A Brief Respite

by jasontaylorblogs

Chapters

• Alone in a Dying World
• Like Waking Up From a Nightmare
• Lightening Up
• Lunch Date with Miss Sparkle
• Bad Memories
• A Warm Welcome
• This Place Isn't So Bad
• The (Surprisingly Short) Train Ride
• Welcome to the Castle
• Change of Heart
• The Twist of Fate

Alone in a Dying World

*A/N:  Feedback is the most important thing to me when it comes to writing stories.  I love to write just as much as the next guy, but I'm not going to write a story no one's interested in.  That being said, tell me what you think in the comments!  I'm more than happy to hear your opinions!*

December 5th, Ruins of New York City

Four years.  The war to end all wars came to a conclusion four years ago.  Billions of lives were lost over the course of the horrendous bloodshed.  Entire countries were wiped from the face of the planet thanks to the use of the most advanced technologies and weapons that each separate government could get its hands on.  Smaller countries, such as Italy and San Marino were completely obliterated.  Only the largest, most powerful countries managed to survive the onslaught of missiles and bombs…if only barely.

The United States of America, once considered the ‘most powerful nation in the world’, was almost obliterated in and of itself.  The same goes for France, Germany, and Great Britain.  Even the peaceful Canada couldn’t avoid the savage war.  Even if a country was left standing, however, it was most definitely not under a unified government.  No, World War III shredded the walls of unity and split any surviving province into factions.  The world essentially became one large turf war.

The protagonists of our story lived within the ruins of New York, a relatively broken piece of land.  Compared to most of the rest of the North American continent, the state of New York was tattered and barren.  

Six years ago from the day our story starts, our dear protagonists lost their parents on a battlefield far from home.  Not only were they forced to live in the hell-hole they called home, they were left to fend for themselves after their parents’ deaths.  Two children forced to fend off the crime and corruption of the ruined world they were left in.  To them, they might as well have been beaten and broken as difficult as things were for them.

Malcolm Rossano, only eleven at the time, was left to care for his little sister all by himself.  In the ruined state the world was in, trust and hope were already lost arts.  He had no one to help him protect and care for his sister, only his own wits and abilities.  It didn’t take long for him to resort to a spree of crime to pay for nourishment and comparatively safe housing.  He did it all for his sister.

Loralee Rossano, at age six, lost her parents and was left alone in a cold hateful world with no one but her brother for company and support.  She never once doubted her brother’s ability to provide for them, no matter how beaten and battered he would be when he returned home from one of his jobs.  Despite being faced with the dark reality of fear and doubt, she never lost faith in her brother.  It was that faith that helped her keep a warm heart in the cold city.

Six years had passed since the day they learned of their parents’ deaths.  It was an exceptionally cold winter morning…if you could call it morning.  Since the war began, clouds of dust and smoke shrouded the sky and never allowed sunlight to burst through over the major battlefields and victimized provinces.  All hours of the day merged together, impossible to determine without a clock.  It was this lack of sunlight that led to drastic colds, worse than ever recorded before the war’s savage reign.

The two siblings found housing in an abandoned apartment building that had been salvaged and renovated by one of the local crime lords.  Their apartment was located on the fifth floor of the building, conveniently the only floor with plumbing.  Though it was no easy task to pay for the special room and board, Malcolm worked himself half to death every day to scrounge up all the rent and food money he could.

Just that morning, he had received a message from his current employer about a special job needing to be handled in the nearby ruined park.  With a promise that he’d be home before dinnertime, he left Loralee in their small apartment with a loaded .44 pistol and plenty of non-perishable canned food.  In the worst case scenario, she would have enough resources to survive over a week without him.

But when the clock struck six in the evening, his sister began to worry.  No job had ever kept him out so late, and it was already past dinnertime.  Throughout the years, Loralee had only left their apartment on rare occasions when Malcolm would take her shopping for new clothes or a few luxury items like fruit and candy.  Despite her lack of outside contact, she knew all too well the dangers of leaving the apartment, and so decided it best to wait for her brother to return.

When the clock struck midnight, she knew something was wrong.  As much as she was dying to go out and search for her brother, she knew better.  It was always best to listen to Malcolm, no matter what the circumstance.  Just as she was thinking about grabbing the pistol and going out to look for him, a loud banging erupted at the door to the apartment.  She walked up to the door and looked through the peephole.

The hall outside was too dimly lit in the late night for her to see who was knocking.  A rough voice called out, “I got a letter for a Ms. Rossano.  Priority mail, gotta sign for it.”

Despite her instincts, Loralee opened the door and took the package that was practically forced into her hands.  A small metal wire was handed to her following the package.  She sighed, “Wh-who’s it from?”  She took the ink-dipped wire and scratched her name on the bottom of the form attached to the package.

The deliveryman grunted, “I dunno.  I just deliver ‘em, lady.  Hey, ain’t you Mac’s sis?”  He looked her over with a concerned eye.

She nodded and said, “I am…  Why?”  The concern was obvious in her expression.

“He ain’t been by to pick up his pay.  I pray the guy ain’t pushing up daisies.  I kinda like that kid’s attitude.”  He shrugged his shoulders after taking the form from Loralee.  He turned around and stomped from the room, pushing a cart full of other mail down the hallway.

Oh no… If Malcolm hasn’t gotten his money yet…something must be wrong!  Maybe I should go look for…

Her eyes locked on to the package in her hands.  She immediately set it on the small table by the bed and ripped the paper off of it.  A small card was attached to the top of the small box within, which she immediately removed and read.  The message was short and sweet.  ‘Here’s the package you wanted.’  She immediately tore the tape from the box and dumped the contents out onto the bed.  Her mind raced with thoughts of what the message could mean.

Within the pile of packing peanuts and paper, a small silver object lay on the bed.  Upon closer examination, Loralee identified it as the barrel to a pistol issued to all of Malcolm’s company’s employees.  She assumed that her brother must have ordered a new barrel to their father’s pistol.  Although that did nothing to ease her concerns about her brother’s safety, it did eliminate the mystery of a midnight delivery.

Just as she came to that conclusion, another knock rang from the still-open door.  She turned on her heel in shock, the fear obvious in her eyes.  A tidal wave of relief washed over her as her mind registered who the battered figure in front of her was.  The man limped lazily toward the bed and collapsed onto it.  She quickly ran to the sink in the corner of the room and soaked a small rag in the coldest water she could.

Malcolm sighed as the cold water slowly washed the dirt and blood from his arm, “Today was one helluva day, Lora…”

Loralee scolded her big brother, “What on earth have you been doing, brother?!  I’ve been worried sick all day!  What took you so long to get home?”  She continued scrubbing the blood and grime from his other limbs, taking care to not rub the wounds raw.

“Heh, just business, sis.  I had to go pick up my pay after the job was over.  I’d’ve been home a few hours ago if my leg hadn’t had me limping.” he chuckled.

She giggled, “You really shouldn’t take on such big jobs.  I really do worry about you…”

“Don’t.  I don’t need you worrying yourself to death while I’m making us money.  Besides, a few more jobs like that and I might not have to work another day in my life.”

“How much money Mac?”

“Almost two-thousand bucks.  These wounds won’t even dent today’s pay.”  He grinned and tossed a pouch of coins onto the bedside table.  He chuckled, “You know what tomorrow is, right sis?  We’re going shopping for your birthday.”

Loralee’s eyes widened.  She gasped, “But that’s-!”

Malcolm raised a hand in objection.  He coughed, “I ain’t taking ‘no’ for an answer!  You gotta get something special for your birthday.  After all, you’ll be a teenager tomorrow.  Heh, I remember when you were still a runt.”

His sister shook her head in disagreement.  She scoffed, “We’re not going anywhere tomorrow, Mac!  It’s too-!”

“The boss has it covered, sis.  We’re gonna have some guards, so we ain’t gotta worry.”

“Your boss is sending us some escorts?  Why?”

“He knows the value of family.  He’s got kids of his own to protect, so he ain’t messed up about helping me out.”

With a wave of his hand, Malcolm dropped the subject.  Loralee finished wiping the blood from his arms and legs and tossed the rag into a small basket at the side of the room.  After closing and locking the door, she crawled up into the bed beside her brother and quickly fell asleep.  The two of them slept all the way through the night in a happy enough peace.

December 6th, Marketplace Alleyway

With the ringing of their clock came the next day’s adventures.  Both of them awoke in perfectly fine spirits, ready to greet the day and enjoy their shopping spree.  Today was Loralee’s birthday, and Malcolm was determined to make it a good one.  Taking care to grab the pistol from the small safe on the wall, they were ready to go to the local marketplace.

Just outside of their apartment building waited two large musclemen in green suits.  Both looked intimidating and unreasonably angry.  One of them greeted the pair with a smile, “Good morning, Mac.  Are you all set to go to the market?”

The other one sighed, “It’s a pleasure to meet you Lora.  The boss said to take extra care of the two of you.”

The siblings shared an excited nod, and were soon following the two large men through the dangerous streets of post-war New York.  They walked for a few minutes before coming to a large collapsed apartment building that had obstructed passage on the road for years.  A wide alley sat to the side of the collapsed building.  The only way to reach the marketplace was to pass through the alley, which was where most of the muggings and murders took place.  Anyone with the misfortune of not having a weapon or escort was definitely left for dead.

The two guards shared nods of approval and ushered the siblings into the alley.  Taking corner after corner, they eventually found themselves staring right at the large neon sign of the only market in miles.  It was at this time that the annoyed guard stopped walking to allow the others to get a bit ahead.  Just before reaching the end of the alley, the smiling guard turned on his heels and stopped the siblings in their tracks.

A sudden sense of dread filled Malcolm as he noticed the glint in the smiling guard’s eyes.  He chuckled, “What’s going on fellas?  Is there a problem?”  He slowly moved his right hand to the pistol trucked in the waist of his pants.

The annoyed guard closed the distance between himself and the siblings and chuckled, “As a matter of fact, there is.  You see, our boss is tired of you meddling with his affairs.”  He pulled a small pistol from the holster at his side.

The smiling guard sighed, “Yeah.  You’ve been a nuisance for far too long.  No one’s ever lived this long working against him.”  He drew his own pistol and aimed it directly at Malcolm’s head.

Loralee gasped in fear and tightly gripped her brother’s arm, halfway hoping it would do something to change the situation.  The older sibling scoffed, “You’ve gotta be kidding me!  Why the hell’s the boss want me dead?!”  He raised an angry fist into the air, slowly gripping his pistol with the other.

“Were you under the impression we were working for your boss?  ‘Cause we aren’t.”  The annoyed guard aimed his pistol at the younger sibling’s chest.

The smiling guard laughed, “Yeah, you’ve pretty much been duped, kid.  Haven’t you learned living in this town that you can’t trust anyone?”  He placed his finger on the trigger.

Malcolm sighed, “Yup, I screwed up big time, eh sis?  But you know, you don’t have to do this.”  He took his free hand and reached into his back pocket.  He slowly lifted a small white card from it and held it high in the air.

Loralee whispered, “What’s that brother?”

The older sibling chuckled, “This is my contract.  I’ll rip it up, right here and now, if you let us go.”  He looked at the smiling guard with a smug grin.

The annoyed guard grunted, “That’s a no-go, kid.  We’re under strict orders to end you today.”

“Fine.  Kill me if you want to, but let Loralee go.  She hasn’t done anything to your boss!”  He wrapped his free arm around his sister and let the contract fall to the ground.  His other hand was gripped firmly on his own pistol, ready to draw.

The smiling guard laughed, “Can’t be any witnesses.  Nice try though.”

Malcolm winced at the response.  He bowed his head and sighed, “Lora, do me a favor…”

His sister opened her eyes and looked up at him.  She could see tears in his eyes for the first time since their parents’ deaths.  She gasped, “Wh-what is it Mac?”

He grinned as he said, “Make a birthday wish.  Anything you want.  Make it count, ‘cause it may be the last one you get…”  He slowly tightened his grip on the pistol he’d been holding for a few minutes now.  His sister closed her eyes tight and thought hard about what she wanted.

“I…I want to go away from this place!  I want to go somewhere we can be happy!  Somewhere that doesn’t have all this dying and anger all over the place…  Someplace where you don’t have to work so hard for so little…brother…”  Tears ran down her face as she screamed this wish.

The smiling guard laughed, “You want to go someplace better?  You want to get away from New York?”  He nodded at his partner.

The annoyed guard groaned, “We can send ya somewhere better if ya want.  How about heaven?  Does that sound good?”  He pulled the hammer of his pistol back and placed his finger more firmly on the trigger.

Loralee opened her eyes and saw her brother’s tear-filled smile greet her.  Malcolm sighed, “Now that you’ve made your wish, let’s play a game.  It’s called… Draw!”

Everything passed by in slow motion for the young girl.  She witnessed everything happening as if it were a movie going by frame by frame.  Malcolm quickly shoved her away from him, knocking her against the brick wall of the alleyway, where she stood for the entirety of the scene.  He pulled the pistol from his waist and quickly aimed it at the smiling guard, who was thrown off by the sudden action.  The annoyed guard quickly refocused his aim and let out a bullet right into the barrel of Malcolm’s pistol.

The force of the bullet sent his pistol flying out of his hand, past the smiling guard, who had regained his composure and once again aimed at the older sibling’s head.  Malcolm turned and mouthed something to Loralee before he was sent to the ground by a bullet impacting with his skull.  For a few seconds, the younger sibling watched blood pour from her brother’s head.

She screamed, “Malcolm, no!”  She turned to look at the annoyed guard just in time to see his finger squeeze the trigger once more.

With a loud bang, everything went black.

Like Waking Up From a Nightmare

*A/N:  I love feedback more than you would imagine.*

It was a cold summer morning, not quite as bitter as the day they’d just suffered through.  It was Malcolm’s eleventh birthday, and his parents had just received a draft notice from the United States Air Force.  With fountains of tears and horrible regret, Vincent and Susan Rossano were saying goodbye to their children for what they would never expect to be the last time…

“But Daddy, you can’t go!  We need you!  Lora needs you!”  Tears ran down Malcolm’s face as he embraced his father with all his might.

Vincent hugged his son tightly, the tears swelling in his own eyes.  He chuckled, “Lora doesn’t need us, Mac.  She needs you.  You’re her brother, and you have to be strong for her, okay?”  He couldn’t stand the fact that this news was coming to them on a child’s birthday.

Malcolm sobbed, “But…you’ll be b-back, right?  You’re going to c-come back to us, aren’t you Daddy?”  He buried his head in his father’s coat, not wanting to ever let go.

The large man choked out, “The government’s already agreed to let us come home for yours and Lora’s birthdays.  We’ll be back before she turns seven.”  He placed a hand firmly on the back of his son’s head and hugged him closer.

A gentle voice whispered to them, the sorrow buried deep within it, “Lora’s asleep now, Vince.  We should start packing…”  She placed a hand on both of their shoulders, trying to hold back her own tears.

“Mommy…Daddy…But all those reports…  No one ever comes home!”  Malcolm’s mind locked onto a news report he’d heard a while back, saying that no US soldier had returned as of that point in the war.

Susan dropped to her knees beside her son and gripped his shoulders firmly.  She turned him to face her and looked deep into his eyes.  She said in a sad, loving voice, “We will be back.  We’re not leaving you two.  We’d never leave you two!”  She wrapped her arms around her son and let the tears fall.  Vincent stood up and walked into Lora’s room to say his silent goodbyes.

Before sunrise, the military transport vehicle arrived on their street to collect all the draftees.  In the blink of an eye, Malcolm and Loralee were without their parents, though the latter didn’t find out until her brother told her two days later.  They both had the nagging feeling that they would never see their dearest loved ones again…

“You said you’d come back…”  Malcolm groaned as consciousness slowly returned.  He felt something foreign to him as his mind started to wake up.  A strange source of heat was covering his body, and sweat began to form on his skin under his tattered jackets.

He lifted himself to his rear, sitting upright.  A blinding light filled his eyes, and he flinched in pain as his pupils burned from the intensity.  A foreign smell invaded his nostrils, and he enjoyed it so much so that he inhaled deeply several pointless times.  He wasn’t sure why, but a smile formed across his face.  Without even seeing his surroundings, he strangely felt safe.

And then everything hit him like a wrecking ball.  He remembered the previous day’s job, the escorts to the mall, and being shot by the smiling guard’s gun.  He remembered the brief second of pain he felt as the bullet entered his skull and destroyed his brain.  He held his hand to his head as it started to pound softly.

He opened his eyes again to examine his surroundings.  The light felt less intense this time, and he was able to keep his eyes open by squinting.  He managed to make out a few dozen tall brown figures around him, each with green things extending from the middles and tops of them.  His brain recognized the figures from a picture he’d seen a long time ago.

“Trees?”  He slowly tried to stand up, only to find the pounding in his head intensify.  He sat back on the soft surface below him and examined it closely.  The small green waves rising from the dirt also reminded him of the picture.  “Grass…It’s softer than thought it’d be.  Looked spikey in the picture…”

Suddenly, his mind locked on to two very important details.  First of all, his gun, the gun issued to him by his employer, was missing from his hand.  Next, and the most important thing of all, was that Loralee was nowhere to be seen.  Malcolm’s mind began to race and sent him into a state of panic.

“Lora!  Loralee!  Can you hear me?!  Say something!”  Malcolm leaped to his feet, ignoring the hammering in his head.  He wanted nothing more than to find his sister.  If she wasn’t with him, or if she was hurt, he wouldn’t know what to do.  He needed her more than anyone else in the world.  He needed her more now than he ever needed his parents…

An innocent voice called to him, “Brother?  Is that you?”  It was echoing from a little distance away.

Malcolm called into the woods, “Yeah!  Hold on, I’ll be there in a sec!”  He wasted no time in darting towards his sister’s voice.  He wanted nothing more than for her to be okay.

