Friendship Through the Worlds

by ThomasZoey3000

All Coming Undone

Chapter 6: All Coming Undone

Destruction and Mayhem. Those were the only words that could describe the scene between Brechin' and Washago. Starlight Glimmer was still on her rampage, but her intensions had changed in the distance between the two towns.

As she was passing an intersection outside of Brechin', she saw something on one of those moving picture machines in a nearby store. It was a minor news report from a town much farther away from where she was.

"So tell us Sir, what happened?" asked the news reporter.

"Well we were out, minding our own business," said the man. "Then all of the sudden, we were assaulted by a paint ball gun, but there was no one there. Yet as you can see, we're covered in paint balls."

"Do you have prove this paint ball gun fired at you?"

"Yes we do. We have a shoulder cam."

The news report then cut to the shoulder footage, and while it did reveal the people to be hunters instead of just passers by, it did show the gun being fired off, but with no person there.

Starlight Glimmer smirked. Based on what she had learned of this world, she knew there was no way humans could get their weapons to float, so that left only one option. Magic was involved. It was also proven correct as she could just see magic floating around the gun.

Now in Washago, she decided to create more damage so the humans would have to focus on that, rather than look for her.

"I'll sleep for the night, then go in for the attack. Sparkle and her friends won't know what hit them until it's too late."

Yet as she left, she saw something which caught her eye; A big navy yard.

"Well now," she smirked. "I think the rest can wait till I've checked this out."

It didn't take Matthew long to find out what happened. He ended up leaving his friends to tend to the news crew. The ponies hid out of sight while Matthew showed them around.

"As you can see, it's just little old me and my cat," he said.

"Then how do you explain that piece of footage?" asked the news reporter.

"Ever heard of CGI? I mean sure I have pointed that paintball gun at them, but it was mainly to scare them off. They could've edited the footage to make it look like it was floating out there." He then whispered, "you know how some people just want attention."

"Indeed so," sighed the reporter. "I'll make sure this gets cleared up."

"That'd be great, thank you."

The news crew soon left. Matthew stood at his back door for half a minute before he walked back into the kitchen. He took in a deep breath and shouted, "TWILIGHT!"

Twilight flew back into the room, soon being followed by the other ponies.

"Sorry Matthew, we didn't mean to get you into trouble," she said. "We just wanted to get them off the property, and to stop them from hurting the animals."

"Besides, how were we suppose to know they had those silly things. Uh-what are they-"

"Cameras, and they film things to be seen later on, much like what you see on the television shows." He groaned and grabbed the back of a chair and took in deep breaths. "It's fine everypony, you were only doing what you thought was right. Besides, it wasn't that hard to get those news crews to leave."

"And on that note, what is CGI?" Applejack asked curiously.

Before Matthew could answer, he heard his phone ringing, "oh what now?!" He walked over to his phone and picked it up, "you got Matthew, what's up?"

"Matt, do you think you can meet us by the boat launch? We need to talk to you," came the voice of Ryan.

"Well if you guys have anything to say, you can just tell me now."

There came a groan on the other side of the phone, "we weren't going to say anything before, but we have noticed that you've been acting odd since we came here. We need to talk face to face, no excuses Matthew." And he hung up.

"Acting odd?" Matthew asked as he put the phone down. "I haven't been acting odd, have I?"

The ponies didn't say a word. Matthew sighed, grabbed his truck keys and headed out the door.

In Canterlot, Princess Celestia, Princess Luna, Moondancer, Spike and Sunset Shimmer were all looking away in the vault that once belonged to Star Swirl the Breaded. Inside the vault was the scroll that had the spell that could teleport the group to where Twilight Sparkle and her friends were. There was however one problem. Which scroll had it?

"There are thousands of scrolls in here!" groaned Spike. "It took Pinkie, Twilight and I a whole night to find a time travel spell, and even then, we found it after the sun had risen."

"Lucky you," sighed Moondancer. "I'd gladly spend a day in here. Reading up on all of Starswirl's notes, and read about his own adventures."

"You and I live two very different lives, yet somehow similar."

Princess Celestia could only chuckle at the scene. However, she noticed that Sunset was looking elsewhere instead of with the group. She started making her way to the mare, but was blocked by Princess Luna.

