Dream Little Pony

A Fan Fiction Written by Silentmatten

Prologue

       Jack Ikod is like every other Brony out there.  He loved to watch My Little Pony,  loved to look at the fan art and read the fan fictions.  But he was saddened by the fact that he couldn't do anything artistic himself and contribute to the Brony community.

       Jack's life had always been filled with chronic body pain; his back would hurt for two weeks, and a week later it would disappear and move to another part of his body.  He visited many doctors but couldn't get any answers on why this happened, so they just gave him some pain killers and waved him through.  Jack had been able to tough through all the body pain in his life, it was when he turned age twenty that he reached a new level of sorrow.  Both of his parents died in a car crash when a drunk driver in a big rig swerved into the lane his parents were driving in and collided head on with them.  The truck driver was the only one to live.  This is the story of Jack Ikod, and how his dreams prove more powerful than any pain medication.

The Best Medication

       Jack had gotten home from work at around five o’clock and decided to raid his fridge for leftovers.  He then devoured some leftover meatloaf he made three days ago and then he went to his computer and started to play his favorite game.  Within no time, four hours had passed and it was now ten o'clock.  He decided to go to sleep since he felt more tired than usual, so he turned off his computer and headed into the bathroom of his apartment.  The bathroom was a simple room.  It had a light green colored tile on the bottom half of the wall and a white paint on the ceiling.  On the side of the wall, next to the toilet, stood a counter with a respective green tile and painted wood to compliment the green tint.  After he brushed his teeth he reached into his medicine cabinet and grabbed about four or five pain pills.

       He drank some water to wash the pills down, and then went into his bedroom.  It was a small room that had a cyan paint, much like that of Rainbow Dash’s coat and a white carpet.  His room was barren of pictures and had little furniture in it; of the furniture it did have, was a dresser, a bed, a nightstand, a lamp and a clock.  The room had white shades, which were closed to let as little light in as possible from the street.  When he stepped into the room he looked at the somewhat dreary surroundings, but then walked to his closet to change into his pajamas.  When he slipped his pajama pants on he started to think, “I wonder what it would be like to live in ponyville.”  He put his pajama shirt on then walked over to his bed.  He lifted the covers of his bed then slipped under them and then put his head down on his favorite pillow.  A few pains in his back started to poke and prod him as he started to drift off to sleep, he asked himself, "When will my pain stop?"

The Dream Begins

As the morning came light started to shine through the window curtains, the room was filled with an orange hue.  Jack decided to get up with the sun for once so he climbed out of his bed.  As his mind cleared, he realized that he was dreaming and decided to go with it.  When he approached the bathroom door he reached up his hand to turn the doorknob but noticed something that made him flinch and fall onto his rump.  His hands weren't hands anymore but instead they were hoofs.  He looked at them for a couple moments, trying to figure out what was going on, then got up from where he sat and reached for the doorknob with his mouth to open it to get to a mirror.

       Jack opened the door and approached the mirror while wondering what was going on, he started to examine himself, noticing he was a pony.  His coat was a deep blue color, his hooves and snout were white that faded into dark blue as it went further towards his torso and forehead.  His short mane and somewhat long tail were a whitish-grey color, and straight as could be.  He then noticed he had a cutie mark as well, it looked like three lightning bolts stemming from a white cloud; two dark blue bolts flanking a light gray one.  Jack decided that his name would be Blue Bolt, “That is, if I see anyone.” he said to himself.

       After much confusion, Jack started to get used to his dream world and started to get used to using his hooves.  He looked at the mirror once again and then noticed that he had a horn on his head.  Jack tried to keep himself contained but started jumping around his bathroom in delight from the fact that he was a unicorn!  After a couple moments of hopping about his room and bathroom, he then thought to himself, “How do I use this thing?”

       Jack stared blankly at his mirror and realized he had no idea how to use his horn, but decided to figure out how to use it later.  He stepped out of his bedroom into the hallway and noticed that everything looked exactly like his apartment in the real world, except that everything was in more vibrant colors, mainly consisting of various shades and hues of blue.  He started to walk over to the door but then noticed a saddle bag on a holder next to the door.  Jack looked at it and pondered, for a moment, if it would  be a good idea to grab that, just in case he needed pick something up.

       He got the saddle bag on his back, grabbed some bits and then reached for the locking mechanism that held his door shut and unlatched it with his snout.  As he went outside he turned around to make sure the blue door behind him was shut.  He turned around again to face the street then looked to both sides of the street to see if there was anyone, or anything for that matter, outside.  He then decided to step off of his porch and walk around to figure out where he was.

Walking around for about a half an hour he saw a couple familiar sights.  The sight he saw first, was Sugarcube Corner and then the town hall, which had a market setting up near it.  Although the sun was rising Jack couldn’t see much, the most he could make out in all the merchants setting up were some black silhouettes.  When he got closer to the market he saw Applejack setting up her apple stand, but knew she was busy and decided to not bother her.

       Figuring out he was in Ponyville, he decided to go to the library, hoping that he could find a book that would be able to teach him how to use his horn.  Assuming that Twilight was there and most likely awake, he might be able to get some pointers.  After all, Twilight was the element of magic.

Gathering Knowledge

After a short walk away from the market, Jack approached the library door.  He raised his hoof up and knocked on the red wooden door.  Within seconds, Twilight opened the top part of the door and greeted him, "Oh, hello! I didn't expect anypony to be visiting at this hour!"  She smiled as she opened the lower part of the door and invited him in.  He entered and Twilight closed the door behind them.  Then, turning to him she asked, "What can I help you with sir?" Jack turned his gaze downward, only looking at the purple pony's hoofs and felt himself blush.  Knowing that she might laugh at what he said, "Well, I... uh...” he stammered, “I need a book to teach me how to use my horn, for everyday use.  Like picking items up and moving them around."  Twilight looked surprised, being that the blue pony she was looking at was nearly the same age as her, maybe even older.

       The purple pony started to walk into the room full of books and as she did, she called back to Jack with a friendly, "Follow me please."  He was surprised at how Twilight didn't ask the obvious question he was thinking, and followed her further into the room.  As he entered, he saw Twilight searching through the books when Spike, the baby dragon, started walking down the stairs whilst rubbing his eyes.  Jack decided to say something to the sleepy dragon to be nice, but was cut off by Twilight saying, "Hey Spike, can you find that copy of Magic 101 for me?"

After hearing Twilight's request, Spike sprung awake like the flip of a switch and did an energetic, "On it!"  He ran over to a ladder that was leaning against a bookshelf and moved it in front of another bookshelf a few feet over.  He climbed to the top rung of the ladder and grabbed a light green book, then slid back down.

       Twilight walked over to Spike with a surprised look on her face, mostly from how quick he found the book.  Twilight grabbed the book out of his hand with her magic and said, "Thank you Spike!"  She pat the baby dragon on the head with her hoof then trotted back over to Jack with the green book floating over her head. She  placed the book in his saddle bag, to be polite.

He gave a thank you and said, "I'll bring this back as soon as I finish reading it."  Twilight responded without missing a beat, "Take your time!"  Jack turned around and said goodbye and gave another thank you as he opened the door with his snout.

Meeting The Mane Six

       Jack walked outside saw more ponies were out walking around, now that the sun had risen higher and painted the land in beautiful, warm light.  He started towards the market, but halfway there, he was stopped by Pinkie Pie jumping in front of him, nearly tackling him, and shouting, "Hey!"

