To Turn a Life Around

by TheEngineer

A Comedy and a Tragedy

Chapter 8: A Comedy and a Tragedy

"Now son, I know you might think that thirteen years old is too young to start learning, but my father started teaching me when I was just eleven."
"But aren't you going to get into trouble if we get caught?"
"Matthew, I'm teaching you how to drive. If we somehow manage to get caught, then I am willing to pay the small price for the reward of teaching you. Besides, no one ever comes to this place anymore."
"Yeah, because it's really sketchy around here..."
"Ha! New slang word I take it?"
"Yeah."
"And what, pray tell, does it mean?"
"It means that this area is very spooky, suspicious and it makes me a bit uncomfortable."
"Well, going out of your comfort zone is a good way to learn new things, no?"
"I guess..."
"Okay, first things first, let's switch so that the wheel is in your hands."

"Now it's time for lesson zero, starting the engine. Many people think that it's just turn-and-go, but there's a little bit of timing involved."
"Okay, what do I need to do?"
"That's the spirit I wanted from you! What you do is turn the key all the way and wait for the electric motor to start the engine, you let go of the key the nanosecond you hear the engine come to life, alright?"
"Sure, sounds simple enough."
*Engine starts*
"There! Now, the first thing you will notice is that the car is in park mode. To start moving forward, you first check all of your mirrors and then press on the brake before switching the gear to drive."
"But there's no one here, why do I need to check the mirrors?"
"We are talking safety Matthew! Always follow the safety rules when operating machinery, lest you want you or somebody else to get hurt. Now, do as I instructed before."
"Okay."

"You got it! You will notice that you don't actually need to press on the gas to start moving, just let go of the brake. Since this isn't stick shift, it's mostly just steering around. With that said, I want you to just do a lap around the lot without pressing on the gas yet, let the car do the work for you for now."
"Got it."

"You, my son, are a natural at this! I guess those racing games really are doing some good.. Now, I want you to do another lap, but I want you to maintain your speed at fifteen miles per hour. Later I will teach you how to park."

"Hey there boys! How did the lessons go?"
"Our boy Matthew here is a star student, didn't have to yell at him one time!"
"It was great mom! I can't wait until I can drive you guys around!"
"Heh, and neither can I, I sure hope one day you will repay me for all of the lunches I've been preparing you."
"Now, Florence, we all repay you by complementing on your amazing cooking every single day."
"I was just teasing, Gregory."
"And so was I."
"Um, I'm going to do my homework now, if you two don't mind."
"Yes, finish that before Sunday. Now, for us two, shall we find a place more.. Private?"
"Agreed mister instructor, teach me some of those maneuvers of yours."

I found myself half buried in... Sand? I quickly stood up to get a good look at my surroundings, sand, ocean and buildings.... Miami? No, not Miami, this was the place I created before..
I turned back to where I was originally facing, the palm tree and lawn chair had appeared. Wait, what happened last time I was here?
I felt something cold, something very cold, touch my shoulder. I spun around to identify the source of such coldness, only to find nothing, just a boundless ocean. Once I decided there was no threat, I turned back to the palm tree.
The second I turned back, I felt the jolt of fear. There, standing before me, were five shadows facing me. Five shadows... Five...
"No.."
"Matty, why weren't you there to save me?" the shortest one pleaded.
"Matthew, I am so disappointed in you. You could have saved us." said a fatherly figure.
"NO! I couldn't have done anything! I'm so sorry that I lost you all, you have no idea how much it tears me up that I wasn't there!" I screamed at the figures.
"Oh, but we do understand, my little Matthew. We understand very well." said another figure, the gravelly voice told me it was my uncle.
"What...? So, you all forgive me?" I asked confusedly.
"Only if you JOIN US Matthew." the shell of my aunt replied.
I couldn't handle it anymore, I pivoted in place and bolted to any direction that wasn't towards the torment.... If only shadows weren't so fast.
"Where are you going Matty? You can't run if you want to join us."
I ran, I couldn't feel my body but my mind knew that it was running. But it was a useless, pathetic and an utter waste of nothingness. I felt the coldness wrap around my ankles and I hit the sand face first. The sand gave some resistance at first, but then it caved in and I fell into an endless pit, screaming.
"Join us Matt! Join us!"
"Matt!"
"Matthew!"

