“So, I was right… you’re not dead.” Oliver spoke dryly, crossing his arms.
“H-How did you know we were back here?” I demanded to know, stuttering slightly.
“I was outside, you idiot. I watched you scramble over the fence and let these creeps in.”
Pointing at the girls, he raised an eyebrow and slowly shook his head.
“I’m not sure where to start to be honest, where should I start, Bro? By asking how you pulled off the most convincing fake death in human history? Or should I be asking what the hell these things are?”
I opened my mouth to speak, which was when he continued, directing his finger to Rainbow Dash.
“Or better yet, should I ask why you were in the middle of shagging that one?”
At that, Rainbow scrambled to her hooves and shook the dust from her pelt. Her cheeks flushed red and she scowled at my brother.
“That’s not what was happening!” she professed angrily, “I was kicking his ass!”
“And by kicking my ass, she means getting hers handed to her.” I blurted out.
Snorting, Rainbow went over to her friends and stared Oliver down defensively, not knowing what was going to happen, or whether he was going to attack us or not. But I knew my brother, and with the way he had chosen to approach us, I knew he wasn’t an enemy. If he was, he would have remained hidden, and not so boldly come forward to confront us.
“First things first…” I began, “You’re not to say a word, not to anyone.”
“Well look at you, telling me what to do.” he scoffed, “So, your balls finally dropped then?”
“Oliver, I mean it.”
“Oh for fuck’s sake, relax Callum.” he jeered, rolling his eyes, “I’m not going to say anything. Just tell me what the bloody hell’s going on, yeah? Also, is that a parrot!?”
Blu, who was perched on Fluttershy’s back, took a bow and introduced himself, to which Oliver shook his head from side to side with further disbelief. I cleared my throat to regain his attention, and gestured for him to come to our camp. He did just so, and I assured the girls that everything was okay. At that, Twilight let out an aggressive huff, baring her teeth and lighting up her horn.
“This is the furthest thing from okay! Callum, he’s seen us!” she hissed to me urgently.
“I’m handling it, Twilight.”
“There’s nothing to handle, he needs to be dealt with, now!”
Oliver looked at Twilight with wide eyes, realising that he may actually be in a touch of danger. However, before she could escalate the situation any further, I made my stance crystal clear to her.
“I said, I’m handling it. If you hurt my brother, I will snap that horn off and shove it up your arse, do you hear me?”
Shuddering and taking a step away from me, Twilight immediately backed down. Oliver then looked at me with his eyebrows raised, impressed by my declaration of authority. The others looked at me as well, bearing amused expressions, evidently tickled by the threat. Continuing to the camp, I again asked for Oliver to join us, which he did without question, his ballsy demeanour now entirely extinguished.
“Now…” I started, licking my bottom lip, “Again, you really can’t talk to anyone about this, okay? Not to your friends, and not to whoever you’re seeing right now. You still with Becca?”
“Nah, that didn’t work out.” he spoke offhandedly, shrugging.
Promising that he would never tell a soul, Oliver insisted that I hurried up and told him how I was still alive, explaining his side of the story first.
“I was away at Andrew’s, when I got a call from Mum. Obviously I didn’t bother answering, which was when I got a call from the police, telling me that I needed to come home, because something had happened to my little brother.”
Raising his lips and furrowing his brow, he carried on, unable to look me in the eye.
“I never got to see the body, but they told me it was a stabbing. Then they had the absolute fucking gall to insinuate that I might have done it. If I hadn’t been at Andrew’s, or had my train ticket as proof that I wasn’t at home, they very well might have done me in.”
“Oliver, I-”
“Do you have any idea what that was like? Being accused of murdering your own brother?”
Pursing my lips, I shook my head.
“It’s not very nice.” he spat.
“I can’t imagine so.” I replied softly.
There was an awkward moment of silence, before I furthered the conversation.
“You said that you were right, that you knew I wasn’t dead. How?”