Seconds after Pinkie's loud shout Jack found himself sitting on his rump, and his heart pumping fast due to the pony scaring the daylights out of him.  Pinkie noticed that she startled the pony, but decided to get past that and started talking, "Are you new here in Ponyville?"  Jack, his heart still beating hard, answered with an almost Fluttershy like voice "Um.. ye-yes."

       Hearing this, Pinkie Pie started talking about how she needed to throw a party for the newcomer, and how the party was going to be spectacular.  Knowing Pinkie Pie was throwing the party, he knew it would be spectacular.  Jack got back up, still listening to Pinkie rambling.

       Flying over Ponyville, doing her morning weather routine, Rainbow Dash noticed Pinkie talking to Jack and decided to fly down to see what was going on.  As she landed next to her, Rainbow said, "Hey Pinkie!  What's up?"

Pinkie replied with, "Hey Dashie!  Just talking to the newest member of Ponyville!  I'm going to throw him a welcoming party later.  Are you going to come?"  Rainbow responded with, "Heck yeah I'll come!  It’s not every day a new pony comes to Ponyville!"  Dash turned from Pinkie to look over at Jack, and started to think.  She then asked, "So what's your name?"

Jack looked shyly up from the ground, and saw both the smiling ponies, eager to hear his response.  “Blue Bolt” he spoke softly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that?"  Dash said.  "My name is Blue Bolt." Jack replied in a comparatively louder voice.  Rainbow Dash smiled at Jack and told him, "Well nice to meet you Bolt, My name is Rainbow Dash and this here is Pinkie Pie."  Jack started to smile at the pony’s friendliness and the nickname Dash had given him.

       Dash decided to ask another question, "So what do you do Bolt?"  Jack started to think and then realized that he didn't have a job.  Not wanting to be rude, he replied to her with, "I-I'm unemployed at the moment."  Just as he said this, Applejack approached the forming group, having left the stand under the watch of her older brother, Big Macintosh, then said, “Well if yer look'n for a job, ah can always use some more farm hands up at Sweet Apple Acres.”

He thought about Applejack's offer for a moment, and then decided he would accept her offer.  Applejack, pleased with the prospect of getting a full time unicorn to help out on the farm, decided to offer him a place to stay, but he declined the offer, telling Applejack of his living arrangements.

       As he was talking with Applejack, Fluttershy walked up next to Dash, but was unnoticed by Jack.  Fluttershy turned to Dash and asked in her quiet voice "What's everypony doing over here?"  Then she noticed Jack and then asked, "Is he a new resident here in Ponyville?"

"We were meeting Blue Bolt here, and yes, he is new to Ponyville."  Dash answered both questions with enthusiasm.  "You going to come to the welcoming party I'm throwing for Bolt tonight Fluttershy?!"  Pinkie called over to her friend.

Fluttershy responded with her timid voice, "Oh certainly, knowing you are throwing the party, it will definitely be a good one."  Fluttershy then turned towards Jack, who was looking back at her, then she hid behind her pink mane.

       Dash decided to introduce Fluttershy for her, knowing it would be hard for Fluttershy to do herself and said, "Bolt, this is Fluttershy, Fluttershy, this is Blue Bolt."

"Nice to meet you."  Fluttershy could only muster up a quiet voice to respond.

"Nice to meet you too!"  Jack replied, his voice being much less timid than it was before when talking to Pinkie and Dash.

       After a while of the four ponies, or rather three ponies and one listener, asking questions directed at Jack, Rarity and Twilight joined the group.  “Oh, it's you again!” Twilight beamed, “Say, I never did catch your name when you were at the library earlier.”

Jack replied to the purple pony with a somewhat timid voice again and said, "My name is Blue Bolt."

"Well my name is Twilight Sparkle, and this here is Rarity."  Twilight said directing a smile at him.

Rarity looked at him and decided to converse with the new pony as well.  "Very nice to meet you Mr. Bolt!  Where have you come from?"

Jack's eyes widened and his pupils dilated as all the ponies leaned in to hear his answer.  After a couple moments of thought  he decided to say he was from Canterlot, mainly because he wasn't sure where he was originally from.  "Um... uh.. I'm, uh, from Canterlot." Jack stammered.

       Rarity’s eyes gleamed, "Canterlot!” She started, before remembering that Twilight was from Canterlot as well, and so bit her tongue and continued with “Well it's nice to meet you, Mister Bolt of Canterlot."

After a bit of awkward silence, Twilight broke it, asking "So Bolt, I didn't want to ask, mainly because it wasn't any of my business, but this is really bugging me."

He looked at the curious pony and said, "What is it, Twilight?"

Twilight continued, "Why do you need a book to teach you about basic magic when you look about as old as us, maybe even older?"

Jack was in deep now, hoping that no-pony would have asked him about it, but had to answer now.  He looked at everypony looking intently at him with curious expressions and said, "I can't really remember my past very well, so I honestly don’t know. All I can remember is that I don't know much about magic, and that I'm from Canterlot."

       Twilight looked at Jack with a concerned expression, and then thought of an idea.  She started looking at all the other ponies, before asking him, "If I had a way to make your memories come back, would you like me to try and retrieve them?"  Jack thought for a moment, and then agreed to Twilight’s offer.  She bent down and the tip of her horn started to glow brightly, then it touched Jack's forehead.

       After Twilight raised her head back up, Jack blinked a bit but nothing changed.   He looked at all the ponies, looking at him intently again, then shook his head.  Stumped at this, Twilight said, "Well maybe another time."  She said her goodbyes to her friends and said that she had lots of studying to do back at the library.  As she was walking away, Pinkie called after her, saying, "Don't forget to come to Bolt's welcoming party tonight!"

"I won't!"  Twilight called back to her friend.  Rarity also started to say her goodbyes saying, "I have a big order that I have to fill before the party tonight, so I must depart as well."  Dash, saying she should get back to her weather routine, zipped to the sky and shouted out, "Later!"  Before zooming off leaving a faint rainbow trail behind.

       All that were left in the group was Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy, who still remained quiet.  Applejack then said, "Ah should get back to the stand, Big Macintosh probably needs mah help with all them customers."  She turned around to head back to the market, before realizing she forgot to say something to Jack. She faced him once more saying, "Also, Bolt."  He turned from Pinkie Pie to listen to Applejack.  "Tomora' ah need yah to come down to Sweet Apple Acres to help with some apple bucking."  Jack replied, "Will do Applejack, See you tomorrow!"  At that, Applejack turned and started towards her stand in the market.

       A few seconds of silence passed then Pinkie broke in, jumping and saying, "Well, I'm going to go get that party set up!"  She then hopped away in the standard Pinkie Pie fashion.  Now all that was left was Fluttershy and Jack.  He looked at Fluttershy with an awkward smile and said, "I should probably head home now, got to read up on this book in my saddle."  He said goodbye to the shy pony, but didn't expect to hear a goodbye in response.  Turning to start home, he heard a faint “goodbye” from Fluttershy.  He smiled and continued walking away.

First Magic

       Jack closed his door and set his saddle bags on the holder next to it.  He grabbed the book out of his bag with his teeth then walked over to the kitchen table and set the book down.  While looking at the light green book, his stomach started to growl so he decided to grab some breakfast before reading it.  He walked over to his little fridge and grabbed an apple from it, gobbling it down in three bites, leaving only the apple core on the counter.

