Josh stood in perpetual darkness. The one light that was shining was pointed directly at him in a spotlight fashion. Raising one hand up in front of his face to block out the glare, a ominous chuckle radiated around him. “What’s going on, where am I?” The laughter seemed to become louder.

A table materialized in front of Josh with a wooden chair in front of it. Feeling hands grip his shoulders, he was forced into the seat. A tall man stood in front of him, his face hidden behind the glare. He wore a black suit with a red tie, holding a clipboard in his hand he placed it on the table in front of him. “This is the fourth time this week you’ve been brought in here, are you aware of this fact?” Josh looked up at the man like he was insane.

“What do you mean fourth time!? This is the first time I’ve been here, who are you!?” The man sighed and shook his head, picking up the clipboard and looking over the documents within it.

“Every time it’s the same, fine I’ll humor you like I do each visit. You disappeared from a hospital in downtown about seven weeks ago, you were then found three days later in a field two cities away.” Shaking his head, Josh stared at the table in front of him, he could tell something was off.

“What hospital did I disappear from?” The man stopped looking through the paperwork before placing the clipboard once more on the table. Placing his hands on either side of the clipboard, he stared at Josh.

“That information is irrelevant to the situation at hand.” Blinking, Josh shook his head, confused.

“Irrelevant? How the hell is that irrelevant!? Fine, which city was I found nearby?” He could hear the man growl as he slammed a hand upon the table, causing Josh to jump back.

“That information is irrelevant as well! Where did you disappear to during this time that you went missing!?” Josh began to shake in his seat as he began to grow flustered.

“Like hell its irrelevant! You’re supposed to be some sort of detective, right!? And yet you’re interrogating the one who went missing instead of looking for the culprits!” The man ran a hand through his hair in frustration.

“A detective? Is that really what you think I am!? Where do you think you are? Look around! Theres a reason the walls in this room are padded. Every time you’re brought in here to speak with me, the conversation is exactly the same. I am honestly getting tired of it, but it’s what I was hired to do.” The man stood up straight and adjusted his tie. Glancing out of the corner of his eye, Josh saw that where there was once darkness now stood four padded walls and a door.

“Now, lets start back from the top, shall we? Where did you disappear to while you were gone for those three days?” Josh fidgeted, staring down at the table while his mind was working overtime to try and figure out what was going on. The man balled up his hands into fists and slammed them into the table. “I asked you a question, where were you during those three days!?” He looked up at the man, a look of fright covered his face.

“I... I don’t know... I was...” Josh lowered his head into his hands. “I was transported to a land called Equestr...” The man cut him off by picking up the clipboard off of the table, throwing it into one of the walls in the room with a loud bang. Flinching, he looked away from the man who was glaring daggers at him.

“I’m done, I’ve had it up to here with hearing about your magical land of talking ponies! I’m going to just write this up to management, you’re a lost cause.” The man turned around and walked out of the room, slamming the door on his way out.

“It’s not possible... It was all so real, am I really crazy? This was the fourth time he’s visited me he said, how is that possible, I don’t remember the other three times. Theres no way he could have visited previously.” Josh slumped in the chair, staring at his hands. “Am I really losing my mind..? I...” He looked around the room once more. “I don’t want to be alone...” What sounded like the man’s laughter filled the room.

“Oh, what does the strange creature think of this Nightmare? Definitely something new I wanted to try. What a nice test subject you make, a head so full of ideas like yours, a mare could learn a thing or two from you about what can frighten a pony.” The voice of the man filled the room and slowly took on a feminine quality as the man faded from view. Two teal eyes stared into Josh’s from the other side of the table. As quickly as it originally materialized, it vanished from view. “Lets see what else I can do to toy with you... You and I are going to have some fun.” The chair vanished from underneath Josh, causing him to fall backwards onto the ground.

“This is some really messed up stuff... Was everything that just happened.. Really just some part of a nightmare...?” Looking around, he absently scratched the back of his hand as he backed away from the spotlight. All of a sudden, the spotlight vanished, leaving him again in a world of inky blackness. Red clouds slowly moved through the air above him, glowing slightly, allowing Josh to see that he was now standing on a grey and dusty area.

The ground underneath him slowly began to bubble as a red ooze began to work it’s way out of the ground, totally covering it. Raising one foot up, the red gunk stuck to the bottom of his shoe as he pulled it away. Crouching down, he ran a finger through the substance before sniffing it. Recoiling back, he frowned as the smell of blood wafted from it. Raising an eyebrow, he rubbed his fingers together to remove the substance. A heavy downpour of rain began to fall inside the room as the blood-like substance began to wash around him.

“Everything here seems so real... Almost as if its a lucid dream... But nightmares aren’t usually lucid dreams because you can’t control them, yet I can move at will.” His eyes became wide as an idea came to him, he then grinned, stretching his arms into the air. “If this is how nightmares in this world normally work, I’m actually going to have fun here. Because in the end, this realm is still a form of a dreamscape in my head.” Josh crossed his arms and waited for the scenery around him to change by his force of will.

All at once, the dreamscape shifted and he found himself in a field. In the distance the sun was slowly setting on the horizon. Out of the corner of his eye, he glimpsed a blur, flicker and sink into the shadow of a tree. “Or maybe there are just other creatures here that can invade dreams...” He muttered quietly to himself.

Suddenly the dream shifted again, as the malevolent voice hissed. He was now standing in a graveyard with a full moon shining high overhead. Shaking his head, he sighed. “You really are bad at this, or maybe you just have had to deal with ponies this whole time. Their innocence obviously would make this situation a bit frightening to them. But you haven’t dealt with a human before have you? Our imaginations are so profound it really makes your attempts quite laughable.”

A scream of annoyance could be heard from one of the crypts that filled the graveyard. “You think you can toy with me!?” The sound of a thousand groaning ponies filled the air as hooves of the dead began to push their way out of the graves that dotted the area. As the undead ponies crawled out of their tombs, Josh shook his head and sighed.

