us. If it was able to get rid of those weird vines, we should be able to get medical help and hopefully a map. Maybe even service for or phones so we can call home?"

"And if we were just hallucinating?"

"We weren't. The tracks remember?"

"What tracks?" I looked down and noticed the hoof prints were gone, and we were still in the middle of nowhere.

"I knew you'd screw everything up!" James yelled. "Why did we have to listen to you?!"

"Because you agreed to! You didn't have to follow me!"

"Yes we did!"

"No James, you elected yourself leader! You should've done something!" Ayden started moaning behind us. The wound was getting worse.

"Oh I'm gonna do something alright!" He pulled out the gun and pointed it back at Ayden.

"NO!" I grabbed his arm and moved it away from Ayden's direction. We fought for it until I gained possession. I gave it to Theresa who turned the safety on and placed it in her backpack. "From now on, if you're going to be a leader, you're gonna have to step up at some points. You don't kill your peers." James nodded and bowed his head in apology. Finally after walking in the same direction, we saw a light.

"Guys! I think that's the exit to the forest!" Phillip yelled and ran to the edge. We all caught up with him a few seconds later but found the back of what looked like a big tree only... it was made of crystal. We saw a balcony in the back but that was it.

"What is that?" Theresa asked.

"It's a crystal tree." I replied.

"No... that!" I looked where she was pointing and saw what had to be the largest lizard staring back at us.

"GET DOWN!" I hissed. They all followed suit and hid behind the bushes. "That has to be the largest iguana I've ever seen."

"Whatever it was, it's gone." James whispered. We all got up and continued to look at the entrancing tree.

"That thing looks like a giant hand flipping off the world." Phillip said chuckling.

"No it do-" I was about to say until I brought my hand up to the tree and gave a middle finger. "Huh... how about that." A perfect match.

"Well now what?" Theresa asked.

"Now we find a way in there." James said.

"Wait... what? But there could be someone living in there." Mike said.

"I know."

"Nonononono we're not stealing." I said angrily.

"Why not?! For all we know, there's no one in there and all we saw go inside was a lizard."

"Or there is someone in there and they could be hospitable and help us."

"Not taking chances. C'mon" James darted out of the shrubbery.

"No... wait James... GUYS?!" Everyone darted out of the forest except me and Ayden who I helped get up. I put his arm around my shoulder and helped him hop to the odd tree. "Goddamn it."

"So what could these creatures be Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"A few months back, when I went to that other universe for the first time, I encountered a species called humans. They were bipedal creatures with almost no hair except for their heads. They also have to live without magic."

"That must be tough." Rainbow said.

"It took me quite a while to get the hang of it. But after seeing all the new technology that they made, they probably are smarter than we are..."

"So one of them is in the Everfree Forest?" Fluttershy asked.

"Not just one... Starswirl said there was a group of them. And it might be a different species of human judging but what he wrote."

"So what do we do about it?" Rarity asked.

"We do what Starswirl wants us to do, remain vigilant and notify him if we see anything."

"Or we could handle them ourselves." Rainbow said shrugging.

"We are not going to engage with them Rainbow!"

"Fine, geez."

There was a small crash in the hallway outside. Almost like a vase being knocked over.

"Watch where you're going Cam!" James hissed at me. The vase had shattered and dust spread through the air, giving some of my friends a coughing fit.

"I'm sorry but it's tough to carry a dying friend around."

"Then let him go!" He hissed.

"NO!" I yelled. All of my friends shushed at me, then we heard what sounded like clops of hooves.

"Hello?" A feminine voice echoed through the hall. "Is somepony there?"

'SomePONY?' I wondered.

"Hurry up!" James hissed and led the others through the hall. I hesitated. I wanted so desperately to answer, maybe get some actual help, but James did make a point, whoever owned this place might not be nice like I hoped, so I dragged Ayden down the hall and carefully down some steps. I saw a wooden door and heard some clanging from inside, I slowly opened it to find my friends raiding the kitchen.

"What are you guys doing?!"

"We're getting some rations." Phillip explained. "We don't know how long it'll take for us to get home so we need stuff to eat."

"How will you guys carry the food? We ditched our backpacks remember?!"

"Relax, we found some knapsacks." He said shoving what looked like a block of cheese into the sack.

"Cam just get Ayden inside and keep watch." I huffed and rolled my eyes as I pulled Ayden in. I walked back to the door and poked my head out looking at the two hallways.

"Meh meh meh meh meh meh." I said in a soft squeaky voice to mimic James. The reason I haven't stood up to him that much is because he could easily pull out the gun and shoot me. With Phillip and Mike on his side and one of my friends out of commission, Theresa was my only line of defense. I'm not saying I'm a worthless fighter, I've taken about a decade of training in martial arts so I could handle a guy as small as James. I know better than to bring my fists to a gun fight however. I hear a loud clang of a pot that hit the floor. The noise echoed through the tree.

"I think that came from the kitchen!" I heard the same voice from before. It was dangerously close. I turned back inside to face my friends.

"Guys! They heard us! They're coming this way!"

"Shit. Hurry up!" James yelled as they tied the knapsacks shut and ran out the door. I followed with Ayden's arm around my neck. We hurried out of the room and heard a new voice at the top of the stairs.

"HEY!" A raspy, yet still feminine, voice called at us. I looked up to see who the voice belonged to, only to see... I thought I had lost my mind. I saw a Rainbow Maned, cyan pegasus, glaring at me and my friend. "WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU'RE GOIN PAL?" It yelled. I double took. It talked, well yelled rather, but it still talked. I ran as fast as I could with my friend still slightly unconscious. "GET BACK HERE!" She yelled and flew at lightning fast speed towards us. I turned a corner and allowed the pegasus to whiz by us. I kept running in that direction until I saw another pony, this one was orange with a stetson hat. This one had no horn like the pony from the forest, or wings like the pegasus that nearly rammed into me. I skidded to a halt, prepared to run the other way, but it faced down another hallway, yelling at one of my other friends I supposed.

"Hold it right there you varmint!" It talked as well. Instead, this... mare (I believe a female horse is called.) had a deeper voice and a southern accent.

"Get away from me!" I heard Phillip yell. He must've been alone, otherwise the others would've yelled. Then to my misfortune, she turned and aw me and Ayden. She pulled out her lasso and prepared to swing it at us.

"Gotcha!" She yelled, the lasso in her teeth. I took off trying to get as far away from her as possible, not wanting to know what would happen if caught. The lasso flailed through the air and slowly neared my friend and I. I felt Ayden jolt in my grip and saw that the lasso had landed around him. The mare was now attempting to pull him back. I held onto Ayden tight, trying to ensure that he never lost my grip. I eyed the rope and pulled it closer to me, the pony moved about an inch, yet she held her ground. I brought the rope closer to my mouth and bit on it hard. I moved it around on my canine and heard a SNAP! The pony fell over and the torn rope flew back. I got a better grip on Ayden and ran off in the opposite direction.

Yells echoed in the halls as I carried Ayden around. I had no idea how many ponies there were, but I had to make an escape. Whether with my friends or not. I had ruined my chances of getting Ayden help here, but that didn't mean there wasn't hope. I returned to the staircase right by the kitchen, hoping to find the exit soon. 'My best hope is to escape while the ponies are occupied. Four of my friends are on the run. If each one is dealing with one pony, then that means there could be more around here. As I turned the corner I felt a presence behind me, I turned and saw a rather cheery looking pony with a huge grin on her face. What surprised me was that despite the ceiling being so high, she was still hanging upside down, suspended in midair.

"Hiya!" She said.

"Bye!" I yelled and ran with my friend back the way we came. I turned to find the same pony running next to me.

"I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?"

"Not that important at the moment!" I said still running.

"Hi, Notthatimportantatthemoment! That's a mouthful! Mind if I call you Nim?" Okay, I had to chuckle a little bit. This pony just had that bubbly personality to her that whatever joke she said, I'd have to laugh. "Oooh! Do you like cake?!" I was curious as to what she was implying, I was about to ask, only to have something soft crammed into my mouth. I nearly choked but managed to swallow and Jesus Christ! My mouth was just full of flavor at that moment. That cake beat all of the ones I've ever ate. That took the cake, pun intended. I came to the conclusion that she wasn't dangerous and calmed down a bit. I slowed to a walk and took in her style. She was pink with a puffy magenta mane, like cotton candy, and bright blue eyes. "Hey why'd you stop running?" She asked, "I thought running was fun!"

"Well I was actually... trying to run from you..." I said.

"Why would you do that? I'm not gonna hurt you." She said, her smile softening to, just a caring look in general.

"Well, your friends were sort of different."

"Ah there not bad once you get to know them!"

"I guess we did provoke them by sneaking into your tree."

"Oh this isn't my tree silly!"

"It isn't? I asked.

"M-m." She said shaking her head, "This is my friend Twilight's castle."

"Nice going Pinkie! You got two of them!" It was the same raspy voice from before. Before I could get my friend and run, the air was knocked out of me and I hit the wall. I slid onto the floor, still winded. I tried to get up, only to have a hoof pressed onto the back of my head, pinning me down.

"W-Wait!" I yelled.

"Hey Applejack! We got another one!"

"Imma comin!" "Applejack" said walking closer to me. It was the orange pony from before. "Well well! This is the one who bit my lasso!" I felt the movement of rope wrapping around my torso and binding my arms together. "Get the other one Rainbow!"

"This thing's already knocked out."

"Wait, please! Y-you don't understand."

"You can talk once we get you with the others." I felt my body being pulled away from the area.

"Wait Applejack! He isn't a meany pants like the others!

"We just need to be sure Pinkie."

I saw the rainbow-maned pony smirking at me. "I'll admit it, you put up a pretty good fight."

