//------------------------------// // Time Together // Story: The Little Things In Life // by Cabral095 //------------------------------// Chapter 8 - Time Together ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Stars hung in the dark night sky, shining down the little light they could for Jeff as he climbed the steps to his home. His keys jingled as he pulled them out of his pocket and a few clicks later, he entered his apartment. To his surprise, Sparkle and Fluttershy greeted him as he walked through the door. “Hi, Jeff!” Sparkle said. “We’ve been trying to get a hold of you.” “ ... What?” Jeff asked, shutting his front door. “How?” “Well, Pinkie saw you using this strange thing to talk with someone.” “Thing?" Jeff questioned. “Mhm,” Sparkle said, nodding. “Um, could you show me this ‘thing’?” The purple filly nodded once more and led Jeff into his kitchen. Standing above Jeff’s phone was Pinkie, her hoof harshly beat down the buttons on the device. It beeped and booped in pain. Her mane was disheveled as she frantically talked with the phone. “Tell me your secrets!” she screamed. The two fillies and Jeff watched as Pinkie continued her onslaught of not-so-harsh words to the device. “Please,” she pleaded, “I just want to talk to Jeff!” Pinkie sat back up and dialed another sequence of numbers. ‘202-456-1111’ *Ring, ring* A click sounded from the other end of the line and a young woman answered the phone, “Hello, and thank you for calling the White House. How may I help you?” “Pinkie,” Sparkle stated. “Jeff’s home.” The pink mare turned and looked up at the towering Jeff. Her eyes lit up and she bounced over to his leg. “Jeff!” she giddily yelled. “Hello?” questioned the woman on the phone. Hopping up on his pant leg, she began her ascension towards his head. Jeff stood as still as he could, making sure that Pinkie wouldn’t fall. He dare not think of her falling. After a quick moment, Pinkie’s task was complete and Jeff walked to the counter. Placing the filly on the surface, he bent down, picking up Twilight and the phone and set them upon the counter as well. “So you were trying to call me, Pinkie?” Jeff inquired of the filly as he ended the call. ~~~~~ Meanwhile in D.C. “So who was it this time?” a woman asked the other woman next to her. “Some little girl.” replied the White House Phone-Answering Person; also known as the WHPAP. “Probably just another prank call, or terrorists,” the other remarked. ~~~~~ “Yep!” she chirped in return. “We wanted cupcakes to celebrate Mr. Butterfly’s birthday!” “Mr. Butterfly?” Pinkie nodded her head vigorously. Looking around the kitchen, however, Jeff saw no sign of this Mr. Butterfly nor Fluttershy. “Do you know where Fluttershy is? I’d like to see what kind of butterfly Mr. Butterfly is,” Jeff said. Shortly after, a small brown moth came into Jeff’s view. He eyed the flying beast for a moment, steadily watching its movements. With a swift strike, he caught the creature in his palm. “Darn moths,” he stated. “Moth?” Sparkle questioned. “Yeah, they’re mostly a nuisance and just tend to bug people, myself included. I’ll just throw it outside.” Opening the front door, Jeff released his loose grip on the moth. However, instead of flying away, the moth looked back to Jeff, as if about to cry. “Ew,” he said, shaking the moth out of his hand. On his return to the kitchen, he saw Fluttershy had united with the group on the counter. She seemed worried about something. “Hello, Fluttershy,” Jeff said. “Oh, Jeff,” she began, “it’s just terrible: Mr. Butterfly has gone missing!” “Well that’s not good,” he responded. “Can you tell me what he looks like? Maybe I can find him.” “Well, he’s brown.” “Butterflies aren’t normally brown, Fluttershy,” Jeff chuckled. “Well that’s just silly!” Pinkie interjected, “Mr. Butterfly is brown, and if butterflies aren’t brown and he is, then that would mean that he isn’t a butterfly! Or that could mean he’s a new type of butterfly. Like a special, radioactive butterfly with super powers and shoots ice cream from his eyes! But, that would just be silly, since his name has butterfly in it!” Pinkie’s tail had begun to wag. *A beat* The others sat for a moment, trying to make sense of the pink perky party pony’s perplexing passionate myriad of potent words. “Pinkie,” Sparkle began, “that doesn’t make any sense.” Jeff was still trying to comprehend what the filly had just said. After another moment, he gave up and decided to worry about more important things, like what to make for dinner tonight, global