“Once I put the pieces together, it was clear as day.” he said proudly, his arrogance slowly returning, “The house was duffed up by your cricket bat, I saw the marks all over it. What kind of idiot raids a home and doesn’t bring his own weapon? So yeah, that was the first tell. You’re the one who smashed up the place, weren’t you?”
Nodding to confirm, he exhaled with amusement.
“Knew it. As for the second tell?” he went on, “Well, it was obvious, nothing had been stolen. The house was battered from top to bottom, and nobody took a thing. And for all the damage, there was one thing you didn’t touch.”
“Ahh…” I croaked, realising where I had gone wrong.
Oliver gave a knowing hum, tilting his head forward and continuing.
“That laptop was how you played your games, and how you spoke to all your freaky friends on the internet. And you couldn’t bring yourself to destroy it.”
Hanging my head, I knew that he was right. My laptop had far too much sentimental value to me, and so I had left it unscathed, not thinking for a second about how that might look.
“I’m guessing the police took it?” I inquired.
“Pfft, no! I took it!” he chortled, “Thought I might be able to crack into it, I figured it might have been a clue as to who really killed you or something. With the police being utterly useless, I thought I could suss the killer out and go after them myself. But you, being the dickhead you are, didn’t set an easy enough password.”
I laughed, and my brother went on to elucidate the main giveaway that I was still alive.
“At this point, for as weird as all the circumstances were, I still took you for dead. That was until we received another call from the police, informing us that the mortuary had somehow lost your body.”
Having just learned from Twilight about how clones crumbled away after a few days, I knew exactly what had happened, and without being able to stop myself, I broke into a wild cackling. Rainbow Dash and Pinkie too, burst into laughter, and Oliver looked from face to face with surprise.
“Okay…” I began, still laughing, “I just want to point out, I didn’t know that was going to happen.”
“Yeah, well I’m glad it did.” he clapped back, smirking, “Do you know how much money we got from that lawsuit? On top of the home insurance payout? Your little stunt made us richer than when Dad was still around! Mum and I have been gorging ourselves on curries and kebabs for weeks!”
After huffing with surprise, I dipped my head and told him that he was welcome.
“So how’d you do it?” Oliver begged, craning his neck.
Gesturing to the girls, I denoted that Twilight and Rarity were unicorns, capable of magic, with Twilight especially being extraordinarily gifted in the art. After building up the story a little bit, I came clean with the truth that Twilight had cloned me, which I had then stabbed with a kitchen knife.
“Bloody hell, Callum… So, you quite literally killed yourself?”
Nodding, I admitted that it had been an extreme measure, to ensure that nobody would ever look for me. He asked me why I had done this, but then, before I could answer, he gave an emphatic sniff and clapped his hands together, making all the girls jump.
“You know what? Come on, I have a feeling this conversation needs some tea.”
“Um, I can make some?” Rarity offered nervously.
“Good for you mate.” Oliver retorted, “But I’m talking about real tea, British tea, Yorkshire Tea!”
“But what about Mum?” I asked nervously.
With a derisive laugh, my brother explained that Janice had gone off on holiday for a fortnight, using a load of the money from the mortuary lawsuit. Apparently, she had barely given a toss about my demise, even admitting during one of her drunken rants that she was thankful to be rid of her autistic child, of whom had given her more blight than bliss in life.
“Charming.” I huffed.
As he had spoken, I could feel the seething hatred from the girls either side of me, now protective beyond measure over their newfound friend. Taking notice as well, Oliver quickly steered the subject back to the now.
“Anyway, she won’t be back for another week, so you and your gay horses are safe to come in.”
“We’re ponies.” Rainbow Dash growled, still wary of him.
“That’s what I said, gay horses.”
I couldn’t help but snort lightly at that remark, and then we made our way back through the orchard and down the land, with the girls anxiously trotting behind us. It was so strange, casually strolling beside my brother as though I still lived here. Stranger still, was that the girls were here in his presence, and he barely even seemed to care.
“I’ve got to ask, Bro… how are you not like, losing your shit?” I asked, “You’ve just found out that I’m still alive, and there are six alien ponies and a parrot with me, all of which can speak!”
