A Second Chance

Josh awoke, the morning sun shining right into his eyes. Letting out a loud yawn he stood up rubbing his eyes, "Man I can have some really crazy dreams, talking ponies, A magic rock portal, I should write fiction." He thought to himself as he opened his eyes, he was still in the barn. "What? Impossible, no way that wasn't a dream." He was right wasn't he? How could he be in a dimension of talking magical ponies? As he thought to himself, he heard a door creak open.

"You awake in there Sugarcube?" Applejack yelled out as she made her way into the barn, "I was wondering if you'd like to join us for breakfast, you must be starving."

Josh couldn't lie, he hadn't had a proper meal since his "Dinner" and considering this was a farm, they must have something he would like, "Yeah I'm awake up here!" He yelled down as he made his way towards and down the ladder, "Look I'm sure we got off on the wrong foot, or I guess "Hoof" yesterday, and I want to apologize for not being respectful or thanking you for not leaving me out in a field or throwing me in a dungeon" Josh let out a chuckle as he said this.

"Well I just figured you hit your head after falling from that tree, and I'm sure I can find a way for you to make up for that, and make up for the apples you ate." Applejack said making a joke of her own.

Josh finally made it to the bottom floor and he followed Applejack towards the farmhouse, surprised to see it had a doorknob. Opening the door Applejack called out, "Hey Granny Smith, he said yes!" He looked around the house and was surprised at how normal it looked, nothing looked like something he couldn't imagine in a typical country house.

"Nice place." He said still scanning the room as he heard the sounds of someone else approaching, looking towards the sound, he saw an old green pony whom he recognized from yesterday. "You must be Granny Smith, please forgive me for being rude yesterday."

"No big deal, Applejack show him the bathroom so he can wash up" Granny Smith said, Josh noticed she also had a southern accent, this made him wonder about the history of this world.

"Come on now, just follow me and I'll show you the bathroom" Applejack led him upstairs, walking through the halls he noticed a lot of pictures of different ponies. All different but somewhat similar.

"Big Family?" He asked as they stopped in-front of a bathroom that, like the rest of the house, looked just like the one he would find in his house.

"eeyup, we got a lot of relatives, from all over Equestria. Anyway this is the bathroom, once you're done the dining room will be the first one on your left when you go down the stairs" Applejack said heading back down the hall.

"Thanks!" Josh said heading inside the bathroom, after relieving himself and washing up he headed back downstairs, entering the dining room he saw Applejack, A large red pony, and the little pony he had met yesterday, "Hey Apple Bloom!" He blurted out getting the attention of all three of the ponies.

Apple Bloom gave him a smile and waved back, "Hey Josh!" Apple Bloom also blurted out waving, excited to see this person again.

Taking a seat, he began a conversation, "Thank you for having me, really it's too kind considering you don't know me. I know I didn't give the best first impression but I hope I can make that up." He said with a smile on his face.

"Well I can't really blame yah, considering how you were acting it's like you never seen a pony before."-Applejack said then pointing at the red pony-"This is my brother Big Macintosh, and it seems you have already met my younger sister Apple Bloom."

"Well hello Big Macintosh, I'm sure you know my name already but it's Josh." He said offering a hand sake.

Big Mac shook his hand but didn't say anything, "Not much of a talker?" Josh asked, trying not to sound rude.

"Nope but he is a great big brother!" Apple Bloom blurted out causing Big Mac to smile.

"So Josh," Applejack looked at him with a curious look in her eyes "What exactly are you? I haven't seen anything like you before and neither has Twilight."

Josh looked dumbfounded, was he really the only human in this world? realizing not answering would be rude he quickly replied, "I'm a human, I understand I'm not a regular occurrence around here?"

"A human? Never heard of one." Applejack looked at Josh but before she could say anything Granny smith walked in.

"Foods Ready!" She said as to Josh's surprise she managed to carry 5 plates of food to the table and place it in the middle, "Dig in!" she said taking a seat.

Josh was practically drooling over the food, the smell was amazing. "This looks amazing, thank you." Josh said, grabbing the closest plate. It had scrambled eggs, two slices of toast and an apple fritter. Josh began to eat, restraining himself from shoving everything into his mouth at once to seem polite. He enjoyed every bite, he could tell everything was fresh, it took about 8 minutes for him to finish. "That was great! Thank you." Josh said as he stood up grabbing his plate. "Which way is the kitchen?"

