Rum Raisin Brandy

DISCLAIMER: My Little Pony - Friendship is Magic © Hasbro. All brony OCs © their players. This is a non-profit work of fan fiction.

Chapter 1

Julian pulled up to the house of is friend and put on his parking brakes. Stepping out of the car, he opened the trunk door and pulled out several paper bags loaded with canned food, all vegetarian meals. Slamming it shut, he carried his heavy load up to the front door and pushed the door bell.

"The door is open!" a voice inside called, and the door knob turned itself as the latch clicked open, causing the door to slide ajar. Anyone else would have been surprised by this, but Julian knew his friend had been practicing magic for a couple years now, and probably had the door magically rigged to open by itself on his command.

Pushing it open with his shoulder, Julian stepped inside and found nobody behind the door, the living room of the small country house completely unoccupied. "Nick?" he called out, setting the groceries down, "I brought the stuff you asked for."

"Just set it down. I'll be right out," Nick called back from his bedroom.

Julian slumped onto the sofa. "What's this about, huh? You sounded really shaky on the phone."

A soft chuckle came from down the hall. "Oh you'll see." Nick's words were followed by a soft clip-clopping noise that grew in volume as its source drew closer. "And don't call me Nick anymore."

Julian stopped gnawing on his knuckle and sat up when he realized the sounds he heard were hoofsteps. He jumped up in time to see his friend trot into the living room.

Nick was not his human self today. Instead, he was a unicorn, standing barely four feet tall with a sandy tan coat, a brown mane that was spiked forward, almost completely obscuring his horn, and eyes as big and round as a cat's with thin, blue irises. On his flank, he bore an image of an acorn with a flaming stem. He shot his still-human friend a grin. "Call me Midi Waffle."

"Y-y-you... you..." Julian was at a loss for words, his body visibly trembling with excitement. He stepped forward, his knees threatening to give out under him as he reached a hand forward. "Can I?"

Midi rolled his eyes. "Fine, go ahead."

Julian knelt down in front of Midi and began to stroke the pony's soft, plush coat. "Wow..." His mouth twitched and he laughed a bit, still trying to believe his eyes. "Why didn't you tell me you were this advanced?"

"I wanted it to be a surprise," Midi said, smiling as he felt Julian's hand go down his neck. It fell surprisingly good to be petted.

"Well, yeah, but..." Julian cocked his head. "Why do you look like a G1 pony?"

Indeed, Midi looked more like a mix of the G1 and G4 ponies. His form was shaped much like G1, but his eyes were still large and his muzzle was blunter. Essentially, it was a realistic version of the G4 ponies.

"Well, you didn't expect the ponies to look exactly like Lauren Faust's drawings, did you?" Midi giggled, "Haiyo Miyazaki is a great artist, but humans don't really look like that, do they?"

"Well, yeah, but how did you know what the ponies really look like?" Julian's eyes widened with realization. "You've already been to Equestria?!"

Midi laughed. "Yeah, but don't worry. I haven't gotten a head start there or anything. It was just for recon, I swear. I didn't interact with anypony." He put a hoof up as he said that, looking defensive yet reassuring.

"So then... have you seen Big Macintosh?" Julian gave Midi the Shining Armor duck lip grin.

Midi snickered. "Don't worry, Jewel. He's single." Jewel was the nickname Midi had given Julian as a sign of how much he valued his friendship.

Julian did a double fist pump. "Yes! Ha ha!" He inhaled and stood up. "So?"

Midi tilted his head. "So what?"

"Does he..." Julian rocked his head sideways, "...swing that way?"

"You mean, is he gay?" Midi deadpanned.

"Uh-huh." Julian nodded eagerly.

Midi rolled his eyes. "Dude, Equestria has never even heard of homosexuality, as far as I know. How should I know if he's gay?" He sighed and turned around, motioning for Julian to follow with his tail.

Julian grinned as he followed. "Nice plot."

Midi snickered as he pushed his bedroom door open. "Come on. Take a look at this."

Julian stared at the circle written on the floor in white-out and adorned with crystals and runes. "Yeah, so? What is it?"

"This is a magic circle," Midi explained, "The lines, rings and runes are used to trigger synapses in the brain to help focus and control the flow of mana, and the stones add conductivity, allowing the spell..." He noticed Julian's blank stare, and chuckled in mild embarrassment. "Heh, heh. Basically, it makes casting spells easier and amplifies my energy."

