All was silence.
Complete, blissful silence. So quiet that you could not even hear your own blood rushing.
Then the tranquil sounds of nature began to share its glorious tune. The cool, gentle spring breeze licked through the green grass, rustling it and the leaves of the nearby trees. Flowing water trickled over the bedrocks in the small stream as the water ran down into the wilderness. A pair of songbirds shared their harmonious singing with each other as their flittering wings carried them across the great blue sky.
Everything once again became blissful peace. To Harold, it was just another tranquil wake-up call for him.
“Ooohhhh... what happened?”
The human’s eyes opened slowly and slightly as his senses regained at a sluggish pace. Warmth and fuzziness spread on his arms and his cheek as he held on to something slightly plushy. A female’s slow breathing resounded very close to his sensitive ears while he felt his belly move in synch with a pattern of slow rising and slow falling movements. His forehead felt tiny hot gusts as his eyes fully opened to meet his gaze with his environment.
An extreme close-up view of many tiny lavender fibers.
Harold shifted his gaze just slightly upwards. He saw himself face-to-face with the young alicorn, Twilight. She slept deeply on the grass, possibly due to the exhaustion of having her magic running amok. Her mouth was slightly open which explained the quiet breathing and the movements on Harold’s belly. Her head was also laid on the human’s arms...
...and the human was on top of her, hugging the alicorn close to him.
“WAAAUGH!””
Shocked by the awkward position, Harold tumbled off of the alicorn and fell flat on his back with a painful “OOF!”
The human teen slowly sat up on the grass, rubbing the backside of his pants. While he nulled the soreness away from his backside, Harold looked to the meadow and the vast field around him.
He then let out a small gasp. Not a gasp out of pure terror, but one out of astonishment.
The meadow and everything residing in it all reverted back to normal. The red-and-blue diamond pattern grass was back to its natural color of green. All of the trees were no longer giant pieces of candy, oversized houseplants, or even a humongous elephant. The flowing river of cola returned to become a brook of pure running water. Every fish affected by the chaos magic were no longer any oddly shaped balloons, but actual minnows and trout swimming along the currents.
The human laid back on his back, smiling with satisfaction.
He did it. He actually did it.
It wasn’t easy, but he somehow finally managed to make it through this catastrophe. Admittedly, it was terrifying for Harold to run into the line of magical fire, but he couldn’t have done it without her help. If it wan’t for her guidance, Harold would’ve ended up worse than the ponies did with Twilight’s magic, including Twilight herself. Even when all seemed lost at that brief moment, Harold took one final chance to turn the situation around and he succeeded doing so.
Success...
It was happiness made flesh, like the warm and fuzziness of a heavy quilt wrapped around his body.
And he loved it, every gentle feeling of it.
A female’s groaning soon snapped Harold out of his thoughts. He sat up and looked around the meadow, spotting the slow rising forms of the four mares, straggling themselves up on their hooves. Rainbow Dash and the alabaster unicorn were the first two to stand up. The tomboy pegasus’s prized wings were magically reattached to her sides, looking as good The unicorn’s seaweed-like mane returned to its gloriously coiffed indigo form. The cowgirl pony stood up on her hooves, where her once rebellious lasso laid at. The pink pony was one of the last few to groggily get up, munching on her puffy tail like it was still made out of lemon-flavored cotton candy.
“Ugghhh... my head,” Rainbow Dash grunted, rubbing her hoof on her aching forehead.
“Is... is everypony... okay?” Applejack asked in between every heavy breath.
“I should hope so,” Rarity responded hoarsely. “All this excitement has already messed up my perfectly done mane.” Rarity bounced the nadir of the big curl in her mane as she responded to the cowgirl pony’s question of their wellbeing. Her eyes suddenly widened. She nudged her mane once more for confirmation before she pulled it in front of her face. Then she let out a shrill but excited shriek.
“AAAAUUUUGGGGHHHH-HO-HOOOO! My mane! My beautifully coiffed mane is back!” Rarity cried, nuzzling her hairstyle. “Oh, my beautiful mane! I missed you so! I promise I will never part ways with you again!”
Rainbow Dash unfurled her cyan wings, then flew up in the air with a double corkscrew and a big loop. “Aww, yeah! Guess who’s back in the flying business, boys!” Rainbow Dash began to dance whilst hovering in the air with her two reunited wings. “Uh-huh! Uh-huh! It’s me! It’s me! I’m back in business! I’m back in business! Ow!”
“Phew! Ah’m glad that’s over mahself,” Applejack said, turning a glowering gaze to her traitorous lasso. “Ah’m gonna lock this here varmint in the barn fer a month. ‘Til then, Ah’ll have ta use its replacement in its stead.”
Suddenly, Pinkie Pie shot up out of nowhere, her grin showing an wide set of white teeth. “Oh girls, you’re not gonna believe this! I just had this most incredible dream where we were all gathered at a meadow, then we saw Twilight letting her magic go crazy and we saw Fluttershy as a statue with some weird creature kneeling next to her! I know! Crazy right!? So we went in to stop Twilight’s magic from creating chaos all over Equestria and I shot streamers from my Party Cannon but Twilight turned my streamers into fireworks and I thought they were pretty and then I was struck by magic and my mane grew and grew and grew until it grew all over me and it turned into cotton candy and it was super delicious! But here’s the fun part! My mane turned into this ultra-super-delicious lemon-flavored cotton candy, then I woke up and now for some reason my tail’s missing and my tummy’s feeling all--HACK!”
Pinkie Pie suddenly threw herself on her four hooves, her back arched up like a at. She began to hack and wheeze from her throat, much to the disgust of her friends. She hacked and hacked until a big gooey wad of wet pink hair came soaring from her mouth and onto the grass. The other mares shared an expression of disgust while Pinkie Pie spat what remaining hairs were left behind in her mouth.
PTOO! PTOOEY!
“Wait a minute! That wasn’t all a dream!?” Pinkie asked loudly, earning a series of smug-grinned head shaking from her friends. “Yeeeuuuggghhh! I need a gallon of mouthwash and fast!”
Pinkie Pie pulled a full gallon of Colgate’s Mint Mouthwash from the inside of her mane. She undid the cap and poured the whole thing in her mouth, her cheeks puffed up like she was part squirrel. After a quick series of swishing, sloshing and squelching, Pinkie Pie spewed the torrent of mouthwash from her mouth, followed by the quick little giggles from her friends.
Harold snickered a little as well as he watched the pink pony perform her antics. He then heard a noise sound next to him, like long and painful groans. Twilight’s violet eyes creakily opened, blinking twice before she could keep them open for more than ten seconds. Her mane was frazzled from lying on the grass and bags sagged underneath her bottom eyelids. She inhaled through her teeth as she gingerly rose to her haunches, her horn throbbing from using too much excess magic.
“Ugghhhh... what happened here?” Twilight groaned, rubbing her throbbing horn with her hoof.
Through her grogginess and blurry vision, Twilight saw herself in the same meadow where she was in the middle of her interrogation with the human teen a moment ago. That’s when it all came back to her. After a brief discussion with both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, Twilight asked the human for his name. The human spoke it.
That’s when she felt a sharp pain at the base of her horn before she suddenly blacked out.
Now Twilight woke up, having little recollection of the events that unfurled in the meadow. Every piece of the long twenty minutes of her magic running afoul were either broken or blurred. She vaguely recalled of her own magic striking down her friends; how much chaos she created; she even had little memory of the human’s name. However, she did recall seeing the shape of a biped pounce on her and tackle her to the ground, smearing the homemade remedy on her forehead.
Everything else was just a blank.
The only evidence there left for Twilight was aching horn, the sudden appearances of Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie and the strong smell of peppermint. Her eyesight returned to normal as she took one more look around the meadow. Then her gaze was fixated on the human teen sitting on the grass, staring back at her.
