There were benefits to being in the military, only a few though, like being able to wake up early without being tired and you get to be physically fit. Cole woke up even before the sun rose and got ready. He slept on that really comfy couch and wore Rarity’s hat she made for him, it did a really good job keeping him warm. When Cole got up he did a few warm up stretches to get ready for the day, and he put on his suit, but when he put it on his nostrils felt like they were on fire. Cole’s suit smelled like shit (well after running up a mountain it does seem kinda likely you might sweat a bit). Cole put it on anyway, because it was all he really had. Cole prepared a bit of breakfast for himself, he made some oatmeal and French toast for himself and Fluttershy, he put Fluttershy’s portion on her bedside table without waking her because he figured it would be another three hours before she would wake up. When Cole walked onto the front lawn, he took a deep breath of the fresh air. Where he used to live it was all stuffy and had no windows, but what he saw on his missions gave him a pretty good idea of what his planet looked like. Cole took in everything he saw, the beautiful dawn sky and the moon which appeared to have a unicorns head on it. The most beautiful thing he noticed was the peacefulness of the country side. Cole decided he would head over to Dash’s house and wait for her, he fired up his suit, which gave that turquoise glow and took off in a super human sprint.

*****

Dash was also having a nightmare, only it wasn’t about what she did in the past, her nightmare felt like it was a few days in the future, she saw an image of Cole’s face bruised, bashed, and really bloody. These images disturbed her, and she then saw her love, chained to a wall as she screamed, she was watching him being tortured. She tried to get away from this nightmare, but it was impossible, then she saw Cole’s head look up from the dead body and say with a bit of an echo, “Hey Dash, you awake?” That line brought the cyan Pegasus back to reality, she then sprung to life from her bed, it was all a dream, and it was all over. She crawled out of bed and got her hair fixed up, she was getting ready for a big day today and she wanted to look her best, when she entered the kitchen she saw a little dark brown patch in the floor suddenly disappear. When she approached the hole it made, Cole’s face popped out and Dash yelled out a loud, “By Celestia’s beard!”

“Hey you’re awake.” Cole said with an innocent smile as his head disappeared again.

Dash stuck her head through the hole to see her Cole waiting for her on the ground; she gave a loud laugh and yelled out, “It’s kind of creepy poking your head through someone’s kitchen floor!”

“Sorry, you don’t usually have a social life when you grow up two kilometres inside a mountain!” Cole sarcastically shouted back. Rainbow removed her head from the hole and closed it up.

A few minutes later she was descending from her cloud house towards Cole, “How long have you been waiting for me?” she asked with a giggle. The sun just rising over the edge of the mountain and the animals were waking up. Everypony was just waking up and getting ready for another day in Ponyville.

“Hmm maybe a few hours.” Cole asked with a blush, he really didn’t understand how to be social and didn’t understand that waiting outside someone’s house for a few hours for them to wake up isn’t considered normal.

“That’s totally not creepy of you.” Rainbow jokingly said as she nudged her head against Cole, “So what do you plan on us doing today? We’ve already seen all of Ponyville, and every other city or town is too far away.” Rainbow had a few ideas of her own, but she felt like letting the guest to this new world decide, besides, Cole was the gentleman, he should make some decisions.

Cole thought about where they could go, then a smile broke onto his face that slowly stretched from one side of his face to the next. He looked at Dash and with a smirk he asked, “You want to see where I’m from?”

Dash couldn’t help but smile at that idea too, she would love to see where he lived, it would be quite the adventure, and she looked at him and said with a giggle in her tone, “Sure! How are we going to get there though?”

A half hour later Cole was strapping himself and Dash into the pod that was still inside the crater. He made sure they were facing each other, it was really uncomfortable for her, but she was close to Cole, so it made things a bit better, Cole looked at the little screen and went to the help section on it, after a few minutes of reading instructions Cole asked Dash, “You ready? It says to hold your breath that way you don’t fall unconscious for a day. This thing is going to accelerate past light speed really quickly so it’s going to feel really weird.”

“I’m ready as I’ll ever be, Cole.” Dash said as she kissed Cole on the cheek.

