The next morning, I was very tired for some reason. I tried to open my eyes, only to meet two blue ones staring back into mine. I quickly clamped them shut, hoping Pinkie didn't notice I was awake. No such luck; “Wake up sleepyhead.” she chirped. I rolled over, moaning. I drove everywhere; I helped feed them; could I at least get some sleep?
“Seriously, Luke, we need to hurry down for breakfast.” Twilight called. I groggily mumbled an answer along the lines of “duck breakfast,” but rose slowly with my eyes mostly shut. I stumbled over to the door and opened it. They left and I followed suit in a zombie walk. I guess in retrospect I would have later noticed in that chain of events that I had not gotten dressed, yet somehow had fresh clothes on and not the nightwear. Then again, I think by this time I had given up on caring when the girls did anything of that sort, provided it didn't have negative social consequences.
When we entered the breakfast area I immediately grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down. I woke after a bit and simply watched the girls eat. I wasn't starving and I had something to discuss. Twilight wasn't psychic unless she wanted to, but she was able to tell that I had something on my mind. When inquired, I looked down at my coffee. “We have two days, at most, of driving. A little more to rent an apartment. We can't stay on the road any more. We need to find a place and stay. I know we have to look for Rarity and Fluttershy, but if we can't even eat that's going to be a pointless search.”
Pinkie looked over to Twilight, who simply stirred her cereal. After a bit she responded, “In a happy world that would be fine. But we would need money for food still. And where would we go?”
I got a mischievous grin. “I have ways to get money. Legal ways, of course, but ways all the same. We would need to go to a place with a lot of people.” Pinkie leaned in at this. “Would you two consider New York City?” They gasped. I don't know how much they knew from the time they spent together in the DISCORD lab, but my wager that they knew NYC was not a fruitless one. Pinkie would convince Twilight despite anything she said.
“That... definitely is a big city. I assume it is smaller than it was in 2040 but... wow. Are you serious? Not having money and going there?” Twilight choked.
“As a sleeping dragon.” There was an awkward pause as neither got that joke. “You'll understand it next week, trust me. I have a plan, but I also have the job of protecting you. Will you let me?”
Twilight smirked. “I am the closest thing to a magic caster alive. Pinkie is nearly a fourth-dimensional being. Our job might as well be protecting you!” I gave her a look, reminding her of why we were here in the first place. She stammered nervously before giving an embarrassed grin.
I looked over to Pinkie, uncharacteristically silent as usual. I thought of her behavior. Was this just personality development? She wants to make people smile. I wanted to believe she learned that doing that could mean leaving them be like “A Friend in Deed” had her. But this was more than that. “So Pinkie, what do you think?”
Pinkie grinned ear-to-ear. “I would love it! I could have so many new friends! Why aren't we going now?”
I sipped my coffee and looked at the many people around me. Two men were arguing over something business-related, a girl with blue-dyed hair was reading a newspaper nearby, and a old lady was enjoying a bagel. I thought that characters such as these would surround us in New York. People who weren't able to see the future as well as we could. New York would become central next year. After my cofee hit its bottom, I stood, “I need to go pack. When you are done, go to the car and settle down for a fifteen-hour nap.” Twilight and Pinkie exchanged looks while I hobbled up the stairs. I noticed the blue-haired girl. She looked at me with a scanning gaze. I shook it off. Inquisitive people were around.
A few minutes later, I was securely driving on the interstate, now fully appreciating our situation. Pinkie was acting... strangely in a different way than I would have expected. Rainbow, sorry-- Alexi, Dash was just cryptic. From shouting at us in the car to a relaxed, quiet, controlled state in her house. Twilight and Applejack were hiding something. Rarity and Fluttershy were missing, if they were even IN this time. Now we had to go to New York.
