A Turn of Eventsby Shadow_FireChaptersChapter OneChapter TwoChapter ThreeChapter FourChapter FiveChapter SixChapter SevenChapter EightChapter NineChapter TenChapter ElevenChapter TwelveChapter ThirteenChapter FourteenChapter FifteenChapter SixteenChapter SeventeenChapter One“Oh come on bro, it’s my turn!” “Just hold on man, almost done.” “Ugh…” Justin slumped into the couch and resumed his game. Nick, his old friend and now college roommate, was hogging the computer again. He needed to continue working on an important paper due the next week, but Nick was derping around on the internet, looking at the latest memes and commenting on their stupidity. Justin continued to play Assassin’s Creed 3 in his PlayStation. He had already beaten the game; he was just trying to beat his best time. As he focused on a group of guards, Nick called out from the computer: “Hey bro, come look at this one!” Justin sighed loudly. Nick turned to him with a confused look on his face. “What?” Groaning, he walked over to him and said “Just hurry it up, dude. I NEED to continue working on this paper. It’s due next week and I still need to type four more pages.” Nick sighed and started to close out of his tabs. “Ok, ok, I’ll get off so you can work on your stupid paper.” As Nick moved away, he heard Justin mumble under his breath “About frickin' time...” “I heard that ya know!” “Whoop de frickin’ do. You try having to write a 30 page paper and not get irritated when you can’t use the computer.” Nick sighed. When Justin got like this, there was no arguing with him. The last time Nick tried, he ended up with a bloody nose and having to pay for take-out dinners all of the next week. “Fine. I’m gonna go make a sandwich.” As he walked into the kitchen, Justin called after him “Make me one too!” He poked his head back into the main room and yelled “Make your own sandwich! Do I look like a butler?” Justin put his hand to his chin in thought. “Well, actually…” “Screw you man!” “No thanks, I’m not in the mood.” Grumbling while Justin laughed as his own joke, Nick went to get started on making his sandwich. A few seconds later, he heard a faint buzzing. It started low, but gradually got louder, growing into a sizzling sound. “Justin, what are doing in there?” “What are you talking about?” Nick scratched his head in confusion. He called back “That sizzling sound. Are you burning something?” Now Justin was confused. “What are you talking ab……….what the? What on earth is…?” Nick heard the sounds of typing, shrugging as he went back to his sandwich. “Let’s see, we got some turkey, definitely gonna need that, um……ooh, ham! Gotta have ham! What else, what else…..yup, roast beef, 100% essential… oh my god…BACON! YES! GOTTA HAVE TEH BACON! NO SANDWICH IS COMPLETE WITHOUT THE SWEET LIFEBLOOD THAT IS BACON! Ok, I think I’m good on the sandwich……after I grab this mayo. There, now we’re done.” As he set his ingredients down, the noise grew. “Ok, now I KNOW you’re messing with me. Cut that effing noise out before I-“ BOOM! A giant explosion ripped through the dorm room, shaking the building and causing everything to fall off of their shelves. Nick fell to the floor as his sandwich materials fell around him. The ground continued shaking, causing one of the cabinet doors to fall off of its hinges. After what seemed like a lifetime, the building stopped moving. Nick sat still, waiting for an aftershock or something of the sort. Once he straightened himself out, he yelled for his friend. “Bro?!? Are you alright?!?” Silence. “Bro..?” The silence was broken by a loud moaning. Nick cautiously walked into the living area, only to be greeted by all their stuff blown everywhere. Shelves overturned, the couch and recliners lying on their backs, television busted on the floor, the picture frames, once hanging perfectly aligned in the hallway leading to their rooms, thrown across the length of the dorm. A large pile of books sat in the corner, pushed off their shelves and off their neatly stacked piles now massed together. The moaning once again broke Nick from his thoughts. He turned to find Justin lying amongst the remains of one of their bookshelves. “Justin!” Nick ran to his friend’s side, checking him for injuries. “Are you ok? What the heck happened?” Justin gripped his head, grunting as he sat up. “I…I’m not sure. I was sitting at the computer, working on my paper, when you started asking about that noise. At first I thought you were playing a joke on me, when I started to hear it too. Next thing I know, the screen goes white. I tried restarting it, but nothing happened.” Growing more and more confused by the story, Nick asked as he helped his friend up; “But what about the explosion? Nothing doesn’t send you flying into bookcases.” To his slight irritation, his friend only chuckled. “I’m getting to it. The story’s almost done anyways. I saw something on the screen, a small speck, but it was growing. Before I could see what it was, I got thrown back by some sort of shockwave.” Nick looked at the disaster area that was once their living space. “Shockwave? Like a sonic boom?” Justin shrugged. “Kind of, yeah. Blew me straight back into the bookcase. Strangely enough, the computer is completely fine. It doesn’t look like we turned it on at all.” “What? You’ve gotta be kidding…………….or maybe not.” The duo sat amongst the rubble, staring at their pristine computer, which hadn’t even shifted during the blast. Another moan broke their thoughts, although this one sounded slightly more feminine. Nick looked at his friend in disbelief. “Dude, I thought you were feeling better. There’s no need to whine like a girl.” Justin looked back, his face showing slight fear. “Dude? That wasn’t me.” “Huh?” “I’m serious. That. Wasn’t. Me.” “But if it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t me, who was it?” As soon as he finished talking, something moved under the large pile of books in the corner. Nick jumped back and tripped over the couch. “What was that?!?” “Why are you asking me? My face was buried in a computer!” “You still should have heard if the door opened!” “The door’s locked!” “…..what?” “Seriously! The door’s bolted and locked!” The books shifted again. Justin ran off to his room, and Nick shouted after him: “Where are you going?” “To get my pistol! If this person’s crazy enough to break into a random dorm, I don’t wanna see how crazy they can get!” He returned, carrying a .45 Magnum. Cautiously aiming it at the books, Nick and Justin waited for the unknown being to emerge from the books. What crawled out, however, was shocking enough to make Justin drop his gun, as both friends continued to stare at the unbelievable being standing before them. It appeared to be a large horse, but much, much different. It stood about 6 feet tall, with a dark blue coat. But that wasn’t the only thing. It seemed to have an ethereal mane and tail that shimmered with stars, as well as what looked like a tattoo of a crescent moon against a splotchy black background on its flank. But that wasn’t the strangest thing. The strangest thing was that it had a horn and wings, staring back at them with large, almost cartoonish eyes. It was wearing a crown and necklace, with what looked to be glass horseshoes. Nick and Justin looked from each other to the equine in front of them. Justin seemed to find his voice first. “W-what are you?” The creature blinked in surprise, before shocking both men. “We…-I-, am Princess Luna of Equestria. What, may we ask, are you?” Author's Note This is the first attempt of me and a friend at writing stories. All criticism is welcome. Thanks to Wuten for reading this over. You truly are the King of Spaghetti -Shadow_Fire Forgot to mention my co-author >>308681 Chapter Two10 minutes later… “So…you’re from a world filled with magical talking horses?” “Ponies.” “Alrighty then.” Nick and Justin had decided to let Luna explain herself while they cleaned up their dorm. According to her, she had been sent through their computer (or as she called it the “magic information box”) due to a mishap involving someone named Pinkie and a crate of sugar. As they cleaned, someone knocked on the door. “Oh man, what now?” Justin walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. “Nick! Hide Luna!” “Why?” “It’s that stoner next door.” Nick nodded and began ushering Luna into the kitchen while Justin unlocked the door. “Hey Hayden, what’s up?” “Dude, did you feel that?” “Uh, feel what?” “That explosion! It was all like BOOM! Then it was all like, calm. And then I heard you guys yelling or something.” Justin began worrying. ‘Wait, why am I worrying? It’s just Hayden. Nobody ever believes him; he’s always high on something. Maybe if I can just convince him he imagined the explosion, he’ll leave. Now, what should I-‘ “What is that?!?” “What?” “You have a giant horse thing in your kitchen!” Justin winced; he had forgotten that the kitchen was visible from the entryway. ‘Need to lie, and fast!’ “What giant horse? Are you ok? The only thing in the kitchen is Nick. He isn’t the prettiest, but I wouldn’t say he looks like a horse.” Hayden started to freak out. “Seriously man! It’s right there!” ‘This is gonna be fun. Time to mess with him.’ Justin turned around and looked into the kitchen. Seeing him look, Luna smiled and waved. He turned back to Hayden, who currently had a look on his face that practically screamed ‘See?!?’ “I really have no idea what you’re talking about.” Hayden’s face twisted in confusion. “Are you sure?” “Completely.” Hayden gripped his head, muttering to himself. “What did Dante give me…?” “Um, who?” “You know, Phillip, my dealer.” “Uh…” “I swear, if Tyrell mixed up my bags again…” “Wait, who’s Tyrell?” “How many times do I have to tell you, Markus is my dealer!” ‘Great, he’s so high he doesn’t even remember Jerry’s name…’ “Ok, look. How about you go home and sort this out, while I go and make myself some dinner?” “…ok” Hayden walked back outside and started flipping out, wondering why there were people. ‘Retard…’ Seeing Justin walk back into the living area, Nick decided to ask what happened. “So what’d he want?” “To know if we heard the explosion Luna caused.” Luna blushed. She always seemed to get embarrassed whenever her ‘explosive’ entry was mentioned. “What did you tell him?” “That he imagined the whole thing. By the way, great job hiding Luna, you forgot that you can look into the kitchen from the front door.” Nick shifted uncomfortably, starting to sweat. “He isn’t gonna tell anyone, is he?” Justin laughed. “Nope. I convinced him he was hallucinating Luna the whole time.” “Well that explains the screaming about people.” Luna was growing more and more confused as the conversation ran on. “Why shouldn’t the other primates know of our existence?” “For the tenth time Luna, we’re humans. And if anyone else knew about you, they’d probably call the government and get you experimented on.” Luna gulped at the thought of being experimented on. “We’d prefer that not happen to us.” Nick nodded in agreement. “As do we. But don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe and hidden until your sister Molestia comes and gets you.” Luna suddenly blushed. “Um…her name is Celestia.” Seeing how uncomfortable she was, Nick quickly offered an apology. “It’s ok, you couldn’t have possibly known…” Justin chose this point to jump back in. “And I’d rather have it stay that way. I don’t wanna know what your sister could have possibly done to make others put molest in her name…” Luna simply nodded in agreement. Hoping to find a way to drown the awkward moment he created, Nick started plugging his X-Box in. Justin had gone to make dinner, leaving Luna to gaze in amazement at the strange machine Nick was plugging in. “Is that another magical information box?” Nick chuckled at her curiosity. “Of a sorts. This is what we call a game console. There are several types, and this one is known as an X-Box.” “Pray, tell us more about this…X-Box.” ----------------------------------------------15 minutes later---------------------------------------------------------------------- Justin brought that night’s dinner, fettuccine alfredo, into the sounds of gunshots and arguing. “HOW DO YOU KEEP BEATING ME?!? I just showed you how to play this like, ten minutes ago!” Luna started laughing, and Justin joined in soon after, causing Nick to glare at him. “Maybe we were just meant to play this “Call of Duty”. By the way, headshot.” “OH COME ON!” By this point, Justin was on the ground, laughing his head off. When he finally calmed down enough to stand, he walked over and pulled the controllers out of the sparring human and equine’s hands/hooves, pausing the game. “What the heck man?!” “We demand that you return your princesses controller at once!” Justin simply laughed and put the controllers into his sweatshirt pockets. “Sorry to disturb, sir and ma’am, but your continuing efforts in the war must be put on hiatus. It’s chow time, and you won’t even get to look at these controllers again until you’re both done. You can get back to virtually blowing to smithereens later. Until then, eat. That is a direct order.” Nick yelled back: “Since when were you our superior officer?” “Yeah!” “Since I’m the one who paid the most money for this dorm and you were shoved through my computer. Now eat.” Nick and Luna grumbled their compliance and sat down to eat. Luna complemented on how good the food was while Nick told her that her beginner’s luck was at an end. Justin rolled his eyes as the two continued to yell threats at the other. Seeing that they were finished, Justin got an idea. “Ok you two, here’s the deal. There’s going to be one last match, you two versus me. If I win, you call a cease-fire and have to clean the mess you made in the kitchen. Plus the dishes and whatever else I spilt. If you win, I’ll do the cleaning and pay for take-out for the next two weeks.” Nick and Luna looked at each other and smiled. “Deal!” -----------------------------------------------------30 minutes later---------------------------------------------------------------- “How?!?” “I had plenty of time to practice while you hogged the computer. Now, both of you get your butts in there and clean!” “-Sigh-Fine. A deal’s a deal bro. I’m gonna go get started.” Luna just sat on the couch and continued to stare at the television. “You too, princess.” “You must show us how you did that…” “Only if you promise to humiliate Nick every time you play.” “Deal!” Author's Note Sorry it took so long! Again, welcoming all criticism Chapter Three--Luna PoV-- “Ok, we’re off to class. There’s food for you in the fridge, and you can use the X-Box if you want. If you do use it, keep the noise down. We don’t want anyone getting suspicious. I guess if you get really bored, you can get on the computer, log into Nick’s account and play some games. His password is taco.” “Why my account? Why can’t she use yours?” “Because I have too many important papers on mine. I’m not saying she will, but I don’t want her to do something that might wipe all my files.” I sat there silently as Justin and Nick gave me my instructions. This was going to be the first time they were leaving me here alone, and I didn’t want to blow it. They trusted me enough to be alone here, and I would prove myself worthy. “Fine, but don’t go into the folder that says ‘Stress relief’.” I tilted my head in confusion. “Why shouldn’t we?” “Because, there are things in that folder not meant for mortal eyes.” “But I’m immortal.” “Because there are things in that folder not meant for eyes not belonging to me.” Justin nodded his head in agreement. “Believe me, I know. I looked inside of it once, and I wish I didn’t.” “What is inside of it that could be considered bad?” Justin shuddered. “Just remember this Luna: what has been seen cannot be unseen.” “But what does that-“ “Cannot be unseen!” I jumped back from his interruption, but nodded my head all the same while stifling a laugh at the look on his face. ‘It reminds me of that internet face they showed me. What was it called? The “no” face? Or was it “No me Gusta?” Eh, I’ll think of it later.’ “Alright, we won’t go into it.” “We? There are more of you?” I groaned in aggravation. “I, I won’t go into it.” “That’s better. I enjoy modern English much more than Shakespearian. Alright, we’ve wasted enough time. See you this evening.” And with that, they left. I looked around, thinking about what I wanted to do first. ‘Well, they said I could use the X-Box, and I do need to get better at Call of Duty. I can beat Nick now, but I need to be able to DESTROY him. That and I at least need to be able to kill Justin at least once. That human has gone 17 rounds strait without dying. I hate that smug look he always has on his face when he wins. Just ONCE I’d like to see him stare at the screen in disbelief as his character falls dead…that is a rather dark thought. Perhaps Call of Duty can wait.’ Luna walked over to the computer and selected Nick’s profile. ‘What did Justin say the password was? Burrito? Let’s try that…nope, not it. Taco! That’s what it was! I can’t believe I thought it was burrito…’ She logged on and immediately got onto Google to look up gaming websites. ‘They said I could play flash games, but I am not allowed to download anything without their permission. It’s amazing how good I have gotten with these devices in the two days I have been here…hold on, what’s this? It appears that Nick left something open when he got off last. Mayhap he didn’t have time to close it when Justin kicked him off…again. He spends way too much time on here. Now what did he leave open…it doesn’t appear to be from the folder I was told not to enter. Oh, it is a paper on our night sky! But it isn’t finished…I should finish it for him! After all, none knows more about the night sky than the one who controls it!' --Nick’s PoV-- ‘Where is that paper?!? I thought I put it into my bag before I left this morning…wait, I left it up on the computer! Man…did I even finish it? I think I did…what? Oh thank god. I can turn it in after class. I’ll just swing by the dorm, check on Luna, print my paper, and come back. I hope she didn’t touch it… --Justin PoV-- I was sitting in my programming class when I felt a weird chill creep down my spine. I looked around the room for anything strange. I quickly dismissed the feeling and went back to my computer work. The feeling charged down my spine again and I stopped again. ‘Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna have a huge fight or something to sort out when I get home?’ --Luna PoV-- “And almost there…done! We finally finished Nick’s paper for him! And it is a great paper at that, we may add.” I smiled to myself as Nick’s paper printed out. Just as I had finished putting it into his binder, which he also forgot, he burst through the door. “Nick? What are you do-“ “No time! Have you seen my paper? The one on star movements?” I once again smiled to myself as I handed it to him. “Here you go. You left it on the computer, so we printed it out for you.” Nick ran forward, ripping the binder from my hoof as he ran back out. “Thanks, Luna! You’re a lifesaver!” I chuckled as he closed the door and walked back into the living area. ‘Maybe now I’ll practice some Call of Duty’ --Nick’s PoV-- Ten minutes later “What do you mean no credit?!” “You treated this paper like a joke. I’ve dealt with some BS reports in my time here, but yours was the worst. I mean, a magical pony is the reason the stars move?” I looked at him with the most confused look I’ve ever had. “I didn’t write that!” “Well that’s what’s here. How about a deal? I’ll let you retry it, if you actually decide to take it seriously.” “Thanks professor. And don’t worry, I’m gonna have a talk with the person who messed with this.” ‘Somepony has a few things to explain when I get back…’ --Justin’s PoV-- As I opened the door to the dorm, I was greeted with screaming, crashing sounds, and flying pillows. I walked into the living area and saw that it had become a warzone. Nick sat in a fort composed of what used to be the couch. Luna had claimed the hallway and constructed a gate made of books. Throwing my bag down, I walked over to each fort and grabbed their respective owners by the ears. I fixed the couch and placed the two generals on opposite ends. “Does either of you children want to explain to me what on God’s green Earth happened here?” Nick decided to speak up first. “Luna messed up my paper.” “Nick didn’t thank me for finishing it for him!” ‘Dear sweet baby Jesus, how did I get stuck with these two?’ Reading over the paper, I saw why Nick was upset. “Dude, I see why you’re upset, but just rewrite the paper. And you should still thank Luna.” “Why?” “Because she actually finished it for you. She didn’t have to, but she did. And Luna, you just have to remember that things work differently here. Next time, look it up on Google.” After they apologized, I heard a puff above me and a scroll hit my head. Luna gasped as I turned it over to reveal what Luna had told us was the royal seal of Princess Celestia. Author's Note Here's the next one! Enjoy. Also, whoever guesses what's in the "Stress Relief" folder gets a moustache and one of their ideas put into the story! Also, if you thumbs down, tell me why Chapter FourDear Luna, It very much pleases me to tell you that we have finally found where you are and how to bring you home. We have all missed you very much, and I never was as good at the night sky as you are. I’ll be there roughly five hours after you receive this letter. And please do not try to bring anything back here from the human world. I know how curious you get. I won’t be able to return it, for the spell to travel there only works once. Take the time before I arrive to say goodbye to the two who are taking care of you. I’ll be there soon. Your loving sister, Princess Celestia Nick and Justin sat silent as Luna read the letter out loud. She had begun bouncing around the room happily while they looked at each other and sighed. They were happy for her, but were also upset that she would be leaving. Luna seemed to have the same feeling creep up on her as she gradually stopped bouncing. She looked at her friends with suddenly sad eyes. “I don’t know…” Justin looked up from the floor and tilted his head. “What don’t you know?” “If I really want to go back.” Justin’s mouth dropped as Nick snapped his head in her direction. Looking down at the floor, she continued. “It isn’t that I don’t miss Equestria, I really do, it’s just…I don’t want to leave you two. Nick and Justin looked at each other once more. Justin looked back and asked “Us? Why would we have anything to do with you not wanting to go back? I mean, look at us.” Luna looked back up at him. “Because you two are the only real friends I have. Tia acts friendly towards us, but that’s because she is our sister. Almost all the other ponies in Equestria fear us because of the whole Nightmare Moon occurrence. Nick nodded his head. Luna had told both of them about the incident, and they had tried helping her get over it. Then Nick got confused. “We’re your only friends?” Luna nodded. “But what about Twilight? Or maybe someone in your guard? Surely they’re your friends.” This time, she shook her head. “Even those in our guard fear us,” she explained. “And Twilight is a friend, but she is different. She tries to update my image, and she’ll do what she can for me, but she isn’t as close to me as you guys. I cannot open up to her as I can with you. There are things I have told you that even Celestia doesn’t know about me. You are the closest friends I have had in thousands of years, and when I go home, you’ll be gone.” After a few moments of awkward silence, she looked back down to the floor. Justin was the one to break the silence. “Luna, look at me.” Her head drifted up slowly until she made eye contact. “Yes, it is true that we won’t be able to see you anymore.” Luna looked back down. “But, that isn’t a good reason to consider abandoning your duties back home. They need you there, Luna. More than you might think. And I know you’ll be able to make more friends. Start small though, like just getting out a little more. And if you do, don’t make some huge entrance like you said you did on Nightmare Night.” Luna smiled sheepishly at that. “There’s the Luna we know. Now, we only have a few more hours until your sister comes, so let’s quit moping and do something.” After a few moments of thinking, Nick and Luna looked devilishly at each other. Justin sighed. “Call of Duty?” They looked back at him and, perfectly in synch, replied: “Call of Duty.” Luna’s PoV ‘I’m going to miss this so much when I go home. DIE NICK! Too bad I cannot come back to visit, sister said the spell only works once…wait. Only works once? I might be able to work with that. Nick did say that both he and Justin discussed how cool it would be for them to live in Equestria. HOW DID I DIE AGAIN?!? DID JUSTIN START HIDING IN BUSHES?!? But how would I go about it? It would have to be done fast and look seemingly innocent. I would also have to do it at the last second. Tia was never very good at preventing last second surprises…huh? Justin’s character is just standing there. What is he…oh? He-he’s going to let me kill him! I don’t believe it! Well, he does think I’ll never get the chance to do it anymore…perhaps I won’t tell them about my plan. It will be my surprise to them. I hope magical travel won’t make them sick…’ Four and a half hours later General PoV After hours and hours of playing, the trio finally agreed to turn the X-Box off and simply talk until Celestia arrived. Luna had given Nick and Justin advice on what to do when her sister arrived. Bow, maintain eye contact, and always use her title when addressing her. Little things like that. Luna had decided not to tell her friends about her plan in case Celestia decided to read their minds. Apparently, she does that a lot. Nick and Justin were in the middle of explaining the purpose of thumbs to Luna (they still fascinated her and she never grew tired of hearing about them) when a low buzzing sound filled the air. They stopped talking and looked around. Luna looked confused. “What is it?” At this point, the low buzzing grew into a small sizzling sound. Nick looked at Justin with a worried look and asked “You don’t think…” “Yes I do.” Luna was now beyond confused. “What? What do you think?” Before either could answer, a small, expanding ball of white light appeared in the center of the room. As Nick started to dive behind the couch, the ball exploded, the shockwave sending both humans flying. When the light finally faded, Luna gasped as a slightly taller white alicorn was revealed. As Luna ran up to hug her, Nick and Justin finally stood up. Nick looked around and said in a whiny tone “Can nobody cross over from one dimension into ours without turning our dorm into a disaster area?” Luna laughed as Justin fell over again before standing up. Looking at the other huge pony in the room, he asked “So this is your sister then?” Luna nodded happily. “Well then, allow me to welcome you to Earth, Princess Celestia. I am Justin, and this is my friend Nick. It’s an honor to finally meet you.” Both of them bowed after Justin finished. Celestia looked at them both and said “Please, there is no need for that here. If anything, I am honored to meet you. You took care of my sister and befriended her. And for that, I thank you. Now Luna, are you ready to go? All you have to do is grab my hoof and we’ll be off.” Luna looked at her friends sadly. “Can I at least give them a hug first?” “Alright, but hurry.” She beckoned the two humans over and embraced them in a tight hug. She then let go and grabbed Celestia’s hoof. Their bodies were outlined in a bright white glow when Luna suddenly grabbed her friends and said “Well maybe just one more.” Celestia was about to say something, but it was too late. The spell and been cast, causing the world to turn white. Luna’s PoV As my vision came back, I released my death grip on my friends. I turned to look at Celestia, and as I had thought, her face was red with anger. “What’s wrong sister?” “You know very well you should not have done that Luna. Now I can’t send them home! What would possibly possess you to-.