My Report on Another World

Chapters

Mysterious Ruins.
Misunderstanding
Mission.
Questions
To Twilight's castle!
Collect the elements
Daybreaker
Eric's Determination.
A good night
The next morning.
Home.
Epilogue
The magic of song

Mysterious Ruins.

Author's Note

I'M BACK AFTER WHO KNOWS HOW LONG AND WHO KNOWS HOW LONG I WILL BE BACK.

Mysterious Ruins.

My name is Eric Scott. I am an investigative photojournalist. Some people in the field hate how I operate. I'm the sort that tends to dabble in the stories that others dare not touch. After all, the scarier the scoop, the more thrilling it is to cover!

But anyway, what's going on right now? As of now, I'm on a military helicopter due to a tip-off about a mysterious structure discovered in a desert country I can't remember the name of. I'll have to ask the lads on the way home. The helicopter lands and we disembark.

I climb out and put my "PRESS" vest on over my thin hoodie as we make our way over. It takes us about 10 minutes to arrive before my camcorder is out and rolling. I aim my camera around and capture as much as I can. The outside looks like... a castle? Or the remains of a castle. Poor thing looks like it got blown up. PERFECT! I capture as much as I can before we head in.

Inside is so much more strange. For example, there are statues of what seem to be horse-like creatures. One seems taller than the other

"The hell?" I hear one of the Marines say. I turn the camera to him and he has a rainbow-coloured rock in his hand.

"May I have a gander, mate?" I ask. The marine replies with a yes and hands it to me. It gives off a warm sensation. And I swear I can feel it pulsing. It reminds me of a dice someone would use when playing a tabletop role-playing game. It kind of looks like one as well. I put it in the small shoulder bag full of extra batteries and SD cards as I hear another marine shout to call us over. I keep the camera rolling as we head over to the location of the shout to find the marine looking up at one of the statues. This one is even bigger than the other one! That's great to confirm! I eagerly point my camcorder at it and try to capture as much of it as possible.

"LADS, I FOUND SOMETHING ELSE!"

That got all our attention again as we turned to him to see he is holding a book of sorts. He slings his rifle over his shoulder and starts to read it. Or, attempts to read it. I walk over to him and point my camcorder at the book. The language is like nothing I have ever seen. Like, a bunch of scribbles or something. I know for sure it's not Arabic because I took a couple of lessons just in case. I take off my sunglasses to get a better look but still no dice.

"Could you put that in here, mate?" I say as I point to my shoulder bag to which he does so. Damn. All we found were giant statues, a rock and a book with bugger knows what written in it. Here I thought it be more interesting and could be a better scoop to rea--

"Is this a library?" I say as I walk past a door and take a peek inside. One of the lads catches me looking in and walks in to have a look. He pulls a book from the shelves and looks through it

"I think I may have your scoop, mate" Oh? I gotta see this! He hands me the book. As I expected, the language is unreadable but what isnt unreadable are the pictures. I point my camcorder at the pictures. The hell? THERES WIERD HORSE PICTURES! AND IT LOOKS LIKE THEY'RE... Unicorns? With what looks like wings are fighting? Wait, is this guy having me on? Nah, can't be. I saw him randomly pull this book off of the shelf. I document as much of the book as I can as we put it back and rejoin the Marines in the hallway.

We continue walking about and through a corridor until we come across a wooden door partially open. I manage to get my hand in along with my camera. Good, the coast is clear. I give the all-clear to the lads and we give the door a push. The Marines head in and clear the room. They give me the all-clear and we head in. The room is bigger than I thought. In the center of the room, theres a weird contraption. Theres a large sphere surrounded by 5 other spheres. I keep my camcorder on it. Capturing all of it. Every nook and cranny. After a while, I finish up and head out to join up with the Marines.

After another 10 minutes, we carry on down a corridor until we walk into a throne room. With my camera still rolling, I head on in. There are two thrones. Strange? Unless theres a king and queen, I don't see why there would be two of them. I go ahead of the Marines as they pause to set up some equipment of sorts. As I keep walking, My hands start to shake. This might be it. THE SCOOP OF A LIFETIME!!!!! I turn my back to the thrones to go over the footage I captured so far. All looks good. But that book. I can't help but feel like it is import-

"ERIC, GET OUT OF THERE!!!!!" I hear all of them shout. I frantically shake my head until I see it. THE GROUND. OH GOD!!!!! Its falling in! Or out? It circles around until a circle made of light appears.

"OH CHRIST IN HEAVEN. I'M BEING SUCKED IN!" I feel myself rise up and get sucked in. Out of desperation, I try to swim out to no avail. I look in and see what looks like a throne room.

"LADS, GIVE ME SOMETHING. ANYTHING. HURRY! Theres a room in there!" I see the Marines look about in a panic as they shout back

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING? ARE YOU CRAZY?"

"I'M TELLING YOU. THERES SOMETHING THERE. THIS COULD BE HUGE. JUST TELL THE WORLD I GOT LOST IN A CAVE-IN AND FOUND A WAY TO KEEP GOING DEEPER. So just give me SOMETHING!"

No sooner did I say that, I saw a bayonet still in its sheathe fly to me. I just barely catch it as I am quickly sucked in.

Misunderstanding

Uuuuugghhhhh... My head... Who on earth hit me? The ground I guess? I can barely move Although my muscles are coming to. I slowly open my eyes. to see a strange-looking room with stained glass windows and it looks... Colourfull? And what are those voices saying? I fully open my eyes and sit up.

In front of me are 6 different coloured horses all with their mouths agape. One pink, one yellow with pink hair, one Orange, one blue with rainbow hair, one white with purple hair, and one that's completely purple with purple hair and different colored highlights. They're all facing me at eye level. Judging how they are making eye contact while I'm sitting up straight, they must be up to my waist in height. The orange one is the first to break the silence as I grab my camcorder.

"What in tarnation are you?" she says as she adjusts her hat and scratches her head in confusion.

"I'm a human. Obviously. Where am I and what's going on?" I ask as I pick up my camcorder and check to see if it's still rolling (which it is). Between the six of them, they exchange looks of confusion before the purple one responds

"Equestria. More specifically, Canterlot Castle. Now, how did you get here?"

I try to explain as much as I can from the tip-off, to the helicopter ride and to the ruins the Marines and I explored. It's at this moment I realize that I am talking to HORSES THAT CAN SPEAK ENGLISH AND CAN UNDERSTAND ME. And that I got transported... to another... world. I can feel myself start to breathe faster. Oh no... oh no... OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD OH GOD "OH GOD HOW DO I GET HOME? MY FAMILY? MY WIFE? MY KIDS? MOM? DAD?"

That's when I realized I'm screaming. WAIT, WHY ARE YOU APPROACHING ME? STAY BACK!!!!! WHAT ARE YOU? LEAVE ME ALONE!!!!!! My panic turns into dread as I scramble to my feet. I frantically look around in hopes of finding an exit only to find the door behind the six horses in front of me.

"Are you troubled? What's wrong?" I hear a soft voice next to my ear. It sounds motherly. Like a mother comforting her child. As I thought I was calming down, I felt a soft pressure on my shoulder. I jump back to see another horse about my height if not a tad taller standing behind me. My panic is sent into overdrive and before I know it, I take off running. DAMN IT ALL I'M NOT DYING HERE!!!

I break into a mad dash for the door. I slip past them while they keep trying to talk to me and keep my stride. I jerk my head back to see the blue one fly past me and stop in front of me in an attempt to get me to stop but as she floats in front of me, I slide under her and keep going. The two guards at the door brace for impact but I dodge past them and open the door just enough to get out of the room and close the door.

I can hear many footsteps approaching as I continue my sprint down a corridor. I pass a few doors until I see one that's not open. I push it open to see a spiral staircase. All this time, my camera has not been put down. I raise it up and use the zoom function to see down the bottom to no avail. I carefully and quickly go down the stairs just as I hear footsteps pass by. I take a brief moment to sit on the stairs to rest before I continue.

No sooner had I started going down again, then I hear it... Bouncing... Followed by

"He's going down the stairs!" BOLLOCKS! THE PINK ONE FOUND ME! I pick up my pace going down the stairs while the pink one is in (semi) hot pursuit. The bottom of the stairs gets closer when I hear it.

"Hey, why are you running? I'm Pinkie Pie and-"

"BUGGER OFF!" I shout in an attempt to keep her back but my sudden scare causes me to lose my footing. I tumble down the stairs for the last few steps and land sprawled out on the floor. Luckily I put my hands around my head on the last few stairs otherwise I might have been knocked out but damn my body hurts. I grit my teeth together and look up to see the pink horse now only 3 meters away. I audibly gasp as I scramble to my feet, open and close the door to the stairs. I keep up the pace until I see a library. I duck in there and hide myself under a bench. I notice more horses come in and out of here as I attempted to get my breathing under control. That's it, in out in out in ou-

"um... are you scared? I'm sorry if we frightened you."

My body jerks up and I smack my head on the bench causing me to get dizzy. The one yellow one with pink hair had found me and now I MIGHT BE CAPTURED!!! I roll on my side out of the bench and try to make my way out. I shake off the dizziness and keep going. My legs feel like they're on fire but I keep going. I soon approach a fancy-looking door. I burst through it to find a bedroom. I notice the large bed but dart for the wardrobe as I hear more footsteps. I peek through the gaps in the door of the wardrobe to see the white horse walk in. I guess my breathing must have gotten too fast or loud because I looked through the gap of the wardrobe again only to see her slowly approach it. No... please stay away. Don't open it. God, don't let her open it.

A strange noise followed by her horn glowing indicates that she might be doing something. I burst out from from the wardrobe causing her to shout out in surprise. Her horn stops glowing and I make a break for the balcony door. I try the door and to my luck, it opens but that good luck came with some bad luck seeing as the other horses appear at the door. I open the door to the balcony when they alert me to their presence.

"Are you okay? What's wrong, darling?" the white one asks.

"STAY BACK!! GET AWAY!!" I shout, camera raised. On instinct, I start to back away when my leg catches the balcony that wasn't built for someone my height. My legs go up as I tumble over the edge. God in heaven. I'm going to die. I'M GOING TO DIE! NOOOOO! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHGAHHHHHHHH!

My screams are abruptly cut off when I land on the balcony below and black out briefly. When I awaken, I look up at the balcony above to see all six of them looking over in concern. Wait, I'm still alive? How high did I fall? Three meters? Four? No! I can't be thinking about that right now! I slowly get up, head pounding and legs shaky. I make it about three steps before my legs give out and I fall to the ground... I can only watch on in horror as the yellow one with pink hair flies over to me and starts taking a look. I try to crawl away when I feel her touch my back

"We are not going to hurt you, sir. I promise you. We want to help if you just talk to us." Are these guys having me on? Are they being legit? Or am I about to be captured?

"How do I trust you?" I ask back. She looks for words to respond with when I see the purple one fly down to join her.

"I'll take over, Fluttershy," She says to the yellow one (who appears to be named Fluttershy). "When you arrived, me and my friends were in the middle of reporting to Princess Celestia about a concern of hers regarding magic thought to be destroyed recently. It turns out that spell sent it to another plane of existence unknown to us. Ever since it was sealed, it has been trying to find a way back to Equestria using alicorn magic. Or traces of it. The main theory it's the remnants of the darkness that consumed Princess Luna's heart and transformed her into Nightmare Moon"

"The bloody hell is a Nightmare Moon and what does it have to do with why I am here?"