“Zombie ponies now? Yet another thing humans have a way of dealing with. Though we have never actually had zombies, we have multiple theories on how to get rid of them. For the sake of experimentation, I’d like to try a few things that I’ve seen in a game called ‘Bioshock: Infinite’. First, I need a bit of room to work with...” Flicking his wrist, a octopus-like suction cup appeared on the front of his hand, shooting out a wave of water at the Zomponies, causing them to get thrown back. “And now...” Josh’s hand suddenly caught fire as he threw a flame trap in front of the onslaught. The moans of the creatures grew louder as their rotted flesh caught flame.

“That’s enough! I’ve had it with you! The realm of dreams is mine to manipulate! Who are you to so easily change this world at will!?” Josh blinked for a moment, scratching the back of his head. Unable to think of a witty remark, he just shrugged. A few moments later the dream shifted back to the field environment. In front of him, a dark blue mist hovered over the ground. Anger seemed to radiate from the dark being as it’s form began to twist, changing it’s shape to that of a dark black mare with glowing green eyes. It’s mane and tail took the form of blue and white flames, the same fire from it’s mane covered the ground around it.

“Who am I?” He rolled his eyes, shaking his head, smirking. “Who I am is... ‘Irrelevant’ to the situation at hand. All you need to know is that I’m a human, my kind has learned the intricacies of lucid dreaming, I highly doubt that anything you could do would be able to surprise me here anymore. The fact that this is a dream causes all possible chances at fear to become nonexistent. Honestly though I do give you credit, you had me really thrown out of my comfort zone when you first started your work. But once I realized what was going on, it all became ‘Irrelevant’.” Josh gave the mare a shit-eating grin, as he taunted the mare with terms she'd previously irritated him with.

The mare snorted angrily and sat down on her haunches as she stared at Josh. Just by looking in her eyes, her emotions were laid bare before him. Anger, contempt, confusion, all played across her face. “But while we’re here, and I’m not really interested in having anything shift again, would you like to listen to some music?” A surround sound stereo system materialized nearby as Josh willed it into creation. “I don’t know how ponies would take to some of the other music I enjoy listening to, it may be a bit too loud for them. But being a creature of such ‘malevolence’, perhaps you might find some entertainment value in it.” The mare snorted again at this comment, staring holes into his back.

Pressing a few buttons on the stereo system, Josh turned back to the mare, grinning. “How about... ‘Give Me The Night’ by Dragonforce?” Pressing a button on the machine, the music began to loudly play across the land. The dark mare’s eyes went wide at the noise level that the machine in front of her made. Glaring at the human, she forced her will towards the machine, only to get thrown back a few yards. Glancing over his shoulder at the Mare, Josh shut his eyes and shook his head at her. “Again, this is my dream, and in the end I control what's going on in it. At this period in time I have no intention of letting anything change.”

Landing on her back, the creature took her misty form once more. “I’m sick of being toyed with, human! Don’t think this is over! I’ll be back!” A hole appeared in the ground as the creature flew through it and out of Josh’s dream. Smirking, he snickered quietly to himself as the music finally finished.

Stretching, Josh looked around and noticed the tree that the creature had hid behind. Leaning up against it, he slid to the ground and contemplated other ways to possibly manipulate the dream. “Dost thou always listen to such loud noises for entertainment?” A soft voice asked from behind the tree. Glancing over his shoulder, Josh raised an eyebrow as a dark blue alicorn, walked around and stood in front of him. “Our sister informed us that thou were a strange creature.”

Josh looked up at her, confused. “Your sister? Wait... You wouldn’t happen to be Princess Celestia’s sister, would you?” The alicorn smiled and nodded.

“We are Princess Luna, guardian of the night and defender of dreams. We had noticed a strange dark fluctuating aura over your particular dream and had to investigate.” Luna materialized a cushion underneath her, laying down on it as she stared at Josh curiously. “We have never seen a being that was able to deal with a ‘Nightmare’ as easily as thou hast.”

Josh shrugged. “As I told her, you’d have to be one really innocent being to consider the ‘nightmares’ she summoned to be frightening. Humans have worse things to be afraid of... Not to mention this is just a dream, only I have total control over my own dreams. I refuse to let another being worm it’s way behind my mental defenses through something so weak as a dream.” Luna nodded, contemplating what Josh had just told her.

“Josh, if thou doesn’t mind us inquiring, what is something that thou fears?” Looking up into the tree above him, his face became a veil of sadness for a split second before he glanced over at Luna, smiling. “Thou dost not have to answ...” Josh waved his hand, cutting her off.

“Honestly, Princess, I fear being alone. Totally and utterly alone. Thankfully that isn’t a feeling I have to worry about in a dream, I can always change my dream at will.” Luna smiled at this, nodding to herself.

“Well, it may be of interest to you, but ponies don’t have the ability to dream lucidly like thou seem to be able to. It is quite interesting to me honestly, the only time that ponies seem to be able to harness some control over their dream is when we confront them ourselves within it.”

Scratching the back of his head, Josh stared into the princess’ eyes for a moment. “Now if you don’t mind my asking, Princess. Besides guarding the night and watching over everypony’s dreams, what other responsibilities do you have?” Luna beamed, happy that somepony was actually interesting in what she did.

“We raise and lower the moon at night as well as guide the stars each night. Each night here in Equestria is a work of art that very few of our subjects enjoy because they sleep.” Luna sighed and stared at the ground. “Most ponies don’t really take notice of our work.”

Raising an eyebrow, Josh watched the lunar princess, contemplating what to tell her. “You know, I personally like the night quite a bit. It usually brings along cool breezes while the light of the moon has a really calming effect on me.” Suddenly Josh was pressed back against the tree as Luna wrapped her hooves around him.

“Oh! Thank you, thank you! Thou dost not understand how much thine words mean to us!” Josh chuckled quietly and returned the princess’ hug. Suddenly realizing what she was doing, Luna backed away quickly, apologizing. Her face hinted a slight blush under her dark coat.

“That’s completely fine, though I can’t say it didn’t catch me off guard, thats for sure.” Luna giggled quietly, smiling at Josh. “So, do you have any other plans for tonight before I awaken? Not that I want to push you away or anything, I just wouldn’t want to keep you from your royal duties.”

