Chapter 6: Painful Memories and A Hopeful Future
Yes, I know that this chapter's title is pretentious, but whatever.
Just so people know, a lot of the inspiration for this story is from other fanfiction that I've read. One in particular is "My Second Life" by Coal Buck on fimfiction, which I owe a lot to in regards to how to write Applejack's dialogue. Also, that story came up with the idea of someone slipping into a southern accent when he hears one before I did (Alex's habit is based on this) Just wanted to make sure credit was given where it was due.
And I really suggest the story, it's very good.
Also thank you to all of you readers out there, I was shocked to see how many people read this story on Saturday and Sunday.
I hope the whole human projection thing for the mane six isn't too confusing for you guys.
Anyway, here's Chapter 6 and, as usual, I only own my OC Characters.
Tree House- 2005 (narration in italics)
The sun was shining brightly down onto the tree house that, Rainbow Dash and Ryan were presently in. But this was 2005, seven years ago, and at that time, there was a much younger, ten-year old Ryan sitting in the open doorway looking out over the treetops as the sun began to dip down for the night. He leaned his head against the door frame and let out a sigh. He then felt someone tap him on his shoulder.
He turned around to see a ten-year old Lawrence standing behind him. He looked nothing like he did today. His eyes were bright and innocent; his stature was thin and weaker. He didn't look like he could ever hurt a fly, much less his best friend, at any point during his life.
"Hey man, what are you doing?" Lawrence, or Laurie, as Ryan called him, asked his best friend at the time, and his future bullying victim.
"Oh, nothing man. I was just looking out at the sunset." Ryan said in a distant manner, like his mind was miles away.
Laurie chuckled, "Dude, that's so gay."
"Whatever, I think it's amazing."
Laurie shrugs, "Whatever you say Ryan…hey, watch this!" Laurie gargled and spat out of the door. Ryan looked back at him in disgust.
"Dude, that's gross."
Laurie laughed and shook his head, "Man, you need to start doing some more guy like things and stop admiring the sunset like some chick."
"I can't help it; I'm a romantic like that." Ryan muttered. Laurie sat next to him. "I'm always looking for something more."
"What more is there Ryan, you're parents are rich. You can get things that most people could only dream of."
"I'm always looking for something special that isn't possible in this reality. I always dream about things I read about or watch on television, characters that don't exist in this world and go on adventures. When I wake up it all fades and I'm have the realization that I am stuck in the confines of reality. I wish life could be that simple and exciting."
Laurie broke out into laugher, "I don't understand you sometimes, man. You're such a dreamer."
The two laughed and walked back into the tree house, where they fist-bumped.
"Bros for life?" Laurie asked.
"Bros for life." Ryan responded with a chuckle. Laurie smiled and walked out of the open door of the tree house and got onto the ladder to climb down, "I'll talk to you later, man!"
He climbed down and left Ryan watching as he disappeared. Ryan then stood up, turned, and walked over to one of the tree house's windows and looked out at the sun as it dipped behind the clouds.
PRESENT- Ryan's Tree House
"Ha-ha, you seriously got grossed out because Laurie spit?" Rainbow Dash said laughing like crazy, "and I'm your favorite? Clearly you haven't seen what Applejack and I do when we make a bet."
"Oh no, I have." Ryan said with a smile, "You spit into your hoof and do…well; to us it would either be a fist-bump or hand-shake."
"It didn't gross you out when I did it?" she asked him.
"No when you did it, it was cute." At this, Rainbow Dash blushed and gave Ryan a smile. Ryan continued, "I think it's because I like badass girls who aren't cookie-cutter stereotypes of shopping this, and sparkly vampires that."
"Like me?"
"Exactly like you."
Rainbow Dash smiled at Ryan in appreciation for his compliment. "So what happened between you and Laurie?"
Ryan sighed and looked at her, "It was a few months later, the week before school started. His parents learned that I was the son of two wealthy parents that lived in Leigh Heights, which is our neighborhood, the richest in town. Needless to say a big union man like him wasn't happy about it."
Lawrence's House- 2005
Lawrence was sitting at his dining room table with his father and mother. His mother was drinking some coffee, while his father was wearing his white work t-shirt that was caked in mud from the construction site that he worked at, and a pair of torn-up jeans.
"I told you to stay out of Leigh Heights Lawrence! That's where the rich bastards live, and you are to never speak to them."
"But-" Lawrence started, but he was cut off by his father as he raised his hand to silence him.
"You are never to ever go to that boy's house ever again; unless you go to teach him a thing of two about the shit that us working class people go through each time people like his parents fire us." He leaned towards Lawrence with an angry eye, "As long as he's rich, you stay away. Got it?"
Lawrence opened his mouth to say something, but stopped when he saw the unyielding resilience in his father's eyes. He somberly looked down at the ground, "Got it."
"To them, all of the rich people in town were evil and I was nothing more than their spawn."
Present Day- Tree House
"What kind of thinking is that?" Rainbow Dash asked confused. "Hating a group of people just because of a few bad seeds?"
"Welcome to humanity Dashie." Ryan laughed a bit before he continued, "That thinking is what we learn in the media. There are evil rich people that exit, no question, like Bernie Madoff and many of the people on Wall-Street. Even animated shows always have the rich portrayed as scumbags. But, because the media never shows good rich people unless it fits their agenda, people think all rich people are heartless bastards who step on the lower and middle class. To make matters worse, Lawrence's Dad was one of the hundreds laid off by the local soda factory the year before, which is why he was working at a construction site at the time. After he got fired, he detested the rich so much that if your salary was a penny higher than his, you were a greedy ass-hole."