"Nightmare Moon was born out of Princess Luna's jealousy of her sister. But that story will have to wait seeing as you kind of interrupted our report to the princess. Can you stand?"

I make an attempt to stand. Seeing as I was lying down, my legs got time to recover slightly enough to where I could stand with some effort. My head on the other hand felt like I was having a migraine. I guess falling would do that. I mention my head to the horse and she sends Fluttershy back up to the rest of her group.

"By the way, before we go back, Do you have a name?"

"Eric. Eric Scott. Investigative photojournalist. You are?"

"Twilight. Twilight Sparkle. Princess of friendship."

I feel like I should bow after hearing that. She stands next to me and before I can blink, we are standing in the middle of her group. My head still throbbing, I realize my camera has been rolling still. Man, this thing can take a beating, huh? Wait, why am I thinking about this now? I shrug it off and cautiously follow at the back of the six of them.

I'm in no condition to run again seeing as my head feels like it's going to explode and besides, these horses probably know this castle way better than I can imagine. I mention my head ache to Twilight and she assures me that she will get a spell ready before we face the princess. While walking, Twilight introduces her friends to me and we all exchange pleasantries but I keep a few things to myself. Like the bayonet clipped onto my belt. By the way, my intuition is on the money seeing as not long after we left the balcony, we arrived at those large doors.

Before we go in, Twilight tells me to shut my eyes and as soon as I close my eyes, my headache is gone. Huh, magic really is a thing here. Interesting. And it seems that spell has helped me calm down some. How that works I do not know but honestly, I won't question it. Being able to hold a conversation while being as calm as possible may help me.

Author's Note

Chase scene in this chapter! Tell me how I did ^^

Mission.

Twilight uses her magic to open the two large doors and we all head in, with myself plodding along at the back. I can feel the pressure properly now. It feels like I'm carrying a backpack with an anvil in it. Fluttershy notices me slowly falling behind and whispers to me

"um... are you doing okay, Mister Scott?" I sigh and whisper back

"Honestly, no. Feels like I'm carrying an anvil right now. I'm in the presence of three princesses and not to mention being the only human here kinda makes me more stressed." I sigh when I finish that. Fluttershy does her best to encourage me and while it does help in some places, it does nothing for my main problem: getting home. That's my main priority and right now, it would be wise of me to stay on their good side. After all, these guys might know a thing or two about what brought me here and how to get home. We continue for about a minute before we are acknowledged by the princess herself. We stop quite a ways from the two thrones before Celestia stands up and moves over to us. I notice she is looking me dead in the eyes. Probably sizing me up, like I'm some sort of fantastical creature (which in all fairness, I am). I straighten myself up to the best of my ability while the six ponies around me bow (I think?) Celestia motions for them to stand as she turns her attention back to me. I make sure to get the first word in.

"Hey erm.. Princess Celestia, look, I'm sorry for legging it like that. I'm usually a calm chap and I know you were trying to help me, but I lost my cool. So, sorry about that" I say as I rub the back of my neck. Celestia gives a warm and understanding smile before responding

"That's quite alright. I'm more than willing to accept your apology. Now, might you be so kind as to tell me your name? I must say, it is my first time seeing a creature such as yourself"

"Oh, righto then. My name is Eric Scott, investigative photojournalist and I am a creature known as a human. I come from another world and was brought here when a portal opened up and sucked me in. If you want proof of my story, I can show you." Intrigued, Celestia says although she wouldn't have asked for any, she asks to see it anyway. I pull out my camcorder (Which has been still rolling by the way), pause the recording, and navigate to the menu which has the videos I took in the ruins with the Marines. I begin to approach Celestia when her two guards move to block my path

"Allow him to approach. I am curious as to the device he holds. I must ask, what is it?"

"It's called a camcorder. It's like a camera in which it captures not just pictures, but videos as seen here" I say as get close to her and press play on the recording I shot of the ruins. As the video plays, I notice Celestia start to turn pale. As soon as the video comes to where we go into the throne room, she calls over the other princess (Luna I think?) and she asks to see the video again. This time it's Luna's turn to turn pale as the video comes to where we approach the throne room. I pause the video where I wake up in the throne room and resume the recording I have been taking ever since I arrived. Celestia takes a while to compose herself before asking

"That book and stone you put in your bag, do you still have them?"

"Of course. Why? Are they of great importance?" I ask as I retrieve them from my bag

"Yes. That book that your companion just happened to pick out details another element of harmony. It was speculated that it was lost forever but here it is now. I must say, it is in remarkable condition for what it's been through but for what it is, no damage doesn't surprise me." Elements of harmony? What the blue blazes is she on about now? I glance at Twilight and her friends to see them conversing with each other with surprise written all over them. Twilight asks Celestia with concern written all over her

"Princess Celestia, I thought there were six elements of harmony. Why were we not told about a 7th?"

"That's because, Twilight, it was extremely unstable. Anypony who tried using it was rejected by it with a beam of powerful energy. But for some reason, Eric here is able to hold it. Which means it may have selected him to be the last and only wielder of it." Hang about, ME? CHOSEN? wait wait wait, why me? Why not one of the ponies? AND DID SHE SAY UNSTABLE?

"What do you mean by last wielder? Am I going to die?"

"No, you will be fine. But for now, I would highly suggest you keep it safe. That element is highly unstable. I predict it has one usage left in it." Greeeaaat. So not only do I have to try to find a way home, but now I gotta look after a ticking timebomb. Great job, Eric.

"Um... Princess Celestia, about that report we were making before Eric wound up here, How should we tackle it?"

"Yes, to counteract the darkness, we will need the elements of harmony. As well as our new friend here. Which is why I'm going to need something from him." Oh boy, what's it gonna be?

"What do you need?"

"An object you brought with you. Preferably something you're not going to miss. This will allow us to pinpoint your world for when we send you home. Also, I can predict what you're about to say and while I could have done it before the shadow showed up, I cannot do it now. The shadow has been slowly but surely absorbing our Alicorn magic to the point where opening portals to other worlds has become nigh impossible."

I nod and begin looking through my pockets. All I brought was my phone, camcorder, and other camera equipment in a small bag slung over my shoulder like batteries and SD cards. Actually, This world doesn't seem that unsafe in all fairness.

"Would this do?" I say as I take off my PRESS vest and present it to her. Luckily, she nods and I pass it to her. I don't think I'll need it and besides, if I really have to fight, I have the bayonet that the lads threw to me. I feel safer just knowing I have it even though I have no clue how to actually fight with one. Celestia examines the PRESS vest before passing it to her guards to keep safe. I take a deep breath in and exhale before asking my next question

"What do I need to do? All I have is the stuff I brought with me." Princess Celestia replied without hesitation

"Go with Princess Twilight and gather the elements of Harmony." Ok, seems easy enough. I slip the rainbow stone into my pocket and follow Twilight and her friends to the elements of harmony. 'The scarier the scoop, the more thrilling it is to cover'. That was my catchphrase for myself and boy did I live up to it today. All this other world malarky is getting to me. I place my left hand next to my left pocket with my thumb tucked into it and raise my camcorder up to get a better angle of the throne room while we make our way out of it, and head to where the so-called "Elements of Harmony" are located.

Questions

"I have to say, Twilight, the architecture in this place is amazing." I say as we continue moving through the castle towards the exit. Twilight starts to talk about the castle which slowly but surely turns into rambling about equestrian history. I make an effort to pause her.

"Hey, I know you want to keep talking, but can I do something really quick?"

"Sure, Eric. What's wrong?" Twilight asks. I respond by stopping the video of my camcorder and turning it off. I then swap the batteries and SD card with fresh ones before switching the camcorder back on and resuming the filming.

"Eric, what did you just do?"

"Well, Firstly I stopped my recording and turned off my camcorder because the SD card and batteries were almost spent. Now, batteries are what keep the camcorder powered up. The SD card is what holds all the footage and pictures. Think of it like... filling out a book completely and then when you swap the cards, you're starting to create a new book." All of their faces have dropped open by this point. Honestly, I don't blame them. This tech must be unthinkable to them. I chuckle to myself as we approach the castle doors.

We exit out of the castle and walk through the town. God above, I have never felt so many eyes on me at once. I instinctively pull my hood over my head as I pan my camera around capturing as much of the city as possible. The kids all stare, point, and whisper to their parents as I walk past them. I give a polite wave as they awkwardly wave back. Christ, I feel like I'm on a gameshow or something. Round 2, Eric you have the floor! What is making the ponies stare? Why it's the fact I look like an orangutan! Correct, that's £500 added to your prize pot!

I chuckle to myself as we approach the train station. Twilight asks what's so amusing but I brush her question off by saying "It's nothing". As we approach the station, a brave soul comes up to us and asks

"Excuse me, what are you?" Instantly as soon as that left their mouth, the mother rushes over and tries to take their kid away. I crouch down and reply

"Well, I am what they call a 'human'. And I come from a whole other world filled with all sorts of stuff vastly different from here. Like this" I say as I pull out my mobile phone, snap a photo of them, and show it to them. Their faces are priceless! Both mouths were wide agape with shock. Damn, I gotta remember to take photos and not just record everything.

Twilight calls me back over while I say goodbye to the mother and her kid. We board what seems to be a train and I take my seat. The train soon moves off and while we are moving, the part I had kind of feared started. The questions. In all fairness, it wasn't as bad as I had thought. Just the stuff I had expected like what earth is like, the types of people who lived there, the sort of things we wore, and even what we ate. I decided to not mention the whole eating meat thing. It was then, that Fluttershy asked one that got me really talking

"What was it like coming to our world? What were you doing before you arrived?"

"Um... Well, I received a tip-off from an unknown source about some ruins that had suddenly appeared in a desert and I managed to get a ride in with a team of marines. After arriving, we explored for a bit until we came to a throne room. While the marines stopped to regroup, I wandered past them a bit. Lo and behold, a portal sucked me in and we all know the rest." I get a few oooos and ahhhhhs before Twilight changes the subject a fair bit

"That phone thing you said can take pictures, Right? Does it have pictures of your family on it? You mentioned that you had a wife and children just now"

"Yeah, here" I reply as I pull out my phone and open the gallery app to the correct folder. All six of them huddle around me to look at the photo. It's a picture I had a mate take of me, my wife, and my twin kids. My son is on my shoulders and my wife is holding my daughter. I snicker at this photo a bit. I gotta say, seeing this fills me with a new determination to return home like never before. Rainbow Dash is the next to ask a question

"Hey, is taking photos all that thing can do?"

"I'm glad you asked! It can do tons of things. It can make and receive phone calls and texts, surf the internet, take photos and videos, and even play music. But these things are just BARELY scratching the surface.

"Make and receive phone calls and texts?" Rarity asks

"Surf the internet?" Rainbow asks

"Play music?" Twilight asks

"Yep!" I reply. All six of them are now staring intently at my phone with sheer wonder. A good long while goes by when Twilight asks to hear music from it. Hm... Music from Earth? What should I play? All my playlist has are songs from shows I enjoy and zero organization at all. I guess I could scrounge together a playlist of sorts. Some of the best needs to go in.

