To Turn a Life Around

by TheEngineer

Blind Swing

Chapter 10: Blind Swing

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP* BEE-*

I instinctively shut off my alarm clock and got out of bed and into my shower in one swift and practiced motion. Mindlessly washing my tired body as I got ready for the day to come.

I soon got out of the shower, all dry now. I started getting dressed: gray slacks, green shirt and a blue ti- oh yeah... No job..

With a heavy sigh I began taking off my professional clothing and slapped on a pair of faded blue jeans and a plain brown T-shirt.

Wait... It's still 5:30 in the morning... I stopped and contemplated going back to bed, but soon realized that it's too late, that shower already woke me up.

Well, you still have home entertainment... I thought to myself.

I never thought I would feel like there's nothing to do the day after I got fired. I continued my train of thought as I quietly began heading downstairs, I could hear a faint noise from the other room and curiosity got the best of me.

I walked over to Twilight's room, the door was closed and I quickly recalled the last time I woke that mare up. I shuddered at the memory of getting hoof-punched in the chest.

Well, I'm pretty sure that she isn't asleep. I concluded from the faint noise of a turning page.

With a deep breath, I turned the knob of the door and quietly walked inside. Twilight was sitting at her bed, books and notes scattered everywhere. Twilight noticed me come inside and quickly looked up with a faint smile.

"Well, good morning Matthew." Twilight greeted.

"Oh, hey. Did you happen to get any sleep tonight?" I asked.

Twilight nodded, "Yes, I just woke up when I heard your shower turning on... Did you forget that you can't go to work today?" Twilight inquired.

"Yeah, I guess I formed a habit after having the same schedule for six years." I replied nonchalantly.

"Wow... That's a really long time to have a job." Twilight commented in awe.

"Long time?" I questioned in disbelief, "Maybe in Equestria, but some guys in that hangar have held on to that job for over thirty years. Most of the teachers I've had during my school years have been teachers for more than a decade as well."

Twilight's mouth hung open for a while, I guess it's shocking to find out that there are people out there that have had the same job for a longer time than you have lived. I guess I find it shocking too, but failed to have as strong a reaction as Twilight's.

I waited a few seconds for Twilight to respond, when she didn't, I decided to change the subject. "So, still working on the spell I take it?" I asked.

That snapped Twilight out of her reverie, "Oh, sorry. Yeah, I'm sure I will be done by the end of today." she replied with a grin.

"That's great, I was actually thinking of inviting Ted over for him to say goodbye to you guys... You know, since he helped you, it's only fair that he gets to give you all a proper farewell." I said. Twilight simply nodded and went back to her work, "So... Coffee?" I offered before leaving.

"Yes please."

...

I walked quietly past a sleeping pink mare and an empty couch.... Wait what? I shrugged and continued my way to the kitchen.

Rainbow Dash was sitting at the table, reading a book. "Rainbow? I didn't know you like reading..." I questioned before greeting. Very polite Matthew, you're a prodigy amongst gentlemen.

Rainbow looked very startled, "M-Matt? Why are you up so early? It's only.... Oh." she trailed off as she remembered what day it was.

I cocked an eyebrow, "What? It's not like being caught reading is embarrassing... Well, I guess it depends on what you're reading. What are you reading anyway?"

"I guess you're right... But I still don't want to look like an egghead, it's okay to be seen reading every now and then, but not every single day like Twilight." Rainbow explained.

"Rainbow, that is so... Odd. But I'm not one to judge, you still didn't tell me what you're reading though."

"It's uhh... Cat's Cradle by some guy named Kurt Vonne-whatnow." Rainbow replied, unsure.

"Vonnegut." I corrected.

"Yeah, that."

"I had no idea you would be into something like that." I commented, somewhat pleased.

"Well, I was looking for something like Daring Doo, but I couldn't find anything that looked like it." Rainbow replied with a shrug.

"Daring Doo? Who's that?" I asked in the thickest of curiosities.

"Only the greatest adventure mare ever!" Rainbow exclaimed, trying not to be so loud as to wake Pinkie in the next room, "She hunts for treasure and outsmarts bad guys in the most awesome of ways!"

"Huh... That actually sounds a lot like Indiana Jones." I commented.

"Who?" Rainbow questioned with a tilt of her rainbow head.

"Indiana Jones, he's a treasure hunter who thinks on his feet and has a witty attitude throughout his adventures." I explained in awe of one of the greatest adventurers in fiction.

"Do you have any of his books?" Rainbow asked curiously.

"His books don't exist." I began, noticing the look of disappointment in Rainbow's eye, "But I can show you the movies." I finished with a grin, she immediately lit up to the idea.

...

Rainbow and I made breakfast, in that time we also accidentally woke Pinkie Pie up when I, in the most awkward way possible, dropped a frying pan. I made some coffee and brought it up to Twilight before Pinkie, Rainbow and I sat at the couch and began our India Jones marathon.

...

"Hahahaha! Did you see that? He just shot his own plane and Jones had no idea!" Rainbow laughed hysterically.

"Yes Rainbow I saw it." I replied monotonously, this was the hundredth time that she asked me that question after all.