"Ah," Julian said.

It wasn't that he didn't have a good head on his shoulders, his mind was just wired for music while Midi was better a programming. And magic, as it happened, followed many of the same logical principals as programming, only instead of working with data, it worked with raw energy.

"And this circle," Midi continued, pointing to the runes with his hoof, "is a portal too another world: Equestria."

"Yeah, about that," Julian asked, "How did you even find Equestria?"

"Oh that part was easier than it sounds," Midi smiled proudly like Twilight before she went into a lengthy lecture, "See, the human imagination is only 20% fantasy."

"Heh, heh," Julian muttered, "20%."

"The rest of it," Midi continued without noticing Julian's wise crack, "the things we regard as 'canon' facts are, in actuality, reality on other planets. By bouncing a sort of ping off the minds of others who watch the show, gathering the common resonance, I was able to pinpoint the world where our little ponies live."

"So what you did," Julian tried to put it into layman's terms, "was basically Google Equestria with magic?"

"The technical term is 'scry,'" Midi said as he nudged his hoof against one of the crystals on the floor, "but, yes."

"Cool!" Julian pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Oh yeah, I brought my reference sheet. I'm guessing it has to do with me becoming a pony?"

"Yes, follow me." Midi led Julian into the kitchen where another magic circle with a very different design was drawn in black marker with smaller stones at its points. "I couldn't keep the circles in the same room or activating one might cause the spell to feed off the other one's crystals."

Julian blinked. "Feed off them?"

"Oh, well not really feed off them. Burn them up is more like it." Midi rubbed his head. "See, for certain kinds of spells, the stones used are consumed, either for amplifying energy/matter conversions or fueling a transfer of some kind. In this case, the stones are a catalyst that causes your mass to be altered to match the form you'll be taking."

"I think I understood that," Julian said, "So, do I get to be a pony now?"

Midi shook his head. "I have to study your reference sheet first and add the details to the circle. Meantime, I'll be needing your hands for something."

Julian grinned slyly. "Oh really? What do you have in mind?"

Midi disregarded his friend's perverted humor. "I made some saddle bags out of back packs and stuck them in my closet. Yours is the blue one. I want you get mine and fasten it onto my body for me. I'd do it myself, but I need to see the straps to attach them without pinching myself badly."

Julian retrieved the over-sized saddlebags that were loaded with camping gear, first aid supplies, some trinkets that he figured were for conducting magic, and Midi's nD. As Midi studied the image of Julian's pony-sona, Julian strapped the green saddlebags to the unicorn's body, giving him a playful belly rub as he did.

Midi looked closely at Julian's pony-sona. It was a gray pegasus with white hooves and a messy, charcoal mane with red highlights. His eyes were the same absolute blue as Midi's, and his cutie mark was a double music note.

"Hmm... this may be a challenge," Midi pondered out loud.

Julian finished putting the saddlebags on him. "How so?"

"Well, the horn was a purely cosmetic change for me," Midi said, "I only need to make it glow when I'm casting magic openly. My own power isn't affected by it. Your wings, however, will need to be fully functional. And I'll need to work on the inherent mana field that causes clouds to remain solid when you touch them." He tapped his chin. "Not to worry, though. Should only take about an hour, and then I'll be ready. Go relax while I finish this up, or make sure you aren't forgetting anything you need."

"OK," Julian said as he turned to leave, but then stopped at the door. "Wait, that reminds me. Why are you taking your nD? Wouldn't that get ponies suspicious if they found it?"

"I'm well aware of the risk," Midi said, his focus still on the circle as he drew more runes onto it, "But I'm still a game designer at heart. I can't just leave my creative passion behind. So I'm taking the nD and my netbook with me so I can keep making games. Besides..." He stared up at the ceiling. "I don't want to leave everything about this world behind."

"I understand," Julian said, and then left his friend to his work.

The human went outside and took in a deep breath of fresh air. He was still shaking a bit, knowing that this was likely going to be the day. He thought back on his life, how nothing ever seemed to go right for him up until now when his magic friend had recently told him of the possibility of traveling to Equestria. This world sucked big time, and they both knew it. There wasn't any hope of them changing things, unless Midi could somehow master a worldwide mind control spell without killing himself in the process. They decided that since they didn't have much of a life here, they would instead move to another world, one that they knew to be better, and try to start over there.