After mere seconds of running, he tripped on a large tree root stretched across the middle of his path.  By the time he regained his footing, a little girl was standing right in front of him.  The sudden appearance of the girl made him leap back in shock.

She giggled, “Did I scare you Mac?”

The adrenaline-pumped boy’s brain quickly registered the girl’s appearance and voice, and he immediately calmed down.  His heart fluttered as he sighed, “Oh Loralee, thank God you’re alright!”  He jumped up to hug his sister.  While holding her in a tight embrace he sobbed, “Everything’s okay now, Lora.  We’re together…”

Loralee whispered, “Do you know what the best part is, Mac?”  She smiled and returned his embrace with a gentle one of her own.

The still-sobbing older sibling asked, “Wh-what’s that, sis?”

“We’re not in New York anymore.” the younger of the two giggled.

Malcolm released his embrace and took this time to thoroughly examine the area.  There were trees and grass and fresh air.  He knew it was true; there was no way they could still be in the wasteland known as New York.  No, he even doubted that this was still Earth, but it could’ve just been one of the less war-ravaged of the provinces.

He placed a loving hand on top of his sister’s head and chuckled, “You’re damn right we ain’t in New York!  I wonder how long we were out for…”  He looked up at the sky.  An old legend told that if you could ever see through the clouds, you could tell the time of day by the position of the sun in the sky.

Malcolm saw a sight that fascinated him beyond all comparison in this strange new place.  Back home, thick dark clouds covered the sky perpetually, and very little sunlight passed through at all.  But directly above him, small white clouds drifted through the air, and an endless screen of blue stretched forever in every direction.  Hanging in that screen was a large orange ball of pure light, which burned when looked directly at.

“Sunlight…” the boy mumbled to himself, lost in the beauty of the sky.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?  That’s the first thing I saw when I woke up…  So what do we do now?”  Loralee let go of her brother and spun around a few times.  The entire surrounding area was identical to itself in every direction.  Tall trees and green grass left little room for diversity in this forest.

Malcolm sighed, “I guess we oughta find some shelter in case it rains.”  His stomach grumbled loudly, to which he responded, “We should probably invest in a little food, too…”

The little girl giggled at her brother’s inconvenient hunger and took his arm in her hand.  She asked, “Do you still have Father’s gun?  I remember you tucked it in your pocket before we left the house.”

The older sibling had completely forgotten all about having possession of two guns during the confrontation in the alleyway.  He had his work pistol readily accessible because it was the least valuable, and if it were broken in the fray he wouldn’t be too tore up about it.  On top of having his work gun, he had also packed his father’s old .44 pistol; the same one he had ordered the replacement barrel for.

Reaching into his back pocket, he found with some relief that one of the most precious heirlooms he owned was still sitting within it.  He pulled the silver pistol from his pocket and let it shine in the light.  He silently thanked his father for giving them one of the most important means of defense in their old home before realizing something that made him very angry.

“I forgot to replace the damn barrel before we left the house!” he screamed and fell back on his rear in complete disbelief of his own ignorance.

Loralee looked at her brother with something similar to confusion plastered on her face.  She stifled her laughter as she asked, “Now how could you possibly forget to replace a giant chunk of metal with another giant chunk of metal?”

“Shut up Lora, this ain’t funny!  The barrel of Dad’s pistol is messed up!  It’ll never shoot right without a new one!”  He placed the somewhat-useless gun to his side and fell back on the soft grass.

His sister plopped down beside him and giggled, “But at point-blank, I don’t think accuracy matters.”  She picked up the gun and examined it closer.

Malcolm sat upright immediately and groaned, “Don’t mess with that, it’s loaded.  You’ll shoot yourself if ya ain’t careful.”  He tried to grab the gun from his sister, but she spun around and hopped to her feet.  She continued to examine the gun intently.

She tossed the gun back to her brother and sighed, “The barrel’s only got a tiny dent in it.  You should still be able to shoot with a 2% margin of error on accuracy.”  She winked, and her brother’s jaw dropped.

He stammered, “Wh-what the heck?!  Wh-where’d you learn all that from?!”  He caught the gun and holstered it back in his pocket, making sure the safety was on before doing so.

“I read books, brother.  Like the gun’s manual and school books.  While you’re out working yourself to death to support us, I’m learning everything I can.  Never know when something’ll come in handy!”  She took her brother’s hand and lifted him to his feet.

“Okay Miss Smartypants, if you’re such a genius, then tell me what day it is!”

“Looking at the sun, it would have to be somewhere around noon.  So we were either asleep for a full day, or we were out for an hour.  I’d rather go with the latter, because then it’d still be my birthday!”  She took his arm again and laughed a childish, happy laugh.

“Sounds good to me, sis.  As much as I love this place though…we really need to find a town or something.  We need food and shelter…  Let’s go.”

“Go where?  We don’t even know where we are…”

“Pick a direction.  Any direction.  There’s bound to be something somewhere in one of them.”

“You’re going to let me guess our way to shelter?  I don’t think it works like that.”

“Just do it, sis.  Point somewhere, and that’s where we go.  Trust your New York instincts.”

“Whatever.  Let’s go…that way!”

“That way?  Are you sure?”

“Hey, you said you would-!”

“I’m just kidding, sis!  Let’s go!”

With that, Malcolm gripped his little sister’s hand tight, and they darted off into the woods to greet whatever waited for them.  No matter what they would encounter, they knew nothing could ever be as bad as the thugs that lurked in every shadow of the New York ruins.

It didn’t take them long at all to find what they were hoping to find.  After a few minutes of running through the peaceful forest, they emerged out on a large open plain.  In the distance about a mile from the edge of the woods rested a small town.  The beauty of the surrounding area really brought out the town’s appeal to the siblings, and without hesitation they set off to reach the hopefully-friendly citizens within.

Thoughts of food and shelter and kind neighbors filled their heads as they ran ever closer to the colorful community.  The home they had left was dull and fearful, but this new place was bright and cheerful.  Just the thought of never going back to New York made their hearts flutter and their burdens lift.  They would’ve never guessed what was waiting for them as they approached the village from the north side…

The closer they ran to the would-be refuge, the more hesitant Malcolm grew.  Even from a distance away, he felt something was different about this place.  It was almost as if something bad was going to greet them when they arrived.  Upon entering the town, his suspicions were confirmed.  There were no other humans in sight in the main square of the town.  In fact, there were no humans visible anywhere within the town.  Instead, there were four-legged animals walking around going about their business.

Malcolm stopped dead in his tracks as he noticed the unsettling lack of other people.  He yanked his sister to a sudden stop as she almost continued running into the town.  When given a puzzled look from her, he whispered, “This place doesn’t feel right…”

Loralee responded with a confused, “What do you mean?  It’s a town with shelter.”

The older sibling shook his head and groaned, “Look around.  Notice anything wrong?”

The younger of the two scanned the town square with curious and observant eyes.  She thought for a few seconds before gasping, “There aren’t any people here!”

Malcolm nodded and sighed, “Yeah, but that ain’t all.  Look at all those animals walking around.”  He lowered his voice as he brought the quadrupeds to his sister’s attention.

The little girl’s eyes opened wide as the animals’ appearances brought back a memory from years ago.  She whispered, “Those animals are horses, Mac.”

“Horses?” Malcolm asked, uncertain of what ‘horses’ were.

“Yeah, like from Mom’s old picture books.  They walk on four legs and eat oats and grass.  People used to ride them for fun and transportation…before the war…”  She lowered her gaze as she thought about the torments of the post-war world.

The eldest immediately changed the subject, “So if they’re horses, and people used them, they why are they walking around alone?”  He waved a hand at the multi-colored creatures roaming about the town.  Some had wings, others had horns, and still others were just normal, brightly-colored animals.

Loralee thought for a few seconds before shrugging her shoulders and sighing, “I dunno.  Maybe these horses are smarter than the ones from pre-war times.”  She smiled up at her brother and tried to take another step forward, but was held firmly in place by his hand.

“I don’t trust ‘em.  We don’t know anything about them, so let’s play it safe…”  He slowly moved his free hand to his back pocket where the gun was resting.

His sister groaned angrily, “You aren’t thinking about shooting them, are you?!  They’re just horses!”  This sudden rise in volume drew the attention of one creature that had been walking by at just the right moment.

The horse slowly turned toward the two siblings and raised an inquisitive eyebrow.  It slowly took a few steps closer.  Malcolm took this time to note the strange color of the creature.  It had what he would describe as a mint-colored skin tone and faded blue hair.  It also had a horn protruding from the top of its head.

The two siblings stared blankly at the horse as it approached them.  The younger of the two reached a hand out to the animal, which responded by raising a hoof to its muzzle.  What happened next threw both humans for a loop.

The horse, in a curiosity-filled feminine tone, asked, “You two aren’t from around here, are you?”

Malcolm’s jaw dropped and he leaped back a few feet, pulling Loralee with him.  He let out a fearful scream, “Did that animal just talk?!”  He pointed a shaky finger right at the confused horse and gripped his pistol with the other hand.

“I-I think so, brother!”  His sister’s eyes locked onto the hand gripping the pistol.

The horse took another few steps closer and said in an apologetic tone, “I didn’t mean to upset you…  Where are you from?”  She tried to take another series of steps toward the humans, but the shiny silver object in the boy’s hand stopped her in her tracks.

Malcolm screamed while aiming the gun at the horse’s head as steadily as his shaky nerves would let him, “Don’t come any closer you freak, or I’ll shoot!”

Loralee gripped her brother’s aiming arm and tried to pull it out of the air.  She shouted, “Are you insane, Mac?!  It’s just a horse, it can’t hurt us!”  She yanked on her brother’s jacket sleeve as hard as she could to try and throw off his aim, but the arm was steady in the air.

“I don’t know much about horses, but I’m pretty damn sure they ain’t supposed to talk!”  The on-guard boy lined up the sights of the gun to the horned horse’s head.

His sister lowered her voice so that only he could hear her, “If all of these ponies can talk, is it possible this world is run by them?  Like how our world was run by humans?  If we make enemies now, we’ll be screwed later on!  Just do this for me, okay brother?”  She tugged at his arm again, and this time it came down with her own.

The hesitant boy sighed, “Dammit Lora, you know we can’t be so quick to trust these animals…”

“We aren’t in New York anymore, Mac.  Maybe we can trust them.”  She smiled as her brother re-locked the safety on the gun and holstered it back in his pocket.  The horse that had first addressed them now had a crowd of other horses gathered around her.

Each of them was staring directly at the two humans who had suddenly arrived at their doorstep.  The younger of the two siblings took a few steps toward the crowd and giggled, “My name is Loralee Rossano…”  She placed her hand on her chest before waving it toward her brother.  She continued, “…and this is my brother, Malcolm.  Sorry about his sudden outburst, but we’re not used to…talking animals…”  She smiled sheepishly as she said the last part of her sentence, hoping not to offend anyone.

Another horse in the crowd, this one with a brown skin tone and hair, stepped forward and addressed the little girl, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Loralee.  Welcome to Ponyville.  I would ask that you not refer to us as ‘animals’, considering we aren’t.”  A few cheers erupted from the crowd as another couple of horses stepped forward.

The mint-colored horse from before addressed Malcolm, “And we aren’t horses, we’re ponies.  There is a difference, you know.”  She smiled and approached the little girl.

Loralee turned to her brother and giggled, “I guess we were wrong, Mac.”  She walked back to his side and took his hand.  He hesitantly followed her to the crowd of ponies.

Malcolm groaned, “Call me Mac, if ya don’t mind.  Sorry about jumping the gun back there…  But talking ponies ain’t something we see every day…”  He ran his hand through his hair and took a deep breath.

The brown pony chuckled, “It’s not a problem.  It’s not every day we see creatures walking on two legs.  What did you say you were again?”  He raised a hoof to his muzzle to ponder what kind of creatures the siblings were.

Loralee and Malcolm shared confused expressions.  The former of the two said, “Why, we’re humans…you didn’t know that?”

A loud series of shocked gasps filled the air as every pony in the crowd was left in awe at the mention of ‘humans’.  The mint-colored pony leaped into the air several times and cheered, “Oh yeah!  Who was right?!  This mare was!  Booyah!”  She let a smug grin plaster her face as she spun around to look at the dumbfounded crowd of ponies.

Malcolm cocked his head to the side and asked, “Why so surprised?  You don’t have humans in this world?”  He thought for a second and said, “I guess that makes sense, we don’t have talking ponies in ours…”  He looked back at Loralee, who was grinning from ear to ear.

The mint-colored pony laughed, “Correction:  we didn’t have humans in our world!  Now we do!”  She hopped over to Malcolm’s side and plopped an excited hoof onto his shoulder.  She cheered, “Welcome to Equestria, strangers!  The name’s Lyra Heartstrings, pleasure to meet ya!”

Without warning, the two humans found themselves being corralled into the group of ponies and shoved toward a large stage at the east side of the town.  Before they arrived, wild chatter bounced around the town like wildfire, and suddenly a massive group of ponies were gathered by the stage.  Suddenly, they were both standing on it, put on show for at least a hundred ponies.  

Malcolm didn’t like this little situation, but he simply grinned and dealt with it upon seeing his sister enjoying herself.  The crowd of amazed and shocked ponies bombarded them with question after question, all of which Loralee answered to the best of her ability.  Her brother simply stood there like a statue and waited for the show to end.

Funny ain’t it?  Just this mornin’ we were being shot in the head, now we’re answering the questions of a bunch of colorful talking animals.  How the hell’d we get here, and why are they talkin’?  At least Lora’s happy, I s’pose.  She’s just too damn naïve…

Malcolm was snapped from his thoughts as his sister tried to pass a question over to him.  A purple pony with a horn standing at the front of the crowd repeated her question to him, “How did you two end up here in Ponyville?”

This question was one Malcolm had tried not to think about.  He accepted that it had happened.  He accepted that the animals were talking.  What he was completely unsure of was exactly how it had happened.

He thought for a few seconds and plopped down on the stage.  An older-looking mare handed him a microphone so that every pony in the crowd could hear his answer.  He sighed, “I can’t really say.  Me and Lora were going shopping for her birthday, some thugs shot us, and we woke up in the forest a mile or so away.  That’s all I know.”  He handed the mic back to the old mare.

Loralee took the mic and sat beside her brother as she added, “We don’t know how we got here, but we do know that we definitely don’t want to go back…”  Malcolm’s eyes opened wide and he sent an indignant glare to his sister.

He mumbled quiet enough so the mic couldn’t pick up, “Speak for yourself Lora.  Though you’re right…”  He turned his head away and let out a deep breath.

The girl stood back up and giggled, “We’re happy to be here.  It’s a lot different from our home.”  

The purple pony asked, “So what was your home like if you don’t mind me asking?”  Nods of approval of the question followed her voice.

Loralee took a deep breath and started to explain, “Well, it’s really cold all the time.  We don’t have plants like you do.  The sun never really shines because the sky’s always covered in thick nasty clouds…”  She paused to think of other ways to describe New York.  Chatter rang out from the crowd in both pity and disbelief of how horrible she described her home.

Malcolm jumped to his feet and snatched the mic from his sister.  He groaned, “Our home was hell.  Imagine everything bad you can possibly think of, put it all together, and you have our home.  Bad people run around all over the place, and just looking at someone funny can get you killed.  Our home sucks, that’s why we don’t want to go back.  Now let’s drop it.”  He shoved the mic back into the old mare’s hooves.

The question and answer session went on for an hour or so.  Malcolm was steadily growing impatient with all the obsession of their lives back home.  Loralee, despite her brother’s annoyance, seemed to be enjoying herself greatly.  She kept answering all the questions she could, and left her brother alone for the remainder of the show…

Lightening Up

*A/N:  I can has feedback, please?*

It was a bitterly cold winter’s morning, the day before Loralee’s thirteenth birthday.  Malcolm had been instructed by his boss to track down a man living in the nearby ruins of Highbridge Park, a once-beautiful tourist attraction to the area before the war.  Not wanting to make his boss angry, the hoodlum boy regretfully obliged.

The man in question had borrowed several thousand dollars from Boss’s organization in order to pay off debts to the local gambling hall.  He’d been given a receipt saying payment was due in one month’s time, but nearly two months later the payment still hadn’t arrived.  He’d overstayed his welcome on Boss’s expenses account, so it was time to get rid of him.

Malcolm was one of the best employees working for Boss, so naturally he was the boy to retrieve either the payment or the life.  Despite his distaste of actual killing, the boy had no choice if he hoped to pay the rent for his and Loralee’s apartment.

“Ow!”

He found the in-debt man huddled under a collapsed bridge on the bank of a small river.  The man was pale and sickly, but a job was a job.  With his company-issued .44 pistol, Malcolm was going to get the man to pay his debt one way or another.

“P-please!  I promise I’ll have his money before the end of the week!”  The thin old man covered his face with his hands and pleaded with the young boy.

Malcolm shook his head and scoffed, “Sorry pal, but the boss has run outta patience.  Either cough up the dough, or I shoot.”  He pulled the hammer of his pistol back and placed his index finger gently on the trigger.  He didn’t want to shoot the poor old guy…

“Ow!”

The weak man crawled on his knees to the boy’s feet and begged, “Please, I’ll have the money in a week, I swear!  Just please don’t shoot, I beg you!”  He leaned down to kiss the boy’s shoes, which evoked a disgusted grunt and kick from the boy.

“Look old man, I don’t wanna kill you.  But you can’t just borrow money and not pay it back.  That makes the boss pissed.  And when the boss gets pissed, I get stuck with all the dirty work.  Sorry fella, but you gotta go.”  Malcolm aimed his pistol directly at the old man’s forehead.  No matter what the man said, it was obvious he had no intentions of paying the debt, and that meant Malcolm couldn’t show mercy.

The two stared into each other’s eyes.  Neither of them wanted to be doing what they were, and that regret burned brightly in both of their glares.  The old man realized there was no chance of talking his way out of this and simply bowed his head in defeat.  He muttered something under his breath before Malcolm sighed and pulled the trigger.

