The City of Dreams

Will inched the truck along at a snail's pace in order not to disturb the "cargo" in the 1978 Ford Ranger's bed. Looking back over his shoulder he saw that they were still there, and not fallen overboard. Though, the thought that they never were really there, and that this was all due to a brain tumor or a severe case of Schizophrenia did cross his mind several times. But when they reached the farm's dirt path and drove over a bump as they moved off of Highway 50, a loud scream pierced his thoughts. Turning over his shoulder, Will saw that they were trying to comfort the girl with the pink hair and yellow wings. "Nope, I guess this is real. That or I need to find a really good doctor."

The farm wasn't actually a farm, but rather, an old ranch stead that was converted over the years into mini airfield. The main building was a one story late 1930's homestead, with additions added here and there over the decades. Though many owners had come and gone, it had managed to keep its original shape. Behind it loomed the shadow of a rusty hanger that had once been long, long ago a barn to house the cattle, with the pre-dawn light it seemed like a large behemoth sleeping behind the house. There were no lights on inside, as Will was sure that Liza had already gone to sleep several hours ago.

Will tapped on the glass behind his head to get the girls attention, "Well, were here, home sweet home." The girls looked beyond the cab and saw the shadow up ahead.

Will pulled the truck up as quietly as he could, and cut the engine as soon as he thought they were close enough. He stepped out of the cab and walked around to the back where the girls were huddled under an old emergency fire blanket. Remembering why he had given them it in the first place made him blush slightly, "Alright, you girls just wait here. I'll be back in just a moment with something for you to put on." Will disappeared around the truck, but quickly popped back, "And before I forget, try not to make too much noise. My Sis is probably asleep by now, and I'd like to try and break it to her as nicely as possible that I have a few mutants in the back of my truck." And with that he was gone into the house.

Twilight looked at her friends; most of them were still in shock, but mostly alright. Though it did take some getting used to seeing them like this, they hadn't changed too much from the spell that sent them to this mysterious land. A pang of guilt sprang somewhere inside of her, "I did this, this is my entire fault," She thought to herself and hugged her knees closer to her chest.

Rainbow Dash seemed to notice what Twilight was thinking and shuffled a bit closer to her friend, "Ah, don't beat yourself up too much Twi. So ya made a bit of a hick up and landed us on some strange alien world. It could be a whole lot worse."

Twilight looked up at her rainbow haired friend, "And how can this get any worse?!" She exclaimed, a bit of panic in her voice and the beads of some tears forming in her eyes.

"Well, fo' starters. We could'a been hurt, or worse, one of us might'av bucked the can and bought the orchard," Applejack chimed in, trying her best to look at it from a positive angle as well.

"Thanks AJ, Rainbow, I needed that" Twilight said wiping away a tear with her new found hands.

A cough rang over them that nearly made them jump out of their skins. They turned around to see the creature named "William" awkwardly standing nearby with a pile of what looked like shirts and jeans.

"Now I know, they might not fit, or even be your favorite colour, but it's still better than walking around in your birthday suit," he said as he passed them the pile and ran around the truck and into the house again this time there were a few lights inside that went on, and some noises could be heard from one room in particular. Twilight smiled; at least there was something willing to help them out when they needed it.

"Well, though these rags may never be in style, that creature was such a gentlecolt to offer us this much," Rarity said as she tugged on the trousers. Twilight, AJ, and Rarity had the least amount trouble getting used the new clothes, but Fluttershy and RD had some problems with the shirts as their wings wouldn't fit in them. They eventually opted to trying the shirts around their chests in a band. And after flapping her wings to make sure that they weren't restricted, Dash made an approving nod. Pinkie on the other hand was having problems fitting into her shirt, for some reason her chest had the largest bumps on them out of the six. They all had some issues with their tails, but they eventually went with puffing them down one of the trouser legs.

Will retuned a moment later and saw that they were all dressed, and with that he blew a sigh of relief. Though looking at Pinkie he knew that there would be a problem later on. Well, it was a start, clothes could be bought later, but the temporary fix held.

"Alright, I made some hot chocolate inside. We can all sit down and figure out what the heck is going on from there." Pinkie instantly became alert at the mention of chocolate, and all of them agreed that a cup would help them out. Though when they slid off the back end of the truck's bed they nearly fell, but needed less help than the first time they stood, and soon all of them where walking inside the house. Inside it was bright, and it took them a moment to adjust to the light, but when they did, they stood there in awe of what they saw.

The room's walls were painted an eggshell blue and covered with photos and paintings, and the ceiling was painted a stark white. But what hung from its roof was amazing, there were hundreds of small toy like things that hung from an invisible string, some of them Twilight knew were planes, and a hot air balloon hung here and there, but most of them looked nothing like the ones in Equestira, more advanced and sleek. William made a gesture to the center of the room where a black leather couch flanked by several similar lazy chairs surrounded a low table with seven steaming mugs on it. They all sat down and made themselves as comfortable as they could get, pinkie began to bounce on the sofa and giggle while the other preoccupied themselves with trying to use their new hands to sip their mugs. Will sat on the chair opposite the couch.

Will took a look at each of them, bringing up his courage to ask the thing that had been bothering him since they first met, "Alright, now that we're all comfortable, I have to ask this: What in god's green globe are you?"

Again Twilight was the one to answer him, "Um, we are...were ponies."

Will stared at her as if she hadn't already answered his question, "Um, come again?"