"Matt!" a frightened voice whispered, something was prodding my ribs. I opened my eyes with a gasp and then searched my room for the source of the voice. I caught a slight hint of cyan next to my bed in the moonlight.
"Rainbow?" I questioned in surprise, keeping my voice quiet as to not wake the others.
"Are you alright? You started talking to yourself and I got worried..."
"Why are you here?"
"I..." Rainbow trailed off, "I wanted to try to comfort you, you know, because of all the stuff you've been through. Not just the stuff today, but, you know."
"Why?"
"Because we're friends.... And.. Because I kind of know how you feel." Rainbow explained, I refrained from getting angry at those words. I hate it when people try to turn sympathy into empathy, comparing their situations to mine.
"What do you mean?" I asked. Rainbow began her response with a small sigh and a shift of her weight. Her face was caught by a small sliver of moonlight coming from the window.
"My... My daddy was killed in a robbery when I lived in Las Pegasus. Mommy, she didn't handle it very well. She started drinking and doing other things before she decided that she needed to run away as far as we could. She and I took the express train to Stalliongrad where we lived with my uncles." Rainbow began, I could see that she was holding back tears. This shook me, seeing the last soul I expected to open up to someone doing so for me, somebody she only knew for a month.
"But her drinking habits were quickly getting out of hoof, eventually, she lost it and disappeared on me..... I was supposed to be her everything, and yet, she managed to leave me with relatives that I didn't even know I had until then. But I was still a little filly, and those relatives of mine really had no interest in keeping me. So eventually, I got sent out to a boarding school in Cloudsdale, where I first learned to fly..." Rainbow Dash trailed off. I was completely taken out of my dream state now, she really did open up to me just now.... Why?
"I... I didn't know, I'm so sorry you had to go through that at such a young age." I responded, saddened that no matter where you might be, tragedies still occur left and right.
"I just thought that we should be even, since you told me your secret." Rainbow replied.
"Wait, no one else knows about this?" I quired.
"No... Even Fluttershy thinks I have family that I can rely on somewhere." I then sat up, crossing my legs and signaling Rainbow to sit. I waited for her to do so before I replied.
"I guess we all have something to hide from another then...." I commented.
"I guess so." Rainbow agreed in a forced tone. A few moments passed before she started talking again. "You know, you never answered my question."
"Which one?"
"When you woke up, I asked you if you were alright."
"I'm fine now, thanks." I replied curtly, there was a long pause.
"No, you're not. If you were fine, you wouldn't be having nightmares every time you slept." Rainbow retorted. I sighed quietly and stared into blackness.
"If you knew the answer, then why ask?" I questioned, I then felt a familiar prod on my side.
"Stop delaying what you can't avoid." Rainbow said, poking me with her hoof for emphasis. She has a point you know.
"I'm not." I replied quietly.
"What were they like?"
"Pardon?"
"Your.. Family, if you don't mind me asking."
"No, it's fine. I guess that question was inevitable if you knew that I lost them."
"Well?"
I was quiet for a few moments, I just needed to gather my thoughts.
"My dad, Gregory, was an amazing human being. He was the idol I always needed... Every morning I would come to the kitchen and he would be sitting there reading the paper, pointing out the stories he knew were false or made up. He would always teach me that you have to dig for the truth, that you shouldn't aspire to be someone else but you should aspire to be better than you are now, and so many other things." I began quietly, Rainbow remained silent, I could hear her soft breathing in the darkness.
I continued, "My mom, Florence, she was the exciting one in the family. Every weekend she would have something in mind for us to do together. She has successfully drilled into my head that I should be curious, creative, impulsive and a bunch of other things because that generates the moments that make life worthwhile.... And her cooking... Was absolutely amazing, not one thing I can cook that she hasn't taught me first. I can smell her special pecan pie now."
"And little Sadie, man, Pinkie would have loved to meet her. Always bubbly and curious, ready to learn something new all the time. She was my opposite in a strange way, I would be the one that follows all of the rules to the word while she just looked at rules as challenges, sentences that taunted her to do things. Not bad things of course, because that would have disappointed dad, and we both hated doing that..." I continued my reminiscing, at this point, I was mostly just talking to myself.
"My aunt and uncle, man, they were the happiest couple I could possibly think of to date. Always up to something interesting too. Once, I came to their house after school to find that they were building their own coffee machine, saying that the key to the best possible flavor was in the air pressure while the beans are being pressed.. Can you believe that? I was surprised that they managed to have jobs and do more shenanigans than my sister and I combined.." I trailed off.
"They all live in me in some way, I kind of adopted certain quirks of personality from all of them." I finished, I looked over to Rainbow and was surprised to see that she was sobbing quietly. "Rainbow? Are you alright?"
"I'm fine. I just... I dunno, I almost feel jealous that you had a family to begin with, yet, I'm devastated that you had something so.... Precious taken from you." Rainbow replied quietly.
I took that as a sign for a comforting hug, so I leaned forward to do so, but Rainbow beat me to it and hugged first... Really tightly.
"Air... Air." I choked out.
"Heh, sorry." Rainbow said as she loosened her grip.
I'm not sure how long that embrace lasted, but it did for what felt like an eternity. Eventually, Rainbow let go and sat on her haunches before me.
"You know, you were the last soul I ever expected to open up to somebody else." I commented.
"Well, life is full of surprises, no?" Rainbow retorted with yet another good point.
"True, but I always thought that you were too proud to lower yourself to such tender moments."
"Well, it's okay to do it once or twice a year." Rainbow replied, regaining her composure.
"If you say so," I began while looking at the clock on my nightstand, "It's still three in the morning, we should go to bed."
"Um... Could I stay here tonight?" Rainbow asked.
"I guess, why? I questioned.
"You will not believe how lightly Pinkie Pie sleeps, the teeniest sounds will wake her right up. I don't think I want to answer the questions she might have for me if I woke her." Rainbow reasoned.
I shrugged, either not bothering or too tired to argue that point. "Sure, whatever floats your boat."
With that, I climbed back under my covers and made room for Rainbow to sleep on.

