I had chosen to become friends with two of the most hated individuals in the town.

There were consequences for that choice.

The most obvious of said consequences was that Eric Ellinburg declared war on me.

It was not a war in the traditional sense as much as it was a campaign of words and attempted intimidation, bathroom-wall threats, insults written in marker on my locker and notes declaring the writer's hatred of me and "all of my horsefucker friends." Instantly anyone who had ties to the HTF now had a firm dislike of me, which meant at least sixty percent of the school now considered me blacklisted, if they didn't hate my guts outright.

That was fine, I pretended not to notice the glares I received in the halls as I walked through them, eyes glued to my phone as I walked from class to class with my earphones in. I walked near what few friends II had left when I could, Colin, Martin, Diane, Anna, Kevin, and on occasion, Thunder and Starry.

That was really when I could feel the eyes on my back, the times when I walked alongside a pony, not only the students but the faculty, it was strange, seeing how someone's facade of 'maturity' or 'professionalism' fades away when you stand for something they don't like. Not one of the teachers dared say anything to us directly, not when people like Martin's sister took every opportunity they could to defend the converts and conversion.

That was another consequence, I wasn't trying to pick sides, but everyone assumed I had, and now both the converts and those who supported them now saw me as 'on their side.'

It was awkward at first, declining invitations to talk at afterschool meetings or go out to spend time with the "pro-conversionists" as I liked to call them. The converts were improving daily when it came to their behavioral quirks, and despite the evidence screaming the contrary online, it was slowly getting to the point where the converts could be seen as human again, at least mentally.

Of course, much to my own dismay, my own experiences with them had left a figurative bad taste in my mouth, I could still see the thing in Edward Deloach every time I looked into the eyes of a newfoal, no matter how well they hid it I could still see it. But after so spending so much time talking to the converts, I had convinced myself it had been my own fears and hesitations trying to mess with my mind. I forced myself to recognise that whatever I was 'seeing' was an excuse for me to distance myself from people who just needed sympathy and someone to talk to.

But no matter how hard I tried to focus on everything positive about the converts, the feeling that something was "off" about the newfoals never went away.

The only newfoal who seemed wholly and completely normal to me was Starry, maybe that was how I had convinced myself that nothing was wrong with the newfoals, because Starry had seemed so human.

Starry had found me in the halls once again a few days after my confrontation with Eric, right in front of my locker, which had the word "horsefucker" written in big, black sharpie on it.

She had taken one look at the graffiti and began apologizing, trying to explain that she hadn't meant to draw me into Eric's crusade against the converts. I had tried my best to assure her that what I had done had been my choice and my choice alone, that what I did I had done because I had believed that it was the right thing to do. That seemed to calm her down somewhat, though I had to remind her of that several times as the state of things in the school was brought up.

After that, Starry and I tended to hang around each other when there was no one else to spend time with, my "good looks and charm" could only go so far when almost everyone either wanted nothing to do with me or wanted me to subscribe to something that I didn't believe in.

My small group of friends was all I had, and the human ones were always being pressured by the other students to ditch me, some losing friends of their own because they refused to blacklist me as their friends had.

I had felt happy that there were a few people that were still willing to stand next to me, it was reassuring, it had made me feel like maybe I was actually doing the right thing. Of course, each of them had their reasons for staying with me, but their loyalty had made me euphoric to the point that I probably would have overlooked any ulterior motives if they had any.

Colin and I had been the best of friends since third grade, and we were more than accustomed to watching each others' backs. To say he was a little uncertain about the converts would be an understatement, but he trusted me as much as I trusted him, he had my back until the end, and God knows I was grateful for it.

Martin and I were still on friendly terms because I would keep an eye on his sister where he could not. She liked me a lot more than she liked anyone else in her family, probably because they refused to allow her to be converted or convert themselves. But considering how Starry considered me a friend, Shitavia was more than friendly on the rare occasion we did talk.

Diane hung around Martin, and it was pretty obvious that the two of them had a thing going, but Martin seemed to have done a lot for the smaller girl's confidence, she seemed a lot surer of herself than before, talking to me in the halls and brushing off the looks everyone gave her. She seemed to want to stand for something, but she didn't like how Eric was doing things and conversion still didn't feel right to her, so I guessed she saw what I was doing as the grey-area, and so she stuck with it.

When it came to Anna, I didn't understand her motives in the slightest, but one day she had chosen to sit with us rather than Naomi, Eric, or any of her other friends. It might have been that I had spoken to Starry about Anna's newfoal stalker, and she had gotten him to apologize and ease up, but there seemed to be something else going on between her and Naomi, something that had driven a wedge between the two of them. But I would never ask and she would never offer up the information, so I left it at that, I think she appreciated that notion, that my little outsider's club never pried into why its members were there, we just talked and hung out without worrying about what everyone else thought. Anna had taken steps to define herself in the months that had passed, changing from her traditional styles to a more urban stylization, dyeing and cutting her hair so that it hung on-level with her rounded cheeks, her t-shirts and jeans became denim jackets and skirts, but beneath all those cosmetics it was still her in there, still kind, still patient, and definitely still bubbly.

