Shades of Other Realities

by Seluxity

Chapter IV. Sixteen

Sometimes I felt feverish. Sometimes they beat me the chills. But not because of illness. No, not for that reason. I get sick very rarely, especially in recent years. I feel like I have a cold when I'm overwhelmed. The brightest and most positive. I can hardly think, I lie down and Wake up, I have an incessant chill, but I am full of strength and full of desire. Desires to live, desires to create. Desires to feel, desires to enjoy these feelings. Desires to experience pleasant sensations from what they are.

Outwardly it does look like a disease, but it is not. It is something beautiful and something quivering. What makes you alive. What makes you live in this world, what makes you a part of it. When these feelings come - they carry what makes you often soar in the clouds, silly smile and sitting in the bus, dreamy look out the window. Listening, at the same time, to music that becomes the anthem of these feelings.

With each new wave of fever comes new music, new songs. But there are those that sound constantly, being the leitmotif of all these feelings, as musicians would probably put it.

I'm a bit of a musician myself, so I know what I'm talking about. Melodies that you want to whistle, words that you want to hum. And so always.

A part of me continued, actively continued, to deny the reality of everything that was happening around me. This part will always be, the only question is to what extent it will manifest itself.

This is really impossible to accept one hundred percent. It's all too irrational. But in contrast, you can put such an argument as feelings and emotions. They are just the most that neither is real. And caused by something real. There can be no such lie. At least I couldn't believe it. Or should I say I didn't want to believe? Not wanted to and could not.

There was a part of me that told me stubbornly that outside the nearest door, everything around me would disappear, dissipate like a morning haze with the first rays of the sun rising over the Eastern horizon. But another part repeated that there could be no such illusion. Such a plausible dream, too. Well, it remains to personally verify all this. There, behind the nearest door. What should I expect? Waking from a dream or another world?

"Where are we?" I asked the obvious question. "Is this some kind of laboratory?"

Twilight smiled back.

"No, not really. It's an old building on the edge of town. There used to be a small art gallery here. And lately it's been empty."

"We've come to the conclusion that this is the perfect place to build a portal," Sunset added. "No one usually comes here, not even tramps and young men. Too inconspicuous a place."

"How long have you been like this? Built."

Twilight adjusted her glasses again.

"Year. Understand. You mean last may?"

Sparkle narrowed her eyes.

"What month do you think it is?" she asked.

"May."

"And the year?"

I looked at the girl.

"2018."

"In your world may 2018?"

"Yeah. And you have it, it turns out, is not so?"

To my right, Sunset shook her head.

"Now we have the end of August 2017."

That's it. So the course of time in parallel universes is different? Well, something like that was probably to be expected. A parallel world, in a word.

Another thought occurred to me. How old am I in this world then? As much as in my world or not?

"If you still have 2017, then I'm almost a year younger here?"

"What year were you born?" Applejack asked.

"I was born in January 2001. I'm seventeen years old in my world."

"If you were born in 2001, you're sixteen in this world," Twilight Sparkle said.

Sixteen. So many feelings aroused in me this figure. I wrote that my sixteen was the best thing that had ever happened to me. So many wonderful memories.

So many new feelings, so many amazing emotions. I wanted to experience it all again. Again for the first time, the most tremulous and the most exciting.

I remembered the first of September in the eleventh grade. I'm coming home after the lineup. In headphones plays group Fall Out Boy. I can't remember exactly what track it was. But definitely one of those that I often listen back to. Wonderful weather, the sun shines brightly, not hot. Clear blue sky overhead, it is not clear what else is needed for happiness. I think I need too much.

The holidays are over, which makes me very sad. There is no desire to return to school. There is no desire to enjoy a wonderful day, I just see no reason to enjoy what I see every day. It is all there and it has always been. And I didn't think it was going anywhere.

There will come a rainy day will be pouring torrential rain, booming thunder. Squalls of wind will sway the trees, the sun will be lost among the impenetrable black clouds. But then the rain would stop. The clouds will disperse and the sun will Shine again in a clear blue sky. And maybe we can even see a beautiful rainbow. No, we'll see her for sure. The circle of life, just like in the Lion King. In order to truly begin to appreciate, you must first lose.