       He closed the fridge, and then walked over to the table where he left the book.  He flipped the book open with his snout and started to read.  In about an hour, he got through five chapters that told him the basics of telekinesis with his horn.  He decided to see if he could do anything with the new knowledge he had just acquired and attempted to pick up the apple core on his counter, that he sloppily left out, and throw it in the trash.  After about fifteen minutes of trying, he was able to pick up the core and throw it away.

       Jack was so excited with what he had done that, again, he couldn't contain himself and started jumping up and down with joy.  After he finished his celebratory jumping, he decided to read a few more chapters before his party.  He kept reading for another five chapters, then decided to take a break.  He looked at the clock but the party still wasn't for another hour and a half, so he started to try to use the telekinesis spell on various objects around his home.

       Jack lifted small items like books, candles, some apples, carrots, and in no time it was time to get ready for his party.  He went into his bedroom and opened the drawers in his dresser.  He looked through every drawer to see if he could find anything that would be suitable, yet the only thing he could find was a hat in his closet.  Jack, deciding that it was better than nothing, plopped it on his head and left his room.

When he felt he was ready, he walked to his door, opened it with his magic and then closed it softly.  He looked at the street just outside of his home and saw many of the residents of Ponyville in casual outfits walking towards town square, where Jack's party was being held.  So he too started walking, and got ready to get his party face on.

Welcome to Ponyville!

       Jack arrived to see the town square packed with bustling party-goers, all starting to have a fun time dancing and laughing.  It seemed like everypony in town must have heard of his welcome party.  He was surveying the crowd and noticed a banner with his face on it, hanging against the town hall.  Tilting his head to the side, he questioned, "How did Pinkie Pie do that?"  After staring at the banner for a couple more seconds, he looked away from it and walked into the crowd.  He noticed that all of the mane six ponies were in a group, deciding to join them, he began to make his way over when Pinkie saw him and shouted, "Hey, there's Bolt!"

The other five ponies looked towards where Pinkie was looking and saw him approaching.  The six ponies started to go over to meet up with Jack but Pinkie turned and ran up to the stage and shouted into the microphone, "Hey everypony, our guest of honor has arrived.  Let’s get this party started!" As Pinkie said that, DJ Pon3 started pumping out dance music with a deep beat, and everypony started to cheer.

       Over the night Jack enjoyed the many sweets Pinkie made and enjoyed lots of her special punch.  He danced to various songs he thought were good and tried to talk to just the mane six but found difficult as many of the other party attendees approached him with conversation prone eyes.  He enjoyed all of the conversations, but they all had the same subject; trying to learn more about him.

       When he talked to Twilight, she was surprised by how fast he had learned to use telekinesis and congratulated him for learning so quickly.  When he talked to Rainbow Dash, she gave him a ‘Welcome to the town noogie’ but afterwards continued to dance and party ‘til nights end.  When Jack went over to talk to Applejack, she said she was excited to have another helper at the farm and that she couldn't wait for him to get started, as apple bucking season was just around the corner.

       Jack went around the town square and had more conversations with ponies he didn't know very well.  He enjoyed the conversations very much, but then he came upon Rarity.  She started talking to him and said, "Darling, this is a marvelous party thrown in your honor, don't you think?"  He smiled at Rarity and said, "Yeah, I guess this really is a nice party, Pinkie Pie sure goes all out, doesn't she?"  Rarity laughed at his response, "Yes, her talents at getting a party ready on such short notice are amazing."  With that both of them started laughing and walking around the outside of town square.

For a couple moments they walked around not saying anything so Rarity brought up another subject to break the ice, and possibly gain a new customer.  Trying to be as subtle as possible, "So darling, do you have anything else in your wardrobe?"

       Jack, confused by her question, asked, "What do you mean?"  Rarity then looked at him and said "What I mean is do you have any formal attire in your wardrobe?"  He understood what Rarity was getting at, and blushed a little from embarrassment, saying, "Oh, I thought the party was casual so I just grabbed my nicest hat and set out."

Rarity's eyes started beaming with excitement at this news she had received, “Tomorrow I will make you a cape that you will love!  Oh and a hat that you will just die for!” She said with extreme enthusiasm, “Free of charge!"  He thought about what she said, before he gave her a reply, "Oh Rarity, you don't have to do that. Especially for just an average pony like me."

Rarity turned to Jack and replied in protest, "Nonsense darling!  It would be my pleasure to be able to make you an outfit.  After all, I am the element of generosity."   He tried to get Rarity to change her mind, but after it became clear that she wouldn’t budge he finally gave in to Rarity's request, "Okay, you forced my hoof.  If you really want to make me an outfit free of charge then I guess that's fine with me."

       Rarity, satisfied that she had gotten her way, said to Jack, "Wonderful darling, now if you will excuse me, I see a fashion disaster that I must reprimand!"  He turned to question what she had just said, but only saw her running towards another pony attending the party with a hat that made his look like a masterpiece.  As he watched her walk up to the other pony, he couldn't help but laugh at the faces the pony was giving to Rarity.  When he finished laughing he started walking around again, and then decided to go grab some of Pinkie’s punch, since he felt parched.

       Jack reached the table full of treats and sweets and grabbed a cup.  He started to fill it with Pinkies delicious punch and took a sip.  While still drinking, from out of nowhere Pinkie Pie jumped in front of him from behind the table and shouted "Hey!" causing him to spit out the punch into Pinkies face.  Jack quickly realized what he had just done and his pupils dilated again. Pinkie's only response was a bunch of giggles and laughs.  Jack was quick to say he was sorry but Pinkie cut him off saying, "It's okay *giggle* after all, it's only punch!"

       Jack started to refill his cup while laughing at the crazy pony.  Then, as he started to walk away from the table, Pinkie hopped over and joined him, telling him jokes and silly stories.  After a while of laughter, Pinkie said she was going to go find somepony, and hopped away in the same Pinkie way she did earlier in the morning.

       Jack was walking around again, when he realized that he hadn't seen Fluttershy during the entire party.  So he set out trying to find her, but it wasn't until near the end of the party that he found her.  It was actually Fluttershy that found him when he was walking around.  He was walking around near town hall when Fluttershy flew down behind Jack, who was paying more attention to the ground than much of anything else.

As Jack was walking around he was in somewhat of a daydream, but was snapped out of it by Fluttershy's voice, "Welcome to Ponyville, Bolt."  Her voice was still timid, but it was a little more extroverted than it was before, when he first saw her that morning.  He turned around to see Fluttershy's shy smile on her face, "Thank you Fluttershy!" he happily said after a couple seconds of silence.  He couldn't help himself but smile at how cute Fluttershy looked while she was shyly smiling at him and somewhat hiding behind her pink mane.  He then started walking, and Fluttershy, to his amazement, joined him at his side.

They walked and talked, Fluttershy mainly talking about her animal friends and how she loved them all dearly.  Jack tried to talk about animals but found it hard to since he didn’t know much about them and never had a pet when he was a kid.  When he gave up on the animal subjects he went on to talk about everypony in Ponyville that he had met to so far.

Still trying to avoid the subject about where he is from and other related things, he went on to talk about the weather and how beautiful Fluttershy’s mane was.  When she heard his compliment her face turned a bright red and Jack could only give an awkward smile in return.