Luna shook her head. “Time in the dreamscape runs at a different pace than it does in the waking world. We can be in thine dream for hours and it will only be seconds outside, we can also control how long we’re in a dream.” The idea in itself was interesting, controlling how long you’re in a dream for before waking up.

“Couldn’t that be dangerous as well, Princess? I mean if you stay in a dream for so long, can’t you lose yourself in it to the point where you could wake up and feel like the dream was more real than the waking world?” Luna placed a hoof to her chin for a moment, nodding at the idea.

“We suppose that this would be possible, but we have never been in a dream long enough to get lost in it like thou art thinking. Yet from how it sounds, we wouldn’t like it much either.” Josh shrugged, shifting against the tree, using it to scratch his back.

“I guess it’s a human thing, we like to take ideas and come up with so many different scenarios on what could or could not possibly happen if different choices were made over a multitude of situations.” Luna nodded slowly, gazing up at the sky in the dream world. After a short while, she turned to look at Josh curiously.

“We would like to see what thine world was like, if thou dost not mind.” Waving his hand, he smiled at the Lunar Princess. The scenery around the two changed around them, as everything settled, the two found themselves in a park with an apartment complex nearby. Children ran and played in the swings while others climbed up on top of the jungle gyms. Parents of the children could be seen standing nearby, conversing between each other. “Where are we now, Josh? Is this where thou lives?” Josh scanned the apartments before point out one in particular.

“I live... Lived, up in that one there with my sister and nephew.” Luna took everything in with wide-eyes, frowning for a moment, she looked back over to Josh.

“Dost the air always smell this unsanitary?” Josh furrowed his brow before taking in a deep breath, the smells of the pollutants in the air caused him to frown.

“Yes, unfortunately, humans have made so many different machines that do different things. The downside to those creations however, is that a lot of them ruin the environment.” Luna snorted, shaking her head, a look of annoyance on her face.

“We do not like it, let us change the dream to at least get rid of that horrid smell.” Josh focused his will on editing the world around them, changing the air quality to that of Equestria’s.

“Unfortunately, that is one price of progress, I hope that your world never has to deal with it.” Luna nodded slowly, her ears perked up as she turned her attention back to the children.

“Thy kind are an interesting sort, of that we are certain.” Josh nodded in agreement, turning he made his way over to one of the empty swings and sat down on it, rocking back in forth. Staring in the direction of the apartment that he used to live in, he watched as his sister walked down the steps, holding his nephew in her arms. Raising a hand, he pointed at her, glancing over at Luna who had walked over beside him, watching him swing.

“Thats my sister and my nephew..” Luna stared at them before turning back to watch Josh curiously.

“Thine face shows how greatly thou cares for them. Thou can’t help but miss them, but thou dost not have to worry. We are sure that they are doing fine and miss you as well. Come, let us move on from here, show us some more of this city that thou lived in.” Josh looked up at Luna, wearing a small smile.

“That doesn’t sound like a bad idea.” Getting up off of the swing, the two walked out of the park. Heading down the road, the scenery changed as a mall appeared in front of the two. Gesturing towards the building with his hand, he grinned at the princess. “This is a mall, basically a large building with multiple stores inside of it.” Luna raised an eyebrow curiously.

“We must see this building, the idea behind it intrigues us!” Grinning, Josh led Luna towards the building, then held the door open for her. “What a gentlecolt thou art, we appreciate it.” Looking at the princess, confused, Josh shrugged it off and followed Luna into the building. People were walking about, making small talk, and just overall having a good time. “So many of thine kind are here, is this a common meeting place?”

“Yeah, it is, though a lot of people just come here to shop. Come, Princess. Lets look around and browse the shops.” The two went through each of the shops for what seemed like hours, talking and laughing. Standing in front of the last store, Josh looked over at Luna, grinning. “Okay Prin...” She waved a hoof in front of her, cutting him off.

“Please, Josh, just Luna is fine with us while we’re here. Thou hast been a friend to us, and we would like for thee to speak to us as such.” Smiling at the lunar princess, Josh scratched the back of his head.

“Okay, Luna, this store right here..” He gestured to the one in front of them. “Was my favorite store while I lived in my world.” Luna raised an eyebrow, curiously.

“Pray tell, what dost this store have that thee enjoys purchasing so greatly?” Josh’s smile became a grin as he walked into the store, Luna trailing behind. Looking around, she noticed a lot of small boxes on shelves with different words on each one. “What are these, Josh?” Luna walked over to one and placed her hoof on the cover of the box as she read the title. “The Elder Scrolls V, Skyrim...” Josh walked up beside her and took the box in his hands, turning it around to let her read the back.

“These, Luna, were my time sinks while I lived on my world. They’re called video games. Each one of these boxes come with a disc, on that disc is information that can be opened up when it is put inside of a machine called a gaming console. This one for example...” Josh turned the box back to the front and pointed at the top. “Is used with a machine called an Xbox 360.” Luna stared in fascination at the game in front of her before turning to stare at Josh with a look of determination.

“We would like to try one of these video games that thee praise so highly!” Josh stared at her in shock, amazed that the princess in front of him would be interested in trying out a video game. Clearing his throat, he looked around, the only games visible were ones that his memory recognized as games that he had actually played in his world.

“Well Luna, which one would you like to try?” Luna looked around the store before pointing to the box that Josh held in his hand with her hoof.

“This one was our first choice, so we shall play this game first.” Chuckling, Josh grinned at her.

“Alright then, lets change everything up... “ Focusing on their surroundings, they found themselves in the field with the tree again. “Now...” As Josh was getting ready to prepare a gaming environment that would make any video gamer jealous, the dreamscape began to collapse in on itself. “W..What's going on.. Luna do you know what's happening?” The princess grumbled, turning towards Josh.

“Thou art waking up it would seem, we hope to continue this in the future however. And... We would like to thank thee for being our friend, besides our sister and Twilight Sparkle, we haven’t really been able to acquire any new friends.” The princess shifted back and forth on her hooves before walking up and wrapping her hooves around Josh, hugging him.

