//------------------------------// // Expect The Unexpected // Story: Cold Days with Stars & Diamonds // by SteelyThePally //------------------------------// My vision came back to normal in seconds. I looked around, not understanding where the fuck I was. It looked like the universe, but way more colorful. I then realized that I was hovering around, but still on my feet. Suddenly, a big flash of light pops out of nowhere, and the same ethereal creature that appeared in my room got out of it. I scanned it's body: it looked like a white horse with a multicolor mane that waved even though no wind was blowing in this weird place. It had a strange tattoo on it's flank, something that reminded me of Twilight and Rarity. What frightened me the most was that it's eyes glowed white, and even though it haven't got irises, it felt like it was staring at me. "John Sullivan." It said to me. Wait, how the fuck it knows my name? "M-me?" I reply, my voice failing slightly. "I am Princess Celestia, ruler of Equestria. I am very pleased to meet you." The ethereal horse replied. I've heard of this Celestia before... "What do you want from me? And how do you know my name?" "I have been watching you, human. My two subjects happened to knock at your house's door. Rarity Belle and Twilight Sparkle." Shit, she's like God! And she's watching me... Jesus Christ, what have I done? "Why the hell have you been watching me? I bought that house to get some privacy!" "That is not the point. You are here because I have to warn you, John Sullivan--" "Warn me from what? The next 'World's End' date?" I cut her off, trying to relax from the awkward situation in which I was in. "No, human. I have brought you here to warn you that my subjects may be unable to return to Equestria. So, I am tasking you to take care of them while their return is still a dream." I froze at the horse's statement. I was going to take care of two girls... Shit, my life is so screwed... "Really? You've just brought me to God knows where, and can't just take them back to your... dimension?" I said, raising an eyebrow at her in disbelief. "There's nothing that I can do about this. I wish I could. Sorry, John Sullivan. You're on your own. But I'll be watching you. Never forget this." The creature then simply dissolved into small sparkles, and I was left alone. A chill went down my spine. How the fuck was I supposed to go back home? Then suddenly, as if my words were magic, I was blinded by the same white light that brought me here, and in a matter of seconds, I was back at my bedroom, cuddled up in fear. Realizing on how embarrassing that position was, I quickly got up, and tried to act like nothing happened. After assuming a serious expression, I started to ponder about what that Celestia told me about... What if it was telling the truth? My lonely plans just got blown out off the window. And so did my doubts that they came from another dimension. Now my mind was focused on what the ethereal horse said: "I'll be watching you." Great, if having two girls inside your house wasn't enough, I now have a god-like horse watching me from somewhere else... There goes my plans of privacy in this cold-ass winter. 1 day later... I comfortably sat at the couch, relaxing my arms after fixing a sewing machine that I found down on my basement. It was a present from my grandma when I moved to this house. She wanted me to learn how to sew, even giving me some fabric. Well, I wasn't the type that would be sewing good clothes, so I simply stored it in my basement. Now, with the machine fixed, Rarity has locked herself in my basement, doing God knows what. Maybe, she's sewing some clothes for herself. Or making me new pajamas. She has been tormenting me since she saw it. But at least, our arguments about how I should dress myself inside my house came to an end. I turned my attention to the TV, seeing what Twilight was watching: a documentary about Albert Einstein. Crap, she's really into science. I shift my stare at the girl, whose eyes were nearly penetrating the screen. Her focus on the documentary could make it sound super interesting, while in reality this shit was boring me to death. I didn't want to turn off the TV, because Twilight would probably jump on me. Our relationship has honed a lot more since we began to watch documentaries on History Channel, so I wasn't going to leave a simple press of a button change our friendship. My earlier thought that they would ruin my life is gone now. Even though Rarity's snooty when it comes to fashion, and Twilight's a geek that loves to ask me questions, they are nicer than most girls from high school. The company that I never had. Well, then, I remembered about that Celestia horse. These days I've been thinking: 'Why did she contact me instead of them?' 'What the hell is she thinking due to watching that weird moment where Twilight simply came out of the bathroom naked asking me for more shampoo?' 