“Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends,

mm, going to try with a little help from my friends,

oh, I get high with a little help from my friends,

yes, I get by with a little help from my friends,

with a little help from my friends.”

• With A Little Help From My Friends, The Beatles

Rapid acceleration of the drubbing of the cardiac muscle was something to be expected in the manner of scene Jack was trapped in. He was blanketed in a feeling of extreme paranoia and repression, the likes of which he'd only known once before. It had been when he constructed a provisional straightjacket to familiarize himself with just what it would feel like to be in one. He had put it on, only to discover that he had made a near death-trap like bondage gear for himself, for it got tighter with every struggle he made to get out of it. Soon, it had gotten to the point where it slightly hurt to breathe. Luckily, it had not tightened any further than that.

But where Jack was, and what he was wearing, those were trivial things in the situation at hand. All he knew was that he was in the same clothes he had went to sleep in, and that he was trapped in a hallway made of black stone. Torches with purple flames gave patches of light to the otherwise pitch black tunnel. Indiscernible echoes whistled through the tunnel, along with cold winds, winds which put out a torch behind him every now and again. He lay on the floor of the hallway, unable to move. It was as if something was holding him there, something unable to be seen or heard. He could not even breathe. That was a fact that disturbed him the most. His insides ached dreadfully with excruciating pain, desiring oxygen, and yet, he was alive and well. Such a thing was not possible, at least as far as he knew.

He laid there in silence for what felt like hours, before it felt like a thousand pounds was lifted from his body. The first thing his body did was swallow air and cough, the ability to breathe coming back to it. But though he could breathe, he found he could not speak. When he tried, it was as if he never had a voice box to begin with, vocal chords nonexistent. His body felt weak, as though it had never moved before. He crawled against the wall, willing his muscles to work as he knew they should. Slowly, he picked himself up off of the floor, using the wall for support. His muscles came back to him, but they were still rather weak. He meagerly grasped a torch from it's sconce on the wall, and began to shamble forth, choosing to move forward in the direction he had been pointing when he was bound against the floor.

The torches he passed went out just as soon as he reached them, but he was able to find solace in the fact that the torch he held seemed to be resistant to the winds that blew ever coldly through the tunnel. It wasn't until he reached a dead end that it finally did go out, his eyes widening in the darkness, and his heart skipping a beat. It was not that he was afraid of the darkness, for he knew that would be a thought rather ridiculous. No, he was afraid of not being able to see. He wouldn't know if something was behind him unless he was able to hear it. The very thought made his heart pound faster. A loud sound resounded throughout the tunnel from behind him, and when it finally reached him, he had prepared himself for it.

The wall in front of him that originally meant a dead end, was instead a doorway, the stones separating as if by magic. What was revealed to him was a room with a singular platform in the centre, a wooden bridge leading from the tunnel over to it. Unlike what he would expect however, the wood was not rickety or weak, it was instead firm and strong, able to take his weight easily. With every step he took, he got closer to the platform, lit by four large steel torches, like a medieval lamp of a sort, he thought. In the centre of the platform was a fountain. The words Prince of Persia ran through his head over and over again.

He walked forward just a bit longer, before falling down in front of the fountain. It was ironic that it was a fountain, for as soon as he hit the floor, a curse of dryness hit his body. He swore his blood had turned to sand. Summoning all of the strength he could, he forced himself up from the floor of the platform, and to the fountain, where he dropped his head in, feeling it sink in much deeper than he had though it would. He was suddenly forced into it, purple water surrounding him. But as he looked around in the purple void, he felt his head beginning to hurt, beyond any pain it had ever felt before.

He grasped his skull, screaming in the water, feeling as though his head had split right in half, and yet he was still alive to feel all of the pain that went along with such a horrible thing. Visions were thrown into his head, visions of a bustling city which changed colours every other second, visions of him and his friends doing things and travelling, even visions of battles grand and small. But the one that shot straight into his mind like a shotgun blast was the vision of her. She was all around him, all he could see, feel, or hear, and his heart felt like it was hammering against his ribcage, his body convulsing every which way. She was all he could breathe for what felt like an hour, but as quickly as the vision had come, it was gone, and a familiar laugh echoed in his ears as constricting tendrils pulled him into an inky abyss below.

