God's Equestria

by Miracle Spectrum

Chapters

• Prequel/intro: Crossing Barriers
• Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 1: Into the spectrum
• Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 2: Twilight Sparkle
• Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 3: Oopsies...
• Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 4: Aggression
• Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 5: The Destined...
• Ep2: The Technicolor Kingdom PART 1: Awakening
• Ep2: The Technicolor Kingdom PART 2: Musical Coffee

Prequel/intro: Crossing Barriers

The Soul Spectrum Dimension

Prelude/Intro: Crossing Barriers

Today Sucked...

The road was paved with shades of gray, twilight blue, and slate as Garion drove silently in the car down the highway that afternoon. Thoughts of hopelessness fell through him as he pulled off onto the exit. They always do. Every day they always do.

Screaming pain resided in the abyss of his mind that kept haunting him when he was not being caught off guard by something worth noting.

The Road turned sharply to left, passing an accident that must have happened to a young driver who had sped too fast along the curb. Smoking and lined with cones and police cars, it heaped in a mess laid out smashed against the median. Several yards away, an overturned truck was being attended to by a couple policemen. Not wanting to be distracted, he carefully drove by while pushing the image out of his mind.

Garion was a dreamer, which was pretty much all he was good at, besides drawing, music. He preferred doing the things that he could use to make his daydreams feel more real.

"That's all that I ever do," he thought to himself, "I'm never satisfied with reality, and this is what happens to me."

Today, he was done pretending.

This was life all around him. Interstates with an endless parade of separate vehicles mindlessly gliding in one direction, without ever looking back to see what they left behind. Every broken chain fence was the same, and the road ahead always brought him back to the same little apartment at the end of each day. Some days, he wished he go back and retry growing up. Those were the days that he should have had appreciated more.

While many thoughts like those could have been distracting him right now, the only thought going through his mind right now was that today he failed, and he probably would never get a second chance. Just what was his point in the world again, exactly? Fading away was every day for him.

He had never felt so close to success than he had today; if only he had been more spontaneous in his audition. He had gifts. He had things he wanted to show the world, but now…

'Shut up and watch the road,' he thought to himself.

Nevertheless he shared an apartment with Aaron, a skinny, unusual guy with glasses, who had an odd way of going completely insane, to a low temper, and then going berserk. They had just met a few weeks ago and they lived in the same apartment because they were both pursuing the same interests and figured they may be able to help each other out somehow.

On account of not being able to afford their own house, money management was the big factor that involved their teamwork together, despite their contrasting personalities.

The defining difference between them was that Aaron was the type who just went out to take destiny into his hands rather than take the time to educate himself in the field like Garion. Neither one of them were successful.

Garion wasn't even really that close to Aaron or knew much about his back story, but what he did know was that they were both unappreciated in their abilities, and both wanted more. Other than that, they kept to themselves...

It was July 3, 2016 and Garion decided to drive out to Bellevue to pick up a few fireworks for Independence Day. Even though they both pretty much lost hope in achieving their lifelong dreams, there was no reason why not to blow a few things to ease the ire of their current situation.

He pulled onto Corn husker road to the nearest Walmart. He didn't know why, but there were always like a thousand firework stands at that specific parking lot in this time of the year.

He parked the Saturn, and then walked out towards the charity stand, since the other booths were far beyond his financial state. This particular stand was bustling with people, and several people left with their bags full of fireworks before Garion reached the door.

He pushed open the screen door and stepped into the suddenly silent wooden framed structure. Everybody that he just saw was now gone. There were a few tables but very few fireworks. The cashier was the only other person in the room.

“Hello and welcome!” she said cheerfully with a bright smile, sitting in a folding chair behind a table.

“Hi,” he replied, completely lost. Turning away from her gaze, he viewed a sign, showing that this stand was for the funding of a homeless shelter. 'What in the world is going on?' he thought to himself.

The lady was short and thin, wearing a black hoodie on her body.

Garion gazed out around the room, drastically terrified of the sudden apparition that he was witnessing. It caught him so unprepared, there was just no logical action that he could think of at that moment. Only a few boxes of Smoke bombs, 2 parachutes and a few firecrackers were available.

“Is this seriously all you got?” asked Garion, who then gasped out loud at his oddly casual comment.

The cashier responded, “Well you waited till the last day to pick these up. You should have taken the chance much earlier.” And she closed her eyes as if suddenly asleep.

Garion glanced around and then looked back at the cashier, “But I could have sworn there were people in here, and stacks of fireworks piled on the tables just moments before I walked through that door.”

“You may have just been daydreaming.” She said justly.

Umm, No. I don’t think I was, Garion thought. What could he possibly do? The cashier didn't appear disturbed at all and acted so formal, that he almost believed for a second that what he saw may have truly been an actual daydreaming. But he wasn't about to just let it go.

Unfortunately, there was nothing that he could do or say, to help anything. Maybe, he had been thinking to himself, and all the people he saw had left out the back door before he got in, and for some stupid reason, he had just so happened to have missed it. Garion ducked and looked under the tables just in case.

He sighed and said, “Fine. I’ll take these,” and he took the parachutes, smokers, and whatever else he found and put them on the counter.

“That'll be ten dollars” she said. Garion got out his wallet and pulled out the cash. She peered at him and he started feeling uncomfortable.

“Hey, why do you look so glum? It’s a beautiful day,” she said.

Garion looked out at the sky through the screen windows, “What are you talking about? It’s been overcast all Week. Anyway, it doesn’t matter.”

“Sure, it matters.”

“Whatever. I'm just not having a good day.”

“I understand, we all have those kinds of days.”

He phased out and muttered to himself, “I wish…I wish”

She put the items in a small bag and said, “Now, do you have close friends?”

“Um, no”

“Ok... Do you believe in Magic, or anything like that?”

Garion looked at her for a moment, “Oh, well GEE! In this world?” he announced with an overly sarcastic voice, “Actually, yes. I can suppose there is. When I think of God, nature, music, and colors, it’s like a natural type of magic; the kind we can't control. But why the heck do you ask?” Then he stopped and paused for a moment, “I’m pretty sure I could have sworn that there were people in here…”

At that time the lady’s mood seemed to change, “You know, there was another firework you may not have seen yet,” she said, pointing to the corner of the booth. Garion scanned his eyes over and took notice of a small, unremarkable, little 12 barreled cylindrical looking thing, lying in the shadows. He walked up and peered at it.

“There’s no label,” Garion said flatly.

“Well it doesn’t really require one.”

"Really? How much is it?”

“Three hundred.”

“Three dollars?”

“No, I said three hundred.”

Was she just pulling a joke on him? “Are you being serious? The thing’s barely bigger than my fist.”

The woman got up and shook her head saying, “Well that’s why no one ever takes it. But we always get one of these every 3 years from some far away supplier who always sends us these to use for our charity causes. But they insist that it’s worth ten times more than it looks and all the work and production they put into it, makes it the only thing they can ever send. They won’t make anything else. So it's priced high. But those who would have purchased it would have been a great help. I’m not at all trying to pressure you though. You don’t have to get it if you don’t want to.” And she sat back down, reading a magazine.

Garion looked back at the little blue paper cardboard object that he held in his hand. Strangely enough, he actually felt like he had the urge to get it.

He was the type of guy who, though seems pessimistic about everything, still often keeps an eye out for anything unusual because he believes that nothing is impossible, it’s just that miracles prefer not to show themselves around him. He had this strange feeling, that maybe this whole, crazy occasion was a sign to him that he needed to buy this.

That- or, this was just a big charade to get him to buy a piece of junk worth more than anything this small should ever cost.

But why not? He essentially failed his lifelong dream today and it wasn’t like he was going to get anything else special with his money anyway. He was feeling so down right now, that he just wanted to do something reckless for a change.

“Do you want that in cash or in a check?” he asked.

“Anything will do. Thank you, sir.” She replied happily, “and have a beautiful day.”

…

Despite having the nagging feeling that he was colossally ripped off today, surprisingly the whether actually did look a little bit nicer. Clouds were beginning to let in the sun. And so Garion drove back home. His Apartment was just Past the Henry Doorly Zoo.

He pulled into the parking lot, noticing that Aaron was already back from his work, his car being stationed in his usual parking spot. Garion set the brake and got out of the vehicle. Now that the clouds were gone, it was getting very hot. He opened the trunk, slung his backpack over his shoulder and took the bag of fireworks inside. His apartment was on the ground floor so all he had to do was walk into it through an outdoor fresh hold, except that it was locked. So now he had to walk through all the hallways just to get to his room.

Unlocking the door, he entered into the living room. Aaron was sitting on the couch watching some random Anime. Garion put his stuff in his bedroom which was filled with books and posters and fantasy novels.

He thought maybe of considering inviting Aaron to lighting them off tomorrow so that he might get to know him more “Hey Aaron, I bought some fireworks that I was going blast tomorrow. Did you want to join in?”

“Uh, Sure Man. I have no auditions for the rest of this week. But I have to pay the monthly bill. Did you get enough pay for your share?” Aaron replied from the other room.

Garion suddenly flipped. How could he have forgotten to pay the monthly rent!? How could he have been so stupid to throw away his money like that! How was he going to explain to Aaron that he had just spent over 300$ on fireworks! He just stood there frozen for a few seconds and awkwardly said, “Um, I don’t have any money.”

“Wait, didn’t you get paid today?”

“Yeah, but I uh….nnngh….um…We’re in trouble.”

“What, why?”

“We don’t have any money,” Said Garion, trembling. He was missing a firework: The blue one that he spent an arm and a leg for. Plus there was a hole in the bag.

“What! What happened?”

“I bought fireworks.” Garion said plainly, walking towards the living room window outside. There it was, he saw, sitting outside on the hot cemented parking lot in front of his car.

“How much did it cost?” said Aaron, looking through the bag of fireworks, “There’s barely that much in here.” he then noticed Garion staring blankly at the window.

Aaron walked up and looked out towards where Garion was staring at.

           Garion’s heart just kept racing as the fuse to the firework seemed to be emitting smoke. The sun was reflecting strongly off of the cement and cars.

“How much did all of this cost?” demanded Aaron.

“Three hundred and Ten Dollars,” Said Garion, feeling very stupid.

“WHAT?!”

Just then the fuse caught alight and silently the sparks followed the wick down into the little station. Garion and Aaron just stared at it, from behind the glass window. Then a single fireball shot out from the center of the top into the sky.

And that’s all it did; didn’t even explode in the air or nothing.

“So Garion, that was a pretty good prank there,” said Aaron.

Garion just kept looking out the window.

“I mean, if you had just burned 310 dollars in the atmosphere, we’re both screwed and most likely even worse,” Said Aaron, who then looked back into the bag, looking for the receipt. Once he found it, he threw the hardest punch he could into Garion’s Shoulder, “GARION!! You didn’t spend Three Hundred Dollars on that; you spent Three Hundred and Ten THOUSAND Dollars on it!!!”

“WHAT!? That’s not what the cashier said! She said 300 dollars for that one firework and ten dollars for the rest!”

“What kind of messed up firework stand did you go to!?”

“It was for charity!”

“DID YOU EVEN LOOK AT THE RECIEPT!?”

“Um, no?”

“Where did you come up with the money for it?! What the hell made you want to spend Three Hundred and Ten Thousand on THAT!?!” he shouted furiously.

         Garion looked at the receipt again, slight tears dripping, gulped and said, “I was feeling kind of reckless. And I spent it with credit.”

At first Aaron just stood there looking off but then, “YOU IDIOT!” Aaron swung again at Garion, who backed up and picked up something off of the coffee table.

Garion was feeling terrible. He couldn’t believe all of this crap had happened and that of all ways to mess up your life in one day, why like this? Now he was feeling even worse knowing now that he was causing severe problems for Aaron now too.

         All of a sudden a bright white light surged out of nowhere from everywhere, flooding the room with a cold aura as bright as day. The Silence of the Tension was replaced by a Low hum. The tone of the hum sounded pure, like it was indicating a cry from some innocent presence who was trying to communicate. Neither of them said anything, they just stood there in place looking all around them, lost in whatever emotion they might have had at such a time as this. It was just a very, very unexpected event and nobody would ever really know what to do.

      Garion Looked at Aaron who was holding his fist in the air like he was about to sucker punch him had the strange surge of light not have happened at that exact precise second. Then he noticed that the object he was holding in his hand was a book; and to think that he was just about to whack Aaron with that.

Through the blinding vision of whiteness, a few seconds passed before they both watched themselves put their arms down, looking at each other strangely without speaking, as if in a dream. Something made them want to look at the door to their apartment. It seemed the source of the light was coming from behind it. And yet it was still bright enough to fill the whole room as if they were outside.

     Garion was the first to speak,”Uhh…I’m going to-g go out-on a-a-a limb here and say that-,” But Aaron just silently and slowly approached the door, looked at Garion, who nodded, and slowly touched the doorknob. The Sound of the Note that hung in the air seemed to grow stronger and more dramatic as he did so. He slowly gripped the doorknob, turned it, and let it swing open.

      White. Bright white light. The brightest white that Aaron had ever seen filled the whole doorframe. Not a cold, dead white like from snow, but a warm, living, singing white. “What happened to the street?” muttered Garion walking up beside Aaron. Of course he pointed out the more useless of the obvious details. They neither squinted nor flinched from the light. It just seemed to be there, a warm happy light. The tone lifted and hit a graceful chime that seemed to be the conclusion and sounded almost like it was urging them to walk through the door.

As if following instructions, they both took a step through. Aaron went in first, but once the book that Garion had almost forgot he was holding in his hand had passed the threshold, the color on the cover fluctuated. At once, colors began rapidly swirling around them.

Reds, blues, greens, all sorts of colors of many different shades spiraled around them like a vortex of abstract Emotion. Swooshing Sounds seemed like hammers or screwdrivers doing their job at building a little toy as the colors eventually began to take shape. Garion thought he noticed Hills and Mountains solidifying themselves along what would be a landscape of Green. Aaron made out trees off in the distance, now that the abstract objects seemed to take proportion.

The whole situation was so beautiful and amazing, Garion didn’t dare to blink once or try to slap himself. He could not afford to have this turn out to be just a dream or have it disappear without him seeing the whole miraculous sight of it. He wouldn't even allow himself to cloud his mind with thoughts. If this was a dream, then he didn’t want it to end. All his life since he was a child he had wanted something amazing like this to happen.

After what felt like an eternity but what actually had been maybe only a few minutes, the rushing wind died down as the last few drops of color zapped into place. Then it was silent.

10 minutes of silence later, “Wa.. wha.. what the hell just ha..happened?” Spoke Aeron dumbly. They were standing in a cartoon painting of what it appeared to be a lush green valley. Mountains lined the horizon and a forest seemed to stretch at their base all around them. They could make that out easily but the detail wasn't good. The grass they were standing on was just a blank stretch of green reaching out all around them, with a few circles bunched up in smaller circles to indicate flowers. Neither of them looked at each other or said a word, they just stood side by side looking at the landscape in front of them trying to process it in their minds.

Blue Sky.

White swirly clouds.

“So Garion,” said Aaron.

“Yeah?”

“Do you notice anything weird?”

“No, nothing weird at all. But I’m seeing something very unnatural”

“Yeah, but do you feel anything weird?”

“Not really. Wait… Now I think I see what you mean. How would you describe this feeling?”

“I feel.….flat”

“Really? Well that’s odd. I was going to say full of nausea from that experience. I think I even might ungh-”

“No! I actually feel flat!”

“Wa-what? Whoa! HOLY SNOT! What the heck happened to you!?!”

“You’re a Cartoon!”

“So are you!”

“Dang!....nnngh....WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED!???” shouted Aaron with all utter insanity.

“I don’t know, it just….happened. Your eyes, they’re so huge! Your face, it looks like an upside down pentagon. Weird, your weird curly hair just looks like a black shape across your forehead with a curly line through it. And your acne’s all gone. It’s like you look ten times better. Hey, do you think that white light was an atomic explosion and we’re in heaven now and these are our heavenly bodies?-”

“I’ll give you a heavenly body!” yelled Aaron as he socked Garion in the chest. Garion stumbled back a few steps .

“Hey! I was just joking!” said Garion but Aaron stepped forward and swung at him again, missing.

“You think this is a Joke! We’re standing in the middle of Who-knows-where. Our house is nowhere in sight! I can’t even begin to get the slightest clue of what is going on! I look like a nightmare! YOU look even worse!-”

“Oh, turn that frown upside-down bro! Stop complaining! I don’t care why it happened, it HAPPENED! I’m just glad something if anything awesome turned up in my boring old life. This is flipping awesome. Besides, you don’t look too bad. Your flat-face makes you not look as scary when you’re mad!”

“WORSE I’m Stuck in This World with You!” said Aaron Grabbing Garion by the Technicolor collar…

Meanwhile, only about 50 feet away a small yellow Pegasus was just getting ready for the start of a wonderful new day. Fluttershy happily clopped down her cottage stairwell while birdies, mice and other small animals followed intently. “Good morning everyone, today is the first day of summer and I need to get you all fed so I can get ready to go Pinkie’s celebration party this afternoon,” she said blissfully. She fed each animal, making sure to carefully give the right amount of the right type of food to each individual creature. She did it every morning. She loved it. She just loved animals.

         After feeding Angel his carrots who afterwards bounded off by himself to eat his meal, she grabbed her watering can and chicken feed to go tend to the outside. Humming happily to herself, she pushed open her cottage door, trotted down to her chicken pen and fed them. After filling her watering can she trotted on over to her front garden and cheerfully watered the flowers. Oh, she was just so happy! It was the beginning of a beautiful brand new summer! The Sun was shining, the sky was bluer than ever, the flowers were fresh and ready to be eaten, the birds were chirping, the bees were buzzing, and two stick-like creatures were fighting each other off in the distance…

“Eeh!” she dropped her watering can. Her knees were shaking. These creatures..... They looked quite dangerous and at first she was afraid they had returned from the last time... But she realized now that these creatures were different from the ones before; they were worse from the ones before!

One of them was shouting something very horrifying at the other and now she was beginning to be afraid that they were the same creatures from before: angry and back for revenge, and now they were in solid form! She wanted to run but she couldn't. She had never faced these two legged beings before! They were screaming at each other and one was holding the other by the neck…

          ….Aaron was about to knock some crazy sense into Garion with his fist ready, when Garion just happened to point out, “Hey what’s that?” Aaron looked, and saw a small house not too far away a midst some trees and a creek amongst the outskirts of the forest, with what looked like a little yellow dear-thing with huge pink hair coming from its head and butt. And two big eyes. Eyes that looked straight into the deepest reaches of your soul.

“What is that?” Said Garion before Aaron socked him in the face. Garion fell to the ground, still conscious, just very annoyed. Aaron took a small step towards it. Garion got up, forgetting the punch, and asked, “Should we go talk to it? Maybe we can find an explanation.”

“I don’t know. It looks constipated.”

“Do you think it saw us fighting and we scared it frozen in place?”…

Fluttershy’s heart stopped. The two figures were now standing side by side staring straight at her! They saw her! Or maybe they hadn't seen her yet and only saw the house. Maybe if she just kept standing really still-

“Um, Hello?” One of them spoke to her.

THAT’S IT! Her rump swung behind her, her knees buckled and she bolted into the cottage, slammed the door and locked all 27 locks behind it. She ran upstairs, went into her bedroom, closed the door and dove beneath her blankets…

           …Meanwhile, Garion just looked at Aaron and said, “What the heck just happened?”

Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 1: Into the spectrum

Episode 1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension Part 1: Into the spectrum

Garion and Aaron looked around them. A couple breezes met their noses with scents of spring. The two humans wanted, to explore the world they were unfamiliar with, but being confused as they were from the experience with the odd yellow creature, the two humans both agreed to leave it alone and go somewhere else.

Garion suggested looking for the opening of their apartment first, because he thought that they should know more about the situation before they explored the world.

Aaron scanned the horizon, shading the sun from his eyes with his hand, and eventually spotted a rectangular shape off in the distance.

Garion hastily approached, with Aaron following behind. They found themselves facing a door frame that was undoubtedly, the open door to their apartment. It stood straight up in the air from the ground and nothing else from their world showed.  Garion bubbled inside and cringed at the same time; the thought that inside the frame, was their apartment and entire world.

“Well,” said Aaron looking inside, “It’s good to know that we can get home now.”

“But you are thinking of staying here, right?” said Garion.

“Well, duh. Of course. I’m certainly not going to go back in there to fix disaster you just caused us…...What are you doing?” Aaron asked.

“Just locking the door to make sure nothing of this Universe gets in ours,” said Garion, who cautiously reached in with one arm to pull the door closed. As the door locked into place, the smokey fragrance of their apartment disappeared from existence, allowing the small flowers clustered on the ground to take over the atmosphere.

“You’re trying to keep them out? And here we are invading their world,” nagged Aaron, “Alright, I know you want to get all freaky and happy about all this, but I’m not going to be an idiot and frolic around naïve in a world I know nothing of. At least not yet."

"Whoever said that we were going to frolic?" asked Garion. Only then had he began to notice the increasing feeling of freedom and release now that he was there.

"Well you look like you're about to, especially with that big, dumb smile on your face."

"Can I not be happy!? Especially at a time like this?" Garion protested.

"Well, there could be insane dangers here,” Aaron tried to reason.

“Are you kidding me? In this world?” Said Garion, nudging a small cheesy little blossom on the ground with his foot.

“Well, this is all you can see at this moment, right? This is an entire universe that we just walked into. We shouldn’t even be casually standing here.”

But Garion had already lost interest in what Aaron was saying, due to the magical doorframe that he beheld before him.

Garion played around with the object, opening and closing it, while looking at different sides of it. He came to the conclusion that only one side lead to Earth, in contrast to the backside, which was no more than an ordinary swinging plank of wood on hinges.

“Hey, I left my phone inside,” announced Aaron, who had been leisurely watching Garion jacking-around with the door.

“I have mine in my pocket,” Garion responded, pulling out the iPhone and was bewildered to see that not only did he have a connection, but that the phone was also charging itself.

After the brief moment of amazement it had finally occurred to Garion that they had been wasting several minutes from obsessing over lame, typical objects from their own world, when they had a whole bran new universe laid out for them.

“Do you see that over there?” Aaron asked, peering over towards the low end of the valley amongst a few trees where a windmill could be seen spinning along with other low buildings clustered around it. “I think we should take a look at that place first, in case it gets dark and we have to find a place to sleep.”

So Aaron and Garion wasted no time in following the path to the upcoming town.

There was a sense of inevitable greatness within the atmosphere around them, as if something huge or life-changing was set ahead of them, where they were about to walk into. Garion pushed that thought aside, because he decided that he already changed the moment he believed in what he was seeing. The chirping of birds resonated in his ears as they came near to the town.

Garion was humming some random song to himself when Aaron pulled him aside, inside a random bush. Despite the fact that it was a cartoon, it still felt like a real bush. What made Garion yelp, however, was how it absorbed them in, seeming to become a cloak around the two humans, like that of a typical cartoon. “What the heck are you doing?!” said Garion, uncomfortable with random twigs poking at him.

“SSSHHH! Quiet!” said Aaron, peering outside through a small hole that appeared when he pressed his hand against the inner “wall” of the bush. “Did you see the color on bridge? And the buildings?”

Garion peeked outside. “They look like typical renaissance cartoon buildings to me,” he said.

“No, you numbskull. Look at the doors and windows!?” said Aaron. “They’re pink!”

“So?”

“With hearts……..All over…….In random places...” Aaron hissed.

