Chapters A World Beyond Imagination
Josh awoke to a sharp pain in his head, sharply contrasted to the rather pleasant warmth he felt around him. Opening his eyes he felt the pain slowly fade away as the brightness of the sun overtook him. He didn't know where he was but it was beautiful, the grass was far greener than what he had seen before, and the sky was so clear. Wherever he was, it's like it had never seen a single factory, "Okay this is not the worst thing to ever happen to me, at least it's clean"
Josh looked around and noticed he was surrounded by apple trees, "Well food won't be a problem and I could really go for something to eat it's almost......" Wait, what time was it? How long was he out for? reaching for his phone he checked the time, he looked, confused as it read: 4:55 am. "Impossible, it's daylight out! What time zone am I even in?" this thought was pushed aside as a rumble in his stomach got him back to thinking about the apple trees, "I'm no expert, but they look good enough to eat, I'm sure the owner won't mind considering the circumstances"
Reassuring himself he walked over to the closest tree and began climbing, after some time he managed to pull himself onto a sturdy branch and began to eat. The apples were the sweetest he had ever eaten. He lost himself in the enjoyment and tossing the cores towards the ground, he paid no mind to cover his tracks.
[20 minutes earlier]
Applejack was fanning herself off with her hat, she had just finished fixing up the barn door so it'll stop opening in the middle of the night letting any animal come and take as they pleased. she was just about to start feeding the pigs when Twilight and Spike approached the farm, Spike was carrying a box that had to have some books and notes but what where they coming here for?
"Hey Twilight, what can I do for yah?" Applejack asked her good friend.
"Hey Applejack, I was just coming to ask if you noticed anything odd around the farm, I have been tracking magical spikes and a huge one was detected near sweet apple acres."
"Well sugarcube, I haven't seen nothing out of the ordinary" The Apple-farmer replied, but just then her trustful dog Winona ran towards her barking, "What's wrong Winona? Is Apple Bloom in trouble?" Just then Winona ran a short distance away before turning and barking at the two mares.
"What's the matter?" Twilight asked rather concerned.
"I don't know, I ain't ever seen Winona act like this unless something wrong" Applejack said with a nervous tone, "Whatever it is, we should go"
[35 minutes later]
Josh's eating was interrupted by the barking of a dog, it sounded like it was getting closer and Josh decided getting caught wouldn't be a good thing as he had now eaten much of the low hanging apples, he climbed higher to hide in the brush of the tree. sitting on a smaller branch he watched as the small dog ran towards the tree and began barking, "Great, lets just hope they don't look for me"
Just then, he heard what sounded like two horses approaching, hearing a female voice with a hint of a southern-american accent, "What is it girl? ya found the vermin?" as the sounds got closer he realized his mistake, "Great i'm about to get beat on by a country girl, maybe I can out run her?" Just then two small horses one a violet purple, and the other orange with a cowboy hat walked into view.
Josh had to shove a fist in his mouth in order to stop him from letting out a confused scream. What the hell was he looking at? who talked? The answer would come when the same voice came from the orange horse, "Must be some colts thinking it's cool to take mah families apples" Josh was dumbstruck, did that horse just talk? Where the hell was he? Did someone drug him while he slept in that park? Whatever it was they knew he was up there, or thought he was a "colt"? Are horses the dominant species? Shifting in his spot he felt a sudden jolt, followed by apples falling.
"Oh shi-!" Josh yelled out as the branch broke and he was sent plummeting towards the ground, he heard two female gasp as he hit the ground with a loud THUD He opened his eyes, his vision shaky as the two mares stood above him, both looking shocked beyond belief. Reaching out to them, he tried to ask for help but ended up collapsing, his vision beginning to fade, he could see the two arguing before everything went black.
"Twilight you mind telling me what in tarnation that.....Thing is?" Applejack asked her friend, pointing at the strange monkey-like creature.
"I don't know Applejack, it's not like anything I have ever seen before" Twilight told her friend, just as confused at what was currently laying in front of her. It really was nothing like she had ever seen, it looked like a primate but none she had ever seen. "It reminds me of a primate but it's a completely undocumented, no book I have ever read had anything even similar to this creature" Twilight scanned the beast, it was wearing a shirt, something that some high-class ponies wore but never for long, it was white but had holes in it. Most-likely from that fall, along with this he had what seemed to be a form of pants, something she had seen many high-class ponies wear at things like the Grand Galloping Gala.
"Twilight!"-Applejack yelled to her friend deep in thought-"What do we do? Is it dangerous?"
"I'm not sure Applejack, but it looks hurt" Twilight said, looking at the poor creature who had seemingly passed out"I think we should take it back to Sweet Apple Acres. I don't know if he is dangerous but I could of sworn I heard him speak, this is not an opportunity we should pass-up"
Applejack looked at her friend and sighed, "Alright, you wait here and I'll go get a cart and Big Mac, I don't think we can carry it all the way back" Applejack turned and called for Winona, after getting her attention they began heading back as Twilight pulled out a notebook from a saddle bag she had been carrying around and began writing notes.
"Lets see, one large clump of hair on-top of their head, possible capability of speech, understanding of clothing" Twilight paid no mind to the fact she was talking out loud, or the fact she had still not found the source of the magical spike. "I wonder if they can use magic?"
[45 minutes later]
Josh could hear some muffled chatter around him, his eyes were shut and he had no idea what had happened. "Did I fall asleep in class again?" He thought to himself, he felt a sharp pain in his right leg as he shuffled in place. He could feel himself laying on what felt like hay, slowly opening his eyes he saw four horses seemingly talking among themselves while he laid in what seemed to be the back of an open cart on top of hay. Letting out a groan he shifted to sit straight up, getting the attention of the four horses and causing them all to turn and look at him. He was like a deer in headlights, he didn't know if this was a dream, the pain was real enough but what now?
As the quiet staring contest between the human and horses grew longer, Josh decided that talking could help. Taking a deep-breath, he raised his hand in a hello wave and said, "uhhh, hey can you guys talk?" He felt like an idiot, he just asked a group of coloured horses if they could talk. The four horses looked at each other before the violet one walked up and looked at him.
"My name is Twilight Sparkle, it's nice to meet you...." Twilight awkwardly stopped herself realizing she didn't know the things name.
"Josh, names Josh" The boy exhaled heavily, relieved that he could communicate with the horses "Do you guys know where I am? I'm a bit lost if you couldn't tell."
"Well you are currently at Sweet Apple Acres, just west of Ponyville." Twilight was more than happy to gain the trust of this unknown creature, it could be an entirely new undiscovered sapient species!
"Thanks for the answer but I meant more like the continent, you know like North-American, Europe." Josh asked despite knowing this was most-likely a dream.
Twilight gave the stranger a confused look, "I have never heard of those places but what I do know is that you are in Equestria!" Twilight tried to stay enthusiastic but it's not something she had mastered yet.
"Equestria? Never heard of it." Josh felt like an idiot talking as if this was real, I mean it couldn't be right? I mean, talking horses, Equestria? He had to pat himself on the back for coming up with that one.
"You never heard of Equestria? But you live here don't you?" Twilight asked with a hint of sarcasm in her voice.
"Nope I live in Canada, this is all just some foolish dream and soon enough I'll wake up and go back to my mundane life." Josh laid back looking at the sky as the sun began to set, "Yep I'll sleep and then wake up back home in my bed." He closed his eyes with a smirk on his face.
"You're going to sleep outside?" Applejack spoke up, confused to high heaven, "You should at least sleep in the barn" She said before she even thought of what she said. She didn't even know this thing but she just offered up her barn to it.
"Eh, why not." Josh got up staggering at first "It won't matter but I appreciate the offer miss." He began walking towards the barn moving past the group of horses.
"Don't you want a blanket or something?" Applejack asked even more confused.
"Nah I'm good" Josh said, reaching the Barn and walking inside, "See you in the morning!" Josh said with no attempt to hide the sarcasm in his voice.
Applejack turned to Twilight, "You should head home, come tomorrow and you can take it and find out what they are."
"I think it's a he." Twilight replied as she began walking home, "See you tomorrow Applejack!"
Waving goodbye, Twilight began walking home, thinking about this stranger. "Could he be the cause of the magic spike?" she thought to herself as she continued on her way.
Three fillies sat on the top level of the Sweet Apple Acres barn, one of them holding binoculars, Watching the strange creature standing on two legs. The filly was yellow and had a red mane with a large bow-tie, on her right to her was a filly with a purple mane and an orange coat, but she also had a small set of wings. And on her left was a white filly with a duel violet and pink mane and unicorn horn.
"What's it doing now Apple Bloom?" The orange filly asked the yellow one.
"I don't know, but it looks like it's coming this way." Apple Boom said to her friend, her eyes still glued to the binoculars watching as the creature walked towards the barn.
Josh made it to the barn door, opening it and stepping inside being surprised at how clean it was for a barn, "Well, guess i'll make myself comfortable." Josh said to himself not noticing the three fillies had moved to look at him from above in curiosity and a hint of fear.
Apple Bloom turned to her friends, "You think it's friendly?" she said in a whisper, not wanting to call attention to them.
"I don't know, but if Applejack is letting them stay in the barn, how bad could they be?" The White unicorn said, "Scootaloo what do you think?" She looked at the orange Pegasus.
"Well if Rainbow Dash was here, she wouldn't be scared so we shouldn't be either!" Scootaloo said with confidence but not so much with a quiet tone, causing the human to look up to where the noise was coming from.
"Hello? Is anyone here?" Josh looked toward the upper level of the barn "You can come out, I won't hurt you." He said in a calming tone, while looking around seeing a ladder leading up to the second level. Walking towards it and wondering how a horse could even climb it in the first place, he placed his hand on the first rung. "I'm going to come up, don't be scared." Josh began to climb up, finding it difficult with a pain in his right leg but nevertheless making it to the top.
The three fillies had hidden behind a stack of boxes looking at the creature from behind the boxes not making a sound, they were not terrified but something was stopping them from going up to the creature.
"My name is Josh, what's yours?" Josh slowly walked around the top level, he didn't know why but he felt compelled to find out who was here with him.
"Apple Bloom what do we do now?" The white unicorn asked her friend in a whisper.
"I don't know Sweetie Belle." Apple Bloom turned to her friend then looked back at Josh "Maybe I should talk to them they clearly can speak."
"Are you insane? What if they eat ponies?" Scootaloo said with a hint of fear in her voice.
"Well they didn't attack Applejack, Twilight, Big Mac or Granny Smith" Apple Bloom replied "And they don't look that dangerous"
"Maybe it only eats fillies?" Sweetie Belle replied sharing the same hint of fear in her voice.
"What other options do we have, jump out the window?" Apple Bloom jokingly replied, still looking at Josh who had sat down just in-front of the boxes, "I'm going to talk to them." Her two friends looked as Apple Bloom walked from behind the box and went face to face with Josh, now realizing that he was a lot bigger. Knowing it was too late to go back into cover she said with a shaky voice, "H-hey, I'm Apple Bloom."
Josh looked at the young horse, she was clearly frightened of him, an understandable reaction, "Well hey Apple Bloom, I hope I didn't scare you I understand that my appearance is a bit unnerving and frightening, but I assure you I mean no harm." Josh said, giving a friendly smile "What are you doing up here by yourself?"
"Well.....I'm not really by-myself." Apple Bloom looked back at the boxes "You can come out girls, he's friendly!"
Josh watched as two more young horses walked out with some hesitation, walking up next to their friend. "So what are your names?" Josh asked doing his best to look non-threatening.
"I'm Scootaloo, the best scooter-riding pony in all of Ponyville!" Scootaloo said, trying to look cool in-front of this new creature, the frightfulness fading as she talked.
"And I'm Sweetie Belle, nice to meet you" Sweetie Belle said also not trying to sound scared.
"Well it's nice to meet you three ponies, i'm sure it must have been scary when I first came up here but I hope you realize that I truly mean no harm" Josh reassured the three ponies "So guessing your a trio of friends?" He asked trying to ease any remaining tension.
"Yes sir! We are!" Apple Bloom said before turning to Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle, each of them nodding before standing next to each other.
"THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" The three ponies cheered in unison loudly and proudly.
"Well cutie mark crusaders, it's nice to meet you." Josh said a smile now plastered on his face "I hope you don't mind but I actually came here to sleep"
"Oh no problem we were just about to get going, It was nice to meet you!" Apple Bloom said with a smile looking at her friends.
With that the CMC would begin walking away as Josh would rest himself against the boxes looking out a window as the sun began to set, the orange glow of the sky being a beautiful sight as he began drifting to sleep. "Shame this dream needs to end, It was a nice break from reality, and it's so nice here." Josh said his eyes closing as he finally fell asleep.
Josh seemingly awoke, still in the barn but only now there was a dark-blue mist lingering around him. Was he dreaming in a dream? And what could it mean? He was confused and searched the room for the source of the mist, but it was as if it had no source and just existed, but just then he saw an outline of a large pony walking towards him, from what he could tell it had a horn like a unicorn but it also seemingly had wings. It was also a lot taller than any of the ponies he had seen so far, it might even be as tall as him standing up. As it got closer he couldn't help but be paralyzed in place as a chill ran up his back.
"Who art thou?" He heard a voice call out as the shadow loomed ever closer, he was unable to speak and the figure loomed ever closer he could now make out what seemed to be a crown atop the figures head, and soon enough the figure soon was standing right in-front of him looking down on him. The moon then appeared from behind the clouds illuminating him and the figure, who seemed to be a princess, she had a mane that looked like it was made from the night-sky itself, she was a dark blue color and wore what seemed to be a chest-plating that had a moon on it.
"Well? Are you going to remain silent?" The pony stood firm, looking down at him.
Josh deeply inhaled and exhaled mustering the courage to answer, "M-my names Josh, wha-what's yours?" He asked the fear in his voice ever present.
The pony looked upon the boy and sighed, "Forgive me, I didn't intend to frighten you but I had to be safe and make sure you were no threat to me." The Ponies horn glowed and Josh found himself now standing in a field, "My name is Princess Luna, I travel into the dreams of my subjects and offer them guidance" Luna gave a smile in-order to try and calm the young boy "But I have never seen you before, and from what I can see you are clearly not of this realm, correct?"
Josh was confused, of-course he wasn't "This realm" but does this mean Equestria wasn't a dream? No that's impossible, how could he be in a universe of talking horses?
"I can feel your struggle, I can tell you are conflicted. But I can assure you that you are indeed in Equestria." Luna was trying to explain the situation but she knew that Josh was beyond confused, "I understand you are not of this realm, but I can tell you are of no danger. However I cannot allow you to wonder as you please, I cannot spend much more time here but expect a visit from me and my sister when you wake" Luna said her horn began to glow.
"Wait I still have questions!" Josh said as the world began to be enveloped in white.
"I know but right now I cannot answer them, so goodnight young one" And with that the world was taken over by white light and Josh was back laying down in the barn. Leaving him with more questions than answers, as he slowly drifted back to sleep.
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.
Author's Note
Thank you for the support, seeing even one person interested in my story gives me the motivation to keep going. I know the story is a bit rough but I know it will get better.
Thank you and rock on!
A Royal Decree
Josh looked in awe as he watched the world fly by, it was a beautiful sight as he saw ponies going about their day-to-day lives. He had never seen such greenery as they approached the castle which he soon realized was in a sprawling city, he saw many armor clad ponies standing guard around the city. He noticed many of the ponies pointing up in awe at the chariot as it flew overhead, soon they came to a landing in a courtyard. Guards stood at attention around a red carpet, Josh looked at them wondering if they we're a bit uneasy seeing him next to what he is assuming to be the two most important and powerful beings in Equestria. However they kept a straight face, no one batting an eye. They made their way into and around the castle, soon arriving at a large set of doors. They opened revealing a meeting room with one large table with two thrones at the far-end, marked with a Sun and Moon. The princesses sat down and Josh and Twilight followed suite.
"I have to thank you for being so cooperative." Celestia said using her magic to close the door "It really makes this a lot easier"
"About that, what is this about?" Josh asked, he had some ideas like an interrogation, a trial but he honestly couldn't 100% know for sure considering he had no idea about the laws of this world.
"I guess you could call this an interrogation, but think of it more as an interview." Celestia said, her voice calming the young human. "This is really just to try and understand more about you, you could probably tell that we don't get a lot of beings like you around here, a human right?"
"Yeah a human, anyway if all you want is to know more about me then go ahead." Josh said, he really didn't feel the need to hide anything about himself or humanity.
"Alright, let's talk about your species first. Are you the dominant species in your world?" Celestia asked.
"Yes." Josh simply replied.
"Twilight, if you don't mind can you take no-" Celestia was interrupted by her fateful student.
"Notes! Got it!" Twilight said already writing things down, "You won't miss a thing!"
"Thank you Twilight, now Josh is your species one of peace or of war?" Celestia asked, Josh could tell the shift in her tone.
"Well we used to be a lot more aggressive, however that was long before our modern civilization. Most of us are peaceful and we haven't had a major war in a LONG time." Josh said, he was technically lying as 75 years wasn't that long in terms of human history but it was long ago. luckily this seemed to be satisfactory for the princess and he could tell she was revealed.
"Good, now what is your species diet? are you herbivorous, carnivorous or omnivores?" Celestia raised an eyebrow.
"Omnivores" Josh said bluntly.
"So you eat meat?" Luna asked.
"Yes but not large amounts, and if it makes you feel better we don't eat ponies." Josh said with a light chuckle trying to lighten the mood. I didn't work that well.
"Moving on, does your species use magic?" asked Celestia.
"Some people claim to but nothing like I have seen around here, so I'm saying no." Josh responded.
"I think that's enough about your species for now, let's start talking about you." Celestia said, "So Josh, where do you come from?"
"Planet Earth, if you want me to be specific, Canada." Josh simply responded.
"So you said your race is peaceful, are you an exception?" Celestia asked.
"Nah I'm chill, I mostly avoided fighting unless it's necessary to protect myself or the people I care for." Josh said.
The Questioning continued for what felt like hours until Celestia and Luna felt confident that Josh was not a threat, "Well from what we can tell, you are not a threat to anypony." Celestia said smiling at the boy "but if you don't mind I wish to know more about you." Josh looked confused at the princess, he wondered where this was going. Celestia looked at Twilight and spoke. "I think I have a new assignment for you Twilight, I would like you to "Study" Josh in Ponyville so we may learn more about humans."
"Wait "study" me?" Josh asked concerned.
"Don't worry, I don't mean dissect you or anything, just stay with her at the Golden Oak library and go about daily life." Celestia said reassuringly. "Unless you have any objections Twilight?"
"No problems, I'm sure it will be fine." Twilight said, looking at Celestia and Luna before turning towards Josh, "And I'm sure he can help me around the library." She said with a smile.
"Well then I guess we are done here." Celestia took out a note, "Show this to the guards outside and they will escort you to a chariot and back to Ponyville."
And with that, Josh bid farewell to the Royal sisters before him and Twilight left for Ponyville.
The sun was setting as they landed outside Golden Oaks, Thanking the Pegasus that flew them their Twilight lead Josh inside the library. Spike was already asleep so Twilight decided not to wake him, "Follow me, I'll show you to your room" Twilight said, Josh followed her upstairs and into an empty room with only a dresser with a mirror and luckily a large enough bed for him to sleep on.
"It's not much but I hope you like it!" Twilight said cheerfully.
"It's perfect, thank you Twilight." Josh said walking towards and flopping onto the bed, "I'm going to sleep early tonight."
"Well then Goodnight, oh and before I forget I was thinking I could take you to see my friend Rarity about fixing and making you some new clothes, Sound good?" Twilight asked getting a thumbs up from the now curled up in blankets Josh. "I'll take that as a yes." Twilight turned off the lights and closed the door behind her.
Josh rolled in the bed upon hearing someone knocking on the wooden door, "Come in!" He said, sitting up he saw the door open and the dragon, Spike was standing in the doorway. "Morning." Josh said with a yawn, now standing he walked towards the door.
"Morning Joshua, Twilight told me to come get you for breakfast." Spike said before grabbing Josh's hand, "Follow me!" Spike said tugging Joshua and leading him downstairs and a small kitchen area, Josh could see Twilight reading an old looking book with a similar stack of books next to her.
"Morning Twilight" Josh said, sitting down just in-front of her. Twilight snapped out of her trance and quickly waved hello to Josh before going back to reading. "Busy morning?" Josh asked as he settled in.
"Sorry I've just been looking for any kind-of spell, device or artifact that could explain how you got here," Twilight said brushing over the many notes from yesterday's "Interrogation" of the human. "You said you found, and I quote "Glowing Rock" and after touching it you got teleported here?"
"Yeah that's really it, if I knew anything else I would tell you." Josh said before Spike brought over the plates of food.
"Breakfast is served!" Spike said as he sat down to join them.
Josh and Twilight both thanked Spike before beginning to eat, there was some lettuce, scrambled eggs, and surprisingly to Josh, something that looked like bacon. "Wow Spike, you made this yourself?" Josh said munching down eagerly.
"Yep, I'm glad you like it." Spike said proudly.
"Oh Twilight," Josh said as he finished his food, "You still planning on taking me to see your friend Rarity?" He asked as he stood up to put away his plate.
"Yep, I was planning on doing it after lunch but If you want, I'm sure we can go now." Twilight said, closing her book and levitating her plate to the sink.
"Well we might as well get it out of the way, not that I have any other plans." Josh said stretching.
Josh walked out into the living room, slumping onto the small couch. suddenly a book was levitated towards him with a small note on it reading, "I forgot I had to do something real quick, so I thought you could give this book on the general history of Equestria a look.- Twilight Sparkle." Josh opened the book and scanned the chapters, he decided he would start on what looked interesting. That's when he noticed a chapter called "The banishment of Nightmare Moon".
"Wonder what this could be about?" Josh thought as he flipped to the page and began reading. It was about 15 minutes before Twilight showed up with her saddle bag.
"Alright let's go!" Twilight walked towards the door as Josh got up and followed her.
It was another nice day out, Josh saw many ponies playing, talking and the mood all around was very pleasant. Josh looked up towards the sun and smiled, "You know, I honestly thought that things would be a lot worse for me when I woke up in that field." Josh turned to look at Twilight as she turned to him.
"What do you mean?" She asked curiously.
"I don't know, I guess when I first saw you and Applejack I was first thinking it was a dream. But at the same time part of me already knew it was real, and I guess my first thoughts would be that I would be treated like a monster." Josh sighed as they continued walking, "But you, Applejack, the CMC, the royal princesses, you all have been so nice." Josh looked down at his feet as he walked. Just then he felt a hoof pat him on the back.
"Hey, what's got you down? Homesick?" Twilight asked, she could tell something was on the boys mind.
"Yeah I guess so, but I'm sure with your help I can get back in no time flat" Josh said his mood lighting up, "And hey, maybe I cou-"
Just then he and Twilight heard running from behind them, turning around they saw Pinkie run and stop in-front of them, she had a cake on her back and looked beyond happy.
"Ha! I found you!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed pointing a hoof at Josh, "I couldn't find you yesterday so I ended up eating that cake but I got a new one for you!" Pinkie turned to her side gesturing for Josh to take a slice.
Josh looked at the cake, It was chocolate with "Welcome to Ponyville!" In pink frosting, taking a slice he took a bite. His mouth immediately exploded with flavor and he munched down 2 more slices with Pinkie being extremely happy her new friend enjoyed it so much.
"I knew you would like it! You seem like someone who liked sweets" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, it was only a four slice cake so she decided to gobble down the last piece.
"Thank you Pinkie, Rainbow was right you got some great baking skills." Josh said smiling at Pinkie.
"You didn't tell me you met Pinkie and Rainbow." Twilight added on.
"Oh yeah, it was just before I showed up at Golden Oaks yesterday." Josh said as Pinkie hopped away, "Anyway, let's hurry to Carousel Boutique."
After much more walking, they arrived at Carousel Boutique and once more Josh had to marvel at the scale and size of it. It was big and not to mention beautifully designed, Twilight knocked on the door as Josh snapped back to reality.
"Rarity is very generous so I'm sure she'll help us out." Twilight said as they heard what Josh would describe as a "classy" voice yell out.
"Just a minute!" As they heard someone walking inside, then after about a minute a white pony with a purple mane answered the door.
"Ah Twilight darling! Whatever can I do for you?" Rarity said, not yet noticing the human.
"Hey Rarity I was wondering if you could lend me and my friend Josh a hand" Twilight said as he pointed at Josh.
"Hi, my name is Josh." Josh offered a hand in friendship but Rarity looked at Josh mortified.
Uh oh, He completely forgot about the fact that he was a human in a world of ponies and even though most people seemed fine with it, he forgot that some ponies might not take so kindly to his look. Josh readied for a scream but instead he was pulled inside with Twilight quickly followed.
"Oh my goodness darling! Your clothes are absolutely wrecked, and not to mention filthy!" Rarity said as she scanned Josh.
Josh hadn't thought about it but his once clean and plain white shirt was now a darker color, it had dirt marks and small holes forming and his dark blue jeans had a large hole around his right kneecap, not to mention the fact he hadn't had a shower since the morning before he ended up in Equestria so his hair was messed up and he hadn't had the chance to shave so he looked far from fresh.
"Don't tell me your here because your poor friend needs a complete makeover!" Rarity said walking towards Twilight.
"I mean I was just wondering if you could fix his clothes and make him a few extra pares" Twilight said.
"Well today is your lucky day because I am feeling quite generous and I insist on making your good friend Josh shine like a star! You won't even recognize him!" Rarity said as she picked up some measuring equipment and began taking measurements of Josh.
Josh felt unconformable at the sudden contact but was too nervous and couldn't move, luckily she didn't take long and soon put away her measuring tools.
"Lucky for you, I can easily replicate your clothing designs and then expand on them! I'll just need to look over them for a while." Rarity said as he magic grabbed Josh's Shirt and Pants.
"HOLD ON A SECOND!" Josh yelled as he sort of fanned away the magic, "I don't know if you noticed but I don't have another set of stuff to where so this stay on!" Josh said firmly.
"Well why don't you take a shower and I can look over them while you clean up, I am quite fast when it comes to these things" Rarity gloated.
"Alright, hold on a minute." Josh said, "Why are you helping me? You just met me!" Josh asked Rarity.
"Why because you need it darling." Rarity simply said, "And it seems Twilight is a friend of yours, so consider me one as well!"
"But that....I don't understand?" Josh struggled to find words to describe the confusion he was feeling, this was an absolute first for him. Why would someone he just met invite him into their home and then make them things, but the idea of a shower was intriguing. So Josh sighed and reluctantly agreed with a "fine, where is the bathroom?" as Rarity floated him a towel and grabbed his hand with her magic leading him towards the bathroom.
"I'm sure you know how to work a shower, so I'll leave you to it." Rarity said turning around, just slide your stuff under the door."
"What about my.....undergarments?" Josh said blushing, he still didn't feel comfortable taking a shower in someone else's house.
"Don't worry i'm going to wash everything, just enjoy yourself while I work." Rarity said closing the door behind her.
After sliding Rarity his clothing he hopped into the shower then enjoying the feeling of the hot water running across him. Rarity would have plenty of time to work as Josh was indeed going to enjoy this.
It had to be about an hour and a half before Josh heard a knock on the bathroom door, "Yes?" Josh asked peeking his head out of the curtain.
"It's me darling, I've washed and patched up your clothes and have all I need to make replacements." Rarity said, Josh could hear the cheeriness in her voice. Josh can tell she was proud of herself.
"Great, thank you just leave it outside!" Josh yelled back.
"Leave it on the floor? Ha!" Rarity scoffed at the notion, she just cleaned his stuff and she was not going to let it get dirty again. Not saying her floor was dirty but still.
"Just stay behind the curtains you won't even notice!" Rarity said opening the door.
Josh immediately felt a wave of embarrassment as he ducked behind the curtain and turned away until he heard Rarity leave. Once he calmed himself he stepped out and got dressed, he couldn't believe how new they felt. Hell they even fit better then they used too.
Making his way downstairs he saw Twilight had left and it was just him and Rarity who now noticed him. Putting down the various fabrics and paper she had been looking at she walked over to Josh. "Hello Darling!" She said, "Twilight had to leave but she thought that we could get to know each-other while I help you freshen up!" Rarity looked at Josh, his hair was now less messy and his clothes looked a lot nicer. "You seem to clean up very well! Now let's do something about that horribly dry skin!" Rarity said as she once more used her magic to pull Josh's hand in the direction she wanted him to go, leading him towards a couch.
"This is really not necessary" Josh said trying to hide is slight annoyance he felt, not from Rarity but from her bringing up his looks. Something that most teens and Josh especially cared about, even though he never really showed it.
Rarity floated a bottle of something over and opened it up, "This is an expensive all natural moisturizing cream I bought from Canterlot." Rarity got some on her hooves, "Now just hold still darling."
Rarity began applying it on Josh's face, he began blushing as Rarity leaned closer towards him. He felt embarrassment with her being this close, completely ignoring personal boundaries but at the same time Josh didn't want to be rude and say no. Plus she already started and he decided to let her finish.
"Is something wrong darling? Your checks are growing." Rarity said slyly, "I hope I'm not making you uncomfortable."
"Nope everything's fine!" Josh quickly said.
Rarity finished and took out a pillow putting it on the armrest, "Now you will need to let that settle in so why don't you relax while I work on your new clothing!"
"Hold on," Josh said, "I have to ask you something."
"What is it?" Rarity questioned.
"You don't know a thing about me, all you know is I am friends with Twilight." Josh began to question, "So why are you doing all this for me? Is Twilight paying you?"
"I thought you might ask, but I'm being honest when I say I just want to help someone." Rarity said, "While you got cleaned up, Twilight explained the situation. I couldn't imagine being taken away from your home with nothing but the clothes on your back." Rarity finished. She turned away and walked towards a closet, "So I just knew I couldn't just stop at fixing your clothes, I want you to feel welcomed." Rarity began searching for something, "So consider me a friend, and friends help each other."
"Friends? But you just met me!" Josh raised his voice, "It makes no sense, it's....." Josh was stumbling to find words, "I don't understand...." His tone shifted to confusion and sadness, "How can you be so nice?"
"Darling are you okay?" Rarity asked as she walked towards him.
Josh let out a heavy sigh, "I'm sorry Rarity, It's just that...." Josh paused, "I never thought someone could be this nice, especially towards me." Just then he felt a hoof grab his hand, causing him to look at Rarity directly in the eyes.
"Well you're in Equestria and even if the place you came from didn't, we help those who need it." Rarity said in a reassuring voice. "Now why don't you lay down while the cream settles, I even got you a blanket in case you decide to Nap." Rarity floated a Blanket Towards Josh.
Josh laid down on the couch and got himself relaxed, "Thanks Rarity." He said as he closed his eyes, he began to fall asleep as he heard Rarity working away behind him. He still felt conflicted about what had happened but the best he could do was to accept it, but the thought that maybe they weren't so genuine made him nervous. This haunted him as he finally slept.
An Official Welcome to Ponyville
Josh woke up and rubbed his eyes, sitting up he looked around but Rarity was not in the room. Josh stood up and stretched a bit, but it didn't take long for Rarity to return from whatever she was doing. She was carrying fabric and looked delighted seeing he was awake.
"Good your up! I have 3 pairs ready, don't worry I didn't go all fancy and just made copies of what you're wearing." She said picking up a bag with her magic and floating it over to Josh
"Thanks Rarity," Josh said standing up, "And I would love to stay and chat but I'm going to head back to Golden Oaks, again thank you"
With that Josh and Rarity said their goodbyes and he was on his way, it was still bright out so he must not have slept for too long. Making his way through town he noticed that some of the ponies waved at him, he happily waved back. He felt glad that he was seemingly considered a non threat. Arriving at Golden Oaks he knocked at the door and Twilight Answered.
"Oh Josh perfect timing!" Twilight said leading Josh inside, "I was just talking about you."
Josh saw a Pink maned yellow pony sitting down drinking what smelled like tea, she looked at him with a look of amazement.
"Oh my, Twilight is this who you were telling me about?" She said as she got up and approached the two.
"Yep! Fluttershy, meet Joshua!" Twilight proclaimed.
"Hello Fluttershy, it's nice to meet you." Josh as he normally did offered a handshake.
"It's nice to meet you Joshua," She said shakes his hand, "Twilight asked me to come and help her study you because I'm good with animals."
"Alright i'm fine with that, what you want to know?" Josh asked.
"Well if you don't mind I would like to invite you over to talk at my cottage." Fluttershy Asked.
"hmmmm...oh what the heck, sure," Josh said as he walked next to Fluttershy, "Lead the way!"
As Josh and Fluttershy left Twilight sighed relieved, "Good that will buy us time." She said to herself, levitating a list towards herself. "Now where is Rainbow Dash?"
Josh sat down on the couch, the sounds of animals surrounded him, he could see birds, rabbits, a bear and all kinds of other creatures. Fluttershy must really be good with animals to have all of them live together in one house and not have it be a battle royal 24/7, just then he noticed Fluttershy walking in with the tea.
"I hope you like it." She said placing it on the table in front of her.
Josh grabbed a cup and began to drink, he normally didn't drink tea but giving it try wouldn't hurt. Taking a sip he was pleasantly surprised that it wasn't half bad, "Thanks Fluttershy, I don't normally like tea but this is pretty good." He noticed the shy pony perked up when she heard this.
"Oh, thank you. I didn't know what you would like so I just made what I normally drink." She said while grabbing a book.
"So what do you want to know about me?" Josh asked.
"Well, how about your diet?" Fluttershy asked.
"I'm an omnivore." Josh said.
Fluttershy looked at Josh with a nervous look, "S-so you eat meat?" She said a bit skittish.
"Well not ponies obviously." Josh quickly said, "And I would never eat meat unless it was a last resort." He said, it was a lie but this seemed to calm Fluttershy's nerves.
"Oh....okay," She said, "So this is going to sound odd but what kind of habitat do you live in?"
Josh realized where this was going, "Look I live in things like cities and towns, I'm not a feral monster." He said, "No offense."
"Oh, you're right." She said blushing, "Sorry I'm treating you like an animal but I should have known better."
"Well, now what do we talk about? I'm sure Twilight has filled you in on about as much as I could." Josh said.
"Well I don't know." Fluttershy said.
"I got an idea, why don't we talk about you?" Josh asked, causing the pony to blush.
"Oh no, that's not necessary." She said turning away to hide her face.
"I mean I don't have anywhere to be, so why not?" Josh said leaning back, "I'll even start by talking about myself."
