Portals

by The Derpy Doctor

Square One

Kevin parked outside of his hotel room, and brought himself wearily to the couch, throwing his keys to one side as he pumped himself onto the other side of it.

He flipped on the TV. He didn’t care what it was just as long as it wasn’t My Little Pony Friendship is Magic. In fact he didn’t want to watch anything that had anything to do with friends. He turned to any show that didn’t involve any type of hugging, high-fiving, fist bumping or pretty much any show that didn’t exist. As he scrolled through the channels, he saw only the following: My little pony, SpongeBob, Friends, The Lone Ranger, Batman and Robin, Star Trek, Everybody loves Raymond, The Golden Girls and even luny tunes. There seemed no show that didn’t relate friends. He turned off the TV and curled up on the couch to embrace the loneliness. He couldn’t even eat the ice cream he got for Twilight given his original intentions for it. Kevin didn’t have a job interview until two days from, now. He might as well enjoy the few benefits of being totally alone and unemployed.

He fell asleep at noon after eating a small lunch of a ham sandwich (because there was no Twilight around to question the strange food). Waking up at 2:00, he began to walk towards the kitchen for a snack. When grabbing a bottle of water, he drank away and thought about how later he should go for a walk or a jog. He could clear his mind and come back having had a somewhat nice workout. Kevin finished the bottle and started for the door. Upon realizing that he left his keys on the couch he turned and grabbed them, hearing as he did so, a familiar noise. It was the noise that Twilight had made when she walked. Her splints made a faint rubbing noise and she grunted as it still hurt a little to move.

Kevin thought that he had been hallucinating for the fewest of seconds. After silence, he turned the doorknob and took his walk.

Twilight collapsed on the floor. She fainted after having all the exhaustion that she could take for one day.

Kevin walked for an hour and a half before coming home. What he saw there startled him.

Twilight woke up to a familiar face fanning her. She had several droplets of water on her face from him splashing small amounts of water on her to wake her up. Kevin stroked her mane and welcomed her back to Earth.

“Hello,” The sad face weased. Kevin cried again. He had his friend back, but she was clearly in even worse shape than he had seen her in earlier today. Twilight looked so sad about her visit to Equestria.

“What happened?” Kevin asked startling the mare.

“I…” Twilight put her face to her hooves, “All of my friends have been captured and there’s nothing that I can do to help them.” Came the muffled voice from the inside of the arms wrapped tightly around her muzzle.
Kevin stood in shock. Twilight cried. Kevin could only imagine what kinds of things were happening to the other six characters that he looked up to (including Spike).
Surprisingly calm, Kevin followed through in his promise to Twilight.

“There, there, Twi. I’m sure you’ll be able to stop whatever fear is keeping them captive” Kevin didn’t know this for sure, but he couldn’t let Twilight feel this way for long. She was his hero. She made friends with him, and if there was one thing that his friend had taught him after several tens of episodes, it was that a true friend helps another when she is in need.
Kevin hugged Twilight. Kevin was very contented when this time, the adorable mare hugged back.

Kevin didn’t hurt her, now. He wrapped his arms around her and she obliged to give him ¾ of a hug back considering she couldn’t flex her broken hoof.

Kevin finished the hug and sat back on the couch. Twilight whipped the tears from her eyes and sat back on the couch, too. Kevin thought back that maybe she had been portaled back to the same spot and then teleported herself here, but that couldn’t be right. She can’t use her magic.

Twilight interrupted his thought process with the correct answer.

“I was brought here by the portal,” She moaned, “I thought of you and I thought about the hotel. The portal brought me to the best place to see you. I came here.”

Kevin was surprised and tired. The combination of both of these feelings made him feel: not as surprised as he should be and not as tired as he should be. Either way, he patted Twilight on the back (gently) and told her that she would return to Ponyville unscathed. Twilight gave a weak smile back at him.

Pinkie Pie took a rage against the demon.

“Why don’t you just end us here?!” She exclaimed, “We would be better off if you just did so.”
The demon answered, his head raising even higher than the upward direction that Pinkie Pie “stood” at. His voice at an ear piercing tone. “You?” As unharmed as the ponies were (which was not at all) he had tortured them with his words. That he tear apart all of them starting with Twilight. Twilight was not here, though she was on earth. The great demon stepped towards Pinkie in a manner similar to that of Godzilla: towering over all of the building and waddling ferociously. He knocked over several buildings as her started at the pink earth pony.

“Why would I do that? I will not do you justice. After many years of waiting, I will have my revenge.”
Celestia then spoke up. “It is my fault that you sat forever in Tartarus. I sentenced you there, because of all of the damage that you did accidentally to Canterlot. You weren’t meant to be a devil. You were to be a dragon and you would be a proud member of our society, but my subject failed me. I failed you. I’m sorry. Don’t hurt the other ponies.”

“I already told you that I will not do you justice. I will keep my word!” The dark creature shouted.

“Why start with Twilight?” Celestia asked desperately.

“Why? You know why. She’s the raw equivalent of my old master. Since my master is gone, she will be my slave.”

“She won’t be your slave, though!” Applejack spoke up. The demon slunk over to the element of honesty.

“She will,” he said as he brought one claw up to her chest and pointed it as squarely in the middle as he could: poking her, sinking his claw farther into her chest as possible.
Applejack cringed. He was pushing his hateful claw too far into her.

“She will.” The demon tossed back his hand as he grunted the words.
A small spot of blood dripped the small sudden wound. Applejack’s flesh had been slightly impaled. It hurt worse than it should.

Kevin beheld the alicorn. She meant more to him than he could describe except with the word: friend. She might be sad now, but he going to change that. She was going to be happy.
Twilight sat on the couch (laid, more like) and ate another apple. She still frowned beyond the point of explanation. Kevin recalled one thing before he excused himself to go outside.
He came back after about fifteen minutes later.

“What happened?” Twilight asked expecting that he’d be there sooner (he said he’d only be gone a few minutes).

“I went out for something.” Kevin responded holding back a smile quite vainly. Twilight was too depressed to notice that he was totally faking a straight face.

“What did you go out for?” Twilight asked a little sarcasm in her voice.
Kevin pulled a bag from behind his back. A square, plastic bag.
He plopped it next to Twilight and asked her to open it.
It took Twilight a few moments to get to her hooves and then to steer herself towards the bag: reaching in and clamping a soft cover with silky pages.
Twilight gasped. Kevin had gotten her books. She quickly got the first one grabbed and pulled it out. Reading the cover, she determined that she didn’t remember a lick of this strange title.

“Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull?” Twilight questioned the sequence.
Kevin nodded. “I know that your favorite book series is Daring Do, so I got you the human’s equivalent of that very book series.
Twilight reached in and pulled three more books out. She was still concerned, but obviously Kevin had gone through the process of buying these books and driving out to get them, so she smiled and thanked with a following hug. Kevin had successfully done just what a combination of Pinkie Pie and Rarity would do.

Kevin sat for the rest of the night next to Twilight. Twilight read her book: noticing all of the similarities between it and her Daring Do books at home. They were almost twins. They were almost the very same books other than the matter of fact that one book had a longer-lasting storyline and included a human in it instead of a Pegasus.

She became very acquainted with the book and found herself sleeping beside it when she was finally able to put it down.
Kevin again slept in the bed beside hers. He concluded Twilight’s night by telling her: “Promise me that you’ll be here and well in the morning,” to which Twilight answered: “I will.”