“Are you really complaining about something like that? Grow up, man,” said Garion, who pushed the leaves aside so he could get a better view of the buildings across the river. “Is that a Giant Cake?” asked Garion.

“I think that’s a house.”

“Really? I like this place already,” Garion joked, but Aaron didn’t seem so amused at it. “Dude, if this is going to be a love-filled-town, then I’m sure we’ll be bound to find a place to sleep tonight. Better this than home, any day,” he stated. Garion then pulled himself out of the bush, and glided across the bridge in front of them, leaving Aaron behind to follow.

He was glad that he wasn’t going to have deal with Earth anymore, even though he knew he had to be careful. But for now there would be no sorrow. No more late night shifts! No more staring up at the stars at night wishing for something... more. No more bullies, for now. Here was a miracle that he was able to smell, hear, and see with his own two eyes. It was the greatest gift he could ever imagine receiving.

The community looked friendly as well. Everywhere he looked there was sunshine, blue skies, and summery trees. What kind of people here could possibly be cruel to him, if they kept everything as happy and beautiful as this? He didn’t want to hold back; destiny was waiting.

His eyes became a glass window, and he watched himself run faster and faster. Once he finally reached the trees, he closed his eyes, breathing in the fresh spring air. After two seconds, his eyelids opened up, and he found himself staring dumbfounded…

Aaron on the other hand, was lost. He didn’t know what to think, and probably leaning close to the ‘I must be going crazy’ side of the situation. Now that he knew he was not just imagining himself walking in a fairy land with no apparent reason, he was pretty ticked off at Garion. He seemed to be growing a strong reputation for running straight into dangerous situations with utter enthusiasm all over today.

It was also ironic concerning that usually it was him who had the spontaneous attitude normally and Garion was the boring person who constantly kept to himself, reading books, listening to music, and drawing rather than interacting. Now Aaron had to catch up with him. Quickly he followed Garion down the path as quickly as he could manage, over the small pink bridge, and to where he was now standing.

“Hey, Garion! Be carefull! We don’t know what kind of people we may run into-” Aaron stopped.

The two humans stared in disbelief.

“Uhhh…”

Everywhere around the town, on the streets and in the houses, and in between the buildings were little creatures that appeared very equine, but also just barely humanoid, as they had human-like manes dressed in humanoid fashions. They came in every freaking color that Aaron could think of; at least the lighter shaded ones with some darker tones, but very few blacks, reds, dark browns or greys.

Their hooves appeared to end in stubs, with the bottoms cut in a flat shape which confused Aaron because it was solidly colored and made it almost look like there would be fuzz all over. Even so, he spot one big red pony pulling a cart whose fur on his hooves receded back to show yellow bottoms which told him that they were in fact hard and not plushy.

They were also a bit small, the average standing maybe as tall Aaron’s chest from the top of their heads.

It was clear that they were civilized beings, who imitated the lives of humans.

Some of them wore clothes and some of them didn’t, which Aaron didn’t know what to say about.

Stranger yet, they each had a particular symbol on their butt that was different than all the others. Bowling pins, Clocks, flowers, bubbles, cheese…. They each showed up on the sides of their flanks.

They had freakishly big eyes that took much of the space on their faces, which at this current moment were aimed straight at Garion and Aaron.

For the last five minutes, Garion had been standing with his mouth open, but now he decided that it was time to act. It was obvious by the looks of the creatures that he and Aaron were aliens here.

“Um…Hi-” Garion attempted to say hello but Aaron hit him before he could begin.

“Don’t! Remember what happened the last time you tried to do that?” Aaron rasped. He then turned slowly towards their audience.

He threw a piece sign.

Suddenly Aaron was knocked in the shin by a speeding scooter from behind. The small orange filly, who had been riding it at the time, tumbled off and fell to ground six feet away from Aaron.

“Aagh! Son of a [FISH]!” he bellowed, falling to the ground, gripping his leg in agony.

Garion, still lost in his trance, watched as the orange filly ran away screaming, causing exaggerated distress to the rest of the population.

Ahhh!” They all shouted as one as each and every one of them darted all over the place, knocking over flower stands, picking up little...fillies, and running into random buildings.

They panicked, they screamed, they ran. Soon enough, shops were abandoned, carts were left unattended and Aaron and Garion were alone on the deserted streets.

“Gosh, why does this keep happening?!” asked Aaron

“We’re not really that hideous, are we?” asked Garion, pondering their silly way of defending themselves under attack.

Earlier before, Garion had said that they looked like flat geometrical shapes. He was actually joking. They actually looked very close to their normal world selves, if only they weren't cartoons. They could also perceive distance as well as feel textures around them that they couldn't see with their own eyes.

Garion was feeling slightly nervous. Hearts… Pink… Flowers… Sparkles… Rainbow colored…monsters. “Dude, Ponies,” he said, trembling with dread, “They’re My Little Ponies.”

“Uh, no. They’re not,” stated Aaron assertively, “Everyone knows that My little Ponies have noses much bigger than that. I’m just gonna say that these are just little multicolored equines that wear clothes and live in houses. They also like putting feminine touches on everything.” He looked up at a high-ish window on one of the straw-roofed buildings. Ponies were staring down at them.

“The Horror!” they said.

“The Nightmares!” they said.

“What do they want from us!” a little one said.

Garion looked down and thought, 'well so much for a nice happy town of….humans'. He looked at Aaron and said, “Well I know somebody has got to be in charge of protecting this place. I would wonder how a town like this would last for very long. Eventually we must run into somebody who would be brave enough to confront us.”

“That dastardly little shmuck. Why did it aim for my shin like that? There is no way it could have not seen me standing there!” Aaron grunted, still gripping his leg.

But despite his angst, he hurry to limp forward when Garion began moving amongst the fallen carts and over the exaggerated wreckage of fruit stands and booths. Not bothering to look at the strange creatures inside the houses, he came upon quite a few instances where he actually felt kind of bad for just marching through their town and scaring them all silly like that. Maybe he shouldn’t have pushed himself into places that he didn’t belong in, where the people who thrive there don’t have any notion of what is currently happening around them.

Aaron noticed something about the creatures in the windows that he didn’t see before. Some of them had short spiraling horns on their heads and some had small wings on their sides. Ok, so that was kind of cool. The fact that this world contained Unicorns and Pegasus’s was enough to make him think if there was a connection with the old mythology in ancient times.

Garion continued trekking around until he passed by an unusually large tree 30 feet away that appeared to actually be a house with doors, windows, and balconies. All of a sudden the front door to the tree house burst open and a lavender colored pony ran out.

“Alright, you fowl creatures!” she yelled, “Turn around and head back where you came from, or…I’ll do something you’ll hate!” she was a different pony. She had Both wings and a horn which stuck out through her straight navy blue mane which contained a pink and purple highlight that went straight down. It was the same with her tail. Her Mane was cut evenly to appear that she had bangs, and she possessed large, sparkling violet eyes that Garion beheld with sheer, udder amazement from where he was standing.

“Wait a minute! She’s a Unicorn! No, a Pegasus? She’s a winged, unicorn….thingy!” said Aaron, ecstatic.

“She looks, different,” muttered Garion, who couldn’t seem to think of anything around him, except for the wind blowing in the mane of the unicorn in front of him.

“She looks ticked!” said Aaron, trying to pull Garion away from the scene.

“Yeah, well…uh…I guess I would be too if...but anyway, those eyes…. She looks more intelligent than the others. Why?”

“Why? Why are you asking me why?” asked Aaron, oblivious to the pulsing orb, glowing from the Unicorn’s horn.

“I...don’t…know. But…I don’t care,” was all Garion could say, completely in the prison of his own trance. In the five seconds that followed, he watched as the unicorn’s expression went from confident, to suddenly in alarm, as it appeared that she had lost control of the power that she was emanating.

The pulse from the horn quivered and flashed until it shot out a beam of white light. For whatever reason, neither one of them had the common sense to evade. In the next half-second, it enveloped them in a swirling cloud of purple and red. The feeling that the two humans felt was similar to that of their bodies being condensed inside a box, but then it was replaced with a feeling of absolute lightness. It all only lasted for a brief second. The feeling quickly died away, and they found themselves standing once again on the dirt street.

“Why the heck did she shoot us?!” exclaimed Garion, freaking out now. He looked down at the ground, seeing that it was closer than normal, “AHHHHHH! Son of an ugly mother lover! She freaking shrunk us!” They had indeed, although not by much. They were only about 7 inches shorter than they were before. Ironically, it appeared that they were more in scale with the ponies around them.

The two humans weren’t allowed to panic for very long, though. The purple Unicorn looked like she had been trying to fly, but apparently didn’t know fully well how to, and tumbled down from six feet in the air. She resorted to running which seemed easier in the first place, and when she finally approached them it was evident that they were both equally as tall. “What! That shock spell was supposed to make you laugh hard enough to send you running away!” she hollered, coming to a stop, “ I must have not focused my quadra-senses to 38 units of sparkle-” Then she stopped and just stared at the two.

Garion stood there frozen in place when the unicorn approached. Now that they were eye to eye level, she actually appeared intimidating in some odd way. She glanced at Garion, then switched to Aaron, and then back to Garion.

“WHAAT!?” she screamed, “How did you…what? Ahhhhh!”

Aaron had enough, “ALRIGHT FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! WILL SOMEONE JUST TALK TO US FOR ONE MOMENT?!!!”

“Omygoshomygoshomygoshomygosh!” She continued bellowing, suddenly happy, “How did you get in Equestria!? I thought that the Mirror Portal was Closed! The moon passed over! We wouldn’t be able to have contact for another 30 Moons!”

“Uh, what?” said Garion sadly, “I’m so confused.”

“Humans! This is so amazing! Not that I’d ever want to be one again, but the fact that you made it into my world… How did you guys do it? How did you get through? Did you go to Canterlot high?”

“What? What? What?! Please slow down!” bellowed Garion, somewhat losing himself to insanity.

“No! First, why did you attack us?” Aaron asserted.

“Because you were attacking the town!” answered the Unicorn.

“No we weren’t! Your blasted children attacked my leg!”

The unicorn looked up at the nearest building and noticed the orange filly silently retrieving her scooter from the ground, “Oh dear,” Looking down in frustration.

“It was only that I screamed an obscenity, that the rest of your town freaked out,” Aaron commented.

Twilight then looked at him, carrying an irritated expression, saying, “Well then, don’t scream obscenities.” Afterwwards, she muttered, “I apologize, for the chaos. And for shrinking you.”

“Yeah, what is up with that? Change us back!”

Garion somehow didn’t catch the last part of this conversation, because he had been daydreaming about mountains, chocolate, and rainbows. He finally tuned back to reality, when the unicorn suddenly perked up and exclaimed, “No! That’s not what I’m talking about. This town did the same thing when Zecorra the zebra first came into Ponyville.”

Garion looked at Aaron and thought, ‘Zecorra the zebra?’

Aaron returned him the look, thinking, ‘Ponyville? Good lord’.

“They’ve been pretty good not judging others since then, but I remember that the first time I saw a human, it was pretty terrifying. It was myself actually, but I’m going to fix this!”

Garion tried to pay attention, but he sick of just standing around and talking. He couldn’t help it, having attention deficit disorder and all.

“I was in the middle of an experiment when I heard all the shouting and mayhem outside, so I just naturally thought that there was a danger or a problem. When I saw you, I automatically thought you were an enemy. I didn’t know. But I just HAVE to know how you two got here. I mean, without any magic, how could a few humans could do it?” said the pony with a happy smile.

“As if we know,” said Aaron.

“Come on, we can introduce ourselves at the library. We’ve been standing around, doing nothing but jabbering. I can only imagine how much confusion you both must be in,” Twilight inferred.

“Yes!”

“Well, I might be able to find helpful information in my books if anything else.”

She ran them back toward the tree. A sign with the image of a book stood outside.

“This tree is a library?” Garion remarked, stating the obvious.

“Yep! It’s the library where I work. I live here as well!” she said cheerfully.

“That’s cool.”

Opening the front door, she stepped into a wide circular room that was the internal trunk of the gigantic oak. All of the main features of the house seemed to have been grown in with the tree, such as the curving staircase following the wall and the bookshelves lining the walls themselves. In the middle stood a table. There, a wooden carved equine statue head sat on top.

Garion noticed the illumination from her horn when two cushions suddenly flew through the air. It could have just been his imagination, but he could have sworn that she was controlling the pillows. Considering that two random flying pillows didn’t seem to scare at all, he decided to settle with that conclusion.

Unfortunately, Twilight had been so excited, that she accidently knocked Aaron in the head with a cushion, and caused him to fall to the floor. She quickly placed the pillows down on the floor in front of them, offered as seating. “Sorry about that, I was just being a little clumsy,” she stated.

Aaron just gave Garion a disgruntled look, and sat upright on the floor.

“Let me just calm down for a moment,” She apologized. Sitting back down, she took a deep breath, moving her front hoof like an arm to and away from her chest. Aaron was still rubbing his head from the impact.

She slowly explained, “First let me introduce myself. My name is Twilight Sparkle, but you may have already known that, as I am the one who saved your world from possessive enslavement from a pony named Sunset shimmer who snuck through from this world into your world as a human and blah blah blah blah blah blah something about a mirror blah blah blah a crown....”

Aaron attempted to share glances with Garion, but found that he couldn’t because the human was too busy staring intently at the crazy unicorn, evidently trying to understand what she was saying, but having severe difficulty.

He chuckled to himself as this whole situation was kind of funny. One moment he’s living his life on Earth trying to get mental inspiration from watching a Baccano anime thinking about the easiest way he can get a job to support his financial problems, and then the next thing he knows, he’s in a rainbow world sitting in a tree watching Garion sweat himself to death, trying to understand a purple, talking Unicorn.

“….And so, we left Sunset in the arms of your world so you can teach her how to actually make friends the right way,” finished Twilight Sparkle, after a quick five minutes of exposition, “You must know who I am.”

Garion only blinked and said, “Uh, ok. I don’t know what crazy world you fell into, but there are no multicolored humans like that in my world. Humans don’t come in blues, greens, or purples. They occasionally dye their hair color but no excessive amounts of rainbow people or knee-high boots, sorry.”

“Sure there are,” Twilight lingered, “I was there in one of your ‘School’ cities. By that I mean Canterlot.” She seemed pretty sure of herself, and wore a tone of self-intelligence within her voice.

“What? School cities?” retorted Aaron “You are making zero sense.”

“Ok, let me put it this way. This is something that one of our scientists have theorized. It is called Parallel dimensions. While they normally don’t exist in a natural state, the law of the parallel universe is that two worlds are different but follow the same direction of events and plotlines. For example, our princess is the ruler of this country and in your world she’s a principle but she’s a human because of the range of blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah….”

Aaron put a hand to his head. 'This may take a while.'

“…..And so since Equestria is big and takes up a third of our world, and Canterlot high is a small building, that must mean that your world is very, very small in scale to ours. Cities in our world would be buildings in yours, and countries in Equestria would be cities in your universe. I think that chances are, that word would be able to get around easily in a world that small. So you must have heard about me,” she concluded.

“Nope. Not at all.” said Aaron.

“I think that we would have most likely heard about a school with so many peculiarly named students at some time,” said Garion, “And certainly about a giant demon trying to take over the human race and another alternate dimension, just saying.”

Twilight Sparkle appeared slightly distraught about hearing this.

“But we didn’t. Sorry,” apologized Garion, understanding that the Unicorn/Pegasus hybrid was trying desperately to understand. “Our world is much bigger than a few highschools.”

“But that doesn’t make sense,” remarked Twilight, looking down at her hooves.

“Yeah well life wasn’t designed to make sense, Twilight Sprinkle.” said Aaron, suddenly in a sarcastic mood.

“Twilight Sparkle,” stated the Unicorn, slightly irritated now.

“Oh, sorry.”

“Anyway, stay here and let me find a book about the theories of inter-dimensional space. I’ve got to figure this out. It won’t take me that long,” said Twilight Sparkle, who turned around and trotted up the stairs.

As soon as she disappeared above the ceiling, Aaron spun toward Garion and asked him, “Is this going to get us anywhere?”

“Probably not,” he answered.

“I knew it.”

“Well, there is a bright side behind this,” said Garion, “At least now we don’t have to worry about hitting our heads against the ceilings.”

“Just because we’re in scale with their doorframes, doesn’t mean that we aren’t still MILES away from figuring out what is wrong with…with…all of this!” Aaron retorted, gesturing all around him.

Garion simply responded with, “I’m not complaining about it, though.” He then noticed the glare that Aaron was giving him, “What?”

“The next time you buy one of those fireworks, make sure to ask the cashier which next door neighbor universe it leads to, so that next time we don’t land in girly Strawberry shortcake land,” Aaron rasped.

“Equestria; And it’s not that bad. If you don’t like it, here’s the key to our apartment!”

“Why couldn’t we have landed in a Pokemon world or something else?”

“I would hate to be stuck in a Pokemon world.”

“Yeah, well….Fu-”

“DON’T you dare! We’ve got happy friendly ponies surrounding us! Are you crazy!?”

Aaron just paused at this for a moment, thinking to himself, “Yes! So why don’t you go spoon your underwear!”

“Go slap a duck!”

“Go wrestle a chair!”

“Salute a fire hydrant for all I care! Where are you going?”

“To the forest or something.”

“What!? But Twilight said to stay here,” said Garion, watching Aaron slowly approach the door.

“Just face it, she’s crazy,” said Aaron.

“Oh come on! If she’s crazy, then how was she able use recite a scientific theorem to support the un-logical idea of our world consisting of rainbow colored humans?”

“Like I said, she’s crazy. And you too.”

“This place has giant houses made of cake! CAKE, man!”

“I might come back for cake, but I’m not staying here waiting for someone to explain something I’m not going to care about, not that it wasn’t fun enough getting hit in the head with a hard pillow. I’m going to see what the rest of the world has to show before I lose my mind.”

“You’re probably too late,” said Garion, but Aaron had already left the door, “And so am I.”

Debating whether or not if he should be worried, he came back to the memory that most of the creatures they’ve talked to so far have ran away screaming, so Aaron should be fine. Then again, there was Twilight Sparkle who had actually attacked them…

Twilight returned back down the steps, with her tail bouncing slightly behind her as she descended and approached. Her eyes grew wide when she saw that there were no longer two humans in the room, “What happened to that other guy?”

“He left.”

“What?”

“He just left.”

“Why?”

“He got bored.”

“Are you kidding me?!”

“Well he said he might come back.”

Twilight groaned and asked, “Which direction did he go?”

“He said he was going to the forest?”

Twilight’s eyes grew big, “Wait, which forest? The Everfree forest by Fluttershy’s house, or the Sunny glades around where the southern outskirts are?”

“I don’t know. Who’s fluttershy? What does it matter?”

Twilight suddenly ran up close to Garion so that she was just inches from his face, which scared him a little, “Because!” she said sternly, “there are dangerous things out there! Things that can seriously hurt you!”

“Like what?”

“The Everfree forest is one of the most wild and untamed habitats in the surrounding region! Poison joke! Timber wolves! Cragadiles! River boggers! Mudskippers! Wisps, and cockatrices that can turn you into stone!”

“Ok….,” said Garion. This was an unexpected turn that he would not have imagined seeing in this world. Which forest did Aaron say he was going? How serious was a cragadile compared to a human? “I’m starting to worry, now.”

Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 2: Twilight Sparkle

Episode 1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension Part 2: Twilight Sparkle

“Who’s Fluttershy?” asked Garion. The bizarre scenario of talking to a sparkly, winged unicorn continued to pull at his senses. It became extremely difficult for him to think with a sane, state of mind, but slowly, and arduously, he managed to chew his words to the best of his abilities.

Twilight Sparkle earnestly replied, “She’s a shy yellow Pegasus who loves animals with an extreme passion.”

Garion’s mind went back to the yellow pony they encountered when they first arrived. “Um, she wouldn’t happen to live in a small cottage… amidst the outskirts of town, would she?” he asked.

“Yeah, or at least within that kind of area,” Twilight replied.

“Um, I…I think we actually came by her when we arrived…. She ran away when I attempted to say ‘hello’.”

Twilight exhaled a mellow sigh, before walking quickly to a bookshelf to pick out random books with her magic, “Don’t worry, she just doesn’t like meeting new people. And she might have just mistaken you for some kind of a… monster.” After saying this, Twilight abruptly caught onto what she just said, seeing Garion’s look of slight confusion. “Sorry. Honestly, it would actually be a normal thing for Fluttershy to be timid around new ponies, or creatures, but I don’t know why she would run away from a hello.”

“Well… I was… We were…uh….” Garion stuttered.

“Yes?”

Suddenly, Garion was unsure about how to relay the fight that he and Aaron had. Would she care if she knew they were fighting or not? How forgiving would she be? He didn’t want to her to suspect the aggressive behavior of human beings, since he had just convinced her that they had meant no harm. But somehow, his instincts were telling him that honesty was the correct move, despite the pain it may inflict. It was only a small fight, right? Or was it? “I think Butterfly caught me and Aaron fighting.”

Twilight only responded with, “Her name is actually Fluttershy.”

Garion felt like smacking himself for that, but apologized, “I’m sorry.”

“No need to worry. Some people are better with names than others.”

A severely awkward silence followed. Twilight continued looking through her books.

“How are you doing that?” Garion asked out of curiosity.

Twilight looked up from the books that she piled on the table. “Huh? Oh, Levitation. It’s an ability that many unicorns are born with,” said Twilight with kind of a puzzled expression.

Garion could only note the fact that Twilight Sparkle was more than just a unicorn.

“So why were you fighting?” she asked, skeptically but not unkindly, finally selecting a scroll from a shelf above her. She carried this scroll within the purple aura of her magic, and set it on the table.

“It’s a long story. A painfully, stupid story. Mostly, it was all me, with my crazy ambitions, and just being plain stupid today. Because of that, I lost a lot of money at home, which sucks for Aaron, because it was his apartment too.”

Twilight appeared lost, so Garion added, “We both have to pay rent for the apartment that we share, and I basically plunged us into extreme dept.”

Twilight responded with, “I’m sorry to hear that. But think of this, you’re here and not there, so you shouldn’t even have to worry about it for now.”

“Yes! I’m here. Here, in a scenario more unexpected and mind-blowing than I could ever imagine seeing! That’s the whole insanity of it!” Garion blurted, losing control, “The whole fabric of reality as I knew it changed in an instant today! I’m either going crazy or I’ve already LOST IT. Tell me, do I look insane to you? Am I dreaming!?”

“Uhhhhhhhhhhhhh…………...”

“Don’t answer that! If it is just a dream, then I like it,” Garion voiced, not sure he knew what he was talking about anymore. It was almost like his mind was not his own, anymore. Nothing made any sense to him. Still, he knew that there was something that he truly did know. “I want this to be real,” he muttered.

“Well okay then. But really, you are awake…it’s not a dream…Oh, never mind,” Twilight uttered, feeling worried about Garion. She decided not pursue the topic, though. Whoever this person was, he sure must not have been very happy before. Or maybe he just needed to calm down. Perhaps it wasn’t just him, but his entire world that may be unhappy right now. She had so many questions that she wanted to ask him, but obviously now was not the time.

She walked over to the window to view the status of the town. Ponies were cautiously walking around picking up carts and cleaning up messes. Some of them conducted their actions in a bashful manner, as if they realized that they had been overreacting before. After feeling satisfied that the town was recovering on its own, she moved back to the table and beckoned Garion over. “By the way, I never got your names,” she asked, hoping that she could engage Garion in conversation to cheer him up a bit.