A typical day when you do not want to be sad or happy. Just to go home and lock myself in my room and throw myself on the bed and put a pillow over my head and imagine for a few minutes that everything is not true, that everything is just an illusion. That everything is really the way I want it. No, it's not sadness. This is just one of my unfulfilled desires. I'm used to them. I mean, the fact that most of my desires are things that can't be. Not in this universe.

I stumble into my room, shutting myself off from the world. I have long been going to review "Equestria Girls", all from the very first part. And it seems to be the perfect moment for that.

I watched a cartoon. It is no less interesting to review it than to watch it for the first time. I remember there was something else. A glass of ice cream, I think. Very tasty ice cream. I haven't had ice cream in a while. Well, that time, the first of September, I think it was the last.

The sweet taste of ice cream and my emotions after watching. Although the ice cream was cold, it was incredibly warm. Warm and so comfortable at home. It was as if I had been away for a long time, and now I was back. It feels incredible. I was smiling-for the first time all day, it was a genuine smile. I remembered school, remembered my classmates. I remembered my sincere reluctance to go to the ruler.

At that moment I clearly felt as if something was changing inside me. Changing, and no doubt changing for the better.

The bright sun in the clear blue sky ceases to be something ordinary. Something that there is no point in rejoicing, because it was, is, and probably will be for a very long time.

As with the school. It had ceased to be an oppressive grayness. I realized there wasn't much time before graduation. I realized that this was my last year at school, next to my classmates, to whom I had become so accustomed over the years.

I never hated school. But at some point tired of it. Now the fatigue was gone. If it's always going to be a clear day, no matter how I feel about it, it's not. It will end. These times, these years, which, in fact, were the best in life and the memories of them are the brightest and most positive.

I realized all this thanks to the cartoon. Thanks to the cartoon, I was able to genuinely enjoy life. For the first time in what must have been a very long time.

Sixteen. I was sixteen. Many memories. Much emotion. Sixteen. Just a figure, but how much is connected with it. This is truly something special.

"We have to go," Twilight Sparkle said after a moment.

"How long has it been?" Rainbow Dash asked.

Rarity pulled out her phone and looked.

"Girls, it's almost four in the morning."

"Four in the morning?" I asked.

"Opening a portal to another dimension is better when no one can see it." Sunset said.

I felt myself blush as I looked at her. That is why I hastily turned away in the opposite direction. There Rarity was manipulating her smartphone. It was a good thing she was busy, or I would have blushed even more if I had met her eyes.

"Anyway, we're at Applejack's farm now," Pinkie Pie said. "That's what our parents think."

After Pinkie's remark about parents, I wondered how old girls should be then. It was difficult to focus on cartoons, because time here flows a little differently than in my world. I had to find out.

"Which class will you go to?"

"Eleven," Twilight said.

"Graduation?" I blurted out.

"What?" the girl looked at me blankly. "No, why do you think so?"

And then I remembered that the eleven-year education system in schools is not everywhere. In many European countries, the United States, Canada, twelve years study at school. So they still had two years of school to go, not one.

"In my office... I mean, in my country, students study for eleven years. You have not?"

Twilight shook her head.

"Ok," I said.

After that, we headed for the door-the exit from the room that was once an art gallery. Here me, on the idea of, waited the most exciting moment. What would I see outside the door? Will there be a darkness in which the girls will disappear, and when I enter, I will disappear, waking up in my bed in my world. A cold sweat would break out on my forehead, and my breathing would be very heavy. Sadness will roll over me. An overwhelming, uncompromising sadness. A crushing emptiness within. I know that feeling, believe me. Only this time the blow would be fatal.

Or something else is waiting for me. Something quite different from what I have just described.

Sunset Shimmer led the way to the door. Got the key. She put it in the keyhole and turned it. The door was open. Twilight switched off the dashboard. She was standing beside Sunset now.