Fluttershy looked at a large clock on the wall before answering, "Well I guess we could."
Josh and Fluttershy began to talk the day away, Josh talked about himself first and shared stories from Earth. After awhile he managed to convince Fluttershy to talk about herself, it was a lovely time. After a few hours that only felt like a few minutes Josh looked outside and noticed how dark it was.
"Wow look how long it's been, it's dark out." Josh said as he looked at the night sky.
"Night? Oh my!" Fluttershy said nervously, "We need to get back to Golden Oaks." She said standing up.
"Huh? I don't think it's that late, we can chat for a bit more." Josh said while also standing up.
"NO!" Fluttershy yelled, quickly putting a hoof over her mouth, "I mean it's important you get a goodnight's rest."
Josh sighed and went along with it, he wondered why Fluttershy yelled like that. He decided to ignore it and just enjoyed the midnight stroll. Looking at the moon he wondered about Nightmare Moon, he didn't get to finish reading and he only made it to Luna beginning to be resentful of her sister. He noticed that some of the lights were still on so it wasn't too late.
"ummm, Joshua i'm sorry about yelling earlier." Fluttershy said, embarrassed.
"Don't worry about it, I'm sure you had a good reason." Josh said trying to reassure her.
Reaching Golden Oaks, Josh thanked Fluttershy and opened the door.
"Oh wait!" Fluttershy said, "I need to ask Twilight something quickly, mind if I come in?"
"Not my call but I'm sure it's fine." Josh held the door for Fluttershy, walking inside they noticed the lights were out.
"Huh, guess Twilights asleep." He said searching for a switch.
Finding something that felt like a switch he flipped it, the lights turned on and Josh saw in front of him he saw almost Everypony he had met up to that point. He could see Applejack, Apple Bloom, Twilight, Spike, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Scootaloo, Sweetie Belle, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who had seemingly joined them in the dark, In the middle of them was a cake that said "Welcome!". And just then Pinkie Pie ran up to Josh.
"Sorry I know I already gave you a "Welcome to Ponyville" Cake but I couldn't help not throwing you a banging Party!" Pinkie Pie yelled out as confetti rained from the sky.
"You guys did this for me?" Josh asked looking around at all the ponies before him, he couldn't believe that all these ponies who he has only known for three days would do something for him. He then began laughing, "Alright, you got me." Josh said, wiping a tear from his eye.
The ponies all looked at each other, they all had a confused look.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked.
"Common, this has to be set up for some kind of prank." Josh said looking around. "Let me guess the cake is going to blow up in my face?" Josh said his tone shifting, "Or it's going to be made of dirt or something like that?"
"Why would you think something like that?" Twilight asked walking towards him, she could tell something was up.
"I'm not stupid, I know when i'm being played for a fool." Josh said, "Look, just tell me what the prank is."
Twilight stood in front of Josh, "Why would you think this is a prank?" She asked.
"Because this makes no sense!" Josh snapped.
"Wha-what?" Twilight was confused, she never expected this kind of reaction.
"You all being my "friends" when I have barely known you guys for three whole days? Ha! That's a bad joke." Josh was now marching back and forth while everyone was silent. "No one, and I mean no one would ever be this friendly without a reason. I know that for a fact, so what is it?" Josh said he felt tears forming in his eyes. "Do the princess's want to watch me Twilight? This all some secret experiment." He asked in rage.
Everyone looked at him in shock, they had no idea what to say. They had just watched someone explode in anger because they had thrown him a party, and not just that but he had seemed so happy before hand. Twilight looked at her friends then at Josh.
"Look I don't know what your world is like nor do I know what you have been through, and if something like this has happened to you before then I am sorry." Twilight said while standing firm in front of him, "But you are in Equestria and we work a bit differently than where you come from." She said as her friends walked next to her.
"Shes right Sugarcube, around here we help out anypony who needs it." Applejack said.
"Yeah! And we are always up for making new friends!" Pinkie Pie yelled out.
"And you are living here darling, we can't just let you do this by yourself!" Rarity joined in.
"Not to mention the fact you have done nothing wrong and have been nothing but polite." Rainbow Dash chimed in.
"You also took time to learn about us, you talked to me, Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, the CMC, you didn't need too but you did." Fluttershy said.
"I know being away from home can feel terrible, and I wish I could tell you that I could get you home." Twilight said with a sad tone in her voice, "But what I can tell you is that we are here for you, we are your friends."
Josh looked at everyone there, he knew that they were being honest but he still didn't feel right.
"I'm sorry, just give me a minute." Josh walked off upstairs, he made his way to the room he was staying in, he sat down on the bed in the dark thinking. It was about 6 minutes before he heard a knock.
"Uhhhh....Josh?" He heard a voice call, he turned and saw that it was Apple Bloom.
"Oh, hey Apple Bloom," Josh turned towards Apple Bloom, "I'm sorry you had to see that, it's just." Josh looked outside and at the moon.
Apple Bloom walked up and hopped on the bed to sit next to her human friend, "Is it your family?" Apple Bloom asked, looking at him.
"Oh Apple Bloom, is it not obvious." Josh said falling back onto the bed, "What if I can't go home? I'll lose all my friends, family, everything I had ever done would be for nothing." Josh looked aimlessly at the roof, "And what if I do get home? What then? Does my family think I'm dead? Missing?" Josh looked back at Apple Bloom, "Look, I'm sorry for telling you about all my problems when I don't think you can really fully understand. Just tell everyone....."
Just then Josh felt something grab him, he looked to his side and saw Apple Bloom hugging him. He chuckled at this, "Apple Bloom, what are you doing?"
"You sounded like you needed a hug." She said.
Josh was shocked by this, maybe this wasn't a prank. "Apple Bloom....." Josh tried to speak but couldn't, "Thank you." He hugged Apple Bloom back.
After a while, Josh, and Apple Bloom made their way back downstairs. The party lasted for a while but like all good things, it had to end and soon it was just Josh and Twilight left awake.
"Thanks for the party Twilight, I can't thank you enough for being such a good friend." Josh said, while making his way to his bed.
"No problem, it's what friends do." Twilight happily said, "It was nothing."
"No Twilight, you didn't have to do it, or even let me live here. I thank you for everything and I promise I will make it up to you." Josh said as he laid down.
"Are you going to be okay?" Twilight asked concerned.
Josh let out a heavy sigh, moving under the covers and looking at the opposite wall, "Yeah, i'll be fine." He said.
He then saw his blanket glow with a purple-violet hue before hearing something jump onto the bed, turning around he saw Twilight laying next to him.
"Well I don't believe you." Twilight said as she set up a small pillow barrier between them.
"Twilight what are you doing?" Josh asked a bit annoyed.
"I figured you would appreciate some company," Twilight said getting herself relaxed, "So here I am."
Josh looked at Twilight, he was speechless. Being too tired to argue he let it slide for this one time. drifting off to sleep he thought about what he would do if this was his new home, he knew that getting back to Earth without any idea on how he got to Equestria would prove almost impossible. Falling to sleep he decided that if he was stuck in Equestria he would make the best of it, he looked at Twilight her eyes now shut as she began to sleep. He will make it up to her, and he closed his eyes and slept.
Author's Note
Hello, this is short but it's more of a little something for you to have while I ready for the next chapter. It will have the return of Trixie after revenge for the embarrassment she suffered from Twilight Sparkle. And lets just say it's a bit more "Violent"
The Vengeful and Powerful Trixie
Josh was rudely awakened by falling off his bed and crashing onto the floor, getting up and rubbing his head he looked around noticing it was bright out. "Must have slept in" he thought noticing a note on the nightstand next to his bed, reading it showed that Twilight had gotten up earlier and had left to do something with Fluttershy. Changing into a new pair of clothes he decided to take a little stroll and tour around Ponyville, grabbing an apple for a small snack he set out and enjoyed the once again lovely weather that Equestria had to offer. Everything was peaceful until he saw a red flash for the briefest of seconds, making his way towards it he saw a crowd of ponies had gathered around city hall. Wondering what all the commotion was about he investigated and saw Rarity standing in front of a cloaked pony before being hit by red beam of magic, causing a rather ugly looking dress to appear on her.
"You beast!" Rarity yelled at the cloaked pony, "This shade of brown should only be used for accents!" She then dramatically fainted, lucky being caught by Applejack who along with Pinkie Pie carried her away, Josh began pushing his way through the crowd when Twilight approached the pony.
"What's going on here?" She asked as Josh finally got to the front of the crowd walking towards Twilight.
"Well, well, well, if it isn't Twilight Sparkle." The figure said removing the cloak, Josh could now the pony had Red eyes that quickly changed to a purple color, a white mane and a blue coat, she also had some kind of necklace on.
"Trixie" Twilight said looking at her.
"Yo Twilight," Josh poked the pony on her back to get her attention, "You know this pony?"
Just then Rainbow Dash flew above them, "You call that "Great and Powerful"?" She asked looking rather annoyed at Trixie. Just then Trixie seemed to cast another spell making one of Rainbow's wings cartoonishly bigger causing her to lose balance and wobble around.
"Hey!" Josh yelled out at Trixie, "Who do you think you are doing something like that? Fix her wing, now!" Josh said rather angrily.
"What kind of beast are you?" Trixie asked looking at the human, "Are you one of Twilight's experiments?"
"No I'm her friend, same with Rainbow Dash so fix her wing." Josh responded by giving the pony a firm look.
"Well my business is not with you, so begone!" Trixie said before using her magic to toss Josh back in the direction of Twilight, landing on the ground with a loud thud. Twilight quickly used her Magic to help him stand back up before turning to Trixie.
"Stop picking on my friends!" She said, clearly angry at Trixie.
"We have unfinished business, my magic has gotten better since the last time I was here." She said now walking towards Twilight, "And I'm going to prove it, me and you, a magic duel winner stays and the loser leaves Ponyville forever!" She said as her eyes flashed red.
"The hell you will!" Josh said stepping in front of Twilight, "I don't know who you are or where you came from but I think it's best you leave." He said giving Trixie a death stare.
"Awww are you Twilight's big bad guardian?" Trixie said mockingly, "That's so cute, once I beat her I'll have to get you to be my bodyguard."
"Alright that's it!" Josh walked towards Trixie, an angry snarl on his face.
"Josh wait!" Twilight tried to talk him down but it was in vain.
"If you don't want to walk out I'll toss you out!" Josh said grabbing Trixie's Cloak.
"Unhand me you brute!" Trixie said as her horn once again glowed red, this time she blasted Josh with what looked like magic lightning. This blasted him back landing behind Twilight, landing hard on the dirt his body twitched as small torrents of red lightning flashed all over his body. His white shirt had black spots from where the magic had hit and he was now in the fetal position holding his head. Twilight ran over immediately.
Josh laid and groaned on the ground, he slowly began to get up when he noticed Trixie had turned Spike into a basketball and began shooting hoops with him.
"Why are you doing this?" Twilight asked, as Josh stood up trying to recover.
"Why? Because you humiliated me!" Trixie said as she conjured up what looked like a T.V screen as she explained events following an event where Twilight had stopped what she called an "Ursa Minor". Josh didn't bother listening, nor could he as he heard a consistent ringing in his ears. When she finished he saw Pinkie yell something at Trixie before she cast a spell that got rid of Pinkie's mouth. then another causing Golden Oaks to be flipped and books to be shaken out.
"Alright Trixie, lets duel." Josh heard Twilight say, Trixie then reversed all the spells she had cast, except for the one taking away Pinkies mouth. They two unicorns got into position, Josh had moved away as to not get caught in the crossfire and was standing parallel to the two unicorns. Everyone watched as Twilight and Trixie stood firm, looking at each other.
"DRAW!" Trixie said, lifting up a cart with two barrels of apples and throwing it at a crowd of ponies, one almost getting crushed before Twilight saved them. Next was a spell to throw pies, Twilight countered with a spell summoning some kind of bug that ate them all before spitting up another one of itself. Then a spell to summon snow, after melting it Twilight used a spell to give Trixie a mustache. After getting rid of this she called up two young colts by the name of "Snips" and "Snails" using her magic she turned them into a baby and an old pony respectively, Twilight attempted to reverse the spell but she couldn't and Trixie declared herself victorious. Standing triumphant she then spoke.
"Now it is time for you to leave Ponyville! FOREVER!" Trixie declared before the main 6 stood in front of Twilight.
"That's Enough Trixie!" Applejack yelled.
"You proved your point, but you can't possibly expect Twilight to leave Ponyville!" Rarity chimed in.
"You fools, she is already GONE!" Trixie picked up Twilight with her magic and looked ready to toss her, but before she could do anything else Josh yelled out.
"ENOUGH!" Josh yelled at the top of his lungs while running at Trixie, catching the unicorn with her guard down he used the momentum and his body to land I direct Punch in Trixies face. This punch caused her to drop Twilight and fall to the ground rolling over from the force of the blow, Josh himself staggered to not fall after coming to a stop.
"Putting innocent people at risk, you disgust me." Josh looked at Trixie, "I will give you this once chance to leave, RIGHT NOW!" He yelled out.
Trixie stood up putting a hoof to her face, holding the spot she had been struck. She felt something warm and looking at the hoof noticed blood, her nose was bleeding. The Main 6 also took notice of this, Rarity and fluttershy looking away while AJ and Rainbow looked shocked.
"HOW DARE YOU STRIKE ME YOU BRUTE!" Trixie said, blasting a red beam from her horn. Josh barely managed to duck out of the way only to have to dodge another. Josh ran back towards Trixie and tried to get another hit, but when he punched he was blocked by a magic bubble.
"The hell?" He blurted out before he felt a sharp pain in his abdomen. flying backwards he landed on the ground.
"You will pay for harming the great and powerful Trixie!" Trixie said walking towards Josh.
Staggering to his feet Josh grabbed a nearby rock and threw it at Trixie.
"Is this a bad joke?" She said easily catching it in her magic.
Taking this opportunity Josh ran full speed towards Trixie, fueled by adrenaline. With her guard down Josh slammed full force into her, this knocked her back and to the ground. However Josh also fell. Getting up before Trixie, he ran towards her again but he again saw a red flash. He felt himself leave the ground and fly backwards, before landing on a wooden fence. Trying to move he felt a stabbing pain in his leg. Looking down he noticed jagged wood sticking through his thigh.
Trixie began approaching Josh, who tried to get up. However Trixie wasn't done yet, she threw a nearby barrel at Josh. Falling back as it broke on impact, his head began to bleed. Josh looked up as Trixie stood over him, her horn and eyes glowing that evil crimson red. Josh closed his eyes, he felt his body about to give out when suddenly he heard a scream.
"NO!" Twilight yelled out firing a violet beam at Trixie, the scream alerted Trixie who blocked the attack.
Trixie turned towards Twilight with anger in her eyes, "I thought I told you to LEAVE!" Trixie fired a large magic blast at Twilight, she attempted to block it but the blast hit her full force, knocking her back into a stack of boxes. Twilight fell out of the stack hitting the ground, immediately her friends ran towards her.
"TWILIGHT!" Applejack yelled out as she grabbed Twilight.
"Is she alright?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I don't know!" Applejack responded.
Josh couldn't see Twilight as his view was blocked by the mares. He felt something burning inside of him, it was anger and something else. Just then he heard a voice in his head, it sounded like his but it wasn't his. "Get up!" the voice yelled at him. As if on command he began standing up, battling the pain throughout his body.
Trixie noticed Josh standing up and turned to look at him, "Oh? You're still standing?" She said looking at him. She laughed mockingly, "And what are you going to do? You don't have magic and you're not even that strong."
Josh began walking towards Trixie. He said nothing, but his face was that of pure rage.
"Oh no! don't give me a scary look!" Trixie mocked him, "What are you going to do? throw more ro-"
"Shut the hell up!" Josh said.
"You still haven't learned," Trixies horn glowed again, "Watch your tongue!" Trixie once again launched a blast of red lightning.
Josh stopped in his tracks when he was hit, however the voice in his head came back. "Get up!" it once again shouted, causing Josh to begin moving slowly towards Trixie.
This shocked Trixie, her magic should be able to take down a raging rhino. However not only was Josh powering through it, he was injured at the same time.
Ponies watched as Josh got closer towards Trixie until he was standing right in front of her. Grabbing her by the horn, he threw her towards a nearby house. Trixie hit the wall and fell to the ground.
"How?" Trixie questioned as she got up.
Josh ran towards her and rammed her into the wall, pinning her against it.
"Somethings wrong..." Fluttershy said, as she and the others watched this.
"Well duh! Do you not see this?" Rainbow Dash replied.
"No, I mean something is wrong. I don't know why but something feels off." Fluttershy said as Josh grabbed and ripped off the amulet around Trixies neck.
Josh looked at Trixie, but suddenly he let her go. Josh looked down at Trixie as she looked at him in fear.
"Leave........." Is all Josh said.
Trixie ran upon hearing this, she was in utter horror of this beast who had somehow overpowered her.
Josh watched as Trixie ran off into the distance, suddenly all the pain his body had fought to ignore came surging all at once. He let out a sharp breath before he fell to the ground, he battled to stay awake but he was exhausted. His body had never experienced such pain and he had exerted too much energy. His eyes shut and he passed out.
Twilight woke up in a hospital bed, she had a small headache but aside from that she felt fine. She heard the door open as she saw her friends all walked in, their faces brightened up as they saw Twilight awake. Pinkie Pie ran up and hugged her soon being joined by everyone else.
"ugh, what happened?" Twilight questioned as she held a hoof to her head.
"It was awful darling!" Rarity said, as they stopped hugging Twilight and now stood around her bed. "Trixie blasted you into a stack of boxes, it must have knocked you out cold. Poor thing."
"Wait a second." Twilight began to realize, "If I'm here and Trixie isn't, then did you beat her?" She asked.
"Oh we didn't!" Pinkie Pie shouted out, "But Jo-"
Applejack quickly covered Pinkie's mouth, "We managed to get her to leave."
"That's a relief." Twilight said, laying back. Just then she noticed that her human friend who had attacked Trixie was not present, "Hey, where is Josh?" She asked.
The ponies hesitated to tell her, but Rainbow Dash decided to speak up. "Hes.....Okay..." Rainbow said.
"What do you mean okay?" Twilight asked, she couldn't remember much of what happened.
"You need rest Twilight, we'll leave you alone so you can get better." Fluttershy said. As the ponies began leaving.
"Hey wait!" Twilight said causing the ponies to stop, "Tell me if he's okay."
The ponies looked at each other, "It's best you come look, if you are able to stand right now." Applejack said.
Twilight stood up, and staggered a bit. She noticed some bandages on her legs but nothing much, she followed her friends through the hospital as doctors and nurses passed them by. Twilight felt concerned as they walked into the ICU, she couldn't remember much but no way did Josh get this hurt. They stopped in front of a room and before they could open the door a Nurse ran out quickly.
"Where is that blood?" She asked nopony in particular.
"Right here Nurse!" A young stallion said as he handed her a saddle bag marked with a medical cross, "Sorry, it took awhile for the blood test to come back.
"Doesn't matter, common!" The Nurse said as she ran back into the room followed by the stallion.
Twilight looked at her friends, "Please don't tell me who's room this is."
Her friends looked at each other, "It is...." Rarity said.
Twilight entered the room followed by her friends, as they walked in they noticed all the doctors working on whoever the patient was. As Twilight got closer one of the doctors turned around and stopped the mares.
"I'm sorry but you need to leave, no visitors until he's stable." The Doctor said before noticing Twilight, "Mrs. Sparkle you should be in bed, we don't know if you are fully recovered."
Twilight looked past the Doctor and got a good look at Josh. He had bandages fully covering his forehead, he also had a bandage on his thigh soaked a crimson red. He had an ivy drip in his arm that was now getting replaced with the recently acquired blood. "Is he going to be okay?" Twilight asked the doctor.
The Doctor looked at Josh then back at Twilight, "It's too early to tell, we are doing our best but when he was brought in we didn't even know if we would have the equipment to treat him." The Doctor said. "Now you must leave so we can treat him, nurse!" The Doctor called out as a nurse quickly walked towards him, "Please escort Mrs. Sparkle back to her room, and inform her friends how long they have left before visitation hours end."
Twilight said goodbye to her friends as she was brought back to her room. "I'm sorry you couldn't see your friend." The Nurse said, "But Doctors orders."
As Twilight got back into bed she looked at the nurse, "If you don't mind, can you tell me when he starts getting better?"
"Sure thing." The Nurse said leaving, "Now best you get some rest." She said turning the lights off.
Josh woke up with a sharp pain throughout his entire body. Scanning the room he was in, he noticed two ponies who looked like doctors talking about some notes. Suddenly one of them looked at him, noticing him awake.
"By Jove, he's awake!" The Doctor said as he ran up to him, "Hey, can you hear me?"
Josh tried to talk but he couldn't, he looked at the doctor.
"Can you talk? If not blink twice for no." The Doctor asked.
Josh blinked twice.
"Alright, can you remember your name? Blink once for yes, twice for no." The Doctor asked.
Josh blinked once.
"Alright, my name is Doctor Walt. You are in Ponyville hospital, do you remember what happened to you?"
Josh began thinking back to what had happened. He could remember a bit about Trixie but most of it was a blur to him. Letting out a groan he managed to speak, "No."
"Well, at least we know you are alright." The Doctor looked at the nurse, "Get some test ready, this is going to be a long recovery."
Author's Note
Hello, something I want to clarify about the last chapter. I know that it, to quote one person "Got dark really fast". But it has a reason, and it will be explained in the future because. Lets just say that things are VERY much different then what know, and maybe it's the reason Josh is here.
But that's for later, for now lets get back to something more cheerful and funny.
Return of Discord
"Alright, now straighten your leg out for me" The Doctor said, he had a clipboard in his hoof.
Josh held back a grunt as he straightened his leg on the examination table, "Any better?" He asked.
The Doctor examined Josh's leg, "Well it's better but not by much." The Doctor said he wrote something down quickly before asking, "How is your head?"
"Better, I don't think the headaches are coming back." Josh answered.
"Alright," The Doctor said as he continued to write, "I think it's safe to say that you are well enough."
"Well enough to get released?" Josh asked, he was pretty antsy about leaving. It's not that he didn't like the hospital, he got food, water, a roof over his head. It's just being confined to one building wasn't something he enjoyed doing for a month or so. Plus Twilight would come in and tell him all sorts of things going on around Ponyville, and he couldn't get the idea of Trixie coming back out of his head. He is glad she is an exception and not the rule in Equestria because even by his standards she was brutal. If it wasn't for Twilight who luckily only had to stay for three days, he might have kicked the bucket. But still it's like something else was possessing Trixie, maybe one day they could reconcile but for now he would rather never see her again.
"Yes but remember, no extreme activities for another month. We still don't know if you are completely healed" The doctor said as he handed Josh some papers, "This is for if you need any prescription medication for pain."
Josh took it, thanking the doctor he walked outside. Taking in a deep breath he began walking toward Golden Oaks, greeting the many ponies he met along the way. Reaching Golden Oaks he knocked being greeted by Spike.
"Hey Josh you're out of the hospital!" Spike said holding the door for him.
"Yeah, I'm glad to be out." Josh said.
Looking around he noticed Twilight wasn't home, assuming she was out shopping or something Josh sat down on the couch and laid back.
"Hey Spike," Josh looked at the Dragon, "You know where Twilight is?"
"Oh she and the others are waiting for Princess Celestia, she needed to talk to them about something." Spike said as he picked up a stack of books to organize, "I was going to go too but Twilight wanted me to stay in case you came home today."
"Well I'm here now, so let's go meet up with them." Josh said getting up.
"Are you sure?" Spike asked, "If I were you, I would want to relax."
"Trust me Spike, I have done enough relaxing" Josh said, "Now can we get a move on?" Josh asked.
"Sure just follow me." Spike said.
"Then let's go." Josh said, as he followed Spike.
Josh and Spike walked through Ponyville, the mane 6 had met Celestia just outside of Ponyville and so it would be a nice walk.
"So, how do you like Ponyville?" Spike asked Josh.
"Pretty great," Josh responded, "Aside from the whole "Trixie" fiasco, it's friendly and clean around here so it's pretty great."
"Good to hear." Spike said.
"Got to say I will miss this place when I get home." Josh said causing Spike to wince a bit.
"uhhhh....Yeah." Spike said, mumbling something under his breath
Continuing their way through and soon just outside Ponyville, Josh and Spike saw Princess Celestia fly off in a chariot as the Mane 6 stood around some weird statue of something. It had the head of what resembles a pony, they had an antler and a goat horn along with single fang and a body made of all sorts of different animals like a Lion, an Eagle, some kind of lizard and much more. Approaching behind the mane 6, Josh wasted no time in blurting out.
"What in the world is that?" Catching the attention of the ponies, Josh looked at Twilight hoping she would have an explanation.
"Josh, you're out of the hospital." Twilight said, facing Josh.
"Yeah, Doctor said I am well enough to be out and about." Josh said.
"Well, after this we need to have a serious talk about what you did." Twilight replied.
"Talk about what? Me helping you?" Josh said snarkily.
"About you irrationally charging and fighting Trixie when we could have resolved it more peacefully." Twilight said, she was a bit angry at the fact that Josh was seemingly unaware of his actions.
"She put innocent people at risk, I had to do something." Josh said.
"Look we'll talk about it later." Twilight said turning back towards the statue.
"Alright, well can you tell me who this is?" Josh asked.
"That is Discord, he once ruled Equestria until Luna and Celestia turned him to stone using the Elements of Harmony. However he broke free and almost tore our friendship apart, luckily we pulled through and turned him back to stone." Twilight explained.
"The Elements of Harmony?" Josh asked confused.
"Oh right, you don't know about the Elements." Twilight opened a small box and took out 5 necklaces and what looked like a tiara or crown, putting it on she motioned her friends to surround Discord. "I'll explain later, but for now stand back we are about to release him." Twilight looked at her friends, "And keep your elements on at all times, we need to be ready in case Discord tries anything.
Stepping back Josh saw as the ponies began glowing, their necklaces began emitting rays in the shape of their cutie marks, forming a rainbow beam that powered up Twilight's Crown. In a flash a rainbow enveloped the statue and it began breaking apart. Soon Discord emerged first yelling but then turning into a yawn.
"Oh! Ooh! Ooooh! Well, it's about time somepony got me out of that prison block. What a relief!" Discord said before snapping his fingers, turning a nearby squirrel into a huge beast that then tore off and chewed on a branch.
"What do you think you're doing?!" Twilight asked, angrily.
Letting out a grunt Discord replied, "Why, stretching, of course. When you're a creature of chaos, stone bodysuits aren't your typical go-to fashion choice." Snapping his fingers again he turned a Bunny into a beast.
"How the hell?" Josh asked getting Discord attention.
"And what do we have here?" Discord zipped over to Josh, "Wait don't tell me, you must be the human I have heard Celestia talk about."
"And you must be Discord." Josh said as he turned to face Discord, "How in the world did you do that?" Josh pointed at the Bunny.
"I'm a creature of chaos, how about you?" Discord asked as he began looking at Josh with a magnifying glass and a detective hat.
"How did you get that?" Josh asked confused.
"Hey! Hurry up and make the bunny cute again!" Pinkie Pie yelled at Discord.
"He's adorable the way he is." Discord coed at the bunny who chomped at Discord's finger. Blowing a raspberry he turned away from it, "You know what else is adorable? You ponies truly believe that you can reform me, and that you're putting your faith in this one here to make it happen." Discord said mockingly, pointing at Fluttershy. "Makes me want to pinch your little horsey cheeks!"
"Well, unless you want us to turn you back to stone, you'll zap those animals back the way they were, pronto!" Twilight yelled at Discord.
"Hey wait a minute!" Josh had just thought of something, "Discord, any chance you could get me back to Earth?"
Discord turned and looked at Josh, "Well considering I don't know what an "Earth" is I'm going to say no."
"You think you can treat poor defenseless animals like that and get away with it?!" Fluttershy now approached Discord, looking as angry as she could. "You'd best watch your step, buster, or I'll give you the Stare!"
"The Stare? Oh no, please, not that! Anything but your disapproving eyeballs!" Discord laughed.
"You seem to forget that they can turn you back to stone, and I'm sure Celestia wouldn't mind." Josh chimed in, catching Discord attention.
"Well I guess you have a good point." Discord snapped his fingers turning the Squirrel and Bunny back to normal, but his tail also snapped for whatever reason. "Well, it looks like I know where I'll be crashing while I'm being "reformed"." Discord summoned Fluttershy to him and ruffled her hair, "With you, Fluttershy!" Discord let out a laugh as Fluttershy looked nervous.
"Oh dear." She said locked in Discords grip.
"Hey! You leave her alone!" Josh said yelling at Discord.
"Oh please lighten up!" Discord dropped Fluttershy and teleported behind Josh, "And besides, what are you going to do? Use that pathetically small amount of magic you have to levitate me high up?"
Josh and everypony else looked confused, "What magic?" Josh asked Discord, he couldn't use any magic and if he could Twilight would have pointed it out already.
"What can none of you feel it?" Discord asked looking at the ponies.
"Being stuck in stone must have rocked your brain Dip-cord, Josh can't use magic" Rainbow Dash said.
"Oh I know! Maybe it's just hidden down really deep, or trapped with some kind-of seal!" Discord snapped his fingers, "This should help."
After snapping, Josh's body flashed a light quickly. He looked at his hand, closing them trying to see any change. "What did you just do?" Josh asked looking at discord with suspicion.
"Oh just setting up for what I am sure will be future entertainment." Discord said turning to Twilight, "Now scan or whatever you need to do to find out if he has magic, Now Fluttershy please show me your cottage!"
Twilight's horn glowed as a violet aura surrounded Josh, She looked focused and soon her face changed to one of shock.
"What is it Twilight?" Josh asked noticing the sudden change.
"It's magic!" Twilight exclaimed as her horn stopped glowing, "I couldn't feel it before but I can feel some magic residing in you!" Twilight turned to Discord and looked at him, "What did you do?"
"I told you, I simply unleashed his suppressed magic." Discord simply said shrugging.
"That's impossible, I can't use magic!" Josh yelled at Discord.
"Well you're not from Equestria are you? Maybe you do but have never had a way to unlock it." Discord said, "Now anyway why don't you lead me home!" Looking at Fluttershy.
Josh sat in Golden Oaks, watching the clock and waiting for Twilight to come back. After the incident with Discord she had sent him and Spike home before joining the rest of the Mane 6 in escorting Discord to Fluttershy's house, Josh was thinking about what Discord and Twilight had said about him having magic. Could it have something to do with him coming to Equestria? He had questions that he could only hope Twilight could answer.
After what seemed like hours Twilight returned home and immediately summoned a book to her and began reading and writing, Josh couldn't see the title fully but he saw the words "Magic" and "Basics". Standing up and walking towards Twilight he lent over her to get a view of what she was reading.
"What you got there?" He asked, as Twilight scanned the book.
"I don't know why you suddenly have a magic aura around you but we need to see if you really can use magic." Twilight said as she finished writing, "I've written down some basic spells and we are going to see if you can perform them."
Twilight closed the book and made her way to the opposite side of the room, she levitated some common objects like books, pots, a few cups and one of his shirts. Josh looked at these confused at what Twilight was doing.
"Alright lets try one of the most basic of magic usage, I want you to try and raise the items." Twilight said, holding a clipboard ready to write notes.
"But how?" Josh asked, even if he had magic how was he supposed to use it? It's not like breathing or blinking, it's like walking. He needs to be trained and shown how to do it.
"I don't know how to describe it but, just concentrate on lifting them and I guess try and imagine doing it in your head." Twilight told Josh who now closed his eyes and began taking deep breaths. At first nothing happened but very faintly Twilight could see a white aura cover Josh's hands, getting brighter and brighter until the same aura appeared over the books. moving his hand, the books began to raise.
"OH MY GOSH! YOU CAN USE MAGIC!" Twilight yelled causing Josh to open his eyes still holding the books in the air.
"Whoa, am I really doing this!?" Josh looked in awe, he was using magic. He kept his hand up and walked towards them, "What do I do now?"
"Try putting them on the table." Twilight said as she scribbled more notes.
Josh moved his hand in the direction the table was, looking as the books followed and moved over to the table. stopping his focus the books dropped and the aura around them and his hands disappeared.
"I just did that?!" Josh was happy and shocked at the same time, he really could use magic but how? Did Discord give him magic?
"Try moving something else!" Twilight said bring Josh back to reality, quickly he closed his eyes and soon the aura picked up the pots, and the cups, and the shirt. Twilight couldn't believe it Josh had some real potential, "I can't wait! I can show you so many different spells!" Twilight said excitedly.
"So guessing that means you're going to be my magic tutor?" Josh said with a slight chuckle.
Twilight blushed a bit at her outburst before floating a book over to Josh, "This should help you a bit, it talks about magic so give it a read from time to time."
Josh was confused when he heard the news that Fluttershy had Discord make and host a dinner for her, Twilight, Rainbow, Rarity, Pinkie, Applejack, himself and Spike. Josh was hesitant to come as he wanted to learn more about magic and the fact he didn't trust Discord one bit, but after some convincing from Twilight he decided that one chance shouldn't hurt. Meeting up with everyone else they headed towards Fluttershy's while engaging in banter.
"You guys really think this is a good idea?" Josh asked no one in particular, "You told me this guy tried to not only tear your friendship apart but also takeover Equestria and turn it into a lawless nightmare, and now we are having dinner with him."
"I have to agree with Josh on this one Twilight, it doesn't seem right." Applejack stated as the got closer to Fluttershy's house.
Rarity sighed, "This evening is sure to be a disaster. Glad I didn't bother wearing my fanciest outfit."
Reaching the house Twilight turned to her friends, "Fluttershy thinks this is the way to reform Discord and asked us to give it a chance." She said looking at everyone, "I know you all have doubts but we need to trust her, she is our friend after all."
Behind her the door opened and Discord greeted them with a rather clear and upper-class voice, something you would expect to hear out of a sitcom or parody, entering the house Fluttershy also greeted them and complemented Discord on setting everything up. As they entered Discord once again appeared in front of them.
"May I take your...hats, ladies?" Discord said as he reached around Twilight looking to grab at her element.
Josh responded quickly giving the hand a good slap, he would respect Discord for tonight but he wouldn't put up with any of his nonsense. "I think you will find we are quite capable of holding them." He said eyeing Discord who just turned and pouted.
Sitting down Fluttershy started the dinner with a speech, "As you all know, Princess Celestia hoped we'd help Discord use his magic for good instead of evil." she said looking at everyone in the room. Before she could add onto this Pinkie Pie slammed her face into her food and began eating.