Kevin however, he had come to me, I suppose it was the only place he could run to with his parents too timid to say anything as Alex, or "Star Chaser," was almost always trying to convince his brother to convert, and with the first bureaus opening in a few weeks, if he hadn't come to us to vent I think he might have given in. I had tried to talk to Starry about it, she dodged the topic a lot, either with empty promises or nervous silence. I almost always felt the older brother's eyes on me when I was near Kevin, but if I wasn't used to being watched by then I didn't think I was ever going to be.

Star Chaser had regarded me with grudging respect when he had noticed Kevin with me and my group, knowing he couldn't object without being in the wrong in some capacity, I guess he considered it acceptable because I was friends with Thunder and Starry, and that I was "on his side."

Then, there was Thunder.

The pegasus knew about as much about humanity as humans knew anything about the internal affairs of Equestria, he had next to no friends barring the converts, which seemed to treat him as if he were a God amongst them, and he made barely any attempt to succeed in his classes. He knew he wouldn't be able to learn a human high-school curriculum when he hadn't even finished his schooling in Equestria. But I think one way or another he was relieved to not be on his own anymore. The constant pandering of the converts and conversionist students tended to make him uncomfortable, and if he wasn't being glared at, he was being avoided when it came to most of the other human students.

When I had sided with him against Eric, he had led me to his home so his mom could heal me, after that, we briefly spoke before I left for home, that evening had been strange. I had both seen magic in use for the first time in my life and observed how the ponies tried to live in a home clearly made for humans, they were adapting, however, and with a few suggestions from me they were on their way to acclimating to their new environment on a physical level at least.

It hadn't taken long for my mother to force the information about that little visit out of me, and not even a week later she had invited them over for dinner, intent on doing what no other family on the block was willing to do. It had resulted in Morning Mist and my mother going out to the local Starbucks every Saturday, leaving Thunder and I stuck hanging out weekly, and while I could drive, my family didn't have the money to get me my own car, and so if the two of us did anything outside of playing videogames it required us to walk through the town together, on display for every resident of the town to see.

The pegasus had, however, provided some interesting stories about his home country when I finally convinced everyone to sit with him, telling us about the massive factory-city that was Manehatten, the crystal war, and some of his world's greatest villains and heroes. He had a way of telling those stories, like his words became pictures as soon as they left his mouth, he had wanted to become a traveling storyteller before he had left Equestria, apparently a dying profession. But his father had insisted they leave after the factory district after he supervised the construction of something called "totem proles."

My group of friends was small, but I was happy with them, content with the quality of the company I kept rather than the quantity, but even then there were times when no one else could hang out. Of course, there were times where we would spend time together out of a mutual want to, but Starry and I seemed to have an understanding when it came to the circumstances of our friendship.

The burden of leading the pro-conversion faction of our town had taken its toll on her, she had been the first to convert and both the newfoals and those who followed her looked to her like she was some sort of sacred prophet or messiah.

If they had troubles, concerns, or questions, they would come to her for advice, and so she had looked to my tactic of banding together, using the way I had kept my discussion group together over the summer to model her own leadership style.

But now, that group was gone, torn apart by our own fears and doubts while the newfoals all still looked to her for guidance.

So, when her doubts and fears would bubble up to the surface, she would come to me and vent, and I somehow would end up reassuring her, giving advice where I could and doing my best to make her smile in spite of the responsibility placed on her. In my eyes, all I was really doing was saying nice things and giving my opinion while doing my best not to judge, but I supposed that was more than enough for her.

The unicorn was actually an incredibly empathic person once you got to know her, but always so hard on herself, saying that she had to make things right. I had gotten a notion that she might have blamed herself for everything that had been happening in Penns Creek, that by her choice to convert all the hate and fear everyone felt had been directly caused by her and that she had to atone for it.

That was the thing about her, always kind, yet so determined to see peace in Penns Creek once again.

"I'll be satisfied when everyone in Penns Creek smiles again." She had told me at one time, "If nothing else, I want everyone to know peace."

It was an admirable goal, one I didn't see happening any time soon, sure, but it was that optimism that led me to look up to her in some ways.

She had succeeded where I had failed, keeping the newfoals and their families a united front that stood strong in the face of the hate and controversy that followed them wherever they went. But even she had her breaking point, and I had seen a glimpse of that the first day of school, it had been heartbreaking to see her in that state, breaking down crying in the middle of the hall. It had made a pang of guilt that I hadn't realized I had been feeling show itself to me, and I had felt ashamed.

So, whether it had been out of guilt for my hand in her struggles or out of my newfound respect for her, I became a kind of unofficial advisor to her, giving her "the human side of things," without seeming like the dreaded "privileged white male" I had heard so much about online.

I liked to think that the times I made her smile and laugh were genuine, that I was starting to make up for my neglect of the Newfoals and my own moral compass.

She had wanted to become a psychiatrist back when she was human, and she still wanted to do so after converting, she had studied the topic vehemently, doing her best to understand both human and pony nature so she could understand what everyone felt, but even then she was humble about it.

"If I were any good at psychiatry, maybe I would have been able to talk Eric down." She had told me. " I tried that once, and almost got jumped five minutes later, human nature is one of the most stubborn, indomitable things about your species, and hate seems to be a deep-seated part of it."