But one more thing was in order. Very soon, we were in another town. Twilight asked why. I simply told her to close her eyes for a while. Suspicious, she complied. Soon, I had Pinkie get a blindfold for Twilight's eyes and led her out of the car, she opened her eyes again to a bookstore. A humongous bookstore with shelf upon shelf of books of all types. Fantasy books, school books, history books, children's books, space books, sci-fi books, single books, series books, red books, blue books, tall books, short books, thin books, fat books-- all spread out in a mass of information before us. A low moan was let out by Twilight. I would have asked in a bout of ignorance WHY she did that, but as I turned around, she was zipping off to the geography area. Pinkie and I exchanged nods and went on our way. I went to the psychology aisle to see about finding out how much sanity I had left and Pinkie went to the party section (I didn't know bookstores had those), coincidentally, it was the science textbook section as well. I swear I heard crying, and I will bet money it was Isaac Newton in his grave.
I had a stockpile of reserve money for emergencies I was using for this. I think Psycho Twi was an emergency enough. Finding my search to be fruitless in the field of mental health, I skimmed through the other sections. I found a girl with a really bad wig reading in the economics area, two teen boys reading in the adult novel area, three schoolgirls texting and blocking everyone's path in the writing help aisle, Pinkie creating a perpetual motion machine, Joe Cool reading the self-help books, and a guy trying to hide his romance story behind the covers of a sci-fi novel. I decided to play with the last of these, going up to him and patting him on the shoulder. “Don't worry,” I confided, “soon men will be able to go out in public wearing my little pony shirts, I don't think a little romance novel will ruin your reputation any.”
“That'll be the day.” he sighed, causing me to chuckle a bit. Quickly regaining his composure, he whizzed around to ask me, “How did you know what I was reading?” I briefly explained that I was eighty percent certain “Mars is blood-stained” didn't have an image of a hot dude making out with a model-like chick. He quickly flipped the page and went on his way.
I found Twilight chest-deep in every type of book imaginable. Now, I read at a slightly higher-than-average speed. You know, 500 words per minute when I take it easy. But the speed Twilight was absorbing information at was ludicrous. She flipped a page every fifteen seconds by my count, that may not seem like much, but it is, in fact, around 3000 words per minute. I knelt next to her book fortress, “Should I just leave you here a few days to wipe out the entire bookstore?” Twilight simply chuckled and kept reading. Something caught my eye. Among the books was a rainbow figure. I pulled it out to see it was a Rainbow Dash toy. “Where did you get this?” I shot.
Twilight looked up and shrugged, “It was in-between a couple of books. I thought it was neat that even now we have a brony nearby, only a few weeks after the show premiered.”
“A time traveling brony.”
“What?”
I ran my finger over the toy, “This didn't come till 2012. This toy is out of place for this time.”
Twilight's eyes widened. She opened her hand and the toy shot out of mine. We both looked at each other, knowingly. The toy had a telekinetic focuser. Pinkie popped around the corner as if knowing what was happening. Twilight levitated it around until she appeared to find something. She gripped the head and began turning it like a bottle cap. When it popped open, an old USB drive head showed itself. The three of us exchanged knowing glances. Someone was following us. Someone else from our time. I slipped the toy into my pocket and shook my head. “I'll check it out later. Right now isn't the time to be worrying about stuff like this.”
A book caught my eye, “'The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy'? In high literature now, are we?”
Twilight gave a grimace, “The book was pretty poorly marked, I thought it was a map to the world. Interesting all the same, if a bit unusual a format.”
I couldn't help laughing, “But you now know what the answer to life, the universe, and everything is.”
Pinkie sighed and got up, shaking her head, “Oh come on, it's fourty-two. Everybody knows that, silly.”
We both stared dumbfounded as Pinkie skipped off. I muttered, “There she goes,”
“Brain the size of a planet,”
“And we ask her to throw parties.” We both giggled at the joke. I skimmed through the books. “'Greek Mythology for Dummies' 'Adding Alliterative Appeal Always' 'Cultures of the Cultured World' 'How to Write Generic Book Titles.' Going for a wide swath of information are we? I assume this 'Twilight' novel is also for research?”
Twilight stared up, “There's a book called 'Luke'. Would you pick it up out of curiosity?”
I looked back down, admitting she had a point, “'Is Feminism Dead?' 'American Politics: History's Favorite Infinite Loop'” A pause ensued as I starting sniggering at the next title, “My, my, Twilight, 'Forbidden Colors'?” Twilight flushed while angrily staring at her current book, but seeing as she didn't snap back I assumed she just picked it on accident. All this material, and I had so little time to abuse it.
