Winter's Grasp

Chapters

A Frigid Beginning
A Frost-bitten Trail
Thoughts Carved in Ice
Icey Tracks
Ice-skating into Town
Chillin' Out
A Frosty Farmer
The White Specter
Cracks in The Ice

A Frigid Beginning

Outside my new house, a blizzard raged with a fury I couldn't describe ever seeing before in my life. I was busy working on some projects I was given by my dick of a boss that needed to be done by the end of the week. The fucking...

But before I go off into a rant, let me introduce myself. My name is Zachary Yorkson. I’m eighteen and I’ve been living here in Nebraska for about fifteen years now, and I quite frankly, find this place to be ABSOLUTELY BORING!! One good thing about this place, is the snow and how much there is of it.

Ah... snow. You fall so gently from above, making everything cold, white...

And give me a reason to run around like a complete idiot in public.

What? Winter’s awesome. There’s no better season in existence! Fall’s a close second though.... Anyways, I was busy working on a concept drawing for some game that he was trying to make, and failing rather hard. Something involving undead people saving existence or something or other. The concept was good, but he was a complete idiot when it came to making the battle system and such actually work.

I had just finished drawing the main character’s default outfit when something broke through my window and sent the weather outside into a free-for-all in my room, scattering all my work into the windswept frenzy. “GOD DAMN- What the fuck!”

I ran up to the window and saw the fist sized hole in the glass and sighed. “Damnit... I just bought this place and now I have to fix it up even MORE! Now what the fuck caused all this?” I looked around the room and saw what looked like a glass marble about the size of an eye. “The fuck is this?”

I picked up the small sphere and saw that it actually was made of ice and was, surprisingly, indeed an eyeball. “Oooooooookay? Who the hell tossed an expertly crafted eyeball at my window? It’s a complete waste.”

I felt an increasing numbness crawl up my arm and the eye glowed before frost began to form around my hand. “WHAT THE FUCK!?” I tried to let go of the damned eye only to find my fingers were frozen in place. I pried my hand open and saw the eye was frozen to the center of my hand. “GET OFF ME YOU LITTLE-” I felt something cut into my arm and saw a slightly red snowflake fall to the ground near my feet.

The wind suddenly kicked up and smashed the last of my window and started to swirl around me, slightly lifting me off the ground. I felt many small cuts along my arms, legs and face as my body slowly froze from the extreme lack of heat. I, despite how unmanly this makes me sound, screamed like a bitch from the amount of pain I felt, and just so you know it was completely justified! I was practically being frozen alive for fuck’s sake!

When the wind dissipated my room (and all of my fucking gaming gear) were replaced by a foggy, cold, bluish grey room that seemed endless. “So..... our successor... has arrived....” I whirled around and saw a pair of glowing blue eyes staring at me. The one in my hand glowed the same blue and I backed away some.

“What the hell....”

A second pair appeared to my right and another voice that was eerily similar to the first. “Do not.... be afraid.... young one....” A third set formed to my left. “We are..... simply looking.... for one.... who can use.... our power.”

I looked between the three sets of eyes in slight fear and curiosity. “Just.... what are you?”

The eyes moved to sit in front of me and a trio of ghostly blue horses walked... er, floated forwards. “We are..... the Wendigos....and you...... are our heir.... to our might.”

I looked at them and stood. “So.... you chose me?”

Two of them collapsed into themselves and the last one looked straight at me. “No.... you were.... fortunate enough..... to have this remnant..... of us.... come into..... your possession.”

I looked at the eye again and it’s glowing started to fade. “So what now? Do I get anything from this besides an eye stuck to the palm of my hand?”

The Wendigo nodded and looked towards the ground, where an icy puddle formed at my feet. “My brothers and I...... were destroyed.....by a force...... that was...... unknown to us..... at the time....” I saw an image of a wendigo appear in the ice. “We were..... spirits.... of Ice.... and hate.....controlling the weather...... and feeding..... off of hate..... creating blizzards...... that could freeze..... entire realms....... at will.....”

I looked down at the ice and nodded. “Huh.... so by being your successor..... I get to do all of that?” I looked up at them and felt a forceful chill run down by back.

The Wendigo chuckled in it’s hollow voice. “Yes.... all the powers..... me and my brothers.... once held.... now belong..... to you....” It smiled evilly and I felt another chill run up my spine, stronger than the last. “...at a price....”

I slowly looked at him in shock. “A price?.... A PRICE!?” Damnit why is there ALWAYS A FUCKING PRICE FOR THIS KIND OF BULLSHIT!! It’s so annoying when I read stories and play games where this kind of crap happens!!

oh wait.... getting sidetracked..... need to focus on what’s happening right now.

“You will not....... be able....... to return....... to your home...... Instead.... you will awaken..... in our domain....” The Wendigo started to fade and I swear it grinned. “The more..... you use...... our power.... The stronger.... you will grow.....” The fog slowly started to swirl around me as it faded. “Farewell.....young one.... May the fates.... be on your side....”

The fog became a mass of swirling cloud that started to freeze my limbs on contact. “FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-” I blacked out from the pain as the cloudy mass shot in all directions.

A Frost-bitten Trail

I groaned as I lifted myself from the ground. Looking around I saw that there was a snowstorm still going on, but it was less massive than earlier. I slowly stood and looked at my hand to find that it had a black, fingerless glove on it and the skin was pale blue. The other hand was the same, both had metal plating along the back and black belts crossing across them in an ‘X’. ‘The Eye’, as I’m going to call it from now on, was embedded into the palm of my right hand, and was glowing slightly. I curled my hand into a fist and it felt like my hand always had.

I looked at my body and found myself wearing a pair of pale, tan pants and armor plated boots that came up to my knees. I had a loincloth that, thankfully, didn’t need to cover anything and was attached to my belt. It had a pattern of intricate lines across the front and went down to my shins. On my chest was a black, short sleeved tunic, covered with equally black plate armor that was held on by three belts going around my stomach.

All of this was topped off by the black cloak that was covering my back and sides with a grey lining on the inside. It even had a hood with a large belt adorned by a blue cross on the buckle and rounded shoulder plates with the same intricate line design on them to hold it on if I were to do anything involving running or lots of motion.

(And for those who lack imagination due to a chemical imbalance... here.)

I undid some of the straps on my left hand and rubbed on the frost bitten metal to make it reflect light. I gazed at my reflection and wasn’t sure if I should panic or just go with it. The skin on my face was a faded pale blue and turned near white as it ran up to my hair. Speaking of which, my hair was now pure white and ran down to my eyebrows that were and equally pearl white, but at least out of all the changes, my ice blue eyes stayed the same. “Well.... fuck.”

I looked around and saw that there was mostly snow and tundra in every direction. “Even more fuck.... Where the hell am I?” I stood there for about two more minutes before closing my eyes and spinning in place. “And I’m going...“ I stopped and pointed in a random direction, “...that way, cause I’ve got nothing better to do.”

I spent the next... hell if I know, I lost track of time... looking for any sign of civilization. “Just..... what.... the...... FUCK!! IS THERE NOTHING HERE BUT FUCKING SNOW AND ICE!?” I looked around in frustration and almost missed the small dot of green on the horizon... barely visible through the snowstorm. “FINALLY!!”

I trudged through the snow banks that had started to pile around the now noticeable field of grass and.... crystals for some odd reason.... and saw that there was some sort of barrier large enough to hold an entire city around the whole thing. “Woah.” I pressed my hand against the barrier and after some effort of pushing I made it through.

Only for my hand to feel like it was about to FALL OFF!! JESUS FUCKING CHRIST!! THIS BURNS!!! I pulled my arm out of the barrier with a scream of pain and saw it was smoking for a moment before the frost from before was visibly reforming. I looked between the two before backing away slowly, looking at the sky, and screaming in a fit of rage.

“Is everything I find going to cause me pain today?!” I turned around and started to walk away from the protected paradise when I noticed a trail that was barely visible under the massive amounts of snow. “At least one thing happened that didn’t lead to pain....” I followed the trail for half an hour until I found a small building that was standing in the middle of nowhere.

I walked up to the structure and saw that it was a small, near abandoned train station. There was no one in sight and the ticket booth was empty of anything besides dust and snow. Oh, and a chair. A short stubby chair that would have been impossible for me to sit in. Is this place run by midgets? I mean really, who the hell could sit in that?

I walked into the main building of the station and found that the area was mainly like the ticket counter, but with less snow. I saw some old filing cabinets, an antique desk, and a table in the center of the room. I walked up to the table and saw a stack of books that were bound together with old leather bindings. I looked at them, impressed by the condition they were in, and figured that it would be the best way to find out about where I am. “Okay... let’s see what dark secrets you hold.”

I flicked the cover of the top one open with a finger, not even picking the book up, and saw the cover freeze over as it fell to the table. I was mildly surprised that it didn’t shatter on impact and fucking shocked as all hell that I did that. I looked at my hand and saw The Eye was glowing faintly before dimming out completely. I briefly noticed that there was a trio of crystals on the cover underneath the layer of ice that I accidentally caused.

I decided to ignore the frozen leather and my ‘fuck all’ hand, before turning back to the books. I thanked all the gods in existence at once, be they benign or spiteful, that it was in legibly written english. The first couple pages were still a bit too damaged to read though, It looked like they were worn from being in such a cold place for so long or were just simply ripped out of the book, so I just read what I could. Most of the book depicted the history of the ‘Crystal Empire’ and the ‘Crystal ponies’ .......(Ugh, that sounds so stupid)..... or seemed to be photocopied letters and such. Most of it depicted the Empire to be happy and cheerful, until a figure going by the name of ‘King Sombra’ appeared. I found one of the letters about him that sparked my interest towards the end of the old tome.

.........nd the Wendigos still cause the snow fa...................................................................... We are running out of....................... need to head to the Cry.................. to get more suppl...............ed. I have almost got everything I need. I jus...................... ast the wendigos outside and avoid getting caught by Sombra.........................

.............................. If I can get in and obtain some of the untainted crystal that remains, then I can contact The Royal Sisters...........Equestria for assistance. I only pray that Sombra does not find me hiding here in this old hut.

I looked away from the book and sat in thought. The wendigos were causing the snow? I looked down at my hand and the books iced cover. So does that mean by being their successor that I can do that?.... Wait.....That was a stupid question considering I froze a book by just touching it not five minutes ago.

Unfortunately, the page ended there and didn’t have any more info on Wendigos, so I turned the page (Without freezing it thankfully) and found more notes that were handwritten into the book in blue ink that sharply contrasted the worn black of the previous pages.

These were the last notes of the resistance leader, Diamond Edge, before he was able to send a letter for assistance to the Royal Sisters. While the letter was successfully passed along by one of his subordinates, He was captured shortly after and publicly executed by Sombra himself. Soon after, the entire crystal empire disappeared from the curse that Sombra cast upon his defeat.

More recent events, however, have lead to the Empire being rediscovered by the Elements of Harmony and prevented a second attempt from Sombra at taking over. Sombra was destroyed completely by the Crystal Heart.

I stopped reading the book because the rest of the pages were blank or torn out. The other books depicted a moon with what looked like the head of a unicorn on the surface, and the last one had a blank cover.

I decided that it would be best to take all of them with me. I didn’t know what was in the other two, but I knew that I was going to get rather bored just walking around in a frozen wasteland. I looked around the room to see what I could find that could be of help to me traveling around. I opened the filing cabinets and found they were empty. It looked rather recent due to the lack of dust that was inside the old metal.

The desk seemed to be locked for the most part. I tried to pry open the lock only to succeed in making my fingers hurt. Little piece of.... I glared at the lock and wished that it would freeze into a brittle piece of tin. I felt a small pain in the back of my head as The Eye started to glow and ice formed over the lock and forced itself inside. Two seconds later I was reeling from sudden exhaustion and the lock fell off of the desk.

I stared at the remains of the lock for a second before looking to my hand. Did I just do that? I thought back to my chat with the Wendigos. “Well.... they did say that I would gain their power.... I suppose this is what they meant.” To test my theory I looked over to a chair that was knocked over and pointed my hand with it. I focused on covering it in ice and with some difficulty a coat of ice, 1/4 inch thick, formed over the entire thing.

I grinned and pulled the ice-chair up and sat in it. It didn’t feel cold to me and my grin widened. “Cool.” I couldn’t help but chuckle at the small pun and looked outside. The weather hadn’t let up and I looked at The Eye. “I guess I have you to thank that I didn’t freeze to death in that.” I looked at the desk and scooted my seat over. Might as well have been a fucking wheely chair with how I zipped past the desk and crashed into the table. “FUCKING HELL!!”

After grumbling and moving a normal chair into place, I started to rifle through the desk for anything useful. I found an odd set of bags that I probably could sling across my shoulders, a couple blank journals, some semi-frozen quills and some completely frozen ink. I looked at the ink and sighed, but put it, the quills and all of the books into the bags before slinging it over my right shoulder and opening the door.

The wind hit my face instantly and knocked my hood off. I flinched from reflex but relaxed when the wind didn’t hurt or bite at my face. In fact, it was rather soothing for a blizzard. I pulled up my hood anyways and fastened the belt, covering my mouth and nose. I don’t think that any light was able to hit my eyes so I figured that I looked pretty imposing right now. I walked around the outside of the station and found a hand trolley that was stored in a small garage. I am not using that....

