Authors note: I'm going on vacation and won't be posting for two weeks. So as a going away present, here's an extra-long chapter.
Shining Armor led Jean back out of the castle and brought him to a chariot drawn by two Pegasus colts.
"Hop in, I'll take you back to Ponyville" He said
The colt and human stepped into the golden cart and the two Pegasus immediately began to run. They ran so fast Jean had to hold on tight to avoid falling off. The two Pegasus in front opened their wings and the chariot became airborne.
"Holy crap! This thing can fly!" Jean said referring to the chariot.
He leaned over the side and looked down, they were rapidly gaining altitude.
"This is awesome!"
Shining Armor gave Jean an amused expression, "Haven't you ever flown before?"
Jean turned around "I've flown in airplanes before but is wasn't anything like this!"
Jean remained glued to the side of the chariot for the majority of the flight when finally he turned around and faced Shining Armor.
"So, any idea where I'm staying?" He asked
"Celestia asked me to not tell, you'll find out soon enough" Shining Armor said, he seemed to be hiding information but Jean shrugged it off
A half hour later they landed back in Ponyville, Jean was disappointed the flight had ended. He hopped out of the cart.
"Follow me" Shining Armor said.
The colt led Jean though town, the sun was setting and the streets were nearly empty. Shining Armor led the human to a large tree which looked like it had been converted into a house, complete with large glass windows and a balcony. Shining Armor knocked on the door,
"This is where you'll be staying" Shining Armor said with a smirk
"Ok, I can dig this" Jean said looking in awe at the massive tree house.
Twilight answered the door "Hey big Brother!" She said cheerfully "What brings you to Ponyville?"
"Celestia's orders; I have a guest for you to acomadate" He explained
Jean walked up behind him, upon seeing Twilight he said;
"I'm staying with her? Why?"
"I'll let you two sort things out" Shining Armor said before retreating back to the chariot
"Hey! Why does the human have to stay with me?!" Twilight called after her brother but he was already back at the cart.
"Look I'm not thrilled about this arrangement ether, but your princess and all her wisdom decided to place me with you, so like it or not we're stuck with each other" Jean said and walked inside.
"I just wish I would have been told about this beforehand" Twilight said, irritated.
Just then Spike came running downstairs with a scroll of paper. "Hey Twilight, I have a letter from the princess for you!"
Spike stopped and looked at Jean "You must be one of the humans on the loose! I'm Spike!"
"Name's Jean" The human said
Twilight used her telekinesis to grab the scroll and open it. She read it allowed;
"Dear Twilight, as part of your task, I'm asking you to accommodate the human known as Jean. He will help you locate the other human tomorrow.
The best of luck
Princess Celestia"
"Well, there you have it" Jean said and took off his heavy backpack, it hit the floor with a loud thump.
"What's in the bag?" Twilight said pointing to the backpack
"Books" Jean said unzipping the pack and dumping the contents onto the floor.
Twilight immediately took interest in the other-worldly books. Most of them were text books of various subjects as well as several note books. Twilight used her magic to flip open a large calculus book.
"The words are in a different language, but I can recognize these equations." She looked up from the text book. "Are you a scholar?" She inquired
"I'm a student" Jean said
"Interesting! Humans have an education system. Would you mind if I looked through these books?" Twilight said with pleading eyes
"Have at it" Jean said and walked over to the couch to lie down.
Twilight poured through the books for almost an hour, Jean soon got bored and began to walk about the Library. When Twilight decided to call it quits, she ascended up the stairs to the balcony. Even with an inter-dimensional guest, she still needed to keep up with her studies, tonight was astrology and constellations. The night was clear and the moon and stars were completely visible. She stepped onto the balcony, to her surprise, Jean was there leaning against the railing and looking at the sky. He glanced over at her and then back at the stars.