“Are you forgetting who I am?” he replied blankly, “I’m Oliver fucking Horncastle, nothing catches me off-guard. Am I very confused by all this? Yes. Am I a tad bewildered? Absolutely. But I’m not going to lose my composure and freak out like some bog-standard normie. I just want to understand what’s actually going on.”
To this, I pursed my lips, humming. He was right, Oliver had always been the type of person to show nonchalance towards baffling or outright absurd situations. For all the innate anger he usually harboured, he was actually a very level-headed individual, and as a plus, he had always believed in the existence of aliens, incessantly predicting throughout our childhood that he would someday meet one. He probably hadn’t counted on his first contact being with technicolour ponies from the magical world of Equus, but all the same, his readiness for the otherworldly had prepared him for something like this.
“I must admit though, your friends are bloody weird to look at.” he muttered, “It’s those great big fuck-off anime eyes for me, doesn’t seem natural.”
“You get used to it.” I replied, giving him a sly look.
We grew closer to the house, which was when I saw them, and cried out with a gasp.
“Chilli! Archer!”
Looking out through the sliding glass door, staring at me intently, were my beloved canines. Oliver chuckled and went over to open the door, to which they charged out at me at full pelt, immediately recognising me. Archer sprung up and barrelled into me, almost taking one of my eyes out in the process with his enormous paws. I was only just able to remain standing, until my legs were suddenly taken out by a fluffy, chocolate-coloured cannonball. Clattering to the ground, I was quickly besieged by a loudly whimpering, slightly dazed Cocker Spaniel. Jumping up and putting her paws on my shoulders, the poor thing was so excited that she was practically singing.
“Okay! Okay! Hi! Hello Chilli! Hello!” I laughed as she buried her nose into my face, licking me all over.
Smirking, Oliver left the sliding door open and crossed his arms.
“I see Beans still remembers you.”
“Beans?” I inquired, tilting my head.
“Oh, I call her Beans now sometimes.” he told me, “You know, like, chilli beans.”
I asked if that came with a story, to which he nodded and went on to elaborate. While the damage I had done to the house was being repaired, the repairman, of whom was a family friend by the name of Luke Roffey, would exclusively call the dog Chilli-Beans. Since then, Oliver had taken to calling her Beans, which I had to admit, was both fitting and cute. Archer too, was beyond excited to see me, which he expressed by headbutting me in the ear, and then enveloping one side of my head with his gargantuan tongue.
“Thanks big boy…” I groaned, rolling my eyes.
I asked Oliver how the dogs had found their way home, to which he rolled his eyes.
“Of course you’d be behind them disappearing too. You had me shit-scared for ages that they’d run away!”
With my head still buried in Chilli’s fur, I clarified that I had taken them to my friend’s house for safekeeping.
“With you away at Andrew’s, there was no way in hell that I was going to leave them all alone with Jan.” I told him, manoeuvring my face to avoid Chilli’s persistent licking.
Oliver shrugged and admitted that I had a good point, and then explained that the dogs had simply shown up at the back door one day, about a week after I had ‘died’. There was no doubt that they had been reported as missing, so I presumed that Bruce had brought them back in the night at some point. With there surely being an ongoing investigation for my murder, I didn’t blame him in the slightest for not wanting to be seen with them.
After spending a well-earned moment with both of the dogs, I finally settled them down and got to my feet. Now slightly calmer, they went over to the ponies and greeted them too, clearly remembering them as well. Applejack gave Archer a big old cuddle, and laughed as the dog started licking at her face and ears. Fluttershy meanwhile, gave Chilli mountains of attention. Oliver looked at me with a smirk, somewhat touched by the scene. He then returned to the sliding door and opened it further, welcoming us inside with a low scooping gesture. I went in and immediately found myself baffled to see how much the place had changed; Luke had certainly put in his money’s worth. Not only had all the broken furnishings been fixed, but everything in the house had been upgraded, with a much more modern lick of paint.