'And if she's a princess that raises the sun and rules a kingdom, how the hell she can't bring them back?' Those questions would remain unanswered for some time. And I'm still afraid of telling them that their princess contacted me. Who knows how that would backfire on me? About that meat problem... well, they aren't so skeptical, after all. Both girls realized that it was the only thing that they could enjoy. Maybe tonight I could change our meal... After I ended my mental monologue, I diverted my attention to the TV, who was still broadcasting that boring as fuck documentary. Twilight was still engrossed on that thing, a quick feel of annoyance shooting through my brain. Then, a great idea popped inside my head: play video games! She will probably love them, well, if she doesn't ask me another shitload of questions about how the Xbox works, why the characters are 'stuck' inside the screen, why she needs to do 'this' and 'that', and so many other things. Before I could 'invite' her upstairs, I noticed that the documentary had finally reached it's end. A strange wish of yelling crazily and raising my hands while a military victory march played inside my head nearly took control over my body, but I managed to keep this bottled up, simply smiling widely at the screen. I've been watching this thing for 2 hours, what made me lose all of my ideas for this vacation. Twilight sighed, and then grabbed the TV controller, swiftly switching the channels. "Let's see if there's any other documentary about those incredibly intelligent humans!" My eyes widened at her statement, the weird feeling of eyeballs nearly falling from their pockets as I saw that a documentary about Isaac Newton was about to begin. "Twilight, what about playing some video games? My ass is getting flat from sitting on this sofa!" I then stared at her purple eyes, trying to convince her to finally stand up from the comfy couch. She looked at the ceiling for some seconds, probably thinking of an answer. 'God, please, say yes!' "What are 'video games'?" Argh. Here we go again. "They're a super-duper awesome form of entertainment. C'mon, we've been sitting here since lunch! Let's do something that (maybe) both of us will enjoy." Twilight's head then examined my face, and looked back at the TV, reluctant to leave it. After many glances at it, she sighed and agreed to go with me. During our short walk to the staircase, Twilight ducked her head inside my basement's door, and asked Rarity if she was going to play with us. Rarity simply replied saying that she was nearly finishing my pajama, and that she would join us soon. At my bedroom, Twilight sat on the bed while I turned the Xbox on. A loud gasp escaped her lips as the console powered up, the Xbox 360 logo showing up in the screen. After picking up the controller, I sat at her side, her jaw open as the Xbox menu appeared. Before she could ask the shitload of questions that I was already waiting for, I began my explanation: "It's a machine that reads discs so that you can play the game. I press this button to put the disc on the disc tray, and then, press the button again to make it retract back into the console." The familiar sound of my Forza Horizon running then echoed through my room. "This is a fine piece of technology, if you ask me, John! Can I do some research on it later?" She asked, eagerly waiting for my response. "Well, I think that I will teach ya how to use my computer, so you can easily answer your questions about nearly everything." I finished my sentence while we both stared at the screen. Twilight's eyes seemed to have sparkles of joy on them, while I simply stared at the amused girl with a warm smile. "You've told me about those games yesterday. What's this one's about?" She asked, clearly wanting to give it a shot. "Remember the vehicle that we used to get to Betty's Boutique? It's a game about racing, but with cars way faster than mine." After all that loading screens passed, I selected 'Single Player', going into another loading screen. Then, the game finally loaded, and I was at the Horizon festival with my midnight-blue F1 Mclaren. I glanced at Twilight, who appeared to be examining every detail of the game. "Hey, Twi, wanna play?" I suggested, offering the controller to her. The girl reluctantly stared at the black device. I then dropped the controller at her hands. Twilight then scanned it for a second, and then, pointed it at the screen. I stared at her action for seconds, while she repeatedly pressed the 'A' button. I only watched the scene, trying to figure out what she was trying to do. 