"Please listen to me! My friend is- mmph!" I felt a strap of tape go against my mouth as I was pulled into a large open room. I would turn around to look at what was in front of me, but then I'd just be looking at a horse's behind. The last thing I want is these ponies suspecting that I'm a pervert. I'm in enough trouble as it is. I felt myself leave the ground and sat onto a table of some kind. There were six ponies and that large lizard surrounding us. My friends were silent, Theresa was on the verge of tears, James was fuming, Phillip and Mike just bore blank expressions, and Ayden was still slumped over, unconscious. I knew he wouldn't last long. I felt the tape being torn from my face only to be interrupted by the purple pony in front of me. This one was different than the others. She had wings and a horn. She was lavender with an indigo mane and a magenta stripe running through the middle of it.

"Great job girls!" That voice... it was the one I heard a while ago. "To think that we only heard about all of you today and you just appear in my castle!" She sounded almost... excited, as if she had wanted to see us for herself. "Buuuuut, Starswirl did want me to report you all, so i better send him a letter that you're here."

"What'll happen to us after that?" Mike asked, "Nothing bad I hope."

"Well, tests might be run on you for a start, then they might ask you a lot of questions. Breaking and Entering however is a punishable crime here in Equestria, so you might have to do some community service."

"You're bluffing." James said, "We were only doing what we had to to survive. It's called survival of the fittest."

"I'm well aware of that theory, except you could've just asked us for help instead of breaking in and attempting to steal. I really don't want you all to be punished, but it's up to the higher up princesses to deal with crimes." She said sadly. I was getting more nervous than I was before. If we were put into custody, then Ayden would have no chance of survival.

"Wait a minute Twilight!" Pinkie to the rescue! "The one with the spiky hair in the front, his name is Notthatimportantatthemoment"

"That's an... oddly specific name..." She said looking over at me.

"Actually my name is Cameron... Cam for short."

"Cam! Don't tell them your name!" James hissed.

"Will you shut up James?! We're in enough trouble right now because of you." I hissed back. He rolled his eyes and left me alone. "Sorry about that."

"No worries... Cameron... anyways, what about him Pinkie?"

"He just seemed really nervous about something out in the hall..."

"That's because he got caught Pinkie Pie." Applejack commented, "A criminal always regrets their decisions once they are in trouble."

"Well that's partially true... I'm mostly worried about my unconscious friend right beside me."

"I'm sorry I knocked him out, but he would've run otherwise." The Rainbow one stated.

"No please you don't understand! He's hurt! Really hurt!" I actually felt tears forming in my eyes. It felt pathetic, but I couldn't help it if I was worried. The girls and the dragon took notice of this and they stopped glaring and just looked concerned. "He was terribly injured yesterday and we haven't been able to get anything to help him. I really didn't want to break in... none of us did... but if you do turn us in... he will die!" My tears are flowing down my cheeks. One of the other ones walked up to me with what looked like a box of tissues. This pony was a pegasus with a yellow coat and a long pink mane and tail. She gave off the vibe that she was shy, but regardless, she walked up to me and wiped my tears with the tissues. "Th-thank you." She nodded gave a small smile and backed away. "Please... help him. There must be a hospital somewhere?"

I saw the purple pony looked to the ground and finally she looked at me with a smile. "Applejack... let them go." The binds loosened and my friends and I were free. I heard Ayden moan again. "Cameron, you, your friend, Fluttershy and I will go to the hospital. I want everypony else to stay here and keep watch on the creatures. C'mon." I saw Ayden being lifted into mid air.

"Holy-" I shouted as I jumped back.

"Don't worry, it's just magic, it won't harm him in any way." She gave me a reassuring smile and walked out of the room with Ayden in the air behind her.

"I'll see you guys later." I gave them a nod and walked out of the room.

To get to the hospital, we had to walk through the town called Ponyville. There were some ponies in the street that glanced at me. I saw some with children pull them indoors, I saw a couple at a flower stand faint, and I saw one that just stared at me. I made a mental note to avoid that green one at all costs. We finally made it to a hospital in a small clearing at the edge of town. It was a white and brown building with a red and white cross, but it seemed more like a retirement home with the fancy little accents on the borders.

I held the doors open for the mares being the cursed gentleman I was. Seriously, I can't go one place without holding the door open for someone. They briefly thanked me and walked up to the reception desk. "We need to get this creature into the ER stat!" Twilight yelled.

"Of course Princess!" The receptionist pony said, running into the back. Wait... PRINCESS?! A little while later, some ponies dressed in white came out and put Ayden onto a stretcher. They rolled him deeper into the hospital, leaving me to hope that he would be alright.

Waiting is such a pain in the ass. I couldn't read any of the magazines due to the fact that although the ponies' language comes out as english, when written down it's completely different, neither Twilight nor Fluttershy had wanted to talk to me, and I had no idea if my friend was still alive or not. Well, the doctor hadn't come outside yet to tell us any news so he wouldn't be dead yet.

"I'm sorry." I heard a voice mumble.

"What?" Twilight spoke up.

"I shouldn't have scared you and your friends like that. I'm really sorry."

"Nono... we should've asked for help instead of breaking and entering."

"But it was because of me that-" I stuck up a finger to silence her. I was nervous that I did that to a princess, but she wouldn't have expected me to know that, so no harm in milking that situation.

"Let's just agree we were both in the wrong." I said smirking. She giggled.

"Sure. Let's just start over." I humbly nodded.

"Thank you by the way. You carried Ayden all the way here. It means a lot to me."

"Of course... I could tell you really cared for him... are you two?" I knew what she was asking.

"No. We... aren't a thing. I don't feel that way towards my gender."

"Oh... sorry. So what is he to you?" I sighed and sat back in my seat a little.

"He's my brother. Not by blood, but we act that way towards each other."

"How do you act like a sibling?" Fluttershy asked.

"W-well..." I thought about that. "We just goof off and treat each other like brothers, we get into arguments, overcome them, we don't judge each other. It's like you and your friends I'm guessing."

"From time to time we get into some trouble, but it's because we work together and use our strengths to each other's advantage."

"Well... we have some time... mind telling me a few stories?" And for the next four hours they told me about their lives. Twilight began as an introverted excelling student to the co-ruler of this world, and now she's the Princess of Friendship. Her responsibility is for her and her friends to solve friendship problems all over Equestria (their homeland as I learned.). Fluttershy told me about Rainbow Dash (That was the rainbow-maned pony's full name) and how it was because of her that she and her friends learned their special talents. It was actually very interesting hearing about their misadventures, challenges, and how they defeated their villains. They even reformed some of them, which I found not so surprising.

Finally, after four hours of waiting, a nurse with a white coat and a pink mane came out of the OR to give us the news. "Your friend will be fine. He woke up a little earlier but got rather frightened seeing the doctors and nurses, so we had to sedate him to keep his heart rate low."

"Thank you." I said bowing my head. "Could we go in to see him?"

"You may, but he'll be out for a few hours so you won't be able to talk. Hurry now, visiting hours end in a few minutes." She said walking back to the station. We entered the recovery room and saw him there. The wound was no longer yellow and had multiple stitches attached to it.

"I didn't realize he was hurt so badly." Twilight said getting closer to him.

"What could cause a wound like that?" Fluttershy asked.

"A gun." They cocked their heads at me. I thought for a second. "Do you have cannons here?"

"Yes actually, except they're antiques. There hasn't been a proper war in Equestria for a few decades now."

"Well think of a gun as a tiny, hand-held cannon, shooting a tiny ball of metal at the speed of sound."

"But... but that could kill anypony!"

"That's the point. Back on my world, guns are used every day to kill another human being just for different opinions or grudges. Sometimes they're used for no reason at all, or even suicide."

"Suicide?!" Fluttershy yelped. I saw Ayden jolt up at the sudden noise.

"Who?! What?! Where?! When?! How?!" He yelled. I ran over to him.

"Easy buddy! You okay?"

"Cam? Hey pal. I must've overslept, did I miss school?"

"Urm sort of?"

"What do you m- HOLY SHIT!" He backed against the head of the bed. Twilight and Fluttershy recoiled in shock.

"Whoa! Easy! It's okay they won't hurt you!"

"How do you know?"

"I'm here with them aren't I?"

"Fair point, tell me something the real Cam would know."

"You didn't hit puberty until age fifteen."

"That... that was our secret." He said blushing. The girls giggled. "Really dude you had to say that in front of the ladies?!"

"Relax! They'll keep it a secret! Right girls?"

"Cross My heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." They chanted doing a couple of movements with their hooves. Ayden and I both stared at them.

"What was that?" He asked.

"A pinkie promise." Fluttershy happily stated, "Don't you both have something like that?"

"Yeah except we spit on our hands and shake." He said spitting on his hand. Reluctantly, I spat on my own and shook his hand. The girls groaned in disgust.

"Oh come on, it's a guy thing!"

"Well, actually Applejack and Rainbow Dash do something similar, except their spit isn't as disgusting." Twilight said eyeing our hands.

"Eh, spit's spit." The nurse came back into the room and told us to leave.

"How long does he have to stay?"

"About a day or two."

"I'm gonna have to stay longer with the cabin fever I'm gonna have." He and I chuckled a bit at the terrible joke. "You'll come visit right?"

"Of course! I'd never leave you behind!" With that, the girls and I left the room.

"How are you feeling sir?" The nurse asked.

"A lot better now. Just call me Ayden. Thank you nurse erm..."

"Redheart. Nurse Redheart. I'm glad you're okay Ayden." She turned off the lights and Ayden went to sleep.

It was night by the time we had exited and I noticed how lit up the sky was. The stars swirled around making it appear like galaxies were visible. "Wow... you never get nights like this back on Earth. It's breathtaking."