“I’ll make the tea, you lot head into the lounge.” Oliver commanded.
Despite still being a little anxious, the girls did as they were told. I was about to go as well, when my brother snapped his fingers and beckoned me back.
“Not you, we need a word.”
Nodding, I helped usher the girls into the living room, before shutting the kitchen door. I turned to look at Oliver once again, which was when his fist made its way into my face, catching me in the upper cheek, and being strong enough to send me stumbling down to one knee. Clutching my face and gasping, I looked up and glared at him with wide, panicked eyes.
“Wh-What was that for!?” I hissed, slowly getting back up.
“Why’d you think, twat-face?” he spat, storming up to me and grabbing my shirt, “You let me believe you were dead, and ran off with a bunch of literal aliens! Why the fuck didn’t you tell me!?”
“Because you’d have told someone, you dullard!” I growled back at him, “And besides, I didn’t think you were worth telling, seeing as you hated my guts half the time!”
“Tsk! I didn’t hate you! I never hated you!”
Pushing him away, I demanded to know why he had given me such a hard time then, to which he clenched his fists and confessed.
“Because I was jealous, alright!?”
Opening my mouth but saying nothing, I observed my brother as he finally humbled himself.
“I was jealous. Everything about you pissed me off to no end. You could do no wrong growing up, Dad always coddled you and let you get away with being a literal fucking nightmare. Do you know how many birthdays and trips you ruined, with your screaming fits and running off all the time? But no matter what, you were always let off the hook.”
His expression turned from distaste to anger, as he stared me down.
“Then you got older, and you just got more, and more, annoying. Always quoting your dumb TV shows, and jabbering on to your weird foreign friends on the internet. My Little Pony this, and Dinosaur King that, you just didn’t shut up about weird kid stuff!”
Sighing, he looked to the floor and shook his head, before looking back at me with a defeated expression. His eyes welled up with sadness, and he finally exposed the root of his anger towards me.
“You were happy.” he breathed, “You were just happy, in your own little world. Do you know how many times I heard you through the bedroom wall, singing those dumb pony songs? I was sat there, angry at life, and all I could hear was my happy little mong of a brother, singing about wrapping up winter, without a care in the world.”
“Oliver…”
“You sounded good too.” he interrupted, continuing, “You can actually sing well. You were just this happy, talented, good-looking little shit, singing his songs without a care in the world. Then when Dad disappeared and Mum got worse, I just got so… bitter.”
Propping himself up against the kitchen counter, Oliver expressed to me how our father’s absence and mother’s treatment had sent him down a very angry path. I had been the only outlet for that anger, and he knew all along that it wasn’t right, nor fair, but he just didn’t know how to stop. After a moment of silence, he walked back over to me, with tears in his eyes, and hugged me.
“Look, I never hated you, alright? I love you, and I always have. I’m just an angry shithead, and it all got too much for me with Dad leaving. I’m sorry Little Bro, I really am…”
I released a long, heavy sigh. After all this time, it couldn’t have felt better to receive an apology.
“It’s alright Bro-Bro.” I said, hugging him back and smiling.
He pulled back and cleared his throat, and suggested that we got the tea on. He took eight mugs from the cupboard, and put the kettle on to boil. For as heartfelt and genuine as his apology was, I couldn’t help but be bothered by one lone fact; I had never been happy. While it was true that I certainly enjoyed getting lost in my own little world, the main reason I did that was to escape from a life that I very much hated, in a world that I very much loathed. Still, he had said that he was sorry, and that was worth far more to me than splitting hairs over an irrelevant point. As we waited for the water to bubble, he looked at me cautiously, and then to my genuine astonishment, he let loose a second confession.
“I uh… I watched it, you know? Your dumb horse show.”
Raising my eyebrows and slowly recoiling my head, I peered at him quizzically, wordlessly ushering him to tell me more.
