“M-Madison?” I asked in disbelief. She just gazed at me for a few brief moments. She looked absolutely clueless about her surroundings. She looked at me with a smile and spoke in a soft and pleasant voice.
“Hi Mark,” she said. I must have blacked out after that moment, because I woke up and I was in my bed once again.
“Jesus, please tell me they didn’t bring her into this mess!” I said aloud. I checked the time. 9:36 A.M. My stomach growled and ached in pain. I couldn’t remember the last time I ate anything. I mostly snacked on some small things yesterday. I sighed. “Whatever, it’s not like I was planning on falling asleep again anyways,” I thought. I staggered to the living room and turned on some of the smaller lamps in the room. I knew they were sleeping, only because I could hear them snoring. The fridge door was open though. I wiped the crust from my eyes and went to close it. But before I could close it, I noticed Rainbow looking for some food. She saw me and became startled.
“Oh, hey Mark,” she said with a nervous look, “I got hungry and I couldn’t sleep,” she answered. She saw me looking at the small mess she had left on the floor. “Hehe, sorry about that, I guess I got carried away,” she said with a nervous smile.
“Well then, lets make some early morning breakfast,” I said as I reached for the eggs and vegetables. “You like meat?” She had a disgusted look on her face and couldn’t believe what I had just asked. “I take that as a No?” She nodded her head and chuckled a bit. That made me smile. I cracked the eggs into the pan on the stove. Eggs were the only food I ate for breakfast. “Want some vegetables?” I asked as she opened the fridge again.
“You got any apples?” she asked, scanning the fridge.
“Bottom left drawer,” I answered. She opened the drawer with her teeth and picked out a red one. She devoured it in a few quick bites. I thought for a moment as I looked at her wings. She would probably want to go outside. Today would be the perfect day too. Sunday, everyone’s at church. Well, everyone within a ten-mile radius of my house. “I’m going out for a run later today, wanna come?” I asked with a smile. She immediately gleamed in excitement, and I assumed that meant yes. I finished my breakfast as Rainbow waited impatiently by the door.
“Can’t I just feel the air?” she asked pleadingly. I shook my head to her disappointment. I grabbed my jacket and turned on my iPod. I don’t jog though, I run. My method is that you push yourself to the limit and do better every time. I was just about to head out the door with Rainbow, when I heard a groan from the couch. It wasn’t one of the ponies. Rainbow just about lost it at that point. I had completely forgotten that Madison was here.
I wasn’t sure if what I was seeing was real or not. “She’s just as real as these other ponies,” I thought. I sighed and decided to deal with it after the run. I needed to clear my head. These ‘ponies’ would have a lot of explaining to do when we got back. She should be ok for the time being. I opened the door and Rainbow flew straight up into the clouds to feel that amazing air breeze brush against her wings. “Just stay close!” I shouted up to her. I didn’t know if she heard me, but she knew where the house was. I usually take this time to think about what the weekly schedule is. What homework I’ll get, how much free time I have until Mom comes home from work. But now I had bigger things on my mind. To be honest the ponies were the least of my worries. My parents were causing me a lot of stress lately. Especially after what happened yesterday. This whole “other worlds” thing is driving me insane. Only some MIT graduate would be able to explain something as complicated as that. Who knows, maybe someone will realize they’re gone and come looking for them. I could only hope.
I saw a car rolling down my street slowly, looking for something, or someone. I looked and checked for Rainbow, but she was out of sight. Thank god. I noticed the driver, it was Jim. “Shit, why now,” I said to myself. He had a bunch of his ‘friends’ in the back. They were all members of the football team. I also saw the head quarterback, Josh Andrews. Jim had a brand new Ford F150. He probably leased it. I tried to avoid eye contact, but he noticed me and pulled up next to me.
“Hey man, check out my sweet ride!” he exclaimed.
“It’s outstanding,” I muttered. I continued to run, but Jim turned the truck around and followed me. “Don’t you have anything better to do?”