Well well well, you have quite the interesting future, I must say. Who am I, you, along with the readers of this story, must be asking? Well, I'm afraid you, as well as them, will just have to wait and find out. There's no fun ruining a surprise. Until then...

AAA

...wake up.

Jack awoke with a start, the words echoing throughout his head. He looked around him in the compartment, the faces of Jacob and Lyra being the first to things he set his eyes on. His breathing was ragged and in short bursts, and his body was shuddering in shock. His head still hurt all the same, just like it had in his dream, and he grasped at it again. “Oh fuck, oh fuck does this hurt!” He swore twice in a row, his eyes squeezed shut as he sat leaning against the wall of the train compartment in pain. He could barely hear himself think over the immense suffering he was struck with. He swore he could still hear that voice laughing, and it drove him looney.

Jacob and Lyra looked at each other in confusion, and but simply shrugged before the turned back to look at their pain afflicted friend. Lyra was the first to speak, placing a hoof on Jack's shoulder. “Jack, what's wrong? Can we help in some way?” She bit her lip, wondering once again if something was her fault. She had been the first to awake, even though she was the last one to sleep. She tried to move and get up, but shortly realized that Jack was still holding onto her tightly, and her cheeks were once again painted scarlet. She used her magic to open up his arms so she could wiggle free, and set them down when she was able to sit up. She heard him mumbling something about a prince, and thought about waking him up, but decided to let him sleep. As she watched Jack sitting in pain, she couldn't help but feel bad for making that decision.

Jack only grumbled loudly, before he barely got out a sentence. “Please be quiet, your voice hurts my skull right now...” He swallowed hard, feeling the pain slowly go down, but throbbing every now and then. “I think I got a migraine somehow... Gah, fuck, it feels like somebody was crawling around in there and left by punching a hole out...” He finally opened his eyes and looked over at Lyra, his eyes feeling like they were aching with every throb he felt in his head. “Ugh, sorry if my telling you to be quiet was rude, it's just... fucking fuck my head hurts...” He continued to use the same swear word he had before. Jacob and the other guys swore it was his catchphrase sometimes, as much as he said it.

It was then that they felt the train slowing down, hearing the sound of the breaks against the tracks beneath them. From the window, they could hear the sounds of ponies talking and trotting. Jacob and Jack looked at each other, speaking without even saying anything. The look they shared spoke of the building excitement within them at that moment, and they quickly got out, straightening their clothes out, and putting on their shoes. Jack grabbed his book an glasses, and followed Jacob out the doors to their cabin, Lyra following Jack all the while. They slowly made their way out, Jack hopping on his feet in impatience as the ponies in front of them filed out one by one.

Jacob was the first of them out, as was expected, and stood off to the side of the door, his eyes lighting up and his jaw dropping as he looked before him. Jack did much the same as Jacob, but his mouth hung open a bit wider than his spiky haired friend's did. Lyra noticed a single tear making it's way down Jack's right cheek as she trotted over to the two from the train door. She looked out the same direction they did, raising a brow. Jacob was the first to speak. “We did it, broski. We made it.” He put an arm around his goth friend. “My Nabroleon Dynamite, we're in Ponyville.”

Undeniably, it was an absolute fact that they were standing right before the town of Ponyville, every building before their eyes seeming to glow with an air of wonder and amazement, geek goggles on both of their sets of eyes. They marvelled at the way it looked before them, everything having a texture, as if it was actually made of something, instead of being masses of colours, the sun pouring a slightly white-golden light down upon it all, allowing them to admire the wood and bricks put into the architecture before their very optics. From the Town Hall all the way to the Carousel Boutique, every building in Ponyville was before their very eyes, and it made both of their hearts pound with adrenaline fuelled excitement. Jack swallowed hard, his throat making an audible gulp as he did so. “We are. We really are.”