There was a loud bang and an agonized groan before the man’s body hit the ground with a thud.

“Ouch!”

Malcolm’s eyes darted open and locked onto the two creatures on the opposite side of the room from him.  His sister was sitting on a small medical bed, whereas a white mare was holding a syringe in her hoof and poking the human with it.  The boy hopped from his bed and stomped over to his sister’s side.

He screamed, “Stop poking her with the damn needle!”

Both of the females flinched at this sudden outburst.  The white mare scoffed, “Well excuse me, but I have to get a blood sample for some tests.”  She moved the syringe closer to Loralee’s arm.

Malcolm stopped her with, “Just give me the damn thing!  I’ll draw the blood!”  He reached an angry hand for the syringe, but the mare jerked her hoof back cautiously.

She sighed, “Only trained medical professionals are allowed to-”

“I don’t give a damn!  Where we come from, we ain’t got doctors to make us feel better.  If you get sick, you buy your medicine from the cheapest place and give it to your own damn self.  Now give me the needle.”  He opened his hand and waited for the mare to oblige.

The little sibling asked, “Shouldn’t we just let her do it, Mac?  I mean, she is a professional.”  She looked back and forth between the two other residents of the room.

Malcolm scoffed, “Yeah, an expert on ponies, maybe.  But we ain’t ponies, Lora.  She can’t even find a simple vein!”  He extended his hand again, and was finally met with regretful obliging from the white mare.

The pony said, “I have a name, you know.  You don’t have to talk about me like I’m not here.”  She rolled her eyes and watched as the older sibling prepared to draw the girl’s blood.

The older sibling dropped his angry expression for one of slight happiness.  He whispered, “Now, you’re gonna feel a pinch and a stinging for a few seconds.  Try not to let it bother you.”  He wiped the intended entry point with an alcohol pad from the small table beside him before bringing the syringe close to his sister’s arm.

Ha, never thought I’d be drawing her blood.  I’ve given her vaccines and antibiotics, but I ain’t never had to draw blood.  This just another reason I don’t like this place:  they know nothing about how humans work…

“And…done!”  Malcolm withdrew the syringe from Lora’s arm and carefully handed it to the white mare beside him.  Full of blood, the drawing was a success with no complications.

The mare didn’t know what to think about how quickly the boy found the vein and withdrew the blood.  “Why in Equestria would a child like you know how to draw blood so…hastily?”

Loralee cheered, “My brother’s just cool like that, Nurse Redheart!”  She held out her arm as her brother wrapped it with a sterile bandage to stop any excess blood from flowing out of the entry point.

Seeing the nurse’s confused expression, Malcolm felt obligated to answer her query.  He sighed, “Like I said, we didn’t have doctors back home.  I’ve had to give Lora plenty of shots over the years.”  He finished wrapping the bandage on his sister’s arm before giving her a small hug and returning to his own medical bed.

Nurse Redheart giggled, “Well, how about to yourself?”  She lifted another syringe from her medical cart and offered it to the human.

Not willing to let the animal try and draw his blood, he happily accepted the needle and alcohol pad.  With a slight wince, the boy injected the needle into his arm and carefully pulled the plunger up, sucking his own blood into the tube.  He couldn’t help but laugh at how extraordinary their situation was.

Taking the now-filled syringe from her patient, the mare smiled and said her temporary farewells before leaving the two humans alone in the room.  The siblings’ then shared their pent-up thoughts about the whole situation.

Once she was sure the mare was out of earshot, Loralee squealed, “Isn’t this so exciting?  We’re actually in a whole other world!”  She clapped her hands together with a smile plastered on her face.

Malcolm simply grunted as he finished wrapping his own bandage over the needle’s entry point.  When his sister developed an expression of anticipation, he decided it best to elaborate on his reaction.  He chuckled, “Yeah, a new world.  Tons of fun.”

The younger sibling cocked her head to the side and frowned.  She asked, “What’s wrong Mac?  I mean, we’re not in New York anymore.  Why aren’t you happy?”

“Look around you, Lora.  These things don’t even know what humans are.  How the hell can we live here?”  He noticed the sad expression on his sister’s face, and immediately regretted his choice of words.  “Just think about it.  The nurse—a trained medical professional—couldn’t take our blood.  How can we live in a world that can’t accommodate us?”  

Loralee thought about this for a few seconds.  She giggled, “We can adjust.  I mean, what’s to stop us from teaching them about us and our necessities?”  She smiled and raised a thumb to stress her point.

The older sibling’s jaw dropped.  He stammered, “B-but…how can you be so positive?  Why are you so…hopeful?”  He shook his head and fell back on the bed.

The little girl shrugged her shoulders and sighed, “I just am.  That’s how I live, Mac.  When you live in a place like New York, you just can’t stop hoping for the best.”  She thought back to the ruins of their home.

Malcolm sat upright and groaned, “That’s right.”  His mind drifted back to his job of the previous day before he snapped himself back to reality.  He clenched a fist tight and asked, “You wanna know a secret, sis?”  Loralee smirked and replied with a simple nod.  “The only reason I haven’t completely lost it here is because I’m almost certain that I’m going to wake up in that alley tomorrow morning.”

“Wh-what do you mean?”  His sister had a pitying expression on her face.

Malcolm clenched his fist tighter and continued, “Yeah.  I’ll probably wake up half-dead with blood gushing from my skull and some thug rummaging through my person.”  He looked up to see the horrified look on his sister’s kind face.

She screamed, “Are you insane?!  Would that be better for you?”  Tears began to swell in her eyes.

The brother scoffed, “No, but it’d make a helluva lot more sense than this place!”  The fact that everything was completely different from Earth suddenly caught up to him, and he began to feel the confusion and fear he’d been holding in since their arrival to Ponyville.

The little girl got up from her bed and approached his.  She sighed, “You’re right, this place doesn’t make sense.  But it’s still better than home!  You have to stop being so cold.  Lighten up, Mac…”  She hopped up onto his bed and leaned against him comfortingly.

Malcolm loosened his fist and let out a deep sigh.  He wrapped his arm around his sister and thought about almost everything that they’d gone through.  Images of their home, their parents, their neighbors, his job, his boss, and the men that had attacked them all played in his head.  He systematically compared parts of their old lives to this new world.

He compared the cold and heartless ‘medic’ back home to the kind Nurse Redheart.  He put images of this world’s trees and the wilted gray sticks from home side by side.  He thought about the random people from both worlds.  The more he thought about it, the more beautiful this world looked and sounded.

After a few minutes of silence, he told her, “You’re right.  I should lighten up.  Besides, it’s still your birthday.  We gotta do something to celebrate.  Maybe they have some sorta deli here in town.”  He smiled in her direction as she giggled quietly.

“Besides, isn’t food the main reason we headed over here anyway?”  She waved her hand at his stomach, which promptly growled loudly.

Malcolm bowed his head and sighed lightly, “Yep, I’m starving!  Maybe we can ditch this joint and find some food.”  He sent a sneaky glare at the door in contemplation of just walking out of the building.

As if summoned by his statement, the door swung wide open, and two ponies entered the room.  The leading pony was the familiar Nurse Redheart, and following her was the brown pony that greeted them upon first entering Ponyville.  The former of the two carried a small clipboard with some paper attached to it while smiling widely at the siblings.  The latter walked over to the humans and took a deep bow.

He chuckled, “I’m afraid I never introduced myself.  My name is Time Turner.  I decided to pay you a quick visit to make sure you’re both in fine condition.”  He waved a hoof in greeting.

Loralee giggled, “It’s nice to meet you Mr. Turner!  You didn’t have to do that, you know.”  She nudged her brother in the side as she finished her statement.

Taking the hint, Malcolm chuckled, “As far as I can tell, we’re fine.  Thanks for checking up on us.  So…what do you do around here Mr. Turner?”  Thinking there wasn’t much else to do but settle in, Malcolm decided to start learning everything he could about the citizens.

Time Turner was caught off guard by such a random question.  He laughed, “I own some apartments in town.  I’m more-or-less a landlord than anything else.  I do make clocks in my spare time, however.”  He pointed a hoof at the mark on his rear, as if he expected it to stress his point.

The humans shared uncertain looks before Loralee asked, “What’s that mark on your butt?  Some kind of tattoo?”  Both ponies in the room immediately looked mortified by her question.

The stallion smiled and politely explained, “That, my dear, is called a cutie mark.  It’s a sign that appears on everypony’s flanks when they learn what their special talents are.  In my case it’s an hourglass because I keep time for special events and other such activities.  Not to mention I make clocks.”  He waved a hoof at the mare behind him and directed the humans’ attentions to the symbol on her rear.

Nurse Redheart giggled, “And mine’s a cross because I’m a nurse.  You know medicine and whatnot.”  She unclipped the pieces of paper from her clipboard and handed them to the siblings.  “Your blood work came back negative for everything.  You aren’t carrying anything dangerous to us ponies, so you’re free to go.”  She grinned happily at the two siblings as she delivered the good news.

The brown pony reached into a pouch at his side and chuckled, “Yes, and I’ve brought you a little gift.”  He handed the older sibling a small jingling satchel.

The boy looked the satchel over curiously and asked, “So what’s in it?”  He held it low so his sister could examine it.

“Roughly fifty bits, I believe.  If you’re new to our world, you must not have any money.  That’s to help you get on your feet.”  The stallion turned back towards the door of the room.

Loralee asked, “What are bits, Mr. Turner?”  She was met with another skeptical glare from the two ponies.

Nurse Redheart gasped, “Please tell me you have currency where you’re from.”  After a nod from Malcolm, she continued, “Bits are our currency in Equestria.  You use them for everything.”

The boy chuckled, “So money then?  Appreciate it, Mr. Turner.  But are you sure this is okay?”  He offered the satchel back to the stallion, who simply shook his head and stepped out of the room with a light chuckle of his own.

The younger sibling giggled, “At least now we can afford some food!”  This time it was her stomach that let out a loud growl.

“I don’t know what you humans eat, but there’s a great café in the middle of town that serves amazing sandwiches.”  She smiled at the two humans as they perked up at the mention of sandwiches.

Malcolm thought about it for a second and nodded contentedly.  He asked sheepishly, “Can you get us some sorta escort?  I don’t feel comfortable walking around in a strange place without a guide.”  Loralee shot him a confused look before realizing what he was saying.

What a clever idea, Mac!  If we have an escort, then we at least have someone to explain stuff to us while we’re still learning.

Nurse Redheart nodded happily and escorted the two humans through the hospital to the exit.  Ponies stared on in disbelief as once-mythological creatures walked past them with an air of uncertainty.  Ignoring the strange glares and mutterings, the siblings eventually reached the fresh air of the outside world.  Seemingly waiting for the two humans was the purple pony who had previously asked how they wound up in town.  She had a look of utter amazement and excitement plastered across her face.  Her eyes carried an obvious curiosity as the nurse passed the two foreign creatures into her care…

Lunch Date with Miss Sparkle

A/N:  Don't forget, feedback is the most important thing to me!  Let me know you fellas are still reading!  :D

It was a comparatively warm summer’s evening in the ruins of New York City.  Loralee was huddled in bed with several thick blankets wrapped around her.  Her skin was pale and her breathing was heavy.  Large bullets of sweat rolled down her face as Malcolm draped an ice-cold rag over her forehead.  The older of the two had tears streaming down his face while the younger wheezed rhythmically.

The ten-year-old girl had caught a horrible post-war strand of the influenza virus, and all the symptoms were magnified tenfold.  The local ‘medic’ had explained to Malcolm that the death rate of this strand of the flu was over ninety-eight percent.  The fact that Loralee was so young didn’t help her chances any.

The older sibling was certain his sister only had a small amount of time left with him, and he did everything he could to make her as comfortable as possible for when she passed.  The girl was brave and tough, and didn’t complain about the illness or the pain.  It was the older sibling that was taking the news the hardest.

The clock struck ten at night, and Malcolm decided it was best to try and help Loralee get some rest.  Through his own sorrow, he sat right beside her on the bed and cradled her in his arms lovingly.  He told her a story from a book their mother had read them several years back.

The story didn’t last long, and her pain kept her from drifting off to sleep.  The innocent girl looked up at her brother with faded irises and asked, “Will you tell me another story, Mac?” The strained breath unnerved the boy even further than the sight of his sister’s eyes.

He chuckled with a quivering voice, “Of course.  How about ‘Little Red Riding Hood’?  Have I ever told you that one?”  With a declining nod from his sister, Malcolm started to tell the tale.

Before he could actually get started into the story, a loud banging erupted at their door.  Malcolm gently shifted his sister onto the bed before getting up to answer it.  For several minutes both he and the figure on the other side of the doorway shared words that were unintelligible to the sick girl.  When her brother finally closed the door and returned to her side, he had an unstable smile on his face and fresh tears falling from his eyes.

The two sat in silence for a few minutes, Loralee unable to speak through her wheezing and Malcolm trying to focus his thoughts.  He eventually wrapped an arm around his sister and leaned his head next to hers.

He asked with a crackly voice, “Do you remember the lullaby Mom used to sing to us when we couldn’t sleep?”

His sister moaned, “No…why?”

The older sibling chuckled, “She always said her grandmother taught it to her.  Would you like to hear it, Lora?”  He looked down at the sickly girl beside him and immediately remembered the lyrics to the comforting lullaby.

Loralee nodded and groaned, “Sure…”  She had a small coughing fit before snuggling beside her brother.

Malcolm started to tap the rhythm with his fingers on his sister’s arm.  He started singing gently, “Hush now.  Quiet now.  It’s time to lay your sleepy head…”

“Daffodil sandwiches?!  What the hell kinda food is that?!”

Loralee’s mind shifted immediately from memories of the past to the current situation.  She was sitting in a small chair at a metal table outside in the beaming sunlight of the Ponyville town center.  Beside her sat her brother, the source of the outburst, and the horned purple pony on the other side.  She thought about her brother’s question for a few seconds.

She giggled, “Daffodils are flowers, Mac.  That is, if they’re the same as Mom’s old picture books.”  She was met with an annoyed glare from her brother.

Malcolm groaned, “I know what they are, Lora!  But humans can’t eat flowers…”  He sent a concerned glare at their escort pony.

The pony chuckled sheepishly, “Well, you could always order something less flowery.  How about an oat salad?”  She scratched her mane nervously.

The female human sighed, “I don’t think we eat oats either, Ms. Sparkle.”  She scanned her menu determinedly.

“Really?  How about just a plain fruit-and-veggie salad?”  The pony pointed to an item at the bottom of the first page of the menu.

Malcolm perked up at that.  He chuckled, “Now you’re speaking my language, Twilight!  I haven’t had a fresh salad in ages!”  He rubbed his stomach as it growled loudly.

Loralee folded her menu and placed it gently on the table.  “I guess that goes double for me, then.” she said bluntly.

The waiter of the small outdoor café approached their table and took their orders before heading back into the nearby building.  The three were left sitting alone in a somewhat-awkward silence.

Twilight Sparkle eventually found it appropriate to start up a conversation.  “I’m glad you two are letting me be your escort!  I love learning about new species of creatures!”  As soon as the exclamation left her lips she regretted her choice of words.

Her self-assumed rudeness went unnoticed by the two humans, who were intently examining the surrounding area.  Malcolm eventually zoned in to her statement and had a curious thought.  He asked, “Yeah, I wanted to ask…  Why are you our escort?”

“What do you mean?  Is there something wrong with that?”  Twilight looked insulted by the boy’s question.

The human immediately noticed his insult and stammered, “Don’t take it the wrong way, Twilight!  It’s just…I figured that green pony would do it.  I mean, she was excited to find out we were humans.”  He took a sip of the small drink sitting in front of him.

Loralee chimed in, “He’s talking about Lyra Heartstrings.”  She sipped on her own drink before returning her attention to their colorful scene.

Twilight suddenly realized what they meant and gasped, “Oh Lyra!  We talked a bit, and she decided to let me learn about you.  After all, a most of the ponies around here listen to me and respect my opinions…”  She faded out, trying not to sound too arrogant.

Malcolm scoffed, “So if you decide we’re good people, everyone will listen.  I guess that makes sense.  But uh…what’s with the paper and pen?”  He glared down at the orange scroll in front of the pony, which had a large feather lying on top of it.

The purple pony looked guilty all of a sudden, and stumbled over her words for a few seconds.  She finally replied, “Well…I’m supposed to write about what I learn in letters and send them to Princess Celestia.  I assume learning about humans is no exception.”  An alarm went off in her head as the two humans sent her puzzled looks.

Loralee cocked her head to the side and mumbled, “Princess?”

“Who the hell is that?”  Malcolm asked in not-so-wonderment.

Twilight scratched her mane and giggled, “Princess Celestia is the ruler of Equestria.”  Another puzzled look was sent her way before she continued, “Equestria is the name of the world you’re in right now.  This town is Ponyville, and the capitol is Canterlot to the east.”  She pointed a hoof toward a large mountain east of the town.

The boy burst into laughter.  Upon seeing both girls’ uncertain looks, he decided to elaborate.  “Canterlot sounds an awful lot like Camelot.  You know King Arthur’s kingdom?”  The girl immediately had a fit of giggles as she realized the play on King Arthur’s court.

The pony, however, had no clue what either human was on about.  She cleared her throat and continued to explain, “I should explain the different types of ponies to you two.”  After the laughter subsided, both humans tuned in to her words.  She continued, “As you’ve probably noticed, some ponies have wings and horns.  The ponies without either are called Earth Ponies.  They’re just normal ponies without very many special attributes.”

“Like Nurse Redheart and Time Turner.” Malcolm mumbled in understanding.