"Pinkie Pie, care for some gravy?" Fluttershy asked, Pinkie Pie quickly nodding.
"Allow me." Discord said, snapping his fingers the little gravy boat gained some form of sapience and acted like a dog, running up to and licking Pinkie Pie before pouring her out some gravy.
"That's one creepy little gravy boat if you ask me." Rainbow Dash said.
"Agreed, and I thought this was going to be a normal dinner with no trickery from discord." Josh said eyeing Both him and Fluttershy.
"Oh, come on now, you guys need to give this a chance." Fluttershy said as the gravy boat ran over and poured gravy on Rainbow Dash.
"Hey! That's hot!" Rainbow Dash yelled as she flew up into the air out of her seat, "He did that on purpose!"
"Oh, well, I don't know about that. Mistakes happen." Discord looked nervous as he looked for a distraction, "Oh, look, everypony, dancing candles!" He said as candles started dancing on the table.
As they danced Rainbow Dash flew down and blew some out, Josh joined in and blew the ones out near him. They then floated up and began hitting both Josh and Rainbow Dash.
Josh swatted them away as he looked at Discord, "Oh so guessing you didn't do that Discord?"
"No, I think you and Dashie just made them mad." Discord chuckled.
"There's something fishy going on." Twilight said as a fish pot in front of her sprayed her with some kind of orange liquid, followed by Spike and Rarity who panicked about it getting on her dress.
"That tureen's only doin' what you're makin' it do!" Applejack said as she blocked it from spraying her.
"Now let's not jump to any conclusions." Fluttershy said trying to calm them.
"Conclusions?" Josh snapped at Fluttershy finally getting the Candles to buzz off, "No offense but who else would be doing this? I don't think Twilight is this much of a joker and Rarity wouldn't sacrifice a dress for something she would find childish."
Rainbow Dash joined in, "Fluttershy! Can't you see what he's doing? He's playing innocent with you so you'll never agree to use the Elements of Harmony against him!"
"Oh, well, that's a bit harsh, isn't it?" Discord said as the tureen attacked Rainbow.
"Harsh? HARSH?" Josh said now in a yelling tone, "I've known you for less then a day and nothing good has happened!"
Rainbow, trapped the tureen under a lid and looked at Fluttershy. "You see what I'm saying, right, Fluttershy? Fluttershy!" Rainbow Dash also yelled.
"You know what I see? I see that Discord's far from perfect, but I also see none of you giving him a chance!" Fluttershy responded in the most authoritative voice she could.
Everyone began talking over each other as Rainbow Dash spoke up over everyone, "What's gotten into you?! Why do you keep cutting him so much slack?"
"Because that's what friends do." Fluttershy said as she placed a hoof around Discord.
Discord was rather shocked by this looking at Fluttershy, "We're friends?" As he looked at her.
"Why, of course! I can't remember my house ever being this lively before you came along." Fluttershy said, giving Discord a genuine look of friendship.
Everyone looked with shock as they watched Fluttershy seemingly had a genuinely nice conversation with Discord, Just then her bunny Angle opened a window and began chattering with a panicked look. Fluttershy looked at Angle and dismissed him, "Now is not a good time, Angel. We're having a dinner party." she said.
"Hold up! I-I think he's tryin' to tell us somethin'!" Applejack said as everyone watched Angle.
Angel began miming with water and apples, soon Rarity and Rainbow managed to figure out that Angel was trying to tell them about flooding at Sweet Apple Acres. getting up and blaming Discord for it Josh, Rainbow, Aj, Rarity, Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Spike all rushed towards Sweet Apple Acres.
Arriving at Sweet Apple Acres they could see Big Macintosh, Granny Smith and Apple Bloom riding in baskets and picking up Apples from the now lake like mass of water. They saw beavers building multiple dams.
"I've never seen the floodin' this bad!" Applejack said as she looked over her now flooded field of Apple trees, "They've built dams 'round here before, but never like this! What's goin' on?" She said turning to Fluttershy who was talking to the beavers.
"Such language!" Fluttershy said as she went back and forth with the Beavers. She let out a sigh as she turned to everyone, "It's no use. They won't listen to a word I say!"
"Gee I wonder who could be behind this?" Josh said sarcastically under his breath.
"You see Discord's behind all this, right?" Rainbow asked Fluttershy.
"Oh, of course I do! Do you all think I'm a silly, gullible fool?" Fluttershy asked everyone who seemingly turned away in embarrassment.
"Well....you see....." Josh looked around, hoping someone would back him up.
"Uh... uh, no, not exactly..." Applejack said trying to at least not have Josh be the one acceptance.
"Only in the sense of being silly and gullible..." Rarity said in a mumble.
"I've just been trying to gain his friendship any way I can, so he'd come to trust and listen to me!" Fluttershy said noticing Discord was water skiing, "Time to see if it worked." she said as Discord stopped in front of them. Going back and forth with Fluttershy asking Discord to fix it he made one request.
"Oh, yes, very well, I will fix it. I only ask one thing in return." Discord said, turning to her. "I ask that you never use your Element of Harmony against me. As a sign of our friendship." Discord said causing Fluttershy to turn to everyone who shook their head no. Everyone but Josh.
"I can answer that for you," Josh said walking up to Discord, "NO!" He yelled at Discord, "That is complete and utter insanity! the Elements are the only thing that can stop you and-" Josh was cut off by Fluttershy.
"I will never use my Element of Harmony against you." Fluttershy said taking her Element off, tossing it to spike.
Josh turned to her with a face of horrified shock, he couldn't believe it. Fluttershy just gave Discord free reign over Equestria.
"Excellent!" Discord said snapping his Fingers turning the water into ice before skating around, "There, much better! I do prefer ice skating to water skiing! Don't you?"
"Discord! That's not fixing it!" Fluttershy ran at Discord and slipped on the ice.
Josh turned to Twilight as Flutter and Discord argued, "She's not serious right?" Josh asked concerned.
"I don't know, I really don't." She replied, before yelling towards Fluttershy and Spike skated out with her Elements, "He fixes this or he goes back to being stone! Princess Celestia will understand!" there was a pause as Fluttershy weighed her options.
"I made a promise not to use my Element against him, and I'm going to keep it." Fluttershy said as everyone looked shocked.
Josh leaned towards Twilight, "Any chance I could fill in for her?"
Twilight stomped on his foot, "Not the time Joshua" as she turned back towards Discord.
"Hahah! You see? She wants to have fun with me because we're friends. She can't use the elements against me because we're friends. I'm free forever!" Discord let out an evil laugh.
"So if we all rush him, what do you think the odds we win?" Josh said causing Twilight to roll her eyes, just then Fluttershy yelled out.
"Not. Your. Friend!" she yelled as she threw away a pair of skates Discord had handed to her.
Discord scoffed at this, "Who cares? I can do whatever I want, whenever I want. I'm Discord, the master of chaos! You think you can boss Discord around? You think I'm just going to turn all this back because you say so? Because if I don't, I'll lose the one friend I ever had?" Discord paused after this, he looked sadly at the skates. He almost seemed too tear up, "Oh. Oh. Well played, Fluttershy. Well played." Discord skated over the top of an apple tree before he let off a flash of magic turning everything back to normal.
Everyone ran towards Fluttershy and cheered her for managing to turn a being of pure chaos into a seemingly nice person. Discord teleported in front of them and spoke, "I like it better my way, but... I guess when you're friends, you can't always have things exactly your way all the time, eh?" He said as Josh approached him.
Letting off a sigh Josh extended a hand and said, "Well I guess I owe you a thank you for actually fixing things."
Discord shook his hand, "Well I accept your thank you and apology!"
"Don't push it." Josh said.
Celestia arrived and Discord approached her, "Yes, Princess, I'm ready to use my magic for good instead of evil." He said bowing, "Most of the time." He added under his breath.
"Congratulations on your success, ponies. I definitely sense a big change in Discord." Celestia said as she leaned toward Twilight, "I'll leave the Elements of Harmony with you, Twilight. Just in case." As she looked at Josh. approaching him he bowed in respect, "There is no need for that, are we not friends?" Josh looked at Celestia, getting up and looking at her in the eyes. Something about her just calmed him, "I heard you have found out how to use magic? I assume you didn't lie about being able to use it?" She asked jokingly.
"I assure you that I had no idea!" Josh said nervously.
"I know, even I couldn't detect it. So I am guessing you want someone to teach you how to use such Magic? I'm sure I could find somepony to tutor you." Celestia said as she looked at him.
"Actually, if you don't mind Princess." Josh turned away rubbing the back of his head, "I would like it if Twilight showed me how to use Magic." Josh looked at Twilight giving her a smile.
"I thought so." Celestia turned to Twilight, "Do you think you can handle him?" She asked.
"I won't let you or him down!" She said, bowing to Celestia then turning to Fluttershy, "So, guess you were right when you said Fluttershy would be the one to find the way to reform Discord. By treating Discord as a friend, she got him to realize that friendship was actually important to him. And something that, once he had, he didn't want to lose." she said as everyone looked at Discord.
Fluttershy approached him and gave him a little hoof tap, "Go on. Say it..."
Discord grumbled a bit before quickly saying, "Friendship is magic."
Fluttershy grabbed his hand with her hoof, "See? He can be a real sweetheart once you get to know him." She said as everyone turned with embarrassment, then waving goodbye as Discord and Celestia left for Canterlot.
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The Cutie Mark Crusaders Magical Misadventures
It had been 3 days since Josh had found out he had magical abilities, since then he had Twilight show him a bunch of spells. Some he picked up pretty quickly such as levitating and opening doors. Others such as this protecting spell he was now being shown by Twilight.
"Now pay attention." Twilight said as her horn glowed, soon a violet bubble surrounded Spike. Josh watched as Twilight then picked up a stray book and threw it at Spike, it bounced off the bubble and fell to the floor. Josh looked as Twilight continued to throw things at Spike.
"As you can see, this spell is great for protection. While it can be broken, it all relies on how much magic the user can use and how tired you are." Twilight turned and faced Josh, "Now you try."
The shield around Spike dissipated and now Josh attempted to do the same as Twilight, Closing his eyes and soon his hand was glowing with a white aura. Soon surrounding Spike, what seemed like a Bubble began to form however it soon dispersed and Josh let out a heavy breath, "Nope, still can't do it." Josh said as he stretched.
"You will eventually, I mean you picked up on levitation and using common objects like scissors and doors pretty quickly." Twilight said as she picked and organized the books she had used as projectiles.
A knock on the door soon followed and Spike answered it, opening the door he found himself pushed aside by a group of excited fillies who ran towards Josh. Jumping at him they gave him a massive group hug.
"Cutie Mark Crusaders!" Josh said as he embraced his three little friends, "It's been a while, what brings you here?"
"We heard you learned how to use magic!" Sweetie Belle said, as her, Scootaloo and Apple Bloom let go of Josh.
"Yeah! Can you show us!" Scootaloo said impatiently.
"Well, I guess I can show you some of the things I learned like..." Josh paused.
"Like what?" Apple Bloom asked as a white aura surrounded her and soon Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo.
"Like this!" Josh said as he lifted them up into the air, he began moving them around the room. The three fillies cheered as scootaloo even took on a superhero pose as she flew around Golden Oaks. Letting them down, they cheered.
"That was awesome!" Scootaloo said, "Can we do it again?"
"Later, now is there another reason you came by?" Josh asked, looking at the three fillies.
"Well there is one other reason," Apple Bloom said, brushing the ground with her hoof.
"We have a school project coming up about creatures outside of Equestria, and we were wondering if we could do it on you and maybe bring you in!" Sweetie Belle said.
"Well I don't know...." Josh said, looking at Twilight he asked her. "What do you think?"
"I think it's a great idea!" Twilight said as she walked next to the three fillies, "It will help ponies learn more about Josh and humans in general, and it will also give him a chance to meet some of the younger ponies!"
"Well then it's settled!" Josh said, looking at the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
"Great! We should probably leave now so we can make it to school." Scootaloo said.
"Wait, it's today?" Josh asked, "And you are only now getting something to present on?"
The three fillies looked quite embarrassed but Josh just sighed and hurried them, saying a quick goodbye too Twilight they began running through the town towards the School.
"So what's the game plan?" Josh asked as they ran past the many inhabitants of Ponyville.
"Well we don't really have one." Apple Bloom said as they began on the path towards the school.
"So what are you just going to introduce me and then make things up as we go along?" Josh asked sarcastically.
"Yep!" Scootaloo said as they reached the school.
The CMC reached first, stopping to catch their breath. "See, we had time." Scootaloo said as Josh caught up with them.
Apple Bloom looked at Josh, "Alright, just wait out here until we give you the signal."
Josh leaned against the wall and breathed heavily, he was holding his upper right leg as he did so.
"Hey, you alright?" Apple Bloom asked.
"Yeah, just a cramp." Josh replied, he knew he was lying. Should have listened to the Doctor about extreme activities. Standing up he looked at the fillies, "I'll wait out here for a signal, then come inside."
The CMC nodded at Josh before entering the school, which in reality was a building with a single room for the class. He leaned against the wall trying his best to listen for any signal, but all he could really hear was what sounded like young children talking about different animals. After a while, the door opened and Scootaloo poked her head out.
"Alright, it's time, just stand in front of the door." She said, quickly moving back inside.
Josh shrugged and stood in front of the door.
"Fillies and Gentlecolts!" He heard Scootaloo yell, "Allow me to introduce you to the one and only!" Apple Bloom swung the door open allowing him and the rest of the class to see him.
"Joshua Hill!" The CMC yelled in unison as everypony looked at him.
"What is that?" He heard a voice say.
"He is a human!" Apple Bloom said proudly.
"The only one we know of!" Scootaloo said.
"Well what can he do?" He heard a snarky female voice say.
Josh stood in the doorway, he only now noticed how tall he was compared to the ponies in Equestria. The teacher pony was eyeing him, obviously wary of him as he stood just a bit taller than them. Seeing as the CMC was struggling to come up with something, he decided to take the wheel. "Well!" Josh said walking in front of the class, "I can talk for one." Josh saw the look on the faces of the fillies as they began to chat among themselves. Looking around he saw a stack of books on the teachers desk and he got a wonderful idea, using his magic to pick them up he began moving them around the room. "I can also use magic!" Josh said as he then also picked up the CMC, "Now guessing I got to talk about myself." Josh said with a chuckle.
Josh found himself surrounded by fillies, the presentation went great but the young ponies still had questions. He could have left but Josh had nowhere to be so stayed around and enjoyed being the center of attention.
"Are you really from outside of Equestria?" A young colt asked.
"Yep, but I like Equestria a lot more." Josh said jokingly.
"Are there more humans?" Another one asked.
"Yeah but not around here." Josh said as he noticed the CMC standing behind everyone, "Now excuse me but I want to ask my friends how they think I did." Josh walked through the crowd and approached his little friends, but as he did her heard the same snarky and rather rude voice from the presentation yell out.
"You really hang out with those blank flanks?" Josh turned to see who had said this, upon looking he saw standing with a smug look on her face a pinkish filly with a white and violet mane.
"A blank flank?" Josh asked confused.
"You know a pony without a cutie mark." She said in a rude tone, expecting Josh to know.
Josh hadn't really cared about cutie marks, he barely paid attention if anyone he met had one. Turning to the pony he said, "And? I don't know nor really care about cutie marks, heck I don't even have one so why should I?" Josh looked at Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, "And besides they will get them in time, and until then they get to go on adventures to find them."
"Yeah so leave us alone Diamond Tiara!" Scootaloo said.
"Hmmp!" Diamond Tiara huffed before an idea struck her, "Well then, why don't you go on a little "Adventure" then?"
"Maybe we will!" Apple Bloom said turning to Sweetie Belle, "What's on the list?
Sweetie Belle took out a ruffled piece of paper, "It says here, animal trapper."
"Trap what? Cute little bunnies" Diamond Tiara asked.
The CMC looked at each other before Scootaloo boldly said, " No! We'll trap an animal from the Everfree forest!"
All the young fillies gasped upon hearing this, Josh turned and gave her a confused look. He hadn't read about the Everfree forest but he didn't have any idea on what would be so bad about it.
"You wouldn't!" Diamond Tiara said.
"Can and will!" Apple Bloom said, "Common CMC lets get a move on!" Apple Bloom and the rest of the CMC started running before noticing Josh was still standing still. running back towards him she grabbed his arm, "That includes you, you're still a crusader!" Apple Bloom dragged him and soon he began speed walking behind them not to aggravate his leg again.
Approaching the entrance of the forest, Josh, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo all stopped and looked at the forest. Josh wasn't scared like the three younger fillies were, but he was unnerved and felt a chill. Josh took the first steps and the rest followed, walking through the forest Josh asked no one in particular, "So, what exactly are we going to try and catch?" Just then Josh saw what seemed like the head of a chicken pop up from a bush. Josh looked disappointed but the CMC ducked behind him, "What is it?" Josh asked as the beast slithered out from behind the bush, Josh could now see that it had the body of a snake with wings to match.
"It's a Cockatrice!" Sweetie Belle said, "Don't look it in the eyes!"
Josh dispute the warning looked at the Cockatrice, he quickly realized his mistake when he felt his feet freeze up. Looking down he saw his feet had turned to stone, acting quickly he closed his eyes and screamed at the Cockatrice hoping to scare it off. He felt his feet again, quickly he moved towards the Cockatrice and yelled at it, this seemed to scare it off and Josh sighed.
"Okay, I think I understand why people are scared of this place now." Josh said turning towards the CMC, "I think we should head back to town." Just then he heard a loud rawer, and quickly turned towards the direction of the sound. He watched in horror as what seemed to be a Lion with wings come out of the brush and towered over him.
"GIRLS RUN!" Josh shouted as he picked up a nearby rock and threw it before running, he quickly felt a sharp pain shot up his leg. He started to slow down but quickly sped up again as he heard the beast roar. lucky for him the rock had stunned it long enough for a head start, he was about to give out a sigh of relief when to his horror, he heard someone trip followed by a short but loud wimpier.
"My ankle!" Apple Bloom shouted as she laid on the forest floor, "I think I twisted my ankle!"
Josh could see the two fillies attempt to pick their friend up, he was only around 200 meters away and quickly gaining. He had to do something or Apple Bloom could get attacked. Mustering up all the courage he could he turned and faced the beast. Surprised by his sudden stop the beast could not stop and slammed into him, sending both tumbling to the ground.
Josh cussed as he got back up, his entire right leg was on fire but he couldn't stop. Getting up as the beast tried to stand, "I don't think so!" He yelled as he kicked the thing in the face, causing him to fall and roar in pain. After this Josh ran towards Apple Bloom.
"Are you alright?!" He said in a panicked voice as he slid to a stop.
"I don't think I can run." Apple Bloom said trying to stand.
Josh looked behind him to see the beast had gotten back up, quickly scoping up Apple Bloom in his arms he ran as Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle followed. They ran as fast as they could, they couldn't figure out the winding path they had taken to get to where they were and soon they came to a dead end.
"What do we do?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Josh looked around for any means of escape, he couldn't find any and worst of all he heard was that the beast stopped running and began growling. Turning around he saw it pacing, he was not an animal expert but he knew it was readying an attack. Quickly he pushed all three fillies behind him and stood firm, "Stay behind me and no matter what happens to me if I say run you run." He said to the fillies then turning back to face the beast. He eyed it as it eyed him, "Alright you overgrown house cat, you want a piece of me? Come get some!" He yelled in a shaky voice, he was absolutely terrified. Forming his arms into an "X" he readied for it's attack, if he could even distract it for a minute that would be a minute for the CMC to escape. He closed his eyes to brace.
"Josh!" He heard a shaky voice say, opening his eyes he saw the beast running at him full speed. He un-crossed his arm and put an arm behind him in front of the fillies as a blocking method. He heard the fillies scream as the beast lunged at them, hearing this seemed to make his world slow down. A fire flared in his eye, a fire that had only flared up once when Trixie had put Twilight in danger.
"NO!" He yelled as magic soon flared around him, the beast crashed into a shield that had formed around the four souls. Josh opened his eyes as the best stood back up and began attacking the shield, Josh felt the blows but it was an odd sensation. It was like getting punched but also not, regardless he held firm. He then heard the voice in his head again, "Attack!". Almost on command Josh pulled his arm back, and as the shield dropped he threw a small orb of magical energy at the beast. Getting a direct Head shot the beast pulled back. He looked at his hand then back at the beast, it looked ready to attack again before it seemingly changed to a face of fear and ran off.
"Yeah that's right!" Josh said, "Run!" he finished as he turned and looked at the CMC, he sat down in front of them and gently grabbed Apple Blooms leg, he saw that it had turned a bit red and had begun swelling, "Alright i'll carry you home." Josh went to pick up Apple Bloom but he felt something wet hit the top of his head, looking up his heart stopped as his eyes locked with a massive wolf-like beat made of wood. He now realized what scared the lion beast off. It didn't take long for Scootaloo, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle to look up as well.
"The hell is that?" Josh asked, his voice filled with fear.
"Timberwolf!" Scootaloo said.
Josh grabbed the three fillies and held them tight, he pulled them into his chest in order for his body to act like a shield in case the Timberwolf attacked. Just before it could however he heard what sounded like glass shatter before catching a whiff of something awful.
"Leave this area for you should now, this part of the forest is not your home!" A voice called out from a distance.
Josh looked up at the Timberwolf to see it back away, and ran off. He looked for where the voice had come from before someone ran towards them. As they got closer he noticed that it was a zebra.
"Zecora!" He heard Apple Bloom say.
"I heard your screams of terror and I am glad to find that it seems you all appear to be fine." Zecora said as she looked at Josh, "As for you I have not seen before one of your kind, but it seems that Apple Bloom trust you and so do I."
"Well, thanks for the help Zecora." Josh said as he stood up, "But we are not as fine as you think, Apple Bloom twisted her ankle and we need to get to a doctor quickly!"
Zecora walked over and looked at Apple Bloom, "Come to my hut so I may treat your wounds, then to Ponyville I shall lead you to."
Josh nodded in agreement and picked up Apple Bloom, following Zecora while keeping the CMC close in case they ran into anymore problems. Upon arriving Josh set Apple Bloom on a bed and sat down, with a heavy sigh he closed his eyes and thought about what happened. He placed a hand over his aching leg, he should be lucky that was all the only injury he had. But he reminded himself how he was going to have to explain to Applejack, Rarity and Scootaloo's parents how he not only let the three fillies explore the Everfree forest but also let Apple Bloom get hurt. Josh felt something nudge against his hand, looking down he saw Sweetie Belle.
"I'm sorry we dragged you into this." She said, as Scootaloo also approached him.
"Yeah, we won't let you take the fall for this." Scootaloo said.
"No, I should have known better." Josh said as he looked at the fillies, "Plus I'm older, and I shouldn't have let some school yard bully influence me like this. Now thanks to me, Apple Blooms hurt."
"Lucky for you she will be fine, just a sprain that will heal in two days time." Zecora said as she approached Joshua, "But for you, I sense something dark that we should fear."
"Something dark?" Josh asked, standing up. He didn't know what she meant but it was best to listen, "What do you mean?"
"For certain I do not know, but if you allow your anger to grow then an unspeakable curse will befall all we know." Zecora said, walking over to a shelf of potions before grabbing an unlabeled bottle. Handing it to Joshua she said, "This potion will show what it is you do not know, but beware if you let such knowledge control how you act then certain doom will follow your path."
Josh looked at the potion, it was a greenish color but that could have been the glass. It was attached to a sling so he put it on, "Thanks, now if you don't mind, I think we should head back to Ponyville." Josh said as he walked towards Apple Bloom, "You still need a lift?"
"No I should be able to walk now." Apple Bloom said as Josh helped her down from the bed, "You wouldn't happen to have a map would you?" He asked Zecora.
Zecora handed Josh a map and he was on his way, lucky she had marked down an exact trail that they would need to follow and managed to safely return to Ponyville. Upon returning the CMC told Josh to go see Twilight about what Zecora said, and so he wouldn't get blamed for what happened to Apple Bloom.
Spike was dusting when he heard a knock at the door, setting aside his duster he answered the door and welcomed Joshua back. "What took you so long?" He asked as Josh made his way inside and sat down on the nearest chair. Spike noticed Josh's expression and it reminded him of when Twilight was focused on a thought, "So uh, whats up?" Spike asked getting Josh's attention. He now noticed the bottle in his hand.
"Where is Twilight?" Josh asked, as he looked at the Bottle.
"She went to buy some food, why?" Spike said as he watched Josh open the Bottle.
"Spike, can you keep a secret?" Josh asked, looking at him.
"Of course I can, what is it?" Spike asked.
"I met Zecora today, she told me I have something "Dark" about me and she gave me this potion to find out what it is." Josh said looking at Spike, "She told me that if I let what this tells me control my actions then it will doom us all, so I need you to promise me you won't tell Twilight what I tell you I see."
Spike looked at Josh, he didn't like the idea of keeping a secret from Twilight but at the same time Josh was willing to trust him with something important enough to hide it from everyone else, "Alright, I promise."
And with that Josh drank all of whatever was in that bottle, at first he felt nothing but then his vision started getting tunneled. Slumping back in his chair the world started shaking, thoughts of being poised raced in his mind as his eyes closed.
Josh quickly opened his eyes and found himself in a void, he looked around but saw nothing. He also was not standing, but at the same time he wasn't floating. He searched around trying to find anything when he saw what looked like someone walking towards him. Not a pony or anything else, it was someone. Josh tried to make out the person, he could tell they were an adult based on his size but beyond that it was like the person was a shadow.
"So you are the one who has been sent." The figure spoke, his voice was deep and raspy. "Glad to finally see the person I have been helping." He said, with a small smirk.
"Who are you?" Josh asked, the figure was arm's reach away from him but he was still like a shadow.
"I know what you are thinking, and don't worry I am not an enemy but a friend." He reached out a hand, expecting Josh to shake.
"Yeah, I don't think so." Josh didn't even slap away his hand he just crossed his arms, "If you know what I am thinking you should know why I am here, and why I don't trust you for a second."
"But you should, I can get you home" The figure said, this immediately caught Josh's attention.
"Impossible, no one even knows how I got here." Josh said his confidence was shaken,
"Oh my poor boy, you can't even imagine what I know." The figure said as he snapped his fingers, the void changed to a peaceful field. The man was still but a shadow, "I learned from the famed Star Swirl the Bearded himself."
"Alright then, how did I get here?" Josh asked, he was still very suspicious.
"I am more than happy to explain, you see I was like you once. A normal human, but over 1,000 years ago I encountered a magical anomaly. After entering the anomaly I awoke in Equestria, I was taken in by a young wizard known as Star Swirl and he showed me how to perform great spells and soon I became one of the most powerful in all of Equestria." The man then used magic to show what looked like a young knight bowing in front of Star Swirl, "However, Star Swirl feared my power and he cast me away. Doomed to be trapped in this dimension, however it was foretold that another human would return on the eve of my banishment to free me."
"And I'm that Human?" Josh asked.
"Of course." The man looked around as the world began fading, "We do not have much time left, so I must warn you. Do not trust Twilight or the Princesses, the second you seem to be getting too powerful for them to handle you will suffer the same fate as me."
"Yeah right, Twilight would never do that." Josh said as the world continued to fade.
"Would she?" The man said as he faded away.
Josh felt the ground beneath him gave way and he fell, closing his eyes he felt himself hit something hard. Opening his eyes he saw Spike in front of him as Josh laid on the floor. Getting up he saw the broken bottle now laying on the floor next to him.
"Dude, you okay? You mumbled a lot and at the end you lunged off the chair." Spike said as he swept up the broken glass.
Standing up Josh held his head, looking at Spike he sighed. "Well Spike I got a lot to tell you."
“So, tell me again what I'm supposed to be doing?” Josh said as he leaned back in a wooden chair, it was late out but Twilight had woken him because she had gotten something important. He felt a hoof pull his chair back down as Twilight levitated a book towards him.
“Princess Celestia has trusted me to figure out Star Swirl the Bearded’s secret unfinished “Masterpiece”, and what better way to teach you more about magic then helping me figure out something by a legend!” Twilight said as she opened the books last page.
“Really, let me have a look.” Josh said grabbing the book, scanning the page he found what he believed to be the unfinished “Masterpiece” as it seemingly ended suddenly. Josh began reading it out, “From one to another, another to one. A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.” Looking around the room, Josh didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary. Handing the book back to Twilight he sighed, “Unfinished for a reason, I guess, unless you trying it will do any better.” Walking off he thought he noticed something out of the corner of his eye, looking towards the Elements of Harmony that sat in a case. He got closer and inspected the Elements.
“From one to another, another to one.” Twilight began to speak as Josh noticed Twilight’s element glowing.
“What the hell?” Josh quietly mumbled and focused on the element.
“A mark of one’s destiny singled out alone, fulfilled.” Twilight finished as the Element of magic flashed, a small beam like lightning struck the other elements quickly. Unfortunately for Josh, he was close enough for it to strike him as well, staggering back he bumped Twilight and caused her to drop her book. Turning around Twilight looked at a now stunned Josh, “Are you alright?” Twilight asked as Josh took a deep breath.
“I think, best I head to bed now.” Josh began walking towards the stairs he waved at Twilight, “Night Twi.....” Josh paused for a moment, as if he couldn’t remember Twilight’s name.
“Uhhh, Josh?” Twilight walked towards her friend, “Are you okay?”
Josh shook his head and waved her away, “I’m fine Twilight, just a migraine.” He began walking upstairs.
Twilight picked up the book and placed it on a table, she looked towards the stairs as Josh’s footsteps faded. Picking up a nearby book she decided that reading could take her mind off the bit of concern about Josh.
Twilight awoke with a yawn, looking out her window she saw that today was extra beautiful. Getting out of bed she began humming a happy tone, walking through the halls of Golden Oaks she knocked on a door. “Joshua are you awake?” She asked, slowly opening the door. “It’s a nice day out so maybe we could grab some food.” She walked in noticing Joshua was still asleep. Walking towards his bed she lifted his blanket up, “Common, rise and shine!”
Twilight watched as Josh rose from his bed, with a yawn he rubbed his eyes and looked around the room. Looking at Twilight, his eyes went from a squint to opened wide. “Who are you?” He asked as he leaned in closer.
Twilight couldn’t help but laugh, “Nice try, but you're not getting me with that easy of a prank Josh” She said as she smiled.
“Josh? Is that my name?” Josh said as he looked outside, “Can you tell me your name? I’m sure it’s beautiful like you.”
Twilight Blushed a little at this comment, “Alright sweet talker, that’s enough.”
“I’m sorry, should I know you?” Josh asked as he got up, looking in a mirror. Turning to Twilight he said, “Sorry but I don’t really remember much right now.”
Twilight began getting nervous, what had gotten into Josh? Walking up to him she said, “Hello! It’s me, Twilight Sparkle! I let you live here and teach you magic?”
Josh scratched his head, “Sounds familiar but fuzzy at most.” He looked around the room, “Do I live here?”
Twilight couldn’t be bothered answering, she immediately ran to find Spike who was still asleep. “Spike!” She yelled, waking the Dragon who jumped at the noise.
“Twilight what is it?” He asked.
“Did Josh try any memory spells yesterday?” She asked Spike who looked confused.
“Not that I know of.” Spike said as he asked, “Why?”
“Get me any and all the books that could have one.” Twilight asked as she levitated Star Swirl’s book towards her, “Maybe....” She kept the thought to herself as she made her way back towards Josh, who had now made his way to the main room and sat down on the couch.
Turning his head he saw Twilight and smiled, “Hey Twilight.” Josh said as Twilight walked in front and sat next to him.
“Okay, Joshua.” Twilight placed Star Swirl’s book on a coffee table next to her, “While Spike looks for if you just memory wiped yourself, let’s try and see what you remember.”
“Hmm, well when I woke up I could barely remember my name. But after taking a look around this place I think my name is Joshua Hill.” Josh looked around the room, “And I think this place is called Golden Oaks.” Josh stood up and walked over to the window, looking outside. “And I know i’m not from here, but at the same time I don’t know how I got here or who I really am.” Josh squinted as he looked out the window, “And I may be crazy because those clouds are in some sort of pattern.”
“What?” Twilight questioned as she walked outside, and indeed the clouds and weather was all out of whack. Josh followed as she walked towards the middle of town.
“So, is this normal?” Josh asked as he followed Twilight.
Just then, a small thundercloud flew over and dropped water on top of both Joshua and Twilight. Both shook to try and dry themselves before Twilight yelled out, “Rainbow Dash, that’s not funny!” Just then Rarity moved the cloud away.
“Terribly sorry, darling. I’m afraid I’m... I’m not good with the thundery ones.” She said as Twilight looked in shock, while Josh looked in confusion.
“What are you doing?” Twilight asked as she noticed something about Rarity, looking at her flank she noticed that Rarity’s cutie mark had changed from her normal three diamonds to Rainbow Dash’s rainbow thunderbolt. “What happened to your cutie mark?” She asked as Rarity continued moving clouds.
“Whatever do you mean, Twilight? I’m simply doing what I’ve done since the day it first appeared.” Rarity said as she finished moving the clouds, “Does my sky look fabulous or what?”
Multiple Ponies began yelling at Rarity, “Too last season?” She asked as Josh spoke up.
“Wait, Rarity? Don’t you make dresses?” Josh asked as he walked towards Rarity.
“Oh no darling that’s Applejack.” Rarity said as the ponies began walking away from her.
“No, that doesn’t sound right.” Josh said, “I can’t remember exactly but I swear you made me these clothes.”
“Hmm, No I can’t recall.” Rarity said.
Twilight grabbed Josh’s arm, “Come with me, we gotta get Spike and find Rainbow.”
“I still don’t know what you had to wake me up for. I love sleeping in the rain.” Spike said, letting out a yawn.
Twilight turned to him, “It’s not about the weather, Spike. Rarity had Rainbow Dash’s cutie mark and said this was Rainbow Dash’s cottage.” She said as Spike, Josh and herself reached Fluttershy’s cottage. Knocking on the door she was surprised when Rainbow Dash did in fact answer.
“Hey, guys.” Rainbow said rather meekly.
“Rainbow Dash! Why is Rarity doing your job?” Twilight asked as Josh looked past her, hearing the sounds of animals causing a riot.
“What in the world is going on in there?” Josh asked as he walked in to find animals running, fighting and tearing the cottage apart. Josh walked in and looked around, “I feel like I’ve been here before, but I don’t remember you being in charge.” Josh said as he pointed at Rainbow.