In an unexpected turn, Twilight grinned and coyly lifted her eyes to me, “Might I remind you that I can read your mind and HAVE on a certain occasion?” My turn came to blush.
“This will not leave the aisle.”
“And you will be allowed to keep your teeth.” Twilight compromised. I was reminded that these were humans that simply had a personality similar to the mane cast. I wholly knew that Twilight may not have been joking. I really hadn't feared the whole incident outside Alexi's house, but moreover feared that she may use it again. I am male, no, really; frankly, having a woman that you are stuck with for celestia-knows how long probing your thoughts would definitely create tension.
I rose and checked a few final books in her collection myself. Most were on geography, culture, and the like. A few spattered philosophy books crowded the edges, along with more scientific topics such as physics and biology. Twilight was dead-set on learning everything she needed to in the few hours we were there. I would have told her that there were plenty of other libraries and bookstores in New York, but that would be spoiling her experience.
Now I wanted a book to read for myself. With my mind still focused on what was ahead to help the world, I got two books and sat down to read. “Paradoxes and Multiverse Constructs” no surprise, seeing as I needed to know what the extent of damage us going back in time caused, but I already knew most of this stuff. The next book was a bit more... informative, “Women: How Not to Be a Jerk Around Your Female Partner.” I admit, I was completely in the dark about how to act toward women. I'm a scientist for pete's sake. Call me the stereotypical nerd, but I really had no immediate concerns about finding a partner when I had the chance, and such avoided learning about the differences in the different mindsets. Look at me, even now I speak like they are an alien species. Suffice to say on the book that it was utterly unhelpful. They assumed it was a girlfriend or wife, not a simple life out of necessity.
A few hours went by before Twilight came with a reasonably small stack of books. “That all, Twi?” I asked.
“Yup, just stuff I would need immediately since we have a low budget.” she replied contentedly. I checked the stack. Mostly research books were in the pile, but a few fiction titles stuck out here or there. I checked over to the aisle Pinkie resided to find that she had built a book fort. She popped out and zipped over to us.
A couple passing schoolgirls stopped by us and started whispering. Finally they came over and started teasing, “What is this? 'Goofy hair color day 2010'?” They laughed and started walking away. I shook my head but a scream shot me back to the two kids. Their hair was a unflattering yellow-green color and they were screeching like hawks.
My eyes shot glares to a slightly-too-content Twilight. “What the hell?” I shrieked. Pinkie seemed to be looking slightly stunned at Twilight as well.
Twilight shrugged, “They deserved it.”
“So be it! But that doesn't give you the right to go serving it up!” I chided. A thought now comes to me as I write, this is how most of the antagonists in the show ended up, though a few got away easy, and still fewer never got punishment that we saw. Trixie boasted, she lost all she had. Gilda was mean, she lost her friend. The list just went on and on, and that's only from the list of episodes you at the time of writing have. If I were to go through the massive amount of seasons it simply could take a whole chapter by itself. The ponies didn't know anything besides that. Never introduced to an unfair world. Pinkie was the only one who did anything different to others. She threw a party to Gilda. In retrospect, everything makes sense in that case. A antagonistic person arises, there was no immediate retaliation, make some.
Pinkie started now, “Yeah, Twilight, no need to be mean back to them!”
“But... they mocked us! Why can't they have some punishment?”
I reached over to a biology book in Twilight's stack and tapped the title, 'Life'. “It's just that. Some people get away with stuff. Life wasn't designed to be fair.”
Twilight slumped in her chair, obviously thinking that over. I figured she was smart enough to figure things out, so I rose, took her books and went to the register. Pinkie began telling Twilight all about her time there, and how a bunch of the physics books were just full of hooey.
It wasn't long before we were back on the road. I checked the time and was pleased to see that at the rate we were going at we would be there by ten... in the morning. I looked a my wallet, the bookstore had left us with just enough, as I had assumed it would. I took the time to point out different towns and what they became in the future. Could you have nostalgia about something that hadn't happened yet? Well when thirty years pass, apparently you could. I sighed contentedly as I drove.
