Friendship Through the Worlds

by ThomasZoey3000

The Big Reveal

Chapter 7: The Big Reveal

The hours passed, but Matthew hadn't returned to the house. The six ponies were starting to worry.

"Surely he would've come in by now," commented Rarity. "I mean, how much time can a human spend in one of those garage things?"

Rainbow Dash gave her a deadpanned look.

"Seriously Rarity! You're asking us, the ponies who know almost nothing about humans!"

"That call did sound serious," said Fluttershy while patting Bridget.

"Maybe one of us should go out there to check on him" Applejack suggested.

Pinkie Pie bounced up at once, "I'll go! I have a sure fire way of turning frowns upside down!"

And she started making her way to the door, only to be stopped by Twilight's alicorn magic.

"Given how we were nearly captured on film, I don't think it would be a good idea for anypony to go out there unless they can teleport."

Pinkie sighed and admitted defeat. Once she had let go of the pink pony, Twilight's horn lit up and she disappeared from the kitchen, and reappeared outside the garage door. She was about to open the door, when without warning, a huge downpour of rain came down.

"I'll never get used to weather in the human world," she grumbled.

Inside the garage, Matthew sat miserably on the workbench. He done a few repairs to some broken items, and even cleaned the inside of the garage, twice. Yet, with all that done, he was still not ready to go back inside. He was now sitting on his workbench, not really looking anywhere with no sounds around him.

The silence was soon broken as the door opened, and in walked a very wet Twilight Sparkle.

"What are you doing out here?" he asked bluntly.

"We're all concerned about you, so I came out to see if you were okay," she answered before shaking the water out of her fur and wings. "I'm guessing it didn't go well."

"No, it didn't. Now please go back inside, I'll be in soon."

But Twilight didn't leave. Instead, she walked over towards him. She raised up a hoof and placed it gently on his left knee.

"Care to talk about it?"

At first, Matthew didn't say a word, but he soon admitted defeat and told Twilight of why his friendships with Ryan, Patrick and Emily ended the way they did.

"I see, it was all a matter of trust," she said thoughtfully, "but why didn't you think it was a good idea to tell them about us?"

"Do you know what could happen if others found out about you? The short answer; you'll never get to go home."

"But, your friends seem like the trustworthy type. Could it be that you don't trust anyone?"

Matthew opened his mouth to retort, but no words came out at all. The silence gave Twilight the answer she was looking for, "why do you not trust others? Is there a reason for it?"

But Matthew didn't answer.

"You know Matthew, at one time, I hid things from my friends because I was worried about what they would say about them. But as it turns out, I had nothing to worry about as true friends don't judge you and won't turn their backs on you if you tell them stuff like this."

She sighed and she removed her hoof from his knee and making it hit the floor with a light tap.

"Of course, not mending mistakes that were made can lead you into trouble much further down the path."

"Around here, we call it, down the road," Matthew interrupted.

"Universal differences," Twilight nodded. "Anyways, I had this friend named Moondancer from when I went to Celestia's school for gifted unicorns. She invited me to a party, but because I was so focused on studying, I didn't go and when I left for Ponyville, I didn't even say good bye to her or anypony I knew in Canterlot. I ended hurting a lot of ponies that day, but none more so than Moondancer."

"How so?" He had never seen this moment, so either it was coming up or was something that would never be shown in the show.

"It made her shut the world out, and she refused to make any new friends, and when I tried to apologize, well-" she paused and winced, "it lead to an overdue breakdown."

Silence returned to the garage before Matthew spoke again, "and how is she now?"

Twilight smiled, "she's doing much better nowadays. Her friendship circle has grown so much, she also works at the library and book store, plus, she's smiling again." Her happy look changed to a firm stare, "but do you see now what your actions can do to others?"

"I guess, but-"

"There might be some people out there that are not trustworthy, but there is one thing you can be certain of...your friends are indeed trustworthy. So, why keep this a secret anymore?"

Matthew opened his mouth, but didn't say a word. He thought about what Twilight said, and considered the words.

Back at the hotel, Patrick, Ryan and Emily were nearly finished with their packing.

"To think we wasted all that gas, money and effort to see him, and he doesn't want anything to do with us," grumbled Patrick. "I mean, what kind of person is he?"

"He's not the same Matthew we knew from before," Ryan admitted.

"Yeah, the old Matthew would've been happy to see us. In fact, we would've been out on his back porch chatting away while enjoying bottles of soda pop."

"Yet, he's not like that now," said Emily. "Now let's finish and get the heck out of this town."

The boys sighed and continued with their packing. As he was about to grab the last batch of clothes from the drawer, Patrick's phone rang. He looked and groaned.

"What is it?" Emily asked.

"It's Matthew."

"Ignore it, and let it go to voicemail."

"Sure, and delete it afterword too," he nodded in agreement.

All too soon, they were done. They checked out of the hotel and began making their way out of town. But they hadn't gone far before Patrick's phone went off again. Shaking his head angrily, he declined the call. Less than a minute later, it rang again.

"Alright that's it, I'm giving him a piece of my mind!"

"Fine, but make it quick," sighed Ryan.

