Chapter 4: Questioning Reality and Confronting Emotions

Here's Chapter 4. This chapter has some more action than the other chapters have had.

And, as usual, I own nothing except my OC Characters.

Mr. Courtie's Magic Shop

All three of the boys looked at Mr. Courtie in shock after what he had told them. Seeing this, Mr. Courtie sighed and gestured for the boys to follow him into the back room. Understandably, Ryan and Carl were more inclined to believe Mr. Courtie's story, but James thought the old man had simply lost his mind and went along with the hope that he could bring him back to "reality".

Once in the back, Mr. Courtie sat in his desk chair. He turned to face the boys with a very serious look on his face. Much more serious than any of the three teens were used to from this generally giddy and light-hearted old man who now claimed to be a unicorn from Equestria. Not to mention Twilight's uncle.

"So where to begin?" he asked, thinking for a moment, "Twilight already has visited you Carl?" Carl nodded and Mr. Courtie turned to Ryan, "And you don't seem too shocked about this revelation, either. Are you one of the other five elements?"

Ryan nodded, "Yeah, um….l-loyalty."

"Well that only leaves four more." Mr. Courtie said with a small nod, as if to say that they were off to a good start. This was all James could take before he burst out laughing, causing everyone to turn towards him.

"Are you three serious?" he asked with a laugh, "Christ Ryan I thought Christians preaching was bad, but this…this is psychotic! Saying six cartoon ponies are somehow in this universe and have met you, and that you are elements of harmony, and to top it all off, Mr. Courtie, you say you're Twilight Sparkle's uncle?" James almost fell to the ground from laughing so hard. He clutched his stomach as tears rolled down his eyes.

"I take it you don't believe us." Mr. Courtie said jokingly.

James' laughter lessened and once he regained his breath he looked Mr. Courtie in his eyes, "No shit I don't believe you. I have a hard enough time believing that God exists, something that millions of people across the world do, and yet you expect me to believe this tripe about cartoon ponies?"

"So wait, James, are you a brony?" Ryan finally asked and James looked at him.

"Well you guys are clearly nuts so I'll just go ahead and admit it. Yes, I like My Little Pony, congratulations; you are the first people that I've told, do you want some sort of medal, or a cookie?"

"Both would be splendid." Ryan said with a smirk.

"Actually, James, the reason that you need to come back to my house is because you're the element of kindness." Carl stated.

Once again, James burst out into hysterics, "Fuck, it's like I'm the only sane one in a room full of mental patients."

"You're an atheist, aren't you James?" Mr. Courtie asked.

James shook his head, "Agnostic."

"Oh agnostic, big risk you've taken." Mr. Courtie said with a sarcastic smile, "you're too "intelligent" for organized religion, yet you're too much of a coward to say God doesn't exist."

"What business is it of yours what I believe?" James asked. He was shocked at how Mr. Courtie suddenly changed from a sweet old man into a crazy jerk.

"I'm just saying it doesn't surprise me that someone who is skeptical of things like religion would find this to be complete lunacy."

"This isn't just lunacy; it's complete bullshit."

"How do you know? Just because you chose not to believe in something doesn't make it so."

James laughed, "Fine, you want me to believe you, make me believe. Go ahead, show me your magic great and might unicorn of Equestria."

Mr. Courtie smiled, "With pleasure."

James rolled his eyes, while both Carl and Ryan looked at him with anxiety.

A few seconds later the room began to shake. Now all of the boys, including James, looked around nervously before looking back at Mr. Courtie.

Mr. Courtie's eyes were engulfed in a pale, blue glow. His hands and forehead had an aura of the same color as well. He was giving a sadistic smile when the room suddenly began to rotate (think the rotating hallway scene in "Inception").

The three boys lost their balance and fell to the ground. Amazingly, they were the only things in the room to move or fall over. Even with the room rotating Mr. Courtie still remained in his seat and none of the furniture budged in the slightest. Not even the items precariously placed on the shelves on the walls moved an inch. Only the three teenage boys rolled around on the floor, trying to find something, anything, to grab ahold of.

Ryan grabbed onto a table-leg, and Carl grabbed a different leg on that same table.

James scrambled around until he laid eyes on a large, medieval cross that was in the middle of the room, right in front of Mr. Courtie. He lunged at it and took hold just as he was lifted into the air. All three boys were not upside-down, hanging from furniture that was on the floor, which was now technically the ceiling. James was directly above a fan and he was staring at it in fear, bringing his knees up as way to hoist himself up to a safer position.

Now, Mr. Courtie's shop had a ceiling that was pretty high, so falling from where the boys were would have resulted in definite injury, maybe not death, but a broken arm or leg. But the fan had a decorative design that resulted in a large, silver spike-shaped feature that was pointing up, directly at James. If James fell onto it, he'd be in serious trouble.

Meanwhile, Mr. Courtie was now upside down, still in his chair, engulfed in the blue aura.

"Is that proof enough for you James?"

"Parlor tricks." James said as he began to breathe rapidly.

"Parlor tricks you say?" Mr. Courtie said as he rubbed his chin and he pointed at the cross that James held onto. "You know I love the irony of you holding onto that cross for dear life after being proven wrong about belief."

"Shut up!" James shouted, adjusting himself so his arms were wrapped around the cross and he was hanging on as tightly as he possible could. "You didn't prove anything!"

"So you still don't believe this is magic?"

"No." James said with uncertainty in his voice.

Mr. Courtie smiled and shrugged, "Beautiful."

Mr. Courtie raised his glowing hand, which was no longer a hand, rather it was a light blue hoof, and pointed to the cross that James was holding onto. The cross was suddenly released of its hold on the "floor" and James fell towards the fan that was below him, screaming as the spike neared him.

Just before his chest hit the spike, he stopped in mid-air, eyes wide and mouth agape as the spike was literally three inches below. A blue aura had caught him just before impact. Slowly, he was lifted up, away from the fan, and rotated so that he was floating in an almost standing position except his legs were behind him, as if her were kneeling in a church.