       When the party was starting to end, the rest of the mane six slowly gathered around the two and started talking with them, but just as they came, they all left for home.  Again, they exchanged their goodbyes and started to leave one by one, except Fluttershy who asked Rainbow Dash if she could have Rainbow accompany her home, just to be safe.  Rainbow looked at Jack who had been returning a look and gladly accepted Fluttershy's request and flew home with her.  Jack was now alone, all the party guests had left to their homes, leaving him walking around the town square.  The party started at about seven o'clock and it lasted till eleven o'clock.  All things considered, he had the best time a pony could have.  He lowered his head to give it some rest and started to head back to his home, smiling all the way.

       As Jack reached his front door, he opened it and shut it softly, he took off his hat and placed it on the kitchen counter.  He went straight to his bedroom and climbed into his bed to drift off to sleep.  He lay there and waited for sleep to come, then he thought to himself, "Why does this feel so real when this is all just a dream?"  Pondering that thought he calmly and quietly fell asleep.

First Day on the Job

       Jack woke up with the sun again and its orange rays started to enter the bedroom, he smiled as he sat up and took in the orange hue of light painting his room.  After a couple moments of absorbing the beautiful colors he rolled out of his bed, and then fixed his sheets, making them nice and flat.  After doing so, he couldn't help but smile at his magical ability.  The self admiration lasted for a bit but then faded when he walked towards his bathroom, where he would check to see everything was in order.  Looking at the reflection of himself in the mirror, he noticed that his mane and coat was a ruffled mess, most likely from the party.  He grabbed the brush that was conveniently on his bathroom counter and straightened out his mane and coat.

       After Jack finished straightening everything he went to his kitchen where he started to grab ingredients to make himself a fruit salad for breakfast.  He filled a bowl with apples, oranges, pears and some pineapple. Cutting up all the fruit into small pieces, he threw them in the bowl and tossed them about to make the salad have variety with each bite.  He ate the salad quickly, then started to get ready for his trip over to Sweet Apple Acres, where he would start working on apple bucking.  He grabbed a hat from his closet, one that seemed like it would keep the sun out of his eyes, and walked out his front door to head to his new job.

       By the time Jack arrived to work, the sun had just finished rising above the horizon and all of the Apple family was awake and outside.  Applebloom was playing in the yard with Scootaloo, Big Macintosh was eating his breakfast with Granny Smith and Applejack was getting the carts ready.

While getting out of the harness of one of the carts, Applejack saw Jack approaching and shouted out, "Good morning Bolt!"  To which Bolt replied with a "Good morning!" in return.  She turned to face the barn where the carts were parked and told him to follow her to get ready for the day's work.  As he followed her, Applejack explained what he was to be doing that day, and the best way to knock all the apples off the tree in one buck.  But today he was going to see if he could do as Twilight did and grab apples from more than one tree at a time.

       As the sun rose higher, Applejack called out to Big Mac saying that they needed to get started.  He finished his breakfast and galloped towards the two ponies who had carts harnessed to them.  A couple minutes of walking and they reached the far end of the orchard. They started bucking apples off the trees and collecting the crop of the day. As the apples fell to the ground, Jack would use his telekinesis to pick up the apples, just to warm himself up.

About an hour later, when Jack felt he was ready and all warmed up, he attempted to lift all the apples off of a tree, but after about five attempts with intense concentration, he decided that it took him too long, so he bucked them down instead. Undeterred, he continued trying over the course of the day, and by the end of it he was able to take all the apples off of one tree and put them in a basket.

When Jack finally got it, he started jumping up and down for joy, forgetting that the other ponies were there.  He stopped jumping when he realized that he was being watched, and then felt his face turn uncomfortably hot at their giggling before continuing his work.

       Work continued till sundown, and when the sun's final rays were put to sleep behind the hills, Applejack called out, saying it was time to head back. At that, Big Mac and Jack followed her back to the farm house.  Applejack, knowing Jack was assumably famished from the hard days work,  offered to give him some supper.  He looked at them with an uncertain expression and saw they were looking at him as well, eager for an answer. "Well, if that's okay with you. I wouldn't want to impose."  She smiled at him and turned towards the house, "Not at all Bolt, c'mon, you must be starved after the hard days work."  she called out as she walked.

       Jack enjoyed the meal Applejack prepared for everypony and as they ate, they shared funny stories and jokes, laughing loudly.  They laughed the hardest though when Granny Smith fell asleep and had her face wallop directly into the food on her plate.  After Big Macintosh had taken her upstairs to her bed and returned, he sat down in his chair, and got hit by a clot of mashed potatoes that Apple Bloom threw.  He looked at Apple Bloom, and everyone started to laugh again.  It was a fun night for everyone, well everyone awake that is, and Jack enjoyed it.

       After Jack finished eating, he offered to help with the dishes, but Applejack declined, saying, "Naw sugarcube, ah can take care of this.  You go on home an' rest up now.”  He smiled at her, tilting his hat in goodbye, and then turned to leave. When he neared the door, however, he was stopped by her saying, "Oh!  Ah almost forgot." he turned around to see Applejack digging into her desk and pulling out some bits for his hard work.  She walked over with five coins in her mouth and then said a muffled, "E're you go!"  Jack thanked her as he grabbed the coins with his magic and turned to leave.  He walked outside of their house, turning from Sweet Apple Acres, and headed for his own home.

       The sun had fallen completely and Luna's moon had just started to rise past the horizon.  While Jack was walking he was looking at the ground, thinking and picking up rocks with his magic to better train himself.  As he kept walking along he saw Rainbow Dash fly overhead.  He thought about why she was flying at such a late hour but then decided that she must just be getting a quick session in before hitting the hay, so to speak, and continued looking at the ground picking up rocks and throwing them ahead of him.

Rainbow Dash flew over the trees with great speed a couple times, but then  saw Jack walking all alone and decided to join him.  She flew down and landed behind him unnoticed, and folding her wings to her sides she started sneaking up on him.

       Rainbow Dash, still escaping Jack’s notice, decided to take the opportunity to her advantage and pull a healthy prank.  She crept up close to Jack, and when she was nearly touching his tail, she shouted, "Hey Bolt!"  Jack jumped nearly ten feet in the air and flopped over on his side like a startled lamb.  When he fell to the ground, Rainbow did the same, except she fell over from laughter.  Rainbow laughed till her sides hurt, then got up, trying to compose herself, an act that was proven difficult by her giggles.

Jack got up off the ground as well and brushed the dirt off of his coat.  He stammered, "Wha-Whats up... D-Dash?"  Rainbow's eyes, watering from her prank, gave an apology for scaring him, "It's okay Dash, I... it's all in good f-fun after all." still shaky from the heart attack Rainbow had given him.  Jack turned around and motioned with his head inviting Dash to follow him, so Rainbow started to fly upside down next to him.

       As they were walking, Jack said, "You scared the living daylights out of me Dash!"  Rainbow, still giggling, replied jokingly to him, "Well I guess it's good that I did it at night then!"  He had to stop to think for a second, getting a puzzled look on his face, but then burst out laughing, tearing up a bit.  He laughed for a while as he walked, and had to stop a couple of times to compose himself.  Ten minutes of walking and talking with Dash had passed, each of them discussing what they did that day. Upon reaching his house, Dash said “Later!” and zoomed off back into the sky, leaving behind Jack, waving goodbye with his hoof.

