Wish Gone Awry. Enter Equestria! Enter New Life!

Groggily waking up, Julius felt a furry warmth in his arms. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Julius sighed deeply. Slowly opening his eyes, Julius looked around the area. First, noticing Luna in his arms, Julius quickly realized the bed they were lying on.

"Uggh, guessing one of them got the bed here," Julius yawned as he slowly awoke, "and guessing that Luna came looking for me. Still, I should get back to Zecora's place. The others might be worried," Julius said as he got out of the bed. Gingerly stretching his body, Julius heard a yawn from behind him.

"Yes, they likely are," Luna yawned as she slowly awoke. "Though I suspect Zecora isn't as much. I'm guessing that she's a little more used to this from you. Going off and sleeping in the forest, I mean," Luna said as she stretched out in bed.

"A little, yes. It happened a few times during my first week here. I mean, I told you the story about me and those shadowy bellends," Julius scoffed at bellends as he stretched his arms. "Fortunately, I'm kind of used to camping. When my father was home from duty, we would go camping. While camping, he'd show my siblings and me some of his survival training. Nothing too hard, but valuable things, and, some, rather disgusting things, but still very good to know," Julius said as he stretched his back. "Good thing he demonstrated the snake thing first, or we wouldn't have tried it," Julius awkwardly chucked under his breath.

"Snake thing?" Luna asked as she slowly walked up to Julius. "What snake thing?" She asked as she started to stretch her limbs.

"Do you really want to know?" Julius asked as he looked at Luna. "Alright," he sighed as he saw the look on her face, "though I warn you, it's a bit, yeah," he said while averting his gaze. "So, in jungle survival training, one of the things my father was taught is that you can drink snake blood and eat raw snake, along with other things, like spiders and scorpions. Of course, he had to do these things," Julius said as Luna looked slightly surprised. "So when we went camping, and when we were old enough, he showed us, and we followed suit. Odd thing I know, but you're never too young, or old, to learn survival training. My father passed on what he could to us, well, within reason," Julius laughed. "It sure freaked out the other kids in cadets when they saw us eating bugs," he laughed as Luna sighed.

"I'd imagine that would be quite odd if you're not used to it," Luna said as she chuckled. "While that does sound very odd, it's not too dissimilar to what thestrals learn in later grades. If I remember, most covens start survival training around grade ten, give or take a grade. A part of it is learning to identify odd foods that you can eat and how to build different shelters," Luna told Julius as she stretched. "Still, I wouldn't mention that to other ponies; they'd be very uneasy about it, to say the least," Luna said as she finished stretching.

"Yeah, I figured that much. To be fair, a lot of people are uneasy about it too. But that's the thing about survival skills and training, it's not pretty or even comfortable, but if it comes down to it, it can save your life," Julius said with a big yawn. "He wasn't around much, but when he was, my father made sure he taught us how to survive through hell and high water," Julius laughed. "Well, that and helped straighten us out when we got into trouble."

"I see," Luna said as she started to walk towards the entrance of the cave. "How were you and your siblings punished? I'm guessing it was either very odd or very normal," Luna asked as Julius followed after her.

"Well, to us, it was normal. To other kids, it was bizarre. To other parents, it was 'cruel,' but to my parents, 'timeouts' and 'being grounded' were borderline torture. So everything kind of balanced out," Julius laughed as he followed Luna. "So there were three things that could happen. First, if we broke the rules, but it was justified, they'd do nothing, like if we got into a fight, but it was to protect someone. Sure it was against the rules, but we were justified. Second, if we broke the rules and it wasn't justified," Julius winced. "First, we'd have to make things right, if possible. Second, we'd get a nice round of PT until we were tired. Push-ups, sit-ups, supermans, planks, squat jumps, bridges, hip rotations, suicide runs, just to name a few. Then a poetic punishment," Julius powerfully shuttered as he said poetic. "Then a nice two-kilometer run, that was the easiest part."

"You said 'poetic punishment,' how so? Also, you spoke as if you all got punished if any of you broke the rules, were you?" Luna asked as the two walked up the stone stairway.

"Yes, if one of us broke the rules, we all got punished. I am my brother's keeper and my sister's keeper, as they are mine. We kept each other in line. As for the poetic punishment, well," Julius sighed. "When my sister was young, she drew on the wall. So, we had to clean it, do PT, and paint every rock in the driveway. Finally, we had a nice run afterward," Julius told a laughing Luna. "Say what you want; we had the cleanest walls of any house, and that never happened again," Julius laughed with Luna.

"I can imagine," Luna laughed as the two walked towards the broken bridge. "You said there was a third thing; what was it?" Luna asked as she stood at the broken bridge.

"Fly me across, and I'll tell you," Julius said as Luna let him get on her back. Flying him across, Julius took a deep breath. "So the third thing," Julius sighed. "My mother is extremely good friends with a local Amish community," Julius said as Luna looked oddly at him. "Think Applejack's family, if they were about ten times more religious, at least as hard-working, had no magic whatsoever, and were somehow even more rural, and you have a good idea of the Amish," Julius explained to a surprised Luna. "Now, if we fucked up, and I mean we really fucked up, well, goodbye to our weekend. Our mother would take us to the Amish community after school on Friday, then pick us up Monday morning. We would have to live like the Amish for the weekend," Julius told Luna as they began walking back to Zecora's place. "Now, I love the Amish, really friendly people, honest and hard-working, always good to my family, and especially my father, but good God, that life isn't for me. On the extremely few times we got that punishment, whatever we did to deserve it never happened again. We made damned sure of that," Julius told Luna.