She seemed lost at times, on the brink of giving up, and I would bring her back with words of encouragement and support, giving her ideas about how to manage individual problems and coping with life as a newfoal.

For a while, I enjoyed it, though sometimes I would catch her staring at me, not in the way other Newfoals did....or used to do. She just, stared, looking away hurriedly when I turned my head back to look at her so I could never see exactly what was in those eyes, I thought that maybe she still felt guilty about drawing me into everything, that she was responsible for me being blacklisted and now on top of everything else I was helping her after she had done this to me.

I knew she would deny it if I talked to her about it, so I remained silent, resolving to help her when and how I could.

October 31st 2018
"Halloween."
Penns Creek Park
12:05 P.M
"I think it's a bit weird, to be honest."

"Why? They're just holidays."

"How many Equestrian holidays are tied to human ones? Specifically American ones?"

I flicked another piece of chocolate into my mouth before resting my arms and head on the table, looking up at Starry with a quizzical expression. Her face was thoughtful, a hoof held to her chin in thought as her mind browsed through her knowledge of both human and Equestrian holidays.

"Three, I think...."

"Yeah," I replied, "there's today, which the Equestrians call...?"

"Nightmare Night." Answered Starry, her hoof returning to the table with a loud "clop!" "It was created after some foals decided to pay homage to Nightmare Moon to prevent her from returning."

"Nightmare who?"

"Princess Luna, but edgier."

"Ah." I had only seen the second princess once during her own interview at the peace summit, she had seemed like a fairly competent ruler, it was hard to see her as someone who led a coup against her own sister, but appearances were deceiving, I had learned that much by now.

"How about Christmas? What do they call it? Heath's Warming?"

"Hearth's warming." Corrected Starry, looking somewhat bored. "You were close."

"What about that one?"

"I don't know much about Hearth's Warming, I think it had to do with the unity of the three pony races."

"But still, they put up a tree, decorate it, and give each other presents, like us?"

The pony sighed, "Yes, if I remember correctly."

"And there is no religious significance whatsoever?"

"Not unless you count harmony as a religion."

"Right, and there was one more big one, was it new years?"

"Equestria celebrates that, but not as much as humanity does, besides, I think the one your thinking about is.....hearts....and hooves.....day."

Starry averted her eyes, moving her hoof over suddenly to pick up the water bottle that sat near her but ended up knocking it to the ground.

"Whoops! Dropped my water bottle!"

She suddenly ducked her head under the table as her horn glowed a soft blue, the water-bottle became enveloped in energy of the same color and began to move on its own. I ducked my own head under and watched as it levitated up and onto the table.

I stared intently, still amazed at the performance of magic despite having my newfoal-friend perform the same spell several times over. Magic was an unknown for humanity, and when something as impossible as the colorful energy was suddenly proved to exist, I took every chance I could to get a look at it.

"You're getting pretty good at that," I remarked, watching as the bottle was set down and the cap screwed itself back onto the bottle.

"Practice makes perfect," Starry shrugged, her eyes brightening somewhat as the topic changed. "Telekinesis is a basic spell for most unicorns, but the more I use my magic, the closer I get to being able to do stuff like teleport."

"For real?" I raised an eyebrow. "You guys can teleport?"

"Yup." Starry smiled smugly. "What's wrong? Jealous?"

"Not when I have to trade hands for hooves."

"It's not as bad as you think!" Starry began. "Once you get used to the new spine-structure, walking on hooves becomes almost second nature, to be honest after I converted it felt even more natural than when I was-"

Starry cut herself off when she saw the look I was giving her.

"Oops, sorry." She gave me an apologetic smile.

"S'fine, that's two days without talking about it though, your record is four days."

Starry thumped the table with her hoof.

"Horseapples."

I gave a sudden laugh at her choice of words.

"Horseapples?"

Starry blushed, her eyes moving left to right before covering her mouth with her hooves.

"What is that?" I laughed, "An Equestrian swear-word?"

"Maybe." Said Starry in a small voice, lowering her hooves slightly.

I cracked up even more, "are you cursing in Equestrian now, Star?"

"No!" Starry pushed herself up on the table, standing on her hind-hooves, "who would do that? I'm not some bucking-"

Starry's hooves flew to her mouth again as I fell out of my seat, practically in pain with how much I was laughing.

".....Shut up!"

I looked back to see Starry's face flushed with embarrassment, which made me laugh even more.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up monkey-boy," Starry grumbled, trying to hold in the smile that was slowly growing on her face.

After I had managed to remember how to breathe after a few more seconds of laughter, I returned to the table, my face red
and my breath short as we continued our conversation. It was days like these that had made the trade-off worth it, hanging out with someone who didn't judge, because we both knew everyone else did. I had felt like I had gotten a handle on the strange hand life had dealt me. I had hoped to simply focus on my friends and grades for the rest of the year, until I could finally graduate and head to college. So far my plan had been working brilliantly, and I didn't think anything could stop me from regaining a somewhat normal life.

It took one night for life to prove me wrong.

November 12th 2019
Hallanday Residence
11:12 P.M.

The Doctor's name was Erica Kraber, she was one of the few individuals with the know-how and resources to conduct research on the newfoals for herself.