       Just as Rainbow left, Rarity walked up to Jack carrying a nice looking black cape with a white lightning bolt running down the center of it.  On the outside of the cape was what looked like a white lightning bolt.  The hat was also a nice piece, it looked like a white fedora that had two black lightning bolts, both in a horizontal orientation and appearing to be fabric pieces of their own, stitched to the sides.

       Seeing Rarity carrying the pieces of clothing, he turned from his door and walked over to her.  As they came to meet, Rarity beamed, "Here you are darling, I hope you like it!"  Jack looked at Rarity's work and was simply stunned by how great it looked.

He couldn't say anything for what felt like the longest time, but after realizing that he was gawking at her work, he snapped back to reality.  He looked at Rarity and, after having a cat hold his tongue for so long, told her, "Rarity, it looks wonderful, thank you so much!"

Rarity smiled proudly, holding her head high, and responded to the dumbfounded pony, "It was no problem darling, consider it a welcome to Ponyville gift!  Now if you will excuse me, I must return to my shop and get some rest, I have a busy day tomorrow!”  Jack waved his hoof in goodbye as she walked back the direction she came.  He turned and walked back to his home again, now carrying his new cape, hat and bits he got from the days work.

       Jack got back to his front door and quietly pushed it open.  When fully inside his dark home he closed his door as softly as he had opened it, not wanting to disturb any of the neighbors who might be asleep already.   He searched his countertop for a candle that he had seen earlier that morning and upon finding it, he tried the ignition spell he learned during his lunch break.  Three tries at the spell proved to be failures, but on his fourth try he was able to get the candle lit.  Now with a light source giving him clear visibility for where he was walking, he carried the candle with him to his bedroom.  He stepped into his room with the candle still floating above him and put the outfit that Rarity had given him in his closet.  He closed the closet door and levitated the hat still on his head, from work, over to his dresser.  He started to lie down in his bed, and as he did so he extinguished the candle he had been carrying above him and set it on his nightstand.  He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Magic Lessons

       Jack woke up from his sleep and once again, the sun was shining its orange hue  through his bedroom shades.  He rolled out of bed and did his same morning routine that he did the morning before.  As he was closing the door to his house however, he was approached by an unexpected visitor.  Twilight was walking up to him and said, with a smile, "Morning Bolt!"  He was somewhat confused as to why she had come to him, but he had a guess, "Morning Twilight, I still have a couple chapters left in that book, but I should be returning it soon."  Twilight, still looking at him with a happy smile, gave an exhilarated, "That’s wonderful, but that's not what I came to speak to you about."

Jack was completely confused now, "So, if you’re not here for the book, what did you come to talk to me about then?" he inquired.  She began walking with Jack as he began his journey to Sweet Apple Acres, "I'm going to teach you some telekinesis techniques that will help improve what you already know.  I'll show you at Sweet Apple Acres!"  Jack, now excited that Twilight was going to teach him how to use magic, smiled big and said, "Well, what are we waiting for?  Lets go!"

       Twilight and Jack were now approaching the farm, they both saw Applejack getting the carts ready again for another hard days work.  Applejack saw them coming and trotted over to greet them.  When they all met up, Applejack had a confused look on her face and asked, "Hey Twi, what are you doing here?"  Twilight smiled and told Applejack, "I'm here to help Bolt with his magic."  At hearing his name, he gave a big smile to express his excitement.  Applejack was looking between Twilight and Jack lost on words but finally said, "Well ain't that nice of you sugarcube.  Let’s get to work then, shall we?"

       Throughout the entire day, they worked hard at making sure they didn't fall behind on the quota they had to meet, all the while making sure Jack got enough practice in on his magic.  Many times he was only able to get only two or three trees at a time, but Twilight kept encouraging him, telling him that he just had to keep working at it and give one hundred percent concentration, and that he would soon be able to do the same as her.  He thought for a moment and asked, "Say Twilight, how many trees can you do?"  Twilight then got a surprised look on her face, and it was obvious to all of them that she knew she hadn't really thought about it. Proving Jack's prediction, Twilight said, "You know Bolt, I don't really know how many I can do at once."  Both Applejack and Jack looked at Twilight with curious looks.  A couple moments passed and Applejack  broke the silence, "Well Twi, why don't we find out."  Jack, smiling, nodded his head rapidly in agreement.  Twilight, not wanting to let her friends down, agreed to see how many she could do.

       Twilight scraped her hooves on the ground in preparation and she said, "Here we go."  Her horn started to glow, and then apples from numerous trees started to wiggle.  The apples popped off of the trees and headed towards the carts behind them.  Jack looked up at all the apples in awe, while Applejack was counting all the trees she picked from.  The apples landed in the carts that were, until just recently, empty. Applejack finished counting all the trees that had apples picked off of them and looked at both of the ponies, giving an occasional look at the apples in the carts.  She looked at Twilight and said, with an almost dumbfounded voice, "Uhh, Twi."  They both looked at Applejack with questioning looks, "Yah picked apples from at least seventy-three trees."  Jack's mouth dropped after hearing this and turned to face Twilight, still with his mouth agape.  She couldn't help but blush at Jack's reaction, but then told him that they should get back to work.

       Around lunchtime, Twilight headed home saying that she had to study some things on stars and constellations.  Applejack, Big Macintosh and Jack continued working until it started to get dark.  The sun started to set behind the hill when they headed back to the barn to drop off their last load of apples.  As they unloaded the carts, Applejack congratulated Jack on his impressive improvement with his magical skills during that the day.  She offered to have him over for dinner again, but Jack declined her offer, so Applejack went and got his pay.  Jack took the five bits, said his farewells, and headed home.

       Jack reached his home, without having a heart attack, and decided to clean up the clutter around his house.  He took his breakfast dishes to the sink and proceeded to wash them.  When he finished washing the dishes he grabbed his hat from the counter using his mouth, then threw it into his closet.  Taking a final look around his little home, he saw nothing else that needed cleaning.  Jack sleepily walked over to his bed and lifted the covers, crawled in and within a couple minutes, fell asleep.

Jack's Day Off

       Almost ten days of the same common routine of getting up, going to work and then going home.  The day before however, Jack had hurt his left hind leg badly when it got stuck in one of the cart wheels and got bent the wrong way.  He figured it was just a sprain, however, and shrugged it off.  That morning he was getting ready to leave, he was stopped when he heard somepony knocking at his door.  He put his hat on and opened the top half of the blue door.  To his surprise, he saw Applejack at his door, "Good morning Applejack, I was just getting ready to head out."

Applejack smiled at his ready to work attitude, but said, "Actually Bolt, you can take the day off today.  Ah’m goin’ to a presentation at Apple Bloom's school today, and since we're ahead of schedule this season, ah figured you deserved a day off."  Jack was happy to hear that he had some free time to himself for the day, "Thank you Applejack, have fun at your presentation!"  To which she called back with "Ah will, thank you kindly!"

       Jack started to close the top part of his front door but decided to leave it open, as well as open some windows to let out some stale air and let some fresh air into the house. He figured that, since he had some free time now, he would finish reading the book he borrowed from the library over a week ago.  He walked over to where he last left the book on his coffee table, but when he reached it, he winced from pain in his hind leg.  Shoving the pain out of his mind, he layed down on his couch and started to read.  Reading for about two hours later, he finished the book and closed the light green cover.  He stretched for a bit then levitated the book into his saddlebag and prepared to leave his house.

As he went around closing all the windows he had opened, he noticed that he was getting low on food.  So he grabbed some of the bits he left on the counter and put those in his saddlebags as well, so he could run some errands later.

