Chapter 8

I walked towards the metal door of my home, thinking of the girl who’d just kissed me. I thought about how I wished I was still there with her, pressing our bodies together, and how lonely I was already starting to feel walking up to my building, filled with nothing but cold, hard machinery.

There were no soft, warm, fragrant goddesses here. Why have I been living like this? Oh yeah, because I just met her a couple weeks ago. Before that, there was nobody. Nobody like her, anyway.

No one would ever find me here. There is a fairly large stone ridge with a forty foot drop that cuts through the woods, almost completely surrounding the area. No one hiking through the forest could ever stumble upon this place, and the only accessible way to get here is by driving on a dead-end road that no one uses. Nobody knows there’s someone living back here. It’s just an old logging road as far as anyone else is concerned.

As I approached my door, I reached my hand out to turn the doorknob…but then I stopped.

I don’t know why I stopped, but I did. I attempted to reach again for the doorknob, but I didn’t move. I couldn’t move. I tried to take a step back, but I couldn’t move my feet either.

It was as though an invisible force was holding me there, and all I could do was move my head to look around me, trying to figure out what had anchored me in place.

“Who are you?” a familiar, but strangely authoritative female voice sounded from my left.

I turned my head to see who it was. About twenty feet away, standing in my driveway was Sunset Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. They looked the same as they did at the beach, except Sunset, who was now wearing a black leather jacket with orange chevrons on the sleeves.

Twilight was holding an open hand out towards me, which was emitting a dull lavender-coloured light from her palm. Unlike Sunset, however, she looked rather nervous, her eyes shifting continuously between me and her friend.

“I asked you a question,” Sunset urged, folding her arms as she lowered her brow at me.

With a shake of my head, I snapped myself out of the trance their presence had put me in. They were the first people, other than me, to set foot in this yard since I started living here. “Did they follow me here? They must have...and why does Sunset look so pissed?” As I was trying to figure it out in my head, I suddenly realised her question hadn’t been answered.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“What are you doing here?” she asked again.

“Uh, I don’t know?” I answered. “What are you doing here? And why can’t I move?”

Sunset glanced over at Twilight, whose hand was still outstretched.

Then it hit me.

“Wait...Twilight is holding me somehow; with…telekinesis? Is that actually a thing!?” The answer struck me like a lightning bolt.

“What are you doing here?” Sunset repeated.

My eyes shifted onto the building momentarily, and then back onto her. "I, uh...live here."

She and Twilight glanced at each other, brows cocked dubiously.

Then Sunset returned her eyes to me. "What do you want with Fluttershy?"

"Uhh...I thought that was pretty obvious, but I can get you guys some informative pamphlets, if you'd like."

Again, the girls glanced at one another, Twilight grimacing this time.

"OK, that?" Sunset said to me. "That is the 'way wrong' answer."

"Oh, come on!" I rolled my eyes. "I was just kidding! Jesus."

"Dude...seriously."

I drew a deep breath, then released an exasperated sigh. "OK, fine. What is it you want me to say? That she's a sweetheart? That she's loveliest thing I've ever met? That she's beautiful, and kind?"

"...And extremely trusting, at times," Sunset finished for me, eyes narrowed.

I stared back at her, feeling more than just a little perturbed by that statement. "She has no reason not to trust me. All I've ev-"

“Did you come here from Equestria?” she asked, stopping me in my tracks.

Dumbfounded, I stood, trapped in that invisible barrier as I stared vacantly at the tough red-head. “I...don’t actually know what that is,“ I said, slowly. "Can I ask you something? Are you completely out of your fucking mind?"

Sunset rolled her eyes, and then walked a few steps towards me.

“Please be careful, Sunset,” Twilight warned.

By now, I was becoming frustrated by these nonsensical questions, to say nothing of the invisible force not allowing me to move. “What do you want from me?”

“We want to know who you are, and what you are up to,” Sunset replied sharply. “I know you’re not human.”

These words made my mind stop. This was not true. “OK, so...that would make the answer to my previous question a 'yes.' OF COURSE I'M HUMAN!” I fired back.

“No, there’s something not right about you. I felt it; at Fluttershy’s, when you touched me,” Sunset explained, now standing only a few feet from me.

