Chapter 19

I decided to have Fluttershy take me to get my truck and show her where I had been living for the past several years.

She almost didn’t believe me when I told her where to turn. “You live way back here?” she asked, surprised.

I nodded.

As we pulled up my driveway, she saw my truck parked facing the large, square metal building.

She looked at the place, unsure of what to think. I got out of her little SUV, walking towards my truck. I stopped after a few steps and turned back to her.

“You want a tour?” I asked.

I could see her nod through her windshield as she opened her door and got out. She walked towards me, taking my hand as we walked to the gray metal door. I could see the ruts in the ground near the door where I had pushed against Twilight’s force magic. I pointed them out to my girlfriend who shook her head with a smirk when she saw them.

“I can’t believe you were able to break loose from her magic…” Fluttershy said. “Twilight is the strongest of all of us.”

I smiled, having a bit of pride in myself at the reminder of the things that I could do.

I opened the door and let Fluttershy enter first. Seeing her here with her pretty pink hair, her little white tank top, green skirt and tall green boots made me a little nervous. I couldn’t believe she was finally here, but she stuck out like a sore thumb. It didn’t feel quite right.

She stood there, looking around at all the machinery. I could see her scrunching her nose at the smell of used oil, diesel exhaust, cutting fluids and bare metal.

“You…live here?” she asked, looking at me with sad eyes. “All alone?”

“Seven years.” I said.

She looked at me, then back at the room filled with cold, heartless equipment. “But…how?”

“There’s a little room over there with a couch and a TV and a shower…” I said.

I took her in there to show her, but I found myself embarrassed by how run down, dirty and tattered it looked. It was worse than I remembered.

“What was I thinking living here?” I wondered, surprised by my old self.

My girlfriend looked at me with a tear in her eye. “You poor guy…” she said, wrapping her arms around me and hugging me tightly. “You can’t stay here anymore.” She said.

We separated and I looked at her. “What?” I asked, surprised.

“Unless, you really want to…” she said, letting her head drop to look at the floor.

I looked around. “Why would I want to stay here...for any reason other than habit…?” I thought.

“All my shit is here…” I said.

Fluttershy shook her head, looking back up at me. “I-I want to you to come and live with me. It’s close to this place and you can come here when you need to work on your stuff…Besides, I don’t want to stay at home alone either.”

I looked at her. I did love being at her place…and I loved her. She had a point, this place was close and all my stuff would be safe here.

“OK.” I said.

She gave me a big smile and kissed me softly on the lips. “I’m so glad you’ll be staying with me; you won’t regret it. I promise,” she said, leaning in and flicking my left earlobe with her tongue.

“Whoa…hey…” I said, eliciting a sweet giggle from her.

We decided to leave. On the way back to the door she asked me what kinds of things I work on here.

“Well, the last big project was actually on my truck.” I started. “A couple years ago at work we had a big dump truck that went off the side of a bridge. The frame was twisted so it was a write-off, but it had a big Detroit Diesel in it with a big turbo…so I took the turbo out of it before they scrapped it and I made up some mounts and charge pipes and I put it in my truck along with the turbo that’s already in it. Then I ordered some injector tips from a bigger application from Canterlot Injection Service and installed those and re-popped the injectors…I tweaked the injection pump timing, rack travel limiter, governor springs…then it blew the transmission from all the extra power so I rebuilt that with better clutch packs and a better torque converter and did some valve body tweaking. Then it blew the head gasket, so I cut some o-ring grooves in the block, ported the head and installed studs to hold the head on, and –“

Fluttershy was starting off into space as I realized I was rambling…she looked back at me when I stopped talking.

“Sorry,” I said. ”I tend to ramble about my truck sometimes. My boss hates it, too.”

“Oh! No, I don’t hate it,” she said, “I just don’t really know what you’re talking about. But…I think it’s cute…that you like to tinker.”

“Yeah.” I said, smiling as we stepped outside.