Patrick accepted the call this time, but spoke first, "Listen to us Matthew, we said want nothing more to do with you and we meant it! Now be a good idiot, and leave us the-"

But he was cut off as Matthew spoke.

"You guys were right about me."

Hearing that, Ryan pulled off the road and they all looked to Patrick's phone.

"I'm sorry, what did you just say?"

"I said you guys were right about me. The truth is, I was hiding something from not just you guys, but from everyone else. But as someone very wise told me," he paused for a couple of seconds before continuing, "real friends are trustworthy."

"Well we're glad you learned that lesson, but it's too little too late."

Emily spoke next, "we already booked out of the hotel, and we're now on the side of the road on the highway. What we said stands, so goo-"

"Please guys, don't go," Matthew pleaded.

"And why shouldn't we?"

"Cause if you come by the house, I will reveal the reason why I've been acting secretive."

Ryan, Emily and Patrick looked to each other, then back to the phone. Finally, Ryan broke the silence, "how do we know this isn't some trick you're trying to pull on us?" he asked.

"It's up to you guys, but if you do come here, I will reveal the whole truth, as well as you give you a proper hundred percent apology."

Patrick sighed, "I don't know."

"He's only half an hour away, so it wouldn't take take us long," said Ryan. He turned to Emily, "what do you think?"

She growled angrily, "I should be saying no, and to forget it!" She threw her hands in the air before making them slap her knees, "let's go back!"

Patrick turned back to his phone while Ryan turned the car around, "alright Matthew, we're coming back, but if you're lying, then you'll regret it."

"Thanks guys, I promise, you won't be disappointed."

After half an hour later, the car pulled back into Matthew's driveway. Standing outside on the back porch was Matthew himself, "hey guys, I'm glad you decided to come back."

"Truth Matthew, or we're gone!" snapped Ryan angrily.

Matthew was taken aback from the quick response, but he composed himself.

"Come inside, and all will be revealed."

They all followed him inside, but only stared at him with arms crossed and eyes narrowed at him.

"Well I guess I should just get straight to the point." He looked to the stairwell, "you can all come up now, it's time."

Ryan, Emily and Patrick raised eyebrows at him, but soon their expressions changed when Twilight and her friends came up the stairs and into the kitchen.

"Howdy Sugarcubes," said Applejack, pulling her hat down briefly before putting it back into position.

"Wha...how...are they..."

"Yes, they are real," Matthew answered. "Guys, meet the ponies of Equestria."

"But how?"

"Starlight Glimmer," Rainbow Dash answered. And the ponies explained about how they came to the human world.

Once they were done, they looked to Matthew.

"I was hiding them from the world because, as you guys know, some will be happy to see these ponies here, others may want to capture them and use them for experiments." He looked down to Fluttershy, "sorry for scaring you Fluttershy."

"It's alright," she said meekly.

"But doing that however only made me avoid you guys, despite the fact I was excited by having you here. Patrick, Ryan, you two are the only friends I have left from my childhood, and if our friendships ended, it'd be like a part of my life was gone forever. I'm truly sorry for what I did, and I promise I won't hide anything from you, or Emily, ever again."

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Patrick said cautiously.

"You do have a small history of breaking promises," added Ryan. This remark made Matthew look down to the floor sadly. However, Ryan's expression changed, "but in spite of your many faults, you do try your best to make up for your mistakes."

"So, does this mean you forgive me?"

"Not completely," Emily cut in, "you lied to us, shouted at us and showed you have trust issues, even with your friends. However, we can work at it."

Twilight nodded happily. Matthew smiled, "thank you my friends, I'll do my best to make it up to you."

"I hope so," said Ryan. He looked down to Twilight, "so this Starlight Glimmer, where is she?"

"Celestia knows where," Twilight sighed. "But I have a bad feeling she'll show up anytime now. Especially with that news report."

"So the floating paintball guns-"

"Yes Patrick," sighed Applejack as she smacked her hoof against her forehead, "that was us."

"Namely Twilight."

"RAINBOW DASH!" Applejack snapped at the pegasus. That shut the rainbow pony up.

"We just did that to scare those hunters," admitted Twilight. "We didn't expect all of this, nor the fallout Matthew would have with you guys. Sadly, I'm afraid this might have gotten Starlight Glimmer's attention, so at any given point, we'll have to face her. With luck, we talk her into stopping."

"But knowing her, that'll most likely not be the case," Rarity pointed out.

"Which means, we'll have to face her once more." Twilight looked up to Matthew, "we promise not to reveal ourselves too much to the world, and we won't ask for your help."

"Are you kidding me? After everything we've been through, you think I'm just going to stand on the sidelines while you face this crazy pony on your own? Not a chance Twilight Sparkle, I'll help you."

"You've already done enough, we can't ask for more."

Patrick chuckled, "one thing you'll learn about Matthew is that he never gives up on friends. I mean, look at us, we were about ready to leave, and yet here we are."

Ryan nodded, "so if Matthew's going to help you, we will too."

Twilight was about to retort, but Pinkie Pie blocked her muzzle with her hoof, "it's better to except help. After all, it's better to go at it together than alone."

Twilight smiled and accepted the help.

"Quick question though," said Patrick.

"What's that?" Matthew asked.

"Do you have any weapons for us to use?"