My Report on Another World

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!