“It makes me feel better…” she said.

“About what?” I said, locking the door.

“That you know how to work on this kind of technology, after living so long without it…” she said. “It makes me believe that I’ll be able to keep up when things get more advanced.”

I put my arm around her. “You’ll be fine. Trust me.” I said. “Now let’s go to your best friend’s place so we can tell her she became immortal after I fucked her in the hot tub.”

Fluttershy laughed out loud, which was a rare thing for her to do. She shook her head…”I still can’t believe any of this is happening.” She said.

“I know…it’s fuckin nuts.” I said, as I started towards my truck.

I stopped after a couple of steps, then looked at her as she headed to her vehicle.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

“We both don’t need to drive.” I said. “Let’s leave the truck here and we’ll get it on the way home.”

She smiled. “OK”

We both got into her vehicle and headed for Rarity’s…wondering what was going to happen later in the evening.

*****

We pulled up to Rarity’s town house and parked. I felt a little twinge in my stomach as I saw the place, remembering what happened the last time I was here.

Some of the other familiar cars were there, too. It looked like they had to car pool since parking in the complex was limited.

As we approached the front door, Fluttershy turned the knob and we let ourselves in. We took off our boots and walked through the front hall into Rarity’s living room. Twilight, Pinkie and Dash were sitting on the large black leather couch watching something on the TV.

They all perked up when they saw us walk in. “HEY!” they greeted us in unison.

“How’s your noggin?” Dash asked.

“Oh,” Fluttershy reached up to gently touch the new band-aid she had put on to hide the fact that the injury had disappeared. “Um, it’s OK.”

“We heard you took good care of her all week, Goldie-Woldie!” Pinkie started. “Good job, buddy!” she said loudly, giving me a thumbs-up.

I nodded. “It was nothing, really.” I said.

“Did you get your keys from Sunset?” Twilight asked.

I nodded. “Yeah, I did. Thanks.” I said.

“No problem.” She said. “Sorry I forgot to give them back to you last week.”

“No worries. Turns out I didn’t really need them anyway.” I said.

“Where’s Rarity?” Fluttershy asked.

“In her room, I think.” Dash said. “She’s been acting all weird today. Overtired, I think.”

“I’ll go see her.” My girlfriend said, giving me a little peck on the cheek before she jogged over to the stairs in the right hand corner of the room.

The three girls on the couch looked surprised by the kiss. “Whooooaaaa, Flutters!” Pinkie hollered as Twilight giggled.

I stood there for a minute, wondering where Sunset was.

“Is Sunset on her way?” I asked.

“She’s here.” Dash said, pointing with her thumb to the patio door. “Out on the deck.”

“Oh, OK.” I said. “I’m gonna go say hi.”

They silently continued to watch the TV as I went over to the sliding door at the left of the room.

When I opened the door and stepped out, I was hit with the strong smell of cigar smoke.

“Are there dudes here?” I wondered.

I rounded the corner, expecting to see at least one guy out there…and also wondering if Sunset had decided to use the hot tub. What I saw was Applejack and Sunset Shimmer, standing on the deck smoking cigars by themselves.

My eyes immediately went to the hot tub, which was now covered. Rarity must have decided that she didn’t want her friends sitting in a tub full of her sex juices, even if the tub had a filter system.

“Hey there, partner!” AJ said, with a cloud of smoke billowing from her mouth as she spoke.

I nodded to her as I walked over to them. “Hey.” I said back.

I headed for the little table with the two chairs, passing Sunset on the way. I looked at her as I passed. “Hi, Sunset.” I said.

“Hey.” She said, trying to be casual. She wasn’t really smoking the cigar at that moment, just kind of twirling in between her fingers.

I passed both girls and sat down at the little patio set, letting my arm rest on the table top.

We hung out there in silence for a minute before AJ spoke up. “I saw your picture there, sugarcube. The one from World War II. Pretty crazy.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I can’t believe Twilight found that.”

