-Chapter 2-

I woke up early in the morning as the sun was rising over the horizon, another clear day from what it looked to be which meant another average day for me. I got out of bed as I retrieved my clothes from the floor. I sleep naked by the way because it’s a lot more comfortable, especially when summer rolls around, and because it feels nice.

I pulled over my shirt, put on my boxers and then got a pair of red gym shorts. Usually I wear my shirt and boxers but now that I have magic wielding roommates, I wear my shorts for the sake of decency, or when I have guests that aren’t from another dimension.

I then remembered what happened yesterday and grinned widely, I was currently housing the mane six and their friends inside MY house. THE. MANE. SIX!

This whole situation was totally insane, I thought this would be something out of a fanfiction novel that somebody wrote, and yet it’s really happening to me of all people. ME! I couldn’t help but grin like a madman, I then headed for the bathroom as I freshened myself up and calmed myself as well. After that I was clean, freshly clothed with my same morning outfit which was a white T-shirt and red gym shorts, then headed down to the kitchen to make breakfast.

I pulled out some eggs, bacon, hashbrowns and got some fruit to chop up for later. As I got everything ready for my new houseguests I couldn’t help but think about how I’m gonna break it to them about the fact that here on earth they are famous cartoon characters, I was a little worried they might take it the wrong way but I also knew I couldn’t hide it from them forever, especially since I’m a brony. I figure I could tell them later today after I get them settled just so I can get it over with, hopefully they are just as accepting as the show portrayed them, but for now I just focused on getting their food prepared.

While I was cooking everyone’s breakfast I heard the unmistakable thunk of hooves coming from the second floor and a few moments later was greeted by the sight of Pinkie, Applejack, Applebloom, Fluttershy, and Twilight. I figured they were early risers considering what their jobs demanded, which was getting up early in the morning.

“Well look who’s up.” I said smiling at the girls as they yawned and took their seats at the counter.

“And look who’s cookin.” Applebloom replied, making me chuckle.

“Just give me a few minutes and breakfast will be ready.”

“Well that's a mighty kind of you sugarcube.” Her older sister smiled.

“Thank you Colton, that's very nice of you.” Twilight replied.

“You're welcome, here's something for you girls to start with.” I said as I went inside the pantry and grabbed a box of cereal and walked back to the counter grabbing some bowls and spoons for them along with a carton of milk, then laid them on the counter so they could help themselves.

“What in the hay is this?” Applejack said as she held up a green cereal box that read ‘Applejacks’ I couldn’t help but grin at the intentional pun I set her up in.

“To be fair it does have your name on it, so I thought it would be kinda funny.” I grinned and heard a giggle from Pinkie, Applebloom and Fluttershy, while the earth pony couldn’t help but grin. I pulled out a few plates of eggs, toast, and a side of orange juice and placed it in front of the girls who all smiled and licked their lips at the meal.

“Ooohhh that smells good.” Pinkie grinned as she drooled.

“Ok you girls have that while I cook up some waffles.”

“Ooh you got any whipped cream?” Pinkie asked as I placed the waffle mix into the press.

“Sure here ya go.” I said as I tossed the can over to her and sprayed some into her mouth while I made sure the waffles didn’t burn. I then checked on the bacon that was cooking and it looked like it was almost ready. I then heard another set of hoofsteps from upstairs and could only guess that everyone else was soon waking up to the smell of food. A few minutes later I saw everyone else walking in yawning or stretching their arms and wings to a new day. I then noticed Rainbow, Rarity, Diamond, and Silver walking in with a tired sluggishness that all people who don’t like waking up in the morning have.

“Morning girls.”

“Morning.” Rainbow yawned, along with Spike and the rest of the crusaders.

“Just sit wherever and I’ll get your breakfast ready.”

“You don’t need any help?” Babs asked me.

“No thanks I got this, and since it’s your first day living here I figured you girls should have a welcome to earth breakfast.”

“Well that’s very thoughtful of you darling, but you don’t need to overwork yourself just for us. It wouldn’t be fair.” Rarity Insisted.

“I wouldn’t be a good host if I wasn’t taking care of my guests.” That got a smile from the girls while I went back and continued cooking.

“And besides, you’re the first genuine aliens I've ever met, so I wanted to make it special and make you all feel welcome.” I added while adding some spices.

“So does this make us all roommates now?” Sweetie Belle wondered.

“Well you're living in my house until we figure out a way for all of you to get back home, so of course you are.”

“Oh, just like that one story about a hedgehog made of a bunch of girls living in a guy's home after being magically teleported to his planet and ends up building a harem with all of them.” She stated, and all of the girls stared at her blankly.

I was staring at her the same, trying my best not to think too much about it, as what everyone famously said in the show, ‘It’s just Pinkie being Pinkie.’

’That girl seriously freaks me out sometimes.’ I added to myself.

I then decided to quickly change the subject before my brain melted. “Anyway, when you girls are done, meet up over in the living room because there’s a couple things I’d like to talk about since you’ll be staying here.” I told them getting nods all around. A few minutes later we finished with the rest of his and the girls' food and started placing their respective plates in front of each of them. It was a mix of fruit salad with a side of jelly and honey, a piece of toast, some orange juice and a plate of bacon for Spike and me to eat.

“Now this is what I call a spread.” Rainbow commented as she dug in.

“Mmm yeah this is pretty good.” Said Sweetie Belle.

“I’ll say, this is awesome.” Spike added as he drooled over the bacon that sat before him and began to gorge himself, Colton noticed none of the girls reacted to the fact he ate meat, he shrugged his shoulders figuring it was normal for them. He then was about to dig into his own breakfast when he noticed Fluttershy glancing at both him and his plate in intrigue.

“What, do I have something on my face?”

“N-no, um, it’s j-just that I… didn’t know humans ate meat as well.” She observed avoiding eye contact with him.

“Yeah we’re omnivorous so we can eat nearly anything.” I stated simply. And before I began to eat, I then suddenly remembered something I forgot to do.

“Oh right.” I muttered as I turned away my head from the table, carefully pulling something out of my mouth. Once it was out a pair of clear plastic looking forms of my own teeth were held in my hand as I then carefully placed them in a small container I had in my pocket, placing them securely inside and putting the container back. Once done I was about to get back to my breakfast when I noticed everyone was staring at me.

“What?”

“Um, not to be rude dear but what was that disgusting thing you had in your mouth?” Rarity asked, trying to withhold a look of uncomfortableness upon her features.

“Oh you mean my Invisalign? They’re my braces, well plastic braces really, and every time I need to eat or drink anything besides water. I need to take them off so I can eat properly or they’ll get dirty and could give me cavities if I don’t clean them or take them off for a while.” I explained.

“What happens when they do get dirty after just wearing them?” Twilight asked.

“I clean them with dissolving tablets.” I replied and went back to eating my breakfast.

“Fascinating, I’m still surprised at the many wonders of human ingenuity and what it can do.”

“Trust me Twilight there’s so much more that humans have done that you’ll be amazed by than just some pieces of plastic in my mouth while you’re here.” And with that we continued our meal, I answered a few of their more trivial questions and overall, it felt nice to have people at my place after these past several months.

After breakfast I gathered everyone in the living room and made sure each of them had a seat. The room was very spacious and had two large L-shaped couches providing plenty of room. A large flatscreen TV hung in front of them but I left it off to keep their attention on me, I stepped up in front making sure everybody quieted down and started to speak.

“Ok so you all must be wondering why I brought you here right?” I got a bunch of nods from the group.

“The reason being is since all of you will be living with me that means there’s going to be a few ground rules while you stay here until you get back home.” I heard Diamond, Silver, and Scootaloo groan.

“Rule one, no flying around the house unless absolutely necessary, like cleaning up something for example.”

“What, that’s not fair!” Rainbow exclaimed.

“It is because first off, my house isn’t built for ponies like you, Twilight, Fluttershy, Spike or Scoots here. And secondly, it's for your own safety as well Rainbow, what if you bump into something or crash hurting yourself or someone else?” I explained and could see the realization dawn on her as her ears slightly drooped.

“Alright now rule number two, no fighting in the house or magic fighting either, I expect everyone here to find a way to get along since you’ll be living together. Even if that means begrudgingly. I want to see compromise, not combat.” I looked at Twilight who smiled a bit at that. “Unless it specifically involves some kind of cultural thing that I’m unfamiliar with.” I added.

“Rule number three and this is the most important, never under any circumstances reveal yourselves to the public when we go outside or if we have visitors.” I then saw Pinkie raise her hand excitedly. “Yes Pinkie?”

“But what if it’s somepony that’s a super special super close friend of yours?” She smiled and I couldn’t help but frown inwardly when she said that, I shook my head and smiled evenly back at her.

“Unless it’s someone I absolutely trust with you girls then you can reveal yourselves, but when I’m present, last thing we need is someone running out in the street screaming I’m housing magic wielding aliens here.”

“So any more questions?” I got a few nods no and didn’t see anyone raise their hand until Twilight had hers up again. “Yes Twilight?”

“What if someone that you don’t know and you're not home does visit the house, what do we do?” She made a good point, I didn’t know how good the mare was at magic currently but she’s an alicorn and the student of Princess Celestia, I even remembered from an episode that she changed the girls into breezies to help them out in season four. Which gave me an idea. “Don’t you know some kind of transformation spell that can disguise yourselves as humans?”

She put her hand on her chin, pondering thoughtfully. “Actually I might know one now that you mention it, but I’m not too sure if it will work, turning us into humans.”

“Ok, we can find out later, but now there’s a couple more things I need to talk about before we’re done here. Before we do anything else I need to bring up the fact that we’re in an earthquake region, now who knows what an earthquake is?” I looked around and most of the girls nodded, which was good, meaning one less thing to explain to them as well.

“Anyway we currently live relatively near a fault line which means this entire region is prone to earthquakes, which is rare but they do still happen.”

“H-h-how of-f-ften?” Fluttershy asked nervously.

“Well the last fairly noticeable one was a while ago, around a year or two so you don’t need to worry too much. But that doesn’t mean all of you should brush it off as nothing, so the most important thing to remember is to find the closest doorway or table and stay under it until an earthquake has passed because you don’t want anything to fall on you and hurt you or worse, everyone understand?”

I got nods of agreement all around the room and smiled. “Good now the next thing you girls need to know is that besides earthquakes you also need to be aware that we’re in a region where wildfires occur often. Now don’t worry, they only come seasonally in this neighborhood and last for around a few months or so depending on how bad the weather is, but they sometimes last much longer than that which means they’re still dangerous.”

“Pfft please just throw a few rainclouds over and the problem is solved.”

“No problem not solved Rainbow, bear in mind that humans can’t control the weather like you can and here we hardly get much rain this time of year, furthermore a wildfire is unpredictable too, sure you get enough rain and it could help. But you’d be surprised how many can pop up during the season.”

“And what season would that be darling?” Rarity asked.

“Between October and early to mid November, sometimes a little past December, although it has been happening a lot more from time to time the past several years.”

“And what can we expect from them?” Applejack inquired.

“Well it’s what locals here call the Santa Ana winds which are mainly responsible for the wildfires that occur around here.”

“C’mon a few breezes are nothing I can handle.” Rainbow dismissed.

I couldn’t help but sigh at the pegasus’s stubbornness. “Rainbow these winds reach at worst over between eighty-five to one hundred miles per hour in some regions. That’s enough to turn over cars if given the chance.” I saw her ears move down slightly at what I explained.