Thankfully, fate agreed with me and from the direction of what I can only assume now was the Crystal Empire came a train headed towards me. I grinned as it made it’s way to the station and noticed something odd for what seemed to be the fifth time today. Why isn’t the train slowing down? Derp, again, stupid question. The place is abandoned genius.

I looked at the oncoming train and swore. As it moved past the station I jumped off and grabbed onto one of the back cars railings. With some effort I managed to pull myself between the cars and grinned. “Well that was easier than I thought....” Not being turned to paste under the wheels is an added bonus as well!

I sat on the train as it headed down the tracks. Where I ended up would be anyones guess at this point. All I knew was that I was headed to civilization that hopefully, by the look of the train’s decor, wasn’t covered in a ultra painful fucking barrier.

Speaking of which... If I find the asshole who made that, I am punting them to the FUCKING MOON!

Thoughts Carved in Ice

I woke up with a loud yawn and looked around. It was still dark and the others were still asleep. Huh, wonder what woke me. I looked out the window and saw the Moon was starting to set and the start of my second day was about to begin in about....... two hours, give or take.

I looked at the others for a moment and found it hard not to say that Vinyl looked freaking adorable with the way she was sprawled over the edge of her bed. If she slid out just a little further... she would faceplant into the floor of the car...... or worse, into Octavia who was a bunk below her. Although that would be funny as all hell.

The train was still moving and I didn’t want to wake anyone so I reached for my bags and pulled out one of the books. It was one of the journals that had no writing so I reached in again and pulled out a quill and one of the ink bottles that had, thankfully, thawed and I laid back on my cot’s pillow as I opened the first page. It was a bit irritating that all my writing was freezing onto the paper the moment it left my quill, causing it to form into a dark blue coloration.

Journal Entry 1, Day 2

Somehow by either luck that sucks balls, fate that can go fuck itself, or that bastard child of the two I have found myself in a situation that is more like a shitty science fiction-fantasy story that should be possible.

After having my body altered slightly by some form of creature called ‘Wendigos’, I currently find myself stuck in a world that has talking ponies and magic. Through books that I found alongside this journal, I know that my best bet on finding out what these Wendigos are is the kingdom of ‘Equestria’. I also seem to have gained this ‘magic’ as I have now have the ability to control ice and snow.

I normally would have called anyone out as a liar if they told me they could do this, but having it happen right in front of me by my doing only makes me worry over what I could do if I lost control.

Despite all this, my biggest worry by far is that-

A groan from across the car made me jump slightly causing me to strike out what I had wrote. I stopped moving and looked over to see that Vinyl had rolled back onto her bed and knocked a pillow down onto Octavia. I sighed and capped the ink before putting all of the materials back into my bag. The quill got it’s own pocket due to the still wet ink on the tip.

I hopped out of bed and started to move down the car to the door that lead further to the front. I made my way down the cars and possibly may have scared the ever living shit out of most of the passengers. “AAAAAHHHHHHHH! MONSTER!!!” Okay.... All of them. GOD FUCKING- What is it with theses ponies and FREAKING THE FUCK OUT!? Vinyl and Octavia didn’t panic THIS much!! Hell, Vinyl didn’t panic at ALL!!!

I just ignored them as I passed the panicking ponies and made my way to the dining car. There were more ponies here then I thought there would be..... This place better have something other than ponies in it or I’m going to go insane..... In the dining car were more panicking pansies and the one sight that made my day not turn into a genocide. A mother fucking griffon was a bartender... A. Fucking. Griffon. The most bad-ass mythical creature since ever.

I sat down on a stool in front of him and sighed. “Can I have something heavy to drink?” If I’m going to start drinking not two days in, I might as well start with the hard stuff...

The griffon grinned. “Sorry sir, if you’re wanting strong then you’ll have to wait till we reach our destination. The citizens of the Crystal Empire don’t really make any good alcohol.”

I slammed my head into the counter. “Fuck..... can you point me to the dining car then?”

The griffon chuckled and pointed a car further down the train. “The dining car is that way sir.” I got up and he put a claw on my shoulder. “I can also tell you didn’t get on at the station, I saw you when we passed the old one that was recently closed.” I gulped and the griffon gave me a calm smile. FUCK! He probably told the conductor and now I’m going to get tossed over! Just FUCKING PERFECT! “Ask for Pierre. He should be able to get you a decent meal.” And he can tell that I’m broke..... Just who the fuck is this guy and how is he so good?

I nervously looked at him with a wary eye. “Er.... Thanks?”

He smiled and started cleaning a glass. “No problem, but you best be going now. I’m pretty sure that all the screaming woke up some of the heavier sleepers.” I walked away with a sigh and headed off to what was soon to be my breakfast.

As I got to the door the one on the other side of the car slammed open. “What’s with all the screaming?” I turned around and saw Bass looking at me tiredly.

I let him catch up and shrugged. “Oh, it’s nothing. It just seems that your sister’s reaction to me is about the same as most of the passengers.” He blinked sleepily before he chuckled.

“I’m not awake enough for this.”

I pointed over my shoulder. “Want something to eat? I’d pay, but I don’t have any money.”

He yawned and trotted ahead of me. “Sure... That usually helps me wake up.” We walked into the next car and you can probably guess what happened. I have to give props to a pair of unicorn waiters and the griffon chef. They were facing me like I was an esteemed critic that could ruin them if they did so much as breath incorrectly.

One of the waiters trotted up to us with a pair of menus. “Would you care to see what we have?” I nodded and took the menu before the waiter went back to the kitchen area. I wasn’t surprised by the mass of vegetarian food... about fucking 99% of the damn thing. There were a few fish meals in the menu as well.

I looked away from the menu and chuckled. “Well, the Salmon looks good. What are you getting Bass?”

Bass was looking at the menu, “I think a salmon would go well right now.” I did a small double take and cleared my ear. Wait.... pegasi eat meat? Bass looked over to me and saw my slight shock. “What?”

I shook my head to clear it before replying. “Sorry... I didn’t know that you could even eat meat. I figured that since you were an equine...”

He laughed a little and set his menu down. “Most don’t, but pegasi can infact eat fish, though that’s pretty much it. It’s been slowly going down in popularity now that more protein rich crops are being farmed, so fish is relatively cheap.”

The waiter came up and opened a small notepad with a glow from his horn. “And what will you gentlemen be having today?” We gave him our orders and he quickly wrote them down before looking to us. “And what would you like for drinks?”

I thought for a moment before answering. “A lemonade please.”

Bass yawned, “Coffee.”

The waiter gave him a slight stink eye before writing down the order and giving us a polite bow. “Your order will be ready in a moment.” He trotted off to the kitchen and I turned to Bass.

“Ya know, I’m kinda amazed.”

He looked at me confused. “Why?”

I pointed around at the car. “They managed to fit both a dining hall AND a kitchen into one car. Compared to back home, this place is already amazing.”

He just gave me this funny look. “You think this old car is amazing?” Before I could reply our food arrived. “That was fast.”

The waiter nodded. “We have a surplus of salmon due to the lack of passengers who are willing to eat it.” He levitated two cups down and set them in front of us. “Your drinks sirs.” I nodded and took the drink before starting to eat my salmon. Wow. This is actually pretty well cooked! My compliments to the chef. We both ate in silence for a while. I didn’t want to seem rude by talking with a mouth full of salmon bits that was hastily shoved in my mouth, and Bass was just silent. I thought about what my new abilities were like and looked at my drink. There was a disturbing lack of ice in it. Are these ponies Dutch or something?* I focused on my drink and a cube started to form in the glass. Fucking boss! Right there!

Bass was about half way done with his fish when he looked up at me. “Hey Zach?”

I held my hand up for a second before swallowing the mass of fish. “Yea?”

“What did you mean last night when you said, and I quote, ‘ripped from my home’?”

I sighed and laid down my fork. “I figured that you would ask something along those lines.” I took a large swig of my lemonade before setting the now empty glass down. “Tell you what, I’ll explain everything when we finish up our breakfast and head back. Deal?” He gave me a quick nod and we continued eating.

When we got back I saw that only Vinyl was still asleep. Octavia looked over at me and smiled. “Good morning, Zachary.” Jump mumbled something incomprehensible.

Bass leaned over and said. “That’s morning for, ‘Good morning’.” I resisted the urge to laugh and looked over to Vinyl.

I grinned slowly as I made an ice-cube in my hand. I shushed the others as I slowly crept forward and slowly lowered the ice. I then dropped the cube when it was about half an inch from her neck and barely managed to dodge the horn on her head as it swung upwards. SWEET JESUS! I really need to plan this kind of stuff and stop doing it on a whim!

Vinyl was gasping in shock as she jumped out of her bed. “COLD! Cold cold cold!” She tossed her head to the side and the ice fell off. “What the heck Zach!?”

I raised my hands in defense. “Sorry, couldn’t help it. You being the only one asleep made you the perfect target.” We were all laughing at her expense and eventually she was laughing with us.

Bass looked over at me once we all stopped laughing. “Alright, now that that is over. You were going to explain a bit more on what happened Zach?”

I sighed and looked up at the quartet of curious ponies. “Fine, I’ll talk. But I warn you now, there isn’t much to it.” I opened my bag and pulled out one of my blank books and some ink again. Might as well write it down. “Where I’m from, things are a lot different. And that’s just from what I’ve seen in the past 48 hours.” I stopped for a moment before looking over to Vinyl. “Do you know what a videogame is?” They all shook their heads. “Alright, that question’s answered.” If someone from home was here, they could SEE the sarcasm drip off of me.

I proceeded to write down everything I said in the book. “Okay, you all know how I said I was ripped from my home?” They all nodded. “Well I meant that literally. I was working on some concept art for a story my boss was writing. It was the middle of winter and there was a blizzard outside.”

Jump looked at me in confusion. “Why was there a blizzard? Did the weather team let a storm loose?”

I blinked at her in confusion a couple times. “Uh... what?”

She sighed. “Don’t you have Pegasi where you’re from?”

I facepalmed and let out a groan. “This is going to take a while.....”

Author's Note

Okay just so you guys know: I was not insulting the Dutch or the Netherlands in this story. The Dutch joke is lagitimate cause I lived there for two years and know that they hardly serve any Ice in their drinks. I didn't mind but my Dad doesn't shut up about it. So there. EXPLANATION!

I hope you all enjoy the story and continue to do so.

Icey Tracks

I had spent the next couple of hours explaining my world to the only ponies that would probably listen to me. I had tried to go into detail on how our weather works, how magic was non-existent, how I used to live my life and what it included, and finally, I attempted to teach them about our technology, but it mostly coincided to their magic to the point that if it did something back home, There’s a spell for that or the concept was way too foreign for their current time.

However... some concepts just, wouldn't, stay with Jump’s attention span. “So there are no Pegasi? And the weather controls itself?”

I was laying on my cot again while saying the same answers over... and over... and over.... “For the last time Jump, YES it controls itself, NO there are no Pegasi or Unicorns or Griffons or whatever else you can think of in my world, and NO my hair was not white before any of this fuck-all happened and I wish I knew how the fuck to change it back!“ I placed the book I was writing in to the side and clapped my hands on my face. Please be satisfied with the answers.... PLEASE!!

Jump blushed a little before looking at the ground. “Okay... Sorry for asking so much...” THANK GOD ALMIGHTY!

I sighed and looked over at her. “It’s fine Jump... I’m just.... really fucking stressed right now.” I turned to everyone else to see that Bass and Octavia were scowling. One in concern and the other in agitation. Vinyl was looking a little shocked. “Any more questions?”

Vinyl figuratively stepped up to the plate and looked over at me. “Well you’ve told us about what your world was like, but.... yeah, could you explain how you got here? You haven’t really done that yet because we were kinda interrupting you....a lot....”

I blinked for a moment before slapping my hand into my cranium that is too thick to let any thoughts get out. Damn it she has a point... “Yeah... Let’s get back to that.” I got out of the cot and sat down in the middle of the hall. The ponies all stood and sat in front of me like it was story time. It kinda is though.... Fuck this reminds me of kindergarten way to fucking much. “As I said before, I was working on some projects for my boss during a blizzard. I was inside of my room when this...” I pointed to The Eye, ”smashed through my window and let the cold wind inside, ruining my work that wasn’t on my computer and making a complete mess of my room.

When I went to see what had smashed my window I found it and picked it up. It then fused with my hand and started to cause all of the wind to pick up and send me into what looked like the inside of a square storm cloud. A couple of creatures showed up soon after that were made of what I think was mist and frost. They called themselves ‘Wedigos’ or something and said I was to be,” I did an epic deep voice, “the heir to their powers’ or something. I was then unceremoniously dropped into a frozen wasteland and altered to what you see before you.” I looked up at the others and saw that all of them were looking at me in horror. “What?”

Octavia was the only one who seemed able to talk. “Y-y-you’re a W-wendigo?!”

I looked over at her in confusion. “Uh, no! I said the things that did this to me were Wendigos. I’m still a human....” I looked at my hand and sighed. “If only somewhat.” I put my hand down and looked over to them. “Anyways. I don’t even know what a Wendigo is in this world and I certainly hope it isn’t like what legends say back home. Could one of you tell me, or do I have to research it myself?”