Both Twilight and Harold exchanged glances, showing little emotion in their eyes. The two mammals sat in the same spot, not making any movements nor making any sounds. Their silence was so suspenseful, they could hear the gentle spring breeze rustle the short meadow grass. For a moment of two, after keeping their looks locked with one another, Harold opened his mouth to speak.
“Ummm...”
“YOU!”
Before Harold could turn his head in response, a loop of a lasso wrapped around his torso and abruptly yanked him away from Twilight. He was flung on the ground on his back, unable to undo the tight rope binding his arms to his sides. An orange hoof pinned him down by his chest, rendering him completely immobile. He was then subjected to icy glares of the other four mares, looming over him with an angry intent gleaming in the white of their eyes.
“I thought I warned you not to make a move on my friends, Mr. Hue-Man,” Rainbow Dash growled, cracking her hoof like she was preparing for a beat down. “Now that you’ve chosen to ignore my warning, I’m gonna have to teach you some manners.”
“Indeed,” Rarity interjected, trying to keep her composure while she scorned the youthful human. “Have you even seen the way you’ve dressed yourself? Your tattered rags are the perfect example of crimes against fashion.”
“You’re lucky Ah’m grateful to ya fer savin’ mah hide back there, boy. At first Ah wouldn’t have hesitated ta buck ya all the way into next Tuesday,” Applejack said while she kept her hoof held firmly on Harold’s chest, her emerald eyes piercing his soul like a spear. “But now Ah’m thinkin’ of havin’ ya buck all of mah apple trees fer the rest of yer life.”
Pinkie Pie popped next to Harold, staring at him with a look comparable to an angry lion. “Me too! I would’ve loved to launch you all the way out of Equestria with my Party Cannon! Although, you did turn my mane into delicious lemon-flavored cotton candy, so...” Pinkie Pie reached behind her mane and pulled out a cupcake. The frosting was translucent liquid soap, complete with suds building up and tiny bubbles floating into the air. “...I’m thinking of giving you a soap-flavored cupcake instead!”
Harold felt himself unable to move, not by the weight of Applejack’s hoof but by intense fear. The human sensed the murderous aura emanate around the four mares, their stares just as frightening as the pony next to her. He tried to scream, but his voice was dammed by fear. He had to face it, Harold was about to get yet another beating of his lifetime... this time by four colorful ponies.
He closed his eyes, waiting for the worst to happen.
“Everypony stop!” Twilight barked.
Harold shot his eye open. Over his chest, he saw the approaching figure of Twilight trot towards him and the four towering mares, wearing nothing but her lavender coat and a stoic face. She gave the human teen a moment’s glance before she sighed lightly and turned to her friends, speaking to them in a mild authoritative tone.
“Girls, what are you all doing here? And more importantly, why are you ganging up on him like that?”
Without missing a beat, Rainbow Dash flew over to Twilight with a hoof aimed at the bound teenager. “Twilight, the reason we’re all ‘ganging up on him like that’ is because he was the one who caused your magic to run wild! Don’t you even know how close we were to losing our lives just to help you!?”
“Maybe not, but that doesn’t justify as to why you had Applejack tie him up.”
“Because he’s the guy who made this mess!”
“No, Rainbow Dash. He’s the one who helped clean it all up.” A choir of collective surprised reactions echoed from the four mares. Twilight used her magic to gently unbind the rope around Harold and lifted him up onto his feet. The human stumbled backwards from being abruptly lifted by the magic and stumbled onto his rear. “I don’t know if Harold had actually intended for my magic to go wild like you said, but he also stopped my magic and helped save our lives. You should all be thankful he did that for us. Otherwise, we wouldn’t all be here right now if it weren’t for him.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, hold up! Are you saying you trust this guy because he saved our flanks back there!?”
“I’m not saying I fully trust him one-hundred percent.”
“Well, I’m not trusting this guy one-hundred percent myself!”
“Hold on a minute!” Pinkie Pie piped up, zipping in front of Harold at the blink of an eye. “If we keep agreeing to disagree about trusting this guy, then let your Auntie Pinkie be the judge of that!” With that said, Pinkie Pie shot her face into Harold’s with scowling eyes that gazed into his soul. Harold felt minor discomfort from having Pinkie’s face an inch away from his while the latter continued staring at him with piercing cerulean eyes. Nothing particular happened for a moment or two. Then all of a sudden, Pinkie Pie felt little nicks crawl through her nervous system.
First came the wobbling hind legs.
Next was her mane, the hairs standing up on edge like that of a startled cat.
Finally, her eyes poured out a torrent of tears like a public park fountain.
With the tears shed, Pinkie Pie’s combo had ended. She wiped her tears away before her face beamed with a wide smile, a glimmering toothy grin that shone at Harold while Pinkie turned to Twilight and her friends. Judging by the considerable width of her smile, Twilight and the others knew she bore the good news.
“It’s okay, girls! He’s all good!”
The four mares all gave a series of surprised “HUH!?” in perfect unison. Pinkie Pie giggled at their appalled reaction as she began to explain the meaning behind her combo. “Eeyup! Check it out! If my hind legs are all wobbly and my mane is standing on edge, then that means that somepony that I just met is totally trustworthy! But if my eyes are all watery like they were a minute ago, then that means that somepony has been sad and lonely for a long, long, LOOOONNNGGG time!”
“Sad and lonely?” Twilight echoed, turning to Harold with a concerned glint in her eye. “Mr. Harold, is that true?”
“Y-Y-Yeah...” Harold stammered wearing a saddened smile. “I suppose it’s... true.”
The human teen drooped his head down, hiding away the mild sadness forming on his face. He reached for his chest to grope his locket, hoping to feel comfort and calmness from the texture and expertly done engraving on the gold only to discover a bare spot. Harold gasped as he searched the inside of his shirt, frantically looking for his beloved treasure. When he found nothing, not even a single gold chain strapped around his neck, Harold searched his pants and in the grass but to no avail. Anxious little whimpers began to sound out of his mouth as Harold searched in vain for his locket.
“Where is it!? Where is it!?” Harold blurted, combing the grass in a panicking state. “Oh God, I can’t find it! I can’t find it!”
“Can’t find what?” Twilight asked worriedly. “What is it that you’re looking for?”
“My locket! I can’t find my locket! I left it out here somewhere because your magic struck it and now I can’t find it!” Harold’s voice cracked as his anxiety began to take hold of his emotions. He felt the strong urge to shed frightened tears but he did not feel his head doing a rough double take around the meadow for his trinket. “I can’t find it! I can’t find it!!”
“Might this be what you were looking for?”
All of a sudden, everyone around the area, Harold included froze in their place. It was like some higher power had pressed the pause button on time itself before the ponies and the one human turned to the pony with such a familiar yet sweet voice. Five pairs of surprised eyes widened and collective gasps resounded as everyone saw Fluttershy slowly trot up to the group, locket dangling by the chain in her mouth. Her legs walked without difficulty, like she was never turned to stone at all.
Fluttershy trotted up to Harold, his hand beckoning for the gold locket to be put in his palm. She carefully placed in Harold’s hand before he took it back to his chest, placing the chain around his neck. All at once, his fears and worries were washed away. He placed his hand on his chest with relief as the feeling of joy reignited inside of him.
“I found it lying in the grass when I was coming up to see you and Twilight,” Fluttershy said smiling. “You must take better care of where you put your personal belongings, Harold. It could get lost, stolen or severely damaged.”
“FLUTTERSHY!”
All of a sudden, Fluttershy was tackled to the ground by a cyan blue blur. The timid pegasus and her attacker both tumbled a few feet away from the group before friction dragged them along the dirt, causing dust clouds to form. The dust settled and Fluttershy found herself entrapped in a bear hug by her good friend, Rainbow Dash. Everypony except Twilight and Harold cantered over to the scene with the two pegasi and surrounded them both, eyes leaking bittersweet tears and smiles plastered on their faces as they felt such joy of seeing Fluttershy alive.