Lyra shook her head with a smile at the two, chuckling lightly at how silly they seemed to her. “Well, we're not going to get anywhere if we stand here all day, guys.” She started to trot forward, and the two astonished humans followed her, looking all around as they did, staring in awe at everything. Lyra rolled her eyes, still smiling at the two as she continued to trot forward, away from the train station and deeper into the town. “We're coming up on the market, this is where everyone buys most of their vegetables, fruits, and other things, like trinkets and jewelry.” Indeed, the three began to walk through groups of ponies and past vendors stalls.

Jack was a little confused however, as to just why none of the ponies were paying too much mind to them. He leaned close to Jacob. “Hey, why do you think it is that these ponies aren't looking at us all weird?” He scratched the back of his head. “You think it's because they know about my trial through newspapers or something?” He felt a bit awkward, the welcome he was getting rather different than the one he had thought he and Jacob would receive, the kind that was most often found in the fanfiction he and Jacob read.

Jacob shrugged as they continued to walk through the market, looking curiously at a vendor's wares before he turned back to his friend. “It might be because of Reagan and Shay, if they're really here. Otherwise, it could be because they're used to all sorts coming through town, you know, being basically in the middle of Equestria and all.” He was wondering the very same question Jack had been, but his answers satisfied him, and seemed to satisfy Jack, as well. “I think most authors forget that, and that's why they're all generally written in the near-same fashion when it comes to entering Ponyville the first time.” His inner critic was showing, and it made Jack smile.

Jack hummed as he thought over Jacob's words, nodding as he did so. “Yeah, you do make a damn good point.” He then wondered another thing as he spoke a curse word. “That's another thing, Lyra, why didn't you seem extremely surprised when you heard me cursing earlier? I thought ponies didn't like cursing or something?” He was trying to get all of the stereotypical thoughts out of his head, so he wouldn't have to worry about them later. After all, he hadn't truly expected alcoholic beverages to exist in Equestria, so maybe it was more mature than he thought it was from how it was depicted whenever he watched the show.

Lyra couldn't help but once again raise a brow and chuckle. “It's not that we don't like it, it's just that it's not something we generally do. Definitely not as much as you do, anyways.” She looked back at him with a smirk, sticking her tongue out playfully. “But yeah, it's not like we don't use them, heck, my dad was basically a sailor, as much as he said them. You know, Berry uses them a lot too, but I don't think she can help it, as drunk as she is all the time. Derpy always covers her mouth with a hoof whenever Berry speaks them, Bon Bon blushes, and Time Turner just grumbles. It's rather funny, actually, especially when Vinyl joins in with Berry, but Octavia usually is the one who stops it after that point.” She giggled as she thought of her friends and their habits when it came to cursing.

Jack looked back at Jacob and spoke quietly in his friend's ear. “Shit, looks like the background six are canon after all.” He snickered lightly, before it turned into a chuckle that he shared with Jacob. They were having the time of their lives as avid fanfiction readers and critcs, and they couldn't help but laugh at the irony of it all. They continued to follow Lyra, before Jack snapped his fingers. “Oh yeah, speaking of Berry, you think you could take us to her Bar?” Jack was eager to see if his deductive theory was correct, and Reagan was indeed there after all, along with Shay.

Lyra grinned. “Where do you think I've been heading all along?” She snickered just like Jack had a moment before, continuing to trot on in an almost confident and prideful way, swaying her hips left and right. Jack grumbled after she snickered at him, rolling his eyes. It wasn't long before his eyes were caught by the swaying of her hips, and his line of sight went directly to her flank and tail. He slowly began to blush, admiring them silently. Jacob had noticed his friend's head movements go still, and when he followed where his friend's eyes were looking, he smirked almost mischievously. He elbowed Jack lightly and gave him a waggle of his eyebrows, to which Jack slugged him in the arm lightly, causing Jacob to laugh.