“W-well,” Jump stuttered out, “all I r-really know about Wendigos is w-what’s said about them i-in the Hearth’s Warming play...”

I motioned for her to continue. “And that would be...”

Vinyl jumped into the conversation, interrupting Jump. “They’re supposed to be spirits that feed off of hatred and make everything too cold for anypony to live. The Hearth’s Warming tales said that they made the original home of the three pony tribes uninhabitable because the ponies fought too much and stuff. But that’s all I really remember about it cause I normally don’t pay attention to those silly plays.”

Octavia looked over to her with a worried glance. “Vinyl...”

I raised a hand and they all looked at me. “No Octavia... it’s fine.” I looked over to the group as a whole. “So what you’re all telling me... is that the beings that did this to me are so ancient in your world that there isn’t much information on them at all besides folklore and fairytales?” They all gave somewhat fearful nods and I could only sigh. “Well that’s. Just. Great.” My head sank with each word. Why? Why is this happening? Why me? Why couldn’t this stupid eyeball fly into my asshole neighbor's house and take him away! WHY WHY WHY!?

Bass spoke up after a couple minutes. “Hey man.... you going to be alright?”

I stood and walked towards the door of the train. “Yeah.... I just need a moment.” Not a minute later I was between the train cars again. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Seems like I can’t think unless I’m out here.” I just sat out there and thought over what they had told me. Wendigos or whatever gained power from hatred and made things colder. Now that I thought about it... it made some sense. I mean, I had been able to freeze things at will since I got here. I kept getting mad at some of the smallest things and would barely keep myself from snapping their heads off. Maybe I should ask for some more details about their folklore? I should probably wait a bit before I do though. Things are a little tense inside right now.

I took a look over to the side and saw that the train was far out of the snowy region of the world’s environment. Instead, we were passing through some dense forest. I moved over to the side of the cars and stuck my hand out, feeling the wind pass between my fingers. I wonder if it’ll be possible for me to get home? I sighed before pulling my hand back and grabbing the door handle. “Not like anyone would even notice that I’m gone. I bet that fucker I called ‘Boss’ and ‘Sir’ has already found a replacement for my sorry ass.”

I decided that I had spent long enough feeling sorry for myself and headed back in. Vinyl and Octavia were talking to each other while Jump was trying to avoid eye contact. Bass actually got up and moved over to where I sat down. “You better?”

“Yeah.” I made a ball of ice and rolled it around in my palm. “I just need some info on what’s going on. Being left in the dark on things involving me... tends to irritate me a bit.” He nodded a few times and we all sat around the car. It took a bit, but I finally realized that I didn’t know a vital portion of info that is needed. “Hey Bass?”

“Yeah?”

“Where the heck is this train headed?” Bass blinked a couple times before laughing. I joined him after a few moments and the others started staring at us.

Bass and I finally stopped laughing after a bit and he got up, wiping a tear from his eyes. “Oh man...” He cleared his throat. “Anyways, the train is headed to Baltimare, Me and Jump have a gig there so it’s where we are getting off. Vinyl and Octavia, however, are headed to their home in Ponyville.”

I repeated the names over in my head and held back a sigh. Stupid.... puns.... “Well.... are either of them close to Equestria’s capital? I kinda want to go there.”

Vinyl perked up and trotted over. “Ponyville is pretty much right next door to Canterlot. I actually have a gig planned up there next week. Why don’t you come with me and Tavi? We could use the company.”

With a scowl, Octavia dragged Vinyl away and started to whisper between the two of them. It seemed that Octavia... didn’t really approve of the idea. I decided that it would be best right about then to stay away from them. Eventually, Octavia broke apart from Vinyl and trotted over. “Zachary, Vinyl and I have agreed that it will be fine for you to accompany us to Ponyville.” Vinyl was doing a hoof pump in the background and I closed my eyes. There’s a catch, I know it. “But only that far. Once we reach Ponyville, you can continue on to Canterlot from there on your own.” Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaand there it is.

I sighed and put on a fake smile. Something that I’ve managed to perfect over my life. “Thank you for the offer. For now though, I suggest that we all enjoy the ride.”

Bass nodded in agreement as he looked out the window. “Yep, Baltimare is just a few minutes away from the looks of it.”

I gave him a thumbs up as I flopped onto the bed. “Cool. Now if you'll excuse me-” I pulled out my headphones and put them on, “I’ll be zoning out now.” I flicked through my Ipod and started to play some music as the train stopped. Looking out the window again, I could see a rather similar representation of Baltimore outside. Just.... more ‘ponyish’ than the real thing. Oh...... this world is going to be pun hell.... I just know it. It's going to be pun after pun and it's going to stick to me like glue on the ass after the first month or two.

With the train stopped, Bass and Jump both got off after saying their goodbyes to Vinyl and Octavia. I gave them my own wave and after the passengers got on and off, the train continued on it’s way.

It was quiet for a while before I couldn’t stand the silence in the room and had run out of songs that I felt like listening to. “So, Vinyl.” The DJ turned towards me. “What’s Ponyville like?”

Vinyl grinned happily as she began to talk about the town. “Ponyville is like, the most awesome town ever. It’s nice and quiet most days, but wow does some crazy stuff happen there. There was this one time the entire town was flooded with parasprites!”

I just sat there and nodded. “I have no idea what those are, but go on.”

Vinyl started to move her forehooves to emphasize what she was saying, while Octavia watched with a small, but nervous, smile. “They were everywhere! Flying around, eating all the food, and being general pains in the flank. Then the town librarian came out and tried to cast a spell on them to make them leave, but it just made them start eating everything that wasn’t food!”

Octavia was smiling a little as she lightly laughed. “Didn’t they try to eat your turntables?”

Vinyl nodded stiffly as she seemed to get lost in a memory. “Yep, and they learned pretty fast how sharp a vinyl record can be.”

I chuckled nervously as I started to rub the back of my head nervously. “Well then.... aside from freshly cut parasprites...” That hopefully I will never join the ranks of, “what happened then?”

Vinyl blinked back into reality a little before she continued flailing her strangely flexible hooves as she finished the story. “It was chaos! The town was in shambles, the food was all but gone, and the PRINCESSES were coming in only a few minutes! There was no way to fix anything in time and everypony was on the verge of hysterics when the next thing we know, Pinkie Pie starts marching down the street playing at least ten different instruments at once! I’m still not sure what was weirder. Pinkie, or the parade of parasprites that started to follow her out of town.”

I was silent after she finished telling the tale of parasprites. Okay.... that sounded a lot like the tale of the Pied Piper.

Octavia furrowed her brows as she looked at me. “Pied Piper?” I blinked before slapping my hand into my face faster than an Indie 900 race. Dag Nabbit! I was thinking out loud again!... And why did I think Dag Nabbit!? I normally just yell FUCK! Even if it is in my head!

“Well Octavia, The Pied Piper was a story from my home. It’s a really old story, has some similarities to the one Vinyl just told me, and I don’t feel like being a storyteller right now so I’ll tell you two in the future. Deal?” Vinyl, who had been leaning in sense I spoke my mind, slumped and pouted slightly.

Octavia just nodded her head and looked out the window. “That would be just fine an- oh! It seems were almost in Ponyville now.”

I took a peek out the window myself and saw what I could only describe as an old english village from... what, the 19th century? I don’t freaking know, I failed my history classes like a freaking tool to such an extreme the teachers were wondering how I did it. “Rustic.”

Vinyl nodded and joined Octavia near the car doors. “Yeah, but that’s what helps give it it’s charm. I’m pretty sure that you’ll find something interesting in Ponyville. There always is.”

I chuckled a little and stood behind them. “Yeah, like an army of parasprites or something.”

Octavia groaned while Vinyl laughed. “Dude, that was like.... a normal Tuesday for us.” I just stood there and looked at her in confusion as she laughed at said confusion.

When the car doors opened up, Octavia and Vinyl both walked...er...trotted out of the train and I followed them onto the platform with one thought in my head. I’m not really sure why this was what I was thinking... it just was.

Why Tuesday?

Author's Note

Who Tuesday? Well that's an easy one! It's cause nothing special happens on Tuesdays at all. With Monday it's "I hate Mondays" day, and Wednesday it's 'Hump day', Thursday it's 'Just one more day, just one more day' day, Friday is 'FUCK YES! FRIDAY IS HERE!' day, Saturday is 'Fuck the world and everyone on it, I want to sleep' day. and Sunday is 'Crap tomorrow is Monday' day. Tuesday is just.... Tuesday.

So I have made it so that Tuesday is now 'Ponyville insanity' day!

Enjoy the fruit of my aching hands and sleep deprived mind. They managed to work together to finish this by freaking midnight! :D

Now if you will all excuse me, I need to fall unconscious in that sweet sweet comfort known as a bed.

Ice-skating into Town

I stood next to Octavia and Vinyl and looked around the town as we got off of the train station’s main platform. It was about eight to ten in the morning and on a different note, the thatched roofs of the buildings were something to see. I hadn’t seen anything like them since that vacation I took to England thanks to my college math teacher for half the cost of an official school paid trip and with four star lodging to boot. Mr. Wakeling was awesome like that. Not as awesome as seeing the seven other people he brought drunk out of their minds after only a pint of some pretty potent alcohol... but still awesome. “Wow... I wonder if I can find a pub here.”

Vinyl tapped her chin with a hoof. “Well there is Berry Punch’s bar. Not exactly a pub, but it could work.”

I grinned and stepped onto to cobblestone roads. “Cool, Now let’s get-” I was cut off when I started to move forward.... without walking. Um..... wat......the......fuck? Looking down I could see my feet gliding over the roads like butter. A quick peek behind me saw both Vinyl and Octavia looking at me as I got farther away. there was also this shiny trail following me. I just made black ice under my feet didn’t I? I slipped backwards and landed on my back and continued to slide forward. “God fucking....”

I yelled back to Vinyl and Octavia. “Hey! As soon as this stops I’ll try to find one of you two, alright!?”

Vinyl shook her head and waved back. “Sure thing dude!” I bounced off of something and started down a different road. I kept waving until I couldn’t see either of them anymore and just laid dumbly on the street.... still sliding.

I sat up to wave calmly at the ponies as I passed them and looked at the buildings as they passed. The most common reaction was confusion or confusion and an awkward wave back. The were some rather interesting buildings in the town too. Like an overly fancy carousel, a freaking gingerbread house that I wish I could have eaten, Fucking ice says no to a snack break though...Dick. and some others that stated their business quite prominently.

One of the buildings that caught my attention was the tree with small and probably sharp black rocks sitting haphazardly around the doorway. It wasn’t that interesting other than the fact that it had windows and a door cut into it along with the fact that I was headed straight for said door at a rather fast speed. This is going to hurt... a lot.

I suddenly skid to a stop as the ice under me stopped forming and I had traction again. Or not. Thanks for not fucking me over ice. I think we’re going to get along fine until you do. I stood up and brushed the dust off of my legs and popped my back. “Okay tree of windows and illogicalness, what secrets do you hold in the world of puns.”

I went up to the door and knocked. Shortly after, I could hear what sounded like a book hitting someone’s skull and a groan. “IT’S A PUBLIC LIBRARY! JUST WALK IN FOR CELESTIA’S SAKE!”

I leaned away from the door slightly and felt a drop of sweat run down the side of my face. Of course.... of fucking course.... I pushed open the door and... was looking at a dude in a Skyrim t-shirt on a couch with a book on his head. The guy calmly lifted the book and peered through a doorway. “Yes. But it’s like 10 in the morning. So I doubt the sign is flipped.” He then rolled off of the couch he was laying on and landed on the floor. “Ow.”

I just blinked a couple times as I stood in the doorway. “Um.... what the fuck?” Now don’t get me wrong, I was practically ecstatic that I had someone other than ponies and griffons to talk to, but.... what did I just see?

He looked over to me and seemed slightly surprised before waving a little. “Hi.” He grabbed a black sword that I didn’t notice was laying next to him and was covered in freaking armor from nowhere. “Don’t mind me. Just woke up a little while ago.”

I felt my jaw drop and pointed at him. “How the fuck did you do that?” If only he could tell me.... and fuck I still have my hood up and buckled. I reached up and undid the belt and pulled my hood back, revealing the stupidly white hair that was on my head now. “No seriously, how? I’ve been wanting to look normal since this whole clusterfuck of dimensions and shit started.”

He pointed to his sword “Take thingy given.” He dropped it and his normal clothes returned. “Remove, and the armor goes away.”

Never in my life...... have I felt more cheated. My face twitched in rage before I collapsed onto my knees and screamed. “FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!” I started to bang my head into the floor in rage and frustration. “GOD! DAMN! IT! JUST! GOD! DAMN! IT!”

I laid on the ground and stewed in my fate when the other guy spoke up again. “And this rage is brought upon by..?” I raised my hand and showed him the fucking eye in my hand. “Ah. Hmm.... Try... Try focusing on getting rid of the armor. Just imagine having it go away.”

I growled into the floor and was protesting existence by not moving to speak to him face to face. “I’ve been trying that for two days now.... Why does everything hate or fear me today? Just why?”