My wife likes Im still standing, in it goes! I quite like eye of the tiger so in it goes as well! My daughter likes Let it go and honestly, so do I. In it goes! My son is a bit like me in terms of music tastes. He likes It's not over yet same as me. In it goes! those four along with sixteen other masterpiece songs go in. I feel like Frankenstein creating his monster. I resist the urge to shout ITS ALIVE!! Inner gloating finished, the playlist is done and I get their attention.

"Hey guys! Here's a FRACTION of what Earth's music has to offer! " I click play and soon, the sounds of music fill the train car.

Author's Note

HEY ALL! SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG TO GET A NEW CHAPTER OUT! 12 HOUR NIGHT SHIFTS ARE A MADNESS!

Hope you all enjoy! Please, if possible, some feedback would be much appreciated ^^

To Twilight's castle!

Like before, I pull my hood over my head and sheepishly trail behind everyone. As we are making our way through ponyville (I think that's what this town is called) 3 kids stop us. Their cutie marks all kinda look the same. A small shield with something in the middle of it. In all honesty, I've zoned out to the point where all chatter just sounds like mumbling. Must be tired from all the running and injuries. I shake my head and slap my cheeks a few times to wake myself up a bit as the conversation wraps up.

"By the way sis," the one with the bow in her hair asks "who is the monkey behind you?" I sigh and answer before anyone else.

"First of all, I'm a human. Not a monkey. Second, my name is Eric Scott, I come from another world and I am an investigative photojournalist" I reply as I direct my camcorder around the town and back to them. They all at the same time ask what my camcorder is and I give the same explanation I gave Twilight back in Canterlot. As expected, they want to try it. I stand firm, pass the camcorder to Twilight, and fold my arms. I'm so glad I have kids back home. They pulled THIS EXACT SAME THING when they were younger so I know how to handle it. Thankfully, Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash shut them down. The one with the bow quickly says

" Well, if you change ya mind, come see us! I'm Applebloom, Sweetiebelle is a unicorn and Scootaloo is a pegasus! And together we're the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!" Ouch, there goes my hearing. As my hearing recovers, we say goodbye (thankfully) and continue until we stop outside a massive crystal castle.

"Is this made of... Crystals?" I ask. Twilight responds with the affirmative. Struth, she wasn't kidding. I knocked my knuckle on it a few times and sure enough, no cracks. I notice Twilight and her friends seem to be snickering at me as I grumpily make my way back to the group and we enter the castle. To be expected, it's a maze. Again. Gotta say I'm glad these guys know where they're going.

I am told to wait in the throne room while they go to get these so-called 'elements of harmony'. Gotta say, the furniture is nuts. Seven thrones surround a large circular table. Each throne has each of the cutie marks belonging to Twilight and her friends. After choosing the one with Twilight's cutie mark, I sit down for a quick nap. I put my feet on the large table and shut my eyes. To be expected, it's as hard as a rock but I do manage to nod off.

After waking up, cracking my back, and my neck and having a stretch, I decide to pull out the 'element' I found. Honestly, it looks like something you would find in a gift shop in a musuem or something. And the book tells me nothing seeing as I cannot read it. I'm brought out of my thoughts as I hear a voice.

"Hey, you must be the 'human' Twilight mentioned." I look up to see a small purple fella standing next to me. He introduces himself as Spike the Dragon and we get to talking. Turns out not only did Twilight raise him since he hatched, but he also can read and write the written language of equestria. I introduce myself and tell him my story of how I arrived in Equestria and everything before that. Oh! speaking of things before I arrived, that gives me an idea! I present the book to him but alas, he shakes his head. Seems like he can't read it. He says something about an ancient language or something. I sigh, put the book away and he sits in the small throne next to me. Actually, now seems like a better time than ever

"Hey Spike, what's the deal with this whole 'Nightmare Moon' thing?" I ask while directing my camcorder toward Spike. He ponders before spilling the beans. From what I can gather, Luna was upset over all the attention Celestia's days had over her night times because everyone slept through the night. So she manifested a dark magic, transformed into Nightmare Moon, and battled Celestia. Celestia had no choice but to banish Luna to the moon with the elements of harmony for 1000 years. Once again, for the millionth time today, I'm flabbergasted. I lean back into the throne to ponder the info I just received when Spike pipes up

"Twilight and the others were with you, right? Where are they?"

"She said she was going to get the so-called elements of harmony. She asked me to stay here while she and the others got them.

"Oh," Spike replies. "Well, In that case, we have some time to spare."

"That we do, mate. You got any hobbies or something?" I ask. "I like building models, reading comics, and playing video games." Spike's eyes widen before saying

"I like comics as well! Please tell me, what sort of comics do you have in your world? I love the Power Ponies comics! Do you want to trade someday?" I grin a very smug grin before responding

"You can check out some of my comics right now if you want," I say as I pull out my phone and load up a manga/ comic reading app

"What's that?" Spike asks.

"It's my mobile phone it has a bunch of functions that I already explained to Twilight but the one I'm showing you allows me to buy and store comics in a virtual library. Think of it as a bookshelf you can access at any time." To be expected, Spike is confused. So I boot up the app and flick around to what I wanted to find.

"Now, let me introduce you to Green Lantern."

Author's Note

NERDS UNITE! Originally, this and the last chapter were going to be the same chapter but I decided to split them up. Any feedback would very much help!

Collect the elements

Spike, now a massive Green Lantern fan, finishes what I showed him. His eyes filled with a giddy sense of excitement! I chuckle as I put my phone away and at that moment, Twilight walks into the room. Her eyes scan the room before they land on Spike and me. Even from where we are sat and the door, I can hear her sigh.

"Spike, have you and Eric been getting along?" The both of us nod. "Good, we're now ready to go." Upon those words, I practically spring up on my feet, camcorder in hand, and follow everyone out the door. While being led through many corridors, I try to strike up a conversation

"Hey Twilight, theres something that's been on my mind."

"What's wrong, Eric?" Twilight asks

"Cutiemarks. How do they work? How does one acquire one?"

"Well, when a filly gets their cutie mark, that means they discovered something about themselves that sets themselves apart from others. They're often related to the personality, proclivity, or talent of their owners. For example, My cutie mark shows my higher understanding of magic because I studied magic and mastered it when I was a filly." Twilight is cut off by Rainbow Dash

"And mine represents my love for speed and adventure!" She boasts.

"Don't forget who dodged you, Skittles" I quickly quip back with a smirk

"And don't you forget who was running away in terror screaming like a chicken!" she claps back while making flapping chicken wing motions with her forehooves.

"Grrr... touché," I grumble through gnashed teeth. The front doors to the castle open as we step out and upon leaving, they close behind us. We continue through Ponyville (and many more stares LORD ABOVE MAKE IT STOP) until we come up to the entrance to a very dense forest. So dense in fact, I don't even think I can see another entrance apart from the one we are approaching. I point my camcorder at the forest while approaching and turn to Twilight before asking

"Hey Twilight, this forest is as thick as my neighbor's hedge when they're about to trim it. What's the deal?"

"This is the Everfree Forest. It is a dangerous forest filled with mysterious plants and predators such as Poison Joke and Timberwolves just to name a few. It's well advised that we do not linger here for very long seeing as it gets darker and darker the further we go in."

"Darkness I can deal with," I say as I gently tap my camcorder and phone "Predators that are more than likely gonna kill me? I'm gonna chill in the rear thank you!"

As we continue, sure enough, it's getting darker. The foliage really is thick, huh? No problem for me! I turn on my camcorder's night vision to better see. By now, Rainbow Dash is hovering next to my head, also looking through my camcorder.

"Hey Scott, how are we able to see through that thing? You're not a unicorn and Even Twilight doesn't know what your corder-thing does." Rainbow asks.

"It's the night vision function of my camcorder. As the name suggests, it allows me to see in the dark." I explain. "Take it like this, magic here MIGHT have an equivalent in my world as far as I know. For example, magic that allows one to see in the dark could be matched with a torch or, in my case, night vision."

"You can see in the dark with that thing?" Twilight asks. "That sounds a bit too convenient, honestly." I pick up my pace to match Twilight's and lower my camcorder to her eye level. Sure enough, she is mesmerized by the grey look of the night vision. Seeing as I'm almost unable to see, I pull it away from her and keep my eye on it. Not a minute goes by when the darkest part of the forest looms into view followed by a cave. Twilight tells me to turn off the night vision as she makes her horn glow. Illumination spell, huh? Called it! I had a feeling magic here had to have a sort of equivalent SOMEHOW.

I remove my imaginary tinfoil hat and follow the six ponies to the cave, capturing everything I can. The cave looks like a normal cave until we step inside. Purple crystals line the wall and all go further and further in until we happen upon a large opening at the end of the tunnel. At this point, I can feel a gentle hum in my pocket. Sure enough, it's that mysterious 7th element Celestia was banging on about. I pull it out of my pocket to examine it when I start to feel it ever so slightly tug at me. I pick up my pace to lead the pack when the stone drifts out of my hand slowly. I clutch it between my fingers as I let it guide me.

"Eric, darling" Rarity asks "I get you may be eager to get ahead but you simply must be careful"

"I don't know why but the stone has a slight pull to it. Ever since we entered this cave, I can feel my element slightly pulling. Like it has a string attached to it or something. Maybe it has something to do with the other elements we're currently going after?" I give myself a pat on the back for that smart-sounding theory as we go through a large opening until a... TREE MADE OF CRYSTAL? A TREE MADE OF CRYSTALS? HOW MANY CRYSTAL OBJECTS ARE THERE?

My mental freak-out is interrupted when Twilight and her friends approach the tree. They appear to do something and then six necklaces (I think) with a gem inside of it wrap around each of their necks. Spike, who had been standing next to me gives me the all clear. I continue rolling my camcorder when a beep lets me know that another SD card is getting full. Like before I switch off my camcorder, swap the batteries and SD Cards, and switch my camcorder back on. As I power it on, a brainwave hits me. Spike has claws! That means...

"Hey Spike, I wanna try something"

"What's up?" Spike's question is answered as I pass him my camcorder. He looks at me with a puzzled explanation while I explain

"Basically, mate, you have the perfect shaped hand and fingers to hold my camcorder. That's ideal for me as now I can get different angles for shots and have a chance to take this for a test drive" I reply as I slide my backpack off and pull out a small shrink-wrapped box. At this point, Twilight and her friends have rolled up to see what's happening. Spike shrugs his shoulders as I eagerly unwrap the shrink wrap, slice the tape with the bayonet, and pull out what was in there. A small black rectangular camera with a torch function and records in 1080p!

"This is a head camera. Brand spanking new!" I exclaim "It's a smaller camcorder-like device that attaches to my head to capture shots from my point of view. It basically frees up my hands. I have also allowed Spike to be my temporary camera- dragon!" I demonstrate my new toy by giving the instructions a once over, inserting an SD card that came provided, and switching it on. I then put it on my head and tighten the straps. I ask Fluttershy to see if there is a small red dot glowing on the top. After she gives the affirmative, Twilight then asks why I entrusted Spike with my camcorder.