“Nah, parents are in Florida for the week. They left me with five hundred bucks and a new truck,” he answered. Jesus, all he ever does is gloat about his new shit. Josh eyed me with a scowl and hopped down from the truck. These guys are always doing drive-by’s early in the morning. It just so happened that I was their next target.
“So you’re Mark Smith?” he said with a playful tone. “Funny, I expected something a bit more, intimidating than you.” I knew what he was doing. I wasn’t going to play his game. “You know, Madison talked about you all the time. Said you were amazing. Everything she ever wanted. And I thought that guy was me.” He chuckled. “Guess I was wrong,” he said with an evil grin on his face. That’s it I’m out of here. I started to run in the opposite direction when I heard Police sirens. I stopped, thinking it was my dad. But I turned around only to be met with a fist that landed an uppercut into my stomach. I fell to my knees. The wind was knocked out of me, and I saw the cops put Josh facedown onto the hood of the truck. He was handcuffed and put into the squad car. I got up with a frown. I guess they didn’t want me, because they took off as soon as Josh was secured in the back seat.
“That was a little too close,” I said to myself. I looked over to Jim. The whole time this happened Jim just sat in the driver’s seat with his headphones on. The rage I felt needed to be expelled from my system in some form. I reached into the car and grabbed Jim’s phone.
“Hey! Give that back!” he yelled. I smiled and chucked it into the side of his truck. It left a good little dent in it. I ran off back towards my house. All Jim did was sit there and stare at his broken phone. I’ve never been happier about anything in my entire life. I turned onto my street and forgot about the whole ordeal. My stomach hurt, but it wasn’t anything serious. I heard wings flapping behind me. I turned and saw Rainbow with a confused look on her face.
“Where have you been?” I asked.
“Up there, watching you,” she responded. “Who was that guy?”
“Someone who might be going to jail,” I responded. She looked at me with disappointment. “Hey, if I’d done anything to fight back, I would be in the same damn situation as he’s in right now,” I said with a scowl. She simply rolled her eyes and trotted behind me. I didn’t want to think about it. Even though this was the first time he picked on me in particular, I’ve seen him bully plenty of other freshman and sophomores. He used to bully seniors, but that ended almost the day after he started. Some kids are just born to be delinquents.
I heard another car pull up behind me. I turned around and saw that Rainbow had flown up before the car came into view. I saw Mr. Rivers standing there with a file in his hand. He had an officer with him as he approached me.
“Son, I’m Mr. Riv-“ he was cut off.
“I know who you are,” I scolded. He simply nodded his head and adjusted his tie.
“I’m here to talk to you about your mother. As you know she’s being charged for assault with a deadly weapon,” That didn’t sound like the charges I heard before.
“Where did the deadly weapon come from?” I asked.
“We had a witness come forward this morning with information detailing the crime. She described a 44. Magnum pistol that was used as the weapon of choice. The butt of the gun matches the marks on the defendant’s forehead,” he explained. Shit this changes the whole situation. Each day just gets better and better I suppose. The lawyer looked at me with suspicion. I knew something was up.
“What is this really about Rivers?” I asked with a smirk. He was taken back by my challenge towards him. I suspected he was lying about something. He sighed and gestured towards the police officer. The officer stepped forward with handcuffs. “What the hell are you doing!?” I yelled. The officer put me onto the hood of the car and handcuffed me.
Mark Smith, you are under arrest for the assault and kidnapping of Madison Young,” the officer explained. My mind was frozen. The use of kidnapping and Madison Young in the same sentence scared me. He began to read me my rights but his voice was drowned out by my sorrow inside my head. I saw Rainbow in the clouds above, watching as they arrested me for a crime I didn’t even commit. I just sunk in the chair in sorrow.
“We have your prints on THIS weapon at the scene of the crime last Thursday night,” Rivers said pointing to the picture of the weapon, “We have enough evidence to put you in prison for a long time sonny.” I just stared at him in disbelief.
“Who are you, really?” I asked. He became enraged at my question and rested his fist against the concrete walls. “Listen Rivers, you’re not going to get a confession out of me, but I’m willing to cooperate with you until this matter is resolved.” He looked at me with a smirk.