By the time we rolled into new york Twilight was the only thing keeping me awake. She used every magic trick she could to keep me focused on the road and not sleep. Fluttershy's lullaby echoed through my ears as I drifted through the streets. We found a parking lot and stopped. I glanced over and patted Twilight's shoulder, before slumping forward, asleep. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to lay your sleepy head. Hush now, quiet now, it's time to go to bed. Honk drift, HONK to sleep HOOOOOOOOONK.
The blaring of the car horn woke me. Apparently it woke everyone else in the car too. I realized I slammed my head on the wheel. Checking my watch, I saw that it was well into the morning. I stretched and yawned, seeing the two girls follow suit. I started the car and moved out hastily, as to get away from any who may have been aggravated by the honking. I drove through the cities parts. I explained, “When people talk about New York, they mostly refer to Manhattan. In reality, New York spans a little more than that. But for now, we need a bit of money. So we are off to Manhattan.”
Twilight seemed a little off that morning. She had thought about the fact that life wasn't fair all night long. Why couldn't it be? Her mind was racing, she had the ability to change things so they would be fair. Why not do so? Hyperfocused. “It's About Time” premiered a bit ago in your perspective, hasn't it? When Twilight focuses on something, she focuses on it. Maybe skipping over a few obvious problems in logic. So it was no surprise when her voice rang through my head, 'Why can't life be fair?'
I breathed in and leaned back, 'Well, if one were given the power to control everything, yes, life could be fair. But should it be?'
'Huh? Why would it be bad?'
'I'm no sociologist, but I know a bit about strategy. Didn't you get that book on game theory?' She searched her pile of books and grabbed the appropriate title, confirming it. 'Well,' I continued in my head, 'Think of the fairness as a game. You start at the middle and through hard work and good deeds you work your way to the top. If you cheat and be mean, you have punishment doled out and are sent to the bottom. Follow me?'
'Yeah, that seems right.'
'What are the equilibriums of this game? Where would everyone be no better or worse than anyone else?'
She opened the book and scanned it for a while, 'Well, either at the top or rock bottom.'
I turned a corner and caught a glimpse of the bridge, 'Good, good. Now, if life were fair, no one would suffer at the hand of another's actions. The thing is, all bad actions have a victim. Let's say I stab somebody just because I am a evil person, that person would be a victim for no reason. That isn't fair at all if he worked nothing but to that good equilibrium and did nothing wrong, he has something bad happen to him. Now, the only way to fix that is...'
I heard a crunching sound in my head, and soon realized it was Pinkie enjoying the lecture eating a box of imaginary popcorn. I didn't question it. Twilight was silent for a moment. 'The way to fix that... is to lower the good equilibrium. By...' I looked back and saw the gears in her head turning. My mind went silent. She was still trying to rationalize it, but I finally felt a bit more confident in my ability to teach her at least enough for her to make her own opinions.
Pinkie jumped in on the conversation, 'So... if you give parties to someone if they were bad...'
I laughed audibly, 'You learn quick! Everyone would need a party then! At once too!'
Pinkie jumped up and clapped... in my head somehow, 'Good! Maybe I can throw a party for aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall the people all the time!”'
'Maybe I should have driven to San Francisco.' I cut her off, 'So you could meet, and promptly confuse the Mythbusters.'
'The whoseywhats?' She asked.
'I'll have to show you.'
At this point, we had finally entered Manhattan. I quickly put my brain into action, ceasing the discussion going inside it. First, I swung by a convenience store to grab a couple of muffins for the girls. I didn't get anything for myself because I didn't want to waste money. Next stop was a small costume shop I had found on my computer. I parked a ways away and quickly scuttled Twilight and Pinkie inside. Once they were in, I turned them to face me. “Okay, I need you two to find a magician's costume for you, Twi, a entertainer costume for Pinkie, and two wigs or something. Your names are Tara and Diane, got that? I'll be back.”
I didn't leave time for questions nor to look at the dawning realization of Twilight's face. I heard my name being called, but cut off by me stepping outside, scurrying down the sidewalk. I covertly slipped on my telekinetic emitter and took a focuser I had torn out of my old clothes in my hand. My precaution wasn't in vain.