'Ah, she thinks it works like the TV controller.' I thought, and chuckled quietly. "Twilight, you play like this." I said, putting the controller on the right position. "To accelerate the car, press the right trigger, to brake the left trigger, use the left analog to steer it, the 'A' button to E-brake, and the right analog to rotate the camera." I then passed my fingers through the mentioned buttons. Twilight seemed to acknowledge those controls very fast, unconsciously but beautifully nailing a simple drift through the round street that the festival's center was. "What do I do now?" "Just... run. See if you can find a nice race or just keep wandering around. And try to avoid the civilians." As if to mock me, she crashed the Mclaren in a van like a missile would hit it's target. Twilight then turned to me, sheepishly smiling. I reassured her with a warm look at her purple eyes, which caused her to blush and turn her attention to the screen again, slowly getting used to the car's overwhelming acceleration. 'Wait, she has purple eyes? Wow.' As Twilight focused herself into the game again, I saw that she approached Darius Flynt showdown race. She then parked the Mclaren horribly at the event's tent. I laughed quietly, knowing the event's difficulty. "This is a race?" "Yep. Just press the blue 'X' button to join." After she pressed it, the image of Darius Flynt popped, the game's most annoying boss. But witnessing a complete noob in gaming challenging a boss is surely hilarious. I rest my back on the wall, ready to watch one of the funniest moments in my life. But before Twilight could begin her race and I could begin a laughing mayhem, a panicked shout echoed in my house, making my heart beat like hell. Twilight and I both shared scared glances, before turning our stares to the door while the shouts came again. Well, it was Rarity. Her singsong voice really sounded adorable when yelling. "What the hay was that?" Twilight asked, a frightened look in her eyes. She then lifted her hand to her chest, trying to calm her agitated heart. "I don't know. Maybe it's Rarity down at the basement. We should check on her immediately!" I exclaim, taking a long breath to recover myself from the sudden yell. I then launched myself from my bed's comfortableness and descended the stairs quickly, Twilight slowly following me. I could swear that her yells were of pain, considering that she could have cut her finger on the sewing machine. Me and Twilight then arrive at the basement, seeing Rarity cowering at the basement's corner, not even noticing our presence. "Hey Rarity, what's going on?" I ask, getting her attention. She opened her eyes, staring with pure paranoia at the desk in which she worked on. On top of it, sat a spider, it's size being comparable to a tarantula. My body shivered as I examined the creature, who slowly raised it's frontal legs. Strange, I knew that movement... It was weirdly familiar to me. I examined the spider once more, noticing that it's middle legs were naturally painted blue, matching it's dark color in my point of view. Staring at the spider for some seconds, I finally remembered why it was familiar to me: it was my pet spider, Spidey! "You two, don't move. I know who it is..." I alerted the two girls, not wanting to make the spider jump from it's position. I approached it with slow and careful steps, while the arthropod kept staring at me with it's numerous eyes. Finally arriving at the table's edge, I carefully put my hand over the table, signaling the spider to climb on it. The fearsome insect then moved it's eight legs in a flawless synchronization, and climbed on my palm with ease. By doing this, I knew that it was really my pet that wandered the pile of old things that I kept inside this basement. I smirked in excitement as the insect rested on my palm. I turned to the girls, who launched frightened stares at me and my beautiful spider. "Y-you tamed it?" Twilight said, taking a step back. "Of course not, Twi. It's been my pet since I found it at my grandma's house basement. It's color got my attention, and I slowly got closer to it. When I moved to this house, I secretly brought it with me, and it has been surviving of killing the occasional roaches and mices that appear down here. A nice way of protecting your house from those nasty things, really." Suddenly, Spidey managed to climb my arm. I wasn't feeling it's hairy legs due to the mountain of clothes I was wearing. It had this awkward habit of climbing it's way to my head, and then, jumping into the nearer wall or object. "There's roaches and rats down here?!?" Rarity exclaimed, putting herself at the tip of her toes. I rolled my eyes around the basement, and responded: "Yeah, but Spidey's always eat 'em. And she makes up for a good company down here, Rarity." She then dropped from her position, glaring at me, but losing her annoyed look as she saw Spidey position itself on top of my head. I then headed to the nearer box in my basement, the unique colored spider jumping on top of it, and disappearing in the darkness... "Can I study it?" Twilight said, like if she hadn't feared it the creature moments ago. The expression on her face showed complete... excitement. "Well, if