“ Her rant was interrupted by two sets of groaning. The Princesses turned to look at the humans, who were currently looking around them in wonder. Looking at Luna, Justin asked “Did you plan this?” She sheepishly nodded. Both men then surprised her by giving her a huge hug at the same time. As they let go, they were bowled over by a cyan blur with a rainbow trail. Luna and Celestia looked to see both of them tied up with an angry looking Rainbow Dash glaring at them. The other elements followed soon after. Luna watched as Twilight looked at her mentor and asked: “What are those?” [A/N]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's the next one! Comment, criticize, you know the drill. Don't forget to favorite either! Celestia?!? How did you get here? I'm a princess, I do what I want. But- No buts! Now get back there and start writing the next chapter. I didn't get enough screen time. But... Go! Yes ma'am! See you guys later! Chapter Five“What are those things?” Nick and Justin looked at each other in confusion. They had been gagged, and therefore couldn’t talk while Luna facehoofed as Twilight bombarded her sister with questions. Nick and Justin had barely been in Equestria for five minutes and they had already been tied up by the Elements of Harmony. She looked over at Celestia and motioned for her to explain. Nodding, she complied. Or, tried to. “Twilight-“ “I mean, they look like monkeys, but don’t have as much fur! Instead, they’re wearing those clothes. Why do they do that? And why were they attacking Luna?” “They weren’t, they were-“ “And how did they even get here? Did they kidnap Luna? If so, why aren’t they-“ “TWILIGHT!” All the gathered ponies jumped up in shock, for neither Celestia nor Luna had spoken. Looking over, they noticed that Justin had slipped the rag he was gagged with out of his mouth. “You know, if you untie us, we can answer some of those questions ourselves.” The Elements gaped at him in shock. Twilight finally spoke up. “Y-you can talk?!? How is that even possible?!” Justin shot her a deadpan look and then glanced at Luna. “I’m not sure if we should feel insulted, or what.” Luna giggled. “Don’t take offence to it; they act like this all the time. Rainbow, could you and Applejack please untie my friends? They look slightly uncomfortable.” “Huh?!?” “Untie yer what?” “My friends. Like I said, they look slightly uncomfortable.” “’Slightly uncomfortable’. Always the kidder, aren’t we?” Luna giggled again as her friends stood up, rubbing their wrists. “I got it from you two, so blame yourselves.” Nick laughed, happy that his gag was gone. “Yeah, I suppose you did.” The three of them laughed while Twilight and her friends looked on, mouths still gaping. Luna looked at the six of them. “I suppose I should introduce you all.” Everyone nodded. “Alright, here we go. Subjects, these are my good friends Nick and Justin. Guys, this is Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity.” She pointed to each pony as she relayed their names. Justin nodded at each one before turning to Luna. “Well, at least we know they’re a loyal bunch.” Luna looked at him quizzically. “Well why else would they tackle us and tie us up to protect you?” He asked while shrugging. The trio turned back to them, and Nick spoke again. “So, anybody here have a question?” They all looked at him confused, and Luna whispered something into his ear. “Uh, ok. Does anypony have a question or two?” Pinkie Pie zoomed up until her nose was touching Nick’s. “Doyouguyslikeparties?BecauseIalwaysthrowpartiesforeveryponyinPonyvillewhentheyfirstshowupandIlovethrowingpartiesandwanttothrowoneforyoutwobutneedtoknowifyoulikethemfirstbecauseIhatemakingponiessadorupsetbutthenIthrowanotherpartyandit’sallbetter!” Nick looked at Justin with a look of mass confusion to get an answer while Luna rolled on the ground laughing. The others simply facehoofed. “She said what now?” Justin shrugged. “I don’t know, but I did hear the word party. And you know we’re always up for a party.” Pinkie jumped up in the air. “GREAT!!!” she screamed before vanishing in a cloud of dust. Both humans looked at Luna with faces like ‘what was that?’ She only said “It’s Pinkie Pie. I learned from her friends that the less you think about it, the less your head hurts.” The others all nodded in agreement. Celestia spoke next. “Well, it’s getting dark out, and you two need a place to stay.” Justin looked confused. “I thought we were going with you guys?” “You can’t; your presence would cause mass panic and some slight confusion among the nobles in Canterlot. No offence.” “None taken.” “I was hoping one of the girls would take you in, seeing as how they wanted to meet you at first.” “Then why’d they tackle us?” “Shock, I guess. You should probably ask later. Anyway, one of them is going to take you in” It was about a minute before Fluttershy stepped forward. “I could, um, take one of them…that is, if they don’t mind…” Applejack stepped up next. “Ah could take one. We’ve probly got sum room up in the barn. Maybe the house if Granny Smith cleared out the guest room.” Twilight practically jumped at the humans. “I’m sure you could spend your time at my house! I have so many more questions to ask, ooh, maybe even an experiment or two…” Both their eyes got wide at the word ‘experiments’. Nick made his decision first. “No offence to any…pony…else, but I’d feel better with Fluttershy. She seems to be the quietest one here.” Fluttershy blushed at his comment and nodded her head. Justin simply stared at the other two. “Oh, um, great! I should probably get you to my cottage then. There are some things you need to know about my animal friends. Um, if that’s ok…” Nick nodded his head. “Sure thing Flutters, lead the way.” With what sounded like a small ‘squee’, they started walking to a cottage in the distance. Justin continued to stare at the other two ponies offering him living quarters. Luna nudged him. “You need to decide.” Justin shook his head, clearing it of whatever random thought had strayed into it. “Oh, um, right. I guess I’ll go with-“ He was interrupted by the sound of an old wooden cart. Looking to his left, he saw a large red stallion with a slightly annoyed face pulling a cart with a bouncing little filly in it. Applejack looked at him with a confused expression. “Applebloom? Big Mac? What’re you doin’ here?” She looked back at Justin and explained. “They’re mah siblings. Now what’re yall doin’ here?” Big Mac didn’t answer. He simply grabbed the back of Justin’s shirt and flung him backwards into the cart. Justin was slightly off put by the smiling filly who now sat her face less than an inch from his. Big Mac kept walking as Applejack called to him. “So ah guess we’re takin’ ‘im?” “Eeyup.” “May ah ask how yall decided on that?” “Applebloom.” Applejack looked at her sister, now lying on Justin’s head while he sat there still in shock from being thrown. She continued to mumble “Maybe I shouldn’t have told her about him…” Sighing, she started heading down the road after them. Luna could barely contain her laughter at what happened next. “Ok Applebloom, he’s comin’ with us. But he smells, so before he comes inside for supper, yur gonna help Big Mac and ah bathe him.” “Ok AJ!” Realization finally crept into Justin’s confused state of mind. “YOU’RE GONNA DO WHAT?!?” A/N--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here you go bronies and pegasisters, chapter five. Hope you enjoy! Like, comment, fave, you know the drill. That's a little better. But why so many interruptions? Hey, it's your student. You're right, I should probably- Hey guys! Pinkie? Great. Two fourth wall breaking ponies. I'm stopping this now before you blow up my computer. Ooh, like Luna? Is there gonna be that same boom and everything? And what about that party? That's coming up, right? ...Goodbye Chapter SixJustin’s PoV “Nononononononononono, you are NOT giving me a bath!” “Ah’m sorry sugercube, but yall are gonna have ta get a bath before we let cha in the house. Ah don’t mean ta be rude, but yall are riper than a rotten apple!” “You still don’t need to give it to me! I can do it on my own!” “But how’ll ah know you did it right?” I groaned in aggravation. I’d been arguing with Applejack for a good ten minutes about this bath problem, and it kept going in the same loop. Nick and Fluttershy had joined back up with us since she apparently had some animal or something to see to. Nick had jumped into the cart with me, but I’m not sure if Big Mac noticed (seriously, I can’t read that man- err, pony’s face to save my life). Nick kept laughing at my situation before I turned to him. “So why isn’t Fluttershy giving you a bath?” He shrugged. “Told her that I could do it on my own. Also mentioned that it was very inappropriate. She seemed to have gotten the message.” “Well you gotta help me out here.” “Why? I’m interested to see where this goes.” “Because if you don’t help me, there’s gonna be applesauce, dirt, a broken barn door, a lead pipe, and probably a trip to the hospital.” “What is this, CLUE?” “It will be if you don’t help me outta this.” “Ok, ok, hold on.” He turned to the side of the cart where Fluttershy and Applejack were having a side conversation. “Hey, Applejack?” “Yeah sugercube?” “You really don’t want to give him a bath.” “Yes ah do! Ah have ta to make sure he cleans himself up proper.” “Well, it’d be extremely uncomfortable.” “Why’s that?” “Well, the only times a human is ever bathed by another human is when they’re too small to do it themselves, or they’re with their special somebody. And I don’t really think Justin likes you like that.” Applejack stopped to think before blushing furiously. A loud slap could be heard as I epically face palmed myself in the background. Fluttershy started blushing too; hiding behind her mane, and Big Mac simply chuckled. Applebloom had been strangely quiet on the journey, and it was starting to worry me. I looked back at Nick and deadpanned. “Did you really just go there?” He started laughing again. “Yeah, but I think you can take your own bath now.” Applejack nodded furiously. “Eeyup, yall can bathe on yur own, we won’t be helpin’.” I nodded in acknowledgement. “Thanks for understanding, Applejack.” “Don’t worry about it. And yall can call me AJ if ya want.” “Alright, will do.” We sat for the next five minutes or so in relative silence. It was quite comfortable, and I had thought it would stay that way. I discovered how wrong I was when Applebloom brought up a subject Nick and I had always tended to avoid. “So, did yall have a special somepony back on your planet?” I looked at Nick as he shifted about uncomfortably. “Well, uh, you see-“ Applejack spoke up next. “Ah’ve been wondering too. Luna told us about how nice you fellas were, and that she was surprised that you never had any mares over.” “I was wondering if you could tell me too…if that’s ok with you guys that is…” I sighed and looked at Nick. He nodded for me to continue. “Well, first of all, our females aren’t called mares, they’re women. Second…we never had any.” Fluttershy gasped. “B-but, why not? You two seem so nice…” “Well that’s the thing. We are nice, but we aren’t what is considered to be attractive where we come from.” “Does that matter?” “More than one would think. The majority of women we came across only wanted fit, athletic jerks, not smart, average looking gentlemen. But it didn’t really matter; we had given up on that stuff before Luna showed up.” “But why? Everypony deserves somepony, and you shouldn’t give up just because of a few bad females.” “Fluttershy, you don’t know what some of those girls did to us. I mean, the rejections, the stand-ups, the dissing, we could deal with that. It was the last two girls we tried dating that did it for us.” “What did they do, if it’s ok to ask…” “Well, when Nick was a sophomore in college, so about last year, he went on a date with this really hot cheerleader. After a typical date of dinner and a movie, she told him she wanted to go to her house for some ‘special fun’. They get there; she gets his clothes off, and then opens her door to reveal several of her friends and about half the basketball team, all laughing at him. He ran back to our dorm naked and covered in food that they threw at him. He eventually convinced me to not take my gun over and shoot them all.” Fluttershy looked at him with tears in her eyes. “N-nick…I-I’m s-so sorry…” He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault. Besides, I got over it. She sniffled while nodding before turning to me. “W-what about you?” My face darkened and I looked down at the wooden planks making up the cart floor. Noticing my face, she immediately apologized. “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to! I was just curious…” “It’s ok, Flutters…” Nick’s PoV I saw Justin’s face darken as the memory came back. I put my hand on his shoulder and said “I know you don’t like talking about it, but do you mind if I tell them?” I could just barely make out the words “Go ahead…” while he nodded slightly. “Alright. This happened about four years ago, in high school. He had his eye on this one really cute girl, but I always thought she was trouble. She was always hanging around with the jocks in school, flirting with each and every one of them. I thought she was a whore. And the guys she hung out around the most hated our guts. We never found out why, they just did. Always trying to pick fights with us, spreading rumors, and those sorts of things. One time though, Justin got sick of it. They had destroyed his computer and vandalized his car, so he finally decided to get back. He snuck into the weight room and loosened the bolts on all the weight benches. Well, they found out it was him, and swore they would pay him back. Around that time, word of his crush got to them. So, they persuaded her to take him out on a date, had her treat him really nice, and then had her lead him into a back ally. They were waiting for him, and jumped him with whatever they had. One guy had a tire iron, a tool we used to fix our cars. This girl, who everyone thought was so nice and couldn’t hurt a fly, sat there and laughed, saying he deserved it for ever thinking he had a shot with her. The weight bench thing never even needed to happen; she apparently planned on doing it to him later anyway.” Everyone present was crying, including me. Fluttershy kept sobbing as I continued. “I remember hearing on the news that he had been mugged and sent to the hospital. I visited the next day and saw him covered in bandages. He was lucky to be alive; the doctor said he had internal bleeding and a destroyed kidney. They ended up removing it, and he woke up that day. He told us everything that happened, and all those guys got arrested.” I jumped slightly as Justin spoke up again. “All except that girl. She didn’t touch me, so nothing happened to her. But, it doesn’t matter. I got over it, and moved on in life. However, those two girls did make us swear off women.” I nodded. “Yeah.” Even though I was so emotional at the time, I found AJ’s next comment hilarious. “So does that mean yall are gay?” As was Justin’s reaction. “NO! WTF AJ?!?” A/N--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, here it is, chapter six. Comment, thumb, favorite, and if you have any ideas or concerns, please do not hesitate to tell me. Oh, and no Celestia or Pinkie this time. Pinkie's planning her party and I gave Celly some cake. Maybe next time. Chapter Seven“Ok, ok, ah get it, yall aren’t gay. Can we change the subject now?” “To what?” “I know: are we there yet?” Applejack sighed. She noticed that the two humans sometimes acted like giant children, and she was letting one stay with her. As she was about to tell them to quiet down, Fluttershy spoke up. “Oh look, more ponies! We could take you over and introduce you! If that’s ok…” Nick chuckled at her shyness. “Sure thing Flutters. What do you think bro?” Justin nodded his head in agreement. “Sounds like a plan. But which one? There are quite a few out right now.” “What about that one?” “The mint green one? Ok.” They jumped out of the cart, despite Applejack’s warnings, and walked over to the now staring mare. Justin stuck out his hand and said “Hi, I’m Justin, and this is my friend Nick. You are?” The mare stared at his hand for a few seconds with her mouth hanging open before running off screaming “HUMMANNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!” at the top of her lungs. Nick and Justin simply stared after her before looking at each other. Justin then turned to the others and asked “Was it something I said?” Applejack sighed again. “T’wasn’t you sugercube, Lyra’s just always been fascinated by humans. Which, until now, we never thought existed.” The two ex-college students nodded in understanding as one of the other ponies in the crowd walked up. She was a cream colored pony, with curly hair colored both pink and navy blue and three candies as a cutie mark. She looked back and forth between the two before finally speaking. “So are you two really humans?” They both nodded while several ponies in the crowd started groaning and handing money over to others. The cream colored mare spoke again. “Well, my name’s Bonbon, and the pony that ran past you is my roommate Lyra. I’m just gonna warn you now, she’s probably going to be following you around for the next few days to ‘gather information’. Now I’d better go home before she gets her nets out again…” Bonbon then walked away shaking her head while the group started moving again. After Nick and Justin got back into the cart, she asked “If yall plan on going anywhere the next few days, can ya promise me ya won’t go without somepony?” Nick looked confused. “Why?” “Because, Lyra’s been known to do some…drastic things. Just promise me yall won’t go alone.” “Ok AJ, we won’t.” “Thank you.” By this time, Applebloom was all happy and excited again, bouncing around in her seat. “Oh, ah just can’t wait ta show you to Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo tonight! They’re gonna be so surprised! After that, we can take you out and have you try to help us get our cutie marks, and-“ She was cut off by Applejack. “Applebloom, what’re yall talkin’ about?” “Remember AJ? We’re having the Cutie Mark Crusader’s sleepover at our house!” Applejack put her hoof to her chin in thought. “Oh, now ah remember.” She turned to Justin. “Ah’m gonna apologize now for whatever they might do tonight while you try to settle in.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it AJ, I can handle whatever these little fillies throw at me!” He fist bumped Nick, not noticing AJ’s comment of “Ah certainly hope so…” Then, Nick turned to Fluttershy. “So Flutters, where is this animal we need to help before heading to your place?” She looked up, surprised at the sudden question. “Oh, um, we are going just a little ways past Sweet Apple Acres to help my friend Mr. Beaverton fix his dam. I hope that’s ok…” Nick laughed. “Of course it’s ok, Fluttershy, you don’t need to keep apologizing.” “Sorry…” “Don’t be. So we’re gonna help fix his dam? What happened?” “Well, we had a really bad storm a couple of days ago, and he forgot to patch up a hole near the bottom. The river flooded and took most of the dam away…” “Wow…I hope he’s ok.” “Oh he is, he’s been staying at my house until it gets fixed.” “I see.” At this time, Big Mac finally spoke up. “We’re here. Yall best be goin’ Fluttershy, it’ll be dark soon. You too Nick.” Nick jumped out of the cart and landed near Fluttershy. “Thanks Mac. And Justin, good luck with the little girl sleepover thingy majigger.” Justin nodded. “Same to you and your…dam problem.” Nick suppressed a laugh as he continued. “Eeyup, I hope you get that dam thing done real quick like.” Failing to keep it in any longer, Nick fell down onto the dirt road laughing. Justin soon joined him after trying to exit the cart. Applebloom looked confused. “Ah don’t get it.” Justin stood up and patted her head. “That’s alright, AB, it’s just us being goofy.” She grinned and hopped from the cart onto Justin's head. “Alrighty then. Hey, there’s Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo! Come on Justin, let’s go and introduce ya!” Chuckling, Justin started walking towards the frantically waving fillies. “Alright, alright, calm your waters, I’m going. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok Nick?” Nick nodded. “Yup. Maybe then we’ll go into town and see Twilight about sending a letter to Luna so she can visit.” “Sounds like a plan.” Applebloom spoke up again. “What’re yall gonna do after that?” Nick and Justin looked at each other before turning back to her and, at the same time, simply state: “Shenanigans.” “She-what-igans?” “Shenanigans. Now I thought you were introducing me to your friends?” “Oh yeah! Come on!” She started running off with Justin following. He yelled back a final “Later, bro!” before turning to catch up with the energetic little filly. Fluttershy pulled on Nick’s sleeve and started floating down the road. “We should go, too. Mr. Beaverton will be waiting for us.” He nodded and turned to follow. “Alright Flutters, lead the way. Bye AJ, see-ya Big Mac.” “Eeyup.” “See you tomorrow sugercube.” And with that, they all turned to leave. Nick and Fluttershy to help the beaver, Applejack and Big Macintosh to make sure their sibling and her friends didn’t put Justin in the hospital with their antics. Nobody noticed the pair of golden eyes within the bush behind them. Nor did they notice the mint green unicorn step out of it and start walking back to town. “A day on the town tomorrow, huh? Time to prepare my…special surprises. Good thing Bonny doesn’t know where all my nets are…" Author's Note Here's the next one. And no fourth wall breaking today either, Pinkie's still planning and I gave Celestia a TON of cake. Literally. Anyways, like, comment, fave, the usual stuff Chapter EightNick’s PoV “So Fluttershy, that’s your cottage?” “Yes it is. It’s not too small, is it? I’m sorry if it is…” “Flutters, it’s fine. You don’t need to keep apologizing to me.” “Sorry…” I chuckled as Fluttershy led me up to her cottage. Helping the beaver fix his dam had gone well; he had his home back and I only fell into the river twice. The remainder of the walk back consisted mostly of apologies from Fluttershy and polite chuckling from me. My mind wandered back to Justin and the three energetic fillies we had left him with. “So, those Cutie Mark Crusaders …do they cause much trouble?” Fluttershy picked her head up and moved to unlock her door. “Hmm? Oh, yes, quite often. But nopony gets hurt! And it’s not like they ever mean to get into trouble, it just always seems to find them. Trouble and tree sap.” “Tree sap?” “They tend to do their crusading outside for the most part.” “I see, I see.” “Well, here we are. I hope you don’t mind, but I told my animal friends about you, and they might be a bit curious.” “Don’t worry about it Flutters, I’ve always liked animals. As long as they don’t start scratching, we should be fine.” “Ok, here we go.” She opened the door to her home and cheerfully trotted inside. I followed closely behind her, peering into each corner of the house for the previously mentioned animals. I could tell she had them; there were many birdhouses and other dwellings all over the place. I decided to voice my confusion to Fluttershy. “Flutters? Where are your animals?” “I’m not entirely sure. Although, it is late, so Angel might have sent them to bed already.” “Angel? Who’s that?” “Oh, Angel’s my pet bunny rabbit. He can be a bit stubborn at times, but he really is a good pet.” “Sounds like a hand-full. Um, I mean, hoof-full.” “Oh he can be. At those times, all he needs is a good talking to. But what about you or Justin? Did you ever have a pet?” “When we were little. Our campus didn’t allow pets, so we didn’t get any more after we moved out of our homes.” Fluttershy’s face fell a bit upon hearing that last bit. After a few moments of thinking, she perked up again. “W-would you like one?” I pondered this for a moment, thinking about how life would change for me and Justin with the addition of a pet. Well, how much MORE anyways. I mean, we’re in a world of magical ponies. Doesn’t change much more than that. “You know what? Why not. I’d love one, and Justin’s been wanting to move out of the dorms so we could get a pet. So yes, after we get our own place, we’ll come to you for a pet.” “Oh, yay! I have so many wonderful choices for you guys to pick from, there are bunnies and kittens and birds and bats and dogs and goats and-“ “Fluttershy, we don’t even have our own house yet. And I still need to talk to Justin about it.” “O-oh. I’m sorry. I just get so excited about finding ponies, or in this case people, the perfect pet. I just love seeing my animal friends happy.” I chuckled again. ‘So friggen adorable.’ “Don’t worry about it Flutters. So, where am I gonna be sleeping?” She motioned to a door near what I assumed was her bedroom before saying “I have a guest bedroom for you to stay in right here.” *YAWN* “I’m sorry, I’m a little tired. It is late, and I need to tend to my animals tomorrow. You should get to sleep, too. Don’t you and Justin plan on going to Twilight’s?” I sat myself down on the bed she was letting me use before answering. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. We need to go so we can set up some visits with Luna. Yeah, sleep sounds really good right now.” Fluttershy smiled largely at me. “All right then, I’ll leave you to it. And don’t forget your promise; go with somepony or somebody else when you go into town. You never know what Lyra’s going to do.” “Don’t worry Flutters, I won’t. Goodnight.” “Goodnight.” A/N********************************************************************************************************************************* I apologize for the short(er) chapter. This one and the next are simply Nick and Justin settling in Chapter NineJustin's PoV I could hear Applejack's voice as Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and I trudged up to the farmhouse. The girls and I had tried to find their "cutie marks" by trying to train some animals, but we had somehow ended up covered in tree sap. I mean seriously, there weren't even any trees around! But lo and behold, there we were. Covered from head to toe. I could even feel it in my underwear... 'This is gonna be a pain to get out. And Applejack is probably gonna be ticked.' And how right I was. "Where have yall been?!? Do yall have any idea how worried ah was about you?" 