I had already activated agility, but all it did for me was let me observe it all happen in slowmotion, me still being unable to reach her in time.

Despair filled me as I realized I could do nothing to Applebloom as the lightning was racing towards her as she didn’t even see it, her head turning towards me as I had called her name. I had just become her friend and brother, only to loose her to some stupid accident.

As I felt my eyes begin to water at the mere thought, I noticed something unexpected. The charge that was heading straight for Applebloom suddenly broke off to the side, curving over and around her. Suddenly it wasn’t heading for her, but for me!

I don’t know what came over me, but for some reason, instead of dodging, I felt myself falling down on all fours, my tail razed as high as I could.

I closed my eyes as I braced myself for the pain, but as I felt the charge strike, all I felt was a light tingling in my tail. Opening up my eyes, I realized that the charge was gone, and that I somehow felt more energized in a way.

It took me a moment, but I eventually realized what was going on, I had the hidden ability ‘Lightning Rod’! Any further deductions however were interrupted by Applebloom tackling me to the ground.

“That was amazin’! I don’t know what ya did, but it looked awesome!” Applebloom shouted as she was now jumping around me, completely estatic. “Wait til ah tell Aunt Embah and the girls!!”

“Euh… The girls?” I questioned, not sure if I was really ready to begin meeting many more ponies yet.

“Mah friends, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo! Ah think they’re back at our clubhouse. Follow me!!” With that, she took off in a head on sprint again, leaving me behind in the dust.

I wasn’t really sure at first, but Applebloom wasn’t a bad per- err, pony. I guessed I should trust her and her friends, so I ended up following her, endig up having to resort to Agility to catch up since her quadruped locomotion made her faster than me.

We eventually made it to a neat little treehouse close to the edge of the orchard, now far away from the Zap Apple trees, we were now surrounded by green and red instead.

“It’s just up ‘ere.” Applebloom exclaimed as she ran up the ramp, leading up to the door. I had to say, this treehouse was far better than any I had seen before hand, it actually looked like a small house.

Knocking upon the door, Applebloom looked back towards me with a smile before the door opened up. Looking out, were to fillies, about the same size as Applebloom, one of them a was orange with wild, purple hai- mane, and tail. The other was white with pink and light purple curled mane and tail.

There was however something that made me stop and pause in surprise. The orange filly had a pair of wings, while the white one had a horn. I suddenly remembered Ember having talked about pegasi and unicorns. It must have slipped my mind.

“Hi Applebloom!!” One of them spoke. The one with the pair of wings. “Who’s this critter?” She then asked, tilting her head and looking at me. I decided I might as well introduce myself.

“My name is Caesar, may I ask what to call you?” I asked, guessing she was either Scootaloo, or Sweetie Belle.

“I’m Scootaloo,” She replied before tilting her head. “And she’s Sweetie Belle. So… How did Applebloom find you?” Scootaloo asked, as Sweetie Belle nodded and smiled at me.

“Well, actually-”

“I met ‘im yesterday when Ah went to see Zecora. She fount ‘im sick out in tha Evafree forest. Ember said he’s like her.”

“What happened? Poison Joke?” Scootaloo asked.

“Poison Joke?” I parroted, looking towards Applebloom.

Shaking her head, she explained. “Poison Joke is ah plant that does somethin’ ta the one who touches it. It’s usually somethin’ harmless, but Caesar ‘ere woke up like this. Ain’t no work of Poison Joke ‘ere it ain’t.” Applebloom explained both to me and her friends.

“Woke up as that adorable thing?” Sweetie Belle asked. “Sorry Caesar, but your tail and everything just reminds me of my pet cat back at my house.” She explained.

Adorable? I thought to myself, I guess some could see me like that. I mean, I do find them adorable myself…

“What, you mean Opal? She’s a nightmare!” Scootaloo said.

“Well, I guess she could be better, but she’s still adorable.” Sweetie Belle protected her pet.