“Oh... I-I’m Garion…. And the other guy is Aaron,” the human replied.

“Well, pleased to meet you, Garion,” Twilight Sparkle eagerly said, emitting one of the warmest smiles that Garion had ever seen.

“Wow, really? I mean, even after the chaos I just caused?” said Garion, suddenly feeling safe and secure, just for the way that she was talking to him.

“It’s no trouble at all, really. Things like these happen more frequently than you would expect. Stampedes, parasprites, bunnies; they probably just thought you were-Never mind. Anyway, those are interesting names that you have,” she commented.

“Yeah, they’re not as inspirational as Twilight Sparkle or anything,” he didn’t really mean it as a serious compliment but nevertheless it appeared to make her glow a bit when he said that.

Twilight Sparkle quickly returned to herself and said, “Anyway, Aaron couldn’t have gone very far, so we might be able to reach him before he actually walks into any danger. But first I need to know what you’ve seen since you’ve been here, so that I might be able to guess where he’s gone.”

She gestured to the scroll on the table, and unrolled it with her magic. “This is the map of Equestria. We live in the area of the northwestern quadrant over here, north of the equator and west of the meridian. On this coast to the east is where one of our countries most bustling and thriving cities, Mane Hatton lies. And in the central southern basin lies Appaloosa. The Midwest is mostly flatlands and hilly terrain with lots of trees. In the western region going north and south are the unicorn mountains. In the very center of the country on a mountain is where Equestria’s Capital, Canterlot lies. And just south of that is the little valley where Ponyville rests. You can actually see the castle on the mountain from here.”

Garion’s reaction to this was: one, this was the most colorful map he had ever seen, and two, that this was ominously familiar. “Wow. That’s just amazing.”

“I know right? Maps are wonderful tools. Just looking at all the labels and land features is such a spectacular way of knowing your land,” she said cheerfully.

“No, I mean…well yeah, but what I meant was that the Map of this area of Equestria looks just like a map of America, the country I come from. Except that Las Pegasus over here is Las Vegas and Phillydelphia up here is Philadelphia in my world. At least those are two of the parallels I’m seeing here.”

Twilight stopped, and a huge freaky smile appeared on her face.

“Uh, why are you staring at me like that?” Garion addressed, becoming worried again.

“It’s amazing! Tell me what they look like! I wonder if their physical appearances look similar to my world as well!” She exclaimed with such glorious enthusiasm, she caused Garion to almost fall back.

To Garion, this sudden new side to Twilight Sparkle was unexpected. Whoever this lady was, she wasn’t the stereotypical girly pony that he originally put her out her to be. “Well I’ve never visited that many other places before, and I’ve only seen photographs of the most famous places on Earth. You see, I live in the middle here, in the central area of America in Omahoof Neighbraska - well, in my world it’s Omaha Nebraska.”

“So that would explain why you appeared in the middle area of Equestria, near Ponyville. THAT IS, if you spontaneously appeared here. I doubt you would have chosen to just show up at some random town like this.”

“Actually, that’s the weird part. To us, it looked as though this world spontaneously appeared to us,” Garion related.

“Huh?”

“I felt like I was witnessing the creation of new world.”

Twilight put a hoof to her chin in deep thought, “So how did you mean to get here and why?”

“Well I…..never….really meant to. It was a complete accident, to put it simply.”

Suddenly Twilight Sparkle’s excitement dimmed, “You mean, this was never intended?”

“Nope.”

“Oh my gosh…” Twilight Sparkle gasped.

“I’m still questioning my sanity. None of this should be happening, and yet I would be a moron to deny it or to pass it off. I don’t know which direction I should take or how to even respond blah blah blah blah...”

Twilight was confused by all this. If they hadn’t caused this then who or what did? “Do you have magic in your world?” she asked.

“…And the door of our apartment is still standing there in the air, and we can walk through it back into our world if we wanted, which I’m still having trouble comprehending,” rambled Garion, who twilight had been slightly ignoring.

“Wait, what!?” Twilight Sparkle blurted out.

“Huh?”

“What did you just say?” The unicorn asked desperately.

“What did you just say?” Garion demanded.

“You first.”

“But I heard you ask a question earlier.”

“Fine! Do you have magic in your world?”

“Sure, we got music, colors, sunsets, love… what else would we need for magic?”

“No like, tangible magic. The kind that you control.”

“Only if it came from God himself,” he said, feeling a little awkward suddenly. ‘Holy Smokes!’ He had completely pushed that out of his mind since he had been here. Could that be why he was here? It would certainly be an interesting idea.

“Alright, fine! Now tell me what you said before!” Twilight demanded.

“I forgot.”

“How could you have forgotten? It was only a few seconds ago!”

“Wait, oh yeah! Now I remember. I was just saying that this couldn’t have been a dream if-”

“No after that!” the Unicorn pushed.

“-I was saying that I would have thought of a better way to walk into town if I only-”

“No, no, no! After that, the part about the portal or something,” Said twilight, stamping her hooves on the ground with utter frustration.

“Oh that? Sorry, how silly of me. It’s the door to our apartment that we came through to get here. On one side it’s our world and on the other it’s yours. It’s standing somewhere in one of the fields beyond this town.”

Twilight’s expression got freakishly huge.

“So we’ve just been around exploring, basically. Can you please put me back to my original size again?” he asked, now starting to freak. Right now, he stood head to head level with the unicorn, but that didn’t account for the size of her head! And right now her eyes were HUGE! These were the type of eyes that looked straight into you. Not like a pair of human’s eyes that you could possibly avoid when communicating, no, there was no way to avoid the soul-piercing gaze of the eyeballs that these ponies held on their faces.

Garion took a deep breath and realized he was just over exaggerating, not quite used the proportions of this world yet.

“I can’t, at least not yet. It was an accident that I managed to shrink you two,” Twilight Sparkle explained. She backed away from Garion and glanced outside to see a bird land on a lamppost.

“I was trying to perform something else. It was a spontaneous reaction that you shrunk and until I figure out why my spell didn’t work on you, it will be too risky to try to reverse. And even if I could do it now, I would need to have the both of you in the same place.” Twilight’s expression grew stern with annoyance. “But since your friend has run off into the who-knows-where, the wide range in distance between him and you would potentially expel all the energy I have in me, and possibly kill me.”

“Oh, geez. Forget about it then, it can wait. I don’t want to cause you to get hurt,” said Garion awkwardly, “So we have to get Aaron back.”

“Of course we do! Without any magic, or wings, or any strong abilities-no offence-he’s going to die out there by himself!” Twilight hollered, “And after they find him, I’ll have to take you two to Princess Celestia.”

“Princess Celestia? Wait a minute, don’t you mean we’ll go find him. Who’s ‘they?’”

“I’m going to send my friends Apple Jack and Rainbow Dash to go find Aaron. You and I are going to check out the Portal to make sure to confirm its security.”

“What?”

“Your world has no magic and our world is very dangerous, so if anything like a parasprite, dragon, or some form of evil gets into your world, who knows how many of your kind will get hurt?”

“Uhhh… That can happen?” Garion remembered locking the door before they left, but then again, it was just a flimsy plank of wood on hinges.

“Don’t worry, Aaron will be fine. Rainbow Dash and AJ are two of the most reliable ponies I know.”

The feeling of security escaped Garion. It never occurred to him the horrible things that could happen if these innocent creatures had contact with the human world! He didn’t even want to think about it!

“Let’s go, then!” he urged, feeling paranoid.

“Hold on, I want to be prepared, just in case,” said Twilight, who quickly lifted some random saddle bags out of nowhere and started putting tools, food, and other assorted items  in.

The saddle bag, though, brought some distressed confusion to Garion, “Uh, Twilight?”

She had been on the ground synching up the ropes with her mouth. “Yes?”

“Uh.. Where did you get… How did you get…. Um, weren’t there supposed to be no hu-….. Nevermind.”

Twilight Sparkle motioned him towards the door to start going.

Garion walked to the door, but the instant that his hand touched the doorknob, the door slammed open, smashing his wrist against the wall. “Aggh!” he bellowed. Amongst the hollering, the book that had been a stowaway in his pocket for the last half-hour, separated from his jacket, and landed on the floor.

The entity that caused the door to open so rashly, was a pink pony with a funky mane. She looked over to the human, who rubbed his wrist with pain. “Oh, I’m sorry!” the mare said, as soon as she realized that she had caused the harm, “I probably should have knocked, sorry.”

“It’s okay,” said Garion, rubbing a new bruise that he couldn’t see, due to the graphics of the cartoon universe.

“I just wanted to come in to welcome you to Ponyville, seeing as though you are new here.”

“Thanks, I guess. Who are you?”

“My friends call me Pinkie Pie. What’s your name?”

“Garion.”

“Darion?”

“No, Garion.”

“Gary?”

“Gare-ee-un,” Garion phonated.

“Can I just call you Gary?”

“No,” this was actually a common occurrence whenever Garion introduced himself. For some odd reason, the majority of people who couldn’t pronounce his name always insisted on calling him ‘Gary.’

“Alright, Garion. I just came to apologize for our running-away-screaming-in-agony moment when you first arrived. We thought you were those creepy shadow monsters that attacked our town last week. You two kinda looked just like them, except that you two were standing in thin air, and every pony knows that shadows like to lie on the ground or lean against walls.”

“What?” muttered both Garion and Twilight.

“It’s an odd story, but I’ll save that for a better time,” said Pinkie Pie.

“What kind of Crazy world do you live in!?” Garion blurted out.

“Please calm down! We’re trying to help you,” cooled Twilight Sparkle, who was beginning to grow impatient. “Pinkie Pie, did you happen to see another human like Garion, go by somewhere?”

“Oh yes! I came to him first after he left the library! First I apologized to him, then I sang him a song, then offered him a cupcake, but he just stuffed it in his mouth and said ‘My stomach is burning red, the cupcake sooths me to victory. Giant yummy Cupcake.’ And then he walked off.”

“What?”

“I don’t know, but he looked like he loved my Cupcakes.”

“Quick Pinkie, do you know which direction he went?” asked Twilight.

“Well first he tripped over a bucket and then he started going up North.”

“Can you go find Applejack and Rainbow dash, and please tell them that we’re missing a friend and he’s probably gone north into the Everfree forest?”

“Sure thang!”

“Good, and if you can find Spike, would you please tell him that his day off is going to have to be postponed?”

“I’m on it like chocolate on ice-cream!” said Pinkie Pie, bringing her hoof to her forehead in salute, “Well, gotta go! See ya, Garion!” and then the pink pony ran out the door as sudden as she came in.

Meanwhile, Twilight had been holding fallen book with her magic.

“Is this your book?” she asked, opening it and scrolling through the thin pages, “Wow! That’s a lot of words! I’ve read big books all my life, but this one is intense!”

“Yes, it’s mine! Can you leave it there for now? We gotta check that door!” he said hastily.

“Oh yes, Right! No more distractions!” she carefully laid the book on the table, and the two of them ran swiftly out of the door.

The sun was rising high in the sky, the town was decorated in splendor, and a blue sky was painted with swirling tufts of clouds above. ‘This is nice,’ Garion thought, ‘After we get Aaron, I should be able to adapt to this lifestyle, even if it is weird. I’ll have to find a way to tell my family, though.’

---------

Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 3: Oopsies...

Episode 1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension Part 3: Oopsies…

“…He looks like what again?” asked Applejack, hoisting up a bucket of apples and setting it on the cart.

“He looks sort of like a monkey, but without a tail, and less hair,” answered Pinkie Pie.

“So he’s like one of those ape critters?”

“No, he’s a human. He looks almost like the shadow monsters that tried to steal the color from Fluttershy’s rainbow flower bed. You know, with only TWO legs; Just with less spikes and much less monstrous. And he’s not a shadow.”

“Now wait, I never heard you were attacked by shadow monsters.”

“Oh yeah! That’s because you were away in Appaloosa visiting your cousin.”

“How come you never told me?”

Somewhere in the sky, a blue Pegasus dive-bombed around a passing cloud, and landed a few feet away from where Applebloom and Big Macintosh were standing.

They were finishing the last rounds in the southern orchard. First they bucked the Apples. Then they chucked the apples. Lastly they truck the apples. So now they were carrying all the buckets to the carts so they can lift them off to the juicers where they would be making their popular Sweet-Apple juice that night.

Rainbow Dash ran up to Applejack and Pinkie Pie, shaking the dust out from her mane, “I saw Aaron heading towards the Everfree Forest from the west roots.”

“Thank you, R-D,” said Applejack. ‘So two random creatures pop up outa nowhere, scares the whole town, runs away, and now me’n Rainbow hav‘ta be the ones to chase him  down, while Twilight and the other go to check out another universe for security,’ at least that’s what she thought she heard from Pinkie Pie.

“It’s no problem. I have to go tell everypony now that my celebration party is going to have to be postponed,” Pinkie Pie replied, helping with the last basket.

“You were having a party?”

“Yes, I was going to use the rainbow flowers from Rarity’s garden, to decorate the town hall for the very first, annual spring celebration. I was going to invite you, but then Garion and Aaron arrived and we all freaked out. So, I’m just going to move the party to a later date so we can welcome our guests, then.”

“Which of them are we following again?” asked Applejack as her brother Big Macintosh began driving the cart step-by-step down the hill.

“Aaron. He has a black mane on the very top of his head, walks on two legs, wears glasses, and his stomach is ‘burning red’,” said Pinkie Pie hopping up and down. “I know you can’t see what color your stomach is, but that’s what he told me. So if you need me, I’ll be going over to the Cakes to find out when they’ll be able to schedule this party,” she bounded off, squeaking as she bounced.

“I still can’t tell if she was planning one party, or two parties,”

As Applejack was beginning to leave, Applebloom trotted up as fast as her little legs could make her move. “Wait!” she called out, her golden southern lilt flowing as she spoke, “If y’all were going to push the juicin’ aside for later; I wuz wonderin’, do ya think I can join ma friends at the Cutie Mark Crusader’s booth at Open House? I can stay for a few hours ‘n then still have enough time to clean out the pig’s troughs before we begin juicin’.” This year she, her friends Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, were given their own booth at open house to introduce their club to the new colts and fillies without cutie marks, who were coming into their first day of school next year.

Applejack smiled and nodded her head.

“Whoohoo!” triumphed Applebloom as she quickly galloped straight up over the hill, disappearing into the setting sun.

-------

Aaron walked silently amongst the trees, singing, “…Draw a circle, there’s the Earth. I am Hetalia.”

He wasn’t deliberately trying to set himself in any danger; he just wanted to push his boundaries and just be free. Despite his earlier rage on Garion, he was actually quite happy that he was here. This day had let him not only have an actual good reason to go bonkers, but also a pink pony gave him a delicious cupcake, and he got shrunk seven inches, and now he was going to brave an evil forest. It was horrifyingly beautiful. Never had a day been so completely out of whack, that it just seemed illogical to worry about anything at all.

“Talking ponies everywhere,” he muttered to himself, stepping over a dead branch.

Aaron wanted to be himself, test fate, and see if anything bad could actually happen to him in a world of candy, rainbows, and ponies. That and simply just escaping Garion and that braniac pony.

Garion was an astronomer and philosophy junkie, and it seemed dangerously likely that he and Twilight Sprinkle…Sparkle… or whatever were likely to get themselves lost in an hour long conversation about something stupid and boring like, maybe molecular intervention or something relating to their favorite type of books.

But why should he have to know why he was here, when in a world like this, he can do anything.

“Now to have some real fun,” he whispered.

The forest was beginning to collect with fog. The trees were looking ominous, like a horror element in a children’s cartoon. There were owls hooting and eyes watching in the shadows.

Perfect.

He took a few swipes of dirt off of the ground and drew marks on his face. Then he ran straight into the darkest shadow he saw.

“Did you hear that?” asked Rainbow Dash, hovering over a set of brambles.

“Only the wind,” grunted Applejack, who used her lasso from the farm to swing across from an overhead branch, landing squarely on a rock, “What did you hear?”

“It sounded like… It sounded like… I don’t know exactly. Hey, did Pinkie Pie say this guy had a

Mane on the top of his head?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Yes.”

“Well it sure didn’t look like a mane to me when I saw him around here,” Rainbow stated.

The atmosphere of Everfree was familiar to them, from the many encounters they had in the past, but even the most experienced of travelers can always be put off guard in some way. This was not a place for people to thrive.  Everfree was the definition of danger’s name. Sometimes it seemed that the forest was one, whole thinking entity that tries to entrap you and stick you into any kind of trouble available. The leaves even clustered together to block out the sunshine, and in this particular area, it replaced the wood-scape with dim moonlight, even though it was the middle of the day.

“Where could he be?” whispered Rainbow Dash, striving to reach a place where the blue moonlight of the forest would give her the upper hand.

“Be careful you don’t fly too high and get caught in the branches” warned Applejack, who climbed up a fallen trunk to get onto a rock.

“Why can’t we see him?” asked Rainbow Dash, coming to a landing on top of a branch, “I mean, how hard is it to find a 2-legged-walking-monkey, without-fur, and wearing clothes?”

“I see him!” blurted Apple jack.

“Where?”

“There.”

“Where?”

“Over There!”

“Over Where?”

“Over there by that tree with the branch shaped sort of like Granny Smith’s face!”

“I still don’t see him!”

Applejack put her hoof to her head, “He’s the only skinny creature wearin’ glasses and making weird faces at us.”

Rainbow Dash took a step out of the fuzzy blue beam she was standing in, and only then did she see the human sticking his tongue out at her, “Oh, there he is. I’ll get him!”

“Like heck, you’ll get me,” Aaron muttered. The rainbow one flew at him, coming at a rapid speed before she got knocked by a branch that was hidden just lightly above her line of vision. Seeing the ponies get mad was very amusing to see.

Aaron chuckled.  If there was one thing that defined who he was, it was that he loved being a troll. Before the rainbow-maned pony could get up, Aaron spun around and ran off.  “There’s a branch there!” shouted Aaron from over his shoulder.

“Get back here!” Rainbow Dash called out. When she finally stood up, she flared her wings and burst into the air again.

Aaron purposely ran off to the trees with the lowest branches so that it would be difficult for the pegasus to reach him by flying. He quickly ducked beneath a barky extension and crawled on his belly beneath the brush.

“Wait! Get out of there!” shouted the voice of the Pegasus from a distance.

“Try to get me now, flying pony!” Aaron taunted.

“My name’s Rainbow Dash, and you’re-”

Suddenly Aaron felt something touching his arms.

“Get off of me!” he shouted, thinking that it was perhaps the other pony nabbing him from behind, and he swung his arms and kicked his legs to defend himself. Whatever had been touching him, had quickly moved to his back, and his arm landed in something soft and sticky.

“What the…” he muttered, turning over onto his side to see a glistening wall of silver cotton candy within the ghostly moonlight. “What?”

And then that’s when he saw the enormous eight legged spiders in front of his face. They were 10 inches long at least.

A lightning bolt struck through his mind and his primal instincts took over. He tried to stand up, but got his head stuck in a dense cobweb all around him. “AHHHHHHH!!” he screamed, while spiders crawled around, landing on his chest, legs and other appendages. Only one word existed in his mind: RUN.

Branches and bristles slapped Aaron in the face while the tarantulas hissed and crawled on his back and appendages. He flailed his arms among the webs and just kept running, desperately trying to escape the tree and the forest.

Rainbow Dash stood outside in the moonlight, watching in bewilderment as the human came bursting out of the brambles, screaming like a maniac with four to five different enormous arachnids on his body. As he came by, Aaron accidentally punched Applejack in the ear, and bolted toward the deeper end of the forest.

“Quick, we have to follow him before he gets into anymore danger!” shouted Rainbow Dash, leaving Apple jack to rubbing her bruise.

“Hey! Wait up, will ya?!” Apple Jack hollered back.

“YADYA! YADDA AHAHA! BWAAH AHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!” screamed Aaron as he lost sight of where he had been. It didn’t matter though. The spiders that clung to his chest and back propelled him to continue thrashing and running. In the process of kicking off the arachnids, he collided with a tangle of vines, which somehow caught onto the spiders, ripping them off his body.

“Get off me! Get off me!” he wailed maniacly.

Somehow a vine snagged onto one of his shoulders and swung him into the air, lifting him above a patch of blue flowers on the ground.

He instinctively grasped for one, and caught onto what he thought was a vine. But it hissed at him, turning out to be a snake. He screamed again and instantly let go, falling into more vines which snapped the vines and dropping him onto a bare spot on the turf.

Still, he kept running. All around him, the trees had suddenly grown horrific, anthropomorphic expressions and the branches appeared to be reaching for him.

“It’s evil. Its…all…evil,” Aaron muttered to his wild conscience. The trek led him into a direction he couldn't identify. He had managed to rid himself of the spiders, but now the forest itself was trying to kill him! A weird red light illuminated the branches of the trees and distorted the image of reality.

Subconsciously, he managed to come to a bog where a large gap separated his path. Due to the unfortunate amount of momentum that Aaron obtained while running, he had to make the decision to either fall into the rift, or attempt to jump it. To his disbelief, he found himself in midair from subconsciously throwing himself across.

Unfortunately, his efforts failed to protect him from falling and he missed the other side. But instead of hitting ground, Aaron landed on something that seemed to moving beneath him. The thing opened its mouth and snapped at Aaron. He caught the image of a scaly spine, tail and body, but nothing else because now he was trying to escape.

He leapt for the high ridge, grabbing branches and turf along the top of the rock wall, and pulled himself up desperately. He wasn’t able to make it at first, but fortunately the accidental force of the creature’s nose against his feet gave him leverage. He lunged with all his might, and barely managed to get his whole body on top of the ledge.

But he wasn’t safe yet. The red glow still pervaded the forest, except that now, the trees were much darker and there was very little light to see. Something smelled awful. Aaron looked around but couldn’t see what it was. He kept himself still until several something’s that looked as though they were made out of logs and sticks, but took the form of dogs, or maybe wolves, emerged from the darkness. He was surrounded by this pack of growling cottonwood, and it was obvious that they were planning on making an entrée out of him if he stood there any longer, so he just kept running.

The dogs barked and snapped at him, and he was out of breath and almost being unable to go any further. “I’m going to die. I’m going to die,” was all he was saying to himself, before suddenly a root caught his foot and he ended up tumbling through a hole in the ground.

Aaron was plunged into total darkness, until the vertical chamber brought him to a shallow cave underground. He found himself sprawled on a pile of rocks. For a moment, Aaron just lay still, trying to regain his breath.

“This world…is going…to kill me,” Aaron panted.

The passage wasn’t entirely dark like the human had first perceived, as light began to fill his corneas. Soon he could detect that the cave was made from limestone and dirt, and was probably no taller than six feet. Throughout the grotto, small rays of blue light seeped in through the dirt ceiling, which appeared to be supported with the stretching roots of the trees above.

He soon began to wish that he had simply let those ponies take him before, instead of trying to cause them trouble. They seemed ten times nicer than the place he was in now.

The cave was completely silent except for the water droplets that echoed somewhere else.

Aaron was not alone. A shadow that he had originally assumed to me a large rock picked itself off of the ground, so that it stood on four legs.

At first Aaron thought that it was a pony, but it was a lot taller than the others. The hide was like a black silhouette against the walls. But then its eyelids lifted to reveal two eyes, which glowed green into the dark. Aaron was daunted to see her body out of proportion; that being, that its torso and legs were unusually skinny. Then it struck him when he saw the holes that penetrated through her body.