“Well Josh I have been doing this since my cutie mark appeared, what you got amnesia or something?” Rainbow jokingly said as she dodge some birds.
“Well yes actually.” Josh said as he walked outside.
“Well what now?” Spike said as he looked at Twilight.
“Okay from what I can tell Josh, Rarity and Rainbow have had some memory spell cast on them, with Rarity swapping marks with Rainbow who swapped with Fluttershy.” Twilight said as she put a hoof to her chin, “We also know that Applejack has taken Rarity’s mark, considering what Rarity told us. Meaning we need to find out what happened to Pinkie and Fluttershy.” Twilight turned to Joshua, “So I think we should split up to figure this out quicker, Joshua can I trust you to go to Sweet Apple Acres? I think that Fluttershy or Pinkie might be there.”
“Sure but, what about you and Spike?” Josh asked, “Also where is Sweet Apple Acres?”
Twilight summoned a map and floated it over to Joshua, “Just follow this map, Spike and I are going to Sugar Cube Corner.”
Waving goodbye, Josh began following the map. Lucky for him, it seemed the Sugar Cube Corner was further away from the cottage then Sweet Apple Acres. As he walked his thoughts wondered, he tried to remember things about himself. He could piece together things like his name, the fact he came from Earth, who Rarity, Twilight and Rainbow Dash are to a limited degree. He soon found himself on a dirt path walking towards what he could make out as a farm, it looked familiar. Just then, a red maned yellow coated filly ran towards him.
“Joshua! Boy am I glad to see you!” Apple Bloom said stopping in front of Josh.
“Uh yeah, glad to see you too.” Josh said, pretending to know who this was. “You seen Pinkie or Fluttershy around here?” He asked.
“Yes and that’s the problem.” Apple Bloom said, “Common follow me.”
Josh began following Apple Bloom, walking down the dirt path he began looking around. He didn’t see anything interesting until he noticed a curtain tree. Stopping in place, his vision tunneled on the tree. Apple Bloom soon took notice.
“Whatcha lookin at?” Apple Bloom said, now turning to look at the tree. “Hmmmm, why does this look familiar?” Apple Bloom thought, quickly a light bulb went off in her head. “I know why it looks familiar!” She yelled out, “This is where you met Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle!”
“I did?” Josh mumbled, quickly the memory flashed in his head. He remembered the three fillies inviting him on a little adventure, and how he went on to meet Twilight, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash. “I did!” Josh exclaimed, “I remember!” Josh said turning to Apple Bloom and picking her up, “I remember you!” Josh said as he pulled her into a hug.
“Uh, Josh?” Apple Bloom asked, quickly Josh let her down.
“Sorry, long story but let's get back to the “Problem” you told me about.” Josh he said as Apple Bloom nodded, they began running towards Sweet Apple Acres. Reaching the farm Josh noticed a familiar, pink pony attempting to kick a tree hard enough to knock the Apples down. “So that’s the problem, I can see why” Josh said looking at Apple Bloom.
“I don’t know what’s going on, I woke up today and Pinkie was here and not Applejack. When I asked her about it she said this is what she had always done.” Apple Bloom said as Josh approached Pinkie.
“Uh, Pinkie?” Josh walked next to the Pink pony, “You need a hand with that?”
“Knock yourself out, I can’t seem to get these apples down.” Pinkie said as she walked away from the tree.
“Now how should I do this?” Josh wondered, he had seen AJ do this before but should he kick it or punch it? Josh decided to try and kick it since he can normally put more power into a kick. Winding up he swing kicked the tree, he heard the leaf’s ruffle before apples began falling in the buckets. “Huh, a little sting after kicking but I could do this some more.”
Josh helped Pinkie Pie for another 2 hours, but he was no Applejack nor Big Mac. Whom Apple Bloom had managed to drag back to the farm from the market in Ponyville. Josh called it a day and headed home, he needed to tell Twilight about how he regained some memories.
“Twilight!” Josh yelled as he threw open the door, “I remembered something! Like a full and significant event!”
Josh could hardly contain his excitement, however when he saw Twilight looking out her window sadness in her eyes as Spike stood behind her. He quickly realized that this was not the time and approached her, “Twilight?” He asked softly. Taking a seat next to her on her bed, he placed a gentle hand on her shoulder. This finally caught her attention, as she turned around.
“Oh, Josh.” Twilight said, “Sorry I just...” Twilight was shushed by Josh.
“What's wrong?” Josh asked, looking at Twilight.
“Nothing, I'm fine” Twilight said looking back outside.
“Twilight,” Josh said softly but firmly, “I know for a fact that’s a lie.”
Twilight sighed, “It’s just, all my friends have had their destiny changed and your memory wiped and it’s all my fault.”
Josh took his hand off her, “Hey!” Josh said, his voice a bit louder. “This is not your fault, all you did was what you were asked. You are still a kind-hearted mare, and you will fix this. Besides these are your friends, and from what I heard you are some pretty tough cookies.” Josh said as he looked away, “Not to mention you let a complete stranger and in both identity and species stay at your house.”
Twilight got up, “You’re right,” Twilight said as she began walking toward a photo of all her friends. " And they mean more to me than anything!” Twilight began to glow, “My friends...”
“Twilight?” Josh asked.
“I got it! I know what to do!” Twilight said as she floated a box towards her and placed the Elements of Harmony into it. “I may not be able to remind them of who they are, but I can show them what they mean to each other. They’ll find the part of themselves that’s been lost so they can help the friend they care about so much!” She threw the box at Spike who caught it, “Common you two, we got a job to do.”
Making their way outside, They managed to catch Fluttershy about to leave Ponyville. “Fluttershy wait!” Twilight yelled out causing Fluttershy to turn around.
“Oh, hey Twilight.” Fluttershy replied.
“Where are you off to?” Josh asked.
“I’m moving back to Cloudsdale. I don’t know what’s wrong, but I can’t seem to make anypony laugh.” Fluttershy said as she deflated a whoopee cushion in front of the trio.
Twilight looked at Josh and Spike before walking towards Fluttershy, “Before you go, I was wondering if you might be willing to help Rainbow Dash. She’s really struggling with her animals.”
“But...” Fluttershy began twirling her hooves, “I don’t really know anything about animals..., "
“But last I checked you know a lot about Rainbow Dash.” Josh chimed up.
Fluttershy looked down as she began speaking, " I... Know that she’s a true friend,” She looked up, more confident. “And I’ll do anything I can to help her.”
With this, they rushed over to Fluttershy’s cottage, getting near the door they heard a large thud. Opening the door they saw animals rampaging, with Rainbow Dash being tied in a large pot with many animals surrounding her.
“I'm here! Help! I’m trapped!” Rainbow Dash yelled out.
Fluttershy turned to Twilight, “Hurry, Twilight! Can’t you do some sort of spell to get her out?”
Twilight shook her head, “No.” She said, “Fluttershy, you’re the only one who can help! Rainbow Dash needs you!”
Fluttershy gave Twilight a nervous nod, she then walked inside and tried to get the attention of the animals. “Um... Hello? Little... Woodland creatures?” She said catching the attention of some animals, " know that you’re all very upset and feel like giving Rainbow Dash a hard time, but we’d all really appreciate it if you’d calm down and, um, maybe... Rest for a bit?” Soon all the animals surrounded her, getting nervous she looked over and noticed a bowl of salad. Quickly flying over she grabbed it and zoomed back, “look! Here’s some nice, juicy leaves for you to munch on!” She said, placing it down. She then grabbed some assorted nuts and handed them out as well, “And some crunchy, munchy acorns too!” She then approached some of the animals still chattering at Rainbow, “Uh, wouldn’t you like to take a break and have a little snack?” The animals looked at each other and threw down the cutlery they had been using as tiny weapons.
“Phew, she did it.” Josh said, letting out a heavy breath.
“Did you think she couldn’t?” Twilight asked.
“Well no, but this was a bit risky.” Josh replied as Fluttershy was surrounded by the animals.
As a bear picked her up, Fluttershy began to glow. “Goodness, it’s like I can understand them!”
Twilight lifted Fluttershy’s Element out of the box and floated it towards Fluttershy.
Fluttershy floated up into the air, “I feel strange, like... Like this is what I’m meant to do, like this is who I am! My destiny!” The Element floated onto Fluttershy and her memories flashed. Falling onto the ground, she got up in a daze. “Wha... What happened?”
Twilight and Josh walked towards her, Josh looked at her flank and exclaimed. “Look! It worked!”
Twilight also looked and yelled out, “Fluttershy, look! Your cutie mark!” Twilight began jumping around in joy. And as Josh watched, Twilight seemed to start singing.
🎵A true, true friend helps a friend in need. A friend will be there to help them see🎵
Josh bent down towards Spike and asked, “Is she singing?”
“Just roll with it dude,” Spike said.
Fluttershy joined in with Twilight.
🎵A true, true friend helps a friend in need to see the light that shines from a true, true friend🎵
“Um, hello? Friend trapped inside, remember?” Rainbow Dash said, wriggling around in the pot.
“I got this!” Josh said running towards and behind Rainbow, working quickly he untied her.
(Not going to write out the whole song so just listen to it here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tCPxXW_9qI )
Making it back to Golden Oaks everyone headed inside, Twilight grabbed Star Swirls book and readied to finish the spell. However before she could she remembered something.
"What is it Twilight?" Josh asked walking behind her, "You fixed everyone's cutie marks and memories."
Twilight looked at Joshua, "Not everyone's." Twilight walked towards Josh, "This whole time and we forgot about you."
Josh looked confused, "What? But I'm fine."
"So you remember everything?" Twilight asked.
"Well, you see." Joshua rubbed the back of his head looking around, "Maybe not everything."
Twilight put a hoof on his chest, "This whole time, I was so focused on my original friends I forgot about my new friend." She pulled Josh in and hugged him, "And he is a great friend, and someone I without a doubt consider a true friend."
"A....true friend?" Josh said, quickly and just like everyone else his memories flashed. All the times with his friends on Earth and new friends in Equestria. Josh pulled Twilight closer, "Thank you."
letting go of each other, Twilight grabbed Star Swirls book. "Now I can finish this." Twilight began to read and write out her ending to the spell, "From all of us together, together we're friends. With the marks of our destinies made one, there is magic without end!"
Finishing the spell, the Elements began to glow. Then all of the Elements let out a blast and a bubble surrounded Twilight, soon a magical glow flashed and blinded all of them. When they got their vision back, they saw that instead of Twilight there was a pile of ash. Everyone cried out in shock, everyone but Josh who looked with a blank stare.
"No....." Joshua felt his world spiral, he wanted to cry or scream or anything. He just saw someone who moments ago called him a close and true friend and now she was gone, all he could muster out was. "No...."
Rarity was the first to notice Joshua, walking up to him she looked at him concerned. "Darling? Are you alright?"
Joshua looked down, "No...." Joshua felt his knees giving way, he trembled. Just then he noticed something outside the window in the sunset. Running outside he was soon followed by the rest of his friends. They looked up and saw a massive explosion, out of it they saw what looked like Twilight's cutie mark in the sky. It floated down towards them.
"Twilight?" Applejack asked as Twilight stood proud, and extended her wings?
Everyone gasped, Twilight had become an Alicorn! "Wha... I-I've never seen anything like it!" Applejack said as everyone approached Twilight.
"Ha!" Rainbow Dash laughed, "Twilight's got wings! Awesome! A new flying buddy!"
"Why, you've become an Alicorn. I didn't even know that was possible." Rarity said as Pinkie pie hopped towards Twilight.
"Alicorn party!" She yelled.
"Twilight!" Josh yelled out as he ran and scooped Twilight up in a massive hug, "Your okay! I was so worried, when you vanished and I only saw ash I was so devastated. But you're here! You even have a new set of wings." Josh hugged her tightly. He then looked at his other friends who were snickering under their breath, quickly he dropped Twilight and looked towards the sky blushing.
Twilight got up and patted him on the back, "Well, someone certainly cares a whole lot about someone."
"Wow... You look just like a princess!" Fluttershy said as a voice soon responded.
"That's because she is a princess." Everyone looked to see Celestia landing in front of them.
"A princess?" Twilight questioned.
"Since you've come to Ponyville, you've displayed the charity, compassion, devotion, integrity, optimism, and of course, the leadership of a true princess." Celestia said as she put a hoof on Twilight's Shoulder.
"But... does this mean I won't be your student anymore?" Twilight asked looking at Celestia, a hint of sadness in her voice.
"Not in the same way as before. I'll still be here to help and guide you, but we're all your students now, too. You are an inspiration to us all, Twilight." Celestia said as she and everyone else bowed.
"But... what do I do now?" Twilight asked, "Is there a book about being a princess I should read?"
Celestia laughed at this notion, "There will be time for all that later."
"How do I look?" Josh asked as he straightened his hair, he already was in a rush having his suit just been made that morning.
"You like fine darling." Rarity said, "Now hurry up, the coronation is almost starting."
Josh and Rarity rushed quickly to stand beside Fluttershy, Pinkie, Rainbow and Rarity. Josh looked out on the crowd of ponies, he could tell that a lot of eyes were on him. He understood why he was still a mysterious and unknown creature who was now standing next to three and soon to be four princesses. Once Twilight arrived of course.
"We are gathered here today in celebration of a momentous occasion." Celestia began to speak, "My most faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, has done many extraordinary things since she's lived in Ponyville. She even helped reunite me with my sister, Princess Luna." Celestia turned and looked at her sister, giving her a loving smile before continuing. "But today, Twilight Sparkle did something extraordinary. She created new magic, proving without a doubt that she is ready to be crowned Equestria's newest princess. Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle!"
Josh watched as Twilight began walking down the aisle, he could see ponies caring banners with her and royal guard-ponies escorting her. Josh watched as she was crowned princess. He then watched as she was led out to a balcony, ducking behind the door way so he could hear her. He was soon joined by the rest of his friends and they began to listen,
"A little while ago, my teacher and mentor Princess Celestia sent me to live in Ponyville. She sent me to study friendship, which is something I didn't really care much about. But now, on a day like today, I can honestly say." Twilight looked and called her friends out. Josh watched as Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie Pie walked out. Josh stood back, half out of embarrassment and nerves and half out of the fact that he didn't think she meant him as he wasn't one of the Elements of harmony.
"Eham" Twilight said, pretending to clear her throat and looking at Joshua.
Josh walked outside and Twilight smiled and continued her speech, "Each one of you taught me something about friendship, and for that, I will always be grateful." Twilight turned to face the crowd as the rest of the mane six approached the front of the balcony, Josh decided to walk with them and soon found himself next to Twilight. He looked down on the crowd.
"Today, I consider myself the luckiest pony in Equestria. Thank you, friends. Thank you, everypony!" Twilight finished as the crowd erupted with cheers. Heading back inside, Rainbow nudged Joshua's shoulder.
"Nervous?" She jokingly asked.
"I just don't like big crowds." He said, as Twilight nudged him.
"Remember, you are my friend." She said looking at him, "And next time don't think I'm excluding you for Luna's sake." She said laughing.
"Twilight!" Shining Armour shouted out, "I'm so proud of you!" he said, hugging Twilight.
"Are you crying?" Twilight asked as she looked at her brother.
"Of course not. It's... it's liquid pride. Totally different thing." Shining said as he and Twilight laughed.
Shining Armour then looked at Josh, "You must be the Human Twilight told me about." Shining extended a hoof, "It's nice to meet you, I'm her brother Shining Armour." Joshua shook his hoof, "And this is my lovely wife...."
"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza!" Josh interrupted Shining, bowing in respect. "It is an honor."
"Please just call me Cadence." Princess Cadance said with a chuckle.
"Way to go, Princess!" Applejack said, as the rest of her friends gathered around Twilight.
"Best coronation day ever!" Pinkie Pie said.
"We love you, Twilight." Fluttershy said, as everypony hugged Twilight.
"I love you too, girls!" Twilight said.
"Brings a tear to my eye." Josh jokingly said, before a familiar violet aura pulled him towards the group of mares who embraced him.
"Remember, you're my friend too." Twilight said.
Josh hugged his new friends tight, "So now what?" He asked.
Joshua looked out the window at the cloudy sky, Twilight was at a meeting in Canterlot but she was on her way home. Sipping his coffee Josh wondered what the meeting was about, he knew that the Summer Sun Celebration was coming up given all the posters around Ponyville but what else? Suddenly he heard a knock on the door, getting up he opened it and pleasantly found Twilight and Spike. "Hey you guys, how did it go?" He asked as they walked past him, Twilight levitated her saddle-bag and placed it on a chair. "Is everything alright? You seem a bit sad?" Joshua asked.
Twilight sighed and sat down, "Please, take a set." Twilight scooted over. "I have to tell you something."
Joshua sat down, "What is it?"
Twilight looked away from Josh, "I don't know how to say this, so guess I'll just say it." Twilight looked at Joshua. "This is going to be hard to hear but......" Twilight hesitated.
Joshua reached out and put a hand on Twilight's shoulder, "Hey, you can tell me anything." Josh tried to reassure Twilight. "You know that......"
"I can't get you home...." Twilight interrupted Joshua, this news caused him to reel back and his face changed.
"What?" Josh said.
"Just a few days after you first woke up in the hospital, I began researching alternate realities. I couldn't find much but I did find a tale of ancient spell, but it's an old tale and I don't even know how to start looking. I asked the princess's about it during my meeting with them, but they couldn't tell me anything." Twilight said, she saw Joshua sitting back and she could she nothing but defeat in his eyes. "Even if I could find it, everything I read about it said that it was very specific."
Joshua looked up in confusion, "What do you mean by ''specific?" He asked.
"From what I can tell, if you wanted to use it to travel to a different universe you would need to know every detail or you could end up in a mirror universe with a completely different history. Even if we could find the spell, if it was real it would be too risky and dangerous to use. I'm sorry." Twilight finished with a sigh.
Joshua didn't know how to respond, he was just told he could never go home. "Twilight......I don't know how to react."
"If you need some time, I can go out and let you have the day to yourself." Twilight said.
"Maybe but, I would prefer talking to someone." Josh said looking outside, "Maybe Pinkie can throw me a "Sorry you are stuck here but at least you have friends" party?" Josh said jokingly trying to cheer himself up.
"Hey, will you be alright?" Twilight asked her friend.
"Yeah, just going to take some time to adjust." Josh said looking outside, "I mean I have been here for a while now but it has always been with the thought that I could go home one day. But now I need to try and accept my fate. Welp, guessing finding a girlfriend anytime soon is out of the question?" Josh said with a nervous laugh.
"Well a cheer up party doesn't sound like that bad of an idea, I probably could arrange something if you would like." Twilight said, now standing up.
"You know what, that wouldn't be a bad idea." Joshua said, standing up as well.
"Great, I'll go get everything prepared. You just relax, maybe you could go to the spa? Or grab some food. Or anything, I'm sure Pinkie is fine with a spur of a moment cheer up party and if you are going to stay here best to meet some more ponies." Twilight said floating a bag towards him, "You can borrow some bits, you can pay me back later."
"Thanks Twilight, I appreciate it." Joshua said as he headed towards the front door.
"Going out already?" Twilight asked.
"Well, best explore the rest of the town I just never had the chance too yet." Joshua said opening the door, "Catch you on the flip side Twilight."
Josh walked down a rather crowded street in Ponyville, he was thinking of ways to meet some new people. Or rather new ponies, going to take him awhile to get used to this new permanent home. He had some ideas but nothing much, maybe he could try joining some sort of club or go to an event. He was interrupted by his stomach who informed him that it was time for a snack. Walking towards a nearby food stand he bought something called a "chimicherrychanga" and sat down on one of the small tables set up for customers. As he ate his food he noticed a beige pony with a blue and pink mane approaching the stand , however instead of ordering food she walked towards him. "uh, hey?" Josh said to the pony who looked at him.
"Joshua hill right?" She asked.
"Yep, can I help you?" He responded.
"My name is Sweetie Drops, but my friends call me Bon Bon." She said, offering a hoof.
Josh shook her hoof, "Well Sweetie Drops, what can I do for you?" He asked, still not knowing what she wanted.
"My friend Lyra has taken an interest in you but has insisted on watching from afar and not saying anything." Sweetie Drops said now pointing at a bush behind her.
Looking behind her, Joshua saw a bush with a pair of binoculars poking out of it. Once whoever was in the bush noticed the binoculars quickly retreated back into the bush. The bush then shook a bit before a Magic Mint colored unicorn stepped out and began nervously walking towards Joshua.
"Hello!" She said standing in front of Joshua, "My names Lyra, Lyra Heartstrings!"
"How long have you been following me?" Josh asked, he noticed Lyra looking around nervously.
"Well.......you see....." Lyra tried to make an excuse before Sweetie Drops moved in in front of her.
"About two weeks now." Lyra blushed in embarrassment as Sweetie Drops said this, "I tried to tell her that she could probably just talk to you but she insisted that wouldn't work."
"Well it would have, and been less creepy." Josh said, "So what you need Lyra?"
"What do you mean?" Lyra asked.
"Well lets see, you have been following me around for a week so you must want something" Josh bluntly said.
"So you're not mad?" Lyra asked, a confused look on her face.
"lucky for you, can't really be mad right now." Josh said with a sigh.
"Well why not?" Sweetie Drops asked.
"Well you see, as you know I'm not from around here." Joshua said looking down at the ground, "And sadly it seems i'm here to stay because Twilight told me she can't get me back home."
"awww, you poor thing" Sweetie Drops said.
"Save your pity for the pity party." Joshua said, "I need to try and stay positive because now I need to make some new friends and being gloomy probably won't help."
"hmmmm" Lyra thought before an idea quickly popped into her head, "I got it! You can hang out with us!"
"What?" Joshua asked.
"You know follow us, we can help you meet some new ponies." Lyra said, "Plus I can find out more about you" She mumbled under her breath.
"I heard that," Josh said before letting out a heavy sigh, "but I don't have anything better to do right now." Josh said throwing out his food wrapper.
"Great!" Sweetie Drops said, walking beside Josh. "This will be great just you see!"
"Alright, whatever you say Sweetie Drops." Josh said as they began walking.
"You can call me Bon Bon, and consider me your first new friend of today!" Bon Bon said enthusiastically.
"And I'll be number two!" Lyra chimed in.
"Oh you are a number two alright." Josh said slyly.
"So what do you do?" Bon Bon asked, as the waiter placed the trio's drinks. They had moved to a small cafe and they began discussing different things about Joshua.
"Like in my spare time?" Joshua asked, picking up his coffee, "Or more like hobbies?"
"You know like reading, writing, singing, all that kinda stuff" Bon Bon responded, taking a sip of her tea.
"Well I guess I have been reading a lot more since I have arrived here, and I do enjoy things like walking in the park." Joshua replied, he wondered why he was basically being interviewed.
"I got one!" Lyra chimed in, "How do you feel about ponies?"
"Pardon?" Joshua questioned.
"You know...." Lyra cooed with a slight giggle, "Romantically?"
Joshua nearly spat out his coffee at this, "Are you trying to find me a girlfriend or something!?" He snapped back.
"No, just curious." Lyra said sipping her french vanilla, "Plus you can't expect me to believe you haven't thought about it at all."
"How about we go back to try and meet new ponies and drop this?" Josh said rather annoyed.
"Someones getting defensive." Lyra said, as Bon Bon nudged her.
"Knock it off Lyra." Bon Bon turned to Josh, "Sorry, Lyra is just making jokes."
"It's fine, but really is this necessary? I mean is there not a place I could go to meet people?" Joshua said, finishing his coffee. "Or introduce me to some of your friends?" He said.
"Well, I could introduce you to my friend Octavia." Lyra said as levitating her empty cup into a nearby trash can, "But I don't really know what you would have in common."
"Better then nothing." Josh said now standing up, "Lead the way."
Lyra led the way as Bon Bon walked next to her, Joshua followed behind them and let himself get lost in thought. He looked down every once in a while to make sure he hadn't lost the two mares. Everything was normal until he heard Bon Bon Scream.
"JOSHUA DUCK!" She yelled out, catching Josh's attention but only long enough for him to catch a glimpse of the Gray blur in front of him before it slammed into him.
Joshua let out a grunt as he fell down, landing on the ground with the thing on him he tried to feel what he presumed was thrown at him. However when he felt the mass on top of him, he found it to be softer than he was expecting. Opening his eyes which had reflexively closed he saw nothing but grey. Slowly the thing moved off him, and as he picked himself up he saw what or rather who had hit him. It was a gray coated Pegasus with yellow eyes and a blonde mane, he also noticed her cutie mark was seemingly just bubbles.
"Oh no, I'm sorry mister!" She spoke as she stood up.
Joshua rubbed the back of his head, "It's alright, i'm sure it was an accident." he looked at the pony who now looked at him. he noticed her expression change from embarrassment to shock.
"You're the human who lives with Twilight!" She blurted out, as she ran in front of him. "I'm really sorry, please don't be mad."
"It's alright, really." Josh said he was taken aback by this. "Why would I automatically be mad?"
"Well some ponies are, and I don't know you so I didn't think you would understand I'm not that good of a flyer." She said.
"Well it's alright, anyway what's your name?" Josh asked, trying to change the mood to something more friendly.
"My name is Derpy." The Pegasus said.
"Derpy huh, well my names Josh" Josh offered a hand, "Nice to meet you."
Derpy looked at Josh confused, "What? I'm just offering a han.....err "Hoof" shake." Josh said.
"Oh!" Derpy realized and shook Josh's hand.
"So what's got you in such a rush?" Josh asked.
"Well you see, I'm a mailmare and I got to pick up and deliver a huge package." Derpy said, "I think it's for a party at Golden Oaks."
"Oh, well best let you get to it then." Josh said as he moved out of Derpy's way, "It was nice to meet you, maybe I'll catch you later."
"Bye Mister!" Derpy waved goodbye to Josh as she flew off.
As she flew away, Lyra slapped Joshua on the back. "Well, well, well." She said, "Looks like someone is better at making friends then they think."
"Or they are just overthinking how hard it is to make some." Bon Bon said, "Now can we hurry up and get back to meeting Octavia?"
"Alright, let's get back on track." Josh said as he began walking, followed shortly by Lyra and Bon Bon.
"So what exactly is Octavia like?" Josh questioned as he, Lyra and Bon Bon approached a house with what seemed like a record on it, he could hear some music but it was like a mix of Classical and Techno.
"I guess I would say, Posh and quiet." Lyra said as she knocked on the door, "But I'm sure you can find something in common."
As she knocked, the music got quieter. Then the door opened, and Josh saw a white coated Unicorn with a mix of a darkish blue and cyan.
"Hey Vinyl!" Lyra said, "Is Octavia here?"
The Unicorn nodded and looked to her right, "Yo Octavia! You got some visitors!"
"Who is it?" Josh heard a female voice call out, it had a rather British like accent.
"Lyra, Bon Bon and....." Vinyl took notice of Josh and scanned him, "Octavia, you are not going to believe this."
Josh heard someone walking towards the door, "Believe what?" A pony said as they walked in front of the door. She had a darkish gray coat with black hair.
"Oh my, it's him." She said, clearing her throat. "Why hello Joshua, I am Octavia Melody."
"You know me?" Josh asked.
"Why of course I do, lots of ponies know about you ever since that brawl you had with Trixie." Octavia replied, "I hear a lot about you from a bunch of ponies."
"Really? I didn't think I would be talked about for more than a week." Joshua said.
"So what brings you here?" Octavia asked.
"That would be me." Lyra said, "How's it going Octavia?"
"Hello Lyra, things are good." Octavia replied, "Now how can I help you?"
"Well I was helping out my good friend Joshua meet some ponies, I was wondering if you would want to maybe meet him?" Lyra said, as she gestured to Josh.
"I'm afraid you caught me at a bad time, I'm practicing for a performance at the Summer Sun Celebration and I do not have the time." Octavia said, "Maybe another time."
Octavia waved them off and the trio went on their way.
"Well now what?" Josh asked, as they walked aimlessly down the road.
"I don't know, that was kinda my whole plan" Lyra said, turning to Bon Bon. "You got any idea?" she asked.
"hmmm, have you met the cakes?" Bon Bon asked Josh.
"I don't think so, they own Sugar Cube Corner right?" Josh said.
"Yeah, why don't we introduce you to them?" Bon Bon said, "Maybe we could even get you a job." she jokingly added.
"You know, that doesn't seem like a terrible idea." Josh said, "But let's make it quick, I should be heading back home soon."
"Then let's hurry." Lyra said, as she broke out into a sprint.
"So it's a race huh?" Josh said as he soon joined.
"Hey wait up!" Bon Bon yelled as she also picked up the pace.
Joshua was managing to keep up with the two mares, but boy they could run. As they ran through the street Josh was reminded of back home when he and Nathan had decided to run from the Train station to home. Then he remembered other times he raced his friends when they were just walking around. Then more time with his friends, then his family, then......
"Hey!" Lyra shouted out snapping Josh back to reality.
"You okay?" Bon Bon asked, "You sorta, blanked out." She said, as they continued running.
"Yeah, I'm good." Josh answered.
"Well I hope so cause were here." Lyra said coming to a stop.
"Guys, I don't know about this." Josh said, "I think I'm going to head back to Golden Oaks."
"Aww common, we just go here" Lyra said.
"Yeah, is something up?" Bon Bon asked.
"I'm just feeling a little tired today, and besides I'm sure Twilight is worrying about me." Josh said has he turned and waved goodbye, "Catch you two later."
"Now you hold it right there." Lyra said using her magic to stop Josh, "We aren't stupid, we know when someone is lying."
Josh waved her magic off, "It's nothing." He began walking away. "I'm heading to Golden Oaks, you can follow me but I'm not stopping."
"Joshua, what's wrong?" Bon Bon asked trotting up next to him, "You seemed to be having such a good time, why are you heading home?"
"No I'm not." Josh said as he continued to walk.
Bon Bon was confused by this, "What do you mean? Golden Oaks is your home."
"No, it's not." Josh said.
"What do you mean? Please just tell us what's wrong." Bon Bon said running behind Josh and grabbing his arm."
"This is not my home, that is what's wrong!" Josh yelled at Bon Bon as he turned and pulled his arm away, catching the attention of some nearby ponies.
Bon Bon moved back shocked before regaining her composer, "Well excuse me, for being a concerned friend." She walked towards Lyra. Josh looked at her and Lyra who now looked a bit angry and shocked.
"Maybe it is best if you go." Lyra said, rather angry.
Josh turned and angrily walked off, it was only as he got further away as the impact at what he done reached his head. Face palming, he began cursing under his breath as he reached Golden Oaks. Opening the Door he was met by confetti.
"SURPRISE!" Pinkie Pie yelled as she ran in front of him, "And Just in time, we were about to send Rainbow out to get you!"
Oh right, the party, Josh put on a fake smile. "Thanks...." He said, Looking around the room he saw it was just the mane six, scanning the room he noticed the cake in the middle. It read "Welcome to your new home!" in blue frosting.
"I hope you like it!" Twilight said, "I know it may be much considering I just told you the news but...." Twilight was interrupted by Joshua storming past her, marching past everyone and ignoring everything he headed upstairs and with a loud slam he closed himself off in his room.
"You know, I'm starting to think he doesn't like parties." Pinkie said.
"uhhh....Twilight, what was that?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"I have no idea." Twilight said, she didn't know why Josh just ignored them but she knew it wasn't good. "I'll go check on him, you girls stay down here." Twilight began walking upstairs, approaching Josh's room she knocked. She didn't get a response so she slowly opened the door, "Joshua? Is everything alright?" Twilight walked in, she saw Joshua laying face down on the bed. Slowly walking towards him she sat herself next to him, "Hey, it's alright if something wrong you can tell me." She put a hoof on his back causing him to look up.
"Oh Twilight..." Josh shifted to sit up, he rubbed his eye a bit. "Sorry I didn't notice you....."
Twilight hushed him, "Something is wrong, I can tell." Twilight put a hoof on his hand, "And I want to know what it is."
Josh looked away, he knew he couldn't get out of talking. That's when Twilight noticed Josh's eyes were red, looking at the pillow she noticed it seemed wet.
"Why were you crying?" She asked, "If it's the party I'm sorry if you didn't actually want it, I can tell everyone to leave."
Josh turned to Twilight and sighed, "It's not that, it something else." He said his voice was shaky, looking outside a nearby window he paused for a moment as he stared blankly into the clouds. "I just miss them so much."
Twilight realized what had gotten him so upset, "So that's it, you miss your friends and family."
"Missed em since I first got here, but I always had that hope to get back to fuel me." Josh looked down at the floor, "But now I don't have any chance, and I have to admit to myself that I lost my home, my friends....." Josh began tearing up, "But most of all, my family." Just then another knock was heard.
"uhhhh, Twilight?" He heard Applejack call out, "You two okay in there?" She said as everypony entered.
"Oh my goodness darling!" Rarity said as she entered and walked towards Josh, "Whatever has gotten you so upset?"
"Yeah, is everything okay? If it's because of what I put on the cake then I'm sorry." Pinkie Pie said.
"No it's not that Pinkie, I just miss my family." Josh stood up, "You all should go, I don't want you guys to have to listen to me complaining all night while you try and cheer me up."
"But that's what we are here for!" Rainbow Dash said.
"Yeah, and if you seem so down then maybe we could help cheer you up." Fluttershy joined in.
"Plus if you're feeling down, it's always good to have people who care for you around." Applejack said.
"I know that AJ, but my family." Josh said, once more looking outside. "And without my family, what do I have?" He asked.
Just then he felt Twilight hug him, "Well....." Twilight said. "You have us." Twilight looked at him, she smiled the brightest she could to try and cheer Josh up.
Josh looked at Twilight, then at everyone in the room. He thought about all the good things they had done for him in such a short time, then oddly enough he began to laugh.
"What's so funny?" Twilight asked, letting go of him."
"Nothing it's just...." Josh wiped his eyes, "Maybe I haven't lost all my family." He said with a teary eyed smile.
"Does this mean we can go back to the welcome party?" Rainbow asked.
"You guys go ahead, I got an apology to make." Josh said, standing up.
Josh stood in front of the address Twilight had given him, with a deep breath he knocked on the door. He heard someone walking towards the door, before it opened to reveal Lyra.
"Oh, it's you." Lyra said standing in the doorway, "What do you want?"
"To apologize, to both you and Sweetie Drops for how I acted." Josh said, "Just because I'm having a bad time, I don't get a free pass to act like a complete jerk and snap at anyone I please."