Fluttershy, however, had no recollection of having been turned to stone. In one moment, she was trying to save Harold from being struck by Twilight’s magic; in the next moment, she found herself laying on the grass next to Harold’s locket sprawled all over the ground. It was as if she had woken up from a good night’s sleep, the feeling of fatigue slipping away like sand. Now it was a slight feeling of confusion for Fluttershy because she wondered why her friends circled around her with teary eyes and relieved smiles. Had she missed something?
“Fluttershy! You’re okay!” yelled Rainbow Dash as she pulled the timid pegasus tighter in her embrace. She began to bawl into her chest fur, unable to dam her emotions while Fluttershy looked on in bewilderment. Seriously, had she missed something important? “Oh, Fluttershy! I-I-I’m so happy that you-you’re ali-hi-hi-hive!”
Applejack chuckled lightly to Rainbow Dash’s heartwarming display, putting her Stetson hat over her chest. “Well would ya look at that? Rainbow Dash is getting all sappy-like,” the cowgirl pony teased, only to be shot with a glare from the aforementioned pegasus.
“I am not getting sappy!” Rainbow Dash screamed as she wiped the tears away from her eyes. “It’s just liquid pride! Totally different thing!”
Well, that answered her question.
Rainbow Dash was never this sappy before.
With a gentle wiggle of her hooves, Fluttershy was gently released from Rainbow Dash’s tight grip. Applejack and Rarity galloped up to the timid pegasus while Pinkie Pie scowled at Rainbow Dash, who wore a sheepish smile. Nopony gives bear hugs! Nopony... but Pinkie Pie!
“Fluttershy, darling, are you all right!?” Rarity asked through her shaking voice. “We were afraid we lost you for good!”
Applejack came up to Flutteshy next, laying a hoof on her shoulder. “Yeah. Everypony thought you were... you know...”
“Me? Oh no. Actually, it feels like I’ve just waken up from a nice nap.”
Twilight chuckled as she and a reluctant Harold walked up to the gathering ponies. “Yeah, that’s what my parents said when I accidentally turned them into potted plants during my entrance exam,” the alicorn said, placing her hoof on Fluttershy’s shoulder where Applejack had her hoof on. “I’m so sorry if my magic did something to you, Fluttershy. I didn’t have any control over it.”
“It’s okay, Twilight, I understand. It was all just a big accident. Isn’t that right, Harold?”
“Hmm? Oh, yeah... s-sure,” Harold said quietly but awkwardly.
Fluttershy smiled once again at the human teen. Then her satisfied grin turned into a smile as a troubling thought crossed her mind. “Umm... Twilight? Am I still going have to face a penalty?” she asked, shocking everypony around her. “I know you said that harboring one of Celestia’s most wanted is a major crime, but I was only trying to protect Harold. He would never hurt anypony on purpose and he even proved it to all of you today.”
That’s right. Harold almost forgot about what Fluttershy did for him back at her place. She tried to hide him from the prying eyes of both Twilight and Rainbow Dash but it ended with a bad note when he was discovered by some sick kid in her cottage. Now that Fluttershy revealed that she harbored a wanted creature from Twilight, Harold knew the repercussions would be immense... not just to him, but to Fluttershy as well.
Rainbow Dash and Applejack both exchanged looks of worry. The same went for both Pinkie Pie and Rarity as Twilight thought hard about her decision. With a reluctant sight, the lavender alicorn turned to Fluttershy and once again laid a hoof on her shoulder.
“Well, Fluttershy, I’m not sure about the punishment,” she said solemnly. “I mean, you kept the human a secret from us and we all know he’s the creature Princess Celestia mentioned in her letter. That would mean your course of action to protect him is also like an act of harboring a wanted criminal.”
Fluttershy drooped her head down, closing her eyes as she awaited the inevitable sentence to be carried out.
Then Twilight looked down on the poor pegasus with a warm smile, though the latter was too scared to look. “However, I believe that you had the right idea to protect him from harm, Fluttershy. If you hadn’t, then my magic would’ve accidentally destroyed both me and all of Equestria.”
Fluttershy perked her head up, her eyes wider than usual with surprise. “Does that mean that I won’t have to face punishment!?”
“I’m still not sure about that. That’s something that Princess Celestia and I will have to discuss later on today.” The Twilight turned to Harold who gently wiped both faces of his locket with his wrinkly T-shirt. “As for you...” she said, shocking the human out of his trance. “...I want to thank you for saving us all, Mister... uh, DeMatt, was it?”
“Y-Y-Yes, your highness,” he stammered. “Harold DeMatt.”
“Mr. DeMatt, I want to thank you for saving everypony’s lives here today. It seems that I was wrong to judge you as a threat by your appearance. For that, I extend my sincerest apologies to you.” Harold rubbed the back of his head, blushing and feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Not once in his life had he been thanked by someone else for the good deeds he did for his people, nor did he receive any apologies from them for all the wrongdoings they did to him, intentional or accidental.
It felt... warm to him.
“However...” the lavender alicorn continued, her tone sounding mildly stern and authoritative like a princess should sound. “...I haven’t put my complete trust in you yet, Mr. DeMatt. You maybe harmless now, but we’ll have to wait and see if Princess Celestia can determine you as a threat to our kind or not.”
“But did-didn’t you send a letter t-to your Princess a-a-about me?” Harold asked nervously.
“Yes. Yes I did.” Twilight looked up to a silhouette of Canterlot Castle settled at the side of the tallest mountain, a look of concern pasted on her face. “But I’m surprised the Princess hasn’t responded to my letter already. I had to use a long-range teleportation spell just to send it over to her, but she hasn’t written back to me.”
“Why would you send a letter to the Princess?” Pinkie Pie piped. “Isn’t it Spike’s job to do that?”
“It is, but Spike got sick when he went flying with me. He didn’t have enough strength to even move at all, so I had to leave him to recover at Fluttershy’s and use an alternative use of magic to send my recent letter regarding Mr. DeMatt to Princess Celestia.”
“And if I’m following this, you made scared Spike into throwing up in a paper bag,” Rainbow Dash said, pointing an accusing glare at Harold.
Harold shrunk back a little by the second round cold and icy glares all gazing at him from the other four mares. With nothing left to do, he threw his hands up in a defensive stance. “Look, it was an accident, alright? Completely unintentional mistake. I never meant to scare your Spike in the first place.”
“Au contraire, my fine otherworldly visitor,” Rarity chipped in, brashness made known in her voice. “My little Spikey-Wikey got sick because he saw the way you horrendously dress yourself. Why, I would hardly think that scaring him to retch would qualify that as a mistake.”
“What do you mean?”
“What do I mean?” the alabster unicorn parroted. “Why darling, have you checked yourself in a mirror lately? Look. The colors of your shirt is just plain and bland, like refrigerated macaroni and cheese! Your trousers are simply just too noisy, even for you! And those wrinkles and grass stains... uggghhhh.” Rarity felt her stomach churn, like she would be the next pony to retch from seeing Harold in his current state. “Have you by any chance been sleepingin the grass lately?”
“Uhhh...”
How could Harold answer that question ever so lightly without causing the unicorn to have a bird?
“No matter, I’ll have to take you home to my boutique,” Rarity said nonchalantly, tugging Harold by the lower part of his shirt. “I’ll have you washed cleaned and changed out of your ghastly attire before we may present yourself to Princess Celestia.”
Rarity only took three steps away from the group with Harold in tow. Then a flash of golden light shone right next to Twilight, revealing another parchment scroll tied with its red ribbon and sealed with a golden horseshoe imprint on the piece. Using her magic, Twilight unraveled the ribbon and thoroughly red the contents inscribed in the paper.
“You’ll have to postpone that appointment another time, Rarity. I just got my reply from Princess Celestia.”
“Well go ahead, sugarcube, read it,” Applejack said. “What does it say?”
“Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,
I had received your letter a little while ago. I admit to having trouble with replying to your message earlier, due to some mysterious magic forces preventing me from doing so. I assume that Spike was also sick today, so it took me some time to teleport this letter to your exact location without irritating his sickness.
