I didn’t know how long I was out, and I didn’t care, all I wanted was for the hallucinations to disappear. My alarm clock went off. “Good morning downtown Chicago, and it is a beautiful Saturday morn-“ Wait, did he say Saturday? I’ve been out for TWO days?! Shit, this is bad news for my school attendance record, as if being late to school wasn’t bad enough. I sat up and looked at the time. 6:46 A.M. I lied back down with a sigh of relief. “Oh thank god it was just a dream,” I said out loud. “Last night was pretty trippy.” Then I heard some shuffling in the darkness. “Mom?” I asked. No response. Someone was in the room with me. This can’t be good. I reached for my bedside light and flicked it on. I was frozen there, wide-eyed at what I saw. There was a blue creature on my bed just inches away from my face. “So I’m still dreaming,” I said as the creature turned and began whispering into the darkness. “Now they’re TALKING?!” I thought. I fell off the bed, tangled in the sheets. “Ok, so the hallucinations haven’t stopped.” I thought aloud. Then there was a feminine voice coming from under the sheets.
“Hey! What’s the big idea?” said the voice. That does it. I got up and staggered towards the main light. I turned it on and pretty much almost fainted again. To my surprise I saw five pairs of eyes staring at me from the corners of my room. They all were just waking up themselves.
“Now I’m worried.” I said still thinking I was hallucinating. I slapped myself a few times to try and get myself to wake up from this damned nightmare. Then some of them started whispering to each other. They didn’t do a very good job.
“Is it alright Twi?” asked the orange one. “IT?” I thought. I was offended for a brief moment, but I guess they couldn’t really tell. Oh god, I’m thinking about them as if they were real. But it seemed all the evidence was pointing to them really being in my room. The lavender one whispered back to the orange one after looking me over thoroughly.
“I’m sure she’s fine.” The lavender one responded reassuringly. I could tell there was some confusion in her voice though. “Hey, at least she guessed,” I thought to myself. I felt sick to my stomach at that point. One of them tried to approach me with a friendly gesture but I wasn’t going to fall for that. I ran to the bathroom and threw up into the toilet. I ran my hand through my hair, questioning what the hell I just witnessed. “This isn’t happening. You’re just having a bad dream that’s all. You’ll wake up soon,” I kept telling myself.
“Excuse me Miss,” came the voice of the lavender one. I quickly shut and locked the door. This is almost as bad as the time dad left. I react the same to similar situations it may seem. “Ok Mark, take a breather,” I said trying to calm myself down. But then there was a knock on the bathroom door. I would never open the door to one of those creatures. But then there was a soft voice from the other side.
“Um, excuse me? Is anypony in there? I apologize if my friends startled you. We were waitin’ for you to wake up yourself, but I guess they were becomin’ a bit impatient. If you’d open the door I’d gladly introduce myself to ya.” I hesitated for a second but then I decided to man up. I cautiously opened the door. I saw nothing at first, to my relief. But then I had to look down and, sure enough, there was the orange pony standing in the doorway looking up to me. “So what’s your name Mister,” she asked with a smile. I was very hesitant with every action I took towards these alien creatures. They seemed harmless, but this could all be a part of their ‘sinister plan’ to abduct me. Or was I already abducted? Was I being experimented on right now?! These thoughts made me shiver and I refocused me attention. I stammered a bit while I spoke.
“M-My name is M-Mark,” I replied, “Mark Smith.” I was taken back by their ability to speak my language. I half expected them to start speaking some form of Korean or Spanish. “What the hell are you all doing in my house?!” I yelled. This startled some of them. But they responded almost immediately.
“That’s just the problem ‘sir’, we don’t know,” answered the Lavender one. She finally figured out I was a guy. The others probably clued her in. “We were all asleep when it happened. Then the next thing we know, we’re in this strange place. We came to you hoping you would be able to assist us, but so far you're just shown what looks like fear. If you would be able to help us I could make it worth your while." Those words, 'worth your while', got me interested. I'd give anything to finally get some revenge on Jim. That was a big question to ask at the moment, so I just brushed it off and tried to ignore it. I quickly scurried over to the kitchen to check the contents of the fridge. It was stuffed with all sorts of foods that I didn’t even realize I had before. Smoked salmon, Almond milk, Cheerios. Cheerios in the fridge? Come to think of it, they weren’t in my fridge before last night. I looked back to the others who were watching me intently. The lavender one answered me first, “Pinkie got hungry on the trip here and helped herself to whatever she could find,” she said with a nervous look on her face, “But to save you the trouble of getting more, we explored the so called ‘Grocery Store’ and replaced what we used.” I had a dark suspicion for a moment. I flipped on the TV and channel surfed until I hit the news. Just as I suspected too, “Last night there was a break in at Wal Mart superstore in downtown Chicag-“ I muted the TV. I ran my hand down my face in agony. I looked at the six of them,
“You stole from the supermarket?” I asked in disbelief.
