"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
That's strange. My alarm is much louder than usual.
"Are you going to get up, or will you just ignore both of our birthdays?"
I was up in a flash. I've never missed me or my roommates birthdays once. And I won't start now. I got dressed for work and made both of our breakfasts.
"We'll celebrate our birthdays after work." I said before she could protest.
"How did you know I was going to say that?"
"You say the same thing every year. Please don't be predictable for once."
I headed out to the local power plant. My job is helping to generate power using equipment that would otherwise be used in a gym. I generated power using friction with weights and powering a treadmill without a key. It actually pays very well. At lunch break I got a call from someone I used to go to school with.
"Hello Krasen speaking."
"Glad to know that the hypokenetic's still going strong."
"Keep calling me that Lucy and I might not let you come to my birthday."
"And why is that so important?"
"If you're not invited you don't get any presents this year."
I got off work early because I was going to celebrate my birthday with a couple of old friends of mine. One of which was my roommate, Katie Mountain. We're just friends though. On the way home a lot of confused looking people were on the sidewalk. When all the party guests had arrived we started thinking of things to do. I suggested that we watch My Little Pony.
"Ok then, what episode?"
"All of them."
"So you're finally starting to like the other characters are you?"
"Nah, it's just that I feel like the show's missing something."
About one minute after the show started I paused it. That wasn't there last time. There were four extra characters, none of which's names were spoken, yet I somehow knew all the ponies just as if they were there all along. the faint blue one with the white mane with even fainter blue steaks is Snowy Mountain, the pony with the brown fur and dull gray mane was Mountain Breaker, the pony with the peach fur and red and yellow mane was Sunlight Starlight, and the last one with orange fur and, I couldn't put my finger on the color but it was a cross between orange and brown mane was Autumn Leaves.
"Anyone else seeing this?"
"Yes." They all responded as one.
"So I'm not going crazy then. Anyone up for presents and cake?"
"How something like this can happen and all you're worried about is presents and cake."
"Why are you questioning my logic?"
"Good point."
Lucy Sunstrong opened her presents first. From Katie she got a Sunlight Starlight plush. From Maddie Autumn she got a lighter, and from me she got a jacket.
"I hope you like it, those are very rare."
"But it's just an ordinary jacket."
"Look closer, there's carbon fibres weaved in to the fabric."
"Oh."
"Ok then I'll go ne..." Katie's sentence trailed off.
Katie zoned out for quite a long time. I tried everything I could, but nothing would work.
"Ok then, Maddie you go next because Katie seems incapable of holding anything at the moment."
"You aren't even slightly worried about her?"
"She'll find her way back to Earth."
"Snowy?"
"I told you so, Katie did you just call me snowy?" It was so strange for Katie to call me anything other than my name.
"I dunno, can I open my presents now?"
"Sure, just don't zone out for another five minutes."
"Wait, I was out for five minutes?"
"Yeah, you were."
From me, Katie got a new pair of boots, as her old ones fell in to a creek and were never seen again. From Lucy, she got a new mountain climbing set, and from Maddie, she got a Mountain Breaker plush, which she put in the center of the table with Lucy's. It's tradition to put the most unusual presents in the middle of the table and try to figure out how you got it later in this house.
"Well then Maddie, ladies first."
"Why do you always insist on going last?"
From Katie she got an Autumn Leaves plush, which she put in the center of the table. From me she got a new camera (I don't even know how she lost the other one), and from Lucy she got the complete series of My Little Pony. While Maddie was opening her presents I noticed that Katie was scratching her thigh.
"Your turn Kra..." Maddie's sentence trailed off as well.
"This is getting creepy."
"Your turn Snowy." Lucy finished
"What did you say?"
"Krasen I used your name, or would you rather I used your last name Winterhood?"
I began to open my presents. I got a pair of wool gloves from Lucy, something I haven't had since I was 11. I got two crystals of nevermelting ice from Maddie, and I got a Snowy Mountain plush from Katie.
"You know who it is right?"
"How could I forget him, especially after the season finale? It's a shame you don't find out what he meant by for what you have done."
"What are you talking about?"
"The season finale, after Discord picks off Sunlight, Mountain and Autumn, Snowy says he'll never forgive Discord for what he's done. After that Discord tries to kill Snowy with a curse but he used an ice jacket spell. There's a huge explosion and Snowy gets thrown in to a wall and is severely injured. Then the scene ends after a bright flash of light. Lucy are you even listening?"
