The noisy symphony of the city could barely be heard in the library, but it still could be heard. A car sounded the horn. People shouting. I felt the annoying buzzing of a fly near my ear. I just shook my head and used my right hand to scare it away. The atmosphere was a bit cold. I caught a flu. I had a light headache and sore throat.
The hard head of the armchair was very uncomfortable. The blanket I used to cover myself last night was not enough warm. I only remember changing my wet clothes for dry pajamas, but I didn't take a bath or took some meds. I just grabbed the brown blanket from the shelf in my room, entered the bathroom, waited a few minutes until all my guests entered their rooms and then, falling over the hard armchair and fell asleep.
Seconds later, I decided to stood up. I awoke minutes before, but I was way too lazy to get up. My eyes opened slowly and I began to move my arms. The morning was cold. The library was being illuminated by the blue light of the morning. I could tell it was 6 or 7 of the morning. The annoying habit of waking up for school. But this time, there wasn't any school I had to go. The best feeling ever.
I flexed my tired legs and put my right foot on the floor. It was warm. At the end, a wooden floor was a very good idea. I stretched my back and finally stood on my feet. I looked at my clothes. A blue worn and old shirt that I used to paint my apartment months ago, a red and brown pans that my aunt gave me as a gift (We all know that when they gift you pajamas you never use the shirt) and a pair of green and very spongy slippers.
I had so many things to do...taking a shower, making the breakfast, visiting Hank, picking up my payment, buying some medicine.... but the first I needed to do was looking for my visitors.
I hated how the flu make my respiration difficult. I scratched my back satisfactorily and entered the bathroom.
When I finished washing my hands (damn you cold water) and got out from the bathroom, a serious Twilight was waiting for me, standing near the little armchair I slept on. She gave me the same look a mother gives to you when she know you lied to her. And I certainly did.
"Why did you lie to us?"
"W-What are you talking about?"
"There is no other room here, you slept on this armchair!"
"Oh...well, I lied because I know that if I told you that you wouldn't let me sleep here. I wanted you to rest comfortably and well"
"Thanks, but you don't needed to do that"
"Whatever, it already has passed. Are the others awake?"
"Only Applejack and me. She is downstairs"
"Are you hungry?"
"A little bit. You sound sick, are you okay?"
"It's just a little flu, I will buy some antibiotics later"
"Antibiotics?"
"I will explain that later, I'm going to take a quick bath now. Just give me a moment and I will make something to eat"
The purple unicorn looked curiously around my library. Hundreds of books surrounding us, inside giant shelves. She looked amazed at my collection. She examined the titles and colors of the books, with and enthusiastic interest. She was about to take a book, her circular and little hoof was at middle air, when her own manners stopped her (or that is what I think). She keep looking to a book. I couldn't see what book was.
"You look like you really like reading. Go ahead, take one...or two or three, I wouldn't mind" The unicorn turned to me and put a broad smile upon her face. "Really?!" I nodded with a happy expression in my face. "Thanks!" I walked to the armchair with the brownish blanket on it. I took it with my right hand, put it over my left shoulder and hurriedly walked to the stairs. Twilight was taking almost every book she could see. Poe, Twain, Hawking, Shakespeare (I like classic ones) and other famous and not-too famous authors works caught their eye. A Journey to the Center of the Earth by Verne, Don Quixote by Cervantes de Saavedra and Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling were the ones she was holding in the air with her magic. I was sure she would had a good time. A really good one.
The light brown stairs creaked with every step I made. My weight over the wooden floor. Curiously, I had a strange feeling, like I had forgotten something...but I didn't give it importance. The blue light over the white walls felt fresh. The wind blowing around the high building made the windows make an acute sound, like a muffled whistle. I keep walking downstairs. The cellphone in my pocket showed the hour. It was 6:37 a.m.
Before I could reach the last noisy step of the stairs, a little orange pony caught my eye. She was sitting in one of the chairs of the dining. A very worried and tired face, with sadness. It made me felt...strange. She was lost in her thoughts, looking at the giant window. She lied her soft head over the shiny marble. Both of her hooves were over the table, below her head (like that position you took when you are very sleepy at school). She began to rub the table, slowly. Her green eyes expressed her anguish.
I got near to the table. She didn't notice me. The windows of other high buildings facing us were cobalt blue. he constant noise of the wheels of the cars rolling on the street, the sound of the motors warming up, the barely understandable voice of the people talking....all mixed up in the street. She was looking to the void. I put the blanket over a chair and sat down next to her.
I softly poked her in her right hoof. She quickly turned to me, surprised. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth opened. "Are you okay Applejack? What's the matter? You look worried" The sadness in his face still was there, she couldn't hide it. She closed her eyes and responded me. "A'h...A'm all right...but A'h can't stop thinkin' about ma'h family! Ma'h brother Big Mac, Granny Smith an'...A...Applebloom...they all are in Equestria an' A'm here! We need to find a way back to Equestria, now!" She opened her eyes. Her face was almost to break down in tears. It made me sad too.
"I am already looking for a way to help you. I don't know how or why did you got here, but we will find a way to get you back to your home. Don't worry, everything has solution, everything. Just be patient. We will find a way" I kindly smiled to her, she smiled back with melancholy and hugged me. In that moment, I felt something special, something different...waking up inside of me. Something that has been taken away from me since I met the real world. Something that made me feel alive. Happiness.
"Thanks, partner. A'h really appreciate yer' help" After the friendly hug, the pony kept looking at the enormous city. It was something totally new for her. The orange sunlight finally appeared, it began to cover the front sides of the other high buildings. The weather was warming up. A new day in the concrete city began.
I stretched my right arm and took the blanket. I pushed the cloth chair I was sitting on backwards using my cold feet. The feeling of the flu blocking my breathing was ANNOYING. I stood up, put the blanket over my shoulder again and kept walking. I needed to take a towel, some clothes and shoes before entering the bathroom (Seriously, never ever ever ever ever forget about those things. The glacial weather will consume your body). The problem was that my clothes were up in my room, were Rainbow and Fluttershy were sleeping.
I put the used blanket in the bag, that was in the kitchen (I think I was in "drunk mode" before putting it there). The dirty dishes in which the ponies ate last night still were in the sink. There were rests of carrots, watermelon, cucumber and grapes still on them. Something that I had to ask to myself is how could they leave teeth marks when they don't have teeth, but their denture is composed just by a single line of massif tooth. It's confusing and maybe I didn't pay attention to it yesterday. (I don't know). I walked upstairs, back to the library. Walking again over the screechy stairs.
Twilight had three giant piles of books. Half of a shelf was empty. Anatomy, astronomy, medicine, science, literature, geography and dictionaries were on the piles...she was REALLY curious. The unicorn was taking more books while reading "Anatomy of the human body, vol. 3", all with her magic.
"Wow...you REALLY like reading, huh?" She kept reading a bit and then answered me, without looking. "Yes! And I have to say that you have very interesting books! Human anatomy is very confusing" The pony put down the book and glanced to the city outside. The sunlight adopted a yellow tone and most of the city was being illuminated by it.
"Well, the human body is one of the most complicated and marvelous things in the world, it has its own functions, defenses, properties, etcetera...Twilight, could you help me with something?" The purple unicorn smiled with enthusiasm and answered. "Of course! What do you need me to do?"
"So...you need me to help you avoiding waking up Rainbow and Fluttershy?" We were out of the room, facing the white porch of my habitation. The time was 7:14 a.m., and I really needed to take a bath. My clothes were inside the dark wooden shelf in my room, and two little pegasus were sleeping on my bed. "Yeah, I don't want to disturb their sleep. Could you do something about it?" The pony put her right tiny hoof in her chin, meditative. "Hmmm..." She was looking to the ceiling, thinking in something. "Well, I remember a silencer spell, it makes your steps muffled, but you need to walk quickly. Is that okay?" It was not a bad idea, but moving fast while sneaking in was a strange idea. So, why not? "That sounds okay for me, how long does it lasts?" "Permanently."
"Let's do this" Twilight nodded and her unicorn horn began to shine, the same magic aura I saw yesterday appeared.Light violet magic surrounded my feet, and they felt different. Weird. "Let me test them, just to make me sure the spell worked" I trotted from the door of my room to the library. Not a single sound. Then, I walked normally back to the porch. My steps made the wooden floor to screech. At the end, the power Twilight gave me was really useful.
"I only need you to keep the door open,l just for a bit, and not too open, if you could" I couldn't hear anything at the other side of the door. "Of course I can!" I slowly put the right hand over the metallic handle and waited. I closed my eyes and silently opened the door, trying to avoid it to screech. Successfully I managed to open it. I peered in for a second. The cute little yellow pony was hugging the rainbow colored mane mare. The scene was killing me with cuteness. I shook my head. "Pay attention to your task, don't distract yourself" My right foot was the first to land on my room. After a moment, the left one landed too.