you got the guts and smarts to find it jumping around in this small museum, then nothing's holding ya." I answered, killing the girl's interest. "So, can I go back to your room?" Twilight asked, pointing her thumb upstairs. "Of course. You're free to play whenever you want to do so. Just take care with my account." She then rushed upstairs, leaving me alone with Rarity, who was reluctant to continue what she was doing. "Hey Rarity, Spidey might be a hairy spider and everything, but it won't bite ya unless provoked. So, if she appears, just ignore. Spidey always disappears if no one gives her attention." I then left Rarity alone, going upstairs to see if Twilight had deleted my Xbox's memory. Some hours later... I got off my steaming-hot bathroom dressed in my comfy pajamas. I went directly to my room, seeing that Twilight was still in the same position when I last saw her. I had to admit: she looked goddamned adorable clad in this purple pajamas. I looked up to the screen, seeing that she was still playing Skyrim. "Huh, been playing since I left to take a bath? What level is your new character on?" I asked, noticing that her play style was of a mage, her character yielding flames and a healing spell. "Level 9." She said, not even turning her head to look at me. "What?!? Level 9 already?" "This game that you humans made is way too easy. Also, I've set difficulty to 'adept' to make things more... challenging." Shit man. Never underestimate a geek from a different reality. I sat down at my bed again, watching her play with interest. She played very well, for someone who grabbed a controller for, what, less than six hours? Before I could lean my back at the wall, my stomach growled for food, a intense need of eating something torturing me. I noticed that Twilight's stomach was in need of food, too. "Uhn, I'll see what we will eat tonight, Twi." She only nodded as I left my bedroom. Let's just hope that I haven't created a video game addict... I went down the stairs, breathing calmly as I felt the combined warmth of both my heater and fireplace surround my body. I smirked and headed to the kitchen. After opened the fridge, I searched for something good: 'the remaining beefs, no. I've eaten too much of those. Maybe, I'll get that pasta... no. We ate that yesterday.' I thought as my eyes switched quickly between the only available food in my fridge. Yeah, I need to buy some more. I stared at my kitchen for minutes, thinking of what to eat tonight. Suddenly, the best option came out as I shifted my gaze to a pizza card that was laying on top of my contact's book. 'Yeah, pizza.' I thought while grabbing my phone and dialing the local pizzeria's number. Some minutes later... After ordering pizza, a good feeling flooded my heart and mind. I was going to eat pizza after, what? A month without eating that delicious italian food? I then make my way to the basement, wanting to make Rarity known of of our dinner, since she has buried herself in my basement those days. But before I could descend into my small storage area, Rarity came up running, panting heavily. She stopped her tracks, carrying my pajama on her hands. Maybe she's asking me to move the sewing machine upstairs. Yeah, Spidey must be watching every movement of hers. "Wassup', Rarity? Done with Spidey's numerous eyes stalking you?" I playfully stated, smirking at her. Rarity's body shivered for a moment at my comment, but she quickly raised her head, staring with interest at me. "No, darling. That filthy insect had disappeared since you dropped it. By the way, here's your pajama. See if you like it." She delivered the clothing to me. I didn't liked it when people called Spidey a filthy spider, but that wasn't the primary subject. I unfolded the shirt and pants, staring at the sewed clothing with awe. It was dark blue, and plain simple, something that I loved. Well, I haven't exposed my astonishment very well, because Rarity's expression was of failure. "You didn't like it? Come on, darling, just say it and I'll re-make it." She then tried to remove the clothing from my hands, but I only raised them up, out of her grappling range. Also, I didn't want her wasting more of her precious time dug inside my basement. Not to mention the material to make them... "Rarity, I loved it. You don't need to re-make them." The tone of my voice made her arms give up from retrieving the pajama, which I stored under my arm. I hugged her shortly, her cheeks flushing a vibrant red. "I just wanted to say that we're having pizza for dinner." "Pizza? What's that?" She asked, raising an eyebrow at me, recovering from her blush. "You'll see." I left her pondering about dinner, and made my way upstairs. At my bedroom, I stare at Twilight, who still remained in the same position since I left her playing. "Hey Twilight. I want to say that we're having pizza for dinner. And that the deliveryman should arrive at any time." She