“Thankfully they’re few and far between here in this town and mostly happens in places where the wind is funneled, but any day it could suddenly appear before you can even say gone with the wind. So keep an eye and wing out when it does happen, ok?” I got nods of affirmation which rested my concern for now, but then remembered something else that was the most important to mention to them.

“Which also brings me to the last major form of weather we get here which are high winds in the middle of the fall to the start of the first month of winter, and why I’m telling you this is to everyone with a pair of wings to be very careful. If any of you think of flying in this kind of weather don’t, the last thing I want is for any of you to get hurt on my watch.”

“That’s very nice of you dear.” Rarity smiled.

“So does anyone here have any other questions?” I asked, seeing nobody seemed to, I continued.

“Ok now with all of that outta the way let’s finish off with one last and most important note that I think we need to broach.” I said, clapping my hands together.

“And what’s that?” Spike questioned.

“You’re all going to need a new wardrobe.” I stated simply.

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” Diamond indignantly stated.

“Because last I checked you didn’t exactly bring any carry-on for cross dimensional travel here, plus some of you don’t look like the type to wear the same thing every day either.” I said, glancing in Rarity’s direction.

“He has a point, darlings, I mean I don’t think I could survive in the same outfit for more than a day.” Rarity spoke, holding the hem of her dress.

“More like an hour.” Sweetie Belle replied dryly, getting a glare from her sister while a couple of the girls giggled.

“So where do we go, anyplace you suggest?” Twilight asked.

“Well I know of a mall on the other side of town we can try out, there are plenty of shops to see, I even know someone there who can help with some outfits.”

“You do? Who do you know that could help us out?” Sweetie said curiously.

“I know a gal.” I replied cryptically. Some of the group looked at me skeptically for a moment but then shrugged.

“Which reminds me, you’re all going to need to change your appearances because no offense but walking around as anthro horses and a dragon is going to attract a lot of attention, so if I were you I’d figure something out where I wouldn’t stick out like a sore thumb.”

“Well,” Twilight replied tentatively. “I could use a transformation spell to turn us into humans that could work.”

“What are you waiting for then, I wanna see this.” I replied excitedly, hoping to see some real magic in action.

“Ok here goes.” She breathed out. She then lit up her horn and after a few seconds it began to glow brightly, I was amazed I was seeing real actual magic happening in front of me, it was the greatest thing to happen besides yesterday. Her horn continued to glow for a minute and then a flash appeared dazing me for a couple seconds but when I looked at the girls once more, I was surprised to see they were all transformed into humans.

They all looked very similar to their normal forms, the only differences being now that they didn’t have hooves, muzzles, tails, wings, horns, and their cutie marks were missing. Other than that their hair and eye color were the only features that remained the same.

“Ok first off, awesome! Secondly you all look great, and thirdly is it normal that your hair and eye color doesn’t change?”

“Wait a minute, our hair didn’t change, is that bad?” Twilight asked in concern.

“Oh no, I hope nothing is mussed up.” Rarity said worryingly, pulling out a compact to check herself much to the girls deadpan expressions. I was thinking the same but inwardly chuckled too, some things don’t change I guess.

“Well no, I’ve seen people around here dye their hair a lot, so if anybody asks, you’re all cartoon or anime fans, or just like the way it looks.”

“Seriously, that’s it?” Scootaloo said, arching a brow in confusion.

“Yeah you’d be surprised how many people do it, but if you want to change it, fine. Just make sure it's nothing too flashy or whatever.” Seeing nobody arguing on the matter, some of them shrugged and followed me outside.

Walking outside a side door, I led them to the left side of the house where the garage was, along with a driveway that went to the side with a large overhang built to shelter the vehicle we were going to use.

“Whoa, this is what we’re riding in?” Spike asked, as he and the rest of the group were in awe when they laid eyes on it.

“Yep, this baby is big enough to take all of us and more too.” I smiled, tapping on the side of the vehicle. It was a custom built bus with three axles at the rear, a heavy duty suspension and turning system, and had three hundred and sixty degree sensors to detect any cars that came too close along with front, rear, and side cameras to help me see if any vehicles or pedestrians are in the way while driving. Or just being assholes whenever I tried to get in or out of parking which is a pain in the ass whenever I drive this thing.

“We’re riding in that thing?” Scootaloo said in surprise, seeing the size of it.

“You sure this isn’t some fancy carriage for royalty?” Applebloom added.

“Nah, I had this whole thing custom built, and do I look like a guy who’s royalty?”

“No, more like a playboy or something.” Scootaloo replied smugly.

I froze a retort I was about to say and then thought to myself for a few moments. “Ok I don’t know whether to take that as a compliment, or an insult.” With that I climbed into the front of the cab opening the door. But before I could even seat myself, an immediate realization slammed into me like a sack of bricks, I scrambled out of the bus stopping Twilight mid step before she could follow me in.

“Oh waitaminute, there’s some other important stuff we need to cover too!”

“What?”

“You guys need to have cover names when we go out in public.”

“And why do we need to change our names? Diamond Tiara is a dignified and proud name that shan’t be sullied by whatever your weird human habits are.” She huffed only to be silenced by the elder mares around her.

“So why exactly do we need to change our names?” The purple alicorn wondered.

“Just trust me on this ok, anyway the point being, we need to ensure you girls don’t stick out to everybody that says ‘Hey look at me, I’m a magical alien girl from another dimension.’”

“He kinda does have a point, remember when we went to the mirror world Twilight?” Spike piped up.

“Spike’s right, this isn’t equestria and I’m not too sure how accepting everyone else would be if they found out what we really are at the moment.” Twilight agreed.

“Good, glad we’re on the same page. So who wants to be first?”

A few moments passed in silence where nobody said anything until Twilight sighed and walked up first. Taking the initiative as always.

“Ok so what do you have in mind?” She asked.

“Well first off, err….” I thought for a moment what would sound both normal yet easy to remember at the same time. I mean I always dreamed of making a fake persona for myself. Man, how did Roger Smith keep up with all of his personas, it must have been an existential nightmare for that guy. Anyway I thought for a few more seconds until it hit me.

“Ok you’ll be Tarayn Sparks, a foreign exchange student who has moved for a student ambassadorship for the rest of the year with your family and friends, and if anybody asks you all agreed to live here under the condition of paying rent to me.”

“Hmm I like it, it also explains why we’re living with you too.” She smiled.

“Ok now Applejack,” I said moving to the cowgirl, looking at her from her hat down to her feet I examined her critically. Wondering what would be fitting to the mare. “You’ll be Alice Jane but can still go by your normal initials.”

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

I then looked over towards Rainbow and brainstormed on what I could make up that both fits and defines the prism haired speedster. I then grinned, knowing what would represent her.

“Rainbow, in public you’ll be called Raven Dash.”

“Sweet.”

“Rarity, Fluttershy, you two will go by Rarete’ Belle and Fiona Butterfly.” Seeing them smile I then moved towards the younger apple family member and the trio.

“Ok besides Babs you three will be Amber Bloom, Belle, and Sydney Scoots

“Hey whatta ‘bout me, don’t I get a name?” Amber colored mare huffed.

“No, your name’s actually a known human nickname around here.”

“Huh, well that’s convenient I guess.” She shrugged, I then went over to the puffy haired party mare who was bouncing on her hooves in excitement, I couldn’t help smiling inwardly at her bubbliness over the most innocuous of things.

“Ok Pinkie Pie, your cover will be Diane but because of your hair your friends call you Pinkie.”

“But that’s just using her real name, what’s the difference?” Applebloom asked in confusion.

“It’s part of her disguise that will allow her to blend in more efficiently, plus I figured it would be easier to remember when we go out of the house.” I shrugged.

“Can I add anything else to my cover?” She wondered while beaming at me.

I thought for a second and shrugged at her. “Well, whatever floats your boat. Just don’t make it-”

“Ooh, I’ll wear a mustache!” She grinned, having a fake mustache appear out of nowhere, which I did my best to ignore the absurdity that mare embodied.

“...Too conspicuous.” I finished, realizing how difficult that would be considering I was talking to someone that could defy the laws of physics, has nigh unlimited energy, and can pull a full blown cannon that shoots confetti out of her hair for any kind of occasion.

I internally sighed as I glanced at the girls who all seemed to roll their eyes smiling at their friend.

“Look we can use your name in public but I need you to listen carefully and pay attention, ok?”

The poofy haired mare nodded excitedly.

“There’s a cartoon mouse here named pinkie, which I figured would help make more sense of your name, so if anybody asks…?” I stopped turning to the poofy haired girl, waiting for her to fill in the blanks.

“I’ll be a talking mouse.” She finished.

“What? No, people will relate to that when it's mentioned, or to your hair like I said earlier.”

“Ooooh I get it now.” She replied. “And I’ll add the mustache too.” She beamed.

“No, no mustaches. Just stick to the name and backstory I mentioned when we leave the house, that's it, alright?”

“Okie dokie loki.” She smiled brightly. “Diane slash Pinkie it is.”

I then moved over to Spike. “Question Spike, what’s your last name?”

The drake arched a… brow? Ridge? At me. “Uh, Sparkle because I was adopted by Twilight and her parents, but mom thought I should go by Drake as a last name, she thought it’d sound cute.” He replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

I grinned inwardly. “Ok dude, then you’ll be known as Spike Drake, the adoptive brother of the Sparks family.”

“That’s it? Sweet, I’m guessing my name is common here too then.” He stated.

“Pretty much.” I nodded and moved to the last pair of young mares who scowled at me as I faced them.

“If you think we’re going to alter our names after already changing our appearances into… this. You’re sorely mistaken here.” Diamond huffed, crossing her arms defiantly.

“Yeah, sorely mistaken.” Silver added, mirroring her friend's gesture.

I sighed knowing how difficult it’s already going to be dealing with these two. “Then if you’re not going to accept that, the two of you can stay here until we return.” I replied, knowing I would never do that because A, that would be a little irresponsible, and B, I didn’t really trust these two enough not to break something or do something stupid while we were gone.

And because it would’ve been a dick move on my part too.

“Fine, Silver and I will be just fine on our own.” Diamond snorted.

“I’m very tempted in smacking this uptight bitch in the head.” I thought, but sighed outwardly thinking of a different angle to bring these two along. I then had an idea.

Smiling to myself I shrugged my shoulders. “Fine then, see if I care. Just know ladies you’ll be missing out on all the new clothes that you can have, and I’d hate to see the two of you suffering in the same outfit every day for who knows how long you’ll be stuck here. What a shame.” I said turning away from the pair.

I said it like I didn’t really care, hoping they’d take the bait. Thankfully I didn’t need to wait long as the two seemed to quickly think it over worryingly. They looked at each other for a few seconds before turning back to me begrudgingly.

“Ugh, fine whatever, let’s just get this over with.” Diamond grunted.

“Excellent, so luckily for the both of you ladies, you got names that fit here, we’ll just need to cook up your last names. Which for you Diamond you’ll go by Rich, and Silver can take Sterling for hers, sound good you two?”

“My last name is already Sterling.” Silver deadpanned.

“Really?” I said surprised. “Huh, go figure. So, are there any more questions?” I asked. The two rich mares only glanced at each other and shrugged in response.

“Ok good, now does anyone else have any more questions before we leave?” I asked, only to get a hand raise from Silver Spoon.

“So how come we need to be so careful with our names and appearances out in public, it’s not like we had to before back home.” She asked, still eyeing me with her resting bitch face.

“Look it’s very hard to explain right now, it would be better if I show you later after we’re done shopping, ok?”

“Fine.” She conceded.

“It's not something weird is it?” Added the cyan pegasus.

‘Considering half the shit you and your friends go through on a weekly basis, I doubt it.’ I thought to myself while several incidents from the show flashed through my mind.