warming, the next presidential election ... Jeff turned towards the front door, a realization slowly dawning on him. Pardoning himself from the group, he went back to the door and opened it. The light fixture hanging a few feet away from his doorframe had at least a dozen moths fluttering around it - maybe even a baker’s dozen. That, or fourteen moths. The point was that it was a lot more moths than he wanted to count. After a second of staring at the sight of mindless drones in horror, Jeff was about to close the door again when a dark spot on the not-so-white door caught his eye. Normally, Jeff would have thought this to be a stain, which was quite common on the doors of the apartments. Upon closer examination, movement made the spot known as a moth. About to slam the door, Jeff took a moment to consider the moth. Moths were attracted towards light, but this moth wasn’t swarming the light like some mindless drone that had been brainwashed by evil people or something. Suddenly, the moth exploded … not really. What it actually did was fly right by Jeff and into his apartment. Jeff stared at it in confusion before closing the door and following it. It led Jeff back to the kitchen, much to Fluttershy’s enjoyment. “Mr. Butterfly!” Jeff gave them a moment for a reunion before speaking up. “Uh, Fluttershy… that’s not a- You know what? Nevermind.” I won’t ruin this moment for her. Besides, what’s the harm in a little identity crises? The moth can have his own movie and it’d probably be a big hit, like that racing snail movie…. wait, what? Jeff thought to himself. Jeff was very confused by this, mostly because he was thinking of a movie that hadn’t yet been released. As his thoughts ranted on about some stupid movie about a snail, another thought popped into his cranium. “Where are AJ and Dash? And Crystal for that matter?” he inquired. The three fillies looked up to Jeff, then back to each other. All shrugged mightily at once, confirming Jeff’s worst fears: that he can’t leave these equines to take care of one another without getting distracted. *Knock knock* Speaking of distractions; Jeff and the ponies all glanced to the direction of the door. “Who could that be?” Jeff mumbled to himself. “Go hide girls, I’ll see who it is.” The fillies took off in different directions, quickly escaping sight. Opening the front door, Jeff was greeted by none other than Nevil, the Great and Nerdy! He was adorned in a faded black sport coat, with a white shirt laying underneath a Star Trek tie; best of all, he was wearing blue jeans, which were decorated with a few holes and stains of … something? “Good evening, Jeff!” Nevil greeted him. “Evening, Nevil… can I help you?” “Oh no, Jeff, I was just wanting to invite you to my Fourth of July party.” “Nevil…. it’s only the second week of June. We still have another two weeks left.” Nevil paused for a moment. I should really fix my clock… “Well, Jeff, you can never ask too early! That’s what my mom always says at least. Though, I’m pretty sure she’s talking about dating in that regard. Though, I’m not asking you on a date or anything like that, but it still kinda applies to this. I mean fancy party, food, drinks, perhaps some music. Maybe a mime? Do mimes do Fourth of July parties? I know I had one at my birthday last year, but I didn’t ask. How would he even respond? For that matter ...” Taking advantage this opportunity, Jeff decided it best to leave Nevil to his thoughts. Quietly, he closed the door, finally able to focus on more important things once again. Walking back to the kitchen, Sparkle trotted out into the open to greet him. “So, who was it?” she asked. “Just Nevil again,” he replied. “He tried to invite me to a party he was throwing.” “PARTY?!” a small, muffled voice shouted from … somewhere. Looking around didn’t help, because they obviously couldn’t find the filly. “Pinkie?” Jeff asked, taking a good guess as to whom he thought it was. “I’m under here!” she shouted once more. With a sudden pop, a tile flew off of the counter, and crashed to the floor below. In place of the tile was Pinkie. While Sparkle screamed from the sudden randomness that just occurred, Jeff was a little more concerned for his countertop. “Pinkie,” Sparkle asked, “how did you get under there?” “It was easy once I -” Meanwhile, Jeff kneeled to the floor and began collecting the broken pieces of his tile. Thankfully, it wasn’t that large of a mess. “And then I thought, toaster? Am I crazy?” Pinkie finished off. Jeff was slightly confused, but