only nodded and kept playing. Yeah, I've created a video game addict... I wanted to get her out off my Xbox for a moment. Poor thing's fans must be rotating like hell to stop the console from overheating and... exploding? The sound that it emitted was worrying me. As if to help me, I heard a loud and high-pitched horn coming from the street. I left the pajama that Rarity made inside the wardrobe, and turned to Twilight: "See? He's here already. Get off from it just a little, Twi." She turned to me, staring deeply with the cutest looking puppy eyes ever. With incredible willpower, I resisted her stare and assumed a more serious expression. It killed her puppy look, while she saved the game and turned the console on, probably knowing that from my earlier tutorial. After she got up, we both came down the stairs, Twilight quietly groaning behind me. I saw Rarity gazing outside, probably trying to find the origin of the sound. Rarity turned to me, and I signaled her to seat on the chair, while Twilight followed her. I got the money from my wallet that I kept stored in a cabinet, and headed to the door. Opening it, I felt how cold it was outside. The delivery man quickly left the pizza box and soda bottle in my hands, and I gave the money to him. Poor fella was freezing. He literally threw the bills inside his pocket, and trailed off without saying anything. I closed the door quickly, and the marvelous smell of pizza penetrated my nose. I smirked shortly and left the box and bottle over the table. After I sat down, both girls looked at the box with interest. After sniffing, smiles simply appeared in their faces. Silence reigned at the table, and I opened the box. They stared at the pizza for seconds. Rarity then broke the silence with her singsong voice: "That's pizza? It looks delicious." "It is delicious. Let me separate them." I grabbed my knife and cut it into smaller pieces. I then took one of them with my fork, leaving it on my plate. The girls then grabbed their pizzas. Before even trying to bite it, Twilight asked: "What does it taste like?" "Cheese, with some tomato. I can't exactly explain it. Just eat it. You're gonna like it." I replied, bringing the fork to my mouth. Ah, the divine taste of pizza... The girls appeared to be enjoying the dinner too, their faces expressing pure happiness. We remained quiet for seconds, devouring the pizza's pieces quickly. Suddenly, a wave of curiosity hit me. I needed to ask them about their past lives: "So, how was life in that... Equestria place?" "Ah, it was very good, John." Twilight said. Well, it wasn't what I wanted. "Did you guys work there?" No, that was an obvious question. "Yes. I was a librarian. And Rarity worked at a boutique. I think it explains her love of fashion." Twilight innocently giggled while Rarity kept her expression very hard to read. I then kept attention to Twilight while she told that both girls lived at their workplace, which I found very practical. She continued her speech, speaking about Rarity and her friends (Who where weird named too). I found the conversation very interesting, until she came to a certain topic: family. My expression dropped a lot from my casual and warm smile. I let Twilight continue, praying to God that they wouldn't ask me about mine. Even though Dad and Mom died long ago, it isn't the best thing to talk about. "... like, we always were together. I still remember about that trip to the beach where we had lots of fun!" Twilight then closed her eyes and smiled from ear to ear. "We had those trips too. They were just lovely." Rarity completed. Now, I felt completely naked. They would probably ask me about my family. I mentally prepare myself for the imminent question. "What about you, darling?" Yep. I was right. I couldn't escape from the question, because they nearly me told the story of their lives. It would feel weird to know everything about them, and they don't know anything about my past. "Umm, well. I work at a grocery store as shopkeeper. It's not the best work ever, but it keeps me alive. My friends, well, Betty's one of them. We've met while we where on Elementary School. But most of them went with their futures and we all drifted apart. Not to mention that half of them remained at Detroit, a city very far from here." Their eyes now stared at me with worry and remorse, instead of their normal happy spark. "Well, my story is very weird. My father was from the Air Force, the part of the army that fights to protect the air, obviously, and my mom was a lawyer. We weren't very close due to my father always stationed at air bases in other countries, and my mom was too worried to divert her attention from the TV when my father was assigned to serve his squadron in Afghanistan. Well, everything changed after a night watching the news..." 2000, Detroit. Sullivan's Residence. Linda Sullivan watched over a young John, who played with miniature