“Of course, you’re a really cool princess, Luna. It’s an honor to be considered your friend.” She pulled away, grinning.

“Thou art quite... ‘cool’.. as well, Josh. Now, wake up and enjoy the day. We shall have to meet up again soon.” With that said, the world around Josh shimmered and faded away as he groggily opened his eyes. Sighing, he stared up at the ceiling, contemplating the strange night he had.

Outside of the room, he could hear the clanging of pots as someone began making breakfast in the kitchen. Picking his phone up off of the side-table, he yawned and turned it on. “I can’t believe it’s only seven thirty... Well, a good time to get up as any.” Crawling out of bed, Josh stretched and opened the door to exit the room, only to be greeted by Twilight who was raising a hoof with the intent on knocking on the door.

“Well! Somepony got up nice and early, didn’t he? Sleep well?” Twilight beamed at Josh happily. Shrugging, he ran a hand through his hair, yawning.

“I suppose you could say that, you’re a smart pony, Twilight. I’d like to talk with you about something later if you don’t mind.” Raising an eyebrow, Twilight turned and began walking downstairs, talking to Josh over her shoulder.

“Yeah, no problem, just let me know when. I’m all ears for whenever you need somepony to talk to.” Smiling at the mare, Josh followed her downstairs to the front room where they found Rainbow Dash flexing her wing. Twilight looked over at her and asked “Hey Rainbow, hows the wing feeling?” Looking up, she smirked.

“Almost in tip-top shape, Twi. I’ll be back in the air before the end of the day!” Josh frowned, looking away. Noticing this, Rainbow facehoofed. “Hey, I told you not to feel bad about it.” Running a hoof through her mane in thought, Dash grinned. “If you want to make it up to me.. After I’m back in the air, you have to watch me practice some aerial maneuvers.” Laughing lightly, Josh nodded.

“Okay, okay no problem. I’ll be there, just let me know when.” Spike then walked out of the kitchen, rubbing his claws over an apron.

“Are pancakes okay with everypony?” When everyone nodded, Spike turned and went back into the kitchen to finish preparing breakfast. Twilight walked over to a scroll and picked it up, following Spike into the kitchen.

“So Rainbow Dash, do you know if there is anything on the agenda for today?” The rainbow maned pegasus shrugged.

“I’m not the pony who keeps a checklist on everything. You’ll have to ask Twilight about that. I know she wants you to meet the rest of our friends.” Twilight then walked out of the kitchen, nodding.

“Well I would like to take you to go meet Rarity at her shop, I already met with her this morning. I went ahead and assumed that since you’ve been wearing clothes since you arrived here, that it is normal for your kind to wear clothing at all times.” When Josh confirmed this, she continued. “Good, because Rarity became really excited when I asked her if she could make some clothing for you.” Josh raised an eyebrow at this.

“Your friend Rarity is a tailor? Is that a profitable profession for a pony?” Twilight giggled lightly.

“Don’t call her a tailor to her face, she prefers to be called a ‘fashionista’.” Josh walked over and sat down at the table in the front room, Twilight followed and sat beside him. Shortly after Rainbow Dash joined as well.

“Breakfast is ready, everypony.” Spike called from the kitchen as he brought out everyone’s breakfast one by one.

“Spike, you should have a medal, you’re one stand-up guy to be awesome enough to not only make all of us dinner last night, but breakfast this morning as well. Props to you dude.” Grinning at the compliments, Spike swaggered off into the kitchen to grab glasses of orange juice for everyone.

“Careful with the compliments, Josh, we don’t want him to get a big head.” Rainbow said while laughing. Twilight smirked and turned to Rainbow Dash.

“Yeah, we don’t want him to end up like a certain pegasus, do we?” Rainbow choked on a mouthful of pancake, grinning sheepishly.

“I..I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Spike joined everyone once again at the table, handing out the orange juice. Raising his glass in Spike’s direction in silent thanks, Josh took a drink before digging into the pancakes.

“If you don’t mind me asking, Josh.” Twilight began. “About that cell phone of yours, would you mind telling me how it works?” She smiled across the table at him. Scratching the back of his head, Josh frowned.

“I can’t really tell you everything about it, like how it’s made or anything. Since I honestly don’t know. But...” Josh pulled the phone out of his pocket and placed it on the table, everypony’s eyes immediately went to it. Flipping it over so it’s back was facing up, Josh pried the battery cover off before pulling the battery itself out. “This right here is the power source, it’s what we call a battery. Again, I don’t know how it works, it just does. Electricity is stored in this battery and is used to energize the components in the phone itself.” Looking up, he noticed that Twilight once again had a quill and parchment levitated in front of her as she took notes.

“Now the next item in here...” Josh sat the battery down on the table before pressing a tab on the inside of the phone, causing a small black chip to pop out. “Gah it always does that...” Twilight levitated it into the air and gave it back to Josh, smiling. “This right here is what’s called a memory card. Basically it stores the files that get used on the phone itself. So lets say for example I want to play some music, the phone communicates with the card and the card sends the phone the information to play the music.”

Turning to look at Spike and Rainbow, he raised an eyebrow as they both seemed really curious about this little lesson as well. Chuckling he placed the memory card down beside the batter before pulling out one last chip. “And this final piece here is called a ‘SIM’ card. At this time I can’t remember what the letters S.I.M. stand for, but if you’re interested, I’ll get back to you on it when I remember.” Twilight nodded, motioning for him to continue. “This card lets the phone connect to a mobile network using radio waves.” Twilight raised a hoof into the air.

“Josh, what exactly are radio waves? I would like to assume that you don’t mean ocean waves.” Waving his hand, he dismissed the thought.

“No, nothing like that, think of it like...” Josh looked around for an example before his eyes homed in on Twilight’s horn and the quill she was levitating. “Ok, so for example, you know how when you can focus your magic through your horn to lift that quill?” Twilight nodded, raising an eyebrow. “Okay now Imagine that your horn is sending messages to the quill, asking it to lift into the air, then...”

