Crossing Over

by grimchi3f

Rating: teen
Tags: Romance, Crossover
Length: 31347

Sequel to Through The Crack - The middle Gate has opened, but is Equestria ready for what it brings?

The middle gate has opened and, through it, lies the most dangerous universe of all: ours. A teenage brony has found a crack in his bedroom. Upon being sucked through it, he finds himself in a place he never thought he'd ever visit: Ponyville. While trying to get over the fanboyness he feels upon arriving (and the fact he's now a pegasus), he discovers something about himself that he wasn't prepared for.

Meanwhile, it's been a few months since Eggman was last in the pony universe, and he really wants to get back. He misses not only the ponies, but also his best and only friend, the Doctor. Now, he thinks he finally has found a way back.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2014-10-12 14:24:09 UTC

Through the Crack

Part 1: Into Equestria - Chapter 1: Through the Crack

"Hmmmm... I'm almost positive that that isn't normal," I said to myself, staring at the crack in my bedroom.

The crack wasn't in the wall, nor was it in the ceiling. If that were the case, I wouldn't have been so weirded out. No, this crack was floating in midair, in front of the window with the air conditioner. To the left of the crack was my TV, and to the right of it was my brother's bed. As it was, the crack seemed to be splitting the air itself apart. From my viewpoint, a couple of feet away, the only thing I could see inside of it was a blank white void.

I looked over my shoulder, past my bed and out the door, into the small hallway to check if anyone was around. I could hear sounds in the bathroom next door, which I assumed were made by my cat, and down the stairs. The sounds at the foot of the stairs I knew were my brother trying on his new boots. Good. No one was going to bother me.

Walking up to the crack, I could now see something inside it. Leaning forward a bit, I saw a very colorful and familiar town. Was that... Ponyville? No, it couldn't be. That was impossible. Ponyville was a fictional place, a place that could never be visited. But... what else could it be? I could see Sugarcube Corner and Twilight's library, both unmistakable landmarks.

I leaned forward to get an even closer look when my nose accidentally grazed the surface of the crack. Immediately, I felt an invisible force tugging my nose, pulling me into the crack. I tried to fight it, but it was too strong. My body was being pulled in and a wave of exhaustion rolled over me. Just before the last of my body was through, I turned my head back in the direction of my bedroom. The last thing I saw before I lost consciousness was a dark silhouette in the doorway.

Once I got back to full consciousness, I opened my eyes and stared at the brightening blue sky. I didn't feel any motivation to move just yet, so I lazily watched the stationary clouds stay completely still up in the sky... STATIONARY CLOUDS!? What on Earth!? And why was the sky so... so blue!? Deciding that watching this impossible sky wasn't doing me any good, I sat up which, by the way, felt really odd, as if my body wasn't used to bending that way.

Sitting up caused a wave of vertigo to hit me and my vision to flicker. I closed my eyes and began rubbing my head, trying to dispel these unpleasantries. Strangely, I couldn't move any of my fingers, and my hand felt really hard and stiff. Worried that something had happened to my hands, I opened my eyes. Directly in front of my face were two red hooves. I stared at them, unseeing, for a few moments before the memories of the crack in my bedroom hit me like a freight train.

Forgetting about my hooves for a moment, I frantically looked around, trying to identify my surroundings. I was surrounded by a very colorful assortment of buildings, and I appeared to be on a dirt road seperating them. A small ways away I could see the tall and unmistakable Sugarcube Corner and, far to my right, I saw the Twilight Sparkle's library. Well, that settled it. Unless I was hallucinating, this was Ponyville alright.

All the houses had their doors and windows closed and there were no ponies to be seen walking around the town. Seeing this, I assumed it must be really early in the morning, an assumption bolstered by the fact that the sun was low in the sky and what sounded like the crow of a rooster off in the distance. That was probably for the best, as seeing a pony appear out of a crack would probably freak whoever saw it out.

Turning my attention back to my hooves, I moved them around, testing their movement capabilities and examining them  more closely. They seemed to have about the same range of movement as the hands I had previously, except without the fingers of course. Seeing that I had hooves made me realize that the rest of me must have been ponified too. Despite the oddity of it all, I was pretty excited. If I was entirely ponified, that would be so cool!

I looked down at myself and gasped. I was entirely ponified! How cool was that? I touched my hooves to my furry chest and moved them all around my bright red coat. While the hooves were hard and not as sensitive as fingers, I could still get the general feel of stuff, so I felt that my coat was soft and warm. Looking at my sides, I saw that I had wings, thus making me a pegasus. That was cool. Better than an Earth pony at least. I also noticed that I had no visible Cutie Mark.

"Well, that's disappointing," I said in a distinctly female voice. Hearing my new voice caused me to clamp my hooves to my mouth in surprise which, as it turned out, wasn't such a good idea considering the fact that hooves are hard and mouths... not so much.

"Ow!" I complained in a definitely un-male voice, softly rubbing my aching jaw.

Okay, so apparently my pony form is a girl. Great. Oh well, it wasn't so bad. At least the female pony design more appealing that the male one. And hey, from the looks of it, I was a pretty hot girl. Well, then again, I'd never seen a pony design that was actually ugly before, so being hot probably didn't mean too much.

Reaching up with my right hoof, I stroked my mane. It was very messy, which wasn't surprising since my hair as a human was messy, and it was shorter than girl hair is usually expected to be. That said, it was longer than my hair normally, which again isn't surprising since guys don't usually have long hair, so it wasn't like it was really short or anything. I moved a strand of hair into view and saw that it was green, my favorite color. Sweet.

Now that I was done checking myself out, I had to figure out what exactly I was going to do from here. What would any logical brony do if they found themselves ponified in Ponyville? I didn't know how to get back, though I wasn't entirely sure if I actually wanted to leave just yet. When would I ever get the chance to talk to the Mane 6 or any of the background ponies again? This was too good an opportunity to pass up.

On the topic of what to do now, I thought back to a fanfiction I had started to read once called Through the Eyes of Another Pony or something like that. The first thing that guy did was go see Twilight. That actually seemed like a really good idea, since Twilight was the most logical of ponies. The fact that it was early in the morning didn't matter because the guy in the previously mentioned fanfic had done it in the early morning and everything had turned out all right. Of course, that was a fanfic and this was the real deal, but in all honesty I didn't care. I needed to do something and this was the best course of action... at least, that I could think of.

With that plan in mind, I stood up... only to topple backwards onto the ground. Okay, so standing solely on the back legs isn't a good idea. Got it. Getting up onto all fours, which felt both natural and kind of odd at the same time, I slowly began walking in the direction of the library, trying to get used to walking on four legs.

Lonely Lyra

Part 1: Into Equestria - Chapter 2: Lonely Lyra

As I drew closer, the library grew larger and larger, but I wasn't necessarily paying attention to that. I was paying attention to everything else around me. Ponies were starting to open windows and come outside, trying to get an early start to their day. Cute little animals were running to and fro across the road, adding to this early morning buzz of activity. I wasn't entirely sure why I found this so interesting, as watching an entire episode of just this would've probably gotten really old really fast, but it was interesting nonetheless. Thinking about it, it was probably because of the fact that it was actually real and, if I really wanted to, I could go and talk to them. Just that small detail made it all the more interesting.

I was paying so much attention to this stuff, in fact, that I smacked face first into the door of the library.

"Ow!" I exclaimed, glaring at the door. "Who told you to be so hard?"

Suddenly, the door swung open and revealed a purple baby dragon with bags under his eyes and an annoyed look on his face. He looked me over for a few moments before asking, "What do you want?"

On the inside, I was squealing like a fanboy... girl. This was Spike, Twilight's number one assistant and, in my opinion, the funniest character in the show! How could you not like him.

On the outside, I kept a straight face and looked him in the eye. "I'm here to see Twilight."

Spike looked at me as though I was insane. "She's asleep. You know, because it's early in the morning."

I tried to think back to what that guy did in the fanfic. What did he tell Spike to make him go get Twilight? I racked my brain trying to remember. Sadly, I couldn't, so I said what I thought might have the highest chance of eliciting the desired response.

"This is a matter of grave importance. I must see Twilight immediately!"

Spike rolled his eyes and began closing the door. "Yeah, well, it can probably wait until after me and Twilight have gotten enough sleep."

This was definitely not the desired response. Putting a hoof on the door to stop him from closing it, I said, "No, I need to see Twilight now!" Okay, so demanding to see Twilight like that probably wasn't the best idea but, hell, now I was getting annoyed.

"She's sleeping!" he shouted back, glaring at me. "Come back later!"

Just before he could slam the door shut, however, a tired female voice could be heard from the inside of the library. "Spike? Spike, who is it?"

Still glaring at me, Spike called back, "Somepony who was just leaving."

That was my hint to leave, but I wasn't going to leave, especially since Twilight was now awake. "No, somebody who needs to talk to you."

The next moment, Twilight appeared in the doorway in a flash of violet light. The purple unicorn raised her eyebrow and asked, "Talk about what?"

"Matters of grave importance," I answered, trying to quell my fan... girl instincts once again. C'mon, this was Twilight Sparkle, main character of the show, the Element of Magic, and second best pony. How could you not be excited?

Twilight yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Alright then, come in," she said after a few moments.

This remark seemed to surprise Spike. "What!? Twilight, it's really early and we should get more sleep. I'm still tired!"

"She says she has something important to tell me and it's probably more important than sleep," Twilight replied, glaring at Spike.

She? Well, I did appear to be a girl on the outside, so the use of a female pronoun was reasonable. Still, it was slightly unnerving to be referred to that way.

"B-but--" Spike stammered, trying to come up with a suitable reason to not let me in.

"No 'buts'," the purple unicorn said sternly. Turning back to me, she smiled weakly. "Sorry about that, he gets cranky when he's tired. Come on in." She immediately turned around and began walking back into the library.

I followed close behind, only stopping to stick my tongue out at Spike, his already deep scowl deepening. Walking past the baby dragon, I looked around and examined the library. It was exactly as it looked in the show; large bookcases in the walls, a window scattered here and there along those very same walls, a staircase jutting out of the wall that lead up to what I assumed was Twilight's bedroom, an opening that led to a kitchen, and a closed door that led down to the basement. I could almost feel the jealousy of all the other bronies back in my world... and it felt glorious.

Upon me meeting Twilight in the center of the room, Spike slammed the door and walked past us. "Well, I'm going to go sleep some more," he said, disappearing up the stairs.

"I swear he's usually not like this," Twilight said, staring up the stairs.

"Yeah, I know," I replied, nodding.

Turning her curious gaze onto me, she asked, "Who are you exactly? I'm sorry, but I don't think I've ever seen you before."

"My name is Jordan," I answered.

Twilight cocked her head. "That's an odd name."

"There's a reason for that," I said, smirking. Now was the time for me to tell my crazy story that would probably end up in me getting kicked out for being a lunatic. I took a deep breath and continued, "Now, you probably won't believe what I'm about to say, but it's the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth so help me God. You see, the thing is... I'm from a different universe."

Strangely, her face lit up like a Christmas tree and she said excitedly, "Really!? Are you from Sonic's universe or the Doctor's?"

...what?

"Hmmmmm... "Twilight mused, now walking  around me and trying to examine me from every angle. "You can't be from Sonic's universe since they didn't turn into ponies. The only person from another universe to actually turn into a pony was the Doctor so... you must be from his universe!"

"What?"

"Have you met the Doctor? What's he been up to? Is he all right?" Twilight asked, firing off questions. "It's been about a month since I saw him last. He seemed sad and depressed the last time I saw him."

"Hold on, hold on. What are you talking about?" I questioned, my brain unable to process all this information. What did she mean by 'Sonic's universe'? How did she know about the Doctor, by which I assumed she meant the Doctor from Doctor Who? "What do you mean by 'Sonic's universe'? You don't mean 'Sonic the Hedgehog' do you?"

"Yes I do," she replied, raising an eyebrow. "How do you know Sonic? I thought you were from the Doctor's universe."

I shook my head. "I'm not from either of their universe's. In my universe, Sonic is a video game character--"

"Oh yeah, I remember the Doctor saying something like that."

"-- and the Doctor is from the TV show Doctor Who. My question is, how do you know them?"

"Well,a bout a month ago, my brother got married to Princess Cadence, who used to be my foalsitter," Twilight began.

So it was after the royal wedding, huh? Was I in the middle of season 3? No, there were no crystal ponies, which is apparently what season 3's opening is about. Maybe I was just before season 3?

"When I got back here after the wedding, I found two strange creatures," the purple unicorn continued. "Their names were Sonic and Tails, and they had been sucked through a crack in time and space, arriving here."

"Hey, that's how I got here too!" I exclaimed.

"That's weird," muttered Twilight, eyeing me curiously. "The Doctor said that the cracks would stop if he, Sonic, Tails, and Ivo went back to their respective home universes."

"Ivo?" I asked, cocking my head. "Ivo Robotnik?"

"Yes."

"He was here too?"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "I was getting to that. You see--"

"Wait, wait-- hold it," I said, stopping her. I had an idea, and now was the time to act on it. "Before you tell me the entire story, go get your friends, the other Elements of Harmony."

"How do you know--"

"Don't ask questions, just go get them. That way, I won't need to explain myself six different times," I explained, cutting her off. Now was not the time to explain the fact that all this was a TV show.

"And what will you do while I go get them?" Twilight questioned warily.

"I'll go see Lyra Heartstrings. She's obsessed with humans, is she not?" I asked rhetorically.

"How do you--"

"What did I say about questions?" I said, cutting her off again. Beginning to walk toward the door (I was really staring to get the hang of this walking on four legs business), I gestured for her to follow. "Come on! We both have our objectives; let's go out and accomplish them."

Without checking to see if she was following, I opened the door and walked outside. The sun was much higher in the sky and ponies were hustling and bustling with more vigor. That was odd. The conversation with Twilight didn't feel like it had taken that much time. How time flies when you're conversing with fictional talking ponies.

A couple yards out from the library, I immediately turned around and walked back to the library. There was still one small piece of information I needed. Twilight was now standing in the doorway. As I approached, she raised an eyebrow.

"Which way is Ponyville park?"

Walking to Ponyville park, in the direction Twilight pointed me in, I mulled over the conversation I'd had with the purple unicorn. So Sonic, MLP, and Doctor Who had a big crossover? Man, I would've loved to see that. My two favorite TV shows and my favorite video game franchise coming together? Too cool. I wondered what had happened to get the epic meeting to happen.

Twilight had said that Sonic and Tails came in through a crack, just like me. What were these cracks doing in all of these different universes? Why were they there? What was causing them to appear? Apparently the Doctor had said it should've stopped by now, so why did it appear in my universe? Why did it appear in my bedroom of all places? And why was I asking all these questions!? I shouldn't be asking questions, I should be enjoying myself! You don't get to be in Ponyville everyday, after all.

Dragging my thoughts away from the seemingly never ending stream of questions popping into my head, I looked up to see if I had reached the park yet. I had. Ponies sat around lazily under trees and on the green grass, some of the walking through the park without a care in the world. In the distance, I saw three small fillies playing with a  ball. Wait a second... were they the Cutie Mark Crusaders!? Maybe I could go... no! Stop! You have an objective! Continuing my search, I stopped and looked around, trying to see a pony sitting oddly on a bench.

After a few moments, I saw a mint green unicorn sitting just as expected on a bench a little ways away, playing her lyre with magic. Smiling, I began walking briskly toward her. Drawing nearer, I could hear the music she was playing. The music had a sad, mournful tune. Weird. In every fanfic I'd ever read, I never thought of her as depressed.

Reaching her, I noticed that her eyes were closed and tears seemed to be falling out of them. Seeing this, I hesitated. What could she be crying about?

"Um, Lyra?" I asked cautiously.

Suddenly, the music stopped and the lyre froze in midair. Lyra slowly opened her eyes and looked at me expectantly.

Distracted from the original point of me being there, I said, "Why are you crying?"

Her eyes widened and she began frantically wiping the tears from he face. "Crying? I wasn't crying."

Apparently she didn't like showing weakness to others, but I wasn't paying attention to that. Something was missing. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what exactly that was. I noticed that half the bench was completely empty and Lyra seemed to be trying not to touch that side of the bench. Then it hit me.

"Where's Bon-Bon?"

Lyra stopped rubbing her eyes. She looked at me, a fierce anger in her eyes. "You're sick." Putting her lyre in its case, she hopped off the bench, floating the lyre beside her with magic, and swiftly walked away.

"Wait!" I called, running to keep up with her. "I need to talk with you! Did something happen to Bon-Bon?"

The mint green unicorn looked at me in disgust. "You sick freak. You know she's dead!" she said, continuing to walk.

"Bon-Bon's dead!?" I exclaimed.

"Have you been living under a rock or something? We had her funeral last week! Or hadn't you noticed?"

Bon-Bon died!? Damn, what an odd yet eventful day. First, I get sucked into a crack that led to the MLP universe. Then I find out that the Sonic, MLP, and Doctor Who universes have all crossed over. And then I learn that Bon-Bon, one of the most popular background ponies, is dead. Honestly. Did I unknowingly ingest some sort of hallucinogenic drug or something?

"How did she die?" I asked.

Lyra stopped and looked at me again. And by looked at me, I mean really looked at me. Her eyes followed my body, finally settling on my eyes. After a few moments, the anger and disgust drifted from her face.

"You really don't know, do you? she whispered.

I shook my head.

She closed her eyes and sighed. "She died about a month ago, shortly before Discord was released."

Discord was released again? Twilight had said the crossover thing had happened about a month ago. I wondered idly if the two events were related.

"This tall machine walked into town, piloted by that monstrous human, Eggman," she continued, saying the name as if it were a swear word. "He demanded to know where Sonic the Hedgehog was. Bon-Bon tried to stop him." Her voice caught  on the last word and she turned her head away. "So that monster crushed her beneath the machine's foot." Lyra shook her head, muttering, "You stupid, stupid pony. Why'd you have to try and be brave?"

I could tell that Lyra had truly loved Bon-Bon, which meant that that was something the MLP fanon had gotten correct. Even after a month, she was still heartbroken over it. Sort of reminded me of myself, though I was heartbroken for an entirely different reason. And apparently Eggman had done it? Wow. I had thought of Eggman as a cool villain, but after this... this was probably going to make me reevaluate my opinion.

Slowly, she turned back to me and opened her eyes. "So, what did you want to talk to me about? I'm assuming you didn't interrupt my music just to ask about why I was... sweating from my eyes."

Oh yeah! I had entirely forgotten about why I'd come here in the first place; I wanted to see if she had any useful information on humans. "Yes, um, well, I just thought you'd like to know that I'm from a different universe and I'm a human," I said, smiling.

The anger from before returned to her face. "And just when I thought you were all right..." she replied, shaking her head. She started walking away again.