“After you died, I got all sappy.” he went on, “Decided to give the show a watch, just to see if I could understand why you liked it so much. It’s so fucking stupid, but…”
Giving a hard-pressed sigh, he admitted that he had found the show enjoyable, and could understand why there was such an unprecedented appeal to it. Then, without warning, he grabbed my shirt for a second time and brought his face to mine, speaking in a slow, soft, psychotic tone.
“But if you ever call me a brony, I will cut your dick off with a spoon, do you hear me?”
“Y-Yeah Bro, I-I hear you.”
“Dick… Spoooooon!”
The kettle switch clicked automatically as the water reached boiling point, and Oliver bounced back to his merry self, pouring the water and then going to the fridge to get milk.
“So, if you’ve seen the show, that means you know exactly who these girls are.” I pointed out, crossing my arms, “They’re not just aliens to you, are they?”
Shrugging, my brother admitted that I was right. He had recognised them immediately, which had made the whole spectacle all the more exciting for him. I asked him who his favourite was, to which he rolled his eyes and reluctantly disclosed to me that he had something of a soft spot for Rainbow Dash. I opened my mouth to comment, to which he held up the teaspoon in a threatening manner, glancing briefly at my crotch.
“Dick, spoon, got it.” I uttered quickly.
I questioned him no further, and once the tea was all ready, he put it all on a wooden tray and we went into the lounge together, where the girls were patiently waiting. Fluttershy and Applejack were petting Archer and ‘Beans’, while the others had been quietly nattering amongst themselves.
“There’s sugar, if anyone needs it.”
The second my brother had said it, Pinkie excitedly sprung up and almost knocked the tray out of his hands. Thankfully, she had narrowly missed, and the mugs were distributed from pony to pony. We all got settled, and then Oliver inhaled deeply.
“Right then…” he began, his beady eyes darting from face to face, “Permitting my head isn’t going to blow up from all the knowledge, like in Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, can you lot please finally tell me… WHAT IN THE NAME OF TITS AND WINE IS GOING ON!?”
Everyone jumped, followed by half the girls breaking into giggles over his bizarre choice of words. Clearing her throat, Rarity started us off, telling him all about the Titans’ Orb and its great power. After a good few minutes of building up the tale, prior to their arrival, I took over.
“You’d gone off to Andrew’s.” I told him, “Mum was drunk as usual, and she’d kicked me out to put the chickens to bed. And that was when I heard six familiar voices, coming from behind Dad’s old shed…”
“So then Callum and Rainbow Dash started wrestling, and that’s when you came along and said ‘what-up faggots?’, and I don’t know what that means, but it sounds like an insult, so don’t say that again!” Pinkie babbled on with a tea-soaked muzzle, “But anyway, here we are! Three months, been and gone!”
{Wait, three months? Has it really been that long already?} I thought to myself, scratching the back of my head.
{Aye…} my inner monologue replied, {Time flies when, well… I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘having fun’.}
Slightly flexing my eyebrows to acknowledge the comment, I brought my focus back to Oliver as he took in all the facts. Letting out a long puff from his lips, my brother leaned forward and slowly shook his head. After murmuring the F word half a dozen times, he gasped loudly and pointed at me.
“Wait a minute. That means… that was you!?”
I tilted my head, to which Oliver divulged a most interesting little tale. Apparently, there had been a huge news story lately, which had been covered by every outlet in the country, from Sky News to the BBC. Supposedly, one of the most notorious cartels in Brazil had recently fallen apart, at the behest of a captive uprising. Hundreds of missing persons from across the globe had now been found, including the internet celebrity duo, Conor Nelson and Lewis Carter, known by their joint online alias, The Bulking Bromance.
“Oh sweet, those guys made it!” I cheered.
“You actually met them?”
“Met them?” I scoffed, “Mate, they helped me kick off the bloody riot!”
“Blimey…”
It was beyond amusing to see my brother so gobsmacked; all throughout growing up, I never thought that I would be able to impress him. Now, I had done something that had left him struggling for words, and without an ounce of shame, I basked in every second of it. Oliver then asked to see my battle scars, and I couldn’t have taken my shirt off quicker, eagerly revealing the almighty red mark, along with all the other lesser blemishes.