After a little while more of strolling through town, they walked by a small clearing, in the middle of which laying none other than the Ponyville Public Library. Twilight Sparkle's Library. Jack stopped dead in his tracks as he saw it, Jacob stopping with him a bit confused, before he saw it as well. Lyra could her the two stop behind her, and turned around. “What's wrong?” She looked at where they were looking, confused by them once again. “Oh, it's just the Library. Twilight Sparkle lives there with Spike, her assistant dragon. She's one of the Elements of Harmony. They saved us from Discord a little while back. You want to stop there before we go to Berry's Bar?”

Jack looked at Jacob with a face that spoke volumes. Jacob, if you can somehow hear me in your mind, please tell me you agree with me that going there wouldn't be a good idea. Jack hoped against hope that his mental message was conveyed well enough with the face he was making. When he saw Jacob give a look of understanding, he knew Jacob had received the message, and breathed a sigh of relief. He turned to Lyra. “Naw, we're good. It just caught our eye is all, nothing to worry about. Let's keep on heading towards Berry's place.” He ran a finger through his hair nervously.

Lyra shrugged as best as a pony could. “Alright.” She began to trot once more, but whilst she did, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was a bit off. I wonder why they stopped as they saw Twilight's library... It's almost as if they already knew about it. ...That's just silly, they've never been here before, how could they possibly know about it? She shook her head, casting the thoughts away, finding them foolish. She led them past a few other places that she found them staring at, like Quills and Sofas, until they began to enter the more gritty part of town.

The roads narrowed, their stones becoming a little darker in shade. Some closed nightclubs and a couple bars, along with some abandoned buildings, appeared. Those were the first things that the two humans noticed in surprise. Jack even swore he saw a hookah bar. Equestria was maturer indeed. Jack wondered how the section they were in looked at night, and thought back to every Noir film he'd ever seen, along with Sin City and L.A. Noire. His inner Noir/Detective-Geek squeed with delight at the very thought. “Jacob, think about it, this part of Ponyville, at night, rain pouring down.”

Jacob grinned as he thought about what Jack said. “Aww yeah bro!” The two shared a fist bump as they began to geek out in their minds together. They truly were a pair of geeks. Lyra giggled as she heard Jack and Jacob share their exchange, knowing what they were thinking about. She'd seen detective movies before, and read crime novels. She turned onto the street she knew Berry's Bar was on. She knew the street, the thing was finding it, the sign was being fixed, and she had enough trouble finding it when it had the sign. She led the two humans halfway down the street, before they heard a voice come from an alleyway.

“Whoahaho, and I really tripping hard, or is that who I think it is?” Jack's eyes opened a bit wide as he heard it. The three turned to see none other than the nordic Shay step out of the shadows of the alley, placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. “Aw dude, it really is you! Awesome!” The three humans all laughed together, Jack and Jacob at Shay's highness, and Shay because the fact that Jack and Jacob were before him was funny for some strange reason. They all share a brohug, before parting and ending the broment. Shay smiles even wider. “I didn't expect you two to be here!”

Jacob snickered. “Well of course, my brohemian. Me and Jack figured that if we were able to meet up here, then you and Reagan would be here too. Me and Jack were both in Canterlot, and we took a train down here to Ponyville on a hunch that we'd find you guys here. Speaking of which, do you know where Reagan is? Hopefully he's not too far away.” He looked up and down the street, wondering just where Reagan could be. He thought that perhaps Jack's theory was right, and that Reagan and Shay did seem to stick close more often than not.

Shay blew a raspberry with his lips, laughing shortly afterwards. “That's an easy one, he's right in this building next to us.” He pointed with a thumb to the building to his right. “I dunno if you wanna go in there, though, he's having some fun. He has been for the past... Uh... How long is three hours? Yeah, that's how long he's been in there having fun, however long it is.” He scratched the back of his head as he looked up at the sky, trying to figure out just how long three hours was. “It's like a day, right?” Jack rubbed his eyes at Shay's high sense of time, for it was hurting his head.