Mr. Courtie looked at James as he began to change, starting with his hands and feet, and then with is head, into the unicorn that was in the picture. He changed into Bright Illusion. When he was done transforming, he looked at James and his muzzle-shaped mouth curled into a smile.

"Let me ask you," He said as the room began to rotate back to its normal position, "do you believe in magic now?"

James couldn't answer as he was too frightened and flabbergasted to do so.

Once the room returned to its normal state, Mr. Courtie gently lowered the terrified James to the floor. James quickly scrambled back behind Carl and Ryan, eyes wide in fear as he looked directly at Bright Illusion as if he was some sort of demon.

Bright Illusion stood up and walked over to Carl and gave him a smile, "I was assigned by Princess Celestia to make sure you never lost your faith in magic. That is why you worked for me when you were younger. I know that I failed to make sure the world didn't corrupt you and take your faith away, but I hope that you will be able to find it again."

Carl was speechless for a few seconds before he managed to get a few words out, "But…you're a unicorn. I mean, you're supposed to do magic. Humans still can't."

"That's correct," Bright Illusion said, "now you know it doesn't matter what dimension or universe that you're in, magic can exist if the right people are present. Physics can't stop it."

Carl slowly nodded before Ryan stepped forward. "So, you've always known? About us being the Elements?"

Bright Illusion nodded, "Yes, and I am one of the only allies you have in this town. As you know, Discord is here and he has control over many people and his power over them is great."

"He…he can't possibly control all of that…can he?" James asked with a gulp, slowly regaining his ability to speak, though he was still in shock.

"Think about it, which person living here can easily cause mass chaos, someone who is in control of the police, school, and the local government, someone who can manipulate people with ease, someone who has caused chaos in the form of increased crime by anarchists, someone who has created tension between the poor and the rich here in Wilmont, someone who wants to "change the system", someone whose opponent was killed in an "accident" at a Diner last night?"

Carl's eyes went wide, "You mean the Mayor? Mayor Drocsid?"

"Discord, yes."

Carl thought for a second and his eyes went wide. "Wait, his name is Discord backwards." Carl said and Bright Illusion nodded. He laughed a bit at this, "Wow, I'm surprised no bronies noticed that, they would bring up Wilmont's tourism income if they did."

"Discord's plan is to cause anarchy to rise in Wilmont, with the hope that it will spread. The recession hit Wilmont hard two years ago and people were desperate. Discord knew how to manipulate the anger that people had with the economy through inspirational speeches and class warfare, something that's always existed in Wilmont, but never to the extent that it is at now. The fire was there, he just added to it."

"He knew that humans are not innocent like ponies. That humanity is corrupted by the reality we live in. Each one of us lacks faith in the six elements that Equestrians, namely my niece and her friends, believe in and cherish every day. Discord knew this and that's why he chose this world to rebuild his strength, because it was more prone to violence, chaos, and discontent. "

"The anarchist gangs that have been appearing; they're his work. He has evil ponies working for him, mostly in positions that the local government controls, such as the police and schools. It doesn't matter how well you think you know everyone in this town, no one is trustworthy."

"No one?" Carl asked.

Bright Illusion shook his head, "No, only the other Elements of Harmony." He said, looking over at James, who was still shocked.

"So I…am an Element too?" James asked, "Did Carl say that?"

"Yes, he said you're kindness, no?" Bright looked at Carl who nodded, "which means that you still have to find generosity, honesty and laughter and fast."

Carl then realized the seriousness of the situation and turned to Ryan and James, "Guys, we need to go." Just before they left, Bright Illusion stopped them by putting his hoof out.

"Wait, one more thing." With that, he closed his eyes and a familiar blue aura appeared, in the air in front of him. James suddenly got scared, but his worry subsided as the aura's brightness dimmed and a symbol appeared. The symbol was a black letter "D", with a draconequus wrapped around it like a snake.

Bright Illusion pointed to it, "If anyone has this tattoo on their hand, know that their allegiance is with Discord, and get away from them as fast as possible."

Slowly, Bright Illusion turned back into his human form of Mr. Courtie and the symbol disappeared from the air. He gave the boys his kind smile.

Carl nodded and turned to the others, "Okay guys, let's go."

The three started out when Carl stopped. As Ryan and James headed towards Ryan's car, Carl went back to Mr. Courtie and hugged him, "I'm sorry for holding a grudge against you for years." He muttered before breaking off. Mr. Courtie gave Carl his warm smile and nodded.

"Don't worry about it, now get back to my niece. Protect her, and tell her that I say hello."

Carl nodded, "Honestly, sir, I think she'll protect me as much as I protect her."

Mr. Courtie nodded with a small smile as Carl headed out to join James and Ryan outside.

City Hall

After the chaotic day in the building, which Drocsid just relished in, the place turned back into its empty, desolate self that it did every night. Brett was still in his office as he had some serious business to do for Drocsid. He was sitting at his desk in his office and pulled out his phone and dialed the police station.

After a few rings, he heard. Yes Dark?

Brett smiled, "We're looking for a Black Chevy Tahoe circa 2007."

"Copy that. Hail Discord."

"Hail Discord."

He hung up and leaned back into his chair. He looked down at his hand, which turned into a hoof, and began to twirl some aura around it, feeling its energy course through.

"Hail Discord." He muttered sternly.

Carl's House

While most of the girls had gone back into Carl's room, Rainbow Dash was still in the bathroom with her tear-streaked face buried in her hooves. She still was shaking from fear and embarrassment at what she had said about Ryan.

"Why couldn't I just be a normal mare and fall for a stallion?"

She thought this, but then she sadly thought one more thing, "Why couldn't Ryan be a stallion?"

Only Pinkie Pie and Applejack were still near the door, but still, everypony, Lisa and Anna were concerned for her.