“What is going on down there?” I grumbled as I turned my head to see a purple pony standing at the top of the stairs rubbing her face. She spotted me and facepalmed... or is it facehoof? Fuck it, I’m going to base every pony thing I see now with pony puns. It is the law of this land anyways so I might as well abide by it. “Great.... another one.”

The other guy started to wave and smiled at the purple unicorn. “O hai Twi. I forgot to mention, but sorry for the rock candy around the door.” So he’s responsible for the razor walkway

I pushed my front half off of the ground and stared at him. “I nearly shredded myself on those earlier. If they’re your fault, could you please fix the little bits of sharp rock that are out there?” I faceplanted back into the floor and started to roll off to the side. “Ignore me please. I wish to stew in my misery.” I kept rolling until I had the wall pressed against my nose. Just why.... If you answer me that lord I’ll become a believer, but until then WHY!?

“What? I thought Barney Jr.... Oh.” After a few moments I heard him groan. “Hello headache, I thought you forgot about me.” I just kept stewing in my dark corner. I couldn’t care less about what the other guy was doing now. My hate for this stupid piece of fucking ice was just increasing tenfold.

Eventually I decided to roll away again and saw that a purple tail was leaving the area... but it wasn’t a ponies. “Um... not going to ask.” I looked over to the Unicorn again and waved. “Hello. You going to run in fear screaming ghost too? I’m pretty sure a train load of snobby ponies are doing just that in... Baltimare.” God the pun tasted like acid on my mouth!

She seemed a little put off by it before moving over to a desk in the room. “Nnnooooo.....”

I nodded and sat up. “That’s good. Now there are five who aren’t scared shitless of me.” I could feel my head throb like someone had put a jackhammer inside and winced. “Do you by chance have any aspirin?”

I jumped a little when the other guy handed me a plate of eggs. “Here. You’re suffering some drain in stamina. Food helps.”

I took the plate and just used my hands to stuff a piece in my mouth. I almost dropped the plate at how good the eggs tasted and how much they reminded me of home. “Sweet Jesus, these are delicious....” I started to chow down on the eggs and they were finished in a matter of seconds. “Mmmmmm....... So good.” I felt my headache subside to a dull throb from the earlier pain and smiled.

I could see the other guy holding back a chuckle. “Hungry much?”

I pointed at him with a mock glare. “Hey, I’ve only had one meal in the past two days. Cut a guy some slack.” I stood up and handed the plate to.... a lizard?... schme, I’ll shake this guy’s hand first. “Name’s Zach.” Oh hey, I rhymed with my own name.

He shook my hand and smiled. “Aleister.” I let go and he sat down on the couch. “Don’t mind the name...”

I shrugged and sat down next to him with a grin. “Why would I? Sounds pretty cool.”

He smiled a little. “Trust me... My parents thought it would be funny to name me that, wanna know why?”

I put my hands behind my head and grinned. “Sure, let’s hear it.”

He looked over at me and said, “To, and I quote, “Strike fear into Christians by letting them know I was named after Aleister Crowley, the satanist.” My parents were kinda fucking retarded.”

I stared at him for about ten seconds before falling into a fit of laughter that was rivaled only by several people getting tickled by feathers. “Ooooohohohohoho god, my sides!” I kept laughing for a while and almost fell out off of the couch. “Dude, I’m a Christian!”

He nodded a little. “Alright. I’m hindu. We’re just a melting pot of religion aren’t we?”

I wiped a tear from my eye as I started to calm down. “Oh... at least your name is actually you name. I keep getting Jack Frost jokes thrown at me cause my favorite season was winter.” I looked up and sighed when I saw a strand of white. “And now my hair matches. Go figure.”

He shook his head a little “I got called a water elemental all throughout my school. Mainly cause I love rain, and we have different opinions on favorite seasons... Meh, not like we’re arguing.”

I nodded and grinned. “Everyone to their own and all that jazz.” I looked over to the unicorn and mentally facepalmed. “And I just realized that I haven’t asked for your name or the little guy’s.”

The unicorn smiled a little and trotted closer. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and this,” She pointed over to the lizard, “Is my assistant Spike.” She offered me a hoof and I politely shook it. Twilight sighed as she put her hoof on the ground. “You are a lot nicer than the last few of your kind that I’ve met.”

I looked over at her with an arched eyebrow. “Come again? Last few?” I pointed over to Aleister. “As in, more than just this guy and me?”

Aleister waved a little from the couch. “Well. There was this one guy. I apparently owe him money cause I didn’t die.”

I scrunched my face in confusion before trying to voice my confusion. “But...wha? How does...?”

He just shrugged. “I don’t know. Tits.”

I just shook my head and looked over at Twilight. “Aaaanyways. It’s been a pleasure meeting you Miss Sparkle, but I must ask you something important in regards to my situation before I leave.”

“Is it where the leprechaun's gold is hidden? Cause I’ve been looking for years.”

I just looked over at Aleister before sighing. “No, it’s not. I’m being serious.” I looked back over to Twilight whom looked tired of Aleister’s antics. “Could you.... tell me what you know about Wendigos?” God, I hope her reaction isn’t like all of those pansies on the train... And they just saw me and assumed I was a ghost. Jackasses by the way.

Twilight looked confused at my question rather than panicked. She was about to ask something when Aleister crunched down on something. I looked over an-...... is he eating a fucking rock? He looked at the crystal before saying, “This is not rock candy.” Ya don’t say!?

Twilight sighed before looking at some shelves on the other side of the room while muttering to herself. “Why is he acting like that? I thought he was supposed to be a king...” She trotted over to the shelves and started to look for something. “Anyways, in regards to your question Zach, Yes I do have some material on the Wendigos. Unfortunately, it’s mostly old folk tales and a copy of the Hearth's Warming pageant.”

Meanwhile, Aleister decided to throw the rest of the crystal into his mouth and I swear his eyes popped out of his head before he started to grin and swallow. “That was delicious.” He then grabbed a book and walked over to the couch and belched fire.... he belched FUCKING FIRE! The fuckity fuck fuck did I just see? “Ow.”

I raised a hand only to shake my head and drop it immediately when he dropped though a trapdoor in the floor. I could also hear Aleister faintly call out his hate for gravity. If he hates gravity, then stairs must be his mortal enemy. “I keep forgetting that I promised myself to stop giving a fuck about the strange things I’ve been seeing since this started.”

Twilight just looked at the hole in her library floor and facehoofed. “When did I get a trap door installed into my home again?”

Spike flicked through a stack of papers on her desk and hummed. “Let’s see.... that would be, never.” HA! I like this kid!

Twilight groaned while a book floated over to me in a lavender aura. “Here’s a copy of the Hearth’s Warming Pageant. I’m not sure how much help it will be, but it should at least answer your questions a little if not completely.”

I nodded and gave Twilight a smile. “Thank you Twilight.” I turned to the door before stopping and turning back around. “Um.... would there by chance be a hotel in Ponyville?... and maybe a way to earn money?” I reached into my satchel and pulled out the book with the ‘pony-on-the-moon’ and the one with crystals on it. “I have books...”

She narrowed her eyes as the books floated over to her. “Hm.... She put the moon book down and gasped when she saw the other one. “Where did you get this!?”

I rubbed the back of my head. “Um.... At an abandoned train station near the Crystal Empire? Why?”

She opened the book and nearly burst into tears. “Wh-who would treat a book like this!?... And a vintage edition too...” She looked at me with a glare and I felt.... tingley? Strange... better now dwell on it, angry, sharp, pointed creature in front of me. “You didn’t damage this book, did you?”

I shook my hands in front of me and stepped towards the door. “No no no.... I found it like that. It and the other book were sitting inside the train station when I got there.”

She looked back to the book before setting it down with a sigh. “Well... I can’t take the damaged one for much... but with the Nightmare Moon legend you brought, I could give you... about sixteen bits for the bunch.”

I blinked a little before raising a hand. “Um... bits? You mean those gold coins that I’ve seen being used?” She nodded and I sighed. Of course they would have a horse pun for a name.

She moved over to her desk and opened a drawer. There was a bunch of clinking before she sent a brown bag towards me. “There you go, Sixteen bits.”

I opened the bag and found.... three coins? “Um... I thought you said sixteen? I just see a bronze, a silver, and an admittedly awesome gold coin.”

Twilight just smiled. “The gold coin is worth ten bits, while the silver is five, and the bronze is one. A Platinum bit is worth a hundred if you ever find one, so you do have sixteen bits in that coin purse. Now about if there was a Ho-”

“I’VE STRUCK IT RICH!” I jumped and looked at the floor in surprise.

I just looked at Twilight as she trotted towards some stairs that were behind a large pair of doors. How did I not notice those? “One second. I have to make sure he doesn’t run off with my funding.”

As Twilight moved down the stairs and started to yell at Aleister, I turned around to leave and soon wished I hadn’t. There were ponies of many colors, shapes, and sizes slipping on the trail of black ice I made upon arrival to the pun capital of existence.... Except the flying ones, they just looked confused as hell or slightly pissed... It was strange how I could tell just from looking at them. Oooh..... my bad.

Chillin' Out

Seeing the ponies in confusion, anger, and for one pink pony enjoyment that there was a street long slide, I sheepishly turned around and gave an uneasy grin to Spike as yelling came from downstairs. “Um.... my bad?”

I had to give the little guy credit for his reaction. He just shrugged like it was no big deal before going over to a broom closet and pulling out... well a broom. What did you expect him to pull out? A nuke?... wait... who am I thinking this to?..... “Eh, it’s no big deal. Weirder stuff has happened since me and Twi moved here.” He gave me a wave and I waved back as I left.

And promptly slipped on my own trail, landing face first into the pavement. “Ow. Well I’m still graceful as ever.” I turned onto my back and was immediately facing a wall of pink hair. The bright blue eyes that were sticking out over the disturbingly wide smile kept their focus on me as I laid under whatever the mass of pink was attached to. “Um.... hello?”

The mass backed away and showed that it was actually that pink pony that was enjoying the ice earlier and not some mass of pink fluff. “HI! My name is Pinkie Pie! Did you make all this ice? Cause if you did THANK YOU! I’ve been wanting to ice skate for a while now, but winter isn’t for a while and with all this ice on the ground it was really really fun! I even managed to get to Twilight’s faster than I normally do! an-” She stopped to gasp before seemingly vanishing into..... a puff of smoke. Again, The fuckity fuck fuck did I just see? She.... reminded me of ... I shook the thought from my head and stood up. Best not to think about it. She disappeared months ago. Those days are behind me anyways, now more so than ever.

I stood and the ice on the ground seemed to shift over to me as I walked past it. It was very unnerving when it started to form tendrils before melting down into water. “Okay.... that’s just freaky in so many ways...” I turned back to keep walking with a sigh as I stared at my feet. Bye bye normality...

I then managed to somehow walk straight into one of the street’s light fixtures. Hello metal pole... It’s been a while, how’ve you been? I backed up and started to rub my forehead while I glared death at the light post. “Stupid pole... standing in my way....” I walked around it and kept grumbling to myself. I hate life. Just hate. Not enjoy, not somewhat okay with, HATE.

I turned a corner and started walking away from the iced street. I was so lost in thought that I almost didn’t hear a faint flapping sound getting closer. I stopped and looked up to see if I could find anything when something barreled me over from behind. “Oops... My bad!” I squinted from my ground-hugging position and looked around to see... letters? A grey hoof soon filled my vision and I looked up to see a blonde mare attached to it. “Here, let me help you up.”

Taking her hoof, I let her pull me up from the ground. “Thanks.” I looked back up at the grey mare and noticed her eyes were.... well... rather derped. Not going to be rude here. She hasn’t fled in terror yet so I need to make a good first impression. “What’s your name?” Step numero uno, accomplished.

The grey mare smiled and gave me a playful salute. “I’m Derpy Hooves! Mailmare Extraordinaire!” She kept smiling and adjusted her bag before she took off into the air to hover at eye level with me. “What’s your name?”

Now before I continue, let me get one thing straight with all of you. Despite being a guy who normally hates things considered cute, cuddly, and fluffy, there was one undeniable fact about this moment.

I was having an incredibly hard time not hugging this pony or suffering a heart attack from the cute.

I gave her a warm smile (one of the first genuine ones since this all started) and raised a hand. “The name’s Zach.” Before she could shake my hand, a breeze flew past us and sent all the letters that had scattered into my face. No really, every single one was plastered to my face and held in place by the wind. I pulled the letters from my face and the wind stopped. Wierd. I handed the envelopes to Derpy with an awkward smile. “I believe these are yours?”

Derpy blushed a little as she took the letters back and put them in her bag. “Uh, yeah. That was... strange but convenient.”

I gave her a deadpan stare while still smiling. “You’re not the one who just got slapped by mail.”

We both laughed a little before Derpy looked up and gasped. “Oh no! I’m late!” She gave me a panicked and apologetic frown as she started to fly higher. “Sorry Zach! I’ll have to talk to you later. See you around!”

I waved as she flew off over a roof, nearly clipping another pegasus while she was at it. I turned back and kept heading down the street with no destination in mind. Okay that’s a lie. I was just wandering around until I found Vinyl’s place. My encounter with Derpy made me remember that I had some comedy routines recorded on my Ipod. I wonder how Vinyl will react to ‘High Dance Threshold’..... Christian Finnegan, you are a genius among men.

