Shane sighed as he sat at a table at a coffee shop. It had been a year since his little trip, or was it a dream to sort out his crap. He couldn't tell anymore. He began to wonder if he had imagined it all. He sighed as drank his coffee. He had been seeing so much saturation of the culture and it was impressive, even as he watched some clever minds take the concepts and play with them in insane ways. As he pondered this he could have sworn he heard someone whisper, 'Do you miss them?'

He looked around, wondering if he had finally lost his mind but upon seeing no one he decided to keep it to himself. Didn't want anyone else thinking the same thing. He sat there pondering the question briefly and he sorta nodded in thought. It might have been a fever dream of some kind, but it had felt so real at the time. They weren't like him… well most of them weren't… but they were good girls. He just grew up in a darker world than that. Days you went hungry, sometimes so cold that it would cut you to the bone. Trust no one and understand that the world is unforgiving. There is good, but it is only by embracing the madness that you could get through the day. He sighed as he looked at his black gloved hand. The leather was old and worn, but still holding strong. It was as he began to lose himself in these simple thoughts that AJ arrived, putting his coffee down with enough force to get him to jump.

AJ laughed, "You are getting all reflective again. You really need to relax. You haven't been yourself for awhile. Less grumpy and bitter. Hell, you even sat and watched an episode of MLP with me." Shane nodded, just shrugging, "See, I didn't think that not hating things would ever give you peace. I mean, you do realize how many things you hate with great intensity, right?"

Shane rolled his hand, "Yeah, Yeah. Look, teasing me isn't going to make Monk watchable. OCD is not a punchline and disfunction like that isn't good to idolize." He mumbled, "Fun mysteries though." Before drinking his coffee as AJ pointed a finger accusatorially. "Look, not everything is perfect, and not every dumb thing is any good. But, why hate something like MLP. It shows in the early episodes that I've seen that the writer honestly gives a damn. The whole thing doesn't feel like toys trying to sell a cartoon and more like a cartoon trying to sell a cartoon. When love is put into something, people will be drawn to fund it."

AJ laughed, "Yeah right, sourpuss. Fine I'll let you keep being grumpy. I've got stuff to do. I just saw you chilling out here and figured I'd kill some time with you. See ya!" His friend walked off with the coffee waving over his shoulder as Shane waved back without looking.

Eventually, he finished his coffee and with a sigh he got up to go throw it away when a voice that sounded familiar came from behind him, "There you are. Do you know how long I've been looking for you?" He turned to look with a raised brow and saw a girl with multi-colored hair, a blue tanktop and acid washed jeans looking at him. It as subtle but he swore her eyes were purp…. His face lost all color as he tried to convince himself he was just confused and that this girl didn't know him. "What is your damage? Come on!" She motioned him to get closer as she pulled out a phone, "Yeah? Well, I found him. I won't, now just get everyone together."

He laughed awkwardly, "I think you are mistaken miss…" He drew out the pause as if to fish out her name.

"I can't believe you forgot me! Then again I suppose you were rude before too. Must just be a default setting. I just don't see how you could forget the coolest flier in all of Equestria." As he heard this, he felt himself getting lightheaded and then the world fade to white for a minute before going black.

When he opened them next, his heart froze in his chest for a minute as a girl with very familiar pink hair was in his face with a big old smile on it, "He's awake!" This time however, he didn't feel the urge to punch her as much as he felt sudden panic as if he had finally lost it. He looked around and saw that he was in the apartment he was renting. The second thing he noticed was the girl from before getting chewed out by her friends. The final thing he noticed was that each of the girls was easy to identify given the circumstances.

This time, he took a deep breath, centering himself and deciding to turn into the skid. Putting on a gentle smile he asked, "Could you get off of me, Pinkie?"

She smiled back, "Not this time, buddy. I'm under orders from AJ to keep you here until we figure everything else out." He narrowed his eyes at her as she did the same thing in return, scrunching her nose and declaring, "Staring Contest, go!" Figuring it would put her in a good enough mood to let him move freely in his own home, he played along, making his glare even more intense as though it would knock her clean off of him, her matching in kind. This kept escalating and escalating until the girls turned to see the two making monster faces at each other in a hilarious manner. This caused Dash to begin laughing aloud and Twilight to giggle when Applejack motioned her head. Pinkie laughed, "You really are good at that, Justice." As she scrambled off of him.