decided it best not to ask. “ ... Ok then.” Sparkle replied to Pinkie. “Who’s Nevil, Jeff?” “Oh, he’s just my crazy neighbor. He’s been trying to get me in trouble for ... almost two months now?” “Why?” “I think it’s because I told him to get a job just before I moved in here, to which he was greatly offended. Apparently, Nevil already has a job.” “What does he look like?” “He’s a scrawny fellow, a little shorter than me, often wears a white collared button up shirt. Usually wears a thin black tie, glasses, and for some reason, his ears are lower than most humans’… It’s kinda creepy.” “Oh! I waved hi to him once!” Pinkie interjected. “Why? Wait, when?!” Jeff questioned. “You remember when you left to work and we played hide and go seek?” Sparkle remarked. “ ... Barely.” “Well, he came by knocking on the door with some other person.” “He seems nice,” Pinkie said. “Ah, right. Well, for now, let’s ignore Nevil and get ready for bed. How does that sound?” The rest of the evening was spent discussing possible plans for Mr. Butterfly’s birthday party, and what kind of job Nevil could possibly have. Bread scientist? Penguinologist? Kissogram person? Telemarketer? Jeff’s thoughts thought. Once all the ponies were settled down, Jeff set them into their bed, but not before being asked an odd question. “Can you read us a story?” Sparkle shyly asked. “A story?” “Yeah!” Pinkie shouted louder than she needed to. “I suppose… um, let me go and see if I can find something.” The ponies all giddily laughed humorously, except Dash; she was fast asleep and snoring, of course. Jeff exited the room and walked into the spare room. He rummaged through several of the boxes that were littered around the room. Jeff navigated his way to a box labeled, Misc. Since Jeff wasn’t the biggest fan of reading in the world, he was able to conveniently fit all of his books into this one box. Other things also lay neatly with the books; such as a boleros cup, some paper clips, a broken pencil, an old Gameboy Advance, as well as his old digital camera. Hey, my old camera. Jeff lifted the camera from the dusty old box and examined it. Opening the battery compartment, he saw that some batteries sat there. He pressed the power button and the small camera hummed to life. He set it aside for now and continued his search for a book. Surely I have something! he thought, continuing to search through the few books he had. He continued to search through the random items and nicknacks littered in the box, when his eyes settled on a dusty cover to an old book of his; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe. Jeff examined the book and decided it was good enough for now. That, and he felt lazy and tired and lazy and didn’t want to continue to search through junk; also tired. Jeff returned to his room and sat on the bed. The small fillies all gathered around him. “What did you get?” they asked. “It’s an old book I read a long time ago; The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” he replied. He opened to page one and began the story. ~~~~~ The sun shone brightly into Nevil’s brilliantly disgusting room. He groaned and yawned as he awoke to the new day that had met him. Throwing off his covers, Nevil marched over to his bathroom and started a bath for himself. Pulling out a small notebook from a nearby bathroom drawer, Nevil scrawled on the page. A little over a week had gone by since his exchange with Jeff, so he thought he might set to work now on the party planning. “Ok,” he said to himself, “first, clean self. Then, clean house. After that, all I have to do is clean up, wait. No, that’s second. Ok, then I prepare the house for a party. I should call more people to come over other than Jeff.” Shortly after turning on the bathtub faucet, Nevil sat on the toilet seat and chewed his pencil whilst he contemplated what to do for more guests. I could always pull a Kevin McCallister and just use cardboard cutouts in the window. Actually, that wouldn’t work. I want Jeff to come over here, and if he sees a bunch of cardboard cut outs, then he’d question me and my sanity; which, in retrospect, he probably already does. But, I don’t know that many people…. Maybe I could hire a bunch of homeless people ... While Nevil continued to think and enhance his 110% full-proof fantastic plan of wonders that no one else could have thought of, Jeff was preparing for work this wonderful Monday morning. Releasing a great and mighty yawn, Jeff looked over to his clock; the time was 6:00 A.M. It was a bit odd