"Matt.." A quiet raspy voice whispers from above me as I slowly, groggily, wake up from my slumber. I look up through squinted eyes to see a cyan pony looking down on me from my bed. I almost freak out as my memories haven't quite returned to me, but then I recognize the pony and give a sigh of relief. I look over at the digital clock on my shelf and it says that it's only three in the morning.

"What?" I mumble as I rub my eyes in an attempt to make my vision clear.

"I-I'm scared. I can't sleep because for the first time in like forever... I'm scared." She says with a sad tone. Under normal circumstances, I would tell whoever woke me up at three to suck it up and go to bed. However, she did just get ripped away from her world and woke up here where she learned that she can't go home and her entire existence has to be kept a secret.

"C'mere." I pat the floor next to my sleeping bag. She jumps down and sits next to me, sobbing so quietly that I barely even notice despite the absolute silence resonating through the house. "I understand how you must feel, but you can't just give up. Keep going, and don't look behind you. The past is the past, don't let that haunt you, instead, make a new future for yourself. Live, and be happy, that's my motto..." I saw as I place a hand on her back. She looks up at me in understanding, but I can tell she's still upset.

"I can't be happy... without my friends..." She mumbles as her ears droop.

"Then make new ones." I say sternly as I look her directly in her eyes. "Emily is here for you, and so am I. My parents, though they might freak out at first, will totally accept you. Everything will be fine Rainbow, but you need to make one thing your priority here."

"And what's... that?" She says as she wipes tears from her eyes with her front leg.

"Be. Happy." I say with a confident smile.

We sit in silence while Rainbow slowly dries her tears. After a few minutes pass, she, to my surprise, embraces me in a tight hug that makes me a little uncomfortable.

"Thanks Matt." She says as she pulls away. And with that, she hops back into bed. I roll over and tuck myself back into my sleeping bag and give a loud sigh. It takes only a few seconds for me to drift back into the realm of sleep.

*BEEP* *BEEP* *BEEP*

"What's that!?" Rainbow yells as she jerks up in my bed. I leap out of the sleeping bag and slap a hand over her mouth.

"Quiet! It's my alarm clock, I need to go to school." I say as I turn the clock off.

"You still go to school? I thought you were seventeen." Rainbow says as she cocks her head.

"Yeah... Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, where I'm from, we only go to school as fillies, then we just focus on what our Cutie Marks tell us our destinies are." She says like she expects me to know what the hell she's talking about.

"Cu... Cutie Mark!? What the hell is that!?" I yell with a chuckle. I remember that my parents might hear me, so I quiet myself.

"You know, the thing that tells you what you're talent is?" She says as she pulls the covers down to reveal a weird tattoo. "Mine means that I'm good a flying and I love speed, two very true things!" She says with a cocky attitude.

"Yeah... anyway enough of your weird bullshit, I need to get going. If you're going to meet my parents you better come now, because I'm not leaving you here alone with them." I say as I slip on my hoodie and jeans.

"Nice jacket." She expresses as she hops off my bed and completely ignores what I just said. I look down at the hoodie and realize why she likes it. The thing is practically the same shade of cyan as her.

"Yeah yeah, let's go get breakfast." I mumble as I swing open my door. It hits the wall with a loud thud. I'm definitely not a morning person, so in the morning I give less fucks than I normally do about anything. I have Rainbow sit at the table while I make the one thing that I know how to cook, toast. I pop two pieces of bread into the toaster and flick the switch to turn it on. I lean on the counter, rubbing my eyes to try to get the sleep out.

"How do you think they'll react to a freak like me?" Rainbow says as she plays with a fork on the table.

"You're not a freak... And they'll probably be shocked like I was, but I think they'll be okay with you staying here.

"I hope you're right..."

"I am. I'm always right." I express with a cocky attitude as the pieces of toast pop out of the toaster. I put them on two separate napkins, and hand one to Rainbow.

"Here's your five star meal. Remember to leave a good review on my website." I say with a dumb giggle. That's what the morning does to me.

"Website?"

"I'll explain later."

"Rainbow!" Emily appears at the base of the stairs, holding her teddy bear with one hand, and rubbing her eyes with the other.

"Hey squirt." Rainbow says nervously, still not used to Emily being so energetic towards her. It doesn't help that Emily gives her an even tighter hug than she gave me.

"Want a poptart Em?" I say as I pull out the box of pastries from the cabinet.

"Yes!"

"Okay just give me a minute."

The moment I'd been dreading all morning finally comes when I hear both of my parents coming down the stairs.

"You two stay here." I say as I rush out of the kitchen. I put myself in front of my parents and give them an awkward smile.

"Heyyyyy" I say awkwardly as they give me curious looks. "So you two look great this morning!"

"What did you do now Matt?" My dad says as he rubs his face. "You're never this nice in the morning unless you did something stupid."

"I-I didn't necessarily DO anything, but..." I rub my head as my voice trails off. "Maybe I should just show you, then explain."

I lead my parents to the kitchen, giving them more compliments to try to butter them up. When we turn the corner, everything goes quiet. Rainbow stares at my parents with a blank expression, while my parents stare at her with mouths hanging open. Emily just happily eats her poptart while looking between all of us.