"So he told Laurie to stop seeing you?"
Ryan nodded.
First Day of School- 2005
Ryan was at his locker, pushing up on the latch to try and get it open, but it wouldn't budge.
"Stupid piece of garbage locker."
As he pushed up harder and harder, the locker finally opened all the way. Ryan sighed in relief and began to put his school-books into his bag. Suddenly, he saw Lawrence walking by him. Ryan waved, but Lawrence just looked at him and then looked away with sadness in his eyes. Ryan looked emotionally hurt.
"I thought maybe he was just in a bad mood, but every time I tried to speak with him that week, he ignored me. Finally, the next Monday, I confronted him at his locker."
Lawrence was putting his books back into his locker. He slammed it shut it and turned to leave when he saw that Ryan was in his way, looking at him with inquisitive eyes.
"Laurie, why aren't you talking to me?"
Lawrence looked away and tried to get by, but Ryan stopped him, "Laurie stop."
"My Dad doesn't want me to talk to you anymore."
"What?" Ryan asked, "but; why?"
"Because your parents are rich and my parents hate the rich."
Ryan was frozen in place, unsure about what to say.
"Laurie, come on, you can't honestly listen to that."
"Ryan I still want to be friends too." Lawrence said with desperation.
"Great, then, let's be friends."
Lawrence smiled, "Okay! Just tell your parents to stop making so much money and it'll work!"
Ryan was smiling up to this point. Suddenly, his expression fell. "Y-you want me to tell my parents to make less money?"
"Yeah, they make more than enough. Do they really need all of that money, I mean, you're their only son."
"Laurie, they earned their money," Ryan muttered, "I know that your father has bad experiences with the rich business owners of Wilmont, but I'm not going to tell my parents to make less money. I can't believe you'd even suggest such a thing. Besides, it's not like they'd make less just because you said so."
"I get it," Lawrence said angrily, "You'd rather have the chance to get a BMW when you get your license or stay in that house that makes mine look like a shack than be my friend."
"Laurie, I still want to be your friend! It just isn't right of you to ask my parents to earn less just to please your father."
"You disappointed me Ryan." Lawrence said as some tears began to fall, "You've let the rich claim you."
"Lawrence, where are you getting this anti-rich bullshit from? Did your father brainwash you over the past week or something."
"No he enlightened me," Lawrence said, pointing a finger at Ryan, "and everything that he's told me has shown that all the rich care about is money. They don't care who they hurt, and you've proven that. You're no different than the rest of them."
"Laurie you've lost your mind."
Lawrence grabbed Ryan by the shirt and shoved him into the wall of lockers, making people look at him. Ryan was frightened out of his mind, and Lawrence just stared him down with extreme hatred.
"Watch your back you spoiled prick."" He growled before storming off. Ryan was left shaking as he slipped to the ground, tears pouring down his cheeks.
"At that moment, I knew the "bros for life" saying we had was no longer valid, society made sure of that."
Present Day- Tree House
"Then how did he become your bully?" Rainbow Dash asked.
Ryan looked down and back up at Rainbow Dash, who had the most concerned look in her eyes, "God I love her so much." He thought before snapping out of it and getting back on-topic.
"Throughout that year he began to adopt more and more of his parent's beliefs. Soon he hated the rich so much that joined one of Wilmont's many anarchist gangs. He also began to target me, and the other kids he felt were part of the upper class."
"Wow, I can't believe that much envy exists here." Rainbow Dash said in shock.
"Welcome to our world." Ryan said with a smile before walking over to the window to look at the sun. He sat down much like he did seven years ago to watch the birds flying high above the sky. Rainbow Dash sat next to him and put her head onto his shoulder.
"I actually had mixed feelings towards the show; your show"
"But…but I thought you liked it."
"Oh no, don't get me wrong I loved the show, it was so relaxing and fun." Ryan said before letting out a deep sigh. He reached over and began to stroke her mane, "but every time I watched it, I got depressed. I would see you and your friends on my computer screen and, I'd be mad that you weren't real, especially you, Dashie. That you were just products of an artist's imagination, and…this would never be possible. Kind of like one of the characters in a fanfiction that I read before ("My Little Dashie" in case you're wondering). You represented loyalty, and, seeing how faithful you are to your friends made me wish that your kind of loyalty would exist here, even though I felt like it was impossible after Lawrence turned against me. " Ryan said as he continued to watch the trees outside as some wind gusts blew by, holding back as many tears as he could. Rainbow Dash nuzzled her head into his shoulder.
"Well, now you have me, and I'll always be here for you." She said with a smile and Ryan looked back at her. He wiped away a tear at that.
"Ï know you will be Dashie."
Mall- Day
"Come on, where are they?" Alex groaned as he let his head flop onto the table as he and Louis waited in the mall food court for the others to arrive. Alex lifted his head and looked in the metal napkin dispenser to see his reflection, which shows red bruises all over his face from the night before.
Louis, meanwhile, was wearing his backwards cap, his eyes were red and glazed over, and his long, messy hair sticking out every-which way.
"Dude...are you an alien?" Louis asked.
Alex looked at him and raised an eyebrow, "Um…I'm sorry, what?"
"Like, you look like an alien, man. Are…are ya gonna probe me, because…because that would hurt…and I don't swing that way." Louis said before coughing a bit.
"How high are you?" Alex asked and Louis smiled.
"Like a fucking plane."