She had just proven that almost every major health organization in the world was lying.

She had posted the results of psychological experiments in a series of vlogs, showing the clear difference in the mental faculty of the newfoals versus their pony counterparts. She had even gone so far as to monitor the brain activity of a first-wave newfoal, a young stallion who had volunteered, hoping to prove to everyone that they didn't need to be afraid of it.

The brain had shown no signs of physical alteration, but the parts of the brain that processed memories and emotions seemed to operate differently than when they were paired with a human body. The parts of the limbic system that channeled positive emotions and memories seemed to work in high-gear, focusing on emotions such as anger and happiness while the parts that handled emotions like fear and sadness almost appeared to be working as if they had been muted, perfectly healthy and yet slowing down with every passing day.

Then she compared those findings to the brain activity of a recently-converted newfoal.

The brain seemed to be on the same level of a healthy Equestrian, the limbic systems of the convert had shown slight signs of alteration but nowhere near the level of the first-generation newfoal. In English, Dr. Kraber had proved that the newfoal's brains were undergoing an undetermined form of alteration, one that did not line up with the brain activity of a pureblood pony. These alterations happened over time, causing the newfoal to forget more and more about the person they used to be the longer they lived in their new forms. The projected time periods in which the alterations would completely subsume the brain seemed to vary from case to case, but many newfoals now were either obsessed with conversion or dead-set on fleeing their friends and family to go to a country that they never even knew existed until a year ago.

It was obvious enough that the FDA had lied to the public, but this meant more, there had been dozens of medical institutions that had verified the potion's safety as had Equestria itself. Why would so many risk their reputations for a substance so blatantly flawed? People were losing themselves to the potion and still, people line up around the block to take it as if nothing was wrong, meanwhile half of those who actually see the potion for what it is were those who had a personal grudge against the entire race of ponies. Already the elements of harmony and other Equestrian citizens of importance were receiving threats, even Lyra Heartstrings was being threatened, and she was probably one of the potion's biggest critics!

Equestria had produced the potion as a means to broker peace between humanity and ponykind, yet it seemed more and more that the potion was driving us apart.

There was a missing piece to this puzzle, there was something in play here that I couldn't quite put my finger on, and it felt like whoever was behind all of this had the world tied on the end of a string, one that was about to snap.

By the time I had finished reading and watching everything I could set my eyes on I was about as pale as a snowman, thoughts of panic and sympathy raced through my mind. More and more newfoals disappeared by the day, their behavior continuing to spiral out of control. Dr. Kraber's tests now solidified that things were going to get worse before they would get better, and between the increasing hostility of the HTF and the unsettling zealotry of those who continued to defend the newfoals and potion, there had to be a point where things boiled over.

I blinked tiredly as I closed my laptop, trying to process everything I had just seen, the newfoals were slowly losing their humanity, leaving only the smiling, dreamy-eyed pony behind.

"God," I thought, "Starry, Edward, Alex, Eric's sister, how long had they been feeling themselves slip away?"

I wiped a hand over my tired face, looking at my clock before yawning and rising from the place on my bed, I wanted to sleep, knowing I had school in the morning. I wasn't looking forward to another day's worth of ridicule and insults mixed with a likely distraught Starry struggling to manage a bunch of panicked converts. She barely had time to herself as it was, between schoolwork, the time she took to practice her magic, and leading the converts I was pretty sure she was losing sleep.

Still, as her friend, I needed to be there for her, through thick and thin, I owed it to her, especially now. I shuddered at the thought of something slowly eroding my mind, eating away at me until I was a blank slate.

I strode to my bathroom, intending to brush my teeth, but froze as a flash of light briefly illuminated my window, I yelped in shock as I stumbled away, tripping over my own feet and tumbling to the ground in the process.

"Crack!"

Shitt! I thought, "Was that lightning?!"

I pushed myself to my feet before hurrying to the window, there hadn't been any storms in the forecast for tonight...

The first thing I noticed as I looked out into my backyard was the overturned trashcans, which were illuminated by a porch-light. Spilled paper-trash and food was all over the yard mixing with the countless leaves the trees had dropped, something I would be made to clean-up later if I didn't do it then and there. Even though my parents weren't here I could practically hear them calling me

Groaning, I stomped over to the door to my bedroom, haphazardly tossing the door open before I continued down the hall and over to the stairs. I looked over the banister that overlooked the living room and kitchen, the rooms were as dark and quiet as I had left them.

I descended the stairs, looking around as I did so for some kind of jacket to wear, it probably would have been a good idea to get something warm from my closet back upstairs, but I was pretty sure that if I went back to my room I wouldn't be able to force myself back out. So I resolved myself to suffer through the cold and do what I had come to do while I still possessed the motivation to do it.

I made a left through the living-room to get to my back door, the glass doors offering an excellent view of the trash-covered backyard. I let myself out and wrapped my arms around myself as I observed the backyard, shivering in the autumn wind.

"Freaking cold," I grumbled, rubbing my arms slightly and shaking my head.

I did my best to get up all of the trash as fast as possible, and after about seven minutes I was chasing down the last piece, a rogue paper towel that was being blown about by the wind.