"Eric has hands and I have claws. He thought I could hold this comfortably and I can!" he says as he waves it around. I ask him to be careful as it's been through enough today. He salutes as the others laugh. We begin to head out and while we're on our way, I give Spike a crash course on how to camera-man and how my camcorder works. To his credit, he is an incredibly good learner! Not even five minutes later, he's taking shots like a pro! He knows how to enable and disable the night vision and can stop/start recordings! That card is the largest storage one I have so he should be ok with the storage.

As I'm contemplating all these thoughts, A booming sound appears at the cave's entrance.

"Princess Luna!" I say "You look me after a football game!"

"This is no time for joking!" She desperately shouts "It's my sister!" Everyone's eyes widen as Twilight nervously asks

"What's wrong with Celestia?"

"That magic we discussed before you left" Luna continues "One hour after you left, it burst into the throne room and charged me. Celestia protected me and it went into her. And now 'she' is here in the real world! a creature from the realm of dreams!" Dream realm? That's an actual thing? I may have to have a chat with Luna when this gets sorted out.

"Who's dream was it from?" Twilight asks. Luna swallows as she states

"It was Starlight Glimmer's dream From when she swapped Celestia's cutie mark with mine. It was an evil version of my sister. Its name was...Daybreaker."

Author's Note

ITS KICKING OFF!
Feedback is very much appreciated!

Daybreaker

Daybreaker? Who or what is Daybreaker? I turn to Twilight to ask her only for Luna to explain. Basically, from what I gather, Daybreaker was a figment of Starlight Glimmer's dream that was kind of a what-if where Celestia and Luna kept fighting I believe. Daybreaker is basically Celestia's nightmare moon in a sense. Actually, now that I think about it, the evil alter egos of the two princesses remind me of Jekyll and Hyde in a sense.

Wait, now's not the time to be thinking this! Luna is as pale as a sheet and as far as I'm concerned, this can only mean bad things. This 'Daybreaker' character must be evil if Luna is this shaken. Luna takes a moment to collect herself before addressing us

"We need to get back to Canterlot as soon as possible. Daybreaker will wreak havoc otherwise. Hold on, my friends!" no sooner does she say that, than everyone bunches together like sardines (and all pull me in) and a navy blue poof is all I see before we are back in-

"OOOOO WOAAAAHHHHHH GER WOAAHHHH" I babble out as I open my eyes, drop to my knees, and suppress the urge to barf. I take a few deep breaths before asking what happened with a raspy voice.

"We teleported, darling." Rarity says. HOW ARE THEY NOT FEELING THIS? Oh, wait, they're either used to it or it doesn't affect them. Figures, seeing as they are all interacting with magic all the time. But still, TELEPORTATION? HOW, THE HOW? My questions cease as my eyes readjust to see we are back in Canterlot. Albeit, a bit deserted. I guess someone must have warned the citizens to evacuate.

We move through the city until we approach Canterlot Castle. Nothing new really. Have to say, for a supposed villain, you would have thought they would have destroyed the castle or something. Hell, even redesigned it. I go to pan my camera at the castle only to remember Spike has it. He gives a thumbs up as he scans the castle with it. We slowly enter the castle to not alert anyone where we are only for two guards to be there. They stand there motionless as we walk past them. Ok, I gotta say, everyone just being normal in here is odd. Where are the evil minions? Where is the lava dripping down the walls? What about us being captured?

My internal questions are ceased as we approach the throne room door. A certain uneasiness creeps into me as we push open the doors only to find,

Nothing.

A bare throne room with nopon-... nobody around. Not even the mighty princess to bestow mighty wisdom upon us. What hasn't gone away much is the dread in me as we carry on in. Seeing as going on in first to a throne room got me here last time, I hang back and observe everyone do their thing.

"I don't like how quiet it is. It properly stinks of a trap." I say. " Almost as if she- GWAARG!" my sentence is cut off as I am picked up with magic and thrown across the room. *WHACK* is all I hear as I collide with the throne and land sprawled out in it.

"Excuse me, I do believe that belongs to me." A voice says to me, with malice woven in. I can physically feel the warmth of her breath hit my face. I can barely function as the air in my body struggles to stay in. I take a few deep breaths in and out to try and help myself. That's it, Eric. Deep breathe in, and out. Deep breathe in, and out. At this point, Twilight and everyone else have turned and seen what has just happened. They make their way over as fast as they can only to be stopped by a wall of fire.

"You six, I'll deal with later. This HAIRLESS APE is what I want first." The figure says. I finally have my breath back as I crane my neck to look up. Only this time start breathing faster. All I see first are the eyes. The eyes of a snake. They pierce my soul like knives. Her mane being purely fire gently dances as a stark contrast to the evil toothy grin plastered on her face. If Celestia's cutie mark wasn't on the armour on her, I would have mistaken her for someone else entirely. Wait, this... AM I STARING DOWN DAYBREAKER? Everything surrounding her goes blurry as my vision only focuses on the being in front of me. As scared as I am, I eventually get a question out.

"Y-you wouldn't happen to be D-Daybreaker?" I ask. All my bravado is gone as all I feel is fear. She eases the grin, cocks her neck back slightly, and replies

"Yes. What gave it away?" she replies as her horn starts glowing.

FEAR. Fear is all I can feel now. I desperately look to the others for help only to see them holding hooves and babbling on about something or rather. The main point is, that the elements around their necks start to glow. Spike stands off to the side and watches from a safe distance. Daybreaker turns to face the elements and while she's distracted, I scarper from the throne. I gently climb down and stand against the wall while I hear weird noises. Suddenly my leg is grabbed by something and I'm hoisted in the air

"If you do not want this ape to be hurt, I would recommend you cease this attempt to defeat me!" Daybreaker exclaims. Twilight and the others exchange looks before ceasing the rainbow beam thing.

"Good." Daybreaker says with glee "Now we won't be interrupted." As soon as that leaves her lips, All I hear is a pop and my vision goes black.

I awake to the sound of rope. My legs have been tied down and my jacket, shirt, and undershirt have been removed and thrown to the other side of the room. I observe my surroundings. It's a dark room. Probably a large cupboard or something. I can't tell as it's pitch black. That's when I hear it. Or, her should I say?

"Finally, now, how did you get to Equestria?" That's all she had to ask. I spill everything. Frantically. In as much detail as I can. All the while her evil smug smile turns into a big toothy grin. As I'm explaining, I realize my arms are not tied down. I wait for her to get closer. To the point of her physical body warmth being like I'm standing next to a bonfire on bonfire night. That's when I attempt a swing. I try to throw a right hook only to have it caught in magic.

"Your first mistake was thinking of trying to strike me. THE SECOND WAS ACTUALLY TRYING IT." She cackles. I use my left hand to grab the bayonet and try to slice my bindings. Alas, it just passes through them. However, she releases my arms and legs. I pant as I try to sprint to a door only to hear that *POP* sound. Daybreaker then uses her magic to get my right arm in a vice-like grip.

"To think, you actually thought you could strike me. Well, let me tell you something. YOU WILL NOT BE LEAVING HERE CLEAN!!!" she bellows. I struggle to pull my arm away. I grab it with my left and pull it, I try pulling with my body weight and trying to just run. She slowly walks up to me. Dragging out this encounter to make it as excruciatingly long as possible. When she stops, she knocks me to my knees.

"I read your mind while you were passed out. It seems you hold a bit of admiration for Celestia. She, unlike me, is a weakling. It's a shame really, if I were on your mind I would have allowed you to walk out with a bruise. But instead, it's that WEAKLING. SO YOU CAN WEAR THAT WEAKLING'S MARK. PERMANENTLY."

I didn't have time to actually process what was about to happen. Maybe it's my rising panic attack or the fact that I am alone having to endure this.

Because that's when it happens. My arm starts to burn. I scream at the top of my lungs. The fiery blast scorches my arm in an orange coat. It feels like my flesh is bubbling to a boil as all I hear are my screams. All the while, Daybreaker is laughing away. Jesus bloody Christ. That was just the circle of the sun. She doesn't give me time to rest as I feel a zap on my chest

"DON'T PASS OUT JUST YET, WE'RE ONLY JUST GETTING STARTED!!!"

I'm jolted awake by the bolt. My throat feels as dry as a desert as she continues. Each spike part of the sun. Gently burned into my arm. All the while that maniacal laughter is burned into my ears. She finishes up and drops my arm. I grab it and roll on the floor in pain. I think a tear or two fell from my face

"Now then, onto the elements." Daybreaker calmly says as she teleports away. All I can do is try to look at my arm in the dim light but I can't even bring myself to try. I'm too scared to see the aftermath of what felt like a branding. My thoughts are completely scattered but I attempt to stand. I have to get out. My legs feel like jelly though. I make an attempt to stand but my legs fail me. I struggle a few steps and fall to my knees. As of now, my body has been super shaky but that's when my stomach catches up and I throw up whatever I ate before coming here. With all just I went through, I can't even pass out. Instead, I simply find a wall and slump against it.

...

I don't know how much time has passed. Maybe an hour or even five minutes. Time is irrelevant right now. My thoughts are interrupted by the sound of galloping. I start to squirm when I don't hear Daybreaker's voice but

"Mister Scott! Are you in here?"

"Princess Luna?" I ask. The lights come on and Luna hurries over to me. My eyes adjust shortly and that's when I get a look at my arm. It's exactly as Daybreaker said. Celestia's cutie mark has been etched into my arm. Colour and everything. I try to rub it off only to be met with nothing. The burning hasn't gone away but it's not as bad as it felt when Daybreaker was etching it in.

I notice Luna has been holding her breath this whole time. Probably smelled my mess and didn't like it. I quickly grab my clothes, backpack, and head camera while taking extra care to cover my right arm. I'm not ready for another look just yet. As we make our way out of that room, Luna asks what happened to which I explain. I leave out all the details about my new (kinda) branding on my arm but I do tell her it happened. Just the cliff notes version. Luna is in shock but regains her composure. Pretty sure for my sake but regardless, I appreciate someone trying to keep their head straight.

"I have a question if you don't mind. How was Daybreaker defeated in the first place? I remember she was in a dream but how did she go originally?"

"Once, Celestia and I had our cutiemarks switched accidentally. When our marks switched, so did our magic. I got hers, and she got mine. But that's a story for another day. The pony behind the accidental switch was Starlight Glimmer and the guilt built up into a nightmare. That was where Daybreaker was born."

"If I had heard all that before today, I would have gone with it to get a quick bit of cash from article clicks. Now, however, having experienced magic, I one thousand percent believe you. Anyway, you were saying?"

"Yes, When Celestia tried to use my magic to help Starlight, she found herself unable to convince herself to do it. It took a pep talk from me to give her the determination to expel Daybreaker."

"And now this magic has nabbed her and turned her into Daybreaker? Just my bloody luck."

As we are talking, the stone in my pocket starts humming again. Guess it just now decided to wake up. I pull it out of my pocket and it starts tugging again. Wait, this happened when we went to get the elements of harmony from that crystal tree! We can get back! My enthusiasm is halted as I remember what I would be returning to.