"What awaits me there?" suddenly asked I. All girls are you staring at on me.

"You'll see," Twilight Sparkle said.

I'm ready. My heart was pounding in my chest. All or nothing. Here it is, the point of no return. After this moment, my life will change. I was excited about. More than ever. Remember the excitement when you come to class without completing the task, and the teacher or teacher passes by. You pray that it will pass by and not stop at you. Although no, not the most appropriate example.

Remember the first performance in public? Fear shackles the whole body, it becomes difficult to breathe, and thoughts are confused in the head. Now I must have felt something similar. What would I see beyond that door? What is waiting for me.

The door opened and Sunset stepped aside so I could get out first. I took a few steps toward the door. He paused for a moment. Then, taking a deep breath, I took a decisive step forward.

A cool wind blew over me. No, I wasn't cold. He caressed her skin, the hair on her head fluttered. I took a deep breath of the pure morning air. It was quiet, the blood pounding in my temples, and I thought I could even hear it. Again the tears came to my eyes. They were wet. I squeezed my eyes shut. And when he opened his eyes, the picture was still there. She was real. This is not a dream. I'm awake.

Before me, in the morning haze, lay the still sleeping city. Not the city I lived in. No, it was a small town, as is often shown in American films or TV series. Like some Derry in a Stephen King novel.

To my right the sky was beginning to lighten, and I gathered that this was where the East lay. It's a lovely summer morning, it's going to be light soon.

I was really in another world. I really was in a different universe. Everything was not the same as in my universe. Everything is so bright, so juicy, as if painted. Like the inhabitants of this world. Like me. I looked down at my hands. On their pale-gays their fingertips. It wasn't my body. Or rather, not the one I was born into. But it was me. I, and the most that neither is I. As strange as it may sound. I'm real. I am what I should be. I just realized that. Although known for a long time.

Everything around me seemed so beautiful, so beautiful. So alive. I felt different. I seemed to feel better. Here it is, what I dreamed of. I'm here now. I can smell those smells and enjoy the view.

I stood there for about a minute. Just looked, just breathed. I looked at the town and it seemed to me something native, something close. Something special.

One of the girls took my hand. Rarity.

"Now you're make sure it's real?" she asked.

"Yes," I said quietly.

And it was true.

The other girls stood beside me.

"What's next?"

"You should probably get some sleep first," Twilight said. "Yeah. We've been up all night."

It was almost morning. Although, when the portal opened, it was midnight. In my world. So it should be a few hours before morning. But here it is almost morning and the sun will begin to rise above the horizon very soon.

"Where to now?" I asked.

"To our farm," Applejack said.

"And then what?"

To tell the truth, I wasn't too interested in what would happen next.

"We'll discuss what happens after we sleep," Twilight said.

Fluttershy yawned. Pinkie Pie, too, I think. Even such an active girl like her tend to get tired and want to sleep. Amazing thing.

"Well, then, let's go to the Apple' farm," said Sunset Shimmer.

She handed the key to Rarity, who locked the door to the science lab.

"Would your family mind?" I asked Applejack. "I mean, they know sunset shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Fluttershy. But here I am – a complete stranger, and even a guy."

"They're not home. They'll be back tomorrow afternoon. Well, this afternoon."

"I see," I said.

Rarity handed the key to Twilight Sparkle.

The first rays of the sun foreshadowed the beginning of a new day. A day that should be the most extraordinary day of my life. First day in the new world. The first day together with their favorite heroines.

"Shall we go then?" Sunset asked.

"The farm isn't that far from here," Applejack said.

I just nodded.

We headed toward the Apple's farm, which was near the town. As the town itself is not very large, the farm can be reached on foot.

The morning summer wind blew in my face. I smiled, the pleasant coolness caressing me. I was absolutely happy in that moment and didn't want to think about anything that had to do with my world. School, home, city. I left everything behind, out there in another universe.

I left behind. And ahead of me was waiting for a new world. I went to meet him, and he smiled at me. A new life was beginning right now.