"Being sent to work on the Apple farm with no magic, yeah, I can see that being extremely rough," Luna chuckled. "Your parents really had a very interesting way of punishing you and your siblings. My mother would just put us in time out or ground us," Luna said as Julius looked at her.

"Did it work?" Julius asked as he ducked under a branch and picked a fruit off it.

"A bit, though not as much as it could have, maybe if it did, things could have been different," Luna wistfully sighed.

"Yeah, my parents thought as much. Sure their punishments were odd, and if one got punished, we all did. It did strengthen our bond, get rid of our excess energy, and strengthen our bodies, and almost always only lasted less than a day. Honestly, if it wasn't for that, I probably couldn't keep up with Big Mac on the farm, even with magic," Julius said as he took a bite of the fruit. "Want some?" Julius asked as he offered the fruit to Luna.

"Sure, thanks," Luna said as she took a similar fruit from a different branch. Taking a bite from the fruit, Luna chewed it for a bit. "Juicy and sweet, it's good," Luna said as her ears perked up a bit. "Oh, and a bit sour at the end. What a nice fruit," Luna said as she ate it.

"I know, there's a bunch of them around," Julius said as the two neared Zecora's house. "I think today is potion-making day if I remember," Julius said as he saw some odd colored smoke rising from Zecora's house. "Definitely potion-making day," Julius said as a strange yet pleasant scent filled the air.

"Going to make potions with Zecora?" Luna asked as she sniffed the air. "Smells good," Luna absentmindedly commented.

"Nope, I suck at making potions, and I've barely improved. Potions are Zecora's domain; I won't tread on that," Julius laughed as he grabbed the door handle. "I'm back, Zecora," Julius said as he opened the door.

"Your absence last night caused quite a stir. In the future, if you could be back, that would be great, monsieur," Zecora said as Julius and Luna walked inside. "I calmed the others down, so don't be worried. Good thing too, they were quite flurried. Seeing as I'm making potions, I'm guessing you'll be off to do other things. To my mind, something springs. Earlier, Pinkie Pie came by. She said she has the stuff, the items, the supply. If I may offer a suggestion, you should go to her. She seemed very eager to get started on your project, good sir," Zecora said as she added a few herbs to her cauldron.

"I suppose you're right. I haven't spent much time with her, and I'm guessing Applejack is still a bit out of it. She's probably running around trying to learn more about her parents. Honestly, I don't blame her; I know I would be," Julius said with a sigh.

"Interesting, what are the two of you making?" Luna asked as she examined the potion Zecora was making.

"Just a drink from my world. It's a bit festive and alcoholic, but it's still good. My mother and I would make it in the winter," Julius said as he lightly scratched behind Zecora's ears.

"Sounds good, though; how alcoholic is it? Equestria does have some alcohol laws," Luna asks as Zecora lightly nuzzles her head into Julius's hand.

"Not very. I'd say around as much as wine, maybe a bit less," Julius hums and haws. "That should be fine, right? If not, then, well, could you look the other way?" Julius asked with a smile.

"Don't worry, if it's that weak, then it's perfectly fine," Luna laughed. "As for looking the other way, if I did, I'd want some," Luna mischievously giggled.

"Don't worry; we'll all have some once it's done," Julius assured as he lightly patted Zecora's head. "So, what about you Luna, what are you going to do?" Julius asked as he walked towards the door.

"Check-in at the castle, then; I have some paperwork to do," Luna tiredly sighed.

"Oh, great!" Julius happily said. "Think you could get me four tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala? The Cakes want to go, and I have a deal with them. And I imagine Zecora wants to go," Julius said as he turned to a nodding Zecora.

"Shouldn't be a problem. When you go, though, try to stay close to me and the others. Most of the nobility are locked into their ways; very few would have anything to do with you, much less be pleasant. Well, a few are decent, I suppose. There's Fancy Pants; you might get along with him," Luna says as she scratches her head.

"Of course, there's a pony named Fancy Pants; why wouldn't there be," Julius lightly laughs. "Alright, so I'm off to check-in at Sweet Apple Acres, then I'm going to Sugarcube Corner. See you later," Julius said as he quickly gave Zecora a light kiss on her cheek before leaving.

"As am I," Luna also says as she leaves the house. "Well, what about me?" Luna coyly asked.

"Don't worry; I haven't forgotten you," Julius smiled as he leaned in to kiss her. As Julius did so, Luna turned her head, kissing him as he leaned in.

"I'll be back later, with a few golden tickets," Luna smiled as she flew off towards Canterlot.

"Hah, there are worst things than kissing a pony princess in the afternoon," Julius lightly laughed as he watched Luna fly off. "I really need to learn how to ride horses at some point. If nothing else, flying on the back of a pegasus or alicorn would be amazing," Julius thought out loud as he walked off towards Ponyville.