"Just behind me." Granny Smith said pointing behind her.

Trying to make a good impression he washed his plate to try and show his gratitude for the meal. Walking back into the dining room, he turned to Applejack. "So guessing you're not going to let me just lounge around?" he asked jokingly.

"Well no, remember you owe me for helping you." Applejack said looking at Josh. "I was thinking you could watch Apple Bloom and help her with some chores around the farm." Applejack said looking at Apple Bloom "I figured you'd need some help and I'm going to be too busy to help you."

"That's okay, I don't mind" Apple Bloom happily said.

"Great, you know what you have to do, just don't think you can get Josh to do all the hard work" Applejack jokingly said while winking at her sister.

Apple Bloom finished eating and walked up to Josh, "Follow me, we got a busy day today!" as she gestured for him to follow.

Josh sat down resting against a tree, he wiped his forehead, "You do this kind of work everyday?" Josh asked Apple Bloom, wondering how such a young child could do this kind of work. From breakfast to now he had collected about 20 trees worth of apples, carrying them back to the farm with each tree giving about four full baskets worth of apples. Then after bringing them back they had to load half of them into storage and the other half into a cart to be sold.

"Well I guess you get used to it." Apple Bloom said looking at Josh "for as long as I can remember I have been working the farm like the rest of the family." Apple Bloom walked over and sat next to Josh.

"Well I hope Applejack considers us even." Josh laid back on the tree and looked up at the sky, he was about to rest when he heard two voices yell out, "APPLE BLOOM!" causing him to sit up.

Apple Bloom and Joshua looked towards the direction of the noise seeing Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle running towards them, Josh gave them a wave before laying back.

"Hey Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom ran towards her friends "What brings you around here?" Apple Bloom embraced her friends in a big bear hug.

"Did you forget? were going to try and get our cutie marks in..."-Scootaloo took out a piece of paper from her saddle bag "Reading? Lame, why don't we do something cool like, deep-sea diving, or rock climbing or rollerblading!" Scootaloo placed the paper back into her bag.

"Oh what about music or dress-making like my sister!" Sweetie Belle piped up.

"Those all sound like good ideas girls, but why don't we start with reading and go from there." Apple Bloom said, putting a hoof around both her friends.

"Ahem, you forgetting something?" Josh piped up still laying on the tree, "Applejack said I gotta watch you and.." Josh was about to continue before Apple Bloom interrupted him.

"You can come with us!" Apple Bloom said enthusiastically while Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle both got a shocked look on their faces.

"But this is a Cutie Mark Crusader cutie mark quest, and he's not in the Cutie Mark Crusaders" Scootaloo said to her friend.

"Hmmmm, you're right. CMC I AM CALLING AN EMERGENCY CMC MEETING! TOO THE CLUB HOUSE!" Apple Bloom yelled out as she and her friends began running off somewhere.

"Hey wait up!" Josh said, running after them, surprised at how fast they are he could barely keep up. Trailing behind but not losing them he soon found himself in front of a tree-house, it had hearts on the door and window covers, with a ramp leading up towards it. Heading inside, he saw Apple Bloom standing at a podium with the other two sitting in-front of her, turning towards Josh as he entered he walked up and took a seat next to Scootaloo.

"Cutie Mark Crusaders, I hereby call this emergency meeting in order!" Apple Bloom said looking at all three of them, "As you know, I would like to invite Josh on our Cutie Mark Crusader adventures but as you also know, He is not in the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

Josh was chuckling to himself, he found it extremely cute with how serious Apple Bloom was taking this, and the fact her voice made it hard to take her seriously.

"So I move we elect Joshua as a temporary member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom slammed her hoof down. The other members of the CMC gasped, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle began murmuring to each other.

"I don't know Apple Bloom." Scootaloo said, looking at Josh "What could you bring to the Cutie Mark Crusaders?" Scootaloo asked the human boy.

"Well, I can help with heavy lifting, and I guess reaching things." Josh said not really know how to reply.

"Oh I know!" Sweetie Belle interrupted, "Do you know what you're going to do? Like your special talent? Sweetie Belle asked Josh.