planes, innocently simulating dogfights. The careful mother then diverted her attention to the TV's screen, seeing that the news had just began. John wasn't paying attention to that, and kept playing with his planes. After the news opening ended, the anchor went exactly to the point: "Today, during a close air support mission, two aircraft from the USAF's squadron VF-103, more commonly know as the 'Jolly Rogers, were shot down by enemy SAM sites." The anchor's words were enough to make Linda hyperventilate, wondering if the pilots who were shot down were her husband or his brother. She lifted a hand to her chest, feeling a sharp pain in her heart. The boy, however, wasn't understanding the news, and diverted his attention back to his simulated dogfight. "A marine who was involved in the operation recorded the moment with his helmet camera." The screen then showed the footage. The camera shook terribly due to the soldier's movements, but stopped right at the moment where two missiles ascended to the sky, chasing the jets, who tried to evade the missiles, barely doing so when the rockets hit it's targets. The jets caught on fire, rolling while a trail of fire and smoke followed them. After losing enough altitude, they exploded, two balls of fire raising to the skies. The soldier's movements returned to normal, now moving to the crash site of both aircrafts. The moment that the flames raised to the sky, Linda's heart ached like if a knife stabbed it. "After the mission was completed, the rescue teams arrived at the crash sites, finding that both pilots were dead. The pilot's turned out to be the captain Robert Sullivan and captain Ryan Sullivan." This was enough to make John look up at the TV, his happy expression disappearing at the sight of a picture of both his father and uncle. "Daddy? Uncle Ryan?" The child kept paying attention to the TV, trying to understand why the man mentioned both his father's and uncle's names. He looked back at his mother, who buried her head at the cushion that laid on top of her laps, sobbing uncontrollably. "Mom? What happened to daddy and uncle Ryan?" The child was met with the sorrowful sobs of his mother, leaving him even more confused. Then, the youngster looked at the screen, and paid attention to the anchor's words "... Even with the success at the mission, the soldier's and squadmate's morale dropped significantly. After being informed of the pilot's deaths, most of the marines and members of the squadron refused to say anything about it. Both aces were well know between the attacking team." John's face then expressed pure sadness. The kid understood completely what the anchor was talking about. The child's eyes watered within seconds. He turned to his mother, hugging her immediately. He tried to hold his tears back. But he couldn't. His heart was already crushed by the hammer of loss, and stabbed by the knife of death." The looks in the girl's faces were of sorrow and pity. They didn't need to feel that way. It happened 12 years ago. Well, I had to say that the mental wound that my father's and uncle's death caused me never healed. But I couldn't mourn them forever. "Well, things didn't went very well after that day. My mother began to drink like hell. I have no doubt that she even took some drugs. She even spanked me. Until the day of her death..." "JOHN SULLIVAN!!!" A voice called the young teenager from downstairs. Linda was on another drinking night. She was probably calling John to cuss at him for things that he never did, or to simply spank him again. However, the boy refused to respond. "JOHN SULLIVAN, ANSWER ME!!!" She shouted again, sounding even more angry than before. The boy then tried to ignore her yells, and concentrated at reading his book. A growing sensation of fear tormented his heart as he heard loud steps coming closer to his room. Suddenly, his door slammed open, John's mother staring at him with a burning glare. "Are you deaf, John?!? Come on, now, I want you to come with me and help me with the shopping list!!!" He shifted his gaze to his mother, who still glared at him. "But, mom, it's nearly midnight! No supermarkets may be open today, cuz' it's Sunday!" John tried to convince his mother not to take him out of his reading. But his response was a strong slap across his face. Linda then grabbed his book and slammed against his head. John lifted both hands to his head, groaning in pain. "If the supermarkets are closed, then we will make them open!!" She nearly yelled, striking fear in John's heart. Not wanting to receive more slaps, he stood up, and quietly got to the garage. He sat down and fastened his seat belt, not muttering a word, mainly to avoid his mother's slaps and punches. After she turned the car's engine on, she accelerated quickly. The boy's head hit the car's ceiling with force, John groaning loudly. After his world returned to normal, he looked at the speedometer: 140 