Alex let his face hit the table in annoyance, "Great, now I'm stuck with the fucking stereotypical stoner. Great, just great. James and Carl better have a good reason for dragging me out here like this. Ah mean, Jesus Christ…..why did I just think with my southern accent? Stop it Alex, you're in New York now, not Texas and…"
"ÄLEX!"
Alex snapped out of his deep thinking and looked up to see Carl, James and four of the "girls" from yesterday, Raquel, Tara, Penelope, some girl with pink hair and a timid face and….Anna.
Alex began to blush as he saw the pretty southern girl with the cowboy hat standing in front of him. His stomach suddenly got tight in nervousness, especially because "Anna" smiled at him and walked over to the seat next to him and pointed at it.
"Is this here seat taken?"
"N-no, go right ahead." Alex said with a blush.
"Thank ya kindly Alex." She sat down next to him.
"Anytime Anna." Alex said with a smile and with a tone that sounded like he had just met the girl of his fantasies.
Meanwhile, Penelope looked like she was pouting, "Hey! Why isn't Pete here?"
"He's probably running late, wait, not all of us can sit at this table." James said, realizing that the table could only sit four people, six at most if two other chairs were brought over from another table.
"James, you can take Flu…er…I mean Thelma, and Penelope over to that table. Me, Raquel, Tara and Anna will sit here.
James nodded walked over to a nearby table with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie.
"Why is your fake name Thelma?" he whispered to Fluttershy as she managed to get into the seat, sitting like a pony would (minus Lyra).
"I'm not sure, Ryan gave me that name."
"I thought he did ha-ha, Ryan and his movie obsession." James chuckled a bit to himself before he sat down.
"I wish Pete was here." Pinkie said before slouching in her chair with her pout.
"Pinkie, don't worry. He still might show up, just give him time."
Pinkie perked up at this and sat back up in her chair with a smile, "Okay James!"
"Great, listen I'll go get some salads for us. I'll be right back." James got up and left.
Later on, back at the table with Alex, Carl, Twilight, Rarity, Applejack and Louis, the group was talking and eating some salad they also had gotten. And it was clear to Carl that there were some problems.
First off, Alex and Applejack were flirting with each other in the most obvious way. Alex began to talk about how he remembered living on a farm in Texas until he was eleven, when he moved up to New York. He also brought up how he forced himself to lose the accent, which Applejack didn't really like, as she wished that he kept his accent so she could hear it. Applejack also wanted him to talk to her about his life in the country, as she was enjoying how much they were alike and both from life farm-life.
Now, the opposite scenario was happening with Rarity and Louis, as the ganja in his system made Rarity's lunch a living hell.
"You know, you sort of look like a girl I banged once."
Rarity's mouth hung open in shock. "I beg your pardon!" she exclaimed, taken aback by Louis' crudeness.
"Yeah, she had the same slutty lips as you. Maybe you can use 'em the same way?"
Rarity gasped in anger, "Well, I've never seen such boorish behavior from anypony before!"
"Did you just say "anypony"?" Alex asked, looking at her with confusion.
"Oh, n-no I said anybody." She corrected frantically. Alex nodded in some skepticism before turning his attention back to Applejack.
Twilight decided that it was time to check the two boys out to see if they were the elements that they were looking for. So she first walked over to Alex, who was back to flirting with Applejack.
"Hey Alex, would you mind holding still for a minute?" Twilight asked.
"Huh?" Alex said, too entranced by Applejack's eyes that he didn't hear her. "Yeah, sure Tara, what is it?"
Twilight leaned her head forward and closed her eyes, but just before she could touch Alex's chest, Applejack pushed her away.
"Uh, Tara, what do ya think yer doin'?"
"I'm trying to see if Alex here is important for our cause, Anna." Twilight hissed through her teeth.
Applejack glared at Twilight with an "I'm watching you" look before Twilight rolled her eyes and put her forehead into Alex's chest.
"Tara um…..okay?"
Twilight backed up, turned to Applejack with a smile, and gave her an approving nod. After Twilight made her way over to Louis, Applejack grinned and leaned towards Alex who put his arm around her and gave her a kind smile with a flirtatious look.
Applejack then started to eat some of her salad.
Now Carl was concerned, "Jesus Christ, what's going on? I mean, first Ryan, now Alex? Not to mention me." Carl's eyes widened at that thought and shook his head, "No, don't think like that. You don't have a thing for Twilight, you don't."
Now, after Twilight lifted her head away from Louis, who was so out of it at this point that he didn't budge even with Twilight's head on his chest, she turned to Rarity and sighed. She then shook her head and, not too surprisingly, Rarity's eyes glowed and she gasped, "Oh thank you Celestia." Before slumping back into the chair with a sigh, her forelegs (or arms to Louis and Alex) outreached over the sides as if she was resting after she had just run a marathon. She was just so happy not to be paired with this loser.
"Raquel, are you all right you seem…" Alex started when he heard someone burp next to him. He turned to see Applejack covering her mouth and blushing like mad. Normally she wouldn't really care, after all she never was the "girly-girl" type, but because she burped in front of Alex, who she was trying to impress, she was mortified.
Twilight smacked her hoof to her head just next to her horn, and thought, "Ugh, really Applejack?"
Carl's mouth hung open and Louis began to laugh like he'd just come out of a room full of nitrous oxide…or he was stoned out of his mind, which was the truth.
"Anna, how rude!" Rarity said.
"Ah…ah'm sorry." She said, looking away from Alex. She pulled her hat down over her eyes to avoid looking at him, knowing that he was probably grossed out by her now and she blew her chance to be with him.