“I am Agent Marcus H. Rivers, and I work for the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” He answered with a grin. He was hoping to scare me with his act of boldness but I didn’t even flinch.
“So the arrest on my mother was just to get closer to me?” I asked. He nodded with a disappointed look. He pulled out a folder from the filing cabinet and slid it over to me. I opened it, only to be met with photos of me in North Korea, Japan, Russia, Canada, and the States. My mouth was agape. “These pictures aren’t of me,” I protested.
“You’re right, they’re not. They’re all of you as a thirteen-year-old,” he explained. “Each one of these people have been questioned, all with different names and different alibis.
“Say what now?” I asked wide-eyed. All this information was a lot to process.
“And the funny part is, they all have the same exact fingerprints,” He said leaning in on the table. “Same dental records, same allergies, same bone structure. There are five other versions of ‘you’ roaming in five different countries. He leaned in closer and whispered. “This has happened to hundreds of other people across the globe. If you knew what was really going on right now, you’d piss your pants right here on the spot,” He said. He gestured for an officer to come inside. He had the cuff keys with him. “You’re free to go,” He said and got up from the chair, “Sorry for wasting your time.” He motioned towards the door. I was dumbfounded.
“What about the charges? Or the Kidnapping?” I asked.
“What charges? We caught the guy who did that,” he said with a wink. “Her father transported her to your house last night for you to keep an eye on her while he was away,” He said and walked outside with his suitcase. I guess it was nice to have someone actually 'looking out for me'. The officer approached me with the keys.
“I’d be happy to give you a ride home if you’d like,” He offered. I shook my head as the officer undid the handcuffs from my wrists. I began my long walk home from the station.
“How is that even possible?” I thought, “Five other versions of me?” I kept thinking that was impossible. But with what I’ve experienced so far, it seems anything could happen. I got to my door and saw Rainbow waiting on my rooftop. She was looking out into the distance.
“Rainbow, I’m down here,” I said. She suddenly looked down and smiled.
“I thought you weren’t ever coming back!” she exclaimed. “What did they want anyways?” she asked as I unlocked the door to the house.
“Nothing, just asking some questions,” I lied under my breath.
I opened the door and Rainbow trotted inside. “RANBOW!” I heard Twilight yell. “Where in celestia’s name have you been!?” she yelled with a very stressful look.
“Calm down Twilight, I just went for a run that’s all,” she responded with a chuckle. I jumped at the sight of Twilight. Her mane was out of place, and she was pacing back and forth across the living room carpet. We were gone for almost two hours.
“Where did Madison go?” I asked after I noticed she was missing from her previous position.
“We moved her into the master bedroom. She was mighty tired,” Applejack answered with a yawn. The time was only about 11:55 and Twilight must have woken everyone up with her worries. I heard something shatter in the bedroom. “Oh god,” I muttered. I got up and cautiously approached the bedroom door. “You six stay quiet,” I whispered. I opened the door and saw the bedside lamp had fallen over and shattered across the hardwood floor. I flipped on the main light and saw Madison, sitting up in the bed with a very worried look on her face. She looked at me with a sigh of relief. But then she quickly became agitated.
“Where am I?! How did I get here?!” she kept yelling. She obviously suspected I had brought her here. She got up and began to slowly make her way to the door. “I asked you a question,” she said, inches away from my face. I just stood there in disbelief.
“You mean you don’t remember coming here?” She must have taken that offensively, because she simply grunted and sat back down on the bed. Her head was drooping and I could tell she was very upset. I didn’t know what to say. This is the first time I’ve ever talked directly to her. “So you don’t remember them?” I asked as I opened the door, revealing the six ponies curiously watching the two of us. She became terrified at what she saw. She had a tear trickling down the side of her cheek, as she kept moving away from the door.
“I-I thought I was only dreaming!” she exclaimed. I felt a bit of guilt for her. She didn’t deserve to be brought up in their mess. Then again I didn’t deserve it either. But I guess luck was never really on my side anyways. I walked out of the room and closed the door. I was biting my nails in anxiousness.