I hadn't taken too long a walk to my destination when some surly thug stepped out into my way. New York isn't a horrible city, but I was a huge target thanks to that BEYOND top-of-the-line car I had parked. If there were any shady characters looking, they now would be looking for the rich guy who stepped out with two girls.
“Hello sir.” I nervously said, trying to step to the side. The man caught me. I could she he was about six foot eight, white, and missing a few teeth.
“Hold it, buddy, pal.” he wheezed, putting his arm around me. “Why don't we step this way, friendo.” I played along, much to his surprise. 'This guy is stupider than I thought' I could only imagine thinking.
What I WAS doing, however, was attaching the focuser onto his tight pants. Once we were inside the shady alley he stepped out of, I was tossed headfirst into a wall, stunning me. He picked up my limp body and lifted me up, threateningly suspending his fist up high. “Gimme your stuff.” he muttered.
Okay, I'm pretty unlucky. He DIDN'T see my car, he just wanted my pocket change. A five-foot five guy isn't exactly a threat, so he picked me. “Okay!” I squealed, fishing around in my pocket and dumping the stuff out. In the process, I tossed another focuser onto a trash bag. Once I had everything on my pocket out, I raised my hands in surrender. The robber seemed satisfied, and tossed me away.
Now it was my turn. Time slowed, letting me think enough to speed the trash bag to cushion my fall. The mugger took notice, and swiveled his head toward the guy with the levitating trash bag. Soon, we was feeling his pants drag him up and into a wall himself. He let loose every surprised obscenity I knew and didn't know. I quickly tossed him across the alley, knocking him down for enough time to scuttle out, not before removing both focusers and telekinetically grab my stuff.
For some reason, my assaulter didn't pursue me, and I was able to get to my destination and back safe. The place was going to was a weapons shop for a knife. I was extremely fortunate in that the guy didn't ask for extensive documentation.
In no time at all, I had attached the focuser securely to the handle. In reality, an average knife isn't a good self-defense weapon when wielded telekinetically, you need more blade, but I needed a way to protect myself. Twilight had a very good point back in the hotel: She and Pinkie were capable of removing themselves from a situation, and would be more suited to protecting me. I didn't exactly take classes, but a knife levitating in air would be pretty good protection.
Back at the store, Twilight was in a magician costume. Good thing she had the sense to get a showman costume instead of a mage costume. She was flinging a brown wig around in her hand, but she dropped it when she got a whiff of me. “Have you been rolling in garbage?” she gagged.
“Yes,” I truthfully stated, looking for Pinkie.
Twilight gasped. “Luke! Your head!” I was about to ask when she reached up and touched the side of my head. It stung, and my head started stinging even more. When she pulled away, there was blood on her hand.
Have you ever been hurt, but the pain only started in force once you saw the wound? Well, guess what. I let out a groan and almost collapsed, but was caught by Twilight. She set me down on the ground, then brushed her hair out of the way. Her horn, expertly hidden by some nice hair styling, started glowing as she touched the side of my head. I felt the pain dull, but not completely disappear.
“Miss, is he okay?” called the shopkeeper, a nice lady who was by Twilight in a second. Twi quickly brushed her hair back.
“He'll be fine.” Twilight affirmed, rubbing my head and showing that there wasn't any new blood. “What happened?”
I groaned, but rose to my feet. “Erm... I'll discuss this later, Tar. Where's Diane?”
At this moment, Pinkie skipped out in a yellow wig and skimpy costume that would surely attract stares, I hated to say it but: perfect. “How much.” I sputtered.
The shopkeeper gave a concerned look and flittered her eyes to the two outfits and wigs. “Fifty bucks. Are you sure you don't want help?”
“I'm fine.” I insisted, taking out a fifty dollar bill and forking it over, dragging my friends out, stumbling every other step.
“Hey!” Pinkie called, “What happened to your head!”
“A guy tossed me into a wall, okay? Are you happy?”
They both gasped. “Luke!” Twilight called, “Are you alright?”
“Remember our discussion about retaliation?” I said, moving down into the central park area, flipping out my phone to start getting a permit, “When someone tries to hurt you, all bets are off. Pinkie, run. Twilight, run first then fight. It's called saving your hide. Enough with the scuffle, okay?”