'Oh yeah, definitely ticked.' "Uh, we were, um, training some animals and-" "And got yerselves covered in tree sap. Again." I raised my eyebrows up in surprise as I looked over at Applebloom. "Again?" She looked down and blushed. "Ya, that tends to happen to us a lot." Applejack sighed while I once again epically facepalmed in the back. "Seriously? Seriously. Are you being serious?" "Yep. They're bein' one hundred percent honest. Now yall need to git yerselves into the bath before yall eat dinner and git to bed. Ah doubt Granny Smith wants to be scrubbin' tree sap out of yer sheets or wiping dirt off of the floor." Upon hearing this, I decided to act. Looking back on my school days, I realized that I had never run so fast in all my life. I could almost feel a sonic boom emanate from behind me as I dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. As I locked the door, I could hear Applejack call out. "What in tarnation was that all about?!" Putting a chair up against the door (I don't know why they had a chair in there, but I'm glad they did), I called back: "You are NOT watching me take a bath!" "Ah wasn't going to!" "I can't be too sure." And with that, I leisurely stepped into the tub to enjoy my bath. ----------------------------------------------Two hours later--------------------------------------------------------------- I stretched my arms out wide as Applejack led me to the guest room. "All right, you'll be stayin' in here. And thank you for helping clean up dinner. You really didn't need to." Chuckling, I shook my head. "No, it's the least I could do. You are taking me in after all, and I'll be helping you out as best as I can, at least until I get my own job and Nick and I get a house." Applejack nodded her head. "Ah understand. Now yall should probably git some sleep. You and Nick plan on goin' to Twilight's tomorrow, right?" I yawned and nodded my head. "That we do. Ok, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." As soon as I had sat down on the bed, a loud crash reverberated throughout the house. Applejack snapped her head around in shock. “What the blazes was that?!?” I leapt from the bed and ran out the door. “I don’t know, but I hope the girls didn’t get hurt.” Running to Applebloom’s room, I virtually kicked the door down to see what happened. What greeted my vision were Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo sitting around a broken cuckoo clock. Sweetie Bell looked up at us and smiled sheepishly. “We, um, couldn’t sleep. We tried to tire ourselves out, but things got, uh, out of hand.” Applejack facehoofed in the doorway while I tried to think of a solution. “How many times have ah told ya Applebloom, when you get sent to bed, ya go to bed!” “Well ah’m sorry, but we can’t sleep!” “Maybe yall should just-“ “I have an idea.” The ponies present looked expectantly at me. “I could sing you a lullaby that my mother used to sing to me.” The girls grinned. “That could work! Ah don’t think we’ve ever heard an alien lullaby before!” “Well, get settled in and I’ll sing it for you.” They all crawled into the strangely large bed as I closed my eyes and started to sing. Click here for the video. “Come out moon Come out wishing star Come out Come out Wherever you are I’m out here in the dark All alone and wide awake Come and find me I’m empty and I’m cold And my heart's about to break Come and find me I need you to come here and find me Cause without you I’m totally lost I've hung a wish on every star It hasn’t done much good so far I can only dream of you Wherever you are I’ll hear you laugh I’ll see you smile I’ll be with you just for a while But when the morning comes And the sun begins to rise I will lose you Because it’s just a dream When I open up my eyes I will lose you I use to believe in forever But forever is too good to be true I've hung a wish on every star It hasn’t done much good so far I don’t know what else to do Except to try to dream of you And wonder if you are dreaming too Wherever you are Wherever you are” I opened my eyes again and saw all three fillies asleep. Turning back to Applejack, I stated “And now I’ll go to bed. Goodnight.” Chapter TenThe next day, at Sugercube Corner… “Thanks for bringing us here, Pinkie.” “No problemo, Nick! So what brings you two into town today?” “We’re just going to Twilight’s so we can send some letters to Luna.” “How come?” “You know, trying to set up visits and such. Right Justin?” “…*SNORE*” “Justin!” “AHHHGH! I’m awake, I swear!” Nick facepalmed. Justin had been drifting in and out of sleep since he showed up at Fluttershy’s to pick him up. Pinkie was sitting behind the counter, seemingly thinking about something. “Dude, are you sure you’re okay? You keep falling asleep on me, and I’m starting to get worried.” “*YAWN* Yeah, I’m fine. Applejack just woke me up early so I could help in the orchard for a bit before I left.” “How early?” Justin scratched his head in thought. “I think it was like, four in the morning.” Nick’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Four in the morning?!?” Justin yawned again. “Yeah. I started complaining, but after five hours of carrying heavy buckets of apples into the barn, you tend to stop.” He yawned once more as Nick turned to Pinkie. “Do you have anything to wake him up? Like some coffee? *YAWN* On second thought, could I have one too?” Pinkie grinned and hopped into the kitchen. “Sure thing! You two just sit right there and your auntie Pinkie will fix everything.” She giggled as she heard Nick ask Justin “Aren’t we older than her?” She continued to go further into the kitchen to start making the coffee. As it was getting ready she started pulling out some additives. Milk, cream, sugar, you know. Then, she suddenly got extremely serious. She looked around her to make sure nobody was looking, and then moved to a locked cabinet. Pulling a key out of her poofy pink mane, she unlocked it and pulled out a container labeled “Pinkie Sugar”. Moving over to the now finished coffee, she- “Hey mister author?” Pinkie! What have I told you about breaking the fourth wall! “That…you’d give me a cupcake if I stopped?” *SIGH* What is it? “How much of this do I give them?” You already know how much. “But they’re humans! Do I have to give them more or less than I had?” You figure it out. And please, keep the fourth wall breaking to a minimum. “Okie dokie loki! You’re the boss Shadow_Fire!” Wonderful. Now get back to the story. “You got it!” Pinkie walked over and poured the coffee into two large mugs. She added three tablespoons of Pinkie Sugar into each, and then walked out into the dining area. Justin and Nick both sleepily looked up as she entered. Nick yawned and asked “Who were you talking to?” She giggled and nonchalantly waved her hoof. “Nopony special, just the author.” Nick and Justin looked at each other in confusion as Pinkie set the coffee in front of them. Before they took a drink, Pinkie said “Now if you guys want it to work, you need to drink it ALL, okay?” They both nodded their heads and drained the cups. After a few seconds, they both perked up. Justin shot up out of his chair. “WOW! What the heck was in that? I’ve never been woken up so quickly in all my life! Well, except maybe this morningwhenApplejackburstintomyroomandyelled”RISEANDSHINE!”andIstartedfreakingoutbecausenopony’severwokenmeuplikethatbefore!Ohman,didIjustsaynopony?Whattheheckisgoingon?” Nick’s jaw dropped as he looked at his friend in disbelief. Looking at Pinkie, he asked “Did you put something in our coffee?” “Why do you ask?” Nick reached behind him and pulled out a small rubber ducky. “Rubber duck.” Pinkie giggled again. “Oh, good. I was starting to think it didn’t work,andthenI’dbealllike’Ohno,Iwastedmyspecialsugar!’butitdidwork,soit’sallgood!” Justin looked over at Nick. “Dude?” “Yeah?” “I actually followed all of that.” “Me too.” Pinkie giggled again. “Well that’s because I gave you my special sugar! It makes you as hyper as I am, with almost no side effects!” “ALMOST none?” “Never mind that! You two have things to do today, so get going!” With that, she shoved them out the door and into the street. Shrugging, they started walking off in the direction they were told where the library was. Unbeknownst to them but knownst to us, a small shrubbery with minty green hooves was following them down the street. Every time they stopped to look at something, a scribbling sound could be heard emanating from it. After a few more minutes of walking, they turned around and stared at it. Nodding to each other, they slowly approached it. Suddenly, two golden eyes appeared within its depths, and the two humans took off running. Turning back to look, they saw Lyra jump out and start running after them, causing them to turn their run into a sprint. And I don’t mean any old sprint; I mean a full out Olympic Kenyan sprint. The one that kicks up an almost cartoonish cloud of dust. Ducking into an ally, they watched Lyra continue to sprint by. Sighing in relief, they started walking again. They didn’t get far before Justin yelled “STOP!” Confused, Nick stopped and looked back at him. “What is it?” Walking forward, he bent down and broke a tripwire, causing a flurry of nets to fly across the ally way. Jaw dropped, Nick asked “How did you see that?” “I don’t know, but I blame that coffee Pinkie gave us. I thought that Bon Bon mare was gonna take all of Lyra’s nets away?” Nick shrugged. “I guess she had more.” Laughing, the two started walking again, only to get trapped in the one net laying in plain sight. As they struggled, they heard hoof steps. Fearing Lyra, they looked over at their “guest”. However, the pony who stepped into view was a unicorn colt they had never seen before. He had a black coat with a shaggy white mane, and sported a small equally white vest. There was a watch on his left wrist, and his cutie mark appeared to be an old time antique scale, like you used to see in general stores. He simply sat there and stared at them in confusion. Justin stopped struggling and looked over at him again. “Hey kid, do you think you could help us out?” Putting a hoof to his chin, the child responded “Well that depends. Are you those humans everypony is talking about?” They both nodded. “And did Lyra set this up?” More nods. “Then, yes, yes I can.” Producing a small knife from one of the pockets on his vest, he got to work. After he cut them down, Justin shook his hoof and introduced himself. “I’m Justin, and this is my friend Nick. You are?” “Capitalist Steel. You guys might want to leave before Lyra shows up again.” “Yeah. Hey, do you mind if we come back here to talk later, after our errands?” “I don’t see why not.” “Great! Well, see you later. Oh, wait! Could you direct us to the library?” Smiling, Capitalist responded “Sure thing.” Seventeen minutes later… “And that is why we took so long to get here.” Twilight facehoofed. “That’s why we told you to never come to town alone. Now come here, Celestia sent in your citizenship papers, and you need to fill them out.” Following her into the main room, they both took a seat as Twilight levitated two sheets of paper in front of her. “Ok Nick, yours is first. Question one, how old are you?” “Twenty-four.” “Question two, how tall are you?” “Six foot three.” “Numbers three and four, mane-err, hair and eye color.” “Light brown and hazel.” “Gender?” “Uh, male.” “Have you committed any crimes?” “No I haven’t.” “Alright, you’re done.” “That was fast.” “These types of things always are. Your turn Justin.” Cracking his fingers, Justin sat up and grinned. “Sure thing.” “Do I need to repeat the questions?” “Only the last one. The rest are twenty-four, five foot eleven, dirty blonde and brown, and male.” “Okay. The last one was have you committed any crimes.” “Nnope.” Twilight smiled. “You’ve been hanging around Big Mac, haven’t you?” “Maybe.” She giggled. “Well don’t worry, I’ll send your letter to Luna later tonight when she gets up to raise the moon. In the meantime, you should check back in with Fluttershy and Applejack. See you later!” As she walked out of the room, Nick and Justin looked out the window and saw Lyra trying to hide behind a bench with a notepad and a safari hat. Sighing, Justin muttered “This is gonna be a long day…” A/N----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the next one! And thanks to bladeofthemad for the character Capitalist Steel, who WILL be showing up later. Anyways, comment, favorite, you know the drill. And don't forget to thumb up either! OH COME ON! Chapter ElevenJustin’s PoV Three hours later… Nick and I both ran as fast as humanly possible towards Fluttershy’s cottage. The better part of three hours had been spent avoiding Lyra and her plans to capture us for, in her words, ‘scientific research’. Although, she was thankfully easy to distract. If we held our hands up, she would stop whatever she was doing and just stare at them until we were out of sight. I also discovered that she had a weakness for smoothies. Something I exploited the last time we escaped her in the market. I had pointed out a sale at the smoothie stand, and we haven’t seen her since. Not that it stopped us from running to Fluttershy’s like the armies of Hell were at our heels. Nick knocked on her door while we both caught our breath. After a few seconds, Fluttershy opened it up before gasping at our ragged state. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you two?!” I continued gasping as I tried to spit out our answer. “Lyra… *GASP* nets…*GASP* dirt…*GASP* smoothies…” “Um… I’m not sure I really understand…” Breathing slower, I tried again. “Lyra… chased us through town… almost caught us in a series of nets… made us fall in the dirt on several occasions… and we finally distracted her with smoothies…” Fluttershy mouthed an ‘Oh…’ as she nodded her head. “Well, if you two are still up to it, could you come with me to Sugercube Corner? I need to pick up a few things.” Nick nodded his head. “Sure thing, Flutters. But if Lyra tries catching us again, we’re running.” Fluttershy nodded in understanding as we headed back into town. We were all silent, so I decided to liven things up a bit by singing one of the most known travelling songs of all time. I almost didn’t even notice the music to it start up before I started singing. “On the road again Just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again” Smiling, Nick looked over at me and picked up with the second verse. “On the road again Goin' places that I've never been Seein' things that I may never see again And I can't wait to get on the road again” Fluttershy continued to watch in amusement as we both sang the rest of it together. “On the road again Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway We're the best of friends Insisting that the world keep turning our way and our way Is on the road again I just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again On the road again Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway We're the best of friends Insisting that the world keep turning our way and our way Is on the road again Just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again And I can't wait to get on the road again” Fluttershy grinned at us as the music died down. “Was that a song from your world?” I grinned back and nodded. “That was called ‘On the Road Again’ by a country artist known as Willie Nelson.” “Well that’s strange. We have an artist here named Willie Neighson.” “That IS strange…” As we continued towards Sugercube Corner, I saw Capitalist Steel sitting in an alley digging through a box. I called out his name, and he looked around a bit before spotting us. Smiling, he trotted over. “Hey Nick, Justin, how’s it going?” Nick smiled before responding. “Pretty good, Steel. You?” He shrugged. “I’m fine. So what are you guys doing?” “Headed for Sugercube Corner to pick up some stuff.” “Ah.” Fluttershy, who had looked incredibly confused up to this point, decided to speak up. “Um…do you know each other?” I looked over at her and responded “Yeah, we do. Capitalist here helped Nick and I out of one of Lyra’s nets.” “Oh! Well thank you, little colt. Would… would you like to come with us? As a way to pay you back for helping my friends?” He put a hoof to his chin in thought. “Yeah, I think I will. Thank you Miss…” “Fluttershy. Now come on you guys, we need to get there soon.” “Alright.” The rest of the trip was filled with small talk between me, Nick, and Capitalist. Eventually, we reached our destination. I thought I could hear voices inside as Fluttershy nudged us towards the door. Walking inside, we noticed that all the lights were off. Suddenly, they all turned on as Pinkie, Twilight, Applejack, and the other two Elements whose names we had yet to learn, plus several other ponies (not including Lyra) jumped out and yelled “SURPRISE!” After our heart attacks subsided, the party started. I have to hand it to Pinkie, when she throws a party, she throws a PARTY. She had even gotten this pretty sweet dj called DJ PON3, or something along those lines. After a few songs, she took a break. She came up to Nick and I at the buffet table (where we had spent most of our evening) and introduced herself. “Sup bros? Name’s Vinyl Scratch.” “I’m Nick, and this is Justin.” “So I’ve heard. Anyways, I came over to ask you guys a question.” Putting my drink down (I was surprised that they had alcohol), I looked back at her. “And that is?” “Why don’t you guys sing a song from your world? I could use it as inspiration for a new song or two. The first dj ever to use alien music in a song! That’d be epic.” After talking it over, we agreed. She led us up to the stage and started setting up equipment. About the time she was halfway through, I realized something. “Hey Vinyl?” “Yes?” “How are we supposed to sing without music?” I grew confused as she laughed. “Don’t worry about it, guys. See this?” She levitated over a pair of headphones and we nodded. She put them around my neck while she explained. “It’s something we created for karaoke at night clubs. You just put these on, think of the song you want, and the speakers start playing it.” A few minutes later, Vinyl finished setting us up and announced that we were going to sing a song from our world. After a few seconds of mental preparation, I thought of the song we had agreed on and was surprised, despite the warning, when the music started to play. “Her breath began to speak As she stood right in front of me The colour of her eyes Were the colour of insanity Crushed beneath her wave Like a ship, I could not reach her shore We're all just dancers on the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Pressed against her face I could feel her insecurity Her mother'd been a drunk And her father was obscurity But nothin' ever came From a life that was a simple one So pull yourself together girl And have a little fun Well she took me by the hand I could see she was a fiery one Her legs ran all the way Up to heaven and past Avalon Tell me somethin' girl, what it is you have in store She said come with me now On the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor The apple now is sweet Oh much sweeter than it ought to be Another little bite I don't think there is much hope for me The sweat beneath her brow Travels all the way An' headin' south This bleedin' heart's cryin' Cause there's no way out Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor” We stepped off the stage and walked over to Pinkie, who gave us a bone crushing hug while telling us how much she loved the song. As I went to get another drink, somebo-pony ran inside and said that a royal carriage had showed up. I sat there and smiled to myself. ‘I knew the night wasn’t over yet.’ Chapter TwelveGeneral PoV Half an hour earlier “But Tia!” “No buts, Luna! You still have duties to attend to.” “That’s not fair! You never let me go out anymore!” “Because you are falling behind in your duties! You can’t just drop them whenever you please.” Luna sighed in defeat and looked back down at her dinner. She had received an invitation from Pinkie for Nick and Justin’s ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, but she could not convince Celestia to let her go. She was feeling like she was at her wits end, and there was only one other option she could see that might work. But he would not be happy about it. “Tia, could you excuse me for a moment?” Celestia gave her a confused glance. “Um, I guess? Are you alright, Luna?” Walking away, she called back “Of course I am, never better!” Trotting down one of the many corridors in the castle, Luna- “Pssssst!” *AHEM* As I was saying, trotting- “PSSSSSSST!” Trot- “PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST!!!!!” WHAT?!? “Um…” *SIGH* What is it Luna? “Well, you know that one other option I was thinking of?” Yes… “…” Oh…THAT’s what you meant by ‘he wouldn’t like it’ “Yeah. I need you to cause a distraction so I can sneak out of here.” …fine. But you owe me BIG time! Besides, once your sister finds out it was me… “You mean IF she finds out, right?” No, I mean when. “…” Just go, I’ll do it. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” Just go already. “Alright! Guard, fetch me a chariot!” *SIGH* Here we go… Back in the royal dining room Celestia sat patiently at the table waiting for Luna when she heard a loud crash reverberate through the halls. Jumping up to see what it was, she ran into the next room, only to see a large cake sitting on a scale. Looking at the weight, she visibly began sweating. 2000 lbs. She began to back away. “No! I just got done working off the last one! You can’t make me eat a second one!” It was then that the doors banged shut, locked, and a large golden fork appeared, sticking out of the cake. Sighing, Celestia approached the cake and pulled out the fork. Looking up, she muttered “I am so going to get you for this…” and began eating. Back at the party, current time Luna’s PoV “Luna, you made it!” “Of course I did Nick! I wouldn’t miss your welcoming party for the world!” “You sure? Celestia told us you might not be able to make it.” “Don’t worry about it, Justin. I called in a favor…” That’s an understatement… I giggled along with Nick and Justin while I thought back to the trick Shadow_Fire might have pulled on Tia. As the party went on, I saw my human comrades getting more and more intoxicated; I thought about how lovely it would be if they went up and sang something. A few minutes (and three drinks later) and they were up on stage, ready to go with some weird headphones hanging from their necks. After some stumbling, the music kicked in. Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Five hundred years like Gelignite Have blown us all to hell What savior rests while on his cross we die Forgotten freedom burns Has the Shepard led his lambs astray to the bigot and the gun Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies I watch and stare as Rosin`s eyes Turn a darker shade of red And the bullet with this sniper lie In their bloody gutless cell Must we starve on crumbs from long ago Through these bars of men made steel Is it a great or little thing we fought Knelt the conscience blessed to kill Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies Ah, but maybe it`s the way you were taught Or maybe it`s the way we fought But a smile never grins without tears to begin For each kiss is a cry we all lost Though there is nothing left to gain But for the banshee that stole the grave Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies I sit in and dwell on faces past Like memories seem to fade No colour left but black and white And soon will all turn grey But may these shadows rise to walk again With lessons truly learnt When the blossom flowers in each our hearts Shall beat a new found flame Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies Singin' drunken lullabies There was a thunderous applause as Nick and Justin stumbled their way off stage and back to the buffet I was standing at. I was about to tell them how good they did for being drunk (I think, I don’t know how it was supposed to go) until Nick fell face first into the punch bowl. Justin and I burst out laughing as he got up and joined us. The night continued on like this, with drinking and dancing and singing, and we eventually found ourselves sitting out front, talking to a young colt who was surprisingly mature for his age. Alas, all good things must come to an end as Celestia had finally gotten away from whatever held her up. Although, I did notice her carriage creaking more than usual… As I suspected, she was not happy, but I managed to convince her to let me stay for one more song. Justin, being the most sober, decided to sing one of his favorites from Earth. Click here for video Man it's a hot one Like seven inches from the midday sun Well I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone But you stay so cool My mu equita My Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa You're my reason for reason The step in my groove, yeah And if you said this life ain't good enough I would give my world to lift you up I could change my life to better suit your mood 'Cause you're so smooth And it's just like the ocean under the moon Well that's the same as the emotion that I get from you You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Gimme your heart make it real Or else forget about it Well I'll tell you one thing If you would leave it'd be a crying shame In every breath and every word I hear your name calling me out Well out from the barrio you hear my rhythm on your radio You feel the turning of the world so soft and slow Turning you round and round And if you said this life ain't good enough I would give my world to lift you up I could change my life to better suit your mood 'Cause you're so smooth And it's just like the ocean under the moon Well that's the same as the emotion that I get from you You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Gimme your heart make it real Or else forget about it And it's just like the ocean under the moon Well that's the same as the emotion that I get from you You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Gimme your heart make it real Or else forget about it Or else forget about it Or else forget about it Oh, let's don't forget about it (Gimme me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it) Oh, let's don't forget about it Let's don't forget about it, yeah Oh, no, no Let's don't forget about it... As soon as he finished his song, Celestia grabbed me by the ear and dragged me back to the chariot. The only thing I remember hearing before I passed out was Tia saying “You just wait until we get back home. You, and a certain author I know, are in deeeeep doo-doo.” [A/N]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here you go guys, last half of the party! Comment, fave, you know what to do. And where do you think YOU'RE going?!? Umm...away? WRONG!!! GET OVER HERE!!! ...........lord save me....... Chapter ThirteenJustin’s PoV The next day… “Ugh…my head…” As expected, I woke up the next morning with a massive hangover. Taking a look around, I noticed I was still in Sugercube Corner, lying on a table. Glancing at the table next to me, I saw Nick still passed out, a long trail of drool running down his chin. I decided to get up and search for anyone else who might still be here, my headache surprisingly disappearing quickly. Checking under the tables, I found a couple other ponies sleeping, as well as Pinkie behind the counter with a balloon sticking out of her ear. Hearing a loud groan, I turned back around to look at Nick. “Owww…my head hurts so much…what happened last night?” “Um, we partied. Hard.” Scratching his head, Nick chuckled a bit. “Oh yeah…heh-ow! It hurts to laugh…” I put my hand on his shoulder and helped him get up. “It’ll be fine, mine went away insanely fast. It shouldn’t bother you much longer.” “Hey, it is already fading! How does that work?” “I have no idea. But,” I turned around and pulled out two cups of steaming coffee, offering one to him. “We should probably drink these; they’ll help at least a little.” “Thanks…wait, where’d you get those?” “I…I have absolutely no idea…” I took a quick sip from my cup, sensing nothing wrong with it. “It tastes great, I just don’t know how I got it.” Nick simply shrugged. “Hey, coffee is coffee. Let’s just drink it.” I nodded in agreement. “Bottom’s up.” Both cups were quickly drained, our lips smacking as we finished the steamy liquid. Deciding that the party was cleaned up enough, we both decided to go out into town, aimlessly wandering around while looking for something to do. This continued for almost 20 minutes before we found somepony we knew. Unfortunately, that somepony was Lyra. “There you two are!” “Who-oh shit Lyra!” “Run man, run!” “Wait! I just wanna talk! And maybe take some samples for studying…” That was all the motivation we needed to keep running. Knowing our luck, “samples” would be hair, fingers, and other… questionable things. We ran everywhere, through alleys, under carts, at one point we even took a detour through the hospital. That turned out to be problematic, however, as then we had Lyra chasing us and security chasing Lyra. We finally lost her in the marketplace; her lust for fruit smoothies at slightly more reasonable prices than normal once again overrode her desire to catch and “experiment on” Nick and I. After that marathon, we went back to wandering, going from building to building in search of excitement. And it once again came, this time (thankfully) in the form of a blue pony that raises the moon. “Luna!” “Greetings Nick, Justin. How are you on this fine day?” “We’re doing fine. Justin and I just got away from Lyra again, so now we’re looking for something to do.” Puzzlement stretched across the lunar deity’s face. “Again? How do you two manage to evade her so often?” I laughed. “She seems to have a huge weakness for smoothies that are on sale.” “Hmm…well, those smoothies are really good…” I laughed. “Yeah…wait, why are you here Luna? I’m not complaining, but I thought Celestia was making you finish your duties.” “She was, but I finished early. I…also may have snuck out before she could confirm I was done…” She smiled sheepishly back at us while rubbing her hoof in a circle on the ground. We talked for a few more minutes before heading out to lunch at the nearby café. As we ate, Luna asked a question I didn’t think I’d hear from the shy princess. “Would you two like to go pranking with me?” Nick almost spat his soda all over the table. “What? You prank?” She smiled. “Of course. It’s so boring around the castle, filled with all those stuffy nobles. That and Celestia’s too busy to spend that much time with me. You two didn’t do much at your dorm back on Earth, so I thought we could…you know, have some more fun together.” She finished with a cute blush as Nick and I looked at each other, our faces slowly growing into a smile. We turned to Luna, Nick speaking up for both of us. “You know what? We’d love to. We have absolutely nothing planned today, and we’ve been meaning to hang out with you again anyways.” A smile took up most of Luna’s face as a loud ‘SQUEE!’ filled the café. She took a quick drink of water before filling us in on her plans. We could tell we were going to have a lot of fun… [INSERT LONG PRANKING MONTAGE HERE] “That… was… AWESOME! That was the most fun I’ve had for forever!” Nick laughed next to me. “Hell yeah, man! That was better than I expected! Did you see Rainbow’s face?” Luna laughed as well. “We did! Although you do realize that she is probably going to hunt you down for what you did, right?” “Haha yeah… but you know, I’m sure the white paint will wash off eventually. I mean, we got the cheapest kind possible. Besides, she won’t find us. We kinda just blinked away. I swear to God, Pinkie did something to us that day she gave us the coffee.” Luna blinked in confusion. “Laughter did something to you? How can you be sure?” I reached behind myself and pulled out an apple pie. “Because I have no idea where this came from. Also, I feel the strangest urge to go out and eat as many cupcakes as humanly possible.” Nick nodded in agreement. “As do I. But as tempting as that is, we have to go. Luna started looking a little sad. “But why?” I ruffled her mane and laughed at her little pout. “Because we need jobs so we can buy our own house.” Luna immediately perked up, smiling at both of us. “Is that all? No problem then, I shall purchase you two a house.” Both of our jaws dropped to the floor. Nick just kind of stared as I somehow managed a response. “But… but why?” Laughter met our surprise. “It’s the least I can do. After all, you did take care of me. Come on, let’s go house shopping!” We walked out of the café and started heading towards town hall, but a loud, angry, tom-boyish voice made us realize that would have to be put on hold. “There you two are! Hey, stop running! GET BACK HERE!” As the cyan pegasus with a now white mane and tail chased after us, only one thought ran through my head… “Totally worth it!” Chapter FourteenLuna’s PoV One week later… It’s been one week since I snuck out of the castle to go visit my new friends in Ponyville. Celestia was…well, angry isn’t quite the right word. She was upset, as well as slightly disappointed, but she wasn’t angry. In fact, she was oddly happy. I suppose she’s glad I’m finally getting out and spending time with real pon-…people. She even enjoyed listening to my story of our pranking escapades (although she laughed a little too much when I told her what Rainbow did when she caught Nick…). Perhaps my having fun is why Celestia was so open when I told her I wished to purchase a house for Justin and Nick. She gave me a budget, of course, and since I can’t keep putting off my duties, I sent the money to Justin at Applejack’s farm so they could start house-hunting/building. On top of the budget, I sent them a little extra from my personal account, so I wonder how it’s been going… Nick’s PoV “Nope, this one’s too small.” “Dude, pretty much all these houses were built for ponies. They’re going to be small.” “I guess you’re right…” I sighed as I allowed reality to sink in. When Luna sent the money to Justin for our house, we were both really excited. We could finally get our own place and stop feeding off the kindness of our newfound friends. We found out early on, however, that was easier said than done. We both stand a good two feet over the average pony, making it rare for us to find something in our size. “Nick, let’s face it.” “Yeah bro?” “We’re gonna have to get a custom built home.” Once again, a sigh passed my lips. He was right, of course, but we were really hoping to find a pre-made home. However, out of the sixteen available homes in Ponyville, none of them were big enough for two human males. Pulling out a water bottle (we still have no idea how that whole thing works), I took a swift drink before offering it to Justin. After another drink, we started heading over to the construction headquarters we saw near town hall, the check from Luna in hand. Four hours later Justin’s PoV “Dude…what the hell just happened?” “I’m not paid enough to understand this.” Nick and I gazed on in amazement as the construction ponies continued building what could only be described as a small mansion on an empty lot in the northern part of town. After walking into the office, Nick and I described some of what we wanted in our house. After a while, the overseer came in and asked us what our budget was. Since Luna asked us not to look, I simply handed him the check. Now, the two of us thought it was maybe a thousand bits or so (or at least enough for a small house. We’re still not entirely sure how their currency works), so we expected a small nod or something. Instead, his eyes bugged out and he sat there staring at it for what felt like half an hour. He then proceeded to get the manager, who went to get the owner, who immediately sent the crew out to the location. Amidst our confusion, the owner asked what our dream home might be. I thought it was just to fill time, so I just started rambling…”Well, I would personally like a study with a decently sized library, a pool in the backyard, big kitchen…” Nick must have thought it was a joke, so his ideas were just a bit ridiculous. “We’d have to have a moat. No particular reason why, it just needs to be there. And a secret lair beneath the house, with a bunch of different passages to get in. Oh, and a game room.” I may have facepalmed a bit while the owner simply sat there and smiled. After talking for a while longer, we agreed to go on location to see how the progress was going. As we left, I didn’t notice the phone sitting off of the receiver…which brings us to now. “How much money did she send us?!? They’re building everything we said. Everything!” Nick started to shake my shoulders to calm me down. “Dude, calm down. I’m sure they’re not gonna do EVERYTHING we said.” “There’s a moat over there, Nick. Do you see that? A moat. As in a medieval defensive mechanism. It’s gotta be at least five feet deep and seven feet across. They’ve built a drawbridge and a security gate onto the fence surrounding the house. Do you know what that means?” “…no Lyra?” “…no Lyra.” Two hours later “Ok, ok, I admit it, I overreacted. Are you happy now?” “Not until you admit that secret lair was the best idea ever.” “…it’s pretty sweet, I’ll give it that.” “Verily. I suppose it was a good thing I sent you some extra money then, isn’t it?” “I suppose so…” Nick and I were impressed. There is absolutely no other way to put it. They built this house to the letter. Every detail we mentioned, every oddity or hiding spot discussed, it was all here. And from what we were told, there was plenty of money to spare. Luna came to visit near the end of completion, and promptly ignored every attempt on our part to find out how much money she sent. All she told us was that it was enough to last a while, and she put it in a bank account under both our names. After signing the deed to the property, the three of us sat in the living room and just hung out. Luna talked about how much better things at the castle were, and Nick and I discussed our plans for the future (as well as some anti-Lyra defenses. Hey, don’t give me that look, she’s persistent). As we talked, I noticed Nick thinking about something. After a while, I decided to call him out on it. “Hey man, what’s wrong? You’ve been thinking for a while now.” Nervously, Nick cleared his throat and looked up. “Guys, I just realized something.” “What would that be?” “This is a new house, right?” “Obviously. So?” “And we just moved in, right?” “What are you getting at, Nick?” “Think about it; what usually happens when someone new moves into the neighborhood?” “I don’t know, a housewarming…oh no…” “Quick, lock the doors before-“ “DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY?!?” Author's Note Hey look guys, I'm not dead! Chapter FifteenThe next day… Justin’s PoV “It’s already trashed. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours, yet the house is already a mess. How the heck can little ponies party so hard?” Nick and I sat in our living room staring at the mess Pinkie’s party left behind. She somehow managed to scale both the fence and the moat, opening the way for the rest of town to just barge right on in. There was food on the ceiling, ponies passed out everywhere, and Luna was nowhere to be found. I’ll admit, after somepony spiked the punch I don’t remember much. I am, however, 90% sure Nick and I made fools out of ourselves. The other 10% is that Luna somehow managed to keep us in check. Maybe. I highly doubt it. Anyway, I’m getting off track. Back to figuring out how to clean up this place. “Nick?” “Yeah bro?” “Any ideas?” “Hmm…let’s find Pinkie and Luna. Luna will help us clean, and this whole thing is Pinkie’s fault anyway.” “Right. Ok, let’s get searching.” It took maybe fifteen minutes to find the two of them, even in this huge house. Pinkie was passed out in the kitchen (kinda obvious in hindsight) and Luna was sprawled out on the guest bed. After waking her up (and taking a blackmail photo) we started to clean, as well as clear the rest of the crowd out. It took three hours, but the house was finally back in presentable condition. As we flopped down on the sofa (after Pinkie left), Nick, Luna and I tried to plan out the rest of our day. “So what do you guys want to do?” “I’m not sure. Celestia doesn’t require me back at the castle until this evening. What do you think, Nick?” “I think we should go visit Fluttershy and her animals.” That caught my attention. “Fluttershy? How come? Not that I’m not open to visiting her, it just seems a little random.” “Well, she made me an offer a while back that I think we should take her up on.” Luna seemed pretty interested now as well. “What kind of offer, Nick?” “She said once we got our own house, we could go pick out a pet or two.” “Really? That’d be really cool, actually. I haven’t had a pet since I was a little kid!” “Shall we be off, then?” "Verily! To Fluttershy’s!” A brief walk later… General PoV “Oh my goodness, I’m so happy for you! Oh I just can’t wait to see which of my critters you’ll decide on!” Fluttershy was practically beaming as she lead Nick, Luna and Justin into her backyard. After telling her they each wanted a pet, she let out an impossibly loud squee before bursting out into song. Nick cut her off though, seeing as how he was just as excited. Upon entering the yard, every animal up for adoption gathered around the trio, doing their best to stand out from amongst the others. Bunnies, squirrels, various birds and insects all trying to garner the humans’ attention. Looking around, Luna asked the two, “So what exactly are you two looking for? Something big, or maybe a bit smaller?” After some brief deliberation, Justin walked his way over to a medium sized vampire bat. After a short, unspoken conversation, the bat flew his way up onto Justin’s shoulder, where he folded up his wings and made himself comfortable. Nick walked his way over and said “So I’m guessing that’s your choice?” Justin nodded. “This is Abraham. I like his style.” Abraham beamed on Justin’s shoulder and cuddled the man. Luna piped up with “That’s the most adorable little bloodsucker I’ve ever seen.” “Luna, don’t embarrass him before I even take him home!” “Sorry!” Whilst this exchange took place, Nick continued to walk around, inspecting the other pets. After a while, he found a small alligator who bore a slight resemblance to Gummy, Pinkie’s pet. Only major difference was that this alligator had a tiny mustache. Nick picked him up, looked at him a bit, pulled out a bowler hat, and placed it on the gator’s head. “I dub thee Gummington. You are now my pet, good sir.” The creature blinked once, smiled, and draped itself over Nick’s neck. After filling out the appropriate paperwork with Fluttershy, the alicorn and two humans took their pets and headed back to their home. A few hours went by as the two spent some quality time getting to know their new pets. Gummington really enjoyed potato chips, and Abraham liked to bring Justin the things he needed, like a little assistant. All in all, the two animals blended in seamlessly into the everyday routine. After Luna left, things slowly started to calm down, and for the first time since they arrived, Nick and Justin really got to relax. Weeks went by with almost no excitement. Lyra was unable to cross the moat, Luna would stop by every couple days to hang out and go pranking, and Nick and Justin even got part time jobs working for the same construction company that built their house. As a hobby, the two also spent their free time training and volunteering with the local guard, as well as learning sword play. They had helped defend the town from various Everfree creatures on a weekly basis. Yes, it would seem life had finally calmed down for the two displaced humans. Looks, however, can be deceiving. It was a sunny summer day, and our two favorite humans were chilling with their favorite alicorn after a long day at work. Nick complained about everything they had to lift on the job, while Justin just sat back and nodded. Their coworkers really did enjoy taking advantage of their height for various things, sometimes. Instead of smiling like usual, however, Luna seemed concerned. Picking up on her worried looks, Justin spoke up. “Luna? Is everything ok? You seem kinda distressed.” *Sigh* “No, not everything is ok I’m afraid. There have been quite a few disappearances up in Canterlot, and neither Celestia nor myself can figure out what’s wrong.” Nick was quick to jump in. “Hey, don’t worry Luna, we know you guys will figure it out. Do you have any clues?” Luna shook her head. “Only that the ponies in question began acting a little strange a few days before vanishing. But without any actual evidence, we can’t even begin to form theories…” As Nick and Justin tried to think of how to cheer up their forlorn friend, a loud banging came from the door. Upon answering, a royal guard made his way into the house and bowed before Luna. “Your majesty, I have received orders to bring you, Sir Nick, and Sir Justin back to Canterlot for an emergency meeting with Princess Celestia.” Luna looked incredibly confused. “What has happened?” The guard gulped before answering. “We found one of the missing nobles, and managed to capture their kidnapper.” Justin began to look worried. “Who was it?” “It…it was a changeling.” Author's Note Guess who's finally got a new computer? Chapter SixteenEn route to Canterlot Castle General PoV “So let me get this straight, a changeling is a bug-like ponyish creature with the ability to shape shift?” “That is correct, Justin.” “And they tried taking you over once before?” “Yes they did, Nick, at my niece's wedding.” “Alrighty then. One last question.” “Yes?” “Why the hell are we coming too? What help could either of us possibly be?” “That…is an excellent question. Perhaps we should ask Celestia when we arrive, no?” After the guard arrived at the mansion to retrieve them, the trio of Nick, Luna, and Justin had been in a state of confusion. After putting on their custom-made reserve guard armor, the two humans joined their friend in the waiting carriage, and were quickly on their way to Equestria’s capital. Along the way, Luna briefed them on changelings, the dangers they posed, and their ruthless queen, Chrysalis. “Of course, I wasn’t actually there when all this happened. This is all information Celestia gave me after…well, after I woke up…” Nick could barely contain his laughter. “You…you actually slept through the entire invasion? That’s priceless!” As Nick started laughing, Justin whacked him on the arm while shaking his head. “Dude, not the time. Whatever’s going on here is really serious, and for whatever reason the two of us are getting involved. Try to show a little more tact, bro.” Sighing, Nick sat up straight and shook his head. “You’re right, bro, I’m sorry. Luna, how much longer until we get to Canterlot?” “Just a few more moments.” A few minutes later, the carriage landed in one of the designated arrival points in the rear of the castle. The guard who initially fetched them explained that despite their arrival (eventually) becoming international news, the nobility was still likely to panic over the humans’ presence. Nick and Justin nodded in understanding before Luna asked to be shown to Celestia. A short walk later (with much gawking on the humans’ part) and the three found themselves in one of the private royal meeting rooms. Upon arrival, they also found Celestia, who then gave Luna, Justin, and Nick each a hug before motioning to the various chairs in the room. After sitting down herself, Celestia cleared her throat to begin. “As I’m sure you’ve already been told, a changeling was recently captured in the mountains, holding one of the missing nobles hostage.” Nods all around. “Recent reports also say more and more are being found as the royal guard moves farther from the city. Luna, I’ve summoned you back to Canterlot to organize the night guard in assisting the search and rescue teams.” Luna nodded in agreement. “As expected. But sister, why bring Nick and Justin to Canterlot as well? What do they have to do with this?” Celestia bowed her head in sadness. “I’m afraid the changeling we caught mentioned capturing the two ‘aliens’ and using them as bargaining chips against us.” Nick was utterly shocked as Justin spoke up. “Wait, what? Are you telling me a race we’ve had no encounter with before is targeting us?” Celestia nodded. “Precisely. You two hold a very close connection to Luna, and apparently the changelings wish to use you against her.” “That’s messed up…” Celestia nodded again as Luna spoke up. “But sister, why not just assign them a guard detail? Or relocate them to the Ponyville barracks? They are part of the reserve guard after all.” “There are two reasons for that, Luna. The first is that Ponyville has been compromised, and there may already be changelings among the populace. That’s why I had Twilight and the others brought here shortly before you. The other reason, is…” Celestia began whispering in Luna’s ear, who gradually gained a smile and a small blush as she turned to her two friends. “Yes, I have been meaning to at least ask them…” Nick perked up. “Ask us what, Luna?” “We’re friends, right?” Justin jumped in with “Of course we are! You’re the best friend two jackwaggens like us could ever ask for!” Luna smiled and blushed a little more. “And friends…protect each other, right?” Both men nodded. “In that case, I have a favor to ask. Would you two…do me the honor of becoming my personal knights? We’d be able to work side by side, and you’d get some really cool armor! What do you say?” Nick and Justin looked at each other, smiled, and wrapped the night princess in a hug. “You never needed to ask.” “Then please, kneel.” As the two humans knelt, Luna started to focus some magic into her horn, waiting until it built up to incredible levels before phasing it into her dear friends. “Rise, my knights, and accept the proof of our contract.” As they stood up, Nick and Justin found two purple medals with a crescent moon stamped into it. After putting them on, their armor shifted to a more pointed style, and the colors changed from standard gold to black, silver, and dark purple. Nick looked at Justin and whistled. “We look badass.” Celestia finally chose to step back in. “Yes you do, and you’ll be briefed on the rest of your new duties later, but for now, come with me.” “Where are we going?” Justin asked. “To go see our little prisoner.” The dungeon Changeling’s PoV It has been a whole day since I foolishly allowed myself to be captured by these ponies. The only bright side is that the hive link is still active, meaning I can still communicate with my queen. She has ordered me not to attempt to escape, at least not yet. First I am to gather information on these…hyooman, things. My queen seems especially interested in them, and so I listen to the guards posted outside for any snippet of information I can get my pointed fangs on. Apparently they’ve been moved here, to the castle, meaning our spies in Ponyville won’t be having much luck. I’ve also heard that they’re coming to visit me…tonight. Those pesky princesses will be there as well. It matters not. I will be transmitting the whole conversation to my queen, as ordered. As for the princesses? No one will stand in the way of my queen and what she desires. And what she desires is Canterlot, all of Equestria’s love, and these two…aliens, who have garnered favoritism amongst the Night Princess. “Keep an eye on them, young one. Soon, those two will be mine!” “Yes, my queen…” Author's Note So I've decided to try adding story arcs, the first of which involves the changelings. I hope you enjoy! Chapter SeventeenEn Route to Canterlot Dungeon Celestia’s PoV As we headed for the dungeon, I felt the need to warn Nick and Justin about how tricky these changelings could be. “There are few things these creatures say you can trust. As you’ve previously been told, changelings can take the form of anypony you know. It may take some time before we get any reliable information. Just let Luna and I do the talking, okay?” Justin nodded, but Nick seemed lost in thought. “Something on your mind, Nick?” Luna asked. “…if it doesn’t want to talk, what will you do?” I quirked my eyebrow at this. “We come back later and try again. Why do you ask?” “Because there are…other ways to make it talk. Human ways.” Luna looked on in interest. “What would those be, Nick?” “Torture.” Luna and I looked at Justin in horror. “That is where you were going, right Nick?” “…yeah, it is. If it refuses to talk, that’s the only thing I can think of that might work.” “Nick. Justin.” The two humans looked at me with slight confusion on their faces. “Yes?” “I think it would be in your best interest if you don’t bring up that…practice, again. It’s frowned upon here in Equestria, and Luna and I wouldn’t want others judging you harshly because of it.” The two looked at each other briefly before nodding. “We understand.” “Good,” I nodded. “Now, let’s go interrogate this prisoner.” “Right.” ??? PoV I can hear them coming. Those foolish princesses…plus my targets. I cannot hear what they are discussing, but I know there was a disagreement. The sun princess used her firm, ‘no nonsense’ tone, used only when she needs to make an important point. It won’t be long now…I can still hear my queen’s words: “Remember young one, observe everything. Tell them only what I’ve said you can, and keep a close eye on those two. I desire them, and if I am to obtain them, I need to know everything about them. Strengths, weaknesses, personalities, everything. Do not fail me, young one. Not this task.” I will not fail my queen. Failure is not an option. Outside cell 1,182 Justin’s PoV The rest of the trip to the dungeon was made in silence. I couldn’t tell if it was because Celestia and Luna were thinking of what to ask the changeling, or because of Nick’s…suggestion. I’ll admit, the same thought was running through my head as well. I suspected the ponies might be against it, but not that much. I was a bit taken aback by the serious tone Celestia used, but I can understand why she used it. We were from a different world with different rules, and she didn't want us to do anything this world saw as wrong. After a few more minutes and what seemed like almost a thousand jail cels, Celestia finally told us “We’re here. I’d like you two to wait outside the cell for now, alright?” Nick and I nodded. “Good. Luna, it’s time.” “Yes, sister.” The two princesses moved in front of one of the cells and motioned one of the guards to open the door. After stepping inside, it was silent for a few moments. Nick and I started to get worried, almost ready to step inside the cell ourselves until we heard Celestia speak. “What are you planning? Another invasion? Speak.” Silence. Luna spoke next. “Whatever you’re planning, it will not work. If you do not wish to spend the rest of eternity in this cell, you will tell us what it is.” Still nothing. About ten minutes went by, with similar questions being asked the entire time, but still no answers came from the changeling. However, as Celestia and Luna finally turned to leave, we heard a strange, flanged voice come from behind them. “The hyoomans. I will speak only to them.” After a few moments of hesitant deliberation, the two princesses nodded to each other and waved us forward. Slowly stepping past them, we walked into the dark, dank cell. There, sitting in the corner, was a strange, insectoid looking pony. After a brief staredown, I finally decided to speak up. “What do you want with us?” “…my queen desires you. It is as simple as that.” Nick spoke a bit irritatedly “If you’re after us, then why kidnap all those nobles, huh? What did they have to do with anything?” “…they were a means to an end. A way for us to gather money and love, as well as influence in Canterlot.” “So you are planning another invasion?” “…what is your name, hyooman?” “My name is Justin, this is Nick. And it’s pronounced ‘human’.” “Justin and Nick…I see. Good to know. Unfortunately, I do not know what the plan is. I am a low ranking drone, I know only my orders, nothing more.” Nick sighed. “I’m assuming that’s all the information we’re getting from you today? “…” “We’ll take that as a yes. Let’s go, Justin.” “Agreed.” As we left, the changeling said and did nothing but stare at us the entire time. Walking with the princesses out of the dungeon, I could almost swear I heard the changeling talking to someone… Luna’s PoV Royal Meeting Room “Are you sure it didn’t cast any spells on you? No mind control? Are you absolutely certain?” “Luna, we’re fine. We can see magical auras, remember?” I sighed in relief. “I know Justin. I’m just worried, you know? Those creatures are tricky.” My sister put her hoof on my shoulder to calm me down. “Luna, they’re ok. I checked them over myself.” “*sigh* That does make me feel better, sister. Thank you.” “I am worried, though. What exactly could they be planning?” Changeling’s PoV “And I could sense vast emotions swirling about inside them. Along with love, there is a great rage and sadness within their hearts. We may be able to take advantage of that. Other than that, I was unable to gather more information at this time.” “That’s alright, young one. You’ve given me enough to begin planning. We will begin to drive a wedge between them and the lunar princess. If that does not work, then we shall take them by force. Soon, everything will be just perfect…”