Twilight continued, “That’s right.  A pony with wings is a Pegasus, or plural Pegasi.  They can manipulate clouds and control the weather.  One example would be my friend Rainbow Dash,” she pointed a hoof up at the blue blur zooming across the sky with a rainbow trailing behind it, “who happens to be one of the fastest Pegasi in all of Equestria.”

Loralee’s jaw dropped in childlike wonder, “Wow…”

“Ponies with horns are called Unicorns.  We can channel magic through our horns to do all sorts of things.  We can pick up objects,” she levitated her feather from the table with a purple aura, “and move them around.  That’s not all we can do though.”  The feather disappeared in a sparkle of white light before landing on the table directly beside Malcolm’s drink.

The boy scoffed, “Telekinesis and teleportation, eh?  Meh.”  He waved a dismissive hand at the magical pony.

His sister squealed, “That’s so cool Twilight!”  This outburst completely ruined his reaction, as it seemed to inflate Twilight’s ego.

The unicorn continued, “But above all of us are Alicorns.  They’re ponies with both wings and horns.  They can do everything Pegasi, earth ponies, and unicorns can do.  Princess Celestia is an alicorn, and she has the power to raise and lower the sun.”  Twilight pointed a hoof at the orange orb high in the sky.

“Really?  I always assumed the sun just moved on its own…”  Malcolm sighed in disbelief.  Despite books on the subject of the Earth and Sun, he had never actually seen the star to decide whether the info was correct or not.

“Princess Celestia’s sister Luna controls the moon at night.”  When the pony didn’t receive a response, she continued, “And the only other alicorn I know of is Princess Cadence.  She has the power to manipulate and intensify the love in a pony’s heart.  And she’s my sister-in-law.”  The unicorn’s grin stretched far across her face as she thought about her brother’s wedding a few months back.

Loralee sighed, “She can control love?  What a beautiful power!”  Her eyes shined brightly in curiosity and imagination.

The older sibling chuckled, “It’s no wonder why your brother fell in love.”

Twilight was about to make a comment on his remark when their food arrived to stop her.  The waiter placed each creature’s respective order in front of them and took a handful of bits from the unicorn before trotting back into the building.  No more words were shared as the humans ravenously consumed the delicious creations in front of them.  While the two siblings tore into their salads, Twilight elegantly nibbled away at her sandwich.  She would stop occasionally to jot something new down on her parchment, but would immediately resume eating before either human could notice.

After roughly ten minutes of pigging out on the succulent fruits and leafy vegetables of their salads, the two foreigners were stuffed to the brim.  They let out content sighs as Twilight quickly downed the remainder of her dish.  With their stomachs taken care of, Twilight wanted to lead the two to her library-home so that they could speak without the presence of curious ears.  The two humans—almost ready to collapse and rest—happily obliged in following her to the tree house.

All three of them settled in and prepared for the unicorn’s personal question and answer session.  After a few minutes of gathering quill, ink, and paper for recording the exchange, Twilight was ready to ask her questions.  However, just as she descended the stairs within the library to rejoin the two foreign creatures, she noticed they had both slipped into dreamland, embracing each other with content smiles plastered on their faces.

Despite the burning curiosity and aching impatience, the unicorn decided to just let the humans enjoy their midday nap.  After all, being cast into a new world couldn’t be easy for the pair of siblings.  She levitated a blanket from one of the upstairs beds and gently tucked it around her guests before exiting the library to pursue one of her many other endeavors…

Bad Memories

*A/N:  All feedback is good feedback.  Hint Hint*

“He’s just a kid, Boss!  You can’t honestly want him to join us!”

Malcolm stared on in confusion as the tall dark-skinned thug carried on his argument with his employer.  The ten-year-old boy had only just met the finely suited old man that was kicked back in a swivel chair, but he had enough sense to know the man was powerful.  After their meeting in the market, Malcolm had no choice but to accept the man’s offer to join his crew.

The old man took a draw on his cigar before scoffing, “Don’t be so stupid, Ben.  You ain’t much older than him.  Besides, I’ve seen this kid in action.  He can handle himself just fine if he has a gun.”  Boss winked in Malcolm’s direction, which only stirred up greater confusion in the young boy’s head.

The dark-skinned man, Ben, continued to object, “He’s barely ten!  You gonna let him throw his life away like this?”  The man was wholeheartedly against his employer’s decision.

Boss coughed, “Hell no!  You think I’m an idiot, Ben?  No, you’re gonna show him the ropes.  He’s your rookie, not mine.”  The old man reached into a drawer on his side of the mahogany desk and pulled out a small box.  On the top of the box was a picture of a pistol and some directions.

“Wait, you’re throwing him off on me?!  I didn’t sign up to be a babysitter, sir!”  Ben waved his hand in angry dismissal.

“Nope, but you signed up to do jobs.  And this is your new job.  Get this kid ready to hunt on his own feet and you’ll get a special bonus.”  Boss drew on his cigar and thumped the ashes.  He continued, “But if the kid dies, it’s coming outta your pay.”

Ben rolled his eyes and sighed, “You’re always bustin’ my balls, sir.”  He turned to Malcolm and snapped, “What’s your name fresh meat?”

The boy was caught off guard by the question directed at him.  He muttered, “Malcolm…”

The thug chuckled, “Well no shit, kid.  I meant your last name.”

Malcolm muttered slightly louder, “Rossano…”

Boss burst into a fit of coughing.  Once the fit passed, he wheezed, “Rossano?!  You’re joking me, right?  Knew a guy named Rossano once.  Good fella.  Got drafted a few months back, the poor bastard.”

“My parents were drafted a while back…”  The boy saw a connection between Boss’s comment and his current situation.

The old man scoffed, “No shit, eh?  Your dad wasn’t Vincent, was he?”

“Yeah…”

Ben’s eyes lit up at the mention of the name.  He cheered, “Holy shit, kid!  The great Vince is your dad?  How is the old dude?”

Malcolm sent an angry glare at the thug.  He groaned, “He’s dead.  I was told three days ago.”

Ben looked mortified by the news.  Boss shifted uncomfortably in his chair before sighing, “That sucks kid.  He was great man, one of a kind.  If you’re his seed, you shouldn’t have a problem pulling a trigger.”  He slid the box closer to Malcolm’s side of the desk.

The thug mumbled, “Sorry for your loss.  I take it the girl in the market was your sister?”

Malcolm ignored the question as his mind drifted back to the message he received a few days prior…

“Really?  The way he acted at the meeting, I never would’ve guessed.”

The purple unicorn’s voice suddenly snapped Malcolm from his dream.  As he stretched and yawned in his makeshift bedding, he noticed the pony and his sister carrying on a conversation seemingly about him.

Loralee looked over to see her brother slowly rise out of bed.  She cheered, “Good morning, sleepyhead!  Did you rest well?”

Malcolm groaned, “I guess.  What time is it?”  He tossed the blankets off of him and walked over to the small table the two girls were chatting at.

Twilight giggled, “Almost noon.  You were out all night.”  She slid a small bowl of fruits in front of the boy as he took a seat.

The boy yawned, “Really?  I haven’t had that much sleep since before I joined Boss…”  He realized the statement was brought on by the dream he’d just awoken from, but didn’t feel the need to clarify to the pony what he meant.

His sister asked, “Oh, did you dream about home last night?”  She’d had a similar dream the previous day at the café.

“Yeah.  I’ve been thinking back to a few things recently.”  The older sibling quickly scarfed his fruit down before returning his attention to the two other residents of the room.

Twilight waited patiently for the boy to finish his food before levitating a pen and paper from a nearby shelf onto the table.  She cleared her throat and said, “Since we didn’t get to do them yesterday, I thought we might do the questions now.  Is that okay?”  She smiled politely at the still-waking human.

He yawned, “Sure, I guess.  Shoot.”  He rubbed the gunk from his eyes and tried to clear the fog from his head.

Loralee butted in, “Just try not to ask anything too personal, okay?”

Twilight nodded in acceptance of the only condition to her questionnaire.  She giggled, “I’ll try not to.  Keep in mind that you don’t have to answer everything if you don’t want to.”  She waited for Malcolm to finish his last yawn before continuing.  She lowered her gaze to the paper on the table and asked, “What was it like before you came to Equestria?”

The human male groaned in annoyance, “Like I said back at that assembly yesterday, our home was hell.”

“Care to explain a little bit better?  What made it so bad?”  Twilight tried to sound patient, but her expression betrayed her ruse.

The boy rolled his eyes and decided it best to elaborate a bit.  “Take everything you know about this world and flip it around.  The people are jerks, food is scarce, and as far as trusting someone goes...forget about it.”  He waved a hand, dismissing the question.

The pony realized that the topic was annoying the boy, so she moved on to the next.  “Out of all the people you knew, how many of them were your friends?”

Loralee sighed, “I don’t think we could call anyone a friend.  I mean, Boss was nice to us, but-…”

“Ben and Boss.  They were my closest friends, besides Lora.  They were the only two thugs I would trust to cover my ass in a bad situation.”  Malcolm interrupted his sister in a nostalgic fit of memory.

Twilight cocked her head to the side and asked, “Would you mind telling me about them?”

The boy nodded and sighed, “They were the closest thing to family we had.  When I had to work late, Ben would always keep an eye out for Lora.  He was a dick, sure, but at least he was a trustworthy dick.  And Boss…he might as well be our dad.  He’s let me get away with a lot of screw-ups that other grunts would’ve been shot for.”  His sad expression met the pony’s eyes.

She said, “He sounds like a really rough boss.”

Malcolm felt the need to clarify, “He was an asshole.  He ran a gang that pretty much controlled over half the city.  He wasn’t above shooting a guy for stealing an apple.  At the same time, he wasn’t heartless.  I…I don’t feel like talking about him…”

Twilight was about to object to his sudden change of heart, but Loralee cheered, “Next question, Ms. Sparkle!”

Taking the hint, the unicorn moved her eyes down the paper to another question.  She smiled as she asked, “What are your parents like?”

In the instant, Loralee’s expression dropped into one of shattered depression.  Malcolm gritted his teeth and tried to focus his thoughts.  He turned his head to the side and muttered, “They’re dead.”

Twilight’s smile fell limp.  She gasped, “Oh…I’m…  I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to…”

Loralee sighed, “I think we’re done with this, right?”

The unicorn looked down at her list and immediately realized that most of the questions revolved around the family of the siblings.  She nodded and rolled the paper up with her magic before scribbling a few notes down on a separate sheet.  She noticed the two humans lost in thought with sad expressions plastered on their faces.

She clapped her hooves as she remembered something mildly important.  She cheered, “One of my friends is throwing you two a welcome party this evening!”  She expected the two to lighten up at the news.  Instead, only Loralee’s expression shifted back to normal.

“For us?  That’s great!  What kind of party?”  The little girl clapped her hands in excitement, trying to lighten the mood for her brother.

Twilight giggled, “Just a normal get together.  Refreshments, cake, music, the whole package.”

“Isn’t that nice, Mac?”  Loralee gently shoved her brother, trying to snap him out of his reminiscent stupor.

Malcolm looked up at her for a few seconds then shrugged his shoulders.  He scoffed, “Meh.  I don’t feel like partying.  Too many people.”

His sister stared at him blankly.  She said, “You can’t be serious.  It would be rude to not go, brother.”

“And when have you ever known me for manners?”  The boy smirked slyly as his eyes focused on an entire shelf of books.  “What kind of books do you have here, Twilight?”

The sudden change of topic caught the pony off guard.  She stammered, “W-well, all kinds really.  History, science, fiction, romance.  What are you looking for?”

Malcolm sighed, “If me and Lora are gonna be here for a while, I wanna know all I can about the place.  Gimme a book that’ll tell me a little of everything.”  He started scanning the spines of the books with his eyes, looking for a decent title.

“I never thought you were a reader, Mac…”  Loralee quipped.

The boy grunted, “Only an idiot goes in without good info.  That’s Boss’s first rule of giving out jobs:  always ensure the employee is given the necessary details.”  His eyes suddenly locked onto a rather thick book with large golden print on the spine.

Twilight noticed him focus on the book and giggled, “If you’re looking for a little of everything, you’ve found the right book.  ‘An Abridged History of Equestria’ is the best book for basic information.  You’ll have to ignore the scribbles on the pages…I get a little absorbed in my own studies.”  The pony blushed as she remembered the countless notes she wrote in the tome.

“Awesome!” the boy cheered as he pulled the book from its resting spot.  He opened it to find a small picture of some gemstones and an alicorn silhouette in the background.

Loralee gently tugged at her brother’s shirt sleeve.  She moaned, “You can’t just sit inside and read a book all day!  Just come to the party and have a little fun!  I’m sure our host will be sad if you don’t show up!”  

Malcolm chuckled, “I’m sure she’ll get over it.  Besides, what could I possibly miss?  A few cups of punch and an overly-rich cake?”  He took a seat in front of the shelf and flipped to the front of the book.  He immediately started reading, wishing his sister would take the hint.

Twilight giggled, “I think Pinkie Pie will be fine with him not going to one party.  But we should get going.  All of my friends want to meet you!”  She placed a hoof on the girl’s shoulder and guided her from the library, leaving Malcolm alone with the book.

As soon as the door closed behind the two girls, he let out a relieved sigh.  He placed the book to his side and looked up at the roof of the building.  He shook his head and let his mind wander.

I can’t stand parties.  The last one I went to ended with Ben dying.  Not to mention Boss’s kid got seriously fucked up…  Dammit, time flies.  Two years already, eh?  Maybe I shouldn’t have let Lora go after all...  Nah, she’ll be fine with Twilight.  Whatever, I’ve got reading to do…

He lifted the book back onto his lap and wiped the single tear from his eye.  The memory of a fallen comrade is never easy to bear…

A Warm Welcome

*A/N:  Keep in mind every bit of feedback helps motivate me!*

“That’s a fancy lookin’ necklace ya got there, little gal.  I think I’ll be takin’ it from ya!”

A trio of thugs, dressed in tattered clothes and each holding a solid metal baseball bat, approached Loralee and Malcolm as they perused the stock of several stores in the marketplace.  Nobody paid the thugs any mind, because they were the usual rabble of crooks.  So long as they weren’t directly after you, you never tried to stop them.  That was the rule of the marketplace.

This time, they had targeted the little girl on the day of her sixth birthday.  Malcolm had just purchased her a brand new locket with the regular stipend of military money they received from their parents’ services.  The boy was pissed that of all days, the thugs would pick today to harass them.

“Leave her alone.  You ain’t takin’ anything from her!”  Malcolm stood his ground between the three thugs and his sister.  The thugs were hardly intimidated by the ten-year-old boy.

The leader of the group snarled, “And who’s gonna stop us?  Some brat that thinks he’s big?”  He pointed his bat directly at the kid and grinned smugly.

The largest of the group groaned, “Aw c’mon, are we actually gonna beat up a kid?”

The last of the three slapped the large one on the back of the head.  He laughed, “Shuddap, ya dumbass.  Just do what you’re told!”

Malcolm didn’t stand down.  He mumbled, “Fuck off, you bastards.  You ain’t gettin’ the locket!”

The leader’s eyes widened.  He chuckled, “Is that a promise, or a challenge?  Get him boys.”  With a snap of his fingers, his two lackeys jumped into action and darted for the boy.

They were in the middle of swinging their bats when a gunshot rang out and stopped them dead in their tracks.  Smoke rose from the ground where the bullet had made contact, merely inches away from the large thug’s foot.  A tall, dark-skinned man walked up with his gun aimed at the big thug’s head.

“You’re not shooting to kill, Ben?  I’m disappointed.”  Another figure walked up behind the group of thugs and drew his pistol.  He placed the barrel directly against the head of the leader of the thugs.  He chuckled, “Now, you gonna leave these kids alone, or can I shoot?”

The leader slowly turned his head to see who was opposing him.  He was immediately flooded with fear as he saw that the man was none other than the leader of the local gang.  He stammered, “W-we’ll leave em a-alone!  Just d-don’t shoot!”  He dropped his bat and commanded his lackeys to do the same.

They obliged, and before long the three thugs were hightailing it out of the market.  The leader of the gang slowly approached the two siblings, ignoring the confused glares from the surrounding crowd of people.  He placed his hand gently on top of Malcolm’s head.

The boy hesitantly mumbled, “Th-thanks…”

Ben approached the kid with an angry glare plastered on his face.  He scoffed, “You a dumbass, kid?  Don’t you got sense enough to get the hell outta here when thugs are out?”

“Nonsense.”  Ben’s boss chuckled.  “You got guts, kid.  And you’re a family man.  I like that.  I got a feeling I’ll be seeing ya around town.”  With a wave of his hand, he and his dark-skinned employee started their trek out of the market.

Malcolm and Loralee were left to ponder what had just happened.  The exasperated sighs and confused glares from the people in the crowd only helped to further their confusion…

“Boy howdy, your brother sure don’t know what he’s missin’!”  An orange-coat pony—introduced earlier as Applejack—cheered as another mare quickly approached their table with a tray of cupcakes.  

The newly-arrived pink mare—named Pinkie Pie—bounced as she giggled, “Are you sure we shouldn’t just drag him over here to have good time?”  She dropped the tray of cupcakes onto the table, and the six ponies around Loralee each snatched one up.  The last one was hers.

“Yeah, it’s kinda lame that he won’t go to a party made especially for him…”  A cyan Pegasus—rightfully named Rainbow Dash—scoffed as she took a bite from her cupcake.  The pony’s mesmerizing rainbow mane snapped the human from her thoughts.

The girl sighed, “Mac’s never been a people person.  In fact, he’s never been an anything person…”  She picked up her cupcake and took a bite.  A smile immediately spread across her face at the taste of the sweet pastry.

“You simply must talk to him about that, darling.”  A white unicorn—Rarity—levitated her cupcake with magic and took a small nibble before wiping her muzzle elegantly with a napkin.

Loralee shook her head and giggled, “I can’t blame him really.  I mean this is a sort of weird time for us…”

Rarity asked, “Whatever do you mean, dear?”