"What are nights on Earth like?" Twilight asked.

"Boring." I bluntly stated. "Not enough stars, too much darkness and clouds. With all of the stars in the sky, I'd probably wake up thinking it was day."

"There are ponies that are nocturnal. They take the nightshift as guards. You'll probably notice that they will stand out a bit more than most ponies."

"I need to get back to my cottage and tuck all of my animals in. Goodnight Twilight. Goodnight Cam!"

"Sweet dreams Fluttershy." She flew off in the direction of the Everfree Forest where she told me her cottage was.

"Let's get back to the castle." I noticed Twilight looked really tired. It had been a long day after all. I would've offered to pick her up, but she was about my height and judging by how strong Rainbow and Applejack were, we humans are inferior. Instead I allowed her to put a forehoof around my shoulder so she could be better supported. She smiled a little at the gesture and we continued to the castle.

When we entered we heard a crash from the room my friends were being kept in. 'Oh No.' was my only thought. Twilight and I opened the door to find my friends wrestling with the ponies. "Excuse me?" I asked, they didn't stop. "HEY!" I yelled. They stopped and turned toward me. "What the hell is going on here?!"

"Have you all lost your damn minds?!" Twilight asked, surprising my friends and I. We all didn't think she would ever curse.

"I just found some weird tool in his knapsack," Rainbow pointed at James, "And I just wanted to know what it was. He threatened me and said he'd use it on my if we didn't let them go. So I took it and he just attacked me!" To keep everyone safe, I ran over to Rainbow Dash and took the gun out of her hoof. "HEY!"

"You don't know what you're messing with!" I yelled. I turned on the safety, as Theresa had taught me, and gave it to Twilight who only looked at it with a mixture of fear and interest. "That is a dangerous weapon you shouldn't have been messing with." I scolded. I then pointed at James, "As for you! If you are our leader, then you need to be the bigger man. Don't threaten what doesn't hurt you. Now.. I think we're all tired, so I say we go outside, set up the tents, and go to sleep."

"I have some spare guest rooms here. You're more than welcome to stay." I looked at James.

"F-fine." He mumbled.

"Thank you Twilight."

"I'll get Spike to help me get them ready for you all." She walked out and that left me and the others.

"On behalf of all of us, I'm sorry that we gave you all so much trouble."

"It is our fault darling," A white unicorn with a purple mane and tail said (I believe her name was Rarity.), "If we hadn't used brute force, maybe the fighting would not have occurred." She glared at Applejack and Rainbow who just sunk back and smiled sheepishly. "Well, I best be getting home. My sister might be awake and I don't want her to be sleeping during school tomorrow."

"Same here. I'll see y'all tomorrow." Applejack and Rarity left.

"Eh I might as well head out. Later dorks." Rainbow said flying out of the room.

"And I have work tomorrow!" Pinkie said cheerfully. She turned to me and gave me possibly the tightest hug ever. "Bye Cammy!" She hopped away with the smile still on her face.

"She's weird." Phillip said. "I like her."

"Okay guys, you're beds are ready. Have a goodnight sleep." She walked away to her room and we walked to ours.

"So how's Ayden doing?" Terri asked.

"He's alright. He'll spend one or two days in recovery but that's it."

"He got lucky if you ask me." James muttered. I ignored him.

"Well goodnight guys." Mike said as he entered his room. We all said goodnight as we entered our respectful bedrooms.

Meanwhile back on Earth... the circle was still glowing in the back of the cave. Then shadows appeared, accompanied by two purple, green, and red eyes and a long curved horn. It gave a hearty chuckle and looked around. In front of him was the corpse of a bald man and towards the end of the hall a man dressed in black was also dead. "Perfect." The shadow hummed, "A way back.". The shadow entered the hole and closed it off. Cutting off Earth from Equestria, King Sombra's Home.

Author's Note

I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. For quite some time I've wanted to write a proper HIE. This'll be it for June and July. See you guys in August!

3- The First Day

I entered the spare room that Twilight had given me. It was pretty nice as far as living quarters go. There was a large bed, a desk, and a window that faced out to Ponyville. I looked through it and saw the lovely night sky above the slightly lit town. The moon shone almost as bright as the sun, lighting up the sky and land. I hopped into the bed with my clothes still on and decided to try and get some sleep. This proved to be a challenge.

The past day's events plagued my mind with corrupted thoughts, causing brief nightmares. I woke up every hour or so and found it hard to go back to sleep, until one of my nightmares changed. I started out in a pitch black area, it was cold and it felt as if all of the happiness had left my body. I spun around as I floated in the void, hoping to catch a sign of life. I got my wish as through the darkness, there were a few stars. They were multicolored and appeared to be moving in odd directions. I reached out, feeling that their warmth would give me comfort. As I reached out:

I felt myself flung across the void and was suddenly surrounded by stars. There were small orbs everywhere with what appeared to be small moving pictures in them. I grabbed one and rubbed it. The video played back and I saw Theresa and my friends just hanging out like we did back in middle school, without a care in the world. It was confusing, what was occurring right now. Why would the colored stars send me here?

I found a path made of small lights and walked along it. There were more dreams along the way of ponies I had never met. Then I found an orb that was just a blank bubble. I grabbed it and looked carefully at it. In it, I saw the bubble again, and again, and again. This one was viewing my perspective. I heard the sound of magic flashing. I turned around and saw a deep blue alicorn walking along the same path I had.

'Shit! I gotta hide!' I thought. But where? There was nothing for miles except orbs. Oh goddamn it. I quickly gathered some orbs and built a wall to block me from her vision. She came closer on the path. I closed my eyes hoping for the best and... she passed. I sighed in relief. I guess I was oka- *BLAST*

Nevermind...

"WAIT!" I yelled as I was tossed around in space and felt two hooves hit my shoulders. A blue wall appeared behind me and I felt myself take impact. It was painful to say the least, oddly all the pain was transferred into my head, giving me a short migraine. My eyes were closed so I had no idea who my attacker was. As the migraine died down, I opened my eyes and saw a very big alicorn pressing me to the wall. She had a navy blue coat and piercing cyan eyes. She wore a black tiara and collar with a white moon on it. Then there was her mane. It shined like the starry sky itself, almost as if... she... was the night. I was staring into the glare of Princess Luna.

"CREATURE!" She yelled in a double voice. I was just going to have a migraine in general if she kept talking like that.

"Y-yes?" I asked in a very small voice.

"WHAT REASON DO YOU HAVE FOR ENTERING THE DREAM REALM? I DO NOT RECALL GIVING YOU PERMISSION TO ROAM AROUND AS YOU PLEASE."

"D-dream realm?" I asked. She pounded on the wall she had manifested with her hoof. It cracked as she did so.

"DO NOT TRY TO PLAY DUMB WITH ME CREATURE. I KNOW WHAT BELONGS HERE AND WHAT DOES NOT. AND IT'S FAIRLY OBVIOUS WHAT CATEGORY YOU ARE IN."

"First of all, please stop yelling at me! This is going to be much harder if I have a headache or deafen! Second, I have no idea how in the flying fuck I got here!"

"You best watch your mouth when talking to a princess young colt."

"Y-yes ma'am." I said freezing up. She double-took at my quick change in attitude.

"Well, you have manners, I guess I'll give you that." She released me and made the wall dissolve into nothing. She then summoned a table with two pillows, along with a... tea set?" "Please have a seat." I floated over to the pillow and sat down. She poured tea into both teacups. "So you are one of the creatures Starswirl had told my sister and I about."

"I-I guess?" I said taking a sip of the tea. It had a hint of mint and lemon.

"Odd, I expected you to appear as barbarians, almost ape-like."

"Eh, we gave up the barbarian-ape look about a few million years ago, give or take. Sort of went out of style through evolution." I swear at that moment I heard a light chuckle.

"You look... a lot less ugly than I expected." Okay. Ouch?

"Urm... was that a compliment, or an insult?

"With how I pictured you, a compliment."

"Well we are in the... dream realm you called it? Why not manifest what you expected us to be like?" She narrowed her eyes.

"You certainly now much about how the mind works."

"Humans have had theories about the mind for quite awhile now. Being able to control what happens in your dreams happens to be one of our many theories."

"Well... I suppose that makes sense." She flashed her horn and a blank canvas appeared in the sky. She flashed it again and this time, a big brute-like creature with beady, red eyes and crooked teeth appeared. It looks like the type of people you'd see in a Looney Tunes cartoon. "Satisfied?"

"Very. Also sort of offended, but you only had a small description from this "Starswirl" fellow, so I guess it's understandable. How did he know what we looked like anyways? Does he live in Ponyville?"

"He was the pony who confronted you in the Everfree Forest a while ago."

"That old unicorn was him?!"

"Please refrain from calling him old. Although he may be elderly, he has saved multiple lives and still has plenty of magic to protect Equestria."

"My apologies Princess."

"I haven't even introduced myself. I am Princess Luna, ruler of the night and controller of the moon. I keep ponies safe while they dream and sleep, although, nopony exactly likes my night as much as my sister's day."

"I'm Cameron. Cameron Hallow, and I just wanted to say that your nights are actually really beautiful." Her eyes widened at me. "What?"

"Y-you like my night?"

"Well, yeah... who wouldn't, there are plenty of shining stars in the sky, the moon shines very bright, and the sky turns a beautiful purple at night. Some humans would die to see a night like yours."

"Nopony has ever said anything like that about my night, well except my sister, and friends, and... well it's nice to hear that a creature who has never met me likes what I've created." She said, her eyes shimmering.

"You... learned to trust me very quickly... did I really just have to compliment your night?"