I woke up slowly, finding myself staring at a wall. Eventually I gained the will power to turn my body around, finding that my legs were incredibly sore.
"Owie." I whispered to myself as I wriggled in my bed. I soon noticed that my covers were not on top of me, they were wrapped around Rainbow Dash instead. I giggled quietly, she looked like a pony burrito.
My eye then caught on to something curious, why are her wings half extended? I thought as I looked at the mare beside me, time for some questions.
I poked Rainbow's ear, it instinctively flinched and Rainbow was now fully awake, "Good morning Rainbow." I greeted with a smirk.
"Funny." Rainbow replied plainly. She then had a short struggle getting out of the roll she got herself into, I didn't help because it was so funny just watching. Eventually Rainbow was released from the trap that was my covers.
"What's up with your wings?" I asked curiously. Rainbow, for some reason, immediately seemed alarmed at this information and looked behind her. Rainbow's wings were still stiff and half extended.
"Oh... They are um... They're sore! Yeah." she explained nervously.
I did not buy that explanation, but I didn't feel like pursuing the subject, I wanted food, "Okay, could you let me out? We should get some breakfast."
Rainbow jumped out of bed, nodding furiously, "Yeah, breakfast! I'll be right down with you, see ya!" she said as I found myself out of my own room. She sure is acting funny...
I made my way downstairs and saw that Pinkie Pie was still sleeping. She had her head hanging slightly off the side of the couch, a little bit of drool hanging from the edge of her mouth. Yeah, light sleeper.
I walked to the kitchen with a slight shrug and started cutting up some fruit.

I had four bowls of fruit salad ready for eating when Rainbow finally showed up, which was convenient, I wanted to ask her a few questions.
"Morning once more miss Dash." I greeted.
"Uh.. Hi again?" she replied confusedly.
"So, what is really up with your wings? They're still kind of stiff by the way." I asked, cutting to the chase.
"Wha..?" Rainbow began her confused attempt to answer my question when Pinkie Pie waltzed into the kitchen with a yawn.
"Oh.. Good morning everypony." Pinkie Pie greeted with another yawn.
"Hey Pinks, need some coffee?" I offered.
"Yes please." Pinkie responded childishly.
"So, Rainbow, I still didn't get an answer." I continued my previous conversation.
"Well, um, it's hard to explain.."
"What are you two talking about?" Pinkie asked, "And why did you go upstairs in the middle of the night Rainbow?" she decided to add.
"Well, I wanted to sleep with Matt last night and..." Rainbow was cut short by a surprised Twilight coming through the doorway. I'm not sure what situation I may have gotten Rainbow in, but I can feel it in the air, this is getting awkward.
"You wanted to do what with Matthew?" Twilight questioned in surprise, Rainbow was caught off-guard and her face was blushing furiously under her cyan coat.
"Silly Twilight! Dashie wasn't actually sleeping-sleeping with Matty! She was just sleeping in the same bed as him!" Pinkie explained, both saving Rainbow from some awkward explaining and bouncing back from her previous tired state.
"Oh, sorry for assuming something like that Rainbow..." Twilight apologized quickly, it was her tone to blush now, "But... Why did you want to sleep in Matthew's bed?"
"Wow, this is extremely awkward..." I began, "But first, Rainbow: you still didn't fully explain to me why your wings were stiff this morning Rainbow."
"I told you Matt, I'm sore from that flight last night." Rainbow pleaded.
"Really? Because that looked more like a warm up to me." I retorted, pursuing this curious case. Twilight and Pinkie gave Rainbow a knowing glance, I'm being kept out of the loop.
"Wait, what flight? I never turned Rainbow back to pony form." Twilight asked in surprise,it took her a few moments to notice that detail.
"This is actually a story we are going to have to tell you two while we eat, yesterday was one hell of a day." I replied as I began setting the table for breakfast.