Lyra looked at Josh like she was about to say something, however she instead sighed. "You know," Lyra began, "if you're having a bad day just say so. I'm not mad at you, but I'm also not the one you should be apologizing to am I?"
Josh sighed, "Where is Sweetie Drops?" He asked.
"You know, you can call me Bon Bon." Bon Bon said as she walked up from behind Josh.
"Oh Bon Bon, how much did you hear?" Josh asked.
"Everything, you big old softie." Bon Bon said with a snicker
"Does this mean we can still be friends?" Josh asked.
"Of course, what kind of friends don't fight every once in a while?" Bon Bon said.
"Well, this was kinda his first day as our friend so..." Lyra said with a joking tone in her voice.
"So you don't want to be my friend and come to my "Super cool Welcome to my new home" party?" Josh said to Lyra.
Lyra then walked past Josh, "Oh Josh, you know I'm joker." She said laughing, "Now did someone say party?"
"Yeah just follow me." Josh said as he began walking back in the direction of Golden Oaks. He was soon followed by the two mares as they walked towards a pleasant sunset.
Josh paced back and forth in front of the two tall white doors that stood before him, standing on the opposite side of him was Twilight and Spike. He was inside of Canterlot Castle and he was standing in front of the throne room, Josh had traveled with Twilight to apply for citizenship. It was a bureaucratic mess and he had been meeting with different ponies whom he had assumed were diplomats and had been answering questions for what he counted to be about 5 hours. Now he was waiting on Celestia's decision on his application.
"Your really stressing over nothing." Twilight said, as Josh continued to pace.
"Am I? Because considering most of the ponies I met with had to confirm with you that I'm not making "Canada" up and the fact the choice to allow me to apply was a 3/2 vote, I don't think it's a lot of nothing." Josh said, his voice was quick.
"He's got a point." Spike added on.
Twilight rolled her eyes, "Not helping Spike." She said, "Look I'm sure this can be pretty stressful and I can't say that I understand because I have never done this, but what I can say is that I am sure Celestia trust you as much as I do." Twilight smiled, "And I am sure you will be fine."
Josh let out a heavy breath, "Maybe you're right, but we can't be sure."
Just then the door opened and 3 Royal Guards stepped out in a "V" formation, the one at the front spoke.
"Joshua Hill," He said with a sharp voice, "Celestia shall see you." He moved to the side and gestured him to follow.
Joshua began to follow, along with Twilight and Spike. The Royal Guard Ponies at the back of the formation stood close to Twilight, while the one at the front lead them down the corridor and another set of doors. Opening them the back-two guards moved away and the front guard led Joshua right in front of the throne, with Celestia looking down at him.
"Your highness." The Royal Guard said bowing, "I have done as requested."
"Good, you are dismissed." Celestia said, the guard raised his head and walked back towards the other guards.
"Princess Celestia." Joshua bowed, "Have you come to a decision?" He asked.
Celestia flew down from her throne, landing in front of Josh she stood tall, "I have." She said.
A silence filled the room, Joshua could feel himself sweating bullets. He wanted to ask what it was or just blurt out "Well?" but he stopped himself.
"Joshua Hill." Celestia began to speak, "Your case is the first I have seen in my entire life, no being of your kind has been recorded nor any of the places you say you are from."
Joshua began to sweat more, he was waiting for her to finish and say no.
"However that is the thing about you isn't it?" Celestia asked, "You are a first, so on the advice of many advisers, Princess Luna, Princess Cadance and Princess Twilight Sparkle. I have decided to grant you citizenship, welcome to Equestria." She finished with a smile.
Josh looked up, "I passed?" He asked in a shocked manner.
"Well, I would more so say qualified." Celestia replied, "But yes."
"I cannot thank you enough, you won't regret this decision." Josh said.
"You are dismissed, guards please escort Josh and Twilight out." Celestia said flying back to her throne.
Two Guards approached Josh from both sides before one gestured him to follow. As he and Twilight walked down the halls of the massive Castle, a white coated, red maned pony with a suit dress walked towards them with a saddle bag.
"Hi! Joshua Hill correct?" She asked before offering a hoof, "Velvet, nice to meet you!"
Josh shook her hoof, "Hello Velvet, what can I do you for?" He asked.
"Oh nothing, I just have your papers." She said, floating out a file from her saddle bag towards Josh. "This is your identification, along with proof of citizenship and a new copy of your birth certificate. Of course we had to change the numbers around on the years so it made sense."
Josh looked dumbfounded at this, "What do you mean?" He questioned.
"Well for example, wherever you came from has a different calendar." Velvet said pulling out some paper from her saddle bag. She shuffled around a few before picking one, "Right here is says you were born in the year 2004, and that you are 16"
"Correct, but what's the problem then?" Josh asked.
"Well you see, it's the year 1002." Velvet said, "But besides that it seems you have the same months as us."
"Wait, it's 1002?" Josh questioned.
"Yeah so we just changed some numbers around." Velvet said putting away the papers, "Look, I have to run, if you have anymore questions you will find all the contact information inside the documents."
"Alright, thank you Velvet." Josh said, as he waved away Velvet.
Josh and Twilight continued on their way until they reached the main entrance. Josh waved goodbye to Twilight before beginning to walk away, Twilight however stopped him.
"Are you sure you don't want to stay at the castle? I'm sure I could arrange something, at the very least so you don't have to go back to Ponyville just to wake up early and return." Twilight asked.
"Twilight I'm betting you have done enough for me today." Josh said, "Besides I don't mind, now you get the Celebration ready. I'll see you tomorrow." Josh waved goodbye and began on his way to the station.
Josh looked out the window in his lonely passenger car, he looked at the night sky. He couldn't tell why but something felt off, he felt his eyelids growing heavy. He didn't feel like sleeping in case he missed his stop in Ponyville but at the same time his body wanted rest. Shutting his eyes for what felt like a few seconds he heard a door open. Opening his eyes and looking towards the origins of the sound he saw a dark-gray stallion with a black mane enter. The pony walked towards him and sat in the seat across from him.
"What a night, am I right?" The pony asked.
Josh looked at him, "Sorry, not in the mood for a chat." He said, looking back out the window.
"Not even with a friend?" The pony said.
Josh looked at him a bit annoyed, "And who are you?"
"Some call me sinister, but you can call me...." The pony paused as a dark mist quickly swirled around him, when it dissipated it was now the same dark humanoid figure he had seen before. "William..."
Josh laughed a bit at this, "William? That's your big name reveal?"
"I come from.." The raspy voice began talking, "Hold on...." He began coughing and clearing his throat, when he finished he spoke again. "I come from Earth too you know." He spoke again, this time his voice was clear and almost smooth.
"And that takes the biscuit." Josh said, "So you are real, but why did you go quiet?"
"Well it seems I was found out, and whoever found me out tried blocking me from interacting with you." William said, slumping back. "Now I wonder who has the ability to control dreams?"
Josh knew what point he was trying to make, "You think Luna knows about you?" He questioned, "But if she did, why would she block you out?"
"I told you, you can't trust those daft ponies." William said, a hint of anger in his voice.
"Hey, some of these "daft ponies" are my friends." Josh snapped back.
"Are they? Be realistic, do they not seem a bit too friendly?" William said.
"I know what you're trying to do, but it won't work. So best you leave" Josh said, laying back.
"I can see you are a bit closed minded, oh well." William said as he stood up, "Oh and I would check up on Twilight soon, you won't want to miss this."
"Miss what?" Josh asked.
"Think about it, what could cause Luna to not do her job?" He said as he began to vanish.
"What? What do you mean?" Josh said getting up and walking towards him.
"You will see..." William said, as he vanished laughing.
Josh quickly awoke in a cold sweat, he sat up straight as he heard the door open. This time it was just the conductor.
"Last stop, Ponyville." He said.
Josh got up and left the train, he didn't want to think much about this "William" guy. But what troubled him was the fact that if Luna was blocking out William, then why stop now? However this was not the only thing on his mind, he felt something and it didn't feel right. Reaching Golden Oaks he walked inside and sat down to think about this, until he heard a knock at the door. Who could be knocking at this hour? Opening the door he saw Zecora, pulling a cart full of belongings.
"Zecora?" Josh questioned confused, "What are you doing here?"
"Ah, you may not be Twilight but still a sight for sore eyes." Zecora said, "I bring urgent news about certain doom!"
Josh yawned, not being rude but because he was very tired. "I'll tell Twilight about it in the morning but I need sleep." Josh looked at the cart, "What's that?"
"If you let me explain," Zecora said, "Then you would come to know, that this threat had forced me to leave my home."
"It's that bad?" Josh questioned.
"Very much so." Zercora responded.
"Well, I guess you could come inside for the night." Josh said, as soon as he finished Zecora made her way inside. Josh looked at her and said, "That was what you came to ask for, wasn't it?"
Zecora shrugged, "If I said no, that would be a lie."
Josh sighed, "Fine, I'm going to bed, see you in the morning." Josh said as he made his way upstairs.
"But my warning!" Zecora yelled as Josh ignored her, "Fine, but do not cry if you meet a demise."
Josh woke up to someone grabbing at his arm, "Knock it off." He said, his eyes shut. But whoever was grabbing him was persistent, he pulled his arm away. "Spike I swear if that's you, I'll show you how to fly." He said as his blanket was torn off him. Quickly sitting up he looked to the direction the blanket was pulled, "ALRIGHT! WHO HAS THE BA-" Josh stopped himself, his anger changing to confusion as he saw the blanket on the ground in the grasp of a vine. It was black with green spikes sticking out of it, and it was big. If Josh had to guess he'd say the vine was about as thick as his arm and the spikes as long as his hand from wrist to the tip of his middle finger. Following the vine he saw three others protruding through his open window.
"What the hell?" He said allowed as one of the vines grabbed and wrapped around his left arm. It began to pull him towards the window, as he hit the floor he hooked his foot on one of the bed's legs. Pulling against the vine he felt it the spikes poking into his arm, lucky for him it wasn't strong enough to break the skin. Pulling as hard as he could he managed to break the grip of the vine. However just as soon as he did all three of them grabbed at his legs and right arm. This time it pulled him quickly and with force towards the window, his legs slammed against the wall and caused a photo to fall to the ground off of a desk next to him. The glass shattered and shards scattered around it, Josh looked at it and an idea popped into his head. Grabbing one of the shards he slashed at the vine holding his right arm, it managed to cut so he kept swinging. Soon he could feel it coming weekend so he pulled quickly and with enough force that it ripped the vine in half.
"Thank god that's over." Josh said as he heard a bang from downstairs. Quickly rushing he found Zecora in the main room of Golden Oaks using a chair to hold back five more vines.
"Back foul beast, or I shall find where you grow and destroy all you know!" She shouted in anger.
Josh ran past her and into the kitchen, he quickly began looking through drawers to try and find something to use. Lucky for him he found a sizable cleaver, rushing back to Zecora he slashed at the first vine he could. His swing was strong enough to cut halfway through the vine, taking only two swings to cut through it. This however caught the attention of the other vines that quickly launched at Josh, he managed to cut another down before the other three all wrapped around him and began constricting him. He could feel it crushing him, but then he remembered something. Closing his eyes he began emitting a white aura before the vines unwrapped from around him and seemingly retreated in fear.
"I tried to warn you? Didn't I try!" Zecora yelled at Josh as he dusted himself off.
"We can talk about that later, but for now may I ask what the hell that was?" Josh asked Zecora.
"The threat you chose to ignore, and now it thirst for more." Zecora said as she picked the chair she has used and placed it upright.
"Thirst for what?" He asked.
"That I do not know, but it will consume and it will grow." Zecora told Josh as she turned to him.
"Well then we gotta go stop it." Josh said as he walked past Zecora, "I'll get dressed and then we'll stop this."
A couple minutes later Josh came downstairs in a pair of jeans and a regular white shirt. He still had his trusty cleaver that he had used to great effect before. "Alright, lets go." Josh said walking past Zecora who had a saddle-bag on filled with all kinds of supplies. However, stepping outside the Human and Zebra stopped as they looked towards the sky and saw both the Sun and Moon. Normally this wouldn't be out of place to Josh because he could sometimes see the moon during the day, but this is Equestria and half of the sky was dark like night so this wasn't normal.
"Oh no." Josh blurted out, as he heard the terrified screams of ponies. Looking around he saw the vines had begun taking over Ponyville.
"This is bad, really bad." Josh said as he looked at Zecora, "You said this was coming from the Everfree forest right?"
"Very much so." Zecora said.
"Then that is where we go, we follow the vines and they lead us to the roots." Josh said as he began walking towards the forest, however he heard a familiar voice yelling in anger. Turning towards it he saw Bon Bon grabbing onto Lyra as she was being pulled away by a vine.
"DAMN VINES! I NEVER LIKED NATURE!" Lyra yelled as she held onto Bon Bon.
"Just hang on Lyra!" Bon Bon said as she pulled as hard as she could, but she could tell she wasn't winning this game of tug-of-war.
Just then Josh ran up and slammed on the vine, he had enough force to cut it clean in half as the cut off end shriveled up and the other retreated back into the forest. Helping Lyra up he asked, "Are you okay?"
"I am now, thanks for the save Josh." Lyra said.
"You got any idea what's going on?" Bon Bon asked.
"Barely, all I know is that these vines are coming from the Everfree forest and so that is where I'm heading." Josh said.
"And what about the sky?" Lyra asked, pointing up at the sky.
"That I have no clue, but if these vines are related to the sky then I fear we have yet to see the worst of this." Josh said.
"So you are going to fight these vines?" Lyra asked, "Why don't you wait for Twilight?"
"Because if something bad has happened to Luna and Celestia then Twilight might have her hands full." Josh said, "Now I need you to watch Golden Oaks in case she comes back."
"Hold on!" Bon Bon said, "You can't do this by yourself!"
"I'm not, Zecora is going to be my guide." Josh said as Zecora joined the three.
"Well, you can count on our help too!" Lyra said, "Isn't that right Bon Bon?"
"Yep!" She replied.
Josh sighed, "Fine, the four of us will..."
Just then Josh heard someone land behind him, "I want to help too!"
Josh turned to see Derpy, "You want to help? but why?" He asked puzzled.
"Because these vines stole my muffins!" Derpy said.
"Okay, you can join us I guess." Josh said, as he looked at his rag-tag group of friends. "Alright team, are you ready to possibly save Equestria?" He asked.
The mares and zebra looked at each other, they didn't really have an answer.
"Great! then lets roll!" Josh said, as he began down a path he could see vines coming from.
As they walked down the poorly formed path in the forest, Josh couldn't help but get a chill down his spine. This forest was already creepy but this was doubly so. He had been walking for a while and he was getting tired, turning to his friends he asked if they could rest for a minute. They agreed so he sat at the stump of a tree.
"Zecora, you sure you don't have anything that could help?" Josh asked.
"I have a potion, but a problem brews as only an alicorn may activate this brew." Zecora said taking out a bottle of purple potion, "I dare not try it on myself for the results would be tragic."
"Let me take a look." Josh asked, Zecora begrudgingly passed it to him. Examining the bottle he heard a voice in his head.
"Let me try something." It said, he recognized it as William. He saw the potion begin glowing, as a headache grew.
"Ugh!" Josh let out a grown as the potion changed color.
Zecora looked shocked, "How have you done such an impossible task!" she asked.
"I didn't...." Josh paused looking at it, "What do I do now?"
"Although I do not fully advise, take a drink and the answer you will find." Zecora said.
Josh opened the bottle, and hesitantly took a drink of the brew. "Huh, not to bad." He said as he looked around, "So now wha-" he was cut off as his eyes flashed white, however to him it was as if he just blinked.
"What the? Where am I?" Josh Questioned as he found himself in some kind of castle.
"Not another step!" He heard a voice call from behind him, turning around he saw Luna standing in front of a throne that bared her symbol.
"Luna?" Josh questioned, "What the hell is going on? Where are we and what's going on with the sky?"
"Did you really expect me to sit idly by while they all basked in your precious light?" Luna said, seemingly looking at Josh.
"Precious light? What are you talking about?" Josh asked, as Luna walked in front of what looked like a podium.
"There can only be one princess in Equestria! And that princess...will be me!" Luna shouted as she slammed her hoof into the ground causing the podium and the wall behind her to break, revealing a Solar eclipse. Josh shielded his eyes as a dark aura wrapped around Luna forming into a ball of pure magic that was orange like the sun.
As it seemingly exploded Luna emerged but different Her body was now black light the night and she was now wearing dark blue armor. Her hair was now a dark purple hue and she had fangs. She let out an evil cackle as she emerged and landed back on the now broken podium.
Josh felt pure fear as the being who was once Luna stood in front of him, he began recalling the book he read and the descriptions he read matched what he was thinking. This was no longer the kind princess he had met in his dream. This was Nightmare Moon, princess of the night.
His fight or flight instincts kicked in and he chose to fight, raising his fist into a defensive posture he readied for a fight. Luna blasted a beam of Magic at a statue and cut a line from it to the ceiling causing parts of it to fall towards Josh he quickly jumped back, he fell as he did this and landed on the ground as he began to get up he saw Celestia in front of him. He looked at her then back to Nightmare Moon.
"Celestia, thank goodness something is terribly wrong!" Josh shouted as Celestia flew up into the air.
Nightmare Moon responded by blasting magic at Celestia, causing the roof to give way revealing the moon as Celestia landed in front of her. Josh soon jumped in front of Celesita facing Nightmare Moon.
"LUNA! ENOUGH OF THIS!" He shouted out, "COME TO YOUR SENSES!"
"Luna, I will not fight you! You must lower the moon! It is your duty!" Celestia said, Josh could hear the anger in her voice but also a deep sorrow.
"Luna?" She questioned, "I am Nightmare Moon, I have but one royal duty now! To destroy you!" Nightmare Moon blasted magic at Celestia as she said this.
Celestia avoided it as she flew up, soon followed by Nightmare Moon. Josh was stuck on the ground watching as the two fought he tried to figure out what was going on. He could hear the fight but couldn't see it, until he heard Celestia scream and fall to the ground in front of him as Nightmare Moon laughed.
"CELESTIA!" Josh yelled as he ran towards the princess, she was laying on the ground motionless. Josh felt an intense anger but also sadness, "Why would Luna do this? And where is Twilight? Is this my fault somehow?" Josh was asking all these questions and he felt tears begin forming.
Just then Celestia rose up, and Josh backed up in awe but was soon relieved. "Princess! You're okay!" He shouted out as Celestia looked to the sky.
"Oh, dear sister. I am sorry, but you have given me no choice but to use these." Celestia said as she used her magic to lift a part of the floor up to reveal some kind of pillar that had stone branches that held 5 gems.
"What are those?" Josh questioned as Celestia flew up towards it.
Using her magic she summoned the gem towards her and from the top of the pillar what looked like Twilight's element of harmony appeared. The 5 gems and Twilight's element soon began spinning at rapid speed around Celestia's body as she floated up towards Nightmare Moon. Josh watched from below as Celestia used the gems to blast Nightmare Moon with a beam of magic, sending her to the moon.
Just then Josh blinked and found himself back in the Everfree forest, he looked as Zecora, Lyra, Bon Bon and Derpy stood around him.
"What?" He asked.
"Dude, you drank that potion and started mumbling to yourself." Lyra said.
"Not to mention the part where you almost began crying." Bon Bon said.
"Wait sleeping? So that was a dream?" Josh asked.
"Not a dream, but a vision of the past." Zecora said.
"A vision of the past?" Josh said as he began thinking of it. He soon realized he must have been watching the banishment of Nightmare Moon a thousand years ago.
"I guess you did not find an answer, so further back you must seek." Zecora said handing him the bottle that he must have dropped.
Taking the bottle he took an even bigger drink, still leaving some. He blinked again and this time found himself standing on a checkered patterned floor, looking around he saw huts floating in the sky before seeing Luna and Celestia approaching a throne. It turned around revealing Discord. Josh couldn't hear them but he saw the princesses out the elements and turned Discord to stone, he blinked again and found himself in a cave. He saw a massive tree and noticed he was standing next to Celestia and Luna. He heard Luna gasp
"The Tree of Harmony." Luna said.
Josh scanned the tree and noticed a symbol of the moon and the sun leading to what looked like Twilight's cutie mark. "The Tree of Harmony..."
"Are you sure?" He heard Luna ask Celestia as she flew towards the tree, beaming magic at the symbol that looked like Twilight's cutie mark and summoned the elements around her and Luna who had joined her.
"We have managed to discover the only means by which we can defeat Discord and free the citizens of Equestria. Even without these elements, the Tree of Harmony will possess a powerful magic. As long as that magic remains, it will continue to control and contain all that grows here." Celestia said as the flashback ended and Josh found himself back in the present.
"I think I got it, we have to find a Tree of Harmony." Josh said.
"Tree of Harmony?" Derpy questioned.
"It's where Luna and Celestia must have found the Elements of Harmony. I think it's in the Everfree forest and something must be wrong with it." Josh said, standing up. "Only problem is I have no idea where it could be here."
"Well if the Tree is the cause of these vines, then if we keep them we should find the tree." Lyra added.
"Fair point, we best get back on the move." Josh said as he began once again following the vines.
Twilight double checked every room in Golden Oaks, so did her friends but Josh was nowhere to be found. She got worried as she could see signs of a struggle in his room, heading back to the main room she talked with her friends. "This is just Perfect, first the princesses disappear, then vines start attacking Ponyville and now Josh is missing!"
"What are we going to do?" Applejack asked.
"I don't know, but we better think and fast." Twilight said as she heard a knock on the door. Opening it Discord entered.
"Ah! Twilight your back! How was Canterlot?" He asked.
"Discord! Whatever it is, it can wait have you seen Josh?" She asked.
"Actually that's what I came to tell you," Discord said, "I saw Josh, that Zebra lady and some other ponies enter the Everfree forest trying to stop this."
"WHAT!" Pinkie Pie screamed.
"Josh wouldn't do that, it's too dangerous." Twilight said, but then she thought about it and it is something Josh would do. Bravely but foolishly running into danger trying to be a hero. He did it with Trixie and here he was doing it again.
"I don't think Discord's lying Twi." Applejack said.
"Then we have no time to lose, we have to find him." Twilight said running outside and towards the Everfree forest.
Josh and his friends gazed in awe at the decaying and broken castle they stood in front of, the vines had led them here and Josh recognized parts of it from his vision. Josh was about to say something before he heard Williams voice again.
"Hey buddy, you see that pile of rocks to your left?" He asked, "Go look through it, trust me."
Josh decided to listen and he began to search through it. Lyra walked behind him and asked what he was doing.
"I'm looking for something." Josh said as he continued looking.
"For what exactly?" Lyra asked.
Josh didn't answer he just kept digging until he noticed what looked like a hilt. Grabbing onto it he pulled it out of the pile, it was a sword. It had a cross hilt and the blade was long, if he had to guess he would say it was almost a meter.
"Woah, it's amazing." Josh said as he held it and looked over it.
"Cool sword." Lyra said.
"How did you know that was there?" Bon Bon asked.
"I.......I saw it in my flashback." Josh quickly made up.
"Speaking of which, what do we do now?" Lyra asked.
"Find the Tree of Harmony." Josh said as he looked down the gorge that separated them from the castle, "And I think we found it." Josh walked closer and looked at the tree, he could see it covered in the vines. He noticed a flight of stairs and made his way down them as his friends followed. Reaching the tree they stood in front of it.
"I am not sure what plan you could have, to free this tree from the vines grasp." Zecora commented.
"Take a guess Zecora." Josh said as he held his new sword up. He ran at the tree and slashed at one of the vines, the sword cut clean through it.
However this caused the vines to go into attack mode, Josh was able to cut the vines as they went for him. His friends however didn't have a sword like him so he soon found himself being overwhelmed by the vines.
"Damn it!" He yelled as a vine wrapped around his arms and soon began wrapping around his body, he closed his eyes and focused magic on his hand. His hands glowed and he blasted a beam of magic directly into the air, in one last ditch effort to gain some attention as the vine dragged him and the rest of his friends to the tree and pinned them.
"Well, so much for that plan." Bon Bon said.
[3 minutes ago, Everfree Forest: Unknown distance away from the Tree]
"Well Twilight, we are hopelessly lost." Rainbow Dash said as the mane six stood in a clearing.
"We can't give up, Josh is out here and he could be in danger." Twilight said.
"But we are in danger, and so is Equestira." Applejack said, "We've lost Princess Celestia and Princess Luna, we don't need to lose you too Twilight."
"Are you saying we should go back to Ponyville?" Twilight asked.
"That's the short version of it." Applejack replied.
"I'm not just going to leave Josh out here." Twilight stated, "If it was any of you I would do the same."
"I understand Twilight but unless some big sign appears in the air we don't have any lead." Applejack said.
Just then a bright beam of white magic blasted into the sky, it came north of them and was close.
"Look!" Twilight said, "That must be Josh!" She said as she began flying towards it. Rainbow followed and the rest began running on foot. Twilight arrived first at the Tree of Harmony, landing in front of it she looked in awe.
"Woah, what is this?" She questioned.
"Twilight!" Josh yelled out as he struggled to break from the vines.
Twilight blasted the vines with magic, freeing Josh.
"What is this place, and what are you doing here?" Twilight frantically asked as Rainbow Dash landed.
"It's a long story but I'll try to explain." Josh said with a huff as he stumbled over to a nearby rock, "This is the Tree of Harmony, and if I'm right it's where Celestia and Luna found the Elements of Harmony. However it's sick and seems to be dying and I can only think of one way to fix it." Josh stopped after saying this, he didn't like what he had to say next.
"What is it?" Twilight asked.
"You're going to have to give up your Elements and return them to the tree." Josh said, this caused Twilight to gasp.
"WHAT!" Josh and Twilight turned to see Pinkie Pie and the rest of the mane six had now arrived.
"We can't give up our elements, how would we protect Equestria?" Rainbow asked.
"How are we meant to rein Discord in if we can't use the Elements to turn him back to stone?" Rarity added.
"Look Josh, the elements are what keep us connected no matter what. We can't get rid of em." Applejack said.
Josh couldn't think of anything to say, he couldn't argue against it because he wasn't one of them, but just then Twilight spoke up.
"You are right about one thing Applejack," Twilight said, "The Elements of Harmony did bring us together. But it isn't the Elements that will keep us connected. It's our friendship. And it's more important and more powerful than any magic. My new role in Equestria may mean I have to take on new responsibilities, and our friendships may be tested, but it will never, ever be broken."
"Thanks for the save." Josh said.
"No problem, now there's no time to lose. Everypony ready?" Twilight asked as she flew up.
"Ready!" Her friends responded.
Twilight summoned the Elements towards herself, just like what Josh saw Celestia do the Elements floated around Twilight at rapid speed. Just then more vines launched at Twilight, they grabbed onto her and one went for her Element. Twilight was able to fight it off however and place the Elements into the tree. Once she did the tree began to glow and the vines seemingly got evaporated. The tree itself also seemed to get better, as two small piles of vines appeared next to the tree and vanished. Out of the piles Princess Celestia and Luna appeared, Twilight immediately ran and embraced them. Behind them, Zecora, Lyra, Bon Bon, and Derpy also appeared but they seemed more Dizzy.
"GUYS! YOU'RE OKAY!" Josh yelled as he ran towards them and gave them a big group hug.
"Okay, but not fine." Zecora added on.
Just then, Josh noticed the Tree of harmony. The Elements all at once shot magic towards Twilight's element in the middle, it then shot the magic down towards the sun and moon symbol and towards the ground. It caused a flower to bloom from it, when Twilight went to touch it the flower opened and revealed a diamond shaped box that had six key holes.
"What is it?" Josh asked as he walked towards it.
"What's inside it? How am I supposed to open it?" Twilight asked the princesses as they too looked puzzled at it.
"Six locks, six keys." Luna stated before looking at her elder sister.
"I do not know where they are. But I do know that it is a mystery you will not be solving alone." Celestia answered, as she walked with her sister towards Josh. "And as for you, young Joshua." Celestia and Luna stood in front of Josh.
"Ye-yes?" Josh questioned. He was then surprised when Luna and Celestia gave him a short bow.
"Thank you for your help, it is greatly appreciated." Celestia said.
"We also thank thou for offering help." Luna said, before her and Celestia walked past him.
Josh just stood still in shock, two princesses just bowed to him in respect. He felt someone nudge his arm.
"Way to go slugger." Rainbow Dash said jokingly.
Josh slumped back in a nearby armchair, he was exhausted and for good reason. After helping free Luna and Celestia he had to give a helping hand to clean up Ponyville, then join Twilight and friends at the Summer Sun Celebration. He was now sitting in a cozy hotel room in Canterlot, he stayed an extra day because he had some more paperwork to clear up and he also wanted to see the sights of the city. As he sat down, he closed his eyes for a second before hearing a knock on the door.
"It's open." He said, as he watched the door open.
"Ah! My good friend Joshua, how are you doing?" The shadowy humanoid known as William entered the room.
Josh wasted no time in grabbing his recently acquired sword, he managed to convince Twilight to let him keep it but on the condition he joined her at the Crystal Empire some time to get lessons from her brother. Running up to the figure he extended the blade out and stopped it just short of his left eye.
"Alright, I have had enough of your games shadow man." Josh spoke in an authoritative voice, "How did you activate something that needed Alicorn magic, and how did you know about this sword?" He demanded, "And so help me god if you are the one behind the Tree of Harmony growing weaker."
"Woah, woah, woah, Chill out bro." William said, "See what I did there? I used your type of language." He laughed to himself.
"What do you want?" Josh asked.
"Well if you must know that "Alicorn only" Potion wasn't as complicated as that fool Zecora thought, hell you could have probably done it with a bit more training. As for the sword I was just looking out for you, a cleaver wouldn't be any good." William stated, "As for the Tree that was all on Discord."
"What is your deal, you appear with a cryptic message, then help me, and now here we are." Josh pointed out, "Just who are you?"
William laughed and spoke, "If you seek answers then to the castle you must flee." He said, "See? It sounds dumb doesn't it?" William asked.
"The castle? The castle of the two sisters?" Josh questioned.
"Bingo!" William said as he looked at his wrist, "Oh boy look at the time I best be off." William turned to leave but stopped, "Oh and Joshua, you ever threaten me again...." He paused, "Well, let's just say we won't be friends anymore." He left cackling at this.
Hearing this caused Josh to sit back down in his seat, "I don't know who you are William, but I will soon." He said as he levitated a book to himself and began reading.
"Found anything yet?" Twilight asked Josh as she opened another book and began scanning pages.
"Nope, I don't think we'll find anything about the Tree of Harmony." Josh said, as he closed his book and placed it aside, "That was my last book, how about you Twi?"
"Nothing." Twilight said as she let out an audible groan, closing the book she threw it at the wall in frustration as Spike entered the room.
"What's wrong Twilight?" Spike asked.
"I've gone through every book in Ponyville, Spike, and there isn't a single mention of the mysterious chest that came from the Tree of Harmony, nor anything about keys to unlock it!" Twilight said in annoyance.
"Can you think of anywhere else a book on it would be? I'm not an expert but considering how the chest came about, opening it should be a top priority." Josh added on.
"I hope Celestia get's back to me soon, if the library in Canterlot doesn't have anything, I don't know where else to look!" Twilight said as Spike burped up what looked like a letter.
"Whoa, is that normal?" Josh asked.
"Have you really never seen me do that yet?" Spike questioned.
"My dearest Twilight," Twilight began to read stopping the conversation, "while it would be perfectly lovely to have you in Canterlot once more, I have another option in mind much closer to Ponyville. As you know, the ancient castle that I once shared with Princess Luna lies mostly in ruins, deep in the Everfree Forest. But if you look carefully, you may find a book that could prove helpful to your research, hidden somewhere in what's left of the castle library." Twilight put the letter down.
"The castle of the two sisters." Josh remarked, "Is she sure the books are in a readable condition, place has been abandoned for a long time."
"I'm sure she wouldn't send us if it wasn't." Twilight sad, as she began using her magic to pack her saddle-bag.
"Right, well i'm coming with you." Josh said, getting out of his chair. "I've been meaning to check that place out."
"Oh really? What for?" Twilight asked.
"Oh...it's nothing, just curious about what's inside the place." Josh said, this was a lie but lucky for him Twilight had no reason to be suspicious.
"Great let's go!" Twilight said, "Oh and you can bring that sword if you want, you never know when you might need something." She added on.
Josh looked at his sword, it was sitting against the wall. Grabbing it, he looked into the blade, "Sure, but maybe we should try and find someone who sells a holder first. I don't feel like holding onto it the entire time."
"You mean a scabbard?" Twilight asked, "I think I know a place that sells them."
"Great, we can stop on our way." Josh said, "Now, let's hurry up and go." He said as he, Twilight and Spike began on their little adventure.
The trip took a bit longer than expected, thanks to the spur of the moment stop to grab a scabbard for Josh's sword. It was an hour wait because they had to make one as they others didn't fit Josh right. On the bright side he got some food. After the scabbard was finished Josh, Twilight and Spike quickly got back on track and luckily made it through the Everfree forest without trouble. Entering the decrepit castle, Josh felt a chill and it only grew more apparent as the walked into the main hall. As he stood in front of the two old and now abandoned thrones, his expression went blank as he recalled the duel he had witnessed but days ago.
"Hey." Twilight asked Josh, "Your expression went blank."
Josh shook his head, trying to clear his mind. "Yeah, just reminded me of something." He replied.
"Of what?" Twilight probed.
Josh paused for a moment before answering, "I never told you how I found the Tree of Harmony did I?"
"I don't think so, why did something bad happen?" Twilight questioned.
"Yeah but..." Josh stopped himself, "Forget it, it's stupid."
"Stupid?" Twilight lightly laughed, "If it matters to you, then i'm sure it's something important." She said reassuringly.
Josh let out a sigh, "Well, to make a long story short. I drank some kind-of potion and it showed me a vision of the past, but I didn't know this and so had conflicting feelings as I watched Celestia fight Nightmare Moon."
"What do you mean by conflicting feelings?" Twilight questioned further.
"Well you see, I assumed I was in the present. So when I saw Nightmare Moon fighting Celestia in a castle, and something was wrong with you not being there...." Josh stopped, "I just didn't want anything bad to happen to you."
"aww" Twilight cooed, "You really care about me, don't you?"
"What can I say, you've been so nice to me since I first got here so I.....uhhh" Josh stopped himself in embarrassment.
"So you what?" Twilight asked.
"ehhh...well you know...." Josh tried to delay his response.