They both zipped up about it, but Pinkie wanted to change the subject. “So why do you have us in these weird costumes.”
I gained a mischievous grin—I guess, I was pretty taken down—and explained. “We are going to have a little fun in a park, show some people a good time.”
“Exploit our powers.” Twilight clarified.
“Exploit future technology, yes. Unless you don't like eating.” Twilight tried to stop, but I kept dragging her along. “It's only for today, and people will love it. You in, Pinkie?”
Did I have to ask? She looked like a kid let loose in a free candy shop, quickly trying to pull us all forward. Twilight begrudgingly turned around and started walking, propping me up. I directed the hyperactive Pinkie down road after road, watchful eyes peering at us. To be honest, we were a sight to see.
Eventually, I popped into a building for a few minutes, paid twenty-five bucks and started down the road again (not without a question or two about my bloodied head.) By the time we got to Central Park, I was nearly exhausted. I slumped onto a bench and started scouting. I decided that where we were was fine, and watched as Pinkie already started drawing in people. Twilight looked at me expectantly.
I plopped a few micro telekinesis focusers I scrounged off random stuff, a deck of cards and a handful of pocket change in front of her. I took out my signal emitter and strapped it back on, “I'll be in the crowd, making sure everything goes smooth. Accept requests: this is all about them.”
Twilight gave me a look. “All about them, but it's about us getting money.”
I chuckled. “The entertainer's mindset should be to please the people. Happy people give happy tips.” I slipped off my jacket and placed it in front of Twilight to use as a place to throw money. I saw people coming, attracted by Pinkie, so I made my final instructions. “You shouldn't need a table. Use levitating cards. And make sure to get the focusers back.”
Twilight agreed, and placed a few focusers on a set of cards, levitating them in front of her. “Pick a card!” She called. I stepped up and picked one out, checking it to make sure there was no second card. A mother and little son came beside me.
“Three of hearts.” I said, giving it to Twilight. She took the card and looked at it.
“Are you sure?” she said, flipping it back to show it was a five of clubs. The woman went “ooh!” and showed her kid what happened. She herself looked more impressed at the levitation trick, but the kid wanted to know what happened to the card. He pointed at it and Twilight sent it down to him. He flipped it about, looking for the missing card when Twilight plucked it up, spinning it around in his face until it was the three of hearts again. The surprised and happy expression on his face lit up Twilight's, and I swear the giggle from his lips gave her strength through the entire day.
“The great and amazing Tara will now make a coin disappear!” Twilight cried, prompting laughs from the few kids left this late into the evening. Pinkie was oohing and ahhing alongside them as she showed the coin vanish, and re-appear as different coins in everyone's pocket, without her moving an inch. The parents all laughed, wondering how it was done. Pinkie said it was just real magic, Twi made the stock “never reveal your tricks” saying. I just kept smiling, a trait shared by Twilight. But now, it was time to go. The kids all returned their coins (along with a little extra from the parents) and skipped off.
The setting sun tipped us off that there would be no one left, and Twilight was quite exhausted. The entire day had been one big show, one that was quite fulfilling to everyone involved. I had taken some time off in the afternoon to get some food and count the money. We had enough for a bit. No huge haul, but it was enough to last us a few days if we spent it wisely. I patted Twilight on the back. “Good work, O grand and amazing Tara.”
Pinkie laughed, “You were great! And all the kids and parents were so happy, it was so awesome!”
Twilight gave nothing but a smile and returned the things I had given her. I scooped up the last coins in my coat and put it on. The magic had taken a lot out of her, so I put my arm around her exhausted body and guided her out of the park. I believe in guardian angels, and there had to have been one with us. It took us a long time to get to our car, but we found no resistance.
I placed Twilight in the car and started it up, driving out and into the streets. I piloted us through the city and all the way to Staten island. Again, I had everything prepared and there was an apartment waiting for us. It wasn't cheap, but it was enough.
I carried a now-asleep Twilight up into the room and lay her on the bed, thanking the landlord for being open to make a short-notice deal. I had hooked us up with a good plan, and had enough time to find a job.
What followed was the best months of my life.