"Don't get me wrong, I still don't trust you, but I think I can try to. After all, you've been kind, respectful, yes... I'll give you a chance. But if you break my trust, I will throw you so far into the bottomless pit of Tartarus that you might even find a bottom." She said glaring at me. I gulped.

"D-dually noted." I said smiling sheepishly.

"Then I believe it is time for you to wake up. Farewell Cameron Hallow." Her horn began to glow.

"Urm, Princess wait!" The glowing died down.

"Yes?"

"I uh... nevermind." I didn't exactly trust her just yet. If we became closer in the future, I'd tell her about the stars.

"Very well." Her horn glowed with such intensity I thought I was looking at the sun. It turns out I was.

I sat up in the bed. Daylight streamed inwards through the window. I had a better view of the room now and it seemed very nice. There were photos of Twilight and her friends everywhere, but that was to be expected since this was her castle. jumping out of bed, I popped my back and limbs and drew the curtains and peered outside the window. The sun was shining and there were ponies everywhere in town. I walked to the room door and entered the hallway. The castle was really big on the inside, hallways twisting in every direction, doors every ten feet on either side, it would be easy to get lost... which I was at the moment.

"Well shit..." I said to myself.

"Having trouble?" A female voice came from behind me. It wasn't Twilight's so it must've been another friend. I turned around and found a light purple unicorn with a purple and turquoise mane.

"Sort of."

"I had the same problem when I moved in. I'm Starlight Glimmer, Twilight's friend and student."

"Student?" I asked.

"Basically her protege in learning the magic of friendship. The dining room is two lefts down that hallway." She pointed down the hall. "I was heading there to eat since Spike usually makes breakfast around this time."

"Thanks Starlight."

"No problem uh... never got your name exactly?"

"Oh sorry, Cam, that's my name."

"No problem Cam." Starlight and I walked down the hallway and took two lefts. We soon found ourselves in the dining room. I was the last one up. All of my friends (minus Ayden) were at the table eating pancakes. Twilight was at the other end surrounded by papers and quills. She appeared as if she hadn't gotten any sleep prior to today. Her mane stuck out in odd directions, her eyes were bloodshot, not to mention one of them was twitching which sort of scared me a bit.

"Twilight?" I asked. She only acknowledged my presence by grunting. "Are, um... you... okay?"

"Oh yes! I'm just fine! Just have a couple of papers to do before I go to sleep!"

"Uh huh..." I leaned over to Starlight. "She does realize it's morning... right?"

"This has been happening for weeks. Ever since Twilight opened her school, she's gotten less and less sleep grading assignments, tests and signing report cards."

"Shouldn't the teachers be doing that work?" James asked, "The principal shouldn't be doing everything on her own..."

"Well the headmare seems to disagree." She stated glaring at Twilight. The door opened again and the lizard I saw yesterday was standing there. His eyes were totally bloodshot as well. He must be the assistant Twilight told me about.

"She. Needs. A break." Was all he said as he walked to the chair next to Twilight.

"Oh Spike! Good you're here! Listen, I need you to run down to the school and grab the rest of the assignments from my desk."

"There's more?!" I blurt out.

"You have no idea pal." Spike grumbled as he started walking out of the dining hall.

"Hey! Spike right?" I asked as I followed him outside.

"Yeah? And you're Cam right?"

"Yep. Why don't you get some sleep and I help Twilight out? You look exhausted."

"Well, being up all night will do that to you. Wait... you'd actually do that for me?"

"Dude, you look awful. Letting you do all that work without sleep would just be cruel." He closed his eyes and sighed.

"Thanks. I was gonna pass out pretty soon anyways. I don't think I could've made it out of the castle."

"All I need are directions and I'll be on my way."

"Well the school is right next door. Once you get in there, all you have to do is walk up the stairs in the entrance hall, and find the third door on the right."

"Got it. Entrance hall, third door on the right. Get some sleep buddy." With that Spike yawned and walked to his room. This was my first time leaving the castle since yesterday when I brought Ayden to the hospital. I figured the ponies still weren't used to me or my friends being around so I had to be careful with who I talked to or where I went. Once at the castle doors, I took my first step into the sunlight. It was beautiful outside! Only a few stray clouds, perfect temperature and fresh air. I walked along the rocky pathway across the lake, to the school which was practically inside a waterfall. I walked over to the entrance, not even noticing the ponies glaring at me.

As I entered the school, I saw it was very busy. Ponies running, trying to get from class to class, volunteer teachers trying to control where students went, I swear I saw a stallion accidentally walk into the female restroom. At least I hope it was an accident. I pushed through the crowd, getting kicked and pushed around a little, making my way to the entrance stairs. I walked up and took a right, getting to the third door. I pushed it open to find a large stack of papers on the desk. "Shit." was all I could say. I would probably have to make two... no... three trips to get the papers back to the castle. I heard a knock on the door as I began to take some papers. Without an answer, the ponies named Applejack and Rainbow Dash entered the room.

"Hey Twilight could you settle an argument for us? Could you tell Applejack- what're you doing here?" We only stared at each other. "Well?" She asked glaring at me.

"I was just getting these papers for Twilight." I said. She turned to Applejack for an answer... I guess? I don't know why but she just nodded.

"You're gonna carry that mountain of papers back to the castle... all by yourself?" I thought about that for a moment.

"Yes." I finally said. I attempted to lift the papers but the tower just wobbled threatening to fall over. "On second thought... could I have a hand?"

"Well we would... but we don't have any... hands." Rainbow said smirking.

"Haha very funny. Could you lend me a hoof? Please?"

"Eh, why not." Rainbow flew up and grabbed about a third of the stack of papers. She handed those to me, then gave another third to Applejack, then herself. While rainbow carried the stack with her hooves, Applejack carried hers on her back. I was honestly impressed about how well balanced the papers were on them rather than in my hands which actually made sense!

"How are you doing that?" I asked.

"Doin what?" Applejack asked.

"That! How are the papers so well balanced?"

"Well, when ya live on an apple farm, carrying barrels of cider on your back is pretty easy once ya get the hang of it."

"And we've always been able to hold stuff in our hooves."

"I'm just surprised because human hands are meant for holding stuff, yet it's hard to get balance either- WOAH!- either way." I said as the papers nearly fell over.

"Those weird things on the end of your hooves are hands?" Rainbow asked.

"Actually the hand is what our fingers are attached to. That's what allows humans to grab things."

"So like a monkey?"

"Basically. Humans actually evolved from monkeys as a matter of fact." She snickered.

"R-really?" She said, as she and Applejack were holding back a laugh.

'Oh Fuck' I thought, 'I just made a huge mistake, didn't I?'

"I'm NOT. A. Monkey!" I exclaimed. They stopped laughing but giggled a little at my expense.

"Never said ya were."

"Well you were thinking it Applejack. Both of you were." We finally got outside and onto the stone path leading to the castle. There were still ponies glaring at me but I continued to ignore them.

"I gotta admit it... it takes a lot of willpower just to keep yourself from gettin angry at ponies givin looks. Why aren't you upset?" Applejack asked.

"Oh I am... but it's understandable why they feel that way towards me. I'm a new creature in a world where my kind isn't even in existence."

"That doesn't make it right though."

"Change is hard to accept... trust me, I know."

"Well obviously! We're seeing it happen right now." Rainbow exclaimed.

"No, I meant... never mind." We continued walking across the stone bridge and into the castle. "So why does Twilight overwork herself?"

"It's just who she is Cam. We can't change that." Applejack said to me.

"Well she should try to relax a bit more often."

"Pft! Please! Relaxing to Twilight is just organizing books!"

"Well just because it's work doesn't mean it can't be relaxing to her. You ever heard of zen gardens?"

"I guess that makes a bit of sense, but relaxing to me is just lying down on a cloud and snoozing the afternoon away."

"Wait... what?"

"What's up?"

"Sleeping on a cloud? You can't touch a cloud... can you?"

"Check it out dude." She flew out a conveniently open window and brought back a small, puffy cloud.

"That's amazing!" I reached out to touch it, only for my hand to go straight through. "What?"

"Yeaaah... only pegasai can move clouds around."

"Wow... I have a lot to learn about this world."

"NO NEED!" I heard James yell. "We're heading out!" He said, with Twilight, a tired Spike, and my friends right next to him.

"Why?"

"Twilight asked us how we got here when she was done with her papers and I remembered the crevice that we crawled through to get here. We're packing up and going home!" He said happily.

"Wait... what about-"

"Ayden? Well we're going to pick him up on the way. It was about a day's trip from the hole and that's how long it's gonna take to get back."

"Well... okay. Are we all packed?"

"Yeah! We can go right now."

"Actually..." Twilight began.

"What is it?" James asked, getting aggravated.

"The Everfree can be dangerous, not to mention how big it is. We should probably get Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy as well."

"What about Spike?"

"Spike's been overworking, so he could use a break. Me too, of course." She said smiling sheepishly

"Fine we'll go get the rest of your friends, get some more supplies then head out. But we don't have all day!" I just turned to Twilight and shrugged. We gathered everything and headed for the hospital. We were quiet the whole walk on account of all of the ponies just looking at us curiously, especially that green one. I don't understand why she's taken such an interest in us... We arrived at the hospital a few minutes later.

"We're here to see if the human patient is ready to be discharged?" Twilight asked Redheart politely.

"indeed he is princess! I'll go grab him from recovery and bring the release forms." She trotted off to get Ayden.

"Hey um Cam?" James said.

"What?" I asked, feeling irritated with him.

"I just wanted to apologize for how I've been acting since we've arrived, it's just, it's stressful being leader of some people you don't exactly like... I just want you to know I'm only doing what's best for the team and... you shouldn't get attached to these... things... easily."

"They're called ponies James, and I'm not growing attached, we need to be friends with them because we need them if we're gonna get home." I lied.