Frozen with insane fear, Aaron watched the zombie-pony approach.

“What reason have you here for, unfortunate little morsel?” her voice almost sounded multi vocalized and sent chills down Aaron’s spine.

Aaron kept his mouth shut.

“But now that doesn’t matter, because you have fallen. You are trapped and we will take your-”

The dictum of the creature was broken by an incoming rock, coming from Aaron’s hand when he barely acquired the nerve to defend himself. The stone bounced off a wall, distracting the creature.

Aaron ran off, screaming.

“What the?” the perforated pony echoed alone.

Aaron ran off to the opposite end of the cave. He quickly approached an exit and burst through yet another spider web that that had been covering the opening. He tripped, and fell down a slope.

When he came to a final stop, he saw the opening of the forest, the meadows and fields waiting for him beyond.

Ready to escape for his life, he pulled himself off the ground, before something wrapped around his feet and knocked him over. He looked down and saw that it was a lasso.

“Finally! Now will ya’ hold still so we can talk to ya?” said Applejack, cantering up from over a rock.

“Let me go! Let me free, you horrible, horrible, demonic horses!” bellowed Aaron.

“Wow,” said Rainbow Dash, landing beside Apple jack, “He actually doesn’t look like a monkey at all. Good going Apple jack!”

Aaron screamed and thrashed, “If you don’t let me go, I will show you what humans do in defense!” He attempted to swing and hit, but he was too far away. He tried to get up, but ended up falling back.

“What in the hay were you thinking! Going into that Spiders nest in the first place?” scolded Apple Jack.

“I thought it was just a normal tree!” Aaron screamed.

“That wasn’t a dang tree!”

“What? It was a tree! There were freaking big branches and everything! I didn’t know there were giant spiders in them!”

“Those weren’t branches you were climbing through…”

Aaron closed his mouth in confusion.

“….those were the legs of their mother.”

------

“…And that’s why you never go off the path in the Everfree Forest,” said Twilight to Garion.

“Got it,” he answered, feeling pretty awkward about casually strolling with a unicorn.

The wind blew across the trees, leaves falling gracefully to the ground. They had left the welcoming foundations of their town, and were now walking into the sun of the valley where the two humans had originally arrived.

There were ranges and foothills to the north, and just as Twilight Sparkle had told him, he could see the capital at the crest of the tallest mountain, Canterlot. It was a beautiful citadel made of towers and spires, which was all he could really see from where he was at.

He was trying so hard to keep his gaze at the awe inspiring color pastel trees, but he was just too creeped out by the odd, purple, dinosaur creature walking next to him. The creature had just ran up from out of nowhere, carrying the same worried expression in meeting Garion that the human had upon meeting the ponies for the first time. From his current height, the dino stood as tall as Garion’s chest from the peak of the creature’s highest spine.

Silence pervaded their chances of realization for 3 terrifying minutes, neither one of them breaking their awkward gazes. Twilight Sparkle walked ahead, unaware that the dragon was even there.

When the human couldn’t take it anymore, he finally spoke aloud to ask the creature a question.

“I’m sorry. Can I help you with anything?” he asked.

Twilight stopped walking and turned around, “Oh, there you are Spike. I was wondering when you were going to arrive. Why didn’t you tell me you were here?”

The reptilian cleared his throat and replied, “I would have, but this….person was staring at me, and it was kind of…scary…” chortled Spike, causing Garion to feel ashamed of not speaking earlier.

“Oh, he’s nothing to be afraid of,” Twilight Sparkle claimed. She pointed a hoof at the human. “This is Garion.”

“Oh, well nice to meet you Garion, my name’s Spike,” said the reptilian, offering a clawed hand to Garion, who awkwardly shook it, both people receiving chills from the surreal contact with the differentiating textures of skin.

“What are you?” Spike asked, whose voice was a little scratchy and stereotypically boyish.

“I’m a human.”

“A hee-you-man?”

“Human. Sounds like ‘ew’ with a ‘huh!’ and ending with ‘men’” elaborated Garion, using the bold attitude that he used to have when he was younger.

“Oh, Heeumen. Heeyoumen. Human. Ok, got it!” and the group began walking again, but Garion still didn’t get his question answered. So he moved quickly to Twilight hissing, “So what the heck is he?”

“He’s a dragon.”

“You’re kidding me.”

“Hey!” complained Spike.

“Well, he’s obviously not a full grown dragon yet. He’s still in his hatchling years,” Twilight explained.

“Oh, well that makes more sense. Sorry, Spike.”

“It’s alright, but where are we going again?”

“We’re going to the place where Garion and his odd friend arrived,” Twilight answered, “Apparantly, a portal still stands between ours and his, and we want to make sure that nothing from our world can get into theirs. You see, Spike,” and with this, the lavender Unicorn turned around and stared intently at the dragon to keep his attention, and she whispered, “His world doesn’t have magic.”

Spike put his claws over his mouth and gasped, “NO! If he doesn’t have magic, then…that means-”

“That’s right! and, and..!”

“And what??? AND WHAT!??” yelled Garion carrying an exaggerated look of confusion, “I’m so confused right now. Exactly what-the-what is going on here?”

Spiked grabbed his Arms and pulled him close, “How do you survive?!”

Garion stood upright again and mumbled to himself, “You pay less on car insurance. I have never seen so many people act so crazy over something so…” at this he glanced up at a cloud which a green Pegasus happened to be pushing across the sky, “…ordinary.”

“Calm down, Spike. It’s nothing unusual to Garion. But we have to make sure that the portal is unsurpassable so that no harm can seep into the other world,” directed Twilight, pulling Spike away from Garion using an aura of her unicorn magic, “So let’s hurry up and go!”

Garion, becoming particularly antsy, now began to run.

They had exited the grove and were now entering the wide plains that Garion and Aaron had first walked upon. “Show me where it is please. The sooner, the better.” she asked.

If it weren’t for his paranoia that Twilight may end up getting involved in the horrors of his world, Garion wouldn’t have been so much in a hurry. But honestly, he was afraid of going there himself.

She let him run ahead of her, which allowed him to get to the door first, and make sure that it wouldn’t be possible for Twilight to barge in by any odd chance. It was the city after all, and Garion couldn’t stop thinking about every movie he had ever seen with this kind of scenario.

Logically, the average human may actually have responded positively, in the same similar way that Garion did, rather than the insane power hungry stereotypes normally depicted in movies. Nevertheless, his instincts told him that the secret and separation was probably the safe thing to do anyway.

Amidst the passing grass and paradisiacal landscape, Garion gulped and breathed in extreme alertness. He was in a child’s wonderland; what part about that could he not get? His mother would have been so happy to see this, he thought. Maybe without all the rainbows and all, though they added a positive emotion to the landscape, he knew she loved unicorns and horses since she was a child.

The image of the door in the distance ceased his daydreaming, but what he found there struck him dead in his tracks.

The door registered the same white chipping paint and dull brass doorknob, appearing completely normal. What scared him was the grass.

All the turf and vegetation within a 10 feet radius, was completely dead and black. It was so unexpected and in contrast from the rest of the world, it made his heart jumped. It was hard to describe, but you knew from the moment you saw it, that it was NOT ever supposed to be there in that world.

His heart leapt when he saw how familiar it looked, and as if on cue, a small black mist pulsed out from the dark circle. The mist glided off into the distance, before it evaporated into the air. Garion wasn’t able to figure what he just saw before Twilight arrived, along with Spike trailing behind. She looked at the circumference and inquired, “What is this?”

“I-I… I don’t know. It wa-wasn’t there before,” Garion stuttered. He said these words but what shocked him was how much he felt that he was lying, and he didn’t know why he felt that way.

Twilight on the other hand only seemed shortly distressed at the sight of it. It seemed like she had seen stranger things before.

The door on the other hand…

She gazed at the door and cocked her head in confusion, “This is your portal?”

“Well, what did you expect? You know my world doesn’t have magic,” Garion responded.

“The fact that your world was able to pull this off would make me think otherwise,” she argued.

“My world? I actually thought about something in between our worlds; something to cross them over. Either that, or it’s your world that brought me here.”

“I don’t think so, but still I would have expected that any trans-dimensional portal would be more advanced than this.”

“Uh, well, sorry. It looks like you just have a simple door.”

“I actually find it fascinating,” Twilight commented, which threw Garion off. Unsure of where she stood, he decided to change the subject in the hope of continuing to distract her from looking at the circle or the door too much, “Do you know what else is fascinating? The fact that I still haven’t asked you what kind of magic horse you are.”

Twilight gave him a look that was almost in irritation. ‘Magic Horse’ may have been an insult.

“Are you a Unicorn? Or are you a Pegasus?” Garion continued, “Or are you a combined version of that word, like a Pegacorn, or a Unisus?”

“I’m an Alicorn…or at least, I am now. I didn’t used to be. A year ago, I was just a typical average unicorn. And I’m not a magic horse.”

“An Alicorn?” Garion wondered to himself, “Is that really the best they can do? Still, it has a pleasant ring to it.”

Twilight casted a purple glow around the door frame, “Hmm, I’m not sensing anything. Maybe you should check it.”

“Check for what?”

“To see if it’s locked and secured.”

‘Oh well, that should be easy. I locked it before we-’ thought Garion to himself, before he felt in his pockets where his keys were missing. ‘What?’

Garion cautiously stepped onto the grey circle and slowly touched the doorknob and tried to turn it. Then he checked his pockets again. He indignantly faced the alicorn and announced, “Well, it’s locked for sure. But my keys are missing.”

“Missing?” Twilight gasped.

“I know I had them.”

“Well, what about Aaron? Did he take them?”

“I offered them to him before he left us, but he refused.”

“Well you have to be able to get to your own world somehow!” she exclaimed.

Garion kicked the door. He made sure not to hit it too hard, because he didn’t want end up accidentally falling through if it opened, but his efforts looked pathetic and embarrassing this way.

“Here, let me help you,” offered Twilight, who then walked up, turned around, and then-

CRACK!

She bucked, sending the door flying out of its frame in two, three, four splintered pieces on the ground.

Garion’s heart leapt.

Nothing existed through the standing door frame, other than the face of Spike who walked around to pick up a piece.

There were ten seconds of silence.

“You did say it was just a simple door,” the dragon uttered.

Twilight stood staring at the wreckage with her mouth hanging open.

Garion lost all sense of mind.

Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 4: Aggression

Episode 1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension Chapter 1: The Technicolor Kingdom Part 4: Aggression

Aaron thrashed and screamed, “…AYAYADDA! WAYAYAYAAAYA! BWA! SALA MALA! SPIDERS! AHA AHHAYAA! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! You’ll never take my soul! You’ll never take it! It’s mine! You Willy Walla yadda yadda! You’re gonna Sala Makawaka! And I’ll Meyah your wallahh! WEYAYA! AND YOUR MONKEY TOO!

“Put me Down! Put me Down! Ahh!! Save me Mother! GEAHAHAAHHH! Save me Tom Cruise! BWAHH! HELP ME OPRAH! You’re going to kill me! Drop me alreadahahydadhah! This is the end of my life! I’m so sorry Mother! I should have never taken that candy bar from that little girl! And Now I have to suffer from death by giant rainbow ponies! I shoulda yadda ahaha! AHHH! WAHH!!! PUT ME DOWN!!

“But before you do, I must tell you. YOU’LL NEVER TAKE MY SPIRIT! YOU’RE NOT REAL TO ME! THIS IS A DREAM! HEAR MY WAR CRY! AAAAAAAAHHH! YOU DEMON SPAWNS! YOU WILLY NILLIES! YOU COMMUNISTS! YOU’RE THE WORK OF SWEDISH TERRORISTS! DROP ME AND LET ME FIGHT! AHHGAAHH! You can’t take me down! I have an exotic accent! You’ll never find anyone like me! You need me! I’m a master in cartoons that contain people with big eyes! But I’m not giving you anything!

“I hate your stupid grass! I hate your stupid clouds! You’re not nice ponies! Your evil demon doppelgangers of pregnant rainbow horses! Let me fight you!  I’ll burn you down with my viscous lens of solar rays! I’ll call the Green Lantern on you! YOU AND YOUR ZOMBIE LEADER! YOU AND YOUR ZOMBIE MOTHERS! And I’ll claw out your butt tattoos and eat all your apples and mix up your Laundry!”

“Ughh!” moaned Rainbow Dash, hauling the rope twenty feet in the air, “He’s been doing this for a whole hour now!”

“Well, just…uh…drop him gently, I guess. Maybe he’ll stop swinging at us and let us talk in friendlier speaking terms if we do as he says,” spoke Applejack unsurely, standing beneath the upside down human.

“Whatever you say,” replied Rainbow Dash, letting go of the lasso.

“AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” bellowed Aaron falling a full ten feet.

“I said drop him GENTLY!” yelled Applejack, catching Aaron on her back.

“Uuughhhh,”Aaron flopped onto the ground and held onto his stomach, gasping for air. They were standing in the middle of a field, where the sun was setting.

“Oops,” Rainbow Dash apologized, landing on the ground, “Sorry. You were kinda heavy.”

Aaron picked up a stick from the ground and waved it at them, “Back off! Back off, all of you!”

Applejack tried to reason, “Whoa, there Nelly! We’re not trying to hurt you.”

“Not trying to hurt me!? You freaking KIDNAPPED ME!” Aaron accused.

“No, we didn’t! We were protecting your flank you ungrateful punk!” intervened Rainbow Dash.

“Protecting my flank!? Protecting my flank! I DON’T HAVE A FLYING FLANK YOU STUPID...!”

Then Aaron tried to stand up but his ankles were still tightly bound by the lasso and he fell over.

Rainbow Dash bit down on the rope and mumbled “Get ready to run, AJ!”

-----

Twilight Sparkle led the way for the human and dragon.

It had taken a while to get moving after the incident with the broken door. Shortly after that, Garion had begun to cry. This worried her for only a minute, until she remembered that she could still potentially receive help from princess Celestia. Since then, he had looked strangely at peace, but not totally together. She decided to take him back to the library.

“It’s just too big to comprehend, okay?” he lamented, “It was only this afternoon that I didn’t believe in unicorns, dragons, or anything like this. Everything I knew about life was secure in a single dull main-frame. It was what it was. And I’ve been always anticipating a future I couldn’t see; using a frame of mind that I’ve known since I was a child. But now all of that’s gone; it’s torn all away. And I just don’t know what to look for now.”

Twilight gave a condescending look to Garion, “I imagine that anyone who would have this fall upon them would have reacted in the same way you did, if not much worse than that.” She looked at the sky that was slowly growing orange from the sun setting.

She continued, “Anyone could have fallen into my world today, and on any other day, but you did. That’s the way it happened. Don’t worry about why or what to do, because you’re here and I’m certainly glad to have met you,” and then she smiled.

Garion looked at her and thought whoa. That was certainly very uplifting, but not what he was used to hearing. It took him a few minutes to realize that he had been standing for a while, for when he saw the sadness in her violet eyes, that’s when he noticed the tears flowing from his, for how long he didn’t know.

It was seriously not what he was used to hearing.

To hear those words being said was one thing; to hear that being said from a mystical unicorn to an unimportant human like him was something else entirely. And it stung.

----

The unicorn walked with dignity under the pride of her objective. In order to create a spring celebration worth a thousand sequels, it would need to have the best attire.

Rarity was a high class unicorn with a crystalline white coat, a velvety blue-violet mane, and lots of makeup and sterilizing spells. She was a “fashionista” and her life passion was set as such.

She trotted intently alongside Fluttershy, who was helping her look for the perfect rainbow flowers and accents among her flower garden. As the yellow Pegasus fluttered around carrying the basket, she related a peculiar story that had occurred earlier that day.

“And he hit him?” asked Rarity.

“Yes! Really hard. But then they looked right at me and…well, I might have been just a little scared, but I protected my house and kept it secure so they wouldn’t get in,” iterated Fluttershy.

----

“…and Fluttershy is, as you already know, very easy to scare around other ponies. So be sure to be as friendly as possible,” instructed Twilight Sparkle, cantering over the bridge.

“What? I’m not a pony though,” said Garion, carrying the saddlebags for Twilight.

“Same thing,” said Spike.

“No, it’s not” Garion argued.

“Yes it is,” Spike lamely countered.

“Enough,” intervened Twilight Sparkle, “Aha, here’s Rarity and Fluttershy.”

----

The two ponies stood still in front of the boutique as Spike, Twilight Sparkle, and the human creature approached.

Rarity’s first typical impression on the human was its style of fashion. And then it was the human’s posterity within those clothes. She known ponies and other four legged creatures with clothes all her life, and even Spike the dragon who walks on two legs. But this human wore these clothes as if he was the reason for clothes; as if he was born to wear garments. It was indeed…civilized…in contrast to how Fluttershy described them. “Wow, Fluttershy. You never told me about their statuesque apparel.”

“I didn’t notice,” Fluttershy quietly muttered, standing behind Rarity, “Oh, thank goodness. This isn’t the violent one.”

“Violent one?” asked Garion, “What did Aaron do to you guys?”

“‘Ladies,’ if you please,” said Rarity, who walked up to Garion and tugged the sleeve of his jacket, “Tell me, kind sir. Do all humans in your world dress in style like you?”

Garion was wearing a grey hoodie and jeans.

“Yes?” he responded, ‘Well, that was awkward.' Then he asked, “But has anyone seen Aaron?”

Something that sounded like an air siren echoed in the distance. They all listened intently.

Suddenly a dust cloud came rushing in as Rainbow Dash ran into the scene with the end of a rope clamped in her mouth.

“Ahhhhhhhh!!!!!!!” screeched a loud, dirty man being drug across the ground, the rope lassoed around his ankles.

Applejack followed seconds after.

“Aaron!” exclaimed Garion, “What in the...!”

“Shut up and untie me, you idiot!” Aaron demanded.

Garion bent down and fangled with the bindings as quick as he could, thinking about turmoil and chaos, and when the ties finally gave way, Aaron stood up and punched him in the chest.

He stumbled back, “OW! What the heck was that for!?”

“Eek!” Fluttershy squeeled, “That one! That’s the violent one!”

“You’re dang RIGHT I’m the violent one! So you all better back off! None of you are stealing my soul tonight!”

“Aaron, what in the name of everything frozen in time are you talking about?” demanded Garion.

Aaron grabbed Garion by the shoulders and yelled, “You will never believe the things I’ve seen today!” He slapped him again.

“Will you STOP hitting me!”

“I’m just making sure that you’re not under some kind of spell. Quick, we’ve got to get out of here, fast,” he whispered to Garion.

“Well first, you’ve got to calm down! And at least act normal if you can’t be normal! These ‘ponies’ have been giving their hospitality for us since we’ve been here, and you’ve been acting like a jerk this whole time.”

“A jerk!?”

“Yeah! First, you just leave and walk into who knows where and-”

“I was almost eaten by flesh hungry, fanged cottonwood today!”

“Uh…”

“Also, the ponies!” Aaron lamented.

“Aaron! Even if we wanted to get out, we couldn’t!” Garion asserted.

“What!? WHY?”

“Because! Well…you see… The door…”

“WHAT HAPPENED TO THE DOOR?”

Garion hesitated at first, unsure about the outcome that could result, but then Twilight stepped in.

“It’s not his fault. I kind of, um…broke it. It’s in pieces.”

Aaron looked at the purple unicorn. She stood right beside Garion, and appeared to have grown slightly comfortable with him. Aaron then switched his glance to Garion.

“SON OF A-” he began to exclaim, but then realized his repeating mistake, “-beautiful lady.”

Aaron’s trust in the ponies had been ultimately shattered during his escapade in the forest; that being, because of the terrifying demonic pony that had supposedly been attempting to take his life. He now believed that the ponies couldn’t be trusted, because their world apparently consisted of disturbing problems at every intersection. He also began to think that the whole ‘innocent and childish’ atmosphere that these ponies portrayed was just a mask that they wore to hide the monsters that they really were inside.

He decided that if he wanted to sneak past the ponies’ evil plans, then he had to keep them from suspecting that he was on to them. It would be hard to convince Garion that they were evil though, since he had been with them the whole time. There was nothing he could really do at his advantage right now, anyway. He would have to wait for a time when he and Garion could be alone. Till then, he needed to play cool.

Garion raised his eyebrow in confusion, stepping away slowly, “Um, ok? Anyway, I don’t know how but, we’ll get this problem fixed…somehow. Don’t you worry! Just PLEASE keep calm for now. This is a cartoon, after all; crazy things are bound to happen at random moments. They always resolve themselves in the end.”

“Except for the episodes that leave you stupid in the end,” said Aaron, “And besides, this isn’t a cartoon on television, you know,” Aaron spoke, his eye slightly twitching.

“Well, yeah. I know but… Wait, or is it?” Garion by instinct looked up at the sky, imagining an invisible camera looking down on them and showing them on television in the reality world, like he used to think when he was a little kid. All he saw was the same green Pegasus pushing the same cloud across the sky.

“Yeah… I’m sure it will sort itself out, like you said,” said Aaron, who was desperately trying to not sound conspicuous. Fluttershy and Rarity seemed aware of something strange, though, and they exchanged glances. “But in the meantime could you, Twilight by any chance be able to turn ourselves back to our original sizes, please?”

“Oh, yeah! That’s right!” said Garion, “We’re together now, Twilight.”

“Well, yeah… But,” said Twilight.

“What?” asked Garion.

“Well… I can’t.”

“What do you mean you can’t?!” snapped Aaron.

“It’s too risky!” she reasoned.

“What ‘the hey did you do to them, Twi’?” asked Applejack.

“I thought you said that Aaron and I had to be together so that you didn’t expel all your magic from far reaching distances” said Garion.

“And I SAID that it was too unpredictable; that you shrunk from a spell that was originally intended to mildly shock you-” explained twilight.

“You were trying to shock us!?” interjected Aaron.

“At the time, yes! But I didn’t see what you really were at first!”

“So you just shot at us?!” Aaron exclaimed.

“I’m sorry! I know I shouldn’t have, I just heard everybody else in panic and I just reacted!”

Spike returned from apparently having left a few moments ago, now being interested in the strange conversation. Fluttershy and Rarity exchanged glances several times, slowly inching closer to Twilight Sparkle with questionable expressions.

“But we didn’t even do anything!” exclaimed Aaron.

“It’s alright Aaron. They don’t mean any harm,” Garion reasoned.

“YOU ARE AN IDIOT!” Aaron shouted.

The other ponies gasped.

“Whoa! Dude, that is NOT an okay thing to say to him,” said Rainbow Dash, stepping in between them, “He’s just trying to be keep everypony calm-”

“Shut up, flying demon!”

“WHAT DID YOU JUST CALL ME!!?” Rainbow raised her hoof as if in a fist.

“Aaron! How dare you talk to my friend like that!” scolded Twilight angrily. So far she was beginning to consider this to be one of the rudest people she had ever tried to help.

“Shut up, evil-shrinking demon!” Aaron persisted.

“AARON!” Garion bellowed, grabbing him by the shoulder and trying to pull him out of the group.

But Aaron pushed him off and swung at him. “SHUT UP! YOU MONEY BLOWING DEMON!!!” Aaron screamed, hitting Garion in the stomach. A black wisp of smoke generated from the impact, which drifted above and floated off into the darkening sky above. Suddenly Aaron felt terrified…of himself, and quickly pulled his arm back.

Purple light surrounded Aaron’s vision, and suddenly he felt himself being lifted in the air. Within two seconds, he found himself staring face to face with two enormous azure eyes, “Pardon me, but that form of indecency is absolutely intolerable!”