She heard a knock followed by Pinkie Pie's voice from the other side of the door. "Rainbow Dash, come on out! Don't be a party pooper, nopony thinks you're weird."

"I can't" she said sadly.

She then heard another knock, "Okay sugarcube, you've been in there long enough. Come out so we can talk."

"No, go away. None of you guys understand how I feel." She said with some anger as she sniffled a bit and wiped some stray tears away from her eyes. "I mean…I don't even understand."

"RD, listen ya have just got to relax."

"Easy for you to say." Rainbow Dash said. "B-but if Ryan finds out, he'd hate me."

"Have ya seen how Ryan worships you? Ah promise ya he won't think of ya any different if he found out."

"Yes he would. He'd freak out. I mean, it's not like he feels the same way about me."

There was a long silence after this, and Rainbow Dash looked towards the door. "Um AJ, are you still there?"

A few more seconds of silence before she speaks up, "Uh-huh."

"Wait, do you know something about Ryan?"

Another silence, Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and opened the door. On the other side, she saw Pinkie Pie and Applejack still there. Pinkie Pie was looking at her and her face instantly lit up. Applejack, meanwhile, was looking at Rainbow Dash with a red face, as if she was hiding something.

"Oh Rainbow Dash, you've finally come out! Yay!" Pinkie Pie said, jumping up and down happily.

"One second Pinkie Pie." She said before grabbing Applejack and dragging her into the bathroom. She shut the door and turned crossly to her friend. Applejack still had a very nervous look on her face and she seemed to be avoiding Rainbow Dash's eyes.

"Okay, start talking AJ. What do you know about Ryan?"

"A-ah don't know anything." Applejack said nervously.

"Applejack, there's a reason that you're the Element of Honesty. It's because you're terrible at lying, now tell me the truth."

Applejack sighed and looked up at Rainbow Dash sadly and sighed in slight defeat, "Ah promised that I wouldn't say anything."

Rainbow Dash grabbed Applejack and pulled her face close to her own, which showed pleading. "Please AJ, you've got to tell me, what do you know about Ryan." Tears started to form in her eyes as she said this. "Please."

Applejack sighed and looked down, "Ryan; please forgive me for this." She whispered under her breath before looking back up into Rainbow Dash's eyes. "Ryan told me that he has a…crush on you."

Rainbow Dash's face was shock, pure shock. The tears started to stop forming and she wiped her eyes. "He…sniff….really does?"

Applejack nodded. "He even had a dream about being a Pegasus and flying with you, and then kissing you."

"Really?" Applejack nodded and Rainbow Dash's shocked expression became ecstatic as she hugged Applejack. "Thank you AJ!"

Applejack let out a sigh of relief before they broke the hug. "No problem RD. Are ya gonna tell him?"

Rainbow Dash nodded, "Yeah."

"When?"

"Later on tonight, I've got a plan." She said with a sly smirk.

Applejack gave her friend a nervous look and Rainbow Dash's expression fell when she realized what Applejack thought. "Oh no! Not that! Please! I just meant telling him in a cool way! Geez, what kind of mare do you think I am AJ?" Rainbow Dash said before chuckling.

"Oh, uh, okay then." Applejack said.

Both girls giggled and walked out of the bathroom to join the rest of them in Carl's bedroom, Rainbow Dash feeling much happier and more excited than she had in a long time.

Street- Night

While all of that drama was going on in Carl's house; Carl, James and Ryan were still heading back. James was in the back-seat, trembling a bit as he still tried to rationalize what just happened. Carl was thinking about it as well, and Ryan just kept driving down the dark, desolate road, thoughts changing between Mr. Courtie and Rainbow Dash.

"So we need to find a way to get to the mayor, right?" Ryan said, looking over at Carl.

"Wrong, we can't let him know who we are yet. Besides, we still need to find the other three elements." Carl muttered.

"Good point, for now we should stay under wraps, right?" Ryan asked. Carl nodded without looking at him. He was busy texting Lisa to make sure everything was all right back at the house. After sending the message, he put his phone back into his lap and leaned back against his headrest and let out a deep sigh.

"Right," Carl looked through the rearview mirror to James in the back, "hey James, buddy, are you all right?"

James didn't answer immediately, so Carl tried again, "James!"

James quickly looked up at Carl, still shaky.

"Huh? Yeah I'm….I'm fine."

"Look let's just get back to your house and deal with it when we get there." Ryan muttered.

Suddenly, the serene darkness of the night was eliminated by the sudden flashing of red and blue and the sound of a police siren coming from behind them. The boys turned around to see a black and yellow Wilmont Police Dept. SUV trailing them, the sirens blaring and lights flashing.

"Why is that cop coming after us?" Carl muttered.

"I don't know, I've been going the speed limit." Ryan said, "Maybe they saw the tinted windows in this car? My parents have been ticketed for that before."

"I don't know man, just pull over." Carl said nervously.

Ryan pulled his car to the side of the road and the Police SUV stopped behind them. The three boys sat nervously in their seats, each one thinking about their own worst-case scenarios as to why the cop had pulled them over.

After a few seconds a tall officer with brown hair went over to the driver's side window and knocked. Ryan lowered it and gave the officer a smile, "Good evening officer, what seems to be the problem?"

"We got word that this car is stolen."

Ryan's eyes went wide, "St-stolen?" the officer nodded and Ryan looked at him with confusion, "but, this is my car. My parents bought it, I didn't steal it."

"It's true, officer, he didn't." Carl said, "His parents have had this car for four years."

The officer glared at Carl, "I don't remember asking you a god-damned thing, son."

Carl looked away from the officer's piercing glare and down at the officer's hand. That's when it caught his eye.

A familiar tattoo was located on the skin of the hand in-between the pointer finger and the thumb. A black "D" with a draconequus wrapped around it Carl's eyes went wide in horror as he looked up at the officer, who was still talking to Ryan.