"Good... just making sure." He said walking back to the waiting area. I noticed I was the only one standing in the hallway, ad it's then that I realized that the ponies aren't that different from us. There was an OR board just like in every human hospital back on Earth. Ponies of different ages scheduled to have a transplant, a running whip stitch, even a craniotomy. They all had the same sicknesses here, just like home. It was sad to think that they had all of this trouble. I looked to my left and saw a rather shaky stallion looking at the board. He was tan with a short brown mane, and was wearing scrubs.

"First surgery?" I asked.

"Yeah..." He said with shakey breaths. "It's my first time scrubbing in... I don't know if I can do it."

"Which surgery?"

"Running whip stitch. They can't expect me to do that already can they?"

"Hey... just... try to stay calm alright? They're just trying to see what you've got. It's like a test if you think about it."

"Only if I fail somepony dies." He said gulping. Rainbow came into the hall.

"Hey, your friend's out, come on we have to head out." I nodded to her.

"You'll be fine um..."

"Scalpel. Scalpel Heart." Heh... figures.

"I'm Cameron. You'll be fine. Just try your hardest." I patted him on the shoulder and walked back to the waiting room. I looked back at him opening the door and although he appeared miserable, there was a small smile on his muzzle. I just hope I didn't get his hopes up too high.

We left the hospital a few minutes later. Ayden still had a limp, but thanks to all of the magic and medicine it would go away in a matter of weeks. Our first stop was the local bakery called Sugarcube Corner and apparently it was where Pinkie Pie worked. She was baking delicious treats to bring on the trip which was totally unnecessary, but she insisted. I don't even know how it will stay good when we're walking around a humid forest towards the end of summer. We turned the corner and arrived at a building tat reminded me of those stereotypical gingerbread houses that you see at those competitions around Christmas.

"That's Sugarcube Corner?!" Phillip exclaimed. "It looks good enough to eat!"

"Hold it there partner," Applejack said, "We understand y'all are hungry, but don't eat the best bakery in town." Guess there were more. We entered and was greeted by a lightly colored room, set with tables, a counter, pastries on display, and a very busy Pinkie Pie. Her hooves were pink blurs as she worked on cakes of all types and stuffing them into a single bag. Yeah. A single. Bag. It's impossible but I've learned from Twilight, not to ask about her craziness. She said that a while back, doing that put her in a wheel chair, and gave her minor head trauma... she didn't sound so sure on that part, but I'll take her word for it.

"FINISHED! All the cakes we need are done!" She turned around and gasped as she saw me. "CAMMY!" She pounced and started nuzzling me as I was tackled to the floor.

"Um... hey... Pinkie Pie..." I said, the air gone from my lungs.

"C'mon silly! Call me Pinkie! All of you should! We're friends now! *Gasp* I should give you all nicknames!"

"Definitely not." James said bluntly. "You don't even know our real names."

"That's... right!" Twilight said surprised, "We never got any of your names except Cam and Ayden. I feel pretty stupid now that i think about it." I stood up and introduced everyone.

"This is Phillip, Mike, Theresa and James."

"Cam!" James hissed.

"What? They need to know our names if they're gonna help us!"

"That's..." He stopped, "That's fair... I guess."

"Anywhooooo, I have the cakes ready girls! ROAD TRIP!"

"Wait, how are those cakes gonna stay good? It's pretty hot outside and that bag is just gonna make things worse," Ayden said.

"The bags have a spell on them that gives them the ability to keep food fresh." Rainbow explained, "It's basically a portable fridge."

"That's... actually very helpful."

"Well c'mon! We're not getting anywhere just by standing here!" Pinkie said as she hopped out the doors of the bakery. We all just stood there.

"So... I'm guessing she's the kind of friend you never want to or feel the need to question?" I asked.

"That's right sugarcube, "Applejack said shaking her head, "That is right."

It took only a few minutes to reach Rarity's boutique and it's probably one of the most upper class buildings in town. It had a fresh coat of paint, clean windows, and a feeling that made you want to throw on a monocle and a small mustache. Or maybe that's just me? I don't know. The point is it makes you feel like you're walking into a very upper class place.

And upper class it was. The inside had stages, dresses, mannequins... ponnequins? The context of this world can get very confusing very quickly. The dresses appeared to be expertly made, some frilly, some light shaded, some covered in crystals, some looked themed in ways that I can't even describe. I don't care about fashion, but I have to admit, this would make just about anyone impressed! "Rarity should be upstairs," Twilight said, "You all can wait down here while I go get her." Twilight walked upstairs and we explored.

"These dresses are pretty neat." Theresa said looking at a particular black and blue one with a crescent moon on the front. I could probably guess who that one was themed after.

"See one you like?" I asked smirking. She blushed and started rambling.

"I'll have you know Cameron Hallow, that I will never care about girly things like dresses, butterflies, lollipops..." When she starts this, it's hard to tell when it will end, so I've learned a pretty helpful technique. It's called the SWA trick. What does SWA stand for? Well that's what I'm doing right now: Slowly walking away. Finally, the rambling stopped when we heard a yell from the other side of the room. There was Mike with a furious ball of fur scratching him all over his face.

"MIKE?!" I yelled and ran over to help. I caught hold of the cat and attempted to pull it off of his head, which in turn gave me a few claws to the eye. "DAMN IT!" I dropped the cat which ran over to Theresa and climbed into her arms, immediately snuggling in.

"Aw it's ok kitty. Were those mean boys hurting you?" ... Yeah. She said that.

"Excuse me. I'm the one who just got scratched all over the face!" Mike exclaimed.

"And I'm the one whose eye nearly got clawed out!" I yelled.

"Awwww she was just scared. Weren't you?" Theresa said as she gently pet the cat. It turned towards us and smirked, giving us an evil stare. I squinted my eyes back. Mike and I now had a common enemy. Also, I should just say, I'm not a cat person at all. I'm okay with kittens, but most grown cats are the root of all evil, unless there are some nice ones out there, which I'm sure there are. But until I meet them, my point still stands. Now dogs, they are called man's best friend for a reason, heck I have one back home and she's the absolute best. I think i've proved my point.

"Is everything alright down here?" I heard a posh voice ask. Rarity and Twilight entered the room.

"Yeah, you just missed those two get beat up by a cat." Rainbow said, smirking at us.

"Poking a bear Rainbow. Poking. A. Bear." I said. "The cat just happened to come out of nowhere and attack Mike and just happened to scratched my eye while I was trying to get it off of him." Rarity gasped.

"Opalescence! How dare you harm our guests!" she said glaring at the cat, which in turn, cowered back into a corner. Serves it right. I gave it the same evil smirk it gave me, earning me a hiss and an evil glare that just screamed "I'll get you for this". It's a cat. What possible harm could it do?

The last stop was Fluttershy's house which was on the edge of the Everfree Forest. 'I don't understand why she of all ponies would live there.' I thought, "The forest is creepy, dangerous, and full of... oh. OH!" We came up to a small cottage that had a small stream running through it. It was surrounded by trees with bird houses, small burrows, and animals big and small. "So she lives by the forest to take care of animals. That's pretty neat." She walked out through the front door talking to... a bunny.

"Now Angel, I'll only be gone for a day. I want you to make sure that you stay safe alright? I left carrots on the counter and plenty of other treats for our other friends. I promise that when I get back I'll make you your favorite salad." She said slightly nudging the small bunny. It smiled and hugged her hoof. She smiled back and trotted over to the group.

"She thinks that animal can understand her?" James whispered.

"Not just think partner." Applejack commented.

"She knows Angel can understand her." Rarity added, "It's her talent to communicate with animals."

"But that doesn't make sense. How can she understand them but not any of us? There's no science to back that up."

"Just think of it as learning a new language, James." I told him, "She's the only one who gained the context and the emotional capacity to understand them."

"I guess that makes sense." He said with a curious look on his face, "Well forget it. C'mon everyone. If we're gonna make it by sundown we need to get going now."

"Aye aye Captain Dingus!" Ayden exclaimed.

"Shut up bullet hole!" James yelled back. "Unless you want another one in the other knee this time.

"James, what did we talk about?" I whispered in his ear.

"*sigh* Don't threaten the group and act like a real leader. I know. But he was pushing it."

"He's just messing around okay? Calm down." I slowed down to walk behind him.

"What's his deal?" Rainbow asked me.

"He's just stressed out. He isn't used to being away from home like this. He also doesn't believe in anything that happens in this world."

"Why not?"

"Well, humans don't have wings or magic or talking animals for starters. Or talking ponies either."

"So what about other species?"

"Animals are the only other species. Humans are the only sentient race."

"Yeesh, that sounds lonely."

"How so?" I asked. Then, Twilight joined the conversation.

"Well, there are only about a million ponies here in Equestria and a few hundred thousand of other species, so if there are only a million or so humans on your world-" I couldn't help but chuckle. "What?"

"There are 7.6 Billion humans on Earth. The amount you just said would fit into a small country." James said not even looking back at us. I looked at the ponies and they were all slack-jawed.

"S-seven point s-six b-b-billion?" Twilight said in a small voice.

"That would be a lot of party members!" Pinkie yelled bringing everyone out of their trance. "Imagine having to make 7.6 billion cupcakes! There wouldn't be enough batter in the world for that!"

"Good thing some people in our world have allergies. That would make it easier on you Pinks." Ayden said. Pinkie chuckled.

"That's a new nickname! I like it! Now I gotta give you one!"

"What have I done?"

"Something you didn't want to start my friend." I said chuckling and shaking my head.

"Shut up, Cammy" He responded.

Two Hours Later

We were walking in silence. Pretty boring if you ask me. Rainbow and Pinkie were looking bored, Theresa was messing with a leaf in her fingers, and Ayden was falling asleep. "How um... how about I play some music?" I asked.