NO! NO MORE RUNNING. MAN UP, ERIC. YOU HAVE BEEN IN TOUGH SCRAPES AND GOTTEN OUT OF THE STILL-KICKING! I psyche myself up and hold the stone up to about level with my chest. It pulls me down a corridor and a window that Luna opens. We peek out. Nothing new. The stone pulls to a direction that would be impossible for me to go to as I cannot fly.

"I can use my magic to levitate you while I fly just as long as you keep an eye on where that is pointing." I give a meek "yeah, sure" before I am lifted from my feet and levitating.

I have never been afraid of heights. But this did worry me. I have always had a knack for reading people and as far as I can tell, Luna means no harm. After I stop flailing around, I calm myself and hold the stone out. It points to a balcony I think. I point up to it and Luna flies up with me in tow.

We land on the balcony and duck behind to a wall next to a window. Good god, it led us RIGHT BACK. Right back to the throne room. Luna gently whispers

"Listen, Eric. I'm afraid we must part ways. I wish I could help more but I can't"

"Lemme guess," I say, "If you get closer, Daybreaker may be able to sense you?" Luna nods. Well, at least she was able to get me here so that's a plus. She bids me farewell and I scan the room. Twilight and the others are trapped in a fire cage of sorts and Daybreaker seems to be sitting waiting on the throne. The cage is slightly closer to the window so I figure I can sneak in and use something to unlock it? hm...

"How nice of you to join us." I hear as I'm thrown. I smash through the window and land just in front of the cage. Twilight and everyone snap turn around to see my wrecked self. I scramble to my feet and try to be stopped by a tug on my hoodie.

"Did you really think!" *POW* I'm punched in my left cheek.

"That you could!" *POW* I'm punched in my right cheek

"SNEAK PAST ME?" *POW* I'm kicked with both her back legs in the chest. I'm sent flying away from the cage and over to the other side of the room. That all too familiar *POP* happens in front of me once again with Daybreaker looming over me.

I just realized I may be in over my head With this 'rescue'.

Author's Note

Feedback is much appreciated!

Eric's Determination.

Hi there! My name is Eric Scott. I am an investigative photojournalist and right now, I think I'm going to die.

Yup, that's right. A fire pony goddess is looming over me with evil in her reptilian eyes. My eyes cannot look anywhere but those eyes. You know, they say eyes are the bridge to the soul and I bet mine say one thing.

Fear.

Her eyes though, All I could see in hers was malice before I am picked up by my leg and dangled up in front of the cage.

"This ape was going to try and rescue you? HA!" she scoffs. She tosses me aside as she cackles to herself. Probably gloating. But I don't take any notice due to the wind being knocked out of me a bit. I grunt upon landing and quickly scramble onto my feet. Wait, how am I still able to get up? And not as slowly as I thought. Probably adrenaline or something. Wait, my pocket! it's getting hotter! I pull the element stone out of my pocket and it starts pulling me slightly.

"Eric!" Rainbow dash shouts "Get over here, quick!" I slowly get up and make my way over. My shaky legs feel like giving out but I grit my teeth and keep going. My inner everything is screaming at me to flee. Honestly, I want to just throw this stone, turntail, and run away with everything inside of me. But for some reason, I don't have the heart to.

"As much as I want to run away, I won't. I'm done running." I say to myself. Just some words to get myself moving. All I need is a little boost to get myself over to Twilight and the others. I feel the feeling in my legs and soon my stride turns from a stumble to a walk. A walk into a jog. A jog into running. To be expected, Daybreaker overhears me approaching but doesn't make an effort to stop me. I don't know why but I'll take it! But as I approach Daybreaker, her horn starts to glow

"How cute. The ape is trying to rescue his friends." She mockingly says. "Why waste your time and life for ponies you only just met?"

"Easy!" I say as I approach Daybreaker "My friends are never a waste of time!" Daybreaker laughs again

"You only just met! How do you consider them friends?"

"Sometimes, you just know" I reply. As soon as our exchange is finished, Daybreaker shoots a- BLOODY HELL! SHE JUST SHOT A LASER BEAM AT ME! I dive and roll out of the way just in time only for her to shoot another! I keep dodging as good as I can until one almost grazes my cheek. Perfect, I keep diving this way, soon I'll be close enough She shoots one more until I land at the cage door! As quickly as I can, I whip out the stone and present it to the door. Daybreakers eyes widen as there is an audible click and the fire prison disappears! YES!

"How did you know what to do?" Twilight asks

"Honestly, no idea. Just an instinct thing, you know" I reply as I shrug. The fire that is Daybreaker's mane roars into life as her rage can be felt in my veins. No sooner do the flames erupt, than I am flung to the side again! I get my head up to see everyone forming a heart shape. The elements around their necks glow bright like stars. Is Twilight giving a speech of sorts? Can't tell. The stone in my hand is going nuts! I think?

"Don't you DARE!" Daybreaker shouts. I am broken from my trance to see a rainbow spiral light up the room and shoot at Daybreaker. The rainbow envelopes her until she starts screaming. One hit was all it took. I would say all bark and no bite but the mark on my arm is proof enough not to mess with her. By the way, my mark has been... pulling? I think.

"How can this be?" I hear. I snap back into reality again to find the rainbow light show still going on. It seems like its... not working. From what I gleaned from Twilight and Celestia, these 'elements' were meant to be mega-powerful or something. Do they need more power? I stare at the stone in my hand and that's when it starts to spark. The sleeve on my right arm pulled up to my elbow as the mark on my arm starts to spark and shoot the little sparks into the stone until I hear cracking like an egg. It keeps cracking until it turns to dust to reveal a... hang on, a gem about the size of my palm shaped like a camcorder? HUH??? WHA??? I stare at it with a baffled look plastered on me.

I blink and find myself in an empty void.

Huh? Where am I?

You are nowhere

How does that work?

How did you end up in this world?

Fair enough. What is this? Why is it so empty?

It's not as empty as it seems The voice replies as the tree of harmony comes into my vision

That element you hold. I'm sure you know what it is, correct?

Yeah, Celestia said it's an element of harmony. Or a lost one.

Correct and correct. But did she reveal what it was?

What it is? Oh! Like Pinkie's laughter one and Rarity's Generosity one?

Correct again. That element you hold also represents something as well.

Oh? If I may be blunt, my friends are fighting an evil fire god right now and-

Fear not. Time is not passing. The moment you leave this place, you will be right back to where you were.

That's a relief. What does my element represent? Love? If it's love I won't be best pleased.

Your element is something you possess a lot of. Something you have shown throughout your whole life. Examples include your fight with that bully or your many card game matches, 'Duels' as you called them.

I'm going to be blunt. Please do not poke around in my head. That bully fight was not a pleasant experience. Besides, how are you even able to look at my memories?

That mark Daybreaker put on you. It contains traces of Alicorn magic. It's how we can conversate.

Ok, Gotcha. So, my element. What is it?

Determination.

As soon as those words ring in my eardrums, the vision starts to fade.

My eyes snap open to what the voice said. almost like I never left. As if I am being told what to do, I lift my arm in the air. Holding the gem high above my head I shout

"OI, RUNT." Daybreaker snaps her head to face me. She looks surprised to see my confident pose but before I can get a word out, Twilight shouts

"It's true! a seventh element! Princess Celestia was right!"

"Damn straight! And I just found out what it is." I shout. My arm's mark begins to glow more as a gust kicks up around me making my jacket like a cape

"Humans like myself are fragile, weak creatures. No magic to be seen and no way of properly fighting magic. But you know what we have a lot of? DETERMINATION! That strength comes from our hearts, hope, and will to live. When faced with a beast like you, we band together. Just like how myself, Twilight, and her friends are coming together to defeat you and save Celestia from your corruption. Because We, as a group of six ponies and one human, are friends. And we treat Celestia as a friend. So believe me when I say, WE. WILL. SAVE CELESTIA!"

As I finish, I hold my element to the others and I start to rise to the middle of the heart shape. I lower the element to my chest and rainbows emanate from it. Going into each of the six other elements. While mine looks like it's losing its colour, the others look semi-supercharged. The rainbow is magnified until I hear cackling turn to screaming. Screaming to nothing. After some time, the rainbows die down. and all that remains is Celestia laying on the ground. She looks battered. Like my mate Callum after his stag do. She weakly opens her eyes to see me kneeling.

"E-Eric?" she asks. "What happened? What did I do?"

"You want the blunt answer or the easier-to-say answer?"

"Whichever works for you," she says.

"You became an evil fire goddess, tried to kill me multiple times, many things to Twilight and her friends." I rattle off before I show my arm. "You also branded me with your cutie mark. But don't fret, it helped save the day." I tried to be as jokey and nice as possible but Celestia gave me a look of horror

"I'm so sorry!" she cries. She's about to bow her head but I hold it by her chin.

"You're good." I say as I flick her forehead with my index finger "Now we're even." She tries to keep saying sorry but as she begins again, everyone comes in for a group hug. As we are hugging the familiar pop is heard. Oh hey, Luna!

"Sister! The evil presence is gone! Are you hurt?" she asks with concern. Celestia shakes her head and Luna sighs with relief as she joins the hug.

"What now?" I say. Celestia wipes her eyes, gets up, and replies

"For now, I would like to retire to my chambers. After a good night's rest, we shall work on getting you home."

Home, huh? Ideal. I have had too many magic adventures to last a month! Come tomorrow, Eric is back home baby! But I have to say, a kip would be great. I only just realized how exhausted I am!

A good night

As I retire to my room I don't feel tired. Am I still on an adrenaline dump? Na, maybe just me being hyper-aware of my surroundings or something. I sit down on my bed and strip down to my pants. Sleeping without anything but my unders is just the best way to sleep, y'know? I put my camera and phone on the bedside table and switch off my head cam. I then take the SD card out and put it in the SD card holder tucked in my bag. I then put the headcam into my bag and zip it up. When everything is put away, I flop down into bed.

...

Yup. Not tired. I need to take a walk

I have to say, when you're not running about in a panic in this castle, it's fantastic! The architecture is stunning. I'm honestly in awe. It's even more fantastic at night.

Oh! Guess what? I met up with Spike after the whole Daybreaker ordeal and it turns out he was tucked away in a hiding spot and captured the whole thing! I could hug that dragon, I swear!

One SD Card and battery change later, and we arrive to now where I am capturing the inside of the castle. I take a glance out of the window. Seems like a gentle night. Night time, huh? Almost an entire day since I arrived here and I got a branding to show for it and an entire cinematic universe's worth of video evidence of another world. Probably gonna be famous or something. Talk show anyone? Book deal?

Or do I even tell? Do I hide this information? Should this world be exposed to Earth? Hell, should Earth be exposed to Equestria? What would happen? Would magic hurt humans somehow? I dash that thought out of my head as I am reminded of my mark. I shut off my camera (for once!) and place my hands on my hips. I stare out at the night some more.

"You're up late, must have a lot on your mind, Eric." I jump back only to realize Twilight must have snuck up on me while I was deep in thought.

"Likewise," I say as I put my left hand on my hip and respond "Actually. I could do with someone to talk with."

"Then shall we walk and talk?" Twilight asks. I nod and we begin talking.

"I'm stuck, Twi. I don't know whether or not I should tell my world about Equestria."

"Well, why wouldn't you? Is there something holding you back?"