In your last message, the details of the creature you subdued came to a great surprise both to me and my sister, Princess Luna. We are both unsure if this creature is in fact the very same creature we fear would jeopardize our way of life. Since you have managed to capture this ‘hyooman,’ we have no choice but to allow you to take him with you to Canterlot.
Mind you that Canterlot is now under the effect of a 24-7 watch. Attached to this letter is the Royal Emblem of Equestria. This emblem will allow your visitor special entry into the castle, but only under the watch and protection of Equestrian Royalty.
I also hoped you didn’t forget the chariots I sent for you in Ponyville. They might be waiting for you in Ponyville right about now
My sister and I will be waiting for you and your visitor in the main hall of the castle. I wish you all a safe trip.
Sincerely,
~ Princess Celestia, Diarch of Equestria.”
“Royal Emblem? What does the Royal Emblem look like?” Twilight questioned.
Twilight shifted the scroll slightly upwards, the curled bottom of the scroll quickly unraveling with an item with a light weight falling on the grass below. The item was a circular medal with a sun engraved in the very center. The interior of the sun gleamed a bright yellow, surrounded by the orange flares all facing clockwise. It was no doubt the Royal Emblem attached in the letter, made especially for Harold.
Twilight levitated the emblem into Harold’s hands. He pinned the emblem into his shirt, on the left side of his chest. He didn’t know why, but the place where the emblem was attached to solely reminded Harold of the old Western movies he used to watch with Lana at home on a late Friday night. That night was the only time those two could actually live in peace, with their grueling parents making shady deals or wasting their money with gambling, drinking and unhealthy pleasures. Harold and Lana would sit in the living room, having a nice dinner while watching such classic movies, like “The Good, The Bad and The Ugly,” “A Fistful of Dollars” and “Cowboys and Aliens.”
Oh, what blissful memories the emblem brought back.
He wished he could watch at least one of those movies before he ran away. Luckily, he packed a few of those selected movies in the front pocket with the cash he stole from his parents, the same movies that brought him nostalgia just by looking at the front covers.
“Look! Look! Up in the sky!!” Pinkie Pie shouted, pointing her hoof straight up in the air at a couple of silhouettes soaring through the blue sky. “It’s a bird!! It’s a dragon!! No, it’s... it’s... !!”
“It’s the chariots that Princess Celestia sent for us!” Twilight finished for Pinkie Pie. The figures were made apparent as the silhouettes took the form of two regal big-seated chariots, each one pulled by a white pegasus stallion wearing gold armor and Roman-style helmets. “Come on, girls, we haven't got time to lose! We have to get back to Ponyville, pronto!”
“RIGHT!”
With that said, the mares turned and galloped towards the direction of Ponyville, where the latter town was actually closer to the meadow than anyone else expected. Rarity’s horn continued to glow its baby blue aura, unaware of her passenger being dragged along by the back of his shirt. He screamed over the speed of the ponies’ cantering while deep tracks were carved in the grass by the heels of his shoes.
Fluttershy was the first and only one to notice the human’s distress and, without missing a beat, galloped under him as she turned him over on his belly by her toothy grip on his shirt. While doing so, Rarity’s magic wore off and Harold fell on the kind pegasus’s back with an “OOF!” Soon, the human teen found himself grasping onto Fluttershy’s neck while her cantering rocked him slightly roughly. Adding the human’s size and weight of 120 pounds onto the pegasus’s lighter body weight, Fluttershy began to slow down as her friends began to pass her, save for Rainbow Dash, who kept a close eye on him just in case he tried anything rash while securing her suspicious look.
“By the way, I never got to thank you for saving my hide back there,” Harold said softly over the sounds of cantering hooves beating the ground.
“Don’t mention it,” Fluttershy replied. “I just didn’t want anything to happen to you because you’re my friend, and friends are all that matters to me in this world.”
Friend.
That word had somehow brought a new meaning of life to Harold as he felt something tug inside of his heart. It felt like a warm and fuzzy sensation, like being wrapped up in a heavy blanket, sitting next to a blazing fireplace on a dark and cold Christmas Eve. He couldn’t exactly describe this sensation, but Harold was enjoying the feeling making a new friend, let alone being called “friend.” It made him... smile for the first time in a month.
Then he was abruptly brought out of stupor by a rough prod of a hoof lay on his shoulder. Startled slightly, Harold reeled it back and turned to see none other that Rainbow Dash staring at him with narrowed eyebrows and an unsatisfied frown. “What were just thinking about right now?” Rainbow Dash asked, making Harold even more nervous than ever.
“N-N-Nothing,” the human answered. “I-I-I just got... a little distracted.”
“I’m sure you did,” the pegasus deadpanned. “What were you thinking about? Fluttershy?”
“N-No, I...”
“Rainbow Dash, you leave him alone,” Fluttershy warned gently, giving her friend a stern look. “Harold’s been through a lot today. So could you please leave him be until we get to the castle?” The cyan pegasus sighed with defeat. Then she shot the human another look and held her hoof to her eyes then at Harold’s.
If he didn’t know any better, he could’ve sworn that Rainbow Dash was saying “I’m watching you” with a hoof gesture. The gesture may not have used two fingers in Equestria, but all in all, it was still just as intimidating.
==================================================================
The rest of the trip down the meadow went without a word. During that time, as he rode on Fluttershy’s back, he pondered hard about a certain subject. When he was thrown around in the tornado that supposedly sent him here, Harold couldn’t exactly piece everything that happened when he blacked out. He recalled little of feeling himself floating out in the endless depths of darkness, but there was one single moment he remembered somewhat strongly.
He remembered seeing her; he remembered hearing her voice; he remembered her soft touch on his cheek.
Harold shook his head, placing his hand on his forehead as the other pieces of that moment become blanks. He didn’t know if it was real, or if it was just another blurry dream. There was no way he could possibly hear her, nor see her. Lana was dead for a month. There was no possible way she was the one who guided him through the lightning storm. It must’ve been the adrenaline talking. The rush must’ve caused him to hear voices in his head.
But then again, this was her voice.
There was no denying that she spoke to him, even from the afterlife.
“Then that means you’re here with me, aren’t you, Lana?” Harold thought. He held his locket to his face, bearing a sad smile. “I guess you are watching over me from Heaven. The way you helped me and these ponies... these friends. They all stuck out for one another, even if they had to risk their lives just to do so, like you. Maybe that’s what I never made before. Friends.”
After the ponies and their human tagalong arrived at a dirt road in the meadow, crossing a stone bridge that led over the same brook, they soon arrived at the edge of their awaited destination: the town of Ponyville. Harold was in awe as he stood at the outskirts of this fair town, greeted with a big red “Welcome to Ponyville” sign. He slid himself off of Fluttershy (much to her relief) and got a good look at the village. Perfect stone houses each topped with a straw roof. Ponies of different colors and sizes trotting around in the distance. By Harold’s count, this was a town with a majority of mares populating this town, dwarfing the stallions.
Still, it made Harold feel good. Even though they were all equine creatures, it was good for Harold to see a happy thriving town for once. Ponies standing around, chatting up a storm about their spa treatments or the wellbeing of their little fillies. Young equines running around happily, pinwheels held in their mouths. A grey pegasus mare with a bright blonde and golden cross eyes flying clumsily as she tried to deliver the mail. Harold knew this was a peaceful society.
No talks of war.
No problems with their economy.
No signs of the hungry or the homeless.
The human’s eyes watered as he became envious of their lifestyle.
“According to the letter Princess Celestia sent me before,” Twilight informed, snapping the human out of his sentimental daze. “The chariots she sent us are supposed to meet with us in Ponyville square. We can’t afford to keep them waiting much longer. Come on girls.”