I knew it! Something did happen at Fluttershy’s, by the counter—but what?

“I didn’t do anything to you. Let me go,” I demanded.

She shook her head. “Not a chance. We want to know who you really are, and what you're planning on doing with Flutters.”

“I said let me go,” I repeated, my pulse rising.

Was I going to have to do this again? After all these years of peace and quiet, were these two women going to force me into this?

“Tell us what we want to know!” Sunset raised her voice.

“Don’t make me do this,” I pleaded. "I don’t wanna hurt any of you, if that's what you're worried about."

“Ah-ha! So there is something up with you; what is it!? What are you!?” Sunset demanded, after which Twilight glanced at her, appearing unsure if what they were doing was right.

“Fuck,” I said, closing my eyes. “Don’t say I didn’t give you a fair chance.”

Now, what most people don’t know about me is that I have something inside myself. Something that I’ve kept hidden from the world for many years; an unnatural strength that I know these women would not be expecting.

No one ever expects it. I have not used it for many years, and normally I refuse to let anyone see it—unless I have no choice.

I pushed against the unseen force, turning myself slowly away from my door to face them, meeting Sunset's eyes to see a twinge of uneasiness in them.

I used everything I had in me to slowly lift my foot to take a step, stomping my foot down ahead of the other, sending up a small cloud of dust from the impact. I pushed myself forward against the invisible force, my feet sliding in the dirt, leaving ruts and pushing up piles of soil behind my heels.

Sunset turned back to look at her friend, who’s hand was glowing much brighter now. She appeared to be using more power to try to hold me in place.

“Hold him still, Twi!” Sunset shouted, a look of worry spreading across her face.

“I’m trying!” she grunted. She appeared to stretch her hand out further, intensifying her hold on me. Her hand was glowing a very bright lavender-colour now, and there was a third point of blue light starting to emanate from her forehead.

I could feel the force on me grip tighter, but I fought against it. I bent my knees a bit, squatting slightly, getting ready to lunge, and after gathering all the determination and strength I could muster, I thrust myself forward. I could feel the force suddenly break away, and I stumbled forward on my hands and knees in the dirt.

Twilight fell backward unexpectedly, as though something had hit her, crying out as she went down. Lying on her back, she rubbed the side of her head as she tried to gather her thoughts and figure out what had happened, unable to see after her glasses had fallen off.

I was very close to Sunset now, who turned and ran for Twilight in a panic when I looked up at her.

“Let’s go, Twi! We’ve gotta tell the others!” she yelled, helping Twilight to her feet —interrupting the search for her glasses— and running with her to the bike.

“She’s gonna tell Fluttershy…” I thought, dismayed.

I stood up, brushing the dirt off my hands as I watched them hop onto a motorcycle that was parked near a tree, farther down at the edge of my laneway. As Sunset started the bike, I felt something move at my side. I looked down just in time to see my keys fly out of my pocket by themselves and soar through the air towards the girls. There was a dull lavender-coloured aura surrounding the keys as they flew towards Twilight, who was reaching back for them from her seat on the bike. After she caught them in her hand, the bike revved up and sped off down my laneway.

I pressed my hands on the top of my head and groaned, looking up to the sky.

“What the fuck!” I thought, defeated, and worried that my time with Fluttershy was coming to an end already. ”They know…”

I looked over at my truck, now useless to me without the keys. Mind you, there were ways to get it stared, but I would have to damage some parts, plus there just wasn't time to mess with that.

Chewing my lip, I looked off into the woods. I knew the direction to Fluttershy’s house; I could run straight through the woods. Nothing could stop me if I wanted to get there, not even the cliff. It’s a long way, however. Ten, maybe fifteen kilometers? But it is a straight line. Much more direct than the road that Sunset and Twilight were surely using on their bike. Still, I doubted I would make it to Fluttershy’s before them.

"Fuck it."

I started to make my way toward the treeline, but then I paused when I saw a pale glare coming from the ground before me, reflecting the moonlight into my eyes.

It was Twilight's glasses.