“Yeah, when she isn’t trying to scratch your feathers out.” Scootaloo complained as she ruffled her wings, apparently not having had the best of experiences with the cat.

“Um, thank you?” I asked, not sure if it would be a good move to say she looked adorable as well.

Soon though, the Unicorn actually decided to scoot over to where I was and look at me before noticing my ears. “Um… is it okay if I… well… touch your ears? They look really soft.”

I shrugged, not seeing the harm in doing so, I bent down and let her touch my ears. It actually felt quite nice for a bit. But that’s when I noticed her hoof move down to my tail. Uh oh… this might not end well.

“Eh, please, not the tail.” I smiled nervously as I tried moving it out of the way. “It’s quite sensitive since I use it to sense my surroundings.” I explained.

“Oh come on, it can’t be that bad.” Scootaloo tried convincing me, placing her hoof on my tail. What came next though was even a shock to me. Apparently, the lighting that I would have stored in my cheeks gave Scootaloo a small shock, making her look like what would happen to a cartoon character when struck by lightning.

“Um… Applebloom? Did you forget to tell us something about Caesar?” Scootaloo asked, looking between me and her.

“Oh, yea. He’s really good with lightnin’ an stuff, just like aunt Embah is good with fire!” Applebloom explained.

“I wouldn’t say I’m that good with it, it’s not really the same thing, but yeah. I kind of have the same capabilities as a creature called a Pikachu. That’s where the ears and tail come from. And please, the tail is really sensitive, if you had yanked it instead, I don’t know how my body would have reacted. I know Pikachu’s don’t enjoy it though, they’d bite you for it.” I said, trying to discourage any of them from fiddling with my tail in the future.

“Aww…” Sweetie Belle moaned, pouting a little. Oh no, please don’t tell me I’m going to make her sad. “Could I at least still touch your ears? They’re really soft.” Sweetie Belle asked.

I nodded, “Of course, the ears are fine. While the tail is sensetive, the ears are purely for listening and for feeling changes in weather. So they aren’t as sensetive to touch.” I explained.

“Yay!” She cheered, happily. Before trying to tackle me in a head on hug to my chest. That was… until Applebloom had to remind Sweetie Belle to calm herself down.

“Calm down, I’m not really going anywhere, really. I’m actually going to be staying with Applebloom for a while.” I explained.

“You are? That’s awesome!!” Scootaloo exclaimed.

“You said you had the same capabilities as a Pikachu? Can you tell us what they are, and what a Pikachu is?” Sweetie Belle asked as she kept petting my ears.

“Well, a Pikachu is something otherwise known as a Pokémon. Pokémon are powerful creatures, who have evolved with many different abilities. One of the most famous ones are the Pikachu. A yellow rat Pokémon that is very much attuned with electricity.

“All Pokemon can be sorted into eighteen different types. While Pikachu's are electric types, there are a few others, there’s normal types, water types, fire types, grass types, ice types, fighting types, poison types, ground types, flying types, psychic types, bug types, rock types, ghost types, dragon types, dark types, steel types and fairy types.” I listed all the types, having to know them all since I used to play the games a lot.

“Wow. Girls, he reminds me of Twilight.” Scootaloo said to Sweetie Belle and Applebloom.

While I didn’t know who Twilight was, I suspected she was knowledgeable somehow.

“Sorry, it’s just that I’m quite a fan of Pokémon. And now that I can use Pokémon moves, I can do a lot of exciting things. I just got a bit carried away.” I admitted.

“It’s alright.” Applebloom replied, looking outside and seeing the sun beginning to set. “Caesar, we should really get back to the orchard. Granny Smith would have a fit if we’re not back in time to help with supper.” Applebloom explained.

“Oh, well, I guess I’d help out then. I guess I’ll see you girls later then?” I asked the others.

“Probably. Maybe tomorrow if we’re lucky!” Scootaloo replied, her wings buzzing a bit, lifting her slightly off the ground.