But to her surprise Alex, who was never the passive type, pushed her hat up away from her eyes and smiled at her, "You don't have to be embarrassed Anna; I actually like gals that aren't always so focused on being "proper"." He said with a smile, and Applejack looked away to hide her blush.
Carl sighed and thought, "Okay, we human elements are a bizarre group of individuals; that much is clear."
"Gee, thank ya Alex." Applejack said, looking up at him with a thankful smile.
"You know," Alex said leaning back, "you remind me of someone."
"Really, who?"
Alex looked from side to side before leaning in to whisper, "What do the names Flim and Flam mean to you?"
Applejack ground here teeth, "Ah hate those good fer nothing…."
Her eyes widened and she covered her mouth, realizing what she just said. When she saw Alex's cocky smile, she knew that he had found out who she was.
"You're name isn't really Anna, is it?" he asked her quietly with a smile.
Applejack sighed and shook her head.
"I think we need to talk." Alex whispered, standing up and turning to the others, "will you guys and gals excuse us, me and Anna need to have a quick word in private."
Applejack sighed and followed Alex towards the carousel. Carl watched them go and turned to Twilight, "What was that all about?"
Twilight sighed, "Your friend is too smart."
Alex and Applejack were behind the carousel when he turned to her, "You know, I probably shouldn't have found out that you were Applejack, considering how this shouldn't be in the realm of possibility."
"How did ya know?" Applejack asked.
"Because you may look different, but your personality is still the same as it always is. Kind, strong-willed, and even if you're a human right now, I can tell who you are just by looking into those beautiful, green eyes. "
Applejack blushed and smiled, "Aw yer too kind Alex."
"So why you're here, and why you're a human."
"First off, ah ain't human, I'm just projected as one in yer mind. Second, it's a long story."
Alex smiled back at her before he kissed her. Unlike everyone else, even Ryan, Alex didn't really have any problems in falling for Applejack, regardless if she was a cartoon pony or not, and regardless of what others thought about him for doing so.
"I have time to listen." Alex said with a smile.
So Applejack told him about him being the human element of honesty, how they were elemental partners, and a little bit about why else she was there. This lasted about two minutes before they began to kiss some more.
Meanwhile, back with the others, things continued to go south. Rarity was on the verge of stabbing Louis in the face with the plastic fork she had eaten her salad with as he continued to make sexual jokes about her. Both Twilight and Carl had a serious case of face-to-hand syndrome. And Pinkie Pie was still looking around anxiously for Pete to arrive.
The only ones who were doing fine at the tables were Fluttershy and James, who were now talking about Fluttershy's work with animals, which James had a great interest in.
"So what type of animal is your favorite?"
"Oh my, I couldn't tell you. They're all just so wonderful." she said with a big smile as her eyes looked off as if she was imagining all of the little and big animals that she took care of.
"Just pick one then."
"Well, I guess that would be bunnies. They're just so cute and fluffy."
James chuckled a bit, "Like Angel, right?"
Fluttershy nodded and ate some more of her salad with her mouth which, again, looked like she was using a fork to eat from other people's point of view (I'm sorry if this human projection thing is confusing).
"Oh hey it's Petey!" Pinkie exclaimed, pointing her hoof towards the entrance of the mall.
Pete saw Pinkie and game a grave smile and walked over to her. She ran over and almost knocked him over as she gave him a big hug. Pete's eyes were wide and he froze in fear. He shook a little bit, not used to this showing of affection from anyone, let alone a girl he somewhat liked.
Pinkie broke the hug and giggled, "What took you so long I was worried that you wouldn't show up! But, you're here now so I'm happy!"
"Sorry, I was…busy." Pete muttered quietly as Pinkie smiled back at him. Pete saw this and smiled back at her, though he was still clearly taken aback by her excited nature that was the complete opposite of his own quiet nature.
"Oh, okay! Hey, come on lets go back to the table!" she said before she grabbed the timid boy's hand and literally dragged him over to the table. Once there, Pinkie pulled his seat out so he could sit down. Once in his seat, he put his hands onto the table and looked down at them. James and Fluttershy, who were right across from him, looked at each other before James turned to Pete.
"So, Pete, glad to see you could make it." James said.
Pete didn't answer immediately, but after a few seconds he managed to whisper out, "Thanks for inviting me."
James smiled and patted Pete on the back, which made him flinch a bit.
"Wow, he's like Fluttershy. How in the world did he and Pinkie get paired up?"
Pinkie took the seat next to him and stared at him with a huge grin.
"So Jamesie-wamsie, how old are you?"
"Um…seventeen." He muttered.
"Hey, is something wrong? You know, when I'm upset about something, I bake! Or sing! Or, well, a lot of things, really! It all depends on what I feel like or what I can do!"
"Penelope, um, maybe you shouldn't…." Fluttershy began, but Pinkie didn't hear her attempt at a warning as she continued to talk non-stop.
Surprisingly enough, her ramblings actually seemed to be making Pete smile and feel better about being around these kids that he didn't know. He looked up into her eyes, which was rare for him to do because of his shyness, and smiled at her. James sighed in relief and decided to just let the conversation go. After all, it was only helping Pete out.
"Where are you from?" Pete finally got the courage to ask.
"Oh I'm from Ponyville!"
James, who was drinking some soda at the time, went wide-eyed and chocked on the drink. He pounded his chest to stop coughing.
Now, Pete looked at her skeptically, "Ponyville? Where's that?"