"Men in suits were following you two, and you just shrugged it off for an interview?" Twilight questioned in shock.
"Hey, that job would have earned me another twenty thousand dollars a year. So yeah, I shrugged that off for another moment of thinking." I retorted.
"But Matty, you gave that job up and left really angrily." Pinkie added sadly.
"Hey, take Matt's word for it, that Goldleaf guy was being cold hearted jerk. Matt didn't want those kinds of people around him." Rainbow defended.
"Actually, there were two reasons why I couldn't take the job, that wasn't really one of the reasons. Yes, this Goldleaf fellow really pissed me off, but I didn't want to leave Pennsylvania because I would have to give up this house if I did, and I can't really travel with three mares in my luggage." I added. Everypony in the room was shocked by that line of reasoning.
"We... We were the reason why you didn't take the job you wanted?" Rainbow recovered from her shock first, and was the first one to comment.
"Well, I don't want you three to feel bad about it. I thought that I would get to stay when I came to the interview, so I shouldn't have taken the job anyway since I wasn't given all the details. Besides, I wasn't supposed to get that offer in another four years at least." I said in an attempt to not make my friends feel guilty.
"Okay, and one more thing. Why in the name of Celestia did you think that plan to keep that person quiet would work? Why couldn't you have just ran?" Twilight continued her line of questioning, it feels like an interrogation.
"If I did run, how could I know for sure that the guy, who almost ran both Rainbow and I over, would keep quiet?" I retorted.
"Besides, you should have seen him! Matt was amazing! He totally had the guy fooled from beginning to end!" Rainbow praised.
"Okay, I guess the ends justify the means in this case..." Twilight trailed off as she watched Pinkie balance a fork on her muzzle, it was actually very impressive, "So, then you two made your way here without your vehicle? How are you going to get it back?"
"I'm getting on that today. I'm going to stop by a gas station and get enough gas to get it back to my driveway. I guess that I should tell Ted about what happened yesterday as well." I replied.
"Can I come with you?" Twilight asked.
"Um, sure. But it's just a trip to the gas station." I stated, Twilight still seemed interested though.
"Are we doing anything else today?" Rainbow asked.
I scrunched my face a little, deep in thought, "No, I don't think so."

We all finished breakfast and I got myself ready to leave the house. Twilight was ready when I came downstairs.
"Ready to go Twi?" I asked.
"Sure, let's go." she replied.
"Hold on, lemme check the weather. I don't want to get caught in a surprise rainstorm again." I said as I headed to my computer, Rainbow was already using it.
"Can I check the weather forecast really quickly?" I asked Rainbow.
"Sure." Rainbow replied as she hopped off the chair. I sat down and was about to type 'weather forecast' on google, but accidentally pressed 's' instead of 'w', and the first thing on the history made me stop. Stallions?
"Uh, Twilight? Could you please explain this to me?" I called, Rainbow caught sight of what I was referring to before Twilight could get into the library and immediately began her uproar of laughter.
"What's all of the commotion about?" a human Twilight asked as she came into the room, watching Rainbow literally rolling on the floor with laughter. I simply pointed at my screen.
"Knowing that you're a pony, I really hope this isn't what I think it is." I stated plainly, trying not to laugh too. Twilight looked that the screen and was clearly taken aback.
"I didn't know that it saved my history!... I mean, I had nothing to do with that!" Twilight said in a really cheap way to deny the evidence before me. Wow, ponies are really bad liars.
"Twi, it's alright." I started chuckling when I saw her blushing face, "What you do in your private time is none of my business, but I have to ask, is this chair sanitary to sit on?" I asked, that just made Rainbow laugh harder, I finally gave in and began laughing as well.
Twilight was clearly very embarrassed, poor girl. "Y-yeah, your c-chair is clean..."
"Oh... Man, Twi, I really didn't think your urges would get the best of you first." Rainbow said once her giddiness died down, "I guess it's always the nerdy ones."
"Sorry if I hurt your feeling Twi, I just found this opportunity hard to pass by." I apologized with a smile.
"No, it's fine. Let's just go." Twilight said quickly.

The car ride started off in silence, I felt like a real jerk right now...
"Hey Twilight? I really am sorry for laughing at your expense, it was funny at first, but now I feel awful about it." I apologized.
"I will gladly accept your apology as long as you try not to do that again." Twilight responded, she was looking out the window and nowhere else.
"Well, I hope you will truly forgive me in time." I began, "So, how's the progress on your spell?"
Twilight seemed to lighten up a bit, "It's going well actually, now I know a few things that I'm going to need for the spell to work. I actually have the list with me." Twilight said as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a neatly folded piece of paper.
"Great," I began brightly, "It doesn't include anything that would be too expensive, does it?"
"Um, no, not really. You can take a look at it if you want." Twilight offered.
"Sure, but I'm driving right now. I'll take a look at the list at the gas station, alright?" I replied.
"Oh, okay."