Visiting Twilight

       Jack departed from his home and started to walk towards the library.  While strolling down the dirt path, he noticed that people had done the same thing he had done and opened their windows to let in the fresh air.  He smelled pies, teas and other strong aromas of brunch dishes from the houses he walked by.  During the trip, he tried to keep the pain he felt in his leg at the back of his mind, but didn't work out very well.  While on his way towards the library, he stopped at a nearby bench to rest his sore leg. When he felt his leg had rested enough, he got up and continued to the library.

       Twilight was reading a book on her pedestal with intense concentration when Jack knocked.  She shut the book and walked over to the door to greet the visitor, but when she opened it, her eyes grew wide when she saw who it was.  "H-hey Bolt, I didn't expect to see you here around this time." She said in a nervous tone.  Jack looked her with a questioning look, "Yeah, Applejack gave me the day off, so I decided to finish this book and return it to you."  He levitated the book out of his saddle bag as he said that.  Twilight shook her nervousness off and said, "Thank you Bolt!"  Grabbing the book out of his magical grasp with hers while walking towards the room full of bookshelves.

       Jack was turning to leave, but then stopped to ask Twilight a question. He turned around and went back into the library where she had gone.  When he walked in, she quickly grabbed the book that was on the stand and threw it upstairs with her magic.  Where it disappeared an "Ow!" could be heard from Spike.

Jack raised his eyebrow in confusion while suppressing his laughter, but found it difficult and started to chuckle.  His small laughter must have been contagious, as Twilight started to nervously giggle as well.

       After they finished laughing, Jack asked, "So Twilight, do you have anything you can teach me?"  She started to think and then had an idea, "I can teach you a luminescence spell if you like."  He tilted his head in question at her, "Luminescence spell, is that like where your horn glows and gives off light, so that you can see where you're going when it's dark?”  "Precisely!" responded Twilight.  He thought about it for a moment, then decided it would probably be useful later so he said, "Sure, it sounds great!"

       Twilight looked around the bookshelves for a couple seconds, looking for the right book.  When she found it, she gave an “Ah ha!”  Grabbing it and levitating it down to the center desk.  She opened it to a page somewhat near the middle then looked at Jack and said, "Here it is, Luminescence spell!"  He walked over to the book and found that it was actually quite an easy spell.  He read over the page multiple times and tried it himself, but could only get a faint glimmer of light to shine.  After about his tenth try, some pointers from Twilight, he finally got it and his horn shined brightly, almost like a flashlight.

       Nailing it, Jack said, "Thank you Twilight, this will definitely come in handy later!"  She only smiled and said, "No problem Bolt, be sure to come back if you want more help with magic!"  He then turned, winced from pain in his leg again, and walked towards the door.  As he was opening the door, he saw out of the corner of his eye Twilight trotting up the stairs.  Jack started to think, "I wonder why she didn't want me to see that one specific book."  He shrugged it off and continued outside, willing the pain in his leg away.

Pinkie Pie Time

       Jack had been walking around for a while after leaving the library, taking several breaks to rest his hurt leg and window shop.  When he got close to Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie noticed him walking about, and decided to call him over to the door.  When she called to him, Jack turned to see her flailing her hooves to get his attention, then he started walking towards her.  Walking across the street he reached her and said, "Hey Pinkie, what's up?"  She bent over backwards on the door saying, "Oh nothing, just making some cupcakes.  Say, do you want to help me?"  He looked at her then thought to himself, "Well I did bake a lot with my mother when I was younger, and human."  He agreed to her invitation and within seconds, she zipped him into the kitchen.

       Jack looked around at all the ingredients sitting out, "So what do we need to do first?" He asked while pondering each ingredient.  Pinkie, still smiling and hopping around the kitchen, said, "Well why don't I show you!"  She inhaled a deep breath and started singing, "All you gotta do is take a cup of flour, add it to the mix!  Now just take a little something sweet not sour, a bit of salt... just a pinch”  Jack stood in the kitchen watching Pinkie sing and gather the ingredients into the mixing bowl.  "Baking these treats is such a cinch, just add a teaspoon of vanilla!  Add a little more and you count to four and you never get your fill-a, cupcakes, so sweet and tasty!  Cupcakes, don't be too hasty.  Cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes, cupcakes!"

       Jack was surprised at Pinkie, he remembered that Pinkie also sang that song in the Call of the Cutie episode, when Applebloom was trying to find her cutie mark.  But nonetheless, he baked cupcakes with her.

An hour later, they had made fifty cupcakes, twenty five of them were topped with a white frosting and the other twenty five were topped with pink.  Jack topped his white frosted cupcakes with blue and gray star sprinkles and Pinkie topped hers with sprinkles shaped like lollipops.

       Pinkie looked at all the cupcakes on the counter with a ponderous look, then she jumped into the air with an idea.  "Ooh, Bolt, don't you think it would be nice for all of us to have a picnic?"  Jack looked at the clock at the wall then at Pinkie, "I think that would be wonderful Pinkie, but it's ten o'clock. Don't you think it would be rather short notice?"  Her only response was, "I suppose if we were going to have a lunch picnic it would.  What about a dinner picnic?"  He had never thought of having a dinner picnic, thinking that it was rather odd but said, "Eh, what the hay I guess that could work."  Pinkie, excited to be throwing a party just for her friends, said, "Great, I'll go get everything set up, meet us on the hill just outside of Ponyville tonight.”  Jack watched the her hop out the door and then followed as well.  Now back on the street, he decided to go visit Rarity and buy some clothes for the coming winter. He spun on his legs and walked, with an occasional limp, to Rarity's Boutique.

Rarity's Fabulosity

       Jack opened the door to Rarity’s boutique causing a bell to ring out and tell her a customer entered the store.  She came around the corner giving her standard greeting, "Welcome to Carousel Bouti..." but cut herself off when she saw who the customer was, she rushed over to Jack's side and urged him to come in with an excited voice.  "Darling, so wonderful to see you!  You just have to tell me what is the occasion?"  He looked at Rarity who was basically dragging him into the boutique, "Well, winter is coming so I'm looking for some warmer clothes."  Rarity, now even more excited, rushed him onto the fitting platform she had in the store. She looked at Jack, thinking for a quick moment, and said, "Now sit yourself down.  I will be right back."

Rarity darted into the back and soon emerged with a sweater that had a fading effect, much like his coat did where it was gray on the bottom, where the sweater would end, and moved up to a dark cyan color.  The sweater had a texture and pattern much like denim.  Rarity, still carrying the sweater, told him to try it on.  It fit him perfectly and he felt rather warm inside of it.  He took off the sweater and set it on a counter to purchase later.  After thirty minutes of trying on various sweaters and jackets, he had bought two sweaters and one jacket from Rarity.  He folded all of his clothes neatly and stuffed them into his saddlebag.

       Jack lifted the saddle bag onto his back and opened the door, Rarity bid him farewell and went into the back again.  He started to leave but stepped wrong on his injured leg and collapsed to the floor.  Rarity heard him collapse, and came back out to see what happened.

She walked calmly into the room but when she saw Jack on the ground struggling to get on his feet, she ran over to him and asked, "Darling what happened?  Are you alright?"  After regaining his balance again he said, "I'm fine...  Just a little leg pain, that's all."  Rarity gave him a concerned look, but figured it would be better to not push it.  "All right deary, take care now." she said as she saw him out, closing the door softly behind him.