for him to wake up this early, but he decided it was a good time to write in his journal since he didn’t do so yesterday. "June 25th, Mon 2012" “Yesterday was interesting. First off, I went into work like usual and saw some decorations that took me a while to recognize. It was worse because they had been up there all last week, and I only just noticed. The 4th of July is coming up next Wednesday, which means no work for me and I’ll get a chance to spend some time with the fillies. Then again, I think Anna asked if I was going to the fireworks show at the lake. Maybe I should, but I can’t just leave the girls here by themselves. I mean, Nevil has that silly party thing he’s trying to set up. Does he even know anyone outside this apartment complex? I still don’t even know what he does …. What would Nevil do? I still don’t understand any of this pony business and I’ll probably die of old age before I ever come close to understanding it. Maybe I should go with Anna; maybe tell her about the fillies as well. I mean, I can’t just keep raising them by myself. I’m boring, and they’ll probably want to meet less boring people, like Anna … or even Nevil. I’m also not that bright ... So today should be a good day. People don’t really shop for toys around July June. And since we don’t sell fireworks or anything all too related at Toys Я Us, it shouldn’t be terribly busy. Also, note to self: learn to cook more vegetable related meals for the fillies. Sure fruit is good for them, but it’d be much nicer to serve them meals rather than cuts of fruits and vegetables. I also think the sugar in the fruits has gotten to Pinkie. Either way, I should probably get ready for work, and prepare breakfast for the fillies.” Jeff closed the journal and gently got out of bed. After placing the journal down on the nightstand, he left the room and prepared for a shower. Soon after the shower, he found the fillies bouncing around the bed, as awake as a person being shot out of a cannon. They were hyper and wanting breakfast, which was usual for most mornings. Jeff prepared the fillies some vegetables and fruits for the day and he left for work shortly after. He arrived at work on time and headed to the employee lounge to place his lunch in his locker. “Good morning,” Anna chimed in from behind Jeff. Jeff turned from his locker and returned her good morning. “And a good morning to you, Anna. How are you?” “Good.” “Well that’s good.” “So… are you going to see the fireworks at the lake on the Fourth?” Jeff paused a moment to think about it. He closed his locker and turned around to face Anna. “I’m not sure,” he replied. “I mean, there’s a lot going on for me, you know? And plus, it’s always crowded at the lake; can’t find parking, snacks are over priced, and people tend to just smell funny…” “Oh, I see.” she replied, sounding a bit disappointed. “Look, maybe, it’s just that ... I’m not sure is all.” “That’s understandable. I mean, if you don’t want to go just say so. I just wanted to know if you wanted to hang is all.” “It’s just, I have some things going on at home, I mean I’d love to go.” “Well then come, silly.” “Well yeah but, I can’t ju-” “Just come,” Anna interrupted. ”It’ll probably do you some good to get away from your apartment.” Jeff thought for a moment; “Maybe you’re right, but there’s a bit more than that.” “Well, what is it?” “Um, if you have some time after work, I ... I can tell you a little about it.” “Well alright, Jeff. I guess I’ll see you after work.” Anna gave a smile then left Jeff alone in the room. This probably won’t go so well… what do I tell her? I had to find some way to get out of that conversation. “You could have just said no,” Jeff remarked to no one in particular. Well yeah, but I want to go. “But I can’t leave the fillies at home.” You leave them at home five days a week for eight hours at a time. Jeff’s thoughts were right! He could have easily just gone to the fireworks and left the fillies at home for a few hours, but he didn’t think things through. Now all he had to do was worry about what to say to Anna; that, and Nevil’s evil conniving plans. Speaking of whom, let’s get back to him. “I’ve got it!” Nevil proclaimed to the roof above his head, “I’ll get a bunch of hippies to come over, and once they’re here, I can….. No, wait. That’s a stupid plan! Where did I even come up with that?” Nevil grabbed the paper he had been scribbling on and threw it against a wall. It gently bounced off and landed amidst dozens of other crumpled papers on the floor. Why is