"Hey Matthew? Who was Shakespeare?" Twilight asked after a long moment of silence.
"You could have searched it up, and you ask me instead?"
"Oh, you don't have to answer if you don't want to."
"No, it's fine. I just never expected a question like that, where did you hear his name?"
"I saw that you had an entire collection of this person's works in what seemed to be a special place in the bookcase. I was just curious is all." Twilight explained.
"That actually makes perfect sense.. Where do I begin?" I paused, "Well, Shakespeare was one of the greatest play writers that ever lived. He was able to decipher many of the mysteries behind human behavior and put it into his work, he was actually more focused on revealing human behavior instead of improving it, I guess he didn't see the point of it. Shakespeare was so great because he was capable of creating so many characters in so many scenarios in both comedies and tragedies." I monologued.
"Comedy as in funny, or comedy as in a happy ending?" Twilight quired.
"Most of the works I read from him were tragedies, but he does add some comic relief here and there. He also did a few comedies with happy endings. So it's a little bit of both I guess." I replied.
"Shakespeare sounds like a disturbed soul if most of his works were tragedies." Twilight commented, I simply shrugged.
"I don't think anybody will ever know if he was disturbed or not, he has been dead for so long that only his work remains as his legacy. Pick up a few of the plays that I have, they're written in older forms of English, but it's still very entertaining and insightful."
"Okay, maybe later.... What's that over there?" Twilight asked pointing towards a structure in the distance.
"That's our stop actually, it's the gas station." I replied lightly.
"It's shaped so.... Oddly."
"I, on the other hand, have a hard time finding something more pedestrian than this." I replied.

I filled a two gallon container and paid the respective price. Twilight also chose this moment to show me that list, I set the container down once we were out in the open and began skimming through the writing.... Something was off.
"Pineapples, watermelons and kiwis? Twilight, do you really need those for a spell?" I asked incredulously, I mean really, who would have thought that watermelons have magical properties?
"What?" Twilight asked, she was as confused as I was. Twi took the list from my hands and looked at it, she quickly took on a sheepish expression, "Oh, wrong list.. This was the list of exotic fruits that I wanted to try." Twilight explained.
"Well, do you have the other one?" I asked curiously.
"Yes, somewhere..." Twilight trailed off as she searched all of her pockets, "These things are nowhere near as handy as saddle bags."
"You could wear a backpack if you really want to." I replied.
"Very funny.. Oh, here it is!" Twilight dug out another neatly folded piece of paper. I took said paper and read it.
"Chalk, okay..."
"Four grams of quartz, odd, but doable."
"Eight grams of crushed sea salt? I think I have that at home."
"And.... Aluminum powder, I think I can get that from an etch-a-sketch." I looked at the list oddly, this was not what I expected to be shopping for.
"You can get those for us, right?" Twilight asked pleadingly.
"Yeah, I think I can get the chalk in this gas station right now actually." I turned and went back into the store without waiting for a reply.
"What?" Twilight asked herself quietly before following suit.
I walked around the small store, this was some sort of organized chaos that I can't really say was organized in my eyes. Nothing seemed to be in any particular order, but I eventually found some white sidewalk chalk next to a thermos and a can of turpentine, what?
"Hey, Matthew? What was that thing you mentioned before?" Twilight asked from another aisle.
"What thing? I found the chalk by the way." I replied.
"The etch-a-thinggy, what was it?"
"Etch-a-sketch? Yeah, it's a rectangular screen with two knobs on it, did you find one?"
"I think so..." Twilight replied hesitantly. I walked over to the aisle Twilight was in and saw what she was looking at. It was an etch-a-sketch alright, but it was a cheap knockoff in the shape of a star.
"Well, close enough." I said as I picked it up. We then walked over to the counter and began purchasing our toys, the guy at the cashier gave us weird looks but decided to keep quiet.
"That went well." Twilight commented as we left the store and headed for the car.
"I guess, but that old guy gave us some weird looks, as if I'm too old to be playing with toys, pfft." I replied playfully. With a short fit of giggles, we got back in the car and began our ride back home.
I am going to have to walk to my SUV from my house so that I don't leave my car behind, that would just be a waste of time.