...

We had finished watching the entire series of Indiana Jones, I'm guessing they loved it because Rainbow was reenacting some of the action scenes while Pinkie kept pretending to be using a whip.

"That was awesome, which one is the next one?" Rainbow asked excitedly.

"That was the last one they made." I replied with a shrug.

"Oh," Rainbow began with a tinge of sadness, "Do you have anything else?"

"Actually... There one that you have to watch before leaving, Star Wars." I said as I reached for the controller and began searching for the right movie.

...

We finished watching episode two, and I felt like I needed a break. We somehow spent pretty much the entire day sitting on this couch, and I'm starting to see a dent where I originally sat.

"I think I need a little break..." Pinkie said, rubbing her sore eyes.

"Yeah, agreed." I replied, looking at my watch, it was already seven o'clock in the afternoon.

"Awww c'mon! We still have more to watch! Rainbow complained as she waved a magical hoof in front of us, probably trying to convince us with the force.

"Rainbow, I have no clue how your eyes aren't begging for some sunlight right now, but Pinks and I need a break." I said flatly. Twilight walked downstairs as if on cue. "Hey Twilight, long time no see." I greeted.

"Hey guys, sorry to keep you all waiting..." Twilight apologized.

"Twi, there's no need to apologize. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't be going home at all!" Pinkie soothed.

"Thanks Pinkie." Twilight said as her mood brightened a bit, "I'm actually almost ready, I'm going to take a short break before triple checking my calculations a fourth time before attempting to get us home. We don't want to end up in some random place in space after all."

"That's great Twilight." I commented, "I guess I should call Ted over any minute now."

"Hey, did you guys leave any food for me? I'm famished." Twilight asked.

"We left some leftovers in the fridge." Rainbow offered, "You're welcome to have it if you want."

Twilight nodded and headed to the kitchen.

...

We lounged around for a while longer when the sound of my doorbell made me jump. I quickly signaled Rainbow and Pinkie to go to the kitchen before approaching the door.

I realized that I should be cautious as to whom I open my door to, I know people are after us and that we're on borrowed time right now, I looked through the peek hole in my door and was surprised at the sight before me. I opened the door.

A woman was there, she was the person at the desk when I visited Ted's office and she looked like she had been crying all day. "Matthew Anderson" she asked with a cracking voice.

"Yeah?" I replied uncertainly.

"I'm Elizabeth Mcarran, I'm sure you remember me from the office building." Elizabeth identified herself, attempting to regain her composure.

"Sure I remember you, how did you know where I live? What's this about?" I inquired.

"It's... Ted. May I come inside?" Elizabeth announced.

"Yeah, sure." I replied, motioning to the couch. Elizabeth sat down, and seemingly did not notice that the entire couch was warm, maybe she decided against questioning it.

"So, what about Ted?" I questioned with increasing worry.

"This morning... I'm sorry to have to bring you the bad news the way it was brought to me, but he was found dead in his office." Elizabeth said, she looked like she was on the verge of crying once more, but could not, she had no tears left to shed.

Dead...

"What happened to him?" I asked quickly.

"I don't know. All I understand right now is that Ted knew what was going on and that the investigation only lasted five hours before they called it a 'suicide', of which I know is complete bullshit."

I did my best to calm down.

How could you possibly keep calm? You just lost your best friend!

With a heavy sigh, I made my inquiry, "How do you know it was BS?"

"Many reasons. He asked me out the night before, he also told me to send you a message if something were to happen to him. Also, the photo of his family was inside his desk when he was killed and there was nothing but case files on his desk, despite the fact that he only works the archives." Elizabeth reasoned.

"Message? What message?" I asked.

"That's entirely why I'm here, his message to you was: leave. He told me that you would understand."

"That's it? Leave?" I questioned incredulously, I could feel my eyes begin to water.

"That's all he told me..." Elizabeth began unsure before continuing, "When the investigation was over, I took the liberty to investigate for myself. All the forensics team took as evidence was photographs of the scene and a pencil! So, I looked through Ted's desk, I found this." Elizabeth then took out a small, yellow envelope from her purse and handed it to me. The envelope had Matthew Anderson written hastily on it.

"That's certainly Ted's handwriting." I said observantly.

"I know, what's in it though?" Elizabeth asked, I gave her a teary look.

Don't get angry, she already cried her guts out, that's why she's not doing it now.

I slowly opened the envelope, inside was a bunch of cash, nothing else.

"Well?" Elizabeth asked impatiently. I pulled out the wad of money and showed it to her, "Wh-what does it mean?"

Leave. He was giving me this money to leave, it's enough to buy a plane ticket to Chile.

"I... I don't know." I lied. Elizabeth started shedding tears now.

"So Ted Kimell was killed... Shot in the head with his own gun, for no reason?" Elizabeth questioned, standing from her seat, "I find that a little hard to believe... I'll leave that money with you since it's what Ted wished for, but I will keep looking for reasons as to why this wonderful man had to be so cruelly taken from this world. I can only hope that you do the same." Elizabeth said before heading for the door.