“That depends on what you define as weird Rainbow.” I replied.

She shrugged. “Whatever, are we gonna go or start coming up with costumes too?”

I chuckled. “No, none of that or else your disguises would just look ridiculous then.”

“Can I still wear the mustache?” Pinkie asked while wearing a mustache on her face, which I did my best not to question at the moment.

“Sure, but only during the bus ride.” I sighed as we climbed in and I made sure everyone was seated and secured, with that done I went to the driver's seat of the bus with Twilight sitting beside me looking at the dashboard with great interest.

“Wow, I’ve only seen pictures in the mirror world but this is still amazing to see.” Twilight marveled as she looked out the windows of the bus in wonder.

“Heh just wait until you see the rest of this town, it’s quite a sight for anyone that’s never been here before.”

“Ooh this is so exciting, seeing a whole other civilisation that isn’t our own, isn’t that exciting girls?” Twilight smiled wide as she looked outside the window forgetting the fact I haven’t even started the RV yet but I didn’t have the heart to tell her that.

“Alright, and awaaaaaaaaaayyy we go!”

Once I started it up, we rolled out of the driveway and on to the mall. The girls were wobbly at first but were invested in looking at all the sights surrounding them in both wonder and mild excitement as we drove down the neighborhood and onto the main road whizzing past shops, houses, and other vehicles. I was glad they were at least enjoying themselves on the ride. It made me wonder though what exactly was going through their minds seeing everything here for the first time.

They had a couple questions on things we passed by like what some of the cars were, or what kind of building or vendor we passed which I did my best to answer while driving and continued through town to our destination while my alien passengers oohed and ahhed at whatever new thing gained their attention.

We soon arrived at the Oaksfront mall which was basically like any other mall you’ve seen, the lot was packed with cars, dozens of people were walking around moving to and from shop to shop, just another day like usual. But not for me or the group I had with me. Eventually I found a few spaces big enough to park the RV. I then turned it off, pulled out my keys, then looked back at everyone in their new forms.

“Ok, we're here, is everyone ready?” I got nods from everybody so I opened the door and we all poured out into the parking lot.

“Great now as long as we’re out please don’t try to wander off, I’d hate to see anybody getting lost.”

“Don’t worry Colton, if that ever happens we’ll just head back to the bus and wait.” Twilight filled in, which was a relief to hear, the last thing I needed was forgetting someone on this trip.

“Wait, we don’t have any money, so who’s gonna pay?” Sweetie Belle piped up.

“I got it covered, I have a card on me I can use, so just ask whatever you need. But only important things right now ok? I’m not a walking piggy bank, got it? We can do some fun type of shopping another time.”

The girls smiled, nodding in agreement. Although I could’ve sworn Rarity frowned in disappointment, while Silver and Diamond grumbled to themselves at not getting several new wardrobes.

“Ok good, now who’s up for some shopping?” I replied, clapping my hands together.

“You took the words out of my mouth dear.” Rarity said brightening up.

We walked out of the lot and entered through the automatic doors and once we were in they were all in wonder at all the people milling about, the number of shops flanking either side, and the possibly wondrous amount of things they haven’t seen back in equestria.

“Woah this is nice. It's certainly bigger than some of the shops back in Manehattan.” Babs commented.

“Oh my, I’ve never seen a building this big besides back in Canterlot.” Rarity added.

“I’ve seen better establishments with daddy on his business trips.” Diamond huffed, but I just rolled my eyes and ignored it as I focused on leading our group amongst the throng of shoppers.

“Alright let's get to it.”

So for the next couple of hours we wandered around the place, I showed them some of the more unfamiliar shops, but what surprised me personally was the fact they had television and video games almost as advanced as what was currently made here.

Apparently they never knew what a computer was exactly, or what it was for. Besides Twilight briefly explaining what Sunset Shimmer had explained to her in detail a couple weeks ago when I overheard her breaking it down to the girls.

“Wow, this looks nice.” Spike grinned as he stared through the glass window of the latest game console, a newly stocked PS5 which I was wondering how long it was gonna stay on shelf before it was swiped off by a customer, or a scalper. Wouldn’t be surprised if it was by the end of the day.

“Yeah that’s what a modern earth game console looks like, you guys got stuff like this back home?” I asked, I wasn’t sure what advancement Equestria had because it was all over the place in the last four seasons. From steam locomotives to helicopters flying around, to horse carriages, and gas lit ovens, it was hard to peg down what exactly they did or didn’t have tech wise besides not having cars, planes, or the internet for starters.

“Of course, although I think ours is spelled a Ponystation, and it certainly doesn’t look like that.” The drake replied as he stared at the console with wide-eyed excitement.

Guess I can say they have tv, though if they got video games and tv. Makes me wonder what kind of shows or games they have back at their home, something I’ll need to ask about later.

I pulled the dragon away from the shop promising we can check it out after everyone is more settled. We passed more shops and the girls looked around with awe while I kept glancing back to make sure nobody wandered off and got lost. Thankfully everyone stuck together and didn’t lag behind too much, soon enough I brought them to the front entrance of the store.

Once everyone arrived, they all looked at the place in confusion as they looked at the sign hanging above the storefront.

“Uh, not to be rude or anything Colton, but are you sure this is the place your friend owns?” Twilight asked, looking at the high end clothing shop we stood in front of. It had pink and red lettering with a purple background and an image of the silhouette of a feminine figure posing seductively.

“Yeah it's a very popular spot around here, she likes to spoil her customers, she even has a secondary part of the store connected here that has good lingerie,” I added only to get looks of bewilderment from the girls. “What? It's true, I’ve been here myself a few times.” I shrugged.

“Anyway feel free to pick out what you want and then I’ll pay it on my card.” I smiled while the girls glanced at each other, then followed me into the store.

“I just hope they are in season.” Rarity said to herself daintily walking with the rest of the group.

Once entering the store, the fashionista and a couple of the girls brightened at all the colorful and intricate clothes that were smartly displayed all around the shop while the others looked on in mild interest.

I was glad to see them happy as they looked around the shop front, if it helped keep their minds off of their displacement problem for now then I was willing to do what I could to keep their spirits up.

“This is where this friend of yours works?” Applejack asked, looking at one of the displays.

“Uh, yeah. But don’t worry she’s cool, she can help you out on your own… ahem, personal wear.”

“Well I guess you and Spike don’t need to help us in that then.”

I did my best not to blush at that while Spike rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Heh, yeah, I’m not so sure how much help we’d be in finding the proper bra sizes or anything.” He chuckled, while I just awkwardly shrugged.

At that, the background noise of customers was broken by a cheerful greeting gathering our attention.

“Oh, Colton, it's so nice to see you!” A feminine voice called out joyfully.

“Hey Lucy, how are you?” I greeted only to be taken in a tight yet welcoming hug, Lucy is the manager of the store here and has been a good friend of mine for the past several years, her appearance is that of a stereotypical busty, blonde, bimbo, with huge HH breasts covered by a thin skimpy tank top with jorts that are borderline inappropriate, hugging a huge bubbly rear that you could bounce a quarter off of it. But under all of that she’s a wonderful person, and has been good to me and my friends in the past. Plus she makes the best white chocolate fudge in the universe.

“I’m doing great, it's been a while since I last saw you.” She smiled brightly, letting go of me, she then turned her attention towards the girls who were all wearing looks of both shock and confusion. The blonde saw this and grinned back at me like a shark smelling blood. “And who are your friends?” She said slyly.

“Oh, uh well these are my new… roommates, they just came into town just yesterday and were in need of a place to stay. They were in need of some fresh clothes because they lost most of theirs in baggage, y’know how that is.” I shrugged. “So I thought I’d bring them to the one gal who could hook them up with a good deal.”

“Ha you have no idea, I hate losing my stuff after a flight. Remember that one time I told you about me and my mom losing our luggage and we had to use our old sweaters.” She giggled while I did my best not to think about the suggestive image. The sweaters were small and because of her and her mothers ‘assets’ they only came up midriff at the time. Waaaayyy over midriff if you ask me.

“You mean the ratty old rag that you haven’t worn since highschool and it almost tore itself off after you snagged it on a rosebush?”

She smiled letting out a snort of amusement. “Yeah, god the stares I was getting that day.” She giggled to herself. “So what can I do for you and your new friends?”

I shrugged. “Just getting some new clothes for them while they begin to settle in.”

“Oh, is that all?” She grinned.

“Well…” I glanced back at the girls as they stared but Twilight and Applejack seemed to tense only slightly as I did my best to stay cool and just remember this was a day out I was having with hopefully new future friends. Turning back to her I brought the blonde closer so they didn’t overhear. “They don’t have anything except the clothes on their back so please don’t mention it, they’re embarrassed enough today.”

“Oh, I gotcha.” She nodded in understanding. “Anything else I can do?”

“Just make sure they get the comfiest BP’S you got, kay?”

“Ooh, trying to impress someone?” She smirked.

“No, I just want them to be comfortable while functional, but with a little bit of flair.” I replied evenly.

“Kay you got it, I think I know just the thing for each of them.” She winked.

“Oh and one more thing, the girl with the royal purple hair, she’s a seamstress, so she might have some professional critique you can use for her friends.”

“Oh really now, just who are your new friends huh?” She smiled.

I grew nervous at her question, but kept my cool. “Well, they’re students from overseas and have wanted to scout out some of the local schools here. Yeah.”

“Really, are they from Europe?”

I did my best to keep a straight face. “Of course, they all knew each other in the same small town and learned English so they could visit America, at least that’s what they told me.”

She gave me a thin look that made me nervous, mainly of the fact she probably wasn’t buying my story. Hell I didn’t know what I was thinking blurting it out like that, worst case scenario I’d have to explain EVERYTHING to her but I really, REALLY wasn’t looking forward to that, I stood there internally kicking myself while she continued to stare straight through me.

After a few more moments of tense silence between us she relented, giving me a bright smile. “Alright,” She then turned to the checkout desk seeing one of her employees with a customer holding a large amount of clothes while the girl at the desk seemed overwhelmed. “I gotta take this, be right back.” She giggled.

“Sure Lucy, we’ll be here browsing for a little while.”

“Alright, have fun.” She then turned to the girls, giving them another smile. She then walked over to the counter speaking briefly with her coworker while taking a portion of the pile and setting it down. Then the girl smiled nodding to her and walked away while Lucy headed straight back to us.

“Alright, I’ll be at the back next to the change rooms, you girls just ask me for anything and I’ll see what I can do to help.” She said, The girls returned it and the blonde walked towards the back.

I let out a small breath of relief turning back to the girls. I gave them my best grin. “Ok girls, who's up first in getting a new outfit?”

It was then they were brought out of their stupor, most of them appeared to have been staring at Lucy from our initial meeting with her, which I couldn’t blame them. She grabbed the attention of everyone that first lays eyes on her. Sometimes the second and third time too.

Twilight decided to pipe up first. “Uh, not to sound judgemental or anything, but why does your friend…?” She faltered, doing her best to find the right words.

“Look like that?” I filled in, getting nods from most of the girls.

“Yeah, we were sorta wondering about that.” Applejack said awkwardly. I was expecting this line of questioning, it happened every time I introduced someone to Lucy. And every time they would ask about her… ‘Figure’ and why she is always looking like a walking blow up sex doll.

“Well everybody asks the same thing, the reason is she chose to dress herself up like that on purpose because she liked the style. She told me once a while ago that it helps her weed out all the creepy guys she dates that simply just want to use her until she finds the one that loves her for who she is. Or something like that.”