"How're you gonna play music all the way out here without a radio?" AJ asked.

"With the help of my friend, Technology!" I pulled out my phone and opened the music app.

"No more of the "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road Album", we've listen to that one for ages. Play Black Sabbath."

"C'mon Burgess no one listens to them anymore. Play Hamilton, Cam." James yelled back.

"No, play Panic at the Disco!" Theresa yelled.

"DAgames!" Phillip added.

"Queen!" Mike chimed.

"I'll let the girls decide." I said. "Something upbeat, slow, rap, rock, or pop?"

"What about something upbeat?" Fluttershy asked. I smiled knowing just the song to put on. I went to the Beatles' soundtrack and pressed:

When the song ended the girls were laughing. "That song was fun!" Pinkie said happily.

"Never heard one like that before! What other songs do you have on there?" Rainbow asked.

"Why don't you choose one?" I held the phone up for her and let her choose a song.

(Copyright: Elton John)

"What's this one called again?"

"Saturday's Alright For Fighting by Elton John. One of the greatest singers in human history."

After that song, we played some Queen songs, Panic! At the Disco (Which Twilight loved for some reason...), and even some of the video game songs which Rainbow and Pinkie liked. It then started to get dark. I forgot how creepy this forest was at night. The vines looked the snakes, the trees like large beasts with sharp teeth. It was very unnerving. "We should stop here for tonight." Twilight said.

"C'mon! We're almost there!" James yelled. I looked back at the group. Ayden looked exhausted, Terri was trying to keep Phillip from collapsing, and Mike looked like he was ready to pass out.

"James we're all tired. We should stop." I said.

"Just ride the ponies then!" He yelled angrily. I looked at the girls and saw that they were actually pretty pissed... with blushes on their faces.

"James they're not animals! We can't just hop on their backs!"

"Yes you can, and yes they are animals!"

"Now look here James!" Rarity yelled, "We are not just creatures with no form of emotion!"

"You're right. You're a bunch of smelly, four legged, mutated horses!"

"That's it! Put em up buddy!" Rainbow yelled getting into a fighting stance. "I've had enough of this bullshit!" I saw James reaching into his pocket. I ran and grabbed the gun.

"Are you kidding me?!"

"Look Cam I-"

"No just-just shut up James! You are threatening the ones helping us. Why can't you just see that they're kind and willing to help?"

"Cam they're animals-"

"They are not. Fucking. Animals. They are sentient creatures and I don't approve of how you're treating them. We are setting up camp. NOW!" Everything was quiet except for the crickets and the distant howling of wolves.

"And you shamed me for threatening creatures with a gun." I looked down and saw that I was jabbing the gun into his hip. I dropped it and stepped back.

"J-james I-"

"Forget it. We'll set up camp. SEPARATE camps! Humans in one, ponies and pony LOVERS in another." He walked away and went to gather firewood. I just bowed my head in shame. Why had I pointed the gun at him?

I laid on the grassy patch where the girls had set up their camp. The others were trying to set up the tents but Ayden wasn't willing to help so it took longer than expected.

"Don't worry about them Cameron dear." Rarity said, "they just aren't the greatest friends out there."

"Well," I said sitting up, "Ayden and Terri are cool with you all, but Phillip, Mike and James are just... I don't know."

"Well look on the bright side Cammy! You get to hang out with us!" Pinkie chirped. I just chuckled. it really wasn't so bad hanging out with them. I just suck at making new friends is all and because they're being so welcoming to me it's just weird, I guess. There was a happy silence for a few minutes.

"I'm honestly jealous of you girls." I said.

"Why's that?" Applejack asked.

"Well this world may have the occasional monster, but the rest of this world is just beautiful. Bright stars in the sky, perfect temperatures throughout some days, fresh air, my world didn't have any of those things."

"What was your world like then?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It was dark. I don't really think you'd want to hear about it before going to sleep." Rainbow got up and sat next to me.

"Try me bitch." Bold words Rainbow.

"Okay. Murders occur almost every day, children are abused, shot in schools and bullied every day, people are raped, people are discriminated, and a lot of leaders are jackasses."

"Woah... that... is pretty dark." Rainbow said sheepishly.

"Told ya... bitch." I said smirking. In reply I got a punch to the shoulder. We all shared a laugh afterwards. I heard footsteps behind me.

"Hey man..." Ayden said.

"Sup?"

"Could Terri and I join you all? James is being a jackass." I turned back to the girls.

"Told ya our leaders are jackasses. Yeah sure c'mon over." The rest of the night we shared stories of experiences we had in school and out. The girls told embarrassing stories that Ayden and I couldn't help but laugh at. I noticed that Fluttershy wasn't talking at all. "You okay, Fluttershy?" I asked.

"Oh... um... yes... I just forgot how scary these woods are..."

"I bet Cam could sing us a song!" Ayden said.

"Ayden..."

"C'mon! You'll love his voice!"

"I'd actually want to hear you sing Cam." Twilight said smiling.

"I don't know..."

"You got it bro." Terri said nudging me.

"*sigh* fine." Applejack pulled out a guitar.

"I'll play the music, you sing some lyrics to what it sounds like." She said. I nodded and she started the rhythm. I knew exactly what to sing with it. One of Elton John's best songs.

(Rocket Man by Elton John, Cover by Mike Masse and Jeff Hall)

As I stopped singing, I looked at everyone in the circle. The girls had their mouths hanging open, their eyes wide, Ayden smirked and Terri clapped.

"Cam... that was... amazing... where did you learn to sing like that?" Twilight asked. I shrugged.

"Just... picked it up I guess... well... we should get some rest. We're going home tomorrow.

"He's right. Goodnight everyone." Terri said. We all snuggled into some large leaves and fell asleep.

The fire burned out at around midnight. My leaf blew off and I felt myself shivering, then warm. A wing had draped over me. I don't know whose... but it sure did help out. I hugged the wing and fell asleep, hearing soft giggles.

In the Frozen North, the aurora shined brighter. The heir to One For All was near. It was only a matter of time.

Author's Note

As promised, now that I finished this chapter, I will devote my time to working on Chapter 4 of the Ink Machine. Stay tuned! Also yes... I am addicted to Elton John. At least I'm addicted to something good!

4- Painful Revelations

I woke up pretty early. The sun was just beginning to rise and morning dew had formed on the grassy patches around our camp. I got up and decided to have a small walk around before everyone got up for the day. I didn't walk too far from the camp, but enough to witness the nature of this strange world. There were pretty much the same animals from home. There were birds, frogs, chickens... chickens? "Why is a chicken out here?" I asked myself walking closer. The chicken turned its head towards me and I noticed something off about it. Instead of beady black eyes like I would've expected, there were red, glowing orbs in their place.

It was staring at me with such intensity I felt myself going rigid, but then I just slowly walked away. It looked surprised and then angry and walked out of the bushes. My eyes widened when I saw what it truly was: a cockatrice. A chicken head on a snake's body. I learned of the cockatrice in English Class when we were reading myths but I never thought I'd see one in real life, let alone here of all places. It glared at me again, I felt the same rigid feeling come and go, and then it just looked confused, coking its head to one side. "I feel like I'm forgetting about something I learned about you..." I thought to myself. Then it was the cockatrice's eyes' turn to widen and it quickly scurried away.

"Are you alright Cam?!" I heard a soft voice yell. I turned and saw a worried Fluttershy behind me.

"I-I'm fine... why?"

"The cockatrice has the ability to tun anypony it sees to stone! That's why!" She practically yelled. That explains why I felt rigid. "You didn't look it in the eyes did you?"

"I did actually... twice." She stared at me slack-jawed.

"Then why aren't you..."

"No idea..."

"Well... the important thing is that you're alright." Wow... she sounded a lot more like a mother just now. I figured the shy personality was all that was there. And I've only known her for two days. We walked back to camp where everyone was still asleep.

"How did you know where I was, Fluttershy?" I asked.

"I was already awake and decided to follow you... I hope that was okay with you...." Aaaaand back to being timid.

"No no it's fine really. How did you scare it off like that?"

"A few years ago, when Twilight first came to Ponyville, I encountered that same cockatrice, I also met it in Tartarus a few months back. I used my stare on it to keep it away from Applejack and Rarity's little sisters plus their friend."

"Your... Stare?"

"It's what I do to keep my animals under control if they're misbehaving." I was, in all honesty, intrigued.

"Really? Does it work on other ponies?" I asked. She stopped walking and turned towards me with a nervous expression.

"Please don't make me use it on you..."

"Why not?"

"Rainbow Dash thought she could take it once, and she ended up hiding in her bed for a good week." I gulped. If Rainbow was about a hundred percent tougher than I was, what chance did I have?

"Alright I won't make you..." She sighed a breath of relief. I felt a buzz and a ring from my pocket. I pulled it out and the alarm to wake up was playing on my phone. Everyone stirred (except for Ayden) and got up.

"Ugh... I'd prefer to wake up in a less noisy way." Rainbow groaned, her mane disheveled.

"You said it." Theresa groaned.

'C'mon everyone get up." James said, "We still have a good hour to walk before we get to the cave. Burgess, get up."

"No I'm dead. Go away." He mumbled.

"Get. Up."

"I'm trying to rot in peace here James, I would like to have my eternal slumber."

"If only I had that gun..." He mumbled to himself. Knowing Ayden for a few years, I knew how to deal with these situations.

"Ayden if you die now you won't be able to have a nice, soft, cushiony coffin. If you stay alive for a few more hours we'll get you one." He opened one eye and stared at me.

"Why did you have to be my best friend?" He grumbled.

"C'mon you corpse, get up." He stood up and shook out his leg.