“Nah, I doubt it. Tomorrow is harvesting day for tha Zap Apples, and we wanna harvest as many as we can before they disappear tomorrow, we’ll only be able to see each other after that.” Applebloom informed them.

“Aww,” Scootaloo replied, lowering back to the ground.

“Don’t worry. If we get done early, Caesar and I might come see you. Heck, maybe Aunt Embah can come as well.” Applebloom said hopeful.

I nodded in confirmation. “After all, I might be able to help out as well, and we might get done even faster! But I think it’s best if we hurry now Aplebloom. I’m a bit hungry after today’s adventure and and after using ‘Agility’ a whole lot.” I explained.

“Yeah, see ya later girls!” Applebloom said as we all walked out of the tree house and split up, me and Applebloom going towards the farmhouse, while the other girls walked towards a scooter and a small wagon attached to it. Both of them putting on helmets before waving a hoof each in our direction before taking of down the road.

‘Well, they were nice.’ I thought to myself. I had expected a lot more questions, but I guessed ponies were a lot more easy going than humans.

“Ya coming Ceasar?” Applebloom questioned, as I had seemingly gotten lost in my thoughts.

“Yeah, sure. Just thinking a bit.” I responded as we began moving back towards the farmhouse.

“So, what’cha thinkin’ about?” She asked me.

“Well, I was thinking about Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. You have good friends, it makes me think about my old friends and home however.” I explained, making her frown as she saw my saddened expression.

“Caesar, I know life isn’t always fair to ya, but ya can’t go around thinkin’ about the bad stuff. Ya need to look at the bright side.” Applebloom said, trying to be encouraging.

“And how am I going to do that?” I asked, barely managing to keep myself from snarling.

Applebloom must have noticed since her frown deepened. But she answered anyway.

“Well, had Ah been in your situation, Ah wouldn’t focus on haw Ah wasn’t with mah family, but on that Ah was in a new world. A world, far different from mine, Ah would explore, make new friends and keep up hope. When somethin’ impossible happens, like what happen’d to you, it only proves one thing. And that is, that nuthin’s impossible. Who knows? Maybe you’ll be able to return one day. And if you do, would you really want to look back, and remember your time in a ‘nother world as sumethin’ depressing and miserable, or would you rather remember it as sumethin’ unique, amazing and sumethin’ to share with friends?” Applebloom questioned. Baffling me for a second with how insightful she seemed to be. I guessed she had thought about it because of Ember.

Her words struck hard. I had, against all odds been taken from earth in some mysterious way. While it was unlikely, there was still a possibility that I could one day return. And if it happened, I should have spent my time in Equestria as happily as I could. And if I didn’t return… Then I’d at least lived a happy life till the end.

Smiling, I turned back towards Applebloom.

“Thanks, I needed that. You know, you’re pretty smart Applebloom. What do you say we go get dinner now, I think I can manage another Agility.” I said, watching her smile back as she saw how she managed to both cheer me up, and how I praised her.

“Let’s.” She responded before sprinting away at full speed, clearly challenging me to a race. Smirking, I activated Agility and ran after her, noting that I would most likely end up with one big appetite after this.

By the time we reached the farmhouse, I was already breathing heavily. While Agility made me faster, it did nearly nothing for my endurance. Since I had recently been sick as well, I guessed that my body was still recovering, even though I had used Rest. Perhaps Rest wasn’t liable as a ‘cure all’ after all.

As Applebloom slowed down, I noticed that she had tired somewhat as well, making me feel a bit better about myself. Shortly after returning though, I saw a small pillar of fire around the back of the barn. Followed by Ember stepping forth from it as she returns inside the house.

“What was that?” I ask, not sure if Applebloom knew the answer. Applebloom turned to look at me, only to turn around again as we heard Ember’s footsteps on the front porch as she entered through the door.

“Hey, I’m back.” She said, looking at us. “How was your day Caesar? Was Applebloom giving you any trouble?”