"Surprise!..." I say as I dramatically shake my hands.

Ten minutes later, my dad was just staring at his coffee, while my mom excitedly riddles Rainbow with questions that she is way to eager to answer, considering most are about flying and her wings. After introducing everyone and explaining how Rainbow got here, my dad just kind of brushed it all aside, probably hoping that this was some weird dream. My mother, however, was so intrigued with Rainbow, that they instantly became friends.

"I gotta hit the road." I say as I place my plate in cup in the sink. "Rainbow... just don't break anything."

"You say that like you think I will!" I hear as the front door closes behind me.

I take a look at my truck, contemplating whether or not I should take it. I feel the cool autumn breeze blow towards me, and decide to walk to school. I plug in my headphones into the jack on my phone, and try to lose myself in the music. It takes about twenty minutes to reach the school, the sight of it bringing me dread. I sigh as I realize I'll have to go through another dreadful day here.

"Matt!" A voice calls from across the parking lot. I turn and see Skyler running towards me with a piece of paper. My heart flutters just at the sight of her.

"Y-yeah?" I stutter nervously.

"Check it out! You're in the newspaper!"

"What!?" I yell as I rip the paper away from her. To my horror, I see a picture of the front of my house, my mother, Emily, and myself standing in front of it, as well as a picture of the crater in my backyard. "The police... oh shit." I mumble under my breath. My heart stops when I take a closer look at the first picture. The photo is in black and white, but if you look closely at my bedroom window, you can see Rainbow looking out towards the street!

"Skyler! Where did you get this!?" I yell in desperation. I can't let anyone notice this, if they do, my normal life is over!

"The school set up a stack by the front entrance." She says with a confused look as she points to the school with her thumb.

"Thanks!" I yell as I full sprint towards the entrance. I see that the stack if already gone, only a few papers remaining. "Shit... FUCK!" I yell to myself in my mind. This is it... If anyone sees Rainbow in the picture, they'll ask questions, and those questions will learn to her being discovered.

I try to calm myself down. "Okay... if I can just make it through today, I should be fine..." I whisper to myself as I stare at the doors.

I walk towards them slowly. "Here goes nothing."

*RIIIIIING*

The final bell rings, and I power walk out of the classroom. I ignore the strange looks I receive as I sprint out the doors. I sprint home, backpack smashing into my back with each step. Now I wish I had taken my truck this morning.

My nightmare sadly becomes reality when I see a crowd of what appears to be civilians, mixed with news reporters. In the center of the crowd, I see Emily who must have just gotten home from her school. Her elementary is literally down the street, so my parents let her walk home from school everyday. Looks like she got here before me. To my shock, when I get closer, I can see a news reporter kneeling down with a microphone pointed at Emily.

"We have reason to believe that there is a strange creature in your house." The news reporter says. "At first it was believe to be a toy, but we got a report from a civilian that claims to have seen it move, and look at him through the window. Can you confirm that this is true?"

"Hehe. Yeah that's my friend Rainbow Dash! She was in the meteor yesterday." Emily squeals excitedly.

Anger flows through me when I hear what she says. I push aside everyone watching, and scoop Emily off her feet. She gives a little yelp, but calms down when she see's I'm the one who grabbed her. I put my hand over the camera that the man behind the reporter is holding.

"This report is over!" I yell as I walk towards the house. I place the key in the lock, and turn. I swing open the door, only to see Rainbow right fucking there.

"Rainbow! Inside, now!" I yell angrily.

I hear voices behind me rise in surprise and excitement. "That's the creature!" "It is real!" "I can't believe it!" Different voices scream from the yard. I see the camera, the red light showing that this is indeed live, pointed right at the three of us in the doorway.

"GO THE FUCK HOME!" I yell as loud as I can as I slam the door and lock it. I peek out the window, only to see that nobody has moved an inch. I rush over to the television and flip to the news channel.

"...confirmed to be real!" The reporter finishes the second half of her sentence. "This is truly the biggest news this year!"

I hit the power button and stare at my reflection in the blank TV.

"Matt..." Rainbow says in a sad tone. "I didn't kno-"

"It's my fault." I butt in. I don't want to get angry at her. She's been through so much in just one day, I can't afford to upset her even more. "I should have closed the curtains. That picture wouldn't exist if I had just thought about that."

"...So what now?" Emily asks, hugging my leg.

"First, you're going to apologize to both of us for breaking your promise of keeping Rainbow a secret."

"Oh... I'm sorry." She says, squeezing my leg even tighter.

"Okay... we need a plan. We're gonna be celebrities now, all of us. We're going to need get used to the attention. Rainbow, you and I will probably asked to do a lot of interviews. I'll decide if we accept any of them. If anyone ever tries to take you, I want you to fly as far away as you can, then come back here when you think it's safe."

"Got it." Rainbow says with a military salute. "I won't let you down again."

"Again it wasn't your fault." I say messing with here mane. "And besides... maybe this won't be so bad..."

Author's Notes:

This is so much fun to write!

Now the story kicks off. How will the band of friends deal with the sudden change? Find out next chapter!