"What?" I asked incredulously. I had expected her to be excited. She was the human obsessed one, after all. "I thought you were obsessed with humans!"

Several yards away, Lyra stopped in her tracks and turned back to me. "I was, before Bon-Bon was killed. The one good thing that Eggman did was that he showed me what humans truly are: monsters with a thirst for violence. And you're apparently one of them."

Glued to the spot, I called," We're not like that! You can't judge an entire people just by one person, and especially not by a fictional character. Seriously, at their core, humans are good!" Weird. I never thought I'd be defending the human race to anyone, let alone Lyra Heartstrings of all people.

The unicorn smiled humorlessly. "Said the human." With that, she turned and continued walking.

"You know what!? Before my time here is over, I vow to prove to you that us humans aren't monsters and that we're actually as good as most ponies!" I yelled after her as she disappeared back into town. Just before she did, however, I swore I saw her shake her head again.

After a few moments, I let out a long sigh. That conversation didn't go as expected. In fact, it went downright terribly. How much of a fuck up was I? So far, two people in Ponyville hated me: Spike and Lyra.Things weren't going very well.

I looked up at the sky. The sun was at it's fullest height, which meant it was bout noonish. Twilight should be back at the library by now with the rest of the Mane 6. I began walking back in the direction of the library, wondering if there was anyone else who was going to end up hating me.

Memories

Part 1: Into Equestria - Chapter 3: Memories

Getting back to the library took a lot longer than getting to the park. Maybe it was because I was focusing on getting back unlike the last time where I was distracted by all the lingering questions. Doing this, though, allowed me to finally notice all the ponies who I was walking past. I saw Rose tending her garden with the help of Carrot Top. I also saw Berry Punch, though she didn't seem to be drunk like the fanon usually suggested. No sign of Derpy Hooves either, my favorite of the background ponies. That was disappointing.

As I approached the library, I listened for any sign that told me that Twilight had gotten back with the others. I could hear voices on the other side of the door, girl voices. That meant that they had gotten back already. Instead of knocking like last time (or, more accurately, bumping into the door), I just opened the door and walked right in.

For a split second, no one noticed. Twilight was standing in front of the others in the center of the room, apparently telling them something. Pinkie Pie was clinging to Rainbow Dash, who had an annoyed look on her face and was trying to push Pinkie Pie away. Next to them was Rarity, Applejack, and Fluttershy, all looking at Twilight. Spike was standing beside Rarity, gazing at her, lovestruck.

The next second, however, after they had noticed the door had opened, their eyes moved to focus on me. Twilight turned around to see what her friends were looking at. Seeing me, she smiled.

"Hello Jordan," the purple unicorn said, "I was just about to tell my friends about you. Well, as much as I know, anyway."

I kicked the door closed with one of my hind legs and walked over to where Twilight was. I saw that the others were watching me warily, all except Pinkie Pie whose gaze was more curious and happy than wary.

I glanced at Twilight and returned the smile. "Then it looks like I got back just in time."

Twilight nodded. Glancing at her friends, she said," Guys, this is Jordan. Jordan, this is--"

"I know who they are," I replied, cutting her off. Pointing my hoof at each one, I listed their names off. "Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Spike, Applejack, and Fluttershy."

As I listed their names, their expressions changed from wary/curious to shocked. Even Twilight was surprised, despite the fact that I had previously displayed more knowledge than I should've had earlier.

Applejack stepped forward a bit. "If'n I may ask you a question; how do you know our names? I don't reckon we've ever met ya before."

"You guys haven't met me before, but I've certainly met you guys," I said mysteriously. Okay, I was playing it up a bit. After all, I never get to make cryptic statements like that. It was fun knowing a whole lot more than everyone else. "Well, in a certain way at least."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Twilight, sounding a tad suspicious.

"It's complic--" I began, stopping myself when I saw a pink blur launch herself at me in my peripheral vision. I nimbly jumped backwards into the air, helped along by my wings which, up until this point, I hadn't felt at all. Now, upon jumping backwards, feeling rushed into my wings and they flapped themselves almost of their own accord. Oddly enough, they felt like an extra set of arms, except without the fingers and hands.

With the help of my wings, I landed much farther back then I had intended to. I looked back to where I had been just a moment earlier. Pinkie Pie was laying on the ground at the exact spot where I had been standing, staring at me disappointedly. The others looked positively astonished, Rainbow Dash especially.

"You... you dodged it!" she exclaimed incredulously. "No one ever dodges Pinkie's 'Welcome Hug'!"

I smiled as I walked back to the group and helped Pinkie up. "Yeah, I was kind of expecting it."

"Really?" Pinkie asked in her peppy voice, not at all affected by her failed 'Welcome Hug'. "How?"

Well, it was time to finally tell my story. I took a deep breath, and started, "Well, as Twilight already told you, I'm from another universe..."

From the looks on their faces, she hadn't told them.

"You're from another universe!?" exclaimed Pinkie and Dash simultaneously, confirming my thoughts.

"Are you from the Doctor's universe or Sonic's?" Fluttershy questioned quietly, repeating Twilight's question from earlier.

I found it funny how they didn't question the fact that I was from another universe, instead choosing to question me about which one I was from. As it was, I looked at Twilight and raised an eyebrow. "If you didn't tell them I was from another universe, what did you tell them to make them come here?" I asked.

She glanced at the floor, smiling sheepishly. "Oh, you know, that there was I girl I wanted them to meet."

"We thought she had gotten herself a marefriend or something," Rarity interjected. Sighing, she added, "Sadly, that isn't the case." Apparently realizing what she had said, the white unicorn continued on to say, "I'm glad to be proven wrong, of course."

Why on Earth would she tell them that instead of the more interesting tidbit about me being otherworldly? "Why on Earth would you tell them that instead of me being from another universe? Doesn't that tidbit of info seem just a bit more important?"

"I... I'm not sure why I said it," Twilight replied, frowning. "It just felt like the right thing to say."

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash cleared her throat. "Ahem! You still haven't answered our question here, Jordan."

"Tell us, tell us!" Pinkie insisted, bouncing up and down. "The Doctor's universe or Sonic's?"

"Neither," I answered.

That stopped them short.

"What do you mean?" asked Rainbow Dash.

"But you have to be from one of their's," said Pinkie Pie, her bouncing ceasing. "Their's are the only other universes!"

"Apparently not," I retorted, smiling just a bit. This was kind of fun.

"Hold on, I think I remember something!" Twilight exclaimed, turning to face her friends. "Remember the Gate room that the Princess showed us? There was another Gate there; it was just blocked off."

"Oh yeah!" the others chorused.

"She must be from that middle gate! Except... how'd the gate get open?" Twilight asked, now looking at me. "It doesn't make sense."

Now there was some sort of 'Gate Room'? Things where just getting weirder and weirder. Before I'd come here, I thought I had known all there was to know about the MLP universe. How wrong I'd been! Oh, why couldn't I have come to the normal pony universe like everyone else? Instead, I get sent to a pony world where Lyra hates humans and alternate universes are normal.

"Don't ask me," I replied. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Well, you do seem to know a lot about us and our universe," Twilight pointed out. "More than you should, considering you're from another universe."

"Yeah," agreed Rainbow Dash, eyeing me suspiciously. "Why is that exactly?"

Damn, they had me there. Explaining this was going to be hard. So hard, in fact, that I wasn't going to do it... at least, not very in depth. "Well, in my universe, Equestria and all the ponies in it are part of the TV show 'My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic'," I said, knowing full well that they wouldn't have the slightest idea of what I was talking about. It was the only thing I could thing of to say. But hey, at least I wasn't lying. "I've watched every episode so far, and I've read plenty of fanfiction to boot."

Just as I had anticipated, they were all confused as hell.

"What in tarnation is a 'tee-vee show'?" asked Applejack, scratching her head.

"And what the hay is 'fanfiction'?" questioned Rainbow Dash.

Strangely enough, it was at this moment that I realized Spike was no longer with us. I wondered idly where he would've gone.

Rarity frowned at me. "Please, darling, could you stop using these ambiguous statements and just say what you mean? It's starting to get a little frustrating."

"Tell me about it," said Twilight, glancing at Rarity. "She's been doing that ever since I met her this morning. Neither Sonic nor Tails were this vague."

No more being ambiguous? Gotcha. "I'm sorry, but my universe is hard to explain... well, at least for me it is. I'm not very good at explaining things."

"Could you try, at least?" asked Twilight shortly. I could easily tell she was getting annoyed by these vague statements. Apparently not know everything gets on her nerves. Good to know.

"Yeah! Your universe sounds fun!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie.

"What do you mean Pinkie?" Rainbow Dash asked, looking at the party pony as if she'd gone completely crazy. "She hasn't really said anything about her universe yet."

Pinkie giggled and hugged Dash tight. "I know."

Dash groaned, trying to push her away. "Pinkie, could you stop!? You've been clinging to me nonstop since Bon-Bon's funeral. It's extremely annoying!" When Pinkie continued to hold on, the cyan pegasus stopped fighting and resigned herself to the pink pony's embrace.

I stared at them for a couple moments, thinking of reasons why she'd be so clingy. And it had been happening since Bon-Bon's funeral? What exactly did that have to do with this behavior?

"Um, anyway," I said, getting the conversation back on track, "I don't think I'll be able to get the general gist of my universe across to you guys without butchering it. As I said, I'm not very good at explaining things."

"If only there was some way we could find out about your universe without you explaining it," whispered Fluttershy, looking at the ground disappointedly.

At this remark, Twilight's face lit up. "Actually, there might be a way to do just that!"

"Really?" me and the other ponies said simultaneously.

Twilight nodded as she used her unicorn magic to grab a large, red book off one of the many shelves and bring it down in front of her. After flipping through the book, which was titled simply as 'The Mind', she found whatever page she had been looking for.

"Yes, here it is!" the purple unicorn said excitedly, reading the page. Once she was finished, she closed the book, put it back on the shelf, and smiled at me. "The 'Memories' spell. It'll let me see inside your memories. From there, I can see what your universe is like and explain it to everyone."

I was a little wary of this plan, since it involved magic being used directly on me. However, if it got the gist of my universe across to these ponies without me giving a long, terrible explanation, then it was worth the risk. That thought in mind, I said the absolute worst possible thing anyone could ever say in my situation.

"Alright. What could possibly go wrong?"

Twilight nodded. "Okay. This may feel a little weird though." With that, she closed her eyes and her horn began to glow a brilliant violet. Her eyes still closed, she slowly walked up to me. Once she reached me, Twilight leaned forward ever so slightly and touched her glowing horn to my forehead. As soon as the first memory entered our minds, I realized just how bad this idea actually was.

I looked out the window of the car I was riding in as it passed over a bridge. The water of the river that the bridge reside over sparkled in the afternoon sun. The windows were all close because the autumn air outside was a tad chilly. A thought suddenly popped into my head and I had a strange compulsion to share it.

Turning my gaze to stare out the windshield, I said, "You know, there's this girl in my acting class who me and my friend follow around a lot and hug constantly. The funny thing is, she doesn't really mind too much. SHe acts annoyed, but I don't really think she's truly annoyed by it."

The driver, my dad's girlfriend, glanced at me in surprise. "Really?"

I nodded. "Yep."

We were successfully over the bridge now and silence stteled between us. I started to wonder why I had brought that up when my dad's girlfriend asked a completely out of the blue question.

"So... are there any girls in your school that you like?"

Now, being a fifteen year old in high school, I was used to being asked this question. Usually, I said no, but that usually ended up in more unwanted questions and (sometimes) being called gay. Determined not to have these things happen again, I answered, "Yes."

"Is it that girl you hug a lot?" she asked, sounding just a tiny bit hopeful.

My next answer was quick and to the point. "No."

"Oh, okay."

However, as we pulled into our house's driveway, I had a strange feeling that my answer had been wrong. Maybe I *did** like this girl I followed around and hugged a lot. For the first time since first grade 9 years previously, I had a legitimate crush on a girl.*

Twilight yawned as she magicked open the doors to Princess Celestia's grand throne room. After nearly five years of study with the Princess of the Sun, she was used to getting up early. Today, though, Celestia had wanted her up extra early. Apparently, she had a surprise for Twilight.

Walking up to the throne in which Celestia sat, Twilight noticed that there was somepony standing in front of it, facing Celestia. Getting closer, her suspicions were confirmed. The mysterious pony was male unicorn with a dark indigo body and a white man with a streak of the same dark indigo that covered his body. Twilight's first impression of this unicorn was that he was very handsome... at least, to her. She didn't get out much, so her definition of handsome might be entirely different from everyone else's.

Upon reaching a point a couple feet to the left of the handsome unicorn, Twilight tore her gaze away from him and onto Celestia. The Princess was smiling down at her.

"Good morning Twilight. I thank you for obliging me in waking up this early," said the alabaster alicorn, a hint of sympathy in her voice.

Twilight shook her head. "It was no trouble at all, Princess. As you said, you had a surprise for me." She glanced at the unicorn beside her who, to her surprise, was also glancing at her curiously.

"Yes," Celestia replied, nodding. "Twilight, this is Moonlight Shadow. He's going to be training with you, as he has shown almost as much magical potential as you."

Twilight eyed Moonlight Shadow skeptically, not believing that for one second, but shook the unicorns hoof anyway. Just from the hoofshake, Twilight could tell he was very strong physically.

"I'm very pleased to meet you, Twilight Sparkle," said Moonlight Shadow as he shook her hoof. "Princess Celestia has told me a lot about you."

"She has, has she?" Twilight retorted, glaring just a bit at the Princess. Was she really trying to giver her a friend *now*? Hadn't she realized that Twilight didn't need any friends?

As if reading Twilight's mind, Celestia said, "Yes, I have. Twilight, I've told you a thousand times, you need friends; friends you own age. In four years, you'll be sixteen; a fully grown adult. You can't rely on me, your brother, or your books for the rest of your life. Not only does Moonlight Shadow have great magical potential, he's the perfect candidate for being your friend."

At this remark, Twilight rolled her eyes and glanced at Moonlight Shadow. He seemed surprised, and a little embarrassed, as evidenced by the red on his cheeks.

"With that out of the way," Celestia began, starting to walk towards them. "Let us begin today's lesson by reviewing one of the basics: levitation magic."

"No."

That word, spoken by the girl of my dreams, shattered my heart into a million tiny pieces, despite her sympathetic expression. I had heard the term 'heartbreak' before, but I'd never thought it accurately described the feeling. I had thought it was an over exaggeration, a hyperbole. But no. At that moment, I realized just how accurate the term was. My chest felt like a black hole, sucking in every good feeling I'd ever had. And boy, did it hurt like a bitch.

I thought back to the moment I realized just how much I liked this girl, nearly a week ago , and what had happened since then. I had been building myself up to this moment all week, even rehearsing what I'd say the night beforehand. I knew hiding back this secret from the one you love wasn't a good thing, which is why I had decided to tell her so soon. In the movies, every time someone had told the one they liked all about their feelings, it had worked out. I should've known it wouldn't work for me.

Now, standing in a hallway in my high school, I tried to think of witty retort, a clever-- *something** to say against this 'no'. "B-but I..." I stammered.*

"I'm flattered, I really am," she said, smiling a sad smile. "I've never had a boyfriend, actually."

"Really?" I asked, baffled. This beautiful girl, this perfect girl *had** to have had someone ask her out. Well, apparently not.*

She nodded.

"Could you... could you give me a chance, at least? You could, I don't know, learn to love me... maybe?"

"No," she answered again, shaking her head.

"Why not?"

She smiled at me in what seemed like embarrassment. "I like someone else."

That was *not** the answer I was expecting. "Um... who?"*

The girl I loved raised an eyebrow. "I think you know who it is."

I thought about it for a moment before the obvious answer hit me like a sack of bricks. "Oh."

She nodded again.

My friend, the one who followed her around with me. Of course. Of *fucking** course. She had liked the guy next to me the entire time. Why? Why!? WHY!? This just kept getting worse, and I had a feeling that the worst was yet to come.*

The love of my life glanced at the digital clock on the wall. The red numbers showed that the time was 3:30 PM.

She looked back at me apologetically. "Sorry, but I've... I've got to go." She began walking away. "See you tomorrow," she added before turning around completely.

After a few moments, I began walking in the opposite direction, towards the exit of the school. As I did, tears started to flow and I told myself how stupid I was for thinking anyone could like me that way. Obviously that was impossible.

However, as soon as I got outside, I looked up at the sky in defiance. This wasn't the end. I was *not** going to give up that easily. I vowed to make that girl's heart mine, no matter the cost.*

Twilight was as excited, and nervous, as she had ever been, as she and Moonlight Shadow walked out of the Princess's throne room after a particularly challenging lesson. Twilight glanced a the handsome unicorn to her left and the butterflies in her stomach fluttered as usual. She mentally told herself to clam down; the thing she wanted to ask wasn't *that** big in the grand scheme of things. However, despite her own reassurance, she continued to be nervous.*

It had been nearly two years since Princess Celestia had introduced her to Moonlight Shadow in order for her to make friends. Despite her original resentment she'd felt towards him, they became the best of friends. They spent so much time together that unfamiliar ponies would think them brother and sister. Over the past two years, Twilight had even started to develop a crush on Shadow. He was everything she thought about. She thought about him even more than her studies, which probably explained why she wasn't doing so well lately. Celestia had chastised her for not studying hard enough. Twilight didn't really care; she had *him*.

"Well, that was fun," said Shadow, smiling at her sideways as they walked through the castle's grand halls.

Twilight smiled back at him. "Definitely," she agreed, letting her voice drip with sarcasm.

At that, Moonlight Shadow started laughing. Hearing his laugh, Twilight couldn't help but join in. Their combined laughter echoed in the large chambers.

"So, how are you today?" asked Shadow.

"Same as ever,' Twilight lied, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering again.

"Bored?"

Twilight nodded.

Shadow got that mischievous gleam in his eye that Twilight loved. "Well, you *are** a pretty boring pony."*

"Shut up!" Twilight exclaimed, shoving him good-naturedly.

Shadow chuckled. "I'm just kidding."

"Yeah, I know."

Finally, they were outside. They both stopped and looked up at the bright blue sky. The butterflies in Twilight's stomach were fluttering so much that it was starting to become unbearable. She couldn't hold it in any longer; she needed to ask him!

"Um..." Twilight began, her cheeks reddening, "do... do you want to, uh, I don't know, have dinner with me?"

Shadow looked extremely confused. "What do you mean? We have dinner together all the time."

Twilight's butterflies were nearly suffocating her at this point. "No, I mean... romantically."

"Oh," said Moonlight Shadow, his eyes widening. He looked at the ground for a couple moments, an unreadable expression on his face. Then he looked back at Twilight, a broad smile playing on his lips. "Okay!"

That simple answer threw Twilight for a loop. "R-really?"