"Well I mean, not really." Josh couldn't lie, he really had no idea what he would do with his life. He had some ideas but being thrown into Equestria kind-of threw a wrench into the mix.

"See? He's like us, he hasn't found what's special about him either. If you ask me that's perfect CMC member material" Apple Bloom said a gleeful smile on her face.

"Well I guess we could give him a try." Scootaloo said.

"Then it's settled, I hereby declare Josh a member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Apple Bloom yelled out running in-between her friends, then in unison they yelled out, "FIRST NON-PONY MALE MEMBER OF THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS YAY!". They all said happily, Sweetie Belle then walked up to the podium and took out some paper.

"We the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Elect Joshua to join us as a sister," she paused for a second, "I mean brother, friend, confidante, ally-" Sweetie Belle went on but Scootaloo interrupted her.

"Let's Just get to the point!" Scootaloo said impatiently.

Sweetie Belle sighed, then continued, "And fellow Cutie Mark Crusader! I solemnly swear you into the Cutie Mark Crusaders!"

"I humbly thank you, Now allow me to make my thank you speech!" Josh jokingly picked up some loose paper and stood.

"That won't be necessary!" Scootaloo said pushing Josh from behind "Let's hurry up and go!" the other members of the CMC followed suite, running past Josh and Scootaloo and leading the way towards their adventures.

Josh was running just behind the rest of the CMC, this time he didn't trail as far behind but he was still the slowest. Josh had a huge smile on his face, this is the first time in a long time he had felt this much joy. Looking forward as they ran over a hill, he noticed a small town. The CMC coming to a stop allowed Josh to catch up and admire the view, "Is that Ponyville?" Josh asked, scanning the town he noticed a large oak tree in the middle of the town.

"Well come on let's go!" Apple Bloom yelled out. She was about to start running again but Josh interrupted.

"Hold on! You seem to be forgetting that I'm not really a pony, how do we know the entire town won't freak out the second I step foot in town?" Josh said, so far no-one or I guess no-pony he had met had immediately freaked out. Well relative to what he thought a freak out would be.

"It'll be fine, you're with us and besides you don't look scary" Apple Bloom cheerfully replied, "Now common!"

Apple Bloom led the way as they walked towards the town, Josh was a bit nervous but nevertheless he trusted Apple Bloom on not scaring the entire town at the mere sight of him. Entering the town, he noticed a few glares in his direction followed by some whispers but so far no big freak-out.

"See what I tell yah?" Apple Bloom said, turning to her new human friend, "Everything's fine, heck i'm sure you could meet a lot of new ponies if you just talked to em." Apple Bloom encouraged Josh, "Go ahead try!"

Josh looked around, he may as well give it a shot, but most ponies seem to have noticed and had begun talking about him. All except one, a pink pony with a wild mane was looking at the sky intently, "Seems like a good start." Josh thought to himself as he approached the pony. Standing behind her he poked her on the back to get her attention, after she turned around he introduced himself. "Hey my name is Josh, I'm sorta new around here." Josh offers a handshake to the pink pony who just looked at him with a blank expression. Just as he thought about apologizing and leaving the Pink pony grew a huge smile and pounced on him, taking him completely by surprise.

"OMG A NEW PERSON! HEY JOSH MY NAMES PINKIE PIE I'M KNOWN AS PONYVILLE'S RESIDENT PARTY PONY YOU MUST NEW BECAUSE I HAVE NEVER SEEN YOU BEFORE OR SEEN ANYPONY LIKE YOU BEFORE YOU HAVE TO TELL ME ALL ABOUT YOURSELF WE CAN BE THE BESTEST FRIENDS EV-" Pinkie Pie was interrupted by another more raspy voice.

"Pinkie did you see that?" Josh looked behind Pinkie Pie and noticed a Cyan Blue Pegasus landing behind her.

Pinkie Jumped off Josh and hopped in-front of the Pegasus, "Sorry Rainbow Dash I was just meeting someone new!" Pinkie Pie pointed at Josh, who was getting off the ground. Josh looked around while standing up seeing most ponies had gone back to what they were doing.