"C'mon!" I grabbed at the white sheet for the third time, it danced just barely out of my reach yet again, almost as if it were mocking me.

"Work with me here you floaty piece of- ha!" I pinned the paper to the ground with a finger, "got....you?"

As I lifted my hand from the ground I noticed that there was a patch of grass that was black, I leaned down, intending to pick a blade up, instead, it crumbled in my fingers.

"Burnt, I whispered, " maybe it really had been lightning."

That didn't make sense though, if lightning had struck this close to the house, there would have been some kind of power failure, wouldn't there? The lights in my room were still on even now, I could see them from where I stood in the backyard, and what was even weirder, the grass had been burned in a near-perfect circle, as if someone had taken the time to make a crop-circle in our yard.

Even more interesting was the fact that there were twelve parts of the blackened grass circle that had already been crushed. I looked nearby and found more crushed grass leading away from the circle.

And towards our basement window, which was now open.

"Well, shit." I thought, approaching the window, I cautiously peered into it and flinched as I heard the sound of shifting boxes inside.

"Great."

I raced to the back door, closing it behind me.

"Shit, shit, shit."

I fumbled with the lock on the door.

"Oh God, oh fuck."

I finally turned the lock and turned to the kitchen, silently tiptoe-running across the living-room to get to the kitchen's center island. Opening a drawer and pulling out a flashlight, flicking the switch a couple of times to make sure it had power.

"Son of a bitch, fuck my life, etcetera, etcetera."

I cautiously approached the door to the basement, which stood a few feet away from the kitchen, looming over me in the dark room like a portal to the abyss.

"Ok, Eli, something's in the basement, could be raccoons, could be bears."

My thoughts drifted to the burnt-circle of grass.

"Fire-breathing bears, ones that came from the sky in a bolt of lightning, yeah."

I grasped the handle of the doorknob, flicking on the flashlight as I did so before opening it up and descending into the dark, closing the door behind me.

"Wonderful Idea Eli, go into the basement with the fire-bears of death, I give the plan a solid 10/10, would die a brutal death again." I mentally berated myself as I went deeper into the basement.

Our basement was a maze of boxes, filled with old heirlooms, toys, Christmas decorations, and old car parts, no one in my family ever went down unless they absolutely had to, partially because no one wanted to navigate the junk-jungle, and partially because there was enough dust down here to choke a fire-breathing bear to death.

"Shff!"

"Oh shit!" I whispered.

My eyes registered movement in the dark as I stepped off the stairs and onto the cold concrete floor, the flashlight and the moonlight that filtered in through the open window were the only sources of light in the room. Casting shadows that shifted and writhed as my flashlight swept across the small cardboard forest to the general direction of the movement.

I slowly stepped off of the stairs and approached the area where I had seen movement.

"Bad idea, bad idea, bad idea." My mind chanted, trying to discourage me from continuing.

I brushed aside some boxes to behold...

A tiny wooden rocking horse, which bobbed back and forth as I stared at it.

I suddenly let out a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding, silently laughing somewhat as I swept the light around the room, nothing, maybe whatever had wandered in had wandered back out.

Satisfied and as sleepy as a bear in winter, I turned back to the stairs, taking a step in their direction, as I did I felt my foot step down onto something.....

"OOWW!" A high-pitched voice echoed through the basement.

I felt something being yanked from under my foot, sending my leg flying up and me to the ground.

"OH F-" I sputtered before smacking into the ground.

I heard the sound of something scrambling away, making a sound like coconuts being clapped together before it suddenly stopped entirely,

"FFFFFFFFFfffffffffffffffudgecicles." I whimpered, sitting up and rubbing the back of my head, I looked around for my flashlight, finding it on the ground to the right of me. I picked it up, flicking the switch to find I was holding the wrong end forward, flashing me in the face with all the power of a flashbang, minus the noise.

"Gah," I turned the light around, blinking a few times before I came to the realization that the voice I had heard earlier had not been mine.

I slowly turned around, scanning the room again before putting my back to the stairs and ever so slowly beginning to back up, scanning the flashlight from left to right as I felt my feet hit the first step. I grabbed the handrail for balance before beginning to take the stairs one at a time backward, making sure nothing was following as I slowly found myself with my back to the door, only for it to give way behind me, swinging open and causing me to fall on my butt.

Scrambling back up, I grabbed the door with one hand and slammed it shut, locking it only a second later and putting my back to the door.

"Phew." I closed my eyes, exhaled deeply, and slid down to a sitting position with my back still to the door. That had been close, whatever was down there couldn't get up no-

"Wait," I thought, "Didn't I close this door on the way down?"

"Clop!"

My eyes flew open, making contact with three pairs of much larger eyes, four feet away from me.

I screamed.

The Mares screamed.

The stallion screamed.

It was a good time.

I stood up, dashing over to the stairs to get to my room and hopefully my phone, but I was stopped as I felt a warm feeling enveloping my feet, gluing them to the spot. I fell over on my face, still shouting and panicking as I tried and failed to force myself up, I looked back to see one of the two unicorns, a pinkish mare with a purple and green mane and silvery-blue eyes,
her horn was lit up green.

The same color as the aura surrounding my feet.

She didn't have one of those cutie-mark-things.