"Yep," replied Shadow, nodding. "I've always kind of had a crush on you, I just never worked up the courage to ask you out. Where do you want to eat?"

"Um... you pick."

"Hmmmmmm..." Shadow mused, thinking for a moment. "How about... Pony Joe's?"

Twilight giggled. "Yeah, okay. Nice to know you have great romantic instincts. 7 o'clock?"

Shadow smiled and nodded. Then his eyes widened and he facehoofed. "I'm stupid! I think I forgot something in the throne room!" He turned and ran back into the castle. "See you at Pony Joe's!" he called over his shoulder.

Twilight shook her head, smiling, and began to walk back home. She needed to get ready for her date. After a few seconds, she laughed. What had she been so nervous for?

Twilight barged into the throne room, seething with rage.

"MOONLIGHT SHADOW!" the purple unicorn yelled, her eyes darting around the throne room, looking for any trace of the lying dirtbag. Unfortunately, there was no sigh on him. This only other pony in the room was Princess Celestia who had a very surprised look on her face.

"What's wrong, my little pony?" asked Celestia, getting up off of her throne.

"That lying, two-faced... *bastard*, Moonlight Shadow!" replied Twilight fiercely, still looking around the room.

Celestia walked up to the purple unicorn. "What about him?" she questioned, concern etched into her face.

"He stood me up!" Twilight shouted, now glaring at the Princess. "I asked him out on a date and he NEVER SHOWED UP!" The anger inside Twilight was reaching critical levels; she'd never been this angry in her life.

Something flashed in Celestia's eyes. "Oh, did he not tell you? He transferred the magic shool in Manehattan. He said that it was to hard here and that the ponies here are too boring." The alabster alicorn shook her head. "Maybe he wasn't as gifted as I thought."

Twilight's burning rage was instantly extinguished, only to be replaced with something much worse: pain. Yes, she was angry with the guy, but that didn't mean she wanted him to leave. All she wanted was legitimate apology. But that couldn't happen now.

Not only that, but he'd left h=because he said it was too hard and that everypony was too boring? That didn't sound like Shadow... but, then again, maybe Twilight had never really known him in the first place. Maybe he was one of those guys she'd read about; the ones who put on an act just to get ladies.

Very slowly, a numbness began spreading thoughout her body. Twilight looked up at the Princess, her eyes wide. "You're joking... right?"

The Princess's face turned sad. "I'm afraid not."

Suddenly, the realization of what had happened hit her full force. She would never hear his laugh again, she would never see that mischievous glint in his eyes again, and she would never lay her eyes on that handsome unicorn ever again. She had loved him, and now he was gone forever.

Possibly sensing the pain and sadness Twilight was feeling, Celestia said, "I know how hard this must be for you; you two were the best of friends. I think we can skip today's lesson."

Tears were now streaming down Twilight's face. After a few moments, Twilight hung her head and turned around. As she did so, the purple unicorn thought she saw a glimpse of satisfaction in the Princess's eyes. However, she ignored it, thinking it was some weird hallucination brought on by her emotional state of being.

Twilight walked out of the throne room, tears still streaming down her face. She vowed never to fall in love ever again; the pain of another lost love like this one would be too much for the purple unicorn to bear.

"You know, it seems like almost every time you turn a corner in this school, you run into somebody," said my love after nearly running into another student... after turning a corner.

"You said it sister," I agreed, smiling.

The past month had been one of the most emotionally turbulent of my life. First, the love of my life says no to me. Then, she starts going out with my friend. During that period, I was a heartbroken loser. However, yesterday, she told me she had broken up with my friend. At these words, I was filled with a joy previously thought impossible.

Of course, I was also shocked. I had thought they would be together forever. Apparently not. Immediately after saying they'd broken up, though, the girl I loved to bits said she still wasn't interested in being my girlfriend. Too bad for her; I wasn't giving up just yet.

"I still think the middle school's worse, though," continued my love as we walked through the locker lined hallway to the lunchroom.

I thought about it for a moment. "Nah, I think it's worse here. Much worse."

Silence reigned between us as we began weaving through the crowd gathering in the lunchroom. I probably bumped into ten people lining up for Asian Nation, emphasizing what we were talking about. Once through, we continued walking towards the hallway that lead to the band room, the band which my love was a part of.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again," I started, "they should implement a traffic system. You know, like the ones on the roads... with traffic lights and all that jazz. I'm telling you, there'll be less collisions."

My love laughed. "Yeah, that sounds like a *very** good idea," she said sarcastically.*

We had finally reached the band hallway. I stopped myself as she kept walking. My class right was lunch, not band. However, just as I was about to turn around and head back to the lunch room, the love of my life turned and smiled at me. It wasn't just any smile though. It was the most amazing smile I'd ever seen; a smile that instantly etched itself permanently into my memory.

END OF PART 1

Learning of Love

Part 2: Laughter and Loyalty - Chapter 1: Learning of Love

The pain.

This pain was like nothing I had ever experienced, spreading like wildfire though me. Seeing these memories of heartbreak and loss cut like a knife. I had felt the pain of this heartbreak while living through these memories, but this was far worse as the memories I'd been trying to repress for over half a year were forcefully brought deeper into focus than they had ever been before, not only for one person, but two.

The memory spell that Twilight had cast was much more than either of us had bargained for. Not only did she see all my memories, I saw all of hers, compounding my heartbroken pain with hers. The memories of the ones we had loved weren't the only memories we saw, however, despite being the ones driven into focus. I could see her entire life from birth to the moment I arrived on her doorstep, and I assumed she could see the same. I could also see the adventure she'd mentioned earlier; the one with Sonic and the Doctor. I saw how Sonic had beaten Rainbow Dash in a race, how Eggman had turned good, and how Sonic had defeated Discord with the power of Harmonic Chaos.

The sudden influx of memories and emotions should have cuased our consciousnesses to burn themselves out from the overload of information, but, oddly enough, my consciousness (and Twilight's, I assumed) expanded its capacity in order to make more than enough room for all the memories. In fact, both our consciousnesses expanded so much that, through the link created by Twilight's spell, our consciousnesses combined into one. Not only were our memories up for display now, so were our personalities, our essences, our very beings. Everything that made us us was up for both of us to see with no restrictions.

And boy did it suck.

Looking at myself, all I could see were my faults. I had good qualities, like my sense of humor (even if it was a tad on the dirty side), my imagination, my kindness, my love for all things Green Bay Packers-- but all that was overshadowed by my glaring faults, standing out as if they'd been highlighted with a bright yellow marker. My stubbornness, my inability to stop asking sensitive questions, my quick temper, and my capacity for cruelty; the cruelty that's deep inside every human's heart. These faults were cast in an even harsher light when compared to the almost saintlike soul beside me.

Twilights essence was an entirely different beast than mine. She was kinder, more trusting, more likable, not to mention smarter. Yes, she had faults of her own; naivety, quick temper, a tendency to overreact to small things. However, they weren't nearly as prevelent as mine, nor as bad. She also didn't have that capacity for cruelty that I and nearly every human has. That surprised me. She didn't have the ability to be cruel... at least, not in the same way.

More surprising, and something that  really interested me, was the amount of things we had in common. Both of us have quick tempers, we're both smart (her moreso than me) and most surprisingly, and we had both fallen in love with people who hadn't returned our love. I never suspected we had so much in common, especially not that last part.

While all this personality stuff was going on in the background of our expanded consciousnesses, the memories of our heartbreak were still the main things in focus.

As soon as the last of these memories ended, the newly renewed pain and heartbreak finally reached the boiling point, snapping the connection of consciousnesses that had been forged between me and Twilight. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the spell ended.

There was a loud bang and I immediately felt myself flying backwards through the air and crashing into a wall. I slowly slid down the wall onto the floor. Pain flared instantly in my back annd wings, exasperated by the large amount of books that suddenly fell down onto me.

"Ow," I groaned.

Strangely, I felt the pile of books on top of me being pushed away. My eyes snapped open and I saw a pair of pink hooves help me up.

"Upsy daisies," said Pinkie Pie, smiling at me.

I looked around. On the floor in the center of the room were a bunch of black scorch marks. That must've been where Twilight and I had been standing. Looking past that,near the opposite wall, I saw Twilight being helped up off the floor by the rest of the Mane 6 sans Pinkie Pie who was standing beside me.

"Thank you," I muttered to Pinkie Pie.

Her smile widened. "No problem."

"I do have a question, though," I whispered, glancing at the others. "Why are you helping me? Why not help Twilight? She's your friend, not me."

"Well, nopony was coming to help you, so I decided to do it all by my Pinkie-self," she replied. Then she looked from side to side and lowered her voice. "Actually, I did it because we need to talk. My Pinkie Sense is telling me that you're supposed to help me with something; something between me and Dashie."

That confused the heck out of me. "What? Why you and--"

"Pinkie!" shouted Rainbow Dash, flying over between us in an instant. "Stop fraternizing with the enemy!"

"What!?" Pinkie and I exclaimed simultaneously.

The next second I was slammed and pinned to the wall  by Applejack, the pain flaring up in my back again.

"She hurt Twilight, Pinkie," explained Applejack, glaring at me. "I was a might suspicious of her when she first came in, and now my suspicions have been confirmed." I looked past Applejack and saw Rarity and Fluttershy walking closer with Twilight, both of whom were nodding.

Instead of fighting back or trying to defend myself like I normally would, I sighed and resigned myself to whatever happened. They wouldn't believe me no matter what I said. The only person they'd believe would be Twilight, but, after seeing who I was and all of my memories, she wouldn't defend me. Not only that, but I'd done the nearly impossible: I got almost eh entirety of the Mane 6 (plus Spike and Lyra) to hate me. Aren't I just great at first impressions?

Of course, it's at these types of moments when the impossible just might happen.

"It wasn't his fault, girls," said Twilight, rubbing her horn. "Let him go."

Everyone stared at her. Apparently, I hadn't been the only one who thought she wouldn't defend me. Applejack, in fact, was so shocked that she relaxed her hold on me and let me drop to the ground.

"But, Twi--" started Applejack.

"Did you say 'he'?" Rarity asked, glancing from me to Twilight. "Unless I'm very much mistaken, she is a 'she'."

Twilight walked over and helped me up, causing Applejack to take a few steps back. As she was doing so, she looked at me with a glint of emotion in her eye, though it wasn't any emotion I expected to see. It wasn't embarassment , anger, or caution. No, it was understanding. That should've made me feel better. It didn't.

After helping me up, she turned towards the others. "What just happened was not his fault. Yes, I was hurt, but, in case you didn't notice, so was he. Why would that happen if he was trying only to hurt me? You tell me all the time not to overreact to small stuff, yet here you go doing just that."

The way she said all that had me feeling like I had to apologize, and I was the one she was defending. Damn. If only I could talk that way.

Twilight continued to glare at the rest of the Mane 6 until each one apologized. As soon as Pinkie was about to apologize, though, Twilight stopped her.

"Not you, Pinkie. You're the only one who went to help him."

The pink pony stopped with her mouth halfway open, looked at Twilight, then at me, and finally closed her mouth and smiled. the she winked at me conspiratorally. I stared back, confused.

"Twilight, darling, why do you calling her a 'him'? She's a girl," Rarity said.

The purple unicorn smiled mischieviously and looked at me. "Why don't you ask 'her'?"

Immediately, everyone's eyes were on me, making me uncomfortable. Especially Twilight's. That understanding and sympathy in her eyes was getting on my nerves. I didn't need her sympathy. I didn't need anyone's.

As it was, I glared at Twilight and said, "Yeah, thanks." Shaking my head, I turned to the others. "In my universe, I'm actually a guy. For some reason, when I entered this universe, I became a girl. Don't ask me how because, well, I don't know."

For what seemed like the millionth time that day, they all looked shocked and just a tad skeptical.

"You're serious?" asked Rainbow Dash, her jaw hanging open.

I nodded and glanced at Twilight. She was looking at her friends faces and looked as if she was about to bust out laughing.

"I... but... you... huh?" floundered Rarity, seemingly unable to comprehend the idea of a magical sex change.

"That doesn't make a lick of sense," Applejack stated, frowning.

"How's that possible?" Fluttershy questioned quietly.

I shrugged (which was kind of hard to do as a pony) and said, "I don't know how it's possible. Maybe... maybe it's because, well, whenever I imagined myself as a pony, I imagined myself as a girl. In any case, it doesn't truly matter; I'm a girl at the moment and I don't think that's about to change any time soon, so the faster we all get over it, the better we'll all be."

They all slowly nodded, seemingly relieved to get off such an odd topic. Rarity seemed to have a little more trouble with this as she took a couple extra seconds to nod her head. Twilight was still looking at me funny, which worried me a little. If she thought we were now going to talk about my memories of... her, the girl I had loved, the she could go straight to hell. That topic was off limits, especially in front of other people.

"So, anyway," I began before anyone could say anything, "wasn't the whole reason we did this memory spell to find out about my universe and for you to tell them about it, Twilight? You know, non-personal things. Things that don't involve affairs of the heart."

Once again, Rarity's interest was piqued. "Affairs of the heart?"

"Yeah, I guess," replied Twilight, biting her lower lip and ignoring Rarity completely. I could tell straightaway that she had been just about to bring up the exact topic I didn't want her to bring up. Lucky for me that I'd spoken up when I did.

The purple unicron swithchedher gaze to the others. "Well, his universe is--"

"PINKIE PIE, CUT IT OUT!" shouted Rainbow Dash so loudly and so suddenly that everyone jumped.

Dash was now hovering high in theair, and Pinkie was laying on the ground where Dashhadbeen looking shocked. She looked as if she'd been trying to hug Dash again.

The cyan pegasus glared down at the pink pony. "Seriously! Ever since  Bon-Bon's funeral you've been clinging to me almost nonstope. I'm sick and tired of it! I need my pesonal space!" She looked at the rest of us. "Sorry guys, we're going to have to finish this conversation later. I need to go."

With that, Rainbow Dash flew out the library's window, leaving stunned silence in her wake. Pinkie Pie looked as if she were about to cry, tears rimming her big blue eyes. Not only that, there was pain behind her eyes; a pain I knew only too well. The pain of heartbreak. But... why? Then, suddenly, the realization hit me like... like... like something really, really big.

Pinkie Pie was in love with Rainbow Dash.

Now Pinkie's comments and actions from earlier made a tiny bit more sense. No wonder she was so obsessed with the pegasus; no wonder she was so crushed by Rainbow Dash's outburst. The pink pony was in love. The only question I had left was this: what had been so damn significant about Bon-Bon's funeral? Pinkie's clingyness sort of made sense now, but what did the funeral have to do with it?

Seeing Pinkie in that pain reminded me of the pain I'd experienced just a few minutes earlier, and it tore me up inside. That pain was something I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy, let alone this innocent little party pony. No, I wouldn't let her experience that pain. I had to help her get Rainbow Dash to fall for her, I just had to.

The silence that had filled the room after Rainbow Dash's sudden departure was suddenly broken by Applejack. "Yeah, uh, sorry Twi, but... ah've gotta go. Ah've gotta, uh, help Granny Smith plan tomorrow's Apple Family Reunion. So, um, see ya later." She tipped her hat to me ash she walked past us and out the door.

The others followed suit, saying their goodbyes and leaving, all with a lousy excuse. And I didn't blame them. I didn't even want to be her right now. Of course, I had to. For Pinkie Pie's sake.

Once everyone was gone, that left me, Twilight, and a very downtrodden Pinkie Pie. The pink pony began walking towards the door, muttering something about the Cake family needing her help. The only problem was, I had something to tell her. She couldn't leave just yet.

"Hold on a second, Pinkie Pie. I have something to tell you," I said, causing her to stop and turn back to me. "In private," I added, glancing at Twilight.

The purple unicorn looked at me curiously. "Uh... yeah, sure. I'll be upstairs in the bedroom if you need me."

Bedroom? Why the bedroom? Why not the kitchen or the outside of the library? I looked out the window and saw that it was nighttime. Nighttime!? Since when!? It had been daylight just a few minutes ago... right? how long had we been underthat memory spell? time sure flies when you're having... fun? No, more like an unexpectedly bad day. This pony universe wasn't as good as I thought it'd be, not by a long shot.

"What did you want to talk to me about?" came Pinkie's voice, snapping me out of my reverie.

"What? Oh, yes, right. Um..." I started, watching Twilight go up the stairs. Once she was done, I turned my gaze back to Pinkie (who was trying her best to smile at me) and continued, "I want to help you with your problem."

"My... problem?" asked the pink mare, her voiice quivering just a tiny bit.

I nodded. "With Rainbow Dash."

Her eyes widend and she let out the fakest laugh I'd ever heard. "Rainbow Dash? I don't have a prolem with Dashie."

I smiled sympathetically. "You don't need to lie to me Pinkie. I know you're in love with Rainbow Dash; I can see the pain behind your eyes from when she rebuked you a couple minutes ago."

"I don't know what you're--"

"Pinkie,  please," I said, cutting her off. "You can trust me. Your secret is safe with me." Even though, of course, she had absolutely no reason to trust me whatsoever.

Pinkie closed her eyes and sighed. "You're right. I'm in love with Dashie." She turned and looked out the window that Dash had left through. "I just don't know how to get her to love me. At Bon-Bon's funeral, I saw how sad Lyra was and I saw how terrible it was to lose someone you love." The pink pony looked me me straight in the eyes. I could see tears forming along the rims of her eyes. "I can't lose Dashie! Without her, the party inside me would end and I'd be a shell of my former Pinkie-self!"

Well, that answered my question. She'd been so clingy to Rainbow Dash because she didn't want to lose her. Despite never feeling that exactly the same way, it was at least something I could understand.

"Don't worry, I understand," I assured her. "An hey, tell you what. I'll help you get her to fall for you."

Pinkie Pie's jaw fell open. "Really!?"

"Yep," I said, nodding, "I'll do everything I can to help you two get together. How's that sound?"

The next instant, pink filled my vision as Pinkie wrapped me in a tight embrace.

"Thank you!" she exclaimed, letting me go. Her gigantic smile threatened to split her face in half. "Thank you, thank you, thank you! Oh, you are such a nice friend!"

Friends? With Pinkie Pie? Sweet! Granted, she didn't have the strictest standards for what she considered friends, but still-- I was friends with Pinkie Pie, my favorite pony!

Despite the happiness I was feeling inside, I just shrugged and repeated her words from earlier, "No problem."

Looking at Pinkie, with that huge smile on her face, I couldn't help but smile back. This felt good. Of course, I wasn't entirely sure how I was going to get Dash and Pinkie together, but, at the moment, I didn't care. This girl needed help, and I was just the one to give it to her.

The party pony turned and bounced towards the door. "Thanks again, Jordan!" she called as she bounced out the door. "I had a feeling you'd help me and Dashie."