“No, she showed me the Zapp Apple trees and told me about them so I could help out tomorrow.” I explained, thinking it might be best to avoid speaking about Applebloom nearly being electrocuted. No need for her to worry when it didn’t actually happen.

“Ah I see.” She said. “Well tomorrow, you’ll have the opportunity to pick them. So it’ll be less likely for them to shock you too.” She soon walked on in, taking a seat at the kitchen table and looking at Applebloom. “Did he get the chance to meet your friends?” Ember asks, making me remember that I forgot to mention that part.

“Sure did.” The filly replied cheerfully. “Sweetie Belle liked rubbing his ears.”

“Applebloom!” I exclaim as I feel my cheeks heat up. Thankfully they are already red, so they can probably not see my blush. I hope.

“Heh… figures.” Ember said to herself. “When I met her sister, she went on about my scarf for a while. I just didn’t expect her to do that…” She then looked at me, chuckling a little and smiling. “You need some water, Caesar? Your face looks like it’s burning up… No pun intended.”

'Oh no, quick, think of something.' “Yeah, a glass would be nice. The run I had against Applebloom back here really got the blood flowing. I’m a little warm and thirsty from it.” I try and explain away my embarrassment.

“Sounds good… It’s around the time for dinner anyways. I wonder if Applejack left anything in the fridge.” She said, walking over to the wooden fridge in the corner. The first thing that caught her attention though was the note on the front of the fridge. “Well… that’s something…”

Following her gaze, I read the note as well. Soon, Ember looked back at the two of us and cracked a grin. “Apparently, Applejack is with her friends tonight at Twilight’s Castle. All she said was that Princess Luna needed their help with something, but she didn’t give any more information than just that.” Just then, I heard a set of hooves from upstairs and noticed Applejack trotting down rather quickly.

“Sorry everypony, ah gotta run!” She said quickly before running out into the barn. This though, caused Ember to follow her in pursuit and leave some apples for us on the table as the door slammed behind both of them. Followed by the sounds of the two of them talking outside.

'Apples for dinner, seems kind of plain.' I think to myself, but seeing as Applebloom doesn’t even bat an eye at it I just shrug and follow her example. I’m not complaining, 'These apples are really good!'

Afterwards, Applebloom shows me where I’m going to sleep. Apparently it was decided that I’d be sleeping in Applebloom’s room, since Ember was already occupying the guest room. Me, being the same age as her, it simply made sense and her room was also the only one they could fit an additional bed in.

As Applebloom introduces me to my sleeping arrangements and shows me around her room, she asks me to stay before running off to get something.

To be honest, I’m a bit hesitant to sleeping in the same room as her. I’ve only known her for about a day, and I still feel weird about this whole thing. Being on a different planet with a different species.

I shake my head. They have been nothing but nice to me, and Ember, who is Human, just like me sees them as family. They deserve a chance, I shouldn’t doubt them.

Applebloom soon returns with a thick book. Before I can ask her what it is, she jumps up on her own bed and opens it up, revealing to me that it’s a photo album. With no need from her to even say anything, my curiosity is peaked, and I move over to her. Applebloom proudly begins showing me many different pictures of her family. I sadly notice how most of them are missing both Ember and any ponies beside Granny Smith, Big Mac, Applebloom and Applejack. Some other ponies do show up, as does Ember once or twice, but the figures I’m looking for don’t appear until the end. Her mother and Father.

From what I could pick out, they weren't around anymore.

It is sad how she can barely grieve over them. She grew up without them, and never really had a bond with them, but she still gets a little sad once she gets to those pictures, and I can do nothing but hug her to help her but share her feelings, being separated from my own.

Looking at the pictures took quite some time, by the time we’re about halfway, Big Mac comes by, telling us it’s time to prepare for bed. We decide to go through the rest tomorrow before we brush our teeth, and get ready for bed.

To my surprise, as I go to sleep, I find myself conflicted, I both wish for this all having been a dream, and yet, at the same time, I wish it isn’t. I guess only one way to find out, by waking up the next morning.