“It’s going to hurt a little having all of your atoms torn apart but when it’s over it will feel like it never happened.” With that Cole put in the coordinates on the tiny number pad under the screen and the pod started to shake, the humming grew louder as the countdown reached one, and before they knew it they were having the fibres of their existence being pulled apart, before they everything went black they both held their breaths. When the pain stopped Cole looked out the window to see they were in a place that looked a lot like space, only there were no stars, just a cluster fuck of random colors. Rainbow struggled a little bit but managed to turn herself around to watch, it was the most beautiful thing they ever saw together and as soon as it all started, the colors started vibrating and turning into different shapes and darkening until they reformed the laboratory Cole entered only a few days ago. Cole unfastened themselves but didn’t open the door, he knew there were security cameras, so he had to think of a way to make them invisible, then he had an incredible idea, he went into his little de-atomiser case and pulled out the ghillie suit and put it on both of them.

Rainbow just looked at Cole and said sarcastically, “Oh great now instead of looking like a man and a pegasus, we look like a pile of walking leaves.”

“Just give it a second.” Cole reassured her and as soon as he said that the ghillie suit started to change colors until it was invisible, Cole raised his hand to check if it worked and he couldn’t see it. They were invisible now.

“That’s so awesome.” Dash whispered, she was in awe of all the cool things Cole had with him. They slowly opened up the door to the lab to find out it was midnight, no one was in the facility. Cole brought Rainbow out carrying her in his arms and gave her a tour of the facility, she was rather light, which explained how she was able to rest on certain clouds.

“Were gonna head to my room, I need to get a few things.” Cole whispered into Rainbows ear, he didn’t want them to be heard.

“Oh you’re taking me to your room already? A little too soon romeo.” Dash said sarcastically.

“Oh you got me.” Cole gave her a wink and a faint giggle as he jokingly said that. When they entered Cole’s room, he took off the suit and stuffed it into his little case on his side pocket. The room’s walls were made of concrete and had no windows, only a small light bulb flickered to give the room a bit of light. All Cole had that was actually his was a television he was given, a gaming console that the scientists felt necessary to simulate a normal room, he had a dresser full of clothes for when he had to interact with people, and a small bathroom with a shower sat in the corner of the room sealed by a steel door. First thing Cole did was gently put Dash onto his little cheap bed and he headed for the shower. A few minutes later Cole came walking out smelling a lot better and his hair a lot less greasy. Rainbow decided to take the opportunity to strike a sexy pose on his bed as he slowly got dressed, he kept giving Dash an awkward look asking, “Do you mind? I have enough scientists studying me naked, I don’t want you looking at my hairy ass ‘cause I might scar you for life.”

Rainbow then suddenly noticed his ass was bare and she asked him with a confused look, “Hey, where’s your cutie mark?” Before Cole answered her he decided he put on some boxers and some nicely fitting jeans.

“Well in this universe, you don’t have your special talent represented by a mark on your flank. Trust me some of the cutie marks here would be really gross and odd.” That made Cole think of all the prostitutes and all the whores, it made him think of all of the terrorists and the image of them having a mark of an explosion on their ass.

“Well that’s lame, so why are we here?” Dash asked, she didn’t really like this place too much. No sky to fly through.

“I came here so I can grab a few things and then we’ll head back to Ponyville, and I’ll show you what entertains humans on planet earth.” Cole went over to his closet door facing the bathroom and opened it, inside were military vehicles made specially for him, there was a motorbike that was on a suspension system to absorb as much shock as possible, a suit that resembled Cole’s other one, except this was thicker around the shoulders, forearms, and legs. Cole grabbed the bike it folded until it was capable of fitting into his case. He was really prepared for anything, when he exited, the door closed and he went for his dresser and pulled out a dark purple hoodie and a white T-shirt and put them on. Then he went to the dresser beside his bed and pulled out a smart-phone he brought with himself to help aid his disguise. He turned on his iPhone 4 and searched a few recipes to cook up when in Equestria, he copied and pasted them all into a small folder in his notes and asked Dash if they had potatoes, yeast, crystal malt, and a few other things. He was going to show them what humans drink to party hard.

“Yeah we do, why do you want to know?” Rainbow was wondering why he was asking her these things. He then searched up a few more recipes and did the same to them. When he was done he put his phone in his pocket, took the de-atomiser case and put it in his other pocket with his motorbike.

“Just a few more things, I’ll be another minute.” Cole said as he rushed for the television, he put the de-atomiser on the floor and raised the television over it and the television disappeared, he then did the same for his gaming console and a few games he never bothered playing. With that over he was ready to head back, he picked up Dash and put on the ghillie suit and they headed back towards the pod.