I stayed in silence for a while, my heartbeat was accelerating. I took a deep sigh and began to trot in circles, at the feet of my bed. To my surprise, the spell really helped me. Rainbow Dash snores were really loud. Fluttershy only made some sweet "mmm"'s while sleeping. "Get close to the shelf, take a shirt, pants, tennis shoes and a towel. That's all I got closer to the shelf. First, I grabbed the shirt from a little pile of clothes, it was a pale blue t-shirt, totally plane (without images, paintings, words or things like that), and kept trotting in circles (I looked like a dog that was about to sleep). My body made 3 circles before taking a pair of light blue pants, they were in another pile, next to the one where I took the shirt. My left elbow was holding the clothes. Rainbow Dash stopped snoring for a moment. Total silence. My feet hurt (I must say that I'm not very athletic). My tennis shoes were in the lowest part of the shelf
The location of the footwear didn't help. I tried to flex my hand while moving, but I just got hit in the eye by myself. "Come on, think in something it is not a big deal" I tried to crawl and move, but at the first step I made, the wood made like the most acute sound in all the world. I stood up and kept trotting. Twilight's magic aura surrounded the white door. My despair grow. I made ten circles and I already felt dizzy. "Think in something, goddammit! Then I realized the easiest way to take everything.
I stopped moving, right in front of the shelf, took my tennis shoes and a towel (and after that, I feel like the stupidest man in the world), trotted to the door and got out of the habitation. I found Twilight focusing on the door. "I made it! Thank you, Twilight!" She closed the door silently and put a happy expression on her face. "Don't mention it, Jay. It's a pleasure to help you" We were about to move on when the knob of my porch began moving. Someone was turning it. The door opened very slowly.Rainbow Dash yawned and stretched her neck. "Morning, guys...what's up?" Twilight and I exchanged glances for a moment. It wasn't one of my best moments. "I'm...I'm just going to take a bath." I walked to the bathroom in the library with the clothes, footwear and towel in my hands.
The cold water flowing across all my body felt good. My body always had preference for the coldness. The awesome effect of the drops of water falling from my hair. Sometimes I felt like a dog while shaking my hair and soaking the wall around me. The relaxing bath calmed my doubts and silenced my thoughts. My headache disappeared, but the sore throat was getting heavier. I didn't care about the temperature of the water, I could easily take care of myself as a "doctor".
I calmly put my clothes on me, dried my hair and sighed. My fingers were humid. When you take a cold shower, the weather doesn't affect you (and it's more healthy than a hot shower). My hands were holding the wet blue towel. I was sitting over the toilet (closed). I tried to enjoy a moment. I stood up, put my left hand on the door's metallic handle and opened the door. A fresh breeze received me. Something was amusing me...I was forgetting something....
The piles of books still were on my library. Twilight left open a book with the title "The magnificent mysteries of the body". It was one of my school books, it even had a label with my name on it. My feet took me outside my room, but nopony was there. I checked in my habitation, but I just found the pink sheet my guests used to cover with. My curiosity took me downstairs. I supposed that they were already in the lower floor.
There were voices downstairs, acute and feminine voices. The dark brown tennis shoes I was wearing muffled my steps. I decided to went to the kitchen. At the middle of the stairs, I already noticed the ponies on my apartment. Twilight and Rainbow were sitting on the chairs of the marble table. Applejack was still, looking through the giant window admiring the city. Pinkie was jumping around the kitchen. Fluttershy was sitting next to Applejack, doing nothing.
"Hi, girls". Everypony turned to me and smiled. A very friendly smile. "Hi,Jay!"-They answered at the same time, with different tones but at the same time. I noticed that the white unicorn was not with them. The cellphone in my pocket ringed. "You have one message. "What was that? Who said it?" Rainbow Dash looked around the apartment, searching for who talked. "It's just my cellphone, it lets me know every time I have a message or a missed call". Rainbow Dash put a confused face and stared at me. "Huh?"
"So, are you hungry? Do you want something to eat?" Pinkie teleported right behind me and began to shout happily. "Yes, please! I'm very very very huuuuuuuuuuuuuuungry!" I turned back and admired the pink pony. It was little and joyful. For an instant my boring and grey life was getting colorful. The feeling I always looked for. I closed my eyes with a pleased smile on my face. "Me too! The fruit you gave us last night was very juicy and delicious, specially the peaches"-Said Twilight with a sweet tone. I walked to the refrigerator and took some food. Slices of melon, some cherries and blueberries, few strawberries and nuts, that was my selection. "Where is Rarity?" I put all the food on a recipient near the kitchen's sink and took some plates from a shelf "She is still sleeping. It's about her "beauty sleep" or something like that"-answered Rainbow Dash.
I was serving the food equitably in each ceramic plate when I felt something pulling my right leg with delicacy and carefulness. As my body turned around to see what happened the yellow figure at my feet looked up. Fluttershy had a timid expression on her face. She was like trying to tell me something, but she was stuck. I slowly crouched down and looked her at the eyes. Those beautiful eyes...
"What happens, Fluttershy?" The pony stared at me for a moment. She remained still, gazing at me. I was confused, what was the matter? Was something wrong? I didn't know. She gave me a warm smile, her tiny cheeks got red, and her small hooves surrounded my chest. "G-Good morning, Jay" I was like astonished for a second. I hugged her too, gently. Despite everypony was looking at us, I didn't care. Somehow, she made me feel brave. She gave me hope. She reminded me of Brielle...
I finished serving the food, took some forks and put everyone's plate on the table (even Rarity's plate) and we began to eat our breakfast. It was 8:42 a.m. I sat down facing the window. At my left there were Rainbow and Fluttershy, at my right, Pinkie and Applejack, there was Twilight, facing me. Everyone was enjoying the meal.
"Jay! What is that strange thing over that desk over there? It looks like a funny mirror? Are mirrors black here? Why?"
"Pinkie, that is a television. We humans use it to inform ourselves about what happens near to us, learn new things, buy products, watch sports, see comedy shows, and a lot of things...just by pressing a simple button. It's very useful, but if you abuse of it, it will have bad consequences on you."-answered to her.
"Wow...that sounds interesting. Do you humans have magic or something like that?"
"Or can you fly?"
"Well Twilight, we only use magic it for entertaining, like in those shows I mentioned to impress other people, and it's not too magic, in my opinion. And Rainbow, about flying, we don't have wings, so we design them...technically. The things we use to fly are called planes. We built things that help us in our daily tasks. If we can't go to a place far away we use planes, if an ocean separate two different persons from different places, we build boats. If we want to explore the ocean and its mysteries, we can create submarines. We are always creating and improving, for better or worse...maybe I could...wait a second, I'll be back soon"
Everypony looked at me as I went upstairs running, without making a single sound. My brain remembered putting it somewhere in the library, I kept looking for it. Over an armchair? No. Below it? The answer still was no. Inside a shelf? Neither. Maybe the bathroom? Negative. I finally found it, near a shelf, and came downstairs, hurriedly. I needed to show them something.
"This is a laptop, a portable computer, a computer is the most complete information source that actually exists. You wanted to know how we fly, Rainbow Dash, well, here you got it" I typed "plane" on Google's image browser and clicked on the first image I found. A huge plane that flew at sunset, above the clouds. It had "UNITED" written at a side. Its upper half was white, while the part below was moderate blue I turned the laptop to Rainbow, while she enjoyed a slice of orange melon. She stared focused to the image. Her mouth dropped a long laugh while her hoof stroke the table several times.
"Is that a joke?! How could you enter in that little thing?! My hoof is bigger than that!" I took the laptop and typed in "flower". I smiled to her joyfully. She reminded me when I was a little boy and I thought my fingers were taller than the skyscrapers. I clicked over a very detailed image of a yellow rose, it had a black background. The rose was really beautiful. I showed the image to the happy Rainbow laughing on the table.
"You must obviously know what is a flower, don't you?" She nodded while cleaning a tear of happiness. Everypony else stopped eating and looked at the image in my computer. They were in silence (with exception of Rainbow, obviously), gazing at the things I showed to them. Curious like kids. "Why is the flower too little? It looks funny!" Pinkie's eyes grew wide while her face adopted a happy expression. That was exactly what I tried to prove. "Exactly, that is just a scaled image of a flower. We all know that flowers are not that size, the internet just make it smaller so we can appreciate it better" I closed the laptop and kept eating. "What's that in-te-rnin' thin'?" At that point everyone almost finished eating, and Rarity still was sleeping. Her white ceramic plate was there, next to Twilight, alone.
"It's internet. Were most of the people that have access to a computer and pays for the service can enter. You can see photos, consult information, see videos, listen to music, chat with other people, and lots of things. It helps one a lot when you have to find an answer about something, ask for tips for situations, and have doubts about homework. It's a worldwide community. But like a community there are bad people too, but that my friends is another theme. Any other question you want to ask?"
"But then, how large are those things you called planes? And how do you fly them?"
"They are very large. The largest one is called "Airbus A380" and is capable of transport 525 humans. To fly it there is a...control center at the front of it. One must have take flying lessons before doing it. You can't endanger the lives of other people like that. Those who control planes are called "pilots", and that is a job. A risky one."
"D-Do you h-have one?"
"A what?"
"A j-job"
"In fact, I don't, but I earn money by creating and selling my music. I studied to be a doctor, but my real passion has always been the music. I just released my first album three months ago. They pay me every time someone buys my album"
"You must be a very talented one!"