"Huh?"
"My observatory skills are telling me that all of you are scratching at your thighs. It might be some sort of bug bite. Feel free to use my bathroom."
As they finished climbing the stairs I began thinking about what was happening, I've hardly ever see any of them black out like that, and all in less than an hour? I was starting to get suspicious.
"Krasen, can we stay here tonight?"
"Sure I don't see why no..."
My vision was filled with images of the fight that I had seen in the finale. Mountain Breaker had tried to deflect a curse using her boots, but she failed and was killed. Then Autumn Leaves tried blocking the curse with a wall of leaves but failed as well. Angered that Discord would kill her sisters Sunlight Starlight shot flames from her horn at Discord, in response he cursed her as well. Finally only Snowy was left. "For what you have done, you can never be forgiven," All he did was laugh. He then shot the same curse at Snowy. He was prepared though and a huge explosion was the result of the curse breaking his ice jacket. He was thrown against the wall. Discord then managed to curse him successfully.
For Five Score Divided By Four!
That was strange. A burning itch was the one thing that completely pulled me out of my thoughts. I pulled down my clothing far enough to see a tattoo of three snowballs overlapping each other on my thigh. To be more specific, Snowy Mountains cutie mark.
She raises an eyebrow at me.
"And who exactly are you?"
"I should be asking you the same thing."
"So..." She starts, obviously trying to break the silence.
I cut her off "I find it a bit too much of a coincidence that we're both here on the same day, you're the person who called?"
"I thought you had called."
I was a little surprised, but I gave the most logical answer I had "It appears that someone wanted us to meet up here. Does your family know about this?"
She was quick to respond "Only my sister."
I sighed "You're welcome to stay at my house then, and if anyone else is going through this then they are welcome as well."
"Okay" She then take out her phone and begins texting, as she was doing that I got a familiar feeling that fills me with joy every time I get it.
As she puts away her phone I say "Winter is coming early this year."
"What makes you say that?"
I start to explain, "Sometimes I get a feeling, that feeling will tell me if Winter is coming early or late, and if it's strong enough it'll tell me when. On that note, I'd say Winter will arrive sometime around, late November."
She stays silent for a moment, then speaks up, "I guess I can relate to that. Sorta. I don't know why, but I'm one hundred percent certain that it's going to rain tomorrow.
I scribble my address down on a peice of paper and hand it to her. "Here."
I got up, and left the cafe. When I found my car I stood back and admired it, it was small, but I liked it. I don't know why, but I've always had a fondness for small spaces.
The drive home was uneventful, but that made it peaceful, the only thing keeping me from going through my extensive imagination was the fact that I had to drive. When I got home I parked my car in the driveway rather than the garage, my friends use to get on my back about it all the time until I told them that nobody likes small spaces enough (except maybe clowns) to even want to steal my car. When I got inside I said the first thing on my mind.
"We'll probably have company today."
"Alright who's the wise guy." I shouted upstairs.
On their way back down I got three different responses, all asking me what I meant.
"I'm talking about this." I showed them the tattoo.
All of them looked shocked, then they lowered their pants to reveal a tattoo of a cutie mark on their thighs.
"We all thought you did it, but I guess not."
"All this confusion is making me tired, I'm off to bed."
I was climbing mountains in the tundra, and came upon a flat area. 'This will do.' The snow in front of my started to float, revealing a layer of ice underneath. I began to chip at the snow with my magic, pulling up two shards of ice. Using more of my magic I started to shape the ice into an oval shape. I sensed a presence behind me, there was a bright flash of light, an explosion, and angered yells as I flew away.
As I looked around for the sourc of what woke me up I heard my phone going off.
"Hello who is this?"
"Come down to the cafe at the end of the street, twelve o'clock, don't be late."
I checked the time, 9:24. I sighed and got out of bed to begin my daily routine, get dressed, brush teeth, get breakfast, when I was in the bathroom I noticed that my eyes were darker than normal, they used to be a bright cheery turquoise, but now they could be mistaken for gray. I also noticed that my hair had pure white streaks, now normally I don't give a fuck about my appearance, but this started to worry me. As I got to the cafe, I checked my clock, 12:04. Better late than never. I started to look around the cafe for anything mysterious or unusual, I stopped when I noticed someone with a hood up and a little bit of lime hair poking out of it. I walked over to them and sat down facing her.
"Seems you and I are going through the same thing."