"Listen, I promise you this car isn't stolen. Go ahead and look it up now in your truck, Mr. and Mrs. Davis."

The officer let out a deep sigh and walked back to his truck for a second. Carl watched as he left while Ryan rubbed his head from the stress that this "man of the law" had brought upon him.

"Man, fuck the police." James whispered with a small smile.

"Ryan, drive." Carl said flatly as he watched the officer get into his cruiser and begin to look up Ryan's parents. Ryan shot Carl an angry look.

"What!"

"He had a Discord tattoo on his hand, the one Mr. Courtie showed us."

Ryan's eyes went wide. "He did?"

Carl nodded, "Ryan, floor it."

Ryan didn't need to be told again as he took off the parking break and slammed his foot on the gas. The car sped off as the officer quickly got into position to chase them down.

"What the hell are you doing!" James shouted, very unclear about what was happening.

"We're getting the hell out of here." Carl said to James before he turned to Ryan, "We need to get off of this road."

"Where?"

Carl looked around, but didn't see anything that could be done to lose the cop. He shook his head, "I don't know."

Carl knew that there was no way for them to out-drive the officer, especially if he called for back-up. He stomped his foot, "Fuck, there's got to be something that I can do!" he thought.

"There is something you can do Carl." said an elegant female voice that Carl heard in his head.

"Who's…who's this?" he thought back.

"Let's just say I'm watching over you and your friends, and my faithful student and her friends."

Carl's eyes went wide when he heard that, "P-Princess Celestia?"

Carl heard a small chuckle, "Who else?"

"Please tell me you know how we can get away." Carl thought.

"Follow your heart and you'll be able to do it."

"What?"

"Believe in your element."

Carl sighed at the overly generic advice that people often gave in movies when the screenwriter couldn't think of anything else. Carl then tried to focus on magic, hoping that it would cause something to happen, but nothing did. It was like his element on its own wasn't working.

"It's not working."

"Keep trying Carl, you can do it."

Carl nodded and began to think, his eyes closed and his face stoic. Ryan looked over at him annoyed,

"What are you doing? We're being chased by one of Discord's cronies and all you can do is nap?"

"Hang on." Carl muttered as he continued to think.

Carl began to think about magic, which required him to forget his bad experiences with it in the past and focus on what it meant to him now. Initially, it wasn't working. But then, he began to think about Twilight, and something inside of him sparked. It was like she was the representation of pure magic to him. But it wasn't really her magic that he thought of, rather than her, her violet eyes that matched his own, her sweet voice that made his heart flutter with happiness, her intelligence that no girl at Wilmont came even close to having, all of which flooded his mind and made him happy.

Suddenly his heart felt hot, he looked down to his chest and saw a purple aura glowing from inside of him. He also felt his hands becoming hot and saw the purple aura spread to his hands and begin to lift out of his skin and float around his arms and chest, almost like purple flames.

Ryan and James watched all of this in awe, not sure what to do other than stare awkwardly at their friend.

"Congratulations Carl, you've embraced your element. Now use it."

Carl turned back in his seat to look at the police car through the back window. He stuck his hand out towards it, eyes focused on the words "Wilmont Police Department" that were in yellow on the hood of the car. He concentrated with all of his might on making the car vanish, "Stop following us you mother…"

Suddenly, a purple aura surrounded the police truck and a few seconds later, it was gone. The cruiser was no longer chasing them, the sirens were gone and Ryan's car was the only vehicle left on the road.

Ryan and James were speechless and Carl just stared in admiration at what he just did. He turned back forward in his seat and looked at the road ahead. He then looked down at his hand in amazement.

"Okay…what!" James said, ""what the hell did you do?"

Carl looked back up at the road, his hands still glowing purple.

"Ryan get ready to swerve out of the way." With that, Carl focused on the road ahead to make the police car re-appear. Suddenly, another purple aura appeared, followed by a loud POP, then the sight of the police truck falling from the sky, upside down, and landing on the road in front of Ryan's truck.

Ryan screamed as he quickly turned the car out of the way so he left the road for a few seconds and let his 4-wheel drive take care of the rest. James was also screaming, but Carl was too stunned to utter a sound. He was just frozen in place. After getting by the upside-down police truck, Ryan swerved back onto the road and kept heading off.

The rest of the ride could be described as an awkward silence where James stared in shock at Carl, who was busy staring at his hands, which still emitted a faint purple glow. Ryan also glanced at Carl every now and then when the road didn't require too much of his vision.

After a little bit Ryan finally reached Carl's neighborhood. He made a sharp turn down the street and kept going until he reached Carl's house. He threw the brakes on and turned the car off.

They all got out in a panic and ran onto Carl's lawn. Ryan ran over to Carl as James stumbled over, clearly the most freaked out.

"How did they know what car I drive?" Ryan asked in a panic.

"I don't know, they must have someone who is spying on us."

Just then Ryan remembered something that Mr. Courtie told them, "Oh no, didn't Mr. Courtie say Discord was responsible for the increase in anarchist gangs?"

Carl nodded and Ryan bit his lip and stomped on the ground, not noticing as James breathed out, "Guys I'm…I'm gonna puke."

"Lawrence is in one of those gangs, so he must work for Discord."

"How would he know about us being the elements, though?"

"Because, he saw Rainbow Dash run at him and lay him out!" he said, "he probably knows that normal girls can't run that fast or hit that hard and told him that I was the one that she saved."

"So they know that you're one of the elements now?" Carl asked, and Ryan nodded.

"Yeah."

"Guys…" James muttered again.

"Dude what am I going to do? What if they go to my house and try to kill me or my parents, or Rainbow Dash! They know my parents name, they know my car! I'm fucked!" Ryan shouted in fear. Just then, James hurled all over the lawn. Carl jumped back a little and Ryan leapt backwards before shooting a furious look at James.

"What the fuck man! What the fuck!" Ryan shouted.