“Huh, that’s… unexpected.” Sweetie stated.

“She seems happy with it to me.” Pinkie beamed to herself.

“Yeah, it may be strange but I think it's kinda nice what she’s trying to do for herself, she’s still cool, she’s actually helped me and my friends out plenty of times in the past. She’s good people.” I smiled to myself.

“Really? Who were they?” Fluttershy questions.

I frowned after she asked me that, but before they could further enquire about it I did my best not to let my face show anything, doing my best in keeping it neutral instead of a frown.

“That’s… another story for another time.” I said quietly, earning confused glances from the group. I sighed to myself, refocusing my efforts on what we came here for.

“So with that out of the way,” I gestured to the store. “Have at it ladies.”

“Finally! I'm dying to have something to replace this thing. I almost had to sleep in it last night.” Rarity exclaimed.

“TMI Rarity.” I stated jokingly making the fashionista blush when she realized she said it out loud for everyone to hear. With that she and the others walked past me as they each began to peruse the shop.

As I watched the girls shop and Lucy popping in and out to help them I felt a wistful smile appear while I looked at the group splitting up taking a corner of the store as they examined its clothed wares. I saw a flash of myself standing there with six girls as they were all gathered around me trying to force a bra on my shirt while I did my best to resist their advances as they struggled to put it on me. A cringing smile on my face.

I couldn’t help chuckling to myself as the memory faded, soon after my mood switched to remorseful as other memories flashed through my mind. When things were much better, more joyful. But now it was just days to weeks on end of bitter loneliness and resentment whenever I left the house.

It was unfair.

I almost let the depression overtake me when I saw Twilight, AJ, The Crusaders, Babs, and Rainbow walk out from the change rooms with a few sets of clothes, as I watched I perked up a little, quickly dropping the growing frown with a small smile as I focused on the few outfits everyone picked out.

“You guys got everything?”

“Yep, ah’ think we got enough ta wear fer a while right now.” Applejack smiled

“Great, where’s Rarity and Fluttershy?” I then remember who I was talking about. “Let me guess she’s deciding on what goes best while Fluttershy is too embarrassed aren't they?”

“Pretty much.” Rainbow filled in. “That girl takes forever when she’s trying out clothes.” It wasn’t until she grew a suspicious look on her face as she peered at me. “Wait, how’d you know that?”

I shrugged to myself. “I’ve experienced this kinda thing before.”

I sighed to myself, not surprised in the least considering how much of their cartoon counterparts they embodied, I just hoped they didn’t stay too long in there. But knowing better I decided to move things along, I just hoped Lucy had moved things along herself. Walking over to the change rooms I searched for the potential pile of clothes, which wasn’t too hard to find seeing the pile of fancy clothes set up outside one of the change rooms.

I walked in and stayed outside of the booths, hearing the mutterings of both mares in their neighboring change booths. Lucy was there waiting, I approached her wondering what was going on.

“Hey Lucy, how’s it going with those two, no trouble right?”

“Of course not, that Rarete of yours is quite the professional, if I didn’t know, I’d think she owns her own business.”

I chuckled nervously, speaking in a low voice. “Yeah, I think she mentioned something about working at a boutique back home. Not sure if she owns it but between you and me she looks like the kind of person who owns the place wherever she goes.” I said, hoping that my white lie would drive off her suspicion. One other thing about Lucy, she certainly knows how to draw out information from people. Which was one of the things that made her successful in her job.

“Anyway, how’s Fiona, is she doing ok?”

The blonde nodded. “Yes, although she’s been very shy, but nothing I haven’t handled before.”

“I nodded, well I was going to tell them everyone else is ready thanks to you. Maybe that’ll hurry things along.” I said getting a nod from her, I then approached the change room door knocking on it.

“Hey girls, are you almost done there yet, the others have just about finished their shopping.” I said getting their attention.

“Ah darling so glad to have you here, Lucy has been wonderful in helping us out, I think Fluttershy and I need a stal-I mean, a male's perspective on our outfits though. Do you mind?” She said, slipping her use of their cover names.

I shrugged to myself not seeing the harm. “Sure, why not.

“Splendid, just give me and Flutter-”

“Ahem!” I cleared my throat loudly, reminding them of their personas.

“I mean Fiona and I, a moment so we can show you.”

“Alright, just try not to take too long, ok?”

“You can’t rush art, nor perfection darling.” She replied while I rolled my eyes at her, leaning against the wall. Lucy giggled smirking at me while I just rolled my eyes at her.

‘Exactly what you’d say girl.’ I thought smiling to myself. After a couple of minutes waiting I hear her say.

“Alright darling, prepare to be dazzled.”

“C’mon Rarete, let’s see it.” I told her, wondering what she and Fluttershy had picked for themselves. A number of stories and art I looked at online ran through my mind as I thought about their preferences from the show. No doubt it was going to be something flashy and elegant for the fashionista, while in Fluttershy’s case, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was something more conservative like a giant turtleneck she came out wearing.

A few moments later, the disguised unicorn walked out of the booth in a very nice white blouse with blue trim, a light blue undershirt paired with a black cocktail skirt covered in a sparkly material I couldn’t recognize.

When I glanced toward Fluttershy, she had on a green baggy turtleneck with a pink skirt that went past her knees, paired with high knee socks topped off with low heeled shoes. Totally called it.

I whistled, impressed with their selections, I had to admit I never fully understood Rarity’s fashion choice in the series, but seeing it in person I could now see why she has a special talent in making clothes. And fashion wear.

“Wow girls, nice. So is this what you wanted or what?”

The dressmaker mulled it over for a moment while the animal lover stayed silent. “Well there was this nice looking floral dress, then there was this cute bikini over by the swimwear, ooh and this smashing cocktail dress that simply just-”

“Hold your horses there girl, let’s just stick with what we have for now, then we can plan a shopping spree in the future. Sounds good?”

She sighed. “Alright, at least I procured some elegant ensembles. I can’t wait to try out human clothes.” Rarity beamed. I smiled at her, then turned to Fluttershy. “You got what you needed too?” I said pointing to the bag in her hands.

“Um, yes, just a few dresses and a couple new turtlenecks in here.” She replied quietly.

“Cool, ok Twilight and the others are near the cashier.” I said, the girls following me back to the rest of their friends.

“So, everybody got what they needed?”

“Yep.”

“Yeah, got me some good shorts too.” Rainbow replied.

“And ah got some swell pairs of jeans fer me and Appl- ah mean Amber.” Applejack added.

“Great, let's get’em to the checkout and go.”

We walked out of the shop five minutes later with several bags in tow, one for each pony that held several new sets of clothes for them.

“My, that was quite a wonderful shop you led us to, thank you so much dear for allowing us to acquire some new clothes. Rarity beamed.

“Yeah, it's interesting that all of it looks so similar, well minus the wing and tail holes of course.” Twilight added examining herself.

“Well you have magic right?” She nodded at me. “Can’t you just use it to modify your clothes to change with you without damaging them?” I asked.

“Well I’m sure Rarity and I can do something about that when we get back to your place.”

“Sweet, now that we got that done. Who wants lunch?”

“Ooh ooh me!” Pinkie exclaimed, waving her hand up in the air excitedly.

Soon enough, we were all heading for the food court, as we walked past the throngs of people moving about the main floor and secondary like schools of fish. I wasn’t so sure but I think I noticed a couple people glancing to full on staring at the group, but nobody really seemed to care besides the rare person that walked by to stare for a few moments.

I was relieved at that, it just meant that some crazed fanboy wasn’t going to jump out recognizing the girls and outright say that these were the real mane six walking amongst us like some wacky Pony on Earth fiction I’ve read.

The group continued to look around the mall in wonder until we got to the main food court near the center of the mall, dozens of stalls and restaurants lined the surrounding edge and empty floor space not taken by tables.

Grabbing a couple long tables that were thankfully empty we placed ourselves down with our purchases filling out almost both tables with our entire group. It still felt surreal that I was here, sitting down having lunch in the mall with the actual heroes of Equestria and their friends! I was sorely tempted to pinch myself to check if I was dreaming.

Once everyone had set down their stuff Twilight, Fluttershy, Rainbow, Applejack, The Crusaders and Pinkie followed behind me as we revolved around the court letting them choose what they wanted from each stall that caught their attention.

As I paid for each of their food, a thought ran through me, wondering about what exactly was going through their minds as they processed their new surroundings here while we perused the food court.

(TWILIGHTS POV)

I followed Colton with my friends as he led me, Spike, Fluttershy, AJ, Rainbow, Pinkie and The Crusaders inside the court he was showing us. He said we could choose what we wanted and he’ll help cover it himself afterwards.

To be honest, I was very grateful for his generosity, moreso our luck my friends and I had in running into him. It felt weird that two weeks ago Spike and I were just in the mirror world helping out Sunset fight off a group of sirens that were somehow banished there. Now we find ourselves in a very similar situation, but now the rest of our friends have been included as well to the equation.

So far everypony seems to be ok, but I could tell whenever our human host wasn’t looking that they’d all look towards me for guidance, hoping that I could find an answer that would help us out of this mess.

The problem was, I had absolutely no idea!

And that thought both frustrated and terrified me to no end.

But I couldn’t panic now, we just landed on this world, this Earth, like the mirror world, which had plenty of similarities between the two. But one of the few differences I noticed was everyones skin color were not as pastel colored back there. Just varying in shades of brown from almost pale white to darker shades.

The fact that most of the things technology-wise was pretty much the same as the mirror world and matched some back in Equestria was definitely a relief there, meaning I can hopefully use a computer thanks to Sunset showing me after Spike and I’s latest adventure.

That would have to be for later, for now, I still had to worry about finding a way to get us home.

I was brought out of my thoughts when I felt a nudge, shaking my head. I glanced to see Colton looking at me with a gentle smile gesturing to the menu board in front of us at one of the shops. Which was decorated in green, white and yellows all around with the name Subway in yellow lettering.

“You see anything you like Tarayn?” He asked.

I then realized what he was asking me and focused on what he was pointing at. Taking a quick glance at the items I was intrigued by the selections, interestingly there was plenty of meat based foods including vegan dishes too, which I was glad to see.

“I’ll take the veggie sub with extra peppers, wheat bread, and some ranch please.”

Getting a nod from the vendor I watched in fascination as they assembled it just like at one of the shops the girls showed me back in Ponyville. Once done they handed the food to us in bags. Paying the man, Colton took the bags in hand and led us through the rest of the court for the others based on their likes, which surprised me. If I didn’t know better it seemed like he knew our likes and dislikes very well. Even though he’d only just met us.

I shook that off thinking it silly, he was probably just good at reading people or something, once we got all of our food I sat down at our table with Spike and the others, who had a big greasy burger with actual meat instead of hay. Digging in his eyes brightened as he devoured it while I looked at my food and took an experimental bite.

“Hmm, not bad.”

I was glad to have something substantial for today, I just hoped the others were fairing ok in adjusting like the rest of us.

(Rainbow’s POV)

Man this sucks! I haven’t flown in almost two days and my wings were just itching to spread out and take some serious air. I can’t believe that human told us we couldn’t fly in public, and for what? Just to not attract any attention, I’m ALL about attention for Celestia's sake!

And now I’m told I can’t because we have to stay hidden, why? We’re celebrities back home and yet we can’t show our faces here just because everypony will freak out seeing us in our natural form. What do we have to hide for?

But Twilight was rather insistent when Colton laid down the rules earlier, after her first adventure to the mirror world she and Spike explained that things were very different there compared to Equestria, and that this place here was basically the same but without magic as far as she could tell. Which by her assessment meant that if we decided to go outside without our disguises we could attract the wrong kind of attention like Colton warned us about yesterday.