Harold gulped nervously. Slowly, he walked into Ponyville, one hand grasping the locket at his chest, the other holding onto Fluttershy for security. He felt reluctant to take a step further into the town, seeing as he was the only human walking in a town filled with ponies. One sight of him and they would all freak out, like he was a monster. Being ostracized was one of the many fears Harold was cursed with, thanks to his bad experiences in New York City. He prayed to Heaven that his fear didn’t come to light.
“It’s okay, Harold. I’m sure that everypony in Ponyville will take kindly of you,” Fluttershy reassured the scared human.
“I don’t know, Fluttershy,” Harold said lightly, sweat beginning to protrude from his head. “What if these ponies don’t like me because of who I am? In fact, what if your princesses don’t like me for the same reason? I-I-I mean...”
Fluttershy raised her hoof to Harold’s mouth, shushing him in a whisper. “Shhh. It’s okay, Harold, you have my complete support. After all, with me helping you along your journey, what could possibly go wrong?”
As if by coincidence, a blue unicorn mare came trotting out from a building, most likely the local dentist’s office because Harold could make out what appeared to be a single tooth on a wooden sign hanging from the metal rod. She had a white mane with a blue streak running through. Oddly enough, her Cutie Mark was an hourglass. Maybe her talent had something to do with clocks? Harold didn’t know.
The mare known as Minuette was the only pony nearby when she spotted Twilight and the Elements of Harmony trot into town, returning from her little errand. “Ah, Princess Twilight! We’ve been looking all over for you! Hey, you’ve been at the meadow recently! Right? Because everypony’s been wondering if you knew what happened in the mead--.”
Minuette suddenly went dead silent as her eyes met with the tall bipedal creature. Her pupils suddenly shrank as she stared at the human. There was something about him that frightened her. Was it his towering height? Was it his body structure? Was it face? Even she couldn’t point out what made him so... fearful.
“Umm... hi?”
“EEEEEEEEKKK!! A TALKING MONSTER!!”
Minuette shrieked from the top of her lungs, prompting Harold to quickly cover his sensitive ears against the shrill volume of the mare’s screaming. Everypony suddenly shot their shocked gaze to the noise, where those gazes also fell on the human teen. Minuette turned tail and cantered back into the town, screaming her head off.
“EVERYPONY, RUN!! THERE’S A MONSTER IN PONYVILLE!!”
All at once, the other ponies screamed in terror as the panic spread through like wildfire. Everypony frantically galloped around the streets and took refuge inside the nearest buildings. Shopping carts were toppled over, spilling fruits, treats and beautiful household items all over the dirt. Now they were nothing but jam, squash or shards mercilessly flattened by the scrambling ponies. In a full minute, Ponyville became a barren ghost town. Shutters were slammed shut. Doors and windows were locked. A tumbleweed rolled along with the gentlest of breezes. The only living creatures standing out on the streets were the Mane Six and Harold, who drooped his head down and rubbed his arm gently.
Why did Fluttershy have to jinx the entire situation here and now?
“No surprise here,” Rainbow Dash said flatly. “I already placed ten bits that everypony would react this way.” Suddenly, Rainbow Dash was met with deadpanned looks from her friends, each face showing no appreciation for the pegasus’s attitude. “What?”
“Nothing,” Twilight replied, holding her hoof to her forehead with annoyance. “Come on. Let’s just get to the chariots.”
The group all walked down the streets, again, not uttering another on their way down the streets. The street was now in a disarray from the town-sized panic attack, nearly making Rarity dizzy from its horrid sight. Through the shutters of the windows, Harold could feel the citizens inside stare at him with both fear and uncertainty. He knew of this uneasiness since he received the same kind of treatment from his own people on Earth, albeit on the streets or in his school.
Oh, how Harold hated those stares. It was like fear had festered inside of his chest, a webbing plague choking his fragile spirit. Only these stares weren’t the same stares that Harold glanced through the corner of his eye. The stares his fellow humans glared on him consisted of fear, hatred and anger. Their eyes alone had made Harold distant from everybody else in school, unless it happened to be Drake Singer and his droogs who were all fixing to beat him in public again.
Now the only comfort he could find right now was with Fluttershy. For some reason, Harold felt he could trust Twilight with her being a princess and all, but Fluttershy’s gentleness and kindness were all that he needed at that moment. Her smile and her voice were both like reflections of Lana’s kind demeanor, the same kindness she had planned to use to save the people of New York City.
But alas... her plan never came to pass.
Her kindness will now and forever be a memory to Harold.
Clop-clop-clop, clop-clop-clop, clop-clop-clop, clop-clop-clop...
Then a quick clatter of heavy hooves cantered up the street, mixed in with a faint ringing of metallic armor. Approaching up the street were a two pairs of armored pegasus stallions rushed over to where Harold and the Mane Six were. It appeared they were investigating the source of the panic when they heard the bloodcurdling screams about a monster and witnessed the terrified ponies running about frantically.
That’s when their stoic gazes fell on the biped walking among the ponies. They readied their battle stances, intimidating the creature by further while they barked their orders at him.
“You there! Halt, creature!”
“Step away from Princess Twilight Sparkle at once!”
“Do it now, or you’ll be met with extreme force!”
Harold reeled back in shock as the soldiers slowly made their way towards the human. Walking backwards to avoid being subdued by the soldiers, Harold found himself stopped by Fluttershy’s hoof gently placed across his back. As the soldiers drew near, Twilight stepped in front of the soldiers’ path with a stern look.
“Stand down, good sirs. He’s been given special clearance from Princess Celestia herself,” she said with mild authority in her tone.
“If that’s the case, then the creature must show us his proof of clearance!”
Fluttershy nudged Harold on the soldier, who motioned her eyes to the Royal Emblem on his shirt. He gripped the emblem and showed it to the soldiers, all standing down without missing a beat. “Then you may come with us as well,” one of the armored stallions said. “But we must not dawdle. Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are both waiting for you at the castle. Follow us.”
The soldiers turned and trotted back to the chariots, with the Mane Six and Harold following suit. They reached Ponyville square, where two chariots awaited to be seated by Princess Twilight and the Elements of Harmony. Harold inspected the designs of both chariots with close precision. The chariots resembled two Volkswagen Beetles, festively designed in gold with soft red seats and images of Twilight’s Cutie Mark planted above the seats and on the front. Each chariot had enough space to seat up to four ponies, hopefully enough to fit one human.
Harold reluctantly boarded one of the chariots, alongside Twilight, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie Pie boarded the other chariot as Harold stroked his hand on the velvet cushion seats. They were soft and comfortable, definitely made for royalty and nobility. Since he came from an infamous rich family, Harold was no stranger to these kind of cushions.
“Are you seating comfortably, Harold?” Fluttershy asked, earning a slight nod from the boy. “Just wait until you get to Canterlot, Harold. You’re going to love it there. The city and the scenery are both so beautiful, Canterlot Castle is so majestic. But the best part is, the castle is perched on the side of a mountain, so you get to see almost all of Equestria from high up.”
High... up?
Harold felt a lump form in his throat as he tried to piece together what Fluttershy had said just now.
A whole city and an enormous castle...
...built at the side of a mountain...
...thousands of feet into the air.
This didn’t suit well for Harold. He was deathly afraid of heights. Any height as tall as a three-story building was alright with him, but when it came to anything taller... say, a castle at the side of the tallest mountain... that’s when Harold wants out before his anxiety gets the better of him.
The scared human tried to budge himself out of the chariot, but it was too late. A sudden jerky movement made him fall back into his seat. The guards pulling the chariot unfurled their wings and began to ascend into the skies. Higher and higher the chariot and its passengers climbed, along with Harold’s anxiety. He gripped the seat cushions hard and hummed an unfamiliar tune, but it didn’t do him any good. In fact, the tune he hummed played a contribution in shortening Harold’s breath while his panicking grabbed the attention of Twilight, Fluttershy and a skeptical Rainbow Dash.
Both Twilight and Fluttershy looked at each other with increasing concern. The latter pegasus wrapped her hooves around the human as she tried to shake him off of his frightened trance. “Harold? Are you alright? Do you need a paper bag?” she asked lightly.