"The sky is the same" He said looking up
"What?" Twilight said
"The stars and constellations, they are in the same place back on my world" Jean said
"Really? How do you know?" Twilight was intrigued
Jean pointed to the Big Dipper in the sky "There's the Big Dipper" He pointed to another patch of stars "There's Orion" he pointed to another collection of stars "and there's Scorpio"
"Wow…" Twilight said thoroughly impressed
"Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about tomorrow" the human said
"About finding your friend?" She asked
"Yes, I think if I could talk to him, he'd be more willing to cooperate" Jean explained
Twilight thought "Hmmmm… Thanks for the offer but I think I can handle it"
"You sure? Remember what happened to Dash? That was his idea, I'd hate to have it happen again." Jean warned
"Dash won't be a problem, I had a word with her. I have this completely under control. " Twilight said
"If you insist, but don't expect him to go down easy; he's one of the most stubborn people I know." Jean said as he walked back inside
Jean found a comfortable spot on the couch, unlaced his converse and removed his IPod from his pocket. When he tried to listen to music he found that his mp3 refused to turn on.
"I could of sworn this thing was fully charged" He thought
Without his music, Jean put his feet up on the side of the couch and drifted off the sleep. The next morning Jean woke up but he kept his eyes tightly shut.
"When I open my eyes, I'll be back in my dorm room and this whole thing will be just a bad dream." He said to himself.
Slowly he opened his eyes, but instead of seeing his dorm, he saw a round pink face and a big blue pair of eyes a few inches away from his face.
"Gah!" He said jumping off the couch
It was a pink mare, with a pink fluffy mane and a shiny smile.
"Hi! I'm Pinky Pie! Twilight told me there was a newcomer in town and I just had to meet you!" She said in rapid succession.
Jean rubbed his eyes and said "could you have waited till I woke up?"
"Sorry, Twilight invited me over to discuss how we are going to track down your friend, and I saw you're here so I decided to say hi!" She said energetically
"cool…" Jean said, still half asleep
At that moment, Twilight walked in on them.
"Oh good, I see you've met Pinky Pie. When you're ready, come into the next room. We'll need your help."
Jean sleepily gave her a thumbs up. Twilight cocked her head sideways,
"What does that mean?" She asked, referring to the thumbs up.
"It's a human sign, it means 'ok' " Jean explained
Twilight nodded and went to the other room, Pinky Pie followed her. Jean put his shoes on and checked his phone. Even though it was useless here it was, still was still a habit of Jean's to check his phone after he woke up. He soon discovered his phone also wouldn't turn on.
"I know this thing had a full battery…." Jean thought
He left his phone behind and reached into his back pack. He remembered he had purchased an energy drink back on earth and was needing an extra boost. He cracked the can open and walked into the next room. Twilight, AJ, Fluttershy, Pinky Pie, Rainbow Dash, and a white unicorn mare Jean hadn't met where all sitting around a table. Upon seeing Jean, Dash frowned
"Why is he here?!" She blurted out
"We normally say 'good morning' where I come from" Jean said and sipped his drink, he leaned against the door frame.
"For those of you who don't know, this is Jean, one of the humans. He'll be assisting us." Twilight announced
The white mare approached Jean.
"My name is Rarity, a pleasure to meet you" She said, her accent reminded Jean of an English accent.
"Likewise, you strike me as someone with class" Jean said with a small smile
"But of course!" Rarity exclaimed
"If we are done introducing ourselves, let us begin" Twilight interjected. She turned to Jean,
"Alright, what can you tell us about your friend?" She asked
"Well…" Jean thought "I'd describe him as a 'good-ol'-boy' from the country. He is stubborn, somewhat close minded, he's very athletic and is probably wondering what happened to me" Jean described
"Is he dangerous?" Twilight asked
"He isn't as dangerous now since I'm not there to back him up, but if he's cornered he might get a little edgy" Jean said
"Ok, anything else we should know about him?" Twilight said
"Yes, the reason Max and I split up and you found me, was because I was leading you away. I knew that dog could smell me and I wanted to divert you from finding Max. He could be anywhere in the apple orchard now" Jean admitted
"Thanks for the info, anything else?" Twilight said, writing the human's words down
"I still think I should talk to him" Jean reminded
"Why? So you can draw your plans against us?" Dash snarled at Jean
"You're not part of this conversation" Jean said to Dash
"Thanks for the offer but I want to try to find him myself" Twilight declined "Ok, everyone get ready, we'll be heading out soon" She announced
"How do you plan to catch him?" Jean asked
"We'll rain him out" Dash chuckled
"What?" Jean asked
"I'll make it rain, snow and hail on the apple orchard until he gives up" Dash said with a smirk
"There isn't a cloud in the sky, unless you can control the weather, I doubt that's goanna happen" Jean said
"I'm a Pegasus, all Pegasus can manipulate weather" Rainbow said proudly
"I'll believe it when I see it" the human said doubtingly
"Step outside…" Dash said
Jean walked out the door, Rainbow strutted out too and flew off, returning a short while later pushing a grey storm cloud.