After bending to pick them up and inspecting them for damage, I shoved the thick-framed specs intomy pocket and then took off from where I was standing, each step flicking dirt into the air behind me. I had not made myself move like this in many years, but tonight it was necessary. I couldn't let the shy girl slip through my fingers and get away because of a little misunderstanding like this.

So I have superpowers. So what? I'm still a nice guy.

I crashed into the woods like a freight train, kicking up weeds, underbrush and rocks, snapping off three-inch-thick tree limps as I powered through, making my way to the shy girl’s house—being sure to protect the fragile item in my pocket.

*****

I ran for what seemed like about twenty minutes. I had already passed the cliff, handling the forty foot drop with ease and continuing on for bit longer before finally emerging from the trees onto a road, which I recognised immediately as the road that Fluttershy lived on. I had made it, but how far from her house was I? How accurate was my sense of direction?

I ran in the direction of her driveway for about five minutes before I saw the opening in the trees. I walked up the driveway, rounding the bend and arriving at the parking area in front of her house, noticing right away that all of the vehicles had returned. The old Ford truck was now there as well as Rarity’s car, and I could see the motorcycle leaning on its kickstand near the right-hand corner of the house. There was also Fluttershy’s SUV and the other vehicle that I assumed was Pinkie’s.

But there was no one around.

There was just one yard light on the front of the house, dimly illuminating the dark property. Only one dim light was on inside the house, which looked like the one above the table.

I stood there, unsure of what to do for a few moments, wondering where they were.

Finally, I decided to approach the house. When I was about halfway to the front door however, out-of-nowhere, a lightning fast streak shot past me, wafting a gust of air against me, stirred up in its wake. I didn’t see what it was, but it appeared to leave a rainbow coloured trail. It passed by me again, closer this time, causing another, stronger breeze to blow against me.

Then it came right at me, striking me in the chest with a powerful momentum.

Determined not to go down, I leaned into the impact as I slid backwards on the toes of my boots for about fifteen feet, leaving long, deep ruts in the ground. After finally coming to a stop, I looked up to see what it was that had hit me. To my surprise, it was Rainbow Dash, standing there with her shoulder down, having just rammed me in the chest at full speed with it. I was taken aback by this and hesitated, giving her the chance to shoot straight towards me a second time, shoulder-checking me again at lightning speed, causing me to slide backwards, this time staggering a few steps until I slammed up against the front of the old Ford, leaving a small dent in the grille.

I got off the truck and took a few steps towards Dash. “Stop,” I said, putting my hand out. Dash, appearing shocked that I was unfazed by her attack, let her mouth gape open in awe when I immediately stepped forward.

Just then, I felt two arms wrap around me from behind, pinning my own arms against my body. These arms were very effective at holding me still, possessing a strength like hydraulic rams with enough strength to crush a car.

“Just hold still there, partner.” AJ’s voice came from right behind my ear.

It was AJ holding me like that?. How was she so strong? How was Dash so fast? This wasn’t possible.

“Let me go, Applejack.” I gave only one ultimatum. She was unnaturally strong, but so was I.

“Can’t do it, sugarcube. Sorry,” she replied.

“No, I’m sorry. For this,” I said, shoving my elbows outward, away from my body, forcing her arms to slide upwards, off of my shoulders. Now free, I reached back with one hand, finding the back of her head to pull her over my shoulder, easily hurling her big frame overtop of me. She landed with her back on the ground in front of me, grunting loudly as her hat landed in the dirt beside her. I certainly didn’t want to hurt her, but I had to put her in a spot where she couldn’t get the upper hand on me again.

I looked back at Dash, who was lowering her stance as I stepped to one side so AJ wouldn’t be between us. I was anticipating another charge. It was easy to see it coming with her getting into position, winding herself up to come at me again with her mysterious speed.

Painfully predictable, in my opinion.

I quickly made the decision to lunge forward, and as anticipated, she charged at me again like a streak of lightning, however this time I had momentum against her, and she bounced off of me and fell to the ground like a pile of bricks.

“Ah, fuck!” she yelled, “What the hell!”