Newfoals.

"CRAP!"

I tried crawling forward to no avail, what were these three doing here? I had heard about some newfoals that went psycho, they would attack people on sight, spewing gibberish all the while.

The mare quickly moved forward and reared up, about to smash my head in.

I closed my eyes, still screaming, was this how I was going to go out? I guess it was kind of ironic, killed by the very creatures I was trying so hard to believe in.

"Clop!"

I felt one hoof hit the ground near my head as another covered my mouth, I opened my eyes to see the mare's panicked face, looking both panicked and pleading.

"Shshshsh, please stop screaming please please I'm not gonna hurt you just please stop." She whispered, apparently trying to calm me down, the look on her face wasn't doing much to help, there was a cut along her left cheek, with dirt and grime in several places in her coat and a desperate look in her eyes, she looked like she had been through hell. She wore what looked like a saddle on her back, which supported several pockets, I assumed it to be the pony equivalent to a backpack.

The next pony looked to be in a similar state as the unicorn, but otherwise seemed to be some kind of pegasus, though significantly different from the ones I had seen. The mare possessed wings that looked more akin to those of a bat's than a bird's, her green eyes appeared to be slit, similar to how a cat's eyes might have looked, and her black mane was short enough to reveal that her ears were pointed, with tufts of fir puffing up around the ends. As she panted I could see a pair of pointed teeth poke out further than the others.

She was garbed in what seemed to be a set of purple armor that covered her barrel, back, and hooves.

I grasped at the unicorn's hoof desperately with both hands, trying to push her off of me and prevent her from doing anything else, but before I could, the strange-looking pegasus pinned my left arm to the ground.

"Calm, human!" She hissed, "Calm down!"

I began pawing at the unicorn indiscriminately with my free hand, trying to get her off me however I could.

"Sunburst," she looked back at the other unicorn, a yellow stallion with a short orange mane and goatee who wore a similar saddle to the other unicorn, he looked between me and his companions with a panicked and hesitant expression on his muzzle.

"Help!"

"How?" The stallion replied slowly approaching us, "You know I can't-"

"Just hold him or something!" The strange pegasus barked, carrying an air of authority, "we can't have him making a ruckus!"

I pressed my hand against the unicorn's face, pressing her head up and smushing her face,

"Hurgy!" She called out to her companion, her mouth obscured by my hand.

I reached out for her horn, and without thinking, I grabbed it, the mare suddenly gasped, and I felt the warm sensation leave my feet. My legs flew up, pushing myself backward as the mares struggled to keep me pinned and muted.

"Buck!" The armored-pegasus-thing swore. "Sunburst!"

Suddenly, the warm sensation was back, and I got a look at my feet again only to see the stallion had thrown himself over my legs, pinning me to the ground.

I flailed for a little bit longer, all the while the two mares were desperately shushing me.

"Nonono please stop, please stop, we're not gonna hurt you, just please be quiet."

"Calm down, human, just stop and we'll stop!"

After a few more seconds I was too tired to continue, and finally, I simply laid flat on my back, my hand still holding on to her horn.

"Ok." The unicorn mare sighed. "Ok, good."

The two of us stared into each others' eyes for a moment, panting as we caught our breaths.

"Ok, Mr. Human." The mare breathed, "I'm gonna take my hoof off your mouth, but you have to promise not to yell anymore, Ok?"

I sighed somewhat through her hoof, fear and hesitation still running through me, but nodded slowly, she moved her hoof, and I gave a small "pleh!" smacking my lips in an attempt to rid my mouth of the taste of grass.

"Ok, ok, this is good." The mare gave a small smile through her breaths of exertion, "this is progress."

"W-what do we do now?" Asked the stallion, still pinning my legs.

"Well, he's seen us now, we may need to do something about that..." The pegasus replied, shifting her weight to hold a hoof out to my face, with a flick of her hoof the gauntlet revealed a pair of claws that flipped out with a "shink!"

"OH FU-"

Instantly the hoof was back in my mouth again and the four of us were back to struggling.

"Why?!" The unicorn stallion scolded the pegasus. "Why would you do that?!"

"Put the Celestia-darned claws away, Primrose!" The mare groaned as my grip on her horn tightened.

"Ok! Ok! My bad!"

With another flick of her hoof, the claws disappeared back into the shoe she wore.

"Look, human! The claws are gone, I'm not going to harm you!" She waved the hoof in front of my face as she struggled to pin my arm. " So stop, bucking, flailing about!"

I stopped once more, depleting the last of my stamina as I flopped back against the ground.

"Maybe...don't do that again." The stallion groaned. "Starlight, why couldn't you have gone with a day-guard? Thestrals and their predatory instincts, sweet Luna."

The strange pegasus glared at the stallion but seemed to hold her tongue.

"Ok, let's everypony calm down here..." The unicorn mare sighed. "Maybe it's time we all get to know each other, that's the first step to making friends, right Sun?"

"Uh, yeah, sure, let's go with that." The stallion breathed. "All this bucking physical activity, good grief."

"Ok then." The unicorn gave me a look before slowly removing the hoof from my mouth.

"What's your name, Mr. Human?"

I looked at the unicorn confusedly.