"I had to throw up you asshole." James growled angrily as he stood back up.

"I'm sorry! I'm just a little freaked out now!" Ryan shouted back.

"Will you both keep it down?" Carl whispered harshly, looking around to see some lights in the neighbor's homes go on, "Come on let's get inside before we wake the whole neighborhood up."

The boys went into Carl's house and shut the door. They stopped in the main entry-way of the house, just below the staircase.

"Okay James, listen, remember don't freak out about what you see…." Carl started when James looked at him angrily and took a step closer to him.

"After what I saw, do you really think I could freak out anymore?"

Aaaaannnddd….you know what's coming next.

Pinkie popped out of literally no-where ("FUCK YOU SCIENCE!") and jumped up and down in James' face.

"Hi James, you may not remember me but I'm Pinkie Pie, well you called me Penelope earlier today, but Pinkie Pie is my real name! I know we've already met, but I thought that I could introduce myself to you as I really am!" She extended a hoof to James.

Now, James did see Mr. Courtie turn into a unicorn and say Twilight was his niece, and he knew the mane six were in Carl's house. But the sight of Pinkie Pie jumping up and down was more shocking than he thought it would be. James just looked at Pinkie blankly before he finally muttered, "Oh, you've got to be kidding me."

At this point, the girls all exited Carl's room.

"Um Pinkie, how did you get out?" Lisa asked, confused. "The door what shut."

Anna glared at Lisa, "Lisa, do you even watch the show?" Lisa then realized that what Pinkie did had no rhyme or reason.

Twilight looked down at them from the top step, "What happened to you guys? You look like you just saw a ghost." Twilight then saw the stunned James and pointed to him, "especially you."

"There's no way, there's just no way." James kept muttering.

"Oh for the love of Pete, Carl, I thought ya said yer friends wouldn't be in denial every time they saw us!" Applejack said.

"No I said I wouldn't keep calling people over to confirm that you were real." Carl corrected and Applejack roller her eyes.

James began to feel faint and almost passed out when he caught a glimpse of yellow and pink hiding behind Rarity. His eyes went wide as he was suddenly more awake due to a surge of excitement. He took a step towards the stairs and looked up.

"F-Fluttershy?" He asked timidly to the mare who had meant so much to him, especially in regards to Caroline. He started up the stairs towards her as she backed away timidly. He slowed his ascent and extended his hand to her.

"Hey, please don't be afraid, come on, I'm not going to hurt you." He said softly, trying to convince her to come over to him. She looked at him with her big, innocent blue eyes and slowly trotted over. And by slowly, she did it slowly. Carl and Ryan watched in amazement as Fluttershy pressed her face into James' hand and began to nuzzle it.

"Wow I've never seen her act like that." Twilight muttered to herself. "Hey James!"

James turned to see Twilight looking at him with a smile. James pointed at her and smiled.

"You were Tara, weren't you?" he asked and Twilight nodded.

"Yes."

"So you're really Twilight Sparkle."

"Correct."

"Just clarifying." James said with a smile, which made Twilight giggle a bit. James sat on the top step so he could put his arm around Fluttershy's shoulder, which she allowed him to do after initially drawing back a bit. He turned to Carl. "So I'm the element of Kindness?"

Carl nodded. He then told James everything that he knew so far, making sure to bring up how he was partnered with Fluttershy.

That made James the happiest that he had been in years.

Rainbow Dash walked up to Ryan and decided to act like she knew nothing about his love for her. She'd show him her own way of showing her affection to him.

And no it's not that, so don't even think about it.

"Ryan, are you all right?" she asked him sweetly.

Ryan gave her a nod. Rainbow Dash looked into his face with concerned eyes. "Are you sure? You seem really tired."

"Yeah, I'm good." Ryan said with a smile, "thanks though."

Rainbow Dash nodded as she noticed Ryan's blush for the first time.

"Wow he really does like me; I can't believe I've never realized it before."

Meanwhile, Ryan was thinking about different aspects about her to write a poem on. As he looked at her, he knew that her eyes had to be the focus. After all, when he looked into them, he never wanted to look at anything else. But then there was her beautifully multi-colored mane, her cyan fur, her great smile.

"Fuck finding the most appealing aspect of a girl you like is hard." Ryan thought.

He also hoped the poem would cure him of his strange feelings towards her. If not that, maybe he could just use it as means to vent his feelings.

"Excuse me Ryan." Rainbow Dash said as she walked over towards Lisa, Carl and Anna.

"Thank you girls for watching them." Carl said.

Anna nodded with a smile and Lisa shrugged.

"It's was nothing." She stated flatly before looking down at her feet as she still felt bad about how far she took the joke with Rainbow Dash.

That was when she felt a hoof on her leg and looked down to see Rainbow Dash smiling at her.

"Rainbow Dash, look I'm…." she was cut off when Rainbow Dash got on her hind legs and hugged her waist as if to show her that she was forgiven.

Lisa sighed in relief and hugged Rainbow Dash back, trying to hold back her tears of shame. But her thinking was interrupted when Rainbow Dash looked up at her and whispered, "Thank you."

Lisa broke the hug and looked at Rainbow Dash, confused as hell, as the cyan mare simply walked back over to Ryan to talk with him more.

The group talked a bit longer, James was even starting to get even closer to Fluttershy, which was a huge accomplishment for such a shy mare and a realist teen boy, when suddenly a purple flash came from Carl's room.

Next, there was a "thud" and a groan that sounded like it came from a young boy.

"What was that?" Anna asked, looking up towards Carl's room.

Everyone and everypony went upstairs into Carl's room to see none other than Spike lying face-down on Carl's bed.

Spike groaned a bit, as he sat up, rubbing his head with one hand as he held a rolled up piece of paper in his other.

"Spike? Are you okay?" Twilight asked.