I still didn’t like it though.

I mean my wings have been going crazy not being able to fly, how does Twilight handle not using her wings that much when on the ground? Probably because of her nose being in a book as usual.

Well at least we're finishing all that boring shopping with some food, I’ve been starving since we got here, plus I’ve been curious what humans ate besides that breakfast Colton made us.

I didn’t really get the guy, he said that we were aliens to him the other day and yet he takes us into his home no questions asked, just like that? I mean I wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth having a roof over our heads, but something tells me that he was a lot more accepting than he let on when he first saw us.

Whatever, it was a win in my book, what mattered was he helped me and my friends out in a pinch and was even generous enough to buy us clothes and food for us too. I might have my suspicions, but overall I respected the guy for his actions so far and that he was willing to let complete strangers into his admittedly really awesome mansion. I mean the place looks as big as mine back home for crying out loud.

Hopefully while we stay with him, Twilight can find a way to get us back home soon, I wasn’t sure how long I could last without being able to fly while disguised like this. Especially if I have to go out like this on a daily basis in public without the chance to actually spread my wings.

Ugh, I wonder how the others are taking this.

(Applejack’s POV)

“Good golden delicious, this place is bigger than an apple family reunion barn dance.”[i/] I thought as I looked around the crowds of people moving about like flocks of sheep. It sure was overwhelming here, and I thought Manehattan or Canterlot was bustling.

I didn’t understand much of what that feller Colton showed us besides that humans apparently had a lot of the same fancy gizmos that I saw whenever making deliveries outside of Ponyville, they had tv, video games and what not, but that’s where some of the similarities ended.

What I was surprised about was that everything here that was made was entirely without the use of magic whatsoever, only with the power of their own two hands and ingenuity. I gotta say I felt some respect for that.

Although this whole mall was still confusing for a country gal like me as my friends and I looked at the different menus from each stall we passed by. Stopping at one I picked up an apple and yogurt salad with plenty of berries, Applebloom picked the same while Babs got a veggie sandwich of sorts.

Even though it was bad that she got sucked in with the rest of us into this mess, I was personally a little glad that she was here to keep my little sister and her friends occupied until Twi figures something out for us to get home. Celestia knows how worried Big Mac and Granny are right now when they find out we’re missing, who’s going to take care of the farm now?

I fidgeted with my hat in worry trying to focus on the food in my hands as I watched our new kind host buy it for us and carry it. Soon enough we were heading back to our table where the other’s were patiently waiting for us.

I looked at him, thinking back on what he told us yesterday. I don’t know why, but when he first met us yesterday something was… off. Not the kind of bad feeling off whenever I was off on a friendship adventure or selling my apples, more like the kind where he was tellin the truth, but not entirely either.

Maybe it had to do with what he said this morning, I wasn’t so sure. But for now I was thankful for his hospitality, which went a long way for me and my family, and whatever he was keeping to himself I was sure as cider he had his reasons for it.

For now I had to put my trust in him, Twilight, and the others.

(Pinkie’s POV)

Oooohhh, everything is so cool and interesting, I was walking behind my friends and our brand new super special alien friend on an alien world. It was all so colorful, so amazing, so superfantabulous I could just explode with excitement!

It was super fun going through that big sparkly portal with all my friends, and we even got to make a brand new friend too at the same time!

I loved this place. The shops were new, the places were new, even the people here were new! I couldn’t wait to meet everypony when I got the chance. Speaking of which, hold that thought dear readers.

With my hands I pulled out a remote from my pocket, then hit the pause button freezing the entire scene with me only moving. Then I grabbed a corner of the fourth wall and pulled it back just a teensy bit until I was able to climb through and leaped out of the scene until I was inside a bedroom with the writer looking back at me in surprise.

“Gah! What the?! Pinkie! What are you doing here, you’re supposed to be in the story!”

“Yeah about that, when’s it getting to the good part already, I’m so full of excitement I could just burst into confetti right now.”

“Ugh we’ve been over this before already like I’ve posted to all of my fans. You’ll get your good part when it’s been paced correctly the way I like it.”

“But that’s so boring, can’t you just skip ahead a bit? I want to get to the really fun part.” I complained.

“And write like some two bit hack that’s rushed too fast for his own good. I don’t think so.”

“C’mon, can’t you at least get to the part soon where you get to fuck Twilight and I get a turn at that new year’s party and you gain-

“Ah duh, duh, duh, duh! No spoilers! It’ll happen when it happens alright?”

“Ok.” I frowned, nodding. “ Can we at least keep this scene of me breaking the fourth wall?” I then gave him my best puppy dog eyes knowing he wouldn’t be able to resist.

“Oh… fine, but you need to wait until I’ve properly written out the filler chapters needed for them.”

“Okie doki loki, I Pinkie Promise!” I said while doing the gesture.

“Good, now that that’s taken care of, get back into the story you’re cramping my space here.” He said, turning back to his computer.

“Okie doki loki.” I saluted, pulling back the fourth wall again, I cannonballed inside. “Whee!”

Once back inside and standing back in her original spot, he called out to me. “Pinkie, aren’t you forgetting something?”

It wasn’t until I remembered the remote I had, pulling it out I smiled sheepishly. “Whoopsie.”

“I’ll take care of that.” He said and a moment later the remote disappeared. “I can start things off from here, and please no more wall breaking like that Pinkie. It’ll strain the story enough as is.”

“Yes sir mr writer sir!” I saluted.

“Good.” He sighed. “Now where were we?”

(Colton’s POV)

After we had lunch I showed the girls briefly on the wonders of our modern internet with my phone, it turns out they had their own phones too and showed me. They were like a smartphone but appeared to be a little more primitive in comparison, but were definitely more advanced than a flip phone. We dialed in our numbers figuring it could come in handy should we ever get separated or if they needed something when I left the house.

We walked back to the RV and had everyone board back on with their purchases with them. Once that was done I made sure everyone was seated and then started the vehicle as we pulled out of the parking lot.

“So how was your first time inside a human mall?”

“It was pretty interesting.” Spike stated.

“I never thought I’d see so many stores stacked together.” Added Applejack.

“There were so many amazing things to look at, I didn’t know where this place ended or began.” Twilight mused.

“I’ve been to more tolerable establishments than this place, but at least they have some decent shops for a mare of my standards.” Diamond said.

“Tolerable? Darling please the only thing tolerable were some of the bathroom stalls.” Rarity said, blanching at the memory of coming out of there. I couldn’t blame her or the girls, some of those toilets. Two words. Nas,tee!

“I’m there with ya girl.” I added while keeping my eyes on the road. The girls were talking quietly with one another and occasionally had their attention on whatever passed by the windows as they glanced at all of earth's wonders.

“You know, there’s something I don’t understand.” Spike wondered out loud, gaining my attention.

“What’s that?”

“How is it that you have all that money along with a freakin mansion, are you from some rich family or somethin?”

“Not exactly, my folks are average in their lifestyle and in their jobs, so no I don’t have a rich family, sort of. To answer your other question it was actually an inheritance I received from one of my great grandfathers, the craziest part is though, I never even met the guy.”

“What?” Everyone asked in surprise.

“So how exactly did he know about you then?” Scootaloo asked.

I shrugged. “Don’t know, that’s the weird part, one day I was hanging out with my friends at home when someone knocked at the door, it turns out he was my great grandad's lawyer. Said that he specifically requested me to be given everything he had pending his death.”

“Sorry ta hear that sugarcube.”

“Eh no big deal, although I was a little disappointed to never really know him. Anyway the lawyer told me my great grandad wanted me to inherit his house which is the one you girls are currently living in, and take all his money, he said to me I was the only person he believed I was worthy of. So we settled all the paperwork and within a month or two I got the house and money.”

“What about this bus dear?” Asked Rarity.

“Oh this thing?” I swept my arm gesturing to it. “This was the first thing I bought, figuring it would be fun to take on roadtrips with my friends and family.” I grinned.

“Hold on just one second, how much money does that inheritance have?” Rainbow asked.

“From then to now?” I pondered for a few moments. “Uuhhh about two hundred I think.”

“Thousand?”

“Million.”

“WHAT?!” Everyone shouted.

“You have all that money?!” Exclaimed Rarity.

“And a mansion that can fit dozens of people. All from some obscure relative of yours who just gave it to you?!” Twilight added in equal surprise.

I shrugged in reply. “Yeah but I used a small portion of the inheritance to buy this beauty along with paying my and my parents bills as well, other than that I just figured having that much is no big deal. Unless you're one of those rich assholes over in L.A.”

“No big deal?!” Rainbow yelled. “You’ve got more dough than you know what to do with!” She said incredulously. “I mean I doubt Twilight is that rich now that she’s a princess, no offense of course.”

“Yeah, I mean you’re fucking rich dude.” Spike added in awe.

“So what, it’s not that different from you living with a princess, obviously you get some kind of benefits right?” I retorted much to the dragon's sheepishness. While I wondered if they ever did actually get something when Twilight became an alicorn. I mean it’s not like they could have that castle, being national heroes, or become a new princess without some kind of financial backing.

“Well actually we do get a stipend twice every month from the crown now that I’m an official princess.” Twilight smiled but it soon faded, her ears and tail drooping after a few moments which I noticed through the mirror.

“What’s wrong?”

“I just remembered that Celestia and Luna might not even know we’ve gone missing, or won’t know what has happened to us! Oh I hate to think what’ll happen when they find out.”

“I’m sure everything will be fine, they’re the princesses after all. I’m sure they’ll be able to find a way to get us back home too.” Spike replied, patting her shoulder.

“So back to the fact that you're rich, what else did you do with it?” Scootaloo asked from her seat, thankfully changing the potentially gloomy subject.

“Yeah, tell us.” Sweetie Belle added.

“C’mon you're asking what an eighteen year old kid did with over two hundred million dollars?” I said while everyone seemed to be wondering what exactly I did.

I rolled my eyes. “Ok I took a little bit out of the inheritance and me and my friends went out on a mega shopping spree,” I felt a genuine smile curl on my lips as I thought about the looks on everyone's faces when I told them I was now rich. “You wouldn’t believe how crazy that was.” I laughed to myself at the memory, but my smile slowly turned to a frown as I began remembering the good old days.

“Hey you alright?” It was Babs who asked, seeing her look of concern through the mirror. I did my best to put on a smile, hoping she didn’t catch it.

“Yeah, yeah I’m fine.” I said, frowning to myself as I looked out in front of me trying not to be distracted by the pit in my gut.

After that things quieted down a bit, and soon we were driving back to my street where I opened the gate and rolled the RV into the lot, parking it carefully back in its rightful place. Once done I helped the girls out with their wares and brought them inside.

While doing so, I was preoccupied by the growing weight of the fact that they eventually would find out one way or another about the truth of who or what exactly they represent here, especially me of all people. I was nervous, I didn’t know whether or not they’d think I’m some weird perverted shut-in that stares at them through a screen all the time, or take it like the others did in Equestria Girls.

Whatever the case they still deserved to know, and I wasn’t planning on keeping this hidden any longer. It just didn’t feel right doing that considering I openly welcomed them into my home, they deserved far better than dishonesty like that. Well that and one of my roommates happens to be the actual element of honesty and could possibly tell a lie better than a polygraph. At least that’s what I was assuming.

We moved over to the living room where the girls ate their food while I removed myself and headed up to my room and sat myself at my desk eating away at my sandwich. As I chewed, it gave me time to think about what my plans will be with my new houseguests.