"Maybe it's best you give her some more time, I'm sure she's not quite ready to talk yet."

"I suppose, I just miss her so much. She's like a daughter to me, and now she's here," she sighed and turned away to look down another section of shelves. "Someday we'll talk."

Sunset didn't say anything, but she heard the words of her princess, "I miss you too."

As she began her search again, her journal started glowing. She opened it up and read a message that read, "we're still okay, but our new friend seems to be getting into trouble with his friends. Also, I think Starlight Glimmer is getting closer to us. Please tell me you've found a way to get us home."

Sunset brought out a pen with her magic and wrote down, "made it to Equestria, but looking for the teleportation spell for dimensions is like trying to find a needle in a haystack. Don't worry, we're not giving up, though you and the others might need to get ready. If memory serves right, Starlight Glimmer will not go down that easily without a fight."

"And how do you know this?" came the replying message.

"I'll explain later, right now, it's back to the search. See you soon, your friend, Sunset Shimmer."

She put the journal back into her saddlebag, then went back to her search.

Patrick, Ryan and Emily were waiting at the boat ramp impatiently, not saying a word the entire time. Finally, after what seemed like forever, Matthew showed up.

"So, what did you guys mean by what you said on the phone? Aren't you enjoying your visit here?"

"We would if our old friend was actually focused on spending time with his friends," Patrick said firmly. "But every time we're with you, it seems like you got something to hide."

"I was the first to notice it back at your house," said Emily. "At first, I thought it was nothing because it's been a while since we, well mostly you three, hung out. But from today alone, we've all noticed your odd behavior."

"You change what you're about to say, and you stop to keep listening to the news reports," added Patrick. "It's like you're expecting bad news."

"So I like listening to the news, and I'm just trying to figure out what to say," Matthew said in defense.

"And when you heard about the hunters near your home, you took off without saying a word to us," Ryan pointed out.

"Well, uh, those idiots could damage on my property, I had to-"

"Save it Matthew, we know you're hiding something!" snapped Patrick.

Matthew gasped hearing that. Indeed it had been obvious to others. He recomposed himself, "uh, no, of course I'm not hiding something. We used to tell each other everything."

"That's just it Matthew, we used to, but now, after much time, things have changed."

"What's going on Matthew?" Ryan asked. "This whole trip was to reunite us, yet the whole time we've been with you, it's like you want nothing to do with us."

"No guys, that's not it."

"Then what's going on?" Patrick asked crossly.

"It's well, it's hard to explain."

Emily groaned and kicked the ground angrily, "see guys, he's hiding something and whatever it is, he doesn't trust us enough to know."

"Okay, so maybe I do have a secret or two, that doesn't mean I don't want to see you guys. When you called me to tell me you were coming up here, I was super excited over seeing you guys again. So why would I want to avoid you when I've been looking forward to your arrival?"

"I don't know Matt, you tell us," said Patrick, giving him a firm glare.

Matthew opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Emily started walking to the vehicle, "come on guys, let's go. It's clear Matthew rather spend his time on his own rather than with his friends."

"What?! No guys, don't do that!"

"Unless you can give us a good reason to stay, we're going home," Ryan said firmly. "So, what will it be Matthew?"

"I can't."

"Why not?"

"Cause I...well I..."

"WHY NOT?!"

Matthew' temper rose and he shouted, "cause I don't trust you guys enough to know!"

There was stunned silence. It was only when the words left his mouth that Matthew realized his huge mistake. The stunned looks on his friend's faces changed to angry glares at him.

"Guys, I didn't mean to-"

"Goodbye Matthew. Since you prefer to keep yourself to yourself, let's hope our paths never cross again."

"No wait!"

But nothing he could say would change their minds. They got into their vehicle and went back to the hotel. Matthew stayed where he was, not quite sure what he should do next. After a minute, he snapped back to reality and after cursing under his breath, he got into his truck and drove off to the house.

When he arrived though, he didn't go inside to meet up with the ponies. Instead, he parked the truck outside the garage and went inside to do some cleaning. For now, he just wanted to be alone.

Author's Note:

I'm not going to lie, this rewrite has been difficult to work on as I'm including a lot of the original deleted bits from the original 2015 version. Hopefully now though, it should get easy. Fingers are crossed.