“...The quill sends messages back to let me know that is being lifted into the air...” Twilight looked up, smirking as she began to understand the concept of this form of invisible communication between objects. “That is actually really interesting, I’ve never thought of it like this, but it does make sense with magic as well.” Twilight frantically began scribbling information on her parchment before setting it aside, glancing up at a clock on the wall. “Well, we can continue this little lesson later, Rarity is expecting us in twenty minutes. Go ahead and get cleaned up and then we’ll go.” Josh nodded and picked up his plate and glass, taking them to the kitchen and quickly washing them off.

"Oh wow! You didn't have to do that Josh.. Thank you though!" Josh turned around to see Spike smiled up at him with an armful of plates.

“Nah, it’s okay, if I’m going to stay here, I should help somehow. Want me to finish those?” Offering Spike a hand, the little dragon nodded enthusiastically before handing Josh the dishes in his arms.

“I’ll go and get the other glasses!” As Spike hurried out to grab them, Josh stared down at the soapy water in the sink. Lost in thought as he quickly cleaned off the plates.

“If I was still home it would've been my turn to clean up the breakfast dishes anyway...” He chuckled dryly to himself. “And here I used to hate doing dishes, I guess habits just don’t go away easily...” Spike came back into the kitchen carrying the glasses and placing them onto the counter before helping to dry the plates and put them away. Glancing over at him, Josh smiled. “Hey, Spike, I have a proposition for you.” The dragon turned to him, confused. “Back when I was still in my world, I would take turns cleaning the kitchen with my sister. If you’re fine with it, we can rotate cleaning the kitchen after meals.” Spike’s eyes grew to the size of saucers.

"You'd really do that? Seriously!? That would be really awesome! I mean.. You don't have to, but if you want to.. That would definitely help me alot!" Nodding, Josh finished cleaning the last of the glasses before handing them to Spike to dry.

“Yeah, as I said, if I’m going to stay here I might as well help out however I can.” Spike grinned, drying off the last glass and placing it into the cabinet.

“Well thanks a lot then! Thats really going to help, but do you mind if we keep this on the down low for now? Twilight is really picky about me and my...” The sound of hooves approaching could be heard behind them as both Spike and Josh turned around to see Twilight approaching with a raised eyebrow.

“I’m really picky about what, Spike?” The lavender mare stared at the dragon, causing him to shift nervously. Chuckling quietly, Josh began to walk towards the exit of the kitchen, only to have Twilight take a step in front of him. “Oh no, don’t think you’re getting out of this till I know what you two were talking about.”

Josh cleared his throat, grinning sheepishly at Twilight. “Well, I was just telling Spike that I’d like to rotate kitchen cleaning duties with him, you know, to help out. If I’m going to be staying here, I might as well make myself useful somehow.” Twilight let out a breath, turning to Spike.

“I’m not picky, you know I just don’t like you slacking on your chores. Did you really think I would be angry at you for letting Josh help? You silly dragon. Now, we have to be at Rarity’s in five minutes. Lets get going.” As the group walked back into the front room and then towards the front door, Josh couldn’t help but realize that somepony was missing.

“Hey Twilight, where did Rainbow Dash go?” Looking over her shoulder, Twilight shrugged, her eyes darting around.

“Um... I uh... I think she went to go meet up with our friend Fluttershy.” Raising an eyebrow, Josh let it go as he followed Twilight and Spike out of the library and into town. “Rarity’s boutique is on the other side of town, so we’re going to have to walk through the middle of town. If ponies look at you funny, don’t pay them any mind, just smile and act friendly.”

As the trio made their way through town, a few of the townsponies did exactly as Twilight said they would. Some right out stopped in the middle of whatever task they were doing and just stared, mouth slightly agape. “Hey Twi’, what in the hay is that creature that you and Spike are parading through town?” An orange mare standing behind a stand selling apples stared at the three, curiously.

Turning, Twilight led them over to the apple stand. “Hey Applejack, this is Josh, he’s not really from around here. But there’s nothing to worry about, he’s friendly.” Josh raised a hand in greeting.

“Hello ther...” Cutting him off, Applejack took his hand and began shaking it quickly up and down.

“Howdy there sugarcube, mah name is Applejack, one of the proud owners of Ponyville’s own Sweet Apple Acres! We grow the finest apples in Ponyville, would ya like to try one?” Once the pony had finally let go of his hand, Josh took a moment to rub his now numb arm, trying to get some feeling back into it.

“I don’t really have any way of paying for one, maybe another time though.” Shaking her head, Applejack grinned up at Josh.

“No need ta pay, sugarcube, this one’s on the house. Be sure’n stop by again sometime when ya’ve got some bits.” The mare threw Josh an apple, who was caught off guard. The apple bounced off his head. He fumbled for a moment trying to catch it, before watching it head towards the ground. Twilight quickly caught it with her magic, right before it hit the dirt and gently floated it back up and into his hands, snickering at him.

“It’s been nice seeing you Applejack, but I have to get Josh over to Rarity’s. We’ll see you later okay?” She nodded, walking back behind her apple stand as Twilight, Spike, and Josh continued through town towards a building that was situated near some trees. Raising an eyebrow, Josh looked the building over. “Here we are. This is Carousel Boutique, it is where Rarity works and lives with her sister Sweetie Belle.” Opening the door, Twilight led Josh and Spike inside, only to get nearly run over by three little balls of fur.

“Hey Applebloom, Scootaloo, why did you two stop?” On the ground in front of Josh stood three fillies. Two of them looking up at him in awe while the third was looking between her two friends. When the third looked up at what her friends were looking at, she gasped and fell backwards. “W..What is that!?” She squeaked, Twilight giggled at her reaction before walking past the group.

“Don’t worry girls, this is Josh. He’s a friend.” The three walked around Josh, looking him over curiously. Circling back around in front of him, the fillies sat down. Crouching down to their level, he smiled.

“Hello there, I’m Josh, what are your names?” The white one was the first to speak.

“I’m Sweetie Belle!” The yellow one joined in next.