"Thanks. I would let you listen one of my songs, but I don't have them here. My best friends keeps the album backup in his house"
"What's an album?"
"A recompilation of songs."
"This situation gets more confusin' every second!"
"Don't worry, Applejack, you will get used to it. Once you have spent more time here, things will get clearer. You have to learn by experience, rather than by stories"
"But last night you said that other humans could hurt us..."
"Yes, Twilight. Well, it isn't like hurt, it's more like getting crazy and things like that. People will start to get mad, literally, if they saw you, it's not common to see talking ponies here in Earth. If scientists found out about they probably will take you away from me, and...you couldn't return to Equestria then, I'm totally sure of that. That is why I told to you to avoid other humans last night...or that is what I can remember"
"Well, I want to go back to Equestria. But...why are other humans so bad?"
"Not all humans are bad, Rainbow. There are 3 different types of people, the good ones, those are who fight for a better world, those who care about the planet and other people, they want to live in a world without problems (let's be honest, that is just a general concept of "good people"), the bad ones, that are people whose actions are based on their interests, benefits or on themselves. They will not care about other people, animals or things. The worsts like seeing suffer other people, and the worst of the worst do it for fun. (that is a general concept too)"
"W-Why people w-would do that?"
"Because we as humans are unpredictable. Our actions are based upon our moral, education, manners, relations with other people, family, emotions, etc... Every human is different from the others. No human is like other one. That is what make us special"
"And what about the third type?"
"Are they the funny people?! Or the people who likes candy?!"
"The third kind of people would be easily classified as normal or "I don't care" people. Humans that doesn't care about the situation. They doesn't express it, but silently accept it. If you look through the window and watch all that people walking on the street, you will easily find that type of people, the "normal" people are the most common in our society. They are like a mix between good and bad people, only caring about those they know, helping when it's necessary and thinking about their acts"
"And you are from the good ones, aren't you?"
"Well, I would classify myself as an exception. Despite I really want a change and a better world, I can barely do something. I'm just like "I'm trying to be good with this world",Twilight"
"Of course ya'h are a good people!"
"When it's singular, is person instead of people, Applejack, and thanks for the compliment."
We finished eating. Even when I explained them a lot of things, that wasn't even close to what they had to learn about this world. I took all the dishes and put them over the dirt dishes of last night. I took out 7 transparent glasses from a dark brown shelf, next to the refrigerator. "Do you like orange juice?" The ponies still were sitting on the table, chatting. The crystal glasses were over a metallic tray. All my guests answered with a "yes" in chorus.
I drew out a pitcher with orange juice in it (I made it. I don't like buying those artificial solutions that taste like dirt) and served it on the glasses. I gave one glass with juice to every pony and I kept one for myself (I put Rarity's food on a closed recipient and left some juice on the pitcher for her).
"Is she related with bears or something? She has been sleeping for hours!" Rainbow Dash laughed while hitting the table (despite my jokes are lame)
"She looked very tired last night, and I think that she is really enjoying her rest, but I agree with you, she has been inside that room for a long time" Twilight sipped from the juice after answering.
"Jay, could how the "black mirror" works?!"
"The television? I just need to turn it on with the remote control over it. You'll see" I grabbed the black remote control and turned on the old little television. It made a static sound before showing an image. Fox News were on T.V. Everypony was staring closely to the female blonde reporter on T.V.
"...the principal, Ray J. Smith is here with us, to answer some questions. Tell us, Ray, what...." I muted the T.V. (It was very loud) and turned the subtitles on. The red title of the notice was "Middle-school inauguration celebration", the place was signaled as Cleveland, Ohio, in North America. It had subtitles in Spanish (I'm studying the Spanish language and I'm helping myself watching T.V. in Spanish (you know, only few channels actually are translated to Spanish...properly) )
"Hello?! Can you hear us?!" Pinkie made funny faces to unsuccessfully try communicate with the news reporter (but she looked way toooo cute!).
"She can't hear you Pinkie. It's just a transmission, like...a talking photo you can see hundreds of times. Like you are watching her now, there are at least other 2,000 people watching her at the same time. Isn't it amazing?"
"What is she talkin' about?"
"Apparently she is talking about the opening of a school. We are watching the "news", programs that inform people about what happens in the world...but they are not always true. Most of the time they are manipulated and hide the reality from us"
"W-Why would they do that?"
"Because they prefer the people to calm down and don't act about situations. It's like if you had a problem that affect everyone, but you'd prefer to hide so they will not do something about it..."
The sound door knob interrupted our talk. It twisted and the wooden white door opened. The white unicorn with violet mane (finally) went out of the room. She was wearing a black sleeping mask. (God knows from where did she took it) Rarity stretched her front hooves in the air and yawned (while covering her mouth with a hoof, like a very educated lady).
"Good morning, Rarity. It seems that you just woke up" The unicorn stared at me for a moment (the sleeping mask was over her forehead), before answering. She yawned one more time."Good morning to you too, darling. It was such a tremendous night yesterday" She looked around, with hunger. Her plate and juice were in the kitchen, next to the fridge."You look hungry, may I offer you something to eat?" (I sounded like a waiter)."I will accept you offer thankfully, darling." Another talk was waiting for me.
"...so, you studied to be a doctor, but you really never liked the job?" Twilight was sitting on the armchair, next to me. The piles of books were in the background, near the window. "Yeah, as I said, my true passion is music. Any other question I could answer you?" Rainbow Dash examined the book titles with curiosity. She flew around the library, apparently looking for some book. Shortly after, she sat down over the light brown floor and finally asked to me: "Do you have any of the "Daring Do" books?" I rubbed my chin, searching for the title in my mind. "Daring Do? I've never heard of it, bro. My mind stopped the search. "I don't think that the book you are looking for is even here in Earth. What is it about?" Rainbow was looking through the window, absently. She turned to me and smiled. "It's about an awesome pony who goes into a lot of risky, dangerous, and cool adventures, she explores ancient ruins, looks for treasures, and fights with evil villains that always compete with her and try to take the treasures too!" I knew that story, the plot sounded familiar to me. It could be "Tomb Raider", but the T.R. series only consist of the movies, videogames and a few comics, so it couldn't be (adding the fact that Lara uses weapons and things like that). The second title that came to me was a classical one, and very popular too. "It sounds like "Indiana Jones" (Yes, there are a lot of books, not only the movies), it would end up being the human parody of your book...or something like that. Let me show it to you". I walked to the left shelf located against the right wall and looked on the third level. I took a deep blue book, with orange highlighting title and kinda old, a classic from "Indy".
"You should read it, Rainbow, it could be similar to the book series you were searching. I don't know" She took the book with her blue, right hoof. Her little eyes swept the literature piece with strangeness. "The title page almost looks like a photo!" (While Rarity finished her food, they told me about things that they had in Equestria, like photos, dj's and some things like that) Her strong wings began to flutter and her body was rising up. She flew in circles around the library again to finally lie down over an armchair.
"Girls, I need to go out for a moment. I have a lot of things to do, but don't worry, I'll be back soon. I just wanted to tell you, and please listen carefully to what I'm going to tell you, okay?" They looked at me, silently. I got all their attention.
"If someone knocks the door, DON'T OPEN IT, it doesn't matter what happens. If you are hungry I already left you fruit in the dinning table downstairs. Here you got books, if you want, you can watch some television (I locked some channels, you know, the inappropriate ones), you can explore all the house if you want, just try to stay away from the kitchen, there are some dangerous things over there. Just follow those instructions and everything will be alright. I'll be back in a moment."
"But how are we going to know if you are the one knocking the door?"
"I have keys from this apartment, Pinkie. Twilight, could you be on charge while I'm outside?"
"Of course, Jay! I'll make sure that everything is okay!"
"Thanks. Be careful and try to not make so much noise, you could alert the neighbors."
"Ho-How long will you be outside...er...I mean...if you..."
"Don't worry Fluttershy, I'll be here in just a few hours, as I hope. I will return, don't worry. I would never leave you alone, more now than ever"
I took a light brown white boarded sweater from my habitation, the black and old car keys from the car and my grey plated cellphone. The outside screen lightened up in a blue, melancholic tone. 12:43. I remembered the messages that Hank sent me. "Two new messages" I opened them and read their content.
"Message from: Hank Edison
At:8:59 p.m.
Sent yesterday
Man. were have you been?! You are worrying me! I already looked for you at your apartment and in all those weird places you like to go. I couldn't find my car too (don't worry, I don't need it now), I just wanted to know if you are okay. Please respond, I can't stop thinking about it, I couldn't bear if something happens to the most precious gift life has ever give to me, please be gentle with the car."
"Message from: Hank Edison
At:11:34 p.m.
Sent yesterday
Seriously, this is no joke, I'm very worried about you! Please answer my calls or at least send me a message saying that you are okay or something like that. I already asked your parents (don't worry, in a smart way so they would not worry too) if you were with they. I also asked some friends and other people. I checked in your apartment half an hour ago. If you are okay please send me a message."
I texted him a short reply with an "I'm okay, man. It was just a hard and weird day. Can I visit you today?" and sent him the message. The green button made a "cling!" sound as the reply was sent.