"I said that we were originally ponies in the land of Equestria, I was a Unicorn," Twilight pointed to Fluttershy who tried to hide under a cushion, "Fluttershy was a Pegasus," Twilight nodded to Pinkie who had given up hope of trying to grab her mug without spilling and was bent over sipping from the edge, "And Pinkie was an Earth Pony."

There was a silence as Will laced his fingers in front of his face and continued to stare a hole into the coffee table. "That's it," He thought to himself, "I've gone mad!"

He suddenly looked up at Twilight, "Bullshit," he said and the word hung in the air.

Twilight was taken aback a bit, "I'm sorry?"

"Oh, well let me tell you my little secret, I'm actually a leprechaun disguised as a human my pot of gold is just over that hill under a rainbow," he said, a bit of the friendliness gone from his face, not that there was much to begin with.

"What's a leprechaun? I've never heard of something like that. But are you what you just said, a 'Human'?" Twilight asked innocently, though slightly puzzled.

"Yeah, I'm a Human. And I'd say the same for you, if not for that purple screw popping out of your face," Will pointed to Twilight's horn.

Twilight touched her horn, "Yeah this is my horn, and every Unicorn has one. We use them to cast magic." At the last word Will actually laughed. "What's so funny?" Twilight said a little offended.

"Oh no, it's just that everyone knows that 'magic' doesn't really exist." And a fit of laughter grabbed hold of him, he was soon accompanied by Pinkie as they laughed their hearts out. Twilight felt embarrassed that this stranger was laughing at her like this, and as the heat reached her face a wicked little thought popped into her head. "If magic doesn't exist then this won't happen." Twilight said as her horn started to glow as a purple aurora encased it and her mug and brought it into the air. Will stopped laughing long enough to see the flying mug as it went over to him and promptly upended itself onto his pants. The initial wonder quickly turned to stark pain as the burning liquid soaked his jeans. A pained yelp escaped him as he shot from his chair. Twilight looked over and saw both AJ and Rarity shaking their heads and looking disappointed at her. Twilight looked back and saw Will rolling on the ground holding his groin, swears spouting like a fountain. She instantly felt terrible for what she had done, and tried to apologized but was interrupted by small voice from behind her.

"What the heck Will, you know its 4:24am right? You can't bring any of your friends over." The owner of the light voice was a girl sitting in a wheel chair. She was wearing a set of pajamas with sheep bounding across it. Her blonde hair went down past her shoulders, and was held together with a scrunchie. She wheeled over to her brother who had stopped rolling and was starting to pick himself up again.

"Yeah, well sis, if I had known that we would be hosting magical creatures then I would have told you about it, you would have loved to have made a sleep over party out of it." Will jested as he made his way back to the chair, and let out a sigh, it was becoming his thing lately.

"Alright, everyone, this is my Little Sister Liza. Liza, meet the magical misfits." Liza turned her wheels to meet everyone.

"Hello," she smiled, and then they noticed the reason for the wheel chair; he legs were just stumps at the knees.

"Hi!" Pinkie said as she raised an arm in a wave, and it was at this unfortunate moment that the buttons on her shirt decided to commit suicide from the constant pressure that they were trying to contain.

Will sputtered after he had taken a drink of his mug, and Liza started to blush a bit, "Oopsies," Pinkie said as she tried to button the shirt back up.

Liza snapped her head to her brother with a forced smile, "Brother, these aren't by chance 'Working' women, and this is all a sick fetish of yours?" She said though ground teeth with obvious venom. A few of the girls blushed as they caught the meaning.

"Oh please sis, you know me. Though I may have some kinky tastes, there is point where I draw a line in the sand. And this is way beyond that line." She stared at him for a moment, then relaxed, "You're right, even you couldn't even pull off something of this level of perversion," as she noticed the horns, wings, and general lack of decent clothing.

"So, what's the story?" She asked as she folded her arms across her chest.

And so Will relayed the events of that night all the way up to the point where Pinkie's chest had exploded. All the while Liza remained silent until her brother had finished, and even after it she just smiled until she eventually burst out laughing. All the girls exchanged nervous glances at her sudden explosion of giggles as if it was something they did.

Liza noticed it, and explained when to laughs had died down, "This oaf, ever the knight in shining armour. Ever since he found out as a kid that we had some nobility far down the family line, he could never leave it alone and always tried to follow some sort of 'code'!" She then returned to giggling and Will started to clear his throat in slight embarrassment.

But instead of feeling better with the chuckles in the air, the mention of "Shining Armor" made Twilight fell homesick, even if it was unintended. Then, as if she was bucked in the chest she remembered the way that they had gotten here, (Where ever "here" was), The Elements of Harmony!

"William, when you found us, did you see any kind of necklaces or a crown nearby?" Twilight asked as she got up from the sofa. The question had taken Will a bit by surprise, and he tried to recollect.

"No, I'm sorry to say that you where the only things I found out there." He said raising an eyebrow, "Why, were they important?"

Twilight paled and slumped back down in between her friends, "Yes, they were VERY important. We can't get back home until we have them."

Will sat there looking at a now depressed Twilight, and saw that every one of her friends was also feeling the same. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was almost five, and outside the window dawn was fast approaching. He knew what he had to do.

"Alright, so you need these five gold neck thingys and a magical crown to get home? Makes as much sense as the Wizard of Oz I guess." Standing up, Will dashed for the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Liza asked after her brother.

"What's it look like, I'm goin' gold mining!" And with that he was gone, and the rumbling of the Ford told them that he was off on his search.

Liza looked at the six girls that were dumped into her living room, "He really is too good sometimes for his own good," she clucked and shook her head, "Anyways, who's up for breakfast?"