“Good heavens no,” the white one replied, “The people there generously gave it to us,” she said with a smile.
“Were they scared in any way?” I asked, raising a brow.
“Well they were cowering in the back office. But he yelled at us to take whatever we required,” She pleaded. I rolled my eyes and looked back at the TV. Says the security cameras went out just before the robbery took place. No coincidence I assumed. I turned back to them. By the look in their eyes, they could sense that what they did was wrong. I looked towards the six of them. Might as well ask for their names.
“What are your names then?” I asked, gesturing to the six of them. They stepped forward a bit and that’s when I got a good look at them. I never actually noticed they had horns and wings. Some had neither but others had both wings and a horn. Very interesting. The lavender one stepped forward and bowed her head.
“My name is Twili-“ she was cut short by the light blue one.
“I’m Rainbow Dash,” she with a bold look on her face. The lavender one shot a look of disapproval down at the blue one.
“Like I was saying, my name is Twilight Sparkle. Pleasure to meet you Miss,” she said. I drooped my head and sighed in disapproval. She wasn’t sure what she did wrong but I would explain it to her later. The other two stepped forward.
“I’m Applejack,” said the orange one, “Pleasure to meet your acquaintance,” she said with a southern accent.
“And I am fair Rarity,” she said brushing her mane back with her hoof. “And I must say you have a wonderful place darling, if I do say so myself.” I looked at the yellow one who was quivering behind a potted plant. Rarity looked at her and tried to coax her out of her hiding spot, but she wouldn't budge. The pink one wouldn’t stop bouncing. She looked like she had something to say, so I gestured to her.
“Hi! My name’s Pinkie Pie!” she said with a huge smile. I became startled at her 'loud' introduction. She gazed at me in awe, “Ooooo. I’ve never seen anything like you before Mister. Although I’ve seen lots of other things before, like turtles, cats, humming birds, vultures, eagles, dogs, donkeys, bunnies, mice, parrots, fish, dolphins, snails,” she laughed after she said that, “Snails are so small. Did I mention they’re slow? All snails are slow, but they’re still so adorable!” she exclaimed. The Pink pony was inches away from my face at this point, bouncing up and down in position.
Applejack moved in to keep her calm, “Calm down now sugarcube,” she said pulling pinkie back. That’s when I remembered. Mom. Oh shit she was supposed to be home by now. The phone rang. Hopefully it was mom. The six of them jumped at the startling sound. Our phone was from the 1980’s. Not the most reliable version of a phone we could get. I would have to ask the six of them more questions later. I forced myself up from the position in front of the television. Rainbow was curious I guess. She flew up and poked it, causing it to fall over and onto the kitchen tiling.
“Whoops. My bad.”
I rolled my eyes and answered the phone. It was mom. Thank god she was all right. “Hey, where are you?” I asked nervously. “You’re WHERE? I’ll be over there when I’m ready,” I said and hung up the phone. I sighed in disappointment.
“I have to go to the police station,” I announced, “She’s been drinking again,” I muttered to myself. The last time this happened was with dad. Strange, it’s like he’s been here the whole time. “Look I need you six to stay here and, for the love of god, don’t touch anything if you don’t know what it does. I ran and grabbed my wallet. The Police had arrested her for assaulting a co-worker. So many things were happening at once. First I find these six and now my mom has been arrested. She hasn’t been arrested since dad was with her. I clenched my fists at the thought. She never admitted it to anyone, but I knew that my dad was abusive to her. She keeps telling me that he would never try to hurt me. She had every right to leave him. Him leaving to New York was god’s gift to my mother and I.
“Yessir,” Applejack said reassuringly “You can count on us!” she shouted as I walked out the door.
“I’m thrilled,” I muttered. Maybe I shouldn’t leave six aliens alone in a house. I thought for a second, but maybe a walk is all I need to I walked down to the police station. My mom was sitting in the waiting room. She was in tears. “Hey.”
“Oh,” she began, wiping some of the tears from her eyes, “Hi honey. How was school last night?” she asked as I gave her a hug.
“Oh you know, the daily routine.” The whole daily routine thing was a joke to her the past few days. I expected her to laugh or at least chuckle, but there wasn’t even a grin. But it was my way of life. “I had some strange things happen to me last night though,” I started. I questioned whether to tell her or not. Maybe later but for sure not right now. She has too many things on her mind right now.