"Well, it's actually on another world called Equestria!"
Pete's face was frozen, his eyes wide open and his mouth agape. He shook his head, "Why are you doing this to me?"
Pinkie was still smiling, but then looked at him curiously. Pete then turned to James.
"Is this why you all called me out here? Because you found out I'm a brony and wanted to mock me?"
"Pete no of course not…."
"The beatings I get at school aren't enough? I can't enjoy a show that lets me escape? Who the hell do you think you are?" Pete said on the verge of tears.
He stood up and stormed out of the mall.
"Pete, wait!" Pinkie shot up and ran after him.
"God-damn it." James stood up and followed them towards the exit with Fluttershy right on his heels.
Pete and Pinkie were already outside and James was about to be as well when out of the corner of his eye he saw Alex and Applejack making out near the carousel. He stopped, turned and stared at them in astonishment.
"Um…Alex? Anna?"
Alex looked up at James and smiled, breaking the kiss for a second, "'Sup man?"
"Howdy James." Applejack said as she began to kiss Alex some more.
James didn't know what to say, he was too confused by everything that was happening. He then felt a hoof tap him on the shoulder and saw Fluttershy pointing outside, "Um, I hope I'm not interrupting but shouldn't we go outside?"
James nodded and went out. Alex saw this and brought it to Applejack's attention.
"Should we go too?"
"Ah think so." She said as they, too, began to head out.
Back at the table, Carl and the others saw what was going on with Pinkie and Pete.
"That's not good." Carl said, "Come on, let's go after them."
They began to leave, but just as Rarity was about to go, she felt someone tug at her "shirt" (really her tail) and she yelped in pain. She turned around to see Louis looking her up and down. Once his eyes met hers, he winked, "So, you're place or mine?"
"What?" Rarity growled.
"I have to tell you, could you help me up, because I literally can't move right now." He broke out into laughter because, well, as said before, he was stoned.
Rarity scowled, walked over to Louis. She leaned forward, right into his face, and spat,
"Listen here bud; do you honestly think that you will win your way to a girl's heart with this behavior?"
"No, just her pants." Louis said with a dumbass stoner smile.
Rarity couldn't hold it in anymore and she began her rant, "You are without a doubt the single rudest person that I have ever met, and I once met a prince who placed part of my lovely dress into a puddle just so he wouldn't get wet when he walked over it. Now you're here in your, ghastly attire and your brash and uncouth attitude and an undeserved feeling of superiority. You see women as nothing more than something to take advantage of; well I see you as a loafer that does nothing but sit on his flank all day laughing at his own jokes and horrid smell. So let me make this perfectly clear to you now so when another girl tells you the same it will not be a shock. You are an utter and complete jerk, good day to you."
With that, Rarity turned in her typical huff and stormed off after the others. She left Louis in his chair laughing his ass off, too stoned to even know what she was talking about.
Outside, Pete was walking off in no particular direction, as his parents had dropped him off and went to go grab some lunch before they were going to pick him back up.
"Petey, stop! Don't leave." He heard Pinkie shout behind him. He stopped and turned to see her, and the others, all walking towards him.
"Listen, just…please, leave me alone." He said, holding his hand out in desperation.
"Petey, I didn't mean to upset you. I just meant to answer your question, that's all."
"With a response that was clearly to mock me." Pete muttered, kicking a stray rock that was on the parking lot.
"No it wasn't." Pinkie said sadly, her mane flattened a little bit. This caught Pete's attention, as he saw, what he thought was her hair, flatten.
"How…how did you do that?"
"Do what?" she asked sadly.
"Your hair it….got flatter." Pete said nervously.
"Pete!"
He looked past Pinkie to see everyone else there now.
"Pete, listen. We aren't trying to mock you or anything; we just really need your help." Carl said.
"What's going on?" he asked shakily.
Carl turned to Twilight and pointed to Pete, "Do your thing Twi."
Twilight nodded and walked over to Pete, who took a sudden step back. He looked like a frightened animal being backed into a corner by a predator.
"Hey, Pete, come on it's okay."
Pete slowly stood back up and let her put her forehead to his chest. He didn't move and decided to let her get whatever she had to do to him over with quickly. She backed away and gave Pete a warm smile. She then closed her eyes and a purple aura shone from her forehead as slowly, Pete and Alex began to see what the girls really had looked like the entire time as the spell she had cast on everybody was now gone, Fortunately, though, no one else was around to see it, as everyone was too bust focused on getting into the mall to see five cartoon ponies in their midst.
Pete's jaw dropped as he looked down at "Penelope", who was now clearly Pinkie Pie.
"P-Pinkie Pie?"" Pete stammered as the pink mare nodded with a big smile, her mane puffing back up in joy. He started to feel like he was going to faint so he sat down on the pavement of the parking lot, leaning against a sedan, and put his head into his hands. "This….this is impossible."
"No, it's possible all right!" Pinkie Pie bounced over to him, "and you're the Element of Laughter! Well, for Earth anyways! I'm still the Element of Laughter for Equestria!"
Pete shook his head in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Alex looked at Applejack, who was looking back up at him.
"It's amazing you…you look exactly like you do in the show. You look animated, like this dimension did nothing to alter your appearance," Alex said with a chuckle, "you're like something out of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"." He snickered a little.
(Side note: I hate when shows alter cartoon characters' appearances when they are in our dimension to be "realistic", therefore I refuse to do that)
Applejack gave Alex a small smirk of her own and got up on her hind legs and kissed Alex on the lips.