“Judging from the way he’s been acting, I’m guessing he does need a paper bag,” Twilight said, watching while Harold’s face slowly became pale white like a ghost. “Look at him. He’s hardly breathing and he’s unresponsive to us calling him. I believe he has an extreme case of acrophobia.”
“Hang on, let me see if he’s got that acro... acro-whatever,” Rainbow Dash declared. She gently placed on hoof behind Harold’s head and gently tapped it without any effort. Then the human bent over forwards like a timbering piece of wood, still wearing his frightened face. “Yep. He’s got acro-whatchamacallit alright. And I thought it was Fluttershy who’s always afraid of heights.”
Ignoring Rainbow Dash’s snide remark, Fluttershy pulled Harold back in his upright position, then whipped out an empty paper bag from behind her back. She handed the bag to Harold, the human unconsciously swiping it from her hooves and brought it to his mouth. The bag inflated and deflated with every frightened breath Harold huffed and puffed. With growing concern, Fluttershy and Twilight leaned towards each other for a quiet conversation, with Rainbow Dash listening in on the two mares talking.
“Twilight, I’m afraid that being in the air isn’t really good for Harold,” Fluttershy whispered. “What do you think happened to him that could’ve made him afraid of heights?”
“I’m not sure, Fluttershy,” Twilight replied in the same whispering volume. “But I read once in the Guidebook to Psychological Fears that somepony’s biggest fears are stemmed off from a traumatic moment they’ve experienced in the past. From the way I see it, Harold must’ve had a moment in his life when his fear of heights are now made apparent. I wonder what could’ve happened?”
“Gee, I dunno. Maybe Hair-Old fell from someplace high?” Rainbow Dash interjected sarcastically. The two mares shot glares at her for her unsympathetic tone. “What? It’s obvious. He takes a big fall, he breaks something, now he’s scared of heights. Duh!”
“Rainbow Dash! For shame! Are you gonna keep picking on Harold all day!?” Fluttershy chided lightly.
“I’m not picking on him, Fluttershy! I was just guessing about Hair-Old’s fear of heights because it’s so obvious from how he’s reacting!”
“Well, Harold’s fears aren’t worth picking on him, Rainbow Dash,” Twilight added in. “Don’t you know how bad you would feel if we picked on you and your fears. Honestly, Rainbow, you could at least show some empathy for the poor guy.”
“I’m not showing any empathy for the ‘poor guy...’” Rainbow Dash quoted with her hooves. “...unless if this happens to be all one big act he’s putting on for us.”
Both Fluttershy and Twilight gasped exasperatingly, taken aback by how far over Rainbow Dash crossed the line. “Rainbow Dash! How dare you call Harold a faker!” Fluttershy yelled, breaking out of her timid shell once more. “You should be ashamed of yourself! You’re going to apologize to Harold once we reach Canterlot!”
“Yeah, Rainbow Dash! What’s your deal, anyway!?” Twilight scolded. “Are you not going to stop blaming Harold for something you did recklessly back there!?”
“Not even if Princess Celestia says he’s A.O.K. in my book!”
All three winged mares all engaged in a single argument, the noise all but muffled to Harold. As he continued to breathe inside of the paper bag, memories of his traumatic experience with heights flooded back to him. The pain, the humiliation, the aftermath. Like all acrophobics, Harold was afraid of heights for the same reason, though unknown to most who suffered from this fear.
It wasn’t the heights that actually bothered people.
It was the drop.
It was how far you fall from that drop.
It was what happened next after you land from that drop.
Harold slammed his eyes shut. Then that most humiliating and embarrassing day all came back to him. He was eleven years old at the time. On that day, when Drake Singer and his bulldogs nearly crossed the line with their so-called “fun” and “entertainment” by hanging Harold from that flagpole by his school jacket... that day had contributed into scarring part of the boy’s life from days on end.
He still had the scar underneath his right arm to prove it.
******************************************************************************
“Please, Drake, this isn’t funny! Let me down!”
Harold’s pleas for mercy did nothing to repel Drake Singer’s decision of hanging him form the school flagpole, which sprouted next to the school sign. They caught him alone in the schoolyard earlier that day, when Harold was sketching the kids playing on the playground. Al Keith and Roger Hayes snuck behind him and dragged him away from his sketching spot, Al’s golem-like hands covering his squealing mouth as he thrashed and struggled vainly against their strong grip. Then they took the sleeves of his jacket and forced them up on the strings of the flagpole, pinning them with clothespins as weakened restraints with Harold's arms tied tightly inside. Roger did his part and hoisted the jacket in the air to the top of the pole, its poor, unfortunate owner caught in the sleeves.
Now Harold struggled in his jacket, thrashing him to keep himself from falling from such a big drop. All around the schoolyard, he saw Drake and his bulldogs standing at the base of the pole, laughing hysterically to his misery. As he looked around, he saw a crowd of students and most of the faculty, watching and joining along with the mocking laughter as well.
"Please, Drake, don't do this! Let me down, please! I'm too high up!"
Drake Singer finished his chuckle before he looked up to his primary target with a smug grin plastered on his face. "No, I think you're fine the way you are. Now everyone here can see you just perfectly," the bully said as a few, semi-psychotic chuckles escaped from his throat, "Besides, I already found the situation you're in quite hilarious!"
Drake threw himself back and laughed as Roger tapped his hulking gorilla friend in the chest, both of them joining in with the laughs. Most of the gathering crowd began to cackle as well while a small handful began to take out their cell phones. They were going to either record a video of Harold's growing humiliation on their phones or even snap pictures of his saddened face appearing from behind the proverbial cracks.
The crowd roared louder with their laughter. Harold tried to struggle himself out of this mess, but found no point in doing so. Every move he would make would just make the situation worse. “Here’s the deal, Harold,” Drake explained, wiping away a tear from his eye. “Your father took the money this city had and ruined the lives of anyone born in the middle-class or lower. Now look at us: hunger, poverty, foreclosure... even homelessness. Did you know how bad of an environment the backstreets are for people like us to live in? That's because the homeless shelters are jam-packed with my fellow victims of your daddy's greed. Some of us don't have the money to see a doctor or buy food from the market, and do you know why that is?"
Harold tried to answer through his grown sobs, but couldn't even squeak a word out of his breath. Drake shot a cruel finger up to Harold as he declared his answer. "Well, the answer is obvious! It's because Daddy Ahab squandered our insurance money and literally kicked us to the curb!" The crowd began to boo and jeer at Harold as they waved their hands downward and shook their fists at him. To Harold, this hateful, lynch mob was like the last group of people a prisoner would see before he would be executed wrongly for the sins of another person.
That other person happened to be his father, Ahab. Now he was going to pay the price for his actions.
Drake turned back to his followers with his trademark smug grin and preached to his followers, consisting of mostly everyone in the school. "My fellow New Yorkers! The boy you see now on the flagpole is the son of Ahab DeMatt, president of DMCorp Insurance and national symbol of greed and power! He is most likely the next in line to inherit his father's home, his company and his fortune!"
Drake stuck his arm out at the crowd and smoothly glided over the crow. "Our money, by the way, and the only charitable work he might do is pity us by feeding us table scraps after his dinner! Are we gonna sit idly by while the DeMatt family blows our greenbacks on sex, gambling and stogies!?"
"HELL NO!!!" the crowd jeered.
"Are we gonna sit in silence while our future generations will be considered dirty, grubby trash!"
"HELL NO!!!"
"And so, without further ado, I give you all a commemoration to all the homes we lost, all the money stolen from right under our noses and all the actions that might come to pass! I give you one of the biggest American tragedies that are yet to come! I give you New York's favorite pariah, Harold Doormat!" Drake motioned to Harold with his hand as the sea of students roared with a tempest of howling laughter.