I stopped walking and paused to read my thoughts. Wait..... why the hell am I being so open with these ponies?... I hate being open with people.... this isn’t like the normal me.

I shook my head and opened the book that I got from the library. Whatever, I’ll just read this as I try to find Vinyl’s place. I kept walking until I could hear something like a bass pounding in the distance. My hunch says she’s thataway.

I started to walk towards the noise. I had traveled about a block before I saw the source. The house’s windows were shaking in time with the music and the strobe lights were pouring out of the windows. The vinyl record on the door helped some as well. “Jesus, does she need the music that loud!?” I sighed and rested a hand on my head as I looked up in exasperation.

I almost didn’t notice the black and purple streak that flew above me... Um........what? I shook my head and kept walking towards Vinyl’s house. Screw it. That was a pegasus and that’s what I’m sticking with. If it turns out to be something else then I’ll just deal with it later........like how I never would have thought that those words would ever be in my head. Ever. I moved up to the door and knocked a few times before standing patiently.

The music soon quieted down a little and the door creaked open to let Vinyl’s head poke out. “Who’s.... Oh hey man! How’s it goin’?”

I just shrugged my shoulders before responding. “Eh, so so at the moment. Half the town’s indirectly mad at me for accidentally freezing the street and I managed to find a book that should help with the whole issue that is this.” I pointed at The Eye and then pulled out the book.

Vinyl nodded a little. “Not bad. I hope you have some luck figuring out how that stuff works. I mean, unicorn magic is one thing for obvious reasons,” She pointed at her horn with a smirk, “but what you got going on is beyond me.” She moved over and waved a hoof at the interior of her house. “So you comin in or what?”

I nodded and walked into the house. It was a cozy little house and the front door lead straight to their living room. There was a hall that lead to some more doors and a flight of stairs. I was a little curious as to what was upstairs, but decided to stay in the living room and sit down on the couch. “Thank you. Now what was all that noise I was hearing from outside? You having a party?”

She shook her head and started to move through one of the doors and I could see a linoleum floor on the other side. “Nah, just doing the dishes.”

I looked at the door she just went through in confusion. “Dishes?.... wha-” I was suddenly blown back over the couch and into the wall face first as the music from earlier continued. I moved my head as much as I could and shouted over the music in hopes that Vinyl could hear me..... even if I could barely hear myself. “HOW IS THIS DOING THE DISHES?!?!?!”

Vinyl poked her head out of the doorway and put a hoof to her ear. “What? You say something?” I waved my arm for her to turn it down and she ran back into the kitchen. Not soon after that, I fell onto my head and decided to lay on the floor.

Vinyl moved around the couch and looked down at me. “Dude, you alright? I haven’t ever seen anyone get stuck to my wall before.” She looked over to the kitchen and tapped her chin. “It’s not that loud is it?”

“Yes Vinyl, it is.” I peered around the edge of the couch and saw a grey hoof standing in the front doorway. “Now who’s the unfortunate pony you’ve managed to pin to the wa-” Octavia stopped talking when she saw me laying on the ground. “Oh.”

I waved a little from the ground. “Hello.”

She looked down at me unamused and sighed. “Didn’t you say that you’d be headed for Canterlot after you did what you needed to do here?”

I grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of my head. “Yeah..... about that. When I left the library, there was a large mob of ponies wondering why there was a massive ice slick in the road. I didn’t really feel like getting attacked by an angry mob.” I paused for a moment before raising a finger. “Aside from one pink pony. She immediately tackled me and thanked me for the ice..... which still utterly confuses me as well as how she simply vanished in a poof of smoke”

Octavia smirked before she walked over to a second chair in the living room and sat down. “So I take it you’ve met Pinkie Pie?”

I got off of the floor and sat down on their sofa with Vinyl next to me. “I think so..... It was hard to tell though the wall of words.”

Octavia’s smirk turned malicious as she got up and moved down the hall. “Well I’d be expecting something very loud, very soon if I were you.”

I looked over to Vinyl for her to clarify, but she shook her head with a laugh and followed Octavia. “Nope. It’s a surprise. I’d be wary if you plan on staying for more than a couple days.”

“Um.... Do I dare ask why?”

Vinyl stopped in the doorway and looked back at me with a smirk. “It’s best not to think too hard about it.” She turned only to stop herself and look back at me again. “Oh hey! I just remembered that there’s supposed to be a parade tomorrow and the trains are gonna be shut down. So I don’t think that you’ll be able to head out of town anytime soon unless you jump on like you did back in the Crystal Empire or magically get some bits, you’re pretty much stuck here in Ponyville.”

I blinked hard and stared at the wall as Vinyl left into the kitchen with a smile on her face. I’m no expert when it comes to travel..... Even if I was born overseas... and moved to Nebraska... then to Oklahoma.... and then back to Nebraska from Oklahoma..... Okay, I’ve got a bit of travel smarts under my belt, but that’s not the point! The point is that Vinyl has a big point about the situation. I’m broke, not willing to hobo my way back onto a train, and they’re going to be shutdown tomorrow.....Shit, I’m stuck here till I'm not helpless.

Suddenly Vinyl was shouting for Octavia. “Hey Tavi! The fridge is empty!” And there's no food! This fucking sucks!

I sighed and got up to poke my head into the kitchen. Vinyl was doing the same with the fridge and Octavia was shaking her head. "So what's this about a parade?"

Octavia looked at me for a moment. “The Harvest Parade is going to start tomorrow around ten in the afternoon. It’s mainly to celebrate the harvest from most of the farmers here in town.”

Vinyl pulled her head out of the fridge and grinned. “That, and some of the venders are going to give out free food before it starts! Which is a good thing too,” she looked over at Octavia, “cause.... we need to do some shopping...... again.”

Octavia face hoofed and I stepped into the room. “Vinyl.... we filled that to the brim less than a week ago. How are we out of food already?” Vinyl shrugged while grinning sheepishly and Octavia looked over at me. I could practically feel the stress coming off of her. “And I’m guessing that the parade isn’t the only thing you were going to ask about?”

I rubbed the back of my head and chuckled a little. “Yeah.... um. I know you were against me staying here.... but Vinyl kinda brought up a legitimate point. I’m broke, the trains won’t be stopping at the train station tomorrow, and I don’t have anywhere to stay.” I tapped my toes on the ground and let out a sigh. “So..... It alright if I stay here at least one night?”

Octavia stared at me with a calculating gaze before Vinyl leaned over and booped her on the nose. Broken out of whatever trance she was in, Octavia shook her head and looked back at me. “One night should be fine. You can stay on the couch.”

I nodded a little and smiled at the gray mare. “Thank you Octavia.” I went back into their living room and flopped onto the couch. I reached into my cloak and pulled out both my Ipod and the book again. Okay, seriously, how is so much crap just staying in my cloak? Does this thing defy physics!? I stopped the train of thought before it could start going any farther down the rabbit hole and opened the book.

Once upon a time, before the peaceful rule of Celestia....

After I finished the book, I simply laid on the couch with it laying on my face. That was the worst story I’ve ever read. Sure it solidified the whole Ice Powers thing..... but GOD was that story so.... so........ unrealistic. I mean this was like reading folklore that had several hundred holes cut into it with a cheese grater. I grabbed the book and closed it before stuffing it into my seemingly void filled cloak.

It was pretty late in the day by now, and Octavia and Vinyl had ‘retired’ into separate rooms to do their own things. Octavia was upstairs practicing a cello which I had to admit is a very beautiful sound, she's got quite the talent, and Vinyl was being quiet in comparison as she worked on some sheet music and.... something else while in the basement. I’m not entirely sure what, but I’m absolutely positive that silly doodles and such are not part of the musical system. I should know after playing violin for over six years. When I asked her about it, she brushed it off as nothing big and went back down to the basement of the complex.

I didn’t have anything to do other than lay in their living room on the sofa and listen to my Ipod. With the book read, and me not being in the mood for music, I pulled out the journal and quills that I had stashed in the bag I kept..... it also was in void cloak, which confuses me, but I ignored it and started to write.

Day 2, 9:48pm

Today’s been interesting. After a long trip down the street, and going to the library I managed to meet some interesting characters that live in the town I’ve found myself in. Ponyville’s ‘Mailmare’ Derpy seems like a nice pony who’s happy with where she is in life, and one ‘Pinkie Pie’, as Vinyl has told me her name is, is most definitely very interesting and possibly a little too happy. The Librarian of the town Twilight Sparkle is one of the more interesting I’ve had the pleasure of talking too. Not only did she hold a good conversation (Even if it did only last a few moments) but I even managed to find something I never expected to.

There was another freaking person here! Not a pony or griffon. A legitimate Human that’s stuck in the same boat that I am! He said his name’s Aleister Pinkerton. But if that’s the case then that means he’s the same guy who vanished from Oregon over three months ago in August, and if I recall correctly, others vanished as well soon after.... I wonder how my family’s doing right now.....

Maybe we’re not the only two who made it here.

But enough of that depressing dribble. I’m told that there’s a parade tomorrow that’s to celebrate a harvest. It kinda reminds me of the fall parades that I used to see in Oklahoma.... Damn.... just thinking about it is making me want to talk with an accent again. I plan on going to the parade to see how it goes down. Maybe have some pleasant memories come and hit home.

-Zachary

A Frosty Farmer

Sleep brought forth some pleasant dreams this past night. Dreams of flying through snowcapped mountains and making the snow dance with me as I flew. These dreams were constant throughout the night, but like all good things, it came to an end.

I was laying on the couch and sleeping peacefully when the sun had climbed high enough to shine on my face. I grumbled a little and turned until my face was planted into the cushions. Five more minutes.... Then I’ll be sociable..... and awake...... I immediately was blasted off of the couch by Vinyl’s Dubwasher (as I’m calling it from now on) and landed on the ground with a thud. ...Damn the world...

I managed to peel myself from the floor and fought against the soundwave. As I got to the door, I could see Octavia doing the same already a foot away from the washer. With a desperate reach, she managed to press a large round button on the machine and the sound stopped. Vinyl, who was bobbing her head at the sink turned to look at her. “Wha- Hey! You killed the wubs again!”

Octavia let out a sigh as she slumped into the machine, her mane was disheveled and she had large bags under her eyes. “Vinyl.... what did I tell you about cleaning the dishes so loudly?”

Vinyl groaned and crossed her forelegs. “I know, I know. Turn down the volume so that the neighbors won’t try and kill us.” I did a double take at the white mare when she said that. Wait what?.... Torch and pitchfork lynchings happen in this place!? From the two days I’ve been here it seemed much more peaceful than that!

Octavia facehoofed before grabbing a cup of coffee from a pot on the counter. “I said to be more considerate of our neighbors not..... at least you turn the volume down now.” Oh, okay. That makes much more sense. For a second there, I thought I’d have to run for my life from an angry mob.

I moved into the kitchen and knocked on the counter to get their attention. “I have to give it to you Vinyl. Most interesting wake up call I’ve ever had.”

Vinyl grinned and turned towards me, revealing her ‘Wub the cook’ apron. “Morning Frosty! How’d ya like sleeping on the couch?”

I popped my back and grimaced at the sound. “Not the worst place I’ve slept. And please don’t call me frosty. I’m not a snowman.” I looked over at the fridge and then back to Octavia while Vinyl just looked at me in confusion. “Didn’t you need to get some food?”

Octavia was looking at me curiously for a moment before nodding. “Yes, I was actually going to head out after I got my coffee. Is there something you would like?” She kept looking at me as she sipped her coffee slowly.

I shrugged. “Well I thought that I’d help out a little after you both let me stay here for the night. It’s only polite.” She nodded and finished her mug after a few more long sips.

Octavia handed Vinyl her mug and turned towards the door. “That would certainly be appreciated. Stocking our home with enough to feed Vinyl is hard enough with both of us carrying the groceries.” When we arrived at the front door, Octavia grabbed a pair of tan bags from a coat rack and put them on. “Shall we?”

OST

I waved a hand and opened the door. “Ladies first.” Octavia chuckled a little at the act and trotted past me out the door. I followed soon after and we walked down the streets as Ponies started to wake up and start their days. As we walked, I watched most of the ponies either start helping to set up decorations for the parade, or.... strangely enough, pegasi pushing clouds.... It was pretty cool to watch as they flew overhead. Some even flying low enough to leave a current of air in their wake. Part of me wants to scream at them, and the other wants to join in.... this is completely fucking unfair.

“Well, here we are.” I snapped back to attention as the two of us arrived at the market. The entire setup of the street reminded me of the old flea markets that you could find if you looked hard enough in a town. Ponies were still setting up some stalls here and there, but most looked like they’d been standing there for at least half an hour.

I let out a small whistle as I looked over the varying stalls. “Wow. This place sure is something. I haven’t seen anything like this in ages.”

Octavia walked back over from the nearest stall after she had grabbed some heads of lettuce. “Is that so? Well then this should be a breath of fresh air for you.” She trotted past me with a small smile. “Come along now. We still have several other things we need to get.”

I gave her a small nod before we continued through the market. Many ponies were taking advantage of the free food that was being handed out, and a few simply had lowered prices. Most of what Octavia was getting (and handing to me to carry, thank god for void cloak and my bags) consisted of carrots, potatoes, lots of peppers, asparagus, onions, a various assortment of flowers, and somehow leeks, dragon fruit, lemons and limes, an entire sack of flour, another sack of sugar, 2 gallons of milk, orange juice and..... are those juice boxes? Yes, yes they are.