"How's it feeling?"

"Stiff." He grunted as he took his first step.

"Hey." Rainbow said to him. She sighed and lowered her wing. "Hop on, you can't walk on that leg for an hour."

"i walked on it for a few yesterday."

"Look, do you want the ride or not?"

Hmmmm... what's the catch?" He said putting on a goofy, curious expression while rubbing his chin. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

"The catch is you do it before I change my mind." He stood there for a good few seconds.

"Deal." He walked over and lifted his leg over her barrel, eventually hopping onto her back.

"Whoa, you're light as a feather!" She said.

"Yeah I know I am, but be happy you aren't carrying Cam. He's like lifting a pile of bricks." Rainbow snickered.

"I'm not deaf y'know." I called back.

"It's true!" He yelled.

"Ah'll be the judge of that." I heard a western accent say. Soon I felt something go underneath my legs and lift me up. I yelled in surprise and landed on the back of an orange pony with a blond mane. My vision soon turned brown as her stetson hat landed on my head, which was a tad big. "Heh, sorry partner." Applejack grabbed the hat off my head and placed on on her own. "Well Ayden, guess you were wrong, he's probably as light as you are."

"Bah what do you know!" He yelled. I chuckled to his expense. I heard Theresa yelp and suddenly, she was on top of Pinkie Pie.

"Didn't want you to be left out!" Pinkie said, giggling.

"Oh brother." I heard James mumble. I frowned, knowing that he was stressed but maybe taking out his anger the wrong way.

1 Hour Later

"HOW COULD THAT BE POSSIBLE?!" Twilight yelled, "I turned to stone when I looked at it and I had magic to prevent the process!

"Guess magic doesn't solve every problem, Twinkle." Ayden said, lying down on Rainbow Dash's back. Twilight's face scrunched up in frustration.

"I just wish you were staying longer... I could've ran some tests, maybe made a breakthrough for an antidote!"

"Bet you're happy yer leavin now, huh?" Applejack said.

"A little, yeah."

"Only a little?" She asked.

"Well-" Okay so I liked the place. I know I've only been here for two days but it already seemed better than Earth. Just before we came here, kids were kidnapped and tortured so...

"Where is it?!" I heard James yell.

"James are you okay?" I called up.

"WHERE IS IT?!" He screamed. I hopped off of Applejack's back and ran up to him.

"Whoa, calm down! What's wrong?" I laid a hand on his shoulder. He shook it off.

"The entrance! It's gone!"

"What?!" Phillip yelled, "That's impossible!"

"Yeah, it couldn't just disappear!" Mike said. I looked around and couldn't find the hole.

"Maybe we're in the wrong area..." I suggested, "We could scale this side of the mountain?"

"NO!" James yelled, "IT WAS RIGHT HERE AND IT'S GONE!"

"James! Calm down!" I said.

"This is all your fault."

"J-james I-"

"THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!" He stood up and turned around, knocking me back a little.

"Woah! How is this my fault?!"

"No he's right Cam!" Phillip said getting in front of James. "You sent me to the counselor! If you hadn't, I wouldn't have been kidnapped and we wouldn't have ended up here!"

"How was I supposed to know he was a kidnapper?!"

"Yeah you can't just blame him for this! He had no idea this would happen." Theresa stepped in.

"Oh fuck off Theresa!" Mike yelled, "Don't defend him just because you like him!" Theresa blushed but only grew angrier.

"And what about you Mike?! You've been James's best friend for years and now you're defending him!" It was Ayden's turn to step in front of me.

"He couldn't have known, guys. The counselor was supposed to help us, Cam made the right choice in the situation Phillip was in."

"SHUT UP AYDEN! STAY OUT OF THIS!" James yelled.

"ALL OF YOU STOP!" We were nearly knocked off of our feet as Twilight spoke in a very loud voice that we had no idea she possessed. We all turned toward her and the girls.

"Holy shit..." Ayden muttered. While he was facing them, James took the opportunity to run up and kick the knee, which had been shot, causing him to yell in pain and fall over, blood spilling out of the recently healed wound.

"You son of a bitch!" I yelled as I run up to James, slugging him right in the stomach. He hunched over in pain, or at least I thought he was, when he grabbed the gun from my pocket and whacked me on the head. I fell over, my eyesight blurry. All I could make out at the time was a yellow figure jumping over me and standing in front of James. A few seconds later, I heard a soft thump and saw the blob that was James on his knees. The yellow creature turned towards me and knocked the side of my head, lightly, but enough to knock me out of my daze. I saw Fluttershy's large blue eyes staring into mine, squinting, trying to find something. She sighed and looked at me with worry.

"You'll be okay, but you have a concussion. One of your pupils blew out from his attack." I sat up and looked over at James. He had a blank expression, his eyes wide however, and he was pale as a ghost.

"W-wha-" I started to say.

"I had to use my stare on him. He probably would've hurt you if I hadn't." I looked back at him and saw the gun in his hand. It was locked and loaded.

"Fluttershy, you actually may have just... saved my life." I said slowly.

"What do you mean?"

"That thing he's holding... is a gun from my world. Was he pointing it at me?"

"Yes he was..." Her eyes grew wide and she gasped. "Th-that doesn't mean?!"

"Yes... he was going to try and kill me."

We turned back and headed through the forest. I was starting to feel dizzier so Applejack volunteered to carry me again. Rainbow took Ayden since he was bleeding again. Luckily, this time we had bandages to spare, and we were able to patch it up. Twilight agreed to carry James, although she didn't look too thrilled to be doing so. Fluttershy flew by Applejack and I from time to time to check on me. The trauma had caused a bump to form on the side of my head which hurt whenever she used her hoof to touch it. "Ow! Quit it, Fluttershy!"

"I just need to be sure the bump won't get bigger. It could be a blood clot." She said as she tapped it a little more. Suddenly, a wave of nausea hit me. My eyesight got even blurrier and I felt more saliva being produced in my mouth, to the point that I had to spit every second.

"Applejack please stop for a second." I heard my own voice say, although it was pretty muffled. I jumped off and ran to a nearby bush where I retched.

It took a few hours until we finally reached Ponyville. We stopped at the edge of the forest, where I heard Twilight talking to the others. I could just barely make out the words she was saying.

"Applejack, you can give Cam to me, Fluttershy and I will take him to the hospital. Ayden, do you feel like you need to go as well?"

"As long as you have more bandages at the castle I'll be okay."

"Okay. Would one of you carry James back there?"

"Actually Twi, maybe you should bring him to the hospital too..." Applejack said as she gently lowered me to the ground where I slumped over, having a coughing fit. The words were just muffled and my vision was completely blurred. I felt myself become weightless for a few seconds before I landed on something soft and purple, which I assumed was Twilight's back. My vision began to go black and I was soon unconscious.

I was floating in darkness again, only the stars weren't there. Instead was what looked like a purple cloud with dark veins all over it. I had no idea what it was but it gave off an evil aura. It was cold when I floated by it. It's the kind of cold you get when you're helpless, powerless against everything that crosses your path. I felt sadness, fear, and anger. Anger towards James for trying to kill me, anger towards the others for siding with him, sadness that my friends might never get home, and I felt fear above everything. I had no idea where we were, if home was close or not, if there was even a way back at this point. I felt the cloud surround my body, the sinking feeling all over me.

Then I felt a tingle of warmth. I turned around and saw a blue star in front of me. It was one of the stars from the group I saw my first night in Equestria. My body was enveloped in warmth and light. The other stars surrounded me, the cloud starting to dissipate, and the darkness was replaced by a blinding rainbow light. I felt safe, I felt every element of harmony at once, rushing through my veins. the kindness that my friends had, the loyalty Terri and Ayden showed me today in the forest, the generosity the girls had, welcoming us when we were considered a threat, the honesty they showed with wanting to help us, the laughter we all shared, and the magic we've been exposed to when we first got here. It was the most amazing feeling I've ever felt in my entire life. Even though we hadn't been here long, they had showed us so much kindness and friendship that I felt as though we'd been friends for years.

And as the light died down, I saw... a grassy field... no not just any field... Equestria, at sunset. I saw my friends, the girls, even Spike sitting on a picnic blanket, they were all smiling, even James. I saw Princess Luna with them, smiling, then looking up at a pony I'd never met. A tall mare with a white coat, a flowing rainbow mane and tail, beautiful, angel-like wings, and a horn behind a golden tiara. She was smiling down at Luna and raised her head to see me. The field vanished and I was in the starry area again. The place where I met Luna for the first time. The taller alicorn flew toward me. I had no idea how to react at this point. Both times I met an alicorn weren't the best encounters. The first one I was tied up, the next I was attacked, what would she do?

She landed in front of me, and walked up to me. "So you're this Cameron Hallow my sister has told me about."

"S-sister?" I asked, petrified in fear.

"Luna is my sister. She's told me of how you had advanced knowledge of the dream realm, as well as how you have a cowardly appearance when meeting royalty." I smiled sheepishly, feeling my cheeks warm up. She giggled, and it sounded like a mother laughing with her newborn. The motherly laugh, it seemed to calm me down. "I suppose I would be remiss to not introduce myself. I am Princess Celestia, the ruler of the day and the one who harnesses the sun." Great. I'm talking to a Sun Goddess. I instantly felt all of the color drain from my face. "Are you alright? You seem a little, pale."

"W-what do you mean? Harness the sun?" She smiled softly.

"As the ruler of the day, it's my job to raise and lower the sun, just as Luna's job is to raise and lower the moon. Saying it out loud, it makes others see us as goddesses, but I can assure you that's not the case."

"So... why are you here anyway? If Luna's the ruler of the night, wouldn't she be the one to come and see me?"