Before they knew it they were back in Ponyville, Cole was better dressed because he had packed some clothes. When they got out of the pod they noticed they were still in the same place only this time they were surrounded by pegasi in golden armour, it was the royal army Dash told him. The soldiers escorted him and Dash to the palace in Canterlot, it was quite a site to behold, and he would have enjoyed it if he weren’t a prisoner. The guards brought both Cole and Dash to the princesses who sat before them, one had a white coat of fur and her mane swayed in the wind as though it had a mind of its own, her mane was a mixture of shades of blue green and a pink. The other one had a dark blue coat and her mane was a slight blue, a bit darker than Dash’s coat.

Dash immediately bowed before them and whispered into Cole’s ear, “That’s Princess Luna and Princess Celestia, bow before them.”

The two alicorns stared at them both when the older looking one stood up and spoke in a gentle voice, “Rainbow Dash, a pleasure to see you, who’s this you brought here?” She looked over at Cole; he noticed how she wasn’t angry at all.

“This is uh, my coltfriend,” Dash turned really pink when she mentioned they loved each other, “he’s not from around here.”

Dash was having trouble coming up with an explanation but before Cole could chip in the white alicorn turned to Cole and said, “Oh how sweet, you two make such an adorable and unique couple, but what do you mean you’re not from around here. Where are you from?”

“Well to tell you the honest truth, I’m not from this planet or the universe for that matter.” Cole was worried but he didn’t understand why. What could he have done that was considered a crime?

The white alicorn smiled and said to him, “Well that explains the meteor that happened a few days ago and the one that happened today. I’m not going to get angry at you, in fact I’m quite interested in you.”

“Well, I know what you’re about to ask, I’m a multiversal traveling human being. I was sent here on a mission because an enemy on my planet had built one of these and I need to find out why he chose here.” When Cole happened to mention human being the two alicorns dawn looks of worry.

“Oh dear,” the younger one began, “I suppose you haven’t noticed all the coincidences while you were here?” What was she talking about? He noticed a few coincidences like how they spoke the same language and how the vegetation was the same, how there were the same animals on here as there were on earth, and then Cole froze with extreme realization. Our universes have met before. Cole thought to himself.

“Oh my god, our universes met before, but what I don’t understand is why we didn’t just move here, this place is so much better.” Cole stuttered a bit, all these coincidences made sense now.

“It didn’t happen like that,” Celestia began, “tens of thousands of years ago, when this planet was still young, all sorts of monsters were roaming along this planet, among them were the humans, and the ponies, both showed equal abilities and were both capable of great things. Yet the creator, The Nightmare, noticed humans were dangerous, they were violent and they began not only to kill each other, but they began to kill others aswell. Nightmare noticed how these monsters would eventually wipe out the more peaceful ponies. So it took the human race, a few of each animal species and traveled to another universe, it eventually found a planet exactly the same as Equestria for the humans to do what they wanted on. So it left them there, and to make sure they never remembered who they really were, Nightmare wiped their memories and put a giant human face on the side of a nearby red planet to make sure their origins would always remain a mystery. Yet some of the humans could vaguely remember the monsters and began writing them down. Now you consider those documents a part of ‘Greek mythology’. The reason we speak the same language is because a brain can never forget communication. On the Ten thousandth year, Nightmare would return to that planet and if the humans managed to keep that planet peaceful, then the Nightmare would bring a few of the best humans back to their original home.”

“What if the humans didn’t do so well?” Cole asked, he was really scared of what he thought would happen, and he knew the humans failed. Miserably.

“If the humans fail to keep peace, then the flood will begin, Nightmare will wipe out all human life on that planet before it discovers a way to get back to our universe.” Celestia and Luna weren’t kidding around, this was serious fucking business. The thought of Armageddon scared Cole.

“I’m living proof that we have become capable of coming home.” Cole said with a shudder. Suddenly he realized that the entire human race was doomed because of him.

“Nightmare is probably on her way to your planet right now,” Luna began, “You have to go back, your people don’t deserve to live, you disgusting creature.”

Rainbow immediately embraced Cole and she began to cry, “Don’t make him go, he’s not what you think, I love him.” Cole’s dream became a reality, he had to leave her and she couldn’t do anything about it.

******

Meanwhile back on Earth, a man lies in a hospital bed with bandages around his face, his medical chart shows that his bottom jaw had been torn off but was able to be replaced. The man laid there motionless, when a nurse walked in and said to him, “The doctors say you’re ready to leave, Albrecht.”

The man slowly got up and said in a German accent, “Thank you.” His voice had been replaced by a voice box and it gave him a slightly robotic voice. When he walked out of the hospital there was a limo waiting for him, the door suddenly opened for him and a voice inside called for him.