Carl and James saw this and looked at each other with pure confusion.
"Um Alex…what are you doing?" Carl asked.
"Kissing the most beautiful mare ah know." He said with a little southern accent, winking at Applejack who just laughed at him.
"Yer such a sweetie sugarcube." She teased back.
James was stunned for a moment before he just nodded, "Okay, we've officially gone nuts. If you excuse us, Fluttershy and I have something that we've got to do."
James walked off, Fluttershy flying right behind him.
Carl was still looking at Alex and let out a sigh.
"Awwww…that's sweet, isn't it?" Twilight said as she watched Alex and Applejack kissing as if they'd known each other for longer than an hour. Well, technically, Alex did. But this wasn't anything new to him; after all he often kissed girls during the first date, even if it was a blind date going into it. But it didn't hurt that he was kissing his favorite pony either.
"I don't get it, why is Alex kissing Applejack?"
"Probably because they like each other?" Twilight said with a chuckle, "besides, I know you have some of those feelings about me."
Carl shook his head in disbelief, his denial starting to crank up to full speed, "What?"
"You heard me."
James came back over to Carl, "Hey man, sorry to bother you but I just had a senior moment and remembered that I don't have a car. Could you give me a lift to where I and Fluttershy need to be?"
Carl didn't hear him, he was just staring down at Twilight, "So you're insinuating that I have a thing for you?" Carl asked, voice getting shaky, which revealed his anxiety.
"I know you have a thing for me." She said with a teasing smile.
But Carl was too concerned about being found out, so he said something that he regretted immediately "No I don't because unlike Ryan and Alex, I don't have a thing for cartoon ponies. I don't find you attractive."
Twilight looked at Carl with sad eyes. "You…you don't find me attractive?" she looked like she was going to cry. Carl didn't want to see this and feigned a lack of interest by turning and walking in a huff back towards his car.
Everyone watched him go. Everyone, that is, except Pinkie Pie, as she tried to calm Pete down, which was actually working quite well.
"What was that all about?" Rarity asked.
Twilight just looked at the ground and sighed, "It's nothing Rarity."
"Ya, it's nothin' if Carl actin' like a jerk don't count." Applejack spat and Alex sighed,
"Wait here AJ." He turned and ran off after Carl with James right on his heels. He was freaked out by Alex's behavior but at the same time he could never say anything like that to Fluttershy.
How Carl managed to fit the five girls, as well as him and James, in his father's Caprice, he'd never know. God bless cartoon physics.
When they reached Carl, they saw him leaning against the side of his car.
"Dude, what the hell's your problem?" Alex hissed.
"I don't want to talk about it." He muttered sadly. "I don't…"
"Well look, you really hurt Twilight's feelings back there, I think you should go apologize."
Carl looked up at them, "I'm sorry, I need to apologize? She's the one making accusations against me! Saying I like her with no proof, and she gets mad when I'm honest with her?"
"Yeah, you're being honest, right." James muttered in sarcasm, for even he could see the love in his eyes when he was with Twilight.
"She just was making a point because you dissed me and Applejack kissing." Alex spat, "and yeah, I do like Applejack, a lot. I know that's hard for someone like you to understand when you're life hasn't been all hurt and pain, but I love her, and I have for a long time."
"What do you call what happened to my father then?" he hissed.
"That was five years ago Carl," Alex said flatly, "And yes I know it is sad and I do understand that you miss him still. But besides that your life is blessed! You have a loving mother, you almost never get picked on, you have your health, and your family is economically stable." Alex said, on the verge of tears. He was so angry he didn't notice Applejack sneak up behind him, looking at him with concern. "I have an alcoholic step-father that beats me and my mother every night. Don't you ever wonder why I have these bruises on my face?" he asked, pointing to some red marks that were all over his face."
"Alex, I…" Carl started, but he was cut off as Alex continued.
"And Ryan? Try being him! Sure his parents love him and he's well off as far as money goes, but does all of that matter when you get the shit kicked out of you every day to the point where no girl would date you! Not to mention I never see you step up to defend him! You have no right to judge us for how we feel towards these girls."
"Wait, Ryan told you about his crush Rainbow Dash?" Carl asked.
"Ryan has a crush on Rainbow Dash?" James asked.
"Yes, Ryan told me all of the time how much he loved Rainbow Dash because he knew that if she was real, she would always be there for him. She'd be loyal and love him more than anyone he knew. And after what happened between him and Lawrence, I understand why loyalty is so important to him."
"Ryan didn't tell me any of that until the yesterday." Carl said.
"That's because he felt like I was the only completely trustworthy person around. And I assume he only told you yesterday because you all found out Rainbow Dash is real, right?"
Carl nodded and Alex continued.
"As for me, watching the show made me remember the lies that my mother had told me to the point where I always wished that Applejack would be real. She represents something that is dying in this world; honesty; honesty and hard work, both of which are values that our generation has thrown by the wayside." Alex took a deep breath before continuing."
Carl wiped some tears away, but he was still holding more back. "Alex I never knew…."
"That's right you never knew. You don't know anything. You think you do just because we tell you some of this, but in reality you can't possibly fathom what it's like, what Applejack has meant to me ever since I started to watch the show."
After that, Applejack nudged Alex's leg. He looked down to her and smiled. She smiled back and nuzzled his hand affectionately before shooting a glare at Carl, "Hey Alex, maybe we could give James and Fluttershy ah ride." She said.
Alex nodded, looking up at James, "James? Fluttershy?"
James slowly nodded and followed; himself a bit uneasy about the situation between Alex and Applejack.