"Normally that would be what happens, but I felt the need to meet you face to face. Come. Walk with me." She turned and started walking down a starry path. I followed her and watched in awe as certain images floated by.

"Are those..."

"I promised that I would keep a close eye on Twilight while she was gone. I do so every day, watching her memories from a third-pony point of view. She was my student a long time ago... I'd even consider her one of my own children... it's amazing how time works... isn't it?"

"Not a huge fan of it to be honest, one moment the best thing in your life is happening right before you then it's gone. Then you have homework due on Monday and you were told about it a week before." I heard Celestia laugh.

"Time can be one of the most wasted things in a world like mine. When you're alive for thousands of years, things seem to speed up as time goes on." We walked in silence for a few more minutes, I watched as the memories whizzed by, seeing all of Twilight's experiences. It looked like she went to the human world once, or at least another one besides mine.

I heard thunder and turned to see black and purple fog swirling around the ground behind us. "What is that stuff?" I asked. Celestia turned and looked at what I saw. Her eyes widened.

"No... no not here. I thought it would be with Starswirl, but you?!" She genuinely looked terrified. "You need to wake up now!"

"But..."

"Go! I can only hold it off for so long." I turned and saw a bright doorway a few feet away. I ran towards it and felt warmth, much like I did when I first woke up in Twilight's Castle. I ran through and Instantly I felt warmth, then burning. Then...

I felt a jolt and woke up, my chest on fire, my limbs convulsing. "We've got him back!" I heard a voice echo.

"He's under too much stress, we need to sedate him!" I heard another one.

"Mister Hallow," I heard the first voice, "We're putting you under, just to make sure that you don't feel any pain and to ensure that you don't overload your systems. You suffered serious head trauma which is causing problems for the rest of your body. Just lie down and let the anesthesia do it's thing. I felt myself getting tired again, my eyes started to close when I felt pressure on the side of my head. I just had to hope that I didn't wake up in any other place besides the hospital. Ponies not understanding human anatomy was the only thing I was afraid of at this point.

There was nothing when I slept. Dreamless, no princesses, no nothing. So I decided to try and open my eyes. They felt heavier than weights at a gym. I tried more and suddenly there was a bright light. I heard myself groan and closed my eyes instantly. I heard muffled voices. They were worried? Happy? A combination of both? I tried opening my eyes again. The light was so intense that I felt the urge to close them then and there, but I mustered the strength to hold them open to gain focus. I was relieved to see myself in a hospital room in a patient gown, rather than be dressed in all white, with a halo and a lyre. The wings would've been a bonus though...

I looked up to see a purple face smiling down on me, then to my left were two humans. One with long ginger hair and the other with jet black hair, covering some of her face. They came into view and I saw Ayden, Theresa, and Twilight around me smiling. I smiled back, knowing I was safe. I heard the door to the room open then close and Nurse Redheart walked in with a clipboard. "Well Mr. Hallow, you weren't easy but I believe that you should be fine. You came in with a Severe Concussion, caused by unknown blunt force trauma, you suffered cardiac arrest while we tried to get you situated so we needed to open you up and see what the problem was. You had a few blood clots created by the trauma that traveled into your heart. If we hadn't gotten in there when we did... well, the important thing is you're alive."

"Thank you nurse." I smiled and she walked out of the room, promising to check on me every few hours.

"So what now?" Ayden asked.

"Now..." Twilight started, "Cam is going to get rest, we're going to head back to the castle, and we're going to get rid of that gun."

"And James?" I asked.

"He's in the psych ward." Theresa said, "He still hasn't snapped out of it ever since Fluttershy's stare."

"Wait... Fluttershy can put people into the hospital just by giving them a look?" Ayden asked.

"Her stare can reverse the effects of a Cockatrice. Pretty sure it's strong enough to put anypony into a hospital."

"Damn... remind me never to make her mad."

"Remind me never to ask for her to try her stare on me." I added.

"I don't know... those beds in the psych ward look about your size... pretty comfy-looking too." Ayden said giving me a sly smirk.

"Huh, cool, go talk to Fluttershy and tell me all about it when you get out." I said smiling.

'Boys.', Twilight thought.

'Welcome to my world...', Theresa thought while looking at her.

I spent the rest of the week in recovery. Ponies haven't invented TV yet so it was pretty boring. I mostly laid in bed, read a magazine, tried to draw some new characters in a journal Rarity brought as a "get well soon" gift.

"Ayden told me that you like art, so I got you something that will hopefully last until you get home. She had said. I liked Rarity. She was kind, generous (like her element) and she had always found a way to add glamour to almost any situation. Even though she could be braggy, she honestly has every right. She's talented and deserves to show that off. Anyway, I tried to draw some old fashioned cartoon characters, then some still-lifes, but I always loved the concept of drawing superheroes. I always found myself drawing My Hero Academia characters. It was hard to get every muscle line perfect, and I didn't exactly want to be drawing... assets... to the female characters. but it was always All Might who grabbed my attention.

He started out as Toshinori Yagi, weak and defenseless in a world where 80% of the world was stronger than he was. Then he met Nana Shimura. A wielder of the strongest power known to man, "One For All". Telling Shimura that he believed that the world needed a pillar to lean on for support, she grew curious of Toshinori's abilities. With intense training alongside his mentor Gran Torino, he grew strong enough to wield the power and make it his own. Once he obtained the power, Shimura had to use the last of her remains of One For All to take down its creator, "All For One". A wicked man who stole the powers of others. He created it as a quirk to give to his younger brother who was assumed to be quirkless. It was his quirk of passing down powers from generation to generation that allowed One For All to grow. So it was passed down, hero to hero, until it reached All Might, who then passed it on to his heir and student, Izuku Midoriya, who was also a quirkless boy as he once was.

So I thought about the powers, and the more I did, the more I saw connections to what I've seen in my mind. The stars of various colors, the cloud, the fog. I believed that I had seen the powers I had so long admired. But why were they here? The manga and the anime never made any reference to Equestria. Then again, why would they? This place reminds me of a children's coloring book rendered by Source Filmmaker. There's absolutely no reason why they would be here.

A very long week later I left the hospital, still puzzled. I needed to find out why I was seeing what I was seeing. I felt that Twilight might have known about what I was thinking about so I decided to ask her. I returned to the castle and went straight to the library, where all of my friends were. "I was wondering when you'd be back." Ayden said as I walked in. "You good?"

"Yeah, never better." I said smiling. "You can read?" I asked him, looking at the book he was holding.

"Har har..." He replied rolling his eyes, "Well without technology and the usual shit, we need to revert back to our primitive ways."

"Pretty sure our primitive ways had to do with us killing any animal in sight and shitting outdoors." Ayden rolled his eyes and got back to reading.

"i mean what I'm reading sounds like something out of Greek Mythology. The ones who rule over this land apparently have the power to raise and lower the sun and moon."

"That's hard to believe..." Mike said looking over Ayden's shoulder. "The Earth is supposed to revolve around the Sun, not the other way around."

"Well that's how it works here." Twilight said walking in with two mugs of what looked like coffee.

"Thanks Twi." Ayden said taking a mug. Twilight blushed at the nickname and walked back over to what I guess was her desk. It was littered with scrolls, books, and inkwells.

"Hey Twilight... can I talk to you?" I was feeling a tad nervous, I'm sure she'd say I was just having nightmares, but I needed to tell someone... or pony in this case.

"Sure! What's up?" She said, not looking away from writing on her scroll.

"I need to speak with you privately?" I said as if it were a question. Why is it so hard to ask someone for anything, no matter how simple it is.

"Uh... okay..." She raised an eye brow as she and I exited the library to the hallway. She shut the massive doors behind her and turned to me. "Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Well... it's... it's complicated." I noticed that she looked even more confused than before. "Have you... have you ever heard of something called... One For All?" She blinked and shook her head.

"I've heard it been used by some of the guards when they rushed into battle." 'Athos, Porthos, Aramis' I said in my head. "Why do you ask?" Holy shit, why was it so hard to explain?! I went over asking her millions of ways in my head and I actually never thought about what to say! I sighed in frustration.

"Nevermind." I said walking back towards the library.

"WAIT!" She yelled. I stopped and looked back at her. 'Thinking back on it... I do remember something in the Royal Archives in Canterlot..." Great! So I didn't have to explain.

"What do you know about it?" I asked eagerly.

"Not a lot. Only some subtext that explained what a stockpile of power was..." That was it. The word stockpile confirmed my suspicions. One For All was here and for some reason, I've been seeing it. Why is the true question.

"We need to go to Canterlot and find out what it is!"

"Woah! Hold on! Why is this so important?!"

"I've seen it before! In my mind!" I said pointing to my head. Aaaaaaaand there was the "Are you crazy?" look. Then it hit me. Celestia and Luna had to know about it. I knew I would be sorry for making her panic but right now we had to go to Canterlot. "And besides, won't the Princesses need to know about me and my friends? I mean it'd be pretty stupid to hide some aliens in your home... especially if she wanted you to turn us in to her." Yeah I saw the letter on her desk about us being potentially dangerous. I noticed that sweat had formed on her forehead and she bit her bottom lip. I suddenly felt an impending sense of doom.

Meanwhile in Canterlot

Celestia and Luna were eating together, enjoying the delicious lunch the kitchen staff had prepared them. Just as Celestia was about to take her first bite, a scream echoed from outside. Celestia dropped her fork and walked to the window, seeing that Twilight's castle had flown a few hundred feet into the air, before landing. "Sister... tidy up. Twilight's coming to the castle." She said smirking, knowing that her student had finally realized that she hadn't notified her teacher of the new arrivals.

Author's Note

Sorry for the delay. And sorry if this chapter was rushed. Sorry for saying sorry a lot.