MPH. This worried the boy, who tried to get used to the constant speed. His heart was flooding with the fear of death, and the car performed a bad curve, making his head break the window. John lifted his hands again, sweeping some blood from his fresh cuts. Agony took over his vocal cords. He couldn't speak nor shout. Now, Linda was reaching the car's limits. John ignored the sharp pain coming from his cuts and saw a bump right on front of them. He tried to scream for his mother to slow down, but his fear kept him from doing that. The car then hit the bump at full speed, smashing the windshield. The glass shattered, it's sharp pieces stabbing both John's an Linda's chests, and the car was launched into the air. Unfortunately, the vehicle's flight was prematurely halted by a truck's back, smashing through it. Mother and son blacked out... Some minutes later... John slowly but painfully opened his eyes. The car's windshield was gone, and all that he could see was the truck's interior. It had numerous wooden stakes. The boy yelled in pain as he noticed the numerous pieces of glass lodged in his chest. He couldn't move his legs, because they were stuck into the car's wreckage. He looked down at his abdomen, a large cut through it. He groaned in pain, and stared at the ceiling. He glanced at his left side: the body of his mother was there, bloody and lifeless. A sharp pain shot through his chest as he noticed the enormous stake impaling the woman gruesomely through her stomach. "No... mom, please, no..." He sobbed, ignoring the pain that tormented his whole body. In seconds, sirens filled the air. "NOOOO!!!" He yelled, moments before simply closing his eyes and blacking out again. "So, well, after that, I moved to Anchorage, my grandparents being the only living members of my family. Grandpa died of a heart attack an year later, and I kept living there until grandma lend me some money to buy this house." I finished my speech with a long sigh. I leaned my back against the chair, and stared at the clock: 11:36 PM. "Oh, well. Look at the time! Let's get some sleep. Good night to you two." The girls sadly nodded at me. After their figures disappeared in my bathroom, I was left alone. Alone with my thoughts back at the events that changed my life forever... 'Ahh, let me brush my teeth and just get some sleep.' I thought and looked at my toothbrush and toothpaste lying at the sink. I've moved those to stop from disturb the girls in the morning, considering that I wake up way more earlier than them. I brush my teeth slowly, trying to spit out not just the toothpaste, but also this weird feeling. I don't feel very comfortable after telling those girls my past. After so many years of boiling this up inside me... that's what I get? Depression? I thought that I overcame this over the years... Yeah, maybe I'm not that headstrong... I finish my mental monologue and turn off all the lights in my living room. I get my blanket from under the couch's seat, and I cover myself with it, staring deeply at the dying fire from the fireplace. I slowly close my eyes, and relax my mind from the earlier events. Maybe a good night sleep should do it... 2:21 AM I wake up with three loud knocks. Who the fuck was knocking at my door now? I stand up after rubbing my eyes to wake up a bit more. Before I could answer the door, a quick thought passed through my mind: 'What if it is Twilight's and Rarity's friends?' I shake my head, trying to pretend that my brain hadn't made me think of that. But that made my heart beat faster and faster... I take a long breath before opening the door, my mind racing to find a good place for more people to sleep. After finally opening the door, my frightened expression fell to one of complete annoyance. "Hey there, Johnny!" Andy. The most annoying and sticky motherfucker on the face of Earth. "Andy?!? What the fuck are you doing out there, man? It's fucking past midnight!" The problem with him is that no matter how much I cuss at him, he will still think that I'm his best friend, or 'homie', as he calls me. Well, I'm too kind-hearted to tell him to fuck off, so, I'm stuck with this overly energetic guy "I couldn't sleep. So, I was thinking that we should snowboard at the resort those days, since we're both on vacation! So, what do ya think, homie?" Oh, well. Now he caught me off-guard. He can be a retard with people, but he's freaking good at snowboarding, and always invite me to head to the nearest resort. And since I've got nothing to do, I couldn't refuse. It would be good for both Twi and Rarity, after all. "Well, why not? Let's just arrange everything. I've been... busy." His face lightens up after I accepted. "Thanks, homie! You're the best! See ya later, then. Homies for life, bro!" He shouted while retreating back to his house, while I simply waved at him. I closed the door silently, and returned to my 'bed'. 'Snowboarding is it then...'