Chapter One“Oh come on bro, it’s my turn!” “Just hold on man, almost done.” “Ugh…” Justin slumped into the couch and resumed his game. Nick, his old friend and now college roommate, was hogging the computer again. He needed to continue working on an important paper due the next week, but Nick was derping around on the internet, looking at the latest memes and commenting on their stupidity. Justin continued to play Assassin’s Creed 3 in his PlayStation. He had already beaten the game; he was just trying to beat his best time. As he focused on a group of guards, Nick called out from the computer: “Hey bro, come look at this one!” Justin sighed loudly. Nick turned to him with a confused look on his face. “What?” Groaning, he walked over to him and said “Just hurry it up, dude. I NEED to continue working on this paper. It’s due next week and I still need to type four more pages.” Nick sighed and started to close out of his tabs. “Ok, ok, I’ll get off so you can work on your stupid paper.” As Nick moved away, he heard Justin mumble under his breath “About frickin' time...” “I heard that ya know!” “Whoop de frickin’ do. You try having to write a 30 page paper and not get irritated when you can’t use the computer.” Nick sighed. When Justin got like this, there was no arguing with him. The last time Nick tried, he ended up with a bloody nose and having to pay for take-out dinners all of the next week. “Fine. I’m gonna go make a sandwich.” As he walked into the kitchen, Justin called after him “Make me one too!” He poked his head back into the main room and yelled “Make your own sandwich! Do I look like a butler?” Justin put his hand to his chin in thought. “Well, actually…” “Screw you man!” “No thanks, I’m not in the mood.” Grumbling while Justin laughed as his own joke, Nick went to get started on making his sandwich. A few seconds later, he heard a faint buzzing. It started low, but gradually got louder, growing into a sizzling sound. “Justin, what are doing in there?” “What are you talking about?” Nick scratched his head in confusion. He called back “That sizzling sound. Are you burning something?” Now Justin was confused. “What are you talking ab……….what the? What on earth is…?” Nick heard the sounds of typing, shrugging as he went back to his sandwich. “Let’s see, we got some turkey, definitely gonna need that, um……ooh, ham! Gotta have ham! What else, what else…..yup, roast beef, 100% essential… oh my god…BACON! YES! GOTTA HAVE TEH BACON! NO SANDWICH IS COMPLETE WITHOUT THE SWEET LIFEBLOOD THAT IS BACON! Ok, I think I’m good on the sandwich……after I grab this mayo. There, now we’re done.” As he set his ingredients down, the noise grew. “Ok, now I KNOW you’re messing with me. Cut that effing noise out before I-“ BOOM! A giant explosion ripped through the dorm room, shaking the building and causing everything to fall off of their shelves. Nick fell to the floor as his sandwich materials fell around him. The ground continued shaking, causing one of the cabinet doors to fall off of its hinges. After what seemed like a lifetime, the building stopped moving. Nick sat still, waiting for an aftershock or something of the sort. Once he straightened himself out, he yelled for his friend. “Bro?!? Are you alright?!?” Silence. “Bro..?” The silence was broken by a loud moaning. Nick cautiously walked into the living area, only to be greeted by all their stuff blown everywhere. Shelves overturned, the couch and recliners lying on their backs, television busted on the floor, the picture frames, once hanging perfectly aligned in the hallway leading to their rooms, thrown across the length of the dorm. A large pile of books sat in the corner, pushed off their shelves and off their neatly stacked piles now massed together. The moaning once again broke Nick from his thoughts. He turned to find Justin lying amongst the remains of one of their bookshelves. “Justin!” Nick ran to his friend’s side, checking him for injuries. “Are you ok? What the heck happened?” Justin gripped his head, grunting as he sat up. “I…I’m not sure. I was sitting at the computer, working on my paper, when you started asking about that noise. At first I thought you were playing a joke on me, when I started to hear it too. Next thing I know, the screen goes white. I tried restarting it, but nothing happened.” Growing more and more confused by the story, Nick asked as he helped his friend up; “But what about the explosion? Nothing doesn’t send you flying into bookcases.” To his slight irritation, his friend only chuckled. “I’m getting to it. The story’s almost done anyways. I saw something on the screen, a small speck, but it was growing. Before I could see what it was, I got thrown back by some sort of shockwave.” Nick looked at the disaster area that was once their living space. “Shockwave? Like a sonic boom?” Justin shrugged. “Kind of, yeah. Blew me straight back into the bookcase. Strangely enough, the computer is completely fine. It doesn’t look like we turned it on at all.” “What? You’ve gotta be kidding…………….or maybe not.” The duo sat amongst the rubble, staring at their pristine computer, which hadn’t even shifted during the blast. Another moan broke their thoughts, although this one sounded slightly more feminine. Nick looked at his friend in disbelief. “Dude, I thought you were feeling better. There’s no need to whine like a girl.” Justin looked back, his face showing slight fear. “Dude? That wasn’t me.” “Huh?” “I’m serious. That. Wasn’t. Me.” “But if it wasn’t you, and it wasn’t me, who was it?” As soon as he finished talking, something moved under the large pile of books in the corner. Nick jumped back and tripped over the couch. “What was that?!?” “Why are you asking me? My face was buried in a computer!” “You still should have heard if the door opened!” “The door’s locked!” “…..what?” “Seriously! The door’s bolted and locked!” The books shifted again. Justin ran off to his room, and Nick shouted after him: “Where are you going?” “To get my pistol! If this person’s crazy enough to break into a random dorm, I don’t wanna see how crazy they can get!” He returned, carrying a .45 Magnum. Cautiously aiming it at the books, Nick and Justin waited for the unknown being to emerge from the books. What crawled out, however, was shocking enough to make Justin drop his gun, as both friends continued to stare at the unbelievable being standing before them. It appeared to be a large horse, but much, much different. It stood about 6 feet tall, with a dark blue coat. But that wasn’t the only thing. It seemed to have an ethereal mane and tail that shimmered with stars, as well as what looked like a tattoo of a crescent moon against a splotchy black background on its flank. But that wasn’t the strangest thing. The strangest thing was that it had a horn and wings, staring back at them with large, almost cartoonish eyes. It was wearing a crown and necklace, with what looked to be glass horseshoes. Nick and Justin looked from each other to the equine in front of them. Justin seemed to find his voice first. “W-what are you?” The creature blinked in surprise, before shocking both men. “We…-I-, am Princess Luna of Equestria. What, may we ask, are you?” Author's Note This is the first attempt of me and a friend at writing stories. All criticism is welcome. Thanks to Wuten for reading this over. You truly are the King of Spaghetti -Shadow_Fire Forgot to mention my co-author >>308681
Chapter Two10 minutes later… “So…you’re from a world filled with magical talking horses?” “Ponies.” “Alrighty then.” Nick and Justin had decided to let Luna explain herself while they cleaned up their dorm. According to her, she had been sent through their computer (or as she called it the “magic information box”) due to a mishap involving someone named Pinkie and a crate of sugar. As they cleaned, someone knocked on the door. “Oh man, what now?” Justin walked over to the door and looked through the peephole. “Nick! Hide Luna!” “Why?” “It’s that stoner next door.” Nick nodded and began ushering Luna into the kitchen while Justin unlocked the door. “Hey Hayden, what’s up?” “Dude, did you feel that?” “Uh, feel what?” “That explosion! It was all like BOOM! Then it was all like, calm. And then I heard you guys yelling or something.” Justin began worrying. ‘Wait, why am I worrying? It’s just Hayden. Nobody ever believes him; he’s always high on something. Maybe if I can just convince him he imagined the explosion, he’ll leave. Now, what should I-‘ “What is that?!?” “What?” “You have a giant horse thing in your kitchen!” Justin winced; he had forgotten that the kitchen was visible from the entryway. ‘Need to lie, and fast!’ “What giant horse? Are you ok? The only thing in the kitchen is Nick. He isn’t the prettiest, but I wouldn’t say he looks like a horse.” Hayden started to freak out. “Seriously man! It’s right there!” ‘This is gonna be fun. Time to mess with him.’ Justin turned around and looked into the kitchen. Seeing him look, Luna smiled and waved. He turned back to Hayden, who currently had a look on his face that practically screamed ‘See?!?’ “I really have no idea what you’re talking about.” Hayden’s face twisted in confusion. “Are you sure?” “Completely.” Hayden gripped his head, muttering to himself. “What did Dante give me…?” “Um, who?” “You know, Phillip, my dealer.” “Uh…” “I swear, if Tyrell mixed up my bags again…” “Wait, who’s Tyrell?” “How many times do I have to tell you, Markus is my dealer!” ‘Great, he’s so high he doesn’t even remember Jerry’s name…’ “Ok, look. How about you go home and sort this out, while I go and make myself some dinner?” “…ok” Hayden walked back outside and started flipping out, wondering why there were people. ‘Retard…’ Seeing Justin walk back into the living area, Nick decided to ask what happened. “So what’d he want?” “To know if we heard the explosion Luna caused.” Luna blushed. She always seemed to get embarrassed whenever her ‘explosive’ entry was mentioned. “What did you tell him?” “That he imagined the whole thing. By the way, great job hiding Luna, you forgot that you can look into the kitchen from the front door.” Nick shifted uncomfortably, starting to sweat. “He isn’t gonna tell anyone, is he?” Justin laughed. “Nope. I convinced him he was hallucinating Luna the whole time.” “Well that explains the screaming about people.” Luna was growing more and more confused as the conversation ran on. “Why shouldn’t the other primates know of our existence?” “For the tenth time Luna, we’re humans. And if anyone else knew about you, they’d probably call the government and get you experimented on.” Luna gulped at the thought of being experimented on. “We’d prefer that not happen to us.” Nick nodded in agreement. “As do we. But don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe and hidden until your sister Molestia comes and gets you.” Luna suddenly blushed. “Um…her name is Celestia.” Seeing how uncomfortable she was, Nick quickly offered an apology. “It’s ok, you couldn’t have possibly known…” Justin chose this point to jump back in. “And I’d rather have it stay that way. I don’t wanna know what your sister could have possibly done to make others put molest in her name…” Luna simply nodded in agreement. Hoping to find a way to drown the awkward moment he created, Nick started plugging his X-Box in. Justin had gone to make dinner, leaving Luna to gaze in amazement at the strange machine Nick was plugging in. “Is that another magical information box?” Nick chuckled at her curiosity. “Of a sorts. This is what we call a game console. There are several types, and this one is known as an X-Box.” “Pray, tell us more about this…X-Box.” ----------------------------------------------15 minutes later---------------------------------------------------------------------- Justin brought that night’s dinner, fettuccine alfredo, into the sounds of gunshots and arguing. “HOW DO YOU KEEP BEATING ME?!? I just showed you how to play this like, ten minutes ago!” Luna started laughing, and Justin joined in soon after, causing Nick to glare at him. “Maybe we were just meant to play this “Call of Duty”. By the way, headshot.” “OH COME ON!” By this point, Justin was on the ground, laughing his head off. When he finally calmed down enough to stand, he walked over and pulled the controllers out of the sparring human and equine’s hands/hooves, pausing the game. “What the heck man?!” “We demand that you return your princesses controller at once!” Justin simply laughed and put the controllers into his sweatshirt pockets. “Sorry to disturb, sir and ma’am, but your continuing efforts in the war must be put on hiatus. It’s chow time, and you won’t even get to look at these controllers again until you’re both done. You can get back to virtually blowing to smithereens later. Until then, eat. That is a direct order.” Nick yelled back: “Since when were you our superior officer?” “Yeah!” “Since I’m the one who paid the most money for this dorm and you were shoved through my computer. Now eat.” Nick and Luna grumbled their compliance and sat down to eat. Luna complemented on how good the food was while Nick told her that her beginner’s luck was at an end. Justin rolled his eyes as the two continued to yell threats at the other. Seeing that they were finished, Justin got an idea. “Ok you two, here’s the deal. There’s going to be one last match, you two versus me. If I win, you call a cease-fire and have to clean the mess you made in the kitchen. Plus the dishes and whatever else I spilt. If you win, I’ll do the cleaning and pay for take-out for the next two weeks.” Nick and Luna looked at each other and smiled. “Deal!” -----------------------------------------------------30 minutes later---------------------------------------------------------------- “How?!?” “I had plenty of time to practice while you hogged the computer. Now, both of you get your butts in there and clean!” “-Sigh-Fine. A deal’s a deal bro. I’m gonna go get started.” Luna just sat on the couch and continued to stare at the television. “You too, princess.” “You must show us how you did that…” “Only if you promise to humiliate Nick every time you play.” “Deal!” Author's Note Sorry it took so long! Again, welcoming all criticism
Chapter Three--Luna PoV-- “Ok, we’re off to class. There’s food for you in the fridge, and you can use the X-Box if you want. If you do use it, keep the noise down. We don’t want anyone getting suspicious. I guess if you get really bored, you can get on the computer, log into Nick’s account and play some games. His password is taco.” “Why my account? Why can’t she use yours?” “Because I have too many important papers on mine. I’m not saying she will, but I don’t want her to do something that might wipe all my files.” I sat there silently as Justin and Nick gave me my instructions. This was going to be the first time they were leaving me here alone, and I didn’t want to blow it. They trusted me enough to be alone here, and I would prove myself worthy. “Fine, but don’t go into the folder that says ‘Stress relief’.” I tilted my head in confusion. “Why shouldn’t we?” “Because, there are things in that folder not meant for mortal eyes.” “But I’m immortal.” “Because there are things in that folder not meant for eyes not belonging to me.” Justin nodded his head in agreement. “Believe me, I know. I looked inside of it once, and I wish I didn’t.” “What is inside of it that could be considered bad?” Justin shuddered. “Just remember this Luna: what has been seen cannot be unseen.” “But what does that-“ “Cannot be unseen!” I jumped back from his interruption, but nodded my head all the same while stifling a laugh at the look on his face. ‘It reminds me of that internet face they showed me. What was it called? The “no” face? Or was it “No me Gusta?” Eh, I’ll think of it later.’ “Alright, we won’t go into it.” “We? There are more of you?” I groaned in aggravation. “I, I won’t go into it.” “That’s better. I enjoy modern English much more than Shakespearian. Alright, we’ve wasted enough time. See you this evening.” And with that, they left. I looked around, thinking about what I wanted to do first. ‘Well, they said I could use the X-Box, and I do need to get better at Call of Duty. I can beat Nick now, but I need to be able to DESTROY him. That and I at least need to be able to kill Justin at least once. That human has gone 17 rounds strait without dying. I hate that smug look he always has on his face when he wins. Just ONCE I’d like to see him stare at the screen in disbelief as his character falls dead…that is a rather dark thought. Perhaps Call of Duty can wait.’ Luna walked over to the computer and selected Nick’s profile. ‘What did Justin say the password was? Burrito? Let’s try that…nope, not it. Taco! That’s what it was! I can’t believe I thought it was burrito…’ She logged on and immediately got onto Google to look up gaming websites. ‘They said I could play flash games, but I am not allowed to download anything without their permission. It’s amazing how good I have gotten with these devices in the two days I have been here…hold on, what’s this? It appears that Nick left something open when he got off last. Mayhap he didn’t have time to close it when Justin kicked him off…again. He spends way too much time on here. Now what did he leave open…it doesn’t appear to be from the folder I was told not to enter. Oh, it is a paper on our night sky! But it isn’t finished…I should finish it for him! After all, none knows more about the night sky than the one who controls it!' --Nick’s PoV-- ‘Where is that paper?!? I thought I put it into my bag before I left this morning…wait, I left it up on the computer! Man…did I even finish it? I think I did…what? Oh thank god. I can turn it in after class. I’ll just swing by the dorm, check on Luna, print my paper, and come back. I hope she didn’t touch it… --Justin PoV-- I was sitting in my programming class when I felt a weird chill creep down my spine. I looked around the room for anything strange. I quickly dismissed the feeling and went back to my computer work. The feeling charged down my spine again and I stopped again. ‘Why do I get the feeling I’m gonna have a huge fight or something to sort out when I get home?’ --Luna PoV-- “And almost there…done! We finally finished Nick’s paper for him! And it is a great paper at that, we may add.” I smiled to myself as Nick’s paper printed out. Just as I had finished putting it into his binder, which he also forgot, he burst through the door. “Nick? What are you do-“ “No time! Have you seen my paper? The one on star movements?” I once again smiled to myself as I handed it to him. “Here you go. You left it on the computer, so we printed it out for you.” Nick ran forward, ripping the binder from my hoof as he ran back out. “Thanks, Luna! You’re a lifesaver!” I chuckled as he closed the door and walked back into the living area. ‘Maybe now I’ll practice some Call of Duty’ --Nick’s PoV-- Ten minutes later “What do you mean no credit?!” “You treated this paper like a joke. I’ve dealt with some BS reports in my time here, but yours was the worst. I mean, a magical pony is the reason the stars move?” I looked at him with the most confused look I’ve ever had. “I didn’t write that!” “Well that’s what’s here. How about a deal? I’ll let you retry it, if you actually decide to take it seriously.” “Thanks professor. And don’t worry, I’m gonna have a talk with the person who messed with this.” ‘Somepony has a few things to explain when I get back…’ --Justin’s PoV-- As I opened the door to the dorm, I was greeted with screaming, crashing sounds, and flying pillows. I walked into the living area and saw that it had become a warzone. Nick sat in a fort composed of what used to be the couch. Luna had claimed the hallway and constructed a gate made of books. Throwing my bag down, I walked over to each fort and grabbed their respective owners by the ears. I fixed the couch and placed the two generals on opposite ends. “Does either of you children want to explain to me what on God’s green Earth happened here?” Nick decided to speak up first. “Luna messed up my paper.” “Nick didn’t thank me for finishing it for him!” ‘Dear sweet baby Jesus, how did I get stuck with these two?’ Reading over the paper, I saw why Nick was upset. “Dude, I see why you’re upset, but just rewrite the paper. And you should still thank Luna.” “Why?” “Because she actually finished it for you. She didn’t have to, but she did. And Luna, you just have to remember that things work differently here. Next time, look it up on Google.” After they apologized, I heard a puff above me and a scroll hit my head. Luna gasped as I turned it over to reveal what Luna had told us was the royal seal of Princess Celestia. Author's Note Here's the next one! Enjoy. Also, whoever guesses what's in the "Stress Relief" folder gets a moustache and one of their ideas put into the story! Also, if you thumbs down, tell me why
Chapter FourDear Luna, It very much pleases me to tell you that we have finally found where you are and how to bring you home. We have all missed you very much, and I never was as good at the night sky as you are. I’ll be there roughly five hours after you receive this letter. And please do not try to bring anything back here from the human world. I know how curious you get. I won’t be able to return it, for the spell to travel there only works once. Take the time before I arrive to say goodbye to the two who are taking care of you. I’ll be there soon. Your loving sister, Princess Celestia Nick and Justin sat silent as Luna read the letter out loud. She had begun bouncing around the room happily while they looked at each other and sighed. They were happy for her, but were also upset that she would be leaving. Luna seemed to have the same feeling creep up on her as she gradually stopped bouncing. She looked at her friends with suddenly sad eyes. “I don’t know…” Justin looked up from the floor and tilted his head. “What don’t you know?” “If I really want to go back.” Justin’s mouth dropped as Nick snapped his head in her direction. Looking down at the floor, she continued. “It isn’t that I don’t miss Equestria, I really do, it’s just…I don’t want to leave you two. Nick and Justin looked at each other once more. Justin looked back and asked “Us? Why would we have anything to do with you not wanting to go back? I mean, look at us.” Luna looked back up at him. “Because you two are the only real friends I have. Tia acts friendly towards us, but that’s because she is our sister. Almost all the other ponies in Equestria fear us because of the whole Nightmare Moon occurrence. Nick nodded his head. Luna had told both of them about the incident, and they had tried helping her get over it. Then Nick got confused. “We’re your only friends?” Luna nodded. “But what about Twilight? Or maybe someone in your guard? Surely they’re your friends.” This time, she shook her head. “Even those in our guard fear us,” she explained. “And Twilight is a friend, but she is different. She tries to update my image, and she’ll do what she can for me, but she isn’t as close to me as you guys. I cannot open up to her as I can with you. There are things I have told you that even Celestia doesn’t know about me. You are the closest friends I have had in thousands of years, and when I go home, you’ll be gone.” After a few moments of awkward silence, she looked back down to the floor. Justin was the one to break the silence. “Luna, look at me.” Her head drifted up slowly until she made eye contact. “Yes, it is true that we won’t be able to see you anymore.” Luna looked back down. “But, that isn’t a good reason to consider abandoning your duties back home. They need you there, Luna. More than you might think. And I know you’ll be able to make more friends. Start small though, like just getting out a little more. And if you do, don’t make some huge entrance like you said you did on Nightmare Night.” Luna smiled sheepishly at that. “There’s the Luna we know. Now, we only have a few more hours until your sister comes, so let’s quit moping and do something.” After a few moments of thinking, Nick and Luna looked devilishly at each other. Justin sighed. “Call of Duty?” They looked back at him and, perfectly in synch, replied: “Call of Duty.” Luna’s PoV ‘I’m going to miss this so much when I go home. DIE NICK! Too bad I cannot come back to visit, sister said the spell only works once…wait. Only works once? I might be able to work with that. Nick did say that both he and Justin discussed how cool it would be for them to live in Equestria. HOW DID I DIE AGAIN?!? DID JUSTIN START HIDING IN BUSHES?!? But how would I go about it? It would have to be done fast and look seemingly innocent. I would also have to do it at the last second. Tia was never very good at preventing last second surprises…huh? Justin’s character is just standing there. What is he…oh? He-he’s going to let me kill him! I don’t believe it! Well, he does think I’ll never get the chance to do it anymore…perhaps I won’t tell them about my plan. It will be my surprise to them. I hope magical travel won’t make them sick…’ Four and a half hours later General PoV After hours and hours of playing, the trio finally agreed to turn the X-Box off and simply talk until Celestia arrived. Luna had given Nick and Justin advice on what to do when her sister arrived. Bow, maintain eye contact, and always use her title when addressing her. Little things like that. Luna had decided not to tell her friends about her plan in case Celestia decided to read their minds. Apparently, she does that a lot. Nick and Justin were in the middle of explaining the purpose of thumbs to Luna (they still fascinated her and she never grew tired of hearing about them) when a low buzzing sound filled the air. They stopped talking and looked around. Luna looked confused. “What is it?” At this point, the low buzzing grew into a small sizzling sound. Nick looked at Justin with a worried look and asked “You don’t think…” “Yes I do.” Luna was now beyond confused. “What? What do you think?” Before either could answer, a small, expanding ball of white light appeared in the center of the room. As Nick started to dive behind the couch, the ball exploded, the shockwave sending both humans flying. When the light finally faded, Luna gasped as a slightly taller white alicorn was revealed. As Luna ran up to hug her, Nick and Justin finally stood up. Nick looked around and said in a whiny tone “Can nobody cross over from one dimension into ours without turning our dorm into a disaster area?” Luna laughed as Justin fell over again before standing up. Looking at the other huge pony in the room, he asked “So this is your sister then?” Luna nodded happily. “Well then, allow me to welcome you to Earth, Princess Celestia. I am Justin, and this is my friend Nick. It’s an honor to finally meet you.” Both of them bowed after Justin finished. Celestia looked at them both and said “Please, there is no need for that here. If anything, I am honored to meet you. You took care of my sister and befriended her. And for that, I thank you. Now Luna, are you ready to go? All you have to do is grab my hoof and we’ll be off.” Luna looked at her friends sadly. “Can I at least give them a hug first?” “Alright, but hurry.” She beckoned the two humans over and embraced them in a tight hug. She then let go and grabbed Celestia’s hoof. Their bodies were outlined in a bright white glow when Luna suddenly grabbed her friends and said “Well maybe just one more.” Celestia was about to say something, but it was too late. The spell and been cast, causing the world to turn white. Luna’s PoV As my vision came back, I released my death grip on my friends. I turned to look at Celestia, and as I had thought, her face was red with anger. “What’s wrong sister?” “You know very well you should not have done that Luna. Now I can’t send them home! What would possibly possess you to-.“ Her rant was interrupted by two sets of groaning. The Princesses turned to look at the humans, who were currently looking around them in wonder. Looking at Luna, Justin asked “Did you plan this?” She sheepishly nodded. Both men then surprised her by giving her a huge hug at the same time. As they let go, they were bowled over by a cyan blur with a rainbow trail. Luna and Celestia looked to see both of them tied up with an angry looking Rainbow Dash glaring at them. The other elements followed soon after. Luna watched as Twilight looked at her mentor and asked: “What are those?” [A/N]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Here's the next one! Comment, criticize, you know the drill. Don't forget to favorite either! Celestia?!? How did you get here? I'm a princess, I do what I want. But- No buts! Now get back there and start writing the next chapter. I didn't get enough screen time. But... Go! Yes ma'am! See you guys later!