“Indecency? That orange one lassoed me!”

“You punched me in the ear!” bursted Applejack.

“I don’t know how things are run in your world, but if you are going to be looking for any help from us, then either you must change your unmannered ways NOW or I’ll have to teach you myself how to behave like a civilized being,” Rarity pressed.

“Fine…”

“Yes ma’am, if you will.”

“Yes ma’am,” he gritted between his teeth, feeling like swallowing buckets of slime. “Now, can you please put me down?”

Rarity gently lowered Aaron to the ground, and released the magic from around him, “Now first, apologize to my dear friend Rainbow Dash, and then to your friend as well.”

“He’s not my friend,” Aaron claimed, warily keeping his tone low.

There was an awkward silence for about 3 seconds before Spike the dragon spoke out and said, “I’m just going to go back to the library and put away the left over books,” and he ran off.

“Now Aaron, I’m sure that you’re a little upset,” Rarity began, “but-”

“No, I’m way beyond being upset,” Aaron interrupted.

Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle helped Garion off the ground. The human gained a bruise on his shoulder, but it hid itself underneath his shirt.

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked. So far she had grown to like him, and wasn’t sure how he and Aaron were going to get along now.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” Garion said, dusting the dirt off his jacket, “I’m used to it. I barely know him anyway.”

“I have a room in my library that you can stay in tonight, if you want,” she offered kindly.

“Thank you, I really appreciate it,” he said. In times like these, it was always best for him to not say much, because he had unstable emotional problems and right now, he was feeling VERY emotional.

Even still, he felt warm seeing how much Twilight cared enough that she was willing to let him stay around...

Aaron was feeling no better. He knew what he had done, and regretted doing it with all his heart, but now he had to face the consequences. It became agonizingly difficult to ignore the terrifying determination of Rarity’s stare. Aaron figured that the longer he waited to do something, the worse it was going to be for him. So he shyly approached Rainbow Dash, looking down and uttered bluntly, “I’m sorry. Can you forgive me for my gosh-awful attitude today?”

“Yeah sure, I guess,” was all Rainbow Dash said, looking away. “There have been times where I have acted selfishly as well. Don’t worry about it.”

Another awkward silence followed. Aaron wasn’t willing to look at anyone else directly, especially Garion.

“Oh my, it is getting very late,” Rarity ignited, breaking the silence for him, “I see that you…um…” Rarity began.

“My name’s Garion,” said the human.

“Thank you, Garion. I see that Twilight has offered you a place to stay, but what about Aaron?”

“All I have is one extra bed,” Twilight informed.

“Well we won’t have you sleeping on the floor now will we, Aaron? Is anypony going to volunteer to hospitalize Aaron for the night?” Rarity asked, directing her attention to the rest of the group.

Rainbow Dash was suddenly absent, seemingly to have sneaked off somewhere.

Fluttershy hid behind Twilight Sparkle.

The only one left was Rarity and Applejack, the latter inattentively kicking the dirt with her hoof. “What? Oh, no. I have to be going back to the farm now to make sure that the sweet apple juicin’ has made through without any problems. I was supposed to be there to help ‘em out earlier, but the time got pulled away from me, so now I have to make up before tomorrow comes. I’m sorry, but I don’t have the time, or the space to accommodate somepony else right now, Aaron. But…uh…good luck.” And with that, she turned homeward and began to venture back.

Rarity looked around but there was nopony else to turn to, “Don’t fear, Aaron. If nopony else will spare any room for you, I will. Just follow me,” she insisted, walking to her boutique.

Aaron, who was looking pretty down right about now, looked to Garion and Twilight in confusion.

Twilight silently urged him forward, so Aaron awkwardly trailed after Rarity into the boutique, who closed the door behind them.

By this time the night had fully taken over and the small glow of several lanterns came to life around the canvas tents within the background. The starlight above sung silently upon the remaining company.

“Well… sigh… I guess it’s goodnight, Fluttershy. Hey, what’s that basket for?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh? These are Rarity’s flowers. But she…uh…left.” Fluttershy answered feebly, holding the basket on her back.

“Oh. Well, good night then,” Twilight Sparkle added, taking Garion with her into the night.

“Okay,” Fluttershy said, now alone by herself.

Garion digressed from his conscionable surroundings and fell captive to a faint trance, overtaken by the wonder of the world he was walking in.

For a moment, he wasn’t able to tell the difference between dream and reality; here he was walking under a foreign night, surrounded by unicorns and other magical wonders. The rivers and streams around him gleamed with blue-white starlight, and fireflies laughed and danced like animated constellations within the sleepy shadows of the trees. Twilight Sparkle may have been taking him through small within the town.

As he watched himself follow the image of the lavender ‘Alicorn’ in front of him, thoughts about his life on Earth prodded at his mind. He didn’t want to think about those thoughts right now, because they were cold, desolate things to think about. Still, a nagging question that he had been trying to ignore ever since his arrival wouldn’t leave his conscience no matter how hard he tried.

Why was he here?

That same morning he had been preparing for an interview that would have pointed him to the college he wanted to go. He had drunk coffee, used internet, and was getting started on living life on his own. How such a grown up, mundane world could disappear within seconds…

He never would have imagined that this ordinary day would be his last few moment on Earth, and everything he thought about life would be changed forever.

He would never see his family again. The way of life as he knew it was over.

The vision of the town he was walking in gave way to the large tree house that was the Golden Oak library. Twilight casually glanced back to see if he was still there.

“Are you going to be all right?” she asked.

“yeah…” he responded subconsciously, too phased out to be capable of much interaction. He did make note of the possibility that he may have been crying again, though.

The problem that he was encountering right now was that even as great as this world seemed, he felt like he had just brought something into it that wasn’t meant to be there. Aaron had gotten very reckless, the same way that Garion had gotten reckless when he bought that stupid firework.

He felt like he had just lost a friend, whom he didn’t even know that much. They had always minded each other’s business but never truly got to know each other. Aaron was undeniably acting like a total jerk, but Garion shouldn’t have left the conversation one-sided. They had both walked into this world together, and despite the kindness they received, he had already shown the ponies that humans don’t get along before the day had finished.

It burned, and he hated it. It was not what he wanted.

If he was going to live in a better land, he wanted to make sure he didn’t ruin it with his incompetence and carelessness. He decided that in the morning he would talk to Aaron…

Twilight Sparkle opened the door to the library and turned the lights on. The idea of electronic lights in a medieval landscape only made more sense to Garion, considering innocence and childlike qualities of this world and of course, it was a cartoon.

Spike stood on a ladder against the wall, putting books onto shelves.

Twilight’s belly growled and seemed unnecessarily loud to Garion, and she said “Well I’m hungry… How about you? You’ve been here since this afternoon and so much has been going on that we didn’t even bother to feed ourselves.”

“Yes, thanks,” he replied. In actuality, he was too anxious to be relaxing or eating, but he could feel his own stomach grumbling and hurting for food. He had fasted since that morning. If only he had brought a bag of Takis along with him or…

Then he remembered…something that he had brought along with him.

Twilight Sparkle raised her hoof towards one of the doors on the side walls and said, “Your bed is in there, so make yourself at home while I go fetch something.” Then she turned to her right and cantered down a stairwell that led beneath the tree.

Garion examined the room he was in. On the ceiling was a large sun painting, which looked down upon the table in the center of the room. The table itself held a wooden horsehead statue and was supposed to also contain Garion’s book that Twilight had set there. The book wasn’t there now.

The human scanned the room intently, desperate to find it. When it didn’t appear visibly available, he just took the fact that it may have been taken.

“Hey, Spike,” he called to the dragon, who was now dusting the shelves, “Do you know what happened to the book that was lying on this table at all?”

“Oh, yes! I put it in the ‘B’ section over there,” Spike replied, pointing a clawed finger to one of the bookshelves in the corner.

Garion walked over, and searched in the third row from the bottom, “Business studies…Biology… yes, here it is!” he pulled it out and put it back in his coat pocket.

Twilight Sparkle came back in with two bags of chips, “Here you go, chow down on this. I need to talk to you about tomorrow.”

She ‘handed’ a bag of 3D/2D potato chips to Garion using her levitation magic. Garion took the bag and feebly lifted a yellow circle, taking his first experience in eating cartoon food. It was actually pretty good and rich with texture for what appeared to have little detail.

“Alright Garion, I think that it’s important that tomorrow we make a visit to Princess Celestia,” announced Twilight Sparkle, setting her own bag on the table, “But the thing is, I don’t know how we’re going to do it. How am I just going to walk right up to her with a random human from an alternate dimension?”

“The same way I just walked to you?” asked Garion.

“Ha ha ha. No, we're not repeating what happened last time,” she responded.

Spike approached with a quill and parchment in his hand, “Maybe I could write a letter to her about it? Then you both can arrange a meeting time. That way, it won’t be so sudden.”

“That’s a great idea Spike. Tell her that I have come across two creatures who have lost their way into our world, and really need help finding their way back,” she related.

Spike quickly wrote the document out as fast as he could.

“Wait a minute. How in the world are you going to get this to the princess before tomorrow?” Garion asked, before Spike released a short spurt of emerald flame onto the scroll, disintegrating it. The ashes automatically flew straight out of the nearest open window, “You destroyed it?” he asked, ultimately confused.

“No. I magically teleported it to Celestia,” Spike explained.

“Oh, so you’re like the town fax machine or something? Or can everybody else here do that too?” Garion commented.

“No, just me. I use it to help Twilight write her reports to the princess. But I can only send things to Princess Celestia…I don’t know why.”

“Okay…well that’s odd, but still cool. Anyway, you can just talk to Celestia anytime you feel like it?” Garion asked, directing his attention to Twilight Sparkle now.

“Of course I can. She was my mentor,” Twilight acknowledged.

“Of course; How silly of me.”

“But I’m assuming that I’ll have to bring Aaron along as well. After what he did today, I don’t know how. He might insult her or something.”

“Please don’t think so negatively of him,” Garion pleaded, “It’s not like someone would just automatically be respectful after an incident like today. Plus, it sounded like he REALLY had a scare about something within those woods. He said I would never believe the things he saw today. I think that I was supposed to take him seriously, or side on his behalf, but I didn’t. Because of that he got singled out, and didn’t feel secure enough to care anymore.”

“Maybe, but it doesn’t give him the right to hit you or talk to my friends like that,” said Twilight.

“I know, but I’m just asking you to give him another chance and a little bit of time to adjust before you judge him completely. Again, our whole world was removed from our lives today!”

Twilight put her bag down, “I wasn’t going to shun him or anything like that. I understand completely how it feels like. But even when I had to step into another universe in a completely different body, I still had to be as nice as I could to the surrounding humans around me.” Twilight took another chip from her bag, “Of course, at that time I had a way to get back, and I was also sort of prepared for the transition anyway.”

She suddenly stood up and looked at him intently, her deep violet eyes glistening before him. They were truly beautiful eyes, and of the course the moment was entirely awkward, but nevertheless, he felt strangely secure by looking at them. “I’m glad that you’re still deciding to stand up for him. Like you said, it’s going to take a little time before either one of you gets used to this land. But that’s why I’m feeling tedious about bringing Aaron straight to the princess at such an inconvenient time.”

“But wouldn’t she understand if he messed? If you understood me so well, and you trust her judgment enough that you are turning to her for help, then what is the issue? Apparently you already know her personally… And she being your mentor, well…she doesn’t seem like a cruel princess,” he expressed.

“She isn’t at all… I guess I’m just over reacting a little bit too much…” Twilight deemed.

Suddenly, Spike belched and a scroll appeared out of the flames, falling to the floor.

“What the?” Garion uttered.

Spike picked up the scroll and unrolled it.

“Well, what did she say, Spike?” Twilight Sparkle requested.

“Well, she seems to want to meet you at the castle as is convenient, with both of you two ‘creatures’ who are here,” he said.

“Ok, so she’s expecting us. Now what do we do?” asked Garion.

“Now, we get some sleep. We’ll catch the train tomorrow.”

Spike took the dishes and carried them to the kitchen.

Twilight ushered Garion to his room. It was a tiny alcove about ten square feet from Garion’s current size. There was also a wooden frame bed with thick, blue comforters, and a nightstand beside it. A circular window was set within the wall that the bed stood against. It was cozy in Garion’s opinion.

“It’s not much, but I hope it’s enough,” She said.

“It’s more than enough. Thank you, Twilight.” He said, setting his book on the nightstand.

“No problem. Maybe tomorrow on the train we can spend more time getting to know each other,” Twilight Offered.

“That would be…nice. I would like that…a lot.” he answered moodily, staring at the bed. Suddenly he wasn’t feeling so secure anymore. He knew why.

Noticing that he appeared distraught, Twilight Sparkle asked, “What wrong?”

Garion continued looking at the bed for a few moments, but then turned his gaze to Twilight Sparkle, “I don’t know…I guess I’m just…afraid, is all.”

“Afraid of what?”

“Afraid of going to sleep… and possibly waking up in my world,” he answered solemnly.

Twilight was perplexed by this odd answer, “Now what on Earth makes you think that’s going to happen?”

“Well, I don’t know. I can believe that I’m not dreaming all I want, but nothing has been confirmed. Nothing has explained why I got here in the first place. I could just as easily wind up in my world now as I did when I entered.”

“The truth is, I don’t want to go. I want to stay, for as long as I can. I’ve never had close friends who ever cared like you did today… And I just met you. I don’t want to disappear without any warnings,” he spoke quietly.

Garion didn’t remember what led to the next moment, but it involved a hug from Twilight.

When she pulled away she said, “That’s all I can give you right now.” She understood him. He wanted to live here and didn’t want to go back. “Have hope. I’m not going anywhere,” and that was all she said before she left the room.

Garion found himself very tired, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to stay awake forever. There wasn’t anything left to do, so he simply got under the blankets, and flipped off the switch on the side table lamp. He felt to make sure that his book was still where he left it. Then, he felt his phone in his pocket, and he took that out too so that he didn’t roll on it in the middle of his sleep.

That was when he remembered that it was still on and charging. He unlocked it and saw the wallpaper that showed a picture of a glorious sunset above a football stadium, the one he took during his senior year in high school marching band. It was one of the most beautiful works in nature that he had ever seen. It had happened so recently too.

Garion went to his contacts. Silently, he stared at the names for a while undecidedly. Eventually he relented, and he finally selected one.

It buzzed softly several times before a female voice sounded on the other end, “Hi. Sorry I didn’t get your call. Please leave your message, and your number and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can. Thanks.”

A half second followed.

“At the tone, please record your message. When you are finished recording hang up or press one for more options.”

A beep proceeded afterwards.

Garion sighed and responded, “Hi mom... I’m just calling to let you know… you won’t be seeing me for a while… I don’t know how long. But…‘sigh’…if it happens that you never see me again, just know that…I’m happy now. Thank you so much for being such a great mom, I can’t tell you that enough. I also can’t tell you where I am right now, because you would never believe me. Just leave it at that.

“But don’t worry about me. I’m fine…I’m happy, truly happy. Just please give me a call back to let me know you got this message. Please. I love you.”

When he finished, he locked his phone, and set it on top of the book.

He then laid back onto his pillows, closed his eyes, and let the haunting cast of night take him away.

Ep1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension PART 5: The Destined...

Episode 1: The Soul Spectrum Dimension Part 5: The destined

The walls were blotted with blue shades of midnight blue. The ceiling was a haunting void of black whispers calling to rip away Aaron’s mind, leaving only the image of a nightmare horse standing on its four, rotting legs. The living terror stared into Aaron as if it were trying to determine how to assault his humanity. Its black slits glowed with green, poisonous light, melting into his subconscious, and a deceptive sound slithered out between her lips, “What reason are you here for, unfortunate little morsel?”

Aaron was helpless. Why did he come here? Why did this happen to him? Why him?

There was no denying that he was in trouble of losing his life. This demon stared right into him and there was little of anything he could do stop it. But what was there to do? He was broken and strained out and paralyzed on a bed made of large boulders and thorny shrubs, helpless to make a move. He couldn’t even think. The world had grown darker the more he ventured into the void…the forest…

Why couldn’t he think? Where was his control? What was it that made him want to do something as drastic as this…putting himself directly into the thralls of danger? Why did he keep going? The spiders should have been enough to turn him around. But still he kept going, even when the dangers got worse he kept going, into the dark, and the only ones who had tried to save him…he pushed away.

Nothing would help him now. He had run where he was the weakest, because the feeling felt great and exhilarating. However, he had pushed himself too far this time…

Aaron couldn’t think. Time was all that could tell him that he was still breathing. There was nothing else left. Nothing…except for the stone that fell into his hand.

It was small and unremarkable. But it was hope, and that was enough.

Aaron gripped it as hard as he could to try to lift it, but he didn’t have the leverage. His right arm was stuck beneath an old root, and all he had to use to get this object out was his left hand, which had been scraped up amidst the falling. He pulled and he tugged, desperately trying to pry it out from where it was entrenched. The voices and shadows in his head screamed louder at his feeble attempts. Slowly and painfully…the rock shifted from the crag.

For a moment, Aaron felt a glimpse of hope radiate from within him. He was going to make it!

The rock moved from its spot and Aaron prepared to lift it up and launch it at the foreboding beast of darkness in front of him.

But it didn’t remain in his grasp. Despite his attempts to keep it with him at his advantage, the stone slipped from his power… tumbling down the pile of debris…the echoing sound fading into a depth that Aaron wouldn’t be able to discern.

His last hope, gone.

The threat crept up closer to where he was stranded. Like a death knell ringing its toll, the creature whispered soothingly, “It doesn’t matter. You are lost now and you have NO MORE CHANCES!”

Her eyes pierced into Aaron’s mind, blinding every framework of his consciousness with her staggering, lifeless and plaguing stare. He could hear himself screaming, “God! Please! Give me another chance! Another chance!-”

The light radiated through a warm material of cotton and velvet. The sunlight could be seen from beneath the white silk bed sheets where Aaron was sleeping.

“I’m sorry…one more chance…” he mumbled to himself. That was when he noticed that he was somewhere else. The pillows felt nice beneath his head, kind of like two giant marshmallows. He always wanted marshmallows like that. That way he could eat them if he ever got hungry in the night. Speaking of marshmallows, the next time he decided to go camping, he should remind himself to bring extra moist toilettes...

Aaron realized that he was drifting somewhere else and felt that for some reason, he was forgetting something important.

He was awake.

He had been saying something to himself. It sounded like a plead for help, but he couldn’t remember. All he retained in his mind was a pair of monstrous eyes that seemed to stare endlessly into him. He felt like there was more to it than that…but he just couldn’t remember.

Aaron lazily ruffled through his sheets and flipped his pillows to a more comfortable position.

Three seconds later he flipped over to his left side and gasped.

“I’m awake!” He selected a pillow and hugged it to himself lovingly, “I’m alive! I’m awake! It was all just a dream.” he had never felt so glad to be in his lame bedroom and old bed sheets before, “After all that terror! There is no such thing as evil rainbow talking ponies. I still have the apartment. And I had never run through that awful forest…”

Suddenly, Aaron felt slightly distraught that the ponies didn’t exist, which also surprised him. Maybe if he had acted differently, he could have come to enjoy the world better. What could he have done differently?

Still, it’s kind of strange to dream about a world that was just a dream…

Three minutes later, Aaron found himself staring at the ceiling of the carousel boutique.

There was an awning above his bed and the room was circular. Arches shaped the windows that dotted the exteriors. The walls were purple and lined with decorative Victorian-style accents. Sunlight flooded into the room through the windows, displaying the dancing shadows of the trees blowing in the wind behind the curtains.

That unicorn!

She, who took him under his wing even after he threw a punch at Garion last night. She had almost scared the daylights out of him when she picked him up with her magic, and calling him out on his attitude. Nobody else would take him.

“This… just isn’t the place for me” he thought out loud, “I need to get out of here, but how do I leave this house without being caught by Rarity?”

Aaron got out of the bed, and stepped onto the circular rug on the blue floor. After he put his shoes on, he approached an open window that led to an outside veranda, which wrapped around the second floor.

The area outside was pleasantly sunny. Grassy fields, trees, and flowers were all that he could see from that point, besides an occasional canvas tent.

Aaron looked below him. He knew that he was in the guestroom on the upper floor, but now he needed a way to escape without being seen. A large bush and tree protruded from the ground beyond the sloping roof beneath him.

Hopefully, if Garion was right about cartoons, then this wouldn’t be enough to kill him because the situation would have to force itself in a positive or humorous direction. But then again, Garion was the idiot who put them both in astronomical debt. Now he had to think about a decision.

First, why was he escaping again? It wasn’t that these ponies were evil. He knew they weren’t evil. But still, they had put their own town in a place so close to this crazy, dangerous forest. The forest proved to Aaron what this world could do with danger at such a close range; dangers that no human had ever had the need to defend themselves against.

The ponies had also shown him from their first act of helplessness during their arrival, that they had no clue on how to take care of themselves.

It was also a whole new world that they knew nothing about, and there could be more than just happy, sugary ponies out there. It wasn’t that he wanted to leave this universe, as he slowly began to realize. He just wanted to be somewhere else than this particular area, and he especially didn’t want to be captive under people that he didn’t know.

But the unicorn would never let him run away, would she? That was why he needed to get out without being seen by her. If he stayed, she might make him dress differently, along with telling him how to live. He remembered her talking all about hats, dresses, and suits last night, before she showed him the bed. So she must be some fashion obsessed, pony that he didn’t want to be with.

He put a leg over the railing and prepared to make the drop, before the hairs on the back of his neck tingled and told him to stop, “What am I doing?!” he leaned back into the room. ‘You’re going to kill yourself!’ He thought, ‘You’re on the second floor, you idiot!’ He gazed down at the bush and thought deeply.

Is it worth it? He again considered the fact that he may had been dreaming. And this fall would usually be the kind of thing that would wake him up from one. That would be a bummer.

But CLEARLY, this wasn’t a dream, because he could tell. You can always tell. Only in stupid movies, fan fictions, and T.V. shows do people actually ask themselves if they are dreaming.

“Well this isn’t going to work…” he said, pulling himself back into the room, “taking the stairs is much safer anyway.”

He walked to the wooden door to the bedroom and prepared to turn the door knob (it stuck out in his mind that a door knob could have only ever been useful to someone like him in this world, but it didn’t matter). Aaron heard the sound of footsteps, or hoofsteps, ascending the staircase outside towards him.

Aaron took advantage of the keyhole and peeked through. The figure of Rarity wearing a morning bathrobe slowly came into the view of the hallway. And on her back looked like a folded black-silk tuxedo that appeared abnormally large.

‘Abort! Abort! Abort!’ He panicked, assuming that it was going to be for him.

He ran straight to the window. As quick as he could manage, he hung his legs over the outside and carefully positioned himself so that he would be able to land on the bush safely. He took a gulp and let go.

The balcony disappeared and he tumbled like a boss, down the sloping roof the carousel boutique. Aaron braced himself as he flipped over the rim of the gutter and fell… on his face… missing the bush completely.

“Owwww….” Aaron groaned, splayed out on the turf. A bird chirped off in the distance.

He got up slowly. The majority of the damage resulted in a couple bruises on his arms and elbows.

Aaron scanned the surroundings, looking for his next direction. He honestly didn’t think through this far. Wiping his glasses, he saw a couple of ponies walking around, but none of them took much care or notice of him.

“Never again,” he said, before heard noises from above.