"How are you pushing that? A cloud is made of water vapor, that is physically impossible" Jean said confused
Rainbow didn't answer, she simply pushed the cloud over the human and gave it a good kick, instantly the cloud let out a clap of thunder and began to pour rain on Jean. Soaked, he stepped out from under the cloud.
"The laws of physics must be different here…" He muttered
He walked back inside
"So… where are we going to start?" Jean asked, wringing the water out of his shirt
"Actually Jean, I don't think we need your help anymore, you already told me everything I need to know so you can just stay here. Pinky Pie and Rarity will stay behind to keep you company. " Twilight said
"A little rain isn't going to deter Max, when you can't catch him, I'll be waiting here" Jean said
"I have this, trust me" Twilight said
"Whatever you say…" Jean said skeptically
Twilight, Applejack, Fluttershy and Rainbow departed for the orchard, leaving Jean with Pinky and Rarity.
"What would you like to do today? We can take you around town and show you the sites" Rarity offered
"First I'd like to wake up…" Jean said and plopped himself back down on the couch. He took a large swig of the energy drink.
"What's that?" Pinky said, nodding to the energy drink.
Jean looked at the aluminum can "Sweet nectar of the gods. Also known as caffeine"
He sat there slowly swirling the can around when a thought occurred; "If my Ipod and phone don't work…"
Suddenly he got up and walked over to his back pack, a concerned expression on his face. He kneeled down and unzipped a large pocket and pulled a laptop computer out. He hit the power button, hoping the laptop would come to life. To his displeasure, the laptop remained dead. He examined the laptop, a strange odor was coming from the exhaust fan port. He took a sniff, it smelt like burnt plastic. He then realized the circuits were fried, the inter-dimensional travel had destroyed all his electronics.
"As if things couldn't get any worse…." He growled
"is everything all right?" Pinky said, concerned.
"Well…" Jean said standing up "My very-expensive gaming laptop is now a very-expensive paper weight"
Pinky wasn't sure what a "gaming laptop" was, but she knew an unhappy face when she saw one.
"Aww cheer up, I'm sure you can get a new one" She reminded
"Yeah, a new one costs about 1500 bucks" He said under his breath
He drank half the energy drink and set the can down, he looked up at the celling and sighed. "What the hell am I gonna tell my parents…" He said
"What do you mean?" Rarity asked
"The princess said she isn't sure when I'll be able to go home. If I'm here too long, they'll probably think I've gone missing." Jean said
"Tell them what happened, I'm sure they'll understand." Pinky said, trying to cheer the human up
"You think they'll believe I was sucked into another dimension, ruled by ponies?" Jean said with a raised eyebrow
"Sure! With magic, anything is possible!" Rarity chimed
"That's just it… there is no magic in my home world." Jean said
The two ponies looked at the human in shock, "No magic? Then how does the sun rise and set?" Rarity said in disbelief
"The sun on my home world rises and sets on its own, without magic….Anyway, they'll probably be worried sick." Jean said
"Maybe sometime outside will help calm your nerves" Rarity suggested
"Ok" The human said standing up.
Meanwhile at the orchard, Rainbow was busy moving storm clouds into position. The entire orchard was covered by the massive collection of grey clouds overhead. When Twilight gave the order, Dash kicked the huge cloud and raid began to pour, slowly at first, then it gradually increased to a downpour.
"Now what?" Rainbow asked, satisfied with her work.
"Now, we wait until the human gives up" Twilight said
"I'm not sure, this is a very good method" Fluttershy said
"Don't you be getting soft on me!" Rainbow poked
"Now Fluttershy, it's just a little rain. I'm sure the human will be fine" Twilight said
"But…" Fluttershy protested
"You heard Twilight, he'll be fine!"
As Jean stepped outside the library, he noticed the large storm cloud in the distance, hanging over Sweet Apple Acers. There was a flash of lightning and roll of thunder, Jean sighed;
"Its gonna be a long day"