Twilight and I arrived at the house, she decided to stay because walking six miles is not in her best interest. I decided to skate there instead, now that I wouldn't have to wait for a pedestrian to catch up, and now Rainbow decided to tag along. At least this gives me a chance to get her out of the house, I haven't seen Pinkie anywhere though...
"C'mon Rainbow, let's go." I called. She soon came down, fully human and fully dressed.
"How are you going to carry that thing and skate?" Rainbow asked incredulously as she pointed at the red gasoline container.
"Because I can...." I trailed off, getting an idea. I put down the container and went to a seemingly random closet. After a few moments of rummaging, I pulled out a nice looking rope. Without saying a single word I went over to the container and started wrapping the rope around it.
"What are you doing?" Rainbow asked curiously.
"Watch." I replied simply as I concentrated on a knot that I learned long ago.
Eventually, I managed to wrap the rope around the container so that I could wear it as a backpack.
"Wow, impressive." Rainbow commented.
"Well? Let's haul to the SUV!" I exclaimed as I sprinted out the front door, grabbing my board on the way out. Rainbow was kind of far behind, since she took the time to close the door behind her.

Damn, she is fast and she is gaining on me. I thought when I looked behind me to find that Rainbow was less than twenty feet behind me.
Rainbow caught up to me and gave me a challenging look and then stuck her tongue out at me as she overtook me.
"You might be fast, but can you maintain your speed?" I challenged before she passed me.
"Ha, you just watch. I'm the best athlete you've known!" Rainbow called back.
Wow, my legs were a bit sore from yesterday and I was losing ground to Rainbow. I guess it's all of the extra weight, but that might help me since there is a short hill up ahead.
I started pushing with everything I had to reach the peak of that hill with the most speed possible. I started catching up to Rainbow, probably because she didn't want to exhaust herself at this hill.
I caught myself staring at Rainbow for a short time, but I quickly shook myself and focused on the challenge at hand. I suddenly flew past Rainbow in a burst of speed, the look of surprise on Rainbow's face was something I would have taken the time to laugh with, but I was really out of breath to do so.
I gave Rainbow a short wave and a smirk as I flew into the hill's slope and started gaining speed. I must have been going a twenty miles per hour or so when I started getting speed wobbles, I started zig-zagging to tame them before they flung me off the board.
I guess Rainbow wasn't so lucky, I heard a thump with an "Omph!" Behind me. I looked back to see Rainbow sliding down the hill side, her board following closely behind.
I bailed out of my board and ran over to stop Rainbow's slide to the bottom of the hill, "Crap, are you okay?" I asked when I caught her.
"Owww, I did not think my board would turn on me like that.." Rainbow managed after a few gasps.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I forgot to tell you about speed wobbles." I apologized.
"That's what its called? It felt like getting thrown off." Rainbow replied.
"Yeah, the more you fall the more you learn, I guess. How's you road rash?"
"My what?"
"The scrapes you got from your fall, let me see them."
"Um, let's get off the road first, I see a car way over there." Rainbow pointed out, I looked behind me to see a blue pickup truck in the distance.
"Alright," I replied as I helped her up, "Can you walk?"
"Yeah, I'm fine."
We walked over to the side of the road, I spotted our boards on the sides of the road a little ways down the hill, they thankfully stopped.
"Okay, let me see your scrapes." I demanded. Rainbow nodded and showed me her elbows and knees. Her left elbow and knee were scraped up a bit, but not much else seemed off. "Did you hit anything else?"
"Yeah, I was sliding on my back for a while." she said as she turned around to show me, her shirt was a little ripped at the torso, her bra strap was in the way so there wasn't any road rash there.
"Your back is fine, but I want to give your knee some attention later." I diagnosed, "Can you still skate? We still have about two miles to go."
Rainbow nodded just as that blue pickup truck passed us, we made our way to our boards and slowly made our way down the hill. No racing this time, it wouldn't be fair since Rainbow was hurt.

We cruised at a gentle speed, the road was clear of any other cars so we were riding at the center of the road, where there weren't as many cracks.
We eventually found my SUV off to the side of the road where I left it. I went straight for the back and fished out a first aid kit and Rainbow sat so that I could properly disinfect her scrapes.
"I only have rubbing alcohol, so it's going to burn a bit." I warned.
"It's okay, just get this over with." Rainbow said with a hint of relief.
"You know? You still never explained the wing thing to me." I said. Rainbow sighed heavily.
"You aren't going to drop this are you?" Rainbow asked.
"Nope." I replied proudly.
"Well, if you simply have to know... A Pegasus' wings get stiff when they are um... Horny." Rainbow explained.
"What?" I began in surprise, "Can I ask who you were thinking of?"
"I'd rather you don't"
"Fine by me." I finished.
We got that over with and I fed my hungry SUV with its proper diet, two liters of gasoline. We hopped in and drove our way back.