Assuming it was Rarity, Aaron stood up and hid behind the tree that stood next to the bush.

He didn’t hear anything, but he didn’t want to move and be caught. Very slightly, he peeked over and looked up at the balcony above. There didn’t appear to be any sign of her, so he took his chance to run.

He thought that maybe he should check one of the tents a few feet away from him to see if he could find anyone who would give him directions to the library. Entering the flap entrance of the closest one, a pink tent with a diamond pattern on the canvas, all he could find was a couple chairs, and a tiny little table with a bowl of potato chips.

Seeing as how he hadn’t eaten anything since the cupcake that Pinkie Pie gave him, he ate a few of the chips and stuffed a few more handfuls into the pockets of his hoodie to save for later.

Then he moved onto the next tent. All that was in it was a small, fold-up table with a dungeons and dragons game set up. The camp seemed desolate of people for whatever reason today. He checked the very last tent and found a rack of foam swords and cardboard shields.

After this, he ran over a bridge and into a park area. There were a few ponies around here, and he approached a blue pony with a white and blue striped mane who wore a butt-tattoo that resembled an hourglass. She was walking alongside a yellow stallion pony with a brown, styled mane who carried three horseshoes on his flank.

“Uh, hi,” Aaron asked.

They both looked at him with overly open expressions, making Aaron feel slightly awkward, “Okay, um… Can you tell me where I can find the Golden Oak library?”

“Why, sure!” the blue one responded, “Just follow the path and take a left at the statue with the happy pony. After that, just follow the road into town square and you’ll see a sign with directions.”

“Ok, thanks,” he said. He ran off, following the dirt path that the pony indicated. Very quickly, he came across not one statue, but two statues. One was a dancing pony on a ball in the center of a ceramic pool of water, and the other was a unicorn who rode a bike, doing a wheelie.

“Turn left at the happy pony,” Aaron repeated to himself. “Which one is the happy pony?”

Both of the statues stood on separate paths that went in different directions. Neither one of them appeared to be going into town. “They both look happy!” Aaron complained, “So how the heck am I supposed to know where to go?” He continued staring aimlessly at the figures, until a familiar pink pony came dancing down the street next to the unicorn statue.

“Hi!” Pinkie Pie greeted happily.

“Hello, again,” Aaron replied.

“What are you doing here?” asked Pinkie Pie.

“I’m trying to find the freaking library, and the gloriously helpful pony back there told me to turn left at the HAPPY statue. But there are in fact TWO statues here, not ONE. Which one of them is the happy one?”

“They both look happy to me,” she answered justly.

“I see that! So which one of them do I turn left at?! I mean, this one’s all like, ‘Oh, I’m a happy statue. Look at me dancing on my ball. I’m so happy that I get to dance on a ball like this, I’m a happy pony.’ Or, ‘I’m a happy pony riding my bike. I can’t tell you where I’m going, I’m just a statue,’” babled Aaron.

“Or maybe, one of them is thinking, ‘I would sure love to trade places with the other statue. It’s hard standing in this position all day,’” said Pinkie Pie. “It must be a hard life for a statue.”

“Yeah, sure. But which one do I take left at?”

“I don’t know.”

“But you live here. Don’t you know where the library is?”

“Of course I do. Twilight’s my best friend. Just follow me,” she said happily, and began to hop down the left path by the left statue.

‘Good Golly,’ Aaron thought.

But before they got far, Rarity, the unicorn, ran up from behind, “Aaron! Where on Earth have you been?!”

Aaron clenched his teeth, but tried to relate, “Well, I-”

“There’s no time for that now! Twilight Sparkle is expecting us all at the train station now!”

“A train ride!” asked Pinkie Pie.

‘Well, it looks like I’m getting out of this town after all,’ Aaron thought to himself.

“Yes, and we must hurry up immediately,” pushed Rarity, moving quickly down the road.

“Cool, and I won’t have to put on that suit,” Aaron muttered.

“Whatever do you mean? The only suit I have is a tuxedo for Thunderlane, who had ripped a gaping hole through it. Why would I make you try on something like that?” she said.

“Nothing. Let’s just hurry on and get to the train station.”

----

Garion was happy. Very happy. But he still felt nervous being around so many ponies in one area. Some shunned him with expressions that he never imagined seeing. Sometimes, if he simply bumped into them, they would give him a look as if they wanted to fight him.

Anyway, it also made him happy to see Aaron arrive in a less angry mood than he was yesterday. Rarity and Pinkie Pie were both with him, and both groups met up inside the station building.

Inside was a wide room with a wooden-framed, slanted ceiling. There was a counter setup against the wall on one side of the room, where several ponies grouped together in lines to get their tickets. There were also waiting chairs and tables set around as well.

Garion approached Aaron by a chair and said, “I just wanted to let you know, I’m sorry for both ignoring you yesterday and for losing our way back home.”

“Hey, don’t apologize for it. I was the one acting like a jerk. Did I hurt you really bad?” Aaron responded.

“No. I guess damage hardly throws a punch in this world,” he responded, sitting down.

“Yeah, I noticed that myself. I fell off a roof this morning,” uttered Aaron, proudly sitting down on a sofa.

“Oh. That’s…interesting.”

Meanwhile, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Spike stood together a little ways off near the waiting line.

“Where on Earth are the other three?” asked Twilight Sparkle.

“We’re right over here,” said Apple jack, who came in through the side door, along with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. “Sorry. Are we not too late?”

“Well, according to the timeslots on the wall, the Canterlot Train arrives in ten minutes,” stated Twilight Sparkle.

“Shoo! We just made it then.”

When it was their turn in line, Twilight Sparkle approached the counter, “Ok, we’re in a group together. So, how many of us are going? We’ve got Rainbow Dash, Spike, and me, that’s three… Uh, Fluttershy, Rarity, Applejack, and the two humans. That’s eight total.”

The pony behind the counter spoke aloud, “I’ll need your signatures please,” and he pulled out 8 sheets of paper, along with a quill and inkwell.

They each held the quill in their respective ways to write it out; the two unicorns used their magic to levitate the quill, the other ponies held it in their mouths, and Spike simply wrote it with his hand, but the two humans were still sitting at the table.

Rainbow Dash peeked her head out of the line and called, “Hey, guys! Are you gonna get your tickets now or what?”

The two humans looked at each other and quickly got up.

“We need you to write your names on these ticket billings, sugar cube,” said Apple Jack.

“What in the world did you just call me?” asked Aaron.

Garion picked up the quill and felt its wetness, “Were these just in your mouths?”

“Just hurry up and write your names already, we only got a few minutes before the train arrives,” said Applejack.

“Hey, look. It’s a quill. You have fully functioning quills in this world,” joked Aaron, who wrote his name down after Garion.

After they had gotten their tickets, they moved outside and stood on the platform waiting for their train. It was less crowded than it was before, but there were still a quite a few ponies standing around. Rarity and her friends stood centered in a group and Garion and Aaron stood separately.

All was quiet.

“Well, I’m happy,” said Garion peacefully, looking out at the landscape beyond.

“Well why on Earth are you happy?” asked Aaron with obvious unenthusiasm.

“Because I woke up this morning.”

“Yeah?”

“Yes, I woke up this morning and I was alive. I’m alive, and I’m embracing it. I’ve got the sun smiling down on me, and nice friendly people all around. I’ve made friends.”

“That’s a first.”

“I know, right? And now I’m going to go see the world.”

“Yep, so am I. Soon I’ll be gone away from these crazy creatures, and I can find an area with people that I can actually relate to, like gryphons, or Spanish conquistadors.”

Garion looked to Aaron, confused and mumbled, “The heck?”

“And I fell off the roof this morning,” Aaron continued.

“Oh yeah. What was that all about?”

“Well, I saw Rarity coming up the stairs with a tuxedo. I didn’t want to try it on, so I jumped out the window.”

“You’re an idiot,” laughed Garion.

“I know, but what doesn’t kill me only makes me stronger.”

The train began chugging in at about that time. It was a small, cheesy locomotive train with more hearts smothered on it than Aaron thought was possible. Strangely, he didn’t feel like he was able go to a manlier place now. He was also confused as to why the ponies were coming with them.

They ascended to their area, which was basically an entire car, but it was a small, and it fit for their larger group. It contained five rows of seats, and there was an aisle down the middle. Each seat was doubly facing, so that a group could face each other if they wanted.

When the door closed and the train finally began moving, a speaker on the ceiling resonated throughout the room, “Welcome, passengers. Please sit down until the train to Canterlot has come to full speed. Enjoy your ride.”

Aaron looked at the map on the wall, “Wait, a minute. Canterlot? That’s the capitol. I don’t want to go to the capitol.”

“We’re going to see Princess Celestia, Aaron,” said Twilight Sparkle.

“The princess!? I don’t want to see no princess!” and he stood up.

Twilight Sparkle looked at Garion, who just opened his book and pretended he was reading it.

“I thought you were all taking me somewhere else! You know, to leave me somewhere where I won’t bother you anymore!” Aaron ranted.

Garion looked up and asked, “Where on Earth do you come up with things like that?”

“We would never leave you behind like that,” stated AppleJack.

“Oh come on. I was acting like a complete monster yesterday and drove you bonkers.”

“Yeah, so?” retorted Rainbow Dash.

“And you all made up excuses like, ‘having to go check up on the juicing that I missed’ so you wouldn’t have to deal with me.”

“Or, I could have said that because I actually had to go check up on the juicing,” said Applejack with some kind of laid-back, disgruntled attitude.

“As if.”

“Sit down, Aaron,” said Garion.

“No!” he said as he started towards the exterior door.

Garion got up and said, “Don’t do it. You can survive falling off a roof here, maybe, but jumping off a train may not work the same way.”

Aaron clutched the door handle, “Oh, yeah? Do you want to test that? Isn’t it just going to resolve itself positively like you claimed it would?”

“That’s because people here use their BRAINS and don’t throw themselves away just to avoid having to do some sissy task, like wearing a suit.”

Suddenly the train lurched into a fast speed and the two of them fell back onto the floor with a loud thump.

“See,” said Garion, rolling a side, “I told you to sit down...”

“I know. I deserved that,” Aaron admitted, “But you’re not the boss of me.”

Fluttershy crept up onto floor next to Garion, and asked, “Are you alright?”

She had the biggest eyelashes he had ever seen, “Yeah. Thanks.”

“You should really stay sitting in your seat when the train begins moving, you know,” she said with by far the softest voice out of anybody he heard. Garion had barely met Fluttershy, but what he knew about her so far was that, supposedly, she could take over planet Earth, because that was how dangerously adorable she was. No human could resist it, or at least that was his opinion.

‘I better be careful around her’ He joked inside his mind.

He sat back down next to Twilight and Fluttershy sat on the other side of him, which now made him feel awkward. Aaron sat alone on his own accord.  

When the train had finally reached its maximum speed, Applejack asked, “Why couldn’t we have taken the balloon? That way it wouldn’t have been as public and crowded for you guys.”

Aaron asked, “We have a balloon?”

“Yup. We use it a lot in certain situations,” said the farm pony, who came by to sit next to Aaron, “like when I needed something to hold that silo frame up, so we could put in the footings and the side panels. Occasionally, we use it to simply take us to places that we can’t otherwise reach.”

Pinky Pie popped up from behind Aaron’s seat and said, “Sometimes I use it to hold CRAZY parties that involve being suspended in the air,”

“Okay…” said Aaron, trying a little too hard to ignore them and looked out the window. Mountains and foothills held the foreground, the forests giving way to rocks and crags.

Twilight Sparkle looked at Garion, who was once again reading his book intently. She didn’t catch the title of it, and the words were too small for where she was right now so she couldn’t read along, but it was good to know at least that this human was very literal. Twilight always liked meeting people who took great fascination in books.

“What’s it called?” she asked.

He didn’t answer or didn’t appear to hear. She nudged him with her hoof, and he snapped out of a daze.

“What are you reading?” she asked.

Garion, still recovering from his daydream just closed the book and put it back in his pocket, “Oh, it’s… just something from home.”

Twilight was slightly confused but only persisted with, “Is it good?”

“Oh, yes. It’s very good. It’s very… important to me,” was all he said, but he then he asked, “How are you doing?”

“Fantastic. Do you think you are going to be fine… you know, being stuck here for the rest of your life, if… that’s how it turns out?”

“I don’t know. Hopefully I will never have to face the mile long debt that I left behind on Earth.”

Twilight did a double take, “What exactly did you do that was so terrible?”

“He sold his soul for corn flakes!” shouted Aaron, being a troll.

“Shut up, Aaron! Anyway, it was a mistake. I bought a firework that I thought was for three hundred dollars, but it was actually three hundred and ten thousand dollars.”

“Three hundred and ten thousand dollars!? Whoa!” exclaimed Pinky Pie, “What are dollars?”

“I think those are what they use as bits,” guessed Rarity.

“Yeah,” continued Garion, “but… I don’t have three hundred and ten thousand, so now I don’t have any money to pay for our home. I don’t know much about money and banks, but my account probably doesn’t exist anymore. The government is stupid. I mean, what kind of bill for one single stupid firework would realistically be worth so much?”

“You are the one who bought it,” said Aaron, eating some of the potato chips that he took from the canvas tents.

“Well, did it at least go off?” asked Pinky Pie.

“Yes. But it didn’t do anything but ‘poof’,” Garion answered.

“Well, at least it poofed.”

“Yeah, at least it poofed.”

The trip lasted for only a little while and they began to arrive at the top of the mountain where the tracks passed through a gate, which led them into Canterlot. Aaron noticed two ponies that appeared to be wearing armor and wielded spears, “Oh… my… gosh,” he said.

The train passed into a tunnel in one of the walls of the city and Aaron could see more of these armored ponies standing on the top of it.

Aaron was completely dumbfounded. “They got Spartans with flipping Spears here!”

When the train had finally reached its station, the group descended off out of their car. Garion was amazed at the grand architecture, but also felt confined, the same way that he felt when he visited Washington D.C. with his family; the place where the government thrived. Here, instead of a system of three branches, they used a monarch, which worried Garion, seeing as how only the strongest and smartest empires ever succeeded with one. And he was about to meet this monarch, and he didn’t feel civilized enough to greet such an important person.

Aaron was flipping out… again. He ran up to Garion and rasped, “We’re being contained! They got legit guards everywhere!”

“It’s the capitol! What do you expect?” Garion asked.

“What do I expect? They’re happy-go-lucky sugar coated unicorns!”

“And pegasus’s-”

“Pegasi” corrected Pinkie Pie.

“-And pegasi, plus the regular earth-ponies… And they’re not stupid!”

“Oh give me a break. They build their town around a psychotically dangerous forest that tried to kill me yesterday!”

“They look fine to me.”

“That’s because you’re so naïve. See, look at this pony for example,” said Aaron, approaching a green pegasus who stood happily on the side of the street, “You think this guy is just a normal happy pony when in reality-”

The pony let out a noise that sounded like the honk of a horn from a classic model-T car. Then the Pegasus quickly turned around and flew away.

Aaron swung around towards Garion and shouted, “DID YOU SEE THAT! TELL ME DID YOU SEE THAT?” he jumped up and down and walked up to Garion and pointed a finger at his face, “CHECK-MATE! I cannot believe the awesomeness of how right I was right there! HA! See? He may have looked like a pony but in reality, he was… Actually, I don’t exactly know what that was, but I was still right!”

Garion sighed and looked away. This was going to be a long day.

Up and down the streets, ponies walked in a rather snobbish way in Garion’s opinion. They executed themselves with such high standard clothing, and raised their noses in the air, which contrasted to the ponies of ponyville. Some contended to sit in food courts, and others went in and out of shops.

The architecture and environment was, though cartoony and cheesy in some ways, still pleasing and somewhat enchanting. The spires of the castle and high standing towers reminded him of something from a childhood fairytale.

Garion noted a particular statue in the middle of a parkway that resembled a system of planets revolving around the sun.

They were approaching the castle courtyard entrance and it seemed that it was everybody else’s idea to visit the castle as well, but he didn’t know why. Garion suddenly felt something buzzing in his groin.

“Ahh!” he gasped, but then he realized it was the phone vibrating in his pocket… the phone!

He took it out and tried to see the caller id, but it was hard to view the screen because of the bright light from the sun, and the number of different ponies pushing against him. Apparently, his existence or appearance didn’t wave any questions for the citizens around him, but he didn’t care.

Noises of bazaars and gossiping invaded his eardrums. He hastily answered the phone with a “Hello?” but the phone didn’t respond other than with, “To hear your recent messages, say ‘one’”

“One” he said.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t quite understand you,”

“One!” he shouted more harshly.

“First unheard recorded message,” said the automatic speaker.

“Garion?” came a voice, “It’s me, your Mom.”

Garion sighed “Oh, Thank goodness you were able to call me-”

“Garion!” shouted Twilight from ahead of him. Garion walked faster to keep up.

“I tried to call you but you wouldn’t pick up. Your message scared me. What do you mean you won’t be able to see me anymore? Is everything all right?”

Garion couldn’t respond because it was just a message, and he had to struggle to hear better.

“Please call me back when you can. I would really like to talk to you face to face about this-”

“Garion, what are you doing?” asked Rarity, approaching from the side. Garion lifted his index finger and whispered carefully, “In a moment, please.”

“-But if you can’t, at least call me back to tell me if you’re in any trouble,” his mother’s voice responded.

“What?” The crowd was bustling louder and there were ponies talking and arguing all around him. He almost tripped.

“Garion!” shouted Applejack from somewhere.

“Please! In a moment!” he hollered, instinctively walking faster. He couldn’t see where he was going, but he just moved forward nevertheless.

“If you’re going through something deep or whatever, and you just need to be alone for a while, that’s perfectly fine then,” continued his mother.

“What?” asked Garion to himself.

“Just remember, I’m always here for you, no matter what happens. You can always talk to me. But if you’re serious and you have to stay away, then-”

“Garion, slow down!” Someone called from behind him.

“Please! I’m talking to my MOM! In a moment!” he shouted out somewhere he didn’t see. There were noises all around him.

“-I just need to know if you’re not in any danger,” his mom asked.

“Yes! I’m fine!” he answered out loud, before some pony bumped him from the side, “Mom? Mom? Are you still there?” He realized that he had accidentally hung up the phone and he tried desperately to call back. He fondled with the controls as best as he could and he didn’t bother paying attention to where he was going, “Come on. Come on. Please, work.” The phone rang and rang, but Garion could barely hear it to see if it ever picked up.

“Garion, stop!” alerted Twilight Sparkle.

“Oh come on! Can you please just give me five minutes before you yell at me, I’ll be right- OOMPH!” and he ran into something soft.

The phone dropped to the ground, “Agh! Dang it!” He bent down to pick it up and saw that it had already turned off; he also realized that everything had gone suddenly quiet. “Gosh, it turned off.”

He stared at the face of someone who stood much taller than him.

It scared him nearly half to death.  He jumped back into the group of ponies standing behind him.

She was an alicorn, but certainly no ordinary alicorn. She was white, and her legs stood solid on the ground like four white pillars. She carried an odd expression that Garion couldn’t read, probably due to the heat of his embarrassment. When they said they had a princess, they really meant it.

“Oh my gosh…” These were the words that escaped his mouth at this time.

He couldn’t find anything intelligent to say at that time so he didn’t say anything at all. To his relief, her voice sounded more amused than anything else.

“Yes, quite. Be careful to look where you’re going so you don’t hurt yourself. Are you all right?” she said.

“Y-ye-yes,” he said. He looked around him. They had left the streets of Canterlot and were now standing in the courtyard of the Castle, “How did I get here?”

“You kept walking so fast and you ran right into there before we could stop you,” said Twilight Sparkle, who approached Garion and pulled him aside. In comparison to the other ponies, Celestia’s figure was strikingly different, and it was not at all what Garion had expected. He bowed slightly, and said, “I’m so, so, so so sorry, miss.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s completely understandable. It looked like you were having a lot of trouble in the market as you were coming in anyway. I was so excited to meet you, that when I heard that you had arrived here in Canterlot, I decided to come straight here to the castle gates to escort you in myself.”

“Oh…well thank you,” Garion said, returning the phone to his pocket, a little surprised at the flexibility this princess suddenly posed. Still, the guards he remained posted in lines up and down the sidewalks.

“Who are you?” blurted out Aaron stepping forth.

“My name is Celestia. And what, may I ask, is yours?” she answered.

“Your mama!”

“My mama?” she asked, obviously confused in some way.

“Aaron, what in the name of Aslan are you doing?” gritted Garion under his breath.

Aaron knew exactly what he was doing. He thought about the fight from last night. How terrible he was. He was afraid he had put on a violent impression on them and now they were going to contain him. Why else would they bring him all this way? Despite what he was told on the train, no one could ever be that nice, especially to him. He just knew that they were going to tell the princess something about his attitude.

This here was a princess; a legit princess. She was going to be the one who ruled over him every day and night. But why was Garion here? Why were they all here? Why was Pinkie Pie here?  Did they all seriously know each other? But one thing was for certain, he was here for a reason and it involved being restrained in some way.

“Lady, I have to get out of here,” he said.

Celestia answered, “I understand that you are stuck, but there isn’t anything I can do at the current time.”

“Oh, I know. I’m saying I need to get out of this place. I need a better atmosphere, one that suits better for a human. Or at least a man!”

“What are you implying?”

“That I should probably be leaving. Ahem, NOW.”

“But why? You just arrived here,” she inquired.

“Yeah, well. I guess I’m…um… Ok, let me try to explain this in a way that doesn’t seem weird,” he stated, taking another step forward, rather bravely, considering how intimidating this pony actually came out to be, “You see. This world, or at least this part of it, isn’t good for the type of guy I am. In my world, if you’re a dude, you like stuff like… giant robots fighting monsters or… sports, or something…” he paused for an awkward moment, “not girly horses with hearts and rainbows all over the place,” he then made a feeble attempt to smile.

Celestia raised an eyebrow.

Garion stood silent with the rest of the ponies when Celestia lifted her head in a dignified manner and looked at him and asked, “Do you have a problem with horses with hearts and rainbows all over the place?”

Garion stood red and silent and muttered, “…Not really, I guess?”

Celestia returned her gaze to Aaron and said justly, “See? This world seems fine for him.”

Aaron spun around and yelled, “GOSHDANGIT, Garion! Why are you so dumb!? Stand up for your gender for once in a while!? BE A MAN!”

“Why on Earth are you acting so absurd?” Celestia demanded.

At this moment Aaron had nothing to say. He looked at her neck and set his gaze somewhere in the depths of his mind for a few seconds. Celestia appeared somewhat annoyed but now it seemed apparent that he wasn’t going to be able to ask himself out of here. So he had to use a different approach. He stuck his hands in his pockets, and felt that he still had chips inside that he took from the canvas tents.

“Potato chip!” he blurted out suddenly, taking fistfuls of chips from his pockets and throwing them at her face. Thereupon he made his break for it.

He dashed as quick as he could towards the gate, when suddenly an armed guard attempted to block his path. The spear itself was only being held with the cuff of his hoof.

Aaron easily disarmed the guard. Now he had a weapon.

“Back! Back! Foul Beasts! I’m warning you! I’m a tough guy!” he said, spinning around like a maniac. A guard with a white coat and a couple of grey guards jumped on top of him, pinning him to the ground. He struggled as hard as he could to get out, but these ponies were bigger than him, which angered him even more. How were these stupid creatures beating him so easily!?