The human took another bite of her cupcake and said, “This place is so different from our home.  I understand why he’s so hesitant to be friends with all you ponies.”  She took a small sip from her cup of punch.

Twilight Sparkle giggled, “It must be weird, going from a world of humans to a world of ponies.”  The unicorn quickly downed her own cupcake, waiting for the girl’s response.

“I don’t think it has anything to do with you being ponies.”  Loralee said bluntly.

Another Pegasus—known as Fluttershy—asked in a quiet tone, “What do think it is then?”  The quiet mare immediately adopted a look of apology, assuming she offended the human.

The girl sighed, “He’s always hated variables.  If there was a small chance of someone hurting me, he’d never let us get near that person.  If there was a chance that some food would make me sick, he wouldn’t buy it.  If it was possible for me to get hurt while doing something, he wouldn’t let me do it.  He’s always been obsessed with taking care of me…” she paused to take a sip of punch and catch her breath, “…that now he’s having a hard time realizing that he doesn’t need to.”

Applejack scratched her mane and asked, “Whaddya mean he’s havin’ a hard time?  Ain’t that s’posed to be a good thing?”

Loralee diverted her gaze from the ponies and continued, “For seven years, ever since our parents died, everything he’s done has been with my best interest in mind.  He worked for a crime lord because he had to support us.  When he would come home battered, broken, and bloodied, he’d be clutching a bag of money, just to take care of me.  But here, he doesn’t have to work himself to death.  He doesn’t have to protect me because you’re all nice people.  He can’t understand how two places could be so different…”

The six surrounding ponies were sending sympathetic and tear-filled gazes at the human.  Pinkie Pie seemingly spawned a box of tissues in her hands and blew her nose before crying, “That’s soooo touching!”

The human continued, “That’s how I see it, anyway.  He can’t accept that our home was so bad compared to here.  He doesn’t believe that everyone is as nice as they let on.  To him, it could all just be a trick.  That’s probably why he’s at the library reading.  He wants to learn why everyone’s so nice and whether he can trust you all.”  The girl’s smile suddenly faded as tears swelled in her eyes.

Twilight said, “You know you don’t have to explain it to us, Lora.  This is a party; it’s supposed to be fun.  There’s no sense in bringing up baggage.”  She smiled lightly at the human.

Loralee shook her head and wiped the tears from her eyes.  She took another bite of her cupcake and smiled at the ponies.  She giggled, “You’re right, Twilight!  Sorry to bring everyone down like that, I just got a little emotional there for a second.”

“T’ain’t a problem, sugarcube!  C’mon, let’s have some fun!”  Applejack waved a hoof at a few games set up on the opposite side of the room from them.

The human eagerly followed the group of ponies to the other side, where refreshments and games waited for them.  She felt at least ten times better after letting all that bottled up emotion out, and she was happy that the ponies were willing to listen to her vent.

If only Mac could see how friendly they are, maybe he would stop being so closed off and actually try and like this place.  But he’s just too careful.  I’m genuinely surprised he let me go to the party by myself.  I expected him to storm off after us just so he could make sure nobody hurt me…  Maybe this world has changed him a bit, though.

Hours passed as the entirety of the Sugarcube Corner patrons enjoyed games and song and dance.  Loralee managed to show the ponies that, despite her bipedal biology, she could still match them in dancing talent.  She also showed that her coordination and focus was amazing when she managed to pin the tail on the pony poster on her first try.

She even tried her hand at karaoke, and every pony in the building was cheering her on by the end.  Something inside her told her that this place was a paradise, and that she wanted nothing more than to live here forever.  All the ponies were friendly, and for the first time in several years, she was actually having genuine fun.  A party is so much easier to enjoy when you’re not worrying about getting shot by a thug or mugged afterwards.

The sun had set before the party finally died down.  Pastries were devoured, punch was drained, and the guests were worn out.  After most of the guests dispersed, the six ponies and human said their temporary farewells before heading back to their respective homes.  Twilight and Loralee walked back to the library in good moods.

Before making it to her home, Twilight started up a small conversation with the little girl.  She giggled, “You know, thanks to everything you’ve told me, I think I have enough information to write a letter to Princess Celestia.  I’ll probably work on that tonight; I’m feeling kind of hyper after that party.”  She smiled at her companion.

Loralee giggled, “I’m sure she’d want to know all about Mac and me.  Maybe we’ll even get invited to the castle!”  She smiled happily as thoughts of luxurious royalty from old storybooks filled her head.

The unicorn said, “Anything’s possible.  In fact, I’m certain the princess will want to meet you!  I’ll be surprised if she doesn’t send an invitation.”

The two continued the short remainder of the trek in silence, allowing Loralee’s mind to wander as Twilight contemplated exactly what she would write in the letter.

Upon arriving at the library, they found Malcolm passed out with his face buried in the book.  He’d made surprising progress in the tome, of which Twilight was proud and Loralee confused.  After levitating the book onto the nearby table and placing a bookmark inside it for the boy, the unicorn lay him down on the floor and wrapped a blanket around him for comfort.  She gave the other human a blanket and helped her get situated on the floor beside her brother before climbing into her own bed.

They’d been in Equestria for three days, and hardly a change had been seen in Malcolm.  Loralee was beginning to fear that he might never lighten up to the beautiful world around them…

This Place Isn't So Bad

*A/N:  This chapter's flashback is by far the saddest thing I've ever written.  It was sad for me when I thought it out and wrote it.  Maybe I'm just a sensitive aesthete, but it was sad.  You've been warned.

As always, feedback is really appreciated!*

It was the day before Loralee’s sixth birthday.  Malcolm was only ten years old.  That was the day that Malcolm changed.  That was the day that both of their lives would take a turn for the worse.  That was the day the boy realized that he had to do everything to ensure his sister wouldn’t become corrupted by the world they were left alone in.

Because after that day, the reality hit him.  They truly were alone.

It had been just a normal day.  The boy did his daily chores in their home: make breakfast, go to the market, play games with his sister, cook dinner, read her a story to help her sleep.  It was after he had tucked Loralee into bed that the illusion shattered.

Before that day, the two siblings lived in a decent-sized house, paid for by the government that had drafted their parents less than a year ago.  They were given weekly stipends of money from the government for their parents’ services.  These stipends paid for necessity, leisure, and miscellaneous expenses.

Just as Loralee had fallen asleep, the doorbell rang.  Nearly midnight, Malcolm was very cautious to answer it.  Looking out of the peephole in the oak door, he was greeted by the silhouette of the military mailman.  This same mailman had been the one to deliver each of their stipends since the day their parents departed out of town.  Welcoming the friendly face, the boy happily opened the door to greet the man.

The soldier stepped into the house and closed the door behind him.  Malcolm sensed immediately that something was wrong, and the tears on the man’s face did nothing to quell his worries.

The little boy was hesitant to ask, “Is something wrong Private Leon?”

“Is your sister asleep, Mac?” was the only response the soldier gave.

Malcolm pondered this question for a few seconds before nodding.  He chuckled, “Yep, she just hit the hay right before ya showed up, sir.”  The soldier’s expression immediately shifted from sadness to anger.

He knelt down on one knee and placed a firm hand on the boy’s shoulder.  He mumbled under his breath, “Dammit…why did I have to be the one to tell you?”

The boy was flooded with a sense of dread.  He stammered, “A-are you okay, sir?”

“You’re a strong boy, aren’t you Mac?”  Tears ran steadily down Leon’s face as he looked into the boy’s eye.  Malcolm simply nodded.  Leon continued, “You have to be, okay?  Promise me that what I’m about to tell you won’t leave me worrying about you while I’m gone.”

The boy didn’t know why, but he felt that something horrible was about to happen.  He sighed, “Y-yeah.  I promise, sir.”

The soldier hugged the boy tightly and whispered, “Your father and I were great friends.  He was an honorable soldier…He’ll be missed…and…so will your mother.”  

The information immediately soaked into the boy’s brain.  Even at a young age, he wasn’t oblivious to such indirect information.  His eyes widened and he groaned, “You…you don’t mean…?”

The soldier released his hug and nodded solemnly.  As soon as he saw the tears swell in the boy’s eyes, Leon reached into his bag and pulled out two packages.  He handed the thinnest package to the boy.

Malcolm hesitantly opened the package.  From it he pulled a bloodstained card with a faded picture on the inside.  The front of the card read ‘Happy Bi____ay,’ while the inside had an entirely blotched out message.  At the bottom, it had both Vincent and Susan Rossano’s signatures.  The faded picture was of the entire Rossano family, just before the draft notice arrived.

The boy gripped the card tightly in his hand and fell to his knees, tears pouring from his eyes.  He sobbed, “So…they’re…gone?  But…But what about Lora?”

Leon placed the larger package on the ground in front of the crying boy and sighed, “I don’t know.  Nobody should have to lose their parents so young.  But this war, it-.”

“How the fuck am I supposed to tell Lora?!  What the hell do I tell her?  Tomorrow’s her damn birthday, what kind of present is this?!”  Malcolm snapped at the messenger.  He pounded his fist into the wood of the floor, tears falling from his eyes and staining it.

The soldier was caught completely off guard by the child’s outburst.  He never imagined such a kind kid snapping so suddenly.  He stammered, “I-I don’t know, Mac.  But you have to calm down…”  He knelt down by the kid and placed both hands on the boy’s shoulders, trying to settle him down.

“Don’t tell me to calm down, Leon!  My parents are dead!  How the hell am I supposed to take care of Lora on my own?!  They promised they’d come home!  They said they’d be here for her birthday!  What do I tell her?!”

Private Leon immediately let go of the boy, unable to say anything.  After finding out his parents were dead, the only thing the boy focused on was his sister.  How would his sister feel?  How would he tell her?  How would he support her?  The soldier didn’t know whether to pity Malcolm’s loss or envy his selfless attitude.

The sorrowful messenger sobbed, “You…You’re strong Mac.  You’ll…figure it out.”  He paused to clear his throat before continuing.  “That package is the government reparations for your loss.  It should hold you over for a while.”

“This…is the only money the government’s giving us, isn’t it?”  He placed a hand on the package, not loosening his grip on the card.

Leon turned his head away and mumbled, “Yeah.”

The two waited in silence for several minutes before Leon decided it was time to leave the boy to his grief.  He opened the door and turned back toward Malcolm.  He said, “I’ll still visit town every week.  You and Lora best be alive when I get here.”

“Promise?” the boy groaned as he slowly started opening the larger package.

“I promise.”  Leon closed the door behind him as he left the house.

Malcolm looked over to Loralee’s bedroom door and let thoughts of her potential reactions fly through his mind.  He didn’t want to tell her.  He didn’t want her to cry.  He didn’t want her to hate their parents for leaving them.  He didn’t want to think of what would happen if he couldn’t protect her…

Seven years passed.  Malcolm and Loralee were seventeen and twelve, respectively.  Since that night, Private Leon never returned to the ruins of New York, not that Malcolm could blame him.  Maybe he died.  Maybe he lied.  Maybe he just didn’t care.

Two promises were broken that night.  The family was ripped to shreds.  Some fraternal instinct inside Malcolm activated, and he knew he would sacrifice everything to keep his sister happy and safe…

“That lying bastard!” Malcolm’s fist hit the small wooden table at the center of the library as his mind suddenly snapped back to reality.

Loralee raised an eyebrow and asked, “Another flashback, Mac?”  She shook her head and took a bite from the pancakes Twilight had cooked for breakfast.

The unicorn smiled and said, “I guess that’s to be expected.  You two are a pretty long way from home.”  She spread a small bit of butter over her stack of pancakes before levitating the bowl over to a fourth member of the present company.

The small purple lizard-like creature cheered “Thanks, Twi!” before preparing his own stack of pancakes for consumption.

Malcolm turned his attention to the fourth member of the group.  He scoffed, “Spike, right?  If you’re Twilight’s assistant, why haven’t I seen you around town?”  The boy didn’t doubt that the creature was what it claimed to be, he simply couldn’t believe that he’d failed to meet a resident of his own temporary home.

Spike chuckled, “I’ve been out in the Everfree Forest helping Zecora with her work.”  He then proceeded to dig into his own plate of food.

The human boy tried hard to contain his amusement.  He asked, “What’s a ‘Zecora?’  Sounds evil.”

Loralee snapped, “Mac, that wasn’t nice!”

Twilight sighed, “Zecora lives out in the Everfree Forest.  She knows how to make potions and antidotes to a lot of things using herbs from in the forest.  She’s actually very nice.”

Malcolm said, “That’s weird.  A nice witch-doctor?”

His sister flicked a strawberry at his face.  She groaned, “What did we talk about manners, Mac?  You can’t just go around insulting people!”

“Well excuse me, princess, but in which story did you read were witch-doctors actually nice people?”  The boy turned his attention back to his plate of food, a smile on his face.

Twilight giggled, “You definitely aren’t the first to think she was evil.  I remember the whole town thought she was going to curse them!”  She and Spike exchanged knowing expressions.

The little creature chuckled, “Yep, everypony was freaking out over her!  But after she cured the Poison Joke infection, someponies felt like idiots.  She’s even-.”  Just as he was about to continue telling a story, green fire burst from his mouth, a small object appearing within it.

The sudden sight sent Malcolm flying from his chair in reflex.  Once the fire dispersed, both Loralee and Twilight attempted to not burst into laughter at the boy’s reaction.  He groaned, “That wasn’t funny!  How was I s’posed to know that was gonna happen?”  He got back in his chair and slid it a few inches away from the purple lizard.

Loralee giggled, “Looks like someone didn’t pay attention to the storybooks.  Dragons breathe fire, Mac!”

The boy looked the lizard over carefully.  He asked, “You’re a dragon?  I thought you were just a lizard.”

Spike rubbed his chest with a claw to recover from the sudden flame.  He groaned, “Gee, thanks Mac.”  He picked up the small object that appeared in the fire and unrolled it.  His eyes lit up as he exclaimed, “It’s a letter from the princess!”

Twilight immediately squeed as she took the paper from her assistant with magic.  Both Malcolm and Loralee shared confused expressions as they realized that mail was apparently delivered through fire in this world.  The dragon burped once to release what little heat was left in his chest from the message.  Twilight’s eyes shined as she finished reading the letter.

She clapped her hooves as she cheered, “Princess Celestia wants to meet the both of you!  She says she’s really interested in learning about your world and your behavior!”  She downed the rest of her pancakes and immediately darted upstairs as if to get something.

She plopped a small bag on the table in front of Malcolm.  The boy asked, “So what’s this for?”  He lifted it off the table to find how heavy it was.

“Bits.  You two should go over to the market and buy yourselves some stuff.  I have to go tell all my friends that we’re going to Canterlot!”  She placed the letter in a small satchel at her side before walking toward the door.

Loralee asked, “‘We’re going’…?  As in…?”

Twilight giggled, “You two, me, and the other five ponies you met last night at the party!”

Malcolm shifted uncomfortably in his chair.  He didn’t like having unexpected guests on this trip.  He groaned, “Why are they going with us?”

The unicorn bounced cheerfully as she said, “Princess Celestia wants us Elements to be there when she meets you!”  She took a small bow and darted out of the door.  

The two humans were left with Spike to ponder the sudden turn of events.  The word ‘Elements’ went unnoticed by Loralee, but it stood out greatly in Malcolm’s head.

The boy turned to Spike and asked, “What did she mean when she referred to her and her friends as ‘Elements?’  She didn’t mean the Elements of Harmony, did she?”  Malcolm had spent the entirety of the prior evening reading ‘An Abridged History of Equestria’, and the Elements of Harmony had been brought up several times over the course of the reading.

The dragon nodded and laughed, “She sure did.  Twilight and the other ponies pretty much embody the Elements.”  He hopped from his chair and walked over to the sink in the far corner of the library to start work on the pile of dishes gathered there.

The younger human sent her brother a confused look and asked, “What are the Elements of Harmony, Mac?”

“According to the book I read last night, they’re supposed to be the most powerful things in this world.  There are six, and until recently, only five were known about.”  The boy recalled the several pages of text he read about the Elements.  He counted them off, “There’s honesty, kindness, loyalty, generosity, laughter, and magic.”

The little dragon called over the sound of running water, “You got that right!  Twilight and each of her friends represent one of those Elements.”

The girl giggled, “That’s amazing!  So what do the Elements do?”

Malcolm decided to show off his ability to retain knowledge even further.  He chuckled, “The book said they’ve been used to destroy two different evil creatures in the past.  I figure they can produce really powerful magic.”  He smiled as his sister looked at him with a shocked expression.

Loralee sighed, “I guess you’re actually pretty smart when you try to be.”  She smiled slyly at her brother as he shook his head in disappointment.  “Well, I guess we should put these bits to good use, right?”  She lifted the bag of bits from the table and thrust them into Malcolm’s hands.

The older sibling smirked as he said, “Sure, let’s see if there’s anything cool for us to buy.”  

With a wave goodbye to Spike, they left the library and started the short walk into the center of town to the miscellaneous stalls scattered about.  They arrived at the mini-marketplace with very little hope of finding anything suitable for their own personal needs.

There were stalls selling fruits and vegetables, miscellaneous accessories, and other trivial items.  There were watches, hats, sunglasses, pony socks and shoes, pony jackets, and pony shirts.  None of these items appealed to the humans, so they decided to simply head back to the library and wait.

That is until a small building a little ways from the market caught Loralee’s eye.  A large sign above the door read ‘Carousel Boutique, by Rarity’—Rarity being the unicorn from the previous night, and a boutique being a dress shop, of course.  These two things practically drew the little girl to the building.  Malcolm hesitantly followed his sister into the store and stood patiently as she examined all the beautiful dresses resting on mannequins.

When the owner of the boutique descended the stairs and noticed the two visitors, Malcolm was literally dragged into conversation with the white unicorn.  Loralee pulled him into the main foyer of the shop and thrust him into an unwelcome interaction.