My house was big enough to hold everybody comfortably, but for an extended period of time there was the issue of food, utilities and other necessities. But money wasn’t really an issue for me though, I’d rather just not want to have to spend thousands of dollars every week just to keep everyone fed and my fridge and pantry filled. Do I sound like a cheapskate? Yes, but I’m just simply trying to be proactive now that my once empty house has been filled with aliens from another world who just happen to be bipedal equines and a dragon.

But what I was gonna do to keep these girls fed or entertained was a footnote in comparison to the much bigger issue I am going to have living with them. The fact that I am a current fan of an animated series for kids that depicts their lives.

I glanced at the photo frame at the end of my desk, seeing all those smiling happy faces of me and my friends without a care in the world. We were so happy, so well put together, so full of life. What would they tell me to do, what to say in this situation if they were here?

I chuckled lightly to myself, they’d probably tell me to either bring them into it gently or drag my ass and they’d outright tell them themselves. I couldn’t help smiling knowing they would have done the latter anyway and then they’d force me into telling them.

I felt my moment of nostalgia fade and be replaced with sadness once more, it wasn’t new for me to be happy like this one minute, only to then turn depressed the next. These past six months have been very lonely and trying for me.

Ever since the day when I realized the majority of people I knew and got along with suddenly acted like I was the biggest piece of shit to ever walk the earth.

I sighed to myself, I couldn’t dwell on those thoughts now, as much as I was tempted to just crawl into bed and wallow in self pity for several hours, or days, again. I now had much bigger responsibilities than my current social status.

Especially when that includes me being host to literal aliens while I mulled over how I could broach a possible case of worms drizzled by the most intense type of existential crisis to them where they have tv counterparts, a personal website dedicated to writing about them, a toyline, and an immense fan base of varying ages around the world dedicated to their once thought fictional lives.

Don’t even get me started on how much porn there is involving those ponies. THERE’S SO! MUCH! PORN!

Laying my forehead against the table, I knew that I couldn’t hide my own involvement of my liking to them as a brony. Much less the fact that Twilight is smart enough to figure out how to use a computer thanks to a currently displaced red and yellow haired unicorn that was once upon a time in their exact situation right now. So they would eventually find out the truth anyway no matter how hard I try.

Lifting myself from my seat, I made my decision. They needed to know, and the sooner I told them, the sooner I got it over with, plus I did remind myself that I told them this morning that there was something I needed to explain.

Although how exactly do you broach to some magic wielding aliens that they happen to be portrayed on a television series, comics and all other kinds of memorabilia.

To be honest, I had no fucking idea.

I walked out of my room tossing my finished lunch in the nearest trashcan and headed back downstairs to hear everyone still sitting together as they undoubtedly finished up their lunches.

I took a deep breath to settle my nerves. “Here we go.” I thought to myself as I entered the room seeing the girls lounging together.

“Hey guys, do all of you have a minute right now?”

“Of course, what is it?” Twilight questioned, her ears perking up in intrigue.

“There’s… there’s something important I need to tell all of you.” I said, everyone looked at each other in confusion, then shrugged as they watched me place my computer down in front of them. Once everyone settled in their seats while the rest took a spot. I sat down in front with my laptop, I felt my stomach turn in knots as I built up whatever courage I had. Taking a breath I faced most of the group who each had established themselves a seat around the room, steeling myself for what I needed to do.

“Since you girls might be here a while, there’s something important I think you all need to know right now about me and earth here.”

“What’s that?” Spike wondered.

“Well…” I rubbed my arm in discomfort. “There’s no easy way to say it, so I’m going to be blunt.” I then took a deep breath mentally preparing myself for this moment.

“I already knew who you girls are.” After saying that I felt relieved to myself, but all of the girls and Spike looked at me in confusion. I could already feel myself internally sweating at my poor start.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Twilight questioned, arching her brow in confusion.

“Yeah what are you getting at?” The dragon added.

I took another breath to mentally steady myself. “What I mean is Twilight, that before yesterday I already knew who you all are.” Once I said that I cringed to myself awaiting for the eventual blow up, but after several tense seconds nothing happened. Everything was quiet for several moments, none of them said anything for a while and the tension was killing at what their reactions were.

Finally the silence was broken when the purple mare herself responded in one of the few expected reactions I had thought of. “I’m sorry, what?” It was Babs who said it, she wasn’t frowning but was definitely confused.

That seemed like a good sign so I elaborated. “Oh boy, how do I start? Well, ok Twilight, do you know about the multiverse theory?”

“I think I’ve read up something like that in my studies, so yes.” She nodded.

“The what now?” Applejack and Rainbow said simultaneously.

“Ok then so to put it this way for all of you to understand, imagine there’s a bunch of bubbles and-”

“Ooh I love bubbles, are they color coated?” Pinkie asked, smiling.

“Yes Pinkie they are, so each bubble is a single universe and in each one is either a near similar to radically different outcome, like say your world is one version of how you girls exist, while here on earth it has a counterpart of you.”

“Oh I think I get it now, just like when Twilight and I went to the mirror world with Sunset. But what’s that got to do with this?” Spike asked.

“Exactly Spike and I’ll get to that in a sec, the place you call the mirror world is just an alternate universe where you and the girls exist.”

“So how do you know about us then exactly, and this whole multiverse thing? I don’t get it.” Applejack questioned squinting her eyes in suspicion.

“In other words, to put it in the most basic of terms girls, you’re in a separate dimension where you sorta have counterparts of yourselves here. Only difference is that they’re nothing more than a bunch of cartoon characters created to entertain people on a television show meant for kids.” I chuckled nervously. “And I happen to be one of your fans.” I added.

“Wait a minute, is that the reason you’re so ok with meeting us yesterday?” Diamond asked suspiciously.

“Well mostly that, but honestly I was desperately trying not to go all crazed fanboy with you guys either and figured you needed someone to help you instead of some bumbling fan drooling all over himself.” I laughed awkwardly at my own words.

“What show did you say these counterparts of ours are from dear?” Rarity asked.

“A show called My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.”

I heard a few snickers from mainly Rainbow, scootaloo, Babs and Spike at the mention of the title. They each got a glare from the others to quiet them down which only did so much.

“Really a TV show? With us in it? How long has that been around?” Babs asked, doing her best to keep a straight face.

“Which generation do you want to start with?”

“Generation?” Twilight said confusedly.

“Well the series itself has existed for around forty years now, and has renewed itself with a new generation several times too, and you lucky gals happen to be the fourth.”

They all stared at me in a mixture of growing shock, confusion, and I think I noticed Rainbow grinning to herself, of course she’d be thinking of all the fans out there watching her, she was as much a lover of attention as the show depicted her.

The silence went on for another painfully long minute until one of the girls finally broke it.

“So you mean to tell us that we have millions of adoring fans who watch us on a TV show every day?” Rainbow stated incredulously.

“Well, when you put it like that, then yes.” I replied mentally bracing myself.

“That… is… awesome!”

“Huh?”

“What?” Everyone asked.

“Ain’t ya a little creeped out that millions of people all over the world know about us and what we’ve done. Not to mention watching our every move?”

“Pfft please A.J. that’s just what celebrities go through in their lives.”

“Well we are technically celebrities too back home, so it’s not too weird that we happen to be famous here. We just technically are TV icons.” Spike added.

“See? Spike gets it, I mean come on guys, when's the last time we were truly appreciated for everything we’ve done the past several years, it wasn’t till we beat Discord, not to mention kicking Tireks ass a few weeks ago, everypony has started to notice us a lot more.”

“You know, now that you mention it I remember getting a few letters of gratitude from the neighboring kingdoms, hay I even got one for all of us all the way from the minotaur royal family after we defeated Tirek.” Twilight added.

“Huh, didn’t realize the word was that widespread.” I thought to myself, but wasn’t that surprised considering the villains they faced off against the past four seasons.

“So what else is there about us besides a TV show, ooh is there anything about me?” Spike asked excitedly.

“Dude there’s a whole fanservice about you, I along with the rest of them say you're their favorite nonpony character.” The drake couldn’t help but smile and puff out his chest in pride.

“And what about us, what do they say about us?” The crusaders wondered as they bounced in their seats.

“Yes there is also a whole group that love you girls too, I remember reading some comments online saying how much of an inspiration each of you have been in their lives.”

“Really? We inspired people?” Scootaloo said, her wings buzzing excitedly.

“Yeah you sure did, a lot of kids and adults followed your example that you don’t need to worry about being different. Or who you are and where you come from.” After saying that I could see the three had mile wide grins on their faces.

“Alright! Cutie mark crusaders' inspirational characters!” They shouted together while Babs just remained seated and smiled to herself.

“There anythin’ in there ‘bout me?” She asked.

“Well there’s a song about you in one of the episodes, but it’s kinda about you as a bully before you became friends with the crusaders.” I said awkwardly, seeing her face frown just a bit.

“Is it any good?” She then asked.

“Well… it’s a pretty catchy tune if that helps.” I chuckled nervously.

“Ooh, can you play, please, please, pleeease!” Pinkie begged, giving me her puppy dog eyes.

“How about another time Pinkie, ok?”

“Ok.” She brightened up while I noticed Babs and the crusaders smile appreciatively.

“So other than songs made from each of us, what else have these humans made in honor of us and our adventures?” Twilight asked.

“Well…” I thought about this carefully but decided to just power through on the brutal truth. “You would be surprised, there’s comic books, toys, games, even cosplay of all of you. Not to mention how many weirdos there are foaming at the mouth over your characters.”

“What do you mean?” Fluttershy wondered.

I felt myself internally sweat at the question. “Uuuhhh, I’m not too sure if you girls should know.” I said uneasily.

“What, some of these people are obsessed with us or something?” A.J. joked.

I didn’t say anything for a while at that, the girls noticed while I wringed my hands nervously. “Well… depends on your definition of ‘obsessed’ to some people, Applejack.”

“What do you mean by that?” Twilight wondered, arching a brow in confusion.

Taking a deep breath to myself I debated whether or not I should tell them, but then it came back to me that they were going to be living with me for possibly a while, so it would be better to just as the saying goes, rip it off fast like a band-aid. “Ok I’m going to be totally honest here so don’t take it too personally please, buuut other than a popular tv series, comics, and toys…. There’s a huge following of pornography involving all of you girls online as well. Including Spike.” I said quickly feeling my face redden in a massive blush when I admitted the fact.

I waited for several painfully long and awkward moments hoping to god and heaven above that I don’t get a fist, hoof, or beam of magic, or all of the above to the face. Until one of the girls finally broke the pregnant pause in the room. “...Excuse me?” It was Rarity that spoke up first.

“Uh… come again?” Applejack echoed while the rest of the girls remained silent.

“You said there’s porn about us?” Rainbow added evenly.

”Oh god.” I thought, gulping to myself, bracing for whatever kind of unimaginable pain, literal or otherwise, I might’ve just brought down on myself.

“The… uh, fanbase has a bit of adult content made about all of you. So, um… yeah.” I said wringing my hands and not looking up at the girls, I was so afraid that they were gonna lash out at me. Or worse, think that I’m the most disgusting perverted son of bitch in all existence.

“Wow… ok then.” Spike said, but didn’t add anything more.

Another long, painful silence started after that, none of us were sure what to say next, I tried not to look at any of them, avoiding my direct gaze. Afraid that at any moment it would set them off in some kind of rage or panic, so I just sat there as the tension in the room seemed to grow and grow like a pile of steel girders placed right on my back.

“Can we see it?” Pinkie asked out of the blue.

“Huh?” I asked.

“HUH?!” Everyone else echoed looking straight at the party pony in complete bewilderment.