Carl just looked back over to where Twilight was to see her hunched over, Rarity putting her foreleg over her.
"I'm an asshole." Carl sighed and stomped the ground angrily.
As Alex, James, Applejack and Fluttershy left, Carl sighed and decided to go apologize.
Meanwhile, Pinkie was oblivious to all of this, as she was gabbing non-stop to Pete, slowly making him talk more and more until they were having actual conversations.
Carl walked over to Twilight to see that her eyes were shut and she was crying as Rarity tried to comfort her.
"Um…Twilight."
She turned to look at Carl, her eyes were filled with tears. Rarity looked at Carl with a small scowl before looking back down at Twilight.
"I'm sorry for being a jerk. You aren't just a cartoon pony to me, you're…you're more than that. You're my friend and…you are beautiful. It's just…"
"No…" she said, wiping her tears away, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I insinuated that you liked me when you didn't."
Carl looked down and slowly nodded, as he decided to keep up his act of not having feelings for her. He wished that he could just say how he really felt about her, how he did love her in a way that was more than just a friend.
But he couldn't. He wasn't Ryan or Alex, who could just profess their feelings to these girls. He still felt scared about what would happen when people found out about his feelings that weren't his friends and who would judge him.
How would his mother react? His sisters? How would other people around town react? What about when she had to go back to Equestria, as he knew that she would have to. Would he have to watch her go away forever, after professing such emotions to her?
It wouldn't work.
He stuck his hand out for Twilight to shake, and she did so with a small smile. Now, in her mind, she knew Carl was lying; after all she was very smart. And she knew that someday, he'd tell her. But she didn't want to pressure him into anything too soon and, being the great friend that she was, decided not to ask him about it anymore until the time was right.
Carl's House
"What did I do to deserve this?" Spike asked in a huff. He was in Anna's room, sitting at a tea party table set-up with Anna and her stuffed animals. The two girls had a half-day at school, so they were able to come home and watch Spike so that Carl could leave with the others. He was in a small tuxedo that normally would have gone onto a larger-sized doll. Lisa was walking down the hall when she saw this. She stopped and looked at the scene with utter bewilderment.
"Come on its fun." Anna said.
"You and I clearly don't have the same definition of the word "fun"." Spike groaned.
Lisa began to crack up. "Anna, what are you doing with Spike?"
"She's torturing me." Spike said flatly with his face still in a are you kidding me expression.
Lisa laughed and walked over, "Anna, come on you know guys don't like this stuff. Spike, if you want you can watch a movie with me downstairs."
"Thank you Lisa." Spike said with releif as he walked out of the room. Anna sulked a bit; her arms crossed like a typical kid, and looked away in her own, calm version of a hissy fit.
As he walked off, Lisa giggled. Spike turned around and sighed, "What now?"
Lisa pointed to his tuxedo, "You still have the tux on."
Spike looked down at it and laughed, "Yeah, I know. But I think it makes me look dignified."
"Even if it was given to you by a six-year old to wear at her tea party?" Lisa said with a sly smirk. Spike rolled his eyes.
"Whatever, I think if Twilight gave me a moustache it would look better. Everything looks better when you have a moustache.".
"For a guy, I agree. Not so much a girl though." Lisa said.
"So you said something about a movie?"
Lisa nodded, "Yeah, right this way."
She led Spike downstairs into the living room
"Wow, you know this house sure is big."
"Really? Here in Wilmont this is the average home size, not too large, not too small." Lisa said as she rummaged through a small drawer that was under the television, looking for the movie she wanted. "It's just right."
"Huh, interesting. The Princess might want to know about this."
"What, the house?" Lisa asked and Spike nodded. "Huh, is she doing research or something?" Lisa asked as she laid her eyes on the DVD, "aha!" she thought in triumph, pulling the movie out.
"No, she just likes to know things about different species and worlds because…." Spike was cut off by a belch that resulted in a scroll landing on the floor in front of him.
Lisa walked over, "Is that from Princess Celestia?"
Spike nodded and opened it and, once again, read it out-loud like a politician, if politicians were actually cool:
Dear Twilight,
I have found more information regarding the last Element, as I know you've been successful in finding two of the last three. His full name is Louis Clarkson. I hope this helps,
Best,
Princess Celestia.
Spike looked up at Lisa, "Does your brother know a Louis Clarkson?"
Lisa shook her head, "If he has, I haven't heard about him."
"Where should I put this?" he asked as he pointed to the letter, which he scrolled back up into its original look.
"I don't know, on the coffee table." Lisa said as Spike nodded and placed the scroll onto the table. "Okay, now the movie I am going to show you is one of my favorites."
"Awesome! What is it?" Spike asked excitedly, sitting on the couch with his eyes wide in excitement. Lisa then stopped and looked at Spike, placing her hand on her chin to think.
"Hm…Spike, how old are you?"
"Twelve, why?" (yes this is human years I'm doing)
"Really, you're twelve and you're still considered a baby dragon?"
"He-he, if you see an adult dragon, then you'd know why I'm just a baby."
"Good point, okay, the reason I ask is because this movie has a lot of swearing and some blood and gore in it. It's funny, but I hope it doesn't corrupt you." Lisa said.
Spike shrugged, "Eh, don't worry. I'm not bothered by swearing. Hardly anyone in Equestria ever swears, but I'm cool with watching a movie that has swearing in it."
Lisa smiled, "Great, well, let's watch!" She flopped back onto the couch next to Spike.