"The apartment keys, the car keys, the sweater, your credit card, the cellphone...yep, everything is here bro, you can go on". The white porch was right in front of me. I put my right hand over the door knob and turned it. But before I could leave the apartment a little hoof pulled my pants. It was Twilight. She looked curious.
"What happens, Twilight?"
"Can I ask you something before you leave?"
"Of course, what it is?"
"Why are you so..."
"Grey?"
"Yeah, why? And how do you even knew what I was going to ask?"
"Just a presentiment. Well, you see, the life here in the city is very...very...different. It changes us, Twilight, it change us. We can barely be truly happy in all this environment. It's not normal that we act sad or depressed. We...we'll talk about that later, ok? I need to go out now."
She stared to me for a moment. Her look expressed a rough anguish, like she was facing a big problem. Despite I wanted to help her, I didn't had time (like most of we, here in Earth). I exited the room to meet with the grey and old corridor. It wasn't a normal day. It was an special day, but I didn't could remember why. I just wanted to finish with my tasks and came back home. This time the corridor had life. Dozens of people walking, chatting and running around the narrow hall. The same grey and boring world I talked about. The same hard and unfair reality. Always the same.
I put the keys on the car's lock and turned them. It took me just a few seconds to turn the motor on. I put my hand over the old, grey and comfortable gear shift. Just before I could start driving my right pocket began to vibrate. It was the cellphone. After the sudden trembling a very serious voice spoke from the phone. "You have one message". I drew out the device from the pocket and opened it.
"Message from: Hank Edison
At: 12:28
Sent today
Man, I'm glad you're fine, I was very worried about you. Of course you can visit me whenever you want, just text me before you do it, ok? And about the car...it's yours for all the week (I'm not joking), just be gentle with my girl and everything will be fine. And next time you decide to disappear first tell someone, your parents were getting worried too."
I put the cellphone back in my pocket and decided to move on. I still had things to do.
The first place I decided to go was Hank's house. I remembered that he was a "brokie" or something like that, and it was familiarly related with my situation, like I have saw the ponies before, or something like that. I knew that I needed his help.
I parked the grey car outside the house. A one floor house, with a yellow front yard, fenced with white metallic iron bars. The house was color light brown, with some soft yellow details. The windows are square shaped, and there are 4 at the front. Despite Hank's house looks very short, it is very wide. He uses it more like a party lounge than a house (but he still uses it like a house). The design of his home is very...original. It's like a very wide corridor, that is square shaped, but there is a very large room at the center (surrounded by the corridor) where he throws the parties. At every side of the "party room" there are habitations. His room is located at the left. The kitchen/laundry/bathroom (I couldn't believe it when he told me) is at the back of the party room. At the right is were his gaming room is located (my favorite one). And the entrance is facing the main (and only) door leading to the party room.
I knocked the door with my right hand while holding my laptop with my left hand. The door was a dark brown color, with the assassin's insignia carved an painted with red in it (The one from Assassins Creed). He had a rug at the feet of the door, it had the image of "Master Chief" (from Halo) firing two pistols to the air. I knocked again. Hank appeared a few seconds later.
"Man, what the hell? I told you text me before coming here!"
"And that was what I did, come on check your phone"
"You only texted "I'm coming to your house" Right f*cking now! I didn't even answer!"
"You said "text me" not "text me and wait for me to answer."
"Are you f*cking kidding me?"
"Come on, I only need a second with you. I need to talk to you, preferably in your gaming room"
"Why not outside? You...err...always preferred outside than inside, don't you?"
"I need a peaceful place to talk, just between you and me, nobody else."
(I have to say that Hank was acting strange that morning. Most of the time he is in good mode and always let you do anything you want...but I assumed that he had a rough day. Despite that, I needed his assistance)
Hank sighed and glanced inside the house for a second (don't know why, he lives alone). He nodded just one time before letting me in. I followed him to the room at our right side. The floor was entirely made of rainbow-colored tiles. It looked very "highlighting". We turned to the right and, shortly after, he opened the door and we entered the room. He glanced outside one more time before closing the door. We both were in.
The marble gray floor below us was very stylish, and very cold. The gaming room consisted in a black table, where he had a giant television, that had an XBOX 360 and a PS3 connected to it (the videogames consoles were inside the black table); a pale brown wooden board where he had his computer (a Mac, I'm not gonna lie, the man is very rich) and a huge black seat for almost 12 people. The marble table was located against the left wall of the room, facing the enormous seat. The computer was right in front of us (against the wall too), facing the door. Hank lied down over the seat, while I took a black metallic chair next to the computer.
"So...what's the matter? Did you saw Mark playing some game and you want me to download it for you, or you want to ask me for help in some game you got stuck?"
"Nope, I want to learn about that pony thing you watch."
"Shhh! Low your tone! I have visits here!" (So that was why he was acting like that)
"Oh, I'm sorry. But, could you talk me about that?"
"It's called "My Little Pony", it is a T.V. series that, as the title says, is about ponies. You already know that I'm a brony, but why the sudden interest on it?"
"I...I just had curiosity..."
"Good, you want me to show it to you?"
"I want you to explain me everything about it."
He showed me some videos from the series. We watched the first one (titled "The Mare in the Moon") from the season one (he told me that they already were in the third season), the 11th episode, season 2 (titled "Hearth's Warming Eve") and the episode 12 from the 3rd season titled "Just for Sidekicks". He told me that that episode was the last one he saw, and that he did not have time to saw the last one, but he said that it was going to be...very different. He explained me about those "fanfics" in fimfiction.net, he told me about the fan art, the facebook fan pages, the tumblr pages and twitter accounts, that were constantly updated and uploaded tons of deviations, some photos of marketing ,the episodes and a lot of things. He was very excited.
How would you feel if you ever could know that all your entire life is written down in a book, and everyone could read it, but you will never know? How would you react? Would you read it? Could you? 'Cause that is kinda what I felt. The episodes about the new creatures I just discovered... It all looked like it was fake, like they weren't real...but I knew that they were real. I could saw them, and I'm not nuts. I could saw them.
But after all, after the episodes (they are about 20 minutes each one, that's the reason we only watched three) I felt good. I liked them since the first episode. They were...brave, loyal, honest, funny, cute, innocent...everything society has lost. They were...different, different from all the society is. But...could I tell them about it? How would they react? What could they do? Will they be disappointed? Hank kept talking, but I was enclosed in my mind. And what about Hank? Could I tell him about all this situation? Would he tell somebody else? I was very, very confused.
"...So that is all about. Now, do you understand it? I love the show. All my hopes, all my love, all my happiness...all that belongs there. It gives us hope, Jay. It gives something to love this world. So, what do you say? Do you like it?"
"Huh?....Yeah!"
"Maybe, you could even become part of us. A bro..."
Some guy entered the room, slamming the door, interrupting our talk. He immediately turned to Hank, hurried. He had black curly hair, brown eyes and freckles; a pair of brown reading glasses were on her face; and he was wearing a blue t-shirt with "California" in black letters written in it, a pair of black jeans and light blue snickers. He looked very messy and friendly.
"Hank, man, I already called Sonia! She said she could bring the girls to the h..." Hank stared at him with an inquisitive look. His eyes grew wide while staying up from the seat. He rushed him softly (it was very dramatic, let me tell you) and they both fell to the ground. He looked at the tiny guy with something that could be anger, the dude just looked at him, like scared.
"Shut up, you idiot!"
"B-b-but w-why?" Hank pointed at the seat we were sitting on. The guy just stared at me for a moment and then he nodded to Hank, like he got the message. Something was going on, and it involved (or maybe it did not) me.
"Man, you could have said it instead of doing to that! You just got mad!"
"You know the reasons, Dean! We don't want to ruin it!" Those last words made me realize that they didn't want to be there. They were preparing something and I was just a nuisance. I didn't feel bad about it.
"Go away, I need some time with my friend, ok?" Hank got off of the surprised guy. Both of them cleaned their clothes and only my friend entered the room, while "Dean" walked away. Hank sit down again at my side. I had my laptop over my leg.
"Umm...Jay...I will have to ask you to go...for now. It's just that we have to do something..." Hank sounded nervous. His usually strong and hoarse voice was now acute and trembling.
"So...you want me to go now, but you want me to come back later?" I was at the front of the door, closed now. Hank was outside with me, facing me.
"Well...yeah. Don't you remember it?"
"Remember what?"
"Oh god, you can't be serious. Something important must be happening in your life right now to be like that. Well, that's much better!" He put a evil smile on her face. I felt unmcomfortable.
"Tell me what it is about!"
"Nope. Come back when I call you. Then you will know. And don't even dare to spy us. I know that that does not fits you, I'm a psychologist."
"The only part of psychologist you have is psycho" I smiled, he laughed.
"Come back later, f*cker. Now, go make your boring sh*t."
"What about your car?"
"And how do you think you will travel, genius? Take it."
I unlocked the driver's door while holding my laptop with my left arm. The noisy motor of the car began working again, the seat was kinda hot. I still had to go to other boring places (Hank, you win this one).
I went to the bank. Full of people, boring. I spent one and a half hour.
Supermarket. Hundreds of people. Super dull. It took me one hour to buy food and other things.