“Yer asking to look up porn of us in an alternate world?”

“Made by Celestia knows who?” Rarity added.

“Were you hit on the head or something?” Scootaloo remarked in exasperation.

“Oh c’mon you silly fillies,” She smiled standing up. “He just told us all this stuff in confidence because he wants to be friends with us after just meeting us in pony for the first time. Besides, it's not the first time I had somepony staring at my chest balloons or my bubbly tushy.” Pinkie added shaking her ass towards the girls while jiggling her noticeable bust for emphasis.

I blushed at that but did my best to compose myself from the party ponies rather impressive display. But was warmed by her defense of me.

After that everyone remained silent for a near minute, I sweated internally hoping to every deity out there that I don’t get blasted to the floor, or worse, be completely shut out by my idols in friendship. Like everyone else.

“Weeelll… I guess I’m curious how I’d look if I were drawn by somepony.” It was Rainbow who started much to my surprise.

“I’ve always wanted to be drawn by a handsome artist like out of one of my romance novels.” Rarity sighed while most of the group looked at her questioningly. “What? It’s not too much for a girl to dream.” She huffed exaggeratedly.

Smiling to myself I rolled my eyes while feeling reassured at the girl's words, knowing that they didn’t think less of me yet was certainly a relief on my shoulders.

“I actually wanna see whut these humans have drawn me into. I bet I look pretty good in all of them.” Babs boasted.

I was surprised to hear some of them voice their curiosity at seeing such art of themselves though, but seeing that I wasn’t going to get a hoof, horn, or fist to the face, or groin. I figured they’d be open in seeing what they wanted, to a certain extent.

“Well if the lady asks.” I said to myself.”

Booting up the search engine on my laptop I opened up Derpibooru figuring that’d be the best site to start with, plus I could change the filters there if I wanted to.

I turned back to the group as they hovered behind me, looking at the screen in curiosity as they waited for me to open the link.

“Are you sure you guys want to see this? I’ll warn you right now there’s a lot of strange, gruesome, to just full blown pornographic stuff on here, well if I change the filter of course.”

“Yes we’re sure, c’mon we’ve seen Pinkie pie change her hooves into feet just by blowing into them, what’s more scary than that?” Rainbow snorted impatiently.

I let out a breath. “Alright but don’t say I didn’t warn you. If you feel uncomfortable with what you're seeing, you're free to change the filter or the site whenever you want.”

“Darling please, we’re not some innocent little girls from an ivory castle.” Rarity huffed.

“You're one to talk Rarity.” I muttered hearing her snort at my remark. I then turned back to the screen, then the rest of the group, feeling a little apprehensive at the potential can-no fucking case of worms it could open up for the ponies and drake with me.

“Last chance girls.”

“Oh for the love of Celestia and Lunas tits just get on with it already!” Babs exclaimed impatiently.

I shrugged, turning back to the screen. “Ok, don’t say I didn’t warn you then.” As I clicked the link, opening up the window for them to see. Then when it opened I changed the filter to the adult section.

We then spent the next hour looking at fanart and a few stories on Fimfiction that I bookmarked. I was surprised at the girls' interest in seeing how me and the rest of the world viewed them. Overall they liked a lot of the stuff they saw but I made sure to filter out any gore or other hardcore content, but after a bit of pestering from both Pinkie, Rainbow, and surprisingly Rarity I relented and showed them several artists but insured me and Spike kept our backs turned from that. The last thing I needed was to make things very awkward between me and the girls, including the fact that they were currently looking at pornographic art of themselves.

After around ten minutes of that Spike and I were told that they were done looking and I could see they were all pretty flustered, I couldn’t blame them. If you look at enough of the drawings it will definitely make you hot under the collar, to pass the time I asked him a couple things about himself and I was surprised to know he actually knew several instruments he could play, I only knew he could play piano but that was it.

I was also surprised he actually had the guilty pleasure of watching Romcoms when he’s alone. I knew if he divulged that to Rarity it might score him a few points of interest for her but decided for the moment to keep that to myself mostly because she and the others were in the same room. I next asked what the most his scales could take a hit from and told me he accidentally stabbed his foot with a knife while cooking one time and hardly felt anything, well at least that helped on the theory of his durability from the show.

After an awkward amount of time, I took over on the computer and decided to show the dragon some art of himself too after he insisted. Mostly because he pointed out he’s 19 and had seen porn before. So I showed him some good pieces but made sure to filter out the ones that involved any of their friends in Ponyville and the princesses, just for the sake of avoiding any further unnecessary awkwardness.

To say he was as flustered as the others when finished, lets just say we both did our best to keep ourselves from ‘rising to the occasion’ and after a couple minutes of waiting for the two of us to calm and showing some more cute PG art we recomposed ourselves while the girls awkwardly sat away from the laptop screen but rejoined when I invited them back over to watch a few fan made videos of themselves on Youtube, which they loved.

I then changed sites over to Google Docs and began to show the girls a couple of my stories I was working on along with some that weren’t connected to Fimfiction. Twilight had a great interest in the work and the fact there was an unlimited source of reading for her online she looked like she was about to soak her panties at the thought, hmm maybe sometime I can ask her to critique some of my work later on, it would be nice to get an outside source. While the others were impressed with how I portrayed some of them, I couldn’t help but blush and just kept showing them more and more PG rated art afterwards. Rainbow, Pinkie, and Spike were laughing when I showed them a few comics featuring them in comedic fashion. And the others enjoyed some of the fan animations that depicted them.

And when I went to the OC’s section they were impressed with how many people had made their own characters, the creepy part though was some of the girls recognized seeing those ponies back in Equestria, especially Button Mash, his mom and Milky Way. Talk about The Twilight Zone. But a part of me was also overjoyed that they existed, and it made me wonder what they were like in person.

Hey, a guy’s allowed to daydream too you know!

“So this is all of your work?” Spike asked after I finished showing them a couple of personal Spike fics I’ve been working on.

“Um, well just a few stories I’ve worked on so far. And thanks to a few of my friends as well for helping me out here.” I replied nervously, I was feeling uncomfortable showing the girls my fanfiction about them, but they didn’t seem to mind too much so I was relieved seeing that.

“Wow you sure must have a lot of time on your hands.” Applejack remarked.

“And this is just one of thousands upon thousands of stories inspired from us?” Rarity added.

“Tens of thousands I think.” I replied making the mare who beamed and stared off into space, I think the idea of thousands upon thousands of people adoring her began to go to her head, she stared at nothing and a dreamy look formed on her.

“Houston we lost Rarity.” I joked.

“So a lot of these people write stories related to us and the show?”

“Yeah, there’s even a whole section on thousands and thousands of crossovers too, some I’ve read are pretty great while others, eh are ok.” I said waving my hand in a so-so gesture.

“Wow, so they’ve written some all about each of us?” Twilight asked in wonder.

“You’d be surprised at how many stories there are of just each of you girls.” I grinned.

“This is so cool, and you’re saying that they all are fans of us and create stories about us every day?” Scootaloo asked excitedly.

I nodded. “Yeah and there’s more they’re making every week too. So there’s always something new going on here.” I replied as the girls continued to peruse the site both to their curiosity and enjoyment.

This went on for a little while until I decided to close the window for a moment, getting everyone's attention.

“Hey listen everyone I uh… thanks… for not judging me too quickly over this.”

That got their attention, and they all smiled at each other. “Of course we wouldn’t, what did you think we’d do, just shun you outright over this?” Spike stated.

“Well…” I said awkwardly. “That was one of my concerns.”

“C’mon dear, we’re not that shallow or judgemental, I thought you’d know us that well.” Rarity stared gesturing towards the open page on Fimfiction, I couldn’t blushing in embarrassment at that knowing she was right.

“Fair point.” I replied.” You’re really ok with the idea of millions of people knowing about you girls and most of your lives?”

Twilight and the others mulled this over for several moments before responding. “Well… It’s definitely very odd seeing ourselves as cartoon icons, but not the craziest thing we’ve seen over the years.”

“You have to admit, it’s not as weird as seeing physical counterparts of your friends running around in a school.” Spike added. The other’s nodded in agreement.

“Is this why you asked us this morning to come up with fake names and disguises, just so nobody can recognize us from our counterparts on tv?” Asked Applebloom.

“Well, yeah. The last thing we needed was some crazed fans fawning all over you guys while trying to do some simple shopping.” I shrugged. “Or the press over the fact you're from another world.”

“Huh, well that explains a lot.” Babs commented.

“While I don’t appreciate being deceived in such a manner, I can very much understand your reasoning darling, and we’re grateful of your honesty with us.” Rarity smiled.

“I can’t believe I’m an actual celebrity in another world, totally awesome!” Rainbow beamed, her wings fluttering in excitement.

“I knew all along.” Pinkie smiled, while I and everyone else just looked at her in confusion.

“Since when?” I asked.

“Since the perspective change back to you in the first chapter.” She stated matter of factly while all of us just stared at the earth pony in like she had grown a second head while she just smiled like it was the most normal thing in the world.

I shook my head ignoring her while the others rolled their eyes at their friend, I reminded myself once more that it was just Pinkie being Pinkie.

“Anyway, does that mean we’re friends?” I asked hopefully.

“Of course we are, why wouldn’t we be?” Twilight said in confusion.

“Honestly when I mentioned the porn I was afraid you would lose all respect for me, especially since I offered you girls to live here with me.” I said dejectedly.

“That’s ridiculous, sure it's super creepy with some of the stuff we saw, but it’s not enough to hate on the guy who freely opened up his house to us until we find a way back home. That would just be rude.” Scootaloo said, putting on a grin “And besides it's a little nice to know a lot of people including me and the crusaders find us so attractive.” She winked.

I blushed at that but shook it off. “Uh r-right, anyway I’m just really glad to hear that I get to be friends with you guys, this is like a bronies dream come true here!” I grinned.

“Well I’m happy we make you feel so super special Colton.” Pinkie smiled brightly.

“Then this calls for something extra special.” I said as I stood up and jogged back up to my room and into my mini fridge, pulling out a dozen cans, one for each of the girls. It was a black colored can with Rainbows character on it, I headed back down placing the cans on the coffee table much to everyone’s interest. Twilight and Rarity picked up the rest in their magic and passed them around to everybody until each of my new roommates had a can in hand.

“What is this?” Applebloom said, looking at the can in confusion.

“Soda.”

“Rainbow Dash Cherry Fizz Splash.” I heard Spike read from the label.

“Whoa so you mean to tell me I’m on a soda can?” The blue pegasus grinned widely.

“Yeah, pretty sweet right?”

“More like awesome, are there any other flavors with the others on them?”

“Strangely enough, no, I looked everywhere online and so far, nothing. I never understood why.” I shrugged.

“Huh, weird. At least I get to be on one.” She boasted while seeing the girls roll their eyes at the daredevils antics.

“Well, this calls for a toast then.” I stated raising my can.

“What are we toasting?” Fluttershy asked.

“To new friends and new adventures.” I said raising up my can.

“I can dig that.” Spike grinned, raising his can.

I then saw Twilight roll her eyes, smile, then raise her can saying. “To new friends.”

We then all took a swig as I reveled in the light cherry taste of the carbonated drink, seeing the others' reactions. They all seemed to like it.

“Well how’s it taste?” I asked the cyan mare as she tasted the drink.

“I taste awesome.” She smiled and downed the rest of it.

‘Heh phrasing.’ I grinned to myself taking another sip from my can.

After we emptied our drinks I threw them in a cardboard box I left for the recycling bin. With that done I faced my new friends with a big smile on my face, feeling happy, which was something I hadn’t felt in a while.