Yeah, I remembered she'd said that earlier. But, if she did indeed have that feeling, then why did she act so surprised when I-- nevermind. this was Pinkie Pie I was talking about. Boggling people's minds was the norm for her.

At any rate, I was left standing alone in the middle of the library in Ponyville. at that thought, I sat down, sighted, and rubbed my eyes. today had been a rought day. Being trasported to the MLP universe should've been a good thing, but it had actually been a bad thing. After being taken off guard by Lyra's hatred of humans, I had been forced to relive my most painful memories. The only bright spot, in all honesty, was my promise to Pinkie Pie, but, even then, I didn't even know how I was going to keep that promise.

Well, as that old saying goes: there's always tomorrow... at least, I think that's how that old saying goes.

I heard hoofstep coming down the stairs. "Jordan?"

I opened my eyes and turned my head to look at where the voice had come from. I saw Twilight standing halfway down the stairs, looking at me.

"What?" I asked.

"I set up a guest bed upstairs for you," she replied, gesturing up the stairs. "It's late and, if you're tired..."

As soon as she said it, I realized just how tired I actually was. Where had the day gone?

I rubbed my eyes and got up. "I'm coming," I said, walking towards the stairs.

Once we got up to the bedroom, I walked straight past Spike sleeping in his little basket, and jumped into the bed Twilight had made for me. It was probably the single most comfortable bed I'd ever been in.

"Thanks," I mumbled into the pillow, my eyes refusing to open.

Twilight laughed as I heard her get into her own bed. "You're welcome."

She started to say something else, but I had already drifted off to sleep.

All of a sudden, I was in my universe. The only problem was that I was still a pony; I could see my reflection in the shinny tile floor. Pulling my gaze away from my reflection, I examined the room I was in.

To my right, there were three rather large windows looking out over a parking lot. Along all the other walls were mirrors, like the ones in a famous actors dressing rooms. I instantly recognized this room. It was my school's drama classroom.

At that moment, I knew this was a dream. A feeling of dread began to spread through me. I'd had this dream before. However, the last time I'd had this dream, I hadn't been a pony; I'd been human. But, most importantly, standing in the center of the room had been--

I turned and, like I expected, saw someone standing inthe center of  the room. However, it wasn't the girl I had loved like it had been the last time. No, this time it was Twilight Sparkle. As soon as I saw her, my feeling of dread changed to fear.

Twilight looked me dead in the eyes. As soon as she did , she smiled one of the most amazing smiles I had ever seen, beating out the one I'd seen in my memories. For that one second, the fear drained out of me and I was blissfully happy. After that, though, the fear came back with a vengeance.

I woke up with a jerk. When I saw that it was still late at night and I was back in the guest bed at the Ponyville library, I breathed a sigh of relief. The dream was over. Then I immediately groaned. That the dream had happened at all was a bad sign. It meant I was probably going to fall in love with Twilight. That was not something I wanted.

I didn't want it for plenty of good, logical reasons. First off, I didn't want to experience heartbreak again. That was far too painful. Twilight probably didn't like me like that so falling in love with her would only lead to heartbreak. I mean, why would she fall for me? I wasn't special. Not like her, anyway. Secondly, she was a pony. I couldn't fall in love with a pony. Not only would that be incredibly wierd, it would probably be considered beastiality. Then again, I was (currently) also a pony... but still!

Of course, fighting it was probably futile. The last time I'd had that dream about someone, I'd fallen in love with that person. Why wouldn't the same thing happen again? It might've been an overreaction to think that way, but the facts were facts. That dream was 1-for-1 in making me fall in love with someone. Who's to say it wouldn't be 2-for-2? Having this dream again would make me fall in love and, more than likely, cause me more heartbreak. That's why I'd been so afraid in the dream. I really didn't want to experience that pain again. Too bad it was probably inevitable.

I turned my head to look out the window. All the lights were off in the library, so the only light came from the moon shining through the window. The night sky here was beautiful. Having lived in my polluted universe, I'd never truly seen a night sky so full, a moon so bright. I smiled. Maybe this universe wasn't as bad as I'd been thinking.

And then I noticed that I was under a blanket.

This confused me. I distinctly remembered jumping into this bed and falling asleep without using the blanket. How had it gotten over me? Did I unknowingly slip under it while I was sleeping?

I glanced over at Twilight's bed and was surprised to find it empty. Spike was in his basket, still asleep, but Twilight wasn't in her bed. She was probably doing some late night studying or something. I decided to go talk to her about our memories, the painful ones. Even though I hadn't wanted to talk about it earlier, we needed to talk about it somethime, and there was no time like the present when we were both completely alone.

Shaking my head of all drowsiness, I kicked off the blankets with my hind legs and crawled to the edge of the bed. Once I did, what I saw stopped me short.

Twilight was curled up, asleep, directly beside my bed. Seeing this, my heart felt like it had exploded. This was just too cute. She looked so adorable like this. That level of adorableness should've been illegal. I then glanced from Twilight to the blanket and realized that she must've been the one to put the blanket over me.

My jaw dropped. That was so... nice. No one had ever done something so nice for me before. It warmed the cockles of my broken heart. And, at that moment, I felt deep downinside of me that I was actually starting to fall for her. The wierd thing was, though, (beside the obvious) staring down at this adorable purple unicorn curled up sleeping beside my bed, I wasn't bothered by that. Not a single, tiny bit.

As I was looking down at her, a strange question enter my head: why was she still at the side of my bed?

Invitation of a Lifetime

Part 2: Laughter and Loyalty - Chapter 2: Invitation of a Lifetime

"Who, exactly, are you?" I asked the chained red pegasus mare in front of me, her messy green hair covering her eyes.

She shook her head to get the hair out of her eyes, and looked at me. Her right eye was black and blue. There were several bags under both of the pegasus's brilliant blue eyes. After staring at me for a couple seconds, realization dawned on her face and she smiled.

"I'm... you."

Those simple words took me by surprise. However, upon looking at myself and her again, I saw that she was right. We looked exactly the same! Except for the black eye, of course... and the laser beam cutie mark on her-- his flank.

All around us was a black, seemingly endless void. The only things in the void, that i could see, were me, the other me, and the chains holding the other me's forelegs above his head.

The other me was now looking around at our surroundings. As he did, he kept nodding.

"I remember this," the other me said. Turning his gaze back to me, he added, "Slightly."

"You remember this?" I asked, gesturing all around us. "This dream? How?"

The other me snorted. "Because I'm you from the future. If I met a future me, why wouldn't I remember that?"

"So nothing more interesting than this happens to me after this?"

"Are you kidding? So much interesting stuff happens to me-- you-- after this it's not even funny." Apparently this actually was funny as he started laughing. "After this dream, things take a right turn down crazy street. This dream is the beginning."

I wanted to argue that things had already taken a turn down crazy street, but I decided against it as I had other, more pressing questions. "This dream, huh? Tell me, what happens between our two time... periods."

The other me looked at me a second before bursting out laughing again. "You think I'd be stupid enough to tell you that? One of the first rules of meeting your past self, besides not doing just that, is to not tell your past self their future. It could end with tragic consequences."

I glared at me. "Like what?"

He thought about it for a moment. "Well... the future could change, something I very much do not want to happen. Other than that, I don't know. Anyway, I don't remember my future self telling me anything about my future when I had this dream. So, yeah, no thank you. No future telling from me."

In all honesty, I hadn't really expected him to say anything different. That's not to say I wasn't disappointed. I had been hoping he'd conveniently forgotten about that rule. Still, I wasn't leaving this dream without something of use. "Can you at least tell me why you're chained up?"

The other me looked up at the chains around his forelegs. "I am chained up, aren't I?" He sighed and looked back at me. "I can't tell you exactly why, but I will tell you this: Equestria isn't the same place as it once was. Not by a long shot."

Well, that was better than nothing... but still not helpful.

"Wait, how far into the future are you?" I questioned, feeling as though my time for questions was running out. Glancing at his flank and the cutie mark residing there, I added, "And how exactly do I get my cutie mark?"

The other me raised an eyebrow. "What did I just say about--"

Suddenly, the temperature dropped, and I felt as cold as an icicle. Whatever dream air I'd been breathing turned to ice. Not only was the air cold, however, it was filled with menace. A vibrant aura of evil enveloped us. I involuntarily shivered.

Then, just as suddenly, a voice rang out. It wasn't just any voice, though. The voice radiated evil and power. It's deep, gruff tones sent shivers down my spine.

"Wake up, Jordan Bush. You and I have so very much to talk about. So... very... much."

The other me's eyes widened in fear. He looked at me with those eyes and I noticed something. Behind the immediate emotion of fear, I could see a deep, echoing sadness. What could he be so sad about?

All of a sudden, with quick wrench in my gut, I woke up.

I woke to the loud sound of pots and pans crashing to the ground.

"Spike!" I heard Twilight yell. "Be careful! We have a guest. You could-- I don't know-- maybe try to be considerate?"

"I was just putting the pots away!" Spike shouted back.

"I told you to keep those out! Jordan might want breakfast."

"Why can't Jordan cook it himself?"

"Did I at some point forget to say he was a guest?"

I decided I'd heard enough and got up. I shook off the blankets and hopped out of bed. As I started walking towards the stairs, I had to stretch and get used to walking on four legs again. Apparently doing it for an entire day wasn't enough to drum it into my brain. Not only that, but my wings were still sore from the previous day. Hopefully I didn't have to do any heavy duty flying, something I wasn't entirely sure I could do in the first place; I'd never truly flown before, after all.

After exiting the bedroom and making my way down the stairs, I noticed Twilight had placed a small table with two chairs in the center of the library. twilight was sitting in one chair, drinking something out of a mug, and I assumed the other chair was for me. As soon as I saw Twilight, my heart went into overdrive, beating itself into a frenzy.

"How are you today, Jordan?" asked Twilight as I plopped myself into the empty chair across the table from her. it was kind of uncomfortable sitting human style as a pony, but I did it anyway.

"Uh..." Upon hearing her voice, my overdriven heart jumped into my throat, disabling my ability to speak. Great. I had talked with her just fine yesterday. Stupid dream. "Um... fine?"

She smiled at my unsure answer, making it harder for me to concentrate. "Hungry?"

Despite being extremely hungry, and my annoyingly growing feelings for Twilight impairing my speaking abilities, I answered immediately, "No."

Suddenly, there was a very, very loud grumbling sound. It took me a few seconds to realize it was coming from my stomach.

Twilight raised an eyebrow. "You sound hungry."

"Well," I began, regaining my speaking abilities somewhat, "okay, I actually am. But-- and this is a very big but-- I know what you ponies normally eat and it's not for me." I instantly regretted saying that, afraid she'd be offended or something.

She frowned. "You're hungry. You need to eat. Maybe... maybe we could make something you like?"

I shook my head. "come on, Twilight, you've seen my memories; you know what I eat. Do you honestly think you could make-- let alone want to make-- the food I eat?"

Twilight deadpanned, probably trying to remember what exactly I like to eat, and then grimaced. "Oh, yeah, right. Yuck."

"Yeah, you ponies don't eat meat. I, on the other hand, love it," I said, slightly surprised she didn't react worse to me haven eaten meat before. I thought she'd have denounced me as a savage or something similar. "Of course, us humans don't eat flowers or stuff like that like you ponies do... at least, most of us don't. Meat may be disgusting to you, but to me flowers are the nasty stuff. Dandelion sandwiches? Yuck!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Whatever. In any case, you're not going hungry. That'd be just cruel. Honestly, you probably haven't eaten in over 24 hours." She paused in thought, her hoof gently tapping her chin. "I remember from some of your memories that you eat breakfast cereal. We have that here. You want some?"

"Sure," I said hesitantly, feeling both relief and suspicion at the same time; relief for the food, suspicion of whether or not this cereal would actually be any good.

"Spike!" Twilight shouted. "Bring out that 'Chocolate Balls' cere-- what's so funny!?"

I couldn't help it. As soon as she said 'Chocolate Balls', I burst out laughing. It was the way she said it and the fact that someone would actually name a cereal that. It just sounded dirty. At least, to me it did. I began laughing so hard in fact, I fell out of my chair.

"Chocolate Balls!?" I exclaimed in between fits of laughter. "Who actually-- hahaha-- names-- haha-- their cereal that!?"

It took me a couple minutes to recover and sit back down on the chair. I glanced at Twilight's face. She wasn't amused. "Sorry, but that was funny. Just think about it.'

She thought over it for a second and grinned. "Okay, it was a little funny. But still immature."

I shrugged. "Yeah, immature... but funny."

She shook her head, the grin still on her face.

I stared at her and smiled. This was nice. The butterflies in my stomach had subsided, and we were just talking. It felt good. Talking to this girl that I was starting to fall in love with, even if I didn't want to fall in love with said girl, was fun. I remembered feeling the same thing when talking to the girl I had loved back in my universe. I missed this feeling.

Spike appeared in the doorway that probably led to the kitchen. his eyes passed over me as if I didn't exist and focused on Twilight. "What were you saying Twilight? I couldn't hear you over all that annoying shrieking."

This dragon was, ever so slightly, getting on my nerves. "You mean my laughing?"

His eyes stayed on Twilight. "That annoying shrieking," he repeated.

Admittedly, I very nearly laughed at that. It was funny. However, that didn't excuse the fact that he was being a dickwad to me for no reason. What had I done to him? Nothing, that's what. Well... besides being a little mean to him when I arrived, but his current behavior was uncalled for.

"You know," I began, "no matter how much you ignore me, I'm still going to be right here."

"Would both of you stop!?" exclaimed Twilight, glaring at both of us. "Seriously!?"

I glanced at her incredulously. "Don't look at me! I think Spike is awesome! It's not my fault he hates me for no reason!"

"It is not for no reason!" shouted Spike, finally looking my way. "I don't like you because--"

Whatever Spike had been about to say was interrupted by a cyan pegasus bursting through the front door of the library.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed, flying over to the purple unicorn and holding up a piece of paper to her nose. "Guess what!? The Wonderbolts have invited me to audition for them! How cool is that!?"

Twilight's eyes moved back and forth, scanning the paper pressing against her nose. "This is... this great news Rainbow Dash!"

Spike nodded. "Yeah! Congratulations Rainbow Dash!"

Hearing Spike give the rainbow maned mare praise, I felt compelled to do the same. The only problem was, I couldn't think of anything to say. Spike and Twilight had already said what I would've said, and Rainbow Dash didn't even really know me. Saying 'Congrats!' or something would've sounded hollow.

So, instead of saying anything like that, I said, "Well, it's about time. You're the best, and fastest, flyer in all of Equestria, not to mention the only pegasus to ever do a sonic rainboom. My only question is why they didn't ask you to audition sooner."

Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. "Y-you really mean that?"

I nodded. It may have sounded a little corny, but I really, truly meant what I had said.

"It says here that the auditions are tomorrow... in Cloudsdale," said Twilight, taking the letter out of Dash's hoof with her magic and rereading it.

"Yep. That means we have to leave right away," replied Dash, floating down and landing on the ground.

Twilight looked up from the letter. "Do you want the rest of us to come with you?"

Dash thought about that for a moment. "Well, I already checked with most of the others. Applejack has that family reunion, Rarity has a huge order for dresses she needs to attend to, and Fluttershy says that Angel's gotten sick and she needs to look after him."

I noticed right away that she had neglected to mention Pinkie Pie. I was about to point this out when something very strange happened.

There was a bright flash of cyan light right next to the stairs that led to the bedroom. Right where the flash of light had been was a small, yellow cube-shaped robot. Strapped to its chest was a circular cyan device. After a couple of seconds, the robot looked around, taking in its surroundings. Once it was done, its eyes focused on me, tilting its head as if confused about something.

Spike, Rainbow Dash, Twilight, and I all stared at the robot, speechless. Out of all of us, I was probably the only one to recognize it.

Then, in another bright flash of cyan light, the robot was gone.

Silence reigned. After a few moments, Spike spoke.

"What was that?"

"That... that's Cubot," I muttered, still staring at the place where the robot had been. "He's from... Sonic Colors. Eggman built him."

"A robot built by Eggman?" asked Rainbow Dash, glancing at Twilight. "How'd he get here?"

Twilight shrugged. "I'm not sure. The only two ways I know of traveling between universes is via a crack in time and space or the Doctor's TARDIS. The way that thing got here didn't look like either of those." She looked at me expectantly. "Any ideas?"

"Hey, don't look at me," I said, "I'm not an expert on this stuff. All I know is that he's from Sonic's universe."

"And how exactly do you know that?" questioned Dash, a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"Well, in my universe--"

At that moment, Pinkie Pie bounced through the front door and into the library, interrupting me.

"Congrats, Dashie!" exclaimed Pinkie, bouncing up to Rainbow Dash. I noticed that she made sure to keep a little distance between herself and the rainbow maned mare. "I hear you're going to audition for the Wonderbolts!"

"Yeah? how'd you hear about that?" asked Dash, looking less than thrilled to see the pink pony.

"That's not important," said Pinkie, waving off the question. "What's important is that this is great news!" There was something wrong with the enthusiasm in her voice. It sounded kind of... faked? "And that me, Twilight, and Jordan will be there to cheer you on!"

"What about me?" Spike asked.

"If me and Jordan go," Twilight began, looking at Spike, "then somepony's got to stay and watch the library."

Spike scowled, a look I suspected he'd been wearing a lot lately.

"Hold on," I said, slightly confused. Did they actually want me to come? "You guys actually want me to come?"

"Of course!" said Twilight and Pinkie simultaneously.

Rainbow Dash shrugged. "Why not? You seem cool enough to me."

I smiled. That was nice of them. Letting someone they didn't really know go with them to an important, life-changing event? That wasn't something I expected.

"Well, I think it's time for me and Jordan to get our balloon ready!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, rushing over to me and grabbing my hoof with her hoof.

"Wait-- what!?" I cried as she began pulling me toward the door.

"I need to talk to you!" Pinkie whispered frantically in my ear.

"Pinkie!" I heard Twilight shout.

But it was too late. Pinkie Pie had already whisked me out of the library into the warm new morning.

Twilight stared after Jordan and Pinkie, wondering what those two were up to. It was obvious they were up to something, she just couldn't figure out what that something was.

Rainbow Dash was staring after Jordan and Pinkie as well. "That was weird."

"Yes," agreed Twilight, "it was."

"That Jordan girl--"

"Guy," Twilight corrected.

"--guy seems really odd," Dash pointed out, rolling her eyes. "But nice."

"Yes, he is pretty nice," said Twilight. Then she noticed Spike was still in the room. "Spike! Go clean up the pots and pans in the kitchen."

"But you're the one who wanted me to keep them out!"

"Well, we don't need them anymore," Twilight replied. "Now go!" Once the grumbling purple dragon had left the room, she turned her attention back to Rainbow Dash. "Can I confess something to you?"

"Um... sure," said Dash, taken off guard by the question.