Chapter Five“What are those things?” Nick and Justin looked at each other in confusion. They had been gagged, and therefore couldn’t talk while Luna facehoofed as Twilight bombarded her sister with questions. Nick and Justin had barely been in Equestria for five minutes and they had already been tied up by the Elements of Harmony. She looked over at Celestia and motioned for her to explain. Nodding, she complied. Or, tried to. “Twilight-“ “I mean, they look like monkeys, but don’t have as much fur! Instead, they’re wearing those clothes. Why do they do that? And why were they attacking Luna?” “They weren’t, they were-“ “And how did they even get here? Did they kidnap Luna? If so, why aren’t they-“ “TWILIGHT!” All the gathered ponies jumped up in shock, for neither Celestia nor Luna had spoken. Looking over, they noticed that Justin had slipped the rag he was gagged with out of his mouth. “You know, if you untie us, we can answer some of those questions ourselves.” The Elements gaped at him in shock. Twilight finally spoke up. “Y-you can talk?!? How is that even possible?!” Justin shot her a deadpan look and then glanced at Luna. “I’m not sure if we should feel insulted, or what.” Luna giggled. “Don’t take offence to it; they act like this all the time. Rainbow, could you and Applejack please untie my friends? They look slightly uncomfortable.” “Huh?!?” “Untie yer what?” “My friends. Like I said, they look slightly uncomfortable.” “’Slightly uncomfortable’. Always the kidder, aren’t we?” Luna giggled again as her friends stood up, rubbing their wrists. “I got it from you two, so blame yourselves.” Nick laughed, happy that his gag was gone. “Yeah, I suppose you did.” The three of them laughed while Twilight and her friends looked on, mouths still gaping. Luna looked at the six of them. “I suppose I should introduce you all.” Everyone nodded. “Alright, here we go. Subjects, these are my good friends Nick and Justin. Guys, this is Twilight Sparkle, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Fluttershy, and Rarity.” She pointed to each pony as she relayed their names. Justin nodded at each one before turning to Luna. “Well, at least we know they’re a loyal bunch.” Luna looked at him quizzically. “Well why else would they tackle us and tie us up to protect you?” He asked while shrugging. The trio turned back to them, and Nick spoke again. “So, anybody here have a question?” They all looked at him confused, and Luna whispered something into his ear. “Uh, ok. Does anypony have a question or two?” Pinkie Pie zoomed up until her nose was touching Nick’s. “Doyouguyslikeparties?BecauseIalwaysthrowpartiesforeveryponyinPonyvillewhentheyfirstshowupandIlovethrowingpartiesandwanttothrowoneforyoutwobutneedtoknowifyoulikethemfirstbecauseIhatemakingponiessadorupsetbutthenIthrowanotherpartyandit’sallbetter!” Nick looked at Justin with a look of mass confusion to get an answer while Luna rolled on the ground laughing. The others simply facehoofed. “She said what now?” Justin shrugged. “I don’t know, but I did hear the word party. And you know we’re always up for a party.” Pinkie jumped up in the air. “GREAT!!!” she screamed before vanishing in a cloud of dust. Both humans looked at Luna with faces like ‘what was that?’ She only said “It’s Pinkie Pie. I learned from her friends that the less you think about it, the less your head hurts.” The others all nodded in agreement. Celestia spoke next. “Well, it’s getting dark out, and you two need a place to stay.” Justin looked confused. “I thought we were going with you guys?” “You can’t; your presence would cause mass panic and some slight confusion among the nobles in Canterlot. No offence.” “None taken.” “I was hoping one of the girls would take you in, seeing as how they wanted to meet you at first.” “Then why’d they tackle us?” “Shock, I guess. You should probably ask later. Anyway, one of them is going to take you in” It was about a minute before Fluttershy stepped forward. “I could, um, take one of them…that is, if they don’t mind…” Applejack stepped up next. “Ah could take one. We’ve probly got sum room up in the barn. Maybe the house if Granny Smith cleared out the guest room.” Twilight practically jumped at the humans. “I’m sure you could spend your time at my house! I have so many more questions to ask, ooh, maybe even an experiment or two…” Both their eyes got wide at the word ‘experiments’. Nick made his decision first. “No offence to any…pony…else, but I’d feel better with Fluttershy. She seems to be the quietest one here.” Fluttershy blushed at his comment and nodded her head. Justin simply stared at the other two. “Oh, um, great! I should probably get you to my cottage then. There are some things you need to know about my animal friends. Um, if that’s ok…” Nick nodded his head. “Sure thing Flutters, lead the way.” With what sounded like a small ‘squee’, they started walking to a cottage in the distance. Justin continued to stare at the other two ponies offering him living quarters. Luna nudged him. “You need to decide.” Justin shook his head, clearing it of whatever random thought had strayed into it. “Oh, um, right. I guess I’ll go with-“ He was interrupted by the sound of an old wooden cart. Looking to his left, he saw a large red stallion with a slightly annoyed face pulling a cart with a bouncing little filly in it. Applejack looked at him with a confused expression. “Applebloom? Big Mac? What’re you doin’ here?” She looked back at Justin and explained. “They’re mah siblings. Now what’re yall doin’ here?” Big Mac didn’t answer. He simply grabbed the back of Justin’s shirt and flung him backwards into the cart. Justin was slightly off put by the smiling filly who now sat her face less than an inch from his. Big Mac kept walking as Applejack called to him. “So ah guess we’re takin’ ‘im?” “Eeyup.” “May ah ask how yall decided on that?” “Applebloom.” Applejack looked at her sister, now lying on Justin’s head while he sat there still in shock from being thrown. She continued to mumble “Maybe I shouldn’t have told her about him…” Sighing, she started heading down the road after them. Luna could barely contain her laughter at what happened next. “Ok Applebloom, he’s comin’ with us. But he smells, so before he comes inside for supper, yur gonna help Big Mac and ah bathe him.” “Ok AJ!” Realization finally crept into Justin’s confused state of mind. “YOU’RE GONNA DO WHAT?!?” A/N--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here you go bronies and pegasisters, chapter five. Hope you enjoy! Like, comment, fave, you know the drill. That's a little better. But why so many interruptions? Hey, it's your student. You're right, I should probably- Hey guys! Pinkie? Great. Two fourth wall breaking ponies. I'm stopping this now before you blow up my computer. Ooh, like Luna? Is there gonna be that same boom and everything? And what about that party? That's coming up, right? ...Goodbye
Chapter SixJustin’s PoV “Nononononononononono, you are NOT giving me a bath!” “Ah’m sorry sugercube, but yall are gonna have ta get a bath before we let cha in the house. Ah don’t mean ta be rude, but yall are riper than a rotten apple!” “You still don’t need to give it to me! I can do it on my own!” “But how’ll ah know you did it right?” I groaned in aggravation. I’d been arguing with Applejack for a good ten minutes about this bath problem, and it kept going in the same loop. Nick and Fluttershy had joined back up with us since she apparently had some animal or something to see to. Nick had jumped into the cart with me, but I’m not sure if Big Mac noticed (seriously, I can’t read that man- err, pony’s face to save my life). Nick kept laughing at my situation before I turned to him. “So why isn’t Fluttershy giving you a bath?” He shrugged. “Told her that I could do it on my own. Also mentioned that it was very inappropriate. She seemed to have gotten the message.” “Well you gotta help me out here.” “Why? I’m interested to see where this goes.” “Because if you don’t help me, there’s gonna be applesauce, dirt, a broken barn door, a lead pipe, and probably a trip to the hospital.” “What is this, CLUE?” “It will be if you don’t help me outta this.” “Ok, ok, hold on.” He turned to the side of the cart where Fluttershy and Applejack were having a side conversation. “Hey, Applejack?” “Yeah sugercube?” “You really don’t want to give him a bath.” “Yes ah do! Ah have ta to make sure he cleans himself up proper.” “Well, it’d be extremely uncomfortable.” “Why’s that?” “Well, the only times a human is ever bathed by another human is when they’re too small to do it themselves, or they’re with their special somebody. And I don’t really think Justin likes you like that.” Applejack stopped to think before blushing furiously. A loud slap could be heard as I epically face palmed myself in the background. Fluttershy started blushing too; hiding behind her mane, and Big Mac simply chuckled. Applebloom had been strangely quiet on the journey, and it was starting to worry me. I looked back at Nick and deadpanned. “Did you really just go there?” He started laughing again. “Yeah, but I think you can take your own bath now.” Applejack nodded furiously. “Eeyup, yall can bathe on yur own, we won’t be helpin’.” I nodded in acknowledgement. “Thanks for understanding, Applejack.” “Don’t worry about it. And yall can call me AJ if ya want.” “Alright, will do.” We sat for the next five minutes or so in relative silence. It was quite comfortable, and I had thought it would stay that way. I discovered how wrong I was when Applebloom brought up a subject Nick and I had always tended to avoid. “So, did yall have a special somepony back on your planet?” I looked at Nick as he shifted about uncomfortably. “Well, uh, you see-“ Applejack spoke up next. “Ah’ve been wondering too. Luna told us about how nice you fellas were, and that she was surprised that you never had any mares over.” “I was wondering if you could tell me too…if that’s ok with you guys that is…” I sighed and looked at Nick. He nodded for me to continue. “Well, first of all, our females aren’t called mares, they’re women. Second…we never had any.” Fluttershy gasped. “B-but, why not? You two seem so nice…” “Well that’s the thing. We are nice, but we aren’t what is considered to be attractive where we come from.” “Does that matter?” “More than one would think. The majority of women we came across only wanted fit, athletic jerks, not smart, average looking gentlemen. But it didn’t really matter; we had given up on that stuff before Luna showed up.” “But why? Everypony deserves somepony, and you shouldn’t give up just because of a few bad females.” “Fluttershy, you don’t know what some of those girls did to us. I mean, the rejections, the stand-ups, the dissing, we could deal with that. It was the last two girls we tried dating that did it for us.” “What did they do, if it’s ok to ask…” “Well, when Nick was a sophomore in college, so about last year, he went on a date with this really hot cheerleader. After a typical date of dinner and a movie, she told him she wanted to go to her house for some ‘special fun’. They get there; she gets his clothes off, and then opens her door to reveal several of her friends and about half the basketball team, all laughing at him. He ran back to our dorm naked and covered in food that they threw at him. He eventually convinced me to not take my gun over and shoot them all.” Fluttershy looked at him with tears in her eyes. “N-nick…I-I’m s-so sorry…” He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t be, it wasn’t your fault. Besides, I got over it. She sniffled while nodding before turning to me. “W-what about you?” My face darkened and I looked down at the wooden planks making up the cart floor. Noticing my face, she immediately apologized. “You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to! I was just curious…” “It’s ok, Flutters…” Nick’s PoV I saw Justin’s face darken as the memory came back. I put my hand on his shoulder and said “I know you don’t like talking about it, but do you mind if I tell them?” I could just barely make out the words “Go ahead…” while he nodded slightly. “Alright. This happened about four years ago, in high school. He had his eye on this one really cute girl, but I always thought she was trouble. She was always hanging around with the jocks in school, flirting with each and every one of them. I thought she was a whore. And the guys she hung out around the most hated our guts. We never found out why, they just did. Always trying to pick fights with us, spreading rumors, and those sorts of things. One time though, Justin got sick of it. They had destroyed his computer and vandalized his car, so he finally decided to get back. He snuck into the weight room and loosened the bolts on all the weight benches. Well, they found out it was him, and swore they would pay him back. Around that time, word of his crush got to them. So, they persuaded her to take him out on a date, had her treat him really nice, and then had her lead him into a back ally. They were waiting for him, and jumped him with whatever they had. One guy had a tire iron, a tool we used to fix our cars. This girl, who everyone thought was so nice and couldn’t hurt a fly, sat there and laughed, saying he deserved it for ever thinking he had a shot with her. The weight bench thing never even needed to happen; she apparently planned on doing it to him later anyway.” Everyone present was crying, including me. Fluttershy kept sobbing as I continued. “I remember hearing on the news that he had been mugged and sent to the hospital. I visited the next day and saw him covered in bandages. He was lucky to be alive; the doctor said he had internal bleeding and a destroyed kidney. They ended up removing it, and he woke up that day. He told us everything that happened, and all those guys got arrested.” I jumped slightly as Justin spoke up again. “All except that girl. She didn’t touch me, so nothing happened to her. But, it doesn’t matter. I got over it, and moved on in life. However, those two girls did make us swear off women.” I nodded. “Yeah.” Even though I was so emotional at the time, I found AJ’s next comment hilarious. “So does that mean yall are gay?” As was Justin’s reaction. “NO! WTF AJ?!?” A/N--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, here it is, chapter six. Comment, thumb, favorite, and if you have any ideas or concerns, please do not hesitate to tell me. Oh, and no Celestia or Pinkie this time. Pinkie's planning her party and I gave Celly some cake. Maybe next time.
Chapter Seven“Ok, ok, ah get it, yall aren’t gay. Can we change the subject now?” “To what?” “I know: are we there yet?” Applejack sighed. She noticed that the two humans sometimes acted like giant children, and she was letting one stay with her. As she was about to tell them to quiet down, Fluttershy spoke up. “Oh look, more ponies! We could take you over and introduce you! If that’s ok…” Nick chuckled at her shyness. “Sure thing Flutters. What do you think bro?” Justin nodded his head in agreement. “Sounds like a plan. But which one? There are quite a few out right now.” “What about that one?” “The mint green one? Ok.” They jumped out of the cart, despite Applejack’s warnings, and walked over to the now staring mare. Justin stuck out his hand and said “Hi, I’m Justin, and this is my friend Nick. You are?” The mare stared at his hand for a few seconds with her mouth hanging open before running off screaming “HUMMANNNNNNNNSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!” at the top of her lungs. Nick and Justin simply stared after her before looking at each other. Justin then turned to the others and asked “Was it something I said?” Applejack sighed again. “T’wasn’t you sugercube, Lyra’s just always been fascinated by humans. Which, until now, we never thought existed.” The two ex-college students nodded in understanding as one of the other ponies in the crowd walked up. She was a cream colored pony, with curly hair colored both pink and navy blue and three candies as a cutie mark. She looked back and forth between the two before finally speaking. “So are you two really humans?” They both nodded while several ponies in the crowd started groaning and handing money over to others. The cream colored mare spoke again. “Well, my name’s Bonbon, and the pony that ran past you is my roommate Lyra. I’m just gonna warn you now, she’s probably going to be following you around for the next few days to ‘gather information’. Now I’d better go home before she gets her nets out again…” Bonbon then walked away shaking her head while the group started moving again. After Nick and Justin got back into the cart, she asked “If yall plan on going anywhere the next few days, can ya promise me ya won’t go without somepony?” Nick looked confused. “Why?” “Because, Lyra’s been known to do some…drastic things. Just promise me yall won’t go alone.” “Ok AJ, we won’t.” “Thank you.” By this time, Applebloom was all happy and excited again, bouncing around in her seat. “Oh, ah just can’t wait ta show you to Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo tonight! They’re gonna be so surprised! After that, we can take you out and have you try to help us get our cutie marks, and-“ She was cut off by Applejack. “Applebloom, what’re yall talkin’ about?” “Remember AJ? We’re having the Cutie Mark Crusader’s sleepover at our house!” Applejack put her hoof to her chin in thought. “Oh, now ah remember.” She turned to Justin. “Ah’m gonna apologize now for whatever they might do tonight while you try to settle in.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t worry about it AJ, I can handle whatever these little fillies throw at me!” He fist bumped Nick, not noticing AJ’s comment of “Ah certainly hope so…” Then, Nick turned to Fluttershy. “So Flutters, where is this animal we need to help before heading to your place?” She looked up, surprised at the sudden question. “Oh, um, we are going just a little ways past Sweet Apple Acres to help my friend Mr. Beaverton fix his dam. I hope that’s ok…” Nick laughed. “Of course it’s ok, Fluttershy, you don’t need to keep apologizing.” “Sorry…” “Don’t be. So we’re gonna help fix his dam? What happened?” “Well, we had a really bad storm a couple of days ago, and he forgot to patch up a hole near the bottom. The river flooded and took most of the dam away…” “Wow…I hope he’s ok.” “Oh he is, he’s been staying at my house until it gets fixed.” “I see.” At this time, Big Mac finally spoke up. “We’re here. Yall best be goin’ Fluttershy, it’ll be dark soon. You too Nick.” Nick jumped out of the cart and landed near Fluttershy. “Thanks Mac. And Justin, good luck with the little girl sleepover thingy majigger.” Justin nodded. “Same to you and your…dam problem.” Nick suppressed a laugh as he continued. “Eeyup, I hope you get that dam thing done real quick like.” Failing to keep it in any longer, Nick fell down onto the dirt road laughing. Justin soon joined him after trying to exit the cart. Applebloom looked confused. “Ah don’t get it.” Justin stood up and patted her head. “That’s alright, AB, it’s just us being goofy.” She grinned and hopped from the cart onto Justin's head. “Alrighty then. Hey, there’s Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo! Come on Justin, let’s go and introduce ya!” Chuckling, Justin started walking towards the frantically waving fillies. “Alright, alright, calm your waters, I’m going. I’ll see you tomorrow, ok Nick?” Nick nodded. “Yup. Maybe then we’ll go into town and see Twilight about sending a letter to Luna so she can visit.” “Sounds like a plan.” Applebloom spoke up again. “What’re yall gonna do after that?” Nick and Justin looked at each other before turning back to her and, at the same time, simply state: “Shenanigans.” “She-what-igans?” “Shenanigans. Now I thought you were introducing me to your friends?” “Oh yeah! Come on!” She started running off with Justin following. He yelled back a final “Later, bro!” before turning to catch up with the energetic little filly. Fluttershy pulled on Nick’s sleeve and started floating down the road. “We should go, too. Mr. Beaverton will be waiting for us.” He nodded and turned to follow. “Alright Flutters, lead the way. Bye AJ, see-ya Big Mac.” “Eeyup.” “See you tomorrow sugercube.” And with that, they all turned to leave. Nick and Fluttershy to help the beaver, Applejack and Big Macintosh to make sure their sibling and her friends didn’t put Justin in the hospital with their antics. Nobody noticed the pair of golden eyes within the bush behind them. Nor did they notice the mint green unicorn step out of it and start walking back to town. “A day on the town tomorrow, huh? Time to prepare my…special surprises. Good thing Bonny doesn’t know where all my nets are…" Author's Note Here's the next one. And no fourth wall breaking today either, Pinkie's still planning and I gave Celestia a TON of cake. Literally. Anyways, like, comment, fave, the usual stuff
Chapter EightNick’s PoV “So Fluttershy, that’s your cottage?” “Yes it is. It’s not too small, is it? I’m sorry if it is…” “Flutters, it’s fine. You don’t need to keep apologizing to me.” “Sorry…” I chuckled as Fluttershy led me up to her cottage. Helping the beaver fix his dam had gone well; he had his home back and I only fell into the river twice. The remainder of the walk back consisted mostly of apologies from Fluttershy and polite chuckling from me. My mind wandered back to Justin and the three energetic fillies we had left him with. “So, those Cutie Mark Crusaders …do they cause much trouble?” Fluttershy picked her head up and moved to unlock her door. “Hmm? Oh, yes, quite often. But nopony gets hurt! And it’s not like they ever mean to get into trouble, it just always seems to find them. Trouble and tree sap.” “Tree sap?” “They tend to do their crusading outside for the most part.” “I see, I see.” “Well, here we are. I hope you don’t mind, but I told my animal friends about you, and they might be a bit curious.” “Don’t worry about it Flutters, I’ve always liked animals. As long as they don’t start scratching, we should be fine.” “Ok, here we go.” She opened the door to her home and cheerfully trotted inside. I followed closely behind her, peering into each corner of the house for the previously mentioned animals. I could tell she had them; there were many birdhouses and other dwellings all over the place. I decided to voice my confusion to Fluttershy. “Flutters? Where are your animals?” “I’m not entirely sure. Although, it is late, so Angel might have sent them to bed already.” “Angel? Who’s that?” “Oh, Angel’s my pet bunny rabbit. He can be a bit stubborn at times, but he really is a good pet.” “Sounds like a hand-full. Um, I mean, hoof-full.” “Oh he can be. At those times, all he needs is a good talking to. But what about you or Justin? Did you ever have a pet?” “When we were little. Our campus didn’t allow pets, so we didn’t get any more after we moved out of our homes.” Fluttershy’s face fell a bit upon hearing that last bit. After a few moments of thinking, she perked up again. “W-would you like one?” I pondered this for a moment, thinking about how life would change for me and Justin with the addition of a pet. Well, how much MORE anyways. I mean, we’re in a world of magical ponies. Doesn’t change much more than that. “You know what? Why not. I’d love one, and Justin’s been wanting to move out of the dorms so we could get a pet. So yes, after we get our own place, we’ll come to you for a pet.” “Oh, yay! I have so many wonderful choices for you guys to pick from, there are bunnies and kittens and birds and bats and dogs and goats and-“ “Fluttershy, we don’t even have our own house yet. And I still need to talk to Justin about it.” “O-oh. I’m sorry. I just get so excited about finding ponies, or in this case people, the perfect pet. I just love seeing my animal friends happy.” I chuckled again. ‘So friggen adorable.’ “Don’t worry about it Flutters. So, where am I gonna be sleeping?” She motioned to a door near what I assumed was her bedroom before saying “I have a guest bedroom for you to stay in right here.” *YAWN* “I’m sorry, I’m a little tired. It is late, and I need to tend to my animals tomorrow. You should get to sleep, too. Don’t you and Justin plan on going to Twilight’s?” I sat myself down on the bed she was letting me use before answering. “Oh, yeah, that’s right. We need to go so we can set up some visits with Luna. Yeah, sleep sounds really good right now.” Fluttershy smiled largely at me. “All right then, I’ll leave you to it. And don’t forget your promise; go with somepony or somebody else when you go into town. You never know what Lyra’s going to do.” “Don’t worry Flutters, I won’t. Goodnight.” “Goodnight.” A/N********************************************************************************************************************************* I apologize for the short(er) chapter. This one and the next are simply Nick and Justin settling in
Chapter NineJustin's PoV I could hear Applejack's voice as Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, Scootaloo and I trudged up to the farmhouse. The girls and I had tried to find their "cutie marks" by trying to train some animals, but we had somehow ended up covered in tree sap. I mean seriously, there weren't even any trees around! But lo and behold, there we were. Covered from head to toe. I could even feel it in my underwear... 'This is gonna be a pain to get out. And Applejack is probably gonna be ticked.' And how right I was. "Where have yall been?!? Do yall have any idea how worried ah was about you?" 'Oh yeah, definitely ticked.' "Uh, we were, um, training some animals and-" "And got yerselves covered in tree sap. Again." I raised my eyebrows up in surprise as I looked over at Applebloom. "Again?" She looked down and blushed. "Ya, that tends to happen to us a lot." Applejack sighed while I once again epically facepalmed in the back. "Seriously? Seriously. Are you being serious?" "Yep. They're bein' one hundred percent honest. Now yall need to git yerselves into the bath before yall eat dinner and git to bed. Ah doubt Granny Smith wants to be scrubbin' tree sap out of yer sheets or wiping dirt off of the floor." Upon hearing this, I decided to act. Looking back on my school days, I realized that I had never run so fast in all my life. I could almost feel a sonic boom emanate from behind me as I dashed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind me. As I locked the door, I could hear Applejack call out. "What in tarnation was that all about?!" Putting a chair up against the door (I don't know why they had a chair in there, but I'm glad they did), I called back: "You are NOT watching me take a bath!" "Ah wasn't going to!" "I can't be too sure." And with that, I leisurely stepped into the tub to enjoy my bath. ----------------------------------------------Two hours later--------------------------------------------------------------- I stretched my arms out wide as Applejack led me to the guest room. "All right, you'll be stayin' in here. And thank you for helping clean up dinner. You really didn't need to." Chuckling, I shook my head. "No, it's the least I could do. You are taking me in after all, and I'll be helping you out as best as I can, at least until I get my own job and Nick and I get a house." Applejack nodded her head. "Ah understand. Now yall should probably git some sleep. You and Nick plan on goin' to Twilight's tomorrow, right?" I yawned and nodded my head. "That we do. Ok, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." As soon as I had sat down on the bed, a loud crash reverberated throughout the house. Applejack snapped her head around in shock. “What the blazes was that?!?” I leapt from the bed and ran out the door. “I don’t know, but I hope the girls didn’t get hurt.” Running to Applebloom’s room, I virtually kicked the door down to see what happened. What greeted my vision were Applebloom, Sweetie Bell, and Scootaloo sitting around a broken cuckoo clock. Sweetie Bell looked up at us and smiled sheepishly. “We, um, couldn’t sleep. We tried to tire ourselves out, but things got, uh, out of hand.” Applejack facehoofed in the doorway while I tried to think of a solution. “How many times have ah told ya Applebloom, when you get sent to bed, ya go to bed!” “Well ah’m sorry, but we can’t sleep!” “Maybe yall should just-“ “I have an idea.” The ponies present looked expectantly at me. “I could sing you a lullaby that my mother used to sing to me.” The girls grinned. “That could work! Ah don’t think we’ve ever heard an alien lullaby before!” “Well, get settled in and I’ll sing it for you.” They all crawled into the strangely large bed as I closed my eyes and started to sing. Click here for the video. “Come out moon Come out wishing star Come out Come out Wherever you are I’m out here in the dark All alone and wide awake Come and find me I’m empty and I’m cold And my heart's about to break Come and find me I need you to come here and find me Cause without you I’m totally lost I've hung a wish on every star It hasn’t done much good so far I can only dream of you Wherever you are I’ll hear you laugh I’ll see you smile I’ll be with you just for a while But when the morning comes And the sun begins to rise I will lose you Because it’s just a dream When I open up my eyes I will lose you I use to believe in forever But forever is too good to be true I've hung a wish on every star It hasn’t done much good so far I don’t know what else to do Except to try to dream of you And wonder if you are dreaming too Wherever you are Wherever you are” I opened my eyes again and saw all three fillies asleep. Turning back to Applejack, I stated “And now I’ll go to bed. Goodnight.”