“This is where I was shot, oh and here as well… Oh and this is where Inigo stabbed me with a red-hot screwdriver… Oh, and this is where I was bitten by a magic-infused über-croc!”
Whistling loudly at all the injuries, Oliver was totally blown away by how much I had been put through in such a short space of time. He then asked about the crispy dark skin on my right hand, to which I looked in Twilight’s direction and raised an eyebrow, smirking.
“Lover’s quarrel.”
The others snickered quietly, while the lilac unicorn pursed her lips and stared at me with a most irritated expression. Chuckling, I explained that the two of us had a bit of a falling out, and that I had learned the hard way not to touch a unicorn’s horn while it was in the middle of casting a spell.
“That’ll teach you, bro.” he replied, slightly tilting his head, “Use protection next time.”
Everyone burst into laughter at that, besides Twilight of course, who let out an exasperated groan. Once we settled down, Oliver decided to lift us further from the heavy conversation, by offering us some food.
“What do you things eat exactly?” he inquired.
“If I may…” Rarity spoke up, “We’re not things, sir. We’re ponies.”
“Oh, I know exactly what you are.” Oliver retorted, stretching, “But the problem is, every time I say the word ‘pony’, I feel the incessant need to drown a bag of kittens. So, unless you have a few litters lying around, I’ll either be calling you ‘things’, or ‘gay horses’, take your pick.”
It took every fibre of my being not to burst into laughter. Rolling her eyes, Rarity decided that being called a ‘thing’ was the preferred choice. She then went on to say that anything vegetarian, such as a salad, would be just fine.
“No! That’s not just fine!” Pinkie Pie growled, “I want something sweet!”
“I could whip up some cookie dough for you?” Oliver offered.
Pinkie’s pupils dilated like a mesmerised cat, and the corners of her lips raised into a disturbing smile. Taking the hint, Oliver took the empty mugs into the kitchen and got to work preparing a salad for five, and a bowl of cookie dough for one. Blu then piped up as well, insisting that he wanted something to eat as well. At that, Oliver presented the bird with a bowl of pistachio nuts, which he eagerly began to consume. While he slaved away in the kitchen, I decided to go upstairs and investigate my old bedroom. Blu fluttered onto my shoulder as I went, eager to explore his surroundings, of which were very different to his old habitat.
“Ah.” I drawled, tightening my lips.
Although I should have expected the change, it was still a shock to see a room that was no longer my own. My bed was gone, along with my laptop desk, and all the posters and pictures I once had dotted around. In their place, was essentially a museum. There were glass cases and shelving units from wall to wall, some of which housed various coins and odd-looking pieces of metal. I spent a moment inspecting the coins, to find that they came from different time periods. There were handfuls of Roman coinage, along with a couple of Anglo-Saxon ones too. Going back downstairs, I asked Oliver about them, to which he imparted to me that he had taken up metal detecting after my death, as something of a coping mechanism.
“As it happens…” he said, pausing to suck some cookie dough off his thumb, “I’m actually quite good at it!”
With my room no longer belonging to me, Oliver had convinced Janice to let him create what he called his ‘Hall of Findings’, where he put rare coins and historical artefacts from his expeditions. Overhearing the conversation, Twilight came into the kitchen and chose to insert herself into the discussion.
“Did I hear that you like history?” she asked.
Nodding, Oliver went on to blow his own trumpet about his historical knowledge. In all fairness though, his arrogance was well deserved, for my brother was an incredibly well-read individual, and practically knew more about the Anglo-Saxons than the Anglo-Saxons did! Despite not being quite as knowledgeable as he, I shared Oliver’s sentiment for history, and had a great interest in the knowledge of my ancestors and their cultures. It quickly became apparent that Twilight too, had taken an interest, regardless of our history having no real connection to her, let alone her world.
“Tell you what?” Oliver began, pointing at her, “I’ll let you leave with some of my history books, on the condition that you don’t get my brother killed on your little adventure, sound fair?”