Tea Time With Fluttershy

       It was about a twenty minute walk from Carousel Boutique to Fluttershy's cottage.  When Jack finally reached the cottage, he sat down just outside to rest his aching leg.  When he felt ready to put weight on his leg again, he got up and approached her front door.  Jack knocked on the door, and within seconds, the top part opened to show Fluttershy standing on the other side, "Oh, hello Bolt.  How can I help you?"  He, through a fair amount of pain, managed to return a faint smile, "I was hoping I could join you for tea, if that is alright with you?"

       The timid pony looked down at her feet, and then back to his face and said, "I suppose that would be alright, come in."  Fluttershy opened her door for Jack and he walked in with a friendly expression, in the hopes of hiding his pain.  She let him enter and turned to him, "I just put a pot of water on the stove, it should be done soon.  Please, have a seat... If you want to that is."  She said, pointing her hoof at a table with four stools surrounding it.  She walked into the kitchen and Jack walked over to the table, and just when he started to sit down, he nearly collapsed again.  However, he was able to right himself and took a shaky seat on a green stool.

       A couple of minutes passed and Fluttershy came back into the room carrying a plate of appetizers, ranging from cookies to crumpets, and set it on the table.  She turned around and started to head back to the kitchen but was stopped by Jack, "Do you want any help with that Fluttershy?"  She looked at him with a gentle smile, "No thank you, I’ve got it."  She went back into the kitchen and came out again carrying a pot of boiling water.  She poured some water into Jack's cup and then into her own,  he then grabbed a tea packet off of the tray and placed it into his cup.

       Not wanting to be rude, Jack levitated the other tea packet over to Fluttershy’s cup, "Why, thank you Bolt." she blushed.  They enjoyed their tea and made conversation about how nice the weather was, animals, town gossip and other inconsequential happenings.  When they had finished their drinks, Fluttershy stood up and started to gather the dishes onto the tray.  When she bent over to pick the tray up Jack offered, "Let me take that for you Fluttershy, it's the least I could do for such a wonderful host."  She blushed again and let him take the tray into the kitchen.  When he came out, he started to wobble, beginning to collapse.  This time he was unable to recover himself in time and ended up falling to the ground.   He landed with a loud thud, and there was no way to hide his fall.  The pain in his leg was far greater than before, leaving him crumpled and motionless on the floor.

       Fluttershy heard the crash and rushed to the scene.  When she saw Jack lying on the floor, she gasped and hurried over to his side, "What happened?  Are you okay?"  Jack, still lying on the ground, looked up at Fluttershy, "It's my leg.  It's been killing me all day and it finally gave out on me.  "Fluttershy helped him up and said, "Oh you poor thing.  You must feel so awful!"  She sat him down on the green couch in her living room before disappearing upstairs.

       After a few moments, Fluttershy returned carrying a first aid kit in her mouth.  She asked Jack to stand up again, so she could take a look at his leg, but as he did, he started to lose his balance.  She caught him as he fell, then began examining his leg, "How did you injure your poor leg?"  Jack looked at Fluttershy, who was opening her medical kit, "I hurt it yesterday when I was getting ready to take my cart back to the barn.  I was walking around Applejack’s to get to mine and I tripped into her cart, accidentally getting my leg stuck in her wheel when it started rolling."

She continued looking at his leg, feeling it in different spots before finally grabbing a jar of ointment and a roll of bandages.  She spread the ointment, and he felt his leg grow uncomfortably warm.  When he turned his head around to find out why his leg felt like it was on fire, Fluttershy looked up and said, "This cream will cause a burning sensation at first, but after awhile it will cool down and take away the awful pain."

       A knock came from the door just as Fluttershy finished her work.  Wiping her hooves off on a towel in her first aid kit, she went to answer.  Jack was favoring his injured leg in the living room with his head down when he heard Rainbow Dash's voice.  Jack’s head shot up and he turned to see her enter the room.  Dash noticed him standing with the cream on his leg then said to Jack with a sly smile, "Hey Bolt!"  He was somewhat embarrassed, but said to the grinning cyan pegasis, "Hi Dash."  Fluttershy looked at Dash, who was looking curiously at Jack's leg, then walked over to him and started to dress Jack’s limb.  Jack decided to satisfy Rainbow's curiosity, so he related the events leading up to his injury.

       When Jack finished telling his story, Rainbow Dash said, "Well it's a good thing you have an amazing doctor here to take care of you."  Fluttershy blushed again at the compliment,  "It was no problem. I couldn't just leave one of my friends hurting bad like he was."  A couple of moments of silence passed, then Dash broke it saying, "Anyways, the picnic Pinkie set up for us is starting soon.  You guys want to go head over to it now?"  Fluttershy and Jack both agreed, and all three departed.

The Picnic

       The three ponies made their way to where Pinkie had setup the picnic party.   As it came into view, they could see everypony else that was invited; Applejack, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Spike and even Big Mac were all there.  Everypony was wearing a sweater, accentuated by an occasional scarf on a few of the ponies.

       Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash and Jack all reached the party and Pinkie jumped into the air, yelling, "Hey guys, the rest of the gang's all here.  Let’s get this picnic started!"  Throughout the evening, the younger foals played tag and climbed all over Big Macintosh while the older ponies spent their time conversing pleasantly, mainly about town gossip, the weather and the like.  After Jack had gotten himself in a comfortable spot in the group, he laid down to rest his leg.

Ten minutes of the conversation had passed, then the fillies ran up to Jack, "Hey Bolt, do you want to come play with us?"  They asked with large puppy dog eyes.  He looked at the other ponies in the group, then replied to them exuberantly "Ehh sure, why not!"  He began to get up, awkwardly due to his stiff leg.  However, he was stopped by Fluttershy, who smiled at him and then turned to the fillies, "Actually girls, I don't think he should overdo himself with that bad leg of his."

       The three fillies let loose a synchronized "Aww!" before they ran away to play their Cutie Mark Crusaders games.  Applejack, thinking it was just a sprain, asked Jack, "What happened to yer leg Bolt?"  He slowly sat back down and said to her, "It's nothing Applejack, it'll be fine by tomorrow morning, promise."  Applejack, watching him sit, told Jack, “Well ah never turned down a hard worker, but if you say you can, I won't mind."

       After they finished talking about Jack's leg, the conversation soon changed to jokes and silly stories.  Twilight talked about, as she called them, ‘Fun facts’, which put almost everypony to sleep, and Rainbow Dash talked about her newest stunt that she was going to try in the morning and how awesome it was going to be.  The other ponies mainly chatted the time away while eating the cupcakes that Pinkie Pie and Jack made.  By the time the picnic was over, Celestia’s Sun had finished falling behind the horizon and Luna’s Moon was starting to peek its face over.  Jack forgot that he needed to get groceries, so he said his goodbyes and started to head home.

       The other ponies had started to leave as well, but Fluttershy decided to make sure Jack was okay and that he didn't hurt his leg further, ferreting him while he was finishing his errands.  During the entire time, Jack knew she was following him, but decided that it would probably be a good idea to have somepony near in case he needed help.  While he was at a store grabbing some lettuce and celery, he paid the vendor and went over to Fluttershy, who was hiding in a bush.  “Why don’t you come keep me company while I shop, instead of stalking me like a lion.  Besides, it would be nice to talk to somepony while I’m doing this.”