Twilight looked around, making sure no one else was within earshot, and whispered, "I think I'm starting to develop a crush on Jordan."

Dash's eyes widened. "Seriously!?"

"Shhhh!"

"Oh, yeah, sorry," Dash apologized, lowering her voice. "Are you sure, Twilight? I mean, you only me her--"

"Him."

"-- him yesterday. Not to mention he's from another universe!"

"Yes, I know, but... I don't know. During that memory spell, we didn't just see our memories, we also saw our personalities," explained Twilight. "We had a lot in common and, not only that, but he just seemed like the type of guy I like. He's funny, and cute, and..." She shook her head. "I just don't know!"

Rainbow Dash could've said a lot of different reason as to why Twilight having a crush on this gir-- guy was extremely irrational, not to mention stupid. Instead, she smiled sympathetically.

"Hey, don't sweat it. Everypony has an irrational crush at one time or another. If you and him are meant to be together, then it'll happen. You'll see. And, even if it doesn't, there's still other fish in the sea. Am I right or am I right?"

Twilight stared at the cyan pegasus next to her. What she had said was extremely out of character for her. But the words had their intended effect. She felt comforted, even if it was only a little bit.

"I... guess you're right."

Dash grinned and slapped Twilight on the back. "That's the spirit! Now, come on, let's see if Pinkie and Jordan are done with the balloon. I've got an audition to get to!" With that, she took off into the air and zoomed out of the window, the same one from the night before.

Twilight sighed and bit her lip. She had vowed to never fall in love again. Yet, here she was doing just that, with a guy from another universe, no less. This was probably going to end in heartbreak, just like last time.

But... maybe not.

Maybe this time, it'd work out. Maybe this time, the guy she like would return her feelings.

Twilight smiled. Yeah, maybe this time would be different. Things couldn't really happen the same way twice, could they? No, she had to believe that, this time, things would work out. She just had to. Otherwise... otherwise bad things would happen. But these things wouldn't happen, because Jordan would be hers.

She remembered the girl from Jordan's memories. She remembered how much he had loved that girl, and also how much pain that girl had caused him. That was an obstacle she had to overcome if she wanted Jordan to fall for her. It was going to be tough, but she could do it. Since when did Twilight Sparkle ever fail? Never, that's when. She'd make Jordan forget all about that other girl, and make him fall in love with her.

This thought in mind, Twilight raced off through the door, determined to make that happen.

To Cloudsdale

Part 2: Laughter and Loyalty - Chapter 3: To Cloudsdale

I looked up at the already ready hot air balloon right in front of me. "Why'd you drag me here exactly? The balloon looks ready to me."

"Of course it is!" said Pinkie Pie, checking the ropes that secured the balloon to the ground. "I'm always Pinkie-prepared for everything!"

"Then why--"

"I already told you!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed an exasperated look on her face. "I needed to talk to you!"

I raised an eyebrow. "About what?" I asked, though I had a very strong feeling I already knew what it was.

Pinkie rolled her eyes. "Rainbow Dash, of course!"

I nodded. That what I had thought. Before I replied, I looked around to make sure no one was within earshot; I didn't want Pinkie's secret to get out. We were in the center of Ponyville, near Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie had dragged me here in a mind-blowingly short amount of time and plopped me in front of the balloon I was supposedly trying to help get ready for our journey to Cloudsdale. There were ponies well within hearing distance, doing their daily business I assumed, so I moved closer to Pinkie Pie.

"Talk to me," I said, keeping my voice low.

Pinkie looked around and then at me. She looked scared and... desperate. "I don't want Dashie to join the Wonderbolts."

My jaw dropped. "What!?"

She closed her eyes. "Well, I do, because it'd make her happy, but... I don't at the same time." Her eyes opened and I was shocked to discover them. "If she joins the Wonderbolts, she's going to leave Ponyville-- leave me!" She put her hooves to her head and shook it. "Oh, I'm so conflicted!"

"Hey, don't worry," I replied, placing a hoof on her shoulder, "I promised to help you, didn't I? I'll make sure, whatever happens, that you two will be together."

In all honesty, I was worried. I wasn't sure I'd be able to do anything to get Dash and Pinkie together, especially since Dash got this invitation. Of course she'd be accepted into the Wonderbolts. She was the best flyer in all of Equestria, after all. And once she was accepted into the Wonderbolts? I'd be left with a broken promise and an angry, depressed Pinkie Pie; another pony to add to the growing list of ponies who hated me. Spike, Lyra, and, soon enough, Pinkie Pie. I was starting to regret making that promise to her. Even if Dash wasn't accepted by the Wonderbolts, what could I possibly do to get them together? I wasn't a match-maker! I was just a teenager who'd fallen in love once for Christ's sake!

Pinkie Pie looked up at me and smiled. Pulling me into a hug, she said softly, "Thank you, Jordan."

"No problem," I said as I pulled away.

A couple seconds later, Rainbow Dash arrived.  She flew around the hot-air balloon, inspecting every inch of the thing. "Wow! You guys are quick. It's only been like five minutes since you left and the balloon is perfectly ready!"

"Of course, Dashie!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie, beaming up at the cyan pegasus. "When it comes to being ready, I'm never a slow-poke!"

Rainbow Dash was now looking into the balloon's basket a frown making its way onto her face. "Um, Pinkie? The basket looks a little small to fit all of us in here, especially with this big picnic basket." To emphasize her point, she picked up an exceedingly large picnic basket from inside the balloon's basket.

"I had a hunch that'd be the case," said Twilight who had just arrived. My heart did a backflip upon seeing her. "So I found a spell that makes the balloon's basket bigger on the inside."

That reminded me of something. "That's exactly like the Doctor's TARDIS!"

Twilight nodded. "During the last Discord incident, when we were waiting for the Doctor to get back with the Chaos Emeralds, Ivo mentioned--"

"Hold on," began Rainbow Dash, landing on the ground and leaning against the hot-air balloon's basket, "how do you know about--"

"Long story," I said, cutting her off. I glanced at Twilight. "So, about this spell?"

"Right... uh, Rainbow Dash? You might want to step out of the way."

Dash looked at where she was standing. "Oh, yeah." She flew over by Twilight.

As Pinkie and I trotted over there as well, Twilight closed her eyes in concentration and her horn started to glow, continuing to get brighter and brighter. She lowered her head and aimed her luminescent horn at the balloon's basket. A violet beam of energy shot out of her horn. It zoomed around the basket at an intense velocity, getting faster and faster. All of a sudden, it went up and then down into the basket. Then, with a flash of purple light from within the basket, it was over.

Suddenly, Pinkie Pie bounced over to it and hopped in. An instant later, she said, "Wow! Twilight, your spell worked! It's super-duper roomy in here, even with my picnic basket!"

"Of course the spell worked, Pinkie," Rainbow Dash replied, flying over and looking down into the balloon's basket at the pink pony. "Since when does Twilight Sparkle ever fail?"

For some reason, Twilight giggled at that statement. I smiled. She had such a cute giggle.

"Well, i don't know about you guys," I started, trotting over to the balloon, "but I think we should get this show on the road."

I agree." With a flash of light, Twilight teleported into the basket, joining Pinkie Pie.

Upon reaching the basket, I was immediately faced with a dilemma. I couldn't get into it. It was too high for me to jump in (combined with the fact I couldn't bounce like Pinkie) and I couldn't teleport in because I was not a unicorn.

"What are you waiting for?" Rainbow Dash asked impatiently, hovering beside me.

I frowned. "I can't get in."

"Why don't you just fly in?" questioned Pinkie Pie. Both her and Twilight were looking at me over the edge of the balloon's basket.

I could feel my cheeks start to color themselves. "Yes, well, uh... I don't really know how to."

Dash stared at me incredulously. "You don't know how to fly? But... you're a pegasus!"

"Yeah, Jordan, all pegasi know how to fly," said Pinkie.

"Uh, guys," interjected Twilight.

"Well, you see, before yesterday, I was a human," I pointed out, not hearing Twilight. "I've only been a pegasus for a single day!"

"A human!?" Dash exclaimed.

"Oooo, so you are from Sonic's world!" reasoned Pinkie.

I facehoofed. "How many times do I have to tell you? I'm from neither Sonic's, nor the Doctor's universe!"

"Guys!"

"But Sonic said there were humans in his universe," said Dash.

"So?" I asked. "There's humans in the Doctor's universe too. Debatably, they were here as well. however, my universe--"

"GUYS!" shouted Twilight, finally getting our attention. She pointed her hoof towards something behind us. "We have a visitor."

I turned around to look at this 'visitor'. Standing a few yards away was a familiar mint green unicorn.

"Lyra?" I questioned, my eyes growing wide.

She frowned at me. "Obviously."

"Why... why are you here?" I said, glancing at the others. They were just as confused as I was.

Lyra rolled her eyes. "Isn't that obvious? I'm coming with you." She darted her eyes towards the others. "If that's alright with you guys, of course."

Rainbow Dash flew over to her. "And why do you want to come, huh?"

"Well," Lyra began, pointing her hoof at me, 'she said she'd prove that humans aren't evil. I'd think the best way for that to possibly happen would be if we were confined in a hot-air balloon for twenty-four hours."

Those last words caused my mind to go off on a different tangent. Twenty-four hours!? this trip would take an entire day? But... how? In the show, it seemed like it only took a few hours to get there. Granted, it never showed the entire journey, but still. Plus, since it would take over a day to get there, that meant we'd be stuck in the balloon overnight. Of course, that meant I'd be in a hot-air balloon overnight with Twilight...

"While I do think they are evil, soulless creatures with a thirst for blood," Lyra continued, "I still find them somewhat interesting."

"Or," I said, smiling, "maybe you want to be proven wrong since, deep down inside you, you can't stand thinking of humans as evil."

"That is so not the case," she growled, glaring at me. "But, in any case, I still want to come."

Dash shrugged and flew into the balloon's basket. "Whatever. I don't care. This just means one more pony getting to watch me strut my stuff, and that's never a bad thing."

"Well, if Dashie wants her to come, than I do too!" Pinkie exclaimed.

Twilight hesitated. She looked from me to Lyra warily. "Um... sure."

"Great!" said Lyra cheerfully, walking around to another side of the basket, opening a small door, and stepping into it.

i stared at the small door. "Are you serious? There was door here the entire time?" I glanced up at Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight. "Why didn't you guys tell me about that?"

"Because we expected you to fly in, silly," Pinkie replied, smiling and rolling her eyes.

"But I can't fly!"

Dash raised an eyebrow. "Yes, but how were we supposed to know that?"

"Because--"

"You can't fly?" Lyra asked, joining the other three along the edge of the basket.

My right eye twitched a little. "Obviously! Before yesterday, I-- you know what? Forget it. it doesn't matter."

I walked through the open small door and into the basket. As I did so, i was taken aback by the size of it. It was very roomy. In fact, while the height of the walls stayed the same, everything else was almost the size of my bedroom back home. After I was done looking around, I closed the small door and walked over to the others.

Pinkie and Dash were undoing the ropes that held the hot-air balloon to the ground. Once the last rope was undone, Twilight's horn began glowing brightly as she controlled the balloon as it slowly rose from the ground.

I looked over the side of the balloon's basket and instantly regretted the action. We were starting to get pretty high up. My fear of heights wasn't liking this one bit. Immediately, I realized just how ironic it was that I had been transformed into a  pegasus even though I had a fear of heights. I got the feeling God really, really loved irony.

Tearing my fearful gaze from the ground, I looked upwards and nearly gasped. The very top of the balloon was starting to break through the clouds. I glanced back down at the ground. We were high up, but we didn't seem that high up. Weren't clouds supposed to be thousands of feet in the air? I looked over at Rainbow Dash who was helping Pinkie Pie get food out of the picnic basket. Then again, that probably wasn't the case here. Pegasi controlled the weather here, and if clouds were thousands of feet above the ground, they'd probably get tired very quickly.

Within seconds, we had gotten above the clouds. White puffs dotted the sky below us as far as the eye could see. There were still clouds above us, as was the sun, which was inching towards the highest point in the sky. looking over the edge, this picturesque scene was breathtaking. The landscape stretched on and on. I could even see cities and towns in the distance. My fear of heights was quickly becoming a non-factor.

"There," said Twilight, wiping her brow with her foreleg as the glow faded from her horn. "I think that's high enough."

"And just in time too!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed, holding up a sandwich. "Who's hungry?"

"I know I am," Rainbow Dash replied. Taking a sandwich out of the picnic basket, she took a huge bite. I narrowed my eyes, trying to see what type of sandwich it was. To my dismay, it was exactly what I suspected: a dandelion sandwich.

Twilight shook here head. "I'm not. Spike made me breakfast."

"Yeah, I'm not either," said Lyra, sitting down against the side of the balloon's basket and using her magic to flip through the pages of a small book.

Pinkie then looked at me, waiting for my answer.

"I'm not hungry," I lied through my teeth, smiling.

As soon as the last word left my mouth, my stomach let out a snarl that would've made even a tiger jealous, causing everyone to turn and stare at me. I could feel the blood rush to my face, coloring my cheeks.

Rainbow Dash smirked and took another sandwich out of the picnic basket having finished her first one. She took a bite and said, "Liar."

I sighed. "Alright, maybe I am a little hungry."

"But... why would you lie about that?" Pinkie asked, frowning, and looking utterly flabbergasted.

Lyra shrugged and set down her book. "Because humans are compulsive liars."

I stared incredulously at her. "We are not!"

"Actually," Twilight began, rolling her eyes, "it's because humans don't eat what we do."

"Oh yeah!" said Lyra, her eyes lighting up. "I remember reading about that somewhere during my research!" Suddenly, here eyes darkened and her tone had an edge of anger to it. "I read that they eat... meat."

Pinkie Pie gasped. Rainbow Dash dropped the sandwich she'd been eating. Twilight just rolled her eyes again.

"Is... is that true?" Pinkie asked, looking at me.

"Well, yes," I admitted, "but we don't only eat meat. We also eat vegetables, fruits, and sweets; pretty much, we eat what you ponies eat..." I glanced at the dandelion sandwich. "Except for the flowers."

"Oh... okay." She looked a little green.

Dash eyed me curiously. "Does it taste good?"

I nodded. "Oh yeah. Probably the best--"

"Did you just ask if meat-- animal meat-- tastes good!?" Lyra asked incredulously, looking at Dash. Suddenly, her gaze shifted to Twilight. "And you! Why aren't you surprised or sickened at all?"

"Because we already had this conversation," Twilight replied. "Sort of."

Lyra's eyes darted between the other three ponies, her mouth hanging open. "You guys are all okay with the fact that she eats meat?"

"So what if he eats meat?" Twilight retorted. "That doesn't make him any worse of a person."

"Y-yeah!" said Pinkie Pie, still slightly green. "Why should we judge him based on what he eats? You're supposed to judge based on personality, silly billy!"

"I have some friends in Cloudsdale who eat meat," Dash inserted. "I don't know why, but they're into that sort of thing." Her words said, she picked up the sandwich she had dropped and frowned at it. Then, shrugging, she popped the rest into her mouth.

"I can't believe you guys!' Lyra exclaimed, glaring at them. "How can you be even remotely friendly to this human? Humans are violent, bloodthirsty creatures who... who... who thirst for blood!"

While I didn't like the fact she was insinuating I was an evil, soulless creature, we were both in the same boat on the eating meat thing. I expected them to be appalled at the fact that I'd eaten meat. I mean, from their point of view, it should seem like I was killing innocent animals and then eating their flesh. It should seem like savagery to them. But... apparently not. Apparently, they were okay with it. Not only that, though, but, according to Rainbow Dash, eating meat was some sort of cult thing here. How interesting.

Then Lyra's last words sunk in.

"Hey, hold on a second!" I said angrily, glaring at the mint green unicorn. "Humans are not violent, bloodthirsty creatures!"

Lyra rolled her eyes and shook her head. "Of course a human would say that, trying to make itself seem better than it actually is. Tell me then, if you humans aren't violent, then why during my research did I find a bunch of stuff talking of war and violence?"

I was about to respond, but before I could, twilight said, "Um, Jordan, when I was looking through your memories, I saw a lot of stuff that was about war."

I stared at her, feeling betrayed. She stared back, her face apologetic yet slightly curious, as if she hadn't wanted to say that, but was too interested to not say it.

Sighing, I closed my eyes. "Alright, fine, you caught me. Humans have had wars. Quite a few of them, in fact. However, that doesn't mean for a second that we are, at our core, violent, bloodthirsty creatures." My eyes opened and I looked at each one of their faces, hoping beyond hope that they'd understand.

"Yes, there have been some downright terrible human beings: Joseph Stalin, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein," I continued. "And yes, humans have created some horrifying weaponry. The atomic bomb, for example, is a weapon that could level an entire city and incinerate thousands of people in the blink of an eye."

By this point, both Pinkie Pie's and Rainbow Dash's faces wore identical masks of horror and shock, while Twilight had a strange, sad look on hers. Lyra was just shaking her head. That slightly annoyed me.

I turned away from them, staring over the balloon basket's edge at the landscape below. "But, even with all that bad stuff, humanity has had an equal amount of good stuff. Music, art, food, literature-- humans are creative; they can make something out of nothing." I gestured at the land stretching out in front of me. "In fact, we created all of this. This entire universe was created by a human; a woman by the name of Lauren Faust, to be exact." I turned back to the others and smiled. "Every Earth pony, pegasus, and unicorn, including all four of you, was created by humans. You guys wouldn't exist without humanity."

Now, instead of horror or shock, disbelief colored their faces, with the exception of Twilight. She'd already seen this in my memories. As it was, though, she looked very interested in what I was saying.

"You're lying," Lyra hissed.

"Why would I be lying about this!?" I demanded, my voice, as well as my anger, rising. "What purpose would that serve? To make humans sound better than they are? I've already acknowledged the bad stuff; that should prove I'm not lying. If I was lying, why would I even talk about the bad stuff? Lyra, you have to understand: at our core, humans are good. People like Martin Luther King Jr., Mahatma Gandhi, Michael Jackson, and Jesus Christ prove this. The actions of one individual, especially a fictional individual, are not representative of an entire race!"

"I don't believe you," Lyra replied stubbornly, her eyes angry.

I stared at her for a moment, uncomprehending. Then, all of a sudden, my temper flared, my anger turning to rage. "Fine then! Don't believe me! You think I care about what you think? No, I don't!" The next instant, I was in her face. "Go ahead and hate humanity, you stubborn bi-- mule! I don't care! I'm done! I retract my vow; I can see you're too fucking stubborn to really listen!"