"Seriously?" The bat-pegasus looked at the unicorn. "It said in the dossier you were bad with social interaction, but this is ridiculous."

"What?" The Unicorn tilted her head, "Isn't this how you do it?"

"This is not the time for friendship practice!" The pegasus groaned, "We need to-"

"What, exactly?" The unicorn...Starlight I think her name was, interrupted. "We have no idea where on Earth we are!" She nodded at me. "We need a guide!"

"I'd prefer some sleep first," the stallion muttered.

The bat-pony grumbled, but remained silent nodding to Starlight after some thought.

"So," The unicorn looked back to me as I blinked a couple of times in confusion. "My name is Starlight Glimmer, the stallion holding your legs is Sunburst,"

"Hi, Mr. Human." The now-named Sunburst waved awkwardly with one hoof, smiling in a somewhat forced manner, from where I lay I could see his flank, emblazoned upon it was an image of a sun.

They weren't newfoals?

"And the thestral is Primrose."

The bat pony sighed, "Hello human, a pleasure to meet you." She droned.

Starlight looked back to me with a smile that was little too much effort, and not enough naturality.

"What's your name?"

I blinked again trying and failing to find my voice for a few moments before my wits finally returned to me.

"Eli?" I muttered, an expression of pure confusion on my face.

Starlight's eyes brightened somewhat at the sound of my name, "Nice to meet you, Eli." Her smile relaxed somewhat.

"Nice......to meet you too?"

"Do you think...you could let go of my horn, please?"

I looked up and noticed that I was still gripping onto her horn, I was hesitant to let go, unsure whether or not to trust someone whose friend just threatened my life less than five minutes ago.

"Please?" Starlight asked again.

Against my better judgment, I let go of her horn, and she lifted her head somewhat, poking at her horn with an inquisitive look on her face.

"Ok, Eli." Starlight looked back down to me. "I'm gonna have Primrose and Sunburst get off you, but you can't run away or do anything crazy, ok?"

As much as I wanted to run, my curiosity began to take hold of me again, telling me to cooperate for the sake of learning where these three had come from and how they ended up in my backyard.

"O.k," I replied, casting a nervous glance at Primrose, she met my eyes with a blank stare but gave me a small nod, I took it as an indication of peace.

Starlight slowly stepped away from me, as did Primrose and Sunburst and I sat up, looking at the three of them with a dumb look on my face.

Starlight still had that forced smile on, while Sunburst glanced nervously from me to Starlight, a significantly more nervous smile on his face. Primrose, however, kept the same neutral expression as she had earlier, scanning me and her surroundings before settling her catlike eyes back on me.

"Ok, Eli," Starlight spoke again. "I'm terribly sorry for disturbing you at this hour, I know our arrival must have been something of a surprise for you."

"It's fine, I guess?"

Starlight winced at the hesitation in my voice.

"I know this may come off as a bit weird, but would you mind telling us where on Earth we are?"

My mind drew a blank for a moment.

"Penns Creek," I replied.

Silence ruled over us for a moment before Sunburst spoke up.

"Is that the name of your country or-?"

"Town." I answered simply.

"In what province?" Asked primrose.

"Province?"

"Province, region, district."

"The state?" I raised an eyebrow " this is Georgia."

"In what country?"

"America."

"The one that the element of honesty liked?" Primrose looked to Starlight, "looks like we got lucky."

"Hmm." Starlight looked thoughtful, "Just a moment Mr. Eli, I need to talk with my friends."

"Uh, yeah, sure, take your time."

The three of them suddenly turned, whispering amongst themselves as I tried and failed to comprehend the situation. I slowly got to my feet before running my hands through my hair. Pacing somewhat as I cursed fate for whatever cruel joke this was.

"Uh, Mr. Eli?"

I turned around to see the three of them facing me once again.

"We have a request for you."

"O....K?"

"Would you mind letting us stay here?"

I'm sorry, what?

I froze mid-step

"You're serious?" I looked at to Starlight, "You want to stay here? In my house?"

Starlight hesitantly nodded.

No, no way, there was not a single way that this would end favorably for me if I said yes.

"Uhhh, I don't know if my parents would like that...."

"Wait!" Primrose deadpanned, "You're not an adult?"

"Almost," I replied.

Primrose froze somewhat, her pupils dilating before she took a deep breath.

"Almost killed a foal..." She muttered to herself.

"Anyway," Starlight cut in, "We would need you to keep this just between us."

"How long?" I replied.

"As long as we need," Primrose said gruffly.

"May I know why?"

"No." Primrose answered again.

"Why can't he know?" Sunburst asked.

"Because I don't think trusting a foal with this is a good idea." Primrose said simply, locking eyes with me, "and besides, the less he knows the less danger he's in."

"Ah."

"Danger?" I stared at primrose incredulously.

"No! No danger, just a bit of trouble." Starlight kicked Primrose with her rear leg. "Right, Primrose?"

The bat pony sighed, obviously tired of the conversation.

"No, I misspoke, I meant to say the less trouble with his parents he will be if they find us." She stared at me, her eyes telling me a completely different story than what was leaving her mouth.

How in the hell would I do this? I guess my parents were away for work most of the time, and the basement wasn't being used.... but why the hell was I even considering letting them stay? They attacked me in my own home!