The venomous words, the cruel laughter and the pain growing began to seep deep inside Harold's heart. The salt rubbed in his formed wounds were the pictures taken on the students' cell phones, soon to be posted on the Internet where everyone around the world would laugh at his misery, the laughingstock of the world. Harold's face became warm with the tears flowing down his face as he began to weep, and tried desperately to plead with tormentor.
"Drake! Plea-ea-ea-ease! You don't understand! None of you do!" he bawled.
The lead bully held up his hand to the crowd, and the gathering populace fell silent to a whisper. Drake grinned and casually strolled over to the sign, placing his elbow on the side and resting his cheek on his palm. "Go ahead, Harold, tell us. What don't we understand?"
Harold sobbed. "You don't know what it's like living when my parents are home! You don't know what they've done to me and Lana! You don't even understand how hard it is to build a good life at home when mom or dad are around!" he cried to the crowd, most of them skeptical of his story. "They hate us! They hate having Lana and I around as much as they hate you altogether! Mom and dad have been so bad to us, you haven't even seen the bruises they left on my body!
"Look, I'm sorry for what my dad did to you all, and I'm sorry for all that you had to endure!" Harold continued. "But please, you have to understand, I want my dad gone as much as you do, Drake! I don't want to become the target for you guys to beat up, spit on and humiliate! I just want us to get along and stop him too, but the way you all treat me is making my life so hard, I can't take much more of it! This isn't the answer to solving your problem, Drake! This is only making everything worse for me!
"Please, Drake, all I'm asking you is to stop this before we get hurt! Tying me up to this flagpole and laughing at me will never help, Drake, I just don't want to hurt anymore!"
Drake simpered lightly as he stood up from his place at the sign and placed his hands in his pant pockets. "How touching. Surely, you have a gift of art and begging for mercy," he said calmly before he turned away and walked. "Unfortunately, it's too late for that now. That damage has already been done. You can't really fix what's already been broken, Doormat. Your daddy kept all the ritzy people in his class and tossed us out on the street."
Drake groped a small, squishy and moist object in his pocket and pulled it out, none too visible for anyone except for Al and Roger to notice and see. "Sorry, Harold Doormat, but like Donald Trump, he's one of the baddest people still living here today, and I intend to find a way to hurt him for good. But for right now, I'm just gonna enjoy the moment of you 'hanging' around the school area where everybody can see you."
"Please, Drake. You don't have to do this..." Harold's plea was interrupted when the rotten tomato Drake kept stashed in his pocket for this special occasion flew straight into his chest and exploded with a wet SPLAT! The impact knocked some of the wind out of him, and all he was left with was a horse, raspy voice. Al and Roger exchanged winks, took their respective tomatoes out of their pockets and proceeded to pelt the poor boy with the rotten fruit.
Soon, the crowd now roared with laughter, louder than ever. Students of every grade, teachers, janitors... even the principal and vice-principal all guffawed at the display of humiliation while some of the students took out a part of their lunches and threw it at Harold. The pain was too much for Harold to bear. There he was, tied to a cold, metal pole, hanging at about four or five stories high above the ground while he was littered with rotten tomato juice, banana mush, luncheon meat sandwiches.
He was now Harold Doormat, an eleven-year-old boy on a metal pole who became the object of ridicule, hate and scorn, as well as a living compost pile where everyone chucked their organic lunches at him from a good distance and good arm power, too. Harold could hear the laughter, see the pointing fingers and feel the photographs snapping his sad state and posted on the Internet. He could even see himself on the headlines on the news, which would subject him to more mockery and pain.
Harold could take no more of this. His lower lip began to quiver and, with nothing to dam his emotions any longer, Harold cried out in a volume that would make Al Pacino feel envious. He didn’t care if anyone else would laugh at him shedding tears. He wished he never went to school anymore. He wished he was never born in such an evil household anymore. In fact, he wished he would end it all, drop down from this height and never breathe again.
“DRAKE SINGER!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO MY BROTHER!?”
Everyone jumped at the shrill voice screeching from the main doors of the school. Members of the crowd reluctantly turned around and saw Lana standing on the top step of the main building. The crowd backed away as Lana stomped her way down the steps, all intimidated by the crimson, angry aura wafting from around her body. Her stomps would be enough to crack the very marble steps which, besides her record history of being a red belt in martial arts, gave the bystanders another incentive to stay out of her path.
Once Lana made her way to Drake and his goons, she got close enough to the lead bully to pull him close to her by the collar of his shirt. Drake, being so calm and collective, kept his self-satisfied demeanor intact to the point where he wasn't afraid of the vengeful glint that shone like hellfire in her eyes. “Well, hello, Lana. Nice to see you again,” Drake said nonchalantly. “You seem a little tense today. What’s the matter sweetheart, did you have that time of the month again?”
Somewhere in the crowd, an "oooh" rang out which followed with a few more asinine students. Lana, in sense of the word, was not pleased with the mocking humor and brought his mug into hers. "What... the hell... do you think... you're doing... to my brother!?!"
"What does it look like, baby doll?" Drake asked, shrugging his shoulders. "I'm commemorating everything your daddy's done and all the things he could've done. Your little brother was unfortunate to have been alone by himself, and we had no flag to help remember those who lost everything that they owned, so we used him as a substitute. We were planning on letting him down after we were done with him, honestly."
"What you were doing is getting on my bad side, Drake!!" Lana yelled. "Harassing my brother is one thing, but humiliating him like that is crossing the line! Hasn't he suffered enough by your own hands!?"
"Is that a trick question, princess, or are you planning on keeping count?" Drake asked.
Lana was reaching her boiling point. Not only had Drake Singer scarred Harold for life by hanging him by the flagpole for all of New York to see, he had also allowed the entire world to see for how frail and insignificant he really was. A shade of crimson boiled onto Lana's angered face as Drake gave the deciding blow to the teenage girl. "Hey, you do know what Lana spelled backwards is, right?"
With that remark, Lana yelled as she hoisted Drake by the collar and threw him like an oversized plush toy into the metal pole, the vibrations reverberating up to Harold's position. Harold was so surprised by his big sister's action that he was completely unaware of the clothespin that slowly undid itself by the vibrations. Al Keith and Roger Hayes both looked on in pure exasperation as they witnessed their leader’s head used to ring the pole by the furious blonde teenage girl. Al growled like a wild bear, enraged by how much nerve Lana had hurting his best pal.
“That’s it, witch! You’re mincemeat!” Al roared before he lunged at Lana like a wild bear.
Luckily, having much skill in most known martial arts, Lana quickly ducked away from Al's arms by falling onto the ground, kicked her feet into his lightly pudgy belly and sent him flying headfirst into the grass a good distance away from him. With Al incapacitated by the throw, Roger took advantage of the time to bring a right cross to Lana's face, but missed when she moved an inch away. Roger attempted to sock Lana in the face with a left cross and an uppercut with his right hand only for his arm to be gripped by Lana and flung over her shoulder, landing on top of Al's mound-like body.
This left Drake Singer the only one still standing, his lust for fighting triggered subconsciously by the blow on the metallic pole. He rubbed the forming bump where his head hit and looked at Lana like how a hungry, feral wolf would against its opponent.
"Oh, it's on, baby doll," he snarled, cracking his knuckles. "It's so on."
Lana stood straight and firm in a composed posture, following up with a boxer-ready pose and a fighting glint in her eyes. Drake growled before he rushed towards the teenage girl, bringing a fist back so he would rearrange her face. It was fortunate that years of learning mixed martial arts paid off, because Lana easily took her arm and countered the punch, reducing the damage by little. Then Lana used this counter as an opening to swing her leg around and sweep Drake off of his feet and flat on his back. Drake grunted as the impact knocked the wind out of him, leaving Lana the only fighter standing victorious.
Harold couldn't help but watch with complete awe as he witnessed his sister single-handedly defeat his tormentors so easily. He was at a loss of words and he didn’t know why. Maybe the humiliation rendered him too afraid to speak. Maybe it was the way his sister fought off Drake and his bulldogs to help him in his hour of desperate need. Maybe it was how high up he was from the ground.