“Ah’m Applebloom!” She spoke with a southern accent, not different from Applejack. Raising an eyebrow, Josh nodded to her.

“Do you happen to be related to Applejack?” The yellow filly nodded, grinning.

“Applejack’s mah sister.” Applebloom turned to her friend, the only one of the three who didn’t introduce herself. Nudging her with a hoof, “Come on Scootaloo, introduce ya’self.” Shaking her head, grinning sheepishly, the orange filly walked forward and offered a hoof.

“I’m Scootaloo!” Shaking her hoof, Applebloom and Sweetie Belle walked up beside their friend before all three spoke in perfect time, as if practiced.

“And we’re the CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!” Nearly falling over, Josh blinked, rubbing his ear to stop the ringing.

“Wow you three have some lungs on you... By the way, what is a cutie mark and why are you crusading for them?” The fillies looked at him, wide-eyed.

“You don’t know what a cutie mark is!?” They said loudly in unison once more. Shaking his head, Josh blinked. The one who introduced herself as Sweetie Belle stepped closer.

“A cutie mark is what makes a pony special! When a pony finds their special talent, they receive their cutie mark on their flank.” Josh blinked at this, raising an eyebrow.

“But you three are already special.” The fillies looked at him confused. Applebloom raised a hoof into the air.

“How can ah be special if’n ah don’t have mah cutie mark yet?” Josh nodded and rubbed a hand over his chin, lost in thought. He then grinned as he came up with an example.

“Okay, so.. When you look into a mirror, what do you see?” Scootaloo rolled her eyes at this.

“Everypony knows that when you look into a mirror you see yourself.” Josh smiled, nodding.

“That is true, now, is there any other pony that looks exactly like you?” Realizing what Josh was doing, Twilight smiled and lead Spike over to a white pony who had arrived as the fillies started talking about cutie marks. The lavender and white mares began to whisper to each other as Josh continued to talk with the crusaders.

The three crusaders shook their heads as Josh continued. “Precisely, you’re the only pony that looks like you.” He pointed to each filly in turn, smirking. “And that in itself makes each of you extremely special. I’m sure having a cutie mark is just a bonus to that fact.” The fillies stared at the ground in thought at what he had just told them. Clapping his hands, Josh broke them out of their reverie. “Now, don’t focus so much on growing up, you’re supposed to be young. Try to focus on having as much fun as you can while you can. If doing this crusading is what you do for fun, then continue to do it! But don’t do it just because you believe you’re not special.”

The crusaders looked between each other, smiling before tackling Josh onto the ground in a group hug. “You’re a really nice pon..thing, Josh!” Sweetie Belle grinned.

“Hey, ya’ll know what we should do now?” Applebloom turned to Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. “We should go and tell ev’rypony that doesn’t have their cutie mark what Josh just told us!” The other two looked between each other nodding before looking back and grinning at Applebloom.

“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS, GOOD ADVICE GIVERS! YAY!” Leaping off of Josh, the fillies ran out of the boutique leaving him on the ground, rubbing his ears. Laughing, Spike walked over to Josh and lent him a claw back onto his feet.

“Thanks bud.” Brushing himself off, he looked over to Twilight and the white pony. “Sorry about that.” The two mares giggled before the white one approached him.

“Not at all, darling. The way you handled those rambunctious fillies was simply spectacular.” The white mare lifted her hoof to Josh. “I am Rarity, it is a pleasure to meet you.” Taking her hoof, Josh gave it a soft shake, bowing his head slightly to her.

“The pleasure is mine, Miss Rarity.” Giggling, she pulled her hoof back.

“My, you’re quite the gentlecolt aren’t you?” Turning her attention to Spike, just now noticing him, she beamed happily. “Oh and Spikey-Wikey is here as well! This is going to be grand!” She turned her attention back to Josh. “Twilight told me that your kind wears clothing at all times, Josh, which is simply fascinating. I honestly can’t wait to begin designing you some outfits!” Taken aback, Josh shook his head.

“No, no its fine, you don’t have to go out of your way to do that. I have no way to pay you, it will have to wait until I can find some form of employment.” Rarity shook her head, tittering.

“I insist, darling! Now come inside and let Rarity get your measurements.” Josh turned to look at Twilight who was sitting there, grinning. Glancing at Spike, Josh facepalmed as he noticed that the young dragon was just staring at Rarity, swooning.

About an hour had passed before Rarity had finished measuring and bouncing ideas for the outfit back and forth with Josh. “Black just looks tacky, dear, but if you insist I shall do as you request. You will be wearing this clothing after all, wouldn’t want you to go gallivanting out in public while wearing an outfit that you don’t like.” Sighing, Josh ran a hand through his hair, trying to hold back his frustration with the white mare.

“Thank you for seeing things my way, Rarity. I appreciate what you’re doing for me, perhaps once I have some proper form of income, we can talk about that suit you were wanting to make for me so badly.” Beaming up at Josh, the mare nodded.

“Oh and it will be the most dashing suit, darling. I can see it now, it will be one of my best works. I shall get started now on the outfits you requested, we’ll have to do this again sometime!” Turning to her drawing board, Rarity went over the designs again as Josh walked over to Twilight and Spike, shaking his head in annoyance. The lavender mare looked up from some paperwork that she was working on before quickly rolling the parchment up and placing it into a saddlebag that she had borrowed from Rarity. Noticing the look of frustration on Josh’s face, she placed a hoof over her mouth, holding back a laugh.

“So, are you ready? We have one more place to stop at before we head back to the library.” Grumbling, Josh nodded, just wanting to leave the boutique as quickly as he could. As he led Twilight towards the door, holding it open for her, he noticed that Spike was missing. Looking back inside, he saw the small dragon standing beside the white mare, swooning. Placing his hand over his face, Josh shook his head and followed Twilight outside.

As the two walked back through town, Twilight led Josh towards what looked to be a giant gingerbread house. Thoughts of Hansel and Gretel flooded his mind and his pace slowed for a moment. Shaking his head, he laughed nervously before picking the pace, catching back up to Twilight. “So I take it we’re going in there?” He gestured towards the candy house.