He noticed one of their heads hovering near him that didn’t have a helmet, so he took the opportunity to use his free arm to throw a punch at him, but his fist only pushed into softness. He attempted again and again, but it was no use. It was like punching into a pillow. They eventually had him standing and restrained, somehow.

Princess Celestia slowly approached, carrying the look of utmost disappointment. Not embarrassment, not anger, but authority and power. For a moment, Aaron thought the sky had grown slightly darker but then he saw how much he had been panting and how desperately he needed water.

He shook with apprehensiveness when she said, “I think you should go somewhere where you won’t be bothered by anyone. Guards, please take him to his chamber.”

“No, please….No,” Aaron rasped.

“Come on, kid,” said the soldier behind him, pushing him forward.

Aaron still tried to resist, even as the guards took him out of the courtyard “Garion, you have to listen to me. These ponies are not what they all seem. Yesterday, I saw something or someone. It was evil, and I barely escaped with my life…”

But Garion was too conflicted to pay attention. There were so many worries racing through his mind right now, he couldn’t even pay attention to the action that had happened. This day had started out so well. Why did Aaron have to do that?

Garion watched the other human, who was no longer fighting back. Aaron was being led through the large double doors that would lead into the depths of the castle. But before they carried him all the way through, Garion suddenly remembered what he thought about from last night, about how he cast Aaron aside without at least seeing his side of it. What justice was that?

“Wait!” he hollered, running after them, “What creature did you see?”

“It had holes in its hooves and eyes that glowed,” Aaron hollered before he disappeared behind the doors.

“What?” gasped Princess Celestia. She stared inward for a few seconds before she came to herself. She asked Twilight Sparkle, “Twilight, would you mind overseeing that these two creatures are well taken care of, and given a much needed place to rest, as part of your royal duty?”

“Certainly,” answered Twilight.

“Wait a minute, what?” asked Garion, who barely caught that. His head was beginning to hurt.

“Did she not tell you?” asked the Princess.

“What is going on! Why are you suddenly a princess?” said Garion, rubbing his headache with one hand, “You never told me-”

“Well, that’s because I’m not really... I never wanted to be.  I just carry the title. But that’s why I have these wings now. Because I am a princess… But I hardly ever use them, or my title… It’s just not my style,” Twilight justified glumly.

“Is there anything else you didn’t tell me?” the human asked, thinking about what Aaron said before.

“I don’t think so,” she answered, feeling down.

It was then that the human realized that the only people in the courtyard now were Twilight Sparkle, Princess Celestia, and himself. Wherever her friends were, he didn’t know.

There was a short moment of silence, before the human related, “It’s not your fault. I’m sorry for being such a burden to you.” Garion then turned his attention to Celestia, who now appeared slightly conflicted. The sun was also beginning to set. “Please don’t put Aaron in a chamber or dungeon, please. He was just being a moron. He doesn’t usually act like that,” he said.

“I’m sure he had his reasons for what he did, but you shouldn’t worry about him. I’m only putting him in a place where he can be looked after in case he has any more trouble. My servants will take good care of him, I promise. As for you,” she said, turning to face the castle, “You should probably see where your room is. It’s been a long day.”

“Actually, all I really did was ride a train,” said Garion. “But I have still have so many questions that I need answered right now. Aaron said something about running into a holed-up pony who had tried to hurt him.”

“I know… I know,” Celestia spoke calmly, “Which is why I need to leave now. I have to be urgent on this.” She flared back her wings, creating a wide horizon of white feathers on both sides of her, sequentially followed by her throwing herself into the sky. Garion watched as the Alicorn glided to a balcony on one of the uppermost towers.

Then it was just him and Twilight…

----

Celestia stepped into her lounge. It was a circular room that contained a fireplace on one part of the wall, and a tapestry that depicted a starry night in another area. A purple mattress with a large, golden, cylindrical pillow sat in the center of the floor.

Celestia sighed and tried to contain herself, “Not again, you won’t. Not this time.”

She nervously approached a section of her fireplace where a golden knob was melded into the stone mantle. She pushed it, and it moved forward, like a stick-shift. The flame in the firebox died, revealing a hole barely within her reach. With her horn, Celestia pushed a button from inside the hole. A panel shifted from one of her walls, to reveal a speaker phone.

This she spoke into, saying “Seven, point thirty nine thousand, sixty five, tetra-b, forty-two, Eden.”  

A Crystal Globe appeared on the floor.

She took this with her to the other balcony, where the sunset could be seen blazing with shades of orange, red, and pink.

A deep blue Alicorn landed right next to Celestia, “Sister! Please don’t! You promised you would never use that again!” she begged. She was only slightly shorter than her.

“I know, Luna. But I have to know if my citizens are in danger. I have to know where she is,” Celestia urged, getting onto her belly. Despite the dark quality of this artifact, she had to take her chance.

Luna did nothing to intercede. Celestia put a hoof on the globe and said, “Luna, please hold onto my back. Your contact would comfort me and would be much appreciated. I’m afraid that the trip might deceive me too far this time.”

Luna silently rested her wing on Celestia’s back, and laid her hoof on her sister’s.

----

The doors opened and moonlight poured into Garion’s vision.

“And these are your quarters,” said Twilight to the human. They stepped out of the hallway and into the two story bedroom.

Garion said nothing, because he would have otherwise screamed with insanity. The suite stretched fifteen feet on both sides of him and reached twenty feet ahead. The far side of the room was dominated by an enormous window and balcony. Four pillars separated the room into quadrants. A large bed could be seen in the far left-hand side.

“Can I ask you something?” Twilight Sparkle asked quietly, coming around to face him from the front.

“Of course,” he responded.

“You’re not still mad about the whole me being a princess thing, are you? I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you sooner.”

“It’s all right. I’m not mad at all, though I will admit, that I was thrown off guard. But I’m actually just worried about Aaron,” said Garion, who walked alongside Twilight towards the balcony.

The night was haunting. Garion took in the view of what Equestria looked like after dark. There was a beautiful landscape laid out in front of him. All the rivers and lakes shined and glimmered with the ghostly light of the large moon above him.

The moon itself was a white snowball suspended in the night, and the surrounding sky was painted with deep purple and blue. The stars massed in numbers of thousands, all looking down on the world, which frightened him, the same way that stars frightened him in his own world whenever he left the city and went camping. Everywhere he could see, were mountains and forests.

At this moment, his legs collapsed and he fell to the ground.

Twilight gasped and tried to help him up.

Garion slumped against the railing, and said, “Sorry. I just felt lost for a moment.”

“Are you going to be alright?”

“Yes. What reason is there not to be alright? I think it’s just me still trying to comprehend that this is where I’m going to live the rest of my life in. I just feel like I’m starting to fall apart, is all.”

“That doesn’t sound alright.”

“Nah, it’ll pass.”

Twilight wasn’t sure what to now. She never had been in this situation before, so she didn’t know how to help him. She began to leave when Garion said, “Wait, Twilight. I just want to let you know… how much I thank you for all that you have been doing for me… since I’ve been here. You’ve been gracious, kind, and you have never left me behind. It means a lot to me. Thanks.”

Twilight smiled, and they hugged.

----

All around her, she saw fire and redness. The world raged at her, hating her, wanting to make her hurt in multiple ways. The alicorn flew as fast as she could, and her conscious avoided all the other thoughts until she could get to the mind she was looking for. She finally spotted the figure of a tall pony with buggy wings and long, stressed mane. Her horn and hooves looked as though worms or giant maggots may have burrowed their way through her.

The alicorn looked all around her, to see where she was. She was in a forest. This scary equine creature had been moving for a while now, but she was far away from town. It was easy to tell that, from the screeching crevices she saw all around. For a moment, she imagined that the creature had been looking at her, but it turned out to be just an owl that caught the creatures attention. The sky was becoming a darker shade of red every second, and the poor little alicorn was beginning to feel hot.

She couldn’t remember what she needed to do now…

“Celestia! Celestia! Wake up! You’re fading away! Wake up!” Luna pleaded, pushing and shoving the white mass until finally she came to.

“Huh?”

“You were almost gone!” Luna howled, tears in her eyes. Celestia realized that she could have only lasted for a few moments longer before she had forgotten herself completely. That was the power of the globe; a power that shouldn’t exist.

“I’m sorry, sister. I’m so sorry. But I had to know,” Celestia lifted the globe with her magic and carefully…smashed it. Several pieces fell on the ground, which she threw into the fire.

There was a dark history behind this crystal, but it was grim, dark, and painful to remember. All that mattered was that this object should have never been harvested from the magical tree that it grew from. The tree is one out of two of the oldest living entities in the world of Equestria, dating all the way back to before the creation.

It was forbidden for anypony to use. Such power rested within it, and it was meant only for the balance of good and evil. But thousands of years after its creation, someone had stolen its fruit and used it for their own personal gain. The power of the fruit corrupted their mind and made them drastically evil. After that… ugh, she didn’t even want to remember.

“Why did you break it?” asked Luna.

“Because it’s not something for anypony to control, not even me.”

“But why now? After all these years of hiding it, why did you break it now?” asked Luna, who had not even known about the globe until Celestia had told her about it hundreds of years after it was even hidden.

Celestia stared at Luna intently, “Because it had corrupted me. Not much, but just enough to keep me from doing what I should have done from the very first day. But after all these years of ignoring it, these two humans show up. They come from a universe more real than ours.”

Celestia sighed and closed her eyes, “This power cannot be destroyed. Though I have broken the globe, its energy still influences the world around us. I’m sorry for keeping this a secret from you sister.”

Luna slowly nodded her head. “I forgive you.”

Princess Celestia regained her breath and walked onto the balcony, where she could see the rest of the castle exterior. Garion and Twilight were talking to each other upon their balcony, and Aaron could be seen through a window, sitting on a couch eating pizza with a couple guards. He seemed to be enjoying himself.

“These humans,” Celestia continued, “Were enough of a wake up call. Though they come from a different universe, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is no stranger to them.” She closed her eyes and a tear fell, “The power exists much more intensely there, making their world dangerous for ours.  Something big is happening that I can’t predict. Even after all the dangers that we have been exposed to, nothing has been as unpredictable as our universes crossing.”

The alicorn opened her eyes and looked at the two humans intently. “…But these are the only humans who have made it across. Just these two, rather than the whole human race. It tells me that this isn’t a random occurrence.” Both Celestia and Luna gazed at the sky and beyond, “It’s so unexpected. I need to protect these humans. I used the globe but luckily, I wasn’t using it to my own self-will.”

Luna stood silently, not sure how to take in the sudden seriousness, but was glad that it appeared to be calm and under their control, “Did you at least find what you were looking for?”

Celestia gazed at her beloved younger sister and announced, “Yes, and as far as I was able to figure out, Ponyville should be safe. Chrysalis was moving in the direction of the Frozen North. Hopefully she won’t turn around.”

Luna looked down and said, “Are you sure it’s a good idea to keep these two humans in our world? Can we trust them? They’re so…aggressive.”

Celestia sighed and said, “These two humans are no different than most other humans in their world, but they are good, even if they don’t believe it themselves.”

“Why do you think he brought them here?” Luna asked, “Do you think they will be able to change their world… Maybe, fix it?”

“No,” Celestia affirmed, “There isn’t any human who can fix their world. Only one alone has ever made a difference big enough to save the souls of millions to come, and he wasn’t completely human either. But we can fix these humans…maybe…if they are willing to let us. They are good humans-”

“Even the weird one?” Luna interrupted.

Celestia looked at her. “Yes… especially him. If we are lucky, we may be able to teach them something that may make a difference in their lives,” she said, watching Garion and Twilight hug each other.

----

“I’ll be in the room next door if you need anything,” Twilight said, turning around to leave.

“Thanks a lot,” Garion answered back. When Twilight Sparkle left the room, he found a chair and brought it into the light of the moon. He sat down and fondled with the phone. It turned on all right, but he couldn’t get the call or text icons to activate. He resorted to dialing his messages. It was the same one from before.

“Garion? It’s me, your Mom. I tried to call you but you wouldn’t pick up. Your message scared me. What do you mean you won’t be able to see me anymore? Is everything all right? Please call me back when you can. I would really like to talk to you face-to-face about this, it would make this seem less weird. But if you can’t, at least call me back to tell me if you’re in any trouble.

“If you’re going through something deep or whatever, and you just need to be alone for a while, that’s perfectly fine then. Just remember, I’m always here for you, no matter what happens. You can always talk to me. But if you’re serious and you have to stay away, then that’s fine. I just need to know if you’re not in any danger.

“I love you my darling, please call me back and any more information would be helpful and very much appreciated. Thank you for telling me ahead of time. Goodbye, Hun.”

“Goodbye, Mom,” Garion said to speaker, though no one would be hearing him.

The call ended and the screen returned to its sunset picture background. He sighed to himself and accepted the fact that it may have be the only thing he’ll ever hear from his world again.

He returned the phone to his pocket and decided to read from his book before he went to bed. 'At least I got to keep this,' he thought. He angled himself so that the light from the moon would be able to illuminate the words on the page. He flipped to where his bookmark was and silently read out loud,

“I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Set apart them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” –John 17:14-19

End of Episode 1

Ep2: The Technicolor Kingdom PART 1: Awakening

Episode 2: The Technicolor Kingdom PART 1: Awakening…

“Don’t worry, I’ll be back soon.”

The child begged for her to stay, ‘Please don’t go’

But for some reason she left anyway. As soon as the door closed, he knew he was in trouble. He stayed behind the rocking chair, trying to hide.

The man still sat in the recliner, but now he was staring directly at the child. He beckoned for him to come over.

The child didn’t want to, but he knew that there was nowhere he could be safe.

-----

Garion rolled around in his bed. The sheets blanketed half of his face, leaving his eyes open. He silently watched the moonlight that flooded the area in front of the enormous, ornate window. After a while, he glanced at the forest of pillars around him, before he flipped over to try again.

Forcing his eyelids closed he fought to drift into a slumber, but something wasn’t letting him. His mind had proved to be the most active part of him, and now it was powered up to the max; he was just too excited and nervous to sleep right now.

He decided to analyze the room he was lying in; an attempt to make him drowsy enough that he might slip away:

The room was large and rectangular, about thirty feet wide and twenty feet long. Four pillars stood in the center, dividing the room into nine equal quadrants. The ceiling was about fifteen feet above the ground, and the floor was made out of marble. Aside from the large balcony, there were no other windows in the room, and the door was set in the midpoint of the wall opposite to the balcony. The bed sat in the left side of the room with an ornate table and dresser.  Several other groups of the same furniture were set around the room, since it was meant to hold more than just one person. In the center of the room was a round table with a few chairs, a bookshelf, and an unlit fireplace.

Garion groaned and got out of bed. This obviously wasn’t helping and chances were that he wasn’t going to be sleeping now anyway. Without a clock in the room, he removed the phone from his pocket to locate the time, which somehow seemed aligned with the seconds of this world, although he didn’t know why. He also couldn’t figure out why the phone automatically charged without the use of a power port.

As soon as he pressed the button-of-power at the end of the device, a sunset photograph appeared on the screen, showing the time that claimed to be 2:30am. The photograph itself was not a cartoon, which confused Garion because at this time he would have assumed that anything in this world including him would have been cartoon, and yet this image hung frozen in time, continuing to display the in-line depths of his own world.

Garion walked around the room and tried to contemplate exactly what was bothering him right now:

He was a human, in an entirely different universe. For the two days that he had been there, everybody including him had been taking the situation casually.

That wasn’t right. This was no situation to be delicate about. But still, here he was taking a vacation at the capitol of Equestria, for what reason he didn’t know. One moment, he was on a train thinking he was going to get help from a princess, and the next he found that nothing could be done or even said from her before he had to go to his quarters.

While he was contemplating the full meaning of his situation, there were several details that he needed to consider. One was that he would no longer be able to eat some of the foods he used to eat, like brand label chips, or familiar restaurants that he used to love going to. Second, was that everything that he used to involve himself with, like internet, television, and other media ports were now completely gone, leaving him only with his phone that functioned oddly.

Garion paced anxiously around the room, trying to clear his mind to no avail.

The most important and undeniable point that he tried to ignore, was that he was ultimately alone, as there were no humans in this world except for him and Aaron.

The sad human walked to the balcony in front of him and melted in the ghostly silence of the night. Not a single wisp of wind passed by, and the only sound that he could hear was his own breaths. He breathed so quietly that he could actually feel the essence of something spectacular coursing through the very fabric of the castle, the air, and the world all around him. This world was magical, and he being a human was the contradiction to it. He shouldn’t be here, and yet he was. This shouldn’t be happening, but it couldn’t be denied.

This world could have been anything, and yet it was Equestria, and nothing else.

A tear fell from his eyes, as he whispered quietly, “Everyone that I’ve ever met, I’m never going to see again.” That was the big picture that he had tried to hide. He could try to act like it didn’t matter, but it would still come to hurt him in the end. Who was he now? Who would he marry one day? He was alone, and isolated.

Garion stared silently at the mountain beyond Canterlot, about ready to break up, when he heard a small clack sound behind him.

He spun around, unprepared for the disturbance. The noise had sounded like a footstep in the hallway. He suspected somebody was either spying on him, or just standing outside his door for no apparent reason.

Garion took his chances and approached the hallway, which was pitch black in contrast to the ghostly silver walls of the suite, if that was even possible.

When Garion stepped into the corridor, he looked glanced left and right. Both directions were desolate and dark, without any lights around. Hauntingly ominous, there were countless doors and intersections, and both seemed to end a hundred feet away, but the darkness swallowed any signs of the end. The ceiling was square, but occasionally arched at the intersections. What seemed odd to him was that the hallway was unlit, as he would have expected the castle to have torches around. Instead, the darkness gave the familiar resonance of dreary silence that he felt in his own home at night.

Garion walked back in his room, unsure of what it was that he heard, when it sounded again.

He ran into the hallway, knowing for sure that something was up. He instinctively walked down the right-hand path, feeling a little uneasy about the idea of someone sneaking around him in the dark. He knew there were guards that patrolled the castle, but he couldn’t see any. He thought about maybe checking the ponies next door, to see if they happened to be part of it, but that would be rude.

But then he saw movement within the corner of his eye. He glanced in that direction just in time to see a tall, thin figure disappear behind a corner. By instinct, he followed it, eagerly wanting an answer.

Garion cautiously approached and peeked around the corner. A hallway extended about twenty feet away, where far away he saw the creature rush through a door. He hastily followed after, as if in a dream. He did not care about what he was doing, or what may come of it, but he didn’t want to miss out on what was going on. Whatever this thing was, it seemed nostalgically familiar.

The doorway led to three flights of steps that made a U-shape around a veranda three stories below. The stairwell extended upward, after which he ended up back in another maze of pathways and hallways.

At this time he didn’t know where to go, until he heard an aspiration echo behind him, within the same floor. This made him have to take several manual routes before he could get to where he thought he needed to be; passing underneath different assorted architectural arches and room.

His scrambling eventually led him to an alcove where a door was hanging wide open. Garion took deep breaths from all the running. He then took note at the fact that he was lost and didn’t know exactly why he ran all the way here, but he moved forward anyway. It seemed that this was the way to go.

Garion walked guardedly onto the terrace that he was led to. The giant wall he was standing on circled around the back entrance to the castle and took hold of the battlements. He looked around, but saw no sign of the person he was pursuing. Garion frankly didn’t know what he would have gained from chasing them in the first place.

The sides of the walls were crenulated, which means indented, like what typical medieval walls would have at their top edges.

Once he approached the forefront, he could see the majesty of the castle in its whole. Indeed, it was nearly completely dark and silent. Behind him, the road to Canterlot city trailed down over a few hills, starting from the gate beneath him.

He felt himself shaking again from the epiphanies he was having, so he slouched over the rim of one of the indentations, facing the capitol city. The city sung with blazing light in contrast to the stark darkness of the castle. He began to feel claustrophobic.

‘Why am I here?’ he thought, attacking the same question again, ‘God, is there something you’re trying to tell me?’

“Hey, what are you doing out here?” uttered a voice, and Garion turned to see a guard standing behind him. He was notably more… Orange than the other guards he knew. He didn’t know why, but all the Canterlot guards for whatever reason seemed to have been limited to only shades of blacks and whites. This was probably the first colored pony he had come across.

He also had a particularly smoother voice than the other soldiers, who were also, all unanimously gruff-voiced. The guard carried a lance, as was expected, and Garion was still amazed at how they were able to do so. The pony approached, and asked, “Are you ok, sir?”

“I think so, or at least… As far as I know,” responded Garion, staring blankly at the ground.

“Well, in that case, I’ll ask you again. What are you doing up here?” said the guard, standing upright.

“I couldn’t sleep, so I… wandered around and sort of ended up here,” Garion elaborated, leaving out his pursuit, so that there would be less chance of the guard thinking he was crazy.

“Oh, well do you need any help getting back?” asked the soldier.

“Nah, I might just consider taking a walk around the city for a while before I come back. Can I ask you a question, sir?”

“Affirmative,” acknowledged the guard.

“How is life like here? I mean, for you everything may be normal, but for me this world is so alien and out of place to me. How is a lifetime here like?”

The guard tapped his hoof at the ground, thinking to himself before he blew through his lips and answered duteously, “Well, it’s full of surprises. Some of them are good, some of them are bad, but they always turn out right in the end, eventually. I don’t understand everything that happens, but there is usually a reason for them. You just sort of learn to… appreciate the small and big in life, whether or not they be good things or bad things. But I wouldn’t know about an average life, I’m just a guard.”

Garion took that answer and chewed on it for a while, before finally speaking. “Alright then. Can you tell me where the nearest exit is?” he asked.

The guard motioned over to a small gate house cubicle ten feet away. “It should be unlocked from up here, so if you just follow the stairwell, you should be able to get to ground,” he directed. But as Garion began to venture in that direction, the guard said, “Ooh wait… that’s right. I forgot; I’m actually not supposed to let you leave right now.”

Surprised, Garion countered, “Whoa. Are you getting hostile?”

The soldier just leaned against the wall and sighed, “Nah, it’s just that we don’t want you wandering around if you don’t know the place yet. You’ve only been here for a couple days, so the princess just wants you to hang around until we can begin to grasp what needs to be done.”

Garion, feeling increasingly drowsy, replied sarcastically, “Oh so what are you going to do if I leave?”

“You’re not going to leave,” the guard put simply.

“Oh REALLY? Gosh, you’ve really got some attitude,” Garion articulated, “I like that. So what’s your name anyway?”

“My name is Flash… Flash Sentry,” he answered kindly.

“Flash? That’s a strange name,” commented Garion.

“Well, so is yours,” Flash retorted.

“Hey, I was named after a fantasy book character!” claimed Garion.

“So?” challenged Flash.

“What? I bet you wish you were named after a story book character.”

“Not really.”

“Fine, mister oh-I’m-so-tough-and-strong-and-don’t-need-anything-else. So can I just call you Flashlight?” Garion asked.

“I’d rather you not.”

“Flashdance?”

“No.”

“Ah, but it’s fun to say,” Garion persisted.

Flash Sentry removed his helmet, revealing a blue mane beneath, and said, “Flash or Flash Sentry is cool for now.”

“How about, the Flash?”

“Lame.”

“Classy Flashy?”

“No.”

“Alright, FINE. So who named you anyway?” asked Garion, still slightly pursuing the subject.

Flash Sentry gave Garion a straight look and replied, “My mother.”

“Why? Why Flash Sen-”

“I DON’T KNOW! Why are you so persistent on this?” Flash finally interjected.

Garion cringed a little at the outburst. “I was just curious. It seemed that everyone else had a reason for their name, almost as if they had to know who they were going to be, before they were named.”