We were half way home when I noticed that something was off, "My tank is draining too fast.." I observed.
"Is that bad?"
"I really hope it's not what I think it is."
"And what would that be?" Rainbow asked.
"I might have punctured my gas tank... Odd, I don't recall running over any rough terrain recently."
"Well, get home before we're out of juice. You can check there." Rainbow suggested.
"Yeah." I agreed.

I pulled up into my drive way and quickly got out to inspect my vehicle for damage, Rainbow followed out of pure interest.
I got down on my belly and inspected my SUV's underside, I quickly spotted a leak. The leak was, of course, located at the gas tank. I saw two holes in the tank, both approximately 1/16th of an inch in diameter, they seemed to be placed so that one hole feed air as the other one drains. This was done deliberately, I could tell it was done with a drill, and very hastily. Whoever did this did not know that drilling at high speeds on steel would destroy the drill bit. The full reality of our situation hit me, hard.
"Rainbow, we have a problem."
"I can see that Matt."

"Twilight! Pinkie! Where are you two?" I asked somewhat nervously as I entered the house.
"We're here Matty, what's wrong?" Pinkie Pie said, coming out of the library.
"I think we have a serious problem on our hands." I said.
"And hooves." Rainbow added. I shot Rainbow I look, "What? It's true."
My phone started ringing, I checked the caller ID. It was Ted, I picked up as soon as my hands would allow.
"Ted? Is that you?" I answered.
"Yeah, what's wrong?" He asked, I remembered that others might be listening to our phone call.
"Uh, nothing. I was actually wondering if you wanted to have a few drinks with me at the bar." I replied.
Ted must have caught my emphasis on the word 'bar', there was a short silence. "Alright, what time?"
"Not too late, how about five o'clock?" I offered.
"Lucky for you, I happen to be on break at that time. Sure, five o'clock." Ted replied.
"So, why did you call?" I asked.
"I actually wanted to see if I could come over tonight." he answered.
"I don't think that would be a great idea for now, maybe another time?" I offered.
"Yeah, sure. See you at five."
"Yeah, see ya." I hung up. Every pony was staring at me.
"What was that all about?" Twilight asked.
"Matty? You look really really really upset, what's wrong?" Pinkie asked worriedly.
"I think there are people that know who you all are, and I don't think they are the gentle kind either." I replied.
"What do you mean?" Twilight asked nervously.
"There are SPIES after us! Those guys in suits totally sabotaged Matt's SUV and we almost died in that car accident, if it WAS a car accident!" Rainbow blurted out. Pinkie and Twilight gave me shocked expressions.
"I wouldn't say it like that, but the evidence points towards that general direction." I confirmed.
"How can this be possible? We haven't spoken to anyone but you and Ted. That driver last night must have said something!" Twilight concluded.
"Twily, how does that make any sense? That poor poor man couldn't have said anything if those guys were following Matty and Dashie before he saw them..." Pinkie reasoned.
"Oh, yeah. Sorry for jumping to conclusions. But, how could anybody other than Ted know?" Twilight questioned.
"Ted must have ratted us out." Rainbow growled between her teeth.
"No, Ted would never give me up like that. I'm sure there is some other explanation to this, but the way I see it, theorizing how people found us out isn't going to make any progress. Twilight, how quickly can you get the spell ready?" I said.
"Uh... I don't know, I still don't have the ground quartz." she replied.
"I'll go pick it up today, how much time do you need?" I responded quickly.
"Uh, I don't know. I could start calibrating the spell now, and I could finish calibration by Monday. The spell should take about five minutes to cast then." Twilight answered.
"Good," I said, looking at my watch, 4:00 pm, "I gotta go, I have a meeting with Ted to go to." I said as I headed out of the door.
"Wait!" Pinkie called, "You didn't have lunch."
"That can wait Pinkie, this could be something very bad." I replied, Pinkie just shook her head and pulled out a large cupcake... Out of where? Where did that come from? No, I'm done asking questions, take the cupcake and run Matthew.
"It's dangerous to jump into danger in an empty stomach Matty, take this." Pinkie offered.
"Um, thanks." I took the cupcake, said my goodbyes and left.

It was a very stressful drive, the road was completely empty except for my car and the occasional other. Paranoia was starting to seep into my mind and suddenly every other car was suspect to my judgment. They are not following you Matt, otherwise the same car would be behind you constantly.
I turned up the radio to drown out my thought, I pressed a little harder on the gas to get off the road sooner.