Rarity greeted the human boy with a small curtsy.  She cheered, “It is a pleasure to meet you, Mac.  I must say you have a lovely little sister.”  She waved a hoof at the girl who was once again lost in the beauty of the mannequins.

The boy chuckled sheepishly, “You ain’t telling me anything new…”  With virtually nothing else to say on the topic, he immediately found a somewhat-scapegoat.  He waved a hand around the boutique and asked, “Did you design these dresses yourself?”

Rarity’s eyes lit up at the somewhat-genuine curiosity.  She giggled, “Why, I certainly did.  I design all my dresses myself, unless the customer gives me specifications.  Do you like them?”  

The prim and proper tone of her voice unsettled the human slightly.  He nodded, “They’re not bad.  I’ve never been one to care for beauty, though.  I’m more of a comfort fella myself.”  

The white pony was slightly disgusted by this statement, but she removed any sign of that from her tone.  She sighed, “Well I can assure you that my dresses are crafted with both comfort and beauty in mind.”  She smiled and walked over to one particular dress she had just added the finishing touches to earlier that day.  “I use only the softest and sturdiest materials.”

The little girl on the opposite side of the boutique asked in a tone of wonderment, “How much does it cost to have a dress made?”

Malcolm snapped his attention to his sister and smiled smugly.  He already knew what she was doing.  He chuckled, “I think what she meant to ask is how long it takes to make a dress.”

The pony cocked her head to the side and mumbled, “Well, for a normal dress like the one you’re examining, little over an hour.  For a fancy dress like this one, almost a day.  All my dresses usually run forty or fifty bits.”  She smiled at the little girl.

Loralee walked back over to her brother’s side and sent him a very curious expression.  He chuckled, “You’ve never made a human dress before, right?  Well...” he shoved his sister a few feet toward the unicorn, “…why not make Lora your first human customer?”

His sister’s eyes lit up and she gasped, “Really Mac?!  You mean it?”

The boy nodded, and Rarity considered the situation for a few seconds.  She giggled, “Well, I absolutely adore your sister, and I always enjoy designing new dresses…  Very well, follow me to the back and we’ll get started.”

Malcolm chuckled, “I’ll be back later to check in on ya.  I’m gonna check out some other places in town.”  He waved goodbye to the two girls and left the boutique with a smile on his face.  Just as he was leaving, Twilight passed by with a quick greeting and rushed into Rarity’s boutique.

Taking time from her day to make Lora a dress...  One of Twilight’s friends…  She must be the Element of Generosity.

Malcolm pondered this coincidental meeting before finding a sign that attracted his attention.  ‘Sugarcube Corner’ was printed in large cursive handwriting and pink color.  Of the sign, the fractional ‘sugar’ caught the boy’s attention.  It’d been a while since he had any sort of sweet delicacy other than fruit.  Finding candy and pastry in the markets back home was extremely rare and even more expensive.

He knocked lightly on the door to the building before a calm voice called, “C’mon in and have a look around!”  He entered without hesitation to find his brain overloaded by the sweet scent and beautiful sight of the finely crafted delicacies lined up in containers and on tables along the walls.

The human was greeted by a tall stallion standing on the far side of the room behind the counter.  The pony’s bright amber coat and contrasting orange mane only added to the atmosphere of the bakery.  The human’s overloaded senses temporarily rendered him unable to speak.  The pony chuckled, “Well, if it isn’t the new guest in town!  The name’s Mr. Cake and it’s a pleasure to meet ya!”

The pony’s polite introduction snapped Malcolm back to his functional senses and the boy simply stammered, “Th-thanks…  I’m Mac, nice to meet you.”  The boy walked slowly up to the counter and extended a hand for a handshake.

In some strange way that the human would never be able to understand, Mr. Cake returned the handshake.  Hooves and hands were completely different limbs, so how a successful handshake could be performed with one of each was beyond the boy.  To save himself a headache, the human cast away this thought and turned his attention back to the pastries in the glass cases.

Mr. Cake clapped his hooves and asked, “So what brings you to Sugarcube Corner, Mr. Mac?”  He leaned against the counter with a warm smile on his face.

The use of formalities caught Malcolm off guard.  The human sighed, “Just call me Mac, please.  And I was wondering just what kind of snacks you got in this place.”  He looked around the store curiously for a third time while waiting for the stallion to respond.

The baker pony raised a hoof to his muzzle and said, “We serve candy, candy canes cakes, coffee, cookies, croissants, cupcakes, pies, taffy, tea, and toffee.  What’re ya itching for?”

It took Malcolm a few seconds to register the entirety of the list he was just quickly bombarded with.  He mumbled, “I’ll take a couple of sugar cookies.”

Mr. Cake raised an eyebrow.  He asked, “Plain sugar cookies?  No chocolate chips, sprinkles, or icing?”  The human nodded and the stallion reached behind him and pulled out a small paper sack.  He took a pair of tongs over to one of the cases on the side of the room and picked up two cookies with them, placing them gently in the sack.

He returned to the counter and handed the sack to the boy, then waved a hoof at the cash register at the other end of the counter.  After pushing a few buttons, a tag popped out of the register to signal that the total cost of the cookies was a single bit.  Malcolm handed the stallion the bit from the small bag Twilight had given him.

The human said his farewells and exited the store with the cookies in tow.  He was just about to head out to Rarity’s Boutique when he saw several figures heading right for him in the distance.  Walking in front of the ponies was his little sister.  Instead of the ragged jacket and pants that was synonymous with their world, she was dressed in a beautiful casual dress that Rarity had done an extraordinary job on in such a short time.

The few ponies of the group that he hadn’t met yet exchanged introductions.  Pinkie Pie scolded him for skipping the party she’d worked to put together.  Rarity didn’t hesitate to brag about her handiwork on a human dress.  Applejack didn’t waste time expressing to him just how impressed she was by Loralee’s dancing skills.  Fluttershy flattered the girl by praising her singing talent as well.

After the introductions were made and small talk was carried on, Twilight decided to get to business.  She cleared her throat and said, “We’ll be leaving for Canterlot first thing tomorrow morning.  Be sure to get some rest, as we have a lot to discuss on the ride there.”

The group found their way back to the café at the center of town and decided to sit and talk for a while before leaving to prepare for the trip.

“We’ll be taking the first train leaving in the morning, so we need to be perfectly on time.”  The purple unicorn had her eyes glued to a large piece of paper on the table in front of her.

Malcolm chuckled, “I think we got it, Twilight.  We won’t be late, especially with you on our tails…”  He received an angry glare from the unicorn while the rest of the company let out stifled laughs.

Loralee tapped her fingers on the table a few times before deciding to express her own thoughts on the situation.  She asked, “What kind of person is Princess Celestia?”

None of the ponies were sure how to answer the question.  Rarity asked, “Whatever do you mean, darling?”

The boy scoffed, “She ain’t stuck up, is she?  Like princesses in some stories?”

Twilight looked almost insulted by the question.  She gasped, “Heavens no!  Princess Celestia is the kindest, most intelligent pony in all of Equestria.  You have nothing to worry about with this meeting.  She’ll make sure you both are completely comfortable while you’re at the castle.”

“Are you sure?” the little girl asked, obviously having the same concerns as her brother on this topic.

Each of the six ponies took turns praising Celestia’s kindness, which helped ease the humans’ worries.  After a while of carrying on discussion about the princess and the castle, everyone decided it would be best to get an early sleep so as to be fully rested when it came time to leave.  Each creature returned to its respective place of residence and slowly drifted off to sleep.  Thoughts of the castle town of Canterlot filled each one’s heads.  Having never been there, Malcolm and Loralee’s imaginations went wild…

*A/N:  The reason for the multiple updates in a short time span is because school starts on the 20th for me.  That means I very likely won't be arsed to mess with my stories or the site in general for a few day/weeks.*

The (Surprisingly Short) Train Ride

A/N:  Remember, feedback is an awesome thing! :D*

“What were you dolts thinkin’?!”

Malcolm flinched as the angry figure of his boss slammed a powerful fist into the topside of his desk.  Ben nearly fell from his chair with an expression of complete horror plastered on his features.  Aside from the small instinctive reaction, the boy wasn’t moved by Boss’s outburst, knowing it would pass soon enough.  The crime lord never stayed angry at them for too long, especially considering they were his best employees.

Ben tried to readjust in his seat casually while stammering, “W-we’re sorry sir!  I-it won’t happen a-again, I p-promise!”  Beads of sweat started to form on the thug’s forehead as his heart began beating faster in fear.

Malcolm chuckled, “Calm down, Ben.  Grow a pair, would ya?”  The angry glare delivered to him by Boss nearly made him regret his words.

After a tense few seconds of silence, Boss’s frown flipped upside down and he burst into laughter.  He clapped his hands in enjoyment as he cheered, “You got guts, Mac!  I ain’t ever had a thug that wasn’t on the verge of pissing his pants when I called ‘em to the office!”  The employer’s tone was light and carefree, causing Ben a slight bit of confusion.

The white-skinned thug shook his head and sighed, “I’ve heard it a dozen times, Boss.  You get pissed and put on a show for any eavesdropping rookies, then you shut the hell up and have some coffee.”  He waved a smug hand at the small coffee-brewing machine against the wall of the room.

His dark-skinned partner was on the verge of warning him to shut up, but Boss’s wide grin told him there was no harm done.  He instead asked, “So…we’re off the hook?”

“Haha ha!” the crime lord’s smile fell into a frown, “No.  However, the thousand bucks your fuck ups cost me will be repaid tenfold by this next job I have for you.”  The frown immediately shifted into a sly smirk.

Suddenly, nervousness sprung up deep within both of the young thugs.  Malcolm swallowed hard and asked, “What job would that be, sir?”

Boss chuckled, “A river can be a cruel mistress, can’t it?”  He sent a glare directly at Ben and sighed, “One could even drown, if they’re not careful…”

The two thugs exchanged very concerned frowns as they waited for their somewhat-scary employer to continue…

“The foreshadowing is poetic…”  Malcolm mumbled as a loud fit of giggles rang out from the next car over.

That morning had flown by way too fast for the human to recall everything in clear detail.  He was awakened by a gentle shove from Spike, who was persistent in his task of getting the humans ready to depart the library immediately.  Malcolm remembered a moderate-sized bag of items being forced into his hands as he was corralled from the tree house and toward an awaiting mechanical contraption at the far end of town.

After a series of pushes and shoves, he was shut in a room with Loralee for nearly ten minutes.  He groggily plopped down onto a small bed he assumed was his stomach-first to get a little more sleep.  Just as he began to doze off, he saw Twilight escort his sister from their room for what he assumed was breakfast and some social activity.

Everything between then and now was blank.  The giggles from the other train car had seemingly awoken him from his slumber.  He stretched and yawned as he attempted to regain full consciousness.  After just relaxing in bed for a few minutes, he pondered the dream he had the few hours prior.  Another fit of giggles interrupted his thoughts, so he decided to join the sources in whatever they were doing.

He was greeted in the other car by six mares and his sister, all gathered around a table of fruits and drinks and giggling innocently.  They carried on their conversation, not noticing the new guest in the car.

“So you really got them to play the ‘Hokey Pokey’ at a royal ball?”  Loralee tried to wrap her mind around the thought of such a silly song and dance being performed at such a formal party.

“Sure did!  It was super fun!  …Until everypony started freaking out, and then it was super-amazing fun!”  Pinkie Pie giggled excitedly and clapped her hooves as she recalled that night in Canterlot a while back.

Twilight giggled, “The best part was how the princess reacted to all the chaos.  She absolutely adored how out of hoof things got!”

The six ponies all shared nostalgic smiles at the memory of the night.

After a short pause, Malcolm decided it was a good time to make his presence obvious.  He chuckled, “Let me guess, some stories about Celestia?”  Twilight sent him a somewhat-annoyed glare as he finished his question.

She snapped, “Princess Celestia!”

Applejack quickly lightened the tone by adding, “Not really talkin’ about the princess, just some o’ the fun we had in Canterlot a bit ago.”  She smiled warmly at Twilight, who quickly dropped her annoyed expression for a more reminiscing one.

The human boy took a seat beside his sister and sighed, “My bad…  Sounds like you got some interesting stories to tell.  Got anything a bit less party-related?”  The memory of his last party flooded into his mind for a second time.

The ponies stopped to think of any different stories about Canterlot they could tell.  From almost out of nowhere Spike called, “What about Shining Armor’s wedding?”  The six ponies immediately snapped back to that visit as the little dragon climbed up on a chair beside Twilight.

The purple unicorn gasped, “How could I possibly forget that day?!  That was only one of the most important days ever!”  She clapped her hooves in excitement as the events of those few days played vividly in her head.

Malcolm asked bluntly, “Who’s Shining Armor?”

The bookworm unicorn’s eyes lit up and a smile immediately stretched across her face.  She cheered, “He’s only the best big brother ever!”

The baby dragon added, “Yep, he’s Twi’s BBBFF, after all!”

The two humans exchanged confused looks as the other seven members of the company started chattering about the aforementioned stallion.  After catching a few split phrases about a wedding, Princess Cadance, and some things called Changelings, the humans decided they needed a little bit of clarification.

Loralee waited for the chatter to die down slightly before asking, “Why don’t you tell us the whole story, Twilight?  We’re new to Equestria, after all.”

And there it was:  no more freedom.  The ponies were absolutely determined to explain every last detail of those few days in Canterlot, starting from the second Twilight received the wedding invitation.  Every time Malcolm tried to leave the car for one reason or another, one of the ponies would immediately stop him to continue with the story.  The humans were pretty much forced to listen at this point.

Which, come to find out, wasn’t too bad.  The story was mildly interesting, especially to Loralee.  Her childish wonderment kept her absorbed in the amazing tale of a ‘wedding of deception’ as Rarity called it.  It wasn’t until the suspenseful action showed up that Malcolm got interested in the story.  Fighting in the streets and magical duels between Celestia and the Changeling Queen kept him waiting for more.  

To think that such a peaceful world still had action nearly confused the humans, but they managed to accept it as a rare occurrence.  Either way, both humans were eventually absorbed in the mysterious tale of a kidnapped lover and her plight of rescuing her groom from the clutches of the Queen of a maniacal invading army of shape-shifting monsters.  It was something straight out of the storybooks back home, and this time it was a real series of events.

The story dragged on for a good two or three hours.  By the time the tale reached the end, the train was reaching its destination.  Absorbed in the wonderful tale, none of the passengers even realized they were entering Canterlot until the conductor of the train announced they had arrived at the final stop of the day.

With extra excitement and anticipation of the audience with the princesses, the ponies started gathering their things to depart the train.  The humans did the same, not having too much to actually pack up.  Before long, everyone was corralled from the train and into the station on the far edge of Canterlot.  

The new arrivals greeted the city with mixed emotions.  The familiar color and layout of the buildings reminded the ponies of their last visit and the battle they had with the Changelings.  On another hand, the tall spires and buildings of the town vaguely reminded the humans of their home, a resemblance that severely unnerved them and nearly caused a sense of regret to swell up inside.  A cold emptiness seemed to find its way into them…

Welcome to the Castle

“C’mon sis, I know you’ll love ‘em!”

Loralee followed close behind her brother as they made their way through the streets of their hometown.  The eight-year-old girl had no idea what to expect from this little trip.  She didn’t know where they were going or why they were going there.  All Malcolm had told her was that he wanted her to meet a friend of his.

After almost ten minutes of walking through the empty streets, the two siblings arrived at a large building with a neon sign on the front of it.  The sign read ‘NYR Compound:  Beware, all ye who enter here.’  The sign did nothing to reassure the little girl about their journey, but she never questioned her brother’s decisions.  

Just outside the building, a dark-skinned thug greeted the two of them.  Although she couldn’t understand why, he looked very familiar to her.  She tried to think back to any possible time she might have seen him before, but any memory of him refused to come back to her.

He exchanged greetings with Malcolm before chuckling, “This must be the gal from the market.  She sure has grown up a bit since then.”  He reached out for a handshake, but the girl was hesitant to accept it.

Her older brother placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and whispered, “This is Ben, Lora.  He’s one of the good guys.  You can trust him, okay?”  The older thug smiled as his friend introduced him.

With a nod of understanding, Loralee accepted the thug’s handshake with a gentle smile.  If Malcolm said he was trustworthy, then he had to be.  That’s how it had always been.  That’s how it would always be…

A deep voice cheered from behind the older thug, “Well, if it ain’t the little tyke!  It’s about time you introduced us!”  With an air of welcoming, a tall figure exited from the building and reached a large hand out toward the little girl.

Malcolm chuckled, “This is Boss, Lora.  He’s the guy keeping this town in check.”  With a reassuring smile, the boy guided his sister closer to the large man.

She accepted this new man’s handshake; a sense of safety falling over her as his hand virtually swallowed hers.  She mumbled, “N-Nice to meet you both…”

Boss burst into laughter, “Are you sure this kid is your sister?  She definitely ain’t as vulgar as you!”  He smiled warmly at the girl, trying to leave a good impression.

Her older brother scoffed, “That’s ‘cause she ain’t a thug.  I’ve tried to keep her away from all this shit…”  He wrapped an arm around her and pulled her close.

Ben jokingly groaned, “You sure ain’t doing it right, bringing her here!”

Both thugs sent him an angry glare.  Loralee found humor in his sudden change of expression.  She burst into a fit of giggles as the three guys exchanged jokes.  After a few minutes of small talk, Boss escorted them into the compound and into his office, where they could talk without risk of being overheard or assaulted.

That day, Loralee gained two new people she could trust.  The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on her…

Loralee’s mind snapped back to the present as a cheer rang out from Twilight Sparkle.  The human girl returned to reality just in time to see the purple unicorn and a tall white stallion doing a small little dance.  She couldn’t help but notice that the two looked absolutely ecstatic.  The stallion’s silver armor led her to believe he was a guard for the castle.