it so hard to think of a decent plan? I mean, I have all the inspiration I need: the brains, the looks, the charisma; and besides, it’s not like Jeff suspects me of knowing… I think. I think I’ve been pretty discreet so far. I have been called a ninja in the past, but then again the only sneaky thing I’ve really done is throw Mr. Jonas a surprise party; and he called the police on me for that. I guess setting everything up while he was in the shower and then taking a picture of his surprised face was a bit much. At least I still have my camera for tak- … Nevil looked around his room. “Where is that darn thing?” Getting up off of the floor, he glanced at his surroundings, looking for the device. “I know I had it when I went over to-” Nevil’s mind flashed back to when the police arrested him. “Jeff’s house. My camera is at Jeff’s house. This is perfect! I can ask to go inside and get my camera back. And while I do, I can look for the ponies at the same time. I guess breaking and entering has its perks after all.” Taking time to look up from his notebook of scribbles and oddities, Nevil noticed his bathtub had overflown … a lot. And actually covered his apartment in a good few inches of water. “ ... Fantastic,” he sighed. “I’m sure that Mr. Jonas will love to hear of this little incident. Perhaps he won’t notice. I mean, he never really leaves his home.” Nevil switched the faucet off and hopped into the tub, causing more water to spill out over the sides. “Soon everything will be just peachy.” *KNOCK KNOCK* “NEVIL!” a muffled voice roared from the entrance of his abode. “GET OUT HERE NOW!” “C-co-coming, Mr. Jo-onas!” Nevil stuttered from fear. This probably won’t end well. This probably won’t end well… Nevil thought. Thinking it best to not keep Mr. Jonas waiting, Nevil decided to get out of the tub and chat with the lovely Mr. Jonas; though, “lovely” may not be the accurate word to describe the landlord in his current state. However, Nevil always thought he had this ... alluring tone in his voice when he shouted at folks. Sometimes, he could see veins in his balding head. He always imagined one exploding, so he feared for the man’s health. Though, Nevil wasn’t the most helpful human around so he doubted he could do anything if such a disaster occurred. Because of this, Nevil never really talked with Mr. Jonas nor his three sons. Nevil stepped out of the tub and wrapped a towel around his waist, wanting to appear somewhat decent before his landlord. His feet splashed against the few inches of water as he waddled his way towards the door. As he opened the door, Nevil could swear that steam was coming from Mr. Jonas’ feet as the water lapped against them, fleeing Nevil’s stinky home. “What is this, Nev- Oh dear merciful Bieber!” Mr. Jonas shouted, shielding his eyes. “Put a shirt on, you’ll kill someone! “ Nevil nodded. He quickly ran back into his watery home, grabbed a shirt, and put it on. “Now then, Nevil! What is this?” Mr. Jonas asked, in the voice of an angel of course. A Hell-bound angel with flaming coal in his mouth. “W-w-w-w-w-w-well, you see, Mr-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r Jonas, I was taking a bath and sitting on the toilet-” “At the same time?” Mr. Jonas rightly asked. “No, I was writing down some stuff on paper, when I accidently got too caught up in my work and the tub overflowed….” Mr. Jonas remained silent and raised an eyebrow. “... This is about the tub right?” “ ... No.” “Oh…” Nevil replied. “ ...” Mr. Jonas said. “ ...” Nevil remarked. “I just came here to tell you that you were short five dollars on rent last Friday. I was wondering if you could just pay me the money now,” Mr. Jonas finally spoke up. “Ah… right… um, one second.” Nevil left his houseguest and ran into his bedroom. After locating five dollars, he returned to Mr. Jonas. “There you are, sir. I apologize for the startle.” “That’s alright, Nevil. Just don’t ever go out in public without a shirt…ever…. I think I’m going to go wash my eyes out with chlorine. I’ll see you later, Nevil. Oh, one last thing, if you’re really struggling that much, take a laxative.” Nevil simply nodded, shutting his front door. “Well this sucks. I was going to use that five dollars for lunch today!” Sighing in defeat, Nevil walked on back to the tub to finish his bath. ~~~~~ The sun was beginning to set over the Equestrian sky, a blue mare was trudging through a thick forest of candy canes, thankful to see the edge of the forest in site. Thank goodness, she thought. Dragging