And what better world than Equestria? A couple years ago, Julian and Nick would have laughed at anyone who said they would one day willingly go to a world filled with colorful talking ponies. But now, thanks to a certain television show, the very show they once hated until Lauren Faust had turned the whole thing around, they were going to live in such a world.

Julian broke from his thoughts and went to his car, pulling his guitar out of the back seat. Like Midi, Julian wasn't going to so lightly leave his greatest passion behind in this world.

Heading back inside, he sat on the sofa and gently strummed the strings of his guitar. I wonder how I'm supposed to play with hooves? They do it in the show somehow. If I can't work it out, I'll just play drums instead. Any instrument will do. He smiled and played an acoustic instrumental of the My Little Pony theme, among other songs from the show as he waited for Midi to finish setting up the spell.

Meanwhile, Midi was humming Stan Bush to himself and inscribing runes on the crystals with surgical care. Making a single mistake in marking a runestone would mean having to buff out the scratch, which diminished the overall size of the stone, and every little bit counted. Laying out his enchantments and making sure everything was in the precise position needed, he nodded affirmatively at his work.

"Julian! It's ready!" he called.

Julian excitedly jumped up and took his guitar off, laying it on the sofa cushion, then ran into the kitchen. "Really? Are you sure?"

"Do friends of a class have access to their protected members?" Midi said with a grin.

The nerdy coding reference was lost on Julian.

Midi scoffed. "It's ready, silly. Just stand in the middle and try not to disturb the circle when you step in."

Julian nodded and carefully stepped over the rings. The circle was almost twice as big as it was before, and a number of new crystals were laid out on the floor. "What's with the scratched up ones?"

"Those are runestones," Midi explained, "They're enchanted gems that can be used to cast a spell without using your own magic. It's like writing a separate function outside of the main scope..." Midi realized he was getting into nerdy tech talk again, and cleared his throat. "It just handles doing part of the spell for me so I don't have to focus on more than one thing at once."

"I see," Julian said, and stood at attention.

"Alright then," Midi said as he began to concentrate, focusing his energy into the ignition stone before him, preparing to fire the spell into it that would bring the whole circle to life, "Just don't move, or you'll die!"

"WHAT?!"

Before Julian could react, a white-hot bolt shot from Midi's horn into the stone, causing the whole circle to light up, each ring and line taking on a different color. The runes around him began to blink as the stones on top of them rose into the air, flashing in and out and orbiting their target: the petrified human standing tensely in the middle of them.

A white cocoon of light engulfed his body. Julian shut his eyes, and felt the warm energy wrap around his body and begin to change him. His digits were forced together, and he lost all feeling in them as they became a single hoof at the end of each limb. His muscles and torso grew bigger, his neck thickened, and his face stretched into a long muzzle that began to adjust itself to fit the image of his pony-sona. This was all mildly uncomfortable, but then he felt an intense stinging sensation as his skin opened up at three points and new bones were added and attached to his body, forming the skeleton of his wings and tail. Flesh and fur covered them, long hairs protruded from the tail, and feathers sprouted out along the length of his wings. His clothes were evaporated by the spell, removing the growing tension around his body caused by the cloth being too tight on him. They were replaced by a tingling sensation that told him his coat was growing in. Lastly, it felt like someone was brushing his fur, changing his coat and mane to the proper coloration.

Julian hung in the air for a moment as the cocoon shattered, bits of glowing mana shells falling to the ground and bursting into shimmering particles that dissolved in the air. His body was slowly lowered to the ground by Midi's telekinesis, helping him to get to his knees.

The former human opened his eyes, seeing his friend, now almost as tall as him, smiling approvingly at the completed transformation. He looked himself over, his excitement building as each detail came out exactly as he'd expected. A glance down between his legs, and his giddy giggling burst out into an excited "WHA-HA-HAAAA!"

"I'm guessing you're impressed?" Midi said, panting slightly from exerting his magic.

"Impressed?!" Julian interrobanged, "I... I can't believe it! I'm a PEGASUS!" He closed his eyes and squeed for a full ten seconds.

"OK, OK, calm down now, Jewel," Midi said, "Or should I say, Crescendo?"