"Yup. A few somethings" I say as I hold up 3 fingers "Firstly, would people believe me? You can do many things with the power of editing. Secondly, what would my government think? Would they have me arrested and taken to a holding cell to be questioned or would they poke me with needles and test me until I can't think straight? Lastly, I'm sure ponies have this as well but the fear of the unknown." Twilight slowly nods as I sigh.

"Humans fear what they can't control. I know for damn sure that magic in the wrong human hands could be deadly to both Earth and Equestria. That's my current predicament. Do I share the story of Equestria to Earth, or do I keep it secret? Bury the whole thing?"

"When you arrived, you mentioned you were exploring ruins with some... What did you call them, Marines? Am I remembering that right?" As I nod, Twilight finishes. "There you go." Jesus Christ, it really was that simple! The lads I came with saw me getting sucked in! Hell, I even still have the bayonet Menhenick threw to me! I slap my forehead to punish myself for my stupidity.

"You raise a very good point. And a point I'll remember. Thank you." I say as we pass my room. I say goodnight to Twilight and I go back into my room. I set my camcorder on my bedside table, take my jacket off, and open the balcony door. Luckily for me, the furniture is my size. Must have been Celestia's doing. I pull one of the chairs out and have a seat. Actually, I still have a canteen of water left! I retrieve it from my bag and take it out with me. As I settle into my seat, I pull out my phone. I look at the photos of my family. My wife Lucy, and my twins Callum and Emma. These guys are my rock. My hope. My motivation to get back. My everything. As I take a sip of my water, a voice asks a question which almost makes me spit out my water in surprise.

"Good evening, Mr Scott. I must say, I am surprised to see somepony up at this time." Princess Luna says as she takes the seat next to me. As I finish hacking my lungs out, I ask how she got here. She simply replies "I teleported" as she checks on me. Fair enough, I guess. I screw the lid back on the canteen and quickly reply

"To answer your question, I have always been a night person. Don't get me wrong, daytime is nice, but nighttime just has that... quiet to it. It's relaxing, honestly. Sometimes in summer my wife, kids and I sit out on the balcony of our flat and look at the night sky with a glass of ice water each. Just taking it in." Talking about all of this fills me with more determination than ever to get home.

"I can see why you're so desperate to get home." Luna says. "What more of your life on earth can you divulge?"

"Will details of my family suffice?"

"Anything would be nice."

"Well, there's me who you see before you, My wife Lucy, and my twins Callum and Emma. Lucy, I have known ever since I can remember. She and I were friends as kids and have been through it all together. When we eventually tied the knot, people were laughing and shouting "Finally!"" I say as I take another drink from my canteen and continue.

"Then there are my kids. My son Callum, and daughter Emma. Callum is as loyal as you can get. He gets his smarts from my wife and photography skills from me! Emma however is kinda different. Her investigation skills are nothing to laugh at. for just being 8 years old, she really knows her stuff. I see the both of them doing great when they get out of school." I chuckle slightly as I continue. I talk about the good and bad times, the joyful times, and the sadder times. As the chat wraps up naturally, Luna wishes me goodbye.

That chat was needed. Well needed. I feel at ease right now. Even feel a bit tired as well-

"Don't even think about going anywhere. we still need to have our chat, Mr SCOTT."

I freeze and drop into the chair. I slowly turn my head...

No...

NO!!!!

"Did you really think you would get rid of me that-" I interrupt the taunting by going to throw the balcony table when she says

"Don't bother. I am intangible. Nothing can see or hear me." Daybreaker gets up from her chair and appears in front of me and finishes with "apart from you~" as she places her hoof under my chin.

"How are you able to do this?" I managed to get out. She steps back and points at my arm. My marked arm. I quickly look at my arm.

"When I branded that mark to you, I imbued it with a portion of my magic. Just in case. Now, I can live on in YOU. I know all the things you like, and dislike. Therefore, I can make an accurate comparison. Think of it like... Jaden and Yubel from your favorite childhood show, YuGiOh." Jesus Christ. WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON? I feel myself going faint.

"Don't even think about passing out. If you have to, get to bed at least so that I can disappear back into your head." I shake my head.

"Why me?"

"I felt like it."

IS THAT IT? JUST FELT LIKE IT?

"Don't forget we are linked now. I know what you're thinking The real answer is actually very simple" Daybreaker cackles as she teleports back into the chair next to me

"The real reason was because you are from another world. That's all. No ifs or buts."

Christ almighty. First taken to another world, now THIS? I stand up and make my way to bed. As I get back into my unders, get into bed, and pull the covers over me Daybreaker appears next to me.

"Listen up. This is happening whether you like it or not" She says while bearing down on me "Tomorrow, you are going home and I'll be coming with you. Ohhhh, I can't wait to see your world 'partner'" She finishes with a grin. I turn from her and shut my eyes. Soon, sleep takes me.

Author's Note

HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY. SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. FEEDBACK IS APPRECIATED!!!!!

The next morning.

Urgh... The bright morning sun pounds against my tired eyes like a wrecking ball. I turn myself to have my back facing the window. Was last night all a dream?

Get up. No, it wasn't. Great, now not only do I have a devil on my shoulder, but now she's waking me up.

"Yeah yeah, give me a bit."

You don't have a bit, Daybreaker says as she leans over my bed and looks at my watch. " I would say about.... ten minutes."

"What am I getting up for?"

Breakfast. Now hurry up. I pull myself out of bed and throw on my clothes hastily. I sling my t-shirt, button-up shirt, and jacket over my shoulder so I can save time. As I leave my room, I bump into Rainbow Dash and Rarity.

"Morning Eric." Rainbow says as she wraps a hoof around my shoulder "How's your first morning after an AWESOME battle yesterday?"

"Ouch," I reply as the hoof connects with my right shoulder. "Honestly, sore. Can barely lift my right shoulder and my chest isn't doing so hot. It's why I'm not wearing a shirt or jacket right now."

"That's to be expected, darling. After all, Daybreaker was throwing you around like a toy." Rarity says. She looks at my chest and tilts her head. "If I may ask, what might that be?" Rarity asks as she points to my chest.

Oh, right. My tattoo. Something I had done a while back.

"It's called a tattoo," I reply. "It's an ink drawing you can get done for a fee. It is drawn onto your body with a special tool that gets the ink permanently etched into your skin. Some people get them done for reasons such as a memorial or as a forfeit or even for symbolic reasons. This one was done for another though. It's from a thing that inspires me." I finish by stopping and placing my hand on it.

"That sounds... strange, if I may be blunt" Rarity replies. "I must ask though, what is it?"

"It's the millennium puzzle. It's from a series that I watched as a kid that I have stuck with to this very day. It's from that series where my childhood hero came from."

"This 'hero' of yours got a name?" Rainbow Dash asks. "And are they as awesome as Daring do?"

"Comparing characters is not a practice I like doing. But yes, he does have a name."

"What's his name?"

"Pharaoh Atem. He was my role model growing up. I could gush about him for hours but I'm starving, to be honest. Just know that he taught me to never give up no matter the odds." I say with nostalgia in my voice. To be expected, Dash and Rarity have questions but I do my best to brush them off when I remember something

"Bollocks! Forgot my camcorder. Sorry, you two but could you go on without me?" I ask.

"If we left you alone we would lose you for a million years." Rainbow Dash replies. "Rarity, tell everyone else where we're gonna be. We won't be long." Rarity goes on ahead as Rainbow and I walk back to my room. On the way, Daybreaker appears. God even as a ghost I still shiver when I see her.

Does this ego-inflated pegagus really have to come with us?

Look who's talking miss all powerfull. Compared to you, Rainbow Dash is tolerable

I see how you want to play this. Ok, enjoy her boasting. Daybreaker's voice voice disappears along with her ghostly image.

HHHRRRRNNNNGGGGGGGGG...

MAKE. IT STOP. Rainbow, I get it. Daring do is awesome. Big whoop. Reminds me of Indiana Jones. But after a bit, I START TO REEEEAALLY NOT CARE.

Having fun? NO. I pick up my pace until we reach my room. Rainbow waits outside while I quickly pick up my bag and camcorder. If I left this, all of the things that happened would have been for naught. I make an effort to sweep the room as thoroughly as I can before leaving. Bag? Check. Headcam? Check. SD cards? check. Canteen? Check. Sanity? Check.

I also use this chance to put my t-shirt, button-up shirt, and jacket on. As I exit, Rainbow asks me about Atem some more. Oh boy, Rainbow. You have just opened the floodgates...

The large room for dining shows itself as me and Rainbow Dash head inside and take our seats. Breakfast is... Exquisite! Or it would be if I had a pony palette. INSTEAD. Bloody HAY. HAY BREAKFAST. I mean, what did I expect? some Frosties? CoCo pops? EVEN SOME CORNFLAKES? NOPE! In all fairness, it doesn't look all that bad. Hell, they have HAY PANCAKES! Certainly, the healthiest breakfast I've seen in ages. I say seen because I'm unsure whether my body will keep hay down.

You'll keep it down and I'll make sure of it. Oh right, Daybreaker is a pony. Makes sense she would want me to consume hay-based foods. I grab some pancakes and say a prayer to myself before taking a bite. Hot damn, THIS IS BLOODY LOVELY! I quickly grab some more before demolishing them.

Ah, I forgot about the group of ponies staring at me while I'm devouring pancakes. As I realize this, I slowly look across the room with a mouth full of pancakes. I slowly swallow before wiping my mouth with the provided napkin before saying

"Erm... Pancakes are great! Tell the chef that I would bring my kids here if I could!" A pony wearing a chef's hat appears before saying a very large thank you. I shake her hoof as I continue. "No, I mean it. Hand on heart, if I could, I really would bring my kids here to try this. Might give them a new perspective on cooking!"

Laughs are exchanged as breakfast wraps up and we all get up to go our separate ways. Before that, however, I am stopped by Celestia

"Eric, might I talk with you, please?" Celestia asks.

"Sure" I reply. We walk out of the room and down a corridor. "What's up?"

"I'm afraid I must ask to see the mark on your arm again. There is something I must verify with it." Huh. Ok? I present my arm to Celestia and she uses her magic to gently pull my sleeve up. She then lights up the mark and area with magic. She frowns before continuing

"As I thought. My magic is still inside of you. This mark I-... Daybreaker, left has been connected directly to me. It's as if there is a slight leak in my magic. Think of it like a very small leak in something a barrel of water. Nothing too bad, but is noticeable by a trained eye. From this, we are now linked."

"Linked?"

"Yes, seeing as Daybreaker used magic that originally manifested from me when it was put into you, you gained a small portion of my magic. but seeing as humans do not possess means of keeping magic power, it needed a way to stay. So my power formed an unintentional connection. Think of it like this: since my power was ever so slightly put into you, we now share a mana reserve. In theory-"

"Eric could use magic!" A voice cuts off Celestia. We both snap our heads to find Twilight standing there with quite an expression plastered on her face.

"Yes, he could." Celestia continues. "But that's what concerns me. Alicorn magic is very different too regular magic. You of all ponies should know that, Twilight." Hang on, Celestia and I LINKED? I COULD USE HER MAGIC?

I wouldn't get excited. You would need proper training and even then you would only be able to do basic spells. Humans can't possibly imagine the complexity of the sort of spell you're thinking of. Oi, shut your trap, you.