Twilight nodded. “That is Sugarcube Corner where Pinkie Pie works with Mr. and Mrs. Cake. A really nice family, they have two foals, Pound and Pumpkin Cake.” The two walked into the building, only to find a dark room. Looking around confused, Josh took a few steps in as Twilight hung back with a smirk on her face.

“SURPRISE!” A bunch of different ponies jumped out from all directions, smiling at Josh. As the lights were turned on, he could see a banner in the middle of the room. Suddenly a pink furball tackled Josh to the ground, grinning.

“Were you surprised!? Were you? Huh huh huh!?” Blinking, still in shock about the whole situation, he nodded dumbly. Giggling, Pinkie grabbed Josh’s hand and dragged him all about the room to all of the different things that she had set up for the party. “So! What do you think? Do you like it Joshie?” She smiled hopefully up at Josh who grinned, ruffling her mane.

“Well yeah, definitely, I was not in any way expecting anything like this. You really are quite the party pony, aren’t you?” Pinkie nodded. As the other ponies who had not met Josh yet, saw how easily he communicated with Pinkie, they slowly made their way to him and introduced themselves. A few hours later as Josh was eating a cupcake with Twilight and Pinkie. Having already enjoyed the party quite a bit, he failed to notice a yellow mare with a pink mane slowly make her way over to him. Staring at him curiously, the mare stood on the other side of Twilight. Noticing this, Twilight moved out of the way and bumped her gently towards Josh, eliciting a small ‘eep!’ out of her.

Turning towards the sound, Josh looked down at the mare who was doing her best to hide behind her mane. Crouching down to her level, Josh tilted his head curiously. “Well hello there, I’m Josh. Who might you be..?” The mare just stared at him, opening her mouth for a moment before shutting it, shifting a bit back and forth.

"I...I'm Flutt-- " She whispered the end of her name faintly. He raised an eyebrow at her, looking confused.

“I’m sorry, I don’t believe I heard that, can you speak up for me?” He gave her a friendly smile.

“I’m Flut.. I’m Fluttershy...” She turned her eyes away from his nervously.

“Well it is a pleasure to meet you Fluttershy. How are you doing today? Are you enjoying the party?” The mare stared at Josh in awe for a moment before shaking her head.

“I..I’m fine.. Th..Thank y..you.. T..t..the p..party is nice... A..Are you e..enjoying it..? P..Pinkie a..always puts a..a lot of effort into her parties...” Josh nodded and looked around, noticing all of the ponies have a good time while Pinkie ran between each group, making sure that everything was going perfectly.

“I’m enjoying it quite a bit, thank you.” Noticing Fluttershy’s cutie mark, Josh raised an eyebrow and gestured to it. “If you don’t mind me asking, Miss Fluttershy, what do you do for a living?” The mare’s ears twitched as she looked back at Josh, tilting her head slightly.

“W..Well, I umm.. I take care of animals..” Twilight sat beside the two, continuing to eat her cupcake.

“Fluttershy here is the resident veterinarian. If there is any problems with woodland creatures or pets in general, Fluttershy is the pony you go to.” Josh nodded, smiling at the yellow mare before standing up.

“Its been nice meeting you, Fluttershy, I hope we get the chance to talk more in the future. I hope you don’t mind if I go mingle and meet with other ponies.” Fluttershy quickly shook her head.

“N..No, not at all. P..Please enjoy the p..party. I..If you want to I mean, you d..don’t have to..” Chuckling, Josh waved at Fluttershy and Twilight, leaving the two to converse. Looking around the room, he noticed that Spike and Rarity had arrived and were talking with Rainbow Dash. Not wanting to interrupt them, Josh made his way over to the punch bowl and poured himself a glass. Taking a drink, Josh went and stood off to the side of the room, leaning against a wall. Lost in thought, he didn’t notice a gray pegasus with a blonde mane approach and stand beside him, eating a muffin.

Taking out his phone, Josh caught a glimpse of the grey mare, raising an eyebrow. Shrugging, he sipped his punch while turning on his phone and checking the time. “It’s already seven? Wow today has gone by quickly... Though I suppose I have been at this party for a few hours.” Josh looked down in the direction of the pegasus beside him as he felt something nudge his leg. The mare was looking up Josh, offering him a muffin. “Thank you...”

“Ditzy, Ditzy Doo.” Josh smiled at the mare, noticing that her eyes couldn't seem to focus on one thing at a time. Each eye appeared to be looking in different directions constantly. Aware that he had taken notice of her eyes, Ditzy looked away in embarrassment. Shyly casting her eyes towards the floor, and out of his view.

Taking the muffin, he took a bite out of it before sliding down the wall to sit beside Ditzy. “Thank you for the muffin, Ditzy. You know, you don’t have to look away, I kind of know what it’s like to have eyes similar to yours, so I can relate.” Ditzy looked at Josh, curiously studying his face.

“What do you mean, your eyes are just fine...” Josh shook his head, taking another bite out of the muffin.

“They weren’t always fine, I mean I wasn’t fully walleyed, but... I had what’s called a ‘lazy eye’ where only one of your eyes will drift away instead of both.” Placing a hand over his right eye, Josh sighed quietly. “I had to wear a patch over my left eye for quite awhile to build up strength in my right so it could return back to normal.” The mare looked up at him in awe. Staring into her eyes, he gave her a soft smile.

“Either way though, it doesn’t matter how your eyes look, it’s just another awesome characteristic you have that makes you, you. I kind of learned that the hard way.” He ran his hand over the back of his neck while looking away, lost in thought.

“T..Thank you... That is one of the nicest things anypony has said to me.” Josh chuckled. Reaching over, he ruffled Ditzy’s mane, causing the mare to giggle.

“Theres no need to thank me, just keep in mind what I’ve told you. You seem like a smart mare Miss Doo, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.” A blush covered her face as she nodded. Across the room, Josh could hear Rainbow Dash calling to him. “It was nice to meet you, Miss Doo, thank you for the muffin and enjoy the party.” Smiling, he left the mare and walked over to where Rainbow was hanging out with Applejack.