It didn’t matter to him. All that mattered was that Lana had come at his hour of desperate need and that was enough. Through his misty eyes, Harold saw Lana look up to him, a face wrought with a combination of worry, concern and relief.
That’s when he felt his arm slipping out of his sleeve.
Harold yelped in panic and gripped the inside of his sleeves, but still felt himself slipping out like a viscous bucket of pouring maple syrup. He looked over and went wide-eyed as he saw the clothespins, the only thing that kept him tied onto the rope, slowly inch away, a couple already popped off. With his body weight slowly shifting out, Harold would fall off of the flagpole and all the way to the ground. Such a fall would easily injure him badly, or worse.
Harold struggled with all his might to keep himself from falling, but it did him no good. He was doomed to drop like a lead weight.
The only thing he could do now was call out to his sister for help.
“LANA!”
Lana was snapped out of her basking when she heard her little brother's voice cry for her in distress. She looked up and gasped frighteningly as she saw Harold thrashing in his loosening uniform, vainly trying to keep himself from falling down. Quickly looking around, Lana’s glance was caught by the ropes. If she could get to the ropes, she could lower Harold to a safe height before he could fall.
“Hang on, Harold!" Lana assured her brother. "I’m coming!”
Harold tried to hang on as long as he could possibly manage. When Lana took the first few steps, a pair of clammy hands gripped her ankles, which caused her to fall forward and land on her face. She didn't have time to recover as she was pinned down by a big hunk of excess muscle and fat piled on her, courtesy of Al Keith's crushing weight. Looking back, she saw her self restrained at her ankles by Roger's cold grip and stuck by Al laying on top of her like a dog pile. Then a pair of dirty school shoes came into Lana's sense of hearing and she turned to see one of those shoes kick her in the face.
Drake chuckled as she squatted down, not nearly to Lana's height but low enough for her to see his twisted face grinning at her. "Now who's crossing the line?" the bully asked before he forcefully connected his shoe into her face.
Harold watched helplessly as Lana was put in the same position that he was in, thanks to the devious efforts of Drake Singer and his three bovine followers.To make matters worse, Harold's only hold was slowly slipping off and already another clothespin started to snap. With that snap, one of Harold's sleeves was broken down, causing Harold to drop and swing down and his captive shoulder to pull by the traction.
The reaction was enough to cause Harold to scream out in pain, and everyone to look up, including Drake and his bulldogs. Lana looked on horrified as she was forced to watch her baby brother hang on by the strings of his sleeve and cry out. She tried wriggled desperately out of Al's strong weight on her back, but she couldn't budge an inch.
Harold didn’t fare any better. As he tried and hold on to his jacket, despite the agonizing pain in his shoulder, Harold could feel his jacket slipping from clothespins’ hold. He tried to reach out to reach the rope, but the effort of doing so had also snapped the few remaining clothespins off of his uniform jacket. A couple of jerky movements from each clothespin sent Harold closer and closer to his fall. The scared kid glanced in horror as the jacket began to slip from the clamp of the last clothespin.
“Oh no.”
The clothespin snapped.
Harold found himself falling four or five stories as his whole body plummeted down the pole, screaming while the harsh laws of gravity did him in. Horrified screams and gasps fell through the crowd as Lana saw her brother fall down until he fell on the school sign with a KRAKKK! Then, all at once, a cry of agony rang out all across New York as Harold's body fell on the ground, him wriggling like a fish out of water.
“HAROLD!!”
Lana quickly used her head and butted her nape in Al's nose, prompting him to grunt as he used hands pinning down the girl to cover his nose. She pushed Drake away and ran over to her injured brother, knelt down before him and gently scooped him into her arms. Her face started to contort with sadness and worry as she held Harold in her lap, feeling a warm pool of crimson stain her clothes.
“Oh-- Oh God! Oh God, Harold!! Are you alright!?” Lana screamed worriedly as she tried to keep Harold as conscious as she could.
The worried and cowering crowd all backed away slowly, some of them retreating back into the school. Drake, Roger and Al all got up and observed Lana cradling her hurt brother in her arms. Lana's weeping face slowly transitioned into a face of pure anger, and she directed her glowing, red glint to the bullies and everyone in the crowd.
"How could you? How could you all do this to him!?" she began to scream. "You! All of you! You did this to him! You've all bullied him, picked on him and laughed at him whenever he was at his weakest, but now look at what you've done to him! He could die any second now and the only thing you're doing is stand by and make a mockery of him by sending your pictures on the Internet!"
Some of the crowd began to scatter back into the building while a select handful were brave enough to finish hearing the daughter of Ahab DeMatt lash her tongue at them. "You all should be ashamed! As human beings, you should all feel ashamed! If my brother doesn't pull through, then I hope whatever you did to hurt him in every way was worth it! Because I ought to have you all pay for what you've done to him!
"Now get out! All of you... GET OUT!"
The rest of the bystanders jumped to the shrill volume and quickly ran back to the building. Drake, Roger and Al stood by for a moment before he tapped Roger with the back of his hand, and the three went back to the school. Lana kept Harold cradled in her arms while the boy slowly faded into a world full of black. The excruciating pain was too much for Harold to comprehend, and its agonizing sensation was lulling him into unconsciousness.
“Harold! Harold, look at me! Look at me!! Are you alright!?”
Harold slowly lifted his eyes and turned to Lana. The fall had knocked his strength away, but the only remaining strength he had was to speak to her through raspy, sobbing breaths. “Lana... my arm... I... I think it’s... broken...”
Harold's eyes slowly closed as the last thing he saw was his sister call out for him, just before he allowed the darkness to overtake him.
“Harold! Wake up! Please wake up!! HAROLD!! HAROLD!!!”
******************************************************************************
“Harold!? Harold!!”
*GASP*
Harold abruptly woke up from his dream, gasping for air with what little oxygen was stored in his lungs. His found himself sill holding the paper bag over his mouth, wrinkled from the intense deflation in his breathing. Three pairs of eyes watched him cope with his fear of heights, two of those concerned pairs belonging to Twilight and Fluttershy. The third pair belonged to Rainbow Dash, who looked at him with impatience. With the level of concerns in those gazes, Harold figured he passed out from hyperventilation while the chariot rode up into the sky.
Harold removed the bag and placed his hand at his stomach, sore from the attempt to expunge the carbon dioxide in his system. Fluttershy came up to him and held him in her hooves for comfort. “Oh, Harold. Are you feeling alright?” the timid pegasus asked, holding him closer to her. “You blacked out shortly after we took off for Canterlot. I was so worried that you were gonna pass away from all that breathing and I...”
Harold gently pushed Fluttershy away, wanting some space to recover from his anxiety attack. “I-I-I’m okay, Fluttershy. Really,” the human teen said, looking up in the sky with a worried face. He took his right arm and turned it upwards, revealing a slightly curved scar running along the bone area. “I-I-It was just a ba-bad dream. That’s all.”
“I’m just glad you’re okay, Harold,” Twilight said, disembarking from the chariot and onto a path of concrete and stone. “We arrived here just five minutes ago. It wouldn’t be right if we left you in the chariot in your condition.”
“Wh-Wh-Where is here?”
Twilight gestured her hoof for Harold to see. The sun shone brightly in his eyes, causing his vision to blur for a moment or two. When his eyes finally adjusted, he looked in awe as he gazed upon a silhouette of a giant-sized castle, complete with a moat and a drawbridge. The tallest ivory tower that loomed over the smaller ones stood up as high as the Empire State Building, the actual size nearly comparable to the Taj Mahal. The tops of each tower were decorated gold domes that shone with the bright sun. Despite his stature exceeding those of the ponies, Harold felt small, like an ant before a picnic basket.
“This is where I studied under the private tutelage of Princess Celestia.” Twilight turned at the human with a brightened and somewhat enthusiastic smile. “Harold DeMatt, welcome to Canterlot Castle. The capital of Equestria and home of the Two Royal Pony Sisters.”