"Woah, never seen anypony like you before." Rainbow Dash said as she quickly flew towards Josh then circling around him, scanning him. "You are definitely new around here, I don't think anypony could forget someone like you"

"Oh my gosh! I need to get back to Sugarcube Corner and make your "Welcome to Ponyville Cake" right away! Quick what's your favorite flavor?" Pinkie Pie got back in Josh's face to ask this.

"Uhhhh, I guess chocolate" Josh replied feeling awkward with this Pink pony right in his face, "But it's really no-"

Before he could finish Pinkie ran off towards a massive building that looked like it was made of an assortment of treats, he marveled at the building before Rainbow dash got his attention back.

"That was Pinkie Pie, she's a bit eccentric but really nice." Rainbow Dash said, landing and offering a hoof shake, "Names Rainbow Dash, fastest and greatest flier in all of Equestria."

"Nice to meet you Rainbow Dash." Josh shook her hoof "Names Josh."

Just then Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom ran up from behind him, "We probably should have warned you about Pinkie." Apple Bloom said a bit embarrassed.

"Hey Rainbow Dash!" Scootaloo said running towards Rainbow.

"Hey Scootaloo, how's my biggest fan." Rainbow Dash ruffled the young ponies hair, "This guy with you?"

"Yep, he's a temporary member of the Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Sweetie Belle yelled out.

"Well I guess if he's with you, I can give him a "proper" welcome to ponyville" Rainbow Dash walked over, next to Josh, "Im taking a guess if you've met the Cutie Mark Crusaders, you have met AppleJack, am I right?" Rainbow Dash asked getting a response in the form of a nod. "Great, anyway that was Pinkie, she works and lives at Sugarcube Corner with the cakes, if you got extra bits I highly recommend getting some cupcakes from them, As you know my names Rainbow Dash I live just outside Ponyville, and that big oak tree you can see behind me is the Golden Oak library, my friend Twilight lives their. and a bit back the way you came is Carousel Boutique, That where Rarity lives." Rainbow Dash finally finished, "Anyway I gotta go, Enjoy Ponyville" She said, flying off.

Rainbow Dash Flew away as Josh and the CMC waved her off, "Alright, now considering it's called Golden Oaks library, guessing that's where we are heading." Josh said pointing.

"Yep, now lets go before we get interrupted anymore, we could have had our cutie marks by now" Sweetie Belle said as they began walking towards the Library.

Josh admired the friendliness of the town as he walked through, people helping each-other for no apparent reason but to be helpful. It was a nice change from the normally hostile hometown he was used too. Reaching the Library he knocked on the door. expecting Twilight to open the door a small purple dragon opened the door.

"Hey you're the creature from yesterday Twilight was talking about!" The Dragon said, "My name’s Spike, come on in!"

The CMC and Josh entered as Twilight was reading, looking up she closed her book and walked towards them, "Hello CMC, Josh, what can I do for you?" She said using her magic to put her book away.

"We wanted to try and get our cutie marks in reading!" Apple Bloom said, "Can we read some of the books?"

Twilight Smiled, "Of course you can, help yourselves!" She said pointing at the book shelf.

The CMC ran and each grabbed a random book and began reading, Josh was considering joining them when a knock was heard. "Spike can you get that?" Twilight asked, her little friend complying opening the door letting out a gasp causing Josh to turn around. Josh was in shock as now standing inside the library was a tall, white pony with a golden crown, a horn and wings. he then noticed that the same dark-blue pony from his dream was next to her.

"We meet again Joshua, but a bit more real than last time." Luna said smiling at him.

Josh looked back at Twilight and saw her bowing, he quickly realized that they must be royalty and bowed as well.

"So you are the little creature I have heard about." The white pony said, her voice having a calming effect on Josh. "My name is Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria along with my sister Luna. I have been informed that you have already met?"

"Yes your highness!" Josh quickly replied.

"I appreciate your manners, but I must ask you to come with me and my sister. We would like to discuss with you why you are here and where you came from." Celestia said, and with that she gestured for him to follow, "Twilight, would you mind coming as well?

"Not at all Princess, Spike watch the Library for me" Twilight said as she walked towards the royal sisters, Joshua following. stepping outside he saw a large chariot with two Pegasus attached to the front. Stepping onto it with the others, they began flying towards a large castle in the distance. All Josh could do was hope he wasn't about to be thrown in a dungeon and declared a threat.