“Albrecht, you have to come with us.” The voice sounded unfamilliar to Albrecht, but he entered the vehicle. When he got in someone took a pocket knife and cut the bandages from his face to reveal himself. His new jaw was metallic, it wasn’t even painted to look human, and wires poured from either corner of his jaw and sank into his neck and under his skin. The voice was a woman’s and she said, “It looks very sinister, Albrecht, we know who did this to you, and we took the courtesy of rebuilding your project, this time we have a larger one instead of a one man pod. Now you can simply walk through it. We also found out that the man who did this to you is hiding in that universe you desired to go to. Would you like to claim your revenge?” This woman’s voice struck fear into Albrecht’s heart.

Albrecht leaned in towards the source of the woman’s voice and asked in a deep sinister robotic voice, “Where are the gates?”

*****

Meanwhile back in Ponyville, Cole was permitted to leave the castle as long as the last thing he did was say good bye to his new friends. They all gathered at Twilight’s library as Cole gave Twilight a warm hug he sad with a tear rolling out of his eye, “Thanks Twilight, you helped me learn so much about this new world and I will never forget you.”</p>

Twilight was touched by this and returned the hug and said in a shaky voice, “You showed me that even you can be changed by friendship.”

Cole walked up to Rarity, whom he barely spoke to but said with his lips quivering, “Rarity, we may not have spoken too much, but the generous gift you gave me showed me the true value of a little bit of kindness.”

The white unicorn hugged him and cooed, “Thank you, darling, for saving us from that werewolf. Just don’t cry too much into my hair, it’ll frizz.”

Cole moved on to Fluttershy, “Fluttershy, you showed me that a friend will change themselves to protect those they love, the way you stood your ground last night was remarkable.”

Fluttershy hugged him but whispered into his ear, “It’s because I knew this would be inevitable.”

Cole moved to Applejack and gave her a gentle hug as he began to cry, “AJ, you showed me that you would go out of your way to make a friend happy, even if it meant you wouldn’t be happy.”

Applejack hugged him tightly and said, “Y’all are a good person, Colt, I knew we could change you.”

Cole then stepped to the pink blob, who was surprisingly beginning to cry as Cole hugged her and said, “Pinkie, you gave me one of the greatest gifts of all, you helped me smile for the first time in my life. I’ll never forget that.”

Pinkie hugged Cole and in a quivering voice she said, “I’m going to miss you, Colt.”

Then finally he moved on to Rainbow Dash, who was already crying before he even said anything, Cole held her up, and kissed her gently on the lips. This last kiss felt like it lasted forever and Dash tried her best to remember every second of it. Then Cole broke the kiss and said to her with a shaky tone, “Rainbow, you’ve given me the greatest gift of all time, you showed me that love doesn’t have to be between the same species, as long as the two feel happy together then true love it is. I love you more than anything, and if I die today, then I want this kiss to be our last.” With that both Cole and Dash locked lips, Dash had never been happier in her life being with Cole, and now it was all leaving her. It was as though some higher force was denying her happiness. Cole felt the same way as he felt her tender cyan lips against his.

As the other ponies watched, Twilight looked out the window to see three meteorites fall out of the sky; they all crashed at the same time into multiple houses causing large explosions. When the dust settled a man with a robotic jaw stood there with two other bulky men who looked like they could stop trains bare handed. The man with the iron jaw looked around and saw Cole inside a nearby tree, blinded with rage he shouted in a robotic German voice, “The fucker is in there, get him!”

With that order, one of the bulky men kicked down the door, thankfully Spike was there to help, he breathed fire on the men to let Cole and the others escape, but one of the bulky men kicked Spike into the bookshelf and he fell to the ground limp. Cole just stood there with no expression on his face as the two men grabbed him. When they tried to drag him out he began to fight, but he wasn’t wearing a suit and couldn’t overpower them, all they had to do was send 50,000 volts of electricity through Cole’s body to make him go limp. Rainbow heard Cole’s scream and she galloped after him. The tow bulky men were holding up Cole as Albrecht threw fist after fist at him, breaking Cole’s nose and sending blood everywhere. Rainbow dash suddenly drew her wings and flew as fast as she could towards the iron jawed menace. Unfortunately, Albrecht herd her coming and turned around to send another 50,000 volts of electricity through Dash’s body and she fell unconscious. Everypony else tried to save them but to Albrecht, it was as simple as shocking one after the next until he had all six ponies and Cole with him. Albrecht pressed a button on his watch as did the others and Albrecht, his two henchmen, Cole, and the six other ponies disappeared.