“Hey! Just the guy I was looking for! Do you have your phone with you? I was telling AJ here about it and she doesn’t believe me that your device could hold music.” Applejack shook her head, snorting.

“There ain’t no way, it just ain’t natural. Rainbow’s pullin’ mah tail ain’t she, Josh?” Josh grinned, holding up his phone so the orange mare could see it.

“No, she’s telling the truth, this piece of technology here is from my world. It can store thousands of songs.” Snorting, Applejack shook her head.

“If thats the case, play one of your fancy songs. I don’t think ah can believe it ‘til ah hear it with mah own ears.” Nodding, Josh looked through his phone’s library. Browsing through the music, he finally pressed one, smiling as the song began to play.

“This one is called ‘I’ve Been Wrong Before’ by the band Abney Park .” Applejack stared at the phone as the music played. The other ponies still at the party walked over and joined in on listening. Pinkie bounced over beside Josh, staring at the phone.

As the music came to an end, Applejack lifted her stetson off of her head,running a hoof through her mane before replacing her hat. “Well I’ll be... Ya weren’t lyin’, Rainbow.” Dash grinned, puffing out her chest.

“I told you it was awesome, and this is only the third song he’s shown us! There could be so much more on there!” Rainbow eyed the phone greedily, obviously wanting to listen to more.

“Josh will have plenty of time to let us listen to more of his world’s music later, it’s not like he’s going anywhere.” Twilight said as she walked up to the group, looking at the phone, once more intrigued by it. “Can’t say I didn’t like that last song either. It just goes to show you that no matter what you believe, anything can come up to prove your facts to be false.” Glancing up at a clock on one of the walls, Twilight cleared her throat.

“I believe it’s time to begin heading home, what do you think, Josh?” Nodding, he rubbed his right eye as it began to itch.

“Sounds good Twilight.” He turned to Pinkie, crouching down a bit. “Thank you for the welcome party Pinkie, I had a lot of fun, and I also got to meet some new ponies.” The pink mare grinned, wrapping her hooves around Josh’s neck in a quick hug before pulling away.

“I’m so so so so happy that you enjoyed it! We’ll have to hang out sometime and play games and listen to music and do other fun things!” Grinning, Josh nodded and ruffled Pinkie’s mane. Standing up he turned to Applejack and Rainbow dash.

“Again, it’s been nice meeting you Applejack. And Rainbow Dash, I’m happy you’re wing is in top shape again. If you still want to show me those maneuvers, we can hang out tomorrow.” Applejack nodded as Rainbow threw a hoof into the air, grinning.

“I’ll meet you outside the library tomorrow at noon then!” Dash’s wings twitched excitedly. “Oh man, this is going to be so awesome! You could even play some of your music!” Laughing, Josh grinned.

“Yeah definitely, I’ll see you there.” Turning, Josh saw Twilight already at the doorway. Hurrying over, he habitually walked in front of her and pushed the door open. Holding it open for her, she walked outside, looking over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow as he followed her.

“What was that about?” Josh looked at her, confused.

“What are you talking about?” Twilight rolled her eyes, walking in the direction of the library.

“Hey! Wait up!” Spike quickly ran out of Sugarcube Corner and caught up with Josh and Twilight. “Geesh, up and ditch me huh?” Twilight smirked and looked over to the young dragon.

“Of course we didn’t ditch you, we knew that you would catch up.” Josh glanced at Twilight before nodding to Spike in agreement.

“We wouldn’t dare do something so mean as ‘ditch’ you Spike. You’re Twilight’s number one assistant and a really cool friend.” Spike looked up at Josh, smiling.

“Well when you put it that way...” He grinned, running forward to climb onto Twilight’s back as they continued to walk towards home.

“Hey Josh, do you think you could take some time tomorrow to talk with me about your home?” Twilight asked. Josh raised an eyebrow. Glancing at her, he shrugged.

“I suppose I can Twilight. Though it will have to wait till after I’m done with watching Dash fly around for a bit like I promised.” Beaming, Twilight picked up the pace, making a mental checklist as to what questions she planned to ask him.

“Yeah, I have some questions too, Josh. You said yesterday that your world had some myths about Dragons, do you think you could tell me them?” Spike looked over at Josh, hopefully.

Shrugging again, he glanced over at the dragon. “Sure, I don’t see why not. I have a few stories I can tell you if you’re that interested.” Grinning happily, Spike turned his attention back in front of them as they approached the library.

After entering the library, Spike hopped off of Twilight’s back with a yawn. “Well, I’m going to go to bed, goodnight you two.” As they waved Spike off to bed, Twilight turned to Josh, catching him in the middle of rubbing his eye in irritation.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight looked up at Josh, concerned.

“I have no idea, my eye has been bugging me for the past couple of hours... Maybe it’ll be better in the morning.” Twilight nodded, a hint of concern still playing on her face.

“Well, be sure to tell me if you’re feeling better in the morning... Also, Rarity told me during the party that she’d bring the outfits she made for you over in the morning.” Josh raised an eyebrow at this.

“She already finished them..?” Twilight nodded, chuckling. “She sure works quickly, doesn’t she.” Agreeing, Twilight began to walk up the stairs.

“I’ll see you in the morning Josh. Sleep well.” Smiling at the Lavender mare, he followed her up the staircase, heading to the guest room.

“You too Twilight, sleep well.” Opening the door to the guest room, Josh slowly entered and walked over to the bed, setting his phone on the side table. Sitting on the edge of the bed, Josh stared out the window, sighing. “What a nice night... I wonder if it’s just as nice back home...” Shaking his head, he rubbed his right eye again, wincing. “I’m sure everyone is doing fine, no need to worry.” Crawling into bed, he curled up and fell asleep.

Author's Notes:

Well, here's my newest chapter. More detail, longer, more character interaction, and hints at future confrontations! I really hope that you all enjoy this chapter. Please comment, any and all advice/criticism is appreciated. For the people who are disliking the story, if you could post as to why, that would be highly appreciated!

-Kyllier

Editor's note -- Luna is best princess. -Crystalline