"You like me, don't you?" Twilight said
"Yeah, b-but as a friend!" Josh said quickly.
"Whatever you say," Twilight responded, "anyway I think the library is this way." Twilight said as she began walking down a corridor.
Walking into the library Twilight was immediately ecstatic, she flew upwards in the room and spun around in joy.
" Wow! Look at all these ancient books! It's a veritable goldmine of information! I can't believe it! Woo-hoo!" She yelled out, as Josh walked next to Spike.
"So, where do we start?" Josh questioned.
"Oh right," Twilight realized landing, "You find anything that could relate to magical artifacts and landmarks."
"Got it." Josh said as he looked at the shelves, "None of these are labeled." He stated as he continued to scan the selves.
"Hmmmm." Twilight thought, "How about you look for a book related to a topic and start from there?" Twilight suggested.
"Good enough, see you in an hour." Josh said as he began walking and scanning book titles.
Making his way past shelves he didn't notice any books on the topic, until he saw one book that looked more beat up then the others. Picking up the book he read the title, "Stygian's guide to mythical creatures from Beyond Equestria". The title intrigued Josh, quickly checking if Spike or Twilight was near him he sat down against the wall and began reading. Well he tried but it was pretty dark in the castle, he didn't have a candle so he began searching his body for anything he can use. He felt something in his pocket and taking it out, he found his phone.
"Huh, forgot I had this." Josh said as he turned it on, lucky him it was at 75%. Quickly turning on the flashlight app he shone the light at the book and found a page guide, he looked over the names of different beast. He could see things he recognized from different earth mythologies such as Centaur, Cerberus, Cyclops, Dragons, Gargoyles and a lot more. But he also saw some he had never heard of like Draconequus, Diamond Dogs, Changelings. But one thing he saw really caught his attention. He had to think for a second as he read the word, "Human" and as he did he sat in stunned silence.
"What? How is that possible?" He questioned as he quickly found the page number and rapidly flipped to it, finding the entry that seemed to be only one page he began reading it aloud to make sure he wasn't crazy.
Human :X 🗸 🗸
-Stygian
"No, it can't be!" Josh yelled out as he threw the book in anger. "He's not real, he can't be real!"
Just then Josh felt a hand grab his shoulder, "Still denying that I exist?" William said as he appeared next to Josh.
Josh wasted no time in standing up, placing his hand on his hilt, "How?" Josh questioned.
"How what?" William asked.
"How can you be in this book yet the princesses don't know you?" Josh asked.
"Oh? None of them know about me?" William stated, "Or have you just never asked about it?"
"Celestia said-" Josh began.
"Celesita is a fool, and not the only princess." William spoke, "Tell me, have you ever thought about asking Luna about me? I mean she has blocked me out of your mind, or at least tried."
"No, I refuse to believe Luna would hide this from everyone." Josh said, his confidence shaken.
"Don't be so naive, you know it's true." William said laughing, "You really are pathetic."
"Is this all you want?" Josh questioned, "Just want to mock me?"
"No, I have come to make you an offer." William said as he extended a hand, "Join me, help me return to the physical realm and I will give you what you desire most. A way back home."
Josh's jaw dropped at this, he wasn't telling the truth was he? No of course not, no way this guy knew a way home. Josh took his hand off his sword's hilt, "You can forget it, you haven't given me a reason to trust you so go bother someone else."
William simply smirked at this, "I can tell you are conflicted, so I'll leave you to think it over." He said as he began walking away, "Oh, and I would watch your step." He said, snapping his fingers.
Almost instantly and as if on command the floor beneath Josh opened up and he began falling down, first he thought it was a free fall but then he found himself on a slide like contraption. The fall lasted for a solid minute and when he finished he flew out of a chute and slammed into a wall, he fell to the ground as he was knocked out cold.
Josh woke up on a stone floor, standing upright he held his head. "You know, I've hit my head enough here to start thinking I'm in a coma." Josh said aloud looking around, "Now where the hell am I?" Josh questioned.
Suddenly a dark shadow zoomed past him, splitting into two it floated into two statues of pony knights. Suddenly their eyes glowed a dark purple before they jumped from their spot in front of Josh, one was a unicorn and used magic to draw a sword, the other used it's mouth to grab and hold one.
"Magical ghost statues, honestly not as shocked as I should be." Josh said as he drew his sword, "Alright, guess this will be good practice."
Josh ran towards the two statues, he swung his sword at the Unicorn statue who easily blocked it. Josh continued to slash at the statue however he didn't have any strategy or knowledge on sword fighting, just then he noticed the Earth pony statue running towards him. Moving out of the way he moved his sword to block he had to use all he could to block the attacks, they may have been statues but whatever was possessing them was trained in swordsmanship. Soon the Unicorn joined in and Josh had to parry two opponents.
Jumping backwards, Josh stood in front of the two statues. "Damn it, if only I-" Josh stopped himself mid thought, lifting both hands he began to concentrate on the statues and soon a white magical aura surrounded the two statues. Picking the statues he threw them at a nearby wall, both the statues and the walls broke and Josh surprisingly heard a female screaming.
"Who's there?" Josh asked, "Show yourself!" He yelled.
Just then, through the hole a terrified Rainbow Dash creep through the hole. "Rainbow Dash?" Josh questioned confused, "What are you doing here?"
"O-oh, Josh it's just you." Rainbow said nervously, "I knew this castle wasn't haunted."
Just then one of the statues fell on top of Rainbow Dash, who ran screaming in fear. "Rainbow Dash!" Josh yelled out chasing after her, however she was much too quick for anyone to keep up. As his running turned to a walk he began to notice how creepy the place really was. It was dark and silent, and Josh began feeling uneasy.
"Keep it together Josh, nothing else bad is going to happen." As he said this, Josh felt something land on his shoulder. Looking at it he small a spider about the size of his palm, "AH!" Josh let out a terrified scream as he swiped it off and began running. He was absolutely terrified of spiders. As he ran through the hallway he looked behind him to make sure it wasn't following him, or god forbid more spiders joined in. However he quickly learned this was a bad idea as he ran full force into a massive spider web.
Getting up he tried to shake the webs off him but soon felt a bit itchy. Shaking his shirt he saw about ten small spiders crawl out of his shirt. He screamed at the top of his lungs before running away full speed, as he ran he found himself in a courtyard. He heard thunder, causing him to stop dead in his tracks. He began to back up, soon bumping into something he heard four other ponies scream before he turned around to see Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Applejack all in a state of terror. He watched as they ran around the courtyard, bumping into things, knocking stuff over. He was about to start laughing, until the mother of all spiders crawled out of his pant legs. It was the size of a brick and Josh briefly joined the choir of terror as he ran behind a pillar and shook in fear.
"Alright, everypony, stop!" He heard Twilight yell before Josh saw her magic freeze everypony else in place.
"Twilight?" Applejack questioned.
Josh got out from behind the pillar and ran towards Twilight, "Oh Twilight, thank the stars your here." He said, out of breath.
"Josh? I thought you went home, what the hay happened to you?" Twilight asked.
"I fell down a trap door and got attacked by these statues and," Josh shuddered as he spoke, "spiders."
Rainbow Dash let out a small laugh, "You're afraid of spiders?"
"Hey!" Josh yelled out, "They were huge!"
Just then Rainbow looked down from her frozen spot, "Fluttershy? What are you doing here?"
"She's with me..." They heard Rarity say, who was under a fallen banner.
Twilight unfroze everyone and threw the banner off of Rarity, who thanked her. Twilight walked to the middle of the courtyard and began speaking, "Have you all spent the whole night running around, scaring each other?" She asked.
"That depends...." Applejack said.
"On what?" Twilight asked.
"On whether or not you're the Pony of Shadows." Rainbow said, pointing at Twilight while hovering in front of her.
"Pony of shadows?" Josh questioned, "What's that?"
"Just an old ponies' tale" Twilight said before the sound of an organ thundered through the castle.
Everyone huddled around Twilight in fear, even Josh Stood a little closer.
"Then what was that?" Spike asked.
"We're going to find out." Twilight said as she began walking, the others soon followed. They followed the sound of the organ through the castle halls, it grew louder with every step they took. Soon they reached a large room with an organ in it and someone playing. They all gasped seeing this.
"The pony of shadows!" Twilight said in a wispier, before walking towards them.
Josh watched nervously as Twilight walked closer and closer, reaching the figure she pulled the robe off the figure to reveal....Pinkie Pie?
"Hey, you guys! Did you know I can totally play the organ? Because I didn't!" Pinkie said, giving the group her trademark smile.
"Pinkie?" Everyone questioned in unison.
"Check it out!" Pinkie said, as she began playing the organ once more.
"Your the pony of shadows?" Rainbow Dash asked as she flew up to her friend.
"The pony of what?" Pinkie asked.
"See? What'd I tell ya?" Twilight said.
"I thought you went to ring the school bell all week!" Applejack asked Pinkie.
"Oh, yeah! I only had to ring it for, like, five minutes! They said that was good enough! Eh, can't imagine why." Pinkie said as she stopped playing, "So then, I decided to throw a "finish ringing the school bell" party! But I didn't have any bluebells, and you can't throw a "finish ringing the school bell" party without bluebells, so I went to Everfree Forest to pick some, but it started to get so chilly. I had to wrap myself up in the tarp I was gonna use to gather flowers, and then I saw Fluttershy and Rarity. But they went into the castle before I could invite them to my party. Luckily, I followed them inside so I could help you all with your party!" Pinkie explained cheerfully.
"Party?" Josh questioned confused.
"What party?" Rarity asked.
"Uh, the "everypony come to the scary old castle and hide from each other while I play the organ" party?" Pinkie pie said as if it was fact, she pressed an organ key as she said this causing a trap to trigger flinging Spike up in the air and throwing him back. "Duh!" Pinkie Pie finished as she hopped away.
"So Josh, what happened to you?" Twilight asked as she, Josh, AJ, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy sat in what Josh presumed to be an old room of Celestia and Luna.
"I already told you, trap door, haunted statues and spiders." Josh said.
"Are you sure they were haunted?" Twilight asked.
"Yes! They attacked me!" Josh said.
"Whatever." Twilight said.
Josh let out an annoyed sigh at this, "Anyway, what you got there?" He asked Twilight.
"Celestia and Luna's old Diary, I wasn't able to find much out about the tree but I'm glad I was able to help everypony else." She said.
"Oh? What do you mean?" Josh questioned.
"Well, we all let our imagination get the best of us." Applejack said.
"And Twilight helped us realize they are just that, our imagination." Fluttershy added as she hugged Angel.
"And I am glad I could." Twilight said with a smile.
"I do have a question though." Rainbow Dash said, "Why weren't you scared?" She asked Twilight.
"Well reading Celestia's diary made it hard to be afraid, because I knew what it was like when she and Luna lived here. Knowing something about the past made it easier to deal with my problems in the present, even the scary ones." Twilight said, as everyone remarked in agreement.
Suddenly, Twilight's face lit up. "I've just thought of a great idea! Why don't we keep a journal, just like the royal pony sisters?" Twilight asked everyone enthusiastically.
"All of us?" Fluttershy asked.
"Sure! That way we can learn from each other! And maybe someday, other ponies will read it and learn something, too!" Twilight answered Fluttershy.
"What a splendid idea!" Rarity added on.
"I know what my first entry will be! "Dear Diary, I'm glad Granny Smith's legend wasn't true."" Applejack jokingly said.
"Me too!" Rainbow said.
"Me three! Because that means you two are still tied for Most Daring Pony!" Pinkie said, causing Rainbow Dash and Applejack to give each other a competitive look.
"Right, you guys have fun with that journal thing." Josh said laying back.
"Why don't you do it too?" Twilight asked.
"Me? Nah, I don't have anything to teach anyone." Josh said.
"You sure? Who knows, maybe you have more to share then you know!" Twilight said, enthusiastically.
"Alright fine, but don't blame me when it's bad," Josh said.
"Heh, Shadow Ponies... How ridiculous is that?" Spike said, chuckling.
"Oh Josh, did you find anything on the Tree of Harmony?" Twilight asked.
"No but I did find one book..." Josh said.
"Oh? What was in it?" Twilight questioned.
"Oh....Just some mythical beast and things." Josh said.
Twilight gave him a suspicious stare, "Your hiding something, what is it?" Twilight asked.
"It's nothing..." Josh said.
"Joshua......" Twilight pressed further.
Josh let out a sigh, "None of you can tell anyone else what I tell you today, not even the princesses." Josh quickly said, his voice going to a serious tone.
"What is it?" Twilight nervously asked.
Josh was silent for a moment before he spoke, with perfect clarity and without stuttering he spoke. "I'm not the first....." He said, at first everyone looked confused. Everyone but Twilight.
"You mean?" Twilight asked, before being interrupted by Josh.
"I found a book written by someone named "Stygian" about mythical beast, I flipped through it and I found a page....on Humans...." He said, causing everyone to realize.
"Stygian....I've heard that name before..." Twilight said.
"Hold on, the princesses said you are the first Human in all of Equestrian history!" Rainbow said.
"Yeah, and that's what worries me." Josh said, "Because that means they are lying, or..........."
"Or what?" Applejack nervously asked.
"Or something far worse than what I can think of....." Josh said, causing everyone to be nervous.
"Do you have the book?" Twilight asked.
"No, but I can go find it." Josh said, getting up.
"Please do, and once you find it go straight to Golden Oaks." Twilight told Josh, who nodded before running off.
Twilight watched him run off, and she worried. Why would knowledge of Humans be suppressed? Are the Princesses lying? Twilight could only wonder as Josh slowly disappeared down the halls of the castle.
Josh awoke to the sound of glass shattering. "The hell was that?" He asked out loud while getting out of bed, he had a pair of shorts with socks on but nothing else. Walking downstairs trying to find what broke he began to call out, "Twilight? Spike? You two awake?" He called out, getting no response. Reaching the bottom floor he looked at every window but couldn't find anything. He began walking back upstairs but he heard a scream from outside, quickly turning around he rushed outside to find out what happened. What he found was much worse.
"Oh my god..." He said as he looked upon the foggy streets of Ponyville, he looked as he saw bodies lying in the streets. He looked at them, "Oh shit..." He uttered, it was the first time he had swore since arriving in Equestria. "H-hey! Are you guys alright?" He asked, he knew it was in vain. "The hell happened here?" Josh asked with a shaky voice.
"Do you like my work?" He heard a voice ask.
Quickly turning he saw William once more, "What did you do?" Josh asked angrily.
"Is it not obvious?" He said with a chuckle, "What's wrong? Not like you haven't lost a home already, you can deal with it."
Upon hearing this something in Josh snapped, he rushed at William with his bare hands. Jumping at William he reached his fist out to punch before feeling a sharp pain in his abdomen.
"Tsk, tsk, so brash and so foolish, you are the full package." William said, he held a sword in one hand that was stabbed into Josh. He twisted the sword with a sadistic grin as Josh yelped in pain.
Josh grabbed the blade to stop it from turning, "You monster....." Josh said, "I'll kill you..."
"Oh? Will you becau-" William began before being interrupted.
"ENOUGH!" He heard a familiar female voice yell out. He instantly felt the sword disappear and William move back, the pain vanished as he landed on the ground. Ponyville soon changed to a blue like void as Luna landed in front of him.
"Well, well, well, the princess of dreams has come to face me." William said.
"You should have stopped after Star Swirl dealt with you, now leave this young one alone!" Luna Demanded.
"Oh? What are you going to do? You don't have any way to stop me." William said laughing, "You can't even keep me away in your own realm, what kind of princess are you?" William Mockingly asked.
Suddenly Luna's horn flashed and William was gone, "The kind who will keep you away..." She said.
"Luna...." Josh said, causing the Princess to turn to him. Luna looked at Josh before her horn glowed again, in a bright-flash she was gone and Josh awoke in his bed with a sharp gasp and sweating.
Looking outside he saw it was still night, he stood up and walked towards his window. He looked at the moon, "You know something Luna, I'm going to find out what...."
Josh didn't get much sleep that night, and soon he found himself sitting miserably in a chair as he thought of how to approach Luna. As he sat Twilight walked into the room with a yawn.
"Morning Josh, how was your sleep?" Twilight asked, walking past him.
Josh just let out a groan, half out of frustration and half out of being tired.
"Rough night huh?" Twilight asked.
"You don't know the half of it." Josh said, "Got any coffee?" He asked.
"I don't think so." Twilight said as she now looked at Josh, she saw a redness to his eyes and bags. "Did you stay up all night?" She asked.
"I don't know, I woke up and couldn't fall back asleep." Josh said.
"Was it a nightmare?" Twilight asked.
Josh let out a heavy sigh, "Twilight, I need your help."
"With what?" Twilight asked.
Josh looked at her, "Look I have been having, "Dreams" of a mysterious figure." He began, "At first it started harmless enough but it has been getting more and more horrifying."
"Is that what kept you up? You had another one of these dreams?" Twilight asked.
"Not only that, but they have been giving me advice and the scary part is that whatever they tell me is true..." Josh paused for a second, "And they told me that Luna has been lying about knowing me."
"What?" Twilight questioned.
"I know it sounds crazy..." Josh said.
"Crazy is a bit of an understatement." Twilight jokingly said, "Look, everyone has bad dreams and sometimes we have dreams that predict something in real life. But they are just that, dreams."
Josh looked at Twilight, before standing up. "Look...." Josh began, "Just forget I told you..." He said as he began walking towards the door.
"Where are you going?" Twilight asked.
"I'm going to Canterlot and I'm getting an answer." Josh said opening the door and walking out.
Twilight quickly followed him as they walked down the road, "Are you insane? You are just going to go to Canterlot and demand to speak with Luna?"
"Not a well made plan, but that's the plan." Josh said, as Twilight cut in front of him.
"I forbid you to go!" Twilight said, as Josh walked past her.
"Or what?" He asked, "Are you going to kick me out? Make me clean?" Josh said with a rather rude tone.
Twilight took a deep-breath and began talking again, "I'm going to forgive you because you clearly haven't gotten enough sleep, but you need to slow your role. You can't just barge into one of the most well guarded places in Equestria and demand to speak with one of the most powerful ponies!"
Josh simply let out an angry grunt, "If you are not going to help me, then just go home."
"Excuse me?" Twilight asked.
Josh turned around and in a state of pure tired rage he yelled, "Are you deaf or just stupid? I said go home!"
Twilight looked at him with a sad shock, before it turned into a scowl. "You know, I never had to do any of this for you but I did!" Twilight began ranting, "If you really don't appreciate it then go ahead and search for somewhere else to stay while on your little crusade!"
"Maybe I will! And then I wouldn't have to listen to the endless questions of a book obsessed freak!" He yelled back, as they finally reached the train station. Pulling some bits out of his pocket he paid for his ticket.
"Fine, forgive me for caring!" Twilight yelled before walking away.
Josh sat down on a nearby bench, as he waited for a train. Waiting for it gave him time to think, he thought about what he said and about it's impact and how he acted. "Damn it, this better be worth it." he said aloud as the train arrived.
Josh stepped off the train, he looked out at Canterlot and the castle in the distance. He still didn't have a real plan to meet with Luna, best he could think of was saying "Please" when asking. As he walked through the street towards the castle he noticed ponies giving him a glare, not because he was human but because he looked horrible. His hair was a mess and he looked exhausted, it didn't take long before he reached the castle entrance being met with two royal guards.
"Halt!" One of them said, "State your business!"
"I want to speak to Princess Luna." Josh said.
"Princess Luna has asked not to be disturbed today." The guard replied, "Please move along."
"Sir, I don't think you understand how urgent this is." Josh replied.
"I am sorry sir but Luna say-" The guard paused looking up just past Josh. He nodded and looked back at Josh, "Follow me, I will bring you to Princess Luna." He said turning around and walking.
Josh followed the pony who led him through the castle, Josh was curious as to why he let him in. So he chose to strike up a conversation.
"So, why did you change your mind?" Josh asked.
"Classified.." He responded.
"Okay, tell me this. Why did Luna want to be left alone?" Josh pressed.
"Classified.." He responded.
"You sure are a buzzkill." Josh said, "Anything that's not classified?"
"The fact that it's proper manners to remain silent and walk." The guard said annoyed.
After walking for a while, they reached a large set of dark blue doors. "Here we are." The guard said, as he knocked. The doors opened and the room was dark, "Good luck kid." The guard said, walking away.
Josh entered the room, he looked around and couldn't make anything out. "Hello?" Josh asked out, "Princess Luna? We need to have a talk."
Luna appeared in front of Josh and looked at him, "We have nothing to talk about."
"Are you sure? Because from where I am standing, you are hiding something." Josh retorted.
"You are believing the mad ramblings of a nightmare, coming here was foolish and you should go home." Luna said.
"Home? Home?!" Josh began getting angry, "Don't you talk to me about going home, you know damn well I can't go home!"
Luna slammed her hooves down, causing a magical shock wave to stagger Josh. "HOW DARE YOU RAISE YOUR VOICE AT ME!" Luna yelled.
"HOW DARE YOU HIDE THIS FROM ME!" Josh yelled back.
"I have hidden nothing!" Luna snapped back.
"Then explain everything that William guy said, explain how all of it so far has been right. Then tell me how the hell you know William!" Josh yelled, "That book is real, he is real now explain!" Josh said, tears began to flow from his eyes. "Please, tell me why I am here! Tell me why I had to lose everything, why I had to come here!" Josh fell to his knees, "Please tell me why I ruined my friendship with Twilight to be here, chasing nothing but delusions of a mad man who can't let go of the past." He grew silent.
Luna looked at the crying human, she felt pity for him. She could feel the anger and sorrow of losing everything, and it reminded her of herself in away. Walking towards the Human she stood in front of him, "Young Hill," Luna began, "I am deeply sorry for everything you had to go through. I know what it's like to feel this way, I myself was banished from my home for 1,000 years." Luna said, causing Josh to look up at her. "I am deeply sorry I hid this from you, I never intended to cause you such pain." Luna sat down to be on the same level as the human, "And I understand your pain."
Josh went from his knees to sitting down, the room was silent as the two sat in front of each other.
"So...." Josh started, "What now?" He asked.
Luna let out a sigh, "I'll tell you what you want to know..." Luna said, she felt a hand grab her shoulder.
"Thank you Luna, I'm sorry for exploding." Josh said.
"It's alright, I know you didn't get much sleep and you must be under a lot of stress." Luna answered.
"Yeah....I don't think I'll ever get over Earth." Josh said.
"Nor I over Nightmare Moon." Luna responded, "Alright, now let me tell you the lost story of William."
The Story of William
Many years ago, before Celestia ruled the day and Luna the night. They were but young ponies under the tutelage of Star Swirl the bearded, and protected by the Pillars of Equestria. One day however, a new creature appeared from beyond Equestria. Scared and confused, he was found by Star Swirl and was generously taken in. In the beginning he was kind, playful and soon it was discovered he had magical potential. Star Swirl began teaching the young boy, now known as a "Human" in Magic and swordsmanship. The Pillars we're hopeful that he would become a great hero alongside them.
However, not all was well. Soon, the young human who called himself William began changing. He went from loving and caring, to angry and Malicious. Ignoring Star Swirls wishes, he began to use dark magic and became even more aggressive. Star Swirl kept giving him more chances to change, until one day he did an act most unforgivable.
In an act of violence he struck down an Earth pony to steal their possessions, and soon another, and another. Hear of this grim news, Star Swirl went alone to reason with the boy. But it was too late, and Star Swirl and the other Pillars used the Elements of Harmony to seal the boy away. In order to protect Equestria from anyone releasing him, they erased all knowledge of his existence from any and all things. They even wiped him from the mind of the young Alicorn princesses, who had grown to treat him like a brother. Or so they thought, for the youngest sister still retained the memory of the boy. and the monster he had become.
The End
Josh took in everything Luna has said, "He killed ponies? For no reason?"
"Indeed.." Luna answered.
"Do you know why he became so bitter?" Josh asked.
"Sadly, it has been so long that I forgot how he would become the way he has." Luna replied, "I remember how nice he was, playing with me and Celestia." She smiled.
"So, what could have caused him to get free? Maybe the spell was temporary?" Josh suggested.
"I wish I knew, but sadly I don't have all the answers." Luna said, standing up as Josh soon joined her. "You should go, you must get some rest and Twilight must be worried about you. Given the state you came here."
Josh then realized something he had forgotten this entire time, his morning argument with Twilight. His expression soon grew grim and Luna took notice.
"Is something wrong?" Luna asked.
"Yeah, I think I royally screwed up." Josh responded sadly.
"What is it?" Luna probed.
"During the morning, before I got here Twilight was telling me not to come here. I told her to leave if she wasn't going to help, when she rightly asked me to repeat what I said I yelled in blind rage at her." Josh explained to Luna, "I don't think I can face her."
"What did you say?" Luna asked.
"I don't remember, it all just happened." Josh sighed.
"Alright, you head back to Ponyville. I'm sure Twilight will forgive you." Luna said, as she opened the doors behind Josh.
Josh began walking away, "Hey Luna." Josh said, standing in the doorway. "Thanks for the talk, it felt good to just say something." He finished as he walked away, it was going to be a painful ride to Ponyville.
It began with a knock, one that caused Twilight to put down her book. She already knew who it was, so she readied for what would happen next. Opening the door, she looked at an exhausted Josh who walked past her and slumped onto a couch.
Twilight walked towards him, "Well, look who it is." Twilight said, "What are you doing back here?"
Twilight watched as Josh sat up, "I came here to say I am sorry." Josh said.
"Oh really? You're sorry now? Not when you insulted me and berated me for no reason." Twilight scolded him, "After all that, I'm just going to forgive you?"
"I thought not..." Josh said standing up, reaching into his pocket he pulled something out. He held out his hand, "Here..." He opened his hand and revealed a chain necklace, it had Twilight's cutie mark on the end of it. "It's something I was planning to get you to celebrate the Summer Sun Celebration. Didn't get the chance then, have it now." Josh said as Twilight picked it up with her magic. Josh then walked past her, "I won't bother you again, sorry for being a burden." Josh grabbed the door handle.
"Wait!" Twilight yelled out. "Wait..."
Josh turned around and watched as Twilight walked towards him.
"I'll let you explain." Twilight said with a heavy sigh.
"Explain what? You're right, I berated you and snapped at you for no reason." Josh replied.
"And I didn't give you a chance when you were under stress. I saw something was bothering you yet I choose to be stubborn." Twilight explained, "I'm not without fault either, and if you are right. Then I am sorry."
Josh let out a slight chuckle, "Well, I hate to say I told you so but...." Josh stopped.
"So it's true, it's all true?" Twilight questioned.
"Yeah, Luna explained everything she could." Josh told Twilight.
"so you were right..." Twilight said, "I'm sorry for not supporting you."
"Don't worry about it, I'd probably act the same as you did." Josh said, "Now can I go to bed?"
"Go ahead." Twilight said, "And thank you for the gift."
Josh walked upstairs as Twilight got back to work.
Author's Note
This is a short chapter, but it's meant more to explore Williams backstory a bit more. Something I really want to do, because I have plans for him.
"So what are we celebrating again?" Josh asked, as he picked up a nearby cupcake.
"National Random Holiday Party Day!" Pinkie Pie yelled out excitedly.
Josh simply shrugged, eating the cupcakes. "Well I'm not complaining." Josh said, as Rainbow Dash busted through the door.
"Heya, Twilight! Aren't you excited that—" Rainbow Dash Began before Pinkie Pie interrupted her with a Party horn.
"Rainbow Dash," Twilight said, "So glad you've finally made it!"
Rainbow Dash looked around the room confused, "What is everypony doing here?" She asked.
"We're having a holiday party!" Pinkie Pie informed her.
"So what holiday is today?" Rainbow asked.
"National Random Holiday Party Day!" Pinkie said, jumping in excitement.
"I've never heard of it either." Rarity said as she took a sip of some punch, "But the punch is quite tasty."
"you might say the secret ingredient is-" Pinkie pie began before leaning into Rainbows ear, "a secret!" She loudly whispered.
Rainbow Dash looked around the room, "How come nopony bothered to invite me?"
"I came to invite you personally," Applejack began, "but it seems you were a speck too busy reading the last Daring Do book for the twelfth time." She told Rainbow.
"Yeah, well, in three months and twenty six more days, I'll be able to read the next one." Rainbow said excitedly, as she picked up a cup of punch and began drinking.
"Oh, haven't you heard? The release of the next book got pushed another two months." Twilight informed Rainbow Dash, who paid her back by spitting up the punch onto her.
"Two more months?!" Rainbow said in a panic, "I've been waiting so long already! I don't think I can take another two months! I'll never make it!" She finished as she collapsed face first to the ground.
"Yeah. I can vouch for that..." Fluttershy said.
"Did they give a reason?" Rainbow asked looking up at Twilight.
"The publisher just said author A.K. Yearling won't be able to finish the book for another two months." Twilight answered as she lifted up a tray of cupcakes, "Cupcakes?"
"How could you possibly know that before me? I'm the series' biggest fan!" Rainbow Dash asked Twilight.
"I'm just as big a fan as you! In fact, I'm the one who first introduced you to the books, remember?" Twilight reminded her.
"Oh. Right." Rainbow remembered.
"A.K. Yearling just might be my favorite author. I know everything about her. Where she grew up, where she studied literature, where she wrote the first Daring Do book..." Twilight said before being interrupted by Rainbow.
"Where she lives?" Rainbow asked excitedly.
"Uh... no, though I could probably find out somehow. Why?" Twilight asked Rainbow.
"Don't you get it? The new book is obviously delayed because she needs help dealing with whatever everyday nonsense is distracting her from spending her every living breathing second writing! So I– I mean, fans like me, can get to read the new book ASAP! Think about it! We could help her with her laundry, buy her groceries, cooking her meals, whatever! Now, who wouldn't appreciate that?" Rainbow suggested to everyone, who gave her an odd look.
"Uh, Rainbow." Josh said, "That's kinda creepy."
"Well she could always say no." Rainbow stated.
"Mmh... I suppose you're right..." Twilight reasoned with herself.
"Of course I am. So... how's about getting that address?" Rainbow asked Twilight.
"Don't you think you're overreacting?" Josh asked Rainbow.
"Not at all! I'm just looking out for Daring Doo!" Rainbow replied.
"Looking out for Daring Doo?" Josh questioned.
"I-I mean A.K. Yearling!" Rainbow quickly responded.
"Right....I'm going to be the voice of reason and say this is a bad idea." Josh stated, "I mean, if it was me I wouldn't want a bunch of fans showing up at my door."
"Oh common, she'll love it!" Rainbow said, "Besides, it's not like we'll stay if she doesn't want us."
Josh looked at everyone else, he could tell they agreed with Rainbow Dash. He let out a sigh, "Fine, I guess you're right." He said.
"Does this mean your coming too?" Rainbow asked.
"Yeah, I got nothing else to do." Josh replied, "And it could be fun."
"Alright then," Twilight began, "I'll go find where she lives, you all get ready. It could be a long trip." She told everyone.
With that, Twilight began searching through books, magazines, newspapers. Anything that could help find where A.K. Yearling lives, meanwhile Josh decided to try on a new outfit Rarity had cooked up for him. His pants now resembled jogging pants instead of the normal Jeans he had become accustomed to, he also now had a long-sleeve black shirt to match the black pants. Rarity said it while she would like to make it more colorful, it should fulfill Josh's need for an outdoorsy outfit.
After about an hour of waiting, Twilight finished her research. So she and Josh gathered everyone up and they began on the long hiking trip to a remote part of Equestria, really remote. Twilight had a map and Josh looked it over while they walked, it led them through a forest and past mountains with no towns in their path. It was a good three hours of walking until they managed to find A.K. Yearling's house. However it wasn't what they expected, the house looked beat up with broken bits of wood, an old barrel, books and other pieces of junk scattered around the outside.
"Oh no, what happened?" Twilight questioned as they got closer to the house.
"Apparently somepony has intruded on her privacy pretty hard already..." Rainbow Dash added.
Walking towards the house and reaching the broken front door, Rainbow Dash knocked. Only for the front door to drop to the ground in front of them. Walking inside they saw it wasn't any better than the outside, broken bits of all kinds of junk littered the floor and even a broken sink could be seen.
"Hoo-wee, somepony really trashed this place." Applejack said.
"It's like a raging bull was set loose." Josh added.
"Hmm... Maybe..." Pinkie Pie said, "or maybe A.K. Yearling's just a terrible, horrible, unbelievable slob!"
"I hope A.K. Yearling's alright!" Rarity said, looking at a broken mirror.
"Oh no! What if something terrible happened to her?" Twilight added on, she sounded concerned.
"I know! There might be no more books!" Rainbow Dash blurted out, causing Twilight to give her an annoyed look. "Uh... But, of course, I'd be worried about her, too. Heh." Rainbow quickly said nervously.
"What are you all doing here?" A female voice called out, causing everyone to look toward the front door. In the doorway they saw a light gold mare with a purple cloak, red glasses and gray hat with a white ribbon and bow on it.
"Uh... A... K-K... Yearling...?" Rainbow Dash asked, she let out a squeal of excitement.
"We didn't do this! We swear!" Twilight quickly said as A.K. Yearling entered the house.
"What have you done to my house?" She asked, a concerned look struck across her face.
"We didn't do this, Ms. Yearling— whoa!" Applejack said before A.K. Yearling pulled a carpet out from under her, causing her to fall.
"We're awfully glad to see you're alright." Twilight said while A.K. Yearling ignored her and continued to search for something.
"Okay, clearly this isn't the best time, but I've just gotta say how much we all really love your books..." Rainbow said with a nervous chuckle, as Yearling pulled out the book Rainbow was standing on from under her. Causing her to fall back into a pile. A.K. Yearling quickly entered a password with the rings on the spine of the book, the book opened and revealed a golden ring.
"It's safe." A.K. Yearling said with a sigh, as she put it in her cloak.
"Great! Maybe now would be a good time for me to ask her how we can help move the new book along a little faster. Chop chop!" Rainbow Dash rudely said, as Twilight pulled her back with her magic.
"Rainbow Dash, a minute please!" Twilight said, as she pulled Rainbow Dash outside.
"Mrs. Yearling," Josh begin as A.K. Yearling continued to clean up, "I'm terribly sorry for this disturbance, I assure you we only did this because we were concerned about you." He told her, trying to make breaking into her house sound as good as he could.
"I'm sure you did, but I would prefer if you followed your friends and left." A.K. Yearling said, causing Josh to turn around and see everyone else had already left.