I arrived at the bar at 5:01 pm, close enough. Ted was already waiting for me inside, this time at another corner. I sat down in front of him and the waitress took my order.
"One Appletini please." I ordered. Ted cocked an eyebrow at me.
"What's with the fancy drink" he asked.
"I dunno, I had a craving." I replied with a shrug. We then both exchanged serious glances.
"So, what did you need to tell me?" he asked while pulling the battery off his phone, I did the same.
"I think there are men who have been watching me and my friends. I caught two guys shadowing me the day of my interview."
"How did that go by the way?"
"Didn't get the job. Did you have any idea that these men are watching me?"
"Can't say anything crossed my radar no, I was actually going to go to your place to celebrate our success on hiding your friend's secrets. Are you positively sure that they were following you?"
"I was with Rainbow at the skate park, that's when I first saw them. We went for lunch, they were there too. When Rainbow and I went to a frozen yogurt place, I saw them there as well. Rainbow and I fled the yogurt place when we took notice,"
"You still eat that stuff?"
"Don't interrupt me, I'm pretty sure that they followed us out but gave up the chase because we were skating away..... I suspect that they sabotaged my SUV after that." I explained.
Ted leaned back on his seat, letting the information seep into his mind. "Damn." Ted concluded as he sipped from his beer.
Before we could say anything else, the waitress came and gave me my drink. "Here you go sir, enjoy." the lady said plainly.
Ted and I waited for the waitress to leave before we continued. "Matt, this could be very, very bad." Ted concluded once more.
"I was hoping you wouldn't say that."
"Matt, if what you're telling me is true... This is only the beginning, if the guys that were following you were below my paycheck, I would have known. Whoever it is, these are people that are very high up in the ranks."
"What if it's just the FBI? Maybe they're rookies, it wasn't too hard for me to spot them." I suggested.
"Matt, have you been living under a rock? The FBI and the CIA are one and the same." Ted said as if it was obvious.
"Oh."
"Matthew," Ted began, leaning forwards, "I'm going to say this again, this is only the beginning. These operative are way above my rank in the CIA and they do not play nice."
There was a pause before Ted continued, "Do you have a gun?" he asked seriously.
"What? No."
"Get one, learn to use it because you might have to use it."
"Ted," I began in disbelief, I looked around to make sure no one was observing us and lowered my tone to a harsh whisper, "I've never even held a gun before, you expect me to defend myself with one?"
"Learn as you go Matt."
"Where am I even going to get one? Gun laws these days are really tight." I continued whispering harshly.
"I know a guy, he's strictly small time and he doesn't interfere with the CIA's regular trafficking clients, so no one's busted him yet. I recommend a nice Glock, it's light, low recoil and easy to clean."
"Ted..." I trailed off when he gave me the address of the man he mentioned, "I can't do this."
"You have to, how long until your friends can go home?"
"Not long now, just a few days."
"This might give you enough time to get them home."
"And what about me Ted? Buying a gun is only going to bring more attention to me." This seemed to diffuse Ted.
"Sorry, you're right."
"It's fine, will you be able to take care of yourself? I kind of got you tied up in all of this." I replied.
"I'll be fine Matt, I can take care of myself if things get hairy. Plus, I still have a few strings to pull at that could get me out of this. Worry about yourself and your other friends, alright?" Ted reassured me with a smile.
"Yeah, take care man. Drinks on me. Oh, and by the way, where can I get myself quartz?" I asked.
Ted shrugged, "Internet?" he suggested.
"Right." I said as we gave each other a manhug, I then put a twenty on the table and left.

I came home, everything seemed like a dull buzz in my brain. I didn't even drink my appletini.
I looked in my wallet, I had the gun dealer's address in there, I guess I took it without realizing. Rainbow sat down next to me. Oh, I'm sitting on a couch.
"We're going to be okay Matt... Right?" Rainbow asked for reassurance.
"Yeah, Twilight will get your spell ready and you will all go home... Everything is going to be fine once that happens." I said in my best reassuring tone.
Rainbow gave me a sad look, "And you?" she asked.
"I'll figure that out in my own time."
"No! You can come with us can't you? Those guys can't reach you in Equestria." Rainbow offered.
"And make the spell harder for Twilight? What if I do go and Twilight somehow messes up because I'm going too? Did you even think about Ted? I got him into this situation and now there are men going after him too, don't you think? If I get to go to Equestria, shouldn't Ted get to come with me?" I replied harshly, Rainbow seemed to shrink back from me... That softened me up.
"Look, Rainbow. Equestria just isn't my world, I don't belong there. Despite everything that I've lost here, I still have things worth staying for. I have my dream job at the hangar, I have my Aunt's house, I have friends to back me up. I can't just leave the little I have left behind me." I said in a much softer tone. Rainbow just sat quietly next to me, eventually resting her fuzzy head on my lap. She didn't need to say she was sorry, I could feel it.

Dinner was dull, even Pinkie Pie was grimly quiet. Eventually I just went to bed early....