Drug store. (The sore throat was killing me) 20 minutes inside there.
(Why my short descriptions? In my opinion, those activities were very very boring, so why you should be interesting in a narrative about a fat lady that smells really bad and has disgusting habits? I'm pretty sure that that is just a waste of time, so let's keep going on with this)
I wanted to check if my guests were okay. The traffic was terrible today. I didn't mention it, but the time that took me travelling from one place to another was about half an hour or, the full hour. When I parked the car in the parking lot outside the apartment, it was 6:10 p.m.
My arms were very tired, they felt heavy. I was carrying to paper bags with food inside them. There were people running across the corridor. At that hour, most of the people are getting back home. The red sunset upon the blue-grey sky was beautiful. It acquired a red tone. A really awesome and rare panorama.
Mrs. Magdalena was outside my apartment. She looked preoccupied. Her face highlighted wrinkles while making a worried face. Her eyes were on my porch. I kept walking towards her. Her almost white hair and reading glasses reminded me of my grandma. That lady have always been friendly to me. Since the first day I arrived the apartment building. Before I could ask something, she turned to me.
"Jay, sweetie, are you okay?"
"Umm...Yeah, Mrs. Magdalena, why do you ask? What's happening?"
"Well, I heard strange noises inside your apartment, maybe there are burglars inside there...I don't know. You should call the police"
"Don't worry Mrs. Magdalena, probably it's just some animal inside there, like a rat or something"
"Are you sure?"
"I'm pretty sure everything is all right. You don't need to worry."
"I think I will take a rest. By the way, do you want some cake, honey?"
"I'm okay, good night, Mrs. Magdalena."
"Good night, Jay!"
I was worried. What could have happened to got Mrs. Magdalena's attention? She barely can hear, and the fact that she heard something was something strange. My guests were still safe? What could they have done? What could have happened? I had to enter my apartment.
The door creaked while moving very slowly. I opened it with difficulty (due to my occupied hands) right after my neighbor entered her "house". I glanced inside, looking for somepony. There were no signs of life. The blue light coming through the window gave it a very dark atmosphere. It reminded me of Slender (you know, that pc game). I walked very slowly. The wooden floor sank with every step. I looked in the dinning. Nobody. There were some books over the white table, a comb over a book and a orange, half eaten. Scary.
I left the bags over the table and looked in the kitchen. The floor creaked too. I always hated that. Two books in the floor, half banana and some confetti on the floor. The situation was getting more confusing. I scratched my head for a second. I noticed spilled milk coming from the fridge. I opened the silver door to find a crystal bottle with milk coming out from it. Very weird. I finally decided to call the ponies.
"Twilight! I'm home!" Nopony answered me. It was getting creepier every second. Like someone was about to scare me at any moment. "Fluttershy, are you here?" I didn't find an answer. I walked to the guest's room. The beds still were messy. I expected to find at least someone sleeping there, but there was nopony. I came out of the room.
The wind hit the window, making it to make a very scary sound. I jumped, startled. A silent suffering. The silence was so deep I think I could hear my own pulse. This situation was getting like a nightmare.
The last place were I wanted to go was upstairs. Despite I had visitors in my home and I was worried about them, going upstairs late alone is not good. One time I almost broke a bone because I got scared. I'm afraid to the darkness. I just can't handle it. I feel like a chicken while running away from it. And the light from outside didn't help. The sky acquired a dark blue tone, and it really looked scary. I drew out my cellphone and decided to go upstairs.
(Tip: Don't play Amnesia at night. It gets you paranoia and insomnia.)
My mind was playing with me, I started to hear strange noises, like steps. I could start shouting for the ponies, but my nerves were at their max. And, what if it was a thief, and I only alerted him? What if he could open the door and the ponies hid, scared of him? It sounded like someone was trying to hide. The squeaky stairs didn't helped. My breathing became heavy. In a few seconds, a total darkness already invaded the apartment. Obscurity.
I illuminated the way upstairs with the light, shiny light from the phone. Every time I heard something, I closed it and the light disappeared, I stayed frozen for a second or two and then I moved on. My heart was almost jumping out of my chest. My breath became cold. Icy sweat over my forehead.
I made it to room. The door was open, some clothes over the floor. Shoes on the bed. Very weird. I heard quick footsteps at my back. I closed my eyes with the deepest fear I've ever experienced and then I turned back. Two eyes. Two goddamn white eyes looking at me, in the middle of all that creepy darkness. The eyes looked like from a human, but they were not. I could have assumed they were from the ponies, but they were located at a medium point, near the wall. My visitors were not that tall.
I closed the door with all my forces, sat on the floor and leaned against it...and cried, like a little girl. My fear was consuming me. My face was entirely frozen, but my eyes were dropping tears, slowly. The second time I have felt like that in all my entire life.
After a while, I took the decision of going outside. If the ponies were there, outside, I had to rescue them. I didn't care about that thing spying in the darkness. I had to help them, so, I took a deep sigh, some bravery and the iron baseball bat I hide under my bed.
I opened the door, carefully, looking for that thing that scared me. It already disappeared, making me fell safer. I crawled my foot across the floor. My sweaty hands trembled while holding the heavy bat. My senses got me very nervous. I could hit anything at any moment, if it scared me. ANYTHING.
Without any signal of the creature, I moved to the library. My left hand was now lighting the way with the cellphone while the right one was the only one carrying the blunt weapon (It felt kinda like Amnesia). The blue melancholic light from outside was now replaced with a sadistic black. Not a single light. I closed the cellphone and tried to guide myself into the library. I began to walk. My steps were muffled. My sight was very basic. I remained "undetected"...until I accidentally hit the board of a table.
"Now!" Someone shouted in the middle of the darkness. I put the cellphone in my hand and prepared the bat. I would not fell without resistance...or that was what I thought.
Something rushed me violently to the floor, I hadn't time to react. The bat fell to the ground, bouncing and making a lot of noise. I tried to resist, but, for some reason, I couldn't move my arms, something was holding me down. I desperately tried to stand up and give fight, but it was worthless, the unknown force pressing my body against the floor was very strong. The "thing" that rushed me felt a bit heavy. I could felt 4 hooves over my chest. Somepony was trying to keep me in that position. I felt something around me, like...magic.
"What?! What is happening?!" The lights turned on. The library was a total disaster. Open books all over the place, a mango over the table, two glasses with milk on the floor, a half-eaten carrot inside a shelf, my blue sweater lying near to my feet, a white towel stained with orange juice and one brown left shoe I used to go to school with.
Rainbow Dash was over me, for some reason, I could not even move. A light purple magical aura was surrounding my body, it felt between comfortable and wet. Pinkie, Applejack, Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy were looking at me from not too far away (from left to right, in that order). Twilight horn was glowing, so I guessed she was the responsible of all of this. I was worried about all that.
"Twilight? What is happening?!" Her eyes began to shine deeply. She didn't respond. I tried to move again, but the same for kept me in the floor. The ponies were getting closer to me. Rainbow Dash looked me to the eyes, like sad. "Don't worry, you'll be fine soon." The smile at the end of the phrase made me worry.
"What are you doing?!" The ponies surrounded me. Rainbow Dash got off of me and joined the others in their creepy stare. I was terrified. They were taking a circle position. Fluttershy got close to me and whispered me into the ear. "I'm...I'm so so so so sorry, b-but we have to do this..." I reacted with violence to the words. I tried twisting my body over the floor. The magic force pushing me seemed to become weaker. Twilight eyes shone like the same creature I saw before. The magic barrier became stronger and heavier, it felt like water.
"Why are you doing this?!" Rarity gave me a merciful look before responding. "Because you need it, darling. Calm down, everything will be alright." I kept fighting against the barrier. Twilight was getting angry at my desperate escape attempts. My hands got attached to the ground and my torso was getting tighter. I decided to use my head to break the barrier, or at least, do something. "Stop, you are hurting yourself! You went mad!" I looked at Twilight with rage. A drop of blood was coming down across my face. The adrenaline flowing through my body made me feel no pain.
"Jay, you...you look terrible, please stop..." Pinkie's hair turned all flat and her look became sad. The other ponies looked scared, with exception of Twilight, that still fought against my resistance. She was almost choking me. "Jay, you don't understand, you need to let us help you!" The magic barrier completely fell down over my body, blocking my breathing. "Twilight, you are choking him!"-Rainbow yelled in a worried voice. My head hurt. One last adrenaline rush flowed for my veins. With all my forces I tried getting out of the "deadly" situation.
"Calm down, boy! Yer' making things harder!" With one last effort I hit the barrier with my head. It finally broke, and I got free. "This is all went wrong! Jay, wait!" I ran out of the library, downstairs. My sight was flashing in a violet color. I felt weak. The ponies came after me. I was trying to escape from the apartment.
The flashes became more intense, every time one appeared, my head hurt and I felt like someone was hitting me. I tried to run away, but those flashes made me slower and I had to lean in most of the walls near to me. I was fast enough to keep a distance from the crazy ponies, but the flashes really hit me.
"Jay! Wait!" Rainbow Dash was at my back, giving me chase. I felt like drunk. I could barely resist one more flash. I was about to leave the room when one big, purple flash stroke my vision. I fell to the ground hardly, and after a few seconds, I lost consciousness.