With a huff, I wheeled around without waiting to see her reaction and trotted angrily over to the balloon's walls. However, staring at the landscape below, the anger that had just been seething within me vanished, only to be replaced by guilt and regret. What I had said was uncalled for. Lyra probably hated me even more now, but now it was a well deserved hate. My thoughts turned to the others. What did they think of me after my little outburst. They were probably horrified. Dash probably regretted bringing me along, Pinkie probably didn't want my help anymore, and Twilight... it hurt just to think of what her reaction had been. With a stabbing pain in my heart, i realized she was probably horrified as well and wouldn't want me to stay with her anymore, despite knowing about my temper beforehand. Knowing about something and seeing it in action were two entirely different things.

A fluffy white cloud passed by as I briefly contemplated jumping over the edge of the balloon basket.

Suddenly, a hoof touched my shoulder, making me jump. Then, turning to see whoever it was who was touching me, I saw it was Lyra, looking at me apologetically. That surprised me even more than the hoof on my shoulder. I was the one who was supposed to be apologizing here, not her. Of course, there was a smaller, more selfish part of me that was satisfied by this.

"Yes?" i asked hesitantly, glancing at the others. Twilight was talking to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie about something in a low voice. When she saw I was looking, she quickly smiled at me and then returned to the conversation she was having. For a couple seconds, the was all I could think of. Seeing it filled me with an intense joy because it meant she hadn't been horrified by my outburst. Then, suddenly, I realized Lyra was still talking to me.

"...wrong of me to be so close-minded. I'm sorry. I promise to be a little more open-minded from now on," Lyra vowed. With a whisper I wasn't sure I was supposed to hear or not, she added, "That's what Bon-Bon would want. She didn't like it when I held grudges."

I smiled at her. "Hey, it's alright. What I said was uncalled for. I shouldn't have tried to make you change your opinions like that. I'm sorry for being insensitive."

Now it was her turn to smile at me. "No worries. I guess we were both being kind of stupid, huh?" She started to laugh.

"yeah," I said, joining in, "I guess so."

As we were laughing, I realized happily that I could cross her off the 'Ponies Who Hate Me' list. The only one left on the list (at the moment) was Spike, who wasn't technically a pony. He was going to be tough to get off the list, seeing as I had no idea why he hated me.

"Did somepony tell a joke?" Pinkie asked, bouncing over to us (which wasn't exactly smart due to the fact that we were in a hot-air balloon). "Tell me! Tell me!"

"No one told a joke, Pinkie," I assured her, turning towards her. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were coming over to us as well.

"You guys made up already?" Dash questioned, looking impressed. "Wow, that was fast."

Lyra shrugged. "Yeah, well, we both realized we were being stupid."

"Jordan, no that Lyra isn't as... antagonistic towards humans," Twilight began, her eyes shifting between me and Lyra as if she was suspicious or something, "don't you think it would be a good time for us to explain your universe?" For some reason, she put extra emphasis on the 'us' part. I kind of liked it, but, at the same time, I didn't.

I sighed. "I guess," I said reluctantly. But, strangely, I felt ready, ready to try and explain everything. As a smile stretched across my face, I added, "Sit down, kiddies, this is going to be a while."

The rest of the day passed in a blur of words and images. I had never talked so much in my life. As it turned out, I had needed Twilight, but not nearly as much as I expected I would. She chimed in whenever I needed help, but otherwise was pretty much silent. Every time something important came up, Twilight would use her magic to conjure up an image or video clip from my memories to emphasize what I was saying with some visual evidence.

The conversation had taken hours. I had tried to explain as much as I could about the world in which I'd been born; words flowed out of my mouth more eloquent and concise than I'd ever thought possible. It did get a little tense at times, as when I was explaining about wars and weapons and atrocities. However, those parts of the conversation passed rather quickly, and we were onto the other, less unpleasant parts of the conversation. The ponies were especially interested in how human music sounded. I tried to explain it to them,but, in this instance, Twilight couldn't help very much as she too had a hard time explaining the music, so I just told them that they'd have to hear it themselves, and I promised them I'd try and find a way to do just that.

Trying to actually explain my universe was extremely strange, but, at the same time, it felt good to finally be explaining myself and my world. The strangest the conversation got was when we reached the subject of 'My Little Pony' and its every-growing collection of die-hard fans. They were very curious about this; even Twilight was curious, despite the fact she'd learned about this in my memories. I had wondered briefly how much my memories had really explained on this subject. Apparently, it hadn't explained with much depth.

Lyra had been the only one who payed attention throughout the entire conversation. rainbow Dash had fallen asleep halfway through and Pinkie Pie followed no long afterwards. Their curiosity about my world's music and 'My Little Pony' apparently hadn't been enough to keep them from sleep. That, of course, made me realize it had gotten dark. Once again, I was taken surprise by how fast time moved here. I wasn't entirely sure if this was how time normally moved here (it seemed a little too fast), but no one else said anything about it, so I pushed those questions out of my mind and continued to answer as many of Lyra's questions as possible, though if I was changing her opinions on humans was frustratingly unclear.

Eventually, however, the conversation ended and Lyra too had fallen asleep. As soon as she did so, fatigue washed over me and I fell backwards to lean against the basket wall and lay on the basket's floor. I hadn't realized how tired I was, nor how tiring talking could actually be. Explaining a universe really takes it out of you.

I glanced at the three sleeping ponies and was surprised to see how adorable they were. When they were sleeping, every trace of every negative emotion drained out of their faces and was replaced with a peaceful, happy mask. This was something they'd never show in the actual TV show. most people would think it too boring. I, on the other hand, found it more enthralling and interesting than any episode of the show.

Suddenly, something soft and a little squishy landed on my chest. I looked down at it. It was a sandwich.

"Eat up," I heard Twilight say.

I poked at the sandwich with my hoof and glanced at her in disgust. "Twilight, remember what I said about not eating flowers? Flowers in a sandwich still fall under that category."

"That sandwich has no flowers in it," she assured me. "Check between the bread."

Doing as she told me, I peeled a little of the bread off. Sure enough, there were no flowers. Instead, inside was a creamy, brown spread... peanut butter? No, I couldn't get my hopes up. I wasn't entirely sure ponies had invented peanut butter in the first place. This spread was probably something else. In any case, I decided to ask about it.

"Is... is this peanut butter?" I asked tentatively, looking over at her.

"Yep," she said, smiling, as she made her way over to me. Taking the spot directly beside me, she added, "I remembered something in your memories about peanut butter. Luckily, Pinkie Pie brought some, though I'm not sure why she did."

I stared at the sandwich, silently debating whether or not I should eat it. "Pinkie Sense?"

"Maybe," Twilight muttered. "Aren't you going to eat?"

I gulped. "Yeah, of course." Not meeting Twilight's impatient gaze, I took a small bite of the sandwich. I chewed slowly for a few moments and then swallowed. It wasn't that bad! I mean, it was no JIF peanut butter, but it wasn't bad! I hungrily scarfed the sandwich down, nearly forgetting to chew. It wasn't enough to sate my hunger, but it was good for now.

I tried to swallow the last bite and the dull, slow pain in my throat alerted me to the fact that I had a lump in my throat. Upon realizing this, I immediately started thumping my chest, trying to dissipate the lump. I'd dealt with these things before, usually when I ate too fast. This was the best way I'd found to get rid of them.

Twilight looked at me in alarm. "What are you doing? Is something wrong?"

"Not really," I said, staring straight ahead and concentrating on dissipating the lump, "it's just-- *thump*-- that I-- *thump*-- have a-- *thump*-- lump in--*thump*-- my throat." Then, with one final thump, I felt something dislodge. I took a tentative swallow and was relieved to find no pain attached to the action. The lump was gone!

"Is the, uh, lump gone?" Twilight asked, looking a little worried.

"What? Oh, yeah, it is."

The worry, or whatever it was, disappeared. "Oh, that's good. you choking to death wouldn't be a very good thing at all."

I wasn't sure why, but the way she said that made my heart do a fluttery little dance. "Well, the lumps never actually choke me, strangely enough. They only ever hurt. Quite a bit, in fact."

Twilight nodded, but all she said was "Oh."

Silence settled between us for a while. Long enough to where I nearly fell asleep. However, before I could, she spoke.

"So, about that girl in your memories..."

My eyes snapped open and my hearing became hyper-aware. I could hear Rainbow Dash's quiet snore perfectly, as well as Pinkie Pie's low muttering of "Dashie" in her sleep.

"What about her?" I asked hesitantly, trying to build up the courage to pull my gaze from the basket floor and look at Twilight.

"Well," she began, "I was wondering, even though she hurt you... a lot, if you were still in love her."

Wow. Way to get straight to the meat of the issue, Twilight. Right to the point.

"Um..."

"If... if you really don't want to answer, you don't have to," Twilight said with a strange emotion in her voice that I just couldn't put my finger on. Was it... sadness? Disappointment?

Still staring at the basket floor, I said, "No, I don't mind." As soon as I said it, I realized that I meant it. I didn't mind, not really. The pain I'd thought I would have during this conversation never materialized. Realizing this, I found the answer to her question rather easily. "And no, I'm not in love with her, not anymore." And it was true! I was free from my old heartbreak! Now the only heartbreak I'd have to deal with would be Pinkie's... and my own future heartbreak when Twilight would inevitably reject me.

Twilight sighed. A delusional, optimistic part of me wanted to believe it was in relief. I squashed that part of me quickly. Hope was no allowed in this establishment. It would only cause me more unwanted pain in the future.

"But don't go blaming her for all my pain!" I continued quickly. "It wasn't her fault; it was mine. I'm the one who kept trying even though I knew it was futile."

"She could've at least tried to give you a chance," Twilight muttered.

Finally, I tore my gaze from the floor and looked into her eyes, her breathtakingly beautiful eyes, trying to figure her out. Why was she defending me from my own blame? It had been my fault,I could see that now. In fact, I was starting to feel downright embarrassed about some of the things I'd done. But how could she not see that it was my fault? Why defend my foolish actions? I could find no answer looking into her eyes.

My eyes drifted back to the floor. "No, it was a good thing she didn't. I wasn't the one for her; she didn't want me... no one wants me." A deep sadness welled up in me as I realized that these words too were true.

Suddenly, I felt something on my hoof. Glancing over at it, I saw that Twilight had placed her hoof on mine. Once again, my heart fluttered, and I couldn't help but look into her eyes. They held a quiet intensity, though I couldn't fathom why.

"Don't say that," she said with the same quiet intensity her eyes held. "Don't you ever say that! Of course there's somepony who wants you. You just have to know where to look."

Bullshit, I wanted to say. There was no way someone would actually want me. Instead, looking at the floor again, I said, "I... guess."

I waited for her to say something else, but all that greeted me was a light snore and relatively even breathing. I glanced at Twilight and discovered that she'd fallen asleep. Her head was resting lightly against my shoulder and I saw that her hoof was still on mine. My heart swelled.

All of a sudden, I got a strange, yet highly persuasive urge to lean over and kiss her hair. That urge started a small war inside of me. Half of me was all for doing it since no once could see me. The other half of me didn't want to do it because Twilight might wake up and it seemed slightly creepy. The war waged within me for a few minutes before one side finally won: I was going to do it.

Quickly, after checking that the others were indeed asleep, I leaned over and gently kissed the top of her head. i froze when she stirred a little, but, instead of waking up, she sighed and mumbled something unintelligible. My heart fluttered and swelled simultaneously. This was nice. Very nice. With Twilight leaning against me, I felt like I could lay there forever.

A couple minutes later, the thought of my kiss still running wildly through my mind, unconsciousness finally overtook me.

City of Clouds

Part 2: Laughter and Loyalty - Chapter 4: City of Clouds

"We're here!" Lyra announced, waking me up.

I blinked and rubbed my eyes. Thankfully, I'd had a dreamless sleep. I didn't know how many more dreams I could've taken. Standing up, I stretched, and then trotted over to the wall of the balloon basket where the others were. They were staring out into the distance, so I did the same. My jaw dropped.

Cloudsdale was massive, a thousand times more massive than it had looked like in the show. It was sort of like a floating Long Island, New York. Ever so slowly, we moved closer, the massive cloud city getting more massive by the second.

"Wow," I breathed. How could a city made of clouds get so big?

"You said it," Lyra agreed. "I've seen pictures, but I didn't know it was this big!"

I looked at Twilight, the memory of my kiss trying to push itself to the forefront of my mind. "Was it this big the last time you came here?"

She nodded. "Pretty much, though all we got to see was the outskirts."

"Don't worry, Twilight, this time we'll get to see the city center," Rainbow Dash assured her. "The Wonderbolts want me to audition in one of their stadiums close to it anyway."

I glanced at her. "Wait... one of their stadiums? How many stadiums do the Wonderbolts have in Cloudsdale?"

"Six," she said immediately. "Two in each section of the city. That means two in the Old Age section, two in the Middle Age section, and two in the New Age section. The New Age section is where city center is."

"Ooo, Dashie, can we take a tour of the Weather Center?" asked Pinkie Pie, bouncing up and down. "I don't think Jordan or Lyra have seen it yet."

"Well, I suppose," answered Dash, staring at the incoming cloud city. "I'm pretty sure we're early."

Pinkie beamed.

"Yeah, I think so too," Twilight said, peering up at the sun. "I don't even think it's noon yet. There's probably time to do a quick tour of the Weather Center."

I frowned. This Weather Center seemed slightly familiar. I knew the Mane 6 had toured it when they'd been here for the Best Young Fliers Competition, but it also stirred something else in my mind. It made me think of something ominous, something evil, even though I had no idea why.

Soon enough, we'd entered the outskirts of Cloudsdale. Large cloud buildings floated past that reminded me of those large stone buildings of Ancient Greece, complete with cloud columns. We also passed pegasi on occasion, some looking at us with curiosity, others with distaste. Apparently, some pegasi didn't like outsiders in their city.

A couple minutes later, we saw an extremely large, factory-looking building with little white clouds puffing out of vents on the sides. On the side we could see, there was a huge, regal double door.

"Is that..." Lyra began, gazing at the building in wonder.

"Yep," said Rainbow Dash, smiling. "The Weather Center."

Twilight gazed at it curiously. "It's changed a little."

Dash nodded. "It does that from time to time."

"Why is the entrance so big?" I asked, pointing at the giant double door.

"Oh, that's the employee entrance," explained Dash. "They bring in supplies and stuff through it. There's one on the other side I think too."

We parked the balloon on a patch of clouds near the Weather Center. After Twilight had performed her spell on herself, Lyra, and Pinkie (enabling them to walk on cloud), we got off the balloon and made our way to the large weather-making facility. I almost wasn't able to leave the balloon; I was afraid I'd fall through the clouds, not completely trusting the fact that I was a pegasus, and I insisted Twilight use her spell on me too. However, after they all reassured me I could walk on clouds perfectly fine by myself since I was indeed a pegasus, I reluctantly exited the balloon. Fortunately, i didn't fall through, though standing on cloud felt very strange. It felt like I was standing on a mattress except without the springs, sort of like that memory foam stuff.

Going around to the front entrance, which was considerably smaller and less grand than the employee entrance, we entered a small reception area. There was a desk directly across from the entrance, a door that led to a hallway on the left, and a closed door on the right. Behind the desk was a pretty turquoise pegasus mare with a blindingly white mane. She looked up as we entered.

"How may I help you?" she asked, smiling warmly.

After we walked up to the desk, Rainbow Dash answered, "We'd like to take a tour of the place."

The turquoise mare nodded and walked out from behind the desk. "Of course. Follow me. My name is Daisy and I'll be your tour guide today since the actual tour guide is out sick."

"Hold on," said Lyra, looking from Daisy to her desk, "if you're going to be guiding us on a tour, who's going to be the receptionist?"

"Don't worry," Daisy replied, "the main visitors we get are shipment deliverers, but they usually use the employee entrances. I'm only here to greet random visitors like you guys, which are few and far between, and, um... do other stuff. Anyway, let's get the tour started, shall we?"

With that, she led us into the hallway to the left and started the tour. First, she showed us the cloud-making portion of the Weather Center. To my surprise, there were no pegasi in there, except for a few maintenance workers; there were only machines.

When I asked about this, Daisy smiled and said, "Cloud-making is one of the easiest things we do here. As such, we've developed a way to automate it so we don't have to waste energy on such simple, easy task."

I thought of the clouds puffing out of the side of the Weather Center. "But why are there--" I started to ask, but she was already leading us out of the cloud-making area.

Next, she led us to the snowflake making portion. It looked exactly as it had in the show. There were a bunch of pegasus workers in here, each wearing the same plain white uniforms, and each looking through a magnifying glass at what I assumed were snowflakes. They all used thin metal instruments to poke these snowflakes, which, I guessed, was supposed to be altering their design.

"How are the snowflakes not melting?" I asked.

"Well, for one, the temperature in here is rather low," Daisy answered, shivering a bit.

"Yeah," said Rainbow Dash, also shivering, "how have you not noticed?"

I looked at the others. They were all shivering!

I laughed as I finally started to feel the icy sting of the cold air. "I'm just used to cold like this, I guess. I live in Wisconsin, one of the coldest states in the US."

Daisy looked at me funny. "You live where?"

Oops. I wasn't supposed to talk about that stuff around other ponies. I didn't want unnecessary questions. "Um... nowhere of importance."

From the look on her face, it looked like she didn't buy that. Luckily, Twilight came to my rescue. "I think we've seen enough in here. How about we go to the Rainbow Factory now?"

Rather reluctantly, Daisy led us through the rest of the hallways and into the Rainbow Factory. As soon as we entered, I gasped, as did Lyra. It was a large-- very large-- room made, like all of Cloudsdale, completely out of cloud. Scattered about were a multitude of golden fountains, all of them spewing liquid rainbow into the pools at each fountain's base. Rainbow rivers flowed through sections of the floor, their sources the holes in some of the walls where liquid rainbow poured out. Over some of these rainbow rivers were small bridges, which the pegasus workers in here used to avoid taking a dip in the rivers below (though why they needed these bridges at all when they had wings was beyond me). The whole place seemed to have a cheery glow about it. All in all, the Rainbow Factory was simply breathtaking.

"Oh my God!" I exclaimed, taking it all in. "That is-- this is-- wow!"

"Yep," said Daisy, laughing a little, "this is our pride and joy, the Rainbow Factory. This is where rainbows are made."

I was about to relish more compliments onto the Rainbow Factory when that sinister feeling from earlier stirred in my mind, though I still couldn't fathom why. Why did this wondrous place stir these dark thoughts in my head? How could this place be related to anything dark and sinister? It didn't make sense to me.

Unlike the other two areas, Daisy led us through the entirety of the Rainbow Factory, showing it off. As she did this, Pinkie attempted to drink rainbow, like she had in the show. Here reaction was exactly the same as it had been then. Rainbow Dash's resulting laughter had echoed in the large room. One thing I failed to see, strangely enough, was how exactly rainbow was made. The closest thing I could see to that was the rainbow pouring out of the walls, but I had no idea where that came from or how it was made. Had the others failed to notice this? Or were they just being polite and not asking about it?