“So who’s up for watching a tv show about yourselves?” I asked only to get several hands raised in excitement, smiling brightly. I brought the girls downstairs into the living room and had them all assembled in front of my tv while I pulled up the site I usually watch on the flatscreen and booted up the show.

We watched a few of my favorite episodes from the first season and every one of us enjoyed seeing their past adventures. They laughed at some of their memories displayed on screen while cringing at some of their more embarrassing moments. Overall it was fun to see some things happen from those times that the show could never tell. The girls actually explained to me some of the things that happened offscreen in some of the episodes and I was a little surprised at some of the stuff they told me.

Like one time in the Swarm of The Century episode, it turns out Celestia figured out the “parade” Pinkie had done when she lured the parasprites out with her instruments, and helped Twilight round up all the ones that had their appetite magically changed by her earlier that day and turned them back to normal to prevent any further incidents like with what happened to Ponyville. Seriously what was she thinking using her magic to make them not eat food like that, it could’ve done something worse had she done differently. Like making them crave pony flesh for example.

After that the princess then helped fix up most of the town with some ponies she called to assist too, apparently with their combined effort it only took a couple weeks to fix up most of the damage left behind.

Another thing they told me was the time in the Dragonshy episode after the dragon Fluttershy stood up to left, it left behind most of its hoard much to Rarity’s delight of course. And the girls brought in several carts to collect it. Apparently though, there’s a particular law involving dealing with a dragon hoard where all the items are cataloged by the kingdom, dispersed back to their rightful owners and if any of it doesn’t belong to anybody, can be claimed either by whomever found it or released to kingdom if left unclaimed. The girls took what they could and gave the rest to Ponyville for charity.

Then there was the time from the Castle Mania and Power Ponies episodes where the reason behind the girls going to the castle besides from the former adventure, was that Celestia had convinced Luna to allow the girls to begin the process of preparing the castle of the two sisters for preservation. She explained to Twilight later that she wanted to not only preserve just another historical site of Equestria, but a founding reminder of where the country’s most significant moments in it’s history have happened, such as Celestia banishing her sister a thousand years ago, her return and reformation a few years ago, the place where The Elements of Harmony rested and chose their new bearers, and The Tree of Harmony’s resting place as well. She told the new princess of friendship that she wanted to let the ponies and other races see where the age of friendship and harmony had started.

After that we watched some more episodes together, Twilight and I happened to agree about how confusing it was to constantly see all of the characters interacting with their hooves or mouths, the unicorns and alicorns we could understand because of their ability to use magic, but every other creature that didn’t have hands like me or Spike was just something that bothered me whenever I watched the show. We actually joked around at how unsanitary it would be using your mouth as a hand on some episodes.

After another couple hours of watching we finished up after I showed them one of the specials Rainbow Rocks and some fan animations they were very impressed with. They even liked the songs I showed off to them, although everyone was bawling, including me, when I showed them “Lullaby For A Princess”.

“Man I’m a little surprised at how much they got right there.” Spike stated after we were done watching the Vinyl and Octavia animation, you know? The one with a hole in the middle of their apartment?

“I still can’t believe we’re TV icons in another universe.” Rainbow said.

“At least it’s good to know they have our looks right.” Rarity stated brushing her hair aside.

“I think we look totally cute as four-legged ponies!” Pinkie beamed.

“Yeah, but I’d rather not touch everything where my feet have been, thank you.” Scootaloo added glancing at her hands.

“So, what did you girls think?” I asked.

“Great, how many seasons did they make?”

“Four, and the two specials involving Sunset Shimmer, which I think were totally awesome.” It was then after mentioning the unicorn something occurred to me. “By the way, has she gone back to Equestria and reconciled with Celestia yet?”

“No, the last time we saw her was after those three sirens showed up and us defeating them, which was three weeks ago if I’m certain.” Twilight confirmed.

“Damn I was hoping for that to happen, how is she anyway?”

“She’s been doing great. Last we heard she did say she was considering visiting Equestria before we left.” Spike grinned.

“Well that’s good, hey whatever happened to those three sirens anyway? Last I checked they just ran away offscreen but nobody really knows where or what happened to them after that concert you did.”

Twilight shrugged. “We’re not sure, we never saw or heard of them again after the battle of the bands.”

“Shame, I wonder what happened to them anyway.” I wondered.

“I don’t know,” Spike shrugged. “But I’d rather not think about it.”

“Hmm, I wonder what they’re doing right now anyway?”[i/] I thought to myself, hopefully for their sake and everyone else’s they weren’t causing trouble.

I then remembered something that had been on my mind since the girls arrived, a popular theory on Fimfiction I kept hearing about all the time, knowing how uncomfortable a subject it was though required being subtle.

“Ok so I have another question, an odd one, is scootaloo an orphan?”

“Huh?” Everyone said in unison.

“Dude what the fuck does that have to do with my life?” The young pegasus snorted indignantly.

But in some cases being blunt was much better on those rare occasions.

“Hey don’t blame me, blame the fanservice coming to that conclusion.” I replied, raising my hands defensively. “But… Well, is it true?”

She snorted once more in annoyance. “Of course not, first of all my parents never died or ditched me in some foster home, they have jobs where they travel around the world a lot and left me with my aunts because they hardly have time to look after me.”

“Have you ever seen them?”

“Sure, during holidays but most of the time it’s through video call, but I do get sweet presents they mail to me occasionally.”

“Oh yeah, didn’t they give you a portrait of themselves painted by some street artist?” Applebloom added.

“Or when ya got that modified scooter a few years back on Hearths warming?” Said Babs.

“Or that stuffed animal of a manticore several months ago?” Replied Sweetie Belle.

“Yeah all of those were gifts they shipped over to Ponyville.” The orange mare confirmed, her wings buzzing in what seemed to be happiness.

“So what is it they do for a living then?” I asked.

“My Dad does photography while my mom works with exotic plants and animals, I don’t know a lot about what they do exactly, but from what I gathered is they basically study new plants and animals together while traveling around the world.”

“Wow really?! That’s amazing, I didn’t know they were so cool.” Sweetie Belle added.

“What are their names?”

“Mane Allgood and Snap Shutter.”

The second I heard the first one, it took me a second to process it until I lost it, I wheezed out in sheer laughter at the comparison and fell on the floor pounding my fists as I nearly coughed out my lungs at the pun and continued doing so for the next couple of minutes. I finally managed to control myself mostly because I was coughing by the time I stopped laughing, once I controlled myself the girls were giving me deadpan looks while Fluttershy seemed to have a look of wonder at the mention of the name.

“Whoo… hehe… oh fuck, I’m sorry that hehe, that was just too funny for me.”

“You’ve got a weird sense of comedy then dude.” Spike commented.

“Ok… whoo, so let me guess, she works with animals then?”

She nodded and I noticed Rainbow, Twilight, and Fluttershy perk up at the confirmation.

“Wait, your parents are Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood, the world famous naturalists?! That’s awesome! I thought you were cool before kid, but you’re twenty percent cooler now.” Rainbow grinned.

“Really?!”

“Really.” The prism mare nodded.

“I didn’t know your parents were such famous adventurers, I look through their articles on animals all the time.” Fluttershy said animatedly.

“And I always read their latest research they publish every few months, it’s something I look forward to so much in the mail!” Twilight added excitedly while almost everyone else rolled their eyes.

“Wow that sounds like an amazing set of talents to have, how long have they done their research?” I asked, my interest growing.

“Well, about twenty years or so, they stopped for several years to raise me then went back to work when aunt Lofty and Holiday offered to look after me.” Her mood then shifted from nostalgic to solemn, her ears and tail drooping. “I wonder if they even noticed I’m gone?” She said quietly.

Seeing this I placed my hand on her shoulder in reassurance. “Hey, I’m sure they’ll notice. If not them then your relatives will make them.” I said trying to give off my best smile. It seemed to do the trick because she perked up a little.

“Oh please, who would notice a bl-” Diamond was about to say before I interrupted her.

“One more word out of you Diamond and I won’t hesitate to punch you in the nose. If you’re going to be living under my roof, you’re going to be living under MY rules. And I’m not going to tolerate any of you and Silver Spoons bullying anybody while you're here, do I make myself clear?” I said putting on my sternest tone.

Both mares looked at me in surprise for a few moments before nodding.

“I want to hear you say it.”

“We hear you crystal clear.” They answered quietly, their ears pinning back to their heads while their tails sagged in subduement.

“Good.” I smiled while the others looked at me a little impressed. Sure they were ok, but one thing I wasn’t going to allow while they were here was the crusaders or anybody else being tormented by those two.

I then thought of something else to ask them, it wasn’t until I looked at Pinkie's mane and tail that it came to me. “Ok next question, is it true that Pinkie's mane and tail can hold a lot of stuff inside?”

“Of course, I keep a bunch of stuff in here, where do you think I keep all my party supplies?”

“I dunno, it was either there or… uh someplace else.”

“What? You mean my party supply hole?” She said innocently, most of the girls blanched while I almost lost it right there in that sentence. I took a moment to compose myself before risking bursting out laughing at the innocent part pony’s phrasing.

“The… what?”

“Y’know my party supply hole, it’s a hole where I keep all my spare party supplies in case of a party emergency.”

“Since when would… you know what, who am I kidding it’s you I’m talking about. There’s always a party emergency for you somewhere somehow.” I sighed. “And let me guess the party supply hole is a literal hole in Ponyville where you stash your supplies right?”

She then gasped. “How did you know, are you psychic?”

I chuckled. “No, I just have a very good way of understanding someone as eccentric as you.”

“Thanks.” She grinned.

I chuckled to myself, then wondered what other burning questions I could ask.
Nothing came to mind at the moment yet, but I was willing to bet I’d find out eventually all of the secrets of the mane six when they were ready. Secrets that people in the entire MLP fandom would kill for!

But for now, I was just content having them here living with me until they figured out a way to get back to Equestria.

“So, who wants to see what you look like as stallions?” I asked, turning to the girls, grinning.

“Ooh, me!” Pinkie exclaimed excitedly, while the others agreed too.

And with that I introduced the ponies and drake to the wonders of not only their worldwide fame as tv characters, but the vastness of the internet itself as we spent the rest of the afternoon watching and listening to my favorite videos online, to showing them my streaming service on my large flatscreen and a couple of episodes of my favorite shows. They loved all of it.

If it was going to be like this with these equestrians as my roommates for the foreseeable future, then things were not going to be dull in the slightest for me from now on. This was going to be the start of a whole new adventure.

Author's Note

AUTHORS NOTE: Hello guys thanks for reading my chapter! And happy holidays! I’m very sorry for the delay and my promises of updating. I’ve been busy with other projects, sidetracked playing video games and mainly had to combat my laziness too. LOL! Anyways I’ve worked long and hard in getting this chapter right and I'm happy with the result, now I just need to figure out the next couple chapters at the moment and how I want to play them out.

Don’t worry I’ll keep you updated on things going on with me when I can, and right now I’ve got plans for the next year on what I plan to write and post when they’re ready. For now I can tell you I’m still writing my main projects which are Man of The House, Legend of The Phoenix, and my Fanfiction project Fairy’s Advocate, including a future MLP crossover I’ll talk about soon in the future.

As for how I’m doing, better to let you all know. I’ll still be writing and my collabs with Sonicblitz are still going, we’re just busy on other projects right now. Uh, what else? So far that’s all for now I can think of, I’ll update anything else on my next blog to catch you guys up. For now I’ve got lots in development personally and can’t wait to tell you soon, see you pony fans soon.