“Twilight can find anything.” Sunset said, placing the cigar between her lips, letting it just sit in her mouth.

“So, you’ve been in a bunch of wars, huh?” AJ continued. “You must be a tough cookie…no wonder you made fools of us in Fluttershy’s driveway.”

I shrugged. “I’ve been around the block once or twice, yeah.” I said. “I didn’t actually fight in World War II though.”

“Really?” AJ said, surprised. “Why not?”

“They wouldn’t let me.” I explained. “They didn’t know yet at the time if the Germans had nukes or anything like that…so the Allies wouldn’t let me go directly into battle because if the Germans saw me and thought we had super-soldiers, they might escalate to using their nukes or whatever…if they had them. The Germans had a way of pulling things out of their asses like that. The Allies just didn’t want to take the chance.”

“Ah, that makes sense.” AJ said.

“Well, what doesn’t make sense is that the Americans turned around and used their own nukes on Japan.” I said, with a pause. “I love Japan…I spent many years there a long time ago. I was so fuckin pissed at them for dropping on Hiroshima. Fucking hypocrites.”

The girls both shook their heads.

“War sucks.” Sunset said. “So what did you do in the war?”

“I was a strategist.” I explained. “I helped plan the invasion of Normandy…helped figure out a way to get the Germans to think we were going to attack somewhere else so our planned target would be less heavily guarded.”

AJ shook her head. “That’s crazy. What a fucked up time that must have been to live in.” she said.

“Yeah…it was.” I said, trying not to let the memories of that time return. “About two-thirds of the other guys in that picture with me didn’t walk away from that beach.”

AJ sighed, shaking her head again.

We were silent for a few minutes. Sunset took the cigar from her mouth and spoke up as AJ took another drag. “I was thinking about the sirens this week…”

“The sirens?” AJ said with the cigar in her mouth, muffling her speech a bit. “What were you thinkin about those bitches for?”

“Just, like…about how they were here for 1000 years…” Sunset started. “That means you shared this world with them for that long, Golds. I just thought that was kind of crazy…”

“Yeah it is, now that you mention it.” AJ said, blowing a stream of smoke from her lips.

“What are the sirens again?” I asked.

“They were the three sisters…I’m not sure if they actually are sisters though…that were banished here from my world.” Sunset explained. “When I came here and brought that magic with me, they sensed it and moved in pretty quickly to try to take it. But we stopped them.”

AJ shook her head. “You stopped them, Sunset. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

“It was all of us.” Sunset said.

“So, what…are they dead?” I asked.

“Nah,” AJ said. “We just took away their power.”

Sunset gestured to her chest. “They wore these ruby pendants…that’s where they got their power. Our magic destroyed them so now they’re just normal women. I’m not sure if they age now…if we see them in twenty years, we’ll know.”

“What kind of power?” I asked.

“They could control people with their singing and make them act like assholes.” AJ said. “Then the sirens would feed on the negative energy.”

I started thinking…something about this seemed familiar. I frowned and looked at the girls. “Did the lead one have lots of orange hair?”

“Yeah, why? Have you seen them before?” Sunset asked, showing sudden interest.

I nodded slowly as my memories started coming back. “Yeah…I remember those cunts…” I said, which got a chuckle out of AJ. “You heard of the Salem Witch Trials?” I asked.

Applejack’s eyes widened…”Yeah…”

“Who do you think caused it?” I asked her.

AJ slapped her forehead under her hat. “No shit…” she said in amazement.

Sunset looked confused. “What are the Salem Witch Trials?”

I looked at Sunset, suddenly remembering she’s not from this world. I started explaining: “In the late 1600’s there were about twenty people executed after being falsely accused of witchcraft.” I said. “The history books will tell you it was because of poor judicial practices, religion getting out of hand, mistaken disease, isolationism…” I shook my head. “I was there. It wasn’t any of those things…people are crazy, but not that crazy. It was those fuckin sisters you were talking about.”

