"I already miss her..." I sigh as I watch the plane start to take off. The ground starts to become smaller and smaller before my eyes as we begin ascending into the air.

"I do too... I really wish she could come with us, or that we could have just stayed home..." Rainbow mumbles from next to me.

"You could have stayed at home with Star y'know. Nobody is forcing you to come with me."

"Why would I just ditch you like that? I know Star is safe with your family, but I don't know if you'll be okay. What if you got hurt while I was just sitting at home doing nothing when I could have been there for you. I'd never forgive myself."

"I'm glad you feel like that, and I feel the same way. I'd rather you just stay home where it is safe... But I'm glad you're here to keep me company. I'd probably go insane being alone on these annoyingly long flights. So I guess I'm kinda torn about whether or not you should come with me. Really, I just want to protect you, that's all."

"Well then you can protect me in Paris... Say, didn't you call it the city of love earlier?"

"What? Oh yeah, Paris. Yeah, a lot of people call in the city of love because it is one of the most romantic cities in the world. A lot of couples go there just to see the Eiffel Tower which is this huge metal tower that its hundreds of feet tall. You can go all the way to the top, and at night, you can see the entire city which is absolutely beautiful.

"How beautiful we talkin'?"

"As beautiful as you." I say with a dorky grin as I tap the tip of Rainbow's muzzle. She rolls her eyes and smiles at my corny compliment. She leans up against my side and rests her head against my shoulder.

"You're just saying that."

"Why would I lie about that?" I say as I wrap an arm around her shoulders. I lean my head by and close my eyes hoping to catch some Z's during the flight.

"Well, I am pretty awesome, but I wouldn't go as far as saying beautiful..."

"Are you doing this again? You have the biggest ego EVER, yet you can't take a compliment about your appearance. C'mon Rainbow, stop beating yourself up."

"O-Okay... Thanks by the way." She says with a blush as her ears flatten against her head. I smile and ruffle her hair before leaning back again and closing my eyes. With the warm, furry figure pressed up into my side, it doesn't take long to drift off to sleep.

"Son of a... bitch..." I whisper to myself as I slowly open my eyes. What was I thinking trying to sleep like that? My entire neck feels like it just got punched several thousand times by body builder. Dammit this hurts like crap.

I start rubbing my neck with a hand, and look out the window to my left. It appears to be night time, and I can only see water below us, so I assume we're somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean still. My watch confirms my suspicions about the time, letting me know it is three in the morning. I can't believe we left so late at night. That means we've only been on the plane for about three hours.

I look down at Rainbow to see her curled up in her seat like a cat, her tail wrapped around her body like a blanket. I smile at the adorable sight, and quickly snap a picture with my phone to hold against her later. She hates any kind of pictures that make her look girly or cute, so I can totally use this to my advantage later.

She softly snores as she starts kicking a hoof in her sleep. I wonder if ponies are like dogs where they kick in their sleep if they're dreaming about running. I guess I'll have to ask when she wakes up what she was dreaming about.

I pull out my phone again and decide to browse the internet for a while. I actually planned ahead for once and learned how to get my currency changed, so now I won't be broke once we get to Paris. I REALLY wish I had done this when I was in Asia for like a week. Maybe this time I won't have to steal a sports bike and get shot at my a bunch of thugs.

I open up my messaging app and decide to start texting some friends just to pass the time. I need SOMEONE to talk to, and with Rainbow and most of the passengers sleeping, I can't really do that. Back in the states, if I did my math correctly, it should only be about eleven, maybe twelve at night. I'd assume most of my friends are still up since it is summer time.

Boy was I wrong. After texting four different people, none responded. Great, now what? I only have Rainbow to talk to and she's completely knocked out! I'm way to sore to go back to sleep, and I'm sick and tired of listening to the same songs on my phone over and over.

Wait, duh! I have a book in my backpack. I reach down and pull out a book I had been dying to read for a while now. I wish I'd thought of this earlier. I lose track of time quickly as I lose myself in the amazing book. It has been out for years, how have I never read it?

"Mmmmph, wha?" Rainbow mumbles from next to me. Her stirring awake caused me to snap back to reality. When I look up, my eyes are assaulted with sunlight. What the fuck? I glance down at my watch to see it is already eight in the morning, and I was almost done with my book. Damn, I really lose track of time when I can get into a book. It's why I always loved reading. It always allowed me to escape into another world for a while and get away from the stress filled life in reality.

"Looks who finally woke up. You slept through almost the entire flight." I say with a smile as I scratch a finger behind Rainbow's ear. It flicks around wildly as I do so, causing her to wake up faster.

"What's that book about?" She says with bloodshot, half closed eyes. Yikes, somebody is NOT a morning person, er, pony.

"Oh, like, these twenty-four kids get thrown into this arena, and they basically fight it out to the death. The main character sacrificed herself so her sister wouldn't have to go in. Really good book, don't know how I've gone this long without reading it!"

"Sounds... egg-heady." She says as she stretches her wings and legs. I have to lean up against the wall to keep from getting smacked in the face by a wing.

"You're just saying that because it isn't Daring what's her face."

"Daring Do." She says in a monotone voice. "And that is totally different from one of your normal nerdy books."

"I beg to differ, you liked Treasure Island didn't you?"

"Well... yeah, but, it wasn't THAT good."

"Yeah yeah, whatever. I'm gonna finish this book. There's only four tributes left, and I gotta know what happens!"

"Ah, Paris! The city of love!" I say as I close my eyes and take in a deep breath of the city's air as we exit the airport. I haven't stopped stretching since getting off of that hellish plane. I used to love flying, but now I'm really starting to hate it with a passion.

"I can't wait to see-" Rainbow starts, but gets cut off.

*Riiiiing* *Riiiiing*

"Hold on, let me answer that." I say as I pull out my phone. I look at the caller ID to see that Alex is calling me.

"Yes?" I say calmly as I answer the phone.

"M-Matt? Oh God dude..." He sounds out of breath like he's either nervous or tired, maybe both.

"Whoa, Alex, calm down. What's up?"

"So, like, I was passing by your house, your parent's house that is. Dude, the door was broken down and one of the windows was shattered." My heart stops in my chest and I feel sweat already pouring out of every pore of my body.

"I went in, and I found your parents tied up in the closet upstairs, both were knocked out. I searched the rest of the house... but Matt."

"Y-Yeah?"

"Emily and Star, they were gone."

*END OF ARC 1*

Author's Notes:

That's the end of Arc 1 of Through the Rift.

Arc 1 was about the rifts forming on Earth as well as in Equestria. With Matt about to close the final rift, (For now anyway) his life WOULD have gone back to normal, had a new conflict not risen up.

Arc 2 is about the new conflict and how Matt will try to resolve it. You may be wondering, "What does this have to do with Through the RIFT, shouldn't this be another story completely?" Well, yes and no. The next arc, while it may not have rifts in it, will revolve heavily around the cube that Matt possesses, which had the magic to control both rifts and time. Let that sink in for a moment.

Anyway, hope you continue reading into the next arc!