“Really?” she asked curiously, “What sort of things?” This surprised me. She went from bawling, to no expression whatsoever. There wasn’t even a tear in her eye.
“I’ll tell you about it later,” I responded. She sat back in her chair and waited for her lawyer to come talk with her about her lawsuit. Mr. Rivers. Rather skinny man with glasses. He wore his hair back like a greaser from the 1950’s. I could guess he was about fifty or sixty years old. Judging from the massive amounts of dye he puts in his hair to hide the gray. He looked at me with disgust.
“Hi, Miss Smith. I’m Roy Rivers. I will be your attorney for the lawsuit. Shall we go discuss the matters of the case in private?” he asked with a smile.
My mom turned back to me. “How bout you head back home sweetie. I’ll be home later today,” she said as she walked away with Mr. Rivers. I figured I should get home though. Who knows what those six could have done while I was gone. Or maybe they’re gone. Oh god I sure hope they are. “Oh and Mark, I called your father. He said he would come over to watch you while I was on trial,” she called back. I froze.
“HOW COULD SHE?! She would NEVER call him, especially if it was to watch ME!” I thought. This was turning out to be the worst day ever. But I can’t worry about that right now. Had to get home. I arrived at my doorstep. Nothing was on fire, that’s a good sign. I cautiously opened the door. They were still there, so they must be real. They were all sleeping in front of the TV and on the couch. I guess my alarm was too early for them. Wait, there were only four of them. Weren’t there six before? Did they wander off? Oh great, the pink one is missing. She could end up giving someone a heart attack. The one called Twilight was also not in the room. I just hope they don’t end up getting caught by anyone else. The TV was muted with black and white sparks on the screen.
Everything else seemed fine. Nothing broken, no fires. At least they know how keep themselves out of trouble. Then I saw the yellow one. She was still behind the potted plant, covering her eyes with her hooves. She would uncover them, only to become scared and cover them again. “Uh, hi,” I said approaching her slowly. How could I get her to come out? She was the only one who didn’t introduce herself, so I didn’t know her name. “There’s nothing to be afraid of. I won’t hurt you, I promise,” I reassured her. Still wouldn’t budge. “You know this might be easier for both of us if you would just open your eyes.” Still nothing. I gave up and sat down on the couch with my guitar. I studied the ones sleeping. Some had horns and others had wings. The other two were neither. I tried to guess their race. Ponies, but they were all different. What are horses with wings called? Pegasi? Ok, and Unicorns? Then just plain ponies. Strange, but I find it fascinating.
I softly played some chords and god lost in thought. I still couldn’t believe my dad was coming over. Mom was acting strange too. I don’t know what compelled her to call him. I heard some flapping behind me. I assumed it was the yellow one and I tried to ignore it, thinking I might scare her if I looked. She flew down towards the end of the couch and sat there. Watching me from a distance. I could tell she was full of questions to ask me, but couldn’t for some reason. I still avoided making eye contact. She was very skittish. I tend to get lost in thought while playing guitar. I just play whatever comes to mind. Songs that I learned myself come to me more often. Songs by Trooper, Pink Floyd, ACDC, or Lynyrd Skynyrd. I took a chance and glanced over to the yellow ‘Pegasus’. She was sound asleep. I unmuted the TV and flipped to AMC. Re-runs of The Walking Dead were on, so I watched that. Then I remembered something. HUB was showing a My Little Pony marathon. My suspicions were correct. All of the characters on the show, called the ‘Mane Six’, were here.
“Great, I’ve been visited by a bunch of cartoon characters,” I sighed. I still had no idea why they came to me. Maybe its because I was so approachable? Nah, half the features of this house would scare them to death. Maybe it’s because I was the first one they saw? When did they get here exactly? Have they been here for weeks? Years? I have no clue. I guess I’m stuck with them for now. I pushed the power button on the PlayStation and put in Battlefield. Two hours had passed and I was exhausted. I turned the game off after getting my ass handed to me by a bunch of eight-year-olds. Today’s youth. They're being given too many privileges.
There was a knock on the door. “Oh god not again,” I said to myself as I brushed my hand through my hair. I got up and went to answer the door nonetheless. I looked through the glass and saw the two other ponies waiting. I was relieved to know they were not seen. That’s what I thought until I looked to the right of Pinkie, who was bouncing up and down. There was someone else with them though, a person. “Oh shit,” I thought. I opened the door and my mind was blown. I was frozen in place. My head began pounding almost instantly. There, standing in the doorway, was the beautiful Madison Young.