"Right! I'll be on my way." Josh quickly said, as he began walking towards the front door. However, he found his path blocked by three menacing looking Stallions. "Oh! Hello good sirs, you must be looking for A.K. Yearling. If you just move out of my way I ca-" Josh began before the Stallions approached him. Josh moved back, he could tell something wasn't right.
Josh moved back as A.K. Yearling turned around and took notice, "Mrs. Yearling, Stay behind me!" Josh said, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword. But before he could draw it, he saw A.K. Yearling throw off her cloak, glasses and hat. Doing this revealed her to be wearing a green jacket along with some kind of safari hat.
"No, you stay behind me." A.K. Yearling said, as she and the three thugs began circling her. One quickly went after the golden ring, followed by another causing them all to begin fighting. Josh couldn't tell who was winning but it was sure entertaining to watch as A.K. Yearling fought off three other people while keeping the ring. However soon the ring was knocked away from her and towards the fire place.
"I got it!" Josh yelled out as he grabbed the ring, this however only served to get the attention of the three thieves. One of them who had an orange mane charged him first. Josh managed to side step him, lucky for him two legs gave him a bit more agility over them. However another one wearing a fedora rammed into him and knocked him to the ground, and jumped onto him. The Stallion was big and Josh struggled to fight him off, he felt one of the other thugs grab at the ring he was still holding. Josh quickly pushed his hand upwards and punched the thief attempting to take the ring.
"Throw it this way!" He heard A.K. Yearling yell, he threw it towards her as he used his legs to push the stallion of him. However, the third tackled A.K. Yearling and the ring flew past her towards the front door. Where a fourth Stallion picked it up and began spinning it on his hoof.
"Many thanks, Daring Do. As you've probably surmised, our earlier search for this treasure was... unsuccessful. So kind of you to find it for us." He said, as Daring Do tried to recover from the tackle but fell back down with a grunt. She seemingly injured her leg.
"Wait a minute, you're Daring Do?" Josh questioned as the two Stallions he was fighting before stood back from him.
"Give it back, Caballeron!" Daring yelled, ignoring Josh.
"That's Doctor Caballeron to you." Doctor Caballeron told her.
"So let me guess," Daring began, "Ahuizotl has put you up to this? You're stealing the ring to give to him so his hold on the Fortress of Talacon will be good for eight centuries as foretold by prophecy!" She asked Caballeron.
"Close, but... no. I'm going to sell this to him, make a bundle, and retire from archaeology in splendor." Doctor Caballeron explained.
"Oi! Can you guys quit ignoring me?" Josh yelled, catching the attention of Doctor Caballeron.
"Well, what do we have here Daring?" Doctor Caballeron asked.
"My names Josh, and sorry but I don't think I can just let you steal that ring." Josh said facing Caballeron.
"Well, "Josh" I must ask what are you going to do about it?" Caballeron asked, looking at the two hench ponies behind Josh.
The two stallions grabbed Josh's arms and held them behind him, quickly tying them with rope.
"Let him go Doctor Caballeron! He's not part of this!" Daring Do said.
"Well, looks like he is now." Caballeron said, as the two hench ponies hoisted Josh up and began carrying him off.
"Let me go you thugs!" Josh yelled, as he was carried off.
"uhh, boss?" One of the hench ponies asked, "What are we going to do with him?"
"Sell him to the highest bidder!" Caballeron answered, "He could make a good servant, or the circus."
Josh struggled to move as the henchponies carried him, "If you even think of trying to sell me, I'll turn you all into paste!"
"Oh please, what can you do?" Caballeron asked.
"I for one, know one of the alicorn princesses personally!" Josh yelled back as he continued to try and get the rope off.
"Ha! You?" Caballeron asked, "Don't make me laugh."
Josh let out a grunt and flopped his head back, he had to just wait out until he got a chance to get away.
[Back at Daring Do's cottage]
"I told you, I work alone!" Daring Do told the mane six as they followed her.
"Yeah? Well Doctor Caballeron took our friend, so like it not we are coming." Twilight said.
"That was his mistake for getting involved." Daring responded, "And besides, you could have jumped in at any time." She said as she flew away.
"Wait!" Rainbow yelled, flying after her.
"I. Work. Alone." Daring said as she flew away from Rainbow.
"But why won't you let me team up with you just this once?!" Rainbow asked, as she now flew next to Daring.
"My work always involves secrets. And since you never know who you can trust, it's best to never trust anypony." Daring informed Rainbow.
"But just because you can't trust some, doesn't mean nopony can be trusted!" Rainbow Dash told her.
"Look, I don't have time to argue-" Daring spoke before Rainbow interrupted her.
"Neither do I. Let's go!" Rainbow said as she flew ahead of Daring.
Daring Do let out a sigh, "Can't believe I'm even talking to her..." She said under her breath.
Josh sat tied to a pole, it was dark now and Caballeron and his goons sat eating some hay. He tried to get away but he just couldn't break the rope.
"You could at least give me some water." Josh said.
"Well you give it a rest already?" Caballeron asked, "Maybe we should just give him away with the ring so we don't have to listen to him anymore." Caballeron said with a laugh.
Just then, the four stallions and prisoner heard a bag of bits hit the ground. They turned to the source of the sound to see Daring Do in what Josh thought was a horrible disguise.
"I have been led to believe you have in your possession an item of significant importance that might be... for sale." Daring Do said in a gravelly voice.
"Oh, uh, well... I did have another buyer lined up, but he's not here, so... sounds like we have a deal!" Caballeron said, before a scream rocked the jungle.
"Caballeron!" A voice yelled out, as trees began moving to the side. And a massive dark blue monkey like creature with a hand on its tail.
"Ahuizotl!" Daring yelled in a whisper.
"The ring!" Ahuizotl demanded, however this just caused Caballeron to drop it and run away in fear.
Daring Do quickly jumped and grabbed the ring, this caused Ahuizotl to yell in anger and jump at Daring.
"Be cool, Rainbow Dash, be cool... she's got this!" Rainbow Dash said to herself.
"RAINBOW!" Josh yelled out, "STOP GUSHING OVER DARING AND UNTIE ME!"
"Oh! Right!" Rainbow Dash quickly ran over and began untying Josh as Ahuizotl approached Daring.
"The ring, Daring Do! Give it to me!" Ahuizotl demanded.
"Now, Ahuizotl, you know I love you, but I can't give you the ring 'til I've properly proposed." Daring Do said smugly, as she put the ring around her neck.
"Interesting, because my friends here have a proposal of their own. " Ahuizotl said with a laugh, he snapped his figures on his tail and 4 big cats jumped out from behind him.
"Bring it!" Daring Do said, boldly.
The first beast jumped at her, she punched it right in the face causing it to fly backwards. After this the second one jumped at her, but Daring Do jumped over and slammed down on its head. She then launched at a third one and kicked it into a bush, a fourth jumped at her and she got into a tussle. While Josh was finally freed from the rope, Daring Do's that landed in front of them and Rainbow quickly picked it up.
"Daring Do! I've got your hat! You want me to toss it? Daring Do! Daring Do!" Rainbow yelled at, catching the attention of Ahuizotl.
Ahuizotl jumped at Rainbow and grabbed her in his tail-hand. Josh jumped at Ahuizotl in a counter attack, however this wasn't well thought out and Ahuizotl punched Josh away using his massive club-like fist. This sent Josh into a nearby bush, where he laid on the ground in pain, letting out a groan.
"Don't worry, Daring Do! I'll come help you!" Rainbow said, as she was held in Ahuizotl's grip who then threw her into a bush. This distracted Daring Do long enough for the wild big cats to jump onto her and somehow tie her up with rope.
"Don't bother! I'd say you've already helped plenty." Daring Do said as she was carried off.
"What have I done?" Rainbow Dash asked herself as she watched Daring Do be carried off towards an ancient temple.
"Rainbow....Please get off me." Josh said, as Rainbow quickly realized why the lander felt softer then it should have. Getting off of Josh, he sat up. "What happened?" Josh asked Rainbow.
"I messed up, big time." Rainbow said, as she looked down in defeat. Just then they heard the sound of multiple ponies approaching, and out of the brush came Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie, Fluttershy and Twilight.
"Thank goodness you're both alright!" Rarity said, as they came to a halt.
"Quick, where does it hurt?" Twilight asked Rainbow.
"In here." Rainbow Dash said, putting a hoof to her chest. "Daring Do and the ring have been captured by the dreaded Ahuizotl, and it's all my fault." This caused everypony to gasp.
"Dash, I'm sure whatever you did was an honest mistake." Twilight told Rainbow, trying to comfort her.
"Whatever. Let's just go home." Rainbow Dash said, as she stood up and began walking sadly away.
"We can't go back now! Looks like she needs our help more than ever!" Applejack said, trying to get Rainbow to stay.
"Trying to help is how I got in this mess in the first place. You were right, Twilight. We should've stayed out of this." Rainbow said, as Twilight approached her.
"Look, there is more going on here than meets the eye. In every Daring Do book, there always is! We can't turn our backs on her!" Twilight told her friend, who shrugged her off.
"She doesn't want my help, Twilight." Rainbow said, as they continued walking.
"Perhaps. But she might need it anyway." Twilight tried to cheer her friend up.
"No. My hero's way better off without me." Rainbow said, her voice full of sadness.
"This don't sound like you." Applejack said, stopping Rainbow Dash.
"Where's the Rainbow Dash who would help anypony at the drop of a hat?" Pinkie asked, as she hugged Rainbow from behind.
"Or pith helmet, as the case may be." Rarity couldn't help but add on.
"She's here where she's got no business being. She should be at home." Rainbow Dash said, pushing Pinkie off her and began walking away once more. Until Twilight stopped her with a speech.
"It's fine to look up to Daring Do, but you've put her so high up on a pedestal, you can't even see your own worth anymore! She's in the fortress, and we're here, and we wouldn't be who we are if we didn't go in after her! And neither would you! So, are you with us, or not?" Twilight said, causing Rainbow to look at her.
"Uh, guys." Josh interrupted, "While I hate to ruin such a lovely teaching moment, we might want to get a move on."
"Right, what's the plan?" Rainbow asked.
Josh, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie and Fluttershy all entered the temple. Rainbow Dash left to help Daring and while she did that, they had to get the ring back from Ahuizotl. Running towards the sound of rhythmic thumping, they found themselves looking into a room of tribal looking stallions with spears and Ahuizotl in the middle with the ring.
"Remember the plan, you guys get the ring. I'll distract Ahuizotl." Josh said, as he went to run into the ring Twilight stopped him.
"Don't get yourself hurt, okay?" Twilight asked Josh, she got the repose in the form of a nod and thumbs up.
Walking into the room, Josh noticed he startled the tribal ponies. He could only imagine what they thought he was, "Ahuizotl! Give up the ring, or I'll take it by force!" Josh demanded.
Ahuizotl simply laughed, "Or what?"
Josh then pulled out his sword, "Or I'll slice and dice ya into a fine plate of sushi!" He said, boldly.
"Oh no! Please don't!" Ahuizotl pleaded, kneeling. "Please don't use your sharp sword!"
"You're mocking me, aren't you?" Josh said, looking at Ahuizotl.
"No, I'm just so scared of your scary sword!" Ahuizotl said, "Oh wait.." Ahuizotl began laughing as in all three of his hands caught swords that the tribe ponies threw at him, "I have a sword, plus two!"
Josh looked at Ahuizotl shocked, however he quickly recomposed himself. "Then parry me, casual!" Josh said as Ahuizotl launched at him. Josh quickly blocked his first attack before needing to jump away to avoid the second, while the third slash coming from his tail cut a hole in his shirt.
"HEY! THAT TOOK ME AN HOUR TO MAKE YOU BEAST!" Rarity yelled as she and everyone else began pelting Ahuizotl with small rocks.
"Glad you could join the party, who knew he had swords!" Josh said, blocking another strike.
"I did!" Twilight said, as she bucked a tribal pony who approached her from behind.
"Fair enough!" Josh yelled back, just before Ahuizotl kicked him away.
"And now, you shall meet your doom!" Ahuizotl said as he ran at Josh.
As Ahuizotl jumped at Josh, he remembered that he had magic. Summoning a shield in front of him and promptly remembering to take note that he should remember what he can do. As Ahuizotl plopped down, Josh jumped over him and grabbed the ring.
"GET BACK HERE!" Ahuizotl shouted getting up.
"Pinkie! Catch!" Josh yelled out, throwing her the ring.
As Pinkie Pie caught the ring, a game of cat and mouse began. Pinkie passed the ring to Applejack, who then had it taken by a tribal pony, who had it taken by Twilight then throwing it to Fluttershy. This went on as Rainbow Dash and Daring Do began removing every ring. As they removed more rings, the temple began to shake.
"STOP HER!" Ahuizotl yelled, as the tribal ponies ran towards Rainbow and Daring.
"Ponies, run this place is going down!" Rainbow Dash yelled out to her friends, this caused them all to run out of the collapsing temple. Barely escaping, they watched at the temple behind them.
"Rainbow Dash!" Twilight called out, worried her friend may not have made it.
"Hey look! Rainbow and Daring Do are okay!" Josh yelled, as he pointed towards Rainbow Dash waving Daring Do goodbye.
"Hey guys, I made it!" Rainbow said, landing.
Everyone let out a sigh of relief, as the mane 6 embraced her.
"Glad that all worked out." Josh said, "Guess that wasn't a bad idea after all."
"Of course it wasn't, I always have good ideas!" Rainbow said cockily.
"Well, I'm just glad everypony is alright." Josh said, suddenly he could hear snickering. "What?" Josh asked.
"You just said "everypony"." Twilight pointed out.
"What? No I didn't, I said everybody." Josh quickly responded.
"Whatever you say, now let's head home. I'm sure it's been a long day for everypony." Twilight said, getting an agreeing nod from everybody. And they began the hike back home.
The Importance of Honesty
"You're sure this is a good idea?" Josh asked, as he waited at the train station along with Twilight. "I mean, sending me off to the Crystal Empire doesn't seem like a recipe for success. Sending me on my own seems doubly worse."
"You'll be fine, it's only 2 weeks." Twilight said, as she handed Josh a large bag. "Besides, you're going off to train with Shining. Like we agreed on."
Josh looked at his sword, he did want to keep it but was it worth doing Twilight's little safety precaution. "I don't think this is really necessary, it's not like I'll hurt anyone."
Twilight looked at him, "Remember what happened when you forgot it on the stairs?" She asked.
Josh remembered, more specifically remembering waking up to Spike tripping and falling down the stairs. Funny yes, but only until he got a 10 minute lecture from Twilight. "It was one time, and besides it hasn't happened again."
The train finally arrived, and ponies began entering the train-cars. Twilight looked at Josh, "It's now or never, you learn how to use a sword properly and safely, or you sell it."
Josh looked at the train and back to Twilight, "Fine, I'll see you in 2 weeks Twilight."
Twilight smiled at this, "Good choice, and don't forget to write! Oh and don't be nervous, I'm sure you'll have a blast!" Twilight encouraged her human friend, as he stepped onto the train. After giving the conductor his ticket, he found a seat and relaxed. Well, relaxed as best he could with ponies giving him looks. He was still pretty unknown, despite him knowing a princess.
As the train left the station, we watched Ponyville grow further and further away. Then turned his attention towards his bag, reaching inside he dug for a book he hoped Twilight packed for him. Reaching around until he felt what he could only guess was a book, he pulled it out.
"Power Ponies: Issue 1, This must be one of Spikes comic books he always talks about. Guess he lent me one." Josh thought to himself, as he began reading. He wasn't much into comic books, but it provided some entertainment for the ride.
He read the comic and watched as the landscape rushed by, looking at the beautiful open field, passing rivers and small towns. He found it peaceful to just watch the world go by, no problems, just a gorgeous view.
"Hey mister, what are you?" A young sounding voice asked, causing Josh to look towards the source.
"Pardon?" He asked, as he now looked at a young dark-blue colt with dark blue hair.
"What are you? I've never seen anything like you before." The colt asked again.
"I'm a human?" Josh replied, confused as to why this mattered.
"You look funny!" The colt said before laughing.
Josh was confused by this, was he just insulted? Just then however an older looking mare would approach from behind the colt. "Nightlight, leave that.....Person alone." The mare said, trying her best to not insult Josh by not knowing him.
"It's alright, I understand I'm an unusual site." Josh said, as he went back to reading. He didn't know why but something about this bothered him, he didn't know what about it or why it did. But he just went back to reading.
Josh watched as the train came to a stop, and looked at the unique crystal like houses. He was surprised at how quick the ride felt, guess the view and the small nap he took was enough to distract him from how long it was. As he stood up to exit, a purple Pegasus with blue guard armor entered the train.
"Would one Joshua Hill please step forward." He said, in a low but demanding voice.
"Right here." Josh said, as he approached the guard.
The guard looked up at the Human, "Please follow me." He would say, as he turned.
Josh would follow the guard, a guide was better finding his way through trial and error. Exiting the train car he was surprised to see that a squad of around 10 guards were waiting for him, along with Prince Shining Armor and Princess Mi Amore Cadenza. Josh immediately bowed, "Shining Armor, Princess Cadenza, it is an honor to have been invited here."
"Indeed, welcome to the Crystal Empire." Princess Cadenza said, as she and Shining approached.
"We hope the trip wasn't rough." Shining Armor said, "Twilight filled us in on everything, I would be glad to help you with your swordsmanship."
Josh let out a light chuckle, "Thanks but I'm mostly here to learn proper safety when storing the thing, not planning on becoming an elite swordsmen."
"Oh common, it'll be fun!" Shining insisted, "Besides, you're here for the full two weeks. Twilight has insisted on that."
Josh sighed, "Yeah, I thought she would have. Alright, I guess it couldn't hurt."
"Great, now follow us." Shining turned around, "We will show you where you're staying."
Josh Followed the Royal couple as he was flanked by guards and media who were eating it up, an unknown creature that can talk and was with the Prince and Princess. If he knew one thing it's that people would love that, regardless he followed through the streets. Making his way to the massive crystal-castle, he was quickly whisked inside out of the public.
"Sorry about all the attention, but even if you were a pony there would have been crowds of ponies flocking to see who the royal couple was making a personal visit too." Cadance said, looking back at Josh as they walked through the castle.
"It's fine, I'm used to getting attention for just existing." Josh said, as he continued to look at the castle walls. He wondered to himself if every building was made of a crystal like material. As they made their way through the castle, they reached and stopped in front of a set of doors.
"This is where you'll be staying." Shining armor said, opening the door. The room was big, and looked like it belonged in a castle. The bed alone was big by this world's standards and it seemed to have it's own bathroom.
"I think this is the wrong room." Josh said, getting a laugh from both Shining and Cadence.
"Why would you think that?" Cadanced asked.
"Well, I'm not a noble or a prince or anything really. I'm just a regular guy." Josh responded.
"Perhaps, but you are a guest and you shall be comfortable." Cadence said, smiling at the human who stood only a few centimeters shorter than her.
Josh was silent for a second before speaking, "Thanks, guess I'll get myself settled." He said, before walking into the room and dropping his bag. Feeling the weight leave his back was relieving and he couldn't help but stretch a bit. "Boy, was that bag heavy." Josh said, as he turned back to Shining and Cadence.
"Well, I'm guessing you want a day to yourself too adjust to the new surroundings." Shining asked Josh.
"I mean, a tour of the city would help. Plus I think this place seems awesome." Josh said, as he once again looked at the walls. "I mean, a city made of crystals. I've never seen anything like it!" Josh placed his hand on the walls and it was indeed crystal.
"Well, I'm sure we can arrange something." Cadence said with a smile, "But right now, you should just tour the castle. Me and Shining have our hands full running the Empire, but once we take care of today's matters then we can take a little tour."
"By myself?" Josh questioned.
"Of course, Twilight trusts you so I'm sure you won't get in any trouble." Cadence replied, "Unless you can't behave?"
"No it's just...." Josh felt himself blush.
"Oh relax, the castle staff will help if you need it." Cadance and Shining turned around. "We will see you in a bit, farewell for now."
As Shining and Cadence walked away, Josh decided why not tour the castle. He walked the halls and admired the portraits and the look of the castle. He had never been in one on Earth but this must be hundreds of times more beautiful than anything he could find in Europe or Asia. He definitely wouldn't have found an entire building made of crystal on Earth, let alone an entire city. As he walked he noticed some of the staff giving him a mix of nervous and curious stares, certainly the sight of a commoner wondering the castle like they owned the place was one thing. The commoner being a human, well that was something even more out of the ordinary. However, as he walked he felt something. He didn't know what it was but it was like something he had felt before, at first he ignored it but soon he found himself trying to find it's source. It wasn't a sound or a smell, he didn't know what it was but it had a source that he was trying to find.
After some time he had located it to a set of doors, it was in a rather quiet and empty part of the castle. Opening the door he looked around, it was a storage room. Entering he felt whatever it was but he couldn't tell what it was, searching the room he noticed something covered by a sheet. Pulling it off revealed a mirror, but the feeling didn't change.
"Damn it, it's like an itch I can't scratch." Josh said, as he looked into the mirror. He put the sheet back onto it, and felt the feeling reside. "What the hell was that? Do I have the flu or something?" Josh thought to himself as he made his way back to his room.
As he entered the room he plopped onto the bed he stared aimlessly at the ceiling, he had to wait for Cadance and Shining to finish up whatever business they had to attend to. Using his still undeveloped magic skills to pull his bag over to him, opening it up he searched through it and found a book on the history of the Crystal Empire. He thanked Twilight for packing him something about history and began reading, getting lost in the pages he barely noticed when someone knocked on his door. "One moment please!" Josh shouted out as he closed the book, walking to the door. Opening it he found an orange Pegasus with blue eyes waiting for him.
"Hello! You must be Joshua Hill." The Pegasus said, offering a hoof. "I'm Flash Sentry, I have been assigned to guard you while you stay in the empire."
Josh shook his hoof, "Nice to meet you Flash. My name is, well Josh."
"Princess Cadence has summoned you, please follow me!" Flash said as he turned around. Josh followed him through the castle, soon they arrived at a throne room and entered to Princess Cadance and Shining Armor waiting for them.
"Thank you Flash." Cadence said as Flash bowed, "Have you enjoyed your tour of the castle?" She asked now looking at Josh.
"It was fine, you'd be surprised at how much fun you can have just looking at different walls." Josh replied with a chuckle.
"Well, we've finished all we need to for today. How about we take that tour?" Cadence asked Josh.
"Sure, is Flash going to be showing me?" Josh questioned, getting a laugh from Cadance and Shining.
"No, we are. As in Me, you and Shining." Cadence replied, "We thought it would be best if we came with you, just in case any decided to bother you."
Josh smiled at this, and laughed at the fact he somehow got himself in favor with a princess. "Alright, I can't wait to see all the cool buildings and sights the Crystal Empire has to offer!"
With that, Josh left to explore the city with the royal couple. Guard followed closely behind them but they gave them space and freedom to check everything out. Josh couldn't help but look in awe at every single building and statue they passed. Shining and Cadence laughed at how excited he got with every new building or park they passed by. After a long day, Josh was exhausted and retired for the night.
"Well, guessing you had a blast today huh?" Shining asked an exhausted Josh, who yawned.
"Yeah, it was great. Thanks for showing me everything." Josh would yawn again as he opened the door to his room.
"Glad to hear it, now please get some rest. I would hate for you to be exhausted in the morning." Cadence said.
"Alright, I'll see you guys in the morning." Josh said, as he closed the door and plopped onto his bed. He wrapped himself up in the fuzzy blankets, and it didn't take long for him to close his eyes and rest.
Josh woke up in a familiar environment, an empty space that looked like the night sky. The waves of blue and the stars still amazed him, he also got excited because he knew what this meant. Turning around it didn't take long for him to spot Luna, sitting at a table sipping on some tea. As if on cue, she turned to him and greeted him with a friendly smile. "Greetings young Hill, it seems we once more meet in the dream scape."
Josh made his way over to Luna and took a set across from her, "Luna, how have you been?" He asked, starting the conversation off friendly.
"Good, but I am afraid I am not here to have a simple friendly chat." Luna spoke, as she sipped her tea once more.
"Oh?" Josh raised an eyebrow, "Then what brings you here?"
"Well, as you know my job involves guiding the ponies of Equestria in their dreams when needed." She spoke, looking at Josh. "And it seems that you are in need of my guidance."
Josh scoffed at this, "Guidance? With what? I'm feeling perfectly fine, and I'm on a sweet vacation to learn more abo-" Josh was cut off by Luna.
"Young Hill, I can do more than you think. I can look into your mind, and when I do I can see you are hiding your true feelings." Luna spoke, causing a shift in the mood.
"What do I need to hide? I love it here! Great people, great food, great friends." Josh wrote off Luna's worries.
"Yet you are still sad deep down, you still long to return to Earth." Luna replied, causing Josh to grow a somber look.
Josh looked down for a second before laughing, "Earth, that place sucked."
"Yet your family and friends of old still call it home while you stay here?" Luna said, causing Josh to go silent as she continued. "Though you hide it, you are still deeply saddened by the fact you may never see your loved ones again. Torn at the notion of waking again to them not being there, of you not being able to see your friends." Luna took another sip of her tea, "And what of the grievances you have of your actions here? I can tell how you regret your mindless attack against Trixie Lulamoon, and how you have taken such anger out of those who try and help."
Josh didn't look at Luna, just at the table in a sad silence. She was right, he was still hurting over a lot of things even if he didn't show it. Luna continued, "Yet you choose to hide it, hide it all and I fail to understand why. You know that Twilight and her friends care for you, yet you act like you cannot speak to them."
Josh then stood up, "You done? Because I think I wanna wake up now..."
"Now is not the time for unneeded anger, now is the time for healing." Luna stood up and walked over to Josh, she wasn't much taller then the human but still stood a good few above him. "If you allow me too, I can help you. Twilight and everypony else who cares for you may help, but you must allow us too." She offered a hoof to Josh.
Josh let out a sigh, "Thanks Luna, sorry I'm a bit of a-"
"Bravo, bravo! Encore!" Josh was interrupted, as he looked to see another human. He was wearing a blue tunic that stretched from his shoulders to just above the knees, along with black pants and black boots. His eyes were an emerald green and he had blond hair, his face looked as if he was seventeen. "You two are so beautiful together! Two tragic stories of love and loss, banished from their home to a foreign land! I would shed a tear, if it wasn't so funny!" He would begin laughing as if he genuinely thought it was funny.
Josh quickly moved back, "Who the hell are you?" he asked.
"It's me, William." The boy said, as he teleported behind Josh. "Though I agree with what you said, that name is garbage." He said, as he pushed Josh to the ground. As Josh went to get up he felt something push his face back into the ground, "So how about you call me....Malum." Malum then quickly moved out of the way of an oncoming blast from Luna.
"William, how has thou regained thy body?" Luna asked, as Malum smiled.
"Because everyday I grow stronger, and the time for my return is soon." Malum reached a hand to the downed Joshua, "Which is why I am here to ask you to join me."
Josh stood up and slapped his hand away, "Yeah right, I wouldn't join you if it meant getting back to Earth."
"But you would, and it could.." Malum quickly replied, his smile turned to one of sinister intent. "In the castle you find yourself in, there is a mirror which would bring you straight to the human world."
Josh was taken aback by this, "Impossible, Twilight would have told me if she found out."
"Oh she not only knows about it, she has been through it." Malum spoke, laughing as Josh's face turned to one of sadness.
"Lies! She would have told me!" Josh replied, now angry.
"Would she? I mean Luna and everyone else seems fine not talking about it." Malum laughed more as Josh turned to Luna.
"He's lying....Right?" He asked, getting no response from Luna.
"See? It's like I said, you can't trust a daft pony." Malum's laughing turned into a full on howl as Josh vanished from the dream realm. "Uh oh Luna, better go find him."
Just then Luna snapped awake, quickly making her way to a window she flew off as fast as she could. Towards the Crystal Empire. Meanwhile, Josh had also woken up and was rushing down the halls of the castle he was in. He knew what mirror Malum was talking about, retracing his steps best he could remember he found himself once more in the storage-room like area.
"I knew something felt off in here. Hang on everyone, I'm coming home!" Josh said to himself, as he took the sheet off the mirror. "Right, now last time I just had to touch it. So maybe I can just walk through." He said as he reached his hand out to touch the mirror. As his hand came closer to the mirror, streaks of electricity flowed between his hand and the mirror. "I don't think that's supposed to happen!" Josh said, as the mirror glowed. He pulled his hand away and-
BOOM
The sound of an explosion rippled throughout the castle, waking every being inside it and anyone within the area. The response was quick and Shining armor flanked by 4 guards entered the room where the sound and a powerful magic shock wave was detected.
"Who goes there!" Shining shouted as he looked around the messed up room, the mirror was undamaged but everything else was knocked over or broken. Just then, he noticed a hand sticking out from a pile of debris. "Joshua?" Shining yelled out as he raced over and pulled Josh out of the pile. His shirt had holes torn into it. His right hand looked like it had burned and he was out cold.
"Shining? What's going on?" Cadence asked, as she entered the room.
"There must have been some kind of accident, go get a doctor. Hurry!" Shining said, as he picked up Josh with the help of a now on scene Flash Sentry.
Josh slowly opened his eyes, the bright sunlight blinding him as he woke. "What the hell happened last night?" He questioned as things began coming into focus and he found himself in the guest room bed laying in front of a doctor, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance, Twilight Sparkle and her other friends.
"Good, he's awake." The doctor said, closing a medical bag. "I'll be on my way, feel free to call if he needs help again." They finished and walked out of the room.
"Thank Celestia." Twilight said, before looking at Josh. "What happened? You've been out for a whole day."
Josh put a hand to his head, what happened? He began thinking, remembering his dream from last night and the strange mirror. "Twilight....We need to talk."
"Oh? What is it?" Twilight asked.
Josh looked around the room, he thought this was something he shouldn't have to share with everyone. "Can we make it a bit more....private?"
Twilight was taken back by this at first, but soon smiled. "Oh I'm sure it's fine if everypony else stays here."
"Twilight no.....I really think this should be something for just me and you." Josh quickly replied.
Twilight laughed, before walking up beside Josh. "Oh don't be silly, I'm sure it's fine."
Josh sighed, his face turned sour. "Alright fine." Josh spoke angrily, "Why the hell have you hid the fact there is a way back to Earth?"
This caused everyone, Twilight especially to reel back in shock. "Wha-what are you talking about?" She asked.
"You know what I'm talking about, that mirror portal thing in this castle! I know it leads to Earth and you've been through it!" Josh yelled, causing everyone to move back. "How long have you been hiding this from me? How long have you known?"
Everyone looked at Twilight, who was blushing. "Well I-I...You see I..." She tried to speak but couldn't, Josh was right about how she didn't tell him about it. "Josh, I know you're upset but let me explain. I wa-"
She was cut off by an enraged Josh, "Explain what? How you wanted me here so you could "Study" me? That's why I'm here right? I'm nothing more than another creature for you to observe and document, admit it this whole time you've just been using me for some twisted experiment!" Josh had tears running down his face.
Everyone was in silence, then Fluttershy trotted over to Josh and placed a hoof on him. He quickly leaned over into Fluttershy and hugged her, as she placed a wing around him. "Shhhh, it's okay." She said, trying to calm him.
"Twilight....A word." Applejack said, as Twilight turned around. She and her friends minus Fluttershy and the royal couple. As they exited and shut the door, Applejack turned to Twilight. "What the hay was that? You told us ya told him about the mirror!"
"I meant too! Honestly! But with what happened at the Summer Sun Celebration it slipped my mind!" Twilight quickly replied.
"Well how could you forget?" Rainbow Dash asked, she and everypony else were clearly upset. Twilight for her part, was upset at herself. But regained her composure, and tried to explain herself.
"Look, everypony please listen. The reason I didn't tell him is because while that was the human world, I don't think it was Earth." Twilight said, causing everypony to change from anger to confusion.
"Whatever do you mean darling?" Rarity asked.
"Well, while I was in the human world. I did a lot of research, mostly relating to the history of that world and I couldn't find half the things Josh has talked about." Twilight replied, trying her best to not confuse her friends. "I couldn't find any record of Canada, but I could find cars and phones. It was the human world but not Earth."
"Question!" Pinkie pie said, raising a hoof.
"Yes?" Twilight asked, a confused tone in her voice.
"WHAT!?" Pinkie Pie shouted out.
"Look I know it doesn't make sense, and I was honestly going to tell him about it!" Twilight said, trying her best to reassure her friends.
"Well..." Applejack spoke, "We ain't the ones you should be apologizing too, are we?" She said, looking at Twilight.
Twilight looked at Applejack then at the door behind her, she realized that the person who deserved an apology was back in that room. She trotted past her friends and slowly opened the door, Fluttershy was still next to Josh. She had handed him a box of tissues and he was wiping away tears, his eyes red. Fluttershy looked at Twilight, who nodded at her and Fluttershy quickly trotted out of the room soon followed by Shining and Cadence.
"Joshua....Please let me explain." Twilight said, as she walked next to him. Josh just stayed quiet, like a fussy child who was angry at a parent for not giving them something. "I know your upset, but believe me that world wasn't the Earth."
Josh looked at Twilight, his face of sadness and confusion. "What do you mean? How could it be a world of humans but not be Earth?" He asked, his voice still choking up from sadness.
"I don't understand it either, but unlike Earth the world I went too had no Canada. It was still called Equestria." Twilight said, letting out a sigh. "I really did mean to tell you about it, but with the Summer Sun Celebration I couldn't. I know you're upset with me, if you want I can help you travel to the world."
Josh was silent, he looked down at his hand. It was shaking but he didn't know if it was out of anger or something else, he then closed it and looked at Twilight. "It's not about it not being Earth, it's about the fact you lied to me." Josh told her, "To be honest, I'm not 100% sure I would want to go back. I've been here for how long? My family probably thinks I'm dead, I couldn't bare putting them through the pain and turmoil of me coming back after all this time. But the thing that upsets me is that I feel lied too. You told me that there was no way for me to get back home, yet this mirror leads to some kind of human world and you didn't tell me about it....That is what upsets me."
Twilight took it all in, she herself shed a tear. "I know, and I am deeply sorry for that. Can you forgive me?" She asked, reaching out a hoof.
Josh looked at her hoof before reaching out, he didn't shake it however but pushed it gently away. "I'm sorry Twilight....But not right now.."
"....I see..." Twilight stood up, and sadly walked away from Josh. As she exited the room, her friends looked at her. They didn't speak, they just watched as she somberly walked further and further away from the room. She just lost someone she cared deeply for.