With a high-pitched hum and a nod of the head, Twilight agreed that it was a fair trade. Oliver then finished readying the ponies’ food, and popped a couple of Cornish pasties into the microwave for the two of us. From the very moment he had activated the appliance, we heard a loud gasp from the living room, followed by the clattering of hooves rushing our way. Pinkie Pie then came bursting into the kitchen, to which I rushed forward and wrapped my arms around her to hold her steady, knowing exactly what she was about to do.
“Oi, don’t you bloody-well dare!” I commanded with a strained voice, struggling to keep her still.
“But the voodoo box is alive! It needs to be terminated!” she wailed back, shaking wildly.
“It’s cooking my damn food, so if you break it, I’ll eat you instead!” I warned her.
Wriggling free from my grasp and pouting at me, the pink pony huffed angrily.
“Hmph, fine! But mark my words, that thing is evil!”
She then noticed the cookie dough next to Oliver and let out an excited squeak. Lunging forward, Pinkie seized the bowl and scampered away back into the lounge. Twilight and I sighed in unison, shaking our heads.
“That’s Pinkie.” I muttered, rolling my eyes.
“I’m guessing she’s the one who broke the old microwave then?” Oliver suggested with a knowing look.
“Mm-hmm.” I confirmed, “Apparently, it’s a mysterious evil voodoo box, which cooks food with, and I quote, ‘evil voodoo waves’.”
Using my fingers to make air-quotes, Oliver couldn’t help but laugh. We then brought the salad and pasties into the living room and relaxed together around a nice late lunch.
“So, what’s the next step for you lot?” my brother munched, one of his cheeks now full of pasty.
Swallowing my bite, I told him that Twilight was going to return to Gatwick tomorrow so that she could pinpoint the next piece of the Orb, followed by her attempting to teleport there. Then, after a quick expedition to find somewhere safe to open a portal, she would return to us, followed by our prompt departure.
“Why didn’t you do that for the piece in Brazil?”
“Dude, don’t even.” Rainbow Dash grumbled, “We’ve already had that argument.”
“Fair enough.” he chuckled, “Well, if you need to get to Gatwick, why don’t I just drive you there?”
“You could do that?” asked Twilight, tilting her head.
Nodding, Oliver proposed that he could drive her close to the airport, and once she had located the next piece, he could drive her straight back. That way, we could both give her some intel on the location prior to her attempt to teleport there, then she would know what to expect. This alteration to the plan would allow Twilight to better prepare herself, thus making the whole ordeal safer. Then when she was ready, Oliver would drive her there for a second time, in order to make the jump.
With a hint of caution, Twilight accepted the offer, valuing the efficiency over the risk of trusting a human, let alone one she didn’t know. I looked between the both of them and found myself questioning my reality again, for my worlds had collided. My brother was back in my life again, and yet the girls were here as well, chatting with him over mission plans. Crazier still, was that both he and Twilight were actually being pleasant company.
Scratching the side of my head, I found it slightly hard to believe that Oliver was now being so caring, thoughtful, and helpful, without even a hint of his usual anger-induced malice. Twilight too, since her tearful apology, had been mostly on her best behaviour, and I admittedly hadn’t found her company to be all that unpleasant.
“Dude, you good there?” asked Rainbow Dash.
Realising that my distant stare was boring into Rainbow’s neck, I chuckled awkwardly and cleared my throat.
“Yeah I’m good. Sorry, I zoned out, that’s all.”
“What were you thinking about?” asked Fluttershy.
Taking a moment to answer, I looked around from face to face and then broke into a warm smile. With a sigh, I simply expressed that I was glad we had chosen to come back here, and that it was really nice to be so close to my brother again after all these years. At this, the girls sounded off with mushy hums and sighs, all touched by the sentiment. Oliver meanwhile, leaned over to hit me in the arm, and then doubled down by slapping me in the face.
“Don’t say weird shit!”
Then, through a disgruntled scowl, he trilled his lips and rolled his eyes.
“Love you too, Bro.”