"When you lot do the spell to send me home, would it be possible for me to learn it and use it?" Celestia and Twilight shake their heads. Celestia's eyes widen and she offers a smile as she puts the pieces together.

"You want to return here, don't you?" She saw right through me.

"The desire crossed my mind. I wasn't joking about what I said at the table." I reply. Celestia ponders something before offering a suggestion.

"The best we could do is use our link to open up a channel in our minds. We could do that right now if you so wish. We could contact each other whenever and wherever. Would you like that?" I nod my head. Celestia approaches me and offers her hoof. I place my hand on her hoof.

"We can only do this because we share a similar magic reserve. That being my magic reserve. Are you ready?" I nod as her horn glows. I close my eyes and open them to see a thin rope connecting from my forehead to Celestia's horn. Wait, that was it? Huh. Thought it would be worse.

"haha... My apologies, but I'm not quite sure what you were expecting." OH GOD, SHE CAN READ MY THOUGHTS TOO. Celestia lets out another gentle chuckle before continuing. "We can communicate telepathically but I'm not reading your thoughts. You just have to know how to turn it off."

"Can you teach me?"

"Yes, we can use the chance to get to know each other properly. Now, I would love to hear more about your life on earth!"

Author's Note

TELL ME WHAT YOU ALL THINK. CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM APPRECIATED!

Home.

Magic communication? Yeah, that's what I'm calling it. From what I can gather, it's like Celestia and I are on a Discord call but are muted at all times, and when we want to talk to each other, we unmute ourselves and yap. Man, learning how to work this is hard lemme tell you.

"This time, Eric, I want you to try and turn your end of the communication off. I want you to be able to hear me and not reply. Can you do that?" Celestia inquires as I try to comprehend the task of simply turning off the thought communication. We've been at this for bloody ages! Sweet god above how hard is it to click mute in my head? I mean come on man!

Ok, deep breaths, just like Celestia said. Let the mind trip slightly. Wait, no. What did she say? Bugger if I know. Wait, she is basing her advice on equestrian experience. Well, how about I flip it? Base it on something from Earth. By that path of thinking, I could base it on what I said earlier, just like in a discord call. I picture us on a private 1-1 call and imagine myself pressing mute.

"Did that work?" I ask. Celestia lights up her horn and answers

"Let's find out." She replies. Hoh, kay. Let's see

Can you hear me, Eric? Nod your head if yes I nod my head.

Now, try to reply. I try to reply with check check check but she doesn't respond. Good enough, so far.

Again. I imagine the call again and click the unmute button.

Check check check. Celestia's smile gets bigger as she nods approvingly.

"Perfect. Just remember that not everypony picks up anything right away. Keep practicing and you'll get it in the end. Now, you mentioned a contraption called a 'car'. You said they move on their own? Please, tell me all about them." Right, yes, cars. Um... hm... How to word this... You can't just say they go vroom vroom or else that would be dumb. Ok, let's see...

"Cars, yes! Cars are vehicles that move seemingly on their own. But they all come in all sorts of shapes and sizes with one common thing between them. That being they all have a metal frame with four wheels. They allow us to go from one place to another quickly and efficiently." If Celestia wasn't fascinated just now, she sure as hell is now. She stops before asking another question.

"Fascinating. What magic makes them move? From what I'm told, magic doesn't exist in your world."

"I don't know much of how it works but from what I do know, cars have engines that burn petrol. I'm not sure about the science but the fuel burning powers the engine. Recently though, more car-making companies are using electric motors to try to make them more friendly for the earth's environment. The point is, cars make travel way more convenient." Nice job Eric. You just explained the bare basics of cars to two pony princesses without knowing jack-diddly about cars. Stellar job, mate. Oh, hold on a second, I snapped a photo of me posing with my new car last month. Just a family car. Big enough to where there were no arguments of who sits where. I pull out my phone and scroll until I land on the photo I was looking for.

"Here, take a look at this. Here's what a car can look like. It's mine." I say. Celestia takes my phone in telekinetic magic and hovers it close to her face. She gives it a quick look before showing Twilight and passing my phone back to me.

"The more I learn about your world, the more I would like to travel there. One day I would like to open peace negotiations with-" That's it. I cut her off

"As much as getting you in a room with my country's government would be ideal, I don't see it happening for a long while. Hell, when I get back, I'm probably going to be placed in HEAVY quarantine for 2 weeks. What I'm saying is that my country, hell, my whole world at that, is not as nice as Equestria. No one on earth TRULY trusts each other. Hell, I would bet money that equestrian magic may make some people scared. But that's a whole can of worms I would rather not get into. Speaking of magic that would scare people, that reminds me." I say as I take my backpack off, fish about in it before taking out an SD card holder with an SD card inside.

"When Daybreaker had her way with me, my headcam caught the whole thing and it was recorded onto this SD card. Celestia, If anyone from my world were to get their hands on it, all chances of peace negotiations would be done. I'm more than likely going to be searched when I come home and I can only hide so much in the heel of my boots. This footage is too dangerous to be kept around. So I'm destroying it and I want you guys to be witnesses. Including you two." I say as I peek my head around and acknowledge the two guards near us. They nod to me and I nod back.

I take the SD card, hold it in my fingers, and break it in two. The video of my branding is gone.

Aw, boo. You destroyed the video of our playtime. What a shame. Yeah I did, Daybreaker. How do you like them apples!?

"What are you going to tell your government when they inquire about your arm?" Twilight asks. Easy!

"A very simple answer: It's a tattoo I got a while back." Celestia tilts her head as she asks

"What's a tattoo?"

I simply groan.

The walk back to the throne room was a long one, to say the least. After explaining what a tattoo is and the process for a second time (While having questions hounded at me) we reach the throne room. The massive doors slowly open to reveal everyone gathered around. As soon as we enter the room, it becomes tense. Like as if a celebrity entered a public shopping centre. As Celestia addresses everyone, I triple-check my pockets. Everything is in order. I tap Twilight to get her attention. She turns to me as I pull out my phone.

"I have another question after many I have asked," I say. I just want to confirm something I was sleeping on.

"What's up?" Twilight asks.

"Well," I whisper "Somethings been on my mind for a while. I can't recall any time where you have asked about human anatomy. If I were a brainbox such as yourself, I would be asking everything I could. Be honest with me: have you seen humans before? I won't be angry, don't worry." Twilight's Poker face kicked the bucket real quick as she sighed.

"Y-yes. A while ago. Do you remember the mirror I told you about on the train ride to Ponyville? Where we sung Earth songs? That mirror is actually a portal to another world. A world of creatures like yourself but vastly different. I have traveled there twice. That's where I learned of Humans. Seeing you, for as different as you were to them, was surprising. I had never seen one like yourself. What brought this on?"

"Well, is the tech similar to my world?" I ask. She nods. I grin and pull out my phone. "You remember how to take a selfie? My daughter would love to see what you look like." All I hear is Twilight's laughing as I snap the selfie.

"Eric Scott, we are ready" Luna proclaims as Twilight and I finish up. Twilight joins the princesses while I scarper off to the side next to my new pony friends. I stand next to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie as Twilight finishes speaking with Celestia and Luna.

"Are you ready to return home, Mr Scott?" Celestia asks. I slowly nod. "Good, we will begin."

The three alicorn princesses all gather before each other before lighting up their horns. They exchange glances as they concentrate on their magic. A guard places my PRESS vest on the ground in front of them before the magic hits it. It floats in the air while a purple glow surrounds it. And then a navy blue one and then an orange one. The colours spin and spin before a red circle appears in the middle of the throne room.

"It is ready, Eric. You may enter it when ready." I hear Celestia say. I slowly walk towards the portal, my camcorder rolling all the while. I point it at the portal and while I walk toward it. As I stopped around 20 meters from it, I shut it off.

"Look, I have some parting words," I say as I turn and walk back to my friends.

"Twilight, thank you for teaching me Equestrian stuff like history and culture." Twilight nods with a tear.

"Pinkie, those cupcakes were smashing. I need to get your recipe for my wife-"

"Already covered!" She shouts "Check your pocket!" she laughs and snorts. Huh? I check my front pocket. A folded piece of paper is in there...

"HOW THE?" I ask as I unfold it to see the recipe... HOW DID SHE KNOW? WHEN DID SHE KNOW? "You know what, I won't ask. I already lost my mind once today. See you round, Pinkie!" I shout.

"Rainbow, my son would be fast friends with you. See you later Skittles!" I see her face contort from a happy, to angry to a happy face again as I turn to Rarity.

"Rarity, I promise I will show you better quality earth fashion one day. Count on it!" Rarity nods (with grace).

"Fluttershy, Keep your chin up, stay awesome. You are something special." Fluttershy looks like she's on the verge of tears.

"Applejack, we may not have talked often, but you seem like you would be awesome to talk with. Keep being you!" I say. Applejack tips her hat as I walk away to face Princess Celestia and Luna.

"Celestia, Luna. While our chances to have a proper talk were short, I enjoyed our time together. Goodbye. I am glad to call you friends."

"Yes, Goodbye Eric Scott," Luna says. Celestia chuckles slightly.

"I feel I should inform you about something now. Since we are linked, if you ever wanted, you could contact me and we would open the portal whenever. Just say the word." I stumble back in shock.

"ARE YOU SERIOUS?! I can come and go?"

"Yes, after everything you have done, you have more than earned that right." WOWZERS!!!! OTHER WORLDY TRAVEL WHENEVER? HELL YEAH! I pump my fist before realizing what I'm doing. I straighten myself up quickly.

"Then this isn't goodbye forever! Just a see ya later!" I shout. Revelation over, I slowly begin my portal walk. I hear many goodbyes, many see you laters, and something else.

Another world? Earth? Today keeps getting better and better! Not now Daybreaker. Please. The voice quietens down as I feel the magic on my skin. It feels warm. I stand before the portal and then do what comes naturally. I get to have my Atem moment.

Author's Note

He goes back home! That concludes Eric's time in Equestria! Tell me what you all think. The next chapter will be the epilogue.

ALSO MASSIVE THANKS TO GENESIS FOR THE ART OF ERIC'S GOODBYE. FOLLOW HER NOW. https://x.com/GenesisDraws/status/1843805593112584246

Also if anyone can tell me how to keep the image up without getting the upstream issue thing, drop me a message. Thanks!

Epilogue

Home. Home is where the heart is.

I never thought I would be happy seeing the inside of castle ruins appear before me but the fact they are here brings me joy. My joy is interrupted by my legs failing me and I fall to the ground. No sooner do I get my bearings, than I hear shouting.

"Freeze! Hands up!"

"On Your knees!" I snap my eyes open to find five rifles trained on me. My hands fly up.

"Stop, Don't shoot!" I'm Eric Scott! Investigative photojournalist!" The soldiers exchange looks before one speaks up.

"Show us your PRESS card," he says. I slowly move my hands to the inside of my jacket to the pocket on my left and to my relief, it's still in there. I hold it up so they can see it.

"Menhenick, verify it."

"Rog," He says as he makes his way over to me, rifle stiffly pointed at me. He takes my card out of my hand and carefully studies it. He takes his sweet time looking it over and before long, he tosses it on my lap before lowering his rifle.