I heard the door close and I turned to where the mares went to hide, they were already coming out.

"Who the hay was that?" Rainbow asked.

"And what did she say about Teddy?" Pinkie questioned, her eyes beginning to water.

"He's... He's.." I couldn't hold it in anymore, I had lost my best friend and I needed to cry for him. My head rested on my palms as I tears began shedding freely. I couldn't see what the three mares were doing, but I could feel a wing being wrapped around my back.

"Matty..." Pinkie sobbed a bit, "Teddy wouldn't want you to be so sad for him right now." she said, knowing that saying 'it's going to be alright' would only make it worse.

I didn't look up from the safety of my hands, I tried to ignore the world around me, but I still felt three bodies hug me very tightly.

"Matthew... I understand that this might be hard for you, but we no longer have the time for grief." Twilight said with a slow sob. A few moments passed before I could calm down, I looked up to see my three friends just as sad as I was, yet they were trying to comfort me instead of themselves.

"Alright," I began with a deep breath, "Okay... Twilight, you need to get to work on that spell, now. Pinkie, Rainbow, I need your help barricading the doors and first floor windows." I finished, sucking in my grief for another time.

...

I turned all of the lights off and we moved my couch into the front door and the refrigerator onto the back door, creating makeshift barricades that would hopefully buy us time if they are actually needed.

Twilight was getting herself ready as Pinkie, Rainbow and I gathered the supplies. I was in the kitchen searching for the salt, but I couldn't find it...

"Where's the salt?" I asked in a slightly desperate tone. Pinkie stood next to me on her hind legs and searched through the counter, quickly spotting the salt behind a bottle of olive oil. "Oh... Thanks." I said.

"No problem!" Pinkie replied quickly.

"Hey, how are you supposed to get aluminum powder from this?" Rainbow questioned as she lightly kicked the cheap etch-a-sketch.

"Like this." I said, picking up the toy over a plate and tearing the thing open with the help of a knife. I then poured the fine dust into the plate.

"Oh." Rainbow said.

"Yeah, nobody dare sneeze now." I warned.

"Yeah, that sounds fair." Rainbow replied.

We headed upstairs to my room, Twilight had drawn an intricate rune on the floor with the chalk with the quartz at a corner of it.

"Do you have everything?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Yeah." I replied as I handed her the two ingredients.

"Okay, place the aluminum dust on that corner over there and some of the sea salt on that corner." Twilight ordered, I poured the aluminum on the spot Twilight had indicated as Pinkie did the same with the sea salt. "There. Pinkie, Rainbow, stand here and there." Twilight said, pointing at two spots in the middle of the rune as she took another spot.

This is it...

My heart was racing a mile a second, my mind was racing through thought after thought, the sound of muffled footsteps came from the roof and... What?

"Do you all hear that? I asked nervously. Everypony froze in fear as they listened to the sounds above us. I desperately looked for something to defend ourselves with, damn it, I don't have a gun.

I spotted my skateboard in my closet. That is a stupid idea, I thought as I reached for it and waited next to the closed door. I barely even thought about it before taking my father's timepiece too, and stuffed it in my pocket.

At this point, I guess luck is the only thing that might be on our side anyway.

"Stop looking at me and finish your spell!" I whispered harshly, Rainbow was about to protest, but Pinkie shut her up with a sad look in her eye as Twilight continued her work, her horn glowing softly. I prepared myself to swing at the first thing that walked into my door.

My heart was racing even faster, it was on the verge of bursting out of my chest at this point.
*Thump thump*

I heard the muffled footsteps stop.
*Thump thump*

I knew they were about to make their move, I mentally prepared myself for the worst.
*Thump thump*

...The silence was deafening.
*CRASH!*

I turned to see my window shatter and instinctively covered my eyes when I saw what came through. A blinding light suddenly engulfed the room, it still managed to blind me, but I was not distracted.

I faintly heard my door being smashed open and I quickly whipped around with my board, and smiled slightly when I felt it connect with something hard.

I'm pretty sure whoever I hit yelped in surprise, but the ringing in my ears wouldn't give me the pleasure of hearing it. My vision was coming back, and I saw the intruder in front of me get ready to swing at me just in time for me to move my board in the way. I felt a fist connect with my board along with a distinct cracking noise.

Damn, he broke my board.

I dropped my now useless board and got ready for a fistfight, only to see the faint shadow of what looked like a rifle being raised towards my face.
*Whack*

I fell into a deep darkness, blacker than the darkness I was already inside of. I was unconscious, and I had failed the last of my true friends.

....

How long was I out? I thought to myself, I was awake but there was nothing to see, I was in pitch darkness.

Suddenly, as if in response to my thoughts, a bright light appeared. It was pointed right at me with the power of the sun, I could barely make out two figures behind the light.

"Mr.Anderson, it appears that you have a lot of questions to answer."

------------------------------

Comments

[Remember the porter]

WOo new chapter and it's got the MiB of ponies!
This going to intersesting

[NahB]

*Says "Mister Anderson" in Smith voice*

[Tarquillaman3285]

Did Twilight and the others escape before capture? why would you torment me with this lack of knowledge?!