Now do you see this list? Yeah, I was carrying all that. Don’t ask me how my bag held all of it, but I can tell you that it was heavy as fuck as I carried it through town, and that my bags looked more like twin sets of overstuffed camping gear. Moving all of this into my bag also reminded me that I did, in fact, have money and Octavia had me pay for the one stall that had only lowered its prices on what she was getting. Thank god for the lowered prices too. Only cost me two bits instead of all of them. Octavia had some stuff in her bags too, but she gave me all of the Stupidly heavy stuff while she carried more fragile things like eggs and uncooked pastas....... speaking of which she had a LOT of pasta in her bags. “What’s with all the pasta?”

She looked over to me with a smile and kept her pace though the market stalls. “I had planned on making Vinyl’s favorite tonight, as it is our technical anniversary today.” I made an ‘oh’ face as she went over to the next stall. “She really does like this kind of food too much. All this Neightalian is going to make her fat one of these days.” Pun..... you ruined Italian for me...... damn you.

Octavia took a large block of parmesan from the market stall that was being run by a cow and she moved onto the next stall that was being run by a orange mare wearing a stetson. When the mare saw her, she perked up and started to wave.

“Well howdy there Octavia! You’re back sooner than usual.” The orange mare smirked a little as she pulled out a dozen apples that were in a twine bundle “Ah’m guessin’ that Vinyl done set a new record on how fast she could clean out yer fridge?” This pony’s accent.... damnable memories, Stop coming back into fruition!

Octavia sighed a little and nodded. “Yes Applejack, she did. I swear, every time she starts working on that project of hers she starts eating like a wild animal.” Octavia pulled out a few silver bits and gave them to Applejack. “I’m glad that today’s the Harvest Parade. I wouldn’t be able to afford all of this otherwise.”

Applejack looked over at me and quirked an eyebrow. “Well it seems that ya’ll found a guest.” She looked over at Octavia for a moment. “Ya’ll know that Twi’s got a feller just like ‘em at the library? If he starts causin’ trouble, just head on over ta her.”

I felt my eye twitch. “I’m right here ya know. I’ve already met Twilight as well.” Applejack looked over to me with a suspecting glint in her eyes. Despite her behavior, I decided to be the better man and offered my hand for a handshake. “Zach.”

Applejack nodded and gave my arm a firm shake. “Applejack.” I just nodded back before digging out my Ipod and putting in my headphones. She seemed a little offput by them, and narrowed her eyes.

I gave her a confused and mostly annoyed look in return. “What? Ah can’t have my music be portable and, oh what was it? Oh yeah, private!?” I turned with a huff and walked from the stall, across the street, and then sat on a bench that was facing away from the orange mare.

The farm mare recoiled a little as I left and I couldn’t give less of a shit. Octavia had turned to her as I left, but I didn’t even bother to look in their direction as they talked. “I’m sorry about his behavior Applejack, but-”

Applejack cut her off somehow, before speaking herself. “Nah, it ain’t yer fault that he’s got a stick up his plot. Ah wasn’t particularly friendly either. But after hearin’ what that one gal had for ‘music’s’ made me a little wary of what this feller’s got.” Now that had my attention. That last part made it sound like someone did a particularly shitty job at first introductions. I flicked through my Ipod and hummed as I changed songs. Hymn, no.....Secrets, maybe......Gangnam Style? BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA no. There’s gotta be something more fitting than that.... Eventually, I gave up and just put the Ipod back into my pocket.

Octavia seemed a little shocked by the sound of her reaction. “Really? I’ve actually heard some of the songs that he has, and they didn’t seem that bad. Some were actually quite enjoyable...” They were silent for a moment before Octavia spoke. “I’d better get going Applejack. If I stay out any longer, Vinyl will blow up our house..... again.”

“Alright Octavia, you be safe now.” Octavia nodded and trotted up to me as Applejack shivered a little and muttered to herself about a nip in the air. Serves 'er right.

“Are you alright?”

I groaned and shifted the stuff I was carrying. “Yeah, Ah’m fine. Let’s just get back to your place.”

After a few more stops, we started our trek back to her home. I groaned a little from the weight of all the stuff. “That took longer than I thought it would.... and this is startin’ to get really heavy.”

She nodded a little and after a while of silent walking, we stopped in front of her and Vinyl’s house. Instead of letting me in though, she stood in the way of the door and looked at me. “Zachary, would you mind if I asked something?”

I blinked a few times and shifted the groceries a little. “Um.... yeah?”

Her eyes narrowed a little and she tapped her hoof. “Why was it that about halfway through that shopping trip, you started to sound a little like Applejack’s family? Especially when she made you rather agitated?” I cringed and started looking around. Anywhere other than at the grey mare. DAMN IT ALL TO THE FIREY PITS OF YOLO HELL! I got so frustrated at that orange farmer.... damn it!

I felt sweat pooling on the back of my neck and looked around a little to see some ponies glancing in our direction. “Um....well.....that’s a personal question that I have my own reasons for not answering. I’d... rather not talk about it.” I shifted uneasily under her gaze for at least a solid minute straight before she sighted and relented.

“Fine, but I expect to hear what that ‘reason’ is, or I’m going to kick you out. The bits you have right now are more than enough to get a hotel room at the inn.” I gulped and nodded as I (barely) managed to squeeze through the door. Octavia followed soon after and helped me unload the food she had bought into the pantries and fridge..... In all honesty, I have no idea how she managed to fit all of it in. There was more food then there was storage for pete’s sake, and that was after she took the raw pasta and placed it on the counter for use later. And more importantly than that, was the fact that it was like a fucking waterfall of food was pouring out of my bag! I knew now that this bag must have been magical or somethingorother and GOD DAMN can it hold some shit! HOW WAS I EVEN CARRYING ALL OF THIS!?

I let out a small groan and popped my back as Octavia put the last of the food away and pulled out a few apples. I looked around a little and noticed that despite the lack of breakfast this morning, there was a lack of very hungry unicorns here.......... Again, never thought I’d be thinking that and still be sane at the same time. “Where’s Vinyl?”

“Down here!” I looked over and saw the door to the basement slightly open. To anyone who came into the house, it’d just look like every other door. But, to anyone who unknowingly opened it, they’d fall down two flights of stairs before landing on a very hard and unforgiving concrete floor. Thankfully I didn’t find that out by experience, and learned of it by using the stairs for were made for and going down them.

Shortly after we heard her, Vinyl herself came out of the basement and smiled as she trotted over to Octavia. “Welcome home Tavi! What’s for breakfast?” I looked over at the grey mare and she tossed each of us an apple each. Vinyl gave Octavia her thanks and I shrugged before taking a bite. I had to admit, This is the best fucking tasting apple I’ve ever had in my life just what the fuck do they do to these things? Add some sort of super chemical agent that rewrites the brain to cause an unhealthy attraction to apples!? Cause that’s the only explanation I’ve got.

Vinyl had freaking demolished her apple by the time Octavia and I finished, and she started to head back to the basement. “Ah, that hit the spot. Back to work!”

I got up and followed her over to the basement doorway and stopped her. “Hey Vinyl, what are you working on down there?”

She waved a hoof and grinned. “Ah, it’s nothing special. Just a personal project I’ve been fine tuning for a few years now. I’ve almost got the bugs out of it too.” She trotted past the door and it closed while covered in her rose glow. I heard the door lock as I moved into the living room, sat down on their couch, and sighed a little. It was only what?.... 10:00 and I’m already exhausted? There was still a lot to do today too, with a parade that I wanted to check out happening in a few hours and the fact that I need to return this book now that I’ve finished it.

Jesus, just what kind of place did I get dumped into?

The White Specter

OST

The train had been moving for about an hour by now and I did nothing but sit between the cars, glancing a peak into the window occasionally to see If I could spot the passengers. The only reason I hadn’t gone inside yet was due to the fact the door was locked and I didn’t want to get in trouble with whatever locals ran this thing right off the bat by breaking it.

If there were people on this train to BEGIN with!..... Seriously, for a train, this has a severe lack of passengers.

My stomach voiced its displeasures audibly as the train went into a tunnel. I sighed and thumped my head on the door. “Hush you, you’ll get something soon.....I hope that wherever I end up has food.... and some way to make money.... If not, I am so fucking screwed.”

I looked around and noticed that despite being in the dark, everything was covered in a faint blue glow. A glance at my hand showed the source. “Great.... now my hand is a flashlight too...... For all of the fucks sake.....” I stood up and tried to look in the window again and pointed my hand at the glass to get a better view.

Low and Behold! There was something in the fucking car this time! It didn’t stop me from blinking in confusion at what I saw. There, in the car, was a light blue, pastel colored pony with a green mane..... and over sized headphones on........ aaaaaaaaaaaand now it was staring at me in slight fear. Well.... I better stop staring like an idiot and wave.... or something... I don’t know how to deal with this....

I tapped on the glass causing the light from my hand to dim some and started to show my face. “Hello? Could you let me in?” The pony didn’t respond and stood there staring at me with ever widening eyes. I furrowed my brow and tapped again. “Hello? Anyone home?”

The pony shrieked in a extremely feminine voice and started to bolt to the other side of the car screaming, “GHOOOOOOOOOST!!”

I stood at the door for a minute just staring at the door that the mare (as I had deduced from her voice) ran through, before smacking my head into the glass. Repeatedly, accenting my thoughts with each collision. Just....... FUCKING REALLY!? She thought I was a FUCKING GHOST!? I kept smacking my head into the glass window as the train left the tunnel and the pony and two others ran into the car. My hood was blown back from the wind that rushed by when we exited so my face was on full display.

The mare from earlier pointed at me from behind some larger pony with a deep brown coat and an orange mane. “There it is! Make the evil ghost go away!” The difference between them was that the first seemed to be more slender and curved, while the larger one had more defined structure to it’s shape.

The larger pony looked at the window and noticed me smacking my head into the transparent barrier before sighing in a deep voice. “Dear.... I don’t think that is a ghost.” A DEEP voice. This pony was obviously a dude by the sound of him.

I stopped smacking my head and looked at the stallion with my best Nicolas Cage impression. “YA DON’T SAY!?” I looked at the ponies and felt my eye twitch. WHY IS EVERYTHING HERE SO FUCKING WEIRD!!?

I was pretty sure my mind had started to snap around that point, considering my next thoughts on the matters at hand. Ya know what? I’m just going to expect nothing but the odd and benign from now on! It’s all that seems to fucking exist in this fucked up world of fuck! The third pony, a white mare with a two tone blue mane, started to laugh uncontrollably and fell over.

The scaredy-mare glared at her. “S-shut up, Vinyl!”

‘Vinyl’ stood up and was wiping tears from her face. “I’m sorry Jump, but this is priceless!” She fell over in another fit of laughter and Jump glared daggers.

“Say one word of this to anyone and I’ll tell Octavia what you did last night!”

Vinyl gasped and glared back. “You. Wouldn’t. DARE.”

The stallion left the two mares to bicker and moved to the door I was standing at. “Here, let me get that.” He flicked a lock that was on the interior and the door slid open effortlessly for me. I had to duck slightly to get in, but I was eventually seated and looking at the stallion with a tired smile.

“Thanks.”

He laughed and held out a hoof. “No problem, Name’s Bass Drop.” That’s.... an odd name.... but so is the concept of a talking pony.

I looked at him for a second before grabbing his hoof and giving him a light hand/hoofshake. “Zachary, but everyone just calls me Zach, or Frost.”

Bass looked at me in confusion, “Frost? How did they get that from Zach?”

I sighed and rubbed my temples. “Where I’m from there’s a story of some guy named Jack Frost. He was said to bring winter, and make all the snow and ice. So when my friends found out that my favorite season was winter, they started calling me ‘Zach Frost’. It was annoying at first, but the name just stuck after a while and they shortened it to just Frost.” It fits even MORE now thanks to those fucking wendigos bleaching my hair!! The blonde jokes were better than this!

I blinked myself back into reality before looking at the wall behind Bass. “Wait, why the hell did I bother even telling you that?”

Bass shrugged. “I don’t know, why did you?” I looked at him and noticed the large grin that was plastered onto his face was barely holding back some restrained laughs.

I facepalmed at my own stupidity. “Go on, laugh.” I set myself up for that one..... Bass stared to roll around like Vinyl was earlier and was pounding a hoof onto the floorboards. As he did this, for the first time I noticed that he had feathered wings sticking out of his sides! FUCKING WINGS! I looked over to the other ponies that were in the room and saw that Vinyl had shades on and a horn sticking out of her skull, while Jump also had wings.

I sighed and waved at them to come over. Vinyl strode over without the slightest hesitation and offered a hoof. “Vinyl Scratch, DJ extraordinaire!”

I took her hoof and shook it I focused and caused a light coat of frost to form on her fur. “Zachary Yorkson, Just call me Zach.”

Bass chuckled, “Or Frost.” I gave him a glare and he grinned sheepishly.

Jump walked over and nervously offered her hoof. “It’s... Jumpstep.....Um.... sorry about.... you know.... thinking you were a ghost.” She had to bring it up......there goes my good fucking mood.