The picture on his flank also led her to believe that he was Shining Armor…  For some reason, even though she would normally be excited to meet someone new, the flashback she’d just returned from kept her from finding the joy in the current situation.  Her brother, on the other hand, seemed to be enjoying the silly display of sibling companionship that the two ponies were exchanging.

It didn’t take long for the exchange to end and the mood to shift to a more formal scenario.  Shining Armor, being the captain of the Royal Guard, was sent by Princess Celestia to escort the humans to the castle.  Once the topic had been brought up, the guard developed a completely serious attitude.  For some reason, he made it seem as if getting the foreigners to the castle was a life-or-death situation.

Without argument or any attempt to stall, the group set off for the castle.  The general small talk was exchanged on the way.  Armor introduced himself, explained a few things about the town, and told the humans about all the preparations that had been made for their visit.  According to him, Celestia had sent the entire castle’s staff to work the moment Twilight’s letter arrived.  

Loralee couldn’t help but notice how quickly Armor’s attitude shifted from serious to playful.  Although he was no doubt doing his job first, he was still calm and relaxed, and never missed a chance to make a joke or two about something or some pony they passed.  He was definitely serious about his job, but he seemed to enjoy it as well.

He reminded her vaguely of the crime lord she had met years ago.

It didn’t take long for the excited rabble of ponies and humans and baby dragon to reach the castle and enter its welcoming halls.  The sight of the décor alone sent childish chills down both humans’ spines.  The place looked almost identical to the wonderful descriptions told in the storybooks back home.  Banners hung from the walls beside large glass windows.  Doors of different colors dotted the walls periodically.  Portraits and statues were placed at random intervals along the corridors, adding life to the palace.  

Neither human expected something this extravagant from a castle under the control of ponies.  They figured this kind of beauty only existed in the imaginations of the writers of those childish fables.

Loralee was struck hardest by the beauty of the atmosphere.  She couldn’t believe how amazing everything in the palace was.  Even mundane things like tables and chairs had a sense of beauty hidden within.  This type of feeling was never found in the world she had come from.  When she noticed the gleam in her brother’s eyes, she knew that even he had to appreciate the wonder of this place.

Before long, the group was guided into a large open chamber where guards stood at attention.  Behind them, the large door of the throne room closed slowly.  Shining Armor guided the two humans along the red carpet toward the single throne resting at the back of the chamber while the rest of the ponies took a bow to the figure resting on it.

The tall white alicorn stood up from her seat and bowed slightly to the humans that were approaching.  A sense of nervousness flooded into Loralee as she realized that this figure had to be Princess Celestia.  Just before reaching the actual throne, Armor stopped in his tracks and bowed to the princess.  Finding it only polite, the girl bowed as well, encouraging her brother to do the same.

A few seconds were spent in silent formality before the alicorn decided to break it.  She smiled warmly and said, “Allow me to start by welcoming you to Canterlot.  It’s not very often we have visitors from another world.”  She rose up from her bow, every other pony following suit.  

Loralee responded, “It’s an honor to be here, princess.”  The butterflies in her stomach nearly kept her from looking at the royalty, but the pony’s kind gaze calmed her nervousness.

Malcolm asked, “So what’s the point of such a rushed meeting?”  Every other resident of the room gasped at the informal tone in the boy’s voice.

Celestia sighed, “I simply wanted to meet you.  After all, Twilight Sparkle wrote a lot of interesting things about you in her letter.  I was curious to see how accurate her descriptions were.”  She winked at her young student on the far side of the room.  “I’d say she was correct.”  The princess looked the two humans over curiously.

The girl sighed, “You’ll have to forgive Mac’s behavior…  We’re not exactly used to formal meetings…”  She sent an annoyed glare at the older sibling.

“Who said anything about this being a formal meeting?”  Princess Celestia was taken aback by the assumption.

Shining Armor stammered, “W-well…It’s an audience with you.  Why wouldn’t it be formal?”  The guard captain was caught off guard by the assumedly-trick question.

The human boy groaned, “Ain’t all meetings with royalty formal?”

The alicorn giggled, “Oh heavens no!  This isn’t supposed to be formal by any means, I only wanted to meet you and welcome you to the castle.  No, the formal audience will be another time.”  She waved a hoof at the ponies gathered by the door, urging them to approach the throne.  “If this were formal, it would be a private meeting between you and me.  No, I believed you might like a tour of the castle, wouldn’t you?”

The two humans exchanged uncertain looks before nodding in affirmation.  Shining Armor chuckled, “Well then, why don’t we do that?  First thing’s first:  let me show you all to your rooms.”

“I’ll call for you when it’s time for an actual audience.  Until then, enjoy your stay here at the castle!”  Celestia waved a dismissive hoof as the guard captain escorted the guests from the throne room.

Loralee was lost in thought as she followed the stallion through the halls of the castle.  At some point, the ponies left the group and went off on their own little path.  Malcolm and Armor carried on varying conversations as the latter explained the different wings of the castle.  The girl subconsciously followed them through the halls, not taking note of anything being discussed.

That wasn’t anything like I expected.  What kind of informal meeting was that?  Why were there so many guards?  Why were we rushed into the room?  What was with the bow she took to us?  That couldn’t have been an entirely informal audience.  No, there was a reason everything was set up like that…but I don’t know what.

After a few minutes of carrying on the internal debate, she slammed into her brother hard as the two men came to a sudden halt outside a fairly large door.  In her absentmindedness, she had no idea where they were or why they stopped.  As she recovered from the collision, she caught the tail end of Armor’s last statement.

“…if you need anything!”  The stallion turned and started a brisk trot back down the halls they had just taken.

Malcolm chuckled as he pushed the door open, “I like that fella.  He seems cool.”

“Really?  I never guessed you would actually find something to like about this place.”  Loralee grinned smugly as she followed her brother into their room.  

The older sibling sighed, “That’s not funny, Lora.  Sure, I ain’t the most trusting guy, but I think I’m starting to warm up to this place.  Maybe it was the cookies…”  He plopped down on the large bed at the center of the room.  

The girl took in the décor of the room before responding to her brother’s comment.  To no surprise, the room was identical to the halls and throne room, albeit with a few less statues and paintings.  She giggled, “It took you long enough!  Four days?”

The boy scoffed, “Cut me some slack, okay?  I had to kill a fella the day before we got here.  Excuse me for not wanting to be super happy over some talking ponies.”  He closed his eyes tight and let the memory of the old man fill his head.

“The more you think about the past, the harder it’ll be to adjust to our new home.” Loralee sighed.

Her brother groaned, “Why do you always have to be right?”

“Because I’m cool like that!” she giggled.

“Whatever…  Did Shining Armor feel familiar to you?”

The girl was caught off guard by the sudden change of topic.  She thought about it for a second before giggling, “Well, he does sort of remind me of someone back home.”

Malcolm jolted upright and cheered, “Boss, right?!”  His eyes lit up and a smile shot across his face in an instant.

Loralee blinked blankly at her brother’s excited reaction.  She sighed, “Yeah…you too?”

“Yep.”  He fell back on the bed with less excitement.  “I can’t tell you why, but I just get the same vibe from him.  Glad to know I ain’t just goin’ crazy.”

The two siblings continued to discuss the likenesses between Boss and Armor for an hour or so.  After an intense debate over the crime lord’s true intentions with his illegal dealings, the fatigue from the day caught up to the humans.  The stress of meeting the princess wore heavier on them than they expected it to.

An early sleep graced them in the peaceful quiet of their room…

Change of Heart

“Today’s job is simple.  All you gotta do is intercept that messenger and make sure he don’t get to the drop point.”

A map was rolled out on top of Boss’s desk, and some red lines were scribbled across it.  They represented different things, such as the messenger and the thugs.  Malcolm and Ben were preparing for another mission on this surprisingly warm summer morning.  After being absent from work for almost a week, the younger thug was determined to make up for his lost time with this job.

Ben chuckled, “Sounds easy enough.  We free to keep any belongings we find?”

The crime lord smirked at his employee’s enthusiasm.  He sighed, “So long as I get that package, I don’t give two shits if you rip the fella limb from limb.  Just keep my name off the murder.”  Boss rolled the map up and tossed it into a drawer in his desk.  He nodded in dismissal, and the two thugs turned to leave the office.

The dark-skinned thug swung the door open and scoffed, “This is a piece o’ cake.  We could do this in our sleep, eh Mac?”  He nudged his partner in the side as they exited the room.

Just before the door shut behind them, the employer called, “Yo Mac, lemme talk to ya for a second!”

With a nod of reassurance, Malcolm turned back and entered the room.  Ben continued out of the office to wait for his partner at the exit of the compound.  The younger employee asked, “Somethin’ wrong sir?”

Boss sighed quietly, “How’s she doin’?”

It took the boy a few seconds to realize what his elder meant.  His eyes lit up in shock as he mumbled, “She’s a lot better sir.  Thanks to you…”

“Nonsense!” the older man scoffed.  “I couldn’t just let her die.  Not like that.  You’re just lucky Ben intercepted that rat's doctor.”

A smile stretched across the boy's face.  He sighed, “You didn’t have to do that…You lost money because of it didn’t you?”

Boss lurched forward in his chair and slapped a hand on his desk.  He groaned, “Don’t be a dumbass.  Lora’s worth a helluva lot more than a couple g’s!”

“You really mean that?”

“O' course…  You’ve done so much for her over the years.  I couldn’t just let my best employee lose what makes him the best.”  Boss smirked at Malcolm’s shocked expression.

The boy asked, “What do you mean?”

“You’re only the best ‘cause you have to protect her.  I need you in top shape to handle all this shit!”  The crime lord chuckled lightheartedly as a smug grin graced his employee's face.

Malcolm scoffed, “Right, I’m sure that’s why you did it.”  With a nod, the boy exited the office without another word.  

He owed Loralee’s life—and essentially his own—to Boss…

“It feels like so long ago, doesn’t it?”  Malcolm sighed as he and Loralee continued the prior night's discussion about Boss.

The little girl giggled, “It does.  It’s only been a few years though…”

“He always bugged me about taking you to the compound more often.  Boss was always there to protect you whether you knew it or not, Lora.”  Out of every memory Malcolm stored in his head, his years working for Boss were the most enjoyable to view…especially after his parents left.

“I know.  And when he wasn’t, Ben was.  Of everyone you could’ve worked with, you got stuck with two really nice people.”  The little girl giggled at the thought of a crime lord being a ‘nice guy.’

Malcolm decided to drop the not-so-distant past and focus on the current situation.  He asked, “You and the ponies have any plans for today?”

Loralee sighed, “Not as far as I know.  Twilight did say something yesterday about lunch in the city.”

Almost as if triggered by the statement, the boy’s stomach growled.  He sighed, “Geez…I don’t think I ate anything at all yesterday…”

“Wouldn’t be the first time you went a day without eating.”  His sister chimed.

He groaned, “Yeah, yeah...  Bring me back something when you go.”

"You aren’t going?”

“I doubt it.”  The boy shrugged his shoulders and fell back onto their bed.

Just as Loralee took a breath to scold her brother, a knocking rang out from their door.  Without waiting for a response, the door swung wide open with a rabble of ponies herding into the room.

Twilight and her friends were already fully awake and excited for a day in Canterlot.  After a series of greetings and attempted persuasions, the six ponies decided to leave Malcolm to his business and just take Loralee out for lunch instead.  Of course, just as they were on their way from the room, Shining Armor entered with some news.

The stallion explained that Princess Celestia wanted the ponies to take Loralee out for a day on the town.  However, she also requested a personal audience with Malcolm in the throne room.  He also warned the boy that she requested a fully private audience.

Celestia’s words from the prior day immediately jumped to the forefront of the human’s memory.  She had said that during a formal audience no other pony would be present.  A pit grew in the boy’s stomach as he followed the rest of the group from the room, his attention focused solely on Shining Armor and the upcoming meeting.

His arrival to the throne room did nothing to calm his nerves.  At the far end of the room, Celestia was sitting on her throne with not a single other pony in sight.  Though he wasn’t sure this was a truly formal audience, the boy couldn’t help but feel he’d be leaving the room in a different mindset than when he entered.

After reaching the throne, Shining Armor was dismissed to leave the human alone with the alicorn.  Celestia was quick to speak once the door closed behind the guard captain.  She lowered her gaze and asked, “Was your sleep pleasant last night?”

The simple question caught the boy off guard.  He chuckled, “Best one I can remember.  Room coulda been a bit cooler, but I won’t complain.”

She giggled, “It’s good to hear nothing went awry.”  Celestia smiled warmly at the human before asking, “Am I right to assume things are more peaceful here than in your world?”  Her question caused the boy to shift uncomfortably where he was standing.

Malcolm sighed, “‘More peaceful’ is an understatement, princess.”

“Do you have any idea how you and your sister ended up here in Equestria?”

The human shook his head in disappointment before scoffing, “I was actually hoping you could tell me.”

The princess took on a concerned look and said, “You mustn’t be so sad, Malcolm.  If this place is more peaceful than your world, shouldn’t you be happy to be here?”

The human groaned, “I should be.  But I’m not.  I mean, this place is amazing…but it just doesn’t feel right to me.”

Celestia stepped down off of her throne and approached the boy, much to the human’s confusion.  She lowered her head down to his and said, “That’s normal, I suppose.  After all, you are here through very extraordinary means.”

“You know why we’re here?”  Malcolm stepped back away from the alicorn, a sudden burst of curiosity flooding his mind.  “Well, do you?”

The wise pony sighed, “I’m afraid I do.”

“Tell me, then!”  The boy was beginning to get angry, much to the princess’s concern.

Celestia sighed, “You have every right to get angry.  It’s understandable anger.”  She asked, “Do you believe in magic, Malcolm?”

The boy almost saw it as a trick question.  He hesitated momentarily before scoffing, “Yeah, I guess.”

“Then you know this world is made of magic, correct?”

“Of course.  How couldn’t I, after everything I’ve seen?”

Celestia smiled, “Do you believe in wishes?”

Malcolm thought he could see where this was going.  “I used to, back when I thought they came true.”

“But you don’t now?”

“Why should I?  If wishes came true, our parents wouldn’t have died.  And those damn thugs wouldn’t have…shot me…and Lora…”  An epiphany washed over him like a waterfall, and that epiphany was obvious in his eyes.

Princess Celestia giggled, “Do you see now?”

The human was awestruck by such an obvious answer to everything.  He was still skeptical, but he stammered, “Lora’s wish in the alley…?”

When the large alicorn nodded in confirmation, the human reacted with an uncertain shrug.  Celestia sighed, “But her wish alone isn’t what brought you here.  There’s more to the story than that.”

“Of course there is…” Malcolm groaned in growing confusion.

“I’m sure you’ve guessed that your world isn’t the only one.  Your Earth and our Equestria are both connected by a magical force.  Of course, Equestria isn’t the only other world connected.  For anything one can imagine, there is world for it.  Any stories you tell in your world were probably derived from another world altogether.”

Malcolm was trying as hard as he could to understand what Celestia was telling him.  It explained a lot, but he just didn’t see how it was possible.

The princess continued, “The magic of such an innocent wish mixed with one of those magical connections, causing it to grow stronger.  You were both pulled through it into this world.  The fact that the connection was to Equestria is simply a coincidence.”

Malcolm groaned in annoyance, “So every world is connected to a bunch of different ones, and Equestria just happened to be the one to grab us?”

“That’s correct.  However, that is only the beginning of what I have to tell you.”  After a moment of silence, Celestia continued, “With each connection, there are good and bad side effects.  Your sister’s wish opened a proverbial door, letting more than just you both through.  No, you’ve surely noticed that our world is less violent and corrupt than yours.  But the connection also allows the influence of your world to mix over into ours.”

It only took Malcolm a second to realize what she meant.  He gasped, “Are you telling me that this world could end up like Earth?!”

Celestia nodded hesitantly.  She sighed, “With enough time, I’m afraid so.”

The boy shook his head and clenched his fists.  “So basically…me and Lora have to leave…or this place might turn out like ours?”

“To put it bluntly:  Yes.”  The white alicorn nodded regretfully.  “Well…” she hesitated as she let her mind wander for a moment, “…Loralee seems innocent enough.  There’s a chance that her presence alone wouldn’t be enough keep the door open…”

Malcolm asked, “So if I leave, she can stay here?”

Celestia considered her words carefully before saying, “It is a possibility.  I can’t guarantee that you leaving by yourself would fix the issue, but there is a chance.”

“Of course…  Fine, send me home!  I don’t want to stay here if it’ll just end up like Earth!  If I have to leave so Lora can stay and be happy, then I’ll leave!”  The human didn’t hesitate in his decision to return to his hellish home..

The princess was obviously taken aback by the boy’s willingness to leave.  She gasped, “I can’t simply send you home!  Not without you first discussing the situation with your sister.”

“Why do I have to discuss it with her?  No matter what she says, I’m not staying here if it’ll end up killing this place!”

“But she should at least get a chance to voice her thoughts.  What if she doesn’t want you to leave without her?”

“She’s finally found a place where she can be safe and happy.  I can’t let her give that up, not for my sake.”

“You must think rationally, Malcolm.  You can’t simply abandon your sister here; you need to speak with her about your options.”

Malcolm rolled his eyes and scoffed, “I don’t have options, princess.  I leave and let this place stay happy, or I stay and let it die.  Ain’t much of a choice, is it?”

Princess Celestia shook her head in disappointment and sighed, “I’m not going to force either of you to leave.  You’re more than welcome to stay as long as you wish.  I only wanted you to know the circumstances of your arrival here and the effects it had.”  Suddenly, a faint golden aura formed around the princess’s horn.

Malcolm watched as the golden aura reached out from the alicorn’s body and formed a small sphere of light just in front of him.  Within the ball of light, a small object materialized and levitated to the boy’s chest.  He cupped his hands together and let the object fall into them as Celestia released her magical grip on it.  The object sent a slight shiver down the boy’s spine.