Lyra backed up to look at the building Shay had pointed to, and raised her brows in surprise as she saw the familiar cutie mark on the door. “Wow, it really is Berry's bar. You were right, Jack.” She turned to see Jack doing a fist pump in victory, before doing a short robot-like dance. She giggled as she watched him do so, finding it cute. He's such a dork. She raised a hoof and gestured to the bar. “Well, are we going to head in, or should we wait until he comes out?” Jack and Jacob looked at each other once again, and she knew they were probably deciding whether or not to go in, based off of Shay's words.

Jack shrugged after a few more seconds. “Ah, what the hell, it's not like it could be as bad as the Oktoberfest incident.” Shay shuddered at those last two words, and Jacob shook his head like he had a bad taste in his mouth. Jack led the three over to the thick wooden door, pushing it open with a hand on the cutie mark embossed upon it. As it slowly opened before him, he could smell the booze that lay within, before he took a step forward, going onwards into the bar. It looked just like Reagan had described it to a tee. He had forgotten the strong smell however, which made Jack a little bit dizzy, and made Lyra scrunch her nose.

A stallion sitting at a table a few feet away from them grumbled angrily. “Ugh, you're letting the light in, you bunch of ingrates. My eyes hurt now!” He rubbed his eyes with his hooves for a second before looking back at them. “Oh, great, more of you damn humans, that's just fan-fucking-tastic.” He slammed his drink on the table and gestured to the barmaid pony in a rude fashion. “Ey, gimme more whiskey, I'm gonna need it if I'm going to put up with more of these kooks!” He was obviously a rather rude mannered pony, and Jack didn't like it when others were rude to his friends.

Jack stepped forward, and pointed at the pony. “Now listen here, you jerk, I'm not going to sit by silently while you insult my friends. You can insult me all you like, I'm used to being treated like shit, but you say bad things about my friends, and I'm going to do something that I won't fucking regret. That's another thing, I'm the only one who gets to use the word fuck like that, you hear me, you fucking fucker?” He placed extra emphasis where he thought he needed to, and finally stood with crossed arms. “Oh, and by the way, my friend had sex on this table!” He pointed to the very table the pony was drinking at.

It was then that the pony rolled his eyes and looked at Jack with an unchanging expression. When he next spoke, it was without any anger, nonchalantly. “Yeah, I know. I was here.” Jack raised a hand and was about to open his mouth to speak again, but realized he didn't really have anything to say to that, an 'Oh.' being the only thing that escaped his mouth. He growled lightly, before turning away and walking to the middle of the room, looking all around. He couldn't see Reagan anywhere, let alone Berry. Jacob walked over to the barmaid as Jack shrugged his shoulders at him.

“Excuse me, miss, where is your boss, the bartender? We have a feeling that she may know where our friend is, if she's not with him, that is.” He smiled kindly at her, and when he did, she relaxed a bit, feeling rather refreshed to be treated kindly for once. Jacob had always been the best guy to go to a bar with. He would treat everyone kindly, and he only acted a little silly when drunk. He wasn't balls to the wall like Reagan was, but then again, Reagan always got extremely smashed, so there was that to consider.

The Barmaid looked up at the friendly giant that was Jacob, setting the tray with whiskey on it down next to her. “I'm thinking you're talking about the other human. He's out back with my boss, but I don't think you wanna go back there. They're having a drinking contest, and their breath probably smells horrible due to them drinking Berry's special mix. That stuff knocks most normal ponies out after one mug, but your friend and my boss... They're something else.” She looked at the door to the back of the bar where the reserves were kept. “Through that door, that's where you'll find them.”

Jacob nodded and began to lead the other three of his party with a wave. They reached the door at the same time, and Jacob pushed it open cautiously, hearing bottles move out of the way as he did so. The smell of the bar was even stronger in the backroom, and all four of them had to be strong and resist gagging as it leaked forth and into their nostrils. Jack was breathing through his mouth,with his teeth shut so he wouldn't taste the smell, a technique he'd learned from his grandfather. The four stepped further into the room, being wary of all the empty bottles, and saw just the two they were looking for in the back of the room.