The pegasus's eyes shot open. "Crescendo? That's right! That's my pony name!" He giggled and shuddered excitedly. "Oh boy, oh boy, oh boy! I am CRESCENDO WOLFANG!" He covered his mouth in surprise, not expecting to hear himself so loudly. "Did... Did I just use the royal Canterlot voice?"

Midi nodded. "Yes. Well, a mild version of it."

Crescendo grinned a mile wide. "Awesome! So, can we get going now? I wanna get to Equestria!"

Midi shook his head solemnly. "No, not today."

"Aw," Crescendo splayed his ears back, "How come?"

"Because," Midi said, "I can't possibly cast another big spell like that again so soon. And you," he poked the pegasus's chest, "need to learn to walk. Now walk a few laps around my house and get used to your body, alright?"

Crescendo sighed. "Oh, alright. When will you be ready?"

"We'll leave tomorrow," Midi said, going into his room, "That'll give me time to make sure we haven't forgotten anything, and we'll be well rested when the time comes to go to Equestria."

"Sounds like a plan. Can I practice flying?"

Midi raised an eyebrow. "Oh, yeah, sure. Go practice flying. I'm sure the humans would love an air show."

They both laughed, and then went their separate ways, Midi to finish planning the trip and make sure everything checked out, and Crescendo to practice trotting around the house.

The next morning, Midi and Crescendo were sitting at the table, now back in the kitchen where it belonged, eating breakfast together. Crescendo was spending more time trying to figure out how to hold a fork with his hoof than actually eating.

"You have an extra wrist joint, you know," Midi said, demonstrating with his fork, "How do you think Equestrians hold things?"

Crescendo stuck his tongue out to the side as he tried Midi's method, grinning in triumph when it worked. He jabbed through his pancakes and lifted them up, nomming ravenously on them.

Midi, meanwhile, was using his magic to lift his utensils, trying not to stab himself as he ever so slowly moved the fork from the plate to his mouth. He chewed for a bit and swallowed before speaking. "So, with the food you brought, we should have enough to sustain us for a couple weeks, assuming we stretch it out with grass and stuff."

Crescendo nodded and swallowed. "Gonna be a bit tough, getting used to the vegetarian life. Well, not for you, since you've been one for so long already."

Midi shrugged. "Anywho, I've added a section under our floor boards that we'll use for secret storage. The stuff we bring with us will have to remain hidden."

"Why can't we just tell everypony that we're bronies?" Crescendo asked, looking somewhat disheartened.

Midi bit his lip and looked off to the side. "Frankly... I'm afraid of Celestia..."

"Afraid of Celestia?" Crescendo laughed out loud. "Why on Earth would you be afraid of her?"

"Well, you know she'd do anything to protect her little ponies," Midi said blankly, "What if she decides we're dangerous? She might send us to the moon or turn us to stone. Suppose she mistakes us for changelings?"

"Oh," Crescendo's smile faded, "I see your point. Then we should try and avoid the princesses as best as we can."

Midi nodded in agreement. "And probably Twilight, too. If she picks up on anything suspicious... well, let's hope the ponies haven't learned their lesson and don't believe her."

"Mhmm," Crescendo said.

They finished breakfast, gathered their supplies, and went into the bedroom and stood next to the portal circle.

"What about all your other stuff?" Crescendo asked.

"It's been taken care of," Midi replied, "I've already donated every penny to my name and arranged to have my stuff taken by Good Will. What about you?"

"Eh, my dad already took most of my stuff when I said I was moving in with you," Crescendo told him, "I guess I could bring my Nook to read my ebooks with."

He went outside and carefully sneaked to his car. It was early morning, so no humans were outside yet, but he wanted to be cautious all the same. Drawing attention might cause someone to interrupt Midi's portal spell.

Coming back inside, he stowed the Nook in his saddlebag and looked to Midi for directions.

"Alright," Midi began, "I need to remain still to keep the portal open, so you'll have to go first. As soon as I break my concentration, the portal will begin to collapse, so you need to get our stuff through and let me know when you're ready. Got it?"

"I think so," said Crescendo, "But... what if you don't get through the portal in time?"

"Don't worry about that," Midi said, "I've done this before. I won't get split in half or anything."

Crescendo's face showed obvious worry. "Promise?"