AJ shook her head. “That’s Fuckin unreal.” She said, taking another drag of her cigar.

“So what happened?” Sunset asked. “How did it stop?”

“I happened.” I said.

They raised their eyebrows.

“I didn’t permanently take away their powers like you guys did,” I continued, ”but I happened to be in the area and saw what had been going on…for almost a damn year by that time…they were using their voices to get people acting like nutcases. That shit didn’t work on me though, so I was able to convince them to leave.”

“Convince them?” Sunset asked.

“Well…” I said. “Put it this way, if you see them again, ask the one with the purple hair to give you a thumbs-up…I bet it won’t point straight.”

Sunset cringed. “You broke her thumb?”

“She’s lucky that’s all I did…and she knows it.” I said.

AJ chuckled, shaking her head. “You fight a little different than we do, I guess. We basically just join hands and all-of-the-sudden there’s rainbows and fuckin lasers ‘n shit…sounds to me like you’re just a full-on, tough-ass brawler.”

I nodded. “You could say that.” I said. “But it sounds like you guys had the right approach since you took care of them permanently.”

“Fight fire with fire.” Sunset said. “Equestrian magic is most effectively taken care of by other Equestrian magic.”

“Hm.” I nodded. “So where are they now?” I asked.

Sunset blew a thin stream of smoke from her mouth. “I heard rumors that they’re in the city…as well as Canterlot, but I’ve never seen them. Apparently their attitudes haven’t improved much…so I’ve heard.”

“No big surprise there.” AJ replied.

We pondered in silence for a few minutes.

I sighed. “Small world, eh?”

“Eeyup.” AJ said.

We stayed quiet for another few minutes. Sunset was holding her cigar between her fingers while chewing nervously on her thumbnail of the same hand. I saw her looking at the covered hot tub, then glancing up at me before quickly turning away once she knew I was looking at her.

Applejack was standing close to me. She took a drag of her cigar…then lowered it to her side as she leaned her head back and exhaled a long stream of smoke from her mouth up towards the vine-covered lattice. Then her eyes seemed to lock onto something. She squinted, trying to focus on what it was. “What the hell…?” she said, walking over to the lattice, reaching up and plucking down a small purple garment.

The fire-haired girl started taking a drag of her cigar as AJ studied the object for a second.

“Aw man…it’s someone’s damn bikini bottoms!” AJ said with surprise.

Sunset suddenly coughed very loudly, causing a cloud of smoke to erupt around her head and launching her cigar across the deck towards the lattice, where it escaped through one of the small openings into the yard beyond.

“Oh shit…” I thought to myself as I watched the scene unfold.

Sunset was waving the smoke from around her head while coughing hard into her fist, her eyes watering up, wetting her lower eyelashes.

“Holy shit, Sunset…You OK?” AJ asked.

Sunset nodded while continuing to cough.

“I have one more stogie if you want…” AJ offered.

Sunset shook her head, finally catching her breath. “I’m good,” she croaked. “I’m gonna head inside, I think.”

“Well, OK then.” AJ said as Sunset rounded the corner. I could hear the door sliding open...then closed again, muffling the last few coughs that the red-head let out.

Applejack walked up to the lattice, peering through the small openings, looking to see if she could find the cigar in the yard. “Dang, that’s too bad. I wonder where it went?” She said, standing on her tip toes trying to get a better view. “Ah, oh well.” She said, finally turning around. She took a couple steps towards me, before stopping to take another drag of her cigar.

I watched her as she let her cigar-holding hand drop to her hip as she looked down, raising the purple garment in her other hand slightly to study it. She parted her lips, letting a thick ribbon of smoke slowly pour out of her mouth…it floated up in front of her face, hitting the brim of her hat and billowing around the perimeter before dissipating above her head. As she looked down at the little garment, I watched the thoughtful look on her face.