her wagon into the open, she panted in success. “Good evening, Trixie,” a voice rang from behind her. With a sharp turn, Trixie gazed at the mare behind her: Princess Celestia. Trixie jumped back, “How did you find Trixie?” “I have my ways.” Celestia replied. “Now Trixie, before you do leave, I have a few questions for you.” “N-no, Trixie does not have to answer your silly questions. She has more important things to do.” Celestia raised a brow and marched towards the blue mare. “Well, that’s the thing Trixie, you don’t have a choice in the matter now. Because of you, eternal chaos has returned to the land.” “Trixie wants nothing to do with this.” Trixie started backing away slowly, soon bumping into her carriage. “It’s too late for that,” Celestia responded. “Now tell me, Trixie, what spell did you use on them?” “I, I don’t…” “Trixie!” Celestia shouted, a voice so boisterous it made everything around them seem eerily quiet. “The fate of our world is at stake and you can’t tell me what the spell was?!” “I-it was Discord. He- he had Trix- me touch his talon. I felt this surge of power, and I- I just knew the spell. But, as soon I used it the power disappeared.” Celestia turned round, now facing the almost set sun. She sighed. “Then where, Trixie? Where have you sent my little ponies?” “I… I think it was called Earth..” “What did you say?” “Earth….” The air fell silent between the two mares. Celestia heaved a sigh, walking away from the carriage, and gazed at her setting sun. “ ... Do you know of it?” Trixie inquired. “ ... Only from legend.” Celestia sat upon the damp purple grass. “Long ago, before pony-kind - before our world - there was another. It was home to another sort of creature. These creatures had no magic, unlike us. However, they were smart, and inventive; building great machines and devices to aid them. They couldn’t fly naturally, so they made machines so they could. They couldn’t travel across the sea safely, so they built ships. It is said that all technology we now know of had come from this place.” “However,” she continued, “everything changed when the Fire Na chaos entered their world. They were so easily corrupted, so easily lost to the darkness. The creatures began to fight one another; war and hatred soon broke out over their world. Man against man, friend against friend; their world was said to have ripped apart long ago. Before the destruction of their world, however, the one who created the chaos had escaped and fled to the other worlds of our realm.” “What do you mean our realm?” Celestia closed her eyes for a moment, reaching down to the dirt beneath, she began to etch something into the ground. “Our realm, Trixie, consists of many worlds.” She drew one circle, and to its left and right, she drew two others. “Equestria, our home, is said to be the source of happiness and joy. Earth, the home of the human race, was said to house all knowledge and creativity. Fairy World, the home of the fairies, is said to contain the source of the magic in our realm. The magic we use here does not originate on this world, but another. These three worlds are the ones we know of from legend. There are, of course, many other smaller worlds out there. Such as Mattress World, Parking Lot World, Pizza Planet- Anyway, Equestria, Fairy World, and Earth were said to together house the power of this realm.” “The power?” “It is said that if these three worlds should die, then so would our realm. Each affects the other in more ways than one.” “Have these worlds interacted with each other?” “From my knowledge, not for some time.” Trixie trotted up beside the princess, sighing, she sat down and joined her. “How come I’ve never heard of these worlds?” “It’s all legend; a myth. It’s from an ancient time in our history. A scarce few ponies know of the legend nowadays.” “ ... Why don’t these worlds interact anymore? I mean, assuming they’re actually real.” “Maybe you’ll find out on your own someday.” Trixie paused for a moment, contemplating what the princess had reiterated to her. “But how d-” When Trixie turned to face Celestia, she had vanished. As had the sun. Trixie sat back up, looking around the nearby area for her. “Celestia?” she called out. No response. The blue mare grumbled some, then returned to her wagon. Looking back at the ground where Celestia had sat, Trixie noticed something else had been scribbled into the dirt. Upon closer inspection, Trixie saw two words; Head south. The moon was just beginning to rise and Trixie had a long journey ahead of her.