"Uh, yeah I think so." He said, bouncing up and down a bit on the bed while sitting. He chuckled, "he-he, lucky for me the bed was here to break my fall."

"Spike, dear, what are you doing here?" Rarity said, asking the question that everyone was thinking.

"Well," he said, hopping off of Carl's bed, "the Princess wanted me to be here in case she had any information that she wanted to send to you all."

"What, being in my head wasn't enough for her?" Carl asked. Twilight gave him a look of surprise.

"Carl, did Princess Celestia communicate with you in your mind?" she asked.

Carl nodded, "Yeah, actually that's how we ditched the cop."

"You have got to tell me about this later." She whispered to him with excitement and curiosity, like she really wanted to know more about Carl's experience.

"So Spike, what did the Princess want us to know?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Spike took out the parchment and unrolled it. He held it in front of himself and gave a look of such concentration that it was as if he was about to give the State of the Union Address. He cleared his throat.

"Dear Twilight Sparkle,

I have done some extensive research and found out the first names of all six of Earth's elements. Unfortunately, I do not know their last names, but every one of the Elements of Harmony of Earth knows each other from somewhere. To what extent, I am not sure. However, I hope that these six names will help you find the remainder of them.

Regards,

Princess Celestia

P.S. The names of the elements are Carl, Ryan, James, Alex, Peter and Louis, and I know you already found the first three.

At that, the three boys looked at each other. James then realized that Alex was most likely the Alex that Princess Celestia was referring to.

"Alex is one, really?" James asked with an eyebrow raised.

"Maybe, we'll have to meet him tomorrow so I can check him out." Twilight said, pointing to her horn. "I'll be able to tell if he's an element or not."

James pointed to her, "So that's why you pressed your head against my chest. You were checking to see if I was an element." He asked and Twilight nodded.

"Yep, that's how I'm able to do it. Oh, Spike! What are the other two names?"

"Um…it says their names are Peter and Louis."

"Peter and Louis?" Ryan asked before his eyes widened, "Wait! Wasn't that kid who Lawrence beat up today named Pete?"

"Peter Reynolds, yes." Carl muttered.

"Oh I like that boy a lot! Hey! Maybe he's the Element of Laughter!" Pinkie exclaimed with an excited gasp. "I would love to hang out with him!"

"Um….so what elements are left, if you don't mind me asking?" Fluttershy asked from beside James, slightly leaning against his leg in the cutest possible manner.

"Laughter, honesty and generosity." Applejack said, "Ah guarantee ya I got Alex, after all we hit it off back at the mall."

"And I bet I have Pete!" Pinkie shouted happily, jumping into the air.

"I don't know which one of my grandparents gave my mom the gift of being a heavy sleeper, but I thank you." Carl thought as he was thankful that his mother's deep slumber allowed the ponies and people to talk without fear of waking her. Especially Pinkie Pie, whose normal speaking voice was louder than it should have been.

"And who is this Louis that I might be partnered with?" Rarity asked. "Oh I hope he's a gentlecolt."

"That's the thing Rarity, I don't know about that name, I don't know anyone named Louis." Carl said when James held up his hand.

"Wait! Louis Alderez!" James said with pride that he thought that he figured out the mystery. Everyone looked at him with confusion.

"I'm sorry, who is that?" Carl asked with a raised eye-brow.

"You know, the kid at the party last night who got me marijuana." James said with a smile.

Carl shook his head, "No James, I seriously doubt that the person who deals drugs would be partnered with Rarity out of anypony."

James rolled his eyes, "He isn't a dealer, he just had some extra weed on him. Besides, I don't know any other Louis….Louis…er…whatever the plural of Louis is."

"All right, I assume you have his number?" Carl asked and James nodded.

"Okay, so you text Louis and Alex to meet us at the park tomorrow for a picnic and I'll Facebook Pete, as I assume none of us have his number on us. Let me know later tonight if Louis and Alex get back to you and agree to meet."

With that Carl sighed and looked around his room at all of the cartoon characters, "Which leads me to the next issue, what are we going to do with all of you guys?"

"Well I'm staying with Ryan!" Rainbow Dash said with pure excitement before giving Ryan a huge grin. Ryan heart melted at her excitement and adorable smile.

"Why do I have to repress these feelings," Ryan thought, "she's so cute."

"Ah will too." Applejack said, walking over to Ryan with Rainbow Dash.

"Um….James, do you mind if I stay…with…" Fluttershy started, but was too scared to finish. She just looked down and began to dig her foot into the carpet. James smiled at her, kneeled down and hugged her, which caused her to "eep" (like in every other fan-fiction that I've read), "of course you can stay with me Fluttershy."

"Oh! I'll stay with James!" Pinkie Pie shouted, but Carl tapped her on the shoulder. The pink mare turned to Carl, still with a big smile on her face.

"Actually, Pinkie, since we have three rooms and three people to watch you here, if you want to, you can sleep in either Anna's or Lisa's room. That way James doesn't have to be responsible for two."

"Okey dokey!" Pinkie Pie nodded and turned to Carl's sisters. Anna smiled and gestured her over.

"Pinkie you can sleep in my room." Anna said.

"Yay!" she said before she bounced over.

"Rarity, you can sleep in Lisa's room." Carl said, and then he turned to Twilight and Spike. "And you two can sleep in here."

He turned to everyone else in the room, "Sound good?"

Everyone nodded in agreement as they began to get ready to head their separate ways for the night. Tomorrow was certainly going to be a busy day.

Lisa and Anna went off to bed, and James was outside in Ryan's car with Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Fluttershy. Ryan was about to head out when Carl stopped him.

"Look, they know what car you drive and who your parents are, Ryan, I need you to lay low for the next few days."

Ryan looked at Carl, clearly angry, "What? But I wanted to go to the mall tomorrow to see the other elements."

"It's the only way to make sure we all stay unknown. Just take the day off with Rainbow Dash and hang out with her. I'll come by to pick up Applejack so she and Alex can meet again."