"I think he is waking up" There was someone talking. I was very very stunned, and the voices were unrecognizable. My back hurt and I couldn't feel my arms. My eyes hurt too, and I didn't want to open them. The situation got out of hand. It became weird and scary.
"We need to do this now. He is suffering" Those words made me open my eyes and look around me. Twilight and Rainbow Dash were at my feet, talking. Everything was blurry. We were on the library, and there was no signal of the other ponies. I was sitting on a chair, from the dinning, and with my hands tied with magic. I decided to remain in silence and hear. At that time I wasn't me. I was like a different person, like...the other me.
Twilight got close to me while her horn start glowing. I tried to escape from the chair, but my efforts were useless, I didn't have the force to do it. A deep shiver invaded me. I could not think clear about anything, but... why did they turn against me? What they were trying to do to me? It looked like they wanted to kill me, but I wasn't sure. When you are invaded by fear, you just can't think clearly.
"Twilight..." The pony noticed that I was awake now. She stopped doing whatever she was trying to do an stared at me. The expression on her face didn't change. It was like I was no longer important to them. She showed some interest. "What happens Jay?" Her voice had a fake merciful tone. I slowly looked down, to her, waiting for an answer to that weird nightmare. "Why are you doing this?" I was sobbing.
"It is nothing bad, Jay, we are just trying to help you" I looked away with something between anger and sadness. Despite I took some pills for my sore throat, it still hurt. She looked so calm...and I was very nervous. Her horn started glowing again. A drop of my salty sweat fell to the ground.
"You look very nervous, let me help you." Before I could say anything, a magical purple shot with sparks hit me. My breathing got heavy, like stuck. My eyes were closing themselves, and my head was leaning over my chest. I was falling asleep without wanting it.
Her horn started glowing again. This time she was getting closer to me, trying to touch me with it. For what it seemed, her objective was my forehead. I tried to stay to stay awake, but the feeling of falling asleep was growing.
"Twi...Twi...Twiiiiiiiligght..." Her horn was right in front of me, her hooves surrounded me, and her eyes were making contact with mine. My hoarse voice was getting muffled. A really bright light was coming out from the unicorn's horn. When it was about to touch me, I fell asleep. I only felt the contact of the horn with my head. It felt like a rush of blood...to the head.
In an instant, million of memories came back to me. My 6th birthday, the first day on elementary school, the time I met Hank, the last day with...Brielle..., when my parents got divorced, when my sister came to this world, the time I moved out from my house, the day we moved out from Ocean City, when I got lost inside a forest for 4 and a half hours, grandpa's funeral...and many other good and bad memories that I left alone, floating on my subconscious. Every memory passed right in front of me, like crashing to a wall in a very fast speed, just to see how it vanished in the air. I was in some large and open place, all painted in a spacial blue color. I was floating all around it, surrounded by millions of memories scenes. It felt like space, but I assumed it was some part of my brain. It was a calm and peaceful place, cold and quiet. Suddenly, everything became dark.
I woke up,in the dark library and still sitting on the same chair I was moments ago. The room illuminated with a white, shiny light, that was coming out from me. The darkness decorated the sky outside. The same mess all over the place. Twilight and the others were around me, watching carefully to the light I was expelling. In just a few seconds the light vanished and all went silent. My head hurt.
"Jay, are you okay?"-Said Twilight while approaching to me. She put a hoof over my right knee and gave me a calm look. I stood up from the chair violently, and ran to a corner, trying to find refuge from my "aggressors". "Why in heaven did you do that? What is wrong with you? You are all mad!" I felt something strange in my head, it was a small piece of cloth, covering the cut I got in my forehead. It was a little wet, and I supposed it was for the blood.
"We...we...we just were trying to help you..."Twilight's voice was sad and shy. I was angry and scared at the same time. "What did you did to me?!" I felt a little sleepy. My headache was going worse. The effect of the medicine on me almost disappeared the sore throat. "I...I put a spell on you...I believed..." Twilight looked scared, like hiding from me. She had her sight on the floor and the head down.
"WHY?!"-I shouted in rage. My voice made an echo in the library. Anger and terror were flowing through my veins, they felt like boiling. I wanted to kick and throw away things around, or to run away 2000 miles without looking back. Twilight looked at me with the saddest look I ever seen in all my entire life before breaking down in tears. She lied over the rough floor and covered her eyes with both of her hooves.
"I...I thought...I'm...'I'm sorry..." Watching the pony crying in the floor made me feel horrible; making her cry made me feel like a real monster. I...I had to apologize. Nothing really happened to me. I stood up and walked towards her, slowly. She kept crying, it was a silent and depressed cry. The little purple unicorn didn't notice me. I felt stunned and dazed. It was hard to balance myself.
"Twilight, don't cry, please. It is just that I was angry for a moment. Don't feel sad. We can talk about it. Come on, smile. It all already passed, it's nothing." I ended the phrase while looking her at the eyes. She looked at me and stood up.on her four hooves, cleaned her tears and hugged me.
"I'm...I'm sorry." I softly hugged her back. The anger already disappeared.
"I'm sorry too." I could feel her warm and delicate breathing in my neck and the wet tears that fell to my shirt.
"Are we still friends?" Friends. A long time has passed since I heard someone calling me their friend.
"Yes, we are. Where are the others?" The hug ended and she wiped her eyes one more time and smiled.
"Downstairs."
It started raining outside. It was 7:38 and the weather was getting colder. A thunder. I checked my phone. Hank didn't call yet. I didn't have messages neither. Twilight and I went downstairs.
Our foot/hoofsteps were synchronized. The wooden stairs creaked, as always. As we were getting down the other ponies appeared. Pinkie's hair got back to its normal state (I suppose), Applejack was talking with Rainbow Dash, Rarity was combing her hair and Fluttershy looking to the void, like worried. Everypony looked at us right after we appeared walking downstairs.
"Jay!" Fluttershy flied to me (almost rushing me) and hugged me with force (I already had enough of hugs today. It starts to get a little bit annoying). "I was so sooo worried about you two!" The rest of the group stopped doing whatever they were doing and came near to us.
"What happened?" Rainbow was the first one to ask a question. She glanced at Twilight and turned to me. She was in front of us.
"Is everythin' alright?" Applejack followed. She sat down on her back hooves and took her hat off. She was at our right.
"Are you okay darling?" Rarity put the comb over the table and walked to our left.
"Jay! You look better" Pinkie jumped to our back, left, right and everywhere. Her energy is pretty impressive.
"Calm down everypony!" Twilight voice still had a slight sad tone.
"I'm okay, I just need to take a seat" We stopped for a moment. I still felt dazed. The headache got lighter and I needed to take some pills.
"But, what happened?" Rainbow Dash kept asking. Everyone had their own questions and looked for their answers. I just wanted to sit down.
"I'll answer that...just let me rest on a chair, okay?"
Everyone was sitting on the dinning. I had the window at my back, Fluttershy was sitting at my left, Twilight and Rainbow in front of us, Applejack and Rarity at our right, and Pinkie (playing with her hair) at our left. The rain of questions fell over us (Twilight had to answer some questions too).
"...so, you thought that my "grey color" was a sickness or something like that?"
"Yes, so I tried to cast a spell that could help you and disappear it" Now that I think about it, it sounds more friendly than I thought. I just reacted without thinking clearly.
"And why did you tied me to a chair? You could have asked me to cooperate..."
"Yeah, but when we faced it, some of us didn't help and tried to escape, like Rainbow" Twilight got a good point.
"I understand it. Thanks for trying to help, but that is something I acquired from the city. It will pass some day...However, are you okay? Are you hungry? Do you need something?"
"We are very comfortable and very pleased in our stance, gentleman. Excuse us for all the mess we caused here" Rarity talked like a real lady. It started to get weird.
"How's yer' head goin'?"
"Better. Who made the bandage?"
"Rarity and Fluttershy" Fluttershy cheeks turned a light red color while her eyes hid behind her pink mane, looking at me, timid.
"Is...Is it okay?" She looked very timid. She was worried about me.
"Of course! You did a great job. It just need to be a little more tight, that's all" I tightened the knot, and put a feet out of the table.
"Where are you going? You are hurt! You need to rest!"
"I'm okay Rainbow. I just need to clean all this mess"
"We'll help ya'h, sugarcube!"
I stood up, got away from the table and walked to the porch of the guests room. I took from the floor a white towel stained with coffee and put it inside the bag (that was outside the guests room, with the same clothes I left inside it in the morning). Everyone stood up and helped me cleaning all. They were very helpful.
"So...did you learn something interesting about Earth?"-I said while moping the spilled milk on the kitchen's floor. Twilight was helping me putting all the food in its respective place (shelf, refrigerator or garbage can).
"Actually, I read a book about astronomy. It seems that your knowledge about the universe has developed very vast. You have found the Chaereillian asteroid, that is 187.12 million light years from here, according to your book. It is located to 35 million light years from Equestria, so I practically know where are we now" She put a broken dish in the trash and I put some food back in the refrigerator.
"Sounds complicated but I understand it. Anything else?" Applejack was stacking the books in one pile, and cleaning some orange juice from the table. Pinkie and Rainbow went upstairs while Rarity and Fluttershy entered the guest's room.