"So, where do you want them?" Josh asked Twilight, holding a stack of books. He was helping her out with a study of family history.
"Just beside those scrolls, please don't knock them over" Twilight replied, as she read a section of a book before putting it back on a pile. She got up and reached for another, only to be surprised when Pinkie Pie was found hiding behind it asking what she was doing. Causing Twilight to scream in shock, and throwing her book.
""Aaagh" yourself! But that doesn't answer my question, silly" Pinkie said, getting out of her little hiding spot behind the shelf.
"Just some genealogical research" Twilight replied, picking up the book she had thrown.
"Ohhh..." Pinkie said, before leaning over to Spike who was carrying some scrolls "I don't know what that is" She said in a whisper.
"Genealogy is the study of family history. Y'know, where ponies come from and who they're related to" Spike answered as he added the scrolls to a stack.
"Ooh, fascinating" Pinkie said aloud, looking at the tower of scrolls.
Josh placed the books down, "It’d be a lot cooler if-" He turned to see Pinkie about to take a scroll from the bottom of the tower. "Wait, take one from the-" He quickly began saying before Pinkie took one 2nd from the bottom, leaving the rest somehow balancing. "top..." He turned to Twilight and Spike who looked just as surprised. "How does she do that?" He asked as Pinkie unrolled the scroll and began reading. It somehow was long enough that Pinkie began walking backward down some stairs reading it.
"What?!" Pinkie yelled, as Twilight opened a window and the trio saw her standing quite the distance away outside of Golden Oaks. "This is the most amazing thing ever! Why didn't you tell me how amazing this is?!" She asked, while dancing around in different poses, at one point even suspending herself off the ground. "Genealogy is better than cotton candy on top of a fountain of chocolate!" She said, as reality kicked in and she fell to the dirt. "You'll never believe who it says I'm related to!" Pinkie said, before trotting away.
"Did she just ask us a question and then leave?" Josh looked at Twilight and Spike. "Just when you think you've seen everything, am I right?" He joked, as the stack of scrolls finally fell. "Right, I'll go clean that up" Josh said as he walked over, re-stacking the scrolls.
Josh would continue helping Twilight along with Spike, organizing, reading, jotting notes. Until they finally finished for the day, and Josh had some free time. "Alright, later!" He said, walking towards the front door.
"Later? Where are you going?"
"Just out for a walk Twilight" Josh replied, opening the door "Maybe something interesting will happen today, who knows"
"Alright, just don't go crazy" Twilight waved him off.
Josh walked through Ponyville, he didn't have much of a plan besides enjoying a nice day. Though he did wonder where Pinkie ran off too, but that wasn't his business. He soon found himself sitting down on a bench when suddenly.
"Ouch!" Josh yelled, jumping up. "What the hell was that?" He looked at the bench, only to find a pin where he was about to sit. He could hear the sound of laughing coming from above him, looking up he spotted Ponyville's local Draconequus sitting atop a cloud.
"You should have seen your face!" Discord said, rolling around laughing.
"What do you want Discord?" Josh said, rather annoyed while rubbing his butt.
"Oh common, can't a God of Chaos have a little fun?" Discord asked, floating down from his cloud.
"Well, last time you had "a little fun" you turned the wild life evil and flooded Sweet Apple Acres" Josh replied, as Discord now stood in front of him.
"Well technically, the first time was when I tried to retake Equestria and almost split apart Twilight and her friends. But that's neither here-" Discord said, as he appeared on Josh's left. "Or their" Another Discord said, appearing on Josh's right.
Josh looked at the two Discords before one slapped him in the face with a pie, blinding him for a second. "So what? You just want to have fun?" He said, clearing off his face
"Who doesn't want to have fun? I mean, the author of this story is writing this for fun!" Discord said, now back as one.
"The what?" Josh asked.
"Oh you know, the author!" Discord pointed Josh's face towards no direction in particular "Him!" He pointed.
Josh just looked down the street where this supposed author was. "Discord, I think you've lost it"
Discord just moved back and shrugged. "Anyway, Fluttershy said I should try to make more friends!" Discord moved behind Josh, putting a pair of sunglasses on himself and then on Josh. "Who better than a fellow loner?"
"Fellow loner?" Josh asked, taking the glasses off.
"You know, both of us are the only ones of our kind. Me the only Draconequus as these ponies have named me, and you the only human!" Discord said, as a light shined on Josh and confetti rained down.
"Just because I'm the only human, doesn't mean I'm a loner.." Josh replied, shaking the confetti out of his hair.
"Oh be honest, outside of Twilight and her friends. You couldn't make any new friends" Discord said dismissively.
"One, rude. Two, not true. I've made plenty of friends outside of Twilight and the bunch!"
"Name them" Discord said, crossing his arms.
"Well, the CMC for starters-"
"Apple Bloom is related to AJ, Sweetie Belle is related to Rarity and Scootaloo is their friend. They would have been friendly regardless" Discord cut him off.
"Okay...How about Lyra and Bon Bon?" Josh asked.
"Lyra has an odd obsession with you and Bon Bon is with her so..." Discord casually replied.
"Okay...uhhh, Derpy?"
"Oh please, how much have you actually interacted with her? Same with Zecora because I know you were about to say her name" Discord said, as he laid back in a hammock.
"Well...what about....huh.." Josh was out of ponies he could name. "Well, just because you think they take pity on me because of the fact I'm stuck here. Doesn't mean I can't make new friends if I wanted to!"
"Then go ahead, prove me wrong" Discord replied, summoning a Coconut with a straw in it. "Go over to those ponies, and make some friends" He pointed towards two ponies talking.
"Alright, I will!" Josh said, walking over to the two ponies. "Hello, how are you two doing today?"
"Oh uhhh, hello!" One of the ponies said. "You must be the human who lives with Twilight!" She said, albeit a bit nervous.
"Yep, just stopping by to ask how the day has been treating you!" Josh said, doing his best to be friendly.
"Ohhh it's been good! Yup!" The other mare said, also a bit nervous.
"That's nice to hear! Can't go wrong on a sunny day like this!"
"yeaaah but uhhh, look at the time! I got to go!" One said, before starting to trot off.
"Yeah, same here! Have a good day!"
Josh watched as they walked off. "What was that about?"
"What did I tell you? Loner!" Discord said, passing him a coconut.
"Well, that was one example! I'm sure if we just tried again, I could find a friend!"
"Alright, let's try again!" Discord declared.
So Josh did try, many times but nothing seemed to work. Every time he'd try to strike up a conversation, ponies would make up an excuse and leave. After about an hour of trying, Josh sat down in defeat as Discord passed him the coconut again. This time Josh took it and drank. "I don't get it! What am I doing wrong?"
"Nothing, you're just like me! An oddity that ponies aren't comfortable with.." Discord said, hiding the fact he had been sabotaging Josh's efforts by doing all sorts of weird things while he tried to make friends. "On the bright side! You can help me take revenge!"
"Revenge?"
"Yeah, you and me prank everypony in town! That'll teach em!" Discord declared.
Josh thought about for a second, before sighing. "No, that's mean. Not to mention revenge is not my thing"
"Oh common! It'll be fun! Besides it's not malicious, it's just fun!" Discord tried to convince Josh.
"Well, I don't have anything else to do today.."
"Yesss!" Discord was getting excited
Josh let out a sigh, "Alright, me and you can prank a few ponies. But nothing malicious, just harmless. Deal?"
"This is perfect! I like Fluttershy and all, but you are the type of friend I needed!"
"Pardon?" Josh questioned.
"You know, you actually know how to have a good time! Not like all this "Friendship is magic" mambo-jumbo these ponies follow, you are different."
"I'm not that different.." Josh replied.
"Oh please, I've seen inside your head..You are pretty freaky..Although, I find it odd how much you hide." Discord said, rubbing his chin.
"I don't hide anything?"
"Yes you do, you forget I looked inside you and found that magic..and must I say, what I felt was...Just pure evil, I'm surprised you've fooled everypony." Discord said with a shudder.
"Pure evil? I'm not following.."
"Oh common, do I have to enter your mind for you to drop the act?" Discord said.
"Can you even do it?" Josh said, smugly.
"Ummm, Lord of Chaos! I can do whatever!" Discord said, before flying up and doing a loop de loop as he shrunk and flew inside Josh's ear.
"What the?" Josh questioned as he watched this in shock.
"Hello! Is this on?" Discord spoke, his voice echoing.
"Discord? Are you in my head?" Josh said aloud.
"Yup! I told you!" Discord spoke from inside the human's head. "Now, where is that-"
"What are you doing here, Lord of Chaos.." Another voice rang out.
"Who said that? Luna, are you a stallion now?"
"I am no God of the Moon..I am a bringer of true Chaos!" The voice said, booming
"Discord, you need to get out of my head!"
"Oh no I'm not, what in the world is this? You're alter-edgy ego?" Discord spoke.
"I am not this weak boy, my name is Malum and I-"
"Malum? Pretentious much, naming yourself what is essentially "Evil" is pretty-" Discord spoke in his normally sarcastic tone before a slash could be heard.
"I have always dreaded you for how you act, thank you for leaving yourself open to attack!" Malum said he had slashed Discords tail.
Discord quickly moved away from him, "Well, fun talk but oh look at the time time to go!" Discord then zoomed his way out of Josh's ear, his tail regrowing shortly after.
"I told you not to do that!" Josh said, rubbing his ear.
"Okay, what was that!" Discord asked.
"Something best left untalked about..." Josh began walking away but Discord turned him right back around.
"Oh no you don't! I knew I felt something, what in..and I do not say this lightly..What in the name of Celestia was that?"
Josh sighed, "His name is Malum...for sometime now he's been driving me crazy, always hanging out in the back of my mind. From what I can gather he seeks revenge on all of ponykind."
"Revenge for what?"
"Banishment from the physical world, he has a grudge with Luna and Celestia. He keeps trying to get me to join him, luckily he sucks at it." Josh explained.
"Have you told Celestia and Luna about this? They have me freaking out and I'm Discord!"
"Luna, yes. Celestia, not so much..I fear the more he is known the stronger he gets..." Josh then grabbed Discord by the arm and pulled his face in close. "If this is your doing when you "Unleashed the magic whiten me" then so help me god I will-"
"Relax! This wasn't me! I just wanna spread a little chaos, have some fun! That thing is pure evil and destruction!" Discord said, backing up. "And I would watch that attitude of yours, that thing could feed off anger!" Discord then turned around, "Forget hanging out with you, you're a danger to everypony!" Discord then walked through a portal that closed behind him, leaving Josh.
"Damn it, this is bad.."
"You're telling me.." Malum said from inside Josh's head, "I almost had him!"
"No you idiot! If he tells Celestia who knows what will happen!"
"I know, it will ruin my plans.." Malum replied, sighing. "Look Josh, this world will do to you what it did to me...See how strong you could be and throw you away out of fear, just look how all those ponies and now Discord treat you."
"They fear you! You are the evil force!"
"What am I but a part of you?" Malum asked.
"I've had enough of you! Shut up and leave me be!" Josh yelled aloud, getting weird looks.
"Fine..I leave you alone.." Malum's voice trailed off, leaving Josh with his thoughts.
"I've got to get rid of him..Somehow, I'll find away.."
Author's Note
Dear Reader, you have my Utmost thanks for seeing this story and giving it a try. I know these kinds of stories are a dime-a-dozen so I appreciate you chose this one. Any feedback is welcomed be it extremely negative or positive. Thank you and try and enjoy.
Names Josh, Joshua Hill
The alarm rang out, causing someone to audibly groan before quickly hitting the "Snooze" button. In the dimly lit room a figure rose from a bed, letting out a loud yawn before standing up.
"Great, a new day," the person said rubbing his eyes, "lets see if today won't suck"
Turning on the light revealed the figure was a high-school aged boy, with messy-brown hair and light blue eyes. His face showed a small amount of hair growing, not enough to shave but enough for people to inform him of his "Caterpillar".
"Damn, no time to shower,'' the boy said, looking at the clock. The time was 8:10 AM. "Better hope it's not hot today"
Reaching into the drawer, he pulled out a white polo shirt with a logo on it. Quickly putting it on, he grabbed a pair of gray dress-pants and white socks before heading downstairs. Deciding that breakfast was overrated, he grabbed some snacks and threw them into his bag before slipping on some black running shoes. Opening his door, letting the cool October air wash over him was something he never disliked. He stepped outside and began walking towards a highway-overpass, quickly passing through the litter-ridden tunnel and making it to the only intersection he would need to pass.
"Yo Josh,what up?" A voice called out, causing the boy to turn towards the sound. "Looks like I left at the right time to bump into you!"
"Yo, Nathan, what’s up?" The boy waved with a smile growing across his face.
Josh was his name, Joshua Hill to be precise. Some would call him weird, others would call him caring, but to his friends, he was one of the nicest people you could meet. Shy to new people but once you got him talking, he wouldn't know when to stop. Not the brightest, but he knew his stuff.
"Well, for one, I'm going to school" Nathan said with a clear hint of sarcasm in his voice.
As the light changed and the signal to cross turned on, the two friends struck up a conversation for the short walk over the bridge, consisting of nothing but internet references. Ending once they got into the school and parting ways as, sadly, they didn't have the same classes.
Nothing of note happened that day in school, the same people did the same thing with the same results. Nothing changed and the only interesting thing was that a kid slipped on a banana peel. Being intentional or not was something only God and that kid know.
Walking home with Nathan, Josh was looking down and soon his friend took notice.
"What’s got you down?" Nathan said, his words pulling Josh's gaze from the sidewalk.
"I guess it's the fact that you’re my last true friend still left at this school." Josh replied, a hint of sorrow in his voice.
"Lia moving got you down?" Nathan said as he rested a reassuring hand on his friend’s shoulder. "Because you know I could plan something."
"Not just Lia, but Mat, Ron, Liam, All of them close friends." Josh said his eyes returning to the ground. "All of them close friends who I shared things with, cried, laughed with, all gone"
Nathan let out a heavy sigh. "Yeah, stuffs rough, but hey, that's just life I guess."
"Would you start it over if you had the chance?" Josh said looking at his friend, them now stopping to have this conversation "If someway or somehow you had the ability to start life over would you do it?"
Nathan looked at his friend with a bit of shock. He could see in Josh's eyes that something was up. "Been having a hard time lately?"
"Is it not obvious? Things get harder and harder in life while my friends grow further and further apart, what the hell would I do if you moved away too?" Josh said. "It’s just hard okay, all the work that piles up, it's just hard for me"
Letting out a heavy sigh, Josh regained his normal composure, "So... would you?"
Nathan just looked back at his friend and smiled. "Look man, I know it's hard but you will get through it, you always have. And you know I won't always be here, but I know that we will never stopp being friends." Nathan said, offering a fist bump to his friend.
"Alright, thank you Nathan." Josh said as he fist bumped and parted ways for home.
[6:45 PM]
Josh was watching the news, while eating his "dinner" which in reality was just some quickly put together Kraft-dinner. His family was out of town on a trip he chose not to go on. Mostly because the Idea of having a 2-day drive from his small Canadian town to the blisteringly hot, Arizona desert to see something he didn't even care to remember. Well, let’s say he would rather not fall behind in school, so he had the house to himself.
"More and more reported sightings of ‘flashing lights’ around the city has caused a stir, but police have issued a statement that it's most likely a case of mistaken identity for cars, teens having a little too much fun at night, or something else. However, police have said that if you see such lights, report it to the proper authorities"
Josh turned off the TV, "Must be a slow news day. Who cares about a bunch of nonsense lights?" He thought.
Taking his now-empty bowl to the sink, he decided to take a late night walk to get some air. It wasn't the first time and he normally found it quite relaxing. grabbing a sweater and a pocket flashlight he headed out the door and proceeded to walk towards the local park. However, something was off. It was a full-moon tonight, but things seemed dimmer. "They didn't talk about any fog tonight." Josh said continuing on his way until reaching the park and taking a seat on the bench. Sitting for a while, lost in his own head, he soon found himself shutting his eyes and entering a state of rest.
Josh was woken by a loud cracking sound that filled the air, "What time is it?" Josh wondered, grabbing his phone. Pressing the home button revealed the time to be 10:35 PM.
"How the hell did I sleep so long?" Josh wondered as he noticed something illuminating the darkness. It was a bright white-purple light coming from beyond an old rusted fence, "Well, well, well. What do we have here?" Josh walked towards the fence, it was not much taller than him, and could be scaled easily. The light was not that far away, judging by the size of it "You know, if I found out what was causing this, I'd probably get invited onto some podcast with someone like Alex Jones" Josh wondered as he looked at the fence.
"Alright Josh, let's have ourselves a little look" With that Josh began scaling the fence. Lucky for him it was in poor condition and he was able to get over it quickly, and he took out his flashlight in order to not trip on a rock or whatever else was littered in that area. Heading towards the light, he noticed that, despite the light getting brighter, everything else seemingly started to fade into darkness, and soon he was in front of… a rock.
"Really? A glowing rock?" Josh stood dumbfounded. He could not believe that instead of heading home to sleep he went out and hunted for a glowing rock. Well, more of a boulder, with a large crack down the middle. "Waste of my damn time, just be a bunch of drunken idiots putting lights everywhere."
As Josh turned to walk away, something caught his attention. He didn't know what, but he felt something calling out for him. Looking around to find the source, the only things he could think of was...the rock, it was coming from the damn rock. He was more dumbfounded than ever, "I have finally lost it, I think a rock is calling out to me."
Josh wanted to leave, but at the same time the rock continued calling for him. He decided to touch it, just to prove to himself that nothing would happen. Wait a minute, prove what? Since nothing would happen, then why not? Josh slowly walked towards it, seemingly becoming entranced. Reaching out with his hand he was pleasantly surprised when instead of cold hard stone, he felt a welcoming warmth. "What is this? It feels amazing." Josh said aloud, not noticing he was moving closer towards the rock.
Then, all at once, he snapped back to reality, following his arm that now seemingly phased through the large rock. "What the hell?" Josh tried to pull back, but it was no use, he felt it pulling him in. He dug his feet into the ground, hoping to hold on, but it was useless. He felt his feet leave the ground and his face go from feeling the cold of night to the same warmth of the stone, the feeling consuming his entire body. He had closed his eyes after leaving the ground but now he opened them up, seeing a wild mix of flashing colors. It was too much at once. He shut his eyes and hoped that this didn't kill him, and somehow the overwhelming feeling of warmth, the colors flashing, and his tiredness, all mixed, causing him to pass out. The last thing felt was his body hitting the soft dirt.
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Forgiveness, Friendship and a Lesson Learned
"Faster!" Shining said, blocking a strike from Josh's sword. It had been 1 ½ Weeks of near non-stop training. Shining had Josh running drills he did when becoming a royal guard, Josh had been doing marathons since the day after the "Argument" and had been performing drills and exercise regimen he thought would have killed him. But it was paying off, though not a master in any way he now didn't strike randomly. He had learned the right way to stand, hold and attack with the sword, no easy feet given the species gap that they had to overcome. But after that was taken care of, the hard part was dealing with Josh wanting to quit.
"I'm going as fast as I can!" Josh replied, keeping pace with Shining at the two parried blows.
"No you haven't, if you think you have then you never will get better!" Shining replied, he noticed Josh wasn't watching his footing. Taking advantage he quickly dashed to the side, when Josh tried to match he tripped over himself and fell to the ground.
Josh stood up and dusted himself off, "I don't think I'll ever beat you."
Shining smiled, handing him his sword back. "Not with that attitude, just give it time." Shining said, as he noticed a somber look on Josh's face. "Hey man, you'll get better with time. Don't beat yourself up over it."
"It's not that..It's the whole situation with Twilight, I haven't said a word to her since and she hasn't sent me a letter as well. I'm going back to Ponyville in less than a few days, what if she doesn't want to see me anymore?" Josh replied as he put the sword back in the holder.
"I'm sure you two can work something out, from what she tells me you two have grown pretty close." Shining said, trying to cheer Josh up.
"Maybe, I'm going for a walk to clear my head. I'll see you later." Josh said, as he began walking off the training grounds.
"Hold on!" Shining Armor called after Josh, "You tried to go through the mirror right? So what in the name of Celestia caused the explosion?"
"That, well I got one rough theory. But it's long and complicated." Josh replied.
"Well, I'm sure I'll understand. Shoot!" Shining answered back.
"Alright, we will call my world "A" Equestria "B" and this other human world "C" if Twilight is right about it not being Earth." Josh said, still rather bitter about the incident. "Anyway, when I traveled from "A" to "B", I remember a rock with a crack in it. That was the portal I came through and it seemingly disappeared afterwards, when I got here I was still human. However, according to Twilight she became human when going to "C" and when coming back she became a pony again...You still following?" Josh finished with a question to Shining.
"Uhhh, sure.." Shining replied, unsure as Josh continued.
"Anyway, the mirror, unlike the rock, was undamaged. Even after the explosion, and when I tried to go through it seemingly rejected me. So here is my theory, when someone from "A" or "C" travels to "B" they should turn into an Equestrian. However the portal I used was damaged and seemingly destroyed itself when I arrived, meaning that when I arrived I might have taken on some characteristics of Equestrians. That would explain why I have magic, but it didn't transform me like it should have, so when I tried to go to "C" the portal didn't know what to do with me. Send me to "C" as a Equestrian? Send me as a human but then if I come back then be turned into a Equestrian? It's really confusing." Josh finished, waiting for Shining to add anything on.
"I think I understand, but that part with the mirror is really confusing. But why did it reject you?" Shining asked.
"Simple, because it's the easiest solution. So basically, unless I find the portal back to "A", or we find a new portal back to "A" that works differently then how the portal to "C" works..." Josh paused, a frown grew across his face."Then I'm stuck here forever..." Josh blankly looked to the floor before he felt a hoof pat him on the back
"Hey, look on the bright side. It's not the worst thing that could happen, you have good friends here to support you!" Shining said, trying to cheer up the human.
"Do I have friends? After the argument?" Josh asked, he was beating himself up over this.
"Look, if I know Twilight, and I do know Twilight. She won't hold a grudge, she just needs you to apologize." Shining reassured Josh, who cheered a bit.
"Thanks, but I'm going to take some time to think this over. I'll see you later." Josh said, as he finally left the training grounds.
Josh made his way into the busy streets of the Crystal Empire, looking for something to do. He should be thinking of what to tell Twilight but clearing his head would be a better idea, to him at least.
"COME ONE COME ALL!" An eccentric voice called out, one that was rather familiar.
"You stink!" A stallion called out, as a crowd booed someone. Josh turned to it and could see some kind of wagon, maybe a travailing side-show.
"Well, guess that will take my mind off it." Josh said as he approached the crowd that was dispersing.
"W-Wait! The Great and Powerful Trixie still has many tricks to show you!" A mare said, as ponies continued leaving. Some stayed to boo her.
"Trixie?" Josh said, as he stood at the back of the crowd. He pushed his way to the front coming face to face with the mare he had months ago had fought and almost died too. Pretty bad memories but Josh had mostly let it go.
Trixie upon seeing Josh, gained an expression of fear. "Sorry everypony! Show is cancelled!" Trixie quickly said, before rushing inside her wagon.
The crowd left after this but Josh stayed behind, walking up to the wagon's door he knocked. "Trixie? I just want to talk!" Josh said, hoping to get her to come out.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie isn't home!" Trixie yelled.
"Trixie, I want to apologize!" Josh yelled, hoping this would get her to come out.
There was a brief silence, before he heard Trixie. "Continue..."
"Look, I know we have both made mistakes. But I don't think you're a bad person, I want to say for my part that I'm sorry for snapping on you." Josh said, first getting no response. Then he heard the sound of a lock being turned and the door opened.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie...Also apologizes for her actions." Trixie said, as she now stood in front of Josh.
The two looked at each other awkwardly, Josh then broke the ice. "Soooo, can we be friends?" Josh said, offering a hand.
"Friends?" Trixie questioned, confused at the notion.
"Well yeah, what better way to make things up then to turn it into something positive?" Josh said, still offering a hand.
"Even after what happened? You'd give me a second chance?" Trixie replied.
"Well yeah, everyone deserves a second chance. Besides, I don't like holding grudges. Makes you feel terrible." Josh replied, his face showed that he was a bit uneasy.
Trixie stood perplexed for a moment, before shaking Josh's hand. "Very well, you are now the Great and Powerful Trixie's friend!" Trixie yelled enthusiastically.
Josh smiled at this. "Happy to hear!" He said, pointing behind him. "Too celebrate, how about we grab some lunch. I'm starved." He said, levitating a small bag of bits out of his bag. "It'll be on me!"
Trixie just looked in amazement. "You can use magic!?" She yelled.
"Oh yeah, forgot you didn't know." Josh said, grabbing the bag. "Long story, but short of it is I can use magic now!"
Trixie Smiled at this. "This is perfect!" She gleefully shouted. "You can help the Great and Powerful Trixie perform!"
"Perform?" Josh asked, confused at what Trixie meant. "What do you mean perform?"
"Yes! From starting here in the Crystal Empire all the way to Appleloosa! I shall call it, "The Humble and Penitent Trixie's Equestrian Apology Tour"!" Trixie said, throwing her forelegs up into the air in excitement.
"That doesn't roll off the tongue too well." Josh replied.
"It's still a work in progress, regardless with you helping me. We could be the greatest stage show in Equestrian history!" Trixie shouted gleefully.
"Woah, hold on a second Trixie." Josh put his hands up. "I mean, I'm glad you wanna patch things up and be friends and all but I gotta get back to Ponyville."
"Oh, we will pass through Ponyville." Trixie happily said before turning around. "In about a year or so..."
Josh's jaw dropped. "A year? I can't go on some side-show tour for a year! I need to go back to Ponyville now!"
"Oh relax, it's not like Twilight can't watch the shows if that's what worries you." Trixie casually replied.
"Trixie you don't understand, me and Twilight might not be friends anymore and I can't waste time on this." Josh responded, his voice quick and a bit shaky.
Trixie turned around. "Not friends? But last time I saw you, you jumped at me just to protect her? What could have possibly happened to put a wedge between you?" She was confused.
"Well, to make a long story short. She half lied and half told me the truth and I got mad at her, when she apologized I didn't accept it because I was angry and I haven't heard a word from her since." Josh explained, the best he could. The entire situation was very complicated and summarizing it was hard for him to do on the fly.
"Why wouldn't you forgive her? I'm sure she never meant any harm." Trixie said, turning back around.
"I don't know, I guess I've always been like this. I get angry and leave things unresolved even when it makes me feel bad." Josh said, shrugging his shoulders.
"Hmmmm, well I guess The Great and Powerful Trixie cooould make changes and head to Ponyville now." Trixie said, her voice was unsure.
"Trixie I'm not saying to derail your tour just for me, all I'm saying is that I can't do it." Josh said with a sigh, "Heck, even if this wasn't happening. I couldn't."
"Well, we are friends right?" Trixie asked, "I've never really had that many friends before, but I think this is what they do."
"But friends also don't make friends drop whatever they are doing for them if it's not that important." Josh replied, "Besides, other ponies might not be as forgiving as me."
Trixie nodded, "Trixie agrees, and wished you well." She offered a hoof, "I guess this is goodbye for now?"
Josh shook it, "Yeah, but not forever." Josh smiled, "Glad we met again, I'll see you around." Josh then left, a bit more cheery after finally making amends for what happened. But he still had another problem to deal with, one that would require a long train ride home.
Josh sat on a bench, he was back in Ponyville but he hadn't had the best luck. Not only was Twilight not around, but the entirety of the mane 6 was out of town as well. He luckily was able to find out where they were, when trying to find Applejack he ran into Big Mac and he told him they had traveled off to Manehattan a few days ago. Now all he had was a few coins and a heavy bag he had to carry around.
"Hey Josh, where have you been?" Josh heard a voice ask, looking to where it came from he saw Derpy Hooves.
"Oh, hey Derpy. How have you been?" Josh asked, finally in the company of a friend.
"Great! How have you been since the vine things attacked?" Derpy responded.
"Well, I've been mostly alright. Maybe a few hiccups here and there but I've been alright." Josh said, giving Derpy a smile.
"Well, whenever I have hiccups. I usually drink water or hold my breath." Derpy innocently replied.
Josh let out a chuckle at this, "I haven't actually had hiccups, it's a figure of speech."
"Ooooooh." Derpy let out in realization, "Well, where have you been? I haven't seen you around Ponyville at all."
"Well, I've been visiting the Crystal Empire. You know that sword I found right?" Josh said, pulling out the sword but keeping it in it's holder. "Well, Twilight wanted to make sure I was safe with it so she had her brother Shining Armor show me how to use it."
Derpy's face grew into a curious wonder, "Cool! What can you do with it?" She asked.
Josh paused, slightly blushing. "Weeell, I didn't really get taught how to fight that much. Really just how to be safe with it." He let out a nervous chuckle, playing it off.
"Sooo what's in the bag?" Derpy asked, as she walked over to Josh's rather large bag.
"Oh that's just the stuff I brought back from the Crystal Empire." Josh responded, unzipping the bag and pulling out a granola bar.
"But why do you have it here? Why not just leave it at Golden Oaks?" She wondered.
"Oh uhhh, I was locked out." Josh quickly made up an excuse.
"Oh right! Twilight went to Manehatten, but why would she lock you out?" Derpy asked.
Josh let out a sigh, "What's the point in hiding it." He patted a spot next to him, "Take a seat Derpy, I'll explain."
"Explain what?" Derpy was confused, but took a seat regardless.
"Well, to put it simply. You know how I'm not from around here?" Josh asked, getting a nod from Derpy. "Well, Twilight told me that there was no way to get home. But I found a way I might be able too, when I found out I got mad at Twilight." He finished.
"So she lied to you?" Derpy asked, "But why would she?"
"I wish it was that simple, she didn't know the thing existed when I was asking about it. It also might not actually lead to my home, so she didn't lie." Josh replied.
"But then why did you get mad?" Derpy once again asked.
"I don't know, I acted in the heat of the moment. Now I think I just not only lost a friend, but the closest thing I have to a family here." Josh kicked some dirt.
"Well who said you have?" Derpy asked, getting Josh to now look at her confused.
"What do you mean, of course I have." Josh told her.
"Well, it was a misunderstanding right? Why not apologize?" Derpy simply said.
Josh scoffed at this, "No way it would be that easy."
"Well, why wouldn't it?" Derpy once again asked, it seemed like a good idea to her.
Josh opened his mouth to reply but couldn't, it wasn't a bad idea but no way it would work. But why not try it? "Derpy that's.....That's not actually a bad idea." He remembered his meeting with Trixie before he left for Ponyville. Despite what happened between them before being 100X's worse than what happened between him and Twilight, they still talked it out and forgave each-other.
"Why wouldn't it be silly?" Derpy laughed, "Now I gotta go deliver some mail, see you later Josh!" She said, before flying off.
Josh was once again left alone, thinking over what he'd say as an apology. He just hoped Twilight and her friends would be back before night. Unfortunately that would seem less and less likely as lunch came and went and he found himself sitting outside of Golden Oaks. He had looked around for a spare key but came up empty handed, if it wasn't for the fact a princess lived there and it's pretty big he'd try sneaking through a window. But instead he was left to sit and wait, almost falling asleep until he heard an all too familiar voice talking.
"And then, I-" Twilight stopped as she saw Spike stop in shock, "What is it Spike?" Twilight asked before looking and seeing Josh. "Oh, hey Josh." She said, trotting over to the sitting human. "How long have you-"
"The entire day." Josh responded, before standing up. "Look Twilight, I need to apologize." He said, looking to the side in embarrassment or regret. "I shouldn't have gotten mad at you, I know I said you lied to me but...I realize now that you never did lie to me, I never asked if you found a new way so I shouldn't have done that. If you're mad at me I get it, I'll pack up and leave if you don't want to see me." He finished, holding back tears and slumping back down.
"Joshua..." Twilight said, putting a hoof on his shoulder. "I'm not mad, I completely understand why you got upset. You had every right to be. I shouldn't have forgotten to tell you, I truly am sorry for that." She said, giving a soft smile.
"You're not mad?" Josh asked, looking up.
"Why would I be?" Twilight asked.
"Wait, but if you weren't mad. Why didn't you write any letters?" Josh asked her.
"I was actually waiting for you to write, I wanted to make sure you had cooled off after the whole incident." Twilight responded.
"So we're still friends?" Josh asked.
"Of course we are! It was just a misunderstanding, and what friends don't have an argument every now and then?" She asked Josh, laughing.
"Then why did you lock me out?" Josh said, pointing at the door.
"Honestly, I forgot you came back today. That's on me." Twilight said, walking towards and unlocking the door. "Common, you've probably been waiting all day to sit down and relax.
Josh followed and made his way inside, finally being able to leave the large bag he had been dragging around all day and lay down on something comfortable. "You know, it's funny." He said, "All this time I thought just talking it out wouldn't work."
"Oh? You learned something today?" Twilight asked, walking towards him.
"Yeah, I guess I learned something." As Josh said this, he heard the sound of a book being dropped on a table. Looking over he indeed saw a book that Twilight had dropped onto a table, she opened it to a blank page and put a quill and some ink next to it. "What's that for?" He asked.
"For you to write down what you learned. Remember what I said back at the castle? If we learn something we write it down in here, Rainbow and Applejack and Fluttershy have already put something in. I got some stories to tell you by the way, and Rarity is going to put something in once I get it to her." Twilight explained, "So what do you think? Have some words?"
Josh stood up, walking over he took the quill. "Well, I've never been good with words. But let's give it a try." Josh thought for a moment, then he began to write.
"Today, I learned that friendship is not easy. Communication is key, and keeping secrets can end up driving a wedge between people ponies. But you shouldn't let misunderstandings ruin something, and even if you think it won't. Talking it out can and will help.
As Josh finished, he moved over and let Twilight look. "What do you think?" He asked.
"It's not perfect, but you'll get better." She said, closing the book. "Now I've got to get this over to Rarity, I'll be back in a bit."
"Alright, I'll see you later." Josh waived Twilight off, as soon as she left he flopped back down onto the couch. "So Spike, anything cool happen while I was gone?"
"Oh man, a lot of things happened!" Spike said, before quickly talking about things Josh had missed. Josh for his part listened and just relaxed, he was happy that he and Twilight we're still friends. Now he was left wondering if he'd ever see Trixie again, maybe he could help her talk things out with Twilight. Whatever may happen, he just listened to Spike as he talked about all the things he missed.