“Why the hell did you bring her here?” I asked impatiently. Twilight stepped forward.
“I brought her here, because she can help us get to our homeland; Equestria,” she responded. “I’ve been doing a lot of research lately on your ‘laptop’ that you have on the desk there.” I was surprised she figured out how to use it so easily. I walked over to it and noticed some of the keys were scratched up and worn down a bit. I rolled my eyes and returned my attention to Twilight. “I researched whatever I could find on ‘Teleportation and other universes’, but could only find a fictional story that was written on the subject.” I still couldn’t believe she was using my laptop. It’s my pride and joy, and I couldn’t afford to replace it. “It states that that only way that universal teleportation is possible is through the use of either dark magic, or the magic of love and affection. The problem with love and affection is that the relationship has to be extremely powerful.” She kept reading off notes she had taken down in her notebook. She was pacing around while reading and levitating it with her horn.
“Amazing!” I thought, “Can she make anything levitate?” I questioned in my head. Twilight’s rambling seemed to last forever. I constantly checked the clock every minute. Only twenty-five minutes had passes, but it seemed like six hours had gone by.
“I don’t think your world has any source of ‘dark magic’, so we’ll have to use love,” she answered, closing her notebook with pride in her eyes. Either she knew I liked her and brought Madison here knowing that, or she just picked her out of pure coincidence. I don’t think I have enough feelings towards her to generate what Twilight was rambling about, but then again this could just be some extremely false lead she picked up from a Wikipedia site. I picked up the remote and turned on the TV. Amc was showing Iron Man. Eh, a decent movie, but not one I would watch five times over. I opened the fridge and pulled out an apple for a snack. Applejack’s face lit up at the sight of it.
“Y-You have… Apples here?!” she exclaimed with excitement, “Does that mean theirs apple orchards here too?” she asked. I nodded my head with a worried expression. “Yeehaw!” She threw her hat up into the air and landed it right back on her head. “So, when can I go?” she asked with a big grin on her face.
“I think we’d better wait a while before we start going sight seeing,” I retorted. Her ears flopped down in disappointment and she trotted towards the apple stash. Rainbow was already munching on a Granny smith and Applejack picked out a Golden one. Twilight continued pacing around the room and took notes for future reference. She still had offered me anything I desired in exchange for helping them. I chuckled. “Hasn’t housing them been helpful enough?” I thought. The ponies were all entranced by the immense action with the movie. Rainbow was practically pushing her nose against the glass screen as the man in Iron Armor wiped a terrorist camp off the face of the earth.
I went to check on Madison in my mom’s bedroom. I knocked softly against the cold wooden door. There was no answer. I opened the door just enough so the bed was visible from the entrance. She was lying down on her side. She wasn’t asleep, but she knew I was there. I couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of responsibility, like this was my fault. “I’m sorry for all this, I didn’t mean for you to get caught up in this mess along with me.” I left the door cracked open and walked out to the couch. I sat and watched the rest of the movie with them as they all fell asleep. I ended up watching the next two Iron Man movies after that.
The time was 10:38 P.M. Most of the ponies had moved themselves into my bed, so I had to sleep on the couch tonight. I scanned the room for my guitar, which was propped up against the TV. My head was throbbing again, just like this morning while I ran. I picked up the instrument. It had a metallic blue coating with a redwood neck. I sat back and played whatever came to mind. I dozed off into deep thought about my parents. I have been holding back a lot of emotions for the past eleven years, and I wasn’t about to let it all out now. I would have vivid flashbacks while I relaxed. My dad reading stories to me every night, telling me famous quotes of life from Theodore Roosevelt, or Martin H. Fischer. The quotes I remembered the most were from Hans Andersen. I smiled and drifted off to sleep. I had a dream that night. A dream in which I ran for miles. Where my legs would not stop, and there was no limit. I was happy there, and that’s all that matters.
“Just living is not enough. One must have sunshine, freedom, and a little flower.”
~Hans Christian Andersen