"By the way, what's the name of this movie?" he asked.
Lisa smiled, "Hot Fuzz."
Outside of Caroline's House
James stood just outside of the door to his little cousin's house. Alex let him and Fluttershy off and was waiting for them in his car, talking more with Applejack about her adventures. Fluttershy stood next to him, looking up at James.
"James, are you sure about this?"
"Trust me Fluttershy; she needs this more than anything else in the world. Now go around the back and I'll let you in."
Fluttershy nodded and flew off towards the back of the house.
"Since Twilight removed the spell, it's now or never." James thought.
He then let out a sigh and knocked on the door. A few moments later, the door opened and Aunt Christie was there, holding a tissue in her right hand and wiping her eyes with the other. Her eyes were red as turnips, clearly from crying.
"James, what are you doing here?"
"Aunt Christie, can I please see Caroline?"
Aunt Christie nodded and got out of the way so James could enter the house. He walked towards Caroline's room, but just before he got in, Aunt Christie put her hand out on the door to stop him. He turned to her.
"Be careful, she's gotten worse since yesterday."
James nodded and opened the door to Caroline's room before shutting it gently behind him. He walked over to her bed, where she laid, dark circles formed under her sweet, innocent eyes that were almost completely closed.
"James…?" she whispered as her eyes opened a bit more.
"Hey kiddo," James said, holding back his tears and mentally praying that what he was about to do would make her feel better, "how are you feeling?"
"Been better." She whispered as she put on a fake smile that made James die a little bit on the inside.
"Hey Caroline, there's something I want to show you," James said as he slowly made his way to the window without taking his eyes off of his little cousin, "but you have to promise not to tell anyone and to stay calm, because it is unbelievable."
Caroline weakly nodded and James sighed, "Caroline, remember what you said yesterday about your own personal heaven being Equestria?"
Caroline nodded, sitting up a bit more in interest. "Yeah."
"Well I've gotten you a little piece of heaven." And with that, James opened the window and leaned out, "Over here."
Now, Caroline was expecting maybe someone dressed in a MLP costume or some form of merchandise that Carl had often bought her with his salary. She mainly thought it was going to be someone bringing her a replacement Fluttershy t-shirt since she threw up on the other one.
What she didn't expect was to see Fluttershy herself gently fly into her room and land next to James. Her eyes now went wide and she suddenly seemed to show a great deal more of energy.
"Caroline, I'd like you to meet Fluttershy," he said, pointing to the yellow pony, "and Fluttershy, this is my cousin Caroline."
Fluttershy flew up to Caroline on her bed so she was right in front of her, smiling and surprisingly outgoing, like she knew that Caroline needed this, and her shyness would have to be put on hold for now. "Hello Caroline."
Caroline's shocked face suddenly broke into a big smile, "Hello." She said happily, which made James become happier.
"James here told me all about you, and how brave you've been." She said in her typical motherly way. "And I just wanted to say that I'm awfully sorry that you have to go through everything you have. I hope me being here makes you feel better, James said it would…but if it doesn't that's fine too I…"
She was cut off when Caroline suddenly bear-hugged her and began to cry into her shoulder out of pure happiness. James noticed how Fluttershy still didn't show any timid inflections, she just hugged back.
"wow, able to put her sacredness aside for others, God no wonder she's the element of kindness." James thought as he smiled both on the inside and on the outside at the scene of Fluttershy and Caroline hugging, Caroling being happier than she had been in a while.
After the broke the hug, Fluttershy looked at her, "When you get better I'd love to hang out with you sometime," she said before looking down for a second to show her vulnerable personality, "that is, if that's okay with you, of course."
Caroline nodded and wiped her tears of joy away, "I will, Fluttershy, I will."
Fluttershy nodded and she and Caroline hugged one more time. James wished that they could stay longer, but he had to get home and eat dinner.
"Fluttershy, we've got to go." James said, upset that she couldn't stay longer.
The two broke their embrace and exchanged one more smile before Fluttershy slew towards the window, stopping just before she exited and turned to Caroline. "I'll see you tomorrow." She said.
Caroline nodded with a big grin, the circles under her eyes overshadowed by the joy that radiated from them. Fluttershy then flew out and James shut the window.
"Yeah, sorry we can't stay longer but I've got to get home to…"
Suddenly, Caroline jumped off of the bed with sudden strength that she just seemed to get, ran over and hugged James with all of her, might, crying into his torso and saying "Thank you James. Thank you."
James hugged her back and smiled, happy that he had made her attitude improve so much just with one little act.
Though he knew that he had Fluttershy to thank more than anyone else, or anypony else. After she broke their embrace, James headed out, hearing as his aunt was shouting in joy at how much it seemed like Caroline had improved after James' visit.
Once outside, James saw Fluttershy waiting for him.
"James, are you crying? D-did I do something wrong?" she asked and James shook his head.
James wiped some tears away and smiled at Fluttershy. "The only thing you ever did wrong was not coming to me sooner."
Fluttershy smiled back and flew up to James level so they could hug. They then headed back to Alex's car to go home, never having such a feeling of hope and joy as he did right then and there.
Well I hope I did well with the emotional aspect of this Chapter, as it is always so hard to gague how well an emotional scene works when you write it yourself.
I also hope the relationship between Alex and Applejack wasn't too quick. And if it is, don't worry, it'll be the fastest one in this story (besides Ryan and RD's of course).
So I hope you liked it and, as usual, please read and review.
And thank you to all of my readers and reviewers who have made my ego too big, lol.
And, as usual...Go Giants!