Chapter TenThe next day, at Sugercube Corner… “Thanks for bringing us here, Pinkie.” “No problemo, Nick! So what brings you two into town today?” “We’re just going to Twilight’s so we can send some letters to Luna.” “How come?” “You know, trying to set up visits and such. Right Justin?” “…*SNORE*” “Justin!” “AHHHGH! I’m awake, I swear!” Nick facepalmed. Justin had been drifting in and out of sleep since he showed up at Fluttershy’s to pick him up. Pinkie was sitting behind the counter, seemingly thinking about something. “Dude, are you sure you’re okay? You keep falling asleep on me, and I’m starting to get worried.” “*YAWN* Yeah, I’m fine. Applejack just woke me up early so I could help in the orchard for a bit before I left.” “How early?” Justin scratched his head in thought. “I think it was like, four in the morning.” Nick’s jaw dropped in disbelief. “Four in the morning?!?” Justin yawned again. “Yeah. I started complaining, but after five hours of carrying heavy buckets of apples into the barn, you tend to stop.” He yawned once more as Nick turned to Pinkie. “Do you have anything to wake him up? Like some coffee? *YAWN* On second thought, could I have one too?” Pinkie grinned and hopped into the kitchen. “Sure thing! You two just sit right there and your auntie Pinkie will fix everything.” She giggled as she heard Nick ask Justin “Aren’t we older than her?” She continued to go further into the kitchen to start making the coffee. As it was getting ready she started pulling out some additives. Milk, cream, sugar, you know. Then, she suddenly got extremely serious. She looked around her to make sure nobody was looking, and then moved to a locked cabinet. Pulling a key out of her poofy pink mane, she unlocked it and pulled out a container labeled “Pinkie Sugar”. Moving over to the now finished coffee, she- “Hey mister author?” Pinkie! What have I told you about breaking the fourth wall! “That…you’d give me a cupcake if I stopped?” *SIGH* What is it? “How much of this do I give them?” You already know how much. “But they’re humans! Do I have to give them more or less than I had?” You figure it out. And please, keep the fourth wall breaking to a minimum. “Okie dokie loki! You’re the boss Shadow_Fire!” Wonderful. Now get back to the story. “You got it!” Pinkie walked over and poured the coffee into two large mugs. She added three tablespoons of Pinkie Sugar into each, and then walked out into the dining area. Justin and Nick both sleepily looked up as she entered. Nick yawned and asked “Who were you talking to?” She giggled and nonchalantly waved her hoof. “Nopony special, just the author.” Nick and Justin looked at each other in confusion as Pinkie set the coffee in front of them. Before they took a drink, Pinkie said “Now if you guys want it to work, you need to drink it ALL, okay?” They both nodded their heads and drained the cups. After a few seconds, they both perked up. Justin shot up out of his chair. “WOW! What the heck was in that? I’ve never been woken up so quickly in all my life! Well, except maybe this morningwhenApplejackburstintomyroomandyelled”RISEANDSHINE!”andIstartedfreakingoutbecausenopony’severwokenmeuplikethatbefore!Ohman,didIjustsaynopony?Whattheheckisgoingon?” Nick’s jaw dropped as he looked at his friend in disbelief. Looking at Pinkie, he asked “Did you put something in our coffee?” “Why do you ask?” Nick reached behind him and pulled out a small rubber ducky. “Rubber duck.” Pinkie giggled again. “Oh, good. I was starting to think it didn’t work,andthenI’dbealllike’Ohno,Iwastedmyspecialsugar!’butitdidwork,soit’sallgood!” Justin looked over at Nick. “Dude?” “Yeah?” “I actually followed all of that.” “Me too.” Pinkie giggled again. “Well that’s because I gave you my special sugar! It makes you as hyper as I am, with almost no side effects!” “ALMOST none?” “Never mind that! You two have things to do today, so get going!” With that, she shoved them out the door and into the street. Shrugging, they started walking off in the direction they were told where the library was. Unbeknownst to them but knownst to us, a small shrubbery with minty green hooves was following them down the street. Every time they stopped to look at something, a scribbling sound could be heard emanating from it. After a few more minutes of walking, they turned around and stared at it. Nodding to each other, they slowly approached it. Suddenly, two golden eyes appeared within its depths, and the two humans took off running. Turning back to look, they saw Lyra jump out and start running after them, causing them to turn their run into a sprint. And I don’t mean any old sprint; I mean a full out Olympic Kenyan sprint. The one that kicks up an almost cartoonish cloud of dust. Ducking into an ally, they watched Lyra continue to sprint by. Sighing in relief, they started walking again. They didn’t get far before Justin yelled “STOP!” Confused, Nick stopped and looked back at him. “What is it?” Walking forward, he bent down and broke a tripwire, causing a flurry of nets to fly across the ally way. Jaw dropped, Nick asked “How did you see that?” “I don’t know, but I blame that coffee Pinkie gave us. I thought that Bon Bon mare was gonna take all of Lyra’s nets away?” Nick shrugged. “I guess she had more.” Laughing, the two started walking again, only to get trapped in the one net laying in plain sight. As they struggled, they heard hoof steps. Fearing Lyra, they looked over at their “guest”. However, the pony who stepped into view was a unicorn colt they had never seen before. He had a black coat with a shaggy white mane, and sported a small equally white vest. There was a watch on his left wrist, and his cutie mark appeared to be an old time antique scale, like you used to see in general stores. He simply sat there and stared at them in confusion. Justin stopped struggling and looked over at him again. “Hey kid, do you think you could help us out?” Putting a hoof to his chin, the child responded “Well that depends. Are you those humans everypony is talking about?” They both nodded. “And did Lyra set this up?” More nods. “Then, yes, yes I can.” Producing a small knife from one of the pockets on his vest, he got to work. After he cut them down, Justin shook his hoof and introduced himself. “I’m Justin, and this is my friend Nick. You are?” “Capitalist Steel. You guys might want to leave before Lyra shows up again.” “Yeah. Hey, do you mind if we come back here to talk later, after our errands?” “I don’t see why not.” “Great! Well, see you later. Oh, wait! Could you direct us to the library?” Smiling, Capitalist responded “Sure thing.” Seventeen minutes later… “And that is why we took so long to get here.” Twilight facehoofed. “That’s why we told you to never come to town alone. Now come here, Celestia sent in your citizenship papers, and you need to fill them out.” Following her into the main room, they both took a seat as Twilight levitated two sheets of paper in front of her. “Ok Nick, yours is first. Question one, how old are you?” “Twenty-four.” “Question two, how tall are you?” “Six foot three.” “Numbers three and four, mane-err, hair and eye color.” “Light brown and hazel.” “Gender?” “Uh, male.” “Have you committed any crimes?” “No I haven’t.” “Alright, you’re done.” “That was fast.” “These types of things always are. Your turn Justin.” Cracking his fingers, Justin sat up and grinned. “Sure thing.” “Do I need to repeat the questions?” “Only the last one. The rest are twenty-four, five foot eleven, dirty blonde and brown, and male.” “Okay. The last one was have you committed any crimes.” “Nnope.” Twilight smiled. “You’ve been hanging around Big Mac, haven’t you?” “Maybe.” She giggled. “Well don’t worry, I’ll send your letter to Luna later tonight when she gets up to raise the moon. In the meantime, you should check back in with Fluttershy and Applejack. See you later!” As she walked out of the room, Nick and Justin looked out the window and saw Lyra trying to hide behind a bench with a notepad and a safari hat. Sighing, Justin muttered “This is gonna be a long day…” A/N----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here's the next one! And thanks to bladeofthemad for the character Capitalist Steel, who WILL be showing up later. Anyways, comment, favorite, you know the drill. And don't forget to thumb up either! OH COME ON!
Chapter ElevenJustin’s PoV Three hours later… Nick and I both ran as fast as humanly possible towards Fluttershy’s cottage. The better part of three hours had been spent avoiding Lyra and her plans to capture us for, in her words, ‘scientific research’. Although, she was thankfully easy to distract. If we held our hands up, she would stop whatever she was doing and just stare at them until we were out of sight. I also discovered that she had a weakness for smoothies. Something I exploited the last time we escaped her in the market. I had pointed out a sale at the smoothie stand, and we haven’t seen her since. Not that it stopped us from running to Fluttershy’s like the armies of Hell were at our heels. Nick knocked on her door while we both caught our breath. After a few seconds, Fluttershy opened it up before gasping at our ragged state. “Oh my goodness, what happened to you two?!” I continued gasping as I tried to spit out our answer. “Lyra… *GASP* nets…*GASP* dirt…*GASP* smoothies…” “Um… I’m not sure I really understand…” Breathing slower, I tried again. “Lyra… chased us through town… almost caught us in a series of nets… made us fall in the dirt on several occasions… and we finally distracted her with smoothies…” Fluttershy mouthed an ‘Oh…’ as she nodded her head. “Well, if you two are still up to it, could you come with me to Sugercube Corner? I need to pick up a few things.” Nick nodded his head. “Sure thing, Flutters. But if Lyra tries catching us again, we’re running.” Fluttershy nodded in understanding as we headed back into town. We were all silent, so I decided to liven things up a bit by singing one of the most known travelling songs of all time. I almost didn’t even notice the music to it start up before I started singing. “On the road again Just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again” Smiling, Nick looked over at me and picked up with the second verse. “On the road again Goin' places that I've never been Seein' things that I may never see again And I can't wait to get on the road again” Fluttershy continued to watch in amusement as we both sang the rest of it together. “On the road again Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway We're the best of friends Insisting that the world keep turning our way and our way Is on the road again I just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again On the road again Like a band of gypsies we go down the highway We're the best of friends Insisting that the world keep turning our way and our way Is on the road again Just can't wait to get on the road again The life I love is making music with my friends And I can't wait to get on the road again And I can't wait to get on the road again” Fluttershy grinned at us as the music died down. “Was that a song from your world?” I grinned back and nodded. “That was called ‘On the Road Again’ by a country artist known as Willie Nelson.” “Well that’s strange. We have an artist here named Willie Neighson.” “That IS strange…” As we continued towards Sugercube Corner, I saw Capitalist Steel sitting in an alley digging through a box. I called out his name, and he looked around a bit before spotting us. Smiling, he trotted over. “Hey Nick, Justin, how’s it going?” Nick smiled before responding. “Pretty good, Steel. You?” He shrugged. “I’m fine. So what are you guys doing?” “Headed for Sugercube Corner to pick up some stuff.” “Ah.” Fluttershy, who had looked incredibly confused up to this point, decided to speak up. “Um…do you know each other?” I looked over at her and responded “Yeah, we do. Capitalist here helped Nick and I out of one of Lyra’s nets.” “Oh! Well thank you, little colt. Would… would you like to come with us? As a way to pay you back for helping my friends?” He put a hoof to his chin in thought. “Yeah, I think I will. Thank you Miss…” “Fluttershy. Now come on you guys, we need to get there soon.” “Alright.” The rest of the trip was filled with small talk between me, Nick, and Capitalist. Eventually, we reached our destination. I thought I could hear voices inside as Fluttershy nudged us towards the door. Walking inside, we noticed that all the lights were off. Suddenly, they all turned on as Pinkie, Twilight, Applejack, and the other two Elements whose names we had yet to learn, plus several other ponies (not including Lyra) jumped out and yelled “SURPRISE!” After our heart attacks subsided, the party started. I have to hand it to Pinkie, when she throws a party, she throws a PARTY. She had even gotten this pretty sweet dj called DJ PON3, or something along those lines. After a few songs, she took a break. She came up to Nick and I at the buffet table (where we had spent most of our evening) and introduced herself. “Sup bros? Name’s Vinyl Scratch.” “I’m Nick, and this is Justin.” “So I’ve heard. Anyways, I came over to ask you guys a question.” Putting my drink down (I was surprised that they had alcohol), I looked back at her. “And that is?” “Why don’t you guys sing a song from your world? I could use it as inspiration for a new song or two. The first dj ever to use alien music in a song! That’d be epic.” After talking it over, we agreed. She led us up to the stage and started setting up equipment. About the time she was halfway through, I realized something. “Hey Vinyl?” “Yes?” “How are we supposed to sing without music?” I grew confused as she laughed. “Don’t worry about it, guys. See this?” She levitated over a pair of headphones and we nodded. She put them around my neck while she explained. “It’s something we created for karaoke at night clubs. You just put these on, think of the song you want, and the speakers start playing it.” A few minutes later, Vinyl finished setting us up and announced that we were going to sing a song from our world. After a few seconds of mental preparation, I thought of the song we had agreed on and was surprised, despite the warning, when the music started to play. “Her breath began to speak As she stood right in front of me The colour of her eyes Were the colour of insanity Crushed beneath her wave Like a ship, I could not reach her shore We're all just dancers on the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Pressed against her face I could feel her insecurity Her mother'd been a drunk And her father was obscurity But nothin' ever came From a life that was a simple one So pull yourself together girl And have a little fun Well she took me by the hand I could see she was a fiery one Her legs ran all the way Up to heaven and past Avalon Tell me somethin' girl, what it is you have in store She said come with me now On the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor The apple now is sweet Oh much sweeter than it ought to be Another little bite I don't think there is much hope for me The sweat beneath her brow Travels all the way An' headin' south This bleedin' heart's cryin' Cause there's no way out Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Well swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, a little more next to me Swing a little more, little more o'er the merry-o Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor Swing a little more, on the Devil's Dance Floor” We stepped off the stage and walked over to Pinkie, who gave us a bone crushing hug while telling us how much she loved the song. As I went to get another drink, somebo-pony ran inside and said that a royal carriage had showed up. I sat there and smiled to myself. ‘I knew the night wasn’t over yet.’
Chapter TwelveGeneral PoV Half an hour earlier “But Tia!” “No buts, Luna! You still have duties to attend to.” “That’s not fair! You never let me go out anymore!” “Because you are falling behind in your duties! You can’t just drop them whenever you please.” Luna sighed in defeat and looked back down at her dinner. She had received an invitation from Pinkie for Nick and Justin’s ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party, but she could not convince Celestia to let her go. She was feeling like she was at her wits end, and there was only one other option she could see that might work. But he would not be happy about it. “Tia, could you excuse me for a moment?” Celestia gave her a confused glance. “Um, I guess? Are you alright, Luna?” Walking away, she called back “Of course I am, never better!” Trotting down one of the many corridors in the castle, Luna- “Pssssst!” *AHEM* As I was saying, trotting- “PSSSSSSST!” Trot- “PSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSST!!!!!” WHAT?!? “Um…” *SIGH* What is it Luna? “Well, you know that one other option I was thinking of?” Yes… “…” Oh…THAT’s what you meant by ‘he wouldn’t like it’ “Yeah. I need you to cause a distraction so I can sneak out of here.” …fine. But you owe me BIG time! Besides, once your sister finds out it was me… “You mean IF she finds out, right?” No, I mean when. “…” Just go, I’ll do it. “Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou!” Just go already. “Alright! Guard, fetch me a chariot!” *SIGH* Here we go… Back in the royal dining room Celestia sat patiently at the table waiting for Luna when she heard a loud crash reverberate through the halls. Jumping up to see what it was, she ran into the next room, only to see a large cake sitting on a scale. Looking at the weight, she visibly began sweating. 2000 lbs. She began to back away. “No! I just got done working off the last one! You can’t make me eat a second one!” It was then that the doors banged shut, locked, and a large golden fork appeared, sticking out of the cake. Sighing, Celestia approached the cake and pulled out the fork. Looking up, she muttered “I am so going to get you for this…” and began eating. Back at the party, current time Luna’s PoV “Luna, you made it!” “Of course I did Nick! I wouldn’t miss your welcoming party for the world!” “You sure? Celestia told us you might not be able to make it.” “Don’t worry about it, Justin. I called in a favor…” That’s an understatement… I giggled along with Nick and Justin while I thought back to the trick Shadow_Fire might have pulled on Tia. As the party went on, I saw my human comrades getting more and more intoxicated; I thought about how lovely it would be if they went up and sang something. A few minutes (and three drinks later) and they were up on stage, ready to go with some weird headphones hanging from their necks. After some stumbling, the music kicked in. Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Five hundred years like Gelignite Have blown us all to hell What savior rests while on his cross we die Forgotten freedom burns Has the Shepard led his lambs astray to the bigot and the gun Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies I watch and stare as Rosin`s eyes Turn a darker shade of red And the bullet with this sniper lie In their bloody gutless cell Must we starve on crumbs from long ago Through these bars of men made steel Is it a great or little thing we fought Knelt the conscience blessed to kill Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies Ah, but maybe it`s the way you were taught Or maybe it`s the way we fought But a smile never grins without tears to begin For each kiss is a cry we all lost Though there is nothing left to gain But for the banshee that stole the grave Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies I sit in and dwell on faces past Like memories seem to fade No colour left but black and white And soon will all turn grey But may these shadows rise to walk again With lessons truly learnt When the blossom flowers in each our hearts Shall beat a new found flame Must it take a life for hateful eyes To glisten once again Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies Cause we find ourselves in the same old mess Singin' drunken lullabies Singin' drunken lullabies There was a thunderous applause as Nick and Justin stumbled their way off stage and back to the buffet I was standing at. I was about to tell them how good they did for being drunk (I think, I don’t know how it was supposed to go) until Nick fell face first into the punch bowl. Justin and I burst out laughing as he got up and joined us. The night continued on like this, with drinking and dancing and singing, and we eventually found ourselves sitting out front, talking to a young colt who was surprisingly mature for his age. Alas, all good things must come to an end as Celestia had finally gotten away from whatever held her up. Although, I did notice her carriage creaking more than usual… As I suspected, she was not happy, but I managed to convince her to let me stay for one more song. Justin, being the most sober, decided to sing one of his favorites from Earth. Click here for video Man it's a hot one Like seven inches from the midday sun Well I hear you whisper and the words melt everyone But you stay so cool My mu equita My Spanish Harlem Mona Lisa You're my reason for reason The step in my groove, yeah And if you said this life ain't good enough I would give my world to lift you up I could change my life to better suit your mood 'Cause you're so smooth And it's just like the ocean under the moon Well that's the same as the emotion that I get from you You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Gimme your heart make it real Or else forget about it Well I'll tell you one thing If you would leave it'd be a crying shame In every breath and every word I hear your name calling me out Well out from the barrio you hear my rhythm on your radio You feel the turning of the world so soft and slow Turning you round and round And if you said this life ain't good enough I would give my world to lift you up I could change my life to better suit your mood 'Cause you're so smooth And it's just like the ocean under the moon Well that's the same as the emotion that I get from you You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Gimme your heart make it real Or else forget about it And it's just like the ocean under the moon Well that's the same as the emotion that I get from you You got the kind of lovin' that can be so smooth, yeah Gimme your heart make it real Or else forget about it Or else forget about it Or else forget about it Oh, let's don't forget about it (Gimme me your heart, make it real, or else forget about it) Oh, let's don't forget about it Let's don't forget about it, yeah Oh, no, no Let's don't forget about it... As soon as he finished his song, Celestia grabbed me by the ear and dragged me back to the chariot. The only thing I remember hearing before I passed out was Tia saying “You just wait until we get back home. You, and a certain author I know, are in deeeeep doo-doo.” [A/N]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Here you go guys, last half of the party! Comment, fave, you know what to do. And where do you think YOU'RE going?!? Umm...away? WRONG!!! GET OVER HERE!!! ...........lord save me.......