At that moment, I realized that I loved Applejack. That’s not to say that I was ‘in love’ with her like I was with Fluttershy, it was more like the love you have for someone you look up to…someone you aspire to be like. Applejack was just that. Friendly, level-headed, great humored, with a wisdom beyond her years…and a level of honesty that was as unbreakable as I am. Last week, when everything went down, she was the only one who stood up in my defense against her friends’ mistakes…even having the balls to call out Sunset, their leader.

She was an amazing specimen to behold, standing there in that work-hardened body, with her weight on one hip, wearing those cowboy boots, jean skirt, her white and green button up shirt…and of course, that brown Stetson hat. The light coming through the lattice was picked up by the smoke, surrounding her with gray, swirly sunbeams in the afternoon warmth.

“What a badass chick…” I thought to myself, unable to take my eyes off her.

Finally, she slowly looked at me, letting a grin creep across her tanned face. She let out a small chuckle, punctuating the stream of smoke coming from her mouth with a final puff as her breath escaped.

She shook her head. “Sometimes I wonder what that crazy girl gets up to.” She said, speaking about Rarity.

I shrugged, trying to play it cool. “Well, uh…sometimes…you know…what people do on their own time is, uh…that’s their business.” I said, kicking myself for falling all over my own words. AJ was one of the few people who could intimidate me…though not physically, of course…

She looked at me for a moment, biting the corner of her mouth before nodding in agreement. “Yeah, I suppose you’re right, sugarcube.”

She then stepped forward, searching for a place to set down the bikini bottoms. She looked around, unable to find a suitable place. She didn’t want to set them on the table right in front of me…and she didn’t want to just toss them on the floor of the deck either.

Finally, she shrugged and turned back to the lattice. “Ah fuck it…up you go!” she said, under-hand tossing the purple garment back up into the lattice, watching it catch on a vine again, resuming its helpless dangle amongst the flowers.

“At least she’ll know where to find them.” AJ said, chuckling as she turned. Her cigar was down to a nub, so she tossed it out through the lattice to join Sunset’s lost smoke.

She sat down in the other chair with me at the little table, staring at the far wall past the lattice for a moment.

“You ever break things?” she said suddenly.

I looked at her. “Break things?”

“Like, with yer strength…” she continued.

“Oh,” I said, looking back to the floor. “No. I’ve had lots of time to get used to mine. I didn’t used to be this strong, actually. It increased over the centuries so slowly I could hardly tell it was growing, until one day I noticed I could lift more than men twice my size…and it’s just kept growing ever since. Slow and steady...and I’m sure it’s going to keep growing.”

“Heh heh, yeah, you’re not a super-big fella. Most people wouldn’t expect it.” AJ said. She paused for a few seconds. “I still break shit sometimes. It’s been eight years, and I’m still not used to it. Sometimes, when I’m not expecting it, it just kicks in.”

“Well…” I paused. “Your strength is different than mine. It’s like apples and oranges to compare the two.”

“Yeah, I suppose. “ she said, looking at the deck, rubbing her boot against one of the boards. “I ain’t invincible, neither…except for against my own magic.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Like…” she sighed, trying to think of a way to explain it, “If I pick a car up over my head…it won’t crush me like a normal person. Or, if I pick up a five ton block, it won’t snap my arm off…know what I mean?”

I nodded. “Yeah, I see what you’re saying.”

She looked at me for a moment., then took her hat off to run her fingers through her hair. “I like ya, Golds. I’m glad Fluttershy has you, and I know you’ll take good care of her.”

I looked at her, somewhat surprised by her sudden heartfelt words. “Thanks.” I said. “I have no choice but to look after her. I love her…I just can’t help it.”

She smiled at me as we heard the sliding door open, followed by Rainbow Dash’s voice ringing out. “Hey, we’re getting wings! Lots of ‘em…come pick your flavours, guys.”

“I guess we better go inside, sugarcube.” AJ said, getting up from the table.