"Yeah. According to our current position and the location of this planet...time here passes more slowly than in Equestria"
"How slow?"
"A year here is a day in Equestria" (Internet Explorer slow).
"Wow...that gives us a lot of time to search for a way back to Equestria. Time should not be a problem then" I glanced to Applejack. She smiled very warmly, closing her shiny green eyes. It would not pass so much time till she could see her family again.
We finished the cleaning at 7:58. The apartment was (kinda) clean and Hank sent me a message.Things went fine. We all were reunited at the dinning again. We all changed spots.
"You will stay here with us now?! We could have so much fun! And we could eat candies! And throw confetti! Weeeeeeeeeeee!!!" Pinkie's teleporting abilities came back. She appeared in a new place with a broad smile and childish eyes after ending each phrase.
"I'm afraid I can't. I need to visit a friend right now and I must go. He could help us with our inconvenience."
"How long will your visit take?"
"Not too much...I hope"
"There is a cold and violent rain outside, darling. And you also have a horrible injury in your forehead. It wouldn't be better if you visit your friend tomorrow?"
"He asked me to go to his house. I agree with you Rarity, but he can be very helpful. I'll give you some things while I'm outside. You'll need some lanterns, batteries, water containers and a first aid kit. If the lights go out you'll be very scared..."
"Don't worry about us, we'll be okay." Twilight was talking with leadership.
"At least let me give you some things you could need in case of emergency"
...
I had the white old porch of my apartment at my back. The brown jacket I was wearing was very warm. The cold weather from outside already penetrated the windows and walls, the atmosphere in the apartment was cold too. I was wearing black tight gloves, a blue long sweater (under the jacket) dark green jeans and brown-turquoise sneakers (I really don't care about the colors of the clothes I wear, or if they even match). Twilight and Fluttershy were at the entrance of the apartment, with me. I gave them some of my clothes so they could keep warm too.
"I left you six coups with hot coffee in the table. The lanterns are in the table in the library, upstairs. If the weather gets colder you can take some clothes from my room, I have warm blankets there too" Twilight was wearing a short squared sweater and a red scarf.
"We'll be fine, Jay. The sooner you go, the sooner you will be back here" I didn't want to leave them alone, but she was right. Fluttershy walked to me and pulled my jeans; she was wearing a grey long light sweater and a black short scarf .The sleeves of the sweater were too long that her front hooves were totally covered and she dragged them across the floor. She was like the cutest thing that ever existed.
"J-Jay..." I bent over and looked at the pony. She had that warm smile that made me feel great.
"What happens, Fluttershy?"
"W-Will you... be back soon?"
"Of course. Something happens?"
"I'm...I'm scared. Pl-Please don't leave us. You said that...that it could become dark...and...and..."
"Fluttershy, don't be afraid, nothing bad will happen. Your friends are here, I will not leave you alone. Be brave, I trust you." Our eyes were making contact. She slowly nodded while I was opening the door. I entered the world one more time.
...
The motor was very cold. The car trembled with the movement of the main piece. The gas tank was at its medium point. It took me some time to start using the car. The rain outside was hitting the windshield. The flow of the water streaming down it was very entertaining. "The wet races" Grandpa used to say. The cold and the water were blurring the windshield. The car finally started up. My destiny was Hank's house.
I took my cellphone and a pair of grey crappy earphones I bought time ago. I put a sad music playlist to enjoy the rain. I love grey, cloudy, windy and rainy days, when the sun can not be seen and the cold from clouds makes contact with your skin, and when the wind blows against your face and your hair gets all messed up. The song that was currently playing was "Easy to Please" by Coldplay.
I arrived at Hank's place at 8:20 p.m. I did not even checked the message he sent me. I just guessed he already called me to his house. I got out of the car and walked to the front door with a blue umbrella on my right hand. The rain looked like it was going to last for all the night. In the metropolis the stars are hidden, cause all the pollution in here, and the moon is the only light in the huge city.
The door opened, it creaked too. Hank was at the entrance, wearing a Gears of War hoodie, a Phoenix Wright shirt, blue ripped jeans and brown old-styled shoes. He smiled and let me enter his house. I left the umbrella near the entrance. It would just take a few seconds...
"I'm happy you came, you got the message?" We were walking in the right corridor, it was very silent.
"Yep. Hank I need to..." He kept walking without paying me attention. He was like waiting for something.
"Dudeeee. What happened to your head?" Hank gave me a really weird look.
"It's...it's nothing, I hit myself with a shelf" I didn't even remove the patch from my head. I already forgot it.
" Whatever, come here, I need to talk to you" I followed him, it looked like we were walking in circles around the "Party Room".
"Hank, I need to tell you something, I..." Hank interrupted me, but he didn't even look back. I began to despair.
"Shut up and follow me!" We were outside the "Party Room". Hank looked like waiting for something to happen. After some minutes, he put his left hand on the silver doorknob and opened the door. The room was all dark.
"At least you'll have a quiet place to talk..." But I was so, so wrong..."
...
"Let's get this party started!!!" Somebody turned the lights on. Hundreds of people from the college were there, with drinks, food, beers and other party stuff. Three tables, two big stereos and some lights decorated the room. They were celebrating something and I didn't know...yet.
"I...I thought..." Hanks smiled and gave me a pat in the shoulder. He looked very excited and happy.
"You thought we forgot it, didn't you? I could never forget something like that bro. Try to enjoy the party, and don't worry, I only invited cool guys and pretty girls, no douches and no hoes. This is going to be the best party ever" The people started drinking, talking, eating and dancing.
"But...what are we celebrating?" The music was getting louder. Hank really wanted to enjoy the party, but I needed his help.
"What could it be?! Your birthday, genius!" Then I could remember that "special something" that I was forgetting.
The lights began to flash, deep blue, green and red decorated the room. Loud music. People dancing, singing, jumping. A headache. Hank walked away and disappeared between a sea of unknown people. I spotted him walking towards a girl. I could hardly move. People congratulated me when I passed near to them. I reached him minutes after.
"Hank, I really need to talk to you, it's really important!" He didn't even look back.
"The condoms are in the kitchen!" Hank was holding a cold beer with his right hand, he kept walking.
"I'm not talking about that! I need to talk to you! It's a serious matter" He drink a bit from the bottle and turned back.
"I'm not going to listen to your weird sh*t. Try to enjoy the party goddammit!" He ignored me and walked away. Before he could get lost again between all that people I called him one more time.
"Hank..." I put my right arm over his shoulder. He stopped moving and turned back one more time. Anger could be seen flowing out from his eyes.
"Follow me."-He whispered into my ear and walked to the entrance, at our back. I did what he asked. He opened the door and in an instant we both were on the corridor.
"Look, I worked really hard to bring all these people here. I bought beers, rented the audio system and the light system. I really want you to enjoy the party. Please, do it." He was talking in a very serious tone. We were standing in the corridor, in silence.
"I have a..."problem", Hank, and I need you to come with me!" He gave me that disappointing look parents give you when you do something wrong.
"Where?"
"To my apartment" He took a long sigh, looked away and closed his eyes with sadness.
"Jay, I want you to listen to me okay? I know that you hate events like this and all that social stuff, but you need to hang out more with people. You are so closed in your world...it is not good for you. Just look at you! You only have one friend! Some girls want you to be their boyfriend, and some guys want to have fun with you! Why do you always stay away from society? Why do you always have to do that? I know you are my bro and all that sh*t, but that really makes me angry!"
"But...I need your help. It's a serious matter!"
"What it is about?"
"I can't tell you, you need to come with me."
"My bullsh*t sensor is on, Jay."
"Trust me, it's something really important that only you can help me with." He took a deep sigh and nodded, slowly.
"Okay, I'll go...but just because you are my bro and I trust you...But if for any reason it is just an excuse for not being here in the party or something like that, I'm going to be very pissed off."
"I wont disappoint you."
We walked to the entrance, not too far from us. My umbrella disappeared, and the rain did not stop outside.
"Where's my umbrella?"
"I ordered George to hide it from you, sou you could not flew away from the party."
"And where is George?"
"Having a good time inside the party."
"How can we get out? I don't want to catch a cold (again)."
"Well, I have an idea, let's go to the kitchen..."
...
"This was your best idea?!" A thunder impacted the ground far away. The rain was getting pretty intense.
"And what about you?! Did you thought in something else?! Did you have a better idea?!"
"Well, not exactly..." The rain was very heavy. The weather has went all crazy during the last months.
"Where's the goddamn car?!"
"Right there!" We were holding plastic bags over our head, it only protected up to the chest area from getting wet.
...
"That was horrible. Let's do it again, sometime...now, to your apartment."
...
We were standing outside the door of my apartment. I was searching for the keys inside my right pocket. Hank was kicking the floor with his left foot (like when you are listening to a song and reproduce the rhythm). His muffled hits were a sign of despair.
"Hurry! This is getting very boring! I want to go back to the party..." He leaned over the wall, rested his head and closed his eyes.
"You always had time for this, so shut up and wait" We left a path of water behind us. I finally found the key to my apartment, but instead of opening the door, I turned back and stared at Hank.