While Daisy was explaining to us the importance of the golden rainbow fountains, on the far end of the room, opposite from where we had come in, I noticed a black door with a sign on it. Quietly, and without alerting the others, I trekked though the room towards the door. Upon my arrival, i read the sign on the door, hoping no one had seen me. The sign said 'AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY'. On the wall next to the door, embedded in the cloud, was a scanner looking thing. It looked a lot like a fingerprint scanner from back home, just bigger. Had... had ponies invented hoofprint scanners? If so, i wasn't getting through this door.

Then I had an idea. Looking around to make sure no one was watching, I pressed my ear to the door. The first thing I noticed was that it was ice cold and very hard. this made me recoil. Looking at the door again, I realized the door was made of metal, not black cloud like I had thought. Bracing for the icy cold of the metal this time, I gently pressed my ear to the door. I listened intently for any sign of noise.

Then, suddenly, muffled by the door, I heard an agonized scream.

"I can't believe they kicked us out!" Rainbow Dash shouted as we sat outside the Weather Center shortly after getting kicked out. Then, rounding on me, she asked, "Why couldn't you just ignore that door? If you had, we'd still be in there!"

"I was curious," I replied, still a little shaken by what I'd heard behind the door. "And, in case you didn't notice, they never actually showed or explained how a rainbow is made. Hiding something is a surefire way of causing rampant curiosity."

Dash rolled her eyes. "Of course they're hiding it. Otherwise, the secret would get out and everyone would make their own rainbows. It'd be utter chaos!"

I shook my head. "Yeah, I'm sure that's the reason they don't want it getting out."

After I had heard the scream, I instantly remembered why I'd had dark and sinister thoughts about the Rainbow Factory and Weather Center. In the Rainbow Factory, where fears and horrors come true; in the Rainbow Factory, where not a single soul gets through. Those lyrics had rung clear in my head ever since hearing the scream.

"Well, at the very least, that Earth pony guy--" began Lyra.

"You mean the Head of the Rainbow Factory?" Twilight interjected.

"Whatever," Lyra retorted, rolling her eyes. "He didn't have to be so mean."

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah, he didn't have to be such a meanie-pants."

"My question is," said Twilight, her tone curious, "how is an Earth pony working at the Rainbow Factory in Cloudsdale?"

At this, everyone fell silent, unsure how to answer. I thought back to when I'd first seen him. After I'd heard the scream, he pulled me away from the door and scolded me for being where I didn't belong. The blue Earth pony had had a yellow mane and had been wearing a normal white Weather Center uniform. His eyes had been gray, devoid of any color. I had to admit, though shaken by the scream, I too had been curious as to how an Earth pony got a job (and such a high level job at that) at one of Cloudsdale's most prestigious work places.

"Hey, c'mon, let's just forget about this and go," said Rainbow Dash, taking off into the sky. "I've got an appointment to get to!"

With that, we all got up and followed her deeper into Cloudsdale, leaving our hot-air balloon, the Weather Center, and the Rainbow Factory behind.

Journeying to the Wonderbolts' stadium in the center of Cloudsdale took over an hour. However, despite how annoyingly long the journey lasted, it was very informative. I learned, from a combination of my own observations, Twilight's prior knowledge, and Rainbow Dash's somewhat prideful remarks, that Cloudsdale had been built from the outside in. What had once been a fringe of cloud-constructed buildings was now a floating metropolis. Buildings kept getting built, which meant the city got closer and closer together, until it finally got to the way it was today. As such, buildings got progressively more modern the closer we got to the city center. Buildings around the outskirts (barring the Weather Center) looked they'd been built in Ancient Greece; buildings towards the middle ranged from Renaissance-looking buildings to Victorian era mansions; building in the center and directly surrounding the center looked like it would have been right at home in New York City, skyscrapers included. How they could build such massive towers out of cloud was beyond me.

During the journey, whenever we weren't talking about Cloudsdale or its rich history, I found myself stealing glances at Twilight and thinking about my kiss from last night, my heart positively glowing. Every time I noticed myself doing this, I was quick to internally chastise myself as thinking about such wonderfully blasphemous things would only make it hurt worse during (and after) her inevitable rejection of me.

I also stole glances at Pinkie Pie, wondering how she was holding up. As we slowly got closer to our destination, her expression got more and more panicked, but also more and more conflicted, though she hid this inner turmoil behind a mask of enthusiasm whenever someone who wasn't me looked at her or talked to her. I was the only one who knew of her growing pain.

Shortly before we reached our destination, we were passing what Rainbow Dash told us was the Cloudsdale Police Station when a green-coated, blue-maned pegasus stallion was thrown out the front door of the police station only to land on the patch of cloud-sidewalk directly in front of us.

"And stay out, you stupid, caniving, bribe-taking sonuvabitch!" shouted an angry, yet familiar sounding voice from inside the building. The next moment, another pegasus stallion emerged from the police station, this one brown-coated, black-maned, and with a slight middle-aged look about him (though maybe his graying hair might've been a dead giveaway). His cutie mark was that of a magnifying glass; his eyes were a glowing pink.

At the sight of him, two things happened simultaneously: the pegasus on the ground quickly got up and flew away as fast as possible, apparently scared away, while Rainbow Dash jumped back and began whispering, "Ohmygoshohmygoshomygosh!"

Once the green pegasus was out of sight, the brown one turned to us and smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that," he said, his voice vaguely Italian sounding, "but he was taking bribes to keep us off the trail of a criminal we've been trying to catch for months."

I stared at him, wondering why his voice sounded so familiar. He didn't look familiar, he just sounded familiar. I'd heard that voice before, I was sure of it. But where...

"Y-you're Vice G-grip," stammered Rainbow Dash, gazing at the pegasus in awe, "world famous detective and... and author of the Daring Do books!"

Vice Grip smiled. "Yep, that's me, though I haven't written anything in a couple years." He looked at Rainbow Dash for a moment before a glint of recognition appeared in his eyes. "Hey, aren't you that pegasus who won the Best Young Fliers Competition?"

Dash nodded vigorously. "Yes, sir!"

"Well, good job on winning that," said Vice, chuckling. "You know what I always say..."

"Winning isn't everything," finished Dash, "it's the only thing!"

Upon hearing that, understanding and recognition immediately blindsided me.

"Oh! Now I know who you remind me of!" I exclaimed, facehoofing at my previous ineptitude. How could I not have seen it before? "You remind me of Vince Lombardi!"

Everyone stared at me.

"Who?" they all asked.

"Vince Lombardi!" I repeated, forgetting about secrecy for a moment. "He was the head coach of the Green Bay Packers from 1959-1967. He was probably the greatest coach in the history of football, if not all of professional sports."

"Football?" Lyra asked.

"Green Bay Packers?" questioned Rainbow Dash.

"Sorry, I'll have to explain later." I couldn't believe I'd forgotten to mention that stuff to them during out talk the previous day. "But he--" I pointed my hoof at Vice. "-- reminds me of Vince Lombardi. Even his catch phrase is the same. 'Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing'? Lombardi preached the same thing."

Vice gazed at me, deep in thought, for a few moments before saying, "Interesting... however, I need to go back inside now. There's a case, see..."

"Of course," said Twilight, nodding and beginning to push us along, "we won't disturb you anymore."

However, as we walked away, I noticed that Vice didn't go inside; instead, he continued to stand at the entrance of the Cloudsdale Police Station, watching us intently. I wondered why that was as we turned a corner and the detective vanished from sight.

A couple minutes later, we were approaching a large sports stadium that looked vaguely similar to the many I'd seen back home. Briefly, I wondered what sports pegasi played. I was sure they stadium wasn't only for events hosted by the Wonderbolts. There had to be more than that to justify such a huge venue.

In direct correlation with Pinkie Pie's growing panic and turmoil, as we approached the stadium, I could sense a growing nervousness coming from the direction of Rainbow Dash. To be honest, I was surprised she hadn't shown signs of this earlier. She'd been nervous through the entirety of the 'Sonic Rainboom' episode. Maybe it was due to the fact that, besides the Wonderbolts, we'd be the only ones watching.

Finally, we reached the entrance to the stadium. Walking inside, Lyra, Pinkie, twilight, and I made our way towards the stairs that led to our seats, while Rainbow Dash moved out towards the open stadium

Just before doing so, however, she turned to us. White-faced, and her sounding shaky, she said, "Wish me luck."

With that, she soared out into the stadium to face the Wonderbolts.

Someday

Part 2: Laughter and Loyalty - Chapter 5: Someday

"I can't believe they didn't want me!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash, dropping herself into our hot air balloon. "I thought I did great!"

I couldn't respond right away, as I was clambering into the balloon, but luckily the others did it for me.

"You did do great," Lyra assured her, staring in the direction of the stadium with an intense dislike. "Extraordinary, even."

"You were perfect, Rainbow," Twilight inserted, using her magic to get the balloon moving again. Once she was done, she looked at Dash. "Don't let anyone tell you different."

Pinkie Pie nodded. "You're the best, Dashie!" Her demeanor had changed dramatically since Dash's rejection by the Wonderbolts. She was no longer panicky; instead, she was much more cheerful, though the cheerfulness had a slightly glum, slightly angry edge to it.

"I don't know," said Dash, sitting down and gazing glumly at the floor of the balloon basket. "If I had really been great, they'd have said yes. Maybe... maybe I'm actually not as good as I thought."

Finally settled in the balloon, I looked at her. "You want to know something? You are, factually, the greatest flier in all of Equestria." When Dash looked up at me, I continued, "I'm serious. The TV show this universe is based on continually says so. I guess the Wonderbolts are just too stupid to realize what they had in front of them."

Dash turned her gaze back to the floor. "I don't feel like the best flier in all of Equestria..."

I was about to continue trying to cheer her up when a very interesting idea popped into my head. Instantly, I changed tactics.

"Well, fine, go ahead and mope," I said, shrugging, "I mean, moping is certainly the best way to deal with rejection. Wallowing in it is a surefire way to move past it."

The others looked at me, shocked, all except for Rainbow Dash who continued to stare dejectedly at the floor. Good. That last part was part of the plan. As long as she stayed all mopey...

Once Lyra and Twilight looked away, I mouthed to Pinkie, I have a plan.

Her eyes widened. "Ooo, what plan? What plan!?"

The others, including Rainbow Dash, looked at her, then at me, in confusion.

I fought the urge to facehoof as I replied, "I have absolutely no idea what you are talking about Pinkie Pie." Inside, I was screaming at her to shut up.

My comment seemed to confuse her. "But... you just said-- er, mouthed to me that..." Suddenly, there was a glint of understanding in her eyes. She glanced at the others, and finding that they were watching us, she said, "Oh, um... silly me, I must have been imagining things!" She laughed a very fake, very nervous laugh.

I lost the fight with my urge and facehoofed. "Yeah, you must have."

Trotting over to the basket wall, I stared at Cloudsdale, which was now shrinking into the distance, trying not to imagine the confused, possibly suspicious, expressions on the others' faces.

Time passed very slowly on the trip back to Ponyville. This was probably due to the fact that we didn't really have much to talk about, though I did explain to them a little about the Green Bay Packers when they asked. Luckily for me (and Pinkie), whatever suspicion or confusion they might've had from Pinkie's idiot moment seemed to have gone away.

However, our discussion about the Packers didn't last very long as Twilight seemed to be the only one truly interested. She payed rapt attention to me during the entire discussion. Rainbow Dash was too busy moping in the corner of the balloon basket (which was good for my plan), Pinkie Pie was too busy looking through her picnic basket for something to eat, and Lyra had heard enough about humans the previous day, so she decided to ignore my Packers discussion entirely and quietly read the book she'd brought with her.

The rest of the time we... well, we really didn't do much of anything. After a couple hours, we ate; the others eating dandelion sandwiches while I ate my peanut butter sandwiches (Pinkie Pie even admitted that she'd brought peanut butter solely because her Pinkie Sense told her to). I continued to think about Vice Grip throughout the rest of the day and night. From what I had seen, he seemed to be exactly like Vince Lombardi, just in pony form. The greatest football coach of all time, in the absence of football, would become the world's greatest detective? That was an intriguing thought, and not entirely implausible. Both jobs required a similar amount of dedication, as well as a similar amount of cleverness and raw ability.

Unfortunately, I never got the chance to tell Pinkie Pie my plan. Every time I thought about doing so, either Lyra or Twilight would be close enough to hear. Pinkie wasn't exactly helping things, though. It seemed like she was continually trying to strike up a conversation with one of the others. To make matters worse, she made multiple attempts to cheer Rainbow Dash up, though luckily these attempts all ended in failure.

My plan, in essence, was relatively simple. Keeping Rainbow Dash mopey all the way back to Ponyville was Step 1. Once there, she'd probably go straight to her cloud house to continue moping alone. Then, I'd send Pinkie Pie there to have a heart-to-heart, thus cheering up Rainbow Dash, and hopefully getting them together. If not that, it could at least start things rolling.

...

Yeah, it was a pretty bad plan. There were a ton of intangibles and plenty of ways things could go wrong. But it was the only plan I'd been able to come up with so far. There was a tiny, tiny chance this could actually succeed, and I was going to take that chance no matter what.

Despite almost no real experience in this stuff, I was taking one huge leap of faith.

After another (thankfully) dreamless sleep, we were nearly to Ponyville. Sleep seemed to have done nothing to change Rainbow Dash's mopeyness, and I still hadn't been able to tell Pinkie Pie about my (admittedly terrible) plan. This worried me; it added a whole new layer of ways this plan could go wrong. What worried Twilight and Pinkie was Rainbow Dash's continued mopeyness. What worried Lyra, on the other hand, was entirely different.

"Can you please tell me a little more about humans?" Lyra asked urgently, glancing in the direction of Ponyville.

I smirked. "I thought you learned enough about humans. Why weren't you paying attention yesterday when I was talking about the Packers?"

"I... I was," she mumbled, blushing. "I just... I didn't want you to see how interested I actually was."

"Oh really?" I questioned playfully. "Why are you so interested in such 'violent', 'bloodthirsty' creatures?"

The mint green unicorn sighed. "You were right about humans-- about me. From what you've told us, humans seem all right and... and the only reason I hated humans so much was because I was blinded by Bon-Bon's death." She sighed again. "It's not right to judge an entire people based on one person's actions."

I nodded calmly, though inside I was dancing a jig. I'd actually made good on a promise! It may have been a retracted promise, but that was beside the point. Maybe I was better at keeping promises than I thought!

"But you need to tell me as much as you can as quickly as much as you can as quickly as you can," Lyra said quietly. "We don't have much time left!"

"We have plenty of time!" I exclaimed, chuckling. "What, do you think I'm going to vanish as soon as we get back to Ponyville?"

She blushed again. "Well--"

"I'm not, you know," I said, interrupting her. "Until I can find a way back to my universe, I'll be staying with Twilight. At least, I think."

I glanced over at Twilight. Pinkie Pie was trying to talk to her, but the purple unicorn wasn't paying her any attention. She was staring at us weirdly, like she had a couple days before when Lyra first wanted to come with us. Why would she look at us like that? Did... did I have something on my face?

"What are you doing?" asked Lyra as I vigorously rubbed my face with my foreleg.

"Nothing," I replied, examining my foreleg for any blemishes. Quickly, I changed the subject, saying, "Anyway, you can come to me anytime... well, almost anytime, for your human knowledge needs."

Lyra beamed at me. "Thank... thank you!"

I shrugged. "It's nothing, really."

She pulled me into a quick hug and then trotted away, still beaming, leaving me surprised. I hadn't expected that hug. Of course, I also hadn't expected Pinkie's hug when I promised to help her with Rainbow Dash. I had never received so many hugs for helping people before. Then again, I'd never helped people like this before. Maybe, just maybe, this universe was changing me, making me a better person.

And maybe, just maybe, that would help give me a chance for success with Twilight Sparkle.

Less than half an hour later, we finally touched down in Ponyville. Without a word, Rainbow Dash flew off in what I assumed was the direction of her cloud house, just like I'd planned. The only reason I had thought of that was because I'd read a bunch of fanfictions where she'd done exactly that. And by a bunch, I mean a few. And by a few... I mean one.

But still.

Lyra watched Dash fly away sadly. "Wow. I've never seen her so... depressed."

"Being a Wonderbolt was her dream, " Twilight replied, looking after Dash as well. "It's only natural for her to feel this way. Though... I haven't ever seen her this sad, either."

I glanced at Pinkie Pie, who was also looking at Rainbow Dash, but unlike the other two, she was wearing a look of utter devastation; she wanted to help her love, she just didn't know how. Luckily for her, I had a way, and this was my last chance to tell her.

"Go after her now! Follow her home!" I whispered urgently in Pinkie's ear. "Try to cheer her up!"

She looked at me, shocked. "What--"

"Go!" I shouted, pushing her out of the balloon basket and onto the ground.

"Are y-you sure this'll work?" the pink mare asked me, eyes wide.

"Not in the slightest," I admitted, shaking my head. "But it's the only plan I've gotten, so GO! Now!"

She stared at me for another moment. Then, her face set in determination, she nodded and galloped off after Rainbow Dash.

Once she was out of sight, I turned slowly to face Lyra and Twilight. They wore the same expressions of confusion they'd worn the previous day during Pinkie's idiot moment.

I sighed. "C'mon, let's go back home, Twilight. I've got some explaining to do."

"Rainbow Dash!" Pinkie Pie shouted up at the cloud house floating over 20 feet above her head. "Come out-- I need to talk to you!"

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash's head popped into view over the edge of the cloud house. The cyan pegasus's eyes were red and puffy, as if she had just been crying, and her hair was disheveled. She stared down at Pinkie angrily.

"Go away, Pinkie!" she yelled at the pink mare. "You can't cheer me up, so don't even try!"

"Come down here and talk to me!" Pinkie insisted, feeling horrible inside for her love's distress and pain. "There's something I need to tell you!"

"No, Pinkie!" Dash shouted. "If I wanted to talk to anypony, it most certainly wouldn't be you, Pinkie Pie, no matter what you have to tell me!"

"But Dashie!" Pinkie shouted back, but Rainbow Dash had already disappeared back into her floating home.

Pinkie fell back onto her haunches and felt hot, wet tears make their way down her face. Dash's words were like a sword to Pinkie's heart. She was within inches of breaking down, of crying her heart out right there beneath Rainbow Dash's home. Maybe Jordan's plan wouldn't work. Maybe she should just give up. Maybe her Pinkie Sense had been wrong...

No.

No, that was impossible. Her Pinkie Sense was never wrong. Someway, somehow, she needed to follow Jordan's plan through until the end; her throbbing hoof was telling her that this plan would work. She had to talk to Rainbow Dash, her happiness depended on it.