It was a necklace:  a locket in the shape of a flower with a small golden chain.  The boy pressed the small button on the side of the locket in disbelief.  The face of the flower flipped open, revealing a faded picture of himself and his sister.  He switched his focus back and forth from the picture to Celestia.

“How did you get this?  It’s Lora’s…”

The princess giggled, “It was resting on the other side of the door.  It was the only thing there I could focus my magic on.”

Malcolm smiled and sighed, “She must have dropped it during those final seconds…”

“Perhaps.  I believe she may like to have it back, no matter what you both decide.”

The boy nodded in confirmation and stuffed the locket into one of his pockets.

…

Midnight.  The clock struck midnight as Loralee rested on the large-cushioned bed in their room.  Not long after this turn of the hour, the door opened slowly with a worn-out Malcolm stomping through it.  Without saying a word, the boy plopped down onto the bed beside his sister and buried his face in one of the large pillows.  There was an air of concern spinning around the boy, but Loralee decided not to question it for the moment.

After a few minutes of silence, Malcolm rolled over onto his back and let out a deep sigh.  He asked, “Ever notice just how different people here are?”

Loralee raised an eyebrow and asked, “Different how?”

“Morals are more important.  People are nice for no reason.  You know, the usual.”

“I guess so.  What’s with bringing this up out of nowhere?”

“No reason.  I just wanted to get that off my chest…  I take it your day went well?”

“It was tons of fun!  There are so many fun things to do in this town!  It’s definitely nothing like New York!”

The next hour or so was spent with Loralee describing the exact events of the day to her brother.  He decided it best to simply sit and listen, rather than share his own experience.  He’d heard a lot of information, and he dreaded the inevitable moment when he would be forced to share his knowledge with her.

Finally the stories ended, and Loralee drifted off into a blissful sleep.  Malcolm twisted and turned all night, catching very barely an hour of rest.  The dreadful circumstances he had been presented with by Celestia wore heavily on his brain…

The Twist of Fate

“…Amen.”

Malcolm opened one eye a tiny bit so as to sneak a peek at the plethora of food placed out on the large table he and his family were gathered at.  The familiar figure of his mother was slightly obscured by the boy’s eyelids, but he could see her scooping different foods up in silverware and placing them on the night’s dishes.

While Susan was distributing the food, Vincent was saying grace to bless the day’s fortune.  The head of the house was still dressed in his work outfit, and several red stains dotted it.  Malcolm was used to seeing the specks on his father’s clothes, and learned long ago that they were nothing to worry about.  

The four-year-old little girl bounced happily in her chair, eager to dig into the food her mother was splitting equally between all four members of the family.  Loralee giggled as their mother scolded Malcolm for peeking during their father’s prayer.  With a shameful expression, the boy bowed his head low so as to hide his rosy face from his sister.

The four family members shared jokes and stories as they devoured the wonderful feast before them.  The air in the house was warm and dry, although rain relentlessly pounded the freezing streets outside.  The Rossano children were truly blessed with a hardworking father, a loving mother, and a comfortable shelter to live in.  The night’s dinner was eaten in complete bliss, none of the patrons of the table having anything to complain or worry about at the moment.

As ruined and dangerous as New York City was, they couldn’t have cared less at that moment.  All they wanted was to enjoy their dinner in one another’s company.  It was complete bliss.

None of them could imagine the events that would soon follow.  The horrible fortune that would greet them that night was completely unforeseeable…

Malcolm lazily poked the fruit in his bowl as his mind drifted off through the memories of his past.  The room was filled by the random chatter of several dozen castle guards, the princesses, Twilight and her friends, and Loralee.  Every once in a while the boy would sneak a glance toward Princess Celestia, trying to find some sort of message in her body language.  He was looking for some sign that would tell him whether he should return home or stay in Equestria.

He found no such sign in the princess’s expressions or words.  Everything she said was sincere.  Everything she did was gentle.  She showed no warning sign of the threat that the door between their worlds presented, nor did she so much as send a single sour message to the boy telling him he needed to leave.

Her willingness to allow him and his sister to stay only worsened his confusion and doubt.  He could stay in Equestria and be happy for a time, but at the cost of letting Earth’s influence slowly corrupt the peaceful world of ponies.  On the other hand, he could leave and return to the hell he left behind, allowing Equestria to remain a peaceful and bright place.

Malcolm had never been faced with such a tough decision before in his life.  Now that he needed to decide, he couldn’t quite find the mental ability to do so.  And so he found himself thinking back to the years when he was the happiest.  Though memories of his parents were few and far between, the night they received the draft notice remained burned into his mind.  He couldn’t decide why he’d never let go of that night.  At the same time, he never wanted to know why.  After all, that was the last time he saw his parents.

The boy found himself lost within the reaches of his mind, and though he was feeling mildly hungry, all he could do was poke the plump fruit from side to side in his bowl.  After the meeting with Princess Celestia, it was as if he had lost all will to carry on.  He knew that he would have to make a decision where either outcome would be bad for one of the parties involved.

If he went home without Loralee, she would probably be mad at him, and he would be trapped back in New York.  If he went home with her, he’d have to live with the fact that she gave up her happiness just so he wouldn’t be alone.  If he stayed, they could both be happy, until Earth influenced Equestria to an obvious extent…

What should he do?  Should he just go home and let the Equestrians live like they always have?  Should he stay and be happy with his sister?

What should he do?

Malcolm was completely zoned out during the entirety of breakfast.  While his sister and the ponies carried on their own discussions, he was debating what he should do about his current situation.  He almost believed that he would be better off without ever knowing about the door.  Living in bliss would probably be better than having to make such a no-way-to-win decision.

It wasn’t until he returned to his room that he finally snapped out of his trance.  He listened as Loralee told him the story of the ponies’ battle with a creature named Discord a while back.  As soon as her childish wonder subsided, he decided to make his decision.

He paced back and forth by the door to their room for several minutes before finally saying anything to his sister.  Once he’d made up his mind, he asked her, “You like this place, right Lora?”

The girl, still lost in thoughts of the ponies’ exploits, mumbled, “Of course.  This place is amazing.”

He noticed her vacant expression and groaned, “Lora, this is important!”

The sudden outburst from her brother immediately grabbed her attention.  She’d seen her brother snap before, but his outbursts were never directed at her.  She stammered, “Wh-what’s wrong Mac?  You’ve been acting weird all morning…”

The boy placed a hand over his face as he tried to form the words he needed to explain his decision.  He sighed, “Look, my meeting with Celestia wasn’t the best thing ever.  I learned something that’s really been bugging me…  So tell me, do you like this place?”

“Of course I do.  I still don’t understand what you’re getting at…”  The girl approached her brother with an expression of confusion plastered on her face.

Malcolm groaned, “I…I’ve decided that I’m not staying in this world.  I’m going home.”

“What?!  But why would you do that?”  Loralee grabbed the sleeve of her brother’s shirt, as if trying to keep him from walking away.

The older sibling scoffed, “It’s complicated, sis.  I just don’t think I should stay…”

“Well then I’m going too!”  The girl stomped her foot to stress her point.

The boy shook his head and waved a dismissive hand.  He sighed, “I can’t let you do that.  You’re happy here; I’m not letting you throw that away.”  

Loralee moaned, “Well you’re not going back by yourself!  I’m coming with you!”

“Don’t you get it?!  We’ve finally found a place where we can be safe and happy!  I’m not letting you go back to that hell, end of story!” Malcolm screamed in anger as his head filled with the memory of the dangers of the streets of New York.

His sister was taken aback by his anger.  She stepped away slowly and lowered her gaze to the floor.  She sighed, “Mac…The only things we had in that world were each other.  If I let you go back without me, then what will you have left?”  Her eyes filled with tears as she thought about the ruins they called home.

“It doesn’t matter.  I have to leave, and I don’t want you to lose what you could have here.”  He crossed his arms and turned away from Loralee, not wanting to let her expression influence his decision.

“And what about me?  If you go home without me, I won’t have any family left.  I’ll be the only human in a world of talking animals…”

Malcolm considered this point for a few seconds.  He groaned, “You’d get used to it.  Here you can have fun and play games and never have to worry about starving or being attacked.  Being the only human’s a small price to pay, ain’t it?”

Loralee sighed, “You don’t believe that, do you?”

“I believe you have a better chance here than you do at home.  Please Lora; don’t make this harder on me than it already is…”

His sister mumbled, “Fine…go home if you want.  But you at least owe it to me to tell me about your meeting with Princess Celestia!”

He scoffed, “Yeah, I guess that’s only fair…”

Malcolm sat down on their bed and started explaining all of the events of the prior day to his sister.  He started with the explanation of how Earth and Equestria are connected by a magical bond.  He then went on to explain about the negative influence Earth was having on the world of ponies.

He gave her the locket Celestia had pulled from the other side of the door.  He explained how the alicorn could use magic to return them to their world and close the door.  He explained that him passing through might close the door, thus letting her live happily in this world without the risk of it ending up like Earth in the future.

He also explained how, after the audience, he was taken to the castle’s dining hall to eat lunch and speak with the other princesses.  All three of the ponies were more than happy to let the foreigners stay in Equestria for as long as they wanted.  The alicorns stressed the fact that they wouldn’t force them to return home under any circumstance.

After Malcolm finally finished explaining the day’s events, Loralee attempted a few more times to sway his decision.  Her attempts were to no avail, and he decided he would go to Celestia’s chambers to ask her to send him home before noon.  He agreed to let his sister join him in the chambers to see him off, but he was adamant about not letting her leave with him.

Noon rolled around pretty quickly, almost too quickly for Loralee’s tastes.

She and her brother walked together in solemn silence toward Celestia’s chambers.  It was obvious to her at this point that her brother wasn’t going to change his mind about leaving.  She had no intentions of letting him go home alone, however, and was trying to think of some way to convince him to let her go.

The walk to the princess’s chambers didn’t take very long, much to the girl’s disappointment.  Before Malcolm even had a chance to knock, the large door swung open by itself, and the tall figure of Celestia greeted them from the far side of the room.  She welcomed them with a gentle hello and closed the door behind them.

Neither of them needed to speak for her to understand why they were there.  She sighed, “You do not have to leave, children.  You understand this, correct?”

Malcolm mumbled, “Yeah.  But ‘we’ ain’t leavin’.  I am.”  He glanced curiously at his sister, who simply nodded in agreement.

The princess was only slightly surprised by this news.  She giggled, “You’re going to leave so that your world no longer influences ours.  How noble of a sacrifice.”

“Don’t patronize me!” the boy snapped.

Celestia bowed slightly and sighed, “I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to sound disrespectful.  Your decision is a truly noble one, however.  Are you certain you are the only one going through the door?”  She winked at Loralee, who immediately tried to hide the smile that suddenly sprung up on her face.

The older sibling groaned, “Yeah, I am.  So if you don’t mind, I don’t care for gooey goodbyes.  Just open the door or whatever you have to do and let me through.”

“Of course.  But I should warn you of something important…”  The princess lowered her gaze and waited a few moments before continuing.  “There’s no guarantee that the door will send you back to your world.  Or at least, the world you knew.”

Both humans’ eyes widened in surprise.  They gasped simultaneously, “What?”

The alicorn was confused by the sudden excitement in the foreigners’ expressions.  She said, “Although the door will send you to Earth, there’s no promise it will be the Earth you’re used to.  Whereas your home is a ruined city, there is a chance where you exit will not be in ruins.  In fact, your exit may be a beautiful town full of life.”

Malcolm waved a dismissive hand and scoffed, “That’s impossible.  Our world was crap, there ain’t no way it won’t be crap when I go back.”

Loralee sighed, “But what if she’s right?  What if you go back and it turns out that there never was a war?”

“Can that happen?” the boy asked in a confused tone.  

Celestia placed a hoof to her muzzle and giggled, “That is one possibility, yes.  But there are limitless possibilities for the world you’ll return to.  That’s why I’m asking if you truly wish to return by yourself.”

Malcolm shook his head and scoffed, “Even if there’s a chance it’s a better world, there’s a chance it’s a worse world…assuming that’s possible.  I’m still going through alone.”

Loralee stomped her foot and yanked the back of her brother’s shirt closer to her.  She moaned, “Are you really that stupid?!  There’s no telling what’s waiting for you on the other side!  Do you really want to greet those unknowns without someone familiar by your side?”  She gripped her brother’s clothing as tight as she could, unwilling to just let him go on his own.

Malcolm struggled to get out of her grip.  To his surprise, her grip was a bit too strong.  Either that or she was just really adamant about stopping him.  He groaned, “Look, if we cross through and something bad happens to you, I’ll never forgive myself!  And since that’s a good possibility, I ain’t lettin’ you go!”

“Would you get over it, already?  I understand I’m your sister and you’ve always been so determined to keep me safe…  But this is ridiculous!  You’d rather go off to face something you know nothing about by yourself, just because there’s a chance I might get hurt?”  The younger sibling was, for the first time Malcolm could remember, getting genuinely angry.

“Of course!  That’s how it’s always been, and that worked pretty damn well!”

The little girl snapped, “Get with the picture, Malcolm!  In case you haven’t realized, we were killed in that alley!  How the hell do you think we ended up in this place?!  Yeah, you’ve always kept me safe, but why are you so damn worried?!  We’ve both been killed, I think that’s about as bad as it can get!”

In a single instant, Malcolm’s tough expression and determined attitude shattered.  He pondered what his sister had just said, and he found there to be truth in it.  It dawned on him that he had definitely been killed in the alley by those thugs.  A bullet to the head was a guaranteed kill, after all.  What he hadn’t considered in the few days he’d been in Equestria was that he had already failed to protect her once, and they both paid the ultimate price for it.  Whatever waited for them on the other side of the door couldn’t be worse than getting killed...

“Y-you’re right, Lora…” Malcolm sighed as all these realization washed over him.

Loralee was still lost in her anger.  She started, “And if you’re still so damn determined to…”  She paused as what her brother said soaked in.  She embarrassedly mumbled, “Wait, did you just agree?”

The older sibling nodded and chuckled, “I guess I hadn’t really thought about a bullet to the head.  That’s pretty much death right there.  So I guess we can say this world revived us when it pulled us through?”  He looked over to Princess Celestia, who was captivated by the little girl’s outburst.

She sighed, “I think that’s a safe assumption, Malcolm.  So, have you changed your mind, then?  Are you both going to go through?”

The humans stared at one another for a few moments before nodding in affirmation.  They both cheered, “You bet we are!”  Smiles stretched across their faces as they realized they might truly be able to return to an Earth less corrupt than their own.

The princess giggled, “Very well then.  I’ll use my magic to send you back through the door.  When you arrive to the other side, it should close, and Equestria won’t have to worry about any negative influence.”  A golden aura slowly formed around her horn as she spoke.

Malcolm chuckled, “Whatever’s on the other side can’t be worse than what we’ve been through.  So we should at least be together when we face it.”  He wrapped an arm around his sister.

Loralee giggled, “And if we’re lucky, we’ll end up someplace as nice as Equestria.”

Her brother groaned, “I dunno if I’d like that.  This place is a little too nice, if ya ask me.  My trigger finger’s been itching for a while…”  He received an elbow into his ribs before adding, “Just kidding!  I don’t miss the violence one bit!”

The girl sighed, “Maybe we’ll even see Mom and Dad.  That’d be nice, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah.  I don’t even know if I’d recognize them…”

“Of course you would.  But would they recognize us?”

“Sure.  They’d never forget their children, even if we are older and uglier.”

The two continued to exchange lighthearted small talk as Celestia prepared her magic for sending them back through the door.  The golden aura from the alicorn’s horn reached out and enveloped the two humans, who continued to embrace and converse as thoughts of all the possible Earths filled their heads.  They focused mainly on the good worlds they could end up in, but every once in a while a bad world came to mind.

Before long, the golden aura became a solid white ball of light, and the two humans were shrouded by it.  In an instant, the light disappeared, and all that remained in the room was the now-exhausted Celestia.

Malcolm and Loralee found themselves standing in a large plain area.  Behind them they could see the image of the room they had just been in.  In front of them were images of worlds more normal.  Worlds similar to Earth played across the large emptiness.  Sharing nods of determination and acceptance, they charged forward into the images, hoping to get the luck of the draw on their return to their home.

With optimism in their hearts, the two humans let the void swallow them, believing they might find good fortune on the other side…

…

A gentle breeze blew over the two humans as they regained consciousness.  Soothing warmth poured over them as bright light filled their eyes.  The smell of flowers and plants filled their nostrils with every breath.  The faint sounds of crowds chatting and engines running greeted them as they slowly lifted themselves from the ground.

Sunlight shined down from a light blue sky, which was dotted by thin white clouds.  In the distance, tall skyscrapers towered over them.  The laughter of children and parents rang out from behind them.

Two tall figures slowly approached them.  A man and woman, roughly forty years of age.

The man cheered, “It’s about time to head home.  Traffic’s gonna be crazy…”

The woman giggled, “Did you have fun?”

Malcolm and Loralee stared on in disbelief as their mother and father greeted them with warm smiles and gentle voices.  It took everything in their power to resist the urge to burst into happy tears.  The older sibling looked around curiously to ensure this was really happening.  After seven years of being alone, suddenly they had their parents back.

The two children pondered their weird twist of fate.

They were left alone in a cold world to fend for themselves.  They adjusted to their lives living in fear of the thugs that roamed the streets.  They let their guards down for a moment and were killed.  With no idea how it happened, they ended up in a world completely opposite to their own.  Through their confusion and uncertainty, they made friends with the horse-like residents of their new world.  And through those residents, they eventually made it back to their world.

But the world they returned to was much more peaceful.  The hardest part of being in this new world would be adjusting to the comfort of an unbroken home.  

Malcolm and Loralee felt certain they would adjust…