"I brought you here because you're the only person I can rely in. Just...don't tell anybody about this, okay? I think it won't be necessary to remind you." He looked at me in a weird way, rising his left, brown eyebrow.
"Well, I get it, I won't tell anyone. Now, let's solve your problem. I want to enjoy a beer right now"
I opened the door. The orange light coming out from the lamps and light bulbs from the ceiling made me feel warm. The rain became lighter. Hank and I were all wet. The icy weather inside the apartment felt much more colder with our clothes all soaked.
"It's freezing in here!" Hank rubbed his arms, trying to warm his body.
"This apartment is usually cold, also, it is raining outside" I looked for somepony in the dinning or the kitchen. Nopony was there.
"No sh*it, Sherlock! So, what is the matter?" I checked inside the guest room with Hank following me. It seemed like I lost something.
"I think we need to go upstairs" We went back to the dinning.
"You think? What is it? A dog or something like that? If you bring me here just for a pet...you're going to have a baaad time."
"It is not a pet. I need to show it to you." We started walking upstairs.
"I don't get it, this is getting really awkward. Do you know that you are meant to bring "girls" to your place, right?"
"Shut up, Hank"
...
We only need to walk 12 steps further to reach the second level, but we stopped. I heard something "trotting" ahead us, and I guess he heard the same. I got on the top of my feet and glanced over the second floor. Four little purple hooves were moving to us. Hank tried to look too, but I was impeding it.
"What it is? A baby tiger or some sh..." I turned around and covered his mouth with my right hand. His "mustache" was all wet. I turned back and spotted Twilight at the end of the stairs. She was wearing the same clothes I gave her before I left (but now in a funnier way). She stopped her trotting and stared at me, flexing her thin neck.
"Jay! You are back!" Hank looked over my right shoulder with surprise. I could feel his breathing (also, his breath stank like beer). Twilight turned her head to the left, curious. Hank and Twilight already noticed each other's presence. Twilight raised her left eyebrow slowly. I didn't pay attention to what Hank was doing, I was just looking at the unicorn. A short silence appeared after the visual contact.
"Em...Who is him?" We didn't move. I turned completely to Twilight, still feeling the presence of Hank's head over my shoulder due to his breathing. I put a warm smile over my face and responded. "He is my friend, Hank. He can help us with your situation. I grabbed Hank by the left shoulder and and pointed at Twilight with my (entire) left hand. "Is a pleasure to meet you, Hank. My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm an unicorn."
Hank entered in (what appeared to be) a catatonic state. His jaw was almost touching the ground. Right after Twilight presented herself we walked to the library, with Twilight leading the way. I was between Twilight and Hank, but Hank just dragged his feet across the floor, without making a single sound. I had to help him walk.
"Are you okay?" Twilight stopped and stared to Hank during our "journey" to the library, he just looked at her, like shivering. Hank was pretty amazed, he opened his mouth like to talk, but without saying anything (just like chewing air). "Is he okay? He looks a bit pale and is trembling" As Twilight said, his skin went a pale white color. He moved very slowly and hardly showed any sign of life (just like a zombie). "Yeah, he...he's fine, is just that he is not used to see a pony everyday. Nothing to worry about" I took Hank by the right arm and walked to the library.
As we entered the peaceful library the ponies welcomed us. Rarity and Applejack greeted us from far, sitting on the armchairs and covering themselves with some yellow light mantles I left over my bed (if they needed something to warm themselves). Pinkie started teleporting around the place, she was wearing a handmade white bonnet (that grandma gave me during my 18 birthday) and a blue scarf made of synthetic cloth I bought last year. Rainbow was sleeping over a pile of books (She could have used my bed. Why rest in an uncomfortable pile of biology and history books? This isn't college). She was wearing a yellow long scarf (that got entangled around her body, probably while she was sleeping). Her snoring was a bit loud. Fluttershy was sitting in another armchair, enjoying a warm cup of coffee (probably from the ones I left over the dinning over the table). She was wearing the same clothes that I gave her before. She approached to us, trotting very slowly and smiling with a soft happiness.
"Ponies, I want to present to you my friend Hank. He is the one that can help us." Everypony approached to us. Hank still was paralyzed, he remained in silence all this time, looking at the ponies and with his mouth still open. I have never seen him surprised like that.
Hank and I got in the center of the library. All the ponies approached to us (with exception of Twilight that was already there). Twilight offered that they presented each other to meet themselves better. The ponies accepted with smiles and laughs, while Hank just keep standing in catatonic state. The first one in present herself was Applejack.
"Ma'h name is Applejack, partner" Hank looked at her and remained in silence
"I'm Pinkie Pie, but you can call me Pinkie, I hope we can be friends!..." (Pinkie randomly disappeared and appeared at the top of a shelf) Hank turned to her without answering.
"The name is Rarity, darling, a pleasure to meet you" The last scene repeated.
"I'm Rainbow Dash..." Before Rainbow could end her phrase Hank collapsed to the ground, passing out. He looked terrified. I think it was too much for him.
...
"Hank, are you alright, buddy?" H was moving slowly, rolling and entangling himself with my blankets. My bed was a mess anyway so I just let him relax on it. He opened his eyes very slowly, and gave me a scared look. H took a deep breath and got up of the bed. He sat down, facing the wall.
"Did I pass out? How many beers did I drink? Did you bring me to your house?" Twilight entered the room, slowly. I was sitting on a chair, facing the bed. Twilight looked at me and then turned to Hank. "Are you alright?" Hank grabbed his head and took another breath. He checked his pulse via jugular vein, closed his eyes and rubbed them softly before opening them again. "This...is...amAZING!!!"
...
"So you can help us to find a way back to our home?" Hank rubbed his chin and looked up. We all eight were in the dinning. Hank, Twilight and I went downstairs and the other ponies followed us minutes later. Hank finally calmed down and acted totally normal. Let's just say that things went better.
"I'm really excited about this, bro! Do you even know how amazing this is? There are no words that can describe how I feel right now!" I was filling two glasses with water in the kitchen, Hank followed me. The ponies were talking in the dinning.
"And you didn't want to come..."
"Well, I was wrong, but I have to admit it, this is the best thing that has happened in all my entire life! Can you imagine all the adventures and tales we can pass through?"
"Hank, remember, they are trying to go back to their home. Despite I know how badly do you want them to stay, at some point they'll have to go."
"We all have to."
"I called you to help me and them with this. We really need you, I barely know anything about them. And that "anything" I just learned it from the episodes we watched"
"I'll help. But I really like this. Oh my science, this is so amazing!"
"Just remember, act like you don't know them. You did well upstairs, just answering basic questions. We don't want to make them think about existential problems."
"But...what if their world does not exist? What if they are trapped here forever?"
"I doubt it. Time will reveal us more answers. For now, we must take care of them, I don't think I need to ask you..."
"Can I stay here for the night?"
"There is not a party in your house right now while we are here talking? "
"Shiz man! I totally forgot it! I can't let them get drunk and stay in my house!"
"It's still 10:45 p.m. I don't think they are that drunk already. Another point about you staying here is that I don't have enough beds to rest in. So you will need to share some armchairs with me."
"There are more apartments on sale in here?"
"Two on sale and 5 on rent. What are you planning?"
"I'm...I'm just thinking about something. Anyway, thank you for telling me about this. This will be just between you and me, you can trust me."
"I already do. Go home Hank, they can destroy something."
I lent H a black sweater and an umbrella. I gave him the keys to his car and some fresh mints. He walked to the entrance and I followed him. The ponies were watching us. Hank checked all his things and that he didn't left anything. He put the sweater on and grabbed the umbrella with his right hand.
"It was a pleasure to meet you ponies, but I have to go, I need to attend some guests at my house. I'll come back...tomorrow?" Hank looked at me. I nodded.
"Well, see ya, goodbye!"
"Goodbye Hank!"-Said the ponies in chorus.
...
"Well, almost everyone is sleeping. Is just you and me, Twilight" We were in the library, sitting on armchairs. It was 11:24 p.m.
"I liked your friend. He is funny. But I really fear that we can't return. Even when the time pass differently here, we can't wait forever. There are many ponies we left behind in Equestria"
"Don't worry about it. We will keep trying. That is a promise."
"I really appreciate it. Thanks for all of this Jay."
"It is nothing." Twilight yawned and covered her mouth with her right hoof.
"Go to bed Twilight. It's late."
"And what about you? I can't let you spend another night in an armchair!"
"There is nowhere else to rest. You need to rest in the beds. I will do fine."
"Maybe I can do something about it..." Twilight's horn began to glow. It transformed the armchair I was into something more comfortable and large. I fitted in it.
"Thanks, Twilight. I like it"
"Don't mention it. *yawn* Goodnight, Jay."
"Goodnight Twilight."
She walked out of the room, I turned the lights off and lied on the new "bed". I covered myself with the blanket. I felt something ringing in my pajamas pocket seconds ago. I was about to enjoy a nap when my cellphone vibrated. I just received a message.
"Message from: Hank Edison
At:11:48 p.m.
Sent today
Best.
Birthday.
Gift.
Ever."
My life has taken a huge twist.