Pinkie Pie wasn't giving up, not by a long shot. If anything, she was now more determined to see this plan through. Staring up at the floating cloud house, the home of her true love, Pinkie decided on a new course of action:

If Rainbow Dash wasn't going to come down to her, she was going to have to go up to Rainbow Dash.

"Pinkie Pie is in love with Rainbow Dash?" Twilight asked me skeptically as she magicked open the front door of the Ponyville library and we walked in.

I nodded. "Yep."

She bit her lower lip. "Wow. I never thought... of course, this explains a lot of things, especially all the clingyness... I-- I can barely believe it!"

"Well, you better believe it," I said, looking out the window and into town. "If everything goes according to plan, everyone should know by tomorrow and Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie will be together."

"I'm guessing this is why Pinkie took you to go set up the balloon so fast a couple days ago?" Twilight questioned. "And that this is what you wanted to talk to her about your first night here?"

"Yeah, for the most part," I confirmed, glancing around the library. For some strange reason, it felt like something was missing. "Remember when Rainbow Dash snapped at her for being so clingy? That's when I figured it out. The pain in Pinkie's eyes looked very... familiar. Too familiar for my liking, so I decided to help her in order to save her from that pain."

"You really did that?" Twilight asked incredulously. "That's... that's so nice!"

I shrugged. "It's this pony universe. It's making me a better person."

"I don't think so," she replied, shaking her head. "I think you're just a nice guy."

I pretended to ponder that for a moment. "Hmmmm... nope. It's the pony universe."

Twilight frowned. "I've seen into your soul, remember? I know what I'm talking about. You are a nice guy."

"I saw my soul as well, and I saw nothing to suggest I've been such a nice guy before coming here," I retorted.

"Why are you so determined to make yourself seem worse than you are!?" she snapped.

"And why do you seem so determined to make me seem better than I am!?" I snapped back.

"Because... because..." She stared into my eyes sadly. She looked like she was trying to say something important, but instead, she glanced at the ground and said, "Because that's what friends do sometimes."

The sun was beginning to set as Pinkie Pie gazed at the huge trampoline in front of her and smiled. Not only would this bounce her up to Rainbow Dash, it would also be fun!

She backed away from the trampoline and prepared herself. Then, after a deep breath, Pinkie galloped at the trampoline and jumped onto it. It launched her high up into the air, more than enough for her to land in Rainbow Dash's house. For a fleeting second while she was still in the air, she was afraid that Twilight's spell had worn off. However, those fears were dispelled seconds later with a nearly soundless 'thud' in the cloud house's entrance.

After quietly thanking Celestia, Pinkie rushed through the house straight to Rainbow Dash's room. Just before entering, she heard the faint sounds of someone crying, and it very nearly broke her heart. Quietly, and with tears in her eyes, Pinkie entered the room.

Rainbow Dash was curled up on her fluffy cloud bed, sobbing into her even fluffier cloud pillow. She looked broken, plain and simple. This sight really did break Pinkie's heart. Tears now flowed freely out of her eyes and onto the cloud floor she was standing on. Seeing Rainbow Dash like this caused Pinkie almost unbearable pain. She had to make Dash stop this; she had to make her smile again. Only then would this pain subside.

"D-dashie?" called Pinkie tentatively.

Instantly, Rainbow Dash's head snapped up and turned to look at her. Surprise was dominant on her face, but that was quickly replaced by rage.

"Go away, Pinkie!" Dash screamed. "I don't know how you got up here, but you need to just leave me alone!"

"No," Pinkie responded quietly, staring determinedly through her tears at Dash's tear-stained, rage-filled face. "I have something to tell you."

"Yeah? Well, I don't care!" shouted Dash, turning her body completely to face Pinkie. "Nopony can cheer me up, not even Ponyville's premiere party pony. Don't even try!"

Pinkie shook her head. "You can't stay like this, Dashie. This isn't you."

"I CAN STAY LIKE THIS IF I WANT TO!"

"Moping doesn't help the pain!" Pinkie said fiercely. "Stop moping and smile, Dashie. Smiling helps more than moping. Trust me on this."

"I CAN'T!" Dash cried, covering her wet rose eyes with her hooves. "Being a Wonderbolt was my dream! Everyday since I was a little filly I've dreamed about it! And now-- now I can't!"

"Let me help you, Dashie," said Pinkie softly, walking over to the cyan pegasus and sitting down on the bed next to her.

"But you can't, Pinkie!" replied Dash, shaking her head. "You can't!"

"Then let me try!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I can't stand to see you this way! It breaks my heart, Dashie!"

"But... why?" asked Dash, removing the hooves from her eyes and staring up at the pink pony beside her. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because I'm your friend and because... because..." Pinkie's heart skipped a beat as she realized what she was about to say. "Because I love you, Rainbow Dash."

Dash just stared at her for a few seconds, astonished. "Are you seriously trying to make a joke right now!?"

That confused Pinkie for a moment before she realized Dash was remembering the last time she'd said that. "No, I mean it! I love you more than parties, cupcakes, balloons, rainbows-- more than anything!"

"R-really?"

Pinkie nodded. "You keep the party inside me going even when nothing else does, Dashie." Pulling Rainbow Dash's face closer to her's, she added, "I love you."

With that, she leaned in and kissed the cyan pegasus full on the mouth.

"I'm sorry, but that's a bad plan," Twilight observed after I told her about my plan.

"I know, I know," I said, nodding, "but it's the only plan I've gotten so..." I shrugged. "If it works, it works, no matter how bad the plan behind it is."

"Really?" she asked, raising an eyebrow. "So, if your plan involved killing hundreds of ponies, it would be okay as long as Pinkie and Rainbow got together?"

"No! I just... I mean... that's not what I meant!" I sputtered, glaring at the purple unicorn.

Twilight laughed. "I know; it was just a joke."

I turned and glanced out the window at the darkening sky for what seemed like the millionth time, hoping to see something to signify that my plan had been a success... or a failure, either one. This anxiety was killing me. The squirming in my stomach was making me feel like sitting her in the library's main room talking to Twilight wasn't enough, like I needed to get up and do something. Not only that, but the feeling that something was missing was getting stronger and more annoying. It wasn't anything super important, but not knowing what was missing frustrated me to no end.

Suddenly, a question popped into my head that I'd been pondering since the night before we'd left Cloudsdale.

"Twilight?" I questioned, turning to look at her again. "The night before last night, I woke up and saw you sleeping beside my bed. Can you tell me, uh, why you were doing that?"

"Oh!" exclaimed Twilight, blushing. "Well, um, you were jerking around in your sleep, mumbling too. You woke me up and I noticed you didn't have your blanket on, so I went over and put it on you. You stopped jerking around almost immediately, but I stayed by your bed just in case. I... I must have fallen asleep at that point." Her blush deepened.

I started blushing too. "Well, that... that explains it. I've been wondering about that."

There were a few moments of awkward silence before the entrance to the library swung open to reveal Spike. Instantly, my feeling of something missing vanished. Spike had been missing! How had I forgotten about Spike?

"Where have you been?" asked Twilight as Spike closed the door and walked in.

"Well, since nothing was happening here, I decided to visit Rarity yesterday," explained Spike, not looking in my direction. This would've annoyed me, but I was too busy thinking of Rarity and Spike's crush on her. Maybe if I got Rarity to like him, he'd be less hostile towards me. "I helped her with her project and she told me I could continue helping her today, which I did."

Twilight nodded. "Oh, okay."

"So... how did Rainbow Dash do!?" asked Spike excitedly. "Is she finally a Wonderbolt!?"

Both Twilight and I grimaced at the same time.

"Not quite," answered Twilight.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash found herself being kissed by Pinkie Pie.

Dash's first instinct was to resist and pull away. She wasn't in love with Pinkie Pie, plus this didn't seem like the right time to be kissing anypony. Her dream to be a Wonderbolt had crashed and burned and her life now seemed like a shell of its former self, as if it had lost all of its substance.

At the same time, however, it felt so right. Out of everyone she knew, there were none she'd rather be kissing. Pinkie was a beacon of joy that she realized now she could cling to even in her deepest despair. Pinkie was so full of life, so full of energy, something that Dash envied about her. She was cute, funny, random. As for her dream... well, as hard as it was to imagine her life without being a Wonderbolt, it was much harder to imagine her life without Pinkie Pie.

Yes, she wasn't in love with Pinkie, but it could happen. In fact, it would be more than easy to fall for the pink mare. Especially now, when she needed love and acceptance and joy more than ever before. Pinkie would be able to give her all of those things and more-- this pink bundle of life kissing her could be hers and hers alone. That thought, more than anything else caused Dash's wounded heart to soar. Warm, happy emotions flooded into her quickly overwhelming the somber, depressing emotions she'd just been dealing with.

With happiness and love in her heart, Dash kissed Pinkie back, feeling as if she were glowing as bright as the brightest star in the night sky. She pulled Pinkie closer to herself and wrapped her in a tight embrace. At this moment, Dash no longer cared about anything other than the pink pony in her forelegs.

Then, breaking the kiss, and the hug, Dash pulled back until she was staring straight into Pinkie's beautiful, cautious blue eyes.

"I... I love you too, Pinkie Pie," whispered Rainbow Dash, emotion coloring every word.

Pinkie Pie's eyes widened, and then she smiled the most amazing smile Dash had ever seen. The caution drained out of her eyes and was quickly replaced with nearly overwhelming joy.

"Oh, Dashie!" Pinkie exclaimed, throwing her forelegs around Dash's neck.

And, just like that, they were kissing again, both feeling the happiest they had felt in a long, long time.

END OF PART 2

INTERLUDE: Eggman's Success

Interlude - Eggman's Success

Ivo was getting impatient. Again.

How in the world could these robots test his patience so many times without noticing? Honestly, Ivo felt that sometimes they actually made the conscious decision to be stupid or take much longer than necessary. Cubot should've been back by now-- in fact, he should've been back nearly 30 minutes ago! He was only supposed to have been gone for 30 seconds. Ivo specifically programmed the experimental device for that amount of time. So, unless Ivo had made a mistake, and he was pretty sure he hadn't, how had 30 seconds turned into 30 minutes!?

Immediately, Ivo chastised himself, He wasn't supposed to get so angry. Not only was it bad for his health, it also made him do irrational things. Such irrational things could possibly lead to evil things, and he was wholeheartedly against that.

He glanced at the orb-shaped robot floating beside him. Orbot also looked impatient as he continued to stare worriedly at the spot where Cubot had vanished in a flash of cyan light.

Ivo turned his gaze back to the same spot Orbot was staring at. The small timer on his glasses now read 31 minutes and, despite his self-chastisement, he still felt impatient. If there was one thing the pony universe and the Doctor hadn't helped him with, it was his damned impatience. However, if he got back there, maybe that too could be changed for the better. And now he was so close to going back. So close...

Then, a bright cyan light appeared right where he'd been staring. It was so bright that Ivo had to shield his eyes. Once it was over, he blinked and focused his eyes on the cube-shaped robot sitting on the ground with a circular cyan device on its chest.

There was a moment of silence before Orbot sighed in relief at the same time Ivo shouted, "Finally!"

Cubot looked around and took in his surroundings. Then, seeing Ivo, he said, "Boss! You won't believe what I saw!"

"Try me," replied Ivo, rushing out from behind the console and over to Cubot, and starting to take the device off the robot.

"Well," Cubot began in his wonderfully English accented voice, "I appeared in this weird looking building with a lot of books. There were also a bunch of colorful ponies. One was purple, another was red, and the other had cool rainbow hair!"

If Orbot could've rolled his right now, he would've done so. "Cubot, I think you may have been hallucinating. That sounds crazy, even by your standards."

"I wasn't halluc-- wait, can robots even hallucinate?" Cubot questioned, tilting his head.

"I... I'm not entirely sure," admitted Orbot. He turned to Ivo, who had successfully taken the cyan device off Cubot and was now strapping it onto himself. "Can robots hallucinate?"

"It depends," Ivo answered, taking a little box with 2 buttons on it, one green and the other red, out of his pocket. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some ponies to meet." With that, Ivo pressed the red button and disappeared in a flash of cyan light, leaving Cubot and Orbot utterly speechless.

After a couple of seconds of silence, Orbot asked, "It depends? What could he possibly mean by that?" at the same time Cubot asked, "If he could do it that quickly all along, why did we need that huge light show to send me off then?"

PROLOGUE: Eggman's Idea

Prologue - Eggman's Idea

Opening Theme: Someday by Rob Thomas

Ivo stood in his jungle base's hangar and checked his watch for the millionth time. He'd sent a retrieval ship for Orbot and Cubot a couple of days ago, and it should've been back by now. It had been a few months since his change in the pony world but, despite those changes, he still wasn't the most patient man in the world. Thinking of the pony universe caused Ivo's heart to ache. He really, really wanted to get back. Luckily, the time was almost upon him. All he needed was Cubot.

"Where is that retrieval ship!?" Ivo shouted at nothing in particular. Some of the robot drones working in the vast hangar turned their heads, but eventually continued on with their work after seeing that Ivo wasn't actually asking them.

Suddenly, as if on cue, a triangular craft descended swiftly out of the cloudy sky above the Mystic Ruins, what little light there was glinting off the ship's metallic exterior. Within seconds, the craft was entering the hangar and initiating its landing routines. Letting out it's landing gear, the ship hit the ground with a dull thud. The loud noise of its engines ceased and the room was silent once again, save for the occasional sounds made by the drones moving cargo throughout the hangar.

A couple seconds later, a ramp extended out from the bottom of the ship, hitting the ground with a quiet 'clang'. The hatch at the top of the ramp opened, and two familiar robots hovered down along the ramp's length. Reaching the ground, the yellow cube-shaped one turned and, seeing Ivo, sped towards the scientist and hugged him tight.

"Oh, boss!" screeched Cubot in his obnoxious, ear-grating voice. "I thought we'd never see you again!"

"Yes, I was worried you'd forgotten about us," the red-spherical one, Orbot, said in his sophisticated yet sarcastic tone, "you know, after you stranded us in deep space."

"I'm sorry about that," Ivo apologized, wriggling his way out of Cubot's iron grip. "I promise I'll make it up to you."

"That brings me to another point," Orbot replied, crossing his arms. "I was reading the news feed on the ship and I saw some surprising things. It said that you've built children's amusement parks, demolished old bases, donated to charity, and even won the global peace prize in the months we've been gone. Can you tell us why you'd do such things?"

"I thought that was weird too!" exclaimed Cubot, looking up at Ivo. "Is it some evil plan you're working on? If it is, I wanna help!"

Ivo sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Look guys, a lot has happened in the past few months, too much for me to explain right now. To make a long story short, I've changed and am no longer evil."

The two robots stared at Ivo as if he'd gone mad.

Cubot turned to Orbot and scratched his head. "Did he just say what I think he said?"

Orbot looked at Cubot. "Yes, yes he did." Turning back to Ivo, he said, "Are you serious?"

Ivo nodded. "Completely. Though the story behind why is too long to tell at the moment. As it stands, I do have something we need to do. Cubot, I have a present for you!"

"Really!?" the cube-shaped robot squealed. "What is it?"

Ivo reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, flat circuit board. "A new voice chip. I know you like your current one, but I thought you might like this one. I know you will Orbot."

Reaching up, Cubot plucked the voice chip out of Ivo's outstretched hand. After ejecting the old chip, the robot slid the new one into the slot. Cubot's system processed the new chip for a few moments before  he could finally speak.

"How does it sound?" asked Cubot in a very familiar English accented voice. After hearing his own voice, he jerked back a bit in surprise. "Blimey! That sounds brilliant!"

Ivo smiled. It had worked! The tone, the accent, the catchphrase-- a perfect recreation of the Doctor's voice! How he'd missed that voice; the voice of his only true friend. Hearing that the voice chip was working made Ivo very optimistic about the rest of the things he had planned.

"That actually does sound pretty good," commented Orbot, staring at Cubot in surprise. "It fits with mine!"

"It does, doesn't it? That's great!" Cubot exclaimed. Turning to Ivo, he added, "Thanks boss!"

Ivo waved it off. "No problem."

"So, you said before that you have something we have to do," said Orbot. "What would that be?"

"I need to test something I've been working on," Ivo replied, the eyes behind his glasses lighting up. "But I needed to wait for you guys to get back so that Cubot could test it." He turned and began walking towards the hangar's exit door, gesturing for the two robots to follow him.

"What is this 'thing' that you've been working on, exactly?" Orbot questioned as he and Cubot followed behind.

Reaching the door, Ivo punched in a code on the keypad that resided on the wall beside the door. The door slid open. "Follow me," said the scientist, walking through the doorway, "and you'll get your answer."

INTERLUDE: Eggman's Experiment

Interlude - Eggman's Experiment

Cubot picked at the circular cyan device strapped to his chest. The straps were buckled tight against him, a little too tight for Cubot's liking. However, Ivo didn't really notice the robot's discomfort since he was too busy punching buttons on the nearby control panel.

Orbot gazed at Cubot with concern. The cube shaped robot was standing in the center of the medium sized room on a metallic pad. Surrounding the pad were four metal poles, on top of which were small tesla coils. Orbot worried that whatever Ivo had planned would hurt or destroy Cubot. Hopefully that wouldn't happen.

"Are you sure this is, um, safe?" asked Orbot, glancing at Ivo. "Because, to me, this doesn't look safe at all."

"Quiet you!" Cubot exclaimed with his newly acquired English accented voice. "I'm helping, and that's all that matters."

"Don't worry, he should be fine," Ivo assured, looking at the small screen on the control panel and double checking his calculations. "This'll transport him to another universe. If my calculations are correct, the universe he appears in will be relatively harmless."

Cubot scratched his head. "Another universe?"

"What if he gets stuck in the other universe?" questioned Orbot. "He's not exactly the sharpest tool in the shed."

"Oi!"

Ivo shook his head. "I've set an automatic timer. He'll be transported back here after thirty seconds. Unless something malfunctions, of course."

"Are we going to do this or not?" interjected Cubot impatiently.

"Yes, all my calculations are put in the computer. If you're ready Cubot, we can begin," Ivo said, gazing at the cube shaped robot.

Cubot saluted. "I'm ready boss."

Ivo looked down at the control panel and pushed a small green button. A red light in the center of the cyan device on Cubot's chest began to glow. Suddenly, cyan electricity arced its way from the device onto one of the poles connected to the pad which Cubot was standing on. The electricity spread to all four poles, surrounding the cube shaped robot in a crackling wall of cyan electricity. With a bright flash of cyan light, Cubot disappeared, the crackling and whirring noises caused by the device on his chest also going away.

Once the room was silent and completely still, Ivo pushed a microscopic button on his glasses. A small digital clock popped up in the right lens of his glasses.

Orbot looked up at Ivo. "What do we do now?"

"Now," Ivo began, focusing almost entirely on the small clock, "we wait."