Ryan was about to protest, but then stopped when he saw Carl's face, cold and serious as the night.

"Fine." He sighed before walking out and Carl shut the door. As he left, both he and Carl suddenly realized something. Ryan realized that he and Rainbow Dash would be able to have some alone time to connect. He spirits picked up and he grinned in anticipation.

He still wasn't planning on telling her, but he thought some alone time would be a good way to gauge what direction their relationship was going in.

Carl, on the other hand, realized what he just did and grimaced. But then he remembered how Twilight made him feel when he was working up his magic to deal with the cop. He began to get scared as he realized that he did, in fact, have some romantic feelings for Twilight, whether he liked it or not.

But, at the moment, he decided to just forget it.

Which was something that he usually was against, he hated denial, yet he was now in it.

Alex's House

Alex was sitting on his bed with his laptop open. His earphones were plugged in and he was blasting country music. His green eyes were glued on some random web-pages before he decided to call it a night. He turned the music off and closed his laptop before rubbing his eyes, which hurt from constant computer use, and letting out a deep sigh.

As he brought his computer over to his desk to charge it for the night, he heard his drunken stepfather yelling at his mother downstairs.

When he heard a "crash", he quickly ran out of his room and went downstairs to his mother, who was backed into a corner as his stepfather stood above her with a broken bottle of wine. She clutched her head as some blood trickled down her cheeks from the wound. Alex's stepfather then turned around and looked at Alex with pure anger.

"What do you want boy?" he asked Alex, taking a step towards him.

"Leave my mother alone." Alex said nervously.

His stepfather walked closer, and closer, and closer to Alex until the teen could smell the whiskey and wine on his breath.

"Boy do you know your place in this house?"

Alex nervously looked over at his mother, who just sat there. She had always promised to watch over him and love him. But when his stepfather turned his attention from her to Alex, he was on his own. Not to mention that she cheated on Alex's real father with this drunken bastard when he was young, something Alex had never forgiven her for. Alex often wondered by he stood up for his mother so much when she obviously didn't care about his wellbeing, but then he remembered what his father told him in the courtroom the day that the divorce was finalized and his mother won full custody.

"Son, protect and watch out for your mother, because she's going to need it."

Alex sighed and looked up at his stepfather, "Yes I do. It's between you and my mother, stopping you from beating her you drunken asshole."

That was all it took to have the old man sock Alex in the face and begin to pummel him into the floor. Alex's mother stood up and slowly walked away, not even caring that her son was being beaten to a pulp, she was just glad it wasn't her.

With each fist that came down into his face, and after watching his mother walk away and leave him to his punishment, Alex had one thought fill his mind repeatedly.

"I need something better."

James' House

After arriving home, and getting a lecture from his parents, who included the usual "Patrick would never be out this late" crap, James ran upstairs, locked his room, and opened his window so Fluttershy could fly up.

"Thank you Ryan for the advice." He thought as the yellow mare went up into his room.

He shut the window and turned to see Fluttershy standing there, nervously looking down.

"You don't have to be so nervous, Fluttershy. Make yourself at home."

Fluttershy looked up at James, with cuteness that could make the healthiest person contract diabetes.

"Oh thank you James." She smiled before walking around the room.

As she walked around and looked at everything that he had, her eyes fell on an "Obama 2012" poster in his room.

(Just a note, I am a Conservative like Ryan, but I am not going to make this biased against James. It is just to illustrate a point about politics in general).

"Obama 2012?" she asked before turning to James, "What's that?"

"Oh, that's a campaign poster for our President's re-election this year." He said.

"President?" Fluttershy asked.

"Yeah, basically the person who is the head of the country." He said.

"Oh like Princess Celestia?" she asked. James shook his head.

"Not quite, a president is elected by the people. He can only serve two terms, each lasting four years."

Fluttershy nodded, "Oh, so who is he running against?"

James shrugged, "Don't know yet, the Republican Primaries are still going on."

"Republican?"

"It's a political party. There are quite a few but every election comes down to the Republican nominee and the Democrat nominee. I'm a Democrat and Ryan is a Republican."

"How do you decide which party to join?" she asked. James wa somewhat nervous, after all politics was often one of the main reasons why humanity was corrupted and distructful of each other. He didn't want to corrupt her.

"It's all based on how you believe the country should be run." James said, "Democrats are more for government programs and supply-side economics and Republicans are for smaller government and demand-side economics. Actually it's deeper than that, but that's the basic rundown. Debates between the two beliefs can get pretty ugly."

"How?"

"Well, when you're talking about having views on how the country should be run that are polar opposites of each other, it's clear that there will be a lot of arguing and hatred."

"But you and Ryan seem to get along." Fluttershy said.

"That's because we respect each other's views." James sighed, "Most people aren't like that. I mean, you get Republicans calling all Democrats "socialists and communists", and Democrats calling Republicans "fascists and racists". It's a lot worse than I assume it disagreements are back in Equestria."

Fluttershy nodded, "Yes, most ponies respect each other, at least, they seem to." She said. "They do in Ponyville at least. Some of the ponies in Canterlot didn't really like our style of partying."

James nodded and let out a sigh before sitting on his bed, "I just hate how people are so divided in this world based on politics. I hate how you're immediately called names just because you have different beliefs than someone else."

Fluttershy flew up to his bed and sat next to him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"You're a really nice boy, James."

James chuckled, "Thanks Fluttershy, I knew there was a reason why I liked you so much."

Fluttershy blushed and James put his arm around her and hugged her. It wasn't romantic, at least James didn't think it was, rather it was just his way of showing how much he cared about her.

"I think we should go to bed." He said and Fluttershy nodded.

"Yes!" she then gasped, "but wait, where am I going to sleep?"

James gestured to his bed, "We can share the bed."

Fluttershy immediately turned red and looked down, "You…you're okay with that?"

"Of course."