I forced a smile and shook her hoof as well. “No problem, just don’t do it again please.” She blushed and rubbed the back of her head while Vinyl kept on laughing.

Bass looked at my hand and asked, “Hey Zach, What’s with your skin? You get frostbite or something?”

I lifted my right hand and showed them The Eye. “It’s been like this ever since I found this fucking thing and it decided that my hand was a nice place to crash. My hair and outfit seem to be suffering from it too.”

Vinyl was looking at me in awe before she got up and started to head for the door. “I am so going to tell ‘Tavi about this!” She left the room and I looked over to Bass.

“Who’s ‘Tavi?”

He chuckled and looked over at the door. “Octavia is Vinyl’s roommate. If you want a good example of how she acts, think of what you just met, only with the EXACT opposite personality.”

I snorted back a laugh as the door opened. “Come on Tavi! He’s right in here!”

Vinyl came back into the car pulling a grey mare with a black, styled mane along with her. “Vinyl, I don’t see what the... big... oh, um, hello.”

I stood and gave a slight bow. “A pleasure to meet you, Ms. Octavia.” Bass did a double take for a moment before reaching in his ear and trying to find out if something was in his ear.

Octavia smiled and offered a hoof. “My... with the way Vinyl was excited about you I thought that you would be some fan of her’s. I didn’t expect such a gentlecolt.” GOD DAMNIT THE PUNS!!!!!!

I faked yet another smile and shook her hoof. “I can when I want to be.” I sighed as I stood up and moved to the window closest to me. “Me being polite right now is a feat in itself.”

Jump looked up at me in confusion. “Huh? Why would it be so difficult to be nice?”

I slowly turned my head over to her and saw her eyes dilate. “Because I haven’t had anything to eat for the past day after getting ripped from my home and having my appearance completely altered. I currently am a little on edge.” I groaned as I felt another sharp pain in my head that forced me to close my eyes. I sat down and started to rub my temples.

“Dude...” I looked over to see that Vinyl had removed her shades, revealing her reddish eyes, and was staring at me in shock along with the others.

I glared at her. “What?”

She pointed a hoof at my face. “Do your eyes normally do that?”

I stared at her for a moment before removing the belts from my left hand and looking at my reflection in the metal again. It was mostly the same, except that my eyes were GOD FUCKING GLOWING! I felt my eye twitch ever so slightly and sighed. “Just fucking great.... yet ANOTHER thing that’s happened to me cause some fucking ghost horses decided to throw my life for a FUCKING LOOP!” Okay, I didn't sigh. I yelled.

The mares flinched at my outburst but Bass walked over looking concerned. “You alright?”

I took a deep breath through my nose and looked ready to yell again, only to disappointment and probably annoy them with the biggest letdown of them all. “Yes.” To my amazement the only ones that were annoyed were Octavia and Jumpstep. Vinyl was laughing again and Bass Drop looked pleased with my response. I sighed and started to get up when I felt something fall out of my cloak. Looking down I saw my favorite piece of technology ever was laying on the ground before it was engulfed in a reddish glow that matched Vinyl’s eyes.

It floated up to Vinyl’s face and she was scrutinizing it as her horn was also glowing with the same aura. “The heck is this?”

I quickly grabbed the device and turned it on before I flicked across the touch screen to unlock it. “It’s my Ipod, and I didn’t even realize I had it on me. It’s a good thing too, I need to listen to some music. Something uplifting, preferably.” I need to calm down before I go AWOL. Especially if anything else starts to piss me off, and these ponies seem too fucking nice to do that to.

Octavia looked at me confused. “You can listen to music on that?”

I tapped on the screen as I flicked through my music. “Yep,” I found a good song and grinned. “Ah, here we go.” I hit play and the song started.

The music started quiet and the ponies looked confused for a moment until Vinyl and Bass started to grin. Soon Jump and Octavia also were smiling as the other two started nod their heads.

Woke up on the right side of the bed,

What’s up with this spring song inside my head?

Hands up if you’re down to get down tonight,

Cause it’s always a good time.

Slept in all my clothes like I didn’t care,

Hopped into a cab, take me anywhere.

I’m in if you’re down to get down tonight,

Cause it’s always a good time.

Goodmorning and goodnight~

I wake up at Twilight~

It’s gonna be alright~

Cause we don’t even have to try,

It’s always a good time.

Vinyl and Octavia were dancing by this point and Jump and Bass were following suit. I simply was enjoying the music and lightly nodded my head to the beat. I felt a pull on my arm and saw that Vinyl was pulling me from the wall and was making lazer lights with her horn, somehow..... fuck it, I’m dancing.

Feet down, dropped my phone in the pool again,

Checked out of my room, hit the ATM,

Let’s hang out if your down to get down tonight,

Cause it’s always a good time.

Goodmorning and goodnight~

I wake up at Twilight~

It’s gonna be alright~

Cause we don’t even have to try,

It’s always a good time.

I don’t really know how.... but by that point all five of us were dancing like idiots. Well, I definitely was, Vinyl and Octavia would have floored the rest of us if it had been a contest. We just danced until the song started to end and I walked over to where I had set my Ipod down and turned it off while Vinyl ended her light show. I am going to have to ask how in the ever living hell she did that just now........ Fuck it, I'll ask tomorrow.

Vinyl was smiling like a maniac. “DUDE, That song was awesome! Who wrote that?”

I smiled and found the pocket that my Ipod had fallen out of. Turns out, it was located on the inside of my cloak. Nice to know I didn’t lose it during all of that bullshit earlier. “It’s by Owl City, An artist where I come from.”

Octavia smiled and looked at me. “I’m not normally one for that kind of music, but I must say that I did enjoy myself just now.”

I started to walk over to the door that lead out of the car. “I’m good with all genres,” I stopped a moment before adding, “except rap. I can’t stand rap. I’ll listen to it if I have to, but whoever does make me shall feel pain like no other if it’s not one of the few good rap songs.” Again I froze in place and sighed. “Why the hell am I even being so open to you ponies?”

Vinyl wasn’t paying attention to me rant and was looking at me with a creepy wide smile. “You have anything else on there?” I nodded and she tapped a hoof on her chin. “Do you have something that has string instruments and dubstep?”

Jump and Octavia rolled their eyes. “Vinyl for the last time, We’ve tried to make that work but it never does. What makes you think that he has?”

I grinned and pulled out my Ipod again. “Well, I haven’t but one of the artists from home certainly has.” I hit play and some instrumental started to play. Octavia’s jaw dropped as the rest of them started snickering. “You really should watch what you say there Tavi.”

Vinyl stopped snickering and glared at me some. Octavia grinned at my confusion to her sudden change. “There is only one pony gets to call me Tavi.” Vinyl kept glaring at me as she hugged Octavia. It didn’t take me being a rocket scientist to figure out the relationship.

“Ah, my bad.” I looked over to Jump and Bass. “So what’s your relation in all this?”

They both just looked at each other and started to laugh. “We’re siblings. Jump here does the music while I do the vocals.”

I nodded my head while making the ‘Not bad’ face. “That’s cool.” I yawned and looked over to the beds that were in the next car over. “So..... who wants sleep?” Octavia yawned and moved to the door, dragging a whining Vinyl with her, while Bass and Jump calmly walked into the room. I started to follow them when I saw a star streak across the sky and the moon shift as if to get out of the way. Nice.

Followed by a shockwave of air that hurt like hell. GOD FUCKING.... WHAT THE HELL?!?!

Bass looked back towards me as I clutched my head. “Dude, you feeling okay?”

I looked over to where the star had vanished and groaned. “Didn’t you feel that?”

He looked around the corner of the door and shook his head. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

I kept looking for a moment before shaking the last bit of pain away and following him inside. “I must be going crazy.” I wordlessly got into one of the beds and started to fall asleep. They’re probably going to have all the info I dumped on them sink in by morning...... I’ll cross that fucking bridge when I fucking get to it.

Fucking Wendigos..... this entire scenario is your god damn fault.

Cracks in The Ice

As I drove down the street, I couldn’t help but smile as I saw my destination coming into view. The girl on the porch was wearing a leather coat with her usual clothes and waved enthusiastically as I drove up. “Zachy! I’m so glad you could make it!” I stepped out of my truck and looked over to the house I had parked in front of as she ran up to me.

“Anything for you babe. I’m just glad I could afford the gas to drive all the way here.” We shared a hug and I started to walk with her back to the house. Halloween decorations covered her house and there was a candy bowl sitting on a stool. “Happy Halloween Katy.”

She gave me a kiss on the lips and smiled. “You too.” She perked up suddenly and pulled out a box from her coat pocket. “Hey, my mom got me this!”

I raised an eyebrow and looked at the plain brown box. “So, what’s in the box?”

Katy frowned slightly and looked at the box. “I’m not sure. She said it was some kind of antique that I’d like.” We both eyed the box before Katy kissed me again. “I wanted to wait for you to get here before I opened it.”

I blushed a little and followed her up the driveway. “Aw, thanks Katy.” We both sat down on her porch and she opened the box to reveal an antique japanese paintbrush that had engravings running down the side. It even still had a jar of black ink that had permanently stained the tip of the brush with use. “Wow, that looks pretty cool.”

She nodded and looked at the brush. “Yeah! It even goes with my costume!” She grabbed the brush and started to head inside. “Come on! I want to show you what I made for us!”

I laughed a little and followed her inside. I didn’t really notice as the walls and world around me slowly started to melt . “Hold on, Hold on! I’m come-” I froze as the interior of the house was nothing but black. “K-Katy?” I turned around to see if I could leave and the door was gone. “Katy!?”

I heard something break and a scream from somewhere in the black. I snapped my head towards where I thought it came from and felt my blood go cold when I heard Katy yelling. “HEEEEEELP!”

“KATY!” I blundered through the black and kept running until I couldn’t feel my legs and then ran some more. The black walls seemed to close in slower and slower as Katy’s screams grew more distant until....

I snapped awake and stared at the wall while panting heavily. After a deep breath and laying back on the couch with a sigh, I rubbed my face and groaned. “Damn it....” A quick glance at Octavia’s clock showed that only a few minutes passed, and it was genuinely 10:00 now. “Why did that orange mare have to bring that back to the front of my brain?”

I spent the next few minutes just laying around trying to calm myself down. What had happened earlier out there in the marketplace was equivalent to a disaster. I had been trying to bury the accent I had picked up from my family and time in Oklahoma and I had only managed to totally succeed a few months ago, because it kept reminding me of why I left. While I would have preferred it to have stayed locked away in the back of my head where no one could ever see it, speaking to that Applejack character had brought it out. The accent came so damned naturally that I didn’t even realize it! Worse, was that Octavia had picked up on it and wants to know why that had happened, or I’m out on the street. And that means telling secrets I would rather have buried until the next eternity. It doesn’t look like I got much of a choice though. Still, I have a whole day to tell her. I might as well wait till after the parade and tell both her and Vinyl at the same time. Saves me having to repeat myself in the event of Vinyl not knowing what Octavia’s talking about in some future conversation. God those situations are annoying.

Octavia was on the other side of the room reading a book by this point. Ever since she got there, every now and again, she would give me a curious look before going back to reading. In that entire time, Vinyl was down in the basement toiling away at whatever she was doing. To be honest, I was getting a little tired of staying inside and got up off of Octavia’s couch before heading for the door. As I left, I looked back into the living room for a moment while grabbing my bags. “Hey, I’m going to see what I can do around to help with the parade.” It’s not like I’ve got anything better to do.

Octavia gave me a farewell, but I could tell it was somewhat strained. I shut the door behind me as I stepped outside, and let out a brief sigh before turning and walking down the road towards the library. I was bound to come into contact with something involving the parade, and if not, I could always return the book I had taken from there yesterday.

To my credit, the former of my two options happened after about ten minutes, as I stumbled across two pegasi attempting to hang a banner on a pair of buildings. The purplish one with a blonde mane and a trio of lilies on her backside was getting rather frustrated at her companion as the two sides of the banner were held up in two very different ways. “Merry May! It goes on with a bow! Stop trying to tie it on with a knot or the Mayor will have our flowery flanks!” I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at the scene. It was like watching an old comedy routine.

Merry May, the green pegasus with a slightly greener mane with a trio of orange daisies on her flank, blushed and started to rub the back of her head. “Sorry Lily. I just can’t seem to get it right.” She grinned sheepishly under Lily’s gaze and chuckled nervously. “Eheheheh, So...... want to trade spots?”

Lily facehoofed and waved her friend over. “Merry.... just..... hold this one in place.” The green pegasus flew over and held the bow as Lily flew to the other side and tied on the rest of the banner. With a few firm tugs from the purple pony, the banner was secured and read “Ponyville Harvest Festival Parade!”

I cleared my throat to keep myself from laughing at their antics and also managed to draw the duo’s attention. I took the opportunity and started to talk to the two pegasi. “Excuse me, Do you two need any help, or know where I could lend a hand?”

Merry shook her head. “Nah, we’re fine. This was the last banner anyways.” She tapped her chin a little before smiling. “They might need some help with the floats though! They’re just down that way.” She pointed down the street that headed towards what I think was the outer edge of town. Didn’t something purple fly at a breakneck pace in that general direction yesterday? Maybe I’ll find out what that was finally.