“Maybe, but I don’t know,” Flash Sentry said with less enthusiasm, looking away.

After standing still for what seemed like three more minutes, Garion eventually began to feel like he was alone again, and brought himself to say, “I’m sorry if I’m a little irritating sometimes. I have Attention Deficit Disorder.”

Flash looked at him, and with a smile, he iterated, “I’m sorry for yelling. You’re not annoying at all, but holding this stupid, heavy thing is.” Flash said, putting down his lance against the wall.

“How do you guys hold those things?” Garion asked.

“Didn’t you see me lugging it on my shoulder for the last ten minutes?” Flash remarked.

“Yeah, but I just didn’t know how.”

“We just… hold them, like this,” Flash Sentry demonstrated, raising the weapon high with his hoof cuffed around the handle.

“But how do you use that in battle? How do you even run like that?”

Flash stared inward for thirty seconds. “We just..............................hold them?” the guard answered awkwardly.

“How do you fight with them?” persisted Garion. So far he had been able to strike up a good conversation with this guy. He was also glad to see that he was beginning to feel less depressed because of it.

Flash raised his eyebrows at the lance, saying, “Well, I haven’t yet had the opportunity to fight in a real battle with them. But what we do is, we take this end here… in our mouths like this-” Flash then gripped the handle between his teeth, and raised the point to a horizontal level in the air.

“That’s adorable,” Garion commented, “So I assume you just wave it around then?”

Flash nodded his head, and swerved it tutorially. Unfortunately, Flash had to look away from Garion in order to hold the lance. He underestimated his distance from him. A loud thump hit the human in the chest, and Flash suddenly realized that he was now standing alone on the wall.

The soldier dropped the lance and looked over as quick as he could. “Oh geez,” he uttered.

Garion lay frozen where he was, looking up at a starry sky. The wall lined the bottom half of his vision. He didn’t move until Flash Sentry’s head appeared over the wall.

“Are you all right!?” Flash called.

“Am I dead!?” Garion called back.

“No! Of course not!”

The human then began to move around, realizing that he had managed to fall into a pile of hay. Luckily, his body parts were intact.

After reassuring himself that he was still alive, only then did he realize that the castle was beginning to move away from him. Flash Sentry watched in shock, and that’s when Garion realized that he was rolling away.

He remembered the drop behind and wondered if he should jump out, but declined as the wagon picked up speed. The world ahead of him then became a blur as the wagon was thrown downhill.

The next few moments of his life would escape his sensible conscious. Nothing seemed real. All Garion could do was wait for the ordeal to be over. He couldn’t think clearly, and nor could he add logic to the present.

The world of the castle left his vision, and shooting stars suddenly lapsed the rapid universe. At first he accepted the possibility of giant fireflies, but he looked behind him, toward the oncoming road, and was able to see houses passing by, with torches and lanterns lining the path. It all caused a headache for Garion, having to comprehend it too fast. But for what he could guess, he didn’t actually go through the city itself, but rather, he passed it.

The torrents of wind which raged violently around him suddenly changed direction, now forcing their way on top of him. Garion opened his eyes and saw the sky staring him face to face. He discovered that he was lying down flat on the floor of the wagon, and that he was probably now moving in upward direction.

The sky focused it’s splendor onto the lost human. Everything that Garion saw in that sky seemed to take his hand and remove him from the world that he knew. Suddenly, it came to him that he could no longer feel the hay or wagon, but he didn’t care. There was nothing he could do now, as the night took over his mind.

When Garion finally touched the sky, he looked up to see the sleeping world miles above him. His hair stood straight up, as if he were underwater, or that gravity had suddenly turned itself upside down. Still, he couldn’t understand where he was, or why he was here. He couldn’t possibly be scared, nor could he feel any other emotion.

When he couldn’t go any further, a cloud caught him and pushed to the left. He drifted in an orbit, while lights flashed around him. The night was truly beautiful, but also frightening at the same time. It carried him and sung quietly to him. The stars were literally five pointed shapes sparkling around him, dancing  in their various forms and constellations.

The cloud then carried him towards a city. But not a city too far from his memory. It consisted of towering steel, and flashing lights. The moon watched the drifting human, as he began his odyssey.

----------------

Ep2: The Technicolor Kingdom PART 2: Musical Coffee

The Technicolor Kingdom Chapter 2: Musical Coffee

Aaron looked at his hand within the light of the barracks: One ten, one jack, two kings, and an ace. Piled neatly on the table were ten beautiful doughnuts, with multicolored frosting and strawberry jelly filling. Aaron felt powerful with determination. They would soon be his donuts, and with this set of cards, he couldn't lose.

He looked at his three opponents. All were guards. The first contained a white coat, black mane, and golden Armor. Sweat rolled down the back of his neck, and he shook with apprehensiveness.

“It’s your turn, Jittertank,” said the second opponent. Jittertank laid down his hand, revealing three fours and two threes.

The group winced. “Aw, that’s unfortunate. Better luck in the next game, I guess,” voiced the second opponent. He was a unicorn with a blue, streaky mane, a white coat, and no Armor. “Alright, your move, Blaudge,” he grunted, referring to player number three, a grey-scaled soldier pony who snored loudly in his sleep.

His mouth hung open and drool slowly spilled out the side of his mouth.

“Yuck. I guess he passes,” said the unicorn, who then returned to Aaron. “Alright, kid.”

The human slammed his cards down on the table dignifiedly and declared “Kachooca!” as was the custom for the winning hand. He pulled the donuts toward himself eagerly, before his social competitor announced, “Not so fast! I still have my hoof to submit.”

Confused, Aaron sat back in his chair and waited, unnervingly.

The white Unicorn slowly laid down his set, to reveal four kings and one ace.

Aaron was flabbergasted. “Wait a minute! How can you possibly have four kings if I already have two?” he interrogated.

“Look closely,” instructed the Unicorn.

Aaron glanced down just in time to see his own two kings suddenly pull back their capes to reveal crossbows. They each aimed at Aaron’s jack, and shot it with two plunger arrows. The jack then fell backwards behind the window of the card, rendering it empty.

“What?” said the human, bewildered at what he just witnessed.

The unicorn sat upright in his chair and said, “Apparently, your kings were assassins in disguise.”

“But-but…But, but” Stammered Aaron.

“Kachooca,” declared the soldier. He swept his hooves across the table and claimed the jelly-filled pastries.  Aaron watched in despair as his conqueror stuffed a doughnut into his mouth, unable to comprehend how two playing cards could betray him and deliver a win for the competitor.

“I don’t understand your Kachooka,” Aaron put down.

Just then, the door burst open, where an orange pony rushed in. Panic smothered his face, and the room shook with his distress.

“Guards! Come quick!” said Flash to the party, although alarm caught his expression when he realized who Aaron was playing with. “Prince Shining!” he cried, “I didn't realize that you were here.”

Aaron’s mind spun with ultimate confusion, “Okay, what?” The human bolted out of his chair and said bluntly, “I’ve been playing a card game with a prince? I thought you were just a captain.”

“Yeah, sorry. I forgot to mention that,” Shining Armor said with discomposure, “And I’m also married to a princess.” He looked back at Flash, “I apologize, Officer Sentry. I know I said that I would be coming after the week you arrived, but then I realized that my sister was visiting here as well, with the report of two new individuals in this… uh… universe.”

Aaron approached him and asked, “Oh, so you have family here, too?”

Shining Armor responded cheerfully, “Yeah! My sister is Twilight Sparkle; she’s also a princess.”

Aaron did a double take, “What!? And WHAT?!” He tossed his cards over his shoulder and demanded, “Ok. What other secrets are you keeping from me? Does she even know that you are here right now?”

“Probably not,” Shining Armor responded hopefully, wanting to keep it a surprise for his relative.

Flash Sentry breathed heavily, panic surging through his mind. As he watched the human and his commander engage in a social conversation, he knew that at the same time, someone else was in serious trouble. He grunted loudly.

“…And so I’ve already met this human, but not the other one; I haven’t heard anything from the other human frankly since I arrived tonight. Of course, everybody should be asleep right now. It is way past midnight,” said Shining Armor, “…should be kind of obvious, but…”

Flash grunted louder, “…Sire.”

“But I would like to meet our other guest sometime this…um,  morning. Flash!” Shining Armor called, startling the guard.

“…Do you know where the other human is right now? It’s not that I want to bother him now of course, but so that I know where to go.”

Flash Sentry hesitated. It was ironic that his commander would be asking him about Garion, considering that Flash Sentry had come to here for the very purpose of saving him.

How was he going to tell him that he threw his assignment over a wall!? He didn’t even know that Shining would be here! Even though he knew he was going to get in some serious beef with his commander, he knew he had to be honest.

Flash sighed and said, “He’s absent.”

Aaron looked at the orange pony with confusion and remarked, “Absent? He was here at the same time that I got locked in here with you guys… Not that you guys are bad.”

Shining Armor stared hard at the soldier, “I was told that there were two humans here and that Celestia assigned you and the rest of the guards to keep them in this castle, until they were released tomorrow.”

Flash Sentry rolled his eyes and announced, “Alright, I failed! I lost him! I knocked him off of the battlement!”

A dreadful silence followed. Aaron suddenly felt lost in emotion. Shining Armor grew terribly stern. Blaudge chocked on a doughnut. “What do you mean, you knocked him off of the battlement?” Shining Armor said slowly and distinctly.

“It was an accident! I swear! But he’s fine! He’s fine! He landed in a wagon full of hay!”

The group gave out a loud sigh of release. Aaron stood upright and regretted ever being mean to Garion.

“But the wagon rolled away,” Flash chocked.

Shining Armor gasped, and Aaron buckled down, laughing.

“Ha Ha Ha! That is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard!” Aaron gaggled, “I’m NEVER going to let him forget this!”

Shining Armor rolled his eyes at the human, and directed his attention at Flash. “You’re telling me that Garion fell off a wall, landed into a cart, and just rolled away from the castle? Like a typical wagon scenario from Ponyville?”

“I don’t know what that is… but sure?” Flash said.

“Never mind that! Why in the name of Lamb Neighson did you knock him off the wall? I outta have you put behind bars for that!”

The sweat rolled fast as Flash explained, “He asked me to demonstrate the lance!”

“So you knocked him off the wall!” Shining Armor accused.

“No!”

“Um, guys? Shouldn’t we be looking for Garion?” said Aaron, surprised that for once he was being more responsible than the surrounding population.

“Oh, sorry Aaron. We’re wasting valuable time,” Shining Armor stated. He gave one last look to Flash Sentry, “You better have a good explanation for this when we’re done.”

“I already do,” said Flash.

“Till then, you and I are going with Aaron to find his friend. You too, Jittertank!” Shining Armor shouted at the small, shaky soldier who was clearing the table of cards. He flinched at Shining’s outburst and dropped the cards onto the floor.

“Get your flank over here! We’re on a mission,” stated the Captain, “Blaudge, tell the princess that we will be out scouting for a few hours. Hopefully we can get him back before her highness even realizes he’s missing...that is… if he’s still alive.”

“Oh please…” Aaron groaned, “All the good things seem to happen to him. I’m sure we’ll find Garion in a spa or eating some random pie.”

Shining Armor put a hoof to his head and thought, “Hmm… I could actually use a nice massage... But enough talk! Let’s get going.”

“Alright!” Aaron announced, vaulting onto the back of the orange pony. He picked up a lance and lifted it high in the air. “Onward to victory! Cha!” he announced.

“Get off me!” Flash Sentry exclaimed, tossing him off.

“Sorry. I’ve wanted to do that since I’ve been here,” Aaron grinned.

“Enough Shenanigans. It’s go time!” declared Shining Armor, putting his helmet on.

The stars gleamed like spotlights onto the somewhat small city of Canterlot. Spires and towers shone with extreme elegance under the light of the busy city. Strange music blared from various points, making Aaron’s ears hurt.

The streets were so crowded that the human actually had to clutch onto the three soldiers in order to keep from being separated from them. “Geez! What kind of crazy city is this awake at four o’clock in the morning!” he yelled.

“There’s a Trans-Equestrian concert going on tonight, of all things, and I wasn’t invited!” explained Flash.

“What!?” Aaron screamed above the noise.

“The Trans-Equestrian concert!”

“WHAAAT!!!” Aaron flung his arms and accidentally hit Jittertank, who dropped his lance and shield on the ground.

“Dude, you need to bring up your cholesterol,” Aaron said to the feeble pony as the over sounding anthem ended and the surrounding applause died down, “How can you possibly stand to fight against anything if you’re like this?”

“This is the Trans-Equestrian concert,” Flash continued, when a heavy metal overture erupted around them.

“The Trans-Siberian orchestra!?” Aaron shouted.

“Pull him in here!” exclaimed Shining Armor, who pushed the four of them into a nearby donut shop.

When the door closed, a ringing sound echoed in Aaron’s eardrums due to the noise racing to leave his sub-consciousness.

The shop was a small department within a duplex of multiple shops. A counter crossed the back of the room where many delicious pastries could be seen behind the glass. A few tables clustered with citizens were situated around the corners of the room. Aaron stared at the tiled floor and took a deep breath.

Silence…beautiful silence.

“Okay, repeat one more time, please,” he said.

“This is called the Trans-Equestrian Concert. It’s an annual event that occurs in various parts of the country. Fans of all forms of music come to participate, whether it’s classical, rock, or jazz,” Flash explained.

“Don’t say the ‘J’ word around me please,” Aaron mumbled.

“And ponies, gryphons, or whoever can come to either listen to their favorite pop stars or play themselves,” Flash continued, “There are multiple areas and panels where different singers or instrumentalists are playing. Sometimes people can witness rare celebrity collaboration if they’re lucky. Apparently it is being held here in Canterlot this year.” Flash Sentry groaned, “And I’m on duty so I can’t participate! If only I had my guitar right now, I could do it too.”

“Oh, so this is like Woodstock, except these people are smart enough to try it more than once a generation,” Aaron retorted.

Shining Armor and Flash Sentry both looked confused, but a background pony sitting at a table blurted out, “Actually, this event used to be called ‘Hoofstock’ until the ponies decided to let other species join in.”

“But doesn’t the name Trans-Equestria mean the same as just Equestrians?” Aaron asked.

Suddenly the donut merchant showed up behind the counter and greeted them earnestly, “Hello! What are three fine soldiers such as yourselves doing standing without a chair? Come and sit. Buy a donut.”

Aaron abruptly chocked and said “Please. No more donuts.”

The vendor chortled, “But you haven’t had any yet.”

“Believe me, I’ve already had my share for tonight.”

“Maybe some coffee then?” the vendor persisted.

“Actually, that would be much appreciated,” Aaron stated, parting from the group.

Shining Armor sighed and bickered with Flash. “Are you sure that the wagon even came this way?”

“Unless it magically flew thirty feet to the side at the moment that I looked away, yes,” Flash responded confidently.

“Well it doesn’t appear that anypony here has either seen or heard anything like a rogue hay wagon. For a place as crowded as this, I’m sure that something like that would be hard to not notice, or ignore.”

“Well I’ll keep asking people then.”

Aaron sat at the counter and took a sip of his drink. “Whoa! What kind of coffee is this?”

“It’s coffee. Is there a problem?” said the vendor, whose nametag read to be donut-Joe.

"It’s way too sweet. What did you do, fill half of it with sugar, and the rest with creamer?” Aaron complained.

“If we didn’t, it would taste bitter and it wouldn’t be good.”

“But I like the bitter.”

“What? Who on Earth likes bitter?” Donut Joe criticized.

“This guy,” Aaron pointed to himself.

“That’ll be two bits.”

“Bits?” Aaron repeated, thinking about what he might have meant. He reached into his pocket and pulled out two dollar bills from his wallet. He placed them on the counter, and Donut Joe peered at them.

“These are just pieces of paper.”

“Yeah, well your coffee is just liquid sugar,” Aaron retorted, leaving the vendor in confusion. He walked backed to the group and asked, “So what’s our method of attack?”

“We’re going to split up,” Shining Armor explained, “Me and Jittertank are going to inspect the exterior of the city, and you and Flash will talk to the people inside.”

“Sir, yes sir! Come on Flash Dance!” Aaron urged, leaving with the orange pony.

“Please don’t call me that!”

It was a maze of ponies as the two companions strived to find any significant signs of Garion’s presence. Slow symphonies drifted like water through Aaron’s mind, and he could tell that he was near an orchestra of some sort, but he couldn’t see it. In fact he could barely see anything at all.

“That blasted pony! Why did she have to shrink us at the first moment! Gosh I hate this plotline!” He jumped up and down around ponies who were almost taller than him, shouting things at them like, “Hey! A wagon?! A crazy wagon?! A crazy human?! Like me? Have you seen a crazy wagon crashing into any of you?”

Feeling unsuccessful, Aaron began to feel that Karma was just trying to play rough on him. ‘I wonder if it was this agonizing to track me down, when I walked off?’

Suddenly the crowd began to dissipate and fortune seemed to smile upon him. The orchestra had finished and was packing up for the night.

He took this opportunity to hop onto the stage to claim the microphone. Aaron approached a grey pony who stood upright on her two hind legs to wipe down her base violin. He asked her, “Do you mind if I use this mic for a few seconds?”

She looked at him weird but nodded her head, and continued cleaning her instrument.

Aaron held the microphone stand close, spilling his coffee in the process, but started feeling uneasy about talking to a large group of ponies who had never seen a creature that looked like him before. It was probably the first time that he had ever felt any self-conscious humility since he had been there.

“Um, excuse me?” He asked politely.

Several surrounding citizens turned their attention towards him.

“Have any of you heard news of a hay wagon rolling uncontrollably past here lately?”

Many of them gossiped with one another. Some of them turned towards a dubstep concert that erupted somewhere near off.

“Please. My friend is on that wagon.”

They just shook their heads and continued gossiping.

Flash sentry shoved his way to the front of the crowd and said, “I haven’t had any success with the people over here.”

Aaron bowed his head with exhaustion and sighed, “You and me both.” At this point, he found himself staring at the details of various creatures who were populating this universe: The pony with the afro; the pony wearing a dress; a small red dragon carrying a guitar; the pony holding a baton in her mouth; an undistinguishable creature with two heads, a unicorn with an unusually long mane, a person with a grey hoodie, a gryphon with a Mohawk, and a Pegasus that seemed to be wearing a popular gangster-rap attire.

Grey Hoodie.

Aaron glanced back to the see the human standing on the roof of a building across the plaza.

Feeling the coffee come in, Aaron spun in that direction and began moving.

“Where are you going?” Flash Sentry shouted, jumping after him.

“I see him!” Aaron rushed towards the building as fast as he could manage. Garion ran towards a ladder and slid down swiftly. “It’s him!” he announced.

Flash sentry caught up to him, and asked “Are you sure?”

“He was on the roof of the building and he’s moving away on the ground now. He’s wearing that old hoodie like he has been for a while.”

The two of them rushed as fast as they could bring themselves to go. Aaron’s poor choice of direction, unfortunately led them into a crowd of more ponies. A gryphon glared at Aaron when he accidentally ran face first into its side, falling comically to the ground.

“Flash! Can you boost me up?” the human asked.

“What do you have in mind?” Flash Sentry asked, lifting the human off of the ground.

Aaron just screamed and jumped onto the back of the pony in front of him. Neighing, the unicorn reared and Aaron leaped onto the next pony, and then the next. Eventually he was running along the backs of the crowds like he planned.

Aaron was quick enough to see Garion casually walking into an alleyway, before he came upon a space in the crowd. He fell and hurt his head. “Why do I always find myself running and falling?” Aaron groaned.

Luckily, Flash Sentry caught up to him and set him on his back. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You can only do that in cartoons.”

Aaron struggled to push himself off of the ground. “Quick! He went into that alley way.”

Flash Sentry dashed forward. In his defense, he didn’t see the human that Aaron was talking about, and didn’t think that it made sense anyway.

“I told you, Flash! Garion always ends up having a party without even trying. And I always end up tripping over things and running for my life!”

They escaped the open air of the city and fled into the corridors. Aaron saw Garion, but he was always just a few spaces ahead of them, and he could only see a brief glimpse of him before he disappeared behind a corner.

“Left! Right! Left, I mean right!” Aaron directed.

“Out of the way, people!” Flash shouted to any ponies who got in the way.

Aaron rubbed his eyes and wondered how hard he hit his head, because the hoodie that Garion was wearing almost seemed to change every time he saw it. The sleeve of the hoodie would be one color, or a certain type of plaid, and it was clear that Garion knew they were chasing him. He looked around him before choosing a direction to dart into.

Aaron was amazed that the human could outrun a pony, especially when there were several pedestrians blocking their way constantly.

The human led them into an empty curving passageway amidst the very ugly bowels of the city, which still looked ten times more pleasant than anywhere in his Hometown in Aaron’s opinion.

One time, he actually caught a full glimpse of him, but only when they had come across a very shadowy area. Garion himself, seemed to carry no color or decipherable type of clothing, but it changed back within a blink and Aaron wasn’t sure if he had seen it right or not.

It continued to evade their clear line of sight until they finally ran into a dead end.

“Slow down Flash!” Aaron shouted. Flash Sentry had to skid on all four hooves in order to avoid getting a face full of concrete. Aaron on the other hand, fell off and clearly saw that he and Flash were the only two people in there. The passage was about ten feet wide and there were no doors or windows for anyone to go to.

“Where did he go?” Aaron asked, bewildered.

Flash Sentry simply looked up. “If he could jump six feet in the air, he might have been able to grab a hold of that ladder up there,” he said, looking up at a rusty old escape ladder that seemed to have been broken for a long time, “but if he could run better than we were, I wouldn’t be surprised.”

“I don’t get it. He was in front of us the whole time.”

Flash panted hard and for a while, they just stood in awkward silence. Aaron thought deeply about what he witnessed, or thought he witnessed. He almost felt like there was something much more…big happening than he was seeing, but even if there was, there was very little he could do anyway. He was as clueless and naïve as a rat playing the test for the scientist.

Faintly, a familiar voice echoed behind them, “Hello?”

“Who is that?” Flash asked rashly, holding his lance in the air.

“Hello? Aaron, are you there?” First they saw the shadow, and then they saw the pony. It was Rarity.

“Rarity? What are you doing here?” Aaron asked eagerly, “And what are you wearing?”

The unicorn was indeed wearing odd attire that was a green shirt and a bow tie.

“Aaron, what on Earth are you doing way out over here at this time at night?”

“I would ask the same about you. How did you find me?”

“I saw you when you were on the microphone back on the stage. I had been trying to get to you but then you ran off with this guard.”

“Are you actually part of this event?” Aaron asked.

“Why yes. I was getting ready to sing with the Ponytones after the orchestra was done.”

“I didn’t know you sang.”

“It’s a four member accapela group that I lead. I forgot to tell you that this event was occuring this week.”

“Well now I know why it was so crowded getting to get to the castle yesterday.”

“Luckily they hardly ever do this here in Canterlot. Usually it’s the small towns that do it,” Flash mentioned.

Rarity scrunched her nose and sniffed loudly, “Dear, have you been running around with that same attire since you’ve been here?”

“Uh, yeah. I’ve been kind of dragged all over the country against my own will,” Aaron said with stale attitude.

“I do want to apologize for that, darling. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get things sorted out and things won’t need to be as stressful anymore,” she said.

Rarity returned to the original question. “Why are you out here this early in the morning?”

Aaron sighed loudly, “We’re looking for Garion. He’s gone missing.”