"What!? What the fuck did I do!?" I yell in defense as I hold my hands behind my back, still on my knees.

"Hey, quit it!" Twilight grunts as two of the officers hold her back.

"Matthew Green, you are under arrest for suspicions of terrorist activity. You were reported by a Mr. Jack Harris." One officer says to me.

"What!? Are you fucking kidding me? All I've done is protect this country and the rest of the world! Do you even know who I am!?"

"Hey! Ow, that hurt!" Twilight says as a man tries to cuff her. Seriously? Is she guilty by association now? It hurts to see a friend struggling, so I do the only thing I really can do at the moment.

"Hey!" I yell, anger in my voice. "Stop!"

Then I feel it. A sudden wave of energy erupting from my body, and everything stops. I can see a faint blue glow shining through the fabric of my pocket, and reach in and pull out the cube Celestia gave me. I can feel it's magic coursing through me, but that can't be right, I'm not casting a spell.

I look up, and see that absolutely nothing is moving, and it is deathly silent. It is so quiet, that all I can hear is a loud ringing in my ears. I could probably hear a pin drop in China. I slowly stand to my feet, looking around me. Did... I just stop time?

"This cube has the magic to control time and space" Celestia's words flash through my mind. All this time, and I never even thought about the time part of that explanation, just the space part. I can't think about that now, I can feel the energy quickly draining from me, so I know this spell won't last forever.

I rush over to Twilight, and pick her up. She feels as stiff as a statue made of solid rock. I toss her over my shoulder and run as fast as I can down the street. There's no way I'm going to take my truck, they could probably trace that thing so easily, that I'd be dead in a heart beat.

I sprint down the vacant street, staring at birds, planes, leaves, and other things just floating immobile in the air. It amazes me, actually, that this kind of power exists. Not only that, but I can control it. This... could actually be VERY useful in the future.

"So, I can stop and start time at will... Fucking A." I say with a confident grin. I spend the next ten minutes running until I finally run out of energy, and everything falls back into motion.

Twilight falls limp across my shoulder, and looks around quickly, whipping her head around violently.

"W-What? Where am I?" She says, obviously confused.

"Welcome back my purple friend, you okay?" I ask, making sure that spell didn't have any negative side effects. I'm a good mile away from the police now, so I slow down to catch my breath.

"Y-Yeah, but weren't we just-"

"Getting arrested in a parking lot? Yeah, well I got some news for ya. Apparently, if I yell 'stop' while I have the cube, I can stop time around me. I carried you away so that we wouldn't get our asses thrown in jail."

"T-Time? You actually stopped time? I don't believe it, only Starswirl was able to master that, and even then he could only control it for a few seconds!"

"Well, Star-what's-his-face, obviously didn't have this thingy." I say as I pull out the cube. It glows faintly, signaling that it is recharging, or is it that I'm recharging? Fuck, I don't understand any of this magic bullshit.

"That's... amazing! Not even I can do that sort of magic!"

"Well, now's no time to be getting all excited Twilight, the cops are still after me because of that asshole Jack."

"Yeah, what did they mean by terrorist activity?"

"Hell if I know. All I know is, Jack called in and reported me, and because of all the terrorist activity in the country over the past few years, it doesn't surprise me that they wouldn't go to check it out without any further proof. I don't blame them actually, I can see why they'd respond like that without any proof."

"Well, what now? You're wanted by the police Matt, and apparently, so am I."

"Now? We head to Georgia. We get to the warehouse, save my family if they're there, and... well, the police thing is a bridge we'll cross when we get to it. Trust me Twilight, I got this under control."

*Emily*

That jerk Jack has been holding me here for what feels like years. My clothes are dirty, my hair is all clumped together, I'm starving because they barely feed me, and they keep bullying Star. All the time, they come in and pull on her feathers, or tell her that her parents are dead, and it is driving me crazy.

The worst part is, there is nothing I can do. This chair is bolted to the ground, and my wrists are being rubbed raw by these ropes. I can barely sleep at all, which is really messing with my brain. I can't think clearly, which isn't helping the situation at all. All I can think about is food, Matt, and Star.

At night, all I can think about is Matt bursting through the door and untying me. But every night, nothing happens. All I can hear is Star whimpering from her cage across the room. Sometimes she cries for Rainbow or Matt, and it just makes me want to get out of here even more. At this point, I think they're using Star to torture me.

It smells like rusty metal, smoke, and death in here, and it is driving me crazy. What I wouldn't give to see the sun again, or to just run and run and run...

Sometimes I think I can hear the men talking about me, or Matt, or Star, or even Rainbow. I've seen the men, there's at least twenty, if not more. I don't know how I'll ever get out of here, if I even do. This might be the last place I ever see. Oh God, what if I never see Matt again? What if I never see the sky, or my parents, or anything ever again?

I start to cry silently as I stare down at my dirty legs. My tears fall onto them, creating a clean path through the dirt. My hair hangs down and sticks to my face, and I can't even brush it off with my hand. I feel like some caged animal just waiting to die. I'm about to lose it if something doesn't happen soon. I can't hold it in any longer. I scream the words at the top of my lungs, which hurts my throat to no end.

"Matt! PLEASE SAVE ME!"

*Matt*

We met at Alex's house around midnight. I've been hiding from the police all day, but now, its time to move out. I can't stay here any longer, we have to get to Georgia. Alex borrowed Trevor's truck, and we're gathering supplies to bring with us. Food, water, Alex bought some ammo for the gun which thankfully the police didn't find. All in all, I'd say we're ready to go.

Alex is driving, and five of the ponies are riding inside the truck with him. Rainbow and I as laying in the back of the truck, staring up at the stars. I feel the engine rumble, and we pull out onto the street. The sky seems motionless as we watch it, though I can see houses and trees passing by. Rainbow lets out a sigh, and I turn to face her.

"You okay Rainbow?"

"What? Oh, yea... I'm good." She gives me a fake smile.

"No, you aren't. I know you Rainbow Dash, I can read you like a book. Something is bothering you. Is it Star and Emily, because I promise we'll find them."

"Well, that's part of it. Mostly, I'm worried about you. The police are after you, what are you going to do Matt?"

"Well, I'll find Emily and Star, probably come back and plead innocent, and hope for the best. I'll be find Rainbow, just worry about yourself, worrying about me will only stress you out."

"...Matt?"

"Yeah?"

"...Can you... hold me?" She says as we lay there on our backs. I stares at the stars for another moment, then reach over and pull her onto my chest. She buries her face into my shirt, and I pull her towards me. Her forelegs wrap around the sides of my torso, and she lets out a sigh. I expect tears, but none come. Instead, I get only a face full of Rainbow as she press her lips up against mine. It takes me by shock at first, but I let my head fall, and let her go at it. After all, the worst has yet to come, might as well enjoy ourselves while we still can.

We lay there, hidden by the darkness of night, probably somewhere on the highway by now. I should be thinking about Rainbow right now, but despite the current situation, all I can think about is one thing, and one thing only.

I am going to kill Jack Harris.