Jack was the one who decided to be brave and talk to them. As he got closer, he noticed that Berry had passed out, and was sleeping on the table that she and Reagan were sitting at. Reagan was simply petting her mane and massaging her ears a little clumsily due to his inebriation. Jack ever so slowly put a hand on Reagan's shoulder, swallowing hard as he did. “Hey, Reagan? It's Jack, your friend.” He tensed up a bit, bracing himself for whatever was to happen next. He could only hope it wouldn't be horrible.

Reagan's hand went still and rested on Berry's head as his own head turned and looked at his goth friend. “Oh hey, when did you get here? ...Hic!” Jack's eyes opened wide and his face curled into one of what seemed like pain as the horrible smell of Reagan's alcohol breath hit his nose. Even though he wasn't breathing through it, it still hit him like a brick dropped from a four story window. His eyes rolled to the back of his head, and he slowly fell to the ground with an unconscious thud, lucky that there was surprisingly no bottles on the floor where he landed. Shay began to laugh hysterically while Jacob and Lyra looked on in shock. All Reagan could say as he looked at his friend on the floor was one word. “Oops.”

AAA

It was not until two hours later that Jack awoke from his unconscious state. He slowly sat up, realizing he was slumped against a table. He figured that perhaps the guys had put him there so he wouldn't be lying on the floor. But, as he looked up from the wood patterns that the table beheld, he took note of two peculiar things. One, was that he was holding a half-full beer bottle. The other, was that he was sitting across from Berry Punch. He rubbed his head where it had hit the floor, looking at Berry and the beer bottle in his hand in confusion. “What the hell happened?”

Berry smiled at him, putting a hoof on his cheek, her eyes half-shut. “That was great, Jack.” She began to rub his cheek with that hoof, her other joining it and rubbing his other cheek gently. “You were a lot better than I thought you'd be. ...And you know, I've never tried some of the stuff that you showed me, but I gotta say, it felt rather nice to get my hooves licked.” She giggled lightly under her breath as she began to pet his head, playing with his hair. “And those positions... did you read the Pony Sutra by any chance?”

Jack's heartbeat slowly began to speed up as he sat there listening to her, feeling groggy. By the time she had mentioned the Pony Sutra, the tempo of his heart was similar to that of a goa trance song. “Wh... What?” Her words began to fully register with the rest of his mind, along with the way she had been rubbing his cheeks and was petting his head. “Wait...” He sat up completely straight, tensing every muscle in his body up as he was hit by the sudden understanding of just what was going on, and what Berry was talking about. “...I did what?!”

It was then however, just after Jack shouted, that the laughter of none other than Reagan, Shay, and Jacob, could be heard from the table behind him. Jack turned around, blushing lightly, a peeved expression on his face. He noticed that even Lyra was slightly smiling and laughing, though she was at least trying to hide it with her hoof. Jack bit his lip with a growl, muttering every curse word he knew under his breath. He cleared his throat as he rolled his eyes and shook his head. “Oh, real funny guys. Poke fun at the goth guy who's never been laid before, I get it.”

Jacob chuckled at Jack's words. “Ah, come on Han Brolo, you know you'd do the same thing to us if you got the chance to. 'Sides, I'm a virgin too. Now come on over here, I bought a map from the market, and we're all about to plan our courses.” He pulled the map in question out from the pocket of his leather jacket, unfolding it and setting it down on the table before them as Jack got up from the table Berry was at and sat down at their table. Berry merely drank the rest of the beer bottle he'd left and trotted towards the back room like she had done many a time before, smiling all the way, happy to participate in a prank.

Jack settled in next to Lyra, which made the mint green pony smile. He turned to look at her, and his annoyed expression swiftly disappeared from his face, being replaced with a small smile. He pet her on her head for a few seconds and smiled a bit more when he saw her blush. He then cleared his throat once more and took a deep breath as he set his elbows on the table. “Alright, I'll go first, I guess.” He looked over the map, looking mostly at the southern regions. He hummed in his throat. “I've got a hunch there's something to be found in Appaloosa or Dodge Junction, so that will be where I'm headed.”

