//------------------------------//
// Keeping the Secret 
// Story: Friendship Through the Worlds 
// by ThomasZoey3000 
//------------------------------//

Mornings were never a friend to Matthew, and today was no different as the sun's rays crept into his bedroom, went along the floor and finally crept up till it was shining in his eyes. He groaned and tried in a vain attempt to cover them, but it was no use, the sun was telling him to get up right now, and would not allow him to go back to sleep.

He groaned as he did, feeling the back of his head, "ow, what the heck hit me last night? I feel like I got into a boxing match."

Still, with a groan of disgust, he got up from his bed and went over to his kitchen to make some breakfast. As he walked over to the kitchen, he spotted a dark blue tail with purple and pink highlights. He walked a little closer, only to discover Princess Twilight Sparkle looking out the window threw his back porch and looking out to the outside world.

"Sleep well?" she asked, not even turning her head.

Matthew gasped, "how did you know I was even standing here?"

Twilight turned her head and with her left hoof, pointed to her left ear, "ponies have good hearing," she answered. She turned her attention back to the outside world while Matthew walked over, standing next to the wall beside her. "I've just been looking outside, you have a lovely piece of land. Though those things out there kind of ruin the feel of it."

"Those machines are tractors and automobiles," Matthew responded. "Including my silly old pick-up truck."

"Still, they're foreign to me. But then again, you probably already know that from my previous two visits to Sunset's homeworld?"

"Yeah I do know."

"But there is something I find curious here."

"What's that?" Matthew's eyebrow raised hearing her say this.

"Well, ever since my friends and I came here, I've not seen one other person walking around in this house. You're not living all on your own, are you?"

"No, of course not. I do have Bridget. That little girl keeps me company."

"Perhaps, but don't you wish you had somepony, er someone to talk to from time to time?"

"Sometimes, but sometimes you want to be alone, especially after what I've been through." Twilight raised her own eyebrow hearing Matthew say those words, "uh never mind that. How about we go into the kitchen and make something to eat?"

"Sure, what do you recommend?"

Matthew was about to suggest what he normally has for breakfast, but then remembered that his guests were ponies, and ponies didn't eat meat. He quickly came up with a different solution.

"I was thinking of toast, fruit and waffles. Sound good?"

"Oh you bet, and I'm sure the others will enjoy that too. Do you need a helping hoof with anything?"

"You know, for once I'll say yes. Many hands, and hooves, make light work." And on that note, the two went to work on making breakfast.


Across dimensions, Princesses Celestia and Luna were flying their way towards Ponyville. They were heading for the castle of friendship. When they arrived, they were greeted by Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo, the Cutie Mark Crusaders. The trio of young ponies were helping to calm Spike the Dragon down, or maybe it was the other way around. It was hard to tell at this point.

"What is going on here?" Celestia asked. "Where is Twilight?"

"I thought maybe she was with you," Spike answered. "She and the other ponies went off on another map adventure, and never came back."

Apple Bloom looked like she had been crying for hours, "I miss my sister! What if something awful has happened to her?"

Luna flapped over and tried to calm the young pony down, then had to do the same for Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo. Celestia turned to Spike, "show me where the map sent them."

Spike lead the princesses and the Cutie Mark Crusaders to the map room. The map was still glowing, and the six cutie marks of the mane 6 were still floating around a small town in Northern Equestria."

"We'll head out there at once," Luna stated firmly. "If anything has happened..." she paused, noticing the worried looks on the young ponies' faces, "which I doubt has happened, we'll find them and bring them home safe and sound."

Celestia nodded. "In the meantime, I suggest you all stay together till they return. Maybe at Sweet Apple Acres with Granny Smith and Big Mac."

There was some hesitation on the idea as they felt the mane 6 could return at any moment to the castle, but Celestia assured them that if they did, they would be able to find them at Sweet Apple Acres. And so, they left while the princesses took off.

"I can only hope for Starswirl's sake that they're okay," Celestia said to Luna as they flew.