"Cross my heart and hope to fly. Stick a cupcake in my eye." Midi went through the motions of the Pinkie Pie swear.

"Alright." Crescendo seemed reassured. "But when I get this stuff through, you better high tail it, or I'll tell Celestia on you."

"Julian," Midi said, purposefully using his friend's human name, "I've done this before. I wanna make sure you get through alright. If I get left behind, I can find my way though again easy enough. But if you get left behind here as a pony..."

"Oh~..." Crescendo understood. He knew Midi wouldn't risk even the shortest amount of time for Crescendo to be discovered as a pony and taken somewhere he couldn't be found.

Midi took in a deep breath and slowly released it. "It's time. Stand back."

Crescendo stood behind Midi and watched as the unicorn activated the ignition stone. The crystals hovered and began to spin around a tiny ball of light in the middle that crackled and sparked, releasing small bolts of electricity in different directions. The ball expanded and grew more violent as the fabric of space was torn open, and flattened into a disk that split in the middle, taking on a flat donut shape as the image of a grassy field started to appear in the center.

The pegasus's eyes widened as he realized what he was seeing. The portal was opening up into a new world!

The portal expanded further until it was just an image of this beautiful landscape with a thin ring of light around it.

"Go! Now!" Midi commanded.

Crescendo obeyed, pushing the groceries through with him as he jumped into the other side. The portal was off the ground a bit, and he found himself falling flat on his face like someone who expected there to be a floor under him and ended up falling down a staircase.

Standing up and shaking himself to get rid of the dizziness, the pegasus looked around at his new environment. It was a simple grassy field with a gravel road that led to a large, old-looking city off in the distance. Most prominent in this city was a large clock tower with a striking resemblance to Big Ben. Crescendo raised an eyebrow, and turned around. Behind the portal, he noticed the familiar layout of Stonehenge.

"This... is not Equestria," Crescendo said as Midi jumped through the portal and landed beside him, "Midi! You've brought us to England!"

"I know," Midi said, "You didn't think I could really open a portal to another universe in my bedroom, did you?"

"But, you said that portal led to Equestria!" Crescendo said exasperated.

"And so it did," Midi grinned, "But only half way. That," he pointed with his hoof to the Stonehenge, "is the rest of the way."

Crescendo stared for a moment. "That thing is a magic circle?!"

"Of course," Midi said, levitating the paper bags over his head and set them inside the circle.

"I thought this was what druids used to make their weird sacrifices?"

"Well, yeah," Midi explained, "But that's because they didn't know what they were doing. This place is a large ley node. See, there are energies that flow around the world along things called ley lines. These lines converge at nodes that, when properly harnessed, can be used to unlock powerful magic. The druids knew where they existed, just not how to use them properly."

"Wow," Crescendo said with a smile, "You managed to explain all that without mentioning your weird computer stuff."

Midi chuckled. "Alright, Smarty Pants. Get on the middle stone while I prepare the real spell."

He started placing his portal stones at different points around them while his pegasus friend stood on the middle block, tapping his hoof as he waited.

"When we go through, we'll be teleported instead of having to jump through a portal. We'll land on the side of Whitetail Wood opposite to Ponyville, a good place for us to build our house without having to ask about construction permits or anything."

"How do you know that'll work?" Crescendo asked.

"I checked their zoning laws," Midi said, putting another crystal into place, "If you build far enough from a town, you don't need to pay for the land. Pretty convenient, if you ask me. All we have to do is make sure when we cut down the trees, we pull up the stumps and plant new trees in their place."

A few more stones, and they were ready. "Done. Let's do this!"

Crescendo felt himself jittering in fevered anticipation. He stood next to Midi as the unicorn's horn began to glow bright white. This wasn't a special effect; Midi was using so much energy that his horn glowed on its own as the mana flowed forth from it.

He noticed that a car full of tourists had pulled up and were taking pictures of them. Not that it mattered; they'd be leaving this world very shortly. Still, it amused the pegasus to imagine what they might have thought of this spectacle. Two ponies evoking an ancient magical construct and then disappearing before their very eyes.

Had they known these humans were bronies too, they might have invited them along. But it was too late. The two ponies and their possessions in the circle disappeared in a bright flash that extended into a beam of light that shot into space. Next Chapter: Chapter 2 Estimated time remaining: 41 Minutes