"God damn, it really is you," Menhenick says as he goes to help me up. Before he can touch me, a voice bellows.

"STOP, DON'T TOUCH HIM!" My eyes snap to what I believe to be Menhenick's commanding officer. "I want him searched, quarantined, debriefed ASAP." God, I hate it when I'm right.

Today is certainly a first for me, I must say. Actually, I'm one of the only people who can say it's NOT the craziest thing to ever happen to them. Far from it, in fact.

"May I ask what's going to happen to me?" I ask. "You already searched me and took my camera, bag, and equipment. What else could you want from me?" I ask one of the blokes in protective gear. He takes a seat opposite me and calmly says

"For now, you need to be quarantined and debriefed. You must tell us what is on the other side of that wormhole."

"Portal." I correct the hazmat bloke. He turns to his partner and he writes something on a clipboard. "And anyways, all the evidence is on the card you took from my camera. You can clearly see equine beings in another world."

"Yes, and you made first contact. All we want is an answer to a few questions. Firstly, are they hostile?"

"No," I answer instantly. More scribbling on the clipboard is done as I continue. "Their leader wishes to make contact with the prime minister. She wants to start communicating as soon as we are able."

"I see. Secondly, what is that mark on your arm?" Bollocks, better see if my poker face holds up.

"It's a tattoo," I say. They give a skeptical look. "Got it before I left. It's just the sun."

"Alright, Thirdly, How long were you in that world for?"

"A day and a half." I reply. They exchange a relieved look before answering

"It's been a day and a half since you 'got lost in a cave in', as the team assigned to you reported. It's good to know time flowed as ours does. Now, one last question. Do you have any lasting ailments originating from that world?"

Oh, I could name all of them. Not now, Daybreaker. I need to concentrate.

"None," I reply.

"Then we are done. Now, here's what we want you to do. Delete. Everything. "

"I'm sorry?"

"Delete. Everything. The ramifications of another world being common knowledge would be monumental."

"I'm sorry WHAT? Are you having a laugh? Mate, this is HUGE. The public have a right to-"

"The public won't have the right because they won't know. They will know when they are ready. As far as they are aware, nothing happened. We have confiscated the SD card contained in your camera. You may have the camera back after the SD card is destroyed."

WHAT. THE. HELL? DESTROY IT? NOPE! NOT HAPPENING! Think man think!

Greetings Eric. I hope I have gotten a hold of you at a good time? Celestia!

Nope! The situation is dire. They want to cover up what happened.

I had a feeling they would do that. Can you persuade them not to?

I don't know how!

Try whatever you can. From here on out, you have my blessing to release it.

Thanks Celestia! The line goes dead. Ok, have to hustle.

"I think you'll find that destroying that footage would be detrimental to the relationship Equestria wants to form!" I spit out. Hey, there's an idea! "If this footage were to be destroyed, that would be spitting on the kind gesture they gave me. I'm no diplomat but if someone who you gave permission filmed your house and then destroyed the footage out of a need to cover up you had been there, wouldn't you be cross? They allowed me to film and document that whole castle and get shots of their leader. Who also happens to be a new friend of mine."

"That's enough. Perhaps we need further testing. She could have brainwashed you."

"Bollocks to that! You lot want to-" I stand up only to be pressed back into my seat. The door swings open as a man wearing a military uniform walks in.

"Stand down, Eric Scott. Look, we have run tests on everything. You are clean. No radiation or other contaminants. You may go, on the condition that this footage be released three weeks from now. No earlier. If you agree, we will give back everything we took." I take a while to ponder the deal. 3 weeks? That should give me time to edit it down to a YouTube documentary. And I could send this to the news, and not just the internet at once.

"How can I be sure you haven't touched any of the footage?"

"You can watch all of it on your flight home. We will fly you back home and to your family."

"Fine. Deal. One more thing."

"What?"

"Equestria's leader wants to start communicating. She told me as she saw me off."

"Get the prime minister on the line. Mr Scott, thank you for your time."

"DADDY'S HOME!" I shout as I set my bag down. I hear thundering steps as Lucy sprints out of the front room.

"Eric! Jesus Christ, what happened? Where were you? I was so worried!" Screw it, she'll never believe me.

"I was in another world with talking ponies, unicorns, and pegasi."

"And I fought an entire pub! Bollocks! what REALLY happened?" she says playfully. I hold up my camcorder and gently shake it.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" I plug my laptop in and set all my SD cards out. Thank Christ I numbered these. I plug a random one in and press play on the video. It's of when I walked around Ponyville. Lucy looks back, baffled.

"You really did.. Go to... another world..." She quietly says.

" I even made friends with their leader. The most powerful being in their world. Say, you ever want a free day out with the kids? Equestria is lovely at this time of year! Their leader has allowed me to come and go as long as I just say." At this point, Daybreaker pipes up.

So this is earth? I have to say, your home is perfect for an ape such as yourself. I sigh. Yeah yeah, earth houses are not as grand as equestrian houses, sue me!

"Hey Lucy, you good?" I ask. Her eyes have gone wide. She shakily points at the glowing light in front of the TV. I shoot up and get Lucy behind me. A purple circle appears and...

"TWILIGHT?" I shout in surprise.

"Hi, Eric!" She happily says. She is wearing saddle bags and is looking around "Where are we?"

"My home. And you're in the process of scaring my wife." Twilight looks around in surprise. Her eyes meet Lucy's.

"Oh geez I'm so sorry!" Twilight says.

"Apology accepted," Lucy says. "Who are you and what are you doing here?" Twilight chuckles as she levitates something from her saddlebags and places it on the sofa.

"Returning something Eric forgot!" as she places-

"HEY MY PHONE!" I shout as I snatch it up off of the sofa. "Thanks for returning it, I guess?"

"No problem!" Twilight says with glee. "Say, while I'm here, Could I stay the night? Princess Celestia needs a day to recharge her magic."

"Sure. Take the sofa. My kids are thankfully on a week camp with their school so we have time to chill"

"Thank you! So, what are you planning on doing today?"

"Rewatching YuGiOh. I just decided that. Talking about Atem to Rainbow and Rarity has gotten me itching to rewatch it. We're skipping all the filler." Lucy sits next to me and I fire up the telly. Theres no need to continue showing the footage. Lucy has seen Twilight now. Twilight hops on an armchair and I press play on the first episode.

My name is Twilight Sparkle. I am an alicorn princess and yesterday was incredible! I arrived at the home of Eric Scott to deliver his phone back to him! His wife was more than a little surprised to see me but with Eric there, she soon calmed down. We watched a television show called YuGiOh before settling down to sleep. Can you believe it! He went to sleep at 1 am! That's far too late! To make things worse, Eric was up at about 10 a.m! How does he and his wife get anything done?

I awaken on what appears to be his couch with a blanket draped on me. Eric or Lucy must have done that. I levitate the blanket off of me and fold it up before setting it next to me. After having a good stretch, I decide to explore a bit. From what I can gather, this place is quite different from the world of Canterlot High. Oh? Looks like there's a photo on a shelf. I levitate it down and take a look. I see Eric and Lucy in beautiful outfits. This must be on their wedding day. I place the photo back and turn my attention to the Television.

Is this one of those video games? How does it work? I poke it with my hoof a few times until I give up and wander around some more until I smell a familiar smell. Coffee? I follow the smell until I see an open door. I poke around the door to see Eric and Lucy sitting and standing around. Eric, while holding a mug to his lips, notices me. he throws his hand up while sliding a chair out with his foot. I hop into the chair as Lucy sits down next to Eric. She passes me a cup of coffee as a question comes to me.

"Eric, would you ever want to return to Equestria?" Eric takes a minute and after he gently places his mug on the table. He turns to Lucy.

"Yeah. That place is, for lack of a better term, magical." Great! Eric wants to come back! As I celebrate in my head, a familiar noise can be heard from the room I came from. The three of us all head in to see a familiar portal has opened up where it had last night.

"I'm guessing that's your ride home?" Lucy asks.

"Yes. It feels like-" I'm cut off as the portal clears up to see a window into Princess Celestia's throne room, along with my friends waiting for me. Pinkie Pie is waving frantically, I assume to get Eric's attention. I say goodbye to Eric and Lucy and gently fly into the portal.

"ERIC!!!!" Pinkie shouts "When are you coming back!? We need to throw your 'Welcome to Equestria' party!" Eric laughs as he waves to everypony. As I glide through the portal and land in the warm embrace of my friends, I turn to face Eric and Lucy. Lucy looks at us in shock as Eric finishes laughing. He finishes and replies.

"Soon! Count on it! See you later!"

Author's Note

AND THATS A WRAP.

Holy cow I have been trying to get this done for AN ENTIRE YEAR! MAYBE MORE! I have to say, I'm happy with how this has gone. Though, my next story is going to be a while away. Not because I'm gonna take my time (which I will) but because I'm gonna get the whole thing written and then release the chapters weekly!

Thank you all so much for following Eric's journey to Equestria! It means a lot to know that there are folks out there wanting to read my stories. With that said, SEE YOU ALL IN THE NEXT ONE! Oh, and if anyone wants to see Eric's character ref, let me know and I'll add it in these notes.

The magic of song

Heh heh... I feel like I just opened their eyes to another world. Scratch that, I did. Okay, let me go over what happened: I shuffled the playlist and the sounds of music kicked off. A few songs in, I could tell their minds were blown at not only the music itself but the fact that sound was coming out of my phone! The first few songs went down a treat, but as the playlist was coming to a close, chandelier and Let it Go played. It was those two songs that lit their fires. Before I knew it, we were replaying the songs and all singing along (with the lyrics on my phone). Plus, my voice sounded amazing! The playlist ended as I gasped and asked

"What just happened? Why was my voice so... fantastic?" Twilight is quick to answer

"Honestly, I'm not sure. I guess, we were all caught up in the joy of song so much, that magic must have subconsciously altered your voice. Why not try singing a song off of the top of your head to test?"

I could try that. Now, what to sing? It doesn't need to be something big. Just a single verse should suffice, right? I try singing a theme song from a show my kid likes to watch. As expected, I sound no better than a football hooligan trying to sing his team's chant.

"Magic of song, eh? That's an interesting theory." I say as I point my camcorder out the window. "How does it work?" Twilight puts her hoof on her chin before shaking her head. Well, that sucks. If I could do that at any time, that would be ideal! I could win Anyones Got Talent easily! Pinkie interrupts Twilight's theory crafting with an outburst

"Hey guys! all this laughter gets me in the mood for a song of my own!" Oh yeah, Pinkie is the element of laughter. I guess this must have gotten her hyped on something. She gets up and starts singing a song which, to her credit, isn't all that bad. In fact, I can feel myself tapping my thighs to a beat. The song seems to be about making ponies smile. Before I know it, I ended up finding myself singing along to the very end of it! Wait, how do I know the lyrics to a song I have never heard before?

My inner thoughts are interrupted as a whistle sounds and the train pulls up to the station. We step out and the staring begins again.

Author's Note

Music makes us all happy! Tell me what you're all thinking of the story so far! And please, some pointers would be very much appreciated!

ALSO SORRY IT TOOK SO LONG. WRITERS BLOCK IS THE WORST DX