Lyra nodded as she listened to him, patting him on the shoulder lightly with a hoof. “And I'll go with you. I've actually never been to either of those places before, and it could be fun.” She smiled at Jack once again, who looked a little surprised at first, but then shrugged and smiled, nodding in approval. She grinned with a squee as she saw him nod, and she couldn't help but dance a little in her seat in joy. Sure, she had ulterior motives, but Jack didn't know that. Once we're all alone together, maybe then I can try to start flirting with him, just like Berry told me to an hour ago. I just hope I don't mess it up like I always do...

Shay was the next one to speak about his direction of travel, after he took a hit from a blunt, of course. “Hehe, dude... I gotta say, I wanna head to a city. There's stuff to be found in a city, like business.” Jack rolled his eyes at the business comment Shay had made, but Shay didn't pay any mind. He looked over the map slowly, taking his time in observing every city on it for minutes at a time, at which Jack began to sigh. Finally, he spoke once again. “Ah, maaan, Fillydelphia looks like a good place to start, but I'll probably make a stop on my way there.” He smiled widely, ideas in his mind.

The other humans nodded at his words, taking note of them. Jacob was the next to say something. “I kinda don't know where to go, to be honest.” He rubbed his jaw as he often did when he thought about things, looking at the map. It was then however, that he remembered what he had seen on his way back to the market. It was an advertisement poster for what was called The Equitronic Dance Music Tour. Among the musicians listed on the poster was none other than DJ Pon-3. He remembered the location it would be in a weeks time. “I've got it.” He pointed to Las Pegsus. “That's where I'm going. Vinyl's going to be playing a show there.”

Jack smiled and nodded at Jacob, who smiled back. They both thought Vinyl was pretty cool, but the fact that Jack had nodded to him let him know that he was free to go after her, which made Jacob all the more happy. Reagan was the last to speak, shrugging his shoulders. “Well, I think I'll hang around Ponyville for a little while more, and then I'll head up to Canterlot, see if I can get my job as a Lawyer here in Equestria as well.” Though Jacob and Shay nodded to Reagan's words, and Lyra as well, the one person who didn't nod right away was Jack, who had a look of suspicion in his eyes as he finally did nod.

AAA

After the four gathered what supplies they would need for their respective trips, they all headed over to the Ponyville Train Station. The parting of the four slowly began to commence as they waited for Jacob's train first, each of them talking about what they might do on their journeys. When it finally arrived, Jacob received brohugs from each one of his best friends, and hopped on the train just as it was about to leave. With a wave and a 'See you, broskis.' on the wind, the friendly giant of their group left, the others taking a deep breath as they finally accepted the fact that they probably wouldn't see him again for a while.

Jack and Lyra's train was the next to appear, and Jack felt a little nervous. Shay offered him a couple hits from his pipe, which he took with many thanks. Afterwards, he gave both of his remaining friends a hug, ready to set forth with Lyra by his side as he hopped on the train with a 'Be safe, you crazy fuckers.'. It was shortly after Jack's train left the station that Shay turned to Reagan, and gave him a hug. He wished him good luck in getting his job back, before he put his big stick with a bag tied to the end of it over his shoulder, and began to walk towards Fillydelphia.

As he watched Shay walk on his way down the path leading out of Ponyville towards Fillydelphia, Reagan once again took a deep breath, and sat on the stairs of the train station platform, taking a drink Berry had given him out from his pocket. He poured a little out on the grass next to him in honour of his friends, before he chugged the rest. He put the empty bottle back in his pocket to throw away later. He was a Lawyer after all, he wasn't going to litter. He stood up on the stairs and swallowed hard, looking at the town of Ponyville before him, recieving the same view Jack and Jacob had gotten just that morning. It was there, in the afternoon sun, that he spoke to himself, readying himself for what was to come.

“My journey begins here.”

Author's Note

Here it is everyone, Chapter Four! Please, I would appreciate it very much if you could give me your opinions on what was good and what could use some work, I always strive to improve. Also, I would like to suggest that you follow me if you would like to receive updates on the progress of each chapter, which I've been posting after every day I work on it. Rock on, everypony!