Chapter ThirteenJustin’s PoV The next day… “Ugh…my head…” As expected, I woke up the next morning with a massive hangover. Taking a look around, I noticed I was still in Sugercube Corner, lying on a table. Glancing at the table next to me, I saw Nick still passed out, a long trail of drool running down his chin. I decided to get up and search for anyone else who might still be here, my headache surprisingly disappearing quickly. Checking under the tables, I found a couple other ponies sleeping, as well as Pinkie behind the counter with a balloon sticking out of her ear. Hearing a loud groan, I turned back around to look at Nick. “Owww…my head hurts so much…what happened last night?” “Um, we partied. Hard.” Scratching his head, Nick chuckled a bit. “Oh yeah…heh-ow! It hurts to laugh…” I put my hand on his shoulder and helped him get up. “It’ll be fine, mine went away insanely fast. It shouldn’t bother you much longer.” “Hey, it is already fading! How does that work?” “I have no idea. But,” I turned around and pulled out two cups of steaming coffee, offering one to him. “We should probably drink these; they’ll help at least a little.” “Thanks…wait, where’d you get those?” “I…I have absolutely no idea…” I took a quick sip from my cup, sensing nothing wrong with it. “It tastes great, I just don’t know how I got it.” Nick simply shrugged. “Hey, coffee is coffee. Let’s just drink it.” I nodded in agreement. “Bottom’s up.” Both cups were quickly drained, our lips smacking as we finished the steamy liquid. Deciding that the party was cleaned up enough, we both decided to go out into town, aimlessly wandering around while looking for something to do. This continued for almost 20 minutes before we found somepony we knew. Unfortunately, that somepony was Lyra. “There you two are!” “Who-oh shit Lyra!” “Run man, run!” “Wait! I just wanna talk! And maybe take some samples for studying…” That was all the motivation we needed to keep running. Knowing our luck, “samples” would be hair, fingers, and other… questionable things. We ran everywhere, through alleys, under carts, at one point we even took a detour through the hospital. That turned out to be problematic, however, as then we had Lyra chasing us and security chasing Lyra. We finally lost her in the marketplace; her lust for fruit smoothies at slightly more reasonable prices than normal once again overrode her desire to catch and “experiment on” Nick and I. After that marathon, we went back to wandering, going from building to building in search of excitement. And it once again came, this time (thankfully) in the form of a blue pony that raises the moon. “Luna!” “Greetings Nick, Justin. How are you on this fine day?” “We’re doing fine. Justin and I just got away from Lyra again, so now we’re looking for something to do.” Puzzlement stretched across the lunar deity’s face. “Again? How do you two manage to evade her so often?” I laughed. “She seems to have a huge weakness for smoothies that are on sale.” “Hmm…well, those smoothies are really good…” I laughed. “Yeah…wait, why are you here Luna? I’m not complaining, but I thought Celestia was making you finish your duties.” “She was, but I finished early. I…also may have snuck out before she could confirm I was done…” She smiled sheepishly back at us while rubbing her hoof in a circle on the ground. We talked for a few more minutes before heading out to lunch at the nearby café. As we ate, Luna asked a question I didn’t think I’d hear from the shy princess. “Would you two like to go pranking with me?” Nick almost spat his soda all over the table. “What? You prank?” She smiled. “Of course. It’s so boring around the castle, filled with all those stuffy nobles. That and Celestia’s too busy to spend that much time with me. You two didn’t do much at your dorm back on Earth, so I thought we could…you know, have some more fun together.” She finished with a cute blush as Nick and I looked at each other, our faces slowly growing into a smile. We turned to Luna, Nick speaking up for both of us. “You know what? We’d love to. We have absolutely nothing planned today, and we’ve been meaning to hang out with you again anyways.” A smile took up most of Luna’s face as a loud ‘SQUEE!’ filled the café. She took a quick drink of water before filling us in on her plans. We could tell we were going to have a lot of fun… [INSERT LONG PRANKING MONTAGE HERE] “That… was… AWESOME! That was the most fun I’ve had for forever!” Nick laughed next to me. “Hell yeah, man! That was better than I expected! Did you see Rainbow’s face?” Luna laughed as well. “We did! Although you do realize that she is probably going to hunt you down for what you did, right?” “Haha yeah… but you know, I’m sure the white paint will wash off eventually. I mean, we got the cheapest kind possible. Besides, she won’t find us. We kinda just blinked away. I swear to God, Pinkie did something to us that day she gave us the coffee.” Luna blinked in confusion. “Laughter did something to you? How can you be sure?” I reached behind myself and pulled out an apple pie. “Because I have no idea where this came from. Also, I feel the strangest urge to go out and eat as many cupcakes as humanly possible.” Nick nodded in agreement. “As do I. But as tempting as that is, we have to go. Luna started looking a little sad. “But why?” I ruffled her mane and laughed at her little pout. “Because we need jobs so we can buy our own house.” Luna immediately perked up, smiling at both of us. “Is that all? No problem then, I shall purchase you two a house.” Both of our jaws dropped to the floor. Nick just kind of stared as I somehow managed a response. “But… but why?” Laughter met our surprise. “It’s the least I can do. After all, you did take care of me. Come on, let’s go house shopping!” We walked out of the café and started heading towards town hall, but a loud, angry, tom-boyish voice made us realize that would have to be put on hold. “There you two are! Hey, stop running! GET BACK HERE!” As the cyan pegasus with a now white mane and tail chased after us, only one thought ran through my head… “Totally worth it!”
Chapter FourteenLuna’s PoV One week later… It’s been one week since I snuck out of the castle to go visit my new friends in Ponyville. Celestia was…well, angry isn’t quite the right word. She was upset, as well as slightly disappointed, but she wasn’t angry. In fact, she was oddly happy. I suppose she’s glad I’m finally getting out and spending time with real pon-…people. She even enjoyed listening to my story of our pranking escapades (although she laughed a little too much when I told her what Rainbow did when she caught Nick…). Perhaps my having fun is why Celestia was so open when I told her I wished to purchase a house for Justin and Nick. She gave me a budget, of course, and since I can’t keep putting off my duties, I sent the money to Justin at Applejack’s farm so they could start house-hunting/building. On top of the budget, I sent them a little extra from my personal account, so I wonder how it’s been going… Nick’s PoV “Nope, this one’s too small.” “Dude, pretty much all these houses were built for ponies. They’re going to be small.” “I guess you’re right…” I sighed as I allowed reality to sink in. When Luna sent the money to Justin for our house, we were both really excited. We could finally get our own place and stop feeding off the kindness of our newfound friends. We found out early on, however, that was easier said than done. We both stand a good two feet over the average pony, making it rare for us to find something in our size. “Nick, let’s face it.” “Yeah bro?” “We’re gonna have to get a custom built home.” Once again, a sigh passed my lips. He was right, of course, but we were really hoping to find a pre-made home. However, out of the sixteen available homes in Ponyville, none of them were big enough for two human males. Pulling out a water bottle (we still have no idea how that whole thing works), I took a swift drink before offering it to Justin. After another drink, we started heading over to the construction headquarters we saw near town hall, the check from Luna in hand. Four hours later Justin’s PoV “Dude…what the hell just happened?” “I’m not paid enough to understand this.” Nick and I gazed on in amazement as the construction ponies continued building what could only be described as a small mansion on an empty lot in the northern part of town. After walking into the office, Nick and I described some of what we wanted in our house. After a while, the overseer came in and asked us what our budget was. Since Luna asked us not to look, I simply handed him the check. Now, the two of us thought it was maybe a thousand bits or so (or at least enough for a small house. We’re still not entirely sure how their currency works), so we expected a small nod or something. Instead, his eyes bugged out and he sat there staring at it for what felt like half an hour. He then proceeded to get the manager, who went to get the owner, who immediately sent the crew out to the location. Amidst our confusion, the owner asked what our dream home might be. I thought it was just to fill time, so I just started rambling…”Well, I would personally like a study with a decently sized library, a pool in the backyard, big kitchen…” Nick must have thought it was a joke, so his ideas were just a bit ridiculous. “We’d have to have a moat. No particular reason why, it just needs to be there. And a secret lair beneath the house, with a bunch of different passages to get in. Oh, and a game room.” I may have facepalmed a bit while the owner simply sat there and smiled. After talking for a while longer, we agreed to go on location to see how the progress was going. As we left, I didn’t notice the phone sitting off of the receiver…which brings us to now. “How much money did she send us?!? They’re building everything we said. Everything!” Nick started to shake my shoulders to calm me down. “Dude, calm down. I’m sure they’re not gonna do EVERYTHING we said.” “There’s a moat over there, Nick. Do you see that? A moat. As in a medieval defensive mechanism. It’s gotta be at least five feet deep and seven feet across. They’ve built a drawbridge and a security gate onto the fence surrounding the house. Do you know what that means?” “…no Lyra?” “…no Lyra.” Two hours later “Ok, ok, I admit it, I overreacted. Are you happy now?” “Not until you admit that secret lair was the best idea ever.” “…it’s pretty sweet, I’ll give it that.” “Verily. I suppose it was a good thing I sent you some extra money then, isn’t it?” “I suppose so…” Nick and I were impressed. There is absolutely no other way to put it. They built this house to the letter. Every detail we mentioned, every oddity or hiding spot discussed, it was all here. And from what we were told, there was plenty of money to spare. Luna came to visit near the end of completion, and promptly ignored every attempt on our part to find out how much money she sent. All she told us was that it was enough to last a while, and she put it in a bank account under both our names. After signing the deed to the property, the three of us sat in the living room and just hung out. Luna talked about how much better things at the castle were, and Nick and I discussed our plans for the future (as well as some anti-Lyra defenses. Hey, don’t give me that look, she’s persistent). As we talked, I noticed Nick thinking about something. After a while, I decided to call him out on it. “Hey man, what’s wrong? You’ve been thinking for a while now.” Nervously, Nick cleared his throat and looked up. “Guys, I just realized something.” “What would that be?” “This is a new house, right?” “Obviously. So?” “And we just moved in, right?” “What are you getting at, Nick?” “Think about it; what usually happens when someone new moves into the neighborhood?” “I don’t know, a housewarming…oh no…” “Quick, lock the doors before-“ “DID SOMEPONY SAY PARTY?!?” Author's Note Hey look guys, I'm not dead!
Chapter FifteenThe next day… Justin’s PoV “It’s already trashed. It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours, yet the house is already a mess. How the heck can little ponies party so hard?” Nick and I sat in our living room staring at the mess Pinkie’s party left behind. She somehow managed to scale both the fence and the moat, opening the way for the rest of town to just barge right on in. There was food on the ceiling, ponies passed out everywhere, and Luna was nowhere to be found. I’ll admit, after somepony spiked the punch I don’t remember much. I am, however, 90% sure Nick and I made fools out of ourselves. The other 10% is that Luna somehow managed to keep us in check. Maybe. I highly doubt it. Anyway, I’m getting off track. Back to figuring out how to clean up this place. “Nick?” “Yeah bro?” “Any ideas?” “Hmm…let’s find Pinkie and Luna. Luna will help us clean, and this whole thing is Pinkie’s fault anyway.” “Right. Ok, let’s get searching.” It took maybe fifteen minutes to find the two of them, even in this huge house. Pinkie was passed out in the kitchen (kinda obvious in hindsight) and Luna was sprawled out on the guest bed. After waking her up (and taking a blackmail photo) we started to clean, as well as clear the rest of the crowd out. It took three hours, but the house was finally back in presentable condition. As we flopped down on the sofa (after Pinkie left), Nick, Luna and I tried to plan out the rest of our day. “So what do you guys want to do?” “I’m not sure. Celestia doesn’t require me back at the castle until this evening. What do you think, Nick?” “I think we should go visit Fluttershy and her animals.” That caught my attention. “Fluttershy? How come? Not that I’m not open to visiting her, it just seems a little random.” “Well, she made me an offer a while back that I think we should take her up on.” Luna seemed pretty interested now as well. “What kind of offer, Nick?” “She said once we got our own house, we could go pick out a pet or two.” “Really? That’d be really cool, actually. I haven’t had a pet since I was a little kid!” “Shall we be off, then?” "Verily! To Fluttershy’s!” A brief walk later… General PoV “Oh my goodness, I’m so happy for you! Oh I just can’t wait to see which of my critters you’ll decide on!” Fluttershy was practically beaming as she lead Nick, Luna and Justin into her backyard. After telling her they each wanted a pet, she let out an impossibly loud squee before bursting out into song. Nick cut her off though, seeing as how he was just as excited. Upon entering the yard, every animal up for adoption gathered around the trio, doing their best to stand out from amongst the others. Bunnies, squirrels, various birds and insects all trying to garner the humans’ attention. Looking around, Luna asked the two, “So what exactly are you two looking for? Something big, or maybe a bit smaller?” After some brief deliberation, Justin walked his way over to a medium sized vampire bat. After a short, unspoken conversation, the bat flew his way up onto Justin’s shoulder, where he folded up his wings and made himself comfortable. Nick walked his way over and said “So I’m guessing that’s your choice?” Justin nodded. “This is Abraham. I like his style.” Abraham beamed on Justin’s shoulder and cuddled the man. Luna piped up with “That’s the most adorable little bloodsucker I’ve ever seen.” “Luna, don’t embarrass him before I even take him home!” “Sorry!” Whilst this exchange took place, Nick continued to walk around, inspecting the other pets. After a while, he found a small alligator who bore a slight resemblance to Gummy, Pinkie’s pet. Only major difference was that this alligator had a tiny mustache. Nick picked him up, looked at him a bit, pulled out a bowler hat, and placed it on the gator’s head. “I dub thee Gummington. You are now my pet, good sir.” The creature blinked once, smiled, and draped itself over Nick’s neck. After filling out the appropriate paperwork with Fluttershy, the alicorn and two humans took their pets and headed back to their home. A few hours went by as the two spent some quality time getting to know their new pets. Gummington really enjoyed potato chips, and Abraham liked to bring Justin the things he needed, like a little assistant. All in all, the two animals blended in seamlessly into the everyday routine. After Luna left, things slowly started to calm down, and for the first time since they arrived, Nick and Justin really got to relax. Weeks went by with almost no excitement. Lyra was unable to cross the moat, Luna would stop by every couple days to hang out and go pranking, and Nick and Justin even got part time jobs working for the same construction company that built their house. As a hobby, the two also spent their free time training and volunteering with the local guard, as well as learning sword play. They had helped defend the town from various Everfree creatures on a weekly basis. Yes, it would seem life had finally calmed down for the two displaced humans. Looks, however, can be deceiving. It was a sunny summer day, and our two favorite humans were chilling with their favorite alicorn after a long day at work. Nick complained about everything they had to lift on the job, while Justin just sat back and nodded. Their coworkers really did enjoy taking advantage of their height for various things, sometimes. Instead of smiling like usual, however, Luna seemed concerned. Picking up on her worried looks, Justin spoke up. “Luna? Is everything ok? You seem kinda distressed.” *Sigh* “No, not everything is ok I’m afraid. There have been quite a few disappearances up in Canterlot, and neither Celestia nor myself can figure out what’s wrong.” Nick was quick to jump in. “Hey, don’t worry Luna, we know you guys will figure it out. Do you have any clues?” Luna shook her head. “Only that the ponies in question began acting a little strange a few days before vanishing. But without any actual evidence, we can’t even begin to form theories…” As Nick and Justin tried to think of how to cheer up their forlorn friend, a loud banging came from the door. Upon answering, a royal guard made his way into the house and bowed before Luna. “Your majesty, I have received orders to bring you, Sir Nick, and Sir Justin back to Canterlot for an emergency meeting with Princess Celestia.” Luna looked incredibly confused. “What has happened?” The guard gulped before answering. “We found one of the missing nobles, and managed to capture their kidnapper.” Justin began to look worried. “Who was it?” “It…it was a changeling.” Author's Note Guess who's finally got a new computer?
Chapter SixteenEn route to Canterlot Castle General PoV “So let me get this straight, a changeling is a bug-like ponyish creature with the ability to shape shift?” “That is correct, Justin.” “And they tried taking you over once before?” “Yes they did, Nick, at my niece's wedding.” “Alrighty then. One last question.” “Yes?” “Why the hell are we coming too? What help could either of us possibly be?” “That…is an excellent question. Perhaps we should ask Celestia when we arrive, no?” After the guard arrived at the mansion to retrieve them, the trio of Nick, Luna, and Justin had been in a state of confusion. After putting on their custom-made reserve guard armor, the two humans joined their friend in the waiting carriage, and were quickly on their way to Equestria’s capital. Along the way, Luna briefed them on changelings, the dangers they posed, and their ruthless queen, Chrysalis. “Of course, I wasn’t actually there when all this happened. This is all information Celestia gave me after…well, after I woke up…” Nick could barely contain his laughter. “You…you actually slept through the entire invasion? That’s priceless!” As Nick started laughing, Justin whacked him on the arm while shaking his head. “Dude, not the time. Whatever’s going on here is really serious, and for whatever reason the two of us are getting involved. Try to show a little more tact, bro.” Sighing, Nick sat up straight and shook his head. “You’re right, bro, I’m sorry. Luna, how much longer until we get to Canterlot?” “Just a few more moments.” A few minutes later, the carriage landed in one of the designated arrival points in the rear of the castle. The guard who initially fetched them explained that despite their arrival (eventually) becoming international news, the nobility was still likely to panic over the humans’ presence. Nick and Justin nodded in understanding before Luna asked to be shown to Celestia. A short walk later (with much gawking on the humans’ part) and the three found themselves in one of the private royal meeting rooms. Upon arrival, they also found Celestia, who then gave Luna, Justin, and Nick each a hug before motioning to the various chairs in the room. After sitting down herself, Celestia cleared her throat to begin. “As I’m sure you’ve already been told, a changeling was recently captured in the mountains, holding one of the missing nobles hostage.” Nods all around. “Recent reports also say more and more are being found as the royal guard moves farther from the city. Luna, I’ve summoned you back to Canterlot to organize the night guard in assisting the search and rescue teams.” Luna nodded in agreement. “As expected. But sister, why bring Nick and Justin to Canterlot as well? What do they have to do with this?” Celestia bowed her head in sadness. “I’m afraid the changeling we caught mentioned capturing the two ‘aliens’ and using them as bargaining chips against us.” Nick was utterly shocked as Justin spoke up. “Wait, what? Are you telling me a race we’ve had no encounter with before is targeting us?” Celestia nodded. “Precisely. You two hold a very close connection to Luna, and apparently the changelings wish to use you against her.” “That’s messed up…” Celestia nodded again as Luna spoke up. “But sister, why not just assign them a guard detail? Or relocate them to the Ponyville barracks? They are part of the reserve guard after all.” “There are two reasons for that, Luna. The first is that Ponyville has been compromised, and there may already be changelings among the populace. That’s why I had Twilight and the others brought here shortly before you. The other reason, is…” Celestia began whispering in Luna’s ear, who gradually gained a smile and a small blush as she turned to her two friends. “Yes, I have been meaning to at least ask them…” Nick perked up. “Ask us what, Luna?” “We’re friends, right?” Justin jumped in with “Of course we are! You’re the best friend two jackwaggens like us could ever ask for!” Luna smiled and blushed a little more. “And friends…protect each other, right?” Both men nodded. “In that case, I have a favor to ask. Would you two…do me the honor of becoming my personal knights? We’d be able to work side by side, and you’d get some really cool armor! What do you say?” Nick and Justin looked at each other, smiled, and wrapped the night princess in a hug. “You never needed to ask.” “Then please, kneel.” As the two humans knelt, Luna started to focus some magic into her horn, waiting until it built up to incredible levels before phasing it into her dear friends. “Rise, my knights, and accept the proof of our contract.” As they stood up, Nick and Justin found two purple medals with a crescent moon stamped into it. After putting them on, their armor shifted to a more pointed style, and the colors changed from standard gold to black, silver, and dark purple. Nick looked at Justin and whistled. “We look badass.” Celestia finally chose to step back in. “Yes you do, and you’ll be briefed on the rest of your new duties later, but for now, come with me.” “Where are we going?” Justin asked. “To go see our little prisoner.” The dungeon Changeling’s PoV It has been a whole day since I foolishly allowed myself to be captured by these ponies. The only bright side is that the hive link is still active, meaning I can still communicate with my queen. She has ordered me not to attempt to escape, at least not yet. First I am to gather information on these…hyooman, things. My queen seems especially interested in them, and so I listen to the guards posted outside for any snippet of information I can get my pointed fangs on. Apparently they’ve been moved here, to the castle, meaning our spies in Ponyville won’t be having much luck. I’ve also heard that they’re coming to visit me…tonight. Those pesky princesses will be there as well. It matters not. I will be transmitting the whole conversation to my queen, as ordered. As for the princesses? No one will stand in the way of my queen and what she desires. And what she desires is Canterlot, all of Equestria’s love, and these two…aliens, who have garnered favoritism amongst the Night Princess. “Keep an eye on them, young one. Soon, those two will be mine!” “Yes, my queen…” Author's Note So I've decided to try adding story arcs, the first of which involves the changelings. I hope you enjoy!
Chapter SeventeenEn Route to Canterlot Dungeon Celestia’s PoV As we headed for the dungeon, I felt the need to warn Nick and Justin about how tricky these changelings could be. “There are few things these creatures say you can trust. As you’ve previously been told, changelings can take the form of anypony you know. It may take some time before we get any reliable information. Just let Luna and I do the talking, okay?” Justin nodded, but Nick seemed lost in thought. “Something on your mind, Nick?” Luna asked. “…if it doesn’t want to talk, what will you do?” I quirked my eyebrow at this. “We come back later and try again. Why do you ask?” “Because there are…other ways to make it talk. Human ways.” Luna looked on in interest. “What would those be, Nick?” “Torture.” Luna and I looked at Justin in horror. “That is where you were going, right Nick?” “…yeah, it is. If it refuses to talk, that’s the only thing I can think of that might work.” “Nick. Justin.” The two humans looked at me with slight confusion on their faces. “Yes?” “I think it would be in your best interest if you don’t bring up that…practice, again. It’s frowned upon here in Equestria, and Luna and I wouldn’t want others judging you harshly because of it.” The two looked at each other briefly before nodding. “We understand.” “Good,” I nodded. “Now, let’s go interrogate this prisoner.” “Right.” ??? PoV I can hear them coming. Those foolish princesses…plus my targets. I cannot hear what they are discussing, but I know there was a disagreement. The sun princess used her firm, ‘no nonsense’ tone, used only when she needs to make an important point. It won’t be long now…I can still hear my queen’s words: “Remember young one, observe everything. Tell them only what I’ve said you can, and keep a close eye on those two. I desire them, and if I am to obtain them, I need to know everything about them. Strengths, weaknesses, personalities, everything. Do not fail me, young one. Not this task.” I will not fail my queen. Failure is not an option. Outside cell 1,182 Justin’s PoV The rest of the trip to the dungeon was made in silence. I couldn’t tell if it was because Celestia and Luna were thinking of what to ask the changeling, or because of Nick’s…suggestion. I’ll admit, the same thought was running through my head as well. I suspected the ponies might be against it, but not that much. I was a bit taken aback by the serious tone Celestia used, but I can understand why she used it. We were from a different world with different rules, and she didn't want us to do anything this world saw as wrong. After a few more minutes and what seemed like almost a thousand jail cels, Celestia finally told us “We’re here. I’d like you two to wait outside the cell for now, alright?” Nick and I nodded. “Good. Luna, it’s time.” “Yes, sister.” The two princesses moved in front of one of the cells and motioned one of the guards to open the door. After stepping inside, it was silent for a few moments. Nick and I started to get worried, almost ready to step inside the cell ourselves until we heard Celestia speak. “What are you planning? Another invasion? Speak.” Silence. Luna spoke next. “Whatever you’re planning, it will not work. If you do not wish to spend the rest of eternity in this cell, you will tell us what it is.” Still nothing. About ten minutes went by, with similar questions being asked the entire time, but still no answers came from the changeling. However, as Celestia and Luna finally turned to leave, we heard a strange, flanged voice come from behind them. “The hyoomans. I will speak only to them.” After a few moments of hesitant deliberation, the two princesses nodded to each other and waved us forward. Slowly stepping past them, we walked into the dark, dank cell. There, sitting in the corner, was a strange, insectoid looking pony. After a brief staredown, I finally decided to speak up. “What do you want with us?” “…my queen desires you. It is as simple as that.” Nick spoke a bit irritatedly “If you’re after us, then why kidnap all those nobles, huh? What did they have to do with anything?” “…they were a means to an end. A way for us to gather money and love, as well as influence in Canterlot.” “So you are planning another invasion?” “…what is your name, hyooman?” “My name is Justin, this is Nick. And it’s pronounced ‘human’.” “Justin and Nick…I see. Good to know. Unfortunately, I do not know what the plan is. I am a low ranking drone, I know only my orders, nothing more.” Nick sighed. “I’m assuming that’s all the information we’re getting from you today? “…” “We’ll take that as a yes. Let’s go, Justin.” “Agreed.” As we left, the changeling said and did nothing but stare at us the entire time. Walking with the princesses out of the dungeon, I could almost swear I heard the changeling talking to someone… Luna’s PoV Royal Meeting Room “Are you sure it didn’t cast any spells on you? No mind control? Are you absolutely certain?” “Luna, we’re fine. We can see magical auras, remember?” I sighed in relief. “I know Justin. I’m just worried, you know? Those creatures are tricky.” My sister put her hoof on my shoulder to calm me down. “Luna, they’re ok. I checked them over myself.” “*sigh* That does make me feel better, sister. Thank you.” “I am worried, though. What exactly could they be planning?” Changeling’s PoV “And I could sense vast emotions swirling about inside them. Along with love, there is a great rage and sadness within their hearts. We may be able to take advantage of that. Other than that, I was unable to gather more information at this time.” “That’s alright, young one. You’ve given me enough to begin planning. We will begin to drive a wedge between them and the lunar princess. If that does not work, then we shall take them by force. Soon, everything will be just perfect…”