“HEY!” A shrill voice sounded from my left. I looked over to find the source of the voice to find Pinkie Pie standing near the left corner of the house. She quickly bent down to pick up a rock and prepared herself to throw it. As she did so however, it started glowing a sparkly pink colour just as she wound up and hurled it, sending the shimmering rock soaring at my head. I quickly ducked under it, then looked behind me to see where it would land. I watched the glowing object bounce a few times and land next to a tree on the far side of the driveway, where it sat for a few seconds, then flashed a bright, white light, exploding outwards with a surprising level of energy.

The shockwave hit me right in the chest, along with dirt, small rocks and other debris. I covered my face with my forearm to keep it clean, and then turned back to face the tree, watching with amazement as the trunk collapsed and split up it's entire length after being blown out at the base by the explosive. The tree creaked and started to slowly tip, gaining momentum as it fell across the driveway, the top of it crashing through the trees on the far side.

I looked back towards Pinkie, who now had her mouth covered.

Then I noticed the front door open. My heart stopped when I saw Fluttershy in the doorway glaring at me, not looking very happy to see me.

I was about to plead with them to stop what they were doing when something unexpectedly landed on my back. It wasn’t AJ this time, and it wasn't very heavy, but I could feel, however, that it was furry, and had large claws, which were reaching around me, digging deeply into my arm. I could hear growling and snarling right behind my head, and then hot breath accompanied by a wet mouth on the back of my neck, digging into my skin with long, sharp teeth while its sharp claws aggressively raked at my arms. As always, no harm was done to me, and I pulled my head forward, getting myself away from the attack. Finally, I turned my head see the snout of a mountain lion, which had jumped on my back to attack me from behind.

“Where the hell did that come from? Why would it come here in the middle of all this commotion?”

As the animal tried to hold me tighter with its claws and bite again, I swung my body hard to the left, causing the lion to slide off my right side a bit. I reached up with my left hand and grabbed its snout, shoving my thumb in its mouth and wrapping my fingers over the top of its nose to pull it off of me, throwing it on its side on the ground. It quickly returned to it's feet to face me, putting itself into an attack stance for a second, but suddenly, and without warning, it turned to escape into the trees and was gone as quickly as it came.

After taking a second to think, I decided I needed to get this situation under control before someone got hurt. "Stop this, you guys! I don't want to hurt you!" I shouted. "If I really wanted to hurt you, you'd all be dead by now!"

I squeezed my eyes shut as soon as I said it, instantly regretting my choice of words. "Damn, that was stupid. Why did I say that?"

I turned back to Fluttershy, who had stepped out of the front door and was now standing close to her SUV with both her hands covering her mouth. I took a step towards her, about to speak when I heard two voices ring out; one was definitely Pinkie’s, and the other voice sounded like Rarity.

All of this happened at the same time.

I noticed Pinkie with another rock, which was glowing pink like the last one. She didn’t hesitate to hurl it at me, screaming, “stay away from Fluttershy!”

At the same time, Rarity yelled from a place out of my sight. “You leave her be!”

As this was happening, a blue wall appeared before me, separating me from the shy girl. I ran into it with my face as I stepped forward, stumbling back after the unexpected obstacle appeared before me. It was smooth and clear, and appeared to be made of glass...or diamond?

Where did it come from?

As it wondered this, my attention returned to the glowing rock that Pinkie had thrown. It was still on the opposite side of the wall, flying in my direction. I watched it closely as it came and ricocheted off of the blue wall with a loud clack, then bounced away in the opposite direction.

Realising it posed no threat to me with the wall blocking its path, I had a very brief moment of relief; only to see that it had bounced back and rolled to a stop right at Fluttershy’s feet.

When the shy girl saw the pink bomb next to her, she covered her face in a panic with her arms and turned her back to it, too scared to have the presence of mind to run for cover.

I heard the rest of the girls scream, shouting at Fluttershy in a panic to get her to run away when they saw the danger she was now in.

“Oh shit, that's bad!” I thought, my stomach twisting up at the thought of the beautiful girl being injured, or even worse; killed. “I have to help her, I can’t let her get hurt!”

Without a second thought, I charged toward the clear barrier. Thrusting with my shoulder and using my legs for added power, I dug my feet into the ground and I slammed my body into the clear, blue wall with every ounce of strength I had; praying that it wasn’t stronger than me.