As I got closer to the parade floats, I noticed a familiar pair of derpy eyes in the crowd. She had a small purplish unicorn on her back and was talking to....a pony dressed as a pear? “Oh come on Time Turner, you said you would help in the parade!” I wanted to laugh so freaking hard at the guy, but there was that little voice in the back of my head saying, ‘pity that man for he has been roped into some embarrassing shit.’ And boy do I know how that feels...... third grade, you will forever be the bane of my reputation back in Oklahoma..... fucking metal poles.

The brown stallion, Time Turner apparently, groaned and shifted in his costume a little. “I know I said I’d help... but I didn’t think that I’d be dressed as a fruit.”

The little unicorn giggled and beamed at him while resting her hooves on Derpy’s head. “I think you make a great pear Mr.Turner!” So..... much..... dawww....... I think I'm going to have a heart attack.

Derpy giggled herself while the brown stallion blushed before she turned towards me and jumped a little in surprise. “Oh! Hi Zach! What are you doing over here? The parade starts soon and everypony else is getting ready to watch it.”

I waved some as I got closer to the trio and smiled back after taking off my hood. “Hey Derpy, I just came over to see if I could help any. But if everything’s almost ready to go, then I guess I’m just standing here talking to you and your friends.”

Derpy and the little unicorn laughed a little. “Just one friend, actually. Dinky’s my daughter.” The little unicorn waved from atop her mother’s head and.... okay, how did I not see the resemblance? Their manes are almost exactly the same freaking color, and... style... somehow.

“Hi Mr. Zach!” Dinky beamed at me with a smile of childish innocence before tilting her head in equally innocent confusion. “What are you supposed to be? You don’t look like a pony.”

Derpy blushed and looked up at her daughter. “Dinky! Where are your manners?” Dinky’s ears fell and I couldn’t help but chuckle. I could see Time Turner doing the same in his pear suit, and Dinky blushed a little. Leave it to a little kid to make me start feeling better.

I raised a hand and got their attention quickly while smiling. “It’s alright Derpy, Kids are going to be kids.” I looked up at the little unicorn and pointed to my nose, pressing down a little and messing with my voice. “And for you little one, I’m what you shall call a ‘huuuuuuuu maaaaan~” I crossed my eyes and wiggled my fingers while going oooooh at the small unicorn.

The little pony laughed and poked my nose with her small hoof. “You’re funny.” We all were laughing for a little while after that. I haven’t acted like that in years, and having a laugh like I was was having some extremely positive effects on my mood. I wasn’t being such a grump as I was this morning!

It was about then that three younger ponies pushed a large golden apple into the line and were chattering amongst themselves. I didn’t really get what they were saying, but I did notice that Aleister was off in the distance. It’s kinda hard not to notice the six foot tall ginger off a ways away from a crowd of small equines. AGAIN! Brain, stop making me think things that I never thought I would think!

I looked over at Derpy and co. while I smiled a little. “Hey Derpy, I got to go for a moment. Bye!”

Dinky pouted on her mother’s head and gave me a pair of puppydog eyes. “Awwwwwww, Do you have to?”

I laughed at the sheer adorableness of her pout and ruffled her mane. “I’m just saying hi to a friend. I plan on coming back to watch the parade from a front view seat.” Dinky nodded and hopped off of Derpy to start pushing Time Turner over to the float he was supposed to be on. It was...... wow, it’s literally just a platform with a few decorations on the side. No wonder he didn’t want to get on.

I waved as I left the crowd and walked over to Aleister. “Yo, what’s up Al?”

He looked over and perked up a bit. “Oh thank god a distraction. I was about to have a panic attack.”

I raised an eyebrow and looked back at the crowd for a moment. It was getting pretty large. “So, I’m guessing not a big fan of crowds?”

“Agoraphobia.” He waved a hand. “It sucks.”

I blinked a few times before my head fell to one side. “Agora-what now?” I shook my head and cut off his response. “Nevermind. I think I get the picture. So what are you doing out here? I just thought that I’d help around town. Get some ponies to not be scared shitless.” I looked at the crowd that was moving about their day like nothing was wrong. “So far, this town rocks.”

He shrugged. “It’s okay. I would give it bonus points, but I got blasted out of a house by Sparkle. So yeah... I have a head injury from this.” He pointed at some bandages on his head. “I think I have a concussion.” He blinked a little. “Yep. Concussion.”

My face derped a little as I mulled over what he had just said. “Wait....... so you were the purple dot flying through the sky? Huh.... All that happened to me lately was I got blasted into a wall by a subwoofer/dishwasher hybrid.”

“I... I got nothing.”

I nodded in agreement. “I know, It was weird. I was pinned to the wall for a while. Kinda awesome now that I think about it.” I mean, who can claim that their stereo can pin someone to a wall? Name one, I dare you.

He nodded slowly. “Kinda. It’s better than what I went through at least.” He closed his eyes and leaned back. “God I’ve been awake for a day straight.”

I cocked my head to the side and smirked a little. “Doing what? You get caught by Twilight and lectured for hours? She seems like the kind of per- sorry, pony to do that.”

“No... Building a float. From scratch. And I lifted everything.” He stretched his arm and winced. “Cramp! Why!?” I looked back towards the floats and saw tall gold and sparkly sitting at the back of the line. There were two groups of fillies standing next to it and they seemed to be arguing.

“So. I’m guessing it was that one?”

“Yeah. I may or may not have carved the words “For the Fairest” on the side.” I snorted a little and looked back at the float. One of the fillies had pushed the three that were climbing in out and they fell into the street. I swear I felt my eye twitch. Maybe it’s a good thing he put that there.

I turned back to Al and pointed over to the parade. “So, you want to come see the parade up closer? There’s grey mare up there who’s fine with me grouping up with her so I’m sure that she wouldn’t mind an extra guest.”

He looked at the crowd nervously before looking back at me. “As long as we keep talking. I stop talking to you, and I suffer a panic attack.”

I nodded and turned back to the crowd with a smile. “Sure, I’ve been needing someone to talk to after what happened earlier today.” We headed back into the crowd and I spotted Derpy sitting with Dinky in their own little spot. It seemed that the crafty mare had managed to find a spot away from everyone else and still have a good view.

As we got closer, Dinky saw me and beamed before shouting from atop her mother’s head. “HI AGAIN MR. ZACH!”

I chuckled as Derpy started trying to clear out her ear and waved back. “And hello again to you Dinky.”

“Add popped eardrums to list of injuries.” Aleister rubbed his ear and winced again. “Ow.”

I rolled my eyes and sat down next to Derpy. “Oh stop your whining Al, she wasn’t that loud.” I looked over to the duo and waved a hand at Aleister. “Derpy, Dinky, This is Aleister. Al, Derpy Hooves and her daughter Dinky.”

Dinky hopped off of her mom’s back and ran up to Aleister and started poking his leg. “Hey! You’re a hu-man like Mr. Zach! Are you two related!?” I couldn’t help but laugh out loud and fall backwards at that.

“If we were I would have the same hair color as him, but alas I do not.” Al pointed to his red hair. “This just means that I’m different than him.”

Dinky pouted a little and ran over to me and poked my nose. “Mr. Zach? If he’d not related then how do you know him?” Derpy looked mortified at how much her daughter was poking and prying into my personal life, but I smiled and sat up.

“I met him when I got into Ponyville. He was at the library at the time and we talked for a little. We’re more of acquaintances than friends if you look at it right, but I’m not really caring about that.” I poked her nose and she giggled. “How long do you think it’d take to be someone’s friend?” This’ll keep her young mind occupied for a little bit. At least till she gets distracted by something else.

She beamed and started to think over the question. “Well.... um....” her smile faded a little before she started to tap her chin. “Thats....... Huh.” I chuckled and cut her off. Time to give her a distraction it seems. That was a little mean to do to her in retrospect.

“Hey, rather than ponder something like that, why don’t you enjoy the parade with your mom?” Derpy mouthed a silent thank you as Dinky ran over and layed on the grass next to her.

Derpy turned her attention over towards Al and smiled. “It’s nice to meet you Aleister, and I’m sorry about Dinky’s behavior. She tends to get really excited over anything new she finds.”

“It’s fine really. Kinda reminds me of my sister.”

Dinky looked over from the parade after she started laughing. “Look mommy! It’s Time Turner! He looks so silly!” I looked over and saw the extremely embarrassed stallion standing on the float.

I leaned over and whispered into the little filly’s ear. “I thought you said he made a great pear?” She giggled and nodded as I leaned away. I turned to Al and had a soft smile. “So, you have a sister?”

He nodded with a smile. “Yeah. She’s like a year or two younger than me, so she’ll be in high school by next year.”

I let out a sigh and looked up at the sky. The parade could wait. I had memories coming back to me that I didn’t mind all that much. “I had three. Two that were older than me, and one that’s probably just a little younger than your’s.” Add two brothers of both varieties to that and you got a full house.... Man, Johnny was an annoying little snot. Constantly following me around.... wanting my... approval...

“Ah. Good on you.” He laughed softly. “Only one for me.”

I watched the clouds pass by and started to imagine some of their faces on the surface. “Yeah, you’re lucky for that. Having multiple siblings sucks. Heh, privacy is practically extinct, and if they’re older, they expect you to practically obey them.” I watched as the clouds floated away into wisps in the breeze. “You never know what you got till it’s gone forever.” To think that if I hadn’t left..... Maybe things would have been different....

“Yeah yeah.... Saddening speech and all that, but I can’t really think too long on that without wanting to have a panic attack.” I nodded in agreement and sighed.

Suddenly there was a scream from further into the crowd and I shot up and looked out into the crowd. The golden apple float from earlier was swerving like crazy and nearly clipped a few of the bystanders. “I thought you helped build that thing!”

“I may have forgot to mention the whole point of it was to bring justice to a couple bullies.” He shrugged. “Wasn’t supposed to kill anyone.”

I looked at the road ahead and saw that the turn it was heading for what looked like a cliff face. I looked at Aleister and stood up while pointing to where it was headed. “By sending one of them off of a CLIFF!? ARE YOU NUTS!?” I ran into the crowd and chased after the float. For a parade float, it’s moving pretty fast. I barely noticed three blurs jumping into the apple before the first filly that had gotten in was pushed out and caught by someone in the crowd.

The float soon went over the edge and splashed into the lake I couldn’t see from the hill. I stared down at the water and looked over all of it in panic. “Shit....” Shit shit shit shit shit! I saw two small ponies pull up from the water and gasp for breath. One was a white unicorn and the other was a orange pegasus. Some pegasi flew down and lifted them up from the water and the unicorn was struggling as she was lifted.

“Hey! Stop squirming! Wait till we get you to the shore.” As the filly continued to squirm, I ran down the the lake shore and other bystanders were with me in the crowd.

The little filly soon was on the shore and trying to jump back in the water. “But Applebloom’s still down there!” Some of the crowd gasped and several started to run off to who knows where. I looked between the crowd, the small filly being held back and the slowly sinking float before I stomped. “Damn it!” I started running over to the water and jumped as I dived in.

The water was pretty murky, and I could barely make out the float through all of the muck. I swam over and into the small entrance that was near the lower half of the float before I moved towards the water’s surface inside. There was a yellow filly trying to keep herself aloft and in the air. She screamed in fright and almost sank when I surfaced. “AH! P-Please don’t eat me!”

I grabbed her under her forelegs and held her up in the dwindling air pocket. “Whoa! I’m not gonna eat you!” She was breathing heavily and I made her look me in the eyes. “Now listen to me, I need you to stay calm and hold your breath. Got it? I’m getting you out of here.” She nodded shakily before taking in a big gulp of air.

I did the same and quickly dived back down. The gap was slowly sinking into the mud, but I pulled us out of the float before it could get too small. I swam as hard as I could upward and got us out into the lake’s surface. When we surfaced the crowd seemed to have gathered around the sides of the lake and were cheering. I steadily pulled the little filly over to the shore with one arm and flopped into the sandish ground when I got there. “That..... was..... exhausting.....” I propped myself up with one arm and groaned some. “Why was that so...”

I looked down at my arm and noticed that my metal gloves and cloak were gone. I looked down at myself and saw my old blue, eagle patterned T-shirt and torn up jeans were back and I had a pair of white, ragged sneakers on again. A quick glance up at my hair showed it was the same dirty blonde as when I was born and I would have smiled if I wasn’t panting so hard. So I had to jump into a lake to get back to normal? Fucking really!?

The filly had run off to hug her friends before a certain orange mare ran up and started to bear hug the poor thing. “Oh my stars, Applebloom are ya’ll okay!?”

Applebloom nodded shakily. “Yeah AJ... Ah’ll be f-fine.” I couldn’t help but feel bad for the little girl. She’s going to have a major fear of water in the future.

“I see you’re back to normal.” I looked up at Aleister and waved a hand at him before laying down in the dirt. I’m too tired for any shit right now.

I passed out right there on the ground as some of the ponies stared at me. The one thing I remember seeing before passing out was Applejack looking at me in confusion. I’ll ponder this later.... too fucking tired.....to care...

Author's Note

Okay, I'll be honest. This was done for quite a while, but I wanted the main story to catch up. That however is taking a fair bit longer than I thought it would so just for you guys and gals. Chapter 9. Enjoy.