       Jack had finished his shopping and they walked back to his house.  When they got to his front step, he turned around and said to Fluttershy, "Thank you for taking care of me."  She blushed and said, "You're welcome.  I just wanted to make sure you were alright."  Jack said goodbye to her and she did the same.  He opened his door while Fluttershy flew away.

Stepping inside, he closed the door softly and put all of the items in his saddle bag away, first stocking his kitchen and then putting away his clothes.  After checking to see that his house was clean and in order, he walked over to his bed and climbed in.  He then, slowly, started to drift away to a relaxing sleep.

Beautiful Morning

       Morning came and brought the most amazing sunrise Jack had ever seen.  The sun cast its orange hue on the clouds and the land.  The flowers opened to show their colorful insides, deer and bunnies and many other animals awoke in the field in front of his house, prancing about in a joyous manner.  He decided that the sunrise was so beautiful and stunning that he would eat his regular breakfast of fruit salad out on his patio, so he could bask in its warmth.  He watched the scene take place in front of him, enjoying every moment.  Unfortunately, he had to cut the moment short to get ready for work.

       Jack trotted down the road that led to Sweet Apple Acres, surprisingly feeling no pain in his leg.  Trotting along the road, he stopped and smelled some flowers that had opened to make his travel more enjoyable.  He smelled many of the flowers along the way, wishing he could just stop and smell them all.  Knowing he had to get to work, he continued his trek to the farm, and then noticed something happening to the trees.  They were starting to get their fall colors; he saw vivid red, yellow and orange leaves emerging in the green sea, transforming it into a sea of color.

       Jack quickened his pace to get to the barn, where Applejack and Big Macintosh were no doubt getting ready for work.  But as he was approaching the farm, his horn started to glow on its own, causing him to stop abruptly.  His horn glowed brighter and brighter until it was a near blinding light.  The light eventually grew so bright that he had to close his eyes, yet he was still able to see the light through his eyelids.  He thought to himself “What’s happening?”  

Then everything went black.

The Shock

       Jack's eyes shot open, but he quickly squinted them again against the light. He held his hoof up to his eyes, so as to shield them, continuing to search frantically around the room, attempting to figure out where he was.  The room had alternating tan and brown a linoleum tiles on the floor and blue wooden walls. He looked out of the window and saw a meadow with a bench that had another pony lying on it, wearing what appeared to be a hospital gown.  He deduced he was in a hospital and started to get up, but found himself tethered to a variety of cables.

       Jack examined the cords and started to pull on one of them, but was stopped by Nurse Redheart walking in, "Oh my, you're awake.  Please don’t pull on those!"  Jack, still squinting from the light, looked at Nurse Redheart and asked, "How long was I asleep?"  The nurse walked up to him and sat down on a stool next to the bed.  She looked at him and said, "You've been in a coma for five days, Mr. Bolt."  He gave her a look of shock that could compete against Pinkie’s "I-I what?"  Redheart got back to her hooves and repeated herself, "You were in a coma for five days after your... incident."  He looked at her questioningly, asking "My incident?  What incident?"  She grabbed his chart, looking it over as she spoke to him.  "Your friends will probably be able to answer it better than I can.  I'll let them come in after Doctor Cross checks up on you.

       Nurse Redheart left the room and Jack started trying to piece together what happened.  All he could remember was walking down the road, his horn shining brightly, and blacking out.  While still puzzling it out, Doctor Cross walked into the room.  He was a brown coated unicorn with a gray mane and tale, most likely from age.  The doctor looked at Jack and said, "Well good morning to you Mr. Bolt.  How are you feeling?" Jack's eyes had fully adjusted to the light, and he could finally see clearly, "Confused out of my mind."  Doctor Cross looked at him with a warm smile and walked towards the foot of his bed, "We’ll see if we can change that in time, but for now we need to make sure you’re fit enough to check out."  Doctor Cross picked up Jack's chart, checking to make sure everything was okay.

     Doctor Cross found everything to be fine for the moment, so he called for Nurse Redheart to come into the room.  As she entered, Doctor Cross told her, "You can send in his friends now."  She left the room once again and Doctor Cross started talking to Jack, "Now, everything looks fine for the moment, but I think it would be a good idea to stay here for another day, just so we can be sure."  As Doctor Cross finished speaking, the mane six walked into the room, asking if he was alright, Jack looked over at the doctor, "I'll think about it Doctor Cross, thank you."  When Jack said that, Doctor Cross exited the room and left Jack with his friends.

       They were all talking at the same time, but their questions were all pretty much the same, "Are you okay?"  Jack looked at the curious ponies who were desperate for an answer, "Yeah, I'm fine, although I don't know what happened.  I was walking down the road to Sweet Apple Acres, and then my horn started to glow brightly, and then I passed out.”  Applejack spoke up, "You mean you don't remember what happened?"  Jack wondered if she had been watching him as he was walking down the road, and then sat upright in his bed urgently, asking, "You saw what happened, right Applejack?"

Applejack felt the stares of everypony on her.  She sighed, looked around, and started telling her story, "Ah did see what happened to you Bolt.  Me and Big Macintosh were getting our carts ready for that day’s work, but then Big Mac saw you trottin' down the road, so when ah saw him stop fixin' up his cart, ah turned to.  Your horn was glowing a bit as you were goin' down the road, but then it started glowing brighter and brighter until..."  Jack looked at her with great anticipation, "Until what? Until what?!"

She continued, "Until something more powerful then ah have ever even seen Twilight here ever do.  Your horn got to a blinding light, then three giant lightning bolts shot out from where you stood and some sort of electrical bubble formed around you.  You floated off the ground, still surrounded in that bubble, and lightning bolts were occasionally shooting out from your horn into the clouds."

       Jack looked on in amazement as she continued.  "This went on for a couple minutes, then that bubble closed in around yer body.  Yer body was a pure white light, then a shock-wave of electricity blasted from you.  The shock-wave looked almost like Rainbow Dash’s rainboom, except instead of colors, it was pure white.  It spread out across the land, bathing it in a bright light.  Birds scattered from the trees, and from what Fluttershy told me, animals at her cottage started to run amok as well.  When you fell to the ground, Big Mac and I rushed over to where you were.  After we got to yah, Rainbow Dash here came flying down to see what happened, and soon everypony else came following behind.  Your coat and mane was all frayed and charred, no doubt from what happened.

We brought you here as quickly as possible, but you were in that coma for five days."  Applejack and a few other ponies were sniffling. “We thought you were dead Bolt.”

       Jack was staring at the foot of his hospital bed, motionless and fighting back his tears, but the fight was in vain.  Moments passed before he broke the silence, asking with tears running down his muzzle, "Was anypony hurt?"  Applejack walked up next to his bed and said in a consoling voice, "Nopony was hurt.  Only one that took some hurt was you, sugarcube."

After a time, all of the ponies made their goodbyes and left, except for Fluttershy, who wanted to talk to Jack alone.  When the last of their friends left the room, she moved over to his bedside.  Jack turned his head to look at her, saying, "I'm tired."  She put her hoof on his forehead and sang to him, in a quiet yet sweet voice, a lullaby whilst stroking his forehead:

"Dream little pony, dream all your worries away."

"Dream and find your place of peace."

"Dream, and you will no longer be in pain.”

Jack then fell asleep and Fluttershy walked to the door. She stopped at the door looked back at him and whispered, “Dream away.”