"Well..."

"We can pay!" Sunburst blurted out, he reached around to his bag and produced a small tied-up sack in his teeth, with a flick of his head he tossed it over to me, it jingled as it hit the floor, attracting my full attention.

I opened the bag to reveal at least thirty solid gold coins, enough to be worth at least ten-thousand dollars, my eyes went wide as I stared at the pouch, with this I might even be able to pay for college!

"Uh...." I looked at the bag, and then the three of them, weighing my options.

There were three completely random strangers who attacked me and then just threw money at me to hide them from everyone else in the town for an undetermined period of time.

Then again, my curiosity was getting the better of me, and this was a lot of gold, and besides, they didn't seem to be too sinister in appearance, they looked more like refugees than anything else.

I bounced the pouch in my hand.

"Alright, fine."

Starlight and Sunburst both gave a sigh of relief, and Primrose's eyes widened as her mouth upturned into a small smile, she was surprised I took the deal, but happy I did at the same time.

"But first, we need to set some rules," I said clearly.

The three of them nodded.

"First, if I'm going to keep you hidden, you need to move when I say to where I say, I'm not the only one who lives here, and while my parents are here you'll need to either stay in the basement or in the attic. When they aren't here you can move around the house, but everything must stay as it was before they left. If you leave the house for whatever reason....just try to stay out of sight, please."

The three of them nodded once again.

"Second, I can provide food and water, but only so much, what do you guys eat?"

"Flowers, grass, vegetables, fruits, bread." Sunburst listed, "stuff like that."

"All of that, but I'd prefer meat if you have any." Primrose cut in.

I sighed, that was....doable.

"Ok, I'll bring you food, but no stealing from the fridge or pantry, I can't have my parents asking about where the food went."

The three of them nodded again.

"Finally, no magicking or assassinating anyone in the town."

The three of them seemed to ponder this, Primrose looking somewhat dour, but eventually, all of them nodded and agreed to the terms. Starlight suddenly offered me her hoof, and I was about to take it when she drew it back somewhat.

"Oh, um, you're supposed to bump it."

"Oh."

I made a fist, gently bumping Starlight's hoof and sealing the deal.

Why on earth did I just agree to this?

My parents were going to find them, and then I was going to die an early death.

"Well" I thought, "No going back now."

It took me another hour to move enough pillows and blankets from our storage closet into the basement for the three of them to sleep on. Thank God my parents weren't going to be home until two, because Starlight and Sunburst wanted a bath. Primrose resolved to stay as she was, and simply stated she was going to take her armor off before heading down into the basement.

Thirty minutes later I had shown the two of them how to operate the shower, and after they were done, I spent the next ten minutes picking pony-hair out of the drain.

I pilfered a bag of baby carrots out of the refrigerator for them to eat, promising bigger rations later on tomorrow.

As Sunburst took the carrots down to Primrose, I said my good-nights to them and prepared to go to bed myself, but was stopped by Starlight.

"Mister Eli...." Starlight began.

"Just Eli works." I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly.

"Oh, Eli, then... uh, I realize that what we're asking you to do seems kind of ridiculous, and I'm sure even ponies would hesitate to allow someone who broke into their home and attacked them to stay. What I'm trying to say is that we really appreciate you letting us stay here, I can't tell you anything, but I can tell you we are here for a really important reason."

I nodded, "Important enough to leave Equestria?"

Starlight flinched, "yes."

"You're not criminals, are you?" I joked.

Starlight blinked, her eyes suddenly seeming weighed down for a moment before the guilt in them was washed away by what seemed to be determination.

"No, no definitely not, look, I can't tell you anything until we're sure we can trust you, but I wanted to say thank you, and I hope we can all be good friends."

I looked back at her, sighing somewhat.

"Sounds good." I gave her a thumbs-up, "And you're welcome, I'm going to sleep now."

"Ok, um, good night!"

I ascended the stairs, heading straight to my room and falling face-first onto the bed as I gathered up the blankets and screwed my eyes shut.

I had a feeling that what I had just done might have thrown me into a little bit of an interdimensional problem, but that was a problem for in the morning.

Now?

I just wanted sleep.

Author's Note

Chapter complete.

And here are the characters that make the s**t hit the fan.

Seeing as how this is an alternate timeline with a bit more of a draconian Equestria, I felt like Starlight and Sunbursts' story might be changed up a little given their individual talents. I won't say to much about what they're doing on Earth or why they're here. But I will say that they have a reason to hide, one that will be revealed in the next chapter.

If he ever writes the next chapter...

F**k you, manifestation of Dash!

Buck you too Angsty!

Gah, you little... come here!

Fight, fight, fight!"

Oh dear, please don't-

Get 'im Dash, buck 'im in the apples!

Go for the eyes! For the eyes!

*Sigh* Thank you everyone for reading, Angstcannon appreciates your willingness to put up with his procrastination and assures you that chapter 8 is "coming in hot." As always, he accepts critisism in all forms, and wishes you a wondeful day.

You like that?! How 'bout one of these!

Ha! You call that a punch? How about this?!

Ooooooh

Oooooh, he's gonna feel that in the mornin'