Fluttershy looked up at James and smiled. They both got under the covers and James turned his light off. Fluttershy stayed at one end of the bed and James stayed at the other.

"Goodnight Fluttershy." James said before closing his eyes.

"Goodnight James." She whispered back before letting out a sigh.

They both drifted off into a blissful sleep.

Ryan's House- Night

Ryan lay in his bed, looking up to his ceiling and deep in thought. He had managed to slip the girls into the guest bedroom for the night, as he remembered that his parents never went in there so they'd be safe. And, as he had for the entire day, Ryan kept thinking about Rainbow Dash, wondering how the next day would be for both of them as they were alone…with each other.

Ryan sighed as he knew that the chances of anything romantic happening were slim to none as Rainbow Dash most likely wanted a coltfriend rather than a boyfriend. It made Ryan somewhat depressed simply because she wasn't just a fictional character anymore, and yet he knew nothing could happen.

It was like having a bar of gold right in front of you that would pull away everytime you came within reach of it.

Ryan rolled onto his side and let out a sigh. He was about to go to sleep when he heard the door to his room creak open. He assumed that it was his mother to check up on him, so he let her do so as he pretended to be asleep.

But then he suddenly felt someone get onto his bed and slip under the covers next to him, pulling themselves close to him and wrapping their hooves around his waist.

Wait….hooves?

Ryan turned around to see Rainbow Dash looking at him with her sweet smile, "Hey I hope you don't mind if I sleep here for the night, Applejack's snoring is keeping me up." She giggled.

Ryan was frozen, unsure about what to say, when he nodded, "Yeah, okay, I can take the floor if you want."

"Actually I wanted you to sleep in the bed as well. I hope that's okay, I just like your company." She said with an innocent smile. Ryan just looked at her and nodded, "Okay, sure. That's…that's great." He smiled back at her and lay back into his bed.

He then felt her body press up against his own as she put her face right next to his ear and whispered, "You know I think you were really brave back at the mall."

"You did, really?" Ryan asked with a blush and Rainbow Dash nodded. Ryan chuckled, "Yeah, well, I was nowhere near as brave as you."

He looked directly into his eyes, which were about three inched away from his face. Now, he had tried to do this as little as possible since she'd been here so that his strange feelings wouldn't take over and make her find become too obvious. But now, he couldn't look away from her big, expressive, red eyes.

Simultaneously, her red eyes looked into his. They were half-closed, showing how comfortable she was, as well as how she was in love. Rainbow Dash closed her eyes and let out a sigh, her warm breath touching Ryan's face and making his face turn red. "Do you know what I wish? I wish you were a Pegasus, so that we could fly together in the skies of Equestria."

Ryan smiled, "I wish that too."

At this moment, Ryan and Rainbow Dash both leaned into each other and kissed.

Now, let me make something very clear, Ryan had never had a girlfriend. He was very spiritual in that he not only wanted to wait until marriage before sex, but also he wanted to only date a girl that he truly loved.

The funny thing was; no girl in Wilmont came close to fitting the bill.

And now, he was having his first kiss with Rainbow Dash, something that many bronies could only dream of and he felt like his life was finally complete.

As their kiss deepened and became more invasive, with their tongues pushing against each other, Ryan felt different. He felt as if so much of his hard exterior that he had gained from growing up melted away, and he suddenly felt, younger.

He didn't know how or why, but all of his stress, anger, hatred, and other negative feelings evaporated and he was left in a state of pure bliss and happiness that most people never had a chanse to experience.

He felt less corrupt and more innocent than a teenage boy should feel, and he loved it. It was like Rainbow Dash's pure personality and love was radiating directly into Ryan. He didn't care that he couldn't understand it, all that mattered was that they loved each other.

As they broke the kiss, they looked at each other and smiled, both red in the face from slight embarrasment. But in this case, it was good embarrasment. Dash moved closer to Ryan so she was pressed up against him completely, her muzzle touching his nose.

"I love you Ryan."

"I love you too Dashie."

With that, both of them fell asleep in each other's arms, dreaming of flying with each other over Ponyville.

Carl's House- Night

Carl sat at his desk and stared blankly at the screen of his computer as he checked his newsfeed on Facebook, waiting for Pete to get back to him after he sent him a had a feeling that it would be a while before Pete got back to him, knowing about his shy personality.

"You'd think he'd be partnered with Fluttershy." Carl thought with a chuckle as he continued to scroll down the comments feed to see if any of his friends had said anything that he could comment on.

Amazingly, he was already friends with Pete on Facebook and he never knew it. Then again, he was friends with 600 people, so naturally some of those were people he never met before.

Spike had made himself comfortable at the edge of Carl's bed as he looked up. Twilight was laying in Carl's bed, under his covers, talking with Spike. She was propped up with Carl's pillows.

"Wow, this world is so weird looking, I mean, it's so plain." Spike said and Twilight nodded.

"I agree, but it has its own charm."

"Not based on what the Princess told me." He said sadly.

"What was that?"

"She said how this world had a lot of good people in it, but that there was a lot of bad as well."

"Yeah, the Princess told me that too." Twilight muttered, just then remembering the story that Carl had promised to tell her.

Carl closed his laptop and walked over to his bed and looked at Twilight and Spike, "Okay, Pete didn't get back to me, but Alex and Louis are definitely going to be there." He slipped under his covers and was about to turn the light off when he felt Twilight tap him on the shoulder.

He turned to her and saw her sitting up, a serious look on her face.

"Tell me about your father."

There it is. Wow, I can't beleive how long I'm making these chapters. But this is going to be a long story, so I guess longer chapters are a good thing.

I also hope I didn't butcher the kissing scene. Remember, that is as far as this story will go with that. And I'd like to thank all of the fanfictions that I've read that have inspired how this kissing scene played out.

Anyway, thank you for reading and, as always, feel free to leave a review, either positive or negative (without being too much of a jerk).

Go Giants!