That wasn't his name but he would roll with it. As he got up, he saw the brief remaining moments of Pinkie getting a dirty look from Twilight. That was… interesting. Still, rolling with it. "Alright, so… we are going to assume that my trip actually happened… and that multiverse theory is a thing. What brings you ladies here? Did you miss me?"

Dash scoffed and teased, "As if anyone would miss a grump like you."

Rarity sighed, "You abandoned the clothes I made for you in the middle of the woods. Do you know how hurtful that was?"

Fluttershy smiled softly, "The bunnies missed you something fierce and I have a lot of stories to share." She then looked down with embarassment, "But, I'm sure you know about those already."

Before others could go on, Shane smiled softly at her, "I'm sure you could tell them better than I heard about them." Okay, so they seemed to know about the show… he wondered if that was Pinkie's doing or not, but hey, at least he didn't have to worry about them disappearing because of it.

Applejack just tipped her hat in respect, clearly not wanting to remove it even though she was indoors. Twilight laughed awkwardly, "I just figured that since our last meeting was in my world on… less than good terms… that I would come visit you and try things again."

Pinkie jumped onto his back wrapping her arms around his shoulders, "I missed you! I mean, I've been busy as all get-out helping the cakes and saving the world and stuff, but it just wasn't the same with only Dash to prank people with me! I mean, do you know how boring that is when only one pony is willing to play pranks and have fun! I just know that you are totally a prankster when you are done scowling." He put a hand on her mouth so she would stop but she kept going underneath it. During that time he felt a chill up his spine like she had said something important but she stopped as soon as he removed his hand and she smiled at him.

He let out a sigh, "Well, I only have enough food in this house for me and I wasn't expecting company. I don't tend to invite people over." He went and sat on his couch so he could face them all when he noticed something off about the smile Twilight was giving him. His eyes narrowed as he closed the distance, a brief look of fear crossing her face, "What aren't you telling me, Twilight?"

Applejack stepped forward and pushed him back a little, "Relax. We didn't come here to attack you or nuthin." He could see something in Applejack's eyes that told him she was hiding something too. Just as he was about to press the cowgirl on this, there was a knock at the door. He sighed turning to go check the door. As he looked through the peephole he saw his friend.

He sighed and shouted through the door, "Sorry, I have company. Can you come back later, AJ?"

The boy laughed back, "I know you do. Who do you think gave them the key to get into your apartment? Now Let me in, I brought snacks."

Shane raised a brow and called through the door, "You did what?" As if to drive this home he stated, "You let six strange girls drag me, unconscious, into my apartment and left me unattended with them while you went to get snacks?" Before the boy could respond Shane growled, "Snacks do not make this better! I didn't even tell you where I keep the spare! How did you know?"

Through the peephole his friend gave him a raised brow, "Come on… who keeps a rock in front of an apartment door? Besides, you don't have anything worth stealing and we all know that you are a genetic cocktail of terminal illnesses waiting to happen. Only an idiot would steal your organs or blood." After a minute of grumbling, Shane opened the door and let his friend in. "Besides, I know who they are and why they are here. And I'm glad the spirit of harmony still lives in my homeland."

Shane froze, not entirely sure he knew what was going on as he felt his mind beginning to fly apart. In that moment he felt like someone was holding his mind together themselves. Again he heard the voice which caused him to dart his head around, 'This world is yours. You are safe here. Deep breaths'

Following the lead of the voice he took a few deep breaths, eventually collecting himself, it being so much easier when all the girls looked frozen in shock from what he had just said too. Shane stepped forward, "What do you mean?"

AJ turned as something about him seemed different than usual, "I never wanted this, and so I don't have a choice. I am sorry, girls, but this… is how it must be…" He waved his hand as the world seemed to flip like a rolodex, countless images of the scene crossing his vision as the girls began to vanish from view, "He must not wake for all our sakes, so run. Hide. Sleep." And with that the last card flipped and the world disappeared around Shane causing him to fall into the blackness. As he did so, he felt his chest begin to ache. What had they done? No…. what had he done? What was all this? He felt his mind echo quietly as he fell for what felt like an eternity, embracing the nothingness that encircled him.