"This is Twilight Sparkle and her friends we're talking about. The same ponies who took down Tirek remember? I'm sure they're fine and on their way back now."

Celestia was about to respond when she and Luna flew over what was left of the Golden Oak Library. It had been Twilight's home since she moved to Ponyville, but Tirek destroyed it in an attempt to take the powers of the alicorns. She knew Twilight could handle herself, but she couldn't help herself but worry.

"I hope you're right sister. I hope you're right."


"And this, uh, inter-web can help us find Starlight Glimmer?" Rarity asked curiously.

"Internet," Matthew corrected, "and while it won't find her location, it'll help you know where to go. Which in this case could lead you close to that pony."

"Just wait till we find her," said Rainbow Dash as she punched the air, "I'll teach her not to zap us to other dimensions, and for what she's done to those ponies in that village!"

She started flapping around, slowly at first, then getting faster and faster. It wasn't until she felt something grab her tail that she stopped. Turns out, it was Applejack with some rope.

"Slow down there sugarcube, we can't go charging in without a plan. Look what happened the last time we did that."

"Applejack's right," said Fluttershy. "If we charge in, she could teleport us to who knows where. Maybe to a dark universe where good is bad, and bad to good, or even worse than that." She shuddered just thinking about that.

Pinkie Pie looked at her carefully, "huh, and usually I'm the one who comes up with thoughts like that. Are you feeling alright there Fluttershy?"

"I'm fine. Really."

Twilight Sparkle flew over and sat down next to Matthew. She looked at all the maps on his computer. Her eyes opened wide in surprise, "that's a lot of land to cover, where do we even begin?"

Before anyone could answer, they heard something outside. Matthew got up and looked. His mouth opened wide in shock, and he slapped his forehead, "dang it, I forgot I had company coming today." He turned to the ponies, "you might want to hide, the less humans see you the better."

"But Starlight..." Rainbow Dash began.

"No time to worry about that, get into hiding! Now!"

Without another word, the ponies disappeared.  Matthew walked over to his back door to greet his old friends. Patrick has hair that almost looked like it was curly, but wasn't quite there, and was around the height of Matthew. Ryan had a better hairstyle, and stood a couple of feet taller than Matthew, making him the tallest human there. Finally there was Emily, she was a bit shorter than Ryan with dark red hair.

"Yo Matt, long time no see!" called Patrick.

"Hey guys, I know it might be a little too late to say this, but welcome to New Liskeard, and Northern Ontario. It's not a major big city, but it's still got charm...I'm going to shut up now."

The three humans laughed, "that's what we missed about you Matt. That and you've always been super cool to just be around with."

"If you say so. So, have you guys gotten a hotel to stay at?"

"Yep, it's back in New Liskeard on the highway. It's the very one you used to stay at when you came here, so you told us."

"Oh yeah that one. I haven't been there in ages." Matthew paused and looked back into the house, then turned back to his old friends. "Anyways, come on in guys."

He lead them into the house, and gasped as he saw Rarity's tail sticking out.

"What? What's the matter Matthew?" Patrick asked.

"Oh, uh I...uh, just thought I saw something out of place, sort of sticking out." No sooner had those words left his mouth that Rarity tucked her tail in, "silly me, must've been my imagination."

His three friends looked all around the house, admiring all the hard work Matthew had done. All the while, the six ponies did their best to remain hidden. There were some close calls like Fluttershy's tail being spotted by Ryan, but Matthew stated it was an old blanket that accidently got mixed with his stuff. Another close call came in the form of Pinkie Pie nearly jumping out when Patrick said it would be fun to hang out in town, but she was caught by Twilight's magic and kept at bay.

"Man Matt, this place is amazing. You sure do have it made here," commented Patrick. "Wide open spaces, fully renovated house and peace and quiet. Maybe I should consider moving up here."

"Uh Pat," Ryan pointed out, "you're needed at your job back in Toronto, remember?"

Patrick kicked the ground, "darn it! I hate it when you remind me of that!"

"Oh well, for as long as you three are here, you can enjoy the beautiful scenery around here," Matthew smiled.

"Indeed we will," smiled Emily as she stretched her arms into the air. As she did this, there was a small beep from her phone. She reached down for it, pulled it out and gasped, "I just got a news flash, there was a small attack in Stouffville."

"What?!" exclaimed the three male humans.

The ponies listened in as best as they could.

"Some creature, which looked like a small horse, or something like it, attacked police officers as they were trying to capture it. According to the report, some kind of explosion hit them, sending them flying. Currently, they are looking for the creature."

"Yikes, and to think this happened just after we got up here," said Ryan.

"Is there any video or photos of the creature?" Patrick asked.

"Just one photo, but it's too blurry to tell." She pulled it up and showed everyone. Matthew's eyes went wide as he could see the creature's outline. "If I didn't know any better, I'd swear that looked like a small horse, or pony."

"Pon..." Twilight began, but quickly slammed her hooves onto her mouth, and banged her head aganist the wall of her hiding spot.

"What was that?" Patrick asked as he and the others looked in Twilight's direction.

"Oh uh, it's probably just Bridget playing again," Matthew said quickly. "You know how cats are." And he chuckled nervously.

Somehow, his friends bought into that lie, which made Matthew sigh with relief. In her hiding spot, Twilight sighed too, and muttered to herself that she needed to be more careful.


Before long, the tour was done and it was time for Matthew's friends to leave. They said good bye and promised to call him later when they were ready to hang out. As they left though, Emily brought up a thought, "did Matthew seem to be skittish to anyone?"

"Yeah now that you mention it, he was," answered Ryan.

"Well it's been a while since we last saw him," said Patrick. "Maybe he's forgotten how to talk with people."

"I don't know, something seems fishy," said Emily.

Once he was sure his friends were gone, Matthew called out, "it's okay everyone, er everypony, you can come out now!" And within seconds, the ponies appeared in front of him. They had heard the entire conversation.

"Did it look like Starlight Glimmer?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I think so, but I couldn't be a hundred percent sure," he answered. "Just give me a minute and I'll have the picture up for you."

It actually took more than a minute to find the picture, but once found, the ponies all looked at the photograph. It was Fluttershy who said it, "that's Starlight Glimmer!"

"Okay, so now we know where she is, we just need a direct route there," said Rainbow Dash. "Then we'll teleport there, beat the snot out of her and be back in Equestria before dinner."

"How?" Applejack asked. "Have you forgotten Twilight doesn't know how to get us back?"

"We can get the spell out of Starlight Glimmer. Simple."

"And have you forgotten what I said about other humans?" Matthew asked. "You can't trust them. Well, at least not all of them."

"And what of your friends?" Rarity asked with a raised eyebrow. "We hid from them, yet they seem like the trustworthy bunch."

"Well, uh, the thing is...it's not important. I should be the only human who knows you're here, and the only one who will help you get home." Rarity continued to keep her eyebrow raised at Matthew. "Anyways, what's the plan Twilight?"

"Well we will need to know how to get to Stouffville. Do you have a map of the way there?"

"One minute and you'll have one," and with that, he searched for the map Twilight and her friends needed.


As this was going on, Starlight Glimmer was making her way out of the town of Stouffville. That however was easier said than done as police officers were looking out for her. She ducked into the bushes, and hid behind trees. She often used what little magic she had, lifting herself into the trees.

"Give me a big fat break," she snarled to herself. "How am I going to regain my magic if I can't recover? I need to get these monkeys off my flankside."

It was at that moment she found what she was looking for. To her it looked like a weird looking cart full of rocks. Using her magic once more, she was able to get the brakes to come off, making it go flying down the road.

Cars and trucks had to swerve to get out of the way as it rolled along. Then it happened. One minute it was on the road, the next it was falling onto it's side, blocking the road and trapping some people in their cars. Starlight Glimmer couldn't have cared one bit. She smirked as she saw the police running over to the scene.

"Now, to find Twilight